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 160 April 15, 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. FIRST NATIONS FIGHT CANADIAN IMPERIALISTS:
MORE PROPOSED HYRDRO-QUEBEC PROJECTS
2. PIGS FEAR ALLEGED PLOT BY NJ PRISONERS;
SOUTH WOODS 8 TARGETTED
3. LETTERS
4. U.$ TEACHES TORTURE TO INDONESIAN MILITARY
5. THAI BINH PROTEST
6. PENNSYLVANIA DEATH ROW ENDS 13 DAY HUNGERSTRIKE:
NEW REPRESSIVE REGULATIONS PUSHED BACK
7. PHOENIX JURY FAULTS RACIST PIGS
8. PUERTO RICANS PROTEST U.$ MILITARY
9. GIANT ROBOT IS GONNA GET YER MOMMA; YELLOW POWER!
10. TRUTH CONTINUES TO SEEP OUT ABOUT "NEW FLAG"
11. FAILURE OF BOURGEOIS DEMOCRACY REVEALED:
CHILEAN FASCIST RETAINS POWER FOR LIFE
12. SEND DOUGH TO THE PROJECTS OF THE PEOPLE
13. MERLE AFRICA OF THE MOVE 9 DIES IN PRISON:
MOVE CALLS DEATH SUSPICIOUS
14. AMERIKAN MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT DISTRIBUTES KLAN LITERATURE
15. NOTES IN CAIN VS. MDOC
16. RAIL FORUM ON CRIMINAL INJUSTICE SYSTEM
FORMER PRISONERS, LAWYER AND ACTIVISTS SPEAK
17. AMERIKKKAN PRISON CRAZE EXPOSED
18. CHINA'S NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS TRAVELS FURTHER DOWN THE
CAPITALIST ROAD
19. RAIL CHALLENGES LABOR ARISTOCRACY'S MICHAEL MOORE
20. YELTSIN FIRES CABINET TO MASK CAPITALIST DISASTER
21. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS
* * *
WHAT IS MIM?
The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a
revolutionary communist party that upholds
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, comprising the collection
of existing or emerging Maoist internationalist
parties in the English-speaking imperialist
countries and their English-speaking internal
semi-colonies, as well as the existing or emerging
Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties
of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of
the U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of
MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-
speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM.
MIM is an internationalist organization that works
from the vantage point of the Third World
proletariat; thus, its members are not Amerikans,
but world citizens.
MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups
over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM
knows this is only possible by building public
opinion to seize power through armed struggle.
Revolution is a reality for North America as the
military becomes over-extended in the government's
attempts to maintain world hegemony.
MIM differs from other communist parties on three
main questions: (1) MIM holds that after the
proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution,
the potential exists for capitalist restoration
under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within
the communist party itself. In the case of the
USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death
of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's
death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in
1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural
Revolution as the farthest advance of communism in
human history. (3) MIM believes the North American
white-working-class is primarily a non-
revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it
is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in
this country.
MIM accepts people as members who agree on these
basic principles and accept democratic centralism,
the system of majority rule, on other questions of
party line.
"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is
universally applicable. We should regard it not as
dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is
not merely a matter of learning terms and phrases,
but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of
revolution."
-- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208
* * *
FIRST NATIONS FIGHT CANADIAN IMPERIALISTS:
MORE PROPOSED HYRDRO-QUEBEC PROJECTS
by MC17
In early March, leaders of the Canadian provinces of Quebec and
Newfoundland announced plans for a huge hydroelectric project that
would generate thousands of megawatts of power for Kanada and
parts of the united snakes, a project which would require the
imperialists to take over or destroy First Nation land. At least
100 protesters from the First Nations occupied by Kanada stopped
the province leaders from getting to the ceremony to announce the
project. The premiers were forced to retreat and sign the
agreements at a different site.(1)
This project, like other similar power projects in Quebec, is
being planned without the permission of the First Nations whose
land will be affected. ''This is to put North America on notice
that no hydroelectric deals go forward without Indian consent,''
said Peter Penashue, a leader of the Innu people. ''And we have
not given consent to this.''(1) Innu Nation Vice-President Daniel
Ashini said, "The Innu will take whatever actions are necessary to
prevent Newfoundland and Quebec from entering into any contracts
regarding the Lower Churchill or other hydro developments in our
territory without our consent."(2)
In a March 12th press release, Katie Rich, president of the Innu
Nation said, "When I read all the background material on Monday, I
was shocked at the level of detail. We had been given assurances
by Premier Tobin that his talks with Quebec over hydro development
were preliminary, and that no agreement would be reached. But the
talks were much more than that. Real decisions were made about
many details of the development without considering Innu interests
or alternatives!" ... "It's clear from our exchange of
correspondence with the Tobin government that the Innu people were
just an afterthought,"... "We were simply tacked onto the agenda
at the last minute, once it looked like we might become a public
relations problem."
The proposed $8.4 billion project on the lower Churchill River is
the largest since the hydroelectric construction on Quebec's James
Bay. Hydro-Quebec, the provincially owned utility, was forced to
abandon a project of similar scale on the Great Whale River in the
face of protests from First Nations and their supporters,
environmentalist groups and other activists.
The current project faces the same opposition: it violates the
supposed sovereignty of the First Nations who are having their
land and livelihood challenged daily by occupying Kanada which
would rather build golf courses and huge power plants than see
precious land controlled by indigenous people. At the same time
there are serious environmental questions about the proposed
construction. The lower Churchill project is to be constructed by
Hydro-Quebec and Newfoundland/Labrador Hydro. Since Quebec already
has a surplus of electricity, this project would just spell
greater profit for Hydro-Quebec. And Hydro-Quebec would turn
around and sell its 1/3 share of the power generated to New
England utilities or other near-by buyers.
The first Churchill River project led to floods by the dams which
destroyed large sections of wilderness that were part of First
Nation land. Approximately 6,700 km2 of territory was flooded.
Many canoes, traps and harvesting equipment were lost in the
floods. Cemeteries were flooded. The habitat for many animals and
fish were destroyed and the resulting mercury content in the fish
has made them dangerous to eat.(3)
The First Nations were never compensated for this loss. Kanada's
recent formal apology to the First Nations for centuries of
genocide is exposed for the public relations farce that it was
when the indigenous peoples are still left out of discussions
about the use of their lands.
The Innu people proposed a framework for negotiations and
resolution of the conflict between Kanada and the Innu nation
which would include:
(1) The immediate commencement of negotiations regarding
compensation for the Upper Churchill project which flooded a great
deal of Innu territory;
(2) Once the wrongs caused by the Upper Churchill project have
been righted, negotiations over development on the Lower Churchill
and other rivers could start. These projects would have to be
treated as proposals only, based on the recognition of Innu
rights. The Innu would determine the acceptability of the projects
in the negotiation process with due regard to their potential
impacts on the environment and Innu rights;
(3) Lastly we would implement the agreement and its specific
mechanisms that make the Innu meaningful partners in the
development.
The Innu Nation will negotiate in good faith but will not give up
their sovereignty: "We will not unreasonably withhold consent to
projects that are environmentally sound and that respect Innu land
and rights." Unlike the representation in the bourgeois media,
this conflict is not a question of backwards indigenous people
resisting environmental and technological progress. Rather this is
an issue of backwards imperialists stealing and destroying First
Nation land to benefit the white settlers.
MIM supports the struggle of the First Nations to retain control
over their territory. As the imperialists overtly steal land for
development purposes and covertly destroy the land they can not
steal, it is up to the indigenous people and their supporters to
stand strong. The continuing imperialist aggression against the
First Nations must not be allowed. Join MIM in the fight to
overthrow imperialism and support the right to self-determination
of oppressed and occupied nations.
NOTES:
1. Boston Globe 10 March 1998.
2. www.innu.ca "Innu Leaders Take Common Front on Hydro
Development".
3. http://www.innu.ca/damage.html
4. Innu Press Release, March 12. (http://www.innu.ca/)
* * *
PIGS FEAR ALLEGED PLOT BY NJ PRISONERS;
SOUTH WOODS 8 TARGETTED
by a RAIL Comrade
On January 8th 1998, The Record, a newspaper published in Northern
New Jersey ran an article on an alleged plot by eight prisoners in
South Woods State Prison (Bridgeton, NJ) to kill three DOC pigs
with razor blades.
Eight members of the 5% Nation of Gods and Earths are charged with
conspiracy to slash the pigs throats with razor blades in a
"guerrilla-type" attack. Though a search revealed no weapons of
any sort, the South Woods Eight have been transferred to the
state's infamous Maximum Security Trenton State Prison, and face a
host of administrative and criminal charges.
Throughout the article the U$ government's imperialist line is
expounded: the 5%ers are a "gang" that has as a "primary purpose
... to challenge authority"; and that the attack was a "political
statement"; that the guards "were targeted for their no-nonsense
reputations". Absent was the anti-imperialist perspective: the 5%
Nation is a religious organization seeking the physical, mental,
and spiritual liberation of the Black Nation, and the guards were
likely targeted [if this charge is even true, of which RAIL has no
evidence--ed.] due to their oppression and cruel treatment of
prisoners in the facility. In a prison system so overcrowded that
people must sleep on cold cell floors, rife with pig corruption
and brutality, the oppressed prisoners in NJ are standing up and
saying "No More!" to police oppression.
While RAIL is not fully aware of all the circumstances in this
particular case, we can still categorically condemn the Amerikkkan
injustice system. If the South Woods 8 did NOT plot to kill the
guards, it could very well be a pig set-up, a part of New Jersey's
recent policy to attempt to isolate and target "gang" leaders (see
The Record 1/5/98 article on prison clothes for a brief mention of
this policy). If the South Woods 8 did indeed plan the attack, it
is still a condemnation of the brutal and tragic conditions inside
NJ's prison system.
MIM and RAIL urge prisoners not to waste their lives in individual
attacks on the system, rather educate yourself about the ONLY
proven revolutionary science: Maoism, and help organize for a
revolution that will take down the entire oppressive system!
* * *
LETTERS
WE NEED LEADERS TO LIVE AND LEAD
NOT DIE IN MARTYRDOM
Revolutionary Greetings;
Clenched-fist Salute & Power Forward!!!
Comrades, I hope all is well as this word befolds before your
eyes.
I have sat back and given some very strong thought to a few things
that was brought to my attention by a true comrade regarding
'armed struggle' and the need for LEADERS to be available. After
thinking about this it does make sense that political leaders are
available (on the streets) so they can help train, share, and
educate others, even though that leader may want so badly to go on
the front line to vanguard, and struggle for the people with arms.
After thinking this over I had to face this fact even though I
didn't want too. For I am the type of person that is/was used to
the trench and well trained in combat tactics. However, maybe the
time has come for a new line for me. Meaning, maybe I should put
all I have and do all I can to reach others by gaining public
opinion from my knowledge than to go on the battlefield?
A comrade brought to my attention how it is self-defeating to have
bright revolutionary leaders locked up behind bars when they could
have best served the people by being on the streets. Though I
hated to face it, this is true. It is better to have leaders on
the streets and sometimes a leader have to refrain from taking any
action (though they may ache to do so) for the overall gain. With
my meditating on this very important issue, I have to give my
clenched-fist salute to the comrade who same to me and had me
focus in on this subject from a broader perspective. One in which
i have to acknowledge in the affirmative in spite of my desires
(which in many ways are selfish) because what my desires are
(armed struggle) isn't necessarily the best thing at this time for
the overall collective. I know the collective is not strong and
have to gain strength but this can only happen through wide
support of THE PEOPLE.
So to this comrade who helped an old warrior see from a wider
perspective and lower his 'war shields' I thank you.
