Was the US occupation a "benevolent" assimilation?

At the turn of the 20th century, the United States had successfully launched an imperial campaign after eclipsing the Spaniards at the conclusion of the Spanish-American war. Seizing the remaining colonies of Spain meant the American conquest of the Philippines. Within this watershed context, the global field of empires saw America's turn of the century oxymoron of benevolent assimilation, as a description of the colonial takeover. In the sixth installment of contested Philippine histories, we explored the underside of American civilizing mission in the Philippines. I am Aaron Malyani. I am Lee Candelaria. I am Vegel Porra. And this is Podgaz, Conversations in Philippine History, Politics and Society. Alright, so after goaming through the discussion about results, the traction and the cry of their evolution, we now come to a very important historical period, the coming of the Americans. Yes, and in an episode in our previous season on primary sources, we discuss the tragedy of the revolution in 1897 and later on in 1898, things become more complex because of the Spanish-American war, that was the context of which the United States entered the picture. And enter the picture they did. After the Spanish-American and Spanish-American rulers, they signed the Treaty of Paris that effectively ended hostilities. But with a crucial provision that had Spain seeding its remaining colonies to the U.S., Kassamana and Pilipinas. And again, controversial, in itself, because the Philippines had already declared independence earlier. And so, the argument was, how can Spain give what she does not own? But of course, for those who want to have their own way of living, there are no Filipinas among the negotiations by the end of the war, which ended up U.S. colonizing us. This was, of course, the beginning of another struggle for the Philippines, since Makakaro was a new colonial rule. And as we mentioned, in the introduction, the third of the new century, a new colonial order was unfolding. At very complex Nanga in this period, for the United States, it was quite hard to actually launch an imperial campaign during this time, because many Europeans had done its centuries before. And as it was the quote-unquote age of revolutions, as noted by historian Eric Hobbesbong, describing the latter part of the 18th century to much of the 19th century, profound change in economic, political, social, and cultural thought were also already unfolding. That was the age of revolutions of the name, anyway, so in effect, it seems that the era of the age of justifying, the age of what people were trying to break colonial chains. But the Americans in fairness insidiously found a way to work around it. And here we are, Makakaita, the busiest discourse that has allowed historians and scholars to know American exceptionalism. After this discursive tactic, the Americans sought to present themselves as exceptional, as in Iba, from the older European empires. Kasinga, since they were coming in relatively late, the Americans had to find a way to differentiate themselves within the Luba Fields of Empires, as the liberal-born American colonial state in the Philippines, Luba perspectives. And this is a key primary source that captures the side of American exceptionalism, and that justification of American takeover of the Philippines is the pronouncement of then-US president William McKinley, and Yuntina Tawag, the benevolent assimilation declaration. So let's listen to an excerpt. It should be the earliest wish and paramount aim of the military administration to win the confidence and respect and affection of the inhabitants of the Philippines, by assuring them in every possible way, that full measure of individual rights and liberties, which is the heritage of free peoples, and by proving to them that the mission of the United States is one of benevolent assimilation, substituting the Maldives justice in the right for arbitrarial rule. In the fulfillment of this high mission, supporting the temperate administration of affairs for the greatest good of the government, there must be, said, juicely maintained, the strong arm of authority, to repress the disturbance, and to overcome all obstacles to the bestowal of blessings of good and stable government, upon the people of the Philippine Islands, under the free flag of the United States. So, in one of the descriptions, in one of the articles, the professor Maria Serena Jogno said, "It's a benevolent assimilation, we should put the American to present what they were doing as," quote-unquote, "colonialism with the heart." "There is an oxymoron irony or anopaman," she said, "Why are you saying that you have the Alipim?" So, it's like that. "Pak!" "It's like that." "Mal kitak, kaya kita si nasak pan." "Mal kitak, kaya di ka peding lumaya, okay." "Kaya retak." "Nasinabe." "Anyway, so are you under this guise of benevolence, the U.S. throughout their colonial rule, tactically used pronouncements of kindness and altruism, white man's burden, civilizing mission, et cetera, et