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Today is the birth anniversary of the Great Dictator (to borrow a title from Charlie Chaplin) and it would do us all well to read up and reflect. So, a thread of readings.
1. The #InquirerBriefing on Unfinished Justice.
2. First, an overview. Marcos in Retrospect: A. Understanding the phases of his political life: http://www.quezon.ph/2007/09/17/2579/
3. Marcos in Retrospect: B. Understanding how his success turned into hubris: http://www.quezon.ph/2007/09/20/the-long-view-marcos-in-retrospect-2/
4. To look at Marcos requires, in many ways, looking at ourselves, too. http://www.quezon.ph/2017/09/11/spot-ph-commentary-ferdinand-marcos-and-us/
5. To reflect on Marcos is also to reflect on the nature of power. http://www.quezon.ph/2010/02/25/the-long-view-power/
6. And if to reflect on Marcos is to reflect on power, it requires reflecting on how those since his time, have held on to power, too: http://www.quezon.ph/2010/02/21/the-long-view-the-promise/
7. But Marcos, if he made his times, was a creature of his times, as well. How it all came together, and then unraveled, is a story less often told: http://www.quezon.ph/1996/02/25/the-fabric-of-freedom/
8. The canvas of the times in which his dictatorship cracked then collapsed, is wide and deserves closer viewing: https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/featured/the-fall-of-the-dictatorship/
9. Some case studies on Marcos and his methods are instructive. For example, his medals: why they mattered and how he got away with collecting them: http://www.quezon.ph/2016/08/10/notes-on-the-marcos-medals/
10. And a look at how he sandbagged his standing by means of the laws he issued and affected: http://www.quezon.ph/2016/08/12/the-law-says-marcos-is-a-hero-and-it-also-doesnt/
11. Marcos also made sure that by his sheer longevity in power, the world that came before him would be forgotten and memories would be warped. Consider how his critics honor him by recognizing the date he picked for martial law. http://www.quezon.ph/2017/09/18/the-explainer-the-big-lie/
12. Observe how he dealt with institutions to see how he got away with his self-coup in 1972. For example, intimidating the Supreme Court: http://www.quezon.ph/2014/09/22/showdown-with-the-supremes/
13. Or consider how he got nearly. the entire political class to go along with what he pitched as a temporary martial law that became permanent: https://opinion.inquirer.net/109078/possession-nine-tenths-law
14. Or consider how he maneuvered his way into violating the constitution he wanted to replace, by instituting the barangays we still have today: http://www.quezon.ph/2017/10/02/the-explainer-bamboozled-by-the-barangay/
15. Or how infrastructure, quite a lot of it crookedly built and badly built as well, monumentalized his government: http://www.quezon.ph/2017/09/11/the-explainer-look-ye-mighty-and-despair/
16. And yet, consider why he ended up losing power and being disgraced: http://www.quezon.ph/2010/02/15/the-explainer-why-marcos-lost/
17. And consider what is called a counterfactual: what if he'd won, in 1986? http://www.quezon.ph/2017/02/25/spotph-commentary-what-if-marcos-won/
18. But also consider, after his fall, the slow, steady, climb upward for rehabilitation and restoration, including the promise of Manna for Loyalists: http://www.quezon.ph/2017/09/26/the-explainer-manna-from-marcos/
19. In a nation and society with a short attention span, the Marcoses have been steady in pursuit of reclaiming power, rare consistency in an inconsistent society: http://www.quezon.ph/2009/07/06/the-long-view-the-marcos-restoration/
20. But consider, as well, how their climb back to power has had its own setbacks: http://www.quezon.ph/2017/08/02/the-long-view-the-north-remembers/
21. And how, despite billions in cash, a well-maintained Loyalist network, the best-laid plans of the Marcoses can falter and perhaps fail: https://www.spot.ph/newsfeatures/the-latest-news-features/80990/the-kingmaker-imelda-marcos-documentary-a3256-20200214-lfrm
22. To read is to develop a point of view. May yours come from making up your own mind. https://twitter.com/rosselle/status/1304238185686458369?s=20
