The UP Asian Center in collaboration with the UP CIDS Program on Alternative Development and the Asian Music for People’s Peace and Progress, will conduct "Strengthening efforts at Creative Resistance and Solidarity Building amidst new threats from Capital and Empire," A Cultural Jam, on 26 October 2026, 2 PM, PHT (GMT+8) onwards at the ASEAN and Japan Halls, Asian Center, UP Diliman. The event is free and open to the public. Registration is encouraged due to limited seating.
ABOUT THE EVENT
“In order for me to write poetry that isn’t political,
I must listen to the birds
and in order to hear the birds
the warplanes must be silent.”
(Marwan Makhoul, Palestinian poet)
The State of Artistic Freedom 2024, report characterized the year as one “scarred by conflict.” The report highlighted the various ways by which artistic freedom was laid under siege- from censorship to criminalization, from incarcerations to killings.
The latest report shows that the “threats are not only continuing but expanding” with attacks on artistic freedom “no longer, mostly, limited to isolated cases against individuals or organisations,” but are “ part of broader political developments that affect the foundations of democratic societies.” Furthermore, the report points out how “laws, funding decisions, institutional pressure and public intimidation are narrowing the space for artistic expression across entire cultural ecosystems.”
The dialogue conducted by AMP3 and Focus on the Global South in 2025, highlighted the fact that “the rise of right-wing politics across the region, has led to an intensification of culture wars - conflicts over cultural and social beliefs, of acceptance and resistance to social change and transformation- and conflicts that deepen and escalate societal divisions”.
We have seen for example continuing religious conflicts in Bangladesh, racial tensions in Indonesia, and more 2 recently the war between Cambodia and Thailand not just over cultural heritage but over complex interplay of territorial disputes, historical injustices, economic and political interests. There are also a number of cultural wars waged on issues around gender identity and reproductive rights for example in the Philippines. These culture wars are happening as well amidst a growing environment of worsening human rights violations and attacks and reprisals against human rights defenders, including those exercising their right to express themselves and engage in cultural actions and activities.
But communities are responding. In the UK, musician Billy Bragg wrote and performed 100-year Hunger, in support of the Global Sumud Flotilla that challenged the blockade and delivered humanitarian relief in Gaza. More recently we saw the coming together of the people of Minnesota in the US in huge mobilizations against ICE. And closer to home, we saw people responding to the call for resistance and solidarity in the streets of Dhaka during the student-led mobilizations that toppled the Hasina dictatorship. How are communities in Asia responding to these issues and building resistance and solidarity through art and music?
Join the cultural jamming with members of the AMP3 community. Share and listen to songs and stories of struggles across the region and define new ways and forms of creative expressions and collaborations to advance resistance and build solidarities across various communities and movements.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Bithi Ghosh is a Bangladeshi singer, music composer, writer, educator, and cultural activist. She currently serves as the Vice-President of the Central Committee of Samageet. She is also an Associate Professor of Bangla at Shaikh Burhanuddin Post Graduate College. She has been involved in cultural movements advocating for social justice, workers' rights, gender equality, and environmental protection. Recently, a book compiling songs from Bangladesh's July 2024 Uprising was published as part of her work to document and preserve the cultural expressions of the movement.
Samageet is a mass cultural organization in Bangladesh that began its journey on May 1, 2002, with songs at a workers' rally. Samageet has created and performed songs addressing labour exploitation, unsafe workplaces, low wages, gender discrimination, communal violence, and the rights of Indigenous peoples and religious minorities. Its music has also been part of campaigns to protect the Sundarbans, rivers, forests, and communities threatened by environmentally destructive development. Samageet believes, humans are inseparable from nature. Peace and justice must therefore include not only human rights but also the protection of ecosystems and all living beings.
Dania Reyes teaches in the Department of Art Studies at the University of the Philippines, where she also obtained her undergraduate and graduate degrees. She has written songs on human rights and the struggles of indigenous peoples and other marginalized sectors of society. She is also a member of PISARA (Artists for Nationalist and Progressive Education and Culture).
Manji Ikuta is a peace activist and musician based in Japan. He has been active in campaigns against nuclear power stations, military bases, and the genocide in Palestine.
Christian (Bong) Ramilo was an activist and songwriter against the Marcos Dictatorship. He has worked in community arts and cultural development for over forty years. Since coming to Australia in 1986, he has used diverse approaches, including the Theatre of the Oppressed and interactive digital media in diverse communities to make and share art. He is the 2018 recipient of the Australia Council for the Arts Ros Bower Award, which “acknowledges the achievements of an artist or arts worker who has made an outstanding and sustained contribution to community arts and cultural development”. Bong is co-convenor of Asian Music for Peoples’ Peace and Progress (AMP3). He now lives in Australia and the Philippines. His book, The Community is the Artist, published by Darwin Community Arts, was released in June 2025.
ABOUT THE MODERATORS
Ika Yuliana is an artist and researcher who grew up in North Sumatra, Indonesia, then moved to Jakarta, West Java, Malang, Bali, and Darwin. With her Anthropology background, she is reflecting on the journey of living across multiple cities as a female artist. She is pursuing her PhD research on community arts and resilience space/city-making in Indonesia and South East Asia at Charles Darwin University, Northern Territory, Australia.
Azmyl Yunor adheres to the 'three chords & the truth' school of songwriting. Although more known as a folk singer-songwriter, he is also a founding member of several seminal punk and experimental underground bands since the late 1990s. As an artist and researcher, both his songwriting and published works are responses to the cultural politics of music subcultures, mediated moral panics, and moral policing in Malaysia. His current research interest revolves around the 'soft power' of underground music touring circuits in Malaysia and the region as sites of resistance against an increasingly 'feudalistic' digital cultural landscape. With a background in journalism and filmmaking, he is currently a Senior Lecturer at the School of Film & Performing Arts at Sunway University, Malaysia.
ABOUT THE ORGANIZERS
This forum/conversation and concert is organized by the UP Asian Center, the UP CIDS Program on Alternative Development, and the Asian Music for People’s Peace and Progress, a collective of artists across Asia, working together to build a community, share and promote people’s music, and support local struggles.
For inquiries, please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 891-8500 loc. 3586.