Riots and Blanchett

Happenings in the background:

Youth riots in Macquarie Fields over police chase of two youths who stole a car, resulting to their deaths. Over three nights now.
(Larger context: many young people in southwest Sydney are unemployed; interest rates up)

Cate Blanchett wins the supporting actress award in the Annual Academy Awards (Oscars).

a numbness to realities seen; also reality fatigue

A perennial complaint against UP activists - and, I guess applies to activists in general - is that they've over-used mobilization as a form of activism, so that people are now tired or are unattracted to join this kind of activity.

It may be true that constant exposure to something may rob that something of its novelty and attractiveness.
People are bombarded everyday by news and stories of gloom that is called the world, such that they can't stand it a second longer. People can only take so much reality. It partly explains why people turn to escapist entertainment like movies and fashion and gossip magazines.
It is in this sense that there is mobilization fatigue, or issues exposure fatigue.

Yet that doesn't rub mobilization off from being a valid form of call to action, or that it shouldn't be constantly launched as issues arise. Rallies show a mass of people collectively acting to speak out their issues and concerns; it is a show of force, of unity, a possibility. That is something that has never been fully understood by its critics.
The rants against rallies are making a virtue out of an ostensible necessity. Or throwing the baby out with the bathwater, such that rallies are now declared passe, invalid forms of action. There is also a false counter-posing with direct lobbying.

But it also seems, coming as the rants are from so-called intellectuals, that it's mostly a cover for intellectual laziness and, as UP's own history suggests, an excuse for these people's inaction in light of pressing social and university concerns.

Well, that's why there's what's called 'consciousness-raising,' of making people awaken to the realities surrounding them, that these realities are not necessary and need to be changed, and calling upon them to act.

And it must never be forgotten that even the most unnoticed rights that UP students have been used to - such as the non-need to stand up when reciting - were products of very determined struggle. And that is a lesson: Rights are struggled for and won, not given by benevolent authorities. That goes for every right that was achieved throughout history, be it women's suffrage, the dismantling of apartheid, or workers' rights.

***

It's important to keep that in mind, because in a country where resources are scarce, and where wealth is so concentrated in a few local and foreign hands, it seems a necessity that rights are more or less struggled for also outside the medium of the legal courts and parliamentary forums, and into the arena of public opinion and action. That's because judicial reform for the benefit of the marginalized is lacking or non-existent.

In Australia, for example, some (State) governments have enacted land rights legislation, such that, though limited, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander law is now recognized as a source of rights within the wider Australian legal system.

Contrast that with the fact that Cordilleran and Moro indigenous rights still remain a pipe dream, despite the recent legislation of the Indigenous People's Rights Act (IPRA), which has been criticized as serving as a facilitator for the exploitation of indigenous lands by multinational mining and timber companies.

Again, in a country where social and economic contradictions are so glaring, it is no wonder that activists hew more to the Marxist precepts of changing the world. Which makes it necessary for local sycophants to make themselves immune to the realities that threaten their privileged positions in society. In the end, the constant rapping against mobilizations flows from and aids reaction.

open my avatar face

I guess I have to make peace with the cyber-fact that this is a public blog. So much for being private. But I'll still make efforts to keep people anonymous.

So should I start traffic swarm, and ask other people to link my site? Will I keep this as a semi-private journal? Or are some of the thoughts here worth it to be advertised to a broader audience? Your two cents?

Elections UP

Election period in UP. I still remember the days of campaigning. When I first entered UP, we were the losing party/alliance. But when the oldies left, it started to turn. I focused on long-term and extensive networking, mainly in my former college.

UP produced some of the best leaders, as well as some of the worst ones. Of course you had Marcos as an alumni contrasted with Ninoy. There were Lean Alejandro, Lorena Barros, Amante Jimenez and so many others. Notable contemporaries include Mong, Nova, Rommel and JPaul as USC Chairs.

Of course the secret weapons were the men and women organizers who built the alliance into the biggest one in UP Diliman - which is unarguably the best campus in the Philippines. The other sides could never fathom the alliance's strength by focusing on its visible leaders.
Those people can never be fully given credit. Here's to all the people of that alliance.

