Early in his administration, Rodrigo Duterte, the controversial sixteenth president of the Philippines, did what no other Filipino president has done before – announce a separation from the geopolitical interests of its former colonial master, the United States of America.
By reviving the anti-US nationalism of his youth, Duterte is repudiating the liberal reformist, albeit elitist, narrative of the Aquino-to-Aquino regimes.
Duterte’s so-called “pivot to China” is also a dramatic reversal of his predecessors’ strong anti-China and rabidly pro-American foreign policy position
Former President Barack Obama
spoken on the dangers of nationalism and President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement, without actually mentioning him by name.
Obama spoke to the Fourth Congress of the Indonesian Diaspora while visiting Jakarta Saturday, according to the Hill.
“We start seeing a rise in sectarian politics,” Obama said. “We start seeing a rise in an aggressive kind of nationalism. We start seeing both in developed and developing countries an increased resentment about minority groups and the bad treatment of people who don’t look like us or practice the same faith as us.”
He also spoke about the importance of the Paris Climate Agreement.
“In Paris, we came together around the most ambitious agreement in history to fight climate change,” Obama said.
The former president also spoke on preserving religious freedom and freedom of the press in America saying, “If we don’t stand up for tolerance and moderation and respect for others, if we begin to doubt ourselves and all that we have accomplished, then much of the progress that we have made will not continue.”
