HIMAGSIK KAYUMANGGI

BUKAS, MAY-NILAD! ni E. SAN JUAN, Jr. “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion….” ---PSALM 137 Mula kay Ka Alegria, pasalubong ang cancion ng sosyalistang pakikibaka sa Venezuela, kalugod-lugod na balitang ipinaabot mo bilang balik-bayan-- Bagamat sinagkaan hinarang, patuloy ang agos ng Revolucion Bolivariano sa lupang binusabos ng imperyalistang dayuhan unti-unting bumabangon…. Sana’y magtagumpay ang mga makatarungan Habang dito sa Babilonya kami’y nakadukwang sa ilog, naghihintay tumatangis sa paggunita ng lupang tinubuan—kailan tutubusin? Paano namin isasatinig ang awit ng Panginoon sa bayang ipinagtapunan? Paano magdudulot ng tuwa sa pangungulila nang tangayin ng estranghero? Panalangin nating magtagumpay ang mga makatarungan Nakaupo sa pampang ng ilog Babilonya, lumuluha tumataghoy tangay ng agos kimkim ang alaala ng naiwang tahanan… bumabalik sa panaginip ang lupang sinakop bansang nagkawatak-watak di mapahinah...

EXILE’S RETURN: ON E. SAN JUAN’s Balikbayang Mahal/Passages from Exile by Tamara Powell Associate Professor of English, Louisiana Tech University E. San Juan, Jr.’s latest work is not a polysyllabic, hard-hitting work of critical analysis like those he is best known for. Instead, it is a poetry-filled work entitled Balikbayang Mahal/Passages from Exile. This work is a collection of old and new poems and also includes a long essay on exile and diaspora entitled “Sa Loob at Labas ng Bayan Kong Sawi: Emergency Signals from a Filipino Exile.” One of the most striking features of the work is the bevy of languages represented. The poems appear in their original forms in either Filipino or English. A few poems also appear with French and Chinese translations accompanying them, and there are poems in Spanish and Italian. Most of the 35 poems are accompanied by a translation into at least one other language. Some poems, like “Mask of the Poet,” appear in English and Filipino with German a...

ANG TATLONG TUKSO (Translation of THE THREE TEMPTATIONS) “Anong kamatayan ang nais mo?” Tanong ng babae: “Isang pagkasirang tanso na nagbubukas Ng isang kumbento para sa puso; o kaya Isang batas na pahintulot para sa isang higante, isang pinilakang pagpanaw; O iyong uring dapat pagsikapang matamo; Isang sakramento, isang paglisang ginintuan?” Ay lintik, paano makapipili ang may pakay? Lagi na lamang may sumisingasing na apoy-- Sa aking leeg gumagapang ang salamander! Ngunit dito sa matatag na larangan, Lupang kinabuwalan ng mga magiting na mandirigma, Ang mga dwende’y umaawit ng isang tumbagang himnong handog sa iyo. Subalit kung maaari lamang sana’y makalikha ako para sa sarili Ng isang ulo ng higante, malayo sa pangungulila’t pag-iisa-- Oo, totoong aapaw ang tawa ng nimpa ng dagat At malulunod ang aking pinilakang libingan. Sapagkat ito’y tadhana Mula sa bangin, sa pagitan ng matatarik na bundok Na nagdudulot sa atin ng bagwis na sadyang akma sa peregrinasyon. At ikaw na sumasayaw...

JOUISSANCE / LIBOG / METAMORPOSIS AT TRANSPORMASYON NG PROLETARYONG ERO S Wala, walang iba pang kailangan Pagkatao ng hayup Nulla Desideratum Ako’t ikaw tayo’y isang diwa kambal na budhing biniyak at inihiwalay Walang anino o katawan Hermaproditikong kaisahan Monolitikong identidad Bago pa humarap sa salamin Bago pa mag-huramentado ang Oedipus sa kamalayan Sa lilim ng biyayang ibinuga ng buwang salamangkero’t salawahan Anong timyas anong tuwa anong sarap ang pag-ibig na walang kaakuhan Sa makinang gumagaralgal sa pagliko sumisikad sa matris ng babaeng pintakasi Nasa pusod nasa vulvang busog pumuputok ang TNT at lahar ng ligaya Anong sukdulang tamis ang dahas ng nakabalat-kayong berdugo ng babaylan Hubad sa gayuma ng ginto’t pilak--tamod dura’t droga ng konkistador Tayo’y sinakop nilinlang Paraiso’y nilaslas sa lalamunan ng panaginip Ibinartolina tayo sa barbarikong lohika ng salapi at kamandag ng kapital Ngunit kahit ipinaghiwalay ng nagbalahibong libo...

