2018

This commemoration of the Easter Uprising celebrates and remembers the heroes of the Irish national liberation struggle as also heroes of the working class, so that we might all use their example as paving stones for the road ahead towards socialism

I congratulate the Youth for Food Sovereignty for organizing this First International Rural Youth Assembly to highlight the struggles of the rural youth in semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries in their particular situation as rural youth and the close link of their struggles with the over-all struggle of their people for national freedom and democracy. In the semi-colonial and semi-feudal countries of Asia, Latin America and Africa, the rural youth comprise the majority of the rural labor force and a big part of the country’s population.

edited by Cynthia McKinney. Prof. Jose Maria Sison is one of the 25 internationally known authors in this anthology of anti-imperialist essays

“The fact that there are documents painstakingly drafted, which served as the guidelines on the series of negotiations are proof that there are positive outcome from the talks,” he said, citing the Comprehensive Agreement on the Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, the Comprehensive Agreement on Socio-Economic Reform and the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantee.

“This agreement on coordinated unilateral ceasefire is in the same package of draft agreements, including the draft amnesty to release all NDFP-listed political prisoners in compliance with CARHRIHL and the drafts of such major parts of CASER as Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ARRD) and National Industrialization and Economic Development (NIED),” Sison said.

Sison said the concurrence of Congress is needed for a presidential amnesty proclamation to release all political prisoners in compliance with the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law (CARHRIHL) in exchange for a mutually effective ceasefire as the first step towards the end of hostilities.

To both real refugees and fake surrenderers, the Duterte regime is not extending any material help after the military invasion and occupation of communities. The imaginary help appears only in the psywar campaign of the military.

“The cooperation of Congress is also needed to pass the laws for enabling the realization and implementation of the policy agreements to be embodied in the comprehensive agreements on social and economic reforms, political and constitutional reforms and the end of hostilities and disposition of forces,”

Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat, who was among 60 lawmakers who signed an “appeal” to Duterte to continue the peace talks, said he believes communication lines between government and the left “have not really been cut off.”

At least 22 party-list representatives and 40 district representatives signed House Resolution 1803 on March 22, urging President Rodrigo R. Duterte to return to the peace table with the communist group and continue discussions on Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms (CASER), dubbed as the “heart and soul” of the peace talks, and Comprehensive Agreement on Political Reforms (CAPCR)