ang indibidwal at lipunan sa tradisyunal, moderno, postmoderno at postkolonyal na panitikan

Sa panahong tradisyunal (panahong hindi pa nakakarating ang siyensiya sa dalampasigan ng ating bansa), ang lipunan noon ay may mga babaeng pari o “babaylan” at may mga aliping lalaki silang binansagang “asog,” isang panlipunang kondisyon na noong bago dumating ang mga Kastila, babae ang nasa posisyon ng kapangyarihan. Sa pagdating ng mga dayuhan, nagbago ito dahil hindi ito tumutugma sa macho at patriyarkal na sosyedad ng mga Kanluranin. Ang mga Kastila ang nagpasimuno ng mga kuwento sa mga aswang upang matakot ang mga indibidwal sa mga babaeng may kapangyarihan at para binyagan sa Kristiyanismo ang mga paganong katutubong Pilipino.
Sa panitikang tradisyunal, didaktiko o may natututunan ang indibidwal sa kuwento, ayon sa humanismo na natatangi sa kultura ng mga indibidwal ng lipunan. Pinapalaganap ito sa lipunan sa pamamagitan ng pagsasalita o tradisyong oral. Ang panitikang katutubo noon ay kinakanta sa mga ritwal at kapag may namatay, kung saan ang burol ay nakagawiang kakitaan ng presentasyon ng panitikan. Dahil dito, inakusahan ng mga dayuhan katulad ni Loarca na walang panitikan ang lipunang kinabibilangan ng mga indibidwal. Dahil din hindi ito naisatitik bagkus ay sinalita lamang, madaling nabura ng mga Kastila ang panitikang ito, pinararatangan ang panitikan ng mga Pilipino na may impluwensiya ng diyablo. Ang bugtong na isang pangkaisipang ehersisyo, may mistipikasyon sa una at kasunod ay kaliwanagan, at ang salawikain naman na tungkol sa praktikal na gabay sa buhay, ay mga uri ng tradisyunal na panitikang sariling atin ngunit naisantabi sa gilid-gilid ng pangmundong lipunan. Gayunpaman, ang mga awiting pampatulog ng bata, o ang mga bugtong at salawikain mula sa teksbuk na “Hulagpos,” pahina 3, gaya ng
“Puwit ng Ita
Sinusundot ng Kastila.” (Sagot: Palayok)

“Sa langit lumura
Sa mukha tumama.”

ayon sa pagkakasunod, ay matigas at napanindigang magtagal upang maranasan ng lipunan ngayon ang panitikan tradisyunal.
Perspektibong Moderno
Sa pagbuwag ng Modernismo sa pader na nakapagitan sa “mataas” at “mababang” (popular) uri ng panitikan, ipinamukha nito sa indibidwal na sa lipunang kanyang kinabibilangan, nakasulong ang aksiyomatikong pinanghawakan din ng mga tagasunod ng Enlightenment: ang istabilisado, nauugnay, at nakikilalang sarili. Dahil ang agham ay totoo at panghabangbuhay, ito ay patnubay ng indibidwal para makamit ang pag-unlad at kabuuan; ginamit naman ang wika para ikalat ang kaalaman sa bawat indibidwal ng lipunan dahil ito ay rasyonal, malinaw at ‘di-nababagong instrumento ng agham. Ang Euro-Ingles na siyang namamayaning puwersa ng Modernidad ang nagsilang ng konsepto na lahat ay dapat maayos, siyentipiko, at nakakabuo ng pagkakakilanlan, kaya marapat na ang lipunan at ang mga indibidwal na kabahagi nito ay may manipestasyon ng Modernindad.
Lamang, dahil sa ang Pilipinas ay itinuturing na isang lipunang Oryental (dahil hindi Kanluranin), etsa-puwera ito (other) dahil hindi kakikitaan ng Modernindad: nahuhuli, piyudal, pre-moderno, pre-industriyal. Hindi makaangkop dito ang indibidwal sapagkat kakaiba (exotic) siya kumpara sa Oksidental—isang kawawang nilalang na nangangailangan ng sibilisasyon, otonomiya sa sarili, at kaayusan. Dulot nito, ang paggamit ng wikang siyentipiko sa panitikan ay isang paghubog sa indibidwal upang maiangkop niya ang kanyang sarili sa tipo ng modernong tao sa Kanluraning pananaw. Idagdag pa, hindi katanggap-tanggap na gumawa ng panitikang popular ang etsa-puwera dahil ito ay mapamahiin, barbariko, rebelde at kung gayon ay hindi nababagay sa konseptong Modernidad na gumamit man ng mga istilong pastiche, parodiya, bricolage, ironiya at ambiguity ay kakikitaan ng katuparan ng Utopia sa pamamagitan ng agham. Ang akdang “Gusali ng U.N.” ni Federico Licsi Espino, Jr (Hulagpos, p.112), isang pagkilala sa kakayanang makabuo ng pangmundong kaayusan sa pamamagitan ng isang mapag-isang institusyon gaya ng United Nations, ay isang malinaw na imahen ng modernismong gabay sa katiwasayan. Ang “Uuwi Na ang Nanay Kong si Darna!” (Hulagpos, p.452) ay may tema naman ng Overseas Filipino Workers phenomenon na sa sitwasyon ng mga premodernong bansa gaya ng Pilipinas, sa mga industrial, moderno at istabilisadong bansa makatatagpo ng siyentipikong kaunlaran at kaayusan.
Kapag nasa isang party, dapat umayon sa takbo ng batas ng lipunan. Kung hindi, tatawagin kang isang rebelde. Ang gumagawa ng mga batas na ito ay mga taong may kapangyarihan o may awtoridad para mapilitan ang mga indibidwal na sundin ito.
Perspektibong Postmoderno
Gayong gumamit pa rin ng mga istilong pastiche, parodiya, bricolage, kabalintunaan at ambiguity ang isang kilusang may bansag na “postmodernismo,” ito ay hindi sentralisado. May layunin ang postmodernismong maglapat ng dekonstruksiyon sa may-akda at sa kanyang paksa (subject), hamunin ang rason at agham at ituring ang huli bilang meta-narrative, gumamit ng master narrative at hatagan ng interogasyon ang kalikasan ng katotohanan at kapangyarihan. Sa pagdiriwang ng pragmentasyon at paggamit ng pagkakawatak upang magbuklod, ang postmodernismo ay esensyal na tumutuligsa sa moderno, sa pinatatag na “other,” sa Eurosentrismo, sa heteroseksismo, at sa diskriminasyon ng lahi—makikita sa panitikan higit kaysa ibang uri ng kilusan.
Ang lipunan sa postmodernong panitikan ay nagsisikap na hanguin ang indibidwal mula sa delusyon ng modernismong makapagbigay ng kaginhawaan sa sangkatauhan. Ginagawa ito ng lipunan para hamunin ang modernismo na nagsasaad na sa pamamagitan ng agham ang makakasagot ng lahat ng pangangailangan ng mga indibidwal. Dinakila ng mga modernista ang kanilang kilusan sa kanilang panitikan; dinadakila naman ng postmodernista ang kanilang plural na kilusan, mula pemenismo, queer theory, semiotics, at iba pa, bilang pagsubok sa liberasyon ng mga indibidwal na naisantabi dahil sa karakter na rebelde, bakla/tomboy, Magdalena, premoderno. Sa Pilipinas na hindi naman maituturing na moderno, namulaklak ang kilusan sa mga labag-sa-kaayusang panitikan. Halimbawa nito ang mga akdang “Ang Lohika ng mga Bula ng Sabon” ni Luna Sicat-Cleto (paghawak ng babae sa isang ‘di-mahawakang elemento, ang oras/sandali), “Kumain Ka Nang Kumain” ni Michael Coroza (ironiya ng pagkain na “subong-Jollibee kahit ulam ay asin”), at “Litel Mis Pilipings” (Hulagpos, p.248) ni Jim Pascual Agustin (isang paglalarawan ng babae bilang biktima ng komodipikasyon).
Sa Postmodernong panahon, sumiklab ang mga taong lumalaban sa mga kapitalista dahil sa hindi makatarungang mga kondisyong pampagawaang kabilang sila, kaya nagkaroon ng mga unyong paggawa na nag-organisa ng mga welga laban sa kanilang panginoon.
Perspektibong Postkolonyal
Ang postkolonyal na diskurso ng panitikan ay mga kasulatang na nagsasalita ng oposisyonal na kanmalayan ng mga taong ang mga pagkakakilanlan ay nagkabasag-basag, na ang mga kultura ay initsa-puwera ng mga pisikal at epistemolohikal na karahasan ng mga imperyalistang pananakop at kolonyal na mga sistema ng kaisipan. Ang mga lipunang Europeo ay kinakitaan ng malinaw na estado ng pag-unlad, mula mababa hanggang mataas na mga moda ng produksiyon o linear na mga kasaysayan, sapat sa kanila para masdan sa mas mapanlait na perspektibo ang “ibang” lipunan na kalaunan ay naging kolonya ng mga imperyalistang Europeo-Amerikano. Ang mga kolonyal na lipunan at mga indibidwal nito ay kabilang sa Oryental—eksotiko, ‘di-sibilisado, rebelde—at nangangailangan ng kulturalisasyon ng Oksidental, mula sa mga bokabularyo, institusyon, termino at iba pa, upang maging karapat-dapat na tawaging sibilisado at kompormista, kahit pa sa prosesong ito ay sisirain ang naitatag nang katutubong sibilisasyon at kahit pa hindi naman naitatanong mga Oryental kung kailangan nga nila ang tulong ng mga Kanluranin. Kalakip nito, ang mga Oryental ay nagiging Sub-Altern—isang mapanirang panawag sa mga ‘di-Kanluranin, na dahil sa heograpiya ng kanilang kapanganakan, wala silang karapatang magsalita dahil sa hindi akademiko, institusyonal, o siyentipiiko ang kanilang mga kaisipan. Ang mga ito ay hinamon ng postkolonyalismo, dahil sa pagsisikap ng mga kolonyal na kapangyarihan na lapatan ng globalisasyon ang mundo, naging matindi naman ang pangangailangan na kilalanin ang kultura ng mga naitapon sa mga gilid ng pinipilit gawing isang lipunan ang buong mundo. Ang mga dating kolonyal na lipunang gaya ng Pilipinas ay “disarticulated societies,” mga “Sub-Altern,” at sagot ng postkolonyalismo ang “cultural simultaneity” bilang pamamaraan ng artikulasyon ng mga Oryental. Naging proposisyon din ni Prof. Priscelina Patajo-Legasto ng Pamantasan ng Pilipinas, sa kanyang sanaysay na “Literature from the Margins” na magkaroon ng reteritoryalisasyon ng mga kultura, mula panitikan hanggang tradisyong katutubong Pilipino, sa napipintong globalisasyon na hindi iba kundi pagdakila sa Eurosentrikong lipunan na isinasakripisyo ang ‘di-Kanluraning lipunan.
Ang nobelang “Etsa-Puwera” ni Jun Cruz Reyes, bukod sa kanyang kagandahan bilang isang akdang pampanitikan, ay matagumpay na humabi ng kasaysayang sariling atin sa perspektibong katutubo, na naglaman ng mga karakter na etsa-puwera sa lipunan dahil sa kanilang etnikong ugat, pisikal na kapansanan, pagiging rebelde, pagkababae at iba pa, na sa tagapagkuwento ay mga bayaning hindi matatagpuan o sadyang binubura sa mga teksbuk pangkasaysayang nakasalig sa kolonyal na perspektibo.
Samantala, ang mga akdang “Laksa-laksa Bata Doon sa Bayan Namin” (Hulagpos, p.373) ni Rebecca T. Añonuevo (tumalakay sa mga batang Pilipino) at “Yumayapos ang Takipsilim” (Hulagpos, p.432) ni Genoveva Edroza-Matute (may ilang salitaang gumamit ng bernakular na wika) ay postkolonyal sa paggamit nila ng tema o wika na iba sa dominanteng perspektibong Kanluranin.
Ang analohiya ng buhay ng isang tao ay makikita sa Tradisyunal, Moderno, Postmoderno, at Postkolonyal. Sa Tradisyunal ay ipinapakita ang “baby stage.” Kinakausap tayo sa pagkanta para makatulog tayo. Sa Moderno naman, ipinapakita ang “chilhood stage,” kung saan ginagawa natin ang gusto ng ating mga magulang. Sa Postmoderno naman, ipinapakita ang “teenage stage;” dito, lumalaban tayo sa kagustuhan ng ating mga magulang, ipinaglalaban natin ang ating mga karapatan upang makuha ang ating mga gusto katulad ng mas matagal na “curfew,” kaya nagiging rebelde tayo. Sa Postkolonyal, tayo ay nagiging buung-buong tao dahil nagiging malaya tayong kilalanin ang ating mga sarili.

