Contributions of various political organisations from the Philippines; to be presented and discussed at the Anti-imperialist Camp in Assisi
1) 11 September and the Violation of Migrant Rights
by Committee-DEFEND – Committee to Defend Filipino Progressives in Europe
2) Remove Prof. Jose Maria Sison (Philippines) from the EU´s List of …‘Terrorists´
by Committee-DEFEND – Committee to Defend Filipino Progressives in Europe
3) Keynote Speech on US Intervention in the Philippines and Korea
by Jose Maria Sison, NDFP Chief Political Consultant
4) Vicious Violation of Democratic Rights and Scuttling of the GRP-NDFP Peace Negotiations
by Jose Maria Sison, NDFP Chief Political Consultant
5) Comment on US Designation of CPP and NPA as Foreign Terrorist Organizations
by Jose Maria Sison, NDFP Chief Political Consultant
6) Against the criminalization of CPP-NPA and Comrade Sison
by the Communist Party of the Philippines
#######
1) 11 September and the Violation of Migrant Rights
By Ruth de Leon
International Coordinator
Committee DEFEND
On September 11, 2001 the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, symbols of US stranglehold on the world economy were attacked. We condemn such terrorist acts on civilians. Civilians should not be targeted and slaughtered for the crimes of the United States against the peoples of the world. On the other hand, the United States is reaping what is has been sowing for decades upon decades of aggression. No less than Nelson Mandela has said that no country in the world has surpassed the US in committing atrocities against the people of the world.
Yes, there were many casualties in the 11 September attack. But among the great casualties are the basic democratic and human rights of the people. By promulgating the US Patriot Act, US authorities were given the license to wantonly violate every democratic and human right guaranteed by its own constitution, international law, covenants and treaties.
True, overseas Filipinos have suffered exploitation and oppression long before the events of 11 September. But these had been exacerbated to a graver degree ever since authorities in different countries have used 11 September to create “anti-terrorist” hysteria and incite xenophobia among their nationals.
Grave violations of the rights of migrants and immigrants are the result of these hysteria and xenophobia. But let me concentrate on some cases of violations of the rights of the migrant Filipino workers.
I remember arriving in San Francisco last December 2001 and talking to the old people who were working as porters and baggage handlers. Most of them are what you would call “old timers” in America. Instead of retiring, some of them continue working at the San Francisco airport. After 11 September, they were told that they have to leave their job because they lack the skills and know-how for counter-terrorism. And most of them do not have security clearance. But the workers at the SF airport knew that counter-terrorism was just a ruse for the company to get away from paying the wage increase, pension payments and health benefits due to them.
Crackdowns on migrant communities have also become a frequent occurrence. A crackdown was held in the communities of migrants in California and among the victims of these crackdowns were several Filipinos who were forcibly taken from their homes, detained for weeks and then deported without any due process. At least 140 kababayans were deported and US Immigration and Naturalizaton Services (INS) through the US embassy in Manila announced last October that it plans to deport 300,000 Filipinos.
In Canada, organizations of Filipino expatriates active in human rights campaign, migrant rights and work among the Filipino youth in Canada have been tagged as “terrorists” in the futile attempt to isolate them from other members of the Filipino and Canadian communities.
The same thing happened to Filipinos in Belgium whose houses were raided and occupants arrested, detained and deported.
Let us not forget our Kababayans working in the Middle East who were displaced and became victims of a war launched by the US and England against the Iraqi people.
The Case of Prof. Jose Maria Sison
I know you have heard of so many cases depicting the plight of our Kababayans from almost every part of the world that have been subjected to harsh working conditions, low or non-payment of wages and benefits, sexual harassment and abuse and yes, dislocation and death because of wars.
But let me focus on one migrant forced into exile who is being viciously attacked by the United States and its allies because he opposed their political, economic and military policies that run counter to the interests of the Filipino people. That migrant is Prof. Jose Maria Sison.
At the onset, let me state that there is no criminal charge against Prof. Sison in any part of the world. In fact, the Department of Justice of the Philippines issued an affidavit attesting that there is no criminal charge, case or proceedings against Prof. Sison in the Philippines. Even in the Netherlands, where he has resided since 1988, he has not been charged even with a minor traffic violation.
But upon the prodding of the United States and the Philippine government, the European Council added the name of Prof. Sison in the EC “terrorist” listing last 28 October 2002. This was arbitrarily done without due process and without hearing Prof. Sison´s side.
For you see, as I stated earlier, one of the biggest casualties of the 11 September attack are the basic democratic and human rights of a person. And in the case of Prof. Sison, his rights are being violated over and over again big time.
