This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
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THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT
MIM Notes 179 February 1, 1999
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. CALIFORNIA'S DUNGEONS DRIVE HIV+ PRISONER TO SUICIDE
2. SOME FACTS ABOUT HIV/AIDS IN AMERIKAN PRISONS:
3. MIM CONGRESS SEEKS INPUT ON UNITED FRONT
4. LETTERS
5. AMERIKA PROVOKES FIGHT OVER NO-FLY ZONES
6. LATINOS MORE LIKELY TO LACK HEALTH INSURANCE
7. THE SALLY SHOW WHOOPS IT UP FOR FASCISM
8. DROP IN ILLEGAL MURDER RATES FUELS POLICE STATE HYPE
MORE COPS, MORE PRISONS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DROP
9. PLANTATION NATION CONVICTS ALBERT WOODFOX
10. PHILIPPINES: FORMER DICTATOR'S CRONIES REGAIN
STOLEN WEALTH
11. DOWN WITH BUREAUCRAT CAPITALISM!
12. JOINT DECLARATION BY COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MARXIST-
LENINIST)[PEOPLE'S WAR], AND COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA
(MARXIST-LENINIST)[PARTY UNITY]
13. IMPERIALISTS USE LIES ABOUT KHMER ROUGE TO SLANDER
REAL COMMUNISTS
14. REVIEW: A CIVIL ACTION
15. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS
* * *
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
* * *
CALIFORNIA'S DUNGEONS DRIVE HIV+ PRISONER TO SUICIDE
California prisoner Michael Van Straaten hanged himself
in front of prison staff in order to protest the treatment
he and other California prisoners with HIV/AIDS receive.
Guards found him hanging in the corner of his cell and
watched him for 18 minutes before they entered to pronounce
him dead. His body was still warm and limber when they cut
it down.(1)
Van Straaten, a 32-year old Canadian citizen, was
transferred in the mid-90s to the HIV+ unit at Corcoran
State Prison, which holds 230 prisoners. California is one
of only three states (the others are Alabama and
Mississippi) that segregate their HIV+ inmates by housing
them in separate units in each prison.(2) Corcoran has
become a dumping ground for HIV+ patients.
Corcoran's HIV+ unit is infamous for its poor health
care. Prisoners get sub-standard treatment and their viral
loads are not adequately monitored. The first AIDS fatality
at Corcoran died of an easily treatable opportunistic
infection. One former prisoner wrote, "Even with signs of
the yeast infection in his mouth, his condition went
untreated... He was allowed to remain in his cell for
almost three weeks unattended and unmonitored by the
medical staff. He condition rapidly worsened, he developed
pneumonia and his lungs filled. By the time he was taken to
the hospital he had wasted away to near nothing. He lasted
three days in the hospital."(3)
Another prisoner at the unit wrote, "My greatest concern
about Corcoran is that once I got very sick, I would not
receive proper care, and I would die miserably."(2)
Van Straaten claimed that his medications for his
seizures (he also had epilepsy) and HIV were delayed and
sometimes denied. With the help of California prisoners'
rights activists, friends and family in Canada, and even
the Canadian embassy, Van Straaten was fighting to be
transferred to the medical facility at Vacaville or a
prison in Canada. His requests for transfer were repeatedly
denied for several years.
Just before he comitted suicide, Van Straaten was again
denied a transfer and was placed in solitary confinement
following an epileptic seizure.
Fellow prisoners said that the first two guards to
arrive at the cell "actually yelled at him to come down, to
stop his suicide." Van Straaten was pronounced dead 20
minutes later, after guards had taken no action to aid
him.(4)
Van Straaten's frustration, the terrible medical care
prisoners with AIDS receive, and guards callous disregard
for Van Straaten's very life are the results of a system
which considers prisoners to be slaves or bodies to be
warehoused or worse. The dramatic four-fold expansion of
the Amerikan prison population has been fueled in large
part by harsh sentences for drug users - a population at
high risk for HIV infection. The result is that many people
already given outrageous sentences for petty, non-violent
crimes in effect receive a death sentence, thanks to the
poor care HIV+ prisoners receive.
Adequate heath care is a non-negotiable right. Certainly
it is possible to provide prisoners with adequate HIV/AIDS
care (and treatment for other diseases as well) - but the
ideology which considers prisoners less than humyn and the
increasing role that the profit motive plays in prisons
denies them care. Prisoners should receive the same
standard of care that non-prisoners do. Prisoners should
also have access to basic measures which stop the spread of
HIV, such as clean needles and condoms.
Ultimately, the best way to ensure adequate health care
for prisoners is to overturn the systems of oppression
which intersect in Amerikan prisons: National oppression,
which denies economic opportunity in Black, Latino, First
Nation and other communities and which locks people from
these nations up at unjust disproportionate rates, and
capitalism, which places profit before humyn needs.
We understand the desperation of prisoners like Van
Straaten who see no alternative to protest the system that
is torturing and killing them and many others, but we value
the lives of our fighting comrades and encourage all who
want to protest the injustice system to join with MIM for
the long fight. Work with us to expose the system and
organize others into the struggle. Send us news and
information about what's going on in your prison, circulate
MIM Notes to other prisoners, form study groups and work
with us and other prisoners in the legal fight while we
build a revolutionary movement to take down the injustice
system.
Notes:
1. Los Angeles Times, 19 Dec 98.
2. "POZ: Lethal Lottery,"
http://www.thebody.com/poz/survival/11_98/lottery.html.
3. "Conditions faced by prisoners with HIV/AIDS in
California,"
http://www.igc.apc.org/justice/articles/conditions-faced-
by-prisoners-with.html.
4. Los Angeles Times, 24 Dec 98.
* * *
SOME FACTS ABOUT HIV/AIDS IN AMERIKAN PRISONS:
* AIDS is the main cause of death in Amerikan prisons.
* The life expectancy of HIV+ prisoners is half that of
HIV+ non-prisoners.
* The AIDS rate is seven times higher in state and federal
prisons than in the general U.S. population.
* In New York, more than 25% of prison AIDS diagnoses were
first made after the affected prisoner was dead.
* In New York, 47% of prisoners with AIDS were "Hispanic,"
40% were black, and 11.5% were white.
* California prisons which do not have special units for
HIV+ prisoners provide no HIV/AIDS education.
* Few California prisons supply condoms and none supply
bleach kits to sterilize needles to inmates. Unprotected
sex and sharing dirty needles are two important ways that
HIV is transmitted.
* More than 22 million people are released each year from
Amerikan jails and prisons.
* In 1988, California voters passed Proposition 96, an
initiative authored by the sheriff of Los Angeles County
requiring prison and jail physicians to give lists of
known or suspected HIV-infected prisoners to correctional
staff.
Sources:
"AIDS and HIV Infection in Prisoners,"
http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/akb/1997/01pris.
"AIDS in Prison Project: Facts Sheet,"
http://www.aidsinfonyc.org/aip/facts.html.
"POZ: Lethal Lottery,"
http://www.thebody.com/poz/survival/11_98/lottery.html.
"Welcome to Hell: HIV+ In Prison,"
http://sonomacountyfreepress.org/welcome/welhiv.html.
* * *
MIM CONGRESS SEEKS INPUT ON UNITED FRONT
The Maoist Internationalist Movement's 1999 Congress is
quickly approaching. MIM encourages its allies and friends,
both international and domestic, to submit greetings and
solidarity statements to the Congress.
MIM particularly requests input on how to develop the
proletarian-led united front within imperialist countries,
in accordance with the science of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
We would like any and all suggestions on how to solidify
proletarian leadership in the anti-imperialist struggle of
the internal colonies, the oppressed nations within
imperialist countries' borders.
We would also like any and all suggestions on how to
formulate programs and strategies to split away the petty-
bourgeoisie from the imperialists in the imperialist
countries while remaining true to the interests of the
international proletariat.
