mongster's nest

- disturbing fantasies, traumatic verses, definitely mongrel thoughts

Zinn, Fromm, McNeill, Majul

Links: Online map of Vientiane. Phnom Tamao Wildlife Sanctuary in Phnom Penh. From street kids to Lao cooks. Vietnam has topped the internet chart in searches for the word ’sex’.


Two books borrowed from a nearby library: Voices of a People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn and Muslims in the Philippines by Cesar Adib Majul. Two books borrowed from the main library: Beyond the Chains of Illusion by Erich Fromm and Mythistory and other Essays by William McNeill. Mega booksale: I bought 29 books; each book costs $1 only.

Voices of a People’s History of the United States. A must-read for those who enjoyed reading A People’s History of the United States. This new book is a collection of short essays, poems, personal stories and eyewitness accounts written by Native Americans, African Americans, workers, women, immigrants – the same people who were oppressed and excluded from mainstream society. I was able to read the first few chapters of the book, from the arrival of Columbus until the rise of early feminist movement in the U.S. Then I skipped the next chapters in order to read the recent history of the U.S. – from the Carter-Reagan consensus until the present Bush era.

Beyond the Chains of Illusion. Fromm’s narration of his encounter with the radical theories of Marx and Freud. Enlightening! On my part, a fresh understanding of some of the concepts advanced by Freud like superego. Fromm provided a background to some of his interesting works as well.

For example, the function of social character is “to shape the energies of the members of society in such a way that their behavior is not a matter of conscious decision as to whether or not to follow the social pattern, but one of wanting to act as they have to act and at the same time finding gratification in acting according to the requirements of the culture.” Is it similar to Bourdieu’s habitus?

Social unconscious: “Areas of repression which are common to most members of a society; these commonly repressed elements are those contents which a given society cannot permit its members to be aware of if the society with its specific contradictions is to operate successfully.”

According to Fromm, both Marx and Freud recognized that “man explains his actions to himself as being rational or moral and these rationalizations satisfy him subjectively…But being driven by forces unknown to him, man is not free.”

Socially-conditioned filter: “Experience can enter into awareness only under the condition that it can be perceived, related, and ordered in terms of a conceptual system, and its categories…Experience cannot enter awareness unless it can penetrate this filter.”

Fromm argued that man will lie, repress his emotion because he is afraid of ostracism:

“Man as man is afraid of insanity, just as man as animal is afraid of death. Man has to be related, he has to find union with others, in order to be sane. This need to be one with others is his strongest passion, stronger than sex and often even stronger than his wish to live.

“For this reason the individual must blind himself from seeing that which his group claims does not exist, or accept as truth that which the majority says is true, even if his own eyes could convince him that it is false.

“What man considers true, real, sane are the clichés accepted by his society, and much that does not fit in with these clichés is excluded from awareness, is unconscious.”

Mythistory and other Essays. McNeill’s thesis on the evolution of human societies: “Troubling encounters with strangers constitute the principal motor of change within human societies.”

McNeill notes the relationship between truth and myth (“My truth dissolves into your myth even before I can put words on paper”). And he points out the value of shared truths to humans who are social creatures:

“We need to share truths with one another, and not just truths about atoms, stars, and molecules, but about human relations and the people around us…shared truths that provide a sanction for common effort have obvious survival value.”

McNeill is a popular world historian. Probably, you have read his world history textbooks. McNeill is a proponent of an ecumenical version of history. While others doubt the value and objectivity of a general or macro (or universal) history, McNeill defends this kind of history writing which focuses on general processes, relationships and trends. He explains:

“Precision and truthfulness do not necessarily increase as the scale becomes smaller. Large scale truths and patternings can be just as precise as small-scale observations and truths.”

He even warns that “multiplication of facts reduces historical study to triviality.”

