This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
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THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT
MIM NOTES 111 APRIL 1996
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.
MIM NOTES 111 INCLUDES:
1. CONTINUE THE FIGHT AGAINST THE FORCES OF GREED
AND TYRANNY
2. OPPOSE AMERIKAN IMPERIALISM IN CUBA
3. LETTERS TO MIM AND RAIL:
4. CANDIDATES BEAT THE LABOR ARISTOCRACY DRUM:
RALLYING THE FASCIST CRY
5. WHO SAID WHAT?: TEST YOURSELF AND FIND THE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGNERS
AND THE SOCIAL-DEMOCRACTS
6. TEXAS PRISONS: TRAFFICKING IN THE OPPRESSED
7. DEPORTED MASSACHUSETTS PRISONER DIES IN TEXAS
8. SUCH GREAT PRISON CONDITIONS
9. ACTIVIST STANDS UP TO MULLINS CENSORSHIP
10. RAIL AND MIM LEAD PROTEST:
MASSES RALLY AGAINST PIG OCCUPATION AND
EXPANSION IN SPRINGFIELD, MA
11. PATAKI RECOGNIZES FIRST NATION SOVEREIGNTY
12. FIRST NATION ANTI-TAX FIGHT CONTINUES
13. KKKANADA CHARGES IPPERWASH NATIONALISTS
14. SOME MOHAWKS STAND AGAINST QUEBEC SEPARATION
15. ANTI-COMMUNIST RUNS OFF WITH MIM NOTES
16. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND
PRISONS
17. DOES THE STRUGGLE AGAINST RAPE END AT FRAT ROW?
18. PSEUDO-FEMINISTS DEMAND MORE POLICE STATE
ACTION
19. GROCERY STAND TARGET: YOUNG WOMEN'S MINDS
20. M-L-M ONLINE: MIM WEB FEEDBACK AND RAPE DEBATE
ON THE NET
21. MIM DISCONTINUES PERU WORK -- FOR NOW
22. PRIVATE CAPITALIST VS. STATE-CAPITALIST: IN
THESE CONTESTS THE MASSES SUFFER
23. FOR A JUST AND LASTING PEACE: ANN ARBOR EVENTS
ON THE PHILIPPINES IN APRIL
24. ENGLISH INTRANSIGENCE ENDS IRA CEASEFIRE
25. FRENCH LABOR ARISTOCRACY SUPPORTS MILITARISM
CONTINUE THE FIGHT AGAINST THE FORCES OF GREED AND
TYRANNY
***The following statement was issued by the Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) or New Patriotic
movement on February 22, 1996. BAYAN is a legal
alliance for national independence and democracy in
the Philippines. It was founded in 1985 and was the
largest anti-fascist organization at the core of
the people's uprisings in February 22 to 25,
1985.***
The carnival that was the Ramos Regime's
celebration of the EDSA uprising is now over. [The
uprisings following Marcos' electoral fraud spread
throughout the Philippines, but the U.S.-Ramos
regime only talks about the mass actions on the
EDSA (a street in Manila) in order to glorify the
mutiny of the Enrile-Ramos clique of the military--
MIM] The ruling elite is in the home stretch of a
media blitz aimed at conjuring the old myth of a
restored democracy and refurbishing President
Ramos' sagging public image.
But as the media hype fades away, the celebrations
reveal themselves to be what they really are: a
monumental farce. The EDSA mythology fails
miserably to sugarcoat the harsh realities of the
times: the Aquino and Ramos regimes have preserved
the growing mass impoverishment, servility to
foreign dictation and fascism that marked the
Marcos regime.
The latest round of price hikes of oil, food, and
other consumer goods testifies to the runaway price
profiteering of greedy cartels unleashed under the
Ramos regime. In 1972, Marcos declared martial law
to, among other reasons, allow foreign oil
companies to jack up oil prices and extract super
profits at will, as well as to clamp down on
strikes and other protests against oil
profiteering. Today, the Ramos regime displays this
same canine obedience to the oil cartel and other
foreign big businesses at the expense of the masses
of Filipino consumers.
By implementing the Expanded Value Added Tax
(EVAT), the Ramos regime is pushing the regressive
taxation pursued by the Marcos regime which is
dictated by the structural agreement program of the
International Monetary Fund. In so doing, Ramos is
running roughshod over the people's cries and even
over pleas from conservative sectors like the
Catholic Church hierarchy.
The income of the poor and workers' wages cannot
catch up with the double digit inflation inflicted
by the economic policies of the Ramos regime and
the IMF. The claim of the Ramos regime that the
rate of poverty has dropped from 39.9 percent in
1991 to 35.7 percent in 1995 is pure fiction. In
truth, a growing section of the middle class is
joining the poor who continue to comprise over 70
percent of the population.
The manner in which the oil price hikes and EVAT
are carried out against the will of the majority
exposes the democratic posturing of the regime. The
fascism perpetrated by the Marcos regime did not go
away at all with the dictator's exile in Hawaii. In
fact, human rights violations escalated during the
Aquino regime and continue to be rampant under the
Ramos regime. The Ramos regime has already chalked
up 13 massacres, 2,098 arrests (only 66 were served
with warrants) of activists, 97 forced evacuations
of communities, 16 hamletting cases, 8 food
blockades, 33 violent dispersals of demonstrations,
and 127 torture cases.
While Marcos was removed from the seat of power in
1986, his legacy in the Ramos regime remains
intact. Some of Marcos' closest partners in
repression and greed--Ramos, Juan Ponce Enrile and
Jose de Venecia--are now at the helm of the
government. Moreover, following the Marcos
tradition, Ramos has attacked the civilian
government with 47 military officials, 41 of them
generals, to better implement a silent, undeclared
martial law. Though the regime claims to have
temporarily shelved the fascist anti-terrorism
bills, it admits that it plans to engineer their
passage sometime in the future. These bills remain
like guns cocked and aimed at the Filipino people,
ready to be fired at them at the time of the
regime's choosing.
We therefore call on the Filipino people to carry
on the militant opposition to the greed and tyranny
of the U.S.-Ramos regime and the big foreign and
local comprador-landlords. We urge them to fight
back the imposition of the oil price hike, EVAT and
anti-terrorism bills.
* * *
OPPOSE AMERIKAN IMPERIALISM IN CUBA
President Clinton and the Amerikan Congress
immediately imposed new sanctions on Cuba after the
Cuban military shot down two "civilian" planes
flown by the militant anti-Castro group, Brothers
to the Rescue, on February 24. Clinton formerly
opposed the bill, but changed his mind in the face
of new political pressure to be tough on Cuba.
Cuba is a state-capitalist country, not a socialist
or communist one, and was a Soviet neo-colony for
many years. The Amerikan embargo against Cuba, and
dependency on the Soviet empire, have brought
hardship to the Cuban people that undermined a lot
of the progressive changes the Castro government
brought to the island.(3)
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Canada and
many European countries have developed strong
controlling interests in Cuba. MIM supports Cuba
against U.S. imperialism because Cuba is a victim
of imperialist aggression and colonialism even
though we do not support Cuba as a socialist state.
One effect of Amerika's actions against Cuba is to
undermine the influence of other imperialist powers
on the island.
Brothers to the Rescue is an organization of Cuban-
Americans whose stated purpose is to help Cuban
refugees fleeing Cuba into the United Snakes. But
Brothers to the Rescue has also openly called for
armed revolt against Castro, violated Cuban
airspace repeatedly, and on at least one location
has flown over Havana itself to drop anti-Castro
leaflets.
Brothers to the Rescue leader Jose' Basulto is a
veteran of the 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, in which
Amerika attempted to overthrow the Cuban government
with CIA-trained exiles. The invasion failed, and
Basulto "returned to Cuba to fire a cannon at a
hotel from a boat."(1)
The new Amerikan sanctions against Cuba will
strengthen the U.S. embargo against Cuba and punish
foreign corporations that do business in Amerika
and in Cuba.(2) Canada has pledged to file suit
that the new law violates the NAFTA free trade
agreement, but Amerika has not backed down. None of
these imperialists care about the oppression of
Cubans by imperialism.
MIM opposes Amerikan aggression everywhere, but we
don't mislead the people into believing that Castro
has established socialism in Cuba. The most
effective struggle against imperialism comes from
Maoist revolution: MIM calls on the people of Cuba
and people around the world to join us in
organizing for the day when imperialist aggression
will be defeated for good.
NOTES:
1. New York Times Feb. 28, 1996, p. 1
2. Reuter Feb. 27, 1996.
3. Send $5 to MIM to order a copy of MIM Theory 4:
A Spiral trajectory; the failure and success of
Communist development for more on this issue.
* * *
SUPPORT MIM'S REVOLUTIONARY AGITATION
FUND, DISTRIBUTE, AND WRITE FOR MIM NOTES
MIM Notes is an important independent institution
of the oppressed which depends entirely on the
efforts of the progressive and revolutionary
masses. Since September 1984, MIM Notes has grown
from an irregular xeroxed leaflet with limited
distribution to a bi-monthly 12-page newspaper with
international distribution and first-hand reporting
on the people's struggles from Mohawk territory to
Korea.
If you want to see MIM Notes continue to expand its
distribution, frequency, first-hand reporting, and
prisons work, then it's time for you to step
forward and help build the independent media of the
oppresed. All you have to do is decide how much and
how often you want to give:
* Mooch off the oppressed? No way! Here's $20 for a
year's subscription (24 issues).
* I've got time and money, I'll give MIM $20 each
month for 25 copies of each issue to hand out in my
town.
* Better yet, I'll do $50 per month for 200 copies
of each issue.
* Sponsorship has its privileges; I'll give MIM
more than $10 per month and get a free
subscription.
* I don't have much money but I'd love to help;
send me some back-issues of MIM Notes to distribute
around town, and I'll write you some articles about
political things going on near me.
* I'm an artsy fartsy type; here's a piece of
artwork to use in MIM Notes.
Every little bit counts; but bigger is better!
MIM Notes
P.O. Box 3576
Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3576
* * *
LETTERS TO MIM AND RAIL:
BOURGEOIS BLACKLISTS NO ANSWER FOR DRUG VIOLENCE IN
COLOMBIA
My name is X and I am a twenty year old college
student. First, let me tell you that I am delighted
every time I have been able to pick up your MIM
Notes on campus. Although I seldom find your
publication, it is a mind opening experience to
read your articles. I am currently a sophomore at
[Y University], and I am more than disappointed
that at a very liberal, large university such as Y,
the only political clubs support the typical
democratic and republican rhetoric. Although I did
some campaigns work for the Republican party in my
district and was elected committee woman, I was
disappointed to see that in a drug infested, poor,
largely immigrant neighborhood like mine, our
complaints and voices were only summoned during
election time and our grievances continue to be
ignored by both Republicans and democrats.
... I was appalled at the horrible US policy
concerning Third World countries. We as Colombians,
were forced to undergo a humiliating process of
"approval." If the US did not believe that the
Colombian drug enforcement agency had pursued US
standards regarding drug trafficking, then monetary
aid would be withheld. Furthermore, we would be
placed on a blacklist along with other third world
countries. The "monetary aid" is nothing more than
a leash used by the Imperialists to manipulate
already fragile economies. More recently, the US is
putting tremendous pressure to shut down companies
alleged to have dealt with transactions involving
drug money. I am angered at the fact that proud,
honest, working Colombian women and men are faced
with losing their jobs. Unlike the perception of
the rats in congress, all Colombians are not
involved in drug smuggling; this is not the basis
of our economy. In a country where, in order to
forget their hunger, children in the streets get
high on anything, including glue, more unemployment
fostered by US imperialism is simply unacceptable.
Furthermore, I want one of these "gentlemen" from
the DEA to come to Colombia and ask how many people
have lost their entire family due to daily
violence. In fact, it is almost a shock to read an
obituary that lists natural causes as the source of
death! We know exactly the heavy price that drug
trafficking has cost us. We certainly don't need a
bunch of bourgeois pigs to tell us what to do and
threaten us with their "blacklists."
