Statement of the WSF 2005, on the threat of Left violence in the Philippines : QC IMC

Statement of Concern in the WSF 2005, on the threat of violence in the
resolution of political differences.
====================

The last few years have seen a very large number of diverse groups and
organisations coming together in spite of their differences to confront
neo-liberal globalisation. However, we are deeply concerned that there are
still some groups in the world today that attempt to deal with political
differences using physical attacks and death threats. A recent example of
this is the situation which has emerged in the Philippines where a number of
individual intellectuals, activists (Walden Bello and Lidy Nacpil) and
organisations engaged in various forms of struggle against militarism and
globalised capitalism have been listed by the international department of
the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) as ³counter-revolutionary² and
as ³agents of imperialism². Some individuals named on this list have already
been assassinated and, based on past experiences, this list constitutes a
credible threat of assassination.

Therefore, those of us gathered here in the World Social Forum in Porto
Alegre, Brazil and others in the world, inspired by the pluralism and
inclusiveness of this global process, believe that when the security of
activists is at stake we cannot act as if the problem is a local one. In our
efforts to consistently build an international movement for fundamental
transformation we strongly reiterate that the resolving of political
differences must be done through the struggle of ideas and democratic
dialogue and not through the politics of individual assassination.

We call on everyone within the global justice movements to re-assert this
principle and express solidarity with all those who are victims of such
threats.

Alex Callinicos, York University, UK

Ali Fayyad, Centre for Research and Documentation, Lebanon

Allianca Social Continentale (ASC)

Alvaro Porticas, Socialist Party, Uruguay

Amit Sengupta aand Prabir Purkayastha, Delhi Science Forum, India

Anibal Quijano, sociologist, Peru

Anna Maria R. Nemenzo, Freedom from Debt Coalition, Philippines

Anna Marize, ICARIA, Spain

Annick Coupe, Solidaire, France

Antonio Martin, ATTAC, Brasil

Bertil Kinkunnen, Social Democratic Party of Sweden

Brid Brennan, TNI, Netherlands

Campagna Continentale contra a ALCA

Chico Whittaker, Brasil

Chris Nineham, Stop the War Coalition, UK

Christophe Aguiton, European March against Unemployment

CUT, Brasil

Dot Keet, AIDC, South Africa

Ernst Van Weizaker, MP, Germany

Franc Branco & Ole von Ulexhill, Right Livelihood Award Foundation

Francois Houtart, CETRI, Belgium

Hillary Wainwright, Red Pepper, UK

Jan Nederven Pieterse, University of Illinois, USA

Joao Pedro Stedile, Movimiento Sem Terra, Brazil

Jean Luc Rous, Political Director, Greenpeace International

Jean Pierre Dubois, Federation internationale des droits des hommes (FIDH)

Jeremy Corbin, M.P., UK

John Cavanagh, Institute of Policy Studies, USA

Jose Correa, Brasil

Josu Egireun, ESK, Basque Country

Kamal Chenoy, Jawarhalal Nehru University, India

Laura Gonzalez de Txabarri, ELA, Basque Country

Leo Panitch, Socialist Register, UK

Lim Soei Liong, TAPOL, Indonesia Human Rights Campaign

Louis Weber, Federation Synicale Unitaire, France

Luciano Muhlbauer, SinCobas, Italy

Marcha Mundial des Mulheres

Marco Berlinguer. Transform! and Parti Rifondazione Communista, Italy

Marcus Arruda, Global Workshop on Solidarity Socioeconomy, Brasil

Mark Rand, USA

Maud Barlow, Council of Canadians

Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange, United States

Moema Miranda, IBASE

Mubarak Awad, Non Violence International, Palestine/US

Naomi Klein, Canada

Niclas Hallstrom, Dag Hammarskjold Foundation, Sweden

Njoki Njoroge Njehu, 50 years is enough, USA

Patrice Barrat, Bridge Initiative, France

Peiro Bernotti, COBAS, Italy

Petros Constantine, Campaign Genoa 2000

Peter Rosset, CECCAM, Mexico

Pierre Galand, senator, Belgium

Pierre Khalfa, ATTAC France

Pouria Amirshahi, 4D, France

Rabia Abdel Karim, Senegal/Algeria

Robin Broad, American University, USA

Rogate Mishane, Tanzania

Roger Burbach, CENSA, USA

Salim Vally, Anti-war Coalition, South Africa

Sandeep Pandey, India

Sophie Zafari, Federation Syndicale Unitaire, France

Soren Ambrose, 50 years is enough, USA

Susan George, ATTAC, France

Tariq Ali, UK

Tewoo Tangela, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, SA

Tobias Plüger, Member of the European Parliament, Germany, Information
Office on Militarisation

