LIFE AND WORKS OF RIZAL
identidad o katauhan.
ANG BATAS RIZAL
AT ANG PAGKAKAPILI KAY RIZAL
BILANG PAMBANSANG BAYANI
DISYEMBRE 29, 1897 – Nagdaos ng isang
programa sa Hongkong si Emilio Aguinaldo at
iba pang pinuno bilang paggunita sa ika-isang
taong kamatayan ng bayani.
SETYEMBRE 15, 1898 – Ginunita ni Emilio
Aguinaldo ang alaala at makabayang adhikain
at gawa ng mga namayapang bayani ng Pilipinas
tulad ni Rizal.
DISYEMBRE 20, 1898 – Idineklera ni Emilio
Aginaldo na pangulo ng Pilipinas ang isang
opisyal na proklamasyon na nagtatakda sa
Disyembre 30 taun-taon bilang “Araw ni Rizal“.
La Independencia at El Heraldo de
Revolucion
- Nagpalabas ng mga nakalimbag na
pahayag para sa alaala ni Rizal noon
ding Disyembre ng taong nabanggit.
Ang pinaka matayog na papuri at pagkilala na
naialay sa kanya ay ang pagpapasa ng
Kongreso ng Pilipinas at pagpapatibay ng
yumaong Pangulong Ramon Magsaysay ng
Batas Republika Blg. 1425 noong Hunyo
12,1956 kilala itong Batas Rizal o Rizal Law.
Ipinatupad bilang Pambansang kapulungan ng
Edukasyon noong Agosto 16 1956.
Isinasaad ng Batas Rizal ang pagtuturo ng
kursong tatalakay sa buhay, mga ginawa at mga
isinulat ni Rizal. Sa kursong ito, bibigyan ng
masinsing pag aaral ang dalawang nobela ni
Rizal na ang Noli Me Tangere at El
Filibusterismo upang lalong matutunan ng mga
estudyante ang uri ng nasyonalsimo at
patriyotismo na pinaniwalaan ni Rizal.
APAT NA NILALAYON NG BATAS RIZAL
Maitalaga at maisabuhay na muli ng mga
Pilipino ang mga simulain ng kalayaan at
nasyonalismo na siyang naging dahilan ng
kamatayan ng ating pambansang bayani.
Upang parangalan ang ating mga bayani lalong
lalo na si Rizal na magpapaalala sa ating ng
kanilang katangi tanging pagmimithi at
pagpapakasakit. Upang ang kanilang buhay at
mga nagawa ay bumuo ng isang pamabansang
Upang ang buhay at mga ginawa ni Rizal lalong
lalo na ang Noli Me Tangere at El Filibusterismo
ay magsilbing inspirasyon at pamuka siglang
pinagbubuhatan ng pagibig.
Upang linangin sa bawat pag aaral ang mga
katangiang ito, kagandahang asal, disiplinang
pansarili, budhing sibiko at tungkuling
pagkamamamayan.
PAGPILI KAY RIZAL BILANG BAYANI
Ayon kay Dr. H. Otley Beyer dalubhasa sa
antropolohiya at katulong na tekniko ng
komisyon, napagkasunduan ng lupon na ang
magiging pamantayan sa pagpili ay ang mga
sumusunod:
la 1. Isang Pilipino;
2. Yumao na
3. May matayog na pagmamahal
sa bayan at
4. May mahinahong damdamin
May limang bayaning pinagpilian upang maging
pambansang bayani ng Pilipinas ito ay sina:
1. Marcelo H. Del Pilar
2. Graciano Lopez Jaena
3. Heneral Antonio Luna
4. Emilio Jacinto
5. Dr. Jose Rizal
THE TRIALS OF RIZAL BILL
Republic Act No. 1425 na kilala bilang Batas
Rizal
Nang inihain ng Committee on Education noong
Abril 3, 1956, ang Senate Bill No. 438 ay
sinuportahan ng lahat maliban sa 3 ng mga
miyembro ng Mataas na Kapulungan.
Abril 17, 1956, si Senador José P. Laurel,
bilang Tagapangulo ng Committee on Education
ay binigyan pansin muli ang Senate Bill No. 438
“ISANG GAWAIN NA NAGSASABING ANG NOLI
ME TANGERE AT EL FILIBUSTERISMO AY
KINAKAILANGANG PAG-ARALAN SA LAHAT
NG MGA PAMPUBLIKO AT PRIBADONG
PAARALAN SA KOLEHIYO PARA SA IBANG
LAYUNIN.”
SEKSYON 1. Ang Noli Me Tangere at El Fili
busterismo ni Jose Rizal ay idineklara sa lahat
ng pampubliko at pribadong paaralan, kolehiyo
at unibersidad sa Pilipinas.
SEKSYON 2. Ang mga akdang binanggit sa
Seksyon 1 ng Batas na ito ay dapat na nasa
orihinal na mga edisyon o bersyong hindi binago
ang nilalaman na nasusulat sa Ingles at Wikang
Pambansa.
SEKSYON 3. Ang Kagawaran ng Edukasyon ay
gagawa ng mga hakbang upang ipahayag ang
mga tuntunin at regulasyon para sa agarang
pagpapatupad ng mga probisyon ng Batas na
ito.
SEKSYON 4. Walang probisyon ng Batas na ito
ang dapat ipakahulugan bilang nagbabawal o
naglilimita sa pag-aaral ng mga gawa ng ibang
mga bayaning Pilipino.
SEKSYON 5. Anumang pampubliko o pribadong
kolehiyo o unibersidad na mapatunayang
lumalabag, hindi sumunod, o umiiwas sa mga
probisyon ng Batas na ito ay dapat parusahan
nang naaayon:
a) Ang Pinuno ng anumang
pampublikong kolehiyo o
unibersidad na inakusahan sa
pagpapatupad ng mga
probisyon ng Batas na ito, na
mapatunayang nagkasala ng
paglabag, hindi pagsunod, o
pag-iwas sa mga probisyon nito,
ay dapat na tanggalin kaagad
mula sa serbisyo at dapat
madiskuwalipika sa pagtuturo
sa alinmang pampubliko o
kinikilala ng pamahalaan na
pribadong paaralan, kolehiyo o
unibersidad.
b) (b) Ang pagkilala ng pamahalaan sa
anumang pribadong kolehiyo o
unibersidad na mahahanap na
lumalabag o umiiwas sa mga probisyon
ng Batas na ito ay dapat na agad na
bawiin, at ang responsableng Pinuno at
propesor o mga propesor na
kinauukulan ay hindi dapat magturo sa
alinmang kinikilala ng Pamahalaan.
kolehiyo o unibersidad.
c) SEKSYON 6. Ang Batas na ito ay
magkakabisa matapos aprobahan.
d) Ayon kay Senador Laurel, layunin ng
panukala na maipalaganap ang mga
ideya at mithiin ng dakilang
makabayang Pilipino sa pamamagitan
ng pagbabasa ng kanyang mga akda,
partikular ang Noli Me Tangere at El
Filibusterismo.
e) "Ang Noli Me Tangere at El
Filibusterismo ay dapat basahin ng
lahat ng Pilipino. Dapat itong
isapuso sapagkat sa bawat mga
pahina ay nakikita natin ang ating
sarili kapag tumitingin sa isang
salamin; nakikita ang ating mga
kapintasan pati na rin ang ating
lakas, ang ating mga kabutihan at
ang ating mga bisyo. Tayo ay
magiging mulat bilang isang tao, at
sa gayon ay matututong ihanda ang
ating sarili para sa masakit na mga
sakripisyo na sa huli ay hahantong
sa pag-asa sa sarili, paggalang sa
sarili at kalayaan."
f) Binatikos ng Simbahang Katoliko ang
panukala bilang isang pagtatangka na
siraan ang kanilang relihiyon. Sa pag-
aangkin na ang dalawang nobela ay
naglalaman ng mga pananaw na
salungat sa mga paniniwala ng kanilang
pananampalataya, partikular nilang
hinamon ang sapilitang katangian ng
panukalang batas bilang lumalabag sa
kalayaan sa relihiyon.
Ang pangunahing batayan ng kanilang
pagsalungat ay isang diumano'y Liham Pastoral
na, habang pinupuri si Rizal, ay halos
binansagan ang kanyang mga nobela bilang
erehe at hindi maka-Diyos.
Mayo 9, 1956, ang kontrobersya ay nagkaroon
ng isang bago kahit na hindi lubos na hindi
inaasahang pagkakataon na pumukaw ng
bagong pag-asa para sa isang pangwakas na
paglutas ng isyu. Nangyari ito nang si Senador
Laurel, na nadama ang kawalang-kabuluhan ng
