Sunday, February 24, 2008 Cariño: Only One Edsa By Linda Grace Cariño Paradigm Shift
LET'S face it. There was in truth only one Edsa. It happened in 1986. It was historic.
It was the first of its kind in the world as we know it, a "people power" revolution that ousted a despot -- without the bloodshed that always accompanies a revolution.
It was beyond special. It was a shining moment in Philippine experience. And the world took notice.
But as I long ago learned from the most significant of my Theatre (oyes, the world's a stage) mentors, when one has such a moment, one enjoys it and milks it for all its worth and savors it to the hilt, and don't forget the pictures. And then one lets go. There is a next performance. There is a next script. There is a next play. I.e., that glorious Edsa moment has passed; it is over. We must progress from it.
This column itself wrote of the so-called deposing of Erap by an Edsa wannabe as an "Edsa 2."
Hindsight, however, shows us that what passes for "Edsa 2" was a poor, poor copy of the original. And as many a political pundit has already put it, the ingredients that made for Edsa were not in play in 2.
Then there was a so-called Edsa 3, an even more miserable copy of 1.
Now there is talk of a proverbial slow boil leading up to a much vaunted tipping point in this present political situation in the country that, like yet another cliché, seems to have all the ingredients of the first half of "dekada ochenta," equaling, they say, the makings of a popular people power movement.
Sound familiar? Decidedly. But like I said in the beginning of this piece, there was only one Edsa People Power Revolution.
It is remains unmatched in possibly all history, and is only besmirched by all of these copies presuming to its inimitable stature.
