GABNET TO COMMEMORATE 20TH YEAR IN THE MIDST OF AN INTENSE RELIEF DRIVE FOR PHILIPPINE TYPHOON VICTIMS
SAN DIEGO, CA - Even as Gabriela Network members package clothes, food and medicine for shipment to the Philippines, the oldest and largest militant Filipina organization in the US prepares to celebrate its 20th year of existence. About 200 are expected to gather on October 10th at the Joan Kroc Center for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego campus.
For many members, it is fitting that Gabriela Network's anniversary should be marked by its largest relief campaign to help women, children and men as the Philippines deals with the archipelago's latest tragedy.
"We have seen it all," says Milady Quito, a long-standing member. "Innumerable typhoons, earthquakes, death sentences in Singapore, United Arab Emirates; one political crisis after another... I'm certainly glad we have not become jaded but continue to respond on principle and with empathy for the Filipino people, especially the women."
GABNet was founded on Labor Day of 1989 and was pivotal in developing US public awareness of Philippine women's issues -- from occupation of the archipelago by US troops and bases, to prostitution and trafficking, to labor export, to the mail-order bride industry, to the re-feudalization of women under globalization.
It has been a singular organization refining the theory and practice of militant transnational feminism. It launched the Purple Rose Campaign against the trafficking of Filipinas which swiftly grew to span eleven countries. In coordination with the National Lawyers Guild, it brought the first all-women human rights lawyers team to the Philippines when de facto President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a state of national emergency. It was instrumental in successfully pressuring the Macapagal Arroyo government to nullify its own blacklist when the GABNet 3 defied the paranoia of "listings" propagated by the Philippine military. In cooperation with the National Alliance of Philippine Women's Centers of Canada, it held the first North American Consultation for Women of Philippine Ancestry.
Gabriela Network's Purple Rose Campaign
"Our 20th anniversary should be a cause for pride and celebration by all Filipina-Americans," says Mona Navarro, GABNet Irvine coordinator. "We have endured; we survive and we have triumphed, in ways big and small."
A female student of the University of California Los Angeles began her induction speech with the acknowledgement that she would not have become student council president were it not for the existence of GABNet. Filipina-Americans from all walks of life, from the highest positioned in the US government to the high school student opposing budget cuts for education acknowledge the impact of GABNet's example of female leadership and activism.
Gabriela Network marches in anti-war rally with other organizations.
GABNet invites all members, alumni and allies to join the commemoration in San Diego. GABNet asks those who cannot be at the gathering to donate to the organization's relief drive for the typhoon victims. "That would be the best celebration of all -- making concrete the lesson of serving the people that sums up 20 years of GABNet's work," says Secretary-General Jollene Levid.
Logistical and ticket information are as follows:
Date: Saturday, October 10, 2009
Time: 6:00-9:30PM
Location: Joan Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice
University of San Diego
5998 Alcala Park
San Diego, California
Tickets:
$100 - Sisterhood
$75- Supporter
$50- Solidarity
$25 - Community
PLEASE RSVP BY OCT 5
951-333-4306
organizing@gabnet.org
For donations to the victims of Typhoon Ondoy in the Philippines, please email secgen@gabnet.org
Checks can be made out to our fiscal sponsor, A.J. Muste and sent to GABRIELA Network, P.O. Box 3032, Cerritos, CA 90703-3032.
