From Palestine to the Philippines: University of Washington student activists unite for liberation

Last fall, unrest seized the University of Washington’s Seattle campus in the wake of Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel and Israel’s subsequent bombing that has killed thousands and displaced nearly 2 million people.

In the weeks following the attack, students and faculty walked out of classrooms and flooded Red Square, a vast plaza in the center of the campus, to demand that the University of Washington eliminate economic investments that support Israel, cut ties with Boeing and end the censorship of pro-Palestine students and faculty.

In the sea of protestors were Philippine flag-bearing members of the University of Washington’s chapter of Anakbayan, who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with members of Students United for Palestinian Equality & Return.

Even though the nations they rally around are over 5,000 miles apart, the organizers have been united against what they see as Western political and military power threatening Filipino and Palestinian freedom, independence and stability.

“We’ve come to understand how our struggles are connected — how imperialism and colonialism impact different Indigenous peoples and working peoples, particularly in the Global South,” said Cera Hassinan, a member of Students United for Palestinian Equality & Return. Hassinan is Egyptian American and a member of the Crow Creek Sioux tribe. “We see the importance of building together and organizing together because we’re stronger together.”

A crowd gathers on Red Square at the University of Washington for a rally organized by Students United for Palestinian Equality & Return to support Palestinian resistance on Oct. 12, 2023. The rally was endorsed by a collection of local progressive organizations, including the Seattle and University of Washington chapters of Anakbayan. (Courtesy of Cera Hassinan)

Since Oct. 7, 2023, Anakbayan UW, a youth organization fighting for democracy and sovereignty in the Philippines, has been a recurring presence at major actions undertaken by Hassinan’s group and other local Palestinian liberation organizations.

In December 2023, Anakbayan UW helped organize a sit-in at the office of the University of Washington’s president, Ana Mari Cauce, where protestors reiterated the demands of the October walkout.

“Those were very long hours,” said Michelle Braun, a member of Anakbayan UW. “I was out there for around two hours, and we were also trying to support in other ways — making food, bringing food. The stakes are high and these events are exhausting, but the spirits are really there. I could feel how much people wanted to be there and wanted to support.”

Later in the academic year, Anakbayan UW assisted with the setup and maintenance of the pro-Palestine encampment in the University of Washington’s Quad.

Anakbayan UW set up a tent in the encampment with a Filipino flag draped across the top and invited people to learn about the Filipino liberation struggle, said Ariana Flawau, the secretary-general of the university’s chapter. They planned to host a workshop on Filipino-Palestinian solidarity, but the encampment was disbanded before this event.

Hassinan worked extensively with members of Anakbayan UW and other organizations on the campaign’s media and has attended anti-war rallies organized by Filipino groups.

“I think everyone should care about everyone else’s liberation, but I’ve also felt like I’ve had a very inherent connection to this,” Hassinan said. 

Hassinan’s father is Egyptian and Muslim, and as a child, his family experienced bombings during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War as Israeli forces attempted to capture the Sinai peninsula located between Egypt and Israel.

“I see how Indigenous solidarity is connected and how anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism and Islamophobia has real effects here and abroad. All of these reasons drove me to care about this issue and to be in this struggle,” Hassinan said.

Attending workshops and rallies and having discussions with members of Anakbayan UW painted Hassinan a clear picture of the connections between Filipino, Palestinian and Indigenous liberation movements and introduced her to organizing strategies that she applies to her work.

“Integral to my learning of the Palestinian cause has been seeing and working with and learning from Filipino organizers and struggles, particularly in Seattle,” Hassinan said. “They’re so disciplined, and have very strong political unity.”

While Hassinan only started organizing with Filipino activists in the past year, solidarity between Palestinian liberation activists and Filipino anti-imperialist activists in Seattle did not begin with Hamas’ attack in Israel.

Filipino student activists and members of Anakbayan Seattle and South Seattle have been organizing alongside Palestinian activist groups for years.

In November 2012, Anakbayan Seattle joined Palestinian organizations at a rally outside the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle calling for the end of recent Israeli military operations and airstrikes in the Gaza Strip.