karagdagang alitan sa usapin, ay bumangon
upang imungkahi sa sarili niyang pangalan ang
isang susog sa pamamagitan ng pagpapalit na
buo ang nakasulat na ganito:
Isang Batas na isasama sa kurikulum ng lahat
ng pampubliko at pribadong paaralan, kolehiyo
at unibersidad ng mga kurso sa buhay, mga
gawa at mga sinulat ni Jose Rizal, partikular
ang kanyang mga nobelang Noli Me Tangere at
El Filibusterismo, na nagpapahintulot sa
paglilimbag at pamamahagi nito, at para sa iba
pang layunin.
SEKSYON 1. Kinakailangang isama sa
Kurikulum ng lahat ng paaralan, kolehiyo at
unibersidad, pampubiko man o pribado ang
pagtuturo ng buhay, mga gawa at sinulat ni
Rizal partikular na ang Noli Me Tangere at El
Filibusterismo.
SEKSYON 2. Obligado sa lahat ng paaralan,
kolehiyo at unibersidad na magtago ng mga
kopya ng orihinal at hindi dapat sariling bersyon
ng Noli Me Tangere at El Filibusterismo,
gayundin ng iba pang mga gawa at talambuhay
ni Rizal.
SEKSYON 3. Ang Lupon ng Pambansang
Edukasyon ay dapat maging sanhi ng
pagsasalin ng Noli Me Tangere at El
Filibusterismo, gayundin ng iba pang mga
sinulat ni Jose Rizal sa Ingles, Tagalog at mga
pangunahing diyalekto; maging dahilan upang
mailimbag ang mga ito sa mura, tanyag na mga
edisyon; at maging sanhi ng mga ito na
ipamahagi na walang bayad.
SEKSYON 4. Wala sa Batas na ito ang dapat
ipakahulugan bilang pag-amyenda o katotohanang
pagpapawalang-bisa sa Seksyon 927 ng
Administrative Code, na nagbabawal sa
talakayan ng mga doktrinang panrelihiyon ni
mga guro ng pampublikong paaralan at iba pang
mga taong nakikibahagi sa anumang
pampublikong paaralan.
SEKSYON 5. Ang halagang tatlong daang libong
piso ay pinahihintulutan sa pamamagitan nito
na ilaan sa Pambansang Kayamanan upang
maisakatuparan ang mga layunin ng Batas na
ito.
SEKSYON 6. Ang Batas na ito ay magkakabisa
sa pag-apruba nito.
Ang bagong panukala ay pinagtatalunan din sa
Kamara, ngunit sa mas kaunting init sa
pagkakataong ito, ang talakayan ay nakasentro
sa unang talata ng Seksyon I at sa mga
kapangyarihan ng pagpapatupad ng ang Lupon
ng Pambansang Edukasyon
SEKSYON 5. Ang halagang tatlong daang libong
piso ay pinahihintulutan sa pamamagitan nito
na ilaan sa Pambansang Kayamanan upang
maisakatuparan ang mga layunin ng Batas na
ito.
SEKSYON 6. Ang Batas na ito ay magkakabisa
sa pag-apruba nito.
Ang bagong panukala ay pinagtatalunan din sa
Kamara, ngunit sa mas kaunting init sa
pagkakataong ito, ang talakayan ay nakasentro
sa unang talata ng Seksyon I at sa mga
kapangyarihan ng pagpapatupad ng ang Lupon
ng Pambansang Edukasyon
THE RIZAL LAW AND THE
CATHOLIC HEIRARCHY
Claro M. Recto. Naniniwala siya na ang
pagbabasa ng mga nobela ni Rizal ay
magpapalakas sa Pilipinismo ng mga kabataan
at magpapaunlad ng pagkamakabayan.
Siya ang orihinal na may-akda ng panukalang
batas na gagawing sapilitang pagbabasa ang
Noli Me Tangere at El Filibusterismo ni Rizal sa
lahat ng unibersidad at kolehiyo.
Ang panukala ay agad na bumagsak sa
oposisyon mula sa Catholic hierarchy, naglabas
ito ng pastoral letter na nagdedetalye ng mga
pagtutol nito sa panukalang batas at nag-uutos
sa mga Katoliko na tutulan ito. Sa kabila ng
naisagawa na ang mga
pampublikong pagdinig, iminungkahi ni nman
Francisco Rodrigo na magsagawa ng closed-door
conference ang komite ng edukasyon kasama
ang Catholic hierarchy upang maghanap ng
solusyon sa hidwaan.
Tinanggihan ni Laurel at ng iba pang mga
tagasuporta ng panukalang batas ang panukala
sapagkat aniya na ang isang closed-door na
kumperensya ay malinaw na isa sa mga paraan
kung saan ang hierarchy ay umaasa na magpilit
laban sa panukalang batas.
Sinabi ni Fr. Sinabi ni Jesus Cavanna, na
ipinakilala bilang isang awtoridad kay Rizal, na
ang mga nobela ay "nasa nakaraan" at
"nakakapinsala" na basahin ang mga ito dahil
ipinakita nila ang isang "maling larawan" ng
mga kalagayan sa bansa noong panahong iyon.
Inilarawan niya ang Noli Me Tangere bilang
isang pag-atake sa mga klero" at sinabing ang
layunin nito ay "tawanin ang Pananampalataya
Katoliko."
Iginiit naman ni Recto na sa kabaligtaran ang
pagbabasa ng liham ng hierarchy na dapat ay
“mabuksan ang mata ng mga tao sa mga tunay
na kaaway ni Rizal at tunay na nasyonalismo.“
Nagkaroon rin ng pagbabanta na isasara ang
mga paaralang Katoliko kung sakaling pumasa
ang Rizal bill. Iginiit rin ni Recto na ang
nasyonalisasyon ay maaaring hakbang lamang
na kailangan upang mapaunlad ang mas
masiglang nasyonalismo sa mga Pilipino.
Bilang pagwawakas, natapos ang isang buwang
kontrobersya na may nagkakaisang pag-apruba
sa isang kapalit na panukala na inakda ni
Senador Laurel at batay sa mga panukala nina
Senators Roseller T. Lim at Emmanuel Pelaez.
Ang panukalang batas na naipasa ay malinaw
na isang akomodasyon sa mga pagtutol ng
Catholic hierarchy at sinabi ni Laurel.
Naglalaman ito na dapat ang pangunahing
teksto sa mga kurso sa kolehiyo ay dapat na
hindi binabago ang edisyon ng dalawang nobela,
posible na ngayon para sa mga mag-aaral na
makaiwas sa paggamit ng mga hindi binagong
bersyon batayan ng paniniwala sa relihiyon.
BATAYAN SA PAGKAKAPASA NG RIZAL BILL
1956
 Upang muling italaga ang buhay ng
kabataan sa mga mithiin ng kalayaan at
nasyonalismo, kung saan nabuhay at
namatay ang ating mga bayani.
 Upang bigyang pugay ang ating
pambansang bayani sa pag-alay ng
kanyang buhay at mga gawa sa
paghubog ng pagkataong Pilipino.
 Upang magkaroon ng inspirasyong
pagmumulan ng pagiging makabayan sa
pamamagitan ng pag-aaral ng buhay,
mga gawa, at mga sinulat ni Rizal.
Ang Batas Rizal at ang Panitikang Pilipino
Ang Panitikang Filipino ay sumasalamin sa
nakaraan, dito nahulma ang pagkatao at
pagmamahal sa bayan ng bawat Pilipinong
namulat sa katotohanan. Ang pag-alam sa
kaliit-liitang pangyayari sa nagdaang panahon
ay magsisilbing salamin ang panitikan upang
lakbaying muli ang nakaraan.Maraming Pilipino
ang nagbuwis ng buhay mabigyang halaga
lamang ang bawat naiukit at naisulat sa mga
iba’t ibang babasahin.
Malaki ang ginagampanan ng lipunan sa pagbuo
ng mga kaisipang nagagamit sa paglikha ng mga
sining kabilang ang iba’t ibang anyo ng
panitikan gaya ng tula, maikling kuwento,
nobela, dula, at iba pa. Malaki rin ang
tungkuling nagagawa ng panitikan sa paghubog
ng isang lipunan lalo na sa kaniyang mga
mamamayan. Sa madaling salita, magkaugnay
ang dalawang konseptong ito na mahalagang
sangkap sa paghulma sa pagkakakilanlan o
identidad ng mga tao sa isang lugar.
