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.
I N T E R N E T ' S M A O I S T BI-M O N T H L Y = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = XX XX XXX XX XX X X XXX XXX XXX XXX X X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X V X X X V X X X X X X X XX XXX X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X XXX X X X V XXX X XXX XXX = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT MIM Notes 163 PART I June 1, 1998 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. INDONESIAN PEOPLE CHALLENGE IMPERILAIST PUPPET REGIME 2. NAIRN REPORTS ON EAST TIMOR 3. JUVENILE INJUSTICE SYSTEM MURDERS CHICANO YOUTH 4. LETTERS 5. FILIPINO YOUTH CONFRONT IMPERIALISM AT CONFERENCE 6. POLITICAL ASYLUM FOR THE SISON FAMILY NOW! 7. MASSACHUSETTS EXTRACTS BLOOD FROM PRISONERS 8. CALIFORNIA D.O.C.: $450,000 FOR A BUS, $0 FOR EDUCATION 9. CULTURE: SLAVEMASTER DALIA LAMA HAS HIS SAY KUNDUN: THE AMAZING STORY OF THE 14TH DALAI LAMA 10. RAIL AND NBUS HOST FIRST NATION DELEGATION 11. PRISONERS RIOT TO PROTEST LOCKDOWN AT WALPOLE 12. ISRAELI-AMERIKAN IMPERIALISM TURNS 50 13. D.C. LOTTERY PREYS ON BLACKS 14. RWANDAN GENOCIDE TRIALS DIVERT ATTENTION FROM TRUE CAUSE: IMPERIALISM 15. SUPREME COURT DENIES CITIZENSHIP TO SOME CHILDREN BORN ABROAD 16. 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 * * * INDONESIAN PEOPLE CHALLENGE IMPERILAIST PUPPET REGIME by RC784 and MC17 As the capitalist crisis deepens in Asia, creating even more poverty and unemployment, the Indonesian masses continue to challenge imperialism by the tens of thousands through demonstrations and rioting. University students have been calling for the government to reinstate price supports for necessities like food and fuel and for President Suharto to resign his post. Students were relatively safe when demonstrating on campus, but they felt the full force of the state's armed repression when they tried to take their demonstrations off campus and into the masses. On May 13, Indonesian state security forces killed six students taking part in nonviolent demonstrations.(1) As the people felt the impact of rising prices resulting from Suharto's recently imposed austerity measures the protests moved off the campuses and into the streets where the Indonesian people took up the struggle with a passion as they attacked anything that symbolized the government that has kept them poor, hungry, and living under a military dictatorship. U.$. Imperialist backing In 1997 the US congress allocated an additional $4.5 million in aid to the Indonesian dictatorship, with $100,000 aimed at military training alone.(2) In addition to brutally repressing and offering up for exploitation its own people, Indonesia occupies East Timor, an occupation infamous for the brutality and oppression the East Timorese have undergone. In all, the United States has sold more than $1.1 billion in weaponry to Indonesia since its 1975 invasion of East Timor; the sales have gone on in Republican and Democratic administrations alike, regardless of the rhetoric espoused by the President at the time. According to the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, from 1992 to 1994 (the most recent years for which full data is available), Indonesia received 53% of its weapons imports from the United States. If the proposed sale of the F-16s goes ahead as planned, the Clinton Administration will have approved roughly $270 million in arms sales to Indonesia in just over 4 years, or an average of over $67 million per year. This represents more than twice the level of arms sales to Indonesia concluded during the Bush Administration, and allowing for inflation, it represents the highest level of U.S. sales since the second Reagan term or the early Carter period.(3) The people rebel While the military is patrolling the streets with armored personnel carriers and troops in riot gear carrying M-16 rifles, shooting into crowds, and attacking demonstrators, Suharto is pretending to oppose violence claiming he will not use armed force to stay in power: "I will not use force of arms."(4) This false pacifism is laughable coming from the man who led his military to massacre the Indonesian Communist party and its supporters in 1965. Suharto has headed the military dictatorship in Indonesia, kept in this position with significant u.s. economic, military and political support, for 32 years. One reporter wrote in mid-May: "Shops and banks that were torched smoldered, roads were strewn with broken glass, and security forces had blocked off entire streets. Burned out vehicles were everywhere."(4) One group attacked a police station. There are reports of deaths on all sides. The house of Indonesia's richest man, Liem Soei Liong, an ethnic Chinese billionaire with close links to Suharto, was trashed and burned. Even those not joining in the rioting have been seen cheering as buildings are smashed and burned. As one reporter wrote: "Everywhere, at every fire and smashed window, crowds clapped and shouted approval as rioters raged. ... One officer even waved and gave the thumbs- up sign to teenagers smashing a huge glass window."(5) The Washington Post reported that at least one unit of Marines, in scarlet berets and holding swagger sticks, briefly marched alongside the protesters, to cheers and handshakes from the protestors, and then engaged in a tense stand-off at a key intersection with helmeted riot policemen who fired tear gas and rubber bullets in an attempt to disperse the crowds."(6) While extent of the split in the military forces in Indonesia is not yet clear, this is a sign that Suharto's power is facing a significant challenge. Although the imperialist and comprador military must be seen as an enemy of the people, in times of revolutionary uprising, individuals and even whole branches of the military can be convinced to change to the side of the people. Imperialism: the real enemy Comments by Indonesian security forces indicate that the ruling class fears a political solution to the suffering of the masses that would limit bourgeois enrichment.(7) Reports suggest that most of the people's attacks have been against Chinese petit-bourgeois shopowners, because that is where they witness the price increases. Chinese people make up a tiny fraction of Indonesia's 200 million population but dominate commerce and industry.(5) But the petit-bourgeois are not the source of this economic crisis. National and international finance capital caused this crisis, and replacing imperialism with socialism is the only viable option to liberate the world's masses from exploitation and oppression. Looting shops is a short-term solution; it will put food on the table. But the Suharto regime benefits if the Indonesian masses believe that Chinese petit-bourgeois are their chief enemy, not the Suharto regime and the imperialism for which it stands. Recently the Suharto regime has complied with a number of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) demands in return for an economic bailout package, and so the IMF has agreed to dole out the $40 billion in stages pending further subservience to imperialism.(8) Approval from the IMF means that the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, Japan, Malaysia and Australia will also provide loans to bankrupt Indonesian capitalists who, if they do not receive this bailout, will not be able to pay loans from oppressor nation's banks.(9) But these changes are not designed to nor will they produce fundamental improvements in the material living conditions of the Indonesian masses. In fact, their effect is the opposite: the "structural adjustments" required by the IMF have lead to significant price increases in basic necessities like food and fuel. But these imperialist solutions only "pave the way for more extensive and destructive crises."(10) The bourgeois media has acted surprised at the news that the U.$. has decided to release more IMF money despite Suharto's continued violent crackdown on political opposition. MIM is not the least bit surprised; subverting the will of the Indonesian masses is essential to imperialism. The open conflict between the masses and the ruling class in Indonesia has not run this high since 1965, when Suharto presided over the mass murder of over half a million Communists and their supporters amongst the peasantry and proletariat. But the Indonesians lack effective leadership, mass organization and ideology to unify the people's opposition to imperialism. Megawati Sukarnoputri, the daughter of the former President overthrown in 1965 by General Suharto, is Indonesia's most well-known opposition candidate. She remained silent throughout this whole crisis until Wednesday, May 13, when she gave a speech calling for Suharto to step down. She has identified herself as a suitable replacement. But so have others, such as Ahamn Ries, one of Indonesia's most well- known Muslim intellectuals. Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous nation, once had the third largest Communist party in the world, the PKI, before it was decimated and driven underground by Suharto in 1965. MIM is unaware of the existence of an Indonesian proletarian vanguard party at this time. But it is exactly capitalist crises like this one which contribute to proletarian class consciousness and revolutionary action. It is the duty of MIM and RAIL to build support for the Indonesian masses' resistance to imperialism, while we push for the development of a Maoist vanguard party. And within u.s. borders we will continue to struggle for an end to U.$. support for the Indonesian dictatorship. We know that without imperialist backing, the puppet rulers in many countries will quickly fall to the strength of the revolutionary struggle of the masses. NOTES: 1. NPR News, May 14, 1998. 2.http://amadeus.inesc.pt:80/~jota/Timor/TimorNews/Mar97/Ind o.not.concerned.with.US.proposal.to.stop.aid 3.http://amadeus.inesc.pt/~jota/Timor/TimorNews/Mar97/US.arm s.transfers. to.Indo.I 4. Boston Globe, May 14, 1998, p.A2. 5. Associated Press, May 14, 1998 06:46. 6. Washington Post, May 14, 1998. 7. Christopher Torchia, "Violence erupts in Indonesian town as fuel and transport prices go up," Associated Press, 5-5- 98. 8. See "Indonesia's economy collapsing: imperialist bailout rejected," in MIM Notes 159, April 1, 1998, p. 9 for more on this. 9. Cindy Shiner, "Indonesia warns protesting students; military threatens 'stern action'; new round of price increases announced," Washington Post, May 5, 1998, p. A16. 10. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, "Manifesto of the Communist Party," 1848. * * * NAIRN REPORTS ON EAST TIMOR A RAIL comrade recently attended a lecture at a Midwestern university given by Allan Nairn, a progressive Amerikan activist and journalist who has covered the struggle in East Timor for years. The event was sponsored by the local chapters of Amnesty International and East Timor Action Network. Nairn is well known for his writing on behalf of the East Timorese struggle for national independence from the Indonesian government of General Suharto. Before focusing on Indonesia and East Timor, Nairn also reported on the anti- apartheid struggle in South Africa and the anti- imperialist struggle in El Salvador. While Nairn presented some useful information on the East Timorese struggle, his activism continues to be hampered by his reformist ideology. Nairn's eye witness experience in Indonesia and East Timor confirmed what MIM Notes has previously reported: the U$ military is continuing to train and supply the Indonesian military despite the U$ Congressional ban on such activity.