JUSTICE AND LIBERATION: THE ROAD TO PEACE –
Luis Jalandoni is the International Representative of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF, www.ndfp.net), a post that he has held since 1977, and since 1994 he has been the Chairperson of the NDF’s Negotiating Panel for peace talks with the Government of the Philippines. The NDF is the coalition of several underground groups, including the Communist Party of the Philippines and its New People’s Army, which has been waging a war of liberation throughout the Philippines for more than 40 years, making it one of the longest running armed struggles in the world.
The country desperately needs peace with justice and security, so resolving this people’s war is central to that. Luis will be accompanied by his wife Coni Ledesma, who will also be speaking. She is a member of the NDF Negotiating Panel for peace talks; and is the International Spokesperson of MAKIBAKA, a revolutionary women’s group which belongs to the NDF. Luis and Coni are both veteran leading figures in the Philippine revolutionary Left. He was a Catholic priest in the 1960s and she was a nun. Both were founders of Christians for National Liberation, a member group of the NDF. Continue reading “Filipino progressive leaders to tour NZ Oct/Nov”
Nestle – there’s blood in your coffee
Around 20 people protested inside Nestle New Zealand’s head
office in down town Auckland, Friday 6 March, against the murder of unionists in the Phillipines and to show solidarity with the 600 Nestle workers in the Philippines who have been on strike for seven years. 
Communist Party of the Philippines’ 40th anniversary
The Workers Party of New Zealand sends warm greetings to the Communist Party of the Philippines, on its 40th anniversary.
The CPP has led the struggle against feudalism, capitalism and imperialism in the Philippines for four decades. Having withstood the Marcos dictatorship through to the current brutal regime of Arroyo, the CPP has been sustained through its deep roots among the masses. When many other communist parties around the world collapsed in the 1990s, the CPP carried on the struggle, constantly reassessing itself and further developing its strengths.
The CPP’s commitment to internationalism has given confidence to many organisations and individuals in the struggle for world revolution.
We hope that 2009 will bring much success to the comrades in the Philippines.
In solidarity
Workers Party of New Zealand
Spark Audio: The mass movement in the Philippines
In this talk Dennis Maga from the KMU (May 1st union movement) talks about the issues facing the oppressed workers and peasants in in the Philippines and the mass movement for change in that country.
Record at Marxism 2008.
Download the MP3
here.
Workers Party message on the death of Ka Bel
The death of the Filipino workers’ leader Crispin “Ka Bel” Beltran is a sad occasion for the many New Zealanders he inspired. Ka Bel visited New Zealand on several occasions and maintained links with activists here.In his teens Ka Bel joined the guerrilla movement against the Japanese occupation. After the war he became a militant unionist and helped establish the KMU union federation in 1980.
He was arrested and imprisoned in 1982 during the Marcos dictatorship but managed to escape in 1984. In 1987, after the dictatorship was ousted, Ka Bel became leader of the KMU and remained in that position until 2003.
In 2001 he was elected to Congress and served three terms representing the most exploited Filipinos. He made good use of the parliamentary platform, filing 130 bills and resolutions – a record number for the House of Representatives.
He was also chairman of the International League of Peoples Struggles – which was comprised of over 200 anti-imperialist organisations.
Ka Bel was arrested in February 2006 and illegally detained for 18 months by the Arroyo regime. His release followed an international campaign to free him, including high profile protests in New Zealand last year during Arroyo’s visit to this country.
The Workers Party of New Zealand extends condolences to Ka Bel’s comrades and family on the loss of this tenacious leader. We are comforted knowing that his fighting spirit lives on in the mass movement in the Philippines today.