I N T E R N E T ' S  M A O I S T M O N T H L Y

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     X V X   X   X V X   X X X  X X   X   XX   XXX
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         THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

  MIM Notes 63               April 1992

MIM Notes speaks to and from the viewpoint of the 
world's oppressed majority, and against the 
imperialist-patriarchy. Pick it up and wield it in 
the service of the people. support it, struggle 
with it and write for it.


IN THIS ISSUE:
1.  REAL FEMINISTS CHOOSE REVOLUTION p4
2.  ENFRANCHISED BLACKS; EMPOWERED WHITES
3.  AMERIKA EXPOSES NATIVE ALASKANS TO DEADLY TEST
4.  STALINIST GARBAGE?
5.  AMERIKA'S SOLUTION TO RAPE: CASTRATE BLACK MEN
6.  ECO PIG COMES CLEAN
7.  IT PAYS TO BE RICH
8.  FUJIMORI EXPANDS "CIVIL DEFENSE" UNITS
9.  MEXICAN WORKERS STRIKE
10. THE ONE-DAY WAR: ISRAEL INVADES LEBANON
11. COUNTING BEANS IN THE SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE
12. BRAZILIAN DEATH SQUADS MURDER STREET CHILDREN
13. VIETNAM'S SPRING VICTORY
14. SAYING 'NO' TO COLUMBUS: 500 YEARS OF RESISTANCE
15. RODNEY KING IS EVERY BLACKMAN

The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a 
revolutionary communist party that upholds 
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, comprising 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 
Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties 
of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of 
the U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of 
MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-
speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM.

MIM is an internationalist organization that works 
from the vantage point of the Third World 
proletariat; thus, its members are not Amerikans, 
but world citizens.

MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups 
over other groups: classes, genders, nations.  MIM 
knows this is only possible 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 
human history. (3) MIM believes the North American 
white-working-class is primarily a non-
revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it 
is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in 
this country.

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


* * *

REAL FEMINISTS CHOOSE REVOLUTION

Women who don't have control over their lives can't gain control 
over their bodies. As hundreds of thousands of women converge on 
Washington this month for a rally sponsored by the National 
Organization for Women, revolutionaries are at a crossroads for 
feminism.

As internationalists, we can't forget that the majority of the 
world's women--80%--are in the Third World. Any movement that 
doesn't work to overthrow imperialism, the system that dominates 
those women and their countries, isn't really feminist.

All women should have safe, free access to abortion. On that there 
is no question. But it is only rich women for whom the legal 
access to abortion itself is the primary issue.

When a movement is built around the legal right, separate from the 
national and class oppressions which regulate the exercise of that 
"right"--then the First World has produced a movement which does 
more harm than good. Only the privileged women of the First World 
would construct a movement based so exclusively on legal rights, 
pursuing the legality of "choice" as if class and national 
oppression were not relevant to women.

Where was the First World feminist movement when abortion was 
"legal" but restricted to affluent women?

What "choice" can there be without food and shelter? What "choice" 
can there be when Third World women--including the women of the 
oppressed nations within Amerika--are locked in struggle with the 
imperialist patriarchy which seeks to control their population?

While First World women clamor for the "right" to choose fewer 
children, oppressed women face forced sterilization by governments 
groveling for Amerikan and World Bank approval.

Any real feminist movement must face the oppression of the 
majority of the world's women and confront the imperialist 
patriarchy head on with a revolutionary movement.

See Sterilization, p. 4



* * *

ENFRANCHISED BLACKS; EMPOWERED WHITES



The biggest electoral hot-air balloon of the season wasn't the 
U.S. presidential race, but the whites-only referendum in South 
Africa on March 17. After whites voted two-to-one in favor of 
President F. W. de Klerk's proposal, he declared, "Today we have 
closed the book on apartheid."(1)

Nothing could be further from the truth. Most white voters--
representing 16.6% of the population--said "yes" to this 
statement: "Do you support the continuation of the reform process 
which the State President began on Feb. 2, 1990, and which is 
aimed at a new constitution through negotiation?"(2)

What would the result have been if the question was: "Do you 
support full equality for Blacks?"

The vote represented a victory for ruling-class whites: the South 
African Chamber of Business supported the referendum based on 
"practical concerns, rather than moral convictions, to prevent 
further political instability and economic isolation." The all-
white South African Mineworkers Union, on the other hand, urged a 
"no" vote to protect their top-of-the-market status.(3)

Sure enough, the short-term ambitions of the whites came true: the 
international bourgeoisie cheered, as South African stocks and 
bonds soared on domestic and international markets.(4)

The "reform" process in South Africa has opened the door for 
political reforms for some Azanians--and bought the white minority 
nation a lot of time to wage war on the most progressive elements 
of the oppressed, who have died by the thousands in government-
backed "factional fighting." Every day the negotiations continue, 
the African National Congress grows further from its former mass 
base--and the country moves closer to revolution. --MC12

Notes:
1. New York Times 3/19/92, p. A1.
2. NYT 3/18/92, p. A4.
3. Wall Street Journal, 2/2/92.
4. WSJ 3/19/92, p. C1.

* * *

INJECTING DEATH

A deadly experimental vaccine campaign has left indigenous Alaskan 
communities reeling from a perilous outbreak of AIDS.

