3rd Edition | February 2016

COUNTER SPIN Third Edition | February 2016

Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians National Statement: No to bombs over Syria! No to Canadian war planes and US Troops in the Middle East!

[4] Our Voices Part 2: Nuit Blanche Art Exhibit [14] Taking the Revolutionary Road: Ending Violence Against Women Forum [20]

Magkaisa Centre | Official Newsletter

The Magkaisa Centre’s Counterspin Newsletter

statements National Statement on the Refugee Crisis [4-5] Solidarity Statement for Toronto Cleaners and Janitors [6]

event highlights September

York University and University of Toronto Campus Outreaching [7-9]

Roots, Rhymes, & Resistance 2015 [10-13]

October

Our Voices Part 2: Nuit Blanche Art Exhibit [14-16]

“Generation Jobless” Film Screening [17-18]

ScaRRRy-oke at University of Toronto [19]

December

Taking the Revolutionary Road: Ending Violence Against Women Forum [20-22]

in action [23] Organizations at magkaisa centre [24-25]

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Designers

Volunteers & Supporters

Mohana Sarmiento

Yolyn Valenzuela

Charie Dawn Siddayao

Edelyn Pineda

Earlydawn Jewelle Diaz

Kienzel Trestiza

Kyle Veyra

Karina Francisco

Cristina Nearing

Mechaela Calixtro Michaelangelo Laygo

Photographers

Michael Vincent Ledesma

Reuben Sarumugam

Lydia Vamvouras

Kebz Nerier

John Malto

Bryan Taguba

Mekhaila Menchavez

Jewelle Diaz

Judy Bautista

Kyle Veyra

Patricia Guerrero

Lawrence Pagsisihan

KC Aban Ken Santos

Writers & Editors

Danielle Sandhu

Bastian Leones

James Sarmiento

Daniel Centeno

Will Catangui

Cristina Nearing Charie Dawn Siddayao Joy Sioson Mohana Sarmiento Yolyn Valenzuela Kyle Veyra Bryan Taguba Reuben Sarumugam Jewelle Diaz

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National STATEMENT No to bombs over Syria! No to Canadian war planes and US Troops in the Middle East!

As we see headlines of photos of refugees who have died trying to flee their home country, we must understand that this refugee crisis is a failure of global immigration policy and the ongoing western military intervention that has destabilized the Middle East region for decades.

Following the events of Sept 11, western governments propagated the need to find and kill Osama Bin Laden (Leader of Al-Qaeda), fight Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and the Taliban, find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and kill Saddam Hussein who rose to political power with help from the US Central Intelligence Agency. Following the official death of Osama Bin Laden in 2011, new terrorist groups arose such as the Islamic State (formed after the invasion of Iraq), Boko Haram (formed after years of civil war in Nigeria following British Colonization) and the Khorasan Group (a collective of senior members of Al-Qaeda) following the cases of missing Nigerian women and beheadings of journalists.

Prior to 9/11, the US has helped to create instability in the region as early as the 1940s. Under the Truman regime in 1947, the US recognized Israel as a State legitimizing the displacement of Palestinian people (forcing Palestinians to become refugees) and creating the pre-text for the ongoing war between the State of Israel and the surrounding Arab Nations. Since

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then, the US has helped to shape the region with the use of its military and the CIA in order to support or remove certain political regimes. Expressions of this manipulation of the region include staging coups, arming various ethnic or religious groups and sanctions along with international propaganda of “Terror” or nuclear weapons manufacturing.

After billions of dollars spent on military weapons and operations, all terrorist groups are still operational and new ones have formed also armed by western forces. In Iraq to date, Canada has participated in over 140 air-bombing campaigns along with coalition forces even after the Iraq war was declared, “Mission Accomplished.” Yet despite the failure of simply bombing “terrorist” strongholds out of existence for the past 10 years, according to Harper and the conservatives, bombing ISIL is the only solution to stop the root cause of the refugee crisis.

