GabNet/MA-AL CHAIR TELLS WASHINGTON ADVOCATES, LEGISLATORS: SOCIETY MUST STOP TREATING CHILDREN LIKE A THROW-AWAY POPULATION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 10, 2009
Jollene Levid
secgen@gabnet.org
Tel: 323-356-4748

Gabnet/Ma-Al Chair Tells Washington Advocates, Legislators:  Society Must Stop Treating Children like a Throw-away Population

LOS ANGELES:  Dr. Annalisa Enrile, interim  national chairperson of Gabnet of the Mariposa Alliance, did not mince her words at her presentation on trafficked children at the “Children Uniting Nations” conference in Washington, DC. 
“Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is one of the major driving forces of trafficking,” said Dr. Enrile. 
She pointed out that “In the last 10 years, the population of CSE in the United States has gone from 300,000 to 3 million.  Children are often trafficked within and across borders and may also be trafficked multiple times.  Most child victims of trafficking come from rural communities and from impoverished families. Because of the poverty areas they are from, most children are also members of the most marginalized populations in their countries with a lack of educational or economic opportunity.” 

True to her activist roots, the Chair of Gabnet/Ma-Al highlighted the importance of advocacy and grassroots organizing as a response to the plight of trafficked women and children. She discussed the need and efficacy of organizing the youth citing the example of GabNet Youth in Los Angeles. 

Afterwards, Dr. Enrile had discussions with participants on further partnerships between CUN and Gabnet to develop a mentoring program for CSEC victims in areas where there are GabNet chapters.

“GabNet has a long history working against the trafficking of women and children,” she told the participants.  “CUN on the other hand has developed one of the best mentoring projects for foster children in the country.  This partnership will be rely on our strengths as organizations to address the growing epidemic of girls in the child welfare system who are being exploited as CSEC victims.”

Dr. Enrile met advocates Russell Simmons, founder of Def Jam and Phat Farm,  and Gabrielle Union, along with several key legislators and social service providers like the Casey Family Foundation. 

Gabnet of the Mariposa Alliance has waged the Purple Rose Campaign against the sexual trafficking of Filipinas and Filipino children for more than a decade.  Recently, Gabnet expanded its anti-trafficking coverage to include Filipinas exported for manual labor, principally domestic work.

Gabnet will hold its 20th anniversary this September in Berkeley, California and will help formally launch the Mariposa Alliance, a center for joint work by US and transnational women.  For more information on these events, contact:  secgen@gabnet.org.  — ##

GABNET/MA-AL DECRIES SEXIST & RACIST ATTACKS ON SOTOMAYOR, LA RAZA

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 31, 2009
Jollene Levid, Gabnet Secretary-General
secgen@gabnet.org
Tel: 323-356-4748
 
GABNET/MA-AL DECRIES SEXIST AND RACIST ATTACKS ON SOTOMAYOR, LA RAZA
Gabnet of the Mariposa Alliance takes issue with the barrage of sexist and racist attacks unleashed by predominantly white male neo-conservatives on Judge Sonia Sotomayor, who has been nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court.
 
If ever anyone doubted the strength of sexism in the US, consider the statement of Nixon-era ex-convict G. Gordon Liddy:  “Let’s hope that the key conferences aren’t when she’s menstruating or something, or just before she’s going to menstruate.  That would really be bad.  Lord knows what we would get then.”
 
Sotomayor has been labeled “emotional,” and a “schoolmarm,” and despite graduating summa cum laude, her smarts questioned.  The neo-con cabal of predominantly rich, straight, white men has called her a “reverse racist” for having said that she’d hope “a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”  Not content with that, they have even smeared the organization of Latinos, La Raza, with which Sotomayor is affiliated, calling it a “KKK.”  How many lynching and cross-burnings did La Raza do, pray tell?   
 
All the neo-cons have done is affirm the need for organizations like La Raza to struggle for civil and human rights for ethnic minorities in this country.
 
All the neo-cons have done is affirm the need for organizations like Gabnet and the Mariposa Alliance to advance the civil and human rights of women in this country.
 
And they have simply affirmed the sentiments of Sotomayor statement:  indeed, a woman with the richness of her experience would, more often than not, reach a better conclusion than a white male.
 
For one, we women and women of color will not push this country into two wars, wallow in such self-indulgence as to ruin the world’s financial system, transfer public monies to war profiteers like Halliburton, spy on US citizens, turn torture into a government policy, etc., etc.  Ann Coulter probably will but she has the values of the neo-con man – Carl Rove’s values, he who was called by his friend and boss George W. Bush “turd blossom.”
 
We call on all women and men who desire honest and profound political discourse to reject this anti-woman and racist diatribe masquerading as politics.
 
