Streetwise*
The People’s SONA
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo
Business World
Posted by Bulatlat
The feeling was nothing short of exhilarating as wave upon wave
of protestors marched towards the House of Representatives closing off
traffic on one side of Commonwealth Avenue, a twelve-lane major
thoroughfare in Quezon City, in order to hold the people’s version of the
real state-of-the-nation last July 25.
The head of the march could not see the tail end over the sea of people
and the giant streamers calling for the resignation or ouster of Mrs.
Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Organizers estimated the crowd at its peak to be
80,000 while media gave more modest estimates of 50,000-60,000. It was
undoubtedly the biggest anti-GMA rally yet and the biggest protest
demonstration on the occasion of a president’s State-of-the-Nation-Address
or SONA, at least in the post-Marcos era.
Urban poor residents in communities just off Commonwealth Avenue cheered
the marchers on as the latter called out “Pahirap sa masa, patalsikin
si Gloria!” (Oust the Gloria regime, an intolerable burden on the
people!) Many decided to join and stayed at the rally to listen to the
fiery speeches and the enlightening yet intensely moving cultural numbers.
The utterly baseless conclusion by political commentators that the anti-GMA
forces would never be able to muster more than 5,000 demonstrators at any
one time has now been completely demolished. Major anti-GMA mass actions
for which organizers have had relatively enough time to prepare have been
getting progressively bigger and livelier.
The fact of the growing size of the demonstrations is undeniable thus
detractors have taken another tack. A purported leader of the much, much
smaller pro-GMA counter rally at the SONA was quoted by media as saying
that “this is not a numbers game” and that what was important was their
show of loyalty and support to the President.
Pseudo-political
analysts for their part, display their ignorance and/or bias and disregard
the fact that the previous people’s uprisings, EDSA 1 and 2, developed
over some amount of time. Thus it is pointless to compare the size of the
current early build-up in the size of anti-GMA rallies with that of the
peak periods in the previous people power exercises that drew hundreds of
thousands, if not more than a million people into the streets to topple
the ruling regime. Their purpose -- to throw cold water on the political
heat being generated against the Arroyo government – is thus fully
exposed.
The success of the SONA mass protests was not only measurable in terms of
the huge numbers mobilized. Several major alliances -- the Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN), the Gloria Step Down Movement (GSM), the
various groups and personalities identified with former President Joseph
Estrada and former presidential candidate, Fernando Poe Jr (FPJ), as well
as members of the political opposition -- worked tirelessly to bridge
their differences so that a broader unified front of forces committed to
making Mrs. Arroyo step down from office could be forged.
It has not been easy. Aside from the fact that there are wide disparities
between these forces in political viewpoint and practice, for the Left
there are outstanding issues; for example, with regards the sins of the
Estrada regime on the progressive movement and the people as a whole, not
to mention the unclosed chapter of the Marcos dictatorship that
Representative Imee Marcos brings to the fore every time she conspicuously
attends anti-GMA rallies.
But this is akin to the queasy feeling the national democrats (“natdem”)
have had relating as tactical allies with former Marcos defense secretary
then Senator Juan Ponce Enrile during the anti-US bases campaign as well
as “Mr. Trapo” or traditional politician himself, Speaker Joe de Venecia,
over the issue of peace talks with the communist led-National Democratic
Front.
The feeling of unease was also marked when the militant activists had to
march during the anti-Erap movement alongside the “socdems” or social
democrats. The latter have always harbored rabidly anti-natdem views and
elements such as one of Arroyo’s most trusted men Norberto Gonzales, who
has unrelentingly attacked the progressive party list candidates in the
2004 elections, using the well-worn socdem dirty trick of red-baiting.
Then there was the awkward time when leaders of the Reform the Armed
Forces Movement (RAM) had to share the stage in protest rallies with
Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) veteran leader Crispin Beltran. The unresolved
issue there involves the murder of KMU and Bayan’s chairperson, Rolando
Olalia Jr., in connection with the “God save the Queen” coup plot against
the Aquino regime that is attributed to the RAM and for which there is an
ongoing case in court.
Even now, people old enough to remember how Marcos spokesperson and
Information Secretary Kit Tatad, intoned the declaration of martial law,
have the heebie jeebies sitting in the same press conference with him as
he expounds on why Mrs. Arroyo is a bane to the nation.
Arroyo apologists as well as well-meaning critics of the Left have pointed
to the jarring spectacle of Bayan-led forces rubbing elbows, shouting the
same slogans and sharing the same stage with loyal pro-Erap groups.
Recent history had the former leading the movement to oust Estrada while
many among the latter groups still pine for the restoration of Estrada to
Malacańang.
But this is all par for the course. Time an again Bayan and its allied
organizations have entered into specific, short-term and issue-based
alliances even with groups and individuals that are part of the ruling
elite and are programmatically and strategically opposed to its radical
program of reform. The reason for this is no secret: the national
democratic movement is committed to building the broadest unity possible
against the narrowest target; that is, the faction of the ruling elite
that wields state power and is currently causing the most damage to the
lives and long-term interests of the Filipino people. In this stage of
the struggle, that is none other the US-backed Arroyo regime.
Which is why, despite the initial adverse reactions to the Left’s current
alliance with “trapos”, Erap loyalists, etc. the militants are persisting
in the difficult and complicated process of trying to relate to all forces
that are fighting to depose the Arroyo regime.
The motivation to momentarily set aside philosophical and political
differences and even conflicts, is the overriding need to unite against
the illegitimate, morally bankrupt, corrupt, murderous and puppet regime
of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and replace it with a government that can begin
to lift the country and its people from the morass of poverty,
underdevelopment, violent conflicts and political turmoil.
In our book, those are damn good reasons and require no apologies.
*Business World, 29-10 2005
Posted by
Bulatlat
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