NYC meeting salutes Philippines leader

Bayan USA and the Anakbayan Filipino Youth Collective of New York and New Jersey held a tribute here June 10 to the life and writings of Filipino revolutionary leader Jose Maria Sison, who is currently exiled in the Netherlands.

The meeting brought together anti-imperialist forces among anti-war, grassroots and community organizations and heightened awareness among progressives of Sison’s historic role and the leadership he has provided to the struggle for Philippine liberation.

Secretary–General Berna Ellorin of Bayan USA introduced the meeting: “We are thrilled to bring to the world a glimpse of the man this government has so wrongfully labeled a terrorist. Terrorists are not popular or supported by the people. But tonight it is clear Jose Maria Sison’s life has won the hearts and minds of the Filipino people and strong support from all those who yearn for freedom from U.S. war and aggression around the world. He is not a terrorist, but a genuine freedom fighter, because he has dedicated his life to the democratic cause of oppressed peoples.”

Revolution Books, the site of the tribute, is launching the fifth edition of the historic text entitled “Philippine Society and Revolution,” which Sison wrote in 1970 under the name Amado Guerrero.

Sison was a radical student leader who became the founding chairperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and is now chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF). He is also chairperson of the International League of People’s struggle (ILPS), a global anti-imperialist people’s organization.

The dictatorial regime of Ferdinand Marcos held him political prisoner for eight years. In 2001 the U.S State Department declared that Sison, the CPP and the New Peoples Army (NPA) were all terrorist organizations and that the Philippines was “the second front of the war on terror.”

Through an international video conference Sison was able to participate interactively with the audience. The discussion ranged over the prospect of socialism in Latin America, the state of socialism in China, the struggle for immigrant rights in the U.S. and the impact of the Katrina disaster.

Cultural presentations included Asian-American musician Fred Ho’s saxophone rendition of Bayon Ko, (My Country), a patriotic folk song first heard in the 1920s during the U.S. occupation of the Philippines. Sison’s poem, “The Guerrilla is Like a Poet” was read in Pilipino and English.

The ILPS U.S. Coordinating Committee, the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, the International Action Center and New York City Labor Against the War delivered solidarity statements.