A patriotic call

SAGIP Pilipinas, the anti-war, anti-EDCA protest movement, is now on the road, and I wish it all the luck in the world. The purpose of a protest movement is not just to protest but above all to transform the idea or object being protested against. Sagip can benefit from the experience of successful protest movements. One such movement is the Vietnam peace movement in the United States.

From the 1960s through the 1970s, American anti-war activists protested their government's immoral involvement in Vietnam and confronted the US centers of power with their patriotic rage. In 1966, they marched in front of the White House to demand an end of the war. On Oct. 21, 1967, some 100,000 protesters marched on the Pentagon with the same demand. About 50,000 marched across the Potomac River to the Pentagon and clashed with paratroopers.