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 162 May 15, 1998 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. WASHINGTON D.C. RETAINS TITLE: MURDER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD 2. SETTLER COURTS THROW ANOTHER BLACK MAN IN THE GULAGS 3. LETTERS 4. PUERTO RICAN PRISONER OF WAR RETURNED TO PRISON 5. PENNSYLVANIA DEATH ROW HUNGER STRIKE RESUMED 6. STATE COURT RULES NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN PUBLIC MALL 7. FILIPINA SPEAKS ON GENDER OPPRESSION IN THE PHILIPPINES 8. AMERIKKA'S FORCED STERILIZATION OF DRUG ADDICTS 9. RAIL SPREADS REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE AT EARTH DAY FORUM 10. ONONDAGA ACTIVIST TAKEN PRISONER OF WAR AT PLYMOUTH PROTEST HEARING 11. NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT OF THE PHILIPPINES SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH THE GRP 12. U.$-RAMOS REGIME TORTURES AND MURDERS NPA COMRADE 13. POL POT DIES: IMPERIALIST PROPAGANDA MARCHES ON 14. CULTURE: LOST IN INDIVIDUALIST, UNSCIENTIFIC SPACE 15. CULTURE: SOCCER ZINE MOCKS MAO 16. ATTENTION PRISONERS: CORRESPONDENCE INCORRECTLY SUPPORTED OPPRESSION 17. DEATH OF JAMES EARL RAY LETS FBI OFF HOOK 18. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS * * * 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 * * * WASHINGTON D.C. RETAINS TITLE: MURDER CAPITAL OF THE WORLD by a MIM comrade Washington, D.C., the U.$. capital city and the city with the greatest number of police officers per capita in the country, has had the highest (illegal) murder rate of any large city over the past 10 years. Police-state zealots conclude from this that D.C., like other cities, needs more and more pigs policing the streets. Revolutionaries know increased numbers of police are not the answer to crime. In fact, the proliferation of Amerikkka's police force only increases the violence which is committed against the masses. Amerikkka is at war with its internal semi-colonies. Amerikkka systematically denies oppressed nations the right to self-determination and control over political, economic and military affairs. The Amerikkkan police state enforces the oppressive relationship between the white nation and internal semi-colonies through its illegitimate INjustice system. Amerikkkan domination depends on its ability to control the oppressed through massive round ups by the Amerikkkan pigs into the ever-increasing prison system. The high number of illegal murders mostly result from current systematic poverty and inequality. And it is the occupying settler police army which enforces national oppression. Above all, more pigs does not mean that the causes for crime are eradicated. Increasing the number of agents of Amerikka's police state will only strengthen Amerikkka's war against oppressed nations. The total number of illegal murders fell in D.C. last year, but the rate per capita was more than five-times as high as New York City's. There are still many more murders each year than there were in the early 1980s. According to a government study, a Black man in D.C. who turned 18 in 1989 had a 1 in 24 chance of being murdered by 1995 -- the worst odds in the country. All that is despite the fact that, with seven cops on duty for every 1,000 residents, D.C. is the most heavily policed city in the country. Obviously the police are not helping to prevent illegal murders, so the push for more can only be taken as a push to increase oppression of the masses, not solution of society's problems. D.C. is also one of the most imprisoned cites in the country. According to a study by the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives, in 1997 50% of Black men in D.C. ages 18-35 were in prison or jail, probation or parole, out on bond or being sought on a warrant. That number was increased from 42% in 1992. This mass persecution by the INjustice system is a vast crime of national oppression perpetrated in the name of the law and democracy. Notably, the vast majority of murders that are not being prevented by this police state are committed against young Black men. MIM refers to "illegal murders" in this case because the biggest murderers -- the imperialists, their corporations and their armies -- aren't doing anything illegal by bourgeois standards, and their crimes go unreported in official crime statistics. Washington, D.C. is the murder capital of the world in more ways than one. Besides the illegal murder rates, D.C. is the seat of power for the most murderous imperialist power in the world: the United Snakes of Imperialism. Amerika's armies killed more than a million Vietnamese, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and unknown numbers of murdered and disappeared activists and revolutionaries throughout Latin America. Beside direct military invasion, Amerikkka continues its long history of propping up puppet comprador regimes, as in Peru and the Philippines, which carry out systematic torture and war against the masses. This is also the police state that murderously crushed the Maoist revolutionary Black Panther Party of the late 1960s, whose plan for self-reliance and self-determination for the Black nation would have blocked the importation of heroine and cocaine, and countered economic isolation of the urban lumpenproletariat, all of which fuel today's illegal murder rate. Just as all nations oppressed by imperialism throughout the world, oppressed nations within the illegitimate U.$. borders need self determination and national liberation. These are the products of revolutionary struggle, not a stronger occupying army of police. NOTES: Murder and police statistics from Washington Post, 19 April 1998, p. A1. Prison statistics from "Hobbling a Generation: Young African American Men in D.C.'s Criminal Justice System Five years Later," National Center for Institutions and Alternatives. http://www.igc.org/ncia/hobb.html * * * SETTLER COURTS THROW ANOTHER BLACK MAN IN THE GULAGS In April, another one of the criminal injustice system's unjust convictions reached the supreme court of Massachusetts. To the surprise of the defendant, his lawyer and his family, the judge asked the important questions about the laws that were broken in the course of the murder trial. The verdict from this hearing is not yet in but the course of this entire case demonstrates why MIM says that all imprisonment is political and why we call this a criminal INjjustice system In 1993, XX was extradited from Georgia and convicted of murder within four months of the beginning of his trial. His lawyer, a public (defender) pretender, cooperated with the prosecution in rushing the trial, ignoring evidence and neglecting cross examination of witnesses. The criminal injustice system intimidated XX's family and friends and continues to harass and torture XX in prison as he appeals this unjust conviction. Shortly after the murder, XX went to the police station. Thinking that he had nothing to fear, he decided to clear himself as a potential suspect by submitting to testing for blood. The murder was a very bloody one, but nothing was found on XX or in his car. XX was seen at his printing shop at 9:15, a half hour away from the murder which took place between 9 and 9:30. In spite of the lack of evidence against XX, the prosecution succeeded in convicting him by suppressing important evidence. In just one example of this, the witness who was to testify at the trial was told to leave the court by a police officer who intimidated him and said they didn't need him. One of the prosecution's witnesses against XX was a known drug addict who changed his story at least once. Another man who testified knew the murder victim and worked as a special officer. He threatened a womyn, saying that he would kill her "just like I killed [the murder victim]." This womyn filed a complaint against the officer but this was not disclosed to XX before the trial. The womyn who filed this complaint came forward to tell the defense team after reading about the case in the newspaper. XX's original public pretender solicited the case, lying to XX and his sister. He told them that a wealthy benefactor wanted him to represent XX. But the lawyer was being paid for by the state as a public pretender. It is not clear why this man wanted the case but his complicity with the prosecution suggests that this case was fixed from the beginning. The lawyer was eventually brought to court where he denied lying about the wealthy benefactor but admitted calling to solicit the case. Before XX was even arrested, some people showed up at the house of a cousin of his and tried to question her, telling her they were going to get XX. She never found out who these people were. During the trial the prosecution had XX's sister followed. And his family was threatened by the officers of the imperialist court.As a part of the ongoing harassment of XX for maintaining his innocence, he has been moved four times in prison and there have been a number of attempts on his life. Most recently, in the middle of the night a few days after the appeal at the Supreme Court, XX was moved again.Other than being a member of the Black nation, there's no clear reason why XX was set up for this case. He was not a political activist or any particular threat to the imperialist system except as another Black man in white Amerika. The criminal injustice system is used as a means of social control by the imperialist state. Oppressed nations within u.s. borders are the particular target of the criminal injustice system. This is why the u.s. has a greater proportion of Blacks in prison that even Apartheid South Africa. MIM writes about cases like this one for two reasons. First, we hope that the publicity will put greater pressure on the political system which has convicted XX as we support his struggle for freedom. And secondly, we use cases like this to demonstrate the injustice of the overall system of imperialism. People interested in supporting XX's fight or in taking part in the struggle against the criminal injustice system in general should contact RAIL. * * * LETTERS PRISONERS RESPOND TO MICHIGAN PRISONER'S PLEA Comrades of MIM and RAIL, We were reading MIM Notes 153, Feb1, 1998 edition, an article in the 'Under Lock & Key' section entitled: "A Plea for Help' from a Michigan prisoner that begs our attention. However, though all the articles in Under Lock & Key are deserving of comment and analysis, this one article gains our attention because this comrad spoke of having feelings of 'suicide' and we do not want any comrad to feel this way, or to feel as though they are at such a low state that there is no other alternative or that there is no one in this struggle that care. Therefore, we respond as follows: In this prisoners missive he states that he is 25 years old and that he is writing on behalf of (PDTRT). We of Political Prisoners of War Coalition (PPWC) have not heard of PDTRT, what their political line is, what they represent etc. But, that is not a big deal because we are sure there are many who do not know who PPWC is or have not heard of us. However, we do know that this brave comrad sounded as though he was giving up giving up at a time when he nee to stand firm and defy the odds. To refuse allowing the MDOC's actions to cause him, or any other prisoner in struggle, to feel weak and broken-spirited, or have desires/thoughts of wanting to commit suicide. That will not accomplish anything other than the MDOC prisoncrats a hearty laugh and a good subject to discuss while they sit on their fat lazy asses feeling victorious, as they call you a 'weak ass piece of shit.' You, my brotha, need to affirm your position in the struggle for political/social change by staying alive, studying the principles of Chairman Mao, Marx, Lenin and the Black Panther Party (BPP) so that you and other comrads you talk and study with will become strong vanguard soldiers (souljahs). In your missive you spoke of staff writing "fake tickets" and you somehow feel they are wrong for doing this. But if you come to true revolutionary overstanding then you would accept the fact what the prisoncrats do is done purposefully. That what they do is designed to break your resistance down. To kill the revolutionary spirit that is rising up against their imperialist domination over the working class. The proletariats. That what they do is meant to cause ones such as yourself to develop suicidal thoughts, and a defeatist attitude so they can continue fucking over the lot of us. But - when you refuse to allow prisoncrats or even their lack-dog prisoner agents to deter you from the job you are doing the mission you are