For more information
Call 1-800-351-0222
Call 1-800-351-0222
FILIPINO AND BURMESE NATIONALIST LEADERS.
Term Paper ID:29002
Get This Paper Free! or
Essay Subject:
Compares and contrasts three pre-independence leaders.... More...
8 Pages / 1800 Words
7 sources, 20 Citations,
APA Format
$32.00
More Papers on This Topic
Paper Abstract:
Compares and contrasts three pre-independence leaders. Jose Rizal and Emilio Aguinaldo of the Philippines, and Aung San of Burma. Contributions each made to promote a sense of nationhood. Obstacles and failures faced by the three leaders in their struggle for national independence. Biographical information. Martyrdom of Rizal. Charismatic leadership style of Aguinaldo; his defeat. British rule in Burma.
Paper Introduction:
FILIPINO AND BURMESE PRE-INDEPENDENCE NATIONALIST LEADERS
This research paper compares and contrasts three pre-independence nationalist leaders, Jose Rizal (Rizal) and Emilio Aguinaldo (Aguinaldo) of the Philippines and Aung San of Burma. Each of these leaders made significant contributions in promoting among his people a common sense of nationhood and in leading them in their struggle for national independence and toward more modern, democratic and integrated societies. Rizal in the 1880s and 1890s articulated a compelling vision of Filipino identity and agitated for greater Filipino political autonomy within the crumbling Spanish Empire. In the late 1890s and early 1900s Aguinaldo welded together a temporarily effective coalition of Filipino elites and the broader population which he led in active opposition to Spanish and later American colonial rule. Aung San in t
Text of the Paper:
The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper.
Allthree leaders faced formidable obstacles and experienced significantfailures. 66). Aguinaldo, like Bonifacio beforehim, had "failed to see the dangers of ilustrado ambition" (Constantino, p.144). The Americans pursued postwar political policies which, despite theirracist content, appealed to established Filipino elites and split thenationalist movement. Manila: National Historical Institute.Osborne, M. Steinberg said Aguinaldo failed at that timeto realize that Spanish rule in the Philippines was tottering (p. Robinson lecture,2 1, 26 April). However,Aguinaldo had significant defects as a leader. In the mid-193 s, a young student leader of Burmese Buddhist background, Aung San,organized noisy and sometimes violent demonstrations by Rangoon Universitystudents against the British. Rizal failed to bring about reform of the reactionary Spanishcolonial system because of government repression. However, colonialism also disrupted traditional village patterns ofexistence and generated agrarian discontent. According toConstantino, "coming from the lower echelons of the middle class, Bonifacioand his companions instinctively identified with the masses" (167).However, "Bonifacio and the Katipunan were no match for Spanish troops"(Steinberg, p. 169). Osborne said that after Spain lost control of Latin Americain the early 19th century, "the locally-born Filipinos [a mixture of nativepeoples and European, Latin American and Asian immigrants] began to see thecountry as rightfully theirs and the peninsulares as alien rulers" (p. 321). The political maturation and economic development of the Philippinesbenefited from American spending on education and infrastructure andrelatively liberal rule. British rule brought the first material blessings of Westerntechnology and embryonic facsimiles of Western political institutions toBurma. The United States "offered the ilustrados what theywanted so they pulled them away from the peasants" (G. Aris said "his death robbed the nation of the one man whom Burmansand non-Burmans alike trusted" (p. Chirot said the attachment of Aung San and other prewar nationaliststo socialism was "that it seemed modern and scientific while also beinganti-capitalist" (p. The stabilizinginfluence of Buddhist institutions and values was lost as secularizationproceeded. 71). Bythe comparison with post-1962 Burmese tyrants, Aung San's relativehumanity, moderation and tolerance shine as a beacon of liberty andmodernization. Emilio Aguinaldo Before his death, Rizal's leadership of the Propaganda Movement waschallenged by others, such as Andres Bonifacio, who founded in the 189 s amore radical and secret nationalist society, the Katipunan, whose leaders,said Constantino, "raised the banner of separatism and saw clearly thatrevolution was the only way to achieve their goal" (p. (3rd ed., n.p.d.). London: Penguin Books.Chirot, D. Although he espousedpolitical democracy and civil rights, Rizal was an elitist who quarreledwith some of his followers and viewed the Filipino masses as unready forself-government which he believed would have to be led from above. Jose Rizal Before Islamic influences arrived in the 14th century and the Spanishin 1521, Osborne said "the Philippines lacked an indigenous history" (p.53). Aung San's daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the NobelPeace Prize