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THE NEED FOR A CULTURAL REVOLUTION

Speech delivered by Jose Maria Sison at the UP Baguio College, Baguio City, on September 30, 1966; sponsored by the UP Baguio Student Council.

To have a scientific view of culture as we should, we need to understand first of all that culture is a superstructure that rests upon a material basis.

The ideas, institutions and all cultural patterns are dependent on the mater ial mode of existence of a society. These change as all societies are subject to change. There is no permanent society or culture.

The cultural balance, pattern or synthesis that exists in a society at a given historical stage is nothing but the unity of opposites the unity of opposite cultural forces. This unity is always a temporary balance subject to the dynamism of opposites. The progressive force always outgrows and breaks the old fr amework which the reactionary force always tries to preserve.

Just as revolution is inevitable in politico-economic relations, revolution is inevitable in culture. A cultural revolution, as a matter of fact, is a necessary aspect of the politico- economic revolution.

In the history of mankind, it can easily be seen that even before the full development of the politico-economic power of an ascendant social class, a cultur al revolution provides it with the thoughts and motives that serve as the effective guide to action and further action. A ruling class achieves what we call its class consciousness before it actually establishes its own state power and replaces the old state power and its vestiges.

Long before the liberal revolution of Europe dealt the most effective political blows against feudal power in the 17 and 18 centur ies, a cultural revolution took shape in the th th Renaissance which asserted secular thinking and freedom of thought. The men of the Renaissance questioned the clerical hegemony over culture and learning and they clarified the ideals and values that were still to become truly dominant later when the unity of church and state was to be broken and replaced by the modern bour geois state.The successful revolution of the bourgeoisie in the West was prepared and guided by a cultural revolution.

In our country, there had to be a propaganda movement the assertion of new ideas and values before there developed the actual beginnings of the Philippine revolution that fell under the class leadership of the ilustrados or the liberal bourgeoisie that surrounded Aguinaldo.

In this Propaganda Movement, Dr. Jose Rizal made patriotic annotations on Morga s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas with a view of demonstrating that before the coming of Spanish colonialism there was an indigenous culture that the indios could be proud of. This was clearly an anticolonial attempt not only to show up the racial ar rogance of those who belittled our people but also to develop an awareness of a national culture. Speech delivered at the UP Baguio College, Baguio City, on September 30, 1966; 1 sponsored by the UP Baguio Student Council. 74

Not to be carried away by chauvinism, Dr. Jose Rizal further presented the crisis of colonial culture in the Philippines and the prospects of a national culture in terms of the liberal ideas and values of Europe which he believed could be applied in the concrete experience of his people, inasmuch as there was already the emergence of the ilustrados like Crisostomo Ibarra and businessmen like Capitan Tiago.

Rizal s two novels, Noli and Fili, and his essays, “The Indolence of the Filipinos” and “The Philippines A Century Hence,” were written in furtherance of a national democratic cultural revolution. It was a revolution in the sense that it contraposed national culture to the colonial culture of which the friars were the chief defenders.

It was in this same spirit that the participants of the Propaganda Movement wrote as Marcelo H. del Pilar did, orated as Graciano Lopez Jaena did and painted as Juan Luna did. All of them exposed the exploitation and brutalization of our people, thus paving the way for the clear call for  separation from Spain by the Katipunan.

The Katipunan, which was a vigorously separatist movement and which served as the nucleus of a new national political community, carried forward into revolutionary action the aspir ation for a national democratic culture, integrating democratic concepts with the indigenous conditions. From Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto to Apolinario Mabini and Antonio Luna, the fire of cultural revolution rose higher and higher and shone with the political ideas that guided the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

What came to be considered our national culture in the beginning was the integration of modern political ideas and indigenous conditions. The emergence of that national culture was essentially a political phenomenon; a national culture arose in direct and necessary opposition to the colonial and clerical culture which exploited and brutalized our people. An awar eness of national culture spread among the Filipino people as fast as national sentiment and consciousness spr ead among them. The political awareness of a national community reintegrated the cultural patterns in the provinces, sur passing both the magical barangay culture of pre-Hispanic times and the feudal Christian culture under Spanish domination. The desire for a modern national democratic society outmoded the feudal society developed by the conquistadores from the primitive rule of the rajahs and the datus who submitted themselves as local puppets of the foreign dispensation.

Our people s aspirations for national democracy and for a modern culture of the same cast were, unfortunately, frustrated by the coming of U.S. imperialism. Taking advantage of the naivete and compromising character of our ilustrado or liberal bourgeois leaders, the U.S. imperialists easily insinuated themselves into our country by pretending to give aid to our efforts to free our motherland. After all, did not the patriots of the Pr opaganda Movement pr aise so much the ideas of Jefferson, the American Declaration of Independence and the American struggle against British colonialism?

Alas, little was it realized that the American revolution, which we still remember  today for its national democratic ideals, had taken the path of monopoly capitalist development and had become an imperialist power greedy for colonies in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Though it shouted loud its slogans of bringing democracy and Christianity to the Philippines, as required by a supposed divine mandate received by President McKinley in 75

his dream, it came to suppress the First Philippine Republic and the Malolos Constitution which embodied our people s national democratic aspirations.