Please send you statements to MIM Notes, PO Box 3576,
Ann Arbor MI, 48106, or e-mail them to mim@mim.org, or give
them to your local MIM representative.
* * *
LETTERS
[The print version of this issue accidentally ran an old
letter from a prisoner along with a response to a
different letter. That is not reprinted here.]
Build independent media!
*MIM received the following letter in response to the
article in MIM Notes 178 denouncing 20/20's slanderous
coverage of Mumia Abu Jamal's case and stressing the
importance of Party-led media.*
I agree that being in control of the media is important.
I think protests are somewhat less effective, or sometimes
a waste of energy. The point of protesting is to bring an
issue to people's attention, and couldn't that be done as
effectively with less effort through the media?
If RAIL or MIM needs volunteers for work involving the
media or literature, please let me and others know.
MIM responds:
We do need volunteers and there are many ways you (and
others) can help out.
(1) Help distribute MIM and RAIL publications. Drop
newsletters for free at cafes, laundromats, bookstores,
libraries, supermarkets - wherever people will pick them
up. Or hand them out on the street and talk to people about
the importance of an anti-imperialist perspective.
Put up posters on current issues with an anti-
imperialist perspective around town (the article on Mumia
you read has been turned into a flyer and posted throughout
several cities).
(2) Raise money to help expand MIM and RAIL
publications. Years ago MIM Notes used to be several
photocopied papers with a very small distribution - now MIM
Notes is a bi-weekly 12 page newspaper distributed across
the continent and internationally. The expansion was made
possible by the financial contributions of the masses.
The easiest way to contribute financially is to get a
subscription to MIM Notes ($20 for 24 issues).
(3) Write for RAIL or MIM publications. There are
hundreds of issues which are relevant to anti-imperialist,
anti-oppression politics - police brutality, prisons, the
environment, anti-Black, anti-Latino, anti-First Nation,
and anti-Asian chauvinism, anti-gay and anti-wimmin
chauvinism, etc. etc. etc. The small MIM and RAIL writing
staffs can't cover all these issues in all their details
all the time - we depend on input from our readers. And we
need to expand and improve our writing staff. You can help.
RAIL Notes and MIM Notes accept submissions of articles
on relevant, "newsy" topics.
Regarding protests: Protests are partly about bringing
an issue to public awareness, it is true. And part of the
point of the article on the 20/20 debacle was that if you
depend on the bourgeois media to publicize your protest,
you are setting yourself up to have your message distorted
or just not spread.
But protests fulfill other roles as well - e.g. putting
direct pressure on our enemies. Two years ago, when RAIL
protested FBI recruitment at UCSB, the FBI cancelled their
recruiting session. RAIL and MIM also helped kick the CIA
off of the UCLA campus.
* * *
AMERIKA PROVOKES FIGHT OVER NO-FLY ZONES
On January 3, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein vowed that
Iraq would attempt to shoot down Amerikan and English
planes patrolling the "no-fly zones". These zones cover the
Northern and Southern thirds of the country. The two
imperialist empires set up the no-fly zones in 1991 to
further weaken Iraq by removing Iraq's ability to use air
power against the Kurds in the North or Shiite Muslims in
the South. The U.$. uses alleged support for the people
inside Iraqi borders as a smokescreen for extending its own
hegemony in the area.
For example, Amerika and England are no friends of the
Kurds. In fact, the U.$ finances Turkey's bloody military
attacks on the Kurds.
Until the December 16 attacks by Amerikan and English
forces on Iraq, France was participating in the no-fly
zones. For its own imperialist reasons France opposes
continuing military actions and sanctions against Iraq.
Evidently France wants to go back to the usual World War
III war of slow death by imperialist exploitation, with
imperialist-funded neo-colonial armies doing the
imperialists' dirty work.
Hussein's January statement to his Cabinet repeated
claims by lower officials that planes in Iraqi airspace
would be fired upon. Iraq's decisions to stop UN weapons
inspections and shoot back at foreign planes violating its
airspace are a sign to the u.$.: If you act like a spoiled
bully, used to getting your way on every detail, then you
will be treated like one and resisted. The shameless
aggression of the u.$. and its craven attempts to pawn this
aggression off as just peacemaking have stirred up anti-
Amerikan sentiment in the Middle East and around the world.
Since the 4 nights of bombing in December, U.$. planes
have attacked Iraq at least twice, allegedly because Iraqi
air defenses fired on U.$. planes. According to Iraq, 4
soldiers and one farmer were killed.
The U.$. claims that its policies in Iraq are not
Amerikan policy, but are attempts to enforce United Nations
resolutions. But the no-fly zones are Amerikan-British
inventions and are not authorized by the Security Council.
Regardless, MIM opposes imperialist intervention in Iraq,
whether it is U.$ or UN led.
Within the current imperialist system, international law
formally requires nations to respect the sovereignty and
borders of other nations. Imagine how outraged the United
States would be if Mexico banned U.$. police and military
planes and helicopters from California and Texas. After
all, Amerika does use those military forces to oppress its
internal colonies. And Mexico has a claim to those states,
since they were stolen from Mexico by war in 1848. If that
were the case, the U.$. would be running around claiming
all kinds of violations of international law.
MIM supports revolution against imperialist domination.
Where the borders of one nation ends and another starts is
something that only can be determined as part of the
struggle of oppressed nations for true self-determination.
The maps drawn up by the imperialists at the United
Nations, Wall Street, Washington D.C. and London only serve
to weaken the oppressed and extend the life of this dying
system.
Note: Boston Globe 4 January 1999. p. A12.
* * *
LATINOS MORE LIKELY TO LACK HEALTH INSURANCE
A recent UCLA study of health insurance coverage found
that Latinos were disproportionately represented in urban
areas with high proportions of uninsured people. Latinos
make up one-third of the population in such areas and only
4% of areas with low proportions of uninsured. El Paso, Los
Angeles, and Houston have the highest proportions of
uninsured residents - El Paso has 39% uninsured, and Los
Angeles and Houston each have 31%. The average for the u.$.
is 18%.(1)
These numbers come as no surprise to MIM. The percent of
"Hispanics" without health insurance in 1996 was 33.6%.
This compares with 14.4% of whites. (2)
The UCLA study also found that cities with the most
uninsured tend to have more small employers and low-wage
workers. Most Latinos without health insurance likely work
in sectors dominated by proletarians or the small scale
service sector like food preparation and house cleaning so
this correlation with these types of jobs also makes sense.
In California, many Mexican immigrants are worried that
enrolling in the state subsidized medical program (MediCal)
will jeopardize their families' immigration and
naturalization status. These fears spring from the fascist
tactics of the INS and the general anti-immigrant
atmosphere in California.(1)
The strategy of national liberation and self-
determination for oppressed nations can contribute more to
ensuring universal health care that petitioning a bourgeois
state dominated by white chauvinism. Similarly, the failure
of liberals like Clinton to effect even moderate
improvements in health care accessibility show the
relevance of socialism, which puts the health of the broad
masses before the profits of insurance companies and health
care providers.
Notes:
1. LA Times, 18 Dec 98.
2. Hispanic Americans: A Statistical Sourcebook, 1998.
Louise L. Horner ed, Information Publications 1998
* * *
THE SALLY SHOW WHOOPS IT UP FOR FASCISM
Talk show host Sally Jesse Rafael filmed the
incarceration of six youth in the Essex County Detention
Center on a show which aired December 22. The youth
admitted to recreational drug use and other petty "crimes"
like turnstile jumping. Their parents brought them on the
Sally4 show knowing that they would be physically detained
on the show and forced to spend 24 hours in the detention
center. The youth were filmed as they were shouted at,
manhandled and handcuffed, locked down for nine hours, and
forced to participate in military-style drills. Sally's
audience applauded and cheered as these so-called "out-of-
control teens" got their comeuppance in the audience's
eyes.
