February 2026

To Whom It May Concern,

I write this open letter to address the rift between myself and some individuals who are leading our local Bay Area organizing community for National Democracy (ND) in the Philippines. My intention with this letter is to move forward with faith towards understanding, resolution, healing and meaningful relations in our interwoven village, especially as we share common aspirations towards justice, liberation, genuine democracy & mass-oriented progress, from the Philippines to Turtle Island. I hope this letter can be helpful to anyone affected by the matters addressed in this letter, anyone struggling to advance the ND movement, or anyone striving towards growing transformative justice in our world.

This open letter is my best course of action for accountability and resolution, as I have previously approached all the best possible channels to address the matters I raised here. Throughout 2019-2024, I tried to have dialogues about these matters with my kasamas (comrades) many times, in many forms – from direct conversations, to matters raised in meetings, to messages and letters. I still tried to communicate with my kasamas even after I formally left ND organizing in August 2021, after a continuously harmful experience from March of that year onward. In the absence of dialogue, I was left with no choice but to try to communicate the contents of this open letter as a last resort.

In my full letter to my kasamas in May 2023, I shared my messages with clear accounts, and I requested for accountability & resolutions from harmful experiences in 2021, and the prior years leading up to that period. My messages during this period were met with avoidance, skepticism, or not received at face value. This culture of avoidance or skepticism was common in my organizing experiences within the ND movement since 2015. Throughout this period, I did my best to be receptive of any criticisms kasamas gave me on how best to deliver my concerns, and I implemented any changes they suggested for me. Kasamas either stonewalled me, or told me in 2023 that the matters I raised in the letter I wrote to them could no longer be addressed or processed because too much time has passed since I left ND organizations in 2021, when a harmful process in a time of crisis left me no choice but to leave my organization. Nevertheless, the matters I raised then continue to cause concern and harm today, with no resolution. Furthermore, the complete truths of the matters raised in 2021, did not reveal themselves until the Fall of 2022. I share this open letter as a final resort in the absence of a resolution.

I reiterate that all matters and points I share in this open letter were shared with my kasamas in the best possible channels, multiple times throughout multiple years. I tried to protect the safety of our organization by communicating with them as directly as possible. None of my points should be a surprise to those kasamas.

I intend for this letter to be shared only as needed. I do not intend for it to be shared widely with people who have no such concerns regarding ND organizing, or myself. Hence why this open letter is an unlisted page on my website, rather than in more public platforms, like in blog pages or in social media.

Summary of Points:

What harm was done?

What is the possible motive for the harm?

Why does this open letter matter at this moment?

Acknowledging Essential Context

What was my history like with the ND movement?

Resolutions

What harm was done?

In 2021, I was active for the youth & student sector of our National Democratic organizing in San Francisco with the goal of building up the leadership of Anakbayan San Francisco. Since 2015, I diligently led the effort to establish this chapter, despite several misdirections of our leadership throughout those years. In 2021, I planned to gradually transition out of the organization and serve the movement in a new capacity, in consultation with our leadership. In March of that year, I received a memo that was previously disseminated to and reviewed by the leadership of the ND organizations of San Francisco. It was authored by a kasama who was designated to lead our local organzing, and who I worked closely with, in collaboration with two other leading kasamas in our organizing team. In this memo, the kasama requested an investigation process on me regarding 10 allegations they made of these natures: that I harmed people in our organizations & in our community, and that I was an opportunist who used my influence in the organizing space for personal gain, or to boost my artistic endeavors. Before receiving this published memo, not a single kasama ever inquired with me about these allegations they made about me – with their suspicions spanning 1.5 years.

It was later revealed that the kasamas who wrote the memo did not consult the people they alleged that I harmed, nor did they ever talk to them, yet they created allegations based on certain events they heard about and projected on. The people who were allegedly harmed were not centered in the process; they were not consulted or communicated with at all; they did not know that there was an accountability process in their name; and they never asked for an accountability process. Two of the people the kasamas named were harmed were still good friends of mine. Furthermore, the allegations the kasamas made were based on 36 significant pieces of false information; much of which came from assumptions, mischaracterizations, gossip, hearsay, second or third hand information, and details used out of context. In the investigation process, there were 7 conjectures made by the mediators – much of which were based on the false information. There were also 15 statements or significant pieces of information given that were readily accepted in the process but actually required more investigation, clarification or validation. By making 10 allegations about me using false information and conjectures, there was a premise set that I was beyond defense, but if kasamas did their due diligence to investigate without jumping to conclusions, they would find that each and every one of the allegations are unfounded.

