FAILURE OF POLLS: WHO GAINS?

Erle Frayne D. Argonza

Good day to you all!

Manila’s mass media has been filled with news recently about the possibility of a failure of the May elections. The failure scenario is being forecast at a time when Filipinos will have a first taste of computerized elections.

For everyone’s clarification, the failure to computerize previous elections had got nothing to do with absence of expertise locally who could design software and hardware systems customized for poll purposes, since our infotech sector here had reached maturity sometime back in the 1990s yet precisely due to high-level expertise here. Our computerization has failed because dirty politicians (who were accustomed to cheating) and poll officials (COMELEC) have been exhibiting a ‘cultural lag’ in adapting to rapidly emerging technologies, hence their effective barring of poll computerization in the past.

Finally here we are, dangled with the state-of-the-art poll tools and methods, now ready or so it seems to face the polls with the new game. Albeit, in the process of the preparations for the polls, obstacles kept on cropping out from the mouths of poll execs, thus rendering the entire exercise as low in credibility in terms of public trust.

To make matters worst, the post of Chief Justice (CJ) of the Supreme Court has been rendered vacant. So crucial is the CJ as the magistrate is the one mandated to formalize the oath-taking of execs who win in the polls. Capping this rather toxic issue is the controversy in the choice of the next magistrate.

The clear scenario is that, after the polls, the positions of all the top state posts will be vacant, leaving no one to steward the nation during the brief transition to the time when execs will be declared winners and will then begin their respective incumbencies. To add incendiary overtones to the already heated discourses on the matter, which were spiced up with protest rallies of late, a state official (USec Planas) pronounced the possibility of a take-over by the military as a pre-emptive measure to avoid anarchy during the period of vacancies.

Belaboring the obvious, like unto some kindergarten quacks, political stakeholders have already started accusing palace officials as the diabolical plotters and greatest beneficiaries of a poll failure. Supposedly, military’s top chief Gen. Bangit takes over government, and then declares outgoing Gloria Arroyo as president on an extended term, thus perpetuating the governance by the ruling Arroyo family.

What is less obvious, which many would fail to realize, is that the neo-conservatives or ‘neocons’ who are well entrenched in the US Defense establishment is again into another set of synarchic destabilization in the region, and they are using their pawns inside the Philippine military to do their bidding. The country’s military maintains its organic ties to Pentagon and is ever-ready for some destabilization from the top (Washington & Europe).

The neocons and global oligarchic operators have been behind the institution of insurgent groups in the country, to create a situation of perpetual polarization and anarchy. Insurgencies are part of the politico-military games of the global elites (military-industrial complex is another term), and the game goes to the extent of our own military being cajoled to sell arms to the insurgents in order to renew armed confrontations, leading to more arms sales and ballooning the wallets of corrupt military & state officials.

If indeed Arroyo is amenable to being re-instated as chief exec on an extended term, she knows the arrangement as entirely hatched from Washington DC. Whatever role she performs in the latest political fiasco is only peripheral, she being just another pawn in the broader agenda of the neocons and global elites for the southeast.

The possible election of a nationalist regime, led by the noblesse senator Manny Villar, is perceived as a threat to the neocons and global oligarchs. Such a regime would put an end to the insurgencies most likely, an act that would snuff off the polarity games of the elites and hurt the pockets of corrupt military & state officials who would lose their contract payolas and gains from arms procurements.

Another scenario that could happen is that a people power by the Yellow Forces will be launched, bringing us back ala déjà vu to 1986. Seeing that the mass rising is unstoppable, the generals would then opt to support the civil disturbance and the presidency of Noynoy Aquino, even if it turns out that this mediocre candidate tails in survey ratings and poll returns.

Noynoy is the candidate choice of a greater wing of the global oligarchy led by the Anglo-Dutch financiers, with their puppet personages active in the Makati Business Club. The clerico-fascist wing (which has links with the Vatican) is with this conglomerate, with one of their leaders at the helm of the CIA-initiated Namfrel.

A hyper-convergence of the efforts of these unholy puppets of the global financiers/oligarchs and their militaristic subalterns (neocons) isn’t far-fetched a reality, as one ought to recognize. Since the neocons faction has been marginalized with the recent pre-eminence of the liberal-to-left factions of oligarchic subalterns (eg. Democrat victory in the USA), it is most likely that RP’s generals will play the game and ride the wind whichever it will go, and will not attempt to put up a junta that is too autonomous from their Pentagon sponsors’ agenda.

