post-Friday-the-13th Art, Lit, Cult Weekend

[All images in this shameless plug galore entry belong to their respective owners, as hyperlinked.] And they all happen, all at once, all at the same, er, time. Googled away and found these images and information:

(PMP SANDIGMAAN issue [list of contributors] launch [source]

at the United South Arts and Music Festival on the 14th. [source])

(Feed the Starving Creators: BEEF Clothing Launch on the 14th. Poster by Josel Nicolas [source]. PSEUDOCUMENTS Volume One and Ang Sandatahang Banga [details?] shall be available at the table of The Cabinet / PANTAS peeps. Salamat!)


(Muy Bien! Guro at Artista ng Bayan on the 15th. [source])


There. I would not be in the aforementioned events. I shall be on another plane, in another culture, in, perhaps, another, say, reality--as I have been living in another (quasi)reality. And, I am clumsy but really not that clumsy enough to divulge any more information. Basta, mahirap ako kontakin simula Friday the 13th. Magpaparamdam pag maari na akong maabalang muli. Matsala sa pagbisita.

PS Ang ganda nitong likhang sining ni Neil Doloricon. Mula sa [prison diary] ni Ericson Acosta ang imahe. Magandang basahin din ang nilalaman ng blog.

Hands of (these) Time(s)

Finally, the September-October biodiversity issue of the UP Forum is out (out! hehe!). Download the issue [here], and if you have the luxury of time, please read the article "Agrobiodiversity and Monoculture Homogenization in Agri/Culture" from the pdf file and tell me what you think. Shared lo-reso versions of the published artworks in this blog entry. Above is "Shoot from a Bullet Wound," for "A Sacrifice for Future Generations: The Plight of Environment Conservationists in the Philippine," a feature article about slain taxonomist Leonard Co. He was not like those scientists who limit their studies in classrooms and laboratories, unlike so-called scholars who are nothing more than carreerists. To have a peek of how great a scientist (without having to acquire a PhD) he is, please [read one of bulatlat's articles] about the scientist of the people, another of the increasing number of deaths that have not been granted justice yet. [The previous blog entry] was all misery and nostalgia, so, let me reminisce a dead dream, then, if I may:

I remember how I could have been studying under UPLB's MS Environmental Science under a scholarship, had I chosen to pursue the sciences. Nope, no delusions of becoming a Leonard Co, as it is too late for me but maybe I can do things the way he did it, but I don't think I have enough courage of all-out serving the people--something way way way better than that laughable "all-out justice" the Palace is-- anyway. Besides considering factors such as time for artsy things, I was also worried about the consequences, had I chosen to pursue EnviSci and failed to finish the degree in two years time: I'd have to pay (re-pay? payback?) them back the same cost that they've spent on my studies, which means I'd do a sort of a downtrodden Philippines, by debt servicing for the rest of what is left of my life--

--given the situation in the university, where students compete for slots in large lecture classes that makes learning more difficult, given the fact that I had a bachelor's degree in the arts, so, I'd have to take undergrad biology courses, I thought my chances of finishing the MS in two years seem slimmer. So, again, risking sounding like a dick, I've passed the screening for the scholarship but I have to refuse the sciences, as I am worried of the risks, again, just as before: I've shifted from my BS Computer Science degree into a BA degree waaay back. And here I am, writing and drawing about technology and stuff. The irony. (Above is "Constructing Biodiversity" for the article "A Brief Survey of the Past, Present and Future of Biodiversity Research in the Philippine")

And, right after shifting courses, one of the first subjects I've successfully enrolled in--that, say, turned me into this and into the, say, niche I believe I am somehow getting into, getting the hang of--was HUM 160: Science and Technology in Literature, where the first poem I have submitted was in another language, in the C programming language--something that never found the light of publication, and I kinda think I know why--it kinda sucked in a way. Anyway, fortunately, we were required to read Einstein's Dreams, which is one of the probable reasons why I am here, in an attempt to mishmash themes of time, biology, machines and, I dont know, entropy, destruction, and all that.

Time is something twisted. Or, insane. Or, inconsistent, or messed up, or broken, maybe (just like this top blog thing that doesn't display the updated ranking, for chrissakes). Maybe, which is why I've been fascinated by The Invisibles, and Transmetropolitan, and futurism and alternate history, and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and immortality and the tarot, and magic and robots and steampunk and cyberpunk and Dr. Who and science fiction and, ugh, enough cataloguing, as, I just want to say that (btw, above is "AgriCultural Imperialsim 000," the artwork for my article in UP Forum.)--

--if I were to return to my past--neither the past as it may be a future or a present to somebody else nor the past that has gay implications of having feelings and hopping with h-h-w-w romance as thought catalog puts it--I will spend less time with sleep (or maybe take drugs so I could spend no time with sleep! Kidding!) and other relaxing activities and more time with the sciences, and obliterate Ghost in the Shell into insignificance, then oblivion. Wishful thinking, I know. And, why the title "Hands of (these) Time(s)"? Oh, hours ago, I've scored Umberto Eco's collection of essays, "Turning Back the Clock: Hot Wars and Media Populism," hardcover, for 170php, and another poetry anthology of "american negros," hey, that is what the title says, "american negro poetry." Those (and 1910! and 1969!) are enough compensations from the misfortune and unproductivity of the previous week, and, hopefully a good start of another, sigh, long weekend.

PS! all three of my Umberto Eco books are interestingly nonfiction. The first essay in Turning Back the Clock felt kinda sad. An analysis / backtrack re: worldwide world wars, paleowars and neowars alike, between Xtians and Muslims, which are, needless to say, not really a holy, or a religuous, or a cultural war, but one that is rooted on economics, and, that, my friends, ends this blabber, as, again, a lot of unchecked boxes in the to-do list, still, god, kill me, please. Kidding. Kill me after, at most, 7 years, and it shall be fine with me. I need caffeine. Now.

Spectacleshards [vi]: Ngugi's

11022011. hey, today's date's a palindrome, by the way. a mirror, to, say, reflect on things and all that bullshit of soul searching during all souls' day. just saying.

Proposed full entry title's spectacleshards [v]: ngugi's, or november jumpstart, though there is nothing that has commenced or that is to be commenced as unchecked boxes in the to-do list pile up like I have more tomorrows than any of you, like I have more than 24 hours a day. Not sure whether I am biting more off than I can chew, but, planner says I have left a lot undone and I am way out of schedule. Well, probably, most people in this fast-paced, quick-changing motherfucker of a world feels the same.

"He took the children out into the field to study nature, as he put it. He picked flowers and taught the names of the various parts: the stigma, the pistil, pollen, the petals. He told them a little about fertilization. One child cried out:

'Look. A flower with petals of blood.' "

And, by the way, I'd pepper this post with such quotes from Petals of Blood by Ngugi wa Thiong'o, so, more than a mindless rant of frustration and crap, this post may somehow help you in ways I would never know. Take it as my way of thanking you for dropping by. But, think twice before reading the block quotes, as I am not too cautious with blurting out spoilers, though I doubt there will be spoilers as these are--yes, again, not copypasted, but--encoded (so, yes, please do point out anything wrong, from what fuckeries I am saying to grammatical lapses) from pages 21 to 22 of the book. Encoded, just like most of the previous spectacleshards you might find interesting: [Zizek's] [Borges's] [Pirsig's] [Calvino's] [Philippines graphic's]--

--in which this spectacleshards is a first, a loner adrift the carcosite spectacleshards, being an excerpt from a novel, friendless, while there are three excerpts from short fiction pieces and two are nonfiction, Pirsig's and Zizek's.

