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 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 110 MARCH 1996 GET MIM NOTES 110 FROM THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT (MIM), AND GET THE LATEST IN MAOIST NEWS AND ANALYSIS - PUT A REVOLUTIONARY WEAPON IN YOUR HANDS. IN MIM NOTES 110, FIND CONTINUING COVERAGE OF STUDENT ACTIVISM AGAINST NATIONAL OPPRESSION AT EASTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY; RAIL'S PROTEST OF GULF WAR KILLER NORMAN SCHWARTZKOPF; MIM'S VIEWS ON THE TELECOMMUNICATIONS ACT AND THE 1996 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, AND MORE LETTERS FROM PRISONERS IN AMERIKAN GULAGS. ALSO NEW THIS MONTH: READ M-L-M ONLINE -- NEWS AND ANALYSIS DEVOTED TO THE INTERNET. 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. FOR A FREE ISSUE MAILED TO YOUR INTERNET ADDRESS (A LARGE TEXT FILE), SEND A MESSAGE EXPLAINING YOUR INTEREST TO: MIM@MIM.ORG. MIM NOTES 110 INCLUDES: IN THIS ISSUE: 1. MASSACHUSETTS UPS THE ANTE ON CRIMINAL INJUSTICE 2. EMU ADMINISTRATION SANCTIONS NATIONAL OPPRESSION 3. LETTERS TO MIM AND RAIL 4. CPUSA MEMBER EDUCATES ABOUT PHILIPPINES, PROMOTES NIHILISM OVER CPP 5. HOW THE "AID" GAME WORKS 6. MONEY BEFORE HUMANITY 7. M-L-M ONLINE: AN INTERNATIONAL ARENA OF POLITICAL STRUGGLE 8. PARENTAL RIGHTS AND CHILD PROTECTION: CHILDRENATTACKED BY BOTH PARENTS AND GOVERNMENT 9. BOURGIE MEDIA DEFEND THE STATE 10. BUILD INDEPENDENT MEDIA; SUPPORT INDEPENDENT POLITICAL ACTION 11. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS 12. BLACK PANTHER PARTY HISTORY: SEALE LIES TO STUDENTS: "WE DID NOT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT SOCIALISM" 13. ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE FIGHTS NATIONAL OPPRESSION AT UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN 14. RAIL PROTESTS GULF WAR VILLAIN 15. STATE-CAPITALIST RULE BETRAYS CHINESE WOMEN'S LIBERATION 16. BOSNIA LIE EXPOSED 17. ECONOMIST MAGAZINE: THE PCP IS STILL IN BUSINESS 18. FASCISM GAINS GROUND IN LOUISIANA 19. FLORIDA CRACKS DOWN ON ANTI-PRISONS ACTIVISTS 20. THAT VOTING DOLLAR: AMERIKAN PRESIDENCY GOES TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER. ***JOIN MIM AND RAIL IN PRISONS AWARENESS WORK The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) and the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) are working with other organizations that oppose the Amerikan criminal injustice system across the Continent. Our work to expose oppression and brutality within Amerikan prisons includes reporting and agitation here in MIM Notes, RAIL Notes and other RAIL publications; educational film showings and discussion series; rallies and more. To get involved in this anti-prisons work in your area, write to your regional contact (see address on this page) or to one of the addresses on page two. Work with MIM and RAIL to expose the injustices of the Amerikan prisons system! BUILD PUBLIC OPINION IN SUPPORT OF THE PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION MIM and the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) are organizing a continental campaign to educate people about the revolution in the Philippines. Work on this campaign includes writing for and distributing Maoist Sojourner (a monthly publication by and for Third World exiles led by MIM), MIM Notes and the RAIL publications; film series about various aspects of the Philippine revolution including medical work in the countryside and treachery of the so-called democratic Philippine governments; discussion sessions about the meaning of the revolution in the Philippines and how people living in Amerika can best support it. To get involved in this anti- imperialist work in your area write to your regional contact (see address on this page) or to one of the addresses on page two. Work with MIM and RAIL to popularize the Filipino people,s just struggle! Oppose Amerikan intervention and the Amerikan-backed government in the Philippines!*** * * * MASSACHUSETTS UPS THE ANTE ON CRIMINAL INJUSTICE On January 22nd, the Massachusetts State House and Senate both unanimously passed a bill to fund more prison and jail cells, providing money for 3,000 new and renovated cells. In a publicity trick to get this bill passed, Massachusetts Governor William Weld took 299 prisoners hostage, sending them to Texas to illustrate the supposed overcrowding problem in Massachusetts prisons. Weld wants to build more prisons, so he created an overcrowding problem by moving prisoners from lower security to higher security prisons to make it look like there was a lack of high security facilities. These state-sponsored criminals play games with prisoners' lives in the newspaper and the legislature, all to boost their own 'law and order' images and improve the state's economy. The bill authorized a total of $486,255,860 in new expenditures for the Massachusetts criminal injustice system. Rehabilitative services such as education, family visits, drug and alcohol programs, and even medical care have been cut recently, yet in this close to $500 million bill the only rehabilitative services of any kind are new "boot camps" being built for juveniles. The bill included provisions to pay for police facilities and grants for "publicly owned capital projects" as an incentive to communities building more prisons. OPPRESSED NATIONALS PRONE TO CRIME? Another measure hidden in this bill was the following: "...the department of correction, in conjunction with the department of public health and the department of education, shall conduct a study into the biological causes of crime based on the premise that scientists have been studying biological risk factors which they believe predispose individuals to criminal behavior; provided further, that said study should incorporate these findings to work toward a more effective approach toward criminology..." Since Blacks and Latinos are locked up at a disproportionate rate relative to their numbers in the population, this so-called study will find that race determines criminal behavior. Capitalist society does not recognize the murder, theft, rape and pillage conducted by our government against peoples of the Third World and oppressed nations within U.S. borders as crime. This "more effective approach toward criminology" just means expanding the lockdown in communities of oppressed nationalities. RAIL held a rally in Springfield, Massachusetts on February 10. The really marked the second anniversary of the police execution of Black motorist Ben Schoolfield, the February 7 national day of action for Mumia Abu-Jamal and protested the expansion of the police in Springfield. Springfield already has the second largest police force in New England with 500 armed oinkers, but it is far from the second largest city. Apparently the masses of Springfield are not adequately locked down, and the city's new mayor wants to spend $3 million adding 100 new cops to the force. See the next issue of MIM Notes for an article about this rally. * * * LETTERS TO MIM AND RAIL: CASH FOR COMMIES DEAR MIM: Enclosed is a check in response to your funds appeal. I am increasing my monthly dues. --a friend in the midwest January 1996 MIM RESPONDS: Thank you! Your contribution will help us in our efforts to publish Maoist newspapers weekly. (see MIM Notes 109, January 1996 for details.) we hope other readers will follow this comrade's example and contribute articles, money and distribution efforts to help us advance to this goal. OBSERVING MLK DAY IN THE SPIRIT OF RESISTANCE ***In response to a flyer announcing RAIL/MIM's recent rally against Prison Expansion in Boston, one prisoner wrote back: *** I will fast on MLK day and not eat the Fried Chicken, Collard Greens, etc., etc., meal which is served. I think that in and of itself is denigrative of all that my ancestors have died in struggle to rid the world of. If you can sacrifice your time to stand in the cold I can go without food in congruence with your endeavors. Please send any paperwork evolving from the Jan. 15th protest event. Thanx and stay strong of spirits--forever keep the faith. MIM RESPONDS: Thanks for writing and for your solidarity! MIM Notes and activist information is hard to get into the prisons, and so consciousness- raising from within is vital. We'll keep you abreast of the goings-on in our prison campaign, and hope that you will reciprocate with news from the inside. HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT WANTS AN INTERNSHIP Dear MIM, Hello. I'm a senior in high school... I'm wondering if I can come work for you for my Senior May project. To explain what Senior May project is, I'll quote from the letter I got in school: "The Senior May Project is a school sponsored activity that encourages second semester seniors to participate in a work experience in a field that they are considering as a college major or as a profession....Senior May Project students are expected to work with their employer supervisor to create a work experience that is as close as possible to the professional tasks that the employer does each day, i.e., an intern experience. Students are expected to work a full work day and to be responsible to schedules and duties as if they were actually working as a paid employee. Students, however, cannot be paid for their work on these projects. ..." That's basically what the project is. As for myself and how I thought of the idea of working for MIM Notes as my Project... I found out about MIM notes when I used to go to the Barnes and Noble bookstore by my house, and see a stack of them sitting in the newspaper section. At the bookstore, I would always pick up a copy for me and one for my friend. What interested me to read MIM notes was the stories on current native american Indian affairs. --A reader in the Midwest MIM RESPONDS: Thanks for writing. We would very much like to figure out some working relationship with you that would meet both of our needs. We'd like to explain the major points of how working with MIM would be very different structurally from working with any non-communist organization or newspaper so you can better evaluate whether you want to work with us for your project. In general, we need as much help as possible building public opinion in favor of the oppressed and in favor of Maoism, so