A MONGREL CULTURE?

A MONGREL CULTURE?

Last sunday, I was watching a noontime show both 2 and in 7. And as I continue watching, I notice that these two channels seemingly bannering their mongrelness in culture-of having 2's ASAP influencing people with their ghetto-like black-inspired Fil-Am culture (courtesy of Billy Crawford) while the other channel's SOP tried every viewer to get Korean, Chinese, Japanese or whatsoever.

And it seems that these two channels, as they continue competing for viewers are also trying to do their best in enslaving the viewer's mindset with the wishes of the elite class while bannering it as for the masses-of making them conditioned thinking of it as common, part of our society. But then, what kind of culture they advocate? A mongrel culture?

Well...
In a semi-feudal, semi-colonial society, its a fact that the ruling class, accepting the wishes of the imperialists, advocates much of a foreign culture-whether it is American, European, Japanese, Korean, and even Chinese. They tried much to lessen native influences to a museum type, a cultural zoo in which every viewer-especially a foreigner, stereotypically sees and thinks of it as that, worse as all Filipinos became desensitized, reificated and thinking of it anything as common, a part of our society, not noticing that they, or rather say we are being decieved by their wishes-of joining the "flow" not noticing that we are getting drowned.

And again, According to Lu Xun's Diary of a madman, he said:
"In ancient times, as I recollect, people often ate human beings, but I am rather hazy about it. I tried to look this up but my history book has no chronology, and scrawled all over each page are the words 'virtue' and 'morality.' Since I could not sleep anyway, I read hard half the night, until I began to see words between the lines, the whole book being filled with the two words--'Eat People.'"

And somehow, that what Lu Xun said also shows how the imperialists advocated this kind of thing, including cultural affairs towards its subjects. Of advocating a mongrel culture in a cloak called "contemporary culture", of stressing every people to get in with the "trend" to the point of forgetting the problems of the society-that the imperialists, through the rotten system in itself engaged in a cannibalistic orgy and end up becoming cannibals themselves! But people, especially who remained apathetic at all times didn't know much they, or rahter say our value for ourselves, our culture as we value "democracy" and "independence"!

And since I spoke of independence, I even think that despite independence, the rotten system, instead of encouraging individuals to unite and revive native culture and making it modernised and mass based, it end up being franchised by their cohorts, of using mass media to create instant culture that carries apathy to the people rather than making culture closer and aligned to social realities, all despite their dashes of patriotism like those of Francis Magalona, or even the Black Eyed Peas and of Jabbawockeez-just because of having a Filipino in it. But then, despite making closer to the people, it remains much aligned to the culture wherein different from the real culture of the masses, or in an insulting phrase (sorry for that) of encouraging a monger culture-of making Filipinos act like Blacks than to act as Filipinos!

Well...
If you love your country, why not redeem your culture and modernise it to be more accomodating rather than succumb to the wishes of the ruling class? Of having things foreign really serve to the people and to enrich the culture without the rotten system being controlled into it? Somehow most Filipinos are tired of "acting nigger while loving a white" or "acting Korean but loving a Jap or a Chink," Juans and Marias, you are first and foremost a Tao and a Pilipino, and you have a culture to preserve-starting with cleaning, modernising your room with Sweat and blood!

HOUNDED BY MILITARY FOR YEARS, EX-BAYAN LEADER TAKES REFUGE IN NPA

HOUNDED BY MILITARY FOR YEARS, EX-BAYAN LEADER TAKES REFUGE IN NPA
By ALVIN LUQUE

In the past three years, several speculations about my absence from the progressive movement in urban centers in Mindanao have come out. The AFP (Armed Forces of the Philippines), through its propaganda spin doctors, has consistently vilified me through black propaganda, saying even, at one time, that I was already dead.

These speculations must end, and it must be pointed out that the US-Arroyo regime will stop at nothing until and unless it has snuffed-out the life of every dissenter in the nation. Therefore, I must tell the truth: there is no way out of the brutality and impunity under this government except to fight against it.

Alvin Luque reads a script of the play staged during the 41st celebration of the Communist Party of the Philippines in Caraga region. The play depicted problems of the Philippine society and the history of the Communist movement. (Photo by Jose Hernani / davaotoday.com)

As I have said in 2007, I would not surrender myself to the whims and desires of the reactionary government, which resorts to silencing activists through political assassinations. I would have wanted, finally, to have my day in court, but I feared that, once arrested, I was vulnerable to all sorts of attack, especially from the AFP which considered me an ‘enemy of the state.’ Therefore, I have chosen not to submit myself to the processes of the law under the present reactionary government in the interest primarily of self-preservation, and to be effective still in contributing to the people’s struggle for national liberation and democracy.

