Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from BAYAN USA.

Filipinos overseas are heartbroken after witnessing the news of the 303rd Infantry Brigade led-attack on April 19 of 19 individuals and forcibly displaced more than 653 residents from 168 households in peasant communities in Toboso, Negros Occidental. Among the 19 killed, the families, friends and fellow organizers have confirmed Alyssa Alano and RJ Ledesma were amongst them.

Alyssa Alano League of Filipino Students Chairperson 2024-2025; University of the Philippines Diliman University Student Council 2025-2026

Alyssa's strong will and unwavering commitment to the oppressed is what many of her friends and fellow organizers have continued to share in their grieving. From the urban poor communities in the University of the Philippines to the peasant communities in Negros she was eager to serve our kababayan.

RJ Ledesma League of Filipino Students Bacolod Chairperson 2020; Kabataan Partylist’s 7th Nominee 2022; Altermidya Regional Coordinator, Negros Island

RJ's is a people's journalist. He exposed the realities of landlessness, and the effects of renewable energy projects – including solar farm expansion and windmill projects – on vulnerable farmer communities. He amplified the voices of marginalized communities through his writing to expose the green-washing projects that led to the genuine harm on the masses.

As BAYAN USA, we condemn Pres. Marcos’ NAP-UPD that led to this attack on Negros and the NTF-ELCAC for the narrative they are orchestrating through state-sponsored troll farms that seek to excuse their murder by posthumous terrorist tagging and vilification. These state-funded counterinsurgency programs that terrorize people who speak up and fight against state and corporate plunder are what led to their murder and why we – as overseas Filipinos – must continue to bring to light these fascist programs and demand an end to them.

On Earth Day, we recognize that the true defenders of people and planet are peoples journalists, land defenders, and human rights activists like Alyssa and RJ. We see through the lies and black propaganda of the bloodthirsty military and greedy bureaucrat capitalists who are the real terrorists. As overseas Filipinos, we must demand for justice and continue the fight that Alyssa and RJ dedicated their lives to.

DEFEND NEGROS!

UPHOLD INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW!

TUTULAN ANG MILITARISASYON SA KANAYUNAN!

#JusticeForAlyssaAlano#JusticeForRJLedesma

#International #Philippines #NDFP #Bayan

Compatriots-NDFP, the revolutionary organization of Filipinos overseas, condemns the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for spewing lies in an attempt to slander the revolutionary movement, cover-up the realities of Philippine society and deter overseas Filipinos from joining the people’s struggle.

A few days ago, social media accounts related to the AFP posted a “Wanted” poster with the name and picture of Cristina Pasion – a Filipino-American who grew up in the United States – making the baseless allegation that she is a recruiter of the New People’s Army. In a change of tact, the 2nd Infantry Division of the AFP released a statement on April 9 calling on the New People’s Army to “release” Cristina purportedly on “humanitarian” grounds. Their “concern” that she is “emotionally distressed” is a brazen lie. It is just the latest example of psychological warfare meant to deceive the people.

According to the NPA, it has no one to “release.”

Pasion decided to go back home to our motherland and integrate among the most exploited and oppressed masses in Mindoro. Her consciousness was awakened through her own experiences growing up separated from her own country, through integration with Filipino workers in the U.S. who were forced to leave their families just to be super-exploited overseas, and through taking up the issues and campaigns of the toiling masses being violently repressed under the tyrant Duterte and now Marcos regimes.

She, along with an ever growing number of Filipinos abroad, are choosing to witness the realities of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal Philippine society first hand in order to change it. They are in effect defying the government’s policy of forced migration that pushes people out of the country, telling us that the solution to our problems lies in toiling overseas rather than in struggling to address the roots of poverty back home.

The military has no right to call on Filipinos abroad to turn our backs on our fellow compatriot masses in the countryside. They have no right to speak about “upholding humanitarian principles” and “safeguarding the welfare of individuals” when it is state institutions like the AFP, the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), and others who are responsible for torture, starvation, mass displacement, illegal bombings, and mass murder. The AFP is nothing but a wolf in sheep’s clothing. In fact, it is the very violence perpetrated by the state that pushes more and more people to join the revolutionary mass movement.

#International #Philippines #NDFP

The following paper by Mick Kelly, the Political Secretary of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), was presented at the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) International Theoretical Conference on Fascism in the 21st Century in the Imperialist Heartlands. Sydney Loving of the Central Committee of FRSO also participated in the conference, which took place November 28-29, in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Comrades and friends,

Let me start by thanking the National Democratic Front of the Philippines for organizing this most important event. In providing a venue for revolutionaries to address the big theoretical issues facing our respective movements, the NDFP is making a real contribution to our collective efforts to shatter the chains of monopoly capitalism.

The question of fascism is an important one, and it can impact one’s strategy, tactics, and a host of organizational measures; in fact, the fascism question can be one of life and death. There is also a wealth of important texts that address the issue, and of special importance are those of works of R. Palme Dutt and Georgi Dimitrov – both of which received wide circulation by the Communist International.

Comrades might be interested to know that the issue of fascism is a mass question among large numbers of progressive people in the U.S., given the wave of attacks unleashed by the reactionary Trump administration, Over the past 9 months, millions of people, in big cities and small towns, have taken to the streets. The extremely sharp struggles against mass deportations – including the uprising in Los Angeles and high level of struggle in Chicago and Portland, Oregon – make up one of the main issues shaping domestic politics.

We see the overall conditions as extremely favorable for building communist organization. As FRSO has been able to play an important role in these fights, we continue to be in a period of extraordinary growth.

What fascism is

For some, “Fascism” as an invective – a sort of swear word, the worst thing that you can call someone or some action of government – as opposed to a political category with a scientific definition. This is a long-standing tendency on the part of the petty bourgeois left, and certainly there is no one here who does that. Others, like the Trotskyites [1], see fascism as the product of a mass movement of the petty bourgeoisie. That is not correct either.

We are in agreement with the definition adopted by 13th plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International which states fascism is, “the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialist elements of finance capital.”

At the 7th Congress of the Communist International, Dimitrov pointed out, “The accession to power of fascism is not a ordinary succession of one bourgeois government by another, but a substitution of one state form of class domination of the bourgeoisie – bourgeois democracy – for another form, open terrorist dictatorship.” [2]

This is an important point. While it is true there is not a qualitative difference between fascism and bourgeois democracy, in the sense that they are both ways that the monopoly capitalist wield state political power, there is a qualitative difference in so far as one is very different than the other when it comes to democratic rights of working and oppressed people.

Fascism and capitalist democracy are different forms of political rule. The fact that there is real difference between the two means that revolutionaries will employ different tasks, objectives, and organizational measures depending on the form of bourgeois rule. Communist organizing in a period of open terror is for all practical purposes illegal.

Fascist governments wage aggressive wars characterized by extremes of national chauvinism. In fact, bourgeois democratic governments have always done the same and often resort to the use of open terror to maintain control of their colonies or neo-colonies. In fact, the use of open terror in the neo-colonial or colonial settings is a feature that is common to fascist and bourgeois democratic governments.

In his important work The State and Revolution, Lenin points out, “A democratic republic is the best possible political shell for capitalism, and, therefore, once capital has gained possession of this very best shell (through the Palchinskys, Chernovs, Tseretelis and Co.), it establishes its power so securely, so firmly, that no change of persons, institutions or parties in the bourgeois-democratic republic can shake it.”

Why would the ruling class give up this “best possible political shell”? Stalin responds that it is because they have to:

In this connection the victory of fascism in Germany must be regarded not only as a symptom of the weakness of the working class and a result of the by the betrayals of the working class by Social-Democracy, which paved the way for fascism; it must also be regarded as a sign of weakness of the bourgeois, a sign that the bourgeois is no longer able to rule by the old methods of parliamentary and bourgeois democracy, and, as a consequence, is compelled in its home policy to resort to terrorist methods of rule — as a sign it is no longer to find a way out of the present situation on the basis of a peaceful foreign policy, and, as a consequence, is compelled to resort to a policy of war. [3]

Finally let me quote from R. Palme Dutt, “Fascism is not inevitable. Fascism is not a necessary stage of capitalist development through which all countries must pass. The social revolution can forestall Fascism, as it has done in Russia. But if the social revolution is delayed, then the menace of fascism becomes urgent.” [4]

So, there are several themes that should be circled back to. First, fascism employs open terrorism. Sure, there can be courts and parliaments, but open terrorism is what the fascist state is organized around and for. Secondly, fascism is a tool of the financial oligarchy – particularly its most reactionary and chauvinist sectors. And finally, there is the issue of extreme national chauvinism and fascism’s war-like nature.

