Mga Nilalang sa Hayupan ni George Orwell

Insired by Jego, who has begun translating CS Lewis into Filipino, I begin my translation of George Orwell's Animal Farm. He was probably spurred by the discussion at Manolo's blog over the lack of good translations of English works into the vernacular. I took the liberty of changing the setting from England to the Philippines. Inihaw, pagdamutan po ninyo ang aking pagsasalin.

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Unang Kabanata (a)

Lango sa alak, nalimutang itangkal ni Manong Juan ang pinto ng manukan. Tangan ang dumuduyan-duyang lampara, siya’y tumawid patungo sa bahay. Sa likurang pinto, kanya’ng inalis ang bota, at saka naghanda ng huling baso ng tuba bago pa man umakyat sa silid-tulugan. Naroong malalim na ang tulog ng naghihilik na asawa’ng si Aling Huling.

Sa saglit na namatay ang ilaw sa silid, napainlanlan ang mga kaluskos sa mga maliliit na gusali ng bukirin. Buong araw na’ng kumakalat ang balita’ng mayroong nais ibahagi si Tandang Kapitan, isang pagkalaki-laking baboy-ramo. Nais nitong ikwento ang napanaginipan ng nakaraang gabi. Napagkasunduan ng lahat na magtipon-tipon sa kamalig sa oras na mahimbing na sa tulog si Manong Juan.

Gawa ng paghanga’t paggalang kay Tandang Kapitan, handa ang lahat na magpuyat ng kaunti upang marinig ang kung anumang nais nitong sabihin.

Sa dulo ng kamalig, sa ibabaw ng isang maliit na entablado, naroong nakahimlay si Tandang Major sa palumpon ng dayami. Sa nagdaang labin-dalawang taon, malaon na itong tumanda’t nanaba, ngunit bakas pa rin sa tindig nito ang kakisigan.

‘Di nagtagal at nagsidatingan na ang mga hayop. Nagsi-ayos ang mga ito, naghanda’ng makinig. Unang dumating ang tatlong aso – sina Bughawin, Jessie at Pingkian, pagkatapos ay ang mga baboy, na agarang pumuwesto sa harap ng entablado. Tumuntong ang mga inahin sa may bintana, habang ang mga kalapati’y dumapo sa mga kilo ng kamalig. Ang mga tupa’t baka ay nagsi-pwesto sa likod ng mga baboy at nagsimulang ngumuya ng damo. Ang dalawang kabayong sina Bugoy at Caring ay sabay na dumating. Marahan silang naglakad, ingat sa paglapat ng kanilang mga paa sakaling mayroong maliliit na hayop na naikubli ng dayami.

Si Caring ay isang inahing kabayong nasa kalagitnaan ng ng buhay. ‘Di na nagbalik pa ang magiliw nitong hugis matapos iluwal ang ika-apat na anak. Si Bugoy ay isang pagkalaki-laking kabayo, halos labing-walong dipa ang taas, at sinlakas ng dalawang karaniwang kabayo. Isang puting tanda ang sa mukha nito’y gumuhit. Nagdudulot tuloy ito ng anyong kamangmangan. Sa katunayan nga, ‘di rin naman ito katalinuhan, ngunit batid ng lahat ang kaniyang matatag na ugali at kalakasan.

Matapos ang mga kabayo ay ang puting kambing na si Mariel, at si Benjamin, ang asno*. Si Benjamin ay ang pinakamatanda sa kabukiran, at ang pinaka-mainitin ang ulo. Madalang siya’ng magsalita, at sakali man ay madalas itong pakutya. Halimbawa na lang, sinabi nitong binigyan daw s’ya ng Panginoon ng buntot upang bugawin ang mga bangaw, ngunit mas mamaraptin na lamang raw n’yang mawalan ng buntot. Sa gitna ng iba pa’ng mga hayop, hindi s’ya tumatawa. Kung tinanong, ayon sa kanya’y wala naman daw katawa-tawa. Sa kabila ng lahat, kahit di pa man nito aminin, ay lubos ang kaniyang pag-ukol kay Bugoy. Madalas ang dalawa’y nanginginain ng damo ng magkasami sa may likuran ng kural ng kabayo. Magkatabi, ‘di kailanman sila’y nag-uusap.

Ang dalawang kabayo’y kakahimlay lamang nang nagsipasok ang mga bibeng nawalay sa kanilang ina. Nagsisihuni’t nagpapagala-gala upang makahanap ng lugar kung sa’n sila’y di matatapakan. Itinuwid ni Caring ang kanyang mahabang hita, at saka nagsisilong ang mga bibe’t dagliang nagsitulog.

Pagkatapos ay pumasok si Milay, ang ‘di katalinuhang kabayo na humihila ng kariton ni Mang Juan. Mahinhin itong pumasok habang ngumunguya ng kaunting asukal. Umupo ito sa may harapan at saka naglandi. Tawag-pansin ang puti nitong buhok na tinirintasan ng pulang laso.

Huling dumating ang pusa, na agarang naghanap ng pinakamalamlam na pwesto - sa pagitan ni Bugoy at Caring. Doon, ito'y mahinang nag-mimiyaw sa kabuuan ng talumpati ni Tandang Kapitan, ‘di alintana ang anuman nitong sabihin.

Ang lahat ng mga hayop ay naroon maliban kay Moises, ang maamong uwak. Ito'y natutulog pa sa may likuran ng kamalig. Na’ng nakita ni Kapitang ang lahat ay sabik na’ng naghihintay, siya’y nagsimula:

“Mga kasama, inyo na’ng narinig ang tungkol sa aking panaginip nitong gabing nakaraan. Ngunit bago ang lahat, nais ko’ng ipaalam sa inyo’ng nalalapit na ang aking wakas. Bago pa man ako pumanaw, marapat ko’ng ibahagi sa inyo ang dunong na aking nakalap sa tana ng aking pamamalagi sa daigdig. Sa aking pagninilay-nilay, palagay ko’y malalim na ang aking pag-unawa sa gawi ng buhay. Patungkol dito ang nais ko’ng sabihin sa inyo.

“Ngayon, mga kasama, ano ba ang katalagahan ng ating pamumuhay? Dapat nating akuin na ito’y nakahahambal, kay hirap at maikli. Tayo’y isinilang, tayo’y pinakakain lamang nga husto upang manatiling buhay. Ang ilan sa ating mayroon pa’ng lakas ay sapilitang pinagta-trabaho sa huling tagaktak ng ating pawis. Sa sandaling tayo’y wala nang silbi, tayo’y walang habas na kakatayin.

“Walang hayop sa Pilipinas ang nakalalasap ng kasiyahan at mga sandaling malaya matapos ang ika-unang kaarawan. Walang hayop sa Pilipinas ang malaya. Ang buhay ng isang hayop ay tunay na kaaba-aba. Tayo’y mga alipin, at iyan ang katotohanan.

"Ngunit ganito na lang ba ang payak na sistema ng kalikasan? Sadya ba’ng kay hirap ng ating bayan kung kaya’t hindi maaaring ang lahat ng nabubuhay rito ay marapat na matustusan? Hindi mga kasama! Hindi! Ang lupain ng Pilipinas ay mataba, ang klima nito’y mabuti. Kaya nito’ng magpatubo at maglago ng pagkain para sa lahat ng mga nilalang na dito’y naglalagi. Ito’ng ating bukirin lamang ay kayang bumuhay ng dose-dosenang kabayo, dalawampung baka, daan-daang tupa – at lahat sila ay mabubuhay ng matiwasay at mahusay, bagay na ngayo’y isa lamang panaginip.

“Bakit nga ba tayo patuloy na umaayon sa ating kaaba-abang kalagayan? ‘Pagkat halos lahat ng bunga ng ating pagod ay ninanakaw ng sangkatauhan. Narito, mga kasama, ang kasagutan sa ating problema. Ito’y saklaw ng nag-iisang kataga – Tao. Ang tao ang nag-iisang tunay nating kaaway. Sa sandaling alisin ang Tao dito sa atin, ang sanhi ng gutom at kapaguran ay tuloy na’ng mapapawi.”