on, which is to education others as you educate yourself with the proper principle revolutionary discipline, then there is NOTHING to destroy you, and the conscious seeds you've planted will grow to maturity and the roots from the tree of revolution will DESTROY the ignorance of the bourgeoisie. MIM offers, especially to prisoners, a line to follow from the examples of Chairman Mao, the Gang of Four and the BPP in which to formulate our goals, because MIM overstand that it is within these prisons a strong vanguard party can develop with the proper grooming and political re-education and discipline. As you work with you comrade within PDTRT and give then strength, reserve some strength for yourself. And as our comrads of MIM have told you, "You have been organizing prisoners and explsing the truth about the atrocities of the prison system. Don't give up hope. You are not alone in this struggle against imperialist domination." Comrads such as yourself are valuable to this struggle. And this is why it is important for you and your comrads of the PDTRT to struggle and work with MIM and give MIM your support so that we can overcome the obstacles the bourgeoisie place before all of us. --Political Prisoners of War Coalition March 25, 1998. BOOKS FOR PRISONERS PROGRAM CRITICIZED BY ACADEMIC When I first said that I was interested in Books for prisoners I had no idea that the only books that you would be sending them would be books written by people trying to take over the world. I want prisoners to have books. I want them to be able to read real literature. If they desire philosophy let them read Aristotle, Plato, Wagner, Thoreau, Sartre. For history political, and or political inspiration consider Niccolo Machiavelli's, Prince. Thucydides, Herodotus, Aeschylus, Homer. You don't want to offer these people the opportunity to choose their own path. You call them the victims and only permit them to believe that that is what they are and say that a revolution is the only course for a victim. A victim can, and sometimes does turn the other cheek. Ghandi, M.L.K., and most important Jesus all forgave their attackers. In these three instances they were made martyrs , but their efforts moved nations and in some cases worlds. I do not know, but I think that if you offer a prisoner in our prison system the opportunity to change one aspect of a city, and then you offer them the opportunity to change an aspect of a nation, which do you think they would change. Anger is sometimes healthy, but anger cannot propel and motivate us. I AM SORRY TO BE THE ONE TO INFORM YOU OF THIS, BUT IT APPEARS MORE AND MORE WITH EACH LETTER YOU SEND THAT YOU ARE NOT WORKING FOR THE RIGHTS OF PRISONERS, BUT SIMPLY TRYING TO RECRUIT PEOPLE TO JOIN IN YOUR WAR. IF YOU ARE SO BENT UPON GETTING WHAT YOU WANT PLEASE FOR EVERYONE'S SAKE OFFER THESE PRISONERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO CHOOSE WHAT THEY REALLY WANT. LET THEM KNOW THAT THERE ARE ALWAYS OPTIONS EVEN FOR THE MOST RESTRICTED SITUATIONS. Please take me off of your mailing list. Wishing you, and perhaps myself, more understanding of what we should really be fighting for. MIM responds: This letter writer has been duped by the Amerikan education system to believe that the world is presented in an objective way through bourgeois scholars. And so s/he believes that if only we could just offer everyone access to these scholars, they could have a complete education with all the options presented. In fact, this writer is suggesting that we should give prisoners a very biased view. The examples of "real literature" and philosophers s/he presents include only people who have earned a reputation in the bourgeois world which means people who represent imperialism, fascism, feudalism and slavery. Among the list of suggested authors, the only person representing the perspective of the oppressed people of the world is Sartre. Perhaps this letter writer does not realize that Sartre was a communist since he also attained academic prestige. In imperialist society people already have access to all the well known bourgeois scholars and most of these do not offer the oppressed an analysis of society from the perspective of the majority of the world's people or a way to end their oppression. MIM fills a much needed hole in these educational opportunities when we send in political books to prisoners. We are responding to a demand from the prisoners and we do not force any ideology upon anyone. In fact, we encourage everyone we talk with to check out all of the ideologies and analyses out there. But at the same time, we have a responsibility to present the political line and strategy that we think is going to achieve the liberation of humanity. This is no different from what all historians and philosophers have done throughout history. There is a reason that the revolutionary literature we provide is in demand in the prisons. Prisons are the most fascistic element of u.s. society. Prisoners have the opportunity to experience the evil side of imperialism first hand and their analysis of this society leads the to a revolutionary analysis. Apparently this letter writer would rather not fill this demand and instead limit prisoners to the one sided "real literature" that they have already had access to all of their lives. MIM and RAIL are very honest about the fact that our Serve the People Books for Prisoners program does not include spending money to mail prisoners copies of the bible or literature classics or reactionary political history. We send in the revolutionary history and theory that prisoners must study to understand how to take on and defeat their oppressors. * * * PUERTO RICAN PRISONER OF WAR RETURNED TO PRISON by MC17 Antonio Camacho Negron, a Puerto Rican who was imprisoned for his part in the fight against u.s. colonialism, was re- arrested by the FBI in Puerto Rico late Thursday night, April 16th. He was released in February after spending 11 years in prison. He was arrested again for violating the terms of his release, particularly for not reporting to a Federal Magistrate in Puerto Rico and for associating with independentistas. The conditions of his parole required him to stay away from independentistas and required that he present himself to the Federal Magistrate every 72 hours. Upon arrest he was refused access to his lawyers and he was shipped back to the united snakes of imperialism. Negron's refusal to comply with the terms of his parole is a political statement that he does not recognize the legitimacy of the united snakes courts to deal with the criminal justice of the Puerto Rican people. 1998 marks 100 years of u.s. colonialism in Puerto Rico. As an occupied island whose population is required to serve in the u.s. military but does not get a vote in elections, Puerto Rico's official status is a Commonwealth. But those who aspire to an independent Puerto Rico correctly oppose the imposition of the u.s. colonial injustice system on the Puerto Rican nation. Negron, along with other Puerto Rican prisoners of war, stand strong in their fight against the illegitimate authority of the u.s. criminal injustice system. The fear that this strength puts in the imperialists is clear from the terms of Negron's release. Even after 11 years in prison they knew that Negron would continue the struggle for Puerto Rican independence and they tried to restrict his political activities on the outside. These actions make it very clear that the u.s. criminal injustice system is nothing more than a tool for social control wielded against the oppressed nations. Those who take the most bold actions in the fight for national liberation are most severely punished. MIM stands with Negron and all of the Puerto Rican's in Amerika's gulags in the fight for Puerto Rican self-determination. Let us take advantage of this 100 year anniversary of u.s. colonialism by stepping up the struggle. Work with MIM to forge Maoist parties with the strength and resources to lead national liberation struggles in all of the nations colonized by u.s. imperialism. Notes: Press Release from the Committee to Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War, April 22, 1998. * * * PENNSYLVANIA DEATH ROW HUNGER STRIKE RESUMED In MIM Notes 160 for 15 April, we ran a story about a hungerstrike by death row prisoners in Pennsylvania. The hungerstrike was in protest against a series of new restrictions imposed on the prisoners, of which the most draconian was one which restricted the total property allowed to what would fit within a 12"x12"x14" box. This restriction makes legal work very difficult and restricts the ability of death row prisoners to appeal their sentences is. As Mumia Abu-Jamal wrote, "the separation of the inmates from their legal materials is meant to hasten death. It is an attack on the last vestige of hope"(1). MIM Notes called the hungerstrike a victory, based on initial reports that some restrictions were rolled back, and others were on hold pending negotiation. After MIM Notes went to press, we received word from Mumia Abu-Jamal via the internet that this was in fact not a victory. Mumia's statement was in part a response to the prisoncrat's media spin which we had not seen, but his fundamental point was that too little had been won by the prisoners to call it a victory. MIM does not have a lot of specific information on what is going on right now, but current events bear out Mumia's statement. It's unclear to MIM whether the DOC reneged on its agreement to lift the restrictions on legal materials, or if the negotiations failed to reverse the March directive. Either way, legal materials were the main issue which brought about a second hunger strike. Again, Mumia joined the hungerstrike at the request of other prisoners. As a result of the hungerstrike, the prisoners have been put on "layin" which means that they do not have the privilege of going to the yard, do not have access to showers, are in lockdown 24 hours a day, and cannot use library resources. As of April 13, 17 prisoners were hungerstriking. Mumia wrote: "The key issue ... is legal material; I just want to point out that the situation of the Department of Corrections, vis-a-vis men on death row, has changed dramatically in the last few years. Under relatively new statutory authority, the DOC now may sign a death warrant. Thus, no longer are they neutral state agents they are active agents of death. In this context, the tampering, custody and control of a man's legal materials seems starkly and unquestionably malevolent."(1) The law in question states that if the Governor fails to comply with the time restrictions on an execution, the DOC is to carry it out anyway. The changes in DOC policy also extend to an upsurge in brutality against prisoners. After the initiation of both hungerstrikes, drastic shakedowns by the guards took place where cells were looted and prisoners beaten for reasons of retaliation and political activism. A recent compilation of Philadelphia news clippings exposes an increase in brutality at SCI. When taken to the hole [segregation cells], prisoners are fiercely beaten and the video tapes of the beatings are systematically destroyed. A progressive lawyer who does prisoner advocacy work around the country said "What they're running there is a concentration camp. It's like an Alcatraz mentality. It's horrible....I have never, ever, ever seen a place such as Greene. I have never seen such bigots in my life."(2) Both the legislation and increased brutality are aimed specifically at the politically conscious prisoners and those prisoners who file suits against the DOC. SCI-Greene is a particularly brutal example of all incarceration within the U$ that aims to cut down all human and legal ties prisoners have to the outside world as a way of controlling the oppressed who, even if they were not politically conscious upon imprisonment, come to realize the nature of u.s. imperialism behind bars. The lack of rehabilitation programs and fair legal treatment are just two examples that expose the criminal injustice system for the system of social control that it is. The criminal injustice system is the most fascistic element of u.s. society and the fight against this system gets at the heart of imperialism. (For more on the criminal injustice system order MIM Theory 11, Amerikan Prisons on Trial, for $6 postage paid.) MIM hopes the comrades on death row in Pennsylvania will win this battle with minimal damage to themselves. We will continue to publicize this battle as we are sent information. In particular, we think that this struggle is not only a winnable battle, but a clear indictment of a system that has no interest in justice, just oppression. NOTES: 1.Mumia 13 Apr 1998 11:58:41 -0400 (EDT) Hunger Strike Reinstated at SCI Greene DOC reneged on Agreement; SPG 16 Apr 1998 18:11:17 +0200, Mumia Joins Hunger Strike April 13th at SCI Green 2.cerg.org * * * STATE COURT RULES NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN PUBLIC MALL The Minneapolis state court of appeals ruled in early April that animal rights protesters were not entitled to hold signs inside the shopping mall there even though public money was used to build the mall. The ruling reversed a lower court decision that said the protesters' free speech rights had been violated in 1996 outside a Macy's store at the Mall of America. The Mall of America, which includes a college, police substation and two public schools along with an indoor theme park and more than 500 stores, was built five years ago for $700 million. The city of Bloomington provided $186 million. The four protesters stood indoors in the courtyard in front of Macy's holding signs and distributing literature opposing the sale of furs. They were told to take the protest outside and when they refused they were arrested. The protesters claimed that public funding of the mall made it a public place where such protests should be legal. The court of appeals ruled that there was an alternative spot where the protesters could exercise their rights. This decision overruled Hennepin County District Judge Jack Nordby who wrote that the mall must allow protests inside because public money was used to build the shopping complex. But he also refused to dismiss the trespassing charges because the protesters didn't seek the mall's permission for their protest. Larry Leventhal, the attorney for the four defendants, said they likely would appeal. He said: "The right of freedom of speech requires that people should be able to speak to one another where they're gathering, and overwhelmingly now people are gathering in malls." This ruling also contradicts a previous ruling at the same level which means that this decision may end up in the Supreme Court. MIM fully recognizes the contradiction within bourgeois society that bourgeois laws generally only defend the bourgeoisie and its privileges. That is one of the many reasons that the masses must seize state power and create laws which serve the interests of the international proletariat and not that of the oppressor. Anti- imperialists must carefully monitor increasingly draconian laws which overtly prevent progressives from organizing. At this point in time, MIM is waging a battle of building support for revolution through agitation and independent peoples' institutions, MIM is not engaged in armed struggle. So, we take seriously the legal means through which the state suppresses protest. Note: Associated Press, 7 April 1998. * * * FILIPINA SPEAKS ON GENDER OPPRESSION IN THE PHILIPPINES Down with imperialism! Down with bureaucrat capitalism! Down with feudalism! SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA -- Lualhati Abreu, a long-time national democratic activist from the Philippines, gave several public speeches here on the condition of wimmin and children in the Philippines from the perspective of the national democratic movement. She emphasized that the principal problems facing Filipino wimmin were feudalism, imperialism, and bureaucrat capitalism. As she said, "Wimmin and children of the oppressed classes suffer the same forms of exploitation and oppression as their men and adult counterparts suffer." Wimmin and children also face particular problems which men, in general, do not face -- such as prostitution -- and feudal ideas continue to subordinate them to men. While the national democratic movement struggles against these evils, it mainly mobilizes wimmin on the basis of their class and national oppression. This is in direct contrast to bourgeois feminists, who seek to restrict wimmin's activism to so-called "wimmin's issues." All issues are wimmin's issues! The vast majority of the population of the Philippines and the vast majority of the 26 million wimmin and 22 million children in the Philippines live in the countryside as peasants. There they suffer under the burdens of high land rent, usurious loans, and all the other problems in a semi- feudal society. About 15% of Filipino wimmin are workers, and they are often the "last hired, first fired." In some export processing centers -- where Nike, Reebok and others have set up shop -- wimmin make up 80% of the workforce, because thanks to feudal discrimination they can be paid less than men. In some enterprises, wimmin and children workers are not paid at all for their labor. Abreu linked the economic and political oppression of wimmin and children to their gender oppression. "We can say that gender oppression of wimmin, and sexual oppression of children, can all be linked to poverty, brought about by imperialist-planned, comprador greed on our social system, in all fields; [the] economy, politics, social and cultural [fields]..." Specifically, she linked the problem of prostitution to poverty. "Saddled in these miserable kind of conditions, wimmin and children more often than not find themselves in the landlord's home to pay for the debt incurred by their families. If not, wimmin are put into prostitution or mail- order bride schemes and children into child labor working under hazardous conditions and even into prostitution. Today we have 600,000 wimmin prostitutes in the Philippines. In fact we rank second in Southeast Asia, second only to Thailand. A conservative estimate [of the number of child prostitutes] is 100,000." That figure (600,000) includes 200,000 wimmin involved in prostitution outside of the country. Since the gender oppression of wimmin and children is so closely tied to their class and nation oppression, Abreu argued that gender oppression could only be overthrown by a movement to overthrow class and nation oppression. "There are different responses to these conditions. There are reformist NGOs (or Non-Governmental Organizations) on children or wimmin and wimmin's concerns, each dealing on one issue for the wimmin or children.... But then, they do not see the root of all these problems, they are just dealing on generalities or the result of poverty, and as I have said earlier, poverty results from the imperialist and feudal grip on our social system. But there are also progressive responses to these social problems. They see that wimmin's problems... are part and parcel of the overall national democratic movement." This is the thrust of a slogan which MIM has long put forwards, namely, "All issues are wimmin's issues." Not only should wimmin struggle against those who restrict them to predefined "wimmin's issues" and imply that wimmin have no interest in or nothing to say about economics or military matters, but the majority of the world's wimmin cannot truly overcome gender oppression without overthrowing imperialism. At another forum, Abreu described how certain sectors of the national democratic wimmin's movement came under the influence of bourgeois feminism, which was imported into the Philippines by First World "feminists" and the United Nations. For a time, the national democratic wimmin's organizations began to focus exclusively on so-called "wimmin's issues." At one point things got so bad that when the national democratic movement launched a campaign to free all political prisoners, some people only took up the call to free wimmin political prisoners. Over the last few years the national democratic wimmin's organizations have struggled to defeat bourgeois, reformist feminism and regain their founding principles. Corrupting influence of super-profits in Amerika Abreu pointed out that many of the former leaders in the national democratic support movement in the united states did not significantly integrate among the Filipino workers and peasantry. Evidently Walden Bello, now a hard core social democrat and anti-communist, only spent a few days in the countryside. Abreu went on to connect this lack of knowledge of conditions in the Philippines to the corrupting influence of decadent Amerikan culture: "Especially here in the united states, my god, the workers... their lifestyle is like that of the upper middle class in the Philippines. You have everything here. Education is not a problem for you people here because you can avail of loans... In the Philippines it's only the elite or the upper-middle, or those who have relatives abroad who can send them dollars who can study. But not the sons and daughters of peasants and workers... They cannot avail of loans because of their social conditions." This is the correct perspective, one which MIM seeks to propagate among anti-imperialist activists here -- especially students. While we have tactical unity with some student demands -- like those opposing armed campus police or calling explicitly for money for schools, not guns or prisons -- we also recognize that these demands are in themselves not revolutionary. We push students to use and frankly give up much of their privileges in order to lead the anti-imperialist struggle and temper their resolve. This is analogous to the calls made by the underground National Democratic Front of the Philippines for its supporters to integrate in the countryside and join the armed struggle. MIM, however, while asking its members and supporters to make sacrifices, does not ask them to make the ultimate sacrifice and risk their lives in the armed struggle, as that would be a futile waste at this time inside the imperialist countries - see MIM Theory #5 on the incorrect ultra-left line of armed struggle now inside of imperialist countries. Abreu has been in the people's movement in the Philippines for the last 30 years. She organized, researched, wrote, and published materials about Filipino wimmin, most specially Moslem wimmin in the Mindanao-Sulu area. * * * AMERIKKA'S FORCED STERILIZATION OF DRUG ADDICTS by RC35 A KKKalifornia group, Children Requiring a Caring Kommunity, CRACK, is getting lots of attention for sterilizing drug addicted wimmin, and paying them for it. The program offers wimmin, with at least two children, $200 if they get a doctors verification of sterilization, via tube-tying or the surgical contraceptive, Norplant. The mission statement of CRACK is to stop babies from being born to addicts, but they do so under the advertisement "Don't let pregnancy ruin your drug habit."(1) The program is a blatant attack against the oppressed. This population control program against the poor destroys oppressed nation communities. The method of this genocide program is two-fold: 1) by failing to use resources to eradicate drug addiction the program only helps to perpetuate it among the oppressed; and 2) by limiting the number of births of the oppressed. The "K" in Kommunity is incredibly fitting to CRACK's Klan- like practice. Also, a bill in the senate, 5278, is now under consideration in the Amerikkkan state of Washington which would require "involuntary use of long-term pharmaceutical birth control" for wimmin who give birth to drug addicted babies(2). The founder of CRACK, Barbara Harris, says "our intentions are only good." But Hitler had what he called, "good" intentions as did the Amerikkkan government in pushing forced sterilization programs in Puerto Rico (and around the world.) The question that should be asked is not what people subjectively think they are doing nor what their propaganda states, but objectively who the program serves. Like the population control problems sponsored by the united states all over the world, this program, and the trend to start more like it, serve to mask the results of capitalism and serve to further genocide against the oppressed. This program has no intention of addressing the problems that cause drug addiction. National oppression and poverty are in part not having the interests of the masses represented by the current dominating government. Without state power and representation of the masses, the oppressed have few options under imperialism. With the suppression of the right to forge self-determined paths, the oppressed are left with either buying into the system of oppression, escaping from it, or battling for revolution. With the strength of the imperialists as it stands, many escape from the alienation and oppression and use drugs. Under socialism, the people will determine their own destinies and will gradually eradicate the problems of imperialism. The best path forward for the oppressed is to join with MIM and battle for liberation and