CUBAN TROOF
Eye read a book & got inspired:
(This is a summary of the Spanish-Cuban-American war, & also the war against the Philippines. Eye got the info from the book “A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn)
(Learning this, eye was astounded by the similarities between this time and ours. Literally. The 1890s into the beginning of the 20th century-military & commerce step it up. The 1990s into the 21st century is showing the same events. Not only the Wars, but the “Free Trade” demands of NAFTA, and now, the FTAA. The Free Trade Agreement of the Americas is currently attempting to demand every country in the western hemisphere to open itself to US Big Business. Venezuala, among others, is currently putting up a valiant fight.)
Theodore Roosevelt, 1897
“In strict confidence . . . I should welcome almost any war,
for I think this country needs one.”
SETTING THE STAGE
Between 1852-1894, US forces had already sent the military
10 times to 7 countries to protect American interests (COMMERCE).
The US counteracted revolutions (in Argentina, Nicaragua, Uruguay, & W. Africa) and forcibly opened ports (in Japan). Also invaded China & Hawaii.
“DESIRE IS SOMETHING
THAT CAN NEVER BE SATIATED”
The US Military & Commerce forces wanted 2B a “World Power.”
1897 “American factories are making more than the American people
can consume. Fate has written our policy for us; the trade of the world
Must and shall be ours.”
(Sew, all the people who were worked 2 the bone in factories,
Quality of life sacrificed 4 the sake of surplus? One crime leads 2 another,
Now this surplus needs more markets . . . that of Others).
GREED & RACISM
The Dole family (aided by the US military) set up a temporary gov’t
in Hawaii to serve their Pineapple & Christian missionary interests.
But when the US people did not vote 2 annex (steal) Hawaii in 1893,
Theodore Roosevelt called in “a crime against white civilization.”
& He told the Naval War College “All the great masterful races have been fighting races . . . No triumph of peace is quite so great as the supreme triumph of War.”
INDUSTRY DEMANDS FOR IMPERIALISM (stealing)
STEEL: internal markets not enough, OVERproduction “should be relived and prevented in the future by increased foreign trade.”
COMMERCIAL FARMERS: 2 relieve surPLUS “must of necessity seek a foreign market” (overfarming which rapes our land done so only 2 create surplus 4 more selling?)
IRON: “actual war`would very decidedly enlarge the business of transportation”
BANKERS: If war came, “There is no question as to where the rich men stand.”
(Now most industries did not, yet, advocate War 2 meet imperialist desires. Instead, they preferred an “open door” policy - free market access. The difference of language is a trick. Sew, what if the country’s people do not want this free market with the US? This “anti-war” stance could easily change…)
US SMELLS A WAY
1897-98 China is weakened by war with Japan. Germany, soon followed by other European militaries, forced themselves into China & demanded rail & coal access.
The US was left behind in this major market and the US took it as a sign.
COMMERCE SAYS
Free access to Chinese markets, with 400million+ people, would largely solve the problem of surplus products (ah, but then what would U be wanting?)
ENTER CUBA
Currently, Cuban revolutionaries were fighting against the Spanish occupation.
The US gov’t told the public LET’S ENTER THIS WAR for the Cubans
…Remember our own revolution for independence?
ULTERIOR MOTIVES
COMMERCE
*The US had millions of dollars worth of commerce in Cuba.
If they kicked out the Spanish would they kick US out 2?
*(More economic interests 2B revealed soon...)
RACISM
*1896, Winston Churchill “A grave danger represents itself. Two-fifths of the insurgents in the field are negroes. These men . . .would, in the event of success, demand a predominant share in the government of the country . . . the result being, after years of fighting, another black republic.” (The other black republic in the New World was Haiti - who overthrew French occupation in 1803).
US MOVES IN
February, 1898, the US military sent battleship Maine into the Havana harbor,
as a symbol of American interest. When the battleship was destroyed by a mysterious explosion, the US press xxcitedly called 4 War (HMM…)
March 1898, McKinley demands an armistice (cease-fight truce) from Spain,
saying nothing of Cuban Independence. (Sew the US just wanted 2 replace Spain?) But the US did not have time to negotiate with Spain because the Cubans were close to seizing Independence on their own. . . WAR DECLARED.
