The spirit of The EDSA revolution, for many it is the modern day testament of the spirit of The Filipino people. It shows that as a people, we can achieve a great victory over tyranny. People Power, the term that gave birth to a new democracy after the shambles of tyrannic rule.
Being only just in the single digits of age, I know not personally what transpired during the years of Martial Law rule under The Marcos regime, but the results have reverberated, and the lessons still ring loud and clear. It is the lesson of love and of courage. The love for our country and our people, there are those who are willing to sacrifice even their own lives for that love. And the lesson of courage to stand up, united, and know that indeed there is strength in numbers and ideals.
The past year saw the greatest symbol of EDSA, Cory Aquino, pass away with great dignity. Today, a nation still stands at the crossroads, with great uncertainty, as the years since EDSA seems to have passed by without much great progress.
And yet, The EDSA many believe is as much the spirit of the revolution as it was the revolution itself. I tend to believe in both. The great achievement of those who stood up against tyranny, the great acts of heroism that will never be chronicled, and the ones we see in history books too. And continuing even today, because the spirit of the revolution should always stay with us. To forget is a saddening prospect, and yet, we know all too well, that even the tyrants of yesterday are being resurrected, molded for a new generation who has forgotten or has never known, the struggles and pain of what it meant to be under Martial Law rule.
The history books are being re-written, the campaign for the hearts and minds, they wage on, and in the battle of misinformation, heroes become villains, and villains become heroes.
It is important that we do not forget, every year we pass by this momentous occasion, and each year, the fanfare seems to die down. It is disheartening to even imagine, that someday in the far future, a desolate area will have become of EDSA, forgotten in the hustle and bustle of the every day living of Filipinos. No longer a beacon of light, nor a symbol of freedom and love, but just a place where traffic happens to pass by.
In that desolate desert of forgotten heroes, I choose to remember, because ongoing are the battles, the same battles that was fought decades back, they are still with us today. We should not grow weary, but strengthen in our resolve, the battles, they have just started, recharge and refresh my good friends.
EDSA and the spirit that emanates from that revolution, let us keep it with us. It should always be, part of what defines The Filipino people. People Power, let it not be just a slogan or a mere reminder, let it be a call to action.
Popularity: 4% [?]
I think history has already been rewritten. EDSA was a victory for a right-wing coup which eventually allowed for a Marcos restoration. The real winners were Enrile and Ramos. Cory was just a symbolic figurehead meant to lull the spirits of any genuine reform.
I believe that is not the score. We as a people became complacent. We are slack in guarding the ‘freedom’ we got from EDSA’86…
EDSA 1 is dead. Let’s get over it.
It happens to everyone.
It happened to France when Robespierre dropped from Hero to Zero…it has just happened to Ukraine with the castoffs of the orange revolution back in power…and slowly happening to Obama who will soon have to compromise and dilute his idealistic goals with the Republicans..
So don’t feel sorry for the Philippines, post-revolutionary hangover is a global malaise.
Interesting points, Nash!
“don’t feel sorry for the Philippines, post-revolutionary hangover is a global malaise.”
Yeah, EDSA could just be a hiccup in the Philippines’ long march in history.
Who was it that said: to avoid getting depressed, people should stop being feelingeros/eras. Try this from Desiderata: ‘strive to be happy.’
the best I have heard from you Nash… well said.
Nash, as usual, you drive home a point that only a well read individual such as yourself can make. Not many people could come up with those comparisons, and you do have a point. I think pragmatism is the apt term in what you say. Fair enough. I have to agree actually. Still, I think, that the lessons we gather from that event, it is still a good compass that we should still strive for. Like the 10 on the richter scale, not achievable, but we know what it is…
The sentiments expressed by Nick in this post reflects the despair of a star-crossed lover who occasionally falls in- and out-of love with an “ideal” person who from time to time fails to live up to that ideal (see The Cusp, “2nd Chances Don’t Come Easy” 20 Feb 2010). Just as with Cory, many now are ascribing all the most submlime qualities to her son. They are bound to suffer bouts of disillusionment as a result.
After 24 years (more years have now been spent post-Marcos than under him, enough time to correct the vestiges of his regime), people are entitled to ask ‘what will be different this time around?’
