The Erosion Of National Pride
Document Title: The Erosion Of National Pride
Document Ref No: R9705162
First Published: Reflections - TBA
Publication Date: 16th May 1997
Author's Name: Father Shay Cullen, SSC
The stream of news stories of the past week should give us a lot to think about.
* Filipina domestics to be banned from Singapore and Saudi Arabia because of widespread abuse ,
*two Filipina domestics allegedly made to walk naked in the streets in Palu by their employer and sexually abused,
*Filipina maids chained in Taiwan by their employers others reported raped, and even killed .
* A Filipino diplomat assaulted and kicked in Saudi Arabia.
* A Mr. Howard Hardman writes to the Inquirer sneering at the efforts to get child support for Amerasians calling such aid a "Hookers Pension Plan".
Rounding off all these insults is a controversy over the sale of 'racist tinged' skin bleaches to Filipinos ashamed of their brown skin complexion. Not surprising that Black & White and Epiderm-A have been banned as dangerous to the skin. Perhaps advertising them will reinforce a colonial inculcated false sense of inferiority.
The reports of Filipinos being singled out for intensive scrutiny at airports abroad and the Philippine passport frequently suspected as being a forged document is a cause of shame. While Filipinos have to endure insults by foreigners here and abroad injury is added to insult by the corruption of some Government officials who allow foreign drug smugglers and manufactures, paedophile and other criminals to bribe them and then deport themselves. When Indonesia threatened the Philippines over a human rights conference on East Timor held here several months ago the national leadership capitulated to the bully-boy tactics .
What is clear from this litany of humiliations is not only do some foreigners have a low regard for Filipinos and violate their human rights with impunity but Filipinos themselves have low self-esteem. I remember one survey in which the respondents said they preferred to be citizens of another country rather than be Filipino. One would expect a national outcry and legitimate rage at such humiliations but there is little indignation and protest as one national shame follows another. Except for a few brave leaders and journalists few protest.
Why is this so and when will it stop? Will we ever see the reemergence of a strong self-confident national pride that will pull this nation together and inspire the people to stand up for their rights and dignity?
The bitter pill of subservience to foreigners was dished up by the likes of Dick Gordon during his pro-US military base campaign when he told Filipinos "You cant eat Sovereignty". Even with the Subic Free Port making profit with the exploited labor of "volunteers" they are paid nothing and eat neither sovereignty or rice.
As the second anniversary of the closure of the U.S. bases on 22 November comes around we can remember with pride the principled stand of those who voted to end the U.S. military bases. But it was an achievement quickly forgotten because few felt any national pride in standing for what was right in deference to what was profitable. The majority then were convinced, it seems, that white was right and always best. The sale of skin bleaches these days would indicate that that conviction remains.
Education is what sows the seed of self-respect and national pride and dignity. But that needs a leadership of integrity that stands unequivocally for that dignity without wavering, without compromise. National dignity and patriotism grows and is sustained by living memories of the nation's struggle for independence and the sacrifices of a generation to break the chains of colonialism.
National pride and self-respect endures when national heroes are honored and imitated for their sacrifice, bravery and integrity . The bitter struggle of Filipinos for freedom and independence against the might of the United States gave the succeeding generations many national heroes to imitate. But with with defeat and American occupation those memories were largely erased from the Filipino's consciousness.
In 1902 Roosevelt declared that in the Philippines 'Western Civilization' had triumphed .."The great insurrection." ..... against "the lawful sovereignty and just authority of the United States " was defeated, he said. Even the Filipino rebel movement of the 1960's that grew into the communist party and the NPA drew their inspiration not from the Filipino struggle for independence but from the Chinese Revolution and Maoism which itself was based on the Western ideology of Marxism written among the musty archives of the British museum. National greatness cannot be judged by the amount of money a nation has but by the respect it has for it's people and it's past. END