in that context we are delighted and flattered by your offer. It's not every day someone offers us 40 hours/week worth of their labor. Since you've read our newspaper you already have an idea of the size of our goals and the scope of our work; there is definitely no shortage of interesting and challenging work to be done. The major aspect of our work we need to talk with you about before deciding to go forward is security. We welcome any questions you have about this and hope you will follow up if any of this is unclear because we would very much like to be able to establish a working relationship with you. You may have noticed in the staff box of MIM Notes (page 2, directly under the "What is MIM?" box) that we make a policy of not publicizing the names of our members or associates in our newspaper or anyplace. This is because we have learned valuable lessons from the Amerikan government's brutal and illegal (even by its own standards) treatment of the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement, as well as other revolutionary organizations and individuals. The same rule applies to our willingness to talk about some of the mechanics of our work: we do not tell people where we print our newspapers for example, or the size of our print run, number of members in the organization, etc. The reasons for this are clear: politically, we want to be judged on our line, not on our size or other factors; in terms of security, we do not want to invite state repression by cavalierly sharing information about ourselves and making the cops' job easier. If you agree with and/or understand these constraints in theory, we have ideas about how we could work around them and still help you with your project in practice. The worst thing that can happen is that you will wind up working with us in your spare time and on weekends and doing something else for your school project, if you are interested in our politics we would very much like to start working with you before May. But there should be a way for you to work with us to get your project done. If you disagree with or don't understand either of these points, we hope you'll write back with questions; we don't want a misunderstanding to keep you from doing work with us. TROTSKYISTS ATTACK THE PCP, AGAIN In the January 18 issue of the Spartacist League newspaper Workers Vanguard, in an article titled "Down with Police-State Repression In Peru!" The Sparts mourn over the capture and sentencing to life terms of some Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) members and U.S. supporter Lori Berenson. This article continues the Sparts' long tradition of repeating bourgeois lies about the Communist Party of Peru (PCP) without documentation. The WV is a mouthpiece for imperialist slander against the Maoist PCP. The Spart article paints the PCP as "anti- worker," saying "over the last decade, [the MRTA] has mainly struck at military installations and foreign-owned businesses, in distinction to the Maoist Sendero Luminoso movement, which has often launched murderous attacks on workers and peasant unions as well as armed clashes with the MRTA." According to the Sparts the PCP kills workers and the MRTA is the real anti-imperialist. MIM is still waiting for the documentation behind these statements. We have carried out serious investigation of the practice of the PCP and we know that the source of these lies is the desk of Peruvian President Fujimori and the Peruvian military, who delight in massacring the masses and then blaming it on the PCP. The PCP has led strikes in Peru's cities and has significant influence in many unions in addition to its support in the countryside. The Sparts ignore the tremendous successes of the PCP, which controls much of the countryside and has reached a stage of strategic equilibrium in its fight against the imperialists. The MRTA, on the other hand, has never moved beyond focoist attacks and retreats, and its failed line and strategy have not gained the support or respect of the Peruvian people. (Send $4 to MIM for our Peru Pamphlet for more information.) The Sparts don't even address the clear contradiction in their support for the MRTA after admitting that the MRTA supports the "United Left" electoral front. In the last elections the United Left had renowned imperialist puppet Javier Perez de Cuellar as its presidential candidate and supported Fujimori before that. MIM thanks the Sparts for not equivocating in choosing the MRTA's electoral version of Castro/Guevarism, a failed strategy, over Maoism, the successful line of the PCP. MIM does agree with the Sparts on one point: we too mourn the arrest of the Amerikan activist Berenson. Although she chose the wrong side in the revolution in Peru, she is currently under attack by the imperialist-backed Peruvian state and will be unjustly imprisoned alongside the many hundreds of captured Maoists. Her public statements that she is a revolutionary contribute to the consciousness of the people in Amerika who would like to pass her arrest off as the actions of a silly girl who must have been coerced and brainwashed into this work by some big strong men. The failure of the Amerikan government to act on her behalf is a damning indictment of the Amerikan imperialist support for the fascist government in Peru. MIM expects that Berenson will be further educated in Maoist theory and strategy by the very well organized Maoist comrades in prison, and we hope she will dedicate herself to future struggle behind the correct and successful line and strategy of the PCP. It is important to choose sides correctly in the struggle against imperialism. Attacking the revolutionary organizations of the people is supporting the military attacks on the people. While the fascist Peruvian government hands down harsh sentences against members of both the PCP and the MRTA in military tribunals led by anonymous hooded judges, Amerikan Trotskyists dance around the real issues and uphold the lies of the imperialist media. In 1995 at least 75 people were sentenced to life in prison for crimes of "aggravated terrorism" in Peru. The people of Peru continue to live below the poverty level suffering from malnutrition, lack of medical care, unsanitary water, outbreaks of preventable diseases like Cholera, inadequate housing and unemployment. In areas liberated by the PCP, the people have been organized to farm collectively, provide for their own needs and educate the members of their communities. They are able to live without the daily suffering and fear that haunts life under the Fujimori dictatorship. These seeds of a new society demonstrate the correct and successful program of the PCP and these successes will not be destroyed by the lies of the academic Trotskyists who criticize everything and never accomplish anything but support for the status quo of imperialism. NOTES: Reuter Jan. 16, 1996. * * * CPUSA MEMBER EDUCATES ABOUT PHILIPPINES, PROMOTES NIHILISM OVER CPP Cambridge, MA, February 10--Former CPUSA member Daniel Boone Shirmer gave a talk entitled "Philippines ten years after democracy." Most of the talk was devoted to discussing the changes in the 10 years since the overthrow of the Marcos regime. Shirmer now works with a small group in Cambridge called "Friends of the Filipino People" and claims to not take sides on the revolution going on within the Philippines. But MIM knows that it is impossible to not takes sides without supporting the bourgeoisie in practice. Shirmer's analysis of the different movements within the Philippines makes it clear that he supports the Philippine social democrats and not the successful struggle of the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). Shirmer correctly fights U.S. intervention in the Philippines. He is also clear that he does not believe Amerikans should be interfering in the Filipino affairs, but instead should be supporting Filipino people's right to self-determination. But Shirmer's stance on the internal struggles in the Philippines does a disservice to the people. Hailing the resistance of the masses, Shirmer pointed to the September 16, 1991 Philippine Senate refusal to renew U.S. military bases in the Philippines as an historic advance. Shirmer was careful to point out that Amerika has continued to maintain its military domination and use of the Philippines after Marcos, but the removal of these bases was a victory for the people. Shirmer pointed out that Ramos, the current Amerikan puppet ruling the Philippines, publicly supported the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing agreement (ACSA) which was to be signed in 1994 and which would have given the United Snakes back the military access it lost in 1991. Ramos went so far as to say that ACSA would allow U.S. military troops to enjoy rest and relaxation in the Philippines--Amerikan soldiers could would be able to enjoy the prostitution of Filipino women. Shirmer made it clear that the Ramos regime is not a government of the people. The vast majority of members of congress are millionaires, and the appointed heads of branches of government are leaders of the capitalist industries. 76% of the population lives in poverty as defined by the Filipino government: 1/2 of the urban population and 3/5 of the rural population. 1/11 of the Philippine population, approximately six million people, are driven abroad to work and live by poverty. 