To what degree is there a fascist danger in the U.S.?

In the entire epoch of monopoly capitalism, fascism is a latent tendency and therefore a possibility, given that the necessary conditions are present. In a context where the decline of U.S. imperialism is accelerating, where polarization is sharpening in the political superstructure, it is necessary to have a materialist evaluation of the objective conditions. That includes a realistic assessment of an immediate fascist danger.

When identifying what fascism is, in our view the most essential feature is the use of open terror by the ruling class, meaning the legal possibilities to organize for socialism are slim to nonexistent. That is not currently the situation in the United States, and communists in the U.S. need to utilize every avenue and opportunity to build the people’s struggle while developing revolutionary organization.

It is a fact that there are fascist groups and there are people in government who are pro-fascist. These elements are present in the military too. Their attacks should be met head on. The events of January 6, 2021, when Trump attempted to block the peaceful transfer of power and his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, speaks volumes about the lengths reactionaries will go to – as well as some of the limitations that necessity places on them.

The U.S. has always repressive place. Even as it went to war on German fascism and was an important part of the world anti-fascist coalition, 120,000 Japanese Americans were put in concentration camps.

Whatever assessment one has about a fascist danger, repression and resistance to repression need to be taken seriously. This means opposing reactionary laws and measures that restrict our democratic rights. It also means pushing back hard against legal attacks we face. Over the past 15 years our organization has faced a fair amount of repression, [5] and we have developed some capacity to deal with it. The most recent example was the defense of an immigrant rights activist and comrade who was charged with conspiracy to further civil disorder in the aftermath of the anti-ICE rebellion in Los Angles. We build a broad, national defense campaign and charges were dropped.

All quantity includes quality – and there is a whole political landscape between capitalist democracy and open terror (fascism) that could be very different from what we have experienced over the past 50 years.

Fascism is a tool of the most reactional monopoly capitalists to prevent revolution. In the U.S. today, we are not in a revolutionary situation. An effective strategy against fascism would necessitate building the broadest possible united front to stop it, like for example the Popular Front employed by U.S. communists from the mid-1930s on. If there is an immediate danger of capitalist democracy being replaced by open terror, we can and will adjust our strategy and organizational functioning accordingly.

Comrades: communists have a rich history of resisting repression and defeating fascism. It was Soviet soldiers who planted the flag bearing a hammer and sickle on the ruins of the “thousand-year Reich.” Our comrades of the Philippines have repeatedly demonstrated it is possible to grow and thrive in the context of U.S.-sponsored terror. The road might be a hard one, but our future is bright.

Let me close with a quote from the outstanding revolutionary and Marxist-Leninist Mao Zedong:

I have said that all the reputedly powerful reactionaries are merely paper tigers. The reason is that they are divorced from the people. Look! Was not Hitler a paper tiger? Was Hitler not overthrown? I also said that the tsar of Russia, the emperor of China and Japanese imperialism were all paper tigers. As we know, they were all overthrown. U.S. imperialism has not yet been overthrown, and it has the atom bomb. I believe it also will be overthrown. It, too, is a paper tiger.

Long live proletarian internationalism! Long live the unity of the world’s peoples! Victory is certain, together we will win!

Notes

[1] Trosky states in Fascism: What it is and how to fight it, “The fascist movement in Italy was a spontaneous movement of large masses, with new leaders from the rank and file. It is a plebian movement in origin, directed and financed by big capitalist powers. It issued forth from the petty bourgeoisie, the slum proletariat, and even to a certain extent from the proletarian masses; Mussolini, a former socialist, is a “self-made” man arising from this movement.”

[2] Dimitrov, The Fascist offensive and the tasks of the Communist International in the fight for uniy of the working class against fascism, 7th Congress of the Communist International, page 127

[3] J. Stalin, Report to the 17th Party Congress, CW vol. 13, page 300

[4] R. Palme Dutt, Fascism and Social Revolution

[5] In 2010 more than 70 FBI agents carried out coordinate raids against antiwar and international solidarity activist – including the homes of a number of FRSO members.

#RevolutionaryTheory #FRSO #Statement #Fascism #NDFP #Philippines #Lenin #Stalin #Mao #MarxismLeninism

The attempts by the U.S. military to whitewash its heightened presence in the Philippines through “disaster training” are utterly despicable. The U.S. imperialists, in collusion with the Marcos regime and the U.S. mercenary officers of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) must be condemned by the Filipino people for exploiting the recent climate disasters to mount another publicity stunt that camouflages the brazen violations of Philippine sovereignty.

The “disaster training,” which is nothing but another U.S. military air show and maneuver exercises, purportedly to support the AFP’s “rapid response,” serves as another occasion for the U.S. to display its military power.

It is shameless how Marcos’ top military and defense officers grovel and beg for the Philippines to have access to the facilities within the camps of the AFP—the so-called “agreed locations” under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA)—supposedly to help them distribute relief items to disaster victims.

These U.S. – supplied water bottles, relief assistance and deployment support are mere token responses to Philippine disasters. In return, U.S. military forces are granted even greater access to Philippine air, sea and land territories. Recall how the US deployed one of its biggest aircraft carriers, the USS George Washington, to the vicinity of Leyte Gulf in 2013, carrying superficial amounts of water, food and medical supplies, but which was used by the U.S. military to put boots on the ground in various parts of Eastern Visayas.

The militarization of disaster response, especially by a foreign military power like the U.S, undermines the humanitarian principle of neutrality and serves political and military objectives of the military power. While the delivery of relief assistance may appear altruistic and benign, the real priority of the US and AFP “disaster partnership” is to strengthen U.S. hegemonism over the Asia-Pacific region and serve US imperialist war preparations by expanding US military presence.

The Filipino people must sharply recognize and expose the imperialist aims of the U.S. and the subservience of the Marcos regime in these so-called “disaster trainings.” These must be denounced for serving the strategic aims of the U.S. military in the country, which is to continue using the Philippines as a staging ground for its wars of aggression against other nations in the region.

The Filipino people must stand against this imperialist subterfuge behind the veil of “disaster training,” and demand an end to U.S. military intervention, deployment of troops, stockpiling of U,S. weapons, endless war exercises and provocations.

#International #Philippines #Marcos #AFP #NDFP #CPP

The national democratic revolutionary movement is not only preparing for war, we are waging a revolutionary war in the interest of the Filipino people. We have been waging this for democracy and national liberation since 1969, and the reactionary government has been using all its military might against the people’s war these past decades.

When Lt. General Brawner called for the AFP to prepare for war in case of an invasion of Taiwan, he is only declaring his puppetry to the US, to fight a war not for the Filipino people but for his imperialist masters.

The US imperialist regime, through neocolonial agreements, continues to establish military bases and installations all over our country, to stockpile attack weapons including missiles, and provoke nearby China to war, while wallowing in plundered wealth in the safety of its own far-away mainland. With the coming “biggest ever” Balikatan which the puppet Marcos regime so proudly and willingly hosts, the Philippines is being prepped to absorb a war the US regime is so eager to wage.

It is extreme folly to believe in the US’s “iron-clad commitment” to the Philippines, because even iron is eroded by the rust of imperialist greed.

History shows us that US imperialist governments have an ignominious record of abandoning peoples in times of greatest crisis, of course always prioritizing their own imperialist interests. It abandoned the Philippines – including American foot-soldiers in the field in Corregidor—during World War II to shift to more “strategic” Europe where there were more imperialist industrial investments. We remember the Fall of Bataan this April.

It was the Filipino people who persisted in the war of resistance, who suffered the brunt of Japanese imperial brutality and militarism during the height of the world war. Just when the backbone of Japanese imperial might in Asia had been substantially broken by Asians themselves, the US returned to the Philippines to “liberate” it and reclaim its colonial rule. It also went to get a slice of the pie in Korea and in Vietnam, countries who fought against the Japanese and French during the world war.

The US mainland was never attacked though the US imperialists reaped tons of profits from their sales of war materiel to the Allies and new colonies from the defeated Axis powers.

Only more recently, the US abandoned its own puppet Zelensky in an attempt to gain favor with Russia against China and pushed its NATO allies to fend for themselves. Are the military minions of the US-Marcos Regime willing to suffer the same fate? Or will they, like the Quezons of old, fall over each other in fleeing the country?

