Category Archive for: gobyerno

komentaryo

Notes on Another Country: Unimagined communities

Been meaning to get this series off the ground, a way to keep track, make sense, maybe just take note of a Tiktok feed that is not mine, but which has been nurtured since November 2021.

When I say this feed is not mine, it is to say that its basis is not my personal taste nor my political leaning. Instead it is to say that this feed has been deliberately kept and consumed, which to an extent is to encourage and enable it, regardless of whether I agree with the content it cradles or not. My agreement is extraneous to this Tiktok feed; all it knows is my behaviour on the platform, which tells the internal logic of the app that this is the content that I want to see, that this is what interests me, that this is what I want more of.

This is not to say that I know completely how this algorithm works (I don’t think anyone does at this point—it is made in China after all and is devoid of any kind of transparency), but what I know for sure is this: this Tiktok algorithm is one that I have in common with Marcos-Duterte supporters—manufactured and otherwise. They are the ones creating content for it, spreading propaganda through it, and engaging in debates and discussions on it.

The other thing I know for sure: that another nation altogether unfolds here, on this algorithm that is not mine, that I would otherwise be removed from, that I would otherwise not see. What it carries are communities unimaginable to us, who live on other algorithms altogether, across the different platforms we inhabit. (more…)

kultura

Literary cliques, patronage politics, and the publishing mafia: The Philippine Book Festival

When you’re a writer anywhere, the kind that was not served publishing contracts or writing gigs on a silver platter, one of the first things you learn about is power. And not so much that you don’t have any of it—that seems normal enough for when you’re young and new in any industry–as it is how power (and opportunity, cultural capital, funding, etc. etc.) is in the hands of a very small group of people. In the Philippine writing and publishing sector, this surfaces simply as an exclusive clique, a cabal, a mafia (take your pick) that is called the literary establishment. This is your big publishing houses, putting out work by mainstream writers, who are also the leaders/consultants on the payroll of your national and local government agencies, teaching in your schools and creating syllabi and required readings, and founders/members of your writing organizations. It all ties together into a neat little package called power, and as a by-product of that, money. At the very least, undeniable cultural capital.

But as with politicos denying they have power and wealth and want more of it, so does the literary establishment deny that this cliquishness and exclusivity is something they nurture—sharing the few seats on that table with those outside their circle is not an option, and generosity is an illusion. As with the most corrupt politicos insisting that the work they do is about “nation” and “constituency”, so do the worst of the literary establishment claim that this is about “writing” and “literature” and “book development”. And as with politicos always denying their unethical and unjust practices, so does the literary establishment pretend the cabal doesn’t exist.

Sometimes though, it is surfaced for all to see. Ladies and gentlemen, the Philippine Book Festival. (more…)

kultura

Badoy, banned books, and the Marcos challenge

Every day, I spend a good hour on a Tiktok algorithm that I’ve nurtured since last year, when the election campaign began and I realized that the Marcos campaign was releasing videos and photographs from the old man Marcos years (Papa FEM to this Tiktok algo), which I thought then was, and think now is, important.

But also, it is on Tiktok that I catch what government is doing, every day: what the First Lady is doing, what Bongget (that’s President Marcos V2 to the rest of us) is busy with, which government officials delivered the best soundbite. It’s also here that one realizes how much the algorithm lives off the press briefings of Press Secretary Trixie Angeles, who is celebrated and touted as one of the better voices from the new administration. Often, this algorithm fascinates me in its complete and utter removal from the echo chambers my algorithms on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram keep. It still confounds me, sure, but only in the way that the unfamiliar always does.

But then on certain days, even I have to say that the Tiktok algorithm makes more sense. That’s what happens when you listen to Lorraine Badoy, speaking on her new show on Quiboloy-run SMNI, where for two hours every day, she is free to spout anti-activist and anti-Left rhetoric like it’s nobody’s business—which is to say to absurd proportions, which is to say to attack anyone at all, really, and tag anyone as “red.”

(more…)

komentaryo

Pointed appointments (Part 2): Bring on the women #MarcosV2

Depending on what echo chamber or algorithm you’re in, you might be seeing any (or all) of this on your social media feeds, private GCs, and public channels, since June 1 hit:

  • Complete and utter denial: we were cheated! you say. Here’s a petition! Sign this petition! Or that petition! Or this one!
  • Untrammeled anger: against anyone and everyone that you assert “enabled” this Marcos-Duterte win, which means calls for boycotting non-pink establishments and businesses, tendencies towards attacking private individuals on public Twitter, and seeing everything wrong with everything said and done by the old (Duterte) and new (Marcos) leaderships.
  • Sardonic elitism: “Ang taas ng presyo ng bilihin? Bahala kayo sa buhay niyo. Ginusto niyo ‘yan.”
  • Non-profit hope: Let’s go Angat-Buhay-NGO!

Unless of course you’re part of the other side of what is left of the political opposition. Which means you might be part of the Left and dealing with massive attacks, one after the other, across protests on the streets and in farmlands, to websites and social media, all via the ever reliable fascism of one Lorraine Badoy and NTF-ELCAC. It has been the most horrible way the Duterte government has kept the Left preoccupied the past five years—as if the incompetent anti-people governance wasn’t enough to make anyone’s head spin, and keep one’s people and resources perennially exhausted.

And then there’s the rest of us, of which I’d like to think there is a far larger number, who have so decided to just get back to our lives pre-electoral anxieties and post-electoral stresses. On the one hand, a seeming privilege; on the other, also one we have in common with the mass electorate that put Marcos-Duterte in power. After all, what is there for us to do after an election is won or lost? (more…)

komentaryo

Pointed appointments (Part 1) #MarcosV2

I totally understand many in the liberal opposition that have decided to deepen the political divide and decided to just live in their echo chambers. It is easiest thing to do. And certainly, at this point, maybe the mental and emotional well-being of many depend on this cutting off from the real.

But I draw the line at disbelieving the loss. I draw it at insisting that the 31 million isn’t real, then insisting that we are proud of being one of the 15 million. This defies logic and reason: you cannot believe one number but disbelieve the other. And if you decide you disbelieve both (and even say that the 2016 results were false as well), then you’ve got a problem: the powers were different in 2016, but Duterte won anyway. And really, if we cease to believe electoral results, then elections also cease to be an important democratic exercise for you. Turning anarchist is good, if you’re conscious that you’re doing so. Too: if the elections are not credible to you, then there is no reason to engage in it as an exercise.

I’ve said this often enough: choosing to be blind is a terrible thing. Especially when blindness means practically disassociating ourselves with what’s real. And right now what’s real is this: Marcos is President, and he is making very interesting appointments if we’re looking at all. These appointments are also very important, as these people will dictate what kind of leadership we will see the next six years. They are interesting because they are of course more than just people, but what they actually represent.

The strategy is clear in many of these appointments, if only we were looking. (more…)