hanging around

How less complicated it would have been if one have only oneself to look after, without having to bother oneself of other people. One does not need to greet the acquaintances one meets along the way. One does not feel encumbered to share the problem of friends. One does not have to worry whether or not others live or die, since one has a life to worry to begin with. Absence of social connection oversimplifies everything. However, it also takes away the excitement out of life, for this setup ruins the very essence of a person as a social being.
And so it is not lost on me that it is inevitable to care for others, especially those who need extra attention because they are ill. It may seem easier if I just cared for myself, but sick people like the children I visit in the hospital incite pity that cannot just be ignored. It would have been heartless to see them cry in agony and not do anything about it, not even to grimace as they shriek in anguish. Painkillers may not really make the hurt go away all at once, but it surely provides some form of alleviation to keep them company as that appears to be a better pain reliever. Being with them to show that I care can make them feel that it’s not such a bad thing to be sick when people support all the way.
When one is sick, there is no way others can feel the excruciation one’s body is being punished of. Words fall short of description, and the contortions of the face and the body cannot adequately capture the graver, deeper torture one is experiencing. The misery must be enough for one to wish to end it all at once by dying. Death offers an escape from the torment, making it seem a lesser evil although in truth, it offers no better salvation than the slim hope one sustains when one is still alive and kicking. Since it is better to hang around in illness than to slip away altogether, it becomes more special to have someone to hang with.
And so this is what I feel when I forget myself, only to find it becoming more purposeful when I share it to others. I spend time with them in a lively talk, play with them when their condition allows them, and listen to them as they recount their woes and dreams. Whenever they hurt because of their plight, I cannot help but get hurt myself despite the fact that no amount of vicarious experience can quite put me in their exact misery. It does not matter; what is important is that I do not become altogether apathetic because that would have been too inhumane of someone in the face of others’ suffering. It is just too hard to be solely mindful of oneself when one can be mindful of others instead.
Feelings evoke not only human suffering but also human connection. People may feel ill, but this very condition may draw their fellowmen close for comfort. Only heartless people will endure others’ suffering without any real concern for mitigating this torture. I want to stay connected by hanging around with them, assuring them that things will hopefully get better. The opposite may happen, but nothing can replace the fact in the midst of the pain, each other’s hands are clasped in a symbolic picture of feeling for one another.

mga himagsik ni nick joaquin sa maikling kuwentong “may day eve”

Pamoso ang Pambansang Alagad ng Sining na si Nick Joaquin sa kanyang mga akdang sumasalamin sa kalagayan ng kapuluan ng Pilipinas noong Panahon ng mga Kastila. Isa sa mga obrang ito ang “May Day Eve,” isang kuwento ng mag-asawang nawala ang init ng pag-ibig sa isa’t isa paglaon ng oras. Bukod sa modernong istilong kapuri-puring nagamit ni Joaquin sa pagtakbo ng banghay, kapuri-puri rin ang mga kasalimuutang tinalakay sa akda. Para sa papel na ito, bibigyang-pansin ang masasalimuot na isyung nakaugnay sa sosyo-historikal na kontekstong pinagmulan ng kuwento.
Himagsik Laban sa Patriyarka
Larawan ng patriyarka ang lipunan simula pa noong bigyan ng mga Klasikong Griyego ng angat na kalagayan ang mga lalaki kumpara sa mga babae. Sa pagbalik-tanaw ni Nick Joaquin sa kasaysayan, ganito rin ang namamayaning ideyolohiya ngunit may mga pagkakataong mabubukas sa interpretasyong anti-patriyarka ang “May Day Eve.”
Isa na rito ang eksena kung saan habang inaalo ni Badoy si Agueda, kinagat ng huli ang kamay ng una. Ginawa niya ito dahil sa paghalik-halik ng binata sa kanya na mahihinuhang nagnanakaw ng pagkakataong mapagsamantalahan ang lumuluhang dalaga. Kahit mas malakas ang binata, hindi ito nakaalma nang bumaon na ang mga ngipin ng dalaga sa kanyang kamao. Dito makikita ang indikasyon na kahit lalaki pa si Badoy ay hindi magpapailalim ang babaeng si Agueda sa pananamantala ng mga lalaki sa pinakasensitibong mga kaganapan sa buhay ng mga babae.
Isa pa, kahit sa pagtagal ng buhay-may-asawa ay nawalan sina Badoy at Agueda ng pag-ibig sa isa’t isa, hindi siya tumulad sa istiryutipong mga maybahay na nanahimik na lang at ipinaubaya sa kapalaran ang pag-aasawa ng maling lalaki. Sa halip, ginamit niya ang paraan ng pagkukuwento bilang pananggalang upang makaraos sa mapait na karanasan niya sa piling ni Badoy. Ikinuwento niya sa kanyang anak kung paanong nagsimula ang pagkaakit ng mag-asawa sa isa’t isa upang sariwain ang mabuting aspeto ng kanilang pagkakasama. Ikinuwento rin niya rito ang pagkakakita umano ng demonyo sa salamin, isang uri ng therapy para huwag siyang bulagin ng magandang nakaraan at mamulat sa katotohanang nawalan na siya ng pag-ibig sa esposo. Samakatuwid, namumuhay si Agueda sa katotohanan at hindi sa palsong kamalayan ng patriyarka kung saan walang laya ang babae (malibang kamatayan) kahit hindi na siya nasisiyahan sa buhay-may-asawa. Himagsik ito laban sa patriyarka sa bisa ng pagkawala ng babae sa mga bilangguan ng lalaki.
Himagsik Laban sa Mga Pamahiin
Likas sa mga Filipino ang maniwala sa sangkatutak na mga pamahiin kahit pa sabihing isang pangunahing dahilan ito kung bakit hindi umuunlad ang bansa. Sa paniniwala sa mga bagay na walang siyentipikong basehan, nananatiling premoderno ang Pilipinas, walang pag-asang umusad sa kinasasadlakan niyang kalagayan. Ganito ang kinalabasan ng mapamahiing si Agueda: pinilit niyang alamin ang lihim ng salamin sa hatinggabi ng Mayo Uno. Kahit walang direktang ugnayan ang pagmaliw ng pag-ibig niya sa asawa at sa pamahiin, hindi maitatanggi na dahil sa pamahiin kaya sila nagkakilala at kaya hindi nagkakaroon ng pagtatapos ang istorya para sana makausad sa bukas. Himagsik ito laban sa pamahiin sa bisa ng karapatang kalimutan na ang maling paniniwala upang makasulong na nang minsanan.
Himagsik Laban sa Kalagayang Pulitikal
Dahil sa hindi nailarawan sa tagpuang pamanahon ng teksto ang noo’y namumuong pagkamulat makabansa sa totohanang buhay, tila apolitikal ang mga tauhan na hindi nakaugnay sa mas malaking aspeto ng lipunan. Oo nga at naipakitang sinuway ni Agueda ang kasanayang matulog na dahil malalim na ang gabi, hindi niya ito ginawa liban sa katotohanang oobserbahan niya ang bisa ng pamahiing makikita ang mapapangasawa sa salamin pagtuntong ng hatinggabi. Hindi ito nauugnay sa pulitika sa labas ng akda kung saan panahon na ng pagkagising ng paghahangad na lumaya sa pamamagitan ng himagsikan o na magkaroon ng reporma sa kolonyal na pamamalakad. Ang kabuuang pagkawala ng sensibilidad pampulitika sa akda ang magsasabing ironiko ang ikinikilos ng mga tauhan na mas mamatamisin pa yatang magligawan o bigyang-katuturan ang pananalamin sa gitna ng namumuong unos sa lipunan. Himagsik ito laban sa kalagayang pulitikal sa bisa ng pagtuligsa sa mga taong gaya nina Agueda at Badoy na walang pakialam sa interesanteng panahong kinalulugaran nila noong kalagitnaan ng 19 dantaon.
Himagsik Laban sa Kalagayang Panlipunan
Masasagot ang suliranin sa nagdaang parirala ng katotohanang elitista ang oryentasyon ni Badoy kaya hindi siya kakikitaan ng pagkabahala kung anuman ang nangyayari sa kapaligiran niya. Iilan lamang kasing miyembro ng nakaririwasa ang tunay na may pakikialam at iba pa rito ay nag-aalaala lamang kung paano maprepreserba ang kanilang kayamanan sakaling magkaroon ng mas malawakang panlipunang pagbabago. Sa kaso ni Agueda na dahil sa kahirapan ay hindi gaya ni Badoy na nag-aral sa Europa, isang himagsik ang nagawa niya nang mapakasal siya sa lalaking ito na angat ang estado sa buhay. Sa pagkakataong ito, hindi naging hadlang ang pagkakaiba sa estado ng babae at lalaki upang hindi sila mapag-isang-dibdib. Katunayan, himagsik ng nasa mababang-uri ang pagkakapantay sa mataas na uri sa bisa ng pagpapakasal niya rito.
Himagsik Laban sa Kolonyalismo
Isa sa mga hamon sa kolonyalismo ang buong pagkasakop sa indibidwal hanggang sa puntong hindi na nito makikilala anumang bahid ng kanyang pagkakakilanlan bago masakop. Hindi ito ang nangyari kay Badoy kahit isang paraan ng pananakop sa kanya ang paglisan sa bayang sinilangan upang matagpuan ang sarili sa bayang mananakop kung saan makakasanayan niya ang wikang mananakop, gawing mananakop, tradisyong mananakop at iba pa. Sa halip kasi na yakapin niya ang kultura ng mananakop sa ultimong desisyong mamalagi na sa Europa kung saan niya maaaring isagawa ang kanyang karera at kung saan siya maninirahan na panghabambuhay, bumalik pa rin siya sa Pilipinas dahil walang hihigit pang lokasyon maliban sa bayang pinagmulan. Sa bisa nito, himagsik ito sa kolonyalismo dahil may bahagi pa rin sa sinakop na indibidwal ang naghahangad balikan ang kanyang pagkakakilanlan.