Detaining immigrants, revoking citizenship, deporting migrant workers, and refusing refugees, over the past eight years under a Conservative government, Canada’s immigration system has been gutted leaving behind a labour driven employer oriented temporary worker scheme. Mirroring the class division in Canadian society, the temporary and economic immigrant streams create a clear division between wealthier prospective immigrants who are able to obtain permanent residency upon arrival and those

who do not have significant income who must enter into temporary employer-specific work contracts with temporary status. Using the argument of an administrative application backlog, Citizenship and Immigration Canada is able to manage the ebb and flow of incoming workers highlighting immigrant levels for political posturing. The lower rungs of the temporary foreign workers program also reveal that those who come to work in Canada are targeted by country, such as the Philippines, Guatemala, Mexico, Jamaica and India. And, all forms of care work are provided by women who make up 95% of all the workers under the Canada’s Caregiver Program, which offers the live-in options for employers to decide. Lastly, it is widely known that the success rate of entering Canada through humanitarian and compassionate grounds is very low and is often a last resort for those wishing to stay in Canada.

on Terror” must be exposed as a campaign for war profiteers and sources of “new” capital and cheap labour. This refugee crisis and those that will come after will not be solved by weapons of war, but by immigration programs that recognize the potential of immigrants by offering them permanent residency upon arrival and by abolishing foreign policy geared towards invasion, occupation and displacement.

No to War! Down with imperialism!

Genuine settlement and integration not deportation!

The world has suffered because of the heightened propaganda of fear and racism. In Canada, this has lead to Bill C-51, a secret police and domestic spying bill that will be funded by Canadian tax-payers in order to find and detain any Canadian who is found to be against the interest of the Canadian-state. As a result, many Canadians who make significant contributions to this country will be targeted based on their progressive ideas, ethnicity and/or faith.

Like Iraq before it, Syria has become the next target of Imperialist expansion and militarization. The “War

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Solidarity STATEMENT End contractualization and flexibilization of labour!

Meaningful and secure livelihoods for workers now!

Solidarity statement for Toronto Cleaners and Janitors November 10, 2015 Toronto, ON—SIKLAB Ontario (Advance and Uphold the Struggles of Filipino Canadian Workers) and the member organizations of the Magkaisa (Unity) Centre extend our solidarity to the Toronto cleaners and janitors, and their allies, in protest against exploitative working conditions and oppressive labour practices. As part of the ongoing Justice for Janitors campaign jointly organized by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 2, the cleaners and janitors have been in an attempt to form a union because of issues ranging from unpaid wages, job security and abusive misconduct of their employers.

The men and women working in various downtown buildings along Bay St., owned by Dream Office REIT, have filed numerous legal complaints against the hiring contractors Amphora Maintenance Ltd. and Impact Cleaning Services, and its subcontractor MCC Inc. The previous contractors, Impact Cleaning Services and MCC Inc., refused to pay the provincial minimum wage and now face 9 complaints under the Ministry of Labour for lost wages amounting to $18,000 and vacation entitlements over a 12-month period.

Upon taking over since early October, Amphora Maintenance Ltd. refused to retain 12 employees with a combined service of sixty years, all of who were trying to form a union. Amphora currently owes over $25,000 in termination and severance pay.

As a progressive workers’ advocacy group, We understand such practices as part of neoliberal schemes where workers’ precarity and instability are

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the mainstay strategies of employers and companies to keep employees highly manageable and controlled while maximizing profitability off of their cheapened and devalued labour. The same parallel practices can be said with racialized workers mostly coming from the global south through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP), who are funnelled into low-wage, back-breaking and often times dangerous jobs. As the Canadian state continue to facilitate such “revolving door” policies in immigration and labour of keeping workers temporary and disposable, the threat of such neoliberal policies cut with a double-edge blade affecting workers under the TFWP and domestic workers alike by enlarging the pool of a cheapened, desperate and vulnerable labour force.

