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BRIEF MESSAGES & LETTERS, 2001 - Present |
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BRIEF REMARKS AT VICTORY CELEBRATION AND LAUNCH OF TWO VOLUMES IN AMSTERDAM By Prof. Jose Maria Sison Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee International League of Peoples' Struggle 9 May 2009 Dear Friends, I am deeply pleased and honored that you are here in this gathering to celebrate the legal victory over the false charge of inciting the killing of military agents of the Philippine reactionary government and to participate in the launching of my two latest books, For Justice, Socialism and Peace (Volume I) and For Democracy and Socialism Against Imperialist Globalization (Volume II). I thank the International DEFEND Committee for organizing this event and Dominee Hans Visser for gracing this occasion and for having been a consistent defender of my rights since the campaign for asylum of the Sison family. I thank Prof. Sivanandam Sivasegaram and Dr. Bert de Belder for reviewing Volumes I and II respectively. I thank all the personages and organized forces in the International DEFEND Committee and all member-organizations of the International League of Peoples' Struggle for having steadfastly supported me against false charges and other attempts to misrepresent me as a terrorist and a common criminal and thus to stigmatize and suppress me personally and the noble cause that I stand for, which is the Filipino people's struggle for national liberation and democracy. In fact, the main objective of the imperialists and the reactionaries in the Philippines is to discredit and destroy the national democratic movement of the Filipino people by targetting me as the presumed personification of that movement. It is an honor and privilege to be thus targeted but of course it involves so many risks and difficulties. The difficulties include being denied asylum despite recognition as a political refugee, being threatened with assassination, being blacklisted as a terrorist, being banned from earning a living, being subjected to false charges, being deprived of essential needs, being imprisoned, being prevented from travelling freely and other violations of human rights. I thank the Aklat ng Bayan for having decided to publish in four volumes the writings that I have done from 1991 to 2009. These volumes are meant to celebrate my age of seniority and my fifty years of revolutionary service to the Filipino people, particularly in their national democratic movement. We launch today for Europe the first two volumes. The two other volumes are forthcoming in a few months' time. I take this opportunity to thank the entire Filipino people and all the patriotic and progressive forces in my country for having supported me and encouraged me to contribute what I can to the struggle for greater freedom, democracy, social justice, development and peace. I also thank all the peoples of the world and their progressive forces for having stood and acted in solidarity with the Filipino people in just struggles against imperialism and all reaction. It is necessary to celebrate meaningful and substantial victories in order to inspire us further to exert greater efforts in order to achieve greater victories. In this connection, we must be vigilant against falling into complacency due to victories or due to a celebration of these. So long as they are oppressed and exploited, the Filipino people must wage ever more resolute and militant struggles against the oppressors and exploiters. We celebrate now my victory in The Netherlands over the false charge of inciting murder. This victory is helpful to my complaint against my inclusion in the terrorist blacklist of the Council of the European Union and to the demand for removing my name from that blacklist. But the legal struggle before the European Court of Justice is still ongoing and likewise the political struggle beyond the court. The Philippine reactionary government under the US-directed Arroyo ruling clique does not cease to fabricate false charges of political offenses and common crimes against me. The latest political stunt of the Arroyo regime and its armed minions is to put a prize of ten million pesos on my head and falsely accuse me of responsibility for the very crimes that they commit. The regime is trying to scorn and attack the Alston report and recommendations by scapegoating progressive leaders, entire patriotic organizations and the victims themselves. The fabrication of false charges has become a major form of human rights violations and is calculated to facilitate the abduction, torture and murder of activists opposed to the regime. The triad evils of foreign monopoly capitalism, domestic feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism continue to inflict terrible suffering on the Filipino people. This suffering has become more acute and intolerable as the US-instigated policy of "neoliberal globalization" has led to the most serious financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression. Social and political crisis and turmoil are now growing rapidly. The Filipino people and the entire people of the world have no choice but to stand up and resist the escalation of oppression and exploitation. They must struggle relentlessly against imperialism and all reaction and achieve further victories for the cause of national liberation, democracy and socialism. ###
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