When GAR says pan-Asian, what do we mean?
What does it even mean to be Asian? For decades, organizers have debated this identity. Does pan-Asian build power across dozens of communities, or does it flatten our vastly different languages, histories, and immigration stories into one category?
At GAR, we hold that tension honestly. We have built a network that understands “pan-Asian” not as a fixed identity, but as a political commitment to build solidarity and power across communities who share struggles.
GAR stays rooted because of our growing network of members that reflects the breadth of pan-Asian communities’ shared struggles and stakes in organizing for a better world.
This year, our Sustainer Campaign theme is Rooted and Rising. Just as a plant’s roots grow and spread so it can rise stronger and taller, our network’s strength depends on staying rooted in the full, complicated reality of pan-Asian, working-class communities.
Nadiah, Youth Organizer at Arab American Action Network, shared what that meant for her community: “While we've long understood the shared struggles between Arab and broader pan-Asian communities, GAR was the first space that AAAN as an Arab organization was included under the pan-Asian category. Being in a space like this allows us to engage in conversations, really understand where our movement is, and build the kind of collective power our communities really need.”
For GAR, Nadiah’s story is not an exception but an example. Shared struggle takes strong relationships, intentions, and a commitment to building power together.
Poor and working-class Asian people and families are often overlooked, underestimated, and under-invested in. Our communities are treated as too diverse, too dispersed, and too hard to reach.
Pan-Asian communities are in the United States today largely because of empire, pushed out of homelands because of colonization, war, and labor migration. That history puts our communities in a unique position to expose the contradictions of authoritarian powers and build solidarity with other communities.
That same diversity is exactly why investing in GAR matters now. We are a growing and connected base of people that can organize, mobilize, and build our multi-racial democracy.
Your monthly gift is what keeps GAR’s roots firm and growing. Becoming a sustainer helps GAR stay a network that reflects the full breadth of pan-Asian communities.