ANTI-WAR/CAPITAL-IZM WARNINGS 2 THE PEOPLE
* “A gigantic . . . and cunningly-devised scheme is being worked ostensibly to place the United States in the front rank as a naval and military power. The real reason is that the capitalists will have the whole thing and, when any working-man dare to ask for the living wage . . . they will be shot down like dogs in the street.”
* “If there is war, you will furnish the corpses and the taxes, and others will get the glory. Speculators will make will make money out of it-that is, out of you. Men will get high prices for inferior supplies . . . and you will have to pay the bill, and the only satisfaction you will get is the privilege of hating your Spanish fellow-workmen, who are really your brothers and who have had as little to do with the wrongs of Cuba as you have.”
* “It is terrible to think that the poor workers of the country should be sent to kill and wound the poor workers of Spain merely because a few leaders may incite them to do so.”
* With war came… “Not only was there a startling increase in the cost of living, but, in the absence of an income tax, the poor found themselves paying almost entirely for the staggering costs of war through increased levies on sugar, molasses, tobacco, and other taxes. . .”
* “This has been a poor man’s war-paid for by the poor man. The rich have profited by it, as they always do. . . .”
(Reading/writing this and our current GAS PRICE comes 2 mind).
“SPLENDID LITTLE WAR”
Says the US Secretary of State. After 3 months, Spain surrendered.
(Ah, but what talks were zappening on the side? The swift surrender & peace treaty terms call 4 alarm) The US military seized control of the capital and would not let Cuban revolutionaries (who had been fighting for 3 years) enter. The US insisted the the old Spanish authorities would remain in charge of the offices. (Remember, the US gov’t had still been telling the US & Cuban people that the US military was fighting for Cuban Independence).
General Calixto Garcia (what a name!), the Cuban Revolution leader, to US Military:
“I have not been honored with a single word from yourself informing me about the negotiations for peace or the terms of the capitulation by the Spaniards.
… when the question arises of appointing authorities in Santiago de Cuba . . . I cannot see but the deepest regret that such authorities are not elected by the Cuban people, but are the same ones elected by the Queen of Spain . . . .
A rumor too absurd to be believed, General, describes the reason of your measures and of the orders forbidding my army to enter Santiago for fear of massacres and revenge against the Spaniards. Allow me sir, to protest against even the shadow of such an idea. We are not savages ignoring the rules of civilized warfare. We are a poor, ragged army, as ragged and poor as was the army of your forefathers in their noble war for independence . . . .”
THE AFTERMATH
Military occupation immediately gave rise to commercial occupation.
US business flooded Cuba to seize railroad, mine, & sugar properties.
“The moment Spain drops the reigns of government in Cuba . . . the moment will arrive for American lumber interests to move into the island for the products of Cuban forests. Cuba still possesses 10,000,000 acres of virgin forest abounding in valuable timber . . . nearly every foot of which would be saleable in the United States and bring high prices.”
Also, in July 1898, the US quickly annexed (stole) Hawaii as it’s own.
Said US gov’t officials: Hawaii is “a ripe pear ready to be plucked.”
LA RESISTANCE!
1899, Cuban workers STRIKE saying “. . . we have determined to promote the struggle between the worker and the capitalist. For the workers of Cuba will no longer tolerate remaining in total subjection.” The US Military ordered the Mayor to arrest strikers, strike leaders, and break up meetings.
HYPOCRISY
The banquet to celebrate the treaty with Spain was the most lavish the US had ever seen. (Ha, rather, that the US people had never seen).
But while McKinley officially spoke that “no imperial designs lurk in the American mind” his Postmaster General said that “what we want is a market for our surplus.”
“PEACE” TREATY (With Spain)
December 1898, The US would trade $20 million for the Spanish military occupations (land and people) of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.
1901, Cuba was not annexed (cuz this fight was under the guise of independence) but the US gov’t gave the Cuban Constitutional Convention an ultimatum: adopt the Platt Amendment or our Army won’t leave. The amendment gave the U.S. gov’t “the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty . . . .” It also said the US could have coaling & naval stations in Cuba.
