The Social Cancer: A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere — John Shaqi
The Social Cancer: A Complete English Version of Noli Me TangereRizal, José
History
The Social Cancer: A Complete English Version of Noli Me Tangere
Rizal, José
Historical fiction; Philippines -- History -- 1812-1898 -- Fiction
Panic that shells the drifting spar--
Loud waste with none to check--
Mad fear that rakes a scornful star
Or sweeps a consort's deck!
The clamor against Blanco had resulted in his summary removal by royal
decree and the appointment of a real "pacificator," Camilo Polavieja.
While in prison Rizal prepared an address to those of his countrymen
who were in armed rebellion, repudiating the use of his name and
deprecating the resort to violence. The closing words are a compendium
of his life and beliefs: "Countrymen: I have given proofs, as well as
the best of you, of desiring liberty for our country, and I continue
to desire it. But I place as a premise the education of the people,
so that by means of instruction and work they may have a personality
of their own and that they may make themselves worthy of that same
liberty. In my writings I have recommended the study of the civic
virtues, without which there can be no redemption. I have also written
(and my words have been repeated) that reforms, to be fruitful, must
come from _above_, that those which spring from _below_ are uncertain
and insecure movements. Imbued with these ideas, I cannot do less than
condemn, and I do condemn, this absurd, savage rebellion, planned
behind my back, which dishonors the Filipinos and discredits those
who can speak for us. I abominate all criminal actions and refuse any
kind of participation in them, pitying with all my heart the dupes who
have allowed themselves to be deceived. Go back, then, to your homes,
and may God forgive those who have acted in bad faith." This address,
however, was not published by the Spanish authorities, since they did
not consider it "patriotic" enough; instead, they killed the writer!
Rizal appeared before the tribunal bound, closely guarded by two
Peninsular soldiers, but maintained his serenity throughout and
answered the charges in a straightforward way. He pointed out the
fact that he had never taken any great part in politics, having
even quarreled with Marcelo del Pilar, the active leader of the
anti-clericals, by reason of those perennial "subscriptions," and that
during the time he was accused of being the instigator and organizer of
armed rebellion he had been a close prisoner in Dapitan under strict
surveillance by both the military and ecclesiastical authorities. The
prosecutor presented a lengthy document, which ran mostly to words,
about the only definite conclusion laid down in it being that the
Philippines "are, and always must remain, Spanish territory." What
there may have been in Rizal's career to hang such a conclusion
upon is not quite dear, but at any rate this learned legal light was
evidently still thinking in colors on the map serenely unconscious in
his European pseudo-prescience of the new and wonderful development
in the Western Hemisphere--humanity militant, Lincolnism.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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