Philippine Independence : Myth or Reality? : Melbourne Indymedia

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 WW
II (against Japan in the Philippines in particular) with the help of
the Filipino guerillas who were controlled directly by the American
imperialist, the 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, 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 in
the 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
former USSR and China before the collapse of the Cold War. The
maoist CPP-NPA in the 70s condemned the 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 leftists
in the country still dream of 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, Philippines or any country in
the world will certainly could not attain independence. The moment
American control in the country will weaken, other imperialist
powers would fill 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, Philippines is more
important in military and geographic location than economic for the
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 will increasingly
weaken especially in its economic and military power, there is
strong possibility that the country could be plunged into more
barbaric chaos in the midst of imperialist war as what happened in
the Middle East and Africa.

Only the world-wide united proletarian resistance and ultimately
revolution could 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. As long as capitalism exists, 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