BETRAYAL
With the passage of the Platt Amendment in US Congress, the US masses finally realized they had been deceived. “In disregard of our pledge of freedom and sovereignty to Cuba we are imposing on that island conditions of colonial vassalage.”
CUBA RESPONDS
A torchlight procession of 15,000 march in Havana, urging the rejection of the Demand.
* “For the United States to reserve to itself the power to determine when this independence was threatened, and when, therefore, it should intervene to preserve it, is equivalent to handing over the keys to our house so that they can enter it at any time, whenever the DESIRE seizes them, day or night, whether with good or evil design.”
* “The only Cuban governments which would live would be those which count on the support and benevolence of the United States, and the clearest result of this situation would be that we would only have feeble and miserable governments . . . .”
The Convention overwhelmingly rejected the Amendment.
CONTROLLING PRESSURE
Over the months, US military occupation refused Cubans access to self-gov’t unless they gave in to the demands. After several refusals, the Convention adopted the amendment.
A US general wrote to Roosevelt: “There is, of course, little or no independence left Cuba under the Platt Amendment.”
BAD BAD SAD SAD
DESIRE 4 MORE (of course)
Sew the US Military & Commerce had forced the control it wanted in Cuba & now it looked toward its newly stolen lands for more.
ONTO THE PHILLIPINES
The US gov’t was hesitant to annex (stealing) the Philippines.
The native Filipinos had been revolting against Spanish conquest for years,
and US rulers were wary of the rebellion that could come their way.
THE PRESIDENT’S “DIVINE” INSPIRATION
McKinley told the church how he came to his decision: “I went down on my knees and prayed . . . one night late it came to me this way . . . That there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow men for who Christ also died. And then I went to bed and went to sleep and slept soundly.”
DISCREPANCY
The Filipinos did not get that same message from God.
1899, Filipinos led the charge against US rule. All peaceful propositions for Independence were rejected by the US. The US military fired the first shot.
BLOODY MASSACRE
3 years of bloodshed ensued. Entire villages were burned. AUS Captain wrote:
“Caloocan was supposed to contain 17,000 inhabitants. The Twentieth Kansas swept through it, and now Caloocan contains not one living native.”
Torture was used. Those who peacefully surrendered were arrested and shot, without trial. US Soldiers were told to kill everyone over the age of 10.
US PUBLIC ALARMED
The length & death tolls were making this War was increasingly unpopular in the US.
Said Mark Twain (who was not a radical):
“We have pacified some thousands of the islanders and buried them; destroyed their fields; burned their villages, and turned their widows and orphans out-of-doors; furnished heartbreak by exile to some dozens of disagreeable patriots; subjugated the remaining ten millions by Benevolent Assimilation, which is the pious name of the musket; we have acquired property in the three hundred concubines and other slaves of our business partner, the Sultan of Sulu, and hoisted our protecting flag over that swag.
And so, by these Providences of God-and the phrase is the government’s, not mine-we are a World Power.”
Even US General MacArthur came to realize what the long war meant-revolution support from the entire Filipino population. “I did not like to believe that the whole population of Luzon-the native population, that is-was opposed to us.” But he was “reluctantly compelled” to believe this because the guerrilla tactics of the Filipino army “depended upon the almost complete unity of action of the entire native population.”
BUT POLITICAL ECONOMY SAYS “MORE WAR!”
1900 “Mr. President, the times call for candor. The Philippines are ours forever.
. . . And just beyond the Philippines are China’s illimitable markets. We will not retreat from either. . . . We will not renounce our part in the mission of our RACE, trustee, under God, of the civilization of the world . . . . The Pacific is our ocean. . . . Where shall we turn for consumers of our surplus? Geography answers the question. China is our natural customer. . . . The Philippines give us a base at the door of all the East.. . . .No land in America surpasses in fertility the plains of the Luzon. Rice and coffee, sugar and cocoanuts, hemp and tobacco. . . . The wood of the Philippines can supply the furniture of the world for a century to come. . . 40 miles of Cebu’s mountain chain are practically mountains of coal.
. . . My own belief is that there are not 100 men among them who comprehend what Angle-Saxon government even means, and there are over 5,000,000 people to be governed.
It has been charged that our conduct of the war has been cruel. Senators, it has been the reverse. . . . Senators must remember that we are not dealing with Americans or Europeans. We are dealing with Orientals.”
