Meanwhile, in the Philippines, President Arroyo seems to be celebrating the twentieth anniversary of People Power by dispersing protests, intimidating the media, and detaining her critics - all under the guise of putting down a military coup. Over 100 people have been arrested so far, including students, university lecturers, lawyers, and opposition politicians. Some have been charged with "inciting sedition" under the Philippines' notoriously loose sedition law, which effectively outlaws any call to public protest. Others have curiously been charged with coup attempts dating back twenty years. The picture seems to be that of a general roundup of political opponents, rather than dealing with a military rebellion.
So, twenty years after People Power, a corrupt Philippines president who fraudulently stole an election seems to be using the same tricks that Marcos did when he was in power. It really is the same old game...
1 comments:
A good post. Reading the New Internationalist profiles on the Philippines through the last three decades show that it's made some progress; it desperately needs stable and accountable democratic government. Interesting that FDR put the full admission of the Philippines into the Union on the agenda before being persuaded that distance and race/language made it impractical - and settling instead for independence.
Posted by Anonymous : 2/26/2006 04:35:00 AM
Post a Comment
(Anonymous comments are enabled).