PERSPECTIVE ON THE PEOPLES' UPRISINGS AGAINST AUTOCRATIC REGIMES IN NORTH AFRICA & MIDDLE EAST

By Prof. Jose Maria Sison

Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee

International League of Peoples' Struggle

February 27, 2011

The International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) steadfastly stands in solidarity with and supports the peoples of the North African and Middle East countries in their mass uprisings and revolutionary struggles for national liberation and democracy against the autocratic regimes long maintained by imperialist powers and local reactionary classes.

At the same time, the ILPS is keenly aware that the overthrow of a dictator by a rapid spontaneous surge of the masses does not necessarily result in the revolutionary overthrow of the ruling system. In the absence of a strong revolutionary party of the proletariat and revolutionary mass organizations, the imperialist powers and its puppets among the competing political and military factions of the local exploiting classes can arrange a new regime that pretends to be better than the previous one.

Are peoples perpetually and hopelessly trapped in ruling systems controlled and manipulated by the imperialists and their reactionary agents? No. The crisis of each ruling system and the mass uprisings can result not only in the overthrow of the autocratic regime but also in the further development of revolutionary parties, mass organizations and alliances for the continuous advance of the people's cause for national and social liberation.

The peoples' uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East are not the deliberate creation of the imperialists, their mass media and smart political agents. They are the people's resistance to the oppression and exploitation that they have long suffered. Their suffering has been made more than ever intolerable by the crisis of the world capitalist system and domestic ruling systems under the bankrupt US-imposed policy of neoliberal globalization and the US global war of terror characterized by state terrorism and aggression.

While the revolutionary strength of the people in a country is not yet sufficient to overthrow the ruling system, the US and its puppets deck themselves out as democrats by trying to forge new constitutions and instituting periodic elections and term limits for elective officials even as variable balances of political and military factions continue to make the ruling system apparently stable but really more unstable, remaining ripe for the next corrupt autocratic regime or servile to monarchies most favored by the US as in Saudi Arabia and the emirates.

The big prize for the US and its imperialist allies and its biggest local puppets in North Africa and the Middle East is the stepped-up superprofit-taking from the cheap labor of the working people, exploitation of oil and other natural resources, the huge sales of armaments to the oil producing countries and many other kinds of businesses.

The imperialist powers headed by the US are hell-bent on tightening their control over all the major sources of oil and gas and cannot tolerate the degree of national independence or anti-imperialism that Iraq and Libya exercised in extended periods in the past and that Iran is striving hard to maintain. The US is now flagrantly seeking to grab and tighten its control over the oil resources of Libya as in Iraq. It is taking the lead in applying sanctions and threatening to unleash the aggression and atrocities that it used to take over the oil resources of Iraq.

Once more, the irony of autocrats subservient or pliant to US imperialism but eventually junked by it is being demonstrated in North Africa and the Middle East. New sets of puppets are being arranged to further exploit and oppress the people. But through perseverance in revolutionary struggle in the long course of history, the people can develop their own strength to realize their national and social liberation.

On the scale of North Africa and the Middle East and particular countries, the course and outcomes of the peoples' uprisings follow the law of uneven development. Under any circumstances, the ILPS stands in solidarity with and supports the broad masses of the people and the anti-imperialist and democratic forces, and encourage them to be vigilant and militant against machinations to maintain and prolong imperialist domination and subservience by the local reactionary forces.

The International League of Peoples' Struggle looks forward to far greater revolutionary struggles now and in the future. Whatever are the temporary arrangements that can be made by the imperialists and their reactionary agents, the revolutionary energy and forces already released by the peoples' uprisings will find fertile ground to grow in strength and advance against the crisis-stricken world capitalist system and the local ruling systems.###

Freedom of the Morong 43 is fruit of the people's struggle

Thirty-eight of the 43 unjustly imprisoned health workers in the Philippines have been released. The Centre d'appui des Philippines -  Centre for Philippine Concerns in Montréal, Canada salutes the courage and determination of the Morong 43 along with their supporters in the Philippines and around the globe. Struggle can and does make a difference!