Mahalagang sangkap ito upang maugat natin
ang tunay nating pagkatao at maarok ang ating
pagka-Pilipino o ang Kapilipinohan.
Narito ang tatlo sa mga akdang binasa ni Rizal
na nakaimpluwensiya sa kaniya sa pagsulat ng
kaniyang mga nobela.
Florante at Laura – Dinadakilang makata ni
Rizal si Francisco Balagtas at isa sa mga
paborito niyang akda ang Florante at Laura.
Katunayan, may dala siyang sipi nito habang
siya ay naglalakbay sa Europe. Kapuwa
naglalaman ang mga akda nina Rizal at Balagtas
ng mga panghihimagsik laban sa pamumuno ng
mga Espanyol. Idinaan nila ang kanilang
panghihimagsik sa malikhaing pagsusulat.
Count of Monte Cristo – Isa ito sa
mahahalagang akda sa panitikang pandaigdig
na isinulat ng Pranses na si Alexander Dumas
noong 1844. Maihahalintulad ang tauhang si
Edmond Dantes, isang binatang marino, kay
Simoun Ibarra. Kapwa nila ginamit ang
nakuhang kayamanan upang maghiganti.
William Tell – Dulang isinulat ng dramatistang
Aleman na si Friedrich Schiller noong 1804.
Batay ang kuwento nito sa kalayaang natamo ng
mga Swiss mula sa Habsburg Monarchy noong
ika-14 siglo. Bida rito ang bayaning si William
Tell na nagpasimula ng isang rebolusyon.
Habang nasa Germany si Rizal, isinalin niya sa
Tagalog ang dula noong 1886. Mithiin niyang
ipabasa ang akda ni Schiller sa anyong higit na
mauunawaan ng mga Pilipino. Aminado si Rizal
na nahirapan siya sa pagsasalin.
“Tunay ngang maturingang isang simbolo ng
nasyonalismo si J.P. Rizal dahil sa labis na
pagmamahal niya sa kanyang inang bayan, ay
ginamit niya ang kaniyang talino, at talento
upang ipaglaban ang kanyang mga kababayan
sa malupit na kamay ng mga kastila.
Nakapaglakbay man siya sa iba't ibang panig ng
mundo, nanatili pa rin sa kanyang puso ang
kultura ng Pilipinas. At hanggang sa huling
sandali ng kaniyang buhay, sinigurado niya na
kapag siya ay nawala, magiging malaya ang mga
indio sa kamay ng mga prayle.”
ANO NGA BA ANG NASYONALISMO?
Ang nasyonalismo o makabayang pilosopiya ay
tumutugon hindi lamang sa pagiging
makabayan kundi sa pagkakaroon ng
paninindigan, karapatan, diwa, at pakikisangkot
para sa lipunan. Layunin ng pilosopiyang ito na
iangat at mapaunlad ang pamumuhay ng isang
tao.
Pagmamahal sa bansa;
isang kamalayan sa lahi na nag uugat sa
pagkakaroon ng isang relihiyon,wika,
kultura,kasaysayan at pagpapahalaga.
ANO NGA BA ANG PATRIOTISMO?
Ang patriotismo naman ay tumutukoy sa pag-
ibig sa bayan, na may pagbibigay-diin sa mga
pinahahalagahan (values) at mga paniniwala.
Ayon kay: CAROLINE HAU
Ang panitikan ay itinalaga sa larangan ng
pampubliko at pribadong edukasyon para sa
pagbuo ng isang asignaturang “Filipino” na ang
kakayahang kumilos, at magbago, ang kanyang
lipunan ay nakasalalay sa kanyang pagkakamit
ng kaalaman na nauukol sa kasaysayan ng
kanyang bansa, kasalukuyang kalagayan, at
kurso sa hinaharap ng pag-unlad.
Ang isa sa mga sentral na isyu sa panitikan ng
Pilipinas ay ang tanong kung ang mga tekstong
pampanitikan, ang kanilang mga prodyuser, at
ang kanilang mga mamimili, ay nagagawang
gampanan ang praktikal na panlipunang
tungkulin ng muling pagsulat ng kasaysayan ng
Pilipinas sa pamamagitan ng pagbabago ng
kolektibong kamalayan at pag-udyok sa
pampulitikang pagkilos na naglalayong
pagbabago sa lipunan.
Ayon kay: RESIL MOJARES
Ang mga isyung kinaharap ni Rizal sa
pagtatapos ng ikalabinsiyam na siglo ay
nagpapatuloy upang hamunin ang mga
Pilipinong manunulat sa simula ng
ikadalawampu't isa. Upang igiit ang pagkakaiba:
pagkakaiba hindi lamang para sa pagiging iba,
ngunit pagkakaiba na makabuluhang
nagrerebisa at nagpapanibago hindi lamang
kung paano natin tingnan natin ang ating sarili
ngunit kung paano tayo nakikita ng iba at ang
kanilang mga sarili.
Ayon kay: Anderson, Benedict
Ang kaisipan tungkol sa komunidad ay
isang konsepto na binuo ni Benedict Anderson
sa kanyang 1983 na aklat na Imagined
Communities upang suriin ang damdaming
nasyonalismo. Inilarawan ni Anderson ang isang
bansa bilang isang indibidwal na binuo ng
lipunan, na iniisip ng mga tao na nakikita ang
kanilang sarili bilang bahagi ng isang grupo.
CAROLINE HAU INTRODUCTION
• In the mid-1950s, nearly sixty years
after his execution and seventy years
of a political controversy that pitted the
Philippine state against the Roman
Catholic church over the issue of
including this national hero's life and
works in the curricula of public and
private schools, colleges, and univer-
sities (Constantino and Constantino
1978, 296-98; Totanes 1987, 22-25).
• By singling out Rizal's two novels, the
Noli and its sequel, El filibus- terismo,
as "a constant and inspiring source of
patriotism with which the minds of the
youth, especially during their formative
years, should be suffused," the Rizal Bill
attested to the existence of a disciplinary
space, an ensemble of discourses and
practices constituting the field of literary
education over which the Philippine
state sought continually to extend the
scope of its nation-building projects.
• The Rizal Bill laid down a set of
instructions on how to read the Noli and
Fili. Rizal's novels were described as "a
constant and inspiring source of
patriotism," which must be read in their
"original or unexpurgated editions or
their whose "national character" is
 "shaped" by literary works and the act of
English translation.
• Conjuring up a newly independent
Filipino people in the state's nationalist
project, and recognition of their vital role
in reading these works, the Bill accorded
Rizal and his novels a central place
enabling Filipinos to grasp the ideals of
freedom and nationalism. for "shaping
the national character," the bill
suggested that the heroes, In fact, by
stating that the heroes' lives and works
were responsible especially Rizal and his
novels, originally represented, if not
embodied, the nationalist ideals of
virtue, patriotism, and self-sacrifice.
• By reading Rizal and his novels as
symbols of these nationalist ideals, and
above all as exemplary, inspiring stories
that could be "applied" to everyday life,
the Filipino was presumably inspired to
live by these ideals.
• The bill there- fore made the act of
reading literature an act of
(re)discovering the nation's origins in
ideals embodied by the life and works of
the nation's
heroes.
• An equally important assumption of the
bill held that present and future
generations of Filipinos could remake
the national character, which earlier