"It was a solitary red beanflower in a field dominated by white, blue and violet flowers. No matter how you looked at it, it gave you the impression of a flow of blood. Munira bent over it and with a trembling hand plucked it. It had probably been the light playing upon it, for now it was just a red flower."

[Here] is a link to Zizek's beautiful and insightful speech during the Occupy Wall Street protests, though I share Rolando Tolentino's [take] as regards the "occupy" movement worldwide, and, I'd also like to link the [points] raised by Teo Marasigan. By the way, I felt that facebook is too occupied, crowded, cluttered, so, I deactivated it, again, to, sort of, detoxify. But despite the burial of that cyber projection, information never fails to overflow and overwhelm the fuck out of me, flooding, fucking, raping my mind into oblivion and ignorance of the things I thought I know, destroying and creating truths, all over, like an endless un/learning process, which is nice, but, tiring--now I have, again, at least 25 tabs waiting to be read, now, or until the next time I go online. I have downloads in progress, though I have .avi's .pdf's .cbr's .mp3's etc eating cyber dust. Consumerism leaves me with no choice but to not have a choice. At all.

" 'There is no color called blood. What you mean is that it is red. You see? You must learn the names of the seven colours of the rainbow. Flowers are of different kinds, different colours. Now I want each one of you to pick a flower ... Count the number of petals and pistils and show me its pollen ... ' "

What happened in the previous month? Nothing productive worth celebrating as the september jumpstart, I think, but, somehow, the samhain countdown of october compelled me to be / to seem productive. Yet after reading this article, I felt alarmed, thinking that I'd rather go on an actual trip, one on a road that's concrete, than, well, a trip deep within one of the rooms inside my head--or my head inside this room? Which is which? After minute or two of re/thinking, I'd rather go on a recluse. I am steps away from lessening cyber foot prints anyway. And, I hope you lurkers fucking comment when you stumble upon this blog. A "hey there" would suffice. Paranoia never leaves my side, as I sometimes feel like those hits /stats mean danger. How? Why? What the fuck am I talking about? Well, if you didn't dig it, you probably don't know who I am, so, I suggest we hang out some time.

"He stood looking at the flower he had plucked and then threw the petals away. Yet another boy cried:

'I have found another. Petals of blood - I mean read ... It has no stigma or pistils ... Nothing inside.'

He went to him and the others surrounded him:"

There. Dig it? Of course you don't. Ha! Talking in riddles doesn't work all the time.

" 'No, you are wrong,' he said, taking the flower. This color is not even red ... It does not have the fullness of colour of the other one. This one is yellowish red. Now you say it has nothing inside. Look at the stem from which you got it. You see anything?'

'Yes,' cried the boys. 'There is a worm - a green worm with several hands or legs.'

'Right. This is a worm-eaten flower ... It cannot bear fruit. That's why we must always kill worms ... A flower can also become this colour if it's prevented from reaching the light.'

Last month are news of some of those who died that are never even worms deserving to be killed. Among them, shedding light to the darkness of the exploits of this established order, are two who served the people: one claimed by "natural" death, the other by bullets. It is All Souls' day, and I wonder, had there been souls, how many of them are still roaming the mortal world in search of the justice that remains unserved despite their bodies being almost, if not completely, decomposed by worms? This is quite a lengthy blog entry, right? Had neither facebook Wall for status messages nor public tweets as outlets, so, I abuse this space in the interwebz. Hang in there, I am almost done, we are almost done with these senselessness, I think.

"He was pleased with himself. But then the children started asking awkward questions. Why did things eat each other? Why can't the eaten eat back? Why did God allow this to happen? He had never bothered with those kind of questions and to silence them, he told them that it was simply a law of nature. What was a law? What was nature? Was he a man? Was he God? A law was simply a law and nature was nature. What about men and god? Children, he told them, it's time for a break."

Maybe it is. After pondering on death, I'd like to concede that god is a necessity, thus prayers are, I think, mandatory, given the sociocultural context of the Philippines--whether we like it or not. As an Apocalyptica song goes, "I don't believe in god, but I'll pray for you." It has been a long while and I haven't written about you in public again, yet. And I am not sure if I will, anytime soon. But, yes, I somehow did. Now. And a maybe few weeks ago, if that counts.

Anyway, I am hoping that Petals of Blood equals or surpasses the enjoyment I had with Wizard of the Crow. Yes, that tendency again to measure an author's work with his other works. Speaking of "works," I think, after this, I would not post an entry anytime soon (yes, I am writing as if anyone's reading) since a lot of things are long overdue, and I hope deactivating facebook and privatizing [eh?] twitter are effective strategies for focusing (and perhaps feeling safe, ha, paranoia strikes given the chance), one task at a time, though I think nothing is really helping and "discipline," whatever the fuck that means, is the key to, say, success.

And, speaking of measuring using other works of the author against his own as yardstick, I remember how a co-fellow and I talked about being anthologized in two local compendiums of contemporary writing--with one daring to not include those in the literary canon, while the other one tends to seem all-inclusive, regardless of whatever borders, creating some sort of a unity, or a pluralist, populist, gesture of togetherness despite differences. With the former grounded with theory and the latter criticizing theory, I think I am with the former, as I believe multi-perspectives, or pluralist worldviews, oftentimes justify hegemony and elitism through borderless compromises.

This is also why I am kind of cynical with the Occupy Wall Street that, I hope, wouldn't turn out to be among those fads that later cease to exist, furthering the skepticism and doubt of people with "collective action." I am not really sure with what I am saying, so I'll strike through these paragraphs, okay?

CarcositeNewsNet: September Jumpstart

[source]

This is not really mock news. All of these happened. Or, I think it has. Being spontaneous, this is also something of a, say, machine gun post, as you would notice a lot of fillers, as if I am conversing with you. This is really nothing but an update that would probably not be of any help to your life. If you still want to read on, then, I'm game if you're game--

Ended the 31-day writing challenge of August with a fanfiction featuring a lost Spider Jerusalem wandering Metro Manila and writing about Professor Charles Xavier, King Mob / Gideon Stargrave and Lex Luthor. [read it here]

[source]

Started September printing Ang Sandatahang Banga komix. [details]

Sold the komix around elbi, then travelled the day after back home, then, to Quezon City, then, to Makati for the book launch, and some kinda underground komix transactions during the book launch, as if doing a counterculture against-the-flow thing, as komix and poetry seems like strangers to each other, coming from different worlds, in terms of recognition of literariness and mass production--though I think this notion is being crumbled one step at a time by local komix artists and writers, anyway, I did end up selling komix inside ayala museum, which feels, I don't know, it felt good. (And another memory flashed before my very eyes. Twas the Conference of Philippine Center of International PEN, and there I was leafing through a book, which was not just any other book--a photocopied book, ie, a reading for eng103 (critical writing class): Jessica Zafra's Twisted 7 [?], which we are to dissect, to criticize, and I did. It's like watching pirated DVD on some sort of a gadget that plays pirated DVDs--inside a movie house.) Para kang nagvavandal without actually-- Enough explaining. Hope you dig how I felt. Hehe. Anway, here's the [link] to the event, and here's the program, as lifted from the link:

