This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
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THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT
MIM Notes 84
January 1994
Electronic Edition
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Get MIM Notes 84 from the Maoist Internationalist Movement
(MIM), and get the latest in Maoist news and analysis - put
a revolutionary weapon in your hands.
This issue covers Amerikan imperialism on the prowl. From
the large-scale machinations of international capital to the
violent repression of Mexican immigrants in the border areas
and the violent expulsion and dispossession of the Black
residents of San Francisco housing projects - the ugly
business of exploitation rumbles on around the world. But
this issue also bring major news of the international
communist movement. The Communist Party of the Philippines
has publicly announced that it is returning to the Maoist
road, raising new hopes for leadership of the worldwide
struggle for human liberation.
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.
Struggle with it and write for it.
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(write: nyt@blythe.org). Or get a subscription from MIM in
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responses or submissions to: mim@blythe.org.
This issue includes:
1. NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY RETURNS TO MAOISM
2. MAO'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATED AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
3. FLIGHT ATTENDANTS STRIKE: MORE PIE
4. CLINTON GRABS FOR ASIAN PROFITS
5. PERUVIAN CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM A HOAX
6. MIM SELF-CRITICISM FOR NOVEMBER PERU ARTICLE
7. FIRE & WATER: GENEVA TOWERS MASSES AREN'T FOOLED
8. LETTERS TO MIM
9. LOCKING DOWN THE BERLIN WALL OF THE WEST
10. MIM TALKS TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ABOUT PERU
11. CIA IS THE BIGGEST COCAINE DEALER
12. LOOKING AHEAD TO THE NEXT WAR
13. THIRD WORLD IN THE FIRST WORLD
14. AMERIKA LEAVES ARISTIDE AND HAITI HANGING
15. PATRIA ROJA STILL FOR UNITED LEFT
16. MINE WORKERS TO WORK?
17. PALESTINIANS: JERUSALEM FIRST!
18. FILM REVIEW: FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE
19. UNDER LOCK & KEY
* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY RETURNS TO MAOISM
In November, MIM received an invitation from the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) to
attend its 25th birthday party in the Netherlands.
The following is part of the CPP's declaration accompanying
the invitation:
"The Communist Party of the Philippines will celebrate on
December 26, 1993 the 25th anniversary of its
reestablishment under the theoretical guidance of Marxism-
Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought and on the basis of the long
revolutionary experience and concrete circumstances of the
Filipino proletariat and people...
"The Party and the revolutionary mass movement steadily grew
in strength in an all-round way from year to year, from 1968
to 1980. From 1980 to 1985, there was a rapid growth of
strength because of the previous accumulated strength of the
revolutionary forces and the rapid deterioration of the
ruling system under the U.S.-Marcos ruling clique. But
overlapping with the brilliant victories were serious errors
of line, at first becoming conspicuous through serious
damage inflicted on the Party and the revolutionary movement
in the major island of Mindanao from 1984 to 1986 and then
nationwide from 1985 to 1989.
"At various levels of the Party, criticisms of militarism
and insurrectionism started in 1988. By 1989, adjustments
were initiated in order to correct imbalances in the
deployment of personnel and resources in various fields of
work. Towards the end of 1991, the entire Party and its
Central Committee were ready to launch a comprehensive and
fullscale rectification movement, especially because the
full information on the disastrous results of 'Left'
opportunism has been gathered and the 'Left' opportunists
bitterly resisted the correction of their errors..
"The rectification movement was launched in early 1992 with
the enthusiastic support of the Party cadres and members,
with the exception of a handful of unremoulded petty
bourgeois elements who had long practiced bureaucratism,
commandism and, subsequently, factionalism and
ultrademocracy."
* * *
NEW DOCUMENTS ALERT!
"There must be a conscious and organized effort to build
solidarity and cooperation among all the workers and peoples
of the entire world in order to bring about the resurgence
and advance of the world anti-imperialist movement.
"To carry out the task more effectively than before, there
must be an international system of aid and cooperation under
working class leadership." - Jose Maria Sison, founder of
the NPA and former chairperson of the Communist Party of the
Philippines
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
MAO'S BIRTHDAY CELEBRATED AT INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
On November 6 and 7, Maoists around the world gathered in
the suburbs of Dusseldorf, Germany to celebrate Mao Zedong's
100th birthday. Led by the founder of the New People's Army
(NPA) of the Philippines, the Germany conference was a big
step forward for Maoism internationally. Throughout the
conference, the Communist Party of the Philippines publicly
re-emphasized its commitment to Maoism and its own
rectification movement.
Conference organizers united around Mao and the Cultural
Revolution - and correctly pointed to the Cultural
Revolution as Mao's most important contribution to the
revolutionary experience of Marxism-Leninism. Because of the
indissoluble link between Mao's theoretical contributions
and those of Marx, Lenin and Stalin, we now refer to those
contributions as "Maoism," rather than Mao Zedong Thought.
The conference was also a forward step for the Marxist-
Leninist Party Deutschland (MLPD), which did most of the
practical work in connection with this massive event. MLPD
comrades demonstrated a generous internationalist spirit and
considerable willingness to consider divergent views within
the Maoist camp.
The Peruvian revolution, led by the Communist Party of Peru
(PCP) has generated an international torrent of interest in
genuine communism. In this context, the clear return of the
NPA to the Maoist road has added more fuel to the fire. This
context is favorable for the creation of new and genuine
Maoist parties.
The prestige of Comrade Jose Maria Sison and the NPA he
founded on explicit Maoist principles 25 years ago was a
major source of the unity of the conference participants.
While in the past, the influence of imperialist country
parties on communist parties in the oppressed semi-colonies
has been a source of concern, it is only correct that the
Communist Party of the Philippines now influence the very
building of the Maoist forces in the imperialist countries.
Progressive and revolutionary people in the imperialist
countries can only extend their thanks to the Filipino
people for temporarily lending some of their leaders to the
very imperialist countries whose governments must be
overthrown for the Filipino people to be free of imperialist
subversion and war.
MIM LINE UNPOPULAR
When a MIM comrade proudly put forward our thesis on the
white working class, the comrade was met with complete
condemnation from the other participants - including the
only real jeering at the conference. Yet MIM proceeds
confidently, knowing that the oppressed masses of the Third
World will smash imperialism with or without the help of the
imperialist working class, and that genuine Maoists will
accept this reality. Regardless of the wishes of the
imperialist country labor aristocracies or their leaders who
wish to use the exploited and superexploited majority of the
world to prop up imperialism and the labor aristocracy's
position in it, the masses will make history.
The better elements in the international Maoist movement
already recognize this implicitly by the esteem they accord
Jose Maria Sison and the fairly direct role he plays in
bringing together the imperialist country Maoists. The role
of Jose Maria Sison and Third World exiles in the
imperialist countries is only an inkling of the dictatorship
of the oppressed nations over the oppressor nations to come.
ARMED STRUGGLE DEBATED
At the conference, some comrades were criticized for their
apparent deviance from Maoism on the question of armed
struggle in the First World. The comrades in question were
criticized specifically for admonishing First World
communists to engage in armed struggle now.
MIM and others opposed this view and upheld Mao on the
question. Mao said that the armed struggle should only begin
in the First World when the bourgeoisie is truly helpless.
When First World communists engage in armed struggle before
the conditions exist for them to win, they invite only
prison or death.
The Mao birthday celebration in Germany was carefully
organized to stress internationalism, all-sided opposition
to oppression and the unity of Maoist forces. The role of
the party as an organizational machine was especially
evident.
A direct role for youth was ensured, partly by a modern
music and dance presentation, questions from youth to the
speakers and short speeches by the youth to pepper the
longer, stuffier presentations by the older participants.
One of the oldest members received a standing ovation for
recalling in a personal testimonial how in 1963 the Soviet-
bloc revisionists attempted to squelch Chinese women at
international women's conferences. Another interesting
speaker was a worker from East Germany who personally
recounted her experience of seeing through the revisionist
rule there.
Through the use of personal testimonials and experiences,
the audience was prepared to more easily understand the
realm of more theoretical discussion. Class consciousness
walks on two legs - theory on the one hand, and facts or
experience from others on the other.
Notes: Send $6 cash or check payable to "ABS" for MIM Theory
5. This issue is on "Strategies and Tactics". It has a
chapter devoted to armed struggle.
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing or referring to this material.
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Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write:
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
FLIGHT ATTENDANTS STRIKE:
LABOR ARISTOCRACY FIGHTS FOR MORE PIE
by MC11
To see the November picket lines of striking Amerikan
Airlines flight attendants or listen to the continuing blow-
by-blow media coverage of the negotiations, you might get
the impression that there is actually a substantive,
material conflict between the overwhelmingly white union and
the management of the world's largest airline.
You would be wrong. The five-day Amerikan Airline strike,
hailed as a victory for the Amerikan labor movement by
liberals and Trotskyists alike, represents a process of
give-and-take between allies. It may indeed turn out to be a
"victory" for the union half of the partnership. The flight
attendants may indeed get a better deal out of the state-
governed arbitration. But for the majority of the world's
workers, including Blacks and Latinos within the U.S.
borders, it's a meaningless charade.
Of course, such delicate redivisions of the capitalist pie
go on all the time, with the U.S. owners of the means of
production deciding to spend a little more or less buying
off their white workers, whose per capita income comes to
$22,372 a year. (That compares with a $13,378 per capita
income for U.S. Blacks, and per capita incomes for Mexico,
Haiti and Peru of $5,918, $933 and $2,622 ,
respectively).(1) This redivision of imperialist plunder is
not class struggle.
