Contact: Raquel Redondiez, Vice Chairperson, GABRIELA USA, chair@gabusa.org
Filipino-American Women Send A Mother’s Day Message: Elect Liza Maza & GWP!
Gabrielas in the U.S. Call On Their Motherland For A Clean and Honest Elections & To Vote For Progressive Women’s Partylist & Candidates
With less than a week before citizens of the Philippines cast their votes for the 2010 elections, Filipino-American mothers and daughters show their support for a partylist that has upheld and fought for the rights of women, children, and migrants – the Gabriela Women’s Party (GWP). Members of GABRIELA USA put together a commercial, featuring a diverse cast of women: mothers, students, workers, community advocates and queer women, all pledging their support for GWP and its Senatorial candidate, Liza Maza.
“As Filipino-Americans, it’s important to us mothers and daughters that those who sit in government positions truly have the interest of the people in mind. Liza Maza and GWP have proven this with their history of creating breakthrough legislation that protect women and children and survivors of violence, and also co-authoring the bill allowing for overseas absentee voting. This is why this Mother’s Day weekend, we support GWP and Liza Maza,” says Raquel Redondiez, Chairperson of GABRIELA USA. “It is our hope that the commercial reaches our kababayans abroad and in the Philippines, and elect Liza Maza and the Gabriela Women’s Party.”
The commercial, uploaded onto Youtube, presents a multigenerational cast of women with diverse interests and issues. Donning “Maza ako” shirts, the women urge viewers to vote for senatorial candidate Liza Maza, and Gabriela Women’s Party. Although a number of the cast members cannot vote in the current elections themselves, it does not mean that they do not have a concern about its process or its outcome. Members of GABRIELA USA are calling and texting their friends, relatives, and kababayans in the Philippines on Mother’s Day to urge them to vote for GWP and Liza Maza, and are steadfast in ensuring a clean and honest election process.
FILIPINO-AMERICAN WOMEN TO MARCH FOR WORKERS ANDIMMIGRANT RIGHTS ON MAY 1
GABRIELA USA DEMANDS FAMILY REUNIFICATION AND LEGALIZATION FOR ALL
On this May 1st, Filipina-American women are taking a stand for immigrants’ rights across the nation. In the light of the Schumer Bill, that will enforce a stricter identification system in the United States and the current passing of SB1070 in Arizona, a law that will allow police to racially profile and criminalize immigrants, GABRIELA USA’s mothers and daughters will march with thousands of other immigrants to fight for legalization for all. For the Filipino community, immigration is a focal point and issue for Filipino families nationally, there are an estimated 4 million Filipinos in the United States, including an estimated 1 million undocumented Filipinos. The majority of Filipinos migrate to the United States through family visa sponsorship, but are often subjected to wait periods of 10 to 15 years for their petitions to be processed and to be reunited with their loved ones.
“We should not have to live in fear of being escapegoated or being seperated from our families, when Filipinas contribute so much to our society– caring for the sick and elderly, educating our future leaders, and contributing in all aspects of this society. We are not criminals, we are women workers and professionals trying to sustain our families,” stated Raquel Redondiez, chairwoman of GABRIELA USA.
GABRIELA USA endorses the National “UnityStatement of the Filipino Community on Immigrant Rights” in coordination with BAYAN USA and National Alliance for Filipino Concerns. It is attached below for further reading.
LEGALIZATION FOR ALL!
FAMILY REUNIFICATION !
For more information on May 1st Actions please contact:
Los Angeles:
Sisters of Gabriela Awaken (SiGAw)
Media Contact: Terrie Cervas – (213) 537- 8278 sigaw.la@gmail.com
Assembly point: 9am: S. Olympic and W. Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90015
San Francisco:
Babae
Media Contact: Raquel Redondiez – (415) 244-9734
Assembly point: 12 noon- 24th and Mission, San Francisco
Seattle:
Pinay sa Seattle
Media Contact:
Assembly Point:
New York:
Filipinas for Rights and Empowerment (FiRE)
Media Contact: Cris Hilo – (818) 281-3134
Assembly Point: 11:30 am on the south side of Union Square, along East 14th Street near Broadway, in Manhattan.
