I would like to make a protest to the protesters who are on strike today.
It took me quite a waiting along the 10-lane wide Commonwealth Avenue...and later commuters are slowly piling up and filling the sidewalk to the brim. It later soon become a sea of warm bodies desperately flagging a lonesome jeep already filled with people. Luckily for me, I was able to flag an empty fx en route to Kalaw. At least, I thought, Kalaw is just 3 LRT stations away to DLSU...
Well, suwerte ko talaga kasi di ako nakipaghabulan at nakipagsiksikan sa jeep tulad nung nakita ko sa Unang Hirit ng GMA-7. I don't know kung nakita ninyo but pati ung matandang ale nakikabit na rin.
Habang nasa fx, nakikinig kaming mga pasahero sa interview ni Mike Enriquez (and his crazy twang) sa isa sa mga organizers ng transport strike...Aba, makata! Lumalabas na ung mga usual "aktibista" vocabulary nila, namely: kapitalista, imperyalista, terorista, at kung anu-ano pa. The striker was claiming that they are doing this for the "masa na parati na lang inaapi ng imperyalistang kartel ng langis na ka-partner naman ng Presidenteng puppet ng imperyalistang Kano." Tanong ng interviewer, "So, pinapahirapan ninyo ang mga mamamayan?" Biglang sagot ng striker: "Eh para sa kanila naman ito eh!" Tanong na naman ng interviewer, "May nangyayari ba sa mga nationwide strike na iyan?" Sagot ng striker: "Wala...Kaya nga nag-strike kami ulit...at nag-iistrike na kami for forty years na."
Langhiyang mga striker na yan...di talaga nag-iisip...
bobo.
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Nakakainis talaga yang mga aktibista na yan...Very emotional at di nag-iisip. Although a handful of them are worth our admiration for their unflinching advocacy for peace and justice, the majority just goes with what they are told to do or what is the "in thing" in activism.
I used to be an activist before while in the seminary...nakikisali na rin ako sa mga rally na yan. Nawalan nga ako ng boses once sa kasisigaw ng "Mga tao sa bayan...lumalaban!" But I realized later how lost the cause was when I listened to the cry of parishioners on how they got so irritated because of the inconvenience it caused them: ("Yawa! I was late with my job interview because of the strike...makakaon na tana ang akong mga anak [btw, he has 3 malnourished kids...saw them playing near Agusan river once.])
Have they ever thought that it's the mass who's been stepped at when they hold transport strikes? People report late because of that and end up getting huge salary deductions (which means, nabawasan ng ilang kilo ang bigas na dapat bilhin). Even the poor jeepney drivers opt to stay home hungry than being beaten by strikers...they terrorize their own, in short. And they have the guts to shout "terrorists" to other people pa! Believe me, dami gutom ngayon. At kung dami gutom, people go crazy...and crazy people do crazy, harmful things to other people...You don't want that to happen to you, do you?
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(Thanks to asianlabour.org for the the pic.)