Although some Worker’s Unions continued 2 support the War for the trade it would bring, other workers responded that the increase in trade would not mean more purchasing power for the working man:
“How much better off are the workingmen of England through all its colonial possessions?”
Others argued that although the Philippines were rich in resources, “The same can be said of this country, but if anybody were to ask you if you owned a coal mine, a sugar plantation, or railroad you would have to say no . . . all those things are in the hands of the trusts controlled by a few. . . .”
RACISM ABROAD = RACISM AT HOME
While black-skinned soldiers abroad were dismayed by the military use, morning till night, of the word “Nigger” to describe the Filipinos,
Black-skinned peoples at home found themselves being abused as well.
1889-1903, an average of 2 blacks a week were lynched by white mobs.
A black soldier wrote home:
“I was struck by a question a little Filipino boy asked me, which ran about this way:
‘Why does the American Negro come . . . to fight us where we are much a friend to him and have not done anything to him. He is all the same to me and me all the same as you. Why don’t you fight those people in America who burn Negroes, that make a beast of you . . .?’”
LET US REMEMBER AND PREDICT
HOW WE CAN BE FOOLED BY RHETORIC
A HINT: THE END CAN NEVER JUSTIFY THE MEANS
BECAUSE THERE IS NEVER AN END
ONLY A NEW BEGINNING
HOW WILL THAT BEGINNING BE?
Enough of Death, Let’s speak of Life:
Please SHARE, What R U doing to resist Capital Dominance?
What are you doing 2 prevent the FTAA from wreaking havoc?
*Not paying income tax?
*Not driving a car?
*Not be-ing excessive with resources?
*Using your power as a Consumer to limit & provide support?
*Sharing your knowledge & education with others?
*Actively seeking the knowledge & education of others?
*Learning more about the FTAA?
*Teaching your community about the FTAA?
*Actively changing the way of Life?
LA RESISTANCE! GLOBAL INFO TOUR
(This is a summary of the Spanish-Cuban-American war, & also the war against the Philippines. Eye got the info from the book “A People’s History of the United States” by Howard Zinn)
(Learning this, eye was astounded by the similarities between this time and ours. Literally. The 1890s into the beginning of the 20th century-military & commerce step it up. The 1990s into the 21st century is showing the same events. Not only the Wars, but the “Free Trade” demands of NAFTA, and now, the FTAA. The Free Trade Agreement of the Americas is currently attempting to demand every country in the western hemisphere to open itself to US Big Business. Venezuala, among others, is currently putting up a valiant fight.)
Theodore Roosevelt, 1897
“In strict confidence . . . I should welcome almost any war,
for I think this country needs one.”
SETTING THE STAGE
Between 1852-1894, US forces had already sent the military
10 times to 7 countries to protect American interests (COMMERCE).
The US counteracted revolutions (in Argentina, Nicaragua, Uruguay, & W. Africa) and forcibly opened ports (in Japan). Also invaded China & Hawaii.
“DESIRE IS SOMETHING
THAT CAN NEVER BE SATIATED”
The US Military & Commerce forces wanted 2B a “World Power.”
1897 “American factories are making more than the American people
can consume. Fate has written our policy for us; the trade of the world
Must and shall be ours.”
(Sew, all the people who were worked 2 the bone in factories,
Quality of life sacrificed 4 the sake of surplus? One crime leads 2 another,
Now this surplus needs more markets . . . that of Others).
GREED & RACISM
The Dole family (aided by the US military) set up a temporary gov’t
in Hawaii to serve their Pineapple & Christian missionary interests.
But when the US people did not vote 2 annex (steal) Hawaii in 1893,
Theodore Roosevelt called in “a crime against white civilization.”
& He told the Naval War College “All the great masterful races have been fighting races . . . No triumph of peace is quite so great as the supreme triumph of War.”
INDUSTRY DEMANDS FOR IMPERIALISM (stealing)
STEEL: internal markets not enough, OVERproduction “should be relived and prevented in the future by increased foreign trade.”
COMMERCIAL FARMERS: 2 relieve surPLUS “must of necessity seek a foreign market” (overfarming which rapes our land done so only 2 create surplus 4 more selling?)
