Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Synthetic Culture and Development: Renato Constantino
Synthetic Culture and Development: Renato Constantino
Synthetic
Culture
and
Development
1
By the same author:
ISBN 971-1058-03-0
Copyright 1985
Foundation for Nationalist Studies
38 Panay Avenue, Quezon City
Second Printing, September 1987
2
Table of Contents
1 THE CONDITIONING PROCESS 1
4 SYNTHETIC CULTURE 33
3
5 PHILIPPINE CULTURAL SCENE 45
6 RESPONSES 51
7 THE COUNTER-CULTURE 61
NOTES 67
4
1 The Conditioning
Process
1
A prominent feature of the neocolonial stage of capitalism is the
predominance of transnational corporations which produce and
distribute a great portion of all the goods of the capitalist system and
have at their command a global financial network that controls a
huge amount of capital flow. Their overseas subsidiaries earn huge
profits through their use of the natural resources, raw materials and
cheap manpower of Third World countries. In addition to the TNCs,
transnational banks also extract wealth from Third World countries
through the mechanism of debt service. Despite competition and
contradictions among themselves in their day-to-day operations, giant
corporations and transnational banks have a common stake in
keeping these countries securely within the global capitalist system.
Culture is a potent tool for realizing this objective.
Some scholars have deplored the fact that questions of trade and
finance and of the debt problems that arose from the latest crisis in
the capitalist world have overshadowed the cultural component. On
the surface, it is quite true that cultural factors have not merited the
same attention from scholars as the economic issues that beset the
Third World. However, no thorough-going economic analysis can
avoid considering the cultural component, for culture is a pervasive if
subtle force that is a determinant in the acceptance or rejection by
Third World countries of the various economic development policies
foisted on them by advanced capitalist states. In turn, these economic
policies have profound cultural effects on society.
2
In assessing the problems of development, it is therefore essential not
to lose sight of the relationship between economic and cultural
factors. The role that the cultural component plays in the growing
economic transnationalization of the world cannot be minimized nor
can we ignore the implications of the trend towards a "world culture"
which on one hand desensitizes the citizens of the advanced countries
to the effects of their governments' economic policies in the Third
World and, on the other, threatens with extinction or at least modifies
indigenous national cultures in Third World countries to suit
neocolonial purposes.
3
and with the passage of time comes to be regarded as native by a
colonially transformed people.
4
sectors of developing countries facilitates the transmission of their
"business culture," their management concepts and operational
techniques to their Third World joint venture partners and to local
entrepreneurs in general. The consumption patterns and general
lifestyle of their managers become models to be approximated by
local executives while suppliers and subcontractors must adjust their
production concepts and styles to TNC priorities and standards.
TNC requirements for international trade have changed not only the
crops Third World farmers raise but their lives as well. Cash crops
for export are rapidly replacing crops for domestic consumption. In
the Philippines, both cultural conditioning in terms of the propagation
of the value of modernization and the granting of economic
incentives insured the acceptance of the Green Revolution,
particularly the high yielding varieties (HYVs) of rice developed by
the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) funded by the
Rockefeller and Ford Foundations.2
5
increased yields, reducing many farmers to a new level of penury to
the point that many have abandoned their lands and joined the urban
ranks of the unemployed. Those who remain must contend with a
production pattern they have accepted as part of the modernizing
thrust and which they can no longer change even if they wanted to.
Changing Values
6
organizations.4 Despite the number of infant deaths and illnesses
associated with bottle-feeding under unhygienic conditions, and
despite earnest counter-propaganda for breast-feeding by health
workers and other concerned groups, bottle-feeding is still a status
symbol in the rural areas of the Philippines.
Skewed Priorities
7
the Third World has been going up by 5% annually. Thailand had a
50% increase in smokers between 1970 and 1977; India, 90%
increase in 20 years; Pakistan, 60% increase in 10 years.6
Medicated Society
Drug TNCs are still another economic group whose products have
had far-reaching cultural consequences. In the Philippines, their
control of the market has prevented the development of a national
drug industry. This is not simply a question of profits going to
foreign companies rather than to local entrepreneurs. It has resulted
in a climate of overmedication for those who can afford a pill for
every ailment. It has downgraded traditional folk -drugs even in the
eyes of those who cannot afford foreign medicines such that a poor
father will do without food in order to buy a cough medicine or an
antidiarrheal pill because he no longer trusts certain traditional
decoctions from local plants, or knowledge of them has already
disappeared from his cultural milieu, especially if he is an urban
resident.