SIKLAB Ontario and the member organizations of the Magkaisa Centre stand in solidarity with the downtown Toronto cleaners and Janitors in their fight against job contractualization and flexibilization. On this important juncture, we assert and uphold the cleaners and janitors’ right to meaningful and secure livelihoods, and healthy and safe working environments.

We also support their call to work under sustainable labour practices with benefits and entitlements, and to form a workers union to be recognized and upheld!

Advance the working class struggle of workers in Canada!

Job security for all!

End the contractualization and flexibilization of labour!

Justice for cleaners and janitors!

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS University of Toronto - Clubs Day - September 9, 2015

University of Toronto - street fest - September 15, 2015

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University of Toronto - Orientation - September 16 & 18, 2015

York University - york fest - September 30, 2015

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York University - orientation - September 16 & 18, 2015

Once again, Ugnayan Ng Kabataang Pilipino Sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance – Ontario (UKPC/FCYA-ON) at York University continues to educate, organize, and mobilize the youth on campus this academic year. With Roots, Rhymes & Resistance and Nuit Blanche scheduled near the beginning of the academic year, members scheduled to outreach within campus at the beginning of classes. UKPC/ FCYA at York successfully attracted new Filipino Canadian youth. Furthermore, members continued the momentum and held multiple orientations during the months of September and October.

discussion amongst current and new members. It not only served as an outlet to discuss and share personal experiences, but it enabled members to see the community through a much broader perspective; the community within Canadian society.

Organizing the Filipino Canadian youth at York University has been successful during the fall semester.

Despite this successful fall semester, UKPC/FCYA will continue to educate, organize and mobilize the youth.

FCYA at York University will continue to educate, organize and mobilize the youth to understand further our roots, as well as challenge the issues that the Filipino Lastly, UKPC/FCYA at York held a small event Canadian youth continue to experience daily, whether discussing about the Filipino Canadian community’s it be within or outside campus.

His/Her story of Migration. It was an enriching

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This year, UKPC/FCYA organized their 5th Roots, Rhymes and Resistance (RRR) concert fundraiser with the support of Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON) and SIKLABON. The title of this year’s concert was “Celebrating Filipino Women’s Resistance” to celebrate the Filipino Canadian community’s culture of resistance, the PWC-ON’s 15th and the Philippine Women Centre of BC’s (PWC-BC) 25th year anniversaries of educating, organizing, and mobilizing the Filipino Canadian community.

The concert took place on the 26th of September at the United Steelworkers Hall in Toronto. Some of the highlights of the concert include the performances of the Jewstice League Klezmer Ensemble, Magkaisa Centre’s No Class Today band, and the premiere of “Power”, the second music video produced by the Magkaisa Centre performed and written by Dagamuffin, Fenaxiz, Chris Blade, and Kimmortal.

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Roots, Rhymes, & Resistance: Celebrating pWC-BC & PWC-ON 25th and 15th anniversaries

For five years now, RRR has served as an outlet for the collective voices and amazing talents of progressive artists and young local Filipino Canadian artists and musicians ready to address the concerns of our community and express their resistance and their work toward genuine social transformation through music, spoken word, and dance.

RRR this year was dedicated to the ongoing contributions Filipino Canadian women have made towards advancing women’s liberation within Canadian society, and the continuing dedication of PWC to take the revolutionary path in the struggle against patriarchy, gender oppression, racial discrimination and class exploitation. From colonisation to capitalist patriarchy’s relentless assault on Filipino women the world over, the event provided a living venue to go beyond victimhood towards genuine women’s empowerment.

On the grounds of upholding the militant history and legacy of Filipino Women’s Resistance through singing along, dancing along, and actively listening to the performances there is no doubt of the success of this year’s RRR.

