FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEValerie Francisco, Chairperson, GABRIELA-USA, [email protected] On February 14th, 2014 GABRIELA-USA will join One Billion Rising (OBR), a global call for women survivors of violence and those who love them, to gather safely in public spaces to demand justice. We recognize that we cannot end the various forms of violence against women, including gender violence, poverty, racism, war, the plunder of the environment, without addressing that they are rooted in a global imperialist and patriarchal system. GABRIELA-USA, along with partner organizations and individuals, will be rising for justice on V-DAY in cities across the U.S. including Seattle, San Francisco, New York City, Portland and Washington DC, and are calling on all Filipinos and solidarity allies to join in our actions.  In its second year of participation in OBR, GABRIELA-USA is highlighting survivors of human and labor trafficking, as well as migrant workers. Its newest chapter, launched in Washington D.C. this past October 2013, majority of the 50+ members are survivors of human trafficking. These trafficked teachers were recruited by an agency that promised high-salaried jobs with benefits, housing and transportation. Upon arriving to the U.S., the teachers were regularly threatened with deportation, kept under constant surveillance, control, and manipulation. It is under these slave-like conditions, that these women worked in order to survive. “The Aquino Administration praises Overseas Filipino Workers as the modern heroes of today, but does not want to be accountable to them when abused, exploited, or taken advantage of abroad,” said Jo Quiambao, Co-Chairperson of GABRIELA D.C. “We will educate, organize, and mobilize our women to fight for their rights and demand that this type of violence stops in our community. The GABRIELA chapter in the San Francisco Bay Area is also working closely with teachers recruited by the same agency, and the GABRIELA chapter in New York continues to work with the women of the Florida 15, who have already filed human trafficking cases with the Department of Justice, and still in search for their trafficker, Jojo Villanueva. Tina Shauf, National Campaigns Officer, says “The Aquino Administration is actually the biggest human trafficker of Filipinos abroad, with its Labor Export Program. We demand an end to the trafficking and exploitation of our people! We call on the Filipino community and our allies to support all trafficking survivors engaged in legal cases, both in the Philippines and the U.S.”  On February 14th GABRIELA-USA calls on the Philippine government to respond to the issues of trafficking of all Filipino people, and to address the root causes of migration, poverty and underdevelopment in the Philippines. The fight to end violence against women is the fight against an imperialist system that inherently imposes violence on women. Join us in major activities across the country, in a global dance-protest to demand justice for all survivors and victims of human and labor trafficking, and forced migration! NOYNOY AQUINO: THE BIGGEST HUMAN TRAFFICKER OF FILIPINOS! END THE LABOR EXPORT POLICY OF THE PHILIPPINES! NO TO IMPERIALIST TRADE POLICIES! JUSTICE FOR ALL VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND ALL MIGRANT WORKERS! OUR PEOPLE ARE NOT FOR SALE! Continue reading