Edsa shrine rally: could be a long day

At 11.30 I arrived at Edsa shrine. As soon as I arrived, it was clear this was a completely different rally from Wednesday’s sad little gathering at the Aguinaldo shrine.

The first person I saw was a nun — always a good sign (not to mention that authentic Pinoy touch). Next I saw a lot of banners fluttering from the flyovers—the largest collection since the Edsa 2 demonstrations in 2000-2001. One actually said “Layas Gloria” and thanks to Carla (below) I now know what that means.

This was definitely the politicized masa that Carla talked about. They were chanting and banner waving — the atmosphere was throbbing and actually quite tense.

As I entered the rally, frayed called me to tell me a state of an emergency had been called. I told her I thought that was a stupid and panicky measure, typical of the president. Whenever Gloria does something like jittery this, which is almost every week, I am reminded of her comparison of herself with Margaret Thatcher.

Anyway, back to the sweaty mob. I entered from the back, from Galleria, through the massed SWAT team. There were quite a few trucks and buses, another sign of good organization. I listened to the guy on the PA promising that “Vice President” Guingona would be there shortly. I texted a friend who replied “We’re supposed to man the barricades for that?” I worked my way to the noisy front of the crowd (as always everyone was very friendly) and saw a truck full of military pull up. The crowd surged forward a bit and the noise level rose. It was very hot and most of us were concerned to get into the shade below the flyover.

I stayed there for a while and then, in one of those odd juxtapositions so typical of Manila, I left for a lunch of humous and pistou soup at my favourite Mediterranean restaurant nearby. By the time I returned, the rally had miraculously disappeared! All that was left was a few hundred cops. I called frayed, who told me the crowd been water cannoned but an agreement had been reached. When he arrived Guingona asked the crowd to disperse peacefully and they did. Weird.

In a fluid situation like this, small movements can tip the outcome one way or the other. So, what does this portend?

• I guess it is round one to the cops. There was a stand-off and they held the field.
• Was the working class sold out by the middle class (represented by Guingona) yet again? There was certainly a momentum building and that has now evaporated.
• In the long term, however, I wonder whether it was smart of the authorities to disperse the rally. Demonstrations that were to be spread across at least three locations (Makati, Edsa Shrine, and Quezon Circle) will now be concentrated. Something tells me these folk didn’t just go home and put their slippers on. The question is where did they go to?
• If to Makati, this may be the only chance to really unite the middle and working class opposition movements.

The wheel is still in spin.

Comments

[empress maruja]

it started as a coup attempt went kaput before the strike of dawn. what was stupid IMO was that some adventurists were about to stage a coup, and informed the media about it. duh?

i think these tensions today will all be gone tomorrow. people have become apathetic, tired of too much EDSAs.

[HRM]

I can understand disillusionment, but one really must try to avoid being apathetic.

Some links...

Remember what Ninoy stood for, and it's not over:
http://rinabelle.blogs.com/eevilmidget/files/Ninoy.mov

The People's Revolution on BBC Radio 4:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/noscript.shtml?
/radio/aod/radio4_aod.shtml?radio4/peoples_revolution"

[Carla]

One more point on "oust": it's an ideologically-charged term. It's different from "resign", which is an appeal/demand to the President (who can choose to ignore it, as she has). "Impeach" of course invokes adherence to the legal process in removing an elected leader. "Oust" is clearly emphatic on extra-parliamentary means to remove GMA.

I like "layas" because it's a command and it implies the illegitimate status of the one being forced out. What I like even better is the dismissive "Alis dyan!" used against Marcos. It means the same thing but is more casual in tone. It's something you would say to someone who doesn't deserve respect.