LIBERALIBERATIONTION INTERNINTERNAATIONTIONALAL Publication of the International Information Office of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines
March - April 2007 CPP salutes NPA for victories, advances in People’s War
By Bagani Dong-ilay
n the occasion of the 38th founding anniversary of the ONew People’s Army (NPA) on 29 March 2007, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) commended the NPA for its exemplary and shining achievements in advancing the people’s war. In its statement entitled Why the New People’s Army is invincible and victorious and how the people’s war can rise to a new and higher level, the CPP expressed admiration and gratitude to the Red commanders and fighters of the NPA for their firm commitment, hard Revolutionary masses and cadres gather in a village north of Manila to celebrate the work, sacrifices and achievements in the victories of People’s War in the Philippines. prwc photo. revolutionary struggle. The CPP fittingly bestowed the highest honors to the revolutionary martyrs and to all NPA offensives destroy comrades who have dedicated their lives in serving the Filipino people. enemy units, net 120 firearms The NPA has indeed come a long way since its founding on 29 March 1969, in 4 months from the initial 60 Red fighters with only esponding to the call of the of the biggest NPA arms hauls from the nine automatic rifles and some 26 inferior Communist Party of the enemy in recent years. firearms in the second district of Tarlac Philippines to counter the fascist province in northern Philippines, to so R The raid started at 1:30 early morning of atrocities of the US-Arroyo regime by 7 April when the Red fighters, clad in many thousands of men and women with intensifying tactical offensives, the New Philippine Army uniforms, arrived on automatic rifles and other high-powered People’s Army (NPA) launched several board five vans. They approached the weapons spread throughout the military actions across the country in the two guards manning the gates, and archipelago. last four months which resulted in the pretended that they were having engine annihilation of enemy units and the These are equivalent to a few divisions trouble with one of the vans. As two confiscation of more than 120 high- and regiments or to tens of battalions, guards approached, they were powered firearms and other war materiel. scores of companies, a few hundreds of immediately disarmed while a platoon of platoons or many hundreds of squads The most spectacular among these to page 3, col 1, NPA offensives... nationwide. They are deployed in more successful military actions was the 7 than 120 guerrilla fronts covering April raid on the armory of the Davao INSIDE significant portions of 70 provinces, 800 Penal Colony in Barangay Sto. Tomas, towns or 10,000 of the more than 40,000 Davao del Norte in southern Philippines, NDFP files complaint barrios (villages) of the country. by the Red fighters of the Medardo Arce against Arroyo at UN According to the CPP, “The NPA has Command (MAC). body on disappearances stood as the largest and strongest army Without firing a single shot, the NPA page 4 of the Filipino people in their entire was able to seize 105 rifles, 3 pistols, 2 Arroyo & Bush, history. It has surpassed the level of hand-held radio transceivers and strength of the Philippine revolutionary various types of ammunition. It is one guilty as charged page 5 to page 2, CPP salutes NPA... March - April 2007 1 organized forces of the revolution thrive the spirit of promoting the national- HOMEFRONT and march forward. ization of the economy and fighting To secure the continuing and increasing for national liberation against foreign ... CPP salutes NPA, from page 1 support of the Filipino people necessary domination. army in the old democratic revolution to raise the armed revolution to a higher The cry for justice of the broad against Spanish colonialism and in the level, the CPP enumerated the important masses of the people and the fami- war of resistance against US imperialism tasks that can and should be carried out. lies of the victims of human rights at the start of the 20th century. The NPA violations must be satisfied by pun- has also surpassed by far the scope and Steps should be taken to stop or limit the exploitative and oppressive ac- ishing the Arroyo ruling clique and level of strength attained by the People’s its retinue of traitors, murderers and Army Against Japan (Hukbalahap) tivities of foreign monopoly corpo- rations. Export-oriented mining, log- torturers, plunderers, racketeers and during World War II and the subsequent election-riggers. People’s Liberation Army, whose ging and agricultural operations of backbone was broken by the enemy in the multinational firms and the big In the face of the Arroyo regime’s the early 1950s.” compradors take out the natural heightened total war and fascist wealth