As efficiently as the Spaniards were in suppressing the rich cultural achievements of our ancestors, the U.S. imperialists went about their work of brutally suppressing any manifestation of patriotism by the Filipino people. Today, despite the current horror of the U.S. imperialist war of aggression in Vietnam, many still have the illusion that the U.S. imperialists are smart, subtle and smooth operators. But what is more cruel and crude than the murder of more than 250,000 Filipinos to achieve U.S. imperialist conquest of the Philippines, as was done in the Filipino-  American War of 1899-1902?

What is mor e crude and inconsiderate than the all-out imperialist attempt during the first decade of this country to censor and suppress newspapers, drama, poetry, and other cultural efforts which manifested Filipino patriotism and national democratic aspir ations? The mere display of the Philippine flag was enough ground for a Filipino to be punished for sedition.

Until today, many of our youth and elders are deprived of the memory of the national democratic struggle of our people. They have been made to forget. How is this possible even if there seems to be no more open coer cion to prevent us from reviewing our national history?

The history of mankind shows that state power and any appear ance of stability in any class society are sustained by the force of arms and other coercive means. However, in so far as forgetting one s history is concer ned, control of the means of cultural development is necessary to get such a result. A state, such as one that is imperialist, does not only have the instruments for coercion but also the instruments for suasion.

The first decisive step taken by the U.S. government in or der to develop its cultural and educational contr ol over the Philippines was to impose the English language as the medium of instruction and as the official language. On the national scale, a foreign language became the first language in government and business. English merely replaced Spanish as the vehicle of the for eign power dominating us.

A foreign language may widen our cultural horizons, opening our eyes to those parts of the world expressed by that language. But if such a foreign language is forced on our people as has been the case with Spanish and English consecutively, it undermines and destr oys the sense of national and social purpose that should be inculcated in our youth and in those who ar e supposed to be educated. Within our nation this foreign language divides the educated and the wealthy from the masses. It is not only a measure of class discrimination but also one of national subjugation. It means a cultural constriction represented a long time ago by a Dona Victorina.

The two most significant results of the adoption of English as the first language in the practice of the educated are: first, learning and the professions are alienated from the masses and only serve the ruling class in the incessant class struggle; and second, the Filipino people are actually cut off from other peoples of the world and become victimized by imper ialist propaganda. 76

Some persons might argue that the U.S. government had really intended to spr ead English among the masses by establishing the public school system. They might, with extreme nostalgia, recall the coming of the Thomasites and what had developed from their  wor k; they might r ecall how American teachers taught their language better than many Filipino English teachers do today. Foolishly, they are liable to find justification in this for the Peace Corps and other cultural devices meant to perpetuate U.S. imperialist cultural influence among the people.

Those favoring the dominance of the imperialist culture at the expense of our developing national culture are treading treasonous grounds. It is already well exposed by history that the public school system has served essentially as a brainwashing machine for cleansing the people s minds of their national democratic aspirations.

The colonially- tutored children came to know more about Washington and Lincoln than about Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto. The national democratic concepts of our national heroes were forgotten and only innocuous anecdotes were told about them. U.S. imperialism became in their eyes the liberator and not the oppressor of the people in fact.

U.S. imperialism has found more use in our learning of English than we would have found for ourselves if we developed our own national language. We have about three generations of Filipinos spewed by the imper ialist br ainwashing machine. The general run of these Filipinos have an intellectual orientation, habits, and consumption attitudes subordinated to the so-called Amer ican way of life.

In self-criticism, let us accept how much so many of us have become acculturized to U.S. imperialism. To pr opose that we embar k on a genuine program of national industrialization and agrarian revolution is to become extremely “subversive.” We are eyed with suspicion by some just because we had dared to challenge the colonial character of the economy and, therefore, of the prevailing politics.

We must propose the Filipinization of schools, the press, radio and other media which are decisive in the conditioning of minds. Because in the hands of foreigners, these constitute direct foreign political power and intervention in our national affairs. These media of education and information immediately direct public opinion and, as it has been since the coming of U.S. imperialism, they have served to keep permanent our cultural as well as our political bondage.

The cultural aggression of U.S. imperialism in our country continues unabated. It takes various forms.

The U.S. Agency for  International Development has a decisive say on educational policies at the highest governmental level. Textbook production and procurement are directed by it in the Department of Education. Multifarious projects designed to execute dir ectly U.S. foreign cultural policy are actually supported by the counterpart peso fund which we provide. To a great extent, the Philippine government is actually subsidizing USIS and other forms of “clasped hand” propaganda.

In a str ategic place like the University of the Philippines, General Carlos P. Romulo continues to open the door to foreign grants from such foundations as Rockefeller 77

Foundation and Ford Foundation. He has sought loans from foreign financing institutions like the World Bank for the purpose of his so-called five-year development program. The naive teacher, student and administrator in my Alma Mater might think that Romulo is doing a fine job for us. But actually, he is doing a fine job for the cause of cultural imperialism which is in the service of U.S. monopoly capitalism.

