•  HOME 
  •  ARCHIVES 
  •  BOOKS 
  •  PDF ARCHIVE 
  •  WWP 
  •  SUBSCRIBE 
  •  DONATE 
  •  MUNDOOBRERO.ORG
  • Loading


Follow workers.org on
Twitter Facebook iGoogle




CHICAGO

Anti-imperialist movement to convene U.S. chapter

Published May 12, 2012 9:06 AM

Thousands of activists plan to come to Chicago to protest the May 20 summit of the so-called North Atlantic Treaty Organization. But this U.S.-dominated gang of warmakers and enforcers for the banks will not be the only international organization meeting in Chicago that weekend.

May 19, the birth date of people’s leaders Malcolm X and Ho Chi Minh, will see the founding meeting of the U.S. Country Chapter of the International League of Peoples Struggle.

Founded in the Netherlands in 2001, the ILPS is a global alliance of community, labor and other mass organizations fighting for people’s rights along anti-imperialist lines. It now includes over 350 organizations in 43 countries on six continents; country chapters already exist in the Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and Canada.

The League is united by 17 concerns, including fighting war, racism, for the rights of workers, women, Indigenous people, migrants, farmers, LGBTQ people, youth, housing, education, medical care and the environment.

The chair of the ILPS is Professor Jose Maria Sison, 73, a hero of the people’s struggle in the Philippines, who is now a recognized political refugee in the Netherlands. Sison, founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines and chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, was imprisoned and tortured for nine years by the U.S.-backed Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines. He spent 18 months in solitary confinement chained to a cot in his cell.

“Today in the U.S., there is a growing spirit of resistance to corporate tyranny. It can be seen in the mass support for the Occupy movement and the broad participation in May Day marches across the US,” said Kuusela Hilo of Los Angeles, a member of ILPS’ International Coordinating Committee.

“But this movement will go nowhere unless it joins hands with people all over the world who are fighting against imperialism because Wall Street gets its wealth and power by plundering people all over the world. People’s power depends on international solidarity. That’s why it’s so important we are launching a U.S. Country Chapter of the League at this time.”

The May 19 chapter launching is planned to coincide with the anti-NATO protests in Chicago. ILPS is among the conveners of the Coalition Against the NATO and G8 War and Poverty Agenda or CANG8.

The founding assembly of the U.S. Chapter of the ILPS-US will take place on Saturday, May 19, from 1 to 6 p.m. at Centro Autónomo, located at 3460 West Lawrence Ave. in the Albany Park neighborhood of Chicago. It will be followed by a cultural night, from 8 to 11 p.m., at the same location. More information can be gotten by emailing the chapter organizing committee at [email protected] or from the League’s website at ilps.info.

The writer is vice chair for external affairs of the ILPS and represents the International Action Center on the League’s International Coordinating Committee.