Heckling is culturally embedded in Philippine politics. It is popularly construed as disturbance of a current activity through interrupting, questioning or shouting at the other party as in the case of disrupting a speech of a political figure.
It is interesting that such accusations are lobbed only at protest actions that are led by the uneducated and the unwashed. Do you hear similar opinions regarding 1986 EDSA or EDSA Dos? It is interesting how quickly we forget the pivotal role of the youth in changing the course of history. Would you call Martial Law student activists as simply “cute” or “impulsive”?
Drought is avoidable only if these farmers have access to water services. Poverty and hunger is preventable only if the people have the equal share and access to resources. Disaster is preventable only if the government will provide and do its obligations to its people.
The State in collusion with its mining capitalist-conspirators deploys military and paramilitary forces to ensure elitist economic gains from mining and mineral explorations. As a result of militarization, the Lumad had to be displaced from their ancestral lands. And born out of this is the formation of culture of resistance.
In my previous column where I tackled the 18 March lumad and peasant barricade in front of the EastMinCom of the AFP in Panacan, Davao City, I said that in addition to sympathy and charity, what the protesting farmers and lumad also needed was that the public understand the political roots and implications of their mass action.