I N T E R N E T ' S  M A O I S T  BI-M O N T H L Y

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     XX XX  XXX  XX XX   X   X  XXX  XXX  XXX  XXX
     X X X   X   X X X   XX  X  X X   X   X    X
     X V X   X   X V X   X X X  X X   X   XX   XXX
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         THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

   MIM Notes 149             NOVEMBER 1, 1997



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


IN THIS ISSUE:

1.  PUERTO RICAN MASSES ORGANIZE NATIONWIDE STRIKE
2.  PIGS USE WAR ON DRUGS AND GANGS AS EXCUSE FOR
    MASS ROUND-UP
3.  LETTERS
4.  NATIONAL LIBERATION STRUGGLE IN THE
    PHILIPPINES: MIM/RAIL AND ALLIES LAUNCH LECTURE
    AND DISCUSSION SERIES
5.  AMNESTY ON KOREA: RAISING HEGEMONISM TO A LEVEL
    OF PRINCIPLE
6.  ANN ARBOR STUDENTS CELEBRATE INDIGENOUS
    PEOPLE'S DAY -- NOT COLUMBUS DAY
7.  TEXAS GOV. BUSH BACKS DOWN ON LYNCHING IN FACE
    OF PRESSURE
8.  CLINTON REJECTS LANDMINE TREATY
9.  ANOTHER PRISONER DIES AFTER BRUTAL BEATING BY
    GUARDS
10. IMPERIALISTS EXPERIMENT USING THIRD WORLD
    WIMMIN
11. PATRIARCHY CONTINUES CONTROL OVER WIMMIN: NEW
    ABORTION BAN PASSES U$ HOUSE OF REPS
12. ORGANIZE TO END THE AMERIKAN LOCKDOWN
13. REPUDIATE CHARITY: PROMOTE REVOLUTION
14. AMERIKA GRABS FOR PUERTO RICAN PENAL SYSTEM
15. MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM ONLINE
16. UNDER LOCK AND KEY
17. <A HREF="U$.html">U$ INEQUALITY GROWS; WORLD INEQUALITY STILL MUCH GREATER</A>




* * *



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



* * *







PUERTO RICAN MASSES ORGANIZE NATIONWIDE STRIKE


On October 1st the entire country of Puerto Rico 
was shut down by a nationwide strike which drew 
hundreds of thousands of people to protest 
activities and a large rally in San Juan. The 
purpose of the strike, known by both its organizers 
and opponents as El Paro Nacional, was to protest 
Governor Pedro Rossello's plans to privatize state 
agencies, in particular the Puerto Rico Telephone 
Company. The Telephone Company is currently owned 
by the lackey colonial government of Puerto Rico 
but the strike did not represent support for the 
government.

This strike was called for by over forty labor 
unions representing over 80,000 workers, and over a 
dozen non-governmental organizations representing 
environmentalist, nationalist, religious, cultural 
and civic sectors.(1) It was observed by workers 
and students alike. Many students took over 
universities while workers took to the streets. In 
a country of less than four million people, the 
number of people who participated in this strike is 
tremendous.

In response to the strike, Governor Rossello 
announced in Washington that he would go ahead with 
the selling of the Telephone company. The Telephone 
workers union and other union leaders responded 
that they would strike for as long as it takes to 
stop this privatization. Alfonso Beni'tez Rosa, 
president of the Independent Union of Telephone 
Workers said "If we have to stay in the streets for 
a week we will stay because the people have spoken 
and Governor Rossello has to obey."(2)

Public hospitals have also been privatized recently 
and the people are suffering as a result as they 
find health care services closed at night and 
diagnostic services closed completely. The 
government sold ten health care institutions for 
26.9 million dollars and they hope to sell more of 
the public health system this year.(2) There is 
currently a campaign in Puerto Rico backed by the 
New Progressive Party (PNP) to sell the telephone 
company, public schools, hospitals, prisons, and 
public housing to private investors.


EDUCATING THE WORKERS


Many Puerto Rican activists supporting the strike 
drew parallels between the privatization of various 
public services like electricity, education and 
health. The importance of guaranteed services to 
the people was a strong theme in the literature and 
articles leading up to the strike.

As the Central General de Trabajadores put it:  "It 
is known that the [public] Telephone has resulted 
in great progress if one compares it with the past 
telephone in private hands. The same can be said 
about the Electrical Energy if one compares it with 
the private businesses before 1942. And before 
there was public school? Simply put, there was no 
school for the vast majority. For the users, when a 
service is privatized what happens is what always 
happens in the market:  there will be good services 
for those who can pay. The rest will receive the 
minimum, or nothing. And what will happen with the 
workers? Privatization brings hardship and great 
job insecurity. In sum, privatization is the path 
of a society towards more insecurity and more 
inequality. Instead of privatizing we must make the 
public businesses more open, more democratic, more 
transparent and more participatory. The government 
of Rosello is not going down this path. The reason 
is simple:  they are interested in private gain for 
a few and not the collective good or guaranteed 
services for the people."(3)

This strike served a valuable educational role by 
raising the issue of public services being run for 
profit. Many articles discussed the failure of 
private services in other countries which brought 
in profit for a few but did not serve the needs of 
the people. This underscores the need for a 
government of the people, run in the interests of 
the people not in the interests of profit for a few 
who run and own the private corporations.


REACTIONARY GOVERNMENT RESPONSE


Attempts to quell the public outcry by making 
participation in the strike punishable or even 
illegal were common as the government began to 
realize how widespread the support for this action 
was. Prior to the strike, the government warned 
public employees that participation in the strike 
would be regarded as an unjustified absence. Some 
government agencies, such as the Aqueducts and 
Sewers Authority, the phone company and the 
Department of Education notified their employees 
that disciplinary sanctions would be imposed on 
those who did not show up for work on the first of 
October. Education secretary Victor Fajardo, 
earlier this year threatened with jail sentences 
those parents of public school students that 
protest the Education Department's policies.(1)

As if this weren't enough, on September 19, Puerto 
Rican House representative Lissette Díaz submitted 
a bill that would classify as child abusers those 
parents that allow their children to become 
involved in labor union activities. The Department 
of Family Affairs actually announced that it 
supported the bill in principle. This ridiculous 
measure was not approved by the House of 
Representatives.(1)


STUDENTS & MASSES OPPOSE IMPERIALISM


Students took over the San Juan campus of the 
University of Puerto Rico(UPR) on October 1st. This 
campus has been the center of much activism in 
recent months. An unannounced visit by the governor 
caused a rebellion on September 16. Rossello' went 
to the school with some outside agitators to make a 
public show of support for his privatization plans. 
According to some accounts, Rossello' brought 80 
armed policemen and six police vehicles with him 
that day.(1) The campus does not have armed police 
because of student protests in the 1970s after a 
campus cop murdered a student.

On September 10, an assembly of several thousand 
students had approved a resolution in support of El 
Paro National and against the privatization of 
state functions. The assembly led to the formation 
of the University Front Against Privatization(FUCP) 
composed of students, professors and non-teaching 
employees.(1)

El Nuevo Di'a, a reactionary daily newspaper in 
Puerto Rico, conducted a public opinion poll and 
found that a majority of Puerto Ricans oppose 
privatization.(4) This is in spite of a tremendous 
amount of government propaganda including bumper 
stickers, t-shirts and baseball caps with pro-
privatization and pro-Rossello slogans, and full 
page ads in major newspapers and ads in radio and 
television.

Even after spending all this money Rossello is 
unable to win the support of even a majority of 
Puerto Ricans for his plan to sell the country to 
the highest bidder. This is because the workers 
recognize that capitalism is not in their 
interests. In 1989, the median family income in 
Puerto Rico was $9,988 and in 1990 unemployment was 
at 20.4%. Compare this with the median family 
income in the u.s. in 1989 of $35,225 with 
unemployment of 6.3% in 1990(5). We don't even need 
to compare the oppressed nation workers to the 
imperialist bourgeoisie to see that capitalism does 
not work for the majority of Puerto Ricans.

While the proletariat will not immediately be 
conscious that it is the system of capitalism that 
leads to their exploitation and oppression, demands 
such as those put forward by the striking Puerto 
Rican workers lead to a more systematic 
understanding of the problem. In Puerto Rico, the 
working class is majority proletarian (unlike the 
u.s. where it is majority labor aristocracy), and 
their economic demands can be the basis for this 
expanded understanding and organizing. It is the 
revolutionary leadership, coming from a Maoist 
vanguard party, that will provide the information 
and analysis that the proletariat can use to learn 
from and educate and organize around. As the Puerto 
Rican people began organizing around 1998 which 
will mark the 100th anniversary of colonialism in 
Puerto Rico, their fight for national liberation 
will only grow stronger.

PUERTO RICO NO SE VENDE!
NO A LA PRIVATIZACIO'N DE PUERTO RICO!

NOTES:
1. PUERTO RICO NEWS written by Carmelo Ruiz-Marrero 
Issue #15  Monday, September 29, 1997
2. Oct2, p4 
http://www.notiaccess.com/notiaccess/jueves.htm
3. http://www.utier.org/solidaridad.htm
4. El Nuevo Di'a August 13 1997.
5. Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1996.