woman, thou art loosed: a critical analysis on lu xun’s “mourning the dead”

Lu Xun’s “Mourning the Dead” is a depiction of tragedy at its best. More tragic than the ill-fated love affair between Zijun and Juansheng itself is the very fact that almost every reader might be able to feel relation to and sympathy for the protagonists and their plight. While “Mourning the Dead” is mainly described as a plain love story gone awry, its subject is much more complicated, weaving issues like the daily life struggle in China, gentle feminist subversion, and the manner people treat those who are closest to them.
Right at the onset of the story, it is made obvious that Juansheng, the narrator, experiences an enormous deal of anguish on the story he is bent on sharing. With great fondness, Juansheng reflects on his romance with Zijun, depicting it as genuine and pure, saying that he had kept almost nothing and she completely understood him. While the reader sees the development of the romance between Juansheng and Zijun, it becomes known that the two are so much in love to the extent of moving in together out of wedlock. Zijun’s living in with a man not her husband was an act of feminism, from the same person who argued that “I belong to myself! None of them has any right to interfere in my life!” in the earlier part of the story.
Although Zijun shows gestures of inspiring courage throughout the story, she yields to the strain and vulnerability of modest domestic life in the long run. Her lifestyle begins to put pressure on her emotional condition, and a disguised look of dejection or an ice-cold smile was always plastered on her face. The abrupt change in Zijun’s demeanor was probably the driving force for Juansheng to fall out of love with her, if he was ever sincerely in love with her in the first place. Juansheng had turned sad over what was earlier a happy setup, beginning to realize that “for the better part of a year now, [he] had neglected every last essential of human life for the sake of love alone—blind love. First of all, [he had] forgotten about the business of making a living. A man has to be able to make a living before he can provide a place for love to dwell.” Juansheng’s description of his love for Zijun as blind begs for the question of whether he was ever truly in love with her in the first place, or if his passion was nothing but selfish love.
It does not matter too much whether or not Juansheng was unintentionally pretending to be in love with Zijun, since once he realized he did not love her any more, he could barely control the feeling, saying that “with every word [he] spoke, [he] composed a rough draft of hypocrisy in [his] heart, and as the pages rapidly accumulated, [he] found it increasingly difficult to breathe.” This ultimately drove him to decide to confess this new development to Zijun. Expectedly, Zijun was heartbroken, and she went back to her family, leaving Juansheng “[s]houldering the burden of emptiness” and one who was to die briefly after their estrangement. After discovering Zijun’s demise, Juansheng said that “she had been fated to destruction, engulfed by the truth of the loveless world [he] had given her,” which opens the question whether it would have been better for those involved if he just lied. Juansheng traded truth for vain existence and a certain feeling of guilt, which everyone can have sympathy with. After having gone through Lu Xun’s “Mourning the Dead,” the reader is left wondering over the true meaning behind the story: should truth be told however selfish the act is and no matter how things turn out, or should happiness of the people around be preserved for its own sake?
On a different level, “Mourning the Dead” can be read in terms of Zijun’s strong-willed womanhood against the grain of the Chinese society. The Chinese traditional values disapprove premarital relations which, in fact, are considered as one major offense. The Chinese place tremendous importance on family life as they frequently live in big family units. There is a heavy value placed in following traditional norms as well as in accepting societal rules regarding the importance of the conserved structure of the family. For instance, Chinese families traditionally favored sons over daughters since a husband could divorce his wife for her incapacity to produce him a male heir. Even love is not exempted from the rules of traditional Chinese standards. The Chinese frequently perceived love and passion as a possible threat to the political and social order. As a way of repressing these epidemics of passion, rules were implemented in order to control marriage, reproduction, inheritance and the position of women. In China, Confucian philosophy taught repression of family love and marriage was frequently perceived as a business. Strict regulations on sex were dominant in that only sex within marriage for reproductive purposes was permitted. Hence, premarital and extramarital relationships were strictly forbidden.
Many of these societal norms recur as dominant themes in the story. As has been mentioned, Juansheng lived in with his former late mistress Zijun. Their moving in together outside the sanctity of marriage was not only against the will of Zijun’s family but also against the norms of the society. In the beginning, their relationship was exciting and daring but it eventually turned bleak when Juansheng lost his job as a result of his morally scandalous affair and when he honestly confessed that he was no longer in love with her. Ultimately, Juansheng was left alone missing his former happy days with his illegitimate wife as Zijun dies being implicitly unable to endure the taboo placed on her by the society.
Whereas Zijun is the representation of the female consciousness, she also represented everything that China was opposed to, like women living and thinking for themselves and going against their families and societies. Nonetheless, while Lu Xun applies his modernism by presenting a strong-minded woman, he also cautions the readers on the possibilities once this woman rebels against the traditional Chinese rules. Analogizing the revolution of the youth out of the context in which “Mourning the Dead” was produced, Lu Xun appeared to be presenting risky Chinese consciousness, stating that an extreme breakaway from the traditional values spells disaster on the rebel. Whereas Zijun was a Chinese woman and most of her struggles were at the mercy of her certain cultural values, women across the globe can relate to many of her borne difficulties like the binary of being an independent woman and of pursuing the role assigned to her by the society. In the beginning of her relationship with Juansheng, Zijun was regarded as powerful for breaking away from her family and following her heart despite strict social dictates, but as the story progressed, she grew less and less powerful, assuming the role of an exhausted, weak housewife who missed her husband’s love and days of affection that previously empowered her. She appeared to regret over not being able to enjoy what married men and women can. Probably, Zijun’s strong choice before of moving in with a man not her husband shifted to a weak choice of an inability to suppress her passion. This double-bladed sword is likewise common in Western culture. On the one hand, a woman who embraces her sexuality is deemed a strong woman while on the other hand, her sexuality is used to steal her power as well as position her at the unfair judgment and scorn of men and society.
The theme of the pain and loneliness owing to the rejection of the beloved is another that women as well as men universally can relate to. When Juansheng told Zijun that he did not love her any more, she reacted in a language spoken everywhere: that of a broken heart. “[Juansheng] anticipated the worst, but when [he] had finished there was nothing but silence. Then an ashen pallor swept across Zijun’s face and she looked as though all her life had suddenly been drained out of her—then, just as suddenly, she revived and that childlike gleam began to sparkle in her eyes again. She looked around the room like a hungry child searching for its mother. Her frightened eyes constantly shifted her gaze as she desperately sought to avoid [his]. [He] could not bear to look at her any longer.” While she is in entirely dissimilar cultural and historical locations, every reader can relate precisely to Zijun’s experience and to the hurt that only one’s beloved can wreak havoc on one. No matter how potent one once thought of oneself, weakness invades one’s body and mind due to the agony generated by the lover.
While at first glance, Zijun as well as Juansheng encountered different experiences from real people having grown up under the suppressive Chinese traditional values, at closer examination they share the same feelings and situations experienced by people the world over.
In yet another level of interpretation and analysis, Lu Xun’s “Mourning the Dead” must be considered allegorical of the Chinese people in general in an attempt to understand the text as having been produced out of the context of a Third World country. The obvious plot of the “Mourning the Dead” is one about a young lovestruck couple who live in together. What needs to be emphasized thereafter is the underpinned factors they have and the statement Lu Xun tries to articulate via understated commentary.
One such source of influence often quoted by both Zijun and Juansheng is the statements of Western authors, specifically playwright Henrik Ibsen. The citation of Western authors is a come-on for the philosophy of Westernization that is the requirement to drift away from their Oriental tradition. The manner by which the couple will drift away from the tradition is by moving in together, although Lu Xun seems to reject this decision. It is revealed to the reader via the introduction made by Juansheng: “If I am able, I shall commit my sorrow and remorse to paper, for her sake as well as my own.” The use of that negative statement cultivates an atmosphere of negative sentiments that reappears towards the end of the story.
Understandably enough, the society around the couple does not approve of the decision: [Juansheng] was often conscious of the stares [they] attracted: some were inquisitive, others derisive, some lascivious, and still others downright contemptuous.” During this time, Zijun continues to be strong and dignified of their conduct. Nonetheless, Zijun is reduced to being a routine housewife, falling under the traditional role of women. Whereas previously, she made pronouncements on the tyranny of the family, now she has assumed a place within that tyranny yet anew, under a different tyrant. This hypocrisy, nonetheless, is Juansheng’s until he transfers it to Zijun who must carry it to her death.
Juansheng speaks recurrently of wishing a fresh start in life, and that the only “hope” to attain it at that period rests on his separation from Zijun. Juansheng wants to terminate his relationship with Zijun that has been outside the appreciation of their society and to reintegrate himself into that society. Nonetheless, he experiences difficulty in doing so. Lu Xun points out that in order to assimilate themselves in their surrounding society, they would need to possess the strength to succeed in their drift from the tradition. Since they have failed, no positive outcome came of their actions. Apart from not making an impression in the social construction of the Chinese people, they, at the end of their relationship, have no capacity of reinserting themselves into this society they broke away from. Their obvious lack of respect or concern for the values of that society merited their ostracism from that very society.
Zijun is an ideal example of Lu Xun’s pessimistic representation of a modern Chinese woman. However, the author only seemed to suggest that it was necessary for Zijun and Juansheng to take tiny steps to change their society. After all, Zijun was up against a society primarily organized around a masculine norm without giving adequate attention to the specificity of her and other Chinese women’s lives and experiences. Granted that she is an Oriental woman modernized by the West, she cannot single-handedly subvert the taboos of her society no matter how ill, rotten, outmoded and shackling these are. While Lu Xun attacked ideologies concerning women’s social position that had been unquestioned for millennia, he presented in “Mourning the Dead” a Nora figure—the protagonist in a play by Lu Xun’s much-revered Ibsen—with a hollow victory: Zijun eventually returned to her family after separating from Juansheng and died in the midst of social ridicule. Nevertheless, it could be read that Lu Xun did not produce a wild woman gone wrong to advance his propaganda: the championing of women’s rights and equality in a disdainfully traditional society, as chronicled in his stories populated by important, fondly fleshed-out female characters. As a victim of the conservative society, Lu Xun’s Zijun must be urging on the reader that some form of liberation of women as a whole should be undertaken, or their downfall will be replicated and preserved by the conspiratorial and misogynist ways of the traditional society.