Under the US-Arroyo regime, more than a thousand of its critics and dissenters have been victimized by extra-judicial killings, including journalists, media workers, lawyers and the religious. Justice indeed has a bleak prospect under the current regime. I cannot sit idly by, stand watch, and simply bear one gruesome murder after another, and still pretend the situation is fine. Just action must be taken. Therefore, it is incumbent upon me to do everything in my power not just to live but also to go on living fighting for the people whom this regime incessantly exploit and oppress.

Yes, I have chosen to seek refuge under the revolutionary movement, particularly with the Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front. This is the most logical choice on my part because these are the very organizations that can guarantee not only my protection from political killings but also, above all, freedom of the people from the oppressive grip of a reactionary fascist state. I am still breathing and fighting precisely because of this choice.

I have taken the opportunity to reveal before the media with regard my present state and involvement to say to the public that we do not have to be hapless and helpless under this exploitative social system. There is, in fact, hope. And our hope, as a people, lie with the national democratic revolution. To side with the revolution is to side with freedom, justice, and life. Let no lie peddled by the Arroyo government or the AFP distort this.

This has been my personal choice. This does not in any way prove that the organizations I was involved with in the legal arena and the revolutionary forces that I have sought refuge in are one and the same.
I also plead innocent to the criminal charges leveled against me before a court in Davao City. I did not commit any of those acts. I would have wanted to face trial and articulate my side of the case, but that, like I said, was impossible given the state of impunity under this regime.

I have no regrets with the choice I have made because I still have my life (thanks to the NPA as my sanctuary) and I will use this life to make my mark, together with other revolutionaries, in liberating the people from a rotten society. And should I die in the course of this fight, it is one death I know that is well worth bearing.


The author, the former secretary-general of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, finally got to talk about his choice to become a guerrilla to reporters covering the 41st celebration of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) on Dec. 26.

article from websites Bulatlat.com and Davaodaily.com, and made last January 17, 2010

We oppose foreign interference in the affairs of the DPRK

We oppose foreign interference in the affairs of the DPRK.

January 27, Juche 99 (2010)

Recently a story has been circulated in the media regarding a plan by the south Korean intelligence service to invade and conquer the DPRK should a "leadership crisis" (which will never happen because the Korean people are firmly devoted to the cause of national independence as embodied in the Juche and in the Songun ideas) occur. Even after overcoming numerous setbacks and cementing the single-hearted unity of the people and army of Korea with the leader, the imperialists still maintain their wild ambitions for aggression and war.

The Songun Politics Study Group (USA). strongly condemns this action by the ROK puppet regime and its US imperialist puppet masters who are provoking a crisis between north and south as part of their long term plan to bring the entire world under their globalist sway. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a free and sovereign country safe-guarding its independence and working for the peaceful re-unification of Korea. The US and south Korean so called "democratic" governments have shown again their true nature and must stop their interference in the DPRK's internal affairs at once. The Songun idea followers in the US salute the military preparedness and principled stand of the DPRK and the dynamic anti-war and anti-imperialist struggle of the south Korean people. We send our support and best wishes to Leader Kim Jong Il and the valiant, brave and courageous Korean people in their time of struggle.

Jason-Adam Tonis and John Paul Cupp,
Songun Politics Study Group (USA)
and the US Solidarity Committee to Support the AINDF and the South Korean People's Struggle

Continue the storm and must not break loose!

Continue the storm, we must not break loose!

We are happy to celebrate this one of a kind moment in the history of the youth and student movement in the Philippines. This event, in the eyes of every people may ought to call it as violent, and yet they also seen it as a day that shows how every people rose up and trying to topple a regime, or rather say the system whose rottenness drives the nation continuously into poverty and serfdom.

At first, that event seemed not to be discussed in history books or just simply a fragment in the middle days of the republic. Called by both activist and media as the "First Quarter Storm," this series of protest mass actions, which began on January 25, 1970 and continued up to March of 1970 became an inspiration to the progressive leaning Filipino and even to the oppressed peoples of the world through succeeding events year by year.

In that historical event, it all started as a peaceful demonstration, wherein ten thousand youth-student activists, along with workers and peasants, peacefully assembled in front of the old congress in Manila to express their grievances against the rotten system through the government itself, and the causes in which against them were the anti-people, anti-democratic policies being hurled and the excessive spending of public money to reelect the fascist dictator Ferdinand Marcos as the president during that time.

However,
that peaceful demonstration became radicalized as the policemen brutally attacked them with truncheon and gunfire upon the signal of Marcos himself after delivering his "state of the nation address". The demonstrators fought back for several hours with bare fists, wooden handles of placards, stones to Molotov cocktails and pillbox bombs that caused casualties amongst the riot police. And every activist, whether radical or moderate were suffered from the bruises, wounds, shouts and beatings coming from the armed thugs.

