mongster's nest

- disturbing fantasies, traumatic verses, definitely mongrel thoughts

Red – One*

“There is not another man who for twenty-four hours of the day is taken up with the revolution; who has no other thoughts but thoughts of revolution, and who, even in his sleep dreams of nothing but revolution.” – Axelrod on Lenin.

Imelda Marcos was allowed to go to China to undergo some medical treatment; her son wants to reclaim sequestered Marcos properties in Ilocos; her daughter is claiming ownership of a major TV network. Yes, the Marcoses are back in the limelight. Meanwhile, Jose Maria Sison is in jail. Twenty years ago, who would have thought that the Marcoses will be glorified again in this part of the world while the most recalcitrant radical who opposed the dictatorship will be detained in a former Nazi prison cell?

Joma Sison is right to protest his illegal and wrongful detention. But he can also thank his enemies. For my generation, Sison is viewed as an anti-Marcos political prisoner and communist ideologue turned refugee in Europe. For the younger students, Sison is just a name they memorize in their history classes. Because of his arrest, Sison is headline news again. Students will google Sison’s biography, books, songs and videos. This is an opportunity to clarify Sison’s important role in post-war Philippine history.

Sison is actually the most effective youth leader of the country. He is always associated with the Communist Party but his activities during his younger years were more crucial in reviving the national democratic struggle (don’t forget the socialist perspective) in the country. No youth leader has accomplished what Sison started during his early twenties. The fact that the NatDem movement is still a strong political force today is a testament to Sison’s enduring legacy to the progressive history of the country.

In his book ‘Development Debacle’, Walden Bello recognized the ‘pioneering intellectual contributions’ of Sison in developing a framework for analyzing the economic underdevelopment of the Philippines. Sison made ‘imperialism’ a useful term in the academe and ordinary households. Sison inspired a generation who embraced the NatDem revolution as the viable solution to the ills that plague the Philippine society.

Sison’s activities as an intellectual and uncompromising revolutionary put to shame the career of other celebrated senior citizens. Sison’s unique radicalness teaches the youth that there is no need to be fashionable in order to become a genuine revolutionary. The idealist youth can grow old like Joma instead of regressing to the likes of Juan Ponce Enrile, Fidel Ramos, Raul Gonzales and Ben Abalos.

I think the Philippine Daily Inquirer erred when it once named Satur Ocampo as the human face of the Philippine revolution. With due respect to Ka Satur (whom I think should run for president in 2010, which by the way will be my topic next month), it is Joma Sison who is the real icon of the NatDem movement. No other Filipino has been so identified with the communist movement than Joma Sison. When Filipinos discuss the Philippine revolution, the name Joma Sison will always be the first to come out.

Some writers misinterpret this admiration for Joma Sison as fanatical devotion to a spiritual leader. This makes it easy for them to believe the government’s insistence that Sison is like a madman ordering his disciples to kill and spread mayhem in the Philippines. This presumes that NatDem activists are blind followers of Joma Sison and other elder members of the NatDem movement.

I have been reading Sison’s books and articles for almost a decade already. Sison’s lucid writings are helpful in understanding Philippine realities. But they are not accepted as gospel-truth. Sison is not a prophet; from time to time he issues wrong political projections. Every year, he predicts the downfall of the Arroyo government and the world capitalist system.

Sison is no different from the political analysts we watch on ANC. In fact, many of Sison’s viewpoints are similar and equally subversive to what I have been reading in the newspapers and internet everyday. For example, you have Conrad de Quiros telling his readers not to pay taxes. Ricky Carandang wants to abolish the Lower House and taunts his readers to call him a destabilizer. But these writers will never be arrested by this government. They will never be subjected to cruel demonization campaigns. What separates Sison from the mainstream political analysts of the country is that Sison commands the respect of a major political force. Behind Sison is a social movement with a particular analysis of the society offering an alternative to the status quo. For this reason alone, Sison should be regarded as the most important political writer of the country.

A few years ago, Sison said he wanted to retire from politics to lead a more contemplative life after being branded as a terrorist by the US government. His contemporary, Luis Teodoro, dismissed this quote as classic Joma Sison corny joke. Teodoro said Sison will always remain a political animal. Sison may be behind bars but his ideas will continue to terrorize the ruling exploitative class (naks, that’s classic Joma Sison writing style for you).

I am reminded by what David Harvey, my favorite geographer, wrote in one of his books: “If it looks like class struggle, and acts like class war, then we have to name it unashamedly for what it is.” This is what Sison has been doing for the past fifty years. Sison’s writings reveal that there are such things as imperialism, feudalism, oppression and don’t forget, revolution. Bang, bang, bang.

*Bioman fan ka ba? Red 1, green 2, blue 3, yellow 4, pink 5.

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Readers want a backgrounder of the issue. Here it is….

The Joma Sison case

Last August 28, Jose Maria Sison was arrested by the Dutch police on charges of ordering the killing of former comrades Romulo Kintanar and Arturo Tabara from the Netherlands. The arrest became headline news in local media upstaging the revival of the ‘Hello Garci’ probe and the Estrada plunder case.

Who is Joma Sison? Why was his arrest an issue of national significance? What are the implications of his detention on Philippine politics?

He did it Mao’s way

Sison founded the Kabataang Makabayan in 1964 which led student and youth demonstrations during the late sixties and early seventies. Together with other young revolutionaries, Sison re-established the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in 1968 and the New People’s Army in 1969. He was arrested in 1977 and placed under solitary confinement for nine years.