As a student, I am appalled to learn that in every
single, major, Latin-American revolution Yanqui'
imperialists have been there with arms and puppet
leaders to support the opposition. As an immigrant,
as a woman, and as a proud descendant of Indians
and Black ancestors who were repeatedly raped and
degraded, I want to be a part of some thing that
propagates the truth, not disguises it in the form
of democratic rhetoric... Please inform me if there
is any way I could personally help. Thank you for
your time and I hope you continue your work.
MIM RESPONDS: Thanks for writing! We are sending
you a copy of Maoist Sojourner, a publication by
and for Third World exiles put out my MIM. Maoist
Sojourner has lots of news from the oppressed
nations from a revolutionary Maoist point of view.
We are also sending you the February 96 issue of
MIM Notes, which contains an article outlining our
plan to expand our independent media. As this
article makes clear, there are plenty of ways you
can help spread the truth about U.S. imperialism
and its crimes. You could donate money: the added
printing and shipping costs are one of the major
obstacles we must overcome to expand. Since MIM's
finances depend on donations from the masses, we
need motivated people like yourself to step up and
take on as much of the financial responsibility as
they can. You could help us distribute our
publications: you mentioned that you don't see MIM
Notes regularly in your area; you could change that
by volunteering to distribute a bundle or two
yourself. You could write the important news story
MIM missed, and lots more.
We look forward to working with you!
NEW RAIL BRANCH LAUNCHED
Dear Comrades,
We received the January and Feb. bundles of MIM
Notes....enclosed is a check for the two bundles
plus December's papers. Two new outlets for MIM
Notes...The addresses are for your information. I
would like to continue monthly visits to these
places supplying them from bundles you send me. ...
The goals I set before leaving X city in October
were seriously pursued but not met. Paper sales
dates were set where nobody showed. RAIL meetings
(meetings to initiate a RAIL chapter) didn't
materialize. The only successful meeting took place
Dec. 10th--A debate on the U.S. intervention in
Bosnia: a political science prof. (pro), an AFSC
rep. (against from a pacifist viewpoint) and myself
(anti-imperialist). Twenty-some people showed. It
was held at X University. The response from those
in attendance was good and enthusiastic. One
expressed support for the imperialist action--all
others who spoke were against. Before adjourning,
another meetings was set for Dec. 29th at a
library. Only one ally showed up (from CAUSI). We
aborted the meeting and sold papers for an hour.
I'm in favor of increased circulation (twice a
month) and hereby pledge $100 a month for the extra
issue; to increase the number of sales and outlets
to carry the paper; and write two articles per
month. I'll continue to form a RAIL chapter.
Thanks for not giving up on me and please be
patient with my inconsistency. In September I was
really encouraged by enthusiastic people from X
City. I went there three more times after that.
Plans were made by the locals but they never
followed through. I was afraid I would "drop the
ball" and sure enough did. My organizing skills
need much more work.
--RC in midwest
MIM RESPONDS: Congrats on holding your first event!
MIM publishes this letter as an example, especially
for people without a MIM branch in their city, of
how they can unite theory and practice to mobilize
their own cities and campuses. Doing work on
current continental and regional campaigns, support
for the revolution in the Philippines and
opposition to prisons, is something MIM and RAIL
can help you get started with.
We are looking forward to furthering our
theoretical debates as well. Those who work with
RAIL are not required to engage in polemical
struggle with MIM, but that struggle does help
advance both line and practice and build a stronger
RAIL branch. Debates among the people can only lead
to a stronger line on our part. Writing articles
for MIM Notes is a good way to unearth some
divergences of line and open them up for struggle;
we look forward to discussing your work.
Finally, thank you for your financial support. A
consistent monthly contribution is especially
useful as we embark our plans to increase
frequency. We encourage other readers to contribute
at whatever level--the higher the better but every
little bit helps!
HOW CAN I HELP REFORM MASSACHUSETTS PRISONS?
To whom it may concern,
I have a friend who is in the Massachusetts prison
system and am interested in finding out ways in
which I can help with its reform. I would
appreciate any literature you could send me.
Thank you for your prompt reply.
sincerely,
A friend in the east
February 1996
RAIL REPLIES: Enclosed is a copy of Mass RAIL which
has lots of news and information about what is
going on in the Massachusetts prison system and the
struggle to change it. Also enclosed is a RAIL
prison pamphlet. As anti-imperialists we attack the
problem of prison injustice in two ways. First we
try to effect reforms to make the conditions for
prisoners better in the short term. Second, we work
to change the system because we do not believe that
the criminal injustice system can be reformed and
made into a just system.
While we hope to win a few reforms and help to
educate and organize and improve the conditions for
people behind bars, we never tell people that
justice can be achieved through reform. Under a
system that condones murder, rape, and theft in the
name of capitalism, while imprisoning a
disproportionate number of poor Blacks and Latinos,
those who run the criminal injustice system do not
have an interest in really reforming the system for
the better. If you read through the prison pamphlet
you will get more of the theory behind these
strategies. (We are trying to cover the costs of
printing the prison pamphlets so we ask if you
would send us $1 in return for this literature.)
We have a number of projects that could use your
help. We could use contributions to our Books for
Prisoners program which provides much-demanded
political literature free to prisoners. If you have
books and/or money that you can donate to this
program the prisoners will appreciate your help.
You can also work with RAIL locally to get petition
signatures to shut down control units (torture
chambers used to punish prisoners) in the prisons,
to expose prison expansion, and to fight other
injustices. We hold regular educational events and
a number of protests in addition to just standing
on the streets talking to people and getting
petition signatures.
All MIM Notes readers should get their hands on
their local RAIL publications, if such exist, or
the continental RAIL Notes to find out what
rallies, speakers, and other events are going on in
your area.
We hope to hear from you soon.
* * *
CANDIDATES BEAT THE LABOR ARISTOCRACY DRUM:
RALLYING THE FASCIST CRY
***"You cannot force American workers, who make 10
bucks an hour, 15 bucks an hour, 20 bucks an hour,
to go into head-to-head competition with people who
make a dollar an hour and 25 cents an hour. If you
do, you will lose your working class jobs, and
we've been losing them; if you do, your real wages
will fall, and they're falling; if you do, your
middle-class standard of income will begin to
decline."***
--Patrick Buchanan, spokesperson for the labor
aristocracy as quoted in New York Times Feb. 20,
1996, p. A15.
Patrick Buchanan is a millionaire, but money didn't
win him the New Hampshire primary contest for the
Republican Party presidential nomination. His
campaign relied on years of leg-work done by
fascists, social-democrats and phony communists
attacking NAFTA and immigration in the name of the
labor aristocracy. We must understand not just how
Buchanan is succeeding and what class he
represents, but exactly how reactionary his
platform is and what MIM's alternative is.
CUT AMERIKAN TIES TO THE THIRD WORLD; LIBERATE THE
OPPRESSED
MIM agrees that U.S. foreign aid should be cut off.
Military aid keeps the world's oppressed nations
subservient to U.S. imperialists, landlords and
puppet capitalist governments. Buchanan wants to
cut aid because he promotes the arrogant, selfish
and nationalist labor aristocracy view that the
U.S. government is too generous abroad when people
are suffering within U.S. borders. Even the labor
aristocracy and other middle classes of the
oppressed nations within U.S. borders often agree
with that view at the expense of foreigners.
Buchanan has put his finger on the difference
between the labor aristocracy and the majority of
the bourgeois internationalist capitalist elite
(represented by Clinton and Dole at this time): the
labor aristocracy puts its own nation's economic
conditions above the right to make global profit.
When the labor aristocracy feels that the
imperialists aren't giving it enough of the booty
from international profits, it complains and turns
to economic nationalism.
MOTHER-COUNTRY NATIONALISM, THE NAZI CARD
Like the national socialists (Nazis) before him in
Europe, Buchanan realizes that the nationalism of
imperialist country workers is no threat to
imperialism, and conservative Republican voters
agree. More than 50% of these self-labeled "very
conservative" Republicans voted for Buchanan in New
Hampshire.(2) Buchanan won because he attracted the
most right-wing voters available. Let that be a
warning to the so-called socialists who pit
Amerikan workers against the Mexican workers or the
Singaporean workers or the Filipino workers.
Buchanan's answer to the problem is antagonism
toward foreign workers: oppose foreign trade, cut-
off aid, close the borders etc. MIM's solution is
to stop backing all the death-squads that kill
labor leaders in the Third World every time they
try to negotiate a decent standard of living.
Buchanan's goal is greater gain for the Amerikan
labor aristocracy, MIM's goal is equality for all
the world's people.
The social-democrats, phony communists and other
labor aristocracy representatives would like to
deny that they have anything in common with
Buchanan. They don't want to admit their
responsibility for unleashing his movement because
they see that the strongest movement against NAFTA
and GATT and for "American jobs" is also against
immigrants, gays/lesbians, women and internal
oppressed nations.
BOB DOLE: TAILING THE FASCIST LINE
He may not win the nomination, but Buchanan is
infusing the Republican party with his message.
Seeking support among the labor aristocracy Amerika
First fascist crowd, Senate Majority Leader Bob
Dole is taking up the Buchanan line:
"'Corporate profits are setting records and so are
corporate layoffs,' said Mr. Dole. . . 'The bond
market finished a spectacular year. But the real
average hourly wage is 5 percent lower than it was
a decade ago. Two years ago, family earnings were
hit with the largest tax increase in the history of
America.'"
MIM knows that the international proletariat, the
working class to whose interests we tailor our
line, "has nothing to lose but its chains." It is
our task to combat the nationalist rhetoric of
mobilizing the predominantly white-collar white
working class to keep its parasitic, paper-
shuffling jobs at the expense of the real
international proletariat.(6)
A FEW REASONS BUCHANAN SUCKS
* Buchanan would build a fence along the U.S.
border with Mexico.(2)
* Buchanan would put a five year moratorium on all
immigration.(2)
* Buchanan would not allow an openly gay person to
serve in his administration.(2)
* Buchanan believes children should be the property
of ignorant parents and then foisted on society: "
I believe the New Testament is literally the word
of God and I believe the Old Testament is the
inspired word of God ... I think they have a right
to insist that Godless evolution not be taught to
their children or their children not be
indoctrinated in it."(3)
* Buchanan opposes affirmative action.(2)
* Buchanan said in December, 1991: "'If we had to
take a million immigrants in, say, Zulus, next year
or Englishmen, and put them in Virginia, what group
would be easier to assimilate?'"(4)
* Buchanan said in November, 1983: "'Rail as they
will about 'discrimination,' women are simply not
endowed by nature with the same measures of single-
minded ambition and the will to succeed in the
fiercely competitive world of Western
capitalism.'"(4)
* Buchanan calls Congress "Israeli-occupied
territory" and refers to Jewish names when naming
bankers and Supreme Court justices.(4)
Italy's La Republica has it right "In other times,
in another country, Buchanan would be defined as a
'national socialist.'"(5) That's how he won David
Duke's endorsement in Louisiana.
NOTES:
1. USA Today Feb. 20, 1996, p. 2b.
2. USA Today Feb. 20, 1996, p. 8a.
3. New York Times Feb. 19, 1996, p. a10.
4. USA Today Feb. 22, 1996, p. 4a.
5. USA Today Feb. 22, 1996, p. 10a.
6. New York Times Feb. 14, 1996, p. 1.
* * *
WHO SAID WHAT?: TEST YOURSELF AND FIND THE
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE REPUBLICAN CAMPAIGNERS AND
THE SOCIAL-DEMOCRACTS
1. "Look at the record: Between 1973 and 1994,
corporate profits jumped 389 percent while real
wages fell 21 percent!"
2. "Over the last twenty years vast new regions of
the world have been opened up as locations for
manufacturing. . . As manufacturing moves away from
its venerable centers. . . the occupational
structure of the older industrial giants shifts
towards a diverse range of service functions.Low-
level wages and benefits characterize the service
industry jobs."
3. "GATT = job loss."
4. "We've already lost jobs to Mexico and we'll
lose even more if the Agreement (NAFTA) goes
through."
5. "Productivity is up, the Gross Domestic Product
(GDP) is booming and corporate profits are at
historical highs. So why do you feel that you are
working longer and harder for less?"
POSSIBLE ANSWERS:
A. Bob Ross for DSA, The Yankee Radical Jan. 1990
B. Dennis DeMaio, Communist Party USA, People's
Weekly World Nov. 18,1995, p. 12.