Itutuloy....

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*asno - donkey

Manila Standard Today WTF Are You Doing?

So. It has come to this. Malu Fernandez' supposed resignation was not accepted by MST, and her column resumes on Monday, September 3. I don't get it. Is their editorial board courting disaster?

Manolo writes:

However, if the potential for the re-escalation of the issue is fulfilled by the resumption of the column -which would also firmly lay the passions raised firmly at the feet of the paper and no longer the magazine- things would get possibly worse. After all, all the to-do about an apology and a resignation, would be proven either insincere, or merely a gambit: those arguing for moderation or a more nuanced approach would have been proven naive. Then we might have the media equivalent of a conversation Louis XVI supposedly had with a courtier, upon being told of the storming of the Bastille.

Just to remind everyone, I made a video highlighting parts of Fernandez' July 30 column in MST. Parang naghahamon ang pahayagang ito. Sige.



Feel free to spread the news. Find the embed link here.

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ETA: Thanks to micketymoc for the head's up on Carlos Celdran's post:

In fact, what happened to Malu could happen to quite a few other members of the upper classes. Just last week, I heard that some of her other friends were commenting how she kinda "took the bullet" for everyone, so to speak. And this I consider as a sign of how detached the Philippine rich (and their wannabes) are from the realities of our country. I mean really, the Philippine elites are a completely blessed bunch who do not know or care just how blessed they are. Just look at the PIPC scandal. Some Singaporean guy named Michael Liew runs off with U$250million from the pockets of the Pinoy perfumed class and both our country and it's economy are still standing. Php250 million! That's almost the entire Gross National Product of the Solomon Islands or the cost of a brand new international airport and yet nary a dent was put on our currency nor our stock markets. This only proves that that the Philippine elites have the financial capacity to pull the country out of poverty but yet it's their apathy and lack of priorities that prevent them from using this money to achieve social progress.

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Related posts:
Putting on the Other's Shoes
The Democracy of the Pinoy Blogosphere a.k.a Malu Fernandez, Take Your Cue
Let Them Eat Cake
OFWs are No Heroes
The Philippines' 1st Cyber Counterculture Movement: Malu Fernandez, Hala Lagot Ka!

Pinoy Dies in the Outback

A Filipino OFW recently died under suspicious circumstances somewhere up in the Northern Territory. Three months into his work term, Pedro Balading's remains were found on the road as he was reportedly thrown off a speeding vehicle. His body was flown home in June.

Balading, along with 2 other Filipinos were reportedly targets of racial discrimination, abuse and were made to do tasks in violation of their 457 skilled worker visa. Another Pinoy was also killed last March as he was crushed by 2 slabs of granite in his workplace north of Perth. The Philippine embassy and the Australian government have called for review of said visa. Australia Malcolm Knox writes:

HIS body aching, his hands bristling with splinters, Pedro Balading phoned his wife Maria Magdalena on his 35th birthday and said he wanted to come home to Manila. The university-educated Filipino piggery supervisor had had enough of living a modern-day version of Wake In Fright in the Australian outback.

Instead of performing the skilled work prescribed by their visas, Balading and two Filipino co-workers on a cattle property on the Gulf of Carpentaria had become targets for bullying and discrimination, were underpaid and ordered to do back-breaking unskilled jobs.

The circumstances of his death remain the subject of an official investigation, but witnesses say that Balading's death resulted from the same harassment and exploitation that characterised his brief tenure in the territory.

Ten weeks after his death, his destitute and distraught widow has received no report on what killed Him and scant information on her entitlements, which include unpaid wages and accrued leave, workers' compensation and life insurance.

Territory and federal authorities have maintained a veil of secrecy around the death. Balading's employer has washed his hands of responsibility. When Maria Magdalena was notified of her husband's death two days after it happened, she wept: "Now they will let him come home."

In the Pinoy blogosphere, Geejay, himself a migrant worker here in Australia, writes:

Now, I’m not saying that all working conditions for migrants in Australia are as bad as what was depicted in the two articles. However, I just want to remind you, if you are interested in working here, to be extra vigilant. Don’t be lulled into thinking that working in Australia is without any risks. Do your homework and do not let yourself be abused. I strongly urge you to read the two articles in its entirety to get some ideas of what to watch out for.

From oodles of goodles:

There is just too much pent-up urgency in me to do something right about this. Perhaps, other than suggest that we boycott the agency which sent Balading to his death in a foreign land and send a barrage of furious email or letters to employers Paul and Stuart Zlotkowski, we can divert some of that passion, anger, unity we incited when Malu Fernandez made fun of OFWs and convert it into a microcosm of social relevance.

From sette:

It seems ironic that these days workplace reform, rights of workers and equality in the workplace are hot topics in the political arena and yet there are blatant breaches of overseas worker privileges in our own backyard.

Related news:
Foreign workers "enslaved"
Manila hits out on work visas
Hundreds ride the conveyor belt to fortune
Deaths prompt calls of 457 visa inquiry

Race: The Floating Signifier?

Eminent scholar of Cultural Studies, Stuart Hall, discusses race.



"Race is more like a language than it is like a way in which we are biologically constituted. Signifiers refer to the system and concepts of a classification of a culture to its making meaning practices. And those things gain their meaning not because of what they contain in their essence but in the shifting relations of difference which they establish with other concepts and ideas in a signifying field. Their meaning because it is relational and not essential can never be finally fixed, but is subject to the constant process of redefinition and appropriation."

Blood Red Moon

The lunar eclipse will be visible from this part of the world tonight.

A COSMIC ballet will bathe much of Australia's east coast in an ethereal red glow as the night sky becomes lit up by crimson moonshine. But forget high-powered telescopes. A dark spot and roof tops will give some of the best views of tonight's Blood Moon eclipse. At exactly 8.37pm (AEST) the Sun, Earth and Moon will be in total alignment, scattering light as it passes through the Earth's atmosphere and bounces off the moon in hues of bronze and red.

You should see it in Manila by 5:52pm. Will try to see if my puny cellphone cam can catch it.

Update: 8.35 pm. The moon is red now. The live webcast is supposed to be here. But I guess everyone's trying to access the page, so goodluck!

The Semiology of Skin

Edited to add: This post is in no way normative. I am not making value judgments on what should be. I guess I need to put a context to this post. It comes from me looking at photos of young Filipinas in search of foreigner husbands on the online dating site I work for. I do not consider myself a prude, but some of the photos enrage and sadden me. I do my best to edit unnecessary cleavage, or just crop the upper half of whole body shots of young women in skimpy outfits. The photo below is actually very tasteful, it is a mere hint of some of the photos we get. By far, most photos are head/shoulder shots. Some though, look more like this one on the right. Yes, and that's a German url, so you know to whom this photo is addressed. I'd rather not think of what happens to young Filipinas in the provinces. Really, I'd rather not. I've read news about trafficking and white slavery. I've heard of anecdotes from friends and colleagues. It is a different thing, however, to see their faces.



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When you look at the two photos above, you are not merely looking at lines, shapes and colours. Now, probably more than ever, there is truth to the adage - a picture speaks a thousand words. But these photos communicate more than words. They tell a story. They string more pictures together within our brains. They make connect-the-dots associations of concepts and ideas that denote more than the literal message - that they are two young, attractive females.

What does the one on the left tell you? What story do you see unfolding when you look at this photo? Does it tell you where this photo may have been taken? Does it tell you, who this young woman might be? Does it tell you anything about her character? What about the photo on the right? Let's pretend she isn't a well-known celebrity. As she smiles at you, with her Oriental eyes and her European features, what sorts of other images come to mind?