8
medical technology and curative procedure from Western medical
centers rather than on the health problems characteristic of
developing nations. The concentration on medication rather than on
disease prevention, on individual rather than community health,
obscures the societal source of many diseases. As a result of this
orientation of the medical profession and the general population, too,
there is less pressure for policies intended to remove structures that
breed poverty, the main cause of malnutrition and the basic cause of
many diseases.7
9
Informational Monopoly
Their power will multiply at the same fantastic rate that the
technologies they control develop. "In 5,000 years human knowledge
has doubled once; at the present time, in fact, the bulk of information
is being doubled: every fifth year in electronics; every third year in
space-research and nuclear energy." 12
The means of communication, aside from being owned by
10
monopolists, are also dependent on advertising income from other
monopolies. Thus, through the control of the communications
channels - the press, radio and TV - advertisers shape consciousness
and are able to create new lifestyles and new needs that not only sell
their products but also affect cultural norms, develop values, and
inculcate ideas that support the system. At this point, it is necessary
to explain the theoretical and historical underpinning of the processes
by which this takes place.
11
12
2 Culture And
Communication
13
Human beings must satisfy certain fundamental needs in order to
survive. In satisfying these needs, people develop not only a material
culture which includes technology and the overall system of
producing and distributing goods, but also patterns of behavior and
thought, concepts, standards, and values which are handed down
from generation to generation and which taken together comprise the
bedrock of culture. Each succeeding generation, however, modifies
its cultural legacy in accordance with its concrete historical
circumstances. In a narrower sense then, culture may be defined as
the organization of shared experience which includes values and
standards for perceiving, judging and acting within a specific social
milieu at a definite historical stage. 14
14
which have stimulated the production of material objects that become
part of the cultural sphere. This is well illustrated in the development
of musical instruments, the construction of theatres, the invention of
the phonograph and the movie camera, and -the rise of the electronics
industry. Today, radio and TV are major material conveyors of
cultural products.
15
Ideological Apparatus
16
World countries like the Philippines where the abstract ideal of press
freedom hag long obscured the partisan nature of information,
particularly foreign information fed to our press.
17
generally were also property owners, the necessity of selling to a
wide range of customers with varying interests restrained the owners
from using their papers openly to propagate their ruling class views.
Moreover, it was good business to allow to some extent the airing of
contrary opinions as this built confidence among readers in the
impartiality of the newspaper. Competition required that each
newspaper build up its readership and the best way was to gain a
reputation for fairness and truth.
18
"compunications" hitherto thought possible only in science fiction
movies. Computers of all shapes, sizes, and uses have invaded almost
all fields of human endeavor in the industrialized societies. The
"information age" has arrived and its sophisticated products have
become vital to global business activity in widening the competitive
advantage of transnational corporations over smaller companies,
particularly those in Third World countries. Such computers have
likewise given an immense ideological clout to the global
communications monopolies. Big irresistibly becomes bigger.
19
The point of the merger is not necessarily to force competitors out
of business but to control the terms by which limited competition is
conducted, to pre -empt new fields of endeavor, to command
material resources, manpower and mon ey on a global scale, and to
manipulate mass culture so that the audience will respond to the
needs of the corporate network rather than the other way around.
(Emphasis supplied) 20
Although other major capitalist states have their giant TNCs too, the
undisputed overall leaders are those of the United States. The film
industry is an example of international monopoly, controlled by the
United States. During the period before the second world war, the
film industry was already dominated by eight major companies
which held a monopoly of patents of film and sound. These
companies tied up with distribution channels including ownership of
theatres and radio stations. All these interconnected companies had
financial backing from major banking and investment groups. For
example, Paramount Pictures controlled Columbia Broadcasting and
was in turn tied up with the Morgan group. Warner Brothers was tied
up indirectly with Rockefeller interests. RKO's (Radio-Keith
Orpheum) stocks were predominantly owned by Radio City, the
Rockefeller real estate enterprise.21
20
countries. Many so-called European films are actually made by
American subsidiaries. 23
21
Among these contractors are Lockheed, Rockwell, ITT, RCA and
others which "control COMSAT, the US satellite consortium that in
turn controls the international satellite consortium INTELSAT.26 This
tie-up between big business and the military has given rise in the US
to the concept of the national security state under which practically
every area of the world where TNCs have investments or where they
see possibilities of investment is deemed vital to the national security
of the United States. While maintaining verbal allegiance to
democratic processes, the military-industrial complex has an affinity
toward authoritarian regimes in the Third World with whom it can
deal with greater ease than with cumbersome parliaments.27
The means at the disposal of the global monopolies and the imperial
states which protect and advance their interests are awesome. The
modes of transporation and communication which facilitated colonial
expansion in the early days of imperialism cannot compare with the
present-day technological wonders which now make possible the
super-efficient extraction of surplus from former colonies whose
economies continue to be ravaged by transnational corporations.
