Kabataang Makabayan (KM) has consistently struggled for six decades to advance the national democratic revolution to new heights. Since its founding in 1964 by the late Prof. Jose Maria Sison, KM has been the foremost progressive youth organization in the country and in Negros as well. For 60 years, it has aroused, organized, and mobilized young farmers, workers, urban poor, professionals, and other marginalized sectors to militantly fight against imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism.

Fast forward to today, Negros island is haunted by problems borne out of US imperialism: state neoliberalism and fascism. The Super City in Bacolod City and Smart City in Dumaguete City and reclamation projects are demolishing and evicting urban poor and fisherfolk communities under the guise of ‘development’; sugar importation has effectively buried the vast majority of Negrosanons into an insufferable state of low wages and income amid high prices; foreign plantations for export crops such as oil palm in Candoni, Negros Occidental commit widespread land-grabbing against farms and ancestral domains; hazardous mines and quarries both harm the environment and the people’s livelihoods around it; and the public utility vehicle modernization threatens drivers, vendors, and commuters alike. In the midst of these economic woes, the US-Marcos II regime has relied heavily on its mercenary AFP and PNP to attack those who resist and revolt, using outright violence, dirty tactics and black propaganda to smear the justness of the people’s struggles.

Both the cities and the countryside have fallen prey to the crisis caused by imperialism. Sixty years ago, it was the youth who boldly defied the US-Marcos fascist regime and organized protest after protest, and eventually daring to go underground and take up arms after the KM was declared as illegal by the reactionary government. Now, it is therefore the youth’s task to oppose the same attacks committed by the ruling class here in Negros. Let us remember Chairman Mao’s immortal words that ‘in the final analysis, the world is ours’, and therefore it is our duty to defend it from devastation.

In the time of worsening state terrorism and socioeconomic crisis, the youth’s rightful place is only in the armed revolution. We must offer our zeal and nimbleness through treading the only path that can address our problems. Like the martyred Red fighters in Negros who hailed from KM, such as Cheene Dacalos and Nica dela Cruz, we must brave the spiral roads of the armed struggle, ready for sacrifice, to be able to build a nationalist, scientific, and mass-oriented future.

It is no coincidence that the KM was built on the birthday of Gat Andres Bonifacio. As a revolutionary hero, Bonifacio offered his youth, risking life and limb to fight against Spanish colonialism. As the second propaganda movement, we must take inspiration from Bonifacio, Ka Joma, Cheene, and Nica as well as the countless revolutionary heroes and martyrs. While the enemy celebrates their false victories, we must duly remember that the revolution is invincible because of its undying spring, the ceaseless flow of new blood from progressive youth who dare to struggle and win. As we replenish the need for more Communist Party cadres and Red fighters and commanders, victory is inevitable.

Thus, it is a no-brainer that the youth wholeheartedly embrace the motto of serving the people. In truth, serving the people means serving the revolution until victory is won. The need to fully contribute to the armed revolution is even more magnified as the threat of a looming inter-imperialist war sits on our very shores. The interconnection of state neoliberalism, terrorism, and imperialist aggression underscores the historical need of the people to rebel. As the sector that transcends various classes, comprising more than 40% of the population, the youth has the historical and inevitable duty to fight.

In the six decades of progressive struggle, we the youth must continue to muster our courage to fill both the streets and NPA units with youthfulness. Now more than ever, we must expand and consolidate KM chapters in communities, every street, factory, school, workplace, and every place with young people to fulfill our roles as the future of the revolution.