(1) During the Q&A, a RAIL comrade asked Nairn if FELANTIL, the East Timorese armed movement for national liberation, had considered how they would transform their imperialist- organized economy after national liberation. The RAIL comrade was interested in such information because it has been reported that FELANTIL had a Maoist orientation in earlier years. Nairn could only report that national liberation leaders were discussing the issue, and that it would be one of the greatest challenges a free East Timor would face. Nairn also announced that he would be forming a human rights umbrella organization called Justice For All to coordinate the various activities of single issue groups like ETAN and the Free Tibet movement. He argued that the U.$. human rights activist community currently consists of "about 15,000 upper and middle class liberals," but that there was no reason why it shouldn't include "20 or 30 million working class Americans." Nairn added that, at one time, Amerikans could have argued that U.$. workers benefited from imperialism, an idea he attributed to W. E. B. DuBois, but that was no longer the case. After the formal discussion, the RAIL comrade approached Nairn to challenge him on this last point. The comrade presented evidence to the contrary: Amerikan workers no longer create surplus value but are bought off by the superprofits imperialists derive from the oppressed nations. Furthermore, the comrade told Nairn, DuBois learned of the labor aristocratic theory through his study of Lenin's work. Nairn said that the comrade was "thirty years behind the times," to which the RAIL comrade responded, "No, you are at least thirty years or more ahead of the times." Nairn and a Teamster chided the RAIL comrade, assuming that the comrade was a college student due to his/her youthful appearance and therefore would not know what the work world was like, which is not the case. The RAIL comrade in question is not a college student and works for his/her living. Besides, this kind of personal dismissal would not disprove the economic statistics presented by MIM even if the comrade was a parentally-funded college student. Facts are facts, regardless of the messenger. The RAIL comrade was pretty ticked at Nairn's definition of the social base for "progressive foreign policy," which is the term Nairn used. Those may be the people who have the money to bankroll AI, ETAN, and American Friends Service Community (a pacifist group), but the audience proved that those of high school and college age perform the majority of the footwork. Despite Nairn's myopia, attending the event beat a night in front of the TV. The local RAIL chapter has good relations with local Amnesty and ETAN activists, who allowed RAIL to distribute MIM Notes. At the very least, the RAIL comrade was able to challenge Nairn's line and get the audience thinking in a more revolutionary way. As Chairman Mao said, prior to the proletarian seizure of state power, reformist progress is made by uniting all who can be united on the smallest of issues. MIM calls upon advocates of real "progressive foreign policy" -- anti- imperialism - - to join an already existing group which coordinates Amerikan opposition to imperialism: RAIL! NOTES: 1. "U.$. teaches torture to Indonesian military," MIM Notes 160, p. 3. * * * JUVENILE INJUSTICE SYSTEM MURDERS CHICANO YOUTH Oracle, AZ. -- On March 2, 1998, Micholaus Contreraz, a Chicano youth, died of a massive lung infection while incarcerated at a privately-run juvenile Koncentration Kamp known as Arizona Boys Ranch. He had complained weeks earlier of difficulty breathing, but he was branded a malingerer and denied medical care. He was required to perform forced labor and calisthenics and when his illness had made him too weak to obey, he was beaten and forced to carry a pail full of his own feces and vomit. Despite the tremendous risk of retaliation, eleven other inmates of Arizona Boys Ranch came forward during the investigation of the death of Contreraz to accuse their tormentors of repeatedly kicking, stomping on, punching, and choking them. As a consequence of the investigation, the director of Arizona Boys Ranch, Peder De La Rambelje, was replaced by another employee of the koncentration kamp system, Carl Prange. Prange promises to be no better as he was criminally charged with similar abuse of children in 1987. And even if he hadn't been charged with this abuse, the system demands employees who will follow the rules and maintain a system of social control by torturing the inmates. Institutions like this one fit into the large system of social control maintained by a criminal injustice system which reigns in any anti-authoritarian tendencies on the part of youth and oppressed nations within u.s. borders. The charges were dismissed due to "lack of evidence" when the political backers of Arizona Boys Ranch intervened. Even if this new pig is slightly less brutal than the old one, the problems of juvenile injustice will not be solved by changing pigs. Some of these young men may have engaged in truly anti-social behavior, but no one was ever reformed by being brutalized. The system of criminalizing Third World youth must be overturned, and that can only be done by revolution. Only after a Maoist revolution will we be able to put in place a system of true peoples justice, socialism, where anti-social actions are responded to with education and nations will not oppress other nations. Note: The Arizona Republic 29 April, 1998. See also MIM Theory 11 "Amerikkkan Prisons on Trial" for more on the criminal injustice system as a tool of social control. * * * LETTERS PRISONERS, LITERATURE ADN REVOLUTION Dear MIM, Prisoners and criminals are not going to be the focus, motive force or key participants in any revolution. They never have been and never will. They are deluded to think so, and you are irresponsible in fostering this delusion. They'd do better to read great novels and poetry, histories and biographies--readings that would give them better insight into questions of human nature, justice, honesty, nature and moral behavior. Such reading could also help them go on to get an education and job after they serve their terms. If they are lifers, they will benefit also. I don't say this as someone unsympathetic to them. Violent, delusional, self-aggrandizing pipedreams is not what they need. --A reader in the midwest April, 1998 MIM responds: The above is typical of responses MIM gets from mainstream academics when we ask for help with our political Books for Prisoners program. When these people find out we focus on political education in the prisons with a revolutionary perspective, they lose interest in a program that they would otherwise support if it were just a charity. MIM's Books for Prisoners program is brutally honest about the world. We offer prisoners no pipedreams or delusions about rehabilitation and the so-called justice system. Instead we provide information about the history and current political situation in the world so that prisoners can figure out for themselves what their role in society has been and should be. If we were to run a program just sending in "great novels" (which are proclaimed great by the imperialist education system) and mainstream history, we would be providing a very biased view of the world to the prisoners. And we would be failing to offer them the perspective of the majority of the world's people. This kind of charity program might help to teach a few prisoners some useful skills but would do nothing to attack the system which currently houses 1.7 million prisoners (more than any other country in the world!) and perpetuates national oppression to the tune of a higher proportion of Blacks in prison than was found even in Apartheid South Africa. MIM seeks to change the world, not just adjust to the oppression that imperialism perpetuates. We don't want to teach prisoners how to get by in a system that was set up as a means of social control. We want to offer the information to both prisoners and non-prisoners alike so that they can analyze the world and draw conclusions based on an anti- imperialist perspective. People in this country have been inundated with the imperialist perspective from birth and no one complains about censorship of alternative points of view. But as soon as MIM tells people we are selectively sending in literature from the perspective of the oppressed people of the world, academics in the united snakes get very defensive. We challenge all academics who claim to be sympathetic to prisoners to read the Under Lock and Key section in MIM Notes for a few months and then come back to us with an argument about why we should not be offering these prisoners revolutionary anti-imperialist literature. Prisoners in Amerikkka face repression and brutality daily on top of primarily being targeted based on nation or position in society. Because of the material reality prisoners face, contrary to what the writer asserts, MIM finds that prisoners are quite interested in developing a new society that is just. By no means do we expect prisoners or academics to agree with all of the positions which MIM takes. But we expect anyone genuinely promoting justice and the betterment of society to struggle with us to develop programs which actively fight against oppression. In Michigan at this point, prisoners are far more active in struggling against oppression than the majority of the people claiming to be liberals in the University. The prisoners get actively involved despite brutality and censorship whereas many people criticize RAIL and MIM's work from the campus computing center. OPPOSING APEC: REACTIONARY OR PROGRESSIVE? Dear MIM, I also received my January issues of MIM Notes last week. I came across a viewpoint I am struggling with. I quote from MIM Notes 153, page 3: "MIM can not lead a revolutionary class alliance against treaties like APEC at this time without unleashing a fascist movement we would prefer stay sedated.... In the Philippines, opposing APEC is correct because it is the fastest road to revolution. This is not true in the First World societies..." First of all, if we worry about the backlash that will be caused by our opposition, then we might as well not ever think about initiating an armed struggle. We cannot be afraid of reactions to our opposition -- imperialist are reactionary by nature! We cannot expect to take action and think that our oppressors are not going to retaliate. If this is the scenario you are waiting for then you will be waiting forever! However you advocate the Filipino opposition to APEC. This sounds like a double standard to meet. It also sounds like the reluctance to take initiative and a willingness to wait for a others to do all of the work for us. I want know why we should distance ourselves from the just opposition to imperialist agreements. Please shed some light on me in this matter. Struggling to win, --A comrade in the SC gulags 2 February 1998 MIM responds: This is a question about strategy and the analogy to the initiation of armed struggle is a good one. MIM is not yet engaged in armed struggle because the balance of forces is such that we can't win. Within the borders of the U.