Building Bridges of International Solidarity

A Cultural Storytelling Mission of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) - Nor Cal Chapter

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Anakbayan-USA expo delegates Amado and Alexa call for the resumption of the GPH-NDFP Peace Talks for just & lasting peace in the Philippines and for Free Education Now!

National Youth Commission (NYC) Chair Aiza Seguerra just approved sponsorship of an educational mass integration hosted by University of Santo Tomas. Youth and students will learn firsthand from the basic sectors of Philippine society about the hardships and solutions to landlessness, joblessness, and foreign intervention. We must demand for the peace talks to continue as one form to address the roots of the armed conflict and push forward the people’s 12-point program for genuine change! #JustPeacePH #FreeEducationNOW

(L to R) Einstein Recedes, Secretary General of Anakbayan National; Alexa, Vice Chair of Anakbayan East Bay; Paul Pangilinan, Commisioner of NYC; Aiza Seguerra, Chair of NYC; Sarah Elago, Congresswoman of Kabataan Partylist, Amado, Anakbayan East Bay; and Adrian Puse of Kabataan Partylist

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“There’s a struggle in those hills. You can feel its power still…”- River Song, Diskarte Namin

When you see the natural richness of the Philippines, and you hear the stories of struggle and resistance in the communities to protect the land, then you will already know why the Philippines holds one of the longest running armed revolutionary struggles in Asia, through the New People Army and the Communist Party of the Philippines.

It is the will and desire to fight and defend your ancestral lands if you are an IP(indigenous peoples) against imperialist plunder and corporate exploitation.

  It is the will and determination to not be afraid when the government and its paramilitary goons attack your community, kill your loved ones, or arrest you on trumped up charges.

It is the fact that you know your country can be different, free from US imperialism, bureaucratic capitalism, and feudalism, and that everyone would have food to eat, housing, healthcare, education… These are the answers we were given when we asked “Why join the New Peoples Army?”

“Until we win this revolution. And we will win this revolution.”

Jessica Antonio- Secretary General BAYAN USA

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One of the most surreal moments of my life was spending my first full day in the Philippines in the NDFP office talking to NDFP Peace Consultants weeks before the 3rd Round of Peace Talks that are happening right now in Rome. Ruben Saluta, Loida Magpatoc, and Renante Gamara, spent an entire day with us breaking down the economic and social reforms being proposed in Comprehensive Agreements on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), peace negotiations, and what a vision for what just peace can look like.

-Megan Zapanta, Anakbayan East Bay

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BAYAN-USA Sec Gen speaks out at a rally in front of the US embassy in the Philippines against Trump and his capitalist and imperialist agenda. Yesterday morning, hundreds of Filipinos mobilized in solidarity with the working people, immigrants, Muslims, LGBTQ, women and people of color of the US.

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Today while the rest of our delegation visited currently detained political prisoners, I joined the National Union of Peoples' Lawyers (NUPL) to observe a hearing for Rolie Panisco who was tortured and detained for 11 months on trumped-up charges. The charges against him were eventually dismissed and now he's filed a countersuit against the Philippine National Police (PNP) on grounds of torture and other violations of his civil liberties. The law isn't always about justice, but it's always about politics and power. I'm reminded of this as President Obama announced today that he will commute Oscar López Rivera and Chelsea Manning. I was also reminded when getting to know Rolie on our 2-hour drive to and from the courthouse. Just like all of the former political prisoners I've met on expo, Rolie's courage and determination never ceases to amaze me. His bravery reminds me of the wise and simple words of NUPL Attorney Romeo Capulong, "We have brave clients, we need brave lawyers." As I approach the end of expo, I will hold these words close and come back to the Bay with the bravery of the masses and an even deeper commitment to being a lawyer for the people. - Jassmin Poyaoan, Anakbayan East Bay

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Today we celebrated a belated Christmas with political prisoners of the New Bilibid maximum security prison. No cameras or phones allowed but they sent messages to political prisoners and kasamas in the US.

Of the 25 political prisoners, 3 were NDFP consultants who were supposed to have been released by Christmas. As the third round of Peace Talks resumes in Rome tomorrow, we’re hoping for the best but are disheartened that over 400 political prisoners are still locked up despite Duterte’s talk!

Bilanggong Pulitikal! Palayain!

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Sample of a brand new expo remix we’re working on. Flipped lyrics by Katie Joaquin because we can’t help growing the rev with you!

We tried this song for the first time ever while integrating with Sinagbayan, a cultural organization that works closely with peasant communities. The lesson of today: culture is an essential weapon to winning national democracy and liberation.

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A family of leaders, a community to protect and defend Lumad ancestral lands from land grabbers and corporations. Datu Tungig, Bai Mini, Datu Ansil.

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Reclaim MLK Day!

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Indigenous Communities in the Philippines say Black Resistance Matters! Talaingod Manobo students of Salupongan school and Piya & RG of KATRIBU and Sandugo in solidarity with the struggle for black lives and resistance this MLK Day! Mabuhay ang Martin Luther King Jr! Long Live International Solidarity!

KATRIBU is the largest alliance of indigenous people in the Philippines advancing the rights of indigenous peoples to ancestral lands and to self-determination.

Sandugo is an alliance of Moro and indigenous peoples in the Philippines for the right to self-determination.

