sa biyaheng recto-anonas nitong sabado...
matagal-tagal ko na ring napapansin ang berso sa metro sa lrt line 2 (santolan-recto) kung saan ako bumibiyahe tuwing papunta ng ermita. Minsan may pagbabasa pa ng tula na pinapatugtog sa public sound system. Para sa akin, positibo ang pagpapalaganap ng panitikan at sining sa pinakamaraming mamamayan; mas mainam kung ito ay may layuning magmulat at magpakilos upang baguhin sa ikabubuti ang ating kondisyon. Ang maganda sa berso sa metro, sa sandaling pagbiyahe ng tren nakakapagbasa kahit paano ng mga tula ang mga tao. Hamon pa kasing maging malaganap na libangan ang pagbabasa sa ating bansa. Isang hakbang na ito kahit paano. Kung may magustuhang tula ang mga bumibiyahe eh 'di babasahin na din nila ang iba pang mga tula sa tren, babasahin ang mga likhang-panitikan na inihahandog sa kanila, saka na yung sila mismo ang aktibong maghahanap nito sa mga magasin, diyaryo, internet, at libro. Pinakamahusay ay ang paglikha mismo nila batay sa kanilang mga karanasan.
kinopya ko ang isang tula:
Pagtawanan mo ang gabi,
ang araw, ang buwan,
pagtawanan mo ang mga liku-likong
landas sa isla,
pagtawanan mo ang torpeng
lalaking ito na nagmamahal sa iyo,
nguni't kapag bubuksan ko
at isasara ang aking mga mata,
kapag ako ay umalis,
kapag ako ay muling bumalik
ipagkait mo na sa akin ang tinapay,
ang hangin, ang liwanag at ang tagsibol,
huwag lamang ang iyong ngiti
dahil ito'y aking ikasasawi.
naks!
***
may kaklase akong iraqi sa español. sa maigsing kamustahan sa klase tinanong ko kung bakit kahit na atrasadong bansa eh sa pilipinas pa nila naisipang mag-aral. may mga nakakasabay din ako sa tren na mga galing sa middle east. at sa grocery eh may nakita pang mga naka-unipormeng c.e.u. sabi niya eh dahil mahusay daw ang ating educational system at kilala bilang conscientious workers ang mga pilipinong nagtatrabaho sa ibang bansa (ang asawa niya ay doktor at sila ay nagtatrabaho sa amerika, nagpunta lang sa pilipinas para mag-aral ulit). nakakatuwa ang pananaw na ito.
alam nating bagsak ang philippine educational system kung pagbabatayan ang kolonyal na oryentasyon ng ating edukasyon. kolonyal dahil sa pagprayoritisa sa wikang inggles laban sa mga lokal na wika, kolonyal dahil sa pagyurak sa mga karapatan at mithiin ng mga pilipinong maging isang ganap na independiyenteng bansa batay sa mga nilalamang aralin nito, at kolonyal din dahil nakatuon sa pangangailangan ng dayuhan at global na merkado ang mga kursong inilalako. kasama na dito ang mapanupil at komersiyalisadong edukasyon. sa mga international tests at surveys on education mababa ang nakukuha ng pilipinas kaya nakapagtataka ang trend ng international students ngayon. malaking dahilan din siyempre ang kamurahan--bagama't siguradong dolyar ang ibinabayad nila--kumpara sa mga eskuwelahan ng mga mauunlad na bansa.
nararapat gawin dito ay ibuhos sa scholarships ng mga pribadong eskuwelahan ang kanilang mga tubo. higit na dapat na kung anuman ang kikitain ng ating pamahalaan sa visa at tuition ng foreign students ay ilaan sa mga Pilipino para makapag-aral ang lahat. maganda ding simulan ang malalimang pagpapalitan ng kaalaman sa kasaysayan at kultura at sa magkaugnay na kalagayan ng iba't ibang bansa sa antas ng mga mag-aaral. para lumampas sa nosyon ng cultural exchange at turismo. ang mga koreanong nandito sa pinas ay pumupunta hindi na lamang para mag-aral ng inggles kundi para mag-aral ng lahat ng antas ng edukasyon, bumili ng mga bahay at ari-arian at mamalagi na dito. darating ang araw na pag-aari na nila ang marami sa ating mga lupain at industriya, na pinapayagan sa cha-cha. pero ano naman ang nalalaman natin sa kanila at nila sa atin maliban sa mga nakokomentuhan na gaya ng pagkain at videoke?!
***
sa grocery...
may isang mamimili na mukhang maalwan ang buhay. binabati niya ang mga makakasalubong: 'good afternoon!', 'merry christmas!', 'kahit na krisis eh maghahanda pa rin, ano?'. akala ko ay binabati niya ang mga kakilalang nakikita. may mamang naglalagay ng mga paninda sa estante, na malaon ay nagkomentong: 'iba talaga ang ugali kapag mayaman ka'! O 'ang sarap talaga ng buhay kapag mayaman ka'!)
lunes
ika-24 ng nobyembre 2008
10:35 ng gabi
Monday, November 24, 2008
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
two days
Consider this: you enter an election booth, nobody’s inside that unit except you, and then you cast your vote. You are making a decision for your nation—and the world’s future.
