Title of publication: MIM Notes #97 Publisher: Maoist  Internationalist Movement Pages which meet disapproval  criteria: various pages Description of material that  meets disapproval criteria: Calif. Code of Regulations,  title 15: Any matter of a character tending to incite  murder; arson; riot; or any form of violence or  physical harm to any person, or any ethnic, gender,  racial, religious, or other group. AB-95/1

--Pelican Bay State Prison, California, 3/29/95

 IOWA CENSORS MIM NOTES

MIM Notes #95, 12/94, ... has been reviewed by the  Publications Review Committee and found to be in  violation of Standard "4A" of this committee's  standards.

This standard is: "Is likely to be disruptive or  produce violence."

This publication is being returned to the institution.  You will have five days to advise where you want it  sent. After that time, this publication will be  disposed of by the institution....

Sincerely,

--Jim McKinney, Iowa Dept. of Corrections (sic) Deputy  Director--Institutions, 1/27/95

MIM RESPONDS TO THE PRISONCRATS AT PELICAN BAY AND IOWA  STATE: We plead not guilty on all counts. We believe  that the masses will have to resort to armed struggle  to end imperialism, capitalism and patriarchy, because  oppressors like you will give up your power without  violence. But far from inciting murder, arson, riot or  violence, we make it clear that such actions here and  now are counterproductive. Instead, we encourage people  to organize with MIM to build public opinion for the  construction of a world without oppression.

MIM Notes readers can send letters of protest to  Mailroom, Pelican Bay State Prison, P.O. Box 7500,  #SHU-C9-122, Crescent City, CA 95532-7500 and  Publications Review Committee, Iowa State Penitentiary,  Fort Madison, IA 52627. Please send a second copy to  MIM.

 POLITICAL MURDER

On December 6th, I lost a friend--killed by police on  the streets of Kansas City. He was Black, 38, born in  Chicago and moved to Birmingham, Alabama at age 14.  Other than the spirit of Cinque in his heart there was  no advance notice of his death. It's taken me four  months to connect with someone in Kansas City that can  help me find out why Mike Turner died so violently and  what happened with his body.

Also in December, a young Dominican man was beaten and  choked to death by police officers in the Bronx.  Anthony Baez succumbed to the blue terror while his  family and friends looked on in horror.

February, in Patterson, New Jersey an unarmed 16-year- old manchild--Lawrence Myers--had his brains blown out  by a housing project cop working for federal dollars.  The shooter was white. The victim was Black.

The only warning any of them got was color and class.  The list is endless.

For Mumia Abu-Jamal there was an additional warning.  The state has proclaimed loud and clear its intention  to kill him. The state is backed in its warning by the  Philadelphia Police Department, judicial compliance,  and a sickening apathy on the part of too many people.

The facts demonstrate that Mumia was beaten and shot by  Philadelphia police in a city notorious for police  murders and brutality. They show that Mumia's trial was  fundamentally unfair and that he was framed by a  hanging judge. The fact is this system places no human  value on Mumia's life but does place symbolic value on  killing a principled and courageous defender of the  Black Nation. Mumia has been made a target of  opportunity in a political climate rancid with racism  and reaction.

It's often said that it is better to light a single  candle than to curse the darkness. That's fine as far  as it goes but it is presently not deep or strong  enough to deter the State's executioners. We are at a  point beyond candle vigils that reflect little besides  moral indignation. We are beyond the point of watching  and staring in disbelief.

Protest must continue and increase, but it is the fire  of resistance that must be ignited. And I don't mean  the path of least resistance. I mean resistance that  fires from the heart rather than a sense of obligation.  I mean sacrifices that compensate in some meaningful  way for the shameful indifference that afflicts so many  who should be supporting Mumia. Political murder grants  nothing to moderation.

We live in a country that passed a "crime bill"  imposing the death penalty for 50 new offenses at the  same time a national day of mourning was declared for a  war criminal like Richard Nixon. We all bear some  degree of responsibility for this American nightmare.  We are all responsible for rectifying it.

