In February of 1986, hundreds of thousands of Filipinos made historical past as they took to the streets in a protest that lasted for 3 days to win again their freedom and overthrow the dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
In the occasion now famously referred to as Edsa 1 or People Power Revolution, this historic second was one of many shaping elements of our nation, that confirmed the braveness of Filipinos in combating again (even when it meant risking their lives) towards a tyrant’s abuse of energy.
It additionally exhibits the patriotism of Filipinos, and their love for nation and fellowmen. This is true as Marcos wasn’t the final president to be overthrown by the individuals by public demonstration. President Joseph “Erap” Estrada was additionally overthrown in January 2001, within the occasion referred to as Edsa 2.
But why do politicians get overthrown anyway?
This is how politics works: through the marketing campaign interval, candidates act a sure approach–extra charming and charismatic, and would say completely something to win the belief of the individuals and acquire their votes. But because it occurs, as soon as they’ve gained, they immediately have a shift in angle and their true colours and intentions come to gentle.
Thus, the individuals’s name for these politicians to be faraway from workplace. More typically, merely voicing it out doesn’t do a lot, that’s why large demonstrations occur.
After experiencing the tragedy of martial regulation, Filipinos have discovered a factor or two on who, and who to not vote for. They search for pink flags or “a la Marcos” attitudes in every politician who runs for workplace.
In the case of President Duterte, Filipinos voted him into energy believing he might make enhancements to the nation, simply as he did in his hometown, Davao City, the place he served as mayor for over 22 years.
But as time handed, a collection of unlucky occasions have occurred: the acute human rights violations and extrajudicial killings within the warfare on medicine; the pressured shut down of ABS-CBN; the assaults on Rappler CEO Maria Ressa; the Anti-Terror invoice; the campus militarization of the University of the Philippines; the threats and red-tagging of activists; and the resurgence of web trolls pretending to be in help of the federal government with a view to silence its critics.
Parallelisms
People can’t assist however discover the parallelisms between the Duterte and the Marcos administrations.
“Duterte’s regime is considered de facto dictatorship, even without martial law being proclaimed as Marcos did,” mentioned Shtefany Ezra Quisumbing, a freshman Political Economy scholar on the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
“Both (Duterte and Marcos) are dictators who surround themselves with rich and powerful people in order to get away with anything they want,” mentioned Eloisa Tandoc, a freshman Political Science scholar on the University of Santo Tomas. “Both of them labeled citizens, even those who haven’t been proven guilty, as enemies of the state. They justified the killings. Both built a landscape ruled by fear and violence.”
With all of those abuses that mirror the occasions of the martial regulation period, Filipinos are having none of it. “We join rallies because we cannot bear to remain silent in times like these,” mentioned Jake, a scholar at Far Eastern University. “People are dropping dead on the streets and their rights are being abused. Alangan naman wala tayong gawin.”
While a few of the youth take their criticism on the streets, some make the most of the facility of social media.
“Social media reaches an insane amount of audience, pati yung mga nasa ibang bansa. Beware lang na may makasagupa kang trolls,” Jake continued, referring to the so-called “troll armies,” social media customers whose essential objective is to harass and red-tag online critics of the administration.
In early April 2020, Twitter shut down a whole lot of troll accounts defending the Duterte administration’s COVID-19 response, stating that they had been discovered to be in violation of the social media platform’s coverage on manipulation and spams.
In September 2020, quite a few troll accounts on Facebook had been additionally shut down, which had been allegedly linked to the Philippine National Police and the Philippine Army. Quite a lot of individuals additionally got here ahead with their tales of being employed as troll armies (all anonymously, for worry of retribution) acknowledged that they had been paid primarily based on the variety of posts that they wanted to publish, all in favor of the administration.
Open our eyes
For Quisumbing, it doesn’t matter the place we select to specific our voices, simply so long as we don’t stay silent. “The problem lies with the citizens who still choose to turn a blind eye to this. It is high time that we open our eyes, and not be swayed by his words or promises. What we want is action. Are you really going to entrust your life to the same man who would not think twice about taking another’s?”
“When we hear Edsa, the first thing that comes into our mind is not rarely ever the highway, but the revolution of 1986,” Jake mentioned. “Na kahit anong danasin ng Pilipino sa kamay ng mga pasista, lalaban at lalaban ang masa para sa karapatan nila.”
For Quisumbing, Edsa is one thing that serves as an inspiration to all Filipinos. “We might not have witnessed the event firsthand, but it is something we can look back to and serve as a reminder that we can all fight for what is right,” she mentioned. “We no longer watch and sit idly by as we are being mistreated by the administration. We do the best we can in letting our voice be heard–rallies, even in cyberspace, and this is just the beginning.”
“Edsa is a reminder that despite our differences, we can be united as a country. It is a reminder of the power of Filipinos when they unite and work together, especially in the battle for freedom and against oppression,” mentioned Tandoc.
It is secure to say that Edsa, within the perspective of in the present day’s youth, is not simply an occasion that our nation skilled again in 1986, however is now extra of a mindset of standing up for our rights.
In this time of nice injustice and poor governance, similar to our grandparents, moms and dads who fought for our freedom on that high-quality day in 1986, we, the so-called “future of the nation,” are actually those who’re standing up and talking out, and we won’t cease combating till goodness, justice, and freedom prevails.
This is our Edsa.
The writer is a scholar of University of Santo Tomas
Read More at lifestyle.inquirer.net
source https://infomagzine.com/this-is-our-edsa-inquirer-lifestyle/
No comments:
Post a Comment