As a result, the gap between the imperial powers and the less
developed states has become wider. Nowhere is this more apparent
than in the decisive field of communications infrastructure. As one
expert reveals:
22
The developed countries (North America, Europe, and Japan) have
789 million radio receivers out of a world total of 953 million
(82.7%). The U.S. alone has 454 million receivers (47.6%).
The U.S. alone earns $47 billion out of the world market of $96.8
billion in advertising (49%). Thirteen of the top fifteen world
advertising agencies are American.
The developed countries earn $77.9 billion out of the total world
sales revenue of $83 billion (9501o). The U.S. alone earns $37
billion (45.5%). 28
23
It is well known that before the war, Britain and France had major
control of the cable services. The US-based Associated Press was
trying to compete with them and wanted to make inroads into the
territories controlled by the British and French empires. After the
war, US business soon realized that the control of information was
important to global expansion. The European countries were then
economically prostrate; moreover, the propaganda against
Communism was effective in weakening their defenses against
American demands. Presented with a choice between the US and the
USSR during the unfolding of, the cold war and dependent on the
former for aid, the Europeans aligned themselves with the United
States. Thus, the free flow principle got the support of the Europeans
and the mechanical majority in the United Nations in 1948. With its
military-propelled lead in the development of electronics and satellite
communication, the US was soon able to dominate the field. Thus,
"free flow of information" in practice came to mean the propagation
of the American way of life, the dissemination of the US world view,
and the defense of US interests, to the consternation of the former
holders of the communications monopoly. 29
"Free flow" has been transformed into its opposite. The flow is now
practically unidirectional as Third World countries become mere
recipients of information from advanced countries, especially the
United States. The imbalance is not only quantitative; it is also
qualitative.
24
The United States has succeeded in bringing about an apparently
unchallenged position of leadership for itself in global media and
communications, especially in the high-tech areas. The US-based
transnational news agencies, UPI and AP, receive, process and
deliver 40 million words a day. AP's subscribers alone include
100,000 foreign newspapers and broadcasting services in over 100
countries. As one observer commented, "Over a billion people a day
make their value judgments on international developments on the
basis of AP news."
25
26
3 The Philippine
Context
27
Communications Monopolies
28
It must likewise be in identified with the present regime have been
instrumental in linking up with the TNCs in the satellite and
telecommunications fields, lending credence to the observation that
the exercise of martial law powers has facilitated "the concentration,
integration and hegemony of information structures that ultimately
serve the ideological, cultural, material and political interests of the
transnational corporations."35 It may be remembered that the owner-
ship of print and broadcast media substantially passed to the hands of
interests related to or aligned with the ruling family in late 1972.
Media therefore faithfully served these interests which more often
than not coincided with transnational concerns.
29
The Economics of Domination
30
Hollywood, Inc.
... in the past 10 years, close to 4,500 foreign theatrical films have
been shown commercially i n this country against only 1,738
domestic films; last year, 294 foreign films were shown in Metro
Manila, against only 141 domestic pictures, since this glut of
foreign films has been in operation for the past several years, it has
supported conditions th at place domestic 'producers at the mercy of
the exhibitors; the bulk of our foreign importations comprise
cheaply-bought films. An importer can bring a dozen films of this
variety into the country for less than what it costs a domestic
producer to make a single low -budget Filipino film (P500,000).
... Of the total number of foreign films passed, 148 were from the
USA, 148 from Hongkong, and 105 from other countries.
31
existence for the material goods that obsess them have dehumanized
their lives. While their government dominates nations and peoples,
the American people have become enslaved by things, by the
material goods they produce. The loss of a sense of social purpose
has consigned great masses of the American population to an
alienated existence. Concerned American individuals and institutions
are themselves facing an uphill battle trying to awaken the American
public to a serious examination of their society and government.
32
4 Synthetic Culture
33
The transnationalization of communications has almost completely
shattered the cultural defenses of developing nations. The very
existence of indigenous cultures is threatened with massive
modifications as Western culture is presented, as the culture which
every modernizing state must emulate. Aspects of indigenous culture
are preserved in bastardized, "touristic form" to attract dollars while
the local population consumes popular Western cultural fare or local
films, TV, radio, and comics which ape the styles, techniques and
content of Western cultural products. The incursion of Western
informational and cultural commodities is constant and widespread.
They are also technologically superior, therefore admired and
enjoyed.
Reordering Reality
34
thrift and saving" has waned. In an economy characterized by high
productivity and ever threatened by the prospect of glut, the values
which media nurtures are those of impulse buying and asset
acquisition. Products are no longer bought for their sturdiness and
durability but for their style or for some claimed innovation. In an
economy that reaps handsome profits from planned obsolescence, the
idea that certain articles could be bearers of tradition and continuity
from one generation to the next would hardly be promoted. Instead,
the highest value is attached to the newest and the latest.
