MIM Notes ***

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 1

MIM Notes

Oct. 15, 2003, Nº 289

The Official Newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM)

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On the web: www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext

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September 15

IM and RAIL activists

attended the hearings on

Security Housing Units (SHU)

in California prisons, held in Los Angeles

by Senator Romero, Chair of the Select

Committee on the California Correctional

System. The SHUs are control units by

another name, a form of long term solitary

confinement that now exists in prisons

across the country. Long term isolation

has been criticized as a form of torture

by many individuals and governments, as

well as by the United Nations. There is

conclusive evidence that these conditions

cause mental and physical deterioration.

In this era of "tough on crime" rhetoric, it

is unusual for a government official to

even question prison programs, and in this

context we can hope to effect some

improvements in the lives of prisoners.

We attended these hearings with no

illusion that the California congress can

legislate substantial change in the criminal

injustice system. As a part of our

campaign against the SHU in California,

and control units across the country, we

attended the hearings to put forward the

perspective that the SHU must be shut

down, not just reformed into kinder, gentler

torture. We were also looking to hook up

with other control unit activists and friends

and family members of prisoners to

expand our campaign against control units

in this state and across the country.

The five California SHUs--Pelican

Bay State Prison SHU, Valley State

Prison for Women SHU, California State

Prison at Corcoran SHU, California

Correctional Institution at Tehapchapi

SHU and Corcoran SATF--are the

lynchpin for the California Department

of Corrections' (CDC) prison system.

Currently housing about 2700 people

(about 40 in the wimmin's prison), they

are the most brutal prisons in the system

and principally target those prisoners who

show the most resistance. They are

designed to break inmates' spirit. The

SHU is a threat which hangs over the

head of all CA prisoners. At Pelican Bay

prisoners are kept in windowless cells for

a minimum of 22 1/2 hours a day. There

is no education, no job training, no work,

no religious services, or hobby materials.

Prisoners are subject to strip searches

upon departure from and return to their

cell when they have not come in contact

with any other individual.

Torture can't be reformed

California senate hearings on Security Housing Units

BOSTONERS

RALLY FOR

PALESTINIAN

RIGHTS

INS threatens
Palestinian activist

n September 27 more than a

hundred people gathered in

Boston's Copley Square to

express their solidarity with the struggle

of the Palestinian people--sandwiched

between a smaller crowd of reactionary

counter-protestors and a few swing

dancers. The pro-Palestinian speakers

MIM heard took an explicit anti-colonialist

line, correctly equating Zionism with

colonialism, recounting the theft of

Palestinian lands going back to the 1967

occupation of the West Bank and Gaza

strip and even further, back to the 1948

"war of independence."

The counter-protestors were

particularly moronic, as most carried signs

mocking Democratic Presidential

candidate Howard Dean. Dean is hardly

an anti-Zionist. He says the Bush

administration's "guiding principles in the

Middle East are the right ones," and his

campaign co-chair is former president of

a large pro-I$rael lobby. True, fellow

Democrat John Kerry has criticized Dean

for recently saying the United $tates

should be "evenhanded" in the Middle

East--a standard pretense Amerikan

Presidents and Secretaries of State have

adopted for over three decades, by the

way--but that says more about the

narrow(ing) range of acceptable

discourse about I$rael than about

Dean.(1)

One of the speakers at the rally was

Amer Jubran, co-founder of the New

England Committee to Defend Palestine.

INS agents arrested Amer on the morning

of November 4, 2002--they came to his

door accompanied by the FBI while he

was in the shower, no less--days after

he helped organize a march for

Palestinian rights. The INS originally

intended to hold him indefinitely, but in

the face of international public pressure

they released Amer after 17 days

internment on a remarkably small bond.

The INS is

now pushing to

deport Amer

based on false

allegations of

t e c h n i c a l

violations in his

green card

status. The

p o l i t i c a l

motivations behind this threat are clear

from the timing of his initial arrest and

the presence of the FBI--in fact, the FBI

attempted to question Amer about his

legitimate political activities and explicitly

threatened him with indefinite INS

detention if he refused to cooperate.(2)

Amer's trial date is set for November

6. MIM and RAIL plan to send a

contingent to support him and denounce

this dangerous, politically-motivated

harassment. Keep an eye on

www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/bos/

bostevents.html for further details.

Notes:
1. Michelle Goldberg, "Howard Dean's Israel
problem," Salon magazine, 23 Sep 2003.
2. www.amerjubrandefense.org/
3. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/bos/
bostevents.html

Continued on page 4...

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 2

What is MIM?

The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is the collection of existing or emerging

Maoist internationalist parties in the English-speaking imperialist countries and their English-

speaking internal semi-colonies, as well as the existing or emerging Maoist Internationalist
parties in Belgium, France and Quebec and the existing or emerging Spanish-speaking
Maoist Internationalist parties of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the U.$. Empire.

MIM Notes is the newspaper of MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-speaking
parties or emerging parties of MIM. MIM upholds the revolutionary communist ideology
of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and is an internationalist organization that works from the

vantage point of the Third World proletariat. MIM struggles to end the oppression of all
groups over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM knows this is only possibly by
building public opinion to seize power through armed struggle. Revolution is a reality for

North America as the military becomes over-extended in the government's attempts to
maintain world hegemony. MIM differs from other communist parties on three main
questions: (1) MIM holds that after the proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution, the

potential exists for capitalist restoration under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within
the communist party itself. In the case of the USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the
death of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's death and the overthrow of the "Gang

of Four" in 1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural Revolution as the farthest advance
of communism in humyn history. (3) As Marx, Engels and Lenin formulated and MIM has
reiterated through materialist analysis, imperialism extracts super-profits from the Third

World and in part uses this wealth to buy off whole populations of oppressor nation so-
called workers. These so-called workers bought off by imperialism form a new petty-
bourgeoisie called the labor aristocracy. These classes are not the principal vehicles to

advance Maoism within those countries because their standards of living depend on
imperialism. At this time, imperialist super-profits create this situation in the Canada, Quebec,
the United $tates, England, France, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Italy, Switzerland,

Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Israel, Sweden and Denmark. MIM accepts people as
members who agree on these basic principles and accept democratic centralism, the system
of majority rule, on other questions of party line.

"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is universally applicable. We should

regard it not as dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is not merely a matter of

learning terms and phrases, but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of revolution."

- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208.

Editor, MC206; Production, MC12

Letters

MIM Notes

The Official Newsletter of The Maoist Internationalist Movement

ISSN 1540-8817

MIM Notes is the bi-weekly newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement. MIM

Notes is the official Party voice; more complete statements are published in our journal,
MIM Theory. Material in MIM Notes is the Party's position unless noted. MIM Notes
accepts submissions and critiques from anyone. The editors reserve the right to edit
submissions unless permission is specifically denied by the author; submissions are
published anonymously unless authors insist on identification (prisoners are never
identified by name). MIM is an underground party that does not publish the names of its
comrades in order to avoid the state surveillance and repression that have historically
been directed at communist parties and anti-imperialist movements. MCs, MIM comrades,
are members of the Party. The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) is an anti-
imperialist mass organization led by MIM (RCs are RAIL Comrades). MIM's ten-point
program is available to anyone who sends in a SASE.

The paper is free to all prisoners, as long as they write to us every 90 days to confirm

their subsciptions. There are no individual subscriptions for people outside prison.

People who want to receive newspapers should become sponsors and distributors.

Sponsors pay for papers, distributors get them onto the streets, and officers do both
distribution and financial support. Annual cost is: 12 copies (Priority Mail), $120; 25
(Priority Mail), $150; 50 (Priority Mail), $280; 100, $380; 200, $750; 900 (Express
Mail), $3,840; 900 (8-10 days), $2,200. To become a sponor or distributor, send
anonymous money orders payable to "MIM." Send to MIM, attn: Camb. branch, PO Box
400559, Cambridge, MA 02140. Or write mim3@mim.org.

Most back issues of MIM Notes are available free on our web site. The web site con-

tains thousands of documents, with ordering information for many more.

MIM grants explicit permission to copy all or part of this newspaper for any reason, as

long as we are credited.

For general correspondence, contact:

MIM

P.O. Box 29670

Los Angeles, CA 90029-0670

eMail: <mim@mim.org>

WWW: <http//www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext>

A Black fist salute!

I just got convicted in Texas for a crime

my trial demonstrated I was not guilty of.

I clearly showed in my habeas that I was

only guily of "simple assault," a

misdemeanor, but got convicted for a

felony and sentenced to 45 years. ...

Clearly there is no justice for minorities,

especially if you are indigent. So this is

the last straw: I renounce my citizenship.

They were so gung-ho in going to Iraq

with their machine gun for glory's sake,

because they thought there were gonna

easily kick some Iraqi ass! Now they are

whining that they want to come home

because of these crazy, suicidal Iraqis that

are getting them one by one. Ha ha! Let

freedom ring for the Iraqis! Independence

day!

And as for Ashcroft: What you gonna

do now, you Christian Nazi? Get me for

treason? Aiding and abetting the enemy?

The hell with your evil, manipulative

Patriot Act.

As a last note, there are many defiant

oppressed people like me in your gulags,

but we will win! Power to the left-wing

people and anarchists!

P.S. To comrades out there, submit your

letters to MIM in defiance of Ashcroft!

Let us rock this country. Renounce your

citizenship for this evil New World Order!

--In a Texas gulag, July 2003

MIM responds: We are glad to see

you make the connection between the

injustice system and the imperialist war

in Iraq. Amerika's practice national

oppression and exploitation is definitely

globally interconnected: that is the system

of imperialism. We are also glad to see

you renounce your allegiance to the

U.$.A.

We do not recommend attempts to

formally renounce U.$. citizenship,

however, as a form of protest. That is

one reason we are not printing this letter

with your name (we also don't print

prisoner names because we can't verify

them or the information they contain

ourselves). It is much more important to

renounce your allegiance to Amerika in

practice, by contributing to the movement

against Amerikan imperialism, in support

of national liberation for the victims of

that imperialism, and for a new society

that sheds the oppressive nature of

capitalism and the machinations of its

states.

We are not at a stage in the struggle in

this country where we need people to

sacrifice their lives and die for the

people--or get disappeared by Ashcroft.

We need revolutionaries to stay alive,

healthy, and active in the movement.

Open Letter to Ashcroft

Did you

know?

There are

more than 200

back issues of

MIM Notes

available on

the MIM

website? Not

only can you

browse more

than 15 years

of the

newspaper,

you can also

keep up with

the very latest

on MIM

agitation

campaigns,

prisoner news,

all the latest

on the U$ war,

and much

more. MIM's

website is an

indispensable

tool for the

revolutionary

movement. Get

involved!

www.etext.org/

Politics/MIM

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 3

MIM Notes: In your newspaper,

"People's War," your "Mission

statement" uses the word

"intercommunal," but not Marxism-

Leninism-Maoism. Does the "People's

War" consider itself Marxist-Leninist-

Maoist?

People's War magazine: PW Magazine

is a revolutionary mass news organ

published by the People's Community

Organization (PCO), a mass organization

which organizes around the issues of

survival and independence of the

oppressed black, brown, red nations

dominated by U.S. imperialism in North

Amerika. Though communists work

within the PCO, the PCO is not Marxist-

Leninist-Maoist, but rather anti-imperialist

and intercommunalist (internationalist).

The PCO upholds the revolutionary

intercommunalism of the BPP [Black

Panther Party] under the revolutionary

Maoist leadership of Comrade Huey P.