60% of these people are women working primarily as domestic servants. Shirmer touched on the failure of Structural Adjustment Programs in the Philippines, but his analogy to Newt Gingrich's programs in the U.S. congress does not describe the misery created by these programs. Republican-Democrat maneuvering around U.S. domestic programs don't approach the devastation that SAPs cause to the welfare of the populations of Third World countries. Shirmer credits the CPP with leading the masses to overthrow the Marcos dictatorship. He praised the party's ability to organize and inspire the resistance. But he incorrectly describes the current situation as an even split into three factions: Sison supporters who "played a splendid role in resisting the Marcos regime;" rejectionists who want to "pay more attention to the cities;" and the "democratic socialists" who want to break away from communist organization altogether. Shirmer, a social democrat himself, did not mention the rectification movement in the CPP or the overwhelming support of the people for the CPP over the "rejectionists" or "democratic socialists." MIM spoke up at this talk to clarify the history of the CPP and point to the importance of its recent theoretical and strategic advances. MIM also pointed out the error in the characterization of the CPP as ignoring the cities, noting the participation of many unions and city organizations in the National Democratic Front (NDF), the United Front against imperialism led by the CPP in the Philippines. Following a correct Maoist strategy of surrounding the cities from the countryside, and ignoring the cities entirely, are two very different things. Ultimately Shirmer exposed his support for imperialism when he answered a question about what he believed was the correct solution to the evils of imperialism by saying "the Third World needs capital to develop" but we just need to "put controls over this capital." "Don't prevent corporate capital, just put limits on it." While Shirmer says that he believes in not taking sides and letting the people of the Philippines decide for themselves how to liberate themselves from imperialism, He supports capital over the most progressive anti-imperialist movement. As one audience member pointed out, the Philippine government has used the existence of non-CPP organizations as a tool against the CPP in the current peace negotiations, claiming that these other small organizations are the "true" representatives of the Philippine people. By not taking a clear stand in support of the CPP, Shirmer leaves the people confused about these government machinations and sows confusion and doubt rather than support and solidarity with the people of the Philippines. MIM is organizing film showings and talks about the Philippines in the Boston area and around the country. Write to your local MIM contact or the address on page 2 for information about these events. For a copy of MIM's new pamphlet, "Support the National Democratic Front of the Philippines" send $1 cash, check or money order to the address on page 2. * * * HOW THE "AID" GAME WORKS The International Development Fund and the World Bank have been exposed, once again, as a cloak for imperialist domination. Even within its own confines, the "aid" game is designed to benefit Amerikkka directly. "The International Development Agency (IDA) [is] the World Bank's soft-loan arm....[T]he IDA brings plenty of benefits to the United States. For a start, every dollar America spends on the IDA results in a dollar's worth of contracts for American firms on third-world projects. More important, perhaps, it is a cheap way of influencing foreign policy: every dollar that Americans contribute to the IDA brings $4 more from other donors, yet America retains the most powerful voice within the World Bank."(1) Amerika increases its international hegemony through eager participation in its own self-serving institutions. People in the Third World will be able to create a thriving, self-sustaining economy only after their success in defeating all the faces of imperialism. NOTES: The Economist Oct. 14, 1995, p. 93. * * * MONEY BEFORE HUMANITY Exposure of the real motives beyond the bombing of Hiroshima is nothing new. Howard Zinn, for example, documented in 1970 in the Politics of History that Japan was close to agreeing to an unconditional surrender in the summer of 1945. Yet MIM is happy to see new sources reconfirming what we already know. Manhattan Project participant turned anti-Bomb activist, Joseph Rotblat, "heard U.S. General Leslie Groves, the Manhattan Project's supervisor, say that the real reason for continuing was to keep the Russians in line after the war...."(1) Islands in East Asia were and are a prime source of raw materials for the United Snakes. Amerika saw fit to murder over 200,000 people to ensure further extraction of this wealth.. Amerikan economic interest has always taken precedence over the lives of non-Euro-Amerikans. Just ask the First Nations, Panamanians, Haitians, Peruvians, Guatemalans, Filipinos. NOTES: Time Oct. 23, 1995, p. 84. * * * M-L-M ONLINE: AN INTERNATIONAL ARENA OF POLITICAL STRUGGLE WHY M-L-M ONLINE Starting this month, MIM will be devoting one page per month to coverage of politics and culture on the Internet. Since the Fall of 1993, MIM Notes has been distributed electronically both by subscription to individuals and for free by individual article on Usenet news groups and by e- mail. With M-L-M Online, MIM strengthens its commitment to this rapidly expanding forum of political debate and struggle. Just as we are relying on our readers to help us achieve biweekly production of MIM Notes (See "Maoist Publications Go Weekly" MIM Notes 109, Feb. 1996, p. 3), we are appealing to our readers of both print and electronic MIM Notes to sustain our coverage of news on the Internet. Write to us about your favorite political site on the World Wide Web, a discussion you've had on Usenet, or your views on the new telecommunications act. Like any powerful resource under imperialism, the Internet embodies the parasitism and decadence of bourgeois culture, in pornographic Web sites and the enormous bandwidth devoted to commercial enterprises and ideology such as interactive CNN and the New York Times. But it also contains the seeds of the destruction of bourgeois culture; thousands of students and youth treat the Internet as a serious, international political forum and a source for alternative information. M-L-M Online will bring you a Maoist analysis of these developments, and encourages your participation. Please write to mim@nyxfer.blythe.org with your submissions. STRIKING NEWSPAPER WORKERS FIND PHONY MAOIST ALLIES ON THE INTERNET In the past few issues of MIM Notes, MIM and RAIL have been covering the ongoing 6-1/2 month long Detroit newspaper workers' strike. We have exposed the reactionary class nature of the workers' demands for more money, more superprofits, more subsidies--more of the wealth that already binds them tightly to imperialism. One Usenet news reader claiming to be a Maoist responded to our posting of "Update on the Detroit Newspaper Strike: An Amerikan Proletariat?" (MIM Notes 108, January 1996)insisting that real revolutionaries should support the Detroit newspaper strike. This same reader argued that there is an Amerikan proletariat, which is paid "an extremely small amount in return for their labor" and who "do not make decisions in the workplace." The reader challenged MIM to define concretely who comprised the labor aristocracy, insisting that a white temporary worker making $4.50 an hour should be considered proletarian. The reader argued that since the proletariat is an international class, Marxists need to "fight against the narrow nationalist outlook, while also fighting even more resolutely against national chauvinism" and accused MIM of "abandoning Marxism for nationalism." MIM pointed out that "From Engels to Lenin to the Comintern at key points in its history, the possibility of a whole nation's workers being bought off has been acknowledged by Marxism. ... "MIM is glad to see this objection raised, by someone claiming Maoism and in an international arena such as the Internet," we wrote. "The crisis of leadership among revolutionaries in general requires all those in the Marxist tradition to confront this very question, to reclaim the true meaning of PROLETARIAN from the vulgar apologists for imperialist parasitism, to resolutely apply a CLASS analysis, and to learn from rather than give lipservice to, the lessons of labor aristocracy history. ... "A worker making $4.50 an hour for a short time, whose parents and brother own houses and have better jobs, is not the same as a CLASS of people who are exploited. This is important to the question of consciousness. ... As MIM has documented over and over, the overall condition of whites in the United Snakes has continued improving even during these supposedly dark days. The relatively few, very highly publicized cases of white workers being laid off pales in actual comparison to the growth of the parasitic middle classes. The whites who are in trouble, relatively speaking, are those without high school education. What proportion of whites don't finish high school? Very few. ... "Historically, where was the white working class on the proletarian revolutionary struggles of the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords, or the Vietnamese? Or, for that matter, on the Zapatistas? Fighting NAFTA and crying out for more militarized borders, that's where. "You want to look at an individual worker, divorced from CLASS analysis and divorced from HISTORICAL analysis, and use that to promote politics PROVED suicidal for oppressed-nation proletarians for 300 years. The Maoist Internationalist Movement did not liquidate the proletariat in favor of nations. The imperialist nations have turned their former-or- potential-proletarians into fat parasites and made national oppression the principal contradiction in the world today." POLICE STATE: VERY FUNNY? The Washington Post reports in its gossip/cute-news column, that when a young Rochester, N.Y. computer artist put up a World Wide Web page depicting Bob Dole's head blowing up in comic-book style, the Secret Service "came to call. ... Two agents visited Burford at work, to make sure he wasn't a security threat, then asked him to headquarters for a little chat about his mental health, arrest history and firearm ownership." The Post headline ("He Has a Head for the Web") and photo caption ("a headache for Dole?") make light of the fact that the Secret Service patrols the Web and intimidates and interrogates people whose speech it doesn't like. Taking this kind of crackdown lightly is the privilege of those who slavishly to support the system. For those of us who oppose it, this just isn't funny. One lesson we learn from this experience is that anyone making this kind of "threat" on the Internet--even in jest--is inviting the same kind of treatment by the pigs. MIM encourages people to channel their anti-Amerikan energy into more productive, revolutionary agitation, and to take politics as seriously as the bourgeoisie. The state pours billions of dollars into its own political propaganda. The best way for progressives to combat this is to work, study and struggle with MIM. Source: Washington Post Jan. 25, 1996, p. C3. TELECOMMUNICATIONS BILL MEANS MORE CONCENTRATION OF CAPITAL When the new, repressive telecommunications bill swept both Houses of Congress only to be embraced and signed by President Clinton, Internet progressives immediately began protests of the new restrictions on "indecent" material, which includes a ban on information discussing abortion. Some World Wide Web pages were darkened the day the bill was signed, and people forwarded electronic messages of protest of the bill on First Amendment grounds. Activists have reason to be alarmed. Sanctions for violating the indecency restriction can be "two years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines."(1) Bourgeois liberal organizations like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Frontier Foundation are on the case, and there are likely to be some successful court challenges to this latest assault on so-called free speech. But communists know that there are no rights, only power struggles, and the right to free speech is always constrained by the power of those controlling the means of expression--whether it is print, broadcast media, or the Internet. This means that the courts will give in to the liberals on this issue to the extent that doing so does not threaten the bourgeois order. Genuine free speech requires equality of power, which cannot be granted by the Amerikan court system. But there are broader and ultimately more lethal implications to the bill than curtailment of specific speech. The bill allows "competition" among "cable firms, telephone companies, and television broadcasters,"(2) which means mergers and even further monopolization in the communications industry are imminent. Monopoly capital, an essential component of imperialism, is characterized by "more acute and cruel" competition between monopoly and non-monopoly enterprises.(3) The monopolization resulting from this bill will further entrench the bourgeoisie's hegemonic control over culture--a development more comprehensive than the reactionary restrictions on "indecency." But monopoly also hastens imperialism's inevitable demise. When the proletariat seizes power, it will seize all resources, including the means of communication, to place them firmly in the service of the people. The proletarian feminist party will get rid of pornography through resolute political struggle and the liberation of women. So while MIM hails the protests of this bill and calls out the lie that patriarchal structures can protect women and children from the evils of pornography, we have our eyes on the bigger picture. We are fighting for the liberation of humanity, not the rights of bourgeois speech. NOTES: 1. Washington Post Feb. 5, 1996, p. A8. 2. Washington Post Feb. 8, 1996, p. V3. 3. The Fundamentals of Political Economy, (Shanghai: Shanghai People's Press), 1974, p. 161. Send print submissions to M-L-M Online to MIM Notes, Box 3576, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3576, or send us electronic submissions, articles, letters, etc. to mim@nyxfer.blythe.org. * * * "PARENTAL RIGHTS" AND "CHILD PROTECTION" CHILDREN ATTACKED BY BOTH PARENTS AND GOVERNMENT There are two movements currently working to increase the repression of children in North America. The first is for more government involvement in oppressed families a-la-Child Welfare League, the second is for a restoration of more unquestioned parental authority a-la-Christian Coalition. In the bourgeois democratic discourse, these reactionary proposals masquerade as the "left" and right. Revolutionaries must expose both tendencies as reactionary. We recognize that real empowerment of children lies outside the imperialist state and the patriarchal family. A number of recent cases of children killed by their parents has fed an awareness of the abuses by parents, which is a good thing, but has been used negatively in a trend toward more state power over children. MIM interviewed the policy director of the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. She said that "people are fighting nonstop to give children their rights."(1) This argument correctly recognizes that children are being harmed and that other members of society have a responsibility to prevent that. However, she said that the solution for the extreme violence against children in this country is more funding for the Department of Social Services: a solution that works against the real empowerment of children. In this context, people fighting for more state control over children are not fighting for their rights. In the real world, children who are abused know that the DSS cannot be counted on to offer anything better. And children of oppressed nations also know that their parents are targets of suspicion regardless of their actions. More government control is not progressive for children because it transfers them from one adult oppressive authority to another. The DSS is not the only enemy of children's rights. KKKristian conservatives around the country have begun to promote a "parental rights amendment" which most commonly reads: "The right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children shall not be infringed."(2) The practice of the parental rights advocates differs from the DSS-supporters only in who has control over the children. Despite their different vantage points, they lead to the same end: increased repression of children. It is no coincidence that the parental rights advocates are the very same people who call for uninhibited property rights in general. The executive director of a group called Of the People, that has worked full-time for the amendment for two years, said "Opponents immediately leap to horror stories. It shows the level of distrust of parents of the elitist so-called experts who want to raise our children. Whose kids are they, anyway?"(3) There is actually a nugget of a good criticism of the liberals in this statement. Their reliance on horror stories does distract from the basic conditions of childhood in Amerika. However, MIM maintains that those conditions are exploitative. Children are their own people, and should not belong to the elitist experts or to the patriarchal families. In revolutionary China, child care was collectivized and parents and other caregivers were held accountable for their actions by the entire society. This is a very different thing from a stronger tie between the patriarchal family and the imperialist state. The arguments reveal their base in gender privilege. The head of Of the People said that even if the amendment fails, it will have brought the need for more old-fashioned patriarchal control to national attention. He compares it to the Equal Rights Amendment, which failed but raised consciousness about women's rights. He opposes equality before the law for both women and children, and says that his amendment "is a way to put the other side [those who supported the ERA] on the defensive."(4) However, the "other side" that Of the People vilify are not a real opposition. A real opposition stands behind children, for a social reorganization to empower children to the greatest extent possible. Gender oppression--control over bodies, sexuality and reproductive labor--is what supporters of the amendment are after. Governor George Allen of Virginia is a supporter of the amendment because, he says, "Parents have the right to know, to be involved, if their young daughter is undergoing the trauma of an abortion."(4) The issue of abortion and reproductive health in general is a hot spot for many of those behind the amendment. This underscores the gendered relationship between parents and children.(6) The amendment and the movement is not something of the lunatic fringe. Even though progress on amendments to state constitutions has been limited, legislation has been progressing in many states' legislatures and has begun to be heard at the federal level. Senate majority leader--and potential president--Bob Dole is one of the co- sponsors of the parental rights bill introduced in both houses of Congress last year.(5) The supporters of the legislation and of the amendment are clear that they resent having any of their repressive power taken by the state. A Washington State Representative contends that "Over the last 25 years, parents have seen the government take over the role of parenting. They [parents] want their rights back."(4) Revolutionaries are going to give them a fight for it. Rather than calling on the state to their aid, we work to build a new society where children can develop their skills and independence alongside their parents, not as property of their parents. NOTES: 1. MIM interview Jan. 22, 1996. 2. The text of the "Contract With the American Family" of which this amendment is part, can be found at the Christian Coalition's website: http://www/cc/leg/contract.html. 3. NYT Jan. 15, 1996. 4. Christian Science Monitor June 7, 1994. 5. International Herald-Tribune Jan. 16, 1996. 