France-strike-protest-2023a

Many European countries have seen a surging wave of strikes and protests since 2022. Leading the labor charge are the workers' unions in the United Kingdom, France, and Spain. Other European countries, including Germany, Italy, Hungary and Portugal, also launched strikes in the beginning of 2023.

Jose Ma. Sison speaks in 2016 forum

Organizations, groups and individuals continue to express grief and pay homage to Jose Maria “Joma” Sison, founding chairperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), who died on December 16. Statements and testimonies recognized his contributions to the struggle of the Filipino people and his widespread influence as well on the global proletarian-socialist and anti-imperialist movement.

Elisabeth Dimitriev, Léo Frankel, Jaroslaw Dombrowki

Exemplary Communards of other nationalities who fought alongside their French comrades in the barricades included Elisabeth Dimitriev, a Russian, Léo Frankel, a Hungarian, and Jaroslaw Dombrowski, a Pole. Dimitriev and Frankel were members of the International, while Dombrowski was a veteran Narodnik revolutionary.

Marcos Arroyo Duterte

Protest tryptich art by the UGAT-LAHI visual arts group shows a powerful morphing image of three presidents of the Philippines particularly known for their brazenly savage support for military-sponsored killings: Ferdinand Marcos, who ruled as dictator from 1972 to 1986; Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who benefitted from a second People Power revolt to become president from 2001 to 2010 but likewise coddled butcher-generals; and incumbent Rodrigo Duterte, whose regime's own bloody record is said to have now reached the same proportions as that of Marcos in his 14 years of fascist dictatorship. The 49th anniversary of Marcos' declaration of martial law is being marked this year by various anti-fascist alliances, with focus on the unprecedented mass killings.

THIS WEEK’S MAIN STORY


UK, OTHER EUROPEAN COUNTRIES TOSSED BY WORKERS’ STRIKES

Many European countries have seen a surging wave of strikes and protests since 2022. Leading the labor charge are the workers’ unions in the United Kingdom, France, and Spain. Other European countries, including Germany, Italy, Hungary and Portugal, also launched strikes in the beginning of 2023.

The Europe-wide strike wave is being generated by intense economic crisis (fuelled by galloping inflation especially in energy and food prices) and social unrest. The millions of strikers and protesters feel underpaid, overworked, neglected, and clobbered with anti-strike sanctions and police action while negotiations have ground to a halt.

So far, there is wide public support for the labor strikes and union demands, even in the case of key public services such as health, schools and transport. Teachers’ strikes have been supported by students.



RECENT POSTS


TRIBUTE TO JOMA SISON


Jose Maria Sison

The Filipino People’s Democratic Revolution Is Invincible

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Note by Julieta de Lima: It is with deepest grief that I have to be the one to issue my husband’s last and final message to the revolutionary forces and the people on the 54th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines. He…

On the World Situation

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This paper by ILPS Chair Emeritus Jose Maria Sison was delivered during the launching assembly of the International People's Front in Bangkok, Thailand, on 28 September 2022. It provides a brief historical background of the rise of modern imperialism…

Historical Rise of Fascism and Current Manifestation in Pandemic

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In this talk, ILPS Chair Emeritus Jose Maria Sison presented an overview of the historical rise of fascism: its fundamental basis in the existence of the state of an exploitative ruling class which emerged as old primitive-communal societies…

JMS on 9-11 and the US war on terror

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On the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York City's World Trade Center and the Pentagon building near Washington D.C., Jose Maria Sison delivered a major speech, "On 9-11 and the US War on Terror" at a webinar on 13…

JMS on US occupation of Afghanistan

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On the occasion of US imperialism's failed 20-year occupation of Afghanistan, which ended ignominiously on 31 August 2021, Jose Maria issued this article, “US Occupation of Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021.” Prof. Sison is chairperson emeritus…
Red flag of the Paris Commune

Joma Sison on the 1871 Paris Commune

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On the occasion of the 1871 Paris Commune, Jose Maria Sison, chairman emeritus of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, delivered this address to an ILPS-hosted webinar on 20 March 2021. The reactors to the seminar are Azra Sayeed…
Prof. Jose Maria Sison

