In the viral Atlantic article, “My Family’s Slave,” author Alex Tizon tells his account of Eudocia Tomas Pulido, who was to Tizon’s family both “Lola” and slave. Behind the heart-wrenching storytelling is a reality we must face: the oppressive class structures and culture that brought forth Eudocia’s enslavement and trafficking, and the need to change them in order to address the root of modern day slavery within the Filipino community.
Feudalism is primarily an agriculture-based economic system where most farmers or peasants don’t own land and are forced to work for a landlord who profits off excessive land rent rates, exorbitant loan interest rates, and very low crop prices, among others. Over decades, this setup has become dominant across the Philippines. In effect, it has left 9 out of 10 farmers landless today and has forced peasants and families to sell their labor to landlords, in urban areas, and abroad.
Equally important to this economic system is the backward haciendero, or feudal, culture needed to maintain it. Oppressive religious practices combined with the lack of access to quality education produces a culture in which people internalize unquestioning obedience and utang na loob (debt of gratitude). It produces a society where exploitation is downplayed as a temporary state worth bearing to prevent any collective resistance and thoroughgoing change. In a feudal society, bahala na (come what may) becomes a guiding principle, just as Eudocia was forced to internalize.
Domestic feudalism also plays a role in the forced migration of millions of Filipinos every year. Along with imperialist interests from countries like the U.S., feudalism helps to maintain an economic structure in the Philippines that is export-oriented and import-dependent. On one hand, agricultural products like sugar and coconuts produced on feudal haciendas (with one of the largest haciendas in the Philippines located in the same province Eudocia hails from), as well as other natural resources like minerals, are exported to other countries. On the other hand, finished consumer goods—like electronics, clothes, and cars—are largely imported and sold to the Philippines at high rates rather than made domestically. This is due to unequal trade agreements with imperialist countries that seek to dump excess products on foreign markets to earn profit. In essence, Filipino peasant farmers who work long days to produce goods that feed and supply the rest of the world face the harsh contradiction of being unable to provide for their own families.
The result? Lack of domestic industry and widespread landlessness—conditions that have pushed Filipinos into poverty, and subsequently out of the country to find work. Facilitated by Philippine laws and institutions, and dictated by foreign demands, Philippine migration has supplied the world with at least 12 million Filipinos, four million of whom are in the U.S., with one of those families being the Tizons. Beyond the reality that Filipinos are forced to migrate abroad due to lack of economic opportunity at home, many are actually trafficked and forced to work in different countries. Indeed, Eudocia is one of hundreds of Filipinos who are trafficked into the U.S. every year as teachers, bakery workers, shipyard workers, and more.
Tizon’s confession opened the eyes of many to an unjust social practice occurring in the Philippines and abroad. It is a practice stemming from feudalism, imperialism, and a government in place that facilitates this exploitation and oppression of its people. This does not exonerate the Tizon family’s abuse and exploitation of Eudocia. But in seeking justice for Eudocia, we should seek justice as well for the millions of Filipinos pushed into poverty and out of the country by feudal landlessness, joblessness, and the lack of opportunities. We invite those seeking to channel their justified rage, sadness, and desire to act to meet with or join a local chapter of Anakbayan-USA or other BAYAN USA organizations near you. Only through collective action and organizing can we ensure that no other person must live their life as someone else’s servant.
Latin America most abused (by US) continent. Even as latinos are poised to inherit US because of the US policies'blowback US still cannot quit!On Saturday, May 20, 2023 at 11:59:00 PM GMT+5, Chas Freeman via Salon <salon@listserve.com> wrote:--May 19, 2023Mexico: AMLO Condemns US Government Funding of Opposition Groups
The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has condemned the US government’s funding of the Mexican opposition through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). As evidence, he highlighted the recent exposépublished by Mexican journalist Nancy Flores in the investigative news outlet Contralínea revealing that from 2019-2021, the United States government through USAID sponsorship programs donated 48.9 million Mexican pesos, equivalent to about $2.8 million, to Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity (MCCI), a right-wing political organization masquerading as a civil society association.
President López Obrador has repeatedly accused the US government of financing the Mexican opposition with the aim of destabilizing his government. Recently, USAID denied that the funds it allocates to “civil society” in Mexico, or any other country, have any political objective.
“No funding from the US government can be used for partisan purposes,” the USAID stated in a formal response to AMLO’s allegations.
AMLO Asks Biden to Stop USAID Financing Opposition Groups in Mexico
However, the president reiterated his criticisms on Thursday, May 18, during his regular morning press conference. “This US agency [USAID] distances itself from the criticism and says that it is not true, but there is evidence that it gives money to these groups that are openly against a legal, legitimate, and independent government,” he said while showcasing Contralínea’s investigative reporting.
He emphasized that the US government’s funding of the Mexican opposition is an act of interference and a violation of Mexico’s sovereignty. “We are not a colony or protectorate, they have to learn to respect us,” AMLO said.
USAID’s ambiguous response and AMLO’s criticisms
Recently, the USAID issued a response to the Mexican president’s criticisms of the US government’s allocation of funds to organizations that are openly opposed to his administration and all of his policies. “The US government and its agencies have rigorous mechanisms in place to monitor and ensure that US assistance is implemented objectively and in accordance with the provisions of the grants,” USAID said in that statement sent to the government of Mexico.The agency stated that it has “collaborated” with Mexico for more than 40 years and is “a key partner” in the international cooperation of the two countries, embodied by López Obrador and US President Joe Biden.
“Today, USAID and the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID) jointly coordinate our overseas assistance to address the root causes of migration in northern Central America,” the statement said.
It added that the USAID also focuses on mutual US-Mexico priorities such as combating crime and violence, strengthening the rule of law, improving transparency, and protecting and promoting human rights.
The statement also claimed that the USAID funds programs that help the people of rural communities create sources of income while respecting the environment.
However, López Obrador pointed out that the programs that US agencies finance in Mexico are actually based on the interests of the US government as evidenced by its financing of the MCCI, headed by multimillionaire businessman Claudio X. González Guajardo, one of the main opponents of the current government of Mexico.
For AMLO, who even penned a letter to Biden at the beginning of this year about the interventionist acts of the US government in Mexico, USAID “has dedicated itself to financing organizations openly opposed to the legal and legitimate government” that he represents, and demanded an end to the allocation of funds to such organizations.
(Últimas Noticias) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
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