OPINION
Fear, anger
and denial
I vowed not to write about politics. I have
hardly touched the subject for many months
now. I like my readers to enjoy their Sunday
reading. So I would like to apologize at
the outset: I am sorry but I can’t ignore
what is happening around us. Murder and
skullduggery are just too blatant already and
“in-your-face.” The wild elephant in the room
has now become too big to ignore.
www.kalatas.com.au
By JIM PAREDES
For the first time since martial law, I
am again sensing great fear coming from
everywhere. It is palpable. You can almost
poke it with a knife. Everyone seems to be in
some state of fear. Some are on a high level.
Some are just beginning to feel it. But it is
there.
They fear for what is happening to
the country. They fear that friends and
family may be killed randomly by police in
some drug raid. They fear that the peso is
rapidly losing value against the US dollar.
They fear that our government is giving
away our islands to China. They fear we are
destroying the gains of the past and slipping
into a deterioration spiral. They fear we are
isolating ourselves from our allies and the
UN. There are so many things people are
fearful about.
But every time fear is felt, anger cannot
be too far behind. A lot of people these
days are very angry and they are expressing
themselves on social media. Friends who
work with the urban poor tell me that
people in depressed neighborhoods are
very fearful of the drug war. They are afraid
of weekly tokhangs and of being killed.
And they are very angry that they are being
targeted as a social class while government
adheres extremely to due process regarding
cases against wealthy, powerful Chinese
drug lords.
» See FEAR, page 10
JIM PAREDES is a multifaceted creative.
He sings, composes, writes articles and
books, teaches at the Ateneo De Manila
University, designs and facilitates
workshops. He is a writer of books, a
widely read columnist for the Sunday
Life section of Philippine Star, and a
well-known photographer.
AK NewsMagazine, Vol 7 No 12 | SEPTEMBER 2017
09