You may asked, why is the US and its allies targeting Prof. Sison?
Any country, state, nation, organization, institution or individual, who dares bring into question and oppose the interests of US big business, its junior partners and local puppet states, is a target of the most vicious attacks emanating from the US and its allies. The statement of George W. Bush “If you are not with us, you are against us” is an old US adage, thus nothing new, but it encapsulates the mindset of the US in its battle for world domination.
It is in this context that we must view the targeting of Prof. Jose Maria Sison and why he has been has included in the US and European Council “terrorist” listings, criminalized and targeted for attacks and covert operations.
Prof. Sison´s ideas and principles are very much clearly defined in his works and writings on history, politics, economy and culture. His poems are testimony to one´s love of country and people and in the glorious future of the Philippines.
He is a staunch nationalist and anti-imperialist. His classic book Philippine Society and Revolution or PSR inspired the Filipino people, especially the youth, to take a second look at their country´s history and the role of colonizers and imperialists in the shaping and continuing existence of the semicolonial and semifeudal society of the Philippines. His lectures and speeches serve as inspiration for the anti-imperialist movement. His analysis of the world´s politics and economy drives a sword to the very heart of US monopoly capitalism.
Prof. Sison´s scientific analysis, by presenting historical facts and empirical data, helps deepens one´s understanding of the development of monopoly capitalism. On the other hand, such analysis incites anger from these monopoly capitalists because it leads to a correct understanding of the world situation and ultimately focuses on them as the enemy of the people.
He also plays an important role as the Chief Political Consultant of the Peace Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines. By listing Prof. Sison and the New People´s Army as “terrorists”, the US and the EC is sabotaging the peace negotiations between the NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. In fact, some officials of the Philippine government has admitted that the government is using the “terrorist listing” to make the NDFP capitulate or surrender.
Another question you might asked is why should we support or defend Prof. Sison?
To quote Bishop Julio Labayen of the Catholic Bishops Ecumenical Forum:
“I do not know him [Prof. Sison] personally. But I stand on the principles of human rights, peace and due process. I may not agree with Prof. Sison on the ideology of Marxism, but we are companions in the hope of attaining just and last peace for the common good of Filipinos and all people´s of the world.”
While Senator Loren Legarda said:
“I am unabashed in saying I have always regarded Jose Maria Sison with deep interest, as I would any Filipino dedicated to promote our country´s best interest. Joma struck me as a man devoted to public service. I have no doubt that in the future, his distinct ideological beliefs will not serve as an insurmountable barrier to arriving at common solutions to our country´s problems.”
We Filipinos have a long tradition of revolutionary struggle. Did not our ancestors revolt against the Spanish, American and Japanese colonizers? Did we not overthrow a dictator, a corrupt president?
Defending Prof. Sison is our struggle. For in defending him we defend those who fight for the interests of the people. In defending him, we defend our basic democratic and human rights. And most of all, we send a signal that we won´t allow others to trample and violate these rights.
I call on you to support the campaign of Committee DEFEND to remove Prof. Jose Maria Sison from the European Council “terrorist” listing.
The campaign is two-pronged: Create a mass movement in support of the campaign and use the legal remedies available to remove Prof. Sison from the “terrorist” listing.
Prof. Sison has filed a case in the Court of First Instance in Luxembourg against the European Council for adding him in its “terrorist listing”.
The Committee-DEFEND is heartened by the support the campaign receives from organizations, institutions, individuals, parties, church officials and prominent personalities from different countries. People from a broad spectrum have given their support to the campaign. They either believe in the noble cause of the Filipino people´s struggle for national liberation and democracy, angered by the violation of Prof. Sison´s human rights and the disregard for due process, or they are just sick and tired of US bullying and arrogance.
They have launched activities ranging from demonstrations, pickets and sleep-ins in front of the US, Dutch and Philippine embassies and consulates and the office of the European Union to writing petitions, signature gathering, letter writing, raising funds for legal defense, cultural presentations, information meetings and forums and lobbying at the European. Articles, interviews and other information are issued in their publications and websites. Committees similar to Committee-DEFEND have been established in other countries to carry the campaign.
These activities were held in the following countries and cities: Belgium, Greece, Norway, Denmark, United Kingdom, Austria, Sweden, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, France, Turkey, Spain, Philippines, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Nepal, India, (where 100 protesters in front of the Dutch consulate were arrested by the police but released several hours later), Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver in Canada and San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, San Jose, San Bernardino, Oakland, Oregon and New York in the US.
