‘Higher forms of freedom’

“EMANCIPATE yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.” These lyrics from Bob Marley’s “Redemption Song” have not aged a bit through the years. And now that the country is getting high once again with election fever, it is time to liberate ourselves from bourgeois illusions by understanding the limited role of elections in our society.

The right to vote is perhaps the most overrated feature of democracy. Aside from reason of convenience, Filipinos prefer to participate in elections rather than joining collective mass actions, which could make them targets of statesponsored violence and harassment. The people are made to believe, particularly by the government and corporate media, that elections are the only way to change our society. We are deluded by the illusion that social ills can be cured by choosing the right leaders every three years.

With few notable exceptions, elections in the Philippines do not really present candidates whose main concern is to address the country’s fundamental problems, such as land monopoly, economic dependency, and inadequate social services. The aspirants would rather settle for anticorruption slogans in the belief that principles will not make them win a popularity contest. Onthe other hand, the people, out of frustration, would prefer a candidate whose platform is to prioritize criminality over poverty and social injustices. Either way, the rotten social system is bound to prevail.

Essentially, Philippine election only legitimizes the ruling system where the rich and powerful reign. Campaign funds and resources await those who promise to protect and promote the vested interests of the compradors and big landlords. It is a continuous process. In any case, the No. 1 rule is for the representative of the ruling class to be obedient to his foreign masters if he doesn’t want to face economic sanctions or, worse, suffer the same fate as the late Chilean president Salvador Allende.

Suffrage is one of our democratic rights, and it is our responsibility to register our vote every election. But it should not end there. As Renato Constantino put it, “Democracy as a social process is never completed…. This means that higher forms of democracy must be constantly fought for so that mankind may achieve the new freedom which a higher stage of development makes possible.”