The most common misconceptions in
the subject of activism and student activist, range from heroic to hideous,
plausibly fearless to totally dark, and, more often than not, from effective
and radical to entirely pointless and pathetic.
Student activism has served as a
significant political force in the history of the Philippines. Over the
decades, student activists have become the forefront of the mass, catalyzing
the call for societal change, even risking consequences for the betterment of
the society. They are the faction of students, who choose not to limit
themselves only inside the classroom’s four walls, but to extend their musing
to the society in need of voices to address their oppressors.
They become these voices when
they shout: for justice, for proper budget allocation, for the lives the
oppressors have unjustly taken away, as they hoist their placards of distress
in the hazy, cold rain. They walk, beads of sweat forming all over their
temples, under the burning heat of the sun, for the reason that perhaps today
only a few would fully grasp.
Students of this generation
eschew radicalism and its ways because they do not feel it is capable of
effecting change anymore. A blogger named John Ryan Recabar further elaborates
the subject of the declining radical student activism, questioning the
credibility of its blatant and ‘already-getting-old’ method, in his blog Going Against the Current[1],
and I quote:
“Have these student activist
leaders gone inarticulate, unable to properly express themselves in front of
authorities that they cloak themselves with noise, shouts, and megaphones? Have
they lost words to write their opinions and to substantiate them with research
that they turn to placards and sweeping slogans, easily seen, bigger impact,
less cerebral?”
But student activism is more than
just the rallies and demonstrations being held. It is more than just the
placards being raised, more than just the voices being exhausted, and even more
than just the sweat being vigorously spent. It is something much more abstract,
something only an open-minded person can fully grasp. Student activism is that
beacon of hope for the people calling for societal change.
Student activists are more than
just their voices because they are being forced to think critically about a lot
of things. They don’t go to rallies just because they are so emotionally
agitated by the Government, failing to attain ‘substantial research’ about an
issue. What many fail to recognize about these students is that they,
apparently, commit vast swathes of their time engaging in critical discussions
on several issues the people are currently facing.
And so these people the blogger
identifies as “narrow-minded” people are the very people who involve themselves
with discussions as they weigh the things that should and should not be done,
before they get involve in rallies. At the same time, the same
blogger further scrutinizes the reason these activists have for going to the
street, alleging that personal interests have also become one of their main
reasons for engaging in rallies.
The next statement won’t go
rebutting the allegation because it ought to be true. The answer would be a
big, fat, harmonious “yes”. Yes, student activism involves personal interest
because the issues the society are facing are the very issues these students
are facing. Yes, it becomes personal to these students because it has become
personal to the people. So personal, it gives them the will to involve
themselves – no matter how risky the methods are – in profound and critical
discussions and demonstrations.
So yes, student activism is
personal. Because the very rights these students are fighting for are those of
the people. And to them nothing is more personal than the people, because the
point of departure of genuine activism is to serve the people.
[1] Going Against the Current http://johnryanrecabar.wordpress.com/2008/08/04/on-how-my-perception-of-radical-activists-changed/
[2] Photos: Bayan Panay Facebook https://www.facebook.com/bayan.panay