generations of Filipinos had "shaped" in
the past. Such a notion of Filipinoness,
of a Filipino culture that was fixed yet
flexible, historical yet history-making,
had the advantage of being attuned to
social and historical processes, to
development and change.
• It is one thing to assume that the nation
is the most widespread and significant
political phenomenon of the mod- ern
age, and another to subscribe to the
idea that specific "cultures" are
embodied and particularized as
"nations," each endowed with its
own"national character."
• Given the linguistic diversity and social
heterogeneity of the "Filipino people," it
would be simply impossible to take the
link between culture and nation for
granted. Which culture? Whose culture?
Whose history, for that matter, do we
consecrate and celebrate? The vexed
question that is the core of the Rizal Bill
is ultimately a question of and about the
link between nation and culture: What
is "Filipino" culture? And how do we
go about preserving or reshaping "it"?
The answer offered by the Rizal Bill was:
Literature. Literature came to occupy a
mediating position between the "universal"
ideals of freedom and nationalism, on the one
hand, and their realization within a specifically
Philippine context, on the other hand. Literature
assumed a mediating function precisely because
Rizal's novels served as artifactual concrete
examples of a "Filipino culture" that was
conceived as the sum total of all the products of
a society's creative labor and aspirations. At the
same time, these works were the means by
which other (later) Filipinos could acquire,
preserve, and reshape such a culture. In this
manner, the relationship between literature and
Philippine nationalism was cemented through
the paradoxical notion that literary works both
embodied culture and helped create that
culture.
• The bill's concession to the "external"
interests the Church represented-which
accounted for the provision in the Bill
that exempted "students [from reading
Rizal's novels] for reasons of religious
belief" was solid evidence of the fact that
the law, far from being neutral, was
engendered from competing,
antagonistic interests. This is ironic
given that the entire Filipino nation, and
not just factions comprising the nation,
was supposed to "remember with special
fondness and devotion" Memorializing
"fondness and devotion" implied a
positive evaluation sioned an as-yet
indeterminate future for the nation, a
future that of the present over the past
they also envi nevertheless represented
an improvement over the present.
The move to institutionalize the reading of Rizal,
in fact, quickly became an arena where the
newly "independent" Philippine state attempted
to intervene in, and shape, public debate over
the nation's status and meaning in the face of
the visible presence and power of the Church in
Filipino politics; in the face of continued
American influence on Philippine economic,
international, and domestic policies; and, most
tellingly, in the face of the still vivid memories of
the direct challenges posed by the popular
nationalism of the Huk movement the dead
heroes who had lived and died for the ideals.
• The Rizal Bill was the legal handmaiden
of a Philippine state that sought to
regulate education to accomplish its
declared task of developing "moral
character, personal discipline, civic
conscience and teachin] the duties of
citizenship." Strangely enough, making
Rizal and his ideas compulsory reading
seemed at once urgent and superfluous,
given a "national" space that was
already quite literally filled with signs of
Rizal and other objectified "products" of
national culture.
• The Rizal Bill was clearly aimed at
closing the last frontier-the The sad fact
was that Rizal was visible everywhere,
but largely un- "content" of Rizal's life
and works-which needed to be mapped
by a state that had filled every space of
national life with signs of Rizal (Locsin
1956a, 70). The bill was, in an
important sense, the logical outcome of
an apparent paradox that underlay, and
continues to inform, literary production
in the Philippines.
• The debate over Rizal's readability arose
from the Church's insistence that Rizal's
satirical jabs at friar abuses, simony,
Purgatory, and other practices and
beliefs were the rantings of a heretic.
One of the ways in which advocates of
the Rizal Bill managed to curtail this
attack was by arguing that Rizal's novels
belonged in the past, and spoke
essentially about the past.
• These conditions no longer exist. The
abuses are gone. In his place you might
have felt as he did, written what he
wrote."
A "radio wit" was quoted as saying:
"Rizal is dead. Why should he be roused
from his sleep? Let him rest in peace“.
• The controversy over how to read Rizal
points up the salient but problematic
coupling of literature and nationalism
because it discloses the antinomies of
the national attempt to memorialize, and
at the same time engage with, Rizal and
his works.
• The Rizal Bill was the legal handmaiden
of a Philippine state that sought to
regulate education to accomplish its
declared task of developing "moral
character, personal discipline, civic
conscience and teachin] the duties of
citizenship." Strangely enough, making
Rizal and his ideas compulsory reading
seemed at once urgent and superfluous,
given a "national" space that was
already quite literally filled with signs of
Rizal and other objectified "products" of
national culture.
• The Rizal Bill was clearly aimed at
closing the last frontier-the The sad fact
was that Rizal was visible everywhere,
but largely un- "content" of Rizal's life
and works-which needed to be mapped
by a state that had filled every space of
national life with signs of Rizal (Locsin
1956a, 70). The bill was, in an
important sense, the logical outcome of
an apparent paradox that underlay, and
continues to inform, literary production
in the Philippines.
• The debate over Rizal's readability arose
from the Church's insistence that Rizal's
satirical jabs at friar abuses, simony,
Purgatory, and other practices and
beliefs were the rantings of a heretic.
One of the ways in which advocates of
the Rizal Bill managed to curtail this
attack was by arguing that Rizal's novels
belonged in the past, and spoke
essentially about the past.
• These conditions no longer exist. The
abuses are gone. In his place you might