The photo on the left will probably say, it was taken somewhere in the provinces. The woven sawali wall behind here connotes a nipa hut, probably near the beach. She is wearing around her neck what looks like a string of seashells. She has on her face, a relaxed, open look. Just as relaxed as her body. Now, what sorts of other images do these connotations tell you? Do you think, well here is a woman in an idyllic setting. Here she languishes, her shoulders lightly leaning against the woven wall. She's probably looking at the waves crashing and contemplating...something. Contemplating what? Or maybe, dressed up as she is, she's waiting for something or someone. Maybe she's waiting for you? And who are you? Are you a man? Or a woman? Are you perhaps a fellow probinsyana nearby? Are you straight or gay? Are you a weary urbanite from the capital? Or maybe someone who needs a passport to come see her?

Now look at the photo on the right. She obviously has mixed parents. She is not, what some would call, a "pure" Filipina. Would you say, that this photo connotes the exact same messages given by the one on the left? Would you say, this was taken in the provinces somewhere? Probably not. You would think, well this photo was probably taken in the city. Most likely in Manila. Looking at her neatly coiffed hair, her fair skin and toned arms, would you think she denotes the exact same messages as the one on the left? Do you see them switching places? Probably not. More importantly, looking at the woman on the right, who are you?

The seaside idyll of the woman on the left is seductive in its...simplicity. To get away from the chaos of the city, of modernity, you're going back to basics. Its the same kind of thing those characters in "The Beach" are looking for. You're looking for something in the past. Something pure. And here she is, the perfect simple woman. With her long black hair and her willing posture, she would welcome you. You would expect her to be soft and submissive, open to your demands. Would you say she was rich? Would you say, she bought her clothes, put on her make-up and her string of seashells? Probably not. It is artifice. You might think, living in her sawali hut, that she is probably poor. Just as her dark skin tells you she is poor.

What about the woman on the right? Do you think she is poor? Do you think her soft and submissive and languid and waiting in her hut? Waiting for you? Probably not. She looks like she put on her own clothes. She looks like she went to an expensive department store and bought her own make-up. Her arms suggest she probably has money to spend in Fitness First. Does she look like she needs you? Even as she looks you in the eye, do you think she needs rescuing? Or is she more your equal? Not so feminine, so soft, so powerless as the one on the left?

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Your might also want to read:

Of Postmodern Sex
Mga Puta

The Power of Name-Calling

Early in the Harry Potter series, the warlock who killed Harry's parents, Voldemort, was often called "He who must not be named." He is so menacing, so powerful, he cannot be labelled. When something cannot be named, it is not a thing. We cannot make it an object to our Subject - something separate from us, something that is part of our objective reality. If it cannot be labelled, if it cannot be named, then it is beyond our grasp to manipulate.

When we name something, it is the power to pin down what was before something we cannot control. Naming something gives it a face - an identity, a bounded reality. Naming gives us the power to say that Object X is not Object Y. On X, we as Subjects, bestow traits. We dictate what it is. We dictate what it is not. Naming gives the Subject the power to create objects. Naming gives the Subject agency - the capacity to act on an objective reality. History then ceases to be something that merely occurs. It becomes something we can change.

Amen

Her divilacious highness had the grace to resign. Bravissima. Thanks Jae, for the heads up. And thank god for YouTube!

Ang Pera

Ang pera ay pagod
Sakit ng likod
Kakulangan ng tulog
Rayuma ng tuhod.

Ang pera'y magang mata
Ngawit ng leeg
Panahong ginugol
Di sa layaw, di sa hilig.

Ang pera'y panukat
Ng talino't galing
Ng tapang at sipag
Ng abilidad, ng tulin.

Ang pera'y panukat
Ng obligasyon at paglingon
Sa utang na loob
Sa pagkalingang naipon.

Ang pera parang wika
Nagbabadya, nangungusap
Ng kasiyahan o ng kakulangan
Ng ganda o kapangitan.

Ang pera nga ba
Ang s'yang namamagitan
At kumakatawan
Sa pakikipagkapwa't ugnayan?

Ang pera nga ba
Ang simbolo ng tatag
Na s'yang naghahayag
Ng pagkatao't kalooban?

The Philippines' 1st Cyber Counterculture Movement: Malu Fernandez, Hala Lagot Ka!

Has it been two weeks? Since Jae's post, and my first response to this issue, the Malu Fernandez blogging spectacle has taken on a life of its own. Every day, there are more pages on Google and Technorati when you search her. Congratulations Malu, you're now viral. I imagine your articles and the unfavourable (to put it kindly) reactions to your articles are now circling the globe over and over and over.

Anton De Leon, himself and OFW in Dubai, has called on us to "put on" the badges he made in support of the OFW Blogger's network. He is irked at Manila Standard Today's silence to this date. They have issued no statement other than publishing Malu's column on July 30, suggesting we're all ignorant twats. I've sent them heaps of e-mails as well, and as you can see, now their site crashes from time to time from heavy traffic. The Pinoy has reposted it here. De Leon suggests MST's silence may be because they don't want to ruffle VIP feathers. But he is optimistic the fight is far from over, it has only begun.

If you want to participate in (dare I suggest) the Philippines' first cyber counterculture movement, I say, put on the badges and let yourself be heard.

Tingog has posted the the official statement of the Filipino Press Club-Dubai. Here are some highlights:

A print medium that aspires for relevance in today’s competitive media world cannot hide under the skirt of press freedom for its licentiousness to insult a group of people. One’s freedom to poke her fingers begins where someone else’s nose begins.

Ms Fernandez’s unrepentant response to the barrage of angry reactions from OFWs and their loved ones (“I obviously write for a certain target audience and if what I write offends you, just stop reading”), simply adds fuel to the fire.

A nation like the Philippines that aspires for renewal and regeneration needs a responsible press with a high level of sensitivity to all sectors that comprise it.

We strongly demand that the publishers of People Asia and Manila Standard Today to take full responsibility and do the right thing: give Ms Fernandez and her editors a disciplinary action and apologise to the people insulted by these articles.

Elsewhere in the Pinoy blogsphere, people's latest reactions.

Sassy lawyer, herself an MST columninst says:

I tell you, there is nothing more useless and unreasonable as an angry, unthinking mob. And there is nothing more dangerous than a mob with an agendum—lest we forget, the Philippine blogging community is a medium too and hardly exempt from the mentality that anything goes if it translates to readership/audience.

Professional heckler lists some things one might say when one sees MF. The good bits:

9: “You’ve got more issues than PEOPLE Asia and the Manila Standard Today combined!”
8: “A sharp tongue does not mean you have a keen mind.”
7: “Do you still love nature, despite what it did to you?”
6: “If your conscience could be surgically removed, it would be a minor operation.”
4: “You are the reason God created the middle finger.”

A good point from a very angry luthien:

ang mga "hot money" inflows sa atin lumilikas kapag may mga market "shakes" like nitong nangyayaring US subrpime/credit crunch na nangyayari pero ang OFW remittances anjan pa rin, to keep our economy afloat.

Ivan Henares catalogues the growing list of bloggers on MF. He writes:

As a travel writer, I am unimpressed with her article. It does not give readers a sense of place of where she's been. Who cares if you used gold, open-toed sandals to climb the Acropolis? It's pathetic that the Hellenic attractions were only mentioned in passing. As a Filipino, I am appalled. How dare you call this country God-forsaken!

A truly tongue-in-cheek post from bananachoked:

Really, my heart goes to her and this she owes to me. For crying our loud, send me a bottle of the rare perfumes that you reviewed at the expense of the stinky overseas Filipino workers whose smell suffocated you. Let me try the ones you sprayed on your underarms to prevent the glands from sweating too much or the ones you put on your groin to avoid rashes.