Together, We Have. Together, We Are. Together, We Will….
A Unity Statement of the Filipino Community on Immigrant Rights
Together, We Have Worked the fields and in the canneries
Nursed the ill and the elderly
Taught the young and tomorrow’s leaders
Fought for freedom and defeated tyranny
Invented new technologies and perfected the old
Ministered to congregations celebrating life and coping with grief
Together, We Are
The doctors and nurses who heal the sick and tend the wounded
The engineers who build skyscrapers and roads
The accountants who keep businesses running, small and large
The custodians and room cleaners, clerks and dock hands who do thankless jobs with dignity and pride
The veterans who braved world wars to defend democracy
The farmworkers, cooks and waiters, who put food on America’s tables
The playwrights and poets, painters and musicians who awaken our dreams and inspire our actions
Four million people who are your neighbors, friends, co-workers, employees, partners and community members
Together, We Will
Continue to cherish the American values of equality and freedom, and oppose misguided policies that undermine them.
Keep families and communities, workplaces and homes together, because dividing us weakens us all
Fight for immigrant rights that value our contributions to society and give us the opportunity to fulfill our potential to build a better world.
Signed:
BAYAN – USA
GABRIELA- USA
National Alliance for Filipino Concerns
Our Principles and Demands:
Uphold the dignity and humanity of all individuals. Legalization now!
Civilized society embraces equality and upholds the humanity of all people. Labeling individuals “illegal” demeans them, and forces millions to endure dangerous jobs, and to toil in the shadows in slave-like conditions. Criminalizing people for being “undocumented” subjects millions to the exploitation of traffickers, to remain in abusive relationships, or to refrain from reporting crimes because the authorities may imprison the victim instead of the perpetrator. We need legalization now, to free our community from the indignity being labeled “illegal”, and the inhumane treatment which is sanctioned by it and endangers us all.
Unify and Protect Families
Families of all shapes and sizes—parents and children, siblings, cousins and grandparents, same sex couples–deserve to be together. Many Filipino families have been waiting over 20 years to have their petitions for loved ones approved. We must clear the Family Visa backlog to stabilize our communities, both in the U.S. and in our homeland. We must protect immigrant women and children escaping abuse, and refuse to allow them to be subjected to the further cruelty of deportation. Children of immigrants should be shielded from all harm, including separation from their families and the threat of deportation. Support services must be provided in our languages and with sensitivity to our cultural norms.
Value Our Labor– Workers Rights for All!
The U.S. was built with the blood and sweat of working people. All workers must have the right to organize and to be free from exploitative contracts and working conditions. Having an underclass of workers drives down wages and protections for all of us. We must normalize the status of guest workers, because temporary contracts serve as a tool to undermine all workers. Law enforcement should punish illegal recruitment agencies and unscrupulous employers and lawyers, who maximize profits by preying on vulnerable and desperate workers—workers should not be penalized for the actions of their employers. The labor and contributions of all people, including immigrants and those who are undocumented, should be valued equally.
Dignity, Respect and Due Process for All!
The US government’s aggressive foreign policies of war and exploitation fuel economic and social instability worldwide. Immigrants are not to blame for national security concerns. Rampant raids, deportation, and inhumane conditions in detention centers jeopardize the safety of everyone, as does the billions of tax payer dollars contracted to build up and further militarize the U.S.-Mexico borders. We must build our immigration policies on the sound universality of human rights, not the volatility of criminalization and militarization.
Forced Migration is a Result of the Global Economic Crisis One-sided and unfair trade agreements have been designed to maximize profits for greedy corporations and have destroyed the economy of the Philippines and many other countries, contributing to the ever-worsening economic crisis that has forced millions of Filipinos to seek jobs and means of survival elsewhere. US political and military support to corrupt regimes who bankrupt their countries and repress their people also fuel worsening migrant and refugee conditions. We will link arms in solidarity with all migrant communities in the U.S. and internationally, until we have built a society where all people can thrive, families are not fragmented and separated by the urgent need for survival, and our homelands have the conditions in which all people can live a decent and humane life.