Building Resistance to the Threat of War and Reaction

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Jose Ma. Sison delivered this speech at the Australia National Conference of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle on 25 July 2020. Here he presents a quick overview of the history and circumstances of imperialism, especially US imperialist…
Prof. Jose Maria Sison

US-Led Wars and Types of Weapons in the Era of Modern Imperialism

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This paper by Prof. Jose Maria Sison provides a brief historical background and the current state of the wars and weapons of mass destruction for which the imperialist states are responsible, with focus on the recent decades after the Cold…
Filipino peasant

On the Land Problem, Peasant Class and Agrarian Revolution

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This Q & A on the land problem, peasant class and agrarian revolution in the Philippines is a follow-up to the just-concluded three-part series of web forums on Philippine Society and Revolution at the National Democratic Online School…

PARIS COMMUNE AT 150


Paris Commune as early example of proletarian internationalism

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By ANDI BELISARIO, PRISM Contributor The 1871 Paris Commune encouraged, officially and in practice, the participation of non-French nationalities in its many concerns, both in decision-making and in actual ground-level actions. Thus it was…
Vive La Commune women on the frontlines

PDF for download: Primer on Paris Commune 150th

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The editors of PRISM has prepared this “Primer on the 1871 Paris Commune on its 150th Anniversary” as one of our contributions in commemorating the historic and world-shaking event. This three-part primer starts in Part I with major…
Red flag of the Paris Commune

Joma Sison on the 1871 Paris Commune

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On the occasion of the 1871 Paris Commune, Jose Maria Sison, chairman emeritus of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle, delivered this address to an ILPS-hosted webinar on 20 March 2021. The reactors to the seminar are Azra Sayeed…
Vive la Commune

Primer on the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune – III

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This is Part 3 of the PRISM primer on the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune. Here we restate the most important analyses, insights and lessons about the Paris Commune, as they were derived by proletarian-revolutionary thinkers and…
Vive La Commune women on the frontlines

Primer on the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune – II

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This is Part 2 of the PRISM primer on the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune. This part narrates the events surrounding the Commune proper, from 18 March to 28 May 1871. It starts with the Versailles regime's attempt to seize the National…
Paris Commune 150

Primer on the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune – I

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The PRISM editors are posting this primer on the Paris Commune (18 March - 28 May 1871), on the occasion of its 150th anniversary. We are posting it in three installments, and will soon also make it available in PDF format. We welcome comments…


The Counterrevolutionary Position of the Trotskyites against the Filipino Proletariat and Filipino People

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PRISM editors are posting below the full text of a followup summary critique by the MLM Study Group – Metro Manila of the Trotskyite views opposing the Philippine revolution in past decades. We invite more critiques and other reactions to…
No to Trotskyism

MLM-SG-MM: Why Trotskyites Are Counterrevolutionaries Like Their Idol Trotsky

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PRISM editors are posting below the full text of another response, by the MLM Study Group – Metro Manila, to the Trotskyite views in general and on the Philippine revolution in recent years and decades. We invite more critiques and other…
No to Trotskyism

Enduco: Comments on Scalice’s Speech

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PRISM editors are posting below the full text of a response by Petra P. Enduco to the controversial lecture on 26 August 2020 by Trotskyite academic Joseph Scalice on the supposed role of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its…
Prof. Jose Maria Sison

On Trotskyites and Other Slanderers

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This webinar on Trotskyites and social democrats who have been slandering national democrats in the Philippines is based on a prepared text by Jose Ma. Sison. The Tsikahan with Tito Jo (Informal talks with Uncle Jo) webinar was conducted by…

Critique of the Trotskyite attacks on the CPP and the Philippine revolution

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This interview with Jose Ma. Sison, founding chairperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), was published on 25 August 2020 in a special issue of Ang Bayan, official CPP newspaper. The interview focuses on a recent flare-up of…

Comments of Jose Maria Sison on certain views against the CPP

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Jose Maria Sison, founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, released to social media on 26 June 2020 his comments on certain views aired by Trotskyites and other anti-communist detractors against the CPP's revolutionary theory…

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