Revisiting Laws, Labels and Liberation

This Friday in Cote-des-Neiges, organized by the Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights (PCTFHR) and the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS):

Long-time women human rights activists to speak at a public forum "Revisiting Laws, Labels and Liberation"

For immediate release

September 24, 2007

(Montreal, Quebec) – Member organizations of the Philippines-Canada Task Force on Human Rights (PCTFHR) and the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) call on all progressive and anti-imperialist organizations and individuals at a public forum Revisiting Laws, Labels and Liberation: the Case of Professor Jose Maria Sison on Friday, September 28, 2007, 6:00-9:00 p.m. at le centre communautaire 6767, 6767 cote-des-neiges, 6th Floor.

The forum will feature two long-time women and human rights activists Ninotchka Rosca and Luningning Alcuitas-Imperial. Ms. Rosca is an award-winning novelist and the co-author of the book "Jose Maria Sison: At Home in the World - Portrait of a Revolutionary" with Professor Sison. She will share about her long personal collaboration with Professor Sison, including her insights about the impact of the political persecution on Professor Sison and the Filipino people's struggle for national liberation.

A lawyer and the Canadian representative to the International Coordinating Committee of the ILPS, Ms. Alcuitas-Imperial will share her knowledge of Professor Sison's "epic" legal battles, as well as the current deteriorating human rights situation in the Philippines and the Canadian campaign to stop the political killings in the Philippines. She will also share her experience in working with Prof. Sison as Canadian representative to the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) that Prof. Sison serves as its current chairperson.

The call to revisit Laws, labels and Liberation: the case of Professor Jose Maria Sison (LLL) is a response to the escalating human rights violations in the Philippines and the continuing political persecution of Professor Jose Maria Sison and other progressive Filipinos by the U.S., Dutch and Philippine governments. Under the U.S.-backed Philippine President Arroyo, more than 1000 people have been summarily killed or forcibly disappeared with another 1 million forcibly displaced. The recent of arrest of Prof. Sison based on fabricated charges that had been dismissed with finality by the Supreme of the Philippines, is a sign of desperation and failure of these governments to repress the heightening clamor to stop the killings and uphold human rights in the Philippines and restart the stalled peace negotiations between the National Democratic Front and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines.

In May 2004, the LLL international conference critically examined the deteriorating human rights situation in the Philippines and the impact of the U.S. 'anti-terrorism laws' on the right to national liberation and the future of human rights using the specific case of Professor Sison's unjust labelling as a 'terrorist' by the U.S., Dutch, European Union, Philippine and Canadian governments.

Revisiting Laws, Labels and Liberation is a public forum that will re-examine the intensifying repression of anti-imperialist movements that are waging the struggle for national liberation and democracy, such as the Philippines and the impact of the Prof. Sison's case in our communities.


For more information:
Montreal: (514) 678-3901
pwcofquebec@gmail.com



---Philippine Women Centre of Quebec---
Under the supervision of the National Alliance of Philippine Women in Canada (NAPWC), we are an institution of research, education, advocacy, and capacity building by Filipino women for the Filipino community.
Tel: (514) 678-3901