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 136           APRIL 15, 1997



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


IN THIS ISSUE:
1.  ANTI-CRIME HYSTERIA ON CAMPUS BOLSTERS
    NATIONAL OPPRESSION
2.  EXPANSIONIST AGGRESSION AGAINST PALESTINIANS
    INCREASES
3.  LETTERS
4.  MASSACHUSETTS PROPOSES MORE REACTIONARY BILLS
    ON PRISONS
5.  HYSTERIA THREATENS USE OF INTERNET FOR OPPRESSED
6.  AMERIKAN IMPERIALISM CONTINUES AGAINST EAST
    TIMOR VIA INDONESIAN HAND
7.  IMPERIALISTS PREPARE FOR NUCLEAR WAR
8.  NDFP CONDEMNS PHILIPPINE ARMY ATTACKS ON
    CIVILIANS; CALLS RAMOS' PEACE INITIATIVES
    PSYWAR GIMMICK
9.  MIM CELEBRATES THE 28TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NEW
    PEOPLE'S ARMY
10. ITALIAN ANTI-IMPERIALIST CONTINUES FIGHT FOR
    RELEASE
11. REVOLUTIONARY CULTURE: SLINGBLADE REVIEW AND
    POEM
12. HETEROSEXIST WIN AT PENN STATE
13. CIA PRETENDS TO CLEAN UP ITS ACT
14. PSEUDOFEMS TAIL IMPERIALIST MOUTHPIECE
15. CLINTON WANTS MORE DIRECT BOURGEOIS CONTROL OF
    JUDGES, LESS OF ELECTIONS
16. SETTLER GOVERNMENT SET TO EVICT DINEH FIRST
    NATION
17. STONEY POINT STRUGGLE FOR SELF-DETERMINATION
    CONTINUES
18. BOWING TO WORLD BANK ANDHRA ENDS PROHIBITION
19. PSEUDO-ENVIRONMENTALIST DEBATE FALLS SHORT
20. THE AGENDA OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS
21. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND
    PRISONERS


* * *


WHAT IS MIM?


The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a 
revolutionary communist party that upholds Marxism-
Leninism-Maoism, comprising the collection of 
existing or emerging Maoist internationalist 
parties in the English-speaking imperialist 
countries and their English-speaking internal semi-
colonies, as well as the existing or emerging 
Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties of 
Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the 
U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of MIM. 
Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-
speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM.

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

MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups 
over other groups: classes, genders, nations.  MIM 
knows this is only possible by building public 
opinion to seize power through armed struggle.

Revolution is a reality for North America as the 
military becomes over-extended in the government's 
attempts to maintain world hegemony.

MIM differs from other communist parties on three 
main questions: (1) MIM holds that after the 
proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution, 
the potential exists for capitalist restoration 
under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within 
the communist party itself. In the case of the 
USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death 
of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's 
death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in 
1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural 
Revolution as the farthest advance of communism in 
human history. (3) MIM believes the North American 
white-working-class is primarily a non-
revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it 
is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in 
this country.

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

"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is 
universally applicable. We should regard it not as 
dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is not 
merely a matter of learning terms and phrases, but 
of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of 
revolution."
-- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208


* * *


ANTI-CRIME HYSTERIA ON CAMPUS BOLSTERS NATIONAL OPPRESSION

The so-called "anti-crime" movement continues to spread to 
college campuses. Campuses across the country are spending 
more on their own police forces and gates and fences to keep 
out people.

In the arsenal of the delirious fascist anti-crime movement 
is the increasingly regularized statistical reporting of 
campus crimes. Every time the statistics come out, the 
rednecks prey on parents' fears by asking for more cops, 
guns and steel doors on campus.

Opportunist fascists amongst college administrators also 
take advantage of the hysteria to prevent students from 
linking up with people "outside the university community" 
and in fact regularly arrest "outsiders" "trespassing" at 
universities, all of which have some of their tuition and 
overhead funded by federal tax-dollars.

This is despite the fact that no study has shown that having 
a campus police force (and the associated costs of insuring 
it for instance) reduces crime rates. Not only is prison-
building eating into state budgets that should go to 
education, but also, once the public and private 
universities do get some state funds, the money again goes 
to "fighting" crime, not education!

USA Today has run numerous stories on this question, but 
none have addressed what proof there is that cops on campus 
improve the crime situation. No article has ever shown that 
there is a single effective thing that can be done within 
this rotting system.

Instead, the repeated drone of USA Today that never even 
raises that question is "Activists' groups said the 
government's figures were false because many crimes are 
reported to deans instead of the security offices."

It is bad enough that the United $tates is the world's 
leading prison state per capita, but the imperialist media 
is not alone in its agitation for counting more things as 
crime. People alleging to fight gender oppression believe 
that entire bureaucracies should be built at universities to 
work with cops on the fight against rape. Students need to 
confront the fascist anti-crime delirium gripping this 
country. They need not travel to the prisons or the state 
courts: the battle starts right on campus.

NOTE: USA Today 17 March 1997, p. D1.


* * *

EXPANSIONIST AGGRESSION AGAINST PALESTINIANS INCREASES

by RC68
written 30 March 1997

On Monday March 17th, Israeli armed forces and construction 
crews invaded the Palestinian land known as Jebel Abu Ghneim 
and began leveling it to replace it with 6,500 new Israeli 
homes. Palestinian protesting and resistance have not ceased 
since that day. This outrageous act of expansionist 
aggression against the Palestinian people has been met with 
worldwide contempt and Amerikan support.(1)

On Friday the 21st the U$ vetoed, for a second time, a UN 
resolution to stop Israeli construction plans in 
Palestine.(2) This vote came only hours after an act of 
desperate resistance by the Palestinian Hamas in which one 
Palestinian on a suicide mission killed three Israeli 
settlers in Tel Aviv. Israel and the United Snakes label 
this an act of terrorist aggression because the bomber 
killed civilians. But Israeli soldiers have been firing on 
Palestinian civilians all year long. How come the New York 
Times does not call this terrorist aggression? The bourgeois 
media double standard is clear as they tail the u.s. state 
department line.

Hamas had temporarily suspended military operations despite 
disapproving of the "peace" process. These newest acts of 
U$-backed Israeli expansionist aggression have put the 
Palestinian people under a heightened state of siege and the 
collaborationist Palestinian Authority (PA) is helping 
Israel. The Hamas is an anti-imperialist force fighting for 
the self-determination of the Palestinian people against 
Amerikan backed Israeli occupation.

Fighting also broke out in Hebron the same day in March. 
Palestinians threw rocks and Molotovs at Israeli occupation 
troops. The Israelis fired at the Palestinians with fully 
automatic assault rifles and tear gas. The Israeli soldiers 
charged at the demonstrators and arrested three people. 
Palestinians bombarded the soldiers with rocks forcing them 
to release the prisoners. Palestinian police did their part 
to quiet the rebellion by attempting to keep Palestinians 
away from Israeli occupied areas. Others instead evacuated 
people who had been tear gassed by the Israelis.(2) One 
Palestinian policemen chose to join the stone throwers and 
was ordered to leave by his "superiors". The next day 
fighting worsened and over 100 Palestinians were injured.(3) 
Similar incidents also occurred in Bethlehem, Nablus, and 
Ramallah.

As usual, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is 
blaming the break down in the peace talks and the renewed 
Palestinian resistance on Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian 
Authority. On March 23, the Israeli cabinet urged the 
Palestinian Authority to crack down on militant Palestinian 
groups. To prove Netanyahu wrong, Arafat and the 
collaborationist Palestinian Authority have done their best 
to curb Palestinian resistance and show their Amerikan and 
Israeli masters what good Arabs they can be. The day before 
the Israeli cabinet meeting, Palestinian police arrested 
Hamas leader Ibrahim Maqadmeh and detained him for several 
hours. The Palestinian police also arrested five other Hamas 
members the night of the 21st.(3) On the 23rd, Palestinian 
police formed a human chain and fired into the air to 
protect Israeli occupation troops from understandably angry 
Palestinians during the clashes at Hebron.(4) These actions 
make it crystal clear who Arafat and the Palestinian 
Authority really serve. Netanyahu and Clinton should give 
their dog Arafat a nice bone.

On March 26th, the United Snakes decided to launch a mission 
to save the "peace". This is some of the most audacious and 
hypocritical Orwellian doublespeak imaginable. As RAIL has 
previously pointed out, if the U$ really was concerned with 
peace, it would stop arming Israel and stop protecting 
Israel in the UN. The Amerikan "peace" mission has three 
objectives, to seek a clear statement from Arafat to 
Palestinian militants to cease resistance to Israeli 
expansionist aggression, to urge Netanyahu to ease tensions, 
and to restart negotiations between Arafat and Netanyahu. 
What the United Snakes means by saving the peace is a 
continuation of Israeli expansion and a cessation of 
Palestinian resistance. The Palestinian people are not 
fooled, even if most Amerikans are. The Palestinian response 
to Amerikan plans was more protesting and burning U$ and 
Israeli flags.(5) The Amerikan envoy, Dennis Ross, met with 
Arafat in Morocco on the 27th. The next day he also met with 
Netanyahu in Jerusalem.(6) As of the 31st, the White House 
had to admit that no breakthroughs had been made.(7)

In fact, there is now considerable division amongst the 
Amerikan and Israeli imperialists and the collaborationist 
PA as to what course to take. Israel continues to use brute 
force while the U$ and Arafat prefer more diplomatic 
methods. While on the one hand the United Snakes wants to 
ensure that stability is reestablished for Israel, Amerika 
also wants to be the only outside force involved in the 
discussion, thus preserving Amerikan interests. Arafat is 
also seeking help from the outside. He has now started 
calling the Israeli invasion a declaration of war on the 
Palestinians. Although this is true, Arafat is saying this 
for reasons of political opportunism, seeking to put 
diplomatic pressure on Israel to force a stop to the recent 
provocations.(8) If this trick works, it could put the 
"peace" talks back on track.

It is likely, however that no amount of Israeli aggression, 
Amerikan intervention, or Arafat's treachery are going to 
stop the revived militancy in Palestine. The Palestinian 
people already knew not to trust Amerika or Israel to 
respect Palestinian independence. Now they also know better 
than to follow Arafat since the sellout PA has shown its 
true colors. It is now clear to all Palestinians that the 
only people that they can rely on to secure their liberty 
are themselves. The people of Palestine will not gain self-
determination until Israeli imperialism is overthrown and 
Palestinian sovereignty over their homeland is restored.

NOTES:
1.MIM Notes #135.
2. CNN 21 March 1997.
3. Washington Post 22 March 1997.
4. CNN 24 March 1997.
5. CNN 26 March 1997.
6. CNN 28 March 1997.
7. NPR News 31 March 1997.
8. CNN 30 March 1997.


* * *


LETTERS

RC DISAGREES WITH MIM RETRACTION

Dear MIM Notes:

I disagree with MIMs retraction of the statement "JUNK 
APEC". I do not think that the reason is a good one. It's 
true that the right also opposes free trade, but I do not 
think that we have to worry about them rallying around MIM 
and RAIL. I would also argue that the right is far from 
asleep in this country. In fact it is active and organized.

But my main reason to disagree on the question is that it is 
not consistent with the rest of MIM's line and practice. The 
right opposes integrationist ideas, but we've never worried 
about waking them up by opposing integration for our own 
better reasons.

And there is a strategic advantage to be gained by doing 
informational work based on the true nature and results of 
NAFTA, GATT, and APEC. Our most controversial line is that 
the white working class is not truly exploited because their 
wages come from super profits stolen by the imperialists. 
Now that we have a real live example that people are 
familiar with, we can use it to explain what we have been 
saying all along. I doubt that by doing that we would find 
much if any unity with first world chauvinists than we have 
in the past by opposing integrationism.

In struggle,

 --a RAIL comrade

MIM RESPONDS: This comrade is right that the danger is not 
in the Right rallying around MIM and RAIL. If that were 
expected, we could truly expect to LEAD a progressive 
movement against APEC, GATT or NAFTA. But in fact we do not 
have the power in this country at this time to lead such a 
movement and so any propaganda put out opposing free trade 
will only be drowned in the reactionary Amerika-first free 
trade propaganda already put out by the labor aristocracy. 
The very fact that the Right is already active an organized 
around this issue, as this comrade points out, speaks to the 
danger of adding fuel to their fire in anti-free trade 
organizing. We recognize that certain demands may be 
progressive when coming from revolutionaries but are 
reactionary when coming from national chauvinists, and when 
the revolutionary movement is not the stronger of the two, 
as is the case in Amerika today, revolutionaries must take 
care not to unleash an even stronger reactionary movement.

The comparison to integration is a useful one. While the 
APEC demand that MIM rejected was to junk APEC, the anti-
integrationist demands of the white nation include closing 
the borders, stealing the land from the oppressed nations, 
and building a white empire. It is exactly the reactionary 
anti-integrationist demands which are unleashed in an anti-
free trade campaign in this country. But MIM, on the other 
hand, takes on integrationism in the context of opening the 
borders, giving back stolen land to oppressed nations, and 
supporting national liberation struggles. There is no danger 
that these demands will in any way reinforce the national 
chauvinism of the powerful anti-free trade and anti-
integration movements in this country.

The key here is to look at the material forces unleashed. 
The letter-writer is saying the KKK also opposes 
integrationism, but that doesn't stop us there from also 
opposing integrationism for different reasons. The letter-
writer is correct intellectually-speaking, but we have made 
an additional calculation: let the KKK put forward our line 
and MIM put forward its line. On a global scale the KKK is 
going to lose by succeeding with putting forward 
nationalism. In addition, we within the u.s. borders make 
the maximum possible contribution to global revolution by 
raising the revolutionary nationalist banner, because the 
oppressor nation cannot win a straight-up fight against the 
world's majority of people. This has a lot to do with the 
principal contradiction as we define it being between the 
oppressor nations and the oppressed nations.

When it comes to GATT, we are still saying: Third World 
workers should oppose GATT. However, what force are WE 
mobilizing in the imperialist countries? By opposing GATT, 
we risk becoming pawns of neo-colonialism. Look at what 
happens to the people who will be the main force within u.s. 
borders: we will be encouraging the oppressed nations to 
line up with bought-off workers against the Mexicans and 
Japanese in particular. It's not that the Black Panthers 
were in danger of not seeing through the KKK on 
integrationism. There is no danger there, but with the GATT 
and NAFTA issue and the Prop. 187 issue, where we saw 60 
percent of Blacks and Asian-descended people go for Prop. 
187--we are at risk of having the internal colonies really 
join up with the rednecks with no difference. This would 
muddy the principal contradiction.

When deciding which demands we want to organize a united 
front around, it is important to always evaluate both the 
demands and the organizing potential of the demands. For 
instance, we could come up with ideologically correct free 
trade demands which would have the practical effect of 
furthering a fascist movement. When MIM puts forward demands 
around which we build a United Front, we are careful to pick 
the winnable battles. We do not want to put our energy into 
a movement which will be usurped by the strong reactionary 
Right.


* * *


MASSACHUSETTS PROPOSES MORE REACTIONARY BILLS ON PRISONS

The Massachusetts congress will soon be voting on a number 
of new bills to enhance the criminal injustice system and 
further oppress prisoners. Among the most noteworthy of 
these bills is one that will require prisoners to pay $5 a 
day for every day they stay in prison and one that creates 
prison industries enterprises.

Amerika sends more Blacks to prison than to college, in 
spite of the fact that it would be less expensive to send 
prisoners to college instead of jail. The state of 
Massachusetts, one of the top imprisoners of Blacks relative 
to whites, has proposed to charge the prison population for 
the privilege of being locked up:  five dollars a day.

House Bill No. 3709 would require all prisoners in 
Massachusetts to pay this rent or go into debt and pay it 
upon release. Five dollars may not sound like much but 
imagine you serve a mandatory ten year sentence for drugs, 
at $1825 a year, that's $18,250 you owe the state upon 
release. Now you are a convicted felon, and you need to find 
work when very few people will hire someone with a criminal 
record. The state would be authorized to snag up 25% of a 
convicts salary so it would take eight years to pay back 
this debt. And that's eight years of earning less than 
minimum wage while former prisoners are trying to support 
themselves and often a family as well.

Adding a spouse and children to this scenario only makes 
things worse. Prisons already take young men and wimmin away 
from their families, often destroying relationships as a 
result. Now they are going to add a huge debt to these 
families as a reward for sticking together through the 
imprisonment. Families that endure the imprisonment do not 
need additional hardship. This bill will contribute to 
divorce, and make life after release even harder in a 
society where an ex-prisoner can not get a job, find 
housing, and often is without any social support.

SLAVERY IS LEGAL IN PRISON

The Massachusetts government wants to create prison 
industries enterprises (PIE) to make it easier to profit off 
of prison industry products and other work prisoners are 
forced to do for slave wages. The PIE's will also allow the 
prisons to act as profit making financial institution which 
can invest its money much like a corporation. Part of the 
bill proposing the creation of these industries says that 
the prisons can "expend any part of inmate earnings to 
satisfy the victim and witness assessment." The remaining 
earnings are distributed as follows: "For those inmates 
employed by companies participating in the federal Private 
Industry Enhancement (PIE) program, so-called, twenty 
percent shall be deposited into the Victim and Witness 
Assistance Fund; the remainder shall be allocated as the 
commissioner sees fit among the following uses; to offset 
the costs associated with the inmate's incarceration, for 
purchases within the institution by the inmate, and for 
deposit into an interest-bearing account."

Inmates not participating in the PIE must give 10% of their 
income to the Victim Fund, 10% to costs of incarceration, 
and they get to use 40% in prison and 40% is saved for when 
they are released.

But this is not all. There is a clause in the bill that says 
that at the commissioner's discretion, if the prisoner is a 
"sexually dangerous person" or is serving a life term, 50% 
of the earnings can be taken away for cost of incarceration 
and the remaining 50% given to the Victim and Witness Fund.

Keeping in mind that the US constitution says that slavery 
is legal in prisons, this bill is consistent with the 
purpose of the US criminal injustice system. Inmates earn 
far less that minimum wage in prison jobs: The average wage 
for prison labor in this country is between $.23 and 
$1.23.(1) And now Massachusetts is going to take away even 
more of their small salary. This bill will also make it 
possible for private businesses to employ inmates and to 
contract with private companies to manage prison-based 
businesses. While wages paid by these companies must be 
market rate, the commissioner can deduct from the wages 
"financial contributions sufficient to qualify said business 
under the eligibility requirements" which in the end means 
the prisons can take what they want of the prisoners wages.

It is worth noting that in addition to losing all or most of 
their wages to the prison system, prison laborers are not 
protected by the FAIR Labor Standards Act or by OSHA (the 
Occupational Safety and Health Administration) which means 
that conditions of work in prisons are virtually 
unregulated.(1)

FIGHT THE CRIMINAL INJUSTICE SYSTEM

It is no accident that slavery is legal in prisons and that 
the majority of prisoners are from oppressed nations. 
Prisons in Amerika are used for social control. These new 
Massachusetts bills will just further the ability of the 
government to control the overwhelmingly poor population 
that is sent to prison along with their families who will 
follow them into debt.

We need to fight against reactionary legislation like this 
but we have to keep a revolutionary anti-imperialist 
perspective. Even if these bills are defeated, the criminal 
injustice system in Amerika will still hold more people per 
capita than any other country's prison system. This is a 
system that can not be reformed away: only by overthrowing 
imperialism can we create a true justice system that serves 
the people, not the imperialists.

NOTE: 1. American Friends Service Committee public testimony 
on March 26, 1997.


* * *


HYSTERIA THREATENS USE OF INTERNET FOR OPPRESSED

by MC45

A Minnesota prisoner already serving time for molesting 
children is being threatened with an extended sentence. The 
pigs say he uses the Internet and the prison's computers to 
plan more molestations. Much discussion around this case has 
centered on the extent to which computers and the Internet 
can be used to break the law.(1)

As the state builds up the case that the Internet can be 
used to commit crimes, and to commit them anonymously, these 
cases can become legal justification for limited privacy on 
the Internet. While these public cases are about sexual 
abuse, the state's general interest in limiting secure and 
anonymous access to the Internet is to prevent the oppressed 
from using the Internet as an organizing tool.

In this Minnesota case, the prisoner allegedly used the 
Internet in unspecified ways to compile a database of 
potential girl-child victims to molest. He also used an 
anonymous remailer in Finland to exchange e-mail. The pigs 
have no proof that he used the Internet to distribute this 
list, yet they publicly suggest the possibility that he 
could do this.(1)

MIM agrees with the ACLU analysis of this case and the 
pertinent law to a point. The ACLU said: "It's a fallacy 
that the Internet allows you to do illegal things that you 
couldn't otherwise do. ... There's nothing you can get off 
the Internet that you can't get in the local library."(2) 
While we agree the Internet does not house a special brand 
of information unavailable elsewhere, we would not so 
quickly dismiss its power as an organizing tool. The net 
makes being in contact with activists across continents and 
oceans as cheap and easy as being in contact with activists 
within a given city. But unlike what the pigs claim, this is 
a qualitative difference in information distribution, not in 
the information itself.

One early penal response to this type of case came from the 
United States Parole Commission, which holds the honor of 
being the first parole authority (no states have done this) 
to attempt to control crime on the Internet. The Commission 
has said that it will take steps anywhere from "prohibiting 
offenders from owning a computer to installing monitoring 
equipment on their computers that will keep tabs on where 
they roam on line."(2)

To assure revolutionaries that they have good reason to be 
concerned about these new regulations, a u.s. parole 
commissioner said that this regulation is directed at people 
"with histories involving either pedophilia or hate crime 
activity, the illegal use of explosives, those kinds of 
things."(2)

MIM and all our prison correspondents know that our work is 
frequently described as that of a "hate group" by prison 
officials trying to keep prisoners from reading our 
publications. The logic for calling us a hate group is that 
we hate oppression and work to end the supremacy of groups 
over other groups. For this we are classified as hating 
white people, men, and Amerikans. MIM responds to this 
charge: if the shoe fits, either take it off and join us in 
the struggle against oppression, or acknowledge that those 
who defend oppression are the real hate criminals and quit 
slinging mud in our direction. 

NOTES:
1. New York Times. 28 March 1997, p. A15.
2. New York Times. 5 January 1997, sec. 4, p. 5.


* * *


AMERIKAN IMPERIALISM CONTINUES AGAINST EAST TIMOR VIA 
INDONESIAN HAND

by MC17

This year, the US congress has allocated an additional $4.5 
million in aid to the Indonesian dictatorship, with $100,000 
expected to be aimed at military training alone.(1) 
Indonesia occupies East Timor, an occupation infamous for 
the brutality and oppression the East Timorese have 
undergone. With over 1/3 of the population massacred since 
the Indonesian invasion in 1975, the ongoing resistance of 
the Timorese people is testimony to the will of the 
oppressed to fight for their lives.

In the 22 years of the occupation, repression has been a 
daily reality for the East Timorese people. In spite of 
this, a strong resistance movement continues to fight for 
self-determination. In February, at least 137 East Timorese 
people are believed to have been arbitrarily arrested, and 
up to four people shot, following days of unrest in the 
Uatulari sub-district in Viqueque. The prisoners are 
reported to be extremely frightened and hold grave fears for 
their own safety. As with all East Timorese prisoners taken 
by the Indonesian regime, torture and even death are very 
likely.(2)

A Republican in the US congress, Patrick Kennedy, is 
sponsoring a bill to cut off an estimated $26 million in 
military aid because of Indonesia's human rights record.(3) 
At the same time, the United Snakes is planning to sell 
Indonesia at least 9 more F-16 military airplanes. Congress 
is threatening to postpone delivery on human rights grounds, 
citing the situation in East Timor and Jakarta's July 1996 
crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. Nevertheless, the 
deal is still scheduled to go through.(4) Clinton banned the 
selling of small arms to Indonesia on the grounds that it 
was these that are used against the East Timorese people but 
his political manipulations and hypocrisy are clear in light 
of the other military aid still being given to Indonesia. 

In all, the United States has sold more than $1.1 billion in 
weaponry to Indonesia since its 1975 invasion of East Timor; 
the sales have gone on in Republican and Democratic 
administrations alike, regardless of the rhetoric espoused 
by the President at the time. According to the U.S. Arms 
Control and Disarmament Agency, from 1992 to 1994 (the most 
recent years for which full data is available), Indonesia 
received 53% of its weapons imports from the United States. 
If the proposed sale of the F-16s goes ahead as planned, the 
Clinton Administration will have approved roughly $270 
million in arms sales to Indonesia in just over 4 years, or 
an average of over $67 million per year. This represents 
more than twice the level of arms sales to Indonesia 
concluded during the Bush Administration, and allowing for 
inflation, it represents the highest level of U.S. sales 
since the second Reagan term or the early Carter period.(5)

There is a growing movement in the United Snakes fighting 
against Amerikan imperialism and its Indonesian arm 
oppressing East Timor and supporting the East Timorese right 
to self-determination. This pressure is certainly the cause 
of the sudden u.s. congress interest in human rights 
violations that have been obvious since 1975.

While any cuts in U.S. aid to military dictators around the 
world represent progress for the nations fighting for self-
determination, historically it has not been effective to 
lobby the u.s. congress to achieve these gains. While we put 
pressure on the u.s. government to cut off support to 
imperialism world-wide, we must recognize that imperialism 
will not be reformed and any such victories are only meant 
to pacify protests. The people of East Timor and the other 
occupied nations of the world deserve our support here in 
the belly of the beast and we have a responsibility to 
continue this fight with the understanding that we will not 
win until imperialism is overthrown.

NOTES:
1.http://amadeus.inesc.pt:80/~jota/Timor/TimorNews/Mar97/Ind
o.not.concerned.with.US.proposal.to.stop.aid 
2. http://www.peg.apc.org/~etchrmel/Urgent.htm 
3. WORLD NEWS FROM RADIO AUSTRALIA, Tuesday 18th March, 
1997, 7.15pm 
4. 
http://amadeus.inesc.pt:80/~jota/Timor/TimorNews/Mar97/Indo.
mil.cr iticises.move.to.cut.american.aid 
5. 
http://amadeus.inesc.pt/~jota/Timor/TimorNews/Mar97/US.arms.
transfers. to.Indo.I 


* * *


IMPERIALISTS PREPARE FOR NUCLEAR WAR

by MC49

**"I have said before that all the reputedly powerful 
reactionaries are merely paper tigers. The reason is that 
they are divorced from the people. Look! Was not Hitler a 
paper tiger? Was Hitler not overthrown? I also said that the 
tsar of Russia, the emperor of China and Japanese 
imperialism were all paper tigers. As we know, they were all 
overthrown. U.S. imperialism has not yet been overthrown and 
it has the atom bomb. I believe it also will be overthrown. 
It, too, is a paper tiger."**

 -- Chairperson Mao Zedong, 18 November 1957

**"Riding roughshod everywhere, U.S. imperialism has made 
itself the enemy of the people of the world and has 
increasingly isolated itself. Those who refuse to be 
enslaved will never be cowed by the atom bombs and hydrogen 
bombs in the hands of the U.S. imperialists. The raging tide 
of the people of the world against the U.S. aggressors is 
irresistible. Their struggle against U.S. imperialism and 
its lackeys will assuredly win still greater victories."**
 
-- Chairperson Mao Zedong, 12 January 1964

The U.S. government (USG) stopped making nuclear bombs in 
1989, but it has by no means given up on the idea. Public 
pressure around serious safety and environmental problems, 
combined with the disappearance of the Cold War excuse for 
warmongering, forced the shutdown. Since, the USG has honed 
its pro-war propaganda line, and is hoping to resume nuclear 
bomb production by 2003.

The imperialists, principally the U.S. imperialists, are 
currently waging a hot war -- World War III -- against the 
world's oppressed nations, including the U.S. empire's 
internal colonies. Nuclear blackmail has been a key part of 
the imperialists' strategy in this war. Despite USG fear-
mongering about "Third World terrorists" and the like, the 
USG is the only government to ever actually drop nuclear 
bombs onto civilians' heads. In 1945, the USG dropped 
nuclear bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and 
Nagasaki. John Hershey's book, Hiroshima, provides some idea 
of the horror of this USG crime against the people. And 
that's the whole point. The USG's goal was not to stop 
Japanese reaction, but to terrorize the world's peoples into 
submission. This remains the goal of the USG's nuclear 
weapons program. Fortunately, it is people, not things, 
which are decisive. We fully expect that the world's 
oppressed majority will destroy imperialism before 
imperialism destroys humanity.

In 2003, the USG hopes to be ready for sustained production 
of up to 50 nuclear bombs a year, in order to maintain a 
stockpile of about 6,000 terror-bombs. To reach this goal, 
the USG's Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in Los 
Alamos, New Mexico is scheduled to outfit a new bomb-
manufacturing plant and train skilled technicians of death. 
LANL's role in the USG's nuclear terrorism is given the 
false appearance of civilian endorsement by the University 
of California's willingness -- a willingness bought and paid 
for by the USG -- to play an oversight role.

Likewise, the USG's warmongering is cloaked by such 
euphemisms as "defense" and "national security," and by such 
mechanisms as putting the nuclear terror-bomb-making under 
the jurisdiction of the "Department of Energy," possibly the 
only federal USG agency as sorely misnamed as the 
"Department of Defense" and the "Department of Justice." The 
USG plans to spend $40 billion to keep its terror-bomb 
stockpile in tip-top shape, and it plans to mask this as an 
"Energy" expense. The money will go to new scientific 
instruments, industrial plants, terror-bomb components, and 
terror-bombs.

Also with an eye towards its 2003 goal, the "Energy 
Department" wants LANL to demonstrate the ability to make a 
fully certified plutonium pit in 1998. A plutonium pit is 
the nuclear trigger that sets off fusion reactions in 
terror-bombs. Rocky Flats nuclear plant in Colorado built 
all of the USG's plutonium pits until public concern over 
serious safety and environmental problems forced the plant 
to shut down in the early 1990s. Only four people within 
U.S. borders are currently capable of fabricating a 
plutonium pit. All four work at LANL.

Most of us humans like humanity. We want peace. But we are 
going to have to fight to get it.

NOTE: Los Angeles Times, 19 Feb 1997, p. A4
Also see: John Hershey's Hiroshima, Bantam Books, New York, 
1986.


* * *


NDFP CONDEMNS PHILIPPINE ARMY ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS;
CALLS RAMOS' PEACE INITIATIVES PSYWAR GIMMICK

Press Release
23 March 1997

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) 
condemned today the recent operations of the Philippine 
military against the residents of Sta. Cruz, Zambales. The 
military's ruthless strafing and bombing of the community 
has forced residents to flee their homes.

Through Fidel Agcaoili, chairman of the NDFP's Reciprocal 
Working Committee on Human Rights and International 
Humanitarian Law (RWC on HR and IHL), the NDFP declared this 
attack on civilians as a clear violation of international 
humanitarian law and the Ramos regime's self-declared 
ceasefire, the so-called Suspension of Offensive Military 
Operations (SOMO).

"It is indeed ironic that these operations are taking place 
while the panel of the Government of the Republic of the 
Philippines (GRP) is supposedly negotiating peace with 
NDFP," Agcaoili said. He added: "More ironic is the fact 
that the two parties are currently negotiating a 
comprehensive agreement on respect for human rights and 
international humanitarian law."

The two panels resumed talks last March 18 in Breukelen, the 
Netherlands.

Human rights advocates said that troops from the Army's 68th 
Infantry Battalion had been conducting military operations 
in several villages in Sta. Cruz to flush out guerrillas of 
the New People's Army (NPA). On March 19, it was reported 
that two Huey helicopter gunships hovered above the village 
and dropped eight bombs. During these operations, several 
villages were cordoned off and local residents were 
prevented from leaving their homes. One resident who managed 
to escape and the first to report the incident to human 
rights groups said that Army soldiers took his watch, his 
money, and the family's food supply. A number of residents 
were also arrested and interrogated and were forced to admit 
that they were NPA supporters.

Soldiers also reportedly opened fire at the villagers' 
houses. Reports on the casualties are yet to be known 
pending results of a human rights fact-finding mission.

Agcaoili: "The barbarity by which government soldiers attack 
the civilian population belies once again the sincerity of 
the Ramos regime in wanting to conduct negotiations with the 
aim of attaining a just and lasting peace in the country. It 
shows that its peace initiatives are nothing but a mere 
psywar gimmick. How can the Ramos regime claim it is serious 
in negotiating peace when it cannot even abide by its 
unilateral ceasefire declaration nor its signature on 
international covenants?"

Earlier, Luis Jalandoni, chair of the NDFP Negotiating 
Panel, had also called the Ramos government's SOMO as "false 
and hypocritical", after government soldiers launched 
several surprise attacks on NPA guerrillas in Kalinga and 
Sorsogon. He said that the NDFP had received reports of 
repeated military operations by the Armed Forces of the 
Philippines in various parts of the country, even as GRP 
President Fidel Ramos has announced a further extension of 
the SOMO earlier this month. The SOMO is supposed to end on 
April 6.

"Such perfidious acts of the GRP under cover of a deceptive 
SOMO are totally contradictory to the spirit and letter of 
carrying out goodwill and confidence-building measures in 
accord with The Hague Joint Declaration of September 1992," 
Jalandoni said.

Agcaoili warns the Ramos regime that the NDFP "considers 
these grave breaches of international humanitarian law as 
provocations and threaten the very continuance of the peace 
talks."

SOURCE:  http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/sison12.htm


* * *


MIM CELEBRATES THE 28TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY

29 March 1996

MIM enthusiastically salutes the anniversary of the New 
People's Army (NPA). Soon after its own re-establishment on 
Dec. 26, 1968, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) 
organized the NPA on March 29, 1969. The NPA started with 60 
Red fighters armed with only nine automatic rifles and 26 
single-shot rifles and handguns. The NPA has grown 
significantly since then.

The CPP established the NPA under the guidance of Marxism-
Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought and along the general line of 
the new-democratic revolution. Under the absolute leadership 
of the Party and its Marxist-Leninist-Maoist line, the NPA 
wages a protracted people's war, made possible and dictated 
by the chronically crisis-ridden semicolonial and semifeudal 
conditions of the Philippines.

By waging the Protracted People's War, the NPA correctly 
follows the guidance of Comrade Mao Zedong, who said, "We 
are advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; 
but war can only be abolished through war, and in order to 
get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun." 
Imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucratic capitalism 
ruthlessly oppress the Filipino people. The oppressors 
repeatedly demonstrate that they will not give up their 
power without a fight. The masses can only liberate 
themselves from oppression by organizing themselves under 
the leadership of a communist party to seize power through 
armed struggle. Only by fighting until total victory can 
there be a just and lasting peace.

Under the leadership of the Communist Party of the 
Philippines, the Commanders and fighters of the NPA have 
expanded and consolidated their mass base for carrying out 
the national-democratic revolution through protracted 
people's war. With the support of the broad masses of the 
Filipino people, the CPP and NPA can expect to lead the 
intensification of guerrilla warfare and the mass movement 
in due time.