Yveethetraveler posts the letter she sent to MST:

If your writer does not think she can bridge the gap between socioeconomic classes in our country, what may I ask, is her role in your paper? Of course I do not expect her to bridge gaps between our country’s social classes, but I do expect her to possess ethics appropriate for a journalist. Isn’t objectivity, impartiality, fairness and public accountability included in a journalist’s principles?

Fleeting thoughts comments on the comments:

It’s so fun reading the outbursts of enraged people. No offense, I don’t mean to express amusement at any display of emotion, especially for something that is so sensitive but this kind of thing does not happen regularly in the open (for me, that is). In a world where people must observe some level of civility, outbursts like these can be really interesting.

Ingrid Holm writes:

Take this from a person with the same 'socio-economic background' as you, bitch. What a pitiful excuse. I also happen to read things 'thicker than magazines', I go to University in London where I will finish with an Honors Bachelors Degree in May. I have a 1 year Marketing Economics degree from a business school in Oslo, and I graduated with an International Baccalaureate Diploma at age 17, if you were wondering. So no fucking excuses. You could do so much more than you think, yet you choose to act like a proper twat. The kind of twat that people with some brains laugh at, the world over.

An interesting take from Gigo:

People from the "elite realm" (for lack of a better term) amuse me. They are sources of entertainment as much as circus freaks provide me with a dose of something so surreal, its an escape from the reality that I am in. There's just something about their lifestyle which is so monotonously spread out in sheets of lifestyle magazines, that I find really peculiar, it merits a few chuckle from time to time. Imagine flaunting the crevasses of your pockets, clad in chameleon clothes with engorged egos, striking it fierce in a photograph to be pasted on a magazine sold alongside substance- twenty sheets adorned with pictures of hunger, strife, discord, and dissatisfaction. That is irony "fabulousified" (excuse my French).

Related posts:
Putting on the Other's Shoes
The Democracy of the Pinoy Blogosphere a.k.a Malu Fernandez, Take Your Cue
Let Them Eat Cake
OFWs are No Heroes

Is the Filipino Still Worth Dying For?

No. What good is a dead Filipino to the Philippines today?

Heroism as it is understood in nationalist movements has to do with bravery in the face of one’s mortality. In the battle for independence against the Spaniards, Japanese and Americans, we needed heroes who would risk their lives to for the nationalist cause. There were enemies from other lands that needed to be fought in battles. Guns and mortar, jungle bolos, tanks, ships, bombs. When a military battles is fought, people do die. Thus, they are heroic in that they fight anyway, for the country’s independence, knowing that the likelihood of getting killed is high.

When Ninoy Aquino flew home from the United States, he probably knew he would be assassinated by the Marcos regime. That was why he wore a bullet-proof vest. His decision to come home, knowing he might die, was heroic. But he did it anyway, to fight for the national cause, to fight against the martial law regime that had failed to deliver.

Today we have no external enemies, and we are (still) a democratic country. We no longer need heroes to fight wars of independence, to fight an oppressive regime. Because our enemy is within. Our enemy is our system. Our enemy is ourselves. We don’t need heroes today. We don’t need people dying needlessly, as the journalists have, as the activists have, as our soldiers in Mindanao have, as overseas workers have. This romanticism of heroes isn’t helping the Filipino. Nobody should have to die for me. In our country today, we need Filipinos living for the Filipino.

OFWs Are No Heroes

Heroes put on the cape and fly off to save the world. Filipino migrant workers are no heroes, they're not invincible. Bullets won't bounce off their eye balls. You shoot them and they're dead. You lock them up in your house and they're chattel. You kidnap them, and hold hostage their passports and they're slave labourers, made to work 12 hours every day. OFWs are no heroes.

As I've written elsewhere I don't like the term "Bagong Bayani." It implies self-abnegation and dying for some cause. In the ascription of heroism to their decision to migrate, sacrifice for the national well-being is implied. But Filipino migrant workers do not leave the country to be "heroes." They leave to provide for their families - to put kids or siblings to school, to finance medical upkeep of parents and grandparents, to save up for investments back home. They are, according to new development language, the world's leading agents of economic development. Agency implies initiative. It implies making impacts through concrete actions.

Remittances world-wide have now surpassed ODA (official development assistance) of rich governments and FDI (foreign direct investment) of multinationals in terms of capital transfer to the developing world. The Philippines is the third largest remitting country in the world, after India and Mexico. It is first when you take account of the percentage of remittances relative to GDP. Imagine that.

Here is an excerpt of a recent paper we wrote about the Filipino Diaspora. Pardon the boring tone. Its academic, but hopefully not moot. :)

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Introduction

There are at present an estimated 8.2 million Filipino migrant workers in 193 countries and territories abroad (POEA 2006: 51). In the early 70s, the government’s migration policy was meant to be a temporary measure to ease the crunch of that era of global economic depression. Due to its success, labour export has become a permanent fixture in government policy (Opiniano & Castro 2006: 74).

In recent years, there has been a trend of increasing remittances from these migrants, steadily rising from $8.5 billion in 2004, $10.6 billion in 2005, to as much as $14 billion in 2006 (POEA 2006: 21, Lucas 2007). Total remittances from January to April of this year have already surpassed that of last year’s and so the trend of increasing money capital repatriation is expected to continue. $4.68 B (26% increase from the same period last year) (PDI 2007).

With 1 in 10 Filipinos abroad today, and their growing contribution to sustainable living conditions for their families, the impact of migration is evident in the lives of Filipinos. Government policies facilitating out-migration suggest this trend will continue in the future. Indeed these workers have been touted by the government as the “Bagong Bayani” or New Heroes.

A Framework

While history and survival has seen the diffusion of human populations across the planet, Messina and Lahav point out that migration as a politically-defined issue is a relatively modern phenomenon. Migration became politicised in the 19th century, along with the rise of territorially-bounded nation-states. Those living within the territory were conferred ‘nationality’ while those outside were ‘foreigners.’ International migration came to be defined as the movement of non-nationals across borders for purposes other than travel or short-term stay (2006: 1).

Theories to explain or find causal relations pertaining to international migration are summarised by Massey and co-authors (2006). The newness of the field in the social sciences as well as their relative lack of sophistication, according to the authors, lead governments and policy-makers to frame international migration using antiquated 19th century concepts, models and assumptions (2006: 34).

Here most people feel when OFWs and migrants leave the Philippines it is a national loss. Not necessarily. Wealth-creation in the Philippines has never been national. Because we failed to sustain national industries (I'm not addressing the fact that others still think this is key to capitalist development, I haven't decided yet OK?), wealth in the Philippines has always been created transnationally. If our few multinationals such as San Miguel or Jollibee can operate globally, why should we deprive workers the same right?

Agents of Economic Development

Pearce, Douglas & Wimaladharma (2004) defined remittances as sums of money that a migrant worker sends back to a migrant worker’s country of origin. Unlike foreign direct investment (FDI) by private or public commercial entities or official development assistance from donor countries (ODA), remittances reach the poor directly and the poor make direct decisions on how the monies are spent.

In one of the most comprehensive surveys of the Filipino Diaspora in recent years, Alburo and Abella (2002) show the evolution of the pattern of migration in the last decade and set some benchmarks on the “brain drain” phenomenon from the Philippines. Brain drain is defined as the emigration of skilled workers and professions. Whereas in the 70s, most labourers who migrate are low-skilled, the proceeding decades saw the exodus of health professionals such as doctors and nurses, and later electronic engineers, computer programmers, designers and others.

An important finding of Alburo and Abella’s study was that the number of professionals who left the Philippines in the last decade exceeded the number of those who joined the local labour force. In general Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) have higher educational attainment than those of the local labour force. There is also evidence that a large portion of Filipino workers abroad belong to the most productive age groups, ranging from 25 to 44, compared to those employed in the country.