of the country and ruin the aggression, the CPP defined the Based on its current spread and environment and the entire economic following central tasks: intensification strength, the Party expressed and social future of the people. of guerrilla warfare to frustrate and defeat confidence that the NPA, with the ardent Oplan Bantay-Laya II; fight to oust the support of the masses, can defeat the Large tracts of land owned or con- trolled by foreign and big comprador Arroyo regime; and further strengthen counterrevolutionary Oplan Bantay and advance the armed revolution. Laya II (Operation Plan Freedom Watch agro-corporations producing for ex- II) as it did the previous Oplan Bantay port must be broken up to make way The first is the most important urgent Laya thrown against it by the current for land reform for the benefit of the task. The NPA is called upon to launch US puppet regime of Gloria Macapagal- poor peasants and farm workers. more frequent tactical offensives in each Arroyo. Steps should also be taken to allow region, province and guerilla front. Filipino entrepreneurs to have greater As the NPA seizes more arms from these The CPP reminded the current regime participation in agriculture. that the NPA was able to survive and tactical offensives, more platoons and grow even stronger when the US’ puppet Agrarian revolution should be ad- companies can be formed and higher dictator Marcos deployed more than vanced from the present level of the levels of command can be set up, 200,000 of its military, police and para- minimum program consisting of re- developing further the capability of the military forces against the then fledgling ducing land rent, raising the wages people’s army. Additionally, the revolutionary movement, in the hope of of farm workers, raising the farm-gate formation of the people’s militia and self- nipping the revolution in the bud. The prices of peasant produce and eradi- defense units of the revolutionary mass movement turned the tables on Marcos cating usury to confiscation of big organizations should be accelerated. landlord property and distributing when the dictatorship fell in 1986 upon The pipe dream of the Arroyo regime to land to the landless tillers. the combined blows of the people’s destroy the revolutionary forces army, the legal mass movement and the The revolutionary movement should especially the NPA before 2010 will not broad legal opposition. study ways on how to curtail the come true. Instead, the NPA will prove It asserted that the Arroyo regime faces highly exploitative practices of the the inability of the regime to rule and a far larger and stronger NPA and a US and other foreign oil giants and has a good chance of causing its comprehensive revolutionary mass to cause the nationalization of the oil downfall. The NPA and the revolutionary movement with much richer experience industry. forces have shown this in the ouster of and sharper skills in various forms of The revolutionary movement and the the US-Marcos dictatorship in 1986 and struggle. people should push for the take over the US-Estrada regime in 2001. The same of US and other foreign-owned en- fate awaits the brutal, corrupt and Favorable conditions terprises by Filipino entrepreneurs in illegitimate Arroyo regime. in advancing the revolution The CPP also cited objective factors in IN THIS ISSUE: the Philippine and world situation which are unfavorable for the Arroyo regime LIBERATIONINTERNATIONAL and favorable for the advance of the March - April 2007 Philippine revolutionary forces. It asserted that the revolutionary forces are CPP salutes NPA for victories, advances in People’s War ...... 1 invincible and victorious because the semicolonial and semifeudal conditions NPA offensives destroy enemy units, net 120 firearms in the Philippines provide the fertile in four months ...... 1 ground for the growth in strength and International groups denounce Arroyo rights abuses . . . . 3 advance of the people’s army and NDFP files complaint against Arroyo at UN body people’s war. on disappearances ...... 4 The Filipino people, it continued, need Gloria Arroyo and George Bush guilty as charged – PPT . . . . 5 the NPA so long as the three monsters of foreign monopoly capitalism, Protests and resistance pushing US out of Iraq ...... 6 domestic feudalism and bureaucrat CPP salutes Indian Maoists for victorious March raid . . . . . 7 capitalism oppress and exploit them. On the basis of the objective conditions From their homes into the streets: In commemoration of that are intolerable to the people, the International Women’s Day ...... 8 2 LIBERATIONINTERNATIONAL HOMEFRONT
