DEN HAAG – The 50th Anniversary of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines was commemorated today (23) in Holland and counted with the participation of delegates from different organizations from Philippines and across the world.
The NDFP was established seven months after the first Marcos regime imposed martial law, one of the darkest periods in the country’s history. The NDFP Preparatory Commission was created on the initiative of the Party to unite mass organizations forced to operate underground because of the imposition of the fascist dictatorship. It prepared the NDFP manifesto and the 10-point (later 12-point) program which served to unite the broad masses of people. Subsequently, anti-dictatorship organizations would one by one come together under the NDFP.
Not soon after, the NDFP served as the core of the people’s resistance and will later be recognized inside and outside the country as representative of the Filipino people in resistance. Other underground national democratic mass organizations were founded and joined the NDFP. It is now composed of 18 organizations representing different progressive and democratic classes and sectors united by the revolutionary aspiration of ending the rule of imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat-capitalism.
The NDFP’s national-democratic program must be rigorously propagated to unite the Filipino people. It primarily aims to end the ruling semicolonial and semifeudal system, and to free the country from foreign domination and control. These are the basic conditions to change the Filipino people’s destiny, end the hundreds of years history of oppression and slavery, and bring the country to a new chapter of progress and development.
Comrade Nilufer Koç, member of the Executive Council and spokesperson for the Commission on Foreign Relations of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) participated in the commemoration and said:
“Let me first to pay the tribute on behalf of my all my comrades who care Juma and also remember all the mantras of the Philippine Revolution. Because when we talk about 50 years on the commemoration of the National Democratic Front, we have to be reminded that high prices have to be paid, thousands of our comrades lost their lives. So say 50 years is not a simple issue as much as the mathematics figure. Behind 50 years there is the martyrdom of thousands of people, people who have been forced to live in exile, disappeared extrajudicial killings. So that’s why I’m happy to celebrate the day of your happiness, of your success, because this is the only response we can give to our friends we lost during these 50 years.
As the people from Kurdistan we have similar experiences with the revolution in Philippines murdering of civilians, extrajudicial killing, demographic changes, use of chemical weapons, etc. Just because some of the global powers went to occupy the land of others, since they are not able to convince, because we know they are lying – now using military violence to silence us. For this there is a resistance and resistance is needed. Then the question is what is the power of the people? What is the power of any revolutionary movement? Is life in the tent was saying uniting the people. This is only our power. But this is not enough. Since the opponent, are using military violence, aggression, you have to create your own defense forces. This is the experience you make also in another part of Kurdistan, when you move from Egypt to West Asia, in the center of Middle East in the country of the Kurds could start. So like the issue of Myanmar and Philippines and others, our country have been divided 100 years ago, exactly when the 24th of July 1923 by the British Empire to prevent the movements of the Soviet Union to Turkey, to the Ottoman Empire, the new created Turkish state by the British and France. The game was to create the Kurds on which they can control, to keep the Turks under control, to make Turkey beneficial for the British Empire, against the influence of the socialism for the Soviet Union. In this time, they have chosen the land of the Kurds, making the existence of the Kurdish people to a problem. So the thing with what we say, the Kurdish problem, the Kurdish part, the Kurdish cause, the Kurdish issue is nothing has then describing definition of an existence of the people of a problem, to make the existence of the people of a tool of the occupation of colonialism.