Toufik Ben Abdullah, ENDA, Senegal

Vinod Raina, Jubilee South

Vittorio Agnoletto, Deputy European Parliamen

pay the price for your fascism. the filipino maoists are sooo isolated now in the international community.

don't tell me all of those who signed are all counter revolutionaries too.

is this the best thing walden bello has to do at the wsf? seriously?? where are the statements against the vat and against the hacienda luisita massacre he is gathering at the wsf?? if he's all about these kind of issues and justice on the left and such, he'd do well to gather signatures against ric reyes...

but to the prior commentor, no, they're not all counter-revolutionaries, but you know, i do wonder how much they all have engaged in independent investigation and how much they take for granted because that's what walden b. et al told them. because frankly i don't really think all of those people/groups are experts on the philippines, or its movements. and frankly i think it's sad and arrogant to sign such statements if one does not know the whole story, and no, i don't think all of these people know the whole story.

and there really is something fundamentally problematic in the nature of the wsf that makes things like this not surprising ( it doesn't seem to be a statement of the wsf but rather of some participants but.. ) which is the rejection of the right of popular resistance through armed struggle. if armed struggle is dismissed and marginalized, it is far easier to collect participants to statements such as this, that rely on the dismissal of armed struggle. the scenario here is only plausible if one has already accepted the demonization and thus feels no need to actually investigate the actual situation. the ngo trend is not a revolutionary trend, it is an end in itself and not a tactical means to fulfill a revolutionary strategy, and it is open to manipulation by its funders.

finally, the national democratic movement isn't isolated, internationally or otherwise. this list of names is hardly the verdict of the people of the world. i do think it is a sad statement, but not upon the national democratic movement or upon the cpp, but rather upon those who sign it without question and those who consider this sort of thing the best material to propagate in international fora.

The RA's in practice shows the attitude adopted toward the thought of Jose Maria Sison, acceptance or resistance, support or opposition, affection or hatred, is the dividing line, the touchstone by which to distinguish genuine revolution from pseudo-revolution, revolution from counter-revolution, Marxism from revisionism.

There's always this reference to "the RAs," as if this is how the CPP defines itself just because those who left still call themselves "rejectionists.." yes, the cpp reaffirms its basic principles, otherwise, all of this "RA-RJ" stuff is not what's happening, look at reality instead...what is objectively accomplished by this?? apparently akbayan/bello/rosales/ et al are still so dedicated to "rejecting" that they do not care who they are embracing, either that, or they are choosing it. look at the ang bayan diagram. it is not a hit list. but somehow, it is appropriate for bello, rosales et al to go to international forums, peddle these lies about the left *including* their indictments of legal national democratic organizations, take the afp campaigning with them, steal votes, etc..

yeah, it has to do with joma sison, it has to do with the fact/reality that joma sison is on one side, and that that's the side of the people... and that those who choose the other side will stop at nothing to attack *that*. that's what it has to do with joma sison...in fact, it's walden bello and etta rosales this time around who brought jms into the picture, with *their* "open letter".

i mean, apparently it's ok for focus on the global south to "call out" organizations, legal mass organizations, repeat the charges of norberto gonzales, criminalize popular movements, etc - and unlike a diagram in ang bayan that rosales/bello/et al know full well is not a "hit list" - ACTUALLY PUT PEOPLE AT RISK by the gma regime and the afp.

Dear Abi,

With all due respect, I find your statement quite moronic: "but to the prior commentor, no, they're not all counter-revolutionaries, but you know, i do wonder how much they all have engaged in independent investigation and how much they take for granted because that's what walden b. et al told them. because frankly i don't really think all of those people/groups are experts on the philippines, or its movements. and frankly i think it's sad and arrogant to sign such statements if one does not know the whole story, and no, i don't think all of these people know the whole story."

