We mark today the 118th anniversary of the June 12 declaration
of false independence by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo who presented himself a traitor
and US stooge when he
proclaimed the nascent Philippine Republic to be under the protection of the US
government.
Aquinaldo’s declaration marked the end of 300 years of Spanish
colonialism but merely presaged what would be another era of colonial
subjugation, this time under the US imperialists.
The superior military might of the US will ultimately conquer the
relatively poorly-armed revolutionary forces of the Katipunan in the
Filipino-American war of 1900-1913. The US
will establish more than four decades of US
colonial rule until 1946 and subsequently perpetuate a plunderous neocolonial
rule of the Philippines
through a chain of US puppets from Manuel Roxas to Benigno Aquino III.
In marking this year’s June 12, the Filipino people are keenly
aware of the favorable conditions and broad possibilities for promoting anti-US
imperialist Philippine nationalism and advancing the struggle for national
freedom with the non-US puppet incoming Duterte regime.
An avowed “Leftist”, Duterte is set to be the first president of
the Philippine client-state who is not beholden to US imperialism.
His rise to the presidency is starkly significant after six
years of all-out puppetry by the outgoing Aquino regime which allowed the US imperialists to fortify its military foothold
in the country by expanding military presence on the pretext of defending
against China encroachments
and by re-establishing US
military bases through the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).
As a Mindanaoan, Duterte has called for rewriting the history of
Mindanao from the point-of-view of the
people’s resistance against their subjugators and colonizers. The Filipino
people can support Duterte in such an endeavor in order to highlight the
courage and heroism of the Moro people and Lumads of Mindanao in their
resistance against Spanish and US colonizers.
As president, Duterte can also initiate a rewriting of all
history books in order to expose and erase all the lies promoted by the US imperialists through their miseducation of
the Filipinos from the early days of US colonialism to the present.
History books written under the auspices and funding of US
agencies have invariably downplayed the brutality of the US war to subjugate
and ravage the country where 1.4 million Filipinos were killed in massacres,
tortures and widespread impoverishment and disease.
The Filipino people must revisit their history and promote
nationalism on the basis of their united resistance against colonialism and
neocolonialism. They must vigorously oppose efforts by certain academics and
bourgeois historians who seek to redefine Filipino nationalism as a product of
colonialism and not as a tool in their struggle against colonialism.
For the rest click
here.
No comments:
Post a Comment