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Ipagtanggol ang Pilipinas laban sa paghihimasok ng US

in Editorial

Pahayag ng mga kasaping organisasyon ng National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) sa okasyon ng ika-51 Anibersaryo ng pagkakatatag ng NDFP

Ipagtanggol ang kaligtasan ng Pilipinas laban sa tumitinding paghihimasok ng US at pang-uupat ng gera!

Isulong ang digmang bayan para sa ganap na kalayaan mula sa imperyalismo!

Nalalagay sa matinding panganib ngayon ang Pilipinas. Kakaladkarin ng US ang Pilipinas sa inter-impeyalistang gera nito laban sa China sa layong panatiliin ang paghahari ng US sa rehiyon ng Asya.

Ang rehimeng US-Marcos ay walang kahihiyang nagpapakatuta at nagiging sunud-sunuran sa US kahit pa ipapahamak nito ang kaligtasan ng Pilipinas.

Ipinagkakait ng imperyalismong US at tutang si Marcos Jr. ang dignidad, karapatan, at kalayaan ng mga Pilipino. Kaya tayo mismo, tayong mga mamamayan, ang dapat lumaban para kamtin ito! Wala nang iba pang maaaring asahan.

Habang suportado ng US ang gera ng Israel laban sa mga Palestino, at gera sa Ukraine laban sa Russia, nagbabalak itong magbukas ng panibagong larangan ng digmaan sa Asya. Ginagamit ng US ang usapin ng pang-aagaw ng imperyalistang China sa West Philippine Sea para sa paglalagay ng tropa at base militar ng US sa Pilipinas.

Naghihintay lang ang US ng pagkakataon na makipagsalpukan sa China, hindi para ipagtanggol ang Pilipinas, pero para sa sariling interes na mamayaning nag-iisang superpower sa Asya-Pasipiko at sa buong mundo.

Sa tindi ng pang-uupat ng US maaring sumiklab ang inter-imperyalistang gera sa pagitan ng US at China. Kapag nangyari ito ay gagawing teatro ng gera ang Pilipinas.

Nasa interes ng imperyalismong US na wasakin ang mga rebolusyonaryo at anti-imperyalistang pwersa sa Pilipinas sa pangunguna ng Communist Party of the Philippines, New People’s Army at ng National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

Ang mga rebolusyonaryong pwersa sa Pilipinas ay nagsusulong ng matagalang digmang bayan laban sa imperyalismo, pyudalismo, at burukrata kapitalismo. Naninindigan ito na magiging ganap na malaya lamang ang Pilipinas kapag naibagsak ang imperyalismo at papet na estado at mabigyang kapangyarihan ang mamamayan.

Mula sa panahon ng Katipunan hanggang sa isilang ang NPA, nagpakita ang mga Pilipino ng kagitingan sa harap ng dayuhang agresyon. Kung walang sariling hukbo ang mamamayan, wala silang anupaman. Nakaamba ang panganib ng inter-impyeralistang gera at dapat na itong paghandaan.

Isulong ang pambansa-demokratikong rebolusyon!

Palawakin at palaparin at palalimin ang kilusang lihim!

Sumapi at palakasin ang NPA sa buong kapuluan!

 

Pambansang Katipunan ng Magbubukid (PKM)*Artista at Manunulat para sa Sambayanan (ARMAS)* Christians for National Liberation (CNL)*Katipunan ng Gurong Makabayan (KAGUMA)*Liga ng Agham para sa Bayan (LAB)*Lupon ng Manananggol para sa Bayan (LUMABAN)* Makabayang Samahang Pangkalusugan (MASAPA)*

 

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Theoretical Conference on Imperialism and War highlights need for international revolutionary work

in Mainstream

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) has successfully led the first-ever Theoretical Conference on Imperialism and War amid the intensifying crisis of the monopoly capitalist system, fueled by conflicts and wars causing greater havoc on workers and other toiling peoples. Held in a European country in the last quarter of 2023, the conference aimed to further promote and enrich Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM) in the course of resisting imperialism and waging revolution for people’s democracy and socialism.

