Filipino Communists Reaffirm ‘People’s War’ on US Imperialism

From TeleSur (Mar 29): Filipino Communists Reaffirm ‘People’s War’ on US Imperialism


Members  of the New People's Army (Reuters)

The Communist Party of the Philippines released a statement Wednesday reaffirming its commitment to fighting U.S. imperialism in the Southeast Asian country.

Recapping its recently-held Second Congress, the CPP said it will continue to wage armed struggle against the imperialist country and its local supporters. Criticizing the Filipino government for bowing to the demands of the U.S., the militant group called for “people’s war towards complete victory.”

Since its 1968 founding, the CPP has fought to eradicate foreign domination in the Philippines and implement a socialist, worker-run economy.

“The Party program reaffirms the necessity of waging armed revolution in order to counter the armed violence employed by the U.S. imperialists and the local reactionary ruling classes and end the oppressive and exploitative semi-colonial and semifeudal system,” the CPP said.

The statement comes almost two months after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte shut down peace talks with the communist insurgents, ending 27 years of peace negotiations. Labeling the rebels “terrorists,” Duterte has promised a “long war” against the CPP and its armed wing, the New People's Army.

“Drawing lessons from the party’s rich history, the Second Congress presented a clearer picture of the strategy and tactics for taking advantage of the insoluble and worsening crisis of the world capitalist system, the strategic decline of U.S. imperialism and the chronic crisis of the domestic ruling system in order to advance the protracted people’s war towards complete victory.”

The CPP and the NPA began fighting the Filipino government in the late 1960s after right-wing Filipino dictator Ferdinand Marcos took power. A staunch anti-communist, Marcos was responsible for the deaths of thousands of human rights activists and, supported by the U.S., the former dictator pocketed billions of dollars for his own personal wealth.

Though the CPP and the NPA continued fighting the Filipino government after Marcos died in 1989, they agreed to reconciliation talks with succeeding governments. Those talks have since been rescinded.

Today, the armed communist militants are continuing to organize the country’s impoverished peasants against the status quo.

“The Second Congress presented an updated critique of the ... social system, giving particular attention to the post-Marcos succession of pseudo-democratic regimes, the worsening forms of oppression and exploitation of the broad masses of workers and peasants and the deteriorating socio-economic conditions of the Filipino people in almost four decades under the neoliberal regime,” the CPP said.

“The Party’s general program calls on all Filipino communists to ‘
be ready to sacrifice their lives if necessary in the struggle to bring about a new Philippines that is completely independent, democratic, united, just and prosperous.’”

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Filipino-Communists-Reaffirm-Peoples-War-on-US-Imperialism-20170329-0044.html