Bruce Occena

'''Bruce Occena''' is a Filipino American activist and scholar involved with the Asian American movement in the San Francisco Bay Area.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bonus |first1=Rick |title=Filipinx American Studies: Reckoning, Reclamation, Transformation |last2=Tiongson |first2=Antonio |last3=Aguilar-San Juan |first3=Karin |last4=Allen |first4=Angelica |last5=Apostol |first5=Gina |last6=Balce |first6=Nerissa |last7=Barrios-LeBlanc |first7=Joi |last8=Bascara |first8=Victor |last9=Blanco |first9=Jody |date=2022 |publisher=Fordham University Press |isbn=978-0-8232-9960-7 |location=New York |pages=9 |chapter=Filipinx American Critique: An Introduction}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last1=Rodis |first1=Rodel |date=2017-09-20 |title=Crossing the Golden Gate Bridge to start US-based opposition to Marcos |url=https://usa.inquirer.net/6801/crossing-golden-gate-bridge-start-us-based-opposition-marcos |access-date=2025-04-23 |newspaper=Philippine Daily Inquirer |language=en}}</ref> He played a major part in the International Hotel as a resident, a student who renovated the hotel, and a member of the hotel's United Filipino Association (UFA).<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Habal |first=Estella |title=San Francisco's International Hotel: mobilizing the Filipino American community in the anti-eviction movement |date=2007 |publisher=Temple University Press |isbn=978-1-59213-445-8 |series=Asian American history and culture |location=Philadelphia}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> His activism was largely built upon a Marxist–Leninist framework, addressing issues such as Anti-Marcos sentiment and those raised by the Third World Liberation Front.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Elbaum |first=Max |title=Revolution in the air: sixties radicals turn to Lenin, Mao and Che |date=2002 |publisher=Verso |isbn=978-1-85984-617-9 |series=The Haymarket series |location=London}}</ref> He is a co-founder of the Union of Democratic Filipinos, also known as Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP).

== Early life and education == Occena grew up in New York City.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Aoki |first=Andrew L. |date=June 2010 |title=The Transnational Politics of Asian Americans. Edited by Christian Collet and Pei-te Lien. Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2009. 252p. $29.95. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1537592710000538/type/journal_article |journal=Perspectives on Politics |language=en |volume=8 |issue=2 |pages=630–632 |doi=10.1017/S1537592710000538 |issn=1537-5927|url-access=subscription }}</ref> His father had emigrated from the Philippines in pursuit of education in the United States, but ended up staying and marrying a white woman.<ref name=":3" /> Both parents worked various factory jobs as well as in canneries.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> The three of them lived in tenement housing together throughout Occena's childhood.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" />

Occena was first introduced to higher education after transferring to a Catholic school in New York, and was later accepted to several colleges on the east coast as well as the University of Hawaii.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> He ended up attending the University of California, Berkeley, where he and many of his fellow Filipino students benefited from the "Equal Opportunity Program or went to college through special admissions as disadvantaged students".<ref name=":3" /> From his time at the University of California, Berkeley, Occena began to become deeply interested in Marxism and Communism.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":13">{{Cite journal |last=Fujino |first=Diane |date=2024-04-01 |title=Political Asian America |url=https://online.ucpress.edu/esr/article/47/1/60/200780/Political-Asian-AmericaAfro-Asian-Solidarity-Third |journal=Ethnic Studies Review |language=en |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=60–97 |doi=10.1525/esr.2024.47.1.60 |issn=2576-2915|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Activism == While a student at the University of California, Berkeley, Occena was involved in the 1968 Third World Liberation Front strikes, commonly understood as essential to the establishment of Ethnic Studies in higher education.<ref name=":0">Walsh Taylor, Kieran. Turn to the Working Class: The New Left, Black Liberation, and the U.S. Labor Movement (1976-1981). 2007</ref> He was a key member of the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) and one of its few Filipino members alongside Emil de Guzman, Trinity Ordona, and Lillian Fabros.<ref name=":13" /> He later was an educator at Berkeley, teaching a Philippine studies class.<ref>{{cite book |last=Vinluan |first=Ermena |title=A time to rise: collective memoirs of the Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP) |date=2017 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=9780295742021 |editor1-last=Ciria Cruz |editor1-first=Rene |edition=1st |location=Seattle |page=149 |chapter=A Cultural Gypsy |editor2-last=Domingo |editor2-first=Cindy |editor3-last=Occena |editor3-first=Bruce}}</ref> AAPA's work centered on national and international solidarity against imperialism, basing their political views on Maoism.<ref name=":8" /><ref name=":15">{{Cite web |title=Diasporic Struggle: Transnational Activism, Migration, and Anti-Imperialism in Filipino America, 1964-1991 - ProQuest |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/2275993312 |access-date=2025-06-03 |website=www.proquest.com |id={{ProQuest|2275993312}} |language=en}}</ref> The students of AAPA worked to emphasize the importance of collective unity and understanding their community's needs, which in turn allowed their political power to grow substantially.<ref name=":15" />

