Between privilege and self-sacrifice

PAREDES

Tomorrow, June 12, will be the 119th anniversary of Philippine Independence.

This year’s celebration is important as it comes at the time when our nation’s freedom is facing two kinds of threats: the rise of local ISIS, which made their debut in public by launching a barbaric attack on the Islamic city of Marawi, forcing most of the residents to flee and the government to declare martial law for the whole island of Mindanao.

As it compromises civil liberties, particularly those who are in the affected areas, the solution itself appears to be as much a threat to democracy as the problem it seeks to address.

It’s much easier for those of us to moralize about the situation, seeing it from a distance and from our position of privilege. It’s quite different for the ordinary peasant in Mindanao who may not have an ID or even a birth certificate to show if interrogated at the check point by armed authorities who are now empowered by martial law to arrest anyone by mere suspicion and without a warrant.

Still a lot of people, even those in Marawi, are willing to sacrifice if only for 60 days of what is already an ill-enforced constitutional martial law, letting the authorities do their job of eradicating the terrorists from Marawi and, hopefully, the rest of the country.

After all, we’d like to tell ourselves that these are not ordinary times; we are confronting a serious much threat, an enemy that respects no protocols of war or even common decency.

So we watch the war on our choices of small or big screens, far away from the bombs and sniper fire, unaffected by hunger and loss of homes, and always so privileged to be able to speak our minds instantly, rant or rave, and flaunt our nationalistic swag in the social media.

It’s much easier to proclaim to the world that we are doing our share. We can just type keys to sign petitions or donate money online and let our friends know than to do a more difficult decision, like calling for immediate air strikes by telling your commander to just bomb your very own location in order to kill the terrorists who happen to be in the vicinity.

That is just what one young soldier did recently in Marawi: sacrificed his own life in friendly fire that he himself demanded in order to cause the deaths of a few more terrorists. It was not simply dying in the middle of battle. It was really choosing death for the greater good.

It took exactly that kind of self-sacrifice for Filipinos to win our independence back in the late 19th century. Andres Bonifacio, Jose Rizal, and our very own Pantaleon “Leon Kilat” Villegas, were all very young when they led the struggle against the Spaniards and, along the way, gave their lives for the cause.

They could have chosen an easier life, only ranting about issues once in a while, but never getting out of their comfort zones even as they supported the cause of social change.

But they chose to take the extreme sacrifice, the crazy act of dying for what you believe in, leaving behind family and privilege and choosing death.

Such is the ultimate dilemma of revolution: how far are we really willing to sacrifice for the sake of others? How much of our privilege can we afford to let go as we commit ourselves to the dangerous and difficult tasks of the struggle?

As we fight social evil, we are also forced to face our own demons, to make a choice between privilege and self-sacrifice.

Most of us would try to imagine a middle ground, a kind of compromise, a safer way of fighting.

We’d like to think that such is a more pragmatic approach, a more level-headed or cool way of protest.

But some of the most serious threats to freedom were not always defeated by such cool and diplomatic ways.

It took the martyrdom of many to win revolutions or to defend their gains. It took the crazy acts of young idealists or bleeding hearts like Rizal, Bonifacio, and Leon Kilat more than a century ago for us to gain our independence.

Right now, young soldiers are risking their own lives defending the same Republic that was first established in 1898.

If things get worse, we too may be called upon to defend democracy from threats of both terrorism and authoritarianism.

We too shall have to make that choice between privilege and self-sacrifice. It’s a difficult choice, obviously, which is why not everyone gets to become heroes or martyrs.

* * *

Speaking of Leon Kilat, my wood relief (carving) sculpture entitled “Leon Kilat ug ang Kagubot sa Sugbo sa 1898” (Leon Kilat and the Revolution in Cebu in 1898) will be unveiled at the lobby of Palm Grass Hotel, the Cebu heritage-themed hotel near Junquera and Sanciangko streets.

The unveiling of the artwork, which will be displayed in the lobby area, is part of the heritage hotel’s celebration of Philippine Independence Day this year.

See you there!