WW interview with Philippine Communist leader
'We won't capitulate to U.S. pressure'
Workers World reporter Lydia Bayoneta recently conducted
an interview with Prof. Jose Maria Sison, the founding
chairperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP),
chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of
the Philippines (NDFP) and general consultant of the
International League of People's Struggle
(ILPS).
Bayoneta: What is your current status with regard to the
government of the Netherlands?
Sison: I am a political refugee recognized by the
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Dutch
Council of State and the Dutch government. However, due to
long-running U.S. pressure, I have not been admitted as a
political refugee to the Netherlands. Neither have I been
granted a permit to reside. Sometimes, I am called a "tolerated
alien."
As a recognized political refugee, I am protected by the
Refugee Convention and by the European Convention for the
Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Don't be
confused by the Dutch hairsplitting between the terms
"recognized" and "admitted" political refugee. It is the
confusion of the Dutch authorities as a result of the unlawful
U.S. meddling in my asylum case in violation of the Refugee
Convention. Lately, since Aug. 13, the Dutch government has
issued the so-called sanction regulation against terrorism in
order to subject me to persecution and repressive measures.
The said sanction regulation parrots the Aug. 9 decision of
the U.S. State Department designating the Communist Party of
the Philippines/New Peoples Army as a "foreign terrorist
organization" and the Aug. 12 decision of the U.S. Treasury
Department listing the CPP, NPA and myself as targets for the
freeze of assets.
What have been some of the immediate effects of this
change in your status on you and the Filipino movement?
Sison: I have been criminalized as a "terrorist"
without due process. I have been defamed, demonized and
subjected to the incitement of public hatred by official
propaganda mills. I have thereby suffered material and moral
damages and grave threats to my life.
My joint bank account with my wife has been frozen, despite
the fact that the money that goes in and out of there comes
from the social welfare agency. The measly social benefits,
which I receive in exchange for being banned from work as a
"tolerated alien," have been terminated. The Dutch authorities
offer the restoration of said benefits, but only on condition
that these are on "humanitarian grounds" within the framework
of the sanction regulation against terrorism.
The U.S.-Dutch imperialist collaboration against me is
extremely cruel. I am deprived of the basic necessities of life
and my basic human right to life is thus violated. My family
manages to survive because we borrow money from friends. By the
way, the sanction regulation also threatens to punish any
entity for providing me any kind of goods and services, even if
for mere subsistence.
The attack on me is meant by the governments in Washington,
The Hague and Manila to terrorize the members, consultants,
staffers and supporters of the NDFP negotiating panel based in
Europe and to push them towards capitulation in the peace
negotiations with the Manila government. But the imperialists,
together with their puppets, are merely daydreaming by
imagining that they can shake down the NDFP towards
capitulation. They are in fact goading the revolutionary forces
and people in the Philippines to struggle more resolutely and
more militantly than ever before for national liberation and
democracy.
The U.S. has its own unilateral strategic objective. If the
shakedown on the NDFP does not result in capitulation of the
revolutionary forces but the collapse of the peace
negotiations, the U.S. is ready to escalate its military
intervention in the Philippines and launch a war of aggression
for the purpose of tightening U.S. control over the Philippines
and all Southeast Asia.
But this early the revolutionary forces and people in the
Philippines, including overseas Filipinos, know what the U.S.
is up to. And they are more determined than ever before to
fight for their national and democratic rights against U.S.
imperialism and its puppets in the Philippines.
After so many years as a recognized political refugee,
why do you think the Netherlands has so abruptly changed its
attitude towards you in particular? Do you expect your personal
situation to become worse?
Sison: The Dutch government is consistently against
my residence in the Netherlands. I have managed to stay long in
the Netherlands by standing up for my rights against the
powerful attempts of the Dutch government to violate the
Refugee Convention and European Convention. The abrupt change
is not in the attitude of the Dutch government but in the
intensity of its intolerance and arbitrariness towards me. The
Dutch government follows the baton of the U.S. government in
this regard.
It is not at all surprising that the Dutch government does
the bidding of the U.S. in using the pretext of anti-terrorism
against me and in applying the most unjust and most cruel
repressive measures against me. The U.S. and Dutch governments
and multinational firms are long-time partners in the
exploitation of the peoples of Southeast Asia and other parts
of the world.
I am now taking legal actions to have my name removed from
the list of "terrorists" and free myself from the adverse
consequences of the witch hunt. These legal actions cost time,
effort and money. The costs are punishing, too. But supporters
are working hard to raise a legal defense fund for me.
I face far worse possibilities, including extradition and
even assassination by the CIA. According to certain high
officials of the Manila government, especially national
security adviser Roilo Golez, the U.S. is preparing to request
the Dutch government to extradite me to U.S. territory or to
put me under provisional detention pending the fabrication of a
criminal charge for my extradition.
