Here is a video that encapsulates it all: the precise instant that Romanian dictator Nicolai Ceausescu lost control of his people.
The title of my entry is taken from the title of one of my favorite chapters in one of my favorite books,“Shah of Shahs” (Ryszard Kapuscinski).
And this is my favorite passage from that chapter, a useful reflection as we look back to 1986 and 2001, and ponder what we want to happen in the days, weeks, months, years to come:
Revolution must be distinguished from revolt, coup d’etat, palace takeover. A coup or a palace takeover may be planned, but a revolution -never. Its outbreak, the hour of that outbreak, takes everyone, even those who have been striving for it, unawares. They stand amazed at the spontaneity that appears suddenly and destroys everything in its path. It demolishes so ruthlessly that in the end it may annihilate the ideals that called it into being.
It is a mistaken assumption that nations wronged by history (and they are in the majority) live with the constant thought of revolution, that they see it as the simplest solution. Every revolution is a drama, and humanity instinctively avoids dramatic situations. Even if we find ourselves in such a situation we look feverishly for a way out, we seek calm and, most often, the commonplace. This is why revolutions never last long. They are a last resort, and if people turn to revolution it is only because long experience has taught them there is no other solution. All other attempts, all other means have failed.* Every revolution is preceded by a state of general exhaustion and takes place against a backdrop of unleashed aggressiveness. Authority cannot put up with a nation that gets on its nerves; the nation cannot tolerate an authority an authority it has come to hate. Authority has squandered all its credibility and has empty hands, the nation has lost the final scrap of patience and makes a fist. A climate of tension and increasing oppressiveness prevails. We start to fall into a psychosis of terror. The discharge is coming. We feel it.
As for the technique of the struggle, history knows two kinds of revolution. The first is revolution by assault, the second revolution by siege. All the future fortune, the success, of a revolution by assault is decided by the reach of the first blow. Strike and seize as much ground as possible! This is important because such a revolution, while the most violent, is also the most superficial. The adversary has been defeated, but in retreating he has preserved a part of his forces. He will counter-attack and force the victor to withdraw. Thus, the more far-reaching the first blow, the greater the area that can be saved in spite of later concessions. In a revolution by assault, the first phase is the most radical. The subsequent phases are a slow but incessant withdrawal to the point at which the two sides, the rebelling and the rebelled-against, reach the final compromise. A revolution by siege is different; here the first strike is usually weak and we can hardly surmise that it forebodes a cataclysm. But events soon gather speed and become dramatic. More and more people take part. The walls behind which authority has been sheltering crack and then burst. The success of a revolution by siege depends on the determination of the rebels, on their will power and endurance. One more day! One more push! In the end, the gates yield, the crowd breaks in and celebrates its triumph.
It is authority that provokes revolution. Certainly, it does not do so consciously. Yet its style of life and way of ruling finally become a provocation. This occurs when a feeling of impunity takes root among the elite: We are allowed anything, we can do anything. This is a delusion, but it rests on a certain rational foundation. For a while, it does indeed look as if they can do whatever they want. Scandal after scandal and illegality after illegality go unpunished. The people remain silent, patient, wary. They are afraid and do not yet feel their own strength. At the same time, they keep a detailed account of the wrongs, which at one particular moment are to be added up. The choice of that moment is the greatest riddle known to history. Why did it happen on that day, and not on another? Why did this event, and not some other, bring it about? After all, the government was indulging in even worse excesses only yesterday, and there was no reaction at all. “What have I done?” asks the ruler, at a loss. “What has possessed them all of a sudden?” This is what he has done: He has abused the patience of the people. But where is the limit of that patience? How can it be defined? If the answer can be determined at all, it will be different in each case. The only certain thing is that rulers who know that such a limit exists and know how to respect it can count on holding power for a long time. But there are few such rulers.
So was 1986 a Revolution by Siege and 2001 a Revolution by Assault? And the fate of the President lies in her hands, not in those of her critics. Something to ponder. I’ll give you a couple of concrete examples of what I mean.
In the case of Manuel Gaite, his wife has, understandably (and even justifiably) enough pleaded for fairness because of the public criticisms of her husband’s behavior. But we ought to consider how much of the outrageous arrows of fortune now sticking out of her husband, is due to those who have accepted Jun Lozada’s statesments as Gospel truth, and how much are due to Gaite’s own statetements -and that of the Palace. Gaite’s defense is a simple one: he is a good soldier, but a foot soldier may be the first to fall, as Fr. Joaquin Bernas points out in Shielding the President; and a soldier, even if good, fighting to what end? As History Unfolding points out, an official may fight well but not for worthy goals. Even the good soldier defense, as Torn & Frayed pointed out, insults the intelligence.
For this reason and many others (he surely had a hand in drafting some of the most noxious executive issuances of our time), while I sympathize with Mrs. Gaite and I think Gaite himself tries to be a good person, I am unsympathetic to where this has all led him.
In his testimony before the Senate, and indeed, on the basis of the administration officials who testified, one thing they didn’t shirk was that they tried to prevent Lozada from appearing before the Senate. Gaite admitted the Palace’s objective was to facilitate Lozada’s leaving the country until the Senate could wrap up the ZTE hearings. A recent Inquirer summed it up as a confession of conspiracy. What the administration tried to dodge was the allegation of abduction.
Another, and related, example is this: Lozada passport turned over to court. I’ve heard it said that when the passport was produced, the faces of the lawyers from the Solicitor-General’s office fell. The whole problem with the passport, apparently, was that a stamp showing Lozada had gone through immigration upon his arrival would have demolished the claim of an abduction. The problem was, no lower-level person from the Bureau of Immigration wanted to be a party to order to stamp the passport: it would have required a lower-level bureaucrat to stake his name and reputation on saying he’d stamped the passport when Lozada arrived, when no immigration official did. This implies that these bureaucrats didn’t think it was worth their while to take the heat for their bosses -and the surrendering of the passport to the court by a lower-level security person is a similar refusal to further take the heat for the bosses.
Let me refer, once more, to my Thursday column, Minimum and maximum, which tries to distinguish between two courts: of public opinion and of the law. Each has their proper place and they are not, much as the Palace insists, mutually exclusive: but each has its proper place and both are being actively resorted to (most recently: Lozada files kidnap, murder raps vs Razon, Atienza, et al ). Last Tuesday on my show my lawyer guest pointed out that Lozada’s testimony before the Senate is significant, in that it can be used to impeach him in court cases; therefore his assertions can actually fortify or weaken cases related to him or to officials in the courts.
Meanwhile let me state for the record that whatever my own preferences may be, I do not think a consensus for People Power exists, yet; or that there is even a widespread demand for the President’s resignation, yet: because there is no consensus on what should come afterwards. I find it heartening that people from all sides are making efforts to encourage arriving at a consensus.
But I do think three things have happened: first, more people are open to either option, and second, that the President faces a significant erosion in the constituency she fairly successfully claimed to represent from 2001 to the present: big business, the entrepreneurial class, include the Filipino-Chinese merchant class, professionals, and the provinces, and the majority of the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Why this has taken place, now, is best clarified by Manuel Buencamino in his column, Everyone has a limit.
At the Mass in La Salle Greenhills on Sunday, I saw a classmate and good friend of Mike Arroyo. I teased him, took his picture with my cell phone, and told him, “I’m going to ‘MMS’ this photo to your friends Mike and Gloria.” He replied, “I already waved my middle finger at them when I passed the security cameras at the gate.”
I saw a nun from the Assumption College, Gloria Arroyo’s alma mater and bastion of support. My daughter commented, “Look, dad, there’s a lonely Assumption nun. Are they breaking ranks?”
I laughed and texted Manuel Quezon III about the apparition and he texted back, “She is not alone.”
Everyone has his limits. I suppose that’s what Gloria’s bishops meant when they said there is some good in everyone, including unrepentant liars, bribers, cheaters, plunderers, kidnappers and murderers.
Third, even among those still unprepared to consider resignation or People Power, there is also a growing number of people who have reached the conclusion that the President does not intend to step down in 2010, but they are still digesting the implications of this realization.
As Amando Doronila points out in Mounting outrage, little momentum :
Although there are signs of increasing public outrage over the NBN scandal, a higher state of outrage is needed to send huge numbers of people to the streets. The military is watching the size of the crowd before it makes a move either to remain loyal to the commander in chief or withdraw support, like it did in 2001, when the general staff dumped Estrada.
And yet, as Mon Casiple suggests,
Malacañang is scrambling for the initiative. Mobilization by friendly LGU units are being planned, sprinkled by a few pro-GMA NGOs and church personalities. A media offensive has been launched — against Lozada, JDV, the opposition, and even against Vice-President Noli de Castro. The de Castro media attack seeks to prevent a possible de Castro defection that can fundamentally undermine GMA’s chances of survival.
And so, for betting men, the Asia Sentinel (in Philippines + Scandal = Life Goes On , which resembles Doronila’s views) is right in saying the advantage remains with the administration. For some, the old arguments still hold water, as shown by A Simple Life. See also …got my life back….
But if it is unable to turn the tide before Holy Week, then what? Let’s return to Mon Casiple:
If it is not able to regain the initiative in the coming days, then the momentum for people power may not be denied and a GMA resignation will be the only outcome, either to preempt people power or as a consequence of one. The key institutions to watch are the Catholic church, big business, military, the Cabinet, and the ruling coalition. All these are watching closely the rise of the people’s movement and are making their decisions on an hour-by-hour basis.
The political crisis may be resolved in a matter of days or weeks; failure to do so will create a sustained and debilitating crisis for the rest of the year.
Ricky Carandang pretty much sees the same challenge facing the administration: having created problems for itself, how does it turn the tables on its critics? In a suitably short period of time, too. See what reporter Jove Francisco has to say, too, about the way old strategies don’t work as effectively, anymore. See pine for pine for another example. But blog@AWB Holdings doesn’t think that trotting out the President’s Assumption friends really helps.
There is only so much we can do. But of the things we can do -consulting with people, fostering consensus, but also, recognizing our own limits and what we will do if those limits are going to be crossed by possible events- let’s do them.
There is another broad consensus that I think exists: that the problems are deep, and yes, systemic, and this means once we take a step in a particular direction, we have to ask ourselves if we are prepared to live with events unfolding to their logical conclusion. Which, of course, includes the risk of unintended consequences, too.
Let me close with another illuminating passage from the same chapter from the same book I quoted at the beginning of this entry:
The Shah’s reflex was typical of all despots: Strike first and suppress, then think it over: What next? First, display muscle, make a show of strength, and later perhaps demonstrate you also have a brain. Despotic authority attaches great importance to being considered strong, and much less to bering admired for its wisdom. Besides, what does wisdom mean to a despot? It means skill in the use of power. The wise despot know when and how to strike. This continual display of power is necessary because, at root, any dictatorship appeals to the lowest instincts of the governed: fear, aggressiveness towards one’s neighbors, bootlicking. Terror most effectively excites such instincts, and fear of strength is the wellspring of terror.
A despot believes that man is an abject creature. Abject people fill his court and populate his environment. A terrorized society will behave like an unthinking, submissive mob for a long time. Feeding it is enough to make it obey. Provided with amusements, it’s happy. The rather small arsenal of political tricks has not changed in millennia. Thus, we have all the amateurs in politics, all the ones convinced they would know how to govern if only they had the authority. Yet surprising things can also happen. Here is a well-fed and well-entertained crowd that stops obeying. It begins to demand something more than entertainment. It wants freedom, it demands justice. The despot is stunned. He doesn’t know how to see a man in all his fullness and glory. In the end such a man threatens dictatorship, he is its enemy. So it gathers its strength and destroys him.
