The Indolence Of The Filipino – In Defense Of A Nation
THE INDOLENCE OF THE FILIPINO – In the year 1890, Madrid, Jose Rizal wrote an article in La solodaridad in response to claims of the Filipinos indolence.
In his essay, Jose Rizal admitted that indolence does exist within the Philippines. However, he emphasized that it wasn’t due to an innate trait of the Indios but several other factors.
Rizal acknowledged that indolence is present among the Indios, but detests that it is due to the backwardness of the country. Within his article, he elaborates on the causes of indolence and the circumstances that befell Rizal’s country men.
In Summary, Rizal attributed the indolence of the Filipino to two main factors:
- Limited training and education of the natives
- Segregation and lack of opportunities
Rizal, in his essay, highlights the large gap between the Indios and the Spaniards and other foreigners in terms of opportunities and education. Moreover, since the Spanish occupation, the colonizers had looked down upon the Filipino as inferior.
Along with this, Rizal noted that another factor was his countrymen’s lack of national sentiment and unity among them. He explains that this was because of the Filipino submitting to the thought that they are inferior.
As such, they would submit to foreign ideals and do their best to imitate it. But, according to Rizal, the solution to this was simple, Education and Liberty.
This is why Rizal’s essay has promoted a sense of nationalism. It highlights and acknowledges that Filipinos lack unity and nationalistic values due to oppression and lack of opportunities.
But, through this, Rizal opened the Filipinos to the injustices brought upon by the colonizers while defending the Filipinos values. Moreover, he expressed that a sense of unity amongst the people could be a turning point for change that the country desperately needs.