He said: “I tell you truly, this poor widow put in more than all the rest; for those others have all made offerings from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has offered her whole livelihood.” – Luke 21:3-4
“The old Washington Consensus is over.”
The declaration which was made by U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown as the G-20 Summit wrapped up in London last week (and in which U.S. President Barack Obama may have acquiesced) could have direct bearing on the now infamous Chip Tsao “satire.”
In his HK Magazine column, Hong Kong Chinese writer Chip Tsao took the liberty of scoffing at the Filipinos: “As a nation of servants, you don’t flex your muscles at your master, from whom you earn most of your bread and butter.”
The muscle-flexing was supposedly exhibited by the Filipinos because of the passage in Philippine congress of a “baseline law” by which Filipinos have asserted their sovereignty over “a regime of islands” in the Pacific that China and other neighboring countries also claim.
But what has Brown’s statement got to do with Chip’s shot?
Before attempting to answer the question, maybe we should get the facts straight first: there appears no other place in the world that’s extremely dependent on the service sector of its economy than Hong Kong (only tax haven Cayman Islands in the Caribbean is possibly the exception). Therefore, if we believe Chip Tsao’s notion of servants (which to him extends to “civil servants” and “servants to God”) it is not the Philippines but Hong Kong that befits most appropriately to bear the appellation of “a nation of servants.”
Now, the proposition that will be advanced in this little piece is: that the “old Washington Consensus” has dichotomized nations of servants like Hong Kong into high-end service providers and low-end service workers, all set in motion by the dynamics of globalization.
Let’s try to connect the dots.
Washington Consensus (the consensus among Washington D.C.-based institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and the U.S. Treasury Department) has been associated with globalization and specifically with the programs of 1) liberalization (free trade and free movement of foreign capital), 2) privatization (transfer from government control or ownership of state enterprises to private hands) and 3) deregulation (the removal of government regulation over private businesses). Washington Consensus is said to see the world through the prism of big business and the financial community at the expense of other concerns such as labor and environmental issues. Also, the bitter pills of austerity and “structural adjustment programs” (e.g., cuts in education and social welfare spending) heavily indebted countries have been made to undergo are among the measures Washington Consensus has prescribed to these debtor countries supposedly in order to make them “competitive” and thereby enable them to pay their debts.
The opposite effects however have seemed to have occurred, with those countries subjected to adjustments program having remained deeply indebted. And with the grave burden of servicing the debts (in the Philippines interest payment alone eats up about a third of the nation’s GDP), the resultant economic problems aggravated by the lackadaisical performance of economic elites have produced social and economic dislocations, among other serious consequences, affecting women specially. This looks like the plight of Louisa, Chip Tsao’s “domestic assistant,” who despite holding a degree in “international politics” has limited employment options in her own country and thus has succumbed to the dynamics of the global economic order by allowing herself to be exported to Hong Kong and work for Chip Tsao as household servant.
The export of workers from countries beleaguered by the old Washington Consensus, it should be stressed, is not dictated alone by an individual’s survival instinct or by the zeal and sacrifice to serve loved ones back home. It is also driven, on the one hand, by the exporting country’s need for “bread and butter” hard currency and, on the other, by the receiving global metropolis’ imperative for highly skilled professionals that propel the engine of its service industry upon which a large chunk of its GDP is heavily reliant (In Hong Kong, the service sector component of its GDP is a whopping 92 percent, with manufacturing comprising only 7.9 percent and agriculture virtually nil). The lifestyles of these professionals have induced a labor market for caregivers, nannies, and housemaids, mostly women and immigrants, and other low-paid service workers (janitors, workers or staff of fashionable shops and restaurants which cater to the wants and needs of these professionals) that have become necessarily interwoven into the global economic infrastructure.
The political economy that allows the transnational flows of information, capital and trade which create demand for highly educated servant class managing global economic processes also facilitates, unfortunately, the expedient devising of economic survival strategy of nation-states disadvantaged by the old Washington Consensus that allows the export of women and other vulnerable servant class serving their privileged counterparts. Hence, despite the gaping divide or uneven configuration in a global financial capital like Hong Kong between the high-end servants and low-end servants, one servant class actually inevitably complements the other.
