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THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

MIM Notes 119	AUGUST 1, 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.

IN THIS ISSUE:
1.  MOVEMENT FOR HAWAIIAN SOVEREIGNTY GROWS AS BOGUS VOTE LOOMS
2.  LETTERS: ANTI-KLAN VERSUS PRO-COMMUNISM 
3.  NATIONALISM SIMMERS IN POW-WOWS
4.  NDF ADVANCES ON PEACE NEGOTIATIONS FRONT 
5.  ADVANCE THE REVOLUTIONARY FEMINIST STRUGGLE 
6.  PSEUDO-FEMINISTS WIN RIGHT TO LEAD IMPERIALIST 
    ARMIES: REAL FEMINISTS FIGHT AMERIKA
7.  COPS ARE OPEN WHITE SUPREMACISTS
8.  BEWARE OF ALL AMERIKANS IN YOUR COUNTRY 
9.  MUMIA ACTIVISTS RALLY ON YOU LIE FOURTH 
10. DON'T VOTE, ORGANIZE
11. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS
12. MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM ONLINE
13. ON PERU AND THE RIM
14. AMERIKA'S NOT PAYING ITS LEASE:
    FIRST NATIONS SUE OVER $2.4 BILLION IN MISMANAGED FUNDS
15. MICMAC TRADER SUPPORTS PEOPLE'S WAR
16. SPRINGFIELD MA FIRES RACIST COP FOR ADMITTING HIS RACISM
17. ACTIVISTS WIN BATTLE AGAINST UMASS CENSORSHIP 
18. PENOBSCOTTS OPPOSE MAINE TAXES
19. PATAKI BACKS DOWN


* * *


WHAT IS MIM?

The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a revolutionary 
communist party that upholds Marxism- Leninism-Maoism, comprising 
the collection of existing or emerging Maoist internationalist 
parties in the English-speaking imperialist countries and their 
English-speaking internal semi- colonies, as well as the existing 
or emerging Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties of 
Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the U.S. Empire. MIM 
Notes is the newspaper of MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the 
Spanish- speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM. 

MIM is an internationalist organization that works from the 
vantage point of the Third World proletariat; thus, its members 
are not Amerikans, but world citizens.
MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups over other 
groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM knows this is only possible 
by building public opinion to seize power through armed struggle. 

Revolution is a reality for North America as the military becomes 
over-extended in the government's attempts to maintain world 
hegemony.

MIM differs from other communist parties on three main questions: 
(1) MIM holds that after the proletariat seizes power in socialist 
revolution, the potential exists for capitalist restoration under 
the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within the communist party 
itself. In the case of the USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power 
after the death of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's 
death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in 1976. (2) MIM 
upholds the Chinese Cultural Revolution as the farthest advance of 
communism in human history. (3) MIM believes the North American 
white-working-class is primarily a non-
revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it is not the 
principal vehicle to advance Maoism in this country.

MIM accepts people as members who agree on these basic principles 
and accept democratic centralism, the system of majority rule, on 
other questions of party line.
"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is universally 
applicable. We should regard it not as dogma, but as a guide to 
action. Studying it is not merely a matter of learning terms and 
phrases, but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of 
revolution."
-- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208 


* * *


MOVEMENT FOR HAWAIIAN SOVEREIGNTY GROWS AS BOGUS VOTE LOOMS


BOSTON, MA--On July 2nd, MIM and RAIL hosted a talk by speakers 
from the Ho'omau of Wahi Ku Moku, the political group of an 
organization of Hawaiians in Boston. The presentation focused on 
the "Native Hawaiian Vote" to take place among indigenous 
Hawaiians in August. This State-sponsored pseudo- plebiscite is 
being used by the imperialists as an opportunity to force Native 
Hawaiians to choose which form of imperialist rule they would 
prefer under the guise of a choice for true sovereignty. 

Ho'omau means to persevere. This name summarizes the struggle of 
Native Hawaiians since the beginning of the imperialist onslaught 
in 1778, through the overthrow of the country in 1893, to the 
present. The Hawaiian population, like that of other First Nations 
living on the land stolen by the imperialists, was decimated. Even 
now, Native Hawaiians struggle to survive: they are twice as 
likely to be homeless than other ethnic groups in the state and 
are both imprisoned and in poverty at the highest rate.(1) Unlike 
many other First Nations, Hawaiians have never been granted the 
status of a nation and instead are considered "wards of the 
state." For centuries, the Hawaiian people have been struggling to 
regain self- determination. The speakers described a growing 
sovereignty movement since the 1960s that currently involves this 
important fight against the pseudo- plebiscite vote.


"NATIVE HAWAIIAN VOTE" IS AN IMPERIALIST TOOL 


The pseudo-plebiscite asks "Shall the Hawaiian people elect 
delegates to propose a Native Hawaiian government?" The Amerikans 
working for this vote are doing all they can to convince Native 
Hawaiians that this is a real vote for self-determination. One 
election brochure states: "We can choose to keep things as they 
are, or we can choose to get together as one people and decide to 
control our Hawaiian lands and resources, improve the well- being 
of our people and protect our culture and way of life."

This vote will likely be taken as the "legitimate" expression of 
self-determination by the Hawaiian people. But as *Na Kanaka 
Maoli,* a publication in Boston, points out in a statement seeking 
to postpone the vote: "Hawaiians who wish to pursue sovereignty 
but not through HSEC's Native Hawaiian Vote are prevented from 
seeking an alternate process due to the limitations of submitting 
a 'yes' or a 'no' ballot." In fact, the speakers noted that any 
ballots submitted, even spoiled, will be counted as a yes vote. 
There is no way to express dissatisfaction with the choices 
without playing into the hands of the imperialists. This whole 
process keeps the state government in control of the voting 
process, and ultimately, the outcome. 

History teaches the failure of the State-sponsored vote as a tool 
for national liberation. As one Stop the Vote brochure points out: 
"The fraudulent 1959 statehood 'plebiscite vote' was used by the 
U.S. government to have Hawaii removed from the United Nations 
list of Non-Self-Governing Territories." "This vote will bind us 
to a State-controlled process and the U.S. government can use it 
to block us from pursuing *our own process of self- 
determination."*

The State has gone out of its way to ensure that this vote only 
provides the outcome they want. The Sovereignty Elections Council 
(SEC) is overseeing the elections. It was created by State law in 
1994. All of its members are appointees of the ex-State Governor. 
The State House Bill that created the SEC also states "Nothing 
arising out of the Hawaiian Convention provided for in this 
Act...shall be applied to supersede, conflict waive, alter, or 
affect" the governmental structures and mechanisms of the State. 
(2)


WHY DOES THE STATE BOTHER WITH A VOTE AT ALL? 


In 1993, the U.S. Congress passed the "Apology Bill" which 
acknowledged that the U.S. was wrong in 1893 when it overthrew the 
Hawaiian nation. It says: "The indigenous Hawaiian people never 
relinquished their claims to their inherent sovereignty as a 
people over their national lands to the United States, ...through 
a plebiscite or referendum..." The U.S. Congress now has to take 
some action to back up these words. This pseudo- plebiscite is the 
perfect solution. If Hawaiians vote yes they will then have to set 
up a government under the parameters set out by the State. If 
Hawaiians vote no they lose because the State will then say 
Hawaiians are satisfied with things as they are and they don't 
want sovereignty. This would be used as a justification for the 
legal status as wards of the state of all indigenous Hawaiians.


TRUE SELF-DETERMINATION DOES NOT COME FROM THE IMPERIALIST STATE


The speakers laid out some minimum demands for true self-
determination. First, all the military forces of the imperialist 
occupiers must leave before any vote can be free and legitimate. 
At present, the United Snakes has military bases on what are 
called "ceded lands," officially belonging to indigenous 
Hawaiians. In addition, as one brochure opposing the vote points 
out, the people need to be able to educate themselves and struggle 
freely over politics--a situation that does not exist right now 
under imperialist occupation. One speaker pointed out that the 
people opposed to the pseudo- plebiscite tend not to be registered 
to vote. Many of these people are very poor and do not have 
housing, meaning no address to send a ballot to. 

MIM believes that all nations deserve the right to self-
determination and that this can only be achieved through national 
liberation struggles. Nations must be freed from imperialist 
control before the people can exercise their right to self- 
determination. Only then can a plebiscite be held that would truly 
reflect the interests of the people. (For more on the theory 
behind the important of national liberation struggles, read MIM 
Theory #7: Proletarian Feminist Revolutionary Nationalism, 
available for $5).


WHAT ARE THE ALTERNATIVES TO VOTING IN THIS PSEUDO- PLEBISCITE?


The speakers stressed that this vote is not a real choice and that 
there are many things people can do besides participating in the 
vote. One of the most important things to do is educating and 
organizing other people. They are also encouraging people to 
refuse to register to vote. Those who receive ballots in the mail 
should send them to the Stop the Vote campaign where these will be 
counted and destroyed in a protest action.

Some people in the audience were skeptical about the pragmatism of 
this strategy. They argued that the vote might not be perfect, but 
at least it would allow Hawaiians to have some say in their 
government. One speaker responded "That is exactly what they would 
like us to think." MIM stressed the point further. The state says 
there is no way to achieve real liberation so we should settle for 
what the imperialists offer. But this is not true. It took many 
years and much hard struggle to overthrow feudalism. The feudal 
serfs did not give up and decide they had to accept the rule of 
the landlords because the going was tough. Likewise the struggle 
for socialism has proved difficult and full of setbacks. That does 
not mean we should give up.

Audience members were also not satisfied with "self determination" 
as a goal they wanted to support. They wanted a plan, from the 
speakers, about whether they wanted reservation status like other 
First Nations in Amerikan borders, or independence, or some other 
thing. The speakers both said that they had opinions on these 
things, but that they could not chart out the struggle in advance. 
Right now, they are focusing their energy on booting out the 
imperialists and organizing the people continue with progress 
afterward. The speakers pointed out that people opposing the vote 
are right now a minority among Native Hawaiians and that the 
majority supports the "yes" vote in the plebiscite. But they 
believe that through education and the lessons learned through 
practice, Native Hawaiians will learn that relying on the State 
for sovereignty does not provide real self-
determination.

Short term battles can be won now as we fight for the ultimate 
goal of national liberation and socialism. The anti-vote forces 
succeeded in postponing the vote several months, arguing that the 
quick pace set did not allow sufficient time to educate the 
voters. The imperialists did not want to give the activists time 
to educate people about this vote and so they were trying to move 
quickly. This delay was a victory because it allowed the 
protesters more time to organize opposition. 

The imperialists will not grant national liberation to the 
oppressed nations, it must be taken by force, and these struggles 
are taking place all over the world. The Filipinos, Peruvians, 
First Nations, people of India and many others refuse to accept 
the repressive hand of imperialist rule. It may take many years, 
but liberation is in the interests of the majority of the world's 
people and we will win.


