Joma Sison: He Did It Mao's Way

Jose Maria Sison.

For decades, when "communist" was the worst thing the United States could say about someone, he was a communist. Now that "terrorist" is the worst thing the U.S. can say about someone, he's a terrorist.

Without labels, and indisputably: he's an intellectual ally and source of inspiration for the 9,000 soldiers still fighting for a communist revolution in the Philippines, a country of 90 million people.

He suffered for his cause, class struggle, while many others have suffered worse be-cause of it. Who but the impoverished people of the Philippines can say whether Sison represents (some of) them? Or whether they see "revolutionary taxes" as mere extortion?

The Philippines has a bloody history, thanks in part to its best and worst friend, the United States. I wonder whether Sison's conscience ever troubles him about his role in it all.

At any rate, I think he still has a part to play on the world's stage, and I felt it was my duty to interview him.

I could write 5,000 words about the contradictions and ironies of an American reporter interviewing Sison in the Netherlands.

But in summary, life's strange mutations brought two people of radically different world views to the same spot, far from our respective homes, to play our respective roles.

Superficially, he probably sees me as a numbskull, or ignorant; and I told him I see him in part as an anachronism.

The truth is more complicated.

Anyhow, I filmed a brief fragment of the interview, and here it is.

He's saying that since his (most recent) release from prison, he's "been up to good things."





And here, a special treat for anyone who kept reading past the "jump."

This is a sound clip from Sison's website, nestled among the protest songs, of him singing "I Did It My Way." With a lyric or two tweaked.

Sinatra he's not; but you certainly can't accuse him of not having a sense of humor.

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Satur Ocampo / U.S. fighting Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines / and Communists

Philippine congressman Satur Ocampo visited the Netherlands and spoke to around 50 expatriate Filipinos in Amsterdam Wednesday. Plus two Dutch and one American, if I counted correctly.

I begin by pleading a lot of ignorance about the Philippines.

This man's resume has to be read to be believed. Suffice it to say he's a leftist leader who was tortured under the Marcos regime and arrested as recently this year on rebellion charges. He's never been found guilty and was re-elected to the opposition in May.

Here are two clips of his talk.

In the first he says the U.S. has taken the opportunity of Sept. 11 to re-establish a permanent military presence in the Philippines, using the threat from Muslim separatist (terrorist) groups like Abu Sayyaf and the communist (terrorist) groups (linked to Ocampo) as justification.
Though U.S. troops were expelled from the country in 1992, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo wants U.S. assistance, and her government is dependent on the support of the Philippines' military for survival. So the expansion of defense budgets is a political necessity, and with all that funding, the military must be seen to do something. They've been carrying on military "exercises" in cooperation with U.S. troops continually for five years now, most recently this month.
But victory over either 8,000 communists (?) or the 200-member (?) Abu Sayyaf has remained elusive.






From an outsider's perspective, I'd say Abu Sayyaf (tiny), the Communists (small) and the Army (huge) are all involved in struggles to exert power where they can; all are trying to extract "taxes" by various means in their spheres of influence; and none always follows the rules of war.

Only Iraq has been a more dangerous place for journalists to work since 2003.

The whole reason we hate Al-Qaida is that they kill innocent civilians. Who shall we hate in the Philippines?

The economy is performing well under Arroyo; but bribery is rampant and the human rights record of the country is terrible, according to Amnesty International and others: leftists suspected of links with communists _ and members of the opposition _ are targeted by (para)military forces for summary executions.

To contrast with Ocampo, here's an Agence France Press report on Arroyo from Wednesday:

Speaking to local officials ... Arroyo said the 39-year-old Maoist rebellion "impedes the progress and development of a number of rural areas" where the majority of the poorest Filipinos live.

"So if we are to become a first world country, we'll have to put a stop to this ideological nonsense and criminal acts once and for all and we want to defeat them by 2010."

In the second clip, Ocampo says the military push doesn't jibe well with a general amnesty Arroyo offered to communists in September. He questions whether the economic development that's meant to be paired with the offensive will work in practice.



As a very last remark, I'd say that the intractable problem is trying to get all sides to disarm. Focusing on the army: they must have an enemy and be fighting him in order to justify their existence. Having a large standing army causes all kinds of problems. The Romans knew this, as did U.S. president Eisenhower.

So until the region in demilitarized, including a reduction in the size of the army _ which is not currently on the cards _ I can't imagine that the Philippines will know true peace & stability.
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Sison Protest III

Today was the third protest in the Netherlands about the arrest of Jose Maria Sison. It was held outside the court house where he had his second appearance, this time to discuss whether he can be held another 90 days on murder charges.

Actually, I probably would stop posting these entries, but now I notice I'm getting a lot of hits on the site from the Philipinnes, so I consider it a public service.

Here, Luis Jalandoni was starting to say that the Dutch have a lot to lose (in terms of international reputation and ultimately Shell oil interests) if information from the police raids in Utrecht is passed on to Philippine authorities and used to persecute NDF sympathizers (or non-sympathizers!) there.

Dutch prosecutors and Sison's lawyer say that won't happen _ but Koppe didn't rule out the chance some information could go through a back door from the Dutch secret service to the CIA to Manila.

The CPP and Sison are on the E.U.'s terrorism list, after all.

This is lawyer Victor Koppe, explaining to Sison supporters what happened inside. Supporters were crowded around to hear what he had to say (but he still couldn't talk about the evidence).
And here are the supporters. I thought most of them were the same as last time, but a handful of new faces, and maybe a few more people actually. Some were standing near a fence showing signs to passing cars. I still don't think most Dutch know this is even happening: they're much more concerned with internal politics right now. MORE