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Issue Number 22, January 2003
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Kapatiran Issue
No. 22, January 2003
WHY TARGET SISON?
- Nick McBride
It has been widely noted that, following its declaration
of the war on terror, the second stop for the US, after
Afghanistan, was the Philippines. Another fact when it
comes to the same war on terror is that governments
across the world have seized it on to crack down on their
own dissident enemies - connection by those enemies with
Islamic fundamentalism not being a prerequisite.
While commentators are quick to suggest the possibility
of a link between Abu Sayyaf and al-Qaeda, even those who
are most loose with the evidence - e.g, the White House
in its attempt to link Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden
- haven't tried to connect the Communist Party (CPP) of
the Philippines with any Islamic threat. Nevertheless, on
9 August 2002, the White House declared both the CPP and
the New People's Army (NPA) to be "foreign terrorist
organisations". In fact, these two organisations
have beaten the Moro Islamic Liberation Front - which at
least has an Islamist agenda - on to the evildoers list.
Further, on 15 August, the Dutch government named CPP
founder and current political consultant to the NDF, Jose
Maria Sison, as a terrorist, froze his bank accounts and
cut off his social security benefits. Sison has been
living as an asylum seeker in the Netherlands since 1987,
following nine years of imprisonment by the Marcos
regime. The next step was for the Council of the European
Union (EU) to follow suit in designating the NPA and
Sison as "foreign terrorists" (but not the
CPP), following lobbying by senior Filipino politicians.
Previously, the Dutch government had been prepared to
host Sison as a token of its support for the efforts of
the National Democratic Front (NDF) and the Philippines
government to reach a peace agreement. The European
Parliament had passed resolutions in 1997 and 1999
voicing its support for the negotiations then underway.
The Dutch government's actions in 2002 are a flip-flop.
Sison is not prepared to accept this setback. He intends
to challenge the Dutch government's actions in the
European Union High Court in Luxembourg. He can count on
support from senior members of the Dutch clergy -
including a Catholic Archbishop - who have spoken out
publicly, as well as 22 Members of the European
Parliament who signed a statement opposing his
blacklisting. Solidarity movements from as far away as
Japan and Canada have also denounced it.
A Sop To The Marcos Loyalists And/Or A
Negotiating Tactic In Peace Talks
One motive for the targeting of Sison and (by
association) the NDF may be as a sop by the
Arroyo-Macapagal government to the Right and pro-Marcos
constituency, which loathes Sison. In 2001, a former
Senate leader, Jovito Salonga published a book,
rapturously received by the pro-Marcos crowd, trying to
prove that Sison was the mastermind behind the 1971
Miranda Plaza bombing. The bombing, at a proclamation
rally for Liberal Party Senate candidates, was used as
the pretext by Marcos to declare martial law. However,
Marcos himself is widely regarded as the prime suspect.
In 1991, the Aquino government had declared that there
were no charges against Sison for any crime, a setback
for his enemies.
Another motivation could be to brand the CPP-NDF as a
terrorist organisation in order to strengthen the
Government's hand in its negotiations with the NDF. In
March 2002 the Government suspended the formal peace
talks with the NDF (for the second time, previously they
had been suspended in 1999 but had resumed in April 2001,
thanks to the encouragement of the Norwegian government.)
Such an interpretation is supported by the statements of
Government figures, such as Foreign Secretary Blas Ople,
who claimed that the EU decision would pressure the
"Communist insurgents" into laying down their
arms and resuming negotiations.
On the other hand, other senior Government figures, such
as Vice President Teofisto Guigona Jr have acknowledged
that the blacklisting of the NDF would be a setback to
peace efforts. Indeed, he made the surprisingly
reasonable statement that "One needs to make a
distinction between a rebel who is fighting because of
hunger and perceived injustice, and a terrorist who seeks
to sow terror and hatred". However, such analysis is
clearly inapplicable to the "war on terror"
which has given governments across the world the
opportunity to suppress their critics and ignore the
conditions which lead to their existence.
Nick McBride is a PSNA member who lives in
Wellington. He visited the Philippines in 2000.
You can
contact the international campaign to defend Joma Sison
at:
Committee-DEFEND
Postbus 15687
1001ND Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Phone 31 30 2368722
Fax 31 30 2322989
Email defenddemrights@yahoo.com
www.defendsison.be
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