sa ngalan ng ratings

Sa kasalukuyan, matindi ang tinatawag na network war sa pagitan ng dalawang higanteng kumpanyang pantelebisyon sa Pilipinas, ang ABS-CBN Channel 2 at ang GMA Channel 7. Nag-uugat ito sa pagpapataasan sa viewers’ ratings ng nasabing mga korporasyong pangmidya. Katunayan, nagkakademandahan na ang dalawang network dahil sa alegasyong mga dayaan sa pagsukat ng rating ng nagawaran ng karapatan dito, ang AGB Nielsen. Diumano, kinukutsaba ng GMA 7, ang Kapuso network, ang ilang nasuhulang empleyado ng AGB Nielsen para tuntunin at subuking hikayating magpalit ng pinapanood na channel ang mga loyalista ng ABS-CBN 2, ang Kapamilya network, sa mga lungsod sa Kabisayaang Bacolod at Iloilo. Kung mangyayari nga naman ito, makapapamayani na sa rating sa mas malaking bahagdan ng bansa ang Kapuso network at hindi lamang sa Kalakhang Manila. Sa mas mataas na ratings kasi, mas makakahatak ng mga advertiser na siyang pinagkakakitaan ng mga libreng channel na nabanggit. Ngunit hindi ang puno at dulo ng bangayan ng mga network ang magiging paksa ng papel na ito bagkus ay ang puno lamang at kung paano ito nauugnay sa mga ineere sa mga programang pantelebisyon na eskandalong kinasasangkutan ng mga sikat na personalidad. Ipapakita sa papel na ginagamit ng mga programang pantelebisyon ang mga eskandalong kinasasangkutan ng mga artista upang magpataas ng kanilang ratings. Sa pagsusuri ay matatalakay pa rin ang dulo o ang paghamig ng mga advertiser bilang dahilan kaya hamon ang pagpapataas ng ratings. Lamang, kailangang malaman kung bakit interesante sa mga manonood ang mga eskandalong nagtatampok sa mga personalidad at kung anu-ano ang mga epekto ng interes na ito bukod sa pagtaas ng ratings at paghamig ng advertiser. Ito ang dahilan kung bakit mahalaga ang pag-aaral ni Douglas Kellner na “Media Culture and the Triumph of the Spectacle” sapagkat ito ang nagpaliwanag kung bakit kapanu-panood para sa mga tao ang mga ipinapalabas ng midya. Bilang pagsunod sa sinimulang yapak ni Kellner, layunin ng papel na ito na ipaliwanag ang salik ng interes ng mga tao sa mga eskandalo ng mga artista kaya pinapanood ng mga programang pantelebisyong nag-eere ng mga ito pati na ang mga epekto ng paggamit sa mga eskandalo bilang instrumentong magpapataas ng ratings ng mga programang nagpapalabas ng mga eskandalo. Ipapakita ang mga ugnayang ito sa pamamagitan ng pagtukoy sa ilang naging kasong pangkasaysayan sa lokal na telebisyon, ang salik ng anggulong pantao at ang midya bilang carnivalesque. Matapos ang nabanggit na bahagi, ipapakita naman ang epekto ng ganitong ugnayan upang mabigyan ng implikasyon ang pagtaas ng ratings dahil sa mga ineereng eskandalo.
Interesante para sa mga manonood ang mga eskandalong nagsasangkot sa mga artista kaya ipinapalabas ito ng mga programang pantelebisyon. Bilang mga pigurang pampubliko, interesante ang mga artista para sa masa. Anumang balita sa kanila, tsismis man ito o may bahid ng katotohanan, gustong malaman ng taumbayan. Kung nasasangkot pa sa eskandalo ang mga sikat na personalidad, lalo nang nagkakainteres ang mga tao. Ilan sa mga nagdaan sa mga ganitong eskandalo sina Piolo Pascual at Ethel Booba noong 2005. Sa mas malapit na nakaraan, nagkaeskandalo na rin sina Kristine Hermosa, Angel Locsin, at Marian Rivera. Lahat ng kaso nila, nagpapakita ng mga nakakakompromisong kalagayan dahil pulos sex scandals ang kinasangkutan nila. Ngunit hindi naman limitado sa isyung sekswal ang mga eskandalo; eskandaloso rin para sa mga tao ang pagkakaroon umano ng technical glitch sa isang palaro ng programang Wowowee kung saan maaaring piliin ng host ang hihilaing numero sa kahon upang papanalunin o hindi ang manlalaro. Eskandaloso rin ang mga bugbugan at murahan; sa una ay nasangkot na ang pangalan nina Richard Gutierrez samantalang sa ikalawa naman, nasangkot na ang pangalan ni Mariel Rodriguez. Sa bawat kaso ng eskandalong ito, lagi nang nakatutok ang mga programang pantelebisyon dahil maituturing itong scoop na makatatawag ng pansin ng publiko kaya makapag-aakyat ng ratings ng programa. Kada ere ng mga ganitong eskandalo, mapapansin na tumataas ang ratings ng mga programa kumpara sa mga pagkakataong hindi naeere ng mga ito, halimbawa ay kung hindi pa pumuputok ang eskandalo o ginagawan ng news blackout upang protektahan ang imahen ng artista.
Kaya sa pagdaan ng panahon, malaki ang ipinagbago ng programang balitaan sapagkat mas naging bukas ito sa mga eskandalosong balita. Makikita rin ito sa pamamayagpag sa ratings ng mga programang Imbestigador o XXX dahil eskandaloso ang mga sangkap ng paglalantad ng mga krimen dito. Ngunit espesyal ang sa mga talk show dahil mga artista ang kasangkot sa mga eskandalo. Hindi gaya ng sa naunang dalawang tipo ng programang pantelebisyon, hindi basta mga ordinaryong tao ang naibibilad ang pagkatao sa madla kundi mga artista. Kaya nga mas matataas ang ratings ng mga talk show kumpara sa mga programang pambalitaan kahit pa parehong nagpapalabas sila ng mga eskandalo at dahil ito sa mas interesanteng buhay ng mga taong pag-aari ng publiko. Kung nakakaakit ang mga eskandalo, dahil ito sa nabubulgar na ilang kubling katangian ng mga iniidolong artista. Kung naibubunyag ang isang artista bilang katulad ng ordinaryong tao na nadadamay sa kahiya-hiyang sitwasyon, tila nakakabawi na ang madla dahil hindi man artista ang mga huli, magkakapareho lamang sila ng kalagayan at karanasan: may mga kahihiyan, samakatuwid ay anggulong pantao. Kung ito ang magbebenta ng programa sa mga nagpapaanunsyo, ito ang kailangang pumalo sa ratings. Ayon nga sa panayam kay Ed Sunico, country communications manager ng Unilever, “Depende sa panonood ang desisyong maglagay ng patalastas sa isang programa. Likas na sa mga talk show ang pagiging kontrobersyal, na siyang hinahabul-habol ng mga manonood.” Sa paglalagay ng mga patalastas sa mga programa kumikita ang mga network kaya habang mas mataas ang ratings, mas may potensyal na makabenta ng commercial spots at kumita mula rito. Mahalaga para sa mga network na pinapanood ang kanilang mga programang pantelebisyon upang kumita. Kumikita ang libreng TV sa pagbebenta ng mga commercial spot sa mga nagpapaanunsyo o isponsor. Inihihimatong ng ratings kung magkano ibebenta ng mga TV network ang mga commercial spot sa mga nagpapaanunsyo. Ang mga nagpapaanunsyo naman, tinitignan ang mga impormasyon hinggil sa demograpiya, mga kinahihiligang panoorin, kung paano makakaakit ng pansin at kung tama bang gastusan ang mga programang gustong pagpaanunsyuhan.
Kung magpalabas man ng mga kahihiyan ng mga artista sa ngalan ng ratings, ganito kasi ang kalikasan ng mga programang pantelebisyon. Kasama ang telebisyon, maliban pa sa ibang katugmang anyo ng kasiyahan, sa kultura ng panoorin. Isa itong lunan ng karanasan. Bilang carnivalesque na panoorin sa telebisyon, pinapanood ang mga talk show dahil nakabaon sa pantaong sensibilidad ang kultura ng panoorin. Ang kultura ng pamboboso na nagmumula sa telebisyon bilang midya ang dahilan ng kasiyahan, ng kaguluhan at ng karnabal sa mga talk show. Upang makuha ang pansin ng mga manonod, kailangang gumawa ng mga eksena at imaheng mala-karnabal (i.e. eskandaloso o kontrobersyal). May pagpapabosong palabas sa mga karnabal. Malaking salik sa pagsasapublikong palabas ng pagkakakilanlan ang mga personal na rebelasyon, kasiyahan at hangarin (na siyang inuukilkil sa mga talk show). Repleksyon ng kontemporanyong kultura ang pangungumpisal at ekspresyong personal sa mga programang pantelebisyon. Kaya nga walang tigil ang interes ng mga manonood sa mga personal na kuwento ng mga artista. Sa pagtuturing sa buhay ng mga artista bilang karnabal na dapat panoorin ng madla upang mahusgahan silang tao rin gaya ng pangkalahatan, nagtatagumpay ang telebisyong midya dahil tumataas ang ratings ng programang nag-eere ng mga karnabal na ito. Patunay ang mataas na ratings ang kagustuhan ng mga taong makaalam ng kung ano mang eskandalo ng mga artista para mapatunayan nila sa sarili na wala naman pala silang pinagkaiba sa mga artistang nagkakaroon din ng kahiya-hiyang kalagayan.
May mga implikasyon ang paggamit ng mga eskandalo sa pagpapataas ng TV program ratings. Sa positibong resulta, pinapatunayan nito ang kapangyarihan ng midya bilang instrumentong pangmasa. Sinasakop ng komunikasyon ang pang-araw-araw na reyalidad ng tao. Dahil namumuhay ang tao sa kontemporanyong mundo, hindi nila matatakasan ang pananakop ng teknolohiyang media gaya ng telebisyon. Sa puntong ito, masasabing makapangyarihan ang mga programang pantelebisyon dahil naakit nila ang mga makapagbibigay sa kanila ng kita. Bukod dito, nailalagay din ang mga manonood sa gitna ng mga pangkasalukuyang isyu ng panahon. Sa panonood ng mga programang ito sabihin pang eskandaloso man, hindi nahuhuli sa mga balita ang mga tao. Hindi sila napag-iiwanan ng mga kaganapang napapanahon. Nakakasabay sila sa kontemporanyong isyu. Magkaganunpaman, may mga negatibong resulta ang mga pagpapataas ng ratings na ito sa pamamagitan ng mga eskandalo. Una, nagiging kuwestiyonable na ang moral-etikal na dimensyon ng mga manonood. Kung pinapanood ng masa ang mga kahihiyan ng artista upang mapatunayang tao lamang sila, hindi ito nakatutulong para paunlarin ang pantaong karanasan. Imbes na iangat ang moralidad ng tao, bumababa pa ito dahil naiiba ang mga pagpapahalaga ng mga manonood at naipapahamak ang dignidad ng mga nasasangkot na mga artista. Kumikita lamang ang mga programa nang dahil sa eksploytasyon ng mga artista at kahit na isabalag ng alanganin ang kahihiyan ng mga kapwa-tao, mas mahalaga pa rin ang materyal na matatamo sa halip na protektahan at igalang ang pantaong kapurihan.
Bilang pangwakas, isang masalimuot na isyu ang pag-eere ng mga programang pantelebisyon sa mga eskandalong kinasasangkutan ng mga artista sa ngalan ng ratings. Dito matitimbang hindi lamang ang kapangyarihan ng telebisyon ng isang midya kundi pati na ang karapatang husgahan ang kapwa tao, ang mga pagpapahalaga sa buhay na naiimpluwensiyahan ng midya at ang tagisan ng materyal na kasaganaan laban sa dignidad ng tao.

life's young warriors

Seeing some future of the nation in sickness is disheartening. They are supposed to be moving about actively, playing tag or having fun battling it out in online games. They are supposed to churn out laughter or plaster permanent smiles on their faces. They are supposed to vibrate with life, reflect life’s cheery side, and affect adults into nurturing the kids in everyone. However, they could not do so fully because they suffer in life this early.
Suffering is just too difficult to put up with. More so if the ones suffering are too young for it. Suffering is already a hard thing for adults to endure; how much more for children who have only a few experiences which are not even worth remembering for their inherent difficulty? So young lives yet so wrought in anguish. These kids are so beautiful, so tender but have gone on so early in meeting life’s unfairness and irony. From whom or what should justice be demanded for these sensitive souls?
Life for kids should be about happiness. After all, later in life they will be meeting all sorts of disappointments and no amount of delaying should keep them from experiencing this ugly stripe of life. Nevertheless, for life to rear its monsters at the onset is a double agony for children who should feel robbed of their share of enjoyment. If this suffering aggravates, these kids might end up missing life’s positive point. They may be free to dream and to hope, but their illness turns their dreams and hopes into nightmares and disillusionments. No one, especially these kids, deserve to be given agony despite their fullness of innocence.
Life seems so bad for these ill kids. I had been a kid myself but I did not suffer in life that early. I encountered pain at a later time as more mature concerns turn plays and toys and games outmoded for my age. I got hurt, but then I was old enough to face them or was too scared to face them. For these kids, the sheer torture of having to go through the sick condition left them with no choice but to undergo the experience. They can cry but they cannot become too cowardly to escape them. They can complain but they cannot whine loud enough to silence the overwhelming sound of pain deadening their bodies. They are, heart-wrenching to admit, more unlucky than many of us. Or are they?
When I come to think about it, early as these youngsters are in experiencing life’s agony due to their sickness, they are early too in realizing that life indeed is a struggle. They may be unlucky to have been chosen by destiny to anguish at a young age, but that in a way prepares them for the smaller or larger problems crawling along their way. They become ironically stronger as their bodies become weaker. They become more tolerable about pain in general since they get accustomed to it. Notwithstanding the hurt, they endure in life. It is a question whether or not they will be strong enough to survive, but the sheer courage of going on is an act too admirable to let pass unnoticed.
The brave souls that these children are inspire me never to feel disheartened. During interludes of pain in the form of their smiles, they seem to exude life instead of sickness. They teach me the lesson that no matter how unfair life is, it can have meaning for those who struggle to find so. These children have found just that, and I hope to follow suit.

ode to the little gapanese

my world literature class' best performing twin students gifted me with a photo frame with a wonderful poem in tow. it was among the great surprises i received this holiday season. read on the edited version of the piece:
Ode to the Little Gapanese
I've been hearing songs, poems, odes
some writers write using their code
to keep their readers bewildering.
To whom are their arts dedicated?
Why are they exhilarating?
This one is written for the man
who teaches me well; he knows many things
and he shares them in the way he can.
With him is his amiability kit;
he makes me believe him for he stands
with wit.
I wish that I've constructed it right
so like any other art, it would endure
with its own sagacious might.
For my addressee is my superb editor:
when I give it to him, that's the only time
he could examine its core.
I sometimes seem delicate, timid and silent,
But he teaches me to carry on
and not to dwell on my weakness.
I am too ideal to be true while he's a real postmodernist.
This, with piety, this ode is for him,
the only Little Gapanese.
***
Need i say more than what my flipping hair can?

the internet as a cultural imperial tool of the west

The quick development of media technologies has sparked the biggest controversies among scholars. Aside from this, one significant factor that this development brings is the social influence that technology creates among communities. It is true that we are traveling into a new world wherein more and more human experience is bought in the guise of access to the kaleidoscopic networks in cyberspace. The growth of new media, specifically the Internet, has crucially altered not only how people communicate with one another but also how they lead their lives. Websites, e-mails, blogsites, online communities like chatrooms have shrunk the globe and culture proliferates easily, rapidly, and inevitably. With more and more people and web pages increasingly being integrated into the World Wide Web, has the Internet caused heterogeneity or homogeneity in the global culture?
For millennia already, culture has been perceived as the unified ideas that are the very bedrock of a group or society. Nonetheless, there is a growing controversy that the proliferation of culture via mass media is not balanced and, therefore, gave birth to what society labels as cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism is the employment of political and economic influence to promote and spread the values and attitudes of a foreign culture, to the detriment of a native culture.
Before the term became in vogue in the milieu of the Internet, the older form of cultural imperialism had been infamous during the birth of modern economic capitalism. Economic power rendered high capitalistic nations to foist relative regulation over weaker nations not only economically but also culturally. Because the United States of America or Western nations are percieved to rule over global capitalism, their popular culture, Hollywood, the English language, the capitalist corporations like McDonald’s and Nike, are all apparently exerting cultural imperialism the world over.
The creation of the Internet in the 1970s looks closely associated to the growth of cultural imperialism on the World Wide Web. At the onset, the Internet was invented by American scientists primarily to alleviate the US military communication system before ultimately moving from government use to public access. At present, people across the world can do anything through cyberspace from trading to file sharing to downloading music.
The accessibility of the Internet by people in the entire world strengthens and paves the way to cultural imperialism. Thus, the definition of cultural imperialism may run parallel to the context of the Internet. The very existence of the Internet impacts other cultures in such a way that the most recent creation of the Information Age attests to the Western technology and Western culture’s superiority.
Based on the historical emergence of cultural imperialism which occurred because of the domination of Western capitalism and the invention of the Internet in America by Americans, it cannot be denied that the Internet is seen by some individuals as another means for Western nations to foist their cultural imperialism. However, others declare a different view. With a tremendous number of Internet users in the turn of the millennium, cultural imperialism on the Internet is perceived actually as subversion. The Internet has made it possible for anybody to create a website and exalt their culture with ease and with more affordability than other media. As more non-Americans and non-English speakers go online, the American domination over the use of the Internet becomes more difficult to keep. This alternative perspective suggests that cultural imperialism on the Internet can and should be challenged in order to avoid the homogenization of the world.
Therefore, two opposing perspectives emerge: on the Internet, cultural imperialism is gradually decreasing and can enable people to experience the period of cultural globalization or America still continues to lord it over the whole world. These opposite views are the main concerns regarding the Internet.
Other important issues related to the Internet include the crucial role Internet gatekeepers play in the influx of information online. With the use of MSN, Yahoo, or Google, Internet users can search for specific information from the numerous websites there are in the cyberspace. Also, the term Internet gatekeeper proposes some sort of association with the government. Government assumes the role of Internet pipeline which tries to ascertain which websites are accessible or not by its citizens. One such case is the Chinese government who has established a particular system to regulate the information flow online. This system named Great Firewall of China makes it possible for government prevents and censors websites considered hazardous to China.
The commercial side of the Internet has furthermore emerged as among the present issues regarding the Internet. The number of online advertising continues to climb, which makes local online ads famous and sophisticated. Nevertheless, some individuals complain that the US continues to dominate incomes from online ad.
Year after year, the number of Internet users climb steadily. In addition, the number of non-Western content or non-English websites has also grown and so, it interrogates the possibility of cultural imperialism on the Internet in the future. A cursory inspection of the Internet will yield Chinese, Japanese, Arabic and African websites that did not exist until the end of the twentieth century.
On the other hand, with many foreign cultures on the Internet, some governments have spearheaded online control or online censorship to ban unproductive web content like pornography. It is expected that countries with sustained traditional customs and values will follow suit. In such a case, these cultures will not be contaminated or replaced by foreign ones.
Nonetheless, the future of the world’s culture is still unpredictable as the Internet continues to hybridize cultures and inventing new culture and technology. The world’s culture is now mixed, although its future continues to hide in the cloak of technological mystery.
In conclusion, based on the history of cultural imperialism and America’s creation of the Internet, the Internet is viewed by some people as just another tool of Western cultural imperialism. Nonetheless, for others, this is perceived as a challenge to sustain and advocate non-Western culture to the world via cyberspace. Issues like cultural heterogeneity, American domination on the World Wide Web, and the Internet gatekeepers and advertisers are presently hotly debated upon with regards to their roles in changing the world’s culture. The future of cultural imperialism itself is under interrogation because of the growth of non-Western websites and limitations to unproductive Internet content.