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They braved indefinable forms of human rights violations so that they may live to see the day when they will finally be reunited with their families and people they serve.? The Morong 43 are finally free!

Today (December 18, 2010), ten months of roaring cries for freedom and justice voiced in different languages from all over the world bears fruit.Judge Gina Cenit Escoto, presiding judge of the Morong Regional Trial Court Branch 78 has finally released a decision late in the afternoon today to withdraw all cases filed against all of the 43 health workers.

Thirty-eight of the health workers were detained at Camp Bagong Diwa, Taguig City since May 1 while five others remained in military custody since their illegal arrest at Camp Capinpin in Tanay, Rizal.

Relatives and supporters have been waiting anxiously outside the Morong RTC since Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima filed for a motion to withdraw the cases Monday this week. They peacefully 'picketed outside' the court building since Wednesday.

After the judge released the official decision, court staffs followed by the Morong 43 relatives and supporters proceeded to Camp Bagong Diwa, a civilian detention facility, to deliver the hard copy of the order which will facilitate the release of the detained health workers.

Registered nurse and alliance spokesperson Carlos Montemayor said that the health workers underwent a mandatory physical check-up by prison doctors for clearance, a requirement before a detainee is released from the prison camp's custody.

Nursing mothers Judielyn Oliveros and Mercy Castro were transported from the Philippine General Hospital to Camp Bagong Diwa with their newborns to undergo prison protocols before they too are finally released.

From Taguig, the health workers will proceed to Quezon City for a press conference to thank all the people, including the media for keeping the faith and not giving up on their case. Montemayor said that the Morong 43 took strength and refuge in the massive local and international support this campaign gained since day one adding the struggle to free the 43 is within the overall struggle to free all political prisoners.

"Definitely, this is not the end of their story. The international movement on the campaign for health and human rights welcomes the additional 43 people with burning fervor and inspiration," Montemayor added. ##

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Reference:
Alliance to support the Morong 43
Carlos Montemayor, RN
+63 922 499 6237 / +63 2 929 8109

Free the 43! Excellent video from friends in British Columbia, Canada

Excellent video production from our friends in British Columbia on the story of the 43+ health workers illegally imprisoned in the Philippines, a group known as the Morong 43. On the seventh day of their hunger strike, two have been taken to hospital and the Philippine government refuses to release the two mothers in the group who have given birth while in detention.

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43 imprisoned health workers in Philippines continue hunger strike

Warm greetings from the Philippines!

Today, December 8, 2010, the Morong 43 are on the 6th day of indefinite hunger strike to demand their immediate and unconditional release, one of them was earlier rushed to the Camp Bagong Diwa Infirmary. In other parts of the country families and supporters, including other political prisoners are also staging solidarity hunger strike and fasting to demand the release of the 43 health workers and all political prisoners.

The Filipino people and people from all over the world will never get tired of calling for the Philippine government to release the Morong 43. GABRIELA Alliance of Filipino Women is calling all women and people to join us in a solidarity fasting for the Morong 43, at the Iglesia Filipino Independiente church along Taft Avenue in Manila, where some families of the Morong 43 are also staging hunger strike and fasting. A candle lighting and noise barrage along Taft Avenue, Manila's busiest street will also follow.

Once again, we are calling on you to show our untiring support to the Morong 43. We suggest that you send messages to the Philippine President NoyNoy Aquino by posting to this websites. A simple message saying "Free the Morong 43!" would do. You can also post on his Facebook page if you have one http://www.facebook.com/presidentnoy. Let us know if you send messages.

http://www.president.gov.ph
http://www.op.gov.ph

We would like to thank all of you for your continuous support in the the struggles for justice in the Philippines. Let us continue our call to free the Morong 43 and all political prisoners.

In solidarity,
Lana Linaban
Secretary General

Call to International Networks in Support of Morong 43 and All Political prisoners

On Friday, December 3, 2010, the Morong 43 started their hunger strike for freedom. December 6, 2010 would be the 10th month of their illegal arrest and detention.

