Why the middle class must stop worshipping the upper class

Today’s Philippine elite dates back to the old Philippine revolution of 1896 when the ilustrados revolted against Spanish colonialists to establish a republic. At that time, the local Filipino elite led by the intelgentsia were truly progressive and revolutionary. They expressed and articulated the national and democratic demands of the entire Filipino people starting with the Propaganda Movement until the aborted declaration of independence in the tail-end of the Philippine revolution.

The liberal elite however started to rot when they miserably failed to understand the coming of US imperialism which killed the infant Republic proclaimed by Emilio Aguinaldo. They substituted national democracy with various shades of collaboration with the Americans and abandoned the struggle for national liberation from foreign rule. They cast their lot on the Americans, in the vain hope that imperialist America was still the America that was founded on anti-colonial liberalism. Of course, by that time, America had become an imperialist power.

Thus, the long rotten colonial mentality began to take hold of the minds and hearts of the Philippine elite. Since that time, they have made Filipinos believe in American imperialism and helped made the public believe benevolence. Of course, some kept bannering the call for independence during the so-called Commowealth period, but the pro-independence call was blunted by subservience to America and impressed on the public and the world that Filipinos will rather wait for a grant of independence rather than to fight for it, as what other self-respecting countries (including the America of old) did.

If there is any social group that first surrendered — wittingly and willingly at that — the cause of nationalism, it was the elite. And that is the precise start when they began to rot and decay, themselves paving the way to the rise of the Filipino workingclass as the new progressive and revolutionary leaders.

From then on, the elite collaborated with the US in managing and mismanaging the economy, politics, culture, diplomacy and military affairs of the country. The US wanted a foothold and an outpost in the East to help contain her enemies. The elite wanted to remain leaders
and saw the US as a bastion of strength. The relationship was give and take, but the US always made sure that puppets held sway as presidents.

The set-up survived until 1972 when Ferdinand Marcos plunged his elite rivals and the entire nation into the abyss. The US supported him to the end and only shifted preference when she was sure that Corazon Aquino will not make radical changes as to threaten US interests. Aquino would later prove her pro-US elite pedigree by championing the retention of US military bases.

The post-Marcos regimes did not do better either. They all followed the US baton, making no apologies for surrendering the national economy, patrimony and sovereignty to neoliberal globalization. The policies of privatization, deregulation, liberalization and denationalization, as well as high regressive taxes were bandied about as “bitter pills” and long-term solutions to mass poverty — only to result years later with the loss of state control on water, petroleum and power. Now, the entire nation is hostaged by world prices. The former rice granaries and food baskets of the country today lack adequate rice supply.

Amid all these, the aspirants to join the ranks of the elite always manage to see what to them are flickers of hope. These are the middle class, those who dream to be upper class, but continue to be threatened by endless prospects of sliding down to the ranks of the proletariat. The most rabid ones are the ones who worshipped and continue to worship at the altar of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Many in the middle class are blinded by their fixation of becoming upper class. They breathe in as much upper class air. As is their wont, they act more upper class than the upper class sometimes, especially here in the blogosphere. The worst effect of this is that they swallow — hook, line and sinker — the arbitrary and irrational fear of and hatred for proletarian movements led by the Left. They say they are liberals and democrats but they don’t care that people die while proclaiming their beliefs as long as their social and economic standing are unaffected.

Example of rotten thinking by the middle class: While the masa and the proletariat embraced Crispin Beltran as their champion and a symbol of the future of New Politics, having died as a congressman while remaining poor and untainted by corruption, we find a prominent blogger who describes himself as “anti-trapo” describing Beltran as a “fallen comrade”. Some middle class comment-writers cheered him on. Never mind if he professed himself as an “anti-trapo” and now was caught peeing on the grave of Beltran who the nation was surprised to discover rather belatedly as the ultimate “non-trapo”. Beltran, of course, wasn’t a middle class and never dreamed of being upper class, and that may be an explanation why the middle class “satirist” found him worthy of his attention. If the big-time employers can kill striking workers, why can’t a middle class satirist make fun of the death of a proletarian leader.

The middle class is not without hope. As a member of the middle class, must wean ourselves from our addiction and fixations with being upper class with the realization that we’ve been had for far too long. Matagal nang nililinlang hindi lang ang panggitnang saray kundi ang buong bayan. We must cast our lot on those who champion real progress: the masses of farmers and workers whose humble aspiration is national democracy.

The elite may satisfy short-term and even medium-term aspirations of the middle class but it is highly doubtful that the space on top is as large as the number of middle class families. Besides, why would the elite democratize their ranks when all they want is to buy or eliminate the weak ones.

We cannot afford to give endless “second chances” to the elite that collectively fail and shame us as a nation and people. On the other hand, each and every time the middle class forsakes its own aspirations and joins the poor people (ex. Gawad Kalinga, Habitat for Humanity, First Quarter Storm, etc.), they see a ray of hope for here are armies upon armies of people who appreciate them for their expertise and do not wish to humiliate them.

There is hope, yes. And the hope is not with the elite but in joining and championing the cause of our poor people.