BY BEN COURTICE
On August 9, the US State Department designated the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New Peoples Army (NPA) as foreign terrorist organizations and implored other governments to do the same.
On August 12, the US Treasury Department listed the CPP, the NPA and alleged CPP leader Professor Jose Maria Sison a political refugee living in the Netherlands as terrorists whose assets must be frozen.
On August 13, the Dutch authorities issued a ruling directed at the NPA/CPP and at Sison, stating All means belonging to [Sison] will be frozen. It is prohibited to undertake financial services for or in favour of [him]. A couple of days later, Sison's personal bank account was frozen, leaving him penniless. On September 12, he received a letter from the municipal government which announced that his social benefits, including housing and health insurance, had been stopped.
The persecution of Sison follows a recent pattern of criminalisation of left-wing political refugees in Europe, particularly members of Turkish and Kurdish left groups. However, it has another dimension, as the US war machine engages not only in Afghanistan and Iraq but also in the Philippines ostensibly against the Abu Sayyaf bandit group.
From Green Left Weekly, October 2, 2002.
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