On Nov. 1, Amerikan Airlines implemented a new contract with
an average 7.8% raise per year for flight attendants, or 35%
over four years. With the pay raise, domestic Amerikan
flight attendants are paid between $17,000 and $34,000 per
year. Senior international flight attendants make more than
$40,000.(2)
Like the large majority of white workers in the United
States, flight attendants are overpaid compared to the rest
of the world. Take the 900,000 members of the United Auto
Workers union, which recently concluded contract
negotiations with General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.
Amerika's auto oligopoly agreed to give their workers -
currently making $34 per hour in wages and benefits - a more
than 6% raise in wages over the next three years, plus a 13%
raise in pension benefits. Workers who are laid off will
continue to get 95% of their salary.(3) And their salaries
are worth even more because their cars, food, clothes,
kitchen appliances and video game cartridges are subsidized
by super-exploited Third World labor.
MIM does not find the plight of Amerikan Airlines flight
attendants particularly compelling. More importantly, we see
attempts to characterize their demands and their organizing
as progressive or useful to the working class as a whole to
be dangerously misleading. At this stage, their loyalty lies
ultimately with the capitalists and the Amerikan state that
they control. A little strike does nothing to shake this
fundamental alliance. If you want to make the lives of most
of the world's workers any better, white union organizing is
not the way to go about it.
Sure, the work rules the flight attendants complain about,
like being on call 24 hours a day, waiting in airports
between flights without pay, weight and appearance
requirements to keep their jobs, sound like a drag - if you
consider them from a totally limited First World
perspective. Try comparing it to picking fruit 20 hours a
day at 50 cents an hour, as thousands of U.S. Latinos do, or
laboring for free in Amerikan prisons as thousands of U.S.
Blacks do, or working for dirt-cheap wages in Amerikan
factories as countless Third World workers do every day.
Being a white flight attendant starts to sound more like
paradise.
The flight attendants want more money and better working
conditions for themselves. And that's about as radical as
their demands get. In these final, ugly stages of
capitalism, the labor aristocrats depend on the capitalists
and vice versa, and they both know it. Perhaps that's why
they both wanted state mediation of their so-called
conflict. The union claimed victory when President Clinton
intervened in the strike, asking Amerikan Airlines chairman
Robert Crandall to enter mediation. But the New York Times
subsequently reported that Crandall himself initiated the
proposal for arbitration in a phone call to the White
House.(4) In any case, it's clear that the state is an
important third party in the white nation triumvirate.
There are, of course, other views. It's always fun to check
out the various cheerleading Trotskyist responses to white
working class struggles. In stark opposition to MIM,
Trotskyists hold to the belief that white workers are the
key to revolution. The Militant was quick with the empty
rhetoric: "This strike graphically demonstrates once again
that it is the workers who run the industries, not the
bosses."(5)
Our favorite, though, is the Trotskyist Worker's League,
which criticized union leadership for going into a binding
arbitration process not likely to win them all they demand.
"The bureaucratized trade unions, with their hundreds of
thousands of lavishly-paid officials and billions in assets,
represent social interests not only distinct, but directly
opposed to those of the working class," said the League's
International Workers Bulletin. "That the Amerikan Airlines
strikers were so easily hoodwinked is a sign of the depth of
the crisis of the labor movement."(7)
False consciousness? MIM doesn't think so. They are too
well-paid. They have bought too deeply into capitalist
culture. Amerikan Airlines' flight attendants are simply not
allies of the proletariat.
Notes:
1. Human Development Report 1993, p. 135
2. New York Times 11/20/93 p. A6.
3. Los Angeles Times 10/25/93.
4. NYT 11/24/93.
5. The Militant 12/6/93, p.11.
7. The International Workers Bulletin 11/29/93 p. 9.
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
CLINTON GRABS FOR ASIAN PROFITS
by MC86
Armed with corporate Amerika's North American Free Trade
Agreement, Clinton headed for Seattle on November 20, where
he cajoled and threatened thirteen heads-of-state summoned
from the shores of the Pacific Rim - the fastest growing
source of super-profits in the world.
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad boycotted the
meeting. He fears that the United States - which controls
34.4% of the world's industrial economy(2) - is interested
in preventing the smaller Pacific Rim capitalists from
combining into trade blocs.(3)
Japan, which controls 19.8% of the world's industrial
economy,(2) went to the conference to protect its huge
Pacific Rim corporate investments from being eaten by United
States-affiliated multinationals.
NAFTA formalizes Amerika's increasing expropriation of
Mexico's industry, agriculture and banking system. The
agreement insures the continued subsidy of Amerika's fat and
filthy living standard by Mexican workers.
The last time an Amerikan President invited a cabal of Asian
leaders to cocktails was 1966 in Manila.(4) President
Johnson told his gathering of lesser capitalists to get
their guns behind him in Vietnam - or else. President
Clinton, commander of 300 military facilities in the
Pacific,(5) told APEC: "Lower your tariffs - or else."
The reward for favoring the United States in bilateral trade
relations is access to advanced technology, weapons systems
and enjoyment of the North Amerikan consumer market.
The punishment for maintaining high taxes on goods imported
from Amerika will be the destabilization of Asian-Pacific
markets as Amerikan-controlled commodities are dumped into
the newly industrialized zones.
The U.S. economy runs an even balance of trade accounts with
Europe and a surplus with Latin America. It is in debt to
the APEC economies to the tune of $80 billion. In 1993 the
United States is slated to run an intolerable $20 billion
trade deficit with China alone.(6) The U.S./Canada/Mexico
axis needs to quickly rupture trade agreements blooming
between Japan, China, southern Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, New
Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia,
Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei (APEC).
Dollar-based financiers facing potential bankruptcy are
working overtime to divide and conquer their competitors in
Berlin, Kuala Lumpur, Tokyo and Beijing. At stake is control
of 40% of world market-share and the new means of production
in the labor-extensive APEC zone. If China continues to
transform into a capital-exporting imperialist power, a hard
rain could fall under the U.S. nuclear umbrella.
DEPENDENCY A TWO-WAY STREET
The world's 35,000 multinationals directly employ only seven
million out of the 4.16 billion Third World people from whom
they draw daily tribute. First World corporations support a
population of 1.22 billion people who receive 83% of the
world's income. Twenty percent of the earth's population
owns an annual group income 150 times greater than the
income of the poorest 20%.(7)
Two-thirds of imperialist-country workers pull down plump
salaries for administering the extraction and sale of
surplus value from starving, productive manufacturing and
agricultural workers in the Third World.(8) Most of the
remaining one-third earn fancy wages for assembling and
packaging end-products of parts and raw materials extracted
from the labor of the Third World proletariat.(9)
The 1990 per capita Gross Domestic Product adjusted for
purchasing power of the combined Japanese, North Amerikan
and European populations is $14,400. In the United States it
is $21,449! Compare this to $2,170 for non-imperialist
country populations - most of whom never see one-tenth of
this amount.(10)
Inside the Third World there exists a Fourth World: the
countries with a per capita purchasing power of $740.(11)
These countries compose one third of the 173 nations
recognized by imperialist statistics. These countries
contain most of the 1.3 billion people who live in what the
United Nations calls "absolute poverty," i.e. below-survival
economies.(12)
The international owners of constantly-merging capitals and
their corporativized populations exist only to consume.
Four-fifths of the world's people are forced to work
themselves to death producing goods and raw materials for
the privileged one-fifth. That is - provided they are not
among the 17 million who die every year from curable
maladies such as diarrhea and malaria. Or the 34,000
children who die every day from starvation(13) in a world
where First Worlders live an average of twenty-five years
longer than Third World proletarians.(14)
Clinton and the APEC capitalists boast that increases in
Third World production and First World consumption mutually
benefit the international working classes. In contradiction
to this lie: in relation to the First World, the real per
capita GDP for the overall non-imperialist country masses
fell by 2% over the last thirty years!(15)
As a group, the super-exploited masses of South-east Asia
receive 43% less value in exchange for the use of their
labor-power than the already super-exploited masses of Latin
America/Caribbean.(16) In the United Nation's 1993 ranking
of "Human Development," indexing life expectancy, income and
education, Mexico - life expectancy 69.7 years - ranks 53 in
the total of 173 countries. Guinea - life expectancy 43.5
years - ranks last.(17)
The logical solution to these discrepancies is not the
creation of a few more jobs serving a dying imperialism. The
solution is immediate termination of the bosses and full
employment for the whole world. Capitalism has completely
failed human development. It is utterly incapable of even
approaching the economic and social accomplishments of the
dictatorship of the proletariat in this century.
As North Amerika, Japan and China compete for Pacific Rim
super-profits: it will be the masses in Thailand, Malaysia,
Indonesia, Korea, Chile and Peru who suffer trade embargoes,
naval blockades, military invasion - and even the puff of
tactical nuclear weapons. To this end, the United States
reigns supreme as the world's premier exporter of major
conventional arms with a global market-share of 21.97%.(18)
The monopoly groups continue to compete and collude with
each other for dominance in the ongoing world war against
the oppressed nations. Non-exploited First World salary-
hounds egg on their own warlords because they know:
"Creating a job for a factory worker in Seattle may first
require creating six jobs in Jakarta."(19)
BOTTOM OF THE NINTH
It takes a baseball team of super-exploited Third World
workers - laboring in a Yankee Stadium full of unemployed
proletarians - to support one Amerikan settler in style.
Fortunately, the bases are loaded and the Paper Tigers have
two strikes against them.