Live music from

RADIOACTIVE SAGO PROJECT

CORPORATE LO-FI

VIGO

ANTHONY PIGGOTT & YNO+

AXEL PINPIN & THE PROPAGANDA MACHINE

Featuring:

Bienvenido Lumbera (National Artist for Literature)

Gemino H. Abad

Pete Lacaba

Teo T. Antonio

Ronaldo Carcamo

Ronan B. Capinding

Marra PL Lanot

Benilda Santos

Rebecca T. Anonuevo

Bebang W. Siy

Andrea B. Teran

Eliza Victoria

AND OTHER SURPRISE READERS

With the special participation of:

Ornussa Cadness

Mercedes Cabral

Shawn Yao

Gee Canlas

Jean Garcia

Roselle Monteverde

Brian Tenorio

Rox Puno

Nelson Canlas

Hosted by Sue Prado & Dakila Cutab

Free Admission.

UNDER THE STORM is a compilation of 150 poems from an eclectic mix of 150 Filipino poets: from the renowned and the known to the upcoming and the knowable. It surveys the landscape, explores the topography of the phenomenal, social, and lingual developments in contemporary Philippine Poetry. This is not simply a gathering of the intelligent. It is a harvesting of works by the willing and the devoted to the labor of crafting, the human turn, and the myriad possibilities of language (Edited by Khavn dela Cruz and Joel Toledo):

Abad. Abad. Abad. Abola. Abueg. Acosta. Acuña. Agustin. Aldaba. Alitaptap. Alma. Almero. Fojas-Almirante. Alonte. Alvarez. Alvarez. Ancheta. Angeles. Añonuevo. Añonuevo. Antonio. Aranal. Arguelles. Aquino. Azada. Bajarias. Balota. Baquiran. Barrios. Basmayor. Borlongan. Buenviaje. Cabato. Capili. Capinding. Carcamo. Carnice. Casaje. Casocot. Castro. Chancoco. Ching. Cimatu. Co. Cordero. Coroza. Cortez. Cui. Cutab. Dalisay. Damasing. Daoana. De Guzman. dela Cruz. De La Cruz. De La Cruz. dela Cruz. De Los Santos. De Mesa. de Paula. de Ungria. De Veyra. del Prado. Despi. Diaz. Diaz. Dimzon. Dollente. Dominguez. Dumdum. Evasco. Fagela. Fernandez. Francia. Gaba. Gamalinda. Garcia. Gervacio. Go. Gubat. Gulle. Gutierrez. Igloria. Imperial. Kilates. Kimpo. Kwan. Lacaba. Katigbak-Lacuesta. Lanot. Lao. Lao. Lazaro. Losaria. Lumbera. Manzano. Marcelo. Maranan. Maranan. Montalban. Nadera. Nicolas-Na. Novicio. Os. Oyzon. Pagliawan. Pagusara. Pandan. Parfan. Pastrana. Piocos. Pinpin. Quibilan. Reyes. Rillo. Rivas. Rodriguez-Tomlinson. Rosal. Rubino. Rueda. Sabilano. Saguid. Salud. Samar. San Diego. Santos. Serquiña. Sevilla-Simon. Sillada. Siy. Sulat. Sunico. Tablazon. Taguilaso. Teodoro. Teran. Torralba. Torre. Torres. Tuvilla. Umil. Urquico. Valencia. Valles. Vega. Victoria. Villafania. Villas. Yandug. Yuson.

Book Design by Piya Constantino | Cover Art by W Don Flores | 4th .MOV International Film, Music, & Literature Festival | September 1 to 6, 2011 | The Podium, Ayala Museum, Greenbelt 3 Park, & UP Film Center | www.movfest.org

Got my complimentary copy of the anthology, and happened to meet Paper Monster Press peeps. Complimentary copies of two new books, olde fellows and friends and new acquaintances, four destination points in a day, for someone who isn't fond of going out and who is kind of a stranger to the norms of social gatherings. That friday was something. Whether that was positive or negative, I would not know, but I know it felt good and I felt alive.

Watched Philippine Educational Theatre Association's WILLIAM the following day. [link] (For friends who may be waiting for the complimentary tickets, thanks to the HU ART DAW Shakespeare icon contest, please do wait for my message. Used the first five tickets for, haha, my family, as this is the first time I've, what's the term, "treated [?]" them. The tickets may be used til July 2012, I think. Anyway--)

[source]

The rap musical was kinda nice, even for someone like myself who has just watched (and somehow found entertainment in) fliptop last month and has no appreciation for hiphop, for reasons that aren't really reasons, maybe because of sheer preference BUT I think WILLIAM broke a lot of legs. As reviews have said, it was a new way of looking at Shakespeare. However, though it may sound like asking for too much from a rap musical intended for the general audience (andaming high school students), I kind of expected more, because the first play I've watched in PETA was Bertolt Brecht's THE THREEPENNY OPERA--something I've enjoyed a lot (and coincidentally, my "poem" for UNDER THE STORM anthology is an "erasure" of the Notes to The Threepenny Opera part of my copy of THE THREEPENNY OPERA).

In terms of content, I've waited for lines saying, or rather, implying, how fucked up the education system is, being colonial, commercialized and fascist--though yes, maybe, it had something to do with the expected audience being young but a brief "sigh" re: the colonial and/or commercialized characteristic would have been nice--or there was such and I was not paying attention. To cut short and to temporarily end (I'm quite unsure when the temporary end ends!) this mini-review, let me say that the, what was that called, "directorial concept," of both plays I've seen in PETA never failed to entertain, to inform, and to inquire. I think THREEPENNY's use of the padyak (the bicycle with a sidecar) and WILLIAM's use of the bangko (stool) worked very well, as it was executed very well. Would like to thank PETA for being accommodating. Twas nice that the compli tickets are VIP seats. Ended this day signing the conforme re: the said contest, eating somewhere, and going home with a satisfied appetite--not just because of good food, but because of the production.

Then, Sunday strikes with a storm amidst the relatively sunny (fuck yeah, twas really sunday!) day. What a way to end this blast with a cynical blast because of realizations I should have realized and I should have accepted. Things I can't talk about. Yak. Drama. Anyway, off to wherever. Something is gonna start soon. A lot still needs to be done. And to end with optimism, good thing that Monday brought good news. The Quarterly Bathroom Companion Comics Compendium was nominated for best cover [link] and for grassroot award [link], at the KOMIKON 2011 awards. Lifted this image from the link:

You may search the carcosite for the colored version of my QBCCC entry 5-minute matrescapist in reverse - 5MMiRV [You may start "reading" it here]. Collaborative komix w Alyza Taguilaso, Fragments in Which We Are-- [You may peek here] shall be in QBCCC #2, which shall be available at the next Komikon. QBCCC is edited by Josel Nicolas, DJ Legaspi and Mervin Malonzo (who made the cover for QBCCC#1).

