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Feature: "OBLIGE" What most people dont know about the Knights of Rizal - an article by Sir Christoph Eberle KR Hamburg, Germany
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A controversial essay on Rizal by Renato Constantino:
"Veneration without Understanding"
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WELCOME The Order of the Knights of Rizal Scarborough Chapter is a proud member of some 10,000 strong Knights serving various communities in many countries around the world. This website is intended to (a) inform the general public about this Chapter’s part as well as those of other Chapters' in promoting the ideals and cause of Dr. Jose Rizal, Philippines' national hero and "Pride of the Malay Race". It is also intended to (b) serve as a platform for progressive thoughts and ideas espoused by Rizal. Lately, the brotherhood has been struggling with what may be described as "maturing pains" - it will be 96 years old this year (1911-2007). At the beginning of the new century the Order began to manifest itself as a truly international organization and as a consequence of present-day information and communications technology, a clash of cultures and mentalities among various chapters in different Continents started to evolve. And yet, as history attests, the Rizalian spirit will remain strong and will enable the true Rizalists to overcome its trials and take the illustrious fraternity to greater heights of glory !
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Editorial
Memo welcome but misses the mark
There is ample reason for all members of the Knights of Rizal to be thankful and to rejoice: for the first time in recent memory the highest ranking member of the Board of Directors, Acting Chairman Sir Virgilio Esguerra took the unprecedented act of. . . |
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Notes on Modern Times and the Living Past A Commentary on Dr. Rudolf Virchow, “the ‘Naked Ape’, and the “Missing Link”
Before becoming an authority on animal behavior, celebrated English zoologist Desmond Morris was one-time curator at the London Zoo. His well-documented observation and research studies on human and animal behavior became a best seller in 1967 when he authored a book aptly titled, “The Naked Ape”. Morris keenly noted that out of “the 193 species of monkeys and apes on the planet only man is not entirely covered in hair”! MAN-APE LINK The catchy phrase,”Naked Ape” makes Man not only the intelligent talking thinking animal among primates. In the past hundred years Man was the focus of an interesting and controversial scientific search to identify who was his immediate ANCESTOR. Paleontologists, anthropologists and writers went crazy looking for what they dubbed as “THE MISSING LINK”. There were several “pretenders” to the title but Piltdown and Neanderthal were the most prominent contenders. When Piltdown was voted out as fake, Neanderthal came under close scrutiny. It was the leading pathologist at that time, Dr. Rudolf Virchow, who was invited to look into the fossils dated 110,000 and 35,000 years old. It was his highly valued opinion that put the “the burden of proof” in support of the contention that the fossils purported to be of the Neanderthal were indeed of human remains and NOT of an ape. It strengthened the claim by a French scientist, Gabriel de Mortellet, that the Neanderthal is Man’s immediate COUSIN! VIRCHOW-RIZAL LINK Rudolf Virchow was one of the scientists and colleagues introduced to Rizal by Dr. Ferdinand Blumentritt. Dr. Virchow, upon receiving the news of Rizal’s execution in Bagumbayan (Luneta) in 1896, used his position, influence and reputation to deliver the historic obituary during the annual general meeting of the Berlin Society for Anthropology, Ethnology and Pre-history in Berlin, Germany in 1897. Reading the Rizal-Blumentritt letters shows how much Rizal admired the German people and their culture. In the last paragraph, you will be impressed by Virchow’s words in the obituary on what Rizal’s death meant to the Germans: “We are losing in Rizal not only a faithful friend of Germany and German scholarship but also the only man with sufficient knowledge and resolution to open a way for modern thought into that far-off island world.” It is not surprising to find why the Spanish friars spread rumors that Rizal was a German spy! Full text of the obituary can be found at the Knights of Rizal Wilhelmsfeld-Heidelberg Chapter website. It is sad to read the names of ranking and respected members tendering their resignation from our fraternal society in Europe and especially from Germany where Dr. Jose Rizal spent the best years of his struggle for reforms and redemption against Spain . I hate to see a "vacuum" or "VOID" created that can be interpreted someday as the MISSING LINK version in the glorious past of the Knights of Rizal! |
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(Editor's note: An in-depth analysis of the current upheaval in the Order of the Knights of Rizal, explaining the background and the specific reasons for the recent resignations as well options being weighed by challenged members is presently under editorial consideration. Please visit again soon. Thank you.) |
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by
Jose
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