Greek comrades and progressive organizations paid their highest tributes to Jose Maria “Ka Joma” Sison in a commemorative public meeting held 11 February 2023 in Athens, Greece. The event was organized by the Communist Organization of Greece (KOE) together with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), and Road of the Left, a newspaper affiliated with the KOE.
“It is a great honor for me to pay respect to comrade Joma, one of the greatest revolutionaries of our era,” declared Rudi Rinaldi, a leading figure of the KOE as he recounted several instances of meeting Ka Joma in Utrecht, the Netherlands.
“History will record Jose Maria Sison as a great and selfless revolutionary leader and theorist, who leaves behind a legacy precious for the peoples and communists of the world,” Rinaldi added.
Throughout the event, some of Ka Joma’s poems were read including The Guerrilla is Like a Poet, Stages of My Life, and In the Dark Depths as the crowd recounted his life’s work and contributions to the Philippine national democratic movement including re-establishing the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and the New People’s Army (NPA) in 1968 and 1969 respectively.
Also attending the event was Liliana Cioria of the Anti-Imperialist Front who emphasized Ka Joma’s contributions to building a broad anti-imperialist movement: “Ka Joma enlightened a torch towards revolution. May your enlightened torch of revolution continue to spread hope to the oppressed and exploited people. Jose Maria Sison is Immortal!”
“For us, and all exploited people of the world, Prof. Jose Maria Sison is a gem to humanity. His life, and lessons will remain our guide and inspiration to persevere and win the Philippine revolution and advance the proletarian revolution,” said Ladislao Laya, a representative from the NDFP Europe.
The program was attended by more than 70 people consisting mostly of comrades from the KOE, Filipino compatriots in Athens, and other progressive organizations in Greece.
Julie De Lima, Ka Joma’s wife and comrade, and Interim Chairperson of the NDFP Peace Panel delivered the concluding remarks for the tribute: “Let me express my deepest gratitude to our comrades from the Communist Organization of Greece for their tribute to Comrade Joma, and for their sympathy and condolences to myself, my family and to our comrades in the CPP, the NDF and whole national democratic movement of the Philippines, to the entire Filipino people who have been bereaved by his passing.”
“Let us deepen the proletarian relations of cooperation between the CPP and the KOE in advancing the efforts to rally all revolutionary and democratic forces the world over,” De Lima concluded.#
