UNIT 6

RIZAL’S LIFE: MADRID STUDIES AND THE PROPAGANDA MOVEMENT

LEARNING OUTCOMES: The learners are expected to:

 Explain the principle of assimilation advocated by the Propaganda

Movement
 Appraise Rizal’s relationship with other Propagandists
 Analyze Rizal’s growth as a Propagandist and disavowal of assimilation

LEARNING CONTENT:

A. STUDENT LIFE IN MADRID

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On November 3, 1882, Rizal enrolled in the Universidad Central de Madrid in

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two courses, Medicine and Philosophy and Letters. Aside from his university
studies, he studied painting and sculpture, took language lessons on French,

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German and English in the Academy of San Carlos, and honed his fencing
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and shooting skills in the Hall of Arms Sanz y Carbonell. Rizal led a Spartan
life in Madrid. He lived frugally, managed his time wisely for studying,
attending lectures and going to the operas and religious fiestas. Contrary to
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other claims, Rizal drank occasionally but lightly, especially when he was in
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the company of friends. His only way of gambling was the lottery which
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really became habitual.

MADRID INSPIRATION.
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It was during this time that he visited the home of Don Pablo Ortega y Rey.
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He was a former civil governor of Manila. Rizal and other Filipino Students
played parlor games with his two charming daughters, Pilar and Consuelo. It
was Consuelo who awakened Rizal’s heart. As time passed by, Rizal and
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Consuelo became intimately close. And although Eduardo de Lete was also
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courting her, Consuelo came to love Rizal. However, with great will power,
Rizal did not allow the romance to grow for reasons that first, he still loved
Leonor and, second, he was planning to leave Madrid right after his studies.
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In the end, Consuelo chose Lete over Rizal, not because she came short of
her love for the latter, but because he was just being inconsistent with her.

B. THE PROPAGANDA MOVEMENT.

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 Between 1872 and 1892, a national consciousness was growing among the
Filipino émigrés who had settled in Europe. In the freer atmosphere of
Europe, these émigrés--liberals exiled in 1872 and students attending
European universities--formed the Propaganda Movement. Organized for
literary and cultural purposes more than for political ends, the Propagandists,
who included upper-class Filipinos from all the lowland Christian areas, strove
to "awaken the sleeping intellect of the Spaniard to the needs of our country"
and to create a closer, more equal association of the islands and the
motherland. Among their specific goals were representation of the
Philippines in the Cortes, or Spanish parliament; secularization of the clergy;
legalization of Spanish and Filipino equality; creation of a public school
system independent of the friars; abolition of the polo (labor service) and
vandala (forced sale of local products to the government); guarantee of basic
freedoms of speech and association; and equal opportunity for Filipinos and

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Spanish to enter government service.

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JOSE RIZAL, THE PROPAGANDIST.

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The most outstanding Propagandist was José Rizal, a physician, scholar,
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scientist, and writer. Born in 1861 into a prosperous Chinese mestizo family
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in Laguna Province, he displayed great intelligence at an early age. After
several years of medical study at the University of Santo Tomás, he went to
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Spain in 1882 to finish his studies at the University of Madrid.

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In 1882, shortly after his arrival in Madrid, Rizal, joined the Circulo-Hispano-
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Filipina. This circle was composed of Filipinos and Spaniards who believed
that reforms be introduced in the Philippines. Its founder was Juan Atayde.
Upon the request of the members of the society, he wrote a poem entitled Mi
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Piden Versos (They Asked Me For Verses).

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His love for books encouraged him to economize his living expenses and
soon, with great diligence, he was able to build a fair-sized private library,
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consisting mostly of second-hand books bought from a bookstore owned by a

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certain Señor Roses. His collections of numerous books were on medicine,

philosophy, languages, geography and the arts among others. Rizal was
deeply affected by Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Eugene Sue’s
The Wandering Jew. These books aroused his sympathy for his oppressed
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people.

During the decade that followed, Rizal's career spanned two worlds: Among
small communities of Filipino students in Madrid and other European cities,
he became a leader and eloquent spokesman, and in the wider world of

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 European science and scholarship--particularly in Germany--he formed close
relationships with prominent natural and social scientists. The new discipline
of anthropology was of special interest to him; he was committed to refuting
the friars' stereotypes of Filipino racial inferiority with scientific arguments.
His greatest impact on the development of a Filipino national consciousness,
however, was his publication of two novels--Noli Me Tangere (Touch me not)
in 1886 and El Filibusterismo (The reign of greed) in 1891. Rizal drew on his
personal experiences and depicted the conditions of Spanish rule in the
islands, particularly the abuses of the friars. Although the friars had Rizal's
books banned, they were smuggled into the Philippines and rapidly gained a
wide readership.

Other important Propagandists included Graciano Lopez Jaena, a noted

orator and pamphleteer who had left the islands for Spain in 1880 after the

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publication of his satirical short novel, Fray Botod (Brother Fatso), an

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unflattering portrait of a provincial friar. In 1889 he established a biweekly

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newspaper in Barcelona, La Solidaridad (Solidarity), which became the
principal organ of the Propaganda Movement, having audiences both in

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Spain and in the islands. Its contributors included Rizal; Dr. Ferdinand
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Blumentritt, an Austrian geographer and ethnologist whom Rizal had met in
Germany; and Marcelo del Pilar, a reform-minded lawyer. Del Pilar was active
in the anti-friar movement in the islands until obliged to flee to Spain in
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1888, where he became editor of La Solidaridad and assumed leadership of

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the Filipino community in Spain.

