Activists these days!
MANILA, Philippines - Times have changed, 40 years after the declaration of martial law.
“Dati, ‘pag ingglisero ka’t naka-kotse, pagtitripan ka sa UP, at kung aktibista ka, ipagdiriwang ka. Ngayon, kabaliktaran na,” says Michael Non, current chairperson of the Student Alliance for the Advancement of Democratic Rights in UP or STAND UP.
Indeed, the UP that served as the stage for the First Quarter Storm, sanctuary to revolutionaries like Lean Alejandro, and home to the country’s foremost critical thinkers, is different now. Many UP students now say that traditional activism is outdated and that today’s rallyists are just looking for reasons to rally — “Kadir-dir mga aktibista,” kids sigh. “They never stop complaining about the President, whoever the President may be. When will they stop? Why can’t they just put their time into charity so they’d be able to help out?”
Non says his father, an activist during martial law who is still fighting the fight now, is also challenged by this sentiment; that he wouldn’t know what to do if he were a student activist in 2012. Perhaps activism’s age-old adage of “fighting oppression and struggling with the masses” has permanently fallen out of favor. Or perhaps it’s because, in this post-modern era, “activism” has been watered down and mass-produced.
Pop culture lenses
The changes within the State U must be seen though pop culture lenses. In the age of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, iPhones, and memes, attention has shifted from the collective to the individual, from the streets to the Internet, and from the poor to the bourgeois. In a world where self-empowerment is the first priority, ideas like “class struggle” and “organizing” are as dead as the white men who thought of them.
Of course, movements and charities still thrive in the digital age, with hashhtags, Facebook groups, and online petitions. Everyone can be “activist” these days, with the switch of an avatar. There isn’t anything bad with this per se. But something must be said about the symbolic gravitas present in a thousand raised fists, and how this is nowhere to be found in a thousand people clicking, liking, and “doing their little share.”
Admittedly, “red” activists who go out into the streets with placards, screaming slogans, and getting baked under the sun aren’t really the most convincing bunch of idea salesmen. But it’s a a misconception that these tibaks are into a revolutionary kill-the-rich consciousness, as they’re the ones carrying smoke grenades, water cannons, and guns.
The real weight present in the older, “traditional” form of activism lies in streets. In the streets, people are accountable for what they do. Side by side, they go against what they think is oppression, instead of copping out, and leaving questions unanswered.
Making a dent
That the government still sends police to shield traditional rallyists away means they are making a dent. In the long run, it is a form of consciousness that traditional activists fight for. Charity groups, hashtags, and Facebook groups may produce a million literate individuals to remain forever grateful to them, but in the parliament of the streets, what’s important is that million literate individuals stand up for who they are and what they believe in.
Perhaps it’s the traditional activists that are the ones who believe that men are equal; that some men can’t be “more equal” than others, as George Orwell once said. In these days of supreme distraction, it’s easy to tune out the poor; to stop learning about oppression and stop trying to fight it. The daily grind has forced us to accept what has become of us — human beings living off money and the labor of those who had no choice but to suck it up.
There are some things worth living out: your dreams, your aspirations, that trip abroad you’ve always wanted to take with your parents, etc. But there are also some things worth fighting for. And for this, we hold on to traditional forms of activism, despite its seeming inconvenience.
* * *
Tweet the author @sarhentosilly.
