RIZAL & the REVOLUTION (A Nation Aborted: Rizal, American Hegemony, and Philippine Nationalism by Floro Quibuyen)

RIZAL & the REVOLUTION

A Nation Aborted: Rizal, American Hegemony, and Philippine Nationalism by Floro Quibuyen

RIZAL as a HERO.Dr. Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado y Alonso RealondaBorn on June 19, 1861Died on December 30, 1896Considered as an IllustradosWrote the famous Noli Me Tangere & El FilibusterismoA doctor, a writer & a scientistRIZAL as a HERO?Rizal was for ASSIMILATION and repudiated the REVOLUTION.DID RIZAL SUPPORT THE REVOLUTION?YES! RIZAL SUPPORTED THE REVOLUTION!Galicano ApacibleJose AlejandrinoDr. Gregorio ZaideDr. Pio ValenzuelaGALICANO APACIBLERizals COUSIN & Fellow ExpatriateCo-founder of La Solidaridad & Nacionalista PartyKnown for his piece, To the American People, an Appeal

GALICANO APACIBLEHe wrote this letter claiming that Rizal was not a separatist nor a lover of Spain.I wish to touch on some opinions attributed to Rizal erroneously by some writers who had not associated closely with him in the last years of his life. Among them was the infamous Retana in his book about our National Hero [Vida y Escritos]. These writers have affirmed that Rizal was not a separatist and that he was a lover of Spain. Perhaps so, before he had been in Spain , before he had discovered the true situation obtaining in that country, he was not too much of a separatist, though I have my doubts about this, because even when he was here, he was truly a nationalist Filipino in his acts and opinionsGALICANO APACIBLECont. But in Spain , when I joined him there, I found him a complete, unwavering separatist. I remember that in our first conversation alone, one of the first things he told me was that he was entirely disillusioned at our then called Motherland. At that time the Spanish atmosphere and the predominant Spanish opinions were such, according to him, that the Philippines, our country, could not and ought not to expect anything good under Spanish rule and that only after separation from Spain could we achieve our social, civil, and political aspirations.JOSE ALEJANDRINORizals roommate in GermanyBecame a General during the Revolution and during the Philippine American WarMember of the Propaganda MovementContributor to the La SolidaridadHelped Rizal in correcting errors in the El FilibusterismoHe also helped Rizal in the distribution of the novel

JOSE ALEJANDRINOThat some of his biographers have presented Rizal as completely opposed to the revolution of 1896

RIZAL as the INSPIRATION OF THE KATIPUNANThe Katipuneros have venerated RIZAL as the symbol & inspiration of the Revolution.Rizals name was the password used among the higher ranking membersPhotos of Rizal hung in every Katipunan meeting hallThe speeches given by Katipunero leaders usually ended with three cheers:1. For the PHILIPPINES2. For LIBERTY3. For DR. JOSE RIZALRIZAL as the INSPIRATION OF THE KATIPUNANThe Aguinaldo-led Philippine Republic issued a pamphlet that invoked the martyrs name as:The word named Jose Rizal, sent down by heaven to the land of Filipinas, in order to spend his whole life, from childhood, striving to spread throughout this vast Archipelago, the notion that righteousness must be fought for wholeheartedly.VENERATION OF RIZALRicarte, one of the illustrado revolutionary who refused to concede the defeat of he revolution to the American forces, was inspired to change the name of the country.From LAS ISLAS FILIPINAS to RIZALINE REPUBLICThe citizens will be called RIZALINOS instead of Filipinos. VENERATION OF RIZALLleto (1982) wrote:In almost every report of disturbances during the first decade of American rule, there is mention of Rizal as reincarnated in fanatical leaders in general, as literally the :spirit behind the unrest. In the 1920 Lantayug proclaimed himself a reincarnation of Rizal and won a wide following in the Eastern Visayas and Northern Mindanao Other peasant leaders who challenged the colonial order in the 1920s and the 1930s claimed to be in communication with Rizal.NO! RIZAL IS A COUNTERREVOLUTIONARY!Renato ConstantinoTrinidad Pardo De TaveraWenceslao E. Retana

RENATO CONSTANTINOAccording to Constantino, Rizal is a counterrevolutionary hero. Which means that Rizal did not support the Revolution.Constantinos opinion, during Rizals time, were considered extraordinary, if not absurd.COUNTERREVOLUTIONARIESDr. Trinidad H. Pardo de TaveraSpanish creole medical doctorSanskrit scholarEthnohistorianOne of the 1st illustrados to offer their services to the Americans as soon as the Spanish regime collapsed.

COUNTERREVOLUTIONARIESWenceslao E. RetanaAn anti-RizalProfriar journalist who had a change of heart after the fall of SpainWrote the 1st documented full-length biography of Rizal,Vida y Escritos del Dr. Rizal (Life and Writings of Dr. Rizal)

COUNTERREVOLUTIONARIESThe Americans found it most congenial to their colonial agenda.Tavera & Retana shared a common view of Rizal as the multitalented, liberal, and reformist intellectual who opposed Bonifacios uprising, but who was, nonetheless, the most revered of all Filipino patriots.Pardo De TaveraHe declared in an interview with American authorities, that when the Katipunan asked for Rizals counsel regarding the planned revolution, Rizal opposed the plan and said it would not be suitable and advised that what was good for the country was the improvement and education of the people.However, Bonifacio, instead of telling the truth, told the Filipino people that Rizal, instead of advising peace, had advised the revolution.RETANAHe fully explicated the now taken for granted interpretation that Rizal was an antirevolutionary reformist and a deeply loyal subject of Spain.He also provided the primary documentary evidence for Rizals supposed assimilationist reformism.His interpretation of Rizals politics were seconded by the first American translator of Rizals novels, Charles Derbyshire, who reiterated Retanas assimilationist thesis in his translators introduction to The Social Cancer.This thesis was picked up and popularized by the second biographer of Rizal, Austin Craig, an American Historian who set the official American version of Rizal.BUTBut the question is:On what documentary sources were these readings based?How valid are these sources?RETANAFirst in his La Solidaridad polemic with Barrantes, where Rizal declared emphatically that he does not share Ibarras view.

Retanas erroneous identification of Rizal with Ibarra can be easily disposed of, for Rizal himself had unequivocably belied this interpretation twice:Second, in his conversation with Jose Alejandrino, Rizal revealed that his hero was not Ibarra but Elias.

Declaration of Rizal:As quoted by Alejandrino:"I regret having killed Elias instead of Crisostomo Ibarra; but when I wrote Noli me Tangere, my health was so shaken, I never thought I could write its continuation and talk of a revolution. Otherwise, I would have let Elias live, who was a noble, patriotic, unselfish and disinterested character, Ibarra was an egoist, who only decided to provoke a rebellion when his interests, his person, his loves, and all that he held most sacred were touched. With such men, one can not expect success in their undertakings"ZAIDE versus MANUEL