In our non-stop self-mortification as a people, we—or at least some of us—have allowed ourselves to be dragged into the revisionist marketing branding that People Power is dead and that the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution was a failure, a fluke of history. That—no matter that this historic event shook the world 36 years ago and, like a domino effect, sent dictatorships in other parts of the world crashing. The Edsa People Power Revolution became a global symbol, and its yellow ribbon became the world’s iconic image for democracy, from Asia all the way to Eastern Europe.
Then through the years, the Filipino psyche has been conditioned to feel almost ashamed of People Power. Even the social and political institutions that the 1986 Edsa Revolution salvaged, restored, or have given birth to have been distancing themselves from it, starting with the mosquito press that became the mainstream media. But then this democratic free-for-all space that Filipinos have been enjoying since 1986 wouldn’t have been possible without the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution—a fact that is so taken for granted.
People Power is not dead, but has been taking other forms—it is taking over the digital space, and in physical space, it is alive in the Philippines in the millions and millions of volunteers, a number that spiked in the last six years.
@antoncarranza #PasigLaban#PasigIsPinkC ♬ original sound – Anton Carranzajr
But then here’s some BREAKING NEWS—more than a hundred thousand people turned out Sunday March 20 for the PasigLaban rally in Pasig for presidential candidate Leni Robredo, turning Emerald Avenue and its environs into moving, endless strips of pink from noon until evening—the partisan people moving as one, loading up MRTs, inhabiting the malls, sharing food, water and other necessities. It felt like 1986 People Power Edsa Revolution as well. And Pasig wasn’t even the main highlight of the campaign running up to the May 2022 elections.
It doesn’t hurt that the Filipinos are known to be among the most active social media users in the world. We are interactive—from Facebook to the elevator (try being stuck with a Filipino from the Parking basement to the ground floor)—and we love to engage. Someone put so well the battle for the people’s minds and hearts: “Malakas ang trolls. Pero mas malakas ang tsismosong Pinoy. (The trolls are strong, but they’re no match to Pinoy gossips.)”
If the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution drove out about three million people to the streets, the Filipino People Power in recent years has been mobilizing so many times that number—tens of millions. (Of course, not more than the overall BTS Army population in the world, but not far from it.) This, even if there’s been an undercurrent sense of fear of recrimination the past six years.
And the People Power/Democracy netizens and the physical volunteers come from a cross section of Philippine society, the demographics cut across age, income status and gender preference. How do you know? Just log on to your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tiktok, to know or get the sense of it. This is one digital wave that dubious surveys cannot fudge or blur.
Oh ayan! Baklasin niyo na nang magkaalaman! #LabanLeni#TrillanesForSenator#MagdaloPartylist
📷ctto pic.twitter.com/NnlcP18mrJ— Osidrain (@osidrain) February 19, 2022
From Twitter, in reaction to election rule banning posters in homes
From FB of Nicolette Dizon
And in case you haven’t noticed, even the K-pop fan base has weighed in. Many are turning their love of idols into love of democracy, with corresponding visual registrations.
This is happening even as recent events and government leaders continue to fan the flames of class conflict. Digital People Power is emerging—despite the class divide.
This People Power on the digital space has evolved into a pro-Democracy tsunami that is strong in political color, yet not limited to a single color
This People Power on the digital space has evolved into a pro-Democracy tsunami that is strong in political color, yet not limited to a single color. It takes on so many voices, so many visual forms or images, so many names and hashtags—but the common thread is: freedom, democracy, and specifically, the Filipino’s social values and the Filipino’s desire to retrieve a people’s sense of decency. Filipinos are simply grossed out by current affairs and are saying, showing it in social media. Theirs is a 24/7 digital pushback at anti-democracy forces and at a well-funded troll machinery. It is almost entertaining to read how people, especially students and the young, push back at and drown out the trolls. Tit for tat. They can out-TikTok the trolls.
