The Youth is the Hope of the Future

A timeless phrase in Philippine literature is that of Jose Rizal’s – “Ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan” (The youth is the hope of the future). This year as we celebrated Rizal’s sesquicentennial or 150th birth anniversary, I speculate that his noble vision has remained an endless impression.

Rizal’s vision of the youth was a genius call of foresight. Its underlying thought encourages the youth to take action, accept challenges, and take responsibility. Since the youth have seen the. Read more >

Review on El Filibusterismo

El Filibusterismo by José Rizal

Translated and with an Introduction by Harold Augenbraum

El Filibusterismo is the sequel to Rizal's Filipino classic, Noli me tangere. It is set some thirteen years after the events of the earlier book. Noli is, of course, dominated by Juan Crisóstomo Ibarra and his ideals for a better future for the Philippines -- including fostering education as a means of improving the lot of the Filipinos. In both novels the corruption of those in power, and especially the friars -- representatives of the powerful Catholic Church -- is repeatedly shown and attacked. 

       At the beginning of El Filibusterismo Ibarra is supposed to. Read more >

Benedict Anderson reviews Noli Me Tangere

Noli Me Tangere by José Rizal, translated by Soledad Lacson-Locsin

The central figure in the revolutionary generation was José Rizal, poet, novelist, ophthalmologist, historian, doctor, polemical essayist, moralist and political dreamer. He was born in 1861 into a well-to-do family of mixed Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, Tagalog descent: five years after Freud, four years after Conrad, one year after Chekhov; the same year as Tagore; five years before Sun Yat-sen, three years before Max Weber, eight years before Gandhi, and nine before Lenin. Thirty-five years later he was arrested on false. Read more >