... NPA offensives, from page 1 the NPA entered the compound and emptied the armory. Two other guards in the administration building and the armory were also neutralized. The whole Red fighters of the NPA operation was over in 25 minutes. rush in to assault an enemy position. The people’s army Other tactical offensives of the NPA in is intensifying tactical various parts of the country in the last offensives across the archipelago to frustrate the four months included: all-out war policy of the US On 4 January 2007, NPA guerrillas puppet Arroyo regime. prwc seized four rifles and an M79 grenade video capture. launcher when they attacked a Phil- ippine National Police precinct in Lachica was killed in another puni- town of Lacub. A total of nine RMG Maria Aurora, Aurora province, in tive action by the NPA. The police and eight 41st IB elements, includ- northern Philippines. The guerrillas officials had been involved in intelli- ing a 2nd Lieutenant, were killed in were able to swiftly control the pre- gence operations against the revo- the two ambuscades. lutionary movement and in the extra- cinct because the two policemen on In Masbate, 3 members of the PNP judicial killings of activists in their guard duty were sleeping. Special Action Force were killed when locality. On 20 January, one soldier was killed they were ambushed by the NPA in and four others were wounded in two In Lingig town, Surigao del Sur, 7 the village of Lahong, Baleno town separate armed encounters between high-powered rifles, 7 VHF radios and on 3 April. The police force was part the NPA and operating troops of the a laptop computer were seized by the of reinforcements sent against the Philippine Army in Pilar town, NPA in a raid of a logging company NPA that had disarmed the guards of Sorsogon, in central Philippines. One on 20 March. The logging firm has a foreign-owned mining firm Filminera soldier was also killed, 25 January, incurred the ire of the masses in the Resources Corp. in the nearby town when the NPA attacked an encamped area for its oppressive practices. of Aroroy. nd unit of the 42 IB in Barangay Bonga, In the province of Abra in northern Two soldiers from the “C” Company Castilla, also in Sorsogon. Philippines, Red fighters of the of the 2nd IB were killed and two oth- Two soldiers were killed after Red Agustin Begnalen Command am- ers were wounded when they were fighters ambushed a unit of the 73rd bushed the joint forces of the 41st IB ambushed by the NPA on 18 April in IB in Barangay Eden, Toril, Davao and the police Regional Mobile the village of Villanueva, Gubat, City, in southern Philippines, last 28 Group on 29 March and 6 April in the Sorsogon. February. Both soldiers were killed early on in the firefight. At least eight enemy troopers were International groups killed in separate ambushes launched by the NPA in the provinces of Ori- denounce Arroyo rights abuses ental Mindoro, Samar, Northern Samar and Bohol, all in central Philip- he saying “when it rains it pours” the Philippine Congress. Popularly pines, in the month of February. has never been so true for the known as the Batasan 6, Reps. Beltran, On February 15, also in central Phil- Tregime of Gloria Macapagal- Satur Ocampo, Liza Maza, Joel Virador, ippines, the Napoleon Tumagtang Arroyo. After the damaging reports of Rafael Mariano and Teddy Casiño were Command was able to render justice two UN special rapporteurs in February earlier served warrants of arrest based against Jose Cabunagan, a provin- 2007, the hearings of the US Senate on on trumped up charges. the Philippines, and the guilty verdict of cial commander of the notorious What is happening to the Batasan 6 and the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal, come Revolutionary Proletarian Army - Alex other leaders and members of now the InterParliamentary Union (IPU) Boncayao Brigade in Iloilo province. progressive and militant people’s and the Human Rights Now of Japan also The RPA-ABB acts as a death squad organizations is reminiscent of the 1950s holding the regime responsible for grave for the Armed Forces of the Philip- witchhunting by US senator Joseph violations of the people’s rights and pines, and Cabunagan was involved McCarthy. Only in the case of the demanding an immediate stop to in the extrajudicial killing of a village Philippines, extra-judicial killings by extrajudicial killings. official and a number of peasants, and death squads of the regime is the order members of progressive organiza- The IPU delegation was composed of of the day. tions. Senator Sharon Carstairs (Canada), vice The Human Rights Now (HRN) of president of the Committee on Human In Masbate province, the chief of Japan, which held a fact-finding mission Rights of Parliamentarians; IPU police of Pio V. Corpuz town, Senior on the human rights situation in the Secretary General Anders Johnsson; and Superintendent Alberto Montecalvo, Philippines in March 2007, put the Committee secretary Ingeborg Schwarz. was killed in a punitive action by the responsibility of the killings on the They demanded the immediate release NPA on 1 March. The Red fighters military and the police. HRN is now of Representative Crispin Beltran from also confiscated his pistol. On 2 seeking the suspension of the Yen Loan March in Bulan town, Sorsogon, detention, and looked into the International groups, to page 4 ... former deputy police chief Cipriano continuing repression of six members of March - April 2007 3 NDFP files complaint against Arroyo at UN body on disappearances
