i am ninoy?

August 21^st marked the 25^th anniversary of Benigno (Ninoy) S. Aquino Jr.’s assassination, who is heralded as a contemporary hero of the Philippines. To commemorate this anniversary, the foundation named after him created the campaign: iamninoy. They branded ninoy’s glasses, his face, and his famous quote: the Filipino is worth dying for on tshirts and other accessories. And of course, a percentage of the proceeds goes to charities fighting for “freedom” and “justice”. Sound familiar? It’s like seeing (red) except it’s more like seeing yellow (the trademark color of his political life, and of his wife, Corazon Aquino who became the first female president of the Philippines). The message as the campaign website explains is that there is a ninoy in all of us; a hero in you, a selfishness in service to the country. It aims to galvanize youth who may not remember ninoy or were born after his death, to follow his example and give the best of themselves to the Filipino people and to the advancement of the country.

Now I can’t front and say that I wouldn’t want one of the shirts (really, some of the designs are kinda hot: http://www.teammanila.com/iamninoy/). I could share my thoughts on whether this consumerist nature of goodwill is effective or even good, but that’s not really the point of this post. I’ll dissect that issue another time.

My immediate reaction, before looking up the website, was one of frustration and disappointment. Based on what I had seen on TFC–The Filipino Channel (yea, I know that it’s got its own problems), I became most concerned about the oversimplification of these three little words. It seemed as if people primarily focused on his ultimate sacrifice and were avoiding talking about the context and political stances of ninoy at the time of his term as a senator, as an imprisoned opponent of the Ferdinand Marcos regime. The hype was more about what he did and not in recognizing the extraordinary times that compelled him to fight against martial law and to reclaim democracy for the Filipino people. At a time when the unlawful killing and salvaging of Filipino people is on the rise again, but this time under Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA), shouldn’t those three little words then hold more meaning than the romantic notion of giving up your life for the revolution? Shouldn’t it connect the political environment of ninoy’s time to the current state of the Philippines? I think it’s a bit of disservice to fail to acknowledge that ninoy would be in great conflict with the administration right now for similar reasons as in the 70s/80s and to over generalize his life. However, I recognize that to make this connection is a very, very dangerous thing, and I am privileged and more protected than others who may think along the same lines.

After reading up on the website, I appreciated that there seems to be more recognition for some of the values upheld by ninoy and that the campaign is centered on empowering the youth. I do think it is incredibly valuable and powerful to utter the words “I am” for freedom and justice. But proclaiming these words in its most general form is simultaneously risky. The open-ended nature of this message provides the space to fill in the blank with however you decide to achieve justice, but what does justice look like? Who are you fighting for? And for what? Or are you even thinking that when you buy the shirt?

In the end, no matter what it means to you to wear an iamninoy shirt or not to buy one, I want to believe that this campaign will indefinitely spark questions and illimitable debate about what it means to do the right thing, what integrity is, what it means to serve your homeland, to serve your people, to love your people.