The Impact of TV
The most graphic and beguiling promoter of the values and lifestyle
of the "affluent society" is television. Television in the Third World
is more or less dominated by imported programs. According to a
UNESCO survey, imported programs in Guatemala occupy 84 per
cent of total broadcasting time, in Zambia 64%, Malaysia 71%,
Singapore 78%, Hongkong 40%
35
many developing states are able to afford the new communications
complexes only by accepting commercial packages which 'tie' their
broadcasting systems to foreign programming and foreign financial
sponsorship." Quoting Sig Mickelson of Time-Life: "The various
underdeveloped countries are having to permit commercials because
they can't afford a television system otherwise."43 The effect is
unfortunate:
Standardization of Culture
36
Colonizing Life Experiences
It is said that when the generals took over in Chile they blasted rock
music through the loudspeakers into the streets of Santiago -cultural
violence reflecting political and economic violence. Under Allende's
government, Chilean musicians had rediscovered indigenous music
and developed it to express the people's sentiments and aspirations.
Song became a great mobilizing agent. The generals arrested and
killed the artists to silence their music.
37
People now think that being informed is simply knowing the latest
news: they are habituated to learning about the newest development
or event and forgetting what happened the day before. This is
especially true of a growing majority who rely on the TV news
coverage rather than on newspapers.
In the Philippines, for example, the daffy newspaper has become too
expensive for most families. A TV set has higher priority since it
provides both news and entertainment for a growing population of
non-readers. But TV offers each day's events simply as a passing
show: images flash on the screen, words assault the ear and fade
away. Who, what and where are its staples; why is hardly its forte.
The viewer becomes a mere receiver, not only of the facts of the
event but also of the value judgments implicit in the telling of the
apparently factual account. With information and opinion neatly
packaged together and bombarding the viewer every waking hour, he
hardly has the time to sort it all out and actively form opinions
38
of his own. He has become simply a passive consumer of information
and ideas in an environment recreated - one could even say
manufactured - for him by the communications industry.
Ideological Dependence
This is not to say that television and radio are a complete cultural
wasteland but certainly, good, serious, solid programs are the
exception rather than the rule. As for material that addresses a
problem in a people-oriented manner, that is scarcer than a hen's teeth
on radio-TV. At least, the much maligned because admin-
istration-controlled newspapers, manage once in a while to print
research findings and exposes from a progressive, Third World
perspective. True, the occasional talk-show sometimes tackles
controversial subjects but time constraints and commercial inter-
ruptions usually preclude thorough discussion.
39
a universal and permanent economic system that is not to be
challenged in any fundamental way With the monopoly control of
the television networks, the information systems, the record industry,
video recorders, etc., culture itself has become a com modity. It has
also become a means of social control. While a variety of Cultural
products give the illusion of freedom of choice, practically all of
them aim to standardize men and women into acceptable types of
citizens and consumers who do not question the, system. 47
40
supposed to be refined by culture are defiled by the inanities and
banality that pass for popular culture.
41
political independence, the cultural products they consume divert
their attention from such goals and promote cultural dependence. The
TNCs and the governments that represent them correctly regard
nationalist movements as threats to their economic expansion and
political control. Cultural penetration has proven to be an effective
tool to impede such movements or at least to tame them.
Thought Transference
42
local capital and the consequent need to attract foreign investments.
Having accepted the concept of mutual interdependence, as
enunciated by industrial states, they are now accommodating TNC
requirements by providing cheap labor' and producing what the world
market demands, even at the expense of their own people's needs.
Ideological dependence insures that external forces are viewed as
friends while internal counter-forces are considered subversive.
43
44
5 Philippine
Cultural Scene
45
The Philippine Experience
One major aspect of the colonial education of the Filipino was the
distortion of the history of the early period of American occupation..
Accounts of the fierce people's resistance and of the atrocities
perpetrated by the Americans in quelling this resistance were
suppressed. Instead, the leaders of this resistance were branded as
bandits while the early collaborators from the ilustrado elite were
presented to the people as their true leaders. Of course, the
Americans were portrayed in the schools as altruistic benefactors
whom the Filipinos had welcomed with open arms. Thus, succeeding
generations forgot their people's record of resistance, their history of
struggle.
