Theories of dysfunctional political transitions (Part 1)
Blog #7: Political Violence
In a world where violence is now being used to take advantage of people just to pursue their political agendas, the international community must be aware of certain consequences brought by these perpetrated violence. Most particularly, the concept of political violence is currently a trend these days. However, does humanity have enough time to stop these forms of violence?
We have witnessed different forms of political violence being executed around the globe. For instance the coup d’etat happening in Myanmar. The coup returned the country to full military rule after a short span of quasi-democracy that began in 2011, when the military, which had been in power since 1962, implemented parliamentary elections and other reforms. In the weeks since the coup, Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s ousted civilian leader, has faced charges in a secret court. And also, since the coup started, it has left a thousands injured and more than 600 dead because of different protest activities. It only shows how an initiated coup can be brutal and result into a destructive violence. This recent coup in Myanmar is a long-time problem for their country. It always challenges from having a democratic government rather than a military rule. Thus, whenever there is a potential coup from the military, civilians are always be the collateral damage.
Another form of violence is about the continuous political repression we are experiencing here in the Philippines. Ever since the Duterte administration gained their seat in the Philippine politics, there have been tons of problematic issues needed a serious attention. In the article of Leanne Sajor, she emphasizes that “The Philippines’ human rights defenders, activists, scholars, journalists, lawyers and organizers now face a formidable battle to defend civil and democratic rights in the wake of legislation intended to silence any and all voices critical of the government.” If we track the record of how many people died under this current regime, the numbers or statistics does not look good. The continuous undermining of the human rights is really concerning. And from that perspective only, we can say that political violence is still reigning in the country.
These political violence examples only tells us that the civilians/constituents are one of the most affected by these selfish pursuits of our country leaders today. Many people are constantly losing their loved ones because of the eagerness of their government to gain all the power they needed. Political violence is really a threat to the humanity. Do we really have time to prevent these kind of brutality?
References:
Cuddy, A. (2021). Myanmar coup: What is happening and why? Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-55902070
Goldman, R. (2021). Myanmar’s Coup and Violence, Explained. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/article/myanmar-news-protests-coup.html
Sajor, L. (2020). State repression in the Philippines during COVID-19 and beyond. Retrieved from https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/state-repression-philippines-during-covid-19-and-beyond/