Statement in Support of Prof. Jose Maria Sison

Call for support for Professor Jose Maria Sison's legal challenge against unjust terrorist listing

Signatories as of May 31, 2006

Dear friends,

We welcome all progressive individuals and organizations in Canada, particularly those who attended the May 2004 conference, “Laws, Labels and Liberation: The Case of Professor Jose Maria Sison,” (held under the auspices of the International League of People’s Struggle in Montreal) to sign on to the statement below. It is in support of noted Filipino patriot Professor Jose Maria Sison’s legal challenge against his unjust terrorist listing by the European Union. The case will be heard in Luxembourg before the European Court of First Instance on May 30, 2006.

Your support is needed to help expose the grave abuse of power by the EU, the US and Canadian and other governments in blacklisting Professor Sison. Let us make a strong statement against the attack against Professor Sison, which is only one example of the attacks against our fundamental rights and liberties that such governments seek to justify under the pretext of the so-called “war on terrorism.”

As the Supreme Court of Canada prepares to hear the landmark cases against the Canadian government’s use of “security certificates” in June 2006, we hope that you will critically examine the latest legal and political developments in Professor Sison’s case and other individuals and movements that are unfairly labeled by unjust laws, such as Canada’s own _Anti-Terrorism Act_ and the _UN Suppression of Terrorism Financing Regulation_. For more information on Professor Sison’s case, please see the website www.defendsison.be.

To sign on to this statement, please e-mail us ASAP at
bcchrp@kalayaancentre.net. If possible, please include your title and organization, if any. If you have any questions, please let us know at the noted e-mail address.

Sincerely,

Ning Alcuitas-Imperial
On behalf of the National Organizing Committee for "Laws, Labels and Liberation: The Case of Professor Jose Maria Sison.”

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Re: _Jose Maria Sison_ versus _Council of the European Union_ Case T-47/03 against Professor Sison’s “ Terrorist Listing” before the European Court of First Instance

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, strongly condemn the Council of the European Union (EU) for its unjust blacklisting of Professor Jose Maria Sison, noted Filipino patriot, teacher and poet, as a so-called “terrorist.” This listing is a blatant attack against Professor Sison’s fundamental rights as a political refugee and his fundamental liberties as a human being.

On May 30, 2006, in the European Court of First Instance, the landmark case of Professor Sison against the Council of the European Union (EU) will be heard by the Court of First Instance. The Dutch and United Kingdom governments are intervening in the case and support the arguments of the Council of the EU in defence of its arbitrary and baseless actions, which label Professor Sison with the grave crime of terrorism. In the case, the EU and Dutch governments misrepresent rulings by Dutch courts recognizing Professor Sison as a legitimate political refugee. Previous attempts by Professor Sison and his counsel to secure access to the documents, which are being used by these governments to justify the listing, were denied because of so-called “national security” concerns.

As progressive Canadian-based organizations and individuals, we know that the listing of Professor Sison since 2002 is a desperate and futile attempt to demonize, misrepresent and intimidate him and the national liberation movement in the Philippines. In the context of intensifying anti-terrorist hysteria in a post 9/11 climate, it is all too easy for such governments – led by the US and including the Canadian government – to try to take away the fundamental rights and liberties of such individuals as Professor Sison and deprive him of all means of supporting himself and taking care of his basic necessities. As progressive and peace-loving people, we must stand up against these attacks and we express our firm solidarity with Professor Sison as he pursues his landmark legal challenge against these governments.

For over 35 years, the Filipino people have waged a heroic and principled struggle for their national and social liberation. As a leading figure in that movement, Professor Sison has utterly rejected the notion of terrorism and has always upheld the right of the people to struggle for their self-determination, freedom and genuine peace and to chart their own course for their collective and full development. To label him as a terrorist is hypocritical and utterly baseless. There is no valid criminal charge against him anywhere in the world. Although the current Arroyo regime in the Philippines seeks to persecute him for his outstanding opposition to its anti-people and repressive measures, we support Professor Sison’s position that the regime’s attempts are without legal foundation and that he is beyond the jurisdiction of the Philippine government because, as a political refugee, he is guaranteed the absolute protection against torture of Article 3 of the _European Convention on Human Rights_.

Professor Sison’s case represents a significant legal challenge to various imperialist governments’ attempts to demonize legitimate revolutionary movements who are struggling for their people’s national and social liberation in the framework of the right to self-determination against foreign domination. We applaud Professor Sison and his counsel for taking up such a critical legal challenge, which not only seeks to completely annul Professor Sison’s listing as unjust and without legal foundation – but also squarely challenges the power of such states to label and misrepresent people’s movements. Such anti-terrorism laws and measures enacted and implemented under the pretext of protecting our “national security” have severe impacts upon our fundamental human rights and well-recognized principles of international law and international humanitarian law.

As in the case of the Philippines, the pretext of “national security” is used to justify an undemocratic regime’s intensified state repression
and campaign of terror. For example, since the Arroyo regime came to
power in 2001, the regime has been responsible for more than 600
political killings against leaders and members of the national
democratic movement according to the latest report of Karapatan, the
national alliance of human rights advocates in the Philippines.

We will continue the struggle to have the Canadian government “de-list”
Prof. Sison. To this day, the government has not responded to our
request in 2002 that the government reveal its basis for listing Prof.
Sison. It is our democratic right to know such information, as we must
expose the link between Canada’s foreign policy in the Philippines to
that of its actions on “national security”.

We reaffirm our unequivocal support for the just struggle of the people
in the Philippines and elsewhere for their national and social
liberation. Prof. Sison is not only a celebrated fighter for and
defender of those enlightened and cherished goals of humanity but a
towering symbol for all oppressed peoples He is no terrorist!

SIGNED,

The National Organizing Committee for /Laws, Labels and Liberation: The
Case of Professor Jose Maria Sison/.”//

* B.C. Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (BCCHRP)
* Manitoba Centre for Philippine Concerns (MCPC)
* Philippine Network for Justice and Peace – Toronto (PNJP)
* Ontario Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (OCHRP)
* Centre for Philippine Concerns – Montreal (CPC)
* Philippine Women Centre of Quebec
* SIKLAB-Montreal
* Kabataang Montreal (Filipino Youth Organization in Montreal)
* PINAY (Filipino women's organization in Quebec)
* SIKLAB-Vancouver
* Filipino Nurses Support Group
* Ugnayan ng Kabataang Pilipino sa Canada/Filipino-Canadian Youth
Alliance (Vancouver)
* Grassroots Women
* COALITION OF AUTOWORKERS AND RELATED INDUSTRIES AGAINST IMPERIALIST
DOMINATION (CAR-AID)

Individuals:
* Roque "Bodeng" Juatco, Editor in Chief, Philippine Asian Chronicle
BC & Alberta
* Beth Grayer, Bus Riders Union
* John Splitting the Sky Boncore...Indigenous Activist/Actor
* Gloria Pavez Seguel, British Columbia Latin-American Collective –
coordinator
* Naty Rosales, British Columbia Latin-American Collective