The Law functions as an ethical sanction of state  violence. It's the government's trump card; the  corporate ace in the hole. Cops kill us with impunity  and we are hurled into the world's largest prison  system while the quality of life gets pulled from under  us by King Capitalism. Those who rule have the law and  most of the guns on their side.

Mumia's lifeblood and political activism have roots in  the Middle Passage and Black bondage. The law has its  own bloody roots in supporting genocide, slavery,  racism and the penitentiary system. The use and abuse  of the law from the patrol car to the Supreme Court  only adds to the debilitating effects of lives rubbed  raw by oppression--an oppression Mumia has resisted  since his formative years with the Black Panther Party.

To respect and defend Mumia is to act....

I'm reminded of Ida B. Wells and her hard-fought  campaign against lynching. Throughout her many years of  activism she was dismayed with the large number of  professionals who put their positions and comforts over  the needs of a community under attack. And for the  uninitiated let me add that Ida B. Wells possessed a  big pistol which she acquired after seeing enough men  lynched to know that bitter fruit is most often Black,  and the system attacks the most vulnerable.

It is my view that the rights due us by virtue of our  humanity and labor are continuously violated, and that  no comprehensive relief or solutions lie with the  courts. However, this is not to say that battles cannot  be won through the law. For this reason, every avenue  of the law should be pursued to save the life of Mumia  and others. What I am saying is that it may not be  enough, and for THAT reason other avenues need to  utilized in local, national, and international efforts  to stop this execution.

We need to go beyond the merely acceptable to another  level of energy, commitment and possibilities. Every  neighborhood, every workplace, union, church, mosque,  NAACP chapter, Leonard Peltier Defense Committee--every  National Lawyers Guild member--needs to get down in a  serious way with this campaign. No one should claim  immunity or prior commitments: it's going to take sweat  and maybe pain. It's going to take a big noise and  maybe confrontation. This is a commitment that requires  whatever it takes for as long as it takes.

--a federal prisoner in Colorado, 4/95

For more information about the railroading of Mumia  Abu- Jamal, the "Voice of the Voiceless," contact:

Pennsylvania Committee To Free Mumia, Box 10174,  Pittsburgh, PA 15232-0174, (412) 361-2889 Noelle Hanrahan, Equal Justice USA (301) 699-0042 Coalition To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal (212) 330-8029

Write: Mumia Abu-Jamal, AM 8335, SCI Greene, 1040 E.  Roy Furman Highway, Waynesburg, PA 15370-8090

International Political Prisoners unite to save Mumia  Abu Jamal: Art and writings against the death penalty

Sisters and brothers, more than 90 politic palrisoners  from the United States, France, Germany, Chile,  Belgium, Denmark, Spain and Peru have contributed art  and work, crafts and writings to our collective  project: Art and Writings Against the Death Penalty.

We are grateful to everyone inside who has contributed  and to those on the street who have given our work a  means of expression. The response from prisoners was  perhaps no surprise, but the project has also been  enthusiastically embraced by many people outside. The  art and performance aspects of this unprecedented  effort are reaching into new communities with our call  for solidarity with Mumia and every person on death  row.

 WE ARE BEING HEARD!

The art show recently concluded a month-long exhibition  at the Art Gallery of the Adam Clayton Powell State  Office Building in New York. The show will be on  display in various American cities during the year and  will be in Toronto in August.

Many of the art pieces contributed in the first call  have already been sold with the condition that they  will continue to travel with the exhibit. None of us,  however, expected this project to carry on through the  entire year and there is a practical need to deliver  some of the artwork by June to those who have already  purchased it. There will be more opportunities to sell  more artwork and crafts during the upcoming tour and  funds for Mumia's defense are still urgently needed.

If, due to the deadline of the original call, you  haven't had the chance to contribute, you can do so  now. If you have already contributed, please consider  contributing additional pieces of artwork....You can  contribute works to:

Political Prisoners Unite 164 Lexington Jersey City, NJ  07034 (201) 420-9434

--reprinted from Prison News Service, 3/95. PNS can be  reached at P.O. Box 5052, Stn. A, Toronto, Ont., Canada  M5W 1W4

 PRISONER USES MIM'S SPANISH-LANGUAGE WORK AS AN ORGANIZING TOOL

Dear MIM,

I just wanted to keep you up to date with what's  happening in the Washington Correctional (sic) Center  for Women.

