The Evolving design of Protest

Interview with Kalaya’an Mendoza

Personal experiences

and the changing face of activism

in the digital realm

Conducted 4 : 00 pm 25th February 2010by Urgyen Badheytsang

Interview with Kalaya’an Mendoza

Personal experiences

and the changing face of activism

in the digital realm

Conducted 4 : 00 pm 25th February 2010by Urgyen Badheytsang

The Evolving Design of Protest

interview series

Kalaya’an Mendoza has been an activist for 16 years, working for organizations ranging from queer rights groups, indigenous solidarity, anti-racism as well as Students for a Free Tibet. He has held numerous de-colonization workshops and most recently was involved as a grassroorts co-ordinator for Students for a Free Tibet. Currently he works for Amnesty International as Western Regional Field Organizer.

urgyen badheytsang Mah-boo-hai Kala (Filipino

greet). I’d like to start off by asking, what made you more in-

volved physically as an activist? So, did your social circle have

anythign to do with it? And if your friends you grew up with

had nothing to do with it, why did you choose this path?

kalaya’an mendoza Sure, the friends that I grew

up with were very political. Actually in high school I rolled

with a bunch of different groups, just like in any high school

they have their little cliques. The friends that I hung out with

mostly were the Philipino crowd, and there was the student

government crowd, I kinda jumped in between those. I think,

I’ve always kind of been, well my mom always said I was an

instigator, ever since I was a kid. I’d get people to write letters

and do all kinds of random activist-y things.

ub That’s great, to have that growing up.

kala Yeah I don’t know where it comes from. So yeah, I’ve just always been a rabble-rouser.

KALAYA’AN MENDOZA

ub I forgot to mention that you are now currently involved in

Amnesty International.

kala Yes I’m a field organizer with Amnesty Interna-tional USA, based in the San Francisco western regional office.

ub And also ‘The Extra-ordinaries’ and ‘Green Lasso Produc-

tions’, there’s a lot of organizations I’m sure I’m missing a

lot as well haha.

kala Yeah, um, I freelanced as a grassroots consultant for ‘The Extra-ordinaries’, which is a micro-volunteering organization that utilizes iPhone technology to connect volunteers with volunteering oppurtunities, and also part-time consultant for Green Lasso.

ub I understand that when you were involved with Students

for a Free Tibet (SFT), you were mainly taking charge of the

social media platforms, whether it was youtube, facebook or

twitter. And you’ve been co-ordinating those really strongly

during the lead-up to the Olympics, things like SFTTV and

such. What has been your impression of the effectiveness of

these platforms?

kala There has definitely been a good team of folks involved in SFT, namely Nathan Friedas who is a board member and Matt Browner-hamlinn who is also a board member who is a blogger. Nathan is a tech-guru who’s really seen the potential of utilizing new media, social media, social networking or grassroots outreach for actual mobilization. Sorry what was the second part of the ques-tion again? For all-inclusive purposes I’ll say social media to cover both social media and social networking. They have added an immense amount of value, during my time as grassroots co-ordinator, for Students for a Free Tibet. They have given us a way to engage our members that has not been fully functional before. So the model for a lot of

Social media has given us a whole new land-

scape of tools to engage and to empower our SFT

activists.With a social media model, everyone is actually contributing

and engaging on so many different levels.

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grassroots organizations was more of a linear model. You send out an email to the members and the members just like, send it out to their friends, or whatever.

With a social media model, everyone is actually contrib-uting and engaging on so many different levels. SFTTV for instance, their youtube channel, it was originally meant as a way for our chapters to highlight what they were doing on the ground and to get people to become digital citizen-journalists. So I definitely feel like it’s brought a lot to the movement. I mean like everything we’ve used from our facebook page, which we had, last count I saw, about 70,000 members on just one of our causes. Not to speak about the different groups, SFT profile page and everything else, social media has given us a whole new landscape of tools to engage and to empower our SFT activists.

ub For sure, and again, regarding this interview, I feel like if

I don’t have enough questions, I won’t be doing justice to all

these movements that you were involved in. So (laughs), I’ll

be jumping back and forth between different kinds of move-

ments you were in, if that’s OK.

kala Haha, sure.

ub So, this is very much surface knowledge I guess, the gay

rights movement has come a long way since the beginning of

the 20th century.

kala Uh huh.