We have to examine closely the present proliferation of institutes and research projects in the U.P. which are meant only to accommodate the cultural agents of the U.S. government, both American and Filipino. We have to examine how much U.S. imperialist advice and actual direction has affected and will affect the curricula and materials for study. We have to examine closely what is the whole idea behind the $6 million World Bank loan to the UP. How, for instance, is this related to present plans and operations of Esso fertilizer, International Harvester, United Fruit and others? We should inquire more critically into the increasing physical presence of U.S. imperialist personnel in UP. The U.S. government plans every step it takes in consideration of the monopoly interests it must represent in its foreign policy. Unlike the Philippine government, the U.S. government takes its action in the cultural field on the basis of national interests.

The pensionado mentality among our brighter  students, teachers and professors have become so instilled that to promote their career it is a “must” for them to take one American scholarship grant or another. We must be critical of their mentality and we must pursue a new cultural revolution that should put in order the values of those who have fallen prey to this mentality. They go to the United States only to learn concepts and cases that do not apply on the concrete experience of our people. Their thinking is completely alienated from the masses and at most they become self- seeking careerists.

Ther e is a worse kind of Filipino professional than the one who finally returns to this country. He is either a doctor, a nurse or some other professional who prefers to stay in the United States as a permanent r esident or who tries to become an American citizen. This type of fellow is a subtle betrayer of his country and, in the most extreme cases, a loud-mouthed vilifier of the Filipino people. He goes to the foreign land for higher pay and that is all he is interested in. He does not realize how much social investment has been put into his public schooling from the elementary level and up, and he refuses to serve the people whose taxes have paid for his education. We criticize him but we must as well condemn the government that allows him to desert and that fails to inspire him to work for the people.

While there is an apparent exodus of our bright young men and women to the United States and other lands under the direction of the U.S., the U.S. government ironically sends the Peace Corps and encourages all sorts of projects (many of which are CIA- directed) intending to send young American men and women abroad. Whereas these young Americans are going to our countryside guided by the foreign policy of their government, our bright young men and women are abandoning the countryside to crowd each other out in the city or to take flight entir ely from their country.

We r efer to the Peace Corps here as a challenge to our youth. These agents of a foreign government are here to perpetuate their government s long- standing policies and cultural 78

influence. They are agents of renewed U.S. imper ialist efforts to aggravate their cultural control; thus, they are described as the new Thomasites.

The presence of U.S. imperialist agents of one sort or another in our countryside poses a threat to the development of a national democratic movement among us. Beyond their  role of showing pictures of New York and Washington to impressionable children is the counterinsurgency r ationale behind their organization.

While these sweet boys and girls in the Peace Corps are now immediately creating goodwill (which is a euphemism for political influence) and performing intelligence functions, these same sweet boys and girls can always come back with new orders from their government. This counterinsurgency aspect and psywar and intelligence value of the Peace Corps are what make it subver sive to the interest of a national democratic movement.

The Filipino youth should go to the countryside to learn from the people and to arouse them for  the national democratic revolution. 79

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THE TASKS OF THE SECOND PROPAGANDA MOVEMENT

Speech delivered by Jose Maria Sison at the St. Louis University, Baguio City, on October 12, 1966; sponsored by the St. Louis University Student Council.

The Second Propaganda Movement

It was Senator Clar o Mayo Recto who first expressed the need for a second propaganda movement. It was his intention in 1960 to engage in an intensive and extensive anti- imperialist campaign tour after coming from his journey abroad. He was never able to do what he intended, but his anti-imperialist legacy r emains with us.

This anti-imper ialist legacy consists of the body of ideas and principles which he defined in the course of his nationalist crusade which he launched in the early 1950s. There was really no need for him to make any formal announcement that he and other patriots would embark on the Second Propaganda Movement. He had star ted it the moment he began to relate the struggle of the present to the struggle of those who had successfully fought and isolated the first colonial tyranny, but who did not quite succeed in preventing the coming of a new foreign tyranny, U.S. imper ialism.

It is important to speak of the Second Propaganda Movement because we need to recall the unfinished tasks of the Philippine revolution. The Second Propaganda Movement is required to arouse our nation anew to the struggle for the fulfillment of the national democratic tasks of the Philippine revolution.

The Second Propaganda Movement occurs as a resumption of the Fir st Propaganda Movement and of the Philippine revolution even as conditions are far different from those obtaining during the time of the first nationalist propagandists. While old problems have been carried over  to the present, new ones have also arisen to make our national struggle more difficult and more complicated.

The Second Propaganda Movement must therefore be more vigorous and resolute. It should be a propaganda movement of a new type, with a new class leadership and a new alignment of forces and with a new ideological and political orientation more advanced and more progressive, if we are to be on the tide of a higher stage of historical development and if we are to win the struggle against an enemy far stronger and far more clever than the old type of colonialism. In other words, the Second Propaganda Movement must surpass the first because it occurs at a higher stage of histor ical development and because the enemy we face, with its domestic allies, is stronger and more advanced than the old colonialism it replaced.