of history and religion

Judaism, Islam and Christianity are somewhat interrelated religions despite their differences. Their interconnection stems from the fact that they, as three of the world’s major religions, share commonalities in many aspects. Firstly, all of them emerged from the Middle East. Judaism evolved from the beliefs of Jews regarding God’s plan for them since the Judah nation split from Israel. On the other hand, Islam was founded in Mecca in the midst of idol-worshiping Arab tribes. Meanwhile, Christianity rose first as a sect then as a new religion at a time when Roman-ruled Jewish Zealots were engulfed in turmoil in Palestine. Secondly, all these religions are monotheistic, or having belief in one God. At a time when polytheism or multiple-god divination was widespread, Judaism and Christianity believed in an all-knowing, all-powerful and ever-present God while Islam believed in that one God too, named Allah. Thirdly, all three passed through some periods of persecution, lasting even up to this day and, ironically, conducted by one to the other. The Jews still suffer their lack of homeland as they have suffered in the past for breaking away from Israel . On the other hand, the Muslims did not get immediate welcome in Mecca (hence, the Hegira or flight to Medina) when the prophet Muhammad preached among the Arabs there—the polytheists feared displacement of their religion while the merchants feared loss of business from devotees visiting the previously polytheistic Kaaba shrine. In a contemporary update on the homefront, the 2006 Religious Freedom report by the United States State Department says that Filipino Muslims get discriminated ethnically, religiously and economically by Filipino Christians, resulting to unceasing conflict in southern Philippine provinces. Meanwhile, Christians anguished before the persecuting Roman Empire for several instances before being tolerated and declared as official imperial religion. Lastly, all three honor Abraham, Moses and the prophets and preach ethical worldview developed by the Israelites.
However, these similarities among the three are also bereft with differences that often sprout tension-filled issues. Firstly, the three base their religions on a holy book: Torah for the Jews, Bible for the Christians and Quran for the Muslims. What is controversial is the Quran’s claim to have the final, complete revelation from God while the first two, only partial revelations. Sometimes, the issue also boils down to whose prophet are the God’s words truly revealed: Muhammad of Islam, or Jesus of Christianity? Lastly, the three commonly hold sacred the Israeli capital of Jerusalem , but for different religious motives that cause deep-seated conflict. For one, the Israeli government has taken refuge of Jews, to the chagrin of feeling-displaced Muslim Arabs. The British Balfour Declaration started the decades-long deepened strife in the region, with both Palestinian Arabs and Jews claiming historical right to the land.
Jerusalem is sanctified to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Jews hold it holy in that the Biblical homeland Zion and Jerusalem are practically synonymous—it is not beyond the Jews struck with the Jerusalem consciousness to refer to this home as a Zion for the people that they are. There is also what remains of a great wall which the Jews visit in Jerusalem , which in the past was turned into cultural and political seat by Israeli Kings David and Solomon. On the other hand, Christians hold it holy in that the mystery of incarnation and redemption has occurred there, alluding to the proximity of Jesus Christ’ birthplace to the city. Also, since Israel on which Jerusalem is found is the Biblical Promised Land, Christians view the capital as earthly as well as heavenly city of God . Meanwhile, Muslims hold it holy in that it is the site of the Dome of the Rock, believed to be the spot where Muhammad ascended into heaven. As it is one of the holiest places for Muslims, feeling-discriminated Arabs insist that the status of Jerusalem be part of any final peace pact in spite of the Israeli annexation that resulted to the claiming of the entire city as undivided capital and, therefore, a Jewish- and Christian-prejudiced holy land. Now as Jerusalem get intersected among the three religions, it is rather ironic that what is spiritually regarded as city of peace has suffered bloodshed, warfare, hatred, conquests and strife than any other city existing. Jerusalem has been dragged into spiritual and symbolic debates promoting political propaganda and clash of nationalisms, most begging of which is the current-day Jewish quest for homeland in war-torn Palestine and the Christian sense of spiritualism in Israel at the expense of Islamic marginalization of the Palestinian Arabs. The religious mixture in the streets of Jerusalem is always frayed with tension because of the slow-to-progress peace negotiation between the conflicting Arabs and Israelis.
As Judaism, Islam and Christianity have been given a sweeping overview above, let me discuss briefly one other major religion, Buddhism, and the culture enveloping it. The foothills of the Himalayas saw the rise of Buddhism when Prince Siddharta Gautama of Nepal became severely disturbed by the anguish brought about by old age, sickness and poverty. After a bedeviled meditation, he became enlightened as to the Four Noble Truths, namely: life is full of sufferings, desire causes these sufferings, the cure to these sufferings is overcoming desire, and overcoming desire means following the eightfold path to nirvana. This eightfold path is the counterpart of Islam’s Five Pillars, and Judaism’s and Christianity’s Ten Commandments. All these moral-ethical worldviews toward God and toward fellow humans seem to have wedged devotees from one another. While they all preached obedience in order to achieve paradise and to escape a hellish afterlife, outsiders to their religion get discriminated, as in the Palestinian Arab’s case with the Jew-populated Jerusalem , or the Muslim’s marginalization in Christian-dominated Philippines . This is so much unlike some Buddhist practitioners who can concurrently believe in Christian God (as may be gleaned in the case of not a few Chinese families like mine in the Philippines ) or Muslims who respectfully refer to Jews and Christians as People of the Book, or fellow religious whose faith must be tolerated. Because of the oppressive stance of seeming-dominant Christians, Islamic extremists give an eye for an eye, as may be explained by the 9/11 US tragedy, or the forced conversion of war prisoners in Arab countries like Iran , Afghanistan and Iraq . Learning the diversity of these major religions may bring about initial confusion and tension among fundamentalist believers, but if only each one were more tolerant and respectful of the learned culture, principles and practices of one another, then Jews, Christians, Muslims and Buddhist can blissfully coexist in this earthly dimension. What diversity matters when the faithful execute the humanitarian love commanded of them by their religion?

counter-history in vicente groyon iii's sky over dimas

In a nutshell, Vicente Garcia Groyon’s The Sky Over Dimas (Manila: De La Salle University Press, 2003) is a complex tale of a family’s secrets. Set in the colorful, West Visayan City of Bacolod, the novel encompasses the dark history of the Torrecarions – from the patriarch, George, who went crazy upon having to deal with fate’s revenge on his forefathers’ material greed, to the matriarch, Margie, who was equally queer caused by her sleeping drug dependency, to Rafael, the younger of George’s son who was to become the lone survivor of the disasters destined to destroy the Torrecarion clan. Beginning at the remarkable collapse in the 1980’s of the sugar industry (for which Bacolod and the rest of Negros Occidental was world-famous), the story stretches up to the contemporary times, in fact up to post-Edsa period.
While the author made careful details in order to create life-like characters worthy of mention in the novel, the main protagonist, Rafael, is deemed to have the most psychological burden of all, being the last sane person in a family brutally confronted by the ghosts of the past. A self-driven young man whose scholarship grant in the University of the Philippines opened a way for his escape from Bacolod, Rafael found himself incapable of getting away from the family curse after his mother summoned him to leave Manila and rescue his father stubbornly hiding in their ancestral manor—Hacienda Dimas.
This plot is enriched by the conflict between Rafael, who was determined at bringing his father back to the city proper, and George, who was equally determined at staying behind as a means of self-flagellation for the evil schemes his ancestors resorted to in order to claim their family’s vast track of sugarcane fields. While the clan’s history was based on the limited, flawed worldview of their late 1800’s patriarch, Negros Island’s first Hispanic haciendero, George made a corrective counter-history in his final attempt to redeem the cursed Torrecarions, his own legend that was to be his basis for getting coddled in the manor in the first place. Rafael resolved the conflict by deciding to go on with his mother’s plan, which would have succeeded but for George’s self-immolation. George chose to burn himself alive than have his son incur condemnation in hell for being an heir to the Torrecarions’ sins.
The most salient theme of the novel is that no secrets are ever kept unknown forever, as are the Torrecarions’ secrets whose revelation led to the unencumbrance of Rafael as the ultimate inheritor of the family curse. By way of rectifying history, George let loose the truth that shall set his family free. In Rafael’s case, his father’s truth is George’s take at assigning Rafael his well-deserved redemption.
The accolades heaped upon Groyon’s first novel, most notable of which are the 2002 Grand Prize for the Novel in the Palanca and the 2003 Best Fiction from Manila Critics Circle’s National Book Awards, are truly deserved. The Sky Over Dimas is magnificent for its unforgettable characters, vivid settings, luminous plot and fluid style not always seen in the works of very young writers like Groyon. While the author’s association with the life-infused Bacolod must have done a great deal for him to explore that magical microcosm of surreal Philippines, it is the use of history and counter-history that really interests most of its readers, what with the setting of life facts into prime importance especially for people of the modern world whose identity gets lost in the dizzying charade of various scientific, technological, western and like ideologies. The Sky Over Dimas is indeed an excellent contribution to Philippine literature for its devoted portrayal of Bacolodnon humanity in particular, and of Filipino humanity in general.

the internet and the defeat of capitalism

The 20th century goes down in human history as a period of wars and revolutions. One such revolution is technological in aspect, with several scientific applications used to invent electronic media. Many of these media were intended to disseminate information mostly by governments and the elite. Capitalists made lots of money when they reproduced these media for public consumption. Soon, an opposite trend developed and the capitalist globalization was met with a movement eager for accessible communication and information rather than the generation of profits.
These clashing globalizing movements had their respective tools for advancement. For the capitalists with care for global capitalist markets, data networks were developed in order to deliver to those who can afford from among the billions of people they are servicing. These data networks are composed of well-secured information infrastructure which may be transmitted in a matter of millisecond. With strict codes through which top secrets may be exchanged between data networks, it is the one privacy in the middle of a progressively borderless world.
On the other side, the socialists moved toward using high technology access in an increasingly popular mode. E-mails were used in the academic communities, hackers exploited a technology to their advantage, social activists linked beyond their areas of concern to trade experiences, political activists used this technology for organizing, researchers limited distance as disciplines reached global scales. And their technological weapon? An array of network that united e-mail interconnectivity with the Internet technology.
These movements manifested that the globe was on the brink of a worldwide data network that allowed not only millions but billions of persons to trade information across the world in a few clicks. The capitalists envisioned an economic opportunity that the commodification of this technological networking can generate: a dependence to global information. Meanwhile, the socialists envisioned a convenience out of making the new technology functional in such a manner as easing the increasing complication of the near future. While the capitalist vision was clear and well-financed, the socialist vision was unclear, and solely funded by accident. With this capitalist-socialist binary, only one main global network can be granted space. After the clash of these visions, the Internet emerged triumphant and the commercial information network had to give way to the clamor of the masses.
This triumph can be understood with the developmental history of the Internet. When the Russians successfully launched their first space satellite, the panicking Americans invested tremendously on academic research for military purposes. This undertaking would spawn the Internet, which was intended to cut expenses by requiring a network of computer systems that allowed for exchange of information. The fear of being effaced by the Russians led to the birthing of the Internet.
From this military origin, the Internet grew so useful to research that engineers worked to establish the Internet for public good, resulting to a network of millions of people across the globe, primarily receiving non-commercial form of consumption such as e-mail, chatting, information exchange, among others. This success resulted to the capitalist concern of making Internet profitable since the Internet is successful in becoming useful to the increasing human population getting free e-mail services, convenient file sharing and the like. Global investments on telephone and personal computers, Internet’s bare essentials, ended on a dramatic failure after the data communications industry divorced itself from consumerist concerns due to the emergent mass market’s unsurprising quest for free access.
Capitalist corporations may have been accurate in predicting a radical change in global communication but their investment on it ended on an epic disaster. The Internet won by virtue of its network fit for e-mail and free information retrieval from the World Wide Web. There are no security or billing requirements, and the Internet-savvy have the potential to publish without the standards of a patent. The capitalists’ disaster owes from the key problem of how their technological developments can be turned into surpluses. Instead of continuously earning profits from these modern production methods, they only opened a way to the cheapening of production prices. They failed to secure a competitive advantage from their improved technologies since the Internet is so open, its standards and principles so common and its navigation so easy that corporations find it hard to benefit from the network. In spite of capitalists, the Internet gives the benefit of widely available information, reduced difficulty in buying, marketing and distribution, and alleviated business transactions.
The Internet as the current world recognizes it provides a wide array of possibilities. For instance, listing a URL anywhere being covered by media mileage makes it easy for anybody to know where to search for additional information or who or where to contact. E-mail, cyber news, online discussions and web coordination among social and political activists are far easier to do if a community can access the Internet. The availability of encryption makes it possible for activists moving under repressive conditions to trade information without being exposed to enemies. Web sites can perpetually disseminate even entire libraries of information.
The defeat of the capitalists from the operative works of socialists paved the way to the use of Internet for the common good of humanity. Workplaces of the new economy take pride of open source programming activists and engineers with social responsibility for the productive use of Internet technology. The academe can also be proud of librarians for free information and researchers collaborating in defiance of economic or geographical limitations. The arts teem with professionals who exchange creative products for free and against the monopolies of the privileged few. The media overflow with journalists who publish against censorship and for free speech and expression. These socialists may be discovered in the technology sector, which is frequently deemed as defiant of the progressive movement. Their success in the form of the domination of the Internet carries the message that information desires to be free, something that people of private ownership cannot welcome. With the defeat of capitalism by the Internet, the world is inevitably being liberated.

