on facebook philippine star business columnist boo chanco posted this new york times link about the surge of protests around the globe — india, israel, greece, spain, even wall street — and posed the question:
young people the world over have lost their patience. they don’t even feel voting making a difference. i wonder how much time we still have in the philippines before we join this world protest against government, the elite, the status quo.
steve salonga‘s comment:
well, certainly, electoral politics in a population such as ours needs re-thinking. The options are vague at the moment, but i agree with the assessment that things have changed and old institutions are in need of reforming. But when do we begin to talk and discuss such options? Who should start it? When?
and i wondered about our young people today. the last time our youth united against government, the elite, and the status quo was in the mid sixties and early seventies, and then marcos declared martial law.
today i read about these young people claiming to be united for the philippines (YUP! daw) but they’re against the RH bill and insist that
“large populations, when empowered by opportunity and reliable governance, are assets to economic growth.”
i’d like to think they’re a small group, coming from the 3 out of 10 minority that’s against RH, but until we hear from a youth majority that’s united for RH, and better education, and systemic change, not just an end to corruption, it would seem that our young people are still a long way off from the kind of protests that are stirring up the globe.