This is what comradery is all about. This is what we are suppose
to be to one another. No one knows it all and no one has all the
answers and it takes others to help in anything that is beneficial
and for the good of the collective. Chairman Mao teaches us that
from the patience he and his comrades had in developing public
support and opinion.
With that said I will close. But I just wanted to share this
because it could be beneficial for others who may have been
thinking the same thing as I, or to others who know of ones who
want to take the position of 'armed struggle' today and need to be
shown that this is not the mission for today. That the mission is
to build and develop and grow and gain the support of THE PEOPLE
and then, and only then, can we engage the enemies of THE PEOPLE
in armed struggle.
MIM USE OF "PIG" INSULTS ANIMALS
Hello friends, I just want to make a quick point about your use
of the term "pig" to describe police officers. Contrary to popular
belief, pigs are well-tempered and intelligent animals. A domestic
pig would rather nuzzle up to a human than hurt him, and would
prefer a satisfying wallow in the sludge to either option. In sum,
to associate these gentle beasts with police is entirely unfair to
pigs! In China, where I have spent some time, they call police
"dogs," another unsatisfying option and an affront to another of
our animal companions. Will we ever find a creature so loathsome
and vile that it deserves to lend its name to the police? Perhaps
scientists here at Harvard are pursuing this question even as we
speak.
Best wishes, --a student in the east
MIM responds: It's unfortunate that we don't have an easy insult
that is so graphic and meaningful to people as the use of the name
of animals. Since we have not seen this use of animal labels lead
to an increase in abuse of animals or any other bad consequences
for the animals themselves, and since they don't care about public
use of their names, we figure this is the best we can do.
Anyway, since you are writing we figured you might be interested
in some other questions that are a bit more serious and so we
invite you to join our local mailing list and attend some events.
You can get involved in the struggle to end oppression so that we
can eliminate the need to call any group of people any derogatory
name to describe their abuses of power.
MIM/RAIL FORUM DRAWS SUPPORTERS
I am a student of criminology. I have been studying here for three
years, and plan to attend graduate school with a concentration on
Law and Society and human rights violations.
I originally saw your fliers in Ann Arbor a number of months ago,
but have not taken the proper initiative to act on them, but now I
am. I must say that I am very much behind your cause, and would
like to volunteer my services to you in any way possible.
I have a question about the speech by Frank Smith: is there any
admission price or anything of that nature? I am assuming that
since your fliers are all over that it is open to the public.
I would like to commend you on your efforts to reveal domestic
injustices related to the CRIMINAL justice system, and I believe
that a speech exposing the injustices perpetrated against
prisoners in Attica before and after the riots will prove to be an
effective methodology.
Peace and Progress, --a student in the midwest
For more information on local MIM and RAIL events in your area,
contact your local distributor, e-mail us at mim@mim.org, check
our web page www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext or write to us at the
address on page 2.
LETTER FROM RUSSIAN MAOISTS
Dear MIM: I'm a member of Russian Communist Workers Party and
it's youth organization -- Revolutionary Young Communist League.
The leader of RCWP is Victor Tyulkin and the leader of RYCL is
Pavel Bylevskiy. The RCWP is a Leninist-Stalinist party, although
some non-Stalinists are in it. The RCWP is the largest communist
party in Russia (about 10,000 members). 4 of its members are
political prisoners since August, 1997 -- Gubkin, 19-years-old
worker Sokolov, Skliar, Maximenko. They have been charged in
"terrorism" of Revolutionary War Council. RWC mined monument of
Peter 1 in July and demanded not touching Lenin's Mausoleum.
The "official" communist-named party -- Communist Party of Russian
Federation of Gennadiy Zuganov have over 200,000 members
(generally, old men) and third sets in our parliament (State
Duma), but it is nationalist and social-democratic, in fact. Other
communist parties are very small. RPC and RCP-CPSU are anti-
Stalinist however not reformist and nationalist and social-
democratic, in fact. Other communist parties are very small. RPC
and RCP-CPSU are anti-Stalinist (however not reformist and not
Trotskyist). CPSU, CPSUB, CPSU(b) are Stalinist but they are not
connected with worker's class. Trotskyist groups are very-very
small. There are no Maoists, but many communists from Stalinist
parties like Mao or name themselves as "Maoists." I am a Maoist,
for example, and the entire RYCL of our city is Maoist.
RYCL (In Russian and ENGLISH languages)
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/8317/rycl.html --Member
RCWP January, 1998
MIM replies: MIM is proud that the first contact that this comrade
made on the INTERNET with Maoism was with MIM.
Greetings to the Russian Maoists! We read that no one was hurt in
the action connected to the monument, but these four people are in
prison. We wish you well to get them out.
We agree with your opinion of the Great Power chauvinist and
social-democratic people calling themselves "Communist" in Russia.
It won't be long before the exploited Russian workers learn the
true history of their class as long as so many of you hold high
the banner of Lenin, Stalin and Mao.
You are right it is not enough to be for Lenin and Stalin. We
communists in 1998 have more experience in our movement in seeing
the restoration of capitalism. Only Mao explained the operation of
the law of value and bourgeois right under socialism correctly. He
was the only one major socialist leader to see clearly that a
bourgeoisie forms right inside the party.
It should now be evident to everyone that class struggle continues
under socialism and in fact does become more intense as Stalin
said to Bukharin when Bukharin ridiculed his position. However, it
is not just the old exploiting elements trying to make a comeback.
It is people like Khruschev, Brezhnev, Gorbachev and Yeltsin right
in the party. For this reason there needs to be several cultural
revolutions on the way to communism.
* * *
U.$ TEACHES TORTURE TO INDONESIAN MILITARY
In spite of a congressional ban, the u.s. military is training
Indonesian forces which are engaged in torturing and killing
civilians both in Indonesia and in East Timor. The official ban
serves to distance u.s. government from its long-term support of
the murderous Indonesian regime. But in fact there is a government
loophole which makes the training legal.
In 1992, Congress banned the Pentagon from training Indonesian
troops under the International Military Education and Training
program, or IMET. But the Pentagon continued the training under
the Joint Combined Exchange and Training program, or J-Cet. The J-
Cet program also provided training for the Rwandan Patriotic Army,
accused of killing civilians in eastern Zaire.
Among the Indonesian units trained over the past five years by
U.S. forces is Kopassus, a special forces commando group that has
been deployed against demonstrators this year and is accused by
rights groups of murder and torture.
Deputy Secretary of Defense John J. Hamre defended the training,
saying it "enhances rather than diminishes our ability to
positively influence Indonesia's human rights policies and
behavior." The reality is that the u.s. does not care about
Indonesia's human rights policies beyond the bad reflection they
may have on the u.s. The government is more concerned with
influence and control in that region of the world and military
involvement is a good way to ensure u.s. hegemony.
The March 30th issue of The Nation magazine revealed the u.s.
military training in Indonesia. The Nation article was written by
reporter-activist Allan Nairn, who was beaten severely and
arrested when he witnessed a massacre of 270 East Timorese by
Indonesian troops in 1991. East Timor has been occupied by
Indonesia since 1975. In attempts to control the Timorese people
and quell the fight for independence, the Indonesian military has
massacred and tortured hundreds of thousands of people.
Notes: Associated Press, 03/17/98.
* * *
THAI BINH PROTEST
Viet Nam's countryside is being rocked by peasant protests and
uprisings over official corruption, under-employment and land-use
rights. At this time, the MIM does not have exact details about
the current situation and the level of political consciousness
amongst the peasant masses. What little information we have is
vague and filtered through unreliable, biased sources. MIM knows
however that Viet Nam is not a socialist country on the road to
communism. It is a revisionist, state capitalist government that
does not serve the interests of the Viet masses. The functionaries
of the government have emerged as a bureaucrat capitalist class
living parasitically off of the labor of the masses. The Viet
masses are not deceived but are steadily building up resistance to
this renewed oppression and exploitation.
80% of Viet population still lives in the predominantly
subsistence-oriented countryside. They were the support base for
the revolution and the movement against Amerikan imperialism. The
poor peasants who benefited from the land reforms of the
revolution are now being hurt by the "Doi moi" ("new life")
economic reforms of the 80s and 90s. Tailing soviet revisionism
and degeneration, the revisionist Viet government implemented
large-scale liberalization reforms, essentially reinstating
capitalism. As a result of these policies, there has been a sharp
increase in production output, but the accrued prosperity and
wealth have become concentrated in the hands of the few. According
to the World Bank, 57% of the population in Viet Nam lives below
the poverty line. (1) "Over half of its population (is) classified
as poor. Income disparities, particularly between rural and urban
populations are large and widening."(2) Farm workers have an
annual income of only $150 to $250 per year. The urban proletariat
in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City earn $700 to $1,500 per year. (1)
Protests have erupted all over the rural areas of Viet Nam in the
northern central and southern regions and have centered around the
growing discontent of the impoverished peasant masses. In May of
1997 thousands of peasants in Thai Binh, a northern province
considered the cradle of the communist revolution, protested
against institutionalized corruption. What began as a peaceful
demonstration apparently became an uprising because of the
officials' complacency and indifference. The revisionist regime
sent a 1,200 members of a "special police force" to quell the
uprising in August of that year.(6)The Wall Street Journal has
linked this protest to the controlled rice prices. Viet Nam is now
the second major exporter of rice in the world.(2) But Vietnamese
peasants are not seeing the benefits of this. Rice prices are
sharply controlled by the government. This benefits city-dwellers
who get subsidized rice, but the majority of the Viet population,
those in the rural areas are suffering. Peasants are forced to
sell their products to middlemen who in turn sell to state-owned
enterprises for export. At each stage, profits are skimmed from
the sweat of the masses. In addition peasants are exorbitantly and
blatantly levied taxes for their rice crop to line the pockets of
the local bureaucrat capitalists.(3)
But other significant protests and uprisings are related to land.
The Vietnam Farmers Association reports that in southern Vietnam's
Mekong Delta region, 83,000 plus farming households are landless.
In early 1997, a village near Hanoi protested the construction of
a luxury golf course. They were fired upon by the police.(4,5)
This is a blatant demonstration of the depravity of liberalization
of the economy and the pseudo-socialist state capitalist regimes
which endorse them.
"Rural society is becoming significantly more like the one against
which the communists first mobilized the masses."(1) That this
should be true indicates that the current government has failed
fundamentally and does not serve the interests of the masses. The
comrades of the Viet Nam Workers' Party [formerly known as the
Indochinese Communist Party] failed to struggle against Soviet
revisionism and follow Mao's shining example in China and have
succumbed to counter-revolution. That the masses are disillusioned
by these poseurs is not surprising. Viet peasant masses are
acutely aware that the current power structure does not serve them
and are drawing upon two millennia of resistance to oppression.
MIM firmly believes that the Viet masses will recognize the utter
bankruptcy of state capitalism and will be able to penetrate
through the smokescreen of revisionist distortion to see the way
clear to the science of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. A new party will
phoenix from the ashes of the old. And once again the Viet masses
will sow the seeds of revolution.