cetera, to mask the brutality and violence of their imperial search." And in a way, it's quite exceptional from previous colonizers, because it's the onset. "Sinabinila, angira goandiras apilipinas aitutellari mission, so hindi for ever, young stenula dito." "Yuma, previous colonizers, well, anganung stark pronouncement, nalela kaya eventually." "Samerican, smeron silanganung claim, pero shem pre yunta nong pano at ka ilan." "Agrino, so atalagang mah kitamujan, yung strategy ng mga americano, pag dating sa polisis nilas apilipinas." "Halibawarin, when the Philippine American war broke out in 1899, the Americans, for example, carefully used words and described what was happening as an insurrection. Because a war happens between two sovereign states, so if the war began, we would still have the same independence, and we would still be able to do it." "Yeah. At makitaren, yung paggamit ng media jen, bukot sa words, and damering political cartoons, depicting the Philippinos as backward, in order to really paint a picture at a callat sa American public, na justified yung civilizing mission, because even in the United States, there is an anti-imperialist league, na ayo talagang nang takeover." "Dagdag pano, shem pre yung mga Filipino, hindi naman nga na na himi, so bukot sa continuing revolutionaries struggles, na karo hindi nang efforts to call out i ka nga yung United States. No. Isang example niyan, ay itong isang article na lumabasa North American Review, yung 1899, na author nang isang Semper Vigilance, yung pseudonym, na pinapalagay ng maraminasi apolinarium abini. Na talagang biske li call out, na sa disconnect kung bagan ng nanginagoan ng America sa Pilipinas, dun sa pinapakalat nilang karakter ng society at civilization nila, na sa itong isang excerpt." "We Filipinas have all along believe that if the American nation at large, you exactly as we do. What is daily happening in the Philippine islands? They would rise in mass. And demand that this barbaric war should stop. There are other methods of securing solidarity. The true and lasting sovereignty that has its foundation in the hearts of the people. And did America recognize this fact? She would cease to be the laughing stock of other civilized nations. As she became when she abandoned her traditions and set up a double standard of government, government by consent in America, government by force in the Philippine islands. "You have been deceived all along the line. You have been greatly deceived in the personality of my countrymen. You went to the Philippines under the impression that their inhabitants were ignorant savages, whom Spain had kept in subjection at the buy-in at its point. The Filipinos have been described in serious American journals as akin to hordes of Calipha and the idea has prevailed that it required only someone known American Kitchener to march triumphantly from north to south to make the military occupation complete. We have been represented by your popular press as if we were Africans or Mohawk Indians. We smile and implore the want of ethnological knowledge and the part of your literary friends. We are in one of these, very simply Filipinos. You know us in part. You will know us better, I hope, by and by." Now the moral of all this, obviously, is, give us the chance. Treat us exactly as you demanded to be treated at the hands of England when you rebel against your autocratic methods. Now here is a unique spectacle. The Filipinos fighting for liberty. The American people fighting them to give them liberty. "Oh, Diba, it's time for the political to end." So, anyway, as mentioned in this excerpt, it's time for the propaganda of America. Sanha Gayari on the ground. Sanha Dibawa, the brutality of American campaigns in the Philippines. ay unang yari sa balanggiga. Yung balanggiga masakar kung saan ang pronouncement talaga ay. And I quote, "I want no prisoners, I wish you to kill and burn." The more you kill and burn, the better it will please me. The interior of Samar must be made a howling wilderness. Unquote. Oh, daba. Wow, daba. So, asya'n preta lagang ng brutal yung filang warn. Ais ang example ng yung nangyari sa balanggiga. No, so nalakotoloid, but ito sa thesis ko. No, so kait sa kapital may atrocities. For example, sa belibit. No, nangyari ng 1906 yung isang case involving sang scientific research. No, so dahil yung belibit ay nag-impriswa ng mga tau from all over the Philippines. Nag-impriswa ng atractive talaga siya sa laboratory for scientists. Lalo na sa failed ng public health. Kasi pinak-obsessed at pinak-aaralan dinilan ng yung tropical diseases. No, so yung nangyari sa belibit ng 1906. Tenuturukan nila ng cholera yung mga inmate. Kasi nga nagahanap sila ng gamot and stuff. Kasi yung nangyare sa case na yung contaminated ng plague virus yung tinurok. So ay yung nama tay at nagahawa ang yung madaming inmates, daba. So research ethics homes, daba. Draba yan ang lala. At siya'n pre-kait sa ekonomia. Ang laki ng effect o ng mga polisia. Kasi yung nakatali yung ekonomia natin sa United States under colonial rule. At nagpatului para yung cash