By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
International League of People’ Struggle
9 July 2005

We, the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, consistently stand in active solidarity with the Palestinian, Arab and other peoples of the Middle East in their revolutionary struggle for national liberation and democracy and we condemn the grand scale terrorism that imperialist powers headed by the US and Britain have historically and currently carried out through plunder and wars of aggression. But we do not condone the terrorism perpetrated by the Al Qaeda even if such is of far lower scale.

In fact, we vigorously condemn the bombing attacks on ordinary people on three trains and in one bus on Thursday, 7 July 2005 in London and express our sympathy and support for the victims and their families and our solidarity with the entire people of various nationalities in England. The so-called Secret Organization of Al Qaeda in Europe has claimed responsibility of the attacks, which have resulted in the death of scores and injury to hundreds of people.

We are firmly opposed to violent attacks mainly or solely directed against ordinary people, such as those of 11 September 2001 in New York, USA or 11 March 2004 in Madrid, Spain. These are prohibited by the principles, standards and norms of civilization, as enshrined in the international law on human rights and humanitarian conduct toward civilians and captured combatants even under conditions of war. The crime of mass murder is clear and definable without the imperialists and their rabid puppets having to use their specious anti-terrorism laws and decrees to intimidate the people.

There is no justification for the mass murder of innocent civilians even if the perpetrators were to claim that they seek to avenge the massacres and other injustices inflicted on the people who believe in Islam by the medieval crusaders, the colonialists and the imperialists together with the Zionists. But why direct the bombings against the ordinary people and not against the imperialists, the rabid puppets and their armed minions?

We consider as reprehensible acts of terrorism and barbarism the violent attacks on ordinary people by those that proclaim themselves as the Al Qaeda and wave the flag of Islamic fundamentalism. We respect Islam and its believers but we oppose the retrogressive notions of theocracy, bigotry and communal barbarism.

Those who unleash violent attacks on ordinary people in the name of Islamic fundamentalism play into the hands of the imperialists, who use such attacks to justify and undertake wars of aggression, obfuscate the reality of imperialist terrorism, repress the people in imperialist countries and on a global scale in the name of counterterrorism and obstruct the anti-imperialist solidarity of the peoples.

Historically, imperialism has created and used Islamic fundamentalism as its tool in the anti-communist crusade in order to oppose the modern secular ideas of national liberation, democracy and scientific socialism. But the Al Qaeda brand of Islamic fundamentalism has since the 1990s taken a position and undertaken actions against the US and its allies, for occupying holy land in Saudi Arabia, grabbing a big part of Saudi oil income through overpriced military sales and other impositions and for collaborating with the Zionists against the Palestinian and Arab people.

However, the legitimate grievances of the people of the Middle East against imperialism are no justification for terrorist acts against the people in the homegrounds of imperialism. The correct path is to promote the anti-imperialist solidarity and struggle of the people living outside and inside the imperialist countries. Therefore, we denounce the terrorism of the perpetrators of the attacks on ordinary people in London.

At the same time, we consider as the far bigger terrorism and barbarism the concatenation of colonialism, imperialism and neocolonialism that the Western powers have imposed on the people of the Middle East and the rest of the world. The monsters have wrought havoc and destruction on the lives of billions of people the world over through daily plunder and wars of aggression.

The barbaric crimes that imperialism has committed against the people who believe in Islam are far greater than those crimes purportedly committed by the Al Qaeda in New York, Madrid and London. Now, the imperialists are further using the latter crimes as the pretext for whipping up anti-terrorist hysteria, stepping up war production, and adopting so-called anti-terrorist laws and measures that lead to the escalation of oppression and exploitation of the people in the imperialist countries and abroad.

In a manner of speaking, the imperialist macro-terrorists and the Al Qaeda micro-terrorists help each other. By its terrorist acts, the Al Qaeda pushes the imperialist countries towards militarism, fascism and wars of aggression. By launching wars of aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq, the US and Britain have provided to Al Qaeda wide fields for recruiting and developing its forces. At the same time, Bush and Blair have played to the hilt the anti-terrorist pretext to undertake the biggest and worst kind of terrorism and to continue their grip on political power.

The people inside and outside of the imperialist hands must steadfastly fight for national and social liberation against imperialism and reaction. They must join hands in frustrating the interactive terrorism of the imperialists and the Islamic fundamentalists. Both of them are barbarically hostile to and destructive of the people. Higher levels of social development are possible for humankind through revolutionary struggles for national liberation, democracy and socialism against imperialism and reaction. ###