Jose Maria Sison, center.

Since the Philippines' days as a colony of the USA--which formally ended in 1946--the USA has endeavored to undermine Philippine efforts at genuine self-determination. After independence, the USA worked with the Philippine puppet government to stamp out a legitimate insurgency led by those who had prosecuted the war against the Japanese invaders in World War II. The USA never ceased in its efforts to maintain the Philippines as a neo-colony and major base area for US military operations in Southeast Asia. During the Vietnam War, the Philippines was a major site for the launching of air attacks against North Vietnam. It also served as a major base area of land, air and sea forces.

Jose Maria Sison was part of a group that reconstituted the Communist Party of the Philippines and pursued a struggle for the genuine independence of the Philippines from the USA. As its first chairman, Sison became a major leader, not only in the Philippines but eventually internationally in Left circles. The decision of the CPP to launch a guerrilla war against the hated regime of Ferdinand Marcos put Sison and many others in the bull's-eye, not only of Marcos and his henchmen, but also of the USA.

As the anti-war movement marches again on Washington, it is with an increased sense of urgency. We have all mourned the 3,000th soldier to be killed in an unjust war. We are all deeply saddened, and angered, by the deaths of 34,000 Iraqi civilians that the UN reports have been killed in 2006 alone.

We react with anger that, in the middle of the US occupation of Iraq, our military would bomb Somalia, without any debate or cause for concern about public opinion. And at the same time Bush is beginning to beat the drumbeats of military action against Iran, he is also calling for an escalation of military forces in Iraq.

Amidst all of the outrages of the current conflict, the anti-war movement shows growing signs of energy and motion. After Bush's speech there were dozens of vigils and protests across the country within twenty-four hours. The much-feared complacency after the Democratic win in Congress hasn't materialized. People are on the move, and the smell of change is in the wind.