By Ed Ladera he Negotiating Panel of the The NDFP Panel filed the formal of the Southern Luzon Command, Chief National Democratic Front of the complaints on 27 April 2007. It cited as Superintendent Jesus Verzosa, Director TPhilippines (NDFP) filed formal responsible for this gross violation of of the PNP-Criminal Investigation and complaints against Mrs.Gloria human rights Mrs. Gloria Macapagal- Detection Group (CIDG), Commodore Macapagal-Arroyo and generals of the Arroyo, under the universally Leonardo Calderon, Jr. chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) recognized and applicable principle of Intelligence Service of the AFP (ISAFP), and the Philippine National Police (PNP) command responsibility, as the and Senior Superintendent Romeo before the United Nations Working commander-in-chief of the AFP and the Ricardo, chief of the PNP Intelligence Group on Enforced or Involuntary PNP. Group. Disappearances in Geneva. Mrs. Arroyo Likewise charged are General The NDFP Panel gave details of the and the generals are held accountable Hermogenes Esperon, Chief of Staff of enforced disappearance of Rogelio by the NDFP Negotiating Panel for the the AFP and PNP Chief, Director General Calubad and his son Gabriel on 17 June enforced disappearance of NDFP Oscar Calderon. Included in the charges 2006 at about 7:00 a.m. at Barangay Consultant Rogelio Calubad and his son are Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan (ret.), Lt. Bangkuruhan, Calauag, province of Gabriel and of NDFP staff member, Gen. Alexander Yano, AFP Commander Quezon in northern Philippines. It Leopoldo Ancheta. likewise described the involuntary disappearance of Leopoldo Ancheta on Luis G. Jalandoni, NDFP International Representative and Chairperson of the NDFP 24 June 2006, in front of the supermarket Negotiating Panel filed formal complaints on 27 April before the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances against the US-Arroyo regime. ndfp-iio photo. at Barangay Tuktukan, Guiguinto, Bulacan province, also in northern Philippines. Besides going to various police and army camps where they were issued denials by the police and army personnel, the Calubad and Ancheta families also filed complaints with the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), through the JMC Joint Secretariat in Quezon City, Philippines. They likewise filed a petition for habeas corpus before the Philippine Supreme Court on 2 August 2006. The NDFP Panel presented documents to substantiate its charges against Gloria Arroyo and the generals, namely: The verdict of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) Second Ses- sion on the Philippines, 25 March ... International groups, from page 3 IOM will observe the May 2007 election 2007, which found Mrs. Arroyo guilty in the Philippines. The election is crucial Agreement between Japan and the of extrajudicial killings, enforced dis- for the survival of the fascist and Philippines and will raise the issue before appearances and other gross viola- corrupt Arroyo regime. It wants to retain the UN Human Rights Council. tions of civil, political, economic, so- a clear majority in both houses of cial and cultural rights of the Filipino Also adding his concern to the killings Congress to stop any further people and their right to national self- is leading US presidential candidate investigation of its criminal acts and its determination and to liberation, de- Senator Barack Obama who called for the impeachment. The regime is already claring that these qualify as crimes close monitoring of the situation in the resorting to massive cheating, against humanity. Philippines in connection with the harassment and vote- buying. The unabated extra-judicial killings of intensification of the killings of leaders The PPT likewise asserted that it “has journalists, political activists and clergy and members of progressive and militant found unequivocal evidences that members. Another member of the US political parties and organizations is part the militaries have a central role in Congress, Rep. Adam Smith, also called of the regime’s strategy for the elections. the greatest majority of the scenarios for the release of Rep. Beltran. of human rights violations in the Phil- Whatever the outcome of the elections, ippines” and that “the perpetrators The Arroyo regime is going to face the Arroyo regime will continue to face of the killings and abductions are of- another downpour with the arrival of the the thunderous rage of the people until ten uniformed men with no nametags, International Observers Mission. The it is booted out of power. next page, UN complaints... 4 LIBERATIONINTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL FRONT Gloria Arroyo and George Bush guilty as charged – PPT