He was part of the KDP's National Executive Board.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yonn |first=Walter |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvcwnsq6 |title=A Time to Rise: Collective Memoirs of the Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP) |date=2017 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-74201-4 |pages=105 |chapter=Transfer to Paradise...Not!|jstor=j.ctvcwnsq6 }}</ref>

Following the Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) strikes for ethnic studies at San Francisco State College in 1968, young student activists at the University of California, Berkeley were moved to support the cause.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |title=Third World Liberation Comes to San Francisco - ProQuest |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/207440100 |access-date=2025-05-19 |website=www.proquest.com |id={{ProQuest|207440100}} |language=en}}</ref> The core issue that solidified the Asian American Movement was diverse access to universities, particularly, the University of California. Occena was focused on the question of representation in the curriculum, especially for Asians. If the institution were responsive to this issue, student activists, such as Occena, would take measures like meeting with chancellors, organizing walkouts, and hosting other on-campus events. The TWLF was a vehicle for AAPA's activism, as it fostered a strong sense of solidarity with other communities of color and identification with Third World struggles in the resistance against institutionalized racism.<ref name=":9" />

Occena is notable as a founding member of the Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP), and his participation in the Alaska Cannery Workers Association (ACWA). Additionally, he was part of the original team for the International Hotel struggle, a member of the Line of March (LOM), and was one of the first Americans who participated in the Venceremos Brigade to Cuba, where he began to develop Marxist–Leninist politics.<ref name=":6">{{Citation |last=Hanna |first=Karen Buenavista |title=Delia Aguilar |date=2023-09-20 |work=She Who Struggles |pages=175–191 |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.6773405.17 |access-date=2025-05-15 |publisher=Pluto Press |doi=10.2307/jj.6773405.17 |isbn=978-0-7453-4825-4|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name=":9" /><ref name=":3" /> Occena's influence continues to shape the present state of Asian American and multinational activist organizing.

=== The International Hotel Struggle === The International Hotel (I-Hotel) in San Francisco, California, was a residential building in Manilatown that housed primarily low-income Filipino and Chinese residents.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal |date=2009-02-01 |title=Review: ''San Francisco's International Hotel: Mobilizing the Filipino American Community in the Anti-Eviction Movement'', by Estella Habal |url=https://doi.org/10.1525/phr.2009.78.1.130 |journal=Pacific Historical Review |volume=78 |issue=1 |pages=130–131 |doi=10.1525/phr.2009.78.1.130 |issn=0030-8684|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Plans to demolish the building were set in June 1968, however, the tenants did not receive an eviction notice until October of that year.<ref name=":7" /> Its elderly residents, especially, had very few options, leaving many of them at risk of homelessness, along with losing their place in a vital community.

Occena was one of the AAPA Berkeley students who moved into the I-Hotel and worked to renovate the hotel while resisting the eviction of its tenants. In its early days of renovation, he worked at the I-Hotel as a student supporter, then helped found KDP and led all aspects of its work from its National Executive Board.<ref name=":3" /> He acted in the United Filipino Association (UFA), which advocated for welfare, housing, and medical care for older people living in the I-Hotel.<ref name=":3" /> He joined the association's board after an inexplicable fire cost lives, pushing the UFA to invite students into leadership positions.

