MIM Notes No. 198, November 15, 1999

EAL month builds opposition to criminal injustice system

Across the country, MIM and RAIL held events from September 13th through 
October 15th as a part of MIM's first annual End the Amerikan Lockdown 
(EAL) month. Activities included educational events, literature 
distribution and demonstrations. Our work against the criminal injustice 
system advanced and we gained many supporters.

The end of EAL month does not mean we will stop organizing against the 
criminal injustice system. This is a part of our everyday work, but EAL 
month is four weeks that we will be using every year to intensify 
opposition to national oppression and social control through imperialist 
prisons. MIM's 1999 EAL month was a resounding success and we invite 
participation in planning for End the Amerikan Lockdown month 2000.



Attica commemorations kick-off month

On September 13, MIM began EAL month by commemorating the 28th 
anniversary of the Attica massacre. Many attending the educational 
events did not know about the history of the Attica rebellion. We 
educate about this important history because it demonstrates both 
struggle of the masses and the repression of the state. On September 
9th, Attica prisoners took over part of the prison to demand better 
conditions. On September 13th, the pigs retook the prison by force and 
turned a peaceful protest into a massacre. (See MIM Notes 193.)

In Michigan, one persyn at the commemoration said that s/he was 
surprised that there was no movement against prisons at the University 
of Michigan. MIM and RAIL have been building support for prisoners for 
years, so there actually is a movement, both on and off campus. But it 
is not as large as it should be. People should be appalled prison 
conditions and by the use of prisons as a tool for social control in 
Amerika.

Learning from the history of the fight against the criminal injustice 
system is an important part of furthering the struggle. MIM continues to 
educate people about the history of Attica as well as other protests 
within the Amerikan criminal injustice system as we build a movement to 
overthrow the system.



Mumia's execution date protested

The day before the end of EAL month, October 14th, the pigs set Mumia 
Abu-Jamal's execution date. Mumia is a radical Black activist and a 
former Black Panther Party member. He was framed for the righteous 
killing of a cop and was sentenced to death. Penn. Governor Tom Ridge 
announced the execution date as December 2 in attempts to weaken the 
struggle to save Mumia's life during its most crucial time.

MIM and RAIL held protests and attended other organization's rallies 
across the country following the announcement. MIM distributed hundreds 
of MIM Notes copies and flyers on Mumia's case and introduced many new 
people to Mumia's case in the context of a broad agenda of anti-
imperialism. Mumia's case demonstrates that justice cannot be brought 
about through the current system. It demonstrates that the Supreme 
Court, the lower courts, the pigs and the entire criminal system are not 
about justice. They are about bolstering the political and legal system 
that allows the imperialists to remain in power and continue 
exploitation.

One comrade talked with three Black high school students while 
distributing information on Ridge's announcement. These students asked 
why MIM was interested in Mumia and what MIM's distribution of 
information accomplishes. MIM explained that large protests help expose 
and demonstrate opposition to Amerikan injustices, but that an immense 
amount of discussion and struggle is necessary to involve people in 
anti-imperialist organizing. It takes newspapers and discussions on the 
streets (to name a few tools) to explain the details and revolutionary 
perspective.

The youth listened earnestly to MIM's explanation of Mumia's case and 
its connection to the entire Amerikan system. MIM explained that the 
most advanced work we can be doing in this country is to build a base of 
support for revolution. We fight for Mumia's freedom by educating people 
about his case and mobilizing additional support. We do this as we carry 
on the work that he did as a Panther and fight for justice for the 
majority of the world's people.

An older white man came up to the discussion and said that Mumia should 
fry. According to the reactionary, Mumia also raped some wimmin. The 
guy's argument was that even if Mumia was innocent of killing the pig, 
he should still fry for the rapes.

The students -- even the one who had not known about Mumia's case before 
the discussion -- criticized the white man. They said that he 
demonstrated why the Amerikan prison system is like it is -- there are 
so many people that perpetuate the myth that Black men rape white wimmin 
and should fry for it. We also discussed ABC's documentary on Mumia. The 
students agree that ABC did the same thing as the white man on the 
street: perpetuated myths to build reactionary public opinion. This is 
why MIM stresses the importance of building our own independent media.



Leonard Peltier's Case and Indigenous Peoples Day

Indigenous Peoples Day, a celebration of the rights of First Nations and 
a protest of the reactionary holiday of Columbus Day, fell towards the 
end of EAL month. MIM and RAIL organized events to draw the connections 
between the massacre of indigenous people after Columbus "discovered" 
Amerika and the current war against oppressed nations through the 
criminal injustice system.

In Boston, MIM and RAIL held a protest. Many people were sympathetic to 
the idea that we should not celebrate the actions of Columbus. But most 
people we talked to were not familiar with the case of Leonard Peltier, 
a modern day example of the on-going war against First Nation peoples.

Leonard Peltier is a member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who 
was framed for the murder of two FBI agents who invaded Pine Ridge 
reservation. The FBI invaded to thwart AIM's effective organizing. After 
the agents were killed, the FBI coerced witnesses and falsified evidence 
to build a bogus case against Peltier. Peltier has been in prison for 23 
years for a crime there is no evidence he committed.

