What BS Aquino can learn from Turkey and Brazil

Two protest movements, two continents and about 6,000 miles apart, offer important lessons to President BS Aquino 3rd. These are Turkey and Brazil. In recent years, they became incredible economic success stories. Unlike the Philippines today.

Yet, Turkey and Brazil are on the edge, threatened by a popular revolution that started, oddly enough, with two insignificant issues. One was the cutting off of trees in Gezi Park, a rare green area in Taksim Square, central Istanbul, to make way for a mall and a military camp. The other was the raise of state-subsidized bus fares in Sao Paolo by a miniscule 10 US cents, from $1.50 to $1.60, in the main cities of Brazil. Brazilians want their bus rides to be free.