Salupongan International (SI) is a solidarity network inspired by the aspirations of the Manobo Talaingod tribe who united their villages and defended their ancestral land and rainforest from being destroyed by corporate loggers decades ago in the Southern Mindanao Region of the Philippines. http://salupongan.org/home

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When I stand in my backyard in Oakland, California, I survey my two little garden boxes and handful of pots with a mix of pride, embarrassment and longing. Proud that the tomatoes overflowed for months, embarrassed that the worms in my compost bin died after three days, and longing for real space to cultivate food.

An ocean away, at the Salupongan School for Talaingod Manobo youth in Nasilaban, I was following a group of high school students out to their “backyard,” an expansive hilly terrain where thick green grass and banana trees grow out of the clay soil anywhere that hasn’t already been carefully cultivated. We spent about fifteen minutes weeding a hill with curved dull knives as long as my forearm – a task I had to be re-taught several times.

All of a sudden, we were planting the okra seeds our delegation had donated. The students quickly dug little holes and within twenty minutes, my group of ten teenagers had sewed seeds across the whole hill. Everywhere around us we could see the vegetables almost ready to harvest–some even planted with other expo delegations from last summer.

And yet despite the apparent aliveness of the land, every day at school, we ate rice flavored with instant noodles. The Lumad people we talked to all had trouble feeding their families even one meal a day.

Why? One Datu (tribal leader) told us if they have livestock and a thriving garden, the military will tag them as a member of the New People’s Army and harass them. Two villages over in Sambulungan, the community has been forced to evacuate so many times because of constant harassment by the AFP and the paramilitary group, the Alamara, they’re afraid to replant their farms, for fear they will be attacked and displaced again.

As much as I have a right to my little garden beds, the Talaingod Manobo and all indigenous people have more of a right to feed themselves by cultivating their own land. I long to come back to Nasilaban and see the garden overflow with rice, vegetables and fruit trees. I long to see the kids harvest side by side with their parents and feed their school, village and beyond. I long for them to teach us all the meaning of the expression “Land is Life.”

- Megan Zapanta, Anakbayan East Bay

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After spending 5 days with the Talaingod Manobo community in Salupongan, the team is back in Davao City! We've returned more grounded and agit than ever with new friendships, perspectives, unforgettable memories, and more concrete forms of solidarity. Here are the Salupongan students from Sitio Nasilaban sending us off with a fun and militant photo op! Stay tuned for more stories about our integration as we settle back into city life and electricity :)

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Bye bye Luzon! We've spent an amazing 3 first day in Quezon City meeting peace consultants and former political prisoners and their families. Now we're on our way to Mindanao for a week. We won't be able to post often as our access to wifi will be more limited but we're excited to report back on our travels, discussions and the delicious fruit we eat.

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Day 1: Talking about the third round of peace talks (scheduled for January 18-25 in Rome) with NDFP Peace Consultants.

“It’s not the form or type of government. It’s the content. Does it address the basic demands of the masses of people?” - Ruben Saluta, NDFP Peace Consultant.

Art credit: Jessica Antonio of BAYAN USA

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Anakbayan East Bay sends off their delegates from SFO. So it begins...

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Building Bridges of International Solidarity: Bay Area delegation to conduct Cultural Storytelling Mission

International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines - Northern California Network

Media Advisory For Immediate Release Contact: Katie Joaquin, ICHRP Northern CA January 1, 2017, [email protected]

On the occasions of MLK Day, Donald Trump’s inauguration, and Philippine Peace Talks, Mission to the Philippines will cover stories of Political Prisoners, Indigenous Peoples & Muslims – will transmit messages of solidarity from these communities to people in the U.S.

[OAKLAND, CA] - Bay Area activists, cultural workers, and members of the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) Northern California Network depart this week for a cultural storytelling and solidarity mission that will cover the stories of communities experiencing political repression in the Philippines and draw links to the stories of people in the Bay Area and the U.S.

Delegates will integrate with Political Prisoners, Indigenous Peoples, Muslim and other communities experiencing political repression in order to document their stories using photo, video, song, and writing and to gather messages of solidarity from them to communities facing similar forms of oppression in the U.S.

The delegation will release stories and solidarity statements from communities in the Philippines weekly and on the occasions of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the inauguration of Donald Trump, and the anticipated third round of Peace Talks between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

WHO: Bay area human rights activists and cultural workers a part of Anakbayan East Bay, Critical Resistance, Transgender Gender Variant and Intersex Justice Project, BAYAN-USA, Indigenous Solidarity Action Organizing Project, and the International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines - Northern California Network

WHEN & WHERE: January 4 - 7: Integrations with Political Prisoners and consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in Luzon January 8 - 15: Integrations with Talaingod Manobo tribe suffering from military displacement and health crises and indigenous Salugpongan schools in Mindanao January 16 - 23: Integrations with Cultural Workers, Political Prisoners, Human Rights Attorneys, and Health Workers tending to victims of psychological warfare

Interviews during the course of the mission available upon request. Use of quotes, photos and videos released can be used, reposted and/or shared with credit.

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The International Coalition for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICHRP) Northern California is a network of organizations, and faith, civic, and environmental justice leaders concerned about the human rights situation in the Philippines and committed to a campaign for just and lasting peace in the country. For more on the campaign, follow #JustPeacePH or visit www.humanrightsphilippines.net

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