June 20, 2011

Hero's revolutionary spirit reclaimed

In celebration of the 150th year of Rizal's birth, John Nery'sRevolutionary Spirit, an exhaustive study of Rizal, his works, and hisinfluence in Southeast Asia, has been published by the Ateneo deManila University Press, in cooperation with Singapore's Institute ofSoutheast Asian Studies (ISEAS).

In collecting material for and working on this book's engaginglywritten chapters, Nery sought to discern Rizal's impact on Asia andamong Asian intellectuals by studying Rizal himself, getting to knowhim more, and finding out how his contemporaries saw him. In theprocess he encounters and discusses at length many influentialmisreadings.

Noted historian Fr. John N. Schumacher, SJ, finds that Nery "breaksmuch newer ground in the larger part of the book, demonstrating therole Rizal played in inspiring Indonesian nationalists." Malaysianauthor Shaharuddin Maaruf likewise recognizes Nery's contribution toan insightful examination of a great life as well as to an enriched"Southeast Asian philosophy of history."

In his preface, the author cites a Social Weather Stations survey thatreports Rizal's "preeminence in the Philippine pantheon withunprecedented clarity, 150 years after his birth" among itsrespondents. The author contends that while this finding would nothave surprised Rizal's contemporaries, including Bonifacio, manycollege-educated Filipinos have been "taught that Rizal wasinsufficiently nationalistic, a patriot compromised by his class, aseparatist undone by his scruples" according to the most influentialhistory texts of the second half of the 20th century.

Through an impressive bibliography in Spanish, Indonesian, Dutch,English and Tagalog, the author rigorously shows that thisinterpretation is seriously inadequate. Further the author likewiseproves that Rizal's status as foremost Filipino hero can also bediscerned in how the Indonesians and Malaysians appropriated him inthe movement for independence, and in how he figures in the region'sintellectual, political and literary discourse.

John Nery, PDI senior editor, is a visiting research fellow at theISEAS, and the first Sandra Burton Nieman Fellow in Journalism atHarvard University (2011-2012). He has been cited for hisinvestigative reports and opinion journalism.

Revolutionary Spirit: Jose Rizal in Southeast Asia is available at the Ateneo Press bookshop, Bellarmine Hall, Ateneo de Manila University,Loyola Heights campus, and soon in bookstores nationwide

Sent to my yahoo account (arieltabag@yahoo.com) from http://www.ateneopress.org/

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