IRON: “actual war`would very decidedly enlarge the business of transportation”
BANKERS: If war came, “There is no question as to where the rich men stand.”
(Now most industries did not, yet, advocate War 2 meet imperialist desires. Instead, they preferred an “open door” policy - free market access. The difference of language is a trick. Sew, what if the country’s people do not want this free market with the US? This “anti-war” stance could easily change…)
US SMELLS A WAY
1897-98 China is weakened by war with Japan. Germany, soon followed by other European militaries, forced themselves into China & demanded rail & coal access.
The US was left behind in this major market and the US took it as a sign.
COMMERCE SAYS
Free access to Chinese markets, with 400million+ people, would largely solve the problem of surplus products (ah, but then what would U be wanting?)
ENTER CUBA
Currently, Cuban revolutionaries were fighting against the Spanish occupation.
The US gov’t told the public LET’S ENTER THIS WAR for the Cubans
…Remember our own revolution for independence?
ULTERIOR MOTIVES
COMMERCE
*The US had millions of dollars worth of commerce in Cuba.
If they kicked out the Spanish would they kick US out 2?
*(More economic interests 2B revealed soon...)
RACISM
*1896, Winston Churchill “A grave danger represents itself. Two-fifths of the insurgents in the field are negroes. These men . . .would, in the event of success, demand a predominant share in the government of the country . . . the result being, after years of fighting, another black republic.” (The other black republic in the New World was Haiti - who overthrew French occupation in 1803).
US MOVES IN
February, 1898, the US military sent battleship Maine into the Havana harbor,
as a symbol of American interest. When the battleship was destroyed by a mysterious explosion, the US press xxcitedly called 4 War (HMM…)
March 1898, McKinley demands an armistice (cease-fight truce) from Spain,
saying nothing of Cuban Independence. (Sew the US just wanted 2 replace Spain?) But the US did not have time to negotiate with Spain because the Cubans were close to seizing Independence on their own. . . WAR DECLARED.
ANTI-WAR/CAPITAL-IZM WARNINGS 2 THE PEOPLE
* “A gigantic . . . and cunningly-devised scheme is being worked ostensibly to place the United States in the front rank as a naval and military power. The real reason is that the capitalists will have the whole thing and, when any working-man dare to ask for the living wage . . . they will be shot down like dogs in the street.”
* “If there is war, you will furnish the corpses and the taxes, and others will get the glory. Speculators will make will make money out of it-that is, out of you. Men will get high prices for inferior supplies . . . and you will have to pay the bill, and the only satisfaction you will get is the privilege of hating your Spanish fellow-workmen, who are really your brothers and who have had as little to do with the wrongs of Cuba as you have.”
* “It is terrible to think that the poor workers of the country should be sent to kill and wound the poor workers of Spain merely because a few leaders may incite them to do so.”
* With war came… “Not only was there a startling increase in the cost of living, but, in the absence of an income tax, the poor found themselves paying almost entirely for the staggering costs of war through increased levies on sugar, molasses, tobacco, and other taxes. . .”
* “This has been a poor man’s war-paid for by the poor man. The rich have profited by it, as they always do. . . .”
(Reading/writing this and our current GAS PRICE comes 2 mind).
“SPLENDID LITTLE WAR”
Says the US Secretary of State. After 3 months, Spain surrendered.
(Ah, but what talks were zappening on the side? The swift surrender & peace treaty terms call 4 alarm) The US military seized control of the capital and would not let Cuban revolutionaries (who had been fighting for 3 years) enter. The US insisted the the old Spanish authorities would remain in charge of the offices. (Remember, the US gov’t had still been telling the US & Cuban people that the US military was fighting for Cuban Independence).
General Calixto Garcia (what a name!), the Cuban Revolution leader, to US Military:
“I have not been honored with a single word from yourself informing me about the negotiations for peace or the terms of the capitulation by the Spaniards.
… when the question arises of appointing authorities in Santiago de Cuba . . . I cannot see but the deepest regret that such authorities are not elected by the Cuban people, but are the same ones elected by the Queen of Spain . . . .
