|
To the Summit of International Political Parties
To the Extraordinary Congress of the Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela (PSUV)
Fraternal Greetings from the Partido Lakas ng Masa, Filipinas!
(PLM or the Power of the Laboring Masses Party)
Dear Comrades and Delegates,
The Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) Filipinas sends you warm solidarity greetings on this momentous occasion of the gathering of Latin American and other left parties. We especially extend warm greetings to our comrades of the Latin American left parties. We thank you for the invitation to attend the gathering and the efforts made to ensure our attendance. We are sad that we cannot join you due to the pressing political situation in the Philippines leading up to the national elections in May 2010, however, we are honoured to be able to greet you through this solidarity message.
We would also like to use this opportunity to send warm greetings to the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Commandante Hugo Chavez.
Our party in the Philippines has been following the developments in the revolutionary movement in Latin America very closely, especially the unfolding of the Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela and Bolivia, under the slogan of ‘Socialism for the 21st Century’. Therefore, warm greetings to the delegates from MAS in Bolivia, the FMLN El Salvador, FSLN Nicaragua, Frente Amplio in Uruguay.
And very special greetings to our comrades and heroes of the Communist Party of Cuba. Viva Cuba! Viva Fidel!
Our countries and regions have much in common. In the Filipinas, we too endured some 800 years of Spanish colonial rule, followed by the colonization and now semi-colonization by US imperialism. We too endured military dictatorships, such as the Marcos dictatorship in the 1980s, propped up by US imperialism. We too suffer a form of under-developed capitalism, which is an elite system dominated by a handful of elite families and political clans that control the political system in the country. Our economy too is dominated by the US. Our elites too are completely subservient to the interests of US imperialism. We also have common elements in our languages, with over 40,000 Spanish words to be found in our national language Filipino or Tagalog. We too have a long history of national liberation struggles, including guerrilla warfare, waged by the left movement and the people. Therefore we in the PLM know that we have a lot to learn from your struggles in Latin America and from each other’s struggles.
Given the nature of the crisis facing the global capitalist system – the economic crisis of capitalism and the environmental crisis which threatens the very survival of humanity and the planet – there is a pressing need for international collaboration and solidarity. Given the scale of the crisis, we also think that we can only come to a clearer understanding of the specific nature of the crisis and the necessary alternative strategies to address it, through the discussions and exchanges of the socialist movement, at the international level. For example, some of our leaders attended the conference of Latin American political economists organized by the Centro International Miranda in October 2008 and found these exchanges invaluable in adding to our understanding of the economic crisis. Therefore we welcome initiatives such as these.
In fact we think that there is an urgent need for greater collaboration amongst socialist parties internationally. Therefore we would like to use this opportunity to invite all the parties present to the International Socialist Conference to be organized by our party, PLM, in the Philippines in November 2010, next year.
In this framework, we are also a hundred percent supportive of your call for greater unity of the movement. Here in the Philippines we have tasted the bitter fruits of disunity and sectarianism amongst different political forces. While we have made some progress in uniting the left in our country, we still have a long way to go. While ideological unity can be problematic, we emphasize the need for political unity and unity in struggle. This disunity of the left in our country weakens the unity and struggles of our class. Therefore we must also emphasize the importance of the unity of our class – of the workers, the urban poor, the rural poor and the oppressed.
Comrades, we have a lot we can say and you also have a lot to discuss and exchange amongst yourselves.
Therefore we wish you great success in the deliberations at the conference and the PSUV congress. We know that your deliberations will strengthen our struggles and we are looking forward to meeting and discussing with PSUV and other Latin American left parties at gatherings in the future, perhaps in the Philippines next year.
Mabuhay Socialismo!
Mabuhay PSUV!
Hasta la Victoria Siempre!
Compañero Sonny Melencio,
Chairperson, Partido Lakas ng Masa, Filipinas.
November 18, 2009
|
