On Friday 16 December 2022, Professor Jose Maria Sison, founding chairperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines, passed away in a hospital in Utrecht, the Netherlands, where he was living in forced exile. He was 83 years old. Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network sends its deepest condolences to Sison’s lifelong partner and comrade-in-arms, Julie De Lima, their children and family. We join the Filipino people, the workers and peasants, and millions of comrades inside and outside the Philippines in mourning the loss of Sison as teacher and guiding light.
Jose Maria Sison was the initiator and first chairperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in 1968. Under his leadership the CPP became the leading revolutionary force in the Philippines and a bright example for the international revolutionary movement. The CPP expanded rapidly after its founding and established the New People’s Army (NPA) in 1969, which is still waging one of the world’s longest communist armed revolutions in almost all provinces in the Philippines.
At the time of his death, Sison was chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), the united front including dozens of revolutionary mass organizations in the Philippines, such as peasants, workers, youth, women, indigenous people and overseas Filipinos. Sison was also chairperson emeritus of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), of which Samidoun is a proud member, that unites hundreds of anti-imperialist organizations from all continents.
Sison always remained committed to the struggle for national and social liberation of the Philippines. He worked passionately and tirelessly for this struggle until his last breath and leaves a legacy of revolutionary vigor that is known to everyone who has read or heard his words and his work.
As a committed revolutionary and Marxist-Leninist-Maoist, Sison was also a principled proletarian internationalist who fully supported the Palestinian liberation struggle. He wrote dozens of articles and statements about the Palestinian people’s struggle, supporting the Palestinian resistance and demanding the freedom of all political prisoners.
On Palestinian prisoners day in 2020, Sison recorded a solidarity message:
“We join you in celebrating the Palestinian Prisoners Day, in honoring all the Palestinian political prisoners together with all martyrs and heroes for their self-sacrificing and noble struggle for the liberation of the Palestinian people, in condemning the violations of their democratic rights and fundamental freedoms and in demanding humane treatment for the political prisoners and their freedom from their unjust imprisonment.
The Filipino people and their revolutionary forces share a strong sense of solidarity with the Palestinian people and revolutionary forces because they are waging a common struggle against US imperialism and its reactionary puppets such as Israeli Zionism and the big comprador-landlord regime in the Philippines. We are all inspired by the sacrifices made by the political prisoners and all the martyrs and heroes in order to advance the struggle for national and social liberation.”
As Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network we give a final salute to Ka Joma, from all our chapters in the world. We vow to continue in the spirit of Ka Joma to struggle for the national and social liberation of Palestine, the Philippines and all countries that are resisting against the exploitation and oppression of imperialism, feudalism and capitalism.
Sison had direct experience in the prisoners’ struggle as he himself was arrested by the Marcos fascist dictatorship in 1977 and imprisoned for almost nine years. He was heavily tortured and spent most of his time in solitary confinement. Recounting his experiences in prison, Sison explained how he was able to survive those years and practice steadfastness, what is known to Palestinian prisoners as Sumud:
“When such outright physical tortures, as punching and water cure, were applied on me, I thought of resisting continuously because my estimate was that I would simply become unconscious when my body could no longer bear the pain of torture. All the way I thought that it would be a shame to give up and betray others and myself because of the torture. I could and did also try to outwit the enemy. Of course, I was always conscious of the duty to stand for the people and the revolutionary movement.
The most difficult kind of torture that I underwent was the protracted one, with the psychological form of the torture being principal and the built-in physical one being secondary. Being chained to a cot and put in solitary confinement in a small cell and not knowing when my conditions would change meant terrible stress on my mind. I felt like tons of lead were falling on my brain every second, every minute, every hour, every day and every week.
But to keep my sanity and even sharpen my wits, I fought back by composing poems, reviewing and analyzing my experiences and thoughts and imagining plots of novels that I never got to writing. I had the will to fight because I was fighting not only for myself but for the people, especially the toiling masses of workers and peasants.
I considered prison and even my small cell an arena of the struggle for national liberation and democracy. I thought then it was my special task to show defiance to the U.S. imperialists and the Marcos fascist regime in order to rouse the people further to wage the armed revolution.”
After being released from prison in 1986, Sison embarked on an international tour where he met comrades and revolutionaries from around the world. But when visiting the Netherlands, his passport got revoked by the Philippine government and he was forcibly exiled to a country more than 10.000 kilometers from his home. Since then he has been residing in the Netherlands together with his partner Julie De Lima and other exiled Filipino revolutionaries.
In 2007, under pressure from the United States, Dutch police arrested Sison and detained him for 16 days, maltreating him and denying him his medicines. He had been put on the terrorist lists of imperialist powers that wanted to weaken the revolutionary movement in the Philippines and its international strugglers. Trumped up charges without any proof were eventually thrown out by the court, but Sison was never able to travel outside of the Netherlands. The US, in contrast to the EU, never removed him from the terrorist list. Sison’s case is yet another demonstration of the use of “terror listings” in an attempt to criminalize and repress the revolutionary movements of the peoples of the world, much as they are used to target the Palestinian people and their resistance.
