• @[email protected]
    link
    fedilink
    35
    edit-2
    10 months ago

    Not…really. The racial hierarchy and the self-loathing are really Spain’s doing via the Church.

    Spain was in control for 400 years and had clear racial caste system. They brought a new religion and used it to justify an incredibly evil rule. Lain America had governors, the Philippines had Friars (read Touch Me Not or Noli Me Tángere).

    Compared with America, which in control for around 50 years and about 10% of that was the Japanese invasion. They are seen as liberators and saviours because of how utterly horrific the Japanese were (wasn’t just Korea with comfort women). In the early 20th century, a lot of the reforms in the Philippines by America were based around giving land to the farm workers and laying ground work for independence via the Insular government (so the cheap sugar supply could be blocked from entering the US market).

    • Match!!
      link
      fedilink
      English
      410 months ago

      Read Renato Constantino’s Dissent and Counter-Consciousness about how Rizal in particular was elevated by American revisionism to justify the Americans crushing the Katipunan.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        710 months ago

        Renato Constantino

        Just asked my wife about this (she’s an author that’s just won funding to research and write about the history of the Philippines in her novels). These are her words paraphrased:

        Oh yeah, Rizal was a reformist and thought of Spain as more of an abusive parent than something to overthrow. However, even at the time his work was really important to the revolution and his arrest led to the founding of the KKK (not that one) which was succeeded by the ongoing communist revolution. He directly, and against his will, led to the uprising that’s still a big feature of the country today.

        America’s history with the country is a lot more complex than Spain. While Spain gained dominance by throwing their weight into an ongoing was between datus and changed the landscape to impose their hierarchy, America never really wanted the Philippines to begin with. Now, the Americas worship in the country is straight up horrifying, but that isn’t from the American period of rule but because of the brief period of Japanese rule as a contrast.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        210 months ago

        That’s interesting, I’ll give it a read. But I don’t entirely see how. He was first banished and then executed for his writing and thrown in an unmarked grave. During his life, his writing was the cornerstone of the burgeoning revolution against his wishes. This was all a fair chunk of time before the Spanish-American war.