Riya Ortiz: 'Get troops out of Philippines'
By John Catalinotto
Workers World spoke with Riya Ortiz of the New York chapter
of Bayan, the biggest popular mass organization in the
Philippines. Ortiz, who was born and raised in the Philippines
and is now a New York resident, was seated at the Bayan table
at the side of the Fashion Institute of Technology cafeteria
where the ANSWER conference was taking place June 1.
"Our organization, Bayan, which means 'people,' works on two
levels," she said. "On the one hand, we promote the rights and
welfare of the local Philippine community, focusing on the
needs of working-class Filipinos and of women. While carrying
out this work we join with other people of color to fight
against racism.
"This work in the U.S. and in New York we relate to what is
happening in the Philippines today. For example, we show that
the migration--and 10 percent of the Filipino population is
living outside the country--is driven by the economic crisis.
Remittances, that is, the money the workers in the Diaspora
send home, keeps the home economy afloat.
"Another part of our work," she continued, "is to build
support for the progressive movement in the Philippines. We
carry out anti-war campaigns. We fight to get the U.S. troops
out of the Philippines and to keep them out.
"We are part of the ANSWER steering committee and are active
both in New York and on the West Coast, where there is a large
Filipino community. Today we spoke in the workshop on
globalization and the one on military intervention. It is
always good to merge with other progressive groups to fight the
common enemy--U.S. imperialism. We stand in solidarity with the
oppressed peoples all over the world," Ortiz concluded.
Reprinted from the June 13, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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