Who are the real terrorists?

Interview with Jose Maria Sison (Communist Party of the Philippines) on 
the inclusion of the CPP/New People's Army (NPA) in the US list of "foreign 
terrorist organisations"

The Netherlands is now threatening to apply so-called anti-terrorist 
measures, such as the freezing of bank accounts on Filipino revolutionaries 
residing there. Among them is Jose Maria Sison, representative of the 
National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

Jose Maria Sison: Nowadays the word terrorism is much abused, as was 
the case before with the term "subversion". The US uses this as an excuse 
to go after political movements fighting for national freedom and 
democracy.

It seems as if we're back to the times of Hitler, when you could so easily 
be accused of being a "dirty terrorist" or "communist", with a sense of 
hatred.

But it is common knowledge that many real terrorist organisations are 
created by the US itself. The al Qaida is a creation of the CIA. The same 
is true for the Abu Sayyaf in the south of the Philippines.

Terrorism is usually associated with the assassination of innocent 
civilians, the wanton destruction of property, the maltreatment of 
captives, and the like. These are precisely the kind of things that the New 
People's Army never does.

While accusing others of committing terrorism, it is the US and the Manila 
puppet government who are actually violating human rights and committing 
terrorism. Over the past year, 23 leaders of the legal progressive party 
Bayan Muna have been killed, to cite just one example.

What are the real objectives of the US?

Jose Maria Sison: If we make a strategical analysis of Philippine 
President Macapagal's recent declaration of all-out war against the 
communist insurgency, and of the designation of the CPP and the NPA as 
"foreign terrorist organisations" by the US State Department, we can 
discover the real purpose of the US.

It wants to introduce more US troops in the Philippines under the pretext 
of going after the NPA. It wants to set up new military bases in the 
country, ten years after the existing US military bases in the country were 
closed.

It wants to grab the oil resources of Mindanao and of the waters 
surrounding Palawan. And it wants to strengthen itself in the Asian region, 
against China, Korea and even against its own ally, Japan.

Bush is crazy. He is hitting in many directions at the same time: the al 
Qaida, Iraq, Colombia, the Philippines. But behind these different nasty 
operations is a single unifying purpose.

The problem with monopoly capitalism is that it is now in a very deep 
crisis, comparable to the Great Depression of the 1930s. The US wants to 
revive its economy by increasing military production. So whoever wants to 
be assured of profit, should put his money in the defence industry.

What if the Dutch government freezes your bank accounts?

Jose Maria Sison: The Dutch Government would be stupid if it would 
simply do the bidding of the US and Manila Governments. There is this fairy 
tale that the CPP/NPA would have US$24 million stacked away in foreign bank 
accounts.

This is a big lie, coming from the military. The CPP is a very intelligent 
organisation and it has no money stacked abroad. For its operations, it 
relies on the support of the Filipino people.

The truth is that we have only some small bank accounts here, belonging to 
individuals or foundations with legal personalities. This morning, my 
personal bank account stood at 1245.46 euro

If the Dutch Government would want to freeze this account, they should know 
that they would be blocking their own money: it comes from the Dutch agency 
under the Social Affairs Department which pays me the measly amount of some 
200 euro a month as a non-recognised asylum seeker.

I would have more if I would be allowed to work here. In fact, I am but a 
poor unemployed teacher not allowed to work in the Netherlands.

What do you expect to happen, and what do you plan to do?

Jose Maria Sison: With the Patriot Act, in the US today anything 
fascist can be done. If you are Arab looking or you are a Muslim, they can 
arrest you without any reason and hold you incommunicado.

In the Netherlands, this is not yet the case. I will stand by my rights. I 
will continue to use the freedom of expression for national liberation and 
democracy. And it is the word liberation that the US hate most, because it 
means freedom from its imperialist exploitation.

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Workers' Party of Belgium