Canadian border authorities interrogate MIM Notes supporters For some years now, Canadian and U.$. border authorities have harassed MIM Notes and prevented the distribution of MIM Theory magazine in Canada. On April 21st, Canadian border authorities detained two people for an hour and twenty minutes and conducted a car search in connection to the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City. Upon finding MIM Notes in the car, the officer took two copies into the office and summoned the occupants into the building while another officer continued working in the car without any occupants of the car watching. Then followed an interrogation. The border officer asked someone carrying MIM Notes whether s/he was a member of the party, whether s/he wrote for the newspaper, whether s/he was hired by others to bring the newspaper and where they were going. People who thought all that ended in Joe McCarthy's day are wrong and anyone who wants to go on a field trip can learn the same thing by volunteering to go with MIM Notes on a trip across the border. The newspaper is clearly marked free on the masthead and in fact usually contains no advertising. Hence, transporting MIM Notes is not a business enterprise and the Canadian authorities demonstrated that they knew that. More importantly, there was no reason to ask about party membership, authorship and other affiliation questions--in an allegedly "free" country like Canada, one of the 34 countries calling themselves "free" and "democratic" that had heads of state attending the Summit of Americas. Finally, the border officer said, "I think you are lying. I think you are going to Quebec City to hand out the papers. I just want you to tell me the truth. You know it's not illegal [to hand them out]." Actually, the officer teaches our class a valuable lesson. It is important not to give the police information. They seek to interrogate you to make you contradict yourself and intimidate. Comrades should look out for the attempts to make people contradict themselves and request lawyers if border authorities go too far into asking harassing questions. They can use what you say against you later. In justification, the Canadian officer said, "What do you think U.S. police would do? Do you think they are interested in the newspaper [like this one]? What do you think they would do?" He asked if the comrade would expect the U.$. police to investigate also and implied that since U.$. police would do it, don't expect the Canadian police to be any different. The officer then released the two passengers to go on their way. Apparently on this day, the authorities deemed it would be too politically costly to stop MIM Notes outright. National Public Radio (NPR) had reported that Canadian border authorities were turning back all people from the border who had convictions on their U.$. criminal records. A persyn convicted of vandalism in 1971 was unable to attend the rally in Quebec City while the other passengers with him were able to attend. Hundreds in similar situations protested in border cities of the United $tates to make their point. Thousands feared attending the demonstration at all. The U.$. government-lackey media had built up propaganda concerning the event as a place of "violence" where police would run rampant making arrests. As a result of repression and intimidation small rural towns in Vermont held demonstrations against the Summit of the Americas. 150 people trekked to the border with Canada and held a demonstration within a few yards of Canada.(1) Another 50 people demonstrated at Derby Line near the border. The Burlington Free Press also reported another 150 demonstrators in Burlington itself. The Burlington Free Press cited the case of one Vermont demonstrator: [a] "29- year-old Connecticut resident, who said he was turned back twice at the border because he was carrying swimming goggles, which can be used as protection against tear gas."(1) "Free" countries such as Canada fail to allow people from other NAFTA countries in because they have swimming goggles in the car! The former leader of the Black Panther Party, Huey Newton did one last good thing before he died by printing some legal research on laws of repression in the United $tates and de-classified documents of the U.S. Government concerning the Black Panther Party.(2) It turns out that legally, the CIA believes it has the right to conduct spying on U.S. citizens and to operate undercover in both public agencies (aviation, border etc.) and private enterprises (banks, corporations willing to have phony employees who are really CIA officers.) The Congress refused to pass laws specifically denying that the CIA has the legal authority it claims--which includes opening mail from foreign countries. People abroad writing to MIM should be aware that such mail is opened by the CIA and customs authorities, and frequently destroyed before reaching MIM. Likewise, much material disappears after being sent by MIM out of the country--especially to Canada. Within the U$A, it is important to realize that the FBI and other enforcement agencies also monitor the mails. No one should ever believe the myth that the United $tates is a "free country." It makes repression of unsuspecting people easier. The action of the border authorities is one more proof of how difficult it is to have "free trade." Free trade requires movement across borders of people and goods. Right now, neither is possible even despite the NAFTA amongst Canada, the United States and Mexico. "Free trade" is just hypocritical rhetoric. What would happen if border authorities detained everyone for an hour and twenty minutes for carrying free newspapers across borders? That sort of thing quickly clogs up governments. At the summit, George W. Bush called all the participant countries (all of the Hemisphere except Cuba) free countries and emphasized that only one country is not free. Yet, the United $tates imprisons far more people per capita (which means percentage-wise) than Cuba does. (See our prisons page for the facts on imprisonment rates.) Meanwhile, we saw Castro rally 100,000 people in a small country against the FTAA while Bush was not able to mobilize any counter-demonstrators to defend the FTAA. At the same time, Bush is head of a country where it is legal for customs officers to open mail containing magazines and throw them out or read the contents and deliver mail tattered or incomplete. MIM Notes is not only harassed or outright stopped at the borders, because it is also the most censored newspaper in North America. Thousands of people who would like to read MIM Notes cannot do so because U.S. prison authorities will not allow MIM Notes authors to deliver their news, education and message in their prisons. When it comes to criticizing other countries like Cuba, the United $tates says it is a "free country," but when it comes to MIM Notes, it censors us in the name of "prison security." The Summit of Americas has helped people to concentrate on the rhetoric of their leaders regarding "freedom" and the actual behavior of the "free" states. In a "free" country, we would imagine it would not be necessary for political police to interrogate people about the distribution of free newspapers. Note: 1. Burlington Free Press, 22April2001, http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/ 2. Huey P. Newton, War Against the Panthers: A Study of Repression in America (NY: Harlem River Press, 1980? 1996?), pp. 90-.