| But We Need a Revolution By Antonio C. Abaya Written Nov. 23, 2004 For the Manila Standard, November 25 issue And before someone cites me for inciting to rebellion, I hasten to add that not every revolution is bloody and violent, and not every bloody and violent uprising constitutes a revolution. And not every bloodless and non-violent �revolution� is really revolutionary. Neither EDSA 1 nor EDSA 2 was a revolution, as some of their participants claim they were. Nothing revolutionary transpired during or after the events, merely a changing of the trapo guards as the outs pushed the ins from the seats of power. For the overwhelming majority of the population, nothing substantial really changed. Both EDSA 1 and EDSA 2 could have metamorphosed into bloodless and non-violent revolutions, but the leaders that the events thrust to the fore, along with their retainers, were not revolutionaries in temperament, outlook or orientation. Both Cory Aquino and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the main beneficiaries of the grandly misnomered �revolutions� of the Philippine middle-class, were conservative in their thinking, traditional in their affiliations, and thoroughly timid and unexciting in their visions of the future, assuming that they even had one. In the case of Mrs. Aquino, it was forgivable. She did not crave the position, in the first place. She was thrust into the presidency kicking and screaming, protesting that she did not know how to be president. That the subsequent six years proved her right is the fault of the Rasputins who hovered around her, who �knew how to be president� but gave her poor, often conflicting, advice that failed her. No wonder the yearly celebrations of EDSA 1, at first enthusiastically attended by many of the hundreds of thousands of the middle class who had participated in it in 1986, drew less and less celebrants each year, until the pathetic commemoration in 2003, when there were more security policemen (600) than celebrants (estimated by media at 500). Instinctively, people sensed that somehow the unspoken promises implicitly generated by the events of February 1986 had failed to materialize, and that consequently there was nothing to celebrate. The same fate has befallen EDSA 2. Mrs. Arroyo came to the presidency better prepared and better trained for it, through her academic schooling, her family background and her own calibrated steps up the ladder of political power. But she is living proof that mere lusting for the presidency does not a visionary make, that making noises about a �strong republic� does not make the republic strong, and that avowals to �wage revolution in the way we do politics and economics� do not necessarily result in an actual revolution �in the way we do politics and economics.� On the other hand, the middle class, ever wary of the �R� word, should be informed that a revolution need not be bloody and violent to be considered a true revolution. We all know that the Russian Revolution of 1917 that communized Russia and, eventually, the vassal states that surrounded it was a violent and bloody revolution that resulted in the death of millions of people from state repression, civil war and famine. But not many realize that the events of 1989-1991 that de-communized the Soviet Union and its empire were equally revolutionary even though hardly anyone got killed in the process. People spontaneously walking out on their governments, as happened in Eastern Europe in 1989, is just as revolutionary as manning barricades on the streets, as long as the action results in a qualitative change in the way they are organized and governed. We had also spontaneously walked out on our government in 1986, but there was no qualitative change in the way we were subsequently organized and governed, despite the superficial re-introduction of (fraudulent) elections, a (licentious) free media and a (trapo-dominated) Congress. If anything, our situation in the last weeks of 2004 is approaching the flashpoint of 1985-86 when a combination of economic meltdown, widening social unrest and widespread distrust of the sitting president merged to compel ordinary folks in their hundreds of thousands to walk out on their government. The only element in 1985-86 that is missing in 2004 is a beloved martyr to stoke our outrage and steel our resolve. But in 2004 we have the specters of hunger stalking far more families than it did in 1985-86, of official corruption on a grand scale staring us in the face through the unrepentant eyes of Maj. Gen. Carlos F. Garcia, and of, on average, 3,500 Filipinos � including some of our best citizens � leaving our shores everyday for jobs and economic hope abroad that they cannot find at home. In the closing weeks of 2004, as we bravely try to find some cheer in the coming holidays, more and more Filipinos are likely to come to the conclusion which many others have reached earlier, namely, that the present political system and its attendant socio-economic order are in terminal decay and are no longer capable of regenerating themselves. And much as we in the middle class dread the �R� word, revolution has to be discussed openly and seriously in all its incarnations, variations and ramifications. The communists in the Philippines have been talking revolution even before the Second World War and have been waging it since 1949, at first through the pro-Soviet Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (PKP) under the Lava Brothers, later (since 1964) through the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) under Joma Sison. After the PKP folded its revolutionary tent in