Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa will discuss her new book, The Fight Back: A Citizen’s Guide to Standing Up to Dictators, during the second TOFA Masterclass on Oct. 27 at La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club.
The program, presented by The Outstanding Filipino Awards and La MaMa, will begin 7 p.m. at the Ellen Stewart Theatre (66 E. Fourth St.) in Manhattan. It follows the inaugural TOFA Masterclass, which featured fashion leaders Josie Natori, Michael Cinco and other Filipino designers.
Ressa’s book, scheduled for release Oct. 13, draws on her experience as a journalist, media founder and public advocate to examine how political and technological power can undermine democratic institutions. The book outlines practical strategies for resisting authoritarianism and defending democratic participation in an era shaped by disinformation and artificial intelligence.
The masterclass will focus on the themes of the book, including information integrity, press freedom, democratic accountability and civic action. Ressa is expected to discuss the book’s framework of understanding threats to democracy, defending institutions and building collective action.
The conversation will be co-moderated by Filipino television host Boy Abunda and Filipino American philanthropist and business leader Loida Nicolas Lewis. PIX11 News anchor Hazel Sanchez will serve as emcee for the program.
New York State Assemblymember Steven Raga will present Ressa with a special proclamation from the New York State Assembly. Kinding Sindaw, a New York-based cultural and performance group, and TOFA artists will perform during the program.
Ressa, co-founder and CEO of the Philippine news organization Rappler, received the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize for her work defending freedom of expression. She is also a professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and co-chair of the United Nations Independent International Scientific Panel on AI, alongside Canadian computer scientist Yoshua Bengio. The U.N. identifies Ressa as an advocate for information integrity, press freedom and human rights.
Her recent work on AI has focused on the technology’s effect on public information, human agency and democratic institutions. In The Fight Back, publisher HarperCollins describes Ressa’s approach as a step-by-step guide to resisting political and technological autocracy.
Ressa is a former TOFA Luminary and served as a host of the 2014 TOFA Awards ceremony at Carnegie Hall in New York.
The program is presented in cooperation with the Concerned Artists of the Philippines-New York Chapter and Kinding Sindaw.
Reservations are available through this RSVP form or by contacting Hannah Suarez at (212) 500-0591.