have felt as he did, written what he
wrote."
A "radio wit" was quoted as saying:
"Rizal is dead. Why should he be roused
from his sleep? Let him rest in peace“.
• The controversy over how to read Rizal
points up the salient but problematic
coupling of literature and nationalism
because it discloses the antinomies of
the national attempt to memorialize, and
at the same time engage with, Rizal and
his works.
• These two, interrelated ways of
conceiving of political agency are fairly
common motifs in nationalist discourses
 Anticolonial nationalist literature, in
fact, yokes together two powerful
imperatives-the imperative to truth, and
the imperative to action.
• The relationship between literature and
history is from the beginning more than
just a matter of congruence theirs is a
mutually determining relation, one
taking shape in and through the other.
• The longest shadow is no doubt cast by
José Rizal, whose two novels, required
reading in every high school and college
in the country, occupy a privileged
position in the popular imagination as
the progenitors of modern Philippine
nationalism and literature.
• The other writers, though not as
universally exalted as Rizal, have solid
public reputations: Amado Hernandez
and Nick Joaquin enjoy official
recognition as national artists, while
Kerima Polotan, Carlos Bulosan,
Edgardo Reyes, and Ricardo Lee, are
critically acclaimed Filipino writers who
are often anthologized and taken up in
literature classes.
• The importance of these writers' works,
though, does not rest on their canonical
status but on their ability to illuminate,
even define, some of the central
concerns and motifs of the so-called
Philippine literary tradition among them
the commingling of literature, history,
and na- tionalism: the need for
transforming consciousness and society;
and the truthful, realistic depiction of
Philippine society.
• One of the central issues in Philippine
literature has been the question of
whether literary texts, their producers,
and their consumers, are able to fulfill
the practical social function of rewriting
Philippine history by transforming
collective consciousness and spurring
political action aimed at social change.
• Rizal's novels are a kind of "master-
narrative" within or against which
modern Philippine fiction attempted to
work through a set of unresolved issues
relating to the problem of truth and
action in a society that was split into
different, contending groups for whom
"independence" had always been a
tendentious issue.
• Analyzing the social nature and function
of Philippine literature forces us to
attend to the ways in which truth and
action are conceived, and by specific
classes of people. It also traces the
contours of various discursive regimes,
and the procedures and institutions that
regulate literature's mediating role in
organizing the relationship between
knowledge and action.
• These determine, in crucial ways, the
kinds of action and theoriz-ing available
to Filipinos at a given period of time. By
advancing these arguments, Necessary
Fictions aims to reconstruct the literary
text's place in society and ascertain the
difference literature makes in
transforming Filipino understanding of
the past and present, and in
transforming Fili- pino society itself.
• As Raymond Williams has argued: "We
need a more than ordinary awareness of
the presence of active and general life
which is misrepresented entirely by
description as 'background. There are
no backgrounds in society; there are
only relations of acts and forces.
Literature can teach its readers much
about Filipino society even as it is also a
social artifact shaped by the society it
seeks to represent.
• Demonstrating an alternative practice of
reading literature that is sensitive to the
complex interactions among the textual,
conceptual, and historical dimensions of
analysis is the inevitable first step of any
endeavor seeking to question the
assumptions informing the very
boundaries that deter- mine what is
"inside" and "outside" the literary text.
RESIL B. MOJARES
■ Si Resil B. Mojares ay ipinanganak noon
Setyembre 4, 1943, ay isang pilipinkng
mananalaysay at kritiko ng panitikan
ng Pilipinas na kilala sa kanyang mga
aklat sa kasaysayan ng Pilipina
■ Si Resil ay kinilala bilang “National
Artist for Literature (2018)”
 ■ Si Mojares ay may akda ng mga aklat
sa kasaysayan, panitikan, at pulitika
ng Pilipinas, kabilang ang mga pag-aaral
sa tatlong kilalang intelektwal na
Pilipino (Pedro Paterno, T.H. Pardo de
Tavera, at Isabelo de los Reyes).
Jose Rizal at ang Imbensyon ng Pambansang
Panitikan
■ Noong 1880, si Jose Rizal, noo’y labing
siyam na taong gulang na estudyante,
ay nanalo ng unang gantimpala sa isang
patimpalak sa panitikan sa Maynila.
Miguel de Cervantes ang pinakamahalaga at
tanyag na pigura sa panitikang Espanyol. Kilala
siya sa pagiging may-akda ng Don Quixote
(1605, 1615), isang malawakang binabasa na
klasikong pampanitikan. Nakilala rin siya sa
kanyang koleksyon ng maikling kwento na
Novelas exemplares (1613; Mga Huwarang
Kwento) at ilang mga dula at tula.
■ isang batang mag- aaral pa
lamang si Rizal ay taimtim sa
pagpapakita ng pagkatuto sa Europa,
at maging kolonyal na “makabayan” sa
kadakilaan na itinalaga sa isang
manunulat na Espanyol. Gayunpaman,
ito ay tusong subersibo din. Naiisip ng
isa si Rizal na nagsasabi na ang
Pilipinas mismo ay nangangailangan ng
isang Cervantes
■ Ang taong 1880, nang isulat ni Rizal ang
sanaysay, ay taon ding isinilang ang
Kilusang Propaganda. Isang kilusan na
umusbong sa “mga kaganapan noong
1872” (ang pag- aalsa sa Cavite at
pagbitay sa mga pari na sina Jose
Burgos, Mariano Gomez, at Jacinto
Zamora), ang kilusan ay humina sa
harap ng panunupil ngunit muling
lumakas pagkatapos ng 1880 nang, sa
ilalim ni Marcelo del Pilar , inilunsad
ang La Propaganda.
■ Si Rizal ay sumulat sa Espanyol,
pinupuri ang isang klasikong Espanyol,
ipinasok ang sarili sa diskursong
Europeo, inangkin ni Rizal ang
pagkakapantay- pantay sa mga Kastila
bilang tagapagmana ng isang dakilang
tradisyong Kanluranin.
■ Maging ang panawagan ni Rizal para sa
“social correction” ay hindi na bago
dahil isa na itong tema na ipinatunog sa
mga akda ng costumbrista. Ng mga
may- akda ng peninsular at Creole sa
Maynila noong panahong iyon
Jose Felipe del Pan, Francisco de Paula
Entrala, at Antonio Vasquez de Aldana
• Mga manunulat na Espanyol na naka
