New York City -- The voices of spoken word artists,
musicians and former political prisoners resounded
over a room packed with people at the Brecht Forum
last Saturday night. RECLAIM: (Re)Affirming Our
Culture of Resistance, organized by the Justice Not
War in the Philippines Campaign, drew over 200 people
to an evening that was a fundraiser, party,
performance and lesson on the Filipino people's
continued struggle for justice.
RECLAIM was conceived to commemorate two dates in
recent Philippine history: September 21, 1972, the
declaration of martial law under the late dictator
Ferdinand Marcos; and September 16, 1991, the ousting
of the US military bases. Reinforcing the collective
memory of those dates, the evening's lineup included
Linda Abad and Ramon Mappala, who gave stirring
testimonies of their persecution under the Marcos
regime. Later in the evening, Gloria Pacis, the mother
of US Marine Stephen Funk, told of her son's
courageous effort to speak out against the war in
Iraq. The three speakers, together with interwoven
stories of youth activists under attack under
Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's
administration, gave the audience a poignant message:
that martial law must not be allowed to occur again,
and that US militarization severely obstructs the
people's self-determination in the Philippines and
elsewhere.
During these testimonies the audience was quietly
reverent, then raucously supportive. "Free Stephen
Funk!" the audience chanted as Gloria Pacis left the
stage. Audience member James Oh said of the evening:
"We (youth) tend to forget the history of collective
struggle throughout the world. RECLAIM raised my
awareness of the power of resistance in the
Philippines."
The musical performance by Mahina Movement and the
boisterous spoken word performances by Mathilda de
Dios, Ree Obaña, Sabrina Margarita Alcantara-Tan,
Chris Campos and Johanna Faith Cacho Almiron
complemented the sobering testimonies by showing the
audience that barriers to justice can be overcome by
collective action. They involved the audience with
call and response and simply made the crowd laugh and
shout.
"For one of our members this is the first time he's
heard spoken word," said Leo Casayuran, a board member
of Lakas Diwa, a Jersey City-based Filipino youth
organization. "Rather than just listening to the news
about what's happening in the Philippines and to
Filipinos here, they hear it through rhythm." One of
the event's organizers, Maria Doherty, said, "The
event was phenomenal! There was an incredible energy
from both the crowd and the performers. Everyone
seemed to know that they were participating in the
shaping of an important movement for justice. And it
felt damn good!"
The spoken word artists not only referenced events and
political figures in the US and the Philippines, but
also explored the interactive strains of culture as
Filipinos, US-born Filipinos, and artists of mixed
descent. Philippine heritage was an important feature
of the evening; it was articulated with varying
expressions of awe, ambivalence and conflict-but
always as a unifying principle. The paintings of
Monica Bauer and the performance of Kinding Sindaw, an
indigenous dance and music ensemble, evoked the
vibrant colors of the Philippine landscape, while the
artwork of Margarita Garcia Liao critiqued ideals of
exotic beauty and the orientalist eye.
Dorotea Mendoza of GABRIELA Network drew the
connections between martial law in the Philippines and
the current US War on Terror. She updated the audience
on the case of Professor Jose Maria Sison, a political
refugee from the Philippines living in the Netherlands
who has been designated by the US government and the
EU as a "terrorist": "Professor Sison was a chief
negotiator in the peace talks between the National
Democratic Front of the Philippines and the Philippine
government. What terrorist takes part in peace
negotiations? This attack on Professor Jose Maria
Sison is an attack on the entire progressive movement
in the Philippines."
Mendoza's message was a fitting transition to the
following day's events. On Sunday, RECLAIM
participants joined with people of other communities
whose homelands also experience US military
intervention in a demonstration against US occupation
in Palestine, Iraq, the Philippines, Korea and
everywhere. Demonstrations were held simultaneously
in over forty countries worldwide.
Beginning with a rally at Columbus Circle, the
Philippine contingent marched in the front leading the
way to the Philippine Consulate. Waving flags and
carrying banners that read "US Troops Out of the
Philippines and Everywhere" and "Justice Not War in
the Philippines," the marchers chanted "Stop the US
war machine from Korea to Iraq to the Philippines!"
At the Philippine Consulate, Ana Liza Caballes of
DAMAYAN Migrant Workers Association, a group fighting
for the rights of migrant workers, spoke in opposition
to the Arroyo government's complete support for the US
War on Terror and the return of US troops to the
Philippines. She was followed by RECLAIM performer Ree
Obaña, who issued a call and response to the crowd:
"Reclaim!! And Resist!! Reclaim!! And Resist!!"
Obaña's performance at the demonstration may have been
a fitting end to the weekend, but the work of the
Justice Not War in the Philippines Campaign will most
certainly strengthen as long as the US military
continues to violate the rights of the Filipino
people.
To learn more about the Justice Not War in the
Philippines Campaign, please visit the website
www.justiceinthephilippines.org or call 212-561-1567.
For pictures of these events visit:
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