Reading the text of the February “revolution" in the Philippines

Abstract

Manila’s February Revolution, if it can be called a revolution, lends itself to semiotic analysis because it wrested state power from an aging despot and installed a popular president with a moral commitment to democracy in a confrontation carried out at the level of signs, while teetering on the brink of war. In this paper, I describe pertinent events of the “People Power” Revolution, identify cultural objects or practices that were transformed into political signs, and discuss how politics was manipulated without physical violence, through signs.