With just around seven (7) weeks before poll day, the plot is unfolding fast and making the polls more colorful though threateningly crisis-filled. Let’s see whether the cry-wolf propaganda about failure & military take-over will spoil the polls at all.

[Philippines, 21 March 2010. See: http://unladtau.wordpress.com, http://erleargonza.blogspot.com]

NOYNOY: CROCODILES' SMOKESCREEN

Prof. Erle Frayne D. Argonza

[07 January 2010]

Noynoy Aquino, presidential candidate of the Liberal Party, has been projecting an image of an anti-graft crusader for some couples of years now. To recall, he was cajoled by his Mama, the late president Corazon Aquino, to join the anti-GMA movement precisely on the issue of good governance.

After his Mama’s death, public sentiment blew the winds of electoral fortune for Noynoy to take on the Aquino’s unblemished mantle and run as president of the republic. Seeing this groundswell of public sympathy arising from his Mama’s departure, vested interests of every shade found a window of opportunity to reap future rewards as largesse of a would-be victorious campaign of Cory Aquino’s son.

Indeed, as shown by preliminary information that reached my ears late last year, Noynoy is surrounded by diverse vested interest groups that (a) couldn’t see each other eye-to-eye and (b) are in active search for a smokescreen for their largesse pursuits. Some of the leading elements were former Ramos- and Erap-era bureaucrats, while others served GMA during her early heydays. Some others represent ideological blocs that are known for their classic opportunism, obstructionism, factionalism, and ‘termite behavior’.

Anyone who is interested to do serious empirical studies on graft and rent-seeking is advised to start with the Noynoy camp. There are couples of circles surrounding Noynoy, all of which the bachelor has no control over.

• Friends and kins comprise a ring of influence-peddlers. This ‘circle’ alone comprises a diversity of “we-bulong” factions that somehow show a semblance of goodwill though on a superficial level. A Noynoy presidency would serve as bread-winning opportunity for the crocodiles within them, in case Noynoy wins.

• Experts comprise another ring of potential state carpetbaggers. While the first ring shows semblance of mutual goodwill, the experts’ ring hardly shows such goodwill at all. During the crafting of Noynoy’s platform, the factions couldn’t even see each other eye-to-eye to iron out the agenda. No wonder that the final platform turned out as a hodge-podge of mother statements that was haphazardly finished to meet the deadline of the Comelec for registration. All of these factions are crocodile nests.

• Civil society groups comprise yet another ring. The Black & White Movement, largely a social democratic-controlled coalition, seems to have the strongest “bulong power” which renders the other social democratic or ‘soc-dem’ factions ‘outside the kulambo’. The unconsolidated state of these diverse groups make it so tough for volunteers to join the Noynoy camp, as they are pressed to identify first of all which faction could be most friendly to them. The top crocodile here is led by a former GMA cabinet member whose coalition received funds from treasuries when her sibling was finance secretary.

• The Liberal Party comprises the final inner ring. Final, because this serves as Noynoy’s homebase group being a party-mate. Fr. Intengan’s ‘soc-dem’ cadres are well entrenched in the directorate and think-tank of the party (even as another Intengan ‘soc-dem’, Norbie Gonzales, is in the GMA camp). The same ‘soc-dems’ possess a lifeline in Europe—the Eurosocialists and Jesuits—who can use them for Europe’s own Bonapartist agenda. Meanwhile, other kibitzer liberals, who are simply eager to waft in the energy of the Noynoy upsurge to gain respective electoral mileage, are just that: kibitzers whose fragmentary opinions wouldn’t weigh as much as the Intengan Euro-bonding puppets and the stalwart oldies.

I was almost lured into the Noynoy trap right after the burial of the Tita Cory. But after receiving information about the inner rings and realizing the power of the Primal-Corruptitious among the crocodile leaders, I decided against this pro-Noynoy option.

Maybe Noynoy should present clear credentials of a true-and-honest saintliness that may make his words worth the salt of the earth. He is hardly any perfected human who merits my attention, which makes it all clear that the country needs a leader—a true leader who’s most experienced, prepared, and has made enormous sacrifices as prelude to his preparation for a feat with Destiny—other than Noynoy.

