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 135 APRIL 1, 1997 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. AMERIKAN WAR AGAINST OPPRESSED NATIONS: BULK UP SPENDING ON MILITARY AND PRISONS 2. MASSRAIL PROTESTS CONTINUED CRIMINAL INJUSTICE AS STATE ADDS 140 MORE PRISONERS TO TEXAS GULAGS 3. LETTERS 4, NIGERIAN PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE CONTINUES 5. U.S.-RAMOS REGIME MURDERS DURING CEASE FIRE NO SURPRISE! 6. ISRAEL INVADES EAST JERUSALEM 7. MUMIA CENSORSHIP REVEALS MYTH OF FREE SPEECH IN AMERIKA 8. UNITE ALL WHO CAN BE UNITED TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM TO DO CAMPUS ORGANIZING 9. FREEDOM OF SPEECH ONLY FOR AMERIKAN WARMONGERS AT UT DALLAS 10. FIGHTING FASCISTS THE PROLETARIAN WAY 11. ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE 12. DEFEND REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF OPPRESSED NATION STUDENT CENTERS 13. FISHERS IN INDIA STRUGGLE AGAINST IMPERIALISTS 14. IMPERIALIST POPULATION CONTROL CONTINUES 15. STUDENTS SEIZE BUILDING FOR MIXED BAG OF DEMANDS 16. MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM ONLINE -- LETTERS AND WWW REVIEWS 17. POST-MODERNIST AND CONSERVATIVE LOSERS FIGHT IT OUT 18. REVISIONIST CHINA DROPS PIECE OF SOCIALIST FACADE 19. NEW EDITION OF "PHILIPPINE SOCIETY AND REVOLUTION" PUBLISHED 20. UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS * * * 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 * * * AMERIKAN WAR AGAINST OPPRESSED NATIONS: BULK UP SPENDING ON MILITARY AND PRISONS by MC45 Between 1987 and 1995, Amerikkka increased its spending on prisons by 30% while decreasing its spending on higher education by 18%, says a study by the Justice Policy Institute.(1) In 1994-95, the U.S. Federal government spent less than one-quarter the amount of its military budget on Aid for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC, or welfare),(2) student financial aid,(3) and the Environmental Protection Agency (2) combined. All this happened in a period when Amerikkka has a supposedly liberal president, who supports equality, whose wife is supposed to be a big children's rights advocate, and who is not supposed to be a war monger. These figures show that Klinton like any other imperialist leader is about making war on the oppressed in the form of the military and prisons, and denying the oppressed their basic human rights (food, clothing and shelter through AFDC, and education through student aid). MIM writes this article to point our comrades who have already been won over to anti-imperialism in the direction of some potential further research and agitation areas. We also take this opportunity to call again on our more pacifist friends who believe that change is possible within this system to look seriously at imperialist priorities and tell us: isn't it time you started doing anti- imperialist political work with MIM and RAIL? BEEFING UP THE WAR ON CRIME AT HOME The Justice Policy Institute report is apparently researched and authored by liberals. The report demonstrates that in 1995, state spending on prisons increased by $926 million -- an amount almost equal to the decrease in building colleges and universities. Justice Department statistics for the period from 1980 through 1994 show the adult prisoner population tripling from 320,000 to 992,000.(1) While the number of students attending colleges and universities rose slightly during that same period, from 12 million to 14.7 million, priorities are clearly on repression rather than education. Since 1984, the state of California has built 21 new prisons and one new university.(1) MIM calls the study writers liberals, for researching and presenting this study in a way that makes the inequalities among people clear, and in a manner that clearly advocates greater social equality through more education and less imprisonment for non-violent offenders. But they are Liberals because their recommendations for improving the situation in Amerikkka say nothing about revolution, which means resting on the status quo of capitalist so-called freedom rather than working for genuine liberation. Vincent Schiraldi, director of the Justice Policy Institute and first author on the study said of his research "these findings prove that, in the funding battle between prisons and universities, prisons are consistently coming out on top." The text of the report, which Schiraldi authored with Tara-Jen Ambrosio, states that "prisons are not only costly and ineffective for most nonviolent offenders, they also siphon funding from vital programs such as higher education."(1) The report goes on to suggest that all new prison construction be stopped, and that the nonviolent prisoner population should be reduced by 50 percent over the next five years.(1) But this is sheer ineffectual liberalism, which studies and identifies a systemic problem and then fails to make useful recommendation for dealing with the problem because it cannot stomach systemic change. Faced with these facts to back up what they know to be poor living conditions and daily repression, the oppressed who are living on welfare or living in prison can clearly see that the problem here is not that there are too many people in prison or that the balance between governmental charity and imprisonment is skewed. The problem with prisons and education is that the wrong people are in prison and imperialism has a genuine and desperate interest in denying education for the oppressed. BEEFING UP THE WAR ON THE OPPRESSED ABROAD While Amerika is busy denying education to people who can't pay tens of thousands of dollars per year for it, its military feeds on 17 times the combined military budgets of Iraq, Libya and north Korea -- the countries with which the Pentagon says it must be prepared to go to war.(4) A Boston Globe special report noted that Amerika is probably increasing the odds of war by spreading U.S.-made arms all over the world.(5) The U.S. imperialists are still spending 90% as much money on the military as they did from 1950-1990, during the so-called Cold War.(6) MIM knows that these facts alone are not enough to convince anyone of which political party to join. But we do hope they will get some people thinking about which side of the struggle they should really be on, and that some folks will even come over to the side of the international proletariat as they read this issue of MIM Notes. A government and a political-economic system which prioritizes war over food, shelter and education is not worth the people's support or patience, it is worthy of being overthrown by revolution. NOTES: 1. Washington Post 24 February, 1997, p. A12. 2. Statistical Abstract of the United States. 3. The Chronicle of Higher Education. 4. "World Military Expenditures and Arms Transfers," US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, 1996. 5. "Armed for Profit," The Boston Globe, special 12-page report. 11 Feb., 1996. 6. "U.S. Military Spending, 1945-1996," fact sheet by Martin Calhoun, Center for Defense Information, 2 April, 1996. * * * MASSRAIL PROTESTS CONTINUED CRIMINAL INJUSTICE AS STATE ADDS 140 MORE PRISONERS TO TEXAS GULAGS Prison guards woke up 140 prisoners in the middle of the night March 8th, put them in leg irons and handcuffs, and took them to the airport for a charter flight to Dallas Texas: to a prison system with conditions even worse than Massachusetts, far from family and friends. Back in 1995, Governor Weld took the first 299 prisoners hostage in his budget publicity stunt to get more money to build more prisons. Weld sent these prisoners away from their families down to the Texas control units where conditions are even worse than in Massachusetts prisons. One has already died of AIDS (he was refused his medicine in Texas) and others developed serious health problems that went untreated. Meanwhile their families are left in Massachusetts wondering how they are going to afford to make visiting hours in a Texas prison. The DOC manufactured the overcrowding crisis and claims it is so severe they had to send another 140 prisoners to Texas "indefinitely." There are empty beds in Massachusetts prisons but because the state of Massachusetts classifies its prisoners into higher security units than necessary, they end up with overcrowded high security prisons. Add this over-classification to the ever increasing number of people put behind bars in the so-called war on drugs and it's no surprise that Amerika is number one in the world in incarceration per capita. The undersecretary of public safety, Robert Krekorian, admitted that these transfers are bad for prisoners and their families. 80 of the original transfers were returned to Massachusetts over the weekend and Krekorian tried to claim that this was because of the kindness of the criminal injustice system: "We're trying to rotate the inmates down there, if you will, precisely for the reasons that people have suggested that when you send an inmate to Texas, for all intents and purposes you sever their family ties." Conditions in Massachusetts prisons are not good by any standards, and the criminal injustice system does not work. While we fight to change the system we are also fighting for smaller reforms. We demand that these prisoners be returned to the state where their families live. The RAIL Prisons Activism Group held a petitioning protest on March 15th, put up copies of a protest flyer all over Boston and Cambridge and encourages people interested in fighting against this and other criminal injustices to get involved by contacting mim124@mim.org or writing to the address on this paper. * * * LETTERS ENVIRONMENTALISM AND YOUTH DISCUSSED Dear MIM, I recently read the Feb. 15th edition of your newspaper. I agreed with the vast majority of the statements, but I thought I should write a letter, simply asking you to clarify a few issues addressed in MIM Notes. My first concern of this kind was with the issue about the "amerikan envirobowl." What was printed was useful, but incomplete. Statements such as 'eating fast foods' or 'healthier food without the preservatives' seem intentionally vague and unwilling to address a key issue; meat consumption. Regardless of your opinion on this issue, meat consumption (indeed in wasteful, environmentally harmful packages) is extremely common at mass sporting events. Secondly, it is mere fact that the production of animals for food is a major contributor to imperialistic environmental destruction. That fact could have helped forward your argument, yet you chose to ignore it. On the opposite page was the article about youth empowerment which I enjoyed but did have to take exception to points concerning the materialist interest of revolution in white amerikans. It is stated that "Within the white nation, the youth has the greatest material interest in overthrowing the system." Though the case for this is extremely valid, it is somewhat lacking. You have forgotten some statistics about the make up of our society. 50% of the world is female - they have an incredible material interest, no matter what nation they are from - in overthrowing the system. 10-15% of amerikan society is homosexual - they have no need for capitalism to alienate them for their sexual desires. Also, environmental concerns certainly affect each and every one of us. Admittedly, many wimmin profit from imperialism, or do not recognize the nature of patriarchy. Many gays and youth could fall into the trap of amerikan indoctrination (skool) and yearn for a place in the imperialist workforce...etc. Well, perhaps the youth do have the greatest material interest in revolution. These questions of material interest aside -- must there always be selfish reasons to adopt compassionate revolutionary ethics? It is only a question, I don't know either way. -- A comrade in struggle MIM RESPONDS: First with regard to the question about meat consumption, this comrade is correct that the wastefulness of meat consumption at sporting events bolsters the point in the article about the Amerikan Envirobowl. The production of meat products for first world consumption is environmentally destructive and wasteful both in packaging and in the quantity of grain used to feed animals when people are starving. Specifically it takes 16 pounds of grain and soybeans to produce one pound of beef. This example shows that catering to First World tastes for beef soaks up resources otherwise more useful to keep humans from starving.