At the present, however, U.S. imperialism and feudalism, which are the principal targets of the Second Propaganda Movement, are strategically weak as these are confronted with the anti-imperialist and antifeudal unity of the people under the leadership of the working class. Furthermore, on a world scale, U.S. imperialism and feudalism are fast losing out before the surging forces of national democratic and socialist revolutions. The present tasks of the Second Propaganda Movement are huge but conditions for its success are also good.

The Second Propaganda Movement is first of all a political movement. It is an educational movement with political aims; for after all there is no type of education or  culture that is detached from politics. It aims to replace the old type of education and culture while retaining only its progressive elements. It aims to prepare and guide the people for struggle against their  for eign and feudal exploiters. It aims to effect results and it proceeds from a particular political standpoint. Class interests, whether of the exploited or of the exploiters, generate political ideas, values and attitudes that inspire and guide men to action.

Learn from the Masses

In order to move the people to obtain certain r esults by their collective action, one must first determine their  motives based on their concrete conditions and class interests. It is necessary for the Second Propaganda Movement to learn from the masses their conditions, problems, interests and aspirations before it dar es teach them what to do. The Second Propaganda Movement is a mass movement in the most genuine sense with the mobilization and victory of the masses as the main objective.

The principle of learning from the masses should never  be forgotten even if at this point we are able to take advantage of a fund of general knowledge gathered from past experiences. General or second-hand knowledge is important but what is always more important is the first-hand knowledge of the masses or lear ning from the masses because it assumes being constantly with them and mer ging with them. Learning from the masses and being with them will make our generalizations for action and formulation of solutions more correct and more dynamic. We become immediately one with the masses in their mobilization.

The Second Propaganda Movement should never be a campaign to command or  dictate above the heads of the masses. One should not throw big theories and big slogans without first learning the concrete conditions and problems of the people. A knowledge of these from first-hand observation, from practice with the masses and from listening to the masses, would enable us to test and ver ify theories, enrich them and explain them to the people in the most concrete terms that they immediately understand.

We must advance from the behavior and performance of the First Propaganda Movement which unfolded as a movement of exiles in a foreign city while it was supposed to be concerned with Philippine conditions and problems. I t will also not do now for the ilustrados or the petty bourgeoisie to assume leadership by simply brandishing their formal or artificial classroom knowledge, or by impressing the people with their bour geois education.

The agents of U.S. imperialism, the landlor ds and religious sectarians themselves are trying to mingle with the masses, under the cover of the powerful mass media that they own and control and under the cover of many pretexts with the sole objective of confusing and deceiving the people. 93

The activists of the Second Propaganda Movement have no alternative but to take the mass line, merge with the masses and learn from the masses. I t does not suffice now even to issue manifestoes and pr oclamations from the cities and big towns where the lazy “leaders” are fond of sitting out a “revolution.” The success of the Second Propaganda Movement will be determined by those who choose to go to the masses and be with them.

In the Second Propaganda Movement, it is necessar y to determine whose political ideology should lead the people.

Ther e is a presumption on the part of the bourgeoisie and the landlords that only those with high formal schooling are fit to lead the people. They talk of the people disdainfully as illiterate and uneducated. By asserting that only those educated in the bourgeois or conservative fashion are fit to lead, they wish to entrap the masses deeper within the system of exploitation.

The Second Propaganda Movement should reject this dangerous and undemocratic presumption as a lie intended to mislead the masses. We have given to the pr oducts of colonial and neocolonial education more than three centuries and many more decades to solve the problems of the masses. But what have they done? We have given the bright boys or the technocrats of the bourgeoisie and the landlord class more than enough time and yet they are either  too dull or too dishonest to see such basic problems as U.S. imperialism and feudalism.

What a pity that the educated elite does not see clearly the basic problems that are U.S. imperialism and feudalism which the masses, with lesser formal education, can see and feel most acutely, as they are the ones most adversely affected. The masses are in a position to perceive not only their own sufferings but also the benefits that accrue to a few from U.S. imperialism and feudalism.

What the masses experience they can immediately grasp. They can also easily grasp the correct solutions based on the correct analysis of their problems. It is the self- satisfied statesmen, educated men and publicists of the bourgeoisie and the landlords who will consider such terms as imperialism and feudalism too high above their  heads, not so much because they are dull but because they are dishonest and are afraid of exposing the negative character of the system that benefits them.

The national and social liberation of the masses will come only from the masses themselves. Only they themselves can understand their problems most profoundly. The activists of the Second Propaganda Movement can only generalize and formulate solutions from the experience of the masses.

The Scientific and Democratic World Outlook

Reliance on the masses and rejection of bourgeois and egotistic education can be understood only if one has a scientific and democratic world outlook.

The scientific and democratic world outlook should be even more advanced than the liberal-democratic outlook that the First Propaganda Movement had as a matter of political posture. The proletarian world outlook is today the most scientific and democratic outlook. It is superior to the narrow viewpoint of the “enlightened” liberal

bourgeoisie. It sees clearly the entir e range of the opposing class forces operating in society today with their respective viewpoints. It comprehends their basic relations and contradictions and it so masters the situation as to be able to change it through revolutionary practice.

