Accents
Mark Twain the anti-imperialist (2)
Street parliamentarians loudly denouncing “Imperialistang Kano” finds common cause with Mark Twain who, as early as the 1890s, criticized his own country’s policy of invasion, subjugation, and colonialism. Demonstrators who yell pasismo, pyudalismo, kapitalismo tread on grounds Mark Twain had walked with his pen. He deplored America’s interference in what should be independent countries—free to chart their own destiny and grow in their own nationhood. The yoke of imperialism crippled these countries’ growth.
Mark Twain (1835-1910), the great writer of literary works, is less known for his essays, satires that piqued the status quo. Several of these discourses censured the hypocrisies of his era and came out only after his death. One such essay is To the Person Sitting in Darkness. The Person in the state of darkness is the personification of the Filipino as well as other colonized peoples being preyed upon by the White Colonizers. With the power of the printed word, Mark Twain showed how America followed the footsteps of the White Colonizers in Europe.
Mark Twain’s era was the era of Aguinaldo that saw the end of the Spanish-American War. America defeated Spain, ending the 300-year of the Philippines as a Spanish colony. It’s now an American colony, but a colony just the same thus, in Mark Twain’s essay, the Person continues to sit in the dark as the “Imperyalistang Kano” continues its rule. Hereunder are more excerpts from the Person Sitting in Darkness. My comments are in brackets.
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After Cuba, [came] the Philippine temptation. It was strong; it was too strong, and [Dewey] made that bad mistake: he played the European game…. It was a pity; it was a great pity, that error; that one grievous error, that irrevocable error. For it was the very place and time to play the American game again. And at no cost. Rich winnings to be gathered in, too; rich and permanent; indestructible; a fortune transmissible forever to the children of the [American] flag. Not land, not money, not dominion — no, something worth many times more than that dross: our share, the spectacle of a nation of long harassed and persecuted slaves set free through our influence; our posterity’s share, the golden memory of that fair deed. [After the defeat of Spain, America should have made the Philippines an example of a freed nation. In doing so, America could have surprised other nations and earned their accolade as well. Instead, America imitated the dominating ways of the White Colonizers in Europe.]
If it [the Philippine invasion] had been played according to the American rules, Dewey would have sailed away from Manila as soon as he had destroyed the Spanish fleet — after putting up a sign on shore guaranteeing foreign property and life against damage by the Filipinos, and warning the Powers that interference with the emancipated patriots would be regarded as an act unfriendly to the United States. The Powers cannot combine, in even a bad cause, and the sign would not have been molested.
Dewey could have gone about his affairs elsewhere, and left the competent Filipino army to starve out the little Spanish garrison and send it home, and the Filipino citizens to set up the form of government they might prefer, and deal with the friars and their doubtful acquisitions according to Filipino ideas of fairness and justice — ideas which have since been tested and found to be of as high an order as any that prevail in Europe or America. [Early on, Mark Twain recognized the Filipinos’ sense of justice.]
But we lost the chance to add another honorable deed to our good record. [Alas, the US—once suffering from the yoke of British imperialism—proved no better than the colonizers in Europe. Philippine colonization was prolonged.]
The Person Sitting in Darkness is almost sure to say: “There is something curious about this — curious and unaccountable. There must be two Americas: one that sets the captive free, and one that takes a once-captive’s new freedom away from him, and picks a quarrel with him with nothing to found it on; then kills him to get his land.”
This daring truthfulness will astonish and dazzle the Person Sitting in Darkness, and he will take the Explanation down before his mental vision has had time to get back into focus. Let us say to him:
“Our case is simple. On the 1st of May, Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet. This left the Archipelago in the hands of its proper and rightful owners, the Filipino nation. Their army numbered 30,000 men, and they were competent to whip out or starve out the little Spanish garrison; then the people could set up a government of their own devising. Our traditions required that Dewey should now set up his warning sign, and go away. But the Master of the Game happened to think of another plan — the European plan. …The plan developed, stage by stage, and quite satisfactorily. We entered into a military alliance with the trusting Filipinos, and they hemmed in Manila on the land side, and by their valuable help the place, with its garrison of 8,000 or 10,000 Spaniards, was captured — a thing which we could not have accomplished unaided at that time. We got their help — by ingenuity. We knew they were fighting for their independence, and that they had been at it for two years. …Until Manila was ours and we could get along without them. Then we showed our hand. … It was neatly done, very neatly, and it bewildered them. They could not understand it; for we had been so friendly — so affectionate, even — with those simple-minded patriots! We, our own selves, had brought back out of exile their leader, their hero, their hope, their Washington — Aguinaldo; brought him in a warship, in high honor, under the sacred shelter and hospitality of the flag; brought him back and restored him to his people, and got their moving and eloquent gratitude for it. Yes, we had been so friendly to them, and had heartened them up in so many ways! We had lent them guns and ammunition; advised with them; exchanged pleasant courtesies with them; placed our sick and wounded in their kindly care; entrusted our Spanish prisoners to their humane and honest hands; fought shoulder to shoulder with them against “the common enemy” (our own phrase); praised their courage, praised their gallantry, praised their mercifulness, praised their fine and honorable conduct; borrowed their trenches, borrowed strong positions which they had previously captured from the Spaniard; petted them, lied to them — officially proclaiming that our land and naval forces came to give them their freedom and displace the bad Spanish Government — fooled them, used them until we needed them no longer; then derided the sucked orange and threw it away. [In other words, the Filipinos were hoodwinked.]
What we wanted, in the interest of Progress and Civilization, was the Archipelago, unencumbered by patriots struggling for independence; and the War was what we needed. We clinched our opportunity. At this point in our frank statement of fact to the Person Sitting in Darkness, we should throw in a little trade-taffy about the Blessings of Civilization — for a change, and for the refreshment of his spirit — then go on with our tale:
“We and the patriots having captured Manila, Spain’s ownership of the Archipelago and her sovereignty over it were at an end — obliterated — annihilated — not a rag or shred of either remaining behind. It was then that we conceived the divinely humorous idea of buying both of these spectres from Spain! “With our Treaty ratified, Manila subdued, and our Ghosts secured, we had no further use for Aguinaldo and the owners of the Archipelago. We forced a war, [Mark Twain’s use of the word forced connotes aggressive expansion] and we have been hunting America’s guest and ally through the woods and swamps ever since.”
Everything is prosperous, now; everything is just as we should wish it. We have got the Archipelago, and we shall never give it up. … And as for a flag for the Philippine Province, it is easily managed. We can have a special one — our States do it: we can have just our usual flag, with the white stripes painted black and the stars replaced by the skull and cross-bones. [Skull and cross-bones? Aray!] …And we do not need that Civil Commission out there. …We do not want the United States represented there…
By help of these suggested amendments, Progress and Civilization in that country can have a boom, and it will take in the Persons who are Sitting in Darkness, and we can resume Business at the old stand. [Business by another name is Exploitation—taking advantage of another country’s rich natural resources while exporting the trappings of civilization.]
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Business at the old stand. Thus Mark Twain, the anti-imperialist, ends his dissertation in satirical, mocking symbols. As early as the onset of the 20th century, he had wakened us to the evils of imperialism. Bravely, we say no to a foreign power’s interference in our foreign policies, in our ways of governance, in the choice of our national leaders. I like to think the awakened Filipino sits in the dark no more. (Email: lagoc@hargray.com)