Most of the Philippine literature concentrate on the impacts of remittances to the Philippine economy as well as the behaviour of remitting workers. This may be because the Philippines is the third highest net remittance recipient in the world, after India and Mexico. From 1980 to 2002, remittance to export earnings ratio rose from 4.5% to 24.2%, and remittance to GDP ratio from 0.6% to 13.5% (Tan 2006: 3-4). Remittances have also begun to overtake foreign direct investments and official development assistance as external sources of capital (Pernia 2006: 1). Pearce, Stanton and Wimaladharma (2004) now refer to remittances as the new development finance.

Remittances come from an estimated 4.5 million OFWs and more than 3.4 million permanent emigrants settled mostly in the US. A majority of the OFWs are young breadwinners. About 20% of them are single with financial obligations to parents and siblings. From 1998 to 2003, there was a much larger increase in permanent migration than for employment, however OFWs still outnumber migrant workers in number (Tan 2006: 3).

Remittances do not necessarily contribute to national development because they are not always spent on productive activities. There are three spending phases (Brinkerhoff 2006: 7):

1. family maintenance and housing improvement
2. conspicuous consumption
3. productive activities

Brain Drain to Brain Gain

The phenomenon of international migration is seen to continue as shown by a study conducted by the International Labour Organisation (Lowell & Findlay 2002). “Brain Drain” or skilled labour emigration is a concern because of its impact on the sending countries. A number of industrialised economies have liberalised their policies to admit highly skilled workers. The problem is that the demand for these workers is met by developing countries, triggering an exodus of their skilled personnel.

Kapur and McHale (2005) credit this “global hunt for talent” to three factors. First, the emerging knowledge-based industries push governments to increase their competitive advantage by hiring the right people. Second, ageing populations in industrialised countries also require more health care workers and technology-based health care systems. Third, this international competition for talent is seen to continue and increase due to the globalisation of production and trade. The five leading competitors for skilled talent in the international market are Australia, Canada, Germany, the UK and the US (37).

To address the increasing out-migration of skilled professionals from developing countries, the Asian Development Bank recently published position papers on how to convert “brain drain” to “brain gain” (Westcott and Brinkerhoff 2006). The loss of skilled-labour migration is compensated by transfer of knowledge through the skills and training acquired abroad. These papers show evidence that skilled migration can prompt further investment in education.

Opiniano and Castro (2006) highlight the need for more brain gain programs. Some transfer of knowledge initiatives, such as the Science and Technology Advisory Council (STAC), the Transfer of Knowledge Through Expatriate Nationals (TOKTEN) sponsored by the UN Development Program and the Balik Scientist Program (Scientist Return Program) have largely been unsuccessful. They conclude that this is due to lack of awareness and importance of these programs.

Findings and Recommendations

Our findings from our survey match the current studies of the Filipino Diaspora. Corresponding to the data compiled by the POEA, where 2.7 of the estimated 8.2 million overseas Filipinos are located in the United States (2006: 52), the majority of our respondents are also located in the US.

The majority are citizens, contract workers or permanent residents aged 22 to 35 years old. We marked this age grouping as the most productive years for workers. It is roughly equivalent to Alburo and Abella’s age bracket of 25 to 44 years old (2002). The second largest group are those aged 36 to 50 years old. In total, those who are active participants of the labour force in their respective host countries represent 75% of our respondents.

Also matching areas of highest labour demand in the international labour market, 37% of our respondents are employed in the health care and information technology sectors.

Over half of our respondents left the Philippines in the period 2001 to 2007. The overwhelming majority of those who left did so for economic reasons. Sixty-eight percent held stable jobs before leaving. This supports prior studies that Filipino migrant workers are not only endowed with education and training but also practical experience when they join the work force of their host country.

Those who benefit from remittances are members of the immediate family – siblings and parents. The funds are spent on daily subsistence and education. This scenario may be indicative of the worsening social and economic condition of the Philippines, where income from the local economy is no longer enough to sustain even the most basic of needs. Spending on education, most likely of younger siblings, is a strong indicator that some of the funds are being re-invested on human capital. Following Brinkerhoff’s three spending phases (2006), this survey shows part of the funds is indeed being spent on productive activities. The Filipino Diaspora continues to provide a social safety-net to the immediate family. This is reflective of the lack of public social safety-nets available.

Although surprisingly 63.3% of them would not want to change their citizenship. Their qualitative responses reveal their definition of “better living conditions” mean financially or income-wise. They are better able to help relatives through financial support but “miss out on family-milestones” or “miss home.”

Advances in telecommunications facilitate linkages of overseas Filipinos to the Philippines. Over eighty percent say they keep up with current events, mostly through the online editions of Philippine newspapers and e-mail listings and networks.

The Philippine government has indicated little long-term planning in managing the emigration of workers. The emphasis seems to be in maximizing benefits - by way of remittances. However initiatives in minimizing costs are sorely lacking. This is excellent opportunity to conduct research on long-term management of human migration, focusing on brain gain mechanisms.

Conclusion

The survey results reflect the findings of current literature and trends. It shows the Filipino Diaspora has maintained linkages to the homeland. They feel they are helping and want to eventually come home. Over 63 percent do not want to change citizenship, indicating their strong emotional ties to keeping their Filipino identity.

Those who have given up their Filipino passports or those who are considering it, only do so for travelling and documentation convenience. If this survey reflects the attitudes of the 8.2 million, then evidence is strong that the Diaspora’s potential of being agents of economic development extend beyond the monetary. There must be policies to harness their potential in transferring home know-how as well as social and human capital.

Let Them Eat Cake

Tingog is calling for the dismissal of Malu Fernandez from Manila Standard Today and People Asia magazine. Some of the commenters have even suggested the boycott of both publications as well as Fernandez' Luscious boutique.

John Marzan doesn't think its a good idea. He says it lets her "off the hook too easily." He agrees with Paolo Mendoza, who says there's an elitist in all of us. Mendoza writes:

But what does separate her from us? Are we not guilty of some form of political incorrectness against gender, race, religion and caste? Most of the bloggers who reacted may be in the right not to tolerate her article; but inward, isn't any of these hypocritical? All of us are guilty. If I judge her by that article, I would be guilty of the same hypocrisy.

Am I being a hypocrite for calling out Ms. Fernandez' callous articles? I don't think so. See, the difference between Ms. Fernandez and I is I don't write for a broadsheet and a ridiculously priced glossy. If I ever entertain bigoted thoughts, I keep them to my self, or I make a joke about them with my circle of friends. I would never, for the life of me, write them down for mass consumption, to flaunt to all and sundry my distaste of sharing a plane with chimays in Dubai. Further, I wouldn't defend my actions by insulting my readers' intelligence, suggesting they don't read anything thicker than a magazine.

There are only two reasons I can think of why the likes of Ms. Fernandez would even contemplate to lace her poorly-written article with such conspicuous contempt.

One, she truly is clueless, like Tim Yap. Which makes you wonder what kind of bubble she lives in. She talks about haute couture and French brands and "jetting" to Europe and America and Asia. She has obviously created for herself an illusion of a glamorous existence. Living in this "god forsaken place in the Third World" clearly doesn't fit her reality. Which makes you wonder if she's somewhat delusional. I too have been to Paris. I thought it was a beautiful city. I admired the always well-put together Parisians, the gorgeous urban planning, the smell of the Metro. And then I thought, Filipinos deserve to live in the same prettified conditions and all that that signifies. Livable living conditions for almost everyone if not all. We deserve it. And all of us, you and I, should work together to get it.

Second, and this I fear is the true reason given her advanced age, Ms. Fernandez simply doesn't care if she publishes her contempt for OFWs or for all of us. She doesn't give a flying fuck because she is untouchable. As Gibbs Cadiz has said, this kind of mindset among our supposed "betters" is the reason why we have the world's longest-running insurgency.

"Let them eat cake" was Marie Antoinette's famous last words as the crowds came for her at Versailles to face Madame La Guillotine. The two major interpretations have been similar to what I've written here. Oblivious or impervious? In response to the starving masses she said let them eat cake. But the French Revolution wasn't started by the masses. It was ignited by people like you and me.

