Gramsci and Possibilities of Organic Intellectuals as Agents of Filipino Proletarian Hegemony in Post-Duterte&rsquo;s Necrofascism

Gary  Musa,; Jhee  Solangon,

Gramsci and Possibilities of Organic Intellectuals as Agents of Filipino Proletarian Hegemony in Post-Duterte’s Necrofascism

Discipline: Philosophy

Abstract:

This paper explores the potential theoretical grounding of possible Gramscian intervention of organic intellectuals toward the construction of Filipino proletarian hegemony. The authors reflect on the relevance of the working classes in sustaining the world being inspired by Gramsci’s dedicated life to the proletarian cause. Further, the trajectory is the recent historical event of the global COVID-19 pandemic as well as localized in the Philippines under the necrofascist (stimulated by the scholar Achilles Mmbe’s term necropolitics) Duterte regime which we see as an event-basis to situate a reconsideration of the Gramscian theory that highlights the political involvement of the organic intellectuals. As the Philippines remains a backward agricultural sector and service-sectorreliant economy in the service of the global capitalist mode of production, this study shows the abundant grounds for the development of Filipino proletarian hegemony in the Gramscian sense. This study takes on the continuing struggles from various social movements that arose since the pandemic as a basis for how a possible unitary hegemony can mobilize Filipinos toward proletarian emancipatory politics. Therefore, through the theory of Gramsci on organic intellectuals, the authors propose the necessity of an organic intellectual’s role of unifying the people and leading the proletarian hegemony that will be the basis of political emancipation. Now moving past the Duterte necrofascist regime, such proletarian hegemony can happen through people’s active creation of their class hegemony toward societal transformation. This paper closes with notes on forming a unitary bloc among classes and identities or using Mao Zedong’s signifier—people. Further, there should be a necessity in this people’s bloc what the theorists Laclau and Mouffee call hegemonic articulation.

References:

