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.
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

Implications of the gay-bashing affair:

Mark Foley resigns from Congress

The gay-bashing Republican Party deserves all the fall-out from Mark Foley's resignation from Congress. If not for gay-bashing referenda it organized in 2004, the Republican Party would not be in the White House today. Anti-gay voters provided much more than the margin of victory in 2004 when they voted to oppose gay marriage including in Ohio, the closest state election that delivered Bush the victory.

Foley sent sexually explicit messages to male assistants in the U.S. Government legislature called the House of Representatives. Those assistants are called "pages" and the youngest one that Foley sent a message to is 16. Then leaders of Congress covered up the affair. The second most powerful man in the country, Speaker of the House Hastert may lose his job for covering up for Foley.

There is a huge furor in the air right now, but MIM will point out that 16 is the legal age of sexual consent in DC where Foley was.(1) Even questionable federal laws on obscenity refer to people under age 16.(2) It is the duty of the communists to "go against the tide" in a ridiculous situation like this one, no matter how sexually hyped up the public may get.

The idea that Foley's emails to young men is illegal is based on wishful gay- bashing feeling. Foley crossed the line with his constituents we are sure, but it has nothing to do with some crime or unusual ethical problem. The truth is that sex occurs at 16 or even earlier in the united $tates, on average, never mind as an exception, but the public lies to itself vehemently instead of dealing with this fact in an even-handed way. MIM has pushed for an even lower age of sexual consent to force people to deal with reality as it is. The average age of first sex is 16, so that means a large portion of society, perhaps half if 16 is also the median, could be involved in statutory rape. That is a situation where the law and people's attitudes need to change and deal, not a situation where we need to put people in prison or toss politics out the window while people vent.

The Republican Party deserves to lose for playing with gay-bashing fire. It introduced a major pornographic element into u.$. politics with Monica Lewinsky and gay-bashing fervor and now it is no surprise that the people cannot focus on Iraq, Iran, the so-called "war on terror" and the like. Instead Amerikans as usual are going to vote on their local lifestyle--abortion, gays, their religion etc. It's the fault of democracy that the easiest way to a majority in the united $tates and some other countries is to bash the gays.

The reality of sexual aggressiveness by people in the U.S. legislature is so well-known that it appears in comedy movies. In 1983, in fact, the same exact thing with pages happened and involved two representatives. The whole topic is trite and predictable, but people refuse to deal with the question in a realistic way, so it goes on year after year. Abolish all the damn pages already; their careers are not more important than keeping the public focused on politics. At least they should be abolished until this country can deal with sexuality honestly. All that pages are teaching people right now is that young people seeking access to power risk mortification by a sex-crazy public.

The Foley fallout is also another kind of lesson in handling negotiations with this particular regime. Foley is the same ideological material as Bush and Speaker of the House Hastert; yet they could not work something out to keep Foley happy and out of trouble. If they cannot accomplish that at the highest ranks of power with all the privileges at their disposal, we can imagine how little capable they are of negotiating with MIM or Third World countries with leaders of different ideologies. If they cannot negotiate among themselves when their own party's power depends on it, then we cannot expect them to be able to do any better via oppressed nations. As long as the Third World does not bow down to this type of leader, we can be confident that this sort of leader will self-destruct.

From the very beginning of MIM and before, MIM comrades have taken the boldest stands and actions against discrimination against gays, far more radical than anything Republicans or Democrats ever did. Nonetheless, we will also comment on a Harvard University student publication that chose to focus its latest front page and an article on gays in Iran, where Democrats and Republicans are posing suddenly as gays' best friend.

A whole article is dedicated to bashing an Iranian politician named Khatami who spoke at Harvard, in commemoration of 9/11,(2) just by asking him one question about gays. The Perspective: Harvard-Radcliffe's Liberal Monthly ran a photo that educated readers will know refers to a hanging in Iran. Gay activists have said Iran hanged the men for being gay, while others said the executed men only happened to be gay. The Perspective does not even attempt to provide any facts about the case in its story and instead settles for an image as a replacement for political substance. We can find many people imprisoned and even executed in discriminatory circumstances in the united $tates, but Perspective chose to run its factless story about a question at a speech just when the united $tates is gearing up to attack Iran.

The Harvard Crimson reported its story on Khatami somewhat differently. The Crimson published that Khatami said it was "'virtually impossible'" to be executed for being gay in Iran. His last words admitted that being gay was a crime in Iran, but he also suggested that the idea of a death penalty being received for that is "'debateable.'"(3)

There is so little depth to the discussion that MIM is left asking the inevitable questions. If gays are being executed in Iran, then how come Perspective came up with a hanging of only two. There would have to be a lot more executions than that in a country of 68 million, so we suspect once again that emotion got the better of Harvard Democrats, Republicans and the liberal "left" trashing Iran at Khatami's speech.

Discrimination in the judicial system is an international problem, with the united $tates being the world's leading prison state and discriminator. If Harvard students want to criticize Iran, perhaps they would be better served righting wrongs in the united $tates to set a good example. Right now they only discredit the cause of gay rights in Iran with their imperialist warmongering.

The sexual liberals and the rabid warmongering of protesters in Cambridge, Massachusetts opposing Khatami on September 11th were further proof of MIM's line. Not only were there demonstrators but Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney chose to use the moment to deprive the Khatami speech of state funds for police protection accorded to other presidents and former presidents such as Khatami. Echoing the Secretary of State Rice, one demonstrator called Iran the united $tates's biggest enemy, and a reporter pointed out that the demonstrator was not Jewish.(4)

Scatter-brained sexual liberals in the united $tates are a big problem, particularly right now, when it comes to the anti-war movement dealing with Iran and Afghanistan. The imperialists have found that they can tap into virulent white nationalism via sex and that works in Blue State bastions like Cambridge, Massachusetts. These Harvard liberals are warmongers. In their publication they openly refer to themselves as "left," which only goes to show there is a left- wing of white nationalism and a right-wing.

Notes:
1. http://www.ageofconsent.com/ageofconsent.htm
2. http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/10/harvard.khatami.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topst ories
3. http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=514170
4. "Khatami's Harvard speech draws fury from protesters," By Kristin Erekson - Thursday September 14 2006 http://www.thejewishadvocate.com/this_weeks_issue/news/?content_id=1824