A rumor too absurd to be believed, General, describes the reason of your measures and of the orders forbidding my army to enter Santiago for fear of massacres and revenge against the Spaniards. Allow me sir, to protest against even the shadow of such an idea. We are not savages ignoring the rules of civilized warfare. We are a poor, ragged army, as ragged and poor as was the army of your forefathers in their noble war for independence . . . .”
THE AFTERMATH
Military occupation immediately gave rise to commercial occupation.
US business flooded Cuba to seize railroad, mine, & sugar properties.
“The moment Spain drops the reigns of government in Cuba . . . the moment will arrive for American lumber interests to move into the island for the products of Cuban forests. Cuba still possesses 10,000,000 acres of virgin forest abounding in valuable timber . . . nearly every foot of which would be saleable in the United States and bring high prices.”
Also, in July 1898, the US quickly annexed (stole) Hawaii as it’s own.
Said US gov’t officials: Hawaii is “a ripe pear ready to be plucked.”
LA RESISTANCE!
1899, Cuban workers STRIKE saying “. . . we have determined to promote the struggle between the worker and the capitalist. For the workers of Cuba will no longer tolerate remaining in total subjection.” The US Military ordered the Mayor to arrest strikers, strike leaders, and break up meetings.
HYPOCRISY
The banquet to celebrate the treaty with Spain was the most lavish the US had ever seen. (Ha, rather, that the US people had never seen).
But while McKinley officially spoke that “no imperial designs lurk in the American mind” his Postmaster General said that “what we want is a market for our surplus.”
“PEACE” TREATY (With Spain)
December 1898, The US would trade $20 million for the Spanish military occupations (land and people) of Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.
1901, Cuba was not annexed (cuz this fight was under the guise of independence) but the US gov’t gave the Cuban Constitutional Convention an ultimatum: adopt the Platt Amendment or our Army won’t leave. The amendment gave the U.S. gov’t “the right to intervene for the preservation of Cuban independence, the maintenance of a government adequate for the protection of life, property, and individual liberty . . . .” It also said the US could have coaling & naval stations in Cuba.
BETRAYAL
With the passage of the Platt Amendment in US Congress, the US masses finally realized they had been deceived. “In disregard of our pledge of freedom and sovereignty to Cuba we are imposing on that island conditions of colonial vassalage.”
CUBA RESPONDS
A torchlight procession of 15,000 march in Havana, urging the rejection of the Demand.
* “For the United States to reserve to itself the power to determine when this independence was threatened, and when, therefore, it should intervene to preserve it, is equivalent to handing over the keys to our house so that they can enter it at any time, whenever the DESIRE seizes them, day or night, whether with good or evil design.”
* “The only Cuban governments which would live would be those which count on the support and benevolence of the United States, and the clearest result of this situation would be that we would only have feeble and miserable governments . . . .”
The Convention overwhelmingly rejected the Amendment.
CONTROLLING PRESSURE
Over the months, US military occupation refused Cubans access to self-gov’t unless they gave in to the demands. After several refusals, the Convention adopted the amendment.
A US general wrote to Roosevelt: “There is, of course, little or no independence left Cuba under the Platt Amendment.”
BAD BAD SAD SAD
DESIRE 4 MORE (of course)
Sew the US Military & Commerce had forced the control it wanted in Cuba & now it looked toward its newly stolen lands for more.
ONTO THE PHILLIPINES
The US gov’t was hesitant to annex (stealing) the Philippines.
The native Filipinos had been revolting against Spanish conquest for years,
and US rulers were wary of the rebellion that could come their way.
THE PRESIDENT’S “DIVINE” INSPIRATION
McKinley told the church how he came to his decision: “I went down on my knees and prayed . . . one night late it came to me this way . . . That there was nothing left for us to do but to take them all and to educate the Filipinos, and uplift and civilize and Christianize them, and by God’s grace do the very best we could by them, as our fellow men for who Christ also died. And then I went to bed and went to sleep and slept soundly.”
DISCREPANCY
The Filipinos did not get that same message from God.
1899, Filipinos led the charge against US rule. All peaceful propositions for Independence were rejected by the US. The US military fired the first shot.
BLOODY MASSACRE
3 years of bloodshed ensued. Entire villages were burned. AUS Captain wrote:
“Caloocan was supposed to contain 17,000 inhabitants. The Twentieth Kansas swept through it, and now Caloocan contains not one living native.”