The Essex County Detention Center is run by Joe Clark,
who became infamous for his military approach to running a
predominately Black high school. As legend has it, he
patrolled the halls with a baseball bat.
Five of the six youth locked up on the Sally show were
white. Of all the groups in the white nation, the youth are
oppressed and therefore the social force closest to the
interests of the international proletariat. The state's
cops, courts, and jails stand behind parents' property
rights over their children. Youth are more likely to fight
in an Amerikan military adventure abroad. White youth are
also affected by the fascist growth of Amerikan prisons and
police resulting from the undeclared war on oppressed
nation youth.
The Sally show reflects the unscientific approach to
crime and punishment which dominates Amerikan public
discourse. No statistics regarding the effectiveness of
imprisonment as a means of curbing crime were presented, no
statistics illustrating who really gets locked up and why
were discussed, nobody presented documentation of the
brutal conditions prisoners convicted of the most petty
crimes face. The show merely reinforced patriarchal
attitudes towards children and used these to bolster the
current expansion of the Amerikan injustice system ñ all
under the cover of combating petty crime and building
youths' self-esteem.
One of the youths on the show explained that there was
little a harsh prison could do to change his behavior if he
was always returned to the same environment once released.
He also pointed out that wealthy kids could avoid prison
for the same behavior that got him locked up ñ a fact
backed up by numerous studies. The prison guards who were
on the show agreed with him on both points. Apparently they
were unconcerned that by agreeing they negated the previous
50 minutes on the show, which were devoted to selling the
idea that harsh incarceration makes a difference.
Sally deserves some credit for tackling an issue
relevant to oppressed people ñ even if from a reactionary
standpoint ñ and allowing the youth to speak for
themselves. On another channel at the same time the Sally
show aired, the Maury Povich show devoted an entire hour to
psychics who attempted to contact dead loved ones for
audience members.
Note:
See MIM Theory 11 for more information on how the Amerikan
injustice system really works.
* * *
DROP IN ILLEGAL MURDER RATES FUELS POLICE STATE HYPE
MORE COPS, MORE PRISONS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR DROP
By MC12
The drop in the U.$. illegal murder rate has some people
praising the police state again. From 1991 to 1997, the
official murder rate dropped from 9.8 to 6.8 per 100,000
people.(1) In some cities the drop in illegal murders in
1998 was drastic in the last year alone. New York City had
a 20% drop in murder in 1998, and Los Angeles had 27% fewer
murders last year.(2) In cities with a population of a
million or more, the illegal murder rate fell from 35.5 per
100,000 people in 1991 to 20.3 per 100,000 in 1997.(3)
In places like New York City, the police are busy taking
credit for the decline of illegal murders. And the mayor
has proposed completely eliminating parole for all people
convicted of felonies (4), as if skyrocketing imprisonment
was the cause of the drop in crime. In New York, the police
have increased arrests of people for petty crimes, on the
theory that they are stopping other crimes by busting
people randomly. Their strategy has received a lot of
attention, and because of the drop in illegal murders,
people say it is working.
Washington, D.C. provides counter evidence, however. In
D.C. the number of illegal murders fell 14% in 1998, and
they have decreased a total of almost 50% since 1991. The
greatest decrease was in the rate of people younger than 25
being killed illegally. So the trend in D.C. is like the
trend in New York.
But no one can say this big drop in D.C. murders is
because of "good" police work. The D.C. police department
has been in chaos all through the 1990s, starting the
decade by hiring hundreds of untrained recruits, and
subsequently going through five police chiefs and seven
commanders of the homicide division. The homicide "closure"
rate -- the percent of homicides that they arrest or
summarily execute someone for -- has fallen from 54% in
1991 to 39% in 1998.(5) In the country overall, the FBI
says there is a 66% closure rate on homicides.(1)
In fact, the number of people in jail and prison in D.C.
dropped 6% from 1990 to 1997, making it one of the few
places that has not kept up with constant increases, mostly
because the state apparatus was too disorganized to do its
repressive work effectively.(8)
So why is the murder rate going down right now? In our
opinion, it involves and upward swing in the economy and
perhaps a decline in the crack trade, which is a tribute to
the inner city masses who are increasingly rejecting the
white man's crack industry.(6)
In Washington, crack came on the scene in the late
1980s, right when the murder rate shot up, which was also
the case in other cities. Because crack was illegal and the
industry was highly competitive at the local level,
violence was an important part of gaining and controlling
market share. The violence associated with the trade spread
into other areas, for example leading other people to carry
guns to protect themselves, which increased the chance that
fights would be fatal.
By the 1990s, members of the oppressed nations, who were
being most victimized by crack-related violence, began
turning against it, and improvements in the economy made it
more possible to get other jobs. In D.C., where they drug
test people who are arrested, they report a large drop in
the number of young people arrested who test positive for
cocaine.(5)
Our point is not that imperialist economy will solve the
problems of the oppressed nations ñ it is primarily
responsible for those problems ñ nor are we suggesting that
the imperialists and their profiteer allies are giving up
on the illicit drug trade. Rather, we simply want to
emphasize that the downturn in illegal murders is not due
to more cops and more prisons.
Of course, proponents of the police state don't want to
give up the credit. "I'd like to believe our policing is
part of it, too," said the public safety direction of the
D.C. housing authority.(5) But there is no evidence that it
did.
In fact, a simple look at some evidence makes it look
like the economy is a the most important factor in the
illegal murder rate. The graph here shows the illegal
murder rate and the unemployment rate for people ages 16 to
19, from 1950 to 1997. The unemployment rate is supposed to
be the percent of people who are looking for jobs who can't
find them. It is not very accurately measured, but the way
it changes over time does show some of what's going on in
the economy. The teen unemployment rate in particular is
very susceptible to swings in the economy, the boom and
bust cycles of capitalism.
The graph shows the teen unemployment rate on the left
scale, and the murder rate on the right scale. The scales
are set differently, but they show how the two lines tend
to go up and down together. The connection looks strongest
in the 1980s and 1990s, when the two lines track each other
quite closely. So it does look like the economy, and
possibly the economic situation of young people, is pretty
tied up with the murder rate.
On the other hand, look at the number of people in
prison and jail, which is shown on the graph as well (in
hundreds of thousands, on the left-hand scale). The point
here is simple -- while the number of people locked up shot
straight up through the 1980s and 1990s, the murder rate
went up and down, apparently unconnected to the boom in
imprisonment. In fact, the old murder rates are lowest
when, back in the 1950s, the imprisonment rate was much
lower than it is today.(7)
The people who clamor for the police state don't care
about the murder rate. They have their own reasons for
wanting to imprison ever greater numbers of members of the
oppressed nations in North America. They want social
control of rebellious youth, they want slave labor, and
they want to keep the white nation politically united in
opposition to the nations it oppresses. The crack boom was
great for the police state, because it helped all these
purposes. Now that the murder rate is going down, they'll
say it's because they lock so many people up. And when the
murder rate goes up again, they'll say they need to lock
even more people up.
MIM does its best to expose these real crimes against
the people, the imprisonment of almost 2 million being
chief among them, to help the oppressed nations unite in
their opposition to the system that commits these crimes
and then lies about them to cover their tracks.
Notes:
1. Bureau of Justice Statistics, "Homicide trends in the
United States." www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/homicide/homtrnd.htm.
Statistics on other crimes are down, too, but MIM doesn't
pay much attention to those because they are so
inaccurately reported compared to illegal murders. MIM
refers to "illegal murders" in this case because the
biggest murderers -- the imperialists, their corporations
and their armies -- aren't doing anything illegal by
bourgeois standards, and their crimes go unreported in
official crime statistics.
2. AP December 31, 1998.
3. Reuters January 2, 1999.
4. NPR 1/6/99
5. Washington Post, January 1, 1999; Page A1
6. See coverage of the CIA's role in cocaine importation
and the bourgeois media's complicity in the cover-up in MIM
Notes 140, June 15, 1997.
7. For the historical trends, see The Real War on Crime:
The Report of the National Criminal Justice Commission,
edited by Stephen R. Donziger, HarperCollins, 1996. The
unemployment rates here are from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics (www.bls.gov). The murder rates are from
"Homicide trends," op cit. The imprisonment numbers are
from various sources: New York Times 1/19/98, p. A10; U.S.
Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics
Bulletin, "Prison and Jail Inmates at Midyear 1996". Jan.
1997, (NCJ #162843); The Real War on Crime, op cit.
8. Statistical Abstract of the United States 1998, p. 229.,
and U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice
Statistics Bulletin, "Prisoners in 1997," August 1998 (NCJ
#170014).
* * *
PLANTATION NATION CONVICTS ALBERT WOODFOX
"I'm gonna weather this, and one day we'll all sit down
and laugh about it. We'll laugh about how we beat the
oppressor." This was the revolutionary optimism of former
Black Panther Albert Woodfox in the face of his second
conviction on murder charges by a nearly all white jury on
Dec. 16 in a little cracker court in a little cracker town
in a big cracker empire. As reported in MN 178, Woodfox's
earlier conviction for the 1971 killing of a white prison
pig at Angola was overturned in 1992. Angola, often called
the bloodiest prison in the u$, has an inmate population
that is 77% Black, was built on the site of a former slave
plantation, and was given its name for the area in Africa
where the colonials got their slaves. This "retrial" and
its outcome are just as sorry as Woodfox's original
railroading at the hands of the criminal injustice system
on the imperialist plantation known as amerikkka.
The "crime" which sends most prisoners to this
plantation is being part of the international proletariat
that is a revolutionary threat to the slave master
imperialists and their white middle class shock troops.
Demonstrated proletarian leaders are especially singled out
for extermination to demoralize any national liberation
movements before they challenge this bogus colonial empire.
So it is no surprise that this system returns a verdict
that sends Woodfox back to solitary confinement at Angola
after he has spent the last 24 years there. He will join
his Panther comrade and codefendant, Herman "Hooks"
Wallace, who has been in solitary for 26 years and is still
fighting for a new trial.
The jury carried out its reactionary role and ignored:
1. The fact that the state produced no physical evidence
linking Woodfox to the "crime,"
2. All physical evidence that was produced pointed to
Woodfox's innocence,
3. One of the state's "eyewitnesses", a known snitch, was
proven to have been paid off for his testimony, which the
state had previously denied,
4. The state's only other "eyewitness" took the stand during
the retrial and admitted he had seen nothing of the
killing.
It's no surprise that these and other important facts of
the case didn't figure into the verdict. As with the
amerikkkan injustice system generally, the point is to
protect the white settler nation and its privileges against
its internal colonies and their revolutionary national
aspirations. So the point in this trial, which the jury
got, was the heavy armed pig presence in the courtroom. The
point was the pig judge who denied most every defense
objection and sustained most every prosekution objection.
The point was the prosekutor oinking on and on about
Woodfox's leadership role in the prison Panthers, his
righteous revolutionary statements, and his consistently
correct spelling of amerikkka "with three k's."
With this reactionary judge allowing the prosekutor to
introduce bundles of hearsay "evidence" as well as
"evidence" that was clearly prejudicial to Woodfox, there
are ample grounds for appeal. Our duty is to support the
legal struggle for this leader and to build public opinion
for his release while exposing the reactionaries who keep
him under lock and key.
The nagging problem for imperialism, of course, is that
it digs its own grave. Albert Woodfox was radicalized and
became a revolutionary as a member of the oppressed Black
nation. These krackers have no choice but to bomb,
assassinate, and incarcerate the Third World to continue
their plunder of people, land, and resources. But this
oppression always breeds revolutionaries. Geronimo Pratt
says this about the Angola Two:
Albert Woodfox and Herman "Hooks" Wallace are very dear
to me because they come from my home state of Louisiana.
The Louisiana chapter of the Black Panther Party was one of
the best chapters we organized and they were some of our
best, most disciplined soldiers. They were the kind of
soldiers that never cried out for to anyone for help, even
though they were facing life imprisonment. I can personally
attest to the highly disciplined and dedicated nature of
these two askaris.(1)
This is why we are right to follow the revolutionary
optimism of Albert Woodfox and to take the strategic view
of the struggle against this white colonial empire while we
fight to free all oppressed nationals from the grips of
this korrupt kapitalist korrectional system. In the long
run this big kracker empire with its little kracker towns
and little kracker pigs, judges, and prosekutors is just
another paper tiger. Mao had it right:
Imperialism will not last long because it always does
evil things. It persists in grooming and supporting
reactionaries in all countries who are against the people,
it has forcibly seized many colonies and semi-colonies and
many military bases, and it threatens the peace with atomic
war. Thus, forced by imperialism to do so, 90 per cent of
the people of the world are rising up or will rise up
against it.(2)
Then we will all sit down and laugh about how we beat the
oppressor.
Notes:
1. "Southern Justice Prevails -- Albert Woodfox Convicted
Again." http://www.prisonactivist.org/angolatwo
2. Mao Zedong, "Interview with a Hsinhua News Agency
correspondent," Sept. 29, 1958.
* * *
PHILIPPINES: FORMER DICTATOR'S CRONIES REGAIN STOLEN
WEALTH
Imelda Marcos, wife of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos,
boasted of her family's ill-gotten wealth in a recent
interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer. "We
practically own everything in the Philippines, from
electricity, telecommunications, airline, banking, beer and
tobacco, newspaper publishing, television stations,
shipping, oil and mining, hotels and beach resorts, down to
coconut milling, small farms, real estate and
insurance."(1) Imelda is currently suing the Marcoses'
former cronies, who she says were entrusted by the former
dictator with over one hundred companies in key sectors of
the Philippine economy. The companies are worth over U$D 12
billion.
According to the Inquirer, Imelda is about to cut a deal
with current Philippine President Estrada, granting her
access to U$D 570 million of alleged assets which are
currently frozen in escrow. This is despite the fact that
according to the government's own laws, any assets over the
U$D 500,000 which the Marcoses claimed on their tax returns
are considered ill-gotten.(2)
While she scraps with former cronies over stolen booty,
Imelda continues to deny indemnities to thousands of
victims of human rights abuses under the Marcos
dictatorship. Swiss and U$ courts granted victims of human
rights violations during the Marcos dictatorship 30% of the
U$D 570 million in escrow.(3) Imelda, Estrada, and crooked
lawyers are conspiring to withhold victims'
compensation.(4)
Imelda's open attempts to recover sequestered wealth and
her arrogance towards the thousands tortured by the U$-
Marcos regime are clear signs that the Marcoses and their
cronies have returned to power in the Philippines. The
Marcos dictatorship was overturned in 1986 after more than
a decade of struggle led by the National Democratic Front
of the Philippines, the New People's Army, and the
Communist Party of the Philippines. But with u.$. support,
Philippine reactionaries were able to install a series of
governments which carried out superficial reforms. They
remained puppet regimes of the u.$., dominated by corrupt
bureaucrat capitalists (see "Down with Bureaucrat
Capitalism!"). That is why human rights abuses actually
increased under the regimes of Corey Aquino, Fidel Ramos,
and now Joseph Estrada. That is why the Marcoses and their
cronies are now able to retake positions of power in the
government and economy.
While the government in Manila exposes itself as
reactionary-infested, the Communist Party of the
Philippines leads a revolutionary movement to set up a
state which truly serves the people and brings them true
justice. Accordingly, the CPP has called on the New
People's Army to arrest the relatives and other minions of
former dictator Marcos, especially Imelda Marcos.(5)
Notes:
1. Philippine Daily Inquirer, 5-9 Dec 1998,
http://www.inquirer.net.
2. Philippine Daily Inquirer, 30 Dec 1998,
http://www.inquirer.net.
3. "NDF Human Rights Committee Chair Reiterates NDF's
Position on the Human Rights Cases,"
http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/update.htm.
4. "Estrada will not fulfill his promise," Ang Bayan, 10
Dec 1998, http://members.xoom.com/cppndf/abd10e.pdf.
5. MIM Notes 174, 15 Nov 1998.
* * *
DOWN WITH BUREAUCRAT CAPITALISM!
The Marcoses, Corey Aquino, Fidel Ramos, and now Joseph
Estrada are all examples of puppets of u.$. imperialism,
a.k.a. running dogs, a.k.a. bureaucrat capitalists.
Bureaucrat capitalists are the tiny minority within an
oppressed nation bribed to defend imperialist economic,
political, and military interests by any means necessary.
This phenomenon is not limited to the Marcoses and their
cronies, nor is it limited to the Philippines. It is a
central strategy of the imperialists for maintaining
control over their neo-colonies.
The following excerpts are from "Philippine Society and
Revolution," which lays out the basic line of the anti-
imperialist, national democratic struggle led by the
Communist Party of the Philippines. This book explains
basic Marxist-Leninist-Maoist tenets and integrates them
with Philippine reality, and serves as an example to
oppressed-nation revolutionaries, even outside of the
Philippines. Copies are available from MIM for $20. Write
to MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI, 48106.
The meaning of bureaucrat capitalism. In dominating the
Philippines, US imperialism, like its colonial
predecessors, found it expedient at the outset to secure
the assistance of local traitorsÖ
With US imperialism enlarging its interests at the
expense of the broad masses of the people, the colonial
bureaucrats have become bureaucrat capitalists. They are
capitalists by keeping the entire government as a large
private enterprise from which they draw enormous private
profits. They act like the local managers of the US
monopolies. They serve the comprador-big bourgeoisie and
the landlord class which are their internal material basis.
Nevertheless, as distinguished from these two exploiting
classes, the bureaucrat capitalists build up or expand
their wealth through the exercise of political powerÖ
Sources of graft and corruption. Graft and corruption is
an integral part of a semicolonial and semifeudal society.
The bureaucracy is nothing but an instrument for
facilitating the exploitation of the broad masses of the
people by foreign and feudal interests. The bureaucrat
capitalists merely extract their share in the profits of
comprador and landlord exploitationÖ
At every turn in the history of Philippine bureaucracy,
there are special sources of graft and corruption. These
could be crop loans, relief goods, war surplus goods,
reconstruction funds, Chinese immigration quota, import
controls, price controls, dollar allocations, rural banks,
fake cooperatives, Japanese war reparations, deportation
threats, alien naturalization, logging and mining
concessions, pasture leases, stock exchange manipulations,
government loans and subscriptions to private corporations,
congressional allowances, calamity and contingency funds,
barrio improvement funds, subsidies and so on and so forth.
The bureaucrat capitalists also venture into the most
starkly illegitimate activities. They are involved in
smuggling, usury, plain extortion, gambling, cattle-
rustling and prostitutionÖ In this connection, the
reactionary troops and police and the private goons of
local officials also grow fat on the most anti-social
activities.
Fascism. The bureaucrat capitalists perform the special
function of deceiving the people with incantations of
national chauvinism and bourgeois populismÖ When they
become desperate, they resort inevitably to the use of the
state as a coercive instrument of class dictatorship. They
call for "national discipline" to suppress the people's
democratic rightsÖ
Bureaucrat capitalism is the basis for local fascism.
The bureaucrat capitalists are too well compensated by US
Imperialism and the local exploiting classes to change
their oppressive character in favor of the people. They
will go to every length in protecting the interests of
their own clique and in keeping the sources of their graft
and corruption. In the face of an opposition even coming
from another clique of their own class, the bureaucrat
capitalists never hesitate to make use of armed force one
way or another to preserve their power.
In the face of a revolutionary mass movement, the
bureaucrat capitalists are even more vicious in using their
armed power. They are the first line of defense on behalf
of their imperialist and feudal mastersÖ
The bureaucrat capitalists who turn into barefaced
fascists take after their imperialist masters in brutality.
For seven decades [as of 1970] , US Imperialism has taught
them how to launch counterrevolutionary violence and has
improved their weapons and techniquesÖ There has not been a
single decade in Philippine history that is not stained by
the blood of the people spilled by imperialism and its
running dogs since the beginning of the centuryÖ
The rise of fascism is not actually a sign of strength.
It is in essence a show of despair and weakness by the
diehard reactionaries. It shows they have ceased to fool
the people with wordsÖ The exposure of the violent
character of the reactionaries will only teach the masses
to defend themselves and assert their own power.
* * *
JOINT DECLARATION BY COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA (MARXIST-
LENINIST)[PEOPLE'S WAR], AND COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA
(MARXIST-LENINIST)[PARTY UNITY]
The Central Committees of CPI(M-L)[People's War] and
CPI(M-L)[Party Unity] after a week-long bilateral meeting
in August,1998 resolved to merge their respective
organisations into a single, unified Party with immediate
effect.
The new Party shall henceforth be known as CPI(M-
L)[People's War] and shall be guided by newly constituted
Central Committee.
The merger of the two parties is the culmination of the
unity process which began in March '93 and continued for
over five years during which differences on several
political, ideological and organisational questions were
resolved through thread-bare discussion. The new party
adopted the Party Programme and Constitution, Strategy and
Tactics and Political Resolutions as its basic documents.
Both CPI(M-L)[PW] and CPI(M-L)[PU] have their origins in
the CPI(M-L) formed in 1969 under the leadership of our
beloved leader Comrade Charu Majumdar. The CPI(M-L) itself
is the continuation of the all that is revolutionary in the
Indian Communist movement and the inheritor of the glorious
Telengana, Tebhaga, Punapra-Vayalar and other revolutionary
struggles. It is the direct product of the glorious
Naxalbari struggle.
Both CPI(M-L)[PW] and CPI(M-L)[PU] have continued the
revolutionary legacy of glorious Naxalbari, Srikakulam,
Birbhum, Debra-Gopiballavpur, Mushahari and Bhojpur
struggles, consistently adhered to the correct
revolutionary line of the 8th Congress of the Party held in
1970 and fought against both right and left opportunist
trends that appeared in the Marxist-Leninist movement
following the setback in 1972. The two Parties have been
leading class struggles in various parts of the country,
particularly armed struggles in Andhra Pradesh, North
Telengana, Bihar and Dandakaranya for almost two decades.
Both the Parties have consistently rejected the farce of
the Parliamentary democracy and unequivocally stood for
boycott of Parliamentary elections. Both believe that it is
only through the path of Protracted People's War and area-
wise seizure of political power that we can achieve victory
in the ongoing New Democratic Revolution in India, liberate
our motherland from the stranglehold of feudalism and
imperialism, ensure the various nationalities in the
country, right to self determination including the right to
secession and establish voluntary Union of Peoples
democratic republics of India as a first step which will be
transformed into a Union of Socialist Republics of India in
course of time.
Both Parties firmly believe that communism is the only
alternative before Mankind and that the only gifts the
decrepit, moribund, parasitic capitalism can give to
Mankind are death and destruction, unemployment and
disease, physical and intellectual slavery and degradation
of all human values cherished by Mankind over centuries of
its existence. The past 150 years since the clarion call
given by the path breaking Communist Manifesto have given
us immense experiences in making revolution and building
socialism. Taking lessons from these rich experiences and
guided by Marxism-Leninism-Mao thought, we do believe, we
can build socialism on even stronger foundations, check the
restoration of capitalism and advance towards communism. We
once again affirm that it is communism and communism alone
which can liberate Mankind from these miserable conditions
of existence, save the Planet from extinction and herald
the real dawn of history.
The merger of the two Parties has demonstrated that the
objectivity of the present political situation will
invariably lead to the regrouping of the revolutionary
forces and further consolidation of the revolutionary camp
in India.
The merger of the two Parties and emergence of a unified
centre mark a turning point in the Indian revolution. This
unity meets the aspirations of the broad masses of the
people and the vast ranks of the revolutionary forces in
the country and is in accordance with the objective needs
of class struggle. It signifies a qualitative leap in the
ongoing process of unification of genuine revolutionary
forces in the country and will contribute significantly to
advance the Indian revolution. In turn the unification of
the two parties will also contribute to the advancement of
the World socialist revolution of which the ongoing
revolution in India forms an important component.
Coming at a time when the Indian ruling classes have
launched a massive armed offensive against the
revolutionary forces in India, which has been stepped up
under the BJP led alliances at the Centre [BJP: Indian
bourgeois party in power-ed.], the unification of the two
Parties will aid the revolutionary forces to counter the
enemy offensive more effectively. The merger of the two
Parties and the formation of a unified centre is a fitting
reply to the current moves of the enemy forces to launch a
centralised, co-ordinated offensive against the
revolutionary forces through the joint coordination
constituted for the purpose.
Today the objective situation in the world is becoming
more and more favourable for revolution. Imperialism is
caught in its severest crisis since the Great Depression.
In India too, never before had economic, social and
political instability reached such a grave dimension since
the transfer of the Power (1947). The credibility of the
various Parliamentary parties including the revisionist
parties as well as the system of so called Parliamentary
democracy is at its lowest ebb. The vast masses are seeking
a revolutionary alternative to resolve their problems. The
working class, the broad masses of the peasantry, the
oppressed nationalities, students, youths, women, adivasis,
dalits, persecuted religious minorities and other sections
of Indian people oppressed by feudalism, imperialism, and
comprador bureaucratic capitalism are waging heroic
struggles which have further intensified in the wake of the
policies of liberalisation, privatisation, globalisation
and other such policies initiated by the Indian ruling
classes under the dictates of World Bank-I.M.F-W.T.O.
combine particularly since 1991. We call upon the people of
India to rally under the red revolutionary banner of the
newly united Party to deal effective blows on feudalism,
imperialism and comprador bureaucratic capital that are
oppressing and exploiting them.
The emergence of the united Party -- the Communist Party
of India(Marxist-Leninist)[People's War] -- does not mark
the completion of the process of unification of the genuine
communist revolutionary forces in India. The newly Unified
Party will continue its efforts in right earnest to achieve
this unification. We also call upon the other genuine
revolutionary elements in the various M-L parties in India
who are being led astray by both right and left opportunist
leadership, to fight against these deviations and rally
under the banner of the United Party. The United Party
pledges itself to avenge the death of thousands of martyrs
who fell in the course of the ongoing democratic revolution
in India paved with blood by these martyrs until their
cherished goals are accomplished. This is the era of
Revolutions.
Dare to fight! Dare to win!
Ganapathy General Secretary CPI(ML) [Peoples War]
N. Prasad General Secretary CPI(ML) [Party Unity]
Source: www.ptb.be/guests/guests.htm
* * *
IMPERIALISTS USE LIES ABOUT KHMER ROUGE TO SLANDER REAL
COMMUNISTS
The defection of two former Khmer Rouge officials to the
Cambodian government has the imperialists and their toadies
in the press trying to pin Amerikan imperialism's own
crimes on the Khmer Rouge. The current Cambodian government
is vacillating between reconciliation with the Khmer Rouge
and bowing to imperialist pressure and prosecuting former
Khmer Rouge leaders for alleged genocide. The imperialists
want a show trial of the Khmer Rouge because it would allow
them to spread their simplistic lies about communism.
The official imperialist mouthpiece style guide requires
writers to refer to the Khmer Rouge as "Maoist" - or even
"Ultra-Maoist" - and imply that the Khmer Rouge executed
between one and three million people. MIM has been
repeatedly refuted these lies for more than a decade and
will continue to do so. The facts are:
* The Khmer Rouge did not execute one, two or three million
people. They did execute between 75,000 and 150,000
people. Most of those executions took place in the
context of war between Vietnam and Cambodia.
* The u.$., on the other hand, did directly kill 600,000
Cambodians when it bombed and invaded Cambodia from 1969
to 1975.
* The Khmer Rouge was not Maoist.(1)
The inflated number of alleged Khmer Rouge executions
comes from attributing all deaths in that time period to
the Khmer Rouge. Many people did die of starvation in
Cambodia at that time, largely as a result of u.$. bombing
and invasion. The u.$. spent $7 billion on the bombing of
Cambodia, while doling out a pitiful $2.5 million in
economic aid to keep some of the two million Cambodian
refugees created by the bombings alive.(2) The Khmer Rouge
tried to do something about Cambodia's terrible economic
situation and the starving refugees. The u.$. puppet regime
which the Khmer Rouge replaced, on the other hand, was
content to let the people starve and beg the u.$.
government for food.
An aide for the two former Khmer Rouge officials
threatened that a show trial might turn into an
embarrassment for the u.$. "Implementing a trial would
involve the 200 days and nights of bombing in Cambodia. If
they push for this [trial] we will dig up the past and
present our own case."(3)
Indeed, people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw
stones. Not only is the u.$. implicated in the famine and
bombing deaths of so many Cambodians, the u.$. also
supported the Khmer Rouge after they lost state power. The
u.$. explicit policy at the time was to provoke military
conflict between Cambodia and Vietnam. And the list of
u.$.-sponsored mass murderers in southeast Asia is long.
For example, General Suharto came to power in Indonesia by
killing between 500,000 and one million people ñ many of
whom were on hit lists drawn up by the u.$. state
department.(4)
The Khmer Rouge never called itself Maoist while Mao was
alive, and Mao never considered the Khmer Rouge Maoist. The
Khmer Rouge criticized capitalist-roader Deng Xiaoping
until he took power in China, when they began to
wholeheartedly support him. So the Khmer Rouge's public
pronouncements of Maoism seem tailored to fit whatever they
thought China wanted to hear. The Khmer Rouge never
criticized the restoration of capitalism in China after
Mao's death, for example.(5)
While the Khmer Rouge is not a model for anti-
imperialists and communists, it is important to dispel
imperialist anti-communist slanders about the Khmer Rouge.
The imperialists lies about the Khmer Rouge are part of
their attempt to paint communists as thoroughly evil
hobgoblins.
Notes:
1. MIM Notes 162, 15 May 1998.
2. Marilyn Young, "The Vietnam Wars," New York: Harper
Collins, 1991, p.383.
3. Los Angeles Times, 2 Jan 1999.
4. Mark Zepezauer, "The CIA's Greatests Hits," Berkely:
Odonian Press, 1994, p. 30.
5. MIM Notes 41, 18 May 1990.
* * * *
REVIEW: A CIVIL ACTION
by Jonathan Harr
New York: Random House, 1995
The film "A Civil Action," which is a dramatization of
the events documented by this book, opened on 8 January
1999. This review originally appeared in MIM Theory 12,
"Environment, Society, & Revolution."
A Civil Action is an entertaining read for anyone with
an interest in corporate destruction of the environment and
the law. Jonathan Harr followed the case starting in 1986,
through an extravagant discovery process, 5 months of
trial, lavish settlement meetings and the beginning of an
appeal process to write this non-fiction account. The book
is fascinating largely because what would seem to be
cinematic exaggeration -- lawyers spending $20,000 to set
up two-day meetings for 3 people, paying $150,000 for one
day's worth of investigatory lab tests, and then expecting
several millions of dollars in payment at the end of the
casework -- is all documented and true.
A Civil Action explores in detail some of the
contradictions of capitalism exposed by Amerikan law. The
objective of the law is ostensibly to right social wrongs,
to provide balance among individuals' and organizations'
conflicting interests. But lawyers who spend their time
petitioning for legal judgments require money in exchange
for their time -- so the proceedings then have to serve two
purposes: right whatever is wrong and remunerate the
lawyers for their time. This means that lawyers frequently
decide which social wrongs to attempt to set right
according to which ones they think will yield the biggest
reward.