C. Victor Perlo, Communist Party USA, People's
Weekly World October 14, 1995, p. 8. For refutation
of this "fact," read MIM Theory 1: A White
Proletariat? available from MIM for $3.
D. Communist Party USA, People's Weekly World
December 3, 1994, p. 3.
E. A shop steward in [the] International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 2084,"
People's Weekly World May 8, 1993, p. 1.
F. It doesn't matter: they all said the same thing.
G. It doesn't matter: they all left out that those
profits are from the Third World proletariat not
the bought-off workers here.
ANSWERS:
1) C
2) A
3) D
4) E
5) B
* * *
CORRECTIONS TO MIM NOTES 110
The article "Massachusetts ups the ante on criminal
injustice" (p. 1, MIM Notes 110, March 1996)
incorrectly implied that juvenile "boot camps"
being built by the Massachusetts criminal injustice
system are rehabilitative services. The state of
Massachusetts says it is offering some rehab
services in these facilities. MIM does not believe
the state is qualified to offer rehabilitation to
anyone--its brutal projects described in the MIM
Notes 110 article strip the state of all authority
to punish or rehabilitate anyone.
The headline "CPUSA member educates about
Philippines, promotes nihilism over CPP" in MIM
Notes 110 was incorrect. Daniel Boone Shirmer is a
former CPUSA member.
* * *
TEXAS PRISONS: TRAFFICKING IN THE OPPRESSED
Texas is rapidly becoming the Amerikan prisons
industry's leading importer of prisoners. Unlike
other states that take transferred prisoners from
neighboring states, Texas is also encouraging long
distance transfers. Many states transfer prisoners
outside their own so-called departments of
corrections when they are unable to build prisons
fast enough to keep up with the number of people
being imprisoned. Other states, like Massachusetts,
have overclassified prisoners into high security
prisons, creating an artificial crisis of high
security overcrowding. Massachusetts is one of the
states exporting prisoners to Texas, in this case
as a part of a publicity stunt by Governor Weld to
force the state to allocate more money to build
more prisons.(2)
On average, state prisons are 17% over their
intended inmate capacities according to the U.S.
Justice Department.(1) Texas is filling prison
cells with its own fast growing prison population,
and has opened its 20,000 empty jail cells to
prisoners from other states. Eleven states have
sent 3,776 prisoners to Texas so far, and this
number promises to grow. This is touted as a
cheaper solution than building more prisons for
states; the rates are approximately $40 per day per
prisoner.(1)
Even by Amerikan standards, these transfers are
legally questionable. The moves limit prisoners'
contact with their lawyers and family, deny
prisoners any education or recreation programs they
had in their own states and limit their ability to
find work on release. Reports from the prisoners
make it clear that even by prison standards the
conditions in the Texas jails are abysmal.
Massachusetts prisoners transferred there report
that these jails are permanent control units: cells
with constant light, little exercise and little
contact with other prisoners.
With Texas' prison population growing as fast or
faster than other states', officials have said they
expect to need these cells back within a few years
as the state's prison population overtakes its
prison capacity. The current move to export
prisoner to Texas is just one more turn in the
Amerikan injustice system's attempts to control
oppressed people in this country. Those of us on
the outside fighting on the side of the oppressed
must remain vigilant against these moves to
increase torture and repression. But we have to
remember that the battle does not stop with getting
transferred prisoners returned to their home
prison, it only stops when we have eliminated the
injustice system.
NOTES:
1. New York Times Feb. 9, 1996, p. A1.
2. MIM Notes 110, March 1996.
* * *
DEPORTED MASSACHUSETTS PRISONER DIES IN TEXAS
Dear Comrades,
It makes my heart truly heavy to have to bring you
the news of another of our brothers who was claimed
by our injustice system.
This morning I received word that a fellow inmate,
who was forced to go to Texas, died. Mr. Al
Sullivan died in the hospital, Parkland Memorial,
this morning from pneumonia, which was caused by
the temperature inside our tanks. Mr. Sullivan had
both AIDS and tuberculosis. He wasn't even supposed
to be shipped to Dallas as all likely candidates
were supposed not to have other outstanding medical
or legal issues.
It could be surmised that had Mr. Sullivan remained
in Massachusetts or was given access to his
medication (AZT) which he received in Mass., he
would most likely be with us today.
My only solace in this is that he will suffer no
more.
I did not know him well and therefore don't know if
he had a family to mourn his passing. he will be
missed by all he touched.
Brothers in struggle,
A Massachusetts prisoner in Texas
February 18, 1996
P.S. I will write you about the conditions here at
the Dallas Country jail in a few days.
* * *
SUCH GREAT PRISON CONDITIONS
Listening to the average couch-potato brainwashed
by Hollywood police shows, one would think every
person in prison is a sexual killer with a
Rockefeller lifestyle. The facts of prison
conditions and sentences are quite different. The
next time someone volunteers to be executed--as
John Albert Taylor was by firing squad in Utah in
January--ask yourself how great that life in prison
must be.
NOTE: Reuters Jan. 23, 1996.
* * *
ACTIVIST STANDS UP TO MULLINS CENSORSHIP
AMHERST, MA-- As part of a RAIL campaign against
prisons, an activist gathered 45 signatures against
the proliferation of control units on a rainy
February 21. The activist spent a little over an
hour outside the Mullins Center, the University of
Massachusetts campus stadium, before a concert.
In the past, MIM Notes has reported on activists
being harassed by Mullins Center guards. This time
the activist came prepared to raise a stink if
forced off the "property." The activist was
approached almost as soon as s/he arrived by a man
named Ed in a suit with a walkie-talkie, who
explained that he was in charge. He said that we
needed approval to be there. Hoping to avoid a
confrontation, the activist asked who and how to
get approval for "next time"--making it clear that
this time our presence was not negotiable.
Ed then said that we couldn't be there. The
activist immediately shot back: "This is public
property." Ed's response: "We have policy." The
activist asked: "How do you reconcile that with the
first amendment?" The next thing the activist knew,
s/he was being asked to move a short distance from
the box office to a different--and better--
location.
Now of course the activist couldn't give a turd
shaped like Bill Clinton about the First Amendment,
but the activist was willing to exploit some of the
contradictions within bourgeois democracy. The
activist understood Mao's statement that there
really are no rights, only power struggles. What we
did was raise the specter of being an incredible
pain for Ed, so it became simpler to let us stay.
(Of course at other stages and locations of the
struggle, we will be imprisoned or executed for
similar agitation activities.)
We will experiment with "asking" Ed for permission
before Mullins Center events. Perhaps this will
serve to get Ed's lower ranked goons off our back.
Or it might prove to the masses that free speech
isn't really free--you have to own the stadium to
be "free" in it. Either way, we'll be out there and
everywhere else people are receptive to talking
about revolution.
MIM prints this story to encourage readers to take
revolutionary ideas and actions and go out among
the masses to build public opinion. We often report
on repressive actions taken to suppress our ideas.
It is less often that we report on instances in
which activists can effectively stand up for
themselves in a little way and make a big
difference. There really isn't much difference
between what the activist did this time and what
people did on previous occasions when we had a
different result. And we can't predict what would
have happened had Ed been having a bad day. But we
can predict that if you don't stick up for every
little "right" you can, the bourgeoisie will push
you right off the map.
* * *
RAIL AND MIM LEAD PROTEST:
MASSES RALLY AGAINST PIG OCCUPATION AND EXPANSION
IN SPRINGFIELD, MA
Springfield, MA--RAIL and MIM held a rally in
central Springfield in February to protest
expansion of police and prisons, and to demand an
end to lockdowns in Massachusetts prisons. The
event was timed to mark both the second anniversary
of a racist murder by Springfield cops and a
national day of action in support of Black
journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal who remains on death row
in Pennsylvania. On February 7, 1994, Benjamin
Schoolfield, a young Black man, was gunned down in
the street by racist Springfield cops. The incident
received some media attention thanks to the outrage
expressed by his family and his community, but the
murderer was exonerated by his superiors (surprise
surprise) and rewarded with a party and a gift of a
ham by fellow officers (a southern KKK tradition to
congratulate the killer of a black person). Now in
1996, Springfield's new mayor Albano has announced
plans to increase the police force by 100 hogs,
from approximately 500.
RAIL, MIM and other Massachusetts organizations
that have worked with RAIL's prison campaign
addressed the public and the assembled pigs in
English and in Spanish. The cops were the first on
the scene and the last to leave, and continuously
videotaped and photographed the demonstrators. The
public, some attracted by advance publicity and
some who were passing by and stopped to join in,
held placards and chanted slogans. RAIL circulated
a petition demanding that Albano retract his
planned police force expansion, and distributed
revolutionary literature. Passers by who spoke with
RAIL were most attracted to the event by the
remembrance of the Schoolfield murder and the
opposition to police expansion. Several expressed
anger at the proposed source of funding for the
extra pigs--a transfer from a surplus in the City
Water Department. RAIL responds that budgetary
shenanigans are bad, but that we oppose police
expansion regardless of how it is paid for.
Local television crews were also in attendance, but
RAIL was not surprised at the lack of substantial
coverage of the issues. One local TV reporter
contacted RAIL by telephone several days before the
event, but was uninterested in what a RAIL comrade
had to say about prisons, police and their function
in Amerikan society. He wanted personal information
about RAIL members and a personal interview, which
RAIL refused. The RAIL comrade ignored the
reporter's questions about RAIL and MIM and
repeated important information from RAIL's flyer
advertising the event--Police brutality is national
and purposeful in character; Prisons have expanded
in the last twenty years while crime has not,
contrary to the widespread lies that dominate the
media. The RAIL comrade challenged the reporter to
investigate and report on those questions,
especially the myth of "rising crime rates," and
offered to send information and citations. The
reporter's response was "But I'm interested in you.
What's your name? Where are you from?" As far as
RAIL knows, no story on the myth of rising crime
rates has resulted.
Oppressed people across North America have been
resisting government repression for hundreds of
years. Sentiment is strong against pig brutality
and other racist crimes. RAIL is committed to
developing and expanding this struggle. Through
events like this rally we challenge the people to
move through and beyond reform goals and join with
us in building for the utter defeat of the
oppressive system.
* * *
PATAKI RECOGNIZES FIRST NATION SOVEREIGNTY
In February, New York Governor George Pataki again
disowned his military plan to invade the Iroquois
Confederacy to collect taxes. He told a group of
traditional Iroquois representatives on February 12
that the military contingency plan was made without
his knowledge. We will wait to see if he is lying.
Pataki rejected the military plans, giving lip
service to First Nation sovereignty and agreed not
to accept just anyone as a legitimate
representative of the First Nations. According to
First Nation spokesperson Oren Lyons, some
businesspeople of the First Nations have been
attempting to set up illegitimate governments to
serve their own greedy purposes.
As MIM has reported before, Oren Lyons claims to
speak for the whole Iroquois Confederacy. There is
some basis in tradition for the Onondaga claim to
lead the Confederacy.
As we reported in the case of an intra-Onondaga
struggle before, MIM does not support any faction
of the First Nations that goes to the white man's
police or social workers to solve problems. If that
is what some business leaders are doing in the
First Nations, MIM does not support them. Likewise,
some business leaders have expressed the suspicion
that it is the chiefs and other traditional leaders
who are misusing funds and basically selling First
Nation economic hopes down the toilet and leading
the First Nations to dependency.
We do not support any First Nation individual or
faction's negotiating with New York to pay some
kind of tax. Oren Lyons told Pataki that the
Confederacy sought to reduce New York's financial
contributions to the First Nation peoples, even
while New York and the First Nations would have to
proceed cooperatively in some issues concerning the
environment and commerce. Lyons correctly stated
that the negotiations should be on a state (New
York) to nation level. That would imply that no
taxes are due.
NOTE: Indian Time: A Voice from the Eastern Door
Feb. 16, 1996, p. 5. For additional reporting on
this issue see MIM Notes 109 Feb. 1996, send $1 for
a copy.
* * *
FIRST NATION ANTI-TAX FIGHT CONTINUES
Akwesasne Territory, MOHAWK NATION--Some business
leaders in the Iroquois Confederacy believe they
have found the political words to fight the
injustices of New York State in its attempt to tax
the First Nations. In an attempt to pit the
imperialists against their own words, they are
holding up a statement Clinton made in 1994
supporting First Nation sovereignty that
contradicts New York's current attempt to impose
taxes on the First Nations.
