Jose P. Rizal's works: Relations and Reviews.

The young Rizal

Rizal’s works were really full of interpretations and meaning which does not only satisfies our delight in poetry, but also opens our eyes about our struggle within a society.  One of Rizal’s works that I like is in tiled “To My Fellow Children” or in Tagalog, “Sa Aking Mga Kababata”. In this poem, Rizal is talking personally to his fellow youth to bear the conscience of a true nationalist, love of country in a patriotic way and by respecting their own native language.


 He teaches the youth that by upholding our own language even in an environment of a foreign tongue, is an act of heroism and loyalty in owns country.

He also explained that people who do not have the heart of loving his native tongue is comparable to a rotten fish. I perceived that Rizal compared us like  fishes, the water where we are living is our language and if we decided to leave our native tongue in exchange of another, a foreign language, which is not our natural habitat, we will perish and become rotten.

Another work of Rizal that I like is “A Tribute to My Town”. In this poem, Rizal tried to describe his life as a youth in the bosom of his birth place. Here I see how he really admired and loved his country, how he wants his country to be perfect living place for his people and have the freedom to do things in own place. Also in this work he showed his own nationalism and thankfulness in a place which nurtured him to become a true Filipino.

I  relate the poem “To My Fellow Children” with “A tribute to My Town”which is also a poem by Rizal because both of this works portrayed nationalism, the idea that the beauty of ones people and the grandeur of  his country can be appreciated by loving both of them and we should not be ashamed of our own culture, but instead be thankful to the almighty God that he gave as such blessings. Furthermore, our native tongues represents how elegant and prosperous our country have been. Nevertheless, Rizal believed that, “the youth is the hope of our country”. Both of these poems teaches the youth how to love and respect his own dialect and his birth place in order for other to respect and love him in return.

Rizal’s works were mainly about his Country, his fellowmen and God. What really Rizal wants us to see in all his poems, novels, paintings, sculpture and many others is by being nationalistic, a lover of nature, a lover of your fellowmen and a lover of God will lead us to a true path in achieving  the real freedom not only of our own motherland, but also of our hearts.

History of the Philippines in the time of Rizal.

Dr. Jose P. Rizal

In the time that Rizal was not yet born, the entire Philippines was still under the Spanish colonization, all the uprising of Filipinos against the oppression of the Spaniard did not prosper due to the advantage of Spanish weaponry at that time. The rebellion of Francisco Dagohoy, the longest uprising against Spain which lasted 8 years but still defeated is a good example of this circumstances. 

The whole of the country was headed by a Governor–General, a deputy of the king and with the sole authority with regards to economic and political management of the country. Furthermore, because one of the reason for Spanish colonization is religion, The clergies were also vested with a certain authority towards the church, but in the time of Rizal the power of the friars was not only set within the walls of the church, but also in politics.

The family of Rizal are wealthy landlords of Calamba, Laguna. His parent were of Malay and Chinese heritage, both of them were wealthy and educated, they socialized with leaders of the society, the house of Rizal has the biggest private library in the Philippines at that time and they managed to send their children to best schools in the country. Nevertheless, Lorenzo Alberto Alonzo, Rizal’s maternal grandfather, was one of the delegates in the Manila assembly from were a deputy of the Spanish cortes was to be elected as provided by the new Spanish constitution.

In 1861, when Rizal was born, a great crisis occurred within the church when the archbishop of Manila, Jose Aranguren died and succeeded by a Spanish mestizo, Father Pedro Pelaez who risen in the position of vicar capitular – a term used by the canon law to fill the vacant position of the archbishop within the diocese. Pelaez became the brainchild to the total participation of the natives or Indios, as they were called, as priests of the new reformed church. He also acted upon successive decrees which handed the parishes over  religious orders. Now, the revolution against Spain was not only situated within the battle fields of the land but also inside the church itself.

In January 20, 1872, in Cavite, a mutiny of Filipino soldiers and peasantry leaded by a mestizo sergeant named Fernando la Madrid took place at Fort San Felipe. The cause of this military uprising is believed to be the  order of Governor-General Rafael de Izquierdo to subject soldiers to personal taxes, from which they were previously exempted. The said tax requires them to pay a monetary sum and also to serve under forced labor called, “polo y sevicio”. The mutineers believed that the rebellion they have started shall escalate into the national level. Within two days the mutiny was dissolved when the Governor-General immediately sent reinforcement to Cavite and when the Manila rebellion wing did not respond on the insurrection. Thus, they were outnumbered and destabilized by the Spanish armed forces, while sergeant La Madrid was killed in the skirmish.

According to the report issued by Governor-General Izquierdo, the Cavite mutiny of 1872 was an act of treason and rebellion against the Spanish government, in the sense that they willfully planned to overthrow the government and to establish their own, a clear violation to the constitution. Izquierdo also added that all liable to this threat to the security of the Spanish colony should be punished by death. Furthermore, he also declared that the architects of this conspiracy were merely Filipino educated leaders such as; businessmen, abodadillos or native lawyers, and native clergymen. The Filipino priest namely; Mariano Gomez, Jose Burgos and Jacinto Zamora were court marshaled for the grounds of treason, they were, according to the report, will  presided as leaders of the new government.  For such reasons, to install fear upon the rest of the natives and to eradicate secularism inside the church, the GUMBORZA were executed by means of garrotte or by strangulation.