The US-Marcos regime is hell-bent on offering the Philippines as a battlefield for US imperialist wars. But it is only by uniting the Filipino people in a revolutionary war against this puppet government that we can ensure our independence and establish a people’s government that will promote an active, independent and peaceful foreign policy.

#International #Philippines #NDFP

The arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte by virtue of a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) is a victory for the Filipino people, particularly the thousands of victims of his bloody “war on drugs” and his fascist attacks on the revolutionary movement. It affirms what the people have long known – that Duterte is a mass murderer who must be held accountable for his crimes. However, this does not absolve Marcos Jr. of his own blood debts as he continues the reactionary state’s counterrevolutionary war against the Filipino people.

While we welcome the ICC’s move against Duterte, we also reiterate the crimes of the Marcos Jr. administration. The 2024 International People’s Tribunal (IPT) found both Duterte and Marcos Jr., as well as the US government guilty of grave violations of international humanitarian law. The findings of the IPT reinforce the fact that state terror and impunity persist under Marcos Jr. and that the fight for justice must extend beyond Duterte’s arrest—it must challenge the continuing fascist repression being waged by the current regime.

The ICC warrant focuses on Duterte’s “war on drugs,” but his crimes extend far beyond this. His regime carried out the systematic killing of NDFP peace consultants, aerial bombings of civilian communities, and the torture and execution of captured Red fighters (hors de combat), all in blatant disregard of the laws of war. These war crimes were not just Duterte’s policy—they remain central to the Marcos Jr. regime’s counterrevolutionary war against the Filipino people. Under Marcos Jr., indiscriminate bombings, enforced disappearances, forced evacuations, and extrajudicial killings continue, proving that the reactionary state will stop at nothing to crush the people’s resistance.

Furthermore, Duterte’s crimes were not his alone, nor were they simply the product of local reactionary politics. US imperialism has long propped up Philippine fascist regimes, providing military aid, training and intelligence to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and the Philippine National Police (PNP). The US-funded “counterinsurgency” programs directly contributed to Duterte’s reign of terror. Even now, under Marcos Jr., US-backed military operations continue to target both revolutionary forces and the legal democratic mass movement. The people’s movement must continue to expose and resist the imperialist role in enabling fascist rule up to this day.

We call on the international community to sustain pressure for Duterte’s immediate prosecution. At the same time, the ICC must exert all necessary measures to compel the Marcos Jr. government to surrender Duterte to ICC jurisdiction. The NDFP International Office stands firmly with the Filipino masses in their fight for justice and genuine national and social liberation. Duterte and his cronies must face the full weight of their actions – not just for their past crimes but to end the continuing reign of impunity in the Philippines.

Duterte’s arrest, or even his potential conviction, will not dismantle the semicolonial and semifeudal system that breeds fascist rulers and US puppet regimes. Only through a national democratic revolution with a socialist perspective, led by the working class, can the roots of fascist violence be eradicated.

#International #Philippines #NDFP #Duterte #ICC

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Communist Party of the Philippines.

The Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army cannot declare a holiday ceasefire in the face of the Marcos regime’s relentless war of suppression, offensive military operations and imposition of martial law in the countryside.

In its desperation to crush the people’s resistance, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is presently undertaking military operations across the country against the Party and NPA. To boost its public image, the AFP has intensified its war of disinformation by making the ludicrous claim that the New People’s Army has only “one weakened” guerrilla front. This is, however, belied by their own actions. Billions of pesos are currently being squandered in large-scale military deployments and offensives of the AFP across all regions in the country.

Behind the façade of its “insurgency-free” propaganda declarations, the Marcos regime, through the AFP has imposed virtual martial law in many interior villages in Ilocos Norte, Abra, Kalinga, Cagayan, Isabela, Bulacan, Aurora, Laguna, Quezon, Mindoro Oriental, Mindoro Occidental, Camarines Norte, Albay, Sorsogon, Masbate, Capiz, Aklan, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, Samar, Surigao provinces, Agusan provinces, Bukidnon, Davao del Norte, Lanao provinces, and elsewhere.

This war of suppression being waged by Marcos and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is characterized by wanton violation of political and civil rights, as well as of international humanitarian law.

It is marked by:

• military occupation of several hundred rural villages

• brutal aerial bombings and shelling of communities

• imposition checkpoints to restrict people’s movements

• preventing peasants from tending to their farms resulting in economic losses

• food blockades and restrictions on commerce

• the active promotion of soldiers of drug use, pornography and other anti-social vices among the community youth

• night-long drinking sessions of AFP soldiers and indiscriminate firing of weapons when drunk

• involvement of AFP soldiers in increasing number of incidents of sexual molestation and rape of women

• forced recruitment in the Civilian Armed Forces Geographical Units (CAFGU)

• forcing people to render labor and service (such as fetching bath water) for soldiers in their detachments

• incessant house-to-house harassment of the peasant masses on the pretext of the AFP’s “surrender drive”

• rising number of cases of abductions and extrajudicial killings, massacres, unlawful arrests, torture of civilians; and

• land grabbing and economic displacement of peasants and minority peoples in favor the destructive mining operations, plantations and infrastructure projects.

Millions of people suffer from all forms oppression under the Marcos regime’s war of suppression. In addition, they suffer from Marcos’ gross neglect of the welfare of millions of victims of recent calamities. They are to set to suffer even more next year with the budgetary cuts on health and education, and increased budget for fascism (with the further rise in the budget of the AFP and the NTF-Elcac) and corruption (with the bloated budget for the DPWH and Marcos’ anomalous infrastructure projects).

The situation compels the New People’s Army to firmly wage armed resistance and stage tactical offensives, especially against the most detested fascist troops responsible for the extrajudicial killings, massacres and all forms of terrorism. This is by way of defending the people and responding to their growing clamor for justice and an end to martial law in their areas.

In anticipation of the holidays and the upcoming 56th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines, units of the NPA and local peasant mass organizations in the countryside are busy preparing meetings and small assemblies in order to celebrate past victories, take stock of weaknesses and strengths, and reaffirm their resolve to wage greater struggles in the coming year.

The successive “insurgency-free” declarations over the past weeks by Marcos officials and military officers are mere smokescreen for the virtual imposition of martial law in the countryside. These only strengthen the resolve of the Filipino people, the Party and the New People’s Army to spread the flames of the people’s war. With their indomitable spirit of resistance and determination to fight, the revolutionary armed struggle is invincible and will not be defeated, this year or ever.

#International #Philippines #CPP #NPA #NDFP

Comrades and friends:

On behalf of the Central Committee, and indeed the entire membership of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, we thank the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and its member organizations for organizing this important conference. We salute all of you who are gathered here. Having a developed understanding of imperialism and national oppression, as well as the fights for national liberation, is vital for understanding the world as it is and what one needs to do to change it. This conference will no doubt further this end.

Trump and the decline of U.S. imperialism

The election of Donald Trump to the presidency of the U.S. is symptomatic of a monopoly capitalist power in decline. His return to power reflects a failure of the other party of monopoly capitalism (the Democratic Party of Biden/Harris) and its inability to address the needs and aspirations of the working class. Drawing from a toxic brew of national chauvinism and reactionary currents of all kinds, Trump’s return to the White House will signal the sharpening of a host of contradictions domestically and internationally.

Trump has referred to himself as “Tariff Man,” promising to slap 20% tariffs on all imports and substantially more – 100 or 200% – on things like electric vehicles from China. The people around him, like some of the Biden crowd, look towards “delinking” the U.S. economy from the People’s Republic of China.

In his outstanding work, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism, Lenin made the point that one of the features of imperialism, of decaying monopoly capitalism, was that big capital finds it increasingly difficult to utilize science and holds back advances in the productive forces. This phenomenon is on full display in the U.S., where someone like “vaccine skeptic” RFK Jr will be put in charge of public health, and where industrial policy is turning against technologies that cause less harm to the environment, such as electric vehicles.

The role of the U.S. in the world economy is shrinking. In 1960 the U.S. had about 40% of the world GDP. Today it is about half that. There was a day when U.S. imperialism championed free trade. For the past decade-plus, Washington DC has moved away from the neoliberal trade model, erecting a growing tariff blockade. The abandonment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership and paralysis of the World Trade Organization are signs of things to come.

After World War II, the United States constructed a web of economic intuitions where Wall Street and Washington DC occupied center place. That world is gone, and it has been replaced by a fragmenting world economy, where the decline of U.S. imperialism is picking up speed. Trump will accelerate the process.

