Fighting from a Distance: How Filipino Exiles Helped Topple a DictatorDuring February 1986, a grassroots revolution overthrew the fourteen-year dictatorship of former president Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines. In this book, Jose V. Fuentecilla describes how Filipino exiles and immigrants in the United States played a crucial role in this victory, acting as the overseas arm of the opposition to help return their country to democracy. A member of one of the major U.S.-based anti-Marcos movements, Fuentecilla tells the story of how small groups of Filipino exiles--short on resources and shunned by some of their compatriots--arrived and survived in the United States during the 1970s, overcame fear, apathy, and personal differences to form opposition organizations after Marcos's imposition of martial law, and learned to lobby the U.S. government during the Cold War. In the process, he draws from multiple hours of interviews with the principal activists, personal files of resistance leaders, and U.S. government records revealing the surveillance of the resistance by pro-Marcos White House administrations. The first full-length book to detail the history of U.S.-based opposition to the Marcos regime, Fighting from a Distance provides valuable lessons on how to persevere against a well-entrenched opponent. |
Contents
1 | |
Surviving the First Years | 9 |
Dread and Apathy | 14 |
Differences Hindering Unity | 21 |
How the Dictator Usurped Power | 27 |
Conflicting Opposition Groups | 32 |
How the United States Fought the Exiles | 44 |
Turning to Radical Means | 54 |
Bringing the Fight to the Homeland | 91 |
The Leader Who Led the Movement | 101 |
Epilogue | 111 |
Notes | 119 |
Bibliography | 135 |
Acknowledgments | 141 |
MFP Chapters and Chairpersons as of 1979 | 143 |
Report on a Successful Demonstration | 147 |
Other editions - View all
Fighting from a Distance: How Filipino Exiles Helped Topple a Dictator Jose V. Fuentecilla No preview available - 2013 |
Fighting from a Distance: How Filipino Exiles Helped Topple a Dictator Jose V. Fuentecilla No preview available - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
accessed Sept activists activities Alvarez Amnesty International anti-Marcos April Aquino Asian American Asian and Pacific August author’s possession Avila bases Benigno Benigno Aquino bomb Bonifacio Gillego California campaign Communist Congress convention Copy in author’s Corazon Aquino December Democratic dictatorship economic elections Eugenio exile opposition February Ferdinand Marcos Filipino American Filipino community financial first five forces Free Philippines guerrilla Heherson Alvarez homeland House human rights Iapanese identified Imelda Marcos International interview leaders letter lobbying Lopez Maharlika Manglapus’s Manila Marcos’s martial law MFP chapters MFP members MFP regional council MFP’s million Movement National newspaper Ninoy November office officers official ofthe opposition groups organization Ortigas party People’s percent Philippine government political President prison protest Psinakis Ralph Recto Raul Manglapus Reagan Romulo San Francisco Schirmer Senate September September 22 Taca tion told U.S. government United Washington Post wrote York City