Chuck Baclagon<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve been running the Alas ng Bayan: Women, History, and Memory exhibit in Manila for a while now. In paintings and lectures, we feature women who\u2019ve struggled against injustice throughout Philippine history, to raise awareness about the intersections between feminism, historical memory, climate change, and citizenship.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve found it so valuable to interact with the different people passing through<\/strong>, and to have the chance to engage in conversations on things that we usually take for granted. We\u2019ve asked important questions about our relationship to the past and how our ways of living impact the environment. Who are today\u2019s heroes, and how can we can we rise up to meet the challenge of our times?<\/p>\n During the last exhibit at De La Salle University, a curious student asked me why environmental and climate organizations would put on an exhibit like this, about women at the forefront of periods of struggle.<\/p>\n I gave my quick answer: environmental advocates should not only be concerned about the environment.\u00a0We must also be committed feminists and good students of history, if we want to be loyal to our calling to protect this planet whom we call our mother.<\/strong><\/p>\n The ecological crisis we\u2019re experiencing now is a product of historical and material conditions. It\u2019s borne out of social, political, cultural and economic systems that\u2019ve led a powerful few who run industry and the state to maintain their privileges based off others\u2019 work and subservience.<\/p>\n But history also points to a revolutionary force that has successfully challenged this hegemony of patriarchy: the loving, passionate, courageous and at times angry women who rose up to speak truth to power. Women who have played a big role in thwarting the domination of three empires, challenging a despotic tyrant, and facing off the forces of dirty energy development.<\/p>\n I believe that these artworks made by my friend Johnny Guarin show what it means to learn from the past.\u00a0By capturing the lives and martyrdom of these women who resisted tyranny, we gain an idea of what heroism means and what new ways of being are possible.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n But we must be aware: their lives are multi-dimensional and shaped by their respective contexts. We must also acknowledge our own subjectivity and recognize the need for nuance in retelling their tales. Not only is this imperative, here, or for art in general \u2013 but it\u2019s essential in tackling the intersectional nature of the climate crisis, where society\u2019s most vulnerable are already facing the worst impacts of climate change right now.<\/p>\n As climate activists, we must be astute students of history. To help us alter our course for the better and build on the painstaking work of those who have gone before, and to come up with new ways of seeing, doing, and being.<\/p>\n Because in the end,\u00a0we all aim for a world that is not only socially just and ecologically sustainable \u2013 but one where we can defy stereotypes, defeat empires, exhibit beauty amid strife, serve the people, and sing our own songs.<\/strong><\/p>\n May these paintings help us find connections and glimpses of our place in the struggle to shape history, grounded with beauty, solidarity, and shared humanity.<\/p>\n I\u2019m grateful for the chance to take part in these \u2018unfinished conversations\u2019, and to all the people involved in carving out this space for art to shape our collective consciousness.<\/p>\n Thank you:<\/strong>\u00a0to our friends from the\u00a0Institute for Climate and Sustainable Cities<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Constantino Foundation<\/a>, who organized the project and gave avenues for artists like Guarin to realize his vision. To the University of the Philippines College of Fine Arts for hosting us and providing a venue for this exhibition. To the families of Kumander Liwayway and Gloria Capitan who\u2019ve been gracious enough to indulge us with their support and guiding presence. Lastly, to the friends and comrades at 350.org who in their own individual ways taught me to become a better person and a committed activist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An organizer from the Philippines reflects on women’s historical resistance to tyranny, and what all climate activists have to learn from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":293,"featured_media":3172,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[188,189],"class_list":["post-3171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-alas-ng-bayan","tag-feminism"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n