(1) This comrade raises an important question about who has an interest in revolution. MIM believes that on a global scale the majority of the world's people have an interest in revolution because they are exploited and oppressed by imperialism. We agree that the patriarchy places wimmin in an oppressed group and that the patriarchy also perpetuates heterosexism and the oppression of anyone who does not fit the "norm." But we have to look at the situation of groups of people in the world as a whole. For instance, First World wimmin overall benefit from the patriarchy and so they don't have an anti-patriarchal interest in overthrowing this system of oppression. Within this country the majority of the workers and the majority of wimmin are benefiting from patriarchy and imperialism and currently do not have an interest in revolution, in fact these groups have a material interest in perpetuating imperialism. Within the united snakes, the main group of people with an interest in revolution are from the oppressed nations. Within the white nation, we believe that the contradiction between the youth and the destruction and alienation of imperialism means that youth as a group have the greatest interest in overthrowing imperialism. This is admittedly not as compelling an interest as exploitation or national oppression, but because youth are not yet tied down to imperialism, they are more likely to take action against environmental destruction and other aspects of imperialism that affect their future while also having the freedom to act on their conscience and against their economic, gender and national material interests. There does not always have to be a selfish reason to take up revolution and MIM calls on all people to commit class, nation and gender suicide and join the majority of the world's people in fighting imperialism. But we do see from history that those who have a material interest in revolution are the ones who take up the revolutionary struggle. Join MIM in the fight against imperialism and for communism. NOTE: Robbins, john. Diet For a New America. Stillpoint Publishing 1987. MORE ON BROOKLYN POLITICAL ACTIVIST REPRESSION: MIM ADDS TO RESPONSE OF LETTER PRINTED IN MIM NOTES #132 In our response to the letter writer who questioned the article in MIM Notes "State attacks Brooklyn political activists" (MN128) there were several points that MIM did not address. We'd like to take on those points here. The article we are discussing involved government repression of activists in Brooklyn for having guns and MIM's exposure of the government's hypocrisy for not even upholding its own constitutional second amendment which gives citizens the right to bear arms. In a discussion of the history of the second amendment, the letter writer agreed with MIM that (at least one of) the founding father's purpose behind the second amendment was to allow the people to protect themselves against the state. While it appears that the letter writer has some disagreements with MIM's understanding of this history, the federalist papers clearly point out that the people must keep the militia well regulated (i.e. so that the militia does not get out of hand). That's the people defending themselves against the power of the state. The founding men were clear that the citizens should be able to overpower the government, including the army. MIM neglected to address the letter's discussion of historical advances in the U$ and in particular the role of the Black Panther Party. The letter writer said "the Black Panthers, Branch Davidians, and drug dealers had guns and these guns didn't protect them from a tyrannical government. It will not affect the relationship between the State and the citizenry whether U.S. citizens allow each other to own any type of weapon anyone wants, or if we set restrictions based upon the type of weapons available." But in fact, the very ability of the BPP to carry guns was one of the things that scared the Amerikan government into making concessions to the civil rights movement. While the letter writer claims: "The greatest events in U.S. history -- African- American civil rights, women's rights, labor union, and the anti- Vietnam war movements -- got their strength not from armed struggle [but] from mass mobilization," MIM would counter that it was the radical left organizing that gave centrist movements their ability to negotiate concessions out of the government. The letter writer said "I will go this far with MIM: armed struggle cannot be ruled out (I'm not a pacifist), but I can't say that it is inevitable." But MIM will go further and say that armed struggle is inevitable because we must pick up the gun in order to put down the gun: the imperialists will never put down their guns without a fight and it is the imperialists who are far and away the biggest murderers. * * * NIGERIAN PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE CONTINUES Municipal elections in March in Nigeria focused media attention on the so-called democratic process in this country run by the brutal military regime of General Sani Abacha. The elections appear to have been won by the two parties supporting Abacha. A number of protests against election fraud propagated accusations that Abacha supporters rigged the elections. Vote fraud protests were dispersed by the army and students calling for the release of the jailed winner of the 1993 presidential elections, Moshood Abiola, stormed a polling station.(1) Since Abacha had no qualms about seizing power after losing the elections in 1993, there is no reason to believe that he would allow free and fair elections to take place now. And in the context of the military dictatorship and the control multinational corporations exercise over the country, it is not possible that Nigeria could now have suddenly turned to democracy. Much attention in the past has focused on the struggle of the Ogoni people in Nigeria because of their vocal opposition to Shell imperialism. This struggle continues to this day although it is much less publicized. Daily the Ogoni people protest in the streets. Protesters are killed, tortured and jailed by the Nigerian dictatorship in its effort to make Ogoniland safe for imperialism. Dr. Owens Wiwa, brother of Ken Saro- Wiwa, leader of the Nigerian Ogoni people's struggle against Shell imperialism, recently spoke in Boston. The Nigerian government hung Ken Saro-Wiwa to punish him for his leadership in the popular mass movement.(2) Dr. Owens Wiwa was forced to flee Nigeria after his brother's execution. Many Ogoni activists are now in exile or underground but they are continuing the struggle and bringing it to a wider audience, both within their country and around the world. March 12th, the Nigerian government charged Wole Soyinka, an exiled playwright critical of the Abacha dictatorship, and eleven other critics with treason in connection with a series of bombings of army installations. The critics arrested within the country are members of the National Democratic Coalition or Nedeco. Soyinka was exiled in 1993 after organizing the people to stop paying taxes when election results were nullified by the Abacha dictatorship.(3) The dissidents asked a court to dismiss treason charges against them. The lawyer for these activists said that his life had been threatened.(1) DELTA FORCE EXPOSES IMPERIALISM A documentary, Delta Force, about the Ogoni struggle against oil corporations which destroy the land and take away the people's livelihood was shown before Owens Wiwa's talk. Delta Force exposes multinational corporate ravaging of the environment and stealing of natural resources. It shows the military repression by the Nigerian comprador dictatorship and its complicity with imperialism. The movie shows how 35 years of oil drilling yielded $30 billion (or more) in revenue for Shell and destroyed the land of the Ogoni people. Shell installed pipes running through the middle of farms and villages. On average, four oil spills a week destroyed crops and polluted the air and water on the Delta -- mostly as a result of the corporation refusing to repair equipment. Pipes would break and spill and waste the land, and gas flares close to the houses were burning all the time releasing poisonous fumes. Delta Force shows soldiers repressing the non- violent mass protests taking place in Ogoniland. The Movement for Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) was founded to harness the power of the mass protests against the corporations and the government. (Ken Saro-Wiwa was the president of this organization until he was murdered by the government.) In 1993 Shell was forced to stop oil operations in Ogoniland in response to the mass protests. The government of Nigeria has since stepped up repression of the people in an attempt to force them into accepting the exploitation and oppression of Shell imperialism. One government tactic is the attempt to play neighboring villages against one another. Ogoniland is a small area in the South East of Nigeria. There are many other indigenous peoples who have taken an example from the Ogoni struggle but the activism remains strongest in Ogoniland. The government has been carrying out attacks on Ogoni villages pretending to be coming from neighboring villages in the hopes of getting the Nigerian people to fight one another. Then the government blames these attacks on MOSOP to justify more violence. To fund this increased repression, the military asked for money from oil companies to pay for repression to make Shell operations possible. MYTH OF IMPERIALIST DEVELOPMENT DEBUNKED Dr. Owens Wiwa began his talk by pointing out that what is happening in Ogoni is not very different from what is happening to many oppressed nations within u.s. borders. Imperialism is destroying the lives and the environment of the oppressed nations both here and around the world. He stressed that "transnational corporations are supplying arms to leaders to kill their own people, destroy the environment and so subject people to the worse kind of poverty." And he reminded us that Senator Mosley Brown (the supposedly progressive Black womyn senator) supported the dictator of Nigeria in her visit there: Amerikan imperialism does its best to support transnational corporations and imperialism around the world. Imperialists claim that multinationals bring progress to Third World countries by helping with development. Owens Wiwa dispelled this myth. The main so-called development Shell has supported in Ogoniland involved building roads between oil wells. These roads are useless to the people because they do not connect villages or other travel routes of the people. It cost Shell $3 to produce a barrel of oil in Ogoni which was sold at $18-20. The profit was $6 more than in other countries because the metal used is cheaper (more likely to break) and because they don't have to do any environmental cleanup. This is an example of the "benefits" of multinational corporations to Third World peoples: the profits leave the country and the people get nothing but poverty and environmental destruction. There is no electricity or water in Ogoni for the people, yet the oil refinery and fertilizer complex used electricity. 70% of the population was unemployed while Shell was there. Schools closed for nine months at a time because teachers were not getting paid. The United Nations has shown its complicity in imperialism when, after Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged, they recommended the government pay compensation to the families of those who were hung. Owens Wiwa correctly condemned this token protest as meaningless smoke that attempts to obscure murder at the hands of imperialism. OGONI PEOPLE FIGHT BACK In 1970 the first protests against oil took place in Ogoni after an oil well exploded spewing a fountain of oil into the air. People were told not to light fires to avoid increasing the hazard. The land is not cleaned up to this day. The villagers took the oil company to court and had to sell their land to pay for lawyers and still have not won reparations. In 1990 the Ogoni bill of rights was produced out of a meeting of intellectual activists. They demanded political autonomy within Nigeria. There are many organizations within MOSOP demanding their rights peacefully including the National Union of Ogoni Students, the Federation of Women's Association and the Council of Ogoni Professionals. 3000 Ogoni people have been killed (out of a population of 500,000)and 30 villages destroyed in three years. Two months before the talk many people were out on the streets protesting and more were shot, raped and imprisoned. The repression in Nigeria certainly is not limited to Ogoniland. In 1993, Moshood Abiola, who was widely believed to have won the presidential elections, was locked in jail and remains there to this day. According to his daughter Hafsat Abiola, who spoke recently in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Abiola has been held in solitary confinement, he can't speak to anyone, and he has been tortured so that he lost the use of his legs. His wife was killed when she went on a tour in the country speaking against his imprisonment. Owens Wiwa asked that people don't let the sacrifices of the Ogoni people go in vain. He pointed out that the media here just talks about "ethnic clashes" rather than exposing the evils of the Nigerian dictatorship; and, it is important that people work to get information out to the public about what is really going on there. He called on people to boycott shell stations because it is involved in genocide. Although Shell left Ogoniland in 1993, they continue to operate in other parts of Nigeria and are pressing to return to Ogoniland. The government of Nigeria is killing, jailing and exiling Nigerian people. Owens Wiwa said that the taking of oil is "armed robbery" of Nigeria and that Americans should not buy stolen property. Ogoni people want their land cleaned up and they want respect. "If the oil companies do not want to deal with us like human beings then they can go away." And calling for the Ogonis' right to self- determination, Owens Wiwa said that "The Ogoni people may not want any more oil exploration on their land." MOSOP is not against the oil corporations creating wells; and, this is a contradiction in their overall anti-imperialist analysis of the situation in Nigeria. Owens Wiwa correctly pointed out that the problem is not just the Nigerian military, it is also the transnational corporations. But his solution was to "change the behavior of the transnational corporations" to make them support the process of democracy. If imperialism and multinational capitalist corporations continue to exist the achievement of self-determination and true democracy for the people of Nigeria is not a possibility. As long as there is a possible profit to be made from imperialism, the corporations and their lackeys will not back down unless they are forced. The situation in Nigeria demonstrates why it is necessary to overthrow imperialism in Nigeria. As long as foreign oil corporations create wells, they will not change their behavior to support democracy. This is not profitable. The Ogoni people's struggle for self-determination will only be won when imperialism is overthrown. NOTES: 1. A.P. 17 March, 1997. 