We call on all women and men who desire honest and profound political discourse to reject the neo-cons smear tactics as fear-mongering.
We call on all women and women of ethnicity to organize and struggle even more against the hidden but pervasive sexism and racism embedded in US society.
 
REJECT SMEAR TACTICS AND FEAR-MONGERING IN POLITICS!
ORGANIZE, STRUGGLE AND ADVANCE THE CAUSE OF WOMEN’S EQUALITY!
ONWARD TO WOMEN’S LIBERATION!
A WOMAN’S PLACE IS AT THE HEAD OF THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERATION!
 
###

GABNET CALLS DECISION AGAINST SAME SEX MARRIAGE DISCRIMINATORY

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 26, 2009
Jollene Levid, Gabnet Secretary-General
secgen@gabnet.org
Tel: 323-356-4748

The California Supreme Court upheld the supposed legality of Proposition 8  banning same-sex marriages today. The decision allows a bare majority of voters to deprive an entire societal group of Californians of their basic right to marry whom they choose.  By doing so, the California Supreme Court abdicated its fundamental function of rendering justice even-handedly, in both the spirit and letter of the law.
Gabnet of the Mariposa Alliance (Ma-Al) condemns the CA Supreme Court for this ruling, as Gabnet has held inviolable the control of women, men, transgender and gender non-conforming people over their own bodies, over their sexualiaty.  Gabnet affirms the right of all to choose whom to marry based on informed consent and age of majority.
In a state and country that allows men, including batterers and serial murderers, to purchase brides through catalogues and online, Gabnet/Ma-Al calls attention to the irony of the recent CA Supreme Court ruling. Banning same-sex marriage while tolerating the purchase of women to become wives only underscores the cash nexus in interpersonal relationships under imperialism.  It highlights the absolute injustice of Proposition 8.  
Gabnet/Ma-Al denounces the homophobic, heterosexist decision of the Supreme Court and warns against the repeating of history: California anti-miscegenation laws once forbade people of color marrying white Californians in this state, and with the passage of Proposition 8 in California, we see the anti-human nature of capitalist law once again.
Proposition 8 must be over-turned.  Minority groups deserve their basic rights.  Women, men, transgender, and gender non-conforming people deserve the right to marry whom they choose, and their choices respected by law.
 
Gabnet/Ma-Al calls on all who cherish freedom and equality to view the struggle for same-sex marriage as part and parcel of all our struggle for equality and for the right to have our humanity recognized and respected.  Let us work together to defeat the forces of those who wish to maintain class-based, race-based and gender-based oppression.
LOVE HAS NO GENDER: REPEAL PROPOSITION 8!
LEGALIZATION FOR SAME-SEX UNIONS!
LGBTQI/WOMEN’S RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS! — ###

GABNET YOUTH CONDEMNS LAUSD SCHOOL BOARD FOR INTIMIDATION AND UNION-BUSTING

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 13, 2009
Ivy Quicho, Gabnet Organizing Director
Tel: 951-333-4306
organizing@gabnet.org

GABNET YOUTH CONDEMNS LAUSD SCHOOL BOARD FOR INTIMIDATION AND UNION-BUSTING

Gabnet Youth condemns the recent LA School Board and Superintendent
Ramon Cortines’ threats to impose an injunction if the teachers
continue with their planned strike. On April 30th, over 73% of the
United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union members voted for a one-day
strike on May 15th to protest the budget cuts that would lay-off over
5,000 teachers and leave students in overcrowded classrooms.

Following a March 16th walk-out of over 2,000 students led by Gabnet
Youth, and student strikes throughout the city, the LA School Board
has been preparing to stop the teacher strike and any simultaneous
student protest on May 15th. Earlier this week, parents received a
phone call to their home telling them to send their children to school
and that teachers and students alike must stay in their classrooms.
“The district left a message for my parents while they were at work.
When I heard it I knew that they were trying to warn my parents and
intimidate me so that I won’t walk-out to protest with my teachers,”
explained Cassandra Roman, Gabnet Youth member.

Today, students were further informed that the United Teachers of Los
Angeles union officially called off the one-day May 15th strike to
avoid legal action by the School Board. There are still ongoing
discussions as to what course of action teachers will take this
Friday. “Our teachers told us that the strike was officially called
off, but that they may still take to the streets. We told them that
the students support them and that we will stand with them despite the
School Board threats – we’re not afraid,” said Yvania Zepeda, Gabnet
Youth leader.

The attempt to silence the teachers and students has mobilized the
larger community. Last week, Gabnet co-sponsored a forum held by
Kabataang maka-Bayan (KmB) to bring the education cuts to the
attention of the Echo Park and Downtown residents. “The larger
community is watching and we are disgusted at the LA School Board’s
union-busting and cutting of resources to the schools that already get
the least,” stated Ivy Quicho, Gabnet Organizing Director. “Gabnet is
committed to fight alongside teachers and students until we see
educational equity,” added Ms. Quicho.

