Official Blog

Dear friends, have you heard about the crisis in Burma?

Burma is ruled by one of the worst military dictatorships in the world. Last month Buddhist monks and nuns began marching and chanting prayers to call for democracy. The protests spread and hundreds of thousands of Burmese people joined in -- but they've been brutally attacked by the military regime.

I just signed a petition calling on Burma's powerful ally China and the UN security council to step in and pressure Burma's rulers to stop the killing



The emergency petition to stop the crackdown on peaceful protesters in Burma is exploding, with nearly 500,000 signers from every nation of the world. But the situation in Burma remains desperate, with reports of hundreds of monks being massacred and tortured. Burma's rulers have also killed and expelled international journalists, cutting off global media coverage of their cruelty.



China is still the key - the country with the most power to halt the Burmese generals' reign of terror. We're delivering our message this week with a massive ad campaign in major newspapers, beginning with a full page ad in the Financial Times worldwide tomorrow, and in the South China Morning Post on Thursday. The strength of the ad comes from the number of petition signers listed – can we reach our goal of 1 million signatures this week? The link to sign the petition and view the ad is below, forward this email to all your friends and family!

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma/u.php

China continues to provide key economic and military support to Burma's dictatorship, but it has been openly critical of the crackdown. Now we need the government to match words with actions. Our ad paints a powerful moment of choice for China in its relationship with the world – will it be a responsible and respected member of the global community, or will it be associated with tyranny and oppression?

People power, on the streets of Burma, and around the world, can triumph over tyranny. Our strength is in our numbers, spread the word!

With hope and determination,

Ricken, Paul, Ben, Graziela, Pascal, Galit and the whole Avaaz team.

For the best local reporting on the situation in Burma, try these links:

http://www.irrawaddy.org

http://www.mizzima.com

Gensan City Officials headed by Mayor Pedro Acharon, Jr. and Congresswoman Darlene Custodio lead city officials and guests in releasing balloons to signal to opening of the celebration of the 39th Cityhood Anniversary of the city on September 5, 2007 at the Gen. Paulino Santos Shrine. The activity was preceded by a Mass and Flag-Raising Ceremony. Also in the photo are Vice Mayor Florentina Congson, Councilors Odjok Acharon, Richard Atendido, Boyet Leyson, Bing Dinopol, Doming Lagare, First Lady Dr. Rose Acharon, Festival Director Bebot Haw, Dep Ed Superintendent Estrella Lariosa, among others. The day is also the culmination of the week-long 2007 Tuna Festival.

WINNING TUNAFEST FLOAT. The P100,000 Grand Prize Winner in the Float Competition entered by the East Asia Royale Hotel during the culmination of the 2007 Tuna Festival at the Oval Plaza Grounds on September 5, 2007. The other winners are SAFII Group of Companies (2nd place), RD Group of Companies (3rd place) and TSP Marine Industries (4th place). This year's contest brought in 21 participating entries, the biggest number in its history.

MS.GENSAN 2007. 20-year old NDDU Nursing Student Belle Esteban of Barangay Apopong was crowned Ms. Gensan 2007 on the night of September 2, 2007 in a jampacked ceremony at the KCC Convention & Trade Center. With her in the foto is her court (L-R) 1st Runner-Up Jen Cachuela and 2nd Runner-Up Lynn Menong. The Ms. Gensan Pageant is an official event of the 2007 Tuna Festival and is sponsored by the City Government of Gensan, the GSCCCII, Tuna Festival Council & the KCC Malls.

(cmo-gensan/aomanansala)

Kahayag Community Dance and Theater Co's., present Artistic Director, Cyrus Nobleza, found lifeless due to carjack arrest at his pad in Koronadal City.

Being one of the culture and arts office staff in the province of South Cotabato, Cyrus assumed the Artistic Direction of Kahayag on 2005. He is instrumental to the groups participation to the Wi-Fi Body: Contemporary Dance Festival at the Cultural Center of the Philippines on June of 2006. His great courage of pushing the group's artistic and cultural pursuit was an inspiring contribution to the development of contemporary dance in Mindanao. His dance creations with Kahayag and his winning pieces in the Mindanao Modern Dance Competition since 2002-2006 gained him recognition and respect as choreographer from icons/personalities of Philippine dance community. His Cyber Crew Dancer (an all-male dance group he established) became popular, boosting their members to continue hone their craft as one of the respected contemporary dance groups in the region.

More than a dance artist, Cyrus is one of the respectable cultural workers in the province. He prefer to work as culture and art staff of the province in exchange of the great opportunities waiting for a top-notched registered nurse like him abroad.

May this fellow will continue to inspire us in our continuing pursuit for artistic excellence and endeavor in shaping the Filipino culture and changing the lives of the people for the better in our own way as artists and cultural workers.

Cy, you will always be remembered...


NOEL GARROVILLO
Founding Artistic Director
Kahayag Community Dance and Theater Company

I’d like to take a modest time to discuss a few insights about language issues in the Philippine setting -- since this is relevant in the WIKA 2007 occasion. Because of this event (MARAMING WIKA, MATATAG NA BANSA), I’ve been more and more aware recently entries of a certain misunderstanding that a lot of Filipinos have thought about language vis-à-vis nationalism.

Nationalism does not equal language. Language does not equal nationalism. Perhaps they may be correlated, yet they are not the same… and this confusing of the two is an unfortunate misleading notion in our popular thinking about national (Pilipino) language, identity, and culture that really limits us from having a truly culturally diverse experience with each other.

Why is this disagrees with? In its positive sense nationalism is nothing other than a philosophy of political self-determination instigate by geo-sentiments or socio-sentiments in other terms. While language is the inner human expression of once culture. The language of the tongue varies in accordance to place, time and person. Just as the communication style of men varies from that of women because of their different experiences. The study of the English languages evolution and expansion over the last hundred years, to accommodate changing values and technological advancements, is a good example of dynamic language.

Our history tells us that the Philippines is a classic example of pseudo-cultural exploitation. After the Americans “liberated” the Filipinos from Spanish colonization in 1898, … they embarked on an intensive ten-year pacification campaign of pseudo-cultural propagation. They strictly suppressed all expression of Filipino culture --- books, plays and even the raising of the national flag. The nationwide school system organized by the American established English as the language of instruction, distorted the history of American occupation, taught American rather than Filipino history, and altogether glorified the American way of life.

Until today, this pseudo-cultural exploitation is still dominant in the Philippine society. This problem has been a system that does not encourage self-reliance on individual, cultural, and economic levels. Indeed, P.R. Sarkar wrote in his Neo-Humanism: the Liberation of Intellect: “If the people’s cultural backbone is broken, then all their struggles for political and social freedom will end in nothing. Can those necks and backs are crushed under the weight of pseudo-culture be expected to hold their heads high in any sphere of life.”

In this context, the key to the maintenance of psycho-economic exploitation is cultural exploitation. And if we think only about the present and the future, and we don’t reflectively think about our pasts, any cultural dialogue is empty and false. Any ‘multiculturalism’ based on deceptive and naive ideas of culture, is not multiculturalism at all, but some convenient and valueless conformity to substitute harmony.