Jesus once said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”
The answer—do not.
“I had a brother!,” said a member of the Bielski partisan, as she hit a German soldier with the end of her rifle. A crowd of justice-hungry Jews beat the soldier to death.
The answer—I do not know.
These are scenes from Defiance, a film about a group of Jews who have decided to stand up for their rights as World War II was about to end. The Jews were empowered after the liberation efforts of the Allies, but were left with an ethical dilemma of whether the oppression they have experienced under the Germans can justify the killing of an unarmed German soldier.
The ethical dilemma experienced by the Jews actually happens in real life. There are people who do not get justice from judicial proceedings that they resort to violence or other similar extreme measures. This happens to people most exposed to the injustices of society; these people think that justice exists only in the movies.
Many do not know what farmers, blue-collared laborers and teachers in public schools go through everyday. Most do not even know why the New People’s Army (NPA) and the other militant groups exist. All we know is that they take a portion of our profits to buy guns and ammunitions to challenge the military.
We do not know why such groups are so determined to bring the government down. They may have tried the long arm of the law and maybe found it a mile short; they could have fought in the regular courts and just ended up losing because they are against a politician, and worse, the judge presiding on the case listens more to bills than the truth.
More importantly, the reason that we do not care about such minority groups is because we do not have to and we can easily use the excuse that such issues do not affect us—it all happen far from our homes.
Let us put ourselves in their shoes. We are farmers or a native and an influential politician is about to take our land away.
Most would probably ask the farmers or natives to follow the law, or to remain strong despite the persistence of the people who are after their land. It is more gracious and dignified to follow the law and public policy than to defy it, even if you are on the side of right, but why do we praise our national heroes who broke the law during their time?
The issue is not about giving them the justice they wanted or giving the rebels the right to retaliate just because they were victims of social injustice. The government and society should at least try to understand them instead of branding them as fugitives.
The same can be applied in DLSU. Most students are disempowered or at least feel this way. Many students accept the norms and ask others to accept them as well. To an extent, it has become a culture of impunity in a sense that those who have done wrong just easily get away with what they did.
Professors who habitually do not go to their scheduled grade consultations still teach in the University despite the lack of transparency in grades, an academic freedom red flag. Some professors who have unfairly treated their students are continuously practicing prejudicial policies because many students do not speak up about such injustices.
In the same manner, cheating, bullying and similar offenses are being tolerated and accepted by students and professors because very few want to speak up about it and most are afraid of what the DLSU community would say about them.
Such culture trickles down to this idea: if we cannot get justice in school, will we ever get justice in other institutions in the real world? Do not get me wrong, I am not encouraging activism; I am not urging people to take their animosity to the streets. This is simply about accepting people who are willing to fight for what is right and to support them in any way.
There is a fine line between activism and fighting for what is right. There are times when it is advisable to follow the rules and not to go against the system. It is a noble action to follow the law, but what matters more is what we encounter before the crossroad and before people take drastic measures just to fight for their rights.
