FOR YOUR INFORMATION

SUMMARY TIMELINE OF RIZAL’S LIFE

1861-1871 Childhood and early education (Calamba and Binan)

1872-1882 Formal education at the Ateneo and UST (Manila)
1882 - 1887 First stay abroad: Education
Stay in Spain, France, Germany
1887-1888 Homecoming
1888-1891 Second stay abroad: Propaganda Years
Stay in London, England, France, Belgium
1891 -1892 Stay in Hongkong and visit to North Borneo
1892-1896 Return to the Philippines
Exile in Dapitan
1896 Arrest, Trial and Execution

RIZAL AND THE PROPAGANDA MOVEMENT

The Nature of the Propaganda Movement

● The Propaganda Movement, a parenthetical period also known as the reform

movement.
They would write,
form clubs and associations,
tie up with influential politicians and
organize banquets to deliver rousing speeches.

The Early Reformists

.
● The early reformists were insulares. Foremost were Luis Rodriguez Varela, Manuel
Zumalde, Jose Javier de Torres, and, to figure later, Pedro Pelaez.
● Luis Rodriguez Varela. A liberal to the core, he published his collection of verses in
defense of the liberal constitution proclaimed at Cadiz in 1812.

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 ● The fight for reforms shifted from the Philippines to Spain. This time the fight for
reforms took a religious flavor The secularization controversy.
● Pedro Pelaez. He wrote the Documentos, defending against the friar’s right to hold
parishes in the Philippines.
● Padre Jose Burgos, Pelaez’s disciple, continued the fight of the Filipino. His first salvo
came with the Manifesto, a cutting reply to published material in the Madrid
newspaper, La Verdad, criticizing the ability of the native clergy.

Rizal and the Propaganda Movement

● Rizal entered this phase of the propaganda after the tragedy of Cavite Mutiny of 1872.

● Rizal’s participation in the propaganda can be periodized between his two European
travels, essentially between the writings of his two monumental works, Noli and Fili.
In the run up to the final draft of the Noli, Rizal publicly upheld assimilation, the kind
of front behind which he, and other nationalists, could operate on other more radical
projects but no longer believing in it in private. But in Fili, Rizal, more hardened and
radicalized, publicly advocated a separatist politics.

● When in Spain, Rizal wrote in various periodicals and newspapers about the state of
the country’s needs and articulated his nationalist ideas while defending the Filipinos
and himself against various detractors.
● Rizal was preceded by Pedro Paterno, the Regidores, the Pardo de Taveras, Sanciangco,
Lopez-Jaena, Govantes and others who were already actively campaigning for reforms
for the Philippines in Spain. These reformists, mostly creoles and mestizos, were ably
pressing Spain to grant the urgent economic reforms—such as the abolition of the
tribute, unjust taxations and the polo, and the extension of commercial code to the
Philippines—to set in train the development of the country. They fought for political
reforms such as representation in the Cortes and the abolition of censorship of the
press. After the mid-80s, Rizal, while finishing his Noli, was joined in by Evaristo
Aguirre, Julio LLorente, then still later, by Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Antonio Luna, Mariano
Ponce and others who banded together to found the La Solidaridad .
● The creoles and mestizos were older and richer and definitely more conservative in
their estimates for the country, confining their discourses only as reformists, keen on
the assimilation of the Philippines with a representative or two in the Cortes like those
of Puerto Rico and Cuba.
● The younger ones were more intensely nationalists and radical.

Rizal, Del Pilar and Blumentritt

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 ● Rizal and Del Pilar were ardent nationalists. Both were fervent and prolific journalists
who made used of their pens to disarm their enemies. When Rizal and Del Pilar met,
Rizal had already lost faith in Spain.

● Rizal told Blumentritt it was even wrong to hope for them on the ground that Spain
would not listen, much less give in to what the Filipinos demanded. He started to
direct his energies to the education of Filipinos. Rizal was moving towards the forming
of a nation of Filipinos.