One of the symptoms will be a sharpening of inter-imperialist contradictions, which will have political and military dimensions. For example, Trump’s view of the Ukraine is that it is mainly a concern of Europe and that too much U.S. time and treasure has been wasted on it. If implemented as policy, this shift on the Ukraine will force the European imperialist powers, especially Germany, to carry out a military buildup while putting new stress on NATO.

What we are seeing is clearer definition in the developing spheres of influence and domination – where the U.S. has a smaller role to play. Also worth noting is that the two other monopoly centers of monopoly capitalism, i.e. Japan and the European Union, are also producing a smaller share of the world GDP.

People vs. imperialism

The principal contradiction in the world today is between the peoples, nations and countries of the developing world versus imperialism. The U.S. is presently the principal imperialist power, and as such, it is the main danger to the world’s peoples. From Puerto Rico to the Philippines and Palestine, people are rising up and fighting for liberation.

The battle taking place in the Middle East is vital to the world revolutionary process in the current period. On one side you have Western imperialism, Zionism and Arab reaction. On the other, we have the heroic resistance of Palestine and Lebanon, and a whole axis of resistance, which encompasses Yemen, Syria and the popular forces of Iraq and Iran. This is a battle of world historic importance.

The U.S. cannot continue to exist as a world empire without dominance of the Middle East, and this fact explains why the bond between imperialism and Zionism is so strong. The broad masses of people throughout the Middle East hate foreign domination and want it to end. Israel is the cop on the beat for Western imperialism, a reliable nightstick that can be used against those who want freedom and independence. This means that Trump will double down on the Gaza genocide facilitated by Biden/Harris.

It is also worth noting that things can turn into their opposite, that Israel can move from being an asset to a liability: if the genocide and carnage in Palestine and Lebanon provoke uprisings in the Arab world, the position of imperialism will be impacted.

The fact that many of the forces fighting imperialism and Zionism are not led by the working class does not change the revolutionary, anti-imperialist nature of the struggle that is taking place. Stalin, an outstanding Marxist-Leninist and pathbreaking theorist on national question, wrote in the great work, The Foundations of Leninism:

“The struggle that the Emir of Afghanistan is waging for the independence of Afghanistan is objectively a revolutionary struggle, despite the monarchist views of the Emir and his associates, for it weakens, disintegrates and undermines imperialism; whereas the struggle waged by such ‘desperate’ democrats and ‘Socialists,’ ‘revolutionaries’ and republicans as, for example, Kerensky and Tsereteli, Renaudel and Scheidemann, Chernov and Dan, Henderson and Clynes, during the imperialist war was a reactionary struggle, for its results was the embellishment, the strengthening, the victory, of imperialism.”

That said, the struggle for working class leadership in the movements for national liberation is important, and as communists we have the responsibility to support other communists who are contending for leadership in the national movements – be it in Palestine or anywhere else.

Marxism-Leninism and the fight for national liberation

In an environment of declining imperialism, there are some important things to keep in mind.

First, there needs to be a strategic alliance, a “union” as Lenin put it, between the working class in the advanced capitalist countries, and the broad masses of the oppressed in the developing countries. There are hundreds of millions of people in rural areas locked in semi-feudal property relations, which in part provides the material conditions for people’s war.

Second, while there has been a resurgence of the communist and national liberation movements, party building and the construction of revolutionary, communist organizations is a vital task in the present period. Ending, or breaking free of imperialism is not easy, and to successfully do so over the long run requires organizations that embody the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism. Building a new communist party should be the central task of revolutionaries in the U.S., and great progress is being made on this front.

Third, national liberation movements which weaken imperialism are objectively progressive and will hasten imperialism’s end. Self-determination of oppressed nations is a democratic demand, and, to the extent and degree that the fight for self-determination weakens imperialism, those fights should be supported. This has an application in multinational states, including the U.S.

Fourth, monopoly capitalism is a law-governed system where the drive to seek the highest rate of profit is basic. While capitalism is always incapable of genuine long-range planning, imperialism in decline is animated by the shortest of short-term gain and contingency. One of the things that makes the Trump administration dangerous is precisely a reactionary pragmatism that is reshaping the U.S. empire. It is a recipe for more wars and intervention, particularly in Latin America and the Pacific.

Finally, we need to be proletarian internationalists who are serious about uniting the working and oppressed people of the world. Looking around this room, that is exactly who we are. Mao made the point that imperialism is strategically a paper tiger. He was right – in the short term imperialism is an “iron tiger,” it is dangerous. In the long run it will certainly be defeated.

Long live proletarian internationalism!

Long live the unity of the people of the world!

Long live the unity of working and oppressed people – we have nothing to lose but our chains!

#RevolutionaryTheory #FRSO #Statement #Imperialism #Trump #NDFP #OppressedNationalities

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) has successfully convened its third international theoretical conference from November 29-30 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands on the topic of National Liberation from Imperialism.

The two-day conference explored the theoretical and practical contributions of Lenin, Stalin, and Mao on the subject of the national question, including various modes of asserting and exercising the right to national self-determination, both armed and unarmed, that fall under the umbrella of national liberation movements.

Key discussion points emerged on the different ways national liberation struggles are waged within countries or across imperialist-defined borders, highlighting the unique conditions and strategies employed in these various contexts. A significant focus was placed on the impact of imperialist aggression, including economic sanctions, military occupations, and proxy wars, which systematically undermine movements and nations asserting their independence. Participants also examined the persistent challenges faced by unfinished liberation struggles, emphasizing the need to continue consolidating and defending the initial gains of their revolution, and to muster broad international support to face growing imperialist aggression. Additionally, the conference also considered the issue of the “compradorization” of the state, particularly in neocolonial settings.

The conference gathered 114 individuals representing 57 proletarian-socialist parties, national liberation movements, and anti-imperialist organizations from across 19 countries. Together, we discussed nine (9) submissions presented by representatives of communist, socialist-proletarian parties and anti-imperialist organizations leading national liberation struggles from the Philippines, Colombia, Cyprus, Eritrea, Nepal, Senegal, Turkey, Kurdistan, to Palestine, and an additional two (2) papers presented on the task of proletarian parties in the heartlands of advanced capitalist states such as from the United States and Italy.

The synthesis of the discussions was presented on Day 2 through a plenary session, where key themes and points emerging from the previous day were distilled.

As part of the conference, a special cultural program was held to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Kabataang Makabayan (KM), celebrating its historic role in advancing revolutionary youth movements in the Philippines and inspiring solidarity across the globe.

#International #Philippines #NDFP #FRSO

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement by Julie de Lima, Chairperson, Negotiating Panel, of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Negotiating Panel strongly condemns the recent illegal arrests of NDFP consultants Simeon Naogsan, Porferio Tuna, and Wigberto Villarico. The arbitrary detention of these consultants is yet another in a string of blatant violations by the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), signed to provide both parties to the negotiations the conducive conditions to engage without the threat of arrest, killing or harassment.

The NDFP Negotiating Panel firmly rejects NSC Spokesperson Jonathan Malaya’s insinuation that JASIG is no longer in effect. The effectivity of these agreements cannot be simply rescinded through a mere press conference or media statement. Such agreements are the product of formal negotiations and mutual commitment, rooted in both national and international legal principles, and cannot be undone unilaterally or casually. The termination of an agreement like JASIG requires formal procedures as stipulated in the document signed by both parties in 1995.

The NDFP Negotiating Panel likewise refutes Malaya’s claim that Villarico is not an NDFP consultant. In fact, Wigberto Villarico is an NDFP consultant, regularly engaged by the NDFP Negotiating Panel as a key representative from the Southern Tagalog region. His role is crucial in representing concerns of farmers and workers in the region and in advancing the substantive items in the negotiations including in the process of drafting the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER).

The repeated arrests, torture, and killings of NDFP consultants under Marcos Jr. in the past years, despite their protected status under JASIG, represent a deliberate act of bad faith by the GRP. The GRP’s actions undermine the peace process and violates the basic principles of mutual respect and accountability. These consultants have dedicated their lives to representing the Filipino people’s interests and are integral in the resumption of peace negotiations. Their unlawful arrests serve only to foster growing distrust and heightened tensions at a time when space for dialogue is critical.

JASIG explicitly guarantees safety and immunity for both GRP and NDFP consultants, resource persons, and staff involved in the peace negotiations, protecting them from arrest and persecution. By repeatedly violating these protections, the GRP has disregarded its own commitments and continues to push the ongoing talks to the brink of collapse. It is unacceptable that while the GRP claims to pursue peace, it simultaneously targets and imprisons those working to achieve it.