The Filipino’s unli (unlimited) sense of humor is the kind of People Power other cultures might find hard to replicate
The digital space is overflowing with pro-Democracy or anti-dictatorship memes too libelous to run here, but yes, so hilarious. The Filipino’s unli (unlimited) sense of humor is the kind of People Power other people or cultures might find hard to replicate. Filipinos have a way of laughing at their misery—more than that, of turning their frustration and despair into the funniest TikToks.
And in fact, digital People Power has spawned the best art forms, most of them shared on social media and chat apps. From hand drawings and illustrations to paintings and sculptures to digital images—they are collectibles. They have become the best form of messaging.
What people cannot say in words, they say in images; they TikTok. That is 2022 People Power.
The 21st century is the century of niche communities and echo chambers. What’s wrong with that?
But—is that only in your echo chambers? Perhaps, and what’s wrong with that, if you have so many echo chambers and “dynamic” algorithms? The 21st century is the century of niche communities and echo chambers. As early as the 20th century, media theory philosopher Marshall Mcluhan and the futurist Alvin Toffler saw it coming—how mass media would be a thing of the past; how, with time getting scarcer and the daily pace getting frenetic, people would be scrambling for time and would read and get only the content or information they want and need at the moment.
Mass media has given way to niche media, mass consumption has given way to niche consumer habits and interests, consumers are broken into communities, chat groups are today’s version of the water-cooler exchange but with exponential reach.
So yes, we’re fine with our many echo chambers and chat groups. And they’re many and varied. Even non-techie seniors are into so many chat groups, from their college groups to colleagues of their profession, to home associations, even sports buddies. The limit to these echo chambers is dictated only by the time in your hands. And this pandemic has given everyone lots of time—and eyeballs.
That is the setting of the Edsa People Power of the 2020s era. Edsa has become a limitless digital space, no longer the static, vast parking space we used to decry for its standstill traffic.
Certainly, that is more than the 1986 People Power.
The past six years have seen a turn-out of volunteerism perhaps not seen in Philippine recent history
Now for the in-person attendance (to use a term for K-pop concerts). The past six years have seen a turn-out of volunteerism perhaps not seen in Philippine recent history. Through the years, the Office of the Vice President has run on volunteerism. Millions of volunteers have mobilized to man disaster-relief operations in the wake of calamities. The pandemic showed how the GenZs and the millennials could flex, with their numbers and civic stance. They assisted in many operations to save lives and livelihoods in this pandemic—from the Bayanihan e-Konsulta to distributing food packs to starving communities, to providing shuttles and setting up dorms for medical front-liners, to distributing PPE, to providing computers and learning tools for students of marginalized communities that couldn’t afford online learning, to assisting in the deployment of swab cabs.
The pandemic showed how the GenZs and the millennials could flex, with their numbers and civic stance
If that is not People Power, then what is? Like the 1986 Edsa Revolution, today’s People Power is organic, loose yet everywhere, loud and noisy yet clear about what they want—they don’t want a repeat of history, they don’t want a fabrication of it. They don’t want history stolen from them.
The pro-democracy presidential campaign itself is seeing an organic, massive turnout of volunteerism from everywhere, here and abroad, apparently by the millions, obviously not paid. These people create, share and forward content that explains and promotes their belief in democracy, basically in what their presidential candidate can do, has done, has stood for, that can give a good future for themselves and their children.
Volunteers do whatever they can and wherever they can, from logistical operations to creatives. Campaign art has become most engaging, varied, and vibrant, and again, collectible. It is funny, rabid, fierce, irreverent, in your face even, high-brow, low blows. There is no conductor for this cacophony of content, no single platform—but just a commitment to democracy.
Sectors, such as the medical practitioners, in this case, internists and endocrinologists, create their own campaign art.
Chat groups have never been busier forwarding content; in fact, that is how fake news thrives. But then no sooner has fake news been forwarded than the factual information comes to demolish it.
Volunteerism and digital vigilance comprise the People Power of this decade, and your phone is the virtual Edsa.
So anti-democracy forces/trolls are shaming you about the 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution?
Delete. Block.
