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Nurturing mass-based politics online

Wired magazine, early 1990s

Writing this piece on the eve of the national elections on May 9, I think all will agree that the presidential and vice-presidential contest has been the most bitterly fought since the 1986 snap elections.

The fight has been a no-holds-barred grudge fight. Chances are it will continue that way until Election Day, and probably even beyond. Several factors have created this situation. Mindful of column space and time limitations, I should mention at least three highly influential factors.  Continue reading “Nurturing mass-based politics online”

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Giant among dwarfs

GIANT AMONG DWARFS. That’s what I imagined Joker to be when he joined the Corazon Aquino government, a solid pillar supporting Cory’s load only to be felled as a sacrificial offering when the coup attempts started to besiege her rule.

IRAIA thoughts
IRAIA thoughts

Giant among dwarfs he was again, when he joined the Lower House, and later the Senate. He marched to a different drummer, and I’d like to believe, that drummer was the democratic mass movement–although sometimes he seemed hard of hearing or too stubborn, and so made some missteps. But aside from that, he was a likable guy, a courageous human rights lawyer, fellow street parliamentarian, and fiscalizer in government.

The only thing I didn’t like about him was his hairdo. I think he secretly fancied himself to be either Emperor Trajan or Constantine. But that’s ok. After all, he was a giant among dwarfs.#

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Massacre cooking

In 1971, as a “summer-fulltimer” activist of the Kabataang Makabayan (KM) working with MDP’s Radyo Pakikibaka, I was a regular visitor at the KM’s Boni Center along Quezon Avenue. As was the SOP in activist HQs during those times, the Boni Center prepared its daily fare of food for everyone who happened to be there at mealtimes–whether we were five or 10 or (sometimes, especially during busy protest seasons) 25 or more.

Masaker food
Massacre soup with cabbage and vermicelli

Boni Center had a finance and logistics team that, I supposed, worked with a thin and worn shoestring budget. I only assumed this, because occasionally, a team member would arrive with a big sack or two of vegetable rejects and cabbage peelings, solicited from their local public market contacts. Then we who happened to be around would help out in the kitchen, sorting out the still humanly edible pieces from those that were absolutely fit only for the pigsty cauldron. Continue reading “Massacre cooking”