$ empire, the majority oppose us not only subjectively but also objectively via their material interests. MIM has already said, starting in MIM Theory 7, that this is not likely to change, and that successful revolution in the belly of the beast will likely require the armed help of the Third World masses. Because of this we need to look at the international balance of forces and we come to the same conclusion, that there is not yet sufficient subjective leadership by the proletariat in the Third World to give us the kind of help we need. Many Third World societies do not yet have a Maoist party, let alone vibrant armed struggles, and no Third World society is currently liberated from imperialism and establishing national democracy or socialism. So the armed struggle can't start until we are set to win. In most Third World societies, the armed struggle can start very soon after the creation of the Party, because the material conditions are very different. The numbers of the exploited is much larger, the government is much weaker, and there significant middle focus that can be won over to the revolution. The revolutionary party should only concern itself with the strength of the imperialists except in comparison to the revolutionary forces. Perhaps you misunderstood our point: MIM doesn't fear the imperialists unleashing a fascist movement, we fear the Amerikan majority masses will turn from passively against to actively against us. In the Philippines the majority of the masses are supporters and an allies of the revolution; but here we have as enemies not only the imperialists but also the majority of the North American population. Opposing the newest GATT successfully would leave you with the previous GATT. That's not a change in the overall imperialist system, and would benefit and hurt various different First and Third world societies and sections differently. In the Philippines, fighting the newest GATT allows the revolution to advance, because protectionism in the Third World has a progressive character. In the First World, protectionism would only stir up the fascist Ross Perot and Pat Buchanan supporters. Here in the belly of the beast, MIM opposes the imperialist system--not one imperialist agreement over another--as the best means to advance the revolution here. * * * FILIPINO YOUTH CONFRONT IMPERIALISM AT CONFERENCE [Note: The print version of this article contained a confusing grammatical error clarified in MIM Notes 165. We have fixed that error here.] Newark, New Jersey, May 3--More than 100 Filipino youth came together at "The Philippine Centennial and Beyond: Telling the Untold Story" conference. The conference took place in the year of the so-called 100th Anniversary of Philippine Independence. The centennial is based in the lie that the United Snakes liberated the people from brutal Spanish colonialism, conveniently forgetting that Filipino nationalists had already liberated almost the entire country, before the Amerikans landed and the brutal war of acquisition began. This big lie requires the people to forget that the Philippines was a direct colony of the United Snakes for half a century, and that the U.$ continues to be the dominant power in the country to this date. The Master of Ceremonies for the event read a newspaper quote from the Ambassador of the Philippines: "This year marks 100 years of a special relationship with the United States." Although this blunt word was not what the lackey Ambassador would have used, many at the conference cut right to the chase: imperialism. Conferences such as this one are an important way to combat this mis-history as well as struggle to solve the concrete problems of the Filipino exile community, such as gang violence. RAIL was invited by the organizers to table in the main conference room. We thank the organizers for the opportunity. We distributed a fair amount of literature and collected a number of postcards to send in support of political asylum in the Netherlands for Filipino revolutionary Jose Maria Sison. Two films were shown. The first, "This Bloody, Blundering, Business" was about the Philippine-Amerikan war. It vividly depicted how the Filipino nationalists had defeated the bulk of the Spanish colonial forces. The U.$. troops took token part in a final battle so that the Spanish forces could save face and surrender to another imperialist as opposed to the colonial subjects who had defeated them. Of course the Filipino nationalists didn't want the Spanish to be replaced by Amerikans, and fought back when the Amerikans didn't leave. A brutal war ensued. One particularly disgusting war crime was an Amerikan order that all Filipinos of weapons carrying age were to be killed. When this officer was asked for an age of demarcation, the answer was 10. This officer was eventually tried by the Amerikan courts for this horrible crime and given a very light sentence. The video also discusses the anti-imperialist movement within the United Snakes. The Filipino revolution was eventually defeated. The video makes the sharp point near the end that the reason that the Philippines went from being a direct colony to being a neo-colony after World War II, was not out of respect for the Filipino desire for self- determination, but as a result of the sugar lobby. The Amerikan sugar growers resented the fact that Filipino sugar could be imported to the United Snakes without import duties (since the Philippines was a territory.) The second film was entitled Bontoc Eulogy about the treatment of Filipinos at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis. While RAIL would like to see this video again before we form a final opinion on it (in particular, we would like to examine some of the comments about assimilation) the video boldly confronts the Amerikan assault on the indigenous people of the Philippines, and challenges the audience to confront their own stereotypes. The filmmaker's grandfather was an Igorot warrior, and was remembered in his village for two things: having gone to Amerika for the world fair, and never having returned. One thousand indigenous (from a variety of tribes) Filipinos were imported to the Fair and they constructed a fake village. In this village they performed their religious ceremonies and dances for the white fairgoers. The video effectively exposes the paternalism of Amerika towards Filipinos. One of the afternoon presentations focused on Black soldiers in the Philippine-Amerikan war drew RAIL's attention. The presenter made a case for internationalist solidarity against imperialism. He discussed Black opposition to the war, and the general solidarity between Blacks and Filipinos at the turn of the century. During the war, many black leaders opposed the use of Black troops to fight in the Philippines. W.E.B. DuBois directly exposed the contradiction of using Black troops--who had their own liberation struggle to fight in the United Snakes- -to crush the liberation struggle of another nation fighting the U.$. The Black newspapers were opposed to the war, but were unable to fund sending correspondents to the war, so they recruited Black soldiers to send them dispatches. Solidarity between Blacks and Filipinos ran deep, but the Black agenda was split on one hand between an internationalist duty to help the Filipino liberation struggle & a nationalist duty to weaken their oppressor, and on the other hand an integrationist move to perform well in battle in the hopes of receiving concessions from white Amerika. The Filipino revolutionaries exploited the contradiction between the Black nation and Amerikan imperialism effectively. The leader, Emilio Aquinaldo wrote a leaflet urging the Black troops to switch sides. This leaflet referred to a very notorious lynching in the South where the body was left on public display and the dead man's son was forced to pose for pictures with the bones. Some Black soldiers not only deserted, but enlisted in the Filipino army. One, named David Fagan, was eventually promoted to Captain and was lovingly referred to by his Filipino troops as "General". This story was particularly inspiring because it was the confirmed case we have heard in U.$. history of soldiers actually switching sides from the imperialist to anti-imperialist armies. The presenter said that 6000 Black troops were used by Amerika in the war. Amerika stopped sending Black soldiers to the Philippines because Amerika couldn't trust them against another colonial population. After the war, 1000 Black soldiers decided to stay in the Philippines. The presenter lamented the fact that many Filipinos no longer show the same solidarity towards Blacks, and for this he blames the Amerikan educational system that was put in place at the end of the war. At the end of the conference, there was a cultural performance and a panel discussion about contemporary issues for Filipino youth living within the United Snakes. Many youth saw gang violence and suicide as key problems. One presenter said that in California, Filipinos youth are the ethnic group with the highest suicide rate. The youth discussed the various ways that they had overcome obstacles, including drugs and gang violence to now be in a position to more effectively serve their communities. RAIL sees problems of suicide, drugs and gang violence to be the products of this imperialist, patriarchal society. The best way to combat these evils is as part of a larger revolutionary movement, be it in the National Democratic Movement led by the Communist Party of the Philippines or in the MIM-led anti-imperialist United Front here in the First World societies. * * * POLITICAL ASYLUM FOR THE SISON FAMILY NOW! MIM is soliciting signatures on postcards (pictured here) demanding political asylum for the Sison family. Jose Maria Sison, a leader in the national democratic movement in the Philippines and consultant to the National democratic Front in its peace negotiations with the Manila Government, currently resides in the Netherlands and has been denied political refugee status. Write to the addresses on page 2 for copies of the postcard. * * * CRIMINAL INJUSTICE SYSTEM NEWS MASSACHUSETTS EXTRACTS BLOOD FROM PRISONERS by a RAIL comrade The Massachusetts Department of Corrections started collecting blood samples from prisoners in January of this year for the purpose of storing records of prisoners' DNA. After being forced to halt collections by a court order on February 9, the DOC was allowed to again collect samples in March after the injunction was lifted. Approximately 1,100 prisoners have been forced to give blood samples which will be stored indefinitely. The DNA records will aid Amerikkka in its war waged against the oppressed through massive incarceration. The DNA collection is yet another tool that helps the pigs in their anti-crime war. This war is about social control and the national oppression and we oppose the war and all its tools. The collection of prisoners' blood was halted due to efforts from lawyers and activists who say the collection compromises a person's right to privacy. We support this as a tactic because it exposes the contradictions within Amerika's dictatorship of the bourgeoisie while gaining protections, though limited, for the oppressed. The masses understand too well that such laws providing so-called rights to individuals are normally implemented only when it serves the interests of the oppressors. The so-called right to privacy in Amerika is typically used to ensure the oppressor's ability to maintain power and privilege. In the case of prisoners, Amerika consistently states that prisoners do not deserve what other human beings deserve. Dehumanizing prisoners is a tactic which the oppressor uses to ensure that opposition does not develop against the injustice committed against prisoners. The DNA collection serves to keep prisoners incarcerated by providing easily accessible false evidence to the prosecuting pigs. The collection of DNA records is intended for the pigs to have a record of people who have previously been convicted [in the white nation's courts] of crimes ranging from prostitution to murder. Pigs then have access to the bank and can match crime scene DNA with a "likely suspect" past offender. This practice allows pigs to have