March 1, 2006: Solidarity with the Liberation Struggle Of the Philippine People!

On February 24, 2006, the Philippine president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, imposed martial law. Supported by military and police, the US-dependent Arroyo regime established an open dictatorship against the working class and the Philippine people. Demonstrations are prohibited, military and police are employed against protests. More than 100 congress members, trade unionists, democrats, anti-imperialists and Marxist-Leninists were arrested. Death squadrons kill opponents of the regime. Newspapers and broadcasting corporations are put under military surveillance, democratic rights and liberties are abolished.

The pretext for this state terror was an allegedly planned military coup against the Arroyo regime, which, however, never took place. The real reason were mass protests scheduled for February 25 on the occasion of the 20^th anniversary of the overthrow of the Marcos regime in 1986. The Arroyo regime panics for fear the protests could develop into mass struggles for the overthrow of the government. The neocolonially dependent Philippines are in a deep economic and political crisis. The reputation of the Arroyo government has reached a historic all-time low among the masses. In the last months, workers' strikes and people's struggles took an upswing. The Marxist-Leninist CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) gains increasing influence so that the Philippine general staff classifies it as "number one threat to security." The NPA-led (New People's Army) guerilla zones are to be extended from 130 to 140. Sectors of the bourgeoisie and the military also oppose Arroyo.

The state terror aims directly at the strengthening revolutionary workers' and people's movement in the Philippines. The proclamation of martial law calls the CPP and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) "historic enemies" of the Philippine state. José Maria Sison (founding chairman of the CPP and chief political consultant of the NDFP) and C. Beltran, congress member of Anakpawis (Party of the Toiling Masses) and long-time chairman of the biggest trade union association, KMU, have been placed at the top of a published list of the security forces for arrest and liquidation. Directly after the proclamation of martial law, C. Beltran was imprisoned.

The oppression of the revolutionary Left is justified with the so-called struggle against terror. As early as in August 2002, the USA classified the CPP as a "foreign terrorist organization." On October 28, 2002, José Maria Sison and the NPA were put on the so-called anti-terror list of the European Union. In Germany, José Luneta, founding member of the CPP, is denied the right of asylum, and direct support for the CPP and the NPA is liable to punishment as "support for a foreign terrorist organization." The MLPD protests against equating the revolutionary struggle for liberation with the fascist terror of Islamic fundamentalist forces and against making international solidarity a crime. While usually the federal government likes to act the guardian of "human rights," it completely fails to criticise Arroyo's dictatorial measures.

In spite of the proclamation of martial law, protests in the Philippines don't stop. There are efforts to build a broad united front for the overthrow of the open dictatorship of the US-dependent Arroyo regime. The Philippine people proved repeatedly that they are capable of ousting an openly dictatorial regime. This happened to president Marcos twenty years ago and to one of his successors, president Estrada, in 2001. In the end, however, under the influence of the bourgeois opposition only one US-dependent regime was replaced by another bourgeois puppet. Only if the working class exercises leadership in the struggle against the Arroyo regime can there be a guarantee that this struggle is conducted as a school for the revolutionary class struggle. The time to usher in a strategic counteroffensive of the working class against the oppressors' regime has matured! The counteroffensive must lead the united front of the people's masses against the Arroyo regime. In this situation, the Marxist-Leninists carry high responsibility to make an important step forward in the struggle for a new democratic revolution with a socialist perspective.

In Latin America, the process of revolutionary cross-border ferment is maturing; in Europe, the transition to the working-class offensive on a broad front is developing. If the revolutionary fire flares up in the Philippines, it will radiate on an international scale. The struggle of the Philippine people needs international solidarity!

The MLPD calls up:

Break the censorship of the media about the reactionary terror in the Philippines!

Organize international solidarity in the factories and neighbourhoods, among the striking blue- and white-collar workers, in the trade unions and the Monday demonstration movement!

Immediate revocation of the state of emergency and martial law in the Philippines! Freedom for all political prisoners!

Withdrawal of the US troops from the Philippines!

Down with the so-called laws against terror and lists against terror!

Solidarity with the struggle of the Philippine people for national and social liberation!

Workers of all countries, unite!