MIM Notes 226 January 15, 2001 Under Lock & Key Prisoners: Support PIRAO, the MIM-led army Young people future Young people of the future, listen and take heed, Selling drugs and killing isn't what you need. You need a direction in which way to go, So why not start out by taking it slow. Taking that crack and making a sale Is gonna have you in SOMEONE'S JAIL. So why not stay in school and get a decent job, And stop hanging around with those fools who steal and rob. Being in jail is nothing but a waste of time, Most children say it's just a school of crime. We all know the difference between right and wrong, Maybe we can be an actor or the singer of a song. Dreams sometimes they do come true, It all starts with you believing in you. Take that first step and get on the right track, And stop stealing and messing around with that crack. The reason I know so much about this stuff, Is because I ran the streets and thought I was tough. And now I'm serving time in a Federal Joint, So are you listening young people and getting the point? -- a Federal prisoner in Colorado, 25 September 2000. Willing to die and to kill for revolution Look here, you have a lot of comrades who are willing to kill for the revolution, but not willing to die for the revolution. And then you have comrades who's willing to die for the revolution, but not willing to kill for the revolution. I say a true cold blooded revolutionary is willing to do both if he really cares about the struggle, and willing to make a change for a better life for something that he know ain't right, especially if he believes this in his mind and heart. I will never agree with pacifistic minded people, I want a better life for my true diehard comrades and my family. If you want something, I feel in my mind and heart you have to mean it, and mean it to the fullest. When I imagine people just laying down and letting them imperialist minded thinking people walk all over top of them, my throat tightens, and I have trouble breathing. We will win at the end. If you don't have anything to die for, then you don't have anything to live for. Have my thoughts captured your imagination? Do you understand? May the struggle continue! -- a Federal prisoner in Illinois, 10 September 2000. MIM responds: We print these two submissions together because each raises an important aspect of the contradictions of organizing among the internal semi-colonies of the united snakes. We salute the comrade in Colorado for reaching out to young people and urging them to stay out of prison, but we do not tell young people to "take it slow" as s/he does. Liberals and reformists are rightly seen by the oppressed as selling out any true movement for justice by advocating that revolutionaries "tone down" their approach to be more acceptable to more people. But MIM thinks that the youth of the internal semi-colonies are justified in their anger at imperialism. Prison threatens young men of the oppressed nations because Amerika is on a path to lock up all those who would rebel against imperialism. MIM agrees with the prisoner in Illinois in sentiment, but not in strategy for the united snakes at this time. We fully understand that imperialism has never surrendered its oppressive structure to peaceful persuasion, and that it will not, but this does not mean that now is the time for armed struggle in the united snakes. By the history of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism we can see that there is much public opinion building and independent institution building to be done before it is our time for armed struggle. We cannot be pipe dreamers and argue that comrades have the organization and discipline to carry out successful armed struggle if they have not been tempered in the basic forms of political struggle like putting out a newspaper. Mao additionally cautioned us that we in the imperialist countries should not take up armed struggle until the imperialists are "truly helpless." MIM leads by having an army of a type that is "not precisely prescribed in previously Maoist science." We have described this army as "a specific creation for the imperialist countries." In its forming document, the MIM-led army People's Internationalist Rear-Area Organization (PIRAO) stated that it "recognize[s] the non-negotiable human-rights of the starving, homeless and ill. We accept into our ranks anyone who will not deny the rights of the Third World peoples to take up arms to secure necessary food, clothing, medicine, a livable environment and shelter. "In real armies, much time is spent in the barracks, not every day is a day of decisive battle. Likewise, in the rear area, we aim to build an army of people with long-run goals, vision and discipline. The goal of the army is to speed up victory, not bring fast and easy glory. "At the front, the leading means of obtaining weapons is through armed struggle -- seizure of arms of defeated enemies. In the imperialist countries, we cannot utilize such methods appropriately. What we obtain -- books, medical supplies and other concrete aid -- can usually be obtained with money. A key element of the army will be systematic financial work. Other elements will include intelligence, technical aid and medical advice." MIM calls on all comrades who are serious about the need for revolutionary struggle to get serious about the difficult work of building our independent institutions. The Under Lock & Key campaign theme for January is "Serve the People". If it were not for the professionalism of the MIM-led army, our capability to serve the people and to organize revolutionary independent institutions would be less extensive. What about expanding into health issues? I am writing in regard to the letter you sent. After serious thought, I must unfortunately say that I was unable to come up with anything that will be beneficial for the "Serve the People" [which is the January theme for MIM's Under Lock & Key Campaign]. However, I would like to comment on the necessity of having programs focused on prisoners' conditions because of the