● In 1891, after the banquet held to welcome the new year where Rizal delivered an
unsolicited “sermon” exhorting everyone to take their studies seriously and take less
on gambling and on Spanish senoritas. The ill feelings it caused among the Filipino
students were still pestering when the election of President that will be responsible to
direct the policy of the colony was held.

● Ferdinand Blumentritt was another person who played a significant role during the
propaganda period. Blumentritt was an Austrian scholar and professor of geography
and history in the Imperial Atheneum of Leitmeritz who did significant studies about
the Philippines, its people and language.

Rizal as Journalist-Novelist

Rizal was in Barcelona when he began to draw attention to the real state of the
country. He sent his writings to Paciano, his older brother, who in turn sent them to their
friends in the Philippines. Rizal wrote El Amor Patrio for Diariong Tagalog, He urged his
countrymen to love the Philippines and promote her progress. Moving to Madrid, he was
overjoyed to find an organization already in existence—the Circulo Hispano-Filipino. The
Circulo was a small group of dedicated Spaniards and Filipinos working to advance the good of
Spanish subjects overseas. Rizal joined it and contributed in its published magazine.

FOR YOUR INFORMATION

RIZAL’S ARTICLES IN LA SOLIDARIDAD

● The Filipino Farmers (Los Agricultores Filipinos). Published on March 25, 1889, this was
the first article of Rizal in La Solidardidad depicting the deplorable conditions of the
Filipino farmers in the Philippines which explained the backwardness of the country.

● To La Defensa (A La Defensa).Published on April 30, 1889, this article responded to the

anti-Filipino writing by Patricio de la Escosura in La Defensa by refuting the views of
Escosura and calling the readers’ attention to the influences of the friars in the country.

● Travels (Los Viajes).Published in on May 15, 1889, this article tackled the rewards gained
by those who are well-travelled to many places in the world.

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● The Truth for All (La Verdad Para Todos). Published on May 31, 1889, this article was
Rizal’s counter to the Spanish charges that the natives were ignorant and depraved.

● Vicente Barrantes’ Tagalog Theatre (Vicente Barrantes’ Teatro Tagalo). Published in June
15, 1889, this first instalment of Rizal’s “Vicente Barrantes” exposed Barrantes’ lack of
knowledge of the Tagalog theatrical art.
● Defense of the Noli (Defensa Del Noli). The manuscript of the “Defensa del Noli,” written
on June 18, 1889, was sent by Rizal to Marcelo H. Del Pilar, wanting it to be published by
the end of that month in the La Solidaridad.

● New Facts/New Truths (Verdades Nuevas). Dated July 31, 1889, this article replied to the
letter of Vicente Belloc Sanchez published in the Madrid newspaper, ‘La Patria,’
addressing Sanchez’s allegation that provision of reforms to the Philippines would
devastate the diplomatic rule of the Catholic friars.

● A Desecration/A Profanation (Una Profanacion). Published on July 31, 1889, this article
attacked the friars for refusing to give Christian burial to Mariano Herbosa, Rizal’s
brother in law, who died of cholera in May 23, 1889.

● Cruelty (Crueldad). Dated August 15, 1889, this was Rizal’s defense of Blumentritt against
the libellous attacks of his enemies.

● Differenes (Diferencias). Published on September 15, 1889, the article countered the La
Patria’s article entitled “Old Truths” that ridiculed Filipinos who asked for reforms.

● Inconsequences (Inconsequencias). Published on November 30, 1889, this article

defended Antonio Luna who was attacked by the Spanish Pablo Mir in the Barcelona
newspaper “El Pueblo Soberano.”

● Tears and Laughter (Llanto Y Risas). Dated November 30, 1889, this article condemned
the racial prejudice of the Spanish against the brown race. Here, Rizal narrated how,
back in 1880, the Spaniard and mestizo spectators stopped their applause upon noticing
that the first prize winner in literary contest had a brown skin complexion.