ALWAYS MOVING TOWARD JUSTICE A review of Balikbayang Mahal: Passages from Exile, by E. San Juan, Jr. Morrisville, NC: Lulu.com, 2007. 155 pages. by John Streamas Fairly commonly these days, poets end their volumes with a short prose section, usually footnotes or glosses on the poems. Likewise, except for a short epilogue-poem at the very end, the closing section of the new book Balikbayang Mahal: Passages from Exile, by E. San Juan, Jr., is a work of prose. But it is not brief, nor is it made of footnotes or clarifications of the poems. It is a 31-page essay, part scholarly, part autobiographical, and all enjoining, on the state of exile. And what it urges us to do, by way of analyzing the history of the colonizing of the Philippines, is work for the revolution that alone can save the world’s targeted and vulnerable peoples from occupation or exile. “Revolution,” writes San Juan, “is the way out through the stagnant repetition of suffering and deprivation.” At stake is of cour...

MAGRITTE’S WAR ON TERROR WHEN MAGRITTE’S LUNAR MIGRAINE DRIFTS INTO THE BLUE DRAGON’S LAIR --“What time is it?”-- MIRED AMONG MERMAIDS, LOST IN THE KARMA OF FALLEN SPARROWS WHAT TENTACLED MACHINE BEHIND THE IVORY HORNS UNLEASHES SUCH FURY OF DISCRIMINATIONS? SUSSURUS OF MOURNING ECLIPSES ARTEMIS’ BLUES RENDING THE VEIL OF APPEARANCES-- “Is it time now?” WHO WILL RISK MURDERING THE MURMURING OF IMMEMORIAL BEES? WHO WILL RISK RECRUITING ISIS AND ISHTAR FOR THE APOLLO MISSION? BORDER-PATROLS OF IMPERIAL TERROR, THEY FLOAT SEDUCING LI PO, UNMOORED MARINER, WHO DROWNED UNMINDFUL OF THE AZURE UNDERTOW MAGRITTE’S MIGRAINE AT LONG LAST MIGRATES--“What time….?” WHO WILL MAP THE PRESENCE OF THE FALLEN SPARROWS? WHAT GHOSTLY MARAUDER DRIFTS WITH WHITE PARASOL, DEMARCATING UNDER CORAL BOUGHS DIVIDING THE CONTINUUM OF TRANSMIGRATIONS, UNLEASHING WHAT TIGER DESIRE LEAPING ACROSS MERMAIDS LOST AMONG BEEHIVES AND STRIPED STARS, WHERE THE SOLAR CYBORG’S WI...

A MULTI-LINGUAL SELECTION OF WRITINGS FROM EXILE

Foreword to FILIPINA INSURGENCY (Quezon City: Giraffe Books, 1999) No uprising fails. Each one is a step in the right direction. --Salud Algabre Faithful to the injunction “Always historicize!” I would like to situate the individual essays collected here in the conjunctural “thickness” of their origins. Sometime in the mid-seventies, I edited Dare to Struggle, Dare to Win, the monthly newsletter of the Philippines Research Center (an affiliate of the anti-martial law groups in the United States), which featured in one issue the vicissitudes of the women's liberation movement in the Philippines. One reader asked why I wasted one issue on such a partial and minor trend; my somewhat protracted response took the form of an essay on socialist feminism, its background and prospect. This later evolved into chapter 8 of my book Crisis in the Philippines (South Hadley, Mass: Bergin & Garvey, 1986), included here as chapter 5. As the historical record shows, the women'...