The kasama who signed the memo, coated the confidential sharings I confided in them with a great amount of false or unverified information. They weaponized and created allegations out of my sharings with them in our mutually vulnerable conversations. They used sources that only came from assumptions, gossip, hearsay, second or third hand information, & out-of-context information. This kasama made allegations from their suspicions regarding events as early as September 2019 (a year and a half before the memo they sent our community), yet throughout that time, they worked closely with me, stayed over as a guest at my apartment, kept me as a good friend to them & their family, and they never once inquired with me about their suspicions.

In September 2022, I was able to confirm that the kasama who signed the memo and the two kasamas who collaborated with them, did not ever talk to the people they said I harmed. It took me over a year to confirm this because in the investigation process, I respected the request not to speak with the people I allegedly affected. Even after the investigation process was halted, and even when we were still friends based on our direct interactions with each other, I was minimal with communicating with the people I allegedly affected. It was after each of my friends who I allegedly affected reached out to me several times throughout the next year and a half, asking how I’ve been, that I was prompted to apologize to them if I ever made them feel uncomfortable. They were each surprised about my apology, so I told them that I underwent an accountability process regarding events that involved them. They each told me that they never asked for accountability on any events, nor did they know such an accountability process was happening in their name. One of them wrote a note about feeling uncomfortable that her experiences were being discussed but not coming directly from her. The other friend was also willing to write a letter regarding the matter.

[ photo of Eira’s message here ]

The kasamas who wrote the memo, committed libel by making allegations against me based on false or fabricated information, spreading this memo to the leadership of different organizations throughout San Francisco, and never once inquiring with me about their suspicions. Leaders in ND organizations continue to slander me by telling people in many communities that I am part of, that “there are concerns about me from the organizing space”, that “I am unaware of how I impact people,” as well as many labels or characterizations that they have freely spread, yet did not give any context or qualification for. During our investigation process, it was made clear that the process would be confidential, yet after the process, rumors about me were spread with many people I came across throughout many different spaces since August 2021. As a consistently active organizer who communicated with my team on a daily basis, I was not aware that I was in question, nor did I know that there were disputes in information regarding events that happened in 2016-2019, around 1.5-5 years before the blindsiding memo and investigation process requested about me. Rather than discussing these matters with me in a comradely manner within our supposedly secure and democratic space, our local leaders bypassed direct inquiry, and declared their suspicions as allegations. They alerted our San Francisco leadership of these allegations, and started an investigation process on me, effectively cornering me into a position where I was forced to recall and contextualize upon the judgment of an audience, my very personal experiences of the events in question that none of them were involved in.

‘Combat Liberalism’ is a foundational text that our organizations read. Our San Francisco leadership committed a type of liberalism written in this text: “To indulge in irresponsible criticism in private, instead of actively putting forward one’s suggestions to the organization. To say nothing to people in their faces, but to gossip behind their backs, or to say nothing at a meeting but to gossip afterwards. To show no regard at all for the principles of collective life but to follow one’s own inclination.” If my kasamas had suspicions of me or speculations about me, they could have inquired with me about them, either amongst those of us who aware of the matter, or even at our local chapter meeting if need be. It was harmful to publish a memo about me – fabricating information and language, to incriminate me by.

The defamation caused my isolation from much of our community, and a great decline in my health during a time of unprecendented crisis & instability. The accumulation of harm from defamation & isolation for a prolonged period caused me retraumatization from similar childhood experiences, toxic family & work dynamics, and mental destabilization. I had to battle a great level of suicidal ideation that I had struggled with in my childhood. I was forced to choose between enduring the harmful and isolating process of my organizing team which disallowed me to talk to anyone about the allegations for months as I prepared for graduate school & a full-time job as a public high school teacher, and preserving my well-being by exiting the organization. When the covid-19 quarantine ended in Fall 2021, instead of finally reconnecting with my community after 1.5 years of physical isolation, the defamation caused me great anxiety to attend community events where ND leaders were present. I began leaving events, simply staying home, or going some place else. When I was part of events that also involved ND leaders and organizers, I experienced stonewalling or passive aggressiveness from over 50 individual ND organizers who I never had direct conversations with about these matters. Since the Fall of 2021, I have experienced this behavior around once to five times a month, as recent as January 2026. These events include weddings; memorials for loved ones I hoped to mourn for alongside my community; court hearings where indictments were given to the murderer of a loved one in our community; political activities I have been involved in for over a decade; demonstrations that relate to my community, my well-being, and the future of my job. The actions of my kasamas also caused rifts in relationships within our interwoven communities, as well as risking the security of our organization.

