Alex Padilla, head of the Aquino government's peace panel, does not know what he's talking about when he claimed that the Filipino youth are pre-occupied with so-called "cyber-pursuits" and are no longer interested in engaging in social activism, and that the revolutionary movement will eventually die a natural death because it can no longer attract young people to its ranks.
It makes us wonder why Padilla, as head of the negotiating panel, dishes out such claptrap, which do not at all help push forward peace negotiations. Worse, he is showing himself completely out of touch with reality and out of sync with the Filipino youth. Indeed, he is not yet too old, yet the ideas he is espousing are antiquated and reflect the interests of the decrepit social and political system.
The Filipino people's revolutionary movement remains youthful and vibrant as ever. It continues to take root among the students in colleges and universities, as well as among young workers and peasants and persevere in fighting to put an end to the old oppressive and exploitative system.
On a daily basis, young Filipinos, both from the minority who are educated and the vast majority who are out of school, are repulsed by the corruption, rottenness, fascist brutality and puppetry of the ruling reactionary state. The current reactionary leadership which defends the old semicolonial and semifeudal is seen as representative of what is old and decrepit. Young Filipinos do not trust their future to the class leadership of big landlords, big bourgeois compradors and big beaurucrat capitalists.
As much as they are repulsed by the ruling system, young Filipinos are drawn to the revolutionary cause which represents a modern, forward-looking and progressive system. They are militated by the cause of national liberation and social emancipation.
They study revolutionary ideas from a multitude of sources including the internet, books, lectures and seminars, educational discussions, statements and various other materials produced by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), the Kabataang Makabayan (KM or Patriotic Youth) as well as other revolutionary, progressive and democratic organizations.
Indeed, the internet has served as an effective means of communication and an outlet for dissent. The CPP and the NDFP have long taken advantage of the internet since the late 1990s. Revolutionary forces have employed internet tools such as Twitter, Facebook, blog websites and others to undertake education, information propagation, organizing and networking. Through the internet, the CPP and the revolutionary and progressive organizations are able to reach out to greater numbers of people than ever before. Everyday, the CPP and NDF receive emails asking how to join the New People's Army (NPA) and to participate in or support the revolutionary cause.
The CPP is a dynamic and vibrant organization composed of both experienced cadres and youthful revolutionaries. It benefits from the insights and energy of young adult recruits and the guidance of its senior cadres. The vast majority of the CPP's membership are young activists who are daily recruited among the fighters of the NPA, as well as from peasant organizations, workers' unions, associations of toiling people and student and youth organizations in the urban areas.
The ruling semicolonial and semifeudal system is old and moribund. It is debilitated with incurable social diseases. In contrast, the CPP and the revolutionary cause are ever young and vibrant.
PRWC Releases Publications References Organizations Features Multimedia Utilities
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