Think4YourSelf

WHAT is SONA or State of the Nation Address? It is an annual spectacle of the Philippine Government, representating the head of the State on her best fashionable attire infront the television screen while blabbering about her reports of "Progress". Her blabs also includes a new set of promises for the miserably battered Filipino people.

As the head of the State spits a mouthful of saliva on a seemingly Pulpit platform inside the House of Congress, her cohorts clap their hands in unison as if they were cheering to a great Dictator. Meanwhile, as the head of the State (President) is enjoying herself with those complementary bullshits, hundreds of thousands of Police and Military was stationed outside the House of Congress to control the People from expressing dissent and for showing the real State of the Nation.

Among those who went out to the Streets and Protested against the State and its Authoritarian abuses were the various autonomous collectives in Metro Manila who recently participated with the AfestA event. Together they slammed the State for continously tolerating Human Rights abuses and Political Killings, Environmental Destruction and for selling-out all the local Resources through WTO, GATT and World Bank.

The following photographs were taken during the State of the Nation Address (SONA) this July 24, 2006.

Meanwhile, down south the Philippine archipelago, autonomous collectives from Davao and their close neighborhood provinces converged together and took part with the Nationwide action against the State of the Nation Address (SONA). You can view all the pictures by clicking here.

GROUPS: (Manila) Cainta Collective, Local Anarchist Network, Anarchist Initiative for Direct Democracy, Autonomous Manila, Project Aperture, Food Not Bombs Manila, Anarchist Study Circle, EarthFirst! Manila, DieMedia

(Davao) As Awhole Collective, Kinaiyahan, Davao Anarchist Resistance Movement, Kauban Movement, Food Not Bombs Davao, Kontaminado 

Note: If you joined the protest and have a picture to contribute, please inform us by leaving an info in our comment page. Thank You. 

Pictures says a thousand words, says a popular song. The following photos below attempts to tell you a story of love and resistance that may simply pass as a lucid dream amidst our raging thoughts. But this is no ordinary story nor a passive dream, rather it’s a dream that struggles for its realisation- a desire to liberate. In other words, the story doesn’t end right infront the frozen images of the following photographs. Not your typical history.

Note: The following photos were taken during the second part of the three day series of AfestA (July 21, 2006). This includes an image documentation of Lively discussion of various topics such as Radical Ecology, Anarchism 101 and Political Situationer, etc. The discussion was held at SOLAIR in U.P. Diliman.

HIS/HER STORY:

Creating an anarchist moment. University of the Philippines Diliman, July 21, 2006

Dear Insurgents,

The AfestA Working Team would like to inform again the latest update of our event (afesta). TO THE FRONT: Please be informed that we are moving the venue of our DISCUSSION portion to SOLAIR instead of using the Claro M. Recto Hall. This will be now on July 21, 2006 (Friday) 1-6 p.m.     

SOLAIR is the labor institute of University of the Philippines Diliman. Below is a link that will enable you to view the University MAP (para hindi maligaw, paki-tingnan na lang ang mapa at ipa-print. salamat!)

CLICK THIS: University of the Philippines MAP

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U.P. VILLAGE (July 11)- It was a rainy evening outside the University, Collectives from different autonomous communities in Manila and AfestA Working Team held an offline pre-meeting/gathering; they discussed details regarding the upcoming autonomous event to be held at University of the Philippines in Diliman. As the details were discussed there has also been an informal talk comprising the general ideas for Direct Actions against G8 Summit and State of the Nation Address. 

Amidst the rather humid yet stormy night, a Wine from Confederacion Nacional del Trabajo (CNT) was served during the pre-meeting, it was given as a message of solidarity by Tokyo Anarchists for the emerging Filipino anarchist movement. 

Young people everywhere have been allowed to choose between love and a garbage disposal unit. Everywhere they have chosen the garbage disposal unit. — Guy Debord

Dear Insurgents,

The AfestA Venue Working Team would like to inform the FRONT that we have a few important UPDATES regarding our venue for the upcoming festival. The following updates are:

1. The venue for our filmscreening is now at the Audio Visual Room (AVR) of FACULTY CENTER (College of Arts and Letters) This will be on July 14, 2006 1:00pm till 4:00pm

2. The venue for our discussion will be held at Claro M. Recto Hall FACULTY CENTER (College of Arts and Letters) This will be on July 22, 2006 1:00pm till 4:00pm

PLEASE UPDATE YOUR INFOS! THANK YOU!  

Dear Filipino Anarchists,

July 2006 is 70th anniversary of Spanish Revolution which was a culmination of anarchist movements in history. We are proud to have anarchist events both in Tokyo and Manila in this July.

The political and cultural situations in Manila and Tokyo must be quite different. For our point of view, Filipino activists seem to be more militant than Japanese ones. However, Anarchism itself, which mainly have been theorized and practiced in the Europe and United States, has often been treated as an already fragmented and outdated concept in Asian region, especially in Japan.

However, we see the need for social freedom is one of the basic human nature and there are struggles for freedom and autonomy in every corner of the globe, even though they do not call themselves *Anarchism.*

What we need are not leaders or political parties, but catalysts, which keep encouraging the movement for freedom without giving in the state and capitalism, and pull people out from the position of spectators. Our event in Tokyo will be held to celebrate the releases of Japanese translation of  *An Anarchist FAQ* and a DVD of *Pueblo En Armas.* We do not know how those releases affect to our situation. But to do nothing in this reactionary era should be more or less to accept the current situation. We should remember the Spanish Revolution was a culmination of more than 60 years of anarchist activities.

Let us inspire various types of anti-authoritarian activities together as catalysts. We hope our parallel event will give momentum to radical potentialities.

For a World of Direct Action and Mutual Aid,

Anarchism Editing Committee
CIRA-Japan
Irregular Rhythm Asylum