46
only at producing the manpower requirements of TNCs but also at
fulfilling the long-term objective of developing in the youth values
and outlooks supportive of the neocolonial status quo. World Bank
funded textbooks for the primary and secondary levels present
colonization - particularly by the United States -as a salutary learning
process for the colonized. These textbooks constantly tout the
indispensability of foreign investments and foreign loans to
development, the need to export in order to earn dollars, the
advantages of free trade with advanced countries, the importance to
developing countries of the friendly assistance of the advanced states
in extending loans, transferring technology and buying their products,
and finally, they stress the duty of every citizen to support the
government's development program, which is in fact the program
designed by the WB-1MF for the fuller integration of the Philippine
economy into the global capitalist system.53
47
that they might act as media through whom the cultural, political
and economic influences of the metropolitan country might be
prolonged.54
The "new cultured Filipinos," it seems, are a breed apart from the
mass of Filipinos. Their thought-processes are comprehensible only
to themselves and their foreign models; they do not understand their
people and the people in turn regard their artistic and literary
creations as objects of curiosity which neither affect their lives nor
elevate their spirits. They do not speak the same language and they
do not have the same experiences.
48
precisely because they realize that they are a class without roots
-adopted children of a foreign culture and foreigners to their own
people. They are genuinely concerned about the drift of present
society though they are hindered by the framework within which they
labor. Others, mistakenly believing that sophistication in the Western
sense and familiarity with Western ways are the true measures of
cultural progress, have completely embraced cosmopolitan culture.
Their one ambition, is someday to be at par with their foreign
counterparts.
Though many in this group may call themselves Filipinos and may,
in a queer manifestation of nationalism, even boast of the prestige
that they are earning for their country, they will never really belong
to the Filipino people. They may now enjoy the adulation of lovers of
the esoteric but soon they will be forgotten, for their work cannot
become a part of the people's culture. In the end, it is the people and
their culture that will endure.
National culture will be developed by and will emerge from the real
people; its essential features will certainly not be shaped by those
who regard themselves as the purveyors of thought, art and taste to a
mass they do not really consider to be capable of appreciating their
accomplishments.
Many so-called cultural leaders proceed from the assumption that the
people can experience growth only by seepage from above and that,
moreover, real culture, is premised on certain levels of income and
leisure. These so-called cultural leaders who claim that they are
contributing to national development (actually some have selfish,
even pecuniary motivations) are in reality divorcing themselves from
the people and are in effect providing weapons for the obliteration of
any sort of national culture. What they are accomplishing is
providing Westerners with a comfortable haven in these shores,
making tourists feel they are at home, pampering those intellectuals
who find recognition in the limited world of foreign and local
cosmopolites, and adding to the confusion of
49
other sectors who really do not belong to these circles.
It seems to be the belief of these cultural leaders that the people can
be awakened culturally only by massive doses of foreign culture and
frequent visits by foreign performers. Even those attempts to present
native art or cultural fare based on native themes are sadly inadequate
precisely because they -proceed from a Western bias. More often
than not they are only a form of condescension and a concession on
the part of the elite who have their own heroes and idols from
Western culture.
50
6 Responses
51
Synthetic Culture vs. People's Culture
The arrogant way the transnationals wield their awesome power over
global communication has generated vehement objections from the
developing countries collectively victimized by the generally
negative image presented of them. Unfortunately, this very
domination, the foreign control over many Third World economies,
their disparate political structures and the interests of their respective
ruling groups have made it difficult for Third World countries to act
collectively in establishing a New International Information and
Communication Order.
52
Like the call for a New International Economic Order sounded by
Third World countries represented by their respective ruling groups
and therefore inconsistently advanced, the move for a New
International Information and Communication Order, for the past
eight years, has remained "a hope, a long-term objective." The
NIICO is "no more than an aspiration, not a programme with set
goals and rigid deadlines." 55 Yet it is an aspiration worth pursuing,
however modestly and despite the overwhelming obstacles, because
its main aim is the decolonization of mass media by regulating the
activities of the information multinationals, by developing
communications structures that safeguard national sovereignty and
cultural identity, and by assuring access to and participation in the
international flow of information under conditions of equality, justice
and mutual benefit.
Two-Fold Problem
53
their demands, not only for a free press but also for an independent
press.
Alternative Possibilities
Whether or not some little space and time in the establishment media
is granted, committed organizations must explore alternative
possibilities opened by new technologies. Small radio stations can be
operated, presupposing a struggle against monopoly of frequencies.
Betamax tapes may be utilized to reach a wider audience. Small,
efficient word processors may be employed to put out community
papers. In short, efforts must be exerted to pluralize sources.
Attempts should likewise be made to widen exchanges with other
Third World countries. Whatever may be the chosen venue, it should
be organized and patiently sustained on a continuing basis. Too many
projects are either too grandiose to be viable or suffer from the
ningas cogon mentality and expire after Vol. 1, No. 1. Above all,
such efforts should carefully adjust to the level of their target
audience.
54
of communications, -which is one of the goals of NIICO. In the
words of a report on the subject submitted to UNESCO, "The media
should contribute to promoting the just cause of peoples struggling
for freedom and independence and their right to live in peace and
equality without foreign interference. This is especially important for
all oppressed peoples who, while struggling against colonialism,
religious and racial discrimination, are deprived of opportunity to
make their voices heard within their own countries."58
55
even in the Philippines, but the magic wrought by computers,
telephones, telex machines, video recorders, etc. is monopolized by a
narrow urban elite.
Given their tie-ups and orientation, the local powers-that-be who also
control the media have no choice but to bow to the pressures
emanating from transnational advertisers and technology suppliers,
even if they do complain sometimes and pay lip service to the
NIICO. In the main, there is a confluence of interests as quasi-
martial-law powers are exercised to contain dissent through media
regulation or manipulation for the benefit not only of the present
power holders but also of the foreign corporations lording it over
56
the economy. These interests, however, are not all the time identical,
especially at this stage when the US is trying all means, including the
adroit and sometimes clandestine use of both global media and some
segments of the local press, to pressure the Marcos regime and pave
the way for a more acceptable political order.
On the other hand, we must not fall into the error of thinking that
reforms within media will solve the problems of freedom of
expression. We must view communications as part and parcel of
international and national structures. We cannot entertain the illusion
that we can have a free media simply by a change of leadership
without changing structures that cause oppression and encourage a
popular consciousness that perpetuates an unjust system. Even if we
change the ownership of present media, new interests intertwined
with international monopolies would still constitute a restraining
factor on democratic forces.
Some Guidelines
57
or government advertising."
3) "Effective legal measures ... designed to: (a) limit the process of
concentration and monopolization; (b) circumscribe the action of
transnationals by requiring them to comply with specific criteria and
conditions defined by national legislation and development policies;
(c) reverse trends to reduce the number of decision makers at a time
when the media's public is growing larger and the impact of
communication is increasing; (d) reduce the influence of advertising
upon editorial policy and broadcast programming; (e) seek and
improve models which would ensure greater independence and
autonomy of the media concerning their management and editorial
policy, whether those media are under private, public or government
ownership."
58
6) Access to technical information and advanced communications
technology with the end in view of developing national capabilities in
this area to answer national needs; establishment of national and
international measures, "among them reform of existing patent laws
and conventions, appropriate legislation and international
agreements," to counteract concentration and monopolization by a
few industrialized states and transnational corporations';
strengthening collective self-reliance and cooperation .among
developing countries in this crucial field;
59
As the Macbride Report succinctly puts it. "communication can be an
instrument of power, a revolutionary weapon, a commercial product,
or a means of education; it can serve the ends of either liberation or
of oppression, of either the growth of the individual personality or of
drilling human beings into uniformity."65
60
7 The Counter-
Culture
61
What is the concept of a national culture? It is not the glory of the
past where there was little or none. It is not only folklore, it is not
only a revival of tradition. Above all it is the summation of the needs
of the people, the description of their past and present condition, an
expression of their values, thoughts and emotions, the depiction of
their historic struggles to liberate themselves. True national culture is
inextricably linked to the people's needs, ideas, emotions and
practices. National literature, art, music and all -other forms of
culture must therefore find their source and inspiration in the people's
activities and dedicate their achievements to the people.
The culture of dissent and resistance is not neutral and does not
pretend to be so. The culture of the oppressed is partisan. It is the
dominant culture of the ruling classes that falsely claims both
neutrality and universality. The cultural worker therefore cannot be
neutral; he must make a choice. If he chooses the side of the people
he will be more productive the greater his understanding of and
participation in people's movements and actions.
62
integral part of the movement for political and economic indepen-
dence. It will be nationalist without being xenophobic'. It will express
nationalist sentiments precisely because the movement is committed
to the defense of the country's patrimony from foreign exploitation. It
will be democratic because it speaks with the voice of the majority,
the working people; it expresses their needs and aspirations and is the
fruit of their wisdom and experience while it also helps them to
understand themselves. Because of its closeness to the people, this
culture will always be deeply human.
In the sense that the needs and aspirations of the working people
follow a similar pattern in most countries, the culture that emerges
from their struggle for national sovereignty and freedom from
oppression, while possessing specific and diverse characteristics in
each country, in its general contours transcends national boundaries
and acquires a universal character. Such a culture will eventually
negate the global synthetic culture as more and more Third World
peoples achieve their liberation.
63
Once false consciousness about the United States is dismantled,
understanding of the role of other states will quickly follow.
Re-education is therefore an urgent task and this involves no less
than a drastic mental overhaul, the exploding of myths, the correction
of misconceptions, the exposure of facts hitherto concealed in
Philippine history and in present reality.