The GRP is deliberately creating hostile conditions to obstruct the peace negotiations. With consultants and negotiators of the NDFP repeatedly subjected to arbitrary arrests, extrajudicial killings, and torture, the GRP has made a mockery of its own supposed commitment to peace. These grave human rights violations demonstrate not only a disregard for JASIG and the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL), but also a complete lack of respect for the lives and freedoms of those working for a just resolution to the armed conflict.

We wish to reiterate the NDFP’s policy of openness to resume peace negotiations, but how can we possibly engage in meaningful negotiations when our negotiators and consultants are subjected to arrests, killings, and torture? This issue is both a practical and political obstacle to the ongoing talks, as it threatens not only the safety of the NDFP consultants, negotiators and staff but also undermines the very foundation of trust and dialogue necessary for any productive peace negotiation to continue.

#International #Philippines #NDFP

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns the Marcos regime and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the arrest of National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) peace consultant Porferio Tuna last October 2 in Tagum City, Davao del Norte. We demand that all his rights be respected, including his right to a lawyer of his own choosing, and that he be immediately released.

Tuna served as peace consultant of the NDFP during negotiations with the Philippine government in Norway in 2016. He provided the Negotiating Panel of the NDFP with valuable information regarding the situation of the peasants, plantation workers and minority people in the Southern Mindanao, in order for the NDFP to effectively represent and advance their interests in negotiating and crafting an agreement on comprehensive socioeconomic reforms.

The arrest and detention of Tuna clearly aims to punish him for having served as peace consultant of the NDFP. His arrest is a brazen violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG), an agreement between the Philippine government and the NDFP which prohibits either side from committing acts of reprisal against each other’s peace negotiators and personnel. His arrest does not help build confidence in efforts to further peace negotiations.

While in jail, he is being ganged up by military officers as well as by traitors turned military agents, to force him to turn his back against his principles and the people’s national democratic cause. He is being subjected to intense psychological torture, with threats against him and his loved ones, if he does not surrender to the fascists.

The charges against Tuna are bogus, and like the experience of around 800 political prisoners, are concocted with the aim of keeping him in jail for a long time.

We call on all local and international human rights organizations, peace advocates and democratic groups to help secure Tuna’s release, in order to allow him to continue his work as a peace consultant and serve the people, especially the plantation workers and peasants of Davao region.

#International #Philippines #CPP #NDFP

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from Julie de Lima, chairperson of the Peace Negotiating Panel of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) Peace Negotiating Panel firmly reiterates its commitment to the resumption of peace negotiations with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP). Our dedication to achieving a just and lasting peace remains steadfast, as we believe the negotiations present an effective means to address the underlying causes of the civil war.

The ongoing talks between the two delegations are meant to come up with an agreed framework for the negotiations towards forging an agreement that will address the root causes of the armed conflict.

In the past few months, we have observed with concern the mixed and contradictory signals emanating from the GRP. On the one hand, General Eduardo Año stated that peace talks are unlikely to proceed. On the other hand, Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr. said they are optimistic that the talks would resume. We hope that the GRP can resolve these contradictory views.

The NDFP Peace Negotiating Panel remains open and ready to engage in meaningful discussions that can lead to comprehensive solutions benefitting the Filipino people including addressing key issues of agrarian reform and national industrialization among other substantive socio-economic concerns.

The path to peace is indeed long and arduous, but it is a path that we must tread with unwavering determination, mutual respect and a genuine commitment from both parties if it is to succeed. We look forward to continuing exploratory talks with the GRP and hopeful to resume formal negotiations to achieve just and lasting peace in the Philippines.

#International #Philippines #NDFP

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) gives its highest tribute to Maria Concepcion Araneta-Bocala (Ka Concha), Vicente Hinojales (Ka Hadjie/Ka Emil) and the August Heroes and Martyrs of Panay. They are Party cadres and Red fighters of the New People’s Army who died resisting the Marcos fascist regime, defending the rights of the oppressed masses of workers and peasants, and fighting alongside the Filipino people to attain their centuries-long aspirations for genuine freedom and democracy.

Ka Hadjie, Ka Concha, along with Aurelio B. Bosque (Ka Zarco/Baijan/Rio), Jose Jerry Tacaisan (Ka Miller/Bronze), Bemjamin Cortel (Ka Amor/Ruby/Mamang), Romulo Iturriaga Gangoso (Ka Reagan/Biboy/Pedik), Jielmor Gauranoc (Ka Doc/Tango/Baron), Juvylene Silverio (Ka Kaykay/Purang), Armando Savariz (Ka Nene/Kulot), Rewilmar Torrato (Ka Minerva/Mara/Moray) and John Paul Capio (Ka Ronron) were killed in a series of armed encounters with the bloodthirsty fascist troops of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) from August 5 to 15 in Calinog and Lambunao towns, Iloilo province, and last August 24 in Valderrama, Antique.

They are martyrs of the broad masses of the Filipino people, and heroes of the Philippine revolution. They devoted their lives to the interests of workers, peasants and all democratic classes, in their struggle against all forms of oppression and exploitation in the country, and to attain national and social liberation.

The Party honors the August Heroes and Martyrs of Panay with the highest distinction. Their deaths are a great loss to the masses of Panay and the Filipino people and weigh heavily on our hearts. We express our deepest sympathies to their families, the revolutionary forces and the oppressed and exploited people of Panay, and share with them profound grief. At the same time, we express our indignation at the Marcos fascist terrorist regime that continues to wage a brutal war of suppression against the Filipino people.

We give our highest honors to Ka Hadjie, member of the Central Committee and Secretary of the Panay Regional Party Committee. He was among the younger cadres of the Party who have assumed important roles in leading the revolution in the past years. He assumed leadership of the Panay region in 2016, after having played an important part in the comprehensive growth of the revolutionary struggles in Northeast Mindanao from 2006 to 2016. Over the past years, Ka Hadjie and cadres of the Panay Regional Committee have led the revolutionary forces in the region in resisting the relentless and brutal campaign of the Marcos fascist regime. He was 55.

We also pay special tribute to Ka Concha, who dedicated her long life to the revolutionary cause. She started to work full-time as a cadre organizer in 1972. Other than serving as a key official of the Party’s Regional Committee in Panay, she was also assigned as consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in peace negotiations. Ka Concha abandoned all the comforts and privilege of the landlord class, and joined the oppressed peasant masses and Tumandok people in their struggle for land and justice. She would have turned 74 this August 26.

The names of the August Heroes and Martyrs of Panay will forever be etched in the collective memory of the Filipino people. Their contributions to the people’s democratic revolution will never be forgotten. Their lives of revolutionary service will always serve as inspiration to the people.

We call on all revolutionary forces of Panay and the entire Filipino people to remember the August Heroes and Martyrs of Panay. Let us conduct memorial meetings to pay tribute and honor their revolutionary deeds. Let us draw courage and determination from their examples and pledge to commit ourselves to continue the people’s struggle and armed resistance to achieve the people’s aspiration for genuine freedom and democracy.

While some Party cadres and revolutionary leaders in Panay have fallen, other leaders of the Party in the region are now picking up the mantle of leadership. Amid the worsening crisis of the semicolonial and semifeudal system, aggravated by the anti-people and anti-national policies of the Marcos regime, more and more young workers and people, from both cities and rural areas, are heeding calls to join the Party and the New People’s Army. They are driven by the urgency of fighting back against the fascist and oppressive regime.

The broad masses of Filipino people have no option but to fight back against the abuses and ruthless war of the Marcos regime directed against them. Marcos uses the AFP to serve the interests of multinational corporations, their local big bourgeois comprador business partners, big landlords and bureaucrat capitalists. Peasants and minority people in their millions are being dispossessed of their land and driven away by Marcos and the AFP to make way for mining operations, plantations, dams, tourism and crony infrastructure projects.

Marcos and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) are fooling only themselves when they claim that they can crush the armed revolution this year or next. Despite having experienced setbacks, the New People’s Army, under the absolute leadership of the Communist Party of the Philippines, is resolute in its determination to wage armed resistance relentlessly.

Inspired by the rectification movement, and driven by the desire to fight for the interests of the broad masses, Red fighters and commanders of the NPA are giving their earnest to surmount all obstacles, face all difficulties, overcome past errors, wage guerrilla warfare and launch tactical offensives, carry out mass work, help advance the peasant struggle for genuine land reform and build the organized strength of the masses. With the boundless support of the masses, it is only a matter of time that the NPA will recover from losses and regain strength.

