[News] Arrest of & Interview with Jose Maria Sison
Anti-Imperialist News
news at freedomarchives.org
Mon Sep 10 11:12:59 EDT 2007
A good interview follows!
<http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/pugh060907.html>Philippine
Revolutionary Leader Arrested in the Netherlands
by Dave Pugh
<http://josemariasison.org/>Jose Maria Sison has been a leading
figure of the Philippine national democratic revolution for almost 40
years. He is one of the pioneers who revived the anti-imperialist
movement in the Philippines in the early 1960s, and he was elected
chairman of the <http://www.philippinerevolution.net/>Communist Party
of the Philippines in 1968 when it was refounded on the basis of
Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought. For nine years, he was the most
prominent political prisoner of the U.S.-supported dictator,
Ferdinand Marcos. After living for nearly twenty years in the
Netherlands as a political refugee, Sison is in prison again.
On the morning of August 27, 2007, Sison was arrested in Utrecht,
the Netherlands, on trumped up murder charges. The Dutch police
kicked down doors and ransacked Sison's apartment. The Dutch police
also raided the houses of several staff members of the National
Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and confiscated computers
and files in an attempt to shut down the NDFP's international solidarity work.
Sison has been in the crosshairs of successive U.S. puppet Philippine
regimes since his release from prison in 1986 as a result of the
"people power" uprising that brought down the Marcos regime. While
Sison was on a university lecture tour in Europe in 1988, the
Philippine government of Corazon Aquino stripped him of his
passport. A year later, the military offered a one million peso
bounty for his "arrest, capture or neutralization." Sison has
remained a political refugee in the Netherlands since 1988 because of
continued threats to his life by the Philippine authorities. As
recently as 2000, a special unit was sent to the Netherlands to murder Sison.
In 1992, Sison was invited by the NDFP to be its Chief Political
Consultant in peace negotiations with the Philippine government. The
NDFP is composed of the CPP, the New People's Army (which has
established more than 120 guerilla fronts on all eleven major islands
of the archipelago), and 15 groups based among workers, peasants,
women, youth, the religious sector, the Muslim Moro people, and the
many indigenous groups in the Philippines. The NDFP's national
democratic program calls for the uprooting of imperialism, feudalism,
and bureaucrat capitalism in the Philippines, leading to the
socialist stage of the revolution.
Over the course of a decade, the NDFP has held peace talks with the
Philippine government. The two sides have signed ten bilateral
agreements, including the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for
Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law in 1998. The
CARHRIHL requires both sides in the armed conflict to refrain from
acts of terrorism against the civilian population and soldiers who
are hors de combat. However, the Philippine government has
undermined the agreement by objecting to setting up enforcement mechanisms.
More importantly, the government of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has
violated the CARHRIHL and international humanitarian law by
orchestrating the murder and disappearance of more than 1,000
civilian political activists during the last six years. These
activists have included workers and peasants, priests and pastors,
and members of the Bayan Muna (People First) party that recently
elected three representatives to Congress in spite of massive voter fraud.
While the Philippine army sends out squads of motorcycle-riding
masked soldiers to assassinate those whose only crime is opposition
to a corrupt, brutal regime, the revolutionary forces strongly oppose
terrorist actions and terrorism as a strategy. The NDF, the CPP, and
the NPA recognize that they must gain and maintain the active
participation and support of the people in the revolution. They use
their limited weapons judiciously and precisely only against the
military and those guilty of serious offenses against the
people. Nevertheless, the U.S. and the European Union have listed
the CPP and the NPA as "terrorist organizations" and have tried to
blacken the reputation of Sison by designating him as a terrorist.
In response to a question on this issue at a press conference in
2002, Sison replied, "Terrorism is usually associated with the
assassination of innocent civilians, the wanton destruction of
property, the maltreatment of captives and the like. These are
precisely the kinds of things that the New People's Army never
does. The NPA is treating the people humanely and is respecting
their human rights. It abides strictly by its own Rules of
Discipline, and the organs of people power follow the Guide for
Establishing the People's Democratic Government, which serves as the
Constitution for the areas under NPA control."
The Dutch police claim that in 2003, Sison ordered the murders of two
ex-leaders of the CPP, Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara. At that
time, the New People's Army, based in the Philippines, announced that
Kintanar and Tabara were killed resisting arrest and were slated to
be tried by people's courts for serious crimes committed after they
left the CPP. Kintanar had been working for Philippine army
intelligence, and Tabara was charged with the murder of an elderly
peasant leader. The CPP publicly took credit for administering
"revolutionary justice" to Kintanar and Tabara. For over 20 years,
the CPP has stated that Sison is no longer involved in operational
decisions and that he serves the revolutionary movement in an
advisory capacity in Europe.
Why Now?
Why has Sison come under attack now? Over the past year, the
Philippine government has been on the defensive for its human rights
violations. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the UN
Special Rapporteur for Human Rights have issued reports harshly
critical of the Philippine government and army. After hearings in
the spring of 2007, 48 U.S. Senators and Representatives sent a
letter to the Arroyo government expressing concern that U.S. military
equipment was being used to commit human rights abuses.
In July 2007 the Philippine Supreme Court dismissed a long list of
charges against Sison and 50 other progressives, including the
murders of Kintanar and Tabara, that spanned the period from the
founding of the CPP in 1968 to 2006. This legal defeat for the
Philippine government may have prompted it to request that the Dutch
government file the murder charges against Sison, which mean he will
be tried in the Netherlands instead of the Philippines.
The Netherlands has a long and notorious colonial past in Southeast
Asia (Indonesia) and South America (Surinam and the Dutch
Antilles). Today, it is the third largest trading partner and the
second largest investor in the Philippines. Dutch conglomerates such
as Royal Dutch Shell (oil), Unilever (consumer products), and
Phillips (electronics) are well entrenched. Their exploitation of
the labor and natural resources of the Philippines is administered by
the Arroyo government and guaranteed by U.S. military equipment and advisors.
The U.S. government was quick to respond to the Dutch police
action. American ambassador Kristie Kenney offered to extend support
to the Dutch government to prosecute Sison. While the U.S. seems to
allowing the Dutch government to take a lead role at this point,
Sison could be kidnapped by the CIA or U.S. Special
Forces. According to the CPP in the Philippines, the U.S. government
has had <http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/sison020907.html>standing
plans to subject Sison to extraordinary rendition and to imprison him
in Guantanamo Bay or a secret U.S. detention facility.
At present, Sison, 68, is being held in solitary confinement in the
Dutch National Penitentiary, which was used by the Nazis during World
War 2 to imprison and torture Dutch resistance fighters. He is being
denied warm clothing and medicines for a heart condition. However,
Sison is familiar with prison, and his voice will not silenced
easily. On August 30, a march on the Dutch embassy in Manila was
attacked by truncheon-wielding police, injuring dozens of people. In
the last week, demonstrations have been held at Dutch embassies,
consulates, and government offices in Amsterdam, Hong Kong, Jakarta,
Sydney, Taipei, Vancouver, B.C., Montreal, New York City, and Los
Angeles, with more actions planned.
----------
Dave Pugh lives in San Francisco and works with
<http://www.bayanusa.org/>Bayan USA.
----------
URL:
<http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/pugh060907.html>mrzine.monthlyreview.org/pugh060907.html
*******************************************************************************************************
http://josemariasison.org/inps/PiovesanaJMS.htm
Interview With Prof. Jose Maria Sison
By Enrico Piovesana
PEACE REPORTER
Via Meravigli, 12
20123 Milano, Italia
20 August 2007
Enrico Piovesana (EP): Prof. Sison, could you please tell us briefly
about your personal and political history, from your childhood up to
becoming an "International terrorist"?
Professor Jose Maria Sison (JMS): I am not a terrorist. I stand for
principles and actions that are for the benefit of the people
fighting for national liberation, democracy and socialism. I am a
Filipino patriot and a proletarian internationalist, not an
"international terrorist" by any suggestion. Communists are not
terrorists. European governments are wrong for following the Bush
line that communists, progressive mass leaders, national liberation
movements and anti-imperialist governments are terrorists. The
imperialist powers are engaged in fascisation on a global scale.
By my writings and political acts, I am well-known for opposing
policies and actions that harm or work against the interests of the
people. I stand up for the rights and interests of the people and
support their revolutionary struggles. I have strongly opposed
micro-terrorists like Al Qaida and Abu Sayyaf and macro-terrorists
like the US and other imperialist powers that kill large numbers of
people through the daily violence of exploitation, state terrorism
and wars of aggression.
You can get the biographical information about me from the book, At
Home in the World: Portrait of a Filipino Revolutionary. At any rate,
here are a few facts. I was born on February 8, 1939 in Cabugao,
Ilocos Sur, Philippines. I took my grade school in this town and high
school in Manila. I took my bachelor and masteral courses at the
University of the Philippines and I taught English literature and
political science subjects in two universities. I was active in the
anti-imperialist and anti-feudal mass movement. I became the chairman
of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines
from 1968 to 1977. I was arrested, tortured and detained by the
Marcos fascist dictatorship from 1977 to 1986.
I was released from military detention after the fall of Marcos in
1986 and rejoined the faculty of the University of the Philippines. I
went on a university lecture tour in the Asia-Pacific region and then
in Europe from late 1986 onwards. When my Philippine passport was
cancelled in 1988, I applied for political asylum in The Netherlands.
I am now the chief political consultant of the National Democratic
Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in peace negotiations with the
reactionary Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP).
Ironically, it is in connection with the GRP-NDFP peace negotiations
that the CPP, New People's Army NPA) and I have been blacklisted as
"terrorists" by the US and other foreign governments upon the
lobbying of the GRP in order to pressure the NDFP towards capitulation.
EP: How would you describe the nature of NPA struggle: history,
strength, spread, activities, social support, mid-term and long-term goals?
JMS: The Communist Party of the Philippines describes the New
People's Army as the main weapon for protracted people's war and
seizure of political power along the line of the new democratic
revolution under the leadership of the working class in the concrete
conditions of the Philippines. The NPA was established on March 29,
1969, a few months after the reestablishment of the CPP in 1968. It
has carried out fighting, political, productive and cultural tasks
for more than 38 years. It is deeply and widely based among the
people, mainly the peasantry.
It has more than 120 guerrilla fronts. It operates in 70 of the 81
provinces of the Philippines, 800 out of 1500 Philippine
municipalities and in more than 10,000 out of the 42,000 Philippine
villages. It has been instrumental in the establishment and
development of mass organizations and organs of political power. It
has generated and supported social programs and mass campaigns for
the benefit of the people in mass education, land reform, production,
health, defense, cultural activities and settlement of disputes.
The goals announced by the NPA are to seize political power in order
to complete the new democratic revolution and establish a people's
republic and then to become the main component of state power and
defender of the people in socialist revolution and construction in
the Philippines.
EP: What's your reply to those who say that nowadays a Maoist
guerrilla fighting for a socialist state is anachronistic?
JMS: The NPA cannot be anachronistic by fighting for national
liberation and democracy against US imperialism and the local
exploiting classes of big compradors and landlords. It is the new
democratic force that is striving to defeat such anachronistic
monsters as imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism which
exploit and oppress the broad masses of the people.
By the time that the NPA succeeds in defeating these anachronistic
monsters, then the people shall have accumulated the strength
necessary for building socialism under conditions of an imperialism
much weakened by accelerated crisis under such policies as "free
market" globalization and global war of terror spearheaded by US
monopoly capitalism. The world capitalist system has a growing
tendency to implode because of the increased number of competing
imperialist powers and the growing resistance of the people of the world.
EP: The CPP program states that the future socialist State will have
special relations with the People's Republic of China. Many people
say that NPA is even armed by China. Why do you still consider China
a revolutionary state, even if it has become a completely capitalist country?
JMS: At the time that the CPP program was formulated in 1968, the
People's Republic of China was still a socialist state and was
practically the center of the world proletarian revolution through
the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. But since then, especially
after 1976, CPP documents and publications have been criticizing the
revisionists and capitalist restorationists that have prevailed over
the Marxist-Leninists in China. As you say, China has become
capitalist and is no longer a revolutionary state. I refer you to CPP
documents and publications criticizing and condemning "free market"
globalization in sharp contrast to China's conformity to this policy
pushed by the US and other imperialist powers.
EP: Could you explain what the 'Oplan Bantay Laya' is and its effects
on civilians and political activists?
JMS: Oplan Bantay Laya is a "national internal security plan"
patterned after Oplan Phoenix of the US in Vietnam during the late
1960s. It seeks to destroy the political infrastructure and the
guerrilla fronts of the armed revolutionary movement. It is
instigated by the US in the context of its policy of global war of
terror. The US has described the Philippines as the second front of
such global war. It has introduced thousands of US military troops in
the Philippines and increased military supplies to its Filipino
puppets to push them on a counterrevolutionary rampage in the name of
anti-terrorism.
Oplan Bantay Laya has brought about the extrajudicial killing, forced
disappearance and torture of more than a thousand progressive legal
activists, including leaders of progressive mass organizations,
journalists, lawyers, religious leaders and other activists who
advocate human rights, social justice and just peace. It has also
brought about the brutal displacement of more than one million people
mainly in the countryside, in addition to a previous level of two
million internal refugees. The forced displacement of the people is
calculated to divest them of their land and to deliver this to
foreign mining, agribusiness and recreation companies.
Oplan Bantay Laya aims to destroy the armed revolution and legal
opposition and to intimidate the people. But it has failed to destroy
a single guerrilla front of the NPA. It has only served to fuel the
flames of the armed revolution. The gross and systematic violations
of the human rights of the progressive legal activists have outraged
the Filipino people and the people of the world. The progressive
legal mass movement has risen up to a new level against the
escalating acts of violence against the people by the US and the
local reactionaries. Even international human rights organizations
and human rights agencies of the UN have pointed to the criminal
responsibility of the Filipino puppet rulers headed by Arroyo.
EP: The situation will get worse from now on with the new anti-terror
law: the Human Security Act enforced on July 15?
JMS: Indeed, the human rights situation will get worse with the
anti-terror-law, which is deceptively called Human Security Act of
2007. The definitions of "terrorism" and "conspiracy to commit
terrorism" are vague and overly broad. It becomes very easy for the
Arroyo regime to take punitive actions against any individual,, any
organization and any party in the opposition. The punitive actions
include limitless surveillance, warrantless arrests, indefinite
detention without bail, proscription as "terrorists" and seizure of
properties and financial assets.
EP: Do you think that under Arroyo's leadership, Philippines is going
backward to the Marcos dictatorship era?
JMS: In many respects and to a great extent, the Arroyo regime is
already very much on the fascist road of the Marcos dictatorship.
Especially with the HSA of 2007, the Arroyo regime has gotten a
license for martial rule without having to declare martial law and
comply with requirements set by the anti-fascist provisions of the
1987 constitution
EP: What is the role of US military in supporting Philippines troops?
Only training and logistical support or something more?
JMS: The role of the US military in supporting Philippine troops is
not limited to weapons training and logistical support. It is to
indoctrinate the puppet officers and troops and enhance their
subservience, mercenary character and puppetry to US political and
military plans in East Asia and the world at large, It is to gain
intelligence from the puppet forces against the Filipino people as
well as to provide intelligence to the puppet forces in order to
condition their thinking and operations. It is to lay anew and
develop the infrastructure for direct US military presence and
operations in the Philippines and for US military intervention and
aggression in Southeast Asia, East Asia and farther afield.
EP: Official figures put at 40 thousand the death toll of the 'People
War'. Do you confirm this number? Is it true that the conflict is now
in an escalating phase?
JMS: It is wrong for anyone to ascribe the death toll of 40,000 or
whatever number to the people's war .. We must make clear that this
number refers to the people killed by the military, police and
paramilitary forces of the reactionary government in the course of
anti-NPA campaigns of suppression as early as during the time of the
Marcos fascist dictatorship. Since after the fall of the Marcos
regime, the number would have significantly increased to 60,000 with
the count of victims in the brutal campaigns of anti-communist
military suppression under the regimes of Aquino, Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo.
Being the army of the people, the NPA strictly directs its fire
against the military, police and paramilitary forces of the
oppressive regime. There is an estimate that since 1969 the NPA has
killed more than 30,000 enemy troops and wounded many more and the
reactionary military and police have killed around 10,000 Red
fighters and more than 50,000 civilians. These figures exclude the
casualties in the fighting between the reactionary armed forces and
the Moro liberation forces.
EP: What about the peace negotiations started in Brussels in 1995?
JMS: The peace negotiations between the National Democratic Front of
the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the
Philippines (GRP) have made some progress in the form of agreements
within the framework of The Hague Joint Declaration of 1992. The most
significant of the agreements is the Comprehensive Agreement on
Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, which is
the first item in the substantive agenda of the peace negotiations.
But under various pretexts, the GRP has blocked the further advance
of the peace negotiations by repeated attempts to require the NDFP to
capitulate and by repeated declarations of prolonged recesses,
suspension of talks and even the termination of the negotiations. The
peace negotiations become paralyzed every time the GRP demands the
surrender of the revolutionary forces and stops the negotiations as a
process for addressing the roots of the armed conflict and agreeing
on social, economic and political reforms for the benefit of the people.
EP: What do you think about the other Philippine armed conflict: the
one between goverment and Moro Islamic Liberation Front? And what is
your opinion about the Abu Sayyaf Group?
JMS: The Moro people have the right to national self-determination,
democracy, development and peaceful enjoyment of their ancestral
domain. They have the right to secede from an oppressive state and to
demand regional autonomy in a nonoppressive state. The Moro Islamic
Liberation Front (MILF) is waging a just revolutionary armed struggle
along the line of upholding, protecting and promoting the national
and democratic rights and interests of the Moro people.
The Abu Sayyaf is different . It was originally organized by the CIA
and Philippine military intelligence in 1991 in order to make trouble
on the flanks of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF). But when
the MNLF capitulated to the GRP in 1996, the Abu Sayyaf appeared to
run out of control of the CIA and Philippine reactionary military.
Now, it is being used by the US as pretext for the continuing
presence of US military forces in Mindanao and the entire Philippines.###
writings of jose maria sison, go to http://josemariasison.org
follow the defense campaign, go to www.defendsison.be
chronology of the persecution and harassment of JMS over the years
before the arrest of August 28, 2007, see
http://josemariasison.org/inps/ChronoPersProfSison.htm
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863-9977
www.Freedomarchives.org
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