Social Justice Movements
The 1970s to the early 2000s marked a formative time for the Filipina/o/x American diaspora. The far-reaching impact of martial law in the Philippines, the activism of the Delano Grape Strikes, and the transformative progress from the Third World Liberation Front demonstrated greater Filipina/o/x American political agency and collective engagement thus far. Anti-imperialist and anti-martial law sentiment further complicated and agitated the transpacific interplay between the Philippines and the United States, resulting in a critical narrative shift of Filipinos in America.
Through these movements, Filipina/o/x Americans in the early 2000s came of age with a deeper understanding of their diasporic placement as a "dislocated" community. The emergence of online platforms digitized the post-colonial project of "Filipino America" as online spaces allowed the diaspora to tease out their diasporic anxieties, negotiate the processes of hyphenation, and define their collective belonging on a larger scale. Filipinx Americans, today, continue to employ online spaces to expand the socio-cultural identity that is "Filipino."
The Sunday Express front page announcing Ferdinand Marcos’ declaration of martial law in the Philippines, marking the formal beginning of the Marcos dictatorship and the atrocities perpetrated on the Filipino people.
Question: Why does this relate to Fil-Am’s (concerns about migration, how their homelands and peoples were being treated, taking care of loved ones under martial law)?