From: Barry Stoller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [pttp] Philippine communists confident AFP. 25 December 2001. Communists ready for new talks with Philippines government. MANILA -- The founder of the Philippine communist movement on Wednesday said his group would resume talks with the government next month. Speaking by telephone from his exile in Utrecht, Netherlands, Jose Maria Sison told radio station DZBB that some agreements "are to be approved and signed by both (negotiating) panels. That will be done in formal talks to be carried out in January." He did not specify when or where the talks would be held or what accords would be signed. Government negotiators could not be reached for comment. The communists have held several rounds of talks with the government but President Gloria Arroyo suspended the negotiations in June after they killed two members of Congress. Sison, whose Communist Party of the Philippines is marking its 33rd founding anniversary on Wednesday, said his guerrilas would not mount attacks for the occasion. He said they would observe a unilateral Christmas ceasefire and hold meetings and "cultural presentations" instead. Sison said he was confident communism was on the upturn despite the end of the Cold War. "The socialist movement is resurgent worldwide. Here in Europe, there are (victories by) social democratic and green parties, more leftist than the conservative and Christian Democrats. In the last year, they were bringing their pink flag and green flag (to demonstrations)." "Throughout the world, there are more people demonstrating wherever there is a meeting of the IMF (International Monetary Fund), World Bank, WTO (World Trade Organization)," Sison said. An economic slowdown has allowed the communists to bounce back in recent years. The military estimates communist guerrilla strength at about 12,000, about double their number in the early 1990s. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
