The White Hot Mass of Patriotism
In November of 1916, Woodrow Wilson was elected president of the United States under the slogan that “..he kept us out of the war..” World War 1 had been going on for a few years now, and the sentiment of the country was to stay out of the conflict. This neutrality would soon come to an end. As early as 1915, Germany had declared “unrestricted warfare against all ships neutral or otherwise that entered the war zone about Britain” Britain was a major trading partner of the United States. After the sinking of several merchant U.S. vessels Wilson knew it was time for the United States to intervene. This German blockade was hindering the flow of commerce, and costing the U.S billions in the process. Influenced by bankers and arms manufactures, the U.S was headed into the first Great War. There was still one principal question that remained. That question was, how to convince the American people that our intervention in Europe was needed?
It is a distressing and oppressive duty, gentlemen of the Congress, which I have performed in thus addressing you. There are, it may be, many months of fiery trial and sacrifice ahead of us. It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts — for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free.
-Woodrow Wilson April 2, 1917 before a joint session of Congress
The plan was simple. Soon after Wilson’s declaration of War against Germany, he put together a commission spread pro U.S war propaganda. The Committee on Public Information (CPI) was formed. Lead by George Creel, one of the most notable members of the commission was a man by the name of Edward Bernays. Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud, was also a student of his uncles’ teaching of the unconscious mind. Unlike his uncle, he didn’t want to free people from the their subconscious desires, he instead chose to exploit the subconscious for commercial gains. Spreading “Freedom and Democracy” was the motto for citizens abroad as well as at home. The CPI was EXTREMELY successful in their propaganda efforts. When the U.S entered WW1, the military stood at a paltry figure of about 200,000 troops. Not nearly enough to be a factor in a war abroad. By May 18, 1917 a draft was instituted and the numbers rose rapidly, couple that with a ridiculously strong propaganda effort and the U.S was over 4 million troops.
I bring up this World War 1 story because the lie of spreading “Freedom and Democracy” has been the rallying cry for American intervention for some time. Even before the creation of the CPI. The first propaganda efforts for Manifest Destiny the young United States didn’t just stop in the west. The U.S. Empire was going to expand far beyond the pacific and into Asia. Even before the Monroe Doctrine provided America with dominion over much of Central and South America, Alexander Hamilton sowed the seeds of U.S Imperialism in his writings in Federalist Papers. Hamilton wanted his new nations power to stretch throughout the Americas and he wanted keep the sphere British influence out of the Americas.
That brings me to the Spanish American war of 1898 and the U.S. involvement in the Philippines. During the war the U.S. told Filipino rebels they would be granted their independence if they helped fight against the Spanish. Rebelling wasn’t a crazy idea for Filipino rebels, as they had a uprising against Spain as early 1872. 20 years after that small revolt, the seeds of revolution had been sowed. Nationalist organizations began to form all over the Philippines and by 1896 two years before the US would end the Spanish regime in the Philippines, Filipino forces defeated Spanish troops throughout the Philippines and started to fight to become a sovereign nation.
So, here we are in 1898. The U.S. victorious over the Spanish. The Philippines were sure they would be granted their sovereignty. I mean, the U.S at this time wasn’t a colonizing empire like Spain, France and Britain had been. They were a colony themselves. A colony of revolutionaries that fought for their freedom against the Crown and won. Surely the Americas would see the parallels between them and the island nation of the Philippines. The U.S had promised the Filipinos that being an ally against the Spanish army would grant them the sovereignty they so longed for. They’d fight, now with help from the mighty U.S. military, and freedom would soon be at hand. Well, America had very different plans for the new lands they got from Spain.
“the United States undertook this war [against Spain] for the sole purpose of relieving the Cubans from the cruelties under which they were suffering and not for the love of conquests or the hope of gain. They are actuated by precisely the same feelings for the Filipinos.“
-Rounsevelle Wildman
During the Treaty of Paris, for $20,000,000 the US was awarded Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. The Philippines was a very important part of this treaty as it gave the U.S it’s first real entry into Asia. Untapped markets and control of the resources of the Philippines. Now the U.S had a entry into the largest market in the world. China. Think of all the products we could sell the 300,000,000 or so Chinese people? Giving sovereignty to the Filipinos wasn’t an option, and never was.
“One night late it came to me this way — I don’t know how it was, but it came: (1) That we could not give them (i.e. the Philippines) back to Spain — that would be cowardly and dishonorable; (2) that we could not turn them over to France and Germany — our commercial rivals in the Orient — that would be bad business and discreditable; (3) that we could not leave them to themselves — they were unfit for self-government — and they would soon have anarchy and misrule over there worse than Spain’s was; and (4) 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 whom Christ also died.”
Quickly after the Spanish American War ended, the Philippines declared themselves a sovereign nation. Colonized by the Spaniards for 333 years and freedom was at hand…BUT NOT SO FAST! America had other ideas.
A political cartoon showing the American fist “smashing” the Filipino insurgency
Anthony Michea, of the Third Artillery:
We bombarded a place called Malabon, and then we went in and killed every native we met, men, women, and children. It was a dreadful sight, the killing of the poor creatures. The natives captured some of the Americans and literally hacked them to pieces, so we got orders to spare no one.