United States business relies on a direct foreign investment
of $421 billion in the world economy; one-quarter in the
Third World.(20) The extraordinary profit-generating
capacity of this $105.7 billion sustains the circulation of
the rest.
As a parasite-economy, the United States sports the lowest
percentage of exports (7%) and imports (9%) to its Gross
National Product of any western industrialized country. It
also has the lowest Gross Domestic Investment/Savings
rates.(21) This slump indicates a concentration of economic
activity in the consumption process - as opposed to the
process of production.
Wandering U.S. capital cannot re-capitalize itself on a
domestic foundation of diminishing real assets. The jet-
setting Amerikan bourgeoisie strives to own and control
foreign means of production fueled and surrounded by
starving masses who can only effectively combat imperialist
anarchy with socialist organization.(22)
The structurally enforced poverty and dependency of nations
is but a prelude to universal independence. Three-hundred
military installations will be easily overrun during
protracted revolutionary world war waged by the ever-growing
international proletariat for its own survival - using
stockpiled weapons "Made in the USA."
Notes:
1. Mexico, Australia's colony Papua New Guinea and Chile
were granted invitations to next years meeting in Jakarta.
2. Human Development Report 1993, United Nations Development
Programme, Oxford University Press, 1993, p. 202. U.S.
contains 4.5 percent of world population.
3. NYT 11/21/93, p. Y11.
4. Ibid., p. Y10.
5. Asian Affairs October 1993, p. 341.
6. NYT 11/19/93, p. A7.
7. HDR 1993, pp. 11, 35, 37, 181.
8. Ibid., p. 42.
9. While services such as transportation do reproduce
("add") value, imperialist technology has reduced the
critical mass of workers necessary to create the surplus-
value vital to expanded reproduction in the face of
ineluctably falling profit rates. Consequently, the ex-
proletarians of the highly industrialized areas are reduced
to "service" tasks extraneous to the process of production
and, ironically, they must frenetically consume the world's
wealth in hideous excess in order to maintain the necessary
structural balance of sectorial commodity exchanges between
the means of production and the means of consumption.
Underlying the relative resilience of imperialist-capital's
resistance to self-immolation is the constant accumulation
of capitals in gendered society through the devaluation of
the labor-power necessary to produce and reproduce the
commodity: labor-power.
10. HDR 1993, pp. 171, 193. The ex-Soviet Union nations are
omitted from these particular calculations. The Russian
Federation is ranked #37 as a "developing country" in the
pig's index. 1992 real wages in Russia were $120 a year. 75%
of family expenditure went to food.
11. Ibid., p. 171.
12. Ibid., p. 141.
13. Ibid., p. 12.
14. Ibid., p. 213.
15. Ibid., p. 149.
16. Ibid., p. 213.
17. Ibid., p. 135.
18. Ibid., p. 205.
19. NYT 11/21/93 Section 4, p. 1.
20. Asian Development Review 1993 vol. II No. 1, p. 15.
21. HDR 1993, p. 211.
22. During the 1970s and 1980s finance capital leveraged the
restricted development of Third World industrial and
marketing infrastructures while breeding an international
class of comprador bureaucrats. These people are now in a
position to play the imperialist groups off against each
other even as they struggle internally with national
bourgeoisies and revolutionary movements. The comprador and
imperialist classes will fall into the open grave together.
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing or referring to this material.
Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail.
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write:
MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576.
E-mail: mim@blythe.org
* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
PERUVIAN CONSTITUTIONAL REFERENDUM A HOAX:
MASSES VOTE FOR REVOLUTION
by MC432 & MC234
On October 31, a slim majority of Peruvian voters approved a
new constitution that would allow fascist President Fujimori
to run for reelection for two more terms and would allow the
State to apply retroactively the death penalty to
revolutionaries. With the Communist Party of Peru (PCP) in
control of more than one third of the countryside, and
significant opposition to the new constitution from the
legal left, the Peruvian State resorted to more repression
to "win" the bogus referendum.
Revolutionaries must support the Maoist PCP, who currently
lead the world's most advanced revolution, by combating all
attempts to justify the Peruvian reactionary bourgeois
state.
FUJIMORI LOSES "PLEBISCITE"
Fujimori proclaimed the referendum to be a "plebiscite" - a
measure of support for his rule. Analysis of the voting
statistics shows that while Fujimori may have won the bogus
referendum, he lost the plebiscite.
In Peru, voting was mandatory, punishable by severe fines
and even arrest, but 38% of eligible voters abstained. Of
those voting, 7% spoiled their ballots. If you include those
who refused to register, spoiled their ballots or abstained,
Fujimori got only 22.71%.(1)
Support for the referendum was strongest in the capital Lima
where turnout was 75%. The PCP - which opposes all electoral
frauds against the masses - is strongest in the countryside.
MILITARY USED AGAINST "NO" FACTION
The weeks leading up to the referendum saw widespread
government repression against any dissent whatsoever.
Teodulo Hernandez, secretary-general of the Peruvian General
Workers Confederation, said that army troops were caught
ripping down posters calling for a "no" vote. Hernandez also
said military officials in the capital denied permission for
opponents of the new constitution to hold a campaign closing
rally, arguing that Lima is in a state of emergency because
of guerrilla activity.
"We cannot express ourselves in the street, they stop us
from holding meetings, they destroy our few posters and
arrest propagandists for a 'no' vote, while the government
and its supporters are carrying out abundant and expensive
propaganda in the media, with posters, flyers and pennants
that are flooding the cities." Hernandez said a number of
opponents of the new constitution have been arrested while
putting up posters, although all were released.(2)
On the day of the referendum, army troop carriers patrolled
Lima's principal streets while helicopters circled overhead
supposedly as part of efforts to prevent PCP attacks against
polling stations. This massive military deployment also
served to intimidate those opposed to the referendum from
even demonstrating peacefully.(3)
PCP FIGHTS FUJIMORI AND REFERENDUM
The members and supporters of the Communist Party of Peru
boycotted the referendum, making Fujimori's victory even
more unrepresentative of the people's will. The government
claims increasing successes against the PCP, but the two
weeks prior to the referendum brought increasing attacks by
the PCP against the reactionary State.
In the early morning of October 31, PCP members conducted
armed actions blocking and dynamiting the streets of Canto
Grande and Villa el Salvador, among others. PCP leaflets and
posters were distributed in the shanty towns of Conos Este
and Sur de Lima urging people to boycott the bogus
referendum.(4)
PCP also took their propaganda against the electoral farce
to the State in a form that it could understand with attacks
against the voting stations in Palca and Vila Vila.(4)
Just days before the referendum, Fujimori announced he was
"going to have a little Vietnam" against a 7,720 square mile
central Andean region that is under PCP control.(5) Perhaps
Fujimori forgot, but Vietnamese communists led that heroic
nation to glorious triumph over imperialism. It is people's
war that will decide the fate of Peru, not some petty
referendum. The Peruvian masses have already voted for
revolution. They have been fighting for thirteen long years,
and they will not relinquish their shining communist future
to a sham referendum.
Notes:
1. Emergency Bulletin #41 11/28/93 from the International
Emergency Committee to Defend the Life of Dr Abimael Guzman.
2. United Press International 10/24/93.
3. Latin American Institute, University of New Mexico,
Notisur - Latin American Political Affairs 11/5/93.
4. Sol Peru December 1993, p. 13.
5. Reuters 10/25/93.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
MIM SELF-CRITICISM FOR NOVEMBER PERU ARTICLE
MIM Notes 82 (November 1993) took a position on the letters
that Peruvian President Fujimori said he had received from
Communist Party of Peru (PCP) leader Chairperson Gonzalo
about peace negotiations. MIM said the Gonzalo letters were
not Marxist, and that "Nobody in their right mind gives any
credibility to government propagation of supposed statements
from incarcerated, tortured and coerced political
prisoners!"
MIM took this position in the absence of any real
information from the PCP itself about the letters; it was
based entirely on what we had learned from the bourgeois
media.
Although lack of access to information in the imperialist
countries is certainly a problem we have to live with, this
is not an excuse for MIM to speculate about what the PCP and
their leaders have done or should do.
On questions relating to the revolution in Peru, MIM stands
firmly behind the PCP, working under the leadership of
Chairperson Gonzalo, in their correct Maoist political
orientation. Because of this, we take leadership from the
PCP about strategy and tactics in the revolution in Peru.
Interpreting letters and their application in Peru was the
job of the PCP, not MIM.
We take this to be an ultraleft error. It was dogmatic on
conditions because we assumed any negotiations with the
Peruvian government would be a mistake. And we pitted
leaders against the masses by casting doubts on the capacity
or line of the leaders. Through internal struggle we have
rectified our position. It is only with constant vigilance
against errors of both "leftist" and rightist types that
revolution will be able to advance.
MIM judges movements based on their political line, and
regrets the implication in that article that we might
consider it our place to try to exert leadership over what
the PCP does in Peru. This error was made worse because we
did not have any real information on which to base our
analysis.
Just as MIM, as a First World vanguard Party, leads globally
on the question of the labor aristocracy in the imperialist
countries, MIM takes its leadership from the vanguard in
Peru on questions of practice in Peru. MIM will continue to
keep its readers informed of PCP strategy as we learn more;
but MIM will not speculate on the PCP's strategic and
tactical decisions.
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing or referring to this material.
Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
FIRE & WATER: GENEVA TOWERS MASSES AREN'T FOOLED
On November 19, the San Francisco Department of Public
Health and the Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD) announced that the tap water flowing into the 576
apartments at the HUD-owned Geneva Towers in San Francisco
is poisoned by lead.
