美国国家公共电台 NPR--In the Philippines, the Marcos family is a blueprint for authoritarianism

In the Philippines, the Marcos family is a blueprint¹ for authoritarianism²

Transcript³

NPR's history podcast Throughline examines the rise and fall — and the eventual⁴ return of the Ferdinand Marcos family to political power in the Philippines.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

The relationship between the U.S. and China has always been complicated, so having friends in the region probably helps. Earlier this month, President Biden met with Philippines President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr., and earlier this year, the U.S. was granted access to more military bases in the Philippines. Marcos hopes to repair relations with the White House after years of tension with former Philippines president Rodrigo Duterte. But this isn't the first time a Marcos has sought to work closely with the U.S. NPR's history podcast Throughline recently told a story of Bongbong's father, Ferdinand E. Marcos, a democratically elected leader turned dictator. Here's reporter Cristina Kim.

CRISTINA KIM, BYLINE⁵: When Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda first started campaigning for the 1965 presidential election, they captivated the Filipino electorate⁶.

SHEILA CORONEL: He and Imelda were quite a glamorous⁷ couple. They were likened to John and Jackie Kennedy. They liked to promote themselves as the Philippine Camelot.

KIM: That's Sheila Coronel, a professor and director of the Toni Stabile Center for Investigative Journalism⁸ at Columbia University.

CORONEL: They were a good-looking couple, and they sort of represented the new Philippines.

KIM: Together, they crafted a careful image of themselves as the strong man and the beauty, capable and charming, stern but loving.

CORONEL: If you look especially at the foreign coverage¹⁰ at that time, they were seen as, like, these new leaders who were coming forward to lead this country and bring about, you know, the promise of Philippine progress and democracy.

KIM: And it worked.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

FERDINAND MARCOS: I solemnly swear that I will faithfully and conscientiously¹¹ fulfill¹² the duties of president of the Philippines.

CORONEL: When he was inaugurated president in 1965, Marcos said, this nation can be great again. They came at a time when people wanted to believe that the Philippines was a rising star of the Asian region and that it had a bright future ahead of it and that democracies were going to lead them to that future.

KIM: In the beginning, Ferdinand Marcos seemed to deliver on his campaign promises. With money from the U.S., he built roads and schools and help the country produce enough rice to feed itself. And he strengthened the relationship with the U.S., which was caught up in the Vietnam War and needed the Philippines' nearby military bases. Things were going well, but then...

CORONEL: Things started stirring up in Marcos' second term.

KIM: After his reelection in 1969, Marcos' Camelot quickly devolved into chaos¹³.

CORONEL: There were protests for land reform.

KIM: Oil prices were up.

CORONEL: There were protest for student rights.

KIM: And a growing communist movement promised to shake up the corrupt¹⁴ elite¹⁵ rule that had never really gone away.

CORONEL: And there was a political system that was unable to contain all of this moving tectonic plates in society.

KIM: And in September 1972, after months of protests and unrest in the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos finally made his move.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MARCOS: My countrymen, as of the 21st of this month, I signed proclamation No. 1081, placing the entire Philippines under martial¹⁶ law.

CORONEL: Marcos' goal was to stay in power. The only way he could stay in power was to declare martial law and make himself dictator.

KIM: Overnight, streets that had been filled with the sounds of protest turned silent. To legitimize their power and rule, the Marcoses controlled everything people saw.

CORONEL: Anything that showed Marcos weak or sick was censored¹⁷. Anything about the family wealth was censored, and the critical news was censored. Anything that showed Imelda's double chin, for example, even photographs were censored.

KIM: His regime jailed and silenced political opponents. And all the while, Marcos continued to curate his image as a great hero - the past, the present and the future of the Philippines.

CORONEL: He saw himself as the culmination¹⁸ of the long struggle to build an independent and proud country. And so he commissioned historians to write history books that said his new society was the inevitable¹⁹ end of this striving for national greatness.

KIM: But the shiny veneer²⁰ surrounding the Marcos family began to crack in the late 1980s, and in 1986 it exploded into what is now known as the People Power Revolution. Everyday people gathered in protest, surrounding the gates of the presidential palace.

CORONEL: And I remember - I don't know if I'm imagining it, but I remember hearing the whir of helicopters. Those were the helicopters that were taking the Marcos family out of the presidential palace.

(SOUNDBITE OF HELICOPTER BLADES)

KIM: The Marcoses were airlifted by U.S. security forces to Hawaii, ending Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos' 21-year reign⁹ as the leaders of the Philippines. In the aftermath, the Marcoses were accused of stealing billions of dollars from state coffers as well as thousands of human rights abuses. So when Ferdinand Marcos died in exile in 1989, it seemed like his legacy²¹ as dictator was set in stone. But in 2022, after years of reframing his father's rule as a golden age and his father as a national hero, Ferdinand's son, Bongbong Marcos, became the president of the Philippines. The Marcoses were back.

CORONEL: You know, people just have fuzzy memories of the Marcoses. The Philippines didn't do a good job of revising textbooks to show the next generation what really happened during the Marcos era.

KIM: And Sheila says this isn't a story that's unique to the Philippines.

CORONEL: History is being written everywhere. Vladimir Putin is revising history to show that Ukraine has always been part of Russia. Narendra Modi is recasting Indian history as - primarily as Hindu history. So the use of history, even here in the United States to justify²² autocracy²³, the suppression of dissent²⁴, to mythologize certain rulers and to demonize certain political, religious or ethnic²⁵ groups is prevalent around the world, and the Marcoses are part of what's an emerging and very dangerous global trend.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

MART?NEZ: That was Sheila Coronel speaking with Throughline reporter Cristina Kim. You can listen to the whole episode wherever you get your podcasts.

1 blueprint   

n.蓝图，设计图，计划；vt.制成蓝图，计划

参考例句：

• All the machine parts on a blueprint must answer each other.设计图上所有的机器部件都应互相配合。
• The documents contain a blueprint for a nuclear device.文件内附有一张核装置的设计蓝图。

2 authoritarianism   

权力主义，独裁主义

参考例句：

• Modern authoritarianism is a vestige of traditional personal rule. 现代独裁主义则是传统的个人统治的残余。
• In its latter days it was a byword for authoritarianism, incompetence, and corruption. 在后期，它是独裁、无能和腐化的代号。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 eventual   

adj.最后的，结局的，最终的

参考例句：

• Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
• Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 electorate   

n.全体选民；选区

参考例句：

• The government was responsible to the electorate.政府对全体选民负责。
• He has the backing of almost a quarter of the electorate.他得到了几乎1/4选民的支持。

7 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

8 journalism   

n.新闻工作，报业

参考例句：

• He's a teacher but he does some journalism on the side.他是教师，可还兼职做一些新闻工作。
• He had an aptitude for journalism.他有从事新闻工作的才能。

9 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

10 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

11 conscientiously   

adv.凭良心地；认真地，负责尽职地；老老实实

参考例句：

• He kept silent,eating just as conscientiously but as though everything tasted alike. 他一声不吭，闷头吃着，仿佛桌上的饭菜都一个味儿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She discharged all the responsibilities of a minister conscientiously. 她自觉地履行部长的一切职责。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 fulfill   

vt.履行，实现，完成；满足，使满意

参考例句：

• If you make a promise you should fulfill it.如果你许诺了，你就要履行你的诺言。
• This company should be able to fulfill our requirements.这家公司应该能够满足我们的要求。

13 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

14 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

15 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。

16 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

17 censored   

受审查的，被删剪的

参考例句：

• The news reports had been heavily censored . 这些新闻报道已被大幅删剪。
• The military-backed government has heavily censored the news. 有军方撑腰的政府对新闻进行了严格审查。

18 culmination   

n.顶点；最高潮

参考例句：

• The space race reached its culmination in the first moon walk.太空竞争以第一次在月球行走而达到顶峰。
• It may truly be regarded as the culmination of classical Greek geometry.这确实可以看成是古典希腊几何的登峰造级之作。

19 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

20 veneer   

n.(墙上的)饰面，虚饰

参考例句：

• For the first time her veneer of politeness began to crack.她温文尔雅的外表第一次露出破绽。
• The panel had a veneer of gold and ivory.这木板上面镶饰了一层金和象牙。

21 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

22 justify   

vt.证明…正当(或有理)，为…辩护

参考例句：

• He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
• Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗？

23 autocracy   

n.独裁政治，独裁政府

参考例句：

• The revolution caused the overthrow of the autocracy.这场革命导致了独裁政体的结束。
• Many poor countries are abandoning autocracy.很多贫穷国家都在放弃独裁统治。

24 dissent   

n./v.不同意，持异议

参考例句：

• It is too late now to make any dissent.现在提出异议太晚了。
• He felt her shoulders gave a wriggle of dissent.他感到她的肩膀因为不同意而动了一下。

25 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。