Fearless forcecast

Unless Filipinos mount another People Power for days to weeks, light candles at their doorsteps post Nov. 1 or the Catholic Church closes doors in protest like Poland did in World War 2, the systemic corruption in the Philippines will not be contained.

- CITO BELTRAN

Let us not fan false hopes that our protest chants of “MGA CORRUPT - IKULONG NA YAN” chanted like intermission numbers will sufficiently sow fear among corrupt senators, congressmen, as well as in Malacañang. Even the protests marches are few and far between.

While watching Michael Smerconish on CNN, he read/talked about an opinion piece written by Colby Hall, co-founder of “MEDIA-ITE, where the author pointed out that the recent “No Kings” protest (Anti-Trump) drew a record seven million peaceful demonstrators around the US.

“That's very good for the organizers, as attendance is growing. But this might also be a problem. Not because the marchers aren’t sincere — they are. Not because moral clarity doesn’t matter — it does.

“But because every protest that doesn’t lead to organization might be worse than no protest at all. It gives a feeling of agency without the fact of it. It lets us post, share and check the box marked ‘I did something,’ while the machinery of power keeps humming, unbothered.

“This is the trap of protests in the age of the algorithm. It’s not that demonstrations are performative ~ all politics involves performance — but the performance (the action) has become the point.

“The march happens, the signs get photographed, the videos go viral, and everyone goes home feeling like they participated in democracy. Meanwhile, nothing changes except your feed (social media) which has already moved on.”