I wish to propose the following Quality Control Principle for People Power:
If PEOPLE POWER produces an unconstitutional regime change but does not result in a new Constitution being promulgated and ratified in a democratic plebiscite by the People at-large, it cannot possibly be legitimate in any moral or intellectual sense.
IT IS A TRUTH I hold to be self-evident that the People always have the right to withdraw their consent to be governed. However, such a withdrawal of consent cannot be done for them by some small group of people that they have not elected for the purpose. No matter how RIGHT in a moral sense the unconstitutional overthrow of some evil leader might actually be, it would not be FAIR to the People or to the Government they established as their own, to abrogate the Social Contract they signed and ratified at plebiscite. The Rule of Law ought not to be violated or changed in midstream unless a new ratified Contract results. A revolutionary Constitution should always be the goal and result of any legitimate people power movement that seeks redress of the Public's grievances through regime change outside of the old Contract.
The difference between Edsa 1986 and Edsa 2001 lies in the absence of a new Constitution being ratified after the latter. That was because the People would never have ratified a new Davide-Arroyo Constitution in 2001! That is why it was essential to declare as "Constitutional throughout" the military judicial coup d'etat pulled off by the SC Chief Justice and the AFP Chief of Staff Angelo Reyes. The Court had to invent constructive resignation and sanctify mutiny as withdrawal of support for the chain of command because Erap was illegally and immorally overthrown after it was realized on 16 January 2001 in the vote on the Second Envelope that the Senate Impeachment Trial would find him NOT GUILTY. When Joker Arroyo walked out on the trial, and Davide aborted it a few days later, they nullified the 1987 Constitution and committed a grave injustice. They destroyed the Rule of Law and the principle of checks and balances. For it is Senate that the is Supreme Court of Public Accountability, not the Hooting Throng of People Power Injustice.
Thus the difference betweeen Edsa One and Edsa Two is the difference between liberal democracy and liberal fascism...
I have come to the conclusion that PEOPLE POWER as practiced at Edsa Dos and urged again today, was really a form of fascist immorality, despite the sanctimonious claims made for it by its present-day proponents and diehard supporters. Let me not be mysterious or obscure in my use of the word fascist. I simply take it to mean "anti-democratic" in the sense that the principle of representative government, One Man, One Vote, and the rule of Law this implies, is replaced by the proceedings of the Parliament of the Streets that is People Power's Executive, Legislature and Judiciary all rolled into one big Hooting Throng. But the "huge" crowds of People Power, like last Friday in Makati, or even one Saturday in January 2001, are still really miniscule mobs compared to 90 million souls in the Archipelago, most of whom have never set foot on Ayala Avenue.
In what senses is modern day People Power morally and intellectually inconsistent? Let me count the ways...
I was sorely disappointed in Dean Raul Pangalangan talking to Korina Today on ANC last night. His main points was that since "this government" has time and again violated the Constitution, those who oppose her ought to do likewise. Christian Monsod was, thankfully, not so dismissive of institutions and the prospects that elections have for bringing about real reform. I'm all for a change OF men and IN men, but do it the right and fair way.
Reacting to Friday's rally, Chiz Escudero has a Golden Rule for GMA: allow others to do unto you what you did to Erap in 2001. Yeah right, Chiz. Two wrongs make a right.
Enteng Romano and Pastor Boy Saycon were also talking to Korina last night. they are just waiting for a "triggering event" to get the People Power ball rolling again. But without a Military in mutiny and a Chief Justice willing to abort impeachment trials after discovering the likely verdict, people power is lil more than psychic dentistry.
11 comments:
scriptorium argues along the lines of mabini: "drown the constitution, but save its principles!"
http://marcusapollo.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/on-impeachment-against-president-arroyo/#more-135
and yours is perhaps, "drown the principles, but save the constitution!"
interesting debate. although as with elections so it is with people power, there have been elections used as referenda. 2001 was supposed to be one, so was 2004 and again, 2007.
mlq3,
what principle applies more to the Constitution than One Man One Vote?
what principle but that establishes the very constitution?
The Constitution is nothing but Principles like that cast in English with mathematical precision.
I could no more save it without its principles than I could abolish the laws of physics and mathematics by practicing black magic.
It is the simple fact that People Power is an anti democratic process upon which we differ.
The kind of People Power that DJB is prescribing is the kind that should result in a revolutionary scenario. This should fall nothing short of crushiung the ancien regime. This involves
1) Disestablishing the Roman Catholic Church, Iglesia ni Cristo, El Shaddai and other religious organisations that dictate on State policy
2) Disestablishing the ruling elite including disestablishing the Armed Forces and replacing it with the Revolutionary Armed Forces.
3)Establishing a new Constitutional order
A new Constitutional order requires a real revolution.
That's why the EDSA revolution is a delusion. A new Constitution was proclaimed but not a new constitutional order.
MLQ3 I say
Drown People Power but save its principles!
Mabini would have agreed. EDSA 1 was hijacked by all parties and has been used and abused.
Liberal democracy is my answer! Fascism always has an element of the armed wing of the State, the armies.
