Comments on: The Politics of Owning and Remembering EDSA

By: justo apostol

justo apostol — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 02:47:12 +0000

hello.
by the way i am an avid supporter of EDSA social movement of 1986. in fact, i am writing a philosophical research regarding this event specifically on the philosphical ethical evaluation of the EDSA as a social movement.
do you have some thoughts regarding this context. can i ask your help, how can i turn this pieces of writing into a philosophical piece.

By: EDSA discourse 2010: history & “ideology”

EDSA discourse 2010: history & “ideology” — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 09:10:48 +0000

[...] this from sparks’ The Politics of Owning and Remembering EDSA is a valid observation. A monopoly on history is a monopoly of power. A monopoly of telling the [...]

By: mario taporco

mario taporco — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:01:16 +0000

A little bit of history.

Phillipine Activism Honored [Nicanor Perlas] by Rachel Milanez

On Common Ground [Nicanor Perlas] by Grace Lee Boggs

By: The Cusp

The Cusp — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 12:46:24 +0000

It’s ready. I hope I haven’t oversold it.

By: J_AG

J_AG — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 04:19:03 +0000

Looking at the Philippines through anglo saxon eyes wherein the enlightenment philosophers theorized on the heart of classical economic theory. –labor theory of value.

But that was when most of the world was still agrarian and the complexities of the specialized division of labor had not yet occurred. The industrial revolution changed all that. Governments then reacted to that massive societal change as the working classes demanded more to the surplus value created.

The role of modern governments thus changed during the 18th and 19th century that propelled the Western Europe and eventually the U.S. founded on the bedrock principles built around Lockian property rights. The deep foundations of this system is built on a tolerable system of justice. That is how trust is embedded in institutions of the state and not in persons. Commerce and industry cannot prosper in a state where trust is missing in interactions between men. Hence filial relations rule and not a system of laws.

Just look at the Aquino and Arroyo families. We are choosing between persons who we trust to promote our self interest. So the Aquino badge or Arroyo badge becomes our amulet. It is primordially tribal.

How then can you have a discussion about fiscal and monetary policy when this presupposes a working effective state that can defend itself in its primary function.

Right after the American revolution the federal government went to war against its own citizens to insure the proper collections of taxes. The Whiskey tax.

The state of the Philippine state can be best measured by the question—- Who is afraid of the tax man?

Prices of goods and services are principally based on the labor theory of value.

The country still does not have a culture of engineering, mathematics and science. Religion and superstition still prevails.

Look at the entire Presidential slate.

By: Lila Shahani

Lila Shahani — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:10:26 +0000

Hmm — interesting, cusp. Would love to read your take when you’re ready.

By: The Cusp

The Cusp — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:02:04 +0000

I’m working on it, Lila. It would require a lengthy discussion. I will be posting something on my blog shortly, but at the heart of it lies a growing demand for the rule of law among our economic and political elite.
I know it doesn’t seem like it, and there is nothing inevitable about it. But if you trace the last 24 years and look at historical precedents elsewhere (I am talking 17th C England here), we might begin to see some (a lot of) historical parallels.

By: Lila Shahani

Lila Shahani — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:36:06 +0000

Actually, it’s young people who tend not to respect and remember EDSA. If u had lived under the Marcos dictatorship, u wouldn’t take the gains of EDSA for granted. I was a young girl during martial law, but I remember it vividly.

Many young people tend to take a lot for granted — the right of people of color and women to vote in the US; the fact that rape is no longer considered to be a crime against chastity in the Philippines, to name just two examples — all the while forgetting what earlier generations had to go through to get to where we r today. Marcos was an absolute dictator and it took a lot of guts to go against him. Those at EDSA, the Cory, the “heroes” and all the ordinary people protesting in the streets, deserve far more credit than u accord them. Generally, it’s brats who’ve never had to fight for anything significant (and I don’t mean a job or a boyfriend here) in their lives who tend to make such insensitive and shallow statements.

By: Lila Shahani

Lila Shahani — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:26:14 +0000

Could u possibly be a little more specific about this “cusp of something new,” the cusp? It would help to ground the discussion a little. Thanks.

By: Lila Shahani

Lila Shahani — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:16:52 +0000

“Perhaps the tendency to multiple views on EDSA 1986 is a measure of how fractured and segmented we remain.” I disagree: historical narratives r all about multiple views, as students of history will tell u. That’s why we have terms like “historiography,” which is about HOW history is written — is it a master narrative (white, colonial, male, elite, etc) or a subaltern one (tribal, peasant, female), for example? That’s why there r different “schools” that look at the same period from very different points of reference. Different subjects r privileged by each school. So I would argue that multiplicity is in the nature of historical writing itself, because there will always be multiple views of any event, whether it is EDSA or something else. While we r fractured in many ways, it is not because of “the tendency (towards) multiple views” but because of a far more complex set of reasons there is no space to go into here.

As for “the glimpse of heaven all too brief before reality landed us back on the ground,” that strikes me as being somewhat naive, if u don’t mind my saying so. People at EDSA weren’t expecting “heaven” — they just wanted the Marcos dictatorship to end. Those who thought ALL our social ills would die and go to heaven were quixotic peddlers of wish-fulfillment. Part of the problem is that people tend to have unrealistic expectations. Revolutions, especially bourgeois ones, don’t lead to heaven: they lead, at best, to short-term change. It is up to US to remain vigilant, and to slowly but surely attempt to enact long-term change with every passing generation.