Both agencies have known for years that the water at Geneva
Towers is contaminated. Their solution to the contamination
has been to shut off running water to the residents of the
towers. HUD's managers summoned trucks of drinking water and
gave each family a one gallon plastic jug. Residents were
ordered to use only this container to lug water from truck
to dwelling unit.
Since 1991, the Geneva Towers Tenant's Association (GTTA)
has delivered reams of documents to a peanut gallery of
federal, state and city officials and district attorneys
proving that: 1) friable asbestos floats freely in the
ventilation ducts; 2) contaminated water infects the
plumbing; 3) fire and building code violations have caused
death and injury; 4) HUD bureaucrats have conspired with
developers to embezzle federal funds.
Each time, the pencil-stabbing devils in the local
government apparatus have magically ignored their own laws
and ruled that their departments have no jurisdiction over
HUD-owned property.
GTTA asked why this one health hazard, which has been
systematically ignored for years - out of the dozens of
health hazards permeating HUD's urban penitentiary - has
been singled out for attention? Whose interests are being
served when the slumlord seems to stumble?
GTTA immediately declared that HUD's motives in shutting
down the water supply were to avoid lawsuits resulting from
decades of landlord genocide and a recent lethal fire in the
Towers;(1,2) drive the 200 families who have so far escaped
HUD's forced evictions out of their homes; and provide the
government with an "emergency" excuse to clear the buildings
of inhabitants.
In 1991 HUD and its managing agents began extra-legally
evicting the 3,000 (primarily Black) people living in the
Towers. The fall of Geneva Towers is vital to white
settlement of the outskirts of San Francisco, into which the
majority of the City's Blacks have been squeezed.
HUD intends to funnel at least $70 million in
"reconstruction" funds through the Towers and into the hands
of private "non-profit" developers as the Towers are gutted.
The units will be transformed into "free-market" housing for
whites and a smattering of upper-class Blacks, as the poor
Black Nation in San Francisco continues to be "ethnically
cleansed" from the City at the rate of over one percent per
year.(2)
The Towers would be empty today if it were not for the
determined resistance of GTTA - which has organized numerous
anti-HUD demonstrations, and allied with a wide variety of
what GTTA calls "Free World Forces" - in a war to seize
legal control of the Towers.
FIRE
After a firestorm in Geneva Towers killed Black fireman
Jerry Butler last August, the steel fence around Geneva
Towers became a subject of public controversy. As MIM Notes
reported in September, the locked fence prohibited fire-
fighting machines from entering the complex to extinguish
the inferno.
The San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) report on the
internal investigation of the Geneva Towers fire states
that: "The access to the rear of the building was very
limited for laddering, ventilating, and other fire fighting
operations ... the aerial truck was prevented from gaining
access to the rear of the building [by three planter
boxes]."(5)
The planter boxes are spaced 100 feet apart. The only real
obstacle was the fence connecting them. Lieutenant Butler's
death was the result of dozens of pre-existing fire code
violations, including the fence.
The SFFD's in its conclusion states: "At this incident, the
fence and gates did not hamper SFFD operations."(3) The SFFD
refused to interview a single tenant in the preparation of
this whitewash.(4) Nevertheless, the SFFD's presentation of
the facts contradicts its obvious intention to control
political fallout - while undermining evidence for
negligence, lawsuits, and charges of manslaughter against
the authorities themselves.
Even as the SFFD report sacrifices a Black firefighter to
HUD's slum-profits, it admits that the "partial" sprinkler
system failed to operate.(10) Furthermore, video tapes from
the hall cameras were recording the scenes in the burning
hallway during the fire. After the fire, building security
erased the tapes.(11)
When the hook and ladders could not be positioned to drown
the fire from the venting rear windows, firefighters in
front of the flames were forced to lug hoses 200 feet out of
their way in order to enter the building, thereby losing the
hose-length necessary to reach the flames.(12) Finally, an
"SFFD arson investigation was delayed" past the point that
meaningful evidence could be gathered.(13)
HUD VOMITS TRUTH
Faced with press inquiries, HUD quickly generated a document
entitled "Myths and Facts about Geneva Towers." HUD crows
that: "Since June 1991, HUD has expended over $3.8 million
in improving security at Geneva Towers ... through
increasing guards, controlled access to the building,
improved lighting (see picture), security cameras and
communications, and gang and youth intervention
efforts."(17)
In other words, HUD admits it spent nearly four million
dollars to lock-down the Towers, force out the people, and
arrest the youth - while trying to incinerate and poison
any souls brave enough to resist expulsion.
These are ordinary crimes in a capitalist system. They are
so ordinary and unremarkable in imperialism's eyes that they
can be openly confessed. They are so mundane and acceptable
to the majority of settler Amerikans that the pigs figure
nobody in power will take the time to read such self-
indictments - much less complain about living conditions of
the oppressed.
The State may have made a mistake this time. What HUD didn't
figure on was the ability of GTTA to create public opinion
and temporarily unify its interests with the economic and
political interests of several Black nation and white nation
law firms and a small section of the Black national
bourgeoisie - represented by nearly bankrupt Black
contractors.(See MIM Notes 83.)
GTTA has mounted injunctions and lawsuits against HUD. The
embattled tenants are beginning to throw off the mental
shackles of colonialism and join their voices to the shouts
of GTTA. For a lot of people trapped in the Towers -
poisoned drinking water is the last straw. The Towers are
not doomed to fall - when once the people rise.
Notes:
1. GTTA press release 11/19/93.
2. 1990 Census, SF Dept. of Planning Chart; MIM Notes Dec.
1993, p. 6.
3. Geneva Towers Fire - August 14, 1993 Investigative
Report, Incident 2412, SFFD, p. 17.
4. Ibid, p. 22.
5. Ibid, p. 4.
6. Ibid, p. 5.
7. Ibid, p. 4.
8. Ibid, p. 6.
9. Ibid, pp. 6, 7.
10. Ibid, p. 3.
11. Ibid, pp. 3, 6.
12. Ibid, p. 8.
13. Ibid, p. 20. MIM has published the only known pictures
of the fire's aftermath.
14. Ibid, p. 4.
15. Ibid, p. 20.
16. "Myths and Fact about Geneva Towers" 11/16/93, HUD, p.
5.
17. Ibid, p. 2.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
LETTERS TO MIM:
MIM BIASED
I just stopped reading in the middle of this crap from you
guys. Especially, the cheap imitation of the word 'America'
in Russian, which is 'Amerika', it just made me so sick!
What's more, it's ironic to imitate the Russians when you
claim to be 'The Maoist Internationalist Movement.' I mean,
isn't the word Maoist rooted in the last name of the Chinese
communist leader Mao Tse Tung? If it is so, shouldn't you be
imitating the Chinese word for America, then? But, hey! what
prevents you from imitating the Russians?
It's good to denounce [the Peruvian] government's crimes, as
you guys did. And I have no objection against it. But,
please do it objectively! In your text, you pointed out the
mass graves, mass killing of innocent people, government's
repression to the people and so on, and on, and on. But,
have you ever stopped and think of what you have been doing
to the Peruvian people is also almost the same as what the
Peruvian's Government has been doing (as you claim)? Isn't
it a little bit shameless from your part in doing so?
If I'm wrong, please shed some light to my path.
- Internet reader
MC12 responds: MIM is not imitating anyone when it spells
Amerika with a "k". Our intention is much less complex. We
are trying to de-legitimize Amerika, which is not a
legitimate nation, but a settler colony built on stolen land
by stolen labor. If the origin of this spelling is Russian,
that is not our intent.
MIM does not think that the violence used by the people of
Peru and their party, the Communist Party of Peru (PCP),
against the state and its supporters is the same as the
violence used by the state to stop the people. Both result
in death, but they are different processes representing
different politics and in search of different ends. And at
the same time, the government has been responsible for many
more deaths and much more arbitrary violence than has the
PCP, as any "objective" source will tell you. Further, the
government is responsible for the death and suffering of
millions of people through such supposedly "non-violent"
causes as cholera, starvation, and other preventable ills.
MIM is not ashamed to support the revolutionary violence of
people's war against a fascist dictator (Fujimori) and his
state. Without the revolutionary violence of the people, the
daily violence of poverty, disease and other oppression
would rule unchecked forever.
Thanks for asking.
BLACK YOUTH, PREPARE FOR REBELLION!
The Rebellion in L.A. in 1992 lit the spark to the powder
keg that is going off all over the world. More than 23
cities across the Amerikan empire and several cities around
the world rebelled in solidarity with the injustice in the
police beating of Rodney King.
What does this mean for Black people in the u.s. and Black
youths in particular? It means the Black nation is rising.
It means our youths are the spark and are leading the way to
revolution.
Led by Raptivists such as Sister SoulJah, Ice Cube, Ice T,
and groups like KRS-One, Arrested development, X-Clan and
others, are bringing the message of revolution forward in
the spirit of revolutionaries of the past.
In an FBI memo ... J. Edgar Hoover stated that the Black
Panther Party was to be "neutralized by all means
necessary!" The BPP was THE NUMBER ONE SECURITY THREAT TO
THE NATIONAL SECURITY of the u.s.
What does this mean to our youth today? Youths must
overstand what went down during the revolutionary period of
the 1960s, especially as it relates to the Black Panther
Party. You MUST study this period. You MUST go beyond the
personalities of the leaders of the various movements, learn
from their mistakes, pick up where they left off and expand
on their ideas to move revolution forward.
If you do not overstand this period, you will not overstand
what you must do today. You must develop a revolutionary
consciousness through the STUDY of our history and the
living of our culture.
