An open call to action to Filipinos this U.S. election

Build the mass movement to fight for our welfare, not warfare. For our rights, not repression.

With just one week until the U.S. presidential elections, BAYAN USA invites Filipinos across the country to join us as we demand:

Welfare, not warfare! Rights, not repression!

As the people's fundamental rights to food, livelihood, self-determination, and so much more are being stripped away, it is critical that we center these issues and the role of the masses — not individual politicians — in bringing about genuine change.

We refuse to settle for the false "choice" between the Democratic and Republican parties, which have both brought warfare and repression upon the most exploited and oppressed. And while they have important distinctions, at their core they are both parties of war, genocide, and profit over people.

We unequivocally oppose the grave danger a Republican Trump presidency would bring. Project 2025 is the roadmap to more full-blown American fascism. It is a plan that would have deadly consequences for not just Filipinos, but all exploited and oppressed peoples. And we reject the rightist Harris and Democratic Party "alternative," which — like the Republicans — has unequivocally supported Israel's genocide against the Palestinian people. The current administration has funded 70% of Israel's military operations since October 2023.

We vow to defend our Palestinian comrades, siblings, and their allies, who even now are being accused of being "single issue voters" that are essentially "voting for Trump" because they do not support the Democratic Party. How could the extermination of an entire people could be reduced to a "single issue"? Harris and her Party have no one to blame but themselves if they do not win the race.

We Filipinos cannot afford to be short-sighted during this election.

We have seen the violence brought by Republican and Democratic administrations alike throughout history: It was Reagan who welcomed Marcos Sr. with open arms after the latter was ousted from power. Clinton who circumvented the Philippine constitution and brought back U.S. troops to our homeland via the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA). Bush who, in collaboration with Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, brought the U.S. War on Terror to the Philippines. Obama who went a step further than the VFA by establishing de facto bases across the archipelago through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA). Trump who supported Rodrigo Duterte in his merciless "war on drugs" that killed over 30,000. And Biden-Harris who almost doubled the number of U.S. bases, and supplied more than half a billion dollars in military aid this year alone to Bongbong Marcos, the son of a dictator and a fascist himself.

No matter who steers the imperialist machine these next four years, their goals will be no different: to exploit the Philippines as its neo-colony and maintain it as a launching pad for war in the Asia-Pacific. And Marcos Jr., one of U.S. imperialism's most loyal lapdogs in the region, will be sure to accept either Trump or Harris so long as his clan and cronies take their cut of the pie.

This is why the call to end all U.S. military intervention and basing in the Philippines must be a key issue for our entire community this election.

It is our families and loved ones being affected by the increased militarization and neglect by both the U.S. and Philippine governments. The masses in the countryside bear the brunt of U.S.-funded militarism, from the internally displaced peoples of Marawi to the people of Palawan, Ilocos, and Cagayan Valley where new EDCA bases are now. Neither Republicans nor Democrats have shown any intention to change their policy of foreign intervention, nor expressed genuine concern for the devastating impacts full-blown war would have on our people.

Even the excuse given by both governments that military presence helps "humanitarian aid” has been exposed as an outright lie in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Kristine. The hundreds of millions of dollars sent in U.S. military aid have clearly not translated to the safety and well-being of the millions of people now suffering from displacement, loss of livelihood, and death from the storm.

It is very clear where U.S. imperialism's priorities lie. The U.S. continues to spend without restraint on war and militarization while our communities face school closures, lack of affordable housing and health care, an inhumane immigration system, racist violence, and poverty wages. Both the U.S. and Philippine governments should be doing more to protect workers and communities struggling under this economic crisis. Instead, they serve the super wealthy, multi-national corporations, and the war machine.

But far from letting the ruling elite get away with such widespread violence and plunder, more and more Filipinos here in the U.S. have chosen to rise up. We are fighting for our rights and dignity by coming together to organize and campaign for changes in our communities and workplaces. The Florida 15 and the United 6 fishermen are fighting trafficking and wage theft. The residents of Juanita in Los Angeles' Historic Filipinotown are fighting for their right to safe housing and services. Caregivers, hotel workers, and Jollibee workers are fighting for just wages and job security around the country.

And on top of this, women, youth, and migrants are building mass organizations that link these struggles to the fight for national democracy in the Philippines. They recognize that the building of a self-reliant economy free from foreign intervention is the key to ending the labor export program that forces our people to migrate away from our homeland and into super-exploitative work and living conditions abroad.

There is a place for all of us in this fight for welfare and not warfare, for rights and not repression.

And to achieve these aspirations, we know we cannot simply ask for them or vote them in place: we must collectively struggle for them. Through our Fight State Neglect and Plunder campaign and U.S. Out of the Philippines campaign, as well as the campaigns we wage alongside our allies — like the Palestinian Youth Movement's Mask Off Maersk and Nodutdol's U.S. Out of Korea campaigns — we can achieve concrete changes for our peoples that U.S. imperialism and its fascist puppets abroad will never readily give.

These people's demands are also synthesized in the People's Platform put forward by the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS). Through the People’s Platform, we unite with the rising masses, including our own Filipino community. ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

We call on Filipinos, allies, and all those tired of being given crumbs by the current system to join us in the streets the week of November 6th to 10th for ILPS US Chapter's national week of action.

Given the unrelenting genocide in Palestine, escalation of war across West Asia, and threat of imperialist-instigated war against China that would be sure to drag the Filipino people into death, we must build a powerful and far-reaching mass movement against U.S.-led war. It is not the Democratic nor Republican party which will bring change to this war-hungry, rotten, and bankrupt system.

Rather, it is it the people united together who have the power to fight for our future.

Welfare, not warfare! Rights, not repression!
Build the mass movement to fight for our livelihood, sovereignty, and future!
U.S. out of the Philippines! U.S. out of everywhere!

Visit linktr.ee/bayanusa to get involved.