[ photo of Ashe Ceramics’ message to me the night before Zoe’s memorial, with context ]

What is the possible motive of the harm?

I speculate that the leadership of our local organizing was acting out of retaliation from my effort to address the harmful behaviors I experienced from them. I tried to address incidents when certain kasamas hit me, cussed me out, wished hurtful things for me, gossiped about me, and many such toxic attitudes towards me. I speculate that they were trying to deflect past the criticisms I gave them, both regarding interpersonal behavior, and the bureacratic nature of our organizing. I speculate that because I often raised questions or concerns around decisions made in our group, that they were acting with the motive to quell any discourse or dissent in local team decision-making, or acting with the motive to gain favorable positions within the movement. I outlined bases for these possible motives in my full 2023 letter to them. If readers have any inquiry about these motives, I am happy to provide more information upon request.

By bureaucratic, I mean the manipulation of power dynamics by a few leaders so that decisions will benefit their interests and ideals while creating the illusion of implementing democratic processes or fair deliberations. These forms of manipulation have long caused the local ND organizing style to be mechanical, formulaic, transactional, clinical and extractive. I believe that this trend is a big reason why, while there are new generations joining ND organizations, there is also a lot of turnover, as many ND experienced members continue to leave.

Why does this open letter matter at this moment?

How our ND leadership addresses organizational matters like this issue, sets a precedent for the movement’s practices around conflict-resolution. It is the seed of how ND organizations implement systems of discernment and justice.

The absence of a resolution to a matter such as this, continues to propagate cancel culture. It causes fear & estrangement to our interrelations, as well as several spaces of trust and safety that we steward in our community. It creates doubt in initiatives and communal projects that rely on our relationships of confidence, effectively halting these initiatives and projects. Cancel culture does not just harm the people directly involved; it affects the social climate of communities, especially in times of rising fascism where trust is much more essential.

As someone who has labored as a poet, educator and activist in the San Francisco Bay Area for the last 19 years, and as someone who has organized with the ND movement for 11 out of the last 19 years, the trust collectively cultivated in my community was repeatedly questioned because of the slander and libel committed by our ND leaders. I was called in by ND leaders to enter into an accountability process which was based on false allegations. They said this process would remain confidential, yet throughout the last 4.5 years, I have heard from multiple people in multiple spaces that even organizers who never had any contentious interactions with me, have begun to keep away from me from rumors of “concerns in the organizing space.” In recent years, I have reached out to these organizers to inquire about their concerns, and many of them did not respond to me. I can only deduce that these concerns are regarding the slanderous process I experienced in the ND space. This vague naming of “unresolved concerns” may keep confidential the details of the situation, but it in effect is causing defamation by calling attention to a concern that is worrisome, vague and has no resolution. It leaves people to speculate on the nature of the matter, to question the trust we built, and out of safety, avoid further interactions with me, or avoid participation spaces that include me.

Over 60 of my relationships in the community became estranged, including my dear relationships with former youth who I cherished being a mentor of. I was brought into exhausting accountability circles by the stewards of some spaces I was part of, even when they were not ND-affiliated spaces. I was asked about the nature of the vague concerns. I attended several accountability circles throughout the years – the most recent one being late April 2025. Without inquiry with me, I was automatically banned or estranged from events. On my way to a dinner gathering in 2023, I heard that concerns about me were shared with the organizers of the dinner, which made people question their safety. This caused me to get off my carpool ride halfway towards the event, and spend my night alone at a cafe instead. In 2024, I was banned from the memorial of a loved one in our community who was tragically murdered. The community around our loved one is separate from the ND organizing community, yet I was banned from the memorial after I was spotted by an ND organizer during a previous memorial for our loved one. After experiencing isolation throughout 2020-2021, many of my relationships which were previously amicable, were clearly estranged. Instead of warm “hello’s” and moments of gratitude after a long period of isolation during the quarantine, ND organizers and our mutual connections throughout these last 4.5 years avoided me, walked away from me, or physically hid from me. Invitations I received in our community for collaborations, performances and other opportunities were rescinded after the organizers heard about the concerns that ND organizers spread about me. One of the most hurtful estrangements was my abrupt exit from Anakbayan San Francisco (ABSF), the organization I diligently and intentionally cofounded & stewarded. The launching of this organization was a culmination of a six-year effort I led that was often misguided by the bureaucracy of our ND leadership. I was asked to abruptly exit from ABSF without being able to share any context or reason behind my exit. Soon after, I was banned by ND leaders from the social media account of the organization.

