Hello! Let me introduce myself. I am Ebenezer, a Filipino, a student, an activist. I was born in Sta. Cruz, Manila, Philippines on June 6, 1990. (Hey! It’s your nation’s foundation day, so i think that makes my heart close to Sweden…awww sweet…) I am currently in my fourth year, taking a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication Research at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, College of Communication. You can call me Eben (but I usually use my nom de plume in the net, which is Ryu Amakusa for personal, security reasons.) I am really grateful to be invited as a guest blogger here in your website. With regards to this, let me share to you my experiences as a young activist, how and why I decided to become one and dedicate a part of me in my nation’s struggle to achieve our genuine democracy through my party, Akbayan.

It's me...
Well, I was bit fortunate for I grew up in a family of academicians. My father took Aeronautical Engineering as his bachelor’s degree then an education unit, and then a Masteral’s degree in Calculus and Algebra and had post-graduate degree in Divinity. My mother was a Foreign Service graduate which also took education unit then post-graduate studies in Child Psychology. They were my mentors. They prepared me for what I was going to be when I grow up. They were of critical minds, being responsible and educative parents to me. You see, when I was little, my relatives and close friends would usually refer to me as a unique and inquisitive child, always caught reading books in a corner. But I consider myself as a balanced person. I knew then when to study and when to play. You would see me both in the library and in the playground. I never sacrificed knowledge for strength. It has long been an axiom of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. I was sometimes discriminated by my playmates, thinking that I was too deep for them especially when they cannot relate to me. I was also an annoyance for adults for I would like to ask about many little things, on how and why I was born, on why there are poor and rich people (and of course why we aren’t the latter one), about why people kill and die and so on. Others answer me seriously, others won’t. And usually, they tell me that I am going to find out all about that when I grow up. But then, I would reply, when? How do I grow up?
And then before I knew it I grew up, slowly but surely. But things weren’t that easy for me. Fate has never been this cruel. We were disheartened when my father went with the Lord at the age of 38, due to heart attack, eventually two days after my elementary graduation. I was 12 then. It was a great shock for me as I brought him to the hospital. It was like a drama that has no definite ending. My mother was at the school that time and nearly made it to see him alive. Believe me for I was no innocent child at that time. I knew that this would be hard for us. From the hospital costs to the funeral expenses, we didn’t know what to do. It was a common satire here that whiles it is expensive to live, it is more costly to die, in which you couldn’t choose either of it. (It is due to the hardship in living.) We were like begging from every person we knew just to help us give my father a proper burial. Most of our savings were gone and it was a very difficult time for my mom, my younger brother (who was 6 years old at that time…) and of course for me. Every one of us had their own emotional trauma. I became the head of the family at a very young age. I needed to act mature even though there were times I cannot. No more childish and self-centered manners for me. Moreover, our standard of living, from a humble middle class (a family having a monthly salary of P30,000.00/ $600.00, which is quite impossible in western standards since our economic and political framework is liberal democracy,wherein individualism is given more importance than collectivism.) was cut into half. Think about experiencing paucity.

With my brother, Jedidiah
My brother and I needed to transfer from a private to a public school, wherein education is of less quality. The class ratio of students to a teacher here is 1:60. (I am going to tackle about our education system some other time.)The emergent stereotyping between the opposite of opposites, the apartheid between the rich and the poor came clear to me as my mind became aware of what has been happening a long time ago, and how the grown-ups has tried to kept it in smokescreens for the young, so that they might not be able to do anything, not because they cannot but because they were conditioned to feel it. When I try to make inquiries or even question the fact of something, I would be humiliated instead and be reprimanded for defiance. I remember one time when I was insisting to my teacher in class that Pluto had a moon, named Charon, because I was able to read it in a newly-released book. (It happened when I was in 5th grade in public elementary school, when it was still considered as a plane.t) I can’t blame her though since the education here is underfunded and under prioritized. It doesn’t even adhere to the international standard of 5% of GNP for education. About 4-5 students shared old, substandard books from my time until today. I found out that education’s purpose was more of a device, to control the minds of the young, and to serve the interests of the few rather than the general welfare. As I entered University, it was no longer a place for creation of knowledge and ideas; instead it became a place of indoctrination. Free thinking was discouraged. But I had been persistent to study, for it was my way out. It was the only thing that can help me reach my goals. I needed to grow up as I aspired to find the answers.

The young activists...
After further inquiries, I realized that maturity is a state of mind rather than just changing hormones and physical development. If you would ask me why, I’ll tell you this reason. Grown-ups here do not even know how to govern us properly. They speak of peace, prosperity, values and discipline. But in my experience, what I found was the complete antithesis of what these grown-ups should be. The system that they made was corrupt; the house that they built lies in dire ruins. Selfishness, extravagance and lavishness among the ranks of the elite were rampant in the midst of mass poverty. Our bureaucracy was indistinguishable from a rotten apple. From the person sitting on the throne (I was referring to our illegitimate president) up to her subjects, their hands are covered with blood, which smells as foul as you can imagine. And how dare they proudly say that God put them in those pedestals. How ironical is the epitome of my dear pearl of the orient.

Akbayan Youth
Our Philippine national hero, Dr. Jose Rizal, once said that we, the youth, are the hope of tomorrow. He did not say that we need to wait to grow old to institute change. He encouraged us instead to do what we must and what we are able to do whilst young. And as I thirst for change, I found an alternative to the current regime of fear, violence,
apathy, selfishness and ignorance. I found the Movement for the Advancement of Student Power. I was indeed growing. I found the water that would quench my thirst for knowledge and for freedom. The map was already laid before me. I just needed to go down the road. The next step for me is Akbayan Youth. From the school, we must enter the national arena. We needed to seek not only for political but also for societal and cultural revolution. We must free ourselves from the evils of the incumbent system. So as we seek out for another world, we contribute our youthfulness, our ideals and aspirations, which will never be compromised for and by any means. In the end, we must not let anyone look down upon us; instead we must set an example, in word, in conduct, and in faith. I sincerely believe that together, we are stronger.
Ebenezer is a member of Akbayan Youth, the youth wing of the Akbayan! Citizens Action Party, a democratic socialist youth and students formation who works for the realization of good governance and transformative politics in which through dynamic, critical, vigilant, and solution-oriented brand of progressive activism, aims to contribute in catalyzing social change and adheres to the socialist principles: democracy, humanism, equity and internationalism.
He is also a member of the Movement for the Advancement of Student Power, a national student movement, which envisions to empower the student sector to actively take part in societal transformation through relevant, quality and accessible education based on the principles of authentic humanization, student empowerment, unity and pluralism. It inspires for self-managing, pluralist and socialist society upholding a genuine justice, freedom and democracy. It works in partnership with its school political party, the Alliance of Students for Alternative Politics.
The Akbayan! Citizens Action Party is the sister party of the Social Democratic Party of Sweden, as well as Akbayan Youth, being the sister party of the SSU . They work together in a parallel manner and in coherence, in addressing their goals of a just and humane society and through international solidarity.
You may contact him through ebenezer_bonbon@yahoo.com, his email address, windows live messenger and facebook account.
Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om socialism, democracy, politics, the phillippines, Jose Rizal, Manila, demokrati, politik, Filippinerna, klassklyftor