"Education is the property of no one. It belongs to the people as a whole, and if education is not given to the people, they will have to take it." --Ernesto "Che" Guevara

.45 Kaliber Proof is an educational publication by Anakbayan Seattle. It contains current issues, campaigns and various educational material for the people, by the people. Click the cover to download a digital copy (PDF).

- January 2001

- February 2002

- June 2003

Each one teach one. AnakBAYAN stands by this motto, understanding that education is a dialectical process in which each individual serves the role of both student and teacher. After all, no individual knows everything, but each knows something, and collectively this knowledge can be shared and elevated.

Filipino awareness in mainstream education is minimal, if not non-existent. Filipino youth and students go through middle and high school internalizing their invisibility, knowing little about their identity and history. Those with the privilege of attending college finally get small opportunities to reclaim this lost knowledge of self. However, while the initial push to reclaim one's political identity is positive, the narrative is often limited by a top-down view of our community, and dominated by narrow/cultural nationalism. Contemporary analysis focuses on the symptoms of a our problems rather than the root causes of the problem itself. Following the general trend of Amerikan pedagogy, institutional Filipino history lacks a thorough class analysis and replicates the telling of HIStory as a story of great events and great men.

While individual education is key, AnakBAYAN believes that collective education is even more powerful. The collective facilitates monthly Educational Discussions (EDs), open to active members and supporters, various Workshops such as the Philippine Society and Revolution short course, and a Third World Discussion Group, open to the public.

The more you know, the more you owe . Francis Bacon's popular phrase "Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est. (Knowledge is Power)" is only a half-truth. Knowledge itself is not powerful, but it's potential lies in what is done materially to put such knowledge into action. Theory is important, but practice is even better. Ultimately, there is nothing progressive or revolutionary about simply accumulating knowledge. AnakBAYAN encourages those undergoing self and collective education to make that leap into action, whether it be sharing the knowledge with others or using the knowledge to guide your decisions and actions within your community and organization.