Do you really think you are more intelligent than most of these personalities? Do you really think these people are not critical thinkers? Do you think Naomi Klein who is world renowned for her anti-corporate books just sign a document without reading it?

You must be joking; you are suffering from megalomania, or just plain stupid. Based on what you have written, I think the last option is the correct answer.

Walden Bello and Akbayan fight VAT and other anti-people policies of GMA government without let up. I think you don't take notice of it because you just wanted to see what you want to see, hear what you want to hear or worse hear what your political officer want you to hear.

Again let me ask you this: do you really think you are more intelligent than most personalities who signed this statement?

Respectfully yours,

Crisandino

alas, i do not think this is a debate about intelligence, mine, yours, naomi klein's, or anyone else's. i do not suggest that the signatories did not read the statement they signed. i suggest they did not look at the diagram from ang bayan, and that they, as people often do, took the word of one they trust about the matter. i would also suggest that some of the signatories are perhaps less than familiar with this particular situation and have chosen to accept one story at face value, this does, indeed, happen, and rather frequently, in the world of circulated statements. it is not a comment on intelligence, it is a question of judgment.

i think they were wrong in doing so, no matter how many books they've written or ngos they've founded.

but, perhaps you are right. perhaps every one of these people has read the diagram in ang bayan, every one is familiar with the history and present of the people's struggle in the philippines.

then the commentary is really, even sadder. again, this is not a question of intelligence. it is a question of where these forces have chosen to align themselves. it is not surprising that this comes from the wsf, not at all, considering the explicit denial of support to armed resistance on the part of the wsf. recognizing that some of those who have signed this statement have upheld a right to popular armed resistance, i would hope that they continue to maintain such independence rather than embrace an ngo-ism as against the people's movements.

i sincerely hope that these signatories have not signed on to akbayan's bringing of afp escorts into revolutionary areas and vote theft of anak ng bayan votes, their support to the charges of norberto gonzales, and to their attacks upon the legal national democratic movement.

finally, where are walden's statements from this wsf on the gma regime?? or was he too busy running around demonizing the cpp-npa??

do u think that the leaders of the global movement are stupid?

do u think they would fall for these sort of arguments and explanations?

this time around, no one will believe your spin doctors and propaganda officers. End of the line, kiddo!!

clearly, this isnt the first time u have said this things.
this is nothing but a lame effort to protect yourselves from the immediate setback you are suffering from the international networks and movements.

come to think of it, it isnt Walden Bello or Lidy Nacpil's fault that the international movement is reacting against organizations like CPP.

Blame Sison! cause those were his comments and statements.

Joma has created a political blunder out of his overzealous sectarianism and left-communism.
kung ako sa inyo mga bok, I-DA nyo yan c tatang!!

please, the issue is not one of intelligence, it is one of principle. first - those who signed this statement are not "the leaders of the global movement." the global movement is rooted in the people not in ngos and so called "civil society". second - the issue is not one of "stupidity" or "intelligence". i want to know how many of these people have seen the diagram in ang bayan. it is available at http://www.philippinerevolution.org. i anticipate the number is very small.

anyone can look at that diagram and judge for themselves whether it is a "hit list," and if they have seen the diagram and still have signed this statement, i do not think they are stupid - i think they are allying themselves with reactionary campaigns.

the international movement, which is not counted in ngos or conferences but rather in the confrontation of masses around the world with imperialism, is a movement of the people, and it is those who objectively align with us imperialism who will be left behind by the movement of the people - not those who are organizing and fighting as the army of the people. walden bello and his ilk would like to take credit for the movements of the people; unfortunately for them, they cannot.

i "blame" jose maria sison only for being a target of imperialism - the same for the cpp-npa! i thought the issue was a diagram in ang bayan, it is walden bello and etta rosales who decided to join in a black propaganda campaign against jose maria sison.

and it is very clear that this campaign does not limit itself to one against jose maria sison or the cpp-npa, but also is against the legal mass people's organizations of the national democratic movement. and as bayan muna campaigners are murdered, akbayan goes out to steal their votes, bring the afp into revolutionary areas and endorse the campaigns of norberto gonzales against the progressive partylists. and now focus on the global south issues "statements" calling out mass national democratic organizations for threats and repression.

this is not the action or the behavior of leaders of the people's movements, globally or in the philippines and it only further credits jose maria sison that he is attacked by those engaged in such alliances.