PAHIWATIG Bumungad ka umigting panginoon ko Oo nais ko gusto ko Inay ko! gigil sumisidhi nilalanghap sinisipsip sa kirot sa hapdi Gayumang walang ligtas Gayumang walang patawad kahit na mapariwara kahit na magkasira-sira Oo unti-unti mong kitilin ang buhay ko Oo nais ko gusto ko higpitan higpitan pa kahit anong hapdi rumaragasang hininga nagpupumiglas nais ibulalas sumasagitsit Ay, naku! lumalagos walang awa ---- bumugso bumigay— …. nakagulapay walang lingon walang sisi ibulong mo sa akin sa umaga totoong walang ligtas pinagtalik tiyak na walang patawad biyaya mong inialay tadhana’t kapalaran O mahal langit sa lupa Ikaw ang tanging kal...

PURO SALITA, KULANG SA GAWA? Isang Pagsubok sa Diyalektika ng Kritika ng Sandata at Sandata ng Kritika, ayon kay Karl Marx [In Memoriam Cherith Dayrit-Garcia] Para kay CPA Pambihira ka Matatag matingkad mabagsik ang luntiang apoy sa iyong mga mata Habang dumadampi ang hamog ng umaga Sa iyong pisnging hinog sa pangarap ng dinukot at ibinilanggong kinabukasan— Nagliliyab ang iyong tapang, nakapapaso ang dingas ng iyong determinasyon— Nabighani sa alindog ng iyong dangal habang lugmok sa panaginip Nangahas ang kaluluwang lumantad madarang, nahimok ng kung anong bagwis Ng tukso sa bulong ng iyong labi’t galaw, tuloy naligaw sa paglalakbay— Walang sindak mong binalangkas ang ordeng mapanganib at binungkal ang landas Namumukod sa madla, buntalang motor/dinamo ng bukang-liwayway-- Kahit sumabog ang pulbura sa mundong binagtas ng iyong budhi, wala kang takot Hawak ang sulo ng katarungan, sumusugod ka— Siklab ng huling paghuhukom, O armadong anghel— bumabangon sa iyong bisig at kamao ang m...

SENATOR JAMBY MADRIGAL BLASTS MACAPAGAL-ARROYO STATE TERRORISM AND U.S. DOMINATION OF THE PHILIPPINES “Huwag po nating payagan na bumalik tayo sa kadiliman at takot na dinala ng martial law. Panahon na upang tumindig at lumaban.” --Senator Jamby Madrigal, “Martial Law in the Guiuse of Anti-Terrorism Bill,” Joint Statement with Senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr., Legend Restaurant, Oct 9, 2006 BY E. SAN JUAN, Jr. (with an interview by Dr. Rainer Werning) Last June 26, we attended a historic rally-demonstration of over 4,000 people in Washington, DC. called “Day of Action to Restore Law and Justice.” It was the first national mass mobilization of this kind undertaken by the American Civil Liberties Union, a rather staid institution, in cooperation with Amnesty International (USA), Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. It was a coalition representing a fairly broad spectrum of left to right civil-society lobbying groups. A petition bearing ...

NEOCOLONIAL ELECTIONS AND STATE TERRORISM IN THE PHILIPPINES: An Interview with former president of the University of the Philippines, Emeritus Professor Francisco Nemenzo by E. SAN JUAN, Jr. Contrary to Philippine government claims, the mid-term May elections sounded a dirge to the Arroyo regime’s barbaric repression of its citizens and its subservience to U.S. imperial dictates. On the face of State terrorism carried out through military abductions, harassment and extra-judicial killings, millions of Filipinos rejected the bulk of Arroyo’s candidates for the Senate and voted into office a rebel military officer and Arroyo critic, Antonio Trillanes IV. Supported by civil-society groups like Laban ng Masa, BAYAN, and others, Trillanes vowed to investigate the rampant political killings, torture, kidnappings, and warrantless arrests ascribed by KARAPATAN, Asian Human Rights Commission, Amnesty International and United Nations rapporteurs, to the Pentagon-advised Armed Forces of the Phi...