Newton and today recognizes the

revolutionary leadership of the Ghetto

Liberation Political Party. Thus while PW

does not claim to be a Marxist-Leninist-

Maoist Organ, but rather a "revolutionary

Hip-Hop Magazine and Intercommunal

News Service," we are definitely friendly

to revolutionary M-L-M and genuine

Maoist revolutionary Parties around the

world and the struggles under their

leadership.

MIM Notes: Can you give us some

reasoning on the 7 heads pictured on page

18 of the People's War issue of the

summer 2003? Who are they and how

do they fit together?

People's War magazine: We

forwarded your second question in regard

to the banner printed on page 18 to a

GLPP representative. We received this

reply:

"Certainly. The Heads pictured are

Marcus Garvey, revolutionary African

nationalist, anti- imperialist leader and

organizer of the largest anti-imperialist

movement of the Black nation in the

beginning of the 20th century. (Marcus

Garvey's class position was that of the

left wing of the national bourgeoisie of

the Black nation and with criticisms we

recognize the progressive thrust of his

Pan-Africanism and its historical role.)

Lenin, revolutionary communist and

leader of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution

which ushered in the world's first socialist

state. We uphold the Russian Revolution

from 1917-1956. Elijah Muhammad,

revolutionary African nationalist leader,

whose Teachings and anti-integrationist

stance contributed to development of a

revolutionary consciousness of African

working class as later represented by the

Malcolm X and the BPP. (Like Garvey,

Elijah Muhammad's class position was

that of the left wing of the national

bourgeoisie of the Black nation, and with

criticisms we recognize the progressive

thrust of his metaphysicism and its

historical role.) Mao Zedong, chairman

and leader of the CPC [Communist Party

of China], leader of great 1949 Chinese

socialist revolution (which altered the

world's balance of forces in favor of

socialism), opponent of the white

nationalist revisionism and Soviet social-

imperialism, leader and inspirer of the

GPCR [Great Proletarian Cultural

Revolution] which was overthrown by the

revisionist elements of the CPC in 1976.

Malcolm X, revolutionary African

nationalist and internationalist, his anti-

capitalist pro- socialist, pro-self-defense

position in his last years particularly

contributed to the founding and

development of the BPP. Kwame

Nkrumah, African communist leader,

revolutionary Pan-Africanist. Unlike

forces claiming to uphold Kwame

Nkrumah's line we recognize Kwame

Nkrumah as carrying out the historical

work of applying the universal truths of

the intercommunal working to the

concrete problems facing the revolution

on the African continent, namely 1.) the

need for an independent revolutionary

Communist Party to led the revolution in

Africa 2.) the need for an all African

People's War under the leadership of this

Communist Party 3.) With the political goal

of one unified socialist Africa under the

leadership of a revolutionary proletarian

dictatorship in alliance with the African

peasantry, at the service of the World

Proletarian Revolution the establishment

of world communism. Last but not least

is Huey P. Newton, U.S. African

communist leader and revolutionary

organizer. Founder and leader of the

Black Panther Party, which we uphold

and recognize was the most advanced

Communist Party in the history of the

U.S. The GLPP is a revolutionary

Communist Party guided by Marxism-

Leninism-Maoism Ingiaye thought and

considers itself the political and ideological

continuation of the original Black Panther

Party under the leadership of HPN [Huey

P. Newton].

"These are seven persons, out of many

others such as Stalin, W.E.B Dubois,

George Jackson, Chairman Gonzalo etc.,

who we uphold and recognize as

positively influencing the revolutionary

movement of the oppressed Black Nation

under the leadership of the African

working class in general and the

revolutionary work of the GLPP in

particular."

We send friendly greetings to MIM

Notes and are thankful for this interview

and look forward to further struggle.

In Solidarity, PW Magazine

MIM interviews "People's War" magazine

Let Freedom Ring: Winning the
War of Liberty over Liberalism
Sean Hannity
NY: Regan Books, 2002, 338pp.
hb

reviewed by mim3@mim.org,

September 2003

Dear Sean Hannity:

We write to you on behalf of a

communist website to say we have read

your book Let Freedom Ring and would

like to interview you. What follows is a

series of facts from your book followed

by a question for each set of facts.

We are looking for a yes/no answer, as

you often push people on your show. After

your "yes" or "no," we will accept any

other details you may add and we are

happy to put your complete and unedited

responses on our website with links to

yours. We will accept written answers

or .mp3 or some other format.

Question set I: Who is the traitor?

FACT: You called Johnny Walker Lindh

a "traitor" who "deserves execution." (p.

22)

FACT: Lindh had not attacked anyone

in the United $tates and in fact Johnny

Spann and the thousands of others went

to Afghanistan to attack him. Lindh had

been there first and had a right to self-

defense.

FACT: You said Clinton did not focus

enough on terrorism and you pointed out

attacks on embassies, the USS Cole and

let's not forget the original World Trade

Center (1993) bombing.(p. 13, 22)

QUESTION: Knowing all this about

terrorist attacks in the 1990s, by May,

2001 Colin Powell had delivered $124

million in just one year's aid to

Afghanistan where the Taliban ruled.

Colin Powell did more for the Taliban

than Johnny Walker Lindh ever did, yes

or no? Powell "deserves execution" yes

or no?

Question set II: More or fewer
CIA "human assets"?

FACT: You echoed Reagan who said

Democrats "made it sound as if the chief

threat to our liberties was our own

intelligence apparatus."(p. 28)

FACT: You spoke repeatedly for

having more human CIA assets instead

of just electronic and other mechanical

spying. You complained when "roughly

1,000 `assets'"(p. 37) were allegedly let

go by the CIA for connections to too

many murderous activities.

FACT: Osama Bin Laden was a CIA

human asset in the 1980s and Saddam

Hussein before that.

QUESTION: Do you support a rule

that would have cut Osama Bin Laden

as a CIA asset, yes or no?

QUESTION: Should someone in the

1980s have complained about CIA

human assets in the 1980s to cut training

and funding of Osama Bin Laden, yes or

no?

Question set III: Illegal immigration

FACT: You say there are 8 million "illegal aliens" and

2 million who overstay their visas for a total of 10 million

people in the United States.(p. 54)

FACT: In the next two pages you list crimes involving

three people among those 10 million. (p. 55-56)

QUESTION: There would be no Irish or anyone else

but the indigenous peoples in the Unites States if we cut

off immigration whenever 3 out of 10 million people

committed felony crimes, yes or no?

QUESTION: You published no statistics comparing

the crimes of legal U.S. residents and citizens and "illegal

aliens"; yet you used the crimes of the "illegal aliens" to

justify kicking them out, so

you made an argument

involving a double

standard, yes or no?

Question set IV: the
theory of "peace
through strength"

FACT: You repeatedly

defended the whole

"peace through strength"

theory and found $30

billion for intelligence too

small, the weapons budget

too small etc.(e.g. p. 70)

FACT: The United

States is the strongest

country in the world.

FACT: The jumbo jets

did not crash in

Luxembourg on

September 11 2001.

QUESTION: Your

theory "peace through

strength" was proven

bankrupt when terrorists

attacked the strongest

instead of the weakest

countries, yes or no?

As of 6 October 2003

MIM has received no

response from Mr.

Hannity.

MIM takes conservative pundit to task

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 4

In California, and across the country,

these units principally target oppressed

nations. In 1998 the CDC reported that

34% of the population in all CDC

institutions was Latino, and 31% was

Black. The population of the Security

Housing Units (SHUs) is even more

disproportionate. 82% of those in SHUs

were non-white, and 52% of those in

SHUs were Latino. This compares to a

California population that was 32%

Latino, and 7% Black in 1998. The

population appears to be about the same

today but exact statistics are not published

by the CDC for the public.

A few of us attending the hearings

drove down from the Bay Area. Driving

through the central valley of California

was a stark reminder of the battle ahead

of us in California, a state with more than

160,000 people in prison. Virtually every

town we passed by or near housed a

prison. Visalia, Tehachapi, Avenal,

Modesto, Delano, Wasco, Corcoran,

Coalinga, Salinas, Soledad, Chowchilla,

Lancaster and more, ranging from

medium security to the supermax SHUs,

the desert of California is home to many

of the 33 prisons in the state. And it takes

little imagination to understand that jobs

in the prisons are a good paying

alternative to farming, the only other big

industry around. Especially as Governor

Davis just gave prison guards a raise that

will bring their salaries to $73,000 per year

by 2006.

Outside the hearing at 8am a small

crowd gathered to protest the SHU. Led

by the Barrio Defense Committee,

activists and relatives of prisoners waved

signs and chanted demanding the SHUs

be shut down. MIM and RAIL joined this

protest with complements on our signs

designed for our campaign to shut down

control units across the country.

At 9am when the hearing began

attendees were passed through a metal

detector and forced to leave all signs, food

and water outside. There were at least

six cops outside the main entrance, eight

more up front in the large hearing hall

guarding the area where the senator and

her witnesses were to sit, two or three

more around the sides and back of the

room against the walls, and an uncounted

number more guarding the side entrances

to the hall. In a large hall that could seat

hundreds about 100 opponents of the SHU

gathered along with a small crowd of ten

or so CDC administrators mixed with a

few more cops seated in the corner with

their crowd. The level of security was

astonishing and suggested that the state

government considers friends and family

of prisoners quite dangerous.

Senator Romero questions
SHU system

Senator Romero opened the hearing

with an overview of the California SHUs,

explaining that there are 3 male SHU

prisons and 1 for wimmin, together

housing close to 3000 people. She

CA senate hearings on Security Housing Units

described accurately the conditions in the

SHU which include 23 hours/day

lockdown in the cell, prisoners getting out

only for occasional exercise and showers,

and no programming (educational, work

or otherwise). One point that the hearings

misrepresented was the expansion of the

SHU system. Although the number of

SHU beds has not officially expanded,

the CDC continues to build new

"administrative segregation" units inside

prisons throughout the state. This is just

another name for control units. Many

states use this tactic to overcome legal

or political challenges to their control

units, changing the name and pretending

they have implemented a different system.

One such unit was opened in Soledad

recently.

Romero criticized the CDC for failing

to provide her with exact information on

the cost per prisoner of incarceration in

the SHU and presented the estimates they

gave her of $37,662 per inmate excluding

health care, making the point that she

believes the actual cost is significantly

higher than this. While it is no doubt true

that it costs more money to house

prisoners in isolation units than in general

population, MIM doesn't care about this

point. Unless we are talking about putting

money into more programming for

prisoners, better food and medical care,

and better legal services, we don't care

if the state is wasting money on expensive

cells, wasting money on guards' salaries,

or wasting money paying for a recall

circus election. Our opposition to the SHU

is not based on rallying taxpayers to better

use their prison money to build more

cheaper cells because this is a losing point

of propaganda.

Romero went on to explain that the

SHU houses two groups of prisoners, first

there are those in for determinate

sentences who have supposedly

committed violent acts. The second group

is those labeled "validated" gang

members. The SHU population is split

roughly evenly between the two groups.

Romero stated "I have some very serious

concerns about the validation

process...[and the] lack of oversight of

the process by which it is determined if a

prisoner remains an active gang member

or associate." Romero went on to suggest

that she would like to see the CDC move

to a more "behavioral based criteria" for

gang validation rather than using "status"

criteria. This is a good criticism of the

SHU process, but it focuses on how to

better select prisoners for torture rather

than addressing the torture itself.

It is also important to point out that the

label "gang" is in and of itself a problem.

Gangs are loosely defined to identify any

group of people those in authority see as

a threat. Usually this is any group of

oppressed nation people getting together

for their betterment, self-defense,

education or other activity, not always

including illegal activities. MIM has been

labeled a "gang" or "security threat

group" for our political education

programs for prisoners. And prisoners are

given "gang" classifications for their

association with us and other political

organizations.

