This tweet of mine has aroused a good deal of hostility from NatDem forces on Twitter, who attack me for "humanizing Marcos." 🧵
Marcos was brutal dictator. He presided over an apparatus of repression. He shut down the press, arrested 60,000 people on political grounds in the first five years of his dictatorship, was responsible for nearly 4,000 deaths. 1/
Attacking him for singing an Ilocano love song to a woman with whom he was having an affair erodes the democratic sensibilities of the public. It aims to focus public ire not on repression and dictatorship but on a sex scandal. 2/
Political sex scandals -- the whipping up of mass anger over the private actions of consenting adults -- are the tools of reactionaries and the far-right. The NatDems backing this are functioning as the Ken Starrs of Philippine politics. 3/
The Pamulinawen scandal attempts to win over religious conservatives to the anti-Marcos camp because he had an affair, and to erode Marcos support among militarists because it exposes him as vulnerable and undermines his machismo. These are reactionary aims. 4/
Marcos was not a monster. Neither is Duterte. Depicting them as demonic forces, as pure evil, appeals to mass superstition, not democratic sensibilities. They are humans who became the head of the repressive apparatus of the state. We confront social not personal problems. 5/
A left-wing response to the imminent threat of dictatorship requires explaining its social roots in global capitalism and mass social inequality. The forces attempting use Pamulinawen to attack Marcos are attempting to fend off dictatorship by throwing mud. 6/end

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More from @josephscalice

Feb 23
1/ The use of bestial and demonic imagery to depict opponents originates with the racism and anti-Semitism of the far-right. This found its sharpest expression in the propaganda of the Nazis. Such artwork has nothing to do with genuine progressive or left-wing politics. A thread.
2/ This kind of imagery cultivates visceral hatred but not principled political opposition. It appeals to superstition and backwardness, not to a rational understanding of society. One learns nothing of capitalism from these effigies. It is a medieval bestiary. Image
3/ The bestial imagery of anti-Semitism found particularly vulgar expression in the anti-Communist material produced by the Russian White forces after the October revolution. The chief target of this was Leon Trotsky, who, along with Lenin, led the October Revolution. Image
Read 12 tweets
Feb 22
A critical factor in the stabilization of the martial law regime was the support given to the #Marcos dictatorship by a wide layer of intellectuals.
Miriam Defensor Santiago, for example, was an apologist for martial law from its inception.
facebook.com/HistorianJosep… ImageImage
The newsmagazine in which this was published, Focus Philippines, was a key pro-martial law publication.
It was edited by Kerima Polotan, managed by Gregorio Brillantes. 2/4
Focus Philippines employed Letty Jimenez Magsanoc, Alfredo Salanga & JV Cruz.
Magsanoc is someone who is now remembered as an opponent of Marcos, but she was part of its propaganda publications in 1972. 3/4
Read 4 tweets
Oct 17, 2021
Remember this? The national democratic movement, led by Makabayan, endorsed and supported Rodrigo Duterte in 2016, depicting him as progressive, even "socialist." 1/ 🧵
We are witnessing, as the 2022 Presidential election opens, another mad scramble by the 'national democratic' forces, to secure a useful alliance with a leading politico, whom they can endorse and with whom they can campaign. They are courting Robredo, Pacquiao & Isko Moreno. 2/
It is a sordid affair, watching them tie themselves into knots to both criticize and prepare to support these leading representatives of the ruling elite. In the process, they want everyone to forget that this photo ever happened. 3/ Image
Read 17 tweets
May 1, 2021
1/ This is false. In Mindanao and the Visayas the Makabayan bloc campaigned for Duterte, not Poe despite their alliance with her.
2/ Here for example is the campaign of Anakpawis in Mindanao. Note that Anakpawis rep Ayik Casilao is leading a Duterte fistbump during the campaign. Image
3/ Here is campaign truck of Bayan Muna and Anakpawis campaigning for Neri Colmenares and Duterte. Image
Read 10 tweets

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