To prepare for the revolution you must arm yourselves with
the right knowledge. First is the knowledge of self. This is
indispensable. Once you know who you are, you will be armed
with the right knowledge of what must be done. Overstand
your spiritual nature. One of the most effective tools our
enemy used to enslave us was religion, his version - white
supremacy christianity. GO TO THE LIBRARY and check out a
book on that man named Jesus. You will be surprised who he
really was. One thing is for sure, he is not that white dude
who be up there on that cross!
Our experience born out of the brutality of slavery is your
only authority and supreme law outside of knowing your true
self which is the same as to know God. SEEK WISDOM AND
TRUTH. Make overstanding your goal. This is strength and
power. SEEK POWER! SEEK TO CONTROL YOUR OWN DESTINY which is
to build a NATION OF YOUR OWN!
STOP working for the enemy and start working for yourself.
Drug dealers, stop SELLING TO YOUR PEOPLE! To sell to your
people means you don't give a damn about yourself. Love
yourself. Respect yourself! Use the money you have to START
YOUR OWN LEGITIMATE BUSINESS!
The only salvation is to build THE BLACK NATION: The
Republic of New Afrika! Those of you who want to remain on
the plantation serving your corporate masters, IBM, AT&T,
GENERAL ELECTRIC, GENERAL MOTORS, COCA COLA etc., instead of
building a business for yourselves and for the NATION will
suffer the consequences when Amerika falls.
The NATION is moving forward. Our culture is your ticket to
ride. You will not get there no other way. Love your
culture. To love your culture is to love yourself. Let it be
your shield, for without it you have no cover and no POWER!
It's time to cultivate your mind, spirit, body, and the
LAND. Learn to grow FOOD. We need to start stockpiling food,
water, weapons, sleeping bags, gas masks, tents, candles,
flashlights, walkie talkies, radios. You need to find farms,
forests, caves or mountain hide-aways for yourself and your
family. The time for WAR is closer than you think.
BE CREATIVE. We are the most creative people on the planet.
Though destruction is coming to Amerika, this is the best
opportunity to CREATE for yourself, family and NATION, your
own livelihood...
GET PREPARED - it's goin' down!
Friend in the East
October 1993
MIM responds: We like the author's line on revolutionary
personalities. For leadership we look to correct politics
and historical analysis, not image.
MIM agrees that the L.A. Rebellion showed the anger and
strength of the masses. The fact that people acted
spontaneously and collectively demonstrates a practical feel
for who their enemies are - the media, liberal politicians
and cops. We support the letter writer's call to study the
plans and organizations of past revolutionaries -
specifically those of the Black Panther Party (BPP). The
masses will be strong in the long run, but this strength
comes from correct education and organization. Our enemies'
tactical strength demands that we fight the battle for
public opinion before armed struggle. So MIM tells people to
study past revolutionary theory alongside current political
conditions.
The Panthers thought pride in the national culture was an
important starting point, but it was no substitute for
revolution; MIM agrees with that perspective. As they said,
"We have no culture but a culture born out of our resistance
to oppression."(1)
The author should carefully define what they mean by
"legitimate business." Capitalism is an inherently
exploitative system; Black capitalism will not liberate the
Black masses. The Panthers were up front about this, they
advocated socialist modes of organization in the Black
community.(2)
On the other hand, MIM recognizes that revolutionaries need
to support themselves and their organizations; businesses
are one way of doing that. (Seale and Huey Newton raised
money by selling Quotations from Chairman Mao, the "little
red book," to college students, for example).
Finally, MIM does not call on people to stockpile arms etc.
at this point. We would rather have them go among the masses
to develop their political consciousness and build a Maoist
party (like the BPP). Without the masses' support even the
deepest underground organization will be crushed; with their
support, an armed campaign could be quickly assembled and
successfully carried out.
Notes:
1. "On cultural nationalism," The Black Panthers Speak,
Philip Foner, ed. 1970. p. 151 MIM distributes this book for
$10, postpaid.
2. "Why the Free Breakfast," Liberation Schools," "The Ten-
Point Platform and Program of the Black Panther Party," in
Foner.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
LOCKING DOWN THE BERLIN WALL OF THE WEST
At midnight on September 19, under the codename "Operation
Blockade," the Border Patrol shut down the high-traffic El
Paso/Jaures section of the border, with five times the usual
deployment of Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)
officers.(1) The military connotations of the term
"blockade" are obvious and intentional. Operation Blockade
is a continuation of the brutal history of Amerikan
imperialism in occupied Mexico. The blockade consists of 450
agents spread out along a twenty-mile stretch of the border,
with every available vehicle being deployed.
Silvestre Reyes, the El Paso-based INS chief, received
$250,000 in overtime funds from Washington for an initial
two-week trial of the blockade anti-immigrant strategy.(2)
As less Mexicans attempt to cross the border and less agents
are needed, Operation Blockade has been continued to the
present. The idea behind Reyes' blockade strategy is to
maximize deterrence over arrests. The imposing concentration
of officers along the border has reduced the number of
arrests by more than 80%, from about 1,000 per day to around
150.(1) At the most dense points, armed sentries are
stationed every 150 feet.(2)
Before the blockade, an estimated 10,000 Mexican day-
laborers crossed daily at the El Paso/Jaurez section. Martin
Sanchez of the Border Rights Coalition said that their
"'hotline has been ringing off the hook' with calls from
Jaurez workers pleading that their employers be called and
asked that jobs not be terminated."(2)
OPERATION BLOCKADE SPREADS
California politicians have duly noted the "success" of
Reyes' El Paso Operation Blockade. San Diego county
supervisors have voted to ask Attorney General Janet Reno to
duplicate the El Paso blockade along the San Diego-Tijuana
section of the border (5) where the Border Guard made
250,000 apprehensions in 1992.(1)
Senator Barbara Boxer (R-California) convinced the Senate to
include an extra $2 million in their defense bill to provide
funds for National Guard troops to back up the Border Guard.
Her plan is to have 4,000 California Guard troops spend
their 15 days of annual training on the border. Though they
would not be involved in actual apprehensions, the National
Guard would provide office support, prisoner transport, and
surveillance work, which would free up INS agents to do more
"hunting."
The ultimate effect of such a deployment would be to create
an Operation Blockade in southern California that would be
many times the size of the one in El Paso. "This would be
the first time in history that the National Guard is used to
help bolster the border," says Boxer, who evidently forgot
that the National Guard is already helping to construct
fences along the border in California.(10)
NAFTA'S ROLE
The border patrol is putting the squeeze on Mexican workers
during a time when cutting labor costs is the mantra of the
business world. With First World wages and benefits so
inflated, it's easy to see why the bourgeoisie was pushing
so hard for NAFTA. Through NAFTA's elimination of tariffs on
the billions of dollars worth of goods that Amerikan
companies ship to Mexico for assembly, and from Mexico to
the United States for marketing, U.S. firms gain a major
incentive to move operations to Mexico. This means that
Operation Blockade may well be a dress rehearsal for the
near future, when industrial expansion in Mexico will
require the largest possible domestic labor pool there. This
large labor pool will drive down the cost of Mexican labor-
power, making U.S. multinational ventures there even more
profitable.
RACIST OPPOSITION TO IMMIGRATION
Reactionaries argue that saturation of the Amerikan border
areas with immigrants puts a strain on the social services
there. In California, an estimated 100,000 undocumented
immigrants annually cross the border to stay in the United
States, reportedly costing the state around $3 billion in
health care and education.(4) Fifty-one percent of
Californians favor cutting off health benefits and public
education to immigrants and their children.(8)
What this figure of $3 billion neglects to mention is that
these immigrants produce significantly more than $3 billion
worth of surplus-value by working in textile sweatshops,
seasonal agriculture, etc. These superexploited workers give
a strong boost to the Amerikan standard of living.
The total surplus value exploited from undocumented workers
is tremendous, with 3.2 million illegal immigrants in the
United States and 2-300,000 arriving each year, according to
INS figures.(9) However, as profits continue to grow with
the implementation of NAFTA, the United States will be able
to close off the border and expand U.S. super-exploitation
of Mexicans without having to pay any benefits at all. In
any case, these petty social services expenditures amount to
little in comparison with the tens of billions in
expropriated superprofits.
A HISTORY OF COLONIZATION
What is occurring now is an escalating military deployment
in a war with Mexico over the border zone that has been
raging on and off for almost 150 years. In 1845, President
Polk ordered troops to march over the acknowledged border
between the United States and Mexico, the Neuces river, and
to build a fort on the banks of the Rio Grande. This brazen
provocation, a blatant attempt at annexing part of Northern
Mexico, eventually brought violent revenge from the
Mexicans, which was what Polk was waiting for to justify his
plan for an all-out war of colonization.
The Mexican War's brutal military campaign of rape and
pillage carried out by Amerikan soldiers was legendary. The
war concluded with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848,
in which Mexico ceded all of what today is called
California, New Mexico, Arizona, and the Texan region
between the Rio Grande and Neuces Rivers. (6) This means
that both El Paso and San Diego are on the occupied national
territory of Mexico! Neither the U.S. Border Guard nor the
National Guard belongs on that border, which one day will be
swept away by the revolutionary tide.
Notes:
1. L.A. Times 10/2/93, p. A1, A19.
2. National Catholic Observer 10/8/93, p. 3.
3. New York Times 9/29/93, p. A13.
4. El Paso Herald-Post 10/8/93, p. 1.
5. Dallas Morning News 10/10/93, p. 56A.
6. Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States
(Harper Colophon Books: New York, 1980), pp. 147-166 7.
