The biggest mistake we can do is underestimate the sophistication in political strategy and cunning of this administration, veiled under its seeming 'barbarity' and impulsiveness.
It is engaging us with what we expect, and entrapping us--all of us, not just the masses--in this manufactured War on Drugs box, occupying our minds and vision from seeing other forms and expressions of this government's creeping authoritarianism.
The barbarity of this violent culture--the 13,000 dead in this administration's anti-drugs and criminality policy, as well as the Marawi crisis--is of course an important battleground for us progressives and allies of human rights, but that is not the only reason why it is important. The creation of the culture of fear and hence of the necessity and urgency for "national unity" in the name of "national interest and security"--this is the foundation of a fascist project.
The war on drugs and criminality, its twisted project for, in its words, "a more perfect" justice, is its raison d'etat. At least that is what they want to sell the public.
But step back and look at the forest: The moves to re-write the Constitution, through Congress turning itself into a Constituent Assembly, is already in motion, a project that hugely favors the regional political dynasties and oligarchs that serves as this administration's crucial allies. The exaltation of strong man leadership, through the whitewashing and glorification of the Marcos legacy, is being sustained. With the filing of the impeachment complaints against the Supreme Court Chief Justice and the Ombudsman, the silencing and subversion of the Judiciary and other institutional checks and balances, and of any possible opposition, are being accelerated. Now, the most expendable among those in its grand alliance -- the Left --, that has served its purpose of contributing to the semblance of broad-based legitimacy at the beginning of this 'outsider' government's rise, are now unambiguously being cast out, to the delight of traditional politicians and... the military.
The administration wants us to believe (and so far it is succeeding) that its primary interest is the War on Drugs, when its real strategic interests are elsewhere. To reveal one's self is to also reveal one's vulnerability. In chess, this is called deflection.
- Marc Batac (BlockMarcos Movement)