for her opposition to autocratic rule by the contemporaryBurmese military, wrote that her father believed in democracy and "afederal state in which the minorities were full partners from the outset .. Instead, the American army brutally suppressed the armedinsurrection which Aguinaldo led (1899-19 3), what Steinberg called "thefirst modern war of national liberation" (p. The socialism which the Burmese military practiced in the postwarperiod reduced Burma to a basket case, one of the poorest countries in theworld. Modern tyrants the power and precedence of evil in our age. p.Guerrero, L. In the 193 s, the anti-British nationalist movement, the Thakin,became increasingly more strident. Inaccessible geographically, the Burmesedeveloped a near pathological antipathy to all foreigners and resistedfiercely the imposition of British colonial rule. The Burmesenationalist movement was authoritarian, xenophobic and ethnically andreligiously intolerant. 64).Brought back to the islands by the Americans after Admiral George Dewey'svictory over the Spanish fleet in Manila Bay in 1898, Aguinaldo naivelybelieved that the Americans would grant the Philippines immediateindependence. Rizal (1861-1896), a fifth-generation Chinese mestizo, came from aprivileged, patrician and relatively prosperous background. 322). London: Allen & Unwin.Robinson, G. Southeast Asia an introductory history. 63). Aguinaldo was forced to resign after the nationalistmovement dissolved into factional strife. n.p.p: n. Chirot commented that Indiannationalists, exposed for a long period to British political liberalism andthought, "actually believed in the possibility of democratic tolerance;"however, "Burma lacked such moderating influence" (p. After the Spanish bottled uphis army in the mountains, Aguinaldo made a deal in 1897 with SpanishGovernor Primo de Rivera under which Aguinaldo went into exile in Hong Kongin return for a sizable cash payment, which tarnished his image as anincorruptible national hero. (7th ed., 1997). 2 ). Aung San brooked littleopposition to his political and later military leadership. the peasants and artisans that they were all equallyFilipinos" (Guerrero, 1977, p. . Lecture.Steinberg, D. Rizal in the188 s and 189 s articulated a compelling vision of Filipino identity andagitated for greater Filipino political autonomy within the crumblingSpanish Empire. The Burmese majority which led the independence movement looked to amore centralized state as the source of power and reform. His charismaticleadership style combined with popular dissatisfaction with declining ruralincomes and peasant land grievances in the 189 s enabled him to succeed inmobilizing widespread popular support for the nationalist cause. . Rizal espoused assimilation and opposedviolent or social revolution. Leadership of the nationalist movement passed toanother Chinese mestizo and member of the rural gentry, young CapitanGeneral Aguinaldo, who in the mid-189 s defeated the Spanish at the battleof the Imus River and engaged them in guerrilla warfare. Aung San left a mixed legacy. Centered around the MonBuddhists, the Pagan relied largely on tribal tributary arrangements tokeep Burma's many religious and ethnic minorities in tow and, according toChirot, "did not create well-integrated national cultures" (p. Chirot said "the money lendersgradually took possession of more and more land" (p. Had he lived longer, he might have modulated the excesses ofBurma's repressive military which he helped create, and have sponsored amore modern and democratic state. (2 1, 26 April). The first nationalist organization, the Young Men'sBuddhist Organization, was founded in 189 . ReferencesAris, M. 272). J. (ed.). 318). The influence of Marxism amongnationalist leaders spread. Aung San was assassinated onthe eve of independence following which Burma has endured a nightmarish andprolonged period of military despotism, economic decline and ethnicfissures, which he might have helped avoid. Before the war, Aung Sanpromoted lowland Burmese primacy over other groups. "The belief that Buddhism, nationalism, andsocialism could be reconciled and provide a uniquely Burmese solution tothe problems of the modern world remained deeply ingrained for the nexthalf century" (Chirot, p. However, if he had, he would have beenopposed by deeply rooted intolerant and brutal elements of Burmese society. 29). FILIPINO AND BURMESE PRE-INDEPENDENCE NATIONALIST LEADERS This research paper compares and contrasts three pre-independencenationalist leaders, Jose Rizal (Rizal) and Emilio Aguinaldo (Aguinaldo) ofthe Philippines and Aung San of Burma. Rizal was a co-founder in the 188 s ofthe Propaganda Movement, which from Spain agitated for "freedom of thepress and of assembly, equality before the law, participation in theaffairs of government, social and political freedom" in the home islands(Constantino, p. 155). 