TOWARD A STUDENT
NATIONALIST ORGANIZATION
Salvador T. Carlota
1964-1965 (First Semester)
The Philippines today is witnessing the
emergence of a new breed of student nationalists. This group, it is easily noticeable, is
loosely composed of college and university students who are deeply aware of their
country’s colonial history and are conscious of the overt and covert onslaughts of
neo-colonialism. This is a group which is goaded of completely decimating all vestiges of
colonialism in our country today.
At present, however, the student
nationalists only assert their views in separate forums and attempt to realize their
aspirations in dispersed movements. The expression of their identical aims in sporadic,
isolated and independent conferences, seminars, rallies and demonstrations certainly lack
the potency and respectability of an organized and systematized movement. It is in this
context that we deem it imperative that the ideas and efforts of the student nationalists
be harnessed, channelled and realized through a unified organization.
It is fundamental that, for a movement to
launch its activities with a reasonable expectancy of success , it must have an
organization to plan and coordinate its course of action and also to serve as a facade of
unity and strength which the policy makers have to reckon with.
The necessity of such an organization is
presented in bolder relief when we assess the strength of the coutervailing forces and
pressures which are directly adverse to the objectives of the student natinalists. In the
process of realizing their aspirations, the student nationalists shall inevitably come to
grips with organized pressures. Without an organization, the student nationalists can only
venture into quixotic rallies despite the cogency of their aspirations and the
relentlessness of their endeavors.
It is incumbent, therefore, upon the UP
students, being the acknowledged forerunners of student nationalist aspirations, to form
the nucleus of a student nationalist organization and subsequently expand the membership
to other students from the various colleges and universities.
This organization must be entirely new and
independent of any existing student associations like the CONDA, NSL, College
‘Y’, NUS, etc. This must be so because a student nationalist organization must
be basically founded on the objective of realizing nationalist aspirations. Therefore, any
conceivable merger or confederation of the existing interuniversity student aggrupation
will not serve the purpose of the movement, primarily because these student associations
are anchored upon other objectives which, if not incompatible to a nationalist crusade,
are distant from it. It is also known that these present student associations have long
been controlled by vested groups which will naturally oppose with no little vehemence any
intrusions to their sacrosanctly protected self interests. And furthermore, a
confederation always portends of rivalries and dissensions which are inimical to its very
existence.
Filipino students must profit from the
enviable experiences of their Asian counterparts in effectively projecting their views and
in bringing into fruition their objectives. In Vietnam, Korea, and Japan, the students,
through well directed mass movements and coordinated ventures, have successfully forced
the resignations of the government of the day and have toppled down the ruling eliques. In
the Philippines, however, even rallies are have been abortive due to poor coordination and
planning, and demonstartions have often failed because the indispensable permit lack the
imprimatur of a bureaucrat.
The undeniably less successful endeavors of
the Filipino students are due to the absence an organization through which those who are
already truly involved can channel with more dynamism and direction their patriotic and
sanguine aspirations. And for those who are still in abysmal apathy, such a student
nationalist organization can serve as a beckoning inducement to vocal awareness and
vigorous involvement. |