The alliance also produced some of its best intellectuals. Among the notable contemporaries includes RC (not his real name). Now I have contentions on his ability to maneuver tactics and alliances; I had, for example, misgivings about his handling of a key college. Though there were other factors there, I had to contrast it with an almost single-handed effort to maintain and expand in my beloved colllege then, such that before I left, it was the biggest college that was allied with us, even though many students in the college were, well, let's just say non-involved.

But that doesn't deprive him of his determination and intellect. Besides, a man's past is not his future. So one cannot have the final say on the evolved praxis.

Nevertheless, as far as I know, he's the main brain of that outfit. Before I left, besides me, he was also the only one left that was there in the alliance's founding (technically I was the only student left), so one must give such people credit for sticking with the university in pursuit of principles.

(If unsavory ghouls are reading this, you may search all you want, he's deliberately not in my network of friendsters. This is just reminiscing, ok? No worries).

***

I don't think the Math building was especially appreciated during campaigns; electoral activities were always focused at AS. Yet that building receives 8,000 students on any given week.

***

Anyone from UP Diliman reading this: On March 1, election day, will the real Iskolar ng Bayan please STAND UP!

Battlestar Galactica

My favourite series right now is 'Battlestar Galactica,' because of its interstellar proportions. Its story also causes perturbation regarding the future of the human race.

Synopsis: Humans have just lost to the Cylons, their robotic spawns. Forced to flee throughout the universe, this fledgling fleet of refugees are constantly on the run (at FTL speed) from the Cylons. Led by the military commander of BSG, William Adama, and the education-secretary-turned-president Laura Roslin, we learn that humanity's survivors (less than 50,000) are headed towards the mythical 13th colony - Earth.

Background to doomsday: The colonies have been at peace for forty years since the last of the Cylon Wars. Cylons are robots that were created by humans to do their work for them, and even fight the inter-colonial wars. The robots become sentient and fight their creators. The humans' advanced technologies were infiltrated. Networked systems were breached. Humans had to create systems that were less technologically advanced. One of their weapons was Battlestar Galactica. (It's like computerized networks disarmed by EMPs while the gun can still be a weapon). In the First Cylon Wars, humans won.

Forty years of infiltration and strategy made the return of 'Humanity's children' as a surprise and quick defeat for humans. We learn that the scientist in charge of the development of navigation protocols and codes for all the colonies, Dr. Baltar, was used by a cylon disguised as a seductive woman to steal all defense secrets. Thus when the holocaust came, defenses were put down and nuclear attacks were swift and targeted. Humanity didn't stand a chance.

The president of the colonies is dead, and the next-in-line was the female education secretary (which makes for a long-awaited teacher-as-leader twist). At first, there was an initial clash in strategy between the BSG commander and the president. (BSG officers insisted on a counter-attack). But in the end it was realized that humans have lost, and their only chance at survival was to flee and procreate somewhere else. They gathered all ships - ultimately, only those with FTL engines - and fled the colonies, their destination initially unknown. Later, Commander Adama tells everyone that he knows where mythical Earth is, but we discover later on that Earth may not even exist (though of course viewers know better).
Cylons know that human nature would probably dictate that they'd return and destroy them, hence there is an endless chase to eradicate all of humanity's vestiges. We also learn that there may be infiltrators in the fleet led by BSG. This is the beginning of the series.

Sci-buffs and fans of the original series may have lots to criticize about the science, the scenarios, and the reimagination, but my personal sentiment is I liked it. Imagine a bleak condition where only a few people are left of your species and you're in constant threat of being eliminated. Everyone has to rely on each other; people reveal themselves at their heroic best or at their worst villainy. It makes for great sci-fi, not to mention epic drama.

Though again, fiction may be nothing compared to reality, as the possibility of human extinction is more than plausible at the hands of the powerful. Now that is scarier than sci-fi.

texts in a rainbow stream

If you haven't noticed already, if you hover the pointer above the links and the texts on this page, plus the header title, the texts would burst into rainbow colours. So it should contribute to the enrichment of the visual blogging experience.

the counting of a thousand clicks

Well, the site has been visited at least 1,000 times, so it's a millenial moment. I'll be posting more meaty stuff soon, don't worry.

breaking the impasse

It's paralysis by analysis.
Have
to
break
the
impasse
real
fast
.

i carry your heart with me

I Carry Your Heart with Me

e.e. cummings

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in

my heart)i am never without it(anywhere

i go you go, my dear;and whatever is done

by only me is your doing,my darling)

                             i fear

no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want

no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)

and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant

and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows

(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud

and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows

higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)

and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)     

what dreams may come

good: - Valentine's day!
- Offered a masterals coursework by Sydney Uni.

bad: - can't afford it. New gov't policy doesn't even allow gov't loans.

