For over 19 years, the Hong Kong Campaign for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCHARPP) has tirelessly campaigned to build solidarity for the Filipino people’s work towards just and lasting peace.
Today, the world marks the 76th anniversary of International Human Rights Day. On this day, we aim to highlight how the human rights crisis in the Philippines has worsened under the Marcos Jr. regime – both for communities in the Philippines and for Filipino migrants working abroad. As part of the international response to this point, the Hong Kong Campaign for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines (HKCAHRPP) held their annual cultural night for human rights in the Philippines on the 7th of December.
Over the course of the evening, over 70 attendees gathered to hear and watch different kinds of cultural performances while learning more about the human rights crisis in the Philippines. Performers came from different backgrounds and countries, to share their talents with the audiences and express their solidarity with the Filipino peoples dreams for just and lasting peace. Connected by the fact they all are currently living and working in Hong Kong, performances included songs, dances and poetry.
The evening opened with Amirah “Mek” Lidasan joining us via zoom to share first hand updates on the human rights crisis. Lidasan is a patriotic Moro leader from the Philippines who has dedicated her life to actively fighting for the rights, peace and culture of the Moro and Indigenous peoples. Lidasan spoke about the current struggles of indigenous and Moro communities in Mindanao and across the Philippines to protect their ancestral land and culture as well as their struggles against rising human rights violations including denial of right education.
Members of HKCAHRPP performed a cultural interpretation to the song “Freedom of Education”, featuring the struggle of the Lumad (indigenous) children from Mindanao and their dreams to go to school in their land without members of the Philippine military using their school for war games. Schools that have been shuttered by the Philippine government over the past two years. HKCAHRPP members visited Mindanao this past summer and met Lumad students, who all shared of dreams and determination to move back to the ancestral lands and reopen the schools.
Throughout the evening, poems were read in English and Tagalog from “…And So We Write”, the first ever poetry zine released by HKCAHRPP on the night. All original poems written by HKCAHRPP members and Filipino migrant workers in Hong Kong, told the stories of the realities of Filipino farmers, indigenous peoples, and communities to protect their lives, families, and the importance of international solidarity.
The evening also featured a time of remembering the martyrs, human rights defenders, farmers, women, and activist who have lost their lives in the Philippines this year and those who have disappeared without a trace. We also recognized those who are facing the ongoing human rights violations and red-tagging of the Philippine government while urban poor and farming communities are neglected. We know that the attacks and targets of the Philippine government reaches overseas to Filipino migrant workers, by red-tagging those who are holding the government accountable for its neglect of the welfare of Filipino workers abroad, including Filipino migrants here in Hong Kong. We also recognized the countless martyrs in Palestine who have been killed in the ongoing genocide in Gaza and the West bank.
Finishing with a closing solidarity action, attendees were invited to sign and add their slogans to two banners with the call Foster a Just Peace in the Philippines! as a sign of ongoing commitment to expand our solidarity with the Filipino people.
Beyond a one night event, HKCHARPP and those gathered expressed their steadfast and growing solidarity with the Filipino people in their struggle for just and lasting peace in their country. HKCAHRPP joins with the international community in strengthening our support to the Filipino people. We call upon all peace-loving people in Hong Kong to join with us in building the broadest solidarity support to advance the struggle for just and lasting peace in the Philippines.