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11 01. pwc-on performance 02. st. clair hurst angels 03. Bands & Volunteers 04. No Class Today 05. Blessed5ive Band 06. audience 07. Shadiya and Zeinab 08. Eirene Cloma 09. Supporters from York U 10. Jewstice League 11. Merch table 12. Audience Performance 12

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Nuit blanche art exhibit Our Voices part 2: A portrait series 14

October 3rd, 2015 was the 10th anniversary of the renowned Toronto art festival, Nuit Blanche. This year, the Magkaisa Centre hosted an art exhibit at Beit Zatoun House, titled “Our Voices: A Portrait Series”.“Our Voices” was a project that resulted in the Magkaisa Centre’s annual arts & culture program that held various workshops in which members of the Filipino Canadian community have took part.

The ”Our Voices” project is an extension of the Maleta (Suitcase) Project of which was previously a part of Nuit Blanche in 2011. This project was initiated by the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON). In collaboration with the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance/Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada of Ontario (FCYA/UKPC-ON) and SIKLAB of Ontario, the Magkaisa Centre, together with members of the Filipino Canadian community, created four art pieces reflecting the lived experiences of the community.

The art pieces showcased during the overnight event included:“Life of a Caregiver”,“Filipino Canadian Women Across Generations”, “Nurse Ka Na Ba?”, “Sampayan” (Clothesline), and the “Maleta Family”.

Each piece reflecting the realities experienced by the women, the workers, and the youth of the Filipino Canadian community respectively. “Our Voices” has proven to be an enriching experience for the general public, especially members of the Filipino Canadian community.

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EVENT HIGHLIGHTS Making the Youth Count in Canada’s Future: Film Screening of “Generation Jobless.”

Daniel Centeno The film screening organized by Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance Ontario (UKPC/FCYA-ON) focused on the obstacles and impediments that the Canadian youth currently face, including rising tuition fees, fewer job prospects, and unpaid work such as internships.

Through the screening of the film and from a panel of activists and organizers, the forum brought out the current problem of selling the traditional mentality that university degrees guarantee a career for the young generation.

The current job market is overflowing with University graduates that are either unemployed or work in minimum wage jobs in the service sector. While postsecondary education will always be important and remains a prerequisite towards entering the job market, there is a need for a high level of awareness centered on the disadvantages that the youth currently face and the defunct Canadian system approach towards this problem. Also brought up was the Canadian government’s weak emphasis on youth employment, and offered the governmental control of bridging education and employment prevalent in the European welfare states as one possible direction.

For many students, this forum brought to mind the uncertainty of life after graduation. After years of study, impending graduation, and with thousands of dollars invested towards this end, the search for a career

remains an ambiguous endeavour. For many, graduate studies and further education are possibilities, but the burdensome debt of undergraduate studies and other responsibilities may also deter and exclude many from this path.

The speakers exposed current realities of the job market under Canada’s current program of austerity and overall neoliberal tactics that leave youth uncertain of their future and a level of optimism towards change for the future. Denise Martins from the Young Communist League, Chenthoori Malankov of VP Campaigns and Advocacy of York Federation of Students from York University, and Joy Sioson from the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario, provided each of their organization’s goals and particular actions that need to be taken towards a better future for students and youth in Canada.

The forum made a stand against the disadvantages of youth finding employment in an intellectual, creative manner. It provided a space for the attendees to listen in on varying political remedies, and encouraged discussion for attendees to voice their own concerns and opinions. Awareness both from the film and from the speakers provided the relevant knowledge to understand the current situations the youth face, as well as providing hope for future change in Canada’s education system.

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Joy C. Sioson is a founding member and the Chair of the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario. She has a BA Degree inWomen’s Studies and Psychology from Simon Fraser University. She started organizing with the Philippine Women Centre of B.C. in January 1999 as a volunteer for the first-ever Filipino Canadian women’s consultative forum under the theme of “Towards Filipino Women’s Liberation.” It was through this event that she started her involvement and committed herself in being part of a movement that advances genuine women’s liberation and empowerment.

Chenthoori Malankov is the Vice president campaigns and Advocacy at The York Federation of Students at York University, who uses the power of community to connect, reflect and educate. She was raised in Toronto, but is a daughter of Tamil’s diaspora. Utilizing alternative platforms such as arts, education models she designs and facilitates workshops in schools

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throughout Toronto on issues revolving around gender base violence and wanting to create more spaces for marginalized voices. On her spare time she enjoys spending time with family, her special puppy and constantly striving to make this world a safer place.