ub And because it involves a lot of people who are op-

pressed because of dominant ideologies, I guess there is a

connection between these movements and various anti-rac-

ism and indigenous movements that you were involved in.

kala True.

ub I’m aware of a blogger site called wiqaable.com that

defines itself as ‘your online source for what is queer and

asian’. As part of the staff, what do you feel prompted the

creation of such a site, that focuses specifically on this demo-

graphic of people?

kala Sure, the voice of self-identified queer and API (Asian Pacific Islander) people hasn’t been as promi-nent as it should be. There are definitely a lot of Asian-American, Asian-focused blogs and websites that address issues that face API folks. But until wiqaable I don’t think there’s anything that’s specifically talked about a wide range of issues bringing a whole range of different contributors to the mix. So it’s kind of become this hub, or rather, this online community of queer API. And hope-fully, the coming year it will just get bigger with more contributors and more content.

ub So you would say that it becomes empowering for some-

one discovering their identity growing up in a distracting and

busy environment.

kala Definitely, I think one of the aims of wiqaable, at least for me, was to provide people with tools and blog posts and different forms of literature that help me in my process in coming to terms with my identity and being empowered by it rather than scared of it. I don’t know if that makes sense. But a lot of my work in terms of doing de-colonization, especially with folks of color is to include the part that in many indigenous societies, all over the world, including the Philippines, queer people were seen

Kala is also one of the writers/bloggers on the queer asian

site wiqaable.com, where he contributes writings, media and

job oppurtunites for people who identify as Queer Asians.

...it’s important that we recognize both the differ-

ent spheres of oppression and privilege we inhabit so that we can can work more closely in solidar-

ity with folks in different movements.

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as a conduit to what is divine, and we’re not ostracized in their society. So my approach, when it comes to doing this kind of identity politics work, is to have it be a much more holistic approach.

ub I’ve read that in one of our articles, what do you specifi-

cally mean by a more holistic approach?

kala Sure, talking about what other identities we inhabit, because I have both oppressed and privileged identities. Oppressed, you know, I’m queer, privileged, I’m male. And it is implicit that we as people who, or folks that are on a path to de-colonization to really feel a sense of empowerment, it’s important that we recognize both the different spheres of oppression and privilege we inhabit so that we can can work more closely in solidarity with folks in different movements.

I’ve applied that with the Tibet movement. I’m obviously not Tibetan, but what is happening in Tibet has happened to so many indigenous peoples and nations all over the

There will always be a core group of people that care and that want to engage. The great thing about social media is that it’s kind of opened up that number of active and already engaged people and truly made it global.

Above: Kala has held numer-ous de-colonizing workshops at different colleges in the US. This one, titled, ‘De-colonizing sexualized media’, focuses on the effect of dominant western influences in porn and how that can be problematic.

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world, especially even in my nation, even in Philippines, under the Spanish. I, you know, as a self-identified queer, Philippino, indigenous, different-labeled, so-and-so forth person, can’t stand idly by and watch that happen again to the Tibetan people. So it is not because I want to save Tibet, it’s because the oppression my people faced, that my ancestors fought against, is happening now and I am moved to do something about it because I have the privilege of being raised in the west, of being educated here, being given access to all these different tools as an activist, that I have to use them.

ub I basically recognize you as synonymous with SFT New

York, because that’s all I think about when I think of SFT New

York. There’s you in the front, and a bunch of other people.

kala Haha definitely.

ub Studies have shown that people, especially heavy inter-

net users, might possibly be less emotionally responsive in

the digital age due to the heavy flow of information online,

which gets processed faster than the mind has time to re-

spond to. What are your thoughts on these studies, and have

any of your experiences reflected any of those statements in

your personal experiences?

kala I think there has definitely been a kind of infor-mation saturation, where there are too many causes on facebook, too many things going on in the world. But that’s always been the case right? There will always be a core group of people that care and that want to engage. The great thing about social media is that it’s kind of opened up that number of active and already engaged people and truly made it global. Obviously there’s go-ing to be a periphery of folks who kind of care but they might donate, might not, but that’s OK, that’s kind of how the grassroots organizing model has always been. In terms of the amount of work that’s being done, with this media, sometimes we tend to lean on it, to be like, ‘Oh,

it’s because the oppres-sion my people faced,

that my ancestors fought against, is happening now

in Tibet and I am moved to do something about it because I have the privi-

lege of being raised in the west, of being educated here, being given access

to all these different tools as an activist, that I have

to use them.