Sison was the most prominent political prisoner during the Marcos dictatorship. After his release from jail in 1986, he was recognized as one of the most important Marxists of the world.

While giving a lecture in Europe in 1987, Sison’s passport was cancelled by the Aquino government. He was forced to seek refuge in Utrecht, Netherlands where he resided until his arrest two weeks ago.

During the Ramos administration, the peace talks were revived with the communist rebels. Sison acted as consultant to the National Democratic Front. However, the military accused Sison of being the remote chairman of the CPP.

In 2002, Sison was listed among the world’s leading terrorists by the United States government. The CPP was also included in the list of foreign terrorist organizations.

At present, Sison is the chairman of the International League of Peoples Struggle, a network of social movements around the world.

Dutch threat

The CPP has claimed responsibility for the killing of Tabara and Kintanar which accused the two former high ranking rebels of being active agents of the military. But the Philippine government identified Sison for ordering the murder. The widows of Tabara and Kintanar filed a case against Sison in the Netherlands. They believe Sison was vindictive and resentful against their husbands who wanted to deviate from Sison’s doctrines on guerilla warfare and protracted peoples’ war.

Responding to the case filed by the widows of Kintanar and Tabara, defenders of Sison issued the following statement:

“The charges were already included in a case that have been nullified and dismissed with finality by the Philippine Supreme Court in its decision last July 2, 2007. Together with fifty others, Sison has been exonerated and the case has been shown to be completely without basis and politically motivated.”

Sison’s lawyers have also asserted that if ever a case would be filed against their client, “it would have to be under the political offense of rebellion and not as a criminal offense which the Dutch authorities claim this to be.”

The Philippine government declared that Sison’s arrest was legally, politically and morally justifiable. It also admitted of supplying vital information and assistance to Dutch authorities who gathered evidences in the Philippines.

Sison is detained at the National Penitentiary in Scheveningen, a facility which was used by the Nazis during World War II to imprison and torture Dutch resistance fighters. Sison is now allowed to watch TV, read newspapers and consult his lawyers and doctors. According to news reports, Sison could remain in jail until December.

Defeating insurgency in three years

Sison’s arrest seems to be part of the government strategy to defeat the communist insurgency in three years. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has vowed to leave a legacy of lasting peace by crushing the rebellion before her term expires on 2010.

The government thinks that Sison’s arrest will weaken the morale and fighting capacity of the revolutionary forces. By detaining Sison who is accused of being the real chairman of the CPP, the government is confident it will trigger disunity and factionalism within the extreme left.

After Sison’s arrest, the President offered an amnesty program to rebels who want to lay down their arms and join the mainstream society. The government also endorsed a proposal to localize peace talks in the provinces which is perhaps a tactic to force the National Democratic Front to capitulate and compromise its revolutionary principles.

Sison’s arrest has permanently ended the peace talks between the communists and the Arroyo government. In fact, the CPP has ordered its troops to intensify attacks on military outposts.

Leftist groups insist that Sison’s arrest was orchestrated by the government to cleanse its image as a human rights violator by distracting the attention of the people and foreign governments. By lodging a case against Sison, the government wants the people to look into the possible complicity of communist groups in decimating its own members.

Another theory involves the all-out war in Basilan. The military cannot afford to fight two enemies at the same time. Its forces are stretched to the limit in fighting the communist rebels scattered throughout the archipelago and the Muslim rebel forces operating in southern Philippines. By detaining Sison, the government believes it is delivering a big blow to the communist movement.

Sison’s allies have also accused the Dutch and United States governments of colluding with the Philippine government in arresting Sison. The Dutch has economic interests to protect in the Philippines and the US wants to strengthen its assertion that Sison is a real threat to humanity.

For the widows of Tabara and Kintanar, this is a personal quest for justice concerning the deaths of their husbands.

What is certain is that Sison’s arrest will not end the rebellion in the country. Marcos once declared the end of insurgency when Sison was arrested in 1977. He was proven wrong. Sison’s arrest today will certainly fuel more uprisings in the country.

Related entries:

Who’s afraid of the Left?
Seeing red
Total war
Sino ang militante
Losing the war

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Thank you to all those who supported the launching of the Bloggers Kapihan. Special thanks to our speakers: MLQ3, Abe and Bikoy – who is one of the BK crew as well. Big big thanks to Digital Filipino.com Club, GMA News. TV, God is Love-New Beginning, Google Pilipinas, Jaypee Online, Lady Gadfly, Phil-Hosting.net, Philippine Genre Stories, Pinoy Web Hosting Solutions and The AniTOKiD

posted by: mongpalatino at September 09, 2007 22:01 | link | comments (3) |
reds

Comments:

#1  10 September 2007 - 18:53

 

di ko kinaya yung title.

yellow four ako noong bata. the original yellow four.

good article.sana nga maipakalat natin ang idea ni JMS sa youth. sana din may magsulat about his life in UP dahil aminin na natin, when you say UP they think aktibista thus, Joma.

-rhea

Anonymous

#2  12 September 2007 - 23:59

 

"Every year, he predicts the downfall of the Arroyo government and the world capitalist system."

Nice one! Natawa yata ako dun ah.. I just really dont quite know why. hehe..

Anyway, nice article. Projects Joma as a genuine, feeling person, not the red horned terrorist conservative quarters tend to describe.

Sana mabasa pa ng mas maraming mga kabataan partikular na ang mga "misinformed middle class".

Anonymous

#3  01 October 2007 - 12:15

 

It's the first such article on Joma that I have read. Very interesting points you highlighted there, kabayan. Our newspapers don't print such details...tsk.

Anonymous

Comments: