A personal obituary by the translator and co-author of Kasama Joma’s works
By Rainer Werning *
No later than the early 1970s, „Amado Guerrero“ (Beloved Warrior) had become the epitome of a revolutionary awakening in the Philippines for progressive and leftist social activists in this Southeast Asian island nation. As it would turn out years later, this was the nom de guerre of José Maria Sison – „Ka (Comrade) Joma“ for short by his friends – who died of heart failure in exile in The Netherlands on December 16, 2022 at the age of 83. On December 27, the body of a man whose name had had an electrifying effect for many for more than half a century and had become a trademark for leftists and revolutionaries worldwide was cremated in Utrecht.