By Jose Emilio Jacinto III
dding to the increasing political isolation of the Arroyo regime, Athe prestigious Rome-based Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal has declared the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and its President Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, and the Government of the United States of America and its President Mr. George Walker Bush, guilty as charged of committing crimes against humanity. The PPT’s second session on the Philippines (the first was in 1980 during the time of the Marcos dictatorship) held last March 21-25 in The Hague, The Netherlands, handed down the guilty verdict, on the following counts: Members of the Jury applaud after reading the verdict on 25 March 2007. From left, Lilia Solano (Columbia), Øystein Tveter (Norway), Ties Prakken (The Netherlands), Jury Gross and systematic violations of President François Houtart (Belgium), Irene Fernandez (Malaysia), Oda Makoto (Japan) civil and political rights: extra-judi- and Secretary General Gianni Tognoni of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal. ppt2 photo. cial killings, abduction and disappear- friends of the Filipino people from all over ances, massacre, torture; The PPT verdict comes after several the world, and covered by the local and international missions and inquiries Gross and systematic violation of international media. were conducted to probe the political economic, social and cultural rights; The call to indict and charge the Arroyo killings of leaders and members of Gross and systematic violations of regime for its crimes gathered the support progressive people’s organizations. the rights to national self-determina- of many prestigious international Notable among these international tion and liberation. institutions worldwide and prominent missions which point at the murderous individuals among them Nobel Peace Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) The verdict was read during the last day as behind the killings, were those of the session, which was attended by Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, and Hon. Kenneth hundreds of Filipino migrants and to page 6 col 2, Arroyo guilty... Kaunda, president of Zambia.
... UN complaints, from page 4 showing the pattern of enforced dis- The NDFP Negotiating Panel filed the appearances perpetrated by the AFP complaints with the direct and explicit wearing bonnets or ski-masks and and PNP since January 2007, in par- consent of the families of the riding on motorcycles or vehicles ticular the case of Lourdes “Nay involuntarily disappeared. with no plate numbers.” Ude” Rubrico, 63, who was abducted The Panel is likewise preparing to file on 3 April 2007 by armed men and The press statement of Prof. Philip complaints for the enforced detained illegally for seven days. Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on disappearance of its other consultants Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary She has filed charges before the and staff and their immediate families, Executions, 21 February 2007, which Ombudsman against Capt. Angelo including Prudencio Calubid, his wife declared among others that “the AFP Cuaresma, Ruben Alfaro, Jimmy Santana Celine Palma, and their companions remains in a state of almost total de- and a certain Jonathan of the Philippine Gloria Soco and Ariel Beloy, who were nial of its need to respond effectively Air Force intelligence, and Major abducted on 26 June 2006; and Leo and authentically to the significant Darwin Sy of the Philippine Army whose Velasco, who was abducted on 19 number of killings which have been vehicle was used in her abduction. February 2007. convincingly attributed to them.” In Cuaresma belongs to the 301st Air According to Panel Chair Luis G. a follow-up report to the UN Human Intelligence and Security Squadron Jalandoni, the complaints are being filed Rights Council in March, Prof. Alston based in Fernando Air Base in Lipa City, to further highlight the gross violations denounced the AFP’s use of an “Or- Batangas, where Lourdes Rubrico was of human rights by the Arroyo regime, der of Battle” to label and target un- detained. After days of mental torture, hold Mrs. Gloria Arroyo and her armed civilians for assassination. Rubrico was released only after she generals responsible on the basis of agreed to sign a document that she The NDFP Panel also provided the command responsibility, and intensify would be an “asset” of the military UN Working Group with documenta- the international pressure on her regime intelligence officers. tion gathered by DESAPARECIDOS to surface the involuntarily disappeared.