● The Philippines within One Hundred Years (Filipinas Dentro De Cien Anos). Serialized in
on September 30, October 31, December 15, 1889 and February 15, 1890, the article
estimated the future of the Philippines in a hundred years and foretold the end of
Spanish rule in Asia. Rizal predicted the coming of the Americans as the new colonizer of
the Philippines. He also talked about the past of the Philippines, the deterioration of the
economy and the causes of the natives’ sufferings and cautioned the Spain about the
imminent downfall of its domination. Rizal sought to awaken the minds and the hearts
of the Filipinos concerning oppression and to encourage them to fight for their right.

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 ● Ingratitude (Ingratitudes). Dated January 15, 1890, this article replied to Governor
General Weyler who told the people in Calamba that they “should not allow themselves
to be deceived by the vain promises of their ungrateful sons” in a reaction to Rizal’s
project of relocating the landless Calamba tenants to North Borneo.

● On The New Orthography of The Tagalog Language (Sobre La Nueva Ortografia De La

Lengua Tagala). Dated April 15, 1890, this article expressed Rizal’s advocacy for a set of
rules for a new Tagalog orthography, giving credit to Dr. Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera,
author of the celebrated work “El Sanscrito en la Lengua Tagala” (Sanskrit in the Tagalog
Language) published in Paris, 1884.

● The Indolence of the Filipinos (Sobre La Indolencia De Los Filipinas). Serialized in five
consecutive issues from July 15 to September 1, 1890, this article countered the
accusations by Spaniards that Filipinos were lazy. Rizal argued that Filipinos are innately
hardworking prior to the rule of the Spaniards. What brought the decrease in the
productive activities of the natives were factors stirred by Spanish colonization.
Moreover, Rizal explained that Filipinos were just prudent in their level of work under
topical climate.

● Other articles also printed in La Solidaridad were “To Country (A La Patria)” on

November 15, 1889, “Without Name (Sin Nombre)” on February 28, 1890, and “Things
about the Philippines (Cosas de Filipinas)” on April 30, 1890.

Rizal’s position in the reformist community was cemented at the banquet held in
honor of Luna and Hidalgo for winning in the Madrid Exposition of Fine Arts.His speech was
well accepted by the Filipinos in the Philippines and abroad. Among the Spaniards, it was
regarded as dangerous and subversive.

Up to the completion of his first novel, Rizal progressed as a propagandist in defense

of the Filipinos, mainly writing in the newly founded La Solidaridad. As the Noli was already
published, and while the Fili was underway, Rizal published his most important essays—the
Indolence of the Filipino and the Philippines a Century Hence— serialized in the La
Solidaridad.

Postlude

The arduous campaign in Spain did not yield the desired outcome for the Philippines.
Covering almost the entire 19th century since the works of Luis Rodriguez Varela to the time of
Marcelo H. Del Pilar, the campaign was considered in the whole a failure. The only reform

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won for the Philippines was in May 1893 with the passage of the Maura Law, named after its
principal author Antonio Maura y Montaner, giving the different municipalities and provinces
in the Philippines a measure of autonomy.

The propaganda movement successfully illustrated how Spain continued to offer a

deaf ear to all the Filipino sentiments and demands, how racist sentiments kept on
denigrating the Filipino race, how the Filipinos were arrested and detained on mere
suspicions of filibusterism, how racial discriminations were observed against the critical spirit
of equality, and how everything widened and intensified the divide between the natives and
the Spaniards in the Philippines. Since the line was drawn, it was only a matter of time, as
dictated by historical events and processes, that the Filipino soon united. It would not be a
surprise that before the Spaniards knew it, the people would rise in arms to declare their
freedom. It would take a Bonifacio, not the likes of Rizal nor Del Pilar (the propagandists) to
take the lead in that fateful day of August 1896.

CASE STUDIES

While reading all the document think of Rizal’s role in the Propaganda Movement.

● Why was the Brindis speech so controversial during Rizal’s time?

● Was the movement a success or a failure and what was Rizal’s role in this
aspect?
● Was Rizal really just after assimilation or reform?
● Did Rizal’s ideas, brought up in Propaganda/Reform Movement, contribute to
the spark that started the revolution?
● How relevant are the ideas of the propaganda movement in today’s context.
● Is there any need for movements such as this in the political and social realm
today?