There are now Committee-DEFEND in Hong Kong, Philippines, US, Belgium, Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy, Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
Twenty-two members of the European Parliament from nine countries signed a letter addressed to Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende of the Netherlands expressing deep concern for the deprivation of housing, medical insurance, food allowance and other basic necessities for the Sison family, and the freezing of his bank account.
So far, 27 members of the Swedish Parliament, 10 members of the Dutch Parliament and four members of the Danish Parliament have also signed similar petitions.
What you can immediately do is sign and gather signatures for the international appeal to remove him from the list, disseminate information on the campaign and on his case and establish Committee DEFEND in your areas. You will find more information on the campaign on the website of the Committee and also in the two issues of the Newsletter of the Committee.
Maraming salamat at mabuhay tayong lahat na mga migrante!
#######
2) Remove Prof. Jose Maria Sison (Philippines) from the EU´s List of …‘Terrorists´
by Committee to Defend Filipino Progressives in Europe
On 28 October 2002, the Council of the European Union added Jose Maria Sison and the New People´s Army (NPA) of the Philippines to its list of …‘terrorist´ persons, groups and entities. This decision was taken by written procedure, without discussion or due process, without motivation whatsoever. Measures to be taken against the organizations and individuals on the list include “the freezing of funds and other financial assets or economic resources, as well as police and judicial cooperation”.
With this decision, the European Union toes the line of the United States. On 9 August 2002, the US State Department listed the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People´s Army as …‘foreign terrorist organizations´, asking other governments to do the same. On 12 August 2002, the US Treasury Department listed Jose Maria Sison as a …‘terrorist´ whose assets must be frozen.
Whenever the criminalization and the repression of national liberation movements and other revolutionary organizations and individuals are concerned, the European Union applies exactly the same unjust and undemocratic standards and methods as the United States. Does the EU uncritically follow US President Bush in his `global war on terror`? Does the EU believe that states, regimes, movements and individuals that reject and resist the new colonialism of corporate control and military might are `rogue states` and `terrorists`?
The US is targetting Prof. Jose Maria Sison because he has been a leading figure of the Philippine national democratic revolution for almost forty years. He was one of the pioneers who revived the anti-imperialist movement in the Philippines in the early 60s. He re-established the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). For nine years, he was dictator Marcos´ most prominent political prisoner.
We concur with Supreme Bishop Millamena of the Philippine Independent Church, who said in a recent Dutch television program: “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.”1 Philippine Vice President Guingona added to this by declaring 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”.2
Today, Prof. Jose Maria Sison is living in the Netherlands as a political refugee under the protection of the Refugee Convention and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. He is the chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP, the revolutionary alliance to which the CPP and the NPA belong) in the peace negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines. These negotiations have been facilitated by the Norwegian, Dutch and Belgian governments, and the European Parliament has endorsed them through several resolutions.
The CPP, the NPA and the NDFP have been leading an exemplary people´s struggle for national liberation and democracy, against foreign domination, exploitation and oppression. We reject the notion that the struggle for national liberation, including armed struggle, is equated to terrorism. We are concerned that legitimate political organizations and individuals, including legitimate asylum seekers and recognized political refugees, may become the target of unjustified repressive measures in the guise of fighting terrorism.
The blacklisting of Prof. Sison and various revolutionary movements by the European Union does not bode well for democracy in Europe. Groups and individuals who express and concretize their solidarity with them may be the next victims. The democratic rights of freedom of __expression and of association are at stake. The human value of solidarity is under threat.
We demand from the European Union and its member states:
…· the removal of Prof. Jose Maria Sison and the New People´s Army from the list of the Council Common Position 2002/847/CFSP and Council Decision 2002/848/EC;
…· the full respect for the protection of Jose Maria Sison as a refugee under the relevant international conventions;
…· encouragement to the resumption of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations in accordance with The Hague Joint Declaration of 1992 as the framework agreement and respect for the 1997 and 1999 resolutions of the European Parliament supporting the aforesaid peace negotiations;
…· the refusal of any possible demand for his extradition.
We demand from the European Union and its member states to refrain from any legislation or action that may hinder the legitimate political activities of organizations and individuals.
We support the Application filed by Prof. Sison, with the help of an international team of human rights lawyers, before the Court of the European Community in Luxemburg, against his inclusion in the EU´s list of …‘terrorists´.
We vow to extend Prof. Sison financial support for his basic necessities and for his legal defense, even if this runs counter to the decision of the Council of the European Union. To us, the values of justice and solidarity are more important.
