I N T E R N E T ' S M A O I S T B I- M O N T H LY = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 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 112 MID-APRIL 1996 PRISONS AWARENESS WEEK AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN Ann Arbor--MIM, RAIL, and the American Friends Service Committee sponsored Prisons Awareness Week (PAW) at the University of Michigan, March 25-30. The week of events exposed prisons as tools of national oppression and social control, and were an opportunity to mobilize the masses against prisons. Here we cover some PAW events; the next issue of MIM Notes, to be published May 1, will include more coverage of this week. MIM and RAIL organize and educate around prisons and the criminal injustice system because both are forms of state-sanctioned national oppression. From police brutality to the brutality of control unit prisons and the inhumane treatment of prisoners in general, the so-called criminal justice system is attacking national minorities. The Under Lock and Key section of MIM Notes (pages 6 and 7 of this issue) exposes violence inside the prison walls. Prisoners do not have free access to print or broadcast media; that is why it is so important for people on the outside to organize and agitate on behalf of prisoners, keeping in mind the larger goal of ending the criminal injustice system as we know it. A SOCIALIST SOCIETY'S RESPONSE TO CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR Dr. Allyn Rickett, co-author of **Prisoners of Liberation**, opened PAW with a talk on his experience in a communist prison in China from 1951-1955. Rickett was arrested in China for spying on China during the Amerikan war in Korea. Through the process of criticism, self-criticism and study, Dr. Rickett came to realize why his spying activity was wrong. MIM looks to China's prison system under Mao as an example of how a society can effectively deal with its enemies. Amerika could not implement criticism and self- criticism as a solution to criminal activity. Criticism and self-criticism are important processes for revolutionaries organizing within Amerika, but they require that a person be able to reform thoughts and behaviors. Rickett stressed that a person's conditions were a decisive factor in whether or not they could maintain their new way of thinking and acting. Without eliminating national oppression in Amerika, so-called crime and recidivism will never decrease, no matter how many people the state locks up. A socialist revolution will eventually make proletarian justice in Amerika a reality. ALL PRISONERS ARE POLITICAL PRISONERS On Tuesday night, MIM and RAIL showed a 20/20 clip called **Johnny-D** about a Black man in Alabama who was framed for murder and sentenced to death. MIM then led a discussion on why all prisoners are political prisoners. One audience member who has been active with Puerto Rican independence fighters in Amerika's prisons objected to this. S/he argued that calling all prisoners political prisoners denies legitimacy to prisoners who were captured specifically for their revolutionary activities. MIM does to work with prisoners captured for political activity. But we struggle to take the struggle beyond a few prisoners by defining Amerikan occupation of ghettos, barrios and First Nation land as a war on the internal colonies. MIM asks: if only prisoners captured for political activity on the outside are political prisoners, what about jailhouse lawyers who are put in control units for their activity? What about people imprisoned for killing cops in their neighborhoods in retaliation for pig murders in their communities? We fight for justice for prisoners because they are being held captive by a illegitimate government--recognizing this fact, marking distinctions between prisoners we work with and for serves no purpose. In the heated discussion about imperialism and national oppression that followed, one audience member argued that the criminal injustice system was essentially good and that injustices within it are unfortunate aberrations. Another attendee correctly explained how the criminal justice system never works for the oppressed. Another audience member explained why people in the Third World deserve the right to control their own economic and political conditions without Amerikan (or any other imperialist) domination. MIM then explained how imperialism hinders development. Everyone at the events agreed on the need for changes within the criminal injustice system. Some agreed with MIM that the system as we know it needs to be abolished. No one argued that increasing the number of people in the Amerikan gulags would solve anything. Yet many people were content to leave without agreeing to learn more about and organize against the Amerikan prison system of oppression. MIM encourages all people who want to abolish oppression, including the oppression of prisoners, to work with MIM and RAIL toward this goal. Recognition of problems does nothing without organizing action to solve them! MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12 for 12 issues, U.S. mail or e-mail. Send cash, stamps or check made out to "MIM Distributors." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@nyxfer.blythe.org. http://ursula.blythe.org/mim