Sison and New Peoples Army

[Kamil]

What are your opinions and criticism of Sison and the New Peoples Army? Who here supports them, why or why not? I'd like to hear views from people of different tendencies on their actions and ideas.

[JoeySteel]

My opinion is very positive and partly informed by people who have traveled to the Philippine, especially doing labour solidarity. Significantly Anarchists I have known have casually bashed Maosim in the Philippines (because it's "oppressive" or whatever) but when questioned on Sison and the NPA will praise them and note how strong their support is and what great work they do. Show a group of Philippino women workers at a rally a sign with Sison's face and there's a good chance they will fully approve. Read Philippine Society and Revolution by Amado Guerrero (Sison's cool "Warior's Heart" nom de guerre) and his later selected works which are published.

Edit: wow you post a lot of these threads eh?

[PhoenixAsh]

Sison is, or seemd at the time during a very brief exchange, a nice and very wise guy...

Lives in the Netherlands. During 2002 to 2007 there were several court cases and legal battles because his accounts were frozen thanks to the US because they, on the request of the Phillipines put him on the terrorist watchlist which is also recognized by the EU in contradiction to the HR-court rulings. In 2004 a brief court battle was fought to prevent his expulsion from The Netherlands and won. In 2007 he was also indicted for direct involvement in several murders (which he denies obviously). I remember that we were going to a protest rally near the embassy in The Hague but it was swarming with cops and secret service and we were send packing. In Manilla there was a protest rally which ended in violence.

Several people in Holland supported him financially and otherwise materially through various channels or directly so he could live and pay some legal fees. So yes...

The NPA....thats a bit of a different matter. The fact is that the communists in the Phillipines were heavilly persecuted and often executed without trial the NPA is not only part of the Maoist revolutionary ideology but also a necessary tool of self defence. Though I do not subscribe to the notion of a vanguard...such groups in such countries are often necessary. Though I dislike some of their methods and I most definately am not a Maoist.

[scarletghoul]

Joma Sison is a hero, and I don't see why any socialist wouldn't support the CPP/NPA

[internasyonalista]

What are your opinions and criticism of Sison and the New Peoples Army? Who here supports them, why or why not? I'd like to hear views from people of different tendencies on their actions and ideas.

I'm a left-communist living in the Philippines and we don't see Jose Maria Sison and the New People's Army as part of the working class and communist movement trying to overthrow capitalism.

The links below do not come from us but to some Filipino maoist cadres who raised some criticisms of Jose Maria Sison and also from a maoist-thirdworldist group LLCO.

The former were a group of Filipino maoist cadres criticizing the "right opportunism" of the Communist Party of the Philippines leadership under the chairmanship of Sison particularly his alliance with the Filipino billionaire and corrupt politician and also the lifestyle of Sison in The Netherlands.

http://bulatlatan.multiply.com/

http://llco.org/jose-maria-sison-loves-america

[thälmann]

i think the cpp is sometimes a little bit soft, in relatio to elections, peace processe etc. but i think they are revolutionaries somebody should support.

the arguments of LLCO are just another " american working class is soo rich" bla bla

[A Revolutionary Tool]

I think it's problem is the same problem that other Maoist parties have, that being they want an alliance with the bourgeoisie.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Haven't looked into the ideology of the NPA that much, but if it buys into the same Maoist mythology of previous groups (i.e. surrounding the cities from the countryside, alliances w/ the bourgeoisie, "combating feudalism", etc.) then I don't see it as very productive.

[North Star]

Haven't looked into the ideology of the NPA that much, but if it buys into the same Maoist mythology of previous groups (i.e. surrounding the cities from the countryside, alliances w/ the bourgeoisie, "combating feudalism", etc.) then I don't see it as very productive.

I don't think that the NPA can finish a revolution, but they must be supported nonetheless. For better or worse even if you don't consider yourself Maoist they are the only serious threat to capitalism in the Philippines. Hopefully at some point they can link up with a larger revolutionary workers movement in the Philippines.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I think that they're probably looked at as about the same level of threat as the ongoing Islamic insurgency in the Phillipines.

[Os Cangaceiros]

That being said, if they want to go out and massacre some cops or blow up some government officials etc. then that's cool and the gang.

I just don't see any way for them to complete the revolution. Same goes for all Maoist groups and "insurrectionaries".

[28350]

and also from a maoist-thirdworldist group LLCO.

http://llco.org/jose-maria-sison-loves-america

did you read this article? because it seems to be pretty far from what I understand to be the ICC's view to be. It claims Sison is not a proletarian internationalist because he published a statement saying "Support coordinated actions to demand the bail out of the American People, not the bankers."

[North Star]

That being said, if they want to go out and massacre some cops or blow up some government officials etc. then that's cool and the gang.

I just don't see any way for them to complete the revolution. Same goes for all Maoist groups and "insurrectionaries".

I don't believe that they can finish the revolution either. Nor am I a Maoist but at this point I support them for lack of alternatives and I oppose any moves by the the Filipino army to wipe them out.

[JoeySteel]

Haven't looked into the ideology of the NPA that much, but if it buys into the same Maoist mythology of previous groups (i.e. surrounding the cities from the countryside, alliances w/ the bourgeoisie, "combating feudalism", etc.) then I don't see it as very productive.

LOL you don't think they would be very "productive" upon victory? Do you know what the unemployment is like in the Philippines.?Sounds like you mean "they wouldnt produce my dream fantasy world" because a dictatorship of workers and the people against landlords and the ruling class to serve the people via state power would be pretty damn productive..



http://llco.org/jose-maria-sison-loves-america

Honestly this is the stupidest and most downright reactionary thing I have seen MTWs write. Villify and and slander one of our great political leaders in such a grotesque way because he made a statement in solidarity with Yankee workers? What they are effectively saying is that if the Philippines struggle doesn't buy into their hopeless political tendency they are pro-imperialist which is rotten and not based in facts.

[Os Cangaceiros]

LOL you don't think they would be very "productive" upon victory?

They're not in power. In order for them to be "productive" they'd first have to gain power. I don't think that they ever will.

Hence no productivity is to be expected.

[JoeySteel]

Fair enough that was not clear from the sentence.

[internasyonalista]

did you read this article? because it seems to be pretty far from what I understand to be the ICC's view to be. It claims Sison is not a proletarian internationalist because he published a statement saying "Support coordinated actions to demand the bail out of the American People, not the bankers."

Yeah I read the LLCO article "against" Sison. Their "internationalism" means thirdworldism. LLCO is a bunch of ultra-maoist fanatics to the highest degree.

I'm just replying to the thread's question about Joma Sison.

I'm wondering how posters here react on the other link I posted which came from some maoist cadres themselves. But nobody reacted yet. :(

[internasyonalista]

For better or worse even if you don't consider yourself Maoist they are the only serious threat to capitalism in the Philippines. Hopefully at some point they can link up with a larger revolutionary workers movement in the Philippines.

First, maoists are not anti-capitalism. They are "anti-foreign capitalism" (according to their program). It is clear that they want a state capitalism ruled by a monolithic "communist party". So they are not a threat to national capitalism.

Philippine maoists have their own legal front labor center and many unions. But they cannot even launch a general strike because first, their unions like the other unions are tied with legalities. Second, because their orientation is that "urban centers only support the armed struggle in the countryside", unions under their control just give financial and cadre support to the New People's Army.

Maoists have difficulties in "uniting" with other factions of the left because they are the worst sectarian organization. All factions of the left that criticize maoism they accuse as "agenst of the state" and "counter-revolutionary" while they recognize a billionaire politician as "the most progressive among the politicians" and aligned in his big bourgeois party last 2010 national elections.

[SensibleLuxemburgist]

I would support the New People's Army because they are fighting a just struggle.

[synthesis]

Not a bad resurrect, actually, given some of the recent discussions about anti-imperialism.

[Os Cangaceiros]

I've learned more about this group since I last posted and they're not worth much, honestly. The NPA is a relic from the mid-60's, born out of a marriage between Sison's Kabataang Makabayan (KM) and Bernabe Buscayno's HMB. Buscayno was the kind of guy that Maoists like to romanticize as being the core element of their political formations (ie he was born into an impoverished family in the countryside), but really the core element of the NPA came from the University of the Phillipines (just as the core leadership of Sendero Luminoso and the Naxals came from universities in Lima and Calcutta). The CPP/NPA liked to think that they could count on China's help in order to further prosecute their "protracted people's war", and in fact the PRC did help during the 60's, but the "ppw" model makes less sense now more than ever since there is no "benefactor" of such tactics...you look at other vibrant or once-vibrant insurgency movements (like the Afghan Taliban, the IRA, the Moros in the Phillipines, etc) and they all feature some sort of strong outside support, whether through gaining the support of some sort of state element (like the Pakistani ISI, for example), or through a very strong "grassroots" international support operations. The NPA doesn't really have that anymore, and it was even apparent in the mid-70's, when the NPA kept mum on the issue of Beijing and the Marcos government getting progressively more friendly.

I'd say that warrants a lot of "self-criticism", a nyuck nyuck nyuck

The NPA supposedly got really fragmented after their boycotts of the Aquino election, too. I'm not sure if they ever fully recovered from their "purges", honestly. The most amusing instance was a 500 strong urban guerrilla faction of the NPA threatening to have Sison assassinated in continental Europe through the contacts with militant communist organizations there. It was a subset of a 5,000 strong breakaway faction which had supposedly brought down Sison's ire for advocating an "insurrectionary" strategy in contrast to the "protracted people's war" strategy advocated by Maoist orthodoxy.

[Lensky]

First, maoists are not anti-capitalism. They are "anti-foreign capitalism" (according to their program). It is clear that they want a state capitalism ruled by a monolithic "communist party". So they are not a threat to national capitalism.

Philippine maoists have their own legal front labor center and many unions. But they cannot even launch a general strike because first, their unions like the other unions are tied with legalities. Second, because their orientation is that "urban centers only support the armed struggle in the countryside", unions under their control just give financial and cadre support to the New People's Army.

Maoists have difficulties in "uniting" with other factions of the left because they are the worst sectarian organization. All factions of the left that criticize maoism they accuse as "agenst of the state" and "counter-revolutionary" while they recognize a billionaire politician as "the most progressive among the politicians" and aligned in his big bourgeois party last 2010 national elections.

Some pretty wild accusations, can we get sources? The only information coming out of the Philippines about the NPA is when they ambush and kill soldiers of the Pilipino government. Anything else is just guessing about the situation at hand based on inadequate readings of maoist theory.

[Per Levy]

Some pretty wild accusations, can we get sources? The only information coming out of the Philippines about the NPA is when they ambush and kill soldiers of the Pilipino government. Anything else is just guessing about the situation at hand based on inadequate readings of maoist theory.

i doubt you'll get an answer from that user, since the last time that user posted was 2 1/2 years ago. that is the problem with necroing threads.

[synthesis]

Some pretty wild accusations, can we get sources? The only information coming out of the Philippines about the NPA is when they ambush and kill soldiers of the Pilipino government. Anything else is just guessing about the situation at hand based on inadequate readings of maoist theory.

What exactly are the "wild accusations" in that post? I mean, it would've helped if s/he named the "billionaire politician" to which s/he was referring, but I don't see anything that's really that outrageous, particularly if the poster is in fact from the Philippines, which I see no reason to doubt.