NOTES:
1. "Peasant rebels resemble the past" AP wire 10/27/97
2. "Vietnam's restless countryside" Wall Street Journal 11/25/97
3. "Vietnam- Farmers tell of their revolt" Mercury News 2/20/98
4. Reuters 6/13/97
5. "FIDC slams Hanoi" Reuters 7/26/97
6. "Vietnam Province tense, Hanoi seeks to end unrest" Reuters
8/29/97
* * *
PENNSYLVANIA DEATH ROW ENDS 13 DAY HUNGERSTRIKE:
NEW REPRESSIVE REGULATIONS PUSHED BACK
On 18 March, a 13 day Pennsylvania death row hungerstrike against
new property restrictions ended with administration pledges to
reverse most of the March 5 directive that sparked the hunger
strike. In retaliation for prisoner lawsuits, on March 5 the DOC
issued strict new regulations on the amount of property they could
have in their cells as other restrictions. The property
restriction was most significant, limiting prisoners to what they
could keep in a 12"x12"x14" box. This is much less space than is
required to adequately conduct litigation upon which their very
lives depend. Prisoners were given two choices: pay to ship other
items home, or have them destroyed. One prisoner without funds to
pay postage reportedly had his legal materials destroyed.
The March 5 directive was called "draconian" by Secretary General
of Amnesty International Pierre Sane'. The March 5 directive
reduced the personal visiting time from 2 hours to one hour, and
eliminated weekend and holiday visits. These strongly restrict
working families ability to visit, especially since most prisoners
are from Philadelphia, a 6 hour drive away. Food was to be banned
from the cells, and access to the commissary removed. This
restriction is aimed at diabetics and those whose religion keeps
them from eating some kinds of food served and then suplimenting
their diet with purchased food. Phone calls were to be restricted
further, and their clothing replaced with striped jumpsuits. TV
and Radios were allowed to remain, but the antennas removed,
therefore restricting access to those would could purchase cable.
The hunger strike consisted of between 23 and 33 prisoners, which
is one-fourth of death row's 111. The strike was joined by Mumia
Abu Jamal. Mumia said he was inspired by the commitment and
suffering of the hungerstriking prisoners. Prisoners, especially
those fighting for their lives on death row, need access to their
legal materials. Mumia said "the separation of the inmates from
their legal materials is meant to hasten death. It is an attack on
the last vestige of hope."
As a result of the unity of the prisoners and outside pressure,
the prisoners won. Visits and commissary were restored. Previous
brown prison clothing may be reinstated and while property
restrictions are still under negotiation, many men have been able
to reclaim items slated for destruction.
Notes:
PA Death Row on Hunger Strike: MAJ under attack, Noelle Hanrahan
8 Mar 1998 23:01:09 -0800 (PST); SCI Greene
Hunger Strike/ MAJ essay, Noelle Hanrahan ,
Wed, 18 Mar 1998 09:28:34 -0800 (PST)
* * *
PHOENIX JURY FAULTS RACIST PIGS
by a friend of RAIL
Eddie Mallet was murdered by Phoenix pigs on August 27, 1994,
asphyxiated in a notorious pig chokehold. His crime was being a
young, Black male. That he was disabled, wearing artificial legs,
and told police so before they killed him did not save him.
The pigs conducted an internal so-called investigation that
exonerated the pigs and the police department of any wrongdoing,
but Eddie Mallet's parents were not satisfied with this cover-up
and sued the police department for wrongful death. At the trial,
witnesses testified that Eddie Mallet had shouted that he had "bad
legs" or "artificial legs" at least five times than that no one
bothered to check on his conditions for six minutes after he was
subdued. Only when the paramedics arrived was it determined that
he was dead. A respiratory therapist had been at the scene and
volunteered to help, but the pigs told him to leave.
The jury awarded the parents, Sherry Jone and George Mallet, $45
million for wrongful death, far in excess of what they had asked.
Sherry Jones said, "I'd gladly give it all back if I could have my
son back."
The struggle is not yet over. Chief Pig Dennis Garrett vowed to
appeal the case, and Phoenix Law Enforcement Association president
Terry Sills oinked, "This $45 million judgment is the most
outrageous thing I've heard in a long time." Surely not as
outrageous as what happened to Eddie Mallet. While there are some
struggles that are winnable through the bourgeois legal system,
police national oppression will not disappear until capitalism
disappears.
Note: The Arizona Republic 13 March 1998.
* * *
PUERTO RICANS PROTEST U.$ MILITARY
In March, residents of Vieques, an island off Puerto Rico and part
of the u.s. colony of Puerto Rico, protested the construction of
an anti-drug radar system that the U.S. Navy wants to install.
The u.s. military occupies three quarters of the island of Vieques
where it conducts regular military activities including almost
constant bombing practice. It has been plagued by frequent
protests by the Puerto Rican people who oppose this occupation and
destruction of their land. The Vieques demonstrators are worried
about the health effects of the radar system, which is expected to
reach deep into South America by bouncing signals off the earth's
ionosphere.
The system was invented during the Cold War to track Soviet
bombers from thousands of miles away, but the Navy has adapted the
radar to detect small airplanes leaving South America with
shipments of illegal drugs. In addition to potential health
hazards, the u.s. is using its colony of Puerto Rico to engage in
military activities throughout the Americas. The war on drugs is
an excuse for u.s. military intervention and control of u.s.
colonies and neo-colonies throughout Latin America.
Opponents have vowed to block trucks carrying construction
equipment to the sites. MIM stands with the Puerto Rican people in
their fight against all aspects of u.s. imperialism.
Note: Associated Press, 03/09/98.
* * *
GIANT ROBOT IS GONNA GET YER MOMMA;
YELLOW POWER!
Giant Robot, issue no. 10, $5.00 PO Box 642053 Los Angeles CA
90064 grbot@deltanet.com
review by MC206
The winter issue of the "Asian-American" pop-culture magazine
Giant Robot ran a series of interviews with 1960s activists who
were heavily influenced by and involved with the Black Panther
Party (BPP), called "Yellow Power." Although most of the activists
have given up their explicitly revolutionary ideology, the
interviews provide useful information on the history of the
revolutionary movement in the 1960s and 1970s, especially Maoist
or Maoist-influenced organizations like I Wor Kuen (IWK), the Red
Guards, and the Panthers. For example, MIM learned that the Black
Panther Party was itself a multi-national organization in the late
1960s, as it included several members of Asian descent.
The interviews also touched on the "Third World Strike" at SFSU
("What we were striking for was not ethnic studies but an
autonomous Third World campus, which never happened") and included
discussions of the concrete problems facing revolutionary
organizations, such as lumpen ideology ("We did what we wanted...
We were what Bobby Seale called 'jackanapes,' kids that had good
intentions but were relating strongly to hooliganism"), and anti-
communism in Asian communities ("One of the differences between
the African community and the Asian community was that the IWK
couldn't just come out and walk down the street. If you came out
all the time and did a lot of propaganda, you would get into some
very serious fights").
As the editors of Giant Robot noted, these interviews are no
substitute for a comprehensive study of the broader revolutionary
movement in Amerika and the world. People who are new to the
history of the BPP or who are interested in the Panther's Maoism,
for example, should check out The Black Panthers Speak, or some of
the articles which MIM has written about the BPP (see list at end
of article). MIM especially encourages people to study the works
of Mao Zedong, which inspired and guided these organizations and
individuals.
Lee Lew-Lee
Lee Lew-Lee is a former BPP member who recently made the film All
Power to the People, which documents the FBI's repression of the
BPP, the American Indian Movement (AIM), and others. In his
interview with Giant Robot, he states that he is no longer a
Maoist or even a revolutionary, but at least he is relatively
clear about the fact that the Panthers were revolutionary and
guided by Mao's writings. Thus our main difference with Lee Lew-
Lee is not what the Panthers' politics were about, rather whether
or not the Panthers' politics remain relevant. For example, the
Panthers built an organization which would undertake the task of
seizing state power from this reactionary Amerikan government.
Summing up history and looking at the world around us, MIM agrees
that we still need to do this.
Here are some excerpts from the Lee Lew-Lee interview:
1. Panther ideology
"The good thing about the Panther party was that it brought the
idea of socialism. Let's look at this (Mao's) revolutionary
ideology from China and bring it to the African context. And then
take it into the American context, understanding that we are
colonized as people of color in the ghettos of America. Chinatown
is a ghetto. IWK [I Wor Kuen] said the same thing.
"So we began to look at neo-colonialism, Marxism, Ho Chi Minh, and
these different ideologies and how to bring them together in the
United States. For example, if Mao had his barefoot doctors, we
would have out barefoot doctors and our health centers... If Mao
had his People's Revolutionary Army, we would have our People's
Revolutionary Army in the sense that the Panther Party would
defend the black community against the racists. The IWK or the Red
Guard would defend the Asian community if the racists wanted to
take people of Asian descent to concentration camps. That was a
real threat back then."
Just as the Panthers recognized that Marx, Lenin, and Mao spoke to
conditions in the Black nation and applied their teachings
creatively, people from other oppressed groups inside u.$. borders
saw that what the Panthers were doing had relevance to them.
Groups like the AIM, the Young Lords, Brown Berets, IWK and the
Red Guards all worked closely with the Panthers and learned from
them - and many in turn picked up the universal weapon of Marxism-
Leninism-Maoism.
2. State repression
"Every city in the country had what they called a 'Red Squad.'
Chicago, New York, Los Angeles - their intelligence units used to
spy on anybody who was against the war in Vietnam, anyone who was
talking about civil rights, affirmative action, union organizing,
or student unions. It is estimated that the CIA actually had spied
upon 24,000 Americans and opened 30 million pieces of mail during
that time period. There was good reason to be paranoid. Sometimes
people were actually killed."
3. The media and drugs
"People turn on the TV today and see Bobby Seale selling barbecued
spare ribs. They don't realize that 30 years ago he wasn't selling
barbecued spare ribs. They look at Geronimo Pratt and think, 'Oh,
he's OG.' He's beyond OG. OG ain't shit. He's an old guerrilla,
that's what he is. The youth has nobody from our generation in the
mainstream that's telling the truth. Jesse Jackson has sold out.
All these other so-called leaders you see on TV - Sharpton, Young,
even Farrakhan - they're all bought out. They're not going to give
you an hour on TV to talk about them. It costs $400,000 an hour.
It's misinformation. Propaganda, communication, and public opinion
- that's how they run the media. They make people think that the
60s were a time of free love, free this, free that, Steal This
Book, and Abbie Hoffman. Abbie Hoffman and the Yippies were
clowns. The real revolutionaries were hardcore revolutionaries who
got killed on a daily basis.
"When Timothy Leary said, 'Tune in, turn on, and drop out,' most
of us didn't agree with him, either. Leary worked for the
government at Harvard, doing LSD experiments on people. The more
serious revolutionaries didn't do heroin, cocaine, or any drugs at
all. Anybody who did drugs, we expelled. The Panther Party was
anti-drugs. The Panther Party, the Young Lords, and maybe the IWK
on the East Coast used to go out, grab the drug dealers, and beat
the crap out of them. If one came back, you'd go get a gun, put it
up to the guy's head, and say 'If you come back here, you're
fucked.' And the cops had a program going in New York, San
Francisco, and Los Angeles because drugs were coming in through
the military. They found out in the Vietnam War that a lot of
brothers came back and said that drugs were being sent back in
body bags to the ghettos. We realized drugs were a way they were
destroying the revolution."
Mo Nishida: Those motherfuckers will get knocked out
Of all the people Giant Robot interviewed, Mo Nishida had the
sharpest things to say about the contemporary world situation and
the situation of "the movement" inside Amerikan borders.
"There's the stratum of Third World people who moved up since the
civil rights movement to become the power elite... quite a few
Asians in there. They think that they represent all of Asian
America. Those motherfuckers, they are going to get knocked out.
They are upholding a system that is unjust. Everything is based on
greed and what's best for them.
"[Giant Robot: Did they sell themselves out?] That's what it looks
like. They're all nice people if you talk to them; they have
liberal sentiments. But what do they stand for and what do they
do? How can 5% of the population consume 40% of the resources and
make 20-30% of the greenhouse gases and pollution? The only way
the human race is going to survive is if we take them out by any
means necessary..."
