Support Direct Action Relief Programs in the Philippines

[Max]

Yo ! Si vous suivez un peu ce qui se passe dans le monde, vous êtes sans doute au courant du terrible typhon qui a frappé les Philippines récemment. Là bas, des potes de l'infoshop Etniko Bandido, situé à Manilla, de la Mobile Anarchist School Project et d'autres mettent en place une solidarité pour les victimes. Leur donner accès à l'information, à la communication et aux médias indépendants/alternatifs. Pour cela, ils collectent des dons pour financer des panneaux solaires pour pouvoir recharger leurs portables, leurs PC et avoir accès à internet. Pour les dons, très peu de gens ayant paypal, une pote vivant à Tokyo a pris l'initiative de collecter l'argent qu'elle leur enverra ensuite. Voici son texte intégrant celui de Cris, la personne tenant l'infoshop.

Support Direct Action Relief Programs in the Philippines


The project: Friends in Manila (from Etniko Bandido, Mobile Anarchist School Project, and others) need our help to buy equipment for a solar-powered station to charge phones and provide internet in areas affected by Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda. For this project, they need about 17,500 Ph pesos, or around $400. If more funds are raised, more solar panels will be purchased. ETA: They also need to buy another modem to use as a back-up, which costs about 2500 pesos.


The infoshop already uses solar power equipment at one of their locations, and they have extensive experience with setting-up and using this technology. One of their long-term goals is to promote the use of solar power in marginalized communities. They plan to travel as soon as next week to the affected areas.


http://ebinfoshop.surestepintegral.com/


From Cris in Manila:


"We see that there's already a lot of aid concerning to provide foods, water,clothes,medicine but an immediate solution to provide electricity for communication and alternative media purposes was partially neglected, that's why our strategic plan of solidarity with this kind of natural calamities is to provide a free internet and free charging of mobile phones with the help of a solar power equipment..the aftermath of different calamities not only this "typhoon haiyan" is always lost of electrical power and lost of communication for our love ones. this kind of problem are need to address.

our plan is to travel and set up a booth firstly in tacloban city area and put up a 120watts solar panel with batteries,solar charger and inverter that will cost of 17,500 pesos.

so if our international friends and comrades can raise funds for this equipment. we can make solidarity with the victims of this "typhoon haiyan". philippines are always directly affected by different natural calamities, a solar power equipment can always be use after there is a calamity."

How to help: I am collecting donations via paypal (arielkacosta @ yahoo dot com), which I will then wire to Cris/Etnikobandido via Western Union. I considered using an online crowdfunding site, but the fees and time it takes to disburse money put me off the idea. Ideally, we want to get this money to Manila ASAP (by next week), so they can build the stations and get to Tacloban and Leyte quickly.

Who am I and why am I helping: I'm a grad student based living in Tokyo, formerly based in New York. I went to the Philippines in October 2013 with the Japanese punk band The Happening, traveling to Manila, Bacolod in the Visayas region, and throughout Mindanao. We met a lot of amazing punks and activists, whose warmth and generosity in taking care of us, and more importantly- contributing to their communities- was stunning. Now they need our assistance to develop their projects, and I'll do whatever I can to help. thank you for reading! love and solidarity.

[Max]

Yo,

Le blog du collectif qu'on a monté pour faire des actions/soirées/bouffes de soutien en solidarité à long terme avec les camarades des Philippines. Un blog servant à relayer les nouvelles (en anglais).

http://jeepneycollective.blogspot.com

[Max]

Compte-rendu de l'action de solidarité à Leyte :

SOLAR POWER INITIATIVE in solidarity with the typhoon victims

MOBILE ANARCHIST SCHOOL PROJECT
Solar Power Initiative in solidarity with Typhoon Yolanda victims

Yolanda’s aftermath and Autonomous Initiative

Yolanda is one of the most destructive typhoon visited the Philippine archipelago. It pummeled Visayas region particularly Leyte and some parts of Cebu and Panay areas. Super typhoon Yolanda left the archipelago with thousands of dead people, commercial and residential structures are destroyed, power is knocked-out; agriculture and livelihood are washed-out that caused billions of losses. Destruction is so extensive that caused unimaginable effect to the survivors.

Government’s Respond caused more devastation to the people

The Philippine archipelago is in the frontline of calamity brought by storms. It is a common knowledge impossible to miss especially by the government which is supposed to be the authority in terms of preparation and rehabilitation. Huge number of dead people scattered in Leyte is attributable to incapacity of the government to install preparatory mechanism to lessen casualties, the Philippine government did not learn to our past experience of havoc due to storm surges.