The execution of the friars had a great impact to the Mercado y Alonzo’s because their son Paciano, the older brother of Rizal, was a known student of Father Burgos in Ateneo de Municipal and allegedly a member of the mutiny.

In the midst of the situation, Rizal also witnessed the cruelty and injustice of the Spanish authority when his mother once became a victim of legal vengeance. His mother, Doña Teodora Alberto de Alonzo was accused of attempted murder when she allegedly tried to kill her sister-in-law by poison. A corrupt court led her to incarceration of almost two and a half years. According to historians, the sister-in-law of Doña Teodora had a secret affair with the head of the Guardia Sybil.

In Rizal’s time, Spaniards are not only in the control of politics, the church, but the education as a whole. The friars were the head masters of schools in the Philippines at the time, in fact, the schools are owned by them. They controlled the educational curriculum, making the way to put Christian and religious teaching on the priority of learning from the elementary until the tertiary education. Teachers do not put great emphasis on native language, as well as with science and mathematics, but a bigger part on theology of Christian doctrines and Latin.

At first the schools were only exclusive for Spanish born citizens, not until the start of the 19^th century that it was also opened for Filipinos, provided that you came from a known and wealthy family of the society. Although the Filipinos are now accepted as students, the friars still believed that Filipinos cannot match the natural born talents and skills of a pure Spanish. They strictly imposed total discipline that whoever fails to observe shall be subjected to corporal punishment. The friars are very concern about morality and sexes of their students. Thus, the boys and girls were literally separated by 

establishing schools exclusive only for the other.

The students of colleges in Rizal’s time were guaranteed with degree in Bachelor of Arts or Bachiller en Artes. In 1859, in Manila, the firs college for boys was established by Jesuits as Colegio de san Ignacio. In Cebu, they established Colegio de San Idelfonso. In 1601, the Colegio de San Jose was built. In addition, in 1589, the Escuela Pia was entrusted by the government to the Jesuits. Later this was called as Ateneo de Municipal or today the famous Ateneo de Manila University.

The Spanish government did not expect that educating Filipinos would mean danger on their part. In fact, to ensure their interest they pattered the education to the Spanish life style. Their primary belief is that, they are just making politics on some wealthy Filipino aristocrats, but they were wrong. This openness of the Spanish government toward the Filipinos to obtain equal rights for education was the birth of a true freedom and the predecessor of a revolution to gain our independence.

Filipinos who bear the seals of Spanish “Coligeos” are referred to as “Ilustrados”. The Ilustrados are the architects of the movement to, if not totally eradicate, reform the rotten Spanish government by giving equal rights to the Filipinos on the same level that of the Spaniards.

Rizal and his fellow Ilustrados established organizations and publications which criticizes the Spanish way of governing the Philippines. This also led to a nationwide uprising of the Filipinos to achieve independence led by Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo.

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Coco Chanel: A Nazi spy!

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel with the Fuhrer, Adolf Hitler

A Paris–based American historian claimed in his book, “Sleeping with the enemy: Coco chanel’s secret war” that the fashion French icon Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel was once a German spy during World War II.

We cannot deny the fact that Coco had an affair with a German aristocrat named Baron Hans Gunther von Dincklage, who was a professional Abwehr spy, but Coco as German spy? Wow! This could be a heck of an allegation.

After Hitler invaded the rest of France, the Nazi’s confiscated all companies that are owned by Jews, as part of their anti-Semitic propaganda. Coco used her position as an “Aryan” to make a petition on the German government to give her the sole ownership of “Perfums Chanel”, The house of the best-selling perfume Channel (which she personally formulated), owned by the Wertheimers, who were Jews.

Chanel was one of those who are called after the war as “Horizontal collaborators”, because they worked for the Germans. She was in fact staying at Ritz Hotel, which was made the head-quarter of the Germans during the occupation.

According to the author, Hal Vaughan, 84 year old World War II veteran. He was looking for documents on police records when suddenly he discovered that Channel was a German spy with an alias of “Westminster”. Coco was sent to Spain on a spy mission and she was also given an order to make a peace talk with Winston Churchill.

After the liberation of France, all German collaborators were jailed for treason, but Coco was released an hour late as ordered by the great Winston Churchill. She automatically flee to Switzerland after.

In 1954, channel returned to France to rebuilt her fashion empire, but his lines were not greatly patronized by Parisian due to her past connections with the Nazis. Rather, his collections were appreciated by British and American Costumers.

Coco died by the age of 87, in 1971, busy for the preparation of her summer collections, she was tired of a long drive and not feeling. Channel was found dead on her bed at Ritz hotel, where she lived for more than 30 years.

