Bagong Alyansang Makabayan

ANAKBAYAN-Southern Tagalog is an affiliate organization of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Southern Tagalog.

 

BAGONG ALYANSANG MAKABAYAN (BAYAN) or New Patriotic Alliance was established in May 1985 at the height of the struggle against the US-Marcos dictatorship. It brought together more than one thousand mass organizations with a total membership of more than one million, representing different classes and sectors of society and committed to the people’s struggle for national liberation and democracy.

Bayan is a multisectoral formation struggling for national and social liberation against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. It envisions a just society, free from foreign domination.

Founded on the determination and strength of the majority of oppressed classes, Bayan is an alliance composed mainly of organizations of workers and peasants. Various sectors from the youth, women, indigenous peoples, government employees and professionals also account for many of our organizational members. Bayan counts as its members individual personages who serve in its leading bodies.

As an alliance of organizations, BAYAN promotes the unity of its participating organizations through the principle of consensus in decision-making, after a free and full discussions of issues and with due respect to the independence and initiative of each participating organization. BAYAN also promotes the principles of mutual support, cooperation and protection between and among its participating organizations.

BAYAN propagates and fights for the nationalist and democratic demands of the people through legal and militant forms of struggle. It conducts forums, seminars, lobbying, pickets, strikes, marches, demonstrations and people’s strikes. It participates in elections in various ways and gets involved in legal actions. Though it does not engage in armed struggle, BAYAN respects the right of others to take such an option for the just redress of grievances.

Over the past 25 years, Bayan figured prominently in the ouster of the Marcos dictatorship and the Estrada regime. It has fought various repressive policies and campaigns, including the wave of extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances under the Arroyo regime. The organization was at the forefront of the movement to oust the corrupt, fascist and puppet Arroyo government. Bayan continues to fight for justice for the human rights victims of the Marcos and Arroyo regimes.

Bayan was also involved in the ouster of the US military bases in the Philippines in 1991 and in the ongoing struggle against the RP-US Visiting Forces Agreement.

BAYAN is a multi-sectoral campaign center for its member organizations nationwide. Its range of activities include fora, seminars, lobbying, pickets, marches, demonstrations and people’s strikes;

BAYAN works with other patriotic and progressive organizations and individuals based on the principles of consensus, independence and initiative;

BAYAN supports progressive candidates and parties in elections; Conducts education campaigns on the country’s basic problems and how to solve them in ways that are democratic and people-oriented;

BAYAN initiates and/or promotes socio-economic relief and rehabilitation projects in support and in defense of the democratic rights of internal refugees and other victims of militarization and natural and man-made calamities, especially among the peasants and national minorities in the countryside.

BAYAN is a founding member organization of the International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS) and works with other anti-imperialist and democratic forces worldwide.

BAYAN has regional, provincial and local chapters throughout the Philippines as well as overseas chapters in the United States and Canada. It has also established Information Desks in Hong Kong and Japan. It is currently developing its formation in Europe.

---