Building a Movement: Filipino American Union and Community Organizing in Seattle in the 1970s by Ligaya Rene Domingo A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Education in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Professor Catherine Ceniza Choy, Co-Chair Professor Ingrid Seyer-Ochi, Co-Chair Professor Zeus Leonardo Professor Kim Voss Spring 2010 Building a Movement: Filipino American Union and Community Organizing in Seattle in the 1970s 2010 by Ligaya Rene Domingo 1 Abstract Building a Movement: Filipino American Union and Community Organizing in Seattle in the 1970s by Ligaya Rene Domingo Doctor of Philosophy in Education University of California, Berkeley Professor Catherine Ceniza Choy, Co-Chair Professor Ingrid Seyer-Ochi, Co-Chair The Asian American Movement emerged in the late 1960s and early 1970s inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, Antiwar Movement, Black Liberation Movement, and struggles for liberation in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Activists, including college students and community members throughout the United States, used “mass line” tactics to raise political awareness, build organizations, address community concerns, and ultimately to serve their communities. While the history of the Asian American Movement has been chronicled, the scholarship has been analytically and theoretically insufficient -and in some cases nonexistent- in terms of local struggles, how the movement unfolded, and the role of Filipino Americans. This dissertation focuses on one, untold story of the Asian American Movement: the role of activists in Seattle, Washington who were concerned with regional injustices affecting Filipino Americans. I argue that this local struggle in the Pacific Northwest not only demonstrates the diversity of action and strategy within the Asian American Movement but also deepens our understanding of the broader movement as both local and transnational – unique in its local strategies yet closely aligned with the goals of the era’s social movements. Based on both historical and qualitative data, this dissertation uses a Gramscian framework to explore the possibilities and limitations of using civil society as instruments for social change. Specifically, I examine the efforts by a group of local activists in the 1970s to seek redress for the exclusion, discrimination and social dislocation experienced by Filipino Americans. I explore two local Asian American Movement case studies in which activists worked within two preexisting organizational formations of civil society, the Alaska Cannery Worker’s Union and the Filipino Community of Seattle, to achieve their goals. This dissertation sheds light on the evolution of their organizing strategies and tactics with regard to broader processes of community and identity formation, as well as to their aims of bringing about revolutionary change. My research explored the following questions about attempts to serve and support the Filipino American community in Seattle in the 1970s: First, how do processes of community, identity, and ideological formation shape social movement organizing strategies? And second, how have changing patterns of immigration, institutional community formation, and international movement ideology shaped the strategies used by activists organizing on behalf of the Filipino American community in Seattle, Washington? I argue that the efforts to organize in support of the Seattle Filipino American community in the 1970s unfolded in two phases. In the first phase, the activists were influenced and guided by the Civil Rights Movement and the ideas of the larger Asian American Movement. These movements provided activists with a framework from which to understand their grievances and activists started organizing using a Civil Rights and equity-based framework to address 2 grievances and achieve social reforms. However, the declaration of martial law in the Philippines in 1972 coincided with a fracture within the Filipino American community in Seattle because one group of activists experienced an ideological shift to a more radical viewpoint. This schism amongst the activists and within the larger Filipino American community was complicated by differences based on time of immigration, class, and generation and was manifested in political questions regarding the mission, goals, and use of both the Filipino Community of Seattle and the Cannery Worker’s Union. In the second phase of organizing, the radical activists were no longer intent on just reforming these local organizations; they also had a broader political agenda, and their organizing strategies changed to reflect this ideological shift. I argue that the strategy of the activists in this second phase was what Gramsci calls a “War of Position,” meaning that the activists tried to use civil society institutions – a non-profit and community organization and a union – as a means to build a social movement and as a way to wage an attack on the state. Ultimately, the findings of this study challenge