Comrade Mao Zedong said, "The correctness or otherwise of 
the ideological and political line decides everything. When 
the Party's line is correct, then everything will come its 
way. If it has no followers, then it can have followers; if 
it has no guns, then it can have guns; if it has no 
political power, then it can have political power." The 
NPA's history has shown this to be true. From 1987 to 1992, 
an incorrect political-military line dominated the NPA's 
work. This adventurist line called for a strategic 
counteroffensive. It dichotomized military work from 
political work. The NPA's incorrect abandonment of mass 
political work led to a diminishment of the NPA's mass 
social base. The NPA's incorrect abandonment of political 
study consolidated these errors. Under the influence of the 
adventurist line, the NPA failed to educate, mobilize, and 
arouse the masses. The NPA became isolated from the masses. 
Many heroic fighters were martyred as a result of these 
errors.

Since 1992, under the leadership of the CPP, the NPA has 
been undergoing a rectification campaign. The goal of this 
campaign is to reaffirm the Party's Marxist-Leninist-Maoist 
principles, rectify errors, and rebuild strength which was 
diminished as a result of the erroneous line. Today, the NPA 
studies the classics of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao, 
and opposes the adventurist line. This movement has been an 
overwhelming success, and it demonstrates the universal 
significance and importance of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.

The NPA's continued and growing success demonstrates the 
continued relevance of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as a tool for 
liberating the oppressed. MIM wishes continued success to 
the NPA and the national democratic revolution it advances. 
MIM contributes to this success in the best way it can-by 
preparing the masses of North America to make anti-
imperialist revolution.

LONG LIVE THE NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY!
LONG LIVE THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE PHILIPPINES!
VICTORY TO THE FILIPINO PEOPLE'S WAR!
LONG LIVE MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM!


* * *


ITALIAN ANTI-IMPERIALIST CONTINUES FIGHT FOR RELEASE

by MC53

The government of the United Snakes of Amerika has 
imprisoned, detained and tortured Silvia Baraldini for over 
14 years. Amerika has denied four petitions from her and the 
Italian government to transfer Silvia to an Italian prison. 
Silvia is a staunch anti-imperialist revolutionary activist 
and as her lawyer has said, "Her fourteen year imprisonment 
and her forty three year sentence were imposed not because 
of what she did but because of what she believes."

MIM and RAIL have been building up an anti-imperialist, 
anti-settler colonial campaign to expose the fact that 
Amerikan prisons are used as a tool for social control. This 
campaign comes from the understanding that Amerikan prisons 
serve to protect the interests of the settler imperialist 
government of the united snakes. Silvia Baraldini's case 
shows that the Amerikan government uses prisons to suppress 
the struggles against settler and imperialist domination. 
Learn more about the case of Silvia, support her in her 
struggle to be released, and fight against imperialism and 
for the eventual overthrow of this increasingly repressive 
state of imperialist warmongers.

Prisons are primarily used as a method for national 
oppression. The majority of prisoners in Amerikan gulags are 
Black despite the fact that the Black nation is a small 
percentage of the united snakes. Amerika has increased the 
capacity of the gulags to house more prisoners and continues 
to perpetuate the oppressive material conditions of the 
internal colonies, immigrant laborers and urban poor. It is 
because of conditions of poverty, piss-poor education and 
lack of real opportunities that street crimes are committed. 
So the Amerikan government polices the streets looking for 
offenders of small crimes while the real criminals guilty of 
aiding military dictatorships and guilty of sending arms to 
slaughter peasants fighting for self-determination remain 
within the government and corporate offices.

Silvia Baraldini was a radical in the 1960s and 1970s 
fighting to expose the Amerikan government's agenda of 
imperialism and national oppression. She acted with the 
interests of internationalism at root, fought against South 
African apartheid, worked to expose the illegal workings of 
the FBI's COINTELPRO, and supported the Black Panther Party 
and the Puerto Rican independence movement. It is no 
surprise that the Amerikan government would move to repress 
Silvia's radical actions. That is exactly why we must 
overthrow the government and its militarily which works 
against struggles fought for self-determination.

Silvia was accused of having aided members of the Black 
Liberation Army in a conspiracy against the United Snakes. 
In reality, she participated in the escape of Assata Shakur, 
a Black revolutionary in exile in Cuba. She was convicted of 
this and convicted of an attempted robbery that never took 
place. She received forty years for this.

She also received another three years added to the sentence 
because she refused to testify against Puerto Rican 
independence activists. Silvia's supporters emphasize that 
none of these acts were committed involving weapons or with 
any injury resulting to anyone. Her tremendously long 
sentence is solely because of her political beliefs.

While imprisoned in Amerika, Silvia was one of the wimmin 
used in the experimental control unit in Lexington. Through 
the Wire, a documentary MIM and RAIL show at political 
educational events, shows the conditions of the control 
units. Beyond the general use of prisons as a method to 
repress national liberation, Lexington was an experimental 
torture prison constructed to sap the revolutionary energy 
out of the wimmin held. (Write to MIM for help in setting up 
a showing of Through the Wireas an educational event.)

MIM opposes the way that prisons are used in general in the 
United Snakes. That's why we expose who's in there and why. 
We also support the struggles of prisoners to use the legal 
system to fight winnable battles. The parole guidelines 
specify 40 to 52 months imprisonment for the crimes which 
Silvia was convicted. She has served more than 167 months. 
Silvia is facing a parole board hearing in July 1997. MIM 
wants people to look at this case and all imprisonments to 
see why we need revolution. As you are doing that, help out 
the supporters of Silvia to make campaigning for her return 
home a winnable battle.

Check out: http://www.justice-for-silvia.org/ for the most 
recent information. The Release Silvia! Committee to Return 
Silvia Baraldini to Italy at 3542 18th Street #30, San 
Francisco, CA 94110 sent us information to be publicized and 
is the snail contact for more information. The committee is 
asking that people write letters to request that Silvia 
receive parole addressed to:

Commissioner John R. Simpson, US Parole Commission 550 
Friendship Blvd., Suite 420 Chevy Chase, MD 20815

But mailed to her attorney: Elizabeth Fink, Esq. 294 
Atlantic Avenue Brooklyn, NY 112201


* * *

REVOLUTIONARY CULTURE

REVIEW: SLINGBLADE

The film Slingblade by director/actor Billy Bob Thorton 
takes a pretty good stab at the social concept of sanity and 
just what constitutes murder. Beginning in a mental 
institution, Karl, the middle aged main character who is 
being released, tells that he was put there because at 
eleven he killed his mother and the man he thought was her 
rapist, but who was really her lover, with a sickle type 
blade. The response from the head doctor on his day of 
release is that Karl seems "cured" and besides, the funding 
ran out for him to stay. 

Objectively looking at Karl's early actions, was it so 
"insane" for him to kill a man whom he thought, from the 
banging and screaming, was raping his mother? Was it so 
strange for him to next murder his mother after she had 
locked him up in a dirt floored shed his whole life, fed him 
made up stories and then proceeded to yell at him for 
murdering her rapist/lover? Psychology showers itself in 
definitions of sane and insane yet fails to look at the 
social access to power that creates our social beings. Those 
that accept the status quo are sane. Those who have been 
socially relegated to a disempowered position and thereby 
can't be a part of that status quo are deemed insane or 
delinquent.

In the film, Karl, portrayed as a mentally disabled man, 
makes friends with eleven year old Frank. Frank, moves into 
his garage and gets a job with Karl who is an ingenious 
engine mechanic. His capacity as an ace mechanic gives us a 
glimpse of the social reality behind mental retardation. In 
current society the unequal distribution of goods and 
necessities is based on an un-regulated competition economy 
and ideology. When someone doesn't do certain things as well 
or learn as fast as everyone else, they are considered 
"retarded". 

The fact that Karl was trapped in a shed his whole childhood 
life, was forced to bury his infant brother alive, and was 
imprisoned for seemingly saving his mother from a rapist is 
not taken into consideration. He's still considered 
retarded. The society calls his mechanical genius a fluke, 
and ignores that he was only allowed contact with lawn mower 
engines in the shed, contributing to his ability. This movie 
shows why socialism is a more rational system than 
capitalism. Socialism uses the state ownership of production 
and distribution to break down the competition and 
individualistic mindset that holds back peoples potential. 
At the same time it encourages people to help each other 
with the realization that no one benefits unless all can 
benefit. As we build communism, we build a society that will 
unleash the potential of all people.

When people in the town began to find about Karl's past, 
they said things like "I would of killed the bastard too", 
referring to his mother's lover. This exposes exactly what 
it means to be "sane" since the majority of the town would 
have done exactly what Karl did if they had the chance but 
for much less rational reasons, like not liking the man. 
Later in the film Karl's friends try to set him up with the 
"other slow" womyn in the town, managing to show how the 
romance culture is the mainstay for Amerikans lives. Romance 
was the last thing on Karl's mind and he spent the majority 
of his days working and talking with Frank.

Frank's mother was dating an abusive drunk who beat up 
anything from his wheelchair bound "friend" to Frank. From 
night after night of apologies for being violent, Frank's 
mother allowed the boyfriend to move in. The boyfriend got 
more abusive and threatened to kill Frank. The rest of the 
town went on with their individual business, in true 
amerikan style. Seeing no choice for the mother or Frank, 
Karl decided to give them his money, send them to the 
mother's friend's house and kill the boyfriend with a lawn 
mower blade. 

This part of the movie plays into the helpless image of 
wimmin that the patriarchy propagates. MIM would have 
preferred to see Frank's mother decide to take control of 
her life and move in with her friend on her own. While 
abusive relationships like this one are certainly very 
difficult to get out of, Amerikan wimmin do have the 
resources to escape and do not need other men to make them 
escape. It is the patriarchy that reinforces this 
helplessness of wimmin and encourages them to see themselves 
as unable to act.

Though Karl's action will not change the world that created 
the abuse, it is still a rational response considering the 
social conditions. The problem with Karl's response is that 
it assumes abuse is an individual problem rather than 
recognizing that removing one problem man will not eliminate 
the patriarchy. Instead of individualizing the abuse and 
ending up in the pigs prisons or mental institutions, the 
oppressed need to organize. In reality, the distinction 
between a "healthy" relationship and an abusive one is very 
blury under the patriarchy where violent sex is considered 
erotic and power games are the norm. The only real way to 
end gender abuse and oppression is by overthrowing the 
patriarchy.


THIRD WORLD WAR

by an RC

Strugglin with arms from Peru to the Philippines
Changin Nightmares to Dreams the ends justifies the means
Where the ballot or the bullet is bullshit
They just put their finger to the trigger & Pull it
& try to pull shit, off with the barrel of a gun
Cuz that's where power stems from
not which candidates run
Before you lay the gun down, you gotta pick it up
Fight fire with fire before your home flames up
In Peru its Gonzalo they follow
Cuz watchin their children starve is hard to swallow
24 hours a day, enslaved he's teenaged feeling middle aged
No minimum wage, no raise, dying for a days pay
Imperialism got him locked in a cage
Neo-colonialism creates hate & rage

No future in sight
No voice for the choiceless
Till they stand up & Fight
No choice for the choiceless
Not seen or heard
So voice for the voiceless
We bleed the Third World
No choice for the choiceless

World War 3 ain't on your TV
Just their views of news & shit-coms & Disney
Makes you dizzy, so you can't see what's goin on
Right under your nose A silent Vietnam
Across the globe  countries explode
Culture erodes   while we grow old
Heads role in the land you stole
Life is hell under capitalist control
& You just want to know who's gonna win the superbowl?
They suppress the oppressed with your support
So I say wake up! or get tried in their court
People in the Third World are dying in a Third World War
Settle the score, arm the poor

U.N. & U.S. Playin chess with armed forces
Got the Third World in check securing the theft of Natural
Resources
With Dictators & Puppet Regimes
Put in place by United Snakes schemes
From CIA hit men to comprador Death squads
They kill their own just to beat the odds
Everyday from the USA Death is imported
& The Daily News they choose not to report it
Corporate Capitalists, Cash flow fills their need
Death Grows where they sow their wicked seed
Board rooms filled with Hitler clones
Committing Genocide wi' money sittn' high on Thrones
Just demons behind a desk fighting paper wars
Against people slavin for him, Livin on Dirt Floors
& Scrap metal walls so revolution calls
While we spend their stolen Money in the shoppin malls fuck 
that
You shoulda' asked before you crept in 
Now you better make the bed you slept in or never sleep 
again

No future in sight
No voice for the choiceless
Til they stand up & Fight
No choice for the choiceless
Not seen or heard
So voice for the voiceless
We bleed the Third World
No choice for the choiceless

First Work Villain better stop killin in the Third World 
before
shit unfurl
First Work Villain better stop killin in the Third World 
before
shit unfurl
First Work Villain better stop killin in the Third World 
before
shit unfurl
First Work Villain better stop killin in the Third World 
before
shit unfurl

MIM responds: Overall this is an excellent revolutionary 
song but the one thing it is missing is the Maoist message 
that we need to organize systematic revolutionary struggle. 
In fact, the First Work Villian is not going to stop killing 
in the Third World but instead the people of the Third World 
will be organized into revolutionary organizations that 
fight winnable battles until we overthrow imperialism once 
and for all. These lyrics stop short in that they call for 
arming the masses but don't point to the direction for our 
organizing. As we have seen throughout history, taking the 
correct line and strategy in organizing means the difference 
between victory and defeat.


* * *


HETEROSEXIST WIN AT PENN STATE

by MC45

In a conciliatory move towards anti-gay politics, a combined 
student-faculty oversight board at Pennsylvania State 
University approved the formation of a student group called 
Students Reinforcing Adherence in General Heterosexual 
Tradition (STRAIGHT). An all-student judiciary board 
initially denied STRAIGHT the right to organize as a 
University-sponsored group -- a decision MIM supports and 
which demonstrates again that Amerikan youth have a better 
understanding of oppression than their elders and will be 
more progressive.

Groups like this anti-gay group at Penn State cite the First 
in defense of their right to organize. But MIM and the 
student board at Penn State know that anti-gay politics are 
already fully sanctioned by the Amerikan government and 
society. These groups don't need extra protection.

In this case, STRAIGHT was approved in spite of the 
University's policy against discrimination, which includes 
discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The 
student board used the University policy as the basis for 
its decision, but the student-faculty board decided that 
"STRAIGHT exists to articulate a viewpoint, not to engage in 
improper conduct."

Within the white nation, youth have the least developed 
interest of white nation supremacy and oppression and are 
more willing to support reparations to oppressed groups. The 
student board decided that no pro-heterosexual group is 
needed to support the heterosexual lifestyle. 
Superstructural supports ranging from legal provisions like 
marriage to social pressure like movies and music already 
drum up straightness as the only romantic option.

While STRAIGHT claims that it is not anti-gay, but pro-
straight, MIM and honest progressives everywhere know this 
to be a lie. Reactionary Amerikans like to yell 
"persecution" when the oppressed try to gain equal rights, 
and STRAIGHT's only reason for existence is to protect an 
already over-protected lifestyle. All progressives should 
work with MIM and RAIL to unabashedly support better than 
equal rights for the oppressed at the expense of the 
oppressors.

NOTE: The Chronicle of Higher Education. 21 March, 1997, p. 
A44.


* * *


CIA PRETENDS TO CLEAN UP ITS ACT

by MC17

In March the CIA purged a number of agents who the 
mainstream media described as "unsavory". This action merits 
comment because we know there is no significant difference 
between those agents let go and the ones still on the 
payroll. Regardless of the individuals involved, the main 
purpose of the CIA is to wage war on the world's nations by 
means of covert operations involving economic warfare, 
rigged elections, assassinations and genocide. Its goal is 
to maintain U.S. control over Third World peoples and 
economies.

The New York Times reported: "After decades of cavalierly 
recruiting foreign agents, including killers, torturers, 
terrorists and other assorted miscreants, the agency has 
belatedly stopped to see if the caliber of their work for 
America outweighs their sordid records. In many cases the 
answer appears to be 'no,' and the agents have been 
dismissed."(1)

The explanation that the Amerikan government is suddenly 
cleaning up and putting the history of murder behind it is 
at best naive. Whether the reason for the dismissals was to 
make the agency more efficiently run or the result of 
political power struggles does not matter significantly. 
Possibly these particular agents did not use enough 
discretion when carrying out the Amerikan sanctioned 
murders. Lack of discretion could be too much for the 
Amerikan government to contend with as it tries to keep 
clean the name of bourgeois democracy and disguise its 
agenda of imperialist hegemonism.

Altogether, the CIA fired some 1,000 foreign informants, 
about a third of its total roster. The review of foreign 
agents and establishment of recruiting standards was pressed 
by John Deutch during his 20-month tenure as CIA chief. The 
New York Times wrote that "While the standards are not as 
tight as they could be, they represent a significant 
improvement over the ethical vacuum that existed. Mr. Deutch 
deserves the thanks of his countrymen for insisting on their 
adoption."

But really there is no such thing as a cleaner, kinder CIA. 
The history of the CIA is a history of attacks against Third 
World peoples, installation of Amerika-friendly 
dictatorships, murder, theft, and deceit. It makes no 
difference if a few agents were tossed:  those who prove 
useful to further imperialist aims will be retained, often 
because of the murder and torture they carry out as this is 
an essential part of the CIA's work.

The fact that some congressional oversight committees have 
revealed that the CIA knowingly paid killers and torturers 
will not change the nature of this imperialist agency. The 
CIA has privatized its covert operations removing them from 
the public eye. When Carter purged CIA thugs, they remained 
in the business of imperialist domination though picking up 
jobs in the private sector politics, arms and narcotics 
businesses. To think that individuals booted from the 
thuggery in the public sphere no longer will carry out work 
of thugs, or to think that the CIA is now committed to 
peaceably gathering information instead of murdering the 
masses is to ignore reality.

NOTES:
1. The New York Times, 4 March 1997, p. A22.
2. The New York Times. 3 March 1997, p. A12.


* * *


PSEUDOFEMS TAIL IMPERIALIST MOUTHPIECE

by MC206

The February issue of "Off Our Backs" (OOB) contains a clear 
example of pseudo-feminist apology for imperialism. The 
article "Albright takes helm at state dept." shows two of 
the reasons pseudo-feminists end up doing imperialist public 
relations. One: Pseudo-feminists only pay attention to who 
is speaking or acting, and not what is being said or done. 
Two: Pseudo-feminists approach the oppression of wimmin from 
a supra-class and supra-nationality position, and therefore 
miss the real causes for the oppression of the majority of 
world's wimmin -- those in oppressed nations. Any analysis 
refusing to address imperialism cannot truly address the 
oppression of wimmin.

OOB writes that Albright is now "the highest ranking woman 
ever to serve in the federal government... Albright spent 
the last three years in as the U.S. representative to the 
United Nations. Although she was required to hold up a 
number of questionable positions on human rights in the UN 
Security Council, she does know a considerable amount more 
about the global oppression of women and other groups than 
her predecessors at the State Department." OOB doesn't say 
exactly what "questionable positions on human rights" 
Albright upheld as u.s. attack dog in the UN.

MIM, however, recalls that Albright was a strong supporter 
of continued economic sanctions against Iraq, which were 
responsible for widespread hunger, disease, and a vast 
increase in the infant mortality rate in Iraq. Albright also 
used the her position in the UN to hypocritically attack 
other countries for their poor "human rights" records, while 
apologizing for or denying u.s. crimes, from genocidal 
invasions to the exploitation of prison labor.

Further on in the article, OOB gets specific: "[Albright's] 
most recent comments on the international situation were on 
the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan stating that decrees 
regarding women would 'essentially deprive women of all 
rights, except the right to remain silent, indoors, and 
invisible.' Now that's the kind of analysis the U.S. needs 
in formulating its foreign policy." That's rich. Somehow, 
just because Albright poses left on one issue, we are 
supposed to forget the CIA's long involvement in the proxy-
war fought in Afghanistan, and the resulting suffering 
imposed on the people of Afghanistan, men and wimmin.

OOB completely buys into the lie that Albright is a "human 
rights activist" who will tailor foreign policy to higher, 
altruistic goals. This lie enables the imperialists to put a 
"left" gloss on their sanctions, bombings, invasions, and 
wars. But of course the real motive forces behind u.s. 
foreign policy are still securing "stable investment 
climates" in the oppressed nations and ensuring that 
Amerikan imperialism remains competitive with other 
imperialist powers. So -- whether or not Albright is 
Secretary of State -- Amerikan foreign policy preserves a 
system which oppresses the vast majority of the world's 
wimmin and men.


* * *


CLINTON WANTS MORE DIRECT BOURGEOIS CONTROL OF JUDGES, LESS 
OF ELECTIONS

"According to figures compiled by the Alliance for Justice, 
a Washington-based interest group, 34.1% of Clinton's judges 
have been millionaires, compared with 32.5% of President 
Bush's judges, 21.4% of President Reagan's and 3.9% of 
President Carter's."(1)

The average net worth of the 25 people Clinton is trying to 
get Congress to approve in 1997 for the U.S. District Court 
and Court of Appeals is $1,798,670.(1)

"By contrast, the average net worth of Clinton's 1996 
judicial appointees was $1,024,188, a record at the 
time."(1)

In the small world of the wealthy, one of Clinton's nominees 
is married to someone who raised over $2.5 million for 
Democrats.

We pity President Clinton in his difficult job: there are 
only so many millionaires and only a small percentage of 
those have law degrees. It must be difficult to find enough 
appointees like the one who rents her house to Hollywood at 
$13,800 a year and has the address of "Beverly Hills 
90210."(1)

Many Amerikans think we do not live in a class dictatorship, 
but the rich fund the campaigns of the Clintons of the world 
who then pick the judges. And of course Clinton is no 
different in essence than Bush, Reagan, and the whole lot of 
bourgeois politicians. These figures from the Alliance for 
Justice show that the rich reward each other with judge 
posts. Only the naive believe we have achieved a society 
where true individualism reigns, where membership in a group 
(like the group "millionaires") does not matter at all.

Meanwhile, the bourgeoisie has been so kind as to make a 
backhanded admission of its dictatorship. By a vote of 61-38 
the Senate turned down a law that would have allowed states 
to set spending limits in state and local elections and 
would have amended the federal constitution to let Congress 
set spending and contribution limits for federal 
elections.(2) President Clinton favored the minority 
position.

Journalists have speculated that an ordinary law setting 
campaign spending limits would be overturned by the Supreme 
Court. The bourgeoisie has argued on its own behalf that it 
should have the "free speech" to spend its money as it 
pleases. Setting campaign spending caps limits the free 
speech of those who would like to buy more TV commercials 
etc.

This is an admission that "free speech" depends on wealth. 
Those who cannot afford to buy million-dollar TV spots do 
not do not have the same access to "free speech" as those 
who can. (And, of course, those who choose to speak out 
against the abuses of Amerikan imperialism or speak up for 
revolution have their "right to free speech" militarily 
suppressed.)

In France, bourgeois rule has a slightly different flavor. 
The bourgeoisie there has rejected the argument against 
campaign spending caps, because the French capitalist class 
believes that bourgeois rule can be more indirect as long as 
the bourgeoisie has the property and means to bribe the 
labor aristocracy with superprofits. The French bourgeoisie 
rules by letting the labor aristocracy speak out on a more 
equal footing than in the United $tates, where workers are 
already on a more equal footing with the capitalist class 
than in the workers of oppressed nations are with their 
capitalist class.

MIM is happy to let the bourgeoisie have one stance or the 
other but not both. If there is more free speech when people 
are allowed to spend money, then it also follows that when 
people are prevented from spending money, their free speech 
is also limited. That does not happen only under the 
proposed spending-cap laws, but it happens to most people 
because they don't have money.