Filipinos, however, steeped in the experience of people power struggle, do not take affronts to their dignity and personhood lightly, whether collectively or individually. The indignation unleashed by concerned Filipinos in the blogosphere and in other venues which somehow culminated in a mini people power staged by 7,000 Filipino in the street of Hong Kong to protest the Chip Tsao affair is proof that even in a lopsided power relation, change is possible.
Only recently, a bright schoolmate and town mate of mine, Pura Velasco, a widow who was initially employed as a live-in domestic worker in Canada, has empowered herself to become a nanny advocate by confronting powerful politicians, organizing meetings and rallies and actually rescuing nannies from abuse. After 20 years of fighting for caregivers’ rights, she received about a week ago the news that the Labor Ministry of Ontario is sponsoring legislation that will regulate nanny recruitment industry by, among other things, banning placement fees charged to foreign caregivers, creating a hotline to receive complaints of abuses and commencing “targeted enforcement” of agencies violating labor laws.
My own niece, Maria Corazon Margallo-Gans, has initiated the complaint before U.S. authorities in her behalf and in behalf of eight other Filipino contract workers (hotel housekeepers) that sent their employers in Oacoma, South Dakota to the federal penitentiary for the crime of peonage.
But a lot more is expected from the powers that be. For one, unless the old Washington Consensus is really over in such a manner as to allow developing countries grow their national economy on their own terms (in like way President Obama is allowed leeway to find radical measures to address the crisis of American capitalism) and until the economic elites of struggling economies like the Philippines stop living off on the back of women and the vulnerable, the reality that Chip Tsao and Louisa have to deal with and accounts of exploited overseas workers are likely to stay for the long haul.
“. . . I am among you as the one who serves.” – Luke 22:27
HAPPY EASTER TO ALL!
Popularity: 1% [?]
To nielsky:
Under-20 is the Flesch-reading-ease score of Abe Margallo’s opus above. Under-20 is also the Flesch-readability-ease score for his “SC review imperils Mindanao peace process” blog post.
64 — for Benign0′s opus, a shade better than the 57 for your “Is government weak?” opus.
76 – for Marck’s “The Filth and the Fury” opus.
52 — for jcc34′s open letter to SC Puno.
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reference:
http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesch_Reading_Ease
For those interested in “reading-ease”, click here for additional material:
http://www.mang.canterbury.ac.nz/writing_guide/writing/flesch.shtml
Hey Abe, remember my article “Imagine a world without oil“?
Here’s something to refresh your memory:
Happy Easter! :D
Globalization is the trend of our times. If one country’s economy is
ill, as large as the U.S., every other country that has its economy tied to the large country will be affected. It is like a communicable disease. It spreads rapidly. We have the consequences already.
Whether we are a nation of servants or not, it depends on how we look
at ourselves and face our Realities. Filipinos are adventurous people.
We go all over the world, to look what is there. We may work as servants, hired helpers, etc…but some of us have made it. We succeed in our ventures. Then, our neighbors, kins people, etc…will see our accomplishments. They will follow also. Gaya-gaya. Words of mouth will spread to the barangays, to the town, etc…we now have the situation. Of course, this was caused also by our economic difficulties.
Like the Irish in Ireland, when there was a Potato Crop Failure in
their country, many Irish fled to America to get away from the
the Famine.
Abe,
So do you think this little display of “mini people power” as you call it will prevent other comedians, columnists and pundits all over the world from making some aspect of Filipino culture or Filipinos themselves the subject matter of satire, sarcasm, and other forms of verbal and written witticism?
“Filipinos, however, steeped in the experience of people power struggle, do not take affronts to their dignity and personhood lightly, whether collectively or individually. The indignation unleashed by concerned Filipinos in the blogosphere and in other venues which somehow culminated in a mini people power staged by 7,000 Filipino in the street of Hong Kong to protest the Chip Tsao affair is proof that even in a lopsided power relations, change is possible.”
You make Chip Tsao sound like a full battle-ready division of the People Liberation Army all by himself!
Kawawa naman si Chip Tsao!
A people-power surge forces GMA to leave via helicopter:
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PATTAYA, Thailand – Anti-government protesters stormed a convention center where leaders of Asian nations were to meet Saturday, smashing doors and searching room by room for the prime minister. Thailand’s government canceled the summit and airlifted the leaders by helicopter from the seaside city.