2. MIM Notes 108 covers the November 10, 1996 murder. 3. The New York Times, 13 March, 1997. p.A7. * * * U.S.-RAMOS REGIME MURDERS DURING CEASE FIRE NO SURPRISE! by Otis "We the CPP-NPA of the Cordillera condemn the attack on our comrades by elements of the 45th IB in Balbalan, Kalinga on January 29, 1997. This incident happened during the two-month unilateral cease fire or suspension of military operations (SOMO) declared by Ramos from December 1, 1996 to January 31,1997."(1) State forces raided a revolutionary encampment around 3:00 a.m., murdering two (Ka Rayos and Ka Ren) and wounding two others (Ka Marshal and Ka Victor) who died eventually. Once again we see imperialist forces flaunt their violence and insincerity. "The recent martyrs in Kalinga died at the height of their most productive service to the National Democratic Revolution. They have all been with the NPA for years, conducting revolutionary organizing and education work among the masses." This is undoubtedly the motive behind the state murder. The past shows that countless times the bourgeoisie and its lackey comprador regimes have resorted to violence or deception to dismantle successful insurgency. The Filipino people are fighting for autonomy over their land; in opposition to foreign capitalists who are fighting for monetary profit. "Imperialist mining firms such as Newmont and Newcrest have already staked out mining claims on half of the Cordillera's total land area because of the Mining Act of 1995." No one, not the united snakes, not a U.$.-funded fascist, no one, is justified in the exploitation and theft of another's land. The peasants in the Philippines wish only to live with the right to self-determination and control of their own destinies and land. Despite this fact, the fascists are willing to kill during a cease fire, simply to maintain their economic stranglehold over the people of the Philippines. The National Democratic Front (NDF) sees the current imperialist rape of their land as justification for armed warfare against the U.$- Ramos regime. MIM agrees with analysis and offers full solidarity to the revolutionary movement. MIM urges people in the First World to recognize that the amerikan government is a brutal imperialist power that maintains world-wide repression and exploitation and to oppose the growing trauma that majority of the world's people now endure. In the words of CPP-NPA spokesperson Ka llian Liga: "January 29 was a day for the fascist troops. Tomorrow shall be the victory of the people's war." Note: ndf website: http://www.geocities.com/~cpp- ndf/news.htm * * * ISRAEL INVADES EAST JERUSALEM by RC68 Beginning on March 5th the united snakes-backed Israeli settler government ordered the closure of four Palestinian offices in East Jerusalem. Israel claims the offices are run by the Palestinian Authority and therefore violate the interim peace agreements.(1) Redeployment of Israeli troops from Gaza and the West Bank is another condition of the interim peace agreements. Apparently Israel interprets this to mean redeployment to Palestinian East Jerusalem.(2) March 17th Israel moved heavily armed troops in to protect the construction of the new Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem. Imperialist puppet Yasser Arafat expressed worries that if Israel continues with such outrageous provocations, the collaborationists in his clique will not be able to stop Palestinian resistance. The Palestinian people have every right to be angry about the Israeli invasion of East Jerusalem. The proposed 6,500 new Israeli homes to be built in Jebel Abu Ghneim(3) will create a barrier between the Palestinian populations of Bethlehem and Jerusalem.(4) This is a blatant divide and conquer strategy on the part of the Israelis. It is outrageous enough that Israel was built on stolen Palestinian land. Israel has controlled Jerusalem since the 1967 war and claims the right to build anywhere in the city that it wants. But only the United Snakes government recognizes Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem. French and Amerikan disapproval of these newest terrorist acts of Israeli expansionist aggression only serves to cover up their real intentions in the region. The imperialists do not support Palestinian self-determination. If that were the case, they would stop arming Israel. However, the empires of France and the United Snakes know well that if Israel persists in such outrages, intifada will come back to Palestine. Israel is already heavily extended militarily with invasion forces still occupying parts of Syria and Lebanon. Amerika and France are involved in many other conflicts. Neither wants to bail out Israel in the event of a renewed Palestinian resistance. The peace agreements and the cooperation of the sellout government of the Palestinian Authority had perfectly secured the interests of the western imperialists. Now further Israeli expansionism and Palestinian resistance could ruin it for the superpowers. Even many Amerikans now admit that Palestinian resistance to Israeli expansionist aggression is completely justified. RAIL knows that not only would revolution be justified, but it is necessary. Israel's most recent actions, as well as most previous Israeli actions, prove that Israel's greatest desire is for expansion and empire, not peace and stability. Israel will never voluntarily recognize true Palestinian autonomy. The United Snakes will continue to ensure that no amount of international pressure will stop Israel. The collaborationist Palestinian Authority is powerless to do anything. A self-sufficient highly organized armed revolutionary struggle for Palestinian national liberation is the only way Palestinians will put an end to Israeli occupation and move forward on the road to independence. NOTES: 1. Los Angeles Times. 6 March 1997. 2. CNN 17 March 1997. 3. Jebel Abu Ghneim is the region of Palestinian land that Israel is invading and renaming Har Homa. 4. New York Times 6 March 1997. * * * MUMIA CENSORSHIP REVEALS MYTH OF FREE SPEECH IN AMERIKA Over one million people heard radio commentaries by Mumia Abu-Jamal on February 24th. Produced by the Prison Radio Project, the show included recordings of Mumia reading his essays and was broadcast daily for two weeks by Pacifica Radio's "Democracy Now!" program. This program was broadcast around the country but was censored in Pennsylvania. Just moments before "Democracy Now!" was scheduled to air, Temple University's WRTI-Jazz FM canceled its subscription to all Pacifica programming. This cancellation eliminated all Pacifica broadcasts in Pennsylvania since this station serves as a relay for programming to the state's other affiliate stations. The decision to yank the program came from the Temple University administration after WRTI staff ran public service announcements all week urging people to tune to the Mumia readings. The University's Vice President of Public Relations admitted that the inclusion of Mumia's commentaries was pivotal in the decision to cancel WRTI's contract with Pacifica. It appears that the Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police (a.k.a Fraternal Order of Pigs, FOP) lobbied heavily for this cancellation and because Temple receives much state funding, the FOP was successful in its pressure campaign. MIM knows that there is no such thing as free speech under Imperialism. Speech is available for purchase from the imperialists who own and control it. The myth of impartial reporting is exposed when shows like "Democracy Now!" are yanked off the air in response to FOP lobbying and state and university politics. Because of this, MIM says that there are no rights, only power struggles. If we want the voice of the people to get out to the people, it is our responsibility to set up independent media that can not be controlled by the political and financial interests of the imperialists. We applaud Pacifica's efforts to bring Mumia's words to its audience. The experience in Philadelphia only reinforces the need for the people to set up media independent from the bourgeoisie. We call on our readers to support MIM's work to set up independent newspaper, radio, Internet and television media. If you are interested in getting involved in supporting independent people's media, either financially, with technical skills, or as a contributor of news, information, art, or anything else, get in touch! Note: Press release from Equal Justice USA and Prison Radio Project.February 24, 1997. Quixote Center P.O. Box 5206, Hyattsville, MD 20782.quixote@igc.apc.org. * * * UNITE ALL WHO CAN BE UNITED TO FIGHT FOR FREEDOM TO DO CAMPUS ORGANIZING MIM Notes 132 (15 Feb 1997) contained a story entitled "Students: Seize the Time! Defend ability to organize independent of administrations." It was a general story about trends in the student movement with concrete examples from UMass Amherst. The story overall was correct, but the organizing behind this story was problematic leading to some incorrect statements in the story. The article described efforts of RAIL supporters to get a student government to fight the administration for more freedom for student political organizing. The article said "The CCSUC is not cured of its lackey nature yet." The article also speculated on CCSUC motives for its retreat made against student protest of postering censorship, and called the CCSUC "a good puppet" of the administration. As the article explained, First World students are a contradictory population. On one hand they come from a parasitic class position and will likely join that existence as they get older. On the other hand, they are not yet fully tied into parasitism and they have much to gain in terms of eliminating the patriarchal romance culture and ending environmental degradation, etc. The article correctly pointed out that within the white nation, youth are the group with the most revolutionary potential. The article also correctly pointed out the reasons why student leaders may waver as they are offered numerous bribes from the administration -- from paychecks to prestige. The error in the recent organizing behind this article was in expecting leaders of a parasitic, but contradictory social group (students) -- who as individual leaders are in the process of being bought off by the administration -- to act like committed proletarian revolutionaries. Instead of getting frustrated that the first open letters and articles didn't turn them into Maoists and then attacking CCSUC as hopeless, the correct thing would have been to turn up the pressure via open letters and an unleashed mass movement. As MIM Notes and RAIL Notes have reported in the past, such pressure works. In addition, the organizers made the mistake of not seeking out other contacts within the student government who would be more receptive to independent student organizing. Labeling CCSUC as a complete enemy, as the article subtly did, was incorrect and premature. It is perfectly fine to call out individual opportunists by name, but damning the whole student government without adequate testing by fire is ultra-left and amounts to setting back the struggle. To rectify this error, the RAIL supporters took up the struggle of "isolating the enemy, winning over the middle forces". The article correctly said that the only time such wavering forces as CCSUC will "serve students [is] when there is a bottom up pressure to counter that of the administration." The RAIL supporters took this idea to the streets of the campus with a petition that read simply: "The ability of students to independently organize and communicate with each other should be a priority for student governments. In particular, the loss of Campus Center/Student Union bulletin boards in 1995 and 1996 was a serious blow to student power. We urge the Campus Center/Student Union Commission to return bulletin board space to at least the 1995 levels." Easily, RAIL supporters (and group of people supportive of RAIL's position on this issue) gathered just short of 250 signatures, many of whom noted student organizational affiliations on the petition. The idea behind the petition was to make it clear to the CCSUC that it was more than just a few individuals who valued independent communication. The wording of the petition was deliberately written around a political point without specific instructions as to bulletin board placement so as to let the student leaders figure out themselves how to solve the various diversionary issues such as fire hazards. To the knowledge of this writer, a grand total of five people refused to sign this petition. Three were affiliated with CCSUC or SGA (another student government body) and either objected to the process of educating the student body and using that mobilized force to pressure our student leaders; or claimed they wanted to remain neutral until they could "study" the issue more. While a definite minority (3%) of those we spoke to, this is a troubling