Wherever I am, the world comes after me.
It offers me its busyness. It does not believe that I do not want it.
Now I understand 
why the old poets of China went so far
and high 
into the mountains, then crept into the pale mist.
"The Old Poets of China" by Mary Oliver

The UP Asian Center will be holding a public forum, “Indigenous Peoples’ Struggles for Self-determination and the Environment in the Philippines and Myanmar” on 24 April 2019, 1:30 – 4:00 pm, UP Asian Center, Quezon City. The event is free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served. Walk-ins are welcome but interested participants are encouraged to sign up.

TOPICS & SPEAKERS

Defending Lumads and their Ancestral Land

Bai Bibiaon, Lumad Chieftain from Salugpungan Ta Tanu Igkanugon (Unity in Defense of Ancestral Land)

Salween Peace Park Initiative

Hsar Doe Doh Moo, Karen Environmental and Social Action Network (KESAN)

International Situation of Indigenous Peoples' Movement

Beverly Longid, Global Coordinator, Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination and Liberation (IPMSDL)

Indigenous Peoples and Mining in the Philippines

Rolando Talampas, Associate Professor, UP Asian Center

ABOUT THE EVENT

The forum discusses the struggle of the Karen people in Myanmar, and the Lumads of Mindanao to defend their territories and natural resources from plunder and destruction. The Salween Peace Park initiative and the Defend Talaingod campaign are some of the experiences that will be shared in the forum. It is organized by the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, the UP Asian Center, and the International Indigenous Peoples Movement for Self-Determination.


The Asian Center offers M.A. degrees in Asian Studies with four fields of specialization: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. The Center also has an M.A. program in Philippine Studies that allows students to major in Philippine society and culture, Philippine foreign relations, or Philippine development studies. The Center offers a Ph.D.  program in Philippine Studies in conjunction with the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. For an overview of these graduate programs, click here. The Asian Center also publishes Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, the latest issue of which can be downloaded at the journal's website. For other news and upcoming events at the Asian Center, click here.