rampa: paggalugad sa antolohiyang galing cine café

Unang libro pa lamang ni Nestor De Guzman ang Galing Cine Café (Quezon City: Lambana Press, 2005) ngunit kinakitaan na ng talim ng pagsipat sa karanasang pambakla ang makata. Sa pamamagitan ng mga tulang parang ipinintang mga larawan dahil sa angking yamang biswal, ginalugad ni De Guzman ang mga lugar na tulad ng sinehan, kapihan, parke, madidilim na iskinita at iba pang pali-paligid sa loob at labas ng bakla na nilihitimong lugar ng mapanghusgang lipunan sa mga pilit binuburang mga nilalang na ito. Iisa ang hinabing wika ng makata: hindi na puwedeng ietsa-puwera ang sangkabaklaan dahil dumating na ang panahon nila. Sa tulang “Kapisan” (p.9), ipinakita ng makata kung paano minaltrato ng lipunan sa pamamagitan ng midya ang mga bakla ng pagsalakay sa “mga tagpuan, tahanan, tanghalan” (linya 2). Dahil sa binaluktot na imahen ng mga bakla sa telebisyon at midya, i.e. nagpaparaos sa kung saan-saan—samakatuwid, bulgar o hindi disente, tinitignan nang may pagkutya ang mga bakla na mistulang salot sila sa mundo. Kaugnay nito, sinisikil ng lipunan ang pag-usbong ng identidad ng mga bakla sa pamamagitan ng paglilinis sa mga pook-tagpuan ng mga bakla (linya 3-8). Gayunman, hindi lubusang mapapahinto ng mga institusyon sa lipunan ang pagtatagpu-tagpo at kaugnay na pagyabong ng identidad ng mga bakla, dahil makahahanap at makahahanap sila ng mga pook-tipanan (linya 9-12). Dumating na ang panahon ng mga bakla kung kailan hindi na mapipigilan ang pag-angkin nila ng kanilang espasyo sa lipunan kahit pa “nakikilan na…sa presinto,/natutukan ng kutsilyo,/hinabol ng maligno,/nangudngod sa lubak” (linya 13-16). Sa pagsasantabi sa kanilang kapisan nakahanap ang mga bakla ng lulugaran dahil dito, totoo sila sa kanilang sarili—“nagpapagitgit” (linya 19) ngunit “nagpapaka-tayo” (linya 21)—hindi gaya ng mga nasa gitna ng lipunang punumpuno ng pagkukunwari at karahasan. Sa tulang “Sa Pangamba ng Pag-iisa” (pp. 10-11), hinalukay naman ang malungkot umanong kalagayan ng bakla sa kanyang pag-iisa sa buhay. Para sa mga nakapaligid, ang hindi pag-aasawa ng bakla ang nagbibigay-pangamba sa kanila dahil wala itong makakatuwang sa kanyang pagtanda. Samantala, iba naman ang pagtanaw ng bakla hinggil sa kalagayang ito: sa dami ng kanyang karanasan—“[n]akalima nang asawa” (linya 6), may “nakasintahan/nang kung ilang oras, araw, lingo (linya 7-8), naging “basahan,/laruan, kasangkapan/…maybahay, kalaguyo’t puta” (linya 10-12)—pinadunong na siya sa mga bagay na “uubra’t di-uubra” (linya 19). Sa pagtanggap sa kapalaran niyang ito, alam na ng bakla na hindi niya kailangan ng ibang tao para kumpirmahin “ang kagandahan ng sarili,/ang kabuuan ng pagkatao,/ang kabuluhan ng buhay” (linya 22-24). Kahit nag-iisa siya, wala siyang sukat ipangamba dahil ang karanasan niya sa pagmamahal ang magbibigay-kahulugan sa kanyang buhay. Isa itong pagsira sa kumbensyunal na kaisipang ang hantungan ng buhay-bakla ay tanging kalungkutan lamang. Sa tulang “Muling Pagkikita” (p. 57-58), ipinakita naman ang bersyon ng pag-aasawa sa pagitan ng mga bakla: walang “babae, walang lalaki” (linya 1) dahil pantay sila sa hatian sa gawaing bahay at pagyurak din ito sa istiryutipo ng pangkasariang gawain, i.e. babae lang sa gawaing bahay ta lalaki sa hanapbuhay. Hatian din sila sa mga gamit (linya 6-7, 11-16) bilang pagbuo sa kumpletong kaisipan ng conjugation o pag-aasawa. Lamang, nauwi rin sa hiwalayan ang lahat, kahit one-way naman ang dahilan: “may bago [ang asawa ng persona]” (linya 10). Pinag-iinitan man ng lipunan ang mga di-kumbensyunal na pag-aasawahang ito dahil hindi naman umano nagtatagal, labag umano sa kautusan ng Diyos, mahina ang pundasyon dahil hindi procreative, atbp., may ilan namang nagtatagal kung paanong may naghihiwalay din naman sa mga kumbensyunal na kasalan, sarado-Katoliko ang pagbanggit sa Diyos, at maari rin namang mag-ampon o mambuntis ng babae ang mga bakla upang magkaanak din sila. Samantala, dahil isang desisyon lang ang isinaalang-alang sa nasabing hiwalayan, mahihinuhang mahal pa rin ng persona ang asawa, patunay ng pagkaramdam niya ng kahungkagan nang hanap-hanapin niya ang pumupunong koleksyon ng banga ng asawa sa kuwarto (linya 23-25) at ang pagsusuot ng paboritong t-shirt nito (linya 31). Patotoo ang tula na kahit may kinakasama nang iba ang minamahal, ang kahirapang lumimot sa pag-ibig ay hindi kumikilala ng kasarian.

above the law: the marcos regime

Circumstances have it that just before the Martial Law declaration, there was an upsurge in student activism, an organized rebel group was established, and acts of violence were on the rise. Students marched the streets of Manila and other key Philippine cities to denounce the country’s plights like notorious graft and corruption, human rights violations, astronomical tuition fees, militarization as well as military abuses, the staying power of the U.S. bases and the cooptation between the US and Marcos’ puppet government. Meanwhile, the same sentiments felt by the students caused the revival of and quest for reform by communist movement activities under the guerilla tag Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army. Meanwhile, terrorist incidents disturbed Metro Manila so frequently that the writ of habeas corpus was suspended, causing the arrest and detention of suspected insurgents among students, laborers and critics. These precedent events were working in Marcos’ favor, since a few months later he would be meting out Martial Law. It should not be lost on the Filipinos that some acts of violence were perpetrated by pro-Marcos groups, so could it be that Marcos was somehow manipulating the deplorable conditions prevailing in the metropolis less to justify Proclamation No. 1081 than to create the politically-beneficial Martial Law?
When Marcos placed the whole archipelago under military rule, his justifications included saving the Republic and reforming the society. He argued that the intensifying violence in the country generated by both the leftists and rightists had reached the proportions that necessitated Martial Law. Marcos seemed so deeply presidential in explaining the circumstances that required his proclamation. He was out to rescue the Republic being pestered by insurgents. Likewise, he was out to create social transformation. Of course, he was lying about the country’s state of emergency. Why did most people fall silent about the real reason that Marcos intended to prolong his reign over the country, hence the declaration? The Commonwealth Constitution provided for a presidential term limited to only eight consecutive years. Extended years could mean more things in store for Marcos.
See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil, or those who do otherwise would find themselves having affinity to the ranks of social rebels picked up and jailed for being critical to the dictator. After all, even the constitution was silent over how long Martial Law should last. It was Marcos’ own judgment that gave the voice to the silence of the constitution over Martial Law. What other voice except Marcos’ that lent its articulating quality in extending the Martial Law past the end of his term in 1973? He silenced the Congress of the Philippines and spoke the rules that had to be legislated. He censored journalists and took over media entities that worked against the regime. By speaking of himself as a dictator or a one-man ruler, his Martial Law administration took on the semblance of constitutional authoritarianism.
This term spelled nothing more than political massacre, with the chambers of the congress echoing with emptiness and the judges of all courts, from the Supreme Court to the grassroots level, turned into casuals. These judges might have stayed in the judiciary, except that they remained depending on the whims of the authoritarian Marcos. In the large-scale political play by Marcos, every willing citizen became the puppet while the unwilling were cast out, with the dictator himself as the resident manipulator. Will the farcical play ever end?
And great manipulator he was, for within the power vested upon him by Martial Law, he dismissed the all-encompassing constitution. He violated the stipulations in the Bill of Rights by issuing orders that arrested suspects of presidential subversion. Many of those tailed by security elements, wiretapped suspicious telephone owners, or labeled subversives and communists were held captive in military camps without trial, but if they got more unlucky, they became desaperacidos: vanishing forever, never to be found again. In effect, crime rate decreased dramatically because people became law abiders in the name of “national security.” Was this good gain a result of an effective peace and order measure, or a result of the scare conditioning of the Filipino people? The rise of lawlessness a year after Martial Law’s imposition did not point to the first option.
If there were people who were in favor of the Martial Law, these were the Filipinos who directly gained from the economic and social elites that served as Marcos’ cronies. How could they not support the declaration, when they benefited from the “smiling dictatorship?” Whenever troubles hounded the business of Marcos’ cronies, these were solved using the taxpayers’ funds. Investigations into monopolies and cartels were disallowed. His wife Imelda amassed billions worth of money and material possessions via corruption. The Marcoses as well as their cronies plundered the economy and yet, escaped the rule of law. The Martial Law only legitimized the activities leading to ill-gotten wealth by Marcos’ cronies. Practically, they were unassailable by the authorities as they enriched themselves all the more.
What I found out about Martial Law did not lead to the New Society Marcos claimed to be pursuing in imposing his authoritarian rule. The new sets of social and political values that were supposed to be filled with increased nationalism and devoid of colonial mentality were, instead, traits of fear, paranoia, fury, and repression. He used his so-called national leadership to realize his naked interests that included enriching his family through corruptive means, giving friends substantial economic and political favors, silencing his enemies and, most importantly, prolonging his rule. He must have succeeded in proclaiming constitutional authoritarianism, but the fact that it did not last forever begs for the implication that power, however far-reaching, is ephemeral. Destiny will find itself curtailing corruptive power because of popular demand, as may be gleaned in the phenomenal EDSA Revolution that toppled Marcos the dictator.
To get a glimpse of how Martial Law was seen in the eyes of an artist, I viewed a film about a feudal conflict in Bacolod during the mid-70’s. The film Sakada by Behn Cervantes, a progressive artist associated with the University of the Philippines , emerged from the culturally fermented era of Marcos dictatorship. Having been seen as a grave social commentary by the government watchdogs, the film had a short life in the theaters before it got confiscated by Marcos’ armies in the midst of its presentation. Just what was in the film that infuriated the dictator so much that he had to ban its showing? Imagine being transported in the sugar-rich haciendas in Negros where the landlords become sinfully wealthy at the expense of the back-breaking work of laborers called sakadas. A fair compensation is what a labor union leader fights for, but in answer to his picketing, he gets riddled with bullets. To shut up the sakada’s family and to earn good media mileage for his staged charity, the haciendero pays the dead man’s family with a few thousand pesos. Despite the blood money, the family remains trapped in the web of poverty, and no amount of protests and social conscientization ever gets all sakadas out of the impoverishing sugarcane plantation.
It was not difficult to perceive Marcos being alluded to as the omnipotent haciendero who resorts to armed forces if need be, just to see things through. He works side by side his glamorous-looking yet empty-feeling wife in manning the plantation, and has a son given to excesses like women and parties. The landlord is revealed to have clawed his way up the social ladder, and will not let anything or anyone wrest his hard-earned power from him, not even justice-seeking union people out to be nuisances to his smoothed-over management.
The film got Marcos’ goat precisely because of these allusions meant to expose the ills of his imposed authoritarian rule. Indeed, he has an elegant marital partner whom he conspired in perpetuating crimes against the people, and has offspring-like cronies he pampered with financial, social and political opportunities. He earned his presidency the hard way, shedding political allegiances and tapping the right connections if needed be, so he could not just allow student activists, insurgent movements or political critics to annoy him out of the highest executive post in the land. Not even a film like Sakada should be permitted to spoil Marcos’ field day.
And so it happened: the film was forced out of the theaters, falling victim to the tyrant’s crimes against humanity. By purging Sakada out of the cinematic consciousness of people, Marcos took away Cervantes’ and, by extension, all artists’ rights of creative self-expression. In the same vein, Marcos denied the public’s right to information. The dictator reenacted the very suppression the landlord character did to his valiant oppositional laborers, and seemed to have won by silencing the film for thirty-seven years hence.
Until its recent showing to mark a mounting protest by indie (independent) filmmakers against the repressive, Marcos-like regime of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Cervantes’ classic has now returned to the Filipino sensibility, outliving both Marcos and his Martial Law. Sakada has turned the table against its repression by being shown at a time that is mimicking the film’s contextual origin. More importantly, its non-propaganda manner of paralyzing the characters into perpetual desperation has the capacity to move people out of complacency and into the necessary action of freeing the society. True to its form, the film continues to reflect life and the society as well as the unceasing struggle of the working class and the nationalist movement against social injustices such as the Martial Law period in general.

