The Lost Power of 'We' and the Bully Jim Paredes

The EDSA affair held at the people power monument last Saturday, February 25, dubbed as the “power of we,” hoped to become a massive protest against the return of authoritarianism.

But if there is one defining moment that went viral, it was when Jim Paredes led the bullying of a small group of pro-Duterte protesters. Caught on video, the incident became a powerful representation of the kind of people that keep hanging on to celebrate the grand memories of EDSA.

And the images are not that encouraging at all.

Jim Paredes embodied the anger and frustration of many in his cohort, wondering how it could have come to this. How EDSA, which they would like to paint as a revolution which snatched the Filipino people away from a dictatorship, and which they imagine as a moment where democracy was supposed to have been restored, could be treated like this.

Jim Paredes was perhaps enraged by the assault by the enemy, the pro-Duterte demonstrators, on their territory, on sacred, hallowed ground which they staked out to wage their continuing war against the Marcoses.

On one hand, the rally at the People Power Monument remained dominated by an anti-Marcos sentiment. Reliving the demons of Marcos was the prevalent theme in the placards, banners and streamers that were seen held and paraded by the participants. The theme of opposing a return to authoritarianism was targeting not only President Rodrigo Duterte, but also ex-senator Bongbong Marcos. For many people in the rally, the President was reduced to an instrument of this grand conspiracy to restore the Marcoses to power, and that he is nothing but an inhabitant of a Marcosian template — oppressive, authoritarian, a human rights violator.

To continue reading Antonio Contreras' full article for the Manila Times, click image above.