No amount of state terrorism will stop the broad masses of the Filipino people from advancing their national and democratic cause. They are unwavering in their resolve to defend their rights and resist the Marcos puppet and fascist regime, the current most concentrated expression of the oppressive and exploitative ruling system.

Imbued with the spirit of selflessness and courage of the August Heroes and Martyrs of Panay, they will wage all forms of struggle against the US-Marcos fascist regime, advance the people’s war, and carry forward the struggle for national and social liberation until victory.

Let the memory of the August Heroes and Martys of Panay live forever! Inspired by their sacrifices, persevere in the national democratic revolution!

Long live the New People’s Army!

Long live the National Democratic Front of the Philippines!

Long live the Communist Party of the Philippines!

Long live the Filipino people!

#International #Philippines #CPP #Statement #NDFP #NPA

The NDFP Special Office for the Protection of Children (NDFP-SOPC) vehemently condemns the Marcos Jr administration for its dirty war tactics of hostaging children and using them as pawns to force the surrender of revolutionary forces. Last June 2, fascist soldiers of the 74th IB arbitrarily arrested 11 farmers and 7 minors who were working in a coconut processing farm in Sityo Canonghan, Barangay Osmeña, Palapag, Northern Samar.

The hostaging of minors in the context of armed conflict is a blatant violation of international human rights and customary humanitarian laws, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which the Philippine reactionary state is a signatory. Current and previous regimes have consistently violated human rights and international humanitarian law. These violations are well-documented and have been submitted even to UN bodies and other intergovernmental bodies.

To elude responsibility for their crime and violation of international humanitarian law, the 74th IB falsely claimed having had an encounter with the New People’s Army (NPA)-Northern Samar that day. The military maliciously claimed that they “rescued” the minors who supposedly served as “food couriers” of the people’s army. This cynical justification is an obvious attempt to blur the distinction between combatants and non-combatants under international humanitarian law. The AFP’s narrative not only lacks credibility but also serves to further victimize the children it purports to “rescue.”

According to reports the minors are being held in the Municipal Social and Welfare Development but that the fascist soldiers have virtually detained them and have not released them to their relatives. While under detention by the 74th IB, the children experienced mental and physical torture. In another detestable violation of customary laws governing the rules of war, the children were turned into “hostages” or “bait” to pressure their parents to “surrender” despite being civilian farmers in the community. They are also being coerced into serving as guides or spies for military operations against the NPA and the people.

This cowardly tactic must be condemned in the strongest possible terms by the international community and all advocates of children’s rights, justice and human dignity. Marcos Jr and the fascist AFP must be held accountable for targeting children and minors. The NDFP-SOPC calls for an independent investigation on the atrocities being committed by the AFP in Northern Samar and other parts of the country. We call for the immediate release of the minors to their families. Likewise, we call on the international community to end all material and political support to the US-Marcos regime.

#Philippines #NDFP #Statement

Gibo Teodoro’s head-scratching insinuation that the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) was willing to surrender is simply untrue. To say that this is the basis for the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) agreeing to explore the resumption of peace negotiations is also incorrect. It was the GRP who first approached the NDFP and not the other way around.

Teodoro sings out of tune compared to what his colleagues in the GRP delegation is saying as well as what was agreed by both Parties in the joint statement signed last November 23.

We ask the GRP to focus their efforts instead on the substantive agenda items of the negotiations. Before proceeding to any conversation about the cessation of hostilities, we urge the GRP to go back to the negotiating table and discuss first the remaining substantive agenda items under the Hague Joint Declaration. This means discussing the draft Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER) which primarily addresses the root causes of civil war.

The NDFP reiterates that the point of entering peace negotiations is not to arrive at capitulation, but to create a space conducive to discuss mutually acceptable and principled ways of achieving just and lasting peace.

#International #Philippines #NDFP

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following paper by Mick Kelly, political secretary of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, that was presented in Amsterdam October 14 at International Theoretical Conference on Imperialism and War organized by the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP).

Comrades and friends,

On behalf of Freedom Road Socialist Organization, I would like to extend our thanks to the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and its member organizations for organizing this timely and important theoretical conference on imperialism and war. And we salute all of you in attendance today. We have much to gain by exchanging our respective views, seeking points of agreement to build unity, and putting proletarian internationalism into practice.

Marx famously noted that the point of understanding the world is to change it. To put this another way, theory must be weaponized. As revolutionaries, we strive to find the ways and means to strengthen our common efforts to drive imperialism and its tools to their extinction.

Sharpening contradictions on a world scale

The outstanding revolutionary Mao Zedong made the point, “There is great disorder under heaven, the situation is excellent.” This is an apt description of the situation we find ourselves in. The 4 fundamental contradictions – between labor and capital, between the oppressed nations and imperialism, between socialism and capitalism, and among the imperialist powers themselves – are intensifying. The factors for war and revolutionary struggle are on the rise.

The decline of U.S. monopoly capitalism is accelerating, a phenomenon that is a critical factor in shaping the development and motion of the other contradictions on a world scale. This decline is also shaping the contradictions within U.S. society, particularly the class struggle and the struggle against national oppression (the systematic inequality that is visited upon African Americans, Chicano/Latinos, Asian Americans, and the indigenous peoples) and is fueling a level of political polarization that is without parallel since the U.S. Civil War.

Features of a declining U.S. imperialism

The decline of American imperialism is not something new. It is a long-term process that has been underway since the early 1970s. In 1971, then-president Richard Nixon ended the Bretton Woods system – where all currencies were fixed to the dollar (and countries that held dollars could demand payment for dollars in gold) – an important signal that the sun was setting on the American empire. Likewise, the rise of powerful movements for national liberation, and the U.S. defeats in Vietnam, Laos, Kampuchea (Cambodia), demonstrated that the “American Century” was over.

The changing place of the U.S. in the world did not proceed along a straight line. The rise of revisionism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe following the death of Stalin ended in the final collapse of socialism in 1991. This allowed U.S. imperialism additional room to maneuver – not due to any internal development or strengthening, but because a constraining force had disappeared from the world stage.

While the monopoly capitalist rulers of the U.S. remain the main enemy of the world’s peoples, the place of the U.S. monopoly capitalists in the world is shrinking as their decline speeds up. The paralysis that pervades the appeals process of the World Trade Organization is one symptom. The stalling of large scale multilateral trade agreements since the Doha rounds and the abandonment of the Trans-Pacific Partnership are others. Equally telling are some basic economic measurements. In 1960, the U.S. economy represented about 40% of the world economy. Today, it is about half that. The economy of the Peoples Republic of China is poised to surpass that of the U.S., and by some measures it has already done so.

In many respects former U.S. President Donald Trump was an ideal political representative of a declining empire, a practitioner of fraud and corruption who thinks in the short term and relies on contingency. Trump abandoned or undermined a large swath of the post-World War II economic and military topography that had Wall Street at its core and Washington DC as its capital. This meant weakening NATO and putting tariffs on allies and junior partners, accompanied by a bellicose go-it-alone approach.

Biden would like to revive and shore up the multilateral institutions of empire, but the U.S. lacks the muscle. It’s a colossus with clay feet that can no longer move the way it used to, and as a result Biden continues much of Trump’s protectionism and mimics Trump’s anti-China campaign.

Inter-imperialist rivalry

The declining fortunes of U.S. imperialism has led Washington to fear for capitalist supply chains, fueled in part by concerns about the ability of the economy to weather a major war. So, the Biden administration is fast-tracking new mining operations within the U.S. borders, subsidizing semiconductors, computer chips, and helping to underwrite the automakers’ transition to electric vehicles at the cost of autoworkers’ jobs. For his part, Trump who is the leading Republican contender for the presidency, says he will slap a 10% tariff on all imports, including those from Europe and Japan.

These practices, plans and polices are illustrative of increased inter-imperialist rivalry, and are contributing to rise of national chauvinism in the political superstructures of the major imperialist powers, along with war preparations.

Inter-imperialist rivalry can also be seen in Europe. The disintegration of the EU and moves such as the Brexit are good things, and they serve to weaken the respective European imperialist powers and provide a more favorable context for the working class of the Western European countries to advance their own interests.

