This paper picks up on a dimension of Herbert Marcuse's model of critical theory that is greatly underdeveloped, and so much so that-particularly in the light of postcolonial theory-it is almost an embarrassment that what I refer to as "the margin," that is, a semicolonial periphery that is economically exploited, politically dominated and culturally hegemonized by imperialist powers, did not have a more important place in Marcuse's own work, and has not been far more the focus of Douglas Kellner and others who had fastened onto the Marxist Marcuse. In fact, Marcuse made only scattered statements about the nature of struggles in the society at the margins of the global system, and, when he did reference their plight and potential, he did not develop clearly how his theory could help in analyzing this context. This paper will look into the possibility of making Marcuse's notion of the Great Refusal relevant in the Philippines today, in an attempt to signal the possibility of redemptive alternatives to the struggle for emancipation. My main aim in this paper, therefore, is to show that the Filipino peasants in their plight, but also in their organization and indeed in their struggles, point to a way of life that escapes the apparently inescapable logic of technological domination. To that extent at least, they thus point to the possibilities of emancipation.

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Marcuse and the Theory of Historicity," which appeared in a previous issue of this journal, accounts for Herbert Marcuse's view of the possibility of the individual to become disposed to radical action. 1 Marcuse thus wants to suggest that there is still hope for the Enlightenment's project of "emancipation," and that there is still a revolutionary subject who can carry out this political struggle for liberation. The progression of consciousness which results in a historically conscious individual exemplified by the "conscious slave" in Hegel's discussion of master-slave relation provided Marcuse the basis of his claim that the individual can be an active and dynamic political subject. Yet the slave who realizes via the notion of labor that it is himself and not the master who is truly free is, after all, still a slave. This means that individuals still need to fight for their freedom. 2 Like Marx, Marcuse believes that the internal logic of overproduction and excessive consumption vis-à-vis massive pauperization 3 in a capitalist society lead to the self-destruction of society. The capitalist system of overproduction coupled with excessive consumption creates insatiable individuals whose needs and desires are impossible to satisfy. 4 This is dangerous for Marcuse because as the society produces more and more to 1