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 153 JANUARY 1, 1998
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. PIGS MARK SETTLER HOLIDAY THROUGH ATTACK ON
ACTIVISTS
2. PIGS ATTACK LATIN KING & QUEEN NATION
3. LETTERS: AMERIKA¹S POLITICAL PRISONS
4. FILIPINO MASSES PROTEST RAMOS POLICIES & VISIT
TO NYC
5. STATEMENT FROM ONONDAGA NATION ACTIVIST
ARRESTED
6. THE PIGS MAKE $625
7. STOCK MARKET CRASH: LABOR ARISTOCRACY CRISIS
MONGERS GRASPING AT STRAWS
8. WOMYN HONORED FOR PARTICIPATION IN GENOCIDE
AGAINST ABENAKI
9. U.$. IMPERIALISTS SCHEME FOR INCREASED MILITARY
PRESENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES
10. AMERIKA FIGHTS WAR OF STARVATION AGAINST IRAQI
PEOPLE
11. U$ RESTRICTS WEAPONS TO INDONESIA
12. EAST TIMOR MASSACRE COMMEMORATION REPRESSED BY
U.S.-BACKED INDONESIA
13. MARXISM- LENINISM-MAOISM ONLINE
14. FOSTER CARE PIGS PERPETUATE HETEROSEXIST
PATRIARCHY
15. MASSACHUSETTS CONTINUES PRISONER DEPORTATION &
ROTATION TO TEXAS GULAGS
16. BAR ASSOCIATIONS ADVOCATE MORATORIUM ON DEATH
PENALTY
17. SWITCHED VOTE KILLS EFFORT TO REINSTATE
MASSACHUSETTS DEATH PENALTY
18. UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND
PRISONS
* * *
PIGS MARK SETTLER HOLIDAY THROUGH ATTACK ON
ACTIVISTS
Police attacked marchers participating in the Day
of Mourning on November 27, 1997. The previous
issue of MIM Notes reported on this repression of
activism against settler colonialism. Since then,
we have spoken with several demonstration
participants and use the pages of the people's
newspaper to offer more background and detail. The
history and activism of the people cannot be
covered and hidden by the oppressor if the people
organize and when the people control their own
media.
Two-hundred demonstrators gathered for the annual
Day of Mourning at noon on November 27 on Knowles
Hill, around the statue of Chief Massasoit. The
marchers gathered to protest the settler mythology
of Thanksgiving Day. The marchers commemorated
indigenous people's struggles against the plunder
of land and resources, genocide, enslavement and
repression committed by settlers. For nearly two
hours, activists spread the history of First
Nations and struggles against settler colonialism
through speeches. Participants gathered from many
First Nations spread throughout what Amerikkkan
settlers call New England, as well as First Nations
from other parts of North America and Peru.
As at every previous Day of Mourning commemoration
since 1970, activists set out to march through
Plymouth, Massachusetts ending at the settler
monument, Plymouth Rock. Because of successful
protest in previous years, the pigs prepared well
this time and blocked off the streets first. The
police then confronted the marchers with force when
the activists descended from Knowles Hill. The
police pushed marchers and used pepper spray and
mace against the people -- including in their eyes
and at children. A total of 35 cruisers from the
sheriff's department and local and state police
corralled to repress the demonstration and used
force without provocation. Several mounted police
trampled their horses through the crowd, including
children, without regard to causing injury.
Unlike the bourgeois press, which claimed that only
people in the street were arrested, our
correspondents report that people were arrested
from the street and the sidewalk without pretext or
warning. Political signs were torn down, native
dress was damaged, and sound and communications
equipment was stolen by the police.
A correspondent told MIM Notes: "One elder native
man was attacked from behind as he was instructing
us to retreat. As he calmly assured us that these
Nazi Pig's weren't worth the trouble, seven
policemen grabbed him from behind and apprehended
him. He was charged, ironically, with Assault and
Battery on a Police Officer, as well as, unlawful
assembly, and disorderly conduct. All of this for
exercising his so-called freedom of speech." The
marcher reported that a First Nation member from
the settler-labeled state of Ohio was arrested and
that "the police attempted to tear some bamboo
earrings out of his ears. [He] vows to return next
year with 10 times as many of their people."
Amerikkkan police serve to protect the white
settler nation. The white settler nation has a
material interest in stomping out the history of
indigenous people. That history revealed shows that
the settler nation resides on stolen land and
wallows in wealth acquired through bloody genocide
and wars against indigenous and oppressed nations
throughout the world. Particularly, settler
mythology, which is created to cover this history
of genocide, serves to bolster settler nation
chauvinism. This chauvinism serves the purpose of
perpetuating settler nation hegemony. At the
expense of losing hegemonic control, the settler
nation and its police and army will stop at nothing
to stomp out the history of the masses.
MEDIA SUPPORTS IMPERIALISM
The mainstream press was quick to report that among
the attendants at the Day of Mourning were some
"dangerous outside elements" and the name that was
repeatedly reported was Richard Picariello. The
implication was that these outside elements had
provoked the violent confrontation and that this
would have otherwise been a peaceful event. This is
just a way to try to clear the pigs for their
attack on the masses.
Picariello has been reported on in previous MIM
Notes as the target of state repression after
serving his full time in prison for his crime of
fighting against the Amerikan imperialist
government. Still treated like a criminal,
Picariello is considered dangerous because he is
still a strong activist in the anti-imperialist
movement.
The Patriot Ledger reported "Picariello was not
arrested during Thursday's demonstration and clash
with police, but went to Plymouth District Court
the next day and confronted court officers trying
to quiet a belligerent youth."(1) So even though he
apparently did nothing wrong, somehow he must have
done something wrong, says the bourgeois press
which is quick to judge and agree with the criminal
injustice system.
The Patriot Ledger needed the police to tell them
that Picariello is a supporter of the First
Nations: "Police say Picariello and other
extremists are supporters of the Native American
cause." MIM says that of course anti-imperialists
support the First Nations right to self-
determination. And this is precisely what makes
them dangerous in the eyes of the government and
their press. Anti-imperialists expose and oppose
the genocidal imperialist system and fight to
overthrow it.(1)
SETTLER CELEBRATION OF BARBARITY
Regardless of the exact date and explanation for
the Amerikan settler holiday Thanksgiving, its
origin and continued celebration solely have the
purpose of covering the Amerikan settler nation's
history of genocide against the sovereign First
Nations.
The Plymouth Pilgrim plantation was not the first
settler colony in North America, but it was the
easiest to beautify in myths. The residents of
Jamestown were openly speculators, who had to turn
to cannibalism to survive. The Pilgrim myth centers
around their flight to the New World for religious
freedom.
"The mythology of the white masses holds that those
early settlers were the poor of England, convicts
and workers, who came to North Amerika in search of
"freedom" or "a better way of like." Factually,
that's all nonsense. The celebrated Pilgrims of
Plymouth Rock, for example, didn't even come from
England (although they were English.) They had
years before emigrated as a religious colony to
Holland"(2)
"But in Holland these predominantly middle class
people had to work as hired labor for others. This
was too hard for them, so they came to North
Amerika in search of less work and more money."(2)
They came to steal land, minerals and resources and
enslaved the indigenous peoples.
The settler-labeled Pilgrim feast supports the
mythology of cooperation between the settlers and
First Nation peoples. That the First Nations helped
the settlers when they were starving is not
controversial. But one correspondent argues that
the First Thanksgiving was actually a celebratory
feast for settlers after killing and robbing First
Nations. Some reports found by MIM say that the
celebration occurred after the Dutch and English
settlers united to slaughter the Pequots in 1637.
Other accounts claim the celebration followed the
settler victory in King Philips War in 1676.
Even if one assumes that the Thanksgiving myth was
created based on meetings between the First Nations
and settlers which involved food, the long and
bloody history of genocide outweighs any possible
symbolic cooperation on the part of the settlers.
When Columbus stumbled upon the indigenous peoples'
land, there were 100 million indigenous people
(throughout the western hemisphere) and
approximately 10 million in North America. By the
1900s, only 200,000 - 300,000 surviving descendents
of indigenous people remained, and the genocide
continued.(2)
One truth of the settler mythology currently
perpetuated in the bowels of the beast is that the
First Nations aided settlers. Our research and
settler mythology confirm that these pitiful
European strangers would not have survived their
first several years in the settler labeled area of
New England if it were not for the aid of the
Wampanoag people. The goal of the new Amerikan
settlers was to grab as much land, food and
resources as possible. The material interests of
settler Amerika was then as it is now -- to
dominate whole nations and groups of people to
extract resources and exploit labor, building
parasitic wealth off the backs of the settler
nation's colonized.
MARCHERS ARRESTED & CHARGED FOR ACTIVISM EXPOSING
TRUTH
Twenty-five marchers were charged with unlawful
assembly, and disorderly conduct. Five of the
arrested activists were also charged with assault
and battery against a police officer. A
correspondent at the march reported that no one
assaulted the police and that no police have
claimed to be injured, but many of those arrested
were bruised. After this well coordinated violent
repression by the pigs, the people retreated back
to the Massasoit statue but were given just a few
minutes to disperse by the police.
About 80 supporters held a six-hour vigil outside
the police station waiting for the prisoners to be
processed and released. The police also threatened
and abused these activists. The settler pigs
refused to release a list of the prisoners and the
prisoners' medical status. The pigs also denied
supporters use of the public bathroom, the public
phone and did not allow them to eat in the
building. Activists were also threatened with
arrest for singing the American Indian Movement
song when prisoners were released.
The oppressors have shown once again that their
proclamations regarding the right to free speech
and assembly do not apply to the oppressed or
activism aimed at teaching the history of the
masses accurately. For this reason, we build
independent media of the people to convey the
masses' struggles and history. Accurately
representing the interests of the masses is a
necessary first step in building successful
struggles against oppression here in the belly of
the beast.
As one activist working on defense efforts of those
arrested stated: "This isn't the first time that
Native peoples have been brutalized. It's just the
most recent." The next hearing for those arrested
is set for January 29th. Activists are lobbying for
as much support as possible to be present in
Plymouth on that day. [Submit details of the
upcoming hearing or full length submissions to
or snail information to the
address on page two.]
NOTES:
1. The Patriot Ledger, 3 December 1997.
2. Settlers: The Mythology of the White
Proletariat. by J. Sakai. Available from MIM for
$12.
* * *
PIGS ATTACK LATIN KING & QUEEN NATION
In mid-November, police arrested over 60 members of
the Almighty Latin King & Queen Nation, a multi-
national gang in New York city and Holyoke,
Massachusetts.
As exposed in many recent MIM notes articles, the
pigs use the war on drugs and gangs as excuses for
mass round-ups of oppressed nationals.
Specifically, the Black, Latino, and First Nations
- oppressed nations within u.$. borders - pose a
threat to the established status quo. The real war
is not against drugs and gangs, but against
oppressed nations and their imperialist oppressors.
The New York arrests of 32 Latin Kings were said to
be for illegal possessions of fire-arms and drugs.
Though none of these were found, 24 members were
charged with unlawful assembly and disorderly
conduct. Witnesses said that the pigs had attacked
some members earlier in the evening and other
witnesses that said the Latin Kings charged were
not acting disorderly. (1) Following their New York
colleagues' example, Holyoke pigs decided to arrest
34 Latin Kings members as well. (2)
At a November 21 talk at Hampshire College, Hector
Torres, Chief Political & Media Advisor for the NYC
King and Queen Nation, spoke about the
transformation of the NYC gang into a cultural and
political organization. Torres said that in the
past, the Latin Kings have dealt drugs and have
murdered. But, speaking for the NYC Kings, he said
that with many deaths, and the realization that
they were fighting themselves and not their enemies
- racism and pigs - that it was time to re-assess
their priorities.