For international solidarity with Chile, Tilde. (A lame effort to attention-whore. Yes, fangurling hasn't ended yet. Sorry if it bothers you. Thanks for dropping by.)

31-DAY WRITING CHALLENGE (BREAK) # 009 - Isko't Iska 2011 ALERT: Massive FEEnomena [playbill cover study]

Yung post ko ho para sa araw na ito para sa e.. repost. [Ito] ho ang salin ng tula ni Brecht. Posted a day before nagsimulang sumabak sa hamon (sa sarili). Bukas ho, tatlong prosa ako, pramis! Anyway, sheshare ko ho itong disenyo para sa Isko't Isko 2011 ALERT: Massive FEEnomena. Nga pala, [andito] cover na ninakawan, kinupal, winalangya pinagkunan ng disenyo ng pabalat.

Libre ho ang play na ito. Ika-25 ng Agosto (NCAS Auditorium) at ika-08 ika-09 ng Setyembre (DL Umali Auditorium) sa paanan ni Makiling sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas Los Baños. [Andito] po ang teasers noong 2008 kung trip nyo tignan.

Er.. Hindi ko alam kung bat walang nangyayari kahit iclick ang larawan at kung bakit ayaw magzoom-in :| Ipopost ko na lang itong harap para mabasa ang speech balloon (quotable quotes ho iyan mula sa script ng mismong dula):

Ugh. Badtrip. Something's wrong. Hindi ata click-able yung images to zoom-in. I did what I can. :| Kainis. Sensya na ho. OR baka temporary glitch. Ngayon kasi e.. Okay na, at pwede na magzoom-in sa unang image--kaka-try ko lang :|

PETA: HU ART DAW SHAKESPEARE ICONTEST

I'd keep this post short. Still overwhelmed. Can't believe my entry won, not because of popularity, but because of the aesthete of the judges. Salamat sa mga bumoto. Salamat din sa Philippine Educational Theater Association. Dalwandaang boto ang leading sa "likes" o "votes." Dalawandaan. 670-470! Kaya parang-- Woah. Okay, sabi ko I'll keep this short. Thanksalot ho ulet. Sinecond thought ako re: pagjoin ng mga kontest na may "like" factor. Parang gusto ko ulit mag-try. *end of message*

Today's Ironies x Father's Day X QBCCColour

Besides this article about faux revolutionaries being written by a, say, free radical, well there are other things I find interesting today. Let me cite three: 1) the said article; 2) Rizal Day x Father's Day; and 3) how my gut feels (very relevant!).

I have read the article yesterday but I do not feel like saying a lot about it then, so, here it is with other unsolicited commentaries. If you have read the article (or "praise release" perhaps?), you'll notice how the last paragraph lost of its track and became its own Frankenstein. As Nietzsche said, "He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster." (I think we've all become monsters at some point but *stalling here*) Oh, the horror of ending an anti-hipster piece with an invitation to a very radical and very revolutionary event, ie Rock Ed's celebration of national super hero Rizal's 150th birthday!

Takes me back during my college days when there were, as far as I remember, issues with Rock Ed discouraging--on-stage! on the February Fair stage! the stage that was historically where protests are, well, staged against the tyrant who is to be buried like a hero!--(I am not sure if this was XL's or Chaba's University Student Council term)--let's rewind a bit since I've been agitated once again, here's what they did, as far as I can recall: Rock Ed discouraged students to join the mass movement, saying something like if you can't go rah rah rah with raised fists on the streets, you can struggle in your own way, and take pictures of yourselves as advocates of things like global warming and animal cruelty and other cool stuff, where stuff are revolutionary causes. That was very Iskolar para sa bayan, very turn-off-your-lights-for-the-earth-hour-ish. But this is not to discredit efforts to contribute to a cause. This is to shatter romanticism that does not cause any good but serve the vanity of the advocates. Cant explain any further. I think much has been written about being advocates of something but remaining comfortable--which, again, is not that bad at all (or not THAT bad). Just, fuck the romanticism out of it. Here are remarkable ones that I have managed to remember without bookmarking them. Google and my weak memory are powerful enough to locate these articles. See more about social networking activism here (Malcolm Gladwell), slacktivakism here, and green revolution things x charity here (RSA x Slavoj Zizek).

Next stop: Rizal x the capitalists' strategy to make us spend more-->Father's Day. I've been skeptic with these er.. happy days of celebrations that seem to be increasing every year. Anyway, don't you find that ironic? Rizal did not legitimately father any child (if he did, please do tell me and I'll strikethrough this paragraph, oh, yes! Hitler, among others! striking through!) and here is his birthday coinciding with Father's day. Or, maybe, he is more fatherly because he did not know who, or where, or how his children are. Being more fatherly is more manly. Having an international array of "chics" makes him er.. manlier, which does not sound right. This is not going anywhere anymore, so, I'll stop the irony under consideration here and greet Dr. Jose P. Rizal with that viral image up there (source) that made a lot of peope I know ROFL and LOL.

Lastly, something that matters most! How nauseated I am. I feel like er... puking though I have not eaten a lot lately. I usually feel this when I feel sick and emo about things, but this time, I am surprised with this familiar nauseating feeling that does not have anything to do with being tired of life and all those teenage angst--I am, in fact, feeling like high with the life that I think I have. And, I haven't even been drinking coffee, yet my gut feels er...disturbed--so disturbed that I feel like it would throw up anything that attempts entry. I used to blame caffeine for this nauseating sensation or whatever this is supposed to be termed. Caffeine is not the culprit, then. Now, I have to suspect someone and something, and blame that someone or something so I could point out and explain why I feel the way I feel. Why do I have to do these things again? Anyway

here's panels 5 & 6 following this post that followed this post:

a lengthy postscript: if it were true the youth were the hope of the people shackled by this system (according to Rizal), why detain the youth, Mr. President? (kung ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan, bakit sila nasa kulungan?)

Let me end with another irony, hence this: "BREAKING NEWS: 8 individuals including 5 UPLB student leaders are currently detained in Calamba following a lightning rally held during the commemoration rights of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal. President Aquino was present in the event when students Mikel Mozo (Anakbayan UPLB), Cathy Gigantone (Gabriela Youth UPLB), Bhen Aguihon (League of Filipino Students-UPLB), Ynik Ante (University Student Council-UPLB), Ruffa Solano (National Union of Students of the Philippines-ST) and 2 members of Anakpawis and a non-affiliated individual express disgust on Aquino's anti-people policies. For more information, contact Julienne Urrea (09234690340) or Pau Bautista (09161483935) of Kabataan Partylist-ST. PLEASE SHARE."

Click here for updates, but you'll need an FB account.

Click here for Kabataan Partylist-Southern Tagalog's press release.

Click here for news of Aquino's commemorating Rizal--and detaining the Youth.

