We are throwing down the gauntlet, this is a challenge to not forget the lessons of the years gone by, a challenge to not forget the issues that have yet to be resolved. This is the writing project that will ensure the new year of accountability and the realization that we have a duty as Filipinos to keep the fire of burning, because if this is our only tool to bring a voice to the issues that have died down, to the issues and incidents that have been forgotten, then so be it.
Cris A. Mendez has not found justice, activists are still missing, murders have not been solved, politicians both local and national still rule with impunity, Sulpicio’s victims still cry out for justice, a proper impeachment complaint has not been heard, Joc Joc still can deny everything, and farmers all over are still uncertain about their fate.
The question is not if we can face these challenges, the question is if we have the stamina to endure a fight for the ages, and a memory strong enough to remember the issues that once held our undivided attention.
Let this New Year, and let this Writing Project be our chance to say, that we remember, that we can endure as long as injustice is still there.
And so, I ask you, and you can leave answers here as comments, with any relevant links, either to your blog, or to articles, as to what is an unfinished business for you?
Mechanics
In order to participate in this writing project, you will need to leave a comment here along with your name and the url where your entry is located at. If you do not own a blog, we suggest you create one with wordpress.com or blogspot.com. Or you can simply submit your entry using the contact page.
This must be an issue that has occurred in the last 5 years, or can simply be an issue that resurfaced during during these years. Be as creative as possible, out of the box thinking is most certainly welcomed
Specific Rules
- Maximum 2 entries per person
- Project Deadline: February 6, 2009
- All topics allowed, no maximum or minimum amount of words
- Must have been written on or after January 9, 2009
- Must be an original work
- For Blog entries, please link back to this Writing Project Page
- FV writers are encouraged to join, but are not qualified to win grand prize
Grand Prize
This is not a contest, however for one extraordinary entry, one that has our readers thinking, pondering, and is filled with passion and meaning, to that person will go our grand prize. We will reproduce it here at Filipinovoices.com once the contest has ended and the winning entry announced.
Five FV writers will act as judges for this writing project.
To the winner will go P10,000 to any charity of his or her choice.
Popularity: 2% [?]
What’s that phrase they use on American TV, jumping the shark?
Bakit jumping the shark?
I’ll blog about this, if you don’t mind. TY!
Sorry for being such a dimwit, but how is this jumping the shark (or nuking the fridge if you want a movie equivalent)?
may i suggest that articles submitted to FV from last writing project contest to the present be automatically included in this contest.
Because the audience may lose interest (respect in FV terms).
FV is probably truly destined to fade into obscurity in 2009, but let it fade on its own merit (via inability to hold the interest of its target audience, whatever its target audience is). But for the meanwhile, there is no reason to declare the patient dead before it has even reached puberty.
@BrianB, suggestions please..
@UP n, exactly..
@Jim, would be too easy, we want people to really think about this one.
When we ask ourselves about the recent issue of about the Pangandaman incident, about how short a memory we have, and how we can only react about issues that hit close to home. Then this is an attempt to overcome that, however true or false that claim may be. Take up the challenge my friends, let’s see if we can’t stir up our collective memories and remind others just what the issues are that have faded into the darkness..
In short, let’s think about the issues, be engaged and aware.. let us remember.
FV will not easily fade if the contributors/writers would write on a variety of topics that can achieve balance in coverage. As of now, plenty of articles are anti-GMA. We would want the pro-GMA to participate so the thesis can have the anti-thesis so we can arrive at the synthesis.
It will not fade away also if the bloggers themselves will obeserve certain degree of decorum and make it a forum of exchange of ideas instead of adhominens and vitriol.
Otherwise, just like any other blog, FV will fade into oblivion, even if oblivion means its inability to cater even for the elitist make-up that it is now.
Jcc,
I wonder if you mean that FV is elitist, or that it is not representative?
On the latter point I think you must concede that the anti-GMA sentiments here only mirror the overwhelming majority who disapprove of the President’s performance and she has been flying on fumes for a few years with that negative net satisfaction rating–at least as revealed by the scientific surveys of SWS and Pulse Asia.
I for one would want to recruit good bloggers who disagree with at least some of my points of view. More’s the fun, when you’re not the only one!
Nick, I must say it says something about FV that all throughout the terrible humanitarian calamities in Gaza and in Israel our most active threads were on the golf folderol.
DJB,
I mean FV is not the representative voice of the people because only those with computers and internet service can join the blog. Majority of our people are denied of these conveniences.
SWS and Asia Pulse are not flawless. They only approximate certain modes of the populace but not the entire population. Put in also the bias of these two outfits then you have the entire picture in disarray.
Have you read an article in FV portraying rosy picture of GMA? Or for that matter did you ever see a Dureza or Dureza look a like post a comment in this blog? Don’t tell me that out of the 80 million or so Filipinos all of them are anti-GMA! :)
I have no idea what FV is all about. Themes or topics discussed here do not always have to result in something Marxian dialectics like some necessary or mandatory consequence.
Argue for or against and that would have made the issues joined. Synthesis?
I truly like the writing style and the message of Rom’s “unfinished business” entry. It reminds me of a key survival strategy — triage.
BUT Rom’s entry lacks a key criterion — blame. By not blaming a person or an institution, Rom’s entry will lose the FV contest.
Triage? But FV will lose its spontaneity. This is a blog not a journal.
The contest, anyway, will prohibit FV writers. One can indeed attract attention with a contest. But how to get contestants and what to do after? Will FV have higher standards now?
Can I submit an article presently published in my site? Although I wrote this before Jan 9, it was never published outside of my blog. Title is “Why Filipinos are not a patriotic people”
Here’s my contribution to the Writing Project, boss:
“Awareness” of poverty is just a fashion statement
Happy reading! :)
I also have another article entitled What really happened in February 4, 1899 published in my site before Jan 9. Can this also be reconsidered?