【座談】菲律賓農民權益、貧困及土地掠奪Farmers Rights, Poverty and Land Grabbing in the Philippines
地點: 捷運善導寺站 MRT Shandao Temple Station
活動： fb.com/event/1707852966374273
The island of Mindanao, in the Philippines has become a hotbed of resistance, as rich agricultural lands have been taken over by agribusiness. This expansion has plunged local farmers and growers into crippling debt while forcibly displacing Indigenous communities from their ancestral lands to make way for large-scale plantations.
Transnational corporations in Mindanao have seen considerable growth in their operations and wealth, yet farmers and agricultural workers are faced with an economic crisis under a harsh political climate, where they experience great hardships and poverty. One-fifth of Filipinos are officially poor, and malnutrition plagues the country – Why is it that some of the most fertile soils on earth are afflicted by hunger?
Those who bravely speak out against the land grabbing system of oppression and exploitation in the Philippines are met with violence. There is fear, disorder, and as people are pushed to the wall, they have no other choice but to stand up and fight back.
Join us for a talk on the pervasive human rights violations linked to land grabbing as we question our food systems and who owns the land, and hear from Gi Estrada, who will be sharing his in-depth research on why farming communities in the Philippines (particularly in Mindanao) remain impoverished and how locals are mobilising to demand land rights.
About the speaker:
Gi Estrada, studied Anthropology at the University of the Philippines, Diliman. Based in the Philippines he is a national staff of the Federation of Agricultural Workers - Philippines (Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura, UMA) and also served as a policy advisor to House of Representatives member Fernando Hicap from 2014 to 2016 and Ariel Casilao from 2016 to 2019 of the Anakpawis (Toiling Masses Party). Gi, a veteran of the Philippine movement, is a familiar figure in various major rallies and demonstrations across the country. Active in the Philippine movement since the martial law period, he has remained deeply involved to this day.
About the moderator:
Born and raised in Taiwan, Yi-Yu Lai has been studying Indigenous activisms and the cross-border relationships between Indigenous Taiwanese and the Indigenous peoples in the Cordillera of the Philippines since 2014. His works center on Indigenous politics, political violence, and conflict resolutions. Lai is particularly interested in how political violence and activism affect Indigenous peoples' ways of life and their interactions with the larger society. He finished his BA in Anthropology at the National Taiwan University, where he also completed his MA in Anthropology. At present, Lai is a PhD candidate in Anthropology at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa and a research affiliate at the Cordillera Studies Center, University of the Philippines in Baguio.
Language: Bilingual, EN/CH
Date: 18 January 2024 (Thursday)
Time: 19.00 - 20.30pm
Venue: Taipei - The address will be sent via email confirmation.
RSVP: https://forms.gle/j9pSHC1yR7khhhwN7
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Gi Estrada，畢業於菲律賓大學迪利曼分校，主修人類學。現居菲律賓。他是菲律賓農業工人聯合會（Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura, UMA）的全國性工作人員，曾擔任眾議院成員費爾南多‧希卡普（Fernando Hicap）的政策顧問（2014年至2016年），以及卡席拉奧（Ariel Casilao）的政策顧問（2016年至2019年），二者皆為苦勞群眾黨（Anakpawis，英譯 Toiling Masses Party）成員。Gi是菲律賓運動的老將，在全國各地各種主要遊行和示威活動中都是一張熟悉的面孔。他自菲律賓戒嚴時期以來一直積極參與菲律賓的運動，並持續活躍至今。