* * *



PIGS USE WAR ON DRUGS AND GANGS AS EXCUSE FOR MASS 
ROUND-UP

by MC53

The Zoo Crew, a group that has been organizing 
against police brutality in New Jersey, was raided 
by police recently. Thirteen locations related to 
the organization and four businesses run by the Zoo 
Crew were raided by 200 federal, state and county 
pigs during the end of August and beginning of 
September. The raids along with the arrests of 
twenty-three members were conducted under the 
pretense of the war on drugs. Various community 
organizations maintain that Newark's round-up of 
Zoo Crew members was intended to subvert the 
organization's protests against police 
brutality.(1)

This invasion came on the tail of mass organizing 
by the Zoo Crew against a police murder in June. 
Following the murder, 300 pigs organized by the 
Fraternal Order of Police demonstrated to support 
the pig who shot Dannette Daniels, a 31 year old 
pregnant womyn. The Zoo Crew worked to expose this 
murder and is regarded by some community masses as 
young Black entrepreneurs "who were a positive 
force in the community."(2)

Beside anti-police brutality work, the Zoo Crew has 
built Black community businesses in poor areas and 
has donated money for basketball clinics for 
community children.(2)

MIM does not have enough contact with the Zoo Crew 
or the people it organizes to determine whether the 
organization is truly one which serves the masses. 
We do, however, have enough information about the 
mainstream media to understand that its interests 
are not in serving the people through relaying the 
truth. Because of this, we are skeptical of the 
information it presents as the truth. We also know 
from history that the pigs cannot be trusted to 
treat Black organizations justly. And most 
importantly, we understand the Amerikan history of 
framing Black nationalist activists and 
organizations to subvert leadership essential in 
mobilizing the masses against the oppressor.

We must fight for the power of the people to 
control their communities. The white nation's 
police use its guns and warrants to perpetuate the 
power of an illegitimate government which 
represents an oppressor nation. Only when the 
people have seized this power will justice be 
possible. Organizations like the Zoo Crew must be 
judged by the masses. Because the purpose of the 
current judicial system is to inflict damage 
against and control oppressed nations, it cannot be 
trusted to draw just conclusions about groups like 
the Zoo Crew.

In another recent round-up, New York city pigs 
rounded up 167 people they suspect of being members 
of the Bloods.(3)The pigs justified the round up by 
saying that it was conducted to subvert drug 
infiltration and recruiting in schools opening up 
in the fall.

The pigs and the mainstream media portray the 
Bloods as a murdering organization selling drugs 
and indiscriminately killing random people whereas 
MIM has worked with youth from the Bloods who are 
interested in stopping brutality by the police and 
working toward the end of all oppression. At this 
point, the principal battle in the united snakes is 
against the domination by the white settler nation 
over oppressed nations. We work with individuals 
and organizations which genuinely oppose 
imperialism and settler neo-colonialism. MIM does 
not advocate the use of drugs or even illegal 
activities to make money for our revolutionary work 
at this stage in our organizing. We urge all 
working against settler imperialism to understand 
the Amerikan history of using any justification to 
infiltrate and smash revolutionary or nationalist 
organizations.

Until the time when the masses are able to decide 
who is arrested and what sentences are handed down 
it is important that the oppressed stay away from 
breaking the oppressors laws. The sentences for 
members of oppressed groups will not be the same as 
it is for the oppressor. Three alleged gang members 
in Los Angeles were sentenced to 54 years in prison 
each for allegedly committing a murder.(4) The 
police officers who have murdered oppressed 
nationals receive no such punishments. The marines 
who killed a young Latino have not been punished. 
Bush was not held responsible for the deaths of 
over 150,000 masses of Iraq who died from Napalm, 
starvation and massive bombings. Clinton has not 
been held responsible for the deaths of the 
oppressed under his regime.

So while MIM does not support the use of violence 
against the masses by anyone, we understand that 
the current system is one in which the laws are not 
applied equally. As long and hard as civil rights 
activists have tried, equal justice will not happen 
under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie which 
serves the interests of the settler nation. 
Revolution is necessary for the people to obtain 
power over their economic, political, judicial, 
educational and military systems. Only with this 
power can we achieve justice and equality for all 
people.

NOTES:
1. The New York Times. 3 September 1997 p.A 20.
2. The New York Times 29 August 1997 p. A12.
3. The New York Times 28 August 1997 p. A17.
4. The New York Times 3 August 1997 p. A16.



* * *



LETTERS

PACIFISTS:  JOIN THE ANTI-IMPERIALIST UNITED FRONT

Dear MIM, We have your letter saying we've had our 
last issue of MIM Notes unless you hear from me.

First, we would exchange with the Nonviolent 
Activist, if you have any interest in getting a 
pacifist, counter-revolutionary, bourgeois 
publication.

On most points we are, as you realize, sharply at 
variance. However, disagreements should not prevent 
dialogue in fact they should be the basis of it. I 
enclose some of our material so you can have a 
better idea. (Including a copy of NVA.)

I note your page four discussion on the Death 
Penalty you are, in a sense, trapped by Chinas 
actions, somewhat as the old CP used to be trapped 
by Soviet actions. Since the Revolution in China 
has had nearly fifty years, shouldn't it be time 
for the death penalty to be abandoned?

Actually on that point I'm being unfair to you 
because you don't see the current leadership of 
China as revolutionary.

I do personally respect Mao's role in history and 
in freeing China from Western domination and still 
question his logic in elevating Stalin (or even 
Lenin) to the position of infallibility. Clearly 
you are struggling for a new and better world and 
almost certainly represent at least as many men and 
women behind bars as we do, and probably have 
contacts within the communities of color we might 
envy.

Peace,

-- a member War Resisters League staff

War Resisters League
339 Lafayette St.
New York, NY 10012
(212) 228-0450
e-mail: wrl@igc.apc.org


MIM RESPONDS:  We agree with this member of the War 
Resisters League staff that it is worthwhile for us 
to exchange literature. We can both learn from the 
information the other has and we can also advance 
our work through theoretical struggle. While we 
have strong disagreements with pacifism because it 
means turning the other cheek and allowing the 
imperialists to go on murdering the people, this 
does not mean we can not benefit from an exchange 
of publications with this organization. In 
particular, pacifists can contribute to the spread 
of information exposing u.s. militarism which is 
something that MIM consistently opposes in our 
Maoist organizing to end oppression.

One point that we'd like to take up in this letter 
response is the question of elevating Lenin or 
Stalin to infallibility. The idea that Mao held 
such a line is the product of bourgeois education 
but is not based in reality. In fact, if you read 
Mao's writings you will find that he considered 
Stalin 70% correct (certainly this could not be 
mistaken for infallibility. Similarly, Mao had some 
disagreements with Lenin. But Mao upheld the 
correct revolutionary Marxist-Leninist line that is 
based in dialectical materialism, a way of 
analyzing the world, not dogmatism. The view that 
all things said by these individuals must be 
correct and infallible for all time is not a result 
of materialist analysis, but rather a myth that the 
imperialists use in their characterization of 
communists to discredit the struggles of the 
masses.

Mao was able to lead the Chinese people in their 
successful revolutionary struggle because of this 
correct political line. It was only by 
understanding that political line is a method of 
evaluating the world and the problems we face that 
he could come up with effective strategies. The 
dogmatists in China got themselves killed while the 
Maoist movement grew into the successful revolution 
that overthrew Japanese imperialism and established 
socialism in a country that constitutes a quarter 
of the world's population.


THE COLOR BLACK

DEAR MIM,  i'm writing this article , to shed some 
light on the issue, which was discussed on the 
color Black, in your March (MN 134) issue of MIM 
Notes. i'm not disagreeing with anyone, but i just 
think that when We dialogue on that subject We must 
not leave out nationality. So in short, i'm 
attempting to elevate the discussion to 
NATIONALITY.

We as a people need to start redirecting Our 
thinking. We have been trained to denote the color 
black (e.g. reference to black in the american 
Heritage dictionary blackball, black market, 
blackmail, blacklist) just to name a few.

It shows by the dialect between MIM and the brotha 
who wrote the article concerning Black, that We're 
starting to recognize the need for change. We're 
overcoming a lot of the negativity taught to Us 
through the mis-education system of amerika. i 
applaud the brotha for elevating his thought.

Now that We are no longer allowing Our oppressors 
to dictate to Us what to think and how to think, 
let's focus on NATIONALITY. What is the name of 
your Nation? What term do you use to identify your 
nationality.

"We should disregard the words black & white 
immediately, because they serve as obstacles to 
clarity when an excavation of nationality is 
needed. In short this one over simplification of 
people works to Our detriment, by obscuring 
nationality." - Sanyika Shakur 

We know that "each nationality receives a 
collective name & accumulates elements of common 
culture". Our nationality is formulated on these 
shores of amerika. Through colonialism, the 
nationalities of Ibo, Ashanti, Ewe, Fante, & Akan, 
among other, came the fundamental 
consolidation/fusion of who We are today: New 
Afrikans.

We are not black people, We're African people, and 
Our nationality is New Afrikan. We're not amerikans 
nor are we Afrikan americans. Amerika is what We're 
struggling to rid Ourselves of. There's no way 
would could possible be amerikans. WE ARE NEW 
AFRIKANS.

We as a people are in an ideological battle (war of 
words) and We must focus Our attention on 
nationality and the struggle for an independent 
Nation; a New Afrikan Nation. Let's continue to 
struggle against the crime of GENOCIDE and america 
(imperialism).

UHURU SASA!!

 - A Missouri Prisoner, 5 March 1997

(1) What's In A Name - Sayika Shakur (2) No We're 
Not Amerikkkans - Crossroad Collective (3) Fade 
From Black - Owusu Yaki Yakuba (aka Atiba Shanna)

MIM RESPONDS:  We welcome this opportunity to 
clarify why we do not use the term New Afrikan. 
This comrade is correct that we need to be talking 
about nation rather than just color or race. And to 
do this we need to be naming the nations within 
u.s. borders that share a common language, 
territory, culture and economy. We also agree with 
this comrade that using the term African American 
is incorrect because we are not talking about a 
group of people who have become a part of Amerika 
nor are we talking about a struggle of integration 
into the imperialist white nation.

