Rizal's Concepts on Nation Building

RIZALS CONCEPTS ON NATION BUILDING

By: Romero, Romana and Santos.
(Rizal and the Development of National Consciousness)
Introduction
Rizal had a pervading constancy and love for his country which meant
love for justice, for liberty and for personal dignity. He was the first
Filipino to give expression to Philippine nationalism in his writings, to
chart a route to national unity for his people and to elaborate
nationalism as tangent to freedom and emancipation. This was the
time when the Filipinos had no sense of national consciousness nor a
desire for independence. In his novels he envisioned a fulfilled society,
an emancipated people and a progressive nation mature in political
freedom. This dream was nursed at a time when it was political treason
for a Spanish subject to conceive of a society independent of Spain.
RIZALS BLUEPRINT OF NATION BUILDING
Despite political inhibitions, Rizal aimed at the restoration of his
peoples dignity and the recognition of their natural rights. Rizals
political conviction and concept of nationalism matured between 1882
and 1887. From a distance he gained a better perspective of his
countrys problems. He saw his country abused, maligned by vices of
the Spaniards and the Filipinos alike, helpless with their oppressed
unhappy people. The country inspired in him not inky sympathy but an
enduring love. He began to understand now that the prolonged
subjugation of his people was caused primarily by two factors, namely,
the absence of national consciousness and the poor training and
education of the people. Gradually, his own lifetime plan emerged into
a reality of direction and dedicated leadership.
He not only showed his people how to live nationalism; he also
conceived an idealism of dedication and intrepidity for the betterment
of Philippine society. Hence, his blueprint for nation building includes
the importance of education, instilling racial pride and dignity among
the people, the promotion of national consciousness, the re-orientation
of values and attitudes, and the willingness to sacrifice for the country.

Rizal looked upon education as a prerequisite to the realization of a

peoples freedom. It is through education that people obtains
knowledge of themselves as individuals and as members of a nation.
He insisted on educating his people so that they may successfully
eradicate the vices of their society. He wanted them to develop a
national awareness of their rights and pride in their countrys heritage
and culture.
The long period of colonial domination and the constant humiliations
and discrimination experienced by the Filipino people from their
colonial masters produced a feeling of inferiority and a lack of racial
pride and dignity. This attitude must give way to a restoration of the
peoples sense of pride in them as a nation. Rizal wanted to inculcate
into his people an understanding of history, from which, he believed
sprang the roots of genuine nationalism. Without these roots,
nationalism would degenerate into a flippant, flag-waving category,
which he criticized in Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo.

He wanted his people to dedicate their thoughts, words and actions not
solely to themselves as individuals but to themselves as citizens of a
nation. National consciousness is a key to the attainment of a better
society. The people must reorient their values and attitudes in order to
contribute to the task of nation building.

Rizal emphasized that the task of nation building is accompanied by

hardships and sufferings which the people must inevitably experience
to bolster their courage. The sacrifices experienced by a people
strengthen their bonds of unity and their sense of independence.

The paramount problem during Rizals time was the development of a

national consciousness, that is, the creation of the spirit of nationhood
in the minds of the people. It was important that the people realized
the sordid facts of their existence, the cause of their oppression, and
the sacrifices they must endure to be freed from colonial domination.
Rizal felt the need for a psychological approach to rouse the peoples
pride of their ancient heritage. This was necessary to restore the native

dignity which had been denied them by three centuries of systematic

humiliation and degradation. Once stirred from their inertia of servility
and apathy, they should organize themselves and direct their efforts
and action toward building a nation. Rizal envisioned a nation of
individuals who would make responsible and independent judgment
and who would think in terms the welfare of the whole community.
Hence, a national community would be created where the fruits of
Filipino labor would benefit the people and not a foreign master.

RIZALS PROGRAM OF ACTION

His program of action consisted of a plan to:

1.

Organize a group of Filipino students in Madrid. They would form the

nucleus of a group that in the future would use their varied talents to
work for solutions to the Philippine problems.

2.

Proposed to them the writing of a book similar to Harriet Beecher

Stowes Uncle Toms Cabin and Eugene Sues The Wandering Jew which
would deal with the various aspects of Filipino life. The book would be
the project of the Circulo Hispano-Filipino with each member
contributing a chapter. (This book was entitled Noli me Tangere, 1887).

3.

From the records in the vast Filipiniana collection of the British

Museum, Rizal had pieced together the past history of the Philippines
which revealed that even before the coming of the Spaniards; the
Filipinos already had a developed culture. And of these records, he
chose to annotate Morgas Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas. (Excerpt from
his dedicatory remarks It is necessary to first lay bare the past in
order to better judge the present and to survey the road trodden
during three centuries.

4.

He wrote The Indolence of the Filipinos which came out as a series

of 5 articles in La Solidaridad from 15 July to 15 September, 1899.

5.

Feared the possibility of the Filipinos resort to arms as a desperate

means to fight, he wrote El Filibusterismo to show his countrymen the
price they should be willing to pay and the problems they would have
solve first before plunging the country to revolution. He warned his
countrymen to consider seriously its decision to revolt against Spain if
no reforms were granted.

6.

He thought of showing the people how to organize themselves into a

compact homogeneous body in the Philippines. Rizals major plan of
organization was the establishment of La Liga Filipina (Philippine
League).

7.

When he was deported to Dapitan he had already accomplished a

major part of a self-imposed mission of redeeming the Filipinos from
medieval colonialism. His exile demonstrated the heros untiring efforts
at continuing the program of action that he relentlessly pursued for the
realization of his blueprint of nation building. Establishment of a school
and a clinic therein, the community development projects he
undertook.

RIZALS PROGRAM OF REFORMS

The nationalism he taught his people did not end with the attainment
of independence. He looked beyond independence to the progressive
development of a new nation in politics, economics, technology and
education. His writings conveyed concepts that are applicable for all
time especially to the present in all major areas of political, socio-

economic and educational reforms and his moral teachings and

principles convey the essence of national awareness. His profound
ideas and teachings have become the model and inspiration for
Philippine national leaders.

Political Reforms:

Seek a self-reliant, self-respecting government and a peoples

government made for the people, by the people and answerable to the
people.

Educational Reform:

Without education and liberty the soil and the sun of mankind no
reform is possible, no measure can give the desired result.

Socio-Economic Reforms:

Consider socio-economic aspects in campaigning for political reforms

for I believed that such reforms would be meaningless if the people
remained in poverty.

Moral Principles and Teachings

Morality was the application of reason and conscience to specific

problems of behavior.
Rizal's blueprint for nationhood

* Protean is the work that comes to mind when we speak of the Filipino national
hero, Dr. Jose Rizal. Novelist, poet, teacher, linguist, opthalmologist, sportsman,
sculptor, he was all of the above. But there is one aspect of Rizal's brilliance that is
seldom discussed - Rizal as a futurist. Rizal was always years ahead of his time.
Rizal Blueprint for nationhood was mainly focused in Education.
Even before, rizal adopted a paradigm for the modern world
Rizal already applied the theory to his school in dapitan, wherein he strove to teach
as a wholeman

In addition to offering formal academic subjects, he taught his pupils boxing,

swimming, fencing, agriculture, and the need for community services.

Education: Education is the solution to ignorance of the Philippines Education is the

solution to remove racial discrimination in the society Education is the solution to
achieve the goal of Propaganda
Thats all about Rizals Blueprint for nationhood