Acknowledging Essential Context

I write this letter in acknowledgement that our world continues to endure the heavy traumas of ecocide, genocide, many other evils and oppressions. Our local communities have overcome the covid-19 quarantine and many other calamities. We are currently enduring fascist attacks on our communities, as well as attacks on the funding of our local infrastructure and services. We have lost many loved ones, and we celebrate the birth of new loved ones. I write this letter in acknowledgement of what is at stake when it comes to our relations; how powerful we are when we are united, and how we regress when we are divided.

I acknowledge my identity and positionality as a cis male of color in a world traumatized by patriarchy, misogyny, machismo, chauvinism and hyper-masculine violence. I have, and will always be steadfast in my role as an uncompromising ally to my LGBTQ+ and femme family.

I apologize to any kasamas and friends if, in my reaching out to them for a conversation or support, they felt alarmed, or if they felt that I may simply be trying to change their minds to favor my personal interest. I apologize if at any point I contributed to anyone’s sense of fear, or if I triggered any trauma. I will earnestly say that my personal interest is towards truth, understanding, healing, trust, confidence, justice and transformation. If there is a side to take, it’s to be on the side of the truth, in our movement’s interest, in our peoples’ interest. I want us all to succeed. I side with the ever deepening truth, and nothing but.

What was my history like with the ND Movement?

In the spaces that I steward, I am serious & uncompromising about issues of safety, justice, consent, healthy relations and revolutionary principles. Since my childhood, I have often been the first responder to concerns of safety or justice in my groups. My focus has always been to keep the affected at the center, and listen to their needs first. In moments when no one else was capable or willing to do so, I have confronted perpetrators, and inquired directly with alleged perpetrators. I confronted perpetrators even if they were friends or people I was close to, and even if it meant ending our relationship, or causing contention. I have unfortunately responded to many incidents throughout my life, from my childhood, to my teens, to as recent as 2025.

Conversely, during portions of my time in ND organizing, some individuals in the leadership of our local organizing have demonstrated problematic interpersonal behaviors and avoided accountability for them. During my time in the ND movement, I have needed to be assertive about the leadership’s need to be more responsible for the safety of our members, as well as being more responsive to our members’ needs and concerns.

In 2019-2021 alone, I had to confront three friends in three separate and unrelated occasions about allegations that they each assaulted or harmed femmes in our community. Additionally, I consulted the femmes who were allegedly affected. I was able to gain conclusive evidence on two of the alleged perpetrators. There wasn’t conclusive evidence on the third alleged perpetrator. Nevertheless, I continued to center the experiences of the femmes who were allegedly affected, and offered them support at every occasion. Through my direct inquiry with the alleged perpetrators and those who were allegedly affected, I was able to gain conclusive evidence on the allegations, rather than leaving things unresolved.

In an integration trip I was part of to the Philippines in July 2014, I needed to fight for the justice of a kasama who experienced sexual assault, otherwise there wouldn’t have been a process for her. I confronted a local host and supposed organizer who evidently assaulted our kasama, and lied through his teeth about the details of the assault. I needed to demand more accountability from our leadership because the assault could have been prevented with more responsible coordination and planning.

Concluding Thoughts

I have such deep admiration and love for freedom fighters of all forms. I have a clearer appreciation for the many I’ve been able to work closely and share space with in the ND movement, as I’ve witnessed their constant dedication, struggle and sacrifice. I will always remember and cherish the many meaningful memories we shared, and the time we spent together. Being part of our ND organizing community is challenging, but I hold to the faith that no challenge is too difficult to heal from, if we are truly trying to do right by each other.

I continue to do all within my humble control to be in the best possible relation to my community and all who have considered me a kasama (comrade). I will truthfully say that I have experienced deep harm in ND organizing for a long period of time, and it has costed me a heavy amount of health, labor, time and resources. Despite this, I have in my heart, long forgiven the leadership of our organizations for their actions, regardless of whether or not they acknowledge or take accountability for their harmful behaviors.

I have moved on to meaningful endeavors outside of ND organizing, yet I still do what I can to advance the aspirations of the ND movement because I truly believe in its cause. Since I was seventeen years-old, I have strived to make my vocations and my daily activities supportive of, or at the least congruent to the values, aspirations & political line of the ND movement. I have never wavered from this commitment, even as I formally left my organizations in 2021.