response, especially in light of the fact that the petition is asking students to endorse a theoretical point about the importance of independence of the administration, and is asking our student leaders to provide leadership on applying this principle. When student leaders balk at organizing students, that's a problem. RAIL comrades want not only remove impediments to RAIL's political work, but also spark a anti- administration-control movement amongst the student body. Such a movement would give revolutionaries considerable space "within which to swim." RAIL and MIM publications will continue to inform the world about the local UMass struggles in the hopes of spreading such movements. Don't get frustrated with wavering elements! Unite all who can be united to defeat the common enemy! Written: 17 March, 1997 * * * FREEDOM OF SPEECH ONLY FOR AMERIKAN WARMONGERS AT UTDALLAS A student working on the government's nuclear projects at the University of Texas, Dallas confirmed the fact that there is only freedom of speech in Amerika for the bourgeoisie. The student told a MIM distributor that s/he could not take a copy of MIM Notes or Maoist Sojourner because s/he had signed an agreement with the government to refuse any communist propaganda if offered. Furthermore, h research position would be at risk if s/he obtained communist materials inadvertently -- like finding an old issue on h car windshield -- and did not immediately report it to the FBI. The student, from a Third World country, agreed that this was a type of censorship but that the censorship was necessary to protect Amerikan democracy and freedom. The flaw in this logic (read Amerikan propaganda) goes beyond the contradiction between freedom of speech for the bourgeoisie and repression of organization for the proletariat. Speech and organization that the government represses expose the economic exploitation and military domination of the vast majority of the world's people. Students like this one must study the reasons that the most educated leave Third World countries and provide intellectual services for the imperialists. They must question the hypocrisy this censorship shows as the Amerikan government justifies all of its actions with the rhetoric of democracy. To distribute MIM Notes in your neighborhood or at your school write the address on page two and send $20 (or whatever you can afford) for a bundle of MIM Notes. * * * FIGHTING FASCISTS THE PROLETARIAN WAY by an Ann Arbor RAIL comrade 10 March, 1997 -- A RAIL comrade found several fascist propaganda fliers posted all over Ann Arbor by the People's United Nationalist Council Hallelujah!(PUNCH!) and the Fascists Insurrection Student Tribe(FIST). The fliers called for people to open their eyes. The fascists opened their text with an apocalyptic quote from the book of revelation and express extreme anger at the left, mostly Maoist, propaganda which covers the campus at the University of Michigan. The nazis accused MIM and two pseudo-leftist trotskyist factions (SPARK and NWROC) of twisting the truth. Knowing that they could never win a rational debate with revolutionaries, the fascists ended their tirade with threats of violence. MIM responded immediately and by the next day fliers had been posted all over the UM campus and town letting people know that our eyes were already wide open. It is no surprise that fascists openly recruit in the UM campus. This is an outgrowth of increasing militarism to support Amerikan interests. Fascist ideology grows from the perceived threat the oppressed people of the international proletariat pose to the white nation, especially the white working class. This myth was conjured up and propagated by the bourgeois media with the aid of fake revolutionaries in the numerous troskyist factions. The fascists, in their flier, claim that the "Fasces of Justice is on our side!" As we point out in our flier, this is very true. Black people comprise 51% of the prison population while making up only 14% of the total population. Latinos are 390% more likely to go to prison than whites. 46% of the female prison population is Black. 90% of the women in prison are single mothers. Within ten years of its founding, the Black Panther Party was nearly completely wiped out by police infiltration, assassinations, and imprisonment and the war against oppressed nations continues. Some Panthers are still interned in Amerikan concentration camps on trumped up charges. On the other hand, the KKK has existed in Amerika for over 130 years and to this day holds rallies at government buildings with police protection. Unlike the trotskyists, MIM and RAIL understand that the rise in the characteristics of fascism -- like prisons run as industries or u.s. military support to fascist comprador governments -- constitute more of a threat than the white supremacists on the sidewalk quoting the bible. This is why we place building independent institutions of the oppressed to build revolution as a higher priority than high profile one-day-activism sensationalist anti-Klan rallies. On March 12th, an article pertaining to the fascists' fliers appeared in the Michigan Daily. This article was seriously flawed ­ which is not surprising since the Daily's claim of objective journalism leads it to serve the bourgeoisie and tail fake radicals to kept some foothold on its liberal appearance. Within the article, the heavily quoted NWROC never addressed the issue of Amerika's just-us system or the U$ creation of and support for fascist dictators. This is no surprise considering they never do organizational work against prisons and seem to think that revolution can be made by asking city hall for permission ­ as they did when led by kop escort in a march against the Klan last summer. NWROC also said the fascists' threats were directed mostly at themselves because "NWROC is the most active of those organizations named in the flier." This is not even close to the truth. MIM and RAIL have four regularly published and internationally circulated newspapers as well as a theoretical journal. NWROC has no press at all. MIM and RAIL do organizational work with prisoners interned in Amerika's concentration camps, including providing them with free literature. NWROC has not even attempted to do such things. For years MIM has worked in the interests of the oppressed building Serve the People programs from agitation and organizing work, to books and release programs for prisoners, to a food program feeding the poverty stricken oppressed masses incorporating this with political education. NWROC has no such programs. And when their campaigns seemingly address the masses' concerns, it amounts to tailing reformist demands other liberals take up anyway. The solution for the trotskyists' lies and national chauvinism, the fascists' threats, and Amerikan imperialism is all the same -- proletarian revolution. By working to build independent institutions of the oppressed, MIM and RAIL are building the mass base necessary for revolution. As long as we remain true to the people and continue to apply the revolutionary political science of comrade Mao Tse-Tung, we will continue to grow in numbers and strength until the great and powerful tide of proletarian revolution will sweep aside all reactionaries and enemies of the people. By crushing the forces of Amerikan imperialism the proletariat will finally eliminate the material basis for fascist organizing and permanently liberate the oppressed masses. * * * ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE! Santa Barbara, CA -- Over 200 people attended a special screening of "All Power to the People!" at the University of California sponsored by the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League and 100 Black College Men. Director Lee Lew-Lee introduced his film, which documents the rise of the Black Panther Party and its subsequent repression by the FBI, and led a discussion afterward. The event was clearly inspirational. The film received a three minute ovation; Lew-Lee received a standing ovation after the discussion; and many people committed themselves more deeply to the struggle to defend Amerika's political prisoners and expose the genocidal Amerikan injustice system. "All Power to the People!" tells the story of the FBI's bloody COINTELPRO campaign against the Black Panther Party and other Black nationalist organizations. The film consists almost entirely of contemporary footage and interviews with former Black Panther Party members, such as Bobby Seale and Kathleen Cleaver. Much of the old footage used is extremely rare. Lew-Lee has done a great service preserving it in this film. To all those present (and those reading this newspaper), the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) says: Get active and get organized! As Lee Lew-Lee made clear, important information like that contained in "All Power to the People!" is effectively banned from the Amerikan mass media. That means it's up to us to get this information out there. Furthermore, we can't expect Judge Sabo or the Fraternal Order of Police to mobilize people to defend Mumia, nor can we depend on Gil Garcetti to defend Geronimo. We have to do it ourselves. Beyond the struggle defend prisoners, there are the struggles of oppressed nations -- Black, Latino, First Nation and other oppressed communities -- for freedom from police brutality and for economic self-determination. And beyond Amerikan borders, there are the struggles of the vast majority of humanity, who demand freedom from an economic system which kills more than 10,000,000 children every year by denying them access to food and basic health care. The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League plans to expand its work exposing the crimes of Amerikan imperialism and militarism, and encourages people to see where they can fit in. Maybe you can help out by collecting signatures on petitions, or by putting up flyers, or by writing articles for RAIL Notes -- whatever, every little bit counts! Contact your local RAIL branch for information about upcoming campaigns and events. NOTE: Review: "All Power to the People!," MIM Notes 133. * * * DEFEND REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF OPPRESSED NATION STUDENT CENTERS During a recent trip through the East Coast, a student leader approached a MIM Notes distributor as s/he was freedropping. The conversation quickly centered around the George Jackson Center. The student leader was unaware that George Jackson was a Black revolutionary who was killed by guards in prison in 1971. The distributor explained a little about Jackson and explained that cultural centers on academic departments for oppressed nations within the u.s. grew out of revolutionary student struggles in the late 1960s and 1970s. The student leader criticized the practice of freedropping, as "There are only about 20 people on my campus that are politically conscious." However, MIM and RAIL publications are not just for the politically advanced but for all people who are interested in struggling over politics and changing the current oppressive system. MIM publications have radicalized many people not previously political. George Jackson was not political before he went to prison for a $70 has station theft. In prison, he came to the conclusion that prison was one part of systematic oppression of Black people. He became a Communist and a revolutionary and joined the Black Panther Party. He wrote "Soledad Brother" and "Blood in My Eye". He strongly indicted Amerikan colonialism against Black people, although incorrectly supported a focoist line that raised armed struggle to a principle. Jackson supported starting armed struggle regardless of the conditions. History has shown that not building the necessary popular support first leads to unnecessary death, imprisonment and ultimately the failure of the revolution. In 1969 he was charged with killing a guard in Soledad prison. The event of the guard's execution followed the murder three unarmed Black prisoners shot down by a tower guard. No evidence linked George and his co-defendants (collectively called the Soledad Brothers) to this murder. The three had previously been identified as revolutionary and were targeted for the empty charge. Shortly before the Soledad Brothers trial was to begin, Jackson himself was shot down and killed by prison guards. It's not surprising that in the 1990s an influential student leader would be unaware of this important history. The bourgeoisie has an interest in sanitizing the history of the oppressed. We can not let this white-wash continue and so we use our publications to sum-up history for the oppressed so as to direct the struggles of the present and future. There is a similar re-writing of history at Rutgers University where the Black Cultural Center is named after Paul Robeson, who is not only a famous sports alumni, but also a famous actor, musician and political activist. Robeson lost his career to McCarthyite blacklisting of Communists and their supporters. According to the Daily Student Paper at Rutgers, Robeson is being considered for a postal stamp. The student newspaper interviewed the director of the Robeson Center, and asked about his radical past, and whether that should disqualify Robeson from being on a stamp. The director replied that Robeson was a supporter of "the working class" but that he "never joined the Communist Movement." This is incorrect. According to both sympathetic biographers and the FBI, Robeson never joined the Communist Party, but we can definitely place him within the larger