To advocate a peaceful/non-violent consciousness--as well
as family closeness, community connected-ness, and
multicultural harmony--thereby initiating venues for
collective discussion towards this end;
To promote, network, and market The Indie and
other Loved by the Buffalo publications and
magazines as alternative print media venues in the
community, as well as forward the vision-mission of related
organizations, individual performers, and bands; and
To offer exposure to unsigned bands and acts, allow them
to connect with other venues and market, and possibly forge
business and advocacy relationships in the process.
The Indie was conceptualized and
conceived in late 1999 following the foundation of The
Philippine Independent Communications, Inc. in New York
City. A few months later, in early 2000, it was incorporated
as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization in Albany, NY. The
brainstorm started when journalist-poet-organizer Pasckie
Pascua attended a national gathering of Filipino-American
college students at Harvard University in the Fall of 1999.
After a week-long assimilation in the conference, he came up
with a theoretical premise for ethnic minority/community
organizing: The need to consolidate the growing population
of ethnic Filipino youths in the US into a unified
collective that addresses relevant sociopolitical/cultural
issues in the mainland and in the Philippines.
At that time Pascua was also a news
correspondent for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the largest
daily newspaper in the Philippines, and was co-editing a
mainstream Filipino newspaper in Manhattan, Headline
Philippines. Prior to that, he carved a long, tumultuous but
colorful career in Manila as a journalist /editor/publisher
(print, TV, radio), multi-awarded poet/playwright, cultural
activist, filmmaker/scriptwriter, community organizer,
member of political advisory teams, theater arts teacher,
part-time college professor/lecturer, musician/bands
manager/songwriter—from 1974 (at age 14), two years after
the imposition of Martial Law by then (late) dictator
Ferdinand Marcos, until (the last) time he left Manila in
1998. A well-traveled journalist and cultural worker, he has
spent many years in mostly Asian and Southeast Asian
countrysides and elsewhere in the world “to feel humanity
right where they are.”
The Founder/leader
From late-70s to early-90s, Pascua was a
fulltime member of various respected albeit elite
activist/artist/media organizations in Manila – especially
during the difficult years of the dictatorship – including
the League of Filipino Students (activist student leaders),
College Editors Guild of the Philippines, PETA Kalinangan
Ensemble (Brechtian/Boal theater), Galian sa Arte at Tula
(writers/poets), Concerned Artists of the Philippines, and
We Forum/Malaya (an independent newspaper that was very
instrumental in ushering the downfall of the Marcos regime).
In 2000, then leading anti-US bases
Filipino Senator (twice presidential aspirant) Raul Roco
read Pascua’s poem, “Twenty Million Dollars” before the
Philippine Senate to climax a dramatic stand by the
country’s nationalist and activist lawmakers against the
Visiting Forces Agreement between Washington and Manila.
While in New York City, Pascua worked
with the militant Philippine Forum for almost a year on
consultancy level, and was very instrumental in securing a
foundation grant for the organization. He severed ties with
Philforum--an affiliate of the left-leaning Bayan (Nation)
in the Philippines--a few weeks after the group obtained the
grant. He then formed the first incarnation of The Indie and
The Traveling Bonfires. The nucleus of The Indie-NY in
2000-2001 was composed mainly of young, newly-grad
intellectuals from Cornell University, Harvard, New York
University, and Columbia University, with a smart mix of
street-bred New Yorkers and young Filipino writers, artists
and musicians who grew up in the Philippines.
THE INDIE existed in NYC from 1999 until
the latter part of 2001. Apart from publishing the
fortnightly community paper (at that time, it was called The
Philippine Independent—then later renamed The New York City
Indie Rockzine), the organization also organized weekly
discussions with like-minded Filipino youth groups in New
York, sponsored film showings and organized/produced poetry
readings and ensemble rock concerts—under its partner
outfit, The Indie Productions (later called The Traveling
Bonfires).
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