Unit 6 El Feli.pptx

publication of El Filibusterismo

1. UNIT 6: EL FELIBUSTERISMO : Context, Content and Its Continuing Relevance

2. The Writing of El Filibusterismo and the Social Condition of the Philippines

3. Learning objectives: • Trace the meaning of the term Filibuster across time. • Explain the historical context in which El Filibusterismo was written. • Appraise how El Filibusterismo contributed to national consciousness and the revolution.

4. After the publication of the novel Noli Me Tangere, Jose Rizal wrote and published its sequel entitled El Filibusterismo or “The Reign of Greed” in direct translation, it means “The Subversive”. The novel was commended for fearlessly depicting the corruptions and abuses by the Spanish clergy and colonial government during the Spanish regime in the Philippines.

5. The message of the novel is clear that the system of governing the Philippines through corrupt and self-seeking officials dominated by the friars and being submissive to their interest in one fashion or another can only lead to disaster for Spain. The government is subjective, cruel, completely lacking in a sense of justice or of responsibility and without interest or trust in the people it governs.

6. Along with Rizal’s warning to Spain through the novel, Rizal tried to convey to his countrymen the action to be taken if Spain does not heed his warning. Though this novel tells us how cruel and how purely evil the Spaniards was, nevertheless, it also shows the unimagined bravery of our countrymen on fighting the greediness and cruelty of the Spaniards.

7. Rizal started writing El Filibusterismo in October 1887 in Calamba during his first homecoming. The novel was thus written against the background of threats and oppressions he and his family suffered because of the Noli and the so-called Calamba agrarian trouble. He continued working on it, making some revisions, in London in 1888.

8. Rizal then went on to write the novel in Paris, and then in Brussels where distractions were less and the cost of living was cheaper. Being able to focus on finishing the book, Rizal had finally completed it by March 29, 1891 in Biarritz.

9. Jose Alejandrino , Rizal’s roommate in Belgium related that he was the one who canvassed printing press for El Fili. He delivered proofs and revisions to F. Meyer van Loo in Ghent. For his assistance, Rizal gave him the El Fili’s corrected proofs and the pen used in doing the corrections. Unluckily, these historical souvenirs were either lost or destroyed during the revolution.

10. Alejandrino , who later became a general in the Philippine revolution, may have been the first person to read the novel aside from the author. However, the honor of being called ‘the savior of the Fili’ had gone to Valentin Ventura—Rizal’s friend who partially financed the novel’s publication.

11. Jose Alejandrino Valentin Ventura

12. The ‘ Filibusterismo ’ in the novel’s title is derived from the simpler term ‘ filibustero ’. Rizal defined the word (‘ filibustero ’) to his friend Ferdinand Blumentritt who encountered but did not fully comprehend the word in the ‘ Noli ’.

13. Rizal thus explained in a letter: “The word filibustero is little known in the Philippines …I heard it for the first time in 1872 when the tragic executions [of the Gomburza ] took place. I still remember the panic that this word created. Our father forbade us to utter it, as well as the words Cavite, Burgos (one of the executed priests), etc. The Manila newspapers and the Spaniards apply this word to one whom they want to make a revolutionary suspect. The Filipinos belonging to the educated class fear the reach of the word. It … means a dangerous patriot who will soon be hanged or well, a presumptuous man.”

14. Ferdinand Blumentritt

15. The word ‘ filibustero ’ thus contextually means subversive, dissident, revolutionary, seditious, insurrectionary, and treasonous. Fittingly, Rizal dedicated the book to the memory of the Gomburza , the three Filipino patriotic priests who were accused of being ‘ filibustero ’ and thus executed. In his dedication, Rizal fearlessly declared his conviction that the Spanish officials’ treatment of the priests’ case was unjust “as [their] complicity in the Cavite Mutiny is not clearly proved”.

16. GomBurZa

17. Objectives of Rizal in writing El Filibusterismo : ➢ To defend Filipino People from foreign accusations of foolishness and lack of knowledge. ➢ To show how the Filipino people live during Spanish colonial period and the cries and woes of his countrymen against the abusive officials. ➢ To discuss what religion and belief can really do to everyday lives. ➢ To expose the cruelties, graft and corruption of the false government and honestly show the wrongdoings of Filipinos that led to further failure.

18. The word “ Filibusterismo ” certainly acquired a profound and broad meaning in the Philippines in the previous century, however, it will be more practical to ask: Who is considered a ' filibustero ' in the Philippines?" And let Rizal answer: Those who do not raise their hats to Spaniards. ➢ Those who only greet a friar instead of kissing his hand or his habit. ➢ Those who offer resistance to being addressed with the familiar " tu " by the best Spaniard. ➢ Those who subscribe to a periodical from Spain or another European country. ➢ Those who, at elections, give their vote to a candidate other than the one recommended by the priest. ➢ Those who read books other than miracle stories and biographies of saints.