In President Clinton's remarks with Indian leaders
on April 29, 1994, he said: "In every relationship
between our people, our first principle must be to
respect your right to remain who you are, and to
live the way you wish to live. And I believe the
best way to do that is to acknowledge the unique
government-to-government relationship we have
enjoyed over time. Today I reaffirm our commitment
to self-determination for tribal governments ... I
vow to honor and respect tribal sovereignty based
upon our unique historic relationship ... We must
dramatically improve the federal government's
relationships with the tribes and become full
partners with the tribal nations."
Speaking with some business leaders, MIM heard
again the comparison of the situation there with
the situation of other white man's governments that
New York State respects: "New York State says it
has the right to tax their citizens, while they are
doing business on our territory. They don't ask
Canada for New York State taxes when New Yorkers
are in Canada. They don't ask Vermont to turn over
taxes to New York State when their people go there.
None of those states collect New York State taxes
and sent it on to Albany, but they want us to."
The anti-tax activists MIM spoke with on February
19 told MIM that the United States treats them
differently than any other nation. Even if it were
true that Indians "sold" the lands of North America
to various white settlers, one activist pointed out
that that doesn't mean the First Nations gave up
their sovereignty. If a U.S. citizen goes to
Germany to buy land, it doesn't mean that the U.S.
citizen can do whatever s/he wants, declare the
land "discovered" or set up a new nation. People
who buy German land are still subject to German
laws and regulations.
New York's attempt to tax the First Nations in its
vicinity has done much to increase the political
unity of the Iroquois peoples. Whether Christian or
traditional, the First Nation peoples have learned
to stick together. One activist on the Anti-Tax
Steering Committee commented: "Taxation is what is
going to unite our people ... New York State is
doing us a favor."
Pataki claims that he wants to negotiate a solution
in accordance with U.S. court rulings in New York's
favor. June 1st, 1996 is the stated deadline.
Clinton and the rest of the Amerikan government
will occasionally give lip service to the
sovereignty of the First Nations, but in practice
they continue to betray the indigenous people, take
their land and attempt to take their money as well.
* * *
KKKANADA CHARGES IPPERWASH NATIONALISTS
Five months after the fact, Canada has charged the
Chippewa activists who occupied their own land in
defiance of Canadian repression with crimes like
"sparking violent confrontation" with the police.
Twenty-four First Nation demonstrators were charged
with the rarely-enforced crime of "occupying a
provincial park." Canada is guilty of both these
crimes; the unjust prosecution of Chippewas
defending their own land has already earned
condemnation of indigenous peoples across Canada.
In the words of Chief Gordon Peters of the Chiefs
of Ontario: "These charges, coupled with [the
government's] continued resistance to deal with any
land issues ... you've got a recipe for another
disaster coming up."
NOTES: Globe and Mail (Toronto) Feb. 17, 1996, p.
A2B.
* * *
SOME MOHAWKS STAND AGAINST QUEBEC SEPARATION
The Canadian government has taken to mobilizing
support from First Nations especially in Quebec, to
oppose the independence movement of Quebec. Now the
Mohawk government, recognized by the Canadian
government, has taken a stand against Quebecois
independence. Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of
Kahnawake has written an open letter to Premier
Lucien Bouchard of Quebec:
"Canada and Quebec cannot continue to deny the
unique circumstances of our respective
relationships. Quebec, as a country or province,
cannot control Quebec/Mohawk relations by 'might is
right' policies and laws.
"The Mohawk Nation Kahnawake is sovereign. The
Mohawk Nation has a Constitution that pre-exists
any European models. The Mohawk Nation has a
homeland and a government. The territorial
integrity of Mohawk lands is inviolable. Mohawk
Nation economic, territorial, political and
cultural jurisdiction is intact. Mohawk land has
not been surrendered, sold or conquered."(1)
At the same time, the main newspaper at Kahnawake
disagreed with the chief and thought it best to
stay out of the white man's affairs. As unity is
always a constant concern amongst the First
Nations, the Eastern Door opined that "Sometimes
it's better to stay silent."(1)
Inflaming the issue are some loud-mouth politicians
who have threatened the Mohawks with military
action to support Quebecois independence.
On the other hand, the Quebecois masses appear to
have heard the message of the Crees within their
borders. "Ninety percent of Quebec anglophones said
Natives have a right to stay in Canada and 57 per
cent of francophones agreed." The same survey
purported to show that once the issue of the Crees
is considered, the majority of Quebecois by a large
margin do not want separation and do not want
another referendum on the question.(2) If true, the
Quebecois masses have done the right thing in
recognizing the position of the First Nations.
NOTES:
1. Eastern Door Feb. 16, 1996, p. 2, 7.
2. Ibid., p. 6.
* * *
ANTI-COMMUNIST RUNS OFF WITH MIM NOTES
A MIM distributor selling papers on a midwestern
college campus encountered a peculiar opponent. The
student told people walking by not to read the
paper because it was "communist propaganda." The
MIM distributor replied that the paper was not
meant to be objective and that the New York Times
is pro-imperialist, capitalist propaganda.
The student had no response to this but tried a few
more times (unsuccessfully) to dissuade the masses
from checking out the paper. About 20 minutes
later, the MIM distributor saw the student again.
While passing by the student said, "you'll never
get away with this!"
"Get away with what?" The student had no answer.
The MIM distributor sold papers for another 15
minutes and became engaged in conversation with an
interested passer-by. In the midst of conversation,
the MIM distributor held the papers loosely in one
hand. The anti-Communist student approached the
distributor quietly from behind, ripped
approximately 15 papers out of the distributor's
hand and took off running. The MIM distributor
explained to the person s/he was talking with that
this anti-Communist student had earlier expressed
opposition to MIM's presence.
In the next couple days, the MIM distributor
noticed that MIM Notes dropped in a campus building
repeatedly disappeared in less than 24 hours.
Suspecting the anti-Communist student, MIM sought
an explanation.
A few days later the distributor saw the student
walking across campus. From about 20 feet away, the
MIM distributor started jogging toward the culprit
saying, "excuse me!" The student turned, saw the
MIM distributor and took off at lightning speed in
the opposite direction.
MIM hopes that if the student is too scared to
confront the distributor directly that eventually
they will be scared by the very sight of MIM Notes
papers and leave them sitting where the masses can
read them. In the meantime, the distributor will
continue to try for a direct confrontation in the
hopes of persuading them on the perceived bourgeois
right to free speech. MIM can handle direct
confrontation, but individual acts of sabotage
behind our backs are costly for the MIM and a waste
of good communist propaganda.
* * *
UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS
SILENT DEATHS, BEATINGS AND RAPES AT DWIGHT...
It's 1995, Christmas night. As other women
prisoners sleep, I lay here with anger and
attitude. Although I've been here 14 years for a
crime I did not commit, I'm too overtaxed
emotionally about what is happening in this prison
to even focus on fighting for my own life.
A few months ago, a young African American woman
died during childbirth, and the administration
never bothered to inform us why. When you live,
eat, sleep, shower and talk with your fellow-
creature human beings one day, and the next day
they are suddenly dead, don't these people realize
we need to understand why. Therefore, we must come
to our own conclusion, which is murder by
negligence.
Pregnant women are not monitored properly. They
remain on units until a few days before their due-
dates, and sometimes until they go into labor.
There was no ultra-sound until after Sandra's
death. The nurses are responsible for determining
when then women should be taken out. Most women
simply scream and yell, going through labor at the
prison clinic until the last minute. Because of
this, two babies were born at the unsanitized
clinic, and one child was born on the highway,
delivered by officers en route to the hospital.
Sandra wasn't so fortunate. Her child was breached,
and because of the delay getting to the hospital,
an emergency surgery of a c-section was performed.
Somehow, in all the rush, the bag the baby was in
[the amniotic sac] was cut. This caused the fluids
to leak into Sandra's bloodstream, causing a heart
attack from the toxins in the [amniotic] fluid.
Next, my friend of 14 years is over at the prison
clinic dying of cancer, yet rumors of AIDS
overshadow the situation. Several years ago she
reported that she was raped, and nothing was done
except a brief investigation. My problem is that,
even if it's cancer, prisoners do not have access
to proper medical exams to determine illnesses
until they have developed into a fatal stage.
And if it's AIDS, why aren't there any protective
measures of having separate housing for AIDS,
tuberculosis and terminally ill prisoners from [the
general] population? Nevertheless, if she got AIDS
here, how did she get it? Doctors affirm that
homosexual activity between women is less probable
to cause AIDS. Yet where a guard can rape you and
get away with it, the AIDS risk increases because
penetration definitely can cause the person to be
more at risk.
Next month, Jan. 17, 1996, Gwen Garcia will be put
to death by lethal injection, and yet nothing other
than a pre-planned lockdown is being prepared for
the emotional pain of the women who knew, loved and
shared as much as a decade of our lives with her.
Around here, people dying and being murdered is a
hush-hush thing.
Old people are forced to walk long distances to get
their medicine, or medical attention, either as
early as 5 a.m. or late in the evening in the midst
of freezing weather. During meals, women are
bullied to wolf down their meal, poked and pointed
at, yelled and cursed at to get the "F" out. [Women
are] simply denied a humane opportunity to eat and
digest their food by guards who circulate over the
meal tables and harass them as they try to eat.
Whenever news media or reporters get in [to the
prison], prisoners are hand-picked. Those who are
allowed to speak, are encouraged by intimidation of
administration to lie about the conditions and
treatment they receive here.
There has been a group as large as at least one
hundred officers politely allowed to resign or
transfer, following the investigations of sexual
activity with prisoners, and suspicion of women
taken out for abortion is a blatant cover- up.
How can I enjoy Christmas, when my life can be
taken by medical neglect, abuse, or AIDS; a guard
can rape me and get off; or I could get beat-up for
not eating my food and getting out of the dining
hall.
The women here have been getting beat-up where the
guards claim to use "restraint" in any act of
resistance. But the use of excessive force prevails
where several males have got a woman in restraint,
yet out of some perverted pleasure, continue to
beat her up.
I am innocent of the charge of murder, and even
though the police have testified that I did not
commit the crime, I cannot seem to get the
Governor's attention. I want to get out of here
before I'm the next one to lose my life, as it is
treated as worthless.
Thank you for giving prisoners a chance to at least
express the truth. God Bless you.
--an Illinois prisoner, Dec. 25, 1995
MC49 responds: You correctly allude to the problems
associated with integrating HIV-positive prisoners
(HIV is the virus which causes AIDS) with HIV-
negative prisoners. Prisoner-on-prisoner rape is
one reason integration is a problem. Prisoners'
lack of access to safe sex tools like condoms and
dental dams is another. However, separating
prisoners based on HIV status has resulted in
brutal, discriminatory treatment of HIV-positive
prisoners by reactionary guards. Until we succeed
in depriving the reactionaries of their right to
rule, this will unfortunately be a no-win situation
for the oppressed.
MONEY MISUSED: PRISONS INSTEAD OF PEOPLE
Sorry for not writing, but there are so many
altercations going on in the system today that I
had to do an in-depth study on the American Justice
System. First of all, roughly 877,000 Black men
between the ages of 20 and 29, an astonishing one
in every three, are in prison, jail, on probation
or parole. Incarceration rates for Black men have
soared since 1990, when one in four were under the
criminal justice system.
Discrimination explains part of it. So does the
Sentencing Project, a research organization that
seeks alternatives to incarceration. Also the
nation's failed "War on Drugs". Police drug sweeps
in poor communities and mandatory sentencing laws
have had a disproportionate impact on young Black
men.
But discrimination and drug policy don't explain it
all. Poverty, unemployment, drugs, family
disintegration, and gangs in the poor communities
all play a part in the downward direction of our
Black men. So far the country is moving precisely
in the wrong direction, wasting increasing funds in
the construction and operation of prisons while
doing less to change the conditions that breed
crime in the first place. (The focus should be on
relieving poverty in the Black communities.)...
--a California prisoner, Oct. 11, 1995
AMERIKA EXPOSED!!!
