Factsheet: activism is not a crime!!!

A peep of my submission  for Factsheet art show. Come through, check out the dope pieces from the Philippines and here, and learn something new!!!

FACT SHEET Exhibit

The FACT SHEET exhibit is a collection of the piece reflects a few of the endless cases of human rights violations in the Philippines. Each of the pieces are based on Fact Sheets that contain important information on these cases. Artists’ ARREST in collaboration with the KARAPATAN (RIGHT) collected works from artists as part of CineVeritas 2008.

Currently, the  FACT SHEET exhibit has crossed the Pacific Ocean  and presenting  30 posters about human rights violations in the Philippines. It is inspired by Bay Area’s Social Serigraphy movement that started in the 1960s, 20 works and ideas of Artists’ ARREST, an art collective in the Philippines.  In addition 10 pieces from Kwatro Kanto collective, Lainerz, KA68, and others artists from the U.S.  The exhibition will show how art can be used as a social practice by forming alliances and mobilizations, from a single person to an entire nation.

Media Contact: Lian Ladia, lian_ladia@yahoo.com

MHF Contact: DiAnne Bueno, dianne.bueno@manilatown.org

MHF: 415-777-1130, 415-399-9580

www.manilatown.org

Political Poster Exhibition on Human Rights at Manilatown

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – San Francisco – January 11, 2010

EVENT: Manilatown Heritage Foundation (MHF), a Filipino American community arts organization based in San Francisco, will host “FACTSHEET: Activism is Not a Crime,” an exhibition of 30 posters by artists in the U.S. and the Philippines about human rights violations in the Philippines, curated by Lian Ladia and Con Cabrera and co-presented with SF Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines.

WHEN: Exhibit runs from February 6-April 24, 2010

Opening reception: Saturday, February 6, 4-6  PM, with live performances and special guest,  Marie Hilo from KARAPATAN, a human rights organization in the Philippines. FREE, donations appreciated

Film & Discussion: Saturday, March 27, 4-6 PM

Film shorts about human rights in the Philippines from the Southern Tagalog Exposure, followed by a panel discussion with Bay Area community organizers. $5-$10, no one turned away for lack of funds

Closing Reception: Saturday, April 24, 4-6 PM

FREE, donations appreciated

WHERE: International Hotel Manilatown Center, 868 Kearny Street (and Jackson), SF

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION: “FACTSHEET: Activism is Not a Crime,” showcases 30 posters by artists in the U.S. and the Philippines about human rights violations in the Philippines. It is inspired by Bay Area’s Social Serigraphy movement that started in the 1960s, as well as by the works and ideas of Artist Arrest, an art collective in the Philippines. FACTSHEET shows how art can be used as a social practice to form alliances and mobilize, from a single person to an entire nation.

ABOUT MANILATOWN HERITAGE FOUNDATION: The Manilatown Heritage Foundation is a non-profit community-based organization formed in 1994 and incorporated in 1998, to advocate for the rebuilding of the International Hotel (I-Hotel) and the preservation of the Filipino legacy in the San Francisco Bay Area. Its mission is to promote social and economic justice for Filipinos in America by preserving our history, advocating for equal access, and advancing our arts and culture. The I-Hotel was the last vestige of a vibrant 10-block area known as Manilatown. Manilatown Heritage Foundation emerged out of the struggle to defend the tenants’ rights to their homes and to preserve the Manilatown District. 28 years after the brutal eviction of the tenants, the new International Hotel Senior Housing opened its doors in August 2005. The Manilatown Center has now come alive with exhibits, weekly events and activities.

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Pinay Stories: Connection, Memory, Roots

Start Time:	Friday, December 4, 2009 at 8:00pm
End Time:	Saturday, December 5, 2009 at 9:30pm
Location:	Off Market Theater
Street:	965 Mission St. #250
City/Town:	San Francisco, CA

The Babae Ensemble Presents…
Pinay Stories
Connection, Memory, Roots

An evening of original written work, theater, and performance by an all-Filipina cast.
Stories that will inspire, empower, and uplift you.

Friday, December 4 and Saturday, December 5
8pm show; doors open at 7:30pm

Off Market Theater
965 Mission St. #250
San Francisco, CA 94104

$12 admission
For tickets, visit http://brownpapertickets.com/event/89703

Pinay Stories is a national cultural arts project of GABRIELA USA that centers on collecting creative efforts of Filipino women in the United States reflecting their life stories, journeys and current lives.

