I lived in Manila in the early '80's (in the time of Marcos) and got to know the Philippines and love it.
But the rot was there then, and even though you hoped it'd sort itself out when the People's Revolution came, it still hasn't happened.
The worst of human nature is doing to that beautiful collection of islands, to those people with beautiful hearts, what it is doing to the planet. I see the PI as a microcosm of the ills that we face globally, and it makes me feel powerless, and yet at the same time so angry that it drives me to keep trying to do something.
This series of articles just about says it all: Asia Times - Pepe Escobar - The Philippines, Disgraceful State
Extract: "...Greenhills in Manila, where the few Filipino haves live, is a perfect microcosm of the Philippines: a small group of elites devise rules that exclude the rest of the country's 84 million, mostly poor, people. That could also describe Congress, where families are the crux of the political machine, and they're all rich, courtesy of the state they are meant to serve. ..."
It was pointed out to me by Alfredo (Ding) Roces a friend in Sydney who knows more than I ever will about that distant beautiful land.
Technorati Tags: Philippines, inequality, social apartheid, North South divide
But the rot was there then, and even though you hoped it'd sort itself out when the People's Revolution came, it still hasn't happened.
The worst of human nature is doing to that beautiful collection of islands, to those people with beautiful hearts, what it is doing to the planet. I see the PI as a microcosm of the ills that we face globally, and it makes me feel powerless, and yet at the same time so angry that it drives me to keep trying to do something.
This series of articles just about says it all: Asia Times - Pepe Escobar - The Philippines, Disgraceful State
Extract: "...Greenhills in Manila, where the few Filipino haves live, is a perfect microcosm of the Philippines: a small group of elites devise rules that exclude the rest of the country's 84 million, mostly poor, people. That could also describe Congress, where families are the crux of the political machine, and they're all rich, courtesy of the state they are meant to serve. ..."
It was pointed out to me by Alfredo (Ding) Roces a friend in Sydney who knows more than I ever will about that distant beautiful land.
Technorati Tags: Philippines, inequality, social apartheid, North South divide
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