“How do you speak English so well?” others often ask me. My answer, in a half-joking manner, would always be, “Colonialism.” Which, when you think about it, is not too far from the truth.

Every June 12, my country, the Philippines, celebrates its annual Independence Day in honor of the day we first declared ourselves as our own sovereign nation, free from the shackles of three centuries of Spanish colonization. That was in 1898; the US would then colonize us immediately after for more than 40 years. The American influence over our education system is why I and almost every other Filipino speak pretty decent English (we know a handful of Spanish words, too, even without realizing it). They then granted us our full independence on July 4, 1946. You can see why we’d prefer to celebrate Independence Day on a different date.

The Philippines is but one of hundreds of countries all over the world that celebrates an “Independence Day” or something similar. If your country doesn’t have one, you’re likely to be one of the countries that others celebrate their independence from. And even the few countries who have somehow managed to avoid being colonized still felt the effect of colonialism all around them. In fact, even if the age of colonialism seems like a thing of the past, its influence continues to reverberate throughout the social, cultural, and economic relationships among now “equally” sovereign countries to this day.

It is no coincidence that today’s most developed nations — mostly in Europe, as well as the US — were once colonial powers, while their former colonies — mostly in Asia, Africa, and Latin America — are largely still developing countries who have to rely on aid and assistance from the First World (though exceptions, like South Korea, do exist). Considering that the early economic successes of the West were largely built on the manpower and resources of their colonies, it doesn’t take a political expert to recognize the grave injustice in this situation. We can pretend to be a community of equal nations, or we can recognize that today’s international power dynamics are still determined by yesterday’s colonial history.

We probably shouldn’t pretend that colonialism isn’t a thing anymore, either. There are many creative ways countries try to expand their undue influence in the modern world. Some still do it the old-fashioned way — by force — like when Russia invades Ukraine or when China sends military vessels and builds artificial islands on the South China Sea that impinges on the territory of several Southeast Asian nations. Others do it in subtler ways. Influencing another country’s election to install more “friendly” leadership could be colonialism. Debt-trap diplomacy could be considered colonialism. Foreign aid could be seen as colonialism. Even cultural exports, like the spread of Korean culture through K-pop and K-dramas, could count as colonialism under some definitions. Modern colonialism takes many forms, with varying degrees of consequence and acceptability, but the goal is always the same: a country exerting its influence beyond its borders, to its own benefit.

Perhaps this is just the consequence of an increasingly globalized world. All nations are more connected to each other than ever, and it’s natural for countries to turn this to their advantage. The alternative is isolationism — but even the most isolationist countries like North Korea still rely on their allies. So every country makes its way around the world, forming mostly uneven relationships, some in its favor and some against. Who cares if the US colonized our country before? We need their help to protect our sovereignty, and they need us to buy their products.

Of course, we can’t just blame everything on colonialism. The problems of today’s world are far too complicated for such a simplistic explanation. Even if it were that simple, there’s no “solving” colonialism anymore. Last year, my friends and I interviewed a history professor about how historical colonialism could be behind the sorry state of the Philippine education system. She acknowledged the connection, but then went on to say (and I’m paraphrasing here), “We can whine about our colonizers as much as we want, but they won’t help us solve our problems anymore.”

My country celebrates Independence Day every June 12 even though we didn’t truly gain independence on that date because acknowledging the more accurate one, July 4, merely serves as a reminder of continuing American colonial influence. We’re not much of an independent nation anyway — very few countries in the global community could consider themselves truly independent. The only way in which we are independent is in having to solve our problems by ourselves and in suffering the consequences otherwise. The age of colonialism isn’t a thing of the past — it has simply taken a subtler and at times more sinister form, wherein the colonizers reap the benefits but take none of the responsibility.