Since I started to think for myself, I’ve always been a progressive or one who is not only open to new and liberal ideas but also actively works to make them happen. A progressive differs from a liberal who only passively accepts new and liberal ideas. A progressive, moreover, is opposed to any and all forms of violence and authoritarianism.
But then martial law gave rise to Marx-and-Mao-inspired social activists who co-opted the word’s meaning. It ceased to connote openness to alternative worldviews. Instead, a progressive was now one that advocated for a strictly Marxist worldview and social agency. Faith-based activists like me who opposed martial law but would have nothing to do with Marxist or Maoist authoritarianism, godlessness and violence were tagged as clerico-fascists, non-progressives in the extreme left’s sense of the term.
Marxist thought might have provided answers at a time when class struggle was a defining reality in human societies. Yet not only has the distinction between classes since blurred but new sciences (evolutionary psychology and quantum mechanics mainly) are challenging long held truths that have guided humans in coping with life’s challenges.
One cannot hold Marxist philosophy, any philosophy for that matter, as dogma without being intellectually dishonest, without stunting intellectual growth and without distorting the essential bond between humans and between humans and nature. There is no place for dogmatism when it is obvious we can only grasp in bits and pieces the universe’s ever changing reality.
Someone glued to Marxist dogma is no longer open to alternative worldviews and societal transformations. A true progressive maintains complete openness to new ideas, convinced that human knowledge is barely scratching the surface of cosmic reality. There is still so much to know and understand about life on earth, human or otherwise.
Genuine Filipino progressives are not dogmatic and actively advocate for new ways of interpreting their social reality and of accordingly restructuring their society. From pure reason alone, they reject violence as a method of social change and authoritarianism as a system of government. Resorting to the violent and authoritarian ways of our primitive past is not progress. It is a regress, a failure to understand and live the values that should bind humans together.
With the corruption bomb that exploded in the nation’s face, genuine Filipino progressives face a daunting challenge. Beyond protest marches, they are urgently challenged to make concrete legal, even extra-legal, moves to make corrupt legislators accountable. For the long term, the challenge is to install a truly democratic egalitarian social structure that subsists on the rule of law and channels the greater good not to a few but to the majority of the population.
In the most unlikely event of BBM resigning, snap elections for a caretaker government will not change anything. Unless overhauled, our election system will put into office a new set of unethical leaders. No other kind can win office in the current election system.