base sa Maynila na may kaunting
kamalayan sa sarili na intelektwal na
elite na pinamunuan ng sekular na
pamamahayag at tiniyak. , sa
kadahilanan ng lahi, ng kanilang
karapatang magsalita. Ang kanilang
mga ambisyon ay Espanyol. Naisip nila
ang kanilang sarili na maliwanag na
tinig ng Espanya sa kolonya at
naghahangad na makilala bilang
ganoon sa kalakhang lungsod mismo.
• Ngunit nilinang din nila ang mga
katutubong “disipulo” (mga literatura
tulad nina Isabelo de los Reyes at
Pascual Poblete) na ibinahagi ang
kanilang mga ideya ng modernidad
ngunit kalaunan ay itulak ang mga
ideyang ito sa ibang direksyong politikal.
Jose Rizal at ang Imbensyon ng Pambansang
Panitikan
Noong 1880, tumayo si Rizal sa puntong iyon
nang ang eksenang pampanitikan ng bansa ay
husay na nagbabago mula sa “pre- national”
tungo sa isa na, sa takbo ng mga kaganapan, ay
magiging malinaw na “pambansa” sa kanyang
ambisyon. Nais ilarawan ang serye ng mga
intelektwal na galaw na nagdulot ng
pagbabagong ito at lumikha ng mga linyada ng
isang “pambansang” panitikan.
Sa isang malalim na “katutubong tradisyon” at
isang kayamanan ng mga lokal na linggwistiko
at kultural na mapagkukunan. Ang paggigiit ng
pagkakaiba ay isang nangingibabaw na tema ng
Propaganda
■ 1887, nang si Rizal ay nagpahayag sa
Aleman ng isang lektura sa Tagalog
metrical art sa harap ng Ethnographic
Society of Berlin, at noong 1890 nang
ipagtanggol niya ang integridad ng
Tagalog na teatro laban sa mga pag-
atake ng Espanyol na akademikong si
Vicente Barrantes
■ Kinilala ni Rizal ang kahalagahan ng Tagalog tulad ng ginawa ng mga prayle,
mga lokal na wika bilang yaman ng lumipat siya sa Espanyol- marahil
kultura. Kahit sa kanyang mga huling kinilala ni Rizal hindi lamang ang
taon, may plano siyang mag- aral ng pampulitikang sandali kundi ay
Bisayan, Subanon, at Mangyan, nanawagan para sa isang mas direktang
maglathala ng gramatika ng Tagalog, at anyo ng address sa kanyang mga tao,
gumawa ng “unibersal” na diksyunaryo pinahahalagahan niya na ang isang
ng mga wika sa Pilipinas. pambansang panitikan ay hindi
maaaring umiral na hindi nagsasalita.
■ Isinasaalang- alang din niya ang
pagsulat ng isang treatise sa ■ Ang mga komento sa mga nobela nina
katutubong aesthetics. Sa kanyang Barrantes, Rizal, at Antonio Luna ay
tugon kay Barrantes noong 1890, kawili- wili para sa atensiyon kung ang
sinabi niya gagawa tayo ng masusing mga nobela ay nagtagumpay bilang
pag- aaral ng mga mga nobela, o mga nobela sa paraang
Europeo.”kaya’t sinisisi ni Rizal si
■ Pinahahalagahan ni RIZAL na ang Barrantes para sa mga pagkakamali ng
panitikang bayan ay dapat na maling pagbasa, sa nililito ang mga
nakabatay sa kanilang sariling pananaw na ipinahayag ng mga tauhan
panitikan kasaysayan at imbakan ng sa nobela sa may akda.
mga mapagkukunang panlipunan,
sikolohikal, at lingguwistik sa alinmang ■ Masasabing sa pagtatanggol sa mga
kaso, ang paninindigan ng pagkakaiba nobela sa panitikan, si Rizal ay
ay maglalatag ng saligan para sa maaaring magsulat ng mga nobela tulad
paglitaw ng isang pambansang ng mga Europeo. Alam nila at sinasabi
panitikan ni Luna (sa “internationalizing” mode ng
Propaganda) na ang “katotohanan” ng
■ Para kay Rizal ang kontemporaryo, ang nobela ay nakasalalay sa kung gaano ito
“mag- internasyonal” ay hindi isang nagtagumpay bilang isang nobela sa
opsyon kundi isang pangangailangan. pormal na termino
Isinasama ng kolonyalismo ang mga
katutubong paksa sa isang “sistema ng ■ Rizal ay sumulat ng isang nobela na
mundo” at inilalagay sila sa isang tatalakayin “eksklusibo ang mga gamit,
posisyon kung saan kailangan nilang birtud, at depekto ng mga Tagalog.”
makipag- ugnayan sa isang panlabas na Sumulat siya sa pagkakataong iyon ng
kapangyarihan pulitika (politik) ay hindi na mag- okupa
ng maraming espasyo dito. Ang etika
■ Nilamon ni Rizal at ng kanyang mga (ethik) ang gaganap sa pangunahing
kontemporaryo ang mga banyagang papel. Tatalakayin lamang nito ang mga
panitikan at wika, at nakikibahagi sa gamit at kaugalian ng mga
mga proyekto ng anotasyon at Pilipino,magkakaroon lamang ng
pagsasalin. dalawang Kastila ang kura at ang
tinyente ng guwardiya sibil.18 Si Rizal
■ Binanggit ni Rizal ang kanyang
ay bumaling sa pagsusulat para sa mga
pagnanais na isalin ang mga klasikong
Tagalog sa kanilang sariling wika,
Europeo sa Tagalog, at nakahanap ng
sinadya nya na isulat ang lipunang
oras upang isalin sina Hans Christian
Tagalog sa sarili nitong mga termino,
Andersen at Friedrich Schille
integral at autonomous, sa halip na
■ Si Rizal ay naglakbay nang malawakan, isang reflex ng kolonyal na engkwentro.
natututo ng lahat ng kanyang Sa nangyari, napigilan si Rizal hindi
makakaya, lamang ng suliranin sa wika kundi ang
hamon na kumatawan sa isang bagay
■ ngunit ang abot- tanaw kung saan siya na hindi pa umiiral sa anyo na
lumipat ay palaging sa kanyang bansa katanggap- tanggap na tratuhin bilang
isang realistikong nobela sa halip na,
■ Kahirapan ng “panloob na pagsasalin,”
sabihin nating, isang romansa, pastoral,
ng pag- render ng mga kaisipang
o mito.
European sa tagalog ,upang magsulat sa
 ■ Nang iwanan ni Rizal ang kanyang
ikatlong nobela, maaaring naisip niya
na isa itong nobela na isusulat sa ibang
panahon at marahil ng mga manunulat
maliban sa kanyang sarili. Siya ay may
isang mahusay na pakiramdam kung
paano ang panitikan – ang pagsulat
nito, ang pagbabasa nito ay malapit na
nasangkot sa kasaysayan. Ganito ang
sinabi niya nang mapangahas niyang
idineklara na ang Noli ay “hindi
mahuhusgahan, dahil nananatili pa rin
ang mga epekto nito
■ Ang “pagbaling ng katutubo” ni Rizal ay
hindi walang kabuluhan, kung
kukunin bilang tanda ng pagnanais ng
panitikang mas malalim na nakaangkla
sa mga realidad ng tahanan ipinaalala
rin nito sa atin, makalipas ang mahigit
isang siglo, na, sa pagrepresenta sa
bansa, ang wika, kasiningan, at anyo ay
mga suliraning patuloy na humahamon
sa mga manunulat na Pilipino
■ Ang panitikan na sinubukang isagawa
ni Rizal at ng kanyang mga kasabayan
ay masiglang itinaguyod sa gawaing
pagtatayo ng estado na nagsimula sa
pagtatatag ng Republika ng Malolos at
nagpatuloy sa ilalim ng mga bagong
kondisyong nilikha ng kolonyal na
paghahari ng U.S.
■ Sa mga nagawa ni Rizal ating bansa at
ating Pambansang Panitikan, ito ay
dapat ipag patuloy at ito ay mayroong
proseso at ang pagbuo ng pambansang
panitikan ay dapat manatiling hindi