Gabnet Youth, a unit of the Gabnet Los Angeles chapter, has been
organizing their peers and informing them on the budget cuts to
education since February. They have partnered with teacher groups to
organize community forums, picket the School Board, and are meeting
weekly to organize to stop the lay-offs of their teachers and funding
cuts to their schools.

GABNet/Ma-Al Calls for Dismantling of Imperialism: Demands Migrant Workers Legalization

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2, 2009
Jollene Levid, Gabnet Secretary-General
secgen@gabnet.org
323-356-4748
 
GABNet/Ma-Al Calls for Dismantling of Imperialism; 
Demands Migrant Workers Legalization
 
Los Angeles:  From the East Coast to the West Coast, GabNet of the Mariposa Alliance carried its banner in all the major mobilizations in the US on International Labor Day, May 1, 2009, with a call to dismantle imperialism even as it demanded legalization of all migrant workers’ status in the US. 
 
Marching with ethnic and worker contingents, GabNet brought its anti-imperialist perspective to the issue of immigration, pinpointing US-led imperialism as the root cause of migration.  Favorite chant of the day was: 
 
From Iraq to Palestine,    (repeat)
Occupation is a crime!
Yea, yea, yea, yea!  Yea, yea, yea, yeah!
Immigrants demand our rights,
We’ll unite and we will fight!
Yea, yea, yea, yea!  Yea, yea, yea, yeah!
From the borders to the streets,
Our people will be free!
Yea, yea, yea, yea! Yea, yea, yea, yeah!
 
In its official 2009 May Day statement, GabNet of the Mariposa Alliance declared that US-led imperialism “renders (the migrant’s) home countries virtually economically uninhabitable,” thus forcing women, men and even children to migrate to survive. 
 
GabNet of the Mariposa Alliance condemned imperialism for intensifying patriarchal values, even as it drives women into acute poverty by re-organizing national economies and destroying women’s livelihood.  “Women are transformed into cheap labor and sex commodity, as we witness in the export processing zones of the world and in the global sex trade.  As if this injury is not sufficient, imperialist culture then insults women into an acceptance of their selves as having value only in terms of how their sexuality can serve men.  Women are being asked to ignore the history of prostitution as originating in slavery,” the statement said. 
 
The San Diego chapter of GabNet led a landmark demonstration of 1,000 men and women to the surprise of residents of this military city. 
 
In Los Angeles, GabNet co-sponsored a march from Echo Park with MIWON and helped turn out 15,000 marchers.  GabNet read its statement at La Placita Olvera where the marchers congregated. 
 
In New York, GabNet was with a 100-strong contingent of Filipinos, mostly women, who marched with the Immigrant Communities in Action.  Members braved the rain which had fallen intermittently the whole day but did not deter some 10,000 people from congregating at Union Square. 
 
Mainstream media, including Spanish television, covered the presence of GabNet at all the rallies – perhaps in reaction to the Filipinas’ strong presence at all the rallies.  There are only three million Filipinos total in the United States.

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GABNET LA Now on Twitter

Yes, in this time where cyber social networking apparatuses have yielded a societal takeover,  GABNET LA would like to invite you to join us on Twitter.  Follow us at www.twitter.com/gabnetla and stay up to date with our current happenings, facts, and news stories pertinent to women’s empowerment and our current campaigns.

DENIM DAY BY GABNET/MA-AL

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 24, 2009
Maureen Ivy Quicho, Gabnet National Organizing Director
organizing@gabnet.org
Tel: 951-333-4306

DENIM DAY BY GABNET/MA-AL IS DAY OF CALL FOR JUSTICE FOR ALL RAPE SURVIVORS, INCLUDING “NICOLE”

LOS ANGELES: Over 200 high school students attended the April 22nd Denim Day hosted by the youth arm of GabNet of the Mariposa Alliance of the Civitas School of Leadership at the Edward Roybal Learning Center.  The event called for an end to victim blaming and to bring to light the millions of girls sexually assaulted in the United States.

Sexual violence has often been taken as par for the course of growing up among the youth, particularly youth of color within working class communities.  Over 1 in 5 female students between the 9th and 12th grade reported physical or sexual violence, or both, from a dating partner.  Between 30-50% of Latina, South Asian, and Korean immigrant women have been sexually or physically abused by an intimate male partner – a percentage well over that for the general national population of women.  Women and girls living in poverty are twice as likely to be raped than those who are not.   Despite this, only 2% of rapists are convicted and imprisoned.

Today GabNet/Ma-Al Youth of Civitas proved that young people will no longer be silent about this issue.  Jeans and banners emblazoned with statistics were hung across the campus and Denim Day buttons and flyers were distributed. 

“We are tired of women and girls being blamed for rape because of what they wear. We want girls to know that it is not their fault and that we stand by their side,” said Kimberly Hernandez.

