Given the constraints they face, political prisoners deserve our utmost respect for choosing defiance instead of compromise and collaboration with the class enemy. They provide a dignified example of how to live a life devoted to the cause of fighting with the oppressed. Their activism is demonized and criminalized by those who see no evil in the obscene hoarding of the nation’s wealth by the elite and the exploitation of the poor and powerless by those in power.
Category: Question Everything
Relentless resistance against APEC
The “shutdown APEC” protests in San Francisco, California gathered more than a thousand people who shared testimonies about how APEC impoverished a generation, displaced Indigenous peoples, and undermined the rights of workers.
My experience as a folding biker and bimodal commuter in Metro Manila
The fun of biking is undercut by the constant reminder that our roads are unsafe. Major thoroughfares may have bike lanes but this is wishful thinking in most secondary roads. Bike lanes are merely a slim extension of existing roads where potholes, manholes, and even open drainages are often located. It is used too as an emergency lane and frequently “patronized” by motorcycle riders.
Question Everything | Ship of State
The protest of Masinloc fishers highlighted the lack of attention given to ordinary people as officials relish their token role in the geopolitical ‘game of thrones’ in the Asia-Pacific. On one hand, they are bullied by oversized Chinese vessels in our own territory; but they are also barred from fishing during Balikatan war games. Dynamite fishing has been outlawed yet US troops used a missile to blow up a warship in Zambales.
Question Everything | ‘Like the rain falling in torrents on a thousand raging rivers’
We need more testimonies and reports highlighting the lesser-known protests that contributed to the building of a formidable resistance to the dictatorship.
Question Everything | My father in America
Family reunions allowed us to catch up, reenact rituals of domestic living, and build new memories. Were they enough? For a child who sincerely wanted to express his love and gratitude, they were agonizingly inadequate.
Question Everything | Keywords, sound bites, and newsmakers of 2022
After half a year in power, the dictator’s son proved that he was no champion of human rights and freedom of expression. Impunity has persisted as evidenced in the killing of radio broadcaster Percy Lapid. Tokhang became Bida but extrajudicial killings did not stop. Red-tagging remains the de facto policy of the state in dealing with critics and activists despite the claim of the Justice secretary that it is only a term invented by the Left.
Question Everything | Banning Joma Sison on social media sets a dangerous precedent
One does not need to subscribe to Sison’s political doctrines to see the ban as an act of censorship. If not challenged, the ban can be expanded and used as a tactic to enforce digital crackdowns. It gives tyrants the license to dictate who or what can be accessed or streamed on our networks. It is therefore a threat to our civic space.
How information disorder undermined the 2022 Philippine elections
A movement has already emerged which aims to counter the nefarious impact of disinformation. It reflects the clamor of the people to make elections and governance more transparent by ensuring that people can readily access accurate and credible information.
Fact-checking as a political movement
When disinformation is widely shared at a dizzying realtime speed by paid cyber mercenaries, can fact-checking stand a chance? There are short-term and long-term interventions that may require the enforcement of technical and regulatory mechanisms. For our part, we must not lose sight of the political solution because the roots of the information disorder are also linked to deeper structural infirmities in society.
Question Everything | Affirming solidarity and redefining development during the pandemic
…[t]he task of shaping the “new normal” should come from the actions of the people; it should be the outcome of our political organizing. We should claim the narrative of the “new normal” in order to reclaim our right to enjoy a better future.