end national, class and gender oppression. Once the masses have state power, we will be better able to address basic needs and eradicate drug addiction and other problems stemming from oppressive systems. In contrast, the CRACK program emphasizes punishing the oppressed for the problems Amerikan society created. To truly address the problem, it is necessary to stop focusing on how to stop drug babies from being born, and instead focus on how to stop the current social inequalities that make drug addiction an response to oppression. MIM urges wimmin to put struggling for revolution first. And in many ways this means choosing to organize instead of starting a family - putting resources into the revolution instead of creating more people. However, this is not something that MIM forces wimmin of the mass base fighting imperialism to do. This is something that MIM advocates for the current period because expending resources on new children is costly and it is only bringing them up in a world of decadence and oppression. We'd rather see wimmin take hold of the future and fight with every resource to end imperialism. Asking wimmin to make this choice is fundamentally different than controlling the reproduction of wimmin who are predominantly of oppressed groups. The U$ government and idolized pseudo-scientists like Dr. Laura, are perpetuating the coercive programs which offer money to the penniless. Why not oppose pennilessness? Most hard-drug addicts are addicted because of the system, not racial tendencies toward addiction or ignorance. Addiction is a problem that can only be answered in an anti- imperialist context. Sex education is necessary, but it won't end the poverty that makes sterilization profitable. Needle exchanges help stop the spread of disease, but they won't stop the lack of access to expensive medications. No reformist programs are going to solve social problems. People must actively organize programs within an anti-imperialist context while building for the overthrow of the imperialist system. Every law maker, CRACK member and sterilization doctor is working within and ultimately for an imperialist system. MIM calls on all of our readers to look critically at their actions and judge who these actions serve. Work with MIM to end society's social problems by attacking the fundamental basis for these problems: imperialism. NOTES: 1. Boston Globe 19 April 1998. A6 2. Valley Advocate 16 April 1998. p. 20 For more information, get MIM Theory #2/3 on Gender and Revolutionary Feminism and MIM Theory 12 on Revolution and the Environment. Also check out MIM Theory #9 on Psychology and Imperialism. Each $6. * * * RAIL SPREADS REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE AT EARTH DAY FORUM Western Massachusetts, April 18 -- RAIL tabled at an Earth Day celebration organized by a local MASSPIRG chapter. We spoke with many people about the need for revolutionary environmentalism and the key role that national liberation struggles play in ending environmental destruction. Like the previous year, our presence at the event us made a significant number of allies as well as cemented previous casual relationships between the masses and RAIL. RAIL gathered many signatures on its petitions to stop control units and to return the prisoners transferred to Texas. We also sent a number of postcards to the Dutch Prime Minister demanding that Jose Maria Sison and his family be granted political asylum in the Netherlands. RAIL explained to people why we choose to campaign around the issues of prisons and the Philippines. The prison campaign was of the most interest to the people at the rally. Many agreed with our position that prisons are an important battleground because the state uses the justice system as a key weapon in its war against oppressed nations. Many people we met were interested in, but unable to join RAIL's contingent to the Jericho March Against Political Imprisonment and wanted a report. One womyn pointed out the irony that the same day the Jericho March was ignored in the mainstream media, Clinton was in the papers touring Robben Island with former political prisoner (and now President) Nelson Mandela. This media manipulation furthered Amerika's lie that political prisoners exist only in other parts of the world. Many people pledged to work with RAIL on future campaigns against the Amerikkkan prison system. The event was held in a public park and it attracted many random people. After being asked if she "would like to help end torture in Mass. prisons", one womyn identified herself as an employee of the local county jail. First, she denied that torture happens, then said control units weren't torture, but were a legitimate way to repress prisoners who disobey. In MASSRAIL, RAIL had previously published a letter from a warden to a prisoner that says the prisoner is being sent to the DDU (Department Disciplinary Unit) solely for his associations. The only way out of the DDU is to renounce your associations. When presented with a firm statement that the DDUs were used as such, and that international standards ban control units, her only response was "I'm just doing my job." RAIL explained -- but at this point she was no longer listening -- that the defense "It is just my job" was rejected at the Nuremburg Trials. Another person later added that the United Nations Charter explicitly forbids such an excuse and requires people to reject unjust laws and instructions. RAIL thanks MASSPIRG for the opportunity to table at this event. Not all of the groups or speakers present were progressive -- like the "Free Tibet" organization, and of the Population Committee of the Sierra Club. But RAIL took the opportunity to talk with the masses about political line. State Senator Stan Rosenburg, gave a long speech about the importance of "Think Globally, Act Locally." Rosenburg argued that we need to think small, and lots of thinking and acting small will eventually add up to something sizable. At this, there was some grumbling within the crowd, including from a reformist older womyn associated with an organization opposed to the spread of multinational corporations. According to this womyn, Rosenburg was once more radical, but was corrupted by his position. RAIL doesn't know if that is true or not, but his reputation is far more liberal than his actual positions in the Senate. Sometimes at events like this, that are more musical/social then political, RAIL has a difficult time convincing people of the relevance of revolutionary activism. However, these three reactionary nuggets -- and the political lines they represented -- were brought up in discussion with many of the most advanced people we spoke with. Often in fact, it was the masses who brought up these comparisons. RAIL used the Stan Rosenburg speech in its discussions about Governor Weld's sick 1995 publicity stunt to expand prisons. Weld manufactured an overcrowding problem, and then shipped 299 prisoners to Texas when the legislature didn't respond quickly enough to Weld's pleas for more prisons. Weld got $585 million, thanks in part to Stan Rosenburg, but the prisoners are still in Texas. RAIL also used the MIM slogan "Think Globally, Act Globally" to explain that imperialism is a global phenomenon and must be fought globally. The solution put forth by Rosenburg and similar reformists is to fight only the symptoms, which ensures that the root causes of injustice and environmental degradation continue forever. The Population Control crowd take a similar approach. RAIL had a long discussion with one activist doing work to expand the Endangered Species Act. RAIL explained that the capitalist system is concerned only with profits, not with long term issues of bio-diversity or environmental sustainability. However, it's entirely possible that imperialist super-profits could be used to shore up the local environment through expanded export of polluting industries. This is of course a short sighted solution as the environment is a global system. RAIL warned this activist of the dangers of faking left but supporting First World chauvinism using the name of global justice to advance the interests only of the First World. One key point in this discussion was the efforts of people like the Sierra Club to promote population control around the world. In fact, the Sierra Club is currently preparing for an internal vote about whether they should oppose immigration. During this discussion, the RAIL comrade asked the additional people who joined the conversation: "And just which planet does the Sierra Club think immigrants come from?" Later, RAIL extended its perennial -- and always declined -- offer to publicly debate the local Sierra Club Population Committee on whether the question for the environment was one of population size or of access and control of resources. RAIL argues that it's obscene to discussion population size, or promote coercive population control practices in the Third World while leaving the disproportionate consumption of resources in the First World untouched. (The Sierra Club does polemicize against First World consumption, but their action revolves around limiting the number of Third World peoples.) Simply put, one white kid in the 'burbs does more harm to the planet than a whole village in Africa. There was some discussion about Tibet and the Free Tibet movement. One Free Tibet activist RAIL spoke to was unaware as to the Dalai Lama's role as the spiritual head of a slave society. She did create several distracting questions about "the meaning of slavery", but more significantly did not impress us with her willingness to research the cause she supports. RAIL argued that if the people of Tibet want to be free of China, they should; but under no circumstances should the Dalai Lama and his system of slavery be restored. A number of activists who are aware that Tibet under the Dalai Lama was slave society expressed to RAIL disgust that the pro-Dalai Lama movement passes itself off as progressive. As RAIL suggested to one Dalai Lama supporter, just because the Dalai Lama is a religious figure he shouldn't be exempted from criticism. After all, the Catholic Church and various Popes benefited directly from the trade in African slaves, and there the Church role was more subtle than in Tibet. The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League is a mass organization led by MIM to organize progressives to attack the principal problem - imperialism. RAIL struggles to build support for liberation of the oppressed - specifically to throw off the chains of imperialist domination. Tabling, handing out anti-imperialist propaganda and struggling with people attending progressive or liberal events helps to build this support. This is one of the many small tasks that anti-imperialist individuals can do to start up cells of progressive activism in their areas. Write to MIM and RAIL at the address on page two to learn more about the agenda of the MIM-led United Front against imperialism and the tactics RAIL uses to strengthen this movement. * * * ONONDAGA ACTIVIST TAKEN PRISONER OF WAR AT PLYMOUTH PROTEST HEARING April 15, Court House in Plymouth Mass., -- The Amerikkkan states of Massachusetts and New York kidnapped one of the 24 defendants, an Onondaga Nation activist, at today's preliminary hearing. The activist rightly considers himself a prisoner of war. Resulting from an police attack on peaceful marchers protesting the Thanksgiving myth and 400 years of genocide against the First Nations, the defendants are charged with disorderly conduct and assaulting police officers. The United Snakes of Imperialism is currently waging a war against oppressed nations throughout the world and within its illegitimate borders. The Amerikan settler nation dominates internal semi-colonies just as an occupying military force in Third World nations. As the war of genocide, mass imprisonment, forced poverty, slavery and repression continues, the Amerikkkan imperialists have captured yet another prisoner of war. The Onondaga activist was arrested because he missed a court date in New York that he was never notified about. Despite trying to contact the NY court for information on this trial, and willfully showing up for the Plymouth court date, the judge accepted the prosecution's argument that the activist was a flight risk and the bail was set at the outrageous sum of $5000 cash. As of this evening, less than $1000 had been raised, and the activist is awaiting extradition to New York from Massachusetts. After the hearing, when the activist was brought out to the Sheriff's van in leg irons and a waist chain, he was