FORESTRY SECTOR & SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: GHANA CASE

Erle Frayne Argonza

Magandang umaga! Good morning!

It is interesting to examine how state players can somehow enable the social responsibility field by enforcing rules on certain market players to recognize the social responsibility criterion in their areas of operations. One such appropriate case is the country of Ghana, where logging firms must follow the same criterion through an instrument called ‘Social Responsibility Agreement.’

A summary of the report about the country case is shown below.

[07 October 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to Eldis database reports.]

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Social responsibility agreements in Ghana's forestry sectorAuthors: Ayine,D.M.Produced by: International Institute for Environment and Development (2008)

In Ghana, legislation requires logging firms to commit a portion of their financial resources towards the provision of social amenities to local forest communities. Logging firms must perform this legal obligation by signing and implementing "Social Responsibility Agreements" (SRAs) with forest communities. This report is about legal arrangements for enabling forest communities in Ghana to participate better in the benefits generated by timber activities.

The document considers whether SRAs serve as effective vehicles for the sharing of benefits between local forest communities and investors. It reviews experience with Social Responsibility Agreements, and looks at what difference they have made to forest communities. In addition the author assesses the design, implementation and outcomes of Social Responsibility Agreements in the forestry industry in Ghana, drawing on a number of SRAs concluded between timber firms and local communities. Conclusions include:

Ghana's experience may provide interesting lessons for other countries that are looking into developing arrangements to promote benefit sharing in forestry or in other sectors

• the positive features of SRAs include clearly laid out minimum standards, explicit legal backing, and consideration for the conditions laid out in SRAs in the selection process for competitive TUC bids
  
• w/ the legal framework provides an enabling environment for the negotiation of SRAs, the actual practice of negotiating and implementing these agreements leaves much to be desired
  Social Responsibility Agreements may become a more effective tool if local groups are better equipped to negotiate them. This requires establishing mechanisms to broaden community representation, so as to minimise local elite capture of SRA benefits.

LOCAL GOVERNANCE IN SUSTAINABLE NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

Bro. Erle Frayne Argonza

Various approaches and forms of intervention regarding sustainable natural resource management—soils, water, forests, biodiversity—were introduced across many developing countries over the past years. Some cases of experiences regarding those intervention methods that impact directly on the livelihoods of people would be fit for reflections.

Below is a case study on how local governance institutions dovetailed into sustainable natural resources management in three (3) African countries.

[10 August 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to eldis.org database news.]

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Local governance institutions for sustainable natural resource management in Mali, Burkina Faso and NigerAuthors: Hilhorst,T.Produced by: Royal Tropical Institute (2008)

This paper reflects on experiences from research and interventions in the Sahel on management of renewable natural resources - soils, water, forests, and biodiversity - for the purpose of food and income generation. It focuses on local governance institutions in relation to natural resource entitlements, use and decision-making on management in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger.

The study explores the range of existing local governance institutions that is best managed at this level for each resource type, prevailing local institutions for governing natural resources and trends. Particular attention is paid to the influence of customary institutions, project interventions, and democratic decentralisation. It is argued that development agencies can play a role in strengthening local governance institutions for sustainable natural resource management by:

• holding governments to account for the policies it has signed up to as part of agreements around sector and budget support
  
• contributing to a more conducive policy context for decentralised management of natural resources and local governance institutions, by supporting the governments of the three countries in finalising the legislation that is being planned, developing the accompanying decrees and procedures, and supporting implementation and monitoring the effects, such as on women and marginal groups
  
• encouraging policy alignment and harmonisation, for example through the linking of decentralisation policy with natural resource management, environmental protection and land administration
  
• improving the quality of policy implementation through occasional support to pilot activities to promote the testing of new approaches on institutional solutions to natural resource-related problems in different contexts
  

The paper concludes that effective local governance institutions for natural resource management contribute to sustainability, local economic development, and conflict prevention. The need for such institutions is increasing, given the growing pressure on, and competition over, land and natural resources. The authors argue that policies in support of natural resource management benefit from pooling knowledge and research, joint strategy development and division of labour amongst development partners. Ultimately, they argue, such policies will be judged on the extent to which these strengthen local capacities to manage and use natural resources in a sustainably way and enhance justice in natural resource governance.

Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=38277&em=310708&sub=enviro

PEOPLE, PROTECTED AREAS, GLOBAL CHANGE

Bro. Erle Frayne Argonza

There were so many areas across countries that were declared as ‘protected areas’ in the past years. In my own country, the Philippines, no less than a separate bureau was created to focus on the matter of protected areas.

It is now time to evaluate the impact of the various intervention efforts focusing on protected areas and how they mitigate ecological problems for people.

Below is an example of a cross-national study that focuses precisely on protected areas.

[10 August 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila. Thanks to eldis.org database news.]

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People, protected areas and global change: participatory conservation in Latin America, Africa, Asia and EuropeAuthors: Galvin,M.; Haller,T.Produced by: NCCR North South (2008)

This document compares findings from in-depth research on protected area (PA) management in Latin America Africa, Asia and Europe. It describes how PAs have been managed over the last 50-100 years and considers the ecological, social and economic benefits brought by enhanced participation.

The case studies presented in the book are from Bolivia, Argentina, Peru, Tanzania, Madagascar, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Switzerland, Indonesia, Nepal, and Vietnam. These individual studies look at the problems people face and at environmental issues from a variety of angles, including governance and institutions, different actors' interests and strategies, livelihoods and natural resources, and economic and political contexts.

The authors highlight lessons learnt, best practices, and potentials for mitigation of negative impacts with respect to conservation of landscapes and biodiversity. It is argued that relations between PAs and local people are difficult because perspectives on nature, natural resources and conservation are closely interlinked with restrictions and competition in land and resource use, as well as other rights.

The case studies highlight that the understanding of participation also varies greatly in all cases, as does the role of development.The basic lessons learnt from the literature and case studies are summarised as follows:

although most of the PAs studied are participatory in their formal structure, this does not translate into economic benefits for local people
power issues and issues of ideology are used strategically by all actors in order to structure governance and the underlying institutions for their own gain for local actors political gains may be an incentive to strategically subscribe to conservation goals, especially if they have ownership of the decision-making process.

Available online at: http://www.eldis.org/cf/rdr/?doc=38428&em=310708&sub=enviro

US WATCH: AGRICULTURE DECAYS, BIOFUEL MATTERS MOST!

Bro. Erle Frayne Argonza

Agriculture remains to be among the most protected sectors of the US economy. Enough to cause ceaseless chagrin on the members of the WTO, who have been demanding that the EU-USA-Japan trilateral belt better play by the rules and remove the trade barriers in agriculture.

But the overall alarming trend in America’s agriculture is the rapid shrinking of arable lands altogether. Lucky enough that America is blessed with millions of acres of arable land, but the liberalization of land use conversions affected this mighty economy strongly like in other countries. Prime agricultural lands are being transformed into commercial and residential lands, most specially those southern regions that practically fed the whole America for nigh centuries long.

Agriculture is following a general trend of economic decay. The historic practice of mono-cropping alone had already created havoc on the soil quality in many places across the US. Compounding the decay problem is the pressure by WTO members for the sector to bring down the trade barrier, thus possibly bringing in floods of cheap food imports from Europe and the south.

Just recently, the inflated marketability of biofuels led many a planter to shift to massive corn production, for the sole purpose of raking profits on alternative fuels. Of course, many hedge funds and enthused investors had cashed in on the biofuels craze, and news came out that even Bill Gates had invested in this ‘greenfield’ energy source.

Estimates put the amount of corn planted to biofuels as more than enough to feed over 110 million people. That’s a lot of mouths to feed for sure! But feeding mouths is hardly the priority in the US agriculture today, the core focus being the next round of looting on the consumers’ purse by driving food prices upwards both due to the biofuels craze and speculation on food stocks.

So, what say you, voters of America? Let’s just hope the political bigwigs contesting the presidency will indeed take the interest of ‘food security’ at its core. Failing to do so, America itself might end up with inflated food prices in the couples of years ahead, and believe it or not, the Depression era of seeing people without food on their plates may come back. The difference being that the Great Depression was only quite temporary, while this coming ‘food insecurity’ will be around for a very long time.

This brings to mind what the late John Meynard Keynes declared cryptically, “in the long run, we shall all be dead!”

[Writ 06 June 2008, Quezon City, MeroManila]

EUROPE’S TOTALITARIAN SLIDE CHECKED BY IRELAND’S VOTE ON LISBON TREATY

Erle Frayne Argonza y Delago

Good morning!