Abi,

So you are saying that those who signed the statement are unprincipled bunch that do not read nor analyze what they are signing. On other hand if they have analyzed the diagram and still signed then they are reactionary allies. Is that what you are saying? Are you saying you are more principled than them?

Are you saying these personalities cannot be considered “leaders” while your beloved Joma is the leader? Please take note that they do not only represent NGOs and “conferences” as you allege but political parties, social organizations, community groups, people’s organizations (mass organizations, civil society, cause-oriented groups, or whatever you want to call them) many of which are at the forefront of the fight against corporate globalization and against imperialist war. Maybe your so-called principles are too narrow to accommodate these activists.

Have you ever considered that you’re a narrow-minded doctrinaire instead of a principled ideologue? Of course not, precisely because you are! How can you be aware of it or even consider such if your mind is obsessed with and captivated by Joma Thought? Everything about Joma is 100% good and those who criticized Joma are bad, counter-revolutionary, reactionary, revisionist, reformist, adventurist, deviant, pro-imperialist, anti-people, or all of the above. You are one those self-righteous self-proclaimed vanguard of the people’s movement. Sorry, I can’t help but take this conclusion after I have read what you have written.

Since you are more “intelligent” and more “principled” than me, please explain the following. I always notice that those who sympathize with Joma, the CPP-NPA-NDF seem to sympathize too with Bayan, Bayan Muna, Anak ng Bayan, Gabriela, Migrante, etc and vice-versa. Based on what you have written it seems that you are one of them (i.e. sympathizing both with the CPP and the so-called legal progressive organizations). Is there any connection/s among them? It is funny since most people who defend Bayan and all kindred organizations also defend the CPP. But if the likes of Norberto Gonzales accuse them of being one or at least having connections they will deny these to the bone and accuse them of McCarthyism, witch-hunting, and being US agents. Please enlighten me as I have said you are one of them.

Please also explain it to me, how come Akbayan is being accused always of being US imperialist lackey, conniving with the AFP and being pro-GMA by organizations identified with the RAs and yet most, if not all, of Akbayan statements and mass actions are critical and are opposed to such forces (US, AFP & GMA). Can you not be anti-reactionary while at the same time be critical of militarist tendencies of the RA forces? Maybe this question is too profound to your dogmatic mindset. I am now tempted to call you “Saksi ni Joma.”

Crisandino

oi, crisandino tayo na dyan sa upuan. puro internet ka na lang. magorganize ka naman malapit na kau malusaw. well, its just a matter of time bago kayo mabura sa kasaysayan. what can u do is to make your dissolution slower para mas marami pa kayo mahuthut na pera sa mga amo nyo sa mga rehimen at mas marami pa makurakot mga rep nyo na akbayan sa congress.

abi, kunwari pa kayo galit sa WSF pero sa WSF 2004 sa india nandun naman ang mga lider ng natdem. in fact dalawa sinasawan nilang event yung WSF na binabanatan kunwari pero sumawsaw at lumaro rin at ang marginalized na mumbai resistance. confusing huh?

kay datu, galingan mo naman post mo at para may sumeryoso sa mga uhugin mong debate.

crisandino,
you asked-
Can you not be anti-reactionary while at the same time be critical of militarist tendencies of the RA forces?

while the question is not for me i am taking the liberty of answering it just the same as i find it interesting.

hope it's ok with you.

one can always be a queso de bola, right? serves the purpose well.

focus on the issue, dude, not on the personality and you may get a clue. an nd persoanlity taking the side of cpp on a certain issue (or even all of the issues at hand) does not necessarily make him a cpp member. come on, don't think like a dimas-alang. you can do better. =)

as to akbayan being an instrument of afp against cpp, i think its for them (you?) to disprove. arent they singing the same song like that of norberto gonzales and tha afp regarding the nd party list being front of the cpp npa? and, oh, the hitlist that walden bello is making a big fuss? look at the timing and the approach - typical of a military propaganda in time for cpp anniversary.

So one can agree with the CPP on all the issues at hand and be not a CPP member. It is possible but highly improbable given the extremist views of the CPP especially regarding other independent left forces.

