The Politics of Nostalgia and the Marcos Golden Age in the Philippines
2021. Asia Review 11 (3): 273–304.
The increasing incidence of disinformation in the Philippines promotes romanticized recollections of Ferdinand Marcos’ martial law (1972–1981). While the general scholarship remembers the era for its horrors and atrocities, narratives circulated online claim that Marcos’ rule made the nation great and that several groups and institutions conspired to distort people’s memory, serving the purpose of Marcos’ political enemies. These narratives, shared by Marcos and Duterte supporters, echo a desire to return to a fantastical “golden age.” This study investigates the nostalgia for the Marcos golden age, magnifying the salient features of whitewashed memories of Marcos’ martial law in online communities, as well as techniques that turn the Marcos propaganda into a basic grammar that frames people’s articulation of their frustrations and aspirations. The study found that the described propaganda embeds the light-darkness-light perspective in its us-versus-them narrative. Within such a framework, nostalgia can set the stage for the expression of polarizing phrases, hate speech, conspiracy theories, discontent, and hope, which complete the grammar of the Marcos propaganda.