Reactivating Filipino Youth Activism in the Age of Slacktivism

Abstract

Radical youth movements today are viewed as a chimera of a bygone era inspired by a now-defunct ideology. Many youth scholars believe that the birth of Web 2.0 technology, together with the continued influence of/emphasis on state-sponsored civic education, has drastically reconfigured the youth subculture and the youth’s political engagement. This paper, though, argues that this reconfiguration is but a reflection of neoliberal capitalism still at work in our modern society. While conscious of the changing landscape of a youth culture that is now saturated by various forms of media, this paper, toward the end, reaffirms Jose Ma. Sison’s call for the Filipino youth to be the vanguards of social change.