==Radicalization==

Occena's radical ideals were based on the relations between the United States and the Philippines and the communities his parents grew up in. His political standing originated in student activism, became transnational, then locally focused, keeping the influence of Filipino liberation at the core of his work.<ref name=":14">{{Citation |title=Congressional Record |date=2014 |work=Congress A to Z |url=https://doi.org/10.4135/9781452287508.n92 |access-date=2025-06-03 |place=Washington DC, United States |publisher=CQ Press |doi=10.4135/9781452287508.n92 |isbn=978-1-4522-8752-2|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Occena studied Marxism and joined the Venceremos Brigade.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":13" /> In 1969 he traveled to Cuba among of the first groups of Americans to break the blockade of travel and goods from the United States. His name was listed as one of the potential people Congress wanted to keep on file in case there was any conflict with Cuba.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":13" /> His participation in breaking the blockade contributed to Occena becoming interested in Marxism and Communism. At the University of California, Berkeley, Occena joined a study circle outside of an academic setting led by a Korean intellectual where he and other Marxists read works by Marx and Lenin in-depth.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":13" /> In addition, Occena also had connections with the Black Panthers on campus, who would sell newspapers and essays to those interested in both the Black Panther Party as a whole but also Marxism–Leninism.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":13" /> Being involved in both the Venceremos Brigade and Marxism helped lead to his radicalization that would later set the foundation for the Third World Liberation Front and the KDP.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":13" />

=== Founding the KDP === The Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP) had a significant international influence, as they were able to connect with the Philippines, especially during the 1972 declaration of martial law under Ferdinand Marcos.<ref name=":4" /> The KDP was modeled after Kabataang Makabayan (Nationalist Youth) in the Philippines, supporting the political<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ten years that shook the city: San Francisco 1968 - 1978 ; a reclaiming San Francisco book |date=2011 |publisher=City Lights Books |isbn=978-1-931404-12-9 |editor-last=Carlsson |editor-first=Chris |location=San Francisco |editor-last2=Elliott |editor-first2=Lisa Ruth |editor-last3=City Lights Books}}</ref> work Occena referred to as the "dual line program", which simultaneously called for the struggle against racism and socialism in the United States, as well as against imperialism in the Philippines.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Valdez |first=Inés |date=January 2023 |title=US Law and Filipino Resistance to Racial Capitalism: Review of Michael W. McCann with George I. Lovell Union by Law |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/877881 |journal=Theory & Event |language=en |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=221–225 |doi=10.1353/tae.2023.0012 |issn=1092-311X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The KDP had chapters across the country and were the main opposition to Marcos' dictatorship. Thus, according to Occena and his chapter members' discovery, high-level operatives of the Marcos government made connections with the union president due to concerns about the KDP's radical political views and global influence.<ref name=":8">{{Cite journal |last=Fujino |first=Diane C. |date=2024-09-20 |title=Rhizomatic Organizing, Collective Leadership, and Community-Centered Pedagogy in the Early Asian American Movement |url=https://doi.org/10.1017/s0021875824000252 |journal=Journal of American Studies |pages=1–34 |doi=10.1017/s0021875824000252 |issn=0021-8758|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}</ref>

Occena's involvement in the KDP and the Asian American Political Alliance (AAPA) drastically shaped and radicalized the way he and his chapter members saw themselves as equal members of the Third World empowerment movement.

=== Cannery Union activism === Occena played a key role in shaping the activities and strategy of the Alaska Cannery Workers Association (ACWA) in the 1970s. The ACWA was established to address racial discrimination and labor exploitation in the Alaskan salmon canning industry, particularly as it affected Filipino and other Asian American workers. During his involvement, Occena contributed to both legal actions against discriminatory employers and political engagement with labor unions.{{citation needed|date=June 2025}}

One of Occena's main areas of focus within the ACWA was supporting the organization's legal efforts, including class action lawsuits against major seafood processing companies alleging violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The lawsuits targeted discriminatory practices in hiring, promotions, and housing. Filipino workers were frequently assigned the lowest-paid and most physically demanding jobs and were often housed separately from white workers in inferior conditions. These cases aimed to eliminate racial segregation in employment and worker housing within the canneries.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book |last=Bonus |first=Rick |url=https://doi.org/10.1215/9781478007425 |title=The Ocean in the School |date=2020 |publisher=Duke University Press |doi=10.1215/9781478007425 |isbn=978-1-4780-0742-5}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Suber |first=Peter |date=2004-03-13 |title=More on the California eScholarship Repository OA journals |journal=Santa Cruz Sentinel |doi=10.63485/q83en-96b62 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