On the Democracy of the Pinoy Blogosphere a.k.a Malu Fernandez, Take Your Cue

The Malu Fernandez brouhaha raging in the Pinoy blogosphere has been clearly infuriating to many of us. Typically Pinoy, some of the insanely humorous comments, expressing truly acerbic wit in so many blog posts have been good in diffusing the outrage. She has been hurled insults that have unfairly maligned animals of the porcine kind.

You will agree with me that this social space we are creating is predominantly middle class, reflecting our middle class values and our middle class sensibilities. Ms. Fernandez should take the cue that the society in which she lives is now ruled by a free market economy. We no longer live in society where privilege is taken for granted by the privileged because wealth creation is more transparent in the exchange of money. In plain words, being rich doesn't automatically make you our betters, so you need to tone down your disgust for the masses, at least in public. While admittedly there are vestiges of the old system, don't we want wealth as something acquired through hard work and merit? Not by socioeconomic rank and god forbid, birth? Don't you call yourself a working girl as well Ms. Fernandez? In any democracy, these values make you the same as me.

From Ms. Fernandez' column I take it she works in the fashion business, focusing on RTW. In her own words, her customers are not exactly haute ton (high society). Ms. Fernandez, while you may count yourself as part of the "jet-setting" crowd, your business clearly depends on the patronage of those with purchasing power. Who has purchasing power in the Philippines today? Obviously, the people who have written these posts - the Middle Class. And those of us with relatives working abroad who continue to infuse capital in this country. These are the very same people you have insulted in your ignorance. Of the billions of dollars they have sent home, $14 billion last year alone, I'm sure some of that has made its way to your purse Ms. Fernandez. And some have been used to buy the magazine and newspaper you write for. So yeah, enjoy your spritz of Jo Malone while you can. These days, being matapobre*, can be very bad for business.

*In Spanish, means kill the poor.


Edited to add:

Just to drive home the point, here are the latest hilarious/outraged posts via technorati.

From spanx:

PUNYETA pala itong MALU FERNANDEZ na ito eh, ang daming sinasabi, wala naman iniisip, t*ng 'na, lahat ng mga kapwa nating Pinoy na nagsusumikap sa Dubai, na-insulto mo.

Nagawa mo pa asarin lahat ng mas mahirap sa iyo. Eh kung i-forward itong mga pa-kyut mo sa http://www.alexboncayaobrigade.com/, matuwa ka pa kaya?...And do shut your trap before I go all Sun-Tzu on your fat ass.

From stevie:

As a backgrounder, Ms Fernandez has struggled with a weight problem since birth. She has tried everything. Obviously unsuccessful, Malu, single fortysomething, has just resorted to being a bitch to get noticed. Let's not spam her then.

From Manila Boy:

Even if the acerbic Ms. Fernandez tries to ignore all the hate mails and vehement blogs virtually chopping her up into liempo, all these intensely negative vibes will surely give her a very bad long weekend indeed.

From aika:

Truth, you say? Here’s a little glimpse of reality. The last time I checked, Philippines is a third world country and people struggle to at least eat three times a day. And some families do this by sending a family member abroad, doing whatever they can - including being miles away from their loved ones - just so their families here in the Philippines could live a freaking decent life. Here’s your reality: there’s nothing f*cking funny about that.

From Pedestrian Observer:

While Donya Buding is a class act and really a classy woman Malu Fernandez has no class, nada, zip, zilch so excuse me, comparing her to Donya Buding is the biggest insult ever. Fer cryin out loud she is not even in the calibre of a cartoon character like Miss Piggy what more with Donya Buding.

From shane:

At bakit hindi sya magrereklamo na masikip ang upuan, ang taba taba kaya nya. Kung ako sa kanya, magpapa-LIPO ako kay Vicky Belo or kay Pai Calayan!

From valkyrieangie:

puh-leeze. some people with lower socioeconomic background are better bred than you are. even if all they get to eat are noodles and rice to get by and you get to stuff yourselves with escargot and champignon (which is just the sosyal way of saying suso at kabute, noh). we may not be your target audience, we middle class people, but we can read and we know when we are being put down.

From azrael:

I am an OFW myself, and it hurts me big-time when a fellow pinoy looks down on me and judge me by mere affinity. It’s just not right. Besides, what’s wrong with selling celphones and perfumes at duty free shops? What’s wrong with using cheap ass perfumes like Axe and Charlie? What’s wrong with being loud and friendly with your fellow pinoys on a plane?? DAMMIT.. WHAT????

From jovi:

Miss… er… Blimp, I’ll have you know that I’ve read the unabridged versions of books like “Brothers Karamazov”, “War and Peace”, “Anna Karenina”, “Les Miserables”, among others, and I think those can be considered thicker than a magazine but I still cannot, for the life of me, appreciate your so - called acerbic wit, but hey, maybe it’s just me.

From Filipinowriter:

Just because she feels that she can’t make a difference, doesn’t mean it’s a lost cause. The fact that people are actually trying is much more noble, than playing aristocrat and hinting that The Philippines is a lost cause.

Putting on the "Other's" Shoes

If you believe that our experiences shape us, then you are likely to believe that we can't be everything. We can only be one person. We might change in the course of time, but we can't be two persons at once. Who we are today, just as who we will be in the future, is created by the places we go, the people we meet and the communities we inhabit. It follows that the things we come to believe and value are also shaped by where and how we live.

Since we as a human race do not have a beehive brain, it is difficult to put ourselves in other people's shoes. But anyone who wants to know more than one's limiting, limited existence will want to put on other's shoes, or at least imagine what it would be like to walk in them. This is why we read books, travel and watch movies. We are curious about how others live, we are curious about the world "out there." Implicit in this curiosity is the knowledge that we can't know everything and that we see only from our own partial, parochial viewpoint. Our views are held hostage by our locality - our inability to be everywhere at any time.

As humans we do have a tendency to prefer living in our own skin, and sticking close to kith and kin. Maybe laws of evolution have pre-programmed our brains to want to stay close to our kind - our "in-group." We create all sorts of myths and norms to assure our in-group's continued existence, including illusions of inherent superiority, even invulnerability. In turn the we denigrate, even demonise "out-groups." We find in others faults, things to fear and things to ridicule to highlight the harmony and goodness of our own kind.

So these are two contradicting tendencies we have in us as symbol-making bipeds. To insist on living either extremes is not only stupid and dangerous, but inhuman.

Off to Canberra

I'd rather not , but I gotta. Not looking forward to brrrrrr. Be interesting to meet the other 150 scholars from all over Asia Pacific. Back by Saturday.

GMA's NBN: White Elephant?

The editorial of Inquirer today questions whether GMA's National Broadband Network project is another white elephant.

The intention may be good, but the means being used to carry out the two projects are questionable. In the first place, is there need for them? Two professors of the University of the Philippines (UP) School of Economics -- Dean Raul V. Fabella and Prof. Emmanuel S. de Dios -- have answered no. They say that the government does not need to own a broadband backbone, much less two, because two are already in existence and are being operated by private firms: one by Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., the other by its competitors.

Economists Fabella and De Dios's position paper can be read here.

Dave Llorito writes:

We agree with the professors’ call, especially in the case of the NBN. It was apparently negotiated in utmost secrecy with the Chinese government; and, with the subsequent “loss” of the signed contracts in a hotel room in China, the hush-hush deal seems to have the makings of another scam that could push this country into another cycle of economically destructive political spasms.

The questions over the lack of transparency now makes me re-think the debate over Australia's similarly named National Broadband Network. The infrastructure project is aimed at linking the hinterlands to the coastal cities and the world. I remember how I found it quaint how the Australian parliament's debate was broadcast live on national TV. I remember how I found it funny that these law makers were literally debating over the nuts and bolts, adapters, cables, routers - and of course which company gets the deal. Well, I don't find it funny now.