March - April 2007 5 INTERNATIONAL FRONT Youth from the Encampment to Stop the War enter a building of the US Senate to Protests and resistance protest against the supplemental war budget. They shouted “Money for Jobs, Not for War!” and “Cut off the funds; end pushing US out of Iraq the war; bring the troops home!”. Photo from encampmenttostopthewar.blogspot. undreds of thousands of people request for $100 billion to in the US and in other parts of fund the war,” asserted the Hthe world joined the global days anti-war International of action 17-18 March to press for the Action Center in a press end of the US-led war of aggression and statement, adding that, occupation of Iraq. More than a “these new proposals thousand protest actions in various amount to nothing more cities across the US were launched than political posturing by beginning 12 March, the biggest of Democratic leaders in order which were the rallies at the Pentagon, to get some of the antiwar in Washington, DC on 17 March; and in heat off of them while they San Francisco and Los Angeles, in continue to fund the war.” California on 17 and 18 March. The major anti-war An estimated 100,000 people joined the coalitions in the US vowed to step up aggressors on a daily basis, despite the march in Madrid, Spain, chanting “No protests and resistance to end the war. barbarities committed by the US-led to war!” and “The people of Madrid with Already, there have been reports of forces of occupation and the Iraqi the people of Iraq!” Protest actions were student walkouts, sit-in protests and puppet security forces. The resistance also reported in Thessaloniki and disruptions of Congressional offices of the Iraqi people inspires other Athens, in Greece; in Istanbul, Prague, across the US. oppressed peoples in Asia, Africa and and Copenhagen. Meanwhile, the armed resistance of the Latin America who are waging their own The protest actions were launched to Iraqi people continues to strengthen and struggle against imperialism and local commemorate the fourth year of the US- inflict casualties on the armed puppet regimes. led war of aggression and occupation of Iraq. Since March 2003, at least 665,000 Iraqi civilians have died and countless ...Arroyo guilty, from page 5 terror” in Southeast Asia and in the others wounded; and an estimated 2 Philippines, in violation of national million Iraqis has fled the country. US spearheaded by church organizations, trade unions and solidarity activists and sovereignty and territorial integrity, and military deaths have reached 3,500 on of the Philippine Constitution which top of more than 23,000 wounded, some culminated in the visit in February of Prof. Philip Alston, UN Special bans the presence of foreign troops and seriously. The US government has been nuclear weapons on Philippine soil.” spending about US$200 million a day, Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or totaling now to about US$2 trillion. Arbitrary Executions. The assassi- Furthermore, the PPT denounced as nations are reminiscent of the same dirty unacceptable the inclusion of the According to the ANSWER Coalition US scheme employed in Vietnam during Government of the Philippines in the UN (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), the 1960s called “Operation Phoenix”, to Human Rights Council, because “it one of the organizers of the protest terrorize the advancing militant people’s undermines the credibility of the UN in actions, the US war budget “is a dagger movement and supposedly destroy the this field, and it is an intolerable offense in the heart of programs that meet armed revolutionary movement. to the victims”. peoples’ needs”. Bush and the US Congress slashed the budget for In the 13-page verdict, the seven- HUSTISYA, an organization of victims education, food aid and veterans’ member jury of the Tribunal said: “The and families of human rights abuses benefits, while the Senate voted for the wealth and consistency of the oral and under Arroyo, expressed happiness over new “war budget” of US$590 billion in written documentation made available the PPT verdict. They said: “We are very 2006. through witnesses and expert reports much elated with the verdict, even if we has convinced the PPT that each and all know that it will not directly result in the Falling short on the demands of the of the three charges presented against arrest of Arroyo and her supporters. But American people to end the occupation Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her as she is condemned by the world as a of Iraq and to bring American troops Government, and against George Walker criminal and as perpetrator of these home, the US Congress on 23 April Bush and his Government are human rights violations, for us victims, finalized an additional US$100 billion to substantiated.” we are given hope, a glimmer of the light fund the war and occupation of Iraq and of justice. Like Marcos, she has sown Afghanistan. Touted in the mainstream While the PPT denounced the human rights abuses as crimes against terror and fear among the people, and mass media as an “anti-war vote”, the now she will reap the condemnation of supplemental budget bill sets a timetable humanity and pointed to the Arroyo government and its armed forces as the Filipino people and the world. This for the eventual withdrawal of US troops is the beginning of her regime’s end.” sometime in 2008. directly responsible, it also said that the Philippine government and the Bush The killings, indeed, have not stopped, “The ‘withdrawal from Iraq’ plan that administration “have knowingly and but as the victims and their families have Democratic Party leaders in Congress willingly colluded with each other in emphasized, this is the beginning of the have just announced is nothing more implementing the US’ so-called “war on end for the Arroyo regime. than a cover for them to approve Bush’s