The sham which many amerikans refer to as the
"criminal justice system"
has been known by an enlightened few judges for
many years, but rarely do they speak publicly or
write to expose this farce.
An unusual exception to this is a published
Michigan Court of Appeals decision dating back
nearly 30 years. In a concurring opinion in People
v. Byrd, 12 Mich App at 194, here is what Judge
Levin has to say in part:
In Detroit less than 5% of the felony dispositions
are accomplished by jury trial....If everyone
entitled to a jury insisted on it, the attempt to
administer justice with present resources would
collapse altogether. Thus, the prosecutors must
bargain and judges must accept pleas to reduced
charges whether they like it or not. (at 196)
The practice of reducing most charges to obtain
pleas of guilty results in judges' tending to give
as much attention to original agreement does not
always result in the imposition of the minimal
sentences lower than that which would have been
imposed upon conviction for the original charge.
(at 222 fn 48)
"Too often the result may be excessive leniency for
professional and habitual criminals who generally
have expert legal advice and are best able to take
full advantage of the bargaining opportunity.
Marginal offenders, on the other hand, may be dealt
with harshly, and left with a deep sense of
injustice, having learned too late of the
possibilities of manipulation offered by the
system." Task Force Report. (at 195 fn 4).
Police officers bring in an accused person and the
prosecutor is confronted with the choice of
allowing him to plead guilty to a lesser offense or
waiting for months and sometimes years to bring him
to trial, by which time witnesses may have lost
interest, memories have faded, and for those and
other reasons prosecution is difficult, if not
impossible, all of which aids defense counsel in
exacting concessions which otherwise would not be
at all appropriate and which no prosecutor would
consider. (at 223-224)
[A guilty plea is a] waver of constitutional and
other fundamental rights, e.g., the right to a
trial by jury, the right to be confronted with
witnesses against him, the presumption of
innocence, the right to have his guilt proved
beyond a reasonable doubt, and in Michigan, the
right to appellate review. (at 202)
Judge Levin exposes the whole corrupt system. The
system cannot bring all persons to trial "or the
system would collapse into chaos." So prosecutors
threaten and intimidate witnesses in order to gain
the upper hand. The police do not adequately
investigate cases and the net result is that an
accusation is tantamount to a guilty verdict for
anyone who cannot afford Johnnie Cochran or F. Lee
Bailey.
GUERRILLA LAW
Here in the fascist state of Michigan, a group of
courageous hostages at Jackson Prison have been
standing up to the system. A small group of
prisoners have been writing and distributing
"Manifestos" in county jails, advising pretrial
detainees of their rights. Apparently, the aim is
to encourage pretrial detainees not to surrender
their rights to jury trials in order to cause the
system to collapse.
A note about Judge Levin's opinion. It was written
back in the 1960's when "less than 5%" of cases
were taken to trial in Detroit. In the last 30
years the total number of felony cases escalated by
five-fold. So in all likelihood, less than 1% of
all felony cases go to trial.
Defendants are actually helping out the prosecution
and perpetuating this farce of a system by pleading
guilty. If there were an organized effort to
encourage all defendants to demand jury trials,
well over 90% of all cases would have to be
dismissed for want of enough jurors, judges and
prosecutors. The "criminal justice system" in
kkkalifornia is most susceptible to such a tactic,
as it is the largest kriminal injustice system in
amerika.
Another problem is that defendants are divided by
the prosecution (divide and conquer). In reality,
all prisoners are in the same boat, regardless of
the crime they are accused of. Prisoners are
helping the prosecutors send themselves to jail by
coercing others and leading them to plead guilty
just to get out of the county jail. Remember, the
more resources the prosecutor spends on the other
guy's case, the less he has to spend on yours!
The Best Way to help out your case, is to help out
the other guy with his case!!!
--A friend in Michigan, Nov. 27, 1995
HIGHER TELEPHONE RATES FOR PRISONERS
Editor Notes: This letter is a compilation of two
letters written by a California prisoner. One
letter was written to MIM directly in Oct. 95 The
other was printed as a letter to the editor in a
San Francisco newspaper called The Sun Reporter on
Dec. 14, 1995 and then sent to MIM. We at MIM chose
to combine these two letters to maximize the
information on the subject of prisoners' telephone
rates.
Dear Sir/Ms.
Around the first of 1995 my wife and I noticed our
phone bills sky-rocketing, we started poking
around.
I filed an inmate appeal here at Mule Creek State
Prison complaining about the phone rates. The
prison answered me and said that the California
Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) and Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) had passed a tariff
which allows the M.C.I. Telecommunications
corporation to charge a $3.00 surcharge on
prisoners' local and long distance collect
telephone calls, plus the charge for every minute
thereafter. There are absolutely no night, evening
or weekend discount rates.
Then I contacted Thomas Hora at the Federal
Communications Commission in Livermore, CA. He
wrote me back and said that FCC excluded inmate pay
telephones from the Consumer Protection Act. Also,
Mrs. L. Schein, a consultant for the CPUC contacted
me and said that the CPUC has no jurisdiction over
customer-owned pay telephones!
I wrote back to Mrs Schein and told her I thought
that was untrue, because the California
Constitution, Article XII, Section 1-5 exclusively
gives the CPUC jurisdiction over our telephone
rates. She then wrote me back, "You are correct,
The $3 charge was approved by the [California
Public Utilities] Commission."
...Because prisoners and their families are not a
favored political group, this increased tariff
could be passed through the powers that be with
little or no objections once they got ahold of
these lucrative contracts... These mark- ups are
being paid by prisoners' poverty stricken families
and loved ones who are the most vulnerable, yet
least able to afford such monstrous phone bills.
This is what telephone deregulation has wrought in
the penal world.
My wife contacted Andy Furillo, a reporter for the
Sacramento Bee. Mr Furillo requested an interview
with me at the prison, but the interview was denied
by prison officials. Meanwhile, I filed a separate
appeal, asking the California Department of
Corrections (CDC) to disclose the telephone
contracts between them and MCI....
We found that because of deregulation, profiteers
seem to be trying [to take advantage of prisoners]
all over the country. Prisoners in Ely, Nevada just
won a suit against Sprint, which agreed to pay back
all overcharges to prisoners' families and reduce
the rates back to where they are supposed to be.
Federal prisoners in Lexington, Kentucky just won a
suit against AT&T, titled Washington v. Reno, it
was won in U.S. District Court in eastern Kentucky.
In the settlement, the Bureau of Prisons agreed to
pay back $4 million to the Inmate Welfare Fund and
$25 million back to inmates.
I know we can get the rate back down, because I
have found something called the Ben Avon Doctrine,
in Ohio Valley Water Co. vs. Ben Avon Borough et.
al. In this case, the high court ruled that "due
process requires opportunity for judicial
determination of reasonableness of rates for public
utilities set by public utilities commission."
Obviously, the surcharge increase would not be a
"reasonable need of MCI's business," a term used in
connection with the "accumulated earnings tax."...
I don't think I'm going to let these real criminals
get away with ripping off my wife! So I'm seeking
assistance, information and media exposure....
--A California prisoner, Oct. 10, 1995 and Dec. 20,
1995
MIM ADDS: Readers, Please send any information
about prison phone tariffs or rip-offs to the UL&K
address.
ADOC HELLHOLE
...The Arizona Department of Correction (ADOC) can
get away with all of the policies they want to
implement. They ( the administration ), have
virtually taken every thing from us .The weights,
most of the store, our own clothes, our beanie caps
( it gets extremely cold in Northern Arizona, where
this institution is located), stereos, CD walkmans,
typewriters in the law library, etc. The list goes
on. All of this has happened in the last year.
Governor Symington and Samuel Lewis, (the director
of ADOC) has vowed to make the ADOC a living
hellhole.
It was my understanding that a DOC is supposed to
punish and rehabilitate a convict. It seems their
job is to make a person who is not aware of what is
happening, to become bitter so they will get out
and do something to return. Sort of a job security
tactic.
I try to help my people to see what the deal is,
but to no avail. They are scared of getting locked
down. Hell, we are already in lockdown. This is a
high medium yard, with controlled movement. We are
in a worse situation than the people in maximum.
The Anglos are the only people who have any type of
serious organization. Because the yards in Arizona
are extremely segregated, I cannot blend with them
without any retaliation. I do get to talk to the
legal assistants and clerks in the law library
where I work, but these conversations are very
limited and lead to no action.
Anyway, I would like to remain on the subscription
list. I will never give up on trying to organize. I
will write again when you request me to or if the
situation in ADOC becomes more unbearable.
Love and Peace to you, my Comrades.
--an Arizona prisoner, Oct. 16, 1995
MUSLIM PRISONER ASKS LEADERS TO COME INSIDE THE
PRISONS
A note from MIM: While this prisoner addresses the
Muslim community, we at MIM feel that this letter
speaks all oppressed nations in Amerikkka.
Many people talk about the problems, teach about
the underlying causes of our problems and offer
possible solutions to our problem, yet how many
actively work on behalf of the people? Giving a
little money here and there is not enough; we need
to get off our high horses and help on a grassroots
level.
In the December 24, 1995 Muslim Journal, Tony Brown
said, "When you take a sixteen year old drug pusher
off the street, you make the community better and
safer. That is, in my opinion, the biggest lie I've
ever heard from a so-called advocate of oppressed
people. Tell me, Tony Brown, why would you want to
put a sixteen year old in prison where the
oppressor can further crush his spirit or instill
hatred toward humanity in him. In prison he will be
exposed to incorrigible criminal mentalities who
will educate him in the art of becoming a better
drug seller. For the most part, brothers and
sisters in prison take their rage out on his or her
own community rather on those responsible for the
suffering because they fear the state.
What we need to do is create social programs and
efficient support networks to teach our youth about
the destructive impact of drugs on our communities,
how to avoid the pitfall of selling drugs, how to
deal with peer pressure, and to provide
constructive outlets for youth to focus their
creative energy.
Look at the TV or read the newspaper on what's
happening to corrupt police all over New York City.
Many police officers are being arrested on charges
of putting our youth on the street to steal drugs
for them. These enforcers of "law and order" are
arresting some of our youth on false charges or
petty offenses, then forcing them to sell drugs to
avoid being put in jail or going to prison.
Remember Larry Davis! What about the 16 year old
who was set up and arrested on false charges and
then forced by crooked police to sell drugs for
them to escape jail?...
Many of our brothers and sisters didn't receive
proper guidance at an appropriate time....Rather
than stand at a distance offering opinions about
thrusting our youth in prison, our so-called
leaders need to start coming inside the prisons to
help revive the dead spirits of brothers and
sisters behind the walls....
To suggest that our youth should be incarcerated is
clearly a form of collaboration with the oppressor.
Then again, we have young Muslims returning to the
community from prison with only 40 dollars in their
pockets. They don't have many jobs available to
them. Sometimes they have no place to sleep, no
food to eat, no clothes to wear and when the go to
the MasJid for help, all they get is As Salamu'
Alaikum. As Salamu' Alaikum will not put clothes on
their back, food in their stomachs and money in
their pockets. The Islamic community has to start
helping these Muslims being released from
prison....
We should be examples, guides and teachers for
humanity. We must build drug rehabilitation
centers, Muslim businesses, Muslim housing and
Muslim schools for our Muslim communities and take
an active part in our peoples' overall struggle to
be free from this system. Be not of the advocates
who dazzle people with talk all day--we need more
action from those who claim to be doing work on
behalf of Black spiritual liberation. Let us all
struggle to help the Islamic community to help
itself and revive the spiritually dead amongst us.
--a New York prisoner, Nov. 14, 1995
FLORIDA CENSORS MIM NOTES
In early January, a prisoner from the DeSoto
"Correctional" Institution asked MIM to send
subscriptions to nine of his friends at this same
institution. A few weeks later all nine issues of
MIM Notes were refused and returned to MIM.
--RCG1
WASHINGTON STATE CENSORS MIM NOTES
According to a letter sent to MIM from the
Washington state Department of "Corrections," MIM
Notes was censored because it is a publication
unauthorized by policy, per memo issued by
headquarters.
To protest this censorship, one can write to the
Director, Division of Prisons of Community
Corrections, PO Box 41100, Olympia, WA 98504-1100.
