Bulan Observer

Ginoong galvesmalajakan, pahintulutan mo ding sagutin kita sa Ingles para maintindihan din ng mga ibang nagmamasid ng ating nayong  Bulan. Maraming salamat sa pagsagot mo sa sinulat ko dito sa Bulan Observer. Mabuhay ka rin!

Yes, revolutions have in some cases catalysed social and political change in many societies like America, Germany, the early Soviet Union, etc. Even our very own country, the Philippines, has also experienced revolutions. Think about those battles fought against the Spaniards, the Americans and the Japanese. These had changed the course of our nation. The Edsa revolution also ended Marcos’ dictatorship.We fought against these invaders because we valued freedom. The fight for freedom is in my opinion the best fight one can do. This fight defines your strength and your identity, your convictions and values and shape your future. But revolutions do not necessarily improve people’s life thereafter. Russia, China and the rests of the communist  block at that time suffered even more from poverty and isolation.The fight against poverty and social injustice is a fight that happens in another level, for this can not be resolved by bombs and bloodshed alone. This fight must occur in times of peace when enemies have fled and fallen comrades long buried.

Now, our fight in Bulan is a fight not against a foreign invader but against our very own leaders people voted for who promised to serve yet neglected the poor and misused the town in the end. I don’t see a need for a big scale revolution to dislodge these people there. Corrupt leaders come and go anyway as long as the whole society is not acting as one in defining its identity and safeguarding its democratic ideals. As I have written somewhere else, it’s you and me who shape the future, it’s you and me who decide whom to put  up there to lead the town, and it’s you and me who decide to remove him again when he begins to be corrupt and abusive. This would be easy if the people were  serious and conscious enough of their rights and responsibilities. This is the fight I am now engage in- a fight to motivate people to reconsider their position, to question their attitudes toward our politics, to reflect on the power of democracy and to participate actively and conscientiously in protecting the town, each according to his or her own experience and perception. This is a long term task, as opposed to just eliminating anybody by force, which maybe sensational but only has the effect of removing the symptom than the illness itself. I do not suggest that the Bulan society is ill. I only think that it’s not as a whole conscious yet of its identity as a group of people which still has all the potentials for social, political and economic growth. A conscious society is strong in fighting its internal enemies, is not easily intimidated by the goons and display of power by the vicious few. In Germany, they say that somebody must die in order for the rest to survive. How you understand this, I leave it to you. Situations will change in Bulan when people would want it. The chain of events and circumstances over which we have no direct influence is naturally ever present in any society that grows and develops. However, I emphasize and stay by  my method of effecting  change according to the definitions I have laid down in my previous writings.

I understand your feelings and emotions especially if you are experiencing poverty happening right inside you and social injustice right between your eyes. I can only tell you that in Bulan you’re not alone, there are many who are in this situation. It’s hard, indeed. This is a good reason to stay together, be creative in order to survive and  continue the fight for a just cause, for in fighting we grow together and learn a lot.

jun asuncion

Bulan Observer