Notes:
1. The Honolulu Advertiser 4/2/96
2. Brochure from Ka Lahui Hawai'i


* * *


LETTERS:

ANTI-KLAN VERSUS PRO-COMMUNISM


***This is excerpted from a much longer letter which attempts to 
explain why the letter-writer wishes not to have contact with MIM. 
The letter- writer has already decided that s/he does not want to 
struggle with MIM over h own politics (Trotskyist) or MIM's. 
Therefore we print this letter not as a means of struggle with 
this individual, but in the hopes of sparking discussion with 
others who may sympathize with this individual's politics without 
having a worked out line against MIM or Maoism or simply want to 
hear more about MIM's activism.***


I would also like to address the comments in the letter regarding 
the Anti-Klan rally on Saturday, June 22. You remarked that being 
"gassed is not the quickest path to revolutionary organizing." You 
proposed a solid line on revolutions of the past and on the 
revolutionary possibilities for the future as an alternative. What 
about decisive action now?!? How do you expect to gain the support 
of workers without being visible in their struggles. Your 
alternative is to sit in a college town and put up flyers on 
telephone poles. This puts you in a great position to lead a 
revolution when you can say to the proletariat, "I read a book by 
Mao Zedong at the University of Michigan and that puts me in the 
position to tell you what's best for you." You attack the groups 
at the rally calling them "one day activists" when many of the 
people in AAOAK [Ann Arbor Organizing Against the Klan, led by the 
Trotskyist League--MIM] have been involved in revolutionary 
politics longer than you have been alive. After all, better to be 
a one day activist than a no day activist. This reveals the petty-
bourgeois nature of your organization. Your methods of 
organization are not only not the quickest, but the slowest. Build 
a movement by talking, putting up flyers and reading, but not 
through action.


--An ex-MIM associate in the Midwest June 1996 


MIM RESPONDS: Because of space constraints, we are not going to 
address separately the writer's comments on MIM's supposed age, 
supposed class background, supposed schooling and supposed 
location. If there are serious critics out there who think that 
any of these things are relevant in criticism of MIM's politics, 
we welcome their criticism and will be happy to respond. In the 
context above, these are pure ad hominem attacks. We are not 
interested in engaging this letter writer on our class or age 
statuses. S/he would at least be consistent if s/he argued that 
Friedrich Engels' money or Bobby Hutton's youth were more decisive 
than their political line and practice. The letter writer shows 
more serious errors in three false assumptions:


Assumption #1: That throwing rocks at pigs in riot gear at a 
rally, being gassed and arrested constitutes "decisive action."


MIM disagrees that provoking pigs qualifies as decisive action. 
Did throwing rocks at pigs defeat the Klan? No. Is all the hubbub 
following the protesters' arrests going to hurt the Klan? Better 
yet, is it going to make a dent in the state which defends the 
Klan's so-called right to spread hatred and its oppressive 
ideology?

MIM also opposes the Klan, *because* we oppose national oppression 
and the Klan is out to justify and perpetuate national oppression. 
Anytime MIM holds a rally or attends one, we make clear what 
connection the particular event has to our overall goals. These 
anti-Klan rallies the letter-writer defends as "decisive action" 
did no such thing. They got a bunch of people arrested, and 
shifted some activists' focus from opposing the Klan to getting 
charges dropped against those arrested. MIM asks: how does that 
advance anything towards socialism?


Assumption #2: That ending national oppression is in the interests 
of the labor aristocracy and that MIM bases its line on gaining 
the support of the Amerikan working class.


MIM has devoted two full theory journals (MIM Theory 1: A White 
Proletariat? and MIM Theory 10: Coming to Grips with the Labor 
Aristocracy) to the distinction between the exploited proletariat-
-the majority of the world's workers and the labor aristocracy--
the majority of Amerikan workers. The U.S. labor aristocracy 
supports national oppression (white Amerikan supremacy over the 
Black, Latino and Indigenous nations within U.S. borders as well 
as imperialism over Third World neo-colonies) because it reaps 
economic benefits from imperialism and MIM has done the math to 
demonstrate this. Send us $5 for either of the theory journals 
mentioned above to check up on our research.

MIM opposes the Klan because the Klan fights for white supremacy. 
Activists pushing to organize all workers in the United Snakes 
together to fight the Klan should start digging through history to 
find the labor aristocracy's record on opposing national 
oppression and upholding national minority struggles for self-
determination. From Bacon's rebellion, when white workers fought 
to seize First Nation lands in 1676, through the Klan's inception 
in the reconstruction South, through the recent electoral show of 
Klansman David Duke, they have shown themselves to instead be a 
mass base for fascism.

Assumption #3: That it is more "activist" to get one's picture in 
the bourgeois press (or organize a rally which helps others 
achieve the same goal) than to build a party based on a solid line 
on revolutions of the past and revolutionary possibilities for the 
future as MIM suggested. 

Making revolution is not a light task and Leninists have 
demonstrated that revolution led by a vanguard party is the single 
most effective means of combating oppression. For this reason MIM 
takes very seriously the tasks of learning lessons from past 
struggles and using these lessons to build a lasting organization 
for the future.

This letter writer is entitled to blow off revolutionary 
organizing--the ill-gotten privilege of living in the First World 
affords that right. MIM's beef is with individuals and 
organizations which poo poo revolutionary activism in favor of 
sexier (and more publicity-getting) politics while claiming the 
banner of Marxism, as this letter writer does. That is revisionism 
and is leading people down a false path. Go get your picture in 
the paper, and throw all the rocks you want, but don't pretend to 
be leading the masses in Communist politics while you're doing it.


* * *


NATIONALISM SIMMERS IN POW-WOWS


ACADIA, MAINE--Summer is the season for the festivity of First 
Nation pow-wows, but simmering below the surface of pow-wows are 
issues of fighting for self-determination. On July 14, MIM spoke 
to a full-blooded Penobscott trader of a store called the 
Turquoise Arrowhead.

When asked if she had any news for MIM Notes to report next issue, 
she said, "I have lots of radical, radical ideas." MIM knew we 
were off to a good start.

In fact, the Turquoise Arrowhead (TA) told MIM that she walked out 
of a pow-wow just the week before. According to the Penobscotts 
MIM spoke with, the pow-wow organizers were too tolerant of 
someone banished from the nation who was leading the drum- 
beating.

"They let a drug-addict, child molester and womyn- beater on the 
drum," said the elder Penobscott womyn. A younger male added, "he 
was taking 12, 13 and 14-year-old girls and getting them on drugs 
so he could go to bed with them, and they [the Penobscott 
authorities] finally got tired of it." The man was banished from 
the nation through Penobscott processes according to the TA. 
Crimes including arson and more serious felonies are still under 
the white man's jurisdiction in Bangor, Maine.

The pow-wow organizers so angered TA that she walked out of the 
pow-wow and took seven dancers with her. However, that is not all. 
TA has a general gripe with the pow-wows these days. "My biggest 
thing is you go to the pow-wows and you find non-natives vending 
and they downright lie." She went on to explain how people of 
slight First Nation "blood" or no heritage at all worm their way 
into pow-wows to profit. The pow-wow last week, "was a joke," 
according to TA, so lax were the rules for vending. MIM agrees in 
principle that pow-wows should be an enterprise to promote First 
Nation business self-reliance.

In the Penobscott Nation, the rule is that one has to have 25 
percent blood to count as Penobscott. According to TA, there are 
only 180 full-bloods whoqualify based on tracking the descendants 
of the landmark 1890 Census. Over three-quarters of the Penobscott 
people have only one-quarter Penobscott blood, and still the 
pressure is on to lower the percentage to 12.5 or even lower.

As in the situation with people of Asian descent in the united 
snakes, how one is counted affects Congressional appropriations. 
Formulas for funding use the U.S. Census of every decade to 
determine how much money should go to the white organizations and 
how much to self-labeled "minority"
organizations, including programs for the reservations.

When asked what she thought of the whole "blood" issue, TA said, 
"I have very mixed feelings about it; my own grandchildren are on 
that Census." [meaning their children will be affected by any 
rules the full-bloods like herself come up with-- ed.] After 
explaining all the issues, TA said, "after all that I'm still for 
it." [the policy of requiring 25 percent blood and no less--ed.] 

MIM thought the reasons TA gave were
unreproachable. Contrary to our mistaken article of the last issue 
on the Ojibwe, [see correction this issue] MIM does not 
automatically support the tolerant side of banishing issues, 
reservation residence issues or voting issues. In fact, there is 
definitely a point where the line should be drawn against 
assimilation, and so there can be no attacking TA's position or 
other FN positions against children of inter-marriage or 
relaxation of nationality requirements. In the end, we leave it to 
the First Nation to decide who to count as a member. All nations 
will have to make this decision about who to include and that 
decision should be made by the people of each nation.

The first thing TA said after mentioning grandchildren on the 
"blood" issue is that "I know in some ways it [relaxing the rules-
-ed.] means more money. . . You know it cuts both ways though. We 
have to support non-natives on the reserve; we pay for their sewer 
[and other utilities]; they [whites] talk about all the Indians 
being on welfare, but we have white people on welfare on the 
reserve that we're paying for!" MIM would add that the goal of 
obtaining more U.S. government programs by increasing the number 
of people who count as natives is a mistake, an error of 
assimilationist strategy.

According to TA, the Wampanoag [surrounded by Massachusetts] are 
relaxing their rules and now the Cherokee are going from one-
eighth to one-sixteenth blood for their official counting 
purposes. Adding "hhhmph," TA said that if one starts looking at 
it that way, "I know some white people who make better Indians 
than Indians do! At least they show more respect for our culture 
than some of these "'Indians.'"

At the very end, TA said, "and I'm married to a white man, but 
that doesn't stop me from talking about the white man; I don't 
care; what they did is a rip-off." That pretty much was meant as a 
summation of history and the recent pow-wows. MIM agrees, the fact 
that TA is married to a white man says nothing at all against the 
truth of the matter with regard to "blood" policies. MIM applauds 
all those who go beyond their narrow individual identities and 
attempt to analyze what is best from a larger standpoint. We call 
it applying the scientific method and not taking up identity 
politics.


* * *


NDF ADVANCES ON PEACE NEGOTIATIONS FRONT 


by MC206

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDF) and the 
Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) resumed formal 
peace negotiations on June 19, 1996 in the Netherlands, one year 
after the GRP unilaterally suspended formal talks. The negotiating 
panels affirmed a list of specific topics for discussion under the 
headings "human rights and international humanitarian law and 
social and economic reforms."(1) The Maoist-led NDF has been 
waging revolutionary armed struggle against the U.S. puppet regime 
in the Philippines for over 25 years.

An important step towards the resumption of negotiations was the 
GRP's release of NDF Consultant Sotero Llamas. Llamas' arrest in 
early 1995 violated the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity 
Guarantees (JASIG), which both parties had ratified. At the time 
the GRP unilaterally declared that the JASIG was suspended, 
despite the fact that JASIG contains no provision for suspension. 
The NDF held informal talks with the GRP's negotiating panel 
beginning in July 1995, which led to the release of Llamas in 
compliance with the JASIG.(2) 

Llamas will now participate in the negotiations. He said his role 
in the talks was important because of his two decades of armed 
struggle in the mountains. "These experiences qualify me to 
present the real situation taking place in the countryside and 
this will be the core of the peace talks," he said.(3) 

In his opening statement at the resumption of formal talks, Luis 
Jalandoni, Chairperson of the NDF Negotiating Panellisted some of 
the crimes of the U.S.-Ramos regime against the people of the 
Philippines. "There is the forcible displacement of people, under 
various pretexts, such as the so- called counter-insurgency or 
development projects, and by the most brutal means, such as 
bombardments, strafing, arson, and bulldozing. This has caused the 
number of internal refugees to rise to millions. There is the 
criminalizing of political prisoners and imposing preconditions on 
the release of prisoners that are [in violation] of conscience and 
their rights."(1) This list of crimes that continues makes talks 
aimed at getting the GRP to uphold international humanitarian law 
conventions especially important.