The red-shirted protesters, who are calling for the resignation of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, declared victory and walked away from the complex after about an hour.
“We have won. We have stopped them from holding a summit,” Jakrapob Penkair, one of the protest leaders, said in the capital, Bangkok. “But we have not achieved our goal yet. We will continue to protest in Bangkok until Abhisit resigns.”
Abhisit, who has repeatedly refused to step down, went on national television and declared a state of emergency in the area surrounding the summit, but revoked it about six hours later after the leaders left safely.
He called the protesters “enemies of Thailand.”
abe, to put your piece in lenten context, if i may, the lesson of “maundy thursday”, including the washing of the feet of the apostles by Jesus, reminds us that being a “servant”, i.e., doing an act for the benefit of another, however menial, is divinely noble. of course, domestic workers are paid for their services but, except for indentured slaves, who aren’t? all of us are “servants” in one way or another
Mike H,
Well, my apology. But you know the subjects of political economy and globalization are not easy and entwine them with the various levels of stewardship (which was my other intention as Bencard correctly appreciates it) you will find that one blog post will be wanting. I hope this explains some of the kilometric phrases although as you will note there’s been deliberate attempt in the piece to break them with “shorties.”
Benigno,
If we focus for now on the survival dynamics in Honk Kong, Filipino nannies and household workers actually take on the difficult roles of housewives or mothers (or fathers) – so that those hotshots will have more freed-up times to serve the world, at least in their own minds.
I agree that’s where the adaptive process is at for the time being, which as you suggested could evolve further into other forms. But the stark reality still remains thus: it is not that simple or unproblematic to dispense with mothers or wives on both sides (i.e., Chip Tsao’s or Louisa’s loved ones back home) not even when the trade off is the precious HK dollars, again either on the high-end or the low-end.
DJB,
It appears that in terms of power relations, the HK-based and self-styled satirist who digs at the powers that be in the mainland is part of the romantic mob who hollers up at the emperor although as regards Louisa, he’s the emperor himself. But in the overall scheme of things in Hong Kong’s polity, Chip Tsao belongs to the Establishment, therefore a fair game to the romance of the mob.
Ano ang readability sa Chip Tsao blog na ito?
http://www.streetstrategist.blogspot.com/
63 – Chip Tsao’s (original) article
54 — street-strategist’s blogpost.
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71 : Pres Barack Obama’s inaugural address
57 : Former Pres Bush 2008-state-of-union address
58 : this Neal Cruz article
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20090406-198133/Why-Arroyo-is-freeing-criminals
Prof. Abe,
Your piece, with the eye-opening heads up on the “crime of peonage” brings to mind the concepts of voluntary, and involuntary servitude, and further back in time, the very matter of slavery which your namesake, Manong Abe Lincoln, left as his immortal legacy to the United States.
Thinking that it is now that great nation’s first president of Afro-American heritage tasked with leading his people out of their deepest post war recession, isn’t it apropos that tangentially a morning of new life is upon us?
Happy Easter, all. :)
Yong readability index is Readability for Dummies Index type?
Mike,
I thought that you honestly don’t want the work of a ‘metrician’?
You know Mike, I know you’re good but since the Flesh thing is of recent invention (1994 was it and a mere doctoral dissertation?), it is not governing in any piece of essay much less a mere blog.
People might tend to believe that you know your long and short of the English language, grammar, syntax, idiom and all. Baka naman pa impress ka lang.
I am not impressed.
GMA looks at jobs abroad as the panacea to unemployment. Perhaps she should look inward. Take for example our staple – rice, we are the world’s biggest importer. Can GMA not harness the resources of government to convert this paradox into an opportunity to create millions of jobs? In fish farming also, there is an emerging technology called “aquaponics” or the combination of raising of fish and vegetables, which can adapt even in urban centers. Perhaps the agriculture and fisheries departments should minimize their “paper work” – the bureacratic art of drawing up and passing paper from one desk to another, thus creating a semblance of work, and spend more time in the field and really get something concrete moving. An Israeli official was once quoted as saying: “…give us your country and we will feed the world.”