August 16th 1815, birth of St. John Bosco

Saint John Bosco

We are celebrating today the birth of a saint, St. John Bosco.  John was an Italian priest, educator and writer, he was known for his aim to put disadvantaged youths, street children and those who suffered from early juvenile detention into a better education. He also pioneered the principle of teaching method based on love rather than punishment, this method is currently known as the preventive system. Furthermore, in the heights of his career as a priest and an educator, he founded several organizations, primarily sponsored by nuns, with a mission to extend the helping hands of education to the poor.

John Bosco was the youngest among the sons of Francesco Bosco and Margaret Occhiena who were farmers of the Moglia family in becchi, Italy. His family suffered from great scarcity and famine brought forth by the Napoleonic wars.

Poverty became an obstruction for young Bosco to attend schooling. In addition, his passion to become a priest and serve his fellowmen under the guidance of God was already noticed by his mother by the age of nine. His mother who really supported him to pursue his dreams, also knows a thing, that being a priest is only a profession for those who are privileged. These things did not bother john, rather he continued his schooling, until he was unable to attend school for two more years. In 1830 he met a priest that will help him to continue his desires.

Don Bosco became a chaplain of Refugio, a girls’ boarding school founded in Turin, he also had mission in prisons to teach prisoners the catechism.

He observed that a growing group of boys always came on Sundays to play and to learn catechism. This pushed Bosco to start the “Oratory of St. Francis de Sales”, an organization which aims to take care of street children and educate them about catechism. But it did not last, the neighbors filed a complaint against the priest that his organization will put the children into jeopardy, in the sense that, this recreation will turn into revolution against the government.

In 1854, when the kingdom of Sardinia was about to pass a law suppressing monastic orders and ecclesiastical properties, Bosco admonished King Victor Emmanuel II to stop the said law or else his family will suffer greatly deaths, but the king ignored the priest’s “Blackmailing”, as historians would say. Despite of criticisms, the king did suffer sudden deaths in his family in a short period of time.

John feared that what he started will just turn into nothing due to financial scarcity. For such reason, he researched countries that can support his noble aims in life. One of these countries was Argentina; Basco wrote letters to Argentinian government asking support for his cause. After diligent waiting, his  efforts was now answered by the Argentinian consulate, asking him if he can head an Italian parish in Buenos aries and a boys school.

He was greatly known for his preventive system method of teaching. He believed that education is a matter of heart and that boys must be loved and know that they are being loved.

Don Bosco died on January 31, 1888, shortly after his death, many requested that he must be canonized as a saint. He was declared as blessed on 1929 and canonized on Sunday of 1934 and was known to be “The father and teacher of the youth".

                                                                                                                 

August 15 1769, birth of Napoleon Bonaparte





Napoleon Bonaparte

Today is the birth day of  Napoleon Bonaparte, a french politician and military genius. Napoleon was the second to the eldest among the eight children of  Carlo Bounaparte who is an attorney and the representative to the court of king Louis XVI. He was greatly influenced By his mother, Letizia Ramolino, to whom napoleon attributed his extraordinary discipline. 


Bonaparte entered a military training, he entered the french military and served as second lieutenant. he was also known as "The little corporal" because of his physical height, but historians believed that napoleon was not small enough to enter the army.

After showing of greatness in french military campaigns, he organized the occupation of Egypt to fully control the Suez canal to paralyze and sabotage the economy of England through mercantilism. 

 

While in Egypt, busy of his triumphant invasion, he managed to conspire with one of the directors of the french directory in organizing a plot to overthrow the french constitutional government and make themselves as consul of the french people. On the other hand, napoleon was very clever enough to out maneuvered the new government, he  drafted the new french constitution making him the head of the french army and the absolute monarch of the french, vested with the absolute power over his subjects as ordained by God.

 

In the midst of his reign and wars, Emperor Alexander of Russia was convinced by his congress to withdraw his alliance in the french system and join the British alliance instead, in favor of economic relations. When the news reached napoleon he threatened Alexander to face the consequences if he pursue to break the alliance, but still Alexander did so. On June 23, 1812 napoleon commenced the invasion of Russia through its capital, Moscow. Many where killed in the Russian campaign espicially in the battle of  Borodino, but the fate is with napoleon and he became victorious.

A mutiny was organized by his army to overthrown his current empire. Due to this infidelity of his men he was exiled in the a remote island of Elba in the Atlantic ocean as ordered by the congress of  Vienna. Bonaparte manage to escape from imprisonment, and was about to stop by the 5th  regiment when he shown with a range of gunshot and shouted: "Here I am, Kill your Emperor. if you wish".

Bonaparte returned to France together with his loyal army and start to retrieve his stolen empire. Organized a rest-back to his mortal enemies, the congress of Vienna declared war against him. Napoleon's empire was totally ended in the battle of Waterloo where he and his great army found there defeat once again.

He was exiled the the island of St. Helena where he died of alleged stomach cancer , but researchers debated the true reason of his death. Some says he was a victim of Arsenic poisoning, due to arsenic samples found in his hair  through autopsy and the preservation of his corpse was an evidence that he was exposed to arsenic though. Arsenic was used as preservatives by manufacturing company in England. In 2008, Scientist finally found that Napoleon's death was really caused by stomach cancer.