The legal process also acts out some contradictions
inherent to capitalism. In this case, the pressure to
dispose of waste cheaply, to quicken the production process
and decrease overhead was the direct cause of environmental
destruction. Under socialist planned production, we will
not see many cases like this one in which producers have
taken short cuts to increase profits and are attempting to
avoid correcting their errors. Under socialism, production
planning will take environmental factors into account and
profit will not be the sole judge of successful production.
Instead, production for a healthy society will be valued.
The facts here are astonishing for being a product of
First World circumstance. The plaintiffs Woburn were
poisoned and then developed cancer and died mostly within
10 years of when they had first gotten sick. In Amerika we
are used to seeing people poison themselves intentionally
with cigarettes and with fat- and preservative-filled foods
among other causes. But we do not frequently notice people
poisoned by their drinking water because pollutants are so
regularly exported to the Third World to get around
environmental restrictions designed to protect the
imperialist country citizens.
In reading accounts like this one, MIM focuses not on
the horrors of the individual medical accounts, but on the
industrial context in which they occur. Under imperialism,
the highest stage of capitalism, the unequal distribution
of wealth occurs evermore along national lines, as does the
unequal distribution of labor and of damage to the
environment. So while socialist planning would demand an
accounting of total resources and direct stresses to the
places that could most easily bear them, capitalism simply
uses and destroys the areas which are farthest from its
center of operations. The capitalists use up the resources
which are not in their own backyards and save their own
immediate surroundings -- partly in response to labor
aristocracy demands. This is conscious planning on the part
of imperialist administrators and not mere accident. The
fact that people in the First World clearly have the
capacity to buy and therefore use more polluting resources
than people in the Third World should make this clear:
someone is making sure that pollution is separated from
consumption.
Socialism -- not personal injury law
Personal injury law, while it can shed light on some
nasty goings on in the corporate world, is an oddly
decadent outgrowth of the Amerikan legal system. It has
some romantic notions attached -- personal injury lawyers
usually work on a contingency basis, collecting fees based
on their expenses and a percentage of the award in the case
only when they win. This arrangement gives personal injury
lawyers the appearance of doing legal work for "free" for
people who can't afford lawyers, and going up against big
nasty corporations in favor of less privileged people.
But in the end, the law is set
up to focus on big rewards, not on long-term assistance to
poor people.
MIM does not look to the Amerikan legal system to
correct capitalism's mistakes or to mitigate the harm it
does to the masses. We devote our time and resources to
building independent institutions of the oppressed and to
supporting the just anti-imperialist struggles of oppressed
people the world over. We know that only a dictatorship of
the proletariat -- of the majority over the minority --
will alleviate the pain caused by capitalism and guard
against it for the future. MIM calls on all people
concerned with environmental destruction and
irresponsibility to work with us to build organizations
that can seize proletarian power and restore and protect
the environment for the world's people.
* * *
UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS
Notice
Prisoners: You must send us your DOC number on every
letter. Mail in many states is being returned to us and the
bogus reason is that the envelop does not have the prisoner
DOC number. This means you are not getting the letters and
literature we are sending you! To ensure that we get your
DOC number on everything we send you, make sure you put it
on every letter you send us.
Exposing Neglect and Torture
Six officers have assaulted me, and now for that incident,
I've been on max for two years. Here in the max lock-up the
officers don't even make their routine rounds to see if the
inmates are well and living. When someone is sick or in
need of something, the CO doesn't even pay it any
attention. In other words, they don't want to hear it. When
someone finally gets tired of the foul treatment and
decides to complain, in one way or another, they either
come and beat us down or write us up - on bogus write ups.
When does the madness ever end? Why are we treated like
animals? So a lot of the inmates are too scared to complain
and they just put up with the indolence.
-- a North Carolina prisoner, 8 December 1998
New Ohio Harassment Policy
Here at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, our
tormentors have started a new policy where prisoners in
control units have to be handcuffed and shackled just to
walk back and forth to the shower. When we complained the
administration responds by claiming that this is for our
own safety and the safety of the officers. But the officers
are the number one threat to prisoners' safety. Handcuffing
and shackling us puts us in a more precarious position.
Plus, it seems, that if they were truly worried about the
officers' safety, the would have left the old policy in
place where the officers could simply open our cell doors
from the safety control booth then lock us in the shower
from the same position. But instead they now have to
escort... And in an attempt to cut back on spending (at
least on the prisoners), those of us who are in control
units are not longer being issued clothing. So no matter
what you have, irregardless of how raggedy, you best be
luck that you got it. And this same thing goes for all
supplies. Sometimes it is the little things that mean so
much. And in the control units here you better value
something as little as toilet paper like its gold, because
you'll only get one a week if that. It's not like the
prison officials don't realize that we have to use this
toilet paper as paper towels, napkins kleenex and toilet
paper. They would just rather see us go without then give
us an 'extra' roll.
-- an Ohio prisoner, 4 October 1998
Pigs Parole Racists and Lock Down Revolutionaries
I finally went to the parole board for the first time after
12 years of incarceration. Originally they had informed my
family that they would be coming on Thursday or Friday, but
for some reason they ended up showing up on Wednesday and
Thursday. And for a minute, I wondered why the change.
Maybe it is just that they like lying so much that they
practice how to lie.... By me being in administrative
control, I really could not expect to get no straight
parole but I did expect to get a reasonable out date.... I
also find it funny how whenever it is time for somebody to
go to the parole board, the administration finds a way to
place them in the hole. On my way to the parole board, they
took one other prisoner ... with me. [He] is an Aryan with
a freshly shaved head and a tattoo of a swastika on one
side of his neck and a tattoo of two lightning bolts on the
other. And while we were sitting out there waiting I was
hoping that the parole board called him first just so I
could see what their reaction would be to this. Well they
did call the Aryan in first and he came out with eight
months and an outdate. He could not believe it himself,
this is unheard of in Administrative Control. But I'm not
surprised at all, this has always been the type of
mentality that the Department of Rehabilitation and
Corrections in Ohio has rewarded. And their greatest reward
is to send the fascist back out into society to insure that
Ohio remains a thoroughly racist state. When I do make it
in to see the parole board, the first thing they tell me is
that according to the "new" guide line, I'm category 9 with
a maximum requirement of 120 months incarceration. But even
though this is my first parole hearing, I already have 145
months in. This means, I was over-sentenced for shooting a
white man in self-defense. This is something that I already
knew. But instead of taking any of this into consideration,
the parole board decided that they were going to give me
another 39 months because I had some bad conduct reports
just like the Aryan who went before this same parole board
right before me. So I asked them about these conduct
reports and they go off into something about me having a
conduct report back in 1992. And no doubt more importantly
my most recent conduct report for supposedly being
"actively involved in organizing a revolutionary group."
...The genocidal war that's being waged against Black
people here in Ohio and throughout Amerikkka is blatantly
obvious and until we are prepared to counter it, the best
we can hope for is death.
-- An Ohio prisoner, 1 November 1998
MIM responds: We call on our comrades behind bars to take
back what the imperialists are trying to steal from you:
your lives. Even in prison you can do important
revolutionary work and make your lives very worthwhile.
Work with MIM to put an end to the criminal injustice
system once and for all.
New Censorship Policy
I had just recently received two editions of your paper,
dated October 1st and 15th. But in the process of it
getting here to the institution, it was reviewed by the
"Inmate Publication Review Committee." And they had
disapproved of it coming into the institution anymore.
Because they're trying to say that the writings which
advocate violence, insurrection, or guerrilla warfare
against the government or any of its institutions or which
create a danger within the context of the correctional
institution is forbidden. Because it may pose a threat to
the orderly running of the institution. This is a
relatively new policy that the institution has just
recently went into effect on 10-1-98. Simply because they
don't want any of the inmate population to be absorbing any
source of information on the oppressive regime that
initiating global injustices However, they gave me the
option to appeal that decision to the "Consolidate (sic)
Inmate Grievance Review System" within 15 days. So I
appealed the decision and I am waiting for my answer.
