Nationalist Dramas and A Rally in Manila

As I finished up my first reading for our study abroad trip to the Philippines I was particularly compelled by the way in which nationalist dramas had the capacity to transcend racial and gender binaries. Those binaries were being forced upon Filipinos by Americans who, in the early 1900’s, were intent on surveying the population as a means to effectively establish control. The dramas were produced by urban artists, many of whom had participated in the revolution against Spain. It is also significant to note that the dramas were performed in Tagalog. A piece that I found moving closed the first chapter of Professor Vicente’s book White Love, he quotes a passage from the play Luhang Tagalog by Tolentino.

“Weeping without ceasing for your children,

And weeping always for your sorrows.

I have taken care to write this piece

So that my tears should flow

Together with the tears from your eyes.

To you I offer this: it is so very fragile

Because it is from me;

Still accept this

For I have nothing more valuable to give. (Riggs, 352)” (Rafael, 2000).

This piece and more broadly, nationalist dramas, were radical for their time because they re-affirmed by restating the values of a pre-colonial way of living. I believe that this particular passage from Luhang Tagalog is actually still a radical notion in the sense that it challenges the infamous western sensibility of the individual. By calling out, or naming a specific site of oppression there is an opportunity for people to empathize, perhaps through solidarity, and to transcend the propensity for western binary social constructions. It seems to me that art has a profound capacity to bring people together. In the example of the nationalist dramas written, produced and performed by Filipino people, the plays afforded the opportunity for empowerment. They did this by illustrating alternative ways of interacting with their literal and figurative place during a time when those traditional sites were being attacked.  I feel uncomfortable using the word “alternative” in that capacity though because the alternative way of life that they were sharing was the original way of life that existed before colonization took place. Nevertheless, I think the important point to note is that Filipino people were offering and sharing solutions to other Filipino people.

Earlier today I attended a rally during the State of the Nation Announcement given by the new president, Rodrigo Duterte, in Manila with my study abroad group. Talking to some of the people at the rally we learned that the event had largely been a site for solidarity to take place. Though we showed up late to the rally, there were still many many groups convening. Human rights advocates and working class groups all mingled together with, some of them carried signs that demanded a national minimum wage of 750 pesos (about $15 USD)/day be implemented.

The large turnout at the rally seemed similar to the nationalist dramas that I had just read about last week. Both are sites for groups of people to call out the pervasive and exclusive nature of western and dominant culture. From there, like nationalist dramas did in the early 1900’s, rallies can address and ultimately interrupt cycles of oppression.

Rally attendees listening to Duterte’s State of the Nation Address

Police presence at the rally

Picket signs at the rally












Rafael, V. (2000). White Love: Census and melodrama in the U.S. colonization of the Philippines. In White love and other events in Filipino history. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.