The real work begins

As I write this piece, the midterm local and national elections are taking place across the country. Our democracy is far from perfect, even flawed to a large extent, but at least our people can still exercise their right to vote, enjoy freedom of choice, and participate in this democratic exercise.

One somber observation in recent election cycles is that the genuine or progressive opposition has been consistently sidelined. Some say this election is a battle between the “pwersa ng kadiliman” and the “pwersa ng kasamaan,” referring in jest to the Marcos administration and the Duterte-led opposition, respectively.

Meanwhile, candidates from the liberal and progressive bloc are struggling to break into the Magic 12 in the Senate race. The party-list elections that once opened doors for marginalized sectors and alternative voices, are now dominated by groups or personalities bankrolled by mainstream traditional parties.

It seems that not much has changed from the 2022 debacle, when the once-promising pink movement was steamrolled by the juggernaut of the Marcos-Duterte unity forces. The 2022 elections should have been a wake-up call. Yet the opposition has neither reflected deeply nor meaningfully changed its strategy. They failed to look at the bigger picture and have been content with playing the game within a flawed system.

As a result, political movements or actions seem to focus mainly on electoral participation. Outside of this electoral window, many personalities, platforms, and organizations allied with the opposition and progressive groups fade into the background --often tied to old dogmas, repeating stale slogans, and disconnected from the everyday struggles of communities.

We can blame the use or abuse of government resources and machinery, the weaponization of the law, or red-tagging and authoritarian maneuvers to explain this marginalization. But for me, none of that would significantly weaken progressive politics if political movements were deeply rooted in the everyday lives of the people they claim to serve.

We must immerse ourselves in the lives of the people beyond the campaign season. We should be willing to do the long-term work of building social movements --movements that nurture communities grounded in shared values of nation-- and community-building.

Looking at our election cycles in the post-EDSA period, we have treated elections as the sole arena of political struggle. The hard, unglamorous work of community organizing, of building social movements grounded in shared experiences, struggles, and hopes, is forgotten after the elections.

Today, social media has made things even worse, as progressive politics often devolves into a futile exercise in virtue signaling by those who ought to be in a more politically-mature position. We are loud during elections, but hollow in between. Meanwhile, our people remain vulnerable to disinformation and micro-targeting by increasingly sophisticated communication strategists.

In his 2013 article titled “Elections and social movements,” political scientist Michael T. Heaney argues that elections and social movements are reciprocally related forms of political mobilization that influence one another through the creation of new actors, political frames, and patterns of mobilization and demobilization. This reinforces the view that political movements must not exist solely to contest elections, but should also cultivate long-term ties with communities and build social momentum beyond the ballot box.

To those who won yesterday and share this vision, may you use your mandate not just to win again, but to build movements that endure beyond elections. To those who lost, and whose intentions are pure, the real work has just begun. If anything, electoral defeat is a reminder that genuine change is built not only in the halls of power, but in the communities and everyday struggles of our people.