Mærkedage: EDSA

Et par dage forsinket, men med tanke på dagens aftenvandring i København vel egentlig meget passende. I 1986 havde filippinske Ferdinad Marcos, der noget misvisende omtales som diktator mange steder, kørt linen ud. Styrets endeligt blev, hvad der er kendt som EDSA omvæltningen, som kulminerede 25 feburar. Fra wiki artiklen om ringvejen EDSA:

The EDSA Revolution

Main article: People Power Revolution

In 1986, Philippine president Ferdinand E. Marcos’s political opponents revolted against his 20-year dictatorial government, seizing the Camp Rafael Crame and Camp Aguinaldo military bases, both located along EDSA situated in between a currently cited wealthy subdivision named the Corinthian Gardens, and two commercial districts of the metropolitan, one at the entrance of Quezon City and Ortigas in Mandaluyong. On February 25, 1986, Epifanio de los Santos Avenue gained worldwide attention as the site of the peaceful People Power Revolution that toppled President Marcos, led by Corazon Aquino. The majority of the demonstrations took place on a long stretch of the avenue, involving over two million Filipino civilians including as well as several known political, military, and religious groups led by CardinalJaime Sin, the Archbishop of Manila.

Tre til fem år senere gentog noget tilsvarende sig i europa. Fra wiki artiklen om Berlin Muren:

David Bowie, 1987

On June 6, 1987, David Bowie, who earlier for several years lived and recorded in West Berlin, played a concert close to the Wall. This was attended by thousands of Eastern concertgoers across the Wall,^[74] followed by violent rioting in East Berlin. According to Tobias Ruther, these protests in East Berlin were the first in the sequence of riots that led to those of November 1989.^[75][76] Although other factors were probably more influential in the fall of the Wall,^[74] on his death, the German Foreign Office tweeted “Good-bye, David Bowie. You are now among #Heroes. Thank you for helping to bring down the #wall.”^[77]

Om udviklingen i Polen fortæller wiki:

On 16 October 1978 the Archbishop of Kraków, Cardinal Karol Wojtyła, was elected Pope, taking the name John Paul II. The election of a Polish Pope had an electrifying effect on what had been, even under Communist rule, one of the most devoutly Catholic nations in Europe. Gierek is alleged to have said to his cabinet, ‘O God, what are we going to do now?’ or, as occasionally reported, “Jesus and Mary, this is the end.” When John Paul II made his first papal tour of Poland in June 1979, half a million people heard him speak in Warsaw. John Paul II did not call for rebellion, instead he encouraged the creation of an “alternative Poland” of social institutions independent of the government, so that when the next crisis came, the nation would present a united front.

…

On December 13, 1981, Jaruzelski proclaimed martial law, suspended Solidarity, and temporarily imprisoned most of its leaders. This sudden crackdown on Solidarity was reportedly out of fear of Soviet intervention (see Soviet reaction to the Polish crisis of 1980–81). The government then banned Solidarity on October 8, 1982. Martial law was formally lifted in July 1983, though many heightened controls on civil liberties and political life, as well as food rationing, remained in place through the mid-to-late-1980s. Jaruzelski stepped down as prime minister in 1985 and became president (chairman of the Council of State).

This did not prevent Solidarity from gaining more support and power. Eventually it eroded the dominance of the PUWP, which in 1981 lost approximately 85,000 of its 3 million members. Throughout the mid-1980s, Solidarity persisted solely as an underground organization, but by the late 1980s was sufficiently strong to frustrate Jaruzelski’s attempts at reform, and nationwide strikes in 1988 were one of the factors that forced the government to open a dialogue with Solidarity.

Et af de forhold der kendetegner både de filippinske og europæisk omvæltninger var, at der ikke blev taget et opgør med den klasse af politikere og embedskvinder M/K, der var ansvarlige, retligt eller på anden vis, i noget videre omfang. En enkelt henrettet nationalkommunist (Helveg Petersen klanens nære ven og allierede, Nicolae Ceaușescu) gør ingen sommer. Kunne vi udbede os, at næste gang, bliver der taget seriøst fat i nakken på de ansvarlige, så vi ikke igen oplever disse politisk (u)dyr krabbe sig ind på poster og embeder de kun fortjener at blive holdt væk fra?