Document 1 BRINDIS SPEECH OF JOSE RIZAL – THE TOAST IN

RESTAURANTE INGLES, MADRID (1884)

In speaking before you, I'm not scared by the fear that you may listen to me with
lukewarmness. I come to join to your enthusiasm; ours, the stimulus of youth, and you
cannot help but be indulgent. Sympathetic effluvia saturate the atmosphere; fraternal
currents run in all directions; generous souls listen; and consequently I do not fear for my
humble person nor do I doubt your benevolence. Men of goodwill you seek only goodwill,
and from that height where noble sentiments reside, you do not perceive petty trifles, you
see the whole, and you judge the case, and you extend your hand to one who, like me,

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desires to join you in one single thought, in one single aspiration—the glory of genius, the
splendor of the Motherland. (Good, very good! Applause)
Here is, in fact, the reason why we are gathered. In the history of nations there are
names that by themselves signify an achievement, that recall passion and greatness, names
that, like magic formulae, evoke pleasant and smiling thoughts, names that become a pact,
a symbol of peace, a bond of love between the nations. The names of Luna and Hidalgo
belong to these; their glories illumine the two extremes of the globe—the East and the
West, Spain and the Philippines. In uttering them I believe I see two luminous arches that,
starting from both regions, are going to been twined there above, impelled by the feeling of
common origin, and from that height unite two peoples with eternal bonds, two peoples
that sea and space separate in vain, two peoples in which the seeds of disunion that men
and their despotism blindly sow do not germinate. Luna and Hidalgo are Spanish as well as
Philippine glories. They were born in the Philippines but they could have been born in
Spain? Because genius knows no country, genius sprouts everywhere, genius is like light, air,
the patrimony of everybody, cosmopolitan like space, like life, like God. (Applause)
The patriarchal era in the Philippines is waning. The deeds of her illustrious sons are no
longer wasted away at home. The oriental chrysalis is leaving the cocoon. The morrow of a
long day for those regions is announced in brilliant tints and rose-colored dawns, and that
race, fallen into lethargy during the historic night while the sun illumines other continents,
again awakens, moved by the electric impact that contact with Western peoples produces,
and she demands light, life, the civilization that at one time they bequeath her, thus
confirming the eternal laws of constant evolution, of change, of periodicity, of progress.
You know this well and you exult in it. To you is due the beauty of the diamonds that
the Philippines wears in her crown. She produced the precious stones; Europe gave them
polish. And all of us contemplate proudly your work; we are the flame, the breath, the
material furnished. (Bravos!)
They imbibed over there the poetry of nature—a nature grandiose and terrible in its
cataclysms, in its evolutions, in its dynamism; a nature, sweet, tranquil, and melancholy in
its manifestation constant, static; a nature that stamps its seal on all that it creates and
produces. Its children carry it wherever they go. Analyze if not their character, their works,
and however slightly you may know that people, you will see it in everything as forming
their knowledge, as the soul that presides over everything, as the spring of the mechanism,
as the substantial form, as the raw material. It is not possible not to reflect on what one's
self feels, it is not possible to be one thing and do something else. The contradictions are
only apparent, they are only paradoxes. In El Spoliarium, through that canvas that is not
mute, can be heard the tumult of the multitude, the shouting of the slaves, the metallic
creaking of the armor of the corpses, the sobs of the bereaved, the murmurs of prayer, with
such vigor and realism as one hears the din of thunder in the midst of the crash of the
cataracts or the impressive and dreadful tremor of the earthquake.
The same nature that engenders such phenomena intervenes also in those strokes. On
the other hand, in Hidalgo's painting the purest sentiment throbs, ideal expression of
melancholy, beauty, and weakness, victims of brute force; and it is because Hidalgo was
born under the brilliant azure of that sky, to the cooing of its sea breezes, in the midst of