previous claims that the Asian American Movement was either reformist or radical. In this case study of Filipino American activists in Seattle, the data demonstrates that they were agents for social reform and also revolutionaries, not one or the other. The findings of this study point to the need for more nuanced and complex frameworks for understanding social change processes and organizing strategies. i Dedication I dedicate this dissertation to the manongs and activists whom this dissertation is written about and who have inspired the work I have done and will do in my life. Most notably, of these activists, I dedicate this dissertation to my mother Terri Mast and my father Silme Domingo. I also dedicate this dissertation to my partner in life, Colin Anderson, whose hardworking spirit and hearty meals I could not have written this dissertation without. And last, I dedicate this dissertation to my son Mahal Silme Domingo-Anderson who has reminded me everyday that the most important thing in life is love. ii Table of Contents Dedication i Table of Contents ii List of Acronyms iii Acknowledgements iv Chapter 1 1 Introduction Building a Movement Through Civil Society: A Framework for Understanding Filipino American Organizing in Seattle in the 1970s Chapter 2 32 We Fight For Civil Rights: Historicizing the Emergence of Filipino American Organizing in Seattle in the 1970s Chapter 3 58 The Filipino Community of Seattle (FCS): A Contested Terrain Chapter 4 81 Ebb and Flow: The Rank-and-File Movement in The Alaska Cannery Workers Union Chapter 5 101 Conclusion Outcomes: The more that changes the more that stays the same References 120 Appendices Appendix A: Sample Interview Protocol 128 Appendix B: Participant Descriptions 131 iii List of Acronyms AAM Asian American Movement ACE Asian Coalition for Equality ACWA Alaska Cannery Worker’s Association ASC Asian American Student Coalition CJDV Committee for Justice Domingo and Viernes FANHS Filipino American National Historical Society FAPAGOW Filipino American Political Action Group of Washington FAR Filipinos For a Unified And Involved Filipino Community in the 1970s or Filipinos for Action and Reform FCC Filipino Community Center FCS Filipino Community of Seattle FCSCD Filipino Community of Seattle Community Development Corporation FWC Far West Convention FYA Filipino Youth Acitivites IBU Inland Boatmen’s Union IDIC International District Drop-In Center ILWU International Longshore Warehouse Union KDP Katipunan ng mega Demokratikong Pilipino or Union of Democratic Filipinos KMU Kilusang Mayo Uno or May First Movement LELO Northwest Labor Employment Law Office or Legacy of Equality, Leadership, and Organizing LOM Line of March NEFCO New England Fish Company NLRB National Labor Relations Board OSU Oriental Student Union RFC Rank and File Committee SEP Special Education Program SRO Single Room Occupancy UCWA United Construction Worker’s Association VFW Veterans of Foreign Wars iv Acknowledgements And we'll walk down the avenue again And we'll sing all the songs from way back when And we'll walk down the avenue again and the healing has begun And we'll walk down the avenue in style And we'll walk down the avenue and we'll smile And we'll say baby ain't it all worthwhile when the healing has begun1 As I finished writing the first full draft of this dissertation, on my late father, Silme Domingo’s birthday, I was listening to a song by Van Morrison called “And The Healing Has Begun” (lyrics above). The words resonated with how I was feeling and I realized what this process has really been for me, a healing process. I hadn’t realized until the very end that that was what it was for me. This dissertation was a story that I was compelled to tell and to investigate and understand for myself. I realize now that I have come full circle. As the child of two activists, I was taught to understand everything including my father’s murder in a theoretical manner. As an adolescent and adult I came to understand the emotional side of his murder and the political implications, as well as the humanity with which people come to the fight for fairness and equity. And as a graduate student I have merged everything, emotions with theory, my disparate life and academic interests including labor union and community organizing, education, and Filipino American and working class identities. This dissertation is a product of all of this. This dissertation is also a product of the support of family, friends, colleagues, and fellow activists. First, I thank my family for inspiring me to write this dissertation. My mother’s undying commitment to the struggle of working people, her belief in my education, and her mantra telling me that I could do anything that I wanted to do has shaped this dissertation more than anything else. My husband’s support throughout this process provided me with the ability and freedom to do this project. Without a true partnership like ours, I would not have been able to take the time away from our family to research, write, and present my work.