Ipagpatuloy: Living the Storm
First Quarter Storm Campaign
Filipino Youth and Student Conference
November 25-27, 2005
Russian Hall
600 Campbell Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Organized by Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada / Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance - BC (UKPC/FCYA - BC)***TO REGISTER ON-LINE PLEASE GO TO http://www.ugnayan.net***/
The Philippines welcomed 1970 with a storm of unparalleled political action and conviction. Ripe with deep understanding of the semi-colonial, semi-feudal crisis of Philippine society, Filipino youth and students together with peasants, workers and segments of the middle class, militantly capsized the streets of Manila to criticize future dictator Ferdinand Marcos, lambaste US foreign policy, and to vindicate the Philippines as a country for the Filipino people.
35 years later, the First Quarter Storm (FQS) breathes in the collective memory of the Filipino people as an event of uncompromised vigilance and principles.
The FQS crystallized the historic role and commitment that Filipino youth and students have contributed to the realization of the Philippines as a sovereign country and the political standard and legacy in which Filipino youth proudly honour and continue in the Philippines and around the world.
The formation of UKPC/FCYA and other militant Filipino youth organizations outside the Philippines are testimonies of this legacy of resistance and colossal responsibility that Filipino youth and students have proudly undertaken. By taking inspiration of the need to educate, organize and mobilize Filipino youth and students around their issues of racism, forced migration and decolonization, these youth organizations have successfully achieved a level of empowerment within their community and are determined to learn from the national democratic struggles in the Philippines to firmly carry forward the work in the coming years.
2005 will mark 10 years of arousing, mobilizing and organizing work by UKPC/FCYA and other Filipino youth organizations across Canada. This auspicious year will also commemorate the 35th anniversary of the FQS.
The venue will be at the Ukrainian Hall that includes a theatre appropriate for cultural presentations and lectures. The confirmed speakers include: Bonifacio Ilagan, Chair of the First Quarter Storm Movement in the Philippines; Judy Taguiwalo, University of the Philippines professor and a leader in the FQS of 1970; Keynote speaker Jose Maria Sison (live), founder of Kabataang Makabayan and current chair of the International League of People's Struggles (ILPS); and Cherry Clemente, a former youth and student activist at the University of the Philippines and now with AnakPawis Partylist.
The conference will include panel discussions, workshops for Filipino youth, action planning and solidarity night on Saturday, November 26, 2005.
The panel will include first-hand experiences and lessons from FQS luminaries, current experiences of youth organizing in the Philippines and North America, highlighting use of culture and politics to organize Filipino youth.
Objectives
1. To deepen our understanding of the revolutionary history of the Philippines and the comprehensive role of youth and students in the pursuit for national democracy; and to further our understanding of the current Filipino people's struggle for national and social liberation;
2. To apply the lessons of the FQS to our daily reality as Filipino-Canadian youth and students to better articulate the collective experiences and struggles of our community;
3. To gather our community, particularly youth and students to plan actions, campaigns and other creative methods to popularize the FQS and to further the comprehensive and political work of our youth organizations to mobilize our community for our genuine rights and welfare;
4. To form a national formation of Filipino Canadian youth organizations that supports and in solidarity with the national democratic struggle of the Filipino people.
In light of the above objectives, the FQS campaign, under the coordination of UKPC/FCYA-BC have initiated a number of activities to prepare for this milestone gathering. These include a campaign launch in January; this year’s cultural cabaret “Roots, Rhymes and Resistance” honouring the spirit of the FQS; an intensive 3-week history course with a specific angle on the youth and student movement; and most recently, a fundraising hip hop concert where proceeds went towards the conference.
The FQS Campaign invites the veterans of 1970, Filipino youth all over the world, and support and solidarity organizations for the national democratic movement in the Philippines to participate in this campaign and attend the gathering from November 25-27th in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
***Register online at http://www.ugnayan.net***/
Registration Fee: (sliding scale) $75-$100 Canadian
About UKPC
Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance was organized through the assistance of the Philippine Women Centre of B.C. By politicizing and critically analyzing our personal experiences of systemic racism, gender discrimination, immigration, migration and decolonization, we realized that their was an urgent need to organize an activist-oriented group to address and mobilize against these issues and to work towards a more empowered community.
For more information please contact:
Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada /
Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance
phone: #604-215-1103 // e-mail: fqs_campaign@kalayaancentre.net //
website: http://www.ugnayan.net/ // http://www.kalayaancentre.net/
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