José Rizal attacks imperialism softly

Much of Asia has yet to come to terms with imperialist legacies. Jose Rizal’s political thought is an indispensable guide to handling the soft, psychological legacies of Western imperial rule. This chapter contemplates Rizal’s call for psychological conversion to roll back imperialism’s strategies of subjugating local populations through appeals to status and power. The second theme we shall scrutinize is Rizal’s call to carefully ponder the dilemmas of employing violence in the name of forging revolution. It will become apparent that Rizal is addressing both domestic and international politics simultaneously through the frame of political thought. Asia’s modernizers need to urgently think through his warnings, particularly since he is positing generic warnings about the hidden dangers of progressive politics.