8. Time Magazine Special Issue Fall 1993, p. 12.
9. Ibid, p. 16.
10. L.A. Times 10/19/93, p. A3, A24.
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
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E-mail: mim@blythe.org
* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
MIM TALKS TO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ABOUT PERU
In November, MIM made a presentation about Peru to three
high school classes in Massachusetts. This is something MIM
has done in the past in other schools, and this article is
intended to encourage other comrades and teachers to make
use of elementary, middle and high schools to encourage
students to think about the world in a way not presented in
most textbooks.
MIM was given this opportunity by a history teacher who had
two classes studying Peru and wanted his classes to hear
more than just the Amerikan government's perspective. The
information about the oppressive nature of Peru's
government, and the support the U.S. government gives to
this oppression, was mostly new to them. This is a good
indication of what people in the United States learn about
Peru if they rely on the mainstream media. Not only did they
learn that the Communist Party of Peru (PCP) is a terrorist
band of thugs, but they also did not get the information
about what the Peruvian government does to terrorize its
people every day.
Of the three classes MIM talked to, one was a U.S. history
class, generally reserved for the "non-honors," and often
non-college bound, students. The other two were advanced
classes for the honors and college-bound students. In a
testimonial to the lack of validity to this kind of
tracking, the U.S. history class was the quickest to pick up
on some important concepts of oppression of the world's
people, and from that class came some of the most
interesting questions and discussion about how to resolve
the problems in Peru. It was the honors students who spent
the most time questioning the intellectual definition of
violence in the face of information about people being
murdered by the Peruvian government, and questioning the
correctness of the PCP in the face of information about one
enemy of the people that the PCP killed.
In fairness to all of the students, all three classes were
impressive in their quickness to pick up on contradictions,
and their desire to question and search for a deeper
understanding of the issues presented. It is these youth who
need to be offered information about how the world really
works and the role of Amerikan imperialism in this
international system of oppression. The hope for the future
lies in the hands of the oppressed, 80% of the world, and
their allies, particularly the youth, among the other 20%
who have not yet been bought into supporting the oppressors.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
CIA IS THE BIGGEST COCAINE DEALER
More than any ghetto crack dealer, the United States
government and its allies are feeding the flames of drug
addiction in Amerika, then turning around and imprisoning
street-level dealers and consumers, and pretending to oppose
drugs.
A squabble between the Drug Enforcement Agency and the
Central Intelligence Agency has revealed that the CIA
shipped 1,000 kilos of cocaine to the United States in 1990,
where it entered the cocaine market and was sold.(1)
Now that it has been revealed, the government calls it a
"serious accident," not a conspiracy. The New York Times,
citing a 60 Minutes story, said the cocaine was supposedly
shipped to gain information about drug-dealing operations.
In order to protect the cover of their infiltrators, the CIA
claims it had to let the cocaine go all the way into the
U.S. market for sale.
The story is a sorry cover for the deliberate importation of
enough cocaine to ruin thousands of lives - in the process
providing justification for police repression of the
oppressed internal nations. One Venezuelan general may be
made to take the fall, now that the story is out. But the
CIA rolls on unimpeded.
On June 28, 1964, Malcolm X spoke on the question of drugs
in the Black nation. What he said is more true now than
ever:
"When a person is a drug addict, he's not the criminal; he's
a victim of the criminal. The criminal is the man downtown
who brings this drug into the country. Negroes can't bring
drugs into this country. You don't have any boats. You don't
have any airplanes. You don't have any diplomatic immunity.
It is not you who is responsible for bringing in drugs.
You're just a tool that is used by the man downtown. The man
that controls the drug traffic sits in city hall or he sits
in the state house."(2)
- MC12
Notes:
1. New York Times 11/20/93, p. A1.
2. Malcolm X, By Any Means Necessary. New York: Pathfinder,
1970. pp. 51-52.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
LOOKING AHEAD TO THE NEXT WAR
The United States is always looking ahead to the next war.
In the post-Soviet era, now more than ever that means the
oil-rich Middle East and especially the Persian Gulf. With
Iraq taken care of for now, Amerika is turning its focus
back to Iran.
The United States calls Iran an "outlaw state," and is
trying to get the European allies of the United States to
stop dealing with the country.(1)
At the same time, Amerika is making new claims to the
Persian Gulf as its territory. Frank Wisner, undersecretary
of the Defense Department says "the United States has
important national security interests" in the Gulf region,
and "the Clinton administration takes those interests
seriously and will maintain the commitment of the United
States to the undertakings we have entered into under
previous administrations here."(2)
In other words, Amerika is just as willing to make war on
the people of the Middle East for its own gain now as it was
when it attacked Iraq.
- MC12
Notes:
1. UPI 12/1/93.
2. UPI 12/2/93.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
THIRD WORLD IN THE FIRST WORLD
A recent United Nations statistical report - how the
imperialists keep track of their successes - compared living
standards according to a compilation of statistics added
together to form a "human development" index. They reported:
"Ninety percent of the world's people lack control over
their own lives. ... Minorities get only the small pieces of
the pie, even in the richest country. Dividing the USA by
ethnic populations, the white USA would come first in human
development [in the world], but the black USA would rank
31st and Hispanic USA 35th."
Notes: Human Development Report 5/16/93, United Nations
Development Programme, p. 18.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
AMERIKA LEAVES ARISTIDE AND HAITI HANGING
In early December, an internal Pentagon document was
released showing that at least 10 Haitian officers continued
to receive training in the United States after the Sept. 30,
1991 military coup against President Aristide. This training
took place despite continued statements from Washington to
the contrary.(1)
While Clinton sanctimoniously preaches "democracy," earning
votes and P.R. points, Haiti's military, created, trained
and supported by the United States, remains firmly in
control, stepping up its terror campaign to further
consolidate control over the Haitian people. As Congress
debates sanctions, they receive "intelligence" reports
portraying Aristide as an incompetent maniac from the
Haitian generals, via the CIA.
At best, Washington has been pushing Aristide to make a deal
with Haiti's bourgeois elite for joint rule, which would
force him to abandon Haiti's constitution and the people's
mandate which he won in his electoral victory in 1990.
Washington hopes only to restore some stability to Haiti in
order to stem the refugee tide which began again after the
military coup, with it's ensuing slaughter, without
sacrificing Amerikan interests in Haiti. Such a deal would
put Haiti on the same road now being traveled by Nicaragua
or El Salvador, in which the people gain a temporary peace,
accompanied by continued economic stagnation and social
divisions which must eventually lead to renewed conflict.
Only a correct strategy of self-reliance and armed
resistance will free the Haitians from centuries of
exploitation and foreign domination. This is the lesson we
must learn from Haiti and from El Salvador, and from
Nicaragua, and Chile, and all the other elected or
negotiated "victories" that turned into failures and led to
massacres and terrible conditions for the people.
- MA343
Note: Boston Globe 12/6/93, p. A1.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
PATRIA ROJA STILL FOR UNITED LEFT
Patria Roja, an organization in Peru claiming to be Maoist
and appearing to be so in many ways, continues to support a
political organization called the United Left (I.U., from
the Spanish initials) after it supported President Alberto
Fujimori in elections and then accepted positions in
Fujimori's cabinet.
What is even more stunning is that this support for the
United Left continued after Fujimori declared open martial
law and dissolved his legal opposition.
Page 5 of the May 1993 issue of Patria Roja's newspaper says
"En la lucha por la unidad de la izquierda, la IU sigue
siendo uno de los factores para impulsar esa unidad. [In the
struggle for unity of the left, the IU continues to be one
of the factors pushing forward this unity.]"
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- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
MINE WORKERS TO WORK?
It appears that members of the United Mine Workers Union
(UMW) in Appalachian and mid-west states soon may be ending
a strike that began May 10, 1993.(1) The initial walkout
involved about 2,000 miners and expanded to include as many
as 18,000 miners. The UMW represents 60-70% of the 100,000
miners working in the United States.(2) UMW-organized mines
account for about 30% of the national coal output.(3)
The strike was not about getting higher wages; the average
miner earns $10-17 per hour plus benefits. Nor was it to
improve working conditions. Instead miners hoped to improve
job security. In other words, to allow union workers to keep
what they already have and keep non-union labor out. The
mining companies, represented by the Bituminous Coal
Operators Association (BOCA), agreed in 1989 to hire union
workers for every three out of five new jobs.(3) The UMW
says that the companies are getting around the agreement by
creating new subsidiaries and affiliates and claiming that
the new companies are not bound by the agreement.(3)
The coal industry claimed that it would bring jobs and
prosperity to the rural poor in Appalachia as long ago as
the 1870s. Instead, workers in the coal mines lived in
terrible conditions while the owners of the coal mines
prospered.
Coal miners in Appalachia and elsewhere faced intolerable
working conditions, including low pay, dangerous jobs, and
economic bondage to their jobs. Many companies paid workers
in "scrip" which they could only exchange at the company
store. They lacked health care, and suffered the destruction
of their living environment.
Many of these conditions still exist. While the owners of
coal mines have certainly sucked their profits out of the
very life-blood of these people, this is only part of the
story. Coal companies earned millions of dollars while
leaving the miners and their families in poor conditions.
But these workers, like most people in the United States and
especially white workers, still benefit from U.S.
imperialism and align themselves with it politically. White
workers in this country have a standard of living far beyond
Third World workers, and this standard of living is
maintained by the exploitation of Third World workers.
