Rizal and the Propaganda Movement |
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To prove his point and refute the accusations of prejudiced Spanish writers against his race, Rizal annotated the book, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas, written by the Spaniard Antonio Morga. The book was an unbiased presentation of 16th century Filipino culture. Rizal through his annotation showed that Filipinos had developed culture even before the coming of the Spaniards. While annotating Morga’s book, he began writing the sequel to the Noli, the El Filibusterismo. He completed the Fili in July 1891 while he was in Brussels, Belgium. As in the printing of the Noli, Rizal could not published the sequel for the lack of finances. Fortunately, Valentin Ventura gave him financial assistance and the Fili came out of the printing press on September 1891. The El Filibusterismo indicated Spanish colonial policies and attacked the Filipino collaborators of such system. The novel pictured a society on the brink of a revolution. To buttress his defense of the native’s pride and dignity as people, Rizal wrote three significant essays while abroad: The Philippines a Century hence, the Indolence of the Filipinos and the Letter to the Women of Malolos. These writings were his brilliant responses to the vicious attacks against the Indio and his culture. While in Hongkong, Rizal planned the founding of the Liga Filipina, a civil organization and the establishment of a Filipino colony in Borneo. The colony was to be under the protectorate of the North Borneo Company, he was granted permission by the British Governor to establish a settlement on a 190,000 acre property in North Borneo. The colony was to be under the protectorate of the North Borneo Company, with the "same privileges and conditions at those given in the treaty with local Bornean rulers". Governor Eulogio Despujol disapproved the project for obvious and self-serving reasons. He considered the plan impractical and improper that Filipinos would settle and develop foreign territories while the colony itself badly needed such developments. |
Rizal's Articles in La SolidaridadMay 31, 1889 Rizal’s first article. Verdades nuevas (New Facts) July 31, 1889 Una profanacion (A Desecration) July 31, 1889 A scathing attacked against the friars for refusing to bury Mariano Herbosa in the Catholic cemetary. The friars alleged that the deceased had not made any confession since his marriage to Lucia Rizal (1857-1919), Rizal’s elder sister. Diferencias (Differences) – September 15, 1889 Filipinas dentro de cien anos (The Philippines Within One Hundred Years) – serialized in La Solidaridad on September 30, October 31, December 15, 1889 and February 1, 1890 Rizal prognosticated the Filipinos’ revolution against Spain winning their independence, but later the Americans would come in over its colonization. Ingratitudes (Ingratitudes) – January 15, 1890. A reply to Gov. Gen. Weyler who in company with the Dominicans, visited the Provine of Laguna. The Governor told the people : "You should not allow yourselves to be deceived by the vain promises of ungrateful sons." Sin nobre (Without Name) – February 28, 1890 Sobre la nueva ortografia de la lengua tagala (On the New Orthography of the Tagalog Language) – April 15, 1890. Rizal’s advocacy of a new spelling in Tagalog. Cosas de Filipinas (Things About the Philippines) – April 30, 1890. Sobre la indolencia de los Filipinas (On the Indolence of the Filipinos) – serialized on July 15 to September 15, 1890. Rizal’s brilliant and masterly defense against the imputation of indolence of the Filipinos. |
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