further control over sentencing. With the DNA records, pigs have a greater ability to place inaccurate information at the scene and fudge the evidence to pre-existing statistics. Pigs also can hold the threat of releasing DNA as evidence over arrested people in an attempt to get coerced confessions. This practice also exposes the fact that the pigs hold no pretense of prisons being institutions which help to reform or change people who actually committed the crimes for which they were incarcerated. The Amerikkkan injustice system has never been interested in stopping crime. Any genuine opponent of crime starts by attacking the root cause - the oppressive imperialist system. The Amerikan so-called justice system disproportionately incarcerates oppressed nationals while intensifying overall genocidal and exploitative crimes perpetuated by the imperialist system in general. The crimes of the imperialists have resulted in systematic exploitation, starvation, genocide and rape. The criminals perpetuating these crimes must be put on trial and prosecuted by the people. The imperialists are the real criminals. In addition to pigs using the DNA to increase the incarceration of the oppressed, there are no restrictions on whether or not the DNA can be used to test for genetic predisposition toward disease and crime. The DNA collection and Amerikkka's subsequent ability to do with it as it pleases helps to perpetuate bio-determinist analyses about crime and nationality. Once again falling back to white nation chauvinist bio-determinism, so-called scientific studies promulgate the idea that Blacks are more violent and that whites are genetically superior. Sounds a lot like Nazi Germany. Well actually it wasn't just in Germany. The U$ has funded such so-called scientific endeavors before for the purpose of controlling the health and lives of the oppressed. The United Snakes of Imperialism funded the massive sterilization of Puerto Rican wimmin and experimentation of Third World peoples under the guise of small pox tests, to give two examples. And the United Snakes experimented on and prevented treatment for hundreds of men in Macon, Georgia during the 40 year Tuskegee experiments. As in the case of the Tuskegee experiments, the collection of prisoners' DNA can be used for imperialist scientists to perform studies with the aim of concluding that the oppressed are more prone to disease or crime. MIM builds support for prisoners' struggles against oppression. Specifically, we print this information to encourage others to continue opposition against the DNA banks in Massachusetts and to help us publicize this imperialist tactic that is happening in many states in Amerikkka. MIM knows that this injustice system will not be reformed to provide justice to the people, but we can fight for small reforms while we build the revolutionary struggle to overthrow imperialism and move forward to socialist society. Note: Boston Globe 19 April 1998. * * * CALIFORNIA D.O.C.: $450,000 FOR A BUS, $0 FOR EDUCATION by RC4T4 The California Department of Corrections is requesting another bus for the transportation of prisoners. It is a new type of bus which will be tailored for the California D.O.C.'s specifications. It costs about $450,000 for one of these specialized buses. The D.O.C has already bought one of these buses and now it wants two more. Some of the specifications the D.O.C. is asking for is that the bus be 43 feet long, bullet proof windows, an elevated enclosed guard station, three bullet proof isolation cells, the newest in environmental air conditioning systems, a 400 horsepower engine, and a bathroom with a drinking fountain in it. The D.O.C. is not requesting this bus because of their concern for the safety and comfort of their prisoners, as prisoners are starved, dehydrated, or beaten to death in prisons across the country. So then why request these specialized air conditioned, drinking fountain equipped buses? With the recent growth of the prison industry and the senseless game of transferring prisoners, the D.O.C. has found itself in the transportation business. In California the cost of shuttling prisoners around the state has reached a daily cost of $5,500. The California D.O.C. already has 32 buses and is claiming that these buses are not enough. This is because they are transporting about 20,000 prisoners a month to and from prison or transferring prisoners to other prisons. The California D.O.C. is currently awaiting approval for their request for a $450,000 bus. The legislative analysis office is, of course, only concerned with the cost of the new bus. The fact that budget cuts are taking away education and rehabilitation programs for prisoners does not seem to be affecting the budget for transporting prisoners. MIM knows that the Department of Corrections is not interested in correcting or rehabilitating anyone. Prisons are a growth industry in this country and the D.O.C. is only interested in its cut in the industry. A $450,000 bus is more important than education programs or libraries in the prisons. The D.O.C. and the Amerikan government have a vested interest in the growth of the prison population and the oppression this system sets up and perpetuates. And it is this interest that has propelled the u.s. to its status as the number one incarcerator in the world. The criminal injustice system is an integral part of Amerikan imperialism, work with MIM to overthrow this system and end the oppression of all groups over groups. Notes: Prison Connections For further information about the prison industry in Amerika and its role in u.s. society, order a copy of MIM Theory 11, Amerikan Prisons on Trial, for $6 postage paid. * * * CULTURE: SLAVEMASTER DALIA LAMA HAS HIS SAY KUNDUN: THE AMAZING STORY OF THE 14TH DALAI LAMA Directed by: Martin Scorsese This film is essentially an autobiography of the Dalai Lama, spiritual and political leader of feudal Tibet. Predictably, it paints the Dalai Lama as a reformer, and the People's Liberation Army as horrible oppressors. Like in "Seven Years in Tibet" we see that the Dalai Lama had very little contact with the common people of Tibet. The film repeatedly shows the Tibetan Court trying to keep the Dalai Lama in the dark about various political matters (palace intrigue, the existence of Tibetan prisons and the Tibetan army). (Lest some of MIM Notes' readers who saw the film be confused, we deduce that the Dalai Lama was born into a family of the lower nobility and not into a serf family. We base this on comparison of dress.) If MIM was to make a film about Tibet, would base it on the lives of the majority of the population not on the top leader. Such a film would focus on the hard work and low standard of living of the serfs compared to the nobility. Perhaps we would focus on the former slave woman who became the leader of Tibet after the Dalai Lama fled. Or maybe we would tell the story of this former serf: "I think I was not much different from a yak or any other draft animal for I could not read or write a word and knew nothing at all. For generations my family belonged to a big serf-owner who had five hundred families of serfs, working both in farming and in livestock. I wore the same sheepskin winter and summer and it was my only garment. It was so old that there was no wool on it anymore nor any warmth but only plenty of lice. I was always hungry."(1) MIM has no reason to doubt this portrayal of the Dalai Lama's knowledge of what was really going on in Tibet. However, our beef has never been with the individual responsibility of the Dalai Lama, but rather with the slave society he represents. In the almost 50 years since the Dalai Lama took office, he has yet to denounce past serfdom or even say that restoring the Dalai Lama regime will not mean restored slavery for the Tibetan masses. In the film, when Dalai Lama flees to India, he laments the timing of the Chinese "invasion" because his reforms were just about to take place. MIM has seen no evidence that the Dalai Lama was or is aware of the scope of the changes that were necessary. This film was interesting to MIM in that it portrayed significant changes in how the Dalai Lama tells his history. The film says that the Dalai Lama did not approve the 1951 agreement for the "Peaceful Liberation of Tibet", which set forth the a slow pace of reforms by which the nobility would give political power to the masses. Between 1951 and 1959, there were several rebellions of the nobility. In 1959, 4 of the 6 kaloons (wealthy noblemen) in the kasha (Cabinet of Ministers) united in rebellion. The rebellion failed because the Tibetan people did not support it. According to the Dalai Lama at the time, he was kidnapped and forced into exile. As MIM Theory 8 wrote, this claim was suspicious because the Dalai Lama refused an offer of the Chinese Communist Party to return to power. Instead, the Dalai Lama remained in India and denounced the 1951 Agreement. This allowed the Chinese Communist Party to abandon the slow pace of the 1951 Agreement and instead speed up it's reforms. In the film the story is changed, the Dalai Lama plays no role in the rebellions--which are only discussed in the context of rejected CCP requests for the Dalai Lama to stop the rebellions--but willingly flees to India. In the film, we see a scene were Mao says to the Dalai Lama in a private meeting that "religion is poison." The only evidence MIM has of this meeting is the Dalai Lama's word for it, but this is not an incorrect statement even though it is clearly put in the movie to make Mao look bad. Religion most definitely is a poison used to dupe the masses into accepting their class based societies. Even in the film, we see the young Dalai Lama learning the Buddhist justifications for suffering. Instead of blaming the nobility for their poverty, the serf system wanted the people to blame their ancestors. Instead of making a revolution and carrying out land reform, Buddhism wants the people to focus on their next reincarnation. Communists should and do propagandize against religion as a part of the old oppressive society. The sentence "religion is poison" was difficult for most Amerikan audiences to grasp and for that reason MIM carries out much more extensive educational work around this issue. On a related point, the Dalai Lama has a number of nightmares in the film. In one, he is standing, surrounded by the bleeding bodies of hundreds or thousands of dead monks. This was a dream and never happened. One dream, however, MIM suspects and hopes did happen. In this dream, a People's Liberation Army general pays a visit to the Dalai Lama and tells him stories about his own oppression as a peasant in another part of China. Telling stories like this is a useful way to get people to make connections to larger issues than their own circumstances. But for the Dalai Lama, listening to the story of a peasant's poverty--even one who lived a thousand miles away--is a nightmare that must be awoken from immediately. Note: Anna Louise Strong, Tibetan Interviews. New World Press: Peking, 1959, p. 30. * * * RAIL AND NBUS HOST FIRST NATION DELEGATION The Missouri chapter of the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League and the National Black United Front (NBUF) hosted a delegation led by AIM leader Dennis Banks on March 22 in St. Louis. A crowd of about 60 people gathered for the weekly Sunday Forum organized by the NBUF which included a video and talk about the African origins of Christianity. In 1968, Dennis Banks and George Mitchell, two Anishinabes (Chippewas), founded the American Indian Movement (AIM), which was consciously patterned after the Black Panther Party's community self-defense model. AIM chapters quickly sprang up around the country and came to include representatives from at least sixty four First Nation tribes. Despite murderous U.