The whole issue is an embarrassment to the bourgeoisie. 
Currently the class believes that it must defend its rights 
by arguing that yes, free speech does depend on money, so 
let the bourgeoisie spend it. On the other hand, if free 
speech does depend on money (and MIM agrees it does), then 
what does that say about the people with no money? The 
current system is not class-neutral: it supports the 
liberties of the bourgeoisie. Under the dictatorship of the 
proletariat, people will not be allowed to make tremendous 
sums of money from owning things in the first place, and 
those who happen to come upon large financial gains will not 
be allowed to spend more money than a set amount accessible 
to the average person.

NOTES:
1. USA Today 17Mar97, p. 3a. 
2. USA Today 19Mar97, p. 8a.


* * *


SETTLER GOVERNMENT SET TO EVICT DINEH FIRST NATION

by MC53

written 30 March 1997

In Black Mesa, Arizona, the people of the Dineh First Nation 
face forced eviction and relocation from their land. The 
people of the nation were given a choice by the 
imperialists. Either they sign the Accommodation Agreement 
by March 31st or the people will be forcibly removed from 
their land by US Marshals on April 1st. About 250 
traditional Dine families still live on the land. Clearing 
the people from this land clears the road for Peabody 
Western Coal Company to extend its mining operations in the 
area. "They resisted relocation because they live self-
sufficient traditional lifestyles, and relocation to a 
totally different surrounding and culture would mean the end 
of their own culture."

Already the Peabody Western Coal Company through its 
operation of the world's largest strip mine has robbed the 
First Nation's land of much of its natural resources and 
created heavy pollution. Livestock have been killed and 
water has been contaminated as a result. The Dine residents 
of the land suffer from health problems due to the large 
amounts of coal dust.

After previous relocations, which affected 11,000 Dine and 
100 Hopi members, many of the people could not afford to pay 
their mortgages in the relocation settlements and became 
homeless. The designated area for resettlement was part of a 
land fraud involved in a Congressional investigation. The 
area is contaminated by 1.5 million tons of uranium ore that 
was processed and left in contaminated waste piles covering 
72 acres.

The settler position on this relocation of the Dineh nation 
claims that the United Snakes government is helping to 
resolve a "Navajo-Hopi land dispute." This land dispute was 
manufactured by the Amerikan government's forcible 
relocation of one people onto another's land and is just 
another ploy in the genocidal war against the First Nations 
that has been going on since the settlers arrived.

"The Sovereign Dineh Nation, and its political arm, Dineh 
Alliance, have rejected the Accommodation Agreement 
outright. Acception of the Accommodation Agreement will mean 
a violation of Freedom of Religion and of Speech for the 
traditional Dine."

"We stand unified one with another in our opposition to this 
unjust and unfair law that was created to remove us from the 
land by any means and at any cost."

"The voice of the people must be heard for justice on Black 
Mesa to ensure the protection and survival of the people. 
The struggle is to protect sacred land, religion, and the 
survival of a traditional way of life from corporate 
interests. Relocation is genocide."

Forced relocation has been the means for expansion since the 
beginning of the settler nation's history. Even without 
knowing the precise aspects to the Accommodation Agreement, 
MIM opposes the u.s. government's use of force to back First 
Nation peoples into a corner. Each First Nation has the 
right to self-determination to control its own land, to 
develop its own economic base, to teach its history in its 
own school system and to carry on its own traditions and 
culture. MIM supports the Navajo people of the Dineh nation 
and Hopi nation in their struggle against imperialist 
expansion.

We also call upon self-proclaimed leftists to investigate 
the struggles of First Nations for their land before 
implementing back to nature commune type activism. Some 
settler nation activists who oppose various aspects of the 
current system think that it is possible to go off to some 
piece of land and create a self-sufficient utopia which 
escapes the evils of the amerikan empire. The struggles of 
the First Nations to control their land should serve as an 
example that settler expansion through any means and for 
whatever reason is stealing land and contributing to the 
genocide of entire nations. It is not possible to build a 
utopian society without first destroying imperialism. Fight 
with MIM and RAIL to stop imperialist expansion and to 
support national liberation of the oppressed nations to gain 
reparations and self-determination.

NOTE: Information taken from a press release at: 
http://kafka.uvic.ca/~vipirg/SISIS/emerg/Dineh.html For 
further information, contact: Sovereign Dineh Nation - Dineh 
Alliance P.O. Box 1042, Hotevilla, AZ 86030


* * *


STONEY POINT STRUGGLE FOR SELF-DETERMINATION CONTINUES

by MC53

In late March several trials against activists from the 
Stoney Point Nation began in Ontario, Kanada. All of the 
trials spring from a 1995 confrontation between First Nation 
activists and the Kanadian state. In the Summer of 1995, the 
First Nation activists re-occupied land that was taken from 
them in 1945 by the Kanadian government. In particular, the 
activists occupied a military training base and part of the 
Ipperwash Provincial Park.

One young activist is charged with dangerous driving and 
assaulting police for driving a school bus at police as they 
beat First Nation activist Bernard George on 6 September, 
1995. George, who is from the Kettle Point Nation, was re-
occupying Stoney Point Nation when OOP pigs attacked him 
with batons. The young activist drove the bus towards the 
pigs in order to stop their attack.

Another case involves Glenn Morris George, a Stoney Point 
Nation member who attempted to remove tire-slashing 
barricades set up by the Kanadian police on Stoney Nation 
territory. "This case is not about justice," the defense 
attorney for George said. "One side controls the laying of 
criminal charges, the other has nothing to say about it. So, 
while it is illegal to block a road and it is illegal to 
slash tires, that is not for consideration here."

These charges are part of the Kanadian government's quest to 
deny the Stoney Point Nation its land -- in this case using 
so-called legal means. They make it clear that courts only 
serve to protect the rights and privileges of the settler 
nation. These courts charge the oppressed masses with the 
"crime" of struggling for self-determination and ignore the 
fact that the real criminals are the pig occupying forces.

And as MIM Notes readers well know, the Kanadian government 
has not shied away from using openly violent means to keep 
the Stoney Point Nation off of their land. On September 6, 
1995 police attacked unarmed men, wimmin and children at 
Stoney Point and murdered Anthony O'Brien "Dudley " 
George.(See MIM Notes 105)

A public investigation of the murder of Dudley George is 
scheduled to begin April 1st. Previously, Ontario Premier 
Mike Harris ignored calls for a public inquiry into the 
murder of Dudley despite evidence contradicting police lies 
that activists fired the first shots. At a news conference 
March 3rd, lawyers for the family of Dudley released leaked 
documents that say a policeman fired the first shot. They 
also released a Sept. 5 ministerial briefing note, obtained 
under the Freedom of Information Act, that calls into doubt 
the provincial government's claim that it had no part in the 
decision to assemble 200 pigs to attack the demonstrators.

The 1995 re-occupation was a response to the Kanadian 
government's genocidal actions towards the Stoney Point 
people. In 1942, the Kanadian government forcibly removed 
the Stoney Point people and their houses from their land. 
The Stoney Point Nation was literally picked up and placed 
upon the land of the nearby Kettle Point First Nation. 
Although this "relocation" was supposed to be temporary, the 
Kanadian government has denied the Stoney Point Nation's 
right to its land ever since.

According to the "Stoney Point People's Support" web site, 
"The media have portrayed the Stoney Point people as a break 
away group without any legitimate claim to the land. They 
have attempted to portray the conflict between Kettle Point 
and Stoney Point as an internal issue." Of course, the idea 
that the struggle for stolen land is somehow an "internal 
issue" misses the point. If the Kanadian government had not 
forced the Stoney Point People off of their land in the 
first place, there would be no "issue." The Kanadian 
government uses this as a diversionary ploy to explain its 
interference in and domination of First Nations.

The Kanadian and Amerikan governments have no business 
managing the affairs of the First Nations, or deciding who 
speaks for the First Nations. Only the First Nations 
themselves should have the authority to manage their own 
affairs and choose their own representatives. Imperialist 
military intervention and economic oppression and blackmail 
keep the First Nations from realizing self-determination. 
Anti-imperialist revolution -- including armed struggle -- 
will ultimately be necessary to liberate the First Nations.

Note: http://www.execulink.com/~hkoehler/stonsups.htm


* * *


BOWING TO WORLD BANK ANDHRA ENDS PROHIBITION

by MCB52

Wimmin's organizations responded with mass protests when the 
southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh repealed the ban on 
liquor the organizations had fought hard for. The government 
elected on promises that it would end the state's 
profiteering on the sale of liquor is now responding instead 
to World Bank demands that it increase its revenue.

MIM Notes #130 contained a review of a film documenting the 
wimmin's struggle against the state selling liquor in 
Andhra. Though hardly thought of as a wimmin's issue by 
pseudo-feminists who ignore the majority of the world's 
wimmin, these organizers found it imperative to stop the 
state's hypocrisy -- "public service" announcements against 
liquor at the same time that the state reaps profits from 
the liquor.

The wimmin used literacy programs to education and 
politicize and the state subsequently canceled these. The 
wimmin's organizations then proceeded to build up mass 
marches and take direct action blocking liquor from their 
communities to get the state to ban liquor. Finally, they 
won their demands and the state lost its money from the 
poison.

The reversal of the popular demand is the result of the 
comprador state's desire to get in with international 
capital. "The government's step to do away with prohibition 
is nothing but bowing down to pressure from the World Bank 
and a complete reversal of the state government's electoral 
pledges of 1994, which brought it to power," said K 
Ratnamala, an activist of a wimmin's organization.

The organizational power of the wimmin of southern India is 
immense, especially because of their constant reference to 
imperialism as the enemy of the world's wimmin.

Note: Asia Week. 2 April 1997.


* * *

PSEUDO-ENVIRONMENTALIST DEBATE FALLS SHORT

by MC206

An article in April's Scientific American has caused quite a 
stir among Amerikan pseudo-environmentalists. In their 
article, "Can Sustainable Management Save Tropical 
Forests?", Richard Rice, Raymond Gullison, and John Reid 
argue that forest management -- a conservation strategy 
which calls on large capitalist logging forms to restrain 
from cutting too many trees and invest in planting seedlings 
-- cannot work, because it is not profitable for loggers. 
They offer several alternative strategies, all of which 
amount to waiting around doing nothing until Third World 
economies catch up to First World economies.(1)

Die hard supporters of forest management have criticized 
this article, saying that it focuses on only one type of 
logging.(2) Both of these camps are trapped within the 
framework of imperialism. The forest management advocates 
try to make environmentalism profitable (an impossible 
task), while Rice, Gullison, and Reid simply give up and 
admit profits come before everything else. As a result, 
neither camp can stop the destruction of the natural 
resources in Third World countries, and both camps end up 
doing public relations for the imperialists.(3)

Rice, Gullison, and Reid argue that multi-national companies 
"face a choice between cutting trees immediately and banking 
the profits or delaying the harvest and allowing the stand 
to grow in volume and value over time." They then show that 
the first strategy offers a 17 percent annual return, while 
the second strategy offers at most a 5 percent return. The 
logging companies obviously figured this out long ago, since 
less that one-eighth of one percent of all commercial 
logging involves "forest management." So Rice, Gullison, and 
Reid are absolutely correct that talk of "forest management" 
under imperialism is a pipe dream.

At the same time, Rice, Gullison, and Reid provide much of 
the information needed to show that their own alternative 
plans will not work. For example, Rice, Gullison, and Reid 
suggest that "green labelling" -- where consumers pay more 
for products made using "sustainable" methods -- is a viable 
conservation strategy. But according to their own numbers, 
"current patterns of unsustainable logging can be as much as 
five times as profitable as a more sustainable alternative. 
Yet consumers appear willing to spend, at most, 10 percent 
more for certified timber than the price they would pay for 
uncertified products. The gap is enormous." Rice, Gullison, 
and Reid also suggest banning or heavily regulating logging 
in tropical forests, after earlier pointing out that Third 
World governments do not have enough funds to support 
adequate regulation. MIM would also point out that many 
Third World governments are more than willing to sell 
logging rights to foreign logging concerns in exchange for 
foreign currency.

The destruction of the environment of the oppressed nations 
is a direct result of the economic and political system of 
imperialism, which places the profit and prosperity of a 
handful above the long-term interests of the vast majority 
of the world's peoples. In the words of the Communist Party 
of the Philippines: "It is pure hypocrisy and chicanery for 
anyone to speak of environmental concerns without criticism 
and repudiation of the monopoly bourgeoisie and 
imperialism."(4) The best way for people living within u.s. 
borders to help stop the destruction of the world's 
environment is to support the liberation of oppressed 
nations from imperialism and make anti-imperialist 
revolution here in the belly of the beast.

NOTES:
1. R. Rice, R. Gullison, and J. Reid, " Can Sustainable 
Management Save Tropical Forests?" in: Scientific American,  
April 1997, v. 276(4), pp. 44-49.
2. Weekend Edition (Saturday), 22 Mar 97.
3. See, for example, "Mainstream groups earn imperialist 
credentials," in: MIM Theory 12, 1997, pp. 39-44.
4. "On the Issue of the Environment in the World and in the 
Philippines," in: MIM Theory 12, p. 55.


* * *


THE AGENDA OF THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS

The majority of the people of the world would say that the 
struggle to gain asylum for Prof. Sison and his family or 
the struggle against death for Mumia Abu Jamal are more 
important than details of the oldest and biggest trees in 
Ann Arbor, MI. But not Agenda. Agenda's masthead proclaims 
it 'Ann Arbor's Alternative Newsmonthly.' Though MIM Notes 
is published twice a month and distributed across the 
continent and around the world, we submitted articles 
pertaining to Sison and Mumia to Agenda so that they could 
reach an even broader audience. Both articles were rejected. 
And though we asked for an explanation, Agenda has not given 
one.

Instead as the April issue hit the streets, we saw that 
Agenda chose to devote the cover and two inside pages to an 
article detailing that "Ann Arbor, however, is known for her 
trees." The story primarily covers the "democratically 
created hall of arboreal fame." While caring about the 
longevity of trees and Ann Arbor's progressive policies to 
limit the destruction of trees is meaningful if you want to 
adjust to imperialist exploitation and murder world-wide and 
find some nice things to think about, we urge people to take 
a more global and anti-imperialist perspective on local, 
national and international events.

What good are progressive policies toward the environment in 
one city, and old, big trees, if the Amerikan government and 
Amerikan multinational corporations are destroying whole 
forests around the world in the name of increased profits, 
leaving the people without land to farm and without homes. 
And in comparison to the destruction of millions of lives 
through the prisons system right here in this country, 
prioritizing a story praising local government for saving a 
few trees is an insult to the oppressed peoples of the 
world. This government continues to use prisons as a form of 
social control against the masses most willing to change the 
system and Mumia's case should make it obvious to the 
editors of Agenda that the prisons and the courts are used 
to repress leaders speaking out against the general 
conditions of oppressed nations within the united snakes.

The u.s. is using similar repressive tactics to pressure the 
government of the Netherlands to deport Prof. Sison and his 
family because of Sison's past leadership in the 
revolutionary war against bureaucrat capitalism, feudalism 
and Amerikan imperialism in the Philippines. The threatened 
deportation is a tactic of the psychological warfare being 
waged against the toiling Filipino masses in their struggle 
for national democracy and liberation.

For a self-proclaimed alternative paper to choose to write 
about Ann Arbor's trees given the alternative of news on the 
above topics fights the bourgeoisie's war for it. Turning 
away from struggle and supporting seemingly easy causes like 
saving a few trees in a rich town like Ann Arbor does 
nothing to fight against the government or imperialism in 
general. It is good that Agenda is honest and does not call 
itself anti-imperialist, but with this choice of stories, 
MIM has to ask what exactly Agenda is providing an 
alternative to?

Another, though much shorter, piece in this month's issue 
hypes the Detroit newspaper strike and urges the readers to 
re-energize the boycott of the two daily papers. MIM works 
in the interests of the international proletariat and is 
building revolution first to liberate oppressed nations 
against imperialism, we don't fight struggles aimed at 
earning higher wages for the labor aristocracy within the 
imperialist countries.

People on the streets have said that they have no time to 
support the struggles of prisoners or support the fight of 
the Filipino masses in their armed and legal struggles 
against Amerikan imperialism, specifically because they are 
working to gain higher wages for the newspaper strikers -- 
workers benefiting from imperialism. Agenda reiterates the 
point that it too is not interested in fighting against 
imperialism and settler colonialism.

MIM publishes our own papers to ensure that information 
about struggles against oppression get printed. We've never 
thought that the bourgeoisie and imperialists would give the 
proletariat and the oppressed nations space in their papers. 
But don't be fooled into thinking that self-proclaimed 
alternative papers intend to be an alternative to the news 
that the bourgeoisie puts out or in this case, does not find 
fit to print.


* * *


UNDER LOCK & KEY

CENSORSHIP IN AMERIKAN PRISONS

WASHINGTON PRISONER FIGHTS STATE CENSORSHIP POLICY

Eldon Vail, Assistant Director Division of Prisons 
Washington Dept. of Corrections P.O. Box 41123 Olympia, WA 
98504-1123

Dr. Mr. Vail:
I am appealing a 3/1/97 Offender Mail Rejection notice for 
MIM Notes. The notice was signed by Sgt. Sutton and the 
reason given was: "Rejected by Director of Prisons. 
Advocates to Seize Power Through Armed Struggle'."

I believe the publication is being rejected for its 
political content, not merely because of the slogan cited on 
the rejection notice. The publication does not direct 
prisoners to take up arms against their captors. The 
publication does not contain specific instructions as to how 
prisoners could thus arm themselves. It does not contain 
plans to escape, nor does it describe procedures for 
constructing weapons, bomb, incendiary devices, etc.

There are no articles in the publication which specifically 
incite prisoners to rebel against their captors. The 
publication is no more radical than the Declaration of 
Independence, which also advocates the seizure of state 
power, by armed struggle if necessary.

To claim that the publication's slogan (buried in fine print 
in the info box on page two) presents "a threat to 
legitimate penological objectives" is to imply that 
preventing prisoner from reading political material that 
runs counter to the political beliefs espoused by the DOC or 
its employees is a "legitimate penological objective."

If you or the Director of Prisons, of the DOC think that 
prisoners may feel directed to manufacture weapons and begin 
the seizure of state power -- merely because they read such 
a slogan -- is to stretch credulity far beyond the bounds of 
sensibility. I have read the slogan "Go Seahawks!" a 
thousand times. It has yet to incite me to watch a Seahawk 
football game, much less root for the team.

I ask they you reconsider the rejection of MIM Notes or 
explain to me precisely how you think the slogan in question 
is a legitimate threat to the penological objectives of TRCC 
or the DOC.

-- A Washington State Prisoner, 6Mar97

Letters of Protest can be sent to: Eldon Vail, Assistant 
Director, Division of Prisons, Washington Dept. of 
Corrections, P.O. Box 41123, Olympia, WA 98504-1123


CENSORSHIP IN FLORIDA CONTINUES


Comrades,
Despite my last letter to you, the censorship of MIM Notes, 
along with two other publications, continues. While my 
appeals to get the paper and requests for a reason why it's 
being denied go unanswered.

I've now been told that issues 127 and 128 were sent to me 
"by mistake" and may be taken as contraband. And, while I 
had been told issues 125 and 126 were sent to the "Captain" 
for approval, our mail room staff claim to know nothing 
about them. I mailed you the form saying they'd been denied 
and put in my property.

Today I learned you are not alone. After much complaining 
property brought me my previously denied publication, which 
I thought were MIM Notes. Unfortunately, what they brought 
me was not MIM Notes, but 2 items from the Justice 
Department, 3 issues of Workers World and two issues of 
Weekly News Update on the Americas. All had been denied me 
without notice, nor reason, until approved by the 
administration.

I would please ask you to call or write our Jail Director 
Halsteadt, and ask her to stop the random censorship of a 
legitimate newspaper, and to have y previously seized copies 
of MIM Notes returned to me, or provide both of us a 
legitimate reason of why (exactly) they can not be since, 
I've received other issues of the same paper....

In Struggle, but with hope!
--A Florida Prisoner, 9 Jan 97

Letters of Protest Can be sent to: Jail Director Halsteadt, 
Palm Beach County Jail, 3228 Gun Club Rd., West Palm Beach, 
FL 33406, or call her at: (561) 688-3000.


LATINO PRISONERS ALSO CONTINUE THE STRUGGLE IN FLORIDA


First of all let me make my brothers aware that here in 
Florida they have taken the movies and the weights from us. 
And they are building and have built a "Close Management 
Cell Block" in most of the prisons. I find myself in such a 
predicament. Locked up 24 hours a day with 3 showers a week 
and only two hours of sunshine a week. 

But we are also in our struggle with the red necks that run 
the Florida prison system. They have made rules about 
letting us only receive on newspaper subscription and one 
magazine subscription. Well I have 3 magazine subscriptions 
and the "Miami Herald", but I'm stopping the Miami paper in 
order to receive MIM, and I'm losing money my family paid 
for my magazines. 

But I'm keeping faith that someday we shall overcome these 
pigs in these close management units. They mace us with gas 
and they handcuff us, plus put shackles on our legs when we 
leave the cell all the time....

The money that was paying for the movies and weights is our 
money that they made from the inmate canteen, but the 
taxpayers complained that we had it made and that the 
weights were turning out "super-prisoners". Now they charge 
us for medical care, for legal copies. It is so bad that the 
weaker prisoners are giving up hope. 

... I'm Cuban and I served in the US Marine Corps in this 
country and they treat me like shit. Also I'm HIV positive 
and they are denying me the new AIDS medication called 
Protease inhibitors. [They say it's] because it costs too 
much but, there are white prisoners who are receiving this 
treatment here in this prison.... So keep the fight going 
and may we overcome the pigs and their injustice system.

Respectfully,
 --A Florida Prisoner, 21 Jan. 97


MAIL TAMPERING IN NEW YORK


People of MIM,
...I have been meaning to write you. In fact I did write to 
you once, but the pigs intercepted it, opened it, and sent 
it back to me. They told me that business mail must not be 
sealed. Needless to say, I tried to argue against their 
policy.

According to several law cases, the prison officials are not 
supposed to stop outgoing mail without following a set 
standard of procedure. But, because many of the prisoner in 
this prison system are uneducated in the law or plain old 
spineless, these pigs get away with murder, yes even 
literally.

Needless to say, I went everywhere over everybody's head 
trying to find justice in this so-called justice system, and 
ran into nothing but brick walls. It's really hard to veat 
these people, but I and prisoners such as I will keep 
trying....

--A New York Prisoner, 6Dec97


PRISONER GIVES CENSORSHIP ADVICE


Dear Brothers and Sisters:
I am writing this letter to let you that I have received the 
December 1st and 15th issues of MIM Notes, and also, to 
comment on several letters I read concerning the censorship 
of the paper by prisoncrats around the country.

As a prisoner who has been involved in litigation against 
prison administrators for nearly thirty years, I would like 
to suggest that you urge any prisoner denied access to MIM 
Notes to first exhaust their administrative remedies, and 
then pursue their compliant in their local federal district 
court. The law is quite clear as to what publication review 
committees may reject, and the content of the paper does not 
meet that standard. 

Also, it is more than a tad expensive for the prison's 
lawyers to defend a lawsuit, especially when the con learns 
to use the federal rules of civil procedure to obtain 
discovery materials; not only do you cost the state money, 
but additional benefits can be derived by publicizing the 
petty actions by these prisoncrats, while tying them up with 
answering your written interrogatories and submitting to 
oral depositions. These people (?) are used to being in 
control, and they get very uptight when they are put on the 
defensive. Lastly, it should be noted that if enough 
convicts sue a particular warden, his supervisors will 
eventually take notice that even by their standards, he is 
doing something wrong, and they may decide to order him to 
back off.

I would strongly recommend that every prisoner should obtain 
a copy of the Prisoners' Self-Help Litigation Manual, and 
study it from cover to cover. A revolution cries out for 
each individual to step forward and make those advances for 
the cause that each person is capable of accomplishing.
Every person confined within these walls is capable of being 
a royal pain in the ass to every employee of the prisons 
system merely by continuously bringing complaints of illegal 
behavior to the attention of the court system. From 
censorship to disciplinary matters, the system rarely 
follows the law -- it is up to us to challenge the system 
each and every step of the way, to ensure that our 
constitutional rights are not taken away arbitrarily by 
those who are supposedly teaching us to "respect the law".

Finally it is important for each and every one of us to 
realize that we should immediately refuse to accept any job 
assignment which furthers the objectives of the prison 
system. The gulag system itself would come to a screeching 
halt if we refused to work as plumbers, painters, 
carpenters, electricians, and cooks. While they may force me 
to push a broom, I refuse to share my knowledge with my 
captors, and I will do nothing that a free-world civilian 
should be doing. I will do everything within my ability to 
confront the system till my last dying breath, and then, 
hopefully, I will have inspired at least one person to 
continue to follow in my footsteps.
 -- An Illinois Prisoner, 7 Jan 97


HOW TO FIGHT PRISON CENSORSHIP:
A GUIDE FOR PRISONERS

Prisons in Amerika exist as institutions of oppression with 
more resources than progressives currently have. The courts 
are also on the side of the oppressors and the criminal 
injustice system serves imperialism. With this in mind, it 
is easy to see why it is hard for progressives to win court 
battles, and why it is particularly hard for prisoners to 
win. But based on experience, MIM still considers legal 
battles to be potentially winnable and we are distributing 
this resource guide because we know that some cases have 
been won by prisoners who have done the necessary research 
and leg work. With that said, we recognize that the only way 
to destroy imperialism is through revolution and we 
encourage our comrades in prison to work with us in more 
than just legal struggles.

If your subscription to MIM Notes, or other literature or 
letters sent to you in prison is being censored, this guide 
is written to help you. There are not enough progressive 
lawyers working with us to help everyone fight these 
battles, but as a prisoner you have the information and 
resources you need to fight censorship on your own. If you 
are not already educated about the law and court battles, 
you will need to do a lot of research, but this is a 
worthwhile cause and if you win this battle you will be 
helping both yourself and other prisoners.


FIRST STEP:
FIND OUT WHY YOUR LITERATURE IS BEING CENSORED


The prison administration has to tell you why they are 
withholding your mail. Insist that they tell you what 
regulation, statute or law your mail violates. They have to 
detail specifically how your mail violates the rules. Once 
you have this information, look up the regulation they claim 
you are violating. Violations could be of several types: 
prison regulations, state regulations, federal regulations, 
or constitutional law. There is a Federal code of 
regulations book and a State code of regulations book that 
you should be able to reference in your law library. One 
note on regulations: There is a regulation in all prisons 
that says prisons can censor material if they have a 
"legitimate security interest." Many censorship cases of MIM 
Notes involve fighting prisoncrats who have defined MIM 
Notes as a security threat. We need to force them to explain 
this and we need to fight this classification.

If you are not experienced in using the library or if you 
are intimidated by doing this research on your own, now is 
the time to try to find legal help. If there are jailhouse 
lawyers in your prison, ask them for help. If you have your 
own lawyer, go to him or her, or try to find a friendly 
lawyer who will help out. We encourage you to learn to do 
this research for yourself even if you don't have any past 
experience; it will serve you well in the future. Overcoming 
intimidation about the legal research may be difficult at 
first, but it does not take any special knowledge or 
education to learn how to fight your own legal battles and 
we have many comrades who serve as inspirations having 
trained themselves as jailhouse lawyers from scratch. 
Everyone planning on doing legal research should check out 
the Prisoners Self Help Litigation Manual if it is in your 
prison's legal library. This is the BEST resource for 
prisoners and has general sections on research as well as 
more specifics on fighting legal battles. Read all sections 
in this manual that are relevant to you. (If this is not in 
your library, prisoners can buy it for $29.95 (includes 
postage and handling); non-prisoners $39.95 plus p & h; 
Oceana Publications, Inc., 75 Main STreet, Dobbs Ferry, NY
10522, (914) 693-1320.


SECOND STEP:
RESEARCH RELEVANT CASE LAW


At this point you need to search for relevant cases or laws 
regarding the regulation the prison claims you are violating 
that would support your claim that the prison is wrong. If 
your case goes to court you will have to decide whether to 
file in federal or state court (see below), but at this 
point you should research both federal and state case law. 
The following are some of the best resources: 

1. Prisoners Litigation Manual: This has federal case law. 
2. Federal Practice Digest 4th edition. Go to "P" for 
prisons. Look for information on censorship. This will give 
info on cases already decided on this issue. This digest 
will refer you to Federal books for more information on the 
cited cases 3. Shepards Citation: similar to above, gives 
info on federal cases relevant to your topic. 4. CJS: 
National digest of law. Lists federal cases relevant to your 
topic. 5. American Jurisprudence: similar to CJS. 6. State 
digest: This would be named the California digest or the 
Massachusetts digest or whatever your state's name is. Go to  
"prisons" and check out relevant state cases.


THIRD STEP:
EXHAUST ALL POSSIBLE REMEDIES WITHIN THE SYSTEM


The next thing you have to do is exhaust all possible 
remedies within the system. It is important that later you 
are able to demonstrate that you tried to go through these 
channels before taking the case to court. This means you 
have to follow the grievance procedure in your prison or 
write to the relevant authorities. When you write up your 
grievance you want to make an argument about why the 
regulation the prison claims your mail violates does not 
apply to you. Citing other cases that support your argument 
about this regulation is a good thing to do too. Be sure you 
keep copies of everything!


FOURTH STEP:
DECIDE WHERE TO FILE YOUR CASE


You need to decide whether to file your case in state or 
federal court. There are two main things on which you should 
base this decision: 1) Where is the case law strongest and 
2) Which judge is most favorable to prisoners rights. You 
may also want to consider how fast the court system will 
deal with your case. You need to do some research into these 
issues. Talking to jailhouse lawyers and lawyers on the 
outside who are in your state is a good help. You should 
have already looked out relevant court cases (cases similar 
to yours) to see what recent decisions have been in favor of 
prisoners rights. You can cite relevant federal law and 
supreme court cases in state court and you can sometimes 
cite relevant state law in federal court where federal law 
does not address an issue. To look into judges you can read 
"Lawyers Weekly" to find out recent info on judges 
decisions, but the best resource is going to be jailhouse 
lawyers, lawyers, and local organizations in your state like 
the ACLU or the National Lawyers Guild. 


FIFTH STEP:
TRY TO GET LEGAL HELP


At this point you have done a lot of research on your own 
and it's a good idea to try to get some help from people 
more familiar with law if you can. This is where MIM can try 
to help. We have compiled a list of jailhouse lawyers and a 
few lawyers on the outside willing to help other prisoners. 
If you exhaust the resources below and still can't find the 
help you need, write to us and we will try to put you in 
touch with someone who can help. But before you contact us, 
try the following:

#Jailhouse lawyers in your own prison. Ask around and see if 
anyone there can help you.

#Your state American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

#National Lawyers Guild chapter in your state

#Other organizations in your state that do progressive legal 
work for prisoners (ask other prisoners for info on these 
resources in your state if you don't know of any).

#ACLU's National Prison Project (located in Washington DC)
Law schools in your state (these sometimes have programs to 
help prisoners with research)

Note that MIM will not be handing out lists of jailhouse 
lawyers to prisoners who have not done any research on their 
case on their own because there are not enough people with 
legal experience and too many prisoners who need legal help. 
MIM would rather have legal resources go to the cases that 
prisoners are most likely to follow through, do research on, 
and win. (You are welcome to make a case for why you need 
legal help if you can not do this research yourself.)


SIXTH STEP:
FILE YOUR CASE


If you are filing in State court contact the Clerk of 
Superior Court in your county, or look at the State Rules of 
Court or The Prisoners Litigation Manual to find out the 
process you need to follow.

If you are filing in Federal court you need to write to the 
Clerk of US district court in your district and ask for 
Civil Rights complaint forms. The court will send you a 
whole packet of stuff and a letter indicating the process. 
The Prisoners Litigation Manual gives more details on this.


SEVENTH STEP:
THE LEGAL BATTLE BEGINS


In both state and federal cases the defendant will generally 
file a motion to dismiss the case by writing some legal 
defense of their actions. You must respond to this with your 
own memorandum describing why they are wrong and what case 
law you have backing you up. If you do not do this, there is 
a good chance your case will be dismissed by the judge. See 
The Prisoners Litigation Manual for more information on 
where to go from here. 

Note on the importance of follow through Your court case may 
be a long legal battle and it is important that you follow 
through on this. Once you have filed a case, what happens 
has repercussions for other prisoners, not just for 
yourself. If your case is dismissed because you decided not 
to respond to the prisoncrat's request to have it dismissed, 
they will then cite this example in future cases and the 
judge may be more likely to follow this example and dismiss 
future similar cases. And even if you do fight the case 
through to the end, if you don't do a good job of it and 
lose the case because of lack of adequate research, 
prisoners filing similar cases may lose because of this 
precedent you set. For this reason, it is important to do 
the best job you can in fighting prison repression through 
the courts.

This resource guide is produced and distributed by MIM. We 
are compiling information on relevant cases, particularly 
those that succeed in fighting civil rights violations so 
that others can benefit from your work so please send us 
copies of any information that you think would be useful to 
other prisoners.


* * *


MIM ON PRISONS AND PRISONERS

MIM seeks to build public opinion against Amerika's criminal 
injustice system, and to eventually replace the bourgeois 
injustice system with proletarian justice. The bourgeois 
injustice system imprisons and executes a disproportionately 
large and growing number of oppressed people while letting 
the biggest mass murderers - the imperialists and their 
lackeys - roam free. Imperialism is not opposed to murder or 
theft, it only insists that these crimes be committed in the 
interests of the bourgeoisie.

MIM does not advocate that all prisoners go free today; we 
have a more effective program for fighting crime as was 
demonstrated in China prior to the restoration of capitalism 
there in 1976. We say that all prisoners are political 
prisoners because under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, 
all imprisonment is substantively political. It is our 
responsibility to exert revolutionary leadership and conduct 
political agitation and organization among prisoners - whose 
material conditions make them an overwhelmingly 
revolutionary group. Some prisoners should and will work on 
self-criticism under a future dictatorship of the 
proletariat in those cases in which prisoners really did do 
something wrong by proletarian standards.

***WHAT NON-PRISONERS CAN DO TO SUPPORT 
PRISONERS***

*1. Struggle with, work with, finance and join MIM. 
The best way to support prisoners is to overthrow 
the system under which capitalists profit from the 
exploitation of prisoners. History shows that the 
best way to do this is to build a Marxist-Leninist-
Maoist party. The oppressors will not give up their 
power without a fight.
*2. Finance MIM's prison work. Our biggest bill 
each month is postage. Most of the prison comrades 
who read MIM Notes have no way of paying for it. So 
if you have money, send what you can afford. Every 
cent helps, and stamps are as good as cash to us.
*3. Distribute MIM Notes and Notas Rojas. Bring the 
voices of prisoners and their supporters to as 
large and wide an audience of people as possible. 
Contact MIM for bulk rates and distribution tips.
*4. Start or join a prison support group. MIM can 
provide advice and resources to help you build 
public opinion for prisoners and their struggles.
*5. Fight censorship, beatings, torture and other 
fascist outrages. Under Lock and Key often features 
the addresses of prisoners' friends and enemies. 
Work with the friends and let the enemies know 
you're watching. (Don't expect to win the fascists 
to the side of humanity, however. See #1 in this 
list).
*6. Stay in touch. Keep us informed of pro-prisoner 
work you do. Our readers might find it educational 
or inspirational.

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