On 29th October 2021, Ka Oris, a long-time revolutionary and determined cadre of the revolutionary struggle of the Communist Party of the Philippines, was assassinated in cold blood by soldiers of the Philippine state, and has become immortal.
Ka Oris, with the struggle he waged throughout his life and with his youthful spirit, is a great inspiration to revolutionaries worldwide.
In 1972, Ka Oris joined the revolutionary struggle of the New People’s Army (NPA) during his time as a student. He fought in the Mindanao areas and became a vital cadre in the struggle. He played a particularly important role in the growth of the New People’s Army and the organization of the rural population.
He was part of the negotiating team in the peace talks in the 1980s and was captured after their failure and imprisoned for 5 years. After his time in prison, he participated in a major corrective process in the movement and made efforts to return to organizing the people and building a revolutionary people’s war.
He reorganized the New People’s Army in the Mindanao region as one of its leading commanders, and his attitude ensured a shift away from opportunism.
He became an important cadre in education and youth work, and was elected to the party’s highest bodies in 2016.
Ka Oris was a strong advocate of the ecological struggle and showed a strong stance against the mining and timber industrialists, against whom he carried out sabotage actions, and publicized the common struggle as the spokesperson of the NPA.
His comrades and all those with whom he worked spoke of his warmth, his will to support and to advance his comrades, and his great openness, especially to the youth.
In his almost 50 years of struggle for the liberation of Philippine society, he touched the hearts of the people he worked with; whether the population, his comrades, or journalists, all recounted being inspired by his personality.
Even at over 70 years old and suffering from a chronic illness, he moved with the Philippine guerrillas and stayed away from the comfortable bourgeois life, always continuing the struggle.
Ka Oris is a role model for us as internationalist revolutionaries. He is an example in determination and comradeship, and his attitude and warmth towards the people and comrades are an example for us to follow.
The spirit of youth, striving for change and questioning the conditions of power and domination, is something that cannot be determined by age, but is determined by a clear attitude, an unshakable belief in what is beautiful and good, and an openness and curiosity for life.
“Me bi ciwantî dest pê kir, em ê bi ciwantî bi ser bikevin”
“We started young and we will win young”. – Rêber Apo
This youthful and resistant spirit was embodied by Ka Oris and we feel it is our duty to continue the struggle against fascism and capitalist exploitation of peoples also in the name of Ka Oris.
Whether in the Philippines or in Kurdistan, the struggle against capitalism, which makes fascism and environmental destruction possible, is international. Everywhere, people are fighting against the networks of domination, rising up and organizing against colonialism, environmental destruction, and fascism. These struggles are connected, they are different streams of a common flow of democratic anti-systemic forces, struggling all over the world to bring down the leviathan of capitalism, and to achieve the self-determination of peoples.
Whether it is Erdogan’s regime or Duterte’s fascist regime, the anti-fascist struggle, the struggle for freedom, the democratic self-determination of peoples is being waged worldwide and we feel deeply connected to the struggle of the Philippine people against Duterte’s fascist regime. The murderers of Ka Oris believe they have won a victory with their crime, but they have made Ka Oris immortal. Immortal in the memories of the comrades with whom he fought, by and through whom his struggle will continue, and immortal in us who have been inspired and motivated by his life. Immortalized by the fire which his example flares up in all of us, giving us strength and perseverance in the fight against fascism, as comrade Ka Oris showed throughout his life.
We promise here to continue the fight against fascism internationally, in the name of Ka Oris and all the martyrs who have shown the greatest self-sacrifice in the fight for freedom.
The fallen are immortal! – Şehid namirin!
Together with all democratic, revolutionary forces worldwide, we continue to advance towards success in our connected struggles and we especially salute the comrades of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the fighters of the New Peoples Army!
Long live the internationalist struggle against fascism!
Internationalist Commune in Rojava
Tevgera Ciwanên Şoreşger ê Sûriyê (Revolutionary Youth Movement of Syria),
November 2021