We demand their immediate and unconditional release.  The 43 health workers, who were attending a grassroots medical training, are victims of illegal search, arrest, detention and torture.  They are ridiculously charged with illegal possession of explosives. The pieces of evidence against them are either planted or inadmissible since these are, in legal jurisprudence, “fruits of the poisonous tree”.

Charges against them can be withdrawn if only President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III will heed the advice of respected legal minds including the Secretary of Justice. That he continues to pass the burden to courts can either mean ignorance of the legal process or propensity for sticking his head in the sand.

Aside from the main venue of the hunger strike at Camp Bagong Diwa, a Support the M43 Hunger Strike Center has been set up in Manila for the families, other relatives, friends and multi-sectoral networks and individuals who will be on sympathy hunger strike or fasting. Cultural groups plan to perform at the center.
Political prisoners in various detention centers and prisons in different provinces will hold their own fasting and/or sympathy act such as noise barrage and others. Their actions aim to cap the year’s campaign to free all political prisoners especially those who have long been deprived of their liberty like Angie Ipong in Misamis Occidental, Eduardo Serrano and Eduardo Sarmiento in Camp Crame and Sandino Esguerra in Camp Bagong Diwa.

Let us drum up international support for the Morong 43 and all political prisoners. You may:

-          Join the hunger strike on December 6, their 10th month anniversary in jail, and issue a statement of support;
-          Organize sympathy fasting or a few-day hunger strike;
-          Picket the Philippine Embassy and demand freedom for the Morong 43 and other political prisoners especially Ipong, Serrano, Sarmiento and Esguerra;
-          Highlight the hunger strike in your commemoration of human rights week and December 10 International HR Day;
-          Lobby with your Parliament, congress and/or senate;
-          Write your ambassadors stationed in the Philippines;
-          Encourage international organizations/institutions and those in your network to send support statements to the hunger strike (addressed to Malacanang cc Philippine Embassy in your country, Secretary of Justice Leila de Lima and Karapatan);
-          Keep those postcards coming, we want them by the thousands;
-          Circulate this and further announcements plus the hunger strike bulletins which we will issue from time to time;
-          Solicit financial and material support for the Morong 43, other political prisoners and their families;
-          Share your ideas with us and others so we can have a variety of support actions.

Free the Morong 43!
Release Angie Ipong, Eduardo Serrano, Eduardo Sarmiento and Sandino Esguerra!
Free all political prisoners!

International League of Peoples Struggle (ILPS)

Morong 43 in high spirits

Manila, Philippines, November 30, 2010 – Detained community health workers collectively known as the Morong 43 are in high spirits even as they mark 10 months in jail, lawyers from the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers (NUPL) said yesterday in a statement.

“Hindi kami pinaghihinaan ng loob dahil alam namin na nasa likod namin kayo,” Eulogio Castillo, one of the detained, told lawyers who visited on Sunday, November 28, 2010.

Castillo, who considers the group as political prisoners, said they also rely on the larger social movement to secure their release. “We know that [the outcome of] our case holds implications for other political prisoners across the country,” he said in the vernacular. He also thanked the domestic and foreign groups and personalities taking up the cause of their release.

The men and women separately entertained the lawyers with songs of hope. The women also taught the lawyers their signature four claps, three stomps and chant “Free the 43”.

The Morong 43 all support the rally of lawyers and doctors set on Thursday, December 2, 2010. The legal and medical communities plan to march from Espana to Mendiola at noon, to ask the executive to drop charges against the Morong 43, on account of the illegality of their arrest and the subsequent search.

“Those of us who are concerned that fundamental rights embodied in laws whose very purpose is to protect citizens from possible abuses by the state are disregarded in such a brazen manner, must take a stand,” said NUPL secretary-general and counsel Edre Olalia.