I still view the people I organized with, even with all our challenges as comrades. thank you for each day of sacrifice,  mga kasama, whether it is your Day 1 or Day 25,000

bureaucratic, commandist leadership style

Meanwhile, the leaders of our local organizing work in 2020-2021 who committed slander and libel against me by sharing concerns based on false information, are also people who have crossed my boundaries. They previously cussed me out, yelled at me, acted passive-aggressive towards me in public settings, gossiped about me, stalked me, were touchy with me, and expressed flirty or sexually implicit remarks towards me. They also know that I have previously experienced stalking and harassment from one of our previous members in the recent past. I tried to address these behaviors directly and in confidence with the leadership throughout those years.

I intend for every criticism I continue to share, every truth I continue to reveal, to be an act of love and comradeship. Every criticism I share speaks to a standard that I reciprocate – that I also hold myself to. Everything that I ask of others is something that I strive to practice myself.

The perspective I share in this open letter is mine alone. I do not expect anyone to side with me in any conflict, or to accept my experience as the only truth. I am simply sharing my personal experience as honestly as I can, in the best way possible at this point.

This open letter is organized as follows:

Why am I sharing this letter, and what is at stake?

Ellaborating on the matters at hand

More on the harmful impact of the ND leadership

Why am I sharing this letter, and what is at stake?

I ask P section, A2 district and F committee to grant my request to rectify the mistakes committed from this investigation, not just in fairness to the women named and myself, but also to fulfill their task of combating liberalism, to evaluate how local teams can improve in having trusting communication among their members, as well as a healthier, fairer & safer flow of dem cen within the movement. I truly hope that my contributions through my full letter can help with the growth and eventual victory of the movement. I hope that all addressed groups are able to review this letter.

To rectify the harm done from acts of defamation by my 2021 H local team and the P section committee, this is a summary of my requests which I further elaborate on in Part 1 of the letter. I am requesting for the organization to honor my reasonable requests within an ample yet urgent timeline. I am requesting that they honor these requests by the end of August 2023:

1. Completely review the attached document “Full Letter JT to 2021 H Local Team”

2. Save and include the full letter as my official testimony in the organization’s file on the investigation.

   Include it in the folders where the organization is holding the “February 24 2021 Investigation

   Request Memo” by Win, and the “June 21 2021 Investigation Memo” by the P section committee.

3. Compare the evidence provided in the full letter to the information, allegations and analyses made

   by the 2021 H local team and the 2021 P section committee.

4. Follow up with this next step provided in the “June 21 2021 Investigation Memo” by the P section

   committee in the most appropriate way at this point: “For JT and other local team leaders to conduct further csc with all the women who’s been harmed, learn from the perspectives of the women who’s been harmed, and self-criticize to the women on the weaknesses of the local team (via the mass organization), and help the women sum up their own experiences and lessons.” Please read the particulars of this request in Part 1 of this letter.

1. If the evidence from both inquiring with the women allegedly affected and from the full letter proves that any of the information, allegations & analyses given by the 2021 H local team & the 2021 P section committee were false: write a statement as an organization, acknowledging the act of defamation. Share the statement with all members who were made aware of the investigation within the organization. If the defamation reached the masa, the organization should take responsibility in clarifying the information with all masa reached.

2. Clarify the basis for why my personal and band social media accounts have been banned by ABSF (now ABCCSF) social media accounts since Spring 2021. Clarify whether banning my accounts was discussed in ABSF, or if this was an individual’s action without the organization’s consent.

3. Ask Win to pay me for the $113.25 that they owe me for our spotify premium family plan that we opened and agreed to pay together since June 2020.

   Lastly, I must mention that the acts of defamation in 2021 followed previous acts of defamation,

My intention is to communicate as someone who: still deeply cares for the movement; still wholeheartedly believes in its aspirations for the sovereignty, democracy and liberation of the Philippines; is still active towards advancing its aspirations by any means; and as someone who internalizes the importance of unity. By unity, I mean genuinely building trust, reaching a deeper level of understanding on issues of contention, and advancing the struggle for our people’s liberation together. As fascism continues to grow, as genocidal wars against our peoples continue to escalate, and as more calamities come from the aggravation of our environment, the future of our liberation – as well as each step we’ve taken towards progress, is at stake. I still have faith in the National Democratic movement, its political line, its aspiration to be a solution for the Filipino people, and its aspiration to be a driving force in the International Proletarian Revolution. If we are to overcome the fascists of our society who are abundant in stolen wealth, power, privilege and influence, we need to build solidarity, and come together as people from all walks, for the cause of democracy, justice, liberation and progress. We begin this process by being accountable, building trust and deepening our understanding of each other. I hope that this letter is a reignition or continuation of such process.

