SPAN Logo
 

Kasama Masthead

KASAMA means friend, companion, comrade...
KASAMA March 2009
Volume 23 Number 1
 

Harmony Day 2009Celebrating Our Community Elders

Harmony Day celebration 20 March 2009 State Library of Queensland

20 March 2009 — The Queensland State Library hosted this year’s Brisbane Harmony Day celebration with music from the African Women’s chorus and singer and song writer Getano Bann. Afterwards we had a few hours to chat during refreshments, the launch of the library’s Multicultural Services Strategy 2008-2012 and a guided tour of the building’s collections and exhibition space.
 

Maureen WatsonMaureen Watson


On the fourth day of the New Year, Australia lost one of its most respected Aboriginal women, Aunty Maureen Watson. Tireless educator and campaigner for the rights of her people, gifted and passionate performer on stage and film, poet, author and playwright, children’s author, beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, and recognised Murri elder in South-East Queensland.



 

Maureen WatsonFemale of the Species by Maureen Watson

Reprinted from Inside Black Australia: an anthology of Aboriginal poetry, edited by Kevin Gilbert, Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 1988.

 

Philippine Migrants’ Rights Watch Logo CEDAW ng Bayan: karapatan ng kababaihan

CEDAW of the Country: Women’s Rights

CEDAW, the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, is pronounced sounding like “sigaw,” meaning a shout, or Cry, which makes the slogan also mean “Cry of the People”. (National Commission on the Role of Filipino women, Republic of the Philippines).



 

PM LogoWomen Workers’ Statement on Women’s Day 2009

Social Protection Not Double Burden

Partido ng Manggagawa (Labor Party - Philippines)



 

CMA Logo Philippines: Thousands of Women Marched to Demand Full Employment

by Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL)

Amidst a deepening economic crisis engendered by the global financial meltdown, thousands of women workers belonging to the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) poured out into the streets of key cities – Manila, Cebu, Davao, General Santos and Cotabato – on the occasion of the International Women’s Day to demand full employment and equality between women and men.

 

Barbara Shaw Celebrating International Women’s Day

Women Demand Justice Rally - Brisbane, March 7th 2009
and
Migrant Domestic Workers Celebrate International Women’s Day in the Netherlands - March 7th 2009





 

ISIS Logo

BREAD AND ROSES


BREAD AND ROSES Including BIGAS AT SAMPAGITA
(Filipino version of Bread and Roses)

 

Ninoy Aquino by Mon Solo Ninoys Killers Freed

by Sabrina Oliveros, Philippine Online Chronicles, 05/03/2009

March 4, 2009 — The 10 men convicted for the 1983 murders of Filipino democratic icon Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and his alleged assassin Rolando Galman walked free yesterday after being granted executive clemency by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, reported the Associated Press.
 

Book Mooch Library News: BookMooch

by Kasama Editor, Dee Dicen Hunt

I confess to at least one obsession — books. I am drawn to them like magnets. In shops, libraries, even in other people’s homes, I find my fingers running along their spines, my eyes seeking out familiar authors and unfamiliar titles. I get a buzz from books, like that first cup of tea in the morning and the second cup of coffee for breakfast. When I’m away from books I get withdrawal symptoms. When the hustle of town gets too much, I chill out in the public library. And if I’ve got a serious case of writer’s ‘block’ and the blank whiteness of the computer screen is driving me crazy, I cruise the web for book reviews. I like books; it’s an addiction.

 

ECCQ Multicultural Summit 2009 Multicultural Summit 2009

Call for Abstracts


The Multicultural Summit ‘09 Steering Committee invites submissions for abstracts for Multicultural Summit ‘09 which will be held at the State Library of Queensland on Monday, 26 October 2009 and Tuesday, 27 October 2009.
 

Griffith University Multi-Faith Centre One Humanity, Many Faiths

An Interfaith Summit for Peace & Harmony in Australia and the Asia-Pacific Region, 18-21 February 2009, Brisbane City Hall, Queensland, Australia

Organised by the Multi-Faith Centre, Griffith University and the Pure Land Learning College

Reflection by Kasama editor, Dee Dicen Hunt
 

Griffith University Multi-Faith Centre Multi-Faith & Multicultural Concert

With MCs Stuart Shaw and Carol Walden, twelve performance artists, choirs and ensembles treated Summit delegates and guests to two hours of music, poetry and dance expression of culture and faith. The concert organisers, Grace Yap, Stephan Tang, Wendy Flannery and the lighting and sound technicians produced an evening’s entertainment of magnificent quality.

 

Peacemakers Logo Interfaith Dialogue, Reconciliation & Relationship Building

MARITES GUINGONA-AFRICA is founder of The Peacemakers’ Circle Foundation, a non-profit interfaith organization based in Manila, Philippines.

The Peacemakers’ Circle is a Cooperation Circle of a global community called United Religions Initiative (URI) composed of people of diverse religions, spiritual expressions and indigenous traditions who work together to promote enduring daily interfaith cooperation, end religiously motivated violence, and create cultures of peace, justice and healing for the Earth and all living beings. She currently serves as Chairperson of the URI in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, and is also a member of the Standing Committee of the URI Global Council. The following are extracts from her presentation to the Summit on February 19th.
 

Centre for Peace Education Logo Education for a Culture of Peace

LORETA CASTRO is Executive Director of the Center for Peace Education and a Professor at Miriam College, Quezon City, Philippines.

She coordinates a local Peace Education Network. She serves as Vice-President of Pax Christi International and is a member of the Global Campaign for Peace Education, the Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict and IPRA’s Peace Education Commission. In 2005, she was one of 27 Filipino women among 1000 women around the world who were collectively nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Her work includes training formal and community educators as well as the youth towards peace and interfaith understanding. The following are extracts from her workshop presentation on February 19th.

 

Jose Ramos-Horta Bridges – Dialogues Towards A Culture Of Peace: Is Long Lasting Peace an Attainable Dream?

Davao City — Timor-Leste President and Nobel Peace Laureate JOSE RAMOS-HORTA shared his insights on this question in a public forum at the Ateneo de Davao University on 14 January 2009 to an audience of hundreds of students, academics, media, government workers, NGOs, clergy, nuns, businessmen, diplomats and overseas visitors. We have included a blog report about the lecture and reprinted GUS MICLAT’s very personal account of meeting again with Ramos-Horta and recounting the solidarity links between the peoples of Timor and the Philippines, ‘Jose Ramos-Horta on my mind’.



 

OVERSEAS ABSENTEE VOTING OVERSEAS ABSENTEE VOTING

ALL FILIPINO CITIZENS ABROAD, not otherwise disqualified by law, at least eighteen (18) years of age on the day of elections, may now participate in Philippine national elections under the Overseas Absentee Voting Act of 2003 (Republic Act 9189).