* Jalandoni also listed specific repressive laws and decrees (some 
left over from the Marcos dictatorship) which attack the Filipino 
people: 

* Memorandum Circular No. 139 which expressly allows government 
troops to impose food blockades as part of their so- called "anti-
insurgency campaigns;"

* Executive Order No. 72 and 129 and P.D. 772 which authorize 
evictions and mass demolition of urban poor communities and outlaw 
squatting;

* Executive Order No. 264 which creates the Citizens Armed Forces 
Geographical Units (CAFGU), which are paramilitary groups used to 
harass and assassinate progressives and revolutionaries; 

* General Order No. 66 and 67 which authorize random checkpoints 
and searches;

* Legal interpretations which allow warrentless arrests, search 
and arrest without probable cause, and the admission of illegally 
seized evidence; 

* The pending so-called "Anti-Terrorism Act," which opens the door 
for renewed Martial Law.


While MIM continues Mao's line that there are no rights, only 
power struggles, MIM also believes that legal struggles for 
bourgeois rights such as the right to free speech and assembly or 
the right to a fair trial can be effective tactics. On the one 
hand, victories in this arena can increase the maneuvering room 
afforded to the revolutionary forces. On the other hand, the 
struggles themselves expose the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie, 
which claims to defend "human rights " while it thrives on 
repression.

The NDF views the peace negotiations as "one more form of legal 
struggle waged by the revolutionary forces in the context of 
various forms of struggle."(4) It clearly states that "peace 
negotiations cannot substitute for the resolute and militant mass 
struggles of the people. In fact, there is greater need for the 
people's
revolutionary struggle because the imperialists and reactionaries 
never voluntarily give up their power to exploit and oppress the 
people."(4) The NDF maintains that armed struggle is the most 
important form of mass struggle.

In this context, the NDF did not allow the GRP to make renouncing 
armed struggle a precondition to the talks. Before the peace 
negotiations began, the NDF and the GRP signed several agreements 
(such as the JASIG) which ensured that the NDF could negotiate 
without betraying its principles or compromising its ability to 
struggle outside of the negotiating arena.

In general, the NDF holds that a just and lasting peace in the 
Philippines is possible only if the Filipino peoples' demands for 
national liberation and democracy are satisfied. It calls for the 
GRP to end its servile policies towards foreign monopolies and end 
its "counter-insurgency" campaigns as crucial and necessary steps 
in the peace negotiations.(5)


NOTES:

1. Press Communique of the National Democratic Front of the 
Philippines on the Resumption of Formal Meetings in the GRP-NDFP 
Peace Negotiations, June 16, 1996.

2. Luis Jalandoni, "Opening Statement on the Resumption of the 
Formal Meetings in GRP-NDFP Peace Negotiations," June 19, 1996.

3. Reuters, 21 Jun 96.

4. Jose Maria Sison, "Peace Negotiations When Properly Conducted 
Are a Form of Struggle." 

5. MIM Notes 103, Aug 1995.


* * *


ADVANCE THE REVOLUTIONARY FEMINIST STRUGGLE 


People reading MIM Notes will notice that we have changed parts of 
the English language to meet proletarian political purposes. Mao 
simplified the entire Chinese alphabet to make it more accessible 
to the masses. While MIM is not yet in a position to make large 
scale changes in the English language, we make small changes in 
our lifestyle and culture which are easy and possible within 
capitalism. These changes advance proletarian struggles by drawing 
attention to the line behind them. MIM welcomes struggle over 
these changes as a means of advancing our line on the issues which 
they represent.

First we changed America to Amerika to remove some legitimacy from 
"America." We use "Amerika" to refer to the oppressor nation that 
dominates North America. Amerika is an imperialist nation of Euro- 
Amerikan settlers and their descendants and honorary members.

Later MIM stopped using "African American" to refer to Blacks in 
this country because Blacks are neither "African" nor "American." 
Blacks should strive for national self-determination and not phony 
integrationism with Amerika. The term "Black" is less than perfect 
because it implies that we are talking about a group because of 
its skin color, but it is the best definition of the nation within 
Amerika. The capital "B" helps to contrast this legitimate nation 
with the "white" fascist settler nation. We have changed other 
words and spellings related to analysis on the national question 
as well.

More recently, MIM substituted terminology that makes it clear 
that the "United States" does not have a legitimate claim over the 
territory it stole from indigenous peoples and developed with the 
use of slave labor imported from Asia, Africa and Latin America. 
We now substitute "United Snakes" or other derogatory forms of the 
words.

This summer, MIM decided to substitute the term "womyn" for 
"woman" and to use "wimmin" for the plural. We want to make the 
point that wimmin are not a subset of men as the word "women" 
implies. MIM is fighting for the end to gender oppression and part 
of this entails recognizing and fighting the reactionary elements 
in our culture that suggest that wimmin are less than men.

This decision to use "womyn" followed much struggle within MIM 
because of the term's reactionary history. Until now this change 
in terminology has been used by pseudo-feminists who believe in 
lifestyle politics and usually believe that all men are enemies. 
Revolutionary feminists reclaimed the term "feminist" from the 
reactionary white chauvinist wimmin who first used the word and 
MIM will not relinquish a progressive change in terminology 
because a few wimmin use the word for incorrect political 
purposes.

As we move forward in our revolutionary organizing, MIM will 
continue to make small changes in our use of language to reflect 
the political line that we support. Many of the changes made so 
far came as a result of suggestions from our readers, please write 
to us with your opinions on the subject. 


* * *


PSEUDO-FEMINISTS WIN RIGHT TO LEAD IMPERIALIST ARMIES: REAL 
FEMINISTS FIGHT AMERIKA


by MCB52

After decades of clamoring for a bigger role as imperialists, the 
gender aristocracy has won another "victory" that allies it more 
closely to imperialist patriarchy. The Supreme Court ruled that 
one of the last two remaining public all-male military institutes, 
Virginia Military Institute, must admit wimmin or go private. 
According to the Supreme Court, private schools may exclude 
whomever they want. Its fellow all-male holdout, the Citadel, has 
announced it is going to admit wimmin. 

All this pleases pseudo-feminists, but the international 
proletariat knows that genitalia diversity at these training 
grounds of militarism will not advance the position of the 
majority of the world's biological wimmin and biological men who 
are targets of US forces in the Third World. 

Both sexes of oppressed nations are gendered-female in relation to 
these prospective applicants to bourgeois military institutes. 
Both men and wimmin of oppressed nations have their sexuality and 
reproduction appropriated through First World domination. The 
wimmin admitted to VMI--part of the gender aristocracy--are 
further solidifying their alliance with patriarchy against the 
world's wimmin and men. As communists, we do not ally with the 
gender aristocracy We ally with groups oppressed because of their 
nation, class, and gender in genuine struggles against capitalism, 
imperialism and patriarchy.

Both conservatives and liberals are fooled by the long-standing 
notion that biology is destiny. Both incorrectly believe admitting 
biological wimmin will fundamentally change these institutions. 
Conservatives have moaned the death knell of an old and fine 
bastion of male supremacy. Syndicated columnist George Will wrote, 
"The Supreme Court gave [wimmin] the right to enroll in an 
educational institution which, the moment they enter it, will 
essentially cease to exist."(1) Liberals have chimed in that the 
change is a fundamentally positive one. Syndicated columnist Ellen 
Goodman wrote, "I don't hesitate to say that women will change 
VMI. Change is, after all, the point."(2) 

Goodman likens the change to the one accomplished through 
desegregation of the institutions, which is an illuminating 
comparison. What has this desegregation really done for equality? 
Goodman answers this question expressing satisfaction that VMI 
stopped playing "Dixie" on parade after the first Blacks arrived 
in 1968. This minor teak in the official presentation is her model 
for gender- relations changes to come. That's as high as her 
sights are set because she does not want to rock the patriarchal 
imperialist boat that is serving her well.

MIM answers that same question by recognizing that desegregation 
has not changed relations or conditions fundamentally and has only 
opened the doors for a few comprador members of the Black nation 
to fight for the white armies against the internal colonies. 
Instead, MIM works for real liberation.

Clarence Thomas, reactionary Black Supreme Court justice, sat out 
the case because his son attends VMI. This illustrates what 
desegregation of these institutions has brought--a tiny minority 
of Blacks are more fully consolidated into comprador status and 
enforce the oppression of the majority of the Black nation and 
other oppressed nations. 

The endurance of patriarchy and national oppression through the 
nominal integration of some
institutions illustrates the short-sightedness of conservatives 
like Will. Surely he would have been whining a few decades ago 
that an all-white institution was necessary to maintain that 
illusive greatness he declines to name: white supremacy. 

History reveals that it is beneficial for the powerful to concede 
some demands and co-opt members of oppressed groups. In the case 
of labor, the Amerikan working class has been bought off with 
superprofits drawn from imperialist exploitation. First World 
biological wimmin have also allied for these benefits and accepted 
patriarchy in the negotiations. Though members of internal 
colonies have sought comprador status, these nations are 
fundamentally allied against imperialism and white nation 
chauvinism.

Wimmin who are fighting for the right to lead imperialist armies 
are only pseudo-feminists. Real feminists are fighting against 
those armies. 


NOTE:
1. Boston Globe, July 1, 1996, p. 11.
2. Boston Globe, June 30, 1996, p. 69.


* * *


COPS ARE OPEN WHITE SUPREMACISTS


Most whites believe that cops are only oppressive in the case of a 
"few bad apples." Thus, they were surprised by the Mark Fuhrman 
case, the Rodney King beating etc. etc.; however, the "good 
apples" tolerate and even promote the "bad apples" as proved even 
in police publications; we refer to the Summer/Fall, 1995 edition 
of *New Hampshire Trooper.*

The New Hampshire Troopers Association which publishes the 
magazine "is made up entirely of current and former sworn members 
of the New Hampshire State Police."(1) The magazine starts by 
blasting the phony police organizations out there which seem 
rampant in the boonies of New England. 

After a letter from the Governor and cop union leaders, we learn 
that New Hampshire troopers are urged to learn Spanish.

"Two brothers who were speaking with the Deputy suddenly spoke a 
few words of Spanish to each other and then, seconds later, the 
Deputy was dead of a gunshot.

"In review of the tape, it was learned that had the officer known 
a few words, commonly referred to as 'charged words,' the tragedy 
may have been avoided. 

"In the case of the Texas Trooper who knew Spanish, he was able to 
stay one step ahead of his assailants and in the ensuing gun 
battle, the Trooper shot two of the defendants and came away 
unscathed. . . .

"In the last few years, there has been an influx of Spanish-
speaking persons crossing the borders from Lawrence, Lowell, 
Boston [all in Massachusetts-- ed.] and New York City into New 
Hampshire. 

"Ask any Trooper working the Interstate from the Massachusetts 
line to Manchester on I-93 or the Everett Turnpike. You will 
discover that the majority of cocaine and crack coming into the 
State is being transported and sold by Dominicans, Columbians, and 
Puerto Ricans.

"On any given night, a pursuit on Interstate 93 south of 
Manchester is probably initiated by gang members of the South Side 
Kings (SSK), License to Steal (LTC), or Latin Kings. These gangs 
are predominantly Spanish-speaking and are involved in thefts, 
burglaries, auto theft, drugs and more." 

