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Long live the legacy of Ka Bel!
Published May 21, 2008 9:08 PM
Workers World Party sends our deepest condolences to the family, friends
and comrades of the great Filipino labor leader and freedom fighter,
Crispin Beltran, lovingly known as Ka Bel.
We received with great sadness the news that Ka Bel had died on May 20th
after a long and fruitful life.
Comrades of our party had occasion in 2006 to meet with and visit Ka Bel
in the hospital where he was being held as a political prisoner at the
time. Our comrades reported that it was a real honor to meet him and were
deeply and greatly moved by his tremendous knowledge, his deep
understanding of Marxism and his revolutionary optimism. He was full of
joy, but most important, full of love for the struggle of his people. And
he was deeply concerned as well with the worldwide struggle against
imperialism.
Despite years of imprisonment, repression and torture, Ka Bel was fiercely
determined to struggle on. He had the utmost confidence that one day the
Filipino people would be victorious.
The name Ka Bel is, unfortunately, not well known in the U.S., because the
struggle of the Filipino people for their liberation is hidden from the
pages of the bourgeois press. But it is a glorious and rich struggle, one
that Ka Bel symbolized so well. As was so aptly put, “Ka Bel was a legend
in his own time.”
Let us take advantage of the death of this great revolutionary leader to
build the movement in solidarity with the Filipino people. A special
appeal should be made to the youth of this country, the U.S., so they may
learn the history of Ka Bel and build on his legacy. Ka Bel was a
revolutionary, a communist who dedicated his entire life to the liberation
of his people, and his work should be known by all. His example should be
studied and followed by people around the world, by anyone struggling
against the yoke of imperialism.
Our party is confident that the struggle Ka Bel dedicated his life to will
be victorious. The Filipino people will be free. They will one day build a
new society and the name of Ka Bel will ring proudly through his land.
Long live the Legacy of Ka Bel!
U.S. imperialism out of the Philippines!
Victory to the Filipino people!
Long live international solidarity!
From the National Committee of Workers World Party
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The link
below features a commentary by Worker's World Party (WWP) member John
Parker on Ka Bel, broadcasted on Los Angeles' KPFK FM radio on 22, May:
http://www.workersdaily.org/podcast/audio/jp_kpfk_052208.mp3
Below is the editorial of Worker's World Weekly Newspaper on Ka Bel:
http://www.workers.org/2008/editorials/ka_bel_0529/
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