$. government repression, AIM fights on for the political, economic, and cultural self- determination of First Nation peoples. When the First Nation delegation arrived they received a standing ovation from the audience. Banks delivered an inspiring speech which started with; "When the white man came here, he had the Bible and we had the land; now we have their Bible and they have our land! Christianity has been used against us and other peoples to conquer us. They did it which their ideology (Christianity) and military (the gun)." Banks noted the similarity between the First Nations fight for land and Black demands for reparations. In the case of all oppressed nations within Amerika, their common enemy is Amerikan imperialism. For over 500 years the white nation has sided with First Nation genocide and Black Slavery in efforts to raise the material conditions of only the White Amerikan oppressor nation. This is why MIM says that Amerikan oppression is national oppression. The only way to take back land and reparations is to unite around national liberation struggles and throw off Amerikan Imperialism(1). In terms of the current struggle for land rights, Banks said that the u.$. government has offered First Nations millions of dollars for formal rights to land; showing the U$ under international pressure to make stealing of land look nice. In response he upheld the righteous line that "Our land is not for sale." Making another connection between Amerikan imperialism and national oppression, he described Jericho '98 as a movement to free prisoners incarcerated for political activism in the united snakes. "The first political prisoners in this country were indigenous peoples. Eleven Indian (SIC) couples were incarcerated on Alcatraz Island for refusing to send their children to the white man's schools." Banks noted the common link between Black and First Nations peoples; "They forbade us to use our own language, practice our religion and continue our culture." The injustice system has been used to disproportionately imprison members of the Black, Latino and First Nations in efforts to destroy any resistance against oppression. Banks talked about the past leaders such as Chief Joseph who was imprisoned by the united states because he dared to fight for justice for his tribe. "Leonard Peltier, he's been in prison 22 years when all the evidence points to his innocence," Banks said. The event was productive in exposing Amerikan oppression. We call to all those who support the struggle of the First Nations to expand their historical vision to the millions of other people belonging to the Black and Latino nations who have been subjected to the same exploitation and genocide at the hands of U$ domestic imperialism. And further, we call to all those activists to struggle against the innately oppressive nature of imperialism not just in Amerika, but also the exploitation and oppression of our comrades abroad. Notes: MIM Theory 7, p. 72. * * * PRISONERS RIOT TO PROTEST LOCKDOWN AT WALPOLE by a RAIL comrade Conditions at Walpole prison in Massachusetts have been getting worse and worse over the past year: prisoners are being killed, tortured and harassed. Walpole prison has several blocks that have been locked down since last summer, these are called gang blocks. Six prisoners have died under these conditions which have been medically proven to cause sensory deprivation. The inmates of Walpole have been receiving phony disciplinary tickets more and more recently. "Gang" block inmates have been repeatedly attacked by guards and instances of guards accompanied by attack dogs, going into individual's cells to beat prisoners have increased recently. Books and other personal items have been confiscated for no reason other than harassment. And prisoners have even complained of being verbally attacked on their way to the health service unit. On March 5, 1998 guards in riot gear shook one of the "gang" blocks down and took ten inmates from their cells to the segregation units where they were locked down without recreation, exercise, showers, or phones. The next five to six days following this incident this entire "gang" block was locked down, meaning all the prisoners within the block went five to six days without sheets, towels, jumpsuits, or clothing of any kind other than their underwear. Prisoners reported that a door was left open somewhere on the block to let in a cold breeze, many prisoners are sick as a result. On March 11, 1998 after days of the above-mentioned mistreatment, the prisoners rioted. The prisoners who had previously been allowed to leave their cells for food pick- up rebelled by refusing to leave their cells. They threw what little food they had out of their cells and trashed the block. These inmates demanded the food be brought to them as the law requires for prisoners "awaiting action". Within two hours after the riot started the special operations guards came in wearing masks and carrying shields and billy clubs accompanied by attack dogs. The guards beat prisoners and took what little private property they had left in their cells. This riot then turned into a two and a half day hunger strike. During this time many prisoners were taken out of their cells and severely beaten and/or bit by the guards and their dogs. For three days following the initial riot, during the hunger strike, these inmates were kept in their individual cells with one pair of boxers, one t-shirt, a pair of sandals, one bed sheet, one pillow case, and nothing else. On March 13, 1998 a few prisoners were removed from their cells and negotiated with the administration in order to "restore calm" and so that they would be allowed to pick up their meals once again. The same day these negotiations were being made, a number of prisoners were transferred to the segregation units. The next day the prisoners remaining in the "gang block" were allowed their first shower in nine days. A couple days later they were given towels, jumpsuits, blankets, and allowed recreation. Later that same month prisoners were taken out of their cells and interrogated by administration and guards. They were asked if they were planning anything, if they wanted to go the superintendent about anything. Prisoners responded saying that they wanted those inmates who had been transferred to segregation to be transferred back. A man in a suit offered prisoners a deal, claiming they would be transferred to Program level 4, if they cooperated and renounced membership to the Netas, historically a Puerto Rican organization that works on behalf of prisoners. The DOC in Massachusetts and other states likes to call Neta a dangerous and criminal gang and uses membership in it as an excuse to oppress prisoners. The result is that in Massachusetts, Puerto Rican prisoners face tremendous repression and make up over 90% of those locked down in the "gang" block. The prisoners were threatened with worse conditions if they declined the offer. When prisoners refused the offer, the man in the suit ordered that those prisoners be taken to the gym. Prisoners were shoved down stairs while handcuffed and shackled. They were punched and dragged or lifted by the neck, while guards also shouted derogatory remarks and racial epithets toward them. Once in the gym the prisoners were told to stand with their faces pressed against the wall and told not to turn around. Prisoners stood and listened as each one was taken from the wall and beaten by guards and bit by dogs. This is a type of torture tactic that has been used many times throughout the history of military-state terrorism. After over an hour of terrorizing beatings the prisoners were told not to tell the medical staff if they had any injuries. A few weeks after the beatings, prisoner rights activists gained access to this gang block and interviewed some of those who had been beaten. Pictures were taken of the injuries which prisoners received from the beatings as proof that the beatings occurred. The DOC still claims they know nothing about the incident even when asked how these injuries occurred. The pictures reveal chain bruises on prisoner's ankles and wrists, strangulation bruises around their necks, general bruises on their arms and legs, and many prisoners had chunks of skin bitten off by the dogs. A nurse who reportedly tried to intervene and help prisoners was told this incident and its results were a security matter. This latest repression at Walpole just serves to underscore the use of prisons as a tool for national oppression and social control in the united snakes. Prisons are not being used to rehabilitate criminals and create better people, prisoners are beaten and tortured as the system attempts to convince them not to fight the system by meeting any resistance with repression. The prison system in the u.s. is a political system that serves imperialism. MIM fights to overthrow the entire system of imperialism and replace it with a system of justice by the people. Those who commit crimes against the people should be dealt with by the people not by an imperialist government. MIM looks to the example of socialist China under Mao as a model for developing a justice system run by and for the people (for more information on the prison system in China send MIM $10 for a copy of "Prisoners of Liberation"). Join MIM and RAIL in this fight against the criminal injustice system as we work to improve conditions for the $1.7 million behind bars while we struggle to overthrow imperialism. Note: Interview with prisons activist organization. For further information on the criminal injustice system see MIM Theory 11 "Amerikkkan Prisons on Trial" available for $6 from MIM Distributors. * * * ISRAELI-AMERIKAN IMPERIALISM TURNS 50 The organization Palestine 50 held a rally April 25 in Boston to protest 50 years of Israeli occupation of Palestine. "50 years ago Palestine was destroyed," their flier read, declaring that those who celebrate the birth of the Israeli state also "celebrate the destruction of Palestine. In 1948, Israel was carved out of 77% of Palestine, the homeland of the Palestinian people. This conquest resulted in the destruction of over 500 Palestinian communities and caused more than half the world's Palestinians to be exiled to refugee camps." Pigs fear anti-imperialists At the Justice for Palestine rally there were many cops, on motorcycles, in cars, on foot and undercover. So many pigs to control a crowd of about 300 people. While at the Israel celebration where tens of thousands of people were in attendance with many literature tables, performances and live music, few cops were visible. The cops are correct to fear the anti-imperialists and consider the pro-Israeli crowd to be allies of Amerikan imperialism. Backers of the Israel celebration included Bank Boston and the City of Boston. While the city bent over backward to make it possible for the Israel celebration to be held on public property, they went out of their way to try to interfere with and control the Palestine rally. And, demonstrating the strength of the forces on the side of the state of Israel, the organizers spent $170,000 to stage the celebration. The Palestine 50 flier went on: "Israel has used terror, military force, and law to repress the Palestinian people. Israel's Supreme Court legalized torture (Criminal File 201/93) and determined that the price of a Palestinian life is worth 1 cent (1. Badran Case Nov. 96). Methods that Israel has employed in order to rule include assassination, deportation, arbitrary imprisonment without