MANILA, Philippines – Leftwing luminaries spearheading street mobilizations will still be there. But Monday’s anti-pork barrel rally, dubbed the Million People March to Luneta, will be different from past protest actions. There’ll be no center stage, no single program of activities for all rallyists, and no speeches spewed by sloganeering mass leaders and colorful personalities.
What will replace the “usual suspects” at the forefront of the protest ground are non-affiliated groups and concerned citizens including families and barkadas who will occupy the bigger main area of the Rizal Park. The militants, meanwhile, will voluntarily “marginalize” themselves by occupying the ground’s peripheries. Whatever their political color, protesters are advised to bring umbrellas and raincoats, as rains and thunderstorms are forecast.
“Walang e-epal dito, patas lahat. No stage, kanya-kanyang pocket activity ang mga grupo [There’ll be no attention-seeking people here, everybody will be treated equally. No stage, only pocket activities by groups]. It could be singing, dancing, or a discussion group,” longtime activist Vincent Lazatin told InterAksyon.com in a phone interview Saturday night.
Million People March event creator Peachy Rallonza-Bretaña said "some loose groups have said they will do an art circle protest with their art materials."
"There are those who will be bringing karaoke and sing within their circle. There will be some who will have teach-ins, others performances. Most will go to picnic and share," said Rallonza-Bretaña in a separate interview with InterAksyon.com Saturday night.
"The sharing is key. Sharing of ideas, food, opinions, talent," she added.
“Some would like to do flash mobs, some would like to do face-painting, some are preparing for cultural presentations, according to Kevin A. Mandrilla, one of the moderators of the Unite Against Pork Barrel Facebook community.
The groups attending the event are very diverse, according Mandrilla. “Groups of friends, families, youth groups, mass organizations, Universities, even the LGBT community is joining.”
PNoy told: Don't attend protest-picnic
Lazatin of the non-government Transparency and Accountability Network said even if President Benigno Aquino III decides to grace the event, “he will just be treated as any other taxpayer,”
“There’ll be no VIP treatment. Walang wang-wang sa Luneta gathering [There’ll be no wang-wang at the Luneta gathering],” he added.
But Rallonza-Bretaña said it would be better for the President not to attend the event.
"We appeal to Pnoy not to go to the protest-picnic. This is the people's venue to air and show their protest. This is our only way of being heard. He always has access to be heard. So, let this be ours without being interrupted by his presence or any other politician's presence," she said.
'Hybrid' mobilization
Instead of a stage full of bloodshot “Ibagsak” banners and placards, a large video wall will be mounted on the Quirino Grandstand.
Lazatin said the wall would feature three menus linking online protest to offline mobilization in Luneta – live #ScrapPork Twitter feed, live Instagram feed, and an announcement board that will inform protesters of important advisories including reminders not to litter Luneta.
Protesters will only have one collective activity or “unified action,” according to Lazatin. “This will happen at the top of every hour from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. It could be a chant, an exercise, or a wave action meant to bring the protesters together.”
Lazatin calls the Luneta event the culmination of a “hybrid mobilization,” spontaneous at first via “hashtag activism” then later morphing into an organized protest action at the historic park where national hero Jose Rizal was executed 116 years ago.
Pluralism
An organized “offline” action, of course, will need leaders and mobilizers. Thus, it is hasty and even wrong to say that the August 26 rally is a leaderless protest.
“The difference is that the Luneta mobilization isn’t a leader-centered rally, there’s no central command, whatsoever. Those involved in mobilizing people for the event are reluctant to be called organizers,” said Lazatin.
Renato Reyes, secretary-general of the left-leaning Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, confirms Lazatin’s statement.
Reyes, a part of the group of about 40 individuals who met to help organize the Luneta event, said that pluralism was observed during the meetings. He said the individuals who joined the meetings and were reluctant to call themselves organizers or leaders, were conscious of not dominating the discussions for the Luneta rally.
“Ang key is nagkakapaan, nagtatantyahan during the meeting [The key is being considerate, being cautious during the meeting],” Reyes told InterAksyon.com in a separate phone interview Saturday night.
To fizzle out or persist?
According to Lazatin, the Luneta rally can be partly compared with the social media-spawned Arab Spring that spread information and unified motivations via digital protest.
But the Arab Spring, specifically the Tahrir Square uprising in Egypt, like the Luneta rally, did not stop at being spontaneous.
As observed by Philadelphia-based political writer and researcher Eric Augenbraun, “the circulation among Egyptian protestors of a 26-page leaflet providing a blueprint for action suggests a great deal of foresight and preparation by organizers.” [See the article, "Occupy Wall Street and the limits of spontaneous street protest" by Augenbraun]
Will the scrap-the-pork campaign persist or fizzle out especially among non-affiliated individuals? Will it just be like the momentary gathering of clouds to form a storm or will it translate into specific and measurable calls for political change?
Lazatin and Reyes could not yet say where the August 26 rally will lead to.
“None of us can determine what will happen next,” said Lazatin.
“Nobody can say for now,” said Reyes.
But both Lazatin and Reyes acknowledge that the Filipinos’ level of protest is now on a higher ground.
“Most of the spontaneous and massive mobilizations in the past called for the overthrow of erring leaders. But this one now calls for policy changes in the government. This is something new and more advanced,” said Lazatin.
“Now, Filipinos understand that changing leaders isn’t the solution to everything,” said Reyes.