Although dictatorship despises the people, it takes pains to win its recognition. In spite of being lawless -or rather, because it is lawless- it strives for the appearance of legality. On this point it is exceedingly touchy, morbidly oversensitive. Moreover, it suffers from a feeling (however deeply hidden) of inferiority. So it spares no pains to demonstrate to itself and others the popular approval it enjoys. Even if this support is a mere charade, it feels satisfying. So what if it’s only an appearance? The world of dictatorship is full of appearances…
…The most difficult thing to do while living in a palace is to imagine a different life -for instance, your own life, but outside of and minus the palace. Toward the end, the ruler finds people willing to help him out. Many lives, regrettably, can be lost at such moments. The problem of honor in politics. Take de Gaulle -a man of honor. He lost a referendum, tidied up his desk, and left the palace, never to return. He wanted to govern only under the condition that the majority accept him. The moment the majority refused him their trust, he left. But how many are like him? The others will cry, but they won’t move; they’ll torment the nation, but they won’t budge. Thrown out one door, they sneak in through another; kicked down the stairs, they begin to crawl back up. They will excuse themselves, bow and scrape, lie and simper, provided they can stay -or provided they can return. They will hold out their hands -Look, no blood on them. But the very fact of having to show those hands covers them with the deepest shame. They will turn their pockets inside out -Look, there’s not much there. But the very fact of exposing their pockets -how humiliating! The Shah, when he left the palace, was crying. At the airport he was crying again. Later he explained in interviews how much money he had, and that it was less than people thought.
This passage suggests many things; among them, the solid logic behind Atty. Raul Pangalanan’s arguments against The arguments for inaction.
And how’s this for action: First Gentleman leaves for Hong Kong–airport sources: Lawyer clueless but says not evading NBN probes.
Yesterday I texted some people I know outside Manila what they think, re: Lozada. Responses:
Bacolod:
hati rin kmi d2, sa ofc (provl gov’t) we biliv some facts bt questns are many like dat of what he dnt tel snce it s a big questn y now lg xa went out to d open… Protectn 2 life yes, but we cnt say 100% we biliv him…
Also from Bacolod:
They all believe him. But they are also disgusted with his investigators. Nobody I know trust that the Opposition want change -they just want their turn. The big change is they all hate GMA now but no tipping point. [The politicians are] discombobulated. They don’t know how to read the situation now. Even Bacolod’s notorious GMA lapdog Monico Puentevella who has managed to be close to all Presidents since Cory has signed a resolution against GMA which means He’s also paving the way for the next power “just in case.”
A student journalist at La Salle Bacolod:
Do u believe in Jun Lozada’s statements? 1000 Lasallian students. [survey results] 73% YES. 9% NO. 18% undecided.
From Naga City:
Save for some ppld identified wid Dato Arroyo phoning in radio programs, public sentiment is overwhelmingly wid Jun Lozada by a mile. Metro Naga chamber of commerce broke ranks wid PCCI and issued a statement supporting Lozada. Ateneo de Naga and Univ Sta. Isabel leading regl signature campaigning asking GMA to step down./ Ders a big protest event slated tom. da prolonged rains -for more than a wk now- notwithstanding
From Cebu City:
I think most people from Cebu are indifferent when comes to politics. But people do consider him credible. As a business person, most policies of the present administration are skewed towards favored businessmen. Regulatory Capture of Government Agencies is so obvious. Get rid all the nasty people hostaging the president. She’s good but helpless.
Also from a Cebu City friend currently traveling:
Met up w/friend (f. 32, married, filchi, alabang) n BKK, she says ppl back home don’t care anymore -the’ll see see what comes.My sister (f.41.single) joked “Who’s he” but says she was in NAIA with him the other night. Before I left Cebu, my thought my thought was: is this guy for real? is he honest? we all sort of presume that BigBoy is also BadBoy but really do we want yet another popular uprising? I suppose the general sentiment is… there’s a lack of it. people are getting apathetic again -at least marcos babies like us.
From Davao City:
So far, people believe him and his testimony… Pero as far as suportng anodr edsa, dats anodr story. I belv they wud want 2 w8 4 2010. No ppl powr dis tym… Prblm s corrupt s so widespread that ppl hv bcm cncal on d mattr… Evn d senators ond way or odr s nvolvd.
South Cotabato, according to the Davao City texter,
N so cotab2, d sentiment s mor ntense re anti gma coz its a known opositn area.
In Manila, a student from UST has this to say:
Still lookng 4 a concrete thing to do besides rally. Mabe if we start pressuring congressmen to support impeachment now. Itll giv anyone intrsted somthng to do.
Many of dem talk re hs crdblty n hw d whol plan 2 covr up only incrsd prcption dat he’s saying d truth, bt many r also dsenchantd w/ d hrings. F u ask me, d real ish brot abt b d series of NBN probes is being muddld by focus n prsonalties (lozada’s crdbtly, neri’s conscience, abalos’ guilt, gma’s involvmnt). Mnwyl, no 1. evn d opp s movng fast 2 fx d dysfnctional govt procurmnt 2 prvnt such deals frm hpening agn. Dat’s y ppol get tyrd of it ol n tune out
Congres or any poltcian is always undr d comand of pblic presure. Bt pols cnt feel that presure, bec media coverge is muddld, ppol just tune out. F media focuses n d real issues, ppol wil spil on d streets nt (jst) to chnge govt bt to presure it to initiate chnges. When ths starts n media covrs frm an ishus prspctv, a virtuous cycle wil begin, more powrful thn any powr brker. That kind of media advocacy hs bn sucesful in Africa, Europ n evn in US.
D real ishus r d dysfunctions in govt, thos dat Neri hs bn lamentng in hs polecon lectures. No one wants cheatng, bt no one is pushng… for elections effciency. No wnts coruption, bt no one is pushng to chnge d govt procurnmnt systm. no one is keeping govt audts in check (unles they cn use it for poltcal blakmail). D ishus r nt poverty. Povrty s an efect of our systemic problems, w/c is y that shud be our focus, nt ppol. Bec whoevr sits in gov’t r accidntal to do problem. Corruption cn always prospr in a systm left unchckd.
And from a lawyer:
Funny u shld ask, I was discusing it wid an ofcmate ystrdy, he said at first he was riveted by d whole thing but lately wid d idiots in d legislature grandstanding (galit lang dawbec dey werent in on it) he has gotten tired and tuned it out. Sad, and maybe dats d point of dis admin, 2 make pipol so sick as 2 turn apathetic as a way 2 cope.
And I.T. person:
Most people i talk to believe him, they see no ulterior motive for what he is doing.
As for the blogosphere, yugatech on how wiretapping’s getting cheaper; missingpoints on comparing Lozada to Singson. Bayan ni Kabayan on trying to understand Joker Arroyo. The Venom Speaks suggests we all make a self-check first.
Update, 2 am Saturday: noise barrages have caught the imagination of students! Check out video in Life’s precious moments don’t have value, unless they are shared. , and photos in *dawnskee* and rheavargas and I’m becoming tired… , as well as descriptions in spread YOUR wings and catch ME as i fall 🙂 and Fly and forever dance and Me, Myself, and I… and des’ Site and the ME behind the I and “my crazy little place is just around the corner”
And more statements, first from the UP Law Faculty and Students and then:
To a fellow economist and former colleague, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo statement from economists of the Ateneo de Manila University
We are outraged by the revelations made by Engr. Rodolfo Noel Lozada Jr. at the Philippine Senate Blue Ribbon hearings last 8 February 2008 about the overpriced Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment Company-National Broadband Network (ZTE-NBN) project. The project has no clear public rationale in the first place. We are dismayed by the revelations of Mr. Lozada that former Commission on Election Chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr., with the alleged involvement of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, ordered the inclusion in the proposed project a large amount of kickbacks, amounting to as much as 130 million US dollars (or more than 5.2 billion pesos), enough money to remove the yearly public school classroom backlog, or purchase 5.8 million sacks of NFA rice, or alternatively secure the basic needs of about 29,000 poor families for a year. Simply put, a lot is being sacrificed for the greed of the few.We are angered by the continuing attempt to cover up the anomalous circumstances surrounding the project, including the supposed kidnapping of Mr. Lozada to keep him from testifying in the Senate. We demand that government remove the cloak of Executive Order 464 and the invocation of executive privilege to allow public officials that have knowledge on the transaction to publicly testify on the circumstances of the deal. We demand the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) to release records of the meetings that allowed the contract to be processed. Because of the nature of the work of the NEDA in national economic planning to promote national development and public welfare (and not for private or individual interests), these minutes are public records. We want Secretary Romulo Neri, an Ateneo high school alumnus and supposed staunch advocate of reforms to eradicate transactional politics and oligarchic dominance in the country, to reveal all that he knows about the matter. Efficiency and equity demand no less.
We abhor the habit of this administration of forging secret deals and engaging in non-transparent processes in developing and contracting large infrastructure projects, especially foreign donor-funded programs, contrary to the tenets of good governance. We call on friends and colleagues in the government, especially the alumni of our university, and other sectors to help ferret out the truth about other alleged irregular deals entered into by corrupt public officials, including the fertilizer scam, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority book scam and the North Rail project.
We urge our fellow economist, alumna, and former Ateneo colleague, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to fully explain and account for all the anomalies under her administration to prevent our country from plunging into another political and economic crisis. Indeed, we are dismayed that Mrs. Arroyo has not exercised the vast powers and resources available to the Presidency to ensure that large-scale corruption in the government is not only blocked but also punished, and that these irregularities have only increased political instability and uncertainty in the country. We are also offended that the Presidency has instead utilized these vast powers and resources to turn its back from servicing the public and contribute to the advancement of private greed, including the Machiavellian buying of congressmen, governors, and everybody else that get its way. And sadly, these abuses have eroded the meaning and legitimacy of the Presidency. If she fails to fully account and explain the anomalies and corrupt practices in her administration, the most honorable thing she can do is to resign from the Presidency.
Finally, we publicly pledge to heed the Catholic Bishops’ call to communal action by supporting the activities that would promote transparency, accountability, and good governance, and we call on our fellow social scientists and academics to support this advocacy. We pledge to make our voices heard by committing to various ways of peaceful and non-violent political mobilization.
— Signatures —
Fernando T. Aldaba
Cristina M. Bautista
Germelino M. Bautista
Edsel L. Beja, Jr.
Diana U. del Rosario
Luis F. Dumlao
Cielito F. Habito
Leonardo A. Lanzona
Joseph Anthony Y. Lim
Romelia I. Neri
Ellen H. Palanca
Malou A. Perez
Joselito T. Sescon
Tara Sia-Go
Patrick Gerard C. Simon-King
Rosalina P. Tan
Philip Arnold P. Tuaño
Summarizing the government response so far:
1. threats of sedition to protests against the government;
2. continuing enforcement of EO 464 invoking executive privilege and preventing Senate testimonies of those involved in the NBN deal (cabinet secretaries in the NEDA-ICC);
3. threats of tax/DOJ legal action against MBC and Jun Lozada, respectively;
4. the use of law enforcement and even some ex-military men to prevent Lozada’s testimony;
5. threats of firing of government officials attending the La Salle mass.
Legal (among others) threats are being leveled against every form of opposition that the GMA administration is facing. Are we at a point when civil disobedience, peaceful but active refusal of specific demands and commands of government, is increasingly becoming the only recourse?
I think that the GMA administration will have to find the means to work with the opposition, some sort of common ground where cooperation in politics can be achieved. Not only with UNO, but with civil society groups, and even the Left. Otherwise, the players in this political situation will increasingly be pushed towards extremist positions.
UPn (at 3:53am), i agree with Brianb’s clarification that it was not the court system that “annulled” his crime.
I don’t think Erap is ‘absolved’ (nor are his grandchildren to whom he will pass on his ill-gotten wealth) at this particular moment in time.
Supremo (at 4:01 am), i concur with Brianb’s explanation at (4:41am) regarding the distinction between individual crime vs. the burden of inherited wealth and inherited position. So in the case of Erap, his children from other women whom he did not acknowledge or support, do not share in his guilt.
I also agree with Brianb’s explanation at 4:53am. Collective guilt exists because the basic building block of Social systems is Communication (not people). If all written (and online) records are destroyed and if everyone were suddenly afflicted with amnesia, then such collective guilt disappears.
The danger, of course, is that history (along with collective guilt) can be manufactured. At the very least, the view of the past is influenced by the present.
collective guilt goes both ways., it justifies pogroms, it justifies the blanket labeling of an entire people. those that hold responsibility are institutions that outlive people: i.g. farben for example, which profited from slave labor; the german government, as the successor to the third reich. but not the german people themselves.
cjv’s proposition is dangerously close to the class liquidations conducted in china and vietnam which merely replaced the liquidated classes with the little emperors of the politburo today. anyone who even gives such year zero fantasies the benefit of the doubt ought to reconsider.
mlq3, as you said, it goes both ways. What should be condemned are the progroms, class liquidations and calls for a ‘year zero’, and not the concept of collective guilt itself. The Australians did apologize to the aborigines. Japan also apologized (reluctantly) to China.
That being said, China and Vietnam are on the fast track to economic growth today because they addressed their class inequalities decisively.
cjv, the apologies were made by governments, which enacted the policies that resulted in the dispossesion of the aborigines and the conquest of china. the japanese paid reparations to the philippines for physical damages and by way of moral damages of a kind.
but really, collective guilt is the kind of thing produced by a totalitarian mentality.
in china they liquidated their merchant and mandarin classes and proceeded to enforce a kind of apartheid that gave preference to party members. in vietnam they liquidated their land owning class and proceeded to persecute catholics and then their middle class who fled the country by the millions.
they replaced one ruling class with another and then seeing it didn’t work, proceeded to return to a system that those classes could have accomplished much earlier if the parties hadn’t been obsessed with reengineering human beings. and then they welcome investments from those they formerly dispossed and sent into exile. in other words it was all for nought because the persecutions and mass liquidations were conducted with certain principles in mind, and those principles have proven themselves flawed and a failure.
at its most extreme you have have hitler, mao, pol pot and the infinite variations on tribal and sectarian warfare of the past and present, all of which are anchored on some variation of the idea of collective guilt. it is simply too dangerous and objectionable to uphold even in theory.
mlq3, the Australian government has always been a democratic one so its policies are an expression of the will of the people. That the Japanese apologized and paid reparations is an acknowledgment of their guilt. Granted the Japanese government was not democratic but the militarist and runaway nationalist sentiments had widespread support among the Japanese population at that time (Emperor worship, code of Bushido and all that). In the case of Germany, Hitler (with apologies to Godwin), was also democratically elected. I am a believer in the banality of evil and do not subscribe to the strict separation between the ‘acts of the government’ and the ‘acts of the people’.
In the case of China, as i’ve commented before, it was the dogmatism of the Communist ideology that led them to the excesses of the Great Leap Forward (in 1956) and the Cultural Revolution (in 1966). However, the absence of a landed oligarchy is what made their market reforms effective when they finally came around to implementing such reforms. With the benefit of hindsight, China should have implemented those reforms in 1956 (and not 1978), but those market reforms would not have been effective if their warlords were not kicked out to Taiwan in 1949.
I acknowledge that collective guilt can also be harnessed by totalitarians and many others like Bin Laden in the case of 9/11 or Israel in its bombing of Lebanon two years ago (as defended by American lawyer Alan Dershowitz). That means collective guilt is a dangerous idea, but an idea being dangerous in itself is not grounds for denying its validity much less its existence.
In the case of collective guilt, it must be met head on with the countervailing idea that upholds the sanctity of human life. On a more practical level, the totalitarian impulse towards year zero can be questioned on the grounds that it may be more effective instead, as hvrds said above (at 4:18am), “to coddle [the] oligarchy“. That’s where Amsden’s reciprocal control mechanism (and Abe’s Bayanihan pact) comes in.
To Ace: Thanks for the Bible passages. Now to me, the paragraph that provides the MORAL PRECEPT is the one that describes the obligations to be followed by a society:
2 Kings 14:6
… The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, nor the children be put to death for the fathers; but every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
————
And I hope you do not mistakenly state that except for the different words, that cvj and I have the same position. We do not have the same beliefs, and he scares me.
My sentence:
When the father sins, the father sins.
The children  innocent until proven guilty.
When the child sins, the child sins. The father  innocent until proven guilty.
When the child sins and the father sins, then the child has sinned and the father has sinned. But innocent the generation to be born 30-years later after the sinning.
cvj’s sentences:
–I don’t think Erap is ‘absolved’ (nor are his grandchildren).
—descendants of oligarchic families would ……if only to atone for the sins of their fathers (or grandfathers).
—even in the case where the child has taken no part in his father’s sins which were committed sometime back, there is still an obligation….. I suppose this is so because…
—Collective guilt exists.
Dear UPn student
You need to read more on revolutionary history from the Darwinian point of view. Revolutions have been plotted but a classic example of a major flop is the one plotted by Jose Maria Sison.
Maoist doctrine did not fit certain evolutionry principles one is that the communist ideal can never survive selection. Marxism will always be a flop unless it evolves. Marx’s predictions of a classless society cannot be supported by a natural science theory. Capitalism can easily be supported by Darwinian theory.
Lenin was just given a measure of luck and without that the Romanovs would still be on Russia’s throne and Russia would likely be a part of the European Union!
Dear UPn student
We can learn much from Jose Rizal when he correctly understood in the El Filibusterismo that revolutions cab be understood in the Darwinian sense. Rizal is our first Darwinist and Filipino (with the possible exception of Mabini) ever since seems to have correctly understood how social movements succeed and fail.
If I were the Opposition, I would follow Ilocos Norte Congressman Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos II’s recommendation to demand that the President answer point by point the charges against her and her Administration rather than call for her resignation.
I shall believe Cry Babies Lozada and Santos only if they support their accusations with evidence. The problem with us is that we easily believe such accusations even if they aren’t supported by evidence.
A cut-and-paste from Wikipedia;
Collective guilt, or guilt by association, is the controversial collectivist idea that a group of humans can bear guilt above and beyond the guilt of particular members, and hence an individual holds responsibility for what other members of his group have done, even if he himself hasn’t done this. Advanced systems of criminal law accept the principle that guilt shall only be personal. This attitude is not usually shared by other systems of law. Assumption of collective responsibility is common for feud. Such systems tend to judge the guilt of persons by their associations, classifications or organizations, which often gives rise to racial, ethnic, social and religious prejudices.
Blackshama: I have no idea what you are addressing, what of Jose Rizal you are referring to, and I have no basis to agree with you or disagree with you.
I got the chance to watch “the Probe” and “Ang Bandila”. Poor GMA, the programs are so one sided against her government and its a real surprise that she has not been ousted yet. I wonder if its people power fatigue or the citizens just dont care anymore.
If I may ask to those people who advocate the removal of GMA. Who do you think is the person who can lead our nation on the path of ideal good governance? A leader who can influence the disparate groups into buying into his/her leadership. Will there be such a president in our lifetime? Someone who does not compromise on his beliefs up to a point of alienating different costituencies….or is the Philippines is just a too hard to govern that whoever is task to lead is doomed to fail because of systemic problems in our society. People Power every 5=10 years anyone?
As per Steven Landsburg:
“I recently attended a party where a learned man – a prominent physist – held forth. His topic was the analogy betweeen Darwinian evolution, advancing the species biologically by allowing only the fittest to survive, and the Invisible Hand of the marketplace, advancing our species economically by elminating all but the most efficient producers.
I suspect that he didn’t know much about biology. I’m sure that he didn’t know much about economics. And his analogy, though familiar, was profoundly wrong.
In biology, there is no equivalent of the Invisible hand. Survival of the fittest is a different thing altogether. Nothing in evolutionary theory either promises or delivers the spectacular efficiency of the competitive marketplace – Steven Landsburg, The Armchair Economist”
I only would like to add that the ‘Invisible Hand’ of the marketplace only works when certain assumptions hold true. Failing that, you get market failure.
I don’t know how you could be so sure of that. What if the Romanovs were instead deposed by the fascists (which was the rising ideology that competed with Communism at that that point in history). At that time, Capitalism as an idea was beleaguered. Only the New Deal which implemented the ideas of J.M. Keynes saved it.
It is then possible that a fascist Russia, Nazi Germany and militarist Japan would form a tripartite fascist alliance against the democracies. Since, it was the Soviet Union that absorbed the full might of Hitler’s armies, their absence from the allied effort could have sealed the fate of the free world. You would have a European Union alright but it would be very different from the one that you have now.
Competition is for business and not economies. — hvrds
I so very agree. This is where our leaders and our elite do not get it. They are so enamored with “competitiveness” even the likes of a Mar Roxas who is the very same mold as his elitist backround would attest (busines minded, not patriotism minded) that they do not get that the primary concept that should be attached with the case for improving our domestic economy is productivity — and that the focus of that should be developing the individual Filipino’s maximum ability to produce from available resources. Case in point, our very own governor, a technocrat like Joey Salceda who is himself undermining the abaca industry and going for BPO industries just because the latter is competitive and the former is not, according to him. We have leaders who are quick to latch on to the latest, the most modern, the most in demand, the flavor of the moment. We have leaders who have no sense of history and who don’t have a strategic vision of the future either. It’s always a “now” mode. We have leaders who undermine our native potential, and I have always wondered whether it is the lack of imagination or merely that our elite always want to think that they are at par with the best in the world. They think equality and competitiveness with the rest of the world, but never when those are applied in the local setting.
NEWS FLASH!
Arroyo: I learned about ZTE mess on eve of signing deal
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Saturday said she learned that something was wrong about the Philippine government’s $329.48-million National Broadband Network project with China’s Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment (ZTE) Corp the night before she witnessed the signing of the NBN-ZTE contract.
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/81878/Arroyo-says-she-learned-of-ZTE-mess-on-eve-of-signing-deal
So Gloria is innocent, she’s a victim of a villainous, corrupt and thieving staff who can hoodwink her into signing anything? We should get her as a STAR WITNESS!
I leave the matter of ECONOMICS to economists, I have to stick to BUSINESS as its more down to earth and not prone to jargon and statistical manipulation. If you’re not making money, it shows, no bs about it.
I still believe in striving for COMPETITIVENESS and this also shared with a number of businessmen locally. We have companies that are GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE in their respective industries, mainly because of sustainable business and manufacturing practices, quality control, service, and innovation. These companies have prospered without depending too much on government, they pay their taxes, pay their people justly, and are responsible in terms of environmental and social concerns.
What I am worried about are those industries where the Philippines was very competitive in like CARAGEENAN production (80% of the world’s supply coming from the the Philippines) has lost their edge primarily because of lack of government support and local corruption getting a stranglehold on supply sourcing.
As I have been saying everytime, there are REAL ISSUES at stake that have to be addressed and they all can be traced to the current administration as the perpetrators are the same allies that close ranks to save it whenever besieged by a people who are clamoring for accountability and change.
For those who are not aware of these issues due to OUT-OF-TOUCHness, just watch how we, the people are ACTUALLU going to do something about it.
“We have leaders who have no sense of history and who don’t have a strategic vision of the future either. It’s always a “now†mode. We have leaders who undermine our native potential, and I have always wondered whether it is the lack of imagination or merely that our elite always want to think that they are at par with the best in the world. ” – Madonna
We have these type of leaders because we elected them, in elections, those who can readily shell out money or have celebrity status get the votes. Strangely, we had people who ran for office who focused on REAL ISSUES, were competent professionally and more importantly MORALLY to lead but frustratingly most do not appreciate these things. Why this is happening is puzzling to me but nevertheless we will not stop knocking on the hearts of people and I believe that eventually people will be serious about what is REAL and WHAT MATTERS.
Madonna,
Don’t take Salceda seriously, look what he called his boss on television? Slip of the tongue? Some things due to ethical reasons should not be said or done even in jest…
This LEADERSHIP CRISIS our country has been through everytime is scaring me. I am reminded of a fable where in a pond lived frogs that perenially had problems with their leaders, if not always sleeping, its something else. Finally a big, strong heron came, they were celebrating, at last they had what they asked for, something majestic, strong, and had this respect-demanding stature…until it started to eat them…
This poem is based on ACTUAL QUOTES:
“MESSAGE SENT,MESSAGE RECEIVED”
(Gloria Pidal)
“Ang taumbayan galit sa katiwalian
Ganoon din ako
I learned about ZTE mess
On the eve of the signing deal!â€Â
“I will not resign
I have no shame
Parang laser beam
Naka focus ako sa economyâ€Â
(Gloria’s Classmates in Assumption)
“If you call Gloria evil,
You might as well call me a prostitute!
She just puts up a brave front
But we know her human sideâ€Â
(Albay Governor Joey Salceda)
“She may be a b*tch
But she’s the luckiest b*tch around,”
Naku, may TV nga pala
Message sent. Message received”
(Former Speaker JDV)
“Ang buong Maynila… businessmen sa Maynila
Alam nila na ang mga hari ng smuggling
dito sa Metro Manila at saka sa Pilipinas
Ay sina Mike Arroyo at Mikey Arroyo”
(Gloria Pidal)
“Ang mga sinasabi nito na ganyan
Sinabi niya na ganyan,
Panay hakahaka, bukambibig.
Ito ay galing sa burak ng tsismisâ€Â
“Sabi-sabi at batikos.
Kaya nakapalungkot na bumababa
sa ganitong desperadong paninira
ang mga kalaban ko sa pulitika !â€Â.
Lozada is just the tip of the iceberg, he’s not the “be all” and “end all” have we forgotten the “hello garci?” and the tampered election returns, etc? Why people play prosecutors and try doing their “destroy the witness credibility” thing when its been tried by better lawyers before is humorous. But then again, easy.
Some people say that this time is an opportunity for heroism, they may be right. For me these should be an automatic response to SAY NO to corruption and kick those thieving leaders'(?) asses out of office, the sooner, the better so we can finally get ones that are worth the Filipino.
Don’t take Salceda seriously, look what he called his boss on television? Slip of the tongue? Some things due to ethical reasons should not be said or done even in jest… — ramrod
Opps, Joey Salceda is a shrewd politico himself. He was on to something there, playing a game of some sort, a subtle undermining of his boss. Why say that GMA is lucky within the context of the economy. He’s an economist and he knows the real story behind it — lucky si Ate Glo because the economy has grown in spite of her policies, not because of it.
Look at FVR’s talk right now. Hint of another people power. Subtle undermining and much double talk going on to off balance Ate Glo. The Lakas old guard is getting a revenge out of KAMPI’s overrule of Lakas NUCD. FVR is a democrat, despite his military backround and he is in tune to what the populace demands, and he balances this with his preference for sound economic results and political stability.
Madonna,
So we’re going to put Salceda (governor of Albay?) in the WATCH LIST for next elections. 🙂
“I leave the matter of ECONOMICS to economists,”
That’s why ramrod, the focus of political leaders should not be businesses per se, but the economy in general — which as hvrds pointed out, echoing Paul Krugman, the key word is productivity, not competitiveness.
In the Philippines, the skewed priority partial to a number businesses or industries is a reflection or a function also of how business interests are powerful or influential, which I think are right up there with the undue influence of the Catholic Church to the political system. In democracies with a thriving free market economy, productivity is remarkably high, and one reflection is that citizens in general have high incomes comparatively speaking.
Of course, a business or company’s focus is competition, assuming it is in an level playing field, and is not in a regulated or a monopolistic environment.
we see students from schools like miriam, ateneo and even la salle and csb, organizing themselves, but wondering where the common people, the minimum wage earners and the have-nots are make me feel uneasy. it seems that we’re only having a mass action because of lozada’s “kasikatan”.
we hear so much about the search for truth and yet, even the cbcp doesn’t know where to start looking, chosing to paint its stand via what they call “communal action” which hardly suggest anything. even in the midst of an historical event, devoid of meaning siya eh. parang when you see skaters do something wild, you go “awesome!” pero you know such a reaction is kulang. empty. and so is the “busina para sa katotohanan”. as if honking is enough.
its hard for me not to sound postmodernist (and therefore, a lunatic), but, ano nga ba ang katotohanan?
parang naging trend na lang ‘to dahil bumebenta yung model eh (lozada, prayers, god). i would’ve been more enthusiastic to join if the left (either natdem or akbayan [except rocamora. lol]) is leading the protests. sa kanila lang ako nakakakita ng objectivity eh.
So we’re going to put Salceda (governor of Albay?) in the WATCH LIST for next elections.
— ramrod
He beat the incumbent governor here whose track record for graft was clean and who erroneously thought that it was not enough for him to be reelected. Salceda is a politician who plays to win and he knows how to win the game. There are talks he wants to run for Senator. Yaikks.
Madonna,
I understand where you’re coming from re competitiveness vis-a-vis productivity. If we talk about being competitive but lag in productivity we will be focusing on price wars that more often than not results to profit erosion and worst – quality deterioration (as producers will try to cut corners). What I meant was, competitiveness is actually a result of productivity. Efficiency, cost effectiveness, quality control, sutainability, sourcing and service are just elements of productivity which I believe is a more solid foundation for competitiveness…
Arroyo: I learned about ZTE mess on eve of signing deal
Out of the horse’s mouth! These people will just do and say anything to cover-up the mess they are in. Kahit na magmukhang tanga at katawatawa. That’s the problem when someone is lying, nagkakabuhol-buhol ang kwento.
Started way back 2005 with the “hello Garci” thing. They did not really clear up the issue, ” I am sorry” lang, whatever that means. Then came the ZTE, they shelved the project but, the issue of corruption was again never addressed… The issues now can be likened to a fire that was never really put out. Now, the embers have grown to a bigger one.
“He beat the incumbent governor here whose track record for graft was clean and who erroneously thought that it was not enough for him to be reelected.” – Madonna
What a shame. What a waste. As long as that guy is still alive, there is still hope.
If GMA knew beforehand that the contract was anomalous, why did she allow its signing? Isn’t that a sign of incompetence?
cvj,
If the incompetence angle will be pulled out, she will point to her staff.
cvj,
At least its established, the ZTE deal was indeed anomalous, patay na si Abalos! Even Formosa who justified the additional 130M as cost of infrastructure, which is actually a lie as sources say they are only going to use the existing telecoms backbone.
cvj,
What do you think? Nagmumukhang kawawa ba si Gloria because of her incompetent and corrupt people already?
If GMA knew beforehand that the contract was anomalous, why did she allow its signing? Isn’t that a sign of incompetence?” – cvj
..and after five months goes to China and cancel the deal before the Chinese president for reasons she knew five months ago.
Even GMA resign, ganon parin, paulit-ulit lang, nagpapalit lang ng personalidad pero nariyan pa rin at iiral ang “dysfunctional system”.
Kung merong grupo o individual na talagang magtutulak ng malawakang pagbabago sa political o social na pagbabago sa sistema, I will support them. I would even beg here if necessary to support them financially.
Ngayon, kung aalisin si GMA, papalit ang mga politician na palaging nakikita sa TFC, well pababayaan nalang natin sigurong magbarilan ang magkabilang panig. At least mabawasan man lang ng konti ang mga magnanakaw sa gobyerno na nagpapahirap sa maraming mamamayan.
Rude? Yes I am, dahil nakakasawa nang maging mahirap!
MLQ3
CVJ’s mind is already closed regarding liquidation of the so called landed and rich classes. Fantasya ni CVJ talaga ang year zero. Gusto niya gawing Pantasya ng Bayan ang konsepto. Matagal ko na sinabi na human nature dictates that somebody will take over in a vacuum. and as you said, another group just took over the leadership of the elites with disastrous effects (e.g. China). Buti na lang, Deng Xiao Peng figured it out or else baka the whole Communist Party in CHina will have been gone by now.
A possible NEXT scenario would be Gloria having cancelled and apologized to China after catching bad people in her government assures them that this will not go unpunished. She then spearheads this MORAL RECOVERY or something program in government and proceeds to chop off the heads of departments found guilty of graft and corruption. They start with Abalos, then JDV being linked to smuggling of oil, then some procurement officers in the military, so on and so forth.
Dear Ate Glo,
Details, please on how you discovered the anomaly in the ZTE deal. And so we may see clearly the devil in this mess. No such thing as please as “I am sorry” ploy during the Hello Garci bruhaha where the details have been left to imagination. Gosh, outrageous on how you blatanty treat us, citizens with your evasive and hither dither tactics. OUTRAGEOUS OF HOW YOU MAKE A MOCKERY OF THE TRUTH THAT WE SO DESERVE SINCE 2005. KAPAL NG MUKHA MO SOBRA.
Mita
I agree with your comment dated Feb 23 at 7:10 am. I have enough experience with this mentality. 12 years of working in a factory environment makes you realize that it’s a choice for them.
I have actually seen an instance where a factory worker has declined promotion and higher pay so that he won’t lose his friendship with his fellow workers. Can you believe that? That’s the same kind of mentality I see prevailing when people vote for their leaders. They vote for people who they think will owe them something from which they’ll collect their due later on.
And we wonder why the country is all screwed up…sheeshh
silent waters,
Its not all screwed up. Its still running well in some quarters. All thats needed is some fine tuning, a tweak here, a press there…nothing people like you and everybody who is willing to do something can’t handle.
ramrod
That’s true….I guess nakakapagod lang talaga. You try to teach them how to fish and yet they still just ask for fish to be handed to them….
@mita
“your ordinary Pinoy voter will still elect familiar names.”
Just out of curiosity, who did YOU vote for in the senate elections?
silent waters,
Hindi lang yan, aapurahin ka pa, at times parang ikaw pa ang may utang na loob, minsan pag na frustrate kasalanan mo pa kung bakit pinaasa mo na pwedeng magbago ang buhay nila, worst, wala pang tenk yu. But then again, you find one or two whos different, and it makes everything worhtwhile…
@silent waters
“I have actually seen an instance where a factory worker has declined promotion and higher pay so that he won’t lose his friendship with his fellow workers”
Could it be because we Pinoys have a tendency to call people above us as “Boss” and it’s awkward to call your friend ‘Boss? (Of course this is not the indication that we value too much hierarchy we tend to use Atty, Dr, Engr, too much…)
I was once in a meeting and called the CEO by his first name while the rest were calling him “Boss”. It was truly weird, because I also call the street vendor “Boss” as in “Boss, pabili naman ng kendi..”
nash,
I myself by indoctrination automatically call anyone sir or mam. It was not until I stayed in Singapore that my colleagues taught me to call everybody by first name basis, yes even the CEO.
Once, when one of my bosses came with me in Pinas, he was surprised I called one of our customers “boss” and he said he’s not your boss, but I explained we call everyone boss even the taxi driver (which he witnessed soon enough).
Its been my observation for the longest time that Filipinos are shy or are fixated to the idea that being low key, quiet, staying within the barkada or comfort zone is how it should be and standing out means being mayabang or ambisyoso.
I always quote a poem that to me strikes to the heart of this problem…
OUR DEEPEST FEAR
‘Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond imagination. It is our light more than our darkness which scares us. We ask ourselves – who are we to be brilliant, beautiful, talented, and fabulous. But honestly, who are you to not be so?
You are a child of God, small games do not work in this world. For those around us to feel peace, it is not example to make ourselves small. We were born to express the glory of god that lives in us. It is not in some of us, it is in all of us. While we allow our light to shine, we unconsciously give permission for others to do the same. When we liberate ourselves from our own fears, simply our presence may liberate others.’
– Marianne Williamson in Return to Love: Reflections on a Course in Miracles
@Nash
Maybe you’re right…but it’s just interesting that this person will sacrifice the well being of his family just so he wouldn’t lose his relationship with his friends….
@ramrod
I read the passage you included in your message to Nash and it has always moved me every time. Thanks.
THE JOURNALIST, THE VULTURE, AND THE CHILD
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/kevin_carter/sudan_child.htm