crop economy. Nagdala ng maraming problema sa countryside. And there are many, many more examples to cite. Aso ng isa'n example pan na isip ko. No. How the Americans, United States and the Philippines, destroy the Philippines forest cover. Kui ko kumpara yung 300 years, more than 300 years, na Spanish colonization sa Philippines. Chaka yung less than 50 years of American colonization, mas grabi pa yung naging damage sa environment, nong 50 years lang ng America. And yet, the report of the first Philippine Commission asserts that American control means to the inhabitants of the Philippines in turn of peace and order. A guarantee against foreign aggression and against this memberment of their country. Commercial and Industrial Prosperity. Diba. Atalagang may disconnect between dun sa pinapakalat nilang rason at logic na kanilang rule. Dun sa nangyayarin na inactual. So at malakita lagang impact ng discursor makita natin dito. To the point nga debana, may ilang claim na minsan hanggang ngayon. Parang sinasabi na mas mabutipang naging state tayo ng America. To to what? Napaka unfounded ng ganyang mga assertonsno. Napaka mysterically improbable. I mean, it's practically wasting your time thinking of stuff like that because we will didn't know because it didn't happen. Ganun natin makikita kung gaano capenetrating yung benevolent assimilation discurs, kasi gusto hina ng iba na e-givap ng lang yung kalayaan all together. At my image minsan ang American colonial rule as progressive in terms of, you know, education, democracies, sila ng mandautalo ka yung magpadalanyan at nagpagusti na dito sa Pilipinas. Pero yung manga nito, kailangan natin ng is-crutinais ano. Kailangan natin ang tingnan with grains of rock salt. Hindi lang ang a-grains. Hindi lang bastas salt. Ya. Talaga, kasi ng alimbawa. Yung democracy na din nalanda dito. Yung may karapan ng ng mga bumoto. Ay, mga nalala ka. May rung mga pagmamaay a-ring lupa or property. Na, I think, at least, toward 500 pesos. At marunong mag-English or Spanish. In short, elite. So, ang nga yun na proliferate de na uri ng democracy. Da ay pinagman malakin nila. Aay, elite democracy na hangga ka yun. Aay, pinapahirapan parantayon. Yung mga. Even if they allowed political participation, kailangan natin ng tingnan, para kanino, or siyunayong mga nagqualify for participation. Same with education. Kelangan nga namin natin tingnan, kung ang agenda behind it, chokayong access din sa public education na yun. Harimbawa, the Americans had the program called the pensionado program. Kung saan nagpapa dala ng mga pidipinos, sa mga Ivy League et prominent schools sa estado sonidos para mag-Aral. Pero, pangtidignan natin, yung isang side-nito was so that they can produce American-nice bureaucrats na hindi lalaban sa colonial order. Para magbalik nila sa pidipinas, eto yung mga magiging, political leaders. Kaya it ng history ng University of the Philippines, it was established partly, or largely, to have an educational institution to create bureaucrats. So, yung building ng American image nila as benevolent colonizers, also stood on demonizing the Spanish as inept colonizers. So ito rin yung isang mahalagang aspect kung back-hit naging penetrating yung benevolent assimilation discourse. So, sa research ng halimbawa nang isang historyanasi gloria kano. In our union, yung mga americans engaged in intellectual campaigns. Like halimbawa, yung 55 volumes na the Philippine Islands edited by Blair and Robert Son, kung saan maraming translation ng mga documents. Pero, suposidly, according to analysis nikano, may political agenda yung mga ganitong intellectual projects no, that affected the choice and translation of documents to bolster yung image na dark period yung Spanish period, period, at mga amerikanunga yung mga dadalanang ng civilizing mission. So, if the article back to the notion of benevolent assimilation, really need to ask, was it really benevolent? As much as it is a complicate and complex question, given the historical context, we can assert that, given the profound political, social, cultural, and economic impact of the American colonial rule, it was precisely still that, colonialism. At kasama ng kahoduga ng term nayan, ay shampoo, violence, extraction, subjugation, exploitation, et cetera. Agree, no? So, ito yung naganap both on the physical or actual expression of violence in terms of deaths, displacements, destruction, and on the discursible level in terms of questions of identity, worldviews, histories, et cetera. I think our next episode will also add to this discussion, as we will cover next time, one of the personalities was able to have an embodiment of politics. This is what it looks like, and how he navigated the American colonial period politics and beyond. Alright, no? So, that's it for this episode of Podcast. Don't forget to follow us on our social media platforms, and recommend this podcast to your friends. You may also visit our website, podcast.org, and continue giving us feedback and suggestions. So join us next episode. Thank you very much for listening, and have a good day.