The NYC Kings and Queens have focused on the
current oppression that minority groups face in
Amerika. In efforts to end oppression and build a
place for the oppressed within Amerika, the NYC
Kings and Queens organize members of the oppressed
around youth education, immigration, domestic
violence, incarceration, AIDS, drug use,
spirituality and other issues affecting the
oppressed nation community. While their organizing
exposes the nationally oppressive system, it falls
short of addressing the principal contradiction in
amerikan society, imperialism.
Capitalist driven profit motive innately relies on
disparity between groups of people. The surplus
labor force created by colonization of internal
colonies allows the oppressor white nation to get
cheap services and products by exploiting the
oppressed nations. The Black, Latino and First
nations are then disproportionately forced to live
in ghettos, prisons, and poor areas of Amerika.
Oppression is a part of the structure that is
reinforced through the white nation police force,
education and lack of social services. Oppression
can only be eradicated by changing the system via
national self-determination struggles allowing the
masses to control their own lives.
So while the NYC Kings and Queens are progressively
organizing to expose police brutality, prison
injustice and overall oppression, they fall short
of ending oppression by not organizing for future
armed national self-determination struggles and
socialism. They see their group as a way to react
to white rape of their culture and communities by
educate the oppressed communities about their
culture and current U$ status, while building a
support service for their members. Even falling
short of revolution, their organizing does pose a
threat to the system as shown by the massive pig
crackdowns.
King Blood, predecessor to current leader King
Tone, is incarcerated with a life plus 45 years
sentence, all in solitary confinement, for
supposedly ordering murders from within prison.(1)
According to Amnesty International this is the
strictest, most inhumane sentence ever legally
given out to anyone in the u.$. While pigs are
targeting the Latin Kings for violence and drugs,
MIM knows that violence is not the real reason for
targeting these groups.
The Kings are able to organize oppressed nationals
into action. The current tactic of charging clean
Latin Kings with "unlawful assembly" is the only
way that NYC police can stop their organizing. The
power that the Kings have to organize the oppressed
masses is a potentially revolutionary act that
threatens the u.$. status quo.
The pigs are in the front lines of the war now,
with the bourgeois media feeding Amerika with
contradictory slogans about the "war on drugs and
gangs". But the biggest gangs are the u.$. military
and armed pigs themselves. Every year they commit
more murders, theft, and acts of violence via mass
starvation, then any organized group of oppressed
nationals. If the U$ were really serious about its
war against drugs and gangs, it would stop pumping
the drugs in to the communities, eradicate a prison
system that has been proven to not reform, and
provide jobs and resources to all members of its
communities. But what's being done is increased
police brutality, military expansion, imprisonment
and poverty. These are certainly not signs of a
government working to end violence.
While we unite around the Latin Kings and Queens
efforts to expose oppression, we encourage all
oppressed nation groups serious about ending
oppression to focus on the principal contradiction
of imperialism. Imperialism has proven itself
devoted to oppression. Only internationalist
national self-determination struggles will get the
oppressor off the back of the oppressed masses and
pave the way for socialist revolution where the
masses will have control of all aspects of their
life.
* * *
LETTERS:
AMERIKA¹S POLITICAL PRISONS
***This letters section of MIM Notes is devoted to
discussion of the issue of political prisoners. As
MIM and RAIL build for the upcoming Jericho¹98
march in Washington, D.C. we are pushing forward
the struggle over the definition of political
prisoners and support for all prisoners¹ struggles
against oppression. We welcome debate of all points
of view on this subject and encourage our readers
to write, criticize, question and struggle.***
ALL PRISONERS ARE POLITICAL PRISONERS FACING THE
UNJUST GULAG SYSTEM
DEAR MIM NOTES: I am writing in regards to the
statement that all prisoners are political
prisoners. In negotiating my agreement with this
extreme perspective, I first had to define the
term. The common person describes a political
prisoner as one who is incarcerated for his/her
political beliefs. At first this seemed to restrict
the use of the term to those who had not committed
a "crime." To that notion, one must look at which
imperialist powers set up the qualifications of
what a crime entails. The supposed purpose of the
law, as instituted by the constitution, is to
protect the rights of the people. However, an
American prisoner is clearly a citizen of this
country and should be allowed his/her
constitutional rights. Unfortunately, the amount of
censorship that goes on in United States prisons,
constitutes grave injustice on the part of the
governing body. Denial of such basic rights should
be considered criminal behavior on the part of the
prison system.
In my opinion, it does not matter under what
circumstances a prisoner is incarcerated. The most
important issue is that once under the jurisdiction
of the penal system, no one should be punished for
reading revolutionary literature, holding political
discussions, or otherwise imparting political
ideals. I have come to agree with MIM's statement
after reading several letters written by prisoners
detailing their struggles with the prison
administration. Disciplinary actions are taken
against those who attempt to receive MIM Notes and
other revolutionary literature through the mail.
Many inmates' incoming and outgoing mail is
screened and duly censored. Finally, many prisoners
are discouraged from having political discussions
among themselves. Whether revolutionary or
reactionary, a prisoner with political views is
most likely considered a threat to the social
order. In light of the rampant censorship and other
injustices common to American prisons, I have to
agree with the statement that all prisoners are
political prisoners.
Sincerely,
-- a comrade in Michigan
THE POLITICAL PRISONER/PRISONER OF WAR ISSUE
There has been much debate and discussion in the
issue of who is and isn't a Political Prisoner
and/or Prisoner of War (PP/POW) and we think it is
time that this issue is AGAIN discussed, because we
find there are some people who refuse to accept
that there are PP/POWs unless there case have
received some form of yankee acknowledgment, or the
kapture individual was involved with this that
movement/group.
It is interesting that many "revolutionaries" have
not raised their consciousness above the level of
Amnesty International's conventional labeling of
comrades. As comrade Geronimo [ji jaga] Pratt
clearly indicated, and I quote from MIM Notes 141,
July 1, 1997 page 1: "You have political prisoners
on top of political prisoners. I'm only one of a
great many that should be exposed, should be
addressed." This comment supports the position of
PPWC[Political Prisoners of War Coalition] and
MIM/RAIL comrades. We "overstand" this but there
are any others who do not agree with this and fight
tooth and nail to denounce the fact that there are
literally thousands of PP/POWs in state/federal
death kkkamps. This makes us wonder whether or not
some of these movements/groups who refuse to accept
this fact have hidden agendas as to why they refuse
to see the big picture.
For another example testifying that there are many
PP/POWs in state and federal death kkkamps that
most of the masses know nothing about, please refer
to the story in MIM Notes 141, July 1, 1997, page 6
regarding former Black Panther Party members, Mondo
we Langua (formerly known as David Rice) and Ed
Poindexter, who has been languishing in the kkkamps
since 1971, where they were accused, wrongfully
convicted an left to rot in the death kkkamps for a
murder they did not commit, but were accused of by
a frightened 15 year old Duane Peak, at the time.
It is rather interesting that this issue of PP/POW
should even be a thing of discussion today
considering the nature of the amerikkka unjust
system (cyst'm). PPWC have been telling many about
the political process and how that process
discriminates against oppressed nations within her
borders. That ALL PEOPLE OF COLOR who has been
kolonized and beaten to amerikkkan judicial
submission and are incarcerated in the yankees
state/federal death kkkamps are PP/POWs. But we
still find ourselves in debate with various ones
out there over this. Ones who claim to be
Anarchist. Ones who claim to be progressives. Ones
who claim to be about the liberation and struggle
and political, social, economic change and the
total OVERTHROW of this existing amerikkkan [farce]
kapitalistic government.
It shouldn't be a hard thing for anyone with eyes
to see that amerikkkan officials have taken every
aspect of our lives and made it POLITICAL by the
very nature in which they control and attempt to
control our lives. From the food you eat to the
clothes you wear, to the type of place you live, to
where you are "allowed" to live. All of these
things are POLITICAL and to think otherwise is
foolish or (as they say in NA) you're in DENIAL.
When we have pigs arresting Seneca First Nations in
New York and being held hostage, harassed,
badgered, threatened and treated with ultimate
disrespect solely because they refuse to give up
the little land they have or the livelihood they
have by selling tax-free gasoline and tobacco, how
can anyone sit back and claim that their arrest is
not POLITICAL or that they are not PP/POWs (if they
are locked up) by the police state who aims are
purely for political economical gains?
Like MIM, we believe that all prisoners are not to
be set free at this time, because there has to
first be implementations in place for fighting
crime against the citizen. But we do advocate that
all prisoners undergo complete political re-
education while implementations for dealing with
social crimes are being made. We also
understand/overstand that the bourgeois injustice
cyst'm imprisons and executes a disproportionately
large number of oppressed people while they allow
big business, the International Monetary Fund
(IMF), World Bank (WB) and corrupt korporations to
get away with wholesale slaughter, murder and
deceit in the name of kkkapitalism and
expansionism.
As a conscious collect of political
revolutionaries, PPWC does not agree with
everything MIM says but we agree to disagree and
act accordingly in efforts to educate and
effectuate complete change in this existing cyst'm
in amerikkka, while we struggle along side our
comrades of MIM.
We would like to know what you comrades out there
think on this issue of PP/POWs? We would like to
have this issue put to the public for debate and
see why can't we collectively go to Amnesty
International and let them know that "they must"
change their concepts and definitions. Then again,
what's really up on Amnesty International and who
made them the definers of who is and isn't a
PP/POW?
In the trenches...
-- a Michigan prisoner August 1997
* * *
FILIPINO MASSES PROTEST RAMOS POLICIES & VISIT TO
NYC
New York City, November 26 -- At 6 p.m. a
respectable number of protesters, mostly Filipino,
held a picket outside of the Marriott Marquis to
protest the economic and political policies of
Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos. Ramos was in
North America to attend an APEC summit in
Vancouver, Canada, and in New York to speak to the
United Nations this morning and at a fundraiser for
his political party at the Marriott Marquis. The
attendees at the fundraiser included elite Filipino
compradors and multinational corporations.
The chants at the protest organized by Philippine
Forum included "Up with the workers, Down with
Ramos!", and "APEC No!". Protesters also exposed
the U.$-Ramos regime's doublespeak with: "Ramos
says export, we see exploit." and "Ramos says free
trade, we see flesh trade". Many signs exposed the
economic and political repression of the people by
the U.$-Ramos regime.
The informational flyer for the protest split the
protest into two major categories: against APEC
and against Ramos. The Revolutionary Anti-
Imperialist League (RAIL) attended the protest in
support of the anti-Ramos aspect, but not in direct
support of the anti-APEC aspect.
The informational flyer for the protest explained
about APEC: "For the people, APEC and imperialist
globalization means increased misery. Workers are
faced with higher unemployment and depressed wages,
peasants and farmers are losing their livelihoods
and land to transitional agribusiness corporations,
and because of cheap imports flooding the local
economies. The exploitation of women and children
is intensifying, and indigenous communities are
forced from their ancestral lands in order to open
forests and mountains to foreign logging and mining
corporations."
This is a correct reason for people in the neo-
colonies to oppose individual imperialist
agreements like APEC as part of their larger
struggle against imperialism itself. In fact, in
the neo-colonies, economic protectionism plays a
progressive role. Without APEC, the revolutionary
forces -- in the case of the Philippines, led by
the Communist Party of the Philippines -- could
lead the proletariat and peasantry to revolution,
but APEC forces large sections of the national
bourgeoisie to join the revolution.
