Bilang Tibak, tayo ay…
nangangarap para sa katarungan, kalayaan, at buhay,
nagmamahal ng sarili, kapwa, at komunidad, nagpoprotesta para maisakatuparan ang kinabukasang gusto nating matamo.
Ito ay ating kwento…

Tibak, is a slang term for “aktibista”, known and used by activists across different issues and struggles, and slandered and demonized by the Philippine government across administrations.

But to be an activist, is simply to take action—to speak out, educate, protest—towards change. And to be a human rights activist, a.k.a human rights defender, is to take action for human rights change.

And throughout our history, it is activists that are at the frontline of political and social change—workers unions marching on the streets to demand for 8-hour workdays, students writing articles and barricading classrooms to expose the cruelties and stand against the dictatorship, indigenous communities blocking cars to prevent the construction of dams in their ancestral lands, LGBTQIA+ organizations raised their placards together in the first-ever pride march in the country, ordinary people texting their friends and families to join in bringing corrupt government officials to justice, and artists performing in concerts and creating effigies to call for justice for the victims of martial law.

“There is no specific definition of who is or can be a human rights defender. The Declaration on human rights defenders refers to “individuals, groups and associations … contributing to … the effective elimination of all violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms of peoples and individuals”.