In June, 1,000 miners in Australia walked off their jobs in
support of the Amerikan strikers; the Australian miners work
at mines owned by a related company.(5) The President of the
UMW, Richard Trumka, stated that "we hope Peabody and the
other BOCA companies will take to heart this powerful
statement of international solidarity."(5)
While the unions are calling for international unity among
miner's unions, most of the world's workers are not
unionized. The union's goal, to ensure union members jobs
over non-union members, reflects the split between the
interests of the unionized Amerikan workers and the majority
of the world's workers, including miners.
If the unions wanted true international solidarity, they
would be working for an end to the U.S. imperialism that is
oppressing and exploiting Third World workers, and they
would not be seeking to improve their position at the
expense of non-union workers in Amerika and abroad.
Today, coal miners who have fairly steady jobs can earn as
much as $30,000 or more a year. They are less likely to wage
all-out struggle against the mine owners or the capitalist
system. This also pits them against the much larger group of
people who live on the margins, are unemployed or scramble
for a few low paying jobs, and against the interests of the
international proletariat. They are struggling to get job
security while selling out non-union and Third World
workers, instead of struggling to build revolutionary
consciousness and bring an end to Amerikan imperialist
aggression.
- MC255
Notes:
1. Chicago Tribune 11/23/93, p. 3.
2. Agence France Presse 11/19/93.
3. The Guardian 11/4/93, p.12.
4. New York Times 6/8/93, p.16.
5. Energy Report 6/7/93.
6. Courier-Journal 10/3/93, p. A1.
7. Financial Times 9/8/93, p. 30.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
PALESTINIANS: JERUSALEM FIRST!
Israel is using the time it bought with its bogus "peace"
deal to carry out a campaign of assassination and
repression, and Palestinian revolutionaries are gaining
ground in the battle for public opinion in the occupied
lands of Palestine.
On Nov. 28, Israel announced it had no intention of sticking
to the timetable for military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip
set in the PLO-Israel deal. The same day, Israeli undercover
pigs assassinated Ahmed Abu Reish, a 23-year-old leader of
the PLO's Fatah wing military organization.
The killing, which followed the murder of prominent leaders
of the Islamic revolutionary group Hamas, including military
leader Imad Akel, led to a joint Fatah-Hamas call for a
general strike. Local young Fatah leaders (Young Hawks)
joined Hamas in a call for renewed attacks on Israelis, in
violation of the PLO bosses' deal.
A coalition of groups opposing the deal won elections at Bir
Zeit University, a West Bank center of Palestinian
resistance. The coalition included Islamic and secular
nationalists, and called itself "Jerusalem First," in a play
off the name of Israel-PLO deal. Organized opponents of the
deal have demanded a referendum on the accord.
Showing the gap between street-level and U.N.-level PLO
leaders, the Young Hawks in Gaza said they would "escalate
intensive military actions against Israel, and any Zionist
will be the target at all times and places," while the
shuffle-and-smile leaders expressed "surprise" that Israel
continued its killing, complained only mildly, and insisted
that negotiations are still on.
Violent resistance and repression followed. Palestinians
were enraged to learn that Abu Reish was assassinated after
surrendering his weapon in an Israeli amnesty program; their
response was the most intense in months. Rioting Zionist
settlers then pelted Palestinians with dirty diapers, among
other things.
Israel blamed PLO leaders for failing to stop the violence.
The violence Israel causes is now the excuse for keeping
troops in the territories. Fatah leaders met with Israeli
army commanders to strategize about how to quell the new
uprising.
- MC12
Notes: Published UPI reports 11/28-12/2/93.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
FILM REVIEW: FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE
REVISIONIST HISTORY AT ITS BEST
This film chronicles the lives of two young boys (who become
men) from 1925-1977. As children, the boys are forced to
become theater actors in a boarding school which resembles a
boot camp. They are in training to join the so-called high
culture of the Peking opera, which the film lauds as
beautiful.
There is a current of homosexual tension in the relationship
between the two men. Douzi, the man who plays the female
role in their rendition of "Concubine," falls in love with
his partner, Shitou. Shitou does not return his feelings,
and later marries a prostitute (played by Gong Li from Raise
the Red Lantern) whom Douzi deeply resents. It is in part
because of the gay love that this movie was initially banned
in China.(1)
Further reasons for the initial (and current) censorship of
Farewell My Concubine include the portrayals of suicide and
political dissent.(2) But the most interesting part of the
movie is its portrayal of gender - exploring the way that
gender is constructed and privileged. Douzi is not simply a
man in love with another man. As the line between his opera
character and his real life is blurred, he is also at the
same time a woman (the concubine) in love with a man (the
king).
On the more reactionary side, the movie includes scenes from
the Cultural Revolution, in which the masses randomly
denounce their friends, wives, and family, but do not engage
in political struggle to try to reform the rich actors or
ex-prostitutes. The only scenes of the Cultural Revolution
are chaotic and destructive. There is no indication that any
positive change occurred during that time period at all.
The director, Chen Kaige, was 14 in 1966 when he "wrongly"
denounced his father. He later regretted his "betrayal" and
when he became a big movie director, he let his father work
for him on the movie sets.(3)
Director Chen Kaige, on his American tour promoting the
movie, denounces Communism and the Cultural Revolution as
evil.(3) "When I was a junior in high school, we believed in
a very beautiful world ... we heard a lot of good things
about communism... I didn't realize that was the wrong thing
to do."(3)
While MIM has publicly accepted responsibility for its
support of Mao and the Chinese Communist Party, even with
what did go wrong during the Cultural Revolution, Concubine
does no justice to the positive steps taken at that time,
including the steps taken to erase the distinction between
high and low culture. Chen Kaige's self-interest in
promoting his movie, as well as passing it by the
reactionary Deng-regime censors, means that he "forgets" to
show his viewers the real political struggle of the Cultural
Revolution.
- MC31 & MC255
Notes:
1. The Montreal Gazette 11/6/93, p. E5.
2. MacLean's 11/8/93, p. 62.
3. Chicago Tribune 10/31/93, p. 32.
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- MIM Notes 84, January 1993 -
UNDER LOCK & KEY
LUCASVILLE UPDATE: "OUR STRUGGLE HAS JUST BEGUN"
Greetings from the "Southern Ohio Concentration Facility" in
Lucasville, Ohio.
I have been meaning to write, but due to my present
circumstances, I have been somewhat paranoid. The pigs here
have been reading our incoming and outgoing mail. Even our
legal mail is being read. Actually, I could care less what
these pigs think or do. But right at this moment, I am being
investigated for my role in the riot, and for gang activity.
I at least want to get out of trouble before I get into
anymore.
I enjoy MIM Notes a great deal. I pass it along to my
brothers once I finish reading it. I am surprised that the
institution is letting it in. These assholes have a habit of
censoring anything that isn't politically correct.
As many of you may know, we had a revolutionary struggle
here between April 11 and April 21, 1993. My comrades and I
refused to accept the oppressive conditions here any longer,
and rebelled against the system.
Many people were shocked by the brutality of the uprising:
nine prisoners and one guard killed, plus millions of
dollars in damage. Should it come as any surprise that
people trapped like animals in cages are going to, sooner or
later, explode into a violent rage? Why should we value
human life when society judges our lives to be meaningless?
It has often been said that the humanity of a society can be
determined by the way it treats its prisoners. As I sit here
in my cell awaiting the outcome of numerous investigations,
I am often reminded of the inscription on the gates of hell
in Dante's Inferno: "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
However, unlike Dante, unless we organize and raise the
consciousness of the masses, it will be years before we
leave the "underworld," and enter into paradise. If ever!
After most prison riots, the institution usually gets a new
warden and new privileges, but nothing is done to resolve
the larger issues. The legacy of the riot is one everybody
must share. It has its roots in the social, political and
economic framework of our country.
We need to raise the level of individual consciousness, to
educate and inform the masses and, more importantly, to
refuse to accept the legitimacy of the system that continues
to oppress and exploit millions of people.
For eleven days, my comrades and I made our struggle known
to the masses. We raised our voices and told the masses that
we refused to be oppressed any longer. We are political
prisoners, and as political prisoners, we refuse to accept
and cooperate with this concentration camp. We showed our
oppressors that they are not insulated from the brutality
and destruction they heap upon us day after day. We will
respond in kind.
Since our surrender to authorities on April 21, 1993, we
have remained in isolation, with most of our privileges
taken. We are awaiting the outcome of the State Police
investigation - and you can be sure that indictments will
follow. Yet, my brothers and I continue to stay strong. Our
struggle isn't over - it has just begun.
In struggle,
- an Ohio prisoner, 11/14/93
BLACK OR WHITE, A PIG IS A PIG IS A PIG
We are forced here to live under extremely tense
conditions... It is presupposed that prisoners who, for
whatever reason, are placed within these doors are branded
subhuman in a sense and treated like punks.
The turncoat lackey Toms here have apparently been
thoroughly trained against us and made to think that we are
their sole enemies. And consequently, they carry out their
abominable flagrant oppression of the prisoners. There are
even those who hate us and don't understand why or for what
reasons they do so. And this is perhaps one of the reasons
that brothers like myself have assumed a freedom or death
composure.
I understand that the present oppressive set-up here can be
directly linked to the historical oppression of minorities
in general as well as to the aftermath of the slave trade
era - an era which ravished the Black minds. Nonetheless,
this set-up is totally unacceptable. I believe that each one
of our oppressive keepers here is to be held totally
responsible for his or her unjust and unrighteous role in
the physical and mental attacks jointly impressed upon the
people.
The personality difference is amazing. While 95% of the pig
Toms and prisoners are non-white, they act as though the
commonality of our ethnicity means nothing in the least. To
me, this is alarming in itself, because it signifies the
prevailing of the white power structure scheme to divide and
conquer the people.