-- a Pennsylvania prisoner, 15 December 1998.
UNDER LOCK AND KEY
MIM Censorship Overturned
[Below is a prisoner's appeal to the censorship of MIM
Notes and the Prisoncrat's approval of MIM Notes]
SIR: This appeal comes to you in response of the
disapproval slip which I received November 1998 from the
inmate publication review committee regarding the rejection
of the MIM Notes newsletters of October 1st and October
15th. This document stated that due to the cover drawing or
article depicting a violation of Administrative Directive
803 sec IV no. #3. I had a chance to view these newsletters
in question, as some of them were allowed inside the
institution. The cover of the newsletter is no more
advocating of insurrections or guerrilla warfare, or even
creates the presence of danger within this institution,
then any of the history books or newspapers in the library
of this institution. None of those type of acts need
newspapers or books to create situations of that nature
within the governments of this county or any of its penal
institution. Racism, biases and ethnic prejudices are the
acts which promote responses to the acts mentioned in sec.
IV of adm 803. People not newspapers or books. When people
have had enough of Governments pressing the heels of their
boots on their necks. And inmates have had enough of Ethnic
Domination and Racist Discrimination they will respond
according to the act with a response of violence, guerrilla
warfare, etc. My next question would be, is how some of the
same MIM Notes were allowed into the institution for some
inmates which receive them, but not others? It is my wish
to receive both of those newsletters and ask that this
matter be reviewed again. If either of the newsletters are
still denied, then those newspapers should be returned to
sender along with a copy of the rejection slip.
Respectfully submitted
-- A Pennsylvania Prisoner 27 November 1998.
In accordance with Administrative Directive 814, Incoming
Publications, I have reviewed the publication MIM Notes and
have decided to overturn the decision of the Incoming
Publication Review Committee. Therefore, the publication
will be returned to you. The mailroom is to arrange for the
delivery of this publication to you.
-- Grievance Officer, Pennsylvania Department of
Corrections, Camp Hill, PA.
Protesting Literature Restrictions
...As a Jailhouse Lawyer I was quite impressed with the
information in your guide to fighting the oppressor's
censorship. Whomever wrote it was obviously quite
knowledgeable, but was able to still direct the information
to the uninitiated. ...I will be filing a suit shortly
because your September 1998 issues were withheld from me
when I was in the RHU (Lockup or Restrictive Housing Unit).
This is not a censorship issue per se since they regularly
deny all newspapers, magazines and books being sent to the
RHU. They hold them until one gets released. I don't
believe this was the kind of censorship your wrote about in
your letter. This practice is also unconstitutional and
actionable under 42 USC 1983 for state prisoners. They can
limit the number of newspapers, etc in the cell, but not
legally have a blanket ban as here. I am again in RHU
pending transfer to another unit in the gulag...
Thank you,
-- An Oklahoma Prisoner, 6 October 1998
Censorship Prevents Education
Thank you very much for the two issues of MIM Notes. ...2
issues previously sent to me were returned because, "it is
dangerously inflammatory in that it advocated or encourages
riot, insurrection, disruption of the institution,
violation of departmental rules... which would present a
serious threat to the security, order or safety of any
person." This censorship is unnecessary and only serves the
purpose of keeping our brothers and sisters in the cause
blind and ignorant of the Injustice System in the united
snakes as well as many other countries. I have always been
"smart" but I have never been smarter than when I took
reading and writing as hobbies. I am a firm believer that
reading is the key to knowledge. With the prison illiteracy
rate at its highest, prisoners are being deterred from
learning certain subjects that would place them at an
advantage over their peers and those persons who chained
the block of ignorance to our brothers and sisters to keep
them from advancing. The refusal to allow MIM Notes within
the gates of this prison (and many others) is a prime
example. It was fate that these [recent MIM Notes] came in.
I rushed through the articles so that I could retain the
info in case they were confiscated. I would greatly
appreciate more literature....
-- A Florida Prisoner, 30 November 1998
Study and Organize for Revolution
Let me first say that I got MIM Theory no. 11. And I have
had it for about three weeks and each time I pick it up, I
find something else new, strong and meaningful As far as
the classes are concerned, I have six young brothers that
sit with me three times a week for two hours to talk about
the conditions in which we are subjected to live in and the
way we are treated. We come up with some solutions and we
bring them to the program director. Nothing has been done
as of yet, but I believe with more and more people coming
to our aid, we will win. My family on the outside is
looking into why so many brothers are being beat and in
another prison that I moved from why are many dying so fast
and young. MIM, I should be released and I want to get more
involved with the struggle because we have children that
are soon to follow.
-- a Texas prisoner, 16 December 1998
MIM responds:
This comrade is among many other prisoner leaders who have
intensified the struggle against oppression within prisons.
First by starting a study group and discussing with other
prisoners the ways to successfully organize, these comrades
are laying the seeds for increased successes against
Amerikkka's prison plantations. Second, by putting MIM in
touch with supporters on the outside and by keeping in
touch after release, these comrades are able to work with
MIM and help push the struggle forward exponentially. Any
prisoners within two years of release should write to MIM
to discuss further organization at the same time that you
increase study and organization while still on the inside.
Possible Murder of Escaped Prisoner
... A couple of weeks ago, a Mexican convict escaped off a
death row unit here in Texas. He was found later that day
dead in a river a few miles from the unit by two off-duty
CO's that supposedly were "fishing" and stumbled upon him.
The coroner announced that drowning caused his death. A
couple of facts that everyone knows in Texas: 1. No one
fishes in that river. There's nothing to fish for but
alligators and water snakes. 2. During an escape no one is
going to be fishing in the vicinity. I sure hope some
presses the issue. Keep up the good work. Gracias for your
time. A Brown pride clenched fist to the heart salute, to
all in the struggle, the only was is up. Respectfully,
-- A Chicano Prisoner in Texas, 10 December 1998
Continuous Lockdown in South Carolina
Right now at Evans on SMU, we haven't been out for rec in 2
months. A cat got stabbed so the slavemasters said that all
prisoners will be having our hour of rec in dog cages. So
they built cages thru the whole rec field. The reasons for
no rec were not justified until about a month ago. They
finished the rec field but for the last 3 or 4 weeks they
are saying its no rec because they say they need locks for
the cages. I've witnessed pigs lose or cut locks off
outside cages or inside cages and replace them on the spot.
They need like 9 or 10 but will not put them on. I assume
because they want to sit on their asses and look at
people's fuck books and talk shit. So shit is getting tense
(That's what they want. Ya heard me? Ain't no secret.) They
will try to ride this out until '99, no question.
-- a South Carolina prisoner, 3 December 1998.
... Here at Evan's Control Unit we comrades have been
struggling for the last couple of months about the
recreation we haven't been getting due to the repairing of
the rec field for "security" reasons. ...By the way, just
two and a half weeks ago Evans shipped out 45 inmates
infected with HIV/AIDS virus. But the sad part about the
shipping of the infected inmates was that 44 were black and
one was white. Damn it's a shame how we as Black people
just pass our lives over nothing....
-- a South Carolina prisoner, 8 December 1998.
Indiana Lockup
...They don't feed you enough and this level 4 camp they
put two men in a cell that's only big enough for one man.
As of right now, I'm in a lock-up unit called the SHU.
We're locked down for 23 hours a day. We only get to shower
three times a week. They put like a rope hooked to our
handcuffs and run it between our legs so if we move too
fast, they pull. They treat us like dogs blowing smoke in
our faces and spraying mace on us and in our face for no
reason They are some coldhearted dudes that work here. One
dude spent two weeks in a strip cell for not taking his
meds...
-- an Indiana prisoner, October 1998
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