Romero also provided some useful

facts, noting that, in response to criticism,

the CDC has carried out a self-audit of

the SHU validation process. She rightly

pointed out that this process is suspect as

it involved no independent oversight.

Further she noted that there have been

403 paroles directly from the SHU since

2000 with a recidivism rate of 78%. The

recidivism rate for inmates in general

population in California is 66%. As

Romero herself stated "even that normal

recidivism rate is extremely abnormal."

MIM agrees and we understand that

prisons are not about rehabilitation at all,

they are an industry and to remain in

operation they have an interest in

continuing to build their population. There

is no effort put into giving prisoners

opportunities to live a better life after

prison. Romero expressed the concern

that community members are not safer

because of SHUs if they are leading to

more crime when prisoners are released.

Senator Polanco, the former chair of

the Joint Committee on Prison

Construction and Operations, spoke at the

hearing first. He went into further detail

on the types of SHU sentences. For a

violent act a prisoner receives a

determinate SHU sentence of up to 6

years. For being a "validated" gang

member or associate a prisoner gets an

indeterminate SHU sentence of 6 years

up to life with the only way to get out

being to parole, snitch or die. He too

objected to the lack of behavior based

criteria for gang validation.

Under his leadership some programs

for reform of the system were developed

which he noted had yet to be implemented.

He gave praise to the CDC for

"progress" but said it has slowed. MIM

sees this as just political lip service. There

has been virtually no change in the SHU

system since Polanco began his

investigation. Prisoners can now allegedly

get out of the SHU by remaining free of

gang activity for six years, but that is a

cosmetic change. Putting a prettier face

on torture and oppression is far from a

goal of MIM's and we are wary that

congressional actions like those taken by

Polanco can do more harm than good for

the oppressed.

Polanco noted that the CDC had sent

people to study the control unit systems

in other states, looking for models of how

to run things better. His complaint was

that none of the examples they had seen

were implemented. MIM looks around

the country at the control units in other

states and does not see a model for the

CDC to follow. This is one case where

MIM agrees with the CDC Director

Alameida; he pointed out that most states

are doing the same kinds of things

California is doing with control units.

CDC pigs defend torture

In some of the most interesting

testimony of the hearing Ed Alameida,

Director of the CDC took the stand along

with David Tristan his Chief Deputy

Director of Field Operations and James

Moreno, the chief of the CDC gang unit.

Alameida also brought along the warden

of Pelican Bay and a few other CDC

administrators who did not speak. For

Alameida and his men this hearing was a

process of justifying their policies so they

could get back to work and avoid cuts in

funding, but a few useful facts did come

out amid their evasions and cautious

phrases.

Alameida began his testimony by giving

some background stating that prison gangs

began in the late 1950s and early 1960s.

He vehemently labeled them an organized

crime syndicate. More than once he

brought up drug and weapons dealing in

the prisons. Romero never challenged him

on this but MIM wants to point out that

these things only happen when someone

lets drugs or weapons into the prison.

Prisoners do not have any way to do this

themselves so CDC employee complicity

is a must.

In 1971 Governor Reagan established

the gang unit in the California prisons. This

timing coinciding with the harsh

crackdown on revolutionary movements

in the United $tates and the dramatic

skyrocketing of the prison population as

the government started rounding up

oppressed nationals and herding them off

to prison in an attempt to squelch any

revolutionary activity.

Alemeida's only factual evidence of the

efficacy of the current SHU program was

his statement that they began in 1971 using

a behavioral based system for gang

classification, and in 1970 the inmate

death rate was 1 per 2400. He said this

death rate increased through the 1980s

and then they implemented a status based

classification system and the death rate

fell to 1 per 12,000 in 2001. He claimed

this was a success of their current system.

California had 27,000 prisoners in 1970

and had 160,000 in 2001. Less than 2%

of the prisoners are in the SHU.

MIM can point out a few flaws in this

argument. First is the lack of information

he provided on the timing of a switch to

status based classification. Second is the

Continued from page 1...

Continued on next page...

Our opposition to

the SHU is not

based on rallying

taxpayers to

better use their

prison money to

build more

cheaper cells...

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 5

MIM prints this letter from a

Connecticut prisoner written several

years ago describing the conditions in

the control units there to demonstrate

that the conditions in these torture units

in other states can not serve as a model

for improving the California SHUs.

Control Units must be abolished in

every state, there is no way the criminal

injustice system can build a better

control unit.

I am a Black revolutionary being held

political prisoner in a concentration camp

called Garner Correctional Institution in

Newtown, Conn. I've been placed in what

they call close monitoring (gang units).

I was taken out of population and placed

in this gang unit. Not for fighting, not for

stabbing another prisoner, or taking of

other prisoners' property. But for pictures;

pictures I took in another state, not Conn.

And because my pictures have a very

expressive body language, that makes me

a gang member [in the eyes of the state].

The only hand sign in my pictures is the

peace sign. That's right! The peace sign.

When white people used it at Woodstock,

it meant "peace and love." But when

young African-Americans use it, it means

gangs. Many of my young comrades are

also here for the same thing.

The state of Connecticut's law

enforcement along with correctional

institutions have declared war on all of

Connecticut's urban communities and

have said that these low income areas

are to be considered gang territories. Let

me explain this skillfully designed, corrupt

Security Risk Group (SRG) system. SRGs

are considered to be gang members who

pose a so-called threat to the Connecticut

Department of Corrections. Information

will be gathered on an individual, whether

it's true or not. Most information is

provided by institutional snitches and is

not accurate. An individual will be given

a hearing to inform him that he will be

removed from general population and

placed in a Close Custody Unit where

this individual will be locked up 23 hours

a day, whereas in population, he's out most

of the day working or in school, learning

a vocational skill, taking college classes,

or trying to better himself by going to

Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics

Anonymous meetings.

It should be mentioned that once this

individual is placed in these concentration

camps called Close Custody, none of the

There is no model for torture

above-mentioned programs are available

to said individual. However, he is forced

into these group gang programs, and

maneuvered into spilling out his feelings

as to why he would join an organization

(which they call a gang). They are using

us; dissecting our minds in these

experimental, psychological, genocidal

labs; having us give them more

information they can use against us. This

information is then turned over to the

office of the Governor of Connecticut,

John Rowland, who will address

concerned taxpayers as to why the state

needs more money to build high- security

prisons. You see, there's big money at

stake for local police and correctional

departments that target gangs. Law

enforcement along with prison systems

are using gangs as a means of keeping

their financial stability. Connecticut's

prison system has become industrial

business. Prisons with 1,158 beds are

worth $25 million a year and 350 jobs to

the community.

Some officials sent out for color

brochures promoting prison economics.

And these gang units are one of their most

brilliant. I've been in these units for two

years. I have not yet eaten a hot meal.

All the meals here at Garner are as cold

as the outside. We are served very small

portions of food. And this is only to bring

the commissary sales up. They

overcharge us for generic products.

Officers in these units are constantly

showing aggressive behavior towards my

comrades and me in these units. We are

not receiving proper medical attention.

Some of the brothers go weeks sick.

Brothers like myself who speak out

about this corruption are sent to

segregation (the hole) on bogus prison

charges. In these units, we are not

allowed to talk with one another. We go

to recreation with only eight brothers for

one hour a day. The program is

supposedly for one year. But if a prisoner

receives an infraction, he must begin all

over. The conditions here at Garner are

at times intolerable. My brothers and

sisters of MIM, I write to you in the faith

that you will support your brothers who

are being held political prisoner in these

concentration camps called gang units....

Power to the people!

Your brother,

-- A Connecticut Prisoner, 27 October

1997

lack of information about who did the

killing: guards or other prisoners. And third

is the correlation between the rising death

rate of prisoners and the guard brutality

against prisoners to the extent that they

were setting up fights between inmates,

betting on them, and then shooting to kill

prisoners as was exposed in Corcoran.

After this was exposed the guards were

forced to stop this practice. Certainly the

drop in guards killing prisoners can't count

as a success of the SHU classification

system.

Moreno described the process of gang

validation in detail. Gang "behavior"

according to him, can be a violent act, a

tattoo, communication with validated gang

members or associates, photographs with

gang members or associates, confidential

information from debriefs or other

sources, letters written to validated gang

members, Christmas cards, and other

material. Romero questioned him

extensively on the non-behavior criteria

asking how a Christmas card or

conversation in the yard could be

evidence of gang membership. Moreno

tried to claim that cards and letters always

have secret messages that the CDC can't

see and so it doesn't matter what the

content is. This kind of status based

criteria is what has allowed the CDC to

put many prisoners in the SHU who have

never associated with a "gang" in their

lives. It is also conveniently easy to

validate prisoners with "confidential"

evidence, allowing the CDC staff to

target prisoners who are politically active

for SHU isolation.

The CDC staff went on to describe the

validation process which includes review

of "evidence" by the Institutional Gang

Investigator and review by the Validation

Review Committee. Prisoners

supposedly are given a copy of all

evidence against them and have the

opportunity to rebut it. Although it sounds

rigorous, a number of people testified to

the lack of training by the review

committee, the divergence of staff

interpretation on how to validate gang

members, and the reality of the system

which rarely shows the prisoners the

evidence against them or gives them any

chance to challenge it. This translates into

prison staff making arbitrary decisions to

send people to the SHU without needing

any real evidence.

Romero recently visited Pelican Bay

prison, a notorious SHU prison in

California, and interviewed several

prisoners. She said she repeatedly heard

stories of prisoners who had joined gangs

to avoid being assaulted and she asked

"what is the role of [the CDC] in setting

up conditions [that require this of

prisoners]?" This question correctly looks

at the state as the real source of safety

problems in the California prison system.

Romero went on to say outright

"Rehabilitation is absent from the mission

of the CDC".

Senator Romero seems to clearly see

the contradictions within the criminal

injustice system, and she seems to

genuinely want change, but she is caught

within the system and so on the one hand

she recognizes its failure but at the same

time she is calling for cosmetic reform

that will do little more than cover up the

problems. While MIM hopes to take

advantage of this opportunity to push

forward some changes that will improve

the lives of prisoners in the CDC, we

can't expect the dismantling of the SHU

programs without significant public protest

and organizing.

Witnesses against the SHU

Attorney Don Specter testified against

the SHU with a compelling response to

the CDC administrators. He noted that

by their own testimony there are 40,000

to 60,000 gang members in California

prisons. The SHU houses approximately

1500 "validated" gang members. So even

with the SHU full there is no chance it is

removing the gangs from the general

population. The argument that the SHU

units are keeping other prisoners safe

from gangs is ludicrous.

He noted that the CDC rules on

confidential informants are meaningless

because they decide that if any part of

the information provided by the informant

is true the CDC will consider all the

information true. And if the informant was

considered reliable in the past all his

information in the future will be trusted.

This invites informants to give false

testimony. And this is not to mention those

"validated" gang members who were

never associated with a gang and have

no real information to provide but who

want to "debrief" to get out of the SHU.

They have to make up information to get

out.

Specter went into some detail

describing the system in Connecticut for

dealing with gang members. He

described some positive components like

the inclusion of programming, not using

shackles or restraints and not using

isolation after the first 120 days. But MIM

knows from our work with CT prisoners

that this system is not a model: at the

supermax in Northern CI (a control unit)

prisoners face harsh conditions, beatings

by guards, and frequent censorship

including over a year of discarding or

returning all mail MIM sent to prisoners

there. (Conditions in the CT control units

are described well by one prisoner in the

sidebar).

Charles Carbone, a lawyer with

California Prison Focus, was another

invited speaker at the hearing. He

provided some good evidence of the lies

told by the CDC administrators about the

validation process as well as the effects

of the SHU on prisoners and their families.

He also pointed out the important role of

the SHU debriefings in sharing

information with pigs on the street and

building databases on gang member

names, insignias and activities.

Carbone is working on a court case

right now challenging the constitutionality

of the SHU validation (Castillo vs.

Alameida) which is scheduled to go to

CA senate hearings on Security Housing Units

Continued from previous page...

Continued on page 8...

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 6

Fugitive Days
Bill Ayers
Penguin Books
2003

Reviewed by a RAIL Comrade

and MC206

We can recommend this book as a

useful account of a group of Amerikans

who committed national suicide and

declared war against U.$. imperialism in

the name of oppressed nations

everywhere. As an autobiography of a

former member and leader of Students

for a Democratic Society (SDS) and later

the Weather Underground, this book

provides great insights into those

movements on the personal level, while

providing accurate accounts of the politics

behind them. Ayers chooses to focus on

the theme of "memory" throughout the

book, mostly to make the point that his

account is incomplete and biased.

Thankfully this perspective did not

prevent him from leaving this account for

future generations. While the style makes

it an easy read, one may find oneself

struggling to learn from this history given

some of the incomplete accounts.

An example of Ayers thoroughness in

dealing with political context is in his

discussion of the national question. This

question led to the split of SDS. On the

one side, the proto-Weatherpeople and

others supported national liberation

struggles, particularly those being led by

the Black Panther Party and the National

Liberation Front of Vietnam; on the other,

the faction led by the Progessive Labor

Party(PLP) declared all nationalism

reactionary. Ayers makes the analogy

between the oppressor nation interests of

French "socialists" and Amerikan

"socialists" by quoting Ho Chi Minh

regarding his efforts to get the French

Socialist Party to support national

liberation over French chauvinism. The

post-World War II "Socialist Party"

government refused to recognize

Vietnam's independence and fought a

bloody, futile war to retain its colony--

with Amerikan help.

Ayers tends to present each part of his

story with the perspective he had at the

time, only implying criticisms of them

afterward. One of these criticisms was

of the approach taken towards sex within

the movement. The idea of "smashing

monogamy" as a part of the patriarchy

ended up serving the patriarchal interests

of men in the groups to have unattached

sex with most of the wimmin. Some

wimmin recognized that this was the case

and that power between genders still

existed within the cooperatives and

activist communities. This is on reason

why MIM promotes asexuality followed

by monogamy as the best practices under

the patriarchy, monogamy being the best

model for relationships under patriarchy,

despite its shortcomings.

Witnessing their orgies, one older

womyn who the SDSers stayed with

compared her days as a young activist to

theirs, making the distinction that they

"confuse youth and fun with politics."

Later, Ayers criticizes cultural anarchists,

whose idea of activism was opening fire

hydrants for kids on hot days and handing

out free pastries on the street, for insisting

that the revolution must be fun. This is an

easy demand to make by those whose

lives are not directly threatened by the

system. While creativity is an asset to the

movement, anarchist-dominated

demonstrations often leave more of an

effect of a good carnival then a blow

against the system. This is an example of

where Weather's internationalism put

them far ahead of many of their

contemporaries, as well as many of

today's proclaimed revolutionaries in the

United $tates.(1) Weather people were

not afraid to make sacrifices.

However, Weather seemed to go too

far in fetishizing sacrifice and

commitment. Ayers biggest criticism

seems to be about the early days of

Weatherman. He discusses so-called

criticism/self-criticism sessions where

every aspect of a members life was

analyzed by the others--an example of

lifestyle "politics" which MIM has

repeatedly criticized.(2) For many years

in SDS and in Weather, Ayers describes

what he calls "gut checks" between

branches where each would try to out do

the previous to demonstrate their

dedication. These adventurist tendencies

leave one unsurprised by the path that

Weather chose to take, but they were little

more than demonstrations of the

insecurities of privileged revolutionaries

who can afford to put machismo over the

real needs of the struggle. In other words,

the Weather Underground took a

Christian, moralistic approach to politics

instead of a materialist one. They placed

"purity" ahead of effectiveness.

In a meeting with Vietnamese

comrades in Cuba one Weatherpersyn

reported that, "the Vietnamese were only

mildly interested in our willingness to die

for their cause and much more animated

about how we planned to reach our

Republican parents, something that didn't

interest us at all." (p.162) While the heart

and commitment of revolutionaries may

be what is often romanticized in our

culture, when it comes down to it, all that

matters is whether or not we are

successful.

Success comes from doing what will

push the struggle of the oppressed further

the fastest, not from doing what is most

fun or pleasing to us nor from doing what

gets the greatest number of Amerikans

to rally around us. That is why it is

unfortunate that Ayers comes to take a

negative attitude toward ideology and

political line, ignoring the dialectical

relationship between theory and practice

(p. 159, see "On Practice" by Mao Tse

Tung for more on this topic). While Ayers

describes the period of over-bearing

criticism within the group as focusing

constantly on `political line,' in reality the

group consistently had a problem with

recognizing the role of line--not

surprising, as for them `line' included

choice of sexual partners.

SDS started as a broad coalition and

splintered as the question of line came to

the forefront. We give the Revolutionary

Youth Movement (RYM) tendency credit

for breaking with PLP over what should

be dividing line questions; the progressive

role of oppressed-nation nationalism and

the U.$. class structure. But as a result

they went from a situation where they

figured things out in practice (rather than

applying line to come up with practice) to

a situation where everything you said and

how you spent each minute was

interpreted as ones political line. Even as

Weather moved to it's next stage, they

were unable to make the connection

between their analysis that the majority

of white Amerikans were bought off and

the inevitable outcome that focoist attacks

would only lead to increased repression

and isolation of the movement from an

unsympathetic population.

Ayers references the Cuban revolution

to justify the Weather Underground's turn

to focoism, but goes on to say, "I didn't

doubt it then, but have often wondered

since how many thousands of others

uttered similar quotable lines only to be

obliterated and erased from history the

next day or the day after that." (p.150)

To the credit of the Weather

Underground, the situation at the time was

much different, and the idea that Amerika

was about to crumble didn't seem so

farfetched as it might today. Regardless,

we can learn from the example of the

Weather Underground, a well organized,

revolutionary group with an advanced

political line for its time and place. MIM

recognizes the need for a vanguard to put

forth the most revolutionary political line.

And from the legacy of the Weather

Underground we have taken and solidified

our understanding of the labor aristocracy

within the United $tates, we have rejected

focoism in favor of Third World People's

War, and we have discredited lifestyle

politics, giving everyone room to develop

as contributors to the revolutionary

struggle.

Towards the end of the book, Ayers

warns us not to turn our minds over to

the group and to stay away from

doctrinarism. MIM is not afraid to put a

line forward, call it most advanced and

try to convince others to accept it.

Although some might call that

"doctrinarism," MIM considers it

ideological leadership and the only way

to build an effective movement. But MIM

also recognizes that it is impossible that

everyone in the Party (let alone the

broader revolutionary movement and its

allies) will agree on everything--a

reflection of the class struggle. This is

why MIM encourages its members to be

ideologically self-sufficient and criticize

Party leaders taking up counter-

revolutionary positions on questions of

overwhelming importance--while

following the system of majority rule on

less important questions. This way the

Party can steer between the Scylla of

revisionism (as when the Communist

Party USA rubber-stamped Earl

Browder's decision to dissolve) and the

Charybdis of lifestyle politics and

scholasticism.

Forward through Struggle!

Notes:

1. Although the Weather Underground

vacillated on this question: after busting

LSD-guru Timothy Leary out of prison

the Weather Undergound released a

communiqué praising the libratory aspects

of "feel-good" youth culture.

2. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/

wim/cong/subreform.html. In particular,

while MIM encourages revolutionaries to

put politics first in their lives--we like

political monomania--we also recognize

that such commitment does not guarantee

political line. "I wrote more articles than

you / passed out more papers than you /

donated more money than you / got less

sleep than you" is not a political argument

and cannot be used to justify an incorrect

line. This is why MIM encourages

Honorary Comrades--people who agree

with MIM's cardinal principles but are

not under the disciplinary rules which

govern full comrades' everyday lives--

to participate in its yearly Congress,

where the Party's guiding line is hashed

out.

Autobiogaphy sheds more light on

SDS, Weather Underground

Focoist attacks only

led to increased
repression and

isolation of the

movement from the
unsympathetic,

bought-off Amerikan

population.

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 7

Militarism is war-mongering or the advocacy of war or actual

carrying out of war or its preparations.

While true pacifists condemn all violence as equally

repugnant, we Maoists do not consider self-defense or the

violence of oppressed nations against imperialism to be

militarism. Militarism is mostly caused by imperialism at this

time. Imperialism is the highest stage of capitalism--seen in

countries like the United $tates, England and France.

Under capitalism, capitalists often profit from war or its

What is militarism?

As announced in MIM Notes 287,

MIM has started a Students for a

Democratic Society history project. We
are asking former SDSers to submit
testimonials for our archive; we are also

working on reviewing relevant SDS
books. In this issue we print two of the
first submissions to the project: a review

of former SDS and Weather
Underground member Bill Ayer's
autobiography (page 6), and the first

installment of a new testimonial from
another former SDSer written for
MIM's history project (page 7).

The Students for a Democratic Society

(SDS) was the pre-eminent student
movement organization of U.$. history.

Active from the mid-1960s to early
1970s, the problem with the SDS is that
its history is increasingly dominated by

social-democrats who did not like its
increasing radicalization throughout the
1960s.

There is no one history of SDS that

MIM is happy with. When MIM
predecessors were active in the anti-

apartheid movement at Harvard
University, the SDS posters were still up
in the offices we used. We were able to

piece together some of the relics of the
movement ourselves, and former SDS
organizers worked with us from the very

beginning by attending our events and
tabling for their causes, but we invite
others to help us turn our SDS web page

into a complete archive of history and
analysis. In this regard, we do not expect
all material in this archive to have the

hard-edge Maoism of the vast majority
of the late SDS. We do not seek to
suppress the non-Maoist aspects of the

SDS history. If anyone would like to put
forward memories of SDS as
testimonials for our archive, we welcome

them. Obviously we are interested in the
questions of sustaining revolutionary
commitment and how people thought

they were going to preserve unity and
their success or failure, but other topics
are welcome.

Visit MIM's SDS history page, http://

www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/sds/
index.html.

Part I

This is the first of several testimonial-

commentary documents that I want to

offer for MIM's SDS archives. I was

active in SDS in its zenith year of 1969; I

spent some years as well as a member

of one of the SDS-derived RYM II

parties. I intend my personal reflections

on these years as a contribution to MIM's

summing up of what went right and what

went wrong during that time of rapid

advancement of the revolutionary forces

in amerika. But I particularly offer these

few articles as an express challenge to

former comrades of that time to come

forward with their own recollections and

interpretations of those historical events

as a service that they are uniquely

positioned to render to the international

proletariat.

Now, revolutionary justice requires me

to begin at the end. That's because the

end of my SDS/RYM II involvement was

political degeneration and many long

years of turning my back on the

revolutionary struggle. This was an

ongoing crime against the peoples of the

world oppressed and exploited by the

amerikkkan imperialist system which

materially sustained me and which I in

turn supported by abandoning the fight

against it. So I begin with self-criticism

for all those years of degenerate

"apolitical" retreat into the warm bowels

of empire. And I make this self-criticism

in particular to the peoples of those nations

that MIM cites as combining in the 60's

and 70's to radicalize significant portions

of the populace even here in the amerikan

dreamland: the Black nation within u$

borders fighting for liberation, the

Vietnamese people in their death struggle

to halt extension of u$ empire, and

Chairman Mao and the Chinese people,

who were building socialism and fighting

revisionism to show the way forward in

defeating this monster of imperialism. See,

it took not just one or two, but the

simultaneous conjuncture of all three of

these momentous struggles to raise so

many amerikkkans so quickly out of the

depths of parasitism and to deliver them

through the anti-imperialist movement to

the doorstep of the planet's actual humyn

community. So that's bad enough: that

amerikans in the stupor of their stolen

luxury are so slow on the revolutionary

uptake that it takes so very much heroic

SDS history project gets off the ground

suffering and dying to move them toward

the side of the world's oppressed majority.

But, once propelled there by the sacrifices

of others, to then dis the whole thing in a

hurried scurry back to the rathole of

imperial privilege ... well, that's just

pouring the blood of the people's struggles

directly down the drain. And I and

thousands of former SDS'ers and RYM

II'ers are guilty of precisely that crime.

And any recollective analysis of those

more politically advanced times that does

not begin with their fact of their criminally

degenerative aftermath necessarily starts

off as some brand of opportunist cover-

up and essential falsification of the main

political lessons of those times.

In subsequent articles I will address

more of the nuts and bolts of my SDS/

RYM II involvement and lessons to be

learned there. But for now, just as I have

challenged former comrades of the 60's

and 70's to come forward with their own

recollections and perspectives, I also

challenge those same folks to come clean

in their particular self-criticism for our

eventual collective squandering of the

people's revolutionary energies.

SDS and RYM II: Reflections and Analysis

preparations. Yet, it is the proletariat that does

the dying in the wars. The proletariat wants a

system in which people do not have self-interest

on the side of war- profiteering or war for

imperialism.

Militarism is one of the most important reasons

to overthrow capitalism. It even infects oppressed

nations and causes them to fight each other.

It is important not to let capitalists risk our lives

in their ideas about war and peace or the

environment. They have already had two world

wars admitted by themselves in the last 100 years

and they are conducting a third right now against

the Third World.

Even a one percent annual chance of nuclear

war destruction caused by capitalist

aggressiveness or "greed" as the people call it

should not be tolerated by the proletariat. After

playing Russian Roulette (in which the bullet

chamber is different each time and not related at

all to the one that came up in previous spins) with

100 chambers and one bullet, the chance of

survival is only 60.5% after 50 turns. In other

words, a seemingly small one percent annual

chance of world war means eventual doom. After

100 years or turns of Russian Roulette, the chances

of survival are only 36.6%. After 200 years,

survival has only a 13.4% chance.

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 8

MIM Theory 2 and 3

Gender &

Revolutionary

Feminism

MIM's in-depth explanation of gender

oppresion, especially in the First World. A

classic collection of articles that no

revolutionary feminist should be without. 200

pages.

Send $5 cash, check, or stamps, or money

order to: MIM Distributors, PO Box
29670, Los Angeles CA 90029-0670

What questions do YOU have?

Wasn't Mao a butcher? Why do you spell it "Amerika"? Shouldn't
you try non-violence first? What is internationalism? Isn't hating white

people reverse racism? Why don't you leftists work together? Why
don't you tone it down? What is a cardinal principle? What is your
program? What is necessary to join MIM? What concrete actions can I

take? How do I write articles for MIM? What is your copyright policy?

Go to http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/faq

and get real answers to these and other questions.

trial in December 2003. Through

depositions for this case he has learned

that the people in charge of validating

prisoners have virtually no training, that

about 60% of source items are

confidential (making challenges by

prisoners impossible) and that in many

cases debriefs by prisoners just involve

naming names, not even recounting

actions.

Carbone followed the vein of others

testifying by suggesting reforms to the

SHU system including changing the

classification to behavior based,

implement more frequent reviews of

prisoner's SHU sentence, offering more

programs, and providing greater

protections before validation. While MIM

does work for reforms within the system

as a part of our organizing work to bring

down the system, we think it is

irresponsible to call for these reforms

without pointing out the fundamental

flaws in the system. Particularly when

the reforms are focused on a how to

improve a system that is fundamentally

torture.

The final witness against the SHU was

a former warden Daniel Vasquez. As an

insider he spoke about the validation

appeals that prisoners can make if they

want to dispute their gang classification.

He spoke of one appeal that was returned

to the prisoner with a note stating that he

needed to do further investigation himself.

He pointed out that there is no help for

these appeals, no support, and they are

dismissed with very little attention by the

CDC.

Public comments condemn SHU

After the formal testimony the many

audience members were given a chance

to speak during public comments although

they were restricted to 2 minutes each.

Parents, brothers, sisters, in-laws,

grandparents, and children of prisoners

as well as former prisoners all stood up

to speak about the injustice of the SHU.

Many family members had a hard time

finishing their testimony as they were

moved to tears recounting their

experiences with the CDC.

Family members testified to visitation

processes that made it virtually impossible

for them to see their family, keeping them

CA senate hearings on Security Housing Units

out for wearing the wrong colors,

restricting mothers with more than 2

children from bringing all of the kids at

once, having visits denied by the prison

after a family member has traveled

across the state and confirmed the

appointment by phone, the denial of

contact visits, and other humiliations and

degradations.

The daughter of a prisoner spoke about

her attempts to visit her father where they

made her change clothing twice and then

told her the visit was not scheduled: "I

haven't touched my dad in 12

years...when I go visit him I have to go

through so much I feel like I'm being

punished because of the way I'm being

treated." A mother of a prisoner spoke

about her attempts to see her son in

Pelican Bay. After traveling from Los

Angeles all the way to the northern tip of

the state, spending $500 for the trip, she

was denied visits because a guard had

miscounted the prisoners. She explained

that it is not only the prisoners, "families

are also violated by this system."

The health problems of many of the

prisoners in the SHU were detailed by

their family members. Some have serious

mental health problems after years of long

term isolation. The skin color of SHU

prisoners turns yellow after extensive

denial of exposure to the sun. Many

prisoners have developed serious physical

health problems from the confinement,

lack of activity and poor medical care.

Given the overwhelming number of

SHU prisoners who are Latino in

California, it was not surprising that

several people who attended the hearing

testified in Spanish. One Mexican woman

spoke movingly about the injustices

imploring the senator to see prisoners as

people.

The unfair and random validation

process was criticized by many. Family

members described bogus evidence used

to validate their loved ones including get

well cards. One mother of a prisoner

spoke about his validation a year ago after

which he tried to file an appeal. After he

filled out the form wrong, he was told he

had lost his chance to appeal. Another

person spoke about a man who had been

in the SHU for 15 years. After six years

he got his validation reviewed but was

denied based on evidence that included a

condolence card he sent to a friend whose

mother had died and a political letter he

had written. Another woman recounted

her husband's denied appeal of his SHU

status because of his participation in a

1999 peaceful protest where the whole

housing unit of many different

nationalities united and withheld their

dinner trays to protest the treatment they

were receiving. Several prison activists

also spoke about the men they work with

who have been wrongly classified as gang

members in retaliation for political

organizing.

One mother of a prisoner spoke about

her attempts to get books into the SHU

for her son. She said the prison was

holding books she sent him for college

courses, limiting him to ten books per year,

discouraging him from using his time for

education. She correctly proclaimed

"education is a right, not a privilege."

A man who works with a politically

active SHU prisoner who was recently

assaulted by his cellmate noted that the

cellmate had two weapons when he

entered the cell, and they were not crude

weapons. These weapons had to come

from somewhere. Again and again

testimony like this pointed to not just a

broken system that needs fixing but

systematic oppression.

Several people read from the United

Nations rebuke of the U.$. prison system

in 2000 which included a focus on torture

in solitary confinement units in the four

California SHU prisons. Even

internationally the SHU system in

California is recognized as fundamentally

wrong.

A RAIL speaker described the work

MIM and RAIL is doing with California

prisoners and the pattern we see of the

CDC putting politically active prisoners

in the SHU, pointing out that these are

some of the least threatening prisoners,

the ones helping others file lawsuits and

working for unity among prisoners. The

RAIL speaker described MIM's Books

for Prisoners program explaining that

many of the books and magazines we

send to the SHU at Corcoran and

Tehachapi are censored, returned not

even opened or sent back as a threat to

security. This speaker presented Senator

Romero with more than 500 petition

signatures calling for the SHUs to be shut

down, noting that along with the many

other we had mailed to her this brought

the total petition signatures submitted to

her by MIM to almost 2,500.

A MIM speaker discussed the failure

of the hearings to address the

fundamental problem with the SHU which

is long term isolation, a form of torture

condemned even by the United Nations.

This speaker pointed out that comparisons

to other torture programs are meaningless

because reforms attempting to make

torture programs better cannot succeed

in changing the fact that these programs

are still torture. We should not be talking

about better systems for determining who

should be put in torture units, we need to

talk about how to eliminate these torture

units. Putting this in the context of larger

society the MIM speaker asked people

to consider the problems with the criminal

injustice system as a whole and what in

the CDC is causing them. The detention

ministry for the Archdiocese in Los

Angeles sent two men to testify against

the conditions in the SHU. One of these

men approached the MIM speaker

afterwards to say that the testimony about

torture had really opened his eyes and

influenced what he thought he should

focus on in his work around this issue.

Everyone coming out of the hearing

was eager to get a copy of MIM Notes

and many people asked how they could

get in touch with us or get involved in the

fight against the control units. Family

members we spoke to after were

confused and frustrated by the CDC and

the SHU classification system, and

looking for what they could do to fight it.

With the Amerikan prison population so

large, the number of people in this country

with a close friend or relative in prison is

steadily growing, particularly among

Blacks and Latinos. Feeling the brunt of

the repression, oppressed nations make

up a reliable base for anti-prison

organizing. MIM will continue to reach

out to those who recognize the injustice

system for what it is, in an effort to focus

that knowledge into a broader

understanding of the imperialist system

and how it can be brought to an end, while

building support for our Serve the People

programs and campaigns centered around

prisoners.

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 9

MIM continues to fight to abolish the

Security Housing Units (SHU) in

California prisons. Since August we have

hit the streets at least once a week to

gather petition signatures and educate

people about the importance of this battle.

The SHU is an isolation program for

prisoners, locking them up in small cells

23 to 24 hours a day for years at a time,

under conditions that cause many to

experience physical and psychiatric

problems. Internationally condemned as

a form of torture, control units like the

SHU exist across the country.

In California thousands of men are

locked up in these torture units. They are

unable to fight this classification into the

SHU because the prisons use secret

evidence, and can keep the men there

indefinitely. While the department of

(in)corrections is pushing to expand these

control units into every prison in the state,

MIM is active in a campaign to shut them

down.

Over the past year we have been

gathering petition signatures, protesting,

and distributing educational material to

shut down the SHU program in California.

As a result of pressure from MIM, RAIL,

other activist organizations, and many

prisoners in the SHU, state Senator

Romero agreed to hold public hearings

on the abuses that are an inherent part of

the SHU [see article this issue]. The

department of (in)corrections used these

hearings to put a prettier face on the

repressive SHU program. But MIM and

other activists were there to demand that

the changes to the criminal injustice

system be more than just cosmetic.

On the streets MIM and RAIL activists

have talked to hundreds of people in

Oakland who quickly understood the

importance of shutting down the SHUs.

Oakland, the original home of the Black

Panther Party, is predominantly Black,

and most of the people we spoke to had

been in prison or had a friend or relative

behind bars.

This contrasted with the petition

gathering done in the city of San Francisco

where most of the white people walk by

ignoring us, and a few comment that they

think prisons are good and prisoners

should be tortured. This demonstrated

clearly the national interests at play in

Amerika where repression, particularly

from the criminal injustice system, is

focused on the Black and Latino nations.

One man in Oakland refused to sign

the petition saying that he thought our first

task should be to remove Gray Davis

from office. The much discussed Davis

recall vote has gained the attention of

everyone in California. The MIM activist

responded that while we are certainly not

fans of Davis, we know that he can't be

replaced with someone better. The

problem is not the individual Governor but

the political system. And anyone who

wins the race for Governor will have to

play along with the political system.

We are working to abolish the system,

but while we are at it we fight winnable

battles for reforms that serve two

purposes: They improve the living

conditions of the oppressed, and they give

us the opportunity to educate people about

the repression inherent to the system.

While protesting the SHU program

MIM and RAIL activists have also begun

building our much needed prisoner re-

lease program in California. Working with

hundreds of politically active prisoners in

this state we come face to face with the

need for services for prisoners once they

are released. For many prisoners getting

out of prison means facing life with no

housing, no resources, and a criminal

record to keep them from getting a job.

For politically active prisoners these

problems get in the way of continuing their

activism on the outside.

San Francisco is unusual in having one

large program for released prisoners.

Independently run, the Delancy Street

Foundation has helped thousands of

released prisoners since its formation 20

years ago. Refusing any state funding, it

follows many correct principles in

organizing prisoners to help themselves,

become self-reliant, and believing that

being a criminal is not inherent in these

men and wimmin. But Delancy Street is

focused on helping former prisoners be a

successful part of the capitalist system,

rather than changing that system. MIM

sees the need for a program that gives

prisoners a new lease on life so that they

can be a successful part of the

MIM Fights SHU repression in California

revolutionary movement to change the

capitalist system.

MIM doesn't have a prisoner re-lease

program yet, but we are working to build

one. MIM does not have much money;

we are run by volunteers and fund our

work from donations. But we know that

we can't think small. We need to set up

independent institutions of the oppressed

that serve the oppressed on a big scale.

On the streets gathering petition

signatures to shut down the SHU program

we talked to many people about the

prisoner re-lease program. Former

prisoners and family of prisoners were

particularly supportive. Several people

had ideas about ways we could reach

more interested people, offered to pass

on the information to people who might

help, and one former prisoner volunteered

to take more literature back to the hotel

where he lived with a number of other

former prisoners.

We need people, cash and ideas to get

this going. There are many ways people

can help with this project: donate money,

loan us money, provide the use of space

in a building or other resources, or help

with the day to day work of getting this

program off the ground. We call on our

supporters to work with us to set up a

prisoner re-lease program, to help

prisoners get a new lease on life when

they get out, and ensure that they stay

active and productive revolutionaries on

the outside.

Sonic Jihad (2003)
Paris
Guerrilla Funk
(www.guerrillafunk.com)

While fellow Bay Area Hip Hop artists

the Coup pulled their controversial Sept

2001 release cover of the twin towers

blowing up, Paris came out with his post-

9/11 response sporting the graphic of a

plane flying into the white house. Two

years later Sonic Jihad has actually hit

the shelves.

Following in the wake of the

controversy surrounding Body Count's

song "Cop Killer," Paris last made a lot

of noise declaring himself a "Bush Killer."

A decade later he still stands by that label,

rapping about killing pigs including George

W. Paris is a product of hip hop days

when the Black Panthers and the Nation

of Islam and Five Percenters were

dominant influences, something he points

out is sorely missing from Black culture

today--a result of it being co-opted by

white corporate interests.

Paris is clear about who the real enemy

is: pigs on the street and politicians in

office. He points out that Amerika

neutralizes Black people with the strategy

of "put the men in the prisons, turn the

wimmin to whores." But he doesn't pull

any punches in putting responsibility on

lumpen-turned-bourgeois Blacks for

participating in their own destruction.

Constantly tearing down studio gangsters

who play into the designs of the white-

owned record companies who wants to

act "like the Black life is all gats and crack

pipes." The track "Evil" is a narrative of

how to become an oppressor, modeled

closely after the history of white

oppression of Blacks in Amerika. Here

again he talks about the oppressed killing

and pimping each other and destroying

themselves, making it clear that it is the

result of the conditions enforced by the

oppressor.

While he certainly takes a macho tough

guy attitude when addressing the

oppressor, Paris consistently puts forth a

positive image of Black wimmin as he

does for the community as a whole.

"Black wimmin more than asses and

breasts, I test any nigger disagreeing."

This is one point where he sees life

replicating art and the results are not

pretty when your art is controlled by

people who have committed genocide

against your people for centuries.

While Paris dedicates all praise to God

in the liner notes, he isn't waiting around

for divine intervention to make things

better. The religious tone is not noticeable

on much of the album with the exception

of the engaging demonic theme of the

intro.

Overall, Sonic Jihad is a very positive,

revolutionary album. The track "What

Would You Do?" was pre-released on the

web featuring some good analysis of 9/

11. One powerful line on that track is,

"But I remember before September how

these devils do it, Fuck Guiliani, ask Diallo

how he doin?" He goes on to say "fuck

peace," presumably in response to

pacifists in the emerging anti-war

movement following the invasion of

Afghanistan and then Iraq. He was saying

the same thing during the Gulf War,

pointing out that there is no peace for

oppressed people until we change the

system. He goes on to condemn the U.$.

role in 9/11, "You think a couple thousand

lives mean shit to killers?.. so I'm a say it

for the record/ we the ones that planned

it/ ain't no other country took no part or

had their hand in it." This is a topic he

gets into in great depth in the movie

"AfterMath" that he worked on with the

Guerrilla News Network. His website

includes links to a lot of other good

information including a video on blood

diamonds in Sierra Leone, articles on the

war and civil liberties in the u$.

So, what would Paris do? Take back

hip hop, expose government lies. Not a

bad start. But one might expect more from

longtime revolutionary figureheads like

Paris. There are many thorough accounts

of the faults of the current system, the

harder task is coming up with real

programs that can eliminate those

problems. Paris has got a lot of good stuff

to say, but his message would benefit

from a little more influence from

organizations like the Panthers whose

emblem he incorporates into his own. The

general message one gets from this album

of what is to be done is a combination of

shooting cops and rebuilding Black culture

and identity. Paris never recognizes the

need for a serious revolutionary program.

That perhaps forgivable, but vital

shortcoming aside, we can highly

recommend this album.

Cop Killer, Bush Killer, Unapologetic

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 10

Under Lock & Key

News from Prisons & Prisoners

Censorship battle
continues in Attica

Supplemental Letter In Support Of

Allowing MIM Notes

Directive #4572/2H(6), makes it abundantly

clear that "publications which discuss
different political philosophies and those

dealing with criticism of governmental and
departmental authority are acceptable as
reading material."

Nowhere is this more apparent than in the

alternative publication I receive called "MIM
NOTES." It not only represents a different

political ideology from that of mainstream
America, it also seeks to expose much of the
hypocrisy evident in this country (and others)

by offering well- researched articles in
opposition to the policies and doctrines
disseminated by the countries in question. In

short, it offers criticism when there is criticism
to be had.

That being said, I take strong issue with

this facilities media Review committee
attempting to unduly censure certain articles
within the "MIM NOTES" cited herein. What

we have here is a committee whose political
views--being in contrast to those expressed
in "MIM NOTES"- -are unreasonably leading

them to extrapolate from the contested articles
inferences which are not being expressed by
the publisher.

For instance, the MRC states that the first

article in question, "What Good Are
Petitions?" incites violence as a means to an

end. This is patently untrue. What the article
in fact addresses is that it seems at times that
petitioning the government or other body for

a redress of grievances, in the spirit of the
constitution, is a futile endeavor. Therefore,
alternative ways must be sought to compel

the petitioned body to be more responsive to
the publics concerns. Does this imply that
violence is the only recourse left? Of course

not. It simply means that a more inclusive
government needs to be formed through the
poltical process if petitions are to be more

effective. Political change is often incurred
when people are apprised of the futility of
some of their actions, and instructed how to

effect changes in their political system by
becoming more directly involved in the
political process instead. Not by violence, but

by campaigning within an alternative party
to have a seat within the government.

This is exactly what the article is expressing.

And the biased nature of the MRC is evident
in that it is imposing its own set of opinions
upon the article.

As for the next article in question,

"Inglewood Police Beating: a rite of
passage"--again, a liberal and even objective

reading of the issue presented in the article
reveals that what is being criticized is the
attitude of certain law enforcement personnel

towards a distinct segment of society(that is,
those without a voice in the government) and
how that attitude not only manifests itself in

a racist manner, but also seems to be
condoned by the very officials who are
obligated to ensure our safety.

There is no advocating of violence in this

article. What the article expresses is that those
who are being subjected to degrading

treatment should utilize every legal remedy
available to them in order to curtail the abuse;
and that, ultimately, involves a change in the

legal system. A different political philosophy,
to say the least, which Dir# 4572 protects as
free speech. To say that the article advocates

and incites violence is to make a mockery of
our right to criticize the legal system in any
significant way, as any significant criticism

can be interpreted as a form of subversion by

those whose ideology conforms to that of
the current government.

Lastly, an erroneous interpretation of the

Directive which prohibits inmate -to-inmate
correspondece is being applied by the MRC.
The section entitled "Under Lock and Key:

News From Prisoners," is essentially a forum
wherein prisoners can vent their frustrations
and inform society at large of any maltreatment

they might be subjected to. In effect, writing
to MIM NOTES is in no way different than
writing to any "legitimate" newspaper, except

that MIM NOTES gives prisoners greater
liberty to express their disenchantment with
the legal system or with certain prison

policies.

Inmate-to-inmate correspondence does not

broadly extend to inmates coming upon and

reading other inmates opinions and accounts
of their sufferings, especially when there is
no clue as to who the printed inmates are

("MIM NOTES" omits names and addresses).

Therefore, since the "News From

Prisoners" section is not directed towards any

particular inmate, but merely to the society at
large, there is no violation of the directive. It
is apparent that due to the MRC'S BIAS

against this publication, it is overreaching in
an attempt to find fault with everything it finds
unpalatable, regardless of whether or not the

opinions and views expressed are
constitutionally protected forms of free
speech.

The same can be said for the section

entitled "Solitary Used to Punish." It is an
opinion expressed by the author who no doubt

wishes to end a practice he views as being
overly punitive. It makes no difference what
unauthorized group he or she is affiliated with,

and surely it doesn't in anyway shape or form
advocate recruitment in his/her organization
by simply being the author of an article. I

therefore reiterate my contention that the
MRC is overreaching in an attempt to find
fault with any aspect of "MIM NOTES".

Wherefore, for the foregoing reasons

enunciated succinctly above, I am respectfully
requesting that all portions of "MIM NOTES"

which were deemed to be unacceptable in the
eyes of this facilities MRC be admitted into
the facility.

--a New York Prisoner in Attica

Correctional Facility, August 2003

MIM adds: We recently declared a victory

in Attica after the administration promised to
stop censoring our mail across the board
without reviewing the contents first. As can

be seen by the above letter, they have resumed
censorship of MIM Notes. Thanks to this
comrade and others work we are currently

able to get letters to prisoners in Attica and
censorship of our literature now requires
reasons from the mail room and allows for

petitions from prisoners to have the judgment
overruled. This comrade does an excellent job
of refuting their faulty reasoning for censoring

us, and we encourage others to write to Attica
to continue to apply pressure and put an end
to all censorship in that facility.

Letters of protest can be addressed to

Chairman Edward O'Mara and/or Deputy
Superintendent of Programs R. Savage at:

Attica Correctional Facility Box 149 Attica,
NY 14011-0149. Please cc: MIM with a copy

of your letter. Get in touch with MIM to
provide further legal or campaigning support
to this effort.

Tips for prisoner legal
battles

I am writing concerning the new study

group that will be offered in the future. I am

currently participating in MIM study group
of MIM Theory 11 [for California and
Washington prisoners]. I have found much

enrichment in my participation in this study
group and I look forward to participating in
study group 5. I am sending $15 dollars with

this letter to cover the cost of my involvement
and to donate to the enlightenment of others
who cannot afford the money or stamps. I

hope that my donation helps in this regard.

I am very concerned with the censorship

that was reported in other places. The U$

supreme court has outlined prisoners right to
this mail in two cases: Procunier v. Martinez,
416 US 396, 94 S. CT 1800, (1974) and Turner

v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78 (especially read pages
89 & 90), (1987). In California, the Calif Code
of Regulations, Title 15 §3135, 3137,

(especially see 3137(f) (3)) and 3147. These
u.s. supreme court cases make it clear that
there is no valid penological reason to deny

any prisoner in united snakes this type of
literature or MIM Notes. Corruption at CSATF
and Tehachapi can make it difficult to file

grievances in California, but with persistence
prisoners should prevail.

I have found that MIM Notes and the study

group literature are great tools for
enlightening prisoners. Although I am
engaged in helping prisoners here with their

legal cases, any type of research that I can
help with I shall make a concerned effort to
help. I wholeheartedly believe that prisoners

need to educate themselves and learn how to
overcome the oppression in these prisons.
Also, in California, prison Law Office helps

prisoners with basic information on lawsuits,
habeas corpus, and some other legal
information. The address is: Prison Law

Office, General Delivery, San Quentin, CA
94964- 0001.

-a California prisoner, September 2003

Testimony from
Corcoran

Corcoran State Prison is located in Kings

County in Central California. It is designed as

a SHU (Security Housing Unit). SHUs are for
convicts who have violated serious rule
violations, or prison gang members.

There are specific time limits on how long

the CDC may hold a convict in a SHU unit for
rule violations. For example, I'm serving an

18 month SHU for "battery on staff." The
average stay in the SHU is 24 months.

SHU units are devoid of most privileges,

you have no access to the phone, no contact
visits. By law you are allowed 10 hours a week
of yard time. However, in my building, I only

get about 3 hours every 2 weeks. The CDC is

also mandated by law to provide library
service to SHU inmates. But here it's a joke.

There is a cart of about 20 dated romance
novels. You may have one book every two
weeks. You may have only a minimum of

personal property. You are not allowed any
personal clothes, your photos are limited to
10.

You are allowed a TV or a radio if you have

one. You are also allowed a $45 a month
canteen draw where you can buy cosmetic

and food items. Indigent convicts are supplied
with soap, toothpowder and little else. You
may receive books from the outside, if you

are fortunate enough to have someone send
some.

You are restricted to your cell 24 hours a

day. The cells themselves are made of solid
concrete. Two slabs side by side, a toilet/sink
is at the front of the cell. A small frosted

window sits in the back. You have no direct
access to the lights. Bright lights are on from
6:00am until 10:00 pm. Then the lights are

dimmed all other hours.

You receive 3 meals a day. Breakfast, a bag

lunch and dinner. All combined you receive

about 2000 calories a day. The food is not
very good, and the portions are very small.
Just enough to keep you alive.

The cops are mostly mean spirited and

petty. That is true in most other prisons. I
personally try to avoid any interaction with

them. The staff here at Corcoran were
involved in criminal and civil litigation in the
late 90s.

They were accused of arranging fights

amongst prisoners and gambling on the
outcome. They were also accused of murder.

By shooting two convicts to death. The
involved staff were acquitted at jury trial on
the criminal charges and the CDC settled the

civil suit for $600,000. $600,000 for a human
life.

There are 3 SHU units in California. Pelican

Bay, Tehachapi and here at Corcoran. I have
been to all 3 and Corcoran is by far the worst.
By American standards, this is probably one

of the worst prisons in the country as far as
living conditions go.

-- a Corcoran prisoner, August 2003

I was glad to hear about your work to try

and abolish control and SHU units. As a

person who has spent many years in these
type of units, I know first hand that they serve
no purpose, other than punishing prisoners

severely. The CDC covers themselves by
saying that prisoners conduct that endangers
the safety of others or the security of the

institution shall be housed in a SHU. Of course
this makes sense in the abstract. However,
the criteria is not that rigorous. The

disciplinary process for offenses that warrant
SHU terms is a joke. The hearings are set on a
"preponderance of evidence" standard. These

hearings are a kangaroo court system, and
you can only appeal to the same staff that
has already decided you are guilty.

Moreover, the CDC decides for themselves

which prisoners are a threat to the "safety
and security" of the institution. This term is a

cover-all term and is not defined. They use
this term "safety and security of the
institution," any time they whish to deny any

privilege or right that a prisoner has by law.
The CCR Title 15 allows the CDC to nullify
any legislation, simply by coining this term.

The worst case scenario is when the CDC

gives prisoners indeterminate SHU terms for
being a so-called prison gang member. Once

the CDC decides you are a prison gang
member, the only way you can be released
from a SHU unit is by "debriefing." which in

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 11

Facts on U$ imprisonment

The facts about imprisonment in the United $tates are that the United $tates has been the world's leading prison-state per capita for the last

25 years, with a brief exception during Boris Yeltsin's declaration of a state of emergency.(1)

That means that while Reagan was talking about a Soviet "evil empire" he was the head of a state that imprisoned more people per capita.

In supposedly "hard-line" Bulgaria of the Soviet bloc of the 1980s, the imprisonment rate was less than half that of the United $tates.(2,3)

To find a comparison with U.$. imprisonment of Black people, there is no statistic in any country that compares including apartheid South

Africa of the era before Mandela was president. The last situation remotely comparable to the situation today was under Stalin during war
time. The majority of prisoners are non-violent offenders(4) and the U.S. Government now holds about a half million more prisoners than
China; even though China is four times our population.(5)

The rednecks tell MIM that we live in a "free country." They live in an Orwellian 1984 situation where freedom is imprisonment.

Notes: 1. Marc Mauer, "Americans Behind Bars: The International Use of Incarceration 1993," The Prison Sentencing Project, 918 F. St. NW, Suite

501, Washington, DC 20004 (202) 628-0871 Reference: SRI: R8965-2, 1994
2. Ibid., 1992 report.

3. United Nations Development Programme, "Human Development Report 1994,:" Oxford University Press, p. 186.

4. Figure of 51.2 percent for state prisoners there for non-violent offenses. Abstract of the United States 1993, p. 211.
5. Atlantic Monthly December, 1998.

turn makes that person an informant. In the
prison society informants are despised

second only to child molesters. So in all, if
the CDC terms you a prison gang member, for
you to be released from the SHU you must

risk your life by informing on other prisoners.
To say nothing of your integrity, or the fact
that you may not even have any information

to de-brief.

Further, the criteria for being a gang member

is far too easily met. Things like "confidential

information." Any inmate could tell staff that
a prisoner is a gang member and that will be
used against that prisoner. Or "association."

For example if I decided to play a game of
chess with validated gang member, I would
then be deemed a gang member. This is clearly

a method the CDC uses to remove any
prisoner they feel is a threat.

Again...these units are designed strictly for

punishment. Total sensory deprivation.
Furthermore, the rules change in prison
society for prisoners in these units. All

prisoners must follow two sets of rules. One
outlined by the CDC, and secondly, and more
important, are rules set out by other prisoners.

These units condition prisoners to become
more violent, and less forgiving than normal.
When a person is incarcerated, they take an

evolutionary step backwards. A more war like
and less tolerant, almost animal society, and
these are people who may have violent

tendencies to begin with.

For the most part, the units make prisoners

worse. So what purpose do they serve? And

for the benefit of whom? I cannot see a
prisoner that would be able to interact with
people in society at any normal level after

being exposed to long term SHU housing.
When a person becomes powerless over their
own life, that person only has two choices.

One, submit and two, act out. Most people
will not submit, so they act out. Either choice
does no one any good. Not the prison

administration, and certainly not the prisoner.
Common sense would dictate not to kick an
already violent dog.

-- a second Corcoran prisoner, September

2003

Washington State
criminal injustice
priorities are wrong

Confined to a max custody Intensive

Management Unit (IMU) prison cell 24 hours
of the day, combating the symptoms and

effects of sensory deprivation, long periods
of isolation, illusions, hallucinations, paranoia,
difficulty with concentration and memory, I

wonder if the way I am viewing events taking
place at this time are with a clean clear sense
of perception.

With Washington State's current economic

and employment crisis, revenue forecasters
said that Washington will face a budget short

fall of at least $2 billion this coming budget
cycle.(1) It is ironic that this state's

bureaucrats would lay off teachers, reduce
pay, cut classes, or even close schools when
the average cost of incarceration per inmate

is between $22,000 to $24,000 per year with
cost per prison cell construction at $54,000.
Washington State currently has a prison

population of more than 15,000 inmates, and
the DOC also has 15,304 registered sex
offenders (statistics of 2001) that are not

incarcerated.(1)

This state has more registered sex offenders

than it does incarcerated prisoners. With the

recent media attention on this state's dilemma
of what to do with civil committed sex
offenders the DOC and DSHS is billing the

state of Washington up to $800,000 per
prisoner per year to house, treat and maintain
24 hour supervision of non-treatable

offenders.

My question is, should we lose any of our

pedagogical education professionals, or

precious students who are our future
generation, our senior citizens who can't
afford the high cost of prescription drugs,

some who travel all the way to Canada to find
affordable prices? Should any of our schools
or social programs suffer? There is a Iroquois

teaching: "We are walking upon the face of
those yet to come."

In a report by the Justice Policy Institute

(JPI) "Cell blocks or class rooms?" there is a
state by state analysis of corrections and
higher education spending. JPI shows the

fiscal impact of nation's overuse of prisons
as a solution to social problems.(2)

Between 1985 and 2000 the nationwide

increase in state spending on corrections was
nearly double that of the increase to higher
education ($20 billion versus $10.7 billion).

The spending on higher education by states
was 24% compared with 166% for corrections.
In Washington between 1985 and 2000 state

spending on corrections grew by 138% while
state spending on higher education grew by
only 13%, a spending difference of 125% for

a population of just 15,000 prisoners.(3) The
cost of one prisoner a year of $24,000 could
increase the salary of six teachers by $2,000

each or the salary of one teacher for a year.
That sum alone could fund academic
educational programs for students. The state

of California spends $7,000 each year on every
child but spends $27,000 each year on every
inmate.

Every election year the politicians sing the

same old song "tougher on crime and better
funding for education." The state legislature

has to start a process of immediate criminal
justice reform, changing, creating laws, and
repealing existing ones such as the persistent

prison misbehavior RCW 9.94.070, a frivolous
law passed in Aug 1, 1995. An inmate of a
state corrections institution commits the crime

of persistent prison misbehavior if the inmate
knowingly commits as serious infraction that

does not constitute a class A or class B felony
after losing all potential earned early release

time credit; this law serves no penological
objective nor does it deter misbehavior and it
does not apply to all prisoners.

Legislature officials should really take a

look into the mirror as to the severity of
economic, employment, educational, and

social situations we are facing due to the
budget crisis and government
mismanagement.

There is also the recent tragic event of the

murder suicide of Tacoma police chief, David
Brayn, and his wife, due to Domestic Violence

issues and the subsequent on-going
investigation. It is shocking to find out that
this officer of the law should never have been

in law enforcement, but due to this state's
infestation of nepotism in all branches of law
enforcement agencies, he was hired,

progressed and promoted through the ranks
to chief of police after being evaluated by
departmental psychologists as not fit to be a

public servant.

What's ironic is this officer was charged

with rape, but the charges and allegations

were swept under the rug, overlooked. One
has to wonder, while he held the office of
Chief of Tacoma, how many criminal acts he

allowed by officers under his charge and
supervision? His wife has made numerous
charges of abuse and domestic violence only

to have them ignored by the good `old boy
network. The law states that anyone
convicted of a domestic violence charge are

prohibited to even carry firearms. There are
hundreds of law enforcement employees that
fit this criteria. As Mumia Abu Jamal says

"they may be sworn to protect the people but
they are paid to protect the established."

Notes: 1. Prison Legal News, May,, 2003,

Vol 14, No5 2. www.justicepolicy.org 3. Justice
Matters, 2002 Vol4, no2

-- a Washington prisoner, June 2003

Money and corruption
in Oregon prisons

The Oregon educational and psychological

evaluations are based on standard outdated

pre 1960s format series that determines your
placement in the adult education classes or
classes in which one can obtain a GED. The

majority of inmates do not possess a high
school education, thus society condemns
them to a substandard lifestyle which

encourages abnormal behavior in these
individuals offering them nothing more than
another free trip to prison. However, this does

not mean they are not smart, most are very
intelligent, it's just that their energies are
focused in the wrong direction.

It is unfortunate that Oregon's penal system

does not provide for their advancement and
training needed to make them productive

citizens because of budget shortfall, declining
revenues from a 7.5% unemployment rate

coupled with the mismanagement of public
funds entrusted to them. This prison system

has a budget deficit of $21 million. The state
campaigned like hell to entice voters to vote
for a tax increase by using scare tactics such

as having to close prisons and have to release
`dangerous prisoners' back into the general
public. Luckily John Q. Public did not believe

this hype and the measure was defeated.
What was amazing was how government
officials managed to find the $21 million

hidden somewhere in the fiscal budget. It's
funny how you never ever see our elected
officials eliminate or reduce wages for any

government position. It seems that this is the
time they select to introduce an increase in
their own salaries.

DOC's training programs for the staff leave

a lot to be desired. Many would fail any
standard psychological evaluation. Guards

are not thoroughly screened during the hiring
process and many have untreated emotional
issues, others are rejects from society, but

the majority are uneducated country boys
who, once in a position of power and
authority, treat inmates disrespectfully at the

same time demanding respect themselves.
They are taught to ridicule, belittle, and
intimidate inmates into behaviors not in their

character in the hopes that they will overreact
and say something out of hand so that they
can be sent to disciplinary segregation.

They encourage inmates of different racial

backgrounds to have negative interactions
so that they can invoke gang status charges

against them in order to stigmatize them for
the remainder of the incarceration. The whole
system is predicated in the belief that we can

get away with anything and any charges
brought against us will be squashed by
higher-ups. What could an inmate possibly

do. If he files charges against a guard by the
time an inmate goes through the tangle of the
grievance process and legal requirements, the

inmate's sentence has either expired or he has
been released.

With DOC, an inmate who initiates charges

against any guard, the institution, or DOC
they are immediately transferred to another
institution so that the inmate has to re-file all

of his paper work in the new county he has
been transferred, not to mention having to
pay the filing fees again. Attached and

associated with this is the harassment he is
subjected to during this process.

-- an OR prisoner, March 2003

Degrees not Strikes

So quick to condemn,

Making choices in spite
Opportunity for degrees should
Replace that of strikes,

Education replaces the ignorance
Of crime,
Basic logic even for the

Simple mind,
Yet where are the opportunities
For the incarcerated today?

Rather replaced with strikes
Affecting every life in some way,
The abduction of education

Makes me say yikes! ...my
Message is
Degrees not strikes

-- a CA prisoner, May 2003

MIM Notes 289 · October 15, 2003 · Page 12

Notas Rojas

oct 15, 2003, Nº 289 Fragmento del Periodico Oficial del Movimiento Internacionalista Maoista

Gratis

¿Que es el MIM?

El Movimiento Internacionalista Maoísta (MIM) es un partido revolucionario

comunista que ejerce el Marxismo-Leninismo-Maoísmo. El MIM es una organización
internacionalista que trabaja desde el punto de vista del proletariado del Tercer Mundo;
es por esto que sus miembros no son amerikanos sino ciudadanos del mundo.

El MIM lucha para acabar con la opresión de todos los grupos sobre cualquier otro,

naciones por naciones, clases por clases, y géneros por géneros. La revolución es una
realidad para los Estados Unidos mientras su ejército continúa extendiendose en su
esfuerzo por asegurar la hegemonía mundial.

El MIM difiere de otros partidos en tres puntos basicos: (1) El MIM sostiene que

después que el proletariado conquiste el poder estatal, existira aún el potencial para una
restauración de tipo capitalista, bajo la dirección de una burguesía nueva dentro del
mismo partido comunista. En el caso de la Unión Soviética, la burguesía se apoderó del
gobierno después de la muerte de Stalin, en 1953; y en China después de la muerte de
Mao y del derrocamiento de la llamada "banda de los cuatro' en 1976. (2) El MIM
sostiene que la Revolución Cultural en China es la fase ms avanzada a la que llegó el
comunismo en la historia. (3) El MIM afirma que la clase trabajadora blanca de los
EE.UU. es primordialmente, una élite trabajadora no revolucionaria en el presente. Es
por esto que no es el principal vehículo para avanzar el Maoísmo en este país.

El MIM acepta como miembro a cualquier individuo que esté de acuerdo con estos

tres puntos basicos, y que acepte al centralismo democrtico, el método de gobierno por
la mayoría en lo que se refiere a cuestiones de línea del partido. El MIM es un partido
clandestino que no publica los nombres de sus miembros para evitar la represión estatal
dirigida históricamente contra los movimientos revolucionarios comunistas, y anti-
imperialistas. Si Ud. desea una suscripción para cualquiera de nuestros periódicos o
libros teóricos, en español o en inglés, por favor mandar dinero en efectivo o un cheque
al nombre de MIM a esta dirección:

MIM · P.O. Box 29670 · Los Angeles CA 90029-0670

Artículo revisado, 18 de julio de

2003.

Traducido por Células de Estudio

para la Liberación de Aztlán y

América Latina.

Según los periódicos peruanos y la

publicación de Yahoo!, el Europe Press,

Adolfo Olaechea fue arrestado por las

autoridades españolas el 4 de julio de

2003. No disponemos de detalles

confiables pero, según varias fuentes,

Adolfo Olaechea estaba de viaje de

negocios en España.

El embajador peruano solicitó una

extradición de Adolfo Olaechea al Perú

denominando a éste un "terrorista" y

sosteniendo Olaechea había tenido lazos

con el Partido Comunista del Perú y la

guerra civil peruana desde el año 1980,

a pesar de que la guerra civil peruana

comenzó años después de la salida de

Olaechea del Perú.

El título del artículo que aparece en

Yahoo! dice: "El terrorista peruano

Adolfo Olaechea..." De modo que la

histeria gringa en torno al "terrorismo"

tiene resonancia en todo el mundo- algo

común entre la popular retórica

"antiterrorista" propagada por

gobernantes que buscan encubrir

cualquier tipo de oportunismo y fechoría.

Adolfo Olaechea lleva casi 40 años

fuera del Perú. Ha sido residente

permanente de Inglaterra durante los

últimos 25 años. Según una entrevista

realizada por El Comercio, Olaechea no

formaba parte del Partido Comunista del

Perú. Tenía un documento emitido por

la Embajada peruana que le permitía

viajar dentro del Perú, por lo tanto,

Olachea no tenía problemas con viajes

a Perú durante dos semanas. La

pregunta es ¿a qué se debe la acusación

reciente de "terrorismo", si los gringos

no están moviendo los hilos de los

títeres? Como señala la entrevista de El

Comercio, las personas que han acusado

a Olaechea en el pasado hoy en día están

presos por acusación de tráfico de

drogas, soborno y asesinato en masa.

El jefe del servicio de inteligencia V.

Montesinos, quien ocupó el cargo

durante la presidencia de Fujimori, se

encuentra encarcelado.

A la luz del reciente descontento con

el fallido régimen peruano, los resultados

de la encuesta sobre la popularidad de

Toledo quien había obtenido su

educación en la Universidad de

Stanford, y el descontento global con el

patrocinador de Toledo, los EE. UU.,

no nos sorprende el amplio alcance de

la búsqueda de chivos expiatorios,

aunque los detalles de tales noticias

siempre son muy raros. Mientras el

pueblo peruano organiza marchas en

contra del desempleo y se preguntan

porqué Toledo no lleva a cabo sus

promesas electorales, resulta fácil hacer

demagogia y distraer a la gente con la

aserción de que la guerra civil peruana

originó en Londres.

En su publicación, Caretas afirma que

Adolfo Olaechea "propaga a favor del

Sendero Luminoso". Burlándose de las

denuncias que Olaechea hizo en contra

del régimen peruano desde Londres,

Caretas lo llama un trabajador cultural

que debería ser castigado aunque

Olaechea no fuera "un líder histórico"

del Sendero Luminoso.

Les sugerimos a escritores tipo Caretas

que en vez de buscar respuestas fáciles

como la caza de refugiados en Londres,

amplíen su información, por ejemplo,

con una reseña de las condiciones en el

campo para entender a qué se debe el

origen de la lucha armada. Si un

gobierno no sabe aguantar ciertos

discursos o artículos escritos desde

Londres, a este gobierno le tocará caer

tarde o temprano; cuanto más pronto

se reconozca este hecho y se abandone

a este tipo de gobierno débil, menos

sangre será derramada.

Uno de los pasos tomados por

Olaechea en Inglaterra antes de su

arresto fue el intento de asegurar el

apoyo de los Tories en contra de la

guerra con Irak. Olaechea instigó a

Adolfo Olaechea arrestado en España: el chivo

expiatorio de lacayos estadounidenses en el Perú

Inglaterra a que "salvara nuestra

democracia"- una posición afín a la

opinión inglesa, según la cual en un país

que tiene sus propios recursos

petrolíferos, la mayoría de la gente no

estaba a favor de la guerra, sino que fue

obligada a brindar su respaldo a favor

de la misma por Bush y su títere Blair.

Mao dijo una vez que un ataque del

enemigo es un honor y un hecho positivo.

En el caso de Adolfo Olaechea, el honor

de haber sido convertido en un chivo

expiatorio es extraño pero significativo.

¿Es posible que el régimen peruano tenga

tanto pánico a los escritos y los discursos

de Olaechea que decida correr el riesgo

de aparentar desesperado en público?

Surge la pregunta de qué tan eficaz es

el motor de la justicia. Aún está por verse

si lo que está pasando es un resto del

despotrique anterior de Fujimori, ahora

que existe una orden internacional de

arresto en contra del mismo. La imagen

que se crea en torno a Perú es la imagen

de una "república bananera" caprichosa

y arbitraria. Según la entrevista de El

Comercio, en una ocasión Perú le otorga

a Olaechea una entrada para su luna de

miel por dos semanas. En otra ocasión

se ordena un arresto de Fujimori/

Montesinos por cargos de corrupción,

tráfico de drogas y asesinatos en masa.

Encima de esto, el Perú parece actuar

según órdenes que tal vez hayan sido

emitidas por Fujimori.

El MIM espera obtener más detalles

sobre esta rara historia.