6 LIBERATIONINTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL FRONT
Palestinian women scuffle with Israeli border police during a women’s demonstration at the Kalandia checkpoint on the outskirts of the West Bank town of Ramallah, 8 March, on the occasion of the International Women’s Day. AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti
... Women’s Day, from page 8 women who were charged with stag- ing activities against Iran’s laws that discriminate against women. The po- lice action was also seen as a mea- sure to preempt any actions for IWD. In its statement marking International Women’s Day, Makabayang Kilusan ng Bagong Kababaihan (MAKIBAKA, Patriotic Movement of New Women), the so that they can have reduced working of women in an attempt to coopt the revolutionary organization of Filipino hours and increased wages. Currently, women’s movement, progressive, militant women exhorted more women, about half of the revolutionary fighters, and socialist women are continuing the “especially from the working class and organizers and leaders in the struggle against imperialism, feudalism middle class to break their chains of countryside and cities are women. And and gender oppression and domination. oppression. To truly liberate women is more and more women are joining the More and more women are organizing to free them and their families from the ranks of New People’s Army combatants, themselves in formations genuinely clutches of feudal exploitation and defying bourgeois norms and fighting for women’s rights. They are imperialist oppression. traditions.” active participants in the different arenas of struggle both in the legal mass “More than a century has passed since Indeed, while the imperialists and the movements in the cities and in the women workers took the militant path bourgeoisie pay lip service to the issues revolutionary armed struggle in the countryside where they are launching bigger and more militant actions to CPP salutes Indian Maoists achieve genuine women’s liberation. for victorious March raid
he Communist Party of the seized a large cache of rifles and war Philippines (CPP) recently materiél. More than 50 policemen were congratulated and saluted the killed in the firefight, including 16 state T The National Democratic Front Communist Party of India-Maoist and police personnel and 37 special police of the Philippines (NDFP) is an alliance of the Red fighters of India for carrying out officers. revolutionary organizations with roots in the a successful tactical offensive on 14 various sectors and regions of the March against the reactionary and Rosal said that the large cache of Philippines. Its goal is to build a society that fascist state forces of India. The Indian weapons seized “will help arm many enjoys national sovereignty, genuine Maoist revolutionary fighters more Indian masses anxious to become democracy, social justice, progress and Red fighters and join the people’s peace. It seeks to unite with all forces successfully overran a security outpost willing to achieve these goals. of the fascist police in the central Indian war”. state of Chhattisgarh. He added that, “the broad masses of LIBERATION Gregorio Rosal, spokesperson of the the Indian people celebrate these INTERNATIONAL CPP, congratulated the CPI-Maoist and victories as they struggle to smash the its Red fighters in behalf of the CPP, the prevailing backward and reactionary BOARD OF EDITORS New People’s Army, the Philippine semifeudal rule, end the centuries-long Roselle Valerio revolutionary movement and the Filipino system of exploitation and oppression Ed Ladera people. He said that the victorious of the people, and build a bright, Isah Antonio tactical offensive “is truly inspiring... as revolutionary future in India”. Jose Emilio Jacinto III we wage our own people’s war to end Dedicatedly fighting for the rights and N. Timmerman-Francisco Bagani Dong-ilay imperialist, feudal and fascist rule and welfare of poor and landless farmers, oppression in the Philippines”. neglected tribes and other Liberation International impoverished Indian masses, the CPI- is a publication of the NDFP Scores of Red fighters under the International Information Office leadership of the CPI-M launched the Maoist and its Red army have now early morning raid against a police gained control of 10 of Chhattisgarh’s 16 impoverished districts and are also NDFP International outpost in a forested area of the Rani Information Office Bodli village in Raipur town of the present in 14 of India’s 29 states, Postbus 19195 | 3501 DD Utrecht Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district. They covering huge swathes of the The Netherlands easily took control of the outpost subcontinent’s central, eastern and Email: [email protected] www.ndfp.net manned by at least 75 policemen and southern regions.