Or this: you join an organization of your sector, class or interest, study the issues, launch activities that will enable more and more people to know your cause, press for legislative and governmental actions, unite with the rest of society, and struggle for change.
For much of modern history, and indeed of recent history, the concept of democracy has been singularly confined to the former. Voting in capitalist democracies is conferred sacredness, a citizen’s communion with an omnipotent and omniscient being that is the government, which is said to define one’s well-being as well as the rest of society. Now for Americans, it is also an act of confession, where the choice is considered a repentance and then atonement for one’s previous electoral sins.
It is only two days (Philippine time) before the U.S. electorate chooses its president in an election that has been characterized as the most active, most participatory, most expensive, and most observed, internationally. It is interesting how the coming U.S. election is considered by the media as most definitive in changing the conditions of hundreds of millions of needy Americans. Yes, there are differences between Republicans (the conservative, the right) and Democrats (the liberals, the left) but people on both sides compromise on many issues to have a centrist view on many economic, political and social issues. Republicans are free market and deregulation advocates and they are being blamed for the current financial crisis as Bush’s term paved way for a lot of marketers to profit from share price increases and money borrowings. But the Democrats who push for more regulation like their European counterparts just want to repair the system; they lobby for reforms in order to maintain the long-term interests of capitalism. Now they are being criticized for advancing socialism. The grave financial and consequent economic crisis has raised talks of capitalism’s downfall yet what the current governments in the biggest economies of today are doing is sort of a Keynesian management of the twenty-first century. It also enables some sliver of radicalism from the opposition. Obama’s “spread the wealth” call is however antithetical to “American” hard work and keeping one’s wealth his and his alone. Fighting for his ambitions, he has continually veered from left to center in order to please the moderate and anti-radical Americans. He disowned his former pastor, who’s the head of a militant black church, and also recently disowned a 70s anti-Vietnam War terrorist (this one resorted to bombings!). I remember his comment which echoes some leftist thinking on religion and militarist attitude – that desperate Americans cling to their guns and religion. Comparing the Republicans and the Democrats in the Clinton campaign of the early nineties, Joan Didion quotes a political scientist who says: “The last thing the Democratic Party has wanted to do is declare that there is a possibility for class struggle. The Republicans, however, are perfectly happy to declare class struggle all the time. They are always waging a one-sided class war against the constituency the Democrats nominally represent. In this sense, the Republicans are the only real political party in the United States. They stand for ideology and interest, not compromise.” [“Eyes on the Prize,” in Political Fictions, pages 148-149] The constituents, history and popular opinion have it, are labor, women and minorities.
[[[the image is from the New York Times, 31 october 2008]]]
2:24 am
tuesday, 4 november 2008
Or this: you join an organization of your sector, class or interest, study the issues, launch activities that will enable more and more people to know your cause, press for legislative and governmental actions, unite with the rest of society, and struggle for change.
For much of modern history, and indeed of recent history, the concept of democracy has been singularly confined to the former. Voting in capitalist democracies is conferred sacredness, a citizen’s communion with an omnipotent and omniscient being that is the government, which is said to define one’s well-being as well as the rest of society. Now for Americans, it is also an act of confession, where the choice is considered a repentance and then atonement for one’s previous electoral sins.
It is only two days (Philippine time) before the U.S. electorate chooses its president in an election that has been characterized as the most active, most participatory, most expensive, and most observed, internationally. It is interesting how the coming U.S. election is considered by the media as most definitive in changing the conditions of hundreds of millions of needy Americans. Yes, there are differences between Republicans (the conservative, the right) and Democrats (the liberals, the left) but people on both sides compromise on many issues to have a centrist view on many economic, political and social issues. Republicans are free market and deregulation advocates and they are being blamed for the current financial crisis as Bush’s term paved way for a lot of marketers to profit from share price increases and money borrowings. But the Democrats who push for more regulation like their European counterparts just want to repair the system; they lobby for reforms in order to maintain the long-term interests of capitalism. Now they are being criticized for advancing socialism. The grave financial and consequent economic crisis has raised talks of capitalism’s downfall yet what the current governments in the biggest economies of today are doing is sort of a Keynesian management of the twenty-first century. It also enables some sliver of radicalism from the opposition. Obama’s “spread the wealth” call is however antithetical to “American” hard work and keeping one’s wealth his and his alone. Fighting for his ambitions, he has continually veered from left to center in order to please the moderate and anti-radical Americans. He disowned his former pastor, who’s the head of a militant black church, and also recently disowned a 70s anti-Vietnam War terrorist (this one resorted to bombings!). I remember his comment which echoes some leftist thinking on religion and militarist attitude – that desperate Americans cling to their guns and religion. Comparing the Republicans and the Democrats in the Clinton campaign of the early nineties, Joan Didion quotes a political scientist who says: “The last thing the Democratic Party has wanted to do is declare that there is a possibility for class struggle. The Republicans, however, are perfectly happy to declare class struggle all the time. They are always waging a one-sided class war against the constituency the Democrats nominally represent. In this sense, the Republicans are the only real political party in the United States. They stand for ideology and interest, not compromise.” [“Eyes on the Prize,” in Political Fictions, pages 148-149] The constituents, history and popular opinion have it, are labor, women and minorities.
[[[the image is from the New York Times, 31 october 2008]]]
2:24 am
tuesday, 4 november 2008
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