According to its Charter of 2008 (RA 9500), the University of the Philippines has the right and responsibility “to serve the Filipino nation and humanity, and relate its activities to the needs of the Filipino people and their aspirations for social progress and transformation.” This clearly delineates the role of the University to produce critical thinkers that will shape a liberal, humanistic, rational and compassionate society. The public service character of the University is not limited to teaching, research and extension service. It is also to initiate public discourse that may challenge the ways the state and other authorities exercise their power through despotic means. Thus, activism, through conducting educational discussions, writing statements and holding political demonstrations, is important since its militancy ensures that democratic processes are still in place. It encourages people to be aware of their collective strength in fighting for their rights.
The University of the Philippines’ history of militancy has played an important role in the critical junctures of our nation’s past. Even before, universities have borne the brunt of state persecution, which shows how much the government is afraid of producing a critical and enlightened populace. The Philippine congress targeted progressive students and professors during the anti-communist witch-hunting instigated by the 1961 Committee on Anti-Filipino Activities (CAFA), patterned after McCarthyism in the United States. Instead of quelling dissent, the anti-communist witch-hunting caused the revitalization of Marxist study sessions, saw the increased production of nationalist and liberal writings, and the organization of numerous youth and student formations against the CAFA and other repressive state measures. This decade also saw the establishment of militant youth and student organizations such as the Kabataang Makabayan (KM) in 1964 and the Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan (SDK) in 1968.
At the onset of the First Quarter Storm in 1970, the youth and student movement was at the forefront of demonstrations protesting against increasing poverty, government debt spending, and Philippine involvement in the Vietnam War. A year after in 1971, UP students, faculty and residents supported the jeepney strike against the oil price hike and barricaded the entrance to the campus in the historic Diliman Commune. In the ensuing scuffle, Mathematics professor Inocentes Campos fired at the “communards” and killed a freshman student, Pastor “Sonny” Mesina, Jr., the first martyr of UP Diliman waging the anti-Marcos struggle. The police and the Philippine Constabulary Metropolitan Command (MetroCom) tried to dismantle the barricades by throwing tear gas, chasing students, assaulting them with truncheons and firearms, and arresting them. This showed the very realness of military intrusion and violence within the campus. The call to serve the people continued during the Martial Law years up to the present, as UP students, faculty and alumni marched beyond the walls of the classroom and organized in factories, slums, and the countryside.
This history of militant struggle should constantly remind us of the public character of the University. At the same time that UP produces capitalists and bureaucrats working within the machineries of the state, so too does UP create scholars who are critically aware of the systemic nature of oppression. And indeed, present events have shown that nothing much has changed; the country is still beset with problems stemming from government corruption, class inequalities and foreign intrusion. More particularly, the polarities caused by Duterte’s blatant disregard for human rights, and the historical revisionism that has reinstated the Marcoses to the highest government position have imperiled the University’s academic freedom. The red-tagging incidents targeted towards the University’s constituents, whether these be anonymous yet orchestrated social media troll posts, or direct naming in government “inquiries”, are not just mere speech acts to be downplayed. This generates a culture of fear and silence that has a chilling effect on students, faculty and researchers. The very activities that define the University, such as doing fieldwork, publishing scholarly and creative work, and speaking in public engagements, are now regarded with suspicion. But equally as frightening as these rabid attacks on scholars or institutions within the University, are the downright trivializing and dismissal of critical thinking, which renders history and conscientization obsolete.
Detractors dismiss activism as a public nuisance, or a fleeting and fancy phase in one’s youth that one would eventually outgrow. Nonetheless, activism is still relevant in the University, given the current threats on democratic governance and the demonization of critical thinking. The current obsession with university rankings where learning is reduced to measurable terms, may cause the University to be atomized. Research and teaching activities are now mere points to bolster university rankings; and faculty must thrive within the “publish and perish” culture to survive in the academe. This, despite the state encroaching upon the ways the University governs itself, and the continuing attacks against scholars and public intellectuals who are critical of repressive government policies. By promoting a culture of individualism, the University just might create academics who are detached from, and sadly apathetic to the country’s existing realities. Activism makes the University vibrant and relevant because it breeds a discourse that challenges conventional ways of thinking. Thus, it is important that the voices of academics seep into public discourse. The challenge is also to go beyond this fixation with university rankings and to think about the greater good and the impact of what we do for society.
Mary Grace R. Concepcion, PhD is an Associate Professor of the Department of English and Comparative Literature, College of Arts and Letters, University of the Philippines Diliman. She is also the Vice President for Faculty of the All UP Academic Employees Union Diliman Chapter.
Email the author at upforum@up.edu.ph.
Read more articles from the UP FORUM
Read more about activism in UP via these links:
- From Placards to Memes
- We encourage activism. . . because we care.
- On the Screen and in the Streets: Student Activism during the COVID 19 Lockdowns
- The Evolution of an Activist