That kind of demonstration made by the students, especially coming from then mass organizations Patriotic Youth (Kabataang Makabayan), Society of Democratic Youth (Samahan ng Demokratikong Kabataan), and others tried much in resisting the wrath laid by the armed thugs unleashed by the Marcos regime.
And according to Philippine revolution.net:
"...They conducted build up rallies in communities, schools and factories and then launched people's marches from different points of Metro Manila in order to converge on the focal points of reactionary power."
And somehow, these mass organizations, alongside trade unions and peasant organizations tried much in uniting and it includes facing the consequences of being beaten, captured, or even killed by the fascist armed thugs whether that activist was radical or moderate.

But the most remarkable event during the First Quarter Storm was on January 30, 1970, when students assembled at Mendiola, other students then followed and converged at the presidential palace with that same purpose of hearing their grievances; but since the policemen, in the name of control and of order had themselves resort to force; and yet the youth-student movement kept on resisting stubbornly-responding the fascist menace by making bonfires with their torches, of throwing stones at the lamp-posts, of Molotov cocktails newly filled from the gasoline stations near Mendiola as well as Pillbox bombs, while of the demonstrators, like Romulo Jallores and Percival Gregorio seized a firetruck and rammed it through the gates of the palace.

These actions, despite the loss of life, property and even liberty somehow showed a sheer force of the people against the rotten system, and since it also became an inspiration for further demonstrations from the Martial Law to the post-Marcos regimes in the Philippines, the First Quarter Storm also created a new batch of revolutionaries coming from prominent institutions, factories and farms willing to "go to the people" through taking up the gun and fight till the death as well as martyrs who offered themselves ad majorem dei patria.

Anyway,
There are more storms to come for the rotten system prevails in beloved Philippines, there will also be more bloodshed to spill in every road to the dirt ridden paths and victories the Filipino militant made, the First Quarter Storm, serving as an example, must also served as a greater part of Filipino history other than February 25 or its succeeding events-for modern struggles started in these pictures you have seen in this blog.

For in fact, what we face today is the worst crisis of the world capitalist system since the 1930s. And all of these are due to the US-instigated policies of "neo-liberal" globalization as well as imperialist aggression and terrorism. The broad masses of the people, both the Philippines and other nations suffer conditions of exploitation and oppression far worse than four decades ago. And these intolerable conditions thus drive the people and and through the revolutionary forces to fight more resolutely, militantly, and even sporadically all for their national and democratic rights and interests like this remarkable event made in the streets of Recto, Legarda and Mendiola to the Palace gates of Malacanang.

And as for the final words, we must continuously pay tribute to this one of a kind event, as well as to continue its profound struggle, or in other words: we must continue the storm and must not break loose!

Dare to struggle, dare to win!

SERVE THE PEOPLE!

OF EATING COW'S TESTICLES AND OTHER APHRODISIACS

OF EATING COW'S TESTICLES AND OTHER APHRODISIACS

It all started at Tagaytay when a different scene started, since I, along with my uncle and some of my relatives went to a public market famous for its newly slaughtered beef being sold to the people around it.

And since that market was all about beef being hung, chopped and placed in tables in front of the public, I got curious in these mouth watering flesh laid outside, looking at every chopped beef carcass, organs, and even eyes until I saw something different-Cow's testicles:

These cow's testicles, known by the butchers as "Gising-Gising," is an ingridient, along with some herbs and spices in a chinese delicacy known as "soup number 5," and according to them, it gives potency to a weak man, especially in lovemaking; and somehow this example also shows how every Filipino male likes this strange delicacy being served at Chinese restaurants.

And like this srange "Gising-Gising," there are other strange aphrodisiacs being served to the public, whether it is in tea, soup, or whatsoever that increases sexual desire to a male (and to lesser extent, female) persons in taking it. And somehow some tend to say that these ingredients also gain their reputation from the age-old principles of sympathetic magic, oysters for example, is being called as aphrodisiacs due to their shape. The same factor als explains the trade in the phallic-looking horn of the rhinoceros, and other animal-based aphrodisiacs gain their reputation from the apparent virility or aggressiveness of the animal source, such as tiger or even bull penis.

However, some age-old aphrodisiacs are known not just sexual, but also for medicinal purposes. Panax Ginseng for example, promotes the increase of resistance to stress while Ginkgo biloba improves blood circulation. And there are also aphrodisiacs also became common ingredients, Lettuce, once considered an aphrodisiac in Ancient Egypt and said to be eaten by the sexually potent God of Chaos, Seth, end as ingredient in salads; Chololate, that although there are no proofs, became a part of valentine's day gifts to the ladies, and even Tomatoes, that during its introduction to the old world, was also called pomme d'amour-French for "love apple."

