Neocolonial Identity and Counter-Consciousness: Essays on Cultural Decolonization

Gathered in this volume edited and introduced by Hungarian Marxist Istvan Meszaros are essays on Philippine history, neocolonial dependency, and prospects of people-oriented development. The first article, "Identity and Consciousness", is an essay-length summary of Constantino's two-volume magnus opus The Philippines A Past Revisited and A Continuing Past which rehearses his main thesis on Filipino nationalism as a product of the Filipino people's resistance to colonialism. The next few articles look at different aspects of mendicant state tied to foreign powers ("The Filipino elite", "The corrupt society", "The Filipino politician", "Diplomacy without policy", etc.). The last set of articles meanwhile highlight the need for autocentric national development that deals with foreign states and corporations on our own terms and the need for a partisan scholarship, the intellectualization of activist praxis, and a nationalist ethical practice to help sustain the Filipino people's struggle.