The last time I wrote you, I told you that the  mattresses were being taken away down in segregation.  This has been stopped. I've been down there twice since  I last wrote--due to the fact that I won't kiss the  pigs' asses. But while I was there, I noticed a lot of  favoritism going down. I saw a half-Black, half- Cambodian sister being refused the book-cart and room- cleaning privileges--just because she didn't have her  glasses and couldn't see the book titles. The pig  didn't feel like pushing the book-cart closer to her  cell--so she was denied a book.

But on a lighter note, a Latina woman just noticed the  Spanish writing on the back of my Feb. issue of Notes  and asked if she could read it. After reading that  issue, she wanted more. I'm taking her the 8/94-1/95  issues, including the 16-page special you sent in  August. My September issue was denied. But I'm very  excited about having someone to share my "Notes" with.

These women here just seem to think if we ignore  something it will go away. Tell that to my Samoan  friend who was beat up by seven male pigs. Supposedly  she was resisting. Most of the women here in Maximum  (CCU--Closed Custody Unit) saw the whole thing. Only  four of us, including myself, wrote letters to the  Superintendent stating what really happened. They  didn't want to bring attention to themselves. Of  course, the video cameras didn't show up until she  really was resisting. But it didn't start off that way.

I try to get these women interested in what happens  here, but they seem to not want to be bothered. I am  making progress, though, like with this Latina woman.

And they took a sister to the hole this morning for  refusing her medications and cussing out the guard. Not  two hours later, I saw a white girl cuss out the same  guard and disobey a direct order. What happened to her?  Not a fucking thing. But we struggle on.

Please keep sending me my papers!

Your sister in the struggle,

--a Washington state prisoner, 3/8/95

 PRISONER UNITY SCARES PRISONCRATS

... An interesting event took place about the second or  third week of March, I believe. At the medium-maximum  prison at Baker one evening, a group of about fifty  Nation of Islam inmates gathered together for a fitness  run around the compound. They sang cadence and chanted  as well, as they made their way around the camp.

The very next morning, they were all packed up and sent  to various prisons in the state. This was witnessed by  my brother who said they looked like a regular Army  platoon and that it was apparent they scared the shit  out of the administration, I bet.

Needless to say, they have all been moved, which puts  each and every one of them in a position to teach and  gather at new places. I'll be willing to bet the  administration has no idea what it's done.

As for myself, I do try to discuss Maoism as well as  articles I read in MIM Notes with others. When I  mentioned reaching population, I meant sending my old  MIM Notes to the library out there and saying a few  words to those who pass by back here, mostly laundry  personnel. I feel even just a few words will give them  something to think about, even if it's something along  the lines of, "hey, let me go back and ask that cat  about this or that," you know?

Well, my friends, that's the latest from this  Auschwitz.... Thank you again for sending MIM Theory  and Maoism and the Black Panther Party. I enjoy reading  them and will see that they get around.

In struggle,

--a Florida prisoner, 3/31/95

 SUPREME COURT ATTACKS PRISONERS

The Supreme Court has upped the ante of fascist  repression against prisoners in Amerika's gulags. A 5-4  decision (Sandin v. Conner) written by Chief Justice  William Rehnquist held that prisoners do not have a  "liberty interest" protected by the 14th Amendment's  due process clause if they face repression that is not  "atypical" in the prison.

The prisoner in this case, DeMont Conner, was thrown in  solitary after supposedly insulting a guard during a  strip search. Conner was not permitted to call  witnesses at the hearing that sent him to solitary. He  sued, arguing he was deprived of liberty without due  process, as supposedly guaranteed by the 14th Amendment  (which was supposed to end slavery).

