5

Distinction between democratic governance and 'participatory democracy'

Citizenry as Sovereign Body Politic; and Government's role and accountability as servant, facilitator and leader in a working democracy

People,s collective self-empowerment through 'building-blocks' synergies

Human development and social harmony

Governing to serve the legitimate social, economic, political and cultural rights of the people

  1. Total Human Development and Harmony Through Synergism

  2. Holistic Health Care and Medicine

  3. Deep Ecology and Harmony with Nature 

  4. Sense of History and Sense of Mission

  5. Civics and Democratic Governance

  6. Culture as Community Creativity

  7. Light-Seeking and Light-Sharing Education

  8. Gender Sensitivity, Equality & Harmony

  9. Reconstructive/Restor-ative Justice

10. Associative Economics, Social Capital and Sustainable Development

11. Synergetic Leadership and Organizations

12. Appropriate/Adaptive Technology

13. Mutual Enrichment of Families and Friendships

14. Human Dignity and Human Harmony: Human Rights and Peace

15. Aesthetics Without Boundaries: 'Art from the Heart'   

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Political Wisdom, Political Will,
and Political Work

By Kamayan Forum Journal Editors

Editorial of the Kamayan Forum Journal, issue no. 12, February 2003

THE word “politics” has long acquired a negative meaning in this country and in many other so-called “democrtatic” countries, where professional politicians, many of whom are charlatans and opportunists are the ones who run governments instead of statesmen. However, before we completely shun politics altogether, let’s review some basics:

Governance is the management of community needs and resources in all areas of social concern, and it covers ensuring the assertion and protection of the constituents’ individual and collective rights (economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and in the international covenants flowing from it).

Politics pertains to all acts to determine or at least influence how to prioritize all the needs, how to sustainably utilize the resources for benefit of all the constituents, how the synergies are to be played out, if at all, and who among the people are to be mandated to perform the role of orchestrating and who among the people are to be mandated to perform what other roles in the orchestration. The role of orchestrating is played through a machinery for governance (called government).

The word politics does not have to be as dirty as most people have come to know it; after all, we are all engaged in politics whenever we assert the citizens’ right to influence government policies and performance. The question of who acquires, and who retains decisively influential positions in machinery called government, the question of winning electoral mandates and useful appointments are important in politics. But influencing the substantial and executory shape of formalized social policy (called laws and ordinances) and influencing the quality and degree of implementation by all quarters of all these laws and ordinances, are also very important parts of politics.

We would even say that the latter two are the more important components, and that winning the hearts and minds of large sections of the sovereign body politic is therefore the best approach in the pursuit of any widely-consequential political agenda. Wholesome politics, including the principled way of participating in elections, may be pursued by people-based movements with publicly-projected personalities that are statesmen (statespersons?) and not “traditional politicians.”

Beyond whom to field, and the question of forming an electoral machinery like a political party, the challenge is to muster as strong a pro-environment political will among as many Filipinos as possible, so this whole political force may perform with flying colors through the entire gamut of interrelated tasks for pursuing the environment agenda through politics.

We need to be all unified in political wisdom (daring but prudent, visionary but realistic), political will (which should reflect even in the way we all consistently behave as persons in our own homes and communities and in the choice of what issues we are ready to bring to EDSA, with or without military support).

And political work—from effective collation and dissemination of ground-level researches, effective education of entire populations in communities, to the working out and coordination of nationwide orchestrations and local actions, through campaigns on hot issues and annual commemorative festivals, to people-directed mobilizations, with or without government support.

Politics is addition, it has always been said. Our political work should result in getting the really big numbers to the side of environmental cause.

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