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Babae (Tagalog for “woman”) is a grassroots and volunteer-based organization of Filipina women in San Francisco dedicated to supporting and empowering Pinays through critical education, leadership development, and community building. We are committed to taking up local and global struggles, immediate and long-term concerns of our communities, especially those directly impacting Filipino women. As part of the Philippine women’s movement for self-determination, we are committed to working towards a future of real sisterhood and international solidarity, true gender equality and opportunity for all women, and genuine sovereignty and democracy in our homeland.

info@babaesf.org | www.babaesf.org

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GABRIELA National Alliance of Women is a grassroots-based alliance of more than 200 organizations, institutions, desks and programs of women all over the Philippines seeking to wage a struggle for the liberation of all oppressed Filipino women and the rest of our people. GABRIELA-USA is the first overseas chapter of the Philippine-based organization, extending the Filipino womens mass movement to the United States.

www.gabusa.org

Another artist cries military harassment

Another artist cries military harassment
By Abigail Kwok
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 13:23:00 09/22/2009

Filed Under: Espionage & Intelligence, Military, Arts (general)

MANILA, Philippines – A creative writer on Tuesday complained of falling victim to military harassment, days after a trainee intelligence officer was caught conducting surveillance outside the residence of National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera.

Writer and University of the Philippines professor Jun Cruz Reyes said during a press conference that unidentified men were conducting surveillance outside his Bulacan home for two days on September 10 and 13.

At around 11:30 p.m. on September 10, around eight men on board a white van reportedly parked outside Reyes’ home in Sta. Elena, Hagonoy town. The men reportedly stayed outside and surveyed Reyes’ home.

On September 13, a black van again staked out the home of Reyes again late at night. The van left minutes after.

“Nagiging kakaiba ang mga pangyayari sa buhay ko,” Reyes said. “Nanganganib ang buhay ko, may mga nagtatangka, gayong wala naman akong kagalit sapagkat ako’y isang manunulat at pintor lamang.”

Also on September 13, an unidentified man approached Reyes while he was having a snack at a nearby convenience store inside the UP campus. The man reportedly took a picture of the author without his consent.

According to Reyes, the man was wearing a blue pants and stood 5’4” in height.

Reyes is an award-winning literary writer having won various awards including the prestigious Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, National Book Awards, and Catholic Mass Media Awards, among others.

When asked why he was being targeted by the military, Reyes said he could not think of any particular reason.

But Reyes admitted that the incidents were not the first for the writer. On November 2007, unidentified men wearing fatigue reportedly went to the home of his neighbor and offered P20,000 to reveal Reyes’ direction.

On August 2007, unidentified men wearing black jackets also attempted to break into his home in Bulacan. But alert neighbors prompted the men to escape.

Reyes criticized the alleged harassment.

“Their method is primitive. The price of gasoline

is very high. They should have searched the Internet if they want to know more about me,” he said.

Human rights group Karapatan said that the military was targeting artists because of their impact in shaping public opinion.

“They help form public opinion and give a creative analysis of what’s happening. They are telling the story in a precise manner easily understood by the masses,” said Karapatan chairperson Marie Hilao-Enriquez.

Reyes’ legal counsel, lawyer Jules Matibag, said they are “seriously considering” filing for a writ of amparo and habeas data for Reyes’ protection.

Enriquez said Karapatan has also asked the Commission on Human Rights to compel the Philippine Navy to reveal its training module, after it admitted that spy training exercises were being conducted.

Does the Marvel Universe Know How Bad Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo Is????

You’re maybe thinking…. how does the Marvel Universe collide with the Philippine and their president, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo?

The context:

The Marvel Universe has been breached by Skrulls, an alien race that shape shifts and have infiltrated every super- powered organization on Earth. Their main goal is to have a full-scale invasion. The invasion tosses the Marvel Universe into chaos and has hero vs. hero.

In book #5,  a voice of Skrull uses television as a way to communicate their motives on why they are invading the Earth. In this scene figures like Obama, the pope, Tom Cruise, Bin Ladin, and GMA are illustrated as seen on tv.  In GMA’s illustration they have  her saying, ” The earth is now part of the Skrull empire.”

You’re maybe scratching your head and thinking:

Did Marvel notice all the Human Rights violations that GMA committed?

Do the Filipino people have an insider in Marvel, that would expose how bad GMA is?

Did they mean that GMA is a puppet of U.S. Imperialism…. ooopps I mean.. Skrull?

Why is this guy writing about, how and what bad did GMA do?

