Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • Dumol Camposano - Chapter Three

    Uploaded by

    Griel Christian Gatchalian
    29 views20 pages

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    Report this Document

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf
    29 views20 pages

    Dumol Camposano - Chapter Three

    Uploaded by

    Griel Christian Gatchalian

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
    Flag for inappropriate content
    Download as pdf
    of 20
    woe Saal © © 1883 1884 rolls june |7-August 20, visits Paris, France: 25 June. delivers his famous toast (pnd) 10 Juan Luna and Félix Resurreccién Hidalgo Fishes al courses forthe centiten Med bt doesnot submit the thesis ITHIN THE REMAINING MONTHS OF 1882, the young Rizal would suffer two W::: disappointments that would reconfigure his ideas of nation and citizenship in different ways. The first disappointment did not seem like the deeper one and was more like a nagging irritation. In time, however, it would reveal itself to be deeper, reshaping his thoughts on Filipinos and the Philippines definitively almost ten years later. The second disappointment exercised an immediate influence on his beliefs; it would take some eight years before he realized he had been seduced. A First Disappointment Soon after his arrival in Madrid, a fact of expatriate life stared Rizal in the face—the lack of depth and seriousness of many Filipino students in Spain. Craig observes that his more mature mind put him out of sympathy with his young compatriots. “Their admiration gave him prestige, but his popularity did not arise from comradeship, as he had but very few intimates.”* Apparently, he preferred to associate with older, more mature men, and “he met leaders of Spanish national life who were men of state affairs and much more sedate, men with broader views and more settled opinions than the irresponsible class with whom his school companions were accustomed to associate.”* This gap would only grow, the alienation becoming more intense as Rizal was politicized and as his ideas matured. Rizal was at his diplomatic, if somewhat patronizing, best in a speech at the 1883 New Year's Eve banquet of the Filipino students in Madrid. Saying farewell to 1883 and welcoming the new year, his veiled condescension was hard to miss: “83 is rich in pleasant memories; ’84 I dare prophesy will be brilliant and glorious; ’83 is a day of early youth: gay, festive, smiling; ’84, a day of manly vigor: deeds and greatness.” Two years later, he would throw discretion to the winds and reveal in a speech for 1885 New Year's Eve what had actually transpired two years earlier: “Except for two or three who would attend class, the —_—w- “The Enlightenment was the term forthe eighteenth century movernent that advocated for the betterment of human life through the use of reason. It ‘was an intellectual movement that dominated the European continent and inspired the questioning of various institutional authorities, such as the Church and the monarchies. Oppose page. The buitngof te Royo! Observatory in Mod one ofthe endecrers of Chats I, The cerning ofthe Bourbon drosty in Span ushered in the Spensh Entghterment (La hstracion). Tis ‘105 marked as 0 ered offers, including the expansion of soertfic sone. (Photo courtesy of FanattigNviimeda Commons.) —_e— 1887 ‘The Nol me téngere is published in Bertin ° 1886 February 6, moves to Heidbergto cote fis ephthlnologea sues inde Or. Ono Beker Ma 1885 Fertdcen by isan to eur to the Pipines silkather nice May to June, whittwind tour of Europe with Begins writing the Nal me tngere Maximo Viola August), begins correspondence with Austian ‘ethnologst Dr. Ferdinand Blumentrit June 19, ears his Weenie in Pilosophy and ie May 13-17, vists the Blumentrits with Viola November, travels to Paris to study ophthalmic Surgery under Dr. Louis de Wecker eee ne ald pass the afternoon playing... at yj ’ Paani visit families, special ones because = ‘heir members.”* He called out their fond sd of Chance, like that of the old Christiane wore gathered together there the go4 altars of crude pine or covered with from the ridiculous small coins to bany hills and gold coins.”* While he acknowledged Oe eel many Who wee intelligent and talented among them, “so many brilliant ip a a Ss Were getting lost individually because of lack .d an excess of individualism.”” This of unity an¢ padi i for him, was what ultimately killed the Circulo Hispano-Filipino. His speech jn 1883 ended with a reminder to those wl hho were either wasting their time or hag lost their way: *{lf] this country, if the Philippines, were "0 ask me what T have done during my pilgrimage, I would give her the same answet T give to a hidden thought of yours that I regret and deplor ‘In my heart I have suppressed al loves except that of my homeland; in my mind I have erased all ideas which do not signify her progress, and my lips have forgotten the names of races in order not to say more than ‘Filipinos,”* instead of saying indios filipinos (in contradistinction to indios americanos) or esparioles fulipinos (in contradistinc. tion to espafioles peninsulares or americanos), to say only “Filipinos.” “Filipino” denoted an individual’s place of origin; with the racial specification suppressed, ino” alone, referring to natives, mestizos, and Spaniards in whose mind all ideas which do not signify the progress of the