It is indeed eternal.
This maxim of revolutionary Mao Tse Tung: "Let a thousand flowers bloom, a hundred schools of thought contend."
Mao said this during the Cultural Revolution in China decades ago.
And it still resonates today not only in the hinterland and ordinary societies in China but throughout the world as well.
Take the "Trillion Peso March" in EDSA and the "Baha sa Luneta Aksyon na Laban sa Korapsyon" in Rizal.Park, the two recent simultaneous rallies led by civil societies not excluding multimedia agencies and its personalities against the massive corruption in Philippine government perpetrated by private contractors in connivance with personnel of the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) and lawmakers.
These groups professed that not only million but trillion pesos were and are still being stolen by public officials from the national coffers.
They asserted that instead of being allotted to education, health, agrarian reform, arts and culture projects, alleviation of urban and rural poor people's condition, infrastructure, tourism etc. in the advancement of the nation, the money or budget insertions went to the pockets of unscrupulous individuals or funded substandard projects.
Weeks and days before the mass actions, diverse groups were drumbeating a united people's agenda of unity.
Actress Vivian Velez, although known as a Duterte sympathizer, emphasized in her social media posts that the EDSA rally would not have political colors but instead a non-partisan mass movement.
No DDS, no Kakampink, no BBM, only united Filipinos against corruption.
Arts manager, theater artist and former Vice President and Artistic Director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) Chris Millado also stressed that the scheduled rally in Luneta would be a fight of the Filipinos for freedom.
"Tayo ang solusyon (We are the solutions)," said the blurb of the initiative.
That the unity of the Filipinos was the overarching objective of the event.
On the ground, though, the composition of the September 21st rallies was varied and encompassing the whole social and political spectrum.
From the left to the right to the center to the left of center to the right of center to the ultra-right to the right of center to the ultra-left to the fence-sitter etc., name them, they were all there standing up for what they believe in.
Artists of all persuasions--Bayang Barrios for indigenous people's welfare, Noel Cabangon's nationalistic and Filipino sensibilities; the middle-class sensitivities of Vice Ganda, Anne Curtis, Dingdong Dantes etc. gathered in show of force.
Artists' preferences on BBM or Kakampink or DDS and everything in between showed weight.
Ideas and emotions clashed under the rain and later, under the sun to characterize adherences or shifts to allegiances.
That was the essence of democracy and hopefully, of authentic freedom in unity in diversity for the common good.
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