Communist Movement of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Robeson openly supported the Soviet Union under Stalin and supported all oppressed people in their struggle against Amerikan imperialism. He opposed the McCarthyite anti-Communist witch-hunts, and lost his passport and career for refusing to answer the House Un-American Activities Committee's questions about whether he was a member of the Communist Party. While he never joined the Communist Party, he worked very closely with them and did consider himself a Marxist and a scientific socialist. When the leaders of the Party were arrested under the anti-Communist Smith Act, he offered to publicly join the Party in defiance of the Smith Act. The Communist Party leaders turned down this offer as too dangerous. MIM would like to see Robeson on a postage stamp, as he is an important political figure whose true legacy should be popularized. But in order to see Robeson's face on a stamp, we wouldn't be willing to sell out his history, nor are would we prioritize a struggle to put Robeson on a stamp. Postage stamps are, after all, Amerikkkan currency. Help get MIM publications out to the people. Order a stack of new or old newspapers to distribute in your community. Notes: Duberman, Marin Bauml, Paul Robeson. New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1988. See page 420 for his offer to publicly join the Party. For his support of Marxism, see page 489 amongst others. Soledad Brothers, the Prison letters of George Jackson * * * FISHERS IN INDIA STRUGGLE AGAINST IMPERIALISTS by MCB52 On March 6, as part of two days of massive protests across India, Indian fishers blockaded three main ports and demonstrated in the capital. They demanded that the government revoke licenses which allowed joint ventures between imperialist and Indian companies. The government eventually granted the demand. The blockades took place in Bombay, nearby Kandla, and the southern city of Vishakapatinam, and were part of a mobilization of the 8 million fishers in India who are unionized.(1) This mobilization was the culmination of protests that have taken place since the government authorized the licenses in 1991 as part of the liberalization of the economy. The imperialist fishing ventures involve large- scale fishing which depletes Indian deep-sea resources. According to a spokesperson for the demonstrators, "The depletion of the fish resources is posing a threat to (Indian) fishworkers and their families."(2) The Indian government -- a comprador regime which listens to the International Monetary Fund and other imperialist rule-makers rather than the needs of the Indian people -- was not going to revoke the licenses it had issued. But mass protests changed its tune. Large imperialist corporations oppress the vast majority of the people of the world as part of their quest for profit. Mass protests such as this one show that oppressed people have an interest in leaving the imperialist system behind and are in fact struggling against imperialism. The most effective form of struggle against imperialism for oppressed nations is protracted peoples war for national liberation and socialism. Only under socialism will allocation of resources be made in a just way. NOTES: 1. Inter Press Service, 6 March 1997. 2. Agence France Presse, 6 March 1997. * * * IMPERIALIST POPULATION CONTROL CONTINUES by an RC The U$ Senate passed a resolution opening up $385 million for family planning programs in over 100 countries. The programs will include contraceptive distribution, family training and centers.(1) This "family planning aid" boils down to greater U$ support and funding for population control of the Third World. The justification for this spending included a goal of "500 million fewer people" and an attempt to reduce the high mortality rate from child birth experienced in Third World countries. But the supporters of greater us patriarchy and imperialist hegemony failed to mention both the real reasons why wimmin are dying and how reducing the population of oppressed people benefits U$ foreign domination(2). The major government rational is that this imperialist-labeled aid would save lives of both wimmin and children by providing people with family planning devices. They argue that if wimmin aren't having children, then they and their children can't die from childbirth. Rather then address imperialism, the root cause of poor medical care, malnutrition and a need for large families because of high infant mortality and economic security, the U$ places blame on birth rates and pumps the Third World full of IUD's, test birth control pills and sterilization. Though the reports mention distribution of condoms, the most effective, and U$ favored, birth control comes through forced sterilization and testing on oppressed wimmin. The most effective way to improve the health of a population, provide medical care, and particularly to improve reproductive choice and health is by overthrowing patriarchy. But the U$ imperialists prefer to uphold the patriarchy by attacking the womyn in oppressed societies, forcing birth control and sterilization on them and as a result, the backbone of most Third World families, the womyn, frequently becomes either sterile or sick. But given Amerikan imperialism, why would the U$ want to wipe out a wealth of cheap labor? The main reason lies in control. Family planning aid doesn't destroy entire populations, but attacks mostly the "unskilled", unemployable, and many revolutionary lumpen proletarians. By slowing down and limiting the births of the oppressed people in the world, the U$ tries to prevent revolutionary uprising and shrinks the number of mouths that would need the food and resources that U$ imperialism steals while still being able to use their cheap labor until they are destroyed. Will more Democrat votes or wimmin in government help? The vote was disproportionately a Democrat sponsored resolution, initially presented by Klinton, with republicans only objecting to the possible use of funds for abortion(3). Also Madeline Albright herself supports the bill, even though she claims to be a feminist fighting world child abuse. This "aid" is clearly a case of U$ imperialism digging its fangs deeper into the lives and choices of the Third World with all sides of Amerikan politics supporting eventual genocide of oppressed people. The answers don't lie in further U$ AID or imperialist involvement, but in the ability of all people to feed, cloth and house themselves without the oppressors hand on their throat or in their uterus. Through national self-determination struggles the imperialists will loose their control and choices affecting a society's people will be decided by and in the best interest of the people within that society. Support national self- determination and the end to imperialist control. (For more information on imperialist population control policies, see MIM Theory #12 "Environment, Society and Revolution") * * * STUDENTS SEIZE BUILDING FOR MIXED BAG OF DEMANDS On 3 March 180 students seized the financial center of the University of Massachusetts, Goodell Hall. The five-day takeover protested the failure of the administration to honor the 1992 ALANA agreements. Initial protest demands specifically included the agreement not implemented in 1992 that the percentage of oppressed national and minority students be raised to 20%. Other demands specified ways the administration should recruit and retain students to reach this goal. The students also added in more general demands for more financial aid and child care and the abolition of tuition late payment fees. In 1992 the Black Student Union (BSU) led a series of protests against the administration's weak response to the racist beating of a Haitian Resident Assistant. The administration claimed it committed itself to a series of reforms designed to increase "non-white" enrollment and retention. The U.S. Justice department, having viewed the nearby city of Holyoke as one of the cities most likely to riot, was looking to decrease the number of racial sparks in Holyoke's vicinity and intervened at UMass. Despite the involvement of the Just-us department and a legally binding agreement, the administration did not uphold its side of the bargain. ALANA stands for "Asian, Latino, African and Native American." While we support oppressed nations and national minorities organizing together to achieve greater access to education, MIM does not lump all oppressed nations and groups of national minorities together as one political unit as the proponents of "people of color" and "ALANA" do. The ALANA formulation does not distinguish between these different groups with separate and sometimes opposing material interests and political objectives. MIM supports the demands to increase enrollment of oppressed nation and national minority students because more access to higher education for the oppressed is progressive. Using a formulation lumping all these different groups allows the university to pick-and-choose which populations it wants. Because university administrations are notorious for their treachery in implementing agreements that will advance the cause of the oppressed, it is important to be very precise in what we demand. Already some student activists have a glimpse of this based on the administration's number crunching since 1992. DEMANDS FOR ALL STUDENTS Many of the student leaders of the takeover stressed over and over again that "This is not an ALANA issue!", reflecting many of the demands which were not nationalist and were new ground not covered in the 1992 agreements. MIM obviously supports oppressed nation students getting support from whites; but we disagree with watering down your own struggle to the point of feeding white self-interest in order to get that support. Demands for all students need to be clearly designed to advance oppressed nation issues. These issues can include demands for greater ability to carry out political organizing on campus, increasing numbers of and funding for oppressed nation students, or increasing overall student aid at the expense of funding of prisons or militarism. MIM views the principal contradiction -- the one struggle that resolving will do the most to resolve all other contradictions -- within the united snakes as that of imperialism: the Black, Latino and First nations against the white Amerikan nations. Struggles for more oppressed nation enrollment, against more cops or against the prison system are struggles against imperialism. Within the white nation, we see youth as the group with the greatest inclination to ditch parasitism and work for revolution. But it is important that struggles that involve calling for more privileges for white youth are linked to anti-imperialist struggles. With this anti-imperialist line in command, advancing the political position of all youth, or under some circumstances even just white youth, can increase the potential for splitting off large sections of the white youth for the revolutionary struggle. MIM does not help students oink to the system for more gravy at the expense of the oppressed, as the system already trains them well enough to do that. But proletarian leadership can turn the demand for more student aid into something progressive. In many states, the leading competitor to education spending is prison construction and maintenance. If college students and bureaucrats start attacking the police state in order to shift imperialist gravy away from prisons, that's something that objectively aids the anti-imperialist struggle. Such complicated trades can only be successful under clear proletarian leadership. How imperialism spends its stolen super-profits is not a zero sum game, and much care needs to be taken to keep such a movement from turning into "Fund education AND prisons!" Proletarian leadership of such struggles is vigilant against all attempts to compromise the struggle. In the past five years less complicated UMass struggles have failed to achieve their goals. Many struggles and victories have been erased by opportunist student leaders or anti-student administrators who take advantage of the high turnover of students to re-write the past. CONTINUE THE FIGHT FOR EDUCATION FOR THE OPPRESSED NATIONS The administration's reaffirmation of the 20% "ALANA" enrollment target as the most politically important outcome of this protest, and we salute the students who won this victory but warn students to beware of the problem they have created in using the term ALANA and allowing the administration to pick which nationalities from this group of students they want to increase. MIM encourages students interested in ending oppression once and for all in the most effective way possible to work with MIM and RAIL. For those unwilling to move beyond reformism, there are many ways that we can work together to make a world that's better for the world's majority. We encourage students to get involved in MIM and RAIL's fight against the criminal injustice system. In particular students can help us get educational materials and programs into the prisons, greatly increasing the access to education for oppressed nations. Pushing public universities to set up education programs in the schools is an important way that we can take these struggles for increased access to education outside of the gates of the university. LEARN YOUR HISTORY, TAKE UP THE REVOLUTIONARY SCIENCE, AND GAIN REVOLUTIONARY EXPERIENCE! This story was written on 18 March 1997. NOTE: See MIM Notes 71, December 1992 for coverage of the