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Showing posts with the label political activism

One Battle After Another: Why PTA's Oscar Sweep Mirrors the Fil-Am Struggle

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Hollywood, CA • March 2026. One Battle After Another Oscar sweep Paul Thomas Anderson Best Picture Filipino American diaspora pakikibaka Oscars 2026 Autumn Durald Arkapaw Fil-Am Hollywood activism AAPI representation. FILM & CULTURE • MARCH 2026 One Battle After Another: Why PTA's Oscar Sweep Mirrors the Fil-Am Struggle Paul Thomas Anderson's six-Oscar sweep at the 98th Academy Awards is more than a Hollywood milestone — it's a reflection of the multi-generational resilience and hidden labor that defines the Filipino-American experience. When Paul Thomas Anderson stepped to the podium at the 98th Academy Awards to accept his first-ever Best Picture and Best Director awards, he did so for a film whose DNA is sewn from the same cloth as the Filipino-American story — quiet persistence, invisible labor, and a refusal to quit across generations. One Battle After Another didn't just win Hollywood's b...
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Land, Memory, Return: Indigenous Peoples Day — From U.S. Struggles to Philippine Roots

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Understanding Indigenous Peoples' Day | Voice of America By J.F.R. Perseveranda Indigenous Peoples Day asks us to reorient our memory and politics. In the United States it is a corrective and a public act of memory — a reclaiming of stories and place from a long history of dispossession, broken treaties, forced assimilation, and cultural erasure. For Filipino Americans, and Filipinos in the archipelago, the day resonates because our histories of colonization are entangled: the Philippines’ own centuries of Spanish and American rule reshaped land, language, religion, and memory. This post centers the plight and resilience of Indigenous nations in the U.S. — and then threads a transpacific narrative that ties those struggles to Philippine Indigenous histories and Fil-Am identity, inviting concrete steps toward decolonial solidarity. Why Indigenous Peoples Day matters Indigenous Peoples Day is more than a replacement calendar date. It is a public effort to stop c...
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Location: California, USA
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Organization predicts U.S. democracy will be “dead by summer”

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Vallejo, CA • April 2025. V-Dem Predicts U.S. Democracy Will Die by Summer: Maria Ressa Delivers Warning at Journalism Conference. Maria Ressa, V-Dem, US democracy, press freedom, Rappler, Filipino American, democracy, authoritarianism, Trump, fil-am. Press Freedom • April 2025 V-Dem Predicts U.S. Democracy Will 'Die by Summer' — Maria Ressa Delivers the Warning A leader of V-Dem, a group that rates democracies across the globe, predicted that U.S. democracy will "die by summer" at a recent journalism conference — relayed by Nobel laureate and Filipino-American journalist Maria Ressa. At a journalism conference in April 2025, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa delivered one of the starkest warnings yet about the state of American democracy: the head of V-Dem — the Swedish institute that monitors democracy across 180+ countries — had publicly told attendees he expects U.S. democracy to die by the summer if current trends co...
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Social Activism: Just Do It!

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What branding social activism could mean for Nike's business
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Ex Rep. Neri Colmenares: Martial Law & Surviving Torture

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Former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares recalls how at 18 years old he suffered at the hands of his tormentors. At gun point, his life was put at the mercy of luck. "The worst thing that they did to me was the Russian roulette.  I can't forget that." Neri Javier Colmenares is a human rights lawyer and activist. He was an Associate of the Asian Law Centre at Melbourne Law School when he was completing his PhD in Law on “ The Writ of Amparo and the International Criminal Court ”. He also lectured at the University of Melbourne on International Human Rights Law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares at  Bulatlat.com : A native of Negros Occidental, Neri began his activism at 15 as a youth organizer against martial law in 1976. During the ‘80s, he became an officer of the College Editors Guild of the Philippines (CEGP), Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP) and the Visayas Regional Chair of the St...
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Location: Negros Occidental, Philippines
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Geena Rocero: Why I must come out #GenderProud

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"I want to help others live their truth without shame and terror." When fashion model Geena Rocero first saw a professionally shot photo of herself clad in a bikini, she was beside herself. "I thought...you have arrived!" she says proudly. This might not be the typical experience, but, as Rocero reveals, that's because she was born with the gender assignment "boy." In a moving and personal talk, Rocero finds that transgender activism is giving her a whole new sense of pride and purpose. Geena Rocero at TEDTalks The world makes you something that you're not, but you know inside what you are, and that question burns in your heart: "How will you become that?" I may be someone unique in this, but I am not alone -- not alone at all. I think, in mystery, this is called the reveal. Here is mine.  I was assigned boy at birth based on the appearance of my genitalia. Geena Rocero is a model and activist. As founder of Gender Proud , s...
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Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
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'Madonna of the Slums' by Vicente Manansala

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Manila, Philippines • March 2026. Madonna of the Slums: The Soul of Post-War Manila. Vicente Manansala, Transparent Cubism, Filipino modernism, post-war Manila, National Artist Philippines, Thirteen Moderns, heritage, art history, diaspora identity. Art History & Heritage • March 2026 Madonna of the Slums: The Soul of Post-War Manila Vicente Manansala's 1950 masterpiece reimagined the sacred Madonna as a Brown Filipino mother in the wreckage of post-war Manila — and in doing so, changed Philippine art forever. Seventy-five years later, it still speaks directly to us. Madonna of the Slums (1950) by Vicente Silva Manansala. Oil on Masonite, 86.5 cm × 61 cm. National Museum of Fine Arts, Manila. A cornerstone of Filipino Modernism. There is a particular kind of gravity that settles over you when you stand before a painting that refuses to look away. Vicente Manansala's Madonna of the Slums , complete...
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Bruno Mars' 'The Romantic': A Filipino Soul Renaissance Across Generations

