Death has its clichés, including that which marks the passing of a notable individual as "the end of an era." Corazon "Cory" Aquino, leader of the non-violent "people's power" movement that overthrew the Philippine dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos, died in Manila on August 1, at 76. But the life of Mrs. Aquino saw the beginning of an epoch--that of democratic transformations in Asia--that has yet to end.
Sadly, however, her name seemed to have vanished from global memory too soon after Marcos's fall in 1986. Many non-Filipinos today would probably remember the extravagant shoe closet of Marcos's wife Imelda before recalling the life of Mrs. Aquino. Still, her example remains relevant to American and international politics, and something of her spirit may be discerned in patterns of protest and regime change that followed her time at the center of history's stage--including in the current Iranian crisis.
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