Here in the imperialist countries, a different
"middle force" plays a different, parasitic role:
the labor aristocracy. The bought off workers
follow the leadership of the nativist bourgeoisie
against globalization because these workers are
afraid of losing their jobs. They take this
conservative position despite history's lesson that
First World jobs lost through globalization are
replaced with even more decadent white collar jobs.
MIM can not lead a revolutionary class alliance
against treaties like APEC at this time without
unleashing a fascist movement we would prefer stay
sedated. Despite superior intentions, nothing can
change the fact that for MIM to organize against
the APEC agreements would unleash these fascist
forces further.
In the Philippines, opposing APEC is correct
because it is the fastest road to revolution. This
is not true in the First World societies, although
organizations and demonstrations in the First World
aimed at Third World exiles are a different matter.
As our principal task is to make revolution here,
we must adopt the strategies most appropriate to
make our revolution. While we can not adopt the
anti-APEC slogan for our work here, we can firmly
unite with other portions of this exile movement,
including the placard that said "NO to Ramos'
sellout of the Philippine patrimony!"
Note: "No to APEC" by Philippine Forum,
philforum@juno.com. For a question and answer
article about MIM's stance on organizing against
individual imperialist agreements, see
"Corrections" in MIM Note 130, 15 January 1997.
* * *
STATEMENT FROM ONONDAGA NATION ACTIVIST ARRESTED
***MIM Notes received this statement from one
activist, issued after the his/her arrest.***
November 29, 1997
I, X of the Onondaga Nation was asked by my
brothers from Onondaga to seek support from other
Nations, to come to Onondaga to re-establish the
Foundation of the Five Nations. On my journey on
Thanksgiving Day at Plymouth Rock I was arrested.
During the booking processes, I of the Y Clan was
asked by police to show identification. The only
identification that I had were white wampum strands
and a pouch of sacred tobacco. The police
confiscated the wampum and tobacco. A police
officer opened the white leather containing the
wampum and removed it from the leather. They
accused me of possession of marijuana; this was my
sacred tobacco which they poured out onto the
counter for inspection. I told them that was the
biggest mistake that they ever made, was to handle
our sacred tobacco and wampum. Prior to my release
from police custody I was asked to raise my right
hand and swear to appear in court on the appointed
date. I refused to raise my hand but told them,
using expletives, you can be sure I will be there,
because I have a lot to say.
* * *
THE PIGS MAKE $625
A town borne in the bloodshed of 500 nations
A nation-state crafted solely to protect the
opulent few
On this genocidal holiday, 300 gather
Looking down at the monument of rock-solid
stupidity and greed
Welcome to Plymouth Mass. Thanksgiving 1997,
national day of mourning
As we march forward to briefly reclaim stolen land
I feel like I'm on Gandhi's path
But when my friend and brother in struggle for
lenape restoration
Is surrounded by six pigs, maced, slammed to the
ground, cuffed and dragged into a patty wagon, I
learn a lesson I could never find in books
Such horror is virtually unexplainable in words
First you must understand that injustice is routine
That attacks are calculated, premeditated and
directed at groups of living creatures
for arbitrary reasons
Such as nation, or gender or age or species.
Next you must see that these tyrants have such a
monopoly on power that they are almost completely
untouchable,
They may strike without reason, without morality
And the best capitalist democracy can offer is:
acquittal, a small pile of money and a slap on the
wrist
You must recognize that the people with uniforms,
badges and guns are no
different from those with robes (black or white) or
suits and ties
You must understand all of this in your mind and
then...
Then watch 25 of your brothers and sisters beaten,
Then watch mace stream down the sidewalk in massive
puddles,
Then, and perhaps only then, will you see why the
black panthers carried guns.
As I stood in the lobby of the plymouth police
station amidst fifty first nation people, all of
singing with our fists raised proudly in the air
I thought of the lenape people
Of their communal living; gender equity, anti-
racism, respect for gay and lesbian peoples, youth
liberation and ecological sustenance
And as I thought of all of this I remembered the
$625
Paid to the plymouth pigs just so our people would
be released from their prisons
And absorbing this final blow --
I thought to myself:
Just look where government has gotten us!
just look where government has gotten us....
***The above poem, written by an anti-imperialist
friend of RAIL, creatively depicts the settler
pigs' repression against activists at the recent
commemoration of the National Day of Mourning in
Plymouth, Massachusetts. MIM disagrees with the
implication above that government in principle will
result in oppression of the people and repression
against actions of the people to make society more
just and equal. When the people truly have the
power and forge genuine struggles against
oppression, the purpose of government is to
represent the political, economic, military, and
social interests of the masses with the ultimate
goal of ending all oppression and the withering
away of the state itself. MIM welcomes accounts of
protest against settler colonialism and Amerikan
imperialism and we encourage activists to work with
us in building the foundations for revolution in
Amerika led by the people.***
* * *
STOCK MARKET CRASH:
LABOR ARISTOCRACY CRISIS-MONGERS GRASPING AT STRAWS
by MC12
Take an example: Two people each put $100 in the
stock market. Over time, the price of the stock
increases to $200. Then one person sells out,
taking a $100 profit. If a lot of people do this at
the same time, the stock market "falls" -- that is,
the price of stocks goes down from all that
selling. So the second person, who was yachting the
first day and not paying attention, has to sell his
or her stock the next day, at "only" $150.
"Look!" says MIM, "These imperialist-nation
investors just cashed in on a profit of $150
between them, without lifting a finger in labor."
On the other hand, "Look!" says Workers World and
other crisis-mongers, "The masses are losing money,
because the second person only got half the profit
of the first person!"
This is a condensed version of what happened with
the U.$. stock market when its core stocks
(averaged into the Dow Jones industrial average)
suddenly dropped in price in November. A few really
rich capitalists and millions of really privileged
labor aristocrat workers cashed in on huge unearned
profits from years of riding the stock market up in
their mutual funds and pensions. When they did,
they reduced the amount of profits that could be
claimed the next day. The stock market lost a few
percentage point of price, but remained much higher
than it was even one year before.
No one "lost" anything, although some people got
less opportunity to reap unearned profits off the
backs of the oppressed than others.
But here's what Workers World said, representing
the "small investor," and the "working class" who
have trillions in stocks, directly and indirectly
through mutual funds and pensions and the like:
"It's not just Bill Gates and other rich
capitalists who lost money on Wall Street. At least
40% of the population of the United States owns
stock shares -- most through mutual funds,
pensions, insurance policies or savings accounts.
Some estimates are as high as 75% of the
population. Many workers have no idea where their
pension money is invested."
So now Workers World says almost half the U.$.
population "lost" money in the market crash!
They quote AFL-CIO President John Sweeney, who
pointed out, as MIM did, that "Worker pension funds
now own 30% of all financial assets in our country
and 25% of the shares of stock in U.S.
corporations," which comes to more than $2
trillion. WW weeps on:
"These funds lost billions in the crash. Even when
the market goes up again, it doesn't mean that the
winners are the same people as the losers. Much of
the pension fund losses may never be recovered. The
stock market is notorious for being a disguised
form of capitalist expropriation of small savers.
It is another way for the capitalists to take away
savings and pensions of the workers and middle-
class people. The stock market fall is thus another
form of cutback."
Now we are supposed to despair that these "losses
may never be recovered"! Let's see the numbers on
how many people had a NET loss -- how many people
saw their stock prices fall below the amount they
put in. Granted, a small proportion of people
probably walked in and plunked down their semi- or
un-earned cash the day before the crash, and they
could have had net losses, but all those millions
of labor aristocrats with their money in pensions
have had it there for years; their "losses" are
merely missed opportunities to claim the profits of
pillage.
WW has the smarts to know some allies of the
oppressed are scratching their heads by now, so
they go on:
"The idea that almost everyone in the United States
could be called a capitalist is often put forward.
But owning stock does not make anyone a capitalist.
A shareholder does not own the assets of a company;
she or he only has a right to part of the profits
made by the company. The yearly dividend incomes of
working class and middle-class investors rarely
amount to the monthly wage of an average industrial
worker."
OK, now MIM and the allies of the oppressed are
pacified. The labor aristocracy is not bilking the
poor -- in fact, many of them see unearned pay
increases of less than 1/12 or about 8% -- every
year, compounded until retirement, of course -- all
for doing nothing!
"The real capitalists are those who own controlling
interests in the big corporations," says WW, and
that's true. But the question is not really whether
or not the labor aristocracy are all "real
capitalists" -- most are not. The question is
whether they are oppressed proletarians, and
whether they will side with the oppressed in
revolutionary movements. In answer to both those
questions, the fact that the labor aristocracy
reaps billions in unearned stock market profits --
beyond their inflated wages and salaries -- is
strong evidence in support of MIM's position that
the labor aristocracy is not a revolutionary class.
NOTES: Workers World newspaper quotes from Nov. 6,
1997, "Market spasms forecast turmoil in economy"
on http://www.workers.org. For more of MIM's
analysis of Workers World and the labor
aristocracy, see MIM Theory 10, "Coming to Grips
with the Labor Aristocracy."
* * *
WOMYN HONORED FOR PARTICIPATION IN GENOCIDE AGAINST
ABENAKI
by MC53
The town of Haverhill, Massachusetts is currently
considering another celebration of settler
colonialism and genocide committed against First
Nations. This particular case shows how settler
nation wimmin benefit from membership in Amerika's
gender aristocracy.
In 1697, Hannah Duston murdered ten indigenous
Abenaki. According to settler mythology, the
Abenaki had captured Duston along with 14 others.
According to a friend of MIM, the indigenous group
accompanying Duston consisted of twelve people --
two men, three wimmin and seven children. In the
middle of the night, Duston woke, murdered and
scalped members of the Abenaki group, escaped and
returned to Havervill with some of the other
settler murderers.
The first person killed was Bampico, an adult male,
by Samuel Leonardson. The adults were killed first,
then the children, all of whom were asleep. All of
the Abenaki were killed except for a small boy and
an elderly womyn who was badly injured. After
having escaped successfully, the settler
colonialists returned specifically for the purpose
of scalping their victims. Duston and the other
settlers then returned to Haverhill with ten scalps
for which they collected a bounty. The pouch that
contained the scalps is currently on display at the
Haverhill Historical Society. Settler mythology not
only perpetuates lies which covers the settler
history of exploitation and genocide, but also
commemorates such acts of terror by labeling it
heroism.
Duston was the first womynn honored with a monument
in the United Snakes of Amerika. That statue of
Duston at the center of the town is one of many
sites commemorating her settler barbarity. There is
also a stone monument by the bank of the Merrimack
River where she was allegedly pulled up upon her
return from her bloody adventure. Additionally, a
nursing home, a street and The Hannah Dustin
Garrison House, a local tourist site, and an
elementary school that is slated for demolition
bare the settler womyn's name. Currently, Havervill
is considering a proposal to name at least one of
the two newly constructed schools after the
murdering white womyn.
Imperialist-nation wimmin share the national
privilege and stature of imperialist-nation men. At
this time, wimmin in imperialist nations are
pacified by the material benefits of white
chauvinism and national oppression. Generally,
First World wimmin choose these benefits rather
than the fight to eradicate patriarchy. MIM urges
First World wimmin to join the struggles of the
oppressed and work for liberation of wimmin
everywhere by taking up the banner of revolutionary
feminism. This is the only path which has in the
past and will in the future truly liberate wimmin.
Necessary to achieve equality for wimmin is the
seizure of state power by the people. The forefront
of the struggle to liberate the world's people from
oppression of groups of people over other groups,
is the struggle for national liberation of
oppressed nations. Without first having political,
military and economic control over its own nation,
a people cannot eradicate oppression based on class
and gender. Truly heroic wimmin warriors are the
ones who do not work in the interests of
imperialism and instead fight for the eradication
of the three strands of oppression: nation, class
and gender.
