The 1971-1982 Pilipino People’s Far West Convention: Rediscovering the Roots of Samahang Pilipino Political Activism
Despite culture being an inherent aspect of the human condition and a known catalyst for political change and socioeconomic infrastructure, the concept of cultural representation was not scientifically defined until the late 1960s. Cultural theorist Stuart Hall argued that to genuinely acknowledge the legacy of a group of people, we must not only make sense of their languages, signs, and images, but we must do whatever necessary to preserve underlying cultural meanings and lessons so that such knowledge can be shared with future generations [1]. Had political representatives, historical secretaries, and the like prioritized community archiving to Hall’s standards, there would undoubtedly be book collections worldwide that would rival the literary and historical wealth found within the Library of Congress. Yet, with each new archeological dig or scripture translation, we still manage to unearth hundreds upon thousands of forgotten details – individuals, cities, inventions, theories – all of which had been previously absent from our textbooks.
While the history of the UCLA student organization "Samahang Pilipino" requires significantly less energy to trace back than that of an ancient civilization, having only existed since 1972, its culture has nevertheless fallen victim to time and age. Despite the efforts of numerous student historians, much of the organization’s documentation has disappeared over the years, omitted from the library archives due to limited space or simply overshadowed by contemporary news. To fully understand the evolution of the culturally rich community of Samahang Pilipino and honor the contributions of past student leaders and activists, we must consider the events that initially shaped the Pilipino and Pilipino-American experience at UCLA. This essay will primarily focus on the Pilipino People’s Far West Convention, a nation-wide event held annually from 1971 to 1982, and its significance towards cultivating the cultural identity and political agendas of Pilipino student organizations along the West Coast.
II. Historical Background
The birth of cultural studies as an academic discipline occurred at the University of Birmingham, England, under the guidance of cultural contemporaries like Stuart Hall and Richard Hoggart [2]. While American universities adopted similar holistic teaching practices soon after, the UC-wide campus administration did not directly emphasize cultural inclusivity until the last decade or so. In fact, the most pivotal efforts towards increasing ethnic awareness came about in March 2015 with the creation of the UCLA Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion as well the inclusion of a diversity course requirement for all prospective university graduates, a 916-to-487 decision voted on by the student body [3].
Given the slow momentum characterizing the cultural representation movement, it is not surprising that students took matters into their own hands and experimented with grassroots organizing and other political engagement tactics to inform their peers on educational issues affecting minority groups. Ryan Lee Wong, contributing author to the magazine Roots: Asian American Movements in Los Angeles, recalls Los Angeles as “a crucial and dynamic hub for defining Asian America,” overflowing with “kids with long hair and army fatigues, posters celebrating Asian women with AK-47s, and manifestoes with fiery rhetoric” [4]. Students sought ways to vocalize the struggles associated with being international, and it was not until 1971 that the first student-run informational forum—Pilipino People's Far West Convention—took place in Seattle University, Washington, where thoughts on ethnic rights and educational disparities were officially formalized on paper [5].
Organized and run entirely by students this annual event, which would persist until 1982, brought together Pilipino Americans throughout a handful of West Coast universities—namely the UC and Cal State systems—to “expose the historical basis to many problems Pilipinos face in America as we as the oppressive historical background of martial law in the Philippines” [6]. This event was held twice at Royce Hall— in 1974 and again in 1978. Although current archival data does not reveal the specific initiatives or political views held by Samahang Pilipino student representatives amidst the five to six hundred student delegates that attended each of the eight conventions, we can infer from national news and general Philippine history that the most pressing issues involved the following: martial law and the Marcos regime, the Ann Arbor Hospital Murders (an unresolved scandal involving the alleged murder of ten patients by two Pilipina nurses), the National Filipino Immigrants Rights Organization, and individual community efforts to increase high school and university retention rates of Pilipino American students throughout the United States educational system [7].
