Resist Martial Rule in Everyday Practices, Redeem the Atenean Activist Spirit!

Today, September 23, 2010, marks the 38th anniversary of the official declaration of Martial Law
under the Marcos Regime. In light of this noteworthy event in Philippine history, we commemorate the
student activists who stood against and sought to overthrow the tyrannical regime of President Marcos -
bearers and defenders of the tradition of democracy that engendered autonomous political spaces otherwise
stifled by the dictatorship.

What student activists faced back then were visible manifestations of tyranny. Battling against the
facade of a constitutional authoritarianism, student political activism was clear in the very discursive groups
they would assemble in their own respective schools, knowing they were facing an almost indomitable power
yet determined to struggle against it unwaveringly. This brilliance in thought translated into its praxis. Never
before has Philippine history seen an influential student-led movement which took to the streets and declared
their clear condemnation of these societal powers, whether it be that of bureaucratic neo-liberal capitalism or
of dictatorial politics. This was the period in Philippine history wherein students thought in extremities: either
to spend their whole education challenging the very abusive structures in society in which they are embedded
in and feel they cannot escape from, or to literally subject themselves to a silencing violence.

Student activists of today are faced with a situation that is different but strikingly similar to what their
forebearers faced thirty eight years ago. Although no longer explicit, these forms of tyranny still exist today ,
albeit in a more dangerous manifestation: as an unseen power which emanates from within and beyond each
space of Philippine politics.

We believe that although these unseen powers can no longer be identified with a sovereign,
oppressive, and militarized body of a dictatorial identity, student activism is still significant today. As what is
evident, a majority of the student body of Ateneo has ceased to participate in questioning these forms of
authority, mainly because such spaces for participation have now been replaced by tyrannical procedures that,
in an invisible and institutionalized method, seek to silence or punish any form of questioning that could pose
a threat to the identities of authority that such institutions possess. We therefore find ourselves in a worse
situation than we were in 38 years ago: that of almost indirect docility towards this tyrannical rule of campus
politics, which in turn extends towards national politics. This docility is manifested in our absolute inaction, in
our apathetic stance towards issues that face our society, especially those who are marginalized, today. We
therefore strongly adhere to the principle that students must identify and launch a concerted effort to
antagonize and resist dissipated yet institutionalized forms of unnecessary policing and surveillance inside the
campus that seek to excessively and futilely control, define, and supervise all forms of action, even if it means
to question the assumed givens of student life inside and outside the campus.

We call on all Ateneans to be vigilant against such practices of authority, since these very forms of
official policing coupled with a body of almost unquestionable and repressive rules creates an apathetic and
overly subservient student. This kind of student is then created to perpetuate the unjust social conditions
even outside the campus. We are lamenting this current state of the Atenean in which he is unable to think
against the institutions that he assumes are given, wherein he is therefore unable to locate the root causes of
social ills. Consequently, much of his seemingly political actions are misdirected and counter-revolutionary.

In our crusade to rekindle student activism and to bring back genuine student politics within the
student body of the Ateneo, CRUSADA firmly believes that Ateneans should contemplate as to how to
locate and begin resistances to these dissipated forms of repressive authority--to not be complacent with the
present processes and institutions that govern our own modalities of life as students and instead be able to
pose questions as to why such forms of authority exist and as to their purpose. CRUSADA calls for the
participation of students in such spaces, to be able to question these institutions and their authority, and to
pose alternatives to the present procedures of these institutions.
 What the past generations of activists faced then were undoubtedly the harshest of trials, testing their
will and their principles as they combated a tyrannical ruler which sought to silence those who opposed the
dictatorship and those who desired to regain freedom. Such circumstances do not present themselves to us
today. Yet, we still have our own battles to face. Let us not forget the legacy that the student activists of the
Marcos era have passed down to us, that the freedom which is rightfully ours should be fought for, if
provoked. We call on all Ateneans to heed this call for a revitalization of the political within and outside the
university.

Ad Majorem De Gloriam