Torture was used. Those who peacefully surrendered were arrested and shot, without trial. US Soldiers were told to kill everyone over the age of 10.
US PUBLIC ALARMED
The length & death tolls were making this War was increasingly unpopular in the US.
Said Mark Twain (who was not a radical):
“We have pacified some thousands of the islanders and buried them; destroyed their fields; burned their villages, and turned their widows and orphans out-of-doors; furnished heartbreak by exile to some dozens of disagreeable patriots; subjugated the remaining ten millions by Benevolent Assimilation, which is the pious name of the musket; we have acquired property in the three hundred concubines and other slaves of our business partner, the Sultan of Sulu, and hoisted our protecting flag over that swag.
And so, by these Providences of God-and the phrase is the government’s, not mine-we are a World Power.”
Even US General MacArthur came to realize what the long war meant-revolution support from the entire Filipino population. “I did not like to believe that the whole population of Luzon-the native population, that is-was opposed to us.” But he was “reluctantly compelled” to believe this because the guerrilla tactics of the Filipino army “depended upon the almost complete unity of action of the entire native population.”
BUT POLITICAL ECONOMY SAYS “MORE WAR!”
1900 “Mr. President, the times call for candor. The Philippines are ours forever.
. . . And just beyond the Philippines are China’s illimitable markets. We will not retreat from either. . . . We will not renounce our part in the mission of our RACE, trustee, under God, of the civilization of the world . . . . The Pacific is our ocean. . . . Where shall we turn for consumers of our surplus? Geography answers the question. China is our natural customer. . . . The Philippines give us a base at the door of all the East.. . . .No land in America surpasses in fertility the plains of the Luzon. Rice and coffee, sugar and cocoanuts, hemp and tobacco. . . . The wood of the Philippines can supply the furniture of the world for a century to come. . . 40 miles of Cebu’s mountain chain are practically mountains of coal.
. . . My own belief is that there are not 100 men among them who comprehend what Angle-Saxon government even means, and there are over 5,000,000 people to be governed.
It has been charged that our conduct of the war has been cruel. Senators, it has been the reverse. . . . Senators must remember that we are not dealing with Americans or Europeans. We are dealing with Orientals.”
Although some Worker’s Unions continued 2 support the War for the trade it would bring, other workers responded that the increase in trade would not mean more purchasing power for the working man:
“How much better off are the workingmen of England through all its colonial possessions?”
Others argued that although the Philippines were rich in resources, “The same can be said of this country, but if anybody were to ask you if you owned a coal mine, a sugar plantation, or railroad you would have to say no . . . all those things are in the hands of the trusts controlled by a few. . . .”
RACISM ABROAD = RACISM AT HOME
While black-skinned soldiers abroad were dismayed by the military use, morning till night, of the word “Nigger” to describe the Filipinos,
Black-skinned peoples at home found themselves being abused as well.
1889-1903, an average of 2 blacks a week were lynched by white mobs.
A black soldier wrote home:
“I was struck by a question a little Filipino boy asked me, which ran about this way:
‘Why does the American Negro come . . . to fight us where we are much a friend to him and have not done anything to him. He is all the same to me and me all the same as you. Why don’t you fight those people in America who burn Negroes, that make a beast of you . . .?’”
LET US REMEMBER AND PREDICT
HOW WE CAN BE FOOLED BY RHETORIC
A HINT: THE END CAN NEVER JUSTIFY THE MEANS
BECAUSE THERE IS NEVER AN END
ONLY A NEW BEGINNING
HOW WILL THAT BEGINNING BE?
Enough of Death, Let’s speak of Life:
Please SHARE, What R U doing to resist Capital Dominance?
What are you doing 2 prevent the FTAA from wreaking havoc?
*Not paying income tax?
*Not driving a car?
*Not be-ing excessive with resources?
*Using your power as a Consumer to limit & provide support?
*Sharing your knowledge & education with others?
*Actively seeking the knowledge & education of others?
*Learning more about the FTAA?
*Teaching your community about the FTAA?
*Actively changing the way of Life?
LA RESISTANCE! GLOBAL INFO TOUR