The beloved warrior is dead,
long live the beloved warrior!
By Lualhati Madlangawa Guererro
Warm, patriotic greetings.
At first, yours truly offers heartfelt condolences to the family and comrades of the late Jose Maria Sison.
Born into a wealthy family in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur, "Joma," as his friends and colleagues called him, transcended his privileged upbringing by choosing to support the working and oppressed masses. He did this by studying the militant nationalism of Rizal, Bonifacio, and Recto and by creatively adapting Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to the Filipino context, giving the people a renewed committment to national rebirth and social justice through a protracted struggle to attain aspirations for national liberation and democracy.
Through his writings, Cde. Sison laid the theoretical foundations of a new Philippine revolution with socialism as its perspective. Works like “Struggle for National Democracy”, “Philippine Society and Revolution” (as Amado Guerrero), and others became crucial study materials for the people to understand the nation’s situation and the serious need for struggle against systemic oppression in this continuing past.
However, his analysis doesn’t limit to that of local context, but also in the international arena. He published the work “Stand for Socialism Against Modern Revisionism”, which shed light on the socialist revolution's path during the Soviet Union's complete return to capitalism in 1990, which was widely reported by various media outlets as the "end of history" and the triumph of the capitalist system. In 1997, he published a paper titled "On imperialist globalisation," in which he made it clear that the proletariat remains and still fighting even during the time of imperialism and the socialist revolution.
Other than his theoretical notes, Cde. Sison is a litterateur whose poems showed his creative side as it celebrates with natural imagery and in a lyrical way the people’s struggle. In his poem “The Guerilla is like a Poet” he described the people’s war as a people’s epic with guerillas in rhyme with nature. The poem “The Forest is Still Enchanted” recognises myth and legend as guerillas taking over the role from the supernatural to lure and astonish intruders. There are other poems of his that carries the theme of liberation especially during his imprisonment, torture, and solitary confinement during Martial Law; as well as during his exile as he yearn for a warm, mountainous home with Mangoes and Orchids over Apples and Tulips.
Regardless of his shortcomings, this doesn’t outweigh his immense contributions to the people, the nation, even the world, and the desire for freedom and justice. A trailblazer from his youth, Cde. Sison founded the SCAUP (Student Cultural Association of the University of the Philippines, a play from the “UP Student Catholic Action”) in 1959 to counter the prevailing red scare over the campus and became an organized venue for the study of militant nationalism, as well as Marxism and the social conditions in the Philippines. This followed by the creation of Kabataang Makabayan (KM) with he as founding chairman in November 30, 1964 and led its development as one of the most important youth organizations in Philippine history.
Over the past several years until his death, Cde. Sison continued to provide invaluable insights into both local and international crisis and the situation of the revolutionary forces. The importance of Cde. Sison and his works cannot be overestimated despite being belittled by his rivals and enemies, that his struggle no matter decades long will always be continuous as more and more will rise and fight against systemic oppression and in breaking open the path towards national and social liberation.
That even his ideological rivals and enemies alike recognises his immense contributions in promoting national awareness and the need for a militant, radical social change. In an instance, Walden Bello, a known Democratic Socialist and ideological rival acknowledged Cde. Sison as a “giant of the Philippine Left”; to that of former president Duterte who admitted that while he and the late professor had major disagreements he believed that he and him shared same aspirations of a better future.
On the other hand, there are others who rather spew slander even in his death, be it the Trotskyite Scalice who clings to his anti-Stalinist narrative, to that of Sara Duterte telling god “to have mercy on his soul” or Badoy’s “rest in piss”; but this doesn’t stop the struggle that Cde. Sison once actively participated.
Indeed, for as he entered eternity the struggle he took part and led never stops. There will be more beloved warriors armed with the light that guides the people amidst darkness, of poets with bladed poems fighting a battle against tyrants and despots alike over a homeland where mango trees bear fruit and orchids bloom.