SSU Arvidsjaur starkare än någonsin!

Efter att höstkampanjen besökt Arvidsjaur i tisdags och onsdags så är SSU Arvidsjaur nu större än någonsin! Medlemsantalet har fördubblats.

SSU Arvidsjaur var också initiativtagare till en debatt på gymnasieskolan i Arvidsjaur mellan Mattias Vepsä (SSUs förbundssekreterare) och Martin Bucht (Distriktsordförande MUF Norrbotten) –> Läs mer om det i Piteå-Tidningen. <–

…..och på skolans hemsida HÄR

Framtidens demokrati!

Robin Enanders ledarkrönika från gårdagens PT. Framtidens demokrati.

Kapitalismens Janusansikte

SSU Arvidsjaurs ordförande Robin Enander skriver regelbundet i Piteå-Tidningen. Här är hans ledarkrönika från september, med rubriken Kapitalismens Janusansikte

Janus

In the midst of the storm, the Filipinos are still worth dying for…

Our dear nation, the Philippines has never been devastated like this before. It was reminisced in our annals that the last recorded typhoon and flood that destroyed the country was in 1967, and in the past few days, we experienced what moviegoers have been watching from flood disaster movies. One to two and a half storeys of flood have submerged the National Capital Region and many have suffered. Many became homeless, and the rich weren’t even spared. It is clearly an act of God (if they say so) in a way, that all men are equal and He is no respecter of persons. In this event, the haves and the have-nots have been equitable.

But in the midst of this calamity, even the incumbent government that boast of a strong republic has been shattered into pieces. The Malacanang Palace (the official residence of the President) was surrounded with submerged streets and slum areas, a very ironic and humiliating event in which the outgoing president (i hope so..) did not expect to happen. The Filipinos have already suffered much. We have been stormed with many government graft and corruption scandals, one after another and at this point, others may have thought the God may not have smiled upon all of us. This may be a reminder of what happens to a nation who apathetically let a wicked leader to govern it, and i sincerely believe that Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s actions and doings, will go down in our history, with every Filipino people reminded of all the drought that she has brought…this storm shall end it and after it goes away, she will also end her term.

If I may commit to my memory, there is a saying that evil people succeed not because they are powerful enough, but because of the good people who does not do anything about it. I have read satirical comments in facebook which has said that we deserved the typhoon because there are many sinners here. Okay, I am fine with those but we must put into mind that we are all sinners and none, no one is righteous so we must not judge lest ye be judged. Maybe it was a punishment for many had been apathethic, maybe it isn’t. But it is definitely a lesson that each and everyone of us must learn from. Moreover, in these desperate times, what we need is more pro-active approach rather than a reactive response.

Surely, the current government again proved itself to be weak and incapable of securing the people, in which it vowed to serve and protect, in both sunny days, and rainy days. We must not be blaming them more or so, instead we must be demanding from them. Many citizens became refugees in an instant, lives have been lost, it was a good thing that there were still persons here in our country who still cared and hopes for a better future for us and for our posterity.As we dream of a country wherein all are socially, economically, and politically free, for our dreams of a bright tomorrow, when the oceans rise and thunders roar, we will soar above the storm, over the floods we shall be still, for as long as the world still turns there will be night and day, and there’s a rainbow always after the rain. Same with us, same with the Filipinos who are still worth dying for.

The Philippines have been in a state of calamity as of the status quo because of the storm Ondoy which hit the country last week and after it, another one, Pepeng, a stronger one came. Many cities and provinces have no electricity, and people are in dire need of relief goods, such as clothes, food, water and even financial help for rebuilding the homes and for possessions which have been destroyed. In my area, many are still in schools and gyms (which served as refugee evacuation centers).

Magna Carta of Students: The Desperate Revival (From the Memoirs of a Filipino Activist)

It has already been a decade since the first version of the Magna Carta of Students was authored by Cong. Edcel Lagman and was presented by progressives at the House of Representatives, with hopes of being supported and passed to be a law that shall be the assemblage of all the rights of the students, but only to the extent of disappointment by the students themselves due to the apathy and the lack of interest by the legislators, in which the people have fully rested their confidence and deference. In the previous session of the 14th Congress, a recent and more audacious one has been instigated by Rep. Risa Hontiveros- baraquel which focused on the current student’s legitimate rights and welfare, a more comprehensive and up-to-date bill which tackles and provides alternative solution to the current context of the education dilemma in our country. However, it did not thrived well as it found its adversaries in each form of unexpected and undeniable ones, which in fact are most of the legislators themselves.

The preceding session of the lower house has been quite disruptive, in paving the way for the bill, by solons who do not act according to what their official duties expect them to be, such as by not being present in the public hearings which led to technical working groups without congressmen, halted votations due to insufficient numbers and bringing up-to-the-last-minute repudiation of what has already been collectively agreed upon by the present members of the committee. The government agencies such as the Department of Education, the Commission for Higher Education and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority has been indeed lukewarm, indifferent and yielding to the process, which proves that they are really undetermined to support the bill which aims to empower and give them the authority to secure the students. It was also surprising that the other stakeholders in the consultation process where on the warpath to the salient features of the bill, in which the student body found teachers, school owners, and the institution itself as their opponents.