(Edited this post at 04:38 the next day 06202011. And they are still detained. here are updates re: how the turn of events went so you wouldn't have to use facebook:

BREAKING NEWS (as of 10:30): 8 individuals including 5 UPLB student leaders are currently detained in Calamba following a lightning rally held during the commemoration rights of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Dr. Jose Rizal. President Aquino was present in the event when students Mikel Mozo (Anakbayan UPLB), Cathy Gigantone (Gabriela Youth UPLB), Bhen Aguihon (League of Filipino Students-UPLB), Ynik Ante (University Student Council-UPLB), Ruffa Solano (National Union of Students of the Philippines-ST) and 2 members of Anakpawis and a non-affiliated individual express disgust on Aquino's anti-people policies. For more information, contact Julienne Urrea (09234690340) or Pau Bautista (09161483935) of Kabataan Partylist-ST. PLEASE SHARE.

UPDATE (as of 13:30): PNP Calamba files alarm and grave scandal against 7 activists--5 from Kabataan Partylist-UPLB and 2 from Anakpawis-Southern Tagalog today following a lightning rally held during the commemoration rites of Rizal's 150th birth anniversary."We condemn the trumped up charges filed against our members whose only crime is to expose and oppose social injustices under the Aquino regime. If Rizal were alive today, he would have joined our ranks in expressing dissent against this repressive state," Julienne Urrea of Kabataan Partylist-UPLB.

UPDATE (as of 14:45): 5 members of Kabataan Partylist-UPLB and 2 members of Anakpawis-Southern Tagalog are now under medical examination. Meanwhile, BAYAN-ST led condemnation rally is being held at the gates of Calamba City Hall. Reference: Pau Bautista (09161483935)

UPDATE (as of 15:00): "As of 3:00PM today, the 7 individuals remain detained and are filed with charges of alarm and grave scandal case and are requiring each a P6000 bail. “We will not give in to these conditions that only disregard the heroic role of the youth. We call on everyone to show support and join us in calling for their immediate release. History has taught us that nothing else but the Filipino people’s collective action can create genuine change,” Bautista stressed." Lifted from the Press Release of Kabataan Partylist-Southern Tagalog.)

Kritika Kultura Omnibus + QBCCC panel

Check out the omnibus pdf of the first issue of the Kritika Kultura Anthology of New Philippine Writing in English. Download it here. More KK info and links here. Pasasalamat ulit sa editors Mark Cayanan, Conchitina Cruz at Adam David.

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To whom it may concern, I have recently changed my email address to tilde.acuna@gmail.com and I have (temporarily?) restored my FB account. I will try to access other email accounts from time to time, but to be sure, please send your concerns to the aforementioned email address. To collaborators and clients (naks, amfeeling!), I am still working on things. Please do bear with me. Thank you.

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For an illusion of productivity, here's a panel from my contribution titled "PSR:5MMiRV" to the Quarterly Bathroom Companion Comics Compendium Vol. 1. I shall publish the whole three-page silent komiks online soon. Maybe. See the link to the tumblr acct of QBCCC at the carcasses tab because I am too lazy to link. Salamat kina Josel Nicolas, DJ Legaspi at Mervin Malonzo.:

RIGHTS v.3 / QBCCC Plug

This is only a preview for the entry of Tilde and Mikel Mozo. Here's the original intro lifted from the call for submission of Artists' Arrest:

"The Southern Tagalog Exposure and ARTISTS’ ARREST “Artists Response to the Call for Social Change and Transformation,” in cooperation with KARAPATAN-Southern Tagalog and the FREE JONAS BURGOS MOVEMENT is now organizing the third installment of the “RIGHTS” project - a compendium of short videos intended to increase awareness and rally support behind the respect for human rights. RIGHTS was designed as a continuing project. It has successfully produced 2 volumes containing the works of budding and established filmmakers alike."

The FACTSHEET 43 Art exhibit left One Caldi Place, UPLB. I think it is in Sagada this week, then it shall later rest in Baguio City for another week. Please visit the UPLB Zoom Out Multimedia Collective Page for further details about these activities. Along with the premiere of RIGHTS v.3 shall be the opening of another FACTSHEET in December. These films and artworks shall also be brought to UPLB soon. Abangan!

Got the image here. The fanpage here. The preview here. More info here. The Quarterly Bathroom Companion Comics Compendium, available at the November 13 Komikon. Starmall. Tickets at 80php [?].

Factsheet 43 and Sigwa @ UPLB

The Factsheet 43 art exhibit, for the benefit of the Morong 43 healthworkers would be showcased at the University of the Philippines Los Banos, in One Caldi Place on September 13 2010. While on September 21, there would be a film showing of “SIGWA” (Rage…of Perils and Hopes), a film by Joel Lamangan and written by Boni Ilagan--an "Official entry to the Cinemalaya 2010, a Top Grosser of the Cinemalaya 2010, a film Graded “A” by Cinema Evaluation Board-MTRCB." Attached herein, from UPLB Zoomout Multimedia collective, are the press releases and related images of the mentioned events:

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Art imitates life, particularly that of the illegally arrested health workers, in Fact Sheet 43: 43 Artists for the 43 Health Workers. Fact Sheet derives its title from the document prepared by paralegal and human rights volunteers in relation to reported cases of human right violations. The exhibit reflects the artist's interpretation of what is contained in the real fact sheets, which are otherwise unaccounted or discounted by state forces.

For two consecutive years, Fact Sheet has regularly been exhibited every December in time for the commemoration ofthe International Human Rights month. However in 2010, the group saw the urgency to mount the exhibit early in the year following the illegal and arbitrary arrest of 43 health workers, composed of professional and volunteer doctors, nurses and paramedics, in the middle of their health training in Morong, Rizal. Collectively known as 'Morong 43', the health workers were arrested allegedly for their affiliation with progressive groups. Based on the victims' accounts,they were subjected to various type of mental and physical torture in the hands of the military while in Camp Capinpin.

Despite growing clamor by the local and international communities to release the health workers, the 43 remained incarcerated and are facing non-bailable and dubious case of illegal possession of explosives. In particular, the artists, together with the family of the health workers appeal to the new administration to immediately release the 43and litigate those responsible for the violations against them.

Fact Sheet 43, which has already been exhibited invarious galleries and public areas in Manila, will attempt to sow creative and emotional revelation about the human rights situation in the country through visual arts.

Martial Law has ended almost three decades ago but gross human rights violations have persisted to this day. In fact, violations of civil and political rights have even worsened now than the Martial Law era.

The human rights group KARAPATAN has accounted more than 1,000 victims of extrajudicial killings, 207 victims of enforced disappearances, and 217 political detainees during the nine-year regime of former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Alongside these direct assaults are growing cases of torture, hamletting, and violence against women and children among many other forms of human rights atrocities. Many of the victims are members and leaders of progressive and militant organizations, which are critical to the Arroyoregime. Even artists and filmmakers were not spared from this.

This pattern of impunity against progressive groups has extended to the new regime,wherein a total of 6 victims of extra-judicial killings have been accounted in less than a month under President Noynoy Aquino.

In light with the commemoration of Martial Law this September, various groups and cultural workers will have the nationwide screening of 'Sigwa', a Cinemalaya 2010 film directed by Joel Lamangan; written by Bonifacio Ilagan; and starred by Dawn Zulueta, Zsa Zsa Padilla, and Tirso Cruz III among others. In theSouthern Tagalog region, the 'Sigwa' screening is slated on September 21 at theNCAS Auditorium, UP Los Banos; a forum-discussion will follow shortly after the screening. Sigwa hopes to educate students on the human rights situation,especially during Martial Law.

