"Cannot stop the Storm"
A message for the 50th anniversary of the First Quarter Storm
By Kat Ulrike
In this 50th anniversary of the First Quarter Storm, Filipinos commemorate this occasion by remembering the youth's contribution to the struggles of the people against the Marcos dictatorship.
And since January 26, various activities were taken led by the FQS Movement. The organisation, led by veterans of the "First Quarter Storm" and ever-clinging to its principles, showeth to the youth how their struggle invoked the need for both national and social justice despite the growing terror, as well as the call for its resistance.
It was through that storm when the youth actively taketh part in the call to enlight, organise, and mobolise the people. It invigorates the struggle for national and social justice through advancing the National Democratic movement and in taking seriously the task of organising various sectors especially those of the workers, peasants, youth, women, indigenous folks, and professionals.
It is also through that storm that also invigorates the study of nationalism by making it closer to the interests of the working folk, of asserting the real need for independence especially in this ever-continuing past of vassalage to foreign interests especially those of the United States. It was when the best and brightest sons and daughters of the nation seriously participated despite the reactionary state unleashed violence against them, but still the the masses of youth and people became resolute and militant all in standing up and dutifully fighting for national and democratic rights.
Quite strange to think about commemorating this first quarter storm since for some people it was mostly a politically-motivated riot like what happened in Mendiola and in the Old Congress. But that storm was more than just a series of scuffles against the order, but also also a time to "learn" and "serve" the people as part of a continuing quest for independence and social justice. The First Quarter Storm generated a sustained a patriotic and popular movement upholding national independence and democratic rights, demanding rural and urban empowerment through national industrial development and genuine land reform, promoting a national, scientific and mass culture and espousing international solidarity of peoples against imperialism, reaction, and further asserting justice, peace, and development.
And despite this days of disquiet and rage, this storm was also the time when the study of Philippine history be interpreted through "the Filipino lens" as done by historians Teodoro Agoncillo and Renato Constantino to counter the establishment's pro-imperialist "positive" interpretation as espoused by Gregorio Zaide. Furthermore, it also through that same storm when people's arts and literature as been greatly encouraged, with groups like the Nagkakaisang Progresibong Artista-Arkitekto (NPAA), Gintong Silahis, Kamanyang, and other progressive cultural organisations harnessed their craftsmanship and creativity in responding the people's call, of showing an inconvenient truth of a nation still wallowed in poverty an repression, as opposed to the grandeur being presented by the order and justified by its apologists.
With this, many of those who directly participated in the First Quarter Storm and those who were inspired by its actions became the most conscious and the most energetic militants in a wide array of patriotic and progressive formations, and been a significant driving force in the sustained resistance of the people to the anti-national and anti-democratic policies of the Marcos regime and the 14-year reign of fascist terror, as well as those of its succeeding regimes that continues its repressive policies.
At present, this note would say that the memory brought by the actions of the past ever resonates as the people’s struggle for national liberation and democracy continue to live and grow stronger. The order may tried to destroy this as it creates a myriad of propaganda maligning the struggle and repression against those who stood against them, but despite this, this doesn't stop the people from getting concerned, getting aware, and willing to resist. For as in the past, the semicolonial and semifeudal character of Philippine society continues to persist with the problems of foreign monopoly capitalism, domestic feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism gone aggravated and deepened by globalisation, neoliberalism, the war on terror, and others the order and its foreign overlords ever perpetuate.
With this ever-continuing past would say that the storm of the people against the order and the system prevailing will ever continue to bring about the revival of a nation.