By Alejandro del Rosario
Manila Standard Today
Manila Standard Today
I was in New York when the “Occupy Wall Street” protests entered their third week. Market analysts and the US mainstream media were quick to dismiss the demonstrations in the city’s financial hub as nothing but a bunch of malcontents with a vague agenda.
Well, they are not as dismissive any more. The movement has not only spread across other major US cities but has gone global—951 cities in 80 countries. In Rome, several hundreds were injured and arrested in a clash between protesters and police. The protest movement has caught fire in Buenos Aires , Chile, Mexico, Toronto and London, the scene of widespread rioting last August.
The “Occupy Wall Street” protest movement has also drawn sympathizers in Hong Kong and Malaysia. The International Monetary Fund has expressed concern the protest movement could engulf Asia even if the region’s economy is doing better than Europe and the US.
In Manila last week, militant groups demonstrated in front of the Makati Stock Exchange. Will it draw the perceived “99 percent” reeling from unemployment, runaway prices of gasoline, electricity and double tax on toll way fees?
Shell Philippines, in an “in your face” response, announced this week another increase in the price of its gasoline’.
It’s no longer just a motley group of malcontents borrowing a page from Woodstock. The cause of the protests is now also beginning to make its point on big business worldwide; that they are “the 99 percent” suffering from corporate greed and economic inequality.
There is also a message here to government as the protesters brought their demonstrations to the US capital. This does not augur well for the re-election bid of President Barack Obama. Many Americans who voted him into office feel betrayed by Obama’s promise of change which was the resonating theme in his 2008 campaign speeches.
Change or shortchanged?
There was change, but somehow many Americans feel shortchanged .With their problems of meeting mortgage payments, and with unemployment, inadequate health and medical services overwhelming them, the people blame government bailouts of companies ran to the ground by greedy executives. They also denounced that the “one percent” continues to have control of US politics, because big business is a major source of campaign funds.
Obama could be a one-term president, IF the Grand Old Party (GOP) can find and field a candidate with persona who can rally the Republicans and present a platform that can offer hope to revive the faltering US economy. So far, the
Republicans who have declared their candidacies are lightweights.
The only heavyweight. figuratively and literally, among the Republican presidential bets, is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. He weighs almost 400 pounds but has proven himself a capable administrator in his state. Even with his girth, some Republicans think he could be their best bet against Obama. If he runs, watch a mad stampede among the also-rans to be his vice presidential running mate. This may sound insensitive, but if Christie is a winner, he also looks like a candidate for cardiac arrest, if not a contestant on the TV reality show, “Biggest Loser.”
But all these speculations can now be laid to rest. Christie has decided to stay on as New Jersey governor. He announced recently in a much awaited press conference that he is not running for the White House.
Corporate responsibility
To be fair, some Philippine business firms perform some form of corporate social responsibility doling out food and medical relief during times of calamities like floods spawned by typhoons that render thousands homeless.
The Philippine Business for Social Progress and the League of Corporate Foundations are doing their share with sustained programs for poverty alleviation. But somehow these are all lost in the public’s perception when put against the spiraling cost of living and the widening gap between rich and poor.
Forge, forego or forget?
The government meanwhile, has announced that the resumption of peace talks with communist rebels would be indefinitely postponed. Chief government negotiator Alex Padilla said the National Democratic Front negotiating for the Communist Party of the Philippines and its armed wing, the New People’s Army, have imposed unreasonable demands.
The resumption of the peace talks, originally scheduled from Oct. 31 to Nov. 12 in Oslo was scuttled after the NDF demanded the release of detained NPA leaders The NDF claims the captured high-ranking NPA rebels are “peace consultants.” Padilla and Norway, third-party facilitator of the peace negotiations, are not buying the NDF line.
Observers of the protracted peace talks have noted that every time government troops capture high-ranking rebels, the NDF is quick to claim they are “peace consultants” and should be set free. The military says they are armed insurgents captured in battle.
There have been previous stalemates and gridlock in these negotiations . Should the Philippine government continue to forge peace, forego the negotiations in Oslo, or just forget it and unsheathe the sword of war against Asia’s longest-running insurgency?
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