XAVIER University’s recently launched a two day campaign aptly named “I am Mindanao” to confront the growing threat of violent extremism through a photo exhibit highlighting the plurality if perspectives of various Mindanaoans.
The two-day exhibit at Centrio Mall’s Activity Center ran from November 28 to 29.
The “I am Mindanao” social campaign was organized by the Development and Communication students of Xavier University (XU), a group formed July of this year.
The group’s core purposes include educating college students in Cagayan de Oro about violent extremism, strengthen the sense of pride of Mindanaowans about their place and heritage, and empowering Mindanaowans, especially the youth, to take part in countering violent extremism.
Violent extremism is the beliefs and actions of people who support or use violence to achieve ideological, religious or political goals.
This includes terrorism and other forms of politically motivated and communal violence.
One such example of a group that espouses violent extremism, according to the organizers of the “I am Mindanao” campaign, is the Maute group.
The Maute group is composed of disgruntled former members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and other like-minded individuals.
The Maute group was said to be responsible for the September 2 Davao night market bombing and for the April 2016 abduction of six sawmill workers from Butig town in Lanao del Sur, two of whom were later found beheaded.
The Maute group is also said to be actively recruiting minors for service as child warriors and using the non-passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law as propaganda.
“The youth should be educated about the onset of violent extremism in our land and most especially, they should be prevented from joining these terror groups and instead, to pursue their studies and help in opposing the doctrines of these violent extremists,” said Adam Anay, the project leader of the “I am Mindanao” social campaign.
The exhibit displays photos from the campaign programs and from participant entities of “I am Mindanao” since its establishment this year.
The photographs in the exhibit include contributed photos from Mindanaowan photographers from the city and even from Butuan and Davao.
These photos show the artistic interpretations of Mindanao and aims to imply the things about Mindanao that may be lost or damaged by the terror and chaos caused by violent extremism.
Also included in the exhibit are infographs about violent extremist groups and their methods of indoctrination, sketches of historical and noted places in Cagayan de Oro City, and some quotations from statements coming from Kagay-anons about the current issues of violent extremism.
“At first, the seminars or education campaigns of ‘I am Mindanao’ was for XU only but with the recent attacks of such groups like the Maute group in Mindanao, we thought that there is a need to bring this matter to other schools. And so, eventually, we tapped and got the cooperation of Phinma-Cagayan de Oro College, Liceo de Cagayan University, Capitol University, and other institutions here in the city,” Evans Rosauro Yonson the chairman of the Development Communication Department of Xavier University, said.