THE PITCH: A twice-monthly zine-journal for students of the University of the Philippines for students of the University of the Philippines. Its content? Anything! So long as it pertains to or concerns UP students, which will probably (but not always) mean work of a theoreticoliterary-slash-academicocultural nature--think commentary, think analysis, think art, think polemic. At all events, the point is to take what goes on inside the classroom outside, to the campus or the streets or the countryside; and, necessarily, to bring the goings-on of that wider world, that all-too-concrete, all-too-material, all-too-unjust world, back to the classroom. UP is setting as well as subject, and there "P" is by far the more decisive letter. If the Philippines is neocolonial, if it is victim to grossly unequal trade relations and foreign interventionism, the UP-trained academic calls it "postcolonial," its various subserviences and inhumanities "pragmatic allocations of State power." The product is the most mediocre and inutile intelligentsia anywhere on earth: an intelligentsia that in the first place will not or cannot reckon--really, meaningfully reckon--with questions being asked a century ago up to to-day, much less the question of whether it should exist at all.

	Some people have their heads in the clouds, others have their heads so far up their asses that they begin to think sloganeering and cigarettes equal good, revolutionary practice. We of the Initiatory Committee seek the company of neither. We believe in investigation and debate not for investigation's sake nor for debate's sake, but for the fulfillment of ends which in more immediate contexts may find expression in, say, asking who the "tayo" in Pantayong Pananaw actually is, or interviewing a janitor at Palma (or, fine, AS) as regards wage theft by the admin, or interrogating Maria Clara and Sisa's madnesses vis-a-vis the nation-building canon, or even just writing poetry about freshman lovesickness; and which more broadly consist in antiimperialism, women's and queer liberation, disability and climate justice, &c., &c. Concretely, this means being political in a way that refuses the temptation/delusion/egoism of impenetrability, of institutionality, and of permanence. In other words, it means a theoretical practice that is consciously political, consciously accessible, consciously independent, and consciously ephemeral. Hence "zine-journal" instead of just "journal" or "publication." As we see it, "zine" represents the culturoliterary aspect and "journal" the theoreticoacademic, with the added implications of counterhegemonic publishing and democratic organising. 

	Now then. What is it we need at this juncture? For one, a name! A tagline, too. So far, the Committee has had just one meeting (of which this extended pitch is a result) and has yet to come up with either. But more than that, what we need is more members--members who can and are willing to help get the project off the ground. Our present composition is diverse, with one member from UP Baguio, another from UP Mindanao, and two from UP Diliman. Seeing as the intent is to gain a readership and a contributorship spanning the entire UP system, with Dilimán as the base of operations (so to speak), we hope to keep that diversity as we expand. There are no solid, set-in-stone criteria for joining, and we should stress, too, that affiliation with the Committee is in no way a requirement for future submissions. But if you are a student at UP and think you'd be able to commit to helping further cohere and concretise our idea/s of what the zine-journal ought to actually, materially be, and/or to helping with the design and layout, the editorial process, "public relations," and so forth, please consider joining the Committee! We also welcome nonstudents and people from other universities who can fulfill advisory roles. (Once the zine-journal gets off the ground, we'll also be accepting guest contributions from without the UP system.)

With thanks, and ever in solidarity,
The Initiatory Committee