Words of wisdom for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Mike Defensor, and all those in her administration who think that arresting members of the opposition left and right (pun intended), and shutting down the media, will help ensure peace and order, and help keep them in power:
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin, A Historical View of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania
A variation of the quote above is "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
Many people have already pointed out the obvious-- that the arrests of Prof. Randy David, Crispin Beltran, et. al., as well as the raid on the Daily Tribune, couldn't have come at a worse time. You don't celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the rebirth of Philippine democracy by trampling on everything it stands for. Unless, of course, you want people to go back to the streets and take back what they fought for 20 years ago.
You can criticize Erap for all his faults, but at least he didn't do anything to stop the opposition or everyone else from converging at the EDSA Shrine to protest against what his cronies in the Senate did. He could have very well sent police to arrest members of the opposition who went to the EDSA Shrine to call for his ouster. For months before he fell, Erap was at the receiving end of calls for him to step down, much like the sitting President is now (albeit, for different reasons). But he didn't shut down the newspapers that slammed his leadership everyday, and reported on the various movements and groups being formed to kick him out. Our lives were miserable, but at least we could speak out without fear of reprisal. (Except if your name is Chavit Singson, but that's another story.)
Ah, but then again, maybe this president and her advisors have learned from the mistakes of her predecessor. Maybe they see the similarities and the parallelisms between the events that led to Erap's downfall, and the events of the past few days. Honestly, I don't. Most people, despite their distaste for the current leadership, have become resigned to the realities of a GMA presidency. They (myself included) aren't going out of their way (i.e., flock to EDSA) to bring her down, without more compelling reasons to do so.
Even if it were true that certain elements of the military were planning to use anti-GMA rallies as venues to announce their withdrawal of support for the current administration, this still wouldn't have meant squat without the same kind of popular support generated by EDSA II. Even if these elements of the military-- in tandem with the left-- attempted a coup, I doubt they would've been able to get the people behind them. On the contrary, such an undertaking would have only turned off the common tao. Asked to choose between the uncertainty of a revolutionary government headed by people with guns, and a questionably-elected, poorly-run democratic government, most would have found the latter to be a far more acceptable lesser evil.
As hard as life has become for most of us, we have at least had the benefits of living in a democracy. The prices of everything may have gone up, but at least we could sleep soundly every night, knowing we could damn the government to our heart's content, and not have to worry about being dragged to jail the next day. By hanging this cloud over our heads, this administration is starting to make the idea of a revolutionary transition government look like a more attractive alternative for more and more people.
If many of us had no reason to go to EDSA last week, we're being given more and more reasons every day. History tells us that repression does little more than stoke the fires of rebellion. There's a lot of wisdom in heeding the lessons history teaches; these are lessons, however, this administration refuses to learn.
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin, A Historical View of the Constitution and Government of Pennsylvania
A variation of the quote above is "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both."
Many people have already pointed out the obvious-- that the arrests of Prof. Randy David, Crispin Beltran, et. al., as well as the raid on the Daily Tribune, couldn't have come at a worse time. You don't celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the rebirth of Philippine democracy by trampling on everything it stands for. Unless, of course, you want people to go back to the streets and take back what they fought for 20 years ago.
You can criticize Erap for all his faults, but at least he didn't do anything to stop the opposition or everyone else from converging at the EDSA Shrine to protest against what his cronies in the Senate did. He could have very well sent police to arrest members of the opposition who went to the EDSA Shrine to call for his ouster. For months before he fell, Erap was at the receiving end of calls for him to step down, much like the sitting President is now (albeit, for different reasons). But he didn't shut down the newspapers that slammed his leadership everyday, and reported on the various movements and groups being formed to kick him out. Our lives were miserable, but at least we could speak out without fear of reprisal. (Except if your name is Chavit Singson, but that's another story.)
Ah, but then again, maybe this president and her advisors have learned from the mistakes of her predecessor. Maybe they see the similarities and the parallelisms between the events that led to Erap's downfall, and the events of the past few days. Honestly, I don't. Most people, despite their distaste for the current leadership, have become resigned to the realities of a GMA presidency. They (myself included) aren't going out of their way (i.e., flock to EDSA) to bring her down, without more compelling reasons to do so.
Even if it were true that certain elements of the military were planning to use anti-GMA rallies as venues to announce their withdrawal of support for the current administration, this still wouldn't have meant squat without the same kind of popular support generated by EDSA II. Even if these elements of the military-- in tandem with the left-- attempted a coup, I doubt they would've been able to get the people behind them. On the contrary, such an undertaking would have only turned off the common tao. Asked to choose between the uncertainty of a revolutionary government headed by people with guns, and a questionably-elected, poorly-run democratic government, most would have found the latter to be a far more acceptable lesser evil.
As hard as life has become for most of us, we have at least had the benefits of living in a democracy. The prices of everything may have gone up, but at least we could sleep soundly every night, knowing we could damn the government to our heart's content, and not have to worry about being dragged to jail the next day. By hanging this cloud over our heads, this administration is starting to make the idea of a revolutionary transition government look like a more attractive alternative for more and more people.
If many of us had no reason to go to EDSA last week, we're being given more and more reasons every day. History tells us that repression does little more than stoke the fires of rebellion. There's a lot of wisdom in heeding the lessons history teaches; these are lessons, however, this administration refuses to learn.
2 comments:
Hey Jed, here's a thought for you to ponder: would a revolutionary transitional government be really that different from the state of emergency that we have currently? The only thing that was different with EDSA I and II was that the people were behind a woman that is just backed up by the military. If a revolutionary transitional government were to be established by a militaristic group, then all hope is lost for the Philippines.
Better the devil that we know rather than the devil that we don't, eh? Well,you ARE right-- a country under a militaristic group sort of extinguishes all hope for our country. My question is, how sure are you that we aren't under one now?
That, essentially, is my point. As long as people SEE a difference between a democratic government and one established my a coup, ten times out of ten, they'll go with the former. But if they see their elected leaders doing the same things associated with a militaristic, fascist state-- i.e., arresting people without according due process, muzzling the press-- then that MAY just make Filipinos consider other alternatives.
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