‘…the observance of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Balaoan (La Union, 20 March 2025) must mean the continuing crusade against Hitlerism, Han chauvinism and the collaborationists’ feeble attempts to whitewash history.’
AMITY with the Anti-Christ? “Dear Friend, That I address you as a friend is no formality. I own no foes. My business in life has been for the past 33 years to enlist the friendship of the whole humanity by befriending mankind, irrespective of race, color or creed. I hope you will have the time and desire to know how a good portion of humanity who have been living under the influence of that doctrine of universal friendship views your actions. We have no doubt about your bravery or devotion to your fatherland, nor do we believe that you are the monster described by your opponents. But your own writings and pronouncements and those of your friends and admirers leave no room for doubt that many of your acts are monstrous and unbecoming of human dignity, especially in the estimation of men like me who believe in universal friendliness.” [Gandhi, Letter to Adolf Hitler, Christmas week of 1941] [https://www.mkgandhi.org/mynonviolence/chap60.php]
With some Catholics and other Christians viewing Hitler as the Anti-Christ of his generation: “We reject the false doctrine, as though the State, over and beyond its special commission, should and could become the single and totalitarian order of human life.” [Theological Declaration of Barmen, 1934] “The leader must radically reject the temptation to become an idol, that is, the ultimate authority of the led.” [“The Younger Generation’s Altered View of the Concept of Führer,” Radio talk, 01 February, 1933, Berliner Funkstunde, 5:30 pm; Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works English Edition, Volume 12, Berlin: 1932-1933. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2009, pp. 266-268; https://www.stmichaelsarlington.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/41/files/1933-radio-addressdocx_142.pdf]
Ditto Showa Tenno. “Who remembers Japan’s genocidal campaign in China that killed more than 20 million people — thousands of them by poison gas and canisters containing plague and typhus? Or the murder of 35 percent of the 200,000 soldiers and civilians held in Japanese prisoner-of-war camps that meted out unspeakable cruelties? … Under the Meiji Constitution of 1889, the emperor was not a powerless constitutional monarch but possessed absolute authority with an army and navy that reported directly to him. Belying the post-war myth that he was simply a marine biologist specializing in hydrozoa (small jellyfish), Hirohito operated a war room under the Imperial Palace, gave instructions to his commanders and rewarded the head of medical experimentation, Dr Shiro Ishii.”
[https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/hirohito-the-war-criminal-who-got-away/]
“Napoleon, Hitler, and Stalin were all antichrists, and it was right for the church to think they might be the final antichrist.”
[https://credomag.com/2012/12/the-state-as-the-antichrist-revelation-131-18-thomas-schreiner/]
Thus, the struggle to eradicate Fascism and Oriental Hitlerism before and during World War II was not a quarrel among friends but a deadly confrontation between the Warriors of the Light and the Forces of Darkness.
Bonding with the Blasphemer? Hirohito was arahitogami (“living god”) before and during World War Two and imposed his “sacred” war on the nations of Asia-Pacific (“We, by grace of heaven, Emperor of Japan, seated on the throne of a line unbroken for ages eternal…hereby declare war on the United States of America and the British Empire,” Imperial Rescript on the Declaration of War released by Nipponese Cabinet at 1100 hours on 08 December 1941), but in defeat had to issue a Humanity Declaration (人間宣言, Ningen-sengen). [https://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/shiryo/03/056shoshi.html] Be that as it may, the war-Shintoists, Japanese fanatics, royalists, Japanese imperialists, emperor-worshippers, and militarists have never accepted the righteous defeat of Showa and his kingdom at the hands of the original United Nations and have never acknowledged the inherent evil of “emperor-system fascism” (tennōsei fashizumu).
The Bataan Death March, Lipa Massacre, Rape of Mapanique, Calamba Massacre and the Japanese Rape of Manila, among others, clearly demonstrated the tennoists’ blatant disregard of Filipino humanity. As for Hirohito’s cohort: “August 1920, Hitler compared the Jews to germs. He stated that diseases cannot be controlled unless you destroy their causes. The influence of the Jews would never disappear without removing its cause, the Jew, from our midst, he said. These radical ideas paved the way for the mass murder of the Jews in the 1940s.” [https://www.annefrank.org/en/anne-frank/go-in-depth/why-did-hitler-hate-jews/?ftag=YHF4eb9d17]
Thus, the Global War against Fascism was not a friendly correction of opponents in a civilized debate, and “the rebuilding of national economic life must be achieved by processes which will enable the liberated peoples to destroy the last vestiges of nazism and fascism and to create democratic institutions of their own choice.” [Protocol of Proceeding of Crimea Conference, agreements reached at the Yalta Conference between President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Generalissimo Stalin, February 1945]
The legacy of the United Nations’ triumph over Hitlerism? “Historically, the concept of crimes against humanity emerged prominently during the aftermath of World War II, with the Nuremberg Trials serving as a crucial turning point. These trials established a legal framework for prosecuting such crimes, which have since been codified in various international treaties, including the Rome Statute of the ICC.” [https://pia.gov.ph/30-years-to-life-imprisonment-for-crimes-against-humanity/]
In the 21st century, the UN campaign to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development (https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal16) must contend with organized crime and gang violence. The weaponization of robots and drones. Interpersonal violence (including violence against children). The livestreaming of extremist attacks. So-called lone wolf attacks. “There are concerns that advances in AI and 3D printing could facilitate biological attacks…The UN Secretary-General has called for fully autonomous weapons to be prohibited by international law, as have over 30 nations.” [https://www.un.org/en/un75/new-era-conflict-and-violence] Thus, the observance of the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Balaoan (La Union, 20 March 2025) must mean the continuing crusade against Hitlerism, Han chauvinism and the collaborationists’ feeble attempts to whitewash history.