The indigenous people of Alaska; Pine Ridge, South Dakota; and the 
White Mountain Apache are all the targets of a Centers for Disease 
Control hepatitis B vaccination experiment which forces the 
vaccine on school children and newborn infants without informed 
parental consent. The program takes advantage of the indigenous 
peoples' dependence on government-sponsored medical care, which 
also makes centralized record keeping convenient for the doctors 
of death.

The blood-based experimental vaccine used in Alaska was 
contaminated with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Leaders from 
one indigenous tribe say their people have never been so sick. In 
one village, 30% of the people may be infected.

The government calls the arctic lands "a natural laboratory" for 
research which "may provide information crucial for future defense 
needs." And the people pay the price.


AMERIKA EXPOSES NATIVE ALASKANS TO DEADLY TEST
by MC99

eaving a river of blood and a lawsuit in their wake, researchers 
from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are on their way from 
Alaska to Pine Ridge, South Dakota, where they will continue 
testing hepatitis B vaccines by forcibly inoculating the 
indigenous population there. It was recently discovered that the 
vaccine they used was contaminated with the HIV virus, which 
causes AIDS--it was only administered to indigenous people.

The testing ended early in Alaska because people started to refuse 
the vaccines administered by the Public Health Service (PHS) after 
a large outbreak of AIDS. The CDC says the White Mountain Apache 
are also targeted for these experiments.

One village may lose 30% of its population as a result of the 
experiment.(2)

History of the vaccine

Since 1987, when the vaccination program started, school children 
have been pulled from class to be vaccinated without informed 
parental consent. Mary Ann Mills of the Sovereignty Movement 
explained, "Nobody was told that the vaccine wasn't proven."

HIV testing of the U.S. blood supply became mandatory in 1985; the 
hepatitis B vaccine used is plasma-derived. The source for the 
antigen (part of the vaccine which contains the disease the 
vaccine is to prevent) is blood.

In 1990, when protests against the experiment were halting the 
CDC's progress, the Center tried to test the entire indigenous 
population of Alaska for HIV. Some people were tested, but the 
results were never disclosed. Indigenous people in Alaska are 
dependent on the PHS for all of their medical care.(3)

Where consent forms existed in this deadly research game, they 
were purely a legal formality, designed to protect the PHS from 
having to bear follow-up medical expenses if the vaccine caused 
any damage. The consent form said that if the vaccinated children 
suffer any ill-effects they will only be provided with medical 
care for two years. Unfortunately, the incubation period for HIV 
is up to 10 years or longer.

The school children were vaccinated by the Alaska Native Medical 
Center, a public service hospital in Anchorage.

Since 1987, 50% of indigenous Alaskans (40,000 people) have been 
inoculated with the hepatitis B vaccine, including 2,000 infants 
who were vaccinated at birth.(3) Local sources say that AIDS has 
recently broken out in epidemic proportions in indigenous 
communities.(2) 

Picking the subjects

The 98th Congress of Alaska wants to pass the Arctic Research and 
Policy Act, which would designate the Arctic as a territory for 
research in several fields, including health care. The law calls 
the Arctic "a natural laboratory for research into human health 
and adaptation ... [which] may provide information crucial for 
future defense needs."(4)

When studying the course of a disease or virus, the ideal test 
population is, first, one which is expendable to the ruling class, 
and also one for which medical history already exists. Indigenous 
nations fit these criteria well.

"Many patients have received lifelong care within this [PHS] 
system, and their entire medical history has been recorded."(1) 
These records, available to the Arctic Research Plan, are 
centralized and computerized, making the data that much more 
convenient for the doctors of death.(1)

Indigenous children are even better research subjects than adults. 
Dr. Brian McMahn, who headed the hepatitis B vaccine program for 
the Alaska Native Medical Center, explained:

"Frustrated by the widespread reluctance of adults to be 
vaccinated against Hep. B, a federal panel has recommended that 
children be vaccinated," he said. "Public Health Service has 
recommended vaccinating children for a disease whose victims are 
almost always adults ... the benefits of a hepatitis vaccine 
program will not appear for about 20 years."(2)

One risk of experimental vaccines is that the virus antigens 
contained in them can recombine their genetic material or combine 
with unknown viruses, which are part of the body. This combining 
process can result in a new virus, which has the possibility of 
being more deadly than the original disease.(3)

Science under imperialism is controlled by those in power. In 
Amerika, the Department of Defense, the CDC, the National 
Institutes of Health, and the World Health Organization, are the 
organizations which police all large-scale scientific research.

Genocide

In one of the 200 affected tribes, the Den'ina, the elders say 
that their people have never been so sick. In the past they were 
able to rely exclusively on their own medicine. The stamina of the 
Arctic indigenous people, in the face of such severe climate, is 
of interest to colonizers for two reasons.

First, by understanding what biologically constitutes the health 
of the indigenous people, they can covertly wipe out the remaining 
population. Second, colonizers need more information on how to 
survive in sub-zero temperatures themselves. Hence the genocidal 
medical experiments.

Historically the Den'ina clans would compete among themselves to 
see which clan could come up with the best way to help the people, 
but the tribe is finding that such principles are not exactly 
compatible with the federal and state governments.(2)

The villages are appealing to the United Nations to honor existing 
treaties with indigenous people--a tactic designed to keep a 
public focus on the issue--as well as soliciting money from the 
PHS for doctors.

MIM supports all oppressed people's claims to self-determination. 
But MIM also recognizes that neither money from the PHS nor U.N. 
intervention will result in the elimination of oppression. Only 
revolution will do that.

Notes:
1. Arctic Research Plan, Interagency Arctic Research Policy 
Committee, July 1987, p. 220.
2. Women of All Red Nations, February 1992, p.1.
3. Address to the Green Party State Wide Convention, Traditional 
Den'ina Tribe, September 1991, Homer, Alaska.
4. Public Law 98-373, 98th Congress, Section 102(6).

* * *

STALINIST GARBAGE?

In recent months, MIM has been posting Maoist flyers across the 
country. Many of these flyers get torn down, and MIM has noticed 
that our anti-Trotskyist flyers are in the greatest danger. On one 
lamp post in the East MIM found a response posted below the flyer.

MIM commends the writer of this response for placing their views 
in front of the public to let the masses judge, rather than simply 
tearing down the flyer of their opposition. MIM is happy to offer 
the writer's opinions even wider circulation than they would 
receive on a lamp post by reprinting their letter here with MIM's 
response.

TEXT OF MIM'S FLYER

Myth: Trotskyism is a revolutionary communist alternative to 
Stalinism and Maoism.

Fact: In 65 years of practice, there has been NOT ONE revolution 
led under the banner of Trotskyism--not the Soviet Union (where a 
majority of the leaders of the Revolution threw Trotsky out), not 
China, not Albania, not Korea, not Vietnam, not Kampuchea, not 
Eritrea and not Ethiopia. While Trotskyists have led no Third 
World revolutions, they have succeeded in one thing--splitting the 
First World communist movement.

Trotskyists--communists in words, best friends of the ruling class 
in deeds.

Trotskyism--part of the problem, not part of the solution.

A CRITIC'S RESPONSE

Note to the MIM,

This is Stalinist GARBAGE!

You are forgetting one socialist revolution in which Trotsky 
played a leading role (second only to Lenin): The Russian 
Revolution! Just because Russia is now turning back to capitalism 
in no way negates Trotsky's contributions to Russian and world 
revolution.

If Trotsky was expelled from the Russian Communist Party, it was 
because of his opposition to the power-hungry dictator who 
destroyed every early Bolshevik who stood in his way: Joseph 
Stalin. Lenin considered Trotsky's ideas and work valuable to the 
Russian Revolution, and they are valuable today.

The last thing we need in a Marxist and socialist movement is this 
narrow-minded "toe the party line" attitude. There must be room 
for differences of opinion and a free exchange of ideas. That 
includes the ideas of Trotsky, which by now should be rescued from 
the Stalinist rewritings of history. Go back and study and learn! 
--An independent-minded Marxist

MIM'S REJOINDER ON THE LAMP POST

Note to independent-minded Marxist,

MIM is glad to see you place your beliefs before the public for 
all to judge. MIM has studied and learned from history--from the 
lack of successful Trotskyist history among other things.

Trotskyists have been sitting around waiting for world revolution 
for 65 years while people in the Third World have been having 
revolutions in spite of Trotsky, who said socialism could not be 
built in the Soviet Union (reason enough to expel him from the 
party) and cannot be advanced in any country with a national 
liberation revolution. While society is moving forward, the 
Trotskyists are still back in the 1920s wishing for revolution in 
the West.

A closer reading of Lenin (see: The United States of Europe Slogan 
among other things) will reveal that Lenin did believe in 
advancing socialism in one country, at the time in the Soviet 
Union, and he specifically refuted Trotsky's counterrevolutionary 
rhetoric to the contrary. This is just one of many important 
points on which Lenin and Stalin disagreed with Trotsky.

As a defender of Trotsky, it is ironic how you only care about 
revolution in one country--the Soviet Union--while Maoists are 
supporting and leading revolutions all over the world.

MIM will print your note (in the interest of the free exchange of 
ideas) along with a response. We hope you will take our response 
as seriously as we take your note--don't be misled by Trotskyist 
rhetoric, look at their practice: No revolution=support of 
imperialism.

* * *

AMERIKA'S SOLUTION TO RAPE: CASTRATE BLACK MEN

For the thousands of young, wealthy, white men on Amerikan college 
campuses who are accused of rape each year, society prescribes 
"sensitivity training." For a Black 28-year-old man who has worked 
as a shoe-shiner much of his life--now accused of rape--some 
Amerikans are calling for castration.

At the urging of Texas State District Court Judge Michael T. 
McSpadden and with the collusion of his own lawyer, his doctor, 
the state prosecutor, and the accuser and her family, Steven 
Butler--convicted for molesting a 13-year-old--last month agreed 
to be castrated in lieu of a prison sentence.(1)

Butler's relatives and the Houston chapter of the Black United 
Front protested the sentence, and Butler himself changed his mind-
-choosing prison over mutilation--when told of the medical 
consequences of the operation.(2)

"Rights" activists and some so-called feminists had scary things 
to say about the mutilation sentence:

"It makes you feel good, but in the long haul it doesn't deal in 
any way with the basic issues of sexual assault," said Cassandra 
Thomas of the National Coalition Against Sexual Assault, about why 
she was not satisfied with the castration sentence.

Watching a Black man coerced into bargaining away his testicles 
doesn't make revolutionaries feel good--it makes us mad as hell.

Butler's case is a good example of why MIM, like the Black Panther 
Party of the 1960s, believes Blacks cannot get a fair trial in 
white Amerika's courts. In a country where fascist leader David 
Duke gets millions of white votes and imprisonment rates for Black 
people are more than seven times higher than for white people, it 
doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the "justice" 
system is grossly biased in favor of the white nation.(3)

But when sex comes into the picture, Blacks are especially subject 
to persecution by privileged whites pressing for white supremacist 
justice. Under Amerika's capitalist system, where social 
inequality makes uncoerced sex impossible, pseudo-feminists have 
turned the accusation of rape into a tool to imprison and 
subjugate Black men.

Castration is not a new concept to the 25% of Black men who go to 
prison during their lifetimes: Butler's case simply serves up 
harsh symbolism of how far the white nation is willing to apply 
its legal system toward the genocide of its Black colony.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 22% of the people 
convicted for raping white women are Black.(4) Since Blacks 
account for 13% of the population, and people generally have sex 
with (and rape) those of their own "race," this number is 
extremely skewed. The distortion results largely from pseudo-
feminists urging women to use the imperialist state to stop rape: 
a form of oppression that can only be expunged by overthrowing the 
very system they look to for help. Indeed, white "feminists" even 
tell Black women to turn Black men over to the cops, all in the 
name of sisterhood. --MC11

Notes:
1. New York Times 3/7/92 p. A1.
2. NYT 3/13/92 p. A8.
3. Americans Behind Bars: A Comparison of International Rates of 
Incarceration. Available from: The Sentencing Project 918 F St. 
N.W. Suite 501, Washington D.C. 20004. Cited in Prison News 
Service July/August 1991.
4. Female Victims of Crime, January 1991 NCJ-1268826.

* * *

ECO PIG COMES CLEAN

"Lawrence Summers, chief economist of the World Bank, sent a 
memorandum to some colleagues on December 12th [1991]."

Excerpts:

"Just between you and me, shouldn't the World Bank be encouraging 
more migration of the dirty industries to the LDCs [Less-Developed 
Countries]? ... I think the economic logic behind dumping a load 
of toxic waste in the lowest-wage country is impeccable and we 
should face up to that ...

"I've always thought that under-populated countries in Africa are 
vastly under- polluted ... The concern over an agent that causes a 
one-in-a-million change in the odds of prostate cancer is 
obviously going to be much higher in a country where people 
survive to get prostate cancer than in a country where under-5 
mortality is 200 per thousand."

Eco-pig Summers notes that arguments against exporting toxic waste 
pollution to the Third World include "intrinsic rights to certain 
goods, moral reasons, social concerns, lack of adequate markets, 
etc." He goes on to comment that these petty concerns shouldn't 
bother the World Bank today since they never have in the past. --
MC86

Notes: The Economist 2/8/92, p. 66.

* * *

IT PAYS TO BE RICH

A dentist in Tokyo, Japan had his life saved when a bullet from a 
gunman was stopped by his fat wallet. The pigs claimed the bullet 
was found halfway through the bundle of 42 bills of Mr. Oyama's 
wallet. The reason for the attempt on his life was not revealed. -
-MA68

Notes: Associated Press, 2/1/92.

* * *

FUJIMORI EXPANDS "CIVIL DEFENSE" UNITS

Peru's President Alberto Fujimori said his government may hand out 
weapons to Lima residents so they can "protect" themselves from 
the revolution. Last year the New York Times reported that the 
Peruvian government handed out weapons to paid-off peasants 
outside of Lima, the capital, in a desperate attempt to stop the 
revolutionary tide led by the Maoist Communist Party of Peru 
(PCP).

These government-backed militias are in fact low-budget civilian 
death squads, and their brutal killings are often blamed on the 
PCP.

Fujimori also put a $500,000 reward to anyone who kills Comrade 
Gonzalo, chairman of the PCP. Many of these calls by Fujimori came 
in response to the successful one-day armed strike of Lima called 
by the PCP on Feb. 14.

The PCP continue selected assassinations, military strikes and 
creation of base areas in Lima shantytowns, in preparation for 
liberating Lima from bureaucratic capitalism and imperialism. 
While Fujimori was dishing out weapons to fight the PCP, he 
ironically criticized the United States during a recent drug 
summit in Texas by saying that U.S. funding is inadequate and its 
policies are imbalanced for emphasizing police and military 
repression. --MC67

Notes: Weekly News Update on Nicaragua and the Americas. Nicaragua 
Solidarity Network of Greater New York, Issues 108, 109. 339 
Lafayette St., New York, NY. 10012.  $25/year.

* * *

MEXICAN WORKERS STRIKE

On Jan. 27, some 7,500 maquiladora workers struck at two General 
Motors plants and two auto supply companies in Matamoros, Mexico. 
Three of the four firms agreed to a 25.5% wage increase to end the 
strikes, but other issues remained unresolved. On Jan. 28, another 
7,500 workers walked off the job at four more companies. The union 
represents 32,500 maquila workers; as many as 27,000 could walk 
out if agreements are not reached with the Maquiladora Association 
of Matamoros, which represents 62 mostly U.S.-owned plants. 

Many of these workers make less than a dollar an hour, and those 
wages are better than other workers' since the Matamoros workers 
are unionized. They are super-exploited--they earn wages below 
subsistence level. The U.S. capitalists who own many industrial 
plants in Mexico super-exploit the workers, rake in the profits 
for themselves and use some of them as concessions to keep white 
workers north of the border quiet. --MC67

Notes: Weekly News Update on Nicaragua and the Americas. Nicaragua 
Solidarity Network of Greater New York, Issue 106.

* * *

THE ONE-DAY WAR: ISRAEL INVADES LEBANON

Using a bulldozer to throw off U.N. troops, Israeli tanks and 
armored personnel carriers roared into Lebanon on Feb. 20 to 
attack guerrilla fighters in the villages of Kafra and Yater. The 
guerillas, reported to be members of the Party of God, were firing 
rockets into northern Israel and Israel's occupied "security zone" 
in southern Lebanon.(1)

The invasion was part of Israel's expansionist program to grab 
territory in the region and to squash Arab revolutionaries 
fighting for self-determination. The Israeli Army invaded Lebanon 
in 1982, driving all the way to the capital city of Beirut. Israel 
established the "security zone" in 1985.

After the exchange of rocket fire and the invasion, guerillas from 
the Party of God and the Syrian-backed Amal have agreed to 
withdraw from southern Lebanon to avoid further Israeli 
incursions.(4)

The invasion came just four days after Israeli commandos 
assassinated Party of God Leader Sheik Abbas Musawi in southern 
Lebanon. Party of God fighters launched rockets into Israel in 
retaliation.(2)

Israel responded with an artillery barrage against 30 Lebanese 
towns. Lebanese police said that the shelling killed five people 
and wounded 50; 75,000-100,000 refugees have fled their villages 
within the "security zone."(3)

Israeli helicopter gun ships swooped down on Musawi's motorcade on 
Feb. 16 as he left a rally in the town of Jibchit, just north of 
the "security zone." Rocket fire blew his car to pieces. His wife, 
five-year-old son and at least four body guards were also killed. 
Israeli Army commandos fired automatic weapons at people fleeing 
the scene.(3)

The assassination is part of Israeli-Amerikan work to put down 
Muslim and other nationalist revolutionaries. Musawi had just 
condemned the current Washington peace talks as a sham, saying, 
"America wants to dominate everything."(2)

The Party of God is making anti-imperialist demands, including 
calling for Israel to withdraw from all of Lebanon and the city of 
Jerusalem.(3)

The so-called Arab-Israeli conflict is not one of racism or 
religious hatred, as many pundits say. It is a conflict between 
imperialist and oppressed countries. Israel occupies Palestinian 
lands and part of the country of Lebanon.

This occupation, and the invasions and wars necessary to maintain 
it, are only possible with the extensive help of the United 
States, which gives Israel $3-4 billion every year.

Israeli commandos previously abducted Party of God leader Sheik 
Abdel Karim Obeid from his home in southern Lebanon in 1989. They 
have since offered to trade him for Israeli prisoners of war.(3)

According to the New York Times, the Party of God was formed when 
a contingent of Iranian soldiers was sent to Lebanon to help repel 
the invading Israeli army. The West views the party as an Iranian-
backed state terrorist organization.(3)

The Party of God claimed responsibility for the 1983 bombing of 
the U.S. embassy and Marine Corps compound in Lebanon, in which 
241 people, the majority U.S. Marines, were killed. It also 
claimed responsibility for bombing a French Army barracks and the 
1985 bombings of U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait.(3)

All mainstream media information out of Israel is censored by the 
government.(1) --MC¯

Notes:
1. New York Times 2/21/92, p. 1.
2. NYT 2/27/92, p. 1.
3. NYT 2/27/92, p. 6.
4. Detroit News 2/23/92, p. 3.

* * *

COUNTING BEANS IN THE SHADOWS OF THE EMPIRE

The recent formation of Emerging Markets Corporation (EMC), an 
investment management firm specializing in underdeveloped 
countries, is a good example of how "development" banks are 
shadows of imperialist banks.

EMC plans to manage investments in Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, 
Thailand, Indonesia, India and Hungary.

Donald C. Roth, to be the chief executive of the new firm, is 
leaving his post as treasurer of the World Bank. Other executives 
include a former vice president of Salomon Brothers, and a former 
senior vice president of the World Bank.

At the end of 1990, portfolio (publicly traded) investments in 
Third World companies came to about $20 billion, and Roth expects 
that to increase to $100 billion. He expects a $5 billion share of 
this market.

EMC shows some of the dynamics of capitalist circles. Roth and 
Moeen A. Qureshi both held high-level executive positions in the 
World Bank. Qureshi worked for International Monetary Fund for 13 
years.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are banks set up to 
supposedly help Third World countries develop, but in reality they 
merely tie the countries down with high interest loans and forced 
austerity measures, to serve the interest of imperialism. They 
also help Third World dictators--comprador bourgeoisies like 
General Suharto of Indonesia--get rich.

These two men are using their contacts and sophisticated analysis 
of Third World conditions and hooking up with a Wall Street 
tycoon--Jay F. Higgins--to get super-rich from paper investments. 
--MC67

Notes: New York Times 2/13/92, p. C4.

* * *

BRAZILIAN DEATH SQUADS MURDER STREET CHILDREN
by MC86

A report released in mid-February revealed that Brazilian 
government-backed death squads are killing 2-3 street children per 
day in Brazil's largest cities, a rate which has been steadily 
increasing over the past five years.(1)

Back in late November 1991, "thousands of ... street kids from 
seven cities marched through Rio's financial district to protest 
... the systematic extermination of street kids" by the death 
squads.(2)

"Storekeepers hire the squads to 'clean-up' high-crime areas where 
'You can get a kid under age ten killed for $40,' said one Rio 
police officer. 'Now, a kid who runs drugs or heads a gang is more 
expensive. His head can cost up to $500.'"(2)

Oppressed children often suffer under the harshest conditions of 
all, including homelessness, hunger, sexual assault, and early 
death. So it is in the United States, where young Black men are 
systematically killed or rounded up in prison to keep the streets 
"safe" for Amerikan business and consumers--and to suppress the 
revolutionary resistance within the Black nation.

School daze

In the state of Rio de Janeiro alone, Amnesty International 
recorded 1,175 exterminations of youth in the first six months of 
1989.(4) Videos of burnings and lynchings have been featured on 
Brazilian television.(5)

The state has created a "Ministry of Child Affairs" but, "only $1 
out of every $20 allocated ... filters down to the children's 
level."(6) "The death squads don't just kill children," says Judge 
Siro Darlan of the juvenile courts. "They go after criminals, 
homosexuals, old people, anybody. They exist because the 
government can't guarantee security to the people. So it's a 
threatened population that takes things into their own hands."(7)

The Brazilian Institute's 1989 report documented that 80% of the 
victims were males between the ages of 15 and 18--the truly 
"threatened population."(1)

Health Minister Alceni Guerra said the government had evidence 
that businessmen are financing and directing the killing of street 
children. Fully half of the members of the city's death squads are 
off-duty or ex-cops. Brazilian police officers are paid $100 a 
month.(7) Moonlighting brings in the extras.

Col. Carlos Cerqueria, chief of Rio's police force, states, "The 
public isn't happy. They want us to be tougher with homeless kids 
and get them off the streets. In the developed world, people don't 
question whether a kid has the right to live if he's broken the 
law. In Brazil, we're still discussing it."(7)

But the so-called developed world is not so sure either. For Third 
World people--both in and outside of the U.S.--population control 
programs, forced sterilization, high infant mortality rates, and 
short life expectancies, all decrease Third World population, for 
the "crime" of being too many, too angry and too dangerous.

Black and broke

Fifty percent of Brazil's 150 million people are descendents of 
African slaves. Of the 37 million children who live in poverty in 
Brazil, as many as twelve million are homeless on the street.(8)

A report compiled by the Brazilian Institute for Social and 
Economic Research and the National Street Children's Movement 
shows that (in areas where nationality had been recorded) "82% of 
the victims [in the first six months of 1989] were black or of 
mixed race."(1)

The Street Children's Movement, founded in 1985, claims close to 
one million members. Officially, the November march was held for 
passage of child protection legislation by the national 
Congress.(3) In reality, the children marched for their lives.

Brazil's choking debt to imperialist banks has reached $111 
billion and hundreds of thousands of people are streaming into the 
cities begging for bare subsistence jobs.(7) The 26 Brazilian 
states are on the verge of bankruptcy and cannot pay their 
employees, and minimum wage is $40 a month.(6) Brazil is being 
reamed by foreign capital as the broad masses starve and "unruly" 
street children are systematically eliminated.

Notes:
1. Third World Resurgence 1/92, p. 40.
2. San Francisco Chronicle 11/30/91, p. A7.
3. Third World 7/91, p. 47.
4. Amnesty International 1990.
5. Los Angeles Times 3/17/91, p. A4.
6. Latinamerica Press 11/23/89, p. 4.
7. Insight 8/5/91, pp. 12-20.
8. Latinamerica Press 11/23/89, p. 4; Insight 8/5/91, p. 12.

* * *

VIETNAM'S SPRING VICTORY

Although Amerika's final days in Vietnam have been the subject of 
many fictions, documentaries and political essays, most of these 
accounts ask "Why did Amerika lose?" But the more potent question 
is "How did Vietnam win?"

To help answer this question, MIM excerpts several chapters from 
Our Great Spring Victory by General Van Tien Dung, the Vietnamese 
Communist Party Central Committee member in charge of the Ho Chi 
Minh campaign launched against Saigon from April 26-April 30, 
1975.

"During the process of the strategic general offensive, our party 
followed the enemy's decline very closely, discovering evidence of 
their disintegration in time to take positive steps to capitalize 
on it. Striking just at the opportune moment, a small force would 
have great power....

"[As the campaign unfolded] cadres and fighters knew this was the 
most decisive battle of this final phase of the general offensive 
and uprising that would conclude the war against the United 
States. Before their eyes were the last ramparts of the most 
obstinate and reactionary band of lackeys of the U.S. imperialist 
aggressors, the enemy we had to destroy....

"The tasks of political mobilization and ideological education had 
been carried out continuously and creatively in our armed forces, 
so that our cadres and fighters had become all-around people, 
strong and wholesome in mind and body....

"Ho Chi Minh campaign headquarters was bustling with activity the 
night of April 29. Flashlights, hurricane lamps, and headlights 
burned bright in every hut and along every road. Gray heads bent 
over black heads as they pored over the maps, watching the vivid 
red arrowheads being drawn longer and longer....

"In these sacred hours ... the fighters wrote on their helmets, on 
their sleeves, on their gun slings the immortal proclamation of 
President Ho Chi Minh: Forward! Total victory is ours!

"When it was almost light, the American news services reported 
that [U.S. Ambassador] Martin had cleared out of Saigon in a 
helicopter. This viceregal mandarin, the final American 
plenipotentiary in South Vietnam, beat a most hasty and pitiful 
retreat. As it happened, up until the day he left Saigon, Martin 
still felt certain that his quisling administration could be 
preserved.... He went all the way out to Tan Son Nhat airfield to 
observe the situation. Our barrage of bombs and our fierce 
shelling had nearly paralyzed this vital airfield, and the fixed-
wing aircraft they had intended to use for their evacuation could 
longer operate.... When Martin reported this to Washington, 
President Ford issued order to begin a helicopter evacuation....

"At the height of their invasion of Vietnam, the United States had 
used 60% of their total infantry, 58% of their Marines, 32% of 
their tactical Air Force, 50% of their strategic Air Force, 15 of 
18 aircraft carriers, 800,000 American troops (counting those 
stationed in satellite countries who were taking part in the 
Vietnam war), and more than 1 million Saigon troops. They 
mobilized as many as 6 million American soldiers in rotation, 
dropped over 10 million tons of bombs, and spent over $300 
billion, but in the end the U.S. ambassador had to crawl up to the 
helicopter pad looking for a way to flee. Today, looking back on 
the gigantic force the enemy had mobilized, recalling the 
malicious designs they admitted, and thinking about the extreme 
difficulties and complexities which our revolutionary sampan had 
to pass through, we were all the more aware of how immeasurably 
great this campaign to liberate Saigon and liberate the South 
was."

There is a sad postscript to this victory, however. Since the 
glorious spring of 1975, Vietnam has faltered. Its collectivized 
agricultural system fell apart, corruption in the party and 
failure to apply the mass line destroyed its planned markets and 
now the "communist" leaders boldly advocate capitalism, begging 
the U.S. to lift the trade embargo and bring foreign investment to 
Vietnam. For a 100 page essay on socialism in unified Vietnam, 
send $8, cash or check made out to ABS. --MC¯

Notes: Van Tien Dung. Our Great Spring Victory. New York: Monthly 
Review Press, 1977. Available from MIM for $7, postage paid.

* * *

SAYING 'NO' TO COLUMBUS: 500 YEARS OF RESISTANCE
by MC86

Indigenous people from the North Pole to the tip of South America 
are organizing themselves to gain independent power in the face of 
500 years of capitalist, imperialist extermination. Leaders 
representing 1,000 indigenous nations, with 39 million people in 
Meso and South America, and 1.8 million inside Fortress Amerika, 
have been forging international political links.

Meeting in 1989 and 1990 in Quito, Ecuador, these leaders issued a 
Declaration rejecting the "Quincentennial" celebration called by 
international capital to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the 
invasion of Abya-Yala (the "pre-Colombian" term for the Amerikas) 
by the pirate Cristobel Colon. The word "colonize" has its origin 
in the real name of this first white settler.

"Celebrating the arrival of the Spaniards would be like 
celebrating the massacre of one's own family," says Rigoberta 
Menchu of Guatemala.(1)

"You wouldn't ask a Jewish person to celebrate Hitler's birthday," 
says Angelica Gonzalez, president of United Latino Artists of Los 
Angeles. "Why would you ask us to celebrate Columbus?"(2)

Although Hitler's birthday is not yet an official public holiday 
in Amerika, the settler masses do worship a variety of thugs with 
special shopping days. So it comes as no surprise that General 
Mills tells cereal box readers that "Columbus discovered the New 
World" and "celebrated with a breakfast including Honey Nut 
Cheerios."(3)

Resistance past

The 100 million indigenous people who populated Abya-Yala in 1492 
did not peacefully jump into their graves. The T‡inos, original 
inhabitants of Haiti, poured molten gold down the throats of 
conquistadores. Ordinary people have always violently resisted 
colonization.

Of the T‡inos, Colon wrote in his log, "With 50 men we could 
subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want."(4) The 
communal societies of Abya-Yala were not conquered by sheer 
numbers of grubby settlers prosecuting unjust wars. The colonies 
were militantly garrisoned by millions of workers fleeing European 
poverty to settle in Amerika.

Expanding colonialism at that time demanded that increasing 
natural resources be brought back to Europe, so "explorers" were 
sent out to steal land and raw materials, and slaves, if possible. 
But the Europeans fought many losing battles, and might not have 
conquered Abya-Yala overall, had it not been for their high-tech 
weapons--not only their guns and ammo, but also smallpox and other 
lethal germs.

Resistance present

Through their experience with imperialist ruthlessness, the 
oppressed necessarily learn that political power does not grow out 
of the barrel of a pen. Today, the Communist Party of Peru leads 
by example in successfully demonstrating that there are no 
"rights," only power struggles.

The 500 Years of Resistance movement has no bureaucratic center, 
and actions are autonomously planned and executed in different 
areas. But "some groups within the popular movement of South & 
Meso America persist in their attempts to reduce the Indian cause 
to just a class struggle by imposing their agendas and political 
framework, minimizing all political dimensions and aspirations of 
Indian peoples."(6)

MIM recognizes that class struggle is conditioned by gender and 
revolutionary national interests, and we support revolutionary 
national liberation struggles. MIM also knows that without 
sharpened revolutionary communist organizations as the cutting 
edge on the knife of the people's wrath, attempts to reform 
capitalist governments will simply result in the continued reign 
of death-squad power.

What they want. What we believe

MIM upholds and critically supports the 500 Years of Resistance 
movement as a potentially powerful tool to create public opinion 
and help wipe the fog off the Looking Glass. Ultimately, we work 
for a concentrated unity of all oppressed peoples into a great 
revolutionary force, that will wipe our planet clean of private 
property, patriarchy, and national oppression. This is happening--
one step at a time.

MIM urges the 500 Years of Resistance movement to scientifically 
build independent power bases for the world revolution and not to 
be seduced by the false promises of oppressive governments.

This is the first in a MIM Notes series covering the 500 Years of 
Resistance. Next month: contradictions between urban and rural 
interests in the process of building independent power of the 
oppressed.

Notes:
1.  Report on Guatemala Winter 1991, p. 2.
2.  The Reporter 2/2/92, p. 1.
3.  Cereal box, emphasis added.
4.  Rethinking Columbus, p. 7; educational pamphlet available from 
Rethinking Schools, 1001 E. Keefe Ave., Milw., WI 53212, $6 
includes postage.
5. Bulletin from Consejo Regional Indigena del Cauca-CRIC, 
Popayan, Cauca, Colombia, 12/18/91.
6. South and Meso American Indian Information Center (SAIIC), P.O. 
Box 28703, Oakland, CA 94604, $10. Newsletter, p 3.

* * *

RODNEY KING IS EVERY BLACKMAN

by MC67

Before the Rodney King beating case came up for trial, the state 
scrambled to make sure they had it their way in advance. The trial 
was moved to a mostly-white community, and all Black people were 
kicked off the potential jury during questioning. The case was a 
politically-charged symbol of every-day police brutality at its 
worst.

Liberals and well-meaning reformists harbor the illusion that 
justice can be attained within a capitalist, imperialist society. 
But justice will never be realized in Amerika until Blacks, 
Latinos and indigenous people throw off the chains of colonial 
rule and seize power.

Beginning on Feb. 5, lawyers sifted through a pool of 2,000 people 
in search of an "impartial" jury.(1) Much to the joy of the 
defense team, the trial was moved from Los Angeles to a 
conservative and wealthy white community, Simi Valley, north of 
L.A.--home of Ronald Reagan's Presidential library and many police 
officers. Approximately 1% of the residents there are Black.(2,3)

A 41-page questionnaire asked potential jurors about their 
attitudes toward the police, their past experiences with the 
police, and their affiliations with political organizations.(1) 
The state would never allow this trial to be held in downtown 
L.A.--not because of the jury, which could have been rigged 
anywhere--but because the courtroom would have been a "madhouse" 
and a center for political organization of the oppressed.

The cops are charged with five felony counts, including assault by 
force likely to produce great bodily injury and assault with a 
deadly weapon.(4)

The beating occurred on Mar. 3, 1991, when King was pulled over 
for a traffic violation and viciously assaulted by three white 
L.A. police officers, with more than 40 other people witnessing 
thescene.(4)

King was struck at least 56 times with nightsticks and kicked 
seven times.(5) He suffered nine skull fractures, a shattered eye 
socket and cheekbone, a broken leg, a concussion, injuries to both 
knees, facial nerve damage that left his face partially paralyzed, 
as well as burns on his chest from a Taser dart gun shot.(4)

After the beating, King was hogtied and dragged face-down to the 
side of the road; an ambulance arrived five minutes later.(4) A 
year later, King suffers from memory loss, slurred speech, blurred 
vision, a limp; and he is unable to work.(6)

People should be outraged by the King beating, but progressive 
people must keep in mind that Rodney King is just one of thousands 
of people in Amerika who get brutalized by the police every year. 
The only thing which makes King an exception is the publicity his 
case has received.

The brutality is extensive. Although many local "cop-watch" groups 
do exist, MIM is not aware of any national organization that 
compiles complete statistics on police brutality or complaints 
against the cops.(4) For now, all we have to go on are records of 
official complaints and Justice Department figures--both with 
flaws.

The Police Misconduct Lawyer Referral Service, a local L.A. 
agency, logged more than 600 complaints against the L.A. Police 
Department (LAPD) in 1990. About 25% of these complaints involved 
explicit allegations of assaults by the police, but only two of 
the 600 complaints actually resulted in felony charges.(4) In New 
York, between 1985 and 1989, 24,651 allegations of police 
misconduct were filed with the Civilian Complaint Review Board.(9) 
According to the New York ACLU, however, only one officer in the 
past six years has been convicted of brutality charges.(100

According to figures compiled by the Department of Criminal 
Justice, 17,707 charges of police "misconduct" have been 
"investigated" around the country by the FBI in the past six 
years. These federal cases do not include those handled solely by 
local police departments--which are the majority of police 
complaints.(8)

The Rodney King case has prompted liberals to call for watchdog 
agencies, independent special prosecutors, and better police 
training--as if the problem is simply a few "bad" cops.

Police review boards and other accountability reforms are only a 
smokescreen. Such reforms do not reduce the number of police 
brutality complaints and cops still serve the same functions as 
always: capitalist protection, control and terror.

Rich capitalists need protection from the oppressed nationals who 
commit "crimes" in response to their misery. "Law and order" means 
maintaining capitalists' control of resources, people, and their 
labor. The real criminals are the capitalists who, in their greedy 
pursuit of profit, steal relentlessly from the people. Until 
oppressed people take state power, police terror will continue.

Notes:
1. New York Times 3/2/92, p. 10.
2. Christian Science Monitor 2/6/92, p.2.
3. NYT 2/22/92, p. 8.
4. NYT 3/18/91, p. 1, 8.
5. NYT 3/12/91, p. 15.
6. NYT 2/3/92, pp. 1, 12.
7. The Crisis, Newspaper of the NAACP. 4/91, p. 27.
8. NYT 3/21/91, p. 10.
9. NYT 3/27/92, p. A15.
10. Black Scholar May/June 1986.