The U.S. and Dutch governments are quite capable of using
their extradition treaty against me despite the clear political
motivation of the U.S. in fabricating the charge of terrorism
against me.
How do you assess the "war on terrorism" of the
Bush administration?
Sison: The so-called Bush war on terrorism is
actually a war of imperialist terrorism. The Bush
administration has used the horrific terrorist attacks on
civilians on Sept. 11 as the excuse for unleashing the
super-terrorism of U.S. imperialism on the people of the world.
Such super-terrorism includes wars of aggression, widespread
military intervention, internationalization of repressive
policies, escalation of state terrorism, intensified U.S.
military spending and war production, assertions of monopoly
right over weapons of mass destruction and the doctrine and
practice of preemptive strikes.
A German leader has aptly compared Bush to Hitler. He whips
up war hysteria, steps up war production and seeks to suppress
dissent and revolutionary resistance in order to deflect
attention from the daily worsening economic and social crisis
of the world capitalist system.
Comment on the relationship of this "war on terrorism" to
the century-long struggle of the Philippines to achieve true
sovereignty and independence.
Sison: It is clear that the Bush war of terrorism is
aimed at violating the national sovereignty and independence of
countries and peoples all over the world. We are therefore
reminded of the century-long struggle of the Filipino people
for national independence.
The 1899-1902 U.S. war of aggression against the Filipino
people and the subsequent pacification campaigns lasting up to
1914 killed 1.4 million Filipinos, suppressed Philippine
independence and put the Filipino people under U.S. colonial
rule.
The U.S. also instigated, directed and propped up the Marcos
fascist dictatorship for 14 years in order to retain all-round
U.S. control over the Philippines in the face of a rising
patriotic and progressive mass movement. In the process, the
U.S. encouraged the Marcos fascist regime to torture and kill
at least 200,000 people.
Now, Bush is using the pretext of war on terrorism in order
to bring U.S. combat forces into the Philippines, re-establish
the U.S. military bases and tighten U.S. control over the
Philippines. The Filipino people can achieve complete victory
in their revolutionary struggle for national liberation and
democracy only by contending with and defeating the brutal
military power of the U.S. and its puppets in the
Philippines.
Recently, with the collaboration of the government of
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the U.S. has indeed reintroduced U.S.
combat troops into the Philippines. Please comment further on
the goals and tactics of both the U.S. and Filipino
governments.
Sison: The U.S. strategic planners think that the
U.S. can grab anything while it is the sole superpower in the
world. They have reintroduced U.S. combat troops into the
Philippines initially under the pretext of going after the Abu
Sayyaf.
After failing to destroy this small bandit group in the tiny
island of Basilan, they announce that they wish to fight the
revolutionary forces on a nationwide scale. They wish to extend
so-called access rights, build up the military infrastructure
and ultimately get basing rights for U.S. military forces.
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is a worse puppet than any
presidential predecessors. Even at the height of the Cold War,
none found it necessary to call on U.S. military forces to
fight the revolutionary forces in the country. She is obsessed
with the notion that U.S. military and other kinds of
intervention will ensure her victory in the 2004 elections.
How important is the Philippines to the goals of U.S.
imperialism in Asia and the surrounding region?
Sison: The Philippines is strategically important to
the U.S. It is historically and currently a reliable launching
base of the U.S. for its initiatives in the military, economic,
political and cultural fields in Southeast Asia, in the whole
of Asia and as far as the Middle East. The U.S. is hell bent on
controlling the Philippines because it is the key point for
controlling the whole of Southeast Asia. This region is on the
path of the trading fleets and rapid deployment forces of the
U.S. As in the past, the Philippines can be used by the U.S. to
swing the other Southeast Asian countries in support of a U.S.
dual policy of engagement and containment towards China.
Getting back to your situation as a political
refugee, what can the worldwide movement, and particularly
people in the United States, do to assist your
struggle?
Sison: The most important thing to do is to gather
moral and political support. For that purpose, information
about my situation and struggle must be disseminated and must
enlighten the people about the avarice and cruelty of
imperialism.
I invite people in the U.S. to visit the following Web
sites: www.defendsison.be and www.inps-sison@freewebspace.com
to keep themselves informed and updated about my struggle.
It is of crucial importance that we gain abundant support
from the American people because they are in the belly of the
beast that is chiefly responsible for the reign of greed and
terror in the world. They can deliver telling blows.
We seek statements of solidarity and mutual support. We hold
information and organizational meetings. We generate protest
mass actions, from pickets to bigger rallies. We find ways of
raising funds for the legal defense fund. We coordinate with
all other progressive forces in order to link up the issues and
bring about a more massive force in support of the just cause
of national liberation, democracy and a just peace.
Reprinted from the Nov. 7, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyrighted
under a Creative
Commons License.
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