I write this letter because our Bay Area community is deeply interwoven, and we will likely further lean on each other in times of strife, chaos and isolation. Since 2020, we weathered through the covid-19 quarantine, several local and international calamities, as well as several political upheavals. We have celebrated new births in our community. We have also come together around the deaths of our loved ones. Since 2020, I personally lost 27 loved ones I knew in my immediate community: 9 of whom I spent a meaningful amount of time with, 4 of whom I was quite close to, 5 were in my family, and 10 are woven within our ND organizing community. We’ve gone through chaotic and trying times of grief and mourning. These past several years more than ever, we needed to grow stronger together, rather than be divided over very resolvable issues. In these times, I value trusting and responsive connections – especially during critical events like births, deaths and urgent matters.

The manner in which ND leaders choose to address this matter speaks to their practice of discernment as aspiring vanguards of our movement for justice and liberation. This reveals how well they discern matters of concern, dispute or justice. It sets a precedent on the nature of the justice system they plan to implement in the future of their organizing work.

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More on the harmful impact of the ND leadership

The slander and libel caused my isolation from much of our community, and a great decline in my health during a time of unprecedented crisis & instability. The accumulation of harm from defamation & isolation for a prolonged period caused me retraumatization, mental destabilization, and a great level of suicidal ideation. I was forced to choose between enduring the harmful and isolating process with ND leadership, and preserving my well-being by exiting the organizing. When the quarantine ended, the defamation caused me great anxiety when attending community events where ND members were present. I began leaving events, simply staying home, or going some place else. These events include memorials for loved ones I hoped to mourn for alongside my community, political activities I have been involved in for over a decade, demonstrations that relate to my community, my well-being, and the future of my job.

These acts of slander and libel were committed amidst the covid quarantine when we were all isolated; amidst a period when several of our kasamas and several of my loved ones passed away; amidst experiencing theft and losing over ten thousand dollars, with threats to my household’s safety; amidst losing the ability to pay rent, and my landlord pursuing my household’s eviction; amidst being a first-time public high school teacher with an emergency credential, teaching during the quarantine; amidst needing to concurrently attend graduate studies; amidst being the only educator teaching and creating content for my particular subject in the district – fighting to ensure that the program continues on.

In 2019, I repeatedly told our ND leaders that I needed to prepare for my work as a public high school teacher, and I needed to free my capacity for the job. In 2020, I repeatedly told them about my increased anxiety, lack of sleep and overall concern for my health. Both items I mentioned were verbally acknowledged but essentially neglected. I wanted to enter 2021 prepared as an ND organizer, public school teacher and a graduate student, knowing the task at had was difficult. Instead, from the investigation process I became mentally unstable. This was greatly detrimental all aspects of my life – including my work as a teacher, my graduate studies where I dropped out 4 times and am re-enrolling again, my work as an artist, my personal accounts, and my household. It was truly damaging that after experiencing repeated defamation and abusive behavior in 2020, I experienced a new level of defamation in 2021 – especially since like many kasamas, I made large sacrifices to make myself available for our organizing work for over a decade. With all that we put at stake to advance and protect the integrity of this movement, I expected kasamas to act with more principle.

I intend for every criticism I continue to share, every truth I continue to reveal, from 2019 to now, to be an act of love and comradeship. Every criticism I share speaks to a standard that I reciprocate – that I also hold myself to. Everything that I ask of others is something that I strive to practice myself, when I am in the position to.

The perspective I share in this open letter is mine alone. I do not expect anyone to side with me in any conflict, or to accept my experience as the only truth. I am simply sharing my personal experience as honestly as I can, in the best way possible at this point.

The Issue of Slander and Libel

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It goes without saying, but I will affirm again that I wholeheartedly support the importance of maintain spaces of justice and safety, especially for women and gender expansive folks. I am vigilant in maintaining such spaces, and I support anyone who is also vigilant in doing so. I am cognizant of the trauma that exists among women and gender expansive folks, from their interactions with males. I am accepting of people’s skepticism and even fear towards males in our society. I understand why it is normal to speculate whether someone, particular a male, is doing anything malicious or harmful towards others. What I do not condone is when speculation becomes conjecture, gossip becomes evidence, correlation becomes causation, and projections become accepted truths.

However, this intention is to be distinguished from acts of defamation: You coated the confidential sharings I confided in you with a great amount of false or unverified information. You created allegations out of these sharings. You used sources that only came from assumptions, gossip, hearsay, second or third hand info, & out-of-context info. You shared them with unknown people, even if they’re supposedly protecting this info by principle. You created conjectures and misrepresented the nature of events you only heard about, then shared these narratives. You did not directly talk to the people you alleged to be affected, yet created your own allegations.

The 2023 Letter I sent to ND Organizations

I am writing to my 2021 H local team, and I am requesting P section, A2 district and F committee to review this. I implore P section, A2 district and F committee to evaluate liberalisms from the secretariat of my 2021 H local team, the local team as a whole, and the 2021 P section committee, that manifested into acts of defamation through libel and slander. These actions are a result of the bureaucratic and commandist leadership style of our secretariat, both in 2019-2021, and in periods preceding these years. The defamation caused my isolation from much of our community, and a great decline in my health during a time of unprecendented crisis & instability. The accumulation of harm from defamation & isolation for a prolonged period caused me retraumatization, mental destabilization, and a great level of suicidal ideation. I was forced to choose between enduring the harmful and isolating process of my local team, and preserving my well-being by exiting the organization. When the quarantine ended, the defamation caused me great anxiety to attend community events where section members were present. I began leaving events, simply staying home, or going some place else. These events include memorials for loved ones I hoped to mourn for alongside my community, political activities I have been involved in for over a decade, demonstrations that relate to my community, my well-being, and the future of my job. The actions of my secretariat also caused rifts in relationships within the community, as well as risking the security of the organization.

The investigation that my 2021 H local team and the 2021 P section committee executed was an act of libel because its base documents are full of misinformation. These documents are the “February 24 2021 Investigation Request Memo” by Win, and the “June 21 2021 Investigation Memo” by the section committee. In these documents alone, there were 36 significant pieces of false information given. Much of which came from assumptions, gossip, hearsay, second or third hand information, and details used out of context. There were 10 allegations based on the false information. There were 7 provisions of presumptive analyses; much of which are based on the faulty allegations. There were also 15 statements or significant pieces of information given that were readily accepted in the process but actually required more investigation, clarification or validation.

The investigation they began was an act of slander because rather than inquiring directly with the women they named to be affected, or inquiring with myself – a supposed comrade, undisclosed people from P section were first to know of these allegations before me. As a local team member who communicated with my team on a daily basis, I was not aware that I was in question, nor did I know that there were disputes in information regarding events that happened in 2016-2019, around 1.5-5 years before our secretariat called for this blindsiding investigation process. Rather than discussing these matters with me in a comradely manner within our supposedly democratic space, our secretariat bypassed inquiry, declared their suspicions as allegations, and alerted our section of these allegations to “corner” me into a position where I was forced to contextualize from my perspective the events in question that kasamas were not involved in, and that I needed time to recall.

Additionally, the secretariat misrepresented the narratives given by the women named, and created allegations out of them. None of the women named actually made the allegations that the local team made. There were no accounts of these women reaching out to anyone in the community for any action. Kasamas gave the impression that their basis for the investigation was from their direct conversations with the women allegedly affected, when in actuality, after speaking with some of the women who were still my good friends, I learned that kasamas made allegations only from second and third hand information. On June 21, 2021, it was awkward to have to defend myself with seven other kasamas who often spoke with certainty regarding allegations that they had no direct connection to. The information that the 2021 H local team and the 2021 P section committee used as the basis for starting this section-wide investigation were from assumptions, gossip and hearsay. They held primary the second & third hand information they received, they used information out of context, mischaracterized the nature of particular events, jumped to accusations rather than inquiry, and developed presumptive analyses.

Our secretariat committed this example of liberalism, as written in ‘Combat Liberalism’: “To indulge in irresponsible criticism in private, instead of actively putting forward one’s suggestions to the organization. To say nothing to people in their faces, but to gossip behind their backs, or to say nothing at a meeting but to gossip afterwards. To show no regard at all for the principles of collective life but to follow one’s own inclination.”

It is worth investigating if the secretariat was acting out of retaliation, acting with the intent to do harm, acting to deflect past criticisms given to them, acting with the motive to quell any discourse or dissent in local team decision-making, or acting with the motive to gain favorable positions within the movement. I outlined bases for these possible motives in my full letter.

