MIM Notes #225     January 1, 2001

Under Lock & Key Campaign

As we explained in the December 1st issue of MIM Notes, MIM is 
continuing the ULK2000 campaign into the next year. Each month of 
the ULK campaign, we focus attention on different aspects of 
Amerika's war against the oppressed through prisons. Though we 
continuously conduct education pertaining to all imperialist 
crimes, we are soliciting help to further expand educational 
materials and organizing events related to each month's focus. We 
list the focus of the next few months here and welcome creative 
contributions and research submissions. By no means should the 
month's specific focus limit you from focusing anti- imperialist 
organizing on other areas.

January: Serve the People

"Serve the People" (STP) is a concept and practice basic to 
Maoism. It differs from charities and philanthropy. Service to the 
people means organizing in a self-reliant and internationalist way 
to meet basic needs of the oppressed. "Our point of departure is 
to serve the people whole-heartedly and never for a moment divorce 
ourselves from the masses, to proceed in all cases from the 
interests of the people." -- Mao Zedong, "On Coalition 
Government," April 1945 MIM builds institutions independent from 
the oppressor. The Prisoners' Legal Clinic (PLC) and Free Books 
for Prisoners (BfP) program are two MIM Serve the People programs. 
Such programs and other independent institutions, like MIM Notes, 
serve the masses' specific needs while organizing for revolution. 
We welcome article and artwork submissions that demonstrate the 
Maoist principle of service to the people. We welcome personal or 
historical accounts of STPs from the Black Panther Party, Young 
Lords, AIM, etc. Supporters can contribute legal research and 
writing; time to type submissions by prisoners; or organizational 
skills to build benefit shows and book drives. Check out our 
website for more information or contact the prisons minister to 
find out how you can help.

February: Prisons as political repression

A handful of Puerto Rican Prisoners of War have been released, 
Silvia Baraldini has been returned to Italy, Mark Cook and 
Geronimo ji Jaga have been released, but there are hundreds of 
political leaders still incarcerated for their political beliefs 
and actions. Amerika calls them terrorists, but it is the u.$. 
that is terrorizing the majority of the world's population. When 
prisoners fight against Amerika's terrorism around the world, they 
are further repressed and silenced. Imprisonment in Amerika is 
clearly political as Blacks are more than half the prison 
population but less than 15% of the general population. We call on 
all advocates of justice to work with us in this fight against 
political repression. MIM can assist supporters in setting up 
educational and organizing events for this month. We also welcome 
information demonstrating the history, legal situations and 
present conditions of political imprisonment. Submissions that can 
be used in both outside and inside organizing are most useful. For 
instance, we'd welcome everything from a poem about Mumia Abu 
Jamal to a speech concerning the fact that all imprisonment is 
political in the United Snakes to a drawing (black and white in 
ink if possible please) about the repression of politically active 
prisoners.

March: End Amerikan Apartheid

March 21 marks the 40th anniversary of the Sharpeville Massacre 
when 69 people were killed as they fought against Apartheid in 
South Africa. The United Snakes has demonstrated that legalized 
segregation and subjugation of oppressed nations will continue to 
be its modus operandi; this is evident in the warehousing and 
repression of prisoners. Use this month to remind young activists 
that an apartheid system was legal and official ten years ago in 
South Africa, and that major Amerikan corporations invested in 
South Africa then -- supporting the Apartheid system. Host a study 
session or presentation on what Apartheid was like and discuss 
similarities between Apartheid South Africa and u.$. repression of 
its internal semi-colonies today.

April: Prisons versus Education 

Amerika no longer carries the pretense of educating and 
rehabilitating prisoners. The corrupt capitalist system spends 
more money killing people and incarcerating them than it spends on 
education. MIM has long run a Serve the People Free Books for 
Prisoners program to provide prisoners with political education 
opportunities they would not otherwise have. This program makes it 
possible for some prisoners to participate in organizing as they 
develop the basic tools of understanding their own history. 
Prisoners: get in touch with us by the end of February with your 
thoughts on why people on the outside should participate in the 
Free Books for Prisoners program. If you have access to the 
information, accounts of the historical and current education 
opportunities for prisoners in your state would be very helpful. 
People outside the walls: we can use your help to build the BfP 
program, and to gather more information regarding the resources 
spent imprisoning versus educating.

What prisoners can do in January:

1) Write essays, speeches and poems related to the Maoist 
philosophy of service to the people. What basic needs of prisoners 
are ignored by the imperialist system? What is the value of 
independent institutions to prisoners? How can prisoners establish 
their own independent and proletarian programs to advance toward 
liberation and Maoism? How do MIM Notes, the Prisoners' Legal 
Clinic, MIM's Free Books for Prisoners Program fit into the 
concept of service to the people? How to these independent 
institutions of the people meet needs that the imperialists 
ignore? How can these and other people's institutions be improved?

2) Make sure that at least one prisoner in your facility writes to 
explain in detail the educational opportunities available at the 
facility or in the state. This is important information we need to 
bolster support both for revolution and for educational 
opportunities within Amerika's dungeons. If possible, research the 
facility's history of educational opportunities and if/how they 
changed after Pell Grants were denied to prisoners. Write articles 
and essays comparing educational opportunities of prisoners before 
and during incarceration.

3) Send artwork that demonstrates educational opportunities, 
health care access, segregation, brutality and resistance within 
prisons.

4) Send submissions covering the political nature of the Amerikan 
prison system and the way that it is a tool of political 
repression.

5) Interview other prisoners (when possible) about conditions in 
facilities, ways that education and organizing within prisons are 
obstructed, about their observations on the ways that oppressed 
nationals are treated in prisons. (Send MIM your list of interview 
questions.)

Please continue to build study groups, translate, fight censorship 
and help us connect with outside allies, but we encourage 
prisoners to help build the ULK campaign in the above ways and any 
other creative and proletarian ways you can find.

Submissions that represent the interests of the oppressed will be 
published on MIM's website and selected submissions will be used 
in whole or part for MIM Notes articles, ULK campaign material, 
flyers etc. MIM will edit submissions to fit a particular 
publication's purpose unless the author explicitly requests that 
submissions not be changed. (If you do not want submissions edited 
by MIM, note that it is more difficult for us to publish the 
material.)