As the lawsuits progressed, Occena supported a shift in the ACWA's strategy from relying solely on legal remedies to incorporating union reform. He advocated for direct engagement with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 37, which represented many of the cannery workers. At the time, leadership within Local 37 had been criticized for a lack of responsiveness to the needs of rank-and-file members, particularly younger and more progressive workers. Occena was involved in organizing efforts to elect new local leadership and increase worker participation in union governance.<ref name=":12" />

Occena worked with other ACWA members to develop internal educational initiatives that encouraged political involvement and leadership among Filipino-American cannery workers. These efforts included holding meetings, workshops, and election campaigns that helped challenge existing power structures within the union. Through these activities, ACWA members sought to make Local 37 more democratic and responsive to issues such as racial equity, transparency, and fair labor practices.<ref name=":12" />

==== Sexuality in KDP ==== Despite the KDP's support for the Gay Liberation Movement, many of its organizations were dominated by white men at the time, which further isolated and deterred Filipino activists from joining them due to their differing cultural and political priorities.<ref name=":6" /> Queer feminist scholar Karen Hanna emphasizes the importance of KDP's proud stature and reputation in the Asian American Movement, which she describes led to the pressing, selfless determination for leaders to prioritize centering their work on collective human rights struggles. As a result of these tireless efforts, discussions regarding personal identity, including relationships and sexuality, were often seen and remained as private matters or secondary to KDP's collective work.<ref>{{Citation |last=Ordona |first=Trinity A. |title=19 Asian1 Lesbians in San Francisco Struggles to Create a Safe Space, 1970s–1980s |date=2022-12-31 |work=Asian/Pacific Islander American Women |pages=317–334 |url=https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814790977.003.0024 |access-date=2025-06-03 |publisher=New York University Press |doi=10.18574/nyu/9780814790977.003.0024 |isbn=978-0-8147-9097-7|url-access=subscription }}</ref> For members like Occena, who later considered himself bisexual, this environment in KDP created a tenuous but significant pressure to avoid discussing sexual identity as a means to center the movement on broader human rights issues. This led to subtle hesitation around coming out during his time in the organization.<ref name=":8" />

=== After the KDP === Occena was part of the Ang Kalayaan Collective, the precursor to the Katipunan ng mga Demokratokong Pilipino (KDP) that was officially formed in July 1973. In ''Kalayaan'', he worked with Cynthia Maglaya.<ref name=":1" />

Max Elbaum, the leader of the Northern California Alliance close collaborator of Occena, recalls how he worked with KDP leaders Occena and Melinda Paras as well as the leader of the Third World Women's Alliance (TWWA), Linda Burnham, to found the Rectification Network.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Bush |first=Rod |date=2004 |title=When the Revolution Came |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/172224 |journal=Radical History Review |volume=2004 |issue=90 |pages=102–111 |doi=10.1215/01636545-2004-90-102 |issn=1534-1453}}</ref> The Recertification Network was the precursor to Line of March and a longer line of groups and publications associated with Marxist–Leninist movement, The Trend. He was a co-editor of ''Line of March: A Marxist-Leninist Journal of Rectification'' with Irwin Silber, and on the publication's editorial board along with Silber, Elbaum, Dale Borgeson, Linda Burnham, Melinda Paras, and Bob Wing.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news |date=Fall 1985 |title=Fall 1985 |work=Line of March: A Marxist-Leninist Journal of Rectification |volume=18}}</ref>

Occena was the chair of the Line of March's executive committee until the publication disbanded officially in the Fall of 1989.<ref name=":4" />

===Governmental pushback===

On March 16, 1970, the Senate Congressional Record listed a report presenting the Passenger Manifest for the Venceremos Brigade in Cuba as a list of threats to potentially "return to the United States to implement the Communist purpose of causing chaos, confusion, and outright revolution in our institutions of higher learning, in the streets of our cities, and all across our Nation".<ref name=":14" /> Because of his involvement in the Venceremos Brigade, Occena's name was on the list, thus marking him as a potential enemy of the state.<ref name=":5" />