A mass grave photographed during the Philippine American War
The U.S refused to recognize the sovereignty of the Philippines. So after winning a large victory, not just over Spanish occupation, but for the freedom of the Filipino peoples, there were to be occupied once more, this time by America. There was of course vigilant resistance on the side of the Filipinos, and the Philippine American War of 1899–1902 began and the United States as empire was born.
“Who are the oppressors? The few: the king, the capitalist and a handful of other overseers and superintendents. Who are the oppressed? The many: the nations of the earth; the valuable personages; the workers; they that make the bread that the soft-handed and idle eat.”
Despite resistance to this occupation inside America, from such notable people as Mark Twain. Despite the opposition, the occupation of the Philippines began and so did a bloody and costly war. The number of casualties for the U.S is estimated at over 4,200 lives. Over 20,000 Filipino combatants and around 200,000 civilians were lost in the gruesome conflict. There were concentration camps, wide spread famine, the burning of villages, torture implemented on suspected “insurgents”.
Well, just listen to what U.S soldiers of this war had to say about their deeds in the Philippines:
Sergeant Elliott, of Company G, Kansas Regiment:
Most of the general officers think it will take years, and a large force of soldiers, to thoroughly subjugate the natives. And the unpleasant feature of this is that unless the conditions change radically there will be few soldiers who will care to stay there. There’s no use trying to conceal the fact that many of the men over there now, especially the volunteers, are homesick, and tired of fighting way off there, with nothing in particular to gain. There is not one man in the whole army now in the Philippines who would not willingly give up his life for the flag if it was necessary, but it isn’t pleasant to think about dying at the hands of a foe little better than a savage, and so far away from home. And the thought of its not ending for several years is not an especially pleasant one, either.
Ellis G. Davis, Company A, 20th Kansas:
They will never surrender until their whole race is exterminated. They are fighting for a good cause, and the Americans should be the last of all nations to transgress upon such rights. Their independence is dearer to them than life, as ours was in years gone by, and is today. They should have their independence, and would have had it if those who make the laws in America had not been so slow in deciding the Philippine question Of course, we have to fight now to protect the honor of our country but there is not a man who enlisted to fight these people, and should the United States annex these islands, none but the most bloodthirsty will claim himself a hero. This is not a lack of patriotism, but my honest belief.
J. E. Fetterly, a Nebraska soldier:
Some think the insurgents are disheartened, but I think they will make a desperate struggle for what they consider their rights. I do not approve of the course our government is pursuing with these people. If all men are created equal, they have some rights which ought to be respected.
Arthur Minkler, of the Kansas Regiment says:
We advanced four miles and we fought every inch of the way; . . . saw twenty-five dead insurgents in one place and twenty-seven in another, besides a whole lot of them scattered along that I did not count. . . . It was like hunting rabbits; an insurgent would jump out of a hole or the brush and run; he would not get very far. . . . I suppose you are not interested in the way we do the job. We do not take prisoners. At least the Twentieth Kansas do not.
The U.S. occupation of the Philippines lasted until 1946. President Mckinley’s “Benevolent Assimilation” was a bloody one that lasted a total of 47 years and cost countless Filipino and American lives. We don’t have an accurate count of the devastation the occupation took on Filipino life, some figures are over 1,00,000 when you take into account not just life lost from battle and torture, but also famine, malnutrition, and a cholera epidemic that ravaged the island.
I chose to shed new light on this story up because it is often a dark forgotten tale of American imperialism. The spreading of “Freedom and Democracy” when dealing with the United States, at times, comes at an autocratic cost. The freedom is of the markets not of the people. Democracy isn’t a government that adheres to the will of the people, the people’s voice is left impotent. Like shallow screams in an endless sea, the cries of the demos, of the lands we inhabit for financial gain will be silent. They can’t be heard over incessant screams for war from war hawks the likes of John Bolton and Mike Pompeo. Their language is of endless war. Occupation, extracting the resources, opening up new capital markets for American and Western business interests is the goal of “freedom and democracy.” Simply put, a thunderous plunder of lands and people that will now be subservient to the U.S flag. Imperialism is as evident as water is wet and sky is blue. Plain and simple.
Where was the freedom and democracy for the Philippines? For Puerto Rico? For Guam? For countries like Iran and Libya where we go “overthrow dictators” in the name of “freedom and democracy”, and throw the country into turmoil. You can look into our current situation in Venezuela. Mainstream media is flooded with stories of the perils of socialism and a dictatorial leader leading the country into ruin. The war hawks crave U.S military intervention. But the toppling of socialism in Venezuela will surely lead to totalitarian rule for the mother country; the United States. Again able to plunder the riches of the land and the imperial machine of America cares not for the Venezuelan poor, or any of the people for that matter. Bomb them back to the stone age if need be. The list is long of countries who have suffered a similar fate when dealing with the United States. The death toll staggering.
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Originally published at lafinabsolutedumonde.com on March 11, 2019.