The term New Afrikan has the advantage of 
distinguishing the nation within u.s. borders from 
Africa while focusing on the issue of nationality. 
But the problem with the term is its heavily 
cultural nationalist origins and usage. It is 
important that we steer the national liberation 
struggle away from cultural nationalism. Cultural 
nationalism is the false ideology of liberation 
that misleads many whose sentiments for national 
liberation should put them in the revolutionary 
camp. Cultural nationalism tells people that it is 
their culture that will liberate them and so the 
important thing is what you wear, how you talk, how 
you do your hair, and what leisure time activities 
you engage in. Rather than teaching people that we 
need to systematically organize to overthrow 
imperialism in order to gain national liberation, 
cultural nationalism serves the bourgeoisie by 
encouraging pacifism and minor cultural changes.

We share this comrade's focus on nationality and on 
fighting imperialism and we hope that discussions 
like this one will help elevate the ideological 
understanding of our readers while we stress the 
unity we have with this comrade and others who may 
not agree with our language. This language is not 
decisive, anti-imperialism is decisive and we must 
unite around this struggle, even while we are 
debating our disagreements over various political 
line and tactics.



* * *



NATIONAL LIBERATION STRUGGLE IN THE PHILIPPINES

In conjunction with the Revolutionary Anti-
Imperialist League, BAYAN - International - USA, 
and many other friends and allies, the Maoist 
Internationalist Movement is proud to present a 
series of lectures and discussions with

RAFAEL BAYLOSIS

Political Consultant to Bagong Alyansang Makabayan 
(BAYAN, or New Patriotic Alliance), and consultant 
to the National Democratic Front of the 
Philippines' panel for socio-economic reforms in 
its peace negotiations with the Government of the 
Republic of the Philippines:

Tuesday, November 11, 7:30 p.m.
All Souls Church Unitarian 16th & Harvard Streets 
N.W. Washington, D.C.

Sunday Nov 16 7pm
Hampshire College, Amherst MA Franklin Patterson 
Hall Check signs by door for room number.

Monday Nov 17 7pm
University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA Campus 
Center Check at info desk for room number.

Wednesday November 19 7pm
Boston University Room TBA

Thursday November 18
7pm Brandeis University Room TBA

Thursday, November 20
2pm UMass, Boston Room TBA

Friday, November 21 6pm
Boston Community Church of Boston 565 Boylston St. 
Near the Copley Square T stop

[For more information, write to your local 
distributor or go to 
http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/ on the World 
Wide Web]

Rafael Baylosis is an experienced activist and 
political consultant in the national democratic 
struggle, as well as a former political prisoner. 
In his youth, he participated in the "First Quarter 
Storm," which mobilized thousands of Filipino young 
people in the wake of Ferdinand Marcos' "re-
election" in 1969. He later joined the 
revolutionary movement in the countryside. He 
served as consultant and observer in the 1987 peace 
negotiations between the Aquino government and the 
National Democratic Front of the Philippines 
(NDFP).

Since his release from imprisonment in 1992, he has 
been helping to give political and theoretical 
education to mass leaders and members of 
progressive people's organizations. He is a 
consultant to the National Democratic Front of the 
Philippines' (NDFP's) panel for socio-economic 
reforms agenda in the on-going peace talks between 
the NDFP and the GRP (Government of the Republic of 
the Philippines). His talk is part of a national 
educational tour to teach the campus and community 
about the national democratic struggle uniting the 
Filipino people, indigenous communities, peasants, 
and wimmin on issues of social justice, democracy, 
environmental integrity and equality. Specifically, 
the national democratic movement struggles against 
what it considers the three main enemies of the 
people of the Philippines: imperialism, feudalism , 
and bureaucrat capitalism.

The national democratic movement sprang from the 
militant student and worker movement in Manila in 
the mid-sixties and quickly spread to all sectors 
of Philippine society. It encompasses both 
underground organizations such as the Communist 
Party of the Philippines and the NDFP, which engage 
in armed struggle, and independent legal 
organizations such as BAYAN.

ADMISSION FREE; DONATION REQUESTED



* * *



AMNESTY ON KOREA:
RAISING HEGEMONISM TO A LEVEL OF PRINCIPLE

Amnesty International(AI), the so-called human 
rights organization which decries "politics" in the 
name of supposedly valueless moral standards, has 
given new meaning to the hypocrisy of this line 
with its position on the famine in north Korea. The 
October, 1997 issue of Amnesty's Human Rights 
Bulletin includes an article called "Politics 
First:  Starvation in North Korea."

True to Amnesty's masthead claim that it is 
"Nonpolitical, Nonprofit, Impartial," one-half of 
the article is devoted to detailing the north 
Korean famine. Completely blowing any claims to 
ignore politics, the article goes on to lambast Kim 
Jong Il and the north Korean government for 
"hold[ing] [their] own people hostage as if 22 
million starving North Koreans [sic] were no more 
than negotiating chips."

MIM does not criticize AI for making politics the 
issue here -- clearly under capitalism if people 
are starving and enough food exists in the world to 
feed them, politics can be the only thing between 
starving people and food. But Amnesty is way out of 
line hiding behind the banner of a supposedly "non-
political" organization while it upholds Amerikan 
violence against the oppressed in Korea. Amnesty 
argues that "North Korea is trying to use its 
citizens' hunger as a bargaining chip, arguing that 
Washington should either deliver massive food aid 
before the two Koreas, China and the U.S. sit down 
for serious negotiations to end the state of war 
that has existed on the Korean Peninsula since 
1950." 

But where is the righteous anger that should be 
directed at the United Snakes, which caused and now 
perpetuates this "state of war," first by operating 
a so-called "civil war" in Korea, and now by 
occupying south Korea? If the north Korean 
government is truly the only party bargaining for 
food here, why hasn't Amerika simply turned over 
the required aid rather than attempting to starve 
out the north Korean government and force it to 
submit to unequal negotiations with a government 
which has occupied half of Korea for almost fifty 
years?

To a limited extent, AI is right that "two years of 
flood and two months of severe drought" are causing 
the famine. The deeper cause is "an economy 
crippled by the U.$. military-enforced division 
between north and south Korea. MIM does not 
recognize the imperialist proclamation that Korea 
is two separate nations:  south Korea was carved 
out by Amerikan occupiers immediately following 
World War Two. Amerikan occupiers keep the north 
and south separate," as MIM Notes wrote in July.

Just as it ignores the U.$. role in causing north 
Korea's troubles, AI ignores the fact that "north 
Korea was able to manage its food production and 
distribution effectively over the past two years by 
applying Kim Il Sung's strong notion of the self-
reliance of peoples -- Juche." Even non-communist 
human rights observers have admitted that strong 
self-reliant policies forestalled the famine. 
Understanding the Amerikan historical role in Korea 
is very important to understanding the current 
situation.

While MIM does not uphold north Korea as socialist 
or communist, we agree with the Koreans that the 
U.$. occupation is ample proof that Amerika is not 
to be bargained with. A country should not be 
criticized for failing to enter so-called 
negotiations under the condition of military 
occupation.

AI has more political handicaps than its incorrect 
adherence to a "nonpolitical" position on political 
issues. It is a general rule for Amnesty chapters 
to focus on issues outside the countries in which 
they organize, which explains why this issue of 
Human Rights Bulletin focuses on hunger 
internationally but directs more venom at the north 
Korean government -- which is suffering from 
hunger, than at the U.$. government -- which is 
enforcing hunger.

MIM takes responsibility first for organizing 
around conditions in the United Snakes; and when we 
do work abroad, we focus first on the role of the 
U.$. government overseas. We do this because 
organizing within the belly of the beast, we have 
more access to information about Amerika's 
exploits, and we have the ability to test our line 
in practice. Similarly, we show our respect for our 
comrades in other countries by acknowledging their 
analysis of their own material conditions. 

The U.$. government and military have committed 
uncounted crimes against the people of the world. 
We call on all people who oppose imperialism and 
the starvation it imposes on the Third World to 
work with MIM Notes researching and exposing the 
Amerikan reign of terror. Work with us to help more 
Amerikans see that their government is not worth 
their support.

NOTES: Human Rights Bulletin October 1997, p. 9; 
MIM Notes 142 July 15, 1997.



* * *



ANN ARBOR STUDENTS CELEBRATE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE'S 
DAY -- NOT COLUMBUS DAY

Over 200 people gathered on the University of 
Michigan campus to celebrate Indigenous People's 
Day on October 13. Settler Amerikans have long 
celebrated Columbus Day along with oppressor's 
holidays like Thanksgiving Day as a way to 
culturally perpetuate the myth that European 
settlers came to North America and developed the 
current empire through hard work.

The rally successfully exposed this myth and spread 
the truth of the people. European settlers 
conquered North America and the First Nations 
through massacres and widespread genocide. The 
wealth accumulated by the settlers came from 
plundering the resources of the First Nations and 
later taking the resources of oppressed nations 
internationally. This wealth is a result of massive 
enslavement of Africans and First Nation peoples 
and the exploitation of oppressed nation labor 
across the globe. As many of the speakers echoed:  
the wealth of Amerika has been built on the backs 
of the oppressed.

The celebration recognized those who have died at 
the hands of the oppressors and those who have 
fought against oppression. The rally and march were 
led by the Native American Student Association, the 
Black Student Union, Alianza, La Voz Mexicana and 
the National Association for the Advancement of 
Colored People. Starting out the rally, the 
Treetown Singers, a group of First Nation men 
performing and drumming indigenous songs, gathered 
the people. The group performed songs which honored 
ancestors and struggles fought in the past. The 
group also helped lead the march.

Many students echoed the message that oppression 
must be stopped, some talked about the need to 
strengthen the struggles of the oppressed against 
attacks on Affirmative Action, others talked about 
the need to mobilize more students and some read 
progressive poems. One rally sign read "No more 
genocide." One womyn read a poem which MIM and RAIL 
liked a lot because of its progressive and anti-
colonial content:

Oh say can you see, in this land of the free and 
the home of our braves,

We are "Indians" We are here and alive We are not 
what you see on F-Troop, or John Wayne's target 
practice
We can no longer accept the legislative castration 
which controls our future

We cannot handle more schooling which cuts our hair 
and beats us if we speak our language, the only 
language I know at nine years old.

