By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson, International Coordinating Committee
International League of Peoples’ Struggle
1 December 2007
The International League of Peoples’ Struggle praises and supports the vigorous protests against the Arroyo regime and the demand for the ouster of this regime aired separately by scores of military officers and civilian sympathizers at the Manila Peninsula Hotel in Makati on Thursday, November 29 and by the thousands of street demonstrators near the presidential palace in Manila on Friday, November 30.
The Thursday protest action at the hotel did not succeed with its announced objective of inspiring the people to join it within a few hours and the military to openly withdraw its support in order to cause the downfall of the Arroyo regime and replace it with a new government. But it succeeded resoundingly through the national and global mass media in making a strong denunciation of the moral bankruptcy, corruption, mendacity and brutality of the regime and in manifesting the relentless struggle of patriotic officers and enlisted personnel against those in the pro-Arroyo chain of command.
The organizers of the Friday street demonstrations accomplished their announced limited objective of fielding some thousands of demonstrators in order to revive the mass movement for the ouster of the Arroyo regime. But the street demonstrations did not catch the attention of the national and global mass media as much as the Thursday protest action had done, even as the mass organizations were more cogent and sharper through their statements, streamers, placards and graphics in condemning the afflictions inflicted by the regime on the people and in demanding the ouster of the regime.
No doubt all concerned have still a lot of work to do in developing further the capability to launch gigantic mass actions and in causing the military and police to withdraw support from the Arroyo regime as in the downfall of the Marcos and Estrada regimes in 1986 and 2001. The participants in mass actions in Manila must grow to the level of 50,000, then 100,000, further on 200,000 and still further. Only after the level of 100,000 is reached will the military and police begin on a wide scale to consider withdrawing support from the Arroyo regime.
Successes in people’s uprising as in 1986 and 2001 may not be repeated mechanically because of differing circumstances. To cite one important current circumstance, Arroyo has repeatedly demonstrated her willingness to shed the blood of her opponents in order to keep herself in power. She has shown her callousness in causing the murder, abduction and torture of hundreds of unarmed legal activists opposed to her regime.
She is known to boast that unlike Marcos and Estrada who ultimately abandoned power for fear of a bloodbath she will not hesitate to cause bloodshed in the name of”law and order”. She is also known to gloat over her repeated success in suppressing hotel takeovers which are in fact “shows d’etat” rather than coups d’etat. Thus, her adversaries within the military establishment are under challenge to prevent her from using the chain of command in controlling them and in attacking the people.###
