Compatriots-NDFP, the revolutionary organization of Filipinos overseas recently announced the formation of two new chapters in Australia and the United States.
More than 300 representatives from 30 Compatriots chapters across the US attended the assembly to establish the national Compatriots chapter. They opened the assembly with a march and cultural presentation. The assembly elected the leadership of Compatriots-US. The gathering also established the US Country Chapter Program, which will guide the actions of Compatriots members in the country. Reaching the greatest number of Filipinos in the US, now numbering nearly five million, will be a major challenge for the chapter. This figure is one-third of Filipinos working overseas worldwide.
“[The gathering] is a testament to the revolutionary will and fervor of Filipinos in the US to build the revolutionary mass movement of overseas Filipinos that will help in putting an end to the oppression and exploitation of the Filipino people and pave the way for a bright socialist future,” Compatriots-NDFP declared.
Closing the program, the assembly honored the martyrs and heroes of the Philippine revolution, including Filipino-Americans who returned to the Philippines to serve the people in the countryside.
Meanwhile in Australia, a new local chapter named Compatriots-NDFP Sierra Madre was formed at a gathering on October 16. The chapter elected officers to lead efforts in strengthening the revolutionary underground movement in the area. Those attending also pledged to serve the advance of the people’s democratic revolution.
Compatriots-NDFP Sierra Madre said many Filipinos in Australia are driven to work as migrant laborers by worsening conditions in Philippine society.
“The continuing imperialist plunder of our country, which has resulted in an export-oriented and import-dependent economy, drives Filipinos to seek livelihoods abroad,” the group said.
The chapter called on Filipino migrant workers in Australia to pursue genuine land reform and national industrialization as responses to the political turmoil and economic crisis facing Filipinos. “Only through the revolutionary struggle of the Filipino people in waging a protracted people’s war can Filipino migrants free themselves from forced migration,” the group said.
Compatriots is an allied organization of the National Democratic Front of the Philippiones (NDFP). It supports the armed struggle of the New People’s Army (NPA) and participates in advancing the people’s democratic revolution.
“We encourage your newly formed chapters to boldly expand the compatriots movement abroad. Go beyond your immediate circles and reach every member of the Filipino diaspora as possible. Organize where our compatriots live, eat, work, study, or gather,” said the NDFP International Office as it encouraged the newly formed chapters to strengthen and expand the revolutionary underground.