It is a stormy morning actually as I write this piece, and it seems to coincide with stormy events in the European continent at the moment. The continental storm has got to do with the finalization of the Lisbon treaty that could have effected complete political integration of Europe.

What makes the treaty questionable, in the opinion of many in Europe and across the globe, is that it didn’t pass through the public opinion mills and debates. Engaging Europeans themselves in voting for the measure could have been the most important method to ensure public consent about the unification treaty.

What is scary about the treaty, per analysis from many quarters including the Guardian and Executive Intelligence Review, is that it could pave the way for a central authority that is an undisguised totalitarian regime. A continental police state could have been the result of the full implementation, which is scheduled on January 2009, coinciding with the report to office of a new president in the United States.

Already, certain political personages are salivating for sitting in the throne of European president in case the treaty will be fully enforced. Tony Blair, former premier of the UK, is among those top candidates, and is noted to be very interested in becoming the first president of the political Union. In that case, he will be the first legitimate Emperor Palpatin, who will then sign marching orders for das boots mobilizations and conflagration of a total magnitude that will dwarf what the planet had ever experienced.

If the treaty will be fully implemented, the NATO will become the instant military wing, and the nuclear arsenal of the UK and France will be placed under the direction of Brussels. The NATO will become the command center for an EU-USA hegemonic partnership that will bring warfare to its next level across the planet.

The whole of Europe will suddenly become a police state of nightmarish proportions. The immigrants there today as well as the prison inmates will instantly turn into slave labor for global corporations. The scheme, as it was already tested in the USA, is for greater privatization of prison services. It is but another disguise for slave labor pure and plain.

You may have noticed the massive influx today of immigrants to Europe. This had already been pre-planned before to raise the level of future slave laborers in the new totalitarian continent. They will backstop the prisoners whose numbers will increase by many folds as brutal police forces will be rounding up every suspicious member of a neighborhood supposedly to check on guns, drugs, alcohol drinking binge, sex orgy parties, criminals, and so on.

That totalitarian march of Europe had been checkmated for a while, as Ireland sought its citizens’ vote on the matter. Irish people rejected the treaty, and so this gives Europe some breathing space to re-think about the compass of political economic life. It could in fact be a chance to abolish the European Union altogether, which is really nothing but a central regulatory arm of the Anglo-Dutch-Teutonic oligarchy within its own backyard.

Let us all keep our eyes wide opened, vigilant to the max as events unfold in Europe. We can never again allow a totalitarian regime in that continent, whose spill-over effect would be a rapid resurgence of Japanese militarism in Asia. No, never again can we see a repeat of the fascistic days of the ‘30s & ‘40s.

[Writ 22 June 2008, Quezon City, MetroManila]

LOVE THY FREEDOM

Bro. Erle Frayne D. Argonza

[Writ. 21 September 2007, Manila]

Good day to you all seekers, freethinkers, freedom fighters!

Today is the 21st of September, a day of infamy that many adults in my homeland (Philippines) and overseas vividly recall. On this day in 1972, then President Ferdinand Marcos y Edralin declared Martial Law. Fourteen (14) years of darkness then ensued, amid the erstwhile developmental pursuits toward industrialization by this fledgling nation-state.

Marcos’ tyrannical fiats declared the closure of congress, banned all political parties and mass movements, confiscated the assets of detractor oligarchs, and sweepingly incarcerated around 30,000 perceived enemies of the state. When the dictatorship was overthrown in February 25 of 1986, over 120,000 were totally imprisoned without due process of law for the entire duration of the regime.

The bloody capstone of terror was the torture and execution of over 10,000 detractors of the regime. Add to these the tens of thousands who perished in the dictatorship’s brutal war against the Bangsamoro people and the dirty war against the Left, and you’d have a picture of a Dark Era in Philippine history that approximates the previous Dark Era of Japanese occupation of the country (1941-‘45).

This mystic was an adolescent during the early years of Martial Law, and was among the youth radicals of his restive heydays. I was then a 3rd year engineering student at the University of the Philippines when I witnessed several of my own buddies and club-mates arrested and imprisoned incommunicado for 1-3 months. Sensing that military agents were after me one time, I fled into hiding for almost two (2) months, forcing me to take leave from school for that affected semester.