met with many raised fists and loud cheers. MIM Notes has received word that the activist is on a hunger strike until he is released.In 1784, the Onondaga signed a treaty with the white nation called the Two Row Wampum. This treaty allowed for each nation to live together "like two canoes on a river," separately without disturbing each other. The treaty expired in 1984, and due to Amerika's violation of the treaty, no efforts have been made to renew it. This activist, arrested for walking in Plymouth, is part of the First Nations dominated by Amerika which have a far greater claim to land than Amerikkka. In addition, he is a diplomat of his nation sent to contact other nations and build support for self-determination. The white nation courts regularly grant diplomats immunity, but not in this case. In a broader sense, MIM argues that the white nation courts should have no jurisdiction over other nations. Justice can only be accurately served when people are tried before a jury of their peers. MIM has no doubt that the activist's nation would consider his activities to be patriotic, not criminal.After the arrest, one defense attorney requested that his arrested client be returned to the courtroom for the Plymouth-related hearing. The judge ruled his presence wasn't necessary, since this was only a preliminary hearing. However, the judge ruled against defense motions for this hearing and the next one, asking that the 24 defendants not be forced to commute back to Plymouth for hearings where they weren't needed. The judge in this case has no interest in justice, but in further repressing people who stand up for their nation. Note: See MIM Notes 153, 1 January 1998, p. 1, 4 for information about the pigs assault on the marchers at Plymouth. * * * NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC FRONT OF THE PHILIPPINES SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH THE GRP On March 16, the negotiating panels of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP) and the Government of the Republic of the Philippines (GRP) signed the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law in the Netherlands. The agreement includes provisions protecting non-combatants from attack, torture, forced relocation and other acts of violence; defending the rights of the victims of human rights violations during the Marcos regime; calling on the GRP to repeal repressive laws authorizing warrantless searches, paramilitary death squads, etc.; and many other provisions "relevant to the current situation on human rights and international humanitarian law and responsive to the needs and demands of the people," according to the NDFP.However, there are already signs that the U.$.-Ramos regime will not abide by the agreement or pursue its goals in good faith.(1) On March 27, only eleven days after the agreement was signed, wounded New People's Army member Ka Ritchie was tortured and summarily executed by elements of the Philippine National Police. This blatantly contradicts the international standards for treating prisoners of war and wounded laid out in the comprehensive agreement and agreed to by the GRP panel. (See the statement from the NPA on Ka Ritchie's death in this issue). (2) The U.$.-Ramos regime still refuses to admit there are political prisoners in the Philippines. The NDFP had asked for a release of prisoners as a sign of good faith before the official signing of the agreement by the principals in the Philippines. Last year, the U.$.-Ramos regime reneged on its promise to release 29 political prisoners after the New People's Army released several prisoners of war. (3) Ramos will not approve the agreement himself, despite the fact that NDFP chairperson Mariano Orosa approved it "in toto, without any condition, qualification or reservation whatsoever" on April 10. Ramos will not approve the current agreement unless the NDFP agrees to rush to sign the Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms before he leaves office. The NDFP holds that unfair and unrealistic position to be a breach of earlier agreements.The NDFP negotiating panel worked hard to ensure that the agreement was truly consistent with the demand of the people for a just and lasting peace (for example, the U.$.-Ramos regime initially did not want to include an article recognizing the fact that human rights abuses occurred under the Marcos regime) and was consistent with the NDFP's own principles. The NDFP engages in these talks as an equal, and will not accept pre-conditions such as recognizing the GRP as the legitimate government of the Philippines or unilaterally laying down its weapons. The NDFP was founded and is led by the Marxist-Leninist- Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines. Recognizing that the imperialists and their lackeys are armed to the teeth and will not give up their stolen booty without a fight, the NDFP has waged armed struggle (via the New People's Army) as the principal form of struggle. The legal mass movement and the on-going talks in the Netherlands play an important, but secondary role. A copy of the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law as well as other pertinent documents are available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/2078/update.htm * * * U.$-RAMOS REGIME TORTURES AND MURDERS NPA COMRADE STATEMENT OF THE NEW PEOPLE'S ARMY REGIONAL OPERATIONAL COMMAND ON THE MARCH 19 CATIGBIAN ENCOUNTER AND KA RITCHIE'S DEATH by Isagani Silang NPA-ROC Political Officer 27 March 1998 The entire revolutionary movement in Central Visayas mourns the untimely death of comrade Reynaldo Millan, known to the peasant masses of Bohol as Ka Ritchie, a day after his unit was ambushed by elements of the 1st Provincial Mobile Force of PNP last March 19 at barangay Bagtic in Catigbian town. Through the New People's Army Regional Operational Command (NPA-ROC), we also condemn the cruel and inhuman treatment inflicted upon Ka Ritchie who, as our investigation shows, died after more than five hours of heavy torture and maltreatment by his captors even as he had repeatedly pleaded for medical attention for the gunshot wound in the leg he got from the ambush. While we condemn the cruel and inhuman treatment of our fallen comrade, we challenge General Fidel Ramos and the GRP peace negotiating panel headed by Ambassador Howard Dee to address this latest violation of international humanitarian law by the elements of its reactionary armed forces. For while the NPA, Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and other revolutionary organizations belonging to the National Democratic Front (NDF) have been vigorously waging the national democratic revolution since 1968, it has consistently adhered to existing human rights and international humanitarian law standards in the course of its protracted people's war. This latest ambush of the PNP fascist forces against the NPA unit in the guerrilla zone happened amidst the Red Army's ongoing campaign on the reactionary May 11 elections and the heightening land problem among the peasant masses in Catigbian and in many areas in Central Visayas. Ka Ritchie was hit in the leg right at the start of the brief firefight at around 7:30 in the evening of March 19. Captured and rendered incapable of further resistance, the NPA fighter by then had become a hors d' combat (non- combatant) under the Geneva Conventions and its Additional Protocols of 1977. International humanitarian law dictates that the GRP armed forces accord him the rights due of a prisoner of war, including immediate medical treatment and humane treatment. Instead, as a number of peasant masses in barangay Bagtic and in Catigbian poblacion have declared, the fascist PNP chose to remain deaf to the persistent request of Ka Ritchie for immediate medical attention. Worse, he was for several hours subjected to torture and maltreatment as can be proven by rib fractures, facial hematomas, contusions in the skull and other evidences of cruel and inhuman treatment upon Ka Ritchie's person. The 19-year old Ka Ritchie was of peasant class origin. Having become familiar with the lingering land problem and military abuses in Bohol province, he was among those who joined the Red army early last year. As an NPA fighter, he organized peasants and performed several other revolutionary tasks to advance the interests of the oppressed classes in Catigbian and neighboring towns. He was also involved in the imposition of revolutionary punishment against the notorious criminal element "Maymay" Lamoste of Catigbian town last December 7, 1997. It is ironic, even tragic, that the inhuman treatment and untimely death of Ka Ritchie came just a few days after the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect for Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law was signed by the peace negotiating panels of the GRP and the NDF in The Hague, Netherlands. The breakthrough agreement binds both parties in the civil war to respect the rights of all civilians (those not directly taking part of hostilities) and protected individuals (including, but not limited to, wounded and captured combatants rendered incapable of further fighting). The NPA has repeatedly proven its seriousness in observing international humanitarian law as it periodically launches military tactical offensives. The Red fighters' conduct during its ambush of a PNP patrol last November 13 in barangay Villaflor in Carmen town is its most recent proof. In that successful military action, the people's army spared the lives of the PNP men who surrendered their high- powered firearms. The fascist PNP, on the other hand, exposes through its brutal pacification drive the continuing insincerity of General Fidel Ramos in the ongoing peace talks. In August 15 last year, it salvaged the wounded and already hors d' combat NPA fighter Ka Benzar and then senselessly shot civilians Felix Pamat and his three children in barangay San Roque, Sagbayan town. This time, its torture and cruel treatment of our brave comrade Ka Ritchie led to his untimely death. The New People's Army Regional Operational Command (NPA- ROC) will not let these international humanitarian law violations go unaddressed. As in the past, we shall elevate this incident to responsible comrades involved in peace talks. More importantly, we shall ourselves seek out and punish the GRP elements responsible for this latest incident of international humanitarian law violations. Authenticated By: (Sgd.) Isagani Silang NPA-ROC Political Officer 27 March 1998 * * * POL POT DIES: IMPERIALIST PROPAGANDA MARCHES ON by MC17 In early April, 1998 Pol Pot died. The leader of the Khmer Rouge ruled in what was previously called Cambodia from 1975 through 1978. Pol Pot has become infamous as a symbol of the supposed genocidal actions of communists and Maoists specifically. But as with all history, it is important to examine the perspective of the information we are fed in imperialist Amerika. Although Pol Pot was no Maoist, he did lead a group that considered itself communist in a war against the u.s. imperialists and the reactionary Cambodian government. While MIM does not defend Pol Pot or the Khmer Rouge as any kind of model for revolutionary struggle or state power, it is important to dispel the imperialist lies upon the death of Pol Pot so that we can learn from the true history of Kampuchea. u.s. devastation of Cambodia By 1975, an estimated 10 percent of the Kampuchean population -- 600,000 -- had already died as a result of the Vietnam War. Those 600,000 deaths were caused by u.s. efforts to track down Vietnamese communists. According to the Peter Jennings documentary "The Killing Fields", Cambodia specifically absorbed 500,000 tons of u.s. bombs in the early 1970s. Nixon's ordering of the bombing of Cambodia, and u.s. troop forays into Cambodia, were a turning point in the movement against the Vietnam War in the united states. The national guard killed four students at Kent State on May 4, 1970 because of a protest against the u.s. war in Cambodia. Today, however, many people who never opposed the u.s. role in Indochina are complaining about Pol Pot's violence. That hypocrisy is increasingly easy to get away with as people forget about the u.s. war in Indochina. The u.s.