Kamalayan, a newly formed student organisation in the National Capital Region (Metro Manila area), held its 1st congress September 9-11. CARLA GORTON from Green Left Weekly spoke to JUDY ANN CHAN, newly elected secretary general of Kamalayan, about the state of the student movement in the Philippines and decisions adopted at the congress.
Can you explain why Kamalayan was formed and what makes it different from other student organisations?
Kamalayan was formed in November 1993 as a breakaway group from the League of Filipino Students. We believe that a youth organisation should be more dynamic and more democratic, unlike what happened with LFS, where the national leaders made decisions without the involvement of the membership.
We believe it is high time that we establish a youth organisation that will focus on the need for students to be directly involved in the struggles of the basic masses and not just a propaganda arm nor a charity type organisation.
Kamalayan will be a part of the mass struggle for social change; we will be side by side with the workers' struggle against capitalist exploitation, the urban poor's struggle for shelter and employment. We will bring the issues of the masses inside the campus and encourage students to go out and be a part of a much bigger movement.
How many people attended the recent congress?
One hundred and twenty members attended the congress. They came from 21 colleges and universities here in Metro Manila. Currently we have established chapters on 12 campuses. We call it a chapter if there are more than 15 members and they have already held their general assembly with an election for their executive council. On most other schools there are chapter organising committees.
Most of the present members who attended the congress have already proven their dedication and commitment to the organisation. Chapters in different colleges have been successful in student council elections, and mobilising large numbers of students around issues like rejection of the Philippines 2000, the oil price rollback campaign, the anti-expanded VAT law and solidarity with the workers during Labor Day.
What were the major topics discussed at the congress?
Basically the congress tackled the question of the role of Kamalayan now, given that the student movement is currently at a low level of activity. We heard from Filemon Lagman, who had been involved in the First Quarter Storm movement of the 1970s, which was an important landmark of the student movement. We then discussed the issues plaguing the workers and the urban poor. At the end of the congress we declared Kamalayan a socialist organisation.
Other speakers included Dr Francisco Nemenzo, representing the socialist organisation BISIG, who assessed the prospects for the Philippines revolution; Rene Magtubo, the secretary general of BMP (United Workers for Change); and Roger Borromeo of KPML, congress of the leaders of the urban poor. Filemon Lagman spoke again to address the issue of the recent split in the Communist Party and its effect in the mass movement.
Can you explain the process of discussion and decision making?
We organised discussion over two workshop sessions. We had one workshop regarding the present situation, where we talked about the problem of the environment, women's oppression, the question of education, the plight of the urban poor, the peasants and the workers and how we could adequately tackle and solve these problems. At the end of the workshop, we decided that young people should be unified and have an organisation that will provide answers to these problems.
We had a second workshop to discuss the present orientation of Kamalayan, which despite its split from LFS had retained its orientation as a national democratic organisation. Basically in that workshop the members decided that the real orientation of the organisation should be socialist.
Were there any campaigns projected from the congress?
We are planning to hold massive information drives about what socialism is. We know that it is going to be a hard task because it will be a very new concept given that there is currently a negative perception of socialism due to the split in the CPP and what has happened in Eastern Europe. It will take some hard work, but we know it is the correct orientation — it answers the problems people face.
Apart from information campaigns, we want to campaign on several issues — particularly against the expanded value added tax and GATT, the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade. One of our biggest projects will also be how Kamalayan will project itself, along with other progressive forces, during the election campaign in May 1995.
There is also the projection that Kamalayan go nationwide. Now that we have organisers on all of the major universities and schools in the National Capital Region, it is time for us to go into the other regions.