Europe marches along in Bush´s war
Bert De Belder, Solidaire, Workers´ Party of Belgium
On 28 October, the Council of the European Union decided to put the Philippine revolutionary leader Jose Maria Sison and the New People´s Army (NPA) on the European list of …‘terrorists´. (1) This comes in the wake of a similar decision by the US government, and on the explicit demand of the US. Europe may, for the time being, voice some protest regarding Bush´s planned military aggression against Iraq, but when it concerns the elimination of revolutionary movements, Europe and the US speak the same language.
Outlawing a guerrilla movement and a revolutionary leader didn´t take the European Union too long. The Council, composed of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, took the decision by written procedure, without discussion, without a single word of explanation and without due process. The EU now imposes measures that will include “the freezing of funds and other financial assets or economic resources, as well as police and judicial cooperation” (2).
Sison says that this decision “generates the climate for his extradition” to the United States (3). The Netherlands, where he is residing as a political refugee, had earlier already terminated the allowance for his basic necessities, health insurance and housing. Add to this the European measures, and you get the picture of a medieval siege on a city in order to starve it and make it surrender. Plainly barbarian.
Against the US? Terrorist!
On the EU list the New People´s Army joins the FARC (Colombia), the PFLP (Palestine), the DHKP/C (Turkey),…… Sison is one of the only nine individuals on the list, and the only revolutionary leader (the others hail from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Pakistan). Why are Bush and his European companions particularly targetting Sison? US State Secretary Colin Powell motivated his decision as follows: “The CPP, a Maoist group, was founded in 1969 (note: in fact the CPP was founded on 26 December 1968, by Sison) with the aim of overthrowing the Philippine government through guerilla warfare. CPP´s military wing, the New People´s Army, strongly opposes any US presence in the Philippines and has killed US citizens there.” (4)
This reasoning is being aped by the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs de Hoop Scheffer: “The US regards the activities of the CPP/NPA and Sison as a threat for American citizens and for the national security and the American foreign policy. (……)The CPP/NPA is characterized by a strong anti-American attitude. The organization is a fervent opponent of the pro-American policy of the current Philippine government and of the presence of American troops in the Philippines. In the 80s and 90s, six Americans died in NPA attacks.” (5) Opposing US policies and fighting the occupation of your country by the US, that is what Bush and Europe today call …‘terrorism´!
Hitting Sison, part of Bush´s war
Jose Maria Sison says that “nowadays, the word terrorism is much abused. It seems as if we´re back to the times of Hitler, when you could so easily be accused of being a “dirty terrorist” or “communist”, with a sense of hatred. The US uses this as an excuse to go after perfectly political movements fighting for national freedom and democracy. (……) Bush seems crazy. He is hitting in so many directions at the same time: the Al Qaeda, Iraq, Colombia, the Philippines. But behind these different nasty operations is a single unifying purpose. The problem with monopoly capitalism is that it is now in a very deep crisis, comparable to the Great Depression of the 1930s. The US wants to revive its economy by increasing military production. Thus the need for conflicts, interventions and wars.” (6)
For more than thirty years already, the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People´s Army have been waging an exemplary struggle for national liberation and democracy, against foreign domination, exploitation and oppression. And, as Sison puts it, “it is the word liberation that the US hates most, because it means freedom from its imperialist system of exploitation”. (6) Add to this the fact that Jose Maria Sison, because of his sharp analyses and his steadfast revolutionary positions, is an important voice in the entire international communist movement. This makes him an extra pain in the ass of imperialism.
The struggle for liberation is not terrorism
The question whether Jose Maria Sison is a terrorist, has been answered very well in a recent TV documentary of the Dutch IKON. In the documentary, Supreme Bishop Millamena of the Philippine Independent Church declared: “Prof. Sison is not a terrorist. All he does is to fight with the poor for a life in dignity. That is a legitimate struggle.” Mameng Deunida, who chairs an organization of slum dwellers, said that “Mr. Sison is fighting for the well-being and the freedom of the Filipino people and of the entire country”. Congress President De Venecia called Sison “my friend”, and Philippine Vice President Guingona admitted that he didn´t believe Sison was a terrorist. More recently, Guingona declared that “one needs to make a distinction between a rebel who is fighting because of hunger and perceived injustice, and a terrorist who seeks to sow terror and hatred.” (7) IKON´s website organized an opinion poll on the statement that “every organization engaged in armed resistance is a terrorist organization”. 76% of the respondents disagreed, only 11% agreed, while 11% didn´t have an opinion. (8)
For more information, visit Defend Sison
(1) http://www.europa.eu.int/eurlex/en/dat/2002/l_295/l_29520021030en00120013.pdf
(2) http://ue.eu.int/pressData/en/misc/73056.pdf
(3) Press release, 31 October
(4) Colin Powell, Designation of a Foreign Terrorist Organization, 9 August
(5) Letter of the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs to the Chairman of the Second Chamber, 8 October, in reply to a parliamentary question.
(6) Press conference, Utrecht, 14 August
(7) www.inq7.net, 2 November
(8) http://213.132.199.172/ikonSite/hag/index.asp?oId=317
