Our Stories Must be Told, Our Futures Forged INQ7.net
November 06, 2006
The Filipino youth organization Ugnayan ng mga Anak ng Bayan is hosting a consultation for all Filipino youth in the New York/New Jersey area at Barnard College in Manhattan on the Nov. 3-5 weekend. “PASULONG: Our Stories Must Be Told, Our Future Must Be Forged” is an opportunity to hear and understand the issues Filipino youth are facing in America, to educate and empower them in unity and action on common issues.
Initiative for PASULONG comes from immigrant and US-born Filipino youth who saw the need for a venue to reveal and discuss their issues with a common voice – forcible displacement from the homeland by lack of job opportunities and a deteriorating quality of life under a legacy of foreign domination and a corrupt governing elite in a feudal economic system.
Part of a growing, increasingly undocumented immigrant community in the US, Filipino youth are subjected to institutionalized racism, discrimination, and low-wage service employment despite being highly educated back in the Philippines. US-born Filipino youth experience displacement from their roots and native language in forced assimilation into US society, and inadequate education on their immigrant and homeland history. Undocumented immigrant youth, young Filipina women, and gay youth face additional barriers. All these need to be put out in the open and addressed.
PASULONG uses a variety of creative media to tell their stories of personal experience, find commonalities between immigrant and US-born Filipino youth, and link personal stories to the struggles of the larger Filipino community that includes domestic workers and World War II veterans.
Arturo Garcia, from Pesante-Los Angeles was keynote speaker. Workshops day included these topics: Forced Migration & Family Separation, US Laws & Policies, Education & Employment, Issues of Young Filipina Women and Issues of Young Queer Pinoys.
An all-youth panel of community organizers from New York and Los Angeles who spoke on the topics were Analiza Caballes (Damayan Migrant Workers Association), Christine Araquel (Kabataang Maka-Bayan, LA), Leah Obias (Ugnayan), Olivia Quinto (Gabriela Network, NY/NJ), and Riya Ortiz (Ugnayan).
With greater understanding of their situation, a plan of action can be created to address the needs of Filipino youth to transform and advance the struggle of the Filipino people at home and abroad.
Cultural performances from local musicians and poets, not to forget Filipino food, have been scheduled for the whole weekend.
For updates, click to www.ugnayan.blogspot.com or www.myspace.com/ugnayannynj, email ugnayan_nyc@yahoo.com. email, or call Pandayan Center, Ugnayan’s office, at 212-5646057.
