By DEE AYROSO
People Power is a WIP
Tags: mong palatino
Reading in the age of distraction
We are back to the basics. Threatened by armies of disinformation, our best weapon is the truth. Reading the truth, deciphering the truth, fighting for the truth. In the age of ephemeral attention, reading is an act we can pursue, promote, and steer towards our other political endeavors.
Fact or fiction: Lawbreakers, professional rallyists, blind followers and other labels about activists
Vow of poverty. Activists are encouraged to live simply, but unlike priests, they don’t have a vow of poverty. They don’t fetishize poverty; instead, they work with the poor to fight the structures that engender oppression in society. Indeed, activists renounce material riches and the glorification of wealth but it doesn’t mean they can no…
Tokhang, trolls and Arroyo generals
The UP Third World Studies Center organized a research workshop on ‘Violence, Human Rights and Democracy in the Philippines.’ I submitted a short essay in response to the workshop question: “Based on your knowledge of and experience in your locality, do you think that the Duterte administration is violent?” President Rodrigo Duterte has been a…
The books I read in 2017
1. Too Much Happiness, Alice Munro. Impossible not to empathize with her strong female characters, their pursuit of fulfillment and freedom, their overcoming of various tragedies and other challenges in life. 2. How to Travel with a Salmon and Other Essays, Umberto Eco. The best parts are the funny observations of the scholar-traveler about American…
Under neoliberalism, the problem lies with you
What does it mean to live in the era of neoliberalism? It is to recognize that the world is a mess and that I, as an individual, can fix it by being responsible for my life. So far, nothing perverse with this line of thought. Then we add this in the equation: If everybody will…
From the countryside to the city: Lakbayan and the Philippine revolution
Lakbayan ‘transports’ the struggle from the remote to the center.
Pagpupugay sa Batch 2017! Nagmahal, Nagsikap, Nagtagumpay
Isa pong malaking karangalan ang mapiling tagapagsalita ngayong araw na ito. Ispesyal at di malilimutan ang pagtitipong ito. Para sa mga mag-aaral, lubos ang kasiyahan dahil natapos din natin ang kolehiyo sa kabila ng maraming pinagdaanang pagsubok, hindi po ba? Para sa mga magulang, walang papantay sa kanilang galak na makita kayo sa inyong pag-akyat…
The books I read in 2016
1. Open Secrets, Alice Munro. I think there is a Munro Effect: A reader is initially lulled into thinking that a storyline is dull but it is only when the short story is about to end that he finally begins to see how he is completely immersed in the Munronian world. 2. Discontent and Its…
Tribute to parents of activists
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino Bulatlat.com The untold first mission of many activists does not involve the smashing of the bourgeois state or the ‘bombarding of the headquarters’ of the repressive government; their first instinct is to go home and confess their political conversion to their parents or guardians. It is a delicate and difficult duty.…
Bakit hindi matalu-talo ang New People’s Army?
QUESTION EVERYTHING Mong Palatino Bulatlat.com Lahat ng rehimeng nagdaan ay nagtangkang buwagin at talunin ang New People’s Army (Bagong Hukbong Bayan). Lahat ay nagsabing sila’y magtatagumpay. Lahat sila’y nabigo. Ano ang nasa likod ng misteryong lakas ng NPA? Paano ito nagpunyagi sa nakalipas na limang dekada? Walang sikreto maliban sa puspusang pakikibaka habang sinusulong ang…