Anti-imperialist Cultural Revolution and the Covert Presence of a Decolonial Subject

Lead Researcher(s): Regletto Aldrich D. Imbong
Status: Published

Abstract/summary: Anti-imperialist struggles mark many of the decolonial projects in Asia. Being a political project that has significantly influence many social and revolutionary movements in the Global South, Maoism has informed and equally inspired a number of anti-imperialist projects in the continent, including the Philippines. This paper traces an anti-imperialist initiative in the country among cultural workers and activists. Cultural revolution is an integral component of Maoism, allowing for an anti-imperialism to be opened and waged in the cultural front. By interviewing activists and doing an analysis of their works, the chapter will argue that the anti-imperialist cultural revolution in the country defines a specific decolonial subject through the former’s subject-constituting effects within and through the mass movement. This decolonial subject manifests its “covert presence” within the old where it simultaneously opens the possibility for the new and provides a positive articulation for a post-imperialist possibility.

Keywords:

• Anti-imperialism
• Maoism
• Decolonial subject
• Cultural revolution
• Covert presence