At this juncture in time, the greatest inter-imperialist conflict is in Ukraine. The U.S provoked this war and in fact it is a proxy war against Russia. It is not a surprise that people in East Ukraine do not want to live under a bunch of reactionaries, and in fact they have waged a heroic struggle to avoid it. The Russian government correctly notes, with the passage of time, the war is increasingly a direct struggle with the U.S. and its accomplices in Western Europe, as the imperial powers pour in military aid such as advanced weapon systems, combat aircraft, tanks, moving troops closer to the war fronts, and providing intelligence and targeting information to the Ukrainian government.

We also need to be clear on the class nature of the war. It is an inter-imperialist conflict. Russia is an emerging imperialist power, where capitalist development has reached the stage of monopoly capitalism. It is a country that acts in its own “national interest.” In the early years following the fall of the USSR, Russia was dominated by compradors who sold the country to the West. This is no longer the case.

The U.S. and Western European powers speak of incorporating Ukraine into NATO and the European Union, while debating timetables and scenarios for this happening. This means that the war is likely to continue for an extended period, and that there is considerably more at stake than the fate of the Eastern Ukraine.

Working and oppressed people in the U.S. have nothing to gain from a U.S. victory – in fact a Washington/Wall Street win would strengthen the hand of our oppressor. Therefore, in our antiwar work we demand that the U.S. get out at once, and we will strive to utilize favorable conditions that result from any setback the U.S. ruling class is confronted with. It is like Lenn said, “During a reactionary war a revolutionary class cannot but desire the defeat of its government.” A positive aspect of this conflict is that oppressed people can take advantage of this rivalry, as was recently illustrated by the meeting between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Russia.

Countries want independence, nations want liberation, and the people want revolution

There is a growing tide of anti-imperialist struggle in Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa.

As we noted in the Main Political Report adopted at our 9th Congress:

“A great resurgence of the national liberation movement and the international communist movement is underway.

“In Asia, the socialist countries are on the rise. The national democratic struggle in the Philippines, led by the Communist Party of the Philippines, stands out in sharp relief and is an inspiration to people everywhere. The Philippines is a crucial base for the projection of U.S. power into the Pacific region. Millions of people are on the move in India, and revolutionary movements are growing in power throughout the region.

“In the Middle East, the center of gravity continues to be the heroic struggle of the people of Palestine to end the Zionist occupation and to liberate every inch of their land. A powerful camp of resistance has come into being that unites Iran, Syria, the Palestinian resistance, and the popular forces of Lebanon, Iraq and Yemen — and it is fully capable of challenging imperialism, Zionism, and reaction of all kinds.

“In Latin America, a number of countries have broken out of the orbit of U.S. imperialism, including socialist Cuba, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Across the continent, great advances in the popular and revolutionary movements are underway…In Africa, there are sharp struggles against imperialism, particularly in the horn of Africa.”

Two additional points should be made. In Palestine the reactionary right-wing rulers of Israel have rejected the “two state solution” favored by the U.S. and have opted for the logic of complete displacement of the Palestine people from their land. It is the logic of genocide. The Palestinian fight for national liberation has now moved into a phase where armed struggle is now the principal form of struggle. Looking at the emerging balance of forces in the Middle East, we can see the waning influence of U.S. imperialism and the end of the Zionist project.

In the Pacific, the liberation of Taiwan province by People’s China remains the great unfinished task of the Chinese revolution. The end of U.S. dominance in the Pacific region will mark the end of the U.S. as the core of a world empire.

Prospects in the U.S.

The situation is excellent. The science of Marxism-Leninism lays bare the general laws that are at work in a dying imperialism. For example, the intensification of uneven development gives rise to more wars; also, a contraction of world markets open to imperialism limits effective demand and contributes to new and greater crises of overproduction.

It is also possible to draw some general conclusions from recent events and experience.

Polarization is intensifying. The attempt by Trump to cling to power, including the storming of the U.S. Capitol are indicators of this. Trump is now the Republican frontrunner. If the elections are close, many will not accept the outcome. A declining, polarized U.S. imperialism is an unstable U.S. imperialism. This degree of instability is something new, and something that can be worked with.

Sharpening contradictions and polarization are fueling the class struggle. There are a growing number of strikes and sharp battles on the part of the working class. The recent fight of a third of a million Teamsters in the logistics industry and the strike by auto workers are but two examples of this.

The powerful uprising that took place after the police murder of George Floyd graphicly demonstrates U.S imperialism is a paper tiger. More than 23 million people participated in the protests. Thousands of buildings, including one of the main police stations in Minneapolis, Minnesota (the city of Floyd’s murder), were burned. This uprising showed the power of the Black freedom movement. It is also a fact that on the left, our organization – Freedom Road Socialist Organization – was the only communist group that played a significant role in those events nationally.

Also of note are the fights around democratic demands such as the fight to defend women’s and reproductive rights. In many cities, our organizations have played a major role in these struggles.

FRSO is working to build a new communist party. The current situation is excellent for doing exactly that, so we are experiencing an unprecedented wave of growth. Reality and modesty dictate we acknowledge we need to make substantially more progress in fusing Marxism-Leninism with the actually existing working class movement before such party is created. That said, the clock is ticking and if we continue to progress at our current rate, we will get there.

In 1956, Mao Zedong made the point, “Now U.S. imperialism is quite powerful, but in reality it isn't. It is very weak politically because it is divorced from the masses of the people and is disliked by everybody and by the American people too. In appearance it is very powerful but in reality it is nothing to be afraid of, it is a paper tiger. Outwardly a tiger, it is made of paper, unable to withstand the wind and the rain. I believe the United States is nothing but a paper tiger.” The peoples of the world, along with the people of the U.S., will be the wind and the rain that U.S. imperialism is unable to withstand. There will be difficulties to be sure. But our future is bright!

Long live the unity of the peoples of the world!

Long live proletarian internationalism!

Victory is certain!

#FRSO #MarxismLeninism #Imperialism #NDFP #Philippines #Mao #Feature

Fight back News Service is circulating the following statement of Juliet de Lima, the Interim Chairperson, Negotiating Panel, of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines.

The recent ‘conviction’ of peace consultants Frank Fernandez and his wife Cleofe Lagtapon based on trumped-up charges concocted by the Manila government further exposes the US-Marcos regime’s indifference to the cause of peace. Planting of weapons and explosives on arrested persons is a well-known modus operandi of the AFP and PNP. This practice allows them to file non-bailable charges to hold forces of the revolutionary movement in prison.

Fernandez (now aged 73), accompanied by wife Lagtapon and a companion, Gee-Ann Perez were arrested in 2019 while receiving medical treatment. International Humanitarian Law (IHL) as well as the GRP-NDFP Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) protect persons – noncombatants in this case –seeking access to health care, making their arrest and detention unjust in the first place.

The continued incarceration of Fernandez and Lagtapon and other consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) is an outstanding violation of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG) duly approved by respective principals of the GRP and the NDFP. The JASIG safeguards participants in the peace negotiations from surveillance, arrest, detention, prosecution, or any other similar punitive actions.

The NDFP strongly asserts that JASIG remains in full force and effect unless otherwise terminated according to the terms of the agreement.

The abduction, killing, disappearance, illegal arrest, and torture of NDFP peace consultants expose the brutal character of the US-Marcos regime, its rabid obsession for war and patent disregard of obligations to implement existing agreements.

We demand freedom for Frank Fernandez and Cleofe Lagtapon and the immediate release of all NDFP peace consultants as a matter of humanitarian and moral obligation of the GRP and in line with the principles enshrined in JASIG and international humanitarian law.

#Philippines #ndfp #Asia

The International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) denounces in the strongest possible terms the US-Duterte regime for the issuance of a warrant of arrest on Prof. Jose Maria Sison, Chairperson Emeritus of the ILPS.

Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 32 Judge Thelma Bunyi-Medina issued the arrest warrant last August 22 for Sison and 37 others in connection with the so-called “Inopacan massacre” supposedly committed by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) in 1985 in Leyte province and the discovery of mass graves in 2006. They are being falsely charged with 15 counts of murder. There is no basis for the allegations.

As a matter of fact, Sison was in maximum security detention by the reactionary state forces under Marcos in 1985. He was arrested in 1977 and was in no position nor authority over the CPP and NPA.

The so-called “massacre” and “mass graves” are actually fabricated by former national security chief Norberto Gonzales and retired General Hermogenes Esperon, now national security adviser. Esperon gathered the remains from various cemeteries and thus the issue was known as the case of “walking skeletons”.

The Philippine Supreme Court under Chief Justice Reynaldo Puno already dismissed the case in 2007. Former Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo was also charged with the same accusation and was granted bail.

