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Photo Credit: Yel Brusola
Opinion: Storming of the US Capitol: A Cautionary Tale
Just hours before the Congress of the United States of America (USA) formally announce President-elect Joe Biden victorious in the country’s recent elections, Trump-loyalists from all over the country, incited by the outgoing president’s tweets, violently broke into the US Capitol to denounce the election results. These insurrectionists stormed into the offices of senators and house representatives forcing officials to evacuate the building or barricade themselves in empty rooms. The mob was dispersed eventually and was unable to stop the proclamation of Biden’s victory, but the incident ended with five people dead, multiple damages to property, and a blemish on the country’s democracy.
This affair proves that the lies and bigotry of America’s populist leader is getting out of hand. For years now, outgoing president Donald Trump has been vilifying enemies and wooing his mostly-white followers by spreading fake news and stoking divisions. His statements about the “Chinese Virus” just “going away,” scientists having political agenda because of their views on environmental issues, Black Lives Matter (BLM) being a symbol of hate, and, of course, baseless claims of having won the election are just some of them. Aided by social media, these statements were shared throughout the country, earning him the unwavering loyalty of his fanbase.
Also, we cannot deny that the culture of racism and white privilege his government tolerated made it possible for his followers to enter the Capitol. At the height of the BLM movement, protesters were dealt with tear gas, rubber bullets, and mass arrests while the mob at the Capitol simply “overwhelmed” the Capitol police.
Unfortunately, these characteristics of the Trump administration are a lot closer to home than we wish.
In our own country, the Duterte administration also has a track record of using baseless and offensive statements to vilify enemies and rouse supporters. His campaign promise of a crime-free Philippines in the first three to six months of his term and his assurance of returning to normalcy by December 2020 were both proven false by time. His administration was also caught lying about not having a hand in the killing of ABS-CBN’s bid for franchise renewal and not knowing about the covert vaccination of the Presidential Security Group (PSG) through conflicting statements. Moreover, the president and his allies alleged that the Makabayan Bloc and other critics are front groups of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), New People’s Army (NPA), and National Democratic Front (NDF) despite having no hard evidence. He also tainted Vice President Leni Robredo’s reputation with groundless allegations of affairs.
His followers, egged on by statements such as these were quick to turn a blind eye on several of our country’s problems still unaddressed by the administration and the many legal processes it has railroaded to achieve its agenda. Instead, they directed their hate towards the administration’s enemies.
With these, the storming of the Capitol is no longer news from a faraway land but a cautionary tale of what might happen to our mechanisms for democracy if the culture of hate and fake news, incited by our populist administration, still persists and prospers. It makes us ask an important question on the fate of our country: what more might the president’s followers do given their steadfast support of anything that comes out his mouth?
Hoping that our country will not face such dark times, we, Filipinos, must defend our democracy from deceit and hate. We must call out perpetrators of fake news and educate fellow citizens who continue to condone and tolerate the sins of the administration. And for those of us old enough, we need to practice our sacred right to vote in the upcoming 2022 elections and make it clear that we will not let a dishonest populist leader threaten our democracy once again. //by Lester Amurao
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