The Socialist Unity Party and Struggle-La Lucha newspaper join revolutionaries and partisans of labor in the Philippines and around the world in mourning the passing of Comrade Prof. Jose Maria Sison.
We send our deepest solidarity and revolutionary love to Comrade Julie de Lima, to all of Prof. Sison’s family, companions and loved ones, and to all comrades of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the National Democratic Front, and the New People’s Army on this sad occasion.
Ka Joma was a warm and humble man. He loved poetry and song, karaoke, and culture. He had a wonderful sense of humor and a kind, grandfatherly presence. And he was a revolutionary giant in word and deed, a true communist leader whose work inspires and is studied by millions in the Philippines and on every continent.
In his amazing life, from the University of the Philippines to the streets of Metro Manila, from the forests of Cagayan to the dungeons of the Marcos dictatorship, and in decades of exile from his beloved homeland, he forged and guided one of the most enduring revolutionary movements in the world today.
The rebirth of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the Philippine national liberation struggle was a mighty chapter in the revolutionary tide that swept the world in the mid-20th century. Later that tide receded. There were many setbacks, compromises, and betrayals. But under Ka Joma’s guidance, the comrades of the CPP, NPA, and NDF held the red flag high.
Your perseverance in the cause of the workers and oppressed in the battle for national liberation and socialism remains a beacon to revolutionaries everywhere. This is Ka Joma’s legacy.
We will sorely miss Ka Joma’s beautiful presence, his wisdom and counsel, and his company. But he lives in the hearts and minds of millions in the Philippines and around the globe. He lives in the dedicated and heroic cadre of the CPP. He lives among workers fighting for their rights, peasants and Indigenous peoples fighting for their land, the urban poor fighting for their homes, youth and students fighting for the future of our planet, and in heroic Red fighters who have taken up the gun in the people’s democratic revolution that continues in cities and countryside.
He lives in the hundreds of mass organizations on every continent he guided in the International League of People’s Struggle. He will live forever in an independent, socialist Philippines in a free and socialist world.
Long live the spirit and legacy of Comrade Jose Maria Sison!
Long live the Communist Party of the Philippines!
Long Live the National Democratic Front of the Philippines!
Long live the New People’s Army!
Long live international solidarity!
Workers and oppressed people of the world unite!
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