Land is Life: Action Book for Youth Solidarity with Indigenous Lumad Communities in the Philippines

Abstract

This action book created for youth of Hawaiʻi to learn about logging and militarization affecting Lumad (Cebuano for Indigenous) communities of the Alternative Learning Center for Agriculture and Livelihood Development (ALCADEV) in Han-ayan, Surigao del Sur, Mindanao, Philippines. It provides a story of a girl named Amalyn asking her father about why they have created their own Indigenous school in the mountains, the social discrimination they experienced in the lowlands, as well as the displacement perpetrated by logging corporations. The action book provides background information on the sitaution affecting Lumad and indigenous communities throughout the Philippines, and how children of Hawaiʻi and around the world can share their solidarity through learning songs, writing letters of support, and learning more about Indigenous movements in Mindanao protecting their lands. This action book was part of a campaign to save the school from destruction, and to raise awareness about the killings of ALCADEV leaders and Lumad chieftans "Emuk" Emerito Samarca, "Onel" Dionel Campos, Datu "Bello" Juvello Sinzo. They were murdered by paramilitaries working with logging corporations to clear the land for extraction. The Land is Life campaign was to educate the people of Hawaiʻi to send their solidarity to the Indigenous peoples of the Philippines through weaving their struggles for sovereignty together.