The coincidence of Marcos agents' assassination of close activists to Occena, Silme Domingo and Gene Viernes, and the increased vigilance by the United States Government due to the 1981 drafted–but not ratified–Extradition Treaty with the Philippines increased FBI and CIA surveillance to blacklist prominent anti-Marcos activists and members of Filipino communities such as Occena.<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2018 |title=Part 2: The Treaty of Versailles |url=https://doi.org/10.5040/9798216027485.ch-003 |journal=Treaty of Versailles |pages=49–208 |doi=10.5040/9798216027485.ch-003|isbn=979-8-216-02748-5 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== Later career == Occena is one of the Directors of the Tele-health and Interpreter Services at the San Francisco Department of Public Health. His responsibilities lie in telemedicine and interpretive services for the city and county of San Francisco.<ref name=":10">{{Cite journal |last1=Ratanawongsa |first1=Neda |last2=Cardenas |first2=Angelica |last3=Occena |first3=Bruce |last4=Critchfield |first4=Jeff |last5=Mercer |first5=Mary |last6=Myers |first6=Kara |date=2018-10-24 |title=Certified Medical Interpreters' Perspectives on Relationship-Centered Communication in Safety-Net Care |url=https://mededpublish.org/articles/7-169 |journal=MedEdPublish |language=en |volume=7 |pages=169 |doi=10.15694/mep.2018.0000169.2 |pmid=38074532 |pmc=10701798 |issn=2312-7996}}</ref> In 2018, he co-authored a study on the role of certified medical interpreters in relationship-centered care, highlighting the importance of language assistance to patients.<ref name=":10" /> This emphasis strengthens connections across teams caring for diverse populations, thus further expanding people's access to medical care.

In 2018, Occena was interviewed for the UC Berkeley AAPA Oral History Project.<ref name=":18">{{Cite journal |last=Fujino |first=Diane C. |date=2024-09-20 |title=Rhizomatic Organizing, Collective Leadership, and Community-Centered Pedagogy in the Early Asian American Movement |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0021875824000252/type/journal_article |journal=Journal of American Studies |language=en |pages=1–34 |doi=10.1017/S0021875824000252 |issn=0021-8758|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite AV media |url=https://calisphere.org/item/cd62ede7-3bfb-4d2d-b0e8-31db2da9ba78/ |title=Interview with Bruce Occena, 2018, UC Berkeley Asian American Political Alliance Oral History Project |date=2018 |access-date=2025-05-15 |via=Calisphere}}</ref>

Occena was a co-editor of ''A Time to Rise: Collective Memoirs of the Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP)''.<ref name=":11">{{Citation |title=A Time to Rise: Collective Memoirs of the Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP) |date=2017-10-02 |work=A Time to Rise |url=https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780295742038/html |access-date=2025-05-27 |publisher=University of Washington Press |language=en |doi=10.1515/9780295742038 |isbn=978-0-295-74203-8 |editor-last1=Ciria Cruz |editor-last2=Domingo |editor-last3=Occena |editor-last4=Espiritu |editor-first1=Rene |editor-first2=Cindy |editor-first3=Bruce |editor-first4=Augusto F. }}</ref> The book consists of a collection of documents and personal accounts that delve into the workings of the KDP during the politically turbulent 1970s and 1980s. It scopes into the revolutionary history of Filipinos in America, as well as the collective struggles for justice and democracy in the Philippines.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Tigno |first=Jorge V. |date=2018-09-02 |title=A time to rise: collective memoirs of the Union of Democratic Filipinos (KDP) |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/01154451.2018.1555570 |journal=Philippine Political Science Journal |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=186–188 |doi=10.1080/01154451.2018.1555570 |issn=0115-4451|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Occena's co-editors, Rene Ciria Cruz and Cindy Domingo, also played key roles in the creation of this revolutionary account.<ref name=":11" /> Cruz was a founding member of KDP and was its East Coast Regional Coordinator throughout the 1970s, later becoming editor-in-chief in the early 1980s. Domingo joined the Seattle KDP chapter in the mid-1970s and was eventually assigned to work in Oakland as the KDP National Secretariat.<ref name=":11" />

== References == {{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Occena, Bruce}} Category:Living people Category:American writers of Filipino descent Category:American trade unionists of Filipino descent Category:Asian-American movement activists Category:Year of birth missing (living people)