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 113 MAY 1, 1996 FIGHTING PRISONS, POLICE BRUTALITY AND POLITICAL REPRESSION: PRISONS AWARENESS WEEK IN SE MICHIGAN During Prisons Awareness Week in April, MIM hosted a speaker from Eastern Michigan University (EMU) to speak on the University of Michigan Ann Arbor campus about a case of police brutality at EMU and about police brutality and intimidation of Black students on campuses in general. MIM has written about this case of police brutality in MIM Notes in issues 108 and 110. One student, Aaron Johnson, was beaten by an EMU pig while attempting to break up a fight among some other students. Johnson is now awaiting trial for trumped up charges of aggravated assault and obstruction of justice. Other students who protested Johnson's treatment by the campus pig were suspended from school or had to face hearings to defend themselves against suspension. According to the speaker, Black EMU faculty and administration members who stood up for the students were fired on technicalities. Johnson's trial was initially set for February 12 in Ypsilanti, but it has since been moved to May 20 and will take place in Ann Arbor, approximately 15 miles away. It is possible that the trial was moved and postponed to avoid demonstrations by EMU students, because school will be out for the summmer by the trial date. But community leaders will be bringing junior high and high school students to watch the trial as they will still be in school. MIM will also continue to publicize Johnson's case and the political repression on the EMU campus generally. MIM works to organize people around individual cases of repression like this one because it is very important to develop understanding of the injustice system overall and to oppose it on all fronts. The speaker defined police brutality and terrorism as being based in instilling fear in Black people, so that the natural response when a Black person sees a pig or a police car is fear. The speaker agrees with MIM that there is no way within the current system to eliminate police brutality. In a system in which the cops are the prime drug dealers, a choice between the major political parties is a choice between "the devil and his brother." Johnson's case is a classic example of how the pigs are not there to "protect and serve" the Black community--these swine are not even answerable to the Black community: * Officer Hardesty, who beat and arrested Aaron Johnson also pulled his gun on a woman during the incident in which he arrested Johnson. * EMU Department of Public Safety (DPS) procedures on when an officer can draw her or his gun are public information, yet students who requested to see these procedures were refused. * Students were denied access to Hardesty's individual record The speaker outlined the way he thinks the Black community should go about rectifying this type of treatment by the pigs: the Black community needs to police itself. MIM agrees with this completely, although we do disagree with some of the speaker's surrounding theory. The speaker and MIM agree that Black people need sovereignty in their own communities, but the speaker disagrees with MIM on the need to seize power through armed struggle. While MIM does not relish the thought of violence, the violence which was the subject of this evening's discussion is clear evidence that the pigs and their masters are not going to give up without a fight. At this time, MIM is building public opinion and a vanguard party to the stage when armed struggle will be appropriate, but we do not have any illusions that the imperialists will turn over power peacefully. In a discussion following the speaker's presentation, MIM and the speaker agreed that all prisoners are political prisoners, but got some disagreement from some audience members on this point. One audience member agreed that many prisoners are locked up for the wrong reasons but suggested that people who steal cars ought to be in prison. The speaker pointed out that the reason people steal cars in the first place is inseparable from the determination of whether they belong in prison or not. MIM agrees: it's not good enough to say that some crimes are just pointless when the government imposes poverty on people and deprives them of national self-determination. Another audience member asked if there are any current examples of decent prison systems that MIM upholds. There are none, as there are no states that MIM currently upholds as socialist. But MIM did point out that China under Mao had a good prison system which promoted and carried out genuine reform of individuals and rehabilitated them. At an earlier event during Prisons Awareness Week, Allyn Rickett spoke about his own positive experiences inside a Maoist prison from 1950-54. See MIM Notes No. 112 for more on Rickett's talk. Films MIM and RAIL showed later on during Prisons Awareness Week addressed prisons more directly as tools of political repression. We showed both ** The FBI's War on Black America ** and ** Attica **. Both of these films document the reaction of the state to organization and struggles of the oppressed. MIM recommends these films to those who believe there is "free speech" in Amerika. For the oppressed, speech is silenced when it advocates self-determination or improvement in one's living conditions. For more information on state repression of the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement, see Agents of Repression, available from MIM for $18. Also, see the Under Lock and Key section of MIM Notes for current news written by prisoners about the inhumane conditions in Amerika's gulags. MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $20 for 24 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