The origin of Denim Day is parallel to the current case of “Nicole” a Filipina who was raped by a US marine, Corporal Daniel Smith.  Originally sentenced to 40 years in jail, Smith was recently acquitted by the Philippine Court of Appeals, after “Nicole” provided an affidavit of mitigating circumstances, allegedly in exchange for an immigrant visa to the US.  The Nicole case had echoes of an even earlier incident involving an 18-year-old Italian girl in 1992 whose rape case was overturned by the Supreme Court because she wore tight-fitting jeans that she supposedly helped remove during the rape.  That, according to the Supreme Court, made it consensual sex – the same argument used to acquit Smith two days ago.  The main difference was that the bottom line argument against Nicole was that she was “flirting” and this was a “romantic episode.”       

Upon learning of Nicole’s rape, GabNet, now of the Mariposa Alliance, laid down a picket on November 4, 2005, at nine a.m. Los Angeles time and continued throughout the four years to stand by Nicole.  GABNet continues this principled stand and advocacy for all woman and girl survivors of rape.   More, GabNet demands the inclusion of anti-sexual violence, trafficking and prostitution protection for women and girls in all US military agreements with all US states and other countries.  GabNet firmly believes that militarism is one factor in the ever-increasing intensification of sexism and violence against women and girls .

May Day Statement of the GABNet/Ma-Al

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 21, 2009
Jollene Levid
Gabnet Secretary-General
secgen@gabnet.org
Tel: 323-356-4748
 
May Day Statement of the GABNet/Ma-Al:
 Demand Immigration Reform; Act to Dismantle Imperialism  
 
The call for a Comprehensive Immigration Reform must be made in conjunction with steadfast  resistance to the globalization policies and practices by US-led imperialism, and an equally steadfast support for people’s movements in the much-imposed upon continents of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
 
May First being International Labor Day, we must recognize the role that imperialism plays in the burgeoning of migration the world over. GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance understands that while comprehensive immigration reform may well solve certain basic issues afflicting our transnational communities here, the root cause of migration is US-led imperialism which has virtually made our home countries economically uninhabitable. 
 
Women the world over have suffered exponentially under imperialist globalization, which exacerbates the patriarchal view that they are a disposable segment of the national population.  Women are driven to acute poverty by the destruction of their traditional livelihood as multinational conglomerates take over national resources and re-organizes national economies into profit-generating machinery for their own benefit.  Women are transformed into cheap labor and sex commodity, as witness in the export processing zones of the world and in the global sex trade.  As if this injury is not sufficient, imperialist culture insults women by pandering the idea that women have value only in terms of how their sexuality can become a source of cash and profit.  Women are being asked to ignore the history of prostitution as originating in slavery.  Truly, imperialism exacerbates patriarchal values, disguising the objectification of women as “choice” and “agency.”
 
On this year’s International Workers’ Day GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance calls on all women to reaffirm their commitment to women’s liberation.  March against imperialism and women’s exploitation;  march for workers and immigrant rights!  
 
GABNet honors all women — migrant, transnational and citizens — for the nobility of their sacrifice to enable their families, communities and nations to survive.  At this time when the financial system’s collapse reveals how greed and selfishness are rewarded the most, women continue to be expected to be selfless and generous, to the extent of suspending their own lives to become workhorses for nations ravaged by imperialism. 
 
 Women in developing countries across the world have long been the engine of development and growth, taking risks and working impossibly hard to provide for their families.  Every day, approximately 3000 Filipinas leave their homes and children to enter precarious situations that can only be described as modern-day slavery.   Sadly, from Nepal to Senegal, from Iraq to Palestine, our sisters have become a symbol of what imperialism means to women: sexual slavery, relentless exploitation, violence, and death.
 
The global economic crisis is devastating the lives of women workers and their families.  In  Asia and Latin America, women working in export manufacturing industries, like clothes and electronics, are often first to be laid off, frequently without pay or compensation. In the Philippines, sex traffickers prey on women who have been laid off from factory jobs, asking them if they want to go and work abroad.  Over one million women and children are trafficked internationally every year, becoming victims of sexual exploitation, labor exploitation and abuse.    
 
There is a direct line between the transformation of women into private property in 4500 B.C. and their continuing oppression and exploitation in the 21st century.  Time to put a stop to this!  Lay down the New Women’s Agenda!  Equality for all in all spheres of human life! 
 
 
STOP ALL ICE RAIDS AND DEPORTATIONS!
LEGALIZATION OF ALL WORKING MIGRANTS!
STOP THE TRAFFICKING AND PROSTITUTION OF WOMEN! 
GENUINE EQUALITY FOR ALL!
A WOMAN’S PLACE IS AT THE HEAD OF THE STRUGGLE FOR THE

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