Facts about GMA:

• Hello Garci scandal- where audio recordings of a phone call conversation between President Arroyo and then Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano allegedly talking about the rigging of the 2004 national election results, were released to the public. This escalated, when the minority of the lower house of Congress attempted to impeach Arroyo. This was blocked by Arroyo’s coalition in September 2005. The administration has denied some of the allegations and challenged others in court. The House of Representatives, which is dominated by Arroyo’s coalition allies, blocked attempts for an impeachment trial.
• On Feb 24, 2006 GMA  Proclamation 1017 a defacto martial law under the guise of a ” State of Emergency” which gives her the power to issue warrantless (and until then unconstitutional) arrests, detainments, and even assassination aimed at progressive Filipino Organizations. Six leftist representatives – Satur Ocampo, Teodoro Casiño, and Joel Virador of Bayan Muna, Liza Maza of GABRIELA, and Crispin Beltran and Rafael Mariano of Anakpawis – were charged with rebellion. Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis was arrested on February 25 on charges of inciting to sedition and rebellion. The decree was lifted on March 3, 2006. However the opposition, lawyers, and concerned citizens filed a complaint in the Supreme Court contesting the constitutionality of PP 1017. The court, on May 4, declared the proclamation constitutional, but said it was illegal to issue warrantless arrests and seize private institutions.
• Caliberated Pre-Emptive Response.
• Human Rights Issues

By supporting the Skrulls, there is an assumption that she is one herself. In this case, the Skrulls represent the U.S. Imperialist- the real ones in cotrol of the Philippines.. GMA is a puppet who is controlled by someone other than herself but the hand of the ruling elite.

The people are the ones who will expose her as the alien from the comics and once she is exposed they will bring her down.

International Day of the Disappeared

photo by Aurora Victoria David

Press Release Sunday, August 30, 2009

Reference:

Princess Bustos

Secretary General

San Francisco- Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (SF CHRP)

From the heart of San Francisco to Palestine, Iraq, Mexico, and the Philippines

SF-CHRP linked arms with allies from various communities for the International Day of the Disappeared.

The San Francisco chapter of the Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (SF-CHRP) commemorated the International Day of the Disappeared on Sunday, August 30^th 2009 at the Koret Auditorium in the San Francisco Public Library. The event was filled with cultural performances—poetry by Ayla Schoenwald of Break the Seige, Carl Davison, and POETAS POBRE of Poor Magazine; music accompaniment by Diskarte Namin; a skit by POCAT, Poor Magazine and members of SF-CHRP; and an opening ceremony by MIXCOATL. Allies from various communities also shared the struggles in their homeland. In attendance were International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) on Palestine, Iraq Vets Against the War (IVAW), members of SNAG MAGAZINE who recently went on a trip to Palestine, Action and Resistance Collective (ARCO) on Mexico, and Kiilu Nyasha, a Black Panther veteran speaking on the Mumia Abu-Jamal struggle.

Link to photos at event: http://www.flickr. com/photos/ 23878692@ N07/sets/ 7215762219308597 2/

SF CHRP’s chairperson Angelica Cabande stated that, “it is of utmost importance that we put the issue of human rights violations and enforced disappearances at the forefront of our discussions. Activists are being killed and abducted all over the world, even in our own backyard and we can no longer turn a blind eye and remain silent. We have to condemn these atrocities and seek justice for the victims and their families.”

In the Philippines, the human rights group KARAPATAN documented that under the current President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, 1.7 million people have fallen victim to human rights violations, in forms such as extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, tortures, harassments, illegal arrests and detentions. Recently, a Filipino-American activist, Melissa Roxas was abducted along with two of her companions in La Paz, Tarlac. Roxas was brought to a military camp in Nueva Ecija and was repeatedly tortured. She was later released after much pressure from BAYAN-USA, allies, and friends of Roxas. “The abduction of Melissa Roxas is evident of the current political situation in the Philippines. No one is safe, even a health care volunteer like Melissa Roxas who travels from across the world to help her kababayans is not spared from the repression of the administration,” added Cabande.

Consequently despite international pressure to stop the abductions and political killings, and reports from Amnesty International and U.N. special rapporteur Philip Alston that human rights violations are in fact taking place, the Arroyo-Macapagal administration has made no effort to provide assistance for the families of the victims nor has the administration made any steps to prosecute or question suspected cultprits—elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippines National Police (PNP).

“It is no surprise that the Arroyo-Macapagal administration has continued to dismiss the reports. Once again, she is cheating her way out of accountability like she cheated her way into office during the 2005 presidential elections,” states Cabande.

In addition to the International Day of the Disappeared, Cabande said, “SF-CHRP will continue to educate the public about the human rights situation in the Philippines and lobby against the unconstitutional Visiting Forces Agreement and Balikatan (Shoulder-to-Shoulder) Exercises. We will demand that the Obama administration and the senate stop all U.S. military aid to the Philippines. For this year alone, more than $30 million tax dollars have been allocated and given to the Philippine government despite the cuts in social services here in the U.S. In addition, the Philippine media have reported sightings of U.S. military personnel participating in “anti-terrorism” combat missions in parts of the Philippines, actions which are deemed unconstitutional.”