6. See MIM Theory 9: Psychology and Imperialism for an analysis of the oppression of children. * * * BOURGIE MEDIA DEFEND THE STATE On January 16th, the Boston Globe ran a very short story about RAIL and MIM's January 15 rally against prisons. The rally opposed funding for new prisons and demanded the return of prisoners held hostage in Texas for this budget battle. The Globe did not mention the object of the rally and instead focused on the statements of one mother of a prisoner transferred to Texas without mentioning the context of her comments. The article did mention the terrible conditions these prisoners are facing in Texas, but concluded by saying: "Gov. William F. Weld ordered the prisoners transferred to Texas to relieve prison overcrowding in Massachusetts." RAIL and many individuals sent letters to the Globe criticizing this article, none of which have been printed to date. The following is the text of the RAIL response to this article. *** Dear Boston Globe, Your January 16th article about the prisons rally the day before left out some important facts and hence misled your readers. This rally, organized by the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League, was held not only to protest the transfers to Texas, but also prison expansion. The combination of the two is important to expose the lie of prison overcrowding that Gov. Weld has used to justify taking the 299 prisoners hostage, holding out for more prison funds. As speakers at the rally pointed out, there are empty beds in Massachusetts prisons at the minimum security level. These are not filled because prisoners are over-classified into higher security ratings. The Globe has quoted Gov. Weld as saying the prison expansion in Massachusetts is for "capital investment." This has nothing to do with crime or overcrowding. In fact, the dramatic increases in imprisonment rates in all states over recent years has shown that there is no association with crime rates. Those few programs that Massachusetts had to actually rehabilitate prisoners have been discarded for isolation units. With out-of-state transfers, prisoner's tenuous stake in the community is severed. This shows that prisons are not interested in helping individuals to rejoin the society productively. *** * * * BUILD INDEPENDENT MEDIA; SUPPORT INDEPENDENT POLITICAL ACTION The Boston University Daily Free Press ran a great quarter-page article covering the rally against prison expansion in the first issue following winter vacation. While student newspapers don't generally enjoy real independence from school administrations, they often offer progressives a forum more willing to print stories that don't make it into the mainstream media. But student newspapers can not be counted on to publicize the causes of the oppressed. We must build independent media to reliably reach the people and educate about and agitate for revolutionary change. The bourgeois press is an arm of Governor Weld's public relations apparatus; it hammers out the message that Massachusetts needs more prisons and that prisoners have it easy living off the state. These are the most common objections we hear when we ask people to sign petitions to shut down the control units or to oppose prison expansion. Many U.S. citizens believe these lies because they want to hear that prisoners--mostly poor Blacks and Latinos--deserve their lower position in society. Amerikans, and even oppressed members of Amerika's internal colonies, are enjoying the by-products of oppression in the form of a drastically higher standard of living than the majority of the world's population. It is our job to confront Amerikans with the grotesque truth about oppression in their society, and to persuade them to join in the struggle against oppression. We need our own newspapers, our own TV stations, our own radio station, and our own Internet news services to counter all the lies put out by the mainstream media. MIM needs your support to build these institutions and build public opinion in support of the oppressed of the world. Our most immediate goal is stepping our newspapers up to weekly publication; write to any of the contact addresses on page 2, or your regional contact (address on page 1) to find out what you can do to help. NOTES: Coverage of our January 15 rally and another one on January 3 is in MIM Notes 109 Feb. 1996, p. 8. * * * UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS A REVOLUTIONARY ALERT! A Revolutionary Alert to all prisoners held captive in North Carolina's state prisons! I am a revolutionary prisoner presently being held at the Maximum Control Complex (MCC) in the state that always smells like straight up shit, Indiana. I am here to warn my long-distance fellow prisoners in North Carolina that y'all are in danger, 'cuz your state's politicians and prison administrators (i.e. pigs) are up to their trickery. Just about an hour ago [10:00am October 24, 1995], I was working out on the recreation pod, and I saw one of the most sickening sights: a crowd of pigs in suits and ties being escorted around the pod for about half an hour. They were being given a tour of MCC. It just so happens that these pigs were from North Carolina, and were here in Indiana touring this prison camp because they now want to build a control unit in your state and were here to get ideas. So all you state prisoners in North Carolina, if I were you, I'd keep my ear close to the ground and start organizing both prisoners and people on the streets. Make inquiries and make a plan of action, so when the pigs let it out about their plans, y'all can counter them and shut them down before they get it off the ground. BECOME ACTIVELY POSITIVE, PROGRESSIVE AND PRODUCTIVE! Also, to all the prisoners presently at the MCC here in Westville, Indiana, and to all prisoners nation-wide, I'd like to quote Chairman Mao Zedong. "Recently there has been a falling off in ideological and political work among students and intellectuals, and some unhealthy tendencies have appeared. Some people seem to think that there is no longer any need to concern oneself with politics or with the future of the motherland and the ideals of humankind. It seems as if Marxism was once all the rage but is currently not so much in fashion. To counter these tendencies, we must strengthen our ideological and political work. Both students and intellectuals should study hard. In addition, to the study of their specialized subjects, they must make progress both ideologically and politically, which means that they should study Marxism, current events and politics. Not to have a correct political point of view is like not having a soul." ("Quotations From Chairman Mao Zedong", page 142) What I just quoted is very applicable to the present situation here at MCC, which is very sad! When I was first brought to MCC back in February 1994, the atmosphere on this set was one of nothing but straight-up consciousness. Every section I was on or around, people were unified as a whole, people were striving to become re-educated and progressively conscious and we were working collectively to challenge the numerous violations committed by the prison administrators and state politicians. Now it is rare, I mean very rare, to see any of this. All I hear is people rap'n about now days is that same old-ass penitentiary bullshit, such as who's a fag, or who's a coward, etc. People are walking around doing nothing but searching for reasons to disrespect someone or assassinate someone's character. And I could go on. Why is this? Here people are sitting in these cement crypts partaking in activities which are negative, not progressive and these are counter-productive. What ever happened to collective struggle? I'm not saying that this is everyone, because there are a few of us prisoners who are still struggling with and challenging the pigs every time they violate those who do attempt to remain actively progressive and attempt to help people re-educate themselves. But the majority of prisoners on this set have become so damn pacified and negative-minded that it makes me sick. I do not knock people for listening to the radio, watching television, or eating commissary, 'cuz there is nothing wrong with that per-se. But there is something wrong with these items when they allow you to become lazy and blinded, to where that is all you want to do. You dudes are pathetic; you need to get your lazy asses out of bed and learn to discipline yourselves. Start shedding that bullshit "convict" mentality, and become actively positive, progressive and productive. Then there are those who are in fact progressively conscious, but who have become discouraged, depressed and withdrawn 'cuz of the level of unconsciousness that now infests this set. I say to you, do not allow yourselves to lose sight of hope and slack from your responsibilities. Stay strong, and continue to be actively progressive and productive, and to attempt to bring the unconscious and negative-minded into a conscious and positive mind-frame. Pass these words of consciousness down, the range, so all can once again become unified and productive. --a Indiana prisoner, Oct. 24, 1995 FEDERAL PRISONERS FACE LOCKDOWN Dear Comrades, In my last two letters, I forgot to mention that I have been receiving your MIM Notes unhindered. Please be aware that I will never lose interest in your work, but as you say, policy is policy. What do you think about the national shutdown of nearly all federal prisons? Within this state (South Carolina), they have moved all inmates into a security system called "control movement". Instead of allowing us to go to the recreation field, which was probably an area of one square mile, they have placed us in an area of maybe 250 square yards behind our dormitories. One dorm alone houses about 300 inmates. We are not allowed to go from the A-side to the B- side of the dorm any longer. Whatever side you are on, that's the side you stay on. They are really making it a cattle stall now....Until next time, may we all struggle as one against the beast! --a South Carolina prisoner, Oct. 30, 1995 ONE YEAR LATER...REMEMBER AJAMU NASSOR (AUG. 12, 1951-DEC. 8, 1994) "I REFUSE TO APOLOGIZE FOR BEING SOMETHING OTHER THAN A MODEL INMATE... A BEHAVED SLAVE" - AJAMU NASSOR One year ago today the state of Indiana murdered a proud New Afrikan warrior by the name of Ajamu Nassor. Ajamu is remembered by many, especially those who he worked with and helped guide in the kamps of Indiana. We should not forget this brother--we must let his death be a constant reminder of why we continue our work. --an Indiana prisoner, Dec. 8. 