III. Sociocultural Implications
From a student’s perspective, the Pilipino People’s Far West Convention meant far more than an after-school activity meant to turn a few heads and gain a new member or two. The representative power of Samahang Pilipino and allied groups like the Afrikan Student Union and the Latino-run MeCha de UCLA were essential to effectively vocalizing student opinions related to affirmative action and ethnic discrimination in the workplace. Given the political tensions circulating campus in the late 1970s, the convention’s annual persistence gave rise to more consistent avenues of cultural representation like the Katipunan ng mga Demokratikong Pilipino (KDP), or the Union of Democratic Filipinos [8]. Although these student parties no longer exist, replaced by Samahang Pilipino’s centralized governing body, their brief existence serves as an important reminder of the potential for minority political activism.
In addition, it would be difficult to appreciate the scope of the Far West Convention without taking into account how it influenced students in the postgraduate world. In a recent interview, Florante Ibanez describes his experiences collaborating with the KDP and Samahang Pilipino during the 1971, 1973, 1974, and 1975 conventions. Representing several of UC Irvine’s administrative subcommitees, namely Kabakayan, the documentation, and the steering committees, he recalls the conventions being the most populated events he had ever attended during his collegiate career. His memories are filled with twelve-to-fourteen-hour days spent surveying students, evaluating legislation, drafting revisions, and debating topics in a parliamentary fashion, followed by nighttime shenanigans featuring late-night bonding (and the occasional mattress throwing incident) with students from other universities. In fact, without the hodgepodge of activities related to the Far West Convention, Ibanez doubts that he would have met his future wife, Roselyn Adan Estepa, cha-cha’ing along to Earth, Wind, and Fire’s “September Song” at the informal dance party following the 1974 forum [9].
While the political discourse often resulted in heated words, accusations of block-voting, and the occasional walkout, these moments of political activism were what sparked his passion for progressive social change and a desire to share his wealth of knowledge and experiences as a community archivist and librarian for local Pilipino American communities, from Oakland and the East Bay to Puget Sound and San Diego. Currently, he and several long-time friends he met during his student activist days hope to document the powerful role they played in political activism in the 1970s and 80s, starting with their newly published novel Time to Rise. He hopes that “these memoirs offer political insights and inspiring examples of personal courage that will resonate to students today.”
IV. Conclusion
Despite the brief run of the Pilipino People’s Far West Convention, its impact is arguably far more reaching than the few pages of the Samahang Pilipino’s historical archives where its legacy currently resides. Its importance can be found not only in fading Kodak film rolls, but in the memories and emotions of students who were there and who helped make it, and events like it, happen. While current Pilipino and Pilipino-American student organizations have not yet reached the interconnectedness once displayed of their founding generations, the mere fact that they still persist and function is proof enough of importance of political activism and cultural representation in academic and professional student success.
References
1. Hall, S. (1997). Representation, meaning, and language. In S. Hall (Ed.), Representation. Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, pp. 15–30. Thousand Oaks: Sage. Retrieved from https://culturetechnologypolitics.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/stuart-hall-on-representation-1.pdf.
2. Jackson, R. L., II., and Hogg, M. A. (2012). Cultural Representation. Encyclopedia of Identity, 2, 169-173. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781412979306.n57.
3. Hampton, P. (2015). University News: Faculty approve undergraduate diversity requirement for UCLA College. UCLA Newsroom. Retrieved from http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/faculty-approve-undergraduate-diversity-requirement-for-ucla-college.
4. Wong, R. L. (2006). Roots: Asian American Movements in Los Angeles 1968-80s. Roots: Asian American Movements in Los Angeles ZINE, 1(1), 3-10. Retrieved from http://camla.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CAM-Roots-Zine-2017.pdf.
5. "Beyond Nationalism". (1971). UCLA University Archives, Special Collections, RS#701 Box 1, Folder 5.
7. 1982 Pilipino People’s Far West Convention Program. (1982). UCLA University Archives, Special Collections, RS#701 Box 1, Folder 8.
8. Peter, F. and Ibanez, R. E. (2006). Our People’s Wedding……KDP Style. Roots: Asian American Movements in Los Angeles ZINE, 1(1), 44-46. Retrieved from http://camla.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/CAM-Roots-Zine-2017.pdf.
9. Photos from the 1974 Pilipino People’s Far West Convention. (1974). UCLA University Archives, Special Collections, RS#701 Box 1, Folder 8.
