Philippine Student Movement: Prospects for a Dynamic Student Politics

Abstract

The Philippine student movement has persisted for over twenty years now despite the death of its contemporaries in the international scene. For unlike the Western student movement which is more symbolic and sectoral in character, the Philippine student movement's being armed with a vision of an alternative society and its perspective in linking arms with other sectors such as the workers and the peasants enabled it to transcend its narrow sectional interest and transform itself into a political force within a broader social movement. There is little doubt that student activism in the Philippines will endure for another decade, but whether it can still approximate the dynamism of its pre-Martial Law existence is another question. How the student groups will be able to adapt to the rapid unfolding of events in the national scene will partly spell their success or failure to maintain a profound presence in the Filipino people's struggle for social liberation.