A LUTA CONTINUA: The Philippine National Language and The Global Movement For Social Change The Philippine government through Commission on Higher Education/CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) No. 20, Series of 2013 obliterated the national language as a subject in the new college curriculum. After a year of sporadic protests and lobbying endeavors against what a University of the Philippines professor described as an act of “cultural genocide,” more than 300 professors, students, cultural activists, professionals, public servants, and concerned citizens, from around 40 schools, universities, cultural and linguistic organizations, etc. established the Alyansa ng Mga Tagapagtanggol ng Wikang Filipino/Alliance of Defenders of the Filipino Language (TANGGOL WIKA) in an assembly at De La Salle University-Manila last June 21, 2014. It is now at the forefront of the struggle against the obliteration of the Filipino language in the college curriculum, linking up its struggle with the broader struggle for the country’s cultural independence and economic emancipation, with a nationalist-oriented education system as one of its cornerstones. One of the convenors of TANGGOL WIKA started (re)popularizing the Portuguese slogan “A luta continua!” (“The struggle continues!”) by frequently using the phrase in forums and in articles. The phrase was first popularized by Samora Machel, leader of the Frente de Libertação de Moçambique/Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO), as a slogan to unite Mozambicans against Portuguese colonialism. After a period of armed struggle, FRELIMO succeeded in negotiating for Mozambique’s eventual independence in 1975. Machel became president until his death (or assassination) in 1986. In his lifetime, Machel championed the cause of international solidarity against colonialism, imperialism, and apartheid. FRELIMO attempted to steer Mozambique away from the trap of neocolonial dependency, sowing the seeds of a socialist economy in the process, albeit unsuccessfully. In a speech filled with the famous phrase, Machel emphasized that the struggle must continue against “tribalism,” “ignorance,” “illiteracy,” “exploitation,” “superstition,” “misery,” “hunger,” and “lack of clothing.” Machel’s widow eventually married Nelson Mandela. South African singer and anti-apartheid activist Miriam Makeba told her daughter Bongi to write the song “A luta continua” after she participated in the independence ceremony of Mozambique, as a delegate of the Republic of Guinea. The song paid homage to the people of Mozambique and FRELIMO for fighting against colonialism. It ends with the groovy declaration that the struggle continues in Zimbabwe, Namibia, and South Africa. As apartheid has been used to describe cultural oppression, political repression, as well as economic exploitation, it is not surprising that trade unionists and other activists still use the slogan “a luta continua” as a rallying cry, then and now, for carrying on with the struggle for global social emancipation. It must be noted that the União dos Sindicatos de Lisboa/Union of Labor Organizations of Lisbon, founded in 1970, had used the phrase as its rallying cry against fascism. Meanwhile, labor activists and socialists from around the world seemed to have used the Spanish version of the phrase (“la lucha continua”) as a complementary battle cry in the war against fascists who grabbed power from a a democratically-elected socialist government, if a scene from the movie “Tierra y Libertad” (“Land and Liberty”) is historically accurate. Considering that the Philippines is a Third World country, the use of the phrase as a slogan against the government’s neocolonial policy of obliterating the national language is of course valid and fitting. This famous phrase is a statement against parochialism and an antidote to possible post-victory complacency. It reminds Filipino citizens that even after the national language is retained as a mandatory subject in the college curriculum, more significant struggles and advocacies need to be taken up. The national language is an effective tool to unite the Filipino people against poverty, capitalist exploitation, economic dependency, government corruption, inequitable wealth distribution, elite monopoly on land and other resources, environmental destruction, and other social ills, and for an egalitarian socio-economic system, good governance, land reform, self-reliant and sustainable economy, and other remedies. “A luta continua” is a phrase that connects the current social movement against the obliteration of the Philippine national language, to the larger global movement against cultural and economic imperialism. This link can potentially mobilize millions of defenders of Filipino identity to become holistic activists participating in the broad social movement that unites and empowers their people as a historic bloc against neocolonialism, imperialism, bureaucrat-capitalism, and feudalism. At the very least, this is a struggle for cultural, political, and economic democratization. Ordinary Filipinos cannot participate actively in the cultural, political, and economic affairs of the country, if they are unable to have a common language of national discourse. Hence, as nationalists who see nationalism as a springboard for making the Philippines a net contributor to the global struggle for sweeping social transformation, we dare declare A LUTA CONTINUA! THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES! LA LUCHA CONTINUA! LA LUTTE CONTINUE! TULOY ANG LABAN!
Posted on: Mon, 06 Oct 2014 16:22:39 +0000
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