In the Netherlands, Joma lived a sober life in a small working-class apartment in Utrecht, where he worked every day from early morning until late at night. He was a humble but passionate man, who loved spending time with comrades, listening to their experiences and sharing his advice.
As Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network we will remember Jose Maria Sison, Ka Joma, as comrade leader who dedicated his whole life to the struggle for national and social liberation of the Philippines and the Filipino people. And we will always remember his unwavering support for the Palestinian liberation movement and the Palestinian prisoners’ struggle. Mabuhay, Ka Joma!
A selection of Jose Maria Sison’s quotes on Palestinian and Arab struggle
“We join you in celebrating the Palestinian Prisoners Day, in honoring all the Palestinian political prisoners together with all martyrs and heroes for their self-sacrificing and noble struggle for the liberation of the Palestinian people, in condemning the violations of their democratic rights and fundamental freedoms and in demanding humane treatment for the political prisoners and their freedom from their unjust imprisonment.
The Filipino people and their revolutionary forces share a strong sense of solidarity with the Palestinian people and revolutionary forces because they are waging a common struggle against US imperialism and its reactionary puppets such as Israeli Zionism and the big comprador-landlord regime in the Philippines. We are all inspired by the sacrifices made by the political prisoners and all the martyrs and heroes in order to advance the struggle for national and social liberation.” – 2020, https://samidoun.net/2020/04/video-jose-maria-sisons-solidarity-message-for-palestinian-prisoners-day/
“This crusade of the German state has nothing to do with fighting “anti-Semitism”. It has something to do with a fight against the liberation and independence of Palestine, and with supporting the illegal Zionist entity “Israel.” The three main targets are the BDS campaign, Jugendwiderstand and Samidoun – all legal forces of democratic struggle.” – 2019, https://www.redspark.nu/en/imperialist-states/jose-maria-sison-no-to-the-criminalization-of-anti-zionism-in-germany-support-the-comrades-facing-repression/
“We must launch and develop a movement to demand the end of the conditions in which Israel can at will attack Gaza and massacre the Palestinian people. In six years, Israel has unleashed three massacres without being held to account by an international criminal court. It has turned Gaza into a concentration camp since 2006. It has subjected the Palestinians to various forms of collective punishment. Fishermen are shot to death whether they go beyond a 3-kilometer limit imposed unilaterally by Israel. Farmers are also killed when they harvest their crops beyond a borderline arbitrarily set by Israel.
We heed and endorse the call of the people of Gaza for the people of the world to carry out a movement for realizing boycotts, divestment and sanctions. As in the global campaign against the apartheid regime in South Africa in recent history, the people of the world and their institutions and organizations can and must pressure governments to sanction Israel and implement a comprehensive arms embargo. Israel has been able to occupy Palestine, operate a terrorist and apartheid regime and commit its murderous atrocities because of the support of imperialist governments, especially the U.S. and the European Union.” – 2014. https://www.workers.org/2014/08/15597/
“The Palestinian people are fighting for the just cause of national liberation. Thus, they enjoy abundant support from the peoples of the world.” – 2012, ILPS Statement, https://josemariasison.org/ilps-condemns-israeli-attacks-on-palestinian-people-in-gaza/
“It is utter mendacity and hypocrisy worthy of war criminals and mega-terrorists for both the US and Israel to put the blame on Palestine and the Palestinian people for the ongoing large-scale crimes of aggression and oppression committed by Israel against them and for the impending Israeli invasion and reoccupation of Gaza. The current call of Israel for all-out war reminds us all of the Israeli aggression against Lebanon in recent times and how far Israel can go in committing crimes against humanity with complete impunity with the encouragement and support of the US imperialists and the acquiescence of the other imperialist powers.
The ILPS stands in solidarity with the Palestinian people in their struggle for national salvation and independence and for the defense of all their human and democratic rights against the onslaughts of the US-backed Israeli aggressors. We join the Palestinian and Arab people and the entire humankind in condemning the US-supported crimes of aggression of Israel and in demanding that Israel stop its scheme of all-out war of aggression.” – 2008, ILPS Statement, https://josemariasison.org/ilps-condemns-israeli-attacks-on-the-palestinian-people-in-gaza/
“In 1948 the US launched the Cold War in order to contain and combat the challenge of socialism and the national liberation movements and to counter the tendency of the US economy to slide into a crisis of overproduction. The Cold War was actually a series of hot localized wars. These included the big US wars of aggression in Korea and Indochina, the US-supported Israeli wars on Palestine and the anti-Soviet wars in Angola, Ethiopia, Nicaragua and Afghanistan….
We may count as forces of resistance from below those nonimperialist states that stand up to defend their national independence against imperialism. In fact the US has launched the most violent wars of aggression against such states, which have included Iraq, former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan in recent times. It has also emboldened and supported the Israeli Zionists to occupy Palestine and suppress the Palestinian resistance. As a consequence, we see the steady growth of armed and other forms of resistance in countries directly or indirectly attacked by the US….
