Description | Susan F. Quimpo will share her experiences of working against the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines between 1972-1986, and current efforts to resist the restoration of the family back to power today. As the youngest of ten siblings, nine of whom were active in the anti-Marcos struggle, she watched her brothers and a sister as they are drawn into the anti-dictatorship movement, eventually finding themselves pursued by the Marcos police and military. Five siblings were arrested, heavily tortured and incarcerated without charges filed against them. A brother, who left for school to file for graduation, mysteriously disappeared. Another brother was found dead in a rice paddy with seven bullet wounds. Thirty years later, Marcos' son and namesake nearly wins the vice presidency in the 2016 elections and the dictator himself is re-interred in the Heroes Cemetery. As a newly elected populist president, Rodrigo Duterte, supports the Marcoses bid for power, Susan will talk about efforts underway to resist the rising tide of authoritarianism that once again threatens to engulf the Philippines. Susan F. Quimpo is a co-author and co-editor of Subversive Lives: A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years (Ohio University Press, 2016; Anvil Publishing). She is a writer, an art therapist and counselor. For years she's kept to her private life and practice. But last year, when Marcos' son Ferdinand “Bongbong,” Jr. filed and nearly won the vice presidential post, Susan felt it was her duty to tell others the truth about the martial law era. She has been active in the fight against the revisionism of Philippine history that seeks to paint the Marcos years as a "golden age." She was also at the forefront of recent protests against the burial of the dictator's remains at the National Heroes' Cemetery. Susan holds graduate degrees in Journalism and Southeast Asian Studies from Ohio University; completed the Writing Program at Columbia University, and holds a post- graduate diploma in Arts for Health Training (Art Therapy) from by Hibernia College, UK |
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