Free radical

By Victor Peñaranda

I shall experience you as a seed
Drifting unobserved on emerald sea,
Catch you as recurrent wave on a fine day
When shell begins listening to sand.
Let me participate in your universe
As radical embedded in the free market,
Who rescues strangers from becoming
Abstract or hieroglyphic in a crowd,
Leads them gently towards open space
Where they can thirst into lovers
Unassuming as melting glaciers.
I can die today like a dry bottle of rhum
Beached on shore, without a message,
And wake up like rainbow tomorrow
To feel the perfect cone of your volcano.
Our charged presence can prevent
Windmills from turning obsolete,
Allows atoms of chance encounters
To remember each other across distances,
Longing and racing to come together
Exquisitely infinite, quicker than light.

July 3, 2013
Tagaytay

“EDSA UNO, A Narrative and Analysis with Notes on Dos & Tres”

my third, and last, book on EDSA.  448 pages including endnotes, bibiliography, and name index.  foreword by ninotchka rosca, afterword by patricio n. abinales, and blurbs by randy david, peque gallaga, and rene saguisag.

EDSA UNO… was launched last sunday and is now available at the UP Press Bookshop in diliman, qc, and Mt. Cloud Bookshops in upper session road, baguio.  tomorrow it will be available at AKLATAN, an all-filipino book fair in magallanes, makati.*

of course i am somewhat unsettled by the timing, i.e., the synchronicity, the unplanned co-incidence, with the pork barrel protests presently rocking the nation.  these are testy times, and i would be the last to call for an EDSA kind of ouster of the president.  that would be a big mistake just because we have no one better to replace him with — i mean, one who offers an alternative program of government and development sans pork barrel, one we would, could, all happily get behind.

but i have no problem with #ScrapPork rallies at the EDSA shrine, and any other place for that matter, as long as the goal is to gather people together for consciousness-raising re Freedom of Information and the evils of the pork barrel system.  let a hundred rallies bloom, indeed.

*AKLATAN, September 7, 2013 at the Alpha Tents. 6th floor, Alphaland Southgate, EDSA cor. Chino Roces Avenue (Beside the Magallanes MRT station.)

* for orders write radikalchick@gmail.com or text/call katrina: 0915 532 2578

Let a hundred rallies bloom

By Katrina Stuart Santiago

The aftermath of the August 26 rally has been radio silence, at least if what we were waiting for from its organizers was a plan, a vision, if not at the very least a bigger picture against which we could plot a continued fight against the pork barrel system.

Granted that the Million People March liked to call itself leaderless, and was made up of the “not organized” or the “not affiliated” individuals such as myself, I think now that this was meant to only last about as long as its Facebook event page. That is, it expires the moment the event’s done, never to be seen again.

I think that the August 26 Scrap Pork rally, is the August 26 Scrap Pork rally. It is over. It was over the moment we realized that the people who were part of it had nothing planned really, for August 27.

And the truth is it’s okay, because August 26 will always be historic, will always be valuable, for having gotten people out on the streets again to take a stand against the state of governance in this country. August 26 might not have gathered a million people, but it gathered enough of us, volunteers with disparate views included, to show this government and the rest of nation that we cannot stand for this kind of corruption anymore.

But instead August 26 is being tainted with its own class biases. And no, this is not even just a matter of it being called a middle class rally, which it most certainly was. This is about the kind of discourse that has come out since then, because no it is not silence that we have gotten.

Instead it has become this seeming superiority complex, where one having done the August 26 rally, one might now speak of what is a good and proper gathering, and what isn’t. Instead it has been about careless queries about who people are connected to and how, and suspicions-on-overdrive about who’s affiliated with which politician and since when? Why on EDSA? That is too disruptive, it is being said. Why on a weekend? Is this legal?

At the heart of all this of course is the question of motives. And yet one wonders: what are we afraid of? There is no messing with the value of the August 26 Million People March, and at this point supporting actions against the pork barrel is really the only way to go.

Yes, there is the call to now refocus energies on the 100-day investigation. But that shouldn’t mean just waiting it out until its December 6 deadline. That’s a good three months at least of nothing but waiting. That’s a good three months that we are allowing government to live peacefully and quietly, thinking that we have compromised—or that the people ever will—because they can be silenced by the surrender of someone like Janet Napoles, and those televised budget hearings in the Senate.

