Opinion Editorials, November 2003, www.aljazeerah.info
Human Price of the Israeli Occupation of Palestine
Israeli daily aggression on the Palestinian people
Mission and meaning of Al-Jazeerah
Cities, localities, and tourist attractions
Drifting Into Despair
Arab News
9 November 2003
The bizarre events at Manila Airport highlight once again the seemingly intractable problems facing President Gloria Arroyo. Once again a small quixotic band of desperate men has drawn attention to the country’s massive corruption problem in a way that was bound to result in their imprisonment and even death. And so it has proved. Questions will no doubt be asked about the heavy-handed approach of the military, but the protesters could hardly have hoped to succeed. Theirs was an act of despair.
Despair is what the Philippines appears to be drifting ever further into over the government’s failure to deal with corruption and cronyism. This summer the president herself described the political climate as “poisonous” and temporarily declared that she would not stand for a second term. That she changed her mind may not necessarily have been a good thing.
When Arroyo replaced the corrupt and mercurial former film actor Joseph Estrada, she took office on a massive tide of popular good will. It was hoped that at last the country would have a leader untainted by allegations of corruption and political skullduggery. The softly spoken new president was an economist who — it was hoped — could restore the country’s financial fortunes and bring an end to the dominance of a few powerful political families, most of whom had risen to eminence and wealth in the hugely corrupt days of President Marcos. Those hopes have proven misplaced. Arroyo herself comes from that very same background. If she expected to persuade her friends and acquaintances to relinquish part of their control and allow even modest reforms, she was disappointed. Nothing could happen without the cooperation of the wealthy elite and, for their own bad reasons, they proved unwilling to relinquish their economic hegemony and political role. The result has been political paralysis.
The brief army mutiny in July and the tragicomic seizure of Manila airport’s control tower on Friday are the most visible signs of despair among the country’s middle classes.
One lesson the president could take from this latest protest is that, unless she really believes that she can reverse the course of her lackluster presidency, perhaps she should revisit the idea of standing for a second term. If someone from the country’s elite cannot bring about substantial change, then someone else, from a different background, will have to stand for the job. Estrada, who did not belong to one of the ruling families but was a hugely successful movie star, brought shame to his office and his country. It is clear that the Filipinos need to widen their search for a leadership — away from the usual suspects, who are either celebrities or belong to the ruling elite, to people who have no ax to grind and no nest to feather. But where will those leaders come from?
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| Earth, a planet hungry for peace |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03). |
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| The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03). |
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