Feet and drums

     A friend asked why the CBCP and people’s organizations did not call off their rallies even after the  con-ass had been cancelled, and I   brushed it aside with, “nakakasa na yon eh.” (“it has been set in motion.”)    And he said that sounded mechanical, it’s like the robot in that “Terminator” movie, that cannot be turned back;  (horrific photo of author removed)  and I brushed it aside again with, “no, your metaphor is wrong; it’s like a river that’s cracked the dam.” I shouldn’t brush it aside, so here it is:

        When really is the breaking point? As we’ve said before (in chattel’s blog but I deleted it because chattel is mean), the breaking point is not a production number. We cannot imitate certain events in history to produce the uprisings that broke out right after those events. It doesn’t result just from the subjective will of the subjective forces (sorry, big words, what I mean is:  ) it doesn’t result from how strongly the organized members feel about their cause; but there are objective conditions (big word again; what I mean is:  ),  there are realities or a confluence of events that create so much anger that the organized forces are able to sweep large crowds to join them; (later on,  you would be able to recruit from this “sweep-crowd” but a large portion of them will go back to their comfort zones after the uprising). Or you could create those objective conditions to hasten the breaking point. How do we create the “objective conditions”? When the ruling party (gosh, here I go again, I’m going to spout jargon) when the ruling party “can no longer rule in the old way” such that, they start violating their own laws, destroying their own institutions, and desecrating all norms of decency, for all to see, that’s part of the objective conditions. How do we get them to do that? We don’t have to. The more that the people’s organizations challenge them with reasonable demands, convincing and coherent arguments, even invoking  their own rules, the more people see how unjust the trapos are and the more those trapos are forced to use unreasonable means, arbitrary measures, and yes, their “numbers”. When people see that, the more they realize that the end should come for the rulers. It happens day to day, but sometimes it’s magnified when the ruling party has to preserve itself and the more it does,  the more it acquires a  logic of its own, the logic of force and numbers, and when it does, the end has started. How do you make it do that? Sometimes, it becomes a necessity for the ruling party, because it feels it will totter if it doesn’t do anything.       

          Am I making sense? I give up; I’ll just reprint what we wrote on November 2, 2000, a month before the impeachment trial of the former president; it was signed by 104 or so lawyers, the biggest assembly so far:            

          Quote “There is no formula for the ouster of a thieving and avaricious regime – no surefire way of ensuring that the one that would replace it would represent the people’s interests. But one thing is certain. Our history has shown that when people move together in large numbers, leave the confines of their homes and offices to express themselves and shout in unison at a hated regime, the beginning of the end has come. Walls crumble.                         

                 “And any successor would have to take heed of the manner by which he/she was installed to government – lest he/she suffer the same fate.                        “Whether it is the fall of the peso to uncharted depths, one scandalous disclosure after another of the president’s voracity, the withdrawal of support of international banks and U.S. agencies, the impeachment proceedings and internet petitions, the daily street protests, the resignation of Cabinet members or the military turning its back, or a combination of any or all of these factors, any effort to make the president leave office or resign must be powered by a mass movement in order to succeed. It is not any single factor, not even the withdrawal of support of banks and U.S. agencies – but a strong mass movement that would force the issue. XXX The president will not resign unless he is literally and physically immobilized by a siege in the Palace and squeezed into a corner. XXX” unquote     

        That was six years ago, two months before the regime fell.

         There are drums and feet and marches thudding outside my office as I write this. It’s time to stop writing.