Revolutionary leap

BERNARD KARGANILLA

‘Joining the KKK enabled the haphazardly Hispanized Malay to see the real world in new and better ways…’

IN this tropical year of 2012 in the Gregorian lunisolar calendar, politicians and busybodies want Juan de la Cruz (or is it Juan Tamad?) to believe in their offers of leadership, thus, plunge into the civics of uncertainty.

Make this your Revolution. Whose? Gen Y? Mutants? EDSA 2 babies? The Sith?

So far, Filipinos have had only one real Revolution – Katipunan in the leap year of 1896, and it took the KKKs four hard years of preparation before they launched the War of Independence.

Ladislao Diwa, Andres Bonifacio and Teodoro Plata built on the spade work of Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez y Jaena and Apolinario Mabini. While Rizal and the Solidarios initiated the crafting of the agenda of nation-building, its fruition devolved to Bonifacio and the Katipuneros.

Moreover, Rizal the alpha geek relied on the educated few (ilustrados) to solidify the indios into a Malay Archipelago within the Spanish Empire. In contrast, Bonifacio and his best buddy Jacinto, wielding the canon of self-actualization (KKK Kartilya), led the common tao out of the margins of colonial ennui and into the main hall of liberated nationhood.

Hewing smartly to the ideal of a socio-spiritual fellowship, the mass-based KKK avoided the vices that hexed the reformist Solidaridad mestizos in faraway Spain.

The Katipunan insistence on inclusionary dialogue among peers and mentors promised a more humane transformation of the oppressed colony in lieu of the ilustrados’ salon conspiracies. Was this a vanguardist formula? The structural strain provokes populist grievances, which grow into contagion, bringing social and regime change.

Joining the KKK enabled the haphazardly Hispanized Malay to see the real world in new and better ways, articulate his dreams and conceive of a new society. Becoming a Katipunero, the former ward of the frailocracy would outgrow Spanish colonialism. Internalizing the KKK Kartilya, the compatriot of Bonifacio and Jacinto was enacting the rational and emotional foundation of the Republika ng Haringbayang Katagalugan. Engaging in communal charities and Katipunan rituals, the decolonized native was already affecting socio-political ascencion.

The Katipuneros, with their smart plays in the multiple fields of struggle (spiritual, social, military, political, economic), became the natives’ wish-granting Zoltar machine.

From the leap year of 1892 to the leap year of 2012, many earth-shaking events registered on mankind’s saga. Even more are awaited via prophecies.

"There are many types of revolutions. History talks mostly of political revolutions, dramatic events that all too often represent little real change over the long term: The cast of players in power shifts and new political philosophies come into vogue, but when it comes to the daily realities of most people, little changes. But occasionally something different happens, a collective awakening to new possibilities that changes everything over time–how people see the world, what they value, how society defines progress and organizes itself, and how institutions operate. The Renaissance was such a shift, as was the Industrial Revolution. So, too, is what is starting to happen around the world today."

"Perhaps surprisingly, the most visible signs of this new revolution are a mounting series of environmental and social crises." [Peter Senge, Bryan Smith, Nina Kruschwitz, Joe Laur and Sara Schley. The Necessary Revolution: How Individuals and Organizations Are Working Together to Create a Sustainable World. Crown Business, 2008]

It is not difficult to comprehend and accept that this planet is in peril due to nuclear emergencies like the unresolved Fukushima meltdown, severe physical degradation, failed states and bankruptcies. The humans on Earth are running out of oil and freshwater as well as Tequila and chocolate.

Although the charter of universal human rights covers the right to development, the nightmare of scarcity weakens the enjoyment of such civil liberties. Big Filipino fishers are already in Papua New Guinea waters, Brazilian coffee growers are threatened by Vietnamese rivals, and Germans claim that by 2050 humans will not see any more fish for catching and eating. The Soylent Green scenario looms.

Emergencies lead to drastic action. Timing is crucial. As a Russian revolutionary explained: "To move towards a revolution does not necessarily mean to fix a date for an insurrection and to prepare for that day. You never can fix a day and an hour for a revolution. The people have never made a revolution by command."

"What can be done is, in view of the fatally impending catastrophe, to choose the most appropriate positions, to arm and inspire the masses with a revolutionary slogan, to lead simultaneously all the reserves into the field of battle, to make them practice in the art of fighting, to keep them ready under arms,–and to send an alarm all over the lines when the time has arrived." [Leon Trotzky, "The Proletariat and the Revolution," 1904]

There must be a saturation point, as pointed out by no less than Karl Marx: "The times of that superstition which attributed revolutions to the ill-will of a few agitators have long passed away. Everyone knows nowadays that wherever there is a revolutionary convulsion, there must be some social want in the background, which is prevented, by outworn institutions, from satisfying itself. The want may not yet be felt as strongly, as generally, as might ensure immediate success; but every attempt at forcible repression will only bring it forth stronger and stronger, until it bursts its fetters." ["Germany at the Outbreak of the Revolution," October 25, 1851]

As for the Brains of the Philippine Revolution , Apolinario Mabini, "stated that in my judgment the Revolution had been caused, not by mere personal ambition, but by the ungratified aspirations of the people."

In the Dragon Year of 2012, people are told that they must be bold and take a leap of faith. Destination?