While Akbayan which most of the time oppose the AFP, US imperialism and GMA regime is an instrument of the later forces just because it is critical of the militarist tendencies of the CPP-led RA forces? That is highly improbable if not impossible.

As far as I know, Akbayan unlike CPP conducts its operations in the open. It is a mass-based, democratic, multi-tendency party that conduct general membership congresses regularly. Any connivance with the AFP and other reactionary forces will be exposed and opposed during those congresses and other democratic meetings and conferences. Since the CPP and other kindred organizations run in an underground conspiratorial manner it is not unlikely that they will imagine other forces run the same. All these accusations about Akbayan are just figment of imagination stemming from such organizations.

As for comparing me to dimas-alang, I think it’s an insult to dimas.

: ) its nice to know the ND-RA people who refuses to be acknowledged as communists (there's nothing wrong actually) still remember me.

why? miss my arguments? or are you still up with your squid debates?

crisandino - please stop trying to make this an issue of personalities! walden bello, etta rosales and their fellows in akbayan are the ones who have made this an issue of jose maria sison with their 'open letter' on the anniversary of the cpp.

look, i don't see akbayan opposing imperialism, the afp and gma "most of the time," i see them objectively serving their intersts and providing a pseudo-left cover for their actions. they have promoted the line of norberto gonzales, brought the afp into people's areas, stolen votes, tried to crimianlize the legal national democratic partylists and mass organizations - this is the program of imperialism! i see walden bello going around the world to whip up sentiment - against the cpp-npa!

so whoever signs this statement, they are not gods. you try to declare that it is those who oppose these intrigues who view our politics in a "religious" light - please, do not make gods and icons of those who sign this statement. all i can say is that for some it is unsurprising and for others it is unfortunate that they have signed it, and i hope that they will in the future do some investigation and recognize the reality of what they ahve signed onto here.

if you are so concerned with "militarism" then why go to the world social forum and target the armed struggle of the people when "militarism" is introduced into the situation by imperialism and the ruling class? the attempt to create a supraclass category of "militarism" and thereby criminalize people's armed struggle is disgusting as is bello's likening of the revolutionary movement to al-qaeda (and thus his support of the line of denouncing the revolutionary movement as "terrorists"), so frankly as far as i can see it *is* a reactionary agenda to denounce popular armed struggle.

and please, you do not have to be a member of the cpp to support the national democratic movement or the national democratic program! the legal mass national democratic organizations are legal, overt organizations..and the attempts to tie them to the cpp are done for one reason only - to criminalize them, frighten communities and wage war upon the popular organizations - assassinate leaders and organizers, massacre workers, repress organizing, all under the guise of combatting "communist front" "terrorist" organizations. so that is the program with which walden bello aligns himself as he calls out mass organizations to the world echoing the charges of gonzales, et al. having points of agreement with the cpp is not a crime but gonzales, the afp and with bello backing them up, would make it so.

nevertheless their desperation will not succeed, it is only a shame that people are willing to sign such a thing. and if i have any respect for the signers i can only imagine that they did not understand the consequences of such allegations to people and mass orgs on the ground.

what is with the whole "ra" thing? you all are opposed to the national democratic program, apparently...yet you are dedicated to carrying on decade-old battles! do people wish they were still destroying the movement from inside and carrying on factional battles? it says a lot that some continue to identify as "rejectionist". and that what they are rejecting is an affirmation of the basic principles of the national democratic movement. i suppose it says a lot about the bankruptcy of some trends...

Abi,

First, I did not mention any person in my last argument with Angelo. Contrary to what you have said I do not box the whole issue into issue of personalities. What I pointed out is that Akbayan is a transparent democratic organization unlike the CPP and all its kindred organizations.

Actually there is no point in continuing this argument with you. You do not level with me and the readers. You continue with your lies about the independence of the so-called legal Nat-Dem organizations while at the same time continue to defend the ultra-vanguardist, sectarian and dogmatic attitude of the CPP. Come on, tayo-tayo ba naman ay magbobolahan pa? When you say "people’s area" do you mean areas held and influenced by the CPP-NPA? Enough of these double-talk and use of euphemisms!

How can you lead our people to freedom when you yourselves are habitual liars? The truth shall set as free.