We see our black bothers and sisters trying to 
improve their lives. We should too. This revolution 
will not be televised either.

We are the American Indian Movement. If we have to 
occupy Alcatraz and Washington offices to get you 
to listen to our pain, we'll do it.

The economy is growing and the government wants the 
resources on our land.

We need to manage our tribe's new income. We need 
to train our people. We need to serve our sister on 
the far end of the rez.

Mr. Nixon, Mr. Reagan, Mr. Bush, Mr. Clinton, we 
need the government to stop putting the power and 
funding of us into everyone's hands but us.

Stop being a parent because we are not children.

We are reaching across the rez to serve

We are going to law school and medical school

We are able to grow our hair long again.

We are self-determining.

We are Native Americans.

MIM and RAIL support all struggles to stop 
oppression. Principally we support struggles for 
national liberation to overthrow settler 
colonialism and imperialism in this stage of 
struggle. We have in the past organized events and 
rallies on Indigenous People's Day and it is good 
to see this banner being taken up by an increasing 
number of students and organizations. As we are 
turning the corner on 1998 -- the 100th anniversary 
of the u.s. invasion of Puerto Rico and the 
Philippines and the 25th anniversary of the second 
u.s. invasion of Wounded Knee, there are many 
struggles of the people to commemorate. The 
Amerikan schools don't teach the history of the 
masses and it is up to us to celebrate the 
struggles of the people and the true nature of 
imperialism and settler colonialism.

It is essential that the people educate and promote 
the histories of the oppressed because the 
oppressor only wants the mythical versions 
presented. The people must spread the history of 
struggle and continue the fight against the 
continuing genocide committed through imperialism 
and settler colonialism.

NOTE: For a good account of the real history of 
Amerika, check out Settlers: the mythology of the 
white proletariat by J. Sakai. Available from MIM 
for $15. And Agents of Repression available for $25 
from the address on page two.



* * *



TEXAS GOV. BUSH BACKS DOWN ON LYNCHING IN FACE OF 
PRESSURE

by MC53

On October 8, Texas Governor George W. Bush 
announced he would finally issue a pardon to James 
Byrd, a Black man who spent 12 years in prison for 
being convicted in the white nation's courts of the 
rape of a white woman. In MIM Notes #147, we 
reported that Gov. Bush of Texas refused to pardon 
Byrd, despite the fact that DNA tests showed he did 
not commit the crime for which he was facing the 
death penalty. Bush stepped down from this position 
because of public pressure and a court ruling which 
stated the DNA tests were valid.

MIM congratulates those who struggled for Byrd's 
life and we encourage Byrd and his supporters to 
continue the struggle against all facets of 
national oppression and the imperialist system as a 
whole. We reported on Bush's planned lynching to 
build opposition to it and opposition to the use of 
Amerika's prisons to oppress the masses. As there 
are now over 1.6 million people languishing the 
Amerika's prisons, there is much work to be done.

Bush and other settler nation pigs jump at whatever 
chance they can to lynch a Black man. Out of 14 
previous pardons by Bush not one of them had been 
of a Black person. Police beatings and tremendously 
disproportionate arrests, convictions and 
incarcerations of oppressed nationals are all part 
of the continued genocide committed by the white 
nation. If it were not for agitation against the 
lynching, another Black man would be killed. And 
the longer it takes to end national oppression, 
patriarchy and capitalism, the higher the death 
toll from imperialism.

Byrd's situation supports MIM's argument that the 
death penalty under imperialism must be opposed. 
With the oppressors standing at the switch drooling 
over the possibility of legal murders of the 
masses, the death penalty will only be used as a 
tool to support the current oppressive system. It 
is only in the hands of the people that the death 
penalty and other punishments can be used toward 
the goal of ending all oppression and eliminating 
the need for any punishments at all. Work with MIM 
to end the Amerikan lockdown of the oppressed and 
to build independent institutions of the oppressed.

NOTE: The New York Times. 9 October 1997, p. A17.



* * *



CLINTON REJECTS LANDMINE TREATY

by MC234

Amerika has once again demonstrated its strongly 
militarist foreign policy agenda by rejecting the 
organized efforts of other imperialist nations, 
principally Kanada, to ban the production and use 
of landmines. MIM Notes 146, 15 September 1997, 
reported that Clinton was dragging his feet on 
endorsing the treaty, and planned to argue that 
Amerika be allowed to continue the use of landmines 
in Korea. At the Geneva talks, the Amerikan 
negotiators also tried to push back the deadline 
for the ban nine years.

The other imperialists rejected these Amerikan 
efforts to water down the effort to ban landmines 
and have continued to bash Amerikan policy on 
landmines in the media. Of course, the imperialists 
have not suddenly become peaceful, they are just 
responding to public pressure by putting a prettier 
face on their military exploits. The elimination of 
landmines will not reduce the militarism of the 
imperialist countries that is focused on the Third 
World peoples.

On 10 October, an Amerikan womyn, Jody Williams, 
and her organization, the International Campaign to 
Ban Landmines, won the Nobel Peace Prize. The 
Norwegian Nobel Committee said that Williams "had 
transformed a ban on anti-personnel mines from a 
vision to a feasible reality." This award has 
focused more attention to the landmine issue, with 
Russia responding by pledging to support the 
treaty. As MIM Notes reported, the only major 
powers who had not yet endorsed the treaty were 
Amerika, Russia and China.

MIM sees the banning of landmines as a progressive 
act that will keep from escalating an already 
horrible toll on the people. We have no false hopes 
that the imperialists want to stop their bloody 
oppression of the people;  they merely want to do 
it more effectively and with a kinder gentler face. 
(And a weapon being illegal has never stopped the 
imperialists from using it when they needed it, 
anyway.)

Even if landmines are banned today, there will 
still be 112 million landmines sown in 71 nations. 
According to the International Committee of the Red 
Cross, landmines kill or maim 24,000 people a year, 
most of them civilians and often children. Mines 
from World War I and II still injure or kill scores 
of people a year.(2)

NOTES:
1. Springfield Union-News 11 October 1997, p. A1, 
A8.
2. Boston Globe, 15 August 1997, p. A2



* * *



ANOTHER PRISONER DIES AFTER BRUTAL BEATING BY 
GUARDS

by a RAIL comrade

Abel Remy was beaten to unconsciousness inside his 
cell at Walpole prison in Massachusetts on August 
1, 1997. When he regained consciousness, he began 
screaming uncontrollably. He was then attacked by 
four or five guards in riot gear. Next he was taken 
to a segregation unit. Abel Remy never returned to 
his cell. He died on August 12 of a heart attack 
caused by a blood clot in his leg.

Abel Remy was a thirty-six year old man from Haiti. 
He was convicted in the white nation's courts of 
aggravated assault charges which he repeatedly 
denied. In March, he was transferred to Walpole 
prison, where he was inhumanely locked up for 
twenty-two and a half hours each day.

When Abel's family was told he had died, they were 
not told about the beatings. Anthony Carnevale, 
spokesperson for the Department of Corrections, 
claimed that state laws barred him from revealing 
disciplinary or medical reports on Remy while he 
was incarcerated. The fact that such laws exist 
demonstrates, once again, that what goes on behind 
prison walls is not meant to be revealed to the 
public.

Abel Remy kept fairly close contact with his family 
despite the rigid structure of maximum security 
prisons, which was created, in part, to discourage 
prisoner/family ties. Remy complained on several 
occasions throughout his time in Walpole of 
beatings he had received from guards. He reported 
that he had found feces in his food. These are the 
kinds of secrets which the D.O.C. hides.

Evidence has shown that Abel Remy was severely 
dehydrated when he died. Authorities are claiming 
that his dehydrated state could have caused the 
blood clot which lead to his heart attack. They 
have suggested that Remy was on hunger strike, 
therefore proposing his death was his own fault.

On September 17 the family of Able Remy held a 
press conference where they called for a full 
investigation into his death. As of this date, more 
than a month after his death, the family still have 
not been given access to the autopsy results. 
Whether the clot developed as a result of severe 
beatings or as a result of the hunger-strike 
dehydration the authorities at Walpole prison are 
to blame for his death.

We argue that the Amerikan prison system which only 
serves the interests of the settler nation is at 
fault for his death and the death of pervious 
victims killed by murderous prison guards. 
Oppressed nationals do not get a just and fair 
trial in the white nation's courts;  they do not 
get adequate medical care and are subjected to 
inhumane conditions, slave labor and brutality. The 
Amerikan government and the DOC cannot pawn off the 
responsibility deaths of the oppressed caused by 
imperialism:  it is the Amerikan prison system 
which the people find guilty.



* * * 



IMPERIALISTS EXPERIMENT USING THIRD WORLD WIMMIN

by MC53

Just three months ago, president Clinton held a 
token ceremony to apologize to the men of Tuskegee 
who were used in human experimentation. Just three 
weeks ago, federal officials justified human 
experimentation on wimmin of seven nations in 
Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. 
In both cases, members of nations oppressed by 
imperialism were told they were receiving treatment 
when in actuality, imperialists used these people's 
bodies for experimentation. Experimenting on 
oppressed nationals has been justified to improve 
drugs. But the oppressed have limited or non-
existent access to drug treatments or health care 
in general. This kind of human experimentation only 
improves the quality of life of the oppressor and 
frequently endangers the lives of the people used 
in the experiments.

12,211 pregnant, HIV positive wimmin have been part 
of an experiment for two years in which they were 
told they were receiving treatment that can prevent 
the transmission of HIV to their children. Studies 
showed previously that HIV positive wimmin taking 
AZT during pregnancy could cut the risk of 
transmitting the virus to their children by two-
thirds. The experimentation allegedly was trying to 
find less expensive drug treatment than AZT, which 
currently costs $1000 per womyn.

Some wimmin in the experiment received placebo 
pills while others received varying levels of AZT -
- levels that are different from what has been 
demonstrated to deter transmission. Besides using 
these Third World wimmin as guinea pigs, 1,000 
infants will contract the virus because their 
mothers, who were in the study, were not given AZT.

The National Institutes of Health and the Centers 
for Disease Control financed this experimentation 
on the wimmin. Run by the imperialists in the 
interests of First World nations, institutes with 
resources that could greatly improve the lives of 
the masses, instead only further First World 
hegemonism. This is one reason why Maoists argue 
that technology and resources are not principal, 
but rather, correct political line and power in the 
hands of the masses are most decisive in the battle 
toward liberation of the world's people from 
oppression.

Federal officials justified denying treatment to 
the wimmin and their children by saying that they 
would not otherwise have access to the treatment 
anyway. This type of logic put forward by the 
bourgeois imperialist pigs does not surprise 
Maoists. Because Amerika needed to test weapons, 
Amerika has killed millions in the Third World. The 
same bourgeois logic is used to justify those 
murders:  since millions in the Third World are 
starving anyway, Amerika should not hold back from 
killing Third World peoples en masse. Though this 
is one aspect of the justification for First World 
genocide committed against the oppressed, the 
imperialists will use any reasoning available to 
justify the murder of the masses to advance the 
standard of living in the imperialist nations.

Whereas the wimmin and children from the Third 
World nations were used as laboratory tools, 
current HIV research in the United Snakes includes 
treatment and has eliminated placebo-controlled 
experiments according to The New England Journal of 
Medicine. (The point of eliminating placebo-control 
experiments is that in these, the human being 
tested does not receive treatment at all.) Whether 
or not HIV positive Amerikans are truly exempt from 
experimentation is not something that MIM can 
independently confirm, but it is enough to note 
that this is the direction of the experiments in 
the imperialist nations, and is not the goal of 
experiments conducted on the oppressed nation 
masses.

Maoists push for a people's government which will 
use resources to liberate the masses whether it is 
liberation from slavery or liberation from disease. 
Fight with us for equal access to medical care, 
research and treatment for all the world's people.



* * * 



PATRIARCHY CONTINUES CONTROL OVER WIMMIN: NEW 
ABORTION BAN PASSES U$ HOUSE OF REPS

by MC53

The so-called u.$. House of Representatives 
approved a ban of late term abortions on October 8. 
The ban passed with enough votes to withstand the 
expected presidential veto. This ban will increase 
the imperialist state's control of wimmin.

Proponents of the ban are using the late-term 
abortion procedure in order to build public support 
for state control of wimmin general. By 
highlighting a type of abortion which has more 
opposition, the anti-choice faction of the 
bourgeoisie hopes to isolate the pro-choice faction 
of the bourgeoisie before the upcoming 1998 
elections. Moreover, the promoters of the ban are 
using their raunchy accounts of the procedure to 
build opposition to all abortion procedures.

President Clinton has played to both bourgeois 
factions on this issue, as he usually does. On the 
one hand, Clinton previously vetoed this 
legislation, saying that it did not protect 
pregnant wimmin. On the other, he opposes late-term 
abortions generally.

MIM is not surprised by Clinton's behavior, and MIM 
certainly does not join the chorus of social 
democrats who wish that Clinton would just "get a 
spine" and stand up for what he supposedly believes 
in. This is because MIM recognizes that the 
existing state can not implement reforms that would 
eliminate the oppression of all wimmin or in this 
case, the let wimmin completely control their own 
bodies. The fundamental role of existing state is 
to preserve patriarchy and imperialism.

The Amerikan "pro-choice" movement is a good 
example of this axiom. On the one hand, the u.$. 
did concede an individual womyn's "right" to an 
abortion. But on the other, poor wimmin and wimmin 
from oppressed nationalities still do not have the 
opportunity to make this abstract "right" a 
reality. And wimmin of oppressed nations still 
suffer a large number of restrictions on their 
reproductive freedom, such as forced sterilization. 
The mainstream "pro-choice" movement has not taken 
a stand on such issues, in order to remain 
"respectable" and be able to "work within the 
system." Forced sterilization is often justified 
with the rhetoric of "choice."

The mainstream "pro-choice" movement in the united 
snakes has objectively worked in the interests of 
white nation wimmin only. But the majority of the 
world's wimmin are Third World wimmin. Third World 
wimmin not only fight for access to abortion, but 
also against patriarchal control through 
imperialism. Wimmin of oppressed nations are 
subjected to the economic and political control of 
imperialism. Movements in the First World must not 
ignore the struggles of the majority of the worlds 
wimmin. Instead, First World movements must be 
anti-imperialist at their core. When wimmin's 
movements do this, they will truly be working to 
end patriarchy which is necessary to truly end 
gender oppression and the flip flopping on issues 
like abortion.

MIM recognizes that patriarchy and imperialism are 
systems which restrict and determine individual's 
choices. Indeed, because patriarchy robs wimmin of 
their ability to freely consent to sex in the first 
place, it robs them of reproductive freedom. To 
smash patriarchy as a system we work for the 
liberation of the oppressed nations and the 
establishment of a consciously feminist 
dictatorship of the proletariat. Gender oppression 
cannot be demolished by piecemeal reforms which are 
constantly revised by the dictatorship of the 
patriarchal bourgeoisie.

If you are sick of hitting your head against a wall 
only to find that you are not working in the 
interests of the majority of the worlds people and 
you are not achieving and sustaining your own goal 
of wimmin's control over their bodies, work with 
MIM and RAIL. Start revolutionary feminist study 
groups, work to support the struggles of wimmin in 
prison, wimmin of oppressed nations and work 
against gender oppression in its totality.

NOTES: The New York Times. 9 October 1997. p. A1 
and A13.



* * *



ORGANIZE TO END THE AMERIKKKAN LOCKDOWN

Ann Arbor, MI -- Nightly events held during the 
first full week in October were organized by the 
Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League and the 
Maoist Internationalist Movement to expose the 
Amerikkkan prison system as a tool for national 
oppression and social control. The week of 
agitation was one part of our organizing to build 
support for national liberation and opposition to 
the current oppressive hegemonic control by the 
white settler nation over the Black, Latino and 
First nations and other oppressed nationals held 
captive in the United Snakes.

In recent months, a young Black man was shot in the 
back by a Detroit pig for no reason;  a Mexican 
youth was shot and murdered by Marines patrolling 
the illegitimate u.s. border;  a Haitian man was 
assaulted and seriously injured by pigs still on 
the payroll in Brooklyn;  a Black man in Ann Arbor 
was shot and killed needlessly by the University of 
Michigan campus cops;  a Michigan prisoner was 
raped and brutalized by prison guards;  another 
Michigan prisoner was transferred because of his 
political activities and the prison pigs have 
denied him access to his books, typewriter, legal 
paperwork, money, and other belongings.

The above are merely a few of many examples of the 
injustice perpetrated against oppressed nationals 
within the United Snakes. Never have reformist or 
pacifist struggles liberated the peoples of 
oppressed nations from imperialist claws. Only 
national liberation struggles have truly liberated 
the people. For this reason, RAIL under the 
leadership of the Maoist Internationalist Movement 
held events to build support for genuine liberation 
of the oppressed.


FIGHT THE CRIMINAL INJUSTICE SYSTEM


After the first event of the series, showing of 
Framed: the story of Geronimo Pratt, the audience 
discussed methods to address the oppressive 
Amerikan injustice system. One African man 
discussed his frustration with the current system 
and various past failures of attempts to change the 
system. He suggested that we organize people to 
stop paying taxes to the oppressor nation 
government. Another Black man echoed frustration 
with the system and pointed out that in 1973 
Michigan had five prisons and currently that number 
is up to 40 prisons. 

The organizers talked about the need for academics, 
students and radicals in the primarily affluent 
area of Ann Arbor to engage in mass work. Led by 
MIM, RAIL's work is to agitate against oppression 
and to build independent institutions of the 
oppressed which create the necessary foundations to 
build new societies run in the interests of the 
people.

The facilitator pointed out that much can be 
learned by activists in affluent areas from the 
revolution in the Philippines. Leaders of the 
national democratic movement do not ignore the 
oppressed masses in their organizing work, instead 
they send organizers from the urban areas to work 
with the masses in the countryside. Through 
consistent and genuine mass work and mass 
organizing, the national democratic movement has 
been able to organize the people of the Philippines 
in a successful and growing revolutionary movement.

Another member of the audience said that what needs 
to be done is exposure of the atrocities committed 
by the oppressor. We wholeheartedly agree. That's 
why MIM Notes and RAIL Notes are essential tools in 
our fight to stop oppression.

Similarly, it is important to fight against 
agitation which opportunistically mixes the goals 
of the settler nation with the goals of the 
oppressed. Pimping off the backs of the oppressed 
is a regular strategy of the imperialists. This 
same strategy is employed by the white left and 
liberals in Amerikan saying that the white nation 
has an economic interest in revolution.

We also discussed how the proliferation of prisons 
benefits the white nation middle classes. The labor 
aristocracy would rather fight to have higher wages 
as oppressive security guards, occupying police or 
prison guards than struggle to end the massive 
imprisonment of oppressed nationals.


SYSTEMATIC NATIONAL OPPRESSION


During another night of the series, audience 
members elaborated on the fact that the prison 
system and the police forces are oppressive tools; 
it is not just a few pigs gone bad or just one 
crumbling, freezing in the winter prison that we 
should mobilize opposition against. We showed End 
of the Nightstick which is about systematic police 
brutality against Blacks in Chicago. The film only 
shows a small proportion of the brutality committed 
by Amerikan pigs against Blacks but is extremely 
useful in demonstrating that the brutality 
committed is done in the interests of protecting 
white settler nation hegemony.

Another event during the series focused on the 
torture of three political wimmin imprisoned in 
Lexington. After showing Through the Wire we talked 
about the inhumane treatment of prisoners in 
Amerika. We compared this with the ways in which 
the Amerikan government engages in its trade wars 
with other nations under the guise of opposing 
human abuse.


BRUTALITY IN MICHIGAN PRISONS


A activist working with RAIL gave a talk about 
"Slavery and Brutality in Michigan Prisons", 
discussing the fact that Michigan prisoners work 
for as little as 24 cents per hour under threat of 
disciplinary action if they refuse this work. We 
pointed out that while the justification for paying 
prisoners so little is that all of prisoners' 
expenses are taken care of while they are in 
prison, even this is no longer true as the state of 
Michigan recently began enforcing legislation which 
makes prisoners pay for their own health care.

These economic conditions are backed by the 
constant threat of brutality in the form of 
beatings, torture, bad food, punitive segregation, 
censorship and gratuitous transfers of so-called 
"unmanageable" prisoners.

RAIL relied principally on prisoner letters to MIM 
and RAIL in giving this presentation because events 
like this are one of the few opportunities we have 
to help prisoners have their voices heard. MIM 
Notes publishes Under Lock & Key as a means of 
giving prisoners access to people on the outside, 
and we saw this event as a chance to let prisoners 
speak for themselves about the conditions inside 
Michigan prisons.

The audience was very friendly to RAIL and MIM's 
work around prisons and agreed with us that all 
violations of prisoners' rights -- from censorship 
to murder -- constitute brutality against prisoners 
and should be opposed by all people who have a 
progressive stance on prison.

One person at the event pointed out that the state 
violates its own laws to violate prisoners' rights. 
It is illegal for the DOC to mention the name and 
the conviction of a prisoner in public. There is 
enough of a stigma against people who have been 
convicted of crimes and served prison terms. But it 
has become common practice for Kenneth McGinnis, 
head of the MDOC, to state prisoners' names and 
convictions in public. This audience member said 
McGinnis practice in this regard amounts to pushing 
the law as far as he can as a means of taking away 
every little bit of freedom prisoners still have.


BUILD NATIONAL LIBERATION STRUGGLES


The final event of the series educated those 
attending about the struggle for Puerto Rican 
national liberation. We showed Palante, Siempre 
Palante which documents the history of the Young 
Lord's Party/Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers 
Organization and discusses the colonization of 
Puerto Rico and how the Puerto Rican nation outside 
of the island is oppressed.

One of the important points of the film was the way 
in which the people took over institutions that 
were not serving their needs. From discussion of 
this, many of the audience members were interested 
in working with RAIL and MIM to expand ongoing 
projects and build other independent institutions 
of the oppressed.

RAIL and MIM in the Michigan area continue to 
expose the ways in which the prison system is a 
tool for national oppression and social control. We 
do this work as part of the agitation to oppose 
national oppression in general. As a result of 
organizing for this week of events, some 
organizations and individuals will be working with 
us to develop further our Serve the People Books 
for Prisoners program. One Black sorority has 
offered to help fund raise. Some individuals have 
since helped to correspond with prisoners and 
agitate against prisons in Michigan. Other 
organizations have asked RAIL to give presentations 
to educate the members about prisons. If you would 
like to help, we need money to fund our work and 
people to get involved in many aspects of 
educational and organizing work.

UPCOMING ANN ARBOR EVENTS:
Deadly Deception The story of experimentation on 
Black men in Tuskegee
November 6th 7pm Trotter House 1443 Washtenaw
Incident at Oglala The story of Leonard Peltier and 
Amerika's invasion of Pine Ridge. November 20th 7pm 
Trotter House



* * *



REPUDIATE "CHARITY" PROMOTE REVOLUTION!

MIM has discontinued its Serve the People Food 
Program (STPFP), which was launched on December 26, 
1996. The STPFP distributed sandwiches to homeless 
men and wimmin on an irregular and limited basis. 
MIM stopped the STPFP because it was objectively a 
charity program, and outside of the context of an 
already vibrant political movement it would not 
jump out of the bounds of charity work. As the 
article announcing the STPFP itself said, "MIM does 
not believe that handing out a few sandwiches is 
enough. Ultimately, for the world's masses to 
receive proper food, health care, clothing, and 
education, the people need socialism."

That article went on to argue that the STPFP was 
useful because although "[h]anding out small 
amounts of food is not enough... propaganda work 
alone is not enough either." It is true that 
propaganda work is not enough to make revolution. 
We also need a party, an army, and a united front. 
These three weapons are not only or even 
principally tools of propaganda and agitation, 
rather they are tools for political struggle. The 
Chinese Communist Party and the Red Army did not go 
to the countryside to hand out PB&J sandwiches, 
they want there to mobilize the peasantry to solve 
their pressing political needs themselves. In 
particular, the CPC organized the peasants into the 
armed struggle to seize state power. It was within 
the context of that struggle that Mao developed the 
slogan "pay attention to the well-being of the 
masses."

The political line behind the STPFP was a 
combination of "left" adventurism (running ahead of 
our current strength) and rightism (objectively 
downplaying the importance of revolutionary 
political struggle.) Responsible comrades in MIM 
allowed the STPFP to be launched because they had a 
muddled grasp of the true line behind the program, 
and they failed to resolutely struggle against the 
line behind the program. MIM seeks to rectify these 
errors in part by running this announcement. We 
will continue to struggle against errors of ultra-
leftist or rightist political line and practice 
through vigilance and attention to organizing 
conditions.

Of course, MIM is concerned with the well-being of 
the masses. That is why MIM mobilizes the 
proletariat of the oppressed nations within u.$. 
borders and its allies to seize state power and 
build socialism. MIM and MIM-led mass organizations 
like RAIL spend large amounts educating and 
organizing people against u.$. imperialism and for 
revolution. Indeed, there is more work to be done 
in this area than MIM and RAIL can handle right 
now. So we need to pick our battles carefully and 
wage them resolutely.

MIM is concerned with the masses' practical 
problems, that is why it started the free books for 
prisoners program and is building prisoner re-lease 
programs. But a program such as the STPFP is 
admittedly beyond our reach right now -- both in 
the sense that we lack the resources to mobilize a 
program that would make a concrete impact on the 
well-being of homeless people, and in the sense 
that the program would take place in a political 
vacuum.

Currently, the Party, the army, and the united 
front are small and their influence is weak. MIM 
encourages its comrades and allies to spend their 
energy building these three weapons. As these tools 
grow in size and experience, so will their ability 
to take on new forms of work and use them to 
revolutionary political ends.



* * *



AMERIKA GRABS FOR PUERTO RICAN PENAL SYSTEM

by MC53

A court monitor has recommended that Puerto Rico's 
penal system be placed under Amerikan receivership 
and in typical comprador reaction, Puerto Rico's 
puppets of imperialism have vowed to increase 
repression against prisoners as a way to thwart 
losing their power.

Officials claim that Puerto Rican prisons are 
controlled by members of Neta and that they have 
taken over administrative tasks of the prisons and 
heavily influence things such as punishments and 
transfers. The claim is that because of the power 
of the Netas, three prison rebellions occurred to 
stop prisoner transfers within a 48 hour period 
last month.

The Puerto Rican Commonwealths Corrections 
Administrator, Zoe Laboy, said that the puppet 
government is taking charge against the control of 
the Netas. The Puerto Rican government had 
increased the kkkorrections budget from $188 
million in 1992 to $292 million this year and has 
announced plans to separate members of different 
organizations and gangs. As in the United Snakes, 
Puerto Rico's penal system exists to control the 
masses and does not represent the masses through 
justly imprisoning individuals guilty of crimes 
against the people. If that were the case, such 
compradors as Laboy would be serving sentences for 
the crime of compliance with and benefiting from 
imperialism against the masses.

The main stream media portrays the Netas as 
murderous drug traffickers. But the Netas recently 
started a non-profit as an umbrella organization 
for programs they run which include rehabilitation 
and work to improve living conditions. Now the 
courts and the compradors say that this non-profit 
was only to funnel money from the legislature to 
permit inmate leaders to meet and communicate with 
each other in violation of security practices. 

Maoists question the truth that is presented by the 
oppressors. Part of understanding the current power 
structure is understanding how the media is used to 
manipulate public opinion to support repression 
against the masses. Whether the Netas are working 
in the interests of the masses or not, the masses 
are the ones who should have the power to decide. 
This power should not be in the hands of the 
imperialists or in the hands of the imperialist 
lackeys.

The United Snakes continues to control the Puerto 
Rican nation economically, politically and 
militarily as one of its many neo-colonies. 
However, its status as a Commonwealth leaves Puerto 
Rico open to more overt forms of control by the 
Amerikan settler government. MIM organizes for 
Marxist-Leninist-Maoist led revolution which will 
liberate oppressed nations from the throngs of 
Amerikan imperialism. While waging wars of national 
liberation, the masses set up proletarian 
controlled judicial processes which lay the 
foundations for the justice system after 
liberation. A true justice system stems from the 
economic and political power in the hands of the 
masses.

NOTE: The New York Times 10 September 1997. p. A14.



* * *



MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM ONLINE

CONCENTRATION OF CAPITAL IN COMMUNICATIONS:
MONOPOLY_CAPITAL@AOL.WORLDCOM.COMPUSERVE.UUNET.ANS

When WorldCom -- the fourth-largest long-distance 
telecommunications company in the United Snakes -- 
bought CompuServe in September, the deal 
accelerated the existing trend of capital 
concentration in the communications industry by 
strengthening some very big players. As a result of 
the recent deal, WorldCom is now a much bigger 
private data network, and Amerikkka Online (AOL) -- 
which was already far and away number one among 
commercial Internet account providers -- is now 
even bigger.