institutional reform: from presidential to parliamentary

In my belief, that institutional reform needed to strengthen Philippine democracy is the parliamentarian shift from the presidential form of government. Parliamentary is defined as the form of democracy wherein the executive authority rises from and has responsibility over legislative authority. Our current system is presidential, wherein executive and legislative branches are elected separately, with neither branch having the capacity to limit the term of the other.
The presidential form of government is historically seen as less capable of solving the problems of our country since the authority is divided between the executive and the legislative (not to mention the third branch that’s judiciary, whose elements do not get elected). This division results in legislative gridlock, support for majority rule, creation of narrow policies and debate over political controversies. Since our presidential system separates law-making from the executive, senators and representatives become less interested in providing national policy unlike in a parliamentary system. Hence, our presidential system presents additional difficulties for a reform management and weakens the ability of the president’s political leadership to commit itself to reform policies and to implement the same against political resistance. The presidential system in this democracy has a detrimental effect on its ability. Among defective democracies like ours, a presidential system of government is more frequent whereas most consolidated democracies are parliamentary system. Presidential systems can be expected to be more resolute and less decisive than parliamentary systems since a powerful president possesses an additional veto privilege whose support is required to change the status quo.
Meanwhile, if the institutional reform of parliamentary shift is permitted, it can provide better conditions than the presidential system for a successful democratization and the consolidation of democracy. The most positive effects of a parliamentary system for strengthening Philippine democracy arise in the party system, with further effects for the whole representation structure including the private and non-government sectors and the civil society. Since a parliamentary system needs stable party structures for the generation of political options, political leadership, and power seizures, its strategic position is quite different from the party members in presidential systems. In contrast with the presidential system, parties in a parliamentary system have to focus more on program alternatives than on the personal virtues of individual leaders and their peculiar choices. Parties also have to seek a closer connection to the citizens’ preferences in order to present possible alternatives. This in turn requires closer links to interest groups and civil society and induces a more vibrant representation system. To overcome weak representation structures, parliamentary government provides more appropriate incentives than presidential system.
Establishing a parliamentary system of government can be seen as institutionally reforming since it is likely to influence the major defects of Philippine democracy positively. It could be combined with a strategy to increase executive power in order to address problems of state weakness that are particularly widespread in our developing nation. Therefore, introducing a parliamentary model in the Philippines should be a priority strategy particularly for volatile democratic rule such as the presidential model in our country.

weak state

The Philippines is a weak state in terms of capacity for governance because of the shaky authority President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo possesses. Her administration has been hounded by controversies like rigging the 2004 presidential elections, anomalous government deals, corruption charges, among others. Her capacity for governance is being seriously challenged by oppositions that stem out of the scandals she faces.
First, the weak Philippine state encounters serious subversion to its capacities for governance, one of which was the recent hotel siege by mutinous soldiers. These soldiers held a mutiny to call for Arroyo’s resignation because for them, she is no longer fit to rule the country. While the mutineers later lost ground, that did not stop the world from speculating that an administration being rocked by several coup de etats could only be but weak.
The recent jeepney strike that paralyzed urban centers outside Manila and forcing passengers to walk and hitch rides is another blow to the weak capacity for governance inasmuch as the administration cannot do anything about the skyrocketing prices of fuel products like diesel, premium gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas. The protest of the jeepney drivers regarding the 12% tax on fuel sales as well as law deregulation on oil could be seen as a dissatisfaction of the transport sector over the government’s inutile stance regarding the crippling oil cartel. Only recently did jeepney strikes begin to gather fire again since the last few years of rule of Marcos, but it’s only now, in Arroyo’s administration that transport strikes are returning.
The release of Estrada could also be seen as a way for the government to prevent its foundations from finally crumbling down since the conviction of Estrada six weeks before he was granted pardon by Arroyo. If the pardon did not arrive at an opportune time, Estradas supporters could again try to put up another people power to boot Arroyo out of Malacañang. Many Estrada loyalists as well as opposition groups continue to question the legitimacy of Arroyo’s presidency.

relatibismo bilang katotohanan sa goodbye, lenin!

Sa pelikulang Goodbye, Lenin!, ipinapakita ang katotohanan bilang relatibo. Nagiging relatibo ang katotohanan kung lahat ng pagkakalitaw ay pagkalitaw lamang sa kung sinuman ang tumitingin dito. Sa kaso ng pelikula, litaw at hindi tago sa nanay na kakagising mula sa coma ang pananatili ng sosyalismo sa bansang Silangang Alemanya. Lingid sa kanya ang katotohanang bumagsak na ang Pader ng Berlin at nakapasok na sa bansa ang kapitalismo. Kahit ilusyon lamang ang minaniobrang katotohanan ng anak niya para palitawing normal ang mga bagay sa Demokratikong Republika ng Alemanya, ito ang nakikita ng nanay na si Christiane.
Kung gagamiting pamantayan ang penomenolohiya ng katotohanan para pangatwiranan ang katotohanang ipinakita sa Goodbye, Lenin!, naipapakita ang katotohanan ayon sa paghuhusga ng pinalitaw na reyalidad. Isinisiwalat ng paghuhusgang ito na ang partikular na bagay ay makatotohanan sa kanyang sarili at, samakatuwid, hindi isang bagay na hindi totoo dahil iba sa kanyang sarili. Sa pelikula, reyalidad para sa nanay ang kinamulatang bansa sa pamamahala ng Nabubuklod na Partidong Sosyalista ng Alemanya, kahit pa sa labas ng kanyang apartment, reyalidad ng pagyakap ng bansa sa kapitalismo ang umiiral. Sa kanyang paghuhusga, litaw na reyalidad para kay Christiane na namumuhay pa rin siya sa rehimeng sosyalista: kumakain pa rin siya ng mga pagkain mula sa nakasanayang lalagyan, nakatira pa rin sa apartment na may kabagut-bagot na palamuti, nagsusuot pa rin ng lumang mga damit. Ito ang katotohanan ayon sa pagtingin ni Christiane: makatotohanan sa kanyang sarili ang sosyalismong umiiral sa kanyang namamalas na mundo at, kung gayon, hindi ibang mundong hindi sosyalista, halimbawa ay demokratiko. Ayon sa nakasanayan na, kahulugan ng sosyalismo ang reyalidad ng sosyalistang mundong litaw kay Christiane, kaya kumbinsido siyang ito ang katotohanan.
Ngunit totoo ring ang katotohanan ng husga ay pangalawa lamang sa mas orihinal na katotohanan. Ang orihinal na katotohanan, hindi nakakubli at nangangailangan ng liwanag bilang aletheia. Sa pagkakalitaw ng mga bagay, naliliwanagan ang tao dahil siya sa kanyang sarili ay isang uri ng liwanag. May kakayahan siyang humusga ng mga litaw na bagay-bagay dahil sa kaliwanagang ito. Kung walang katotohanan ang isang bagay, hindi ito makapagbibigay-liwanag. Wala ring makikitang liwanag dito ang tao kaya nga huhusgahan niya ito bilang palso, na nakalingid dito ang katotohanan. Kailangang mahubaran muna ito mula sa pagkakatago upang umayon ito sa reyalidad. Sa pagkakaayon nito sa reyalidad, susunod na ang pag-ayon dito ng tao dahil naglilitaw na ang bagay ng katotohanan bunsod ng kaliwanagang nagmumula rito.
Ito ang nangyari sa kaso ni Christiane: dahil sa kakaibang mga pangyayaring namamalas niya habang tumatagal at nagpapagaling, lumalabas na may palsong kamalayang nagbibigay-bisa sa hinuhusgahan niyang katotohanan sa bansa niyang sosyalista. Ang pagkakita niya sa dambuhalang anunsiyo ng Coca-Cola sa kalapit na apartment, ang mga kakaibang balita sa telebisyon, ang pagbebenta ng BMW sa halip na Trabant, ang paglitaw ng mga Kanluraning korporasyon gaya ng IKEA—lahat ng ito ay kakaiba sa pakahulugan niya ng sosyalismo. Kapitalismo ito; samakatuwid, ito ang katotohanang nakakubli ngunit dahil sa kanyang pagkakasakit at sa maniobra rin ng anak niyang prinoprotektahan siya mula sa posibleng nakamamatay na atake sa puso, hindi agad-agad lumitaw agad ang totoo. Gayunpaman, bilang taong may kaliwanagan sa katotohanan, nahuhusgahan niyang may palso sa kanyang mga nakikita. Hindi nagbibigay-liwanag ang mga nakikita niyang paulit-ulit na balita sa telebisyon; hindi umaakma ang nangyayari sa labas ng kanyang apartment sa mga pekeng bagay na hindi niya pa nadidiskubre hanggang isiwalat ng kasintahan ng kanyang anak. Sa pagkakahubad ng katotohanan, dito na naliwanagan si Christiane. Umayon na sa reyalidad ang obserbasyon niya sa kanyang paligid, at pagkakataon naman niya ngayong protektahan ang anak mula sa katotohanang natuklasan na ng ina ang totoo.
Anumang klase ng pagkukunwari para itago ang katotohanan ay hindi tunay na makapagbibigay-kaliwanagan, at ito ay masasalamin sa Goodbye, Lenin!. Oo nga at relatibo ang katotohanan depende sa tumitingin dito, ngunit kahit ilusyunin ng tumitingin na katotohanan ang mga bagay sa kanyang paligid, hindi nito mauungusan ang mas orihinal na katotohanang nalilingid sa paniniwala niya sa kanyang uri ng katotohanan. Totoo man siya sa kanyang husga sa reyalidad, ito ay totoo lamang sa kanyang sarili. Sa pagbibigay nito ng palsong liwanag, lilitaw ding hindi makatotohanan ang paghuhusga. Ang katotohanan, hinahayaan ang kanyang sariling isiwalat ang kanyang kahulugan upang sinumang humusgang ito ang totoo, makadudulog sa pinakamalapit na lapit sa logos.