"Culturally Political"

"Culturally Political"

It's been long time when yours truly has involve in politics.

Making topics ranging from old buildings, paintings, to a series of socio-economic bullshit that has been both debated and denied from days and months, this person thinks that whatever people tries to escape from it, everything undergoes political arguments, if not settlements, and absolutely affects one's interests no matter one or another tries to deny and escape from it. From the sermon at the pulpit to the latest vitamin shit, politics will always drive people to create, influence, urge people whether to get contented or to resist the current.

However, there are people whom likely to disregard politics knowing that politics are soiled and bloodied. True indeed, but Politics, in its very term, is a practise of influencing people. That from statecraft to religious and cultural affairs, "πολιτικός" tends to relate to every citizen whatever the latter, again tries to escape with the idea that Politics is dirty. 

Well, whatever people say, politics, like culture, is part of this person's life. If people dare to separate their loves from the polis, then sorry to say that politics is fast becoming personal as everyone seems willing to engage in statecraft. Yes, protesters want to fight as they confront the police just to go beyond parameters. It may sound strange but, to think that in a country whose mindset emphasises the family, the clan, the village, the community, then why to deny themselves to have awareness? To have consciousness in favour of interests?

It is obvious that to deny, if not to reduce man's clamor for change is to replace the agora with the market, to replace social awareness with consumerism, to replace the people with the individual as the driving force of history. To think that most people are preoccupied with soap operas and showbiz would say that they have any awareness on what goes on in the society, particularly information that can counter an established view? Behind the edifices of glass and steel is the shantytowns and backward yet arable estates in need of sustainable development and dignified way of life. The system can't provide as such beyond those of Potemkin programs and villages, of anything all for the sake of shutting people up and be contented in a staus quo of semifeudal-semicolonial variety. 

That somehow made some, if not most artists, writers be inspired and compelled to create so as to aware and stand up for themselves and for their communities. Folkish indeed, with all the appearances, realism, anything that tries to capture the imagination of a looker or a reader; but behind those works are politically-laced realities whose bottomline is to call for change. The system, again, denied the will to aware despite seeing it as beautiful such as those of Spoliarium and the Fall of Governor Bustamante. 

For sure in today's setting then maybe Luna and Hidalgo would be making protest art in a way today's painters featuring those via their artworks featured in rallies. Ironically, these two are engaged in politics via the Propaganda movement, and different from today's movements focused merely on "self-help for chrissakes" and posted via social media, they argued (both print and in actual debate) with the staus quo, particularly the friars and the reaction for keeping a "proud jewel" of the Christianised Indies backward and bereft of hope. 

So was Rizal, whom the contemporary youth thinks he is a blogger calling for self-help than social change, not knowing that is he high or not on Absinthe like Hemingway, Weed like Marley, or acid like Morrison given the words he's making in his works. True that he called for change with people idealising Crisostomo Ibarra, yet he failed to go beyond and instead leaving the story open ended for another chapters as if he himself admitted his mistake driving people to revolt. Yet still, he influened those who really yearned for revolt against the system the way those who idealise Ibarra yet in actual as acting like Isagani or Señor Pasta. The masses, driven by realities, has been politicised and hence yearning for a Simoun, Tano, or Elias to lead in a revolt those on high feared about.

Thus, the latter is trying to condition minds using the terms, colours, tastes, preferences of the young if not of the poor just to dissuade them from seeing the truth that is political. True that this writeup, or this page, although cultural, smacks of politics given that the realities made everybody politicised after every observation, both in actual and in visual, with the system trying to replace it with showbiz, markets, shit, anything just to replace awareness with illusions such as what is regularly shown on TV. Even family affairs are also affected by illusions, particularly those of preferences that sometimes becoming object of debates like choosing a degree, a career after college, or even music and TV shows with one insisting soap operas and the other favouring action or thriller. That sometimes undergo arguments to reminisce with.
Ironically, the system's action of depoliticising people is also political!

Anyways, as the system insist to keep firm as it continues in conditioning people, there will be those who able to dismantle knowing that theirs is unjust by spreading awareness. If people afford to say Gandhi's "be the change", hope that change encompasses everything than to limit in its own self, for if the latter prevails (as if trying to be like those of the elites), to is the stunting of an aspiration ought to realise as it requires awareness, enlightenement, enough to organise and mobilise against the storm of situation and time. 

Thank you. And by the way, seems that Brew Kettle drives this person to write this.