Let the people speak: Solidarity culture and the making of a transnational opposition to the Marcos dictatorship, 1972-1986

"This dissertation attempts to understand pro-democratic activism in ways that do not solely revolve around public protest. In the case of anti-authoritarian mobilizations in the Philippines, the conversation is often dominated by the EDSA ""People Power"" protests of 1986. This project discusses the longer histories of protest that made such a remarkable mobilization possible. A focus on these often-sidelined histories allows a focus on unacknowledged labor within social movement building, the confrontation between transnational and local impulses in political organizing, and also the democratic dreams that some groups dared to pursue when it was most dangerous to do so. Overall, this project is a history of the transnational opposition to the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines. It specifically examines the interactions among Asian American, European solidarity, and Filipino grassroots activists. I argue that these collaborations, which had grassroots activists and political detainees at their center, produced a movement culture that guided how participating activists approached their engagements with international institutions. Anti-Marcos activists understood that their material realities necessitated an engagement with institutions more known to them for their colonial and Cold War legacies such as the press, education, human rights, international law, and religion. They were keenly aware that these engagements could assist in internationalizing the injustices of the Marcos government. However, even as they pursued change from within these institutions, they also worked to fiercely protect the centrality of grassroots voices. Ultimately, I argue that these mobilizations, which predated the more mainstream post-1983 opposition to the Marcos dictatorship laid the groundwork for the democratic mobilizations in the Philippines that culminated in the EDSA revolution of 1986."

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2018

Author dc:creator

• Sanchez, Mark John

Contributors dc:contributor

• Espiritu, Augusto F.
• Burton, Antoinette
• Capino, Jose Bernard
• Hoganson, Kristin

• Philippines, Activism, Transnationalism

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2018 Mark Sanchez

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/101748

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/101748