One after the other some friends of mine, including a guitar jamming pal Bong M., were murdered by state agents. Bong’s body was found floating among the water lilies of the highly polluted Pasig River. A former freshman dorm-mate, Ting, also an activist, was shot by the son of an army general and the case remained unsolved. Fraternity brods of mine in the Collegium Liberum were locked up, while others who chose underground life as their primary vocation were gunned down by pursuing military commandoes.

For many years a Bogey Man dressed in military fatigue kept on appearing in my nightmares, relentlessly chasing me and gunning me down without compunction. In some occasions I chased back this Bogey Man and killed it. But he kept on coming back in my next nightmares. Even when I was already a young state official, and later a professor at the University of the Philippines, the same Bogey Man kept coming back deviously.

Martial Law surely had a way of building up my paranoia. It was a challenge for me to detoxify myself of the dense energies from the experience of facing the mighty dragon of Martial Law machinery. But it was possible, and I succeeded. By the year 1990, when I was already a practicing yogi, my paranoid fears have effaced, and gone was the militaristic Bogey Man for good. My nightmares likewise dwindled to almost nil.

It is nauseatingly erroneous to say that Martial Law was an entirely ‘negative experience’. It was an experience, to say the least. It induced anxiety and paranoia, true. But it also presented a window of opportunity for the libertarian flame to awaken from its nocturnal sleep. And this is the sublime lesson of those dark moments: people learned to love their freedoms more and fought for their liberty in blood when exigencies so demanded.

Furthermore, Martial Law also accelerated the renascence of Philippine nationalism that, like the libertarian flame, slept undisturbed in the catacombs of the damned. Nationalism is a progressive force in the Philippines that comprises of over 100 ethno-linguistic groups. In the absence of nationalism, each ethno-linguistic community is like a nation unto itself, promoting its parochial interests and fomenting separatist wars of independence.

And the crowning glory of the Filipinos, for all the sacrifices they exhibited during those dark years, sacrifices writ in blood notwithstanding, finally arrived, when upon gathering their strengths collectively, they overthrew Tyranny via ‘people power’ in 1986. Such a sublime feat won accolades from fellow peoples of Earth everywhere. So the patriots who laid their lives to restore democracy and an ‘open society’ didn’t die in vain after all, but died with full honors as heroes of the nation and the human race.

Personally, Martial Law forged in me the warrior traits of Iron Will and audacity in action. In 1975, as a naïve freshman, I was a thin, fragile, wimpy nerd who just entered the august halls of the University of the Philippines. The sight of rambles and fistfights were enough to unnerve me and made me pee on my pants due to fright… By 1980, after over three (3) years of activism, I was a determined warrior-type soul, ready to face not only grimly-faced enemies in the battlefield but also demonic types in the astral domains (I was already a seeker and yoga student by then). I have mutated, thanks to Martial Law!

Not only the forging of 1st Ray (warriorship) traits, but also the countless capabilities I’ve learned from radical civil society were equally manna from heaven. Name them: social marketing, advocacy, policy analysis, campaign strategies & tactics, mass campaign planning, development communication, and more. All spin offs from my youthful experiences of facing the Mighty Dragon of tyranny.

Finally, two decades after becoming a youth activist (I joined the underground Kabataang Makabayan or Patriotic Youth in August 1977), I was, as a mystic of the GWB, able to articulate libertarian experience into a coherent wisdom tradition: libertosophy. As I argued in my book Libertosophy & Freethought (2000), the libertarian as a social type can climb the transcendent height via the libertarian Path, provided that s/he will complete the lessons in life with the other ingredients of a yoga package.

Very revealingly, I also realized, along my spiritual journey, that a Divine Being, Liberty, exists as the inspirational Light of all libertarians or social emancipators. To my delight, I discovered that the Lady Liberty constructed for the New York harbor is a wonderful archetype of this Being of Light. Formless in shis natural form, Liberty inspires and guides libertarians, provided that the libertarians sojourn the Path of Light.

So, Fellows in the Path, let it be summed up: Tyranny, in whatever form, is an experience that presents both positive and negative aspects. It is a tapestry of tragic incidents of every kind, but it likewise presents opportunities for learning, capability-building and innovative actions. This thesis is a ‘take it or leave it’ one: either you see only the negative aspect of the experience, or you see both aspects dynamically relating to each other like yin-yang forces.

Liberum Semper!

(Freedom always!)