Follow the link for one response to Bello's hysteria:

The fact of the world social forum doing pacifism and proclaiming itself as the leadership of the worlds democracy, while the neo-fascists are all around the world actively organizing before the eyes of all democratic people, puts them back at the situation that the second international was at the time of the first and second world war. Lenin describes these as betrayers that do the imperialist bosses work for them in that they pacify the workers and opressed people so the fascist side wins. Or as others have said, they are the stab in the back of the revolution, they talk progress and democracy but in reality refuse to see the concrete counter-revolution and to sum up the two sides , workers and oppressed against monopoly-capitalism armed to the teeth and fully concious and decided on an endless war programme against the masses. In this situation, very dangerous to the worlds livability there is still time to recognize that full democracy (elect woman equally) cannot ever be fully practised and that to refuse the oppessed the path of armed struggle is to admit U.S. Imperialism and the Bush administrations plan of world hegemony and their war on terror ( in reality state terror against any and all who oppose the agenda of the U.S. Empire) has won full and complete obeidience and is free to do whatever they wish to do. Armed struggle as a way to end occupation of fascist systems is still a valid response from the oppessed. It will remain so until the world , not just in theory but in practice has disarmed the fascist side, and then all sides can disarm. Social democracy must have a fighting side at the present time and collaboration with fasxcism is not justified.

The fact of the world social forum is doing pacifism and proclaiming itself as the leadership of the worlds democracy, while the neo-fascists are all around the world actively organizing before the eyes of all democratic people, puts them back at the situation that the second international was at the time of the first and second world war. Lenin describes these as betrayers that do the imperialist bosses work for them in that they pacify the workers and opressed people so the fascist side wins. Or as others have said, they are the stab in the back of the revolution, they talk progress and democracy but in reality refuse to see the concrete counter-revolution and to sum up the two sides , workers and oppressed against monopoly-capitalism armed to the teeth and fully concious and decided on an endless war programme against the masses. In this situation, very dangerous to the worlds livability there is still time to recognize that full democracy (elect woman equally) cannot ever be fully practised and that to refuse the oppessed the path of armed struggle is to admit U.S. Imperialism and the Bush administrations plan of world hegemony and their war on terror ( in reality state terror against any and all who oppose the agenda of the U.S. Empire) has won full and complete obeidience and is free to do whatever they wish to do. Armed struggle as a way to end occupation of fascist systems is still a valid response from the oppessed. It will remain so until the world , not just in theory, but in practice has disarmed the fascist side, and then all sides can disarm. Social democracy must have a fighting side at the present time and collaboration with fascism is not justified.

All sections of the independent, progressive and revolutionary left are today under military threat from the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its armed wing, the NPA.

- International Committee of the Fourth International

True or not?

not true.

the "fourth international," a group of trotskyists, wants to attack the cpp. what a surprise.

at muling umatake ang nagmamahal sa demokrasya, kalayaan at mga maka-dios. 4 na myembro ng mga TUNAY NA PROGRESIBONG GRUPO mula ANAKPAWIS, GABRIELA, BAYAN MUNA, BAYAN at mga grupong sumusuporta sa kanila kagaya ng mga pastor ng IFI. sila ay walang awang pinagpapatay ng AFP.

Maraming salamat kay WALDEN BELLO. its a Job well done again. With his campaign to link the legal mass movt to CPP-NPA-NDF, the AFP, pumped up and encouraged (by his campaign) once again launch its brutal campaign to destroy the legal mass movt.

Kung inaakala ng mga opisyales ng AKBAYAN na lalawak ang "kasapian" ng grouplet nila nagkakamali sila. The spate of killings of progressives will only advance the struggle for national liberation, be it legal, semi legal or illegal.

It is now crystal clear who is walden bello and his grouplet akbayan and who are they working for.

left fascism begets right fascism. it deserves each other.

Objectively, by vulgarizing Marxism and giving socialism and the whole left movement a bad name, it is the likes of Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, the perpetrators of Cadena de Amor, OPML and Olympia are the real allies of US imperialism.

It is these saboteurs of the people's movement who copy the reactionaries' fascist methods and unjust violence in capturing and maintaining state power. History has shown that even if they succeed in taking state power the people will rebel against them.

You can fool all people sometimes, you can fool some people all the time but you cannot fool all the people all the time. The truth shall set us free!