On Activism and Militancy

john_torres's picture
Submitted by john_torres on Sun, 01/10/2010 - 1:20am

"The system that condemns them is the very system that breeds them"
By Renato Constantino

To respect the good faith of these advocates, the activists does not mean to agree with them. What they advocate is "a new heresy claiming new insights". We must deal with their argument on its own merits, not attempt to discredit them by invectives. To call them the enemies of democracy is to behave like the Romans who condemned the Christians as "atheists" because they worshipped in a new way.

The advocates or activists is often viewed as a sinister agitator, a trouble maker, a creator of unrest, the serpent in Eden. But dissent is only a reflection of unrest; unrest is not caused by dissent. The dissenter mainly articulates the inequities in the social order. He/she did not create them. They were conceived or breeds by the preponderant social system.

- Renato Constantino-

Activism and Militancy or Power Grab????

Submitted by arikdik on Sun, 01/10/2010 - 6:14pm.

It is what you call the "Effortless Political Strategy." The easiest way to look good is to make the other look bad. The best way to justify "ism" is to make the "cy" illegitimate." It is all part of the Plan called Power Grab.

Renato Constantino was a known leftist historian of the Philippines.