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In 1887 Rizal returned briefly to the islands, but because of the furor
surrounding the appearance of Noli Me Tangere the previous year, he was
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advised by the governor to leave. He returned to Europe by way of Japan and

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North America to complete his second novel and an edition of Antonio de

Morga's seventeenth-century work, Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas (History of
the Philippine Islands). The latter project stemmed from an ethnological
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interest in the cultural connections between the peoples of the pre-Spanish

Philippines and those of the larger Malay region (including modern Malaysia
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and Indonesia) and the closely related political objective of encouraging

national pride. De Morga provided positive information about the islands'
early inhabitants, and reliable accounts of pre-Christian religion and social
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customs.

JOSE RIZAL, THE MASON.

Rizal then came into contact with the liberal and republican elements,
majority of them were Masons. He was easily impressed by the way

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 prominent Spanish Masons attack the government. In time, his friends, who
were Masons, persuaded him into Masonry. Thus in 1883, he joined the
Masonry, Rizal naturally ceases going to church and led a life as a “free
thinker”. His first Masonic lodge was “Acacia”.

Things in the Philippines turned bad to worse. The harvest was down. The
rent on the lands cultivated by his family was raised to exorbitant rate by the
manager of the Dominican Estate. Due to the lean situation, his regular
allowance decreased and at time ceased to arrive. Rizal's prime encounter
with Freemasonry occurred when he was in Spain, where he made the
acquaintance of some liberal and republican Spaniards who were mostly
Masons. He admired the way these Masons scrutinized and criticized the
methods of the government and criticized the haughty friars, a freedom
which could not be practiced in the Philippines. Eventually, in 1883, Rizal

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joined the Masonic lodge in Madrid which was called Acacia. His central

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motive in joining the society was to secure the aid of the Freemasons in his

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battle against the abusive friars in the Philippines. Since the friars used the
might of Catholicism to oppress and persecute the country's patriots, Rizal

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intended to fight them with Freemasonry.
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On November 15, 1890, Rizal became a Master Mason in Lodge
Solidaridad in Madrid. Two years later he was awarded Master Mason in Paris
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by Le Grand Orient de France.

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Some of his comrades including Graciano Lopez Jaena, Mariano Ponce, and
Marcelo H. del Pilar, were also active Masons. Rizal, on the other hand, was
more placid. His only Masonic writing was entitled "Science, Virtue and
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Labor," which he delivered in 1889.

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A portion of his lecture reads:

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The duty of modern man, to my way of thinking, is to work for the

redemption of humanity, because once man is dignified there would be less
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unfortunate and more happy men that is possible in this life. Humanity
cannot be redeemed so long as there are oppressed peoples, so long as
there are some men who live on the tears of many, so long as there are
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emasculated minds and blinded eyes that enable others to live like sultans
who alone may enjoy beauty. Humanity cannot be redeemed while reason is
not free, while faith would want to impose itself on facts, while whims are
laws, and while there are nations who subjugate others. For humanity to be
able to attain the lofty destiny toward which God guides it, it is necessary

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 that within its fold there should be no dissensions nor tyranny, that plagues
do not decimate it and no groans and curses be heard in its march. It is
necessary that its triumphant career march to the tune of the hymns of glory
and liberty with a bright face and serene forehead.

MASTERS OF THE ARTS.

It was during this period when two Filipino masters of the brush won honors
at the National Exposition of the Fine Arts in Madrid Juan Luna’s canvas
“Spoliarium” won a gold medal (3 won) while Felix Hidalgo’s “Christian
Virgins Exposed to the Populace” took home a silver medal (12 won). Rizal, in
banquet in honor of the two gave an eloquent speech that highlighted his
poetic genius and refined sarcasm about the bigotry and blindness of many
Spaniards who could not comprehend the university genius. Rizal declared in

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the speech called “Brindis” that talent is not a monopoly of any race or

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country because it can be found in anyone and anywhere around the world.

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A DOCTOR AND A PHILOSOPHER.

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He then completed his medicine studies for that year at the Universidad
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Central de Madrid on June 21, 1884. The next academic year (1884-1885) he
studied and passed all the subjects leading to degree of Doctor of Medicine.
Due to the fact, however, that he did not present the thesis required for
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graduation, nor paid the corresponding fees. He was not awarded his
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doctor’s diploma. Nevertheless, he was given his Licentiate in Medicine and

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was entitled to practice. The only thing he was disqualified from doing was
to teach Medicine in the university, which was, anyway, not part his plans.
On his 24th birthday he was awarded by the university the degree in
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Licentiate in Philosophy and Letters with the rating of excellent. Upon

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completing his studies, he became more eager to see more of Europe to

practice medicine and to discover more things that would be beneficial to his
people and his native land.
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After a stay in Europe and Hong Kong, Rizal returned to the Philippines in
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June 1892, partly because the Dominicans had evicted his father and sisters
from the land they leased from the friars' estate at Calamba, in Laguna
Province. He also was convinced that the struggle for reform could no longer
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be conducted effectively from overseas. In July he established the Liga

Filipina (Philippine League), designed to be a truly national, nonviolent
organization. It was dissolved, however, following his arrest and exile to the
remote town of Dapitan in northwestern Mindanao.

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 The Propaganda Movement languished after Rizal's arrest and the collapse of
the Liga Filipina. La Solidaridad went out of business in November 1895, and
in 1896 both del Pilar and Lopez Jaena died in Barcelona, worn down by
poverty and disappointment. An attempt was made to reestablish the Liga
Filipina, but the national movement had become split between ilustrado
advocates of reform and peaceful evolution (The Compromisarios, or
Compromisers) and a plebeian constituency that wanted revolution and
national independence. Because the Spanish refused to allow genuine
reform, the initiative quickly passed from the former group to the latter.

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