Among the accused is Joe Luneta who is already dead and Leo Velasco and Prudencio Calubid who were both abducted by the military and forcibly disappeared. Former peace negotiator of the National Democratic Front Luis Jalondoni was also included in the case when in fact he was overseas since 1976.

Prof. Sison is a recognized political refugee under the Geneva Refugee Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights. His passport was cancelled by Philippine authorities in 1986 and has since lived as a political refugee in the Netherlands and has tirelessly promoted anti-imperialist solidarity among workers and oppressed peoples and nations.

While there is no formal extradition treaty between the Netherlands and the Philippines and progressive lawyers can easily refute the baseless and false accusations against Sison, the international community must remain vigilant and express their solidarity with the Filipino people against the on-going escalation of fascist attacks in the Philippines.

The United States has been proven to be the Number One terrorist in the world and Duterte is fast being isolated in the global community for his extra-judicial killings and other grave crimes against the Filipino people.

With this latest political persecution against Sison and Philippine activists, the ILPS calls on all members and allies to demand the immediate dropping of all trumped-up charges, release all political prisoners, and support the Philippine struggle for national liberation and democracy.

[signed]

LEN COOPER

ILPS Chairperson

#Philippines #OppressedNationalities #US #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #AsianNationalities #JoseMariaSison #ndfp #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte #DonaldTrump

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) condemns in the strongest possible terms the arrest of NDFP consultant Vicente Ladlad. According to initial reports, Ladlad was arrested with a couple, Alberto and Virginia Villamor, around midnight of November 8 at a house in Dona Tomasa, Barangay San Bartolome, Novaliches, Quezon City.

Just two weeks ago, Ladlad’s wife Fides Lim reported being tailed by suspected state agents riding a silver Innova van with plate number TY 4585 as she left her house. A check with the Land Transportation Office revealed that the number is registered to a red Honda TMX motorcycle.

Ladlad is the third NDFP consultant actively participating in the peace talks to be arrested by the Duterte regime.

Less than a month ago, Adelberto Silva, a member of the NDFP Reciprocal Working Committee on Social and Economic Reforms was arrested with five others in Sta. Cruz, Laguna on October 15 while conducting sectoral consultations.

A third consultant, Rafael Baylosis, was arrested along Katipunan Ave. in Quezon City on January 31.

Arresting officers planted explosives on all three consultants to justify their prolonged detention on non-bailable offenses.

Their arrests are flagrant violations of the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (JASIG). Under the JASIG, Ladlad, Silva and Baylosis as duly accredited NDFP consultants publicly known to be involved in the peace negotiations should have been free from surveillance, harassment, search, arrest, detention, prosecution and interrogation or any other similar punitive actions.

The NDFP demands their immediate release and the dropping of the trumped-up criminal charges against them to end their unjust detention.

The NDFP moreover demands the release of four other unjustly imprisoned NDFP consultants–Rommel Salinas and Ferdinand Castillo who are being held in BJMP facilities and Eduardo Sarmiento and Leopoldo Caloza who are incarcerated at the national penitentiary.

#Philippines #PeoplesStruggles #ndfp #VicenteLadlad #FidelAgcalilli #Asia

Condemn the fascist US-Duterte regime and greedy SUMIFRU!

The National Democratic Front in Southern Mindanao vehemently condemned the US-Duterte regime for actively conniving and abetting the rapacious stance of the Japanese banana firm Sumitomo Fruits Corp. (SUMIFRU) that brutally dispersed the strike camps of 789 workers of the Nagkahiusang Mamumuo sa Sayupa Farms (NAMASUFA) on October 11, 2018 in Compostela town, Compostela Valley.

For eight hours, at least 300 company-hired individuals, goons and scabs attacked the makeshift barricade mounted by the workers in SUMIFRU Packing Plant (PP) 370 in Brgy. Pilar Babag, PP 98 and PP340 in Brgy. Osmena, PP 92 in Brgy. Alegria, PP 90 in Brgy. Gabi, PP 99 in Brgy. San Miguel and PP115 in Brgy. Maparat. In plain view of the PNP and the AFP forces, the rabid SUMIFRU goons destroyed the bamboo makeshifts and used the broken pieces to batter the hapless workers. They also burned the structures and demolished the makeshift kitchen, razing precious food stuff and cooked meals and looting the food supply. On the spot, 17 workers were injured including a seven-month pregnant worker. As the goons were on a rampage, members of the 66th Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army searched and ransacked the workers’ houses, while the police arrested and detained the workers.

The US-Duterte regime-backed attack against the NAMASUFA workers aimed to end the latter’s strike which effectively paralyzed SUMIFRU operations for 11 days. SUMIFRU produces 19,000 boxes of Cavendish bananas per day from its nine packing plants out of the 2,200 hectares of farm lands in Compostela alone.

The workers were legitimately struggling for their economic and democratic rights as long-standing regular workers of SUMIFRU. Aided by a Supreme Court ruling issued last year and previous DOLE decision which affirmed their status as union members and regular employees of SUMIFRU, NAMASUFA members were merely exercising their legal and democratic rights when they militantly launched a strike on October 1.

On October 2, the AFP and PNP escorted scabs and goons to disperse striking workers of Packing Plant 115; two days later, company goons mauled 7 workers. On October 5, DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III issued an Assumption of Jurisdiction order, directing the workers to stop the strike, while on October 6, the Regional Trial Court 56 issued a Temporary Restraining Order. However, the workers earned a temporary reprieve on October 10 when the the same local court denied SUMIFRU’s petition to extend the TRO and a preliminary injunction.

The NDF-Southern Mindanao regime holds Silvestre Bello, III, GRP’s labor secretary, the 10th Infantry Division-Eastern Mindanao Command and the PNP, Compostela Mayor Lerma Bollo and GRP Pres. Rodrigo Duterte for systematically assaulting SUMIFRU workers in the name of defending foreign imperialist capital’s neoliberal interests.

Once more, Duterte has displayed his limitless fascism by deputizing his reactionary armed forces to savagely quell legal redress of grievance of the exploited toiling class. In vain attempt to maintain his tenuous hold to power in his decaying regime, Duterte has shown his merciless mettle to refuse the right to tenure, economic welfare and political rights of the exploited workers. Since the October 11 dispersal, SUMIFRU continued its Compostela plant operations by employing hundreds of scabs. At the same time, agents and operatives of the 66th IB conducted house to house campaign to harass the striking workers, offering P2,000 per worker to force them to resign from the company. The 66th IB is already responsible for the spate of extra-judicial killings of workers, farmers and activists in Compostela, Maragusan, Montevista and Monkayo towns in Compostela Valley province.

NDF-Southern Mindanao commends the brave alliance mounted by the banana plantation workers, peasants and their supporters in order to defend their livelihood. NAMASUFA continues to stand ground and assert the legitimacy of their strike and struggle against SUMIFRU’s unfair labor practice and the brutal dispersal.

Since forming their union in March 2008, NAMASUFA had consistently shown the power of collective action in countering the worsening exploitation of SUMIFRU against them. They have won battles in the class war against capitalist greed and continue to regard their militant union as a weapon to thwart the capitalist machinations. Last year, the workers successfully put an end to the company’s implementation of the exploitative “pakyawan system” by mounting a 13-hour strike that slowed down SUMIFRU’s production.

Decades of unabated greed buoyed up by the reactionary state’s fascist support and neoliberal policies allowed SUMIFRU to amass massive profit at the expense of workers’ rights. SUMIFRU aggressively expanded its operation over the years, exploiting at least 12,000 hectares of lands in Mindanao and contributing to galvanize the country’s backward export-oriented, imported-dependent economy. The Japanese firm continues to peg wages at measly rates, maintains workers as contractuals and refuses to recognize their unions.

The NDF in Southern Mindanao calls on the public to support the striking workers’ struggle in Compostela Valley. The recent attack against the workers’ lives and livelihood adds up to the mounting crimes of the US-Duterte regime against the Filipino people. Duterte’s time in the presidency is fast coming to a head and, like the dictator Marcos before him, the toiling masses will ensure that he will be made to answer for the atrocities he has committed.

RUBI DEL MUNDO

Spokesperson

NDF-Southern Mindanao Region

#Philippines #InJusticeSystem #Labor #OppressedNationalities #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #WorkersAndGlobalization #ndfp #Strikes #Antifascism #SumitomoFruitsCorpSUMIFRU #NagkahiusangMamumuoSaSayupaFarmsNAMASUFA