Committee-DEFEND
Postbus 15687
1001 ND Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Telephone: 00-31-(0)30-2368722
Fax: 00-31-(0)30-2322989
Email: defenddemrights@yahoo.com
www.defendsison.be
#######
3) Keynote Speech on US Intervention in the Philippines and Korea
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chief Political Consultant, National Democratic Front of the Philippines
and General Consultant, International League of Peoples´ Struggle
At the Forum on US Intervention in the Philippines and Korea,
an Evening of Resistance Broadcast by WBAI/Pacifica,
July 16, 2003, New York City
First of all, let me thank all the organizers for inviting me to keynote this forum on US intervention in the Philippines and Asia. I feel greatly honored and deeply pleased to be among speakers who are knowledgeable about the subject, to speak before anti-imperialist activists and to reach a great number of people through the electronic multi-media and further political work.
I admire and salute all the Korean and Filipino organizations for working together to expose and oppose US intervention and related evil acts in their respective countries. I also appreciate the relations of solidarity and cooperation that these organizations have developed with organizations of the American people and other peoples in the course of common struggle against imperialist plunder and war.
In the face of the worsening crisis of the US and world capitalist system, we can expect that the No. 1 imperialist power, which is at the same time the No. 1 terrorist force, will escalate the exploitation and oppression of the people of the world and will generate all such monstrosities as chauvinism, racism, the violation of women´s rights, fascism and wars of aggression.
The US has used 9-11 as the pretext for internationalizing the fascist provisions of the Patriot Act, for unleashing wars of aggression, for using weapons of mass destruction against the civilian population and social infrastructure and for misrepresenting and demonizing as “terrorist” national liberation movements, countries assertive of national independence and leaders who take an anti-imperialist stand.
The Bush ruling clique is hell-bent on delivering tax cuts, public funds, contracts and subsidies to the monopoly bourgeoisie. It is pushing low-employment war production as the supposed stimulus to the crisis-stricken American economy. It is whipping up war hysteria and actually carrying out wars of aggression. These wars are aimed at seizing the sources of cheap labor and natural resources (especially oil), markets and fields of investment.
The dream of the “neoconservatives” around Bush is to build further an incomparable empire, a Pax Americana of unprecedented scale, by maximizing the use of the sole superpower position of the US and, of course, its high-tech weapons of mass destruction and mass distraction. A number of states is lined up as targets for aggression, intervention, blockade and pressure in order to make them yield to the global hegemony of the US.
The US has used its war of aggression against Afghanistan to entrench itself further in Central Asia and ensure that the sources of oil and oil supply routes are under its control. It has used its second war of aggression against Iraq to gain direct control over the second largest oil reserves in the world and in effect over the OPEC and over global oil production and to further subordinate the whole of the Middle East to the US-Israeli combination.
All the time that it has been carrying out its war of aggression against Afghanistan and then Iraq, the US has been deploying US combat troops in the Philippines under the pretext of anti-terrorism and hurling threats against the Democratic People´s Republic of Korea under the pretext of pushing nonproliferation of nuclear weapons. The hostile acts of the US against the Filipino and Korean peoples are interrelated. They have something to do with pushing US hegemony over the whole of East Asia.
Let me focus first on the US military intervention in the Philippines. The US is using its so-called war on terrorism in order to bring in military advisors, trainors and combat troops in violation of the 1987 constitution of the Manila government, to develop interoperability with the Filipino mercenary puppet troops, to elaborate on US military access rights through a logistical support agreement, to expand the facilities for the US air and naval forces and to prepare the ground for the return of US military basing rights.
US strategists see the Philippines as the center of an arc, with one wing consisting of more developed countries in Northeast Asia (Japan, South Korea, North Korea and China) and another wing consisting of the underdeveloped but natural resource-rich countries in Southeast Asia. The US gives high priority to preparations for establishing of US air and naval bases in Central and Far South Mindanao and thereby acquiring a control point over the oil-producing and predominantly Muslim countries of Southeast Asia.
The US considers the Philippines as its most reliable vantage point because this is the country in Asia that it dominates the most–economically, politically and culturally. It is also the best-located vantage point for the whole of East Asia. US military bases can oversee from here the movement of more than half of the global trade through the South China Sea.
The new shift in US military strategic thinking affects the Philippines and the rest of East Asia. The US is eager to establish small US military bases and outposts wherever possible, under the concept of forward deployment, which veers away from the previous concept of rapid deployment. The advance deployment of US forces on the ground are seen as effective facilitation of any subsequent deployment of large US military forces from their secure US bases at any time.