1995 IT'S OVER? It wasn't over when your first invaded and plundered the Mother Land Committed your vicious acts and made a vow to annihilate the Afrikan man It wasn't over when you nefariously conspired and murdered brother Nat, Malcolm, George & Fred Our anger must never subside and should be appropriately stored within our heads And to this day, we refuse to allow it to be over Even with your attempts to murder brother Ziyon and Mumia Abu And you foolishly thought we forgot when you brutally murdered brother Ajamu? --An Indiana prisoner, Aug. 12, 1995 DEATH AFFIRMING REALITY IN INDIANA The case of Mumia Abu-Jamal is bringing to light many other situations of injustice that have been glossed over for far too long. Sitting in two different Indiana prisons are two men awaiting state murder, two New Afrikan men, two soldiers. The cases of Ziyon Yisrayah (slave name Tommie Smith) and Khalfani Khaldun (s/n Leonard McQuay) are tied together by a comrade of both men who was murdered on August 8, 1995 by the State of Indiana. His name is Ajamu Nassor (s/n Gregory Resnover). Ajamu and Ziyon were co-defendants stemming from a pre-down raid on their home on December 11, 1980. The raid left Ziyon wounded and a white police officer, Sgt. Jack Ohrberg, dead. In a stark similarity to the August 8, 1978 raid on MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia, Ajamu and Ziyon were charged with killing the police officer when in fact the officer was shot in the back while facing Ajamu and Ziyon. The only people behind the officer were other cops. Even the Governor of Indiana and the prosecutors of the case have publicly acknowledged that Sgt. Ohrberg was shot in the back and that neither of the guns found in the house could have fired the fatal shot. Nevertheless, Ajamu and Ziyon were sentenced to die. Ajamu was murdered on December 8, 1994, and was pronounced dead at 12:13 a.m. Ajamu's family was there and claimed the body immediately afterward and drove it to Indianapolis where their twelve-car procession stopped at the governor's mansion. Prior to his execution, the Indiana ACLU battled for Ajamu's life. They presented evidence that in the electric chair, one's body temperature goes from 98.6 to 117 degrees in seconds, that third degree burns are administered while the mind is still conscious, and that death takes at least five minutes. In a manner familiar to anyone working around the case of Mumia Abu-Jamal, this case has had a well- oiled machine pushing for Ajamu's and Ziyon's deaths from day one--namely the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). The Indianapolis FOP sent a gang of cops to the prison who carried signs and chanted "Fry him". The police tried to physically intimidate the people holding the prayer vigils and the bigger anti-death rally sponsored by Amnesty International and others. One of the signs carried by an Indianapolis FOP demonstrator said, "Justice is 5,000 volts burning through a body." The sadistic nature of the police showing its true face once again. "JUSTICE IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD" -- GEORGE JACKSON. On December 13, 1994, a corrections officer, Phillip Curry, was killed at Indiana State Prison where Ajamu had been killed five days earlier. An article that appeared in Prison News Service from an anonymous prisoner had this to say, "In de evening of December 13th, a Black kkkop was stabbed twice and later died as a result of his wounds. De kkkamp was placed on total lockdown while de reality dat justice is a double edge sword settled into de minds of other kkkops and state officials. Inside sources stated dat immediately afterwards 17 soldiers quit, resigned." Khalfani Khaldun was the first prisoner that investigators came after. Investigators told Khalfani "I'm putting this one on you and it's gonna stick." Khalfani was transferred out of Indiana State Prison to the infamous Maximum Control Complex at Westville, Indiana. He was charged with the murder of Officer Curry on January 31, 1995 and the state has promised to seek his death if convicted. Prior to these charges Khalfani was scheduled to be released in two and a half years. It is important to realize that all of these brothers were/are working for the people on the inside. They are working to transform the colonial/criminal mentality that they observe in so many young men coming into the prison camps. They are freedom fighters, fighting for a better life for all of us on the inside, and all of us out here in the minimum security "free world". It was the ruling class that killed Ajamu, and it's the ruling class that wants to kill Ziyon, Khalfani and Mumia Abu-Jamal. It's the ruling class that wants all of us to live in a world where we toil for their benefit. They're tired of the problems that they created by cutting off the inner- cities, by burning children out of their homes, by cutting wages, by lay-offs, and many other points in their pogrom. They are tired and their solution is mass incarceration and mass murder. They will say it is in the name of the people, it is up to the people to stop it. For more information contact: The Human Rights Coalition of Indiana, 508 E. Corby Blvd., South Bend, IN 46617 --by the Brew City Anti-Authoritarian Collective (BCAC), Dec. 8,1995. BCAC can be reached at P.O. Box 93312, Milwaukee, WI 53203. PRISONER WINS IN COURT, PIGS RETALIATE WITH LOCKDOWN In the October 1995 issue of MIM Notes, we printed a letter called "Prisoners fight oppressive conditions" dated Jun. 20, 1995. The following letter is a continuation of one prisoner's legal battle against the pigs in Pennsylvania. Dear Comrades, ...Thanks for bringing attention to my struggle. I received a hung jury on June 30, 1995 for the assault charge they gave me on the guard. Well, on Dec. 4, 1995, the judge consented to my motion to dismiss the case under rule 1100 and the commonwealth's violation of Double Jeopardy principles. The judge stated that the District Attorney could not prove his case...and that he had had 120 days to retry me and had violated that. In addition, all my witnesses were threatened, put in the RHU (Restricted Housing Unit), etc. The commonwealth's violations of my rights were too harmful to ignore. In reality the courts did not want to waste any more money on this case because the evidence showed that I was defending myself against abusive guards. So I have been sent to the SMU (Special Management Unit) twice for cases I won in court. The first one was in Huntingdon, on Nov. 13, 1992. I was found not guilty, and three days later I was sent to the SMU, where I stayed until June 1994 when the courts got involved. I stayed locked down from March 27, 1992 until June 1994, just because they do not like my politics. This for a bogus case in which I was found not guilty. This time I was given 90 days in RHU by the hearing examiner at Rockview on Dec. 31, 1994. On Feb. 3, 1995, I was sent back to the SMU where I will sit until 1996, 1997 or longer. Again I WON in court. What does it matter if you win in court, when the prison system can still violate you and retaliate against you by locking you down for years under the pretense of administrative custody in the SMU, where all the conditions are disciplinary and twice as bad as the RHU. So the 90 days the hearing examiner gave me was immaterial. Well Comrades, I leave you in the spirit of unity. --A Pennsylvania prisoner, Dec. 9, 1995 YOU HAVE A LOT OF MEN AND WOMEN ON YOUR SIDE! ***This letter is a response to an article printed in the November 1995 MIM Notes called "Does relentless activism amount to nothing?"*** Greetings MIM, From reading MIM Notes and the information that's being stressed is an enlightening forum for comrades around the world to view, I trust that MIM is acting in the best of its ability to make comrades aware of MIM theory. I received my Nov. issue of MIM Notes and I appreciate what you do and did for men like myself, and other comrades that are struggling to make a change for the better. There was a letter from Under Lock & Key dated July 10, 1995 from a comrade subjected to California's pig prison plantation. I read and studied his letter with great understanding. The conditions he's under affect me mentally because I've been subjected to his effect and impact. Brother to brother More important is that men like us, brother, learn to deal with these unnatural conditions of life. Brother, nothing is lost until you've given up on self. Say Brother, I can attest from your letter that you have a strong mind and body, soldier. You have the strength to lead a productive group of men at your location to deal with those pigs with a mindframe of awareness. Brother, you may not realize it, but you have a men [and women] on your side. We can't hand up our guns up because when those pigs start rollin' we have to be ready to fight them to the grave! --Maryland prisoners, Dec. 5, 1995 MARION CONTROL UNIT RELOCATED TO FLORENCE Dear Comrades, I received the first issue of your excellent paper in English and Spanish dated November 1995, ...and will see to it that the papers are read by everyone that wants to read them. On page 6 of the current paper under the heading "Boston-Area event in November", you make a reference to a film that documents abuses and brutality at the control unit of the United States Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois (USP- Marion) and further suggest to "Shut down the control units at Marion prison". Please be advised that the Bureau of Prisons has terminated its control unit at USP-Marion and relocated it at the United States Penitentiary at Florence, Colorado (ADX-Florence) where I am being held. There are several institutions at Florence, Colorado involving different levels of security classification. ADX-Florence is the control unit that officially opened on April 18,1995, accommodating all USP- Marion control unit prisoners. ADX-Florence control unit is a long term segregation unit for Federal Prisoners. We do not have access to the main library... Political consciousness is virtually non-existent at the present time. The majority of control unit prisoners, although they are from the working classes, nevertheless identify themselves either from the west or east coast or other locations. Although I can write fairly well in Spanish, at the present time English would be more appropriate to evade the ever present censor. It would take the lazy prison guards several weeks to censor any out- going letters written in Spanish for obvious reasons.... Luchando Siempre, [In the struggle always,] --a Colorado prisoner, Dec 17, 1995 A MASSACHUSETTS PRISON CONTINUES TO CENSOR MIM NOTES ***One Massachusetts prison has been censoring MIM Notes since May 1995. In September 1995, Under Lock & Key printed "Massachusetts prisoner fights censorship" which documents one prisoner's struggle to receive MIM Notes. This prisoner is continuing his legal battle to receive this paper, as the prison continues to censor MIM Notes. The following is the most recent censorship letter from the prison officials.