Today in Labor History January 30, 1970: 20,000 people rioted in Manila. They were protesting the regime of US-backed dictator Ferdinand Marcos after his State of the Nation address. Over 2,000 attempted to storm the US embassy chanting “Down with imperialism!” Riot police and soldiers beat protesters with truncheons and rifle butts. At least 50 people were hospitalized and at least six died. Riots continued throughout the year. They were part of the First Quarter Storm.
In 1986, after ongoing protests, Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos begged President Ronald Regan for advice. Regan told him to “cut and cut cleanly.” That evening, Marcos and his wife Imelda fled the nation aboard a U.S. air force plane, after 20 years of rule. He and his family, and an entourage of 90 people (mostly servants), arrived in Hawaii the next day. They brought 22 crates of cash valued at $717 million, 300 crates of jewelry of unknown value, $4 million worth of unset precious gems, $200,000 in gold bullion, $1 million in Philippine pesos and deposit slips for $124 million in banks in the Cayman Islands. Plus, countless crates of shoes. The Marcos’s hold the Guinness record for the largest ever theft from a government. Although Grifter-in-chief Trump seems dead set on trying to break that record.
Speaking of which, if you are shocked and appalled that Americans could be stupid enough to reelect Trump, consider that the people of the Philippines somehow “forgot” about the years of brutal dictatorship by Marcos and elected his son Bongbong, who currently wants to meet with Trump to get foreign aid flowing again, so he can continue his family tradition of violent domestic repression.
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