the 1970s in an accommodation with the Marcos martial law regime, the CPP became the sole inheritor of the Maoist-Leninist revolutionary mantle, reaching its peak strength in the late 1980s when the communist movement almost succeeded in hijacking the middle class People Power �Revolution� of EDSA 1 through communist sympathizers in the Aquino government. Joma was openly talking of reaching �strategic stalemate� with the AFP by 1992, preparatory to a strategic offensive that would have led to takeover of Malacanang shortly thereafter. But the coup attempt by Gringo Honasan and the RAM against her government in 1987 forced President Aquino to purge her Cabinet of perceived communist sympathizers. That plus the collapse of socialist regimes in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union in 1989-91 and the re-introduction of profit capitalism in China and Vietnam, knocked the wind out of Joma�s revolutionary sails. And as if that wasn�t bad enough, the communist revolutionary movement suffered a major schism in 1991-92 when Popoy Lagman split with Joma Sison over strategy, taking with him the cadres in Metro Manila and Rizal Province as he rejected Joma�s Maoist strategy of waging revolution in the countryside, in favor of an urban-based revolution patterned after the Sandinistas� in Nicaragua. The recent encounter in Hacienda Luisita suggests that, having eliminated, a la Stalin, the heretics and potential rivals Lagman, Rolly Kintanar and Arturo Tabara, Joma Sison will now pursue his Maoist revolution in the countryside with greater vigor, to take full advantage of the deteriorating socio-economic conditions. The only non-communist public figure to talk revolution in 2004 is Evangelist Brother Eddie Villanueva. In the campaign for the 2004 presidential elections, Villanueva was the only candidate to promise a �social and cultural revolution� should he be elected. As a former communist activist, Villanueva understood the need for revolution to overhaul the hopelessly rotten socio-economic-political system But he also understood that the middle class are wary of the �R� word, so he appended a qualifier to distinguish his revolution from that of the communists. And even though he is a professional preacher, Villanueva also desisted from describing the revolution that he proposed as a �spiritual revolution�, apparently knowing that giving it a sectarian color would be potentially divisive and would drive away many otherwise sympathetic mainstream Roman Catholics and Protestants, as well as Muslims, Aglipayans, Iglesias, Buddhists, secular humanists, agnostics and atheists, from his enterprise.. Are Filipinos ready for a �social and cultural revolution�? I think the middle class is. But the underclasses may think it is another term for non-stop singing, dancing and laughing. Reactions to [email protected]. Other articles in www.tapatt.org OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to �But We Need a Revolution� Dear Mr. Abaya, Finally, a mainstream journalist tells the real score about the 1986 EDSA and a poor copy of it, known as EDSA 2 -- that neither was a revolution because not a single structural change was accomplished. Allow me to point out, though, that the 1896 Revolution was just as incomplete as EDSA, its doom starting from the time that the ilustrados led by Aguinaldo stole the revolution from the masses who initiated it. Yes, indeed, we need a revolution and soon. The question is, do the people already know what they would put in place of the social and eco-political structures their revolution will tear down? If not, then that revolution would be just one among a series that only succeed in changing the dramatis personae of the same old corrupt system. Joma's CPP is the only party with a political platform but its ideology is just as foreign as the one's we've had: first, the old colonial ideology of Spain, then the American brand of democracy. You ended your article with "Are Filipinos ready for a social and cultural revolution? I think the middle class is. But the underclasses may think it is another term for non-stop singing, dancing and laughing." which sounds rather patronizing. Like it or not, the Philippines is still an embryonic country, if we were to assume that the birth of the nation began was the time when the "Indio" first began thinking of and calling himself a Filipino. Which makes the Philippines just over a hundred years old. Athough we now live in the 21st century, too many among the Philippines' middle class and practically all the underclasses have not managed to upgrade their mental programming from the old and new colonial systems to the contemporary period. I'm afraid our embryonic country needs at least half a century more to catch up with the revolutionary concept. Rosalinda N. Olsen, [email protected] Norway, November 26, 2004 MY REPLY. This is not the first time that I have debunked EDSA 1 and EDSA 2 as �revolutions.� Please see my articles �The Revolution That Never Was� (Feb. 14, 2002) and �Another Revolution That Wasn�t� (Feb. 21, 2002). I have written so even earlier, but those articles are not archived in this website. As for the �illustrados stealing the revolution initiated by the masses,� what would you have preferred? The �masses� under Bonifacio lost every single skirmish they had with the Spaniards. Bonifacio even overslept on the night a signal flare was fired in Manila to start the long awaited uprising, and so missed the chance to score at least one victory. With losers like these, how could their revolution have succeeded? At least Aguinaldo defeated the Spaniards in several set-piece battles, even if at the end he let himself be bamboozled by the Americans. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Hi, Tony! Please continue writing along this line. Whether we are ready or not, something has to happen. The country can't limp along indefinitely. I considered voting for Bro. Eddie, but in the end feared an FPJ presidency more. I kept hoping and praying that GMA would evolve into a leader this second term. I don't see this happening. What's wrong with us? Lolita Delgado Fansler, [email protected] November 26, 2004 MY REPLY. Our political system, as it has evolved over the decades, is not capable of producing visionary leaders. Because it costs so much money to run for public office, only the very rich, or those beholden to the very rich, win. That guarantees that those who are elected to the highest offices follow a conservative, often very conservative, agenda, which almost always also transforms the offices into rent-seeking vacuum-cleaners, to recover, many times over, the huge investments spent in the campaign. wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Tony, That was an incisive and provocative column. Many notable personages have warned of a civil war, among them the columnist Chikiamco in a forum at La Salle at the height of the move to oust Davide, and Sergio Ortiz in the La Salle-Angelo King Institute conference just last Wednesday, but I dismissed their warnings as the wistful thinking of disenfranchised Erap advisers/sympathizers. But your analysis of the present situation has made me think that a violent revolution is imminent. I hope that as you monitor the evolving situation you will share through your column your fears and prognosis. Oscar Lagman, [email protected] November 27, 2004 MY REPLY. A violent revolution is not necessarily imminent, neither is civil war. What is more likely in the next six months will be increasing social unrest caused by the rising cost of living, during which one or two, even three, individuals may emerge as potential new leaders. Yes, another EDSA exercise, but this time hopefully with a better cast of characters . wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, Very sober, well said, and straightforward. Cesar Sarino, [email protected] November 27, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww We don�t need revolution. What we need is to do voodoo ritual to give no cure sickness to all corrupt officials to eliminate all bad elements in our country including leaders from left to right who are doing for personal invested interest. Abs-Cbn can do this especially magandang gabi bayan who can find sources to this, which they are always featuring to their show. I pity our country, we have corrupt officials and being used by communist and milf as alibi why they are in war with the government, but in fact they are doing this for business interest, all side don�t want peace, they don�t want the financial support to them to be stop. They are like PLO's who don�t want peace. If all these sides think Filipinos don�t know what they are playing, they are mistaken. Anyway if this is they want, we live dangerously the rest of our life. Before I'm so proud to be a Filipino, but now I want to call myself Maharlikan, which is alien name to everybody. I sound funny right but this what we are now a laughing stuff. Alexander Carranceja, [email protected] Kuwait, November 27, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Yeah, we need a revolution, but not of the communist kind. Look at the disasters these assholes have created everywhere. And for what purpose? Not for the claimed betterment of the workers, but solely for consolidating the power of the international money gangsters. So who says - when talking revolution - we should even listen to the leftists or think theirs is the only kind of revolution that can produce change? Why not something sensible and positive for a change? But what kind of revolution would we like to see? Of course, an improvement for the lot of the people. Wouldn't 84 million strong consumers be a paradise? But how? You spoke once of the many unemployable people in this country. Have you ever quantified them? With millions of the *best* leaving every year, the percentage of the former seems to steadily grow. And the change is noticeable today... But how many are they really? Are they big enough to negatively affect a hopefully sensible revolution of the middle class that could bring true betterment to the many? Hitler was the only one who economically went against the international money gangsters. He threatened their money monopoly. And very successfully so. That is the real reason why he has been made into the taboo bogey man of the 20th century. Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending everything he did, but he has been besmirched far in excess of what he really deserves, what with all those gas chambers that never even existed... If you study how he turned the German economy around in short order, (while FDR's failed), you have the blueprint for what should, and could, be done here, (or anywhere) whether you like him or not. And voila, here is your sensible revolution. Of course, you have to put a more appealing label on it... and not count on the support of the money monopolists. Your manufacturing cooperatives idea fits right in there.. . What are the alternatives? a) more of the same and tuloy ang ligaya until b) this finally leads to a senseless bloodbath resulting in the installation of another tin pot dictator. There are sensible solutions for our problems today, but it is doubtful that they will be chosen. (Name