ARIZONA CENSORS MIM NOTES
Dear Under Lock and Key,
Attached hereto is the Arizona Department of
Corrections' rejection of the latest MIM news you
sent me [MIM Notes, Jan. 1996]. It's understood
that the Arizona DOC will not allow MIM Notes to
enter, so in consideration of your limited funds,
it is best not to waste them sending them to me
while I'm here.
I want to thank you for having sent the issues you
did send. I also salute you in your endeavors. MIM
lives in my heart, mind and soul. Keep up your
efforts because the oligarchy's repression
increases daily, threatening our very existence.
The beast thirsts for our blood. I am confident
that ours, like all great movements, will succeed.
The struggle will be invigorating, the hardships
stimulating, and final victory elating.
All great movements begin small and suffer
setbacks, but the dream, the ideas, and the
determination prevail. Be encouraged and persevere,
for only one result is imaginable. You/we will
prevail, will grow and will succeed. You are the
only voice telling the truth. You/we will win. In
revolutionary solidarity, your brother
--an Arizona prisoner, Jan. 17, 1996
* * *
DOES THE STRUGGLE AGAINST RAPE END AT FRAT ROW?
Amherst, MA--Five hundred women and 50 men rallied
and marched on frat row at the University of
Massachusetts here on March 1 to protest two recent
reported rapes. The march ended at the scene of the
rapes, Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike) house, where the
marchers presented a list of demands. The march was
organized by Third Wave, "a young feminist group."
Literature produced for the rally by Third Wave
read "We ... acknowledge sexual violence against
women as an epidemic among college fraternities...
"Many people stand behind the women who were
assaulted in the past few weeks. We are here to say
that rape is unacceptable.
"... We DEMAND
"- the formation of a task force in the Office of
Greek Affairs dealing specifically with issues of
physical and sexual assault, including a liaison
serving as a resource for women
"-local legislation creating an ordinance which
requires campuses to publish statistics of
fraternity crimes
"-that the University of Massachusetts revoke Pi
Kappa Alpha's recognition as a university chapter
"-accountability by the university for its students
living in fraternities
"-mandatory rape awareness education for members of
fraternities"
At the rally, MIM and RAIL distributed a flyer
encouraging demonstrators to open the struggle
against patriarchy beyond the fraternities.
Marchers chanted "Hey hey, ho ho, frat violence has
got to go!" and then:
"This kind of violence has got to go!" This is the
crux of MIM's criticism of the rally--targeting
fraternities as institutions is superior to
targeting individual men, but targetting only one
portion of the patriarchy is still an individualist
approach.
LIBERAL AND RADICAL PSEUDO-FEMINISM
MIM found two major types of disagreement with our
line at the event. One argument against us was:
"this is what people are ready for." Proponents of
this line stressed that the rally was organized
because of a specific event and that this was as
far as the hundreds of people who came were ready
to go. This position was best represented by one
woman: "This is what hundreds of people will rally
for--being against the frats. If this was a rally
against the U.S. military, I wouldn't be here." She
was responding to MIM and RAIL's flyer criticizing
the exclusive focus on fraternities which says:
"Fraternities are only one site of sexual violence,
and not even the most violent. If you want to
target the largest center of
organized/institutional rape, MIM would suggest
marching on the Pentagon--not frat row. Hold the
Amerikan military establishment accountable for the
thousands of brothels that thrive around Amerikan
military bases and ports, etc."
The more radical participants in the rally were
willing to concede that they should push the masses
into more radical activism, but they refused
requests to help distribute literature. These
students agreed that the problem was not just
fraternities, but the whole society. But discussion
revealed that really these women just criticize all
men. This view differs from MIM's position that
this is a societal problem because society
continues to produce men and women who act out
patriarchal roles. Rather than work as MIM does to
obliterate patriarchy, these activists attempt to
educate individual men to be more sensitive.
In the UMass newspaper, the Collegian one organizer
said that the goal of the march was to "raise
consciousness among people that rape is everyone's
problem." This is a progressive goal, but it is
misleading to say only that there is a "link
between fraternities and sexual violence" without
also stressing that there is a link between a
patriarchal society and sexual violence. It's fine
to march on a local patriarchal institution as long
as you make it clear that this is just one aspect
of a larger societal problem that can not be
changed without changing society.
FIRST WORLD SEXUAL PRIVILEGE--NOT ONLY IN FRATS
As people in political circles on college campuses
know, when feminists criticize "gross" and "stupid"
fraternity parties, they are referring to the
gendered sex-role playing. At these parties, both
the men and women are getting off on their First
World sexual privilege. Women at frat parties are
role-playing too and are not as powerless (in
relation to the rest of the world) as they act at
these parties.
MIM does not care to emphasize that fraternity men
are any more disgusting than other men because we
seek revolution to destroy the patriarchy that
makes all sex rape. Fraternities are a special
target of those pseudo-feminists who disagree with
MIM and work to reform individual behavior rather
than make socialist revolution.
The luxury to focus just on fraternities is a sign
of Amerikan women's gendered privilege. First World
women benefit from gender oppression of Third World
women, from birth control testing to cheap
products. The demands of the Amherst march, which
appeal to the imperialist patriarchal state and its
institutions, are an example of First World women's
relative gender privilege. By calling on the
patriarchy to protect young college women from
individual men, these women are legitimizing the
patriarchy--reinforcing it rather than tearing it
down. Reforming the behavior of men in their own
dating pools improves First World women's own
sexual conditions without eradicating the system
that makes their own conditions so good at the
expense of the majority of the world's women.
FIGHT THE PATRIARCHY ON A GLOBAL SCALE
In other parts of the world, things are different.
In the Philippines,
Amerikan imperialism has destroyed the people's
livelihood and forced thousands of young women to
offer themselves up as sex workers for Amerikan
men. Filipino women and men are organizing in the
New People's Army under the leadership of the
Communist Party of the Philippines to kick Amerika
and its puppets out of power and regain control of
their own destiny.
Here in the belly of the beast MIM can not yet take
up arms like our Filipino comrades, but we can
fight for public opinion. Because Amerika has
gotten rich off the labor of the Third World, MIM's
Third World feminist perspective is not popular
here. But if we in North America are to offer any
assistance to the 4 1/2 billion oppressed people in
the world in their struggle for liberation, we
can't just focus on the small parts of the
patriarchy that are most obviously in our faces on
college campuses, we can not concede the world to
the patriarchy and just try to win back our small
town at the expense of the world. We have to fight
the patriarchy on its own scale in order to defeat
it internationally.
Note: Massachusetts Daily Collegian Feb. 29, 1996,
p. 1.
* * *
PSEUDO-FEMINISTS DEMAND MORE POLICE STATE ACTION
On February 6, the New York State Coalition Against
Sexual Assault (NYSCASA) and New York State
Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NYSCADV)
gathered in Albany to pressure the legislature for
a greater crackdown on "crime."
In their newspaper called Women's Building News (79
Central Ave., Albany, NY 12206 (518) 465-1597), an
organization calling itself the "Women's Community
Center of the Capital Region," treats us to some
quick rhetoric and cuts to the chase: extend the
police state. The rhetoric lasts about a paragraph
on the front page: "The Clothesline Project is a
display that allows survivors of violence to
publicly express personal stories of violence and
assault. The shirts give testimony by victims of
domestic violence, rape, and sexual assault, and by
women who have been attacked because of their
sexual orientation. It is a striking and powerful
presentation."
That's as far as it goes, and not for nothing the
article is titled "Advocates Seek State Support to
Stop Assault and Violence." We at MIM disagree with
this approach. Our principal task is to "create
public opinion and independent institutions of the
oppressed to seize power. "The "Women's Building"
organization is not seeking independent power of
the oppressed. It is seeking to go to the lair of
patriarchy to change patriarchy.
For this reason among others we refer to Women's
Building News and its allied organizations as
pseudo-feminist. It is not seeking to transform the
patriarchy. It is seeking to join with the
patriarchy and becomes its dominant expression.
The agenda of the NYSCASA and NYSCADV is everything
MIM ever said a pseudo-feminist agenda is, except
stated in print so briefly as to be incredible: "1)
It is of great importance that New York's 75 Rape
Crisis Centers (RCC) receive increased funding. . .
2) NYSCASA endorses the Miss New York Bill. . .
This law would make it easier for victimized
children to testify against their abusers and would
extend the criminal/civil statute of limitations.
3) NYSCASA supports anew, expanded felony charge of
Rape 2nd degree. . . . 4) Finally, NYSCASA believes
the Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program
should be supported statewide."
Like other irrational white supremacist
organizations who have no idea what causes crime or
how to effectively change it, these pseudo-
feminists call for expanded activity by our
patriarchal government and they want looser and
vaguer laws to allow more convictions as if being
number one in imprisonment rates in the world is
not enough.
* * *
GROCERY STAND TARGET: YOUNG WOMEN'S MINDS
The next time you visit the check-out lane in a
grocery-store, look at the magazines, about half of
which are aimed at the insecurities of young women-
-the other half being the products of active
imaginations at the National Inquirer, Sun etc. The
March, 1996 issue of Shape magazine contains more
than it bills itself for.
This Joe Weider publication has articles called
"Diet Diagnosis," "Boost your metabolism," (to lose
weight) and "Fear not: Master the newest cardio
machines." Ads are for athletic clothing, exercise
equipment and the usual sex appeal goods aimed at
young women.
Yet even in "Shape" magazine, the concern of
medical authorities with young women's minds is
evident. An article titled "Does psychotherapy
work?" concludes that it does and does so to such
an extent that it works just as well as doing
psychotherapy and psychiatric medications combined-
-what a choice!
The article was based on 4,000 responses to a
Consumer Reports survey. However, as MT 2/3 (Gender
and Revolutionary Feminism) points out, once again
this is an uncontrolled and unscientific study.
Merely reporting improvement is not a sign of
success caused by therapy. People given placebos
and untrained psychotherapy also report improvement
and some people improve without any intervention at
all. The real test of whether therapy works has to
have a control group with people of similar
problems as the group getting therapy.
Yet in a magazine where ads are built right into
the articles, what did we expect? The middle and
upper-classes must go on believing that everything
is a matter of individual effort, and that means
that if someone has a mental problem, it's not that
society is maladjusted, but the individual is, so
readers should buy some psychotherapy, sexy
clothes, gadgets for exercise and other self-
improvement commodities.
* * *
M-L-M ONLINE
MAOIST WEB SITE GETS FAVORABLE REVIEWS FROM THE
MASSES
Since MIM put up its home page in February, several
friendly masses have written in to tell us that
they are happy to see Maoists using the Web. One
wrote, "I have to say that I like this web site a
hell of a lot better than the one that I've reached
through other means on the net. Congratulations--I
find most of the documents challenging and
provocative, and look forward to more in the months
to come." The reader then went on to ask several
important questions about Maoist theory and
practice, including, "You speak, correctly in my
mind, of independent "institution building" among
the oppressed in the US. How are you going about
this practice/do you propose your supporters to do
so?"
MIM responded first by explaining how we think our
site is different than other progressive and
activist sites. The Web is a powerful access medium
for distributing political literature to a large,
international audience relatively cheaply. Since
the Internet is also a powerful communication
medium, it's important to remember to keep our
focus on correct line, strategy and tactics. We
have to take advantage of our access to
communicating with the masses, and not be tempted
into communicating with the enemy -- who is also
"accessible" via e-mail. For example, one very
common thing you'll find on most leftist Web sites
are lists of phone numbers, e-mail addresses and
snail addresses to contact government officials in
protest of human "rights" abuses, specific pieces
of legislation such as the telecommunications act,
or in support of individual political prisoners.
An excellent recent example of this form of
activism is the "Lori Berenson Needs Your Help!"
home page, which lists addresses for the State
Department, and Peruvian President Fujimori, even
including sample letters to forward or download.
Even if this would work to help one person, it does
not build lasting public opinion against the
Peruvian or Amerikan states. While both MIM and
RAIL do wage specific campaigns which may involve
such forms of protest, we see this as a useful
tactic only when taken in concert with our
educational work that teaches people that such
reformist struggles will not win the ultimate
battle against imperialism. We do this in the
Maoist framework of building public opinion and
independent institutions of the oppressed -- in
order to fight winnable battles in the struggle
against imperialist aggression. In that light, it
is very appropriate that someone should ask about
institution building in response to our site.
We explained that MIM is the stage of building
public opinion and the party -- itself an
independent institution of the oppressed. We
learned from V. I. Lenin in "What is to be Done?"
the importance of revolutionary, independent media
to a struggle, and hence MIM devotes much of its
resources to publishing MIM Notes, MIM Theory,
Notas Rojas, Maoist Sojourner and RAIL Notes. These
media provide a voice of the oppressed peoples'
interests -- a voice to counter the bourgeois media
which represents the status quo of imperialism. For
a great local example of this in practice, see MIM
Notes 110, which exposes the Massachusetts' media
promoting the interests of the capitalist prison
system by covering a RAIL rally against prisoner
transfers from the perspective of Governor Weld.
While the Boston Globe would not print RAIL
responses to its article, MIM Notes did.
Our monthly, two page spread of prison
correspondence is a platform to build public
opinion both inside and outside of prison for the
one million people held captive by a criminal
injustice system that judges assaults on private
property to be "crimes" and military invasions of
Third World countries "foreign policy," -- a system
which needs to exercise social control over its
disgruntled victims who inevitably organize and
strike back. On the pages of Under Lock and Key we
regularly appeal to revolutionary and progressive
lawyers to donate time to prisoners who are
fighting their convictions in court, hoping to
establish legal services to prisoners. Finally, our
books for prisoners program is an institution we
see growing with every donation.
A central part of Maoist theory and practice is
serving the people. We saw this put into practice
here in the United Snakes by the Black Panther
Party, through Breakfast for Children programs; by
the Young Lords Party through their Lead Poisoning
Detection Programs. As the Maoists forces reemerge
today under MIM leadership, we are looking toward
the rebuilding of these types of institutions, and
more. We urge our supporters to write for, finance,
and distribute MIM literature, to start study
groups to educate people about Maoism, to support
our books for prisoners program, and to help MIM
and RAIL find and pay for venues to show films,
hold discussions and other events to build the
party and the party line.
* * *
RAPE DEBATE ON THE NET
Amherst.Net--In March, MIM e-mailed a copy of our
flyer about a rally against rape to a number of
people discussing the rally on a local Amherst area
discussion group. At our request, it was posted
publicly, and a short debate about the meaning of
consent under patriarchy ensued.
In response to MIM's statement that: "As long as
there is inequality between men and women, there
can be no true consent and all sex will be rape", a
critic from Amherst College wrote:
"Good grief. I pretty much stopped reading at this
point. (I'm amazed I made it this far.) I know, I
know, I've heard this theory before. I suppose that
as a theory it might carry some validity -- what
does "true consent" really mean -- it raises some
interesting questions. But since obviously in real
life all sex is not rape, I think all it serves is
to trivialize cases in which women are truly
violated. If we're all being raped all the time,
big deal if it happens to someone else, right? I'm
sorry, but I could live with a little more
individual responsibility rather than railing at
the patriarchy we live under.
"And one more thing -- saying that 'true consent'
is impossible as long as men and women are unequal
is, to me, saying that we aren't responsible for
our own decisions. I am damn well responsible for
the decisions I make about my life. Sometimes
unfair, brutally unfair things happen and that's
certainly something to work against. A lot of the
times I make the wrong decisions for myself. But
give women a little more credit for being strong,
intelligent individuals who are answerable for
their chosen paths. Otherwise our successes are
just as empty as our failures and problems."
MIM responded by questioning what the critic held
as "obvious." When MIM says all sex is rape, we are
putting forth a theory about real life. We know
that the imperialist patriarchy defines sexuality
in real life to mean that some sex is good and
natural and other sex is violent (and hence not sex
at all). Thus it does not surprise us that real
life women experience sex through the lens of
imperialist patriarchal ideology, and so some sex
is more traumatic than other sex. That subjective
experience does not make us conclude that men as a
group do not have power over women as a group.
Ultimately, MIM's concern is not about sex at all,
but about the abolition of group power. (Our
analysis also works in reverse, with more powerful
biological women raping less powerful biological
men. Because of imperialism, "men" and "women" are
categories that exist somewhat independently of
biological sex.)
When someone puts a gun to your head and asks if he
can sleep with you, is your "yes" consent? What
about economic coercion? Or the fear that person
won't see you again if you say no? MIM isn't trying
to equate all of these different amounts of
coercion, but rather break out of the Liberal idea
that everyone has the same access to power and
resources and so everyone can make their choices
with the same degree of freedom. That's simply not
true.
We think that women can make strong, intelligent
decisions, or we wouldn't have gone to that rally
in the first place or posted this message, or put
out the volumes of literature on gender and
feminism. And one of the boldest decisions we think
women should make would be to stop blaming
themselves for being powerless and start taking on
the patriarchal system. We also believe First World
women can make the strong and intelligent decision
to work in the interests of the majority of the
world's women -- forsaking their own privilege as
both First World people and as First World women
and taking up the broader struggle of the abolition
of gender power and oppression on a global scale.
* * *
HELP SPREAD M-L-M ONLINE
Beginning in March 1996, MIM Notes has been
devoting one page per month to coverage of politics
and culture on the Internet. Since the Fall of
1993, MIM Notes has been distributed electronically
both by subscription to individuals and for free by
individual article on Usenet news groups and by e-
mail. With M-L-M Online, MIM strengthens its
commitment to this rapidly expanding forum of
political debate and struggle.
We are appealing to readers of both print and
electronic MIM Notes to sustain our coverage of
news on the Internet. Write to us about your
favorite political site on the World Wide Web, a
discussion you've had on Usenet, or your views on
the new telecommunications act.
The Internet embodies the parasitism and decadence
of bourgeois culture, in pornographic Web sites and
the enormous bandwidth devoted to commercial
enterprises and ideology such as interactive CNN
and the New York Times. But it also contains the
seeds of the destruction of bourgeois culture:
thousands of students and youth treat the Internet
as a serious, international political forum and a
source for alternative information. M-L-M Online
will bring you a Maoist analysis of these
developments, and encourages your participation.
Please write to mim@nyxfer.blythe.org with your
submissions.
* * *
MIM DISCONTINUES PERU WORK -- FOR NOW
MIM has called at least a temporary halt to its
work on the revolution in Peru. There appears to be
some question as to whether we are following the
Central Committee of the Communist Party of Peru
(PCP-CC) when it comes to matters of Peru. While
this is being straightened out, MIM has decided to
honor a request not to work on issues concerning
the revolution in Peru. To the best of our ability
to discern the genuine and separate it from the
fake, it appears that the PCP has a fundamentally
different line from MIM in connection to the RCP-
USA and the organization it leads called the
Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM) and
that is the reason for our current difficulties.
For years, the Revolutionary Communist Party-USA
has maintained that MIM is doing false work in
support of the revolution in Peru, except when we
work as individuals. When as a party we avowed our
support of the Communist Party of Peru in our press
and in conferences, the RCP-USA claimed that we did
not truly support the revolution in Peru. Since
Comrade Gonzalo, the leader of the Peruvian
revolution, signed a document with the RCP-USA and
named the RCP-USA as the "principal" leader of the
RIM, this criticism of us by the RCP-USA has some
superficial weight; although the subject is a
complicated one too lengthy to report in a news
story.
Recently, there has been some concern that some
comrades in Peru might have attempted to start a
movement to lay down their arms and thus abandon
the revolutionary movement. Such capitulation is
counter to the principles of Maoism, and arose in
the aftermath of the arrest of the party leader,
Comrade Gonzalo. In particular, the leadership in
the Peruvian party that MIM worked with before the
arrest lost its legitimacy.
After Comrade Gonzalo's arrest, some organizations
appeared in the imperialist countries to criticize
MIM in connection to Peru, but MIM continued with
its work. At the same time, we did point out that
we believe we have to answer to someone in our work
on Peru, because we oppose the line that comrades
outside Peru can be coming up with definitive lines
on conditions in Peru that Maoists there have
already analyzed with the science of Marxism-
Leninism-Maoism. The people that MIM answers to
have asked us to shut up, so now we shut up: "Do as
(sic.) a favour 'fiends' (sic.)--and cease trying
to 'defend' what you understand as 'Maoism' while
linking it in any way with the Peruvian
revolution!"
That request amounts to asking that we not
"traffick" in the name of the Peruvian revolution.
The question arises, because historically
imperialist country parties must tow the correct
line of this or that prestigious party to have the
right to sell their goods. Just as McDonalds
requires its stores to make hamburgers all the same
way, we Maoists refer to our own such practices as
"obtaining a franchise." The RCP-USA--as we have
always acknowledged--has the Peru franchise.
However, when we Maoists talk about "franchises,"
we do so in a self-critical and ironic way. We mean
to say that we have to watch out not to be treating
movements and science questions as questions of
selling hamburgers or french fries. The question
arises, does MIM not make the hamburgers correctly
or do MIM's critics just try to make a profit from
the blood and sweat of the international
proletariat?
In the October, 1995 issue of the World To Win
magazine of the RIM, "led principally by the RCP"
as Gonzalo said, the RCP put forward various
documents from the PCP-CC. We asked our newest
Peruvian critic whether or not those documents were
fabricated. He would not deny the authenticity of
the RIM documents. Our most credible critics also
have not produced any documents from the PCP to
prove that what they were saying in their disputes
of the past few months was the will of the PCP-CC.
Instead we continue to be treated to old documents
from all sides of the conflict.
At the same time, it is quite evident that the
Peruvian documents published by the RIM and
published by other Peruvians differ, sometimes
considerably. Hence, there is no getting around
that there is some question as to the authenticity
of various Peru documents being circulated. We hope
our comrades are not taken in by false documents,
and that they study all documents carefully before
coming to conclusions.
Some of the hottest disputes have arisen with
regard to the RIM and its role in terms of the
renegades in Peru who favored laying down their
arms. From its own direct dealings with some people
on various sides of this dispute, MIM knows for a
fact that certain actors in that dispute have lied
to the public. The exact motivations for these lies
is not always clear, but their complexity and
frequency insure that some are being generated by
cops.
Despite all these difficulties, to the best of our
ability to determine these matters, which is based
on a belief in those Peruvian leaders who were
established before the arrest of Comrade Gonzalo,
MIM believes that the PCP-CC disagrees with MIM on
the nature of the RCP-USA and the RIM. In
particular, the PCP-CC continues to support a
COMINTERN-like line, counter to Mao's wishes, and
continues to uphold the revisionist RCP-USA,
despite years of struggle over the question and
despite the fact that the RCP continues to
distribute literature openly contemptuous of
Maoism, while covering that up with its new found
love of Maoism and its leading party in this
hemisphere--the PCP.
In connection to this COMINTERN-like thinking, the
Peruvian comrades have chosen the RCP line over the
MIM line on questions of the imperialist societies
as well. MIM does not expect to see a correctly re-
oriented international communist movement until the
issue of the bases for revisionism and social-
democracy in the imperialist societies and their
semi-proletarian strata is understood. Hence, we
are not surprised by these difficulties we
encounter at this time in doing work on Peru. While
we cease to mention the events in Peru, our
principal work in support of the People's War there
goes forward: making revolution here is the best
support the People's War in Peru could have. If we
had more people, we could send some to Peru to know
what was going on day in and day out, and we could
meet the Central Committee directly for ourselves,
but the disputes between MIM and the Peruvian
exiles don't mean much in the scale of things if we
continue to push the revolution forward here.
* * *
PRIVATE CAPITALIST VS. STATE-CAPITALIST: IN THESE
CONTESTS THE MASSES SUFFER
In March the U.S. government meddled in China's
affairs by sending the warships--"aircraft carrier
Independence and the Aegis missile cruiser Bunker
Hill"--to the South China Sea between Mainland
China and Taiwan. Other ships were redeployed from
the Persian Gulf area to China in preparation for
Taiwan's March 20 election.
Landlord and U.S. puppet-capitalist forces fled to
Taiwan after Mao Zedong liberated China from the
oppressor classes in 1949. The upper class Chinese
took over the island of Taiwan and set up a
government to compete with the Mao Zedong-led
government. Chiang Kai-shek led the reactionary
Taiwanese regime.
