Change the Old Boy's Club of Phil Politics Now, not in 2010

Cocoy wrote a passionate piece (see it on www.filipinovoices.com) on the challenges reformists like himself, face. What to do with a problem such as Gloria?

What do we do? Where do we go from here?

He talks about change. He laments on the failure of the opposition to present an alternative. He wrote about how the old boy’s club still dominates the political scene and continues to (mis) manage our affairs.

The club (or what the Black and White movement calls the “mafia”) controls the levers of power. The embodiment of their collective will is the State.

Cocoy’s solution is pragmatic---those who want change should band together and prepare for the 2010 elections. To change the system, he writes, we, who belong to the reformist constituency, must unite and form our own political party. Cocoy still believes in the elections as the most viable means for societal change.

I hate to say it, but Cocoy, you’re day dreaming.

You can’t replace the old boy’s club with another political party. You can’t overthrow these tradpols in just one scribble of a new name in the ballot. No.

Winston Churchill says, there’s nothing wrong with change if it’s in the right direction. Is forming a new political party the right direction for us to make?

I think not.

In this country, elections are the very machines of which the Elite classes use to perpetuate themselves in power. When faced with challenges against their rule, the old boy’s club rely on the once-tested alibi that things change through elections.

Elections are just subterfuges, a mirage that the elites use to counteract legitimate means towards real, meaningful changes.

Since the inception of the Philippine Republic, no substantial change have ever emerged from elections. No new leaders have been able to institute real changes because the very concept of elections is anathema to change.

Elections are cosmetic paradigms that promote lethargy and apathy among the people. It’s a concept that only works in strong, stable and unified nation-states, not in weak aristocratic frameworks such as the Philippine state.

We continue to be controlled by the Old Boy’s Club simply because we allow them to trick us with the promise of change through elections.

Elections work in the States because there is a strong citizenry who value individual freedoms and rights. Here, most of our people do not even know their rights. If you think that elections are the way to go, you’re obviously mistaken.

The old boy’s club will just use their paid hacks in the mold of Bedol to manipulate the elections. They would position their sons and daughters as “reformers” and trick you into believing that they’re the ones you’re looking for.

They would probably allow some cosmetic changes in the system, but expect none of them to really do some real, meaningful change.

Cocoy, we need a genuine revolution, not reform.

British critic Arnold Bennett writes that, “ any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.”

We, in the reformist constituency, must recognize that violence is the precursor for change. It is not through peace that this society will change. No.

John Wallace Scott writes that those who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history.

Cocoy, since the time of our forebears, this debate on reform and revolution have already occupied their fertile minds. Rizal opposed revolution because for him, the times call for a deeper societal reform, not a swift and quick action as what Bonifacio wants.

Founders of that great and noble society of middle class birth, the Indios Bravos, encountered the same debate which led to its destruction.

Our times are different. Our era calls for a surgical precision for change.

We need change now, not later, no, not in 2010. If we post our hopes in 2010, we are, in effect, allowing this immorality, this canard, this monstrosity of a government to rule over the benevolents.

We need to act now and bring down the poster girl of that club.

We need the new Ilustrados to lead the people to revolt. We need new blood, yes, but not to be electoral candidates, no.

We need new cadres of a different mold, people of great integrity and of unassailable probity that would not hesitate to unsheath their swords and kill these bastards.

Lenin once said that for a revolution to succeed, it just needs at least seven professional revolutionaries.

Let’s form that group, that would kill with their pens, present fresh ideas for change and that would act in the best interest of the people, whom we want to serve.

Forget about this generation. Let’s train our sights to these young ones who went to Ayala last February. Hope rests in the youth, as what Rizal said.

Make fertile the soil that allows thousands, even millions of flowers to bloom. Start teaching the Youth now. Impart in them the flames of constructive dissent. Train them to use modern tools for fighting. Not in 2010. No. Revolution should have been done yesterday.