HEART-TO-HEART WITH OUR SISTERS ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF PURPLE ROSE

On February 14, 2009, GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance commemorates a full decade of the Purple Rose Campaign against the trafficking of women and children from the Philippines.

GABNet of the Mariposa Alliance was among the first to hold imperialist globalization as the main culprit in the burgeoining of the labor and sex trafficking of women. GABNet was also the first to identify the unholy alliance between imperialism and Philippine patriarchal feudalism as the main factors in the transformation of women and children into commodity.

The past decade vindicates the correctness of this analysis and the validity of the Purple Rose Campaign.

For ten years, Gabnet has been instrumental in the passage of landmark legislation like the International Marriage Broker Regulation Act (IMBRA), creating Purple Rose Committees throughout the country, holding local and federal governments responsible for trafficking, and bringing the Purple Rose Campaign to 11 countries.

"The past decade of work in the Purple Rose Campaign made us realize how very basic is the right of woman to control over her body," said International Spokesperson Ninotchka Rosca. "So long as women can be bought and sold, equality will remain elusive. This form of disenfranchisement antedates all over forms of inequality, disenfranchisement and alienation. The Purple Rose analysis immediately resonated with women of differing countries because this disenfranchisement is a common historic experience."

The failing global economic system makes the need for the Purple Rose Campaign more pressing than ever. Every year, a million people enter the sex trade, 80% are women and 50% are minors. An additional 2.45 million persons are victims of labor trafficking. In the United States alone, over 50,000 women and children are trafficked each year into the country's borders, and 5,000 Filipina mail order brides are bought by American men annually. The majority of trafficking victims come from the global South - Asia, South America, and Africa - the continents whose economies are especially impacted by lopsided economic agreements and "free trade.""Women and children are literally forced to cross borders to survive; we must tackle trafficking by identifying its roots - poverty and despair caused by imperialism and patriarchal socio-political systems, " said Dr. Annalisa Enrile, Interim Gabnet Chairperson.

This year, Gabnet celebrates the Purple Rose Campaign's anniversary by reaffirming its commitment to anti-trafficking work. From February 9th-14th, Gabnet will engage in nationally-coordinated activities. In the Bay Area, Gabnet will host workshops at the Empowering Women of Color Conference in Berkeley. The Los Angeles chapter will bring anti-trafficking workshops to LA public high schools and also deliver advocacy messages to local legislators. Gabnet Irvine will host educational forums with UC Irvine students and South Bay youth. The San Diego chapter will do mass leafleting and host a social justice mixer, and Gabnet NY/NJ will host a feminist dinner for organizational representatives engaged in anti-trafficking work.

GABNet calls on all women interested in raising the struggle against the labor and sexual exploitation of women to join the Purple Rose Campaign. Contact us at: gabnet@gabnet.org, or call 323-356-4748.

JOBS FOR WOMEN, NOT WOMEN FOR THE SEX TRADE! IMF/WB ENCOURAGES TRAFFICKING! GLOBALIZATION FEEDS TRAFFICKING -- END IT! WOMEN UNITE; UNCHAIN YOURSELVES; RAISE YOUR FISTS FOR FREEDOM'S SAKE!