Cops everywhere in the united snakes are hypocritical. They 
tolerate the Fuhrmans and come up with their white supremacist 
ideas of crime. As a result, the cops have failed to dent crime 
despite making the united snakes the number one prison state in 
the world based on per capita figures for imprisonment averaged 
the last ten years.

It will be the Latin Kings and the like who actually stop drug-
dealing by taking up the cause of national liberation. When the 
likes of the Latin Kings with the Maoist proletarian revolutionary 
ideology finally replace the corrupt national and local cops, then 
we will have a reduction in crime. The Oliver Norths bringing the 
cocaine into this country will be stopped cold. The people's 
police will look for drugs in the right places and we will emerge 
victorious in the war on drugs.


Notes:

1. New Hampshire Trooper Summer/Fall, p. 1. 2. Ibid., p. 21.


* * *


BEWARE OF ALL AMERIKANS IN YOUR COUNTRY


On July 17, the Senate Intelligence Committee had a rare debate 
about who the CIA can use to gather information, and about what 
types of "covers" are acceptable for the CIA to use. Current law 
prohibits the CIA from recruiting journalists, Peace Corps 
volunteers, and clergy, and prohibits the agency from using those 
careers as covers for it's agents and officers.

The current law allows the CIA director to grant exceptions in 
"exceptional circumstances". Ted Koppel, of Nightline, and Terry 
Anderson, a former Associated Press reported held hostage in 
Lebanon for 7 years argued that the ban should be absolute. 
Anderson reported that his captors told him they thought he was 
CIA.

The Congresspersons, including prominent Democrats like Senator 
John Glenn and John Kerry disagreed and wanted to give the CIA as 
many options as possible. But Kerry summed up the issue well as he 
expressed concern about discussing the issue publicly: "if they 
[journalists] weren't tainted before, they will be now."

We hope that our readers outside of U.S. borders keep in mind the 
*legal* loopholes in CIA strategy. 


NOTE: Boston Globe July 18, 1996, p. A18. 


* * *


MUMIA ACTIVISTS RALLY ON YOU LIE FOURTH


by a comrade

PHILADELPHIA, PA--July 4, hundreds of people rallied in defense of 
Mumia Abu Jamal continuing the campaign to push for a new trial 
and his ultimate release. Mumia was sentenced to death for 
supposedly killing a Philly cop.

MOVE member Ramona Africa spoke at the rally. She recently won a 
lawsuit against the city for its bombing of the MOVE house in 
1985--which killed 11 people and destroyed 61 homes. Others on the 
podium included South African revolutionary poet Dennis Brutus, 
representatives of the Black Panther Collective, and other 
progressive organizations like the Christian peace activists from 
the Bruderhof Church.

As has become common at Mumia events, the majority of the crowd 
were political activists of many affiliations. At times it 
appeared that more people were distributing literature than were 
collectingor buying it. However, many participants bought MIM 
Notes and struggled with comrades over such issues as the labor 
aristocracy and MIM's differences with other self-identified 
communists or socialists. 

For example, one person who bought the paper struggled at length 
over MIM's line on the white working class. This person argued 
that MIM should not attack the white working class since it is not 
the "main enemy" in the fight against imperialism. Instead s/he 
advocated MIM using education to make the white working class 
understand that imperialism hurts it as well. MIM countered that 
the white working class stands to lose economically by the 
destruction of imperialism. We do not expect them to oppose 
imperialism as a class, although individuals may come over to the 
side of the people.

Another participant objected to MIM's use of "pig" to describe 
cops, and "United Snakes" as a term of disrespect for the 
oppressor nation's state. This person said such language unfairly 
tainted the reputations of these animals, who are already 
oppressed enough. MIM replied that we do not wish any harm to 
these animals, and only use those terms because their symbolism is 
easily understood by the masses. Ultimately we hope that using the 
names of animals in a negative way will become obsolete. 

There were also representatives of the "MPP-USA" (Popular Movement 
of Peru, USA) present at the rally. MIM has extensively exposed 
the leadership of this organization for conducting police plots 
among the international movement in support of the People's War in 
Peru. At the rally, "MPP-USA" members distributed pamphlet a 
called "Counter- Attack And Defeat All Reactionary Lies!" 
attacking MIM as "A Zinoviev Sect of Suspect Origin." This 
pamphlet contains many lies and distortions about MIM, including 
assertions that MIM does not support the people's war in Peru, 
that MIM supports the bogus "peace talks" proposal put forward by 
the Peruvian state, that MIM is "a likely creature of the Yankee 
intelligence services," that MIM "openly attacks Lenin, Stalin, 
Mao and President Gonzalo," and so on.

All of these are baseless charges launched to blow smoke over 
MIM's extensive documentation of "MPP- USA" fraud. MIM is 
committed to exposing the dangerous lies and manipulations of this 
organization, which we have done most extensively in the June 1996 
issue of Maoist Sojourner (which MIM distributed at the rally as 
well). Contact MIM for a copy of this and other important 
publications related to current Peru-movement struggles 
(subscriptions to Maoist Sojourner are $12 per year).

The movement to free Mumia Abu-Jamal is important because it 
exposes the nature of the reactionary Amerikan regime and its 
bloodthirsty "anti-crime" supporters. Many people who learn about 
the corruption of justice in this case may have cause to consider 
the system as a whole. So MIM hopes the movement will continue to 
try reach beyond the already-committed activists who dominate the 
rallies, and we publish these articles toward that end.


* * *


DON'T VOTE, ORGANIZE


by a RAIL comrade

AMHERST, MA--On June 29th, MIM and RAIL led a rally to raise 
public awareness about the fruitlessness of voting in this 
"democratic" kkkountry and to bolster the struggle for 
revolutionary change. The glorified tradition of Amerikan voting 
consists of choosing between pig tweedle-dum and pig tweedle- dee. 
Both options result in more oppressive laws imprisoning the masses 
in the imperialists hands. 

Do womyn have a choice in being born into a patriarchal society? 
Do Latino youth have the same choices that white youth have? Do 
one in three Black men choose to be harassed, beaten, arrested and 
denied a just trial?(1) The answers are no. The current system 
thrives from national, class and gender oppression. From Bill 
Clinton's economic, military, and political control of Third World 
peoples to Bill Weld's proliferation of control units, it boils 
down to the same unjust
imprisonment in a system working for one slave master.

When this truth was brought to people in the town center, the 
general reply was "I'm not interested." Living in a utopian 
microcosm of academia, it's easy to ignore the truth. All the 
bourgeois propaganda about making a difference and "rocking the 
vote" succeeds to keep many people content. This apathy materially 
benefits the white nation because toppling systemic oppression 
means that the wealthy and the bought off will be cut off from 
their pirated loot.

One person brought up the Green Party, led by Mr. Liberal himself, 
Ralph Nader. Nader merely plans to use this system for his own 
advantage. He's attempting to replace one man for another through 
elections in a system that exists because of international 
domination. The corrupt system would stay intact. National 
oppression, patriarchy and class oppression would not be crushed 
and massive global oppression would continue.

One student passed by the rally but wasn't interested in our 
literature. He was interested in taking photographs of the 
activists. When asked to stop, he got very defensive. MIM has no 
idea if this person is a cop or if the photos were taken to be 
given to the pigs. At a minimum, however, this is cop behavior.

An idealist we spoke with argued that the ending oppression can't 
be done through a movement. This person advocated, and supposedly 
practiced, speaking to people individually to change their views. 
It is not possible to end systematic oppression of groups over 
groups individually. We must organize a movement led by the 
proletariat to smash the imperialists, who have big guns. 

The idealist's rationale was that the oppressive forces--mainly 
cops and the state--will do everything in their power (including 
violence) to stop the truth from spreading. We agree that the 
oppressor will use violent measures to stop the spread of 
opposition. But that has not stopped successful struggles in the 
past. We disagree that state repression means that the masses 
should passively give up just struggles.

We also don't underemphasize the capacity of the state to squash 
revolutionaries--we get that one from history. That is why MIM and 
RAIL take security issues seriously. But building an underground 
revolutionary movement does not inhibit us from working and 
struggling with the masses. Mass work is essential to raise public 
opinion for revolution, which means educating to organize. Mass 
work also enables revolutionaries to learn from the masses through 
struggle.

The person ultimately said we were young and would realize some 
day that violence cannot end violence. In response to that is a 
quote from Mao: "You have to take up the gun in order to put down 
the gun." The imperialists will continue to fight and kill to 
protect their material interests. Their power cannot be wished 
away, nor abolished through the missionary-style of "spreading the 
word." To build a society where the gun is no longer needed, the 
oppressed must seize control. This is a dialectical materialist 
approach to resolve the contradiction between the imperialists and 
oppressed nations. The only successful revolutions have occurred 
through armed struggle led by communists. That is the only way for 
the oppressed to gain control of their economies, and political 
and cultural structures. 

RAIL and MIM do not have a tidy little alternative to the 
bourgeoisie's vote, because revolutionary change does not come 
easily. If you want change that is in the interest of all people, 
don't vote, organize against imperialism with revolutionary 
politics.


NOTE:

Sentencing project via associated press in Massachusetts Daily 
Collegian 10/5/95, p.2. More information on conditions in 
Amerika's gulags can be found in RAIL's prison pamphlet, available 
from the address on page 2 for $1.


* * *


UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS 

POLITICIAN USES PRISONERS TO PRINT HIS CAMPAIGN LITERATURE


Dear Comrades,

I'm sending you a copy of the McCollum Report [Campaign Newsletter 
for Bill McCollum, U.S. Representative, Eighth District, Florida--
MIM]. But best of all, I've posted through the Federal Security 
with evidence that Congressperson McCollum is violating the law by 
using prison labor in our print plant, a UNICOR Federal Prison 
Institute, to print newsletters for his political campaign. 
Friends, I am for the cause.

I cannot risk mailing this to the press myself. Enclosed is a mail 
tag. The political campaign mails tags and prints transmittal 
forms showing the cost of the slave labor where federal inmates 
are printing for his political campaign. He is against Habeas 
Corpus and wants the death sentences carried out.

Please see that you print this and mail copies to CBS, NBC, or any 
newspaper which will print this. Federal prisons are working for 
the Congressman's political gain. This is the type of evidence the 
press is crying for. I could trust no one else to get the news out 
to the public. This information is high on the list of our 
struggle. These documents must get into the hands of the press.

--a Virginia prisoner, Apr. 16, 1996


LATINOS PERSECUTED IN NEW YORK


Dear MIM,

I come to you my comrades as it is my custom and duty....I am a 
member of the Almighty Latin King Queen Nation and a constant 
warrior of the Third World Oppressed People....I enjoy reading 
your material for as a Latin King I am faced by a frivolous 
administration whose capitalism has raged war upon all Latin 
people in the system. 

I am presently at Southport Correctional Facility, which is a box 
for all inmates who are being punished for not adhering to prison 
rules and or regulations. Seems that they have waged war on all 
Latins doing time. They know the Latin Kings speak against all 
injustices so they have made a rule called 105.12 (Unauthorized 
organizations not recognized by the administration).

The have used this rule to place Latinos in solitary confinement. 
Actually if one [pig] is in the yard and it so happens that four 
or more Latinos are in a group, right away [the
prisoncrats] write you up for unauthorized organization.

It is incredible how we as a Latino people have been attacked and 
oppressed in society and now we are feeling it even more in this 
system of injustice....