Reports in relation to looting and violence in Tacloban city and other municipalities are effects of dirty politics, neglect and corruption. The inability of the government to provide systematic and effective respond made people behaved violently; shortage of food is not an issue. The global attention is on the Philippines for the past few weeks; donations and support in terms of cash, in kinds and in services are overwhelming. Ships fully loaded of goods are lined-up in ports of Cebu and Manila; billions of funds are pouring in through government and corporate accounts (media); despite of these, victims are scrambling to get food. The feeling of scarcity and food insecurity forced people to behave violently.

This calamity is one of the most devastating witnessed by global community, the spirit of solidarity is heartwarming and very effective in terms of recovery and rehabilitation, but the government’s corrupt practices undermined this solidarity; two weeks after the horrifying event, the people in Leyte remained hungry, homeless and seeking medical support; useless and hazardous materials are everywhere. Prices of basic commodities increased almost double such as food and medicine; lack of power supply is a lucrative business that exploits the victims. Local business offered high rate of charging services to the people for their emergency lights and mobile phones.

Generally, it is the government’s inability to respond swiftly and appropriately makes the situation much more devastating.

In this context, Mobile Anarchist School decided to act and conducted direct action; we set an action that could elude government’s corrupt influence. We gathered support from Local Autonomous Network (LAN), independent collectives and groups and international network.

Power is crucial in terms of rehabilitation and recovery process, so we focus our effort in consolidating resources to complete a 150 watts solar set-up to provide free charging services to community to power up emergency lights, flashlights and mobile phones. After a week of soliciting support, we procured 160 watts solar panel, 10 ampere solar control charger, 500 watts inverter and 12 volts/50 ampere starter battery.

Inter-Island travelling

On the 20th of November we started travelling; our crew with four volunteers travelled packed with supplies good for a week; we also prepared packages of relief for 15 families. We made sure that our equipment is working and in good condition. Bus ride is the most practical and cheapest way to reach Leyte. We left Cubao Quezon City at 9 AM, we negotiated the road connecting Manila, Laguna and, Quezon; we took ferry to cross the sea between Sorsogon and Samar.

As we travel, we witnessed the extensive damage in many municipalities in Leyte; Yolanda’s onslaught starts right after we crossed San Juanico, a bridge connecting Samar and Leyte. The situation in Tacloban is relatively peaceful, the people are trying to collect and salvage remaining useful materials to rebuild their homes at the back draft of heavily devastated city. We could not find any regular trip so we rented an expensive jeep going to Municipality of San Miguel. We reached Barangay Libtong, San Miguel on the 21st of November at four in the afternoon.

Solar Charging Operations

Day 1

Our actual operation started on the 22nd of November, we accommodated at least 40 units of flashlights and mobile phones and we reserve more units to be charged on the following day. We conducted informal discussions with the families and let them talk and share their miseries, grief and difficulties. Unfortunately, our plan to give a free call and free internet access for communication purposes did not materialize due to lack of network signals.

Day 2

Sunlight was poor due to low pressure area that brought rain; we decided to stop the operation to charge our battery for effective charging operations. We arranged interviews and discussions with localities and barangay officials to gather data. More phones and flashlights come in for charging but we stopped accepting to on the afternoon and asked people to come back because we can accommodate only very limited units.

Day 3

We resume charging operations; more people are coming in waiting to be served. Good thing that sun shone entire day and we able to charged at least 30 units. We reduced number of units to avoid under voltage status. We observed the process of relief distribution of barangay officials and Philippines air force.

Day 4

We keep accepting phones and flashlights but we able to charge limited units. The capacity of our solar set-up could only accommodate 30 units per day to avoid draining our battery.

Day 5

We conducted an orientation to local volunteers who will maintain our solar equipment and will facilitate solar charging services. We made sure that volunteers learn the simple process of operation and maintenance to continue providing free charging.

We are set to travel going to Ormoc City, from Ormoc took ferry going to Cebu where we will catch a plane going to Manila. We need to be in Quezon City in time because we have a climate conference with Evangelical network.

Ways forward

The incompetence and corruption in the government proved to be more devastating than the super typhoon itself, we call on the people, collectives, private sectors and autonomous network to act directly. Avoid government process because goods and supplies will just end up in storage facilities accessible only to authorities. There are plenty of reports with regard to anomalies, we actually witnessed how the authority control the basic goods for their own purposes. Thousands of socks of rice and goods are being kept by the authorities and distributing only very limited supplies to the families who could not access basic commodities.

In our part, we would like to expand our set-up of solar power unit equip with 300 watts solar panel, 30 ampere solar control charger, 2500 inverter and two units of 3SM maintenance and deep cycle batteries to accommodate more units of mobile phones and flashlights. We will organize a Solar Guerilla Autonomous Response Team that will immediately react in every calamity and power black-out situation.

In the first week of December we are planning to organize a camp that will provide relief, medical missions and stress debriefing activities, the extent of operations will depend on the support and participation from immediate and extended Network.

http://ebinfoshop.surestepintegral.com/ ... n-victims/