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India (Maoist) delivered the keynote addresses. These were followed by presentations from the following organizations:

The Communist Party of Turkey Marxist-Leninist (TKP-ML), the Party of the Committees to Support Resistance for Communism (CARC-Italy), the Freedom Road Socialist Organization-USA, the Korean Committee for Solidarity with the World People, the Russian Communist Workers Party, the (New) Communist Party of Canada, the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK), the Revolutionaire Eenheid (Netherlands), the Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist), the Communist Party of Belgium, the People’s Democratic Party (South Korea), and the Marxistisch-Leninistiche Partei Deutschlands (Germany).

Certain comrades and experts from China also participated.

Participants numbering 139 represented various proletarian-socialist, anti-imperialist, and democratic parties from Belgium, Canada, China, Germany, the United Kingdom, India, Italy, Turkey, Kurdistan, the Netherlands, North Korea, the Philippines, Russia, South Korea and the USA.

The Conference was also in line with the CPP Central Committee’s (CC) call, in its 55th anniversary statement, for rectification of subjectivism in the form of empiricism attributed to bourgeois and petty-bourgeois mindset. It was mainly manifested in politics as right tendencies and bureaucratism; and liberalism and ultrademocracy in the organization.

The rectification movement, described as an ideological and study movement within the Party and among its allied organizations, called for study campaigns and strengthening of international revolutionary work, among others. The latter in particular included strengthening fraternal communist relations with MLM parties and organizations, and strengthening international communist dialogue and cooperation. The CC also called on the revolutionary forces to wage active ideological struggle to expose modern revisionism, and repudiate Trotskyism, Gonzaloism, and other revisionist currents that misrepresent Marxism, Leninism and Maoism.

Keynote Address

The CPP keynote address laid out the key questions of the Conference: 1) the theoretical framework governing the question of the inevitability of wars—specifically imperialist wars of annexation and intervention; 2) the current balance of power among the imperialists and key flashpoints in the violent and non-violent conflicts between them; and 3) the working class attitude and policy of opposing and preventing inter-imperialist wars.

We remain in the era of monopoly capitalism and proletarian revolution as characterized by Vladimir Lenin. According to the CPP, “Lenin’s ‘Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism’ is still the most scientific and thoroughgoing analysis of the end-stage of the capitalist system. It is a theoretical progression of Marx’s Das Kapital, in which Lenin incisively points out how capital and capitalist production have become so centralized that it has rendered free competition of the previous period no longer possible.”

Written in 1917, the year of the Bolshevik revolution’s victory, Lenin’s analysis describes the essential features of imperialism which—106 years later—remain true:

(1) production and capital has become greatly concentrated that it has formed all-powerful monopolies; (2) the formation and predominance of finance capital or the financial oligarchy based on the merging of bank and industrial capital; (3) the export of capital, as distinguished from the export of commodities, has gained exceptional importance; (4) formation of international monopoly associations which share the world among themselves; and, (5) territorial division of the entire world among the biggest imperialist powers is completed.

Discussing the current flashpoints of inter-imperialist conflicts, the CPP pointed to the following major contradictions following the revisionist betrayal of the socialist revolution in the Soviet Union and China: the contradiction between monopoly capital and the proletariat in capitalist countries; between rival imperialist powers; between the imperialist powers and oppressed peoples and nations; and between imperialist powers and countries assertive of national sovereignty and socialist programs.

US imperialism has been ceaselessly fomenting wars since the 1990s. It is “driven by US finance capital, including banks and venture capitalists, which are deeply intertwined with the US military-industrial complex including arms manufacturers, defense contractors and private mercenaries.” It has been directing its might at Russia and China in its effort to assert superiority in an already multipolar world.

The CPP discussed the US-NATO proxy war in Ukraine, which was among those tackled in the Conference reflecting divergences in analysis. According to Ang Bayan, the official publication of the CPP, the Conference also discussed the current occupation and bombardment of Palestine by Israel, fueled and supported by the US.

