Thread by @josephscalice

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.

https://twitter.com/JCRWYN/status/1496177077200252929

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.

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.

4/ Stalin adopted many of the mechanisms of fascism in his mass murder of the Old Bolsheviks and anyone associated with Trotsky. In the process the Stalinists adopted the bestial anti-Semitic images of the far-right.

5/ The Stalinists in the PKP adopted monstrous imagery in their racist depictions of the Japanese during World War II, using imagery that was widely circulated by Washington, with whom they were then in a Popular Front alliance.

6/ The Stalinists did not, however, depict the Filipino elite in this fashion. During the First Quarter Storm, the KM depicted Marcos as Hitler -- a political caricature, not a demonic one. Things had not yet degenerated to the state they are in today.

7/ Over the past two decades, however, as the CPP and ND forces have become more desperate and have lurched to the right, they have begun using bestial and demonic imagery to depict their political opponents.

8/ In a protest over the South China Sea staged in 2015, BAYAN and company displayed racist imagery depicting the Chinese as monstrous.

9/ Joma Sison and the CPP use this imagery against their opponents on the left as well. Sison circulated images of Trotsky and me as rats being killed by a peasant. The depiction of Trotsky as a rat has direct roots in Nazi anti-Semitic propaganda.
wsws.org/en/articles/20…

10/ The bestial imagery of the ND forces serves as well to cover up their prior endorsements. In 2017, BAYAN carried images of Duterte as a militant, depicting him as someone who could be won over to the cause of revolution. The next year they depicted him as a diseased monster.

11/end. This raises the question: If Robredo succeeds in winning office with the fervent support of ND forces, how long will it be before they begin depicting her as a demon? My guess is two years.

A final note.
The ND denunciations of me on the basis of race are deeply reactionary.
If you object to my conclusions, refer to the stuff of history not the color of my skin. The Philippines has been my home since I was five and I dedicated my life to the study of its history.