It recognizes the progressive force in any contradiction and at this stage of world history it recognizes the pr oletariat as the progressive class in the struggle between the U.S. monopolists and the proletariat going on all over the world and in our country. It does not only recognize every progressive force but it takes sides as a matter of commitment. A man who has a scientific and proletar ian outlook knows that no man or no small group of men can be detached or excluded from basic social struggles. Outside of one s consciousness, this class struggle is objectively occurring; one can only side with the progressive or the reactionary force in the moment of crisis. To assume the posture of neutrality is actually to become an appendage of the stronger force.

The class struggle is objectively going on in the Philippines but it has taken the form of a national struggle, with patriotic classes the working class, peasantry, intelligentsia and the national bourgeoisie aligned against the U.S. imperialists, compradors, landlords and bureaucrat capitalists. The working class is the leading class, with the peasantry as its most reliable ally, and it conducts its struggle against the U.S. monopoly capitalists and the local comprador bourgeoisie, supported by the landlord class.

The Second Propaganda Movement should advance a modern scientific and democratic world outlook that rejects the religio-sectarian culture of feudal times, the decadent imperialist culture and the egotistic petty-bourgeois mentality. The schools as they are now in the Philippines are the purveyors of these that we must reject.

Alienation in the Present Culture

Ther e has to be a complete overhaul of the entire educational system. But the initial necessary step to be taken is to advance a national democratic culture of a new type. This national democr atic culture is a part of our political struggle to achieve national democracy. Education must serve our national struggle to gain independence and self- reliance in every field of endeavor, whether  political, economic, social, cultural, military and diplomatic.

As a whole, the present educational system in the Philippines is in the hands of forces inimical to the principles of national democracy. Its control is shared by the agents of an imperialist culture and those of a regressive feudal-sectarian culture. It is an educational system which actually shields the ruling class and alienates the for mally educated from the masses. It does not at all propagate a healthy scientific and democratic viewpoint; even the exceptional children of the poor  who manage to acquire a high degree of education inevitably adopt the decadent and corrupt values of the ruling class and abandon the cause of national and social liberation. This kind of education is a device by which the betr ayal of the masses by a few of its own children is assured.

In a period where the ruling class has stability of power, the educated middle class serves as the transmission belt of the ideas and values of the ruling class to the lower classes.

Before it is won over or neutralized by the organized masses, the middle class functions as the instrument of the exploiting classes.

As clear manifestation of the alienation of our educational system from the cause of national democr acy, it does not perfor m the function of teaching the students to merge with and mobilize the people for, say, national independence, land reform, national industrialization or any such urgent tasks.

The activists of the Second Propaganda Movement should patiently arouse and mobilize the masses, win over the intelligentsia and develop an alliance with the national bourgeoisie, on the basis of its self-interest, under the banner of national democracy.

Filipinization of the Educational System

One immediate step that can be taken with regard to the present educational system is its Filipinization. This should be taken with the view of replacing foreign ownership, control and influence over the schools with that of Filipinos imbued with the spirit of national democracy.

Teachers educated in the old way should themselves be reeducated. The process of their education will accelerate as the political situation consistently develops in favor of the revolutionary masses.

The adoption of textbooks and other study materials that are Filipino-oriented and progressive should be used to counteract the hundreds of years of our colonial, imperialist and neocolonial mental subjugation. Filipino authors should struggle to replace the materials and textbooks now being used which are alienated from the conditions and problems of the masses.

The Filipino students and the people should be alerted to the for eign agencies and devices by which the colonial and feudal mentality is meant to be perpetuated. The imperialist and subversive character of the activities and influence of the AID, USIS, the Peace Corps, U.S. scholarships and grants, the ALEC, IEDR, the research grants extended by U.S. corporations, Asia Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation and the Congress for Cultural Freedom should be thoroughly exposed. These agencies have been exposed before as imperialist agencies or  as CI A fronts and conduits.

When your enemy makes you think the way he does, he becomes your friend super ficially even if he takes advantage of your inter ests and exploits you. As Senator Recto said in a message addressed to the youth, a “brainwashed” generation followed the military defeat of the Philippine revolution. The result has been the abandonment of national democratic tasks.

As proof of the abandonment of the historical tasks of the nation and the betrayal of the Philippine revolution, it has been deemed “subversive” for the youth and the people now to recall the Philippine revolution and to strive for national democracy.

The Second Propaganda Movement should likewise be alert to the friar enemies of the First Propaganda Movement. They are now, in collaboration with the imperialists, fast expanding their owner ship and control of the educational establishments. The religious hypocrisy of a Padre Salvi and a Padre Damaso should not deceive the people again. As we all believe in the freedom of religion, they are free to preach in their churches, but they should not oppose the struggle for national democracy and try to discredit us as heretics and filibusters by abusing the credibility that they have among their faithful. Religion should not be used as a cover for the people s enemies. Both the church and those striving for social change should avoid the conversion of a national and social struggle into a r eligious one. Otherwise, those who claim to be concerned with the spir itual welfare of their faithful will only be exposed as tools of those who want to perpetuate the political power of the exploiting classes. It is the prevalent imperialist culture and the decadent feudal values of the exploiting classes which create the monsters and demons of this society.

