Bulatlat - The Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine

This story was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 13, May 8-14, 2005

Ruling Parties Demand Delisting of Joema Sison

Fifty political parties and organizations from 38 countries want the Council of the European Union to remove the name of Jose Maria Sison, chief political consultant of the NDFP from its “terrorist list.”

By Bulatlat

At least 50 political parties and organizations from 38 countries, including four ruling parties, demanded May 5 the Council of the European Union to remove the name of Jose Maria Sison, chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) from its “terrorist list.”

In a strongly-worded statement, signatories - among them representatives from the Communist Party of Cuba, the Workers Party of Korea, the Vietnam Workers’ Party and the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party - said that the practice of “terrorist” listing unjustly and undemocratically criminalizes national liberation movements and revolutionary organizations and individuals.

They said that the European Union (EU) was toeing the line of the United States in labeling as “terrorist” individuals and movements that reject and resist the “new colonialism of corporate control and military might” of the U.S.

The statement was issued in Brussels, capital city of Belgium

The 50 parties and organizations demanded the EU and its member states to remove Professor Sison and the Philippines’ New People’s Army (NPA) from the Council’s “terrorist list.” They also demanded the full respect and protection of Sison’s rights as a political refugee and the refusal of any possible demand for his extradition.

They also expressed support for the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and called on the EU to encourage its resumption.

Informed of the statement of support, Prof. Jose Maria Sison said he was “deeply pleased by their high sense of justice and international solidarity. Their support certainly carries great weight, especially because they include parties leading national governments,” he said referring to the ruling parties of Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and Laos.

Sison has been living in the Netherlands since 1987 as a recognized political refugee. But in October 2002, the Council of the EU added his name to its “terrorist” list. Without discussion or due process, his right to travel has been curtailed, his bank account frozen and his housing and health benefits stopped.

The parties and organizations that expressed support said they concur with the statements of other Filipino patriots who profess that Prof. Sison is not a terrorist, and that “all he does is fight with the poor for a life in dignity – that is a legitimate struggle.”

It is believed that the U.S. government and the EU are targeting Sison because of his life-long leadership role in the Philippine movement for national liberation and democracy. He was one of the pioneers who revived the anti-imperialist movement in the Philippines in the early 1960s before leading the re-establishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in 1968. From 1977 to 1986, he was the dictator Marcos’ most prominent political prisoner. Bulatlat

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