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Prosecuting GMA as Platform

Thursday, 06 May 2010 11:14 administrator
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by Jenina Joy Chavez[1]

With barely a week before May 10, Filipinos everywhere would have seen and heard more than enough of the elections – the muck, the dirt, the candidates’ profiles, the agenda, the promises and the projections, all thrown into a sticky mix of hope, propaganda and entertainment. Being this close to crunch time, the political climate has been so polarized that it is difficult to say anything without receiving an enthusiastic endorsement or an impassioned rebuttal. If the amount of interest, especially among the youth and particularly the new voters, is any indication, this political exercise at least draws out encouraging participation – a prelude to active citizenship that can only be good for the country. There are also signs that political gimmickry needs to be more sophisticated to stick, and that media exposure alone does not guarantee approval. There is the usual fare of partisan follies, the scare of failed elections, and controversial survey ratings – all contested in this season of the most popular contest of all. Behold an expression of formal democracy, Philippine-style.

What makes this election unique is the public clamour to bring closure to the many controversies and scandals that smudged the nine-year administration of Mrs. Arroyo. There is a strong sense of exacting accountability and demanding justice for all the wrongs that were spawned by a much-maligned administration. It is a demand for both catharsis and cure, something imperative as we dream of building this nation again.

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A Decade after the Cochabamba Water Wars:

Tuesday, 27 April 2010 07:30 administrator
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A Decade after the Cochabamba Water Wars: Inspiration for Water Justice and Democratization Struggles in Asia

by Mary Ann Manahan

This speech was delivered during the opening plenary session, 10 Años dela Guerra del Agua of the III Feria del Agua on April 15, 2010 at Complejo Fabril, Cochabamba, Bolivia, in celebration of the 10 Years of the Water Wars.

Thank you very much for inviting me at this opening plenary. It is truly a humbling experience to be with all of you at this historic moment, and be part of a politically strategic gathering, not only for the water justice movements but also for the global justice movements. I have read and heard of the Cochabamba water wars as a young activist at the university in the Philippines. It was also the year I got actively involved in the student movement to oust a corrupt and immoral president; reading the story of the water wars inspired me in many ways to be more politicized, to be more aware of events happening around the world, and to work towards social change.

A decade later, the meanings and lessons of the Cochabamba Water Wars are more relevant than ever. In Asia, a diverse region that shares a lot of similarities to Bolivia in terms of political and economic history and developments— subjected to structural adjustment programs in the 80s by the IFIs such as the World Bank and IMF, and neoliberal policies and privatization experiments in the 90s; where widespread poverty is a day-to-day reality, and corruption in government is very much embedded in the culture of governance; and where there is a strong tradition of popular movements and citizens’ rising up to demand for their rights --  the lessons and meanings of the water wars resonate in many ways.

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The Prince of Denmark

Friday, 29 January 2010 10:44 administrator
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by Akbayan! Representative Walden Bello

Like Hamlet, Shakespeare’s conflicted Prince of Denmark, China was caught between conflicting currents in Copenhagen.  Its failure to manage these led to its biggest diplomatic debacle in years.

Almost a month after the debacle at the United Nations climate conference in Copenhagen (Conference of Parties or COP 15), the question of who scuttled the talks elicits fury and derision.
   
Interestingly, in many accounts, President Barack Obama comes across either as a figure who valiantly tries to rescue a doomed conference or as a well-meaning head of state whose hands are unfortunately tied by the realities of US politics

As the villain of the continuing climate drama, Washington has been replaced in much of the media by Beijing.  China did make mistakes in Copenhagen, but the media portrayal of it as the spoiler of the climate change negotiations is neither accurate nor fair. Like Hamlet, Shakespeare’s conflicted Prince of Denmark, China was caught in multiple crosscurrents in Copenhagen.  Its failure to manage these led to one of its biggest diplomatic setbacks in years.

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Welcome to Verwirrung

Saturday, 30 May 2009 07:36 administrator
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by Aya Fabros


 I find it hard to tell you because I find it hard to take when people run in circles it’s a very, very mad world 
–Roland Orzabal

It’s May and the television is spewing inane episodes, flooding our homes with live-feed marriage proposals and other equally ludicrous declarations from the returning and the aspiring. The countdown to 2010 has begun. There’s a lot of buzz around the surveys and a lot of noise coming from wannabe candidates, especially those who are trailing behind. Politicians are pedaling pedicabs-peddling-themselves, rescuing workers-in-distress, making acronyms out of their names to prevent looming disaster.

Yes, by the looks of it, signs are pointing to something ominous stirring, lurking up ahead, although the extent and consequence of which remains muddled. Where pandemonium is the rhythm of everyday rather than a single staggering crescendo, it tends to be pushed far back to a point where all you hear is a relentless, unintelligible humming that one manages to downplay and ignore.

Except that it’s a scratched CD, stuck and skipping back to the same verse that’s playing over and over and over.


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Dispatch from the EPZA: A Tale of Two Women

Sunday, 29 March 2009 03:36 administrator
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By Aya Fabros

“Kababaihan: Jobless kaya Pay-less (Women: Jobless therefore Payless)” a protest placard expressed during a women’s day mobilization last March 8, summing up some key dimensions of the worsening global downturn. Payless, also a common brand of instant noodles—a cheap meal that has become staple diet for poor Filipino households-- captures both the massive loss of jobs and income as well as the intensifying poverty and hunger situation, as the impact of the global crisis becomes more pronounced in the country. At the same time, payless also calls attention to women’s unpaid family work, particularly undervalued household and reproductive labor, which remain unrecognized as ‘real work’, despite the increasing load borne on women’s backs, especially when times get tough.  The challenges that workers face, both in the workplace and at home, are made more glaring by the circumstances women workers are thrust into as the crisis deepens. 
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