A scientific and democr atic type of education should be fostered by all means and should not be run down by the expanding schools of foreign friars. The national democratic movement, that is, the Second Propaganda Movement, should demand that the clerical type of education should not be allowed to pr evail over a scientific and democr atic type of education. Clerical schools have only become bastions of class discrimination, authoritarianism and antisecularism.

National Democratic Scholarship

Within and outside the schools, progressive scholars and researchers who consider themselves part of the Second Propaganda Movement should work assiduously for the replacement of those historical writings and social researches which unilaterally misrepresent the colonial and imperialist aggressors as great conscious benefactors of the Filipino people.

Ther e should be an objective presentation of our historical development as a nation. The struggle of social opposites must be objectively presented with a clear appreciation of our national effor ts and with the clear understanding that the revolutionary masses make history.

Our colonial-minded and bour geois historians and scientists have even gone to the extent of obscuring the most important historical documents of the Philippine revolution in their attempt to play up their colonial heroes and their intellectual subservience.

The step taken by an increasing number of scholars in taking the Filipino or ientation in the writing of Philippine history is a positive step which does credit to the national democratic efforts of our people. The most pr ogressive step to be taken by our Filipino scholars now is to pr esent objectively the str uggle of the nation and of the various patriotic classes in our society for democracy and progress.

A National Language and Revolutionary Arts and Lett ers

In language, literature and arts, vigorous efforts should be exerted for these to serve the interests of the masses.

While we should preserve the culture of localities and minorities as part of our cultural heritage, we should develop a new and truly national culture by propagating and making use of a national language that is a cognate to all our local languages and can therefore, unlike English, be easily grasped by the masses everywhere. Vigorous steps must be taken to make Pilipino a language ascendant over English. The main reason for this is to have a medium for the rapid promotion of national democr atic understanding among the people of the entire archipelago. The educated elite has made use of a foreign language as a language of conceit over the heads of the masses. The laws are still in Spanish and English; this is one sign of how alienated are the laws of the ruling class from the masses. In literature and the arts, the process of raising aesthetic standards and popularization should go hand in hand. For the masses who constitute our biggest audience can appreciate our literature and art

only if our writers and artists make use of the life and struggles of our masses as raw material. If we adopt this raw material, it can be given the form that our  artistic talents are capable of making.

Our heroes and values must change if we are truly for revolutionary progress. The workers, peasants and revolutionary fighters should prevail in our representation of life. The content and themes of our literary and artistic efforts must shift fr om pseudo- aristocratic and petty bourgeois concern over  a narrow and limited portion of our national reality. The task of our writers and artists now is to turn to the great drama of the struggle of the masses for national and social liberation.

Those creative writers and artists who fail to use the life of more than 90% of our people for their raw material must be pretty narrow-minded. Or, they ar e too misled by or absorbed with getting travel grants and other concessions from the Rockefeller Foundation, the USIS and other imperialist institutions which have calculatedly planned to make our writer s and artists flighty and escapist.

The petty bourgeois wr iter or artist should r ealize once and for all that there is no such thing as being declasse, above classes, apolitical or detached from politics. An honest analysis of the work of the people who take this presumption will show their  real objective partisanship on the side of the ruling classes which give them the crumbs and the plums. They are actually reactionary through and through, either praising the regressive values of the primitive or feudal life or presenting the helpless or the self-indulgent individual who is trapped by a system which he does not care to understand or which he deliberately mystifies.

Those who write for the proletariat or the masses and for their cause are regarded by the imperialist, feudal or petty bourgeois writer as being gross and utilitarian. But look at the works of our supposedly refined and arty wr iters or artists: the presentation of their egotistic obscure concerns actually represent a narrow-minded grossness and incapability to grasp the basic tensions of life. They ar e capable only of presenting a narrow part of reality, the alienation and psychology of the individual alienated from the more dynamic forces of society.

The Second Propaganda Movement should be pushed forward by cultural workers who can surpass even the tradition of critical realism of Dr. Jose Rizal in his novels, the Noli and the Fili, and Juan Luna in his painting, La Spoliar ium. Literature and the arts are a concentrated expression of reality. In the present era, one must unswervingly take the proletarian standpoint in order to achieve the greatest progress in art and liter ature. Literature and the arts should reflect the revolutionary struggle and point towards its triumph.

Science and Technology for National Industrialization

Let us consider science and technology. It is not true that science and technology are free from political or class dictation. The feudalists and imperialists have a particular way of using them or restricting them and for definite reasons.

The feudalists wanted to restrict science and technology because they did not want their religious dogmas to be challenged and exposed. Today, imperialists use science and technology to make weapons of destruction for their wars of aggression and they also restrict pr oduction for the sake of maximizing their rate of profit.

In the Philippines, we wish to make use of science and technology for our industrial progress and for producing mor e for our people. In intellectual perspective, we have advanced far from that period when the friars opposed scientific knowledge as “heretical” and mishandled “A Class in Physics” in order to subvert our intellectual development.