As a regional event, the proponents are sounding the call to all institutions, organizations, and schools in the region to support the activity by attending and publicizing the film screening. As a pioneering activity, this is an open and continuing call to all youth, filmmakers, and members in the academe to defend and uphold human rights. Recognizing the power and reach of films, weare optimistic that in one-way or another, we can sow resistance among the public against attempts to curtail their human rights.

Two National Artists on the Revolution

Found this while attempting to write something. Nope, I do not think the true revolution begins in the imagination--as I have read somewhere. I think, it began on the material condition of a colonized country--a particular class of the colony, where a certain Andres Bonifacio led an armed revolution. Anyway, I am not really into writing something lengthy. I just want to share this exchange of ideas between two national artists for literature. The first attachment is Dr. Lumbera's response to the speech delivered by F. Sionil Jose, when I was still a University n00b--or er.. a freshman, rather.

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‘Nagsimula na ang rebolusyon’ (a transcription)

Professor Emeritus Bienvenido Lumbera [source]

Nang matanggap ko ang kay Frankie na abstract, ang una kong reaksyon ay bakit sa kanyang pagsasabi na ang kanyang papaksain ay ang University of the Philippines and the Revolution, tila nakalimutan niya na nagsimula na ang rebolusyon na kanyang hinahanap, na sa mga huling taon ng Dekada ‘70 ay lumitaw ang isang kilusan na ang layunin ay agawin ang kapangyarihan mula sa kamay ng mga naghaharing uri upang mabigyan ang mga Pilipino ng tunay na kalayaan at ng demokrasya. Para bang ang hinihingi niya ay for UP to reinvent the revolution dahil sa kanya ang rebolusyon ay tinawag niyang nationalist, at sa kanyang pagpapaliwanag kanina, binanggit niya ang pangalan ni Bonifacio at kanyang sinabi na tila pagkakamali ni Jose Maria Sison na siya ay tumanaw sa Tsina upang humango ng ideolohiya na magiging tuntungan ng rebolusyon na kanyang nilalayon.

Ngayon, kung ating babalikan ang kasaysayan ng UP at ang relasyon nito sa rebolusyon, makikita natin na ‘yung tinatawag na First Quarter Storm ay isang panimulang hakbang ng mga kabataang nasa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas kaugnay ang iba pang kabataan sa iba pang unibersidad na simulan ang pag-agaw ng kapangyarihan mula sa kamay ng naghaharing uri, na sa pananalita ni Frankie ay ang elite ng Pilipinas. Sa hanay ng mga estudyante na naging bahagi ng FQS, totoo na mayroong mga lider na bumaliktad at ito ay isang bagay na hindi kataka-taka, dahil sa kasaysayan ng anumang rebolusyonaryong kilusan, habang tumatakbo ang panahon at kilusan, mayroong mga lider na tunay na bumabaliktad, pero ating pakasusuriin ang mga taong naging bahagi ng FQS. Marami sa kanila ang nagpatuloy at hanggang ngayon ay nasa kilusang pambansang demokrasya, na ang kanilang pinanghahawakang mga prinsipyo ay mga prinsipyo na kanilang natutunan sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas bukod pa sa kanilang pag-aaral ng iba pang kaisipan mula sa ibang bansa.

So, hirap kong tanggapin na may bagong rebolusyon na dapat harapin ang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas. At ito ay tinatawag niyang nationalist revolution.

Ang isa pang okasyon na ipinamalas ng UP ang kanyang rebolusyonaryong orientasyon ay ang Diliman Commune. Totoo na ang Diliman Commune ay naging tampulan ng maraming puna ng mga intelektwal, ng mga lider ng bansa, dahil sa mga kalabisan o pagmamalabis na nangyari noong panahon ng Diliman Commune. Pero iyon ay isang matatawag nating necessary step, necessary preparation for stepping up a revolutionary movement.

Matatandaan din natin na noong panahon ng martial law, isang panahon na ang media ay kontrolado ng estado, sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas lamang nanatiling buhay ang tinatawag nating freedom of the press, dahil sa pamamagitan ng Collegian at Diliman Review ay napaabot sa mga tao ang mga kaisipan na hindi pinapayagang malathala sa mga medyang kontrolado ng gobyerno.

Ang tatlong bagay na ito ay pagpapatunay na mayroon nang rebolusyon na nasimulan at nilahukan ang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas at hindi na kailangan na umibento tayong muli ng isa pang rebolusyon upang maganap ang pagbabagong hinahangad ng mga Pilipino. Sa pananalita ni Frankie—na medyo hindi kapani-paniwala para sa akin—‘yung kanyang pagsasabi na hindi siya naniniwala na kailanman ay magtatagumpay ang isang rebolusyong pinamumunuan ng mga komunista, dahil aniya, ang mga komunista ay katulad din ng mga liderato natin na may ego at paghahangad na itampok ang sarili sa halip na ang pag-ukulan ng pansin ay ang kalagayan ng masa.

Sa palagay ko, mahirap nating tuunan na mayroon na kaagad na parameters na ang isang revolutionary movement ay kinakailangang obserbahan. Ang tunay na rebolusyonaryo ay laging handang baguhin ang pagkilos, baguhin ang mga panukala, upang umangkop sa kalagayan at mapagtagumpayan ang lahat ng balakid sa rebolusyon. Kaya ‘yung inherent prejudice ni Frankie sa kilusan na pinamumunuan ng Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas ay hindi dapat maging pananaw ng lahat ng mga taong naghahangad ng pagbabago sa Pilipinas.

Several months ago, mayroon akong ginawang pag-aaral sa isang nobela ni Frankie, ‘yung nobela niyang Ermita. Ang Ermita ay isang nobela tungkol sa isang babaeng naging puta dahil gusto niyang maghiganti sa mga elite na nagtulak sa kanya upang mapabilang sa mga mahirap, ‘yung pamilya ng driver noong mayamang pamilya. Doon sa nobelang iyon, isang pagkakataon, minor plot point pero mayroong isang kabataang babae, anak ng isang dating puta, ang pangalan ay Lily, na bigla na lamang nawala. At ‘yung nanay ng kabataan ay nag-usisa, nagtanong sa maraming tao, pagkatapos ay inireport doon sa pangunahing tauhan na si Ermita, na nawawala ang kanyang anak. Ngayon, alam na noong si Ermita na ang anak ng babaeng ito ay namundok at sumali sa NPA. Ang sabi ng pangunahing tauhan ni Frankie, si Ermita, doon sa nanay, “Alam mo, dapat mong ipagmalaki ang iyong anak kasi ang ginawa niya ay isang bagay na dapat ay ginawa ko rin noong ako ay bata-bata pa.” So, wari, sa tingin ko, nandoon sa likod ng consciousness ni Frankie na mayroong magagawa ang isang rebolusyon na sinapian ni Lily. Ang nobela ay naganap noong martial law—ang lahat ng mga aksyon ay nangyari noong martial law—at ang kabataang ito ay nagsimula bilang aktibista, inililihim sa kanyang magulang ang kanyang pagiging aktibista hanggang magsuspetsa ang nanay na marahil ang kanyang anak ay nagpuputa na rin. Kaya nabahala masyado ang nanay at inireport doon kay Ermita. At si Ermita ang nagsiyasat kung ano ang talagang nangyari sa bata. Natuklasan nga niya na naging aktibista ang bata. Nag-usap sila, sinabi ng bata na siya ay natutong magsinungaling sa kanyang ina dahil alam niya na di siya mauunawaan ng kanyang nanay sa kanyang pagpapasya na sumali sa mga demonstrasyon at mga rally. Ngayon, nang mamundok si Lily, doon nga sinabi ni Ermita na ‘yon ay dapat ginawa na rin niya. Kaya tila sa tingin ko mayroon ding pagkilala sa nobela ni Frankie na mayroong maibubungang mabuti itong pagsali ni Lily sa kilusang rebolusyonaryo.

