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Message to Northern Dispatch Weekly
on the Occassion of Its Anniversary Celebrations
By Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson
International League of Peoples' Struggle
8 October 2006
Ipadanon mi kadakayo ti kabarbaraan a kablaaw iti panakaiyangay ti maika-17 nga anibersaryo yo kas
maysa nga information news agency iti intero nga Amianan a Luzon, ken ti maika-uppat nga anibersaryo
ti Northern Dispatch Weekly kas maysa a makadomingo a dyaryo.
We commend Northern Dispatch Weekly (Nordis) for having successfully operated as a regional
weekly newspaper since 2002 and as a regional information agency since 1989, continuously
producing and distributing weekly packets of news and feature articles for its readers in the
Northern Luzon provinces of the Ilocos, Cordillera and Cagayan Valley.
We appreciate the publisher, Northern Media and Information Network (NMIN), for having
remained a non-profit organization that is committed to public service. Nordis and NMIN have
been steadfast advocates and practitioners of grassroots media. You have devotedly prioritized
the issues involving the peasants, fisherfolk, workers, urban poor, youth, women and indigenous
people at the community level.
You have performed well the role and responsibility of disseminating information that encourages
democratic action of the people for their own benefit and promotes patriotic, scientific and
mass-oriented values. The issues and advocacies that are important to the basic masses take
center stage within your pages. You have highlighted mass actions to project the struggle of
the Filipino people for national independence, democracy, economic development, social justice
and cultural progress. You have been outstanding in promoting the struggle of the Cordillera
peoples and other national minorities for self-determination and all-round progress,
We congratulate Nordis not only for taking up the substantive issues of the people but also for
keeping up with the pace of development of media technology. You have moved forward from
mimeographing copies of the weekly news packets in the early 1990s to the use of electronic
mail and dial-up internet connections in the mid-90s, and further on to the latest advancement
in computer-based page design, printing technique and internet-based publication.
We consider Nordis a pathbreaker and leader in several respects, especially in regional and community
journalism. It would be worthwhile for regions without a weekly newspaper to emulate the example
of Nordis and learn from its experience and operations. Those weekly newspapers in other regions
can also compare notes with Nordis for mutual benefit.
It is fine that Nordis has drawn attention to the subservience of the reactionary government to US
imperialism and foreign domination, the decadence and corruption in the reactionary government
and the fascist repression it unleashes against the basic masses. The current US-Arroyo regime is
despicable for its puppetry, corruption, chicanery and brutality.
Hundreds upon hundreds of our dearest friends, relatives and acquaintances have been murdered,
abducted, tortured, rendered homeless and psychologically traumatized. The regime continues to
cling to power by deceiving the people and by unleashing violence in order to sow fear and
intimidation among the people.
We wish Nordis to continue being exemplary in upholding, defending and promoting the national
and democratic rights and aspirations of the people against the reign of greed and terror. We wish
you to continue reaping success in expanding your readership, contributors and financial sponsors,
as you respond to the greater challenges ahead in the continuing struggle for a truly independent,
democratic and just society.
Naimbag nga aldaw kadakayo amin!
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