I said once and I'll say it again: Capitalism needs and must
have these prisons to hold the monsters they it has created.
This is to say that those of us African and other minorities
imprisoned who don't submit to the indignities placed upon
us will undoubtedly emerge stronger and more determined than
ever from our subjugation. And we will do so with an
inclination toward vengeance against those who have
protractedly wronged us.
Super-Maximum Security Units have taken the infamous title
of "rehabilitation" to new heights. Those of us more
conscious men know that the true definition actually
signifies "debilitation." As opposed to rehabilitation,
"debilitation" means to tear down, erode or cause to wane
and debase. This is the real objective of a Super Max: To
destroy the minds of those who enter its belly....
Oppression breeds violent resistance, and within the realm
of sacrifice, it is perfectly understood that sometimes one
must cut off a finger to save a hand.
All in all, the proliferation of Super Maximum Security
Units must be curtailed at once, and the doors of those
already erected closed down. There is no doubt that the
billions of dollars allocated towards the building of such
warehouses can be better used for the salvation of humanity
against its so-called criminal rehabilitation policy. Thus,
wherever we see the proliferation of such institutions, we
automatically realize that its subjects will be the
minorities and underclass, as we always seem to bear the
brunt of life's hardships and pitfalls.
I, for one, refuse to sit idly by while all around us,
African brothers and sisters are perishing and being
imprisoned in droves. There's no doubt that we have reached
the point of do or die. All that bars our way will simply
pay the consequences. As our beloved Comrade George L.
Jackson once said, "By the time I am done here, I am not
going to be a very nice person."
- a Maryland prisoner, 10/17/93
GUARDS BEAT ONE ATTICA PRISONER, PACIFY OTHERS WITH T.V.
Please pardon the slight delay in my not writing to you
sooner. I have to be careful about what I say in letters,
because the reactionary armed forces at this killer kamp do
censor the mail that leaves here. And not long ago I was the
victim of a ruthless racial attack by a sick, demented, ill-
natured beast (pig). The attack against me occurred on
11/12/93, and I just was allowed to see medical employees
today, 11/16/93. Enough time for the bruises to heal, dig?
My letters to you must be unsealed when they reach the
correspondence department. If not, they will send it back to
me.
I am one of the few prisoners left who has not been pacified
by the television sets that this 'psychophysiology
diagnostic center' sells in the commissary. I have been
doing serious observation and analyzing of the used-to-be
'rebellious brothers' of the system. You know, the teachers,
the fighters, the prison vanguard, the ones who would die to
rid injustice....The only thing they'll die for now is
channel 7. The television sets have taken something 'huge'
away from the men here at Attica Prison. The reactionary
forces have successfully worked and achieved their goal in
stripping our brothers of their manhood. The beatings, the
sexual assaults and the incidents of sexual harassment have
not changed here at Attica. It still continues, it's just
overlooked.
Let me thank you for providing me with the Five Essays on
Philosophy by Mao....So far our study group has been reading
and discussing Bobby Seale's Seize the Time, George
Jackson's Soledad Brothers and Philip Foner's The Black
Panthers Speak....At this time, we are sorry that we are
unable to provide you with stamps or money for the material
you have already sent, or the literature that we seek, but
whenever we run across something, you will remain in our
minds and hearts....
Without the cold and desolation of winter, there could not
be the warmth and splendor of spring! Power to the people.
Peace!
- a New York prisoner, 11/16/93
TEXAS PRISONER REPORTS ON LOCKDOWN
Dear MIM,
I am sending out this notice to our comrades abroad to let
it be known that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice-
Institutional Division (TDCJ-ID) is holding all inmates of
the Coffield Unit hostage. We were given notice on 12/2/93
that the entire Unit (save for a select few collaborators)
has been placed in a lockdown situation for the next four
weeks. After these four weeks, if all concerned show signs
of passiveness to our oppressors, the lockdown situation
will be lifted and things will go "back to normal."
I wish to let this be known that this lockdown situation
will possibly encompass the Christmas holiday. We will not
be allowed to visit with our respective families nor allowed
commissary privileges. This should really alleviate the
unrest within!
I want to relate to my comrades abroad to pay attention to
the progress of the Texas prison system. After the recent
approval of Proposition 14 in the November ballot, Texas
will surpass the California DOC within four years, according
to a report I was sent. By the year 1997, Texas is expected
to have a population of 120,000 inmates.
Be aware that the Texas system is another Lucasville just
waiting to happen. Unrest within the system is now taking
its toll. With the recent decree signed that allowed the
TDCJ-ID to operate the system without the federal court
monitor in place, and the tough laws sentencing Texas youth
to serve outrageously long stacked sentences, a convicted
felon doesn't have much left to lose. And now you can see
where the future of things will lead.
Stay updated on the events here in Texas as they unfold and
demonstrate yet another imperialistic system collapsing
before your very eyes.
In solidarity,
- a Texas prisoner, 12/3/93
The Texas prisoner enclosed the following:
NOTICE TO INMATES
You have been placed in a lockdown status because of
disruptive behavior. This status has been imposed and will
continue until such a time as this behavior stops. Because
of this and to insure that you will understand, you will be
returned to normal activities based on a progressive
schedule of release.
First week: You will receive showers 3 times weekly; no
dayroom privileges; no commissary privileges; you will
receive only sack lunches; and you will not be permitted to
have visitation. If your behavior is acceptable, you will
progress to the second week.
Second week: You will receive showers 3 times weekly;
receive commissary privileges 1 time weekly; be fed hot
lunches 1 time weekly. With your behavior continuing to
improve, you will progress to the third week.
Third week: You will receive showers 3 times weekly; allowed
limited dayroom privileges; receive commissary privileges 1
day; receive hot lunch and supper 3 days; visitation
privileges will be reinstated. With your continuing good
behavior, progression to the fourth week will occur.
Fourth week: you will receive showers 3 times weekly;
dayroom privileges will return on a limited basis; receive
commissary privileges for 1 day; daily hot lunch and supper
privileges will be returned; visitation privileges are
returned. Subsequently, the lockdown will be lifted.
If at any period during these 4 weeks you begin to behave in
a disruptive manner, you will be returned to the first
week's schedule.
Effective 12-2-93
NO EDUCATION FOR THE OPPRESSED
I am indigent and incarcerated at Iowa State Penitentiary
(warehouse). I need to further my education in college
through correspondence courses, which takes funds that I
don't have. As it is, this concentration camp does not
provide any courses or classes of higher learning. They say
we don't have a right to be educated, but in reality, they
don't want us to be educated. That way, they can keep us
down, hoping that we don't rise up against our oppressors.
What I need from you - comrades out there in the free world
and prisoners alike - is to write this certain U.S. Senator
(oppressor) and ask why I'm not being allowed a proper
education (which should be allowed to all) and to bring the
issue of the excessive lock-up (see MIM Notes #76, May 1993,
"Locking them up won't keep them quiet). Thanks, comrades.
In struggle,
- an Iowa prisoner, 11/10/93
Please write to:
Tom Harkin
U.S. Senator of Iowa
531 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
NORTH CAROLINA COMRADES FACE THE SYSTEM'S SPIES
Dear comrades,
I have been so tied up with my legal work that I set many
things aside. I never left the struggle, and I continue to
speak out against injustice.
Here in North Carolina, it is truly a struggle, having been
down only two and a half years. I've noticed that there
aren't many united prisoners here. It's a pitiful sight
here. The system is in complete control of things. They have
so many spies and snitches among the prison population that
it's difficult to group together and speak against the
injustice without being locked up for planning a riot!
I've been on lockdown for one year and I've observed that
many of my fellow prisoners toy around with the oppressors,
only to later regret it. What makes it absurd is that these
prisoners repeat their mistakes over and over.
The power of structural, systematic programming is very
evident here. At the present, my voice is heard like a dog
with a muzzle on.
Thanks to your newsletter, I keep in touch with a stronger
struggle. This newsletter, along with other publications I
receive, is shared with those that remain interested in
seeing what true struggling looks like. Thank you, and keep
up the fight!
- a North Carolina prisoner, 10/31/93
PRISONERS COMPELLED TO BUILD PRISONS AND WORSE
I received the copy of MIM Notes - thank you! The
perspective it offers seems interesting. I would be
interested to continue receiving it, and chances are, I
might write you something regarding the new death row being
built here.
Not only does the government lock us up here, often for
arbitrary "crimes," but they also compel some of us here to
do their dirty work for them, such as the construction of
death row and execution facility.
Again, thank you!
- an Indiana prisoner, 10/19/93
HELP THE NATIONAL LAWYERS GUILD HELP JAILHOUSE LAWYERS
The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) is in the process of re-
forming its prison law project....It is important for our
work that we be in contact with prisoners who can inform us
of what is actually occurring inside.
The NLG receives volumes of letters. We can't possibly
answer them all. We hope to put out the ROP (Rite of
Passage) Legal Journal on a regular basis, and hopefully, it
will answer many of the questions you have asked in your
letters. In addition, we're seeking funding for updating and
reprinting The Jailhouse Lawyers Manual, which many of you
have requested. It costs a lot, but we're going to try to
raise the money.
If you know of family or friends on the outside who might
want to help us, please send us their names. Community
supporters are very important....Contact: Prison Law Project
of the National Lawyers Guild, 558 Capp St., San Francisco
CA 94104.
- The National Lawyers Guild, reprinted from the Coalition
for Prisoners' Rights Newsletter, 11/93
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