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the serenity of its lakes, the poetry of its valleys, and the majestic harmony of its
mountains and ranges.
For that reason in Luna's are the shadows, the contrasts, the moribund lights, mystery,
and the terrible, like the reverberation of the dark tempests of the tropics, the lightning and
the roaring irruptions of their volcanoes. For that reason Hidalgo is all light, color, harmony,
feeling, limpidity, like the Philippines in her moonlight nights, on her tranquil days, with her
horizons that invite to meditation, and where the infinite lulls. And both, despite being so
distinct in themselves, in appearance at least, coincide at bottom, as all our hearts do in
spite of notable differences. In reflecting on their palette the splendiferous rays of unfading
glory with which they surround their Native Land, both express the spirit of our social,
moral, and political life: mankind subjected to harsh tests: unredeemed mankind: reason
and aspiration in an open struggle with preoccupations, fanaticism, and injustices, because
sentiments and opinions cut passage through the thickest walls, because to them all bodies
have pores, all are transparent, and if they lack pen, if the press does not help them, the
palette and brushes will not only delight the eye but will also be eloquent tributes.
If the mother teaches her child her language in order that she may understand his joys,
his necessities, or his sorrows, Spain, as mother, teaches also her language to the
Philippines in spite of the opposition of those myopic men and pigmies, who, desiring to
insure the present, do not see the future, do not weigh the consequences- rachitic wet
nurses, corrupt and corrupters, who tend to extinguish all legitimate feeling, who,
perverting the hearts of the people, sow in them the germs of discord in order to reap later
the fruit, the aconite, the death of future generations.
But, I forget those miseries! Peace to those who are dead, because the dead are dead;
they lack breath, soul, and worms corrode them! Let us not evoke their dismal memory; let
us not bring their stench into the midst of our rejoicings! Fortunately, brothers are larger in
number; generosity and nobility are innate under the sky of Spain-all of you are a patent
proof of that. You have responded unanimously; you have helped and you would have done
more if more had been asked of you. Seated to share our supper and to honor the
illustrious sons of the Philippines, you honor also Spain because you have done very well.'
The boundaries of Spain are neither the Atlantic nor the Cantabrian nor the
Mediterranean—it would be ignominious for the water to place a dam to her grandeur, to
her idea —Spain is there, there where her beneficent influence is felt, and though her flag
might disappear, there would remain her memory, eternal, imperishable. What does a
piece of red and yellow cloth matter, what do rifles and cannon matter, there where a
feeling of love, of tenderness, does not sprout, there where no fusion of ideas, unity of
principles, harmony of opinions exist? (Prolonged applause)
Luna and Hidalgo belong as much to you as to us; you love them and we see in them
generous hopes, precious examples. The Filipino youth in Europe, ever enthusiastic, and
others whose hearts always remain young for the disinterestedness and enthusiasm that
characterize their actions, offer to Luna a crown, a modest gift, small indeed for our
enthusiasm, but the most spontaneous and the most voluntary of all the gifts hitherto
presented to him.
But the gratitude of the Philippines towards her illustrious sons was not yet satisfied,
and-desiring to give free rein to the thoughts that bubble in the mind, to the sentiments

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that abound in the heart, and to the words that escape from the lips, we have all come
here to this banquet to join our wishes, in order to give form to the mutual embrace of two
races that love one another and like one another, morally, socially, and politically united for
a period of four centuries, so that they may form in the future one single nation in spirit, in
their duties, in their views, in their privileges. (Applause)
I drink then to the health of our artists Luna and Hidalgo, legitimate and pure glories of
two peoples! I drink to the health of the persons who have lent them a helping hand on the
dolorous path of art. I drink to the health of the Filipino youth, sacred hope of my Native
Land, that they may imitate such precious examples so that Mother Spam, solicitous and
heedful of the welfare of her provinces, implement soon the reforms she has contemplated
for a long time. The furrow is ready and the ground is not sterile! And I drink finally for the
happiness of those parents who, deprived of the tenderness of their children, from those
distant regions follow them with moist eyes and palpitating hearts across seas and space,
sacrificing on the altar of the common welfare the sweet consolations that are so scarce in
the twilight of life, precious and lonely winter flowers that sprout along the snow-white
borders of the grave. (Warm applause, congratulations to the orator.)

National Historical Commission of the Philippines

Ref: Engaging Jose Rizal….Distor, et al….

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