Anakbayan DC celebrates 5-year anniversary night
Washington, DC – On Friday evening, November 15, Anakbayan DC celebrated their five-year anniversary with cultural performances including songs, dances, poetry, food and more at American University.
Community members, students and other organizations, such as Anakbayan Montgomery County, Malaya Movement DC, the DC Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Occupation Free DC, and others were also in attendance.
Armand Cuevas, an organizer with Anakbayan DC, stated, “Anakbayan originally started in the Philippines and the DC localized chapter started in 2019, so we had a cultural night on November 15 to celebrate five years of arousing, organizing and mobilizing our local communities. We look forward to many more years of uniting the local Filipino youth and allies, fighting against state neglect and plunder in the Philippines, and ending U.S. imperialism through our work here in the belly of the beast.”
Anakbayan USA is a national organization of Filipino youth and students fighting for national democracy in the Philippines. The organizers of the event stated the three aspects that the National Democratic Movement aims to combat in the Philippines are feudalism, imperialism and bureaucrat capitalism. Additionally, an organizer from Anakbayan DC briefly discussed their experience attending an exposure trip where they traveled to the Philippines, integrated into various communities, and learned from organizers on the ground.
Cuevas stated, “Anakbayan DC is an anti-imperialist local grassroots organization fighting for national democracy in the Philippines with a socialist perspective. We want to see a just and free Philippines without foreign intervention with a government that is truly for the people.”