blatant injustice of these institutions when it comes to education, medical care, legal issues etc Speaking as an inmate, I must congratulate MIM for being in the fore-front with these issues as it pertains to actually educating and teaching us how to use these types of programs to help serve the people and not just as "charity" work. As my good friend once told me, "It's better to give a hungry man a fishing pole rather than a fish." And this is what MIM has and is doing with the programs they currently have. As I was writing this, a suggestion just came to mind. Maybe MIM could start a program that focuses on Health issues. Most inmates do not receive any type of real medical help of just general health advice. For example, testicular cancer is the most common form of cancer among men and it is mostly occurring in males in between the ages of 15 and 35. Because of this, it is recommended that males should examine themselves once a month for irregularities. Yet, most young men do not know this and do not practice it. If we could teach inmates things that they should know about keeping themselves healthy and then show how these institutions are failing in this regard, it might be a useful program to help the people be more aware of their health and what they need to do to attain better health. Even if it is not possible for them to attain better health, it is possible for them to have the knowledge of certain serious things to check for. Possibly, MIM could even acquire information off the INTERNET about medical issues and publish or send it to inmates that request it because they are concerned about a medical problem and they just aren't receiving help from the facilities' medical staff. In this way, inmates will be able to use this knowledge and information for grievances and lawsuits. Well, it is something to consider. I must also report that I received MIM Notes for November, Thanks! Be strong and revolutionize this struggle. -- a prisoner in Kansas, 20 November 2000. MIM responds: We agree that the issue of health care for prisoners is an issue needing increased exposure. We welcome suggestions to increase independent institutions and more so, we welcome comrades willing to take leadership and initiative in expansion. We are willing to lead this writer and other prisoners to expand revolutionary independent institutions, like the above mentioned. From the inside, there are several things that prisoners can do to take initiative in expanding MIM's coverage of health care in Amerika's prisons and service to the people. First, we insist any such program be revolutionary. What this would mean for health care services to prisoners is that the purpose be to build the revolutionary program at the same time that we fight to destroy the current system which does not provide adequate care. Health education and services must be accompanied by anti-imperialist analysis explaining that the current system must be destroyed to genuinely serve the oppressed masses' health care needs. Seeing that building this foundation is essential to develop a Serve the People program specific to prisoners' health care needs, we suggest that those interested first start by studying "Serve the People: Observations on Medicine in the People's Republic of China" by Victor and Ruth Sidel. MIM sells this book (for $12) because it illustrates the fact that revolutionary seizure of power is truly the most effective means to serve health care needs of the masses. The book explains the balance between political redness and expertise needed to serve the proletariat. It also contains useful information about organization of a massive revolutionary health care system as well as specific technical medical information. We also suggest that interested prisoners study the essays available in MIM Notes concerning revolutionary service to the people and the advances of PIRAO. Second, you can help us educate and organize outside supporters. You can work with MIM to publish accounts of the prison system's inadequate care and work with us to encourage those on the outside to understand and support PIRAO. Detailing accounts dealing with health care helps to build public opinion against imperialism and recruiting outside supporters helps to build up the revolutionary programs necessary to tear imperialism down. United Struggle Within comrades should take the lead in forming study groups that focus on the basics of Maoist service to the people and result in workshopped essays on conditions as well as solutions. Previously a few prison comrades took baby steps toward expanding health care service to prisoners. These efforts degenerated as a result of the comrades not working to deepen their understanding of political line. While there are supporters with expertise willing to help, leaders of such programs must maintain the correct political orientation toward revolution. Segregation in prisons helps expansion policy by the Segregated inmates at a Kansas facility As inmates here in segregation, we sit down here and continuously watch the Parole Board pass inmates for a year and they recommend work release, or a treatment program which is not available in segregation. We've seen that years go by and those inmates are still being held in segregation, and the Parole Board passes them once again without even asking the Department of Corrections in Kansas why they did not act on the Parole Board's recommendations regarding that inmates' treatment needs. The fact of the matter is that segregated inmates have become pawns in a sinister political game that Correctional Officials are playing with the State Legislature. Lamentably, the Parole Board has been duped (if not willingly) into a perfunctory party to this machination. Medium and Minimum custody inmates are being kept in these maximum security bed spaces at the Correctional Facilities solely ITAL to keep the appearance of always being full to capacity END so correctional officials can keep going to the legislature every year to ask for more money to keep building onto