Denise Martins is a child of Argentine political refugees.

Denise’s commitment to social justice came to be at a very early age. In 2008, Denise was a student activist at the University of Guelph, by 2011 she became a labour activist. She was also very involved in the Raise the Minimum Wage campaign in Guelph while working in a precarious fast food job. Most recently, Denise moved to Toronto and is currently the Vice-President of Young Workers for the Ontario Federation of Labour, a member of the Young Communist League, and also a member of the Communist Party of Canada.

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS Scarrry-oke 2015 Scarrry-oke has been an annual karaoke event held by UKPC/FCYA at both University of Toronto and York University for the past three years.

Each Halloween, members from the Magkaisa Centre, and new members of UKPC/FCYA from both campuses have a chance to belt some tunes together and get creative with costume ideas!

Winners of the costume contest this year were: Cristina Nearing - Zombie (UofT) April Santos - Link from Zelda (Uof T) Hans Chin - Zombie (YorkU)

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Taking the Revolutionary Road: Ending Violence Against Women Critical Discussions Take Place at Forum to End Violence Against Women Cristina Nearing On the eve of the National Day of Remembrance and Action Ending Violence Against Women, commemorating the 14 women who passed away at the École Polytechnique Massacre in 1989, the public forum “Taking the Revolutionary Road: Ending Violence Against Women” took place on December 5th in Toronto.The Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON) along with women leaders and organizers from across communities took up the important question of ending violence against women at the public forum. This event was an opportunity to learn about the different forms of violence inflicted on women along with work that women are doing at the frontlines to fight against sex trafficking and prostitution and the fight for national child care, women’s health, and reproductive justice. The aim of this forum was to tackle Canada’s implicit role in marginalizing and silencing women of colour and perpetuating systemic violence against women and to denounce the racist, patriarchal and colonial system inherent in Canada’s anti-woman policies and regulations.

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The discussion was centered around the issues that working class, Asian, Indigenous women, and women of colour face, which are usually pushed to the margins in conversations regarding the movement towards equality, were placed at the center of the discussion. Charie Siddayao, a community organizer with the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario (PWC-ON), and Andrea Bobadilla from University of Western Ontario (PhD Candidate) brought out the critical perspective of globalization’s impact on women specifically within the transnational working class Filipino community.

PWC-ON was also joined by speakers Janelle Velina and Pei-Ju Wang from Asian Women Coalition Ending Prostitution (AWCEP) and Cherry Smiley from Indigenous Women Against the Sex Industry.

The speakers each presented different perspectives that brought to light the interconnectedness and inseparability of all women’s issues and stressed that issues cannot be solved in isolation. Ultimately, the inherently exploitative, violent and anti-woman Caregiver Program must be scrapped in favour of women’s genuine development and equality just as the call to investigate the murdered and missing indigenous women must be followed through and the exploitation of women and girls through the system of prostitution must be abolished.

It is only through addressing all of these issues together can we smash patriarchy and achieve genuine women’s empowerment and liberation.

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in action Rally Against Islamophobia in North-East Toronto

Speakers strongly voiced the need to remain vigilant

Filipino Canadian youth joined hundreds of supporters

and critical of the racist and anti-Muslim hysteria that

and community members in the Flemingdon Park and

is being fueled by the ever-intensifying global “war on

Thorncliffe Park areas in a rally against Islamophobia on terror.� With the burning of a Mosque in Peterborough November 21, 2015. Jointly organized by members of

and numerous physical and verbal assaults on visibly

the Thorncliffe Reach-in Teachout, No One Is Illegal, muslim women all over Toronto, rally-goers marched Al Hawi Musallah,Toronto International Socialists, and to Grenoble Public School where a muslim mother the Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance of Ontario, the

was attacked and robbed. With various chants against

demonstration started off at Valley Park Middle School

racism, anti-refugee and anti-immigrant sentiments,

where various community leaders spoke out against

and the imperialist wars of aggression that continue

the recent anti-Muslim attacks and hate crimes in and to be inflicted all over the Middle East, community around the GTA following the deadly Paris attacks on

members, supporters and allies stood united in showing

November 13, 2015.

intolerance for racist hate crimes, war and Islamophobia.