That’s three months of going back to social media activism—which is really barely activism at all when you think about it. It’s like taking a million steps back, after proving on August 26 that there is value in moving from Facebook to Luneta, from social media to the streets. To go back to the confines of these virtual spaces fails to consider the value of sitting with others, hopefully strangers, and learning something new about the pork barrel there and then. To go back to doing Facebook and going all crazy on our statuses, fails to consider how many need a better conversation about the pork barrel, and how that conversation needs to happen right now.

Because if we don’t engage in that conversation, then it is government that will continue to peddle the notion that it has scrapped the pork barrel because it has scrapped PDAF. If we don’t have these conversations now, then we lose the opportunity to continue to engage the ones who know they have much to learn, and want information right now. If we don’t do this now, then we lose whatever it was that August 26 had going for it.

Which was what exactly? A sense of democracy. The idea that if we all agree on the abolition of the pork barrel, then that is enough to unite us. The belief that if we go from that issue to others then those are individual perspectives and causes that need not be taken on by the rest of those who are only on that line of scrapping pork. The conviction that all we need is to unite on scrapping all pork, because that is the only way we can actually prove our numbers, and even more so our anger as a people and demand change.

It seems strange to have to state it here. But when you think about it, the fact that the August 26 Million People March was handled the way it was, and was fueled by this kind if discourse, just might have pushed for the various rallies and activities from the less expected organizers (i.e., not organized groups). And in which case, shouldn’t it take pride in what it has achieved? In having pushed individuals to take the cause on?

I have gone as an individual to more meetings for scrap pork rallies than I have ever gone for anything else. I have had the best conversations about it with people who are planning these rallies. There are more to come, I’d like to tell PNoy, but also I’d like to tell the rest of you who went to Luneta on August 26. This is not about going to one gathering and thinking your task done; neither is this the time to go all cliquish or elitist about rallies. If there’s anything August 26 taught us all, it’s that we can co-exist in the same space, and I bet you, even on the same stage if we dare do a program.

Multifarious perspectives were accepted at the Million People March, as long as these commonly believed in scrapping all pork. Now all we need to prove is that we believe in its notions of democracy and unity.

Let a hundred rallies bloom. Let the conversations continue. It’s the only way.

calling out peachy and jim (or, why not on EDSA?) #ScrapPork

in the time of EDSA Uno, lines were clearly drawn; the parliament of the streets was united behind cory from the snap election campaign to the victory rally in luneta to the four days in EDSA.  in Dos, however, the people who wanted erap ousted after the second-envelope fiasco, didn’t agree at first on who to replace him with — the elite wanted gma, the left wanted a council of state of sorts, and yet others wanted davide — but they all came together at the EDSA shrine anyway, and, in the process and over time, rose above their differences, united behind gma, and that was the end of erap.

amazingly (and then, again, maybe not), the “non-organizer” of the aug 26 luneta rally, who has chosen to “disengage” from the movement isn’t really disengaging pala, she can’t seem to let go, or why else does she now explicitly discourage moving the action to EDSA?  i sincerely hope that the gaffe is unwitting, political naif that she is, rather than witting, which would mean she is not above helping the palace prevent an EDSA crowd of any kind from gathering against pork.

Peachy Rallonza-Bretaña
31 August near Manila • Edited
Just to clarify, the EDSA call is NOT from me and not the same as the #MillionPeopleMarch. #ScrapPork has nothing to do with Marcos’ bday or martial law. And besides, anything on EDSA is too disruptive to our economy and the daily lives of the ordinary taxpayer like us who eke out a living. We want to make an impact yes, but an impact that works within the system and doesn’t throw us back to the bottom of the pit again. Thus the #100days to Justice. I am quite sure there will be those who will get angry at me for saying this but I just want people to be more aware of whatever they’re getting into.
Please repost and share if you feel the same way.

