* *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * *

     -   MIM Notes 107, December 1995  -

PRISON AWARENESS WEEK IN MASSACHUSETTS

MIM, RAIL and 14 Amherst-area organizations held a 
week of events in defense of prisoners and against 
the prison system. Twelve events, including 
lectures, films and music, took place from Nov. 5 
to Nov. 11. Two of the week's events are covered in 
other articles on this page.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEK

Dr. Allyn Rickett spoke about his experience in a 
Chinese prison undergoing a process of thought 
reform through criticism and self- criticism. Dr. 
Rickett and his wife were Amerikan students in 
revolutionary China. He was justly arrested as an 
Amerikan spy. Many members of the audience remarked 
on the differences between Dr. Rickett's treatment-
-as a serious objective enemy of the people--and 
the treatment of Amerika's prisoners.

RAIL and MIM held a panel discussion on why all 
prisoners are political prisoners. One anarchist 
thought calling all prisoners political prisoners 
was detracting from the importance of the those 
incarcerated for their openly political acts. While 
MIM agreed with the importance of defending 
revolutionary leaders, we do not think recognizing 
the political nature of all incarceration takes 
away from the sacrifices made by individuals in the 
revolutionary struggle. While many in attendance 
thought MIM was right about the political nature of 
incarceration, others were outright reactionary and 
thought the solution to "racial" disparities in 
arrest and conviction was incarcerating more white 
people--and they weren't talking about Bill 
Clinton.

A very interesting discussion followed a showing of 
the documentary film Attica, about the famous 1971 
prison rebellion and subsequent massacre by the NY 
State Police. One woman remarked that solidarity 
shown by the prisoners in the liberated D-yard was 
very different from what she knew about prisoners 
today. She said that there aren't many 
revolutionary ideas in the prisons, but there are 
many deviant ones. It is true that revolutionary 
ideas are not held by a majority of prisoners, but 
their numbers are significant and growing. An 
excellent discussion about the nature of "deviance" 
in an imperialist society ensued, and a surprising 
amount of unity was built between this woman and 
MIM's view of prisons. She expressed much interest 
in the rally planned for the next weekend against 
the Department of Corrections and NYNEX.

In addition, RAIL took advantage of the presence of 
a comrade from the Love and Rage Revolutionary 
Anarchist Federation to organize an event entitled 
"Anarchism and Maoism: Points of Unity, Points of 
Contention." This event was separate from Prison 
Awareness Week and although the posters were up for 
less than a day, 15 people came for a lively 
discussion. 

Overall Prison Awareness Week was a success with 
large crowds attending the many excellent talks, 
films and musical performances. This week 
represents a significant increase in the education 
of people in the Amherst area and MIM hopes that 
they will take their new knowledge and turn it into 
action opposing the Amerikan criminal injustice 
system.

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