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The Magkaisa Centre Philippine women centre of ontario (pwc)

Formed in the year 2000 under PWC-BC, the Philippine Women Centre of Ontario is a community-based, registered non-profit organization that is instrumental in the struggle to build an empowered Filipino Canadian community through the advancement of the community’s genuine settlement and integration in Canadian society. PWC-ON’s program of educating, organizing, mobilizing and capacity-building of Filipino Canadian women, alongside the broader community, is fundamental in addressing barriers against the community’s full participation, which includes combating systemic racism, overcoming economic marginalization, making the Filipino youth count in Canada’s future, and enhancing Filipino women’s genuine equality, development and human rights. PWCON is also a member organization of Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC), which struggles for social change and transformation in Canadian society. And National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada, which stands as the national coordinating body that unites and guides the organizing work of its local chapters.

SIKLAB-Ontario (Advance and uphold the struggle of filipino canadian workers) SIKLAB Ontario (Advance and Uphold the Struggle of Filipino Canadian Workers/ Sulong Itaguyod Karapatan ng mga Manggagawang Pilipino sa Labas ng Bansa) is a community-based organization that has been steadfast in advancing and upholding the struggles of Filipino Canadian workers through their program of educating, organizing and mobilizing the community towards their just and genuine settlement and integration in Canadian society. By building the capacity of Filipino Canadian workers through their own self-organization and collective effort—as manifested in various community-based programs in the areas of education and research, political campaigns, advocacy, art and culture and community organizing and development—SIKLAB-ON strengthens Filipino Canadian workers as the leading force in building an empowered Filipino Canadian community.

ugnayan ng kabataang pilipino sa canada/filipino canadian youth alliance-ontario (ukpc/fcya-on)

UKPC/FCYA 24

UKPC/FCYA-ON (Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance/Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada—Ontario) is a progressive Filipino Canadian youth and students organization that is committed to educating, organizing and mobilizing Filipino Canadian youth as a transformative and dynamic force that will nurture the new path towards the Filipino Canadian community’s just and genuine settlement and integration in Canadian society.

UKPC -ON continually leads various community-based projects aimed at breaking the cycle of the community’s marginalization. They have deepened their understanding of the community’s issues by leading a series of educational, research and arts and culture activities.

National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada Since 2002

NAtional Alliance of Philippine WOmen in Canada The National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) was formed in 2002 as a mechanism for national coordination for education, research advocacy and capacity building to address the priority areas for the Filipino-Canadian community’s participation and involvement. A non-profit organization, it was borne out of the national consultation of Filipino-Canadian women in 1999 in Vancouver, B.C. It is the national coordinating body that unites and guides the works of the Philippine Women Centre (PWC) in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.

WHY “Counterspin” ?

Between 2010 and 2011, the Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC) held 3 national conferences entitled Counterspin (1,2, and 3).The conferences were organized to build a strong movement attentive to the immediate concerns of the Filipino Canadian community.

Our growing movement for genuine settlement and integration was a newly realized struggle for our community that was boldy embraced by our organizations.

Counterspin symbolized our role as progressive Filipino Canadians to advance a culture of resistance against our community’s continued marginalization in Canadian society. It is only fitting that we name our official newsletter at the Magkaisa Centre as “Counterspin”.

Our goal, aside from publishing updates on our organizations, is to provide critical analysis of the major concerns affecting our community and the broader Canadian community. It will also serve as a platform for our members to contribute their art, designs and writings that speak to the important issues experienced by women, youth and workers.

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COUNTER SPIN Third Edition | February 2016

Magkaisa Centre | Official Newsletter