and email address withheld on request) November 27, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Dear Tony, I cannot agree with you more that the past two "revolutions" that we have had have merely been a changing of the guards. No real change has occurred in our economic, social and political situation. I think we are taking the Eastern European and Russian path in our change process. I see a slow coming together of advocates for real change culminating in a drastic change of our rotten system and politicians in the near future. I say near future because the signs are becoming more ominous. Among these signs are the party list groups. They have truly revolutionary ideas and have dramatically increased their support over the last three elections. They are now talking about engaging in direct elections for national and local positions rather than just for a party list seat in the House of Representatives. Let me tell you also about other initiatives. Some of us former members of the so called "progressive bloc" in the 8th Congress are pursuing an initiative that we have started then to promote an alternative political culture. We are organizing regional parties in our respective regions that we hope to consolidate into a national party by 2010. Our party is going to be a real institution with established ideals, program of government, party structure and ethical standards. It is going to be similar to parties in advance democracies in North America and Western Europe. Some of these regional parties, like ours here in Region XI, may be ready to contest election for selected local positions in 2007. It is also possible that we may join forces with selected party list groups. Initial discussions are now ongoing. The support that we are getting from all sectors of society is very encouraging. We now have a rapidly expanding movement to promote a federal form of government. Nine out of ten persons on the street here in Mindanao support a change to a federal form of government. Such a form of government is going to break the monopoly of vested interests, mostly based in Metro Manila, on policy making. Policy making is going to be at the local level where people can more effectively participate. It is easier for concerned sectors of society to put pressure on a local government than on one so far away in Metro Manila. I would not be surprised if party list groups, political groups like ours and other concerned sectors of society may come together and make the outcome of the 2010 presidential election far different from any other. In fact, at the rate that the federal movement is expanding, the presidency might yet become irrelevant. We might all be more concerned with electing our respective state governors and members of state legislatures than a national president in 2010. These movements on the ground are not so visible there in Metro Manila. People there are so detached from realities in other parts of the country. The news in major national dailies reflect this. Despair easily seeps in there while those in the countryside just do their thing to make things happen. In the early 70s for instance, nobody in Metro Manila has ever appreciated the seriousness of the independence movement in Muslim Mindanao. This has been the case until the MNLF has started overrunning military outposts and towns. Even the AFP in Mindanao, who take orders from commanders busy with their own power plays in Camp Aguinaldo, has been caught unprepared. Right now here in Mindanao there is talk of separating from the rest of the Philippines if the national government is brought down by any of these rumored destabilization plots. These are serious talks with serious people being involved. I bet no there in Metro Manila knows about this until it blows. Regards, Gico Dayanghirang, [email protected] Davao City, November 27, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Sir: I wish to comment on a passage from your "But We Need a Revolution", Manila Standard, 25 November 2004 issue, specifically: "If anything, our situation in the last weeks of 2004 is approaching the flashpoint of 1985-86 when a combination of economic meltdown, widening social unrest and widespread distrust of the sitting president merged to compel ordinary folks in their hundred of thousands to walk out on their government." "The only element in 1985-86 that is missing in 2004 is a beloved martyr to stoke our outrage and steel our resolve." This passage very accurately expresses what an OFW told me, who recently returned from vacation in Pangasinan. He said something like, "Talaga pong mag-aalsa na ang mga tao sa aming bayan sa hirap ng buhay, naghihintay na lang sila na may mag-uumpisa." or some equivalent formulation, which I doubted then, about 3 weeks ago, to be coming from the pulse of the masses. Reading your column, I am slowly beginning to be convinced that there seems to be no way to "overhaul the hopelessly rotten socio-economic-political system" other than by an R. It might interest you to know that I voted for Eddie Villanueva in the last overseas absentee-voting elections. Very truly yours, M. Melicor, [email protected] G�mligen, Switzerland November 30, 2004 wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww |
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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Tony, The Revolution will be lead by someone we would not expect to. He (definitely not a she, so Susan Roces is out) will emerge once the opportunity presents itself. Rick B. Ramos, [email protected] December 20, 2004 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |