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.
Maoist Internationalist Movement

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         THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

  MIM Notes 169              SEPTEMBER 1, 1998



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


IN THIS ISSUE:
1.  NO U.$. MILITARY INTERVENTION IN THE PHILIPPINES !
2.  MIM LEGAL NOTES CORRECTION
3.  LETTERS
4.  STRIKE OVER, STRUGGLE CONTINUES IN PUERTO RICO
5.  PRISONERS DENIED LEGAL AID, EVEN FROM THEIR COMRADES 
    UNDER LOCK & KEY
6.  ANNOUNCING SERVE THE PEOPLE PRISONERS' LEGAL CLINIC: 
    CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
7.  PRISONER BARRED FROM CONTRIBUTING TO MIM NOTES
8.  PRISONERS START HUNGER STRIKE IN S.C. GULAGS
9.  THE ISSUE OF DRUGS AND REVOLUTION
10. CALIFORNIA "THREE-STRIKES" DEFENDANT ELECTROCUTED FOR 
    SPEAKING OUT OF TURN
11. FOOTBALL PLAYERS PAID IN PARASITISM
12. PAN-EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM MOVES FORWARD
13. BLACK NATION PARASITISM CONSOLIDATING
14. MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE VOTES TO REVOKE PRISONER VOTE
15. REVIEW: BULWORTH UPHOLD LIBERALS' AMERIKKKAN FAIRYTALE
16. REVIEW: SAVING PRIVATE RYAN
17. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS

 
* * *


WHAT IS MIM?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


* * *


NO U.$. MILITARY INTERVENTION IN THE PHILIPPINES !

The united $tates and the puppet government of the 
Philippines have renewed their campaign to overturn the 
victory the Filipino people won on September 16, 1991, when 
they pressured the Philippine Senate to reject the treaty 
which would renew u.$. bases in the Philippines. The united 
$tates and the new Estrada regime are now promoting the 
Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), which will essentially 
grant the u.$. military direct control over Philippine 
territory. The VFA will soon be deliberated by the 
Philippine senate, and the toady Estrada regime guaranteed 
that it will "lobby very hard" for the ratification of the 
VFA.

Because the so-called "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and 
Security" was not renewed in 1991, the united $tates closed 
its large military bases in the Philippines: Subic Bay Naval 
Station and Clarke Air Force Base. These bases had a 
pernicious history, since they were used both as a base for 
supporting u.$. aggression against countries like Vietnam 
and as a base for aggression against the people of the 
Philippines themselves. The closing of these bases, which 
was the culmination of decades of anti-imperialist and anti-
militarist struggle, was a great step towards true self-
determination for the Filipino people.

But as soon as the treaty was rejected and the bases closed, 
reactionaries in the u.$. and their pals in the Philippines 
began looking for ways for the u.$. military to sneak back 
in to the Philippines. For example, before she stepped down 
in 1992, Philippine president Corazon Aquino guaranteed u.$. 
forces continued access to Subic Bay.

The regime of General Fidel V. Ramos (which followed 
Aquino's and lasted until this year) secretly drafted a new 
agreement with the u.$. government which would provide the 
u.$. with further military access to the Philippines. This 
agreement, called the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing 
Agreement (ACSA), provided for joint military training on 
Philippine soil, intelligence sharing, landing and porting 
rights for u.$. forces, and the deployment of u.$. personnel 
in the Philippines as part of "logistical planning units." 
ACSA would also explicitly give the u.$. military access to 
22 ports throughout the Philippines, effectively turning the 
whole country into a u.$. military base.

Again, the outrage of the masses against the ACSA forced the 
reactionaries to table the agreement. And again ‹ true to 
their motto of "make trouble, fail, make trouble again" ‹ 
the reactionaries tried to resurrect the old base agreements 
in 1997 through the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA). The 
SOFA contained many of the ACSA's provisions and included 
guarantees of immunity for u.$. military personnel for any 
crimes they committed while in the Philippines.

Now after some more tinkering the SOFA has been renamed the 
VFA, and the reactionaries are once more going all out to 
get paper approval for u.$. intervention in the Philippines.

But at the same time, the people of the Philippines are 
going all out to ensure that the unites $tates cannot regain 
former levels of military dominance in the Philippines. In 
particular, the national democratic movement in the 
Philippines ‹ which encompasses the underground Communist 
Party of the Philippines and the National Democratic front, 
as well as legal mass organizations like BAYAN (New 
Patriotic Alliance) ‹ is exposing and opposing the VFA. 

The national democratic forces point out that the VFA is 
simply a result of u.$. imperialism's need to protect its 
economic interests and protect its political dominance of 
the Philippines. They also point out that the VFA would 
again make the Philippines a staging point for u.$. 
aggression in Asia.

The united $tates has only been interested in the 
Philippines as a colony or neo-colony, a source of cheap 
profits and cheap raw materials. U.$. intervention in the 
Philippines began with a brutal decade-long war at the turn 
of the century, in which the u.$. military killed 600,000 
Filipinos. U.$. economic and political hegemony in the 
Philippines today is marked by extreme poverty, with 70% of 
the population suffering from malnourishment. The struggle 
against the VFA is part of the larger struggle against u.$. 
imperialism in the Philippines and for true self-
determination for the Filipino people.

You can contribute to the struggle against the VFA by 
raising your voices against the agreement! There are 
educational events and public rallies scheduled on or around 
16 September across the u.$. Contact your local RAIL 
representative to be part of the RAIL contingent at these 
rallies. You can also contribute to the larger anti-
imperialist struggle in the Philippines by plugging into 
RAIL's other work, from raising money to directly aid legal 
struggles to raising public anger against u.$. crimes in the 
Philippines and elsewhere.

Ultimately, the best aid anti-imperialists in the u.$. can 
give anti-imperialists in the Philippines is to build a 
strong anti-imperialist movement here in u.$. borders.

*For information on anti-VFA events in Los Angeles, e-mail 
larail@mim.org, or write to the Los Angeles PO Box on p. 2. 
For more information about events in the San Francisco Bay 
area, contact rail5@mim.org.*

Notes: For more information on the struggle in the 
Philippines, read "Support the National Democratic Front of 
the Philippines," a RAIL pamphlet. $1 each.


* * *


MIM LEGAL NOTES CORRECTION

The August 1 (no. 167) issue of MIM Notes carried the 
inaugural issue of MIM Legal Notes, what we hope will be a 
regular feature of MIM Notes as part of our struggle to 
spread agitation and practical legal information in favor of 
prisoners' struggles against oppression. MIM's introduction 
to MIM Legal Notes failed to mention that this column was 
initiated by the prisoner who wrote the first column.

We applaud this prisoner's efforts and initiative in 
starting this column, and encourage other prisoners to 
follow his example if you have ideas about what MIM Notes 
should be publishing. We especially call on prisoners and 
people on the outside with legal training to follow up on 
the work of the author of the first MIM Legal Notes. There 
is a constant and overwhelming need for legal aid for 
prisoners. Contact MIM if you have any level of legal 
training and want to contribute your efforts.

The comment by MIM at the end of the MIM Legal Notes in MIM 
Notes 167 also incorrectly stated that "MIM and RAIL are 
leading a mass organization of prisoners." MIM is initiating 
and leading a mass organization of prisoners, which will 
follow MIM's leadership just as RAIL does. While the 
prisoner mass organization will work cooperatively with RAIL 
it will be led by MIM.


* * *


LETTERS

MIM NOTES GAINS SUPPORTER IN MIDWEST

Dear MIM,

I recently came across your paper, and it is excellent. I 
was very glad to find a Marxist paper which actually lives 
up to its revolutionary claims. I go to X college in the 
Midwest, which is a fairly typical liberal-reformist place, 
and the only socialist groups on campus are the ISO and 
Labor Militant.

I've been interested in Marxism for a while, but the 
supposed "revolutionary" tactics of those two organizations 
really put me off... so I was very glad to find a newspaper 
which tells it like it is. As a white member of the middle 
class, I am filled with disgust over the shit this nation 
has done to provide "comfort" for the chosen few while it 
literally screws the rest of the world. I agree with you 
that a revolution is the only way to change things and 
applaud your paper for making that clear and for also making 
it clear who the enemies are.

My knowledge about Maoism is fairly limited, however. Here 
at X college, I took two courses on Maoist China and I have 
a few questions to ask ‹ Why did Mao break with the Red 
Guards during the Cultural Revolution? It seemed to me that 
the Red Guards were a very progressive organization trying 
to combat opportunism, and I don't see why Mao withdrew his 
support. Another question I have is why did Mao meet with 
that butcher Richard Nixon? Considering that Nixon committed 
genocide against the people of southern Asia, I have no idea 
why Mao would hold any type of meeting with him.

A final question I have is about what a socialist society 
would be like, would it abolish money? Or is that a utopian 
idea? Is money a necessary evil? I would like to know your 
opinion.

Anyway, I am enclosing a SASE and requesting a copy of your 
10 point program. If you could, please take a moment to 
answer my questions. I would greatly appreciate it. I am 
also enclosing $10 for a trial subscription.

I am looking forward to learning more about your 
organization.

‹a student in the Midwest

A RAIL comrade responds: It really is not a surprise at all 
that your campus is a liberal-reformist place. That really 
is not all bad. Liberalism is about the best that most 
imperialist minded people will get.

On the other hand when liberalism and reformism are 
disguised as Marxism it is just opportunistic. People who 
are liberals and call themselves liberals can occasionally 
be allies, even if only temporarily or only on one issue. 
But when people call themselves revolutionaries and 
socialists and then support the parasitic demands of the 
Teamsters and the UAW as if the AFL-CIO represents the 
international proletariat, they are allying with the white 
nation against the people of the world. The ISO and Labor 
Militant pretend that these views are Marxism and this is 
misleading the people in a very dangerous way.

Fortunately neither the white labor aristocracy that the ISO 
and Labor Militant tails or the real international 
proletariat are fooled by Trotskyist opportunism. The white 
nation knows that it has a lot to lose by supporting 
revolution, so they are not working under any illusions that 
their economic strikes are anything like the recent general 
strike in Puerto Rico. The international proletariat that is 
constantly assaulted by imperialism knows that imperialism 
is the highest stage of capitalism and that revolutionary 
national liberation struggles will help them destroy the 
oppression they face daily.

Organizations that believe there was only one socialist 
revolution in history (the Soviet Union in 1917) are not 
socialist. And Trotskyist organizations like to spend a lot 
of their time slandering real revolutionary heroes like J.V. 
Stalin and Mao Zedong. 

They also like to spend a lot of time ignoring history. 
Trotskyite parties have never led a successful revolution 
anywhere on the planet. On the other hand they have 
succeeded in splitting and wrecking a few revolutions. 
Meanwhile Stalinist and Maoist ideas are being used 
throughout the world to make gains for the people. 

It is good to hear from someone that is not lost in identity 
politics and it is very important that you understand the 
true nature of the settler white nation. Many people get 
confused by MIM's line on the white working class and think 
that MIM means white people can not be revolutionaries. This 
is just not a scientific approach to politics. Groups and 
individuals are two different subjects and someone like you 
can be a revolutionary almost as easily as a Black man can 
become a pig cop. What is being said and done is more 
important than who is saying it or doing it.

The Red Guards

You are correct in saying that the Red Guards were 
progressive and combated opportunism because that was their 
purpose when the Cultural Revolution began. But the Red 
Guards were not a homogenous organization. Quickly, rival 
Red Guard units were created by the children of rightist 
capitalist-roaders to ITAL protect END the status quo. In 
order to divert attention from themselves, the reactionaries 
in power then created ultra-left Red Guard organizations. A 
large portion of student activists fell under the leadership 
of the ultra-left line. 

Ultra-leftism is an overly optimistic assessment of the 
balance of forces that results in fighting losing battles. 
Ultra-leftists often fail to understand the need for 
revolutionary progress being made in stages. Because of 
this, ultra-leftists also often tend to make enemies out of 
allies instead of uniting all who can be united against 
imperialism. For the most part the influence of ultra-
leftists on a revolutionary movement will do more harm than 
good. For example, in China during the Cultural Revolution, 
many times the people would struggle against and even 
overthrow some leaders. But some ultra-leftists wanted to 
overthrow all. That gave the right opportunists some of 
their best chances to divert revolutionary forces that 
otherwise would have been used to expose and combat their 
right opportunism. 

Rightism in appearance looks like the opposite of ultra-
leftism. Rightists downplay the power of the people, either 
intentionally or by mistaken thinking and will refuse to 
struggle when the people could make real revolutionary 
gains. Whether this is done by people with mistaken ideas or 
self-serving agendas, the end result is the same. Though 
ultra-leftism sounds and looks to be the opposite of 
rightism, when ultra-leftism leads to revolutionary setbacks 
and splits the proletarian revolutionary forces, the result 
is a strengthening of the right. 

The Cultural Revolution was supposed to be nonviolent.  But 
ultra-left Red Guard units stole and manufactured arms to 
use against rightists, proletarian Party leaders and even 
other ultra-left units. This situation could not continue, 
so the Red Guards were eventually disbanded and the Cultural 
Revolution put back on course. The Red Guards played a key 
role in the early part of the Cultural Revolution, but as 
students and young people, were unable to complete the 
Cultural Revolution.

Mao and Nixon

Mao met with Nixon because world leaders have to meet at 
times. It does not mean that Mao supported Nixon's murderous 
policies or amerikan imperialism or that Nixon supported 
world revolution. 

Stalin met with Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Truman. 
But under Stalin the Red Army destroyed Hitler and the 
international fascist movement. The political duties of the 
leaders of nations requires that they sometimes must meet 
with the leaders of the enemy camps. Mao was opposed to 
Nixon and imperialism. Nixon was opposed to Mao and human 
liberation. The fact that the two met does not change that.

And remember, all-out war with Amerika was not in China's 
interests in the early 1970s. It would have been 
ultraleftism to pretend it was otherwise.

The role of money

It is not likely that socialist society will do away with 
money. During the socialist period there will still be 
classes because socialism is only a transitional phase of 
human development on the road to communism. During the 
socialist period money will most likely still be a necessary 
medium of exchange. 

But production will be entirely different because everything 
will be done to make sense instead of dollars. Capitalist 
overproduction and parasitic consumerism will be dead, so 
money would play an entirely different role as a means of 
exchange in socialist society. 

The question is different in regards to communism though. 
Communism is a classless society. Groups will no longer have 
power over other groups. At that point in time it may be 
possible to do away with money. We'll probably have to wait 
until we get there to find out.

We look forward to you finding out more about our 
organizations and also to you working with MIM and RAIL in 
building revolution against imperialism and capitalism. 


* * *


STRIKE OVER, STRUGGLE CONTINUES IN PUERTO RICO

The government of Puerto Rico, doing the bidding of U.$. 
imperialism, finalized the sale of the Puerto Rico Telephone 
Company to the consortium formed by GTE and Banco Popular in 
July after a general strike shut down the country to protest 
this privatization. The government moved quickly to accept 
the GTE offer in spite of another offer by Telofónica 
Internacional SA which was $190 million higher. In part the 
rush was to finance government projects through the sale.(1)

The strike lasted 37 days. The strike-ending agreement 
included allowing the telephone company to issue a warning 
memo on workers' records, maintain the charges for 
violations of the law, and retain police both inside and 
outside the work sites. Many of the workers and other 
activists were disappointed with the agreement and with the 
lack of participation in the decision making process of the 
unions. 

MIM agrees with the workers and activists who are calling 
for a continued protest against the privatization of Puerto 
Rico. And because of the economic conditions of Puerto Rico, 
a colony with such close ties to it's imperialist master, we 
understand that even if the strike settlement represented an 
economic victory for the workers of Puerto Rico this would 
be a tenuous advance for the movement, at best.

In Puerto Rico, there is a split in the working class. 
Although the dollar is the currency and Puerto Rico benefits 
from access to superexploited Third World labor that way, 
unions are only just starting to achieve legal status and 
wages are far lower than those received by their Amerikan 
counterparts. Hence, a good third or half of the population 
lives U$ middle class living standards whereas another chunk 
of the working class is still exploited and 13 percent or 
more is unemployed. 

We can expect that many trade union bureaucrats will in 
effect clamor for the chance to be part of "Made in the 
USA." Such trade unionists and people in favor of joining 
the U$A as a state want a piece of the imperialist pie. 
Since Marxism is not just syndicalism or pursuit of economic 
demands (economism), we have the duty to explain why pursuit 
of economic betterment by joining up with imperialism is not 
in the self-interests of workers. The real importance of 
this struggle is as an anti-colonial fight for national 
liberation.

In mid-August A MIM Notes reporter had the opportunity to 
hear a representatives from Frente Socialista speak about 
the strike and activism in Puerto Rico.(2) Although 
maintaining the title of socialism, MIM has not found this 
organization to incorporate Marxist analysis into their 
theory or agitation. Instead, they focus on labor and anti-
imperialist activism with the strategy of introducing the 
idea of socialism to the masses through their organizations' 
participation in the people's struggles, an approach 
partially patterned after the ideology of Che Guevera.

While their involvement in the people's struggles is 
correct, the importance of theoretical clarity on the part 
of the vanguard can not be dismissed lightly. The term 
socialist comes with many potential interpretations and 
historical implications. The people deserve to have 
organizations be honest with them about where they are 
coming from ideologically and why they think they have the 
best path forward. In spite of these differences with Frente 
Socialista, MIM gained some useful news about the struggle 
in Puerto Rico from these activists.

A student activist from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) 
spoke about the struggle on the campuses over the past year. 
With the government making moves towards privatizing 
education, the selling off of other industries is closely 
tied with the student struggle. During one protest in 
solidarity with the phone workers strike the police entered 
the university campus. This was an unprecedented act in 
recent years: the students had fought very hard for their 
autonomy and this armed invasion demonstrated the fear of 
government when faced with a unified struggle of the people 
in Puerto Rico.

The activist spoke about the need to turn the student and 
workers struggle into one and the importance of organizing 
all sectors to move beyond the syndicalist struggle and into 
a struggle of the people. MIM agrees with this and to us 
this is one major reason for the importance of Maoist 
leadership. We have the history of successes and failures to 
learn from and build on as we fight for a society in which 
all nations have the right to self-determination.

In addition to directly attacking the students with the 
police, the government disinformation campaign tried to turn 
the workers against the students by claiming that the strike 
was a product of dangerous socialist faculty leading 
students leading the workers. These attempts to isolate the 
students and divide the movement were important to the 
government because historically the students have fought the 
police and this militant influence in the workers movement 
was seen as very dangerous to the stability of the colonial 
government.

Recently, in attempts to pacify the demands of the people 
for better education, the government of Puerto Rico approved 
a law of educational opportunity which created a special 
fund for fellowships for education. While this appeared to 
be progressive, the student activist pointed out that the 
end result of the law would be giving a few students the 
chance to attend the best education institutions while not 
improving education for the majority of the people. Most 
people in Puerto Rico go to public schools and yet no money 
is being put into improving these. And at the same time the 
government is cutting classes and professors from the 
universities, principally from the political sectors of the 
schools.

In a demonstration of student power, the student activists 
called for a 24 hour strike as a part of the general strike 
in early July. In response the university administration 
closed the schools for 5 days after this 24 hour strike, 
supposedly to ensure the safety of the students. But once 
the strike was over students announced that they were going 
to attend school and attend classes anyway. The 
administration was forced to open the doors at the most 
activist schools like the Rio Piedras and Mayaguez campuses 
of UPR but they remained closed in other areas.

Another activist from Frente Socialista spoke about the 
activism within the unions in Puerto Rico. He stated that 
there are two tendencies within the unions; the militants 
who want syndicalist democracy and the bureaucrat tendency 
of the leadership. While this is true to a degree, MIM 
cautions activists in Puerto Rico from misusing this 
analysis to the extent of ignoring the split in the working 
class which encompasses more than just the union leaders on 
the side of imperialism. 

This activist also described the police massacre at Metro 
Office Park during the strike where police took off their ID 
and badges and then attacked the protesters. Bur rather than 
put down the movement, this helped them to gain general 
support as the people's outrage at the police grew.

While the issue of privatizing the phone companies may no 
longer take the forefront of the struggle, the general 
strike served to raise the issues of independence and the 
colonization of Puerto Rico by U.$. imperialism among the 
people. MIM is working to take these struggles further by 
pointing out the connections between a colonialist 
government selling off national industries to its 
imperialist master with the struggle for independence from 
imperialism. 

Notes:

1. http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Senate/9169/, This 
page has been created to make public information and images 
related to the PEOPLES STRIKE AGAINST PRIVATIZATION.

2. Talk hosted by Latinos and Latinas for Social Change in 
Boston, MA, August 12, 1998.

 
* * *


PRISONERS DENIED LEGAL AID, EVEN FROM THEIR COMRADES UNDER 
LOCK & KEY

*In Under Lock & Key, MIM Notes has published articles from 
prisoners in Arizona about new regulations that bar 
jailhouse lawyers from helping their comrades in prison with 
legal problems. State prison systems around Amerika are 
doing the same thing in various degrees, attempting to stop 
prisoners from helping each other with legal and other 
claims. Here, MIM reports on instances of this restriction 
in two states. We call on comrades who have more systematic 
knowledge of this problem to contribute reports of the 
situation in their areas.*

In July, MIM received two letters from our comrades in 
prison ‹ one in Michigan and another in Colorado ‹ stating 
that legal writers and Jailhouse lawyers are being barred 
from giving service to their fellow inmates. In Michigan, 
the information is specific: a prison's high command took 
issue with a legal writer's attempt to help a fellow 
prisoner with a problem that is supposedly out of his 
charge. In Colorado, comrade reports that the Department of 
Corrections has instituted "a policy curtailing all 
Jailhouse lawyers."

To MIM, these individual attacks and sweeping policy 
implementations are extensions of the injustice throughout 
the criminal system. Oppressed nationals ‹ Blacks, Latinos 
and First Nation internal colonies specifically ‹ are 
disproportionately imprisoned in Amerika. National 
oppression in so-called criminal justice mean that the 
majority of prisoners were arrested by the white nation's 
police force, tried and convicted by juries of their 
colonizers, represented by lawyers from the same system that 
prosecuted them, and are now imprisoned by more military 
representatives of the same oppressive regime.

In point eight of its 10-Point Platform and Program the 
Black Panther Party (BPP) called out for "freedom for all 
black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons 
and jails," because "they have not received a fair and 
impartial trial." 

Point nine continued: 

"The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives a man a 
right to be tried by his peer group. A peer is a person from 
a similar economic, social, religious, geographical, 
environmental, historical and racial background. To do this 
the court will be forced to select a jury from the black 
community from which the black defendant came. We have been, 
and are being tried by all-white juries that have no 
understanding of the 'average reasoning man' of the black 
community."

Part of the work of the community of the oppressed among 
prisoners is that those who have legal knowledge or training 
can give assistance to those who do not have this 
information. To MIM, this is the type of rehabilitation that 
the so-called Departments of Corrections should be 
fostering. Through helping their comrades with their legal 
problems, those prisoners who do have legal expertise 
advance their own understanding of the law and the society 
in which they are forced to live. Through getting assistance 
from other prisoners, those prisoners who need help also 
become more familiar with the laws affecting them as they 
discuss their problems with someone who cares and can relate 
to what is happening to them. This is a high form of social 
behavior ‹ those who can help do, and those who need help 
get it. But the state only sees fit to criminalize this 
behavior.

A Colorado prisoner writes:

"With the advent of Sandin v. O'Conner, and Lewis v. Casey 
the Legal library has all but disintegrated. People are not 
allowed to help other individuals, unless you both have 
access to the library at the same time. Also, you cannot 
have a draft or other research material with another 
inmate's name on it, otherwise, it's considered contraband 
or they consider it bartering or some sort. Routine searches 
are conducted not so much to look for contraband, but to 
read and discover what should otherwise be confidential 
material, that should be privileged information.

"Several individuals have been prosecuted under the guise of 
Security; this is only a smoke screen to otherwise 
discourage individuals from pursuing their right to access 
to the Courts. We are in dire need of help and/or assistance 
in this area, and as of this writing this person will no 
doubt be in segregation, and this may be his last hope of 
informing those persons who may be of some help in the 
future. There are several law suits that have been filed, 
and are currently being litigated seeking an injunction 
stopping this administration from conducting these Gestapo 
like tactics, and denying these individuals their 
inalienable rights under the United States Constitution."

The suits this prisoner describes point up the brutal fact 
that under imperialism, like Mao said "there are no rights, 
only power struggles." In a class society the oppressed have 
no rights that the oppressors are bound to respect, and any 
rights that the oppressed hope to gain from the oppressor 
will have to be won through seizure of pieces of power. To 
the extent that prisoners can win themselves limited rights 
by forcing the United Snakes to live up to some of the 
principles it espouses, we support their efforts with all 
our might. We publish articles like this one to bring 
further public attention to how far the state will go in 
violating its own rules, it is our aim that more of our 
readers become outraged enough at this gross hypocrisy to 
make themselves heard through genuine anti-imperialist 
activism.

In the long term, MIM's solution to the total lack of rights 
for the oppressed under capitalism and imperialism is 
revolution. We believe that all peoples should be able to 
determine their own destinies from a position of true power. 
Point eight of MIM's own program states:

"We want New Democracy for the oppressed nations. We want 
power for the oppressed nations to determine their 
destinies. 

"We believe that oppressed people will not be free until 
they are able to determine their destinies. We look forward 
to the day when oppressed people will live without 
imperialist police terror and will learn to speak their mind 
without fear of the consequences from the oppressor. When 
this day comes, meaningful plebiscites can be held in which 
the peoples will decide for themselves if they want their 
own separate nation-states or some other arrangement."

A Michigan prisoner writes to MIM Notes of the harsh 
limitations even on that prisoner-to-prisoner legal support 
that the state does allow:

"I want you to let the public or our brothers and sisters 
know how this unjust administration is telling me that I can 
not help my fellow prisoners out when it comes to 
complaining about their unjust treatment. I have been told I 
better not be helping prisoners learn how to file legitimate 
civil law suits against MDOC and its employees.

"I come to you because I need support and a strong voice to 
speak up for me, when this corrupted staff tries to set me 
up and put me in the box on some made-up charges.

"I have been fighting for prisoners rights since 1994. In 
1997 I was hired to work as a Legal Writer by a court order 
against the MDOC. The struggles I've experienced within MDOC 
are nothing light to speak on; they're as serious as life 
and death. So your support is greatly needed."

Apparently, prisoner Legal Writers are not permitted to 
advocate for other prisoners in matters relating to "a 
prisoner's sentence or constitutional issues of 
confinement," which are typically the most desperate, the 
most important, the most central legal issues that any 
prisoner faces. A prisoner with a basic grievance, something 
that is admissible through the MDOC's approved grievance-
procedure paper-train, is on his or her own in dealing with 
it, says the MDOC. Yet MIM has seen numerous copies of 
prisoner grievances that were rejected or denied because the 
prisoner failed to follow the proper procedure. The 
prisoncrats' position on this amounts to saying that those 
prisoners who can wend their way through the state's 
deliberately confusing legalese are in luck, they can file a 
grievance. For those who cannot do this for whatever reason: 
oh well, tough luck, catch you next time.

If you agree with MIM that these policies prohibiting 
prisoners from helping each other with legal claims is 
nothing but prohibiting those unfortunate prisoners who do 
not know the law from utilizing the courts for justice, you 
should get in touch. By involving more people in the 
struggle for prisoners' rights and by combining more 
individuals' efforts, we can make our own progress in making 
legal assistance available to a broader array of prisoners. 
Contact us to find out how you can help.

Notes: 
1. Information on denial of legal aid to prisoners taken 
from prisoner letters and DOC memos.
2. Black Panther Party and MIM Programs can be found on the 
MIM website at http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/ follow the 
"About MIM" link, and the "Black Panther Newspaper 
Collection" link. 
3. See MIM Notes no. 167, August 1, 1998 for article on New 
York State Governor Pataki cutting Prisoners' Legal Service.
4. For information on how you can support prisoners like 
these comrades in giving each other legal assistance, 
contact MIM at any of the addresses on page two.


* * *


ANNOUNCING SERVE THE PEOPLE PRISONERS' LEGAL CLINIC: CALL 
FOR PARTICIPATION

At the urging of prisoners and RAIL comrades who do work 
with MIM, we are launching a Serve the People Prisoners' 
Legal Clinic as part of the new MIM-led anti-imperialist 
prisoner organization. The Prisoners' Legal Clinic (PLC) is 
organized around prisoners combining their own legal 
knowledge and skills to meet their own needs. Prisoners who 
work as part of the legal clinic will write articles for 
publication explaining the major legal issues facing 
prisoners today, and back those articles up with legal 
briefs that will be available to all prisoners who need 
additional legal firepower to wage their battles against the 
prisons cyst'm.

The first work of the PLC was correctly done by a Michigan 
prisoner who initiated and wrote the first MIM Legal News 
Column in MIM Notes no. 167. MIM Legal News will be a 
continuing feature in MIM Notes and will hopefully have an 
ever-expanding group of writers contributing. The purpose of 
the column is to provide prisoners with basic legal 
information that relates to their everyday political 
struggles. In many cases, this will mean that the points of 
law discussed in the column are central to prisoners' fight 
for their right to organize.

The goal of this program is to be part of a movement against 
imperialism and against oppression in prisons. 

There are two principal missions of this legal clinic: (1) 
Organize prisoners with legal skills into producing both a 
legal arsenal for politically active prisoners to use in 
defending their "rights" to organize politically, and (2) 
educate prisoners and people on the outside that in the 
criminal injustice system there are no rights, only power 
struggles. This program should both build up MIM's file of 
legal assistance we can offer prisoners and advance the 
level of reporting on prisons in MIM and RAIL publications. 

What does it mean that this program is MIM-led? It means 
principally that the program is centered around political 
goals, specifically using the law to facilitate political 
work of politically conscious prisoners in Amerika and 
educating about prisons through coverage of prisoners' legal 
concerns. This means that the types of legal questions 
prisoners tackle in this program will be those most directly 
related to organizing: censorship, property, library access, 
STG policies. This also means that MIM is responsible for 
synthesizing the work of the prisoners into cohesive lessons 
about what the principal legal struggles are for prisoners 
today. This includes the possibility that MIM could reform 
and advance its ideas of what the most pressing legal issues 
are for prisoners.

MIM calls on all interested people to volunteer their time 
for the PLC. Prisoners with legal training and skills should 
get in touch with us about submitting briefs for the 
program. We need people on the outside to help with typing 
up articles for comrades under lock & key who do not have 
typewriters. We need your help editing legal articles into 
plain English that we can print to educate people on the 
connections between political imprisonment and the law. You 
do not have to be a lawyer or know anything about the law to 
volunteer for this work. Many comrades in prisons have 
taught themselves law and are now ready to do work with 
others who do not have the background they do. All you need 
are fingers ready to type and a single hour of free time and 
you can be a help to this program. If you are a legal expert 
and are not in prison, you can read and contribute to briefs 
written by prisoners, and help in all the ways listed above 
as well.

If you want to contribute your time or money to the 
Prisoners' Legal Clinic, please get in touch with us at the 
addresses on page two.

Note: MIM believes that all prisoners in the u.$. criminal 
INjustice system are political prisoners because the system 
of imprisonment is political. This is evidenced in the 
disproportionate weight of prison terms on the oppressed 
nations, in laws that hold theft of a rich person's property 
to be a more heinous crime than theft of a poor nation's 
land, and in the overwhelming presence of physical and 
mental abuse coupled with the absence of physical or mental 
enhancement in the so-called Corrections systems.


* * * 


PRISONER BARRED FROM CONTRIBUTING TO MIM NOTES

A Colorado prisoner was foiled in his attempt to send MIM a 
book of 32-cent stamps with his July letter to MIM Notes. 
The prisoncrats who control his outgoing mail held up his 
letter for several days and then returned it to him ‹ 
apparently the rules prohibit such seditious contraband as 
stamps from leaving the prison.

MIM regularly receives huge donations from prisoners ‹ 
stamped envelopes, books of stamps, and money from their 
prison accounts in exchange for reading material. We say 
these donations are huge because we measure them in relation 
to the money prisoners have. Among those comrades in prison 
who do have jobs, some are not paid, some are paid the 
whopping sums of anything from 5 cents to 65 cents per hour. 
So a prisoner who sends us a single stamped envelope is 
sending us more than half an hour's pay, and possibly a full 
day's worth or more. Imagine the sacrifice for a full book 
of stamps. 

How many people on the outside can say that they donate 
between one-half hour's pay and 6 hours' pay every time they 
read an issue of MIM Notes? We call on our supporters on the 
outside to think of our prisoner comrades as an example when 
you are contemplating a donation to MIM Notes. If prisoners 
can give many hours' worth of their money, surely you can 
too.


* * *


PRISONERS START HUNGER STRIKE IN S.C. GULAGS

July 5, 1998, prisoners in Bishopville, south kkkarolina 
started a hunger strike to protest conditions and demand 
resolution to the oppressor's tactics to control and 
dehumanize the men.

The prisoners want some very basic problems addressed. They 
want an end to "rotten food, non-available hygiene products, 
excessive use of force, racial discrimination and non-
available medical treatment" among other things.

Around July 21, the prisoners on strike were administered IV 
fluids against their will. Shortly after, the strike was 
investigated by the higher level pigs. The higher level pig 
supposedly came to inquire what the strike was about, "the 
cause of the strike they are very familiar with, despite 
their assertion of not knowing what's wrong," said one 
prison comrade. The prison pigs made promises to put an end 
to the inhumane treatment, but "of course they alleged it 
would take time."

Within a couple days of the prison pig's visit, a medical 
evaluation began. The prisoner noted that this was not 
treatment, just an evaluation. The strike ended on July 24, 
"to give this oppressing agency a chance to clean its ass up 
(which we know it will not) and ourselves a change to 
recoup," said a prisoner.

At the end of the month, several of the prisoners involved 
were transferred. One prisoner wrote that the situation 
remains the same and that the remaining prisoners anticipate 
retaliation and also anticipate another hunger strike in the 
near future. 

As a result of the hunger strike, the conditions at the 
facility were exposed and an investigation has been called 
for by the Department of Health and Environment Control, 
Human Affairs and the State Senate Committee on Corrections.

Amerikkkans on the outside have an incredibly luxurious and 
parasitic standard of living because of imperialist plunder 
and slavery throughout the world. But prisoners in 
Amerikkka's gulags are denied basic needs like adequate 
food, medical care and living conditions. In addition, 
prisoners have no so-called civil rights. They are subjected 
to Amerikkkan citizenship without the privilege to vote (in 
47 states) and are considered fair game in terms of slave 
labor ‹ literally. And prisoners are subjected to many 
tactics of cruelty and control which includes massive 
censorship, random searches, beatings and even death at the 
hands of prison pigs.

Our brothers and sisters under lock and key are organizing. 
They report of inhumane conditions and are ready to struggle 
against current manifestations of oppression, and many are 
willing to struggle against imperialism entirely. Our 
comrades under lock and key need your support. They will 
continue to organize with or without mass support from the 
outside, but you should work with MIM and RAIL to help 
hasten the death of this systematic oppression. Prisoners 
need more legal assistance from the outside and they need 
more organizers pounding the pavement to publicize their 
struggles. Prisoners also need more money and legwork to 
increase the Serve the People Books for Prisoners Program 
which fuels prisoners with historical and political 
information they use to organize further.

MIM urges people on the outside to work with us to build 
support for prisoners' struggle against oppression. And we 
urge prisoners to build the prisoner anti-imperialist mass 
organization to study, to organize and to strengthen the 
struggle for prisoners in the context of anti-imperialist 
mobilization.


* * *


THE ISSUE OF DRUGS AND REVOLUTION

by a Michigan prisoner

Many revolutionaries, and those who believe they are 
fighting the existing system [think] that is not a harmful 
thing if one engages in the use of drugs, as long as they 
continue to fight and struggle against the U.$. and other 
governmental oppressions. This is not true. The fact is, 
drug or alcohol use hurts the struggle and places other 
comrades and cadre in jeopardy when you used drugs or 
alcohol or some other mind altering substance.

As we all know (who are in the struggle) when you are in an 
altered state of mind you are possibly compromising the 
security of others who are in the trenches. Not only that, 
you are possibly placing yourself in danger because your 
judgment will not be sharp, nor will you be able to make 
clear and concise decisions at critical or non-critical 
times that may have a direct impact on various 
implementations.

To fight for liberation, comrades must be conscious and 
disciplined and fully aware. This is a MUST. Does this mean 
that we will not deal with a comrade who is or has taken 
drugs or alcohol or some other mind altering substance? No. 
But what it does mean is that we (those who are serious 
about this struggle) attend to this fallen comrade and 
support them. Not by supplying their habit, not by ignoring 
the fact that they use, and surely not by kicking them away 
from us. We help them by and through proven purging methods 
and allowing them to do self criticism, as well as feel the 
revolutionaries' criticisms for their actions. Further, they 
are to be re-educated and placed on some form of regimen 
that will keep them focused with a designated comrade to be 
close by them until there is an assurance that the comrade 
does not return to the drug/alcohol, mind altering 
substance.

In examining the seriousness of the problem and from 
personal knowledge, it is my feelings that we need (all 
revolutionary groups, movements and organizations) support 
groups for such comrades who may be using or or have used 
and have what is called an "addictive personality." We 
should not allow our comrades to be seeking such support 
from non revolutionary/political entities such as NA or AA, 
because of the nature in which they come from. They come 
from a concept based more on Christian principles and not 
that of revolutionary principles. Comrades in revolutionary 
struggle and with a particular movement and/or organization 
should have (if they don't already) some form of support 
group that deals specifically with drug, alcohol, or other 
substance dependency so that we can get our brothas and 
sistahs back on track.

Now there are some comrades who would love to point fingers 
and make the chemically dependent comrade feel less than 
they already feel, but this should not be the line in which 
we go. Our aim is not to alienate a fallen comrade and yes, 
any comrade that has gotten caught up on some chemical 
substance to function has "fallen" and it is up to us to 
help pick them up, if we are true about being brothas and 
sistahs to one another, or for the people.

The issue of drug, alcohol or other chemical or mind 
altering substances should be apart of all our zines. We 
should have regular classes for those who don't use as well, 
so that we can be on the guard for the pitfalls that causes 
a comrade to succumb to using in the first place. Often 
times, it is our best comrades and cadre who fall victim. 
So, I would urge that we look at this in the proper light 
and begin the educating process. IF we can educate and 
politically re-educate on various political/ideological 
concepts and positions then surely we have the time to do 
the same about drugs and alcohol use. That is the only way 
we can ensure that we have a strong movement and that all 
our comrades are safe.

And, i also want to stress that we (revolutionaries) need to 
do more in the area of teaching our children and young 
people about drugs when we speak to them. i believe that we 
should even include a few minutes on this subject whenever 
we have any rally or debate session, or teach-ins, or such 
function where we are working to build and develop public 
opinion about the use of drugs and alcohol. We ought to give 
much study to this and make the people aware that the drugs 
they use are being allowed in by this government for a 
reason. That they manufacture alcohol for a reason and those 
reasons are not for the good of the people, but to dull the 
people's senses to what is happening around them, whereby 
making them indifferent to many laws and politics aimed 
against them.

MIM is working in this direction. To educate and give 
political support to the fallen comrade who may have or is 
using drugs and/or alcohol. MIM is taking a stand in this 
vital area and working to build a true vanguard Party. But 
MIM needs your help. MIM needs the help of the people by 
their donations which is used to help further some of these 
things. Also, MIM needs people willing to get truthfully 
involved in the area of exposing the bourgeoisie. Therefore, 
i urge and encourage you to come to MIM. Join them and help 
in this momentous struggle. For this struggle truly is for 
the benefit of us all.

MIM responds: This comrade is correct in that MIM works with 
individuals who are physically addicted to alcohol and/or 
drugs. The reason that we help to provide options for 
productive, sober and revolutionary lives is both so that we 
build a stronger movement and so that we do not loose 
individuals who are willing to organize against imperialism.

MIM cannot work with individual comrades like a therapist 
does. In other words, we will not sit down and talk with 
comrades for hours about what there personal relationships 
are like. MIM also does not work like AA or NA where we have 
endless meetings where people do nothing that is related to 
the masses, but sit and talk about the things in life that 
bother them. And we don't tell people that they have a 
higher power that they are supposed to give up control to.

We work with revolutionaries with substance dependence 
problems much like the Chinese did, on a smaller scale. We 
help comrades take responsibility for their situation, when 
appropriate and possible, we help comrades change the 
material conditions in their lives, and we provide 
meaningful ways for the comrades to spend their time. We do 
these things because we are developing revolutionaries, not 
because we are a bunch of altruistic liberals. We want men 
and wimmin to put their lives to use in the best, most 
revolutionary way as possible. We struggle with comrades to 
engage in responsible and genuine self-criticism and move 
forward in developing a practice which serves the people.

We organize revolutionaries to build and support the Party 
and the Party-led United Front against imperialism. It is 
when this mobilization topples imperialism that the people 
will once again be able to address and eradicate addictions 
(among many other evil products of oppression). The example 
of the Chinese people led by Mao and the Communist Party 
must be studied in this stage of struggle. Individual 
revolutionaries and small groups of revolutionaries who are 
addicts can change the current conditions enough to lift the 
obstacles enough to build revolution. 

MIM does not believe that there is an "addictive 
personality" as AA and shrinks like to push. Personalities 
are socialized and that is not what they mean by this term. 
We also disagree that support groups per se are what 
comrades working with MIM need. They need revolutionary 
groups, study groups and organizing groups. These groups 
address out of necessity problems of comrades, but they are 
not directed to only be talking at a very individualistic 
level about the horror stories in the individuals' lives. 
They are directed at organizing against imperialism. Like 
stated, this can include addressing the problems of 
individuals. But MIM is not going to start 'support groups' 
because we have no interest in helping people adjust to 
oppression and this gross parasitic society. We work to 
abolish oppression.

This is why we print the letter in MIM Notes. There are 
comrades who have worked with MIM, some successfully, others 
not successfully, to stop using drugs or alcohol. These 
comrades wanted to stop because MIM helped them to realize 
that the use only inhibited revolutionary organizing. And 
MIM decides to work with individuals on problems like this 
when the individual is willing to genuinely address the 
problem in a revolutionary way. Now, we are welcoming any 
comrades who have also been battling drug and alcohol 
addiction in the same manner, to write. We welcome you to 
work with other comrades to engage in criticism and self-
criticism and to study and practice the universal lessons 
from Marx, Lenin and Mao which will help to end drug/alcohol 
dependence. There are specific readings which MIM recommends 
on the topic and specific assignments which comrades willing 
to genuinely engage in this struggle will get. We would like 
comrades who want to work on this to help contribute to a 
section in MIM Theory 16 on drug and alcohol dependence. 
This will be for the purpose of leading others in the future 
to stop using and start organizing. Involved in the process 
is some research, writing and self-critical analysis. 


* * *


CALIFORNIA "THREE-STRIKES" DEFENDANT ELECTROCUTED FOR 
SPEAKING OUT OF TURN

Long Beach Municipal Judge Joan Comparet-Cassini recently 
administered a 50,000-volt shock to defendant Ronnie Hawkins 
for speaking out of turn. Hawkins was wearing a stun belt 
allegedly reserved for use in case of violent attacks or 
escape attempts. When Hawkins, who was representing himself, 
did not comply with Comparet-Cassini's request to be quiet, 
the judge ordered that he be shocked.

Many observers expressed outrage at the Judge's decision to 
use the belt on Hawkins, who was "not using profanities or 
acting aggressively." "'It was horrible, horrible,' said 
Deputy Public Defender Matthew Huey... 'It would be the 
equivalent of saying he's talking too much and walking up 
and hitting him with a baton.'" MIM reminds this public 
defender and our liberal friends in the legal profession 
that this is exactly how the injustice system treats many 
suspects, defendants and prisoners. 

The striking thing about this case is not that pigs will 
readily use corporal punishment on criminal defendants, but 
that they will use it to silence a defense lawyer. The use 
of physical force to silence a criminal defense proves that 
the so-called right to legal representation is empty.

The stun belt delivers the 50,000-volt shock just above the 
left kidney. British doctors determined that the stun belt 
presents a health risk to people with heart ailments. The 
bourgeois human rights group Amnesty International has waged 
a two-year campaign against the belt.

The dispute between Comparet-Cassini and Hawkins began when 
the judge told Hawkins that he could not appeal to the 
jurors sympathy by telling them he was HIV positive or 
facing his "third strike." Hawkins was on trial for petty 
theft ($265 worth of aspirin), but because of California's 
"three strikes" law, he could be sentenced 25 years to life.

California law dictates that juries not be told that 
defendants are facing their third strike. This makes the 
courts' own principle of "trial by a jury of one's peers" 
meaningless. If one's peers (assuming the jury really 
represents one's peers, which is often not the case) do not 
feel that petty theft is worth a sentence of 25 years to 
life, they are not allowed to say so under the current 
system.

The use of a stun belt against a defendant to keep him from 
talking "out of turn" is a graphic example of how the 
Amerikan injustice system silences defendants and prisoners.

Amerika's practice of silencing the supposedly innocent 
[till proven guilty] is not new. In revolutionary history 
this century, Black Panther Party leader Bobby Seale was 
bound and gagged for the crime against imperialism of trying 
to speak in his own behalf during a trumped up conspiracy 
trial. Silencing criminal defendants in court lends proof to 
MIM's argument that the criminal injustice system is a 
political system in which state institutions are used to 
oppressed the colonized groups within u.$. borders. 

Notes: The LA Times, 9 July 98, 15 July 98.


* * * 


FOOTBALL PLAYERS PAID IN PARASITISM

The baseball players' strike revealed the disgraceful state 
of "Marxism" today when almost all organizations calling 
themselves "Marxist" sided with the baseball players against 
the owners as if baseball players were "better-paid 
proletarians" instead of the bourgeoisie. 1997 salaries 
released for football players confirm again that 
professional entertainers are often bourgeoisie.

The average salary on the most poorly paid team-Miami-was 
$521,846 in 1997. 19% of all football players make over $1 
million a year.

100 years after Karl Marx wrote on the labor theory of 
value, the victory of LaSalle is almost complete amongst 
those claiming to be "Marxist." Marx's critics ‹ such as 
LaSalle ‹ claimed that political economy was a matter of 
simply making profit and fairness. In contrast, Marx focused 
attention on the flow of labor.

When anyone receives half a million dollars a year, s/he may 
be receiving the wages form, but the net flow of labor is 
not proletarian. Such a persyn is quite clearly receiving 
the means of production in their pay.

Apologists for the economic struggle of this bourgeoisie 
against the Third World proletariat argue that such athletes 
only make such money a few years. Yet, this is also the case 
with any bourgeoisie, that it generally faces ruin at any 
time. There is nothing new about that to the bourgeoisie 
under capitalism.

Moreover, professional athletes make enough money in their 
productive years to retire. In two years, the Miami players 
make more money than proletarians ever make in a lifetime. 
Even the relatively poorly paid Miami players can retire 
comfortably. Of course many athletes go into other 
businesses upon retirement as capitalists. They accumulated 
the means of production and then converted them into other 
areas of business where they became the owners, thus clearly 
revealing their class status except to the bought off petty-
bourgeoisie seeking to represent them under the guise of 
"Marxism."

Note: USA Today 24 June 1998, p. 9c.


* * * 


PAN-EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM MOVES FORWARD

After much suspense, German imperialists allowed 10 
countries into the monetary conversion to the "euro." 
Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, 
Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain will all 
use the same currency as the transition unfolds in the next 
four years.

The Europeans also agreed that a French citizen would be the 
central banker after a four year-term by the Germans. 
Nonetheless, the U.$. bourgeoisie speculated on "'a 
considerable amount of tension'" in the words of one 
economist.

The underlying question is whether these European 
imperialists can put aside their rivalries in order to 
position themselves better again U.$. and Japanese 
imperialism.

Note: USA Today 4 May 98, p. B1.


* * *


BLACK NATION PARASITISM CONSOLIDATING

By 1999, Black buying power within the U$A is expected to 
have increased 73 percent since 1990. Take-home pay will 
total $532.7 billion, which is more than all but a few 
imperialist economies and China.

The Black nation increase outpaces the rest of the U$A, 
which on the whole is averaging a 57 percent increase in the 
same time period.

As MIM pointed out in its 1998 Congress resolution on the 
subject, the Black nation on the whole benefits from a 
parasitic flow of labor from the Third World. It's 
distinction with imperialist nations is the stunted nature 
of its bourgeoisie. Genocide and slavery prevented a Black 
bourgeoisie from building itself up to the scale of 
imperialist ruling classes.

As a result, the Black nation is parasitic, but it holds 
only 20 cents on the dollar in household wealth when 
compared with the Euro-Amerikan household in the U$A. As 
trends continue, these asset differences may disappear or 
Black imperialists may arise that at least rival those of 
the 19th century Euro-Amerikans.

Note: USA Today 30 July 1998, p. B1.


* * *


MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE VOTES TO REVOKE PRISONER VOTE

On July 29 the Massachusetts state legislature passed an 
amendment to the Massachusetts Constitution to take away 
prisoners' right to vote. Both the state House and Senate 
overwhelmingly approved the measure, a big step towards 
taking away prisoners' right to cast absentee ballots from 
behind bars. To finalize the decision the Legislature has to 
vote in favor of the amendment again next year and then it 
would be put on the ballot.

Right now Massachusetts is among only 4 states which allow 
prisoners to vote. The other three are Utah, Maine and 
Vermont. 

This election year, prisoners' right to vote is a big issue 
in the rush to repeal any basic rights that prisoners might 
enjoy. But this is more than just a tough-on-crime stance in 
an election year, this is also an attempt to repress 
political organizing within the Massachusetts prisons. Last 
year the government discovered that Norfolk County prisoners 
had formed a political action committee to organize inmates 
to vote and to lobby against the transfer of prisoners from 
Massachusetts to Texas and for other reforms in the prison 
system.

This PAC, the first in the country within a prison, was seen 
as a huge threat and the Governor of Massachusetts quickly 
issued an executive order banning inmate fund-raising and 
vowed to take away prisoners' voting rights.

With the prison population skyrocketing across the country, 
allowing prisoners to vote is seen as a danger similar to 
giving Blacks the vote after the Civil War. Should prisoners 
exercise their voting rights as a block, the 24,000 inmates 
in Massachusetts state and county facilities could wield 
significant influence. 

Prisoners, who face brutal repression at the hands of a 
government supposedly working in the interests of the 
people, quickly come to see the reality of U.$. "democracy" 
for the farce that it is. And political organizing by those 
who the criminal injustice system was designed to control is 
the last thing the government wants.

This move by the Massachusetts government helps demonstrate 
why MIM says that voting will not change the imperialist 
system. The group with the most potentially radical agenda, 
those most severely repressed by the system, have their vote 
taken away as soon as they show signs of using it. In fact, 
in 13 states prisoners never regain their right to vote, 
even after being released. 

Prisons in the united snakes are a tool of social control, 
filled with youth and oppressed nationalities who are 
victims of the war on crime which is perpetuated by a 
government that murders, rapes and steals in its colonies 
throughout the world as well as within its own illegitimate 
borders. Considering that the number of people imprisoned in 
the united snakes has soared to over 1.7 million, and that 
this population is so disproportionately Black and Latino, 
this amounts to denying a significant segment of society the 
right to vote. This is a crime the united snakes would decry 
as undemocratic in any other country.

Many in Massachusetts and around the country take this 
injustice as a call to organize the oppressed to vote in 
greater numbers or to fight for the right of prisoners to 
vote. But the reality of this two party system is that only 
the imperialists have the resources and power to run for 
office and win. In the belly of the beast within U.$. 
borders, state and federal election campaigns can not be 
effectively participated in by anti-imperialists.

Instead we have to content ourselves with using the 
undemocratic machinations of the government to expose its 
hypocrisy. 

MIM does not organize prisoners or outside supporters to 
organize for the right for  prisoners in the united snakes 
to vote as we see this as not a winnable battle at this 
time. In addition to voting being a sham in Amerikkka, 
support to repeal such existing legislation is sparse. But 
we do expose the denial to vote in the context of exposing 
the undemocratic nature of Amerikkka. Stopping the 
legislation to revoke the right to vote in Mass is a 
possibly winnable battle. And the reason that it would be 
good for prisoners to fight such a battle is to retain some 
pittance of say in legislation which will further the 
repression of prisoners in that state.

And we call on all who are outraged by this imperialist 
system to join in the fight to overthrow it in the way 
demonstrated most effective throughout modern history: 
revolutionary struggle led by a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist 
party. 

Notes: Boston Globe, July 30, 1998, p. B1. 


* * *


BULWORTH UPHOLD LIBERALS' AMERIKKKAN FAIRYTALE

Although the money could have better been spent on toilet 
paper or q-tips, MIM is glad to have only paid $1.50 to see 
this 'whiteboy-saves-the-day-and-then-gets-martyred' flick. 

The story starts with a fictitious Senator Bulworth only a 
few days before the California primary. Bulworth has a 
nervous breakdown brought on by the repetitious watching of 
his own red-white-blue commercials. Bulworth decides to hire 
an assassin to kill ‹ himself. Bulworth then makes a side 
deal with an insurance company to benefit his family after 
his death. 

Sen. Bulworth then proceeds with his last few campaign stops 
before the primary. But Bulworth knows his days are numbered 
and he has a new agenda, one that does not involve covering 
up for the system. He stops for a speech in an all Black 
church in Los Angeles. When faced with a sharp question, he 
answers honestly that the California politicians did nothing 
to help develop the local economy after the Los Angeles 
rebellion because it a matter of money and not in the 
interests of the politicians or anyone outside of the area 
of the rebellion. 

As his staff freaks about the honesty, Bulworth continues to 
campaign talking about the rich getting richer off of the 
current system. Bulworth then goes to Beverly Hills for a 
party with rich donors. He offends them all with anti-
Semetic remarks. Bulworth then propositions some young Black 
wimmin ‹ one of which, Nina, is part of the assassination 
plot.

He miraculously fits in well in a Black club that he attends 
with the wimmin. At the club, he tried to impress Nina and 
he's exposed as a gross old man as well as a bad dancer. The 
two eventually become close. And two inches from one 
another's face, Nina starts to schpeal a Black nationalist 
line about the reality of Blacks in Amerikkka. She states 
that she was fed by the Black Panther's Breakfast for 
Children's Program and that her mother was a Panther. That 
scene mixes sex and politics in a very disgusting way and 
shows that Bulworth saw Nina as a Black sex object and not 
as a political person.

Bulworth runs into some Black youth in South Central who 
sell drugs. He's told what a white pimp he really his and 
told that drug dealing is the best way to utilize the youth 
in the ghetto since there is nothing else available.

On the political trail, the viewer is supposed to believe 
that Bulworth's new political stance is making him even more 
popular. He wears stereotypical clothes of Black youth to a 
nationally televised interview. Bulworth then starts a 
hideous white man rap about the ills of Amerikkkan society. 
He repeats what he learned from the Black youth and makes 
the point that there are no options open to Blacks in 
Amerikkka.

He then says something that all Liberals say that exposes 
their real interests. He says that the white people in 
Amerikkka, the average Joe are getting kicked around by the 
corporate capitalists as well. He repeats the false 
statistic that the majority of wealth in Amerikkka is in the 
hands of only a few. But of course this guy does not develop 
an analysis or understanding of the material conditions of 
exploited Third World workers and peasants compared to the 
very non-exploited labor aristocrats in the First World. 
Liberals often give token acknowledgment to the oppression 
of the oppressed nationals, but if you uncover their 
dressing, they are primarily talking about getting more pie 
for the majority of Amerikkkans‹who are white nation 
members.

Bulworth also gives lip service to socialism in the movie. 
But you gotta look at what he is doing. He is on a one man 
binge of telling the truth that white Amerikkka already 
knows ‹ why? because he knows that he is going to die.

At least the Bulworth character is good on the question of 
elections ‹ he states that there is no difference between 
Democrats and Republicans and there is no way that anyone 
else could be elected. Unfortunately, typical fairy tale 
Liberalism plays out in the film when Bulworth actually wins 
the primary.

After falling for Nina and generally seeing that things are 
improving (for himself), Bulworth attempts to call off the 
assassination of himself. The drama is supposed to get tense 
when the news is not able to be communicated to the 
assassin, Nina. But Bulworth still does not know that it is 
Nina. People like him can choose life or death and that's 
what is so gross about him only giving lip service to the 
fact that young oppressed nationals are being killed and 
murdered in Amerikkka's genocidal war.

Eventually all is well. Californians have shown that they 
give a shit about Blacks in Amerikkka and have voted for the 
seemingly bold Bulworth. The Black youth on the streets are 
inspired to start non-drug enterprises. Nina reveals that 
she is the assassin and will not carry it out. Bulworth and 
Nina kiss. The world is good. 

Then the insurance industry representative shoots and 
apparently kills Bulworth.

Black Nation continues the struggle.

The question to ask is whether or not this movie helps to 
politicize or organize people. Does it help to advance the 
struggle against oppression further? MIM answers no. MIM, 
RAIL and Amerikkka's prisoners in the movement against 
imperialism do much more with far less money than this movie 
did. In fact, the movie effectively helps white Amerikkka to 
stay put and shows oppressed nationals that the end to 
oppression necessitates whitey on a horse.

The movie shows that you have to be crazy, suicidal and be 
in the process of a nervous breakdown to start agitating 
against the system. The movie tokenly reveals some ills of 
Amerikkka, but also shows that the oppressed can do nothing 
about it. The movie also relegates radical Black  wimmin to 
serve the individual needs of whitey. And worst, the movie 
takes all the information of reality and waters down the 
fight against national oppression by telling white people 
that they are oppressed as well.

The best thing within the flick was the music by various 
anti-Amerikkkan rap artists like Public Enemy. The only real 
good thing about the movie is that it is yet another example 
to revolutionaries of the decadent, apathetic and parasitic 
culture which we live in. This disgusting anti-people 
society is a daily reminder to revolutionaries to take 
seriously the battle to end oppression. We must boldly 
agitate and organize toward an anti-imperialist revolution 
using the universal examples of Marx, Lenin and Mao. Only 
when the people otherthrow this oppressive system can we 
truly control the production of art which works to make 
society better. 


* * *


SAVING PRIVATE RYAN

Almost all of the bourgeois spin put on Steven Spielberg's 
latest movie ‹ which is set in WWII ‹ has been to the effect 
that "Saving Private Ryan" is the most realistic, least 
sentimental Amerikan movie about WWII yet. While that may 
arguably be true (we'll leave it to bourgeois military 
historians to quibble about WWII-era small arms tactics) in 
today's context, where the Amerikan military has launched a 
succession of wars of aggression and is gearing up for more, 
"Saving Private Ryan" objectively contributes to an 
atmosphere of reactionary militarism.

Spielberg's reactionary film concentrates on a small group 
of Amerikan soldiers, with special emphasis on one Captain. 
As a result, there is a strong tendency towards petty-
bourgeois pacifism in the film, that is, pacifism of the 
"War is hell, everybody loses, there are no winners" 
variety. Indeed, war is a losing proposition from the 
perspective of an individual infantryman ‹ but that is not 
the correct perspective to analyze war from. War is the 
highest form of class struggle, and as such, is about the 
interests of massive groups of people - e.g. classes and 
nations. So the question we should ask when considering 
whether it is correct for Private Jones to fight or not 
fight in a given war is not, "What will Private Jones get 
out of fighting?" or even "What will privates Dick and Harry 
get if Private Jones fights?" but "Which class will Private 
Jones aid if he fights or does not fight?"

Spielberg never really asks the latter question ‹ and to the 
extent that he does, he gets off easy, because the Amerikans 
were actually on the right side in WWII (however self-
serving their motives). "Saving Private Ryan" does not ask 
the harder, deeper questions about the class nature of war, 
and basically repeats romantic, cookie-cutter ideas about 
Amerika's involvement in the war against fascism. Because of 
this ‹ whether Spielberg intended to de-glamorize WWII or 
not ‹ "Saving Private Ryan" still glamorizes and white-
washes the reactionary Amerikan military.

War is an evil that all communists strive to eliminate. 
However, in order to eliminate it we must understand it, and 
that means recognizing that as long as imperialism exists, 
war is inevitable. The imperialists will not throw away 
their atom bombs and Abrams tanks and Apache helicopters 
just because war makes life hell. In the long run, anti-
imperialists will have to wrest the imperialists' weapons 
from them through armed struggle. As Mao wrote, "We are 
advocates of the abolition of war, we do not want war; but 
war can only be abolished through war, and in order to get 
rid of the gun we must pick up the gun."

Note: Mao Zedong, "Problems of War and Strategy," Selected 
Works, vol. II.


* * *


UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS

Pigs Provoke Prisoner Suicide

Š Inside the paper [MIM Notes] you ask for prisoners to 
write articles telling about experiences inside the belly of 
the beast. I'm not very good at expressing my thoughts but i 
witnessed something last night that i feel the whole world 
should know about because it was indeed a tragedy at best.

While in the (RHU) Restricted Housing Unit in Smithfield, 
the pigs relentlessly provoked a fellow inmate to slit his 
wrists in the attempt to escape the pain and misery forced 
on him by Uncle Sam's devilish pigs! They fabricated 
misconduct reports and he had a year in the hole. It's bad 
enough to have a life sentence, but it's hard to maintain 
when you see no end to the hole either. 

The man was stressed and the pigs sensed this vulnerability. 
Instead of trying to prevent a tragedy, they caused one. 
They knew this man had a history of psychological problems, 
had previously tried to take his life in the same RHU, and 
that he was not stable to deal with this hell. They should 
have put him where he could have gotten some help. The 
brother repeatedly told the devils that he could not take it 
any more, but his pleas went unanswered.

The night he slit his wrists, he wrote on the cell walls in 
blood and feces, "If I die tonight it's because theyŠ" (and 
he put each officer's name who participated) "Škeep fucking 
with me!" I don't know if the brother pulled through. He 
deserves to anywayŠ.

To all Comrades,

‹ A Pennsylvania Prisoner, May 1998

Murder in a Supermax

Warm Greetings Comrades,

ŠEven though the incident I write about is months old I will 
not stop my pursuit to seek justice for the untimely death 
and murder of Lawrence Williams. 

Mr. Williams was murdered at the hand of Captain Mangiafico 
due to racial motivations. Mr. Williams was summarily 
executed because he had the gall to disrespect a white 
racist nurse named Debbie Kindness. (Her name belies her 
mentality.) 

I have run into a brick wall in my attempt to have Mr. 
Williams' death investigated. The DOC has stonewalled from 
the beginning, claiming to be investigating while only 
hoping that the passage of time will soon smooth things 
over. I write this in hopes of opening the door to have 
someone who knows Mr. Williams' family to get in contact 
with me, via MIM.

The state is attempting to whitewash this young man's death 
by trying to make it appear that he died of natural causes. 
But that is a Lie. While Mr. Williams was having a severe 
asthma attack, Captain Mangiafico forced him to be cuffed 
behind his back and walk to the medical screening room. This 
was done in total disregard to the weeping cries and pleas 
of this young man that he could not breathe or walk. Mr. 
Williams collapsed and died on the spot.

Mr. Williams was having an escalating difficult time 
breathing due to the short cuts taken by the state when they 
built Northern. They have no filters in the ventilation 
system and dust is overwhelming in our cells. The DOC 
immediately started the cover-up of Mr. Williams' death only 
moments after he died, by sending Officer Prey and Officer 
Dipace to his cell. They removed the records of the lawsuit 
Williams was filing about the inadequate medical treatment 
he was receiving.

Help stop the cover up! Mr. Williams' family should be made 
aware of the real circumstances surrounding his death. In 
closing, remember that the people united will never be 
defeated.

‹ A Connecticut Prisoner, 27 June 1998

Guards Wage Psychological Warfare

Last night, sadly, another disenfranchised, geographically 
isolated (by design), Michigan Prisoner (POW) became 
reactionary in the worst possible way. Unfortunately, he 
allowed the cyst'm's [system's] psychological war mechanism 
to break his will to live and fight. Like so many others, he 
allowed the nation-state to crush all of his dreams, 
aspirations and hopes for a life of freedom and self-
determination. Under a constant barrage of pig tauntings, 
fraudulently written misconduct reports, loss of privileges, 
and daily verbal abuse he gave up and attempted suicide by 
hanging himself.

Earlier today, another of Marquette Branch Prison's (MBP) 
dehumanized POW's went to  great pains to cut and mutilate 
his body. He stood in front of his cage bars screaming  
incoherently at our captors. Of course, the black and gray 
uniformed gestapo pigs  tormented and laughed at the obvious 
mental anguish this human being was suffering.  Totally 
oblivious to any measure of compassion towards the mentally 
ill, with racist  attitudes, the pigs and medical personnel 
were ever condescending in masochist eroticism from the 
onset, at the prospect of yet another successful execution 
of a man  of color. 

And why not? Where else can you subtly murder human beings 
in droves with complete legal immunity? Earn $45,000 a year, 
not including other benefits, and have USDA (United States 
Death Agency) approval while pretending to be a civilized, 
decent,  patriotic citizen under Ole' Glory?

...Where does this leave POW's and the mentally ill among 
us? In a situation where we  either wake up, become 
politicized and active. Or we can sit back glued to the 
stupid box (television), chase another ball (basketball, 
baseball, etc), close our eyes, ears to the injustice to the 
slow murder of a class, our people ‹ ourselves! and waste 
away  in bondage...

"Take courage in hand. Get up off you knees and join the 
Revolutionary struggle. Find your humanity in the 
Revolutionary struggle..." ‹Comrade George Jackson

Yours in struggle,

‹ A Michigan Prisoner, 15 May 1998

P.S. Write to MIM Notes whenever someone near your cage 
attempts suicide or engages in self-mutilation. Provide the 
record, so that they can share it with the people.

Daily Beatings in Texas

Dear Comrades,

I was just brutally beaten by KKK Pigs on Michael Unit. Such 
Beatings go on everyday. 

I'll tell everybody about what's going on. Thanks for the 
MIM Notes. It keeps me in touch with what's happening.

Here it just keeps getting worse and worse.

In the Struggle, 

‹ A Texas Prisoner

Prisoner Fights Chemical Agents

Dear MIM Notes,

I just wanted to say thanks for the article about the 
Chemical Agents. I too am a prisoner in Texas who has been 
subjected to this chemical and I am here to tell you that 
it's a Bad Mother fuck. I have lawsuit in District Court for 
excessive use of this Chemical, and that article really 
helped me out. Just one more punch to use against this 
chemical.

Also I wanted to say, I thought you had stopped printing 
[MIM Notes], because it has been about six -seven months 
since I received my paper. But yesterday I got an issue that 
was postmarked December 5, 1997. Here it is six months later 
and I am just now getting it. I guess it has been sitting on 
the Warden's desk so he can get his eye-full of the 
oppressed nations fighting back. Thanks for everything.

Always real,

‹ A Texas Prisoner, 29 May 1998

Assaulted for Speaking Spanish

I am a North Carolina Prisoner. And as a member of the Latin 
Kings, I would like to say thanks a lot for keeping in touch 
with usŠ. I am writing to let you know a little bit about 
what's going down here in Raleigh Central Prison.

Well, this is not the first time I've been assaulted by the 
pigs. Now I know this is happening due to my nationality. 
Just the other day, we were hanging around the basketball 
court. The pigs told us not to speak Spanish or they were 
going to write us up for speaking a language they couldn't 
understand. 

So I just said to them that I speak my language and will 
always speak it to prove to American people that we haven't 
forgotten where we came from. Also to prove that we were not 
immigrants of the continent because we didn't come to 
America, America came to us!

So check this out! Then these pigs assaulted me for no 
apparent reason. No they put us in separate units and want 
us to deny one another. These pigs are trying to break the 
bond of brotherhood ‹ which will not work. The reality is, 
putting us all together will only make us strongerŠ.

Sincerely,

‹ A North Carolina Prisoner, 8 July 1998

Denied Parole for Winning Lawsuit

ŠIn retaliation for a lawsuit, I was denied parole. A light 
fell on me and fucked me up. I sued the pigs and won. I have 
served 13 years of my 20-year sentence. I've been down since 
the age of 15 and they want more. 

I was about to leave when the pigs put a knife in my cell. 
The fuckers set me up, but my cell partner took the beef. 
But when we went for a hearing they didn't listen. The 
hearing was rigged. They wanted me, even after my cell 
partner took the beef. I don't understand that. 

So the pigs fucked up by giving me some papers which will 
show their guilt. They tried to make a deal to get the 
papers back. Fuck them. I tried to get help but they pointed 
me to their people. I ain't having no shit like that.Š

‹- A Maryland Prisoner, 10 May 1998

Sensory Deprivation in California

ŠHere at X Prison security housing unit, the technological 
advancements celebrated by this oppressive nation (amerika) 
can best be seen as sophisticated instruments used to 
mentally and psychologically torture these imprisoned 
citizens of humanity. Where the institutional apparatus was 
once utilized to contain and subdue oppressed nations by 
physical force, technological advancements have now allowed 
for more subtle forms of abuse that achieve lethal 
consequences, affecting a slow death. It is called sensory 
deprivation.

ŠThe courts have recently addressed the health care at X 
prison, and though minor changes have taken place, it is 
still inadequate. For example, AIDS/HIV, hepatitis, and 
other communicable diseases are not effectively screened and 
prisoners are housed in exposed settings untreated. If you 
have an addiction to drugs, there is no medical treatment 
available, unless you show signs of illness.

ŠThere are no institutional programs for educating 
prisoners. The prison law library is a joke, with access 
limited to once a month, for two hours (physical) and 
material that is outdated. Further restrictions are 
occurring.

In Struggle,

‹ A California Prisoner, 2 June 98

Update on California Conditions

Greetings,

I'm writing in response to your May 16th letter in which you 
requested ideas and insight on conditions here in prison so 
that a petition drive of some sort could be launched. Sounds 
good to me.

So, with this in mind I went ahead and out-lined (17) issues 
of our conditions here in prison which have an adverse 
effect on our lives but also can easily be met if the system 
chooses and of course they haven't. Most of these issues I 
have tried to address via inmate appeal with no results but 
I have my arguments and their responses if you feel they 
will be helpful.

I haven't received your publication in some time, even 
though I doubt they will let it in but if you can still keep 
me on your mailing list. I've some more stuff on this, which 
I'll forward next time, so this will be all for now. Did you 
ever receive the legal work I sent on censorship? The suit I 
filed. Let me know when you can. 

In Struggle,

‹ A California Prisoner, 25 May 98

Demands on the California Criminal Injustice System

1. Education Services: There are no educational services 
available to prisoners. If prisoners are one day to return 
to society or even to the general population of a prison, 
then it would stand to reason that an education will greatly 
enhance his success. A prisoner's successful return to 
society or back into the general population of a prison 
should be an objective of c.d.c. but at present this is not 
the case. Insofar as educational or vocational training is 
concernedŠ

2. Yearly Exams: Yearly exams in the form of full physicals 
must be given to every prisoner who has been here for over 
three consecutive years. The basis for this is that the 
isolated and sterile environment endured by prisoners in 
here has yet to be fully studied, as to its impact. 
Therefore, a constant monitoring of prisoners' health is a 
necessityŠ

3. Confidential Exams: At present medical examinations are 
given in full view of others which discourages prisoners 
from seeking the medical attention they may need. A cloth 
partition can easily be installed to at least give the 
semblance of privacy.

4. End Medical and Dental Co-Payments: Adequate health care 
is a right and not a privilege. Health care is also not only 
for those who can afford it. The current system of co-
payment discourages prisoners from seeking the health care 
they may need now, which in turn may prevent more serious 
and costly health problems down the road. Also, prisoners 
here are not allowed to work, therefore, do not receive a 
Prisoner's Pay Number and so one must rely on family and 
friends for anything more than state issue which does not 
include shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, etc.

5. Good Behavior Credit: Currently those prisoners in here 
who are serving indeterminate terms are penalized for their 
disruptive behavior but are not given credit for their good 
behavior and clean time. Good behavior and clean time should 
count as a mitigating factor when determining their 
classification and privilege status as their disruptive 
behavior is used as an aggravating factor.

6. Monthly Phone Calls: Prisoners here are not allowed any 
personal phone calls. The prison is located at the northern 
point of California, making visiting difficult and costly, 
especially for children and the elderly. Family and 
community ties are essential to a prisoner's success while 
incarcerated and vital to a prisoner's eventual release back 
into society.

7. Yearly Photos: Prisoners here are not allowed to take or 
have taken any pictures of themselves which they can send to 
family and friends. Again, due to the location of the 
prison, most prisoners do not receive visits and some go 
years without their family or friends ever seeing what they 
look like, or ever hearing their voices, let alone being 
face to face on a rare visit.

8. Appliances: At present, prisoners here most purchase 
their appliances solely from one outside source which 
eliminates all competition and leaves prisoners at the mercy 
of their pricing. Furthermore, prisoners here cannot leave 
their appliances upon parole or transfer to a person of his 
choice, as allowed other prisoners throughout the system. 
Thereby forcing each new prisoner in here to purchase a new 
appliance from the only outside source and at their pricesŠ

9. Yard Equipment: Prisoners are kept in their cells 22.5 
hours a day with only 1.5 hours of "outdoor" exercise. This 
so-called "outdoor" exercise involves going out alone or 
with your cellie to a bare concrete enclosure which consists 
of four 30-feet walls, a patch of sky and a storm drain. 
There is no equipment of any sort (none/zero) available to 
prisoners to exercise with in order to maintain proper 
health which is vital in combating the rigors and proven 
psychological effects of the prisonŠ

10. Greater Variety For Annual Packages: At present, 
prisoners are only allowed one package per year from home. 
This package is limited to 30 lbs. and items approved are 
severely limited. Moreover, prisoners are restricted from 
any attempt to supplement their health or dietary needs 
while in prison. Because they are not allowed to receive any 
vitamins or health food products in their annual packageŠ

11. Greater and Healthier Variety At The Prison Canteen: 
Items available at the prison canteen for prisoners are 
severely limited. There are no healthy food products 
available. Thereby restricting prisoners from supplementing 
their health or dietary needs.

12. Increase Spending At Canteen: Prisoners are currently 
allowed to spend $35 per month at the prison canteen. The 
$35 spending limit has been in effect for over ten years. 
Even though prices at the canteen have risen yearlyŠ

13. Voice in Inmate Welfare Fund: Even though prisoners must 
pay into the inmate welfare fund, when using the prison 
canteen and when ordering their appliances, but they have no 
say in how the fund is spent. Prisoners do not receive their 
fair share of the spending on programs here primarily 
because there are no recreational or educational programs.

14. Toothbrushes: Prisoners are not allowed to purchase 
their own toothbrushes at the prison canteen nor are they 
allowed to receive one in their annual packages. Therefore, 
prisoners must rely solely on those toothbrushes issued by 
the prison which are inferior and wear out under normal use 
before the monthly exchange. Worn or frayed bristles are 
proven to be a cause for various gum disease.

15. Warm Clothes: Even though prisoners in here are allowed 
to buy thermals via special purchase not everyone can afford 
them and the state issued paper thin jumpsuits are 
inadequate for the concrete and cold of the prison. 
Therefore, state issued watch caps and sweatshirts are a 
necessity and those who can afford these items could 
purchase them via special purchase or at the canteen.

16. Improve Inmate Appeal: Currently the appeal system fails 
to adequately address and investigate our grievances. 
Rubber-stamped denials and uninvestigated claims are the 
routine which make any appeal meaninglessŠ

17. Legal Assistance: Prisoners are limited in seeking legal 
assistance to their own unit. They are also only allowed 
this assistance if they can find it. They are also limited 
to a (10) day period and during this period are allowed to 
pass a total of (12) handwritten pages (6 per week) and are 
not allowed to pass transcripts or court documentsŠ





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