ILPS at 25 Years!
25 Years of Peoples’ Unity and Struggle! Surging Forward to Victory Against Imperialism!
After the fall of the Soviet Union, anti-imperialist forces all over the globe were in disarray, with international resolve to overthrow imperialism waning.
But in 2001, 216 organizations from 38 countries convened the first general assembly of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle in Zutphen. This marked a formidable force against imperialism at the beginning of the anti-globalization mass movement which emerged against plundering institutions like the WTO. Backed by national liberation movements in countries such as the Philippines, Turkey, India, Palestine, and many others, the League helped usher in a new era in the anti-imperialist struggle just as the United States began to emerge as the unipolar imperialist power.
Taking up 14 concerns of the people across the world suffering from economic exploitation, imperialist plunder, fascism, and wars of aggression, it has since expanded to 20 concerns with an even wider united front of grassroots organizations and movements across the world.
With 2026 marking the 25th anniversary of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, the ILPS@25 campaign aims to educate our members and the public of the conditions in which ILPS was founded, to celebrate the legacy of the ILPS in aiding the toiling and oppressed masses’ fight across the world, and to serve as a venue to unite and forward our campaigns to directly confront imperialism in the build up to the ILPS 8th International Assembly.
The theme for the ILPS@25 campaign will be: 25 Years of Peoples’ Unity and Struggle! Surging Forward to Victory against Imperialism!
The length of the campaign will be from November 2025 to May 2027. It was launched with a kickoff event in November 2025 and will conclude with the 8th International Assembly that will take place in mid-2027. It will take the form of education, propaganda, and action in conjunction to the political campaigns and organizational development of the League over the 19 month period.
Objectives:
- Unite member organizations around the aims of the League and uphold its legacy in the anti-imperialist struggle
- Educate members on the importance of building the broad anti-imperialist united front
- Produce propaganda and other lasting materials on the founding and history of the League to popularize and educate about its legacy
- Coordinate educational and celebratory events across different regions and countries
- Grow the membership of ILPS
Reach out to [email protected] to help plan a commemorative event!
Upcoming Events
Imperialism 25 Years Ago and Today: Our United Struggle Surges Forward
🗓️ May 22
🕰️ 6pm Los Angeles | 8pm Bogotá | 9pm New York
🗓️ May 23
🕰️ 6:30am Mumbai | 8am Bangkok | 9am Manila | 10am Tokyo
When The International League of Peoples’ Struggle was founded 25 years ago, it was responding to the particular world crisis under US imperialism at the time.
In the two and a half decades since then, the US faces a spiraling decline, powerful rivals rise to challenge its hegemonic authority, and the resurgence of peoples’ struggles for national liberation and socialism pick up as the masses stand determined to end the economic and political crises and be the makers of their own destinies.
This webinar will analyze how imperialism has developed since the 2001 founding of ILPS, and reflect on the prospects for the anti-imperialist peoples’ movement surging into the future.
Resources
Primer: On the World Situation, The Last Comprehensive Analysis of The Global Situation by ILPS Chairperson Emeritus Jose Maria Sison
This paper by ILPS Chair Emeritus Jose Maria Sison was delivered during the launching assembly of the International People’s Front in Bangkok, Thailand, on 28 September 2022. It provides a brief historical background of the rise of modern imperialism to dominance, expounds on the current contradictions and crises wracking the world’s countries and the entire global capitalist system, and offers some valuable insights on the prospects for the anti-imperialist struggle and the resurgence of socialism.
You can download this article in a printable format by clicking here, or in a single-page pdf format by clicking here.
Educational Recordings
On The World Situation: A webinar reflecting on the guiding analysis of ILPS’ late Chairperson Emeritus Jose Maria Sison
In September 2022, Jose Maria Sison — the late Chairperson Emeritus of ILPS — delivered his last comprehensive analysis of the global situation.
Today in 2026, it is imperative that we study the changes in the world situation while reflecting on the major contradictions that have not only remained the same, but have intensified immensely as US imperialism aims to maintain its declining unipolar hegemony in a multipolar world.
This webinar examined Sison’s final written analysis on the topic and reflected on its relevance today. Download the slideshow presented in the webinar here.
other Videos
ILPS@25 Campaign Video
November 2025 Launch Event of ILPS@25 in Barcelona
ILPS From throughout the years
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Meet the ILPS Chairpersons
Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran – 2001 to 2004
Ka Bel was the first elected chairperson of the ILPS, serving from the Founding Assembly in 2001 until his tragic death in 2008. Ka Bel was a longtime labor leader in the Philippines and a beloved servant of the people, serving as founding chairperson of the largest Philippine Trade Union Federation, the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), from 1987 to 2001, and chair of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) from 1993-1999. Ka Bel’s leadership of the League ensured that the militant spirit of the working class ignited the path of ILPS from the Founding Assembly until the present day. He helped strengthen the League to new heights until his death in 2008.
Jose Maria “Ka Joma” Sison – 2004 to 2019
Ka Joma was the second chairperson of the League, serving from the time of the death of former chairperson Ka Bel in 2008 until the Sixth Assembly in 2019. While in political exile due to his revolutionary leadership in the Philippines, he helped form the International Initiative Committee (IIC) that prepared the groundwork for the Founding Assembly of ILPS in 2001. During his time as Chairperson, he authored a prolific number of statements, resolutions, and other documents that masterfully clarified the League’s anti-imperialist analysis on all issues facing the masses of the world and expressed unconditional solidarity with peoples’ struggle in all countries of the world. He served as ILPS Chairperson Emeritus from 2019 until his death in 2022.
Len Cooper – 2019 to present
Len Cooper is the current chairperson of the ILPS. Having served over five decades as a labor leader with the Communication Workers of Australia, Len carries on the militant tradition of working class leadership at the forefront of the League. He served first as Vice Chairperson of ILPS before being elected chairperson at the Sixth International Assembly in 2019 and re-elected in at the Seventh International Assembly in 2024. Len’s sharp analysis, deep organizing experience, and decades of working class internationalism and anti-imperialist solidarity carries forward the League into its 25th year.
