Act. Now... How?

Some minutes before I left the office, I had received successive emails from 2401Taft mailing list -- from a call for support of Lozada, a mass action for social change, GMA resign now, Lozada’s Thoughts in a Letter, to a professor’s appeal to students to act (people power).

My professor's appeal caught my attention. He would normally use Lord of the Rings in discussing politics and power. Here’s his appeal:

To our dear Students,
The time to act is here... we need to take the road now... Do not worry too much that the way forward seems quite hazy. No one can say what will happen... these lines from the Lord of the Rings seem apt to cite now:

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

Together, let us all move forward. To Mordor if need be, where the Orc-Queen resides and keeps the Rings of Power. There is a time to act. That time is here. Let us all bear the one true Ring. People power.

The usual ‘usisera’ or the trying-to-be-thinking person that I am pushed me to ask him some questions (aside from the love to broadening my understanding of issues through intellectuals' perspectives). Reasons: (1) I don’t think that People Power or a Call for Resignation is apt, and (2) I got particularly fixated with the idea he presented that there is no need too worry much of the future that is uncertain. So I write:

I think a lot of people (including myself) worry much of what's going to happen next. There are no clear alternatives and the ambiguity of the 'future' can scare anyone. While the situation definitely tells us about the atrocity of this government (is it enough to move into something that is uncertain?). I'm thinking if is it really the only way (People Power/Call for GMA's resignation) to resolve the issue.

I'd like to hear (este read) your thoughts.

Ah, I should have also asked if it is the best way. Anyhow, his response (highlighted in blue are points that caught my interest):

Allow me some further literary exploration...

The Pulido complaint did one good thing, it closed the option for impeachment (at least for a year). And with most members of the House of Representathieves being the nasty things that they are -- that they can eat even their own kind -- see what happened to JDV-- (like orcs), nothing, most probably, will happen in another impeachment attempt.

No one can say what form the new people power will take, but people power happens everyday. It's just that this time, we will have to direct it against the black gates of Mordor-Malacañang. The elves (kuno) are entangled in their endless councils in the senate, and they have been infiltrated by Saruman-types-- Miriam, Enrile, Arroyo (unfortunately!)-- and the Trolls and Southrons (military and the police) are fully under the will of the Rings of Power.

Like reading a novel, the conduct of mass actions are certainly uncertain. What sustains us is nothing but Hope and Faith. Yes, my dear students. I have Faith -- in people and the power that they can wield with direct action.

Surety is never given in a war. This is war, have no doubt about it. For the government has been using all its forces to make war against its own people.

Now, we must use all the forces at our disposal. From candles, to posters, to rosaries, to writs of habeas corpus or amparo, to WARM BODIES as needed. If by some luck, less physical people like the good Senator Salonga and his group are able to hail the criminals to jail through their legal actions, well, that would be most welcome.

But the conditions dictate a united front (like the elves, with the dwarves, the ents, the halflings, the Rohirrim, and all that can be mustered). One target... One Ring... since, from all indications, she never will STEP DOWN/RESIGN. Those are the conditions of war.

After the smoke clears, then we debate on how to (re)build a better nation.

What else are we to do? Wait for the Valerosos to pick us all up at the Tarmac and bring us to the Marshes? Shiver at the thought. The wraiths cry out.

For Frodo,
Louie M.

Why is it that I'm still not convinced? My response next post.