Your comrade,

--a New York prisoner, June 10, 1996


A SOLE BLACK PRISONER FACES PIG ABUSES IN INDIANA 


Greetings, Friends

I'm held in captivity in a very small rural county jail in 
Petersbury, Indiana. What I've picked up from other inmates here 
is that I'm the first Black person in this jail. There are no 
other Black inmates in here with me. All this makes sense to me 
because I've been through some of the meanest, cruelest, inhuman 
treatments a man can be put through. Before I explain what 
happened keep in mind my alleged crimes are against a white woman. 

On January 2, 1996, the third day after my arrival, the trouble 
started. When I came here I was put on 24 hour a day lock down 
because they thought I was dangerous to other inmates. Well I was 
sleeping on the floor and the jailer at the time told me to put my 
mattress back on my bunk. Of course I said no, because there's no 
rule against sleeping on the floor. He was just picking me out for 
special treatment.

So he told me that they were going to come take it. So I said 
fine. Remember I was on 24 hour a day lockdown. Well, an hour 
later, the Sheriff and ten white cops were standing outside my 
cell door. (I said nothing to these devils.) The sheriff asked me 
if I wanted to get maced. Of course I said no. Then he ordered me 
to lay face down and they shackled me and dragged me at least 100 
feet like I was a piece of shit. Remember I said nothing to these 
devils. 

I ended up in front of the rubber room laying face down. The 
Sheriff left and returned with a pair of scissors to cut my 
jumpsuit off. While he was doing this he said, "If you move I will 
cut you!" So there I was lying naked in the rubber room, cold as 
ice, humiliated and not knowing what to expect next, because, 
shit, all I did was refuse to put my mattress on my bunk.

While I laid there, I heard all the staff laughing and 
congratulating the sheriff. I look at it this way: he did this 
because I'm Black, big and he was scared of me (Blacks)! But I 
will get the last laugh. I am currently trying to file charges and 
lawsuits and I told it to his face. Prison will not break this 
African. Black Fist and Afro-Picks! Peace.

--an Indiana prisoner, June 11, 1996


FIRST NATION PRISONER PUNISHED FOR SUING RACIST GUARD


Dear MIM,

Enclosed is a racially discriminatory document that was given to 
me on December 21, 1995, by one of Alaska's finest, a DOC prison 
guard. [The document was a racist "joke" that depicts people of 
the First Nations in a demeaning manner. --MIM] 

I am an American Indian (Chippewa-Cree). I am an enrolled tribal 
member of the Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation, POW Camp.

After the guard gave me this document, he stood and laughed at me. 
He thought it was a very funny act. After I filed a grievance 
against him, and my attorney contacted the governor's office and 
the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Corrections, I was 
hauled in front of a surprise treatment team where I was put on 
trial for filing a grievance against the officer who gave me the 
document. I was removed from the general population and then 
transferred to a mental health unit for four days until my 
attorney succeeded in getting me out of the mental health unit.

I did not provoke the officer to give me a racially discriminatory 
document. He did so of his own free will. Instead of punishing the 
guard, the DOC turned the issue on me and made me out to be the 
bad guy. The only thing that happened to the guard is a written 
reprimand put in his file that will disappear after six months if 
he has no further incidents. I, on the other hand, was removed 
form the general population, was sent to a mental health unit , 
was transferred twice, lost two boxes of legal work, and was made 
out to be the malcontent. 

The words in this document give clear and convincing evidence just 
what the Alaska DOC thinks of Native prisoners it has locked up 
within its walls. In any other instance I would not request the 
document to be printed, but due to the way this issue was handled 
I think it is appropriate that it be printed so others can see how 
repulsive and discriminatory this piece of prose really is to 
Native American culture. [MIM trusts that our readers have seen or 
heard racist jokes before, and will be able to get the idea here 
without us having to use valuable space to spread the filth 
ourselves. --MIM] I have suffered many forms of discrimination 
while serving my sentence over the past four years, but this is 
the first time I have clear and convincing evidence that racial 
discrimination does indeed exist in Alaska's prisons. I think the 
readers of MIM, and especially Native American people, have a 
right to see what in hell is going on up here. I hope that after 
reading the document, awareness is increased and that people will 
become enraged enough to voice their opinions that what happened 
up here is not okay and that it will not be taken lightly. This is 
just one more act of oppression against American Indian culture by 
the fascist pigs who try to control us. 

I have filed a lawsuit in federal court regarding this issue; I am 
requesting letters of support that I can show to a jury so that 
they know that this issue is an outrage and that society will not 
stand for it. I will answer anyone who writes to me. 

In Total Resistance,

--a Chippewa-Cree prisoner in Alaska, June 10, 1996 

Letters of support can be sent to MIM Notes, PO BOX 29670, Los 
Angeles, CA 90029-0670 and will be forwarded to the above 
Chippewa-Cree prisoner in Alaska.


ARIZONA PRISONER STRUGGLES TO RECEIVE MIM NOTES 


To My Comrades,

I would like to express my gratitude to your organization for 
continuing my subscription to your publication. I don't know if 
you remember, but the institution I am incarcerated in previously 
contrabanded your publication and scrutinized all my mail 
afterward. I grieved this issue, preparing to litigate in the 
Arizona U.S. District Court. I had to grieve the issue to the 
central office of the Arizona DOC because the grievance 
coordinator and deputy warden negated my resolution to the 
problem.

Apparently, central office has rescinded this institution's 
decision because for the last two months, I have been receiving 
MIM Notes as if nothing happened. Central office has not responded 
to my grievance appeal but I await their response. I may submit a 
complaint anyway because of the retaliatory tactics I have been 
subjected to throughout the grievance process. I was a legal clerk 
and legal assistant employed by this institution as a law clerk. I 
was suspended as a law clerk and had to fight to retain my status 
as a legal assistant, a non-paying position. They know I help a 
lot of people with their legal matters and persevere....

In every state I went to during my incarceration, the incarcerated 
thought their oppression was unique to that state. It is not so. 
Incarceration is incarceration. I do admit some prisons are 
rougher than others, but there is over-zealously implemented 
oppression in just about every prison. Especially since there is a 
fervor prevailing the notion to get tough on prisoners. The mass 
media and politicians would have the public believe we are living 
lavishly, but the average convict can tell you otherwise.

Which brings me to my next point. The people out there need to get 
involved in true and just prison reform. To deprive a prisoner of 
everything is not in the best interest of the public. Yes, it does 
increase the recidivism rate because there are people who allow 
this deprivation and oppression to elicit bitterness in them and 
their reactions. Plus to release a person from prison with no 
further education, vocation, money, or hope is to increase that 
person's chances of returning. Only with these "two or three 
strikes, you're out" policies that are sweeping the nation a lot 
of perpetrators will be leaving no witnesses to decrease their 
chances of being caught....

--An Arizona prisoner, Apr. 29, 1996.


PRISONERS FIGHT PIGS' DIVIDE AND CONQUER TECHNIQUES 


Dear MIM comrades,

Greetings in Revolution. First I would like to express my 
appreciation for the MIM Notes and Maoist Sojourners I have 
recently received. In such an environment that breeds defeatism in 
our mentalities it is uplifting to hear ideas that give hope of a 
better condition. They have proved invaluable to me and my 
comrades here in understanding how to struggle within the confines 
of these prison walls.

But we have suffered setbacks here recently. Two of our comrades 
have been locked up and have had their custody statuses changed. 
One in blatant measures of retaliation for his litigation against 
officers' brutality against prisoners. He was one of our leaders 
and most well-informed brothers, so that has hurt our educational 
resource very seriously. 

Our other comrade was railroaded in a Kangaroo Court for a 
fabricated assault on an officer case. He was the instructor of 
our martial arts and Self- Defense class, which has been attacked 
and interrupted on several occasions. We were meeting on a 
"passive" rec. yard every night for hours and the administration 
began passing policies to cut off our access to them. Now only 
three or four of us are allowed at a time. Christians can go and 
have 20 to 30 people.

We are now attempting to gain our leader's release from Ad-Seg 
(Administrative Segregation) and our other comrade has appealed 
the decision of his disciplinary case. He has witnesses in his 
favor, but these pigs seem not to care.

I have a question. What is MIM's position on the struggle to 
overthrow and gain control of an institution such as this? Marx 
made a statement once that "Basing a revolution on prison reform 
is like basing a slave revolt on better food for the slaves." I 
hope to hear from you soon. Any advice you may have will be 
welcome....

Sincerely in solidarity,

--a Texas prisoner, June 11, 1996

MIM REPLIES: The answer to your question has three parts.

First, on strategy here and now, we oppose armed struggle in the 
imperialist countries until such time as the bourgeoisie is really 
helpless. We advocate the scientific approach of fighting winnable 
battles one at a time, as opposed to the idealistic, moralistic 
approach of fighting all battles at once without concern for 
whether they are winnable. On the other hand, prisoners face a 
special dilemma: You can get killed for a nonviolent prison 
takeover as was the case in the Attica prison rebellion, but you 
also can't go on increasingly repressed by fascism forever. The 
Attica rebellion was repressed and the place is still a hell-hole, 
but that losing struggle did have an incredible impact. Prison 
conditions and the situation of genocide are difficult to work 
into a strategy of winning battles.

Second, in the medium term, we support the revolutionizing of 
prisons as part of the construction of new democracy and 
socialism. We see China 1949-1976 as a model in this regard. We do 
not advocate the immediate abolition of prisons, but we do 
advocate an immediate end to prison's use as a tool of national 
("racial"), class and genderoppression.

Third, in the long run, we advocate the abolition of prisons as 
part of the construction of communism, a stateless, classless 
society free of oppression.


ARIZONA MEAT PATTIES--FOR TEST PURPOSES ONLY 


Dear MIM,

Please keep MIM Notes coming. If there was any doubt before, I now 
realize I'm in the same boat as many of the people who write in to 
UL&K. Recently, I was shown a sticker that came from a box of meat 
patties that are fed to us regularly. Among other things, the 
sticker said, "Not For Sale--For Test Purposes Only". One of the 
ingredients listed as being in the meat is Silicon Dioxide.

Another con showed a copy of this same sticker to one of the 
prison staff. The staff member immediately went to check on the 
rest of the boxes of meat. When he returned, he demanded to have 
the sticker returned to him. Said sticker was hidden and secured 
before it could be returned to the staff member. The excuse the 
staff member gave the con for the sticker was that the meat was a 
"promotional gift," yet he still demanded to have the sticker 
returned.

Since the sticker was found, people on the outside have been 
notified, including loved ones and lawyers. Many of these people 
are looking into what type of test this meat is intended for. (The 
lot number was also on the sticker).

I can only imagine what the long-term effects would be had we not 
found the sticker. And since there was no USDA stamp on the 
packages, I can only assume these products were not originally 
intended for human consumption. This is worse that the radiation 
tests done on cons at Oregon State Pen. in the early seventies. At 
least those cons were paid, semi-informed volunteers. What's next, 
military ammunition testing? I wasn't sentenced to do ten years as 
a lab rat.

I suggest that any con reading this look into what your jailers 
are feeding you. Especially anyone in one of the new corporate 
prisons like Corruptions Corp. of Amerika. That's not to say that 
any state's Department of Corruptions won't be involved in immoral 
testing too.

--an Arizona prisoner, June 14, 1996


PIGS' TACTICS OF OPPRESSION


VIRGINIA

...The Department is forcing inmates to get rid of their 
typewriters by 1/1/97. Their justification for this measure is 
that the typewriters pose a "security risk". Several months ago an 
inmate on Death Row was allegedly storing a gun within his 
typewriter....