Secondary flashpoints, according to the CPP, are results of inter-imperialist rivalries in the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. At this writing, the US has expanded its imperialist war in the Middle East, bombing Houthi forces in North Yemen. The Houthis are in support of the Palestinian people’s struggle against US backed-Israel in Gaza.

Asia is also a flashpoint of inter-imperialist rivalries as the US has sought to contain China’s growth since 2011. These include increased military presence in Japan, South Korea and Singapore, and strengthened military foothold through bases, training exercises, and aid to the Philippines. The latter has largely been directed at “counterinsurgency” operations.

The CPP called on the international proletariat to “unite and condemn the war preparations and do everything to mobilize the masses to prevent the outbreak of an inter-imperialist war that can only succeed in bringing untold misery and disaster to the working class and people, especially in the smaller countries which are being dragged into the conflict between the imperialist ‘great’ powers.”

Some major points

Conference participants largely acknowledged Lenin’s identification of the essential features of imperialism as the foundation in understanding and analysis of key developments today. The Marxist-Leninist theoretical framework was affirmed as guide to building unities and identifying tasks for moving forward in revolutionary struggles.

Participants were united on the analysis of US imperialism as the world’s dominant imperialist power, even if the current period has seen the decline of its superpower hegemony especially in relation to the challenge posed by China’s rapid economic and military rise.

Acknowledging the need to constantly build and strengthen Marxist-Leninist parties in each of their countries and elsewhere, the participants stated that “Marxist-Leninist parties should support the people’s struggles for national liberation with a sense of urgency, including the Palestinian struggle against occupation and genocide.”

Some practical questions raised included the following: In our duty as proletarian internationalists, how can Marxist-Leninist parties and our movements and organization be in solidarity with each other? How do we determine alliances and relations between our parties, movements and formations? What is the role of Marxist-Leninist party in each of our countries and what should our objectives, strategies, and tactics be?

NDFP Theoretical Conferences

As reported in Ang Bayan, the participants forged a common understanding of the theoretical framework and analysis of the current state of the world.

Following the Imperialism and War Conference, the NDFP is slated to hold an International Theoretical Conference on Economic Crises of Imperialism in 2024.

These theoretical conferences aim to serve the broad united front against imperialist war within the proletarian-socialist and anti-imperialist movement. For NDFP allied member organizations, understanding the contradictions of the moribund world capitalist system is vital in resisting imperialism and all form of reaction, and advancing the national democratic revolution with a socialist perspective through people’s war. (Aya Servando, CNL) ###

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Revolutionary lawyers raise the bar

in Mainstream

All rise!

Everyone rose to the occasion. Although it was far from a courtroom scene, lawyers, law students, and paralegals, true to the nature of their profession, intently and intensely deliberated on the draft constitution of the underground revolutionary organization Lupon ng mga Manananggol ng Bayan or LUMABAN (literally, to fight or to struggle). They hammered out the plan of action to continuously strengthen the organization and to effectively arouse, organize, and mobilize the sector behind the national democratic revolution.

It was LUMABAN’s first congress, which Ka Joben, in his written welcome address, described as having been a long journey.

“We have come a long way, a lot of things have happened in the interim and a great many sacrifices have been waged. With inspiring tactical legal victories and cumulative strategic battles over time and hard and painful lessons as well, it is with heartfelt joy that we have finally gathered here as one united in profession, commitment and vision on a higher level,” Ka Joben said.

Acknowledging the contributions of those who had been directly involved in long process but could no longer be present at the first congress, he explained:

“The deaths from fascist hands of some, or from illness or old age of others, and the peculiar demands of our profession have impacted on the formalization of our anti-fascist and anti-imperialist organization. Many of those involved in the process are either still in the hands of the enemy or have taken on new tasks of equal importance.”

Composed of representatives from eight regions and two major sectors, the two-day founding congress was a mix of young and seasoned lawyers and paralegals. Notably, young lawyers and paralegals constituted almost half of the delegates.