US military access and basing rights in the Philippines are considered of crucial importance. Through these the US can pose a serious military threat to China and DPRK. A US military position of strength in the Philippines gains even more importance as the US moves towards the relative reduction of US military forces in Japan due to the rising clamor of the Japanese people for the dismantling of US military bases and as it is also trying to redress the vulnerability of US military bases around Seoul and near the 38th parallel in Korea.
In keeping with its doctrine of preemptive strike (based either on accurate or Bush-style falsified intelligence) and with its cowardly style of raining missiles and bombs upon people and buildings from a great distance, the US has already announced plans of reshaping its military force deployment in East Asia in such a manner as to make the Philippines the main frontline against China and DPRK, and Australia the main rear for US military forces.
It must be observed that the US is trying to persuade the DPRK to come to terms with US policy by using diplomacy with the participation of China. It is highly probable that the US is now using the subtle language of diplomacy to boast of having tightened its control over oil and having the ability to block the oil supply to DPRK and even China. The US is already heard loudly proclaiming that it can move back its troops from the range of any DPRK military action and that it can attack the DPRK from a distance with cruise missiles with nuclear warheads.
In the imperialist mode of thinking, especially that of Bush and his retinue of neoconservatives, high-tech weaponry can ultimately solve any problem that economic, financial and diplomatic manipulation cannot. But has high-tech weaponry solved the problem for the US in Afghanistan and Iraq? It was effective only for destroying fixed structures and pushing aside the incumbent government. The Talibans and Al Qaida are back in control of more than 40 per cent of Afghanistan by waging guerrilla warfare.
And in Iraq the anti-imperialist forces are also waging guerrilla warfare and are inflicting more and more casualties on the US occupation forces. But Bush and other high US officials are violently against bringing the US troops home. They have made clear that they will keep US troops in Iraq for a long while. The name of their game is occupation.
They cannot leave behind the oil fields and oil reserves, all the business projects of the US monopoly firms and the military bases for controlling the entire Middle East. The greed and arrogance of the Bush regime and US monopoly firms are placing the US in a quagmire reminiscent of Vietnam.
Are there ways for the Korean and Filipino peoples to frustrate US military intervention and related evil actions? Yes, of course.
The entire Korean people of both north and south can unite against US imperialism, against US military bases and US nuclear weapons in the south and against the economic embargo and military threats of the US against the DPRK. It is fine that the DPRK is standing up firmly for national independence, peaceful reunification and socialist aspirations and is ready to fight courageously with the omnipotence of the people and with some powerful weapons. The US cannot successfully launch a blitzkrieg against the DPRK with impunity, without grave consequences to the US and its most rabid cam followers and without offending the Chinese and other peoples of the world.
The Filipino people can unite and raise the level of their revolutionary consciousness and fighting capabilities. In the face of the US and the Manila puppet government, the people are fortunate to have the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People´s Army, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, the organs of democratic power and the mass organizations as the solid forces in the struggle for national liberation and democracy. The current form of people´s war in the Philippines is extensive and intensive guerrilla warfare on the basis of an ever widening and deepening mass base. The high-tech weaponry of the US is impotent against such popular resistance.
The Korean and Filipino peoples enjoy abundant support from all anti-imperialist and democratic forces and people of the world. The broad anti-imperialist solidarity is developing vigorously on a global scale. It is inspiring the people of the world to intensify their resistance for national and social liberation against imperialism and all reaction. The world disorder of today is the prelude to a new wave of social revolutions.
Thank you.
#######
4) Vicious Violation of Democratic Rights and Scuttling of the GRP-NDFP Peace Negotiations
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison, NDFP Chief Political Consultant
The European Council has unjustly put my name on the list of so-called terrorists in accordance with the request earlier made by the Dutch government upon the prompting of the US government. My democratic rights are viciously violated. I am criminalized as a “terrorist” without due process. I am defamed and demonized. My life is being threatened. I suffer moral and material damages.
It is completely absurd that I am misrepresented as “terrorist” for being supposedly “linked to” or “in charge of” the New People´s Army (NPA). In fact, I am simply an unemployed teacher, prevented by the Dutch government from working for more than 14 years already and serving as the chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front (NDFP) in its peace negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).
It is wrong to make me appear as if I were more powerful than such organs of leadership as the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), the national military staff of the NPA and the National Council of the NDFP, which are all in the Philippines.
The European Council has also unjustly labeled the New People´s Army as “terrorist”. In fact, it is a disciplined revolutionary army led by the CPP. It is the instrument of the Filipino people in fighting for national liberation and democracy.
It is bound by the Bill of Fundamental Rights in the Guide for Establishing the People´s Government, the Rules of the New People´s Army, the NDFP Declaration of Undertaking to Apply the Geneva Conventions and Protocol I and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.
The listing of the NPA and my name as “terrorists” by the European Council has the effect of scuttling the peace negotiations between the GRP and the NDFP. Consequent to the listing, it is no longer advisable to hold these negotiations in Europe where organizations and individuals belonging to or associated with the NDFP in one way or another are vulnerable to being condemned and treated as “terrorists”.
The NDFP cannot allow the members of its negotiating panel, its consultants, staffers and supporters in Europe to be put under duress. It rightfully condemns the scheme of the US and the Macapagal-Arroyo puppet regime to push the revolutionary forces towards capitulation by demonizing them as “terrorists” and threatening them with the brutal power of the US and other imperialists.
The campaign to demonize the revolutionary forces can only unite the people to wage a fiercer armed revolution against the armed counterrevolution. They were not at all cowed by the US-directed Marcos fascist dictatorship and the existence of the US military bases at the peak of the Cold War. There is no reason for them whatsoever to be frightened by US imperialism and a puppet regime that are in the throes of the worst economic and social crisis since the end of World War II
The US and the Macapagal-Arroyo regime have pushed the European governments to scuttle the peace negotiations and to persecute me. I am now in a situation of using much of my time to wage legal battles in court and to generate moral and political support for my just cause.
I also have to guard against foul play by the agents of US imperialism who are now thrilled by the Bush propensity for aggressive war and by his lifting of the ban on assassination of leaders opposed to US imperialism. The listing of my name as “terrorist” by the European Council is calculated to create the political climate for facilitating my extradition and even my assassination.
The US and the Macapagal-Arroyo regime are hell-bent on destroying the people´s revolutionary movement by sheer military force under the pretext of carrying out a war on terrorism. The people and the revolutionary forces have no choice but to defend themselves and defeat their oppressors and exploiters in order to bring about national liberation and democracy.
#######
5) Comment on US Designation of CPP and NPA as Foreign Terrorist Organizations
By Jose Maria Sison, NDFP Chief Political Consultant
The US launched a war of aggression against the Filipino people from 1899 onwards and in the process tortured and murdered hundreds of thousands of them, mostly unarmed civilians who were merely suspected of supporting the Philippine revolutionary government and thereafter the succeeding revolutionary movements in various parts of the Philippines.
The latest count done by a group of scholars and researchers in the History Department of the University of the Philippines shows that the aggressor troops of US imperialism killed more than 1,400,000 Filipinos from 1899 to 1914. Consequent to its bloody conquest of the Philippines, the US has subjected the Filipino nation to the daily violence of exploitation in connivance with the local reactionaries.
US imperialism is the biggest terrorist force that has ever afflicted the Filipino people. And yet it has all the malice and temerity to misrepresent as terrorist every revolutionary force that arouses, organizes and mobilizes the Filipino people in a resolute struggle for national liberation and democracy against US imperialism, domestic feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism.
It is utterly ridiculous that in representation of the biggest terrorist force in the world, US State Secretary Colin L. Powell, in consultation with the US Attorney General and Secretary of the Treasury, has designated the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People´s Army as “foreign terrorist organizations” since yesterday, August 9, 2002.
Among the objectives that the US seeks to achieve by such designation are to bar suspected officers and members of the CPP and NPA from entering the US, to prohibit and punish any kind of activity suspected of being helpful to them, to freeze any suspect bank account and to signal all other countries to act against those whom it designates as terrorists.
But anyone who knows the principles and policies of the CPP is aware that it does not send its members or Red fighters of the NPA abroad to attack any US entity. The CPP has also repeatedly pointed out that Americans can enjoy the basic rights and freedoms of the foreign guest in the Philippines, unless they are deployed for combat operations against the revolutionary forces and people.
It is silly for anyone to imagine that the CPP has any amount of money in US banks or elsewhere. The US government will certainly be abusing Filipinos, Americans and other people in the US and violating civil liberties by carrying out a witchhunt against those suspected of working for or supporting the CPP and NPA and keeping money for them.
The US is whipping up the line of preemptive first strike on the basis of mere suspicion at the level of the state relations with private organizations and individuals within or outside its jurisdiction and likewise at the level of state-to-state relations. The US is already violating the civil liberties of the American people (e.g., those who have been detained indefinitely and in solitary confinement just because they were known to be Muslim immigrants or they looked Arabic) and is possibly provoking certain states that it has threatened, to physically attack the US before they are attacked.
Under the guise of combating terrorism, the Bush administration is generating fascism in the US and the entire world. It is trying to push Europe and Japan as well as neocolonial states to adopt more and more repressive measures against the people, especially the migrants. The US is promoting wholesale state terrorism to suppress the growing social discontent and resurgent revolutionary resistance, amidst the rapidly worsening crisis of the US and world capitalist system.
It is highly probable that the US and Manila government are in cahoots with each other in the designation of the CPP and NPA as terrorists in a futile psywar attempt to intimidate and push them towards capitulation. The CPP, NPA and NDFP cannot be intimidated. They dared to fight the Marcos fascist dictatorship and in the process grew in strength even while the US military bases were still in the Philippines and were used for delivering war materiel and training Filipino puppet troops.
The designation of the CPP and NPA as terrorists is likely to lead to the termination of the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations and to the intensification of the civil war and even to a war of national liberation against US aggression, if the US troops join the puppets in combat against the NPA. Said designation has been done by the US apparently as a psywar preparation for doing away with the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations and for rationalizing the escalation of US military intervention or aggression against the revolutionary forces and people.
Being the sole superpower in the world, US imperialism is being carried away by extreme arrogance. It has the notion that it can do anything it pleases in order to oppress and exploit the people under the slogan of “free market” globalization. It has the illusion that it can wage several wars of aggression and to suppress revolutionary movements in several continents all at the same time.
Those who are resolutely fighting US imperialism and its puppets know very well that the US itself is now in a serious prolonged economic crisis and is already overextended financially and militarily. They are taking advantage of increasingly favourable conditions to advance their revolutionary struggles. They are steadily gaining strength and preparing for great upswings in the near future. ###
10 August 2002
#######
6) Against the criminalization of CPP-NPA and Comrade Sison
The Communist Party of the Philippines condemns US machinations to criminalize and persecute as “terrorists” the CPP-NPA, Comrade Sison and other legitimate revolutionaries and progressives!
Statement of the Central Committee
of the Communist Party of the Philippines
21 September 2002
As the world´s rogue superpower and biggest terrorist, the US has arrogated to itself the power to unilaterally unleash war and rain death and devastation on other countries and peoples. It shamelessly bullies the international community, destabilizes other states and whole regions, and threatens world peace.
US imperialism is the biggest terrorist force that has ever afflicted the Filipino people. It has yet to answer for the brutal war of aggression against the Filipino people from 1899 to 1914. Its war crimes include killing, torture, forced mass evacuations and other repressive measures which claimed the lives of more than a million Filipinos, mostly unarmed civilians. Its bloody conquest of the Philippines has since paved the way for its daily violence of exploitation and oppression of the Filipino nation, in league with local lackeys.
In the midst of the worsening crisis of the US and world capitalist system, the US is promoting wholesale state terrorism and fascism in the world to suppress rising social turmoil and revolutionary resurgence. Stricken with paranoia, it is increasing repression in the US itself and is pushing other countries, including its neocolonies, to adopt even more repressive measures against the people, especially migrants. US insistence that the Macapagal-Arroyo regime take on more and more repressive and bellicose measures in the name of “anti-terrorism” is again bringing the Philippines as close as ever to martial law.
The US has grown more and more wary of the revolutionary movement in the Philippines that is today at the forefront of the world anti-imperialist struggle and is gaining ground and threatening the existence of its client state. It is now increasingly intervening directly in the counter-revolutionary war in the country. To justify this, it has ridiculously designated as “foreign terrorist organizations” the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People´s Army.
The US is the world´s biggest terrorist and yet it has the gall to label as “terrorist” and sully the fine record of a legitimate and principled revolutionary force that is arousing, organizing and mobilizing the Filipino people in a resolute struggle for national liberation and democracy against US imperialism, domestic feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism.
In cahoots with the Macapagal-Arroyo puppet regime, the US is making preparations for and legitimizing its outright agression in the country with such schemes as the Mutual Logistics and Support Agreement and endless new versions of Balikatan…—this time directed at CPP-NPA territories.
To make way for its aggression in the Philippines, the US is prejudicing the peace process and generating a climate of fear against the members, consultants and staffers and supporters of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace panel. The US has centered its attack on Comrade Jose Ma. Sison, the senior political consultant of the panel. In a US Treasury Department attachment to Executive Order no. 13224 issued on August 12, 2002, US President Bush has specifically included Comrade Sison in the list of “foreign terrorists”.