281). ." (Chirot, p.322). New York: Free Press.Constantino, R. I. . Guerrero said that the ilustrados' nationalism "wasessentially rationalist, anti-racist, anti-clerical, -political rather thansocial or economic" (p. Aung San Unlike the Philippines, Burma had in the 11th through the 13thcenturies a hereditary kingdom/empire, the Pagan. Aung San did not have a very well thought out orpracticable economic philosophy. Aung San in the 193 s spearheaded Burmese efforts to oustthe British and thereafter founded indigenous military and political cadreswhich succeeded in driving the British out, surviving the Japaneseoccupation and negotiating a peaceful transition to independence. In 1941-42, he presided over violent communalmassacres of the Karens and other minorities, which Chirot said heattempted to end, but which left bitter and enduring memories (p. 6 ). The Philippines a singular and a plural phase. "Much of the resentment against colonialismwas also directed against the non-indigenous Asians . Anintellectual, Rizal used the pen, writing in Spanish, "to persuade theprincipales, and . This evolution in Aung San's political thought was,however, largely a post-World War II phenomenon. 64). . Exceptfor a brief period of dynastic revival in the late 18th century, Burmaremained a mosaic of unhomogenized ethnic, linguistic and religious groups,including the Chin and Kachins in the northern mountains, the Karens andthe Thai speaking Shan and Laos. In his 1887 novel Noli Me Tangere, he decried"a Government that rules by deceit, a Government that does not know how tomake itself loved and respected by the people" (Guerrero p. Aung San Suu Kyi freedom from fear and other writings. Arrestedin 1892 for his organization in Manila of the nationalist Liga Filipina,and deported to Mindanao, Rizal was executed in 1896 on the orders of theSpanish Governor General, Valeriano Wexler. (n.d.p.). Conditions for the gradual, peaceful and democratic modernizationof the Philippines were considerably more propitious than those faced bythe Burmese. Ethnic hatreds were aggravated by British divide and rulepolicies, which discriminated in favor of groups such as the Karens andcreated unpopular Chinese and Indian immigrant capitalist classes. As a distant backwater important to Spain primarily as a way stationin the China trade, the Philippines for several centuries was ruled byauthoritarian governors in league with Spanish-born elites, thepeninsulares. His efforts were alsohampered by internal divisions within the ilustrados. Rizal identified with the strivings of the educated andlargely emigre community of Filipino intellectuals, the ilustrados, whosought to achieve greater political autonomy for native-born Filipinos. Their deeds and their failuresprovided their respective nations with stirring guideposts for futurereform. Nevertheless, like Rizal and Aguinaldo, Aung San epitomized theBurmese nationalist cause and was known for "his moral courage" (Aris, p.283). Rizal was executed by the Spanish. Conclusion Rizal, Aguinaldo and Aung San all labored under formidable obstaclesduring their struggle for independence. 321). Each of these leaders madesignificant contributions in promoting among his people a common sense ofnationhood and in leading them in their struggle for national independenceand toward more modern, democratic and integrated societies. The Americans exploitedAguinaldo's successes for their own colonial purposes causing him to losecontrol of the revolutionary coalition he led. The first Filipino a biography of Jose Rizal. For a variety of historical andother factors, each of them drew inspiration from different sources, haddifferent aims and acted differently. 129). (1977). M. the embodiment of the struggle, afigure of great power and attraction in his era" (p. In the late 189 s and early 19 s Aguinaldo welded togethera temporarily effective coalition of Filipino elites and the broaderpopulation which he led in active opposition to Spanish and later Americancolonial rule. Boulder: Westview Press.----------------------- 1 323). However, Aguinaldo's defeat not only meant thatFilipino independence was deferred for decades, but also that Philippinesociety would remain rigidly stratified and that little progress would bemade for decades in addressing the social injustices and economicinequality experienced by the great mass of Filipinos. Steinberg said "Aguinaldo was . According to Guerrero, "Rizal'smartyrdom created an alliance, albeit a fragile one, since hatred of theSpanish transcended all other considerations" (p. His class, theprincipales, was composed of merchants, landowners and other notables.Educated in Spain, he drew his inspiration from 19th century Europeanliberal thought. Each leader left a mixed legacy, a reflection of the dauntingchallenges they faced. . During the warhe collaborated with the Japanese not only to drive out the British butalso to repress minorities who were tarnished by their pro-Britishsympathies or activities. (n.d.p.). ." (Aris, p. 31 ). (n.d.p.) The Philippines: A past revisited (Pre- Spanish-1941 Vol.
If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again:
or
We can write a Custom Essay just for you.
Browse Essays by Subject