struggle leading up to the 1992 ALANA Agreements. MIM Notes was the only publication to report on the hotel "rewards" given to the assailant's hosts. Available at: gopher://gopher.etext.org:70/00Politics/MIM/MIM.ess ays/umass.racists * * * MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM ONLINE READER WEIGHS IN ON USE OF "THIRD WORLD" Dear MIM: I'm writing in response to another e-mailer [MIM Notes 133, March 1, 1997] who had a problem with the use of the term "Third World." Usually this hysteria about semantics & word politiks is not my thing, but in this case I think its worth replying to. Use of "third world" has been accepted by many activists/scholars of anti-imperialism because it connotes a separate, functioning WORLD of its own. Like a world, this term makes clear that these super-exploited parts of the world are capable of functioning in an independent, self defined, self determined system, not dependent upon the 1st and 2nd worlds. However, it is a world excluded from the power & profit of these other two. To say that using "Third World" implies that the 1st world is something to aspire to is to succumb to the vertical, hierarchical mindset of the Kapitalist mainstream of this kountry (besides, 3 IS the magic number). Fight the mind kontrol! Strength&Unity -- Internet Reader MIM RESPONDS: While MIM too defended our use of "Third World" we do so for different reasons than this reader. (We are also not aware of any anti- imperialist literature that advances this "self- contained world" argument.) Although MIM has criticized the "world systems" theory for denying any internal dynamic and contradiction within the oppressed nations, this letter writer goes too far in the other direction -- ascribing a self- determination to the Third World that does not exist under imperialism. That self-determination is in fact the goal of proletarian revolution. The masses of the oppressed nations are not only capable of self-government but of moving mountains -- once imperialism, which holds back advances in production and social relations, is destroyed. SURREALIST LIKES MIM ARTICLE ON INTERNET CRIME Dear MIM: Because I am a surrealist, I strictly oppose most of the positions in MIM Notes; many even when I can see to some degree the line of thinking behind them, I believe are flabbergastingly farfetched. Often, the premises are sensible but on slender foundations blanket structures are erected. Nevertheless, I appreciate (as I have my own Web page) most of the article "Internet Crime Hype Fuels Government Repression" [MIM Notes 131, February 1, 1997]. I am not interested in the ins and outs of the bickering between the MIM, the CSRP and the RCP, but MIM has done a very valuable thing in attacking "the Amerikan media and U$ government"'s scheme to end all semblance of "free speech" on the Internet. This kind of thing turns the stomach. The lickspittle Washington Post, which must never worry about "freedom of speech" because it is in bed with the Establishment, the government and the ruling class, obviously believes that everyone will have an allergic reaction to radical groups because they are radical (never mind a discussion of ideas, never mind they might be telling the truth), and that the government has a right to spew its "unfiltered propaganda" but all other statements should be cleared by the F.B.I. Let the coy "State Department Staffer" discuss the governments terrorism (which is legal "in this country")! All these "concerned [international] citizens" propping up the fascist Peruvian dictatorship, with their "legitimate law enforcement concerns" (secret policy plots) can go to hell. At this stage, the rulers attitude is motivated by sour grapes; they have yet to squash this new, free medium, and it will be difficult to do so. Their tactic is demonization of the Internet to the degree "it is so efficient a means of reaching so many people" -- they present it as principally a vehicle for exchanging child pornography. Against threats like the Unites States Parole Commissioners restrictions, all revolutionists must unite in the defense of electronic communications against bourgeois interference! --a reader in the east February 1997 MIM RESPONDS: We're glad to see that the forces opposed to government censorship and political repression are strong, and this reader makes a good point that talk of child pornography is simply a diversionary government tactic to strengthen their control of speech on the Internet. It is not that the government is afraid of an "allergic" reaction to revolutionary ideas -- but a revolutionary reaction! They are afraid of youth having access to communications and publishing, and to radical ideas. It's too bad, though, that this reader did not provide any argument or evidence that MIM is wrong or that our thinking is "farfetched" for us to respond to. We invite them to write a serious piece about surrealism vs. materialism for us to debate in the pages of our literature. WORLD WIDE WEB REVIEWS: REVOLUTIONARY INFORMATION PROJECT SENDS GREETINGS Greetings Revolutionary Comrades of the Maoist International[ist] Movement, We have seen your publication MIM Notes and found it a valuable resource for information about the anti-imperialist and socialist struggle worldwide. Specifically, your coverage of the struggle by the Filipino people against American Imperialism is excellent. We also have seen your reviews of culture and cyberculture from a Marxist-Leninist- Maoist perspective. We would appreciate your thoughts on our effort against imperialism on the world wide web at: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/3791/ Revolutionary Information Project (RIP) is dedicated to educating people about anti- imperialism and socialism. Our slogan is, "ONE ENEMY, ONE FIGHT!" We provide an unofficial page on the Popular Front For the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and their people's war, an unofficial page on the Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) and their people's war against imperialism in Mexico. We also provide information on the struggle by the Philippine and Kurdish peoples. We provide links to anti-imperialist and communist struggles world wide. As imperialist capitalist globalization intensifies, so does the protest against it in cyberspace. We are dedicated to expanding our links to our sisters and brothers in struggle worldwide. We provide a FAQ for the UNDERNET chat-channel #communism, an art gallery of cultural revolution posters, and a list of progressive mailing lists. Thank you for your interest. In Struggle, Revolution Information Project, USA MIM RESPONDS: Thank you for alerting us to your valuable site -- with news from and links to anti- imperialist organizations around the world, and a great collection of Cultural Revolution artwork. RIP is indeed an excellent, non-sectarian, anti- imperialist resource on the Internet, and we are pleased that you link to our site. We do not know if you are familiar with MIM's struggles against the phony "MPP-USA" that you also link to. While MIM respects your desire to be non- sectarian, we have published numerous articles explaining that the "MPP-USA" is not a sectarian issue -- they are cops pure and simple, attempting to split and wreck the international support for the People's War in Peru. One such article is available on our web site -- others can be ordered from Maoist Sojourner. We urge you not to lend them legitimacy by linking to their web site under the heading "People's War in Peru" as they claim. We will be adding a link to the RIP site at MIM's web site that will include this review. * * * REVOLUTIONARY MAILING LIST NOW AVAILABLE FROM THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT! Subscribe to mim-news and get news and feature articles from MIM Notes, the bi-monthly newspaper of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM). mim- news contains anti-imperialist global and local news coverage, letters from revolutionary prisoners in Amerikan gulags, reviews of Internet politics and sites, and cultural analyses -- all from a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist perspective. (mim-news is not a discussion list.) To subscribe, just send an e-mail message to: majordomo@mim.org In the body of the message, write: subscribe mim-news * * * POST-MODERNIST AND CONSERVATIVE LOSERS FIGHT IT OUT by MC5 Two frauds in Australia in March reveal the bankruptcy of prize-fighting for the bourgeoisie in academia and the arts. For the last several years, a battle has raged in academia and the professional arts between post- modernists and conservatives. On the one hand, we have the post-modernists claiming who one is is more important than what one does and that science is a useless enterprise. On the other hand, we have the conservatives claiming that their myopic Christianity and Western culture is the ultimate intellectual wisdom. In this battle between King Kong and Godzilla, we look on with disgust. We would like to favor the post- modernists for pointing out how rich white men dominate the arts and sciences to the exclusion of legitimate contributions from oppressed people, but the post- modernists put forward the equally noxious neo-colonial view that wimmin and oppressed nationality people are incapable of universally accepted achievements in science and art. Hence, MIM says to hell with both the post-modernists and the conservatives. Two white people in Australia claimed to be oppressed peoples in painting and autobiography. The post-modern establishment -- a.k.a. prize- fighters for the bourgeoisie- - promptly awarded the frauds for their excellent work in painting and autobiography. "My Own Sweet Time" fraudulently represented as the autobiography of an aboriginal womyn Wanda Koolmatrie won "best first work by an Australian womyn writer" in 1995. Another award followed in 1996. The real author was a white man. A painter who claimed to be an Aboriginal "Eddie Burrup" turns out to be an 82- year-old womyn of Irish-descent. She had put her work successfully in museums and galleries. To cover their tracks, the post-modern establishment said the following: "As we now discover, it is a pack of lies because it is actually a fiction and not autobiographical, which I think immediately devalues its literary merit." In other words, the book stinks now that we know who wrote it according to the post- modern establishment. MIM pulls this trick on its opponents from time to time too. We will repeat something someone said to us only to find that the same person now opposes the statement because we said it. Communicating with people who only pay attention to who is speaking and not what is said is a waste of time. They do not appreciate science or truth yet. The bourgeoisie funds these prizes and allows all kinds of mysticism to pass as achievement, because it serves the rule of the capitalist class to keep the people ignorant. We follow Engels in his "Ludwig Feuerbach" on suspicion toward seeking the prizes of bourgeois academia. We need independent institutions of the oppressed and we must pursue the truth in spite of academia and the professional experts. "Only among the working class does the German aptitude for theory remain unimpaired. Here it cannot be exterminated. Here there is no concern for careers, for profit-making, or for gracious patronage from above. On the contrary, the more ruthlessly and disinterestedly science proceeds the more it finds itself in harmony with the interests and aspirations of the workers." Not only are wimmin and oppressed nationalities capable of developing universal science and art, they are in a position to lead this development. It is within the struggles of oppressed nations for national liberation that we find the most fertile ground for non-compromising science. NOTE: Boston Globe 14 March 1997. p. A2. * * * REVISIONIST CHINA DROPS PIECE OF SOCIALIST FACADE by MCB52 Revisionist China recently abandoned the formal use of the terms "political crimes" and "counterrevolutionary crime." The vice-chairman of the Congress Standing Committee who announced the new legal codes explained: "Revision of the crimes of counterrevolution is made out of consideration that China has left the era of revolution to enter the era of construction." MIM believes that the state-capitalists in charge of the Chinese state left the revolutionary path twenty years ago and turned terms like counter-revolutionary crime upside down long ago. The capitalist-roaders overthrew the socialist "Gang of Four" in 1976. Since then Deng Xiaoping and his ilk overturned socialist structures in China and implemented capitalism. For example, Deng et al reversed the collectivization of agriculture, and have allowed imperialist exploitation of Chinese workers in special "Free Enterprise" zones. But for many years the Deng clique went to great lengths to justify their capitalist "reforms" in the name of socialism. The prestige of socialism was too great among the Chinese people. If Deng had said, "I am restoring capitalism," the people would have rebelled. But keeping up a socialist facade hampers the capitalist-roaders efforts to fully restore capitalism. That is why the Chinese state has been steadily dropping socialist practices and terminology like "counter-revolutionary." MIM is happy to see the Chinese state drop its socialist pretensions, since it makes it clear to everybody that China today is capitalist, not socialist. Like Malcom X, MIM prefers wolves to foxes. The wolf is honest about the fact that he wants to eat you, while the fox tries to pretend to be your friend. The discussion of this announcement in the Amerikan imperialist media deserves a couple of comments. According to the New York Times, "Counterrevolutionary crimes, widely used in the past to prosecute political categories, have been criticized for years by Chinese legal experts as a form that has no basis in modern legal theory." MIM says, well of course the anti-Communist, capitalist experts in legal theory find the notion of counterrevolutionary crimes ridiculous, even threatening. That is because the bourgeois law serves the capitalist class and justifies the capitalist mode of production. In particular, liberal bourgeois legal theory hides the oppression of groups by other groups by pretending that all groups are equal. For example, the bourgeoisie claims that a worker in the Philippines freely chooses to work for $5 per day, never mind that she would starve if she didn't or would be beaten and thrown in jail for organizing for higher wages. This idealist theory approaches the law as an abstract idea somehow above the people who write and implement it. There are some things which are intrinsically wrong, and anybody will be punished if they do them -- so the story goes. But materialists know that this is not the case. For example, Mumia Abu-Jamal is on death row for allegedly killing one person in self-defense, while warmongers like Bill Clinton, George Bush and Ronald Reagan prosper in freedom. But materialists know that this is not the case. That is why MIM attacks the notion that the bourgeois courts measure crime using a non- political, objective standard. Defining what is and what is not a crime is a political act. NOTES: New York Times. 