Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/
Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance
For immediate release
Please circulate widely

Youth Honour Martyrs and Heroes of Fallen Dictatorship

September 28, 2005

Vancouver, BC – Just days after the 33rd anniversary of the declaration of Martial Law, Filipino youth have pledged to continue the tradition of social change by honouring the martyrs of the 1970’s through an international youth and student gathering.

“Ipagpatuloy: Living the Storm” First Quarter Storm Campaign Filipino Youth and Student Conference organized by Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance (UKPC/FCYA) will take place from November 25 to the 27, 2005 at East Vancouver’s Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada. A high attendance of youth of Filipino ancestry from across North America is expected.

“This year is the 35th anniversary of the First Quarter Storm or the FQS,” explains Carlo Sayo of UKPC/FCYA. “As a Filipino youth organization working for the rights of Filipinos in Canada and raising awareness about the current situation in the Philippines, it is important to ground our present work with the past” said Sayo.

The FQS of 1970 was a monumental prelude to the declaration of Martial Law under the hated Ferdinand Marcos regime. For three consecutive months, Filipino youth and students, alongside peasants and workers launched massive rallies and demonstrations to oppose the Vietnam war, massive unemployment and US Foreign Policy in the Philippines.

The conference will also coincide with the organization’s 10th anniversary and will feature former Martial Law political prisoners as guest speakers.

“There were many youth and students who sacrificed a lot: their education, everyday comforts, and even their lives to oppose not just the president of the Philippines, but against the government of the United States,” said Sayo. “We can really only honour them by continuing the political work wherever Filipinos are and this gathering is just an example of us continuing this tradition,” said Sayo.

Guest speakers will include Bonifacio Ilagan, Chair of the First Quarter Storm Movement in the Philippines; Judy Taguiwalo of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) and a well-known feminist leader of the Philippines’ women’s movement; Keynote speaker Jose Maria Sison (live), founder of Kabataang Makabayan and current chair of the International League of People's Struggles (ILPS); and Cherry Clemente, a former youth and student activist at the University of the Philippines and now with AnakPawis Partylist.

“Ipagpatuloy: Living the Storm” First Quarter Storm Campaign
Filipino Youth and Student Conference
November 25-27, 2005
Russian Hall, 600 Campbell Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada

***To register online please go to www.ugnayan.net***
Registration Fee: (sliding scale) $75-$100 Canadian
For more information please contact:
Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada / Filipino-Canadian Youth Alliance
phone: #604-215-1103 // e-mail: fqs_campaign@kalayaancentre.net //
website: www.ugnayan.net // www.kalayaancentre.net