I ask P section, A2 district and F committee to grant my request to rectify the mistakes committed from this investigation, not just in fairness to the women named and myself, but also to fulfill their task of combating liberalism, to evaluate how local teams can improve in having trusting communication among their members, as well as a healthier, fairer & safer flow of dem cen within the movement. I truly hope that my contributions through my full letter can help with the growth and eventual victory of the movement. I hope that all addressed groups are able to review this letter.

To rectify the harm done from acts of defamation by my 2021 H local team and the P section committee, this is a summary of my requests which I further elaborate on in Part 1 of the letter. I am requesting for the organization to honor my reasonable requests within an ample yet urgent timeline. I am requesting that they honor these requests by the end of August 2023:

1. Completely review the attached document “Full Letter JT to 2021 H Local Team”

2. Save and include the full letter as my official testimony in the organization’s file on the investigation.

   Include it in the folders where the organization is holding the “February 24 2021 Investigation

   Request Memo” by Win, and the “June 21 2021 Investigation Memo” by the P section committee.

3. Compare the evidence provided in the full letter to the information, allegations and analyses made

   by the 2021 H local team and the 2021 P section committee.

4. Follow up with this next step provided in the “June 21 2021 Investigation Memo” by the P section

   committee in the most appropriate way at this point: “For JT and other local team leaders to conduct further csc with all the women who’s been harmed, learn from the perspectives of the women who’s been harmed, and self-criticize to the women on the weaknesses of the local team (via the mass organization), and help the women sum up their own experiences and lessons.” Please read the particulars of this request in Part 1 of this letter.

1. If the evidence from both inquiring with the women allegedly affected and from the full letter proves that any of the information, allegations & analyses given by the 2021 H local team & the 2021 P section committee were false: write a statement as an organization, acknowledging the act of defamation. Share the statement with all members who were made aware of the investigation within the organization. If the defamation reached the masa, the organization should take responsibility in clarifying the information with all masa reached.

2. Clarify the basis for why my personal and band social media accounts have been banned by ABSF (now ABCCSF) social media accounts since Spring 2021. Clarify whether banning my accounts was discussed in ABSF, or if this was an individual’s action without the organization’s consent.

3. Ask Win to pay me for the $113.25 that they owe me for our spotify premium family plan that we opened and agreed to pay together since June 2020.

   Lastly, I must mention that the acts of defamation in 2021 followed previous acts of defamation,

which were addressed in 2020. In the investigation process, more apparently unresolved acts of defamation against myself from 2015-2016 surfaced. Ironically, I was actually the person who experienced acts of abuse in those matters in 2015-2016 and 2019-2020.

These acts were committed amidst the covid quarantine when we were all isolated; amidst a period when several of our kasamas and several of my loved ones passed away; amidst experiencing theft and losing over ten thousand dollars, with threats to my household’s safety; amidst losing the ability to pay rent, and my landlord pursuing my household’s eviction; amidst being a first-time public high school teacher with an emergency credential and with the conditions of the quarantine; amidst needing to concurrently attend graduate studies; amidst being the only educator teaching and creating content for my particular subject in the district – fighting to ensure that the program continues on.

In 2019, I repeatedly told my local team that I needed to prepare for my work as a public high school teacher, and I needed to free my capacity for the job. In 2020, I repeatedly told my local team about my increased anxiety, lack of sleep and overall concern for my health. Both items I mentioned were verbally acknowledged but essentially neglected. I hoped to enter 2021 prepared, knowing what my role is for my team and the overall movement moving forward. I wanted to be prepared as a school teacher and a graduate student, knowing the task at had was difficult. Instead, from the investigation process I became mentally unstable. This greatly detrimented all aspects of my life – including my work as a teacher, my graduate studies where I dropped out 4 times and am re-enrolling again, my work as an artist, my personal accounts, and my household. It was truly damaging that after experiencing repeated defamation and abusive behavior in 2020, I experienced a new level of defamation in 2021 – especially since like many kasamas, I made large sacrifices to make myself available for our organizing work for over a decade. With all that we put at stake to advance and protect the integrity of this movement, I expect kasamas to act with more principle.

I am doing my best to move on each day while serving my purpose for the planet and the people. I hope that the organization will support by addressing this matter of defamation, and by addressing any liberalisms in the organization. Thank you for your time.

In considering a timeline that is both urgent and accomodating, I am asking P Section, A2 District, F Committee to review this letter by the end of July 2023, and to send me a confirmation note that they have done so. I am also asking P Section, A2 District, F Committee to complete all of my requests by the end of August 2023. I trust that the local teams will do their best to rectify the issues outlined in this letter.

Sincerely, JT