The most effective way of exposing the myths about the United
States is through a re-study of history. This re-study will reveal that
the original basis of Philippine "special relations" with the United
States was a deception, a myth that has imprisoned generations of
Filipinos. Learning and teaching a decolonized history is therefore an
essential part of re-education.
The advanced nations of the world naturally do not view with favor
the growth of nationalism in a Third World country although,
shrewdly, they encourage its more neutral or harmless manifestations
in the cultural field as an escape valve for the discontent of
dominated peoples. What the powerful capitalist states are
encouraging is the concept of internationalism, the idea that they and
the Third World nations are economically, interdependent in a
mutually beneficial way and must therefore stand together politically.
Just as the generations of Filipinos under American rule where
brainwashed into believing that their status as an
64
agricultural, raw-material exporting country was the only proper one
for them, the Filipinos of today are beguiled into believing that the
only path to progress open for them is that of modernization through
a dependent industrialization. Western cultural institutions and mass
media generally reinforce all these concepts as they continue
westernizing the cultures of the Third World.
There are Filipinos who think they must make a choice between
nationalism and internationalism or that one should be subordinated
to the other. It is necessary to know the correct interconnection of the
two. Internationalism is a feeling of kinship with the peoples of the
world, not with their rulers or their governments. Nationalism is the
Filipinos' consciousness of their interests. To be a good nationalist
one must share the goals of other peoples for a better life, in effect
making one a real internationalist. But before one can be a good
internationalist, one must be a nationalist first, taking into
consideration the welfare of one's own people before being able to
help others - but ever conscious of the fact that the larger goals of a
whole people preclude the exploitation of others. In other words, the
internationalist content of nationalism lies in the egalitarian aspect of
world brotherhood, and the nationalist content of internationalism
lies in the concept of national sovereignty within the present system
of world states and in its defense against imperialist onslaughts.
Our own culture forged in the struggle for liberation will be our
distinct contribution to a universal' culture embracing all the world's
free peoples.
65
66
Notes
1 Ian Lind. "A Critical Look at Castle and Cooke," Multinational
Monitor, July 1981, Dorothy Friesen and Gene Stoltzfus, "Castle
and Cooke in Mindanao," January 1978, Third World Studies
Program, University of the Philippines.
2. Ernest Feder, Perverse Development, Quezon City, Foundation
for Nationalist Studies, 1983; Vivencio Jose, (ed.) Mortgaging
the Future, Quezon City, Foundation for Nationalist Studies,
1982, p. 108.
67
8, John K. Galbraith, The New Industrial State, Hammondsworth,
UK, 1975, p. 55 et. seq.
9. Wilson P. Dizzard, "The Coming Information Age." Economic
Impact, No. 44, 1984-1984.
10. Ibid.
11. Cees J. Hamelink, "New Technologies and the Third World - A
'Distribution of Social Benefits'?" New Communication
Techonologies and Their Impact on Western Industrialized
Countries, Bonn, FRG, FriedrichEbert-Stiftung, 1984, p. 47.
12. Thilo Pohlert, "Computers in Telecommunication Services," in
Ibid., p.68.
13. Amilcar Cabral, "The Role of Culture in the Liberation
Struggle," in Armand Mattelart and Seth Siegelaub, eds.,
Communication and Class Struggle, New York, International
General, France, IMMRC, 1973, p.210.
14. Maolshoachlainn 0. Caollai, "Broadcasting and the Growth of a
Culture," in Mattelart and Siegelaub, op. cit.
15. Seth Siegelaub, "A Communication on Communication," in
Mattelart and Siegelaub, op. cit., p. 11; a well rounded discussion
of the problem can be found in Cees Hamelink, The Corporate
Village, IDOC International, Rome, 1977.
16. Ibid.
17. Kaarle Nordenstreng and Tapio Varis, "The Nonhomogeneity of
the National State and the International Flow of
Communication," in George Gebner, et al., eds.,
Communications, Technology and Social Policy, New York,
John Wiley and Sons,-, 1973, pp. 394-399.
18. Armand Mattelart, "Introduction: For a Class Analysis of
Communication," in Mattelart and Siegelaub, op. cit., 65-66,
19. "Lords of the Air," The Nation, March 30, 1985.
68
20. Ibid.
21. The Film Countil, "A Brief History of the American Film
Industry," in Mattelart and Sigelaub, op. cit,, pp. 255-257.
22. Thomas H, Guback, "Film as International Business," in
Mattelart and Siegelaub, op. cit., p. 364.
23, Ibid,. pp. 359-366.
24. R. Bunce, Television in the Corporate Interests, Praeger, New
York, 1976, p. 84, also cited by Jeremy Turnstall, The Media Are
American, Great Britain, Constable and Co., 1977.
