#stoplumadkillings

#JustPeacePH Peace Tour 2017 Events Across the U.S.

The JustPeacePH Peace Tour 2017 is an educational speaking tour that aims to promote grassroots movements for peace with justice and to gain support for the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

Featuring four speakers:

Dulphing Ogan, Secretary General of Kalumaran (Kusog sa Katawhang Lumad sa Mindanao); 

Edre Olalia, Legal Consultant of the Peace Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the NDFP and President of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers;

Tinay Palabay, Secretary General of KARAPATAN Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights;

Josephine Pagalan of Kasalo Caraga.

Experts in the historic social, economic and political issues which have given rise to the civil war in the Philippines, the NDFP consultants will speak to US audiences about the history, content, and significance of the peace negotiations and the Filipino people’s struggle for a just peace. One highlight of their presentations is that they will speak specifically about the content of the CASER, which is the agenda item currently being negotiated and which gets at the meat of the issues which must be resolved by the NDFP and GRP.

JustPeacePH is an international platform which supports the Philippine peace process. It has special emphasis in reaching out to individuals, organizations and institutions which have advocacies on peace and issue-based people’s concerns in various capacities outside of the country. In particular, JustPeacePH aims to seek support from individuals and organizations in multilateral organisations, people’s organisations, civil society organisations, academe, development institutions as well as governments. The overall objective of JustPeacePH is: To create an international network or platform to support peace negotiations between NDF and GPH and support the people’s aspirations for just and lasting peace.

There are a number of events that have happened / are still happening across the United States over the next few weeks, that I would definitely encourage you to go to! 

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.”

-long post ahead-

ako si jate, isang babaeng lgbtq+, isang kabataan, at aktibista. nakikiisa ako sa mga panawagang hustisya para sa mga biktima ng lianga massacre 2.

dumalo ako sa isang pagtitipon kanina para kundenahin ang masahol na pagpatay kina angel rivas, lenie rivas, at willie rodriguez. sila ay nagmula sa lianga, surigao del sur at kabilang sa ating mga katutubong lumad. si angel ay isang 12 years old, grade 6 na kabataang lumad, at si lenie naman ay isang babaeng lesbiyana.

pinaghihinalaang nakaranas ng panggagahasa sina lenie at angel bago patayin. wasak ang kanilang puke sa tama ng bala.

ayon sa mga militar, isa lamang daw itong "engkwentro" laban sa mga npa samantalang ayon naman sa mga kamag-anak ng biktima, hindi daw npa sina willie, angel, at lenie at umaani lamang daw ng abaka ang mga ito bago dumating ang mga militar.

mahaba at matagal na ang kasaysayan ng mga lumad sa kanilang pakikipaglaban para sa lupang ninuno, laban sa mga imperyalista at mga kapitalistang sumisira sa kanilang lupang kinabubuhay at tinitirhan.