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Saturday, July 01, 2006
Libre: For a paradigm shift
By Mel Libre
Seriously Now
Communism is an ideology that attracts idealists dreaming of a state where there is equal opportunity for all citizens and fair distribution of resources and where sovereign power resides genuinely in the people.
It is democracy at its best: farmers who toil in the fields, laborers who operate the machines and all those whose hands work to feed the populace and sustain the economy have a voice in the pursuit of the destiny of the nation and its people.
With its promise of salvation for the proletariat, communism was maligned badly by capitalist states, with the United States at the forefront.
In the ‘50s, the American government pursued relentlessly its citizens who were thought to be communists, including the comedian Charlie Chaplin. It supported dictators and puppet governments, if only to prevent the spread of communism, particularly in Asia and South America.
In the Philippines, liberal thinkers like Claro M. Recto and Lorenzo Tańada didn’t have a chance at the presidency as the Central Intelligence Agency dipped its fingers in elections. The dictatorial regime of Ferdinand Marcos was but one of the many that the Americans supported in the era when the “domino effect” of communism was deemed as gospel truth.
The Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union brought about chills of a nuclear holocaust until Mikhail Gorbachev introduced “perestroika” and “glasnost,” loosening the State’s grip on the people that contributed to the Soviet Union’s demise.
But though Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had the best of intentions, their system brought about the rise of leaders like Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. The purges that they sponsored were bloody, if not inhumane.
Other satellite communist states followed, the most graphic being the scourge authored by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. The Communist Party of the Philippines had its own mass execution, targeting members alleged to be agents of the government.
We must salute, therefore, party-list representatives of left-leaning groups for pursuing their cause and espousing their ideology in the halls of Congress. There are teachings of Marx, Engels and Mao that maybe useful in solving some of our country’s worst problems.
In recent years, some South Americans, frustrated by the poor performance of their conservative, if not rightwing politicians, elected socialist presidents. This then could be the perfect time for idealists who have gone to the hills to reconsider their proletarian war in favor of the battle for the minds of the voters in the electoral process.
They might just win the hearts of the people who are fed up with most of our politicians and their antics.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (June 30, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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