Sunday, October 20, 2019 | 2 PM
Quezon Memorial Circle
Quezon City, Philippines
BAGSAKAN! #StandWithFarmers
Unity Concert line-up:
We Are Imaginary
Ang Bandang Shirley
Lady I
The Jerks
The Axel Pinpin Propaganda Machine
BP Valenzuela
The Exsenadors
Musikang Bayan
Wuds
The Geeks
Rusty Machines
Tubaw
BLKD x Calix
Sleep Kitchen
Identikit
The General Strike
Pinkcow
Spoken word:
Alfonso Manalastas
Free Concert, Farmers’ Market, Skate Competiton, Live Mural, Local Merch
The peasantry who makes up the majority of our population deserves better. They who till the land, who get no breaks from their daily crouch to plant seeds and pull weeds, who secure the nation’s food—considering the backbreaking work they endure, how can we let them remain the poorest of our countrymen? How can we starve the people whose hands grow what we eat?
The nation acknowledges their hardship, but has hardly given them anything in return. It puts them on a pedestal, but pulls them down when it needs a sector to step on. It honors them with laurels and monuments and songs, but tramples on their rights and their dignity.
A kilo of palay sells for as low as 7 pesos. Farmlands get grabbed for development projects. When they organize resistance, farmers are harassed, abducted, then arrested on fabricated charges. In many instances, at least 231 since 2016, they get killed. Add to this the reality that seven out of 10 Filipino farmers remain landless—a harrowing statistic for a largely agricultural country. Now is certainly no golden age of Philippine agriculture.
We need to come to their defense. More than stand by them, we must stand with them: Only by uniting with the peasantry can we understand that an attack on any one of them is an attack on us all. Considered National Peasant Month by peasant organizations all over the country, October is the best time to come together for the cause of Philippine agriculture, especially the Filipinos whose heroism feeds the nation.
In honor of the democratic majority, in honor of their centuries-long struggle for land and justice, we offer “BAGSAKAN: A #StandWithFarmers Concert.” The event is a bagsakan in three senses: First, a bagsakan is a drop-off site, a touch point between farmers and traders. What gets dropped off at the concert is not produce, however, but support: it is the public trading in solidarity with our farmers. Second, bagsakan is that point in a live concert where the performers give it their all. It is when the night peaks, the loudest and most energetic moment in the gathering. We want our support for the peasantry to resound, unmistakable in its power and its scale. Third, bagsakan is a call for applause. To participate in the peasant struggle for land and justice, we must first give due recognition to the generations of farmers who have long been part of the struggle.
BAGSAKAN is a collective undertaking initiated by peasant organizations, alliances, and networks that advocates farmers rights and welfare such as Sama-samang Artista para sa Kilusang Agraryo (SAKA), Concerned Artists of the Philippines, DAKILA, Sandugo- Movement of Moro and Indigenous Peoples for Self-Determination, Sining na Naglillingkod sa Bayan (Sinagbayan), National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates – Youth (NNARA-Youth), Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (YACAP), REV Music Festival, Save San Roque Alliance and many others. It takes place on October 20 at Quezon Memorial Circle, from 3pm to 11pm. Featuring a range of musical and theatrical performances, as well as solidarity speeches from key personalities and allies of the peasant sector, it is a celebration of our peasantry’s strength, their commitment to the land, and the dignity they possess.
Bagsakan na!