In the long-run, this concentration of capital 
means that imperialism is digging its own grave. In 
the short and medium term, however, ever-increasing 
privatization and ever-shrinking "public" Internet 
space means that the supposed government value of 
free speech is replaced by "legitimate" corporate 
censorship through customer policies. MIM expects 
this trend to win allies for revolution in the 
fight for our relative freedoms to organize legally 
and openly against imperialism.

In this recent deal, WorldCom bought CompuServe, 
AOL's largest competitor in the commercial Internet 
services industry, for $1.2 billion, and then 
turned around and sold CompuServe's 2.6 million 
U.S. Internet account business to AOL, in exchange 
for AOL's network services company(ANS) and $175 
million in cash. A new company will form with the 
merger of ANS, CompuServe Network Services and 
WorldCom's subsidiary company UUNet.(1) Finally, 
part of the deal includes "a long-term strategic 
relationship with WorldCom providing AOL with 
significantly expanded network capacity for its 
service at favorable prices."(2) And just to seal 
the corporate family, AOL chairman Steve Chase will 
join WorldCom's board of directors.

According to WebCrawler News, "the deal will ... 
strengthen the dominant position of WorldCom's 
UUNET subsidiary as the leading provider of 
communications services on the Internet."(3) 
"Within the USA, the new company will be one of the 
two leading providers of Internet access into the 
Business Week 1000. It will be the overall industry 
leader in the US with 19% of the market for 
corporate Internet connectivity."(1)

And that's just the domestic news. WebCrawler News 
also reported that:

"The deal also helps AOL on the international 
front. It creates a closer link between AOL and its 
European partner Bertelsmann AG that will 
accelerate AOL's global presence. In an expansion 
of an existing joint venture, Bertelsmann AG will 
pay AOL $75 million and each company will invest 
another $25 million as they add CompuServe to their 
existing online service in Europe."(3)

ANS, the now AOL-owned (soon to be WorldCom-owned) 
company, was initially a government project turned 
private enterprise.

According to the company's web site, ANS, Inc. "the 
former parent company of ANS CO+RE Systems, Inc. 
(ANS), was established as a not-for-profit company 
in 1990 by IBM, MCI and Merit [which is a 
consortium of Michigan universities]. Its mission 
was to advance high-speed networking technology and 
use. ... As the principal architect of the National 
Science Foundation Backbone network service, ANS 
developed proprietary expertise in the design, 
development and deployment of large-scale, high-
performance, wide area data networks."(4)

When the government created and controlled the 
Internet, there was greater potential for struggle 
over democratic rights and access, because it was 
more like a "public" space legally. Now, with the 
Internet in corporate, or corporate-government, 
hands, the people's use is regulated by "customer 
policy" instead. It is the equivalent of moving 
from the "public square" to a shopping mall, with 
private security pigs enforcing private rules. 
Battles for free speech in shopping malls have been 
won in the courts and MIM expects to have to fight 
these battles again in order to retain access to 
public cyberspace.

And WorldCom's expansion did not stop at ANS. On 
October 1, "WorldCom ... announced ... that it will 
be commencing an exchange offer to acquire all of 
the outstanding shares of MCI Communications 
Corporation ... for $41.50 of WorldCom common stock 
per MCI share. Following consummation of the 
exchange offer, WorldCom will effect a second-step 
merger with all remaining MCI stockholders 
receiving the same per share consideration."(5)

A WorldCom press release continued, "WorldCom's 
combination with MCI will create one of the world's 
premier communications companies with over $30 
billion in revenues. The combination will enhance 
WorldCom's position as a leading provider of one-
stop-shopping communication services -- offering a 
full range of local, long distance, Internet and 
international services."(5)

The press release went on to say that the new 
combination will be better positioned to compete 
against "incumbent carriers", fulfilling the 
supposed intent of the 1996 Telecommunications Act 
to "enhance competition." Actually, they are living 
up to the legislation, but not by enhancing 
competition. Rather, they are fulfilling the 
government's intention to privatize the 
telecommunications industry by allowing cable and 
telephone companies to cash in on the rapidly-
expanding Internet.

Although there was some initial grumbling that the 
Department of Justice might oppose WorldCom-AOL 
deal for anti-trust reasons (principally AOL's new 
market position with 12 million subscribers), that 
concern seems to have passed. In any case, it is 
easier for the government to deal with a compliant, 
law-enforcement friendly Internet Service Provider 
like AOL anyway. This way, the state can piggy-back 
on private surveillance techniques already in place 
to detect speech AOL finds offensive.

According to the web site www.aolsucks.com, AOL, 
armed with lengthy and draconian "Terms of Service" 
(TOS) policies, polices its account holders by 
routinely checking for "vulgar" language. Vulgar 
language by AOL's rules includes words like 
masturbation, genitalia, transsexual and 
transvestite, and submissive. So much for any 
serious discussion of gender oppression.

"AOL's TOS applies to private communication such as 
'Instant Messages,' e-mail, and private rooms (even 
beyond the above)," the www.aolsucks.com site 
reads. "While AOL does not have staff randomly 
reading e-mail, AOL routinely discloses e-mail to 
the FBI on request, and will search your mail if a 
member reports to the Community Action Team that 
you've been misbehaving."

And company policy reads, "AOL Inc. will not 
intentionally monitor or disclose any private 
electronic communication unless permitted or 
required by law. AOL Inc. may terminate immediately 
without notice any member who misuses or fails to 
abide by the TOS, including, without limitation, 
misuse of the software libraries, discussion 
boards, E-Mail, or conference areas."(6)

On the heels of the AOL mergers, smaller companies 
are looking for mergers to shore up their 
endangered positions. On Oct. 13, IGC, a local 
phone company, and Netcom, an Internet service 
provider, announced a merger, which they say will 
give the combined new company $420 million a year 
in revenue. The relative weakling Netcom has 
550,000 Internet customers. If they're lucky 
they'll be worth more now when they get gobbled up 
by a bigger conglomerate.(7)

Because colleges and universities are less directly 
affected by privatization, students in the United 
Snakes probably enjoy the freest, most protected 
areas of the Internet. They should watch Internet 
privatization trends with alarm and resolve to use 
their valuable resources to the fullest, working 
with MIM to serve the international proletariat. 
For those without academic Internet access, MIM 
recommends interviewing Internet service providers 
about their policies regarding turning over 
information about users, and we strongly recommend 
that all communication over the Internet use the 
free encryption technology that makes it impossible 
to monitor.

NOTES:
1. http://www.ans.net/WhatsNew/
2. AOL Press Release, Sept. 8, 1997
3. WebCrawler News, 9/8/97
4. 
http://www.ans.net/WhyChooseANS/Overview/History.ht 
ml
5. http://www.wcom.com/press/100197_2.html
6. www.aolsucks.com
7. Press release from www.netcom.com 



* * *



UNDER LOCK & KEY


TEXAS PRISONER BATTLES CHEMICAL AGENTS

...Here at the Michaels Unit in Tennessee Colony, 
Texas, prison officials are using chemical agents 
in an oppressive, malicious and sadistic manner on 
inmates in Administrative Segregation who are 
confined in their cells. At no time is their an 
imminent threat to officers, inmates, or others. 
Nor is there a riot, major disturbance or a threat 
to the security of the institution when these 
dangerous chemical agents are released. At all 
times inmates are confined to their cells, and the 
Michael Unit prison officials are aware of the 
effects chemical agents have on us inmates.

Furthermore prison officials do not attempt to 
decontaminate the area, and walk around with gas 
masks on, as inmates suffer from the chemical 
agents. No medical assistance is available, even 
upon request.

I have a lawsuit filed ... I hope you can refer me 
to an organization who has [information about] the 
effects chemical agents have on humans -- both long 
and short term effects. ...
 -- A Texas Prisoner, 22 July 97


MIM RESPONDS:Below are some facts about the 
chemical agents in pepper spray that may help your 
case.

"Pepper spray instantly induces choking, gasping, 
gagging and the sensation of suffocation. Eyes burn 
swell and involuntarily shut. Many individuals 
automatically collapse after exposure. There is no 
federal or state agency that checks the contents or 
strength of pepper spray."(1)

"Nationwide, over 70 people have died after being 
pepper sprayed and restrained by police."(1)

Capsicum, the main ingredient of pepper spray, is a 
chemical weapon. Its use was outlawed in 1972 by 
the United Nations Biological Weapons 
Convention.(1)

Although research on pepper spray is far from 
comprehensive, it does indicate that pepper spray 
exposure poses serious risks for various 
populations of people. These populations include 
people with: asthma, epilepsy, gastrointestinal 
conditions, sickle cell anemia, psychiatric 
conditions, heart, eye and/or lung conditions, and 
various physical disabilities.(1)

In August 1993, the California EPA warned that in 
each pepper spray death, this chemical agent 
"exacerbated underlying conditions ... to cause 
cardiac or respiratory failure."(1)

In October 1993, the US Army study of pepper spray 
concluded that pepper spray is capable of 
producing, "mutagenic effect, carcinogenic effects, 
sensitization, cardiovascular toxicity, pulmonary 
toxicity, neurotoxity and human fatalities."(1)

In April 1997, The Medical Implications of Pepper 
Spray report was released. "The warnings and 
concerns from the scientific community can no 
longer be ignored. With the death toll on in-
custody suspects rising and the growing list of 
injuries to officers in training, it is time to 
stop speculating and guessing about the hazards of 
OC [Oleoresin Capsicum] spray. The hazards are real 
and the evidence is there to support it."(1)

An FBI study of OC revealed that the physical 
effects of OC are more severe when individuals are 
exposed to a greater percent solution of OC and 
when they remain inside the enclosed contaminated 
area for a longer period of time. But in the 
population they studied the longest period of time 
a person was expose to OC, was 45 seconds.(2) Thus 
it is probably much worse for prisoners who are 
trapped for hours in contaminated areas.

