Art for gaza
June 2009
Para sa mga taong naiiwan ng oras!
Trying to make a story out of my random shots Muisc: Tumatakbo by Mojofly
My sister and I went to Austria last February to visit some friends and explore whatever there was to be explored. I was amazed to see Filipinos everywhere I went and surprised that I didn’t notice that the first time I went there.
On our first day, we watched a Filipino film called Love me Again at Cineplexx Donauplex – quite a big cinema. It was filled with Filipinos, of course, since it was meant for Filipinos (there were no German or English subtitles). It was enough to make clear that there are many Filipinos in that country.
There are approximately 30,000 Filipino immigrants in Austria today, according to the official statistics of the Philippine Embassy in Austria. Also according to official statistics, 20,000 of those immigrants are nurses working in Austrian hospitals.
The fact that two-thirds of Filipino immigrants are nurses results in stereotypes. It happens that when some people in Austria (even Filipinos themselves) meet Filipinos, the first thing they ask is which hospital they work in. It is true that the majority work as nurses, but one should not be too close-minded to assume they’re all nurses.
When I was in Austria, the first thing I noticed was that almost all the workers in Burger King were Filipinos (including the manager), except for two or three others. The same goes for KFC en McDonald’s.
A woman was telling me that she worked for a Dutch businessman. When I asked what kind of work she did, she said, “Domestic helper, what else?” Thousands of Filipinos work as domestic helpers. She also said that it is especially difficult now because the money she earns is lost to the rising prices of the basic things that a family need. She said that it is really not enough because she doesn’t have a permanent job or pension and she is sending money to support her family in the Philippines.
I also met a lot of young Filipinos in Austria and I was amazed by how easily they integrated and learned the language without forgetting their Filipino identity. Most of these young people did not go to a special language school, but just learned the German language by not being afraid to use it. A lot of young Filipinos who were born in Austria still speak Tagalog, Bisaya and/or other Filipino language/s.
“It is about time that we show that there are more Filipinos in Austrian society, not just nurses. We should show how the Filipinos are contributing to the development of the Austrian society,” says an officer of Austrian Society for Integrity, Reforms, and Social Transformation (PINAS FIRST) and a member of Migrante Europe, speaking to the second and third generation Filipino youth.
PINAS FIRST is a democratic organization of migrant Filipinos and their families in Austria. Last July 2008, PINAS FIRST organized a creative integrated arts workshop for the youth that aimed at a cultural venue to develop awareness, appreciation and pride in Filipino history, culture and heritage and at the same appreciate Austrian cultures. They are planning to do this again this year, further developing young people’s skills and hoping for more new participants.
(Photo: meeting up with Filipino youth who attended the workshop last July 2008)
This is just a glimpse of the Filipino people in Austria. There are much more to be explored. I will surely come back there and have a much deeper insight.
“Kabataan ng Pag-asa” (Youth of Hope)
Pag-asa, meaning hope, is (also) the name of a village in Quezon City, where I met these young people. The shadows try to eat them, but they never lose hope..
February 7, 2009 (Amsterdam)
First live painting
Was hella stressed. But it was worth it.
Happy Birthday, Professor.
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(Photo by Nwel & Viory)
Shots from the demonstration in The Hague (December 31,2008 ) and Amsterdam (January 3,2009), the Netherlands.
Merry Christmas, everyone.
Have a meaningful year to celebrate next Christmas.
(artwork by Marikit Saturay)
-Eduardo Galeano
On November 15-16 there was a Vormingsweekend Filipijnen in Belgium, organized by Intal. There were workshops about the Philippines and how the different sectors organize themselves. Also about the Philippines’ relations with the US. We also had a contrastwandeling in Brussels where we saw, by going back to history, the contrast between the rich and the poor. I was surprised to see a lot of Belgians speak Tagalog!
There was a solidarity night, an open podium for cultural performances. Here are some songs and a poem.