EDSA is not some patented franchise that one can invoke whenever it suits his or her interests. Since EDSA, our leaders have been depleting the social capital that was built up and overflowed in that brief shining moment. They have done this through transactional politics where they “take” and then dispense a portion back to the public in the form of patronage.
To renew the spirit of EDSA requires them to once again “give” or “give up” the privileges that they have. What that means is to act against their self-interest as per what Ninoy and Cory demonstrated. What is required today is NOT the laying down of life or liberty, but the restraining of indulgences and acts that lead to injustice. The beautiful thing that EDSA proved is that when our leaders act according to the ideals they spout, the people reciprocate with their own sacrifice. The act of “paying it forward” pays dividends in the end (see The Cusp, “Countering the Calculus of Corruption, 1 November 2009).
thank you for the insights.. Emmanuel right? It is indeed the need for all to sacrifice, not just our leaders, but a continuing sacrifice for us as well. I know it is hard since many Filipinos continue to sacrifice whether they have the option to do so, but I think it is pertinent and needed in the times we live in. We, who have the means, must lead as well. The Filipino as a whole, it may sound cliche, but still, change must still start with all of us too. And not just our leaders.
That’s all true, Nick. I would just add that the people or “middle forces” as they sometimes are called are an inchoate mass that are mobilised from time to time. To mobilise them does require leadership, otherwise, their aspirations just get dispersed.
And many among us do feel we have sacrificed enough by working hard (some overseas), remitting or paying taxes, offering our lands (what little there was to an agrarian reform that was unevenly implemented), etc. When we see our leaders use all that sacrifice for their own benefit, it does not engender trust or a willingness to put things on the line for them.
The differences among politicians who belong to the EDSA and non-EDSA traditions tend to get blurred as a result. What is required today is a renewal through sacrifice led by our elite (as every successful revolution in history has come from the aristocracy). Only then can a culmination of the unfinished revolution begin to take place.
Edsa is irrelevant. It is history, it is done. A better focus is to make progress for today and tomorrow.
The dynamics of progress and opportunity are very different in the US than in the Philippines. Two main forces in the US are: (1) a court system that allows people to litigate for changes in the rules that govern society, and (2) an open capitalist system that cherishes individual ambition, skill and productivity.
(1) The Philippines has a closed court system that blocks access to ordinary people, thereby being just another system that favors the favorites in power, and it blocks litigation as an avenue for progressive change. (2) The common hiring of friends, family and favorites to key jobs suffocates productivity by plugging up the avenues where ambition is best expressed, through careers that lead talented people to influential positions. This in turn fosters corruption as the best way for ordinary people to get ahead.
Who the president is does not matter as long as the country goes in circles because its infrastructure is set up to make that happen. I suggest forget about the presidential race, as it is meaningless, and begin work to build pipelines for (1) progressive action, via the courts, and (2) production, through individual ambition.
I would add that it has come to my awareness, another epiphany, that bloggers, in the main, do too much yammering and not enough work to generate change.
Joe
Smacks too much of New England pragmatism (Hawthorne’s “Shall we never, never get rid of this Past?…It lies upon the Present like a giant’s dead body.”), even Ford’s can-do individualism (“History is bunk.”).
Bloggers, by definition, do a lot of yammering. Or shall we go China’s route and employ an army of hackers to smoke these pesky do-nothing bloggers out of their hidey holes?
apanfilo,
I would suggest an army of bloggers, organized on the same progressive agenda, to accomplish specific deeds . . . to become a force in the Philippine social infrastructure.
Modern opinion-makers on the move . . .
I’ve got the agenda, if you’ve got the time . . .
Joe
i’m in Joe..
Leytenian,
so noted.
Joe
Yep, I think we should also move on. A fault we have is we live too much on our former glories that we become paralyzed to the present problems at hand. The present is where we should focus on.
What I meant for this is for politicians using it as a source of vanity. To look good to the people because I think the meaning is being lessened. But for the people. It is important that we remember it, and the lessons from it.
It seems to me we can no longer do anything about the present, just the future. At best the present learns from the past and steers a course in the future. But the past can never be detached. It forms part of the cycle that leads to the perfection of human civilization. Is this not the reason for teaching history? Successful countries are those with visionary leaders, because it is the future that must be dealt with, not the past nor the present. Mukhang obvious, pero parang malabo sa ibang mga kababayan natin.