By Jose Mario D. de Vega, faculty at the College of Teacher Development, Philippine Normal University
It is true that in the eyes and treatment of colonialists and imperialists, their subjects and colonies were regarded as nothing more than but monkeys, uncivilized, half-human, or weak beings!
But weren’t the Chinese themselves also conquered, gang-raped, degraded, abused, violated and exploited by colonialists and imperialists -- not only from the West, but also here in the East?
Now that they are strong and powerful, does that give them the right to call smaller and weaker “countries,” towns, or villages as monkeys?
Does their racists, violent and abusive behaviors and bullish actions in the whole Southeast Asian region and beyond -- erased their historical shame and humiliation?
Does their present strength and power erase the truth that they were once conquered, oppressed and degraded?
My stern and sharp critique underscores the cyclical nature of imperialism: that oppressed groups can become oppressors or have the tendency to become one when they either forget their past or ignore it. Further, this critique stems from the “legacy” of colonialism, imperialism and the hypocrisy of nations or leaders who forget their own history of oppression and dehumanization.
But the necessary pertinent question must be asked: What is the root cause of their racism and arrogance?
It is utterly important to highlight this irony: nations once demeaned as “monkeys” or “weaklings” now wield power, sad but true -- replicating the very same arrogance and racism they once suffered and subjected to.
The same is true of the Zionist mass murderers. They are calling the Palestinians as sub-humans and treating them worse than the animals, yet the same was done to them by the Nazis during the Holocaust. The German racists subjected the Jews to genocide and now those settler colonialists and foreign land-grabbers are exterminating the Palestinians in a brutal genocidal campaign that shocked the whole world.
If there is any monkey in this matter, it is none other but that imperial nation and that fake state that cannot face its past shame and, just as it was once treated like an animal by foreigners, now acts even more beastly and barbaric!
Yet, the problem is: even if you put on a tuxedo to a monkey, complete with a tie and all its elegance, still the moment you throw a banana, it will still devour the same.
The racism and the barbarism of the “monkeys” is rooted in this historical memory of shame and humiliation: the colonized natives and the subjugated peoples were degraded, abused and dehumanized under colonialism, imperialism and neocolonialism. yet today, some powerful nations or leaders perpetuate the same racist logic. The terms “monkeys,” “stupid,” “sub-human,” “rats” and “uncivilized” are not just insults -- they are reminders of how colonial powers weaponized language to divide and dominate.
The once rape victim is now the rapist of the region or to put it in another way, the bullied is now the bully of the neighborhood. What a bloody shame!
Finally, in the local sense: The most monkey-like of all is an ignorant, intoxicated, undeniably idiotic and incontestably treacherous senator who, aside from knowing nothing about the history of his own “nation” or barangay, betrays its people and, instead of defending the Filipinos, stands on the side of the new conquerors!
Bloody hell! This is treachery of the highest order ever. Super shame!