"The revolutionary storms in the Third World are kicking up...
Chairman Mao teaches, 'wherever there's oppression there's
resistance,' and there's oppression all over the world."
Further reading (all titles available from MIM, PO Box 3576, Ann
Arbor, MI, 48106-3576; Make checks payable to "MIM Distributors";
all prices include shipping):
The Black Panthers Speak, Philip Foner, ed. $10. Revolutionary
Suicide, and To Die for the People, by Huey Newton, $10 each.
"Maoism and the Black Panther Party," MIM Pamphlet, $2. "The Black
Panther Party: Maoism Restored," in: MIM Theory #10, $6.
* * *
TRUTH CONTINUES TO SEEP OUT ABOUT "NEW FLAG"
As MIM warned the world in Maoist Sojourner and in its email
essays to the "Marxism Space," the "New Flag" run by "Mr. Quispe"
is a fraudulent police operation designed to spy on communists and
split them. At the time we charged that Quispe forged PCP
documents among many other police operations. Confused
organizations included a phony Maoist group in Australia, the New
York Transfer running the server the "New Flag" web page is on and
the Mao Documentation project denied our charges.
Now friends of Quispe or Quispe himself have admitted MIM's
charges of document forgery by the New Flag. The following is just
such an admission by our critics of the Mao Documentation Project
housed by New York Transfer at www.blythe.org.
"To: marxism-international@jefferson.village.Virginia.EDU Date:
Thu, 19 Mar 1998 16:08:02 +0000"
"An important note about translation of PCP documents: The New
Flag web page contains many distortions to PCP documents. We have
documented some of them at our site at the following URL:
http://www.blythe.org/mlm/misc/peru/nf_warning.htm.
"We urge people to be very careful about the documents there as
the New Flag is deliberately distorting the line of the PCP. For a
while we helped the New Flag with their website and with
translation, but had been forced to stop some time ago because of
their increasing opportunism. We have begun to reedit and
translate PCP documents under the leadership of the Peru People's
Movement, but this will take some time."
The document forgery by the New Flag also exposes the
Revolutionary Communist Party-USA, which initially cop-baited the
"New Flag" and then retracted its position once the "New Flag"
started upholding the RCP-USA. Currently while pretending to be
critical of the "New Flag," the RCP Co-RIM writer on the subject
"Voina" thought MIM was too harsh on the "New Flag." This is
despite the fact that New Flag claimed to have established a "PCP"
web page and was distributing altered documents and trying to
split the real communist movement. That is how lightly the RCP-USA
takes speaking in the name of Comrade Gonzalo's Communist Party in
Peru. No wonder the RCP-USA is constantly misrepresenting the PCP.
When approached by the Mao Documentation Project claiming to be
somewhat distinct from Quispe, MIM long ago requested that the Mao
Documentation Project immediately disassociate itself from Quispe
and follow the leadership of Luis Arce Borja in Belgium. We asked
the Mao Documentation Project to cease in itself distributing
forged, altered and re-translated documents in the cases of
documents already done before the arrest of Comrade Gonzalo in
1992.
We asked that if the persyn writing to us from Mao Documentation
Project was not in fact Quispe or his lackey, that this persyn
immediately denounce the false representation of the "PCP Web
Page." We pointed out that from the perspective of people outside
Peru, we must in principle continue to uphold what was already in
place before the arrest of Gonzalo and not lightly re-organize to
suit the police or our own persynal preferences.
The Maoist Documentation Project has said that some documents
published before the arrest have been in error, but that is not
for us to decide outside Peru! We say if they were not corrected
before the arrest of Gonzalo they could not have been that bad,
because no PCP or PCP-generated organisms said anything about it.
We are not going to let the New York Transfer related Peruvians
claim Gonzalo now when they were not around when Gonzalo was out
of prison and then use that authority to alter documents. We also
must expose anyone seeking to take the struggle off the road
blazed by Gonzalo, now that he is in prison. That is our duty
outside Peru.
We continue to ask that New York Transfer turn over control of its
Peru-related web pages to Luis Arce Borja so that this farce can
finally end. Luis Arce Borja was in place before the arrest of
Comrade Gonzalo and doing fine public work which is now a matter
of historical record. New York Transfer helped MIM distribute Luis
Arce Borja's work and other PCP documents before the arrest of
Gonzalo.
Until New York Transfer chooses the historical leadership abroad
of Luis Arce Borja instead whatever happens to blow in the door at
New York Transfer offices, the New York Transfer is obviously
guilty of distributing fallacious documents and speaking for the
PCP. It is a crime of Yankee chauvinism.
* * *
FAILURE OF BOURGEOIS DEMOCRACY REVEALED:
CHILEAN FASCIST RETAINS POWER FOR LIFE
by RC784
On March 11, 82-year-old Chilean General Augusto Pinochet left his
position as Commander of the Army to become "Senator for Life." He
is allowed to do this because the Constitution his regime wrote in
1980 guarantees that the largest single "party" in the Congress is
made up of retired military officers appointed by him. Any serious
changes to the 1980 Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of
Congress, thus insuring that the masses get nothing through the
"legal, democratic process." This event demonstrates the lie
behind one of U.$. President Clinton's favorite imperialist lines:
"Every country in Latin America is a democracy except one [meaning
Cuba]."
General Augusto Pinochet became the dictator of Chile when the
military overthrew the Popular Unity government on September 11,
1973 with assistance from the U.$. CIA. The Popular Unity
government was a coalition of progressive parties headed by the
social democrat Salvador Allende. Allende, while not a socialist
by MIM's standards, was more progressive than the preceding
Chilean governments in improving the material living conditions of
the masses (land reform, health care and education, fuel and food
subsidies, etc.) and challenging imperialism (nationalization of
mines, for example). Allende was assassinated, the Chilean
Congress was suspended, and the Pinochet regime began murdering
and imprisoning thousands of Popular Unity supporters. Over 3,000
Chileans immediately "disappeared," and the regime continued to
violently repress anyone who resisted its rule.
Pinochet's economic policies proved who his bosses were:
imperialists and homegrown capitalists. He removed price controls
from most commodities, returned land to landlords, slashed public
sector spending and the progressivity of income taxes, privatized
state industries, and modified tax laws to encourage foreign and
domestic investment. Unemployment remained above 15% and real
wages declined by 40% from 1973 to 1985. While Chile did
experience an annual economic growth rate of 7% after 1985, much
of this was financed on the export of nonrenewable resources, like
mineral wealth. Furthermore, a quarter of Chile's population lives
in absolute poverty, another one-third barely squeaks by, and real
wages are still below the Allende days for most workers. Most
economic gains for Chileans were limited to the top one-fifth of
the population. Income distribution in Chile is now among the most
unequal in the world. This economic policy, called
"neoliberalism," was the design of Milton Friedman and other
bourgeois economists at the University of Chicago. Other bourgeois
professors and media sources, like the New York Times, uphold
Pinochet as Chile's savior, and Clinton wants Chile to be the next
member of NAFTA.
There are lessons to be learned from the mistakes of the Allende
regime. Allende and other progressive forces in Chile remained too
faithful to bourgeois democracy and class collaboration rather
than revolutionary class struggle. A week before the coup, 500,000
Chilean workers rallied in support of Allende and begged him to
open the armories so that they could fight the fascists, but
Allende said "no." The Chilean Communist Party (PCCH) sided with
Allende against armed struggle, and in return they were arrested,
tortured and "disappeared." Even before the coup, the Moviemento
de la Izquierda Revolucionaria (MIR) had warned the Communist and
Socialist (PSCH) parties that there would be no peaceful road to
socialism. Also, the progressive political parties, community
groups, and labor unions were too fragmented to offer a unified
response to the coup. Had they had effective, united leadership
under a proletarian party true to Marx-Lenin-Stalin-Mao theory and
practice, the outcome probably would have been different.
Although Chilean society has been bombarded by decadent
consumerist propaganda (commercials) for the last twenty-five
years, there are some rays of hope and signs of resistance. A
Chilean appeals court judge has decided to hear a case charging
Pinochet with genocide. Students have elected Communists to head
their student body associations at Chile's three most prominent
universities. MIM wishes them luck in their struggle against
Pinochet, an imperialist lackey whose fate will one day be sealed
by the Chilean masses.
Notes: Brian Loveman, chapter 23, "Antipolitics in Chile, 1973-
94," The Politics of Antipolitics: The Military in Latin America
(Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, Inc., 1997).
Marc Cooper, "Twenty-Five Years After Allende: An Anti-Memoir,"
The Nation, 23 March 1998, pp. 11-23.
Iain MacSaoarsa, "Chile, Capitalism and Liberty for the Rich,"
http\\:www.spunk.org\library\otherpol\critique\sp001280.txt
* * *
SEND DOUGH TO THE PROJECTS OF THE PEOPLE
PIRAO gets $600 donation with no stipulations from a former friend
of MIM and RAIL. This person has heavy disagreements with the
Party and chooses to spend his/her time on other things than
politics, but sees that the PIRAO is getting work done. This
person's heavy disagreements in theory and practice did not stop
him/her from sending a large sum of cash which the PIRAO is using
for the costs of setting up independent institutions of the
oppressed. Let's us outside the walls not forget the prisoners and
the duty of internationalist aid! What are you doing with your
money? Help us build long-term solutions to the proletarian
movement's financial problems.
* * *
MERLE AFRICA OF THE MOVE 9 DIES IN PRISON
MOVE CALLS DEATH SUSPICIOUS
Merle Africa, one of the Move 9 defendants, died in a Pennsylvania
prison on March 13. Merle was accused, along with the other 8, of
killing a police officer during the assault on the MOVE house on
August 8, 1978. The evidence says the pig who died was shot in the
back from above his position, probably by a police sniper. He
certainly wasn't killed by the MOVE members trapped in a house
below him. It also would have been impossible for nine people to
kill one man with one bullet. But the MOVE 9 were convicted
because they stayed strong in their Black nationalist and back-to-
nature beliefs. Each of the defendants were sentenced to 30 to 100
years.
MOVE members who visited Merle two weeks ago said that she seemed
"strongly and healthy." A stomach virus had been going around the
wimmin's prison in Crawford County, but Merle seemed to be getting
better.
MOVE 9 defendant Debbi Africa found Merle unconscious in a
bathroom. The pigs pronounced her dead of a few hours later. The
coroner won't comment on the cause of death, but Debbie Africa
said that a prison nurse told Debbie she thought Merle died of
"stomach tumors." Consuewella Africa stated, "The nurse asked if
Merle had ever been beaten and of course, yes, for 25 years our
people have been tortured and beaten. The nurse stated that it
appeared that these 'tumors' had developed as a result of years of
beatings by the police."
According to a MOVE spokesperson, Merle's death is especially
suspicious because the prison administration "always singled out
Merle for violence, intimidation and threats." Consuewella Africa
said, "We don't really know what happened to Merle in that prison,
why she is dead. We're saying, we're very suspicious. We're
saying, HOW MUCH LONGER ARE WE GONNA LEAVE OUR PEOPLE TO DIE IN
THESE PRISONS?"
In a statement on the day of Merle's death, Mumia wrote: "Merle
should have been home with their babies, well over twenty years
ago. But she and the remaining 8 MOVE political prisoners remained
entombed in state prisons, simply for the crime of being MOVE
members. Let our loss spark a fire that fuels the engine of
freedom for all of the remaining MOVE political prisoners. Let our
hearts, spirits, voices and hands demand that they be freed from
this unjust draconian political persecution. Let us truly work to
free all MOVE political prisoners right now. Long live the spirit
of Merle "China" Africa."
Note: Press releases archived at http://afrikan.net/. This story
written March 18.
* * *
AMERIKAN MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT DISTRIBUTES KLAN LITERATURE
In March, Cicero, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, made a $10,000
deal to distribute Ku Klux Klan literature to residents of the
entire town. The deal was cut to stop a KKK rally which, town
officials claimed, might have triggered violence and would have
cost the town thousands of dollars for security.
The town arranged for an anonymous donation of $10,000 to be used
to pay for the printing and distribution of Klan literature and in
exchange the Klan called off a scheduled rally. The Police
Superintendent admitted this "could be deemed extortion."
Cicero has a history as a white supremacist, blue collar town.
Martin Luther King Jr. compared Cicero to Selma, Alabama during
the fight for civil rights. The town is now almost 50% Latino.
The Klan literature must be delivered either by direct mail or by
a private delivery service. This service to the ideology of the
Klan is nothing new for the Amerikan government. Life in the
united snakes is pervaded with white supremacy. From the economic
opportunities open to oppressed nations relative to whites, to the
cultural messages in the media and mainstream entertainment, white
supremacy is reinforced.
As internationalists, our task is to take the tools of government
and the media away from the imperialists and their fascist yahoo
allies and put them to the service of the international
proletariat. Lenin put it this way: "Freedom of the press ceases
to be hypocrisy [under the dictatorship of the proletariat],
because the printing press and the stocks of paper are taken away
from the bourgeoisie. The same thing applies to the best
buildings, the palaces, the mansions and manor houses. The Soviet
power took thousands upon thousands of these best buildings from
the exploiters at one stroke, and in this way made the right of
assembly - without which democracy is a fraud -- a thousand times
more 'democratic' for the masses."
We must build independent media and fight for the day when we can
overthrow imperialism and give the majority of the world's people
a voice in Amerika.
Notes: Associated Press, 03/12/98. Lenin, "The Proletarian
Revolution and the Renegade Kautsky," Foreign Language Press
(1965), pp. 26-27.
* * *
NOTES IN CAIN VS. MDOC
The new policies being implemented under the Michigan Department
of Korruptions forecast much harsher and repressive control over
the state's rapidly increasing prisoner population. The
implementations of the December 1997 ruling in the CAIN case are
beginning and already Michigan prisoners are facing harsher
conditions and, if upheld, will face more fierce censorship and
restrictions on personal literature and belongings. We print the
below to get some of the basic information out and also to solicit
more information from our comrades languishing in gulags who have
more information in this or similar policies.
The class-action lawsuit filed by Michigan prisoners and others on
behalf of Michigan prisoners is a wide-ranging suit challenging
many aspects of MDOC policy. The most talked-about aspect of the
CAIN case (so-called because CAIN is the first prisoner listed as
a plaintiff against the DOC) is the challenge to the DOC's new
property policy, which strips prisoners of the right to much of
their personal property.
Most concisely, the new property policy requires that prisoners
designate a recipient (either family or charity) for all property
they have bought with their own money, and send all their property
out of the prison. (The shipping is at MDOC expense for this one-
time mailing.) They can then live with the state-issues clothes
and other supplies, and can buy new things from state-contracted
suppliers (who typically make substandard products and sell them
to prisoners at excessively high prices). The amount of new
property prisoners can obtain is then limited to what can fit in a
duffel bag or footlocker at the most, and includes specific limits
on various types of property, according to the prisoners' security
level. For example, a level two prisoner can have no more than ten
books, magazines or newspapers.
In addition to being the most famous aspect of the CAIN case, the
property policy is the only part of the case on which a ruling has
been made. The ruling (given in Dec. 1997) states that the DOC
could go ahead and institute the policy on Jan. 12 of this year.
The only piece of the policy which has been implemented is that
friends and family are no longer allowed to send in clothing and
other things to Michigan prisoners.
As a staff member at Prison Legal Services of Michigan said, the
DOC is hesitating to take away all prisoners' property because
"what are they going to do -- gas all the men when they go in to
take their property?" The staffer's point was that this policy is
so vile and stirs up so much justified anger in the prisoners --
that their property which they have paid for either with jobs
which pay less than 25 cents an hour or with money from friends
and relatives is now being taken away -- that the prison
administration is asking for real trouble in carrying out this
policy.
The PLSM has been successful in enjoining the ruling (keeping it
from going forward) by setting up a few legal roadblocks to
implementation. Each prison will have to file an affidavit with
the court certifying that the facility has enough clothing to
distribute the required amount to all prisoners. But even if all
the facilities do this, the clothing that they have is inadequate
for the prisoners in the Michigan winters.
The expert in uniform clothing who testified for the MDOC first
tried to lie and say that the state issue clothing is "state of
the art" but was then forced to admit to the judge that it is
difficult to keep warm in the clothes the prison provides. In
Michigan, where winter days don't always see temperatures above 10
degrees, the winter coats provided to prisoners by the state are
not warm enough to keep a person safe. One prisoner in Michigan
who PLSM knows about had to be treated for frostbite this winter.
Why? Because the guards decided not to check on him during his
yard time to see if he was warm enough and needed to go back
inside. So during an hour and a half this prisoner's fingers
turned blue and his fingernails fell off. And this was in the
clothing the state wants to restrict all prisoners in the state
to.
The state expert on clothing was even compelled to tell the judge
that the only way the winter clothes are really warm enough is if
the wearer puts their hands in the pockets, pulls their fingers
out of the gloves and balls up their fists so that the fingers are
not exposed, and then bunches the jacket around themselves so that
the wind can't blow through it. The judge in the case allowed this
expert to testify and then told everyone in the courtroom that he
had tried the clothes himself at home one weekend, and had tried
to stay out for the hour or hour and a half that some prisoners
are allotted for yard time, but had to go inside after 35 minutes
because he was so cold.
Prisoner paralegals at PLSM try pieces of the case in court and
are doing much of the work on the case in their own behalf. These
prisoners work 60-hour weeks and sometimes suffer retribution for
their work on behalf of themselves and other prisoners.
* * *
RAIL FORUM ON CRIMINAL INJUSTICE SYSTEM
FORMER PRISONERS, LAWYER AND ACTIVISTS SPEAK
BOSTON, Mass., March 24 -- RAIL held a forum on the criminal
injustice system at Boston University that included three former
prisoners, an activist lawyer and a RAIL activist. The event was
well attended and the discussion ran well into the night as many
activists and people interested in getting involved in activism
shared stories about police brutality, discussed what we can do
about the unjust system, and listened intently to the experiences
and information from the speakers.
Frank Smith (a.k.a. Big Black), a former Attica prisoner who
participated in the 1971 uprising demanding livable conditions for
the prisoners was the featured speaker. He described the Attica
rebellion and the way the pigs stormed the prison and killed and
injured many people in the process. He is active with the Attica
Legal Defense and there are several on-going legal cases against
the injustice system for their actions at Attica. Black recently
won 4 million dollars in his damage trial. The verdict is being
appealed so he does not have any of this money but he pointed out
the important legal precedents being set by the cases the Attica
prisoners are pursuing.
Black stressed the importance of everyone getting involved and
actually doing something. And this theme was echoed by the other
speakers as we encouraged people to join the RAIL contingent to
the Jericho march and teach-in or to get involved in some other
way.
Kazi Toure, imprisoned for 10 years for seditious conspiracy
(conspiring to overthrow the government), spoke about the many
prisoners who have been incarcerated specifically for their
political beliefs and actions. He described how he was sitting in
a parked car when a cop came and asked the driver as well as Kazi
for identification. They then tried to search Kazi. At the trial
when the cop was asked what basis he had for the stop and the
search he said that he never saw Black men sitting with white men
in a car at that rest stop. He said he had only seen 4 or 5 other
Black men at the rest stop ever. And when asked how many of those
he had asked for ID he said all of them.
Kazi was subject to illegal search and seizure but because the
government considered the seditious conspiracy case against him to
be so "serious" they dismissed the complaints about illegal
actions by the cops. This lack of any legal protection against the
cops or the state was stressed by the lawyer on the panel. He
stressed that political people are framed for crimes they never
committed on a regular basis and we should not expect to win these
cases in the courts (except very rarely). The entire system is
stacked against the defendant whether s/he is political or not.
Richard Picariello, also imprisoned for political activism spoke
about his experience with repression behind the bars in response
to his attempts to organize and defend the prisoners. He brought
the issue to a larger context by talking about the entire Amerikan
system which needs to be overthrown if we hope to change the
criminal injustice system. He also stressed the lack of any
rehabilitative measures in the prisons. This was echoed by the
RAIL activist's talk which focused on the censorship battles RAIL
and MIM have been fighting inside the prisons as an example of the
use of prisons as a means of social control.
One of the panel members pointed out that there was a rebellion at
Walpole prison (a prison in Massachusetts) just four days earlier
and when he asked, no one in the audience had heard about it. This
led to a discussion of how the mainstream media can not be counted
on to report on the peoples struggles and why we need independent
media.
When one audience member talked about the reforms he considered
necessary to change the system Kazi said that reforms are good but
we need revolution to make the fundamental changes that are
necessary. This evoked spontaneous applause from many in the
audience.
A few people stressed the strength of the state and their fear of
the cops and the power of the state. Several panel members
responded that it is important not to be paralyzed by this fear:
we have to do something to fight the system. The RAIL activist
pointed out that this fear is healthy because it means people are
accurately assessing the strength of the state and will not engage
in premature armed struggle or other inappropriate actions at this
stage in the struggle. But at the same time this strength of the
state is a strong reason why RAIL is a continental organization:
we can't afford to think small, we must build organizations that
can take on the power of the imperialist state.
* * *
AMERIKKKAN PRISON CRAZE EXPOSED
The Celling of America is a new book out from Common Courage
Press. The book's title is inspired by the prisons-building and
incarceration craze in Amerika beginning in the 1970s. The book is
a compilation of essays and articles by authors who write for
Prison Legal News, a newsletter devoted to legal issues affecting
prisons and prisoners. The book was edited by Daniel Burton-Rose,
with Paul Wright and Dan Pens, the editors of Prison Legal News.
Burton-Rose is travelling now to promote the book, and RAIL had a
chance to catch up with him at a reading and discussion in a
Midwestern college town.
Burton-Rose began his presentation by talking about the Amerikan
prison craze which began in the 1970s. There were 200,000 people
in U.$. prisons in 1970, this number exploded to 500,000 by 1980,
and today there are more than 1 million people languishing in
Amerika's gulags.
Burton-Rose cited the figure that in 1991, the United Snakes spent
$32 billion on the prisons aspect of the criminal injustice system
alone. And he added to this that on top of government spending on
prisons, there is now tremendous growth in the prisons industry
for private capital as well. Private companies now have their
hands in everything from commissary goods which are available at
gouging prices to prisoners, to prisoner medical care, to running
the prisons themselves. Kick backs for the Departments of
Corrections from telephone company contracts are a common subject
of discussion. Burton-Rose noted that Ohio prisoners make phone
calls at a charging rate of $1 per minute, while California
prisoners must add a $3.00 surcharge to any phone calls they make,
which are limited to 15 minutes.
RAIL points out that Michigan prisoners are also limited to 15
minutes per phone call, and of course as in most cases, the
prisoners must make collect phone calls. These common policies
across state prison systems of forcing prisoners to go through a
single phone company and to pay exorbitant charges on top of the
cost of an expensive collect call tax families and friends of
prisoners--people who are not even supposed to be subject to the
criminal injustice cyst'm. Burton-Rose acknowledged this fact, but
RAIL goes farther with it. The fact that families and friends of
prisoners are taxed for their loved ones' imprisonment is another
mark on the proof sheet which demonstrates that prisons are a
means of national oppression. That entire communities are punished
when a single individual goes to prison shows that the prisons are
a system of group oppression, not of any form of justice or
individual penance.
RAIL is pleased to see The Celling of America published, and we
look forward to an opportunity to review the book. Indeed we are
happy whenever additional information about prisons is released to
the general U.$. population and the world. But we have some broad
disagreements with Burton-Rose's approach to analysis of the
prisons system. Burton-Rose gives the prison system a lot more
credit for being confused and having mistaken priorities than RAIL
would. RAIL takes it as our responsibility to expose the prisons'
systemic oppression as an aspect of imperialism--the domination of
oppressed nations by the Amerikan oppressor nation.
Burton-Rose said at one point during the discussion that
"everybody who knows anything" about the effects of prisons on
prisoners agrees that education is vital to improving prisoners'
lives and keeping them out of prison once they are released. In
this group of people who understand that prisoners should have
educational opportunities while in prison, Burton-Rose included
older guards who have long-term experience working with prisoners,
and other people in similar positions. It may or may not be true
that these people understand that the current prisons system is
messed up. If the corrections people understand that prisons do
more to repress than to rehabilitate, then the best we can say for
these people is that they are willfully participating in a system
which brutalizes a disproportionate number of Blacks, Latinos and
First Nations people in this country.
In the final analysis, RAIL chooses not to spend its time
speculating on the intentions of participants in the criminal
INjustice system. We don't care if there are some good apples in
the system. In fact we expect there to be at least a handful
because when there is contradiction in a society as a whole, the
elements of the society will not be without contradiction. But
puzzling over what these good apples are doing with their
consciences and giving credit to those who are at best not
speaking out against injustice which they know exists (at worst
participating even though they know it's wrong) is a misdirection
of our time and of the energies of our allies who would join in
the struggle against oppression.
Burton-Rose went on to say that the people who are building
prisons and taking away educational opportunities from the
prisoners are legislators who have no direct experience with
prisoners. This stance is very dangerous in that it absolves the
prisons and the Departments of Corrections of responsibility for
their own hideous policies. The state Departments of Corrections
are the bodies which make prisoner mail policies -- the basis on
which prisoners' MIM Notes subscriptions are constantly censored.
The Michigan DOC is currently enacting pieces of a new prisoner
property policy which will require prisoners to give up most if
not all of their property (which they have bought and paid for)
and buy all new things from the MDOC's approved vendors.
These types of fascist policies are not coming down from law
makers who know nothing about prisons. They are coming from the
departments that are directly responsible for overseeing
prisoners' day-to-day lives.
RAIL calls on people who oppose the brutality of prisons and those
who want to see more positive programs for the oppressed to get
their hands on a copy of The Celling of America and review it for
RAIL Notes. Continue reading MIM Notes and RAIL Notes too, and
focus on hammering out a correct overall analysis of the function
of Amerikan prisons. It is absolutely necessary that we approach
prisons in a unified way. We need to understand that if it looks
like an imperialist system and it barks like a fascist dog, then
that's probably what it is. We need to take pains to be direct and
open in calling the pigs pigs.
RAIL is building our own newspaper, along with MIM's Free Books
for Prisoners program and other agitation and education work for
prisoners. We do this work because we believe that the bourgeois
media and the prisons administrations will not do it for us and
will do everything in their power to stand in our way. And we do
it because we believe that the oppression in prisons is deliberate
and will only be ended through revolutionary politics. If you
agree with us that concerted action to build our own institutions,
which will build resources for the oppressed, and expose the
oppressors, write to RAIL or MIM and get involved. Any amount of
time you can give is that much more oil we can use to keep the
flame of anti-imperialist struggle burning.
* * *
CHINA'S NATIONAL PEOPLE'S CONGRESS TRAVELS FURTHER DOWN THE
CAPITALIST ROAD
by MC206
The Chinese National People's Congress met in March and confirmed
further sweeping capitalist reforms, including selling off state-
owned enterprises and firing four million government workers. The
Congress also appointed a new premier, Zhu Rongji, who is friendly
to western-style capitalism. Zhu was previously China's top
economic official and responsible for a 1994 currency devaluation.
Fire "extra" staff, pay workers less
Outgoing premier Li Peng listed the government's immediate
economic plans at the congress. He said that the government will
"increase efficiency by reducing staff."(1) As a result, as many
as four million government jobs may be cut. Li also hinted that
unprofitable state enterprises will be shut down.
Other so-called state-owned industries will be shaken up.
According to the LA Times, "some ministries with direct industrial
links - most notably electronics, electric power, coal mining,
machinery, metallurgy and chemistry - would be reborn as
corporations or, alternatively, as less centralized 'industry
associations.'" This could be a doomed attempt to ameliorate the
pressures of capitalist production by carrying out more capitalist
reforms, or it could reflect conflicts within the state-capitalist
class. Either way, MIM is clear that the Chinese economy is
capitalist. Existing industries may be formally state-owned, but
they are run on the basis of capitalist profitability for the
benefit of the state-capitalist class.
Even bourgeois economists recognize that these measures aimed at
shutting down "unprofitable" enterprises will increase
unemployment and "labor unrest." They see these things as
necessary and short term evils, while MIM sees them as built into
the capitalist system.
Zhu Rongji: Hard-core capitalist roader
Zhu Rongji spent five years in the countryside during the Cultural
Revolution in order to undergo ideological remolding. This marks
him as a member of an infamous club: Deng Xiaoping and other party
members in authority taking the capitalist road were purged from
the party and sent to the countryside by the Maoist Cultural
Revolutionaries in order to serve and learn from the people.
Zhu has been China's top economic official throughout most of the
'90s, when more and more imperialists gained access to China's
work force. For example, the 1994 currency devaluation "greatly
boosted China's exports." Imperialist mouthpieces like the LA
Times and NPR have put pressure on China to once again devalue its
currency in light of recent devaluations in southeast Asia,
something Zhu says he opposes. Evidently the imperialists aren't
satisfied with paying Chinese workers 50 cents per hour, they'd
like to pay them even less.
The Chinese and amerikan press have compared Zhu to Chou En-lai.
"Fittingly - and perhaps not accidentally - Zhu's ascendancy comes
just as state-controlled media are engaged in lavish coverage
marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of China's longest-
serving and most-revered Premier, the late Chou En-lai. Chou - the
most cosmopolitan of the original core of 'Long March Communists'
- served as premier from the founding of the People's Republic in
1949 until his death in 1976.
"The saturation hagiography... is more extensive than that marking
the 1993 centennial of the birth of People's Republic founder Mao
Tse-Tung. The television documentary stresses Chou's decency and
practicality during the worst moments of the Communist era,
including the 1958-61 Great Leap Forward and the 1966-76 Cultural
Revolution."
Of course the capitalist roaders controlling the Chinese state and
the imperialists will praise Chou En-lai for his "cosmopolitan
character," "decency," and especially his "practicality." They
want downplay and discredit the Maoist slogan that "(proletarian)
politics must be in command." Indeed, although Chou served the
people for many years in China, Chou En-lai played a key role in
bringing arch-revisionist Deng Xiaoping back into the party after
the Cultural Revolutionaries had him kicked out. It is telling
that Mao did not attend funeral services for Chou, and the Maoist-
controlled press did not play up Chou's achievements when Chou
died.(1)
Since the institution of capitalist reforms under Deng Xiaoping,
all of the problems associated with the capitalist mode of
production have appeared in China: waste, unemployment, crime,
increased inequality between town and country and between men and
wimmin, etc.(2) It is of utmost importance for communists around
the world to clearly denounce the current Chinese state as a
capitalist state. Those who call China socialist - or even "at the
crossroads between socialism and capitalism" - confuse the masses
about the true nature of socialism and malign socialism. The great
confusion about the nature of the former state-capitalist Soviet
Union in the late '80s caused many so-called communist
organizations and individuals to break up and give up
revolutionary politics altogether. We must put forward the Maoist
thesis that class struggle continues under socialism, and we must
propagate the facts that Kruschev and Deng carried out capitalist
restoration - our ability to lead the masses towards building
socialism depends on it.
NOTES:
1. National Public Radio Morning Edition, 5 March 1998.
2. Los Angeles Times, 5 March 1998.
3. "The Political Economy of Counter-revolution in China," p. 71.
4. "The Political Economy of Counter-revolution in China," pp.
210-230. (Available from MIM for $3.)
* * *
RAIL CHALLENGES LABOR ARISTOCRACY'S MICHAEL MOORE
by a MORAIL comrade
Amerikan progressive filmmaker, Michael Moore, whose body of work
includes the documentary "Roger & Me" and the 1996 book Downsize
This!: Random Threats from an Unarmed American, visited a
Midwestern city recently to preview his new film, "The Big One."
While the tone of the film and talk was generally progressive,
Moore's lack of devotion to M-L-M analysis leads him to endorse a
weak, reformist agenda favorable only to the labor aristocracy.
Moore presents a generally progressive line through his films,
book and speeches. He recognizes that Amerika is a thoroughly
racist, sexist and militaristic place; he admits that both
political parties are in the U.$. are funded and therefore
controlled by the richest 1%, and he rightly points out that
capitalism has brought more death and destruction to the world
than so-called "terrorists" like Tim McVeigh. But a Q&A after the
preview of "The Big One" proved that he is a spokesperson for
labor aristocracy and is therefore not a true proletarian voice.
A RAIL comrade who attended the screening decided to expose
Moore's line for what it is. This comrade admitted to Moore that,
as a low-wage, Amerikan worker, (s)he used to complain about
her/his state, but that (s)he was still making far more than most
oppressed nation workers. The comrade then produced a table by
economist Samir Amin that indicated that the lowest paid oppressor
nation workers (farm workers, service employees, temp workers,
etc.) constitute 4% of the world's population but possess 6% of
the world's wealth, a marginal yet unequal chunk.
This comrade then went on to suggest that no Amerikan worker
should make more than $10/hour because, beyond that point, the
Amerikan worker is consuming surplus value from oppressed nation
workers. Moore responded, "Whoah! You were going good, but you
lost us with that last point." The crowd gave many chuckles in
support of Moore. The RAIL comrade responded, "Wait! Let me
finish! Why should GM workers in the U.$. make more than GM
workers in Brazil?" Moore responded that they shouldn't, and
concluded with some indirect yet supportive comments.
As the audience filed out of the theater, a few White, Male trade
union members confronted the RAIL comrade about her/his statement.
The RAIL comrade defended her/himself by retorting "Amerikan
workers didn't give a damn about Indonesian or Mexican workers
(two oppressed nations profiled in the film) until they lost their
$25/hour jobs to them! And why did they lose these jobs? Because
U.$. unions colluded with their own bosses against communism in
the oppressed world to reap the fruits of imperialism!" The
comrade's inquisitors had no response because they really didn't
want to hear the painful truth. But several other audience
members, at least one of which was a Catholic Worker, said that
the RAIL comrade made a good point.
While Moore is not aligned to any party (though he did give the
ludicrous suggestion that progressives should take over the
Democratic Party and gave minimal endorsements to the Green, Labor
and New Parties), his line is similar to that of the Communist
Party - USA. A recent edition of their People's Weekly World point
out by way of an article and chart that American manufacturing
workers rank behind 12 other oppressor nation workers in hourly
compensation. What this chart did not list was every nation that
ranks below the U.$.! In other words, the CP-USA is mad that U$
corporations do not share as sizable a portion of surplus value
from the oppressed nations with their labor aristocrats as
European and Japanese corporations do!
