It’s international Workers’ Day and the proletariat across the globe are busy commemorating (in the US, Labor Day was moved to the First of September – an irony considering May Day’s origins – why? well, your guess is as good as mine) this significant day.
I understand that in the US, immigrants in several cities held marches and protest rallies and dubbed it as Immigrants (or Immigration?) Day. It hasn’t lost its significance in the belly of the beast after all – a sign that the struggle of the oppressed and exploited is as real as the rice crisis and Iraq war (or occupation)?
On this occasion I’m quoting some beautiful and meaningful lines from some of the more popular (to the acquainted at least) workers’ songs. Thanks to Deo for his decent collection of working class literature – it is a welcome respite from the dominant bourgeois literature. A class-conscious literature provides a badly needed reality check in times like these.
I wish I could translate these in English but alas I am not capable of doing it without losing its meaning and lyrical power. So here they are, a few of what I enjoyed and found interesting.
From Awit ng Manggagawa
Yama’y ating likha ano’t busabos
Ati’y kalayaan, bakit nakagapos?
Ang lakas natin bakit dinudurog?
Katarungan ang sigaw ng nalugmok
Katarungang tayo rin ang tutubos.
The lines reveal the analytical mind of the workers - questioning the irony of being poor while creating wealth, of repression when they desire freedom, or the annihilation of their force. To this they, the downtrodden (nalugmok), cry for justice with the determined realization that only they, the workers, themselves can claim it.
This reminds me of the song Manggagawa (by Rody Vera which enjoyed some airtime during the 80’s) from the Mike de Leon opus Sister Stella L (Vilma Santos played a nun while Laurice Guillen played the other nun also named Stella). It went along the same lines with practically the same message.
Manggagawa, kayong lumilikha ng yaman ng bansa
Kayong malaon nang iginupo ng dahas
Magkaisa’t labanan ang pang-aapi
Kahit na libong buhay man ang masawi
Walang kailangan kung ang magiging kapalit
Ay ang kalayaang matagal ng minimithi
While the former merely states the need for workers’ action, the latter actually incites them to action, thus
Panahon na, panahon na mga kasama
Ipakita ang lakas ng ating pagkakaisa
and finally connects workers’ struggle for emancipation with genuine national freedom
Nang makamtan ng bayan ang tunay na kalayaan.
Well of course, workers’ songs are not complete without the workers’ anthem – the Internationale – it has rhythm and beat so epic in movies (The Sicilian) as in real life (Mao Tse Tung docus or your Liwasang Bonifacio/Mendiola demonstrators). Its unmistakably anti-feudal, anti-idealist line was very revolutionary in its period
Wala tayong maaasahang bathala o manunubos
Kaya’t ang ating kaligtasa’y nasa ating pagkilos.
What can I say? It was true then. It is true now.
Posted by diego rojo banaag 