-instigated war -- and the bombings in particular -- also caused the creation of 2 million refugees, who flooded the cities. The cities then came to depend on the u.s. food aid to live because of the war and the inefficiency of the right-wing Lon Nol regime. Hence, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge seized power from Lon Nol in 1975 in the worst possible situation: The people were starving, Kampuchea was the poorest country in the world and one-third of its people were refugees. Executions and other deaths The Boston Globe coverage of Pol Pot's death contained the typical characterization of the Khmer Rouge: "When the Khmer Rouge marched into the capital on April 17, 1975 to establish their agrarian society, they chased out city- dwellers at gunpoint, killed anyone suspected of being an intellectual, forced millions into labor camps, and demanded that children inform on their parents. People were often arrested simply for wearing glasses or knowing a foreign language. Money and private property were abolished, schools and temples were shuttered, and medicine and food became scarce. During a nearly four-year reign, as many as 2 million people died of starvation, execution, illness or overwork."(1) Imperialists like to suggest that Pol Pot had two or three million people executed so the above is slightly more accurate in that it does not claim all of these people were executed. Pol Pot did execute between 75,000 and 150,000 people between 1975 and 1979. Vietnam invaded in 1978 and threw the Khmer Rouge out of power. The commonly heard but unreliable figure of 2 or 3 million comes from counting all deaths in the 1975 to 1979 period based on estimates of population. A Finnish inquiry commission concludes that 1 million or fewer people died in the Pol Pot period. The commission documented that at least several thousand of those were because of direct military battles with Vietnam. Part of the discrepancy in death figures comes from those who fail to account for the decrease in births that inevitably happens when a population is lacking adequate food and fighting a war. These missed births get counted as deaths in population projections that assume the birth rate did not change. Indeed, most of the Pol Pot executions were committed in an atmosphere of war (if not actual battle). The famous skull- pile pictures from Kampuchea come from a policy especially aimed at the Vietnamese. Today the newspapers and television stations reprint such photos without historical explanation. Serious famine followed again after the final Vietnamese invasion of December 1978, and by the time international aid started it was too late for many. A total of 2 million, or 30 percent of the population, died in the 1970s from the u.s. war, the Pol Pot period and Vietnamese invasions. One of the main charges from imperialist critics is that Pol Pot oppressed the people by forcing them out of the cities. It is true that Pol Pot had Phnom Penh emptied; however, given that these people were starving and that the economy was in a shambles, it was not a bad move, economically. It seems likely to have saved lives, something not usually considered by Khmer Rouge critics. Even so, the Khmer Rouge admitted that 2,000 or 3,000 people died in the process of migration out of Phnom Penh. Had Pol Pot come to power and allowed his people to starve to death in Phnom Penh, and allowed his people to be slaughtered by the Vietnamese, no one would be calling him a draconian, psychotic, genocidal, former dictator as the press does today. What Lon Nol did was right, say the Amerikan liberals and conservatives: let the people starve and beg for u.s. aid as a solution. Certainly Pol Pot's strategy was debatable. Unfortunately, the u.s. media does not allow for that debate of how to save lives. Instead it propagates simplistic lies about communism. Pol Pot was not a Maoist Pol Pot never called himself a Maoist while Mao was alive nor did Maoist china recognize the Khmer Rouge as Maoist. In fact, Pol Pot only took up the banner of Maoism after Mao died when he needed aid from China to fight the Vietnamese invasion. This opportunism has confused many who only look at the labels and ignore the practice of Maoism as a measuring stick. It is true that there was a relationship between the Khmer Rouge and China under Mao. The Maoist press at various times praised the efforts of the Vietnamese, Cambodian and Korean peoples to struggle for self-determination and the rebuilding of their countries, but never called their communist parties Maoist. China also gave aid to Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea and other governments -- like Tanzania's in Africa, which did not even claim to be communist. The only government that Mao recognized as genuinely communist was Albania's. Anyone who want's to condemn Mao's aid to the Khmer Rouge will have to condemn the u.s. government in the same breath. The united states aided the Khmer Rouge in the 1980s, because they were enemies of u.s. foes, the Vietnamese, who had invaded and ousted them in 1979.(1) Imperialist reaction The imperialists seem saddened by the death of Pol Pot, expressing dismay at the lost opportunity to capture him and put him on trial for all of the deaths during his brief rule in Kampuchea. Many people, particularly imperialist historians, say they feel robbed of a tribunal to hold Pol Pot and others accountable for their actions. The Khmer Rouge is still in existence but its size and strength are significantly diminished and many believe they are close to total defeat. This prediction from the imperialists must be taken with a grain of salt as the same people have been predicting the imminent defeat of revolutionary movements around the world even as some have maintained strength and even gained ground over the past century. Last year, Pol Pot's officers turned against him after he ordered deputy Son Sen and his family murdered. Pol Pot was condemned in a show trial and given house arrest, but not turned over to outsiders.(1) According to bourgeois sources, just a few weeks after Pol Pot's death, the Khmer Rouge radio station called for national reconciliation with the government. They declared the Khmer Rouge dead with Pol Pot and renamed themselves the National Solidarity Party. Noun Nou, a spokesperson for the Khmer Rouge said after Pol Pot's cremation: "The Khmer Rouge ended today at 9:52 a.m." According to Nou, the reason for the new party "is the change from being a dictatorship to a democracy. We believe in democracy and freedom." If this new party means that the Khmer Rouge or even just a section of the group is joining the bourgeois political machine this is not progress. The imperialists have not brought prosperity or democracy and freedom to the Third World. They have brought dictatorship and death. The fight goes on The united states war in Southeast Asia killed 600,000 people in Cambodia according to the Finnish Inquiry Commission. The total u.s.-caused deaths in Indochina run into the millions. But the imperialists still evaluate that as a legitimate war while calling Pol Pot a genocidal killer. These double standards come from Amerikan's failure to analyze history from the perspective of the majority of the world's people: the proletariat and peasantry. If it is assumed that the imperialist's actions are always justified in the name of capitalism and democracy, history will always be written from the perspective of the imperialists. This is why alternative media and alternative history is so important. Where else will the people learn the truth about history and gain a different perspective on events? MIM encourages everyone who is serious about the study of history to support the people's media by financing and writing for MIM Notes and MIM Theory. NOTES: 1. Boston Globe April 17, 1998. 2. Many of the facts are taken from MIM Theory printed inside MIM Notes 41, May 18, 1990. For a complete copy of that issue of MN send $5 (rare back issue price). * * * CULTURE: LOST IN INDIVIDUALIST, UNSCIENTIFIC SPACE movie review by MC17 Lost in Space is a takeoff of the 1960s scifi TV show comes with the latest in special effects, movie stars and action packed adventure, but it sticks to the reactionary plot common to many science fiction movies: subversives and aliens = evil; humans not working with subversives (who are always only Amerikans) = good. The earth has reached the point where it will no longer sustain human life within two decades as a result of all the environmental destruction and the only solution is to find another inhabitable planet. The closest one located is a 10 year journey away and the only way to shorten the trip is to build a hyperspace jump gate at both ends: earth and the new planet. The Robinson family sets out to the new planet to do the construction work on that end. The nice nuclear family of the Robinsons comes complete with the problems of Amerikan decadence and patriarchy that does not value children. The parents are off at work "saving the world" while the kids are being ignored and feeling worthless. The tremendous abilities of the youngest Robinson (Will) who, still in elementary school, was building time machines, demonstrates the incorrect approach of the patriarchy towards children. While Will was being ignored and treated as a worthless chore by his parents he wasted a lot of time getting into trouble by doing silly stunts at school. Someone with his skills clearly could be of great value to society, regardless of age. Giving him a position of usefulness on the spaceship was a much better model for treating children as people rather than as objects. Children do not have to excel in science to be treated as valuable members of society. But the patriarchy encourages parents to see children as burdens that they own. It is this ownership and worthlessness which makes child abuse and incest a rampant problem in Amerikan society. The underlying theme of conflict between individuals "saving the world" at the expense of "saving" their family ultimately came out on the wrong side for humanity as well. Both mom and dad Robinson are portrayed as bad people for giving up so much of their time to a project that would save the world from imminent destruction at the expense of spending time with the family. Their oldest daughter also devoted three years of her life to the project at the expense of a social life and she is criticized by one of the male heroes in the movie who asks what value there is in saving the world if they can't have any fun. What kind of culture would not see saving the people of the world as a job of inherent value and enjoyment? A reactionary individualist imperialist culture that produces movies like Lost in Space is the obvious answer. The portrayal of "subversives" is typically Amerikan as well. Subversives are attacking the space stations and attempting to sabotage the mission which will save the world. But we are never told why the subversives are attacking or what they oppose or what they would do instead. They are just made out as evil, ugly, crazed killers. The one subversive we meet up close gives some speech about his actions not being selfish but being a choice based on his analysis of the world. But this only makes the whole thing worse because it sounds sort of like stale dogmatic communist rhetoric, making the whole "subversive" movement look dumber and more evil and reflecting badly on communists everywhere. The human (read Amerikan) centric approach of the movie meant that assuming the aliens are evil was, of course, the right decision. Even before the aliens attacked, the humans "knew" it was dangerous. As if it is possible to determine whether a species is good or evil from its smell, this approach tosses science out the window. It is unfortunate that science fiction movies often only deal with science as a field that produces space ships and robots in a calculated and logical way. Communist science fiction includes the science of dialectical materialism as a way of analyzing the world. Some mainstream science fiction does a better job of this than others. Lost in Space is truly lost in individualist unscientific space. * * * SOCCER ZINE MOCKS MAO Sports review by a MIM comrade Pictures of Chairman Mao 310 Franklin St., DLD 335 Boston, MA 12110 maopix@aol.com Pictures of Chairman Mao (maopix) is "The fanzine by and for New England Revolution supporters." Attracted by the name and big Mao picture on the masthead, MIM checked out the March-April 1998 issue. The Revolution is the New England soccer team and considering how soccer has, so far, failed to really catch on in this country, it is no surprise that this fanzine is relatively low tech. Maopix contains more political content than most sports magazines including appeals by the (self-identified) white zine producers for the Revolution to get some Latino players to attract the Latino crowd at the games, discussions of the politics behind player trading and financing and calls