--a Virginia prisoner, May 29, 1996

TEXAS

...The pigs are trying to ride down on us here. They have 
dramatically reduced activities and educational opportunities. 
Harassment of vocal revolutionary cadre here continues. The 
favorite method is to plant a contraband item in your cell during 
a "routine search". The pigs are also trying to deny access to 
legal material by scheduling bogus doctor's appointments, etc., 
instead of your rightful library time....

--a Texas prisoner, June 4, 1996

SOUTH DAKOTA

...Last month two inmates from my pod were shot with rubber 
bullets and maced because they refused to lock up. Both required a 
trip to the hospital. Prison claims the inmates were drunk. Isn't 
it nice that in the most secure area of the prison, inmates can 
still make their own booze? All the top staff do weekly checks of 
our cells and guards do a daily count....

--a South Dakota Prisoner, June 10, 1996. 

ORGANIZATIONS WHICH OFFER LEGAL ASSISTANCE TO PRISONERS

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND 99 Hudson Street, 16th 
floor, New York, NY 10013, Tel: (212) 219-1900
Limited number of Habeas cases for death-row inmates

HISPANIC AIDS COMMITTEE FOR EDUCATION AND RESOURCES 1017 N. Main, 
Suite 208, San Antonio, TX 78212, Tel:(512) 227-2204

SOUTHERN CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
83 Poplar Street, N.W., Atlanta, GA 30303-2122, Tel:(404) 688-1202
Civil rights actions affecting prison conditions in the South, 
representation of people facing death penalty

LEGAL SERVICES FOR PRISONERS WITH CHILDREN 1535 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94103, Tel: (415) 255-7036 Legal assistance to 
incarcerated parents, their children, families, etc. Does not have 
resources to represent individuals, but responds to hundreds of 
inquiries per month

CHICAGO LEGAL AID TO INCARCERATED MOTHERS 205 W. Randolph Street, 
Suite 830, Chicago, IL 60606, Tel: (312) 332-5537

CALIFORNIA:

LAW OFFICES OF ALAN ELLIS, P.C.
265 Miller Avenue, Mill Valley, CA 94941, Tel: (415) 383-3862

NEW YORK:

PRISONERS' RIGHTS PROJECT OF THE LEGAL AID SOCIETY 15 Park Row, 
23rd Floor, New York, NY 10038, Tel: (212) 577-3530

POST-CONVICTION REPRESENTATION OF FEDERAL DEFENDANTS.
Jackson, MI 49201 Tel: (517) 788-7560



PRISONS ARE NOT DESIGNED TO REHABILITATE 


I am currently a prisoner in the Michigan Department of 
Corrections (Chippewa KTF). I have become a true believer that 
these prisons are not designed to rehabilitate inmates. The 
prisons here in Michigan promote hostile atmospheres for the 
inmates to reside in, by stacking inmates--full grown men--on top 
of each other. For example, here at KTF, 120 men are housed in a 
pole barn, which is designed to hold only 60 inmates.

These facilities offer hardly anything positive for the inmates to 
involve themselves with. Then, when an inmate joins an 
organization to give himself something positive to occupy his time 
with, he gets harassed and accused of belonging to a gang! The 
institution does not allow these organizations to participate in 
any positive activities. All proposals submitted are being denied. 
It seems like the DOC is no longer interested in whether an inmate 
receives rehabilitation, or in the education he/she needs to 
become a productive member of society upon his/her release.

Instead, Governor Engler stopped inmates from receiving financial 
aid to further their education. An inmate is only allowed the 
luxury of obtaining his GED in this facility...and we all know 
that is only the beginning of the road to success concerning 
education.

They are constantly passing new policies which are making it more 
and more difficult for inmates to communicate with the outside 
world, which is a vital part of rehabilitation. They have 
restricted our telephone calls by giving us only ten phone numbers 
to call. These numbers can only be changed every six months. These 
phone calls are being recorded and monitored. The have done the 
same thing with our visits. They have made us send our loved ones 
visitor applications which invade their personal lives with 
questions that are not applicable, but which are nonetheless 
required to answer if they wish to visit.

These prisons in Michigan are nothing more than an economy-saver. 
We prisoners in Michigan are steadily working for slave wages. We 
are also being subject to all kinds of diseases by being forced to 
live in such crowded quarters. Then, when an inmate requests 
health services, he usually does not get the attention he needs 
until he has naturally recovered! If an inmate does not have 
financial support from the outside world, he is a lost cause! 
These people know this. That is why they are making it so hard for 
a person to have contact with the outside world.

--a Michigan prisoner, Mar. 11, 1996


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

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


***WHAT PRISONERS CAN DO TO BUILD MIM*** 

*1. Start a study group. This is the best way to share materials 
and ideas. In groups, prisoners can better benefit from the 
limited resources MIM has. *2. Get MIM Notes and MIM Theory into 
your library. This allows one copy of the paper to be seen by many 
comrades.
*3. Contact people on the outside. MIM needs comrades and allies 
everywhere. Maybe you know people on the outside who want to 
subscribe to MIM Notes or distribute it.
*4. Share materials. If MIM sends books or periodicals, please 
make sure that as many people as possible get a chance to read 
them.
*5. Write MIM at least every three months. Otherwise, you will be 
dropped from our mailing list. There are many cases where your 
keepers throw out MIM Notes, so we need to know that you actually 
get it. Also, comrades are moved around a lot, especially those 
who are known to be political. Please let us know of any address 
changes as soon as you know them.
*6. Make MIM Distributors an official distributor. Many prisons 
require registration before MIM can send books or other materials. 
Usually we can comply with these bogus rules. It helps immensely 
to have someone there do the reasearch and send us the proper 
forms.
*7. Send money or stamps. Our biggest bill each month is postage. 
Most of the prison comrades who read MIM Notes have no way of 
paying for it. So if you have money, send what you can afford. 
Every cent helps, and stamps are as good as cash to us. Please 
make all checks payable to "MIM
Distributors."
*8. Write for MIM Notes or Notas Rojas. Prisoners write almost all 
of Under Lock & Key. We don't care if you know how to spell or 
write good English or Spanish. Write on any topic you like, it 
does not have to be a prison story.
*9. Translate. If you can read and write English and another 
language fluently, let us know. Any translation work you do will 
help us make Maoist ideas accessible to more people.
*10. Fight censorship. When you know of censorship of books or 
newspapers, investigate. Write to MIM to confirm what has 
happened, then see what you can do about it.
*11. Keep in touch after your release. Many comrades stop doing 
political work after their release. Write to MIM as soon as you 
know where you'll be so we can hook you up with comrades on the 
outside.


* * *


MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM ONLINE


FIGHTING AMERIKAN ABUSES IN PUERTO RICO ON-LINE: WORLD WIDE WEB 
REVIEW


Committee For The Defense of Pedro Albizu-Campos (CODEPAC) 
http://www.njservice.com/albizu 


by a RAIL and a MIM comrade

Dr. Pedro Albizu-Campos, the revolutionary nationalist leader for 
Puerto Rican independence-- and the radiation experiments which 
were conducted on him in retaliation for his political practice-- 
are the subject of a World Wide Web homepage operated by Committee 
For The Defense of Pedro Albizu-Campos (CODEPAC). The homepage 
opens with the statement "This page is open to accuse the U.S. 
Government in the death of Dr. Pedro Albizu- Campos." CODEPAC 
urges its readers to spread the word about radiation 
experimentation in Puerto Rico and to write letters to 
Congresspeople urging them to support the independence of Puerto 
Rico, and an investigation into the death of Albizu-Campos. 

Pedro Albizu-Campos was a revolutionary leader who was convicted 
by the United Snakes of "seditious conspiracy" in 1936 for his 
work with the anti- colonial Nationalist Party. He spent seven 
years in a Federal prison for this "crime" of fighting for self-
determination, and the rest of his life fighting U.S. imperialism 
and being viciously repressed by the United Snakes government. He 
was arrested and imprisoned again in 1950, after the Nationalist 
insurrection in Puerto Rico, and the attack by two Nationalists on 
Washington D.C.'s Blair House, where Amerikan president Truman was 
temporarily living. Dr. Albizu-Campos was tortured with radiation 
poisoning in prison, and he was also the first to confront the 
U.S. government on the radiation experimentation it conducted in 
Puerto Rico between 1951 and 1953. CODEPAC is seeking more 
information about and organizing support for an investigation into 
these experiments which killed Albizu-Campos.

The homepage contains many photos showing the tissue damage and 
debilitated physical state from which he suffered as a result of 
the experiments. As a result of the release of classified 
documents by the Office of Human Radiation Experiments of the U.S. 
Department of Energy, many original documents, including FBI 
memos, which expose Amerikan government involvement are available 
for viewing or downloading. It should come as little surprise that 
the United Snakes has used Puerto Rican citizens as guinea pigs in 
radiation experiments and tortured imprisoned revolutionaries. 
Ever since Amerika violated the sovereignty of Puerto Rico and 
made it a colony, Puerto Ricans have fought many forms of forced 
medical testing including forced birth control experiments. 
Amerika also further impoverished Puerto Rico by forcing a change 
to sugar as the main export crop in the first decades of this 
century.

Imperialist policies sucked off the island's resources and 
fostered a revolutionary nationalist movement which Amerika had to 
repeatedly crush with money and bombs. In addition to buying off 
politicians and installing puppet leaders, Amerika bombed the town 
of Jayuya in 1950, arrested thousands of nationalists, and built 
up a self- serving economy in order to silence the cries of revolt 
from Puerto Ricans.

CODEPAC is continuing the righteous tradition of Puerto Rican 
resistance to U.S. imperialism. It is, however, unfortunate that 
the organization does not see the futility of their tactics, even 
though it states that "U.S. policy has always been against the 
independence of Puerto Rico." No amount of letter writing or 
protesting to the Amerikan government will change the nature of 
imperialism, and Amerika will not give up imperialism without a 
fight. Token apologies, if won, will not prevent Amerika from 
torturing again, or crushing other leaders like Albizu-Campos who 
will fight for national self-determination.

CODEPAC should study the contributions of the Young Lords Party 
(YLP) to the liberation movement. During the 1970s, YLP, a 
revolutionary party modeled after the Black Panther Party, was the 
vanguard for Puerto Rican revolutionary
nationalism. The Young Lords organized to improve the quality of 
life for Puerto Ricans living in Amerikan slums, to fight for the 
independence of Puerto Rico, and for the establishment of a 
socialist society. The book Palante explains the history of the 
Young Lords Party and its struggle for Puerto Rican power. YLP 
didn't rely on Amerika to help Puerto Ricans, but built its own 
support systems and made alliances with other organizations with 
shared goals. CODEPAC should not waste its time on reforming 
imperialism; instead it should work on building independent power 
of the oppressed.


Notes: J. Sakai, *Settlers: The Mythology of the White 
Proletariat.* Morningstar Press, 1989; Ronald Fernandez, 
*Prisoners of Colonialism: The Struggle for Justice in Puerto 
Rico.* Common Courage Press: Monroe, Maine 1994.


* * *


MIM PACKAGED INTO "ACTIVIST WEB-STARTER'S KIT" 


Hey folks,


Just writing to tell you about your inclusion in "The Activist's 
Web-Starters Kit"
(http://www2.portal.ca/~comprev/webkit.html), and to give you a 
bit of information about it. 