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look we have a facebook event with 2000 people!’, when in fact, maybe five people will show up.So, we need to go back to our own roots, our own grassroots, so to speak, and take online activism offline, and figure out strategies and tactics to bridge the two worlds.

ub Having been an activist for about 16 years now, I guess

you have personally experienced the huge transition that

people have made digitally in terms of social activism.

kala I mean facebook is kind of like a mixed blessing right? You can connect and engage with people, potential-ly on a 24 hour loop, in a way that has never been avail-able before. I mean, if you think about it, even for non-activists, people post what they’re having for lunch. You wouldn’t call your best friend and be like, “Hey I’m having a sandwich for lunch,”CLICK. So, it’s kind of interesting, this continuous narrative that facebook and other social media sites have provided connecting us to our colleagues, friends, families, loved ones, enemies’ whatever, lives.

On the 13th of December 2005 An estimated 5000 to 10,000 protestors gathered in Hong Kong’s Victoria Park and marched their way to the Exhibition Centre where the WTO 6th Ministerial Confer-ence has just begun. Protestors from all over south-east Asia expressed their solidarity with cultural gatherings and workshops.

It kind of gives us a look into the lives of others, a way to really connect on a much deeper level, but that always depends on the person, ’cause I have some people on facebook that I constantly talk to that I have never met, in my life. But facebook has become a place where people trust relationships that have been built there. And that I think is the keystone of an effective social network, is the amount of trust and social capital that one is able to build within that network. And I’ve never been able to see it on any other social media site like friendster, daum, until facebook came around.

ub That’s true, and I would also like to ask, do you believe

in physical involvement (rallies, direct action, verbal protests)

as crucial in maintaining a movement and a dedicated group

of activists? From my research I previously concluded that

‘The street is no longer visible’ in reaction to the constantly

changing social sphere and people’s increasing reliance on

less physical modes of communication. How effective do

you think a march/rally still is as we dive into digitally reliant

forms of awareness campaigns and action?

Above: On August 8th, as Kala and the rest of the SFT crew in Beijing were tackled

immediately as they unfurled Tibetan flags. The final frame

is a composite of how they were held down afterwards,

in stress positions with shirts over their faces and on their

knees being interrogated.

kala I think it’s extremely important. The power of people in numbers filling the streets will never be less-ened no matter how many cool, techy, bells-and-whistles we have available to us. I think, for instance, when the 2004 WTO protest happened in Hong Kong, people were posting on Flickr, pictures of what was going on on the ground. It moved me to tears, it moved me to take action, finding something online. I think that we need to find a synergy between our online actions and our offline actions and the great thing about social media is that it’s a truly democratic broadcasting tool that anyone with a fast internet connection and a computer and a camera can upload content from. Just like what we saw during the olympics campaign, like the Iran elections, social media is defining the parameters or the reach of the audience for these different movements, and that reach is limitless. So yeah I think it brings great value but we should not think that online mobilizations are enough, we really do need a ticket to the streets.

ub Right, and in terms of direct action, and being physically

involved, you were in Beijing during the olympics, and now you

are banned from ever re-entering China because of the action

of unfurling the Tibetan flag. Can you tell us a bit more about

that experience?

kala Yeah, it was an action that took about 7 years of planning, and there were 3 of us, Cesar Maxit, Jonathan As, and myself who unfurled Tibetan flags about a kilo-meter away from the Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing on August the 8th, the opening ceremony of the Olympics. We were tackled, I got tackled first because I think they thought I was Tibetan ’cause I was the asian looking one in the group. Cesar was able to unfurl his flag for a little bit until he got tackled and Jonathan was able to walk around for a few seconds.

We were taken to an emptied out park, were tied up and had our shirts pulled over our faces and put into stress positions, constantly asked, ‘What are you doing here, who

... it felt like, you know, this was a good fight, and in that moment I was ready to hear a click, and just be gone. You know, we all pretty much readied ourselves for the possibil-ity of getting executed or imprisoned.