It is really quite upsetting that education in the Philippines is being taken for granted by this current regime, treating the learning sytem as a banking concept and by means of profit due to its neoliberal stances and policies. Moreover, thousands of students graduate without any assurance of a sure and steadfast job that will supply their physical and social needs. Others become confined in the business-outsourcing and processing jobs like call centers and the like. The present administration boasts of its so-called achievements which are hardly felt by its citizens especially the youth. With the previous repercussions of this endeavored reform in the education system’s policy and directives, the anticipation of a better future for students lie at the brink of nowhere. As the upcoming resumption of the technical working group’s consultation process become near, the steadfast and uncompromising students are expected to be more restless, to do more than their previous efforts and their hopes of achieving their highest aspirations to free themselves from the bondage of a rotten, traditional and repressive education system.

It is therefore of utmost importance, for every Filipino student to be tactful, at guard and to be in focus, so as to reclaim what is theirs, and prove to those who look down upon them that they know where should they stand in the issue of their rights and their interests.

Contributed by:

Ebenezer R. Bonbon

The Coalition for Student Rights and Welfare

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.

”KARAKTÄR utveckling ”

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

”Händerna som spelar i konsonans”

Hello, comrades!  I am so glad that I can be of good assistance in promoting international solidarity between the Swedes and the Filipino people. I hope that this will be the start of a new tomorrow for each and every one of us who is aspiring a bright future for ourselves and for our posterity. Together, let us learn, share, and discover things that are similar in us. And together, let us take a great leap forward, realizing and actualizing our goals and vision of an another world that is possible.

/Ryu Amakusa, Akbayan Youth, the Philippines.

Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om ssu, filippinerna, filipino, philippines, Akbayan Youth, internationell solidaritet

Kampen för rättvisa och förändring har bara börjat!

I frånvaro av en ideologisk debatt, en debatt om politikens innehåll så har Reinfeldt som person tagit ledningen i popularitet. Se: http://tinyurl.com/ceu56c

Ingen anledning till oro. Opinionsundersökningarna är väldigt ensidiga och ska, precis som vi fick lära oss redan på lekskolan, ”tas med en nypa salt”. Väljarkåren har mycket mer att komma med än vad pressen vill ge sken av. Därför är det viktiga vilket parti som kan presentera den mest verkningsfulla, radikala förändringspolitiken för ett samhälle som kan möta framtidens utmaningar. Och i det avseendet leder vänsterblocket, även enligt opinionsundersökningarna, för att högerkonspirationen knappast har någon framstegspolitik att erbjuda. I det sammanhanget så är personerna Reinfeldt kontra Sahlin oviktigt.

Valet står i själva verket mellan ett Sverige där måttet på frihet är förmögenhet och där människor delas upp… Eller ett öppet Sverige där friheten är lika stor för alla; där alla har möjlighet att förverkliga sina livsdrömmar utifrån jämlika förutsättningar.

Men det handlar också om att välja Sveriges första kvinnliga statsminister som dessutom, om man kan bortse från bagatellförseelser à la ”Toblerone”, har att erbjuda en politik för reformer till det bättre.

/Robin Enander, ordförande SSU Arvidsjaur

Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om socialdemokraterna, moderaterna, valet, opinion, opinionsundersökningar, opinionsundersökning

Första maj – tal Robin Enander.

Första maj i år blev riktigt härligt. Det blev tydliga kontraster när MUF begav sig ut och motdemonstrerade sjungandes visor om utförsäljning av gemensam egendom och sänkta skatter. Det känns som om ungdomspolitiken kan få ett lyft nu när vi har ett aktivt MUF på orten också! Här kommer två filmer från första maj-firandet i Arvidsjaur.

Robin Enanders, ordförande SSU Arvidsjaur, första maj-tal.

Bilder från första maj-firandet i Arvidsjaur

Läs även andra bloggares åsikter om Robin Enander, SSU, SSU Arvidsjaur, första maj, solidaritet, frihet, jämlikhet, rättvisa,

Plakatmålarkväll i morgon!

I morgon tisdag träffas vi i SSU Arvidsjaur klockan 17:30 på partilokalen Rosengård för plakatmålning och planering inför första maj. Det kommer att bli riktigt grymt! Vi kommer dessutom att informera lite kring den SSU helg som kommer att ta plats i Arvidsjaur mellan den 15:e och 17:e maj. Pepp!

Alla är välkomna och ta med er nytt folk som vill pröva på och se hur det är i SSU Arvidsjaur!

/Robin Enander, ordförande SSU Arvidsjaur