7 March 1997, p. 1. * * * NEW EDITION OF "PHILIPPINE SOCIETY AND REVOLUTION" PUBLISHED ***"Integrating Marxist-Leninist theory with Philippine practice is a two-way process. We do not merely take advantage of the victories achieved abroad so that we may succeed in our own revolution. But we also hope to add our own victory to those of others and make some worthwhile contribution to the advancement of Marxism-Leninism and the world proletarian revolution so that in the end mankind will be freed from the scourge of imperialism and enter the era of communism" -- Amado Guerrero*** MIM hails the publication of the new edition of Philippine Society and Revolution by Amado Guerrero. This is essential reading to understand the basic principles of the national democratic revolution in the Philippine. Philippine Society and Revolution is a shining example of concretely applying the correct principles of Marxism- Leninism-Maoism to the specific characteristics of a society. MIM highly recommends this book and commends the Philippine Information Network Service for its work in getting the book re-published. Amado Guerrero (the nom de guerre of Jose Maria Sison, founding chairperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines) wrote Philippine Society and Revolution in 1970. The book presents the main strands of Philippine history and the basic problems facing the Filipino people today: feudalism, bureaucrat capitalism, and imperialism. Philippine Society and Revolution also presents the basic tasks of the people's revolution, emphasizing (1) the leadership of the Communist Party and the struggle against modern revisionism, (2) protracted people's war and Chairman Mao's strategic line of encircling the cities from the countryside, and (3) the revolutionary united front. This new edition of Philippine Society and Revolution also includes Specific Characteristics of our People's War, Our Urgent Tasks, and several contemporary articles by Jose Maria Sison. The first two works were written in the 1970's and expand the fundamental analysis of Philippine Society and Revolution, summing up the first few years of political organizing and armed struggle. The contemporary articles show that the basic analyses Philippine Society and Revolution apply today -- the Philippines is still semi-colonial and semi-feudal, and protracted people's war and the eventual development of socialism are still the keys to true national liberation. In the late 80's and early 90's, "left" and right opportunist forces sought to derail the revolutionary movement by changing the basic analyses and perspective of the movement. The Second Great Rectification Campaign, launched in 1992, largely succeeded in reaffirming the guiding principles laid out in documents such Philippine Society and Revolution. The publication of a new edition of Philippine Society and Revolution will help to thoroughly defeat the "left" and right opportunist lines and ensure that the revolutionary movement remains on the correct path. Revolutionaries here inside Amerikan borders can learn several lessons Philippine Society and Revolution. On the one hand, we can increase our knowledge of the specific characteristics of the Philippine situation and better expose and combat the crimes of Amerikan imperialism in the Philippines. On the other Philippine Society and Revolution provides us with an excellent introduction to some of the basic principles of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, and serves as an inspiration to take these principles and apply them to the concrete conditions here. Ultimately, we can best serve the revolutionary movement in the Philippines and all other societies by making revolution here. ***The new edition of Philippine Society and Revolution is available from MIM for $20. Write to MIM Distributors, PO Box 29670, Los Angeles, CA, 90029-0670.*** * * * UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS EMERGENCY RESPONSE REQUESTED The Committee to End the Marion Lockdown (CEML) has received letters from two Black prisoners at Marion who report that they have been set up by guards for fights with White prisoners. Once the fight takes place, then the Black prisoners are also set upon by the guards, and are then the only ones punished. CEML is requesting that all interested people immediately write, phone, or fax the prisoncrats listed below and demand that these practices be stopped immediately. One of the correspondents writes: "It is not only that the guards are beating black brothers constantly but they are allowing white racist prisoners to beat on us and jump on us while we are handcuffed. . . . On January 2, 1997 the blacks and whites had a big fight on the recreation yard. They beat many of us with billy clubs but did not allow us to get medical attention until they were finished providing help to the white prisoners. Now the staff here has put brothers in a kill or be killed situation. . . . They are taking strong brothers off the tiers, and even putting single blacks on tiers with all other white prisoners. . . . Please let our oppressors know that we brothers have someone who will stand strong and let them know that their malicious acts will not be tolerated." The other correspondent writes: "The white boys in the population unit had the nerve to tell the brothers that they couldn't sit down on the bench, saying that this was a white bench. Whenever you get into a fight with a white guy, the officers beat us but won't bother the white prisoner. When there was a fight on the yard on January 2 the police broke one brother's wrist and slammed another's head into the wall several times. These people are trying to kill us fast. We need your help. Our families do not even know what is going on. As soon as we try to tell someone over the phone, then the phone is disconnected. Please respond as soon as you can." Protest to: Kathleen Hawk, Director, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 320 First Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20532, tel. (202) 307-3250, fax: (202) 514-6878 Patrick Kane, Director, North Central Region, Federal Bureau of Prisons, Tower II, 8th Floor, 400 State, Kansas City, KS 66101, tel. (913) 612-3939, fax: (913) 551-1094 Mr. William Hendricks, Warden, USP Marion, Box 1000, Marion, IL 62959, tel: (618) 964-1441, fax: none, we're told. Please make certain to report back to this emergency response network (ern) whether you have sent a message and whether you have received a response from the prisoncrats. This type of feedback to us is essential in understanding how the ern is working. You can email us directly or carbon copy us at: ceml@aol.com Thank you. A CALL TO SPEAK OUT AGAINST TORTURE IN TEXAS STOP COMPLAINING AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! TDCJ (Texas Department of Criminal Justice) is soon to be heard in Federal Court, the issue to get out from under the Ruiz v. Scott, et, al., No. H-78- 987, United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Donna Brorby is the Lead Counsel for us the plaintiffs. I hear a lot of lip service. But now we have a chance to voice all the wrongs and how TDCJ violates their agreement with Ruiz. Write Donna Brorby at 390 Hayes St. Suite #2, San Francisco, CA 94102. Speak of the beatings you saw, the lock up with no court, tell of all medical care and how little we get. Speak up now or be ready for the old days to come back. I ask all in Texas Prisons to write Donna, not silly things such as Vita Pro, that issue is up in another suit. This is the best notice I can give. I wrote Donna of medical threats that I have been subject to on this unit. Along with many other things that deal with Ruiz. If we don't speak up now, we will pay. You think TDCJ is bad now, you should see TDCJ's plan s for us if they out from Ruiz. In the Struggle!! From Price Daniel Unit --A Texas Prisoner, 11 November 1996 MISSOURI PRISONER DETERMINED TO ORGANIZE IN THE FACE OF TORTURE ***The following is a composite of several letters written by a Missouri Prisoner and submitted to ULK by a MORAIL comrade*** Greetings Comrades, . I write this to respond to your letter which i received last week. First let me thank you for your concern and encouragement. It is assuring knowing there are those like your self who are fighting for the liberation of the people and who have not condemned brothers in prison. Answering your letter, prison officials have me in the hole for "Out of Bounds" and "unauthorized Organizations" But what it is this, myself and others teach a class which aids other inmates to learn basic Constitutional Rights and how to protect them self! Also I been doing a of talking about how we (prisoners) need to stop fighting one another and focusing on our true enemy, the Administration. Are you familiar with the riots we had in Sept.? Well, myself and others, Brothers were able to wake a lot of people up. Crips, Bloods, Aryan Brotherhood, Muslim etc., united for 13 whole days and terrorized these goons. I believe that to be the true reason for me being in the hole. I have a lot of influence towards a lot of people and they (goons) are afraid I will cause a repeat of Septs. riot. Though they won't say this, I believe to be true. (2) They have me on the following medication, THORIZINE 50 mg. x2 Daily HALADOL 75 mg. x 2 Daily TRASADONE 75 mg. x 2 Daily They say they are helping me stay calm, but I don't take that shit. When I refuse it, they refuse to feed me until I do though. Can you tell me what I can do on that? (3)Yes, I'm a non-violent offender, stealing and fraud, serving 5 yrs. in a max. security Prison, the worst in Missouri. I have a "good" conduct record. So what sense does this make? I really want to do something that will expose what these assholes do to us. Especially in the hole. Here are a few things: I'M DENIED ALL VISITS. I haven't been allowed NO shower in almost 3 weeks. I have no light except daylight. No hot water. I DON'T get to eat unless I let them DOPE ME UP. I can go on and on. Thank you for writing my mom- ... I will remain in touch- But I believe these people are going to try and set me up and have someone DO something to me- So if you don't hear from me next month, I ask that you contact investigators and check on thins. I remain strong, --A Missouri Prisoner, 1 December 1996 ..."Ever since it has been said that my release from lock up was being considered, guards, even the associate warden has come to me asking "Are you going to keep your mouth shut, and stop causing trouble?" Hell no! I will just be more careful. In fact, I'm determined to organize people, Black, Latin, etc., unite all of us together. And Help these people open their eyes and clean their ears out, and FACE REALITY. It is my duty to my people to help in the struggle in Raising awareness towards the oppressor, and support for the third world revolution, the struggle of the oppressed here in Amerikkka's prison system. Ain't no lockdown cell, mind altering drug going to make me or my ideas submit in defeat. I will continue in our struggle as long as I have heart and air to breath.... I remain struggling, --A Missouri Prisoner MORAIL, To bring you up to date on things happening in reference to my struggle: 1.On Dec.19, 1996, I had a hearing in reference to my release from Administration Segregation (the Hole) and they did decide to let me officially go from the Hole. 2.On Dec. 20, 1996, I was informed that there is presently no bed-space available in population and I will remain in the Hole until bed space becomes available. So in conclusion to all of this, I have been released from the Hole because they have no "legal" reason to keep me, but as we know how these people are able to do some sly things and yet protect themselves. They have invented the story that there is no bed space available and therefore are able to keep me in the Hole and NOT RISK themselves