Philippine Independence
On June 12, the Philippine government will celebrate the anniversary of Philippine Independence. Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo declared the country’s independence from Spanish colonial rule on June 12, 1898 paving the way for American imperialist colonial control since 1899 by buying the country from the former in the Treaty of Paris.
Since then, the Filipino bourgeoisie mobilized the people for the struggle of national independence. After the American victory in WWII (against Japan in the Philippines in particular) with the help of the Filipino guerillas under the direct control of the American imperialist USAFFE and the pro-Moscow Communist Party of the Philippines’ Hukbalahap, the latter gave the `independence’, which the Filipino bourgeoisie wanted so much.
From then on, the Philippines became a battleground where tens of thousands of lives had been sacrificed in the altar of `national independence’. The pro-US Filipino bourgeoisie violently defended and celebrated the date, while the anti-American leftists formerly led by the pro-Moscow Communist Party and since 1968 led by the pro-Peking Communist Party are still struggling for it in the streets of urban centers or in the guerilla war in the countryside.
The Filipino workers who were dragoon by leftism in struggling to defend national capital against American imperialism have been thrown away in armed factional fighting between the imperialism of the former USSR and China before the collapse of the Cold War. The Maoist CPP-NPA in the 70s condemned the pro-Moscow CPP (1930) as puppet of `social-imperialist’ USSR, as if the former is not also a puppet of imperialist Peking.
Today with the collapsed of the bipolar world, all various leftist formations in the country are still dreaming for real independence as what happened in the 19th century. Surely, on June 12 they will launch mobilizations shouting for "real independence from US imperialism", while the NPA will issue statements swearing to continue the armed struggle to attain `real independence’ from American control.
The truth is, in capitalist decadence, the Philippines or any country in the world for that matter can no longer attain independence. The moment American control in the country will weaken, other imperialist powers will come in, definitely with the help of the different factions of the Filipino bourgeoisie and of course the leftists. Besides, the Filipino bourgeoisie has its own imperialist ambitions too.
In the present world capitalist crisis, the Philippines is more important in military and geographic location than economic for other powers, as far as Southeast Asian region is concerned.
As the imperialist appetites of China or Japan will grow bigger, while the world domination of American imperialism becomes weaker, especially in its economic and military power, there is a strong possibility that the country will be plunged into more barbaric chaos in the midst of imperialist wars as what happened in the Middle East and Africa.
Only the world-wide united proletarian resistance and ultimately revolution can prevent all kinds of imperialist wars, be it "wars of aggression" or "wars for national liberation". Ending wars mean totally destroying the capitalist social relations and nation-states. For as long as capitalism exists, and for as long as the world is divided by national boundaries and authorities, wars will always be a threat to humanity’s survival.
The myth of `struggle for national liberation’ has only disrupted the proletarian combat in overthrowing the bourgeois state and completely destroying the capitalist system world-wide.
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1 United States Armed Forces of the Far East
2 Hukbalahap - Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon (People’s Army Against Japan)
3 July 4, 1946 - US imperialism gave the `nominal’ independence of the Philippines. But the Filipino bourgeoisie to avoid shame, instead picked June 12 and recognized July 4 as Filipino-American Friendship Day.
4 NPA - New People’s Army, armed wing of the maoist Communist Party of the Philippines
