On my daily journey to the job I go through Parliament Square, most of the time it’s a pretty uneventful trip. People rushing to get to work, not really noticing anything that’s going on around them, forgetting that this is where the seat of power in the UK lies. Even the recent Tamil protests have gone largely unnoticed. I just went through there this morning and I think the protestors are still there, but I couldn’t tell you for certain. I suppose that’s a freedom we’re afforded that we take for-granted – the right to protest against the actions of our government freely and without fear of punishment. 

If you ask a British born Filipino when Martial Law in the Philippines was declared the chances are they couldn’t tell you. I could, but mainly because a major part of my final grade in History in high school was based on a project I did about it, that, and it’s my dad’s birthday. Simply put, Martial Law is when the military take control of the government in the absence of any other civil government. It has been used by governments to enforce their rule or when faced with protests.

Martial Law has been declared twice in Philippines history. The first, in 1944, when President Jose P. Laurel’s government did so, preceding a declaration that the Philippines was at war with the US and the UK. Of course that period in our history ended when General Douglas MacArthur came along and rescued us from the Japanese and has been a hero to the Filipino people ever since.

The second time is a much darker part of Filipino history. Ferdinand E. Marcos imposed Martial Law for nine years from 1972 to 1981. During which time he ruled the Philippines how he pleased, embezzling what limited funds the country had, imprisoning or killing political rivals, as well as committing countless human rights abuses against the Filipino people; all whilst the rest of the world watched and even supported his government.

 

The People Power Revolution is perhaps the greatest chapter in Filipino history. It was this moment when the Filipino people, armed with nothing but their hope and faith and the belief that things could be better, decided to make things so. We are normally a people who when faced with adversity simply shrug our shoulders and say, ‘Bahala na’ (leave things to God). Whatever God decides is how it should be. It’s how we’re conditioned to be, so much in life we cannot control so we put our faith that there’s a greater Being out there that can, and that they are on our side. This is not the side of the Filipinos that showed up that February.

 

In the face of army tanks, ordinary people left their homes in order to take a stand on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue (EDSA) between armed soldiers and those who decided to lead their country into a better time. Even thinking about it now, I’m moved by the fact that so many people chose to make a stand  against an oppressive government who had made no secret of vanquishing anyone – no matter how public a figure, who stood against them. They stood and they changed the lives of every Filipino during those five days.

 

Though the current protests in Parliament Square are on a much smaller scale to the ones that took place in Manila I can’t help but be reminded of them. The choice to gather peacefully, to stand in a place where you will be noticed, and to shout at the top of your voice that things cannot continue the way they can. These are things that this protest, and so many other protests that have occurred throughout history, share with the People Power Revolution.

 

A few weekends ago I had to take the same route I do on my way to the job. Amongst the protestors there were kids. Running around on the green patches of Parliament Square, oblivious to the busy traffic zooming around, and even more oblivious to the magnitude of the reason they were there. These kids were more concerned with who could get from the Nelson Mandela statue to the Winston Churchill statue the fastest. How many of them I wonder know anything of the great men whose feet they ran to and from.

 

History has moved on when children weave seamlessly between demonstrators at the doors of one of the most powerful governments in the world. Still, it is this type of peaceful protest, even thousands of miles away, that so many put their faith in to change the world. Over 20 years later, the events at EDSA are not forgotten. If they have taught the world anything it is this: even against formidable odds, the power of the people can change the world.

 

 

 

 

NB. I’m not a Historian, and that History project was a long time ago, but if you want to know more about the events leading up to the People Power Revolution then I would try to find a movie called A Dangerous Life.

Posted on 8 May 2009 by Gemma in Culture, History, Politics

Tagged corazon aquino, ferdinand e. marcos, martial law, people power, revolution