The FBI also claims that the most effective way to 
decontaminate a person is to take them outside for 
fresh air. Soap and water; and fresh air, until 
contaminated clothing is dry -- needs to be done to 
decontaminate a person who was sprayed directly. 
Opening of windows and airing out the rooms 
sprayed, is all that is needed to decontaminate the 
physical environment.(2) So decontamination would 
be easy for the pigs, yet instead they torture 
prisoners.

There are 1993 and 1995 reports on OC available 
from ACLU of Southern California. They may charge 
around $10 per report. There address is 1616 
Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90026.

NOTES:
1. "Join the Campaign to Ban Police use of Pepper 
Spray In Berkeley," pamphlet , published by 
COPWATCH, 2022 Blake Street, Berkeley, CA 94704, 
June 1997.
2. U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of 
Investigation, Chemical Agent Research, Oleoresin 
Capsicum, http.//www.dalewom.com/d139.htm


ARIZONA LAW LIBRARIES REMOVED

...As of August 4, 1997, we, almost all inmates in 
the Arizona Department of Corrections [ADOC] will 
be loosing access to our Law Libraries. The ADOC 
will be taking them out. There jurisdiction for 
this, is in the recent Supreme Court decision Casey 
v. Lewis. It is pretty gloomy on the legal battle 
field. The ACLU and Middle Ground, brought the case 
back before the Federal District Court who refused 
to hear it. They dismissed it. With this decision, 
comes a new policy governing access to the courts, 
hiring of outside paralegals by DOC, and abolishing 
Inmate Legal Assistant. Violation of this new 
policy will result in disciplinary action. ...

Sincerely and struggling,

 -- An Arizona Prisoner, Tucson, AZ 18 July 1997


...On August 4, 1997, the Arizona Department of 
Corrections [ADOC] will close all law libraries in 
its system except for the law library in Central 
Unit in Florence, AZ, which houses death row 
convicts. This is ADOC'9s solution to the US 
Supreme Court decision in Lewis v. Casey.

Arizona has acted very uncharacteristically... 
Arizona usually waits until another state has 
implemented a tentative policy and discerns the 
prisoners' reactions in that state and the results 
of any legal ramifications from enactment of the 
said policy. I guess since this case was remanded 
back to the district court of Arizona, the district 
court gave ADOC the opportunity to construct an 
adequate solution for inmate's access to court.

...A class action suit was filed in the district 
court of Arizona. Judge Carl A. Muecke, and 
advocate for human rights, ruled in favor of the 
inmates and enjoined a wide array of reforms for 
access to court. The ninth circuit, basically 
affirmed the district court's order with very few 
modifications. The US Supreme Court reversed the 
district court's decision and ruled Judge Muecke 
went too far. An individual most show actual 
damage, and Judge Muecke should have given the 
state an opportunity to construct its own plan to 
rectify any discrepancies in their system for 
access to court.

Judge Muecke excused himself [from the case] upon 
remand and Judge Strand, (the same judge who is 
currently presiding over Governor Symington's 
criminal trial), is presiding over this case now. 
Ostensibly, the district court has given ADOC the 
opportunity to come up with their own plan. Thus do 
a 902.

As predicted by Judge Muecke, in his original 
decision in this case, ADOC will go overboard if 
given the opportunity to construct its own policy. 
This is exactly what to do a 902 has done. The law 
library will close with ADOC contracting a 
paralegal service to assist prisoners. Convicts 
like myself will not be able to assist another 
convicts, even though I am more proficient than the 
average paralegal. I have assisted in freeing a 
number of convicts and may even eventually free 
myself.

A prison complex which houses two to seven 
different prisons, will have access to a paralegal 
once every week. This paralegal and a monitor, an 
ADOC employee, will determine whether an issue has 
merit, whether one may have access to photocopies, 
how many copies one may have, etc. I will not go 
into the intricacies of this policy but as you can 
imagine, we will catch hell and be denied.

The irony of this situation is the state claims the 
reason they avidly pursued this case was to save 
the taxpayers millions of their tax dollars. 
Actually the law books and up-keep of the library 
is funded by the Inmate's Arts and Recreation Fund, 
which is profit ADOC collects from the inmates 
store and other profits they procure through 
prisoners. They spent millions alone litigating 
this case. The real reason they litigated this case 
is to undermine the adversarial process.

Donna Hamm, president of the prisoner's rights 
organization, Middle Ground Prison Reform, 
constructed an excellent letter depicting all the 
improprieties of doing a 902. This letter was 
addressed to Judge Strand and distributed 
throughout the entire system. Hopefully Judge 
Strand will stay the implementation of a 902, 
because if they do not, I fear there will be 
bloodshed throughout the system.

Fellow convicts, be on guard. Department of 
corrections across the land will be watching the 
results of our misery. ...

Always a Soldier,

 -- An Arizona Prisoner, Goodyear, AZ, 28 July 1997


MIM NOTES BANNED FROM YARD

... The day after i received my notes i decide to 
take it to the yard. I am in a michigan maximum 
security prison... When i made it to the yard i was 
shaken down. i had one Ebony magazine and MIM Notes 
#X, which contained an article i submitted... 
Please send me Notes #X again because the pigs took 
it...

Now I see why you protect the names and identity of 
each prisoner that submits an article, because 
obviously i see that just being seen with MIM Notes 
can add to the repression i already face. So i can 
imagine the repression it can cause if these civil 
servants for the system same my name printed in 
your notes.

Thanks for not printing my name with the articles 
I've submitted and thanks for protecting my 
identity. Because these civil servants did take the 
notes from me and told me i wasn't allowed to bring 
a newspaper to the yard. They told me because i 
brought it to the yard i [could] forget my yard 
period. I observed the sergeant. censoring it. 

It is possible that it was also reported to the 
administration head. Because ever since i arrived 
on this slave plantation i have been oppressed, 
harassed, tired, tested and monitored. Even my 
activities and the few prisoners i associate with 
are monitored. I keep my associations down to a 
minimum as much as i possibly can because they have 
labeled me and documented in my files that i cannot 
be controlled in a population group setting. (A 
smooth way of saying that i have the potential and 
ability to influence and unify prisoners to 
challenge against the injustice and oppressions of 
the system in a sophisticated (intelligent) and any 
other means necessary manner!) ...

 -- A Michigan Prisoner, 17 August 1997


ALABAMA DEATH PENALTY

NO JUSTICE -- JUST US

I'm a young black in his late 20's and have been on 
Alabama's death row for six years. I think the 
people should know just how sorry this so called 
justice system is. 

There are about 148 people on Alabama's death row. 
65 percent of the people here are black men. And 58 
percent of the black me range from the age of 16 to 
31. For most of them it is their first time in 
prison.

The death penalty was reinstated in 1977. Since 
then there have been 16 executions. There have only 
been two white men executed from Alabama and 6 
white men executed all together. The rest is black. 

The average black man on death row is accused of 
killing a white person. The average black man on 
death row has little or no education at all and is 
poor. That shows me, that if you are a black man 
with no education and no money then you get 
screwed. 

The state gives the state appointed lawyer 
$2,000.00 to fight a death penalty case. The 
average capital murder trial lasts five days or 
less. Execute Justice, Not People.

 -- An Alabama Prisoner, 11 August 1997


CORRECTIONS CORPORATION OF AMERIKA IN TENNESSEE

...In Tennessee they use "Behavior Modification 
Units" -- Administrative Segregation Units as a 
tool to further oppress and manipulate those who 
would dare stand up and speak out. Yet the voice of 
Truth will not be silenced!

In the issue of MIM Theory that was sent, 
``Amerikkkan prisons on trial'', the article on CCA 
-- Corrections Corporation of Amerika was very well 
written. CCA is now attempting to place a bid to 
take control of all the prisons within the state of 
Tennessee, even though it is against the law. The 
rules can be changed for the invading nation. The 
Capitalists only seek to further strangle the 
oppressed nations.

Today during my one hour recreation time, myself 
and a fellow captive were speaking on the 
coincidence that many mental hospitals around the 
kountry closed down for lack of funds, and during 
that same period of time prisons started to Boom! 
Then the alleged War on Drugs, is just a war on the 
Oppressed Nations. ...

-- A Tennessee Prisoner, 21 July 1997


PIGS COVER-UP ABUSES AND POOR CONDITIONS

...I am writing to inform you matters here at 
Clinton Correctional Facility that took place on 
July 24, 1997. There was a shooting in the big yard 
behind two Brothers fighting each other with 
knifes. And the administration is blowing it out of 
control here, on the news, and so on.

Now the real problem is that most of the so-called 
officers come to work drunk. They have problems 
with their family life and take it out on the 
prisoners here at the facility. If you were to have 
any of the officers take a urine test, breathalizer 
or blood test for other drugs you would be 
especially unhappy with what you find. The officers 
at Clinton Correctional Facility are racist, 
abusive, threatening and unprofessional.

More than ever, there are attacks on prisoners by 
officers and the administration covers up the 
actions of the officers. There are beatings, set-
ups, threats and killings -- all by the officers 
here, that are justified by someone in [public 
relations] who knows nothing about what's going on 
at the facility at all. However, none of this is 
new cause it is happening in all New York state 
prison facilities.

Most of the staff at these facilities, mainly 
Clinton, have the attitude that they are dealing 
with animals not human beings and they call these 
facilities: "The Department of Correctional 
services." There is nothing correctional about 
these places. None of the programs are up to date 
and there is nothing healthy about this place. 
Birds fly inside the mess hall while you're eating. 
The health services here are a joke.

...the Inspector General should have an agent 
planted here as a prisoner to see exactly what's 
taking place being these walls ... 'cause they keep 
people who care about what really happens, from 
seeing the truth about how prisoners are being 
treated. ...

 -- A New York Prisoner, 25 July 1997



* * *


MIM ON PRISONS AND PRISONERS

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

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


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

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