We Are Revolution

Radicals across borders unite against empire, dictatorship, and enduring legacies of oppressionReframing Filipino American history through the radical politics of its diaspora, Joy Sales uncovers how generations of Filipinos, scattered across the Pacific, forged transnational movements that confronted US empire and Philippine authoritarianism. From the sugarcane strikes of the 1920s to the student uprisings of the 1970s, from the anti-martial law movement that challenged Ferdinand Marcos to the twenty-first-century campaigns against Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, this book reveals how Filipino American activists continually linked their struggles to those in the homeland. Drawing on archival research and oral histories, Sales illuminates a genealogy of activists—workers, students, writers, and organizers—who insisted that liberation in the Philippines was inseparable from struggles abroad. Their campaigns against militarism, dictatorship, and capitalism were not only oppositional but generative: They created new organizations, solidarities, and visions of democracy rooted in the Global South. Foregrounding grassroots organizing, We Are Revolution demonstrates that Filipino radicalism has always been more than a domestic concern; it is a global story of empire and resistance. This sweeping account shows how diasporic Filipino radicals transformed exile into revolution and how their unfinished fight continues to resonate across generations.