This point was touched upon in "The Big One." In a conversation
with imperialist Phil Knight, CEO of Nike, Knight told Moore the
reason that he wouldn't build a Nike factory in Moore's hometown
(Flint, Mich.) was because "Amerikans don't want to make shoes."
To respond, Moore gathered a crowd of 500 in Flint to send a
videotaped message to Knight that, yes, they would make Nike
shoes. In other words, Amerikan workers didn't want to make shoes
when they had $25/hour auto manufacturing jobs, but now that they
have no jobs, they are willing to make shoes. Surely, though,
Amerikan workers are not willing to work for the same wages as
Indonesians, and they know that they won't have to.
The question for unemployed U$ workers now becomes "Are you
willing to align yourself with the oppressed nation workers to
collectively overthrow imperialism?" The answer is, of course,
"not yet," and the oppressed world will not hold its breath
waiting for help from the Ugly Amerikan. Until (and if) the labor
aristocracy has been abandoned by their imperialist "big
brothers," Moore and other Amerikan would-be progressives will
continue to scratch their heads and ask "Why don't Amerikans rise
up?"
* * *
YELTSIN FIRES CABINET TO MASK CAPITALIST DISASTER
Boris Yeltsin fired his entire government on March 23. He claimed
to need a new Cabinet to ensure that economic reform works in
Russia. Though a new Cabinet is not going to improve the
conditions of the Russian masses, it is true that the current
privatization rush is certainly not working.
With the market reforms of capitalism leading to worsening
conditions for the Russian masses, many remember the socialist
government fondly. And because of some remnants of socialism after
the bourgeoisie seized power in 1953, people even look back to
state capitalist governments as better than the current upheaval.
Yeltsin fears that without dramatic improvement in the living
conditions of the masses, the so-called communists could ride the
wave of public dissatisfaction and win the presidential elections
in the year 2000. While MIM sees clearly that the Communist Party
really represents state capitalism not the views of Marx, Lenin
and Stalin, we see this recent shakeup in the Russian government
as further evidence that capitalism does not work.
This move may have also been intended to save face for Prime
Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin who is believed to be Yeltsin's
favorite choice as his successor. By removing Chernomyrdin, public
criticism for economic failure may be less of a factor in his
future bid for the presidency.
The Russia masses are learning a hard lesson about capitalism: it
does not work. The only way for people to get rich under
capitalism is through exploitation. If the Russian population is
to become wealthy, the country needs colonies to exploit. Without
imperialist exploit, individuals of the corporate bourgeoisie and
government bureaucracy will get wealthy through exploitation of
the Russian masses.
Rather than becoming self-sufficient or developing into an
imperialist power with colonies to exploit, Russia has moved
towards dependency on foreign investments and IMF loans. In late
February, Yeltsin announced that the current three-year, $10
billion IMF loan "should be the last." Two days later, the
Managing Director of the IMF announced the lending program would
be extended for a fourth year, until 2000.(1)
The revisionist state capitalist government put a false face of
socialism on the USSR after the death of Stalin. Because of this,
many people, both inside and outside of Russia, are still confused
about the true differences between socialism and capitalism.
Many people look to the days of Kruschev or even Breshnev as
better than current conditions under Yeltsin. While it may be true
that state capitalism riding on the tail of Soviet socialism was
better than the current state of upheaval and privatization, these
governments were not socialist. The Soviet government under
Kruschev and Breshnev clearly represented a break from proletarian
ownership. After the death of Stalin, the Soviet government forged
a state capitalist path to secure private profits for the new
bourgeoisie. Under state capitalism, the state owns the means of
production, but production is organized around the profitability
of individual enterprises or sectors. We call this state
capitalism because it is socialism in name and capitalism in
practice. Under state capitalism, the workers no longer control
the state and the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie is the order of
the day.
Yeltsin has the constitutional power to appoint and dismiss
ministers. He claims that the Cabinet has failed to persuade
ordinary Russians that market reforms would improve their lives.
And he admitted that this was at least in part because "people
don't feel changes for the better."(2) Falling standards of
living, unpaid wages and pensions and other economic problems are
behind this dissatisfaction. Yeltsin first tried criticizing the
government for failing to pay back wages and pensions to millions
of Russians. But apparently he realized that criticizing a
government that he is in charge of was not going to fool the
Russian masses.
One of the problems the Cabinet had been struggling with is the
privatization of large state-owned companies and other valuable
assets, such as oil drilling rights. State ownership under state
capitalism means profit for the bourgeoisie within the government
while privatization means profit for the corporate bourgeoisie.
The clash between these two groups of capitalists has led to the
buying and selling of influence in the government to manipulate
the privatization of some state assets. For instance, one Cabinet
official, Chubais, last year accepted a $90,000 advance on a yet-
to-be-published book on Russian privatization. This money came
from a large corporation that had recently benefited from
privatization deals. Other officials also accepted "advances" and
some of them were fired as Yeltsin attempted to control the public
embarrassment.(2)
This shakeup in the Russian government may please some foreign
investors. And imperialist governments would hope to see Russia
move quickly to privatize its economy so that they can buy up the
profitable industries. But for the Russian masses this change
should not bring any hope. The only way to improve the conditions
for the majority of the people in Russia is by overthrowing the
bourgeoisie in power and once again building a government of the
people.
NOTES:
1. Washington Post 21 February 1998, p. A14.
2. AP, 23 March 1998.
* * *
UNDER LOCK AND KEY
LOCKED UP FOR EXPOSING INJUSTICE
Dear MIM Notes, ...I am a Brother who is down for our struggle and
am tired of being oppressed by these pigs. Before reading your
paper, Under Lock and Key, I wasn't aware that my Brothers in
other state DOC's [Department of Corrections] were being oppressed
by the Pigs as well.
I am currently locked up in segregation for something I truly
believe in. That is exposing the injustice that is happening in
the VA DOC, especially at Bucking-sham Concentration Camp (BUCC).
They knew they could not lock me up for no reason so they made up
this false case and charged me with an assault on any person. They
said I assaulted a Black Female C/O (Correctional Officer).
I went to the Disciplinary Hearing for the charge and the Female
C/O stated that I did not assault her. But this Pig Sergeant
stated that he witnessed the incident so I was found guilty due to
the ranking officer's testimony. I was sentenced to 90 days in
segregation. I await my appeal. They think by locking me up in
segregation, it will keep my mouth closed but my words are works
are still being heard and done by my Brothers and Comrades.
Virginia has passed a No Parole Bill. Anyone who got locked up
after 1995 had to do 85% of his or her sentence. Which means if
they are sentenced 25 years, they must do 22 years and 9 months
before being released.
These pigs are trying 14 and 15-year-old kids as adults. Locking
them up and throwing away the key. These pigs are building 3 and 4
Super Max Prisons with no educational programs (No schools, No
trades, etc.) and limited jobs. These Pigs are making these
prisons (graveyards) for our youth and they got only one aim -- to
kill and destroy our race by locking up as many Black Folks as
they can. Giving Black Folks those kind of sentences to serve so
they will not be able to return back to society and the majority
will lose communication with family and friends.
We got to come together and fight this Pig that oppressed us for
so many years and we have to do it soon. Myself with the help of a
few of my comrades have been trying wake up these young Brothers
who are coming in this prison system with this, "I don't give a
Damn attitude.", "Kill or Be Killed Vibe.", and show them that
your Brother is your Brother! We also show them who is our true
and only enemy. It's going to be a lot of hard work but it can be
done. It must be done! I will not rest until I see the betterment
of our people achieve the 12 jewels of life.
1. Knowledge 2. Wisdom 3. Understanding 4. Freedom 5. Justice 6.
Equity 4. Food 8. Clothes 9. Shelter 10. Love 11. Peace 12.
Happiness
Your Brother and Comrade in the Struggle, -- A Virginia Prisoner,
17 February 1998
UNIFY AGAINST AFFILIATION LOCKDOWN
Revolutionary Greetings Comrades, I am a prisoners from another
state serving a bid in New Jersey. Since early 1996, I have been
in the Administrative Class Supervision Unit in Rahway State
Prison, better known as Red Top! I was given five years lock down
mostly for being a member of the Almighty Latin King Queen Nation
(ALKQN). What these Pigs are doing is wrong and it is time to
stand up and fight.
The latest strategy they are going to put into effect is building
a special close supervision unit at Northern State Prison. Which
they will use for all known "Gang" members as they put it in
Newark Star Ledger dated November 17, 1997. Anyone who is they
think is a member of the ALKQN, 5% Nation of Islam, or anyone who
has any type of affiliation will be placed on this unit.
I can not speak for anyone except the Kings and Queens of my
Nation. I can say that we will fight this in the courts or out of
the courts, which ever comes first. I ask all the 5%ers, Muslims,
and any other righteous Nation to unify with us. To come together
as one. Lets stop bringing harm upon each other for the true enemy
is they who oppress us. Let's stand together and fight for a true
cause. And let the world see that our victory will come through
the Unity of our people.
It is time to wake up and see the picture clearly. I sit back and
watch how these brothers just allow these Crackers to do that as
they please without any type of retaliation. It hurts, but I
refuse to go down without a fight. I will fight these Pigs till
the day I die. I want to be remembered as a man of honor, not a
coward. Like the brother up in Southport said, Remember Unity is
Power. I feel you kid!
La Lucha Continua -- A New Jersey Prisoner, 3 January 1998
NEW REPRESSIVE MEASURES IN DELAWARE
...Repressive measures in Delaware are moving to catch up with the
rest of this nation's cages. This state and its prisoncrats are
implementing the West Coast style of labeling groups as gangs and
so on. The obvious is when the SuperMax is completed, we'll be
attacked with all forms of repression possible!
Their pig-army on the streets has already formed an "anti-gang-
think-tank-swat-force," with different pig agencies, including the
fbi to label and attack the poor, minority ghetto sections. So
it's just a matter of time before things in the cages get even
worse. General population is already separated and restricted to
lesser yard and movement. Mostly kept inside locked on tiers with
the exception of an hour of yard a day.
For the most part prisoners and the public here are sound asleep
to what's about to really happen and what has already happened.
Neither is trying to hear or see it. So when the state launches
it's full offensive attack it will be like the (No Knock) law and
theory.
At present I'm still in their Maximum Security Unit (MSU). Which
makes over two years that I've spent in a cell 23 hours and 15
minutes a day, every day. It holds 80 prisoners when full. 20 are
in protective custody, and 40 prisoners are simply over here for
"minor" write-ups?! Now I don't know the average size of a
SuperMax Prison, but this is a small state with 5 Main prisons.
All of which are overcrowded simply because this state gives
ransoms for bail and refuses to release with 6 months or less
until it's all done.
Most of these prisoners have already served 3-5 years or were
given 6 months when they could have gotten probation or community
service for such minor charges. Let's not leave out the numerous
juvenile detention centers that are also being expanded on, e.g.
Plummer House and halfway houses- supervised custody.
Anyhow this SuperMax is to be a 600-800 bed prison. 300 single
beds, the rest double bunked. That's more that the population of
1600 here at DCC [Delaware Correctional Center]. And DCC is the
largest in the state. If this isn't a major lock down plan, I
don't know what is. The courts are giving out 3 strikes and life
sentences like candy. And with this age 14 Adult Law they're
poling them in like sardines. The racism and classism is forced
down your throat. Ain't no subtle nonsense here. Still nothing is
said. No outcry, NOTHING!!! The only prisoners or guards that die
here are form AIDS, old age, accident or natural causes, so what's
a SuperMax for?