Single-minded in its vehement hatred of revolutionaries, US imperialism is hell bent on suppressing them. US imperialism and its local lackeys know best who are their most resolute and most effective adversaries, unleashing the vilest of propaganda, the dirtiest tricks and the most brutal attacks against them. Among the prime targets today of US imperialism and its puppets are the parties and revolutionaries who are guided by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, particularly those carrying out and promoting people´s war.
Because of his leading influence and significance to the political and social revolutionary movement in the Philippines as well as internationally, the US is concentrating its most vicious attack on Comrade Sison with the vain hope of decapitating the revolutionary movement in the Philippines and impeding the resurgence of the anti-imperialist and proletarian revolutionary movement to a new and higher level.
Being singled out for exemplary attack by the world superpower serves as an unintended tribute to Comrade Sison´s sharpness and resoluteness in exposing US imperialism and its successive puppet regimes, in serving as a beacon to the national democratic and proletarian revolutionary movement in the Philippines, in reinvigorating the international proletarian revolutionary movement, as well as in supporting the peace process.
The Communist Party of the Philippines greatly values the contributions that Comrade Sison has given and continues to render the Philippine revolutionary movement. The Party recognizes his outstanding revolutionary role and devotion to the proletariat and people, and refutes the US´ baseless charge of “terrorist” against him as well as against the Party itself, and the people´s army and revolutionary movement led by the Party.
Riding on the US “anti-terrorist” mantra and on antidemocratic and antimigrant trends in the Netherlands and Europe, the Dutch government is doing the dirty work in behalf of the US government against Comrade Sison. It has done so in utter disregard of due process and with disgusting cruelty.
Last month it made a cheap device at oppression by freezing his and his wife Juliet´s personal accounts which has come from no source other than the Dutch state welfare agency Sociale Zaken. The highest Dutch administrative court, the Raad van State, since 1992 has considered him a political refugee. Guilty thus of double talk, this September 16 the Dutch government downgraded his political refugee status. Immediately, this has deprived him of housing, subsistence and medical support. Moreover, this has threatened his protection by the Refugee Treaty of Geneva and the European Convention from extradition to any country on the pretext of a criminal charge.
Some prominent Philippine government officials themselves have spilled the beans that the US is set to trump up a criminal complaint against Comrade Sison and on this basis seek his extradition to the US. The Philippine Justice Secretary has certified as far back as 1998 that no criminal charge whatsoever exists against Comrade Sison in the Philippines. The Macapagal-Arroyo regime is still in the process of forging a law specifically against “terrorism” that would target revolutionaries and their supporters much more than bandits and real terrorists. To make up for this lack, it is working to file a charge of rebellion against Comrade Sison in order to prop up the prospective criminal complaint and request of the US for his extradition.
The US and the puppet Macapagal-Arroyo regime are bent on working out more sinister designs and plots…— including the resort to outright violence and other fascist methods…—in an effort to suppress the revolutionary movement, Comrade Sison and other revolutionaries and progressives. The European Union has also adopted its own “anti-terrorist” measure. On July 15, 2002, Committee of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the European Union promulgated “anti-terrorist”guidelines which severely curtail civil liberties in much the same way as the US Patriot Act. The Party is much concerned about the dangers to Comrade Sison resulting from the devious machinations and work of the US and its allies.
The Party vehemently condemns the US and the puppet Macapagal-Arroyo regime for the blatant designs and machinations at interventionist and fascist schemes directed at the Party, the New People´s Army and Comrade Sison, as well as against the sovereign rights and fundamental interests of the Filipino nation and people.
The Party calls on all Filipino patriots and on all freeedom-loving people around the world to protest and fight these designs and schemes, which are specifically aimed to clear the way for increased outright US aggression against the revolutionary movement and people of the Philippines. The Dutch government should listen to reason and reverse its unjust and cruel acts against Comrade Sison.
The Communist Party of the Philippines and the revolutionary movement it leads shall never be intimidated by US military intervention, threat of aggression and dirty tricks. The revolutionary movement in the Philippines has been tempered in life-and-death struggle over so many years and against great adversities. It is resolute as ever in its self-reliant armed revolutionary struggle to attain national liberation and democracy and gain ground for the world proletarian revolution.
The Party´s collective leadership effectively operates in the consolidated revolutionary guerilla bases in the Philippines, safely out of the immediate reach and mischief by the US and local reactionary armed forces. Filipino revolutionaries know full well that the rotten semifeudal and semicolonial system in the country is in terminal crisis and that the US itself has become mired in ever deeper crisis. The Party and the revolutionary movement are rapidly advancing and are taking advantage of increasingly favourable national and international conditions for the further advance of the revolutionary struggle.
