Ched Rick Gatchalian

Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda presides over the hearing of the Committee on Culture and the Arts on Jan. 10, 2023 on various bills seeking to strengthen the protection and conservation of the Philippine cultural heritage. Bibo Nueva España, Senate PRIB/File

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Legarda calls on Filipino creatives boycotting Frankfurt Book Fair 2024 to 'show up' as resistance

ABS-CBN News

<div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/174860327877120230110-senate-legarda-sprib4024.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/>Sen. Loren Legarda presides over the hearing of the Committee on Culture and the Arts on Jan. 10, 2023 on various bills seeking to strengthen the protection and conservation of the Philippine cultural heritage. Bibo Nueva España, Senate PRIB/File </div>MANILA — As several Filipino authors and publishers called for a boycott of Frankfurt Book Fair to express support for Palestine, Sen. Loren Legarda on Thursday called on creatives to show up to demonstrate the country&#x27;s courage and to be heard.Groups and independent presses have called to boycott the fair, with independent Gantala Press saying attendance would be complicity in the continued destruction of Palestine and its people.&quot;I understand and respect the convictions behind their call,&quot; Legarda, project principal behind the Philippines&#x27; Guest of Honor role this year, said in a press release.Legarda convened a dialogue this week with Filipino writers and publishers calling for a boycott and argued that attendance at the fair could let creatives be a &quot;force for truth&quot;.&quot;Walking away is not the only form of resistance. Sometimes, showing up — to speak, to challenge, to engage in critical discourse, and to insist of being heard — is more difficult and consequential act,&quot; she emphasized.<div>CALLS FOR BOYCOTT</div>Faye Cura, publisher of Gantala Press, said at the dialogue with Legarda that the fair is &quot;deeply entangled&quot; with the German government, a top supplier of weapons to Israel, and that participation would mean the Philippines &quot;has also contributed financial and cultural support to the genocide.&quot;She said Palestinians have called for the boycott of the fair, which, she said &quot;contributes to the erasure of Palestinians, and to the normalization, disguising, and denial of Israel’s regime of occupation and apartheid against Palestinians.&quot;Publisher Everything&#x27;s Fine, in an Instagram post, said it did not apply to join this year because &quot;[it] refuse[s] to be a tokenism.&quot; It said that the fair has little to offer small presses and the voices and stories they want to amplify.&quot;The Frankfurt Buchmesse has Palestinian blood on its hands. We will not take part in this year’s exercise of washing it away, or pretending it does not exist,&quot; it also said.Komikeros or comic publishers, bookmakers, and distributors also echoed the same call, saying &quot;We, concerned komikeros, call on both the local komiks community and the broader Philippine publishing community to boycott the Frankfurt Book Fair, which has institutionally enabled Israel&#x27;s occupation, apartheid, and genocide in Palestine.&quot;A discussion on Palestine, which will include with zine sharing and trading, will be held at the Atrium in Makati on June 14.<div>LEGARDA: NO AGENDA</div>Legarda said that the Philippines&#x27; participation in the fair &quot;aligns with no agenda but our own: a firm assertion of our identity and stories, including those born of struggle, resistance, and survival, shaped by a long history of colonization once toppled by words that stirred Filipinos to freedom.&quot;She said that she has taken positions for the Palestinian people, including disagreeing with the country&#x27;s <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/10/28/23/why-the-philippines-abstained-from-un-call-for-truce-in-gaza">abstention on a UN resolution for a humanitarian truce</a> in Gaza in October 2023.&quot;I condemn all forms of violence, the continued illegal occupation fo Palestinian land, the systematic oppression of the Palestinian people, and the entrenched inequalities and suffering imposed upon them,&quot; she said.She said taking space for hard truths would let Filipinos demonstrate their strength which is &quot;the courage to confront injustice with moral clarity and resolve.&quot;<div>PHILIPPINES AS GUEST OF HONOR</div>The Philippines&#x27; role as Guest of Honor was sealed in August 2023, when the agreement between the Frankfurt Book Fair President Juergen Boos and National Development Board was signed. It was then seen as an opportunity to showcase diverse literature through Filipinos books in different genres, writing styles, dialects and languages in the book event.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/lifestyle/2024/9/26/ph-to-take-centerstage-at-frankfurt-book-fair-2024-named-next-guest-of-honor-1636">PH to take centerstage at Frankfurt Book Fair 2024, named next &#x27;guest of honor&#x27;</a></div>The Philippines&#x27; being Guest of Honor will never come &quot;at the expense of [Filipino&#x27;s] humanity or anyone&#x27;s right to dissent,&quot; Legarda said this week.The Philippines is the second Southeast Asian book publishing market to receive the GoH recognition.The Fair is set on October 15 to 19. Over 52 co-exhibitors are expected to grace the event to showcase the depth of Philippine literature.

"Walking away is not the only form of resistance. Sometimes, showing up — to speak, to challenge, to engage in critical discourse, and to insist of being heard — is more difficult and consequential act," Legarda said.

"Walking away is not the only form of resistance. Sometimes, showing up — to speak, to challenge, to engage in critical discourse, and to insist of being heard — is more difficult and consequential act," Legarda said.

Legarda urges Filipino creatives boycotting Frankfurt Book Fair 2025 to show up

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Legarda urges Filipino creatives boycotting Frankfurt Book Fair 2025 to show up

Ched Rick Gatchalian,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 30, 2025 08:19 PM PHT

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Updated May 30, 2025 08:44 PM PHT

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