matatag at hindi maayos, dahil ito ay
kapag ito ay pinakabukas at malikhain
Benedict Anderson 2004
 In the difficult late 1950s, the domestic
controllers of the Philippine state began
preparations for an elaborate centennial
celebration of the birth of Dr. José Rizal
on June 19, 1861. Not only was Rizal
the greatest national martyr having been
executed by the collapsing Spanish
colonial regime in 1896 but he was also
a highly gifted poet, historian, scientist,
journalist, lin- guist, satirist, political
activist, and, above all, novelist.
 Another simple example is a passage
where Rizal bitterly satirizes the way
that the rich townsfolk of "San Diego"
abuse the poor, while piously paying for
indulgences and masses for the
departed souls from whom they have
inherited their properties.
 This technique sets time aside and
sucks the reader deep into the narrative,
engaging her emotions, teasing her
curiosity, and offering her malicious
voyeuristic pleasures (in an odd way, the
technique anticipates that of the
cinema). A simple example is the
transition between a scene where Father
Damaso pushes Don Santiago into the
latter's study for a secret confabulation,
and the following scene which features
some lively scheming between two
Dominicans Rizal writes.
 Rizal's Spanish text is bejewelled
with Tagalog words and expressions.
Sometimes they are deployed for sheer
comic effect, sometimes to deepen the
reader's sense of the conflicts between
peninsular Spaniards, creoles, mestizos,
and indios.
 Rizal was an unusually cultivated man,
made familiar through his Jesuit
schooling with Latin and the world of
antiquity. He knew Spanish, English.
French, and German, as well as a
smattering of Italian and Hebrew, 14 He
also read widely in European literature.
Read one way it could refer to the peoples of
Malaya/Malaysia and Indonesia, who indeed
also manufacture krises; such a reading would
accentuate the foreignness of the weapon as if to
suggest that by the 1960s Filipinos would know
nothing of such weapons. But the word could
also, more plausibly, be read "racially." to mean
something like "Malayo- Polynesian," the
population type that supposedly includes
Filipinos, Chams, Malays, and Indonesians. If
so, the "Malay" would here serve to erase the fact
that the Muslims of the Philippines were/are a
religious minority beleaguered by a 90 per cent
Christian majority, and thereby emphasize that
the kris was "essentially Filipino."
 This inconsistency was characteristic of
the 1880s and 1890s when political,
cultural, and social changes were
making problematic the older hierarchy.
Not less important to bear in mind is the
 fact that the word Filipino was then just
beginning a momentous transformation.
 Guerrero's handling of these terms is
exceptionally instructive. In the first
place, filipina (Rizal for some reason
seldom used the male form of the
adjective or noun), meaning mestiza or
criolla is typically rendered as Filipina,
meaning a female national of the
Philippines. Creoles virtually disappear,
while mestizo is most commonly
rendered, Anglo-Saxon racist style, as
"half- breed.“
 Sixteen years after the United States
assumed sovereignty over the
Philippines from Spain. He died in 1982,
thirty-six years after the inaugura- tion
of the (Second) Republic of the
Philippines. He came from the large
middle-class, mestizo, Guerrero family
of Manila, one of the few genuinely to
earn the title of ilustrado by its
production, over three generations, of
 His grandfather, Leon Ma. Guerrero 1
(1853-1935), known as the "Father of
Philippine Botany," was a notable
scientist, educator, journalist, and
patriotic-conservative politician.
Professor of botany at the University of
Santo Tomás, he became politically
active after Emilio Aguinaldo's
proclamation of the revolutionary
Republic in the summer of 1898. He
wrote for Aguinaldo's newspaper La
República Filipina, was a member of the
revolutionary legislature, served in
Aguinaldo's second cabinet, and helped
lead the Philippine delegation in peace
negotiations with the Schurman
Commission. When the Americans set
up the first colonial legislature in 1907,
he served one term as a Nacionalista
Party member for the second district in
Bulacan.
 A young colonial very much aware of his
ilustrado lineage, Guerrero seemed
destined for a brilliant career. He won
his B.A. (summa cum laude) at the
Jesuits' Ateneo de Manila in 1935, and
his LI. B. (summa cum laude) at the
University of the Philippines in 1939. In
1940, at the age of twenty-five, he was
already teaching law at the Ateneo and
working in the office of the Solicitor-
General.
The circumstances under which Guerrero
undertook his translation of Rizal were thus
quite important. His introduction to The Lost
Eden was dated "Rizal Day [December 30],
1959," a bare three months after the Robertson
brouhaha, that to the Fili. "Mayday of the
Centenary of Rizal's Birth, 1961."
 From 1948 to 1953 it had experienced
its first great insurrectionary movement
since the turn of the century. Its real
freedom was enchained by American
military bases and the American-
imposed Parity agreement. But it was
ruled by children of the revolutionary
mestizo elite of the 1890s, who had
gained enormously in wealth and power
under the American colonial system,
who had collaborated with the Japanese
occupation regime, and who now
intended firmly to be full masters in
their own house.
 At this point we have to turn to
American imperialism and its
consequences. From the point of view of
this essay at least, the most important
of these consequences were the
substitution of American for Spanish as
the lingua franca of the archipelago, and
a fundamental reshaping of Filipinos
conception of themselves.
 We noted above that according to the
census of 1939 (forty years after the
installation of American colonialism)
less than 3 per cent of the population
claimed competence in Spanish, while
over 26 per cent professed ability in
"English."
BENEDICT ANDERSON
IMAGINED COMMUNITY
BIOGRAPHY
 Benedict Richard O'Gorman Anderson Is
Aaron. L Binenkorb Professor Emeritus
of international studies, Government
and Asian studies at Cornell university
and is best known for his celebrated
book 'IMAGINED COMMUNITIES' which
was first published in 1983.
 He was born in 1936 in Kunming, China
to James O'Gorman Anderson and
Veronica Beatrice Begum.