In Michigan, MIM showed Incident at Oglala, a documentary about Leonard 
Peltier's case. Everyone watching the movie was appalled at the details 
of the case and Peltier's frame up. MIM explained the context of settler 
genocide against First Nations and the importance of building more 
support for the struggles of all oppressed nations for self-
determination. MIM contrasted the struggle for self-determination with 
the idea of integration -- currently being perpetuated by many student 
groups and Trotskyist factions in the context of fighting for 
affirmative action on campus.

MIM supporters spent several days handing out flyers about the events on 
Peltier's case and we found very few people familiar with it. During one 
two-hour session, handing out about 150 flyers on Peltier and Indigenous 
People's Day on a college campus, MIM only found two people who knew of 
Peltier. This underscores the importance of education work as a part of 
the revolutionary movement.



Released prisons should work with MIM

Because there are over 1.8 million people in prison in the u.s., it is 
no surprise that we meet many former prisoners when we're on the 
streets. One released prisoner talked to MIM about the discrimination 
that he now finds on the job because of his criminal record. Others have 
told us stories of torture on the inside.

There are many ways that released prisoners can do work with MIM. One 
former prisoner told MIM that he felt like everything else he was doing 
was just not productive or fulfilling. He was excited to find MIM so 
that he could get involved helping brothers still in the gulags. MIM 
strongly encourages prisoners to stay in touch with us. It is difficult 
to stay out of prison once released, let alone do things that are 
productive. MIM's Released Prisoners Program is small but functions and 
we always welcome released comrades to help us build support for 
prisoners.

Throughout EAL month, MIM and RAIL distributed literature about the 
criminal injustice system and gathered signatures on protest petitions 
and postcards. This work has gained many new supporters (and donations) 
for MIM's Serve the People Free Books for Prisoners Program. This is one 
example of the type of work that released prisoners can do. By 
organizing support for revolutionary education within prisons, released 
prisoners (and others) build opposition to the current system, while 
helping MIM to meet immediate needs of those still imprisoned.

Boston forum focuses on prisons as tools of social control

To close out the End the Amerikan Lockdown in Boston, MIM held a forum 
on the criminal injustice system. The forum featured a former prisoner, 
now activist, who spoke on the repressive nature of the prison system.

To start, one comrade explained the link between the prison system and 
MIM's larger internationalist perspective on imperialism. Amerika and 
imperialism are all about oppression of nations to further exploitation. 
This is true if you are talking about the white settler nation occupying 
Black, Latino and indigenous nation territory and imprisoning the 
people. This is true if you are talking about Amerika setting up puppet 
governments in the Third World that help make superprofit extraction 
possible.

The former political prisoner began by telling her persynal story to 
give people a background and to use her experience to discuss the 
systematic nature of prisons. She endorsed MIM's Free Books for 
Prisoners program as an important program to prevent prisoners from 
giving up. She spoke about the horrible effects prison has on humans and 
advocated more involvement to change current conditions as much as 
possible.

After the featured speaker, we showed a video clip from "Through the 
Wire" as an example of how prisons are a tool of social control. One 
comrade gave an update on two of the wimmin in the video: Puerto Rican 
revolutionary Alejandrina Torres who was given clemency by the U$, and 
revolutionary activist Silvia Baraldini who has been sent to a prison in 
her native Italy. The release of Alejandrina and the transfer of Silvia 
represent victories of a long struggle against the injustice of their 
sentences.

Another comrade read a letter from a prisoner previously printed in 
Under Lock and Key. The letter criticized the Massachusetts people who 
were in an uproar over the proposed move of the New England Patriots, 
but were silent about the murder of three prisoners in Massachusetts.

Before opening up for discussion, a RAIL comrade explained some of 
RAIL's current work against prisons. This includes prison letter 
meetings, supporting MIM's Serve the People Programs and working on a 
RAIL-led correspondence course for prisoners to receive an education.

Most of the 25 or so people stuck around for a lively discussion. Some 
challenged MIM about its opposition to prisons given its communist 
ideology. MIM explained the difference between imperialist prisons and 
prisons in socialist societies. MIM explained that Chinese prisons 
(1949-1976) were examples of how prisons should be. Rather than 
increasing imprisonment rates, the goal in Maoist prisons was to educate 
people to eliminate the need for prisons in the future. We recommended 
"Prisoners of Liberation" by Allyn and Adele Rickett for a firsthand 
account of Maoist prisons written by two U$ spies during the early years 
of Communist China (available from MIM for $10).

We're publishing a sampling of activities from the first EAL month to 
demonstrate some of the many ways that you can get involved with MIM to 
oppose prisons. Activities like these are carried on by MIM and MIM-led 
organizations throughout the year, though we don't publish all the 
accounts in MN. We encourage readers to follow these examples and send 
in accounts of your own revolutionary organizing to inspire others. 
Visit our web site for copies of flyers you can distribute, become a 
distributor of MIM Notes, support our Books for Prisoners program and 
work with us to hold educational events and protests in your city. We 
are starting now to organize for the 2nd annual EAL month, write us for 
more information.  Join the fight to End the Amerikkkan Lockdown!