{"id":1797,"date":"2019-09-16T22:05:30","date_gmt":"2019-09-16T14:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/iraia.net\/blog\/?p=1797"},"modified":"2019-09-22T22:07:18","modified_gmt":"2019-09-22T14:07:18","slug":"crying-need-for-textbooks-on-martial-law-abuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/iraia.net\/blog\/2019\/09\/16\/crying-need-for-textbooks-on-martial-law-abuses\/","title":{"rendered":"Crying need for textbooks on martial law abuses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A One News<\/em> story (https:\/\/onenews.ph\/martial-law-to-be-taught-as-new-subject-at-up<\/a>) reported that starting \u201cnext semester, students at the University of the Philippines Diliman may enroll in a subject that will tackle language, literature, and culture under the martial law.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The\nthree-unit subject, recently approved by the university council, is\ndesignated as Philippine Studies (PS) 21 \u2013 Wika, Kultura, at\nPanitikan sa Ilalim ng Batas Militar sa Pilipinas<\/em>, (Language,\nCulture, and Literature under Martial Law in the Philippines). \u201cIt\nwill be offered by the university’s Departamento ng Filipino at\nPanitikan ng Pilipinas and will be available for students from all\ndisciplines as an option for their general education subject\nrequirements,\u201d the news report clarified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most\ncomments from activists that I read on Facebook that day welcomed the\nUP Diliman move. Most said, basically: \u201cGreat! It\u2019s about time!\u201d\nAs if that (the lack of a university course on martial law) was the\nbiggest or at least a major bottleneck in educating the youth about\nthe dark years of the US-Marcos fascist dictatorship (1972-1986).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I\ndid was to read the story thoroughly, including the reference\ndocument embedded into the story from Scribd.\n(https:\/\/www.scribd.com\/document\/425907079\/Philippine-Studies-21-Wika-Panitikan-at-Kultura-sa-ilalim-ng-Batas-Militar-sa-Pilipinas<\/a>)\nThe news report was good enough as a summary, but the document\nindicated a much more complicated background. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call me\na skeptic, but the UP decision is not automatically a good thing.\nRead through the many troll comments under the original OneNews post\non FB to realize that the Marcos loyalists are raring to enter this\narena of battle. As expected, Imee Marcos immediately remarked that\nher family\u2019s side should be equally heard or represented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s\nworrisome is if the professors or instructors handling the new\nsubject would be inundated by pro-Marcos teaching materials that will\nharp on the \u201cgreatness of martial law.\u201d As one US-based activist\ncommented in a sarcastic tone: \u201cMartial law was a great time.\nEveryone followed the law and kids obeyed curfew. Now go write a\n10-page review of your favorite Marcos-funded art piece.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hence,\nthe most crucial will be the approved syllabus and the standard\ntextbook\/s to be used. It wasn\u2019t clear from the Scribd document if\nthe syllabus was already approved or yet on the table. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is\nin addition to the built-in limitation of the subject PS 21, which is\non \u201clanguage, culture, and literature\u201d \u2014 which the Marcoses\nwould even consider as their \u201cstrong suit\u201d, what with their\nreputation as \u201cpatron of the arts\u201d, builder of the Cultural\nCenter of the Philippines, and so on. So what about the economics and\npolitics of martial law? Shall these be treated just as\n\u201cbackgrounders\u201d?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other\nwords, the current antifascist movement should make sure that the\nexpected content of the course isn’t turned into its very opposite if\nonly due to the voluminous \u201csource materials\u201d that will be dumped\non the teaching faculty by the very pro-active fascist camp\u2014and I\u2019m\nnot just referring to the Marcoses. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nfairness, the proponents\u2019 rationale and the syllabus (which I\nassume is already approved) appear to be on the right track. I’ve\njust gone through the syllabus\u2014the aims, suggested\/required\nreadings etc.\u2014and, except for a few really toxic items. Its stand,\nand those of its most vocal proponents, are explicitly against\nfascist dictatorship. (UP should really be super-biased vs fascist\ndictatorship!) \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the\n“few” toxic items include such worrisome materials as the\nMarcos tracts on New Society and even Enrile\u2019s voluminous\nbiography. These items must be purged from the list of references,\notherwise they will poison the entire course. We must be wary of\nderailing by academic saboteurs and fifth-columnists, which has\nhappened many times in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another\nproblem is that, as another activist rightly noted in a Facebook\nremark, \u201cmost of the country will never attend UP and those that do\nwill likely already be imprinted by pre-established ideas. A greater\nemphasis on Martial Law education at Elementary and Secondary school\nlevel is key.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nshort, the UP subject is just a drop in the bucket. At the college\nlevel, there should be a campaign for other state universities and\ncolleges as well as privately owned ones to adopt a similar syllabus\nor education program. The really big push should in fact come from\nthe Commission on Higher Education, and the Department of Education\nwhich develops and approves curricula and textbooks for elementary\nand secondary schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All antifascist forces should be producing more textbook-level materials on the Philippines\u2019 experience of fascist rule\u2014whether or not this UP course remains on its antifascist track and whether other schools adopt similar courses. #<\/p>\n\n\n\nFollow @junverzola<\/a>