The Morong 43 were arrested in February this year, while undergoing a health training in Morong, Rizal. A joint police-military operation, using a defective search warrant, swooped down upon the group early in the morning. The warrant did not specify the particular place to be searched.

The search allegedly yielded guns and ammunition, so the 43 were then blindfolded, handcuffed and brought to an undisclosed place where they were continuously interrogated day and night, denied their right to counsel and tortured physically and psychologically.

Charges of illegal possession of firearms and explosives were filed against the 43 health workers five days after their arrest. The law specifies a 36-hour deadline for the filing of charges against anyone arrested without a warrant.

NUPL lawyers visited the Morong 43 after its national legal consultation on extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances and other human rights cases. NUPL and the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) represent the health workers in the criminal case filed at the Morong Regional Trial Court and Metropolitan Trial Court and in the petitions they have filed in the Commission of Human Rights, Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, administration ally and House Deputy Speaker Rep. Lorenzo “Erin” Tanada III reiterated his appeal to release the Morong 43.

“I think that amnesty is not what they need as they are not guilty of anything.  What they need is nothing but just plain and simple respect for their basic human rights ,”  Tañada emphasized in a separate statement.

Reference:  Atty. Edre U. Olalia - Secretary General – 09175113373; Atty. Julius Garcia Matibag - 09279293089
National Secretariat
National Union of Peoples' Lawyers(NUPL)
3F Erythrina Bldg., Maaralin corner Matatag Sts. Central District,Quezon City, Philippines
Tel.No.920-6660,Telefax No. 927- 2812
Email addresses:nupl2007@gmail.com and nuplphilippines@yahoo.com

Visit the NUPL  at http://www.nupl.net/

By calling yourselves the 'people's lawyer,' you have made a remarkable choice. You decided not to remain in the sidelines. Where human rights are assaulted, you have chosen to sacrifice the comfort of the fence for the dangers of the battlefield. But only those who choose to fight on the battlefield live beyond irrelevance."  Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno, in his message to the NUPL Founding Congress,Sept. 15, 2007

KMU condemns the killing of Caloy Rodriguez, public union leader

Press Statement: 12 November 2010

We strongly condemn the killing of Caloy Rodriguez, president of the Nagkakaisang Lakas ng Manggagawa ng Calamba Water District or NLM-CWD, today at 5:30 in the afternoon by motorcycle-riding gunmen in Calamba, Laguna. NLM-CWD is an affiliate of the Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government Employees or Courage – which is a fellow member of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU – May First Movement) in the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan or Bayan. Courage has been indefatigable in fighting corruption in government and militant in advancing its members’ rights and interests, thereby earning the wrath of successive regimes.

We point our fingers at the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the regime of President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III as the culprits behind this yet another case of extra-judicial killing in the country. The shooting and death of Caloy Rodriguez is yet another consequence of Pres. Aquino’s decision to continue implementing the murderous Oplan Bantay Laya counter-insurgency program of his predecessor and to adhere to the US Counter-insurgency Guide.

It is also a consequence of the utter failure of the Aquino regime to prosecute (former Philippine President) Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her butchers, such as former General Jovito Palparan, for the grave human-rights violations that they have committed while in power. Pres. Aquino says that carrying out extra-judicial killings is not his government’s policy, but his military’s actions speak louder than his words; his military’s gunshots speak louder than his all-too soft denial.

During the Arroyo regime, we sought help from the Commission on Human Rights under Leila de Lima in condemning and investigating cases of extra-judicial killings. The current CHR chief, Akbayan’s Etta Rosales, was appointed to her post on the basis of her supposed record in defending human rights. Her refusal to fully engage with cases of human-rights violations involving activists, however, has only emboldened the military to continue carrying out the extra-judicial killings of activists under a regime that has promised “change” to the Filipino workers and people. Her statements about focusing on “lesser-known” cases of human rights violations – as compared with, for example, the case of the Morong 43 – does not at all help in the struggle to uphold human rights in the country.

Reference: Elmer “Bong” Labog, Chairperson, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU – May First Movement), +63 908-163659