When U.S. imperialism took over the Philippines, it first showed, relative to the friars, some desire to share science and technology with us; but now, as we want to use science and technology to pursue national industrialization and effect economic emancipation, we find the American capitalist society, with its own scientific and technological pr ogress, inimical to our progr ess. U.S. imperialist politics does not permit us to make full use of the science and technology within the grasp of our scientists, technologists, and our people because the economic development we would cr eate will set us free and cut down the market and profits of U.S. industries. It is wishful thinking, therefore, to consider that science and technology have no necessary connection with politics and with class dictation.

Science and technology and production in socialist countries are within the r ealm of politics, that is to say, of satisfying the needs of the people. But, in capitalist countries, despite the high level of development in science, technology and the forces of production, altogether these are made to serve the profit-making and political power of the monopolies against the interests of the masses and nations abroad.

In the Philippines, we should pursue a thoroughgoing program of increasing our scientific and technological knowledge for political and economic purposes; that is, for our political emancipation and economic welfare. We want to have the skills for national industrialization and agr icultural development. In order to ensure the participation of the masses of our people in production and in acceler ated social development, we should popularize the most advanced skills; but, before we can put these to use, the masses must first arm themselves politically, liberate the nation and themselves from the political forces that restrict our economic growth and our scientific and technological progress.

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Filipinization of the Mass Media

Let us consider the newspapers, radio, TV, movies and other  like media of information, opinion and entertainment which are now powerful instruments of either progress or reaction in this era of the Second Propaganda Movement. We know that these are not controlled by the masses. The masses, on the other hand, are reduced to passivity in relation to the emissions of these mass media.

Because of the fact that most of the corporations owning these media or sponsoring the programs ar e imperialist and imperialist-oriented, our mass media at present cannot be used for propagating national democracy. On the other hand, it is through the mass media that the glorification of sex and violence, characteristic of imperialist culture, is propagated to the detriment of our youth and people. Just take note of the James Bond cult and the cowboy fare and the rat-race mercenary kind of justice dished up by the imperialist-controlled mass media. They are the vehicle for imperialist propaganda and likewise for anti-Filipino and antidemocratic prejudices. Because of commer cial advertising, the tastes, attitudes and consumption habits of the Filipino people are anchored on the products of U.S. imperialism. As a whole, foreign control of the mass media and their content (ranging from local sensationalism to slanted reports of U.S. press agencies like AP and UPI) constitutes inter

vention in our political life; and, in the most subtle way, it actually conditions the minds of the people to accept not only the commercial products but also the political products in the form of political agreements and fair-haired boys of U.S. imperialism.

In the field of mass media, let us recall the glor ious tradition of Kalayaan and La Independencia, which were the genuine journalistic instruments of the national democratic movement. In the spirit of these publications, let us convince our journalists that the truth does not lie only within the fr amework of imperialist and landlord political power. Many of them have realized this; and they are bound to widen their freedom of expression more and more.

Ther e is no such thing as freedom of the press in the abstract. Only a liar or a dull person would make that claim. The reporters are bound by editorial policy; the editorial policy is in turn bound by the publisher s policy or that of the company board of directors; the publisher or the board is in turn bound by the advertisers  policy. I t is foolish to make the liberal ar gument that by having different or several adver tisers, none of them would be able to control the paper. The advertisers are well organized in their chambers of commerce and national advertisers  association and in many more business groupings. If the press depends on them for survival, it is bound never to violate the basic class “truths” of their  interests.

It is common knowledge how U.S. companies have tried to quell the expr ession of national democr atic views in the press. The patriotic and progressive members of the press

should struggle for greater press freedom by siding in so many ways with the forces of national democr acy.

Professionalism in the service of the exploiters means political subservience to them, inasmuch as it serves to shape and foster opinions in the service of the exploiters.

One concrete step that can be taken by the Second Propaganda Movement is to fight for the Filipinization of the press so that direct ownership by foreigners of such antinational and antidemocratic media like Philippines Herald, Manila Daily Bulletin, DZBB, DZHP, DZBU and others can be removed. If we succeed in Filipinizing the press, the popular support we shall have generated will automatically serve to back up national democratic publications. At pr esent, we should consistently expose and isolate all those antinational and antidemocratic media directly owned, suppor ted or controlled by for eign monopolies and compradors.

If our newsmen should wish to play a role in the national democratic tradition of Jose Rizal, Lopez Jaena, Del Pilar, Jacinto and Luna, they should organize themselves as militantly progressive journalists and workingmen who wish to broaden their freedom of expression. Their unity should serve to counter the power of decision of the publisher who is tightly bound by financial compromises with the antinational and antidemocratic advertisers and stockholders.

Within and outside the field of journalism, the Second Propaganda Movement can vigorously call for the nationalization of the economy and for national industrialization so that ultimately the foreign advertisers can no longer have the press at their mer cy.

What the Second Propaganda Movement can do now by itself in widening press freedom is to establish a publication where there is the untrammeled freedom to express and advocate national democratic views. This publication, as envisioned by Senator Claro Mayo Recto, should articulate and organize the resurgent forces of the Philippine revolution. It should therefore be guided by the patriotic style of our revolutionary forefathers and the true revolutionaries of the present. The Second Propaganda Movement should use this publication to help break down old ideas, old customs, old habits and old attitudes and help the Philippine revolution advance.