25. Enrique Gonzales Manet, "NIIO-. Issues and Trends, 1983,"
Democratic journalists, 7/8/83.
26. Cees Hamelink, The Corporate Village. Op. cit., p. 10.
27. Renato Constantino, "The Transnationalization of
Communication: Implications on Culture and Development,"
lecture before the Institute of International Studies, University of
the Philippines, Nov. 23, 1984; fuller discussion on the national
security state may be found in Armand Mattelart, "Notes on the
Ideology of the Military State," in Mattelart and Siegelaub, op.
cit., pp. 406-427.
28. Sang-Chul Lee, "Some Aspects of the New World Information
Order,” Media Asia, Vol. 8, No. 2, 198 1, pp. 91-92.
29. Dieter Bielenstein, ed., Toward a New World Information Order:
Consequences for Development Policy, Brunswick, FRG,
Institutefor International Relations, 1980, pp. 21-22.
30. Herbert 1. Schiller, "Genesis of the Free Flow of Information
Principles," in Mattelart and Siegelaub, op. cit., p. 345.
31. Vicente Maliwanag, "The Flow of World News: An Appraisal,"
Media Asia, Vol. 10, No. 1, 1983, p. 30.
32. Gerald Sussman, "Telecommunications Technology:
Transnationalizing the New Philippine information Order," in
Media, Culture and Society, London, Academic Press, Inc. 1982,
p. 388.
69
33.Ibid., p. 382.
34.Ibid.
35. Ibid., p. 388.
36.Ibid., p. 337.
37. "State of TV Reflects Economy," Business Day, Oct. 23, 1984;
see also, "The new economics of the air time for advertising,"
Business Outlook, December, 1976.
38. Orly S. Mercado and Elizabeth B. Buck, "Media Imperialism in
Philippine Television," Media Asia, 1981, p. 97.
39.Ibid.
40. Jeremy Turnstall, The Media Are American, Great Britain,
Constable and Co., Ltd., 1977, pp. 38-39.
41. Hidetoshi Kato, "Global Instantaneousness and Instant Globalism
The Significance of Popular Culture in Developing Countries," in
Wilbur Schramm and Daniel Lerner, eds., Communication and
Change the L4st Ten Years and the Next, 1976, University Press
of Hawaii~ p. 257.
42. Ibid.
43. Herbert Schiller, "Channels of dependence: Export of homo
consumens" in Cees Harnelink, The Corporate Village, op. cit.,
p. 145.
44. Ibid., pp. 145-146.
45. "Barnet and Mueller, op. cit., p. 185.
46. Leon Rosselson, "Pop Music: Mobiliser or Opiate?" in Carl
Gardner, ed., Media, Politics and Culture, London, MacMillan
Press, 1979, pp. 40-50.
47. Michele Mattelart, "Notes on 'Modernity': A Way of Reading
Women's Magazines," in Mattelart and Siegelaub, op. cit., pp.
158-178.
48. ibid.
70
49. Ibid.
50. World Development Report 1980, Washington, D.C.; the World
Bank, August 1980, cited in Vivencio R. Jose, ed., Mortgaging
the Future, Quezon City, Foundation for Nationalist Studies,
1982, p. 131.
51. Renato Constantino, "The Miseducation of the Filipino," and
Letizia R. Constantino, "World Bank Textbooks - Scenario for
Deception," Quezon City, Foundation for Nationalist Studies,
1982.
52. Ibid.
53. Ibid.
54. Keith Buchinan, Reflections on Education in the Third world,
Notting-ham, Spokesman Books, 1975, p. 37.
55. Sean MacBride, Many Voices, One World, Paris, Unesco, 1980.
56. Ibid.
57. Isaac A. Sepetu, "Toward a New International Information Order
Consequences for its Realization in the Third World's View," in
Dieter Beilenstein, op. cit., p. 59.
58. MacBride, op. cit., p. 2
59. Ibid.
60. Nordenstreng and Varis, in Gebner, -op. cit., p. 411.
61. MacBride, op. cit., p. 267.
62. Florangel Rosario-Braid, "Patterns of Information Technology
Transfer in the Philippines," Media Asia, Vol. 10, No. 3, 1983, p.
170.
63. Ibid., pp. 170-171.
64. Ibid., p. 175.
65. MacBride, op. cit., p. 253.
71
66. Renato Constantino, "Culture and National Identity," in Dissent
and Counter-Consciousness, Queton City, Malaya Books, 1970;
see also, Renato Constantino, "Mass Culture" and Development,
Keynote address, conference on Culture and Development,
Centrum Kontakt der Kontinenten, Soesterberg, Holland, May
16, 1985. .
67. Truong Cbinh, Selected Writings, Hanoi, Foreign Languages
Publishing House, 1977, pp. 264-271.
72