BREAKING THE CULTURE OF FEAR AND SILENCE IN UP MINDANAO

THE OFFICIAL STUDENT PAPER OF UP MINDANAO, HIMATI, URGES ALL UNIVERSITY CONSTITUENTS TO “BREAK THE CULTURE OF SILENCE AND FEAR” INSTILLED BY RIVERO

BREAKING THE CULTURE OF FEAR AND SILENCE

Every 21^st of September we commemorate the day Ferdinand Marcos declared Martial Law, perhaps to hark back to the violence of the regime and to draw a stark comparison between the present regime and the Marcos’ dictatorship.

Both have used the rhetoric of violence---literally and symbolically. Too many activists have died, forced to disappear, imprisoned and tortured---all by their blood smeared hands. The only difference is, Marcos was blatant enough to declare martial law while the other continues to hide behind the rhetoric of the need to eliminate the ‘enemies of the state’ to achieve economic stability.

Under the guise of supposedly well meaning laws like the Human Security Act, she persists in rounding up on her critics, propagating an environment of fear and indifference among the populace. The same situation is prevalent in UP Mindanao, albeit, perpetrated by different personality and it is scaring some shitless. Others have opted to leave and seek more ‘peaceful’ and greener pastures while some have resorted to treading on their tiptoes, preferring to keep their opinions to themselves rather than shake the boat.

But silence and running away does not solve the problem, if anything else it helps in the acculturation of the status quo. And doing so downplays us to being mere pawns in the race for power which is equivalent to us saying that we have no right to accessible education and no right to a free and democratic country.

During the days of martial law, the youth were brave enough to gather even if groups of threes and more were punishable by imprisonment, torture and even death. It was the dark ages and yet they have mustered enough courage to fight back, to assert, to break the culture of fear and silence.

We are under similar circumstances, yes, and like before let us not be remiss in leaving everything as it is. For only in enforcing change can we prove to the people on whose taxes we live on that we are more than academic papers and achievements. That we are still a university that can be heralded as the defender of democratic rights, of quality and affordable education, the bastion of academic freedom, and social justice.

And in this light, we invoke everyone to uphold our democratic rights, resist repression and violence, and live up to what it means to be a Iskolar ng Bayan for silence never is and will never be the answer.