EDITORIAL - Killing the spirit of activism

One recent event that will likely go under the radar for many of us is the recent killing of labor leader Dandy Miguel, who was shot dead in Laguna last Sunday night by unidentified assailants.

Miguel was the vice chairman of the Group Pagkakaisa ng Manggagawa sa Timog Katagalugan-Kilusang Mayo Uno as well as the president of Lakas ng Nagkakaisang Manggagawa sa Fuji Electric Philippines in Laguna.

Of course some will dismiss the killing as nothing more than the removal of another labor leader, another “noisy” activist, or maybe even a communist.

Killings like these, especially those left unsolved, whether by deliberate omission of action or by the natural passing of time, have a chilling effect on the spirit of activism.

And the plain truth is that we need activists.

In a society with all its rungs of social classes and distinctions, there will always be those left behind, those who “fall through the cracks” so to speak. There will always be sectors that are underserved, if not ignored totally. Most of the time they don’t have a voice, or don’t have someone reminding people that they are still there in the first place and that they need what the rest of society does, if not more.

It is this role that many activists, at least those enlightened ones, fulfill. They become the voice of the voiceless, they become the ones who remind the authorities and the government that there are these people who are being overlooked.

Do you think activists never made a difference, or that they are just a hindrance to development? Those Katipuneros who fought against Spain, they were activists. Those who rallied against the Marcos Regime and eventually brought it down, those were activists too. Many of those who rallied to bring down former president Erap Estrada, guess what?

Activists can be catalysts for positive change, too. But the problem right now is that authorities are more than willing to lump activists who fight for noble causes into the same group as communists who want to bring the government down.

We keep saying there is a distinction between the two and authorities should be able to tell them apart.

Miguel was not the first to die, and he maybe not the last. We hope police make some effort to solve his killing. We only have to recall the case of Anakpawis chairman Randall Echanis, who was stabbed dead inside his house in Quezon City last August, to be reminded that authorities don’t seem to treat incidents involving people with their particular advocacies as a priority.