‘Millennials should learn true lessons of people power’

MANILA, Philippines — The generation that saw protests lead up to the 1986 people power revolution and the generations born after that should bear in mind the Filipinos’ struggle to regain freedom after a 20-year dictatorship, a House official said yesterday.

“I call on the next generations to stand for their rights, and seek true stories of how there came to be an EDSA people power revolution, and how Filipinos gained their freedom as a result,” Deputy Speaker Mujiv Hataman said, on the occasion of the EDSA revolt’s 34th anniversary.

“Finding the true meaning of EDSA People Power will give the youth more understanding of what their rights are as citizens,” the Basilan congressman added.

He encouraged the so-called “woke” generations of today to learn from the experience of those who fought the dictatorship.

Hataman, a human rights activist, also encouraged Filipino millennials and those belonging to the so-called “Generation Z” to “seek true stories” of the past and not be blinded by the historical revisionism prevalent in today’s digital era of fake news and half-truths.

“Woke to us then meant being aware, which is its real equivalent nowadays, especially if it involves injustice. It’s something about awareness of how you should fight for your basic rights. This is why I encourage the youth to dig deeper and find truth and wisdom,” he said.

Hataman called on the Filipino people to reignite the “spirit of EDSA.”

The former ARMM governor said the youth of today are more assertive of their rights and have more ways to express dissent and grievances given the free access to social media and the internet.

“If you study the lessons of EDSA, you can discern that the enemy of democracy is oppression. Then you will know what to fight for when the time comes to stand as one against tyranny,” he said.

“I also call on the parents of our youth to explain to their children what EDSA was and what it represented,” Hataman, a former community organizer, said.

He lamented how the truth about EDSA is now being blurred, with school textbooks obscuring history.

“Let us not glorify people and sinners of the past. There are now books in school that even hail the oppressors during martial law. Let us not allow these people to blur the truth and propagate their own version of what happened,” he said.

“I am hoping that one of these days, there will be justice against the oppressors of the past, and that the new generation should continue to demand accountability for abuses and excesses that were committed,” he added.

“Let us all do our part so that none of these dreadful events be repeated in their time,” he said.