Muslims in the Philippines. Confession: I get bored when I read Majul. Perhaps I prefer the lively prose (a critic calls it lyricism) of Agoncillo. I had a hard time focusing when I read Majul’s book on Mabini a few years ago. But I could not turn down a Majul book, especially his groundbreaking book on the history of Muslims in the Philippines. I haven’t finished reading the book, but so far here are some of the things I learned:

1. Islam in the Philippines is part of the Islamization process in the Malay and Indonesian Peninsula.
2. Traders, not missionaries, introduced Islam. Some of the traders remained in Mindanao. Some of them married the children of powerful/influential families.
3. Islam was accepted by many natives in the region because it meant the abolition of the oppressive caste system. Islam provided a consciousness among the people that they belong to a larger, universal religious community of believers.
4. When missionaries arrived, their work was made easy because Muslim settlements were already existing throughout the archipelago.
5. Many communities have adopted Muslim customs (avoiding pork, for example) but they were not necessarily Islam believers. When the Spanish arrived, they thought many communities in Luzon were Muslims because the natives were not eating pork.
6. The arrival of Western/Christian powers had a profound impact in the region. It hastened the Islamization in the region. Missionaries and Muslim leaders became more aggressive in defending and promoting Islam.
7. The Muslim leaders in Manila during the arrival of the Spaniards were connected by blood to the ruling families of Brunei. Palawan communities were paying tributes to the Sultan of Brunei.
8. Shariff Kabungsuan did not introduce Islam in the Philippines, but he was influential in consolidating the religion in Mindanao.
9. Muslims incorporated native practices which were alien to Islam, like blood compact.
10. In the Spanish records, Muslims were accused of piracy and slave-trading. Indeed, there were Muslim pirates in the region. There were also Chinese pirates, and Dutch and Spanish invaders. We have to differentiate acts of aggression which were sanctioned by Muslim Sultans and those initiated by pirates.
11. The Spanish attempt to Christianize and subjugate the Muslims in Mindanao was the primary reason for the start of the so-called Moro Wars. The Muslims were provoked to rise up and defend their territories.
12. Because of superior firepower, Spanish forces were always successful in destroying Muslim settlements. But they were always brief victories. Muslim forces would always regroup, gather more strength and subdue the attacking Spaniards in the end.
13. The Spaniards used the divide and rule tactic to fight the Muslims. They would befriend local datus in order to prevent the formation of a unified Muslim community.
14. Spanish soldiers were assisted by Tagalogs, Pampangos and natives from some Visayas islands.
15. In order to instill fear, Spanish soldiers destroyed Muslim houses, plantations, boats and they beheaded captured local leaders. Women and children were taken as slaves.
16. The Jesuits were the most consistent in convincing Spanish officials to Christianize Mindanao and build Christian settlements.
17. Spanish forces failed miserably to “pacify” Mindanao. They entered into numerous peace treaties with Muslim local leaders in order to facilitate trade and protect Christian subjects in the island.
18. Zamboanga has always been strategic in dominating Mindanao, especially Sulu, Magundanao and Tawi-Tawi. Everytime Spanish forces would build a fort in Zamboanga, it would weaken the trading and political power of Muslim communities.
19. Sultan Qudarat was a strong leader and wise warrior. He defeated the almost successful campaign of the Spaniards to rule over the whole of Mindanao.
20. Because of Spain’s failure to defeat the forces of Qudarat, a peace agreement was signed with the Sultan. Spain acknowledged the supreme authority of Qudarat in many areas in Mindanao and even recognized Qudarat’s claim to collect tributes from areas outside his sphere of influence.
21. Muslims from Borneo and Malay Peninsula have always aided the Muslims in the Philippines in fighting the Spanish invaders.
22. Muslim leaders would always seek the military and political assistance of the Dutch, another foreign power and rival of the Spaniards.
23. Spanish officials were always willing to ratify peace agreements with Muslim communities every time foreign powers or pirates were threatening to invade Manila and the Philippine archipelago.
24. Peace treaties were not permanent, at least from the point of view of the Spanish government. Spanish officials would always claim they were temporary truces, not permanent treaties every time they resume their offensives on Muslim communities.
25. Sabah was a gift (reward) given by the Sultan of Brunei to the Sultan of Sulu.

Change the names and dates in the book and replace them with MILF, MNLF, AFP, MOA-AD, US government, Malaysia, terrorists - and it would seem the situation has not changed in Muslim Mindanao.

Book sale. 29 books, costing $1 each. Books by Zinn, Sartre, Naomi Klein, John Pilger, Edgar Snow, Edward Said, Hugo Blanco, Andre Malraux. Books about the Chinese revolution, Great Depression, Cuba, Intifada, Saddam Hussein, Marxist art. I could have bought more books but it was already lunchtime.

Related entries:

Book hunt
Sentimental nationalists
Aguinaldo and Imelda

posted by: mongpalatino at October 06, 2008 12:51 | link | comments |
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