But despite all of these ingridients known for its sexual potency, they have no substantiated claims that any particular food increases sexual prowess, desire or performance, and instead it serves as dietary suppliments that stimulates the mind, organs, and even blood vessels including those of the sexual organs that gives pleasure. And before taking much, just consult to a doctor to prevent such problems involving these foods of pleasure.

THE "SANCTITY" OF "MARRIAGE" (in a materialistic viewpoint)

THE "SANCTITY" OF "MARRIAGE"

(in a realistic-materialistic viewpoint)

People marry for many reasons, most often including one or more of the following: legal, social, emotional, economical, spiritual, and religious. And these might include arranged marriages, family obligations, the legal establishment of a nuclear family unit, the legal protection of children and the last but not the least, a public declaration of love.

However,
despite these reasons behind marriage, this social union simply emphasized much into the domination of males over females in setting off ideas and actions instead of a collective approach, of having husbands working while their wives at home, or in case of these couples working-end up fighting out of an obligation, like paying off debts; these shows how marriage, once an idea driven by "love", became more of a materialistic mean-due to its profound objective of setting up a family.

Well...
According to Engels' Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State:
"...We meet this new form of the family in all its severity among the Greeks. While the position of the goddesses in their mythology, as Marx points out, brings before us an earlier period when the position of women was freer and more respected, in the heroic age we find the woman already being humiliated by the domination of the man and by competition from girl slaves."

This shows how women, especially in the age of heroes (including today) end up dominated by the machismo-motivated men, of becoming slaves at home and even at work despite seeing, thinking of them as a respected being, a goddess to be praised out of their beauty and of whatsoever coming from them. And worse? Using sugar coated ideas of love, marriage, family, to weaken woman's idea and submit to their will.

Anyway,
All of these ideas that affects marriage are true, and it remains prevalent despite the rise of feminism and of gender equality. And I, being a male writer who knows much regarding them really sympathized much in their plight, that these girls who called for gender equality also includes an end for the male domination within the marriage scene and make marriage, a social union of husband and wife within the family a collective partnership; somehow it also includes the decision on paying debts, of rearing children, of taking care of the home and anything around the sun to make marriage and familyhood work.


Marriage, being a sacred contract being set upon, is not just a mere public declaration of love, but a new obligation to be undertaken; and both husband and wife ought to act comradely and collectively in averting problems-to-be within the relationship and in the family-all in a means to make the children happy. And for sure we don't want a good marriage end up a tragic one out of submission and conflict don't we?

HOMAGE TO MENDIOLA

HOMAGE TO MENDIOLA

What a sacred land is the place called Mendiola.

An assembly place for the working class during demonstrations and a bustling place for cars and of passers-by, that sacred land seemed to became a part of every Filipino, especially to those who study and work nearby its asphalted road.

However,

Despite the sacredness to every Manileno (or not), Mendiola became as if like Berlin during the pre-wall days of the Cold war, of being barbed wired and heavily guarded by the police and for some time the military, that sacred land of the working class seemed to be as if desecrated, desecrated just because of security reasons like being nearness to the despot's lair named Malacanang and other offices surrounding it, and yet the lumpen scum often roamed around, looking for a prey to devour! How sad that sacred Mendiola is! The place where protest, blood and music rolled into one as what every activist and progressive expected.

And as we read history books regarding its place, we often think much of red flags and "makibakas" in every path; of "katarungans" and "ipaglabans" in every way, like the First Quarter Storm to the succeeding modern-day events, in which sweat, blood, and breath coming from the workers, along with the students and other progressives seemingly trying to fertilize the aasphalted soil and its surrounding areas, giving its sacredness somewhat a new life before thrusting their bodies against the scoundrels of the race and despots of the people.

But not all events in the sacred Mendiola are more of blood and soil, but also of laughter and time. Of seeing students from every university walking to cars bustling, anything around seemed to be as if like New York's Time Square, of London's Picadilly or even Moskva's Red Square. And yet we saw barbed wire, of containers, of policemen to the lumpen scum and intelligence agents distracting its sacredness and grandeur? Well... due to the fastness of time and of the heat around, people crossing around didn't notice about anything to the point of becoming apathetic-especially regarding the ones standing by as well as the barbed wire and other obstacles in Mendiola!

But despite all of these,

Mendiola will always remain sacred to the masses, a secular pilgrimage, especially during the radical demonstrations of the day to the throw of the molotov at night-scaring off the monkeys and of the devils trying to block its path.