NOTE: The New York Times 30 November 1997, p.A16.
Special thanks to an anti-imperialist ally for
helping to set straight the history of Dustin's
settler barbarity.
* * *
U.$. IMPERIALISTS SCHEME FOR INCREASED MILITARY
PRESENCE IN THE PHILIPPINES
Representatives of the puppet u.$.-Ramos regime met
in Washington, D.C. with Amerikan imperialists to
on September 30 to negotiate a new Status of Forces
Agreement (SoFA), which will grant immunity from
prosecution to Amerikan military personnel in the
Philippines. The SoFA and another pending treaty,
the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement
(ACSA) are part of imperialist scheming aimed at
expanding the Amerikan military's access to the
Philippines. Amerikan military presence in the
Philippines violates the sovereignty of the
Philippines and will be used to repress the anti-
imperialist struggles of the Filipino people. The
Philippines also serves as a launching pad for u.$.
military aggression against the peoples of East
Asia.
Two of the largest Amerikan military bases were in
the Philippines until 1991, when the bases were
closed in response to a broad anti-bases movement
led by militant national democratic organizations.
Prior to the closing of the bases, Amerikan
soldiers and personnel enjoyed complete immunity
for individual criminal acts in addition to serving
as soldiers in imperialism's war against the
oppressed nations in the Pacific and East Asia.(1)
Since the United Snakes of Imperialism formally
closed the military bases in the Philippines,
Amerika has retained control over the masses
through its support for its puppet, President
Ramos, its support for the Armed Forces of the
Philippines, and through continued imperialist
economic domination. Now it seems that Amerika
seeks to re-establish its direct presence in the
Philippines to increase both economic profits and
military presence. The following factors are
pushing the u.$. military to re-establish a massive
presence in the Philippines: (1) the majority
support in Okinawa to expel Amerikan forces from
the island; (2) the military's need for a base in
the Pacific in order to implement its "two front"
strategy, which requires Amerikan forces to fight
in the Middle East and Korea simultaneously; (3)
the probable end to Ramos' reign in June of 1998;
and (4) the tremendous revolutionary
intensification in the Philippine countryside led
by the Communist Party of the Philippines.
Filipino Representative, Wigberto Tañada (Liberal
Party, Quezon), said in June of this year that ACSA
was "up for finalization" while the SoFA was
"already a done deal ...."(1) While SoFA protects
individual crimes committed against the people,
ACSA (Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement)
more formally gives power and rights of use back in
the direct control of Amerikan imperialism. ACSA is
the euphemistic acronym for the restoration and
indefinite presence of U$ military forces in the
Philippines according to the national democratic
legal mass organization, BAYAN.(2)
ACSA requires the Amerikan and Philippine military
forces to provide each other mutual support and
supplies. Tañada explained, "(But in) reality, it
will be the Philippines which will do all the
providing, in the same way that Subic Naval Base
had served as the US Pacific Fleet's main supply
and repair depot."(1) Mutual defense in this
context means serving U$ strategic interests
primarily, and Philippine security interests only
incidentally, both at the expense of the Filipino
masses.
Tañada added that the ACSA will allow the US
military to replicate decisive functions of the
bases, "but under another name and in another
form." "ACSA is the prelude to enabling the United
States to preposition its war material aboard its
ships which serve as its bodega or floating depots
in Philippine waters," he said.(1)
"Tañada said the implementation of the Acquisition
and Cross Agreement Servicing in particular was
apparently being backed by two presidential
aspirants, Defense Secretary Renato de Villa and
Speaker Jose de Venecia. In a speech delivered at a
recent forum of the Kilosbayan, Tañada said the two
had indicated their adherence to ACSA to court US
support for their presidential ambitions."(1)
Additionally, the Nuclear-Free Philippines
Coalition (NFPC) explained that under the ACSA,
"the United States had the choice of any place in
the Philippines to establish new bases."(1) To
serve as a jumping off point for military control
in Asia and the Middle East, the ACSA would allow
the u$ military to use most of the important ports
for ship docking and military exercises and also
allow the u$ military to use Philippine airfields.
Included in the discussion of how best to expand u$
military domination in the Philippines is whether
or not the u$ should be allowed to use the harbor
of General Santos City in Mindanao and a nearby
airfield. U.$. AID has spent $48 million in the
last few years to construct the airfield there, $15
million to expand the harbor and $63 million for
building highways in the region to connect General
Santos City with other cities. To carry out these
imperialist projects of expansion, U.$. contractors
were often used by the Pentagon.
Military access concretely to Mindanao and
potentially to the other important points gives the
United States of Imperialism direct access to aid
in the fascist repression of the people's
revolutionary armed struggle against imperialism,
bureaucrat capitalism and feudalism. The armed
struggle waged in by the basic Filipino masses the
countryside and led by the Marxist-Lenin-Maoist
Communist Party of the Philippines has intensified
in recent years due to the CPP-led rectification
campaign and increasing organized opposition to
exploitation and oppression. Our task in the
imperialist nations is to build revolution in the
belly of the beast and to intensify the development
of anti-imperialist mobilization to support our
comrades abroad.
NOTES:
1. Philippine Daily Inquirer, June 15, 1997.
2. Philippine Daily Inquirer, Letters to the
Editor, July 5, 1997.
* * *
AMERIKA FIGHTS WAR OF STARVATION AGAINST IRAQI
PEOPLE
by MC45
By continuing to insist on United Nations economic
sanctions agaist Iraq and sustaining provocative
spy-plane flights in Iraqi airspace, the United
Snakes of Imperialism is making every effort to
goad Iraq into taking the first shot and giving
Amerika the excuse it craves to launch an all-out
war of aggression against Iraq. MIM opposes this
and all other forms of U.$. war against oppressed
nations as the most brutal type of violence of
imperialism against the oppressed.
U.N. chief Kofi Annan and members of the U.N.
Security Council have tried to push a compromise of
increasing the amount of oil Iraq can sell in
exchange for war reparations, food and medical
supplies. But Saddam Hussein has said that he does
not wish to see the oil-for-food program continue
because it is another excuse for continuing
sanctions.(1) MIM agrees that continuing the food-
for-oil exchange is a sick ploy. This compromise
offers the illusion that imperialism cares about
the health of the Iraqi people while attempting to
shield the U.$. from international criticism of its
ongoing war of attrition against the masses.
Amerika is using its dispute with the Iraqi
government to justify a policy of brutality and
deprivation against the Iraqi people, and all anti-
imperialist Amerikans are duty-bound to oppose this
action unconditionally. MIM does not see the
current Iraqi government as revolutionary, but we
wholeheartedly support the right of the Iraqi
people to national self-determination. U.$.
imperialism in cooperation with U.N.
collaborationists is today the principal barrier to
the Iraqi people realizing national autonomy.
Therefore it is our responsibility, working from
within the heart of the imperialist beast, to
oppose all U.$. military and economic intervention
in Iraq. Through building opposition to Amerikan
imperialism from within U.$. borders, we will make
our most effective contribution to genuine
liberation for the people of Iraq.
SANCTIONS AND OTHER IMPERIALIST METHODS
In a letter to the members of the U.N. Security
Council on October 2, Ramsey Clark pointed out that
by the U.N.'s own definitions this embargo is
nothing more than genocide by trade policy. Clark
writes: "Genocide is defined in the Convention [on
the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of
Genocide], in part, as '... acts committed with the
intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national
group as such' by means including 'Deliberately
inflicting on the group conditions of life
calculated to bring its physical destruction, in
whole or in part.'"(2)
The mortality rate for Iraqi children under the age
of five is now more than six times what it was in
1989, all as a result of the Gulf War and
subsequent embargo. Child mortality was close to
600 in 1989 and had multiplied to more than 4,400
in 1995. 750,000 Iraqi children died as a result of
the embargo alone by the end of 1996.(3)
The language of sanctions, inspections and the need
to secure U.$. interests in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
against the supposed threat of an Iraqi attack are
all based on the imperialist assumption of
Amerika's right to police Iraq. MIM continues to
point out that it doesn't matter what Iraq has or
hasn't done in Kuwait, and it doesn't matter what
Iraq has or hasn't complied to in the name of
subordinating itself to imperialist demands. No
action on Iraq's part ever has or could justify
Amerikan imperialist intervention into that
country. MIM calls U.$. involvement in Iraq
imperialist because it is rooted in the need of
monopoly capital to eventually control people and
resources all over the globe.
Even the relief programs which have been extended
to Iraq in the past are based on imperialist
relations. The food-for-oil program, through which
Iraq has sold $2 billion of oil to multi-national
corporations over each of the last two years is
based on the supposed imperialist right to Iraq's
natural resources.(1) MIM does not advocate that
Persian Gulf countries be graciously permitted to
keep all their oil and starve, but it is a mistake
to see the current oil-for-food program as a great
humanitarian gift. Even if we discount the
extraction of resources, the program does not only
serve to benefit the Iraqi people, as a large
percentage of proceeds from Iraqi oil are going to
pay war reparations to Kuwait.
DETERIORATING ECONOMIC SITUATION IN IRAQ
The embargo, in effect since 1991, has forced the
Iraqi government to continue privatizing state
industries. Privatization started during the war
with Iran in the 1980s. During and immediately
following the Gulf War the dinar, Iraq's basic
currency, became almost valueless for exchange as
prices rose drastically on the black market. In the
past two years, the government has legalized black
market monetary exchange in an effort to restrain
the exchange rate. Now there are two black market
exchanges -- the legal one on which the dinar is
worth a fraction of its former value, and the
illegal exchange on which the dinar is worth even
less.(4, 5)
Another major effect of the privatization has been
to amplify the wealth of the richest Iraqis while
doing nothing to help the poor. Wealthy Iraqis who
have capital to spend are buying government-sized
businesses like hospitals, and becoming wealthier
through this ownership. At the same time, the
government is offering stocks in its operations to
remaining workers so that a petty-bourgeois base of
civil employees will remain on the job even while
many educated petty bourgeois like lawyers and
scientists are becoming small merchants, taxi
drivers and other service workers because these
jobs offer better pay than their trained
professions.(5)
DIFFERENCES IN IMPERIALIST OPINION
A bright spot for Iraq in the inevitable rivalry
among imperialists vying for exploitation rights to
Iraqi oil is that Iraq is able to use this rivalry
against the imperialists to some degree. Because of
the following reasons, Amerika is hesitant to
declare Iraq clean of illegal weapons and end the
embargo.(6) The United Snakes has secure oil
sources in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. Amerika does
not want to see Iraqi oil immediately on the market
driving down prices overall. In an imperialist
economy which creates no real value military build-
ups are important to keeping money flowing.
Amerika has attempted to get the U.N. security
council to agree that Iraq has substantially
violated the terms of the Gulf War ceasefire, which
include inspections of Iraqi military facilities
and weapons. If the U.N. officially agrees that
Iraq has violated the ceasefire, Amerika can go
ahead with a military attack on Iraq with
international impunity.(6)
France and Russia are holding back on supporting
renewed sanctions because both countries are
interested in future deals with the Iraqi state oil
company, INOC. INOC is in charge of all oil
extraction in Iraq and a necessary partner in any
ownership of Iraqi oil resources. At the end of
November, Russia attempted to have Iraq declared
free of nuclear weapons in a meeting of a special
U.N. body. Iraq must be declared free of nuclear,
chemical, biological and missile weapons as one of
the conditions to lifting sanctions.(7) Both Russia
and France have fewer oil holdings than U.$.
imperialism and are anxious to gain access to
additional oil.(8) If important U.N. members want
badly enough to get their grubby hands on Iraq's
oil, they may be able to override Amerika and take
some of the heat of weapons inspections and
sanctions off Iraq.
