Education is under threat of being reduced into a mastery of prepackaged learning materials that are stored in downloadable files in the web cloud. Discovery of the new in the near future could simply refer to a browsing experience.
Our hope lies in how we will face the pandemic not as mask-wearing individuals but as a group promoting medical measures, social reforms, and democratic rights. The pandemic demands medical attention, the crisis requires collective political action.
If the internet is a weapon of mass distraction, media streaming is the precision missile targeting citizens in search of escape and lazy fun. This is the extra dose supplied by the media industry after lockdowns have been enforced across the world as we battle a pandemic and an economic recession.
The occupant of Malacanang Palace is always the most rabid and notorious redbaiter-in-chief. Duterte has his own uncouth style but his ranting is no different from former presidents who used their privilege to attack critics and activists.
Activism can provide useful insight and practical guidance on how to better grasp the link between the personal and the broader set of social relationships. It can sharpen our understanding of the dynamics of changing the self in relation to social transformation.
1. Blow-Up and Other Stories by Julio Cortázar, Paul Blackburn (Translator). Unfamiliar, intriguing, but creative narratives and plotlines. Stories about madness, compassion, and complexity of modern living. 2. Smaller and Smaller Circles by F.H. Batacan. The first few pages are surreal, apt description of Payatas. A crime novel, page-turner, and a rare look into the…
With or without the CPP-NPA, there are just reasons for the people to resist and build a strong movement against authoritarian regimes. And paranoid governments would always clamp down on critics and dissenters whether the opposition is religious, the wealthy, foreign-backed, or communist.
The Left’s primary source of support and inspiration is the fighting masses. Their conditions reflect the failure of the current system to end poverty, hunger, landlessness, and inequality which vindicate the need for a revolutionary struggle.
As BM-Youth campaigners, we saw the election as an effective platform to broadcast our programs, organize young voters, and expand our presence in schools and communities. We formed new alliances, learned some of the intricacies of electoral tactics, and improved our way of communicating our messages to different types of voters.
When individuals begin to realize their oppression, they are motivated to act. And when they begin to use the language that is relevant to their lives, it gives them the power to dare and act decisively.
We are reminded that the best model of ‘audience engagement’ is still direct organizing in communities. Mainstream and social media can broaden reach, but in politics what counts is the solid membership in barangays, districts, cities, and provinces.