The Rise and Fall of the Philippine Student Movement: A Belated and Partial Report

TWSC 30th Anniversary Lecture Series on Social Movements in the South

PATRICIO N. ABINALES
Kyoto University

01 March 2007 (Thursday)
10:00-11:30 a.m.
Third World Studies Center
Basement Palma Hall
College of Social Sciences and Philosophy
University of the Philippines-Diliman


This belated and incomplete report tracks the history and dynamics of the Philippine student movement from the 1960s to the 1980s, and suggests a couple of exploratory explanations as to its phenomenal contributions to a rich tradition of political activism but also its subsequent decline and marginalization in the very own movements and organizations it helped built. It also tries to explain the still peculiar discrepancy between the pervasive veneration given to it by scholars and activists, and the scantiness of empirically-grounded analyses of the movement.

ABOUT THE SERIES

The Third World Studies Center Lecture Series on Social Movements in the South interrogates the relations of contention and collective action to democracy in contemporary history. It focuses especially on movements in the South, using a variety of cases of recent national and cross-border mobilization and protest. The series will address the following questions:Are social movements in the South agents of democratization? How do social movements contribute to (or hinder) the democratization process in various spheres (local, regional, and transnational)? How do deepening interstate relations affect social movement politics? What role do Southern social movements play in the wider global political arena? Are social movements in the South always engaged in contentious politics? How do they interact within the boundaries of institutional politics? Given the present historical conjuncture, what lies ahead for social movements in the South?