The Blogging Class Consciousness

Arbet mulls over political blogs and how they were under-represented in the top lists. I think the hullabaloo over blogging "top lists" and "awards" is a good thing. It's a sign that the Pinoy blogosphere is not only growing but acknowledging each other as part of a community. We're probably a teeny-weeny minority of the Filipino people, but the ideas I've read out there are outstanding. I know I've been both inspired and encouraged by other bloggers. I suppose a sort of synergy is happening.

I've been blogging for quite a while, and like most early blogs, I did so for personal reasons. I suppose my archives reflect the evolution of my interests and persuasions. I don't think young bloggers are apolitical, I think they are concerned, but Philippine politics really can be exhausting. Its depressing having to think and write about how bad things are all the time.

I agree with Arbet, on just how influential Manolo's blog is. Most of my links, I found over at The Daily Dose. The other thing I like about the Pinoy blogosphere is how it is completely democratic. It doesn't matter who or what bloggers are, it doesn't matter their age. It doesn't even matter where they are! All that matters are their words and ideas. And we're all doing this (mostly) for free!

The blogging class consciousness is being borne out of this new social (cybers)space. 10 years from now, who knows what we can do out of this?

Sex Tourism

Did you know that the Philippines ranks number four in sex tourism destination? And that there are as many as 600,000 child prostitutes in the country? Safely tucked away in the provinces, child prostitution is not visible to the eyes of the capital. But now they have faces. These days, I have to police online sex workers every time I go to work. To bloggers who advertise dating sites for "Cebuanas" and the like, please take them down, I beg of you.

Quick, somebody feel outraged for me. After watching the YT testimonials on the kidnapping of 51 Filipinos in Iraq, I'm fresh out of rage and indignation. Ah, this is so fucking exhausting. Let me be selfish. Let me just think of myself. Arrrrgghh.

Stopping the Clash of Civilisations

The spectre of Islam is haunting the world. As a country with a Muslim population, it would do us good to understand the "Other" in our own soil. Excerpts of a paper I wrote for an elective class in Communication. I knew the Media was powerful before taking this class...but now I have some appreciation for how the Media is powerful. I took out the references, but if you want them, let me know.


Introduction

The United States’ war in Iraq and continuing presence in the Middle East region are driven by two goals. First, to ensure dominance and political control over oil as an economic resource; and second, to carry out strategic positioning vis-à-vis potential rivals Russia and China in the Eurasian continent. While these intentions may be clear among students and practitioners of international relations, they are not so among the general public. These very real material interests have been overshadowed by the rhetoric of the “Clash of Civilisations” and the incompatibility of values and cultures between ‘discrete’ and ‘identifiable’ groupings. The obfuscation is deliberate, its effect absolute.

In today’s world, where naked aggression is universally condemned, the pursuit of these political and economic goals must necessarily be subsumed under the rhetoric of culture in order to gain legitimacy. Consent must be generated within the United States as well as the international community. The justification for launching multiple wars, i.e. the War on Terror in 2001, the war in Afghanistan in 2002, the war in Iraq in 2003 and perhaps an imminent war against Iran, is premised on the cultural superiority of Western values over Islamic societies. In order to make such a juxtaposition of ‘Us’ versus ‘Them,’ there is a need to reify the abstract categories ‘West’ and ‘Islam’ and to frame them in inevitable opposition.

The concepts of Hegemony in Cultural Studies and Framing in media studies are particularly useful in putting the Middle East conflicts in context.

The United States’ hegemonic appropriation and definition of Freedom/Democracy is one so powerful the world has consented to an invasion launched on falsified evidence and the civilian deaths of tens of thousands. The power of the media frame, on the other hand, has operationalised what Chomsky and Herman call the ‘manufacture of consent.’

The War for Hegemonic Meanings

Cultural Studies’ concepts of hegemony and culture wars are useful in piercing through the Clash of Civilisations rhetoric and formulating alternative courses of action that do not necessarily end in waging or supporting military action.

Briefly, the paradigm makes two core assumptions; that culture is part of all human behaviour and the society has hierarchies of power. Culture, as it is created and consumed, is shaped by dominant groups to win the non-dominant groups’ compliance to the status quo. Hegemony, drawn from Gramsci’s work on coercion and consent, problematises the relations between meaning and power. The drawing of consent consolidates political power.

Cultural Studies assumes that the media is not a neutral carrier of culture. It is a tool for dominant ideologies through its functional power of controlling the flow of information. It follows then that the media is an important site in the battle for the creation of meanings and identities, what Stuart Hall calls the ‘theatre of struggle’.

Marco Tarchi systematically reveals how the dominant groups in the United States were able to win the battle for the hegemonic meaning of the September 11 attacks to achieve multiple goals. The attacks were reified to justify the use of force, to rally support domestically and internationally, to classify who were the players, and to define what was at stake. He notes that in the media, there seemed to have been an automatic mechanism for self-disciplining - an internal logic to how the coverage was conducted.

The concentration of media coverage on the World Trade Centre towers, rather than the Pentagon, achieved two goals. First, it gained sympathy from the international community as photos of the ‘innocent’ civilians were beamed world-wide, their deaths rendered more tragic than deaths elsewhere. Second, it served to ‘decontextualise’ the historical precedent of the existence of Al Qaeda – both a product and a consequence of the heart of the US military machine.

President Bush’s use of language helped define who were the protagonists and who were the bad guys. In his first statement after the attacks he used the word ‘evil’ five times. He would “eradicate evil from the world,” and “smoke out and pursue…evil-doers, those barbaric people.”

To make sure that there was no ambiguity, Bush categorically made us choose, “either you’re with us or against us” in the US-led effort to quash “the War against Freedom.” His pronouncements simultaneously forced the international community to identify with the United States and defined that ‘freedom’ was at stake. In the bid to win consent for what it was about to do, the Bush administration transmuted the attack against the US to the attack against the whole of Western civilisation and anyone who valued freedom. ‘Freedom’ is never explicitly defined. Whose freedom needed defending? What kind of freedom needed defending?

Making the Frame Work for War

Framing is the selection of certain images, facts and developments over others and assembling them in a certain order to promote a particular interpretation of events. It also entails the conscious use of language to evoke ideas. A complete frame is able to perform four functions;

1. Define the problem
2. Provide causes
3. Give moral judgment
4. Promote solutions.

Framing enables the condensing of complex issues to simple, easily digestible narratives that you and I, the public, can easily make sense of.

In the previous section we have outlined the dominant groups’ ascription of meaning to 9/11 – that it triggered a war between Good and Evil and there was an urgent need to defend ‘Freedom.’ How has this hegemonic interpretation been operationalised in the media? How has a set of profoundly complex issues, in the context of decades-long historical events and involving millions of lives in different continents, been framed?

Following Entman’s framing functions, how has the problem been defined? The problem, if George Bush is to be believed, is that these Islamic evil-doers hated the West for its freedoms.

What is the cause of the problem? To unravel the complexity of causal factors, let us first begin with journalistic omissions. The problem is not caused by US military presence in the Middle East since the first Gulf war. It is not caused by the deaths of as many as half a million Iraqis as a consequence of US-sponsored trade embargoes. It is not caused by the resentment in the Arab world over the decades-long Israeli conflict and the perceived injustice of Palestinians losing their land. It is not caused by foreign powers’ struggle to control the region and its most precious resource.

Instead, what are the framed causes given? That ‘Islamic civilisation’ is inherently incompatible with the ‘West,’ and the differences between the two are the source of the former’s envy and hatred. That Islam is a religion that drives its practitioners to extremism. The fact that it is a centuries old creed which has had as many permutations as Christianity, the fact that it is practiced by over a billion people in varied cultural contexts across the globe, is glossed over. Islam is one just as the West is one.