Now we are preparing also for the next four months because the anniversary of the threat of those numbers divide that the loan of Kurdistan to Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. So after 50 years of the Kurdish revolution on the 24th of July, we will go to the city of Lausanne in Switzerland to say: ‘You couldn’t defeat us. We exist, we make us visible. You have to recognize our existence’. So this could be now a very critical time of our history, but not just of Kurds but also the history of Turkey, the working class in Turkey for women, youth, all ethnic groups of Turkey, the Armenians, Assyrians, Arabs, etc. On the 14th of May, there will be elections, presidential and parliamentary elections in Turkey. So we tried our best to bring all the opponents of the very puppet, corrupt regime of Turkey, led by its President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He was brought to power 21 years ago, and the role given to Erdogan was to play as leader of the neighboring Middle East, spreading moderate Islam by trying to controlling the people of Middle East through Turkey. So, you know, Turkey become member after NATO’s 1952, the role given to Turkey in the NATO was to control the very critical area of the region of Middle East. Erdogan has pulled up by the all the rules given by Washington. But then later on, when there was a next step or next of state collapsing next to Iraq, it was Syria in 2011 because of foreign intervention, Erdogan said “Why should I just obey the U.S. interests? I am the grandson of the big publishers, two sultans of the Ottoman Empire. So Syria is weak, Europe is weak. I can spread Turkish interest everywhere. Middle East and I spread Islam, moderate Islam through the help of the after you. So I found that the great bass line I will, but I will pull up the strategy to give first, like Donald Trump did in the past as America first.” Now he played in the last 12 years the strategy, Turkey first. Then with this he became in conflicts with his supporters, the U.S. and also the other nation member states, including Netherlands.
In the meantime, what we did as the Kurds, we say what we don’t care if the U.S. is supporting you or you are a member of the NATO, we insist we reject your colonization of our country. What we did was we said we are not the only one oppressed by this regime, we are not the only man killed by this regime might be read the most of in fact, the people of Turkey, the Kurds with 25 million people but we know those working class is also oppressed and we know that half of the society under the Islamic rule or the misuse of Islam over women. So we know that all the others who are not turk, not man, not suni Islam are opponents of the regime. So why not creating a come and gone through, come struggle with all of them?
So in the last 20 years, the main focus of the Kurdish led revolution was bringing the revolutionary, democratic progressive forces of Turkey and also national unity amongst the Kurdish political parties. And the Filipinas, you have you have at parties. You are fighting against what the regime you as imperialism and Philippines. But we have to fight against four states Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria. So all our colonial powers and each of them have their own relations everywhere, and then also, of course, the global powers, the UK and the European Union states who have different interests, but Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria. So we have to be very multilateral in our political understanding. This is a need to overcome all the challenges, though, as a need to bring the policy opponent all those who look for freedom, for equality, for justice. So in these elections, again, we brought all the progressive forces, the majority of the progressive forces of Turkey, and united with them a new front in the elections. Unfortunately, political circumstances also challenged us to vote for someone we don’t really like. But part of the new national political understanding is also to be rich and input and using political tactics. The only said to all people who win with us, fight with us to get rid of this dictator of the fascist Erdogan all are invited to come with us to the land we love party Since our own party, the pro-Kurdish party, HDP, could not find a date because a court case was decided there. A court case was running and we didn’t know when they are going to close the pro-Kurdish party HDP.
The only option to us was together in coalition with another Turkish left party, the Green Party and nd with them we are now running the election campaign and next to members of the HDP under the umbrella of Green left. Now, several other political parties, according to the ethnic groups of Turkey and the quota of women. So we are the only movement in Turkey who we will send 40% women to the Turkish parliament. Because of the standing of Kurdish revolution in all Exactly, in the Kurdish revolution, the red line is the women’s freedom. Because we do believe that the group that based a manifestation of capitalism lies in patriarchy. This mean defeating patriarchy means also defeating capitalism so that we have we have to start in our own society. This is the differences, I would say, of the Kurdish revolution, comparing with our revolution experiences.
I would like to say to know that in other parts of the world, my comrades in Philippines, in Myanmar, in other countries, in Colombia and in African countries, they are doing also the same with similar aims and just know this make us very happy. So the other and other question is why do we learn revolution? We have to look in the revolution in Philippines and others, do we think we have to learn from each other? This is our, I would say, revolution in academic means, learning from the struggles of others. This happens in our very hard times to learn from the revolution in Cambodia, Vietnam, in the 70’s and 80’s, to learn from the experience in South Africa, in Mozambique, Angola, everywhere. So these are all the heritages legacies we have taken over. We are implementing this just in other part of the world and contribute medulla with our country contribution we gave back what we learned from you and I hope will continue with our solidarity since we are doing this, since I know Kony 96 in Katmandu during the Conference of Women and I will wait for the day when we can celebrate our freedom together. Thank you so much.”
