EDSA (to the nth power (?))

THE CRAFT OF PEOPLE POWER

by Sarah Raymundo

MASS DEMONSTRATIONS, in John Berger's realist assessment, are rehearsals for the 'event' wherein people would unleash concrete acts of political maturity rarely imagined in classrooms and in mass media. These acts, combined with the ripeness of a given condition and the push of favorable circumstances, are the kind that would alter the existing coordinates of the system.

Historically, the ouster of a tyrant is both a stake and a product in humanity's struggle for social justice. The actual ouster is a momentary success in a series of organized resistance and is not the latter's ultimate goal.

In spite of a successful ouster, there is no escaping the 'morning after.'

After the first People Power, the Filipinos counted on the promise of “democratic space” under the Aquino regime. But political power remained in the hands of the new oligarchy. Mang Pandoy, the embodiment of the poor and the dispossessed, hoped for a better life after the dark years of Marcos' Martial Law. He, however, along with the broad Filipino masses, continued to wallow in the quagmire of poverty.

In the recent past, GMA was another 'morning after.' But it was not a hopeful morning for many of us then. Yet the point was to demonstrate that the Filipino people will never tolerate a corrupt president in the person of Erap Estrada. And so forming the broadest alliance against the narrowest target was in fact a fulfillment of a tactical task necessary to complete the counter-hegemonic sequence that would properly fill in the empty universal of the 'new order.'

The distinction between the 'morning after' and the 'new order' stems from the relationship between tactical and strategic goals. Thus, getting rid of the 'morning after 'that has predictably morphed into the nightmare that is Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is a tactical goal that would teach us a valuable lesson or two in the strategic goal of ushering in a 'new order.'

The recent inter-faith mobilization definitely went beyond its target number of participants. Yet quantitative indicators are by no means the only measure of a mobilization’s success.

The organizers, recently tagged as “a dangerous alliance” of “misguided idealists” and “politically motivated personalities, hypocrites to the bone” (Leondro R. Lojo, Young Blood, PDI 1 March) did not seek to unseat GMA right then and there as indicated by the general tone of the script and the particular content of the speeches.

The mobilization was an inter-faith gathering that sought to bring together a force that stakes a claim on civilian supremacy, accountability and truth. By its mere number, this force has shown its potency. But it is the joyful and expectant faces of the youth, who comprised the largest delegation not only in yesterday's rally but in the history of making History that grants a decisive factor to this force.

Cynics are quick to suggest that the broad anti-Arroyo formation is a “dangerous alliance.” But dangerous to whom? Definitely, to the interest of an isolated group of corrupt and tyrannical elite embodied by the Arroyo administration at the moment. It is Macapagal-Arroyo herself who has smashed all illusions of good governance thereby exposing the impossibility of the same within the existing system of oligarchy.

That this “dangerous alliance” can still muster a formidable degree of moral righteousness despite Arroyo's chaotic maneuvers is reason enough to believe that the two previous Edsas were not a waste of time and resources. A retroactive logic may even suggest that People Power I and II were also rehearsals for the ouster of the worst president this Republic has ever had.

That there is currently a polysemy of voices among the youth as the Philippine Daily Inquirer tangentially proffers by featuring Mr. Lojo's piece in its Young Blood segment is less a proof of a polysemic situation than a yet another damning evidence of how media managers function as high priests of obfuscation amidst the people's clamor for truth.

It is not safe to discount Macapagal-Arroyo’s fast-diminishing supporters for it is useless to deny contradictions at this point. But when a dimension of that contradiction involves the voice of thousands of young people taking citizenship to the streets versus a Young Blood piece which sounded more like the angry howling of a veteran lapdog, it is easy to see how the illogic of an old and dying system corrupts the minds of some young people.

But neither Gloria's absurd allusions to international condemnation in the event of another People Power and her threats of an impending economic slump could dampen the democratic spirit of the Filipinos.

The administration currently discredits the broad anti-Arroyo alliance since its largest rally by far was graced by “hypocritical politicians.” Apparently, its new tactic is to magnify the contradictions within the broad united front against Macapagal-Arroyo and to evade the burning issues of corruption, massive fraud and human rights violations.

What happens when a political turncoat or an ousted president turns up in a rally that seeks to remove another corrupt president from office? This situation may cause momentary conflict within the ranks. But clearly, this conflict indicates that the people have a strong sense of history. The people are not about to exonerate transgressors who have yet to pay for their crimes. Unfortunately, for Gloria, the Filipinos have become merciless to criminals like her.

Contradicting claims notwithstanding, truth does not have more than one version. Truth can be cold and stiff because it is always one-sided. That is why it can hurt even the most powerful of liars. That is why it must be spoken to power.

On to the next rehearsal, therefore!

*Sarah Raymundo is a professor of Sociology in the University of the Philippines Diliman.