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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