The Second Propaganda Movement should be a thoroughgoing cultural revolution. It should shatter the present semicolonial and semifeudal superstructure. A new national and democratic culture is crying out to be born. Mass organizations, especially of the youth, play a great role in promoting this new culture under the leadership of the proletariat.#

UP Aking Mahal
by Eloi Hernandez

This afternoon, I have come full circle. 24 years ago when I was in kinder I gave the valedictory address to the kinder graduates of the T. Alonzo Elementary School in Project 4. I did not go to that school, my mother’s sister was the kinder teacher and she hired me to deliver the valedictory address. I was given sorbetes for my services. I thank the Asian Center and Tri-college Ph.D. Philippine programme for giving me the opportunity to deliver the speech in behalf of the graduating class this year, for real. I am not sure if I will receive sorbetes after my speech, but I am certain that this will be more memorable for me than the one I gave in kinder.

When I was informed that I will be giving the speech, I asked if there is a particular theme that I should work with and I was told there is none. For many days I contemplated on what I will say this afternoon. I thought I’d give an academic speech, talk about the economic, political, cultural and social problems of our nation and how these are related to the conditions of our Asian neighbors. I decided against it because, I thought this afternoon, what I want to share with you is about love.

I decided to tell you about UP Aking Mahal.

If there is one thing in my life that remains constant – it is my love for UP. I have spent more than half of my life in U.P. as an undergrad student, an MA student, a young instructor, a PhD student, a campus resident, and now as an associate professor.

But we all know UP is not easy to love, UP can break your heart in so many ways. I know, because it has broken mine several times. For instance, I applied as an instructor three times at the Department of Art Studies and three times, I was rejected.

Pursuing my Ph.D. in Philippine Studies gave me a lot of heartaches. The years I spent working on it were some of the most trying times in my life. The 2 years I devoted to writing my dissertation were arguably the most difficult - so many long, lonely, sleepless nights coupled with physical pain, mental anguish, and emotional torment. Had I known it would be that difficult, I would not have embarked on the Ph.D. in the first place. But I persisted. I kept reminding myself – “para sa UP ito.” I did it not only for myself but for UP Aking Mahal.
 

I could not have survived it without the fervent support and unconditional love of my partner Grace and our varsity kids, my mother Evelyn, Tita Chit, and nephews Chryso, Cocoy, Dale, my dear friend Dr. Aileen Salonga, my professors and staff of the tri-college Ph.D. Philippine Studies program, my department and college, and the expert guidance of my adviser Dr. Patrick Flores.
 

I thought when I finished my Ph.D. everything would be better. I could not be more wrong. In fact, after my Ph.D., I was depressed and heartbroken as several trials tested my love for UP. I kept asking myself – why do I stay in UP?

I thought long and hard, I agonized, I had lengthy heated discussions with my partner, friends, and colleagues trying to find the answer to my question. Ultimately, I arrived at a singular conclusion - I love UP.

I love the students who fuel my passion for teaching and learning; the hours spent inside the classroom with them rejuvenate me. My fellow professors continue to inspire me to teach. I love the beautiful UP campus that has been my home for the past 6 years. I love the history of UP – its 100 years of excellence in the service of the nation.

I love how UP gives an impoverished young man the chance to become a genius and how it transforms a young woman into an architecture board topnotcher and a beauty queen (she was my student by the way).

I realized that my love for UP is inevitably linked to my love for country. It is by choice that I stay in the country. It is also by choice that I teach in UP because it is here in UP, where I continue to hope, that in a seemingly small way, I, as a teacher contribute in making the Philippines a better place. Because it is here in UP where I have the distinct opportunity to teach the country’s best and the brightest minds and take part in shaping them into critical thinkers and leaders of this country. This is my service to UP and country. This is how I embody the spirit of the Oblation and the ideals of U.P. - service, leadership, and excellence.

Undoubtedly, my many years in U.P. have awakened a deeper understanding and love for country. In particular, the Ph.D. Philippine studies program equipped me with a more critical understanding of the complex history, political landscape, and cultural terrain of the country. The knowledge I gained in this program made me a better teacher and a better Filipino.

At this point, I would like to share something I wrote for my graduating students in 2006. Now, this message is not just for my students but also for you my fellow graduates and for myself, so that I will always be reminded of the reasons that make me stay in UP.

" To all new graduates – congratulations! Enjoy this day. This is important to your parents, family, and significant others. Be proud, you now join the ranks of great thinkers, movers, and leaders of our country. You are now part of the great UP tradition. The legacy left to us by the best and brightest of the past. Do not do anything to taint this legacy.

Fellow Iskolar ng bayan, as you begin to embark on your quest to earn your millions and live comfortable lives, in your haste to go to foreign lands to earn big bucks and drive big cars, I beg you - do not forget the people who sent you to school. Do not forget the taxpayers who toil everyday to pay for your tuition. Do not forget the people who gave you the opportunity to be iskolar ng bayan.

Mga iskolar ng bayan, huwag kalimutang pagsilbihan ang bayan.

UP FIGHT!"