HB,
When Joma called for stepped up "tactical offensives" and "hundred thousand man marches" you don't think People Power has an armed wing?
If liberal democracy is what people power is to you, then what about one man one vote? What's that? poo?
What you are describing is not liberal fascism but right wing fascism, a slightly different, more readily rejectable proposition.
The problem with People Power is that it is so sanctimonious, even I haven't really gotten around to calling it the spade that it really is.
PLEASE PASS ON: THE LAME "E-MANDIRIGMA" SYNDROME OF SOME LAME BRAINED PINOYS
Referring to these sites:
http://gmaresign.blogspot.com/
http://blacknwhitemovement.blogspot.com/
http://jenijenjen.blogspot.com/
Sus, eto nanaman ang mga "e-mandirigma". This is so LAME. Walang mangyayari sa inyo hanggang INTERNET lang kayo. Kung gusto nyo mag rebolusyon dapat humawak kayo ng mga baril at lumusob sa malacanang hindi yung "blogswarm" na di naman binabasa ni GMA. Ni hindi nyo nga alam kung sino ipapalit niyo kay GMA eh.
Some say they want De Castro, the Black and White movement (lame brains) say they don't like De Castro (they advocate GMA and Noli to resign), some say it should be Puno, some say Erap, some say they don't even know who to replace GMA with but they want her out.
If you want to be revolutionaries don't hide behind your blogs and computers. Go out and wield a weapon and attack Malacanang if you are real people like Mao Zedong, Che Guevarra or Ayatollah Khomeini and not a bunch of URKLEs in that show Saved by the Bell. What a bunch of posers and wussy geeks these are na nag-ngangangawa sa blogs. A bunch of whining crybaby CONYO-english speaking (saying "now na", "now naman") computer geeks clearly cannot defeat GMA and her forces.
Tamo si Trillanes naniwala na susuportahan siya ng mga "e-mandirigma" pero ano nangyari? Busy sila sa kaka "blog" at kagagawa ng mga photoshop collage na naglalagay kay Trillanes sa Philippine flag at may mga corning motto. Noong nakitang may mga SWAT na at Marines eh nag stay na lang sa mga computer nila at nang-ngangangawa sa mga blog.
GMA will remain in power no matter what. The "opposition" people are clueless and have their own agendas which makes their ranks broken and weak.
Imagine they even say:
"kung edsa 2 napabagsak natin thru SMS now, naman.
the president web 2.0 brought down, the president blogging brought down, the first president social media brought down" -daveQ
Yeah, right. Imagine a bunch of wimpy bloggers and e-mail forwarders saying "now naman" or "now na" facing the PSG? The PSG and PNP will jut laugh and GMA will just send in her janitors to chase the "e-mandirigma" weaklings away with brooms.
If I remember correctly, FPJ had a movie titled "isang bala ka lang" or something like that. It was a nonsensical movie, but very effective. The villain dies in the end. Actually many many shots were fired, but only one bullet did the job - right between the eyes!
Re: When Joma called for stepped up "tactical offensives" and "hundred thousand man marches" you don't think People Power has an armed wing?
You mean he did that at the last interfait rally?
Oh my...So those folks on stage are Sisonist (as opposed to Leninist)?
Liberal democracy to me equates to 1 man 1 vote as well as people power, i.e., the right to assembly, free speech and the whole democratic kaboodle. Is that bad?
hb,
well, when you define People Power that way, of course it's the greatest gift of God to every man. But that's not what it is, is it? You have to ask Erap for what it is.
Ara
The revolution has to be fought in all fronts even in cyberspace by bloggers.
The Russian Revolution used the latest technologies then available,the phone and telegraph to spread Lenin's variant of Marxism.
The Nazi seizure of power in 1933 was made more effective by coopting the techies who made the grandaddy of the PC.
The 1986 EDSA revolt used the latest technology available to spread insurrection.This was the photocopy machine.
In 1989 Cory's supporters defended her government using the fax machine.
In 2001 Erap was thrown out of power by SMS! Which country learned the lessons? China! The Politburo in Beijing has invested in all sorts of electronic jamming devices to control its people. The level of Jamming technology was only matched by another un-democratic state, The Vatican during the conclave to elect the new Pope.
So it is anchronistic (and so typical of the Filipino petrified Maoists) to say that these cyberwarriors don't matter. After all why would the Gloria subalterns start panicking over Lozada's text messages? Why would the Politburo in Beijing have cause for worry?
BTW bloggers who have ROTC training know how to fire a gun and tactics and would do it for self defence and the country. If you belong to the post ROTC generation (the programme itself was emasculated by the Arroyo administration), you have missed a lot of life experience.
PeoplePower Philippine style is code-word for sending bodies to the gates of Malacanang to force out the sitting president.
This "freedom of expression" is what allows it to happen; the goal is never to force out a Supreme Court justice; the goal is not to mount protests against any army general; the goal is not to ask for extra-special privileges for members of the press; PeoplePower Philippines is a maneuver and the goal is to oust the sitting president.
Post a Comment