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Two Poems on the Palestine-Israel Conflict

PUBLISHED ON January 24, 2009 AT 4:10 PM

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
(Bulatlat.com)

Parallels

Sixty years have the Palestinians spent
away from Palestine,
herded into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank
as the Jews were
in the ghettos of Nazi-occupied Europe.
For sixty years they have been fleeing
from massacres against them,
which are not unlike the pogroms of the Holocaust.

With their homeland being chewed up almost daily,
the Palestinians are getting dispersed
throughout the world,
as the Jews were after Rome’s pillage of Judea.
And recently they have been walled in
from what is now Israel –
suffering the same fate that the Jews did
when the Romans built Colonia Aelia Capitolina.

——o0o——

Israel, the Oppressors of Your People are Still Alive

Israel,
your soldiers today are the Romans and Nazis of old.
Listen to the wails of the women and men in Palestine
whose homes were reduced to rubble,
whose sons and daughters and brothers and sisters
were slaughtered like pigs –
these are the same cries
that burst forth from the mouths of your people
as Jerusalem’s ruins were being buried
under Aelia Capitolina,
as their loved ones were being gassed to death
in the concentration camps.
Israel,
the oppressors of your people
are still alive –
daily uprooting and murdering the Palestinians.
(Bulatlat.com)

When the Prey Strikes

When the Prey Strikes

PUBLISHED ON May 30, 2009 AT 3:28 PM

By OLMAYA NGABIT
Posted by Bulatlat

The Beasts
Blood thirsty beasts stalk them,
Watching them
From a distance at first,
Then slowly inching nearer,
And in a blink of an eye
Pounces on their prey
These beasts they know no mercy
They find satisfaction
In the agony of their prey
They live to kill

They Prey
They know they are being hunted,
That beasts are around somewhere drooling
Well aware that anytime
One of them could be devoured
But they do not scamper
They refuse to be paralyzed by fear
They draw strength in their number
Patiently,
Resiliently,
They wait for the perfect time
To strike down the beasts

The Blow
The rampaging beasts know
Their reign of terror is bound to end
Their pangs and paws bleeding
From trying hard to cling to the throne
But the fall of the beasts is inevitable
When the prey delivers the final blow!

After the weekend of attending the Asian Pacific Islander American(APIA) Spoken Word & Poetry Summit in the Bay Area, a tribute to the weekend a post of a poem from Olmaya Ngabit. Ngabit places issues on the beast of Imperialism/ Capitalism and how it hunts for the people.

Oppression breeds resistance.  They refuse to be afraid nor do nothing but they will gather and organize together to gain numbers to tackle the beast.

REGISTRATION DEADLINE for the asian pacific islander american spoken word & peotry summit is JULY 15TH! HURRY!

The APIA  spoken word and poetry summit is a gathering of spoken word artists, poets, writers, musicians, thespians, activists, organizers, and artists throughout the world who convene based on the commonality of their Asian American, Asian, and/or Pacific Islander identity.  Since 2001, the Summit has gathered every two years in a different city in the United States, and for a span for four days engage in workshops, performances, and discussions directed toward the upliftment of the APIA arts and activism community.  In the past Summits have occured in Seattle (2001), Chicago (2003), Boston (2005), and New York City (2007).

This year, the 5th APIA Spoken Word & Poetry Summit will take place in the California Bay Area from July 30 to August 2.
Click here for details.

Kamayan

At the dinner table kamayan, eating with the use of hands instead of utensils. The use of kamayan gives a full taste to the food and not the after taste of silverware.

One may wonder how does one perform kamayan?

Step One: it is important to wash your hands thoroughly,

especially underneath your fingernails.

Step two:  gather some of your rice and ulam, main course,

together in an area on your plate with your hand.

Step Three:  gather your rice and ulam making a clump and

pick it up with fingers, holding it down with your

thumb on the tips of your fingers.

Step Four: Place your fingers to you mouth and using your

thumb push the clump of food into your mouth

to enjoy.

Often in the Philippines, kamayan is used mostly in families that do not have a lot of money, mostly peasants, and farmers. They use kamayan to eat mostly vegetables, rice with some kind of meat like chicken, fish and pork.

In the U.S., kamayan is done at home amonst family members, not at resturants. However, Anakbayan New York/ New Jersey has a organized a gathering of Filipinos and Fil-Ams each month at local resturants to promote small businesses and to popularize the traditional way of eating using kamayan.

Don’t forget to wash your hands before and after…. Happy Eatings!!!!