Dann Pantoja

Dann Pantoja is beginning to use his Tagalog indigenous name -- Lakan Sumulong. This is a statement that our indigenous identities can be a redeeming factor in healing our 'being' (that is, who we are as a people); help symbolize our determination to contribute what we ought to be 'doing' as a nation (that is--active, non-violent, radical transformation); and, determine how we will prioritize what we will be 'having' (that is, inclusive growth and national development based on justice and peace). Asked what fuels his positive outlook in life: “It’s the influence of Jesus, a first century Palestinian carpenter who was executed by the imperial power of his time. He said: ‘Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.’ Jesus defied the ultimate negative factor in our cosmos--death.”

Author's posts

I’M LAMENTING AND I’M ANGRY ABOUT THE RECENT KILLINGS OF PEACEBUILDING AND HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS

Along with the millions of rural peasants and urban poor suffering from the system that oppresses them, I express my lamentations and my anger with the killing of Randall Echanis and Zara Alvarez. These are two of the many justice and peace activists slain in the past few years. I cry justice for them all. As a faith-based peace-and-justice field worker committed to active nonviolence, I will continue to help lead our community to fulfill our calling and to do our tasks in the midst of these challenges.

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Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2020/08/28/im-lamenting-and-im-angry-about-the-recent-killings-of-peacebuilding-and-human-rights-activists/

MY SIN OF OMISSION: IGNORING HISTORICAL INJUSTICES COMMITTED AGAINST CANADA’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

Today is Canada Day. I’m sincerely grateful for the privilege of raising my young family in Canada. I and my family experienced relative peace there compared to where I grew up. While being grateful, my consciousness about the historical injustices suffered by the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island is growing. My awakening was prompted by my interaction with the Indigenous Peoples here in the Philippines. This reflection was sparked by the paintings of Kent Monkman.

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Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2020/07/01/my-sin-of-omission-ignoring-historical-injustices-committed-against-canadas-indigenous-peoples/

GEORGE FLOYD BRINGS BACK THE LAMENTATIONS OF OUR ELDERS WHEN THE U.S. COLONIZED OUR ISLANDS

The murder of George Floyd shocked and traumatized us! This brought back memories of what the American military did to our people at the beginning of the 20th century. They killed hundreds of thousands of our people in the process of colonizing our archipelago. Our people experienced systemic racism in our own native land. The lamentations of our elders and the psychosocial trauma surfaced again. This is our expression of lamentation, outrage, and global cry for radical transformation against systemic racism and supremacist states.

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Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2020/06/08/george-floyd-brings-back-the-lamentations-of-our-elders-when-the-u-s-colonized-our-islands/

I SUPPORT MY PALESTINIAN SISTERS AND BROTHERS AS WE COMMEMORATE THE 72ND YEAR OF AL-NAKBA

This is my expression of support to the call of my Palestinian Christian brother and friend, The Rev. Dr. Jack Sara. “I have already written several articles on this subject, expressing how so many of those so-called ‘Evangelical leaders’ have not been helpful in achieving peace here,” he laments. “As we mark the seventy-second year of the nakba,” he adds, “I call upon Christians around the world to help us say enough of the injustice and to join us in prophetically speaking against systems that instill suffering and strife on a weak and almost helpless people.”

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Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2020/05/15/i-support-my-palestinian-sisters-and-brothers-as-we-commemorate-the-72nd-year-of-al-nakba/

WE NEED IMPACT INVESTORS TO SUSTAIN STRATEGIC PEACEBUILDING AND INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT

There is a need to sustain strategic peacebuilding through impact investment. Such investments support social entrepreneurial endeavors that lead towards regenerative and inclusive development. This is how Coffee for Peace (CFP) and PeaceBuilders Community, Inc. (PBCI) operate in synergy.

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Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2020/02/27/we-need-impact-investors-to-sustain-strategic-peacebuilding-and-inclusive-development/

OUR SPIRITUAL MOTIVATION IN ADVOCATING INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Abundant Life. This is our spiritual basis for inclusive development and our perspective on sustainability. With this understanding of ‘the good life,’ we will intensify our search for excellence to be effective and efficient team who have been entrusted with running and leading PeaceBuilders Community and Coffee for Peace.

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Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2020/02/12/our-spiritual-motivation-in-advocating-inclusive-development-and-social-entrepreneurship/

THE GLOBAL REALITIES WE’RE FACING AS INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT ADVOCATES

Much of the local conflicts and national crises we’re facing as a faith-based justice advocates and peacebuilding workers are actually immediate manifestations of unjust, long-term, global worldview or ideology that functions like a religion. For our strategic peacebuilding to be effective, we must understand the unjust powers and principalities we’re facing.

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Permanent link to this article: https://waves.ca/2020/01/24/the-global-realities-were-facing-as-inclusive-development-advocates/

OUR GLOBAL PEACE COMMUNITY

We are sent by Mennonite Church Canada Witness in partnership with our international community.