But Rehnquist said that because the Halawa prison in  Hawaii was so often under lockdown, "disciplinary  segregation ... did not work a major disruption in his  environment." He added, "The regime to which he  [Conner] was subjected was within the range of  confinement to be normally expected for one serving an  indeterminate term of 30 years to life." Finally, "We  hold that Conner's discipline in segregated confinement  did not present the type of atypical, significant  deprivation in which a state might conceivably create a  liberty interest."

That means that the worse the "normal" conditions are  in a prison, the more severe a restriction of liberties  will have to be before it can be considered "atypical  and significant," the new standard Rehnquist set. This  fascist subjective standard allows for continuously  increasing repression justified by the "rule of law."

Fourteenth Amendment challenges have been a useful  tactic for prisoners challenging their conditions. With  that avenue largely shut down, prisoners will need to  raise challenges under the 8th Amendment ("cruel and  unusual punishment"). But the Supreme Court has also  been toughening the standard for offenses under the 8th  amendment as well.

Lawsuits won't end the genocidal oppression of  Amerika's prison system, but they are important  tactical tools. This setback in legal tactics should  redouble the dedication of revolutionaries to overthrow  the system that perpetrates this oppression.

-MC12

Notes: Supreme Court decision transcript, Sandin v.  Conner (No. 93-1911) 6/19/95. New York Times 6/20/95.

 MODERN INSTRUMENTS OF TORTURE

... These people ... in their disciplinary unit have  instruments of torture and ... use these instruments of  torture on a regular basis. They have something called  a "four way." This is a medieval type of device in  which the prisoner is shackled to a bed and is  stretched as far as his body will allow. Then these  evil people open the windows and turn on the fans in  the dead cold winter...

--an Indiana prisoner, 1/26/95, in the 3/95 Coalition  for Prisoners' Rights Newsletter, which can be reached  at P.O. Box 1911, Santa Fe, NM 87504-1911.

 CASE OF THE KILLER CLERGYMAN

Raymond Carl Kinnamon was murdered by the state of  Texas on December 11, 1994. His final statement was cut  short. He was speaking like an intelligent, feeling  human being, like a man, and it was feared by his  killers that he might start to seem human to the rest  of the world. That wasn't to be tolerated. When the  warden stepped in to hold him down, shut him up and  begin the lethal poison, an attending clergyman  assisted, placing his hands on Carl's chest to help  kill him.

We know that Texas prisons are a sham that only pay  lip-service to rehabilitation, and that everything that  goes on in Texas prisons is a sham to fool the public.  We know that on death row, the unwritten goal is to try  to break the spirit, destroy the manhood, sever family  ties. But must a murdering preacher be tolerated? At  the point when a man lies down on the gurney, that's  the ultimate and irreversible punishment. Why can't he  be attended by a minister who...is there for him..., or  attended by no minister at all if that is his choice,  instead of a minister who sucks up to the prison  system, even so far as to assist in the execution?

--Coalition for Prisoners' Rights Newsletter, 3/95

 YARD TIME

I run miles in squared circles 22 strides long by 11  wide, Brushing the walls with my shoulders, Nudging  them outward ... pushing against my confinement. Flying  in my mind's eye, challenging their oppression. I  daydream of loved ones and glance at the sky On the  straight-aways ... 22 strides long by 11 wide. I fight  all the battles we won on the streets, I breathe with  the cadence I set with my feet. And when I tire before  I'm ready to stop My mind recalls the story I've read  so often to my kids. I think I can, I think I can, I  think I can ... As the little engine struggles to the  top, And the joy of the children as they change the  chant ... I thought I could, I thought I could, never  say can't. So the pain melts from my lungs And settles  in my heart As my stride opens up To the pace at the  start, A new cadence grows as I cover the distance, One  we all know ... Repression Breeds Resistance Repression  Breeds Resistance Repression Breeds Resistance

--by a federal prisoner, now in Illinois, while in  Control Unit, Trenton State Prison, New Jersey. Written  1990. Reprinted from North Coast Xpress, 10/94. North  Coast Xpress can be reached at P.O. Box 1226,  Occidental, CA 95465.