URGENT CALL FOR PROTEST ACTION
Free Prof. Jose Maria Sison!

Incredible as it may appear Professor Jose Maria Sison, the Chairman of the International Coordinating Committee of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS) was arrested in Utrecht, the Netherlands on August 28, 2007 by the Dutch police.

Prof. Sison was arrested by Dutch authorities under the false charges that he ordered the murder of three individuals in the Philippines. These are fabricated charges concocted by the regime of Mrs. Arroyo and its counter insurgency police in the Philippines. These are the same charges that were categorically dismissed by the Philippines High Court on July 11, 2007 for lack of any evidence.

Simultaneous with the arrest of Prof. Sison the Dutch police raided his house, the international offices National Democratic Front of Philippines (NDFP) and the houses of other Filipino militants. In some of these raids the police violently broke down the doors to enter and search the premises. They confiscated computers CDs, DVDs and other files supposedly to help them with their investigations.

Following his arrest Professor Jose Maria Sison, was moved to The Hague and continues to be under interrogation by the Dutch Police. According to DEFEND he will be brought to court for a hearing on Friday August 31 in order to consider further possible detention by the Dutch authorities.

Clearly, the arrest of the Professor Sison by the Dutch authorities is politically motivated and is directly linked to the relentless attempts of the US backed puppet regime of Arroyo in the Philippines and its master, US imperialism to bring an end to the rising revolutionary struggle of the peoples of the Philippines and to force the NDFP, CPP and the New Peoples Army leading this protracted revolutionary struggle to submission.

This is a futile attempt to force the revolutionary movement of the peoples of the Philippines to abandon its just struggle for national and social liberation and submit itself to the will of the reactionary, bankrupt, corrupt and murderous regime in power in the Philippines. The regime of Mrs. Arroyo is a terrorist regime that has sponsored hooded gunmen to assassinate over 1000 progressives and people’s activists since it coming to power.

But they should know that not only Joma Sison’s arrest will not break the will of the Filipino people and their revolutionary forces but will intensify their resolve in bringing a rapid end to this crisis ridden puppet regime. The heroic struggle of the people of the Philippines has stood fast for decades and has outlived and in fact overthrown many of Mrs Arroyo’s predecessors, including the Marcos regime.

Joma Sison is being hounded for his staunch defence of the peoples struggle against imperialism and all reactionaries. He is hounded for his unyielding internationalism and belief that it is the masses that are the makers of history and that they will rise to liberate themselves establishing a society without war, injustice and exploitation - a society without imperialism and reaction. Hence an attack on Joma is an attack against the peoples everywhere from Europe and North America to Asia, Africa and Latin America.

The ILPS condemns and abhors the blatant abuse of power by the Dutch authorities in this latest episode of the long-standing systematic intimidation, ill treatment and denial of basic human rights of Professor Jose Maria Sisson.

The ILPS condemns the collaboration and collusion of the Dutch government with the Arroyo’s criminal regime and demand immediate and unconditional release of Prof. Sison and full restoration of his rights.

The ILPS general secretariat calls on all democratic and anti-imperialist forces, anti-war organisations and fronts and in particular requests all ILPS member organisations to continue to rally to the support of the ILPS chairman, Professor Jose Maria Sison, to actively join the international campaign to secure his freedom and demand his immediate and unconditional release from custody.

In The Hague, the ILPS members will be joining protest actions in front of the court on Friday 31st August at 1.00 pm. We further call for immediate coordinated protest actions in front of Dutch embassies across the world.

Please send reports of actions and your statements to ILPS Information Bureau and distribution lists for wider distribution. Further information and updates will be issued through the ILPS Info Bureau distribution lists (info-bureau@lists.ilps-news.com).

ILPS General Secretariat
30/08/07

Info@ilps2001.com,
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