Lumad Communities

Indigenous communities all throughout the country have been continuously targeted with violence for a while now not only when it comes to their land but also their freedom and ability to live. For the past years, there have been aims to shut down schools within these communities due to the educators and staff being accused of leading children into the New People’s Army, affiliated to the communist party in the Philippines. However, there are little to no evidence presented supporting these claims and it is even shown that the students are learning how to read and write. This has led to attacks on these schools and their communities through aerial bombings, extrajudicial killings, arrests, etc.

On February 27th, attacks occurred at the University of San Carlos-Talamban in Cebu, a Visayan city, where some members of Lumad from the Mindanao region were visiting. There were multiple unwarranted arrests under the guise that it was a “rescue operation”. However, many sources have stated that that was not the case. It is occurrences like these that continue to threaten the liberation of these communities, and more specifically, of the youth. This is also one of the many issues that prevail in keeping the Indigenous communities unprotected and neglected.

Tying this into this week’s unit, this issue can be mostly associated to the human rights and oppression and resistance. Their livelihood and ability to live freely on their land has undergone a lot and even today, there is little to no protection provided for these people. These are communities that are constantly marginalized by the system and whose voices are being washed out. Fortunately, there are activist and human rights groups that exist within these places to help combat these oppressive forces.