these correctional facility compounds. Without someway to maintain this appearance of being full capacity ITAL every legislative session END, there is no compelling reason for the legislature to keep granting correctional officials requests for more funds. Governor Graves said in his state of the State address that building prison space is a priority for his administration. His spokesperson, Don Brown, put it this way, "What we want more than anything is some way to address the prison crowding problem. The Governor's preferred alternative is to meet the prison space needs head-on by expanding in Maximum Custody bed spaces." (Topeka Capitol-Journal, 14 April 2000) Correctional Officials have made a calculated decision to use segregation or segregated inmates to assure this achievement of the Governor's policy objective i.e. more units at these Correctional Facilities. If a study were commissioned by the Legislature and done by an independent organization (like the Rand Corporation) it would reveal that more than half of the inmates being continuously housed in segregation not only do not need to be segregated, but also that they do not even need to be in a maximum security facility at all (which is easily proven by the fact that most that are housed in Max have Medium and Minimum security points in their files.) Keeping all these minimum and medium security inmates in these maximum security bed spaces has become an efficient political economy or currency for these clever ass prisoncrats who are now running and controlling the Kansas Department of Corrections. MIM responds: We agree that the economic interests of the settler nation are one of the reasons that it continues to fake reason to construct more prisons. MIM Theory #11 explains this further and explains that the settler nation has an economic interest in paying more white people to construct and staff prisons. The other advantage to the white settler nation is that oppressed nationals are locked up en masse, preventing these masses from waging revolutionary struggle on the outside. MIM does not believe that the legislators need the pretense of packed prisons to push for more prison construction. It is in the white settler nation's economic and national interest to do so. Just as the pretense of the mythological black rapist attacking white wimmin served the interests of settlers by building public opinion to justify lynchings, pictures of overcrowded prisons help build public opinion in favor of prison construction. Note that Amerika does not work to actually solve the problem of crowded prisons, only us revolutionaries genuinely do that by working to destroy the system that would rather lock up the oppressed than provide for needs. On the issue of the Rand Corporation being independent. We encourage the writers of this article to study MIM's articles and essays on service to the people and PIRAO. The Rand Corporation serves the bourgeois class interests, it is not independent. Information from Rand is used against the proletariat. MIM points you toward building our own revolutionary independent institutions rather than relying on reactionary ones. The Black Panther Party Paved the Way [After receiving MIM's literature on the Black Panther Party from our Serve the People Free Books for Prisoner Program, a prisoner wrote the following.] I analyzed the BPP article and it quenched my curiosity to know how the BPP paved the way from the standpoint of not knowing the BPP's positive influences and movements. [I had only known] the negative and militant characteristics propgated by oppressors. It's silly feeling to know now, after all these years, and to get the message that the Black Panthers were not quite racist. They were rebels by circumstances, revolutionary by pride, and mentors by survival. Just reading about the free breakfasts by the BPP that fed thousand and to hear that they taught children about revolutionary politics, it's inspiring! With just the little, but major information about the BPP's deeds, it isn't complicated or difficult to believe the BPP paved the way not just for MIM as an anti-imperialist organization, but also for the oppressed people of more than one nation. Power to the People and we will win! n a Louisiana prisoner, 16 October 2000. Attention Prisoners First, please remember to write once every three months to continue your MIM Notes subscription. First time writers need to write again within 30 days of their first letter to stay on the mailing list. Second, below is a list of books available to prisoners. We will send the below books for comrades willing to write reviews and/or start study groups with the material. We expect that prisoners organize with the resources that the Serve the People Free Books for Prisoners Program provides. We can also send relevant Maoist analysis to help you better study or review the below books. Please also try to get your supporters on the outside to help fund the mailing of this and other literature. Below material availability is subject to requests. "Imperialism and Revolution in South Asia" Gough and Sharma, eds.; "American Socialist Movement 1897-1912" by Kipnis; Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the 20th Century" by Harry braverman (for those writing written review only); "Essays on the Political Economy of Africa" by Arrighi and Saul; "Reason and Revolution" by Marcuse; "Columbus: his enterprise, exploding the myth" by Konig; "China Shakes the World" by Jack Belden; "The Fall of Jerusalem" by Abdullah Schleifer; "Revolution in the revolution? Armed Struggle and Political Struggle in Latin America" by Regis Debray (hardback only); "Sociology of "developing societies"" Alavi & Shanin eds.; "Churches in Struggle, Liberation Theologies and Social Change in North America" Tabb, ed.; Webster's Dictionary; "People's Republic of China. Documentary History of Revolutionary Change" Mark Selden ed.; "Toward an Anthopology of Women" Reiter, ed.; "Agribusiness in the Americas" by Burbach and Flynn; "Armed Struggle in Africa" by Chaliand.