Defending the people’s interests

“All of us in the National Democratic Front of the Philippines rejoice in this major act of consolidation of LUMABAN,” said Luis Jalandoni, leading member of the NDFP National Executive Council, in a video message. LUMABAN has been affiliated with the NDFP since its inception.

Jalandoni recognized LUMABAN’s support to the revolutionary armed struggle and its contributions to the NDFP’s endeavors to ensure the victory of the national democratic revolution. “It ensures that the revolution in the sector is part of the revolutionary movement and program for the establishment of the people’s democratic government,” he said.

His message corroborated Ka Joven’s point that members of the legal profession can use their skills and experience to provide a “counterview of the reactionary justice system to craft, develop, enrich, collate and further implement an alternative revolutionary legal and justice system.”

LUMABAN’s congress statement acknowledged the role of lawyers in the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal, and anti-fascist struggle dating back to the Spanish and American colonial regimes.

It cited lawyer and revolutionary leader Apolinario Mabini, known as the “Brain of the Revolution,” who fought against the Spanish and American colonial rules; Epifanio delos Santos, associate editor of La Independencia, a major newspaper during the Philippine Revolution; Natividad Almeda-Lopez, the first female lawyer in the country, who was also one of the first advocates for women’s rights in the country; and, Claro M. Recto, who espoused political and economic sovereignty and fought US neocolonialism. In recent history, lawyers such as Lorenzo “Ka Tanny” Tañada, Jose “Ka Pepe” Diokno, and Romeo T. Capulong were at the forefront of the people’s struggle against the US-Marcos dictatorship.

Indictment of the US-Marcos Jr regime

NDFP Negotiating Panel interim chairperson Julieta de Lima called on members of LUMABAN to “join the entire Filipino people in struggling against the US-Marcos II dictatorship”, which she described as the “partnership of the most corrupt and most brutal political dynasties for perpetuating the reign of greed and terror in our country.”

Concurrent with this, LUMABAN’s three-year program of action calls on the Filipino people to “expose, fight, isolate and overthrow the US-Marcos regime.” Furthermore, it cited the crisis of the semicolonial and semifeudal system as the root of the chronic socio-economic crisis in the country that, for decades, has victimized the Filipino people especially the poor.

Agreeing with that observation, De Lima affirmed the efforts of LUMABAN members to be an “effective force” in the masses’ fight against imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism, and in advancing the national democratic revolution by defending the Filipino people against the “state of the semicolonial and semifeudal system that we seek to replace with a just, patriotic, democratic and prosperous system.”

No objection

By unanimous vote, delegates to the founding congress elected the first officers of LUMABAN.

Elected chairperson was Rosa Kinabukasan. In an interview with Liberation, Kinabukasan acknowledged that establishing an underground organization of lawyers was not an easy task, citing the “inherent weakness of the legal profession—being magnet for all things bourgeois.” From law school, stated the congress statement, “We were introduced to laws of bourgeois origin, to the universal concept of rights and to the misguided idea and ideals of justice.”

Honoring their martyred comrades for defending the rights of the masses, and condemning how the State controls the legal system to serve the interests of the ruling classes, the revolutionary lawyers vowed to remold themselves by rejecting the bourgeois viewpoint and legal training. They pledged to be with the masses in the fight to end the systemic oppression and exploitation.

To paraphrase LUMABAN’s congress statement, the lawyers will not flinch, they will not falter. Whenever called, as revolutionary lawyers they will rise and fight because it is just and necessary. ### (Priscilla Guzman)

 

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11 Things You Might Like to Know About NDFP

in Mainstream
  1. The CPP-NPA-NDFP is not one and the same organization.

These are three distinct organizations, even as they have the same political objective of winning the people’s democratic revolution in order to overthrow the semifeudal and semicolonial system in the Philippines and set up a socialist system.

  1. The NDFP is the umbrella, the underground alliance, of all existing revolutionary organizations that are pursuing the national-democratic line with a socialist perspective.