homeland have been erased, pointed in the direction of a single society and a common good. ‘The weeds of vice, however, would prove difficult to uproot. rest would sleep up to 00M after hours drinking coffee, # of them had a single male among “The worship of the g temple; wherever to mn see on for gambling: did not have a fixed would emerge, and one could then : green table cloth all kinds of offerings, A Second Disappointment Rizal’s “El amor patrio” was negatively received by some friars. We do not know exactly by whom, but news of it reached the parents of Rizal who promptly forbade him from writing anything for publication, especially political pieces. “Me piden versos” (“They Ask Me for Verses”), which Rizal wrote in December 1882 and which is frequently read as a poem of homesickness, is probably something else: a poem on Rizal's growing depression as he mulled over the paternal prohi- bition to write. (His mother was probably the source of the idea of the prohibi tion.) The prohibition neutralized the reason for his coming to Spain: to write more freely. Unbeknownst to Rizal, says the poem, Death was his traveling companion he blamed the friars for this. From then on, a new spirit gripped him. at the friars were enemies of progress as the liberals whispered in the Philippines was something he had now personally experienced. Within sevet months, however, they would also i ie ee also be revealed to him to be avaricious hypocrites he received a letter dated May 26 from Paciano informing : The vicar forane Fr. Villafranca cae feeved thie fine finding the parish strongbox closed wit et (Don Francisco) to advance the mone the key in Manila, THE NATION AS PROJECT | intimidating him with threats of revealing to the archbishop the secrets of the dead man” that concerned a member of their farm: an ;. Rizal was livid. On July 20, he responded with a letter “dominated by that uncontrolled passion for justice we call revenge.”” In part, the letter read: I regret very much the death of the pari h priest, not precisely because he was a friend, but because he was a good priest, which is a very rare thing as you see, rara avis. My blood boils every time I read what you say about Fr. Villafranca, but I am pleased because he supports and justifies all my prejudices against him; if he had acted in another way, perhaps I would have had to say I was deceived. A bonzo ot brahman could not have done worse, if they the priests, the virtuous ministers of God who demand secrecy and avoid scandal, who have good and.grave words, they who are believed to be simple as doves and wise like serpents; they who speak of respect for the elderly and respect for the tomb, they who always talk of fasting, of prayer and of the Mass, who have God on their lips while they rob the poor of a real to enrich themselves, threaten with revealing faults Committed in youth to dishonor the illustrious memory of a wise old man who perhaps hhad wept for his faults and has been less hypocritical than these so-called judges. But one ‘cannot expect less from a supporter of the friars, and this demonstrates to me that I am fair in my opinions. If! had been there, I would have challenged him to divulge the faults of the deceased priest, and let's see if it is not he who is the dung beetle that spends its days digging up disgusting things and filth." It should be noted that Rizal was not only assuming a liberal political posture but was in fact embracing the Enlightenment view of the world. It should be noted as well that in the paragraph quoted above we have one of the germs of the Noli me téngere, the seed of P. Salvi and his blackmail of Marfa Clara. Fr. Villafranca, however, was not, according to de Pedro, a friar, but a secular priest. Was Rizal aware of this? The Spanish Enlightenment Rizal’s journey to Spain would mark a critical phase in the development of his ideas. He would come in contact with the Enlightenment and its political spawn, liberalism. This encounter was not purely academic. As it did in France ‘a century earlier, this intellectual movement—with its secular worldview and political ideas rejecting the traditional hierarchical political and social orders— was undermining key institutions of Spanish society. After a quarter of a century of relative political calm that began with Isabel’s accession to the throne, Glorious Revolution (La Gloriosa) of 1868 gave new impetus to liberal forces in Spain and brought to political prominence leading Masons and Krausists— the elements highly responsible for the anticlerical orientation of the Revolu- tion.” A secret society concerned with the secular study of ethical and social issues, Freemasonry, attracted leading members of the military as well as a large following among the Spanish bourgeoisie. The Krausists, on the other hand, were intellectual followers of Hegel who were drawn to science, art, nature, sports, and civic virtues. Many prominent academics were Krausists.'