Learning. Unlearning. Beyond Limits.

“…the nostalgia for overthrown dictators is spreading” — I really don’t know how valid this statement is. But all the more should we concentrate on building a real reform constituency vis-a-vis serious party building (for progressive/pro-active political parties–haha, let’s weed out unscrupulous electoral parties). It is indeed a shame that after emerging from an autocratic rule, Philippine democracy has only perpetuated traditional/elite politics.

I believe that we have to rethink our concept of democracy, insomuch as my political leanings are concerned, most of the political motivations of our leaders/political groups are not exactly democratic, well, at a certain point, everybody is talking about social equity, etc. but I haven’t really heard/seen leaders/groups talk about serious empowerment of the masses/marginalized sectors except of course for my political party (so pardon my biases). There is always a hidden agenda, and it seems that electoral engagement is merely seen as a step towards achieving certain “personal” political ends, whether be it considered as a palatable political exercise while certain groups are still waiting for the “over-protracted peoples’ war” or whether be it a tool to maintain the existing political/economic hegemony. In the international arena, I would even go as far as thinking that MDG’s were only placed there to at least make the civil society believe that there is still a mitigating force such as UN which can actually push for greater social equity within, between and among nations. At the regional level, it will be very interesting to see how ASEAN will respond to the apparent political/democratic relapse in its member countries. The ASEAN Peoples’ Forum in February is indeed one event to look forward to.

Aside from Maldives, one notable democratic development in Asia, particularly in the south east, is the successful peace process in Aceh, Indonesia in 2005. After decades of separatist insurgency problem in the province of Aceh, the Indonesian government was able to get Free Aceh Movement (GAM) to sign a peace accord with the government which has, among other things, started a new political process in the area. We have to remember that Indonesia also came from Suharto’s authoritarian regime. To say that the Asian people might tire of “the notion of democracy” perhaps is quite unfounded still, now more than ever that most of the Asian Nations have actually experienced autocratic rule. Democracy does not deter economic/political growth. Contrary to that, it should, above all else, encourage free discourse on the wide array of political ideals, which unfortunately did not flourish over the years in many Asian nations. Sound national policies will determine a country’s socio-economic development, and this, I daresay, should not be a question of whether a certain country is working under a dictatorship or a democracy.

Surely, elections cannot produce immediate changes in the society. Perhaps, we should also review our perceptions of electoral practice. Polls are mechanisms to exact accountability and not a means to save a nation speedily from severe, age-old political/economic blows. In such a way, our electorate must be continuously engaged and informed on their present options. At the same time, creating different venues for political reforms remain to be imperative. It is pointless to preach good governance, conscientious voting, etc. if the civil society, particularly the “politically aware” young people won’t take a pro-active role in pushing for a concrete reform agenda, and if the general public won’t take elections seriously.

Akbayan, for example, has developed and worked on a progressive reform agenda since its inception in 1998. As a political party, so to speak, it has committed itself in reshaping and challenging the current status quo, not by sheer brute force, but by participating seriously in Congress, in the parliament of the streets and in local government politics through its leaders and members. This, I believe, is one reason, why we shouldn’t lose hope. Akbayan leader, Ronald Llamas, would call these baby achievements as “patches of green.”

As a political party and as a social movement, Akbayan has, in many aspects, drawn in all kinds of people from all walks of life. The need to strengthen the peoples’ movement amidst this current political/economic impasse is of utmost significance. How else could we counter the forthcoming challenges?

Democracy plays a crucial role in transforming politics. To quote another Akbayan leader, Joel Rocamora, in describing the party’s role in transforming Philippine politics, he said that “the very formation of Akbayan is a political reform. By forming a new type of political party, Akbayan is contributing directly to transforming our political party system.” I look at Akbayan with much hope, that when all else is seemingly lost, amidst all these debacle, we could, as a people, determine for ourselves where we want to go as a nation.

It could also be assumed that little by little, our people are gaining some level of political maturity; a case in point would be Among Ed’s victory in Pampanga, but the sustainability of this electoral victory is altogether another issue.

Idealism therefore is a must if we are to dream of a better society. Sartre said that there are two ways to fall into idealism: “one consists of dissolving the real in subjectivity; the other in denying all real subjectivity in the interest of objectivity”. However way we may choose to go, we ought to realize that real work for political reforms needs extra dosages of idealism.

I was once told that the Filipino people are not essentially progressive thinkers. What if majority of our people are not that smart in choosing for themselves? How did youth groups come up with their analyses of the youth situation, for instance? If we seek to understand the young people from a very theoretical context, how valid would our observations be? This defeats the concept of praxis. There is no theoretical context if it’s not in a dialectical unity with the concrete context (Freire; 1921) Time and again, political activists could fall into that deceitful notion that they actually comprehend and represent the marginalized sectors. Now, I actually started to think where I was getting my political motivations from. The bottom line is we have to enable people to the extent that they are empowered to choose for themselves what they think is right or wrong. We have to go down to the grass root level, integrate with the people and learn with them, one of the things which I daresay, should be done more frequently not only by Akbayan but by all social workers and progressive leaders. Let us not be so complacent, there’s much to do in these ever changing times.

“To an extent, the lack of trust in elections is a consequence of inadequate political education. For frustrated farmers or construction workers or street vendors, it may be easier to imagine political change through a groundswell of antigovernment rallies rather than through checking one of many underwhelming candidates on a ballot. Asia’s education systems, largely underfunded and over-reliant on rote learning, do little to instruct citizens on the power of franchise or the importance of accountable leadership.”(Beech; 2009)

Lastly, in reference to the previous paragraph, Paulo Freire aptly put it when he said this about adult literacy “Speaking the word is not a true act if it is not at the same time associated with the right of self-expression and world-expression, of creating and re-creating, of deciding and choosing, and ultimately participating in the society’s historical process.”

Hence, Asian democracy might be so messed up; Philippine democracy might even prove to be a little worst than what we hoped for. But nobody said that it will be easy. For all we know, there’s still a long way to go. However, if we all do our home works, then perhaps we might see some genuine changes in the not-so-distant future. Who knows?

-bianca

Asia’s Dithering Democracies By Hannah Beech