to any trouble. In summary, my struggle continues as does my strength continues to increase. So that I may eventually be victorious in my struggle. I will not surrender my beliefs or my will. I will fight for however long it takes. For to give up is to admit defeat and agree to be oppressed. In struggle, --A Missouri Prisoner [Excerpt from letter 1 January 1997] TEXAS PRISONER EXPOSES THE MURDER AND BRUTALITY IN PRISON ...The Murder of a Mexican National, Daniel Avellaneda happened on July 19th, 1996, the Jones County Grand Jury was empaneled to hear the case against the prison guard Neal Harms who claimed that the Prisoner was "Running backward trying to escape". Over 40 prisoners witnessed the Murder and state that Harms ran a huge horse that he was on into the prisoner, the prisoner became frightened and ran approximately 5 yards. At which time Harms, fired a warning Shot. The Prisoner was already stopped and had both hands in the air when the guard rode up to the prisoner firing one shot form a .357 handgun striking the prisoner in head above the left eye. All other Prisoners were ordered back to work while a utility van came. to the sight where the prisoner was taken "thrown in the van like a dead animal". The remaining prisoners refused to return to work and the unit was placed under emergency lock down. During the lock down the prisoners who were near the deceased at the time of the Murder were called out to talk to the Internal affairs division investigators and senior wardens and threatened and coerced. Witnesses were told to "Pick a Unit you want to go to and keep your mouth shut. If you give a statement you will go visit that fucking wet back" This information is developed by the Texas Prisoners Labor Union members and the Unions Committee On Human Rights established to investigate the Murder and the Brutality of the French Robertson Unit. The committee has also uncovered a lot of practices of unthinkable sadistic brutality by guards on the Unit called "Black Patches", as well as a Practice of Sport fighting Prisoners in a dried up pond that has been described as Terror Dome. [This is] where prisoners were forced to sit in a circle around a pond (The Terror Dome) with Guards on looking. The guards would "...ride up next to a prisoner and throw him a pack of cigarettes and then the same to the opponent. These prisoners would then descend into the dome and fight until there was a winner. Many times prisoners were beaten into unconsciousness, receiving no medical attention whatsoever, other than what was administered by other Prisoners." These sick bastards that call themselves "Public Servants" are the worst scum on the earth and should be placed in chains and whipped daily. These so-called public servants are responsible for the well being of prisoners, prisoners whom are allegedly being rehabilitated. Warden Hubert Scott was sent to the Unit to Transfer (Not Fire) the most "Obviously" brutal guards. The Texas Prisoners Labor Union will not cease in our investigation until we have the whole truth and a Federal Grand Jury issues Indictments against these bastards. We are seeking your assistance. We need detailed information concerning all aspects of treatment, Brutality at the French Robertson Unit. We want to Present the Federal Grand Jury with enough evidence to send these bastards to jail. (I want Harms for my cellie, I will see how tough that bastard is without the pistol). There is an ongoing conspiracy to cover the Murder. This is a RICO violation and these bastards cannot hide behind the States Immunity skirts. And when called before an investigative body, will start snitching on each other to try to save their own asses. When you contact us with information send one copy of the "Sworn Affidavit" to the Mexican Consulate and one to me (via MIM) at the addresses below: Mexican Consulate, General Counsel, 511 Ohio St, Suite 121, Midland, Texas 79701 Together we can make a difference. Don't allow the administration to divide and conquer using Race, political affiliation or religion which are their most common ploys. -- A Texas Prisoner, Founder & Chairman of the Texas Prisoners Labor Union, 1 January 1997 PIGS FACILITATE STABBINGS ON THE RECREATION CHAIN Sitting here in the Lucasville Maximum Security Prison....I would like for someone to tell me if this is a maximum security prisoner then tell me how is it possible that there are so many stabbings on the Rec. [Recreation] Chain of the Administrative Segregation [Ad-Seg] blocks? I have never been afraid of anything in my whole like, not even death. But i'm like all men, i will not go out without a fight. But here in Ad-Seg there's no fighting for your life. You're just a target for the next man. Let me make myself clear on what i'm talking about. Like i said, i'm in Ad-seg. That means you're hand cuffed everywhere you go. You are allowed one hour of rec. a day. You are stripped of everything you have on in your cell, in front of the rec. officer. He will then shake you clothes down then watch you put them back on. After this he will then cuff you behind you back, then put leg cuffs on you. Then you are put in a chain that runs through you arms. You might have 10-15 inmates on a chain with only two rec. officers. ...Now after all this is done, how is it possible for an inmate to come out of his handcuffs and have a razor or ice pick and attack you??? Now remember what i said, you were stripped and cuffed in front of an officer. So tell me, where are the razors and ice picks coming from? It makes you wonder? I don't go to rec. anymore because i refuse to get hit on this rec. chain and not fight back. I've been in Ad-Seg for one year now and I've seen six stabbings on this rec. chain. It's never a black inmate hitting a white inmate. It's the whites hitting the blacks. There's not one black rec. officer working the rec. chain. We brothers have addressed this to the warden and Columbus. I'm trying to make it home alive. --An Ohio Prisoner, 11 December 1996 NEW FEDERAL TORTURE DEVICE ...I also got something to say, about the KKK's Feds. You can print this in your MIM Notes (from Prison Life Magazine). Looks like the Federal Bureau of Prisons has approved a new vehicle of torture: the Remote Electronically Activated Technology, R-E-A-C-T-STUN BELT. How long did it take them to make up that acronym? A program statement dated September 30, 1994 from the US Amerikkkan Imperialist KKK's Department of Justice outlines the various uses of the device which is designed to prevent pri$oner$ from escaping while being escorted to court, the hospital or another prison. First the gory details as explained in the document. The custody control belt discharges 50,000 volts of electricity by means of a remote transmitter. An attending officer has the ability to activate the stun package attached to the belt thereby causing the following results to take place. 1. Immobilization, causing you to fall to the ground. Possibility of self-urination. Only maximum custody convicts "requiring greater security than can be afforded through conventional restraints" can be forced to wear the stun belt. The document states that the officer in charge of the escort detail "must exercise sound judgment when making a decision to activate the custody control belt", but it goes on to say that "verbal orders are not required if the staff member reasonable believes a danger of death or grievous bodily harm is imminent". In addition prisoners can be stunned if they tamper with the belt, fail to comply with staffs' verbal order to halt or if the officer in charge experiences "any loss of visual contact with the prisoner". Hmm, Guess the days of handcuffs and shackles are over. What a toy, America people think that violent punishment is the solution. I mean the system is fucked up. Really these people enjoy to see others in pain just for entertainment, like the shows, amerikkka's most wanted, cops, and crimestoppers. Yeah, right, they are straight up killers - the only thing different is they have a license to KILL. Permission to do it from the KKK. ...The real criminals make the laws... --A Michigan Prisoner, 5 January 1997 NOT SURPRISED BY ST. LOUIS POLICE BEATINGS ...I recently received your publications of No. 125 and 126. I was not surprised by the article about the St. Louis police beating a former prisoner to death. Since my incarceration in ^Ñ90, I have been part of and witnessed plenty of my unconscious brothers [correction officers] beat [prisoners] into a state of comotose for simply protesting the actions of the Ferguson Units' Tom and his hired henchmen. The Texas prison system prides its-self on brutality on prisoners, just a Chief Williams does of the LAPD. The way that it thrives is to send hired hands out against its own race. And if the brother [prisoner] lives to make it to court, then they send [one of] your own race into that snake den to discredit any type of defense that you [the prisoner] have. [The Uncle Tom discredits the prisoner] by saying that you have a history of attacking them or inciting riots, and they are only trying to do their job and serve the public. However, it may be the Brothers of the struggle will continue to fight the powers that be and make this kkkountry a real land of the free. And a home to the brave Brothers and Sisters who have the vision to overthrow this government and institute a true government of Marx-Lenin-Maoist ideology. ... A true Brother of the Struggle,A Texas Prisoner, 11 December 1996 PRISONER POETRY WANTED Free Lunch Arts Alliance, A California Not-for- Profit Corporation, is planning a publication of poetry from prisoners in U.S. correctional institutions. This will be either a special issue of the magazine, or a larger chapbook of about 36 or more pages. We have not yet determined a publication date, but it will probably be in late 1997 or early 1998. We hope to have poetry from inmates from across the U.S. Guidelines for Special Free Lunch Issue of Prisoner Poetry: Prisoners should submit up to three previously unpublished poems. The poems can be hand printed, typed, or computer-generated. If the submission includes more than three poems, it will be discarded and the poems will not be considered. For this special publication, prisoners do not need to include a self-address, stamped envelope. If we wish to get in touch with the prisoner regarding a submission (for correction, clarification, or possible revision) we will supply the postage for this. Please place the letter I on the envelope you send, or indicate in a cover letter that the submission is for the special Inmate Issue. Cover letters are not necessary, however, although it is always interesting to receive them. Submissions will not be returned. So original copies of work should not be sent. If a poem is selected for publication, we will notify the prisoner. To this end, we ask that you provide an alternate name and address where you can be contacted. Often prisoners are moved around and mail is not always forwarded. So an alternate name and address is helpful. All those whose work is published will receive two copies of this special issue and a free on-going subscription to the magazine. Additional copies will be available to contributors at a cost plus postage basis. As for what type of poetry we are looking for, we are not interested in traditional greeting card verse, which is typically rhymed and contains some kind of moral or message. On the other hand, we are not opposed to traditional rhymed poetry. We like poetry that relies on figurative language image, simile, metaphor, rhythm, sound, etc. We do not care for flat, prosy work that is really prose and is chopped up into lines to look like poetry. There is no limitation of subject matter or the type of poetry (experimental, protest, lyric, narrative, etc.). We look forward to seeing your work. --Ron Offen, Editor of Free Lunch, 29 January 1997 Submissions can be sent to: Free Lunch Arts Alliance, PO BOX 7647, Laguna Niguel, CA 92607- 7647. MIM ADDS: We also encourage prisoners to keep sending poetry and art to MIM as well as news and theoretical articles. ***WHAT NON-PRISONERS CAN DO TO SUPPORT PRISONERS*** *1. Struggle with, work with, finance and join MIM. The best way to support prisoners is to overthrow the system under which capitalists profit from the exploitation of prisoners. History shows that the best way to do this is to build a Marxist-Leninist- Maoist party. The oppressors will not give up their power without a fight. *2. Finance MIM's prison work. Our biggest bill each month is postage. Most of the prison comrades who read MIM Notes have no way of paying for it. So if you have money, send what you can afford. Every cent helps, and stamps are as good as cash to us. *3. Distribute MIM Notes and Notas Rojas. Bring the voices of prisoners and their supporters to as large and wide an audience of people as possible. Contact MIM for bulk rates and distribution tips. *4. Start or join a prison support group. MIM can provide advice and resources to help you build public opinion for prisoners and their struggles. *5. Fight censorship, beatings, torture and other fascist outrages. Under Lock and Key often features the addresses of prisoners' friends and enemies. Work with the friends and let the enemies know you're watching. (Don't expect to win the fascists to the side of humanity, however. See #1 in this list). *6. Stay in touch. Keep us informed of pro-prisoner work you do. Our readers might find it educational or inspirational.
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