the truth in 24 hours.
Like you, I am watching numerous facebook feeds, twitter postings and news reels covering the flooding in the Philippines.
Like you, it would be very easy for me to say that I am watching this helplessly. That this is nothing but a natural disaster that has unfortunately affected a group of people that are fortunately not my own.
But, like you, I know that I am capable of digging deeper and knowing that there is nothing natural about this disaster and the many disasters preceding this one.
I know that I am not helpless and in fact I am very powerful.
I know that I am part of a community that can help build awareness of the truth. And that community includes you.
I know that the culprits to this supposed natural disaster are political and economic. Every year it seems these calamities are occurring. And every year we see that beyond the clear problems of climate change there is also the fact that government of the Philippines is more concerned with lining the pockets of a select few at the expense of the many, and for the benefit of people like us in the West.
In many areas logging and large scale mining have destroyed the natural defences against typhoons, and landslides, many of these large extractive multinationals are from Canada. Erosion of nature’s ability to manage the annual downpours that come with being a tropical country combined with underdeveloped drainage infrastructure result in a level of destruction and suffering that go well beyond what is ‘natural.’ In these floods in Manila it is clear that lack of political will to improve the long ignored drainage networks worked hand in hand with the growing level of poverty in the country that drives many to cities like Manila, only to end up as ‘squatters’ in unsafe areas prone to flooding. And it is a sad fact that the beneficiaries of this suffering include us in Canada.
On Sept 21st 2012 in partnership with Anakbayan-Toronto, I submerged myself to the chin in filthy water for a total of 24 hours. I did not have access to any food. My only luxury was access to drinking water and a team of health professionals for my own safety.
My hope is that I will be in solidarity with this young person pictured above.
In addition, I wanted to raise awareness for the issues surrounding the flooding as well as desperately needed funds for the survivors.
Here is how you can help:
· Share all of our videos
· Donate now to send aid to the survivors of the flooding. Tell your friends to do the same.
· Dig deeper. I have posted several links to help you learn more about why the flooding is happening. Engage your friends in this conversation. Investigate. Discuss. Challenge yourself to learn more.
· On the day of the event, numerous people visited me during my 24 hour submersion to take and post photos or videos, and engaged their social network in what we did. Follow us on our twitter page @sulongtheatre to find out about our continued work.
See what we did below with breathtaking photos by Alex Felipe.
In solidarity,
Catherine Hernandez
Like you, it would be very easy for me to say that I am watching this helplessly. That this is nothing but a natural disaster that has unfortunately affected a group of people that are fortunately not my own.
But, like you, I know that I am capable of digging deeper and knowing that there is nothing natural about this disaster and the many disasters preceding this one.
I know that I am not helpless and in fact I am very powerful.
I know that I am part of a community that can help build awareness of the truth. And that community includes you.
I know that the culprits to this supposed natural disaster are political and economic. Every year it seems these calamities are occurring. And every year we see that beyond the clear problems of climate change there is also the fact that government of the Philippines is more concerned with lining the pockets of a select few at the expense of the many, and for the benefit of people like us in the West.
In many areas logging and large scale mining have destroyed the natural defences against typhoons, and landslides, many of these large extractive multinationals are from Canada. Erosion of nature’s ability to manage the annual downpours that come with being a tropical country combined with underdeveloped drainage infrastructure result in a level of destruction and suffering that go well beyond what is ‘natural.’ In these floods in Manila it is clear that lack of political will to improve the long ignored drainage networks worked hand in hand with the growing level of poverty in the country that drives many to cities like Manila, only to end up as ‘squatters’ in unsafe areas prone to flooding. And it is a sad fact that the beneficiaries of this suffering include us in Canada.
On Sept 21st 2012 in partnership with Anakbayan-Toronto, I submerged myself to the chin in filthy water for a total of 24 hours. I did not have access to any food. My only luxury was access to drinking water and a team of health professionals for my own safety.
My hope is that I will be in solidarity with this young person pictured above.
In addition, I wanted to raise awareness for the issues surrounding the flooding as well as desperately needed funds for the survivors.
Here is how you can help:
· Share all of our videos
· Donate now to send aid to the survivors of the flooding. Tell your friends to do the same.
· Dig deeper. I have posted several links to help you learn more about why the flooding is happening. Engage your friends in this conversation. Investigate. Discuss. Challenge yourself to learn more.
· On the day of the event, numerous people visited me during my 24 hour submersion to take and post photos or videos, and engaged their social network in what we did. Follow us on our twitter page @sulongtheatre to find out about our continued work.
See what we did below with breathtaking photos by Alex Felipe.
In solidarity,
Catherine Hernandez
