Talking ‘bout a revolution: EDSA in the age of social media

"Ang hindi lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makakarating sa paroroonan (Those who don't look back on where they came from will never get to where they want to go)," Jose Rizal once warned. Yet, if there is anything that over two decades of commemorating EDSA has shown, our seeming inability to grow as a nation may actually stem from our penchant for dwelling too much on the past instead of dealing with the present and looking positively to the future. After all, the spirit of EDSA and the sentiments of People Power have been used repetitively, redundantly, and oftentimes even inappropriately over the years by various groups to further their own causes. So that now, as the country marks the 24th year after that bloodless revolution Thursday, we are still asking ourselves: "Now what?" EDSA spirit: Just a ghost? In a Yahoo! Answers thread about EDSA I, which Yahoo! Philippines highlighted in its blog, a number of younger people expressed the opinion that EDSA I is overrated, with some even claiming that we were probably better off under the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos' rule: “Nawala ng ang diktador ng bayan, kapalit naman ay kahirapan ng buong sambayanan," says Yahoo! user Jack. People who were actually there were quick to differ, however, claiming that the younger people lack the necessary awareness to appreciate EDSA I. "We could've had a more disciplined country under a dictatorship. Maybe we aren't ready for democracy. But would we be happy without our freedom?," wrote EDSA I veteran DBR. "Let us learn from EDSA, from the good things that happened, and learn also from its aftermath. It is not easy to build a country that suddenly has been given freedom. It is never too late. As long as the desire for change is there, as long as love for country is there, as long as love for God is present, we will overcome," she added. Some observers expressed a keen sense of fatalism, coupled with nostalgia: “Unfortunately, like every good thing, that magical moment was fleeting and gone and all too soon slipped out in the hollows of our hands ---- the reason why we are now sadly saddled by an even worse kind of political enslavement," said Yahoo! user judetri. And yet, there were some who would not go quietly into the night: "Forgetting Edsa is an absolute form of ingratitude," said Yahoo user Kling. The clear imprint of history "For the generations that witnessed the first EDSA, the event clearly imprinted in their minds the power of a collective uprising against a loathed regime. People trooped to EDSA on the first night without regard for their own well-being," recalls Pulse Asia President Ronnie Holmes. EDSA I was seen as a great equalizer, where demographic and psychographic differences were made irrelevant by the common desire for change. Holmes said that although the people who massed up along EDSA were predominantly middle class and urban residents, there were quite a few who traveled to the capital from the provinces. There were also reports of similar mass actions in the provinces. "As such, one could say that the force and conviction that were manifest in EDSA in the five days of February 1986 were shared by a cross-section of Philippine society, except perhaps in areas that remained loyal to the Marcos regime. Lamentably, the spirit of EDSA 1 - of volunteerism, of courage in defense of an idealized democratic system - has completely dissipated," Holmes notes. He attributes this to the fact that succeeding administrations have failed to realize the aspirations that EDSA promised. In Holmes' opinion, these include the following: a genuinely accountable government, resolute programs to redistribute wealth, and the full recognition of every individual's fundamental rights. - TJD/YA, GMANews.TV