March - April 2007 7 INTERNATIONAL FRONT From their homes into the streets: In commemoration of International Women’s Day
By Isah Antonio
n the winter of 8 March 1857 women workers from a garment factory in INew York City marched, picketed, and demanded better wages and working conditions, and equal rights for women. Fifty-one years later, on 8 March 1908, women workers in the needle trade industry also in New York marched to demand the right to vote and the end of sweatshops and child labor. Both protest actions were brutally suppressed by the capitalists, their hired goons and the police. To honor the heroism of these women and other working class women the world over, 8 March was proclaimed Riot police block thousands of Filipino women who marched through the streets of Manila International Women’s Day. 8 March 2007 to commemorate International Women’s Day. The militant women denounced Gloria Arroyo’s Anti-Terror Law, saying this will further justify and aggravate This year, millions of women all over the the culture of impunity in the country. AP Photo/Bullit Marquez world commemorated International Women’s Day. They held protest actions, tions and arbitrary killings and called non fodder for imperialist wars of demonstrations, mass meetings, for an end to violence against women aggression in Iraq, Afghanistan and conferences, forums and cultural and girls. other parts of the globe since 2003. festivals to celebrate the contribution of More than 500 women soldiers have Indian women took part in a protest women in the struggle against been wounded in Iraq alone and 71 demanding up to 33 percent reserva- exploitation and oppression. The day have died. was also an occasion to pay homage to tion for women in parliament and the the courageous women who trailblazed upliftment and protection of women’s And once again, imperialism and the the path to raise the flag of women’s rights. local reactionary ruling classes reared their ugly head when they brutally struggle for democracy, liberation and Women marched and protested suppressed the actions of women gender equality. against unpunished sexual assaults fighting for the same demands of their in the City of Goma in Congo. Liberation International gathered the predecessors 150 years ago: better following initial reports of worldwide In Mexico, thousands of women wages and working conditions, end to activities in celebration of International workers, peasants, teachers and sweatshops and child labor, and equal Women’s Day. other professionals joined hands and rights for women. marched on the streets for genuine In the Philippines, thousands of In Montreal, Canada, police as- women’s rights, fight against state women marched to commemorate saulted the march of women com- repression and to demand genuine IWD nationwide. They denounced memorating IWD. Several protesters women’s liberation. the US-Arroyo regime’s recently were injured and police arrested a passed Anti-Terror Law, and its eco- In Lima, Peru, women demonstrators male supporter of the marchers. nomic and political policies. They de- shouted slogans calling for equal In Palestine, a demonstration on the manded justice for the victims of ex- rights for women and a stop to vio- outskirts of West Bank in Ramallah trajudicial killings perpetrated by the lence against women. regime’s military, police and paramili- organized by Palestinian and Israeli tary forces. More than 80 women In Pakistan, thousands of women women was harassed by Israeli bor- have fallen victim to the regime’s as- demonstrated in nationwide rallies der police. demanding freedom, equal rights and sassins. They also demanded higher Croatian women celebrating IWD an end to discriminatory laws against wages and better working conditions were manhandled and stopped from women. for women, and protection of over- marching by the state police. seas Filipino workers comprised In the United States, thousands of In Tehran, Iran, a group of Iranian mostly of women. women protested against the US-led women activists were arrested a day wars of aggression and occupation In Sri Lanka, women participated in before IWD. They were protesting in Iraq and Afghanistan. About protest actions demanding the gov- the arrest and detention of four ernment to end the ongoing abduc- 160,000 US female soldiers are can- to page 7 col 1, Women’s Day...
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