WHO DECIDES THE BRUTALITY OF A WEAPON?
Since Amerika can't see the weapons and since it
needs a reason for war, it has accused Iraq of
having more chemical and biological weapons now
than it did when the Gulf War ended in the winter
of 1991. Much talk centers on the destructive
potential of these weapons, and on the implicit
inhumanity of storing and building these
weapons.(9) MIM reminds readers that it is
important first to interrogate the U.$. for the
same crimes of which it is accusing Iraq.
Amerikan policy towards bio-chemical weapons has
been inconsistent and hypocritical ever since these
imperialist snakes first refused to participate in
the banning of chemical weapons in 1907.
Demonstrating its hypocrisy even toward a single
country and ruling party in different
circumstances, the united snakes opposed U.N.
action against Iraq in 1984 when Iraq was shown to
have used mustard and nerve gases against Iranian
troops.(10)Current warnings of the threat of
biological weapons from Iraq continue to tell only
the imperialist side of the story. In the Persian
Gulf War, Amerika used such weapons as napalm and
fuel-air explosives against both military and
civilian targets, in violation of the Geneva
Convention. A fuel-air explosive releases a
"shockwave" whose "concussive force would surely
rupture internal organs or eardrums of Iraqi
soliders pinned down in their bunkers. This is not
even to mention incineration and asphyxiation, as
the fire storm of the bomb sucks all of the oxygen
out of the area."(11)
Even after the war was over, Amerikan armed forces
used both biological and chemical weapons on the
"Highway of Death," a road from Kuwait to Iraq
along which retreating Iraqi troops and
Palestinian, Jordanian, and other war refugees
travelled at the end of the 1991 war.(12) And
within united snakes borders police and prison
guards continue to use pepper spray -- the main
ingredient of which was outlawed for use as a
weapon by the United Nations Biological Weapons
Convention in 1972 -- against demonstrations and
crowds, arrestees and prisoners.(13)MIM calls on
all anti-imperialist activists and on those
currently focused on the human rights of Iraqi
civilians to join us in our efforts to prevent this
war. It is not enough to oppose sanctions and
respect the decisions of the United Nations. We
must recognize that no imperialist intervention in
Iraq can be justified. Amerika's crimes at home and
abroad are recounted consistently in the pages of
MIM Notes. Join us in our work to fight the
imperialist monster, and to expose and oppose all
forms of oppression.
NOTES:
1. "Talk of the Nation," National Public Radio 5
December, 1997
2. http://www.Al-Bushra.org/iraq/clark.htm.
3. "Embargo Factsheet," http://www.Al-
Bushra.org/temp/embargo.htm.
4. CIA World Factbook.
5. "Nation for Sale? In Iraq, War and Embargo have
cleared the path for privatization," http://www.Al-
Bushra.org/temp/aziz.htm.
6. MIM Notes 152 15 December, 1997.
7. New York Times 22 November, 1997.
8. New York Times 22 October, 1997.
9. New York Times 2 May, 1997.
10. "The pot calling the kettle black: A history of
bio-chemical weapons," http://www.Al-
Bushra.org/temp/grossman.htm.
11. Ramsey Clark and others, War Crimes: A Report
on United States War Crimes Against Iraq.
Maissoneuve Press (Washington, D.C.: 1992), p. 86.
12. Ibid, p. 18.
13. Michigan Daily 24 November, 1997 and MIM Notes
#149 1 November, 1997.
* * *
U$ RESTRICTS WEAPONS TO INDONESIA
by MC17
Today, December 7, 1997, marks the twenty-second
year of the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. On
November 12, the u.s. house of representatives
voted to block the use of u.s. weapons in occupied
East Timor, restricting the sale of lethal weapons
to Indonesia. The Senate had already approved the
measure with stronger wording. The vote on the
sixth anniversary of the Dili massacre in East
Timor, came as the White House was offering a three
billion dollar financial bailout for Indonesia.(1)
The new legislation requires that any contract to
sell lethal equipment to Indonesia "state that the
United States expects that the items will not be
used in East Timor." The Indonesian regime, led by
General Suharto, has ruled over East Timor since
1975 when they invaded the country, with u.s.
knowledge and approval and arms. Since then, the
Indonesian occupying force has massacred close to
1/3 of the population, often using weapons bought
from the united states. The Timorese people have
been fighting for national liberation against the
u.s. armed Indonesian regime. On November 12, 1991,
in just one example of the atrocities of the
Indonesian military occupation, more than 271
peaceful demonstrators were massacred in Dili, East
Timor.
According to the u.s. state department, about 90%
of the weapons used during the Indonesian invasion
of East Timor were u.s.-supplied. Amerika has
provided Indonesia with hundreds of millions of
dollars in military and economic assistance since
1975. The Clinton administration alone has provided
almost $300 million in economic assistance and tens
of millions of dollars in weaponry between 1993 and
1995.(2)
The Indonesian government has stated repeatedly
that it will not accept conditions on weapons
sales, particularly conditions tied to its record
on human rights. This spring, Suharto canceled a
pending F-16 fighter plane deal because members of
congress were talking about attaching human rights
conditions.(1)
This legislation from the u.s. government has
gained praise from activists as a huge step in the
fight against Indonesian occupation of East Timor.
But while it does signify the first u.s.
recognition of East Timor as a country separate
from Indonesia, the legislation can only mean real
change if Suharto acts based on words that bruise
his ego. There is no method written into the
legislation to assure that u.s. weapons are not
used in East Timor, and it would be very easy for
Suharto to agree to this stipulation and then do
whatever he wants with u.s. weapons.
Additionally, Indonesian occupation has been
enforced with arms from other imperialist nations,
like Australia, which could easily pick up the
slack of arming against East Timor to protect
Australia's oil interests off the East Timor coast.
This is not the first u.s. restriction on weapons
sold to Indonesia. A transfer of F-5 fighters was
blocked in 1993, and in 1994 the State Department
instituted a ban on the sale of small arms and
crowd control equipment to Indonesia. The ban has
since been expanded to include helicopter-mounted
weapons and armored personnel carriers.(1)
These concessions by the imperialists can be
important to those fighting for self-determination
in the Third World. If these lead to fewer weapons
in the hands of the Indonesian military, the
Timorese resistance has won a small battle in its
fight to overthrow the imperialist occupation.
It appears that this recent legislation was passed
in the house and senate in response to strong
public pressure over many years. Because the united
states has little stake in East Timor itself, this
token gesture of humanity will cost the Amerikan
imperialists little while creating a better public
image. The imperialists want to support fellow
imperialists and imperialist lackeys like Suharto,
but particularly when there is not significant
direct investment on the line, it is possible to
win battles like these. In the case of East Timor,
its main interest in the country is through its
relationship with Indonesia.
This distinction between countries that the united
states has financial or military interests in and
those that are not as important to the u.s.
imperialists is important. In the case of the
Philippines, united states imperialists would not
risk harming significant financial and military
investments to condemn the atrocities of the
dictatorship and make even token gestures at
cutting off weapons supplies. Activists should take
advantage of all situations in fighting to reduce
imperialist involvement in the Third World. Our
principal role in these struggles should be to
support the national liberation struggles of Third
World peoples. Reducing the supply of military
weapons to the peoples' oppressors is a great
contribution.
NOTES:
1. Press release from the East Timor Action
Network/US, November 13, 1997.
2. Los Angeles Times, 7 December 1995.
* * *
EAST TIMOR MASSACRE COMMEMORATION REPRESSED BY
U.S.-BACKED INDONESIA
by MC17
On November 14, 1997 Indonesian troops opened fire
on East Timorese students in Dili following a clash
with protesting students at the University of East
Timor. More than 1,000 students commemorated the
November 12, 1991 massacre. Following this
commemoration, a peaceful demonstration was held on
November 13 at which the military killed three
wimmin and injured another three. At another
demonstration on the 14th, according to witnesses,
the police started firing at random to disperse the
crowd. According to one source, at least two people
were killed and 16 were injured. A number of
students were arrested.(1,2,3) The numbers dead and
injured have not yet been confirmed. After the
attack university activities were suspended
indefinitely.
Activities around the world commemorated the
November 12 massacre in Dili. In England an all
night vigil was held at the Hawk factory where
airplanes are manufactured that are used for carpet
bombing of East Timorese people by the Indonesian
regime. A number of people were arrested, including
six Timorese who refused to identify themselves,
claiming status as prisoners of war and demanding
that the British government examine the crime of
British companies selling weapons to the Indonesian
dictatorship.
The British Aerospace Hawk deals with Indonesia
have been fraught with controversy and nonviolent
action. Last July, four ploughshares wimmin were
found not guilty by a Liverpool jury of causing
criminal damage to a Hawk, arguing that they had
been preventing the crime of genocide in East
Timor. Despite such successes and massive popular
concern, the incoming "new" Labour government
decided not to cancel the deal.(4)
NOTES:
1. The Weekend Australian, 15-16 November 1997.
2. Sydney, 17 Nov (Lusa) from east-timor@igc.org.
3. GREEN LEFT WEEKLY - Issue #298, 19 November
1997.
4. From: Peace News (Peace
News - For Nonviolent Revolution 5 Caledonian Road,
London N1 9DY, Britain.) 14 November 1997.
* * *
MARXISM- LENINISM-MAOISM ONLINE
BOURGEOISIE FIGHTS OVER INTERNET CONTENT CONTROL:
SHOULD FEDERAL LAW, PARENTS OR THE PEOPLE CONTROL
THE INTERNET?
In the latest round of "should federal law or
parents regulate the content of the Internet" --
the two forces in this paternalistic struggle to
control youth's access to information seem to be
locked in a close tie. Fortunately for the
bourgeoisie, both sides agree on and support the
direct involvement of law enforcement.
On one hand, you have a new bill introduced in the
Senate (S-1482) in the beginning of November "to
amend section 223 of the Communications Act of 1934
to establish a prohibition on commercial
distribution on the World Wide Web of material that
is harmful to minors, and for other purposes." (1)
"Under the bill, commercial online distributors of
material deemed "harmful to minors" could be
punished with up to six months in jail and a
$50,000 fine. The definition of "distributor" could
include the virtual bookstore amazon.com or a
promotional site for a Hollywood movie, as well as
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as Microsoft
and America Online,² the ACLU said. ³And unlike the
CDA, the statute applies only to web sites, not to
chat rooms, e-mail or news groups."(2)
On the other, you have a three-day summit in
Washington, D.C. at the beginning of December where
technology and media companies such as Amerika
Online and Disney affirmed their commitment to
filtering software -- arguing that through
technology they can obviate the need for federal
regulation.
At the summit, participants agreed on the
importance of working with law enforcement to trap
online pedaphiles, and to report illegal activities
in chat rooms or other components of their services
to the police.(3) Vice-President Gore, a welcome
speaker at the conference, unveiled a new 1-800
number for parents to report any objectionable
content they come across on the Internet.(4) (And
although the bourgeois newspaper and radio reports
MIM consulted in writing this article all reprinted
the 800 number, MIM opts not to do the pigs'
advertising for them.) It has to be this way -- as
everyone involved recognizes that children are way
ahead of adults in navigating their way around the
Internet, including around filtering software.