 1957 Anderson received a BA in classics

from Cambridge university and later he
earned a PhD from Cornell's department
of government.

 He is the brother of the famous historian

Perry Anderson.

Perhaps without being much noticed yet, a

fundamental transformation in the history of
Marxism and Marxist movements is upon us. Its
most visible signs are the recent wars between
Vietnam, Cambodia and China. These wars are
of world-historical importance because they are
the first to occur between regimes whose
independence and revolutionary credentials are
undeniable, and because none of the belligerents
has made more than the most perfunctory
attempts to justify the bloodshed in terms of a
recognizable Marxist theoretical perspective.

 The most trusting would dare wager that

in the declining years of this century
any significant outbreak of inter-state
hostilities will necessarily find the USSR
and the PRC- let alone the smaller
socialist states-supporting, or fighting
on, the same side. Who can be confident
that Yugoslavia and Albania will not one
day come to blows?

 The fact that the Soviet Union shares

with the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland the rare
distinction of refusing nationality in its
naming suggests that it is as much the
legatee of the prerational dynastic states
of the nineteenth century as the
precursor of a twenty-first century
internationalist.

 Eric Hobsbawm was correct about what

he said in starting of Marxist.

 There is nothing to suggest that this

trend will not continue." Nor is the
tendency confined to the socialist world.
Almost every year the United Nations
admits new members.
  The reality is quite plain the end of the
era of nationalism so long prophesied is
not remotely in sight. Indeed nationness
is the most universally legitimate value
in the political life of our time.

 The theory of nationalism represents

Marxism's great historical failure.

 The proletariat of each country must, of

course, first of all settle matters with its
own bourgeoisie"> How else to account
for the use, for over a century, of the
concept 'national bourgeoisie' without
any serious attempt to justify
theoretically the relevance of the
adjective? Why is this segmentation of
the bourgeoisie a world-class insofar as
it is defined in terms of the relations of
production-theoretically significant?

CONCEPTS AND DEFINITIONS

 Theorists of nationalism have often been

perplexed, not to say irritated, by these
three paradoxes

 (1) The objective modernity of nations to CULTURAL ROOTS

the historian's eye vs. their subjective
antiquity in the eyes of nationalists.
 (2) The formal universality of nationality
as a socio-cultural concept-in the
modern world everyone can, should, will
have a nationality, as he or she 'has' a
gender- vs. the irremediable
particularity of its concrete
manifestations, such that, by definition,
'Greek' nationality is sui generis.
 (3) The 'political' power of nationalisms
vs. their philosophical poverty and even
incoherence. In other words, unlike
most other isms, nationalism has never
produced its own grand thinkers: no
Hobbeses, Tocquevilles, Marxes, or
Webers.
 Changes in the religious community
gave rise to the belief that nationalism
was a secular solution to the question of
continuity that had been answered
previously by religious faith. The decline
of religious dominance also led to the
demotion of the sacred languages. The
growth of secular languages by the
sixteenth century lowered the status of
Latin as the only sacred script language
 Decline of the belief that “society was
naturally organized around and under
high centers-monarchs who…ruled
under some form of cosmological (divine)
dispensation” In the 17th century, the
legitimacy of sacral monarchy met its
gradual debility in Western
Europe .People began to doubt the belief
that society was naturally organized
around these centers.

 The development of homogeneous in

which “a sociological organism moving
cylendrically through is a precise
analogue of the idea of the nation, which
also is conceived as a solid community
moving steadily through history” Two
events happening simultaneously,
 though in separate places, can link the
people involved in those events by this
precise “simultaneity;” that is, they
share a consciousness of a shared
temporal dimension in which they co-
exist.
THREE TYPES OF CULTURAL ROOTS
I. Religious Community
 A religious community is a community
who practice the same religion. The term
is used to refer to members of a religion
who live within a community, but not
segregated from others and not
dedicated solely to their faith. They
worship together in a religious venue
such as a temple, synagogue, church or
mosque.
 The great sacral cultures incorporated
conceptions of immense communities.
 The example of Islam if Maguindanao
met Berbers in Mecca, knowing nothing
of each other's languages, incapable of
communicating orally, they none the
less understood each other's ideographs,
because the sacred texts they shared
existed only in classical Arabic.
 The Thai call Rumanians have no idea,
and vice versa, but both comprehend
the symbol All the great classical
communities conceived of themselves as
cosmically central, through the medium
of a sacred language linked to a
superterrestrial order of power.
Accordingly, the stretch of written Latin,
Pali, Arabic, or Chinese was, in theory,
unlimited.
CREOLE PIONEERS
II. Dynastic Realms
 In the age of dynastic realms,
sovereignty was understood to be
centripetal and hierarchical. Authority
derived from the sacred presence of the
ruler.
 These days it is perhaps difficult to
put oneself empathetically into a world
in which the dynastic realm appeared
for most men as the only imaginable
'political' system.
 In the modern conception state
sovereignty is fully, flatly, and evenly
operative over each square centimetre of
a legally demarcated territory.
 Hence, paradoxically enough, the ease
with which pre-modern empires and
kingdoms were able to sustain their rule
over immensely hetero- geneous, and
often not even contiguous, populations
for long periods of time.
 A characteristic feature of such
representations is something
misleadingly analogous to 'modern
dress. The shepherds who have followed
the star to the manger where Christ is
born bear the features of Burgundian
peasants.
 In many paintings the commissioning
patron, in full burgher or noble
costume, appears kneeling in adoration
alongside the shepherds. What seems
incongruous today obviously appeared
wholly natural to the eyes of mediaeval
worshippers.
 A New Sense of Times
 It would be short sighted, however, to
think of the imagined communities of
nations as simply growing out of and
replacing religious communities and
dynastic realms.
 To get a feeling for this change, one
can profitably turn to the visual
representations of the sacred
communities, such as the reliefs and
stained-glass windows of mediaeval
churches, or the paintings of early
Italian and Flemish masters.
Anderson finds two things distinctive about
the states that formed in the Americas
during the 18th and 19th centuries: they
shared a language with their colonizers and
their independence movements were led by
wealthy elites, not by the masses. In fact,
these elites were worried about violent
rebellion from the masses, especially
enslaved and indigenous people, rather than
sympathetic to their grievances. Many
leaders of the independence movements in
Venezuela and the United States, for
example, were motivated by a desire to
preserve slavery, which European powers
were beginning to turn against.
And yet it is still notable that these colonized themselves and relate to others in
elites started thinking in national terms before different ways. This possibility to
anyone in Europe. In the Spanish Empire, two envision parallel and plural realities
well-known reasons were the monarchy’s connected individuals to other
increasingl individuals to form a concept of an
‘imagined community.’
y strict policies and the “rapid and easy
transmission of” European philosophies to the
Americas. In part as a result, every Latin
American country but Brazil immediately formed
a republic upon independence, taking the United
States and France as models. But the
aforementioned reasons do not sufficiently
explain the remarkable formation of so many
distinct states in the Americas, nor the fact that
due to independence “the upper creole classes
[…] were financially ruined” in the short term
(although independence surely benefited them in
the long term).

Anderson concludes that this specific

configuration of “capitalism and technology”—
developed locally, but never integrated across
the empire—prevented “a permanent Spanish-
America-wide nationalism” from emerging. The
British colonies that became the United States
offer a contrasting example. Their total area was
tiny—“smaller than Venezuela, and one third the
size of Argentina”—and their principal cities, full
of avid readers and merchants, were “bunched
geographically together.” As a result, the thirteen
colonies easily developed a collective identity
and unified sense of nationalism. To close the
chapter, Anderson summarizes his argument:
independence movements in the Americas from
1760-1830 took “plural, ‘national’ forms”
because capitalism and technology allowed
specific imagined communities to develop in
each territory. “Economic interest, Liberalism,
[and] Enlightenment” were not enough to set the
scales and borders of these imagined
communities, although they played an important
part in convincing the colonies to revolt against
empires.

Imagined Community

 The imagined community is one in

which members will not know most of
their fellow members, is finite with
limited boundaries, sovereign power,
and a community of fraternal, horizontal
comradeship. It is through the
emergence of print-capitalism—the
technological, mass production of
newspapers and the novel and the
spread of vernacular print languages—
that individuals could think of