for greater media coverage of soccer. But the only references to Maoism are the editors attempts to turn it into a joke. Somewhere along the line the zine editors did catch enough info about the revolution in China to scatter references through the pages. They have a "Revolutionary Gang of Four" who are in charge and on the back page they print a quote from Mao: "The strength of a revolutionary movement is best measured by its cadres' ability to step up and replace comrades wounded in the course of our glorious struggle." On the letters page of this issue we find a Chilean soccer fan writing to say that s/he is a communist supporter and noticed the e-mail name (maopix) and wanted to know if these were like minded revolutionary soccer fans. The response from the editors: "Sorry to disappoint you, but when you heard the Party was our top priority, I think you got the wrong idea. Cheer up comrade, we will continue the glorious struggle against the rightist oppressors and counter-revolutionaries. If you haven't heard, in a move of wealth distribution that would make the Chairman proud, we've stripped the running-dog lackeys at DC United of one of their prime assets, Raul Diaz Arce" MIM's got no problem with a little humor, but the Pictures of Chairman Mao editors clearly don't take the history of communist China seriously. When we are talking about the life and death of a quarter of the world's population, we at MIM take history a little more seriously. Unfortunately, relatively apolitical zines like this one help to create negative public opinion about communism by treating it as a joke. In this way cultural influences help shape people's political views. * * * ATTENTION PRISONERS: CORRESPONDENCE INCORRECTLY SUPPORTED OPPRESSION MIM has long experienced various forms of mail tampering - whether that has been pigs opening or snatching or damaging mail or whether that has been when some counterrevolutionary has posed as MIM incorrectly in correspondence with masses. It is always essential that comrades under lock and key struggle with MIM and RAIL about the content of letters which they disagree with because such tampering is always a possibility and more difficult to monitor with prisoners' mail than with mail to people out from under the spike of the oppressor's dagger. In addition to malicious sabotage of MIM's work from outside of our circles, recently a prisoner brought to MIM and RAIL's attention that someone actually working with RAIL had written correspondence which does not correctly reflect RAIL's practice with prisoners and which, if left alone, has the potential of damaging RAIL's relationship with our valued comrades under lock and key. Specifically, an individual posing as a friend of RAIL wrote letters to prisoners which genuinely represented the interests of the imperialist oppressors. The letters to prisoners sent monthly had comments which criticized prison comrades and told them to "stop complaining [about prison oppression]." In addition, the individual sabotaging our work with prisoners wrote that "prisons aren't really at all like concentration camps." MIM and RAIL vehemently disagree with such statements, as they are directly counter to the work we do to bring down the walls of the corrupt and nationally oppressive injustice system. MIM and RAIL will continue to work against oppression through the prison system and continue to intensify the current campaigns to build support for prisoners' struggles against oppression. And beside our continued work, RAIL will make changes in the process through which prisoners' letters are responded to correct this problem and avert it in the future. The comments perpetuating the bourgeois rhetoric were made by a person working with RAIL. RAIL organizes many liberal, progressive or anti-imperialist sympathizers to respond to prisoners' letters. Generally, this practice teaches people on the outside the importance of the struggles being waged under lock and key. And in general, this allows RAIL and MIM to build broader support for prisoners' struggles because people on the outside learn from the masses in prisons. This is one of the ways that RAIL leads people just joining the struggle to engage in mass practice. Generally, prisoners and people on the outside can teach one another, learn from one another through things like setting up study groups or struggling over specific aspects of line. Having individuals help with correspondence has enabled MIM and RAIL to dive deeper into addressing specific battles of prisoners concerning censorship, brutality or release. The general practice of RAIL working with people of varying political views and commitments is not the root of this problem. The real problem was RAIL's failure to oversee this work that was being done in RAIL's name. RAIL comrades in charge of our prisoner correspondence are charged with ensuring that these letters going out to prisoners accurately reflect anti-imperialist line and practice. We encourage prisoners to struggle firmly against incorrect line or practice that are either coming from RAIL or people working with RAIL. We hope that those prisoners who may still have letters from this writer recognize that RAIL does not agree with the writers' perpetuation of national oppression through the injustice system, and we hope to hear from all prisoners in the future in such matters. RAIL and MIM will continue to provide a forum and agitation to expose all levels of imperialistic injustice and struggle to bring liberation to the hands of the oppressed. *This was written and edited by the RAIL comrade making self-criticism and the MIM Prison Minister.* * * * DEATH OF JAMES EARL RAY LETS FBI OFF HOOK by MC234 23 April 1998 -- James Earl Ray died today of liver disease. Ray was a white supremacist convicted of murdering Martin Luther King. In the past, MIM has written obituaries for heroes of the people who died or obituaries for revolutionaries who have sold out and have and become irrelevant. MIM has written obituaries for reactionaries who died, and even a few for reactionaries we wished were dead. This obituary is none of these. MIM mourns the death of James Earl Ray only in that it removes a great deal of pressure on this imperialist system to examine its own role in the assassination of Martin Luther King. James Earl Ray confessed to the killing and then recanted, saying he was set up by a shadowy man named Raoul. That Raoul was some kind of government spook who arranged for the murder (or carried it out himself) and then framed Ray is somewhere between plausible and likely. What is fact, however, is that the FBI openly wanted to get rid of Martin Luther King, and they had King under strict surveillance. In the last few years, various King family members, including Coretta Scott King, have joined Ray's call for a new investigation and a new trial. Legally speaking, much of this question is now moot. There are many unanswered questions about the assassination of Martin Luther King, but little chance the state will investigate itself or that the private attorneys (such as Ray's) will uncover new information. The system could never successfully investigate itself, but useful information is often uncovered in the process of such charades. The death of James Earl Ray greatly reduces the chances such will happen. More evidence is always useful to indict this system, but in this case the people may very well have to be content with the fact that the U.$ government wanted King dead. Whether James Earl Ray acted alone, or whether the U.$ intelligence services played a direct role is immaterial. There is certainly no evidence that says that the FBI would have tolerated King to live and work as an effective political leader of Black people for much longer, particularly as he was beginning to strengthen his opposition to imperialism and become more radical. * * * UNDER LOCK AND KEY STRUGGLING TO SURVIVE IN TEXAS ... On level 3 (the lowest level), we are not allowed to have the basic necessities of life such as toothpaste, deodorant, skin cream, hair grease, hair brush, shampoo or shaving products. We are not allowed to have our own personal drinking cups nor are we allowed to have reading materials other than a Bible or Koran, pornographic magazines, propaganda magazines and newspapers. We are not allowed to have regular reading novels (soft or hardback), educational books or dictionaries. Can you imagine the torture of being confined in a 5'x8' cell 23 hours per day with no food to feed the mind or the soul with? Being issued a powder equivalent to AJAX to brush your teeth with? Which leaves the gums raw and bleeding? Unable to conduct regular hygiene and grooming habits? We are to live under those barbaric conditions even though a vast majority of us have not committed the types of offenses that constitute a level demotion to level 3 (i.e., assaultive behavior, escape risk or chronic rule violations). Many of us are currently on level 3 by way of so-called being "checked." I wish to make this known so as to get some outside support. You have several prisoners on level 3 for such simple things as cursing, making excessive noise (yelling or banging to get an officer's attention) and many other "minor" infractions. In other words, if you are not a programmed nigger Charlie and speak out against this capitalist, oppressive administration, then you will more than likely be a level 3. So, should I mention that out of 400 some add seg. prisoners only about 10 Caucasian are level 2 or level 3. ... Here in Tekkkas we are not paid "slave wages," we are paid in good time credits. Days credited each month for those who display "good behavior" (i.e., be a nigger Charlie or snitch). Being that we do not receive wages, we cannot purchase toiletries or pay the recently (Jan. 1, 1998) imposed medical expenses. This unit alone grosses an average of $5 million per year. Prisoners don't see a single red cent. ... Another issue that I wish to address prior to closing out this notation is the excessive amount of brutality. These pigs have an obsession with "bashing heads." These pigs assault us while we have on handcuffs with our hands cuffed behind our backs or sending a 5-man "gang" in full body armor into your cell after they have sprayed you with a chemical agent to hinder your breathing, and irritate your eyes. I have organized a few brothers here at this slave plantation in Tekkkas to write families and organizations to bring some heat down at this site. But we need outside help/support in order to abolish this brutality that we are subjected to. They always use the excuse that, "the prisoner made a threatening move towards me," "the inmate attempted to kick me," or "the prisoner tried to jerk away from me." Nevertheless, if a prisoner is simply "placed" on the floor, how can they explain the black eyes, busted heads, busted noses, busted lips, broken arms, dislocated hips, fractured jaws, etc...??? Struggling to Survive, -- A Texas Prisoner, 23 January 1998 TEXAS LOCK DOWN I salute all of you in the name of THE BLACK STRUGGLE. First of all, I received a letter from MIM concerning questions about the brothers and sisters imprisoned in the Texas prison. Sir I will try to reveal to you all facts that are going on in this Kamp that I'm confined to. ...