The Philippines, Libya & the World

I am writing this amidst disasters being flashed in our TV screen: the killing of our soldiers in Basilan,Southern Philippines, the earthquake in Turkey, the flood in Thailand, the debt crisis in Europe, the Occupy Wall Street now a viral Global Protest Movement. With all these tragic stimuli bombarding, I am actually feeling stymied and at a loss for words.

Surely, there must be something hopeful and positive amidst all these disasters.

The policy of an All Out Justice by the Philippine government in the wake of the death of many soldiers in Basilan in Southern Philippines on Oct 18 2011 makes a lot of sense. Yes, we are angry at the senseless violence. And yes, the perpetrators of the heinous crime against our soldiers will be dealt with the full force of the law but without prejudice to honoring the ceasefire agreement with implementing mechanisms to address breach & violations. The policy drift is that government is very conscious of all its peace methodology. This government prefers to honor the soldiers who died with peace instead of a conflagration of a war. Most of all, our government peace panel recognizes the narrative of the aspirations of the Muslim community and the Bangsa Moro nation in the Philippines.

Elsewhere in another part of the world, we empathize with the Libyans who after more than forty years under an absolute totalitarian dictatorship are now breathing a new sense of freedom. The National Transitional Council & Mahmoud Jibril, Acting Prime Minister who presided over the physical battle must now face the political battle. The Council must make preparations towards democracy which is something very new. They will be preparing for elections in a few months much like Tunisia’s Arab spring election. Then they will write their Constitution and hold a referendum. The current Libyan leadership is confident they can make this new found freedom work for them: they have the resources, money, technology and they have a small population. Libya considers their economy to be post-industrial or a service economy.

There is now a backlash in the excesses of the economies of rich countries which during the recent meltdown was bailed out using taxpayers’ money. The Occupy Wall St claims that the US wealth is enjoyed only by the top 1% but not by the 99% or the larger majority and these protests in Wall St are now spreading into a Global Protest Movement. It is a massive movement that wants reforms towards democratizing the economic system. The protest movement is now a month old and has spread from New York, to Chicago, to other countries like Canada, Italy, England, etc.

I wish to quote from Tom Lines, an expert on trade & development who has worked on the history of the finance & banking sector who said and I quote “My final, final thought is about the very widest landscape, and the extent of the hegemony crisis we might be facing. The banking crash of 2008 may well mark as big a turning point in world history as 1492, the year of Columbus’ first voyage to America. This symbolically marked the start of 500 years in which European countries, and their offshoots like the US, dominated the world. If the US no longer has the economic power to control things, and that power is moving to China or Japan or India, it marks a far bigger cultural shift than that of the 20th Century from one English-speaking, Common Law country (the UK) to another (the US). Power relations are indeed changing, but in view of the horrific events in Europe between 1914 and 1945 it leaves me with some apprehension about where this crisis might lead before a new settlement is reached.”

A lot of things are rapidly happening. Life and work goes on and which for me is social development work: the task of increasing capabilities and reducing vulnerabilities. For now, we are focused on assessing vulnerabilities of the informal settlers in the coastal communities in Davao City’s central business district. This is our way of making sense of our world in the here and now.

Photo credits : Karlos Manlupig