Only tyrants are hostile to academic freedom. Sila ang bawal sa UP, hindi ang aktibismo at malayang kaisipan.
The Partido Manggagawa (PM) joins the UP community in
upholding academic freedom within the UP system in particular and for all other
universities and learning institutions in general. Academic freedom does not
make enemies of the state. It is, on the contrary, this democratic value that
unmasks and unmakes tyranny, bigotry, and fundamentalism.
The current generation of workers are surely not aware of
this old, little-known pact between UP and the government as represented by the
Department of National Defense. Similar to this pact is the ‘50-meter proximity
rule’ and non-interfernce during labor disputes that police and military are
mandated to observe (Rule 19 Section 3 of 2010 PNP Operational Procedures).
This was further upheld by 2011 “Guidelines on the Conduct of the DOLE, DILG,
DND, DOJ, AFP and PNP Relative to the Exercise of Workers’ Rights and
Activities”.
This rule, however, is often violated during strikes and
lockouts. Lately, a more systematic way of undermining workplace freedom is
imposed with the establishment of Joint Industrial Peace Concern Office (JIPCO)
in economic zones or EPZAs.
It is in this context that Filipino workers cannot sit idle
watching hard-won freedoms collapse in the workplace and campuses because a new
tyrant thinks that his only way to preservation is the demolition of human
rights. It is because he is also aware
of the fact that it is only freedom that can stop a tyrant from perpetuating
his rule. ###
No comments:
Post a Comment