As you may (or may not) know, the Vancouver Progressive Homepages 
have been actively promoting progressive causes, organizations, 
business and individuals on the internet. The VPH Progressive 
Clearinghouse is one of the best progressive resources on the net, 
offering hundreds (soon thousands) of links to various progressive 
causes, including your own. We have taken this invaluable resource 
and converted it into a downloadable database that can be plugged 
into popular web- browsers, The Activist's Web-Starters Kit, thus 
giving individuals immediate access to the best resources on the 
web.

The Activist's Web-Starters Kit will be updated monthly with any 
new additions to the VPH Progressive Clearinghouse
("http://www2.portal.ca/~comprev/list.html"). 

We are pleased to include your site in this resource, and hope 
that it raises awareness about your site and what you're doing. 
...


MIM RESPONDS: MIM is glad to be included on this list of 
"progressive" Internet sites. The creators of the site, in a 
little blurb about MIM, point out that we support the Cultural 
Revolution in China (1966-1976), and note that Sartre belonged to 
a Maoist group.

This site is part of a group of efforts by people who specialize 
in providing links to other "progressive" groups within a very 
broad conception of that term. Such efforts are useful in the 
sense that they help people get to certain information or groups 
quickly or find groups they didn't know about. MIM, for example, 
is listed in the category of "left-socialist" as well as in the 
category of prisons activism. We certainly would like to be found 
by people interested in either of these categories.

On the other hand, there are a lot of judgments made in such a 
project that have political implications with which we don't 
agree. For example, MIM is not listed under "feminist-women's" 
issues, while the reactionary National Organization for Women, and 
the social-democratic/Trotskyist Solidarity, do appear there. 
Likewise, under "anti- racist" activism, innocent browsers may 
stumble upon the Anti-Defamation League, a right-wing, pro- state 
repression organization that covers itself in a cloak of 
"tolerance" and "diversity," but will not find MIM.

On the flip side, most people who make lists of "progressive" 
efforts are much more anticommunist than the creators of the 
Activist Web-Starter's Kit, so even if we would have done it 
differently ourselves, we acknowledge the positive contribution 
they make.


* * *


CAPITALIST PRODUCTION CHOKES INTERNET POTENTIAL 


Electronic Frontier Foundation Chairperson, Internet publisher and 
investment capitalist Esther Dyson recently spoke to the New York 
Times Magazine about intellectual property and the future of the 
Internet. Her argument, that the World Wide Web will increasingly 
be a place for people to freely distribute and advertise content 
that they will have to sell in other formats, typifies the short- 
sightedness of capitalist production. Social resources that can 
and should be easily distributed online are held captive by the 
production relations of capitalism and the necessity of making a 
profit. The current bourgeois obsession with preserving copyright 
on the Internet (which Dyson calls a "moral" issue) serves as 
another reminder of the forces of creativity and progress that 
socialism and communism will inevitably unleash.


Note: The New York Times Magazine July 7, 1996. pp. 16-19.



* * *


ON PERU AND THE RIM

With the participation of some of the RCP-USA influenced 
organizations in the RIM, *A World to Win* published a magazine on 
Peru. It has already proved to be the work of the center-right in 
our movement--those like Hua Guofeng waving the red flag to 
conciliate with counterrevolution. Although the document is marked 
as published in 1995, MIM only just received it in recent months 
of 1996. 

Italicized in the document is a statement summing up the centrist 
approach to waving the red flag. "In the actual circumstances and 
given the relation of class forces at this stage in Peru, there 
is, from the standpoint of the proletariat, no need for and no 
correct basis for negotiations leading to the end of the People's 
War. There is no basis--in terms of the freedom and the necessity 
of the revolutionary camp on the one hand and the reactionary camp 
on the other--for achieving a peace accord that would not 
represent abandoning the revolutionary road and compromising away 
the fundamental interests of the people. Under these 
circumstances, the only kind of peace accord which would be 
accepted by the Fujimori regime--and more generally by the ruling 
classes in Peru and their imperialist masters--is an agreement to 
end the war on a basis that could not benefit but would harm the 
revolutionary process in Peru. Therefore, a proposal for peace 
accords to end the war could only lead to opportunism and must be 
combatted."(p. 15)

On the same page that it refers to itself as the "emerging 
political centre of the international communist movement," the RIM 
says, "those who have been confused by the right opportunist line 
or stumbled off the revolutionary path should repudiate this line, 
oppose and counter the damage being caused by this line and its 
adherents, and retake the revolutionary road."(p. 17) Therein lies 
the essence of the problem of the *A World to Win* stand. We take 
the stand that of course there is atwo-line struggle at all times 
in the party, but in the instances that the RCP-USA is pointing to 
in this document, what we see is not right opportunism but 
counterrevolution. Furthermore, those conciliating with these 
counterrevolutionary forces while maintaining the appearance of a 
different line also lose their credibility as Maoists. Unlike the 
RIM, we do not suggest to the PCP-CC to conciliate with these 
counter-revolutionaries and police to the extent of keeping them 
in the party. We find it unlikely that the PCP could have kept 
such people in the party and maintained its progress with the 
armed struggle and it also seems likely to MIM that whatever 
discussions were about the "peace accords" were done years ago, at 
least in relation to this type of most fundamental question in 
which a party such as the PCP would have achieved unity very 
quickly.

The statement "it was important that the masses, and especially 
some of the middle strata, realize that Mao had gone to great 
efforts to reach a reasonable accord with Chiang" (p. 25) is 
correct. Those who deny this aspect of the peace sentiments of the 
masses are metaphysicians. However, it is a different question 
when it comes to the party and what is permissible for a party 
member to believe, and this is the crux of the problem with the 
RIM line on the People's War in Peru.

MIM never saw one of the documents released on pages 64 and 65 
before. In the "Outline for a Basic Document," we see a clear call 
for
counterrevolution. "Ending the people's war represents neither 
surrender nor abandoning the revolution, but rather continuing the 
struggle under new conditions." In addition, the document 
continues, "II. Basic Approach 1. Sign a peace agreement whose 
application would lead to the ending of the war the country is 
experiencing. 2. End the people's war begun 17 May 1980, in all 
its four forms of guerrilla actions. Disband the People's 
Guerrilla Army, destroying its arms and combat material; likewise, 
dissolve the People's Committees and the revolutionary base areas 
of the People's New Democratic Republic."

Going back as far as statements released in 1994, MIM said it 
would never be permissible to advocate laying down arms. "Outline 
for a Basic Document" does exactly that, but the RIM calls it 
"written in the latter part of 1993 by leaders of the Right 
Opportunist Line."(p. 64)

Whatever right opportunism there might be in the PCP pales in 
comparison with this
counterrevolutionary document. Without MIM ruling on questions 
unique to Peru or determining Peru's Guiding Thought, MIM can 
clearly say that the universal aspects of Maoism in the oppressed, 
semi- feudal countries include never laying down arms except for 
partial and limited symbolic gestures, not as across-the-board 
action or strategy. The conditions do not matter. There is nothing 
about Maoism to integrate with the conditions on that question. 
The document cannot be called Maoist, no matter what conditions in 
Peru might be. 

Hence, even though MIM does not know the conditions or pretend to 
have a Guiding Thought for Peru, MIM knows that that document went 
too far. Its signers can not be members of the PCP. The whole 
affair of pretending otherwise is a montage of the police and its 
press lackeys.

RIM talks about "stumbling," but this goes further than that. This 
kind of "stumbling" removes one from the party. Perhaps these 
people can take up work in the new democratic forces. Others may 
prove themselves in the people's army, but they cannot be 
immediately trusted. A well-publicized example of this is in the 
Philippines with the case of General Jarque whose story is told in 
Maoist Sojourner, May 1996. If someone clamors to join the 
proletarian- led forces that is good, and we must let them, but in 
the case of someone like Jarque with a history of bloodshed on his 
hands, caution and step-by-step struggle is necessary. 
Furthermore, those saying they want a "peace accord" and would 
conciliate with the signers of "Outline for a Basic Document" to 
the extent of keeping those signers in the party--such 
conciliators should also be thrown out of the party. The core of 
the party must be with those who recognize the "Outline for a 
Basic Document" as counterrevolutionary. Abroad, this means the 
line of Luis Arce Borja has been vindicated by the publication of 
*A World to Win.* 

On the INTERNET, those defending the RIM line have reminded MIM of 
its own internal purge of the anarchist wind. They speak of "not 
casting out" people, blather about going on the offensive through 
outreach with everyone vaguely included in the Maoist forces and 
emphasize how their approach is "practice." Those unwilling to 
purge the party go against what Lenin taught on how purges 
strengthen the party. This is to leave aside the whole issue of 
police infiltrators, which is also connected up with a reluctance 
to purge and a happy-go-lucky approach to unity.

Other defenders of the RIM are a case in point of how difficult it 
is to break with the RCP-USA's revisionism without the MIM line on 
the imperialist countries. Already some ex-RCP USA circles are 
crawling back to the RCP-USA line as the struggle intensifies.

In light of these documents in *A World to Win,* and also other 
press reports about RIM-sanctioned people attacking the PCP-CC as 
"totalitarian," MIM sees that this struggle has gone beyond the 
confines of what is acceptable within the universal principles of 
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. We do not seek to present a Guiding 
Thought for Peru from here in the imperialist countries. We will 
not march through Peru's conditions the way *A World to Win* did 
as if we should form the Guiding Thought from here--though it is 
certain that the blow to the leadership and the lack of inter-
imperialist war will make the People's War more protracted than 
would otherwise be the case.

We recognize instead of trying to form the Guiding Thought, we 
abroad should follow Luis Arce Borja in his approach. He has 
warned against RIM centrism and conciliation with 
counterrevolution and police plots. Meanwhile, he has rebuffed the 
obviously non-Maoist attacks on the PCP including the recent 
police plot activities of the New Flag aimed at MIM and Luis Arce 
Borja himself, and Luis Arce Borja has earned MIM's trust in these 
matters including detailed questions that MIM cannot know much 
about. Meanwhile, the RIM belies its claim to be fighting the 
"right opportunist line" by distributing leaflets against Luis 
Arce Borja internationally. If one is conducting a struggle 
against the "right opportunist line" for the peace accords, one 
does not proceed against those like Luis Arce Borja who have 
steadfastly opposed them. Such is the tell- tale sign of the 
center-right: wave the red flag to attract adherents, but attack 
the left and base oneself in the support from the right. In such a 
way it is possible to confuse the left momentarily, strike down 
its forces and achieve counter- revolution, whether subjectively 
intended or not. This is the outcome we must now struggle to 
avoid. 


*Adopted unanimously 1996 MIM Congress*


* * *


AMERIKA'S NOT PAYING ITS LEASE:
FIRST NATIONS SUE OVER $2.4 BILLION IN MISMANAGED FUNDS


by MCB52

On June 10, the Native American Right fund and the Blackfeet 
Development fund filed the largest class action lawsuit ever 
against the federal government. The groups are waging this legal 
battle on behalf of the 300,000 account holders of Individual 
Indian Money Accounts.(1) They demand that the federal government 
account for $2.4 billion for which it lost or destroyed records. 
They demand payment to those who have not received the promised 
proceeds from land leased to the government for mineral and other 
resources.

There is no doubt legally that this money belongs to the First 
Nation people. Much of it was allocated to individuals and tribes 
in the 1880s as compensation for land. For example, when stealing 
the Black Hills of South Dakota and huge tracts of western land, 
the government alleged that the First Nations were not using them 
anyway. It promised to give a share of the extracted resources to 
the First Nations who relocated.

Instead the government hoards the profits while First Nations 
people suffer malnutrition and lack of basic services like health 
and education. "The price for this government negligence and 
malfeasance is being paid by individual Indians who are required 
by [federal] law to maintain the federal government as their 
bank." John Echohawk, one of the filers of the suit.

Linda M. Calbom, Director of Civil Audits for the General 
Accounting Office(GOA), stated that a total of $2.4 billion for 
32,901 transactions could not be traced and only 10 percent of the 
leases selected for reconciliation could be verified. 

In April 1994, the GOA ordered the Bureau of Indian Affairs(BIA) 
and the Department of the Interior to find a resolution, but they 
failed to do so. They did create an agency to oversee trust fund 
management, however they did not fund it. "As a result, the BIA 
does not know the total number of leases that it is responsible 
for managing or whether it is collecting revenues from all active 
leases," according to Calbom.(2) Based on the BIA's history of 
fronting for imperialist interests, MIM expects no action from the 
BIA that will provide reparations for the First Nations. This 
deliberate bureaucratic staggering is another tactic to perpetuate 
national oppression..

In response to this new suit, Congress has made a task force. But 
when the GOA, BIA, and so many other acronyms have talked the talk 
so much before, why should we believe this time they are walking 
the walk?

This suit appears to be on very strong legal ground. That is 
unusual for claims by the oppressed since the oppressors make up 
the laws. The tactic of suing is a good way to expose hypocrisy of 
the government ignoring its own laws. The government may concede 
these funds if it serves its interests of maintaining domination,. 
but will never concede power.

NOTES:
1. Indian Country Today, June 18-25, 1996, p.p. 1- 2.
2. Congressional Press Releases, June 18, 1996. 


* * *


MICMAC TRADER SUPPORTS PEOPLE'S WAR


ACADIA, MAINE--A militant businessperson of the Micmac nation 
surrounded by Canada told MIM the victory of the People's War in 
Peru "is inevitable" despite all the propaganda of the white man's 
government against it.

"I'm for Mao, because he pretty much did for his people what our 
people have to do against the Amerikan government, the Canadian 
government, the white man's government."

"The united states with all their propaganda controlled news 
twisted what he did, distorted it. I don't understand why they did 
that. . . . In the end, I think it's all money."

Asked if he meant it all boils down to money, he said, "yes, right 
money, like in Latin America where one country, seven families own 
the whole damn country, and control the military." 

According to this Micmac trader, "they say the labor is communist, 
but that is wrong. We [indigenous peoples] are the communists." 

MIM replied that Marx got his ideas about communism from 
anthropological studies of indigenous peoples. There was nothing 
in the modern white man's culture that Marx could adapt, so he 
took the communist idea he called "primitive communism" and 
attempted to fashion it for use in modern, industrial times. 

According to the Micmac trader all his First Nation peoples are 
communists, "but the government turns it into something evil; they 
make it out like it is all repression, but Mao was a freedom-
fighter." 

Linking together Mao's fight, his own fight and the oppression of 
Jews, he went on, "Hitler studied the Indians; looking at the 
Indians, Hitler got the idea for concentration camps from the 
reservations, because that's what it is, a concentration camp; 
that's what they call it, but it's really a concentration camp." 
He went on to say that the government sets up programs to make 
people dependent on them. Then he explained how Hitler had the 
Jews marked with numbers and he took out his identification card 
from Canada and pointed to the bottom line to show MIM his number" 
"The only difference is it's not on my wrist."


* * *


SPRINGFIELD MA FIRES RACIST COP FOR ADMITTING HIS RACISM


On July 16, the Springfield Massachusetts Police Commission fired 
a police officer "who admitted leaving a racially charged message 
on the answering machine of Black minister Talbert Swan II." Ten 
year veteran Officer Joseph Bradley was on duty when he made the 
phone call with a fake black dialect and the name "Leroy 
Washington" and "left two crude expletives on the minister's 
machine" in reference to the rash of Black church burnings. 

Bradley is not new to accidentally exposing white supremacy in the 
Springfield Police. In 1994, after Officer Donald Brown was 
cleared by the injustice system of any wrongdoing in the killing 
of unarmed Black motorist Benjamin Schoolfield, Bradley helped 
organize a party to congratulate Brown on a "job well done (keep 
up the good work)". At the party Bradley presented Brown with a 
ham--an old Southern custom to reward the killer of a Black 
person. This party was the source of protests, and not a part of 
this Police Commission hearing.

Reverend Swan said he wasn't pleased with the "quick and decisive 
action" by the Police Commission. He was "skeptical that this is 
... a political ploy to say 'Look how we can be tough on incidents 
or crimes involving racism.'"

According to the NAACP and Swan, a few weeks ago the Springfield 
police used excessive force on a "78-year-old Black woman--
spraying her with Mace and verbally abusing her."

According to Commission Chairperson Gerald A Phillips, "It was 
pretty cut and dried.... He admitted making the call, and he was 
on duty, which is totally unacceptable behavior." It appears that 
the problem was that Bradley got caught and then admitted it, 
making more bad public relations for the police. It's unclear from 
Phillips' statement whether it is acceptable for Springfield pigs 
to harass Blacks off duty.

Unlike other incidents of brutality by the Springfield police, 
there is very little in the way of excuses that can be made by the 
police to explain it away. But here the Police Commission's 
message to the 500-member force is clear: Leave the Klan robes at 
home, and allow your job description and the injustice system to 
wage war on the internal colonies.

According to Philips, Bradley's action hurt the image the police 
are trying to build. "Community policing" has gotten a big push 
from the new police chief, Paula Meara, and actions like Bradley's 
hurt that. Community policing is where the police walk beats and 
try to get to know the community more closely. This allows for 
more effective control on the part of the police. If the 
Springfield police were looking for a motto, perhaps we could 
suggest "Kinder, gentler, and really fucking deadly". Officers 
like Bradley hurt community policing because it makes it harder 
for the police to gain the "trust" of the communities occupied by 
the police.

The Police Commission that fired Bradley has ordered "all 
Springfield police officers to undergo race sensitivity training." 
It's essential to the police department that its officers cease 
with diversionary activities like ham-giving and prank calls and 
get back to the business of "gang suppression" and other anti-
Black and Latino oppression.


WILL A WOMYN POLICE CHIEF HELP?


In January, Mayor Albano named Paula Meara police chief. Some 
community leaders hoped that her history of battling sexism within 
the police department might make her more "sensitive" to "issues 
of discrimination."

President of the Springfield NAACP, Mickey Harris has remarked 
"Certainly she's talking the talk, but can she walk the walk?" As 
if to answer, Swan told the Advocate that he wondered if the 
police would have responded so quickly if an officer less 
notorious than Bradley had made the call. So while Meara didn't 
have a choice here, this wasn't a real test.

Harris also compared the Bradley phone call to the Rodney King 
incident: common occurrences that brought outrage from the state 
because luck had them recorded.

If any doubts remain about Meara's "tolerance", one need only to 
look at what the Advocate reported about their conversation with 
her about the elderly Black woman abused by the police:

"Meara declined to say much about the incident, other than that 
the Internal Investigations Unit is looking to the charges of 
impropriety. The woman, Meara added is still a defendant in a 
criminal case." It doesn't take a defense attorney to understand 
that to Meara, if you have been charged with a crime, being maced 
and verbally abused is within the realm of acceptability.

Springfield Mayor Albano is "arranging for Springfield's religious 
community to observe a day of reflection on racism." If Albano was 
truly interested in reflection on racism (or more accurately, 
national oppression) he should start by looking in a mirror.


Notes: All quotes from Boston Globe July 17, 1996; Valley Advocate 
July 18, 1996, p. 8-9.
Other sources: MIM Notes 91, August 1994 p. 5; Springfield Union 
News July 7, 9 and 11, 1994. 


* * *


ACTIVISTS WIN BATTLE AGAINST UMASS CENSORSHIP 


AMHERST, MA.--On July 17, student activists sympathetic to RAIL 
have won a battle against censorship at the University of 
Massachusetts. The July 15 issue of RAIL Notes reported that 
students were banned from tabling at in the student-funded Campus 
Center/Student Union complex--which is one of the few high traffic 
areas in the summer--while large corporations like Baybank, Fleet 
Bank and Peter Pan bus lines as well as the police department 
where allowed to set up informational tables.

In just a few days, the activists gathered over 160 signatures 
defending their right to distribute literature. As RAIL Notes 
reported, the University wanted to keep the activists away from 
the "impressionable" incoming students and their parents. The 
activists took their petitions directly to the new students and 
their parents. 

According to the student bureaucrat responsible for overseeing 
tabling in the Campus Center/Student union, neither pressure from 
the New Students program nor the petitions swayed her decision to 
allow student organizations to set up tables. She says that she 
just changed her mind.

Twice the activists were able to table with a minimum of 
harassment in the last week. However, the activists have received 
no written assurance that they can table freely, and it is unknown 
whether the student bureaucrats' letter to administrators asking 
them to stop the activists from tabling is still in circulation. 
Finally, a meeting of the student-led Campus Center/Student Union 
Commission to announce the new policy has twice been scheduled and 
then moved or canceled, leaving the activists to wonder how solid 
their "victory" actually is.

The most important lesson from this small struggle is the 
necessity of not bowing down before the self-serving and self-
imposed reactionary regulations of bureaucrats. The student 
bureaucrat had raised all kinds of objections to the activists 
setting up tables or to changing her regulations, ranging from the 
work it would take to oversee the activists, to the fact that she 
didn't have authority to change her organization's policy. 

It is an important Maoist principle that "There are no rights, 
only power struggles." Not only did the activists earn the ability 
to distribute their literature, they also took this principle a 
step farther: "There are no regulations, only power struggles." 
Don't back down because the
reactionaries wrote rules to support themselves! 


* * *

FIRST NATIONS:

PENOBSCOTTS OPPOSE MAINE TAXES

ACADIA, MAINE--On July 14th, MIM spoke with several traders from 
the Penobscott nation and other First Nations sometimes linked to 
the Wabanaki Confederacy. Only one spoke for the policy of paying 
taxes to Maine.

"I have nothing against it," he said. When asked if he thought of 
himself as a citizen of Maine, he nodded yes. However, even his 
partner in business disagreed with him and said, "the Mohawks 
don't have to pay it on their reserve. I don't see why we have it 
to pay it."

Another Penobscott from the Turquoise Arrowhead store was more 
adamant. "I don't believe we should be charged taxes no matter 
where we live. . . there's a whole bunch of taxes, starting with 
the land tax; what a rip-off." When told about the one who said he 
was a citizen of Maine, "citizen of Maine. Paying taxes to Maine, 
that's for the white people. Maine is for the white people."


PATAKI BACKS DOWN


SENECA NATION TERRITORY--The office of New York State Governor 
George Pataki has backed down from threats to collect the New York 
State tax by invading Seneca territory. Originally his goons were 
to arrive this summer on First Nation territory.

One Seneca had this to say about it, "If they want to go through 
with it, we're just going to put a toll booth on both sides of the 
highway [passing through Seneca territory--ed.] . . . 25 cents a 
car or whatever it takes, if that's what they want to play with."

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