FOR the people of Marawi City, it is clear that the voice of women on different parts of our country are concerned about the internally displaced persons (IDPs)/bakwits and their safe return.
The Ranao Multisectoral Groups are united as one ethic group. Clearly, they challenged the government and the structural defects caused by hegemony of power dynamics. They propose ways of rebuilding their city and the lives of their people.
Looking at the bigger picture, Filipino nation may also be divided in looking at the ways to rebuild Marawi. Leaving it to the framework of identity politics may not solve the problem or it may even worsen it.
Critics on the government efforts are also deepening the divides that exist between different groups in our society. Some groups would also say, instead of focusing on our identities and differences, we should recognize that we are all Filipinos. But this is easier said than done.
Maguire argues, the mere wish that we could all just get along can do nothing to combat problems of our society. She added, “In an unjust world, where certain segments of society are oppressed by others, simply trying to transcend our identities is not the answer. As Hannah Arendt said, “One can resist [oppression] only in terms of the identity that is under attack.” The idea that the oppressed can resist or escape their oppression by denying their own identities is a fiction.
Moreover, we need to see identity politics as a starting point. It is a means to arrive at our goal and not the end itself. As Martin Duberman, historian and human rights activist, has explained, “Yet we hold on to a group identity, despite its insufficiencies, because for most non-mainstream people it’s the closest we have ever gotten to having a political home—and voice. Yes, identity politics reduces and simplifies. Yes, it is a kind of prison. But it is also, paradoxically, a haven. It is at once confining and empowering. And in the absence of alternative havens, group identity will for many of us continue to be the appropriate site of resistance and the main source of comfort.”
Again, we cannot solve the problems in Marawi alone by focussing on identity politics. Because it can turn into a disaster of endless struggle and division. Meranaws must transcend from the victimhood mentality and opens a wider door and spaces for dialogue. Sabr (patience) is the key to help address the problems in Marawi.
One way to ensure that we are not trap in identity politics, as suggested by Arora, “we first listen carefully and humbly and try to see the world from the vantage point of others. To see the lives of others more clearly—including of those more privileged than us—requires working on our own blind spots, irrational fears, and prejudices, many of which are byproducts of group privileges, normative identities, and mental colonization. … We may never be able to transcend all systemic biases within our social institutions—as new ones, so often, replace the old—but it is a mark of our humanity to not abandon this effort.” Meranaw people must learn from this. Learn from what vantage point President Duterte is coming from.
Furthermore, for our government, Arora has a good suggestion, “Alongside, it’s also important to reflect on our own tendency to self-censor, to avoid challenging ‘our own side’. Poseurs and self-promoters surround us in every camp, each moved by his/her inner demons and drives. Who among any group, marginalized or not, deserves to speak for the whole is always an open question, to be best settled by each of us, not automatically by claims of identity. Social truths are subjective and contingent. As the Buddha advised, there is no better guide to making sense of our world than our own reason and compassion. We’d also do well to realize that dismissing identity politics wholesale is part of the problem, not the solution.”
I hope our government and our people in Marawi could see these points of identity politics.