(painting by Antipas Delotavo’s Diaspora)
A Story I will tell the World
Ilena Saturay
I am just one of those faceless two thousand Filipinos who left the country that day, one of those two-thousand Filipinos who leave everyday, and just one of those seven million Filipinos who had to work overseas. There wasn’t anything special the morning I left: people went to their everyday work, the masses of the poor were still hungry and burdened of poverty while they worked to make ends meet and the small group of rich people were eating breakfast served by their katulong, their maid/s. Beyond my circle of family and friends, my departure was left unnoticed. But I hope the story behind my departure wouldn’t be unnoticed, because it is the story of so many others.
“It could have been me but instead it was you,” my father often sings the song of Holly Near. “And it may be me dear sisters and brothers before we are through.”
He was invited by Friends of the Earth to give a speaking tour to Indonesia and the Netherlands about mining in Mindoro. By that time, the government had sent more military battalions to Mindoro. A few days before my father left, human rights organizations organized a fact-finding mission to investigate reports of abductions, killings, disappearances and burning of properties by the military. A close friend of his, Eden Marcellana, was one of those who investigated. He asked her if he could come with the fact-finding team. Eden Marcellana told him not to go because it was too dangerous, and to just tell their story to world. So my father went to Indonesia and the Netherlands to speak about the situation in Mindoro.
On the day that he left, he received news that Eden Marcellana and Eddie Gumanoy, who was also with the team, were found dead. The Department of Justice dismissed the charges although there are many witnesses that point to the military as her abductors and killers.
“It could have been me but instead it was you,” my father often sings. “But if you can fight for freedom I can too.”
When he was supposed to go home, back to the Philippines from the Netherlands, a friend called him and told him that it was too dangerous for him to go back. The military is looking for him, too. He should better stay in the Netherlands and tell their story to the world.
He applied for political asylum here in the Netherlands. After three years of being away from us and his home, he received a confirmation that he can stay here as a political refugee. After three years, we, too, had to leave the Philippines. More and more political activists were being killed or abducted. During the Arroyo regime alone, there were at least 900 documented political killings.
Life abroad is not as easy and sweet as a lot of people think. There is no easy money for ordinary people like us. You have to work. And in a place like these where you have to learn the language first, you have to work extra hard.
When we arrived here, we had to stay in an asylum center for a week until our papers and documents were processed and until we were allowed to stay here with our father. That place was like a prison for us. We were not allowed to leave the big room for the whole day. When we had to leave the room to get some things from our bags (which were locked up in another room), we had to be accompanied by guards. We stayed with other political refugees. Some of them were allowed to stay here, and some of them were deported to the place where danger impatiently awaits them. We were clearly not the only one. I often wonder what happened to them. What was happening in the Philippines was clearly not happening only in the Philippines.
Last October 26, we attended a commemoration of the Schiphol fire that happened in 2005. There was a fire in a detention center where they keep migrants who were awaiting deportation, locked up like they were criminals just because they don’t or can’t have the proper paper as evidence that they are worthy to live here. Eleven of them died. During the commemoration, I saw a lot of people like me. Behind their faces were different stories of why and how they came here in the Netherlands, waiting to be told to the world.
We are hoping to come back home. But while we can’t, we will do what we can do to improve the world so that the two thousand Filipinos who leave the country don’t have to leave anymore, so that the people of the other countries just like the Philippines don’t have to leave their own countries anymore because of economical and political reasons. Telling our story to the world would be a good start.
“. . . but if you can fight for freedom I can too,” we often sing.
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From Munting Nayon
This video was taken on October 10, 2008: We went to Belgium to share some music and literature with some Belgian people and some Filipinos in Belgium. Some Belgians are going to the Philippines for an exposure. We all wish them an enriching time there!
Video by Southern Tagalog Exposure (in Tagalog) about the political killings in Mindoro..
September 19, 2008
Inalala ng mga Pilipino sa Holland ang pagdeklara ni Marcos ng Martial Law sa Pilipinas noong September 21, 1972 (sa publiko).
Dito sa video na ito, pinaghambing ni Grace Punongbayan ng migrante Europe ang kondisyon ng mga Pilipino noong martial law at sa kasalukuyang rehimen ni Arroyo.
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