*** Dear Sir/Madam: Please be advised in accordance with the Department of Corrections policy, 103 CMR 481, Inmate Mail Regulations, your publication, MIM Notes, shall be disapproved for receipt by an inmate at Old Colony Correctional Center for the following reasons: poses a threat to security and good order of the institution. 481.15 (1) (e) Depicts, describes or encourages activities that may lead to the use of physical violence or group disruption. 481.15 (1) (f) Encourages, facilitates or instructs in the commission of criminal activity. You may appeal this decision to the Superintendent, Paul B Murphy, should you opt to do so. Respectfully, Edward Ficco, Deputy Superintendent of Operations, Oct.12,1995 Letters of Protest can be addressed to: Edward Ficco, Deputy Superintendent of Operations, or Paul B. Murphy, Superintendent Executive Office of Public Safety Department of Correction Old Colony Correctional Center One Administration Rd. Bridgewater, MA 02324 Calls can be made to: Massachusetts Department of Correction (617) 727- 3400 or Old Colony Correctional Center (508) 697-3360. PRISON BRIEFS We've been facing down attacks from various plantation "administrators" because of our political activities. Our press has been withheld from captives at different kamps. One brother was put in the "hole" for a piece that he wrote on the Oklahoma City bombing by the right-wing reactionaries. Another brother was placed on "phone restriction" for calling the media. So these are some of the things that we must contend with. And this isolation isn't helping one bit. Nevertheless, just thought I'd "plug in". Press on and keep up the good work. Stand Firm --a Michigan prisoner, Sep. 17, 1995 The Texas prison system has gotten tougher on its inmates.... TDCJ is taking our locks, and if we want another we have to buy it for $10.50, at a $5.50 increase. After 20 years of selling locks in the Texas prisons, now they are dangerous. ...Price Daniels Unit also makes its own policy outside of TDCJ rules. Such as, prisoner are not allowed to have everyday cold pills or headache pills without a doctor's prescription. Yah right, as if the doctor will write one. Last week the doctor took a man's leg till he proved he needed and owned the leg. Like we steal legs every day. --a Texas prisoner, Nov. 25, 1995 Graterford Prison just had a major breakdown and shakedown. Dogs were jumping on the inmates' beds and other personal effects while the inmates stood outside their cells, butt-naked. They were treated like animals. Animals in a zoo are treated better, although I don't agree with locking up animals without a trial by jury. --a Pennsylvania prisoner, Dec. 7, 1995 VEGETARIAN HUNGER STRIKE ...As I have stressed to these people more than once, my diet cannot include "meat" since I am a strict vegetarian. These people have deliberately placed meat on my tray. MCC officials continue to disrespect my religion. Due to this strange but known tactic by officials, I have chosen not to eat until some kind of comprehensible understanding can be reached. I know without my medication and food, I will be seriously damaged for a long time....Standing Strong. --an Indiana prisoner, Dec. 8, 1995 PRISONER RECEIVED MIM NOTES AFTER BEING CENSORED I am in receipt of the latest MIM Notes.... I was contemplating whether or not I should inform you to discontinue forwarding the paper because of the prison's censorship policies. They have refused to allow the last two issues of MIM Notes to come in. However, I was blessed to receive the latest one that is now circulating amongst the other captives in this section. Our appreciation and solidarity always. --a California prisoner, Dec. 8, 1995 * * * ALLIANCE FOR JUSTICE FIGHTS NATIONAL OPPRESSION AT UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN The Alliance for Justice led a Unity March on MLK day, January 15. MIM congratulates the organizers for not relying on the pigs as students marched through the streets. Instead, students were organized to stop traffic and protect the marchers. The Unity march and rally marked the public announcement of the formation of the Alliance for Justice. The Alliance for Justice is made up of minority student organizations--the Black Student Union, Alianza, the University of Michigan (UM) chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Native American Student Association and the United Asian American Organization. The coalition group publicized its demands to UM on January 19th. The demands center around the criticism that the UM has failed to meet the needs of national minority students on campus, the lack of student input involved in decision- making, and the failure to develop ethnic studies programs.(1) The Alliance for Justice states that the University must focus on the retention of national minority students. The Alliance is demanding specific ethnic housing to be established immediately. Trotter House is not large enough to meet the needs of national minority students either for housing or for organizing events. Similarly, the immediate establishment of ethnic specific cultural centers is being demanded because currently national minorities are lumped together in inadequate facilities. The spokesperson for the BSU said that Trotter House has not gotten any larger but the Black population of students alone has doubled since the house was established. Another demand of the Alliance is to give money directly to national minority student organizations. The current problem is that the Office of Academic and Multicultural Initiatives and Minority Student Services leeches off the work of minority student organizations. For example, the University is supposed to put on a certain number of events dealing with education of national minorities. The student leaders from organizations work with the University and the above two university organizations to sponsor events, but the students are the ones doing the work when it is supposed to be the University increasing its education about oppressed minorities, not claiming credit for events that students are already organizing. The Alliance for Justice wants the University to create a student-picked student advisory board to meet with Minority Student Services once a month. At a forum held by the Alliance to discuss with students ways to support the Alliance and advance their demands, spokespeople for the Alliance said the office for Minority Student Services could not even describe its accomplishments in response to direct questions. Students should be able to see what MSS is doing for them, but they can't. The Alliance for Justice wants to revamp MSS to provide and increase services to students and organizations. LEARN FORM THE PAST AND EXPOSE THE HYPOCRITES MIM applauds the Alliance's statement that national minority students on campus have been ignored for too long and that it is time for demands to be met. The letter stating the Alliance's demands refers to gains won and lost by previous generations and correctly criticizes the University for dismantling students' victories from the past. MIM believes that it is essential to learn from past mistakes and to improve practice for the future so that activists today don't have to waste valuable time repeating the mistakes of our predecessors. For this reason, MIM sees it as essential that students fighting Universities must continue to expose the Universities' role in perpetuating oppression, at the same time as these students work to achieve immediate demands. MIM supports strategies to tie the University up in its own public image by pointing out that it babbles about multiculturalism while doing nothing to educate people about anything other than white history, culture, etc. and we emphasize the need to simultaneously develop foundations for students to understand the nature of the University's interests and the limits that these interests cause on the advancement that the Universities are willing to allow national minority students. In order to organize future student leaders to carry on struggles, the true nature of the University as an arm of the imperialists must be exposed. The University is a state institution which earns money for militarist research and for training militarists and entrepreneurs who will become rich through operating the high end of an unjust system. The University can temporarily redeem itself by meeting a set of demands (however stringent) for national minority education but it is up to younger leaders to keep the University in check and to advance the struggles of future national minority students. Revolutionary anti-imperialists have to keep in mind that reforming their universities is only effective as a means to create more room for education and organizations of the oppressed. This education and organization must be used in the struggle to dismantle the imperialist system that perpetuates the white supremacy of these educational institutions. Join MIM and RAIL in fighting to smash the imperialist system. NOTES: Write to MIM for a copy of the "Open letter to the University Community" for a detailed list of demands of the Alliance for Justice. * * * BLACK PANTHER PARTY HISTORY: SEALE LIES TO STUDENTS: "WE DID NOT SAY ANYTHING ABOUT ... SOCIALISM" ***Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panther Party (BPP) spoke at the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus on January 15th as part of the University's Martin Luther King, Jr. Day programs. Seale gave students an animated retelling of the BPP's struggles and emphasized that the young generation of activists must study and learn to use technology as a way to organize, educate and dispel lies about Black history. MIM agrees with Seale that the lessons of history are important, this is why we study the history of the BPP, our most immediate Maoist predecessors. Because we have studied the history of the Panthers, we know that much of what Seale now says about the Party is untrue and that he is in fact reversing many positions he took in his own book about the Black Panther Party, Seize the Time, published in 1968. Many former Communists now disavow Communism because they have much to gain materially from doing so. In Seale's case this material gain means speaking tours and book sales, and living a normal bourgeois life after having been a Maoist activist for many years. It is very important for genuine Maoists to be vigilant about degenerations such as Seale's because the bourgeoisie will use these people to its greatest advantage to discredit Communism and if we sit back and are slack in our responsibility to write our own history, we may as well be inviting the bourgeoisie to write it for us. MIM reviews Seale's speech here as part of our ongoing effort to educate and build public opinion in favor of Maoism in Amerika. We hope readers will join us in studying the true history of the Black Panther Party and building on the Party's legacy, rather than joining the BPP co-founder in trashing the Party's revolutionary history.