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sent you?’, and we refused to talk until a US consulate representative was there. They had us on our knees, they pushed us forwards so we fell. Our arms were tied behind our backs sowe fell face first. And I remember looking at Cesar’s face, and he kinda gave me this look or this nod, that was, it felt like, you know, this was a good fight, and in that moment I was ready to hear a click, and just be gone. You know, we all pretty much readied ourselves for the possibility of getting executed or imprisoned. I remember thinking, this is a small price to pay because Tibetans inside Tibet go through this every single day. But luckily they ended up picking us up and taking us to a detention center where we were interrogated for I don’t know how many hours.

ub Right. I see.

kala My foot was broken during the take-down and it was swelling out of it’s shoe. But basically within the span of 24 hours we were beaten, detained, interrogated and deported from China.

ub I guess the thing about being physically involved, I’m

sure, it’s not just about the awareness you raise, it’s also

about how it empowers you, going through that yourself.

kala Definitely. I think activists always think about, you know, how far am I willing to go? Am I willing to sacrifice my liberties for what I believe in? I think that really proved to myself that I can do it, so yeah.

ub That’s great, so from being an active member, both

digitally and physically, how do you feel about the age of

digitalized dissent, and your personal perspectives on social

issues and people’s responsiveness to them?

kala There’s a core group of people that will constantly work on things and then there’s people that are kind of, I

call them activist-tourists or activism-tourists. They kind of jump from issue to issue, whatever is hot and sexy that day. There’s a bunch of these types of people that got in-volved in the Tibet issue back when the Tibetan Freedom Concerts were popular, and then now..

ub I remember that was huge..

kala Yeah, but that showed us that it’s not about num-bers it’s about quality, of the activists. I think whenever we try to implement some kind of social media strategy, in terms of outreach or recruitment we always have to think about that. We always have to think about the quality not the quantity. So yeah, there’ll always be people that are kind of like, “Oh, I’m interested in this, and I’ll check it out”, and there will always be other people that are like,”I wanna organize on this, I wanna work in solidarity with these folks”

ub Right. In the case of being involved, on online activism,

on one hand we can say that only a certain few socially and

economically privileged people have access to these aware-

ness campaigns, but at the same time it is these people that

we are speaking to that have the power to generate the most

social change.

kala Sorry, you broke up back then, what I heard was, there tends to be an issue of accessibility when it comes to reaching out to folks that may not have internet access or facebook accounts or internet or whatever? And that they’re people in power?

ub Precisely.

kala Well I definitely think that there are ways to engage people, that doesn’t necessarily, you know, need a Macbook. There’s mobile technology being utilized in sub-saharan Africa by Ushahidi, which is an SMS-based non-profit organization that helps to track natural

It’s not about numbers it’s about quality, of the activists. I think whenever we try to implement some kind of social media strategy, in terms of outreach or recruitment we always have to think about that.

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Above: The poster for Tibetan Freedom Concert. The event included high profile singers that helped create one of the biggest Tibet-focused concerts to be ever held in North America.

disasters. And I believe they use this type of technology in Haiti to locate family members, so it just goes to show you that the tools we have available are not just limited to the computer screen but also to a phone. And if you look at, for instance, India, which is a rising power, 20 years ago, you were only able to get maybe like a phone line linked to your house if you were lucky, but now millions of Indians have access to a cellphone.

A cellphone has become a necessity in these parts of the world, so, there are definitely ways to engage our constitu-ency of folks who might not have access to a fast internet connection, but do have a cellphone. And I know SMS was used quite extensively with the Tibetan community during the various Olympics actions. So we just need to rethink our tactics and our tools when we look at different communities which we’re working with, and should be very aware of their level of accessibility.

ub Right, and speaking of cellphones, even in your own

homeland of Philippines, the ousting of President Estrada was

hugely reliant on SMS messages I believe.

kala Definitely, even now, with the last election, which was pretty much stolen by the current president, Gloria

Above: The Ushahidi website allows people to report

incidents of violence as well as natural disasters through a very interactive, immedi-ate and user-friendly way

on their website. According to the website, “ Ushahidi,

which means “testimony” in Swahili, is a website that was

initially developed to map reports of violence in Kenya

after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008, and

Ushahidi’s roots are in the col-laboration of Kenyan citizen

journalists during a time of crisis.”

Arroyo, SMS was used to educate and to galvanize Phili-pinos all over the Philippines and it was a brilliant display of mobile technology and local grassroots activism kind of used on a mutual level.

ub For sure, digital media has definitely helped some histori-

cal political movements in the recent past. And it seems that

it will continue to do so, from what we see. Well, Kala, I am so

glad that you were able to give some time for this.

kala No problem.

The interview was re-corded using Skype and Call recorder for Skype. The activist interviewees were reached using email,

facebook and phone.