We Are the World
by Brian Hioe
The turbulent character of our times seems to have gone global; each day the news is like seeing the same film adapted in different languages. Draconian budget cuts? Youth-led protests? Resurgent authoritarianism? These could be taking place almost anywhere in the world.
Well, okay… only one country in the world accidentally managed to add a journalist to a Signal chatroom in which discussion of classified military operations was taking place. The world’s attention is predominantly focused on the U.S. to the exclusion of much else, to be sure, but that one was a doozy.
It’s been quite a few weeks. The Philippines saw the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte by the International Criminal Court, a move celebrated by many as justice finally catching up to a mass murderer responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands in the name of anti-drug campaigns which were, in reality, thinly disguised political purges. But Duterte’s arrest was only made possible through palace politics in the Philippines; it was, controversially, facilitated by onetime ally turned rival Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., and has since sparked a political backlash. The Marcos political dynasty branches out from the current president’s father, the former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and so they’re not necessarily a preferable alternative. Still, a part of me wants to hope that Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, or Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing will consider a vacation to beautiful Cebu next.
Keep us breathing fire!
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