“work within the system?”  was that what she thought the luneta rally was about, working within the system?  that’s almost like playing into the palace spin that we’re all on the same side as the president on the pork barrel issue, which is far from true.  “100 days to justice?”  does she really think there’s a chance that government peeps will fall all over themselves to deliver all culprits for punishment in a hundred days if we don’t level up from unorganized disorganized luneta picnics and unite behind clearly articulated and non-negotiable demands?

she says “EDSA is too disruptive to our economy.”  hmm. i hope she means only in the sense of traffic problems — thus the aversion to a rally in EDSA — and not because she’s against any kind of EDSA action, even prayer rallies and townhall style discussions aimed at information exchange and eventually coming to a consensus on abolition, hopefully (rather than mere reform na tila tuloy tuloy ang kickbacks).

if the former, it would be a simple matter of engaging with the organizers and suggesting that they hold the rally on a weekend, less traffic, kahit paano; not that there’s any guarantee the organizers would listen, of course, but at least she tried.  if the latter, then it might be connected with her fear of militants taking over the movement, not seeing the fact that the militants are but a small sector of the huge silent coalition who went to luneta that Monday, and that these more numerous unorganized and unaffiliated citizens are intellectually capable of facing up to the challenge of sifting the grain from the chaff in pursuit of the common good.

she’s right, #scrapPork has nothing to do with marcos’s birthday or martial law, but if those days fell on weekends, okay na rin. If we don’t want the unrepentant marcoses and marcosistas gatecrashing, we could make it a day too of national reflection on how, and why, ferdinand marcos failed us. time for history lessons.

weekends would be good just because more people are likely to come than on a workday, but if that’s just me, okay lang.  maybe we have to hold one on a workday to see for ourselves what works and what doesn’t.  it’s like starting from scratch, but again that’s okay, as long as learning happens.

not surprisingly, self-styled guru jim paredes who was part of the luneta rally, as volunteer or something, reposted peachy’s no-to-EDSA facebook status.

Jim Paredes shared Peachy Rallonza-Bretaña’s status. 1 September

Yes Peachy!.. YES. I too will not go to any rally that falls on the day of Marcos Birthday. And yes, EDSA is too disruptive a place. With too many operators now moving in the shadows, I am very skeptical specially since some people associated with the past regime are suddenly calling for mass action.

“too many operators now moving in the shadows,” hmm.  i hope paredes realizes that he seems as much an operator as any of the ones he’s referring to, gven his continuing unflinching unwavering support for the incumbent. what did he say at the rally? something like, government is listening.  yeah, right.  but government is also hoping the noise dies down asap so they can get back to business as usual.

read And Just Like That, the Concept of “Social Media Revolution” Dies Choking on the Astroturf.  ben kritz is spot on:

There was already some evidence of an effort by the Administration to ‘hijack’ the protest last Monday with the appearance (appropriately given an abundance of attention by the government-backing media) of well-known Aquino apologists such as Jim Paredes and Mae Paner (delete mine), the catcalls and jeers directed at former Chief Justice Renato Corona which were apparently instigated by Administration supporters planted in the crowd, and this simpering paean to Aquino posted in the hours before the demonstration by “social media expert” Cocoy Dayao, which was seized upon by both of Malacañang’s Designated Talking Persons as evidence of genuine support from the public. Whatever else can be said about the Aquino Machine, their grasp of the importance and potential of social media as a propaganda tool is formidable, and well it should be: Social media management is the responsibility of the unctuous, ethically-challenged, but extremely intelligent Manuel L. Quezon III, the third and clearly the most adept of the three Cerberus heads of the Palace Comm Group.

… Social media as a means to effect the change this country needs had an incredibly short life-span, and is now dead. It may have gotten the ball rolling, but its primary use now is to simply telegraph every idea and planned move of protestors to a hostile government desperate to stay in power and more than capable of using the public’s own technological tools against them.

peachy is reported to have tweeted that it’s “too soon for an EDSA gathering.”  i hope she means it’s too soon IF the objective is the ouster of the prez.  but, as far as i know, this is NOT the objective.  the objective is to exchange information, raise questions, find ways of reconciling differences, the better to present a united front for Freedom Of Information and against the pork barrel system and all its evils, especially the ghost NGOs and contractors, and the kickbacks to the honourables.

and to those who say that EDSA Uno was a failure anyway, i say, EDSA Uno was a huge success, the million people stopped tanks and ousted a deeply entrenched dictator without bloodshed.  no.mean.feat.  it was post-EDSA that was the failure, and that’s where and why we need to level-up.

if you don’t get it, or you’re happy enough with the response of the aquino admin, or your priorities simply lie elsewhere, fine.  just, please, don’t stand naman in the way.