*** Bobby Seale plugged his own work on a new movie about the BPP. He criticized Mario van Peebles, film Panther, saying that "90% of what was portrayed never happened." Seale charged that Panther "catered to the racist pattern of portraying us as hoodlums" by portraying Panthers as a bunch of street gang members. He emphasized the need to stop perpetuating myths about Black history in general and the Panthers specifically. MIM Notes reviewed the movie Panther when it came out and wrote that while it was not fully accurate (and included some dramatized fiction) it was better for people to watch that film than nothing at all about the BPP. The story line for the first half of the movie bears a striking resemblance to Seize the Time, so if Seale really thinks this stuff never happened, we'd be interested in hearing what he was trying to do when he wrote the book. REWRITING HISTORY TO SERVE THE BOURGEOISIE Seale explained that the BPP grew out of the Black intelligentsia. He explained that the BPP's consciousness developed from tracing the real history of Blacks in the United Snakes and Africa and developing a criticism of the education of Black history as historically inaccurate. Seale said that human liberation is 50% knowledge, meaning we must understand our history to change it. MIM can't account for the percentage, but understanding the history of class struggle, colonialism, imperialism and patriarchy is essential to the development of revolutionary change. Even while he advocates revolutionary struggle as a means of advancing political activity, Seale is working to derail this process. Seale argued that if you want to end police brutality, you have to capture the imagination of the people and organize electorally. He also said that this was the plan of the Panthers all along: "Notice that we did not say anything about command economies or socialism." The program for Seale's talk said: "Seale changed the agenda of the Black Panthers from that of revolutionary activism to one of community action programs." This is not true, the Black Panther Party was the Maoist vanguard in Amerika in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The Black Panther Party had a Ten Point Platform and Program of revolutionary activism which ran in every issue of The Black Panther, the Party's weekly newspaper. The Program was composed of goals of national self- determination: exempting Black people from trial and judgment by a white injustice system, granting Black people the right to decent housing and an education which "exposes the true nature of this decadent American society." The BPP's work included some revolutionary reforms in the shape of the Free Breakfast for Schoolchildren Program, free grocery distribution, free community medical care programs and Freedom Schools which educated Black children about Black history. The Party showed the people through practice that communal activism was an effective way to meet their needs when capitalism failed. The Communist Party of Peru (PCP) and the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) are surviving vanguard parties that simultaneously meet the needs of the People and work to tear down terrorist regimes. The Panthers were the first party in Amerika to apply Mao's understanding that revolutions are only won by organizing the power of the masses. MIM also criticizes the manner in which Seale portrayed Huey Newton. Seale said that Newton was not involved in the rapid growth of the BPP because Newton was in jail and it was Seale who was organizing Black communities. Seale portrayed Newton as a man who could recite the law well, but degenerated because he was not out organizing the people. Given Seale's revisionism on the rest of the Panthers' history, MIM doesn't buy his analysis of how Huey degenerated, though it is clear that Huey did degenerate because he was not doing good work for 15 years preceding his death. Seale said many times that we should "make sure that ideas correspond to reality." He argued that the world is too interconnected to advocate separation of peoples, but did not say to what extent he was advocating integrationism. MIM believes that the primary contradiction today is between the oppressed nations and imperialism. This means that it is the revolutionary duty of oppressed nations to fight for national self- determination. We work to develop independent institutions of the oppressed because we know that integration without liberation only perpetuates the dictatorship of the imperialist bourgeoisie which is currently in power. LITERATURE FOR LIBERATION Bobby Seale has written a cookbook, Barbeque'n with Bobby, whose proceeds go to neighborhood renovation in Philadelphia. Given Seale's current approach to politics--electoralism and integrationism--MIM doesn't think buying this cookbook to help forward the former Panther's political agenda is much of a political investment. Readers who are interested in advancing progressive politics in Amerika should support MIM's Free Books for Prisoners program instead. We are working to meet the educational needs of comrades under lock and key because the Amerikan prison system denies them access to materials for studying history, economics and theory: send revolutionary reading materials, cash, check or money order to either address on page 2. We have asked Bobby Seale to help get us copies of the new edition of Seize the Time free or at a discount in order to send them to comrades in prison. You can get a copy of Seale's book from Bobby Seale, P.O. Box 4138, Philadelphia, PA 19144. MIM asks that you also write him to convince him to help with MIM's Books for Prisoners program. * * * RAIL PROTESTS GULF WAR VILLAIN ***On January 31 a crowd of activists protested outside a speech given by Amerika's Gulf War commander, Norman Schwarzkopf, on the campus of the University of Southern California. The protest was organized independently by the Revolutionary Anti- Imperialist League (RAIL) and USC's Muslim Student Association. The protesters defied rain and the pro-militarist audience in order to demonstrate their opposition to the Gulf War and the continued Amerikan presence in the Persian Gulf. Protesters carried banners which said, "U.S. is Guilty of War Crimes," and "700,000 killed for profit;" RAIL supporters also passed out informational flyers and discussed the reasons for the protest with audience members and passers-by. A supposedly "progressive" and "alternative" weekly with a large circulation, the Los Angeles Reader, exposed its true colors. Not only did the Reader fail to publicize the information on the rally which RAIL sent them, but it instead gave free publicity to Schwarzkopf's lecture itself, complete with ticket prices and purchasing information.(1) The following article is an edited version of the flyer the RAIL activists distributed.*** U.S. OUT OF THE PERSIAN GULF! Five years ago in January the United Snakes of Amerika launched its largest military operation since Vietnam: The Gulf War. Like the war in Vietnam, the invasion of Panama, and "covert" U.S. intervention in Chile, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, this war was fought to extend U.S. economic and political power--in this case, power over the oil reserves in the Persian Gulf and the whole Middle East. More than 200,000 people died as a direct result of the bombing and the invasion and more than 500,000 Iraqi children have died because of damage to the civilian infrastructure and the economic embargo on Iraq.(2) THE MYTH OF AMERIKA'S "ALTRUISTIC" MOTIVES EXPOSED The United Snakes claims that it besieged, bombed and invaded Iraq in order to "oppose aggression and dictatorship." This is not true. The United Snakes itself has a history of aggression and invasion (Vietnam, Panama, etc.) and regularly turns a blind eye when one of its allies invades a neighbor. Turkey invaded Cyprus, displacing 200,000; Israel invaded Lebanon and killed 20,000; Indonesia invaded East Timor and killed 200,000--the United Snakes had nothing to say about its friends acts of aggression, and continues to send them lots of aid. The United Snakes also has a long history of supporting dictators in foreign countries and then ousting them when they become too independent or too ineffective: Ngo Diem in Vietnam, Marcos in the Philippines, Noriega in Panama, and of course Saddam Hussein himself. The United Snakes had nothing to say when Hussein killed 20,000 Kurds with poison gas (Amerika was supporting Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war at the time), but when Hussein invaded Kuwait (500 people died, according to Amnesty International) and threatened to disrupt Amerikan control of Middle East oil reserves, the United Snakes sent in its troops.(3) THE GULF WAR WAS AN ATROCITY Once the United Snakes decided to defend its interests in a big way, a negotiated settlement could not be enough. The U.S. military planned and carried out a brutal operation against the Iraqi military and people. The Pentagon admits that army bulldozers buried thousands of Iraqi soldiers alive during the first hours of the ground offensive.(4) Thousands of retreating soldiers were killed when Amerikan planes bombed the highway leading north from Kuwait City. The carnage was so great that even the Amerikan pilots called this highway the "Highway of Death"(5) The Iraqi soldiers had nothing to gain from this war--even if they won--but they lost everything anyway. UNITED SNAKES IS NO FRIEND OF THE IRAQI PEOPLE The economic and political situation for the majority of the Iraqi people has worsened. Even before the war began, international doctