But the streamers paraded on the streets on this day are screaming so: Stop the Killings!; Free Ka Bel!Fight and Fail the Terrorism of the US-GMA Regime!
I went out on the streets today, rode a jeepney to the place where rallyists assembled. On the jeepney, it was like an ordinary day. People looked like they could not wait to get to their respective destinations - to the malls, to their dates, to their schools or their homes maybe.
But i was heading somewhere, where the crowd gathers. I wanted to feel too, if indeed there is Martial Law. Because I feel so safe on the jeepney, not angry nor wary that someone might be out to kill me. I was just afraid of bombings though.
Finally, when i got to Rizal Park where people converged, there maybe thousands of them, I looked at their faces. They looked so different than me. Their eyes were deep and angry.
I sat still, somewhere, refusing to remove my eyeglasses, fearful they would not see anything in my eyes. Only emptiness. I wanted just to sit there, in a place where not too many would get to see me, to savor the scene before me: people sitting on the ground, listening intently to every word uttered by a speaker onstage.
By this time, the ambient sound, is something like an angry castigation of a farmer on the military who he blamed to be behind the killing of a fellow, farmer, a member of the same organization he belongs to - Anakpawis (in english, it is translated as the toiling masses.)
Yes, they before me, they are the toiling masses. They are poor, far poor than I am.As i looked at them, questions started to run in my head: How many could have died in their villages? Can they sleep well at night? Can they tend their farms freely? Are they not afraid of anyone?Can they speak out their thoughts against people who they think caused their misery without fear?
Sitting there, and just looking at them, I wanted to know their fears. I wanted to find out if i have the same.
Late in the evening, i got to read the news. It says, President Arroyo joins other nations in calling for the "restoration of Democracy" in Thailand. Earlier, i got a text message from a friend who is in Thailand telling me that it has been a gentle coup so far and only the corrupt have been arrested. It must be a good thing to happen in Thailand! Indeed, it is, i guess. Having known from reading news that Thaksin have been accused of cheating in the elections and massive abuse of power and corruption, it was good that he was ousted. It would be another story though to find out about who ousted him and whether they are worthy to replace such a system, such a condition that Thaksin installed.
But be that as it may, the good thing is, Thaksin is out. What comes now is the thought that it is possible to oust a corrupt, and disliked President!
I don't really know so much about the general who led the coup in Thailand. Neither do i know so much also about revolutions, or its semblances, or if there's any sort of thing happening in Thailand. I will have to stop there. What i want to say is I am just glad that it is possible to oust a disliked President.
Here in the Philippines, "Rule of Law" and "Democracy" are the most abused term there is for a President whose deeds speak so otherwise.
Arroyo invoked institution of the "rule of law" when she declared State of National Emergency seven months ago. It led to the undue arrests of political leaders. She used "Democracy" as a rallying cry to kill the communists. In effect, she has started a campaign that led to what people now see, and i seem to be also convinced as a "state-commissioned" killings of countless activists slain for reasons of being suspected members of the communist movement - more than 700 of them dead now since GMA sat as President. State commissioned, i should say since most of the perpetrators have strings tied to military authorities based on what i read.
How many times have Gloria Arroyo docked under rule of law and democracy to justify her policies that resulted to militarism and extinguishing not only the political dissenters, but essentially wiping out, and cowering into docility the entire opposition?
We are at a time when people think that no one can dare stand up against Gloria. She has well-placed her butchers in the military echelon who enjoy all the blessings as they romp about in their carnage of the innocent .
Now, how am i effected by all these? Am i at all, affected? I think i am insulted.I think i still have a healthy sense of democracy and i cannot afford to sit and continue riding jeepneys to a destination, away from where i think i can be alive and feeling something.