Timed to coincide with the conference, the
Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC)
released a report opposing the use of filtering.(3)
The report stated that using such search terms as
"American Red Cross," "San Diego Zoo," "Smithsonian
Institution," "Christianity," the "Bill of Rights"
and "eating disorders:"(5)
"filtering software blocked almost 90 percent of
the materials on the Internet containing the
relevant search terms. We further found that in
many cases, the search service denied access to 99
percent of material that would otherwise be
available without the filters. We concluded that
the filtering mechanism prevented children from
obtaining a great deal of useful and appropriate
information that is currently available on the
Internet."(5)
So far so good. But this is the same EPIC that is
promoting a new report on spam called, "How to
Complain About Spam, or, Put a Spammer in the
Slammer." The report encourages people to report
suspicious "spam" to the FBI and claims that "the
attorney general of your state is your friend."(6)
For their part, state legislatures are using the
Internet more and more to crack down on non-
Internet related crimes. According to a recent ACLU
newsletter:
"The St. Paul, Minnesota Police Department has
launched a page on its official website posting
pictures and biographical information of
individuals suspected of prostitution or soliciting
prostitution.(7)
"The site includes a disclaimer stating that all
persons are considered innocent until proven
guilty, but includes no other information on
whether the individuals have been indicted or
acquitted."(7)
The newsletter went on to report that:
"A Michigan State Representative, Dave Jaye, has
also recently launched a web page containing the
names of 275 individuals from his county who are
registered with the state Public Sex Offenders
Registry. The site is linked to Rep. Jaye's
official website and states that his office is 'not
responsible for inaccuracies.'(7)
"Despite the possibility of error and vigilantism
on the site it provides names, addresses, and other
personal information about registered offenders and
is searchable by zip code."(7)
MIM opposes government regulation, law enforcement
involvement AND parental control of internet
content through filtering technologies. We
encourage all youth to visit MIM's web site for
some revolutionary education --
http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext.
Notes:
1. http://thomas.loc.gov
2. ACLU newsletter, Nov. 18, 1997.
http://www.aclu.org
3. Washington Post, Dec. 2, 1997.
http://www.washingtonpost.com
4. All Things Considered, National Public Radio,
Dec. 2, 1997.
5. http://www.epic.org
6. http://weber.ucsd.edu/~pagre/spam.html#Police
7. ACLU Newsletter, Nov. 3, 1997.
http://www.aclu.org
*
INTERNET GREETINGS FROM THE BASQUE RED NET
Dear MIM, I am grateful to announce that, as a
tribute to the Russian Revolution, on November
1997, we connected our web site THE BASQUE RED NET
to Internet and to invite you to visit it. Our URL:
http://www.basque-red.net
The definition of our web site says as follows: The
BASQUE RED NET is made up of persons who are
radical communists, Basque independentists,
feminists and ecologists and who are interested in
information and communication. Most of them are
Basques from birth, but there are some who are
Basque due to their attachment or to international
solidarity.
For the time being our web site is written in four
languages: Spanish, Basque, Catalan and English.
The sections of our web site are:
-Weekly analyses and news service: A glance at the
(Basque) hidden face of the Spanish state.
-The Basque Country: the oldest nation-people in
Europe.
-Is a Revolution brewing in the Basque Country?
-Negación vasca radical del capitalismo mundial
(Basque radical refusal to world capitalism)
-Communism or chaos: capitalism kills
-A reading guide to become a communist
-The Marx-Engels-Rosa-Lenin-Mao-Ho-Che-Wallerstein-
EZLN Archive in the BASQUE RED NET.
-Ecology: how capitalism is destroying the planet.
-The infamy of patriarchy worsened by the
capitalism
-Links page
We made a link to:
Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) --
http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/
in our links page. At the beginning our link page
will only give in HTML the name of the pages and
their URL. Since our aim is to enlarge it
successively, we ask you to send as by e-mail a
text of up to 40 words defining your web site as
you like. And where appropriate a banner or logo.
We are very grateful for your visit. Should you
have any critical or suggestion to make please send
it to us.
*
MIM RESPONDS: Thank you for alerting us to your
new web site, and for allowing us to represent
ourselves with text and a banner graphic with the
link. We will return the link with your letter and
the following review of your site, which we run in
order to call attention on the Basque struggle for
independence. MIM also presents our criticisms of
the content of your web site as part of our
investigation into the different political lines in
this struggle.
The site includes recent news from Spain about the
Basque struggle, and points to histories of Basque
nationalism and the birth of the ETA. These
documents make it clear that BASQUE RED NET is
calling for genuine self-determination from Spain,
the parameters of which are to be determined by the
Basque people themselves.
But MIM was disappointed to see a text archive of
Trotsky along with the correct lines of Marx, Lenin
and Mao -- as if there is no distinction between
the revisionist line of Trostky (which never led a
successful liberation struggle) -- and the (proven)
revolutionary proletarian line of Mao. We further
disagree with the site's upholding of Fidel
Castro's Cuba as "communist." MIM aruges that Cuba
is a state-capitalist country which was formerly a
colony of the ex-USSR and is now disproportionately
dependent on Russia and other imperialist powers.
MIM does not have enough information to know
whether BASQUE RED NET is itself a revisionist
organization, or whether it is just liberal in
promoting the revisionist line in it recommended
reading on communism. We welcome your response and
further struggle.
* * *
FOSTER CARE PIGS PERPETUATE HETEROSEXIST PATRIARCHY
by MC53
A child welfare supervisor ordered an emergency
removal of a child under custody of a lesbian womyn
in Dallas, Texas. The reason given was "We don't
ordinarily license persons when we know them to be
involved in any kind of crime on an ongoing basis."
The supervisor, Rebecca Bledsoe stated that the
foster parent "admits to criminal sexual conduct."
Bledsoe is backed up by the 118 year old law which
states that homosexual activity is a crime.
Not surprising, the Department of Protective and
Regulatory Services faked left and continued
reactionary. It gave Bledsoe a liberal punishment
and admonished her. The DPRS demoted Bledsoe to the
status of caseworker, but allowed her to retain the
salary of a supervisor.
Amerikan legislation legally backs the action taken
by Bledsoe, showing that this is not a case of one
random heterosexist. In fact, twenty states still
have anti-sodomy statues, six states define same
sex relations as criminal sodomy and two states,
Florida and New Hampshire, have made it formally
illegal for homosexuals to adopt children.
Even if pro-gay and lesbian activists were able to
fully change the legislation which discriminates
against people based on their sexual orientation,
the patriarchy would continue to uncover new anti-
people policies. As of now, it is not just the
individual agents of patriarchy, but the
legislative and legal system which deny privileges
based on gender and sexual orientation. MIM argues
that gender oppression, which includes oppression
based on sexual orientation, is a separate strand
of oppression from class and nation which must be
struggled against. To overthrow the patriarchy and
end inequality based on gender and sexual
orientation the state must be in the hands of the
people.
NOTE: The New York Times 30 November 1997, p. A10.
* * *
MASSACHUSETTS CONTINUES PRISONER DEPORTATION &
ROTATION TO TEXAS GULAGS
Massachusetts Department of Corrections chained
another 28 prisoners in a bus for deportation to
Texas on December 3. These 28 hostages of the
Amerikan injustice system were exchanged for other
Massachusetts prisoners who had already been
languishing in Texas gulags. The latest slave
shipment to Texas preserved the contracted
Massachusetts quota of 300 in the Dallas County
Jail.
The Massachusetts DOC began transferring prisoners
to Texas in 1995. In the first shipment, 300 men
were deported in the middle of the night to be
taken far away from families and supporters. The
deportation of Mass prisoners to Texas is a terror
tactic in Amerika¹s war against the oppressed
nations. This system can only survive by the
strength of its military might and through keeping
the masses afraid and beaten down. RAIL has been
consistently struggling to build public opinion in
favor of these prisoners and has contributed to the
strong public outcry opposing the transfer
policies.
The Massachusetts DOC began rotating prisoners
earlier this year in what appears to be a
concession to the growing opposition to transfers.
Though the DOC aims to quiet our protests, RAIL and
MIM organize to stop the deportations altogether in
this battle against the entire Amerikan prison
system. The result of the new rotation policy is
that more prisoners are subjected to the long
slaveship journey, horrible conditions in Texas and
tremendous alienating distances from families and
supporters.
Just recently we received a report that in addition
to the unsanitary conditions, lack of heat, and
lack of medical care in Dallas, at least one
prisoners has had all his MIM literature seized and
is now having his mail censored. We face these same
problems in Massachusetts but activists and family
members have an easier time holding the prisoncrats
responsible as we are close by and can take our
protests directly to the people responsible.
RAIL has been organizing against these transfers to
Texas since 1995 and we have gathered a significant
number of petition signatures while getting the
word out about why we oppose these transfers. We
will continue to fight these transfers until all of
the prisoners in Dallas are returned to
Massachusetts. MIM leads RAIL in our intensified
struggle against the current Amerikan injustice
system. The Amerikan prison system is one of the
most fascistic sections of the Amerikan system. The
Amerikan prison system is a tool to perpetuate and
strengthen national oppression and social control.
Lack of representation for the oppressed in courts,
denial of the right to a jury of peers, unequal
sentences for similar crimes between whites and
oppressed nationals, and greatly disproportionate
imprisonment of members of oppressed nations are
some of the characteristics of the Amerikan prison
system. MIM organizes for revolution and fights for
power to the people. Fighting the entire Amerikan
prison system and its foul manifestations such as
the deportations is a struggle RAIL can help you
build in your area.
NOTES: Boston Globe. Dec 4, 1997. p. B11
* * *
BAR ASSOCIATIONS ADVOCATE MORATORIUM ON DEATH
PENALTY
November 25, the Pennsylvania DOC and district
attorney's debated the death penalty. These agents
of repression appeared to re-assess the use of the
death penalty based on increased opposition to its
disproportionate implementation in punishment
against oppressed nationals and the poor. Public
opinion as well as criticisms from Bar Associations
and Amnesty International pushed the agents to at
least pretend to address the issue.
With a motion to support the moratorium, the
Philadelphia Bar Association joined the
Pennsylvania Bar Association and the American Bar
Association in calling for "a moratorium on capital
punishment in Pennsylvania until such time that
fairness in its administration can be ensured."(1)
These motions are significant advances in the
struggle against the imperialist death penalty but
are not binding in any legal sense and will
ultimately only serve as means to build public
opinion.
Philadelphia Bar chancellor Clifford Haines
explained before the vote: "It's incumbent on
legal leadership across the country to look
carefully at the way the death penalty is carried
out and the way the people whose lives are taken
from them are represented before any public
official goes forward with the penalty."(1)
The Bar's Board of Governors voted 18-10 in favor
of the moratorium.(1) MIM welcomes the position of
the Philadelphia Bar Associations and other Bar
Associations in opposition to the death penalty in
imperialist Amerika. However, decisions of Bar
Associations, which are organizations of lawyers,
are not binding upon the government. We encourage
and organize further opposition to specific
practices which worsen conditions of Amerika's
oppressed. But MIM does not stop there. MIM
continues the fight for more than mere temporary
reprieves. We need progressive lawyers to take up
the banner of Maoism to help in the fight to
overthrow imperialism and build an entirely new
justice system based on the needs of the people and
not the interests of imperialism and its parasites.
Of the 210 people on death row in Pennsylvania, 131
-- or 62 percent -- are Black, according to the
Pennsylvania DOC.(1) Only 9.5% of Pennsylvania is
Black(2). Of the 115 prisoners sentenced to death
in Philadelphia, 96 of them -- or 84 percent -- are
Black.(1) Only 39.9% of Philadelphia residents are
Black(3)
Pierre Sane, the London-based secretary general of
Amnesty International, criticized the use of the
death penalty in Pennsylvania as "one of the most
racist and unfair" in the United Snakes. Sane is
correct to address the implementation of the death
penalty in this manner, but Amnesty International's
analysis and criticism falls short. While from time
to time, groups like Amnesty play a role in
building public opinion against specific aspects of
oppression, the analysis and direction from these
organizations does not project an overall criticism
of the Amerikan system of injustice. Amnesty's long
history of reformism shows that the systematic
analysis of oppression is still work that only the
masses, its Party, United Front and Army are
willing to fight.
MIM opposition to the death penalty goes beyond the
typical reasons which pacifists use. Specifically,
MIM does not oppose the death penalty in principle.
We oppose the way that it is used under imperialism
because of its role as an extreme punishment in
Amerika's war on the oppressed nations. It will
never be possible for this disgusting system to
carry out the death penalty with "fairness" because
this system is unfair to its core.
As the people's Party, United Front and Army hasten
the death of imperialism, the people will seize the
power to make decisions concerning the death
penalty. In the hands of the people, the death
penalty will be used to serve the interests of the
masses. Carrying out the death penalty during the
necessary armed struggle on the path to seizing
power for the people or as revolutionary people's
tribunals expose hard core enemies of the people
who are not willing to reform are cases in which
MIM does not oppose the death penalty under
socialism. If you disagree, get real -- Amerikan
imperialism enacts the death penalty daily against
the masses throughout the world. While MIM works
with pacifists now to oppose the death penalty, we
are also pushing for the day that the people have
the power to make decisions concerning this and
every method to end oppression.
NOTES:
1. Philadelphia Inquirer 26 November 1997.
2. Statistical Abstract of the United States 1996,
p. 34.
3. Statistical Abstract of the United States 1996,
p. 45.
* * *
SWITCHED VOTE KILLS EFFORT TO REINSTATE
MASSACHUSETTS DEATH PENALTY
On November 6, the Massachusetts house of
representatives voted down a compromise bill from
the house-senate conference committee that would
have restored the death penalty in Massachusetts.
As we previously reported, the house had narrowly
passed a death penalty bill on October 29. The more
solidly pro-death penalty Senate decided against
accepting the House version.
MIM is glad that the death penalty proponents lost
in Massachusetts, and we are glad that in the
process, the life-long torture alternative failed
too. We must recognize that the death penalty in
Amerika is used as a symbolic act of retribution
and revenge in high-profile cases and as a weapon
of terror in Amerika's war against the Black,
Latino and First Nations within its borders. We
must oppose the use of the death penalty by the
imperialist state as part of our struggle against
the injustice system itself.
Influenced by the recent Louise Woodward case, rep.
John Slattery switched and voted against the bill.
The vote was a tie, but a majority is needed to
pass a bill into law. Due to the way the House
accepted the compromise bill, House rules prevent
the bill from being resubmitted until 1999.
When the house first passed the bill, the media was
full of stories about a recent spate of brutal
murders. But the media extensively covered
Woodward's case in the week prior to the second
vote. According to a Boston Herald poll, 91% of
voters "disagreed with that verdict in one way or
another." Many Amerikans can relate to the white
Woodward and look at her sentence as a case of the
justice system not working. White nation chauvinism
is the basis of getting outraged at the Woodward
case while much clearer cases of injustice -- such
as the not guilty verdicts for the officers who
beat Rodney King -- are accepted by the Amerikan
settlers.
The house was the scene of intense lobbying. The
center of the pro-death forces were the family of
10 year old Jeffrey Curley, who was recently
abducted, killed and then sexually molested.
Curley's death is being used by the patriarchy to
promote child abuse. The rabid frenzy around
stranger molestation prolongs the life of the
patriarchy, which treats children as property. The
stranger-molestation hype distracts attention from
the property relationship between parents and
children, which is the basis for children being so
vulnerable to adult violence. Going gung-ho after
the very rare stranger rape cases only admonishes
the more frequent situation of daddy raping
daughter. By eliminating the patriarchy and the
parental ownership of children we can stop all of
this horrible crime against humanity.
MIM struggles against the criminal injustice system
because we recognize its use as a key weapon in
Amerika's war on the oppressed nations. We
propagandize against this weapon by pointing out
that the imperialists' promises to stop crime with
more prisons won't work. For that matter, there is
nothing the state can do (length of sentences,
death penalty, etc.) that will affect the crime
rate. Crime is socially created and constructed.
People who want to end so-called crime should work
with MIM to create a society where such things no
longer have a material basis to happen. Sentences
imposed for crimes committed against the people
must be in the hands of the people.
NOTES: Boston Globe 7 November 1997, p. A1, A34.
* * *
UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS
COMRADE IN HOLE REPORTS ON MISSOURI SWINE
It has been a while since last I communicated with
you mainly because I have been in the hole without
my stamps and writing materials. It is a damn shame
that a pig can lie on you and his word is taken as
the truth.
Since I have been in the hole, I have seen these
out of shape pigs show their true colors in rare
form. Like last night for instance, there was an
inmate upstairs who was kicking the cell door
because his cellmate was having a medical problem.
When the pigs rushed into the unit, instead of
getting the sick inmate medical attention, they
sprayed their poison or pepper mace into the cell.
Then they gave the two inmates conduct violations
for creating a disturbance.
Just yesterday a pig gave me a conduct violation
for a minor assault because I wouldn't let him grab
me by the arm and treat me like a little child.
These people [guards] have lost their minds. They
think just because you are in prison you have lost
your god given right to be a man and a human being.
Enough about these swine....
I hope to hear from you soon, at this time you are
my only lifeline to what's going on in the
struggle.
-- A Missouri Prisoner, 21 October 1997
RETALIATORY TRANSFER OF MICHIGAN REVOLUTIONARY IN
KKKAMPS
Please note that i am no longer at the X Facility.
i was systematically moved from X Facility because
of my political / social activities.
i was transferred from Facility X and they left all
my personal property and legal property there. This
includes my personal footlocker (with all my
clothes, books, papers, cosmetics, radio, Holy
Koran, etc. in it); legal footlocker (with all my
legal books, court papers, briefs in it);
typewriter and TV. Essentially, i have NOTHING!
And to make matters worse ... i am in the Michigan
Court of Appeals recently and got a letter from the
Court telling me i had 22 days to come before them.
Those 22 days are up October 22nd, and i have not
begun to research the cases i need, let alone write
up a draft copy of the brief, type it out and make
6 copies: one for the Attorney General, one for
myself and 4 to the courts.
My last word to you expressed how i was denied the
materials you sent me and that i was fighting it.
However, before i could have a hearing i was
transferred. So i don't know if this hearing will
resume at this kkkamp or not, but i plan to pursue
it from this end and find out something -- and find
out where and what they did with that material.
This particular kkkamp is considered a Medium
Security facility, but it is run as though it is a
Maximum Security Facility. There is very little
movement and very little yard time.
And to make matters even worse ... Black People run
this kkkamp. Black Overseers! Black House "Knee-
grows" ... That's who runs this place. 99% of the
pigs here are knee- grow black overseers oppressing
other Black men. And out of the 99% Black run/pig
infested kkkamp, only 1% of the administration is
white. Now Ain't that a Bitch?
Mighty Whitey has taught us well. Taught us to
oppress and humiliate our own. Now get this - 65%
of the black pigs and overseers who run this kkkamp
are Black Wimmin! What's up with that Shit?
The Warden is Black. The Deputy Warden is Black.
The Assistant Deputy Warden is Black. All the
nurses are Black. The doctor is Black and female,
but i hear she is very professional and treats men
as men and not as a dog....
-- A Michigan Prisoner, November 1997
MIM RESPONDS: It may seem like a contradiction to
see members of oppressed nations in the oppressor's
uniform -- but it happens. People believe in the
Amerikkkan nightmare, that they can get a piece of
the pie, or crumbs off the table. Just because a
person is Black, does not mean that they are hip to
the revolution. Nationality can tell us who has a
material interest in revolution but the
imperialists have succeeded in buying themselves a
number of lackeys from among the oppressed nations
both inside and outside u.s. borders.
MICHIGAN SECURITY THREAT GROUP POLICY BURIES
PRISONERS
... As of now I am still under lock down and
currently being railroaded on trumped up charges by
the facility to the outside courts. I supposedly
spit on one of these oppressors, which is False to
the greatest extent. I am being prosecuted for a
"felony" assault, to which they are trying to
include habitual penalty to carry a time statute of
8 years! A charge of such nature in the free world
is at the highest, classified as a misdemeanor
punishable at a maximum of 90 days.
This is a prime example of corruption at this
facility. At the moment several prisoners are being
charged with this. The goal is to bury us
prisoners. It is a small town and state police work
with the facility.
The institutional investigator's investigation
consists of asking a guard if a prisoner committed
the alleged charge, an answer of yes is reported to
the same state police officer every time. Which is
sent tot he same prosecutor downtown. They are very
systematic and prisoners are guilty before tried.
Since charged I have received bogus misconduct
reports, receiving the maximum time per charge. My
property is being taken and I'm refused receipts
for several days, months in one incident. This
gives oppressor easy time to lose and destroy
property, which was done of course.
MDOC [Michigan Department of Corrections] Internal
Affairs supposedly investigated a complaint of
corruption and harassment. Refusing to call or
contact prisoner witnesses, only interviewing
guards. The complaint was improperly investigated,
and as a result held the complaint without merit.
Due to this the Assistant Director of the MDOC in
Lansing ordered a misconduct [report of the
prisoners] for exposing the folly. These are only a
few personal instances occurring. Strong comrades
are singled out also.
Michigan prisons recently, 12-14-96 passed a new
policy: Security Threat Groups (STG I & II). Under
this policy prisoners "suspected" of belonging to
organizations can be placed on Faze I. Which
automatically restricts family visits drastically
and enforces repeated shakedowns. The supposed
policy is to secure the facilities from gang or
threatening movements. In reality it is a new wave
of justifiable harassment. The facilities label
whoever they wish. I can obtain this policy also.
As many policies and laws, it is sugar coated
justifiable oppression which targets Black Muslims,
Revolutionary Students, and Latinos, which these
facilities label as "Gangbangers." In all reality
this is nothing more than a "Miniature
COINTELPRO!"...
-- A Michigan Prisoner, 14 September 1997
CENSORSHIP AND STG IN MICHIGAN KKKAMPS
... In answering your inquire concerning censorship
here in Michigan prisons, the Department is kind of
strict about what enters its prisons (literature
etc.).
Attached are copies of Michigan Policy Directive in
dealing with mailing etc. This covers what is
allowed in the prisoners via mail.
Also, the Department has just implemented a new
Policy entitled Security Threat Gangs (S.T.G). It
is designed to stop gang activity within the walls
of prisons here in Michigan. But we fully well know
its interior motive, which is to prevent brothers
like me from demonstrating our Revolutionary
concerns. This policy is basically a utensil that
the Department is using to prevent non-religious
material from entering the prisons that they deem
is a threat to the order and security of the
Institution. However, to the order and security of
the Institution. However, they cannot stop the
entering of newspapers, newsletters, etc. due to
the effect of prisoners' first amendment rights....
-- a Michigan prisoner, 16 September 1997
REPRESSION AGAINST 5%TERS CONTINUES
... I am a poor righteous teacher of the 5% Nation.
I have been studying Islam for over 10 years. And
the struggle we had to fight in New York is nothing
in comparison with the state of South Carolina. I
have been down 3 years, and during the first 6
months of my fist year, I was placed on lock-up
(Administrative Segregation) for being a part of a
threat group. This threat group was later found out
to be the 5%ters.
The SCDC [South Carolina Department of Corrections]
states that we are a gang and that we hold cipher
in place of congregating something violent to
manifest. I must stress that fact that the poor
righteous teachers of the Nation of Islam are not a
gang, nor an enemy to SCDC. Our prime goal is to
teach freedom, justice and equality to all the
human families of the planet earth. I have been on
lock-up for over 2 years now. I feel teaching the
truth to the blind, deaf and dumb is the duty of a
civilized person. So why must we be oppressed? ...
-- a South Carolina prisoner, 25 August 1997
MIM RESPONDS: We too advocate educating people
about the truth. The truth is that teaching
freedom, justice and equity is not in the interests
of the imperialist pigs. That is why they seek to
oppress and dominate any groups that are
progressive. Keep exposing the truth and work with
MIM to overthrow imperialism and put an end to this
system that is build on oppression and
exploitation.
VIRGINIA GULAG CONDITIONS ARE ROTTEN
... After reading the section called "Under Lock
and Key" and learning of those things that have
been going on at other institutions, I feel that I
should let you know of the things that are
happening with Virginia Department of Corrections,
especially here at Nottoway Correctional Center.
Since there are so many deliberate and disregarding
actions against prisoners here at Nottoway
Correctional Center, I will limit my account to
events that have effected me over the past few
years.
In June of 1995, I was charged with possession of a
weapon and sent to what is called Pre-Hearing
Detention (PHD) to await an adjustment hearing.
When the date of my hearing came, I was not allowed
to attend the hearing by way of a lie and an act of
deliberate denial by one Sgt. L. Evans.
Although this was made known to the administration
of the institution, as well as the administrative
heads of the Department of Corrections, and yet
nothing was done. And really everyone has seen fit
to lie and deny that it ever happened.
On top of that, while in isolation, after being
found guilty because of the deliberate lie by Sgt.
L. Evans, I was denied access to the courts. I gave
an officer legal documents to be mailed, per legal
mail, only to find out some time later that the
courts never received the documents.
Not only has the above been a source of complaints
and problems for inmates, but there is more. Such
as the fact that Operations Officer M. M. Hill has
openly admitted that she not only reads prisoners'
legal mail, but she also has admitted to copying
prisoners' legal documents and has stated that she
has no intentions of stopping these wanton illegal
actions.
As for the medical care of inmates here at Nottoway
Correctional Center, it is poor to say the least.
To give you some idea of what I mean, there is an
individual here who calls himself a "doctor" by the
name of L. Thompson. This individual does not only
have no respect in the medical community, but
according to court records he has allowed by way of
negligent medical care, three people to be injured
or die.
And the only rebuttal to this by the Department of
Corrections and the Administrators of Nottoway
Correctional Center is "as long as `Dr' L. Thompson
has his license we won't question his decisions."
This man deliberately changed prisoners' medication
without any authority, refused to sent prisoners to
competent doctors or doctors who specialize in the
conditions or problems that the inmate has.
He has also given instructions to medical staff not
to treat inmates. And the prevailing attitude among
the medical staff is that it doesn't matter weather
"Dr" L. Thompson is wrong or not, they are going to
do what he tells them.
As was stated to me by one of the nurses when I
asked her about following "Dr." L. Thompson's
instructions even when she knows that they are
wrong. "I'm still going to do it whether his is
wrong or right."
This is the prevailing attitude of the medical
staff here at Nottoway Correctional Center. And it
has proven to be harmful to the prisoners here at
this institution, with no one in an administrative
position even caring.
... I am Muslim and because of my religious beliefs
I have been punished, bothered and even told by the
Assistant Warden of Operations that "this
institution will not provide you with your job and
your religious practices."
Because of my religious beliefs, I have also
received a charge for performing prayer and was
told that I could not pray when free from work by
the Food Service Supervisor, M. R. Davis. Which I
have been prohibited from proceeding court actions
because of documents that are not in my possession.
This denial of religious beliefs goes further than
just the incident with me. It deals with the whole
administration's effort to stamp out Islam at this
institution....
... This DOC has the full requirements to provide
inmates with due process as required by the
constitution, yet this institution, sanctioned by
the Department of Corrections, has seen fit to
exact a policy called IOP 834 which effectively
denies inmates due process. And subjects them to
penalties that are only enforceable after the
proper due process has been afforded to the inmate.
In short prisoners' constitutional rights are being
violated and ignored by a system and people that
are not less than tyrants.
The above are only some of the troubles that myself
as well as other have experienced at this
institution. ...
It is so tyrannical here that ... inmates are being
locked in the mess hall while eating, as per
instructions from the Warden, A. D. Robinson. [This
shows] little or no regard for prisoners' safety
and is being shoved off as a safety precaution.
What I am trying to convey ... is that prisoners'
lives, rights and liberties are being put at risk
deliberately by the Virginia Department of
Corrections. Knowingly lies upon lies are being
used to cover up what is happening. There has been
a deliberate refusal to correct these problems
because in the DOC's eyes inmates are less than
human beings....
-- a Virginia prisoner, 19 September 1997
GEORGIA WARDEN CENSORS MIM NOTES AND GUARDS
BRUTALIZE INMATES
MIM is being censored in Georgia by Warden Patricia
Hicks at the authority of a proven madman
Commissioner, Wayne Garner. Whose prison guards
latest revelations suggest a statewide belief that
beating prisoners is OK.
Additional testimony from employees of the Georgia
Department of Corrections paints an ever clear
picture of prison guards engaging in unprovoked
brutality during a July 1996 Shakedown at the Hay's
State Prison in Trion.
The latest employee depositions confirm previous
eyewitness accounts, both in general terms and
specifics. For example earlier testimony of a
corrections officer describe a brutal confrontation
between an inmate and Sargent Joe Johnson. The
inmate was standing HANDCUFFED behind is back,
facing the wall.
According to the officer, an angry Johnson slammed
the inmate's face into a wall. "Blood went up the
wall." The officer testified, "Blood went all over
the ground, all over the inmate, I heard it ... a
sickening, cracking sound."
Now that the gory scene has been corroborated in
telling detail by sworn testimony from a lieutenant
who also witnessed that incident. The story is the
same: a handcuffed inmate says Johnson, angered by
something, slammed the inmate's head into the wall.
Johnson, with the State of Georgia and state
officials has been named as a defendant in a
federal lawsuit filed on behalf of inmates. Despite
the testimony against Johnson, the department has
NOT disciplined him or even suspended him with pay.
No employee has been disciplined for participating
in, what one officer has described under oath as, a
dud- gummed shark frenzy.
In fact, corrections commissioner, Wayne Garner and
his department have taken the position that nothing
out of the ordinary occurred that day at Hays. Only
necessary and appropriate force was used against
inmates. Department mouthpiece, Mike, the Lie,
Hight says in response to criticism, "Garner has
stressed his willingness even eagerness to
discipline employees who do mistreat inmates." Nice
Line Wayne!
Sgt. Joe Johnson stated in a deposition in regards
to a retarded inmate, "He's an idiot. I don't mean
that the bad way. He's mentally retarded. He can't
comprehend anything. He was just down there crying,
didn't know what to do."
When asked how Sgt. Johnson felt seeing that he was
responsible, he said, "It was nothing to me. I have
no use for any of them. I don't care." When asked
how he feels in general about the inmates he deals
with, his statement was "I have no us for them at
all."
This man is a lieutenant and in a responsible
position and he acts like this. This should bring
some light about what kind of people Wayne Garner
has working within the department....
Comrades once again I ask you all to stand together
as one. Struggle with your brothers... your hard
work makes a difference.
In Struggle,
-- a Georgia prisoner, 15 September 1997
DOC BIGGEST EMPLOYER IN NORTH CAROLINA
...Being incarcerated in the State of NC (Notorious
Corruption) brings out the best of you or destroys
you entirely. The Department of Corruption is the
biggest employer in this state. Yes, it is all
about money and what hurts me is that they don't
give a damn about helping you. Their jobs are to
make you think you're a criminal, but in actuality
their intent and purpose are criminal. But as sure
as I reap what I sow, so will they. I'm a firm
believer in paying the cost to be the boss.
... Now the system has begun to charge for medical
and dental care. Their reason, they say is to cut
down or prevent people (prisoners) for signing up
for sick call. All personnel are low caliber, the
inmates teach officers how to do their jobs.
A lot of female guards have been hired, which has
really added fuel to the fire. The females are
using their bodies to move up the ladder. They
allow inmates to masturbate. It's sickening to walk
into a block or rest room and see 90% of the
inmates masturbating without any shame.
I call it like I see it. It's damaging their
mentality. They are so sick.. They make statements
like, "Damn that pussy was good." Boy she can throw
that Pussy." etc....
The legal system is very corrupt. It's also
designed to maintain bondage.
I'll keep you briefed on the things in my
environment. But before I close, I must say, my
present disposition doesn't define who I am. And in
the future we shall unite to fight this oppression
and tyranny. But first we must become economically
secure. We must start businesses in our
communities. Then nationally we must support those
who support us....
-- a North Carolina prisoner 16 October 1997
MIM RESPONDS: The above account is good example of
how prisons are used as social control. Prisons
make money for the imperialists while keeping
potential revolutionary's bonded. The hiring of
female officers may be a tactic by the pigs to use
sexual stimuli to distract prisoners from
revolution. Masturbation in itself, as a form of
release and relaxation is not a bad thing. In
contrast masturbation that is used to imitate sex,
the domination of men over women in this case, is
less tolerable. Especially in this context of a
public setting, where people may be encouraging
each other to be sexually aggressive and dominant.
And where sex is serving to pacify the prisoners
and keep quiet their opposition to the pig guards.
We agree that the masses should be economically
independent. This is why we encourage people to
work with MIM in building independent institutions
of the oppressed.
PENN PRISONER BATTLES CENSORSHIP & WINS
I just received the latest issue of MIM Notes. I
apologize for taking so long to respond but the
powers that be stopped letting MIM Notes in for a
short time. But now after some paperwork and long
conversations with the administration they will
allow MIM to continue to come in. So please
continue to send your publication.
The Struggle Continues!!
-- a Pennsylvania prisoner, 20 October 1997
ANOTHER PENNSYLVANIA GULAG PRISONER STILL CENSORED
... I am writing to inform you to inform you that
your last 4 issues of MIM Notes have been deemed a
"threat to the government and its institutions",
see documents enclosed.
My present status in Ad Seg (Administrative
Segregation), Death Row. ...I now have a pending
Petition for Review in the Commonwealth Court
against the DOC [Department of Corrections]. And
this is why the racist pigs keep denying me my MIM
Notes. If you can offer any assistance with
releasing the pigs racist restriction, please do
so.
I do appreciate receiving my comrades' papers. We
will win! Please write or fax you letters of
protest to the following address: Superintendent,
Ben Varner, 1030 E. Roy Furman Hwy, Waynesburg, PA
15370-8090, Tel. (412) 852-2902, Fax (412) 852-
2909.
Your Comrade, Dying But Fighting Back
-- a Pennsylvania prisoner, 28 September 1997
AMERIKAN CENSORSHIP OF MIM NOTES CONTINUES IN
FLORIDA
For the last 60 days at Washington Correction
Institution, I have been denied the MIM issues by
the Superintendent, Charles Germany, P.O. Box 628,
Vernon, FL 32462.
I did file grievances with the Florida Department
of Corrections: 2601 Blair Stone Rd, Tallahassee,
FL 32399-2500.
I have received MIM Notes at prior prison. Mailroom
officer, B. Singer has been retaliating and
hampering with my mail and other prisoners'
mail.... I have been victimized by Florida
Department of Corrections Staff....
If you would write to support my claims in
retaliation by denied MIM Notes, write to:
...Karen Stanford, Executive Director, Florida
Commission on Government Accountability to the
People, 154 Holland Blvd., Tallahassee, FL 32399
-- a Florida prisoner, 21 October 1997
* * *
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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