Vancouver, BC – June 6, 2011 – The anticipation fervently grows within the progressive and militant Filipino Canadian community as the 2-day conference titled “Counterspin: Taking roots, building a home, deepening our understanding of genuine settlement and integration” draws much attention from workers, women, youth and academics across Canada as it will lead the new path towards community empowerment and genuine liberation.

The weekend conference, taking place from June 18th to 9th at the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia, will particularize the Filipino Canadian community’s issues through the call of genuine recognition as integral members and full partakers in the Canadian “cultural mosaic.” With that aim, sharings and presentations from community organizers, members and researchers will challengingly pose perspectives that expose the interconnectedness of transnationalism and neoliberal globalization to the struggle of community building. Organized by the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC) under the auspices of the Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC), “Counterspin” seeks to lay down the foundation necessary to transform and reconceptualize dominant traditions of community engagement and to build a progressive movement that focuses on making Filipino Canadians full participants in shaping Canada’s future.

As a continuation of the first “Counterspin” conference held in Montreal from April 30th to May 1st in 2010, the conference will feature internationally acclaimed writer Ninotchka Rosca, academics and community organizers from Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. The 1st day of the conference will include panel speakers alongside revolutionary feminist writer Ninotchka Rosca who will contextualize the obstacles and realities of Filipinos as transnationals who are caught within the bounds of neoliberal globalization. Titled “Creating and nurturing a new path,” the introductory panel will discuss the meaning of the call for the genuine settlement and integration and full participation of the Filipino Canadian community to counter the cycle of “permanent impermanence.”

Other panels from the workers, women, and youth sectors will emphasize that as the 3rd largest visible minority group who has resided here for almost fifty years, it is integral for the Filipino Canadian community to reclaim their history here in Canada and take on the role as purveyors of a distinctly radical and transformative culture.

“The leading force: makers of history” situates the struggle of the working class at the forefront of community empowerment. As women continue to be the most oppressed and exploited in our community, “Something else, something fierce: new perspectives in our women’s organizing” discusses the ongoing challenges of building a strengthened women’s movement that interweaves an analysis of race, class, and gender. “Sharpening our tools for our future” will focus on the key role of the youth in building upon a legacy of resistance. The final panel will look at social services in Canada and the Filipino Canadian experience.

In encouraging community engagement, the 2nd day will be dedicated to creating action plans to raise the involvement of Filipino Canadian youth from identity politics to community building and as future leaders in transforming the community’s ethos. “As Filipino Canadian youth, it is integral that we talk about our experiences here in Canada and take leadership in building an empowered community,” states Krystle Alarcon, member of UKPC/FCYA-BC and PWC-BC.

“Our conditions have changed and it is time for us to tackle the concrete realities of our community. Our full participation can only be genuinely achieved with the realization that our marginalization is directly rooted in systemic processes in immigration and the profit-driven agenda of capitalism,” Alarcon adds. “Counterspin” will pose the challenge of smashing old ideas, advancing the struggle to make the Filipino Canadian community count in Canada’s future, and entrusting a culture of resistance to future generations.

“Counterspin: Deepening our understanding of genuine settlement and integration”
National conference
Organized under the auspices of the Congress of Progressive Filipino Canadians (CPFC)
Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia
6476 NW Marine Drive, Vancouver, BC
Registration is $25.00 (includes 2 meals and conference materials)

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For more information or to register, please contact the conference secretariat:
Krystle Alarcon; 778-321-8275; krystle.alarcon@gmail.com
Jon Nieto; 778-384-7378; jonziphone@gmail.com
Arlene Oropel; 778- 317-5265; ajalex12jaylon@gmail.com
Twitter: #Counterspin2
Tumblr: counterspin2.tumblr.com