Remembering the History of Marcos's Martial Law in the Philippines

A cartoon for the Cartoon Movement and the Philippine political cartoonist group Pitik Bulag.

At a time when authoritarian movements are trying to rewrite the histories of their countries, the study of accurate history becomes even more important.

In the Philippines, for instance, the Marcos family had a years long disinformation campaign on Philippine social media to convince a younger generation of Filipinos into believing that the Martial Law period of dictator Ferdinand Marcos was a "golden age" of prosperity and law and order. The messaging contradicts the true history of the Martial Law period, which was marked by the mismanagement of the economy, corruption, rampant human rights abuses, and crony capitalism.

It's important to remind younger generations of this true history of the Martial Law period so that the Philippines do not fall for the same mistakes again.