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.
Maoist Internationalist Movement

Ward Churchill and Lynne Stewart speak for Mumia

New York City, March 31--Ward Churchill and Lynne Stewart spoke about the increasing repressiveness of the U.$. government to a packed auditorium in New York City. The two called for attendance at a Philadelphia rally for Mumia Abu-Jamal May 17th.

According to Lynne Stewart, "you can start out because you oppose the death penalty" as the reason to work for Mumia. She added that in the end Mumia is innocent and we need strong voices like Mumia's to continue.

Lynne Stewart reported that she was pleasantly surprised that her sentence was only 28 months for conviction by a jury that saw oversized posters of Osama Bin Laden linked to her. Her case is on appeal.

Lynne Stewart is a lawyer who represented a so-called terrorist and her case raises many questions about how the bourgeois legal system was not meant to clampdown on defense lawyers. The theory behind the bourgeois legal system is that prosecutors and defense lawyers should do their best for their sides of the arguments in court.

Ward Churchill was also noticeably upbeat despite the University of Colorado's attempts to fire him. He autographed his books after the speech. He pointed to the history of slaughter of indigenous people including in New York City going back to the 1600s. Yet he also pointed out that the federal government became more significant and repressive in the last century.

MIM would say that there is a difference between a petty-bourgeois settler in the phase of aggressive capitalism who kills people and an oppressor under a system of imperialism. From the 1600s to 1800s, Euro-Amerikans themselves could still advance even as they killed other peoples. They learned farming from natives for example as Ward Churchill pointed out. According to Lenin's theory, with the onset of imperialism as the highest stage of capitalism, decay and parasitism set in as the principal characteristics of the economic system. So we have a huge central government that specializes in war and policing--nothing that really advances society. As Ward Churchill answered one question, we already live in a police state and our responses must be according to that condition.

The radio station WBAI 99.5 FM sponsored the event. The moderator for the talk said he started out hanging out with the Black Panthers in his community and, "I used to think that a requirement for being a member of the Black Panthers was to be paranoid," but he added that he soon learned the FBI really is there. Black Panthers provided security for Ward Churchill and speakers emphasized the reality of the existence of the state. Ward Churchill pointed out that COINTELPRO continues to exist just under new names and it has new technology at its disposal.