By: Riomar Nao and April Gumatay

RIZAL AND PARIS EXPOSITION OF 1889:

The greatest attraction of this exposition was the

Eiffel Tower
International Art Competition in the Exposition
Felix Hidalgo = 2ndprize
Juan Luna & Felix Pardo de Tavera = 3rdprize
Rizal’s bust = no prize
KIDLAT CLUB:

Purely a social society of a temporary nature

It was founded by Rizal to bring together young
Filipinos in the French capital so that they could
enjoy their sojourn in the city during the
duration of the Universal Exposition.
It will disappear like lightning
INDIOS BRAVOS:
Rizal and the members of the Kidlat Club were amazed to see the Buffalo Bull show which featured
the American Indians
These Red skinned Indians were proudly riding their sturdy ponies, elegantly dressed in their native
attire and wearing their war feathers and paints.
Rizal told his friends:
Let us be proud of the name Indio and make our Spanish enemies revise their conception of the
term
We shall be Indios Bravos
The Indios Bravos (brave Indians) replaced the ephemeral Kidlat Club.
Members pledged to excel in intellectual and physical prowess in order to win the admiration of the
foreigners, particularly the Spaniards.
They practiced with great enthusiasm the use of the sword and the pistol.
Rizal taught them judo, an Asian art of self-defense that he learned in Japan
R.D.L.M. SOCIETY:
The letters R.D.L.M. are believed to be the initials of the society’s secret name Redencion de
los Malayos (Redemption of the Malays).
It was patterned after Freemasonry
The aim of the secret society, as stated by Rizal was the “propagation of all useful
knowledge –scientific, artistic, literary, etc. –in the Phil.”
Rizal was inspired by a famous book entitled Max Havelaar written by Multatuli
This book exposed the miserable conditions of the oppressed Malay inhabitants of the
Netherlands East Indies under Dutch Rules
Letter to Blumentritt:
Revealed his intentions to be a leader of freedom, if not in the Philippines, then in Borneo.
If it is impossible for me to give freedom to my country, at least I should like to give it to
these noble compatriots in other lands.
ANNOTATED EDITION OF MORGA
PUBLISHED:
Blumentritt censured Rizal for two things which revealed Rizal’s errors, namely:
Rizal commits the error of many historians in appraising the events of the past in the light of present standards
Rizal’s attack on the Church were unfair and unjustified because the abuses of the friars should not be construed
to mean the Catholicism is bad.
Rizal dedicated his new edition of Morga to the Filipino people so that they would know of their glorious past.
His dedication is as follows:
Born and reared in ignorance of our past like almost all of you: without voice nor authority to speak of what we
have not seen nor studied I deemed it necessary to invoke the testimony of an Illustrious Spaniard who
controlled the destinies of the Philippines at the beginning of its new era and personally witnessed the last days
of our ancient nationality.
Rizal proved that the Filipinos were already civilized before the advent of Spain
They had clothes, government, laws, writing, literature, religion, arts, sciences, and commerce with neighboring
Asian nations.
Rizal blasted the historical heresies of the Spanish writers who claimed that the early Filipinos were savages and
were of low mentality.
THE PHILIPPINES WITHIN A
CENTURY:
In this article, Rizal predicted with amazing accuracy the tragic
end of Spain’s sovereignty in Asia.

Colonies established to subserve the policy and commerce of

the sovereign country, all eventually become independent
THE INDOLENCE OF THE FILIPINOS:
It is an able defense of the alleged indolence of the Filipinos.
Rizal made a critical study of the causes why his people did not work
hard during the Spanish regime.
His main thesis: Filipinos are not by nature indolent
The Spanish conquest of the country brought about a decline in
economic activities because the Filipinos had abandoned their pre-
Spanish industries and worked less than their ancestors
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF
FILIPINOLOGISTS:
The aim of the association is to study the Philippines from the
scientific and historical point of view
Their inaugural convention did not materialize because the
French government discouraged the holding of conferences by
private organizations during the period of the international
exposition
PROJECT FOR FILIPINO COLLEGE IN
HONGKONG:
This College aims to “train and educate men of good family and
financial means in accordance with the demands of modern times
and circumstances”
A rich Filipino resident in Paris, Mr. Mariano Cunanan, from Mexico,
Pampanga, promised to help him raise P40,000 as initial capital for
the college.
This project of Rizal to establish a modern college in Hong Kong did
not materialize
POR TELEFONO:
This satirical pamphlet under the authorship of “Dimas Alang” is a
witty satire which ridicules Fr. Font.
It describes in comical vein a telephone conversation between Fr.
Font who was in Madrid and the father provincial of the San Agustin
Convent in Manila.
Rizal predicted much ahead of his times that people could carry on
overseas telephonic conversations ---12 years after the publication of
Rizal’s “Por Telefono’’