[ad_1]
On Tuesday morning, Geraldine Po was opening Common Bookstore, the impartial e-book store identified to hold political and progressive titles, when she was greeted by a vandalized storefront.
The phrases “NPA Terorista (NPA Terrorists” sprayed in crimson have been all around the facade — implying that the decades-old bookstore, which opened in 1945, and its house owners had ties to the New Folks’s Military, the navy arm of the Communist Occasion of the Philippines (CPP), dubbed by america as a terrorist group.
“Books should not bullets and bombs. Books are for training and enlightenment. It’s a repository of historical past and tradition. It’s what differentiates humankind from animals,” the bookstore’s social media assertion learn.
Pink-tagging incidents — publicly labeling people, largely activists, as communist rebels on baseless accusations — have existed since 1969, because the Marcos authorities cracked down towards the CPP. But this observe of red-tagging has lengthy price the safety and the lives of journalists, activists, civic leaders, and atypical residents by means of the a long time.
Geraldine stated that she was “dismayed and exasperated” by the act — this was not the primary time Common Bookstore had been focused by authorities, and Geraldine shared that their red-tagging historical past dates again to Martial Legislation days, when the shop was being run by her father, Joaquin Po, a identified anti-Marcos businessman.
“When the shop was being managed by my father, Joaquin Po, he was questioned as to why the bookstore was promoting books by Marx, Lenin, and Mao. His reply (was), as a result of these have been the books that have been sellable,” Geraldine informed Coconuts, including that three-fourths of the bookshelves have been crammed with titles on philosophy, artwork, historical past, and science, similar to at the moment.
Geraldine believed that red-taggers proceed to perpetrate their acts to silence dissent and discourage essential considering. “Pink-taggers don’t want folks to assume, to be analytical. They simply need folks to be followers, to be on the ‘secure facet,’ in order that there will probably be no essential opposition to their political and financial agendas.”
Nonetheless, the bookstore supervisor and proprietor had some fairly spicy phrases for these alleged red-taggers: “They don’t learn. If the vandals learn native leftist books, they are going to know that there aren’t any NPAs in Quezon Metropolis.”
As to how Geraldine chooses to maneuver ahead from this, she shared that she will probably be reporting the incident to authorities and carrying on with enterprise as common. “We’re a small, struggling enterprise, a quiet kind of enterprise whose shoppers selected to be in a nook by themselves and browse or learn books.”
“I’d prefer to assume that bookstores are peaceable areas. It’s ironic that Common Bookstore will probably be tagged (as) ‘terorista’.”
READ: Eraserheads fan brings color—and meaning— to old photos of Buddy Zabala’s missing mother-in-law
[ad_2]
Source link