[The prison] is 95% White owned and White operated, with approximately 8% Black and 2% Hispanic. This Kamp is nothing but a lockdown unit, there is no factory, only a kitchen job, laundry job, SSI, and a few maintenance jobs given to privileged prisoners. Since I have been in Texas Kamp, they have never paid a Texas inmate to do slave labor, or of yet I don't know, nor have I seen or heard anyone say that they have started paying inmates to work. Close custody inmates don't get to go to school, or go to the law library. We stay in the building all day and all night. We don't get to leave the building unless we have to go to the main clinic to get dental work or an X-ray. Everything from food to shoes they keep us locked in our cells, and bring everything to us. There is no dayroom, no TV, only 2 hours of recreation daily and that's it. I'm receiving MIM Notes without any problems and hope it stays that way. I have to share my MIM Notes with others here, some act like, "so what is MIM gonna do for me or all our problems we have in all these U$A prison Kamps." A lot of brothers act like they have given up, and have joined gangs to rebel not against the prison authority, but against one another. It's the same old story, why young blacks have fallen off into this trend against one another is truly beyond me. I'm going to do my homework, and do a little research on my own, and in my next letter to MIM I will be able to give you all more information that might be worthwhile. Until next time. More power to the Struggle. -- A Texas Prisoner, 29 January 1998 EXPOSING TEXAS SLAVE LABOR ... As far as that 24 cents an hour, they don't do that no more. We don't receive no wages. All we get is good time, which we have to give back when we get out. They don't pay us but they charge $3.00 every time we go to medical. - A Texas Prisoner, 17 January 1998 ... I don't know who told that lie, but no one in Texas state prison gets paid one red cent for their work -- if they work in an industry or in the hoe squad. And if you don't go to work you will lose class and good time, which will stop you from going home. We work 6 days a week for about 10 hours a day. -- A Texas Prisoner, 12 January 1998 ... Labor is hard as hell --T.D.C. officers drive you to the point that is inhuman-- [they] call us names, talk about our families and we aren't allowed to talk back. ... No wages for work here-only $50 when we get out and another $50 when we see our parole officer. Prisoners work 8 hours or more, usually more, 5 days a week. ... I'd like to know why so much happens in prison that the world is unaware of? Men and women dying or should I say being killed ... and thrown in the trunk or van like a dog!? ... How does this happen? Why doesn't anyone ever see or know? If enough get together, hell they can't all be killed. Are our brothers and sisters that selfish? -- A Texas Prisoner, 17 January 1998 REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE CONTINUES UNDER LOCK AND KEY Below are some letters and excerpts from prisoners' writings that were solicited by RAIL earlier in the year. RAIL asked prisoners incarcerated for their political beliefs and actions to write speeches or letters to be reprinted and used in RAIL's agitation against the prison system and specifically for RAIL teach-in on the Criminal Injustice System in Washington D.C.(See MIM Notes #161.) KNOWLEDGE IS THE SQUARE ROOT OF POWER To my Brothers and Sisters: On a never-ending struggle we must stay strong (firm) and we will overcome through AmeriKKKa's mistakes. All people of color and poor people have the very same oppressors, no matter what their race is, creed, or belief. We got to keep coming together "by any means necessary" to overpower all transgressions/capitalism/sectarianism/oppressions/etc. These incidents join a long list of others which demonstrate that the legal system in AmeriKKKa is not made up of "natural law." Some of the human beings who are sometimes more human than humane are the authors of this Hodgepodge of codes and regulations, this system regulates every aspect of human behavior in ways that are arbitrary and capricious at best, and counterintuitive at the worst. The people who enforce it--police officers and judges--do often go beyond these laws, further compounding the situation. There is no shortage of individual cases lacking logic by judges, or lacking heart by cops. The criticisms deserve to go beyond and be directed not just at the individual perpetrators, but also at the legal institutions themselves. We must strive forward against being falsely accused of crimes/to have our culture/families/religion insulted, and forced to sit and watch our families tortured/to undergo several hardships, while we sit frozen in isolation and prisons. Knowledge is the square root of power, though the noises have changed with the passage of time, the same penchant for 'local justice' (law meshed with outdated prejudices/racism) hangs thick in the air. It is incumbent on righteous and politically thinking peoples to recognize and take action to help in reversing the numerous violations that have and will continue to take place, whether against the laws or against common-sense decency. Ona Move! -- Ibrahim Abdus Salaam(Mr. Terry G. Yant), A New York Prisoner, Feb. 06, 1998 THROWN IN SUPERMAX FOR SERVING THE PEOPLE Revolutionary Greetings, ...I've been a hostage of the state of Ohio's prison system for eleven years now, and during this whole time I have been constantly harassed by prison officials because of my revolutionary beliefs and activism, which according to the United State's constitution, is supposed to be my right. I am now in administrative control waiting to be transferred to Ohio's new super maximum political prison in Youngstown as soon as they can get it open. Because of my belief in Afrocentricity and my willingness to serve the people, I was helping other prisoners to get their names legally changed and for this the prison administration accused me of "giving instructions," "trying to portray myself as a leader," and "trying to form an unauthorized group" which to them makes me one of the worst of the worst. They say it will take five years of good behavior to get out of the supermax and placed back into a lower security prison, and I go back to the parole board this year, but you cannot be paroled from the supermax, which of course is their true reason for sending me there. Uhuru I Amandla to all political prisoners and prisoners of war! -- Kunta Kenyatta, An Ohio Prisoner, 2 February 1998 FIGHT AGAINST PRISON PROFITEERING OFF OF OPPRESSED "Know yourself, know your enemy. A hundred battles, a hundred victories" -Chairperson Mao Zedong Fervent Revolutionary Greetings from the Bowels of Amerikkka! Fascism in its most advanced form: is alive and well here in Amerikkka. With these unadulterated words I greet each and everyone of y'all with, and the most reverent words that I can muster. Before I begin on this journey, I like to pay tribute to all the comrades that finds themselves fighting this war against "imperialist" oppressors. To understand prisons in Amerikkkan society, it is not only necessary to make distinctions between right and wrong, good and evil, lawful and unlawful, we must also look at poverty and fear, politics and economy, and race and racism. It is clear that the root of crime lie deep in the social structure and kulture of this kkkountry. The current attitude is like a cancer in the blood, and like polluted water, is deadly to us all. Prisons have become a big enterprise whose largest commodity is the poor and people of color. Prisons have become so profitable and demanding that most of the large corporations are beginning to invest such as Goldman Sachs & Co., Prudential Insurance Co. of Amerikkka, Smith Barney Shearson Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. underwrite prison construction bonds, while Westinghouse Electric Corp., Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. and Alliant Techsystems Inc. adapt and sell their technology to fight crime. The fact is prisons fit in with a master plan that is based on the limitation and complete genocide of the poor and people of color. The purpose of prisons nowadays is to isolate, exploit, and eliminate etc. Those who are here today, I am asking for each of y'all to help and support the fight in the kkkolonial arena that's founded on racist politics/white supremacy. If we are going to be successful in overcoming the many obstacles which we are constantly confronted with, we are going to have to start forming a united front and establish bases of support through which we can collectively support each other and combat enemy aggression. In closing, I would like to leave y'all with this thought: "We must continue to struggle together, because if there is NO struggle, there is NO progress, if there is NO resistance to oppression there will be NO progress towards revolutionary to overthrow this "IMPERIALISM." I request y'all here today become involved either in, or with the prison struggle. I commend all of y'all who came out today to support the POWs and PPs and to make Jericho 98 a reality and success, We thank each and every one of y'all. Stiff resistance! All power to the people! RAIL AND PRISONERS STEP UP AGITATION AGAINST MICHIGAN PRISONS Michigan steps up its censorship of MIM Notes MIM Notes allowed after Hearing "After careful review of rejected item #2566, it does not meet the criteria for rejection as outlined in PD 05.03.118. Hearing done in accordance with applicable policy, procedure and administrative rules." --Hearing Officer Gorton MIM, ...The MDOC [Michigan Department of Corrections] rejection of MIM Notes was overturned. MIM Notes was allowed in after almost a full-month review to deny it by MDOC prison officials. When I ran into this problem in the past, and it seems like an every month thing now to get MIM publications. Eventually they'll get tired of doing hearings, grievances, and costing them money to do all these hours of paperwork.... A little news from MDOC system, the MDOC plans on taking all our personal clothes by 5/13/98 in all levels from 3-6. As well as taking a lot of other personal property items like hobby, craft, etc. Of course this is an easy action for the MDOC to accomplish when we have our own sell-out brothers working for massa charlie in the prison system. They are sewing all our new clothes cause they want to get paid, and do their time, and all that soft stuff. -- A Michigan Prisoner, 11 January, 1998 STATE-WIDE CENSORSHIP IN MICHIGAN I am writing to let you know that myself and ALL prisoner subscribers in Michigan received a rejection notice for MIM Note issues 1/1/98 and 1/15/98. MDOC officials in Lansing, Michigan have only placed these two issues on the restricted list. MIM Notes can be received by us captives in Michigan, except the individual papers the MDOC restrict -- A Michigan Prisoner, 12 February, 1998 As you may or may not know MIM Notes has been put on the MDOC's restricted list. On 3/2/98 my new issues were rejected and all past issues were taken from me in a search of my cell along with a letter I was at the time writing to MIM Notes. ...I don't know how legal the taking of this letter was since it wasn't in an envelope yet ... from what little I have heard, unless the letter violated a breach of security -- a planned act of violence or other criminal acts which it didn't -- then it shouldn't have been taken. If you know of any laws that explain this please let me know because as it stands now they're saying we can't even write to people unless the MDOC says it's okay which puts my reach to the outside world at 0. -- A Michigan prisoner, 10 March, 1998 MIM responds: We had heard that MDOC Deputy Director Dan Bolden placed MIM Notes issues 149 and 150 on the statewide "Restricted Publications List." We think it's despicable that a single pig in a central office can decide that no prisoner should be able to read two issues of our newspaper. While this is disgusting, it's not surprising given that issue 149 includes a letter from a Michigan prisoner whose MIM Notes was snatched in the yard one day, and issue 150 includes a letter from a prisoner who won a censorship grievance regarding MIM Notes, but is still struggling for justice after being raped by a MI Koruptions officer. As this prisoner points out, part of confiscating your MIM Notes was clearly an attempt at keeping you from corresponding with MIM since at the same time the guards snatched our address from you so you could not let us know what was going on. MIM calls out to other prisoners who are receiving MIM Notes to make even better use of your newspapers than you have been: pass them around to other comrades in the struggle against imperialism. Exercise your rights to write to us and send us information about what's going on behind the walls. Help us to publicize the Department of Kkkorruptions' tactics of national and political repression ever more broadly. To people on the outside reading this, we say let this be your call to get involved in distributing MIM Notes to more and more people. Help the prisoner and us by showing the Michigan DOC that one censored MIM Notes or even a whole state prison system's worth of uncensored MIM Notes will only toughen our will to fight the system which attempts to deny prisoners their right to political struggle. MIM NOTES CENSORED BUT BOOKS ALLOWED I am writing to inform MIM that one of the Pilgrims in the Mailroom has stopped my MIM Notes. However, I received a political book about one and a half months ago to write a review. I wrote the review and returned it to MIM and requested a few more books. I can still receive the books so I am requesting that MIM forward me some books for review. The Pilgrims will not derail my motivation for my Sisters and Brothers. Bulletproof Love, -- An Ohio Prisoner, 4 February 1998

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