Ngayon, sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas, bagama’t binanggit ko ang tatlong pangyayari na nagpapakita ng kaugnayan ng UP at ng rebolusyon, makikita natin na pagkaraan ng Edsa, nagkaroon ng paghupa ng revolutionary fervor sa hanay ng mga estudyante at ‘di lamang ng mga estudyante kundi pati sa hanay ng mga guro. Ang pinakahuling manipestasyon nito, at palagay ko isang bagay ito na dapat ungkatin dahil may kinalaman ito sa nationalist revolution: Nang magkaroon ng muling pagsisiyasat sa general education curriculum, ang isang kapansin-pansin ay ang pagtatanggal ng mga kurso na siyang pinaka-votive power ng nationalism sa ating Unibersidad, at ito ay ang pag-aaral ng kasaysayan ng Pilipinas at ang pag-uukol ng pansin sa mga usapin na may kaugnayan sa kalagayan ng Pilipinas. ‘Yung RGEP sa tingin ko ay isang manipestasyon—hindi siya mismo ang dahilan ng paghupa ng fervor kundi manipestasyon na nagkaroon na ng pagbabago sa hanay ng mga namumuno sa Unibersidad tungkol sa mga pangangailangan ng isang tunay na makabayang edukasyon. Kaya binanggit ko ito ay sa kadahilanang kung ang hinihingi natin sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas ay isang nationalist revolution, sa kasalukuyang takbo ng mga patakaran sa ating Unibersidad, tila hindi na mangyayari iyon. Inaasahan natin na magkakaroon ng muling pagsusuri sa kalagayan ng Unibersidad ng Pilipinas at sa mga darating na araw ay maibabalik ang pagkilala sa kasaysayan ng Pilipinas bilang isang susing aralin sa Unibersidad upang mapatingkad ang nasyonalismo sa ating bansa.

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REVOLUTION & UP [source]

(Speech delivered by the F. Sionil Jose at UP Diliman on Nov 23, 2004)

What is an old man like myself doing here, talking about revolution? Hindsight is the lowest form of wisdom. I can tell you what it was like when your campus was nothing but cogon waste, when all those trees that line your streets were just saplings.

I can tell you also, why we were left behind by all our neighbors when in the Fifties and the Sixties we were the richest, most progressive country in the region, when Seoul and Tokyo were ravaged by war; Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta were mere kampongs; when Bangkok was a sleepy town crisscrossed by canals. I never

was in China till 1979, but I know in the Forties that country was always threatened by famine. It had a population then of only half a billion. Now, with more than a billion people famine is no longer a threat, although hunger still lurks in some of its distant regions.

Hunger has always been with some of us, too, but not as much as it now when so many poor Filipinos eat only once a day. Altanghap, I wonder how many of you know what that word means.

So then, why are we poor? Why do women flee to foreign cities to work as housemaids, as prostitutes?

We are poor because we have lost our ethical moorings, despite of those massive religious rallies of El Shaddai, those neo-gothic churches of the Iglesia ni Kristo sprouting all over the country, in spite of the nearly 400 years of Catholic evangelization.

How can we build an ethical society? We must remember that so-called values are neutral -- that so much depends on how people use them. James Fallows' thesis on our damaged culture, which many of us understand, is neither permanent nor inherent.

Ramon Magsaysay infused public life in the Fifties with discipline and morality, Arsenio Lacson as mayor of Manila cleaned up City Hall. Even today, shining examples of honesty among in our public officials exist, but they are few and far between and they are not institutionalized.

And it is precisely here where the university comes in with its courses in the humanities.

Of all the arts, only literature teaches us ethics. Literature presents us with problems, complex equations that deal with the human spirit and how often the choice between right and wrong is made. In this process, we are compelled to use our conscience, to validate the choices we make, and render the meaning, the

pith of our existence.

The university then is the real cathedral of a nation, and its humanities, particularly its literature department, the altar. But how many possess this sense of worth and mission?

To know ourselves, to make good and proper use of our consciences, we must know our own history. So few of us do, in fact, we nurture no sense of the past.

If our teachers know our history, if they soak it in their bones, then it follows that they also impart this very same marrow to their students.

If this is so, how come that when Bongbong Marcos visited Diliman sometime ago, he was mobbed by students who wanted his autograph? How come that in La Salle, business students cited Marcos as the best President this country ever had?

Not too long ago, I spoke before freshmen at the Ateneo and was told that since so many practice bribery, it must be right, or how could anyone get things done if palms are not greased?

In this university are professors who served Marcos. Have they ever been asked what their role was?

We are poor because we are not moral. Can this immorality as evidenced by widespread corruption be quantified? Yes, about P23 billion a year is lost, according to NGO estimates.

We are poor because we have no sense of history, and therefore, no sense of nation. The nationalism that was preached to my generation by Claro M. Recto and Lorenzo Tanada was phony; how could they have convinced so many intellectuals to analyze that inward, socially meaningless nationalism.

Recto and Tanada opposed agrarian reform, the single most important political act that could have lifted this country then from poverty and released the peasantry from its centuries-old bondage.

We are poor because our elite from way back had no sense of nation -- they collaborated with whoever ruled the Spaniards, the Japanese, the Americans and in recent times, Marcos. Our elite imbibed the values of the colonizer.

And worst of all, these wealthy Filipinos did not modernize this country - they sent abroad their wealth distilled from the blood and sweat of our poor. The rich Chinese to China, to Taiwan, to Hong Kong, the rich mestizos to Europe and the rich Indios like Marcos to Switzerland and the United States -- money that

could have developed this nation.

How do we end this shameless domestic colonialism? The ballot failed; the bullet then ? How else but through the cleansing power of revolution. Make no mistake about it -- revolution means the transfer of power from the decadent upper classes to the lower classes. Revolution is class war whose objective is justice

and freedom.

Who will form the vanguard of change? Who else but the very people who will benefit from it.

Listen, when I was researching for my novel POON at the New York Public Library, I came across photographs of our soldiers of the 1896 revolution felled in their trenches by American guns. I looked closely and found that most of them were barefoot. They were peasants.

The peasant is the truest nationalist. He works the land with his hands, he knows instinctively what the term Motherland means. He loves this earth, even worships it. The Ilocano farmer calls it Apo Daga.

But never romanticize the poor. Once, a group of PhDs lamented the futility of their efforts in organizing and motivating them. When the elections came that year, the poor sold their votes or voted for Erap.