FYI: Sydney Uni. is the oldest and one of the most prestigious universities in Australia.

dabbling in futurology

Everyone is entitled to flights of the mind. Here's mine:

Now wouldn't it be useful to have a sort of Internet of minds? This occurred to me because a keyword in a book I was reading triggered a memory of an incident in college, yet I couldn't recall the exact details of that day. I sometimes torture myself to remember minute details of some event of my life. So it occurred to me that it would be fortunate if we have a sort of network where we can access our memories the way we search for information using search engines such as google. In this way, it could be a universal mental database, a real interconnected hypertext, not necessarily a thinking universal mind.

Of course we have yet to invent a search engine that could search out pictures, considering that we are predominantly visual creatures. Yet given time, scientists and innovators may begin to tackle such challenges.


Oh, and the keyword was 'learning.'

the commodification of dissent

There is a certain unease for those who have at least been involved with progressive movements when icons and symbols of dissent are featured for commercial purposes. Thus there is a certain chill one's spine for a committed intellectual when the solidly determined face of Lenin with a stereo earphone comes with a slogan to 'Join The Revolution!' - an invitation to subscribe to broadband access. Other ads: 'Rebel for a cause' - an advertisement for some insurance company; Contribute to the worthiest cause of all -you. (or something like that). That's for another insurance firm. There's a Mao commercial restaurant, Mao caps, and more visibly the Che Guevara shirts. And so on.
Yet the companies that sponsor these do not believe one iota of it, may even be opposed to the principles and aims of what they're appropriating. Even if the advertisement people once believed in them, they're prostituting themselves (no insult to sex workers) to the groups and corporations that avail of their service. Which is what bastardizes the symbols.

It's also a trend for popular music. So that artists incorporate products into their songs' lyrics to expand their commercial market viability. Ironically, popular music has a long-standing history of being a rebellious and anti-authoritarian medium. It's not about expressing the soul anymore, it's a means for product positioning.
Oh, let's not talk about mainstream media for now, ie, movies.

All this can be digested when one understands that the marketing industry is trying to penetrate every nook and cranny to sell products and services and increase profits, along with the consumerist culture that comes with it; expand the market system if you will. Previously difficult to reach (and ideologically repulsive) markets can now be accessed. Since the threat of these symbols can now be effectively disassociated from real social movements, there is no danger in subsuming them to the cause of the all-pervasive consumer golden calf. People can only be atoms of consumption in the commercial ocean.


'Modern marketing is clearly the greatest concerted attempt at psychological manipulation in all of human history.' - MR

It is not just about giving people what they want. For that you have to have informed choice. Yet what choice is there if the range of options is limited to a narrow spectrum dictated by what produces more profits for monopolies or oligopolies? We're not there to choose between the specifications of different products but rather their brands, of 'saleable appearances.' Advertisement is a grand game of deceit, of misleading the public. What is the BIG difference between Colgate and Pepsodent, between San Mig and Gold Eagle (free advert here!) that they have to spend millions in advertisement fees?
People do not receive information on their TV, magazines, billboards, radio, newspapers, webpages; they buy into images of sleek men and sexy women, a lifestyle, an emotional attachment. It's everywhere! A whole world is being created right in front of their very eyes. With the force of advertisements, the present system that we have thus appears inevitable. It seems perfect, yet people find they crave for more. It takes a gargantuan effort to dislocate oneself from the wrapping bind of the consumerist market.

While progressives may berate the phenomenon of commodifying dissent, the resolution is of course in the restructuring of social relations and institutions.

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Oh, there's this particular McDonald's ad that was especially repulsive to me. It made it look like it was in the indigenous peoples' way of living to be eating McDo (Mackers). That was in Baguio. It had this costume-clad man enjoying a McDonald's meal. I have indigenous roots you see. Indigenous communities have healthier diets, yet McDonald's represents an unhealthy lifestyle. The whole series of posters also made it look like McDonald's is a family tradition, which is the whole aim of the chain of restaurants.