charge or trial, confiscation of land, demolition of houses, and the strangulation of economic, educational and cultural life. "In 1967, under the guise of security, Israel occupied the remaining 23% of Palestine. Consequently, all Palestinians became victims of Israeli terror. Today, approximately 5 million Palestinians live in exile while 3 million live under occupation in the West Bank and Gaza. In 1987, after decades of organized resistance against the occupation, unarmed Palestinians confronted and defied Israeli soldiers in the popular uprising known as the Intifada. The Intifada sought to obtain for Palestinians their right to self- determination, to an independent state, and to return to their homeland. "In 1993, the Oslo Accords claimed to usher in an era of peace. Instead, a new type of occupation has been legitimized. Israel forced the Palestinian Authority to act as its surrogate against the Palestinian people. This new type of occupation and oppression has created a series of ghettos, where economic growth is blocked, humanity is denied, and where justice and peace are rendered impossible." Protests such as this one are particularly important in this country because of the significant financial, military and political aid the u.s. gives to Israel. "Israel could not continue its reprehensible conduct without support from our government. Israel is the largest U.S. aid recipient. Since 1981, much of its economic and military assistance has been awarded in the form of outright grants. Every year over $3 billion of our tax dollars are sent to Israel and Israel is not required to account for how this money is put to use." Reactionary policy of censorship MIM supports the Palestinian people's struggle for self- determination and a MIM distributor attended the rally in solidarity with the message and to distribute flyers about an upcoming local event on another aspect of u.s. imperialism: prison slave labor. After handing out only a few flyers the MIM distributor was told by an organizer that s/he was not welcome at the rally. The group, Palestine 50, had decided on a policy of not allowing other organizations to distribute their literature or carry their signs. When the MIM distributor tried to struggle over the issue the organizer just walked away. This policy treats people like they are too stupid to figure out for themselves which politics are progressive. And it discourages the expansion of the struggle beyond one specific issue, leaving the global implementation of imperialism to the Amerikan government while the activists can only talk about one issue at a time. A few people with the Workers World party showed up with a banner. They were told they could only stay if they got rid of the banner. When they tried to struggle over this with the organizers, one of the leaders apparently told an undercover cop to get rid of the WW people. The other leaders did put a stop to this ridiculous use of the pigs but stood by the policy of no banners or literature from other groups. MIM condemns any policy that restricts political struggle and debate among those opposed to imperialism. For its part, MIM pays to print literature of other groups in its theory journal so that our readers can judge for themselves which side of the debate is correct. And at our events we allow literature distribution from other organizations. Palestine 50 is limiting the ability of the anti- imperialists in this country to strengthen their political line and unite their practice around common opposition to imperialism. A number of people at the rally told MIM they oppose this practice of censorship and MIM encourages the membership of Palestine 50 to change the policy. * * * D.C. LOTTERY PREYS ON BLACKS By a comrade Across the U.$., lotteries had $36 billion in sales in 1997. That's more than $130 per person, which is more than the total per capita income of some poor countries. After expenses and prizes, governments profited to the tune of $12 billion. Two articles by the Washington Post gave us some good new information. In the Washington D.C. area, like elsewhere, there is an inverse relation between education and lottery spending, for very good reason: playing the lottery is a bad investment. People with less education are more likely to play the lottery, and more likely to waste more money on it once they do play. In 1997, D.C. reaped $69 million in profits from $203 million in sales. That's a good incentive for the government not to improve education: it's a $203 million tax on poor education. The Post listed D.C. lottery sales by zip code. MIM got the percent of Blacks in the population for each zip code from Census data, and checked the relationship between percent Black and lottery spending: It's clear. Seven zip codes are less than 10% Black, and none of them produced more than $5 million in lottery spending last year. The seven zip codes between 40-80% Black all had between $4.8-$10 million, and all the zip codes with more than $10 million lottery spending were more than 80% Black. (No zip codes are between 10- 40% Black.) See the graph. The Post compared lottery spending with income levels, but MIM analyzed both income and Black population for the zip codes. We found that the proportion of the population that is Black is a much bigger factor in lottery spending than income. It looks to us like it's not just that people with lower incomes want to play the lottery more to get rich, but that lottery marketing toward Blacks is paying off, and the lower quality of education for Blacks is not teaching people that the lottery is a waste of money. Anthony Williams, D.C. chief financial officer, said it's "troubling" that there are "people who make less than $15,000 a year and a huge percent of their income is going for playing." Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening said it was "sad." Yet D.C. and Maryland have plans to specifically target Blacks and Latinos in lottery marketing campaigns. Overall, vast lottery spending in the country is a sign of parasitism and decadence in the country. However, poor members of the internal colonies, especially Blacks, spend more of their money on them, which is just another way that the government increases inequality and national oppressed. Notes: Washington Post articles from May 3 and May 4, 1998. Zip code data are from the Census Bureau at www.census.gov. MIM's analysis also controlled for population size, in case the Black zip codes just had more people living in them. To see the details of MIM's statistical analysis, go to www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/dc/DCRAIL.html. * * * RWANDAN GENOCIDE TRIALS DIVERT ATTENTION FROM TRUE CAUSE: IMPERIALISM by RC784 The Rwandan state recently executed four individuals found responsible for acts of genocide during the Rwandan civil war (1990-94). The Rwandan civil war of the early 1990s killed over a million Hutus and Tutsis and was undeniably a human tragedy. But the purpose of the International Tribunal for Rwanda (hereafter referred to as 'the Tribunal'), created by Western imperialist nations in the UN, is not about establishing justice and preventing genocide in Africa. The Tribunal's real purpose is to dupe the masses into believing that imperialist oppressor nations really "care" for the Afrikan masses. The nations which are known today as Rwanda and Burundi were once colonies of Belgium. Prior to 1916, Ruanda-Urundi were two kingdoms of similar ethnic composition - 85% Hutu, 14% Tutsi, and 1% Twa - ruled over by a common Tutsi king. While Tutsis were the dominant group, Hutus and Tutsis spoke the same language and fought together against common enemies.(1) The Rwandan civil war cannot be properly understood without its imperialist context. As was the case throughout Africa, the colonial master picked one group, the Tutsis in this case, to rule over the other ethnic groups in the interest of the oppressor nation. Belgium called the shots, and the Tutsi administration pulled the trigger. The Belgians offered adequate incentives to turn the Tutsis against the Hutus and created the justification that the Tutsis are biologically superior to the Hutus, thus creating previously unknown chauvinism between these two groups (1) Though the Belgians were forced to grant nominal independence to Rwanda in the 1950s, the Rwandans inherited an imperialist-designed economy. As late as 1989, the Rwandan economy received 80% of its foreign exchange holdings from one crop - coffee. But the global economic price of coffee dropped that year, and the Rwandan peasant found his/herself producing 45% more coffee for 20% less income.(2) With Rwanda in crisis, Hutu leader Juvenal Habyarimana agreed to accept a structural adjustment loan from the IMF (on the nature and impact of IMF structural adjustment loans, see the article on Klinton in Afrika, MN 161). But IMF loans only made things worse: Rwanda's GDP fell by 8% in 1993, its' national debt rose from $189 million in 1980 to $941 million, 85% of the population lived in poverty, and one-third of all children were malnourished.(2) In this context the Rwandan Patriotic Army (RPA) decided to seize state power since the Tutsi exiles had been squeezed out of power by the imperialist backed Habyarimana's Hutu clique in 1973.(2) Many of the RPA leadership had held high positions in the Ugandan state apparatus under Yoweri Museveni including Paul Kagame, an Amerikan-trained general (at the U$ army staff college in Leavenworth, Kansas) and current defense minister and vice president of the Rwandan state. According to bourgeois media sources, Kagame is "just about the best friend Washington has in Africa these days."(3) It should be noted that the RPA, though having some Tutsi supporters within Rwanda, never had support of the Rwandan masses. The RPA did not build an alternate civilian political infrastructure in the regions under its control.(4) What the imperialists try to sell as a solely fratricidal war between Hutu and Tutsi was, in fact, a war of imperialist rivalry. The RPA and Rwandan army served as proxies for either side. From 1989 onwards, Great Britain and the United Snakes supported the RPA while Belgium and France supported Habyarimana's ruling party and the National Republican Movement for Democracy and Development (MRNDD). Though Belgium and France would sell arms to both sides before the war was over to guarantee that whoever won would serve France's imperial interests. Unlike the French role in Rwanda, the U$ government is able to pretend that it had no hand in this affair because RPA supplies were routed through the Ugandan state as aid to Museveni's government.(4) With its back against the wall, the MRNDD agreed to the Arusha (Tanzania) accords in August 1993 which would have required MRNDD to split government posts with the RPA. But the RPA, believing their victory was assured, refused to accept the accords. The MRNDD, knowing that the Rwandan National Guard could not hold back the RPA, distributed weapons to the Interhamwe and Imuzamugambi militias and municipal authorities to attack suspected RPA supporters. Killings and mass arrests occurred on both sides.(4) In December 1993, The UN Security Council deployed troops to Rwanda (UNAMIR), not to "prevent genocide," but to be present when the capital Kigali, was seized by the RPA. Habyarimana was assassinated the day after the UN Security Council agreed to keep their troops in Rwanda (April 5, 1994) long after the RPA victory was assured.