My thinking is, their plan is to force some more harsh shit on us,
that they believe will be more successful in a more secure
setting. Not to mention the jack up in the year fee for Maximum-
security level prisoner, plus the slave labor plan they're going
to expand on once the SuperMax is completed. Something like Texas
(work or remained locked down. The first 300 beds are to be
completed in the summer 98 and the last part of fall 99. At
present there is NO voice for prisoners in this state. I've been
incarcerated here since 1988. Over the last 10 years, I've seen
this state due whatever it wants to prisoners and the poor without
any backlash what-so-ever!!!
-- A Delaware Prisoner, 4 January 1998
TIRED OF PRISON GUARD BRUTALITY
...The inmates here are gearing up for a major work and hunger
strike February 2nd. This administration is so nefarious. Every
time you turn around they are locking somebody up for having their
shoes untied or because they don't like the way we look, walk or
because we're educated.
They have so many people in RHU [Restricted Housing Unit] here you
won't believe it. They even have people in the RHU because they
don't have room in general population. We the inmates here at SCI
Green need a major Federal investigation with some serious
indictments!...
-- A Pennsylvania Prisoner, 13 January 1998
THE MICHIGAN INJUSTICE SYSTEM
I was arrested for the rape of a 68-year-old white woman.
The arrest came from a photographic lineup, where the victim
picked out two different Black men as looking like her single
attacker.
A witness picked out another Black man, as the man she saw.
Three different men were picked out of photos by yet, the police
falsely claimed that I was identified as the criminal.
In a court line up, the victim picked out two different Black men.
I was on of the two me picked out.
Unidentified fingerprints were found in the victim's purse, which
did not match my prints. The prosecutor withheld this information
from the jury.
An all white jury found me guilt of rape. I was given a 60 to 90
year sentence...
-- A Michigan Prisoner, 5 December 1997
SOUTH KAROLINA CONSPIRACIES
Here in South KKKarolina, some recent events have taken place that
call for urgent support from the people. There has been a
consistent plot to set up Brotha's who are politically conscious
and active.
The first few set-ups have occurred on one particular Brotha
several times. The Pigs would roll off into the kage where he is
being held captive. We are on the Lock- up/Down Unit. It is
mandatory that handcuffs be placed on prisoners first. However the
pigs rolled on this Souljah for the people, without putting any
cuffs on him. This was done clearly to instigate a physical
confrontation. When this occurred, being the Brotha's life was
clearly in danger, the pigs charged him as though they did nothing
wrong.
Now the pigs have go so far as to trump up some false charges on
this same Brother, claiming he corrected a pig. Somehow they
allege that the pig was choked while the Brotha was in the shower.
Now how does that seem possible?!
I have seen the work of the pigs first hand. While going to a
kangaroo kkkourt hearing (inside the prison) on pig brutality the
pigs refused to take the chains off me. So after numerous
complaints and a little loud noise, the pigs took me to the lock-
up unit where they alleged they had someone who could keep me
quite.
Once in the lock-up unit, this big red sloppy ass pig tried to
intimidate me. He made several statement about having someone who
could handle me -- that I don't look so tuff. After I made
numerous requests to go to the bathroom the pig attempted to set
me up.
Since I am labeled a high security threat, every time I am out of
the cage, I am supposed to be fully restrained and around no
prisoners. This pig sent me right down a hall full of prisoners.
So of course I recognized what was going down. And immediately
some young cat made a move and was corrected. Now, there is talk
that charges may be place on me. But remember I'm classified as a
security threat and I'm supposed to be fully restrained and around
no prisoners at any time while out of the cage. So if this wasn't
a set up, what was it? So if we're not allowed to protect
ourselves in a set-up, then we are not allowed to bring forth
justice, but just-us.
So people (particularly in South KKKarolina), I humbly ask you to
please contact myself via MIM about the present conspiracy to
annihilate a Souljah who have been falsely accused and wrongfully
been a victim of trumped-up charges of correcting [assaulting] a
pig. I would like to remind you that here in South KKKarolina they
have a 2 and 3 Strike system for serious offenses that will result
in a life sentence [if this Brotha is convicted].
All the solicitor is required to do is to give a 10-day notice 10
days before the trial. So this comrades life my very well depend
on your support and action.
Power to the People!!! -- A South Carolina Prisoner, 16 December
1997
NEW YORK LABORATORIES
Dear Comrades, I must say your curiosity being piqued about my use
of the work "laboratories" to describe these kamps or warehouses,
came to me as a surprise. So I will brief you on this use the
word.
"Laboratories" is a common word used by a lot of New York State
prisoners to describe the prison system throughout the world, not
just here. Because incarcerating minority, seeking people's
reaction is an experiment. What they're doing to those brothers
incarcerated in Arizona State Prison [by eliminating all prisoner
law libraries] is an experiment. They are testing all these
smaller state prisons with new laws and new rules. It is just a
new way to fuck with people and see their reaction to it.
Where is the most common place to experiment? A Laboratory!!
Prisoners all over the world are treated like Lab Mice. When they
finish testing new drugs on Lab Animals, who are the next testers?
Prisoners in Prison.
I don't know if you believed that brother who wrote to you (MIM
Notes 145 Under Lock and Key) and told you his conditions in
Southport Correctional Facility. But I just left there doing 20 in
the box. What he described to you is more like a clean version of
what's going down in there. The jails whole interior is structured
like a testing facility, in other words the way a laboratory is
structured.
In that state where the prisoners are paying for their own medical
service is another experiment. Why don't they test the big cities
first? Think about it. You wanted to know what I meant by being
incarcerated in these laboratories? Read your Under Lock and Key
section.
These lab mice done had enough of these cats. Time to bring in the
dogs. In closing I want you to know anything being done to the
oppressed on one died is just to see how it affects the oppressed
on the other side.
An experiment plus people equals a test. A test of this kind must
be conducted in laboratories.
Hold Ya' head, Comrades - A New York Prisoner, December 1997
RESISTING BRUTAL FORCE IN NEW YORK
...As I write I am being subjected to a restricted diet of cold
hard bread and raw cabbage per tier hearing disposition. That
administration has used this means of punishment on me in the past
several times. Prisons throughout the "empire state" continue to
administer this form of torture indiscriminately. This most recent
punishment was imposed for my fighting with correctional officers
in November 1997.
In November 1997, I was gassed in my cell with chemical agent
(C587) for almost a half-hour straight. When the extraction team
realized that I would not surrender then entered the cell with
blast shields, gas masks, jumpsuits (riot gear) and batons.
While I was being "decontaminated" after a brief struggle, one of
the extraction team officers applying body hold called me a
faggot, a coward, and said that I was "locked up for sucking
nigger cocks." I was then placed in a stripped cell, completely
bare except for my boxer shorts that I was wearing and a thin
course mat for sleeping. My fact was still burning from the
chemical agents and bruised and bleeding from the "minimal use of
force" applied to extract me from the cell.
Except for publications like MIM Notes, Prisoners have no voice.
We are treated worse than slaves. In court and in prison, our
testimony is deemed worthless. Hardly ever are we able to produce
"evidence" to substantiate our claims of abuse. Many people on the
outside, oppressed themselves by the corrupt system of government,
believe that we deserve the barbaric treatment we are subjected
to. I read about the numerous rights being revoked from prisoners
nationwide and the expanded oppression is not being met with
adequate resistance.
I am serving a 25-year to life sentence for crimes that the
government performs itself on a regular basis: robbery, murder,
and illegal trade, profiting through genocide....
-- A New York Prisoner, 8 December 1997
FLORIDA CONTROL UNITS
...Right now under my current circumstance, I am going through
many changes imposed by these prisoncrats. They have no regard for
the inmates housed in Florida DOC [Department of Corrections],
especially those of us who are on Close Management. We are on 24-
hour lockdown, with recreation once per week.
What makes it worse -- this is a Psyche 3-CM [Control Management]
Unit. They do their best to keep us on the psychotropic
medication. At one point they were giving the wrong medication.
Then again, perhaps, they were experimenting. For a few people did
suffer from negative side effect reactions.
Now to add more troubles to our situation, they're attempting to
take all of our personal property that our families sent us all
the magazines...as well as preventing us from receiving postage
stamps in the mail. What about those who no funds? How are they
going to get along? -- Because everything is to be purchased from
the inmate commissary....
Power to the People -- A Florida Prisoner, 7 January 1998
MEDICAL RESTRICTION REVOKED
Revolutionary Greetings! I am writing from Texas. After being
classified as a third class medical for five and a half years, I
was told by security that Dr. K took away all my medical
restriction in July without my knowledge. A Klan officer came to
my cell in November 1997 told me to pack up, that I was moving to
another pod.
I was assigned to the top bunk, I no longer have a one-row bottom
bunk pass. I was given a one-row bottom bunk because suffer from
chronic back pain and have two herniated disks in the lumber
region of my spine.
I refuse to move in the cell and sleep in the top bunk. I have
already fallen off the top bunks before. I take high blood
pressure medication and I have heart disease. I was issued a
ticket and placed in PHD [punitive housing detention]. They found
me guilty and gave me a LOP 45 days.
When I got to PHD I discovered that Dr. K had targeted other
inmates, all Black males with lower bunk passes who had a medical
history of lower back problems. He took their lower bunk
privileges and all other restrictions pertaining to their medical
conditions.
These moves were made by the TDC [Texas Department of Corrections]
system because they will start charging inmates $3.00 for
requesting medical here in Texas beginning December 1, 1997 or
January 3, 1998. They know that inmates who have chronic back pain
and other severe medical conditions will have to call on medical
to help them. In this way, by taking everybody medical now, they
can charge chronically ill prisoners $3.00 every time to see a
doctor to get his medical restriction back. Then the state of
Texas can receive revenues from an inmate he is medically
handicapped.
This is another low blow to the already hurting Texas prisoners.
Next we will be paying rent to live in a cell. Then pay for the
electricity and water. And none of us are getting paid for working
in prison here in Texas to be able to pay these bills. This is
only an added pressure on our loved ones. They have to pay bills
in the free world and now they will have to pay another for their
loved ones in prison....
-- A Texas Prisoner, 3 December 1997
TEXAS TORTURE
First of all, I'm here in Ad. Seg. level X for supposedly being a
threat to security. I'm in my cell for 24 hours a day. I get 3
small bars of soap that's supposed to last 7 days, which it
doesn't. I'm not allowed to check out any books from the law
library or the library, or go to school.
Since I arrived here on this unit, I have been racially harassed,
threatened, physically assaulted, and tormented by the racist
officers on this unit under the racist orders of warden "X", pig
"Y", pig "Z," and pig "A," who are members of the white
supremacist group called the KKK and Aryan Nation. These four
officers are instructing and encouraging their officers to violate
these inmates' "human rights," which is against humanity. I don't
believe in "civil rights, cause you can't have civil rights
without human rights first."
The officers are denying these inmates these rights cause they
won't go to the back of their cells and get on their knees and
face the wall, which is inhumane. These officers are harassing
these inmates; these officers are threatening these inmates; these
officers are assaulting these inmates; these officers are
retaliating against these inmates if they file a grievance against
them.
I myself was physically assaulted on the 18th of November, 1996
while being escorted from UCC by pig "X," pig "Y" and pig "Z." The
grievance process doesn't work on this unit, cause the "warden" is
conspiring with his officers by covering up their misconduct and
unprofessional behavior. We as inmates need a voice in the outside
letting the public know that these good for nothing pigs are
violating our "human rights" daily. The wardens are lying and
spreading propaganda to the media, stating that these inmates are
assaulting these pigs.
-- a Texas Prisoner, 9 December 1997
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