Becoming Conscious Citizens: Transnational Activism and Collective Identity of the Filipino Diaspora in Australia

This post forms part of our series in showcasing abstracts of presentations featured at our annual postgraduate interdisciplinary conference on refugee and forced migration research, hosted in November 2018 at The University of Melbourne.

REYVI MARINAS

This presentation explores an alternative way of looking at the idea and practice of citizenship from the point of view of a migrant group’s collective consciousness and activism within its diaspora. I call this type of citizenship a ‘conscious citizenship’, which is about becoming politically conscious and engaged in the political community. Being conscious citizens entails contestation and resistance against the neoliberal policies of the sending and receiving states at a transnational level. It also involves group solidarity and collective action that transform the individual to become part of a collective political community.

In this research project, I investigate the political activism of Migrante Australia, a Filipino migrant grassroots organisation in Australia. I examine the group’s political participation and practices, their political views and awareness and the significance of Filipino collective identity in the diaspora. The study discovers several significant themes and results that arise from the interviews and field observation. First is Migrante’s transnational activism and counter-hegemonic political engagement that effects changes both in its homeland and in its diaspora. Second is the importance of political consciousness of its members as a way of sustaining a deeper level of political awareness and involvement in the wider community. And third is the emergence of a new Filipino collective identity in Australia that illustrates a transformation from ‘being Filipino’ (having a sense of ‘who we are’) to ‘becoming political’ (having a sense of ‘what we have become’) on a transnational level.

Reyvi Marinas has recently completed his doctoral thesis at Monash University Law School entitled ‘Conscious Citizenship: The Political Activism of the Filipino Diaspora in Australia Through the Lens of Hannah Arendt’. He is the current Secretary-General of Migrante Australia, a Filipino community organisation in Australia. Reyvi is also an Immigration Lawyer practicing in the areas of migration and refugee law, administrative law and human rights.