Althusser, Louis. On Ideology. London: Verso, 2020.
Attanayake, Chulanee. “Years of policy failure and COVID throw Sri Lanka into deep crisis,” in East Asia Forum, April 24, 2022, https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2022/04/24/years-of-policy-failure-and-covidthrow-sri-lanka-into-deep-crisis/ (Accessed: May 9, 2023).
Antunes, Ricardo. “Labour in Pandemic Capitalism.” In Notebooks: The Journal for Studies on Power 1 (2021) 44-61. Bates, Thomas. “Gramsci and the Theory of Hegemony.” In Journal of the History of Ideas, Vol. 36, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1975): 351-366.
Bulatlat: Journalism for the People: ‘Bloody Sunday’ spells killings, mass arrests in Southern Tagalog’, March 28, 2021. https://www.bulatlat.com/2021/03/08/bloody-sunday-spells-killings-massarrests-in-southern-tagalog/ (Accessed: August 5, 2023). Gaw, Fatima, Jon Benedik A. Bunquin, Samuel I. Cabbuag, Jose Mari H. Lanuza, Noreen H. Sapalo, and Al-Habbyel B. Yusoph. Research Report: Political Economy of Covert Influence Operations in the 2022 Philippine Elections. California: Internews, 2023. Gramsci, Antonio. Selections from the Prison Notebooks. Edited and translated by Quintin
Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith. New York, International Publishers, 1971.
———. The Modern Prince and Other Writings. Edited by Louis Marks. New York: International Publishers, 1975.
Guerrero, Amado. Philippine Society and Revolution. Manila: Pulang Tala Publications, 1971.
Gündoğan, Ercan. “Conceptions of Hegemony in Antonio Gramsci’s Southern Question and the Prison Notebooks.” In New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry Vol.2, No. 1 (November 2008): 45-60.
Harvey, David. Marx, Capital, Madness of Economic Reason. New York: Oxford University Press, 2017.
———. Spaces of Global Capitalism. London: Verso, 2019.
Hoare, George, and Nathan Sperber. An Introduction to Antonio Gramsci: His Life, Thought and Legacy. London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2016.
Hoelzl, Verena and Cape Diamond. “Myanmar military steps up attacks as coronavirus spreads,” in Aljazeera, April 16, 2020, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/4/16/myanmar-military-steps-upattacks-as-coronavirus-spreads (Accessed: May 7, 2023).
Human Rights Watch. “Philippines: Marcos Failing on Rights: A Year On, Course Correction Needed.” June 28, 2023, https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/06/28/philippines-marcos-failing-rights (Accessed: July 28, 2023).
Human Rights Watch. “Covid-19 Fueling Anti-Asian Racism and Xenophobia Worldwide,” in HRW,
https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/12/covid-19-fueling-anti-asian-racismand-xenophobia-worldwide.
IBON Foundation, “Ang Budol ng Taon,” in Ibon, July 2023. Retrieved from https://www.ibon.org/ui-23jul-praymer/ (Accessed: July 20, 2023).
Karapatan. The Surge Of People’s Resistance And The Struggle For A Future Free From Tyranny. Quezon City: Karapatan Alliance Philippines, 2021. Laclau, Ernesto and Chantal Mouffe, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy Towards a Radical Democratic Politics. London: Verso, 2014.
Mao, Zedong. On Practice and Contradiction. London: Verso, 2017.
Marx, Karl. Grundrisse. London: Penguin, 1993.
Marx, Karl and Friedrich Engels. The German Ideology. New York: Prometheus Books, 1998.
———. Marx / Engels Collected Works Vol. 29. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1987.
Mbembe, Achilles. “Necropolitics.” In Public Culture 15(1): 11–40. Duke University Press. Project Muse. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/39984.
Mongaya, Karlo. “Fascism, Fascisation, and Neoliberalism from Marcos to Duterte.” In Authoritarian Disaster The Duterte Regime and the Prospects for a Marcos Presidency. Edited by Regletto Aldrich Imbong. Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2023). DOI: 10.52305/JCVL4870.
Mouffe, Chantal ed. Gramsci and Marxist Theory. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1979.
Mussolini, Benito. “The Doctrine of Fascism,” 1932. Retrieved from https://sjsu.edu/faculty/wooda/2B-HUM/Readings/The-Doctrine-of-Fascism. pdf (Accessed:: September 25, 2021).
Poulantzas, Nicos. Fascism and Dictatorship: The Third International and the Problem of Fascism. London: Verso, 1979.
Quintos, Paul. “Notes on Monopoly Capital in the 21st Century.” In Lenin’s Imperialism in the 21st Century. Edited by. Antonio Tujan. Manila: Ibon Center, 2017.
Ramos Jr., Valerino. “The Concepts of Ideology, Hegemony, and Organic Intellectuals in Gramsci’s Marxism,” Marxists.org, https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/ncm-7/tr-gramsci.htm (Accessed: May 20, 2023).
Regencia, Ted. “Record number of Filipino lawyers killed under Duterte’s watch.” Aljazeeera, April 2021, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/4/1/record-number-of-filipino-lawyerskilled-under-dutertes-reign (Accessed:: August 25, 2023).
Spinoza, Baruch. Ethics. Great Britain: Wordsworth Editions Limited, 2001. Tarinay, Rein. ‘Fake Facebook accounts meant to silence dissent’ in Bulatlat, June 9, 2020, https://www.bulatlat.com/2020/06/09/fake-facebook-accounts-meant-tosilence-dissent/ (Accessed:: June 1, 2023).
The Strait Times. “‘Shoot them dead’: Philippine President Duterte says he won’t tolerate violators of lockdown against coronavirus,” April 2, 2020, https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/shoot-them-dead-duterte-says-hewont-tolerate-violators-of-lockdown-against-coronavirus (Accessed: July 19, 2023).
Tujan, Antonio. “The Second Century of Imperialism: Neoliberalized ‘Globalization’ and Permanent War Project of Monopoly Capital,” in Lenin’s Imperialism in the 21st Century, ed. Antonio Tujan. Manila: Ibon Center, 2017.
United Nations. “WHO chief declares end to COVID-19 as a global health emergency,” in UN News, May 5, 2023, https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/05/1136367 (Accessed: July 5, 2023).
———. World Economic Situation and Prospects: Midyear Update, January 5, 2023, Retrieved from https://desapublications.un.org/file/1160/download?_ga (Accessed: August 30, 2023).
Velasco, Benjamin. “Using Marx to Understand the Working Class in the Philippines.” In Philippine Journal of Public Policy: Interdisciplinary Development Perspectives 2023.