Edward Saïd’s scholarship on Orientalism details the systematic manufacture of the ‘Other.’ The project of separating the Western ‘Self’ from the Islamic ‘Other’ entails omissions in history, extirpating all traces and influence of the ‘Other,’ denying cultural borrowings, denying commonalities. Only after having successfully excised the foreign in the ‘Self’ can the West declare its superiority.

Because Islamic civilisation breeds fundamentalists and terrorists and because it practices a backward, regressive religion, it is imperative for the West, led by the embattled United States, to set its people free. The choice of words to frame the issue is telling. The Pentagon first named the war against terror ‘Operation Infinite Justice’ inferring that the use of armed force is just. As supreme leader of the morally righteous America, George Bush “will not waver” in this “test of the nation’s faith.”

Conclusion

In the years since the September 11 attacks, Huntington’s predictions seem to be unfolding before our very eyes. Are we helpless in the face of war-mongering? Do we want this clash of civilisations? Do we want wars?

The concept of hegemony shows us that the interests of a few have compromised the lives of many. It has compromised the stability of the Middle East and has sown derision and suspicion of an entire religion. It has compromised the right of all to live in peace. In an age of unprecedented means of global communication and increased mobility in human movement, it is not in the interest of the majority to sow fear, even hatred of the Other.

The concept of framing has demonstrated the tragic consequences of transmuting a complex set of issues to an easily digestible equation of 1 + 1 = 2. It has laid bare the mechanisms with which dominant interests can and do manipulate the general public, playing on our fears, arousing our biases. Knowing all of this it is even more imperative the need to be active citizens of our nations, to be critical of our governments and the need to think of others beyond the horizon.

Aussie Journalist Roasts Gloria

Her excellency Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was here on May 31 to ink an Anti-terror pact. PM Howard promised $1 million in aid to combat terrorism and poverty, focusing on Mindanao.

SBS Australia's Stan Grant grills GMA right after the pact-signing ceremonies. He gets away with asking Madame La Présidente questions no Filipino journalist would have been able to without getting his/her head bitten off.

SG: "You talk about trying to deal with terrorism, we know the Philippines has been a hotbed of terrorism over the years...the ongoing struggle over Abu Sayyaf...Is it something that is just insurmountable?"

GMA: "Oh, on the contrary, we are a very strong link now on the war against terrorism. Those who are able to ply their trade in other places cannot get away once they try to hide in the Philippines. So we've had terrorists who've perpetrated their crimes in other countries but they're in Philippine jails."

SG: "Now to the question of political instability, particularly to your own leadership being beset by crisis, attempts to impeach you, allegations of vote rigging, allegations of bribery and corruption. How do you maintain your own credibility against such opposition?"

See GMA flustered as she lies her teeth through this mini-interview here. GMA's booty: $1 million. GMA's facial expressions....priceless.

Education, Always Education

There must be a bizarre kind of serendipity today, as I read Jego's post which mentions Pinoy Press's post on an ad placed by Antonio Calipjo Go in the Inquirer. In the ad Go deplores the sad state of Philippine education illustrated by over 300 errors he found in a single text book Hiyas ng Pagbabasa 5. Because he dared point out these errors, he was sued by Phoenix Publishing House.

At this exact moment I am reading on the role of public education in socially engineering French nationals pre and post Revolution. Here is what I have written so far:

The concept of the ‘nation’ guided by the organising philosophies of the social contract theorists served as the legitimating symbol of the revolution (Bell 2001: 1224). It rallied the ‘third estate,’ comprising 98 percent of the population (REFERENCE), behind the idea of a collective ‘patrie’ in which every individual was equal, labelled or identified not as a peasant, clergy, king or queen but a citoyen – a citizen.

On June 17, 1789, nearly a month before the fall of Bastille, the deputies of the Third Estate declared themselves a National Assembly, a body that claimed to represent each of the 28 million people living in France at the time (Bell 2001: 1218-1225).

How had the idea of nation come to hold purchase among a hodgepodge of ethnic peoples speaking different tongues (REFERENCE), who never before thought they belonged to a certain collectivity called ‘nation’?

The answer lay in a social engineering underpinned by public education. Guided by the Enlightenment philosophes, the 18th century saw a gradual veering away from the teaching of virtue in the service of God to virtue in the service of the public good. Penny Brown writes:

…the traditional emphasis on a morality derived from religious faith began to change to a concept of social morality that aimed at the happiness and usefulness of the individual in the context of the interests of the national good (2006: 207).

The Republic's declaration that every citizen has inalienable rights also places on the Republic the duty to teach its people of these rights (Chanet 2005: 11). The creation of a French national to match the French nation traces its roots from the early pamphleteering of the Jacobins to indoctrinate the peasants (Maciak 1999) to the education policies of the Revolutionary government, namely the Peletier project, which brought together children of all social classes (Brown 2006: 209).

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So, if public education is crucial in making a nation....what is Philippine public education teaching Filipino children?

Intellectual Guns for Hire

As professional producers of knowledge, what scholars write can be deadly. Perhaps one of the deadliest since the end of the Cold War is Samuel Huntington. His prophetic(?) article entitled "Clash of Civilisations" came out in the Foreign Affairs journal in 1993. Huntington claimed that in a world where there was no longer a rival empire, the major cause of conflict would be inter-civilisational. The greatest fissure and consequently the greatest points of conflict would be between the "West" and "Confucian" civilisation, and also the "West" and "Islamic" civilisation.

I imagine Foreign Affairs publisher, the influential Council of Foreign Relations, knocking on Huntington's door. Or it could be the other way around. They ask him, or he tells them, now that inter-ideological conflict is over, who should the paranoid lone superpower look out for? Who's the next possible rival to American hegemony?

Huntington has expanded his thesis into a book which came out in 1997. Palestinian scholar Edward Said called Huntington out for the cultural racist and war-monger that he is. After September 11, 2001, Clash of Civilisations and the Re-making of the World Order, which was re-printed in 2002, seems to have been the bible guiding US foreign policy in the Eurasian continent.

Since 9/11 the global agenda has been firmly re-directed to combatting terrorism. Governments from Britain all the way to the Philippines have responded to call for war against Islamic fundamentalists. Islamophobia is at an all-time high and Muslims are responding to what they perceive to be an assault on their identity. The inherently transnational nature of the umma, the community of believers, is being used to fight an asymmetrical war against "Satan" personified by America. Again I ask, does the Philippines really want to be embroiled in this? Any rational government would think twice. But this administration is only thinking of short-term gains. Think of the future Madame President.

In the mean time, eradication of global poverty has taken a backseat on the to-do list of the global community and Huntington is laughing all the way to the bank. Iraq is in shambles as the four-year war has claimed an estimated 600,000 lives to date. As Washington floats the idea of doing an Iraq on Iran, and the US succeeds in expanding its sphere of influence eastward, who's next? For hints, see Huntington's diagram above. The thicker the line, the greater the tendency for conflict. Oh Samuel, what art thou wrought?

The Pre/Postmodern Nation

Timeless, faceless, nameless, rootless. We are a people with no history, no regard for the past, no projections into the future. There is only now, lived without the tyranny of ticking seconds. We wake today with no worries and leave tomorrow for tomorrow.

We have no name with which to call ourselves and those around us. We put no labels on faces. No identifications to mark territories. We have no boundaries to set the internal and external. As such, nothing is foreign. As such, nothing is local. Instead there is a co-mingling and mutual appropriation, as that which comes from the distant encounters what is already near.

A nation of migrants, we are rootless. Not that we ever saw ourselves rooted. No centralising power has ever succeeded in locking us in, re-making us and labelling us a certain brand of human being. There is no central power that has erased our differences as we still speak in different tongues and live in different cultural spaces. Identities are negotiable, and so bodies are welcome to stay, as they are also welcome to leave. Must we fret over not being modern when the postmodern is already (t)here?