In 2022, the groups held a vigil for Filipino and Palestinian activists who had been killed, and Anakbayan has previously collaborated with Students United for Palestinian Equality & Return for Palestinian Awareness Week and to host educational workshops, said Flawau.

“It was very natural for us to respond to any calls that they make,” Flawau said.

“We aren’t all free until Palestine is free, meaning potentially, we’re not all free until everyone is free,” Hassinan said. It is an idea that unites these organizations.

Palestine and the Philippines’ Shared Experiences with Western Influence

Another point of unity is what Braun, Flawau and Hassinan referred to as “the common enemy”: U.S. imperialism.

“The nature of U.S. imperialism in the Philippines is different from what’s going on in Palestine, where the main antagonist is Israel,” said Vicente Rafael, a professor of history and Southeast Asian studies at the University of Washington. “Israel receives enormous amounts of support from the United States, so you can say that the Palestinian issue is directly connected to the U.S. empire.”

Since Israel’s creation in 1948, the U.S. has provided the country with $150 billion in aid as of 2022, according to the Congressional Research Service. Almost all of this aid has been in the form of military assistance.

Since last fall, the U.S. has provided an additional $8.7 billion in military aid to Israel beyond their standing agreement, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.

In contrast, the U.S. directly colonized the Philippines for nearly 45 years from 1898 to 1942. The U.S. continues to supply military aid to the Philippines and push its interests in Southeast Asia through the Marcos government.

“Some people describe it as a neocolonial relationship — where you don’t have formal occupation, and you don’t have formal settlement, but you do have a relationship of dependence, especially around the economy and diplomacy and geopolitics,” Rafael said.

Noelle Evangelista from the Malaya Movement, an organization advocating for democracy, sovereignty and human rights in the Philippines, performs a song about the struggles of the Filipino people against socioeconomic issues and U.S. imperialism. A person wearing a keffiyeh, a symbol of Palestinian liberation, plays percussion. (Isabel Marie Cabañero Smith for AAJA Voices)

Filipino anti-imperialist activists and Palestinian liberation activists have forged a deeper connection because they understand their shared experiences with U.S. military influence.

“Solidarity I think can mean something as simple as going to important events — coming together for rallies and going to each other’s rallies — to understanding how all of our struggles are connected, knowing that U.S. militarism impacts Palestine, but it also impacts the Philippines,” Hassinan said. “Solidarity means working together, building together, and organizing together until we’re free and liberated.”

Braun said this does not mean the Palestinian liberation movement and the Filipino anti-imperialist movement are homogenous.

“We don’t have to unite on every single thing,” Braun said. “We don’t have to be part of the same movements, but we have a shared fight, we have a shared enemy, and that is a basis on which to work together.”

Continuing to Struggle Together

Although their numbers have dwindled as students disperse for the summer, Seattle-based Filipino anti-imperialist activists and Palestinian liberation activists have not slowed down.

During a scorching heatwave, members of Filipino anti-imperialist organizations and Palestinian liberation organizations gathered at the fenced perimeter of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, a military base in Tacoma, Wash., on July 7.

Flawau and Hassinan attended the rally alongside members of the local Anakbayan chapters, Students United for Palestinian Equality & Return and other local anti-war groups where they protested the U.S.’s hosting of the Rim of Pacific Exercise, an international military exercise conducted in the Pacific Ocean.

Protestors on kayaks and small boats fly the Philippine and Palestinian flags as part of a rally at the Seattle waterfront on July 30, 2024. They launched from a nearby dock and paddled or boated along the waterfront to the rally on Pier 62. (Isabel Marie Cabañero Smith for AAJA Voices)

More recently, a coalition of anti-imperialist organizations hosted a rally along the waterfront in downtown Seattle on July 30.

On the pier, people wore shirts reading “From Palestine to the Philippines. Stop the U.S. war machine,” and both Philippine flags and keffiyehs draped across their shoulders. In the water, protestors in kayaks and small boats who had launched from a nearby dock flew the Palestinian and Philippine flags side by side.

Activists like Flawau say that solidarity is strongest in moments like these.

“To struggle with other people and to uplift the students that we’re fighting for, the workers that we’re fighting for, whether it’s here locally or overseas in our homelands,” Flawau said, “that is worth living for.”