The resurgence of mass protest actions against war and against imperialism in the imperialist countries reflects not only a high sense of solidarity of the people in such countries for other peoples but also the growing discontent over the crisis of the world capitalist system. The people are restive over high rates of unemployment, the reduction of social benefits, the deterioration of social services and the highest priority given to corporate benefits and to military spending.
The Iraqi people are now waging a broad-based armed resistance of nationalists, communists, religious believers and various ethnic communities against the US occupation and the puppets and are laying the basis for bigger protest actions in the US and in the world.” – 2003, https://www.josemariasison.org/inps/WarImpeandResistbelow.htm
“We focus the principal attention on the US because it is the most bellicose power and is the biggest destabilizing factor in the world. It has a war-driven economy, with the military industrial complex always pushing the government to spend more for war production and wars of aggression. It is determined, together with the NATO and Zionist Israel, to weaken and bring down any regime that supports the struggle of the Palestinian people and the cause of national independence of the the Arab peoples.” – 2015, https://josemariasison.org/for-a-socially-just-world-strengthen-the-peoples-solidarity-and-intensify-the-struggle-against-imperialist-plunder-crisis-and-war/
“As regards to obtaining and keeping arms covertly for decades and launching small-formation offensives under the most limited and difficult conditions, the revolutionary armed organizations in Ireland and Palestine provide good examples of conscious discipline, skillfulness, resourcefulness and durability due to mass support of entire communities opposing an occupying force.” – 2019, https://josemariasison.org/on-the-question-of-peoples-war-in-industrial-capitalist-countries/
“Ten years after 9/11, the US finds itself bogged down in a historic debt crisis and protracted global depression. Its military forces are overstretched and pinned down in several theaters of war around the globe. The US retains more than 150,000 troops in Afghanistan and Iraq and is now engaged with NATO in a war of aggression in Libya.
Over the past decade, anti-war, anti-imperialist and armed revolutionary movements have risen to resist the US wars of aggression. The American people have repeatedly manifested their opposition to the use of 9/11 for justifying wars of aggression. They have pressed for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan while protesting the huge military spending at the expense of real economic recovery, state subsidies and social services.
The peoples of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Palestine continue to wage armed resistance to US-led and US-sponsored occupation and aggression. Revolutionary and progressive movements in Asia, Latin America and Africa are at the forefront of the people’s struggles for national and social liberation. Countries like Cuba, People’s Democratic Republic of Korea and Venezuela are asserting their sovereignty against US threats of aggression. Exploited and oppressed peoples in both imperialist and dominated countries are advancing the struggle against imperialist wars and for redirecting resources to jobs, livelihood, fair wages and social welfare.
It is imperative that the peoples of the world wage militant and sustained struggles against the US and NATO wars of aggression, state terrorism and counter-revolution. It is only through the struggle of the people that the people can hope to eliminate all forms of terrorism and achieve a new and better world of greater freedom, democracy, social justice, all-round development and world peace. ###” – 2011, https://josemariasison.org/ilps-statement-on-the-10th-anniversary-of-911/
“From its conquest of Iraq, the US has gotten far bigger material rewards than from that of Afghanistan. It has seized the second largest oil reserves in the world and has gained direct control over the entire OPEC more than ever before. The US dollar remains secure as the currency of oil transactions.
The US has long nurtured the plan to occupy Iraq and reshape the entire Middle East politically and economically under US hegemony. The US military bases in Iraq are now at the heart of the entire region. The Palestinian and Arab people are being told to accept the US-made “road map” and other dictates of the US and the Israeli Zionists.
The US arrogantly demands that Syria and Iran submit completely to US hegemony or else suffer the fate of Iraq. US strategists calculate that one way or the other they can soon take full control over Iran and Syria. They are also threatening the feudal oligarchies of Saudi Arabia and the emirates with loss of their feudal rights if they do not yield further to US economic and military demands…. As the Iraqi people’s war of national liberation intensifies and the US refuses to withdraw from Iraq, the mass protests and other forms of anti-imperialist resistance will rise to a new and higher level on a global scale. The US can still do worse in the Middle East by expanding the battlefield to Syria and Iran. It has long been accusing these countries of aiding Iraq and demanding their subordination to US dictates.
The US is scheming to grab Iran because of its oil wealth and because it is already sandwiched between the US-controlled countries of Afghanistan and Iraq. The US is also interested in controlling Syria because this country is seen as an obstacle in the US-made road map for Israel and Palestine. It is definitely to the interest of Iran and Syria to support the Iraqi people and to prevent the US from consolidating its power in Iraq.
It would be a colossal blunder for the US to take preemptive actions against Iran and Syria and to widen the battlefields from Iraq and Afghanistan. Popular armed resistance would spread like wild fire in the Middle East and Central Asia and encourage armed revolution in South Asia. At any rate, the US will increasingly pay for its imperial overreach. The people in all regions of the world see their opportunity to deliver their own blows on the overstretched and vulnerable monster.###” – 2003, https://www.josemariasison.org/inps/2yrsafter911.htm
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