On March 20, the Taiwanese will choose between
candidates who favor independence for Taiwan and
those who don't. In the past, both Mainland China
and the U.S.-puppet regime in Taiwan have said that
there is only "one China." Now Mainland China is
doing military weapons testing near Taiwan to
remind the Taiwanese people not to try to break
away. The U.S. media is now making a big stink
about China intimidating Taiwan with these war
games.
Proving that nationality can be bought with money,
as in the Six Counties in Ireland where the labor
aristocracy has adopted a British nationality, many
of the yuppie voters in Taiwan cannot imagine why
they are Chinese; even though they share the same
language and thousands of years of history with the
people on the Mainland. The yuppies are afraid that
if China ever does reunite its people, the
Taiwanese will end up paying taxes for the poorer
more inner rural areas of China.
As a result, in recent years, Taiwanese politicians
have spoken more and more for two separate
countries, one in Taiwan and the other in Mainland
China. In some diplomatic efforts, Taiwan has
succeeded in becoming the sole recognized
government of China--Taiwan promises foreign aid
for those who will accept only its government and
not the state-capitalist government in Beijing.
The most important aspect of this conflict is the
U.S. role. Amerika has no business sending warships
to the so-called Taiwan Strait. Taiwan is a Chinese
province. If there is a legitimate national
question there, it is of the people who are
indigenous to Taiwan before the landlord-capitalist
forces migrated there around 1949.
China would be much more correct to send warships
to Hawaii, where there is a legitimate national
question and where geography separates Hawaii from
the mainland by thousands of miles, than the U.S.
government is to send military ships to Taiwan.
MIM opposes the potential war between China and its
province because it would be between two capitalist
regimes, the social-imperialist one based in
Beijing and the capitalist one based in Taipei. We
oppose all wars in which oppressed workers are made
to pay with their lives to prop up one capitalist
government over another without winning any
semblance of liberation.
NOTE: USA Today Mar. 11, 1996, p. 7a.
* * *
FOR A JUST AND LASTING PEACE: ANN ARBOR EVENTS ON
THE PHILIPPINES IN APRIL
ALL EVENTS SPONSORED BY RAIL AND MIM
Wednesday, April 3. Documentary film showing: A
Rustling of Leaves. 7 pm. Michigan League Room C.
Wednesday, April 10. Lecture: Towards a Just and
Lasting Peace. 7 pm. Michigan League Room D.
Wednesday, April 17. Documentary film showing:
Medics of the People. 7 pm. Michigan League Room D.
Wednesday, April 24. Documentary film showing:
Green Guerrillas. 7 pm. Michigan League Room D.
Contact MIM at mim@nyxfer.blythe.org or P.O. Box
3576, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3576 for more information
or to help out with the events.
* * *
ENGLISH INTRANSIGENCE ENDS IRA CEASEFIRE
Last August in Belfast at the annual rally to
commemorate the 1981 Hunger Strikers, Sinn Fein
President Gerry Adams addressed the crowd. As Adams
delivered his speech, an onlooker called out "Bring
back the IRA," to collective cheers of approval. To
the affected outrage of the pro-imperialist
political parties, Adams smiled and replied,
"they've not gone away."
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) has delivered
further statements to this effect, explaining that
English treachery and betrayal of the peace process
have forced the IRA to reinitiate its bombing
campaign against English financial targets. While
MIM does not see the IRA heading down a Maoist road
at this time, we support the IRA struggle for
national liberation.
ALL OF LONDON FELT THE BOMB
On February 9, 1996 at 7:01 in the evening, a
massive bomb exploded in the Docklands of London
announcing to the world that the IRA ceasefire was
over. The bombing marked the end of a 17-month
suspension of IRA military operations. Just one
hour earlier the Irish Broadcasting network "Radio
Telefis Eireann" had received a statement from a
caller giving a recognized IRA code word. The
statement read: "It is with great reluctance that
the leadership of Oglaigh na hEireann announces
that the complete cessation of military operations
will end at 6 p.m. on February, 9th, this evening."
The bomb was planted in the underground parking lot
of a six story office development near Canary
Wharf. A monument to Thatcherism, Canary Wharf
stood out as the tallest office building in Europe,
employing around 13,000 people with 80% of the
tower let.(1)
The IRA typically picks targets which will be
expensive to England both in business time lost and
money spent on repairs. In the aftermath of the
blast, with electricity pylons down, the entire
area was dark. Twenty fire engines and around
eighty fire-fighters were drafted onto the site in
an attempt to minimize the damage. The final sum is
estimated by the association of British Insurers to
possibly reach around 150 million pounds
(approximately $225 million).
When the bomb exploded, Neil Browning, who lived
over three miles from the seat of the explosion was
to recall, "everyone in the street rushed outside
because we thought there had been a plane crash. .
. . We just never expected a bomb."(2)
IRA WARNS THE STATE; THE STATE IGNORES THE WARNING
At 5:35 p.m., an hour and 25 minutes before the
blast, the Irish News in Belfast among other news
agencies had sent an IRA warning to Scotland Yard.
The warning urged the "immediate evacuation" of the
bomb's vicinity. But less than twenty police
officers were sent to the Docklands and they made
only a token effort to clear the area. The police
also allowed many evacuees to return only ten
minutes after they had left their offices. There
were 100 or so casualties in the bombing and two
people died, one of whom is known to have returned
to the scene after evacuation. Linda Holmes, co-
owner of a bar about 200 yards from the explosion,
said "the blast was like being on a roller-coaster.
All the windows came in and our customers all bent
over to shield themselves from the flying glass. We
can't understand why the police didn't tell us
beforehand, so we could vacate the building."(3)
The IRA, which has a consistent practice of warning
the state about bombs to avoid unnecessary civilian
injuries and deaths, criticized the police handling
of the evacuation from the Docklands: "The
regrettable injuries could have been avoided had
the British Security Forces acted promptly on clear
and specific warnings."(4) This is not the first
time Republicans have raised this sort of
criticism. Civilian victims make good propaganda
and the IRA is accusing England of sacrificing
English civilians to promote hostility towards the
Irish struggle for self-determination.
SHATTERING THE ENGLISH AGENDA IN IRELAND
The IRA's return to operations shocked London,
Dublin, Belfast and Washington, D.C. Within an
hour, English Prime Minister John Major issued a
statement claiming "we will pursue relentlessly
those responsible for this disgraceful attack."(5)
He went on to call for the IRA and Sinn Fein to
condemn the bombing. This was only wishful thinking
that the bombing had been the work of a radical
splinter group.
The Labour and Liberal Democrat opposition parties-
-the supposed left and central wings of British
imperialism--rallied to Major's call. Labour party
leader Tony Blair followed Major's statement by
condemning the bombing as a sickening outrage. As
if he is an authority on the subject, Liberal party
head Paddy Ashdown claimed that the IRA had moved
against the popular will of the Irish people, north
and south.
The capitalist but neo-colonial 26 Counties
government's Taoiseach (Prime Minister), John
Bruton, also condemned the bombing as "entirely
unjustified," announcing that his government will
not talk to Sinn Fein so long as the IRA continues
its military campaign.
CEASEFIRE END CAUSES CONFUSION WITHIN IRELAND
Sinn Fein members were as surprised by the bombing
as were the general public. Earlier that day, Gerry
Adams had taken calls from the public on BBC Radio
in Belfast and promoted the message that political
talks were the way forward.
England gave no sign of being aware that the
ceasefire was drawing to a close. Royal Ulster
Constabulary (RUC) Chief Constable, Sir Hugh
Annesley, recently said "the real issue is
intent... Are they intent on doing anything to
break the ceasefire? On the intelligence patterns
at the moment, the answer is no."(6)
The bomb showed that with more than 2,000 officers
from both MI5 and the police available for
intelligence-gathering and infiltration, the
British Security Forces have been unable to
penetrate the higher levels of the IRA, or they are
trying consciously to provoke discord in IRA ranks
by claiming the ceasefire was still on.
IRISH COMPRADOR POLITICS: PLAYING GAMES WITH THE
IRA CEASEFIRE
The IRA was in secret talks with England for three
years before declaring the August 31, 1994
ceasefire independent of any pre-conditions or even
any guarantee of an English response. The attempt
to suspend the military campaign and open up new
avenues of struggle in the political field looked
somewhat hopeful at first. Dublin was predominantly
governed by the constitutional nationalist "Fianna
Fail" party and this, together with the Social and
Democratic Labour parties looked like "respectable"
allies for the genuine Republicans of Sinn Fein.
But the traditionally pro-English Fine Gael party
came to power four months later.
Relations between Sinn Fein and the Irish
Government soured considerably in September 1995,
when Sinn Fein withdrew from a proposed Anglo-Irish
Summit. This was due largely to the Irish
Government's acceptance of the so-called Washington
three proposals on the decommissioning of IRA
weapons. It looked as if Sinn Fein would become
trapped in talks and then pressured by both the
Irish and English governments to surrender IRA
weapons as a pre-condition to all party talks--an
impossible situation.
IRA REFUSES TO ABIDE ENGLISH TREACHERY
An IRA agreement to disarm at the demand of a
foreign power would raise tremendous doubts as to
the quality of national sovereignty it could
deliver. The English government threw up the demand
to decommission "illegally held" weapons as a
deliberate obstacle to the Irish peace process. A
spokesperson for the General Headquarter Staff of
the IRA summed up the end of the ceasefire:
"Let us be crystal clear about this. John Major
reneged on these commitments, publicly given. He
has acted in bad faith throughout the period of the
IRA cessation, introducing one new pre-condition
after another. He has betrayed the Irish peace
process and has deliberately squandered this
opportunity to resolve the causes of the age-old
conflict between Britain and the Irish people. He
did so to keep himself in power."(7)
MIM cannot say that the IRA is leading a People's
War in Ireland, because it does not have a Maoist
line and it has not found a way to engage the
people in striking the British enemy. But the IRA
has reached a stage of armed struggle, and there is
a proletarian nationalist community in the Six
Counties. Whether the IRA will be able to resist
the English imperialists and the coming European
Union may depend on its class analysis and a
friendliness to the international proletariat, as
the oppressed nations of the Third World will
deliver the main blows against imperialism. The IRA
line on the labor aristocracy will be an important
factor in its ability to lead a clear revolutionary
path forward.
NOTES:
1. The Sunday Tribune Feb. 11, 1996.
2. The Star (Irish Ed.) Feb 10, 1996.
3. The Guardian Feb. 10, 996.
4. An Phoblacht/Republican News Feb. 15, 1996.
5. The Guardian Feb. 10, 1996.
6. The Sunday Tribune Feb. 11, 1996.
7. An Phoblacht/Republican News Feb. 15, 1996.
* * *
FRENCH LABOR ARISTOCRACY SUPPORTS MILITARISM
In attempts to reduce its deficit to qualify for
the common European currency, France is looking at
cutting arms production, potentially cutting back
jobs in the industry. The workers in Bourges, one
town that relies heavily on the arms industry, have
been protesting the proposed cuts because of the
threat to their livelihood.
One petty-bourgeois store owner interviewed by the
New York Times said "I remember the Communists
demonstrating in 1982 and demanding that France
stop selling arms abroad. Now they're changing
their tune because arms are jobs in Bourges." While
MIM does not trust this man or the New York Times's
definition of communists, this quote, along with
the reported demonstrations, suggest that this is
yet another example of the reactionary politics of
the labor aristocracy. Seeing their interests tied
up with those of the imperialists, they fight for
greater militarization of France to save their
jobs. The proletariat is fighting for a reduction
in the militarization of the imperialist countries
and would never cry over imperialist jobs lost in
this murder industry.
This narrow outlook by the labor aristocracy is not
the result of lack of education. The labor
aristocracy acts as a class and it fails to look at
the effects of its actions on the majority of the
world's people because it is acting in its own
class interest. If France cuts its arms industry,
parasite workers getting paid high wages to produce
weapons for use against the people of the Third
World will lose their jobs. These workers have a
strong interest in maintaining the military
industrial complex in France. While these workers
are fighting for their interests, MIM is fighting
alongside the proletariat to expose the labor
aristocracy and oppose militarism and imperialism.
NOTE: New York Times Feb. 22, 1996, p. A1.
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