Revolutionary organizations from various classes and sectors—such as the Revolutionary Council of Trade Unions for workers, Kabataang Makabayan for the youth, Makibaka for women, Christians for National Liberation for religious people, KAGUMA for teachers, MASAPA for health workers and professionals, and of course, the CPP and the NPA. These organizations unite to pursue the NDFP’s 12-point program that contains the legitimate aspirations of the Filipino people for peace, prosperity, and a just society.

3. The CPP is a member of the NDFP at the same time the leading organization in the alliance. 

The CPP is the most advanced revolutionary organization within the alliance in terms of carrying out the theory and practice of people’s war in the Philippines. Other member-organizations look up to the CPP for theoretical guidance, lessons and experiences, dedication, and perseverance in the struggle.  

4. The NPA, which is under the absolute leadership of the CPP, is the only armed revolutionary organization in the NDFP.

The NPA is the main revolutionary organization within the NDFP, composed largely of peasants who are most desirous of resolving the land problem which is at the root of the armed revolution. The NPA carries out armed struggle guided by the principle that at all times, politics must rule the gun.  

  1. The highest governing body of the NDFP is the General Assembly (GA) composed of the representatives from each member-organization. A National Council is elected from among the representatives in the Assembly, or in absentia, as the situation may require.

Security restrictions have limited the regular meetings of the General Assembly. The National Council and/or its Executive Committee may take over to issue calls and implement decisions upon consultation with member organizations. 

  1. Decisions in the NDFP are through consensus.

Each member-revolutionary organization is self-acting and autonomous. Thus, within the NDFP decisions are made through consensus and become binding to all member-organizations. Outside of the decisions of the NDFP the member-organizations continue to carry out their own programs for the masses they served.

  1. Contrary to lies peddled by the reactionary state, legal mass organizations are not members of the NDFP. 

Certain legal mass organizations may be progressive and may call themselves national-democratic, too. However, they operate under the State’s jurisdiction and bound by its rules, hence they carry out their objectives through popular protests or unarmed struggle. But the NDFP, being outside of the legal system, openly calls for armed revolution and sets up its own people’s democratic state. This is what differentiates the NDFP from legal mass organizations. In short, neither sympathy nor seeming likeness nor respect for the NDFP is synonymous to membership.

  1. Neither are legal mass organizations “fronts” of or “infiltrated” by the NDFP forces.

To “infiltrate” is to put malice on the word. Revolutionaries are practically everywhere as they are common people. They have as much right as anyone to become a legitimate part of any legal organization for as long as they believe in its constitution and program. The NDFP does not make “fronts” of legal organizations. Calling these organizations as “fronts” disrespects the right of the masses to organize and seek redress of grievances and could be made an excuse to set the stage for their repression by the state.

  1. Membership in NDFP organizations is individual, informed, and voluntary.

No one is ever forced to join an NDFP-allied organization. If so, that would have already been self-destructive and would not make the NDFP reach its 50th year. Individual recruits or invitees to any of the member-organizations are well-informed of principles and program before they even pledge membership to the organization of their choice. Leaving the organization is likewise voluntary. As NDFP member-organizations operate in secret especially in the cities, the true identities of individual members are hidden from the enemies. In the countryside where revolutionaries operate freely NDFP allied organizations and their members are usually known by the people.

  1. The NDFP serves as framework for establishing revolutionary organs of governance.

These organs of political power (OPP)—at the municipal, district, provincial levels—are the seeds of the people’s democratic government (PDG). Even at this stage, these organs of political power already administer justice and implement social services for the masses in guerrilla zones. The NDFP represents the organs of political power in establishing proto-diplomatic relations with states and other international agencies. It also represents the OPP in peace negotiations with the GRP since 1986. 

  1. The NDFP definitely wants peace.

The entire NDFP has been painted by state forces as “terrorist”. Despite the attacks and demonization, the NDFP has never turned its back on the peace talks that it has committed to pursue. Now on its 50th year, the NDFP continues to respond positively to the sustained calls—by various peace advocacy groups, institutions, organizations, and known personalities—for resuming and completing the GRP-NDFP peace talks towards attaining a just and lasting peace in the country. (Vida Gracias, Pat Gambao) ###

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