Understand why they are often lazy, contemptible, fawning, cheating and stealing. Imagine yourself not having a centavo in your pocket now, and you don't know if you will eat tonight. There is nothing honorable about poverty -- it is totally dehumanizing and degrading. But once the very poor are roused from

their stupor, they become the bravest, the most steadfast. Remember, those Watawat ng Lahi followers felled by Constabulary guns on Taft Avenue in 1965? They believed that with their faith they were invincible.

It is with such faith and righteousness that our peasants rebelled in living memory, the Colorums in 1931, the Sakdals in 1935, and the Huks in 1949-53.

The Moro rebellion, the New People's Army -- the cadres of both are from our very poor, just like it was in 1896. And now, here is the most tragic contradiction in our country. Our Armed Forces -- its officers corps -- many come from the lower classes, too; they go to their exalted positions through public examinations and entry to the Philippine Military Academy. Our Armed Forces enlisted men -- most of them come from the very poor.

When the poor kill the poor, who profits?

THE IDEOLOGY OF THE REVOLUTIONS

Revolution starts in the mind and heart. It alters attitudes to enable us to think beyond ourselves, family and ethnicity to encompass the whole nation. If the communists win, and I don't think they ever will, they will rule just as badly because they are Filipinos unable to go beyond barnacled habits of mind, hostage as they always are to friends and family and to towering egos. The same egos aborted the revolution in 1896, the EDSA revolution in 1986, and now, we see the same egos wrecking havoc on the Communist Party. We see these egos eroding our already rotten political system.

The core belief that should guide us in redeeming our unhappy country is in our history, in our peasantry. It is not in textbooks, in foreign intellectual idols, in Marx. And what is this ideology which Bonifacio believed in? Which those barefoot soldiers killed by the Americans believed in? Pedro Close, the peasant leader who led the Colored uprising in Taut, Parnassian in 1931, said is this: "God resides in every man. God created earth, water and air for all men. It is against God's laws for one family or one group to own them."

God and country; translate this belief into your own words and there you have it in its simplest terms the creed with which the unfulfilled revolution of 1896 was based, and which should be the same creed that should forge unity among us.

Who will lead the revolution?

Certainly, not the masa, but one from the masa who understands them, who will not betray them the way our leaders betrayed the masa. Estrada is the most shameful example of that leadership that betrayed.

The leaders of the revolution could be in this university who have the education, but who are not shackled by alien concepts, or the attitudes of superiority that destroy leadership. Such leaders, like Ho Chi Minh, must lead by sterling example, with integrity, courage, compassion and willingness to sacrifice, who know that when the revolution is won, it is time to change from conspirators to even better administrators, remembering that they must now work even harder to produce better and cheaper products. And this massive work of modernization can be achieved in one generation. The Koreans, Taiwanese and the Japanese did it. It is not the Confucian ethic that enabled them to do this; they understood simply the logic of government, which is service, and that of commerce, which is profit.

By what right do I have to urge revolution upon our people who will suffer it? What right do I have to urge the young to sacrifice, the poor to get even poorer, if they embrace the revolutionary creed?

I have no such right, nor will I call it such. I call it duty, duty, duty. Duty for all of us rooted in our soil, who believe that our destiny is freedom.

Not everyone can bear arms, or have the physical strength to stand up, to shout loudly about the injustices that prevail around us.

Those who cannot do these, who cannot be part of this radical movement, must not help those who enslave us. Do not give them legitimacy as so many gave legitimacy to Marcos. Recognize, identify our enemies and oppose them with all your means.

This will then test integrity, commitment.

Nobody need tell us the exorbitant cost of revolution, the lives that will be lost, senselessly even as when Pol Pot massacred thousands of his own countrymen in Cambodia. We who lived through the Japanese Occupation know what hunger, fear and flight mean.

Joseph Conrad, Albert Camus and Jose Rizal -- writers I admire deeply, all warned against revolution because it breeds tyrants, becaust it does not always bring change. But look around us, at the thousands of Filipinos who are debased and hungry, who are denied justice. Be shamed if you don't act. And as Salud Algabre, the Sakdal general said in 1935, "No rebellion fails. Each is a step in the right direction."

Revolution need not even have to be bloody. How many lives were lost at Edsa 1? Not even 20. So Cory goes around telling the world that she had restored democracy in the Philippines. Sure enough, we know have free elections, free speech, free assembly but these are the empty shells of democratic institutions because the real essence of democracy does not exist here. And that real essence is in the stomach -- as when the taxi driver in Tokyo eats the same sashimi as the Japanese emperor, or the bus driver in Washington who can eat the same steak as President Bush in the White House. Contrast these with that jobless Cavite laborer whose two children died because he fed them garbage. No, Cory Aquino's EDSA revolution could not even have our garbage properly collected. Worse, 19 farmer demonstrators were killed near Malacanang because she refused to see

them. True to her oligarchic class, she declared a revolutionary government without doing anything revolutionary; instead, she turned Edsa 1 into a restoration of the old oligarchy. So today, we are reaping the results of her negligence, ignorance and folly.

Yet, even capitalism can be very helpful. South Korea is a very good example of how capital was formed by corruption, and how a single-minded general lifted that nation from the ashes of the Koren War, into the thriving economy, which Korea is today.

Remember the slogans of American capitalism -- a chicken in every pot, a Ford in every garage. Money is like fertilizer -- to do any good it must be spread around. Those robber barons at the turn of the 19th century were rapacious, they exploited their worker, but they built industries, railroads, banks, the sinews

of American capitalism. And the most important thing - they kept their money home to develop America. Unlike our rich Chinese, our rich mestizos and the likes of Marcos who sent their money abroad to keep us poor. They are the enemy.

It has been said again and again that we are, indeed, a young nation compared with other Asian countries whose august civilizations date back to 2,000 years or more. Indeed, so are the Filipinos who shaped this nation --- those who led the revolution against Spain -- they were all young, like you are, in their 20s

or early 30s. Rizal was 34 when he was martyred.

How then do we keep young without having to grow old only to see the fire in our having to grow old only to see the fire in our minds and hearts die? How does the nation's leading university maintain its vitality, its youth against the ravages of consumerism, of globalism?

How else but to keep the mind ever healthy, ever alive by empowering it with those ideas that nurture change and revolution itself, by ingesting the technological age so that we can use technology for realizing our ideals.

How else but to embrace the ideas that make us doubt technology, society, even revolution itself, but never, never about who we are, what we should do and hope to be.

We cannot be beholden to any other nation. Jose Maria Sison doomed his revolution when he turned to China for assistance; he ignored the "objective reality" -- the latent anti-Chinese feeling among Filipinos, in fact among all Southeast Asians who fear a Chinese hegemony.

We must mold our own destiny, infusing it with the strength of a sovereign people. The Americans, the English, French, Russians, Cubans, Chinese, and Vietnamese -- all achieved their unique revolutions. We must have our very own, defined only by us.

How to build it, direct it, use it for the betterment of our lives, the flowering of liberty -- I see all these as the major function of the university which, after all, shapes our leaders. I pray that UP will graduate the best

doctors, the best engineers, the best teachers, the best bureaucrats. The revolution needs them all. But most of all, let this university of the people produce the ultimate modernizer, the heroic nationalist revolutionary -- we need him most of all.