For immediate release
July 18, 2012

Toronto, ON—In the face of severe cutbacks implemented through neoliberal policies, Filipino Canadian youth are ready to take the lead in cultural resistance, with their voices soon to be united and amplified at the third annual concert and cultural showcase “Roots Rhymes and Resistance: Laying Tracks Against Cutbacks.” The public fundraiser’s latest instalment is set to take place at the University of Toronto’s Hart House on Saturday, July 28th and will be hosted by Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino Canadian Youth Alliance-Ontario (UKPC/FCYA-ON).

Amidst cutbacks on all social services in Canada, implemented as part of the austerity measures invariably attacking workers, women and youth, alike “Roots Rhymes and Resistance: Laying Tracks against Cutbacks” serves as a concrete expression of the struggle and resistance against the neoliberal agenda of globalization. “This is our moment to speak out against the policies that affect the lives of people in our community and beyond,” asserts Signe Clemente, member of UKPC/FCYA-ON.

“Roots Rhymes and Resistance” aims to continue the legacy of resistance left to us by the generations before: from the anti-colonial struggles of the Katipuneros in the 1800s to the First Quarter Storm and resistance against the oppressive Marcos regime of the 1970s and 80s, a rich history informs our support and solidarity with ongoing struggles of the Filipino people in the Philippines and our own community’s struggle for a just and genuine settlement and integration in Canada. Overall, this history serves as inspiration for progressive Filipino Canadian youth today as they create a living culture of resistance that reflects and directly tackles our current situation and realities as a transnational community.

The annual concert began fourteen years ago in Vancouver, British Columbia as a response to the need to educate around the Filipino people’s struggle for genuine national democracy and human rights. Originally highlighting the Philippine-American war as means to expose the historical and still-continuing struggle for true sovereignty and genuine independence in the Philippines, it has, through the past decades, evolved into a platform for the working-class struggle for genuine democracy and social liberation in general, and the Filipino Canadian community’s struggle against women’s oppression, youth alienation, systemic racism, and economic marginalization within Canadian society in particular.