Awakening

AMID the flood of rants, low-blows, and incoherent arguments about moving on following the sneaky burial of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani was the best thing: Nicole Aliasas.

While the country froze on the news last Friday that the frozen wax that is the body of the late dictator is on its way to be buried at the Libingan, Nicole went straight ahead to the area.

She did not need a throng of activists or a placard or a megaphone to do so. It was just her, her black dress and blond hair, and a raised fist that did the talking.

That was the news at that time. A person making her mark on a day of infamy.

Here was one woman standing up against a man who stole the country's presidency, freedoms and money, and who now wants his place among war heroes and national artists.

Action always speaks louder. Words can sometimes weigh you down. Words like those that figured in the endless debates online on whether burying Marcos at the “Heroes Cemetery” is a good thing or a bad thing.

Words like those used in the decision of the Supreme Court that said burying Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani was legal.

Words like President Rodrigo Duterte saying I am just following the law.

Words that sometimes throw arguments askew, like “so you're against the burial, you're pro-Aquino” or “If you hate Marcos, don't take these roads or the LRT that were built during Marcos's rule.”

Words that degraded a female protester who was called a “pornstar.”

I read that before words came to our life, we lived with images. Words gave meaning to the world we see, but images are still powerful. That's none so true like today, when we are in a digital world that allows images to take primary position over words. Look at how memes are taking over and shared wildly as the “truth.”

On a positive note, images can help bring the message across. So how would one argue that Marcos was a bad president?

Show images of students that were beaten up in demonstrations during the First Quarter Storm of the early ‘70s, or a rally attended by the late publisher Chino Roces and the late director Behn Cervantes wherein they were drenched with water from water cannons, or pictures of farmers facing the guns of the military in Davao region.

Show images of the Marcoses living like kings and queens, of former first lady Imelda Marcos's 3,000 shoes and jewelry, the lavish birthday parties, the partying with Hollywood stars.

Then we go back to that image of the lone protester named Nicole telling us that some things cannot just be taken sitting down, or by arguing, or by getting bashed.

She's also telling us that women can be fierce and passionate about things more than our men who bash them. Men or trolls who are brave only when they are on Facebook but who actually show their inability to engage in discussion because their brain is buried in that other head below their bellies.

But this is about Nicole, and also about the women and the youth who want to make sense of their lives. You may call them the “selfie generation” but this time they are doing something selfless and turning that mirror to us.

More images of their awakening will come, of young people and old Martial Law survivors coming out on the streets. Learning history and learning to struggle is the best revenge against ignorance.-from Sun.Star Davao

You may call them the selfie generation but they are doing something selfless