* Across the polit- ical divide were the conservatives and traditionalists, among them the Carlists, yp ‘The real was Spain's Offical currency from the mmid-fourteenth century until the seventeenth century. etre The Glorious Revolution (La Gloriosa) was responsible for the depostion of Queen Isabela Il. During her stayin France to sign an aliance with Emperor Napoleon, Admiral juan Bautista Topete y Carballo issued a revolutionary prodamation in Cadiz, Span on September 18, 11868 which led to uprisings in various cties all across the country. With the defeat ofthe government's army inthe Battle (of Alcolea on September 28, the Queen was exiled in France, and ‘Amadeo of Savoy, from Htaly, ‘ruled in her place. aang Krausism sa doctrine that ‘was named ater Kar Chrsian Friedrich Krauss, and advocited academic freedom from dogma and doctriral tolerance, I was developed into a movernent in Spain, led by a group of Spanish juris, and became the dominant intellectual movement that influenced Spanish Iberaism. CHAPTER THREE: THE ENLIGHTENMENT CASTS ITS SPELL 55 ee NN RE SSS gy ions of society such as the Church ang it eserve the institutions i [ who were on the imoaphere was one of ideological contention and cong, the monarchy.’ the loss of overseas territories, general economic decng ineptitude began his studies at the Universidad fueled by anxi ena weal and government ineptitude. When Rizal sti ves Central de Madrid in 1882, the faculty was sharply divided and academic citcly rife with controversies. Liberal professors lke a eiescinlsn wee oes i ine with unorthodox ideas, while lars like Mente Peo and Ory Lars zl deeded Catolitation aig attacks from political and religious reformers. “The year Rizal first enrolled in Madrid, Giner de los Rios, Sanz del Rio's spiritual heir, and his Krausis, followers, earlier expelled from the University for unorthodoxy, were reinstated and were received enthusiastically by the students.”"* ipino Liberalism . —— ‘The heady atmosphere of Madrid expanded Rizal’s intellectual horizon. “Free. thinkers and atheists spoke freely in an insulting manner about his religion and about his Church; he found the authority of the government hardly existent; he saw not only the liberals fighting the clericals but, to his astonishment, the republicans and Carlists working openly for the realization of their political ideals.” And then there was his countrymen, mostly scions of the new colonial middle class. Many of them were from families whose wealth was a direct conse. quence of a plantation economy driven by commerce and capital originating from the industrial economies of the West. Their social background predisposed them toward the very political forces that wanted to modernize Spanish society and its medieval institutions. Not unexpectedly, the Filipino community in Spain was characterized by a pronounced liberal and anti-friar sentiment. Rizal soon became close friends with some of its prominent members, including the radical and fiery orator Graciano Lopez Jaena with whom he would eventually collabo- rate. Among the first Filipinos to be initiated into maso1 1880s, Lopez Jaena was a sworn enemy His fiery oratory and enthusiasm would play a role in the latter's radicaliza- tion. In this company, and in this politically charged milieu, Rizal’s patriotism in “A la juventud filipina” (1879) and “El amor patrio” (1882) acquired a polit- bal language soa bcs an ideological critique and indictment of Philippine col othe tian i = iateea pemel the Spanish friar. | With mont ofthe empire see coe tle ninetoenth-century colonial soci Spanish government wished the frats to continu tional iberation, te to have played in centuries past: to keep ohn Paving the role they seemed ‘ep the native population loyal to Spain 'Ppression in the Peninsula by liberal gover” anish society, the religious orders of the fria'S keep the Philippines even by anticlerical polite mnry in Spain in the early of the friars long before Rizal was. ciono Lopes oena, the fst eto ‘ wo ‘Soidonod ‘coco, of Although subjected to repeated su, Wired Commo's) ments aiming to secularize § were deemed indispensable to leaders. The liberal governor-general, repared ie & aetna ‘arlos Ma. de la Torre, was pr e is t them. He in view the friars not with modern ideas, should rule our policy in the Phitip informed his successor that, “one must » no, but with ideas and the criterion which Pines.” For him, they were “the strongest THE NATION AS PROJECT supports of our glorious rule” and “those who are ill-disposed towards the friars are the same who are very ill-disposed towards Spain...”"” With the growth of anticlerical sentiment in the politics of the Peninsula, the religious orders had a good reason to demonstrate their worth as pillars of Spanish sovereignty in the Islands and, quite understandably, played this role to the hilt.!* Schumacher explains this confluence: In the circumstances of the time, to be a liberal very often meant to be anticlerical or at, least antifriar. Such anticlericalism was not so much due to obscurantism, which certainly existed in some sectors of the clergy, as it was to the well-justified fear that ecclesiastical power would be used to suppress liberal progress. The influence of the friar orders in the Philippines was not rarely used for this purpose, whether successfully or not, though the religious orders’ fear of liberalism was not without basis. For church property had so often been confiscated in Europe and the personal rights of ecclesiastics so often violated in the name of the new freedoms.” Carlos Ma. de la Torre was the 99th governor-general of the Philippines. He is considered to be the most beloved governor. ‘The friars, therefore, came to play a role in politics that easily made them genera that presided in the the object of ilustrado opprobrium, Anticlericalism was so inextricably bundled _

    You might also like