(4) This is the way the oppressor nations tell their puppets, "Remember, you don't take power without our say-so." The imperialist-sponsored Tribunal has defined the civil war in Rwanda not as such but as a case of genocide. This provides the UN Security Council with a legal pretext to intervene in what would otherwise be considered a matter of Rwanda's national sovereignty. Even though the civil war began at the end of 1989 with an imperialist backed RPA invasion, the Tribunal is prosecuting only those Hutus who, during the last stage of the war (1994), killed those civilian Tutsis they considered RPA. In this way, the U$ can appear to be concerned about the death of everyday Afrikans and wipe out Habyarimana's clique, the puppets of Belgian and French imperialism. The Tribunal consists of Afrikan judges, but it is largely funded by the U$, staffed with Amerikan prosecutors and investigators, and assisted with Amerikan intelligence information.(4) NGOs (non-governmental organizations) like Amnesty International, Africa Watch and Oxfam have been lending credibility to the UN effort despite the fact that their own reports state that no such ethnic massacres would have occurred had it not been for the RPA invasion.(4) The bourgeois media ignores these facts, and it is up to MIM to expose imperialist lies to the masses. Human Rights Watch is concerned not with ending imperialism, just imperialist rivalries, as they expose the fact that France, Zaire, South Africa, and China are rearming the defeated Hutu faction while ignoring U$ military support for Kagame and President Pasteur Bizimungu in Rwanda.(5) The Tribunal is intended to support the notion that, "so long as Hutu and Tutsi are left to themselves, the killing will continue."(6) But MIM knows that imperialism is the principal cause of murder in the world today. Imperialists should be put in trial by the people for their role in the genocide in Rwanda and around the world. Only when the people overthrow imperialism and seize power to build socialism will this justice be possible. NOTES: 1. Andrew Purvis, "Roots of Genocide: Why Hutu and Tutsi Cannot Live in Peace," Time, August 5, 1996, p. 57. 2. Barry Crawford, "Rwanda: Myth and Reality," http://www.africa2000.com/indx/rwanda1.htm 3. Marcus Mabry, "An American Empire?," Newsweek, December 2, 1996, p. 46. 4. Barry Crawford, op. cit. 5. Human Rights Watch, "Rearming With Impunity: International Support for the Perpetrators of Rwandan Genocide, 05/29/95,"http:\\www.sas.upenn.edu/ African_S.../Urgent_Action / DC _ Hrite _Rwnda.html. 6. Andrew Purvis, op. cit. * * * SUPREME COURT DENIES CITIZENSHIP TO SOME CHILDREN BORN ABROAD The Supreme Court recently dismissed a challenge to a law governing the citizenship status of children of unmarried u.$. citizens born abroad. The law grants citizenship to such children if their mother was a u.$. citizen but not if their father was. According to the Supreme Court, "The biological differences between single men and single women provide a relevant basis for differing rule governing their ability to confer citizenship on children born in foreign lands." This is a patriarchal excuse for national oppression and imperialism. The patriarchal part of the logic behind the Supreme Court's Argument is that "boys will be boys." U.$. men can take advantage of the booming prostitution industry in the Third World, for example, and never know about the existence of children fathered by them. Imperialism requires that the u.$ state be zealous about defending the integrity of u.$. citizenship. The Supreme Court is frightened by the prospect of wimmin from oppressed nations claiming that their children were fathered by u.$. men - whether or not such a prospect is realistic. As MIM explained in MIM Theory 10 and investigates further in an upcoming MIM Theory, Amerika's militarized border and its support for repressive governments abroad create the conditions for the super-exploitation of workers in the Third World. Because the "Amerikan way of life" depends on this super-exploitation, the Amerikan imperialists and their allies in the labor aristocracy are choosy about who they allow to enjoy the perks of u.$. citizenship. One of the key tasks of socialism in North America will be to open the borders. Allowing workers from the Third World to move here unhindered and take jobs will strengthen the dictatorship of the proletariat and help make the principle of proletarian internationalism concrete. Note: Boston Globe, April 19, 1998 * * * UNDER LOCK AND KEY: TORTURE IN PRISONS: COMMON TREATMENT TRIPLE CUBED IN ALABAMA ...They have a UNICOR factory here, but I work mopping up in the dorm and make $12.00 a month. Because this is a Camp, they try to send as many of us as possible to work at the army base in Ft. McCollum which is Anniston, Alabama. Inmates on that detail have to get on an army bus at 7 a.m. and ride for one hour. They work doing landscape and stuff and then at 2 p.m. head back to the camp. That detail is the pits. ...There are some legal materials here but this facility has the worst law library out of the five or so places I have been. Only one typewriter works for 400 people that are here. We are triple cubed here. Meaning three men to an eight by ten foot cube with three lockers and a desk -- not much room. Six toilets in a dorm for 100-110 guys and the showers have no doors or curtains for privacy. -- An Alabama Prisoner, 22 March 1998 PIGS ATTEMPT TO ISOLATE PRISONER FROM THE OUTSIDE ...Every time I get shipped somewhere now, my property gets raped. This time, they got me for my main legal/research notebook. It also contained all my addresses and phone numbers, various data, business plans and ideas and more accounts of prison atrocities. I guess their subliminal message was, "Forget about your family, dreams and trying to get out." ...They won't allow me to get legal documents copied to send to lawyers, officials or journalists. Only to the courts they say. This "policy" is contrary to ALL the laws in the land and even other Florida prisons. They're trying to keep me in a pro se status. When I submitted legal mail to attorneys and legal organizations, they sent them back to me saying I needed to put stamps on them. When I filed a complaint, citing rule/laws entitling indigents to free legal mailings, they then replied that I'd have to go through a "counselor". Their own handbook says nothing of this, nor does state institution law or other prisons. Legal letters are supposed to be mailed promptly and unhindered. Since these "counselors" rarely come by my dungeon, I guess they want me to beg. I'm in Isolation (without a disciplinary report and no investigation), and it's hard to get them to bring a request form, so calling a counselor is a joke. On a trip to medical, I managed to speak to some of my fellow felons. They say I'm being singled out for something, because they're not having this problem. In addition, officers wouldn't verify that my stamped letters to the media were mailed. I'm not allowed to use the phone. I can't even call you. Where's freedom of speech? Inmates say I must have done something to become a threat to the administration. I can't imagine what. All I'm trying to do is get their laws applied to my sentence so I can go home. It's hard enough trying to get out by the law. Yet, I have these myrmidons creating their own policy. I have little hope.... -- A Florida Prisoner, 22 March 1998 "MISBEHAVIOR" SURCHARGE ...In all the prisons [in New York], the prison administrators in Albany set up a system to rob prisoners of five dollars. It is the so-called surcharge on misbehavior reports. From every misbehavior report the prison guards write against a prisoner, it cost the prisoner five dollars. So the prison guards go out of their way to look for unnecessary fault or trouble. Gathered together, 15 to 20 prison guards jump on one prisoner and then charge him for assault on them, and put him in punitive segregation for many years. Now, with control of all inmate accounts, the people who administer over it rob us for at least two to three thousand dollars a day. And remember we are supposed to be the criminals. With the commissary, every commissary purchase they rip off at least two thousand dollars from us. People, your sons and daughters are not safe in the hands of the people who are supposed to be protecting us.... -- A New York Prisoner 27 February 1998 LOSING WEIGHT DUE TO INADEQUATE FOOD ...Recently I was transferred to Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Carlisle, Indiana. I was given a bogus court report and sent to the SHU [Segregated Housing Unit]. I was given a year disciplinary segregation, a month commissary restriction and loss of credit time earned. Since being on the SHU I have lost 10 pounds. This is because the correctional institution feeds us with outdated and expired food. Non-nutritional food it precooked three days in advance and then reheated and served to us. And the oppressive regime that runs this place condones and contributes to the systemic problems here. This "Good Old Boy" Network is out of control!!! The struggle continues, -- An Indiana Prisoner, 9 February, 1998 PIGS DENY FOOD TO GAY PRISONER Dear Friends in the Struggle, ...I sit here in this dungeon of the TDCJ, better known by the oppressed and tortured as the Texas Department of Corruption's and Injustices. Yes, sitting here and having to put up with having my food denied to me. Because these pigs, swine, and so-called setters of "upright" ways have decided that just because I am a homosexual and because I practice my preferred sexual practices. They who are so "upright" in their own eyes will punish me, in violation of their own laws, by refusing me food -- not just one meal but all three meals. These pigs are only trying to correct me, when they are themselves are acting in an incorrect and lawless way. In effect pigs are saying, "You will obey, not by our example, but by what we say you should do." So what they are trying to say in words and actions is that they think they have the right (given to them by God) to make rules and have us abide by them while they do just as they wish. In the struggle for Liberation, -- A Texas Prisoner, 7 April 1998 INADEQUATE MEDICAL CARE IN TEXAS The U.