EDSA and the Libyan Experience

Former president Fidel V Ramos explains that EDSA is our people's legacy to the world. Look at Libya, he says, they are now fighting among themselves, and for what? EDSA was a bloodless revolt. 


Ramos is right. EDSA did paved the way for a peaceful transition of power---from a one-man dictatorship to a dictatorship of the elite. 


However, we can only say that EDSA was a true legacy as a new model of change if it, indeed, led to substantial changes shortly after.


Yes, we prevented a bloodbath among soldiers and civilians during the transition but, in truth, peace was never regained after EDSA. Fact is, violence within our society continues and it remains a fixture in our lives. 


We see violence in the continued oppressive relations between workers and capitalists. The post-EDSA landscape shows a country again ruled by petty warlords. The traditional elites who destroyed the moral fibre of this country prior to Martial rule, were back, with a vengeance. Farmers are still enslaved by their landlords in the provinces. 


EDSA did not really solve even the most fundamental problems of this country. Fact is, EDSA only allowed the dictatorship to assume a form enjoyed by traditional elite families prior to the declaration of a strong-man rule. 


If, during Martial law, we answer to just one man, post-EDSA, we answer to hundreds now who think highly of themselves as Marcos mini-mes. If there was one strong man during those dark ages, we face a thousand now. If there was just one family of thieves before, we face a mafia of thieves now, all wearing the same starched barong.


Worse, violence has now seeped within the very basic unit of our society---the family. Because of the unresolved violence stemming from the unsolved economic crisis, our families are now being threatened by violence never before seen in our history. More than 27 million Filipino families now face the twin evils of poverty and inhumanity. 


We are hungrier and more desperate now than before. Worse, we are now facing an apocalypse because we don't have as many resources now as before. Most of the assets of government have been sold or transformed into private enclaves by the elite. The treasury remains dry. 


And why do we say this? This is the simple truth. What was the only thing EDSA gave us? EDSA gave us back our right to criticize government. In exchange for this, those who succeeded Marcos continued the plunder in a different, more "conotic", "Civilized" and "cacique" way---using the law to steal monies from the People.