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Los Angeles / Bay Area • March 2026. Bruno Mars The Romantic album Filipino heritage diaspora soul music. Bruno Mars Filipino, The Romantic album, filipino american music, bruno mars peter gene hernandez, manila sound, fil-am pride, filipino diaspora culture, I Just Might Billboard Hot 100. Music & Culture • March 2026 Bruno Mars' 'The Romantic': A Filipino Soul Renaissance Across Generations With The Romantic , Bruno Mars doesn't just reclaim the Billboard charts—he reconnects Filipino Americans across three generations to the soul of who we are. 🇵🇭 Did You Know? Bruno Mars' mother, Bernadette San Pedro Bayot, was born in Manila and raised in Cebu City —two of the Philippines' most storied cities—before immigrating to Hawaii in 1968 at age 11. A singer and lead hula dancer at the famed Al Harrington Show in Waikīkī, she passed away in Honolulu in 2013. Bruno has sa...
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Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry

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Vallejo, CA • March 2026. Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry. hiraya manawari meaning, ancient tagalog phrase, filipino manifestation, reach your dreams filipino, baybayin tattoo hiraya, decolonize filipino identity, pre-colonial philippines language, hiraya manawari tv show abs-cbn, filipino words of power, fil-am cultural reclamation. DECOLONIZE • MARCH 2026 Hiraya Manawari: The Ancient Filipino Phrase That Became a Generation's Battle Cry How an archaic Tagalog phrase meaning "may the visions of your heart come to pass" survived colonialism, powered a beloved 90s TV show, and is now reclaiming Filipino identity — one tattoo, one graduation caption, and one whispered prayer at a time. There are words in every language that carry more weight than their syllables suggest. In English, we have "freedom." In Japanese, ikigai . In ...
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The Memory Heist: How DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' Turns Filipino Mythology Into a Diaspora Reckoning

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Hiddenbrooke, CA • March 2026. The Memory Heist: How DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' Turns Filipino Mythology Into a Diaspora Reckoning. forgotten island dreamworks, filipino mythology animation, H.E.R. liza soberano, lea salonga manananggal, nakali island, filipino american diaspora, pinoy pride, fil-am identity, filipino folklore, dreamworks animation 2026, joel crawford januel mercado, filipino culture film. FILM & IDENTITY • MARCH 2026 The Memory Heist: How DreamWorks' 'Forgotten Island' Turns Filipino Mythology Into a Diaspora Reckoning The first major animated film rooted in Philippine folklore asks the question every immigrant carries: What do you lose when you leave? A PinoyBuilt analysis of the most important Filipino cultural moment in animation history. DreamWorks Animation's Forgotten Island features a voice cast led by H.E.R., Liza Soberano, and Lea Salonga in a story root...
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Two Empires, One Final: What a Filipino Sees That Spain and Argentina Can't

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Global • July 2026. Two Empires, One Final: What a Filipino Sees That Spain and Argentina Can't. spain argentina world cup 2026, blanqueamiento, decolonize the mind, filipino american, football racism, spanish colonization philippines, enzo fernandez chant, vinicius junior, lahi, diaspora identity. WORLD CUP • DECOLONIZE THE MIND • JULY 2026 Two Empires, One Final: What a Filipino Sees That Spain and Argentina Can't Spain beat Argentina 1-0 to win the 2026 World Cup. But when the two teams that met in the final are a country that ruled the Philippines for 333 years and a country that erased its own Black and Indigenous people, the trophy is the least interesting thing on the field. On Sunday, July 19, 2026, at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, Spain beat Argentina 1-0 to win the FIFA World Cup. For ninety-eight minutes, nobody scored. Then, thirty-nine seconds into the second half of extra time, substitute...
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Learn Tagalog: "Hindi Kita Malilimutan" — Basil Valdez and the Power of Never Forgetting

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Manila, Philippines • March 2026. Learn Tagalog: Hindi Kita Malilimutan — Basil Valdez and the Power of Never Forgetting. basil valdez, hindi kita malilimutan, learn tagalog, opm, filipino values, fil-am, tagalog lessons, filipino music, diaspora, remembrance, pinoy pride, language learning. LEARN FILIPINO • MARCH 2026 Learn Tagalog: "Hindi Kita Malilimutan" — Basil Valdez and the Power of Never Forgetting Master 50 Tagalog words, Filipino grammar, and the cultural depth of remembrance through the song that became the emotional anthem of the Filipino diaspora. PinoyBuilt "Learn Filipino" series — exploring the Tagalog language through OPM classics that shaped the Filipino soul. There are songs that belong to a moment, and then there are songs that belong to a people. Basil Valdez's " Hindi Kita Malilimutan " — I Will Not Forget You — is the latter. Written by a Jesuit teenager named Manoling Francisco wh...
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Mindanao Earthquake 2026: 7.8 Magnitude Kills 32, Tsunami Hits General Santos City

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Mindanao, Philippines • June 2026. Magnitude 7.8 earthquake kills dozens in General Santos City and Sarangani. Mindanao earthquake, tsunami, General Santos City, Cotabato Trench, Filipino diaspora relief, Fil-Am. Mindanao • June 2026 Mindanao Earthquake 2026: 7.8 Magnitude Kills 32, Tsunami Hits General Santos City The most powerful quake to hit the Philippines since 1990 struck southern Mindanao on June 8, killing at least 32, triggering a tsunami, and plunging Fil-Am families into a desperate silence — no power, no signal, no word from home. General Santos City — population 700,000 — sustained catastrophic structural damage when a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck 13 km southwest of the city on the morning of June 8, 2026. | Hero image: Gemini/Imagen for PinoyBuilt It was a Monday morning, the first day of a new school year for more than three million children across Mindanao. Parents had packed bags and sent ...
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