$. Supremacist Court in the past has ruled that when the government incarcerates a citizen in jail or prison, it is bound to the provision of adequate treatment of medical problems. As with all rulings favoring the rights of citizens, that one has been blatantly violated from the day it was first written. Across the nation, citizens spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year to pay and maintain the best medical equipment on the market for prison clinics, tons of medications, and wages exorbitantly high for people who call themselves doctors, nurses and physician assistants. Though some of the "nurses" and "doctors" actually have managed, with aid of prison pressure upon licensing agencies to obtain licenses, the sad fact is that the vast majority of prison "health care" staff are ignorant of actual medical problems and medical care. They do not know how to use the expensive equipment. They do not know how to use the medications. They could not hold a medical job in the free world more than a few weeks at a time. They steal the medications and sell them on the free-world black market. They purposely torture, and even kill the prisoners who seek medical help. And now, despite the Supremacist Court's prior rulings to the contrary, they have passed laws and made rules such that in the future every time a prisoner asks for medical help he/she will be required to pay for asking. Note carefully: We must pay for asking for medical help, not for getting it! We still do not get any medical treatment, pay or no pay. ...Prison labor in Texas is compulsory and any and all hints of resistance are immediately and severely punished. After all, this is not a system of criminal justice, but a high profit money making corporation, even if it is costing the taxpayers billions. I don't know who told you that some Texas prisoners make 24 cents an hour, but I highly recommend that you not let that person in on any of your business. S/he is a flat out liar and probably on the TDC's payroll. NO prisoner in the Texas slave plantations is paid even a single cent - EVER - for the slave labor we are forced to perform!! Anyone who tells you differently is lying, just like the TDC industries lie on their annual budgets about the thousands of dollars each is paid by the taxpayers "for inmate labor." No inmate ever sees any of that money, and it is never returned to the treasury. You'll just have to guess where it goes. Yes, we have to pay for our own toiletries, but not for medications- which are virtually non-existent. I am not currently assigned to a prison industry job, but I have been. Prisoners are required to work from 5 to 7 days a week, from 8 to 12 hours a day- rarely more than 12 depending on job and circumstances. Working conditions are: You do what you are told, when you are told, and how you are told, no matter how unsafe or dangerous, no matter how stupid, no matter how unproductive, no matter how illegal, and you do not question orders, or else! There are profit industries on every Texas prison unit.... The guards treat us, for the most part, as if they have been carefully taught to believe that we are their personal property, to be treated however they please. One of the primary requirements a person must meet before being hired to work in a prison is to prove he/she is a sado-masochist whose greatest pleasures in life are hurting and degrading people. They are then told when hired that in prison they can exercise all their fantasies without fear of reprisal. It is virtually impossible to start any real study group because if the guards see three or more men talking together at a time, they quickly act to break it up. -- A Texas Prisoner, 12 January 1998 STATEMENT FROM JAAN LAAMAN, OHIO-7 POLITICAL PRISONER * The following statement was sent to RAIL to be read at the Criminal Injustice System teach-in. Look for more of these statements in Future issue of Under Lock and Key * Comrades, friends, fellow anti-imperialists, Let me send a very warm, sincere and Red salute out to each and every one of you here today at this RAIL teach-in in the aftermath of the JERICHO rally. I am one of the listed political prisoners that JERICHO was organized around. I am part of a group of women and men who came to be known as the Ohio-7. We were captured in 1984 and convicted of being members of the United Freedom Front (UFF), which was a clandestine anti-imperialist organization active in the 70's and 80's. The UFF took responsibility for assaulting racist and repressive institutions like apartheid era South African government offices, U.S. military installations, and war profiteer corporations like IBM, GE, and Union Carbide, that support and benefit from U.S. imperialism. We, the 200 or so political prisoners whose release this JERICHO rally demanded, come from numerous movements and organizations. The central issue that unites all of us, and that makes it so appropriate for me to be sending you these words, is that we all see U.S. imperialism as our common and deadly enemy. The majority of political prisoners come from the struggles of oppressed nations fighting for self- determination and freedom. BLA members in captivity for the struggle to liberate the oppressed African Nation within the U.S. Independentistas of the FALN fighting to end colonialism in Puerto Rico, AIM and other Indian organizations members continuing the battle against genocide and for sovereignty of Native Peoples and Nations. Additionally organizations like Red Guerrilla Resistance and the UFF explicitly and concretely supported these national liberation efforts, as well as other freedom struggles like the war against apartheid, support for the Palestinians, and for the Nicaraguan and El Salvadoran people in their battles against U.S. imperialism. This anti-imperialist worldview, which includes resisting the injustices and exploitation of all poor and oppressed people within the USA, continues to unite us political prisoners behind these walls. This is also why I am especially pleased to be here, even if only in spirit and yea, I definitely would rather be here in person, with you righteous anti-imperialists of the RAIL. Speaking as a captured guerrilla and political prisoner, I want to stress that unity along a core analysis of anti-imperialism, with other similarly oriented organizations, either strategically when possible or at least tactically on specific issues, is the way we should further build our Freedom Struggle. The fight for human rights and freedom for political prisoners is closely tied to the overall struggle against the U.S. prison system. With over 1.7 million people in prisons and another 4 plus million on bail, parole or probation, prisons and the entire so called justice system in America is becoming an ever more important and ugly part of the repressive machine that keeps this system rolling. Political prisoners are often subjected to the most horrendous types of imprisonment: kept for years in control and isolation units, exiled far from families, brutalized, and of course given huge sentences. But even if all of the 200 JERICHO named people were to be released immediately, we would still need to wage a serious battle against the U.S. prison system. Because America is a racist, oppressive, and unjust system, based on economic, social and political inequality, the prisons are packed full of Blacks, Latinos and Native Americans, in huge disproportion to their numbers in society. That's not to say that there are not hundreds of thousands of poor whites in prison also -- there are, but the colonial nature of the U.S. is clear in every prison in America. And the prisons of course, are but the last car in a long railroad that begins with laws, police, prosecutors, courts and judges, that all are geared to single out, trap and confine people from oppressed nations. And of course this entire justice system is but one facet of the overall injustice and inequality of U.S. imperialist society. So in closing, let me extend my solidarity and the solidarity of all Political prisoners. We have a lot of struggle ahead and I look forward to continuing to work with you all. Let us recognize that JERICHO 98 is an historic event, the first national rally to demand the release of all political prisoners by a broad coalition of the left in the U.S. Let's build on this as we develop further revolutionary unity in the battles against the prison system and U.S. imperialism overall. FREEDOM IS A CONSTANT STRUGGLE Jaan Karl Laaman - Ohio-7 political prisoner, Leavenworth federal prison, February 1998. CENSORSHIP BATTLE CONTINUES MIM NOTES CENSORED DUE TO SPANISH LANGUAGE I would not address this situation except that I truly want the news you print. I noticed you wrote of COINTELPRO still being in business. Anyway, I was denied MIM Notes because the last page was written in Spanish. According to Army Regulation 190-47, USDB Reg. 28-1 and USDB reg. 600-1, of the reasons to reject mail is "is a non-English publication." page 32 of the MGI (Manual for the Guidance of Inmates). In accordance with regulations I submitted a request to the Director of Inmate Affairs (DIA) asking to be allowed your paper. They answered, "I do not approve your request. Foreign Language material is not authorized except dictionaries." The MGI had stated on page 14 that, "[E]xceptions will be granted where adequate safeguards can be employed without disruption to the facility....Exceptions will be approved in writing by DIA." A 10th Circuit Federal Court (Kansas, 10th Circuit) found that, "the English language rule seriously infringed upon protected First and Fourteenth Amendment interests without being necessary to any legitimate penalogical purpose." ...Maybe you could write to the Commandant Col. Marvin L. Nickels at: United States Disciplinary Barracks, 310 McPherson Ave, Ft. Leavenworth, KS 66027-1363. -- A Military Prisoner, 8 April 1998 CENSORSHIP IN CONNECTICUT Greetings from the Mind Control Kamp (Northern Correctional Institution). I'm in receipt of all literature and papers sent. Unfortunately I could not respond due to correspondence sanctions. I did receive your packet informing me of material being rejected. Yes, I did file a complaint, and it has been resolved by the Mail Room Supervisor. At first she tried to tell me that nothing had been rejected, but upon showing her your letter, she quickly recanted. Since that time I have received MIM Notes. ...No reason was ever given as to why the you sent was rejected, but I'm trying to find out why.... In struggle, -- A Connecticut Prisoner, 4 March 1998 NEW YORK BANS MIM NOTES Thank you for forwarding me the newsletters dated February 1 and 15, 1998 (No. 155 and 156). I still have not received them because these fascist individuals and their so-called "Facility Media Review Committee" have held them up. They have found the following two articles unacceptable: "Oppose the Amerikan Lockdown - Michigan Prisoner Raped by His Captors" and "Brutal Beating in Missouri - Expose the Pigs". I am in the process of challenging this issue due to the violation of my 14th Amendment and infringes upon my rights under the 1st Amendment. This only goes to show that they don't uphold their own laws.... -- A New York Prisoner, 6 April 1998 PIGS BREAKING THEIR OWN RULES AGAIN ...I was written up for allegedly passing your papers along with my revolutionary writings. As a result your papers were banned. Cornell v. Woods 69 F3d 1383 8th Cir. 1995: Prisoner was transferred in retaliation for exercising his first amendment right by talking and cooperating with the prison internal affairs division. Between him and his attorney the won an award of over 31,000. ...The level of censorship can be measured in this institution but the level of racism is astronomical. I filed grievances and they were not even processed according to policy. They were simply stamped and returned without a grievance number. Thereby inmates cannot remedy staff violations. I'm left with no logical alternative than to sue this institution to right a terrible wrong and insure that all inmates will be entitled to a safe, secure, and harassment- free environment. Where all can enjoy the right to breathe freely. ...I was written up for expressing my own political views and for having papers which this institution let come into the jail. When I left the hole, I asked for my mail. I was informed that it was destroyed. That alone denied me access to the courts. Guards here seem to have some kind of quota to make when it comes to filing misconduct reports. One inmate was written up for looking at a guard. Another was written up because a guard spoke to him and he did not speak back. Another for hanging his clothes line. Misconducts for the most part are frivolous. Inmates are written up for the most trivial incidents. Most misconducts are unwarranted and routine. Captains, Lieutenants, and Sergeants provide officers with instructions on how to describe an incident. They encourage officers to lie in order to magnify the incident to make the misconduct sound more serious than it is to the hearing examiner. These frivolous write-ups will have an enormous impact on inmates when they come up for parole.... -- A Pennsylvania Prisoner, 5 February 1998

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