I just finished reading Jose F. Lacaba’s book “Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage” this afternoon. It was about the First Quarter Storm, and it brought the reader right into the midst of the marches, protests, and pitched battles with the police. It was interesting to read because it gives a glimpse of an era in our history that is often referred to by a lot of progressive or militant people in UP. I suspect that the typical UP student and probably anybody else who wasn’t directly involved in it, would not know much about those events in our history.
That was the 1970’s fast forward to 2004. We are still faced with a lot of the same problems we had then. Although I don’t share a lot of the author’s ideas and beliefs about the our country’s situation and how to go about tackling these problems, it still tells a good story that we can all learn from and is relevant today as it was then. Considering the current political situation and in the wake of the recent upheavals like “EDSA Tres” and constant rumors of coups, it is not unlikely that we will be seeing a lot of protest actions, civil disturbance, and basically more turmoil. Then as now it seems that the masses are often used as cannon fodder to further self serving interests and political agenda. It seems like we never learn.
Another interesting thing I found was that part about Ed Jopson. The author saw him as an apologist, bourgeoisie, a moderate, a typical Atenean who could not really be trusted to fight the people’s fight. That is, until he was killed in Mindanao in 1982. EdJop went underground and fought an armed struggle while a lot of the more militant activists of that time turned away and became lackeys of the dictatorship or simply forgot about the struggle. This reminded me of the movie Troy and how Achilles was given an option of staying and living a comfortable life or going to war to face death and yet gain immortality. Ed Jopson could have opted for the comfortable life of an Ateneo graduate yet he chose a path less traveled and now he is seen as a hero by radicals, militants, and leftist groups. He has been immortalized in stories that are still being told today.
That was the 1970’s fast forward to 2004. We are still faced with a lot of the same problems we had then. Although I don’t share a lot of the author’s ideas and beliefs about the our country’s situation and how to go about tackling these problems, it still tells a good story that we can all learn from and is relevant today as it was then. Considering the current political situation and in the wake of the recent upheavals like “EDSA Tres” and constant rumors of coups, it is not unlikely that we will be seeing a lot of protest actions, civil disturbance, and basically more turmoil. Then as now it seems that the masses are often used as cannon fodder to further self serving interests and political agenda. It seems like we never learn.
Another interesting thing I found was that part about Ed Jopson. The author saw him as an apologist, bourgeoisie, a moderate, a typical Atenean who could not really be trusted to fight the people’s fight. That is, until he was killed in Mindanao in 1982. EdJop went underground and fought an armed struggle while a lot of the more militant activists of that time turned away and became lackeys of the dictatorship or simply forgot about the struggle. This reminded me of the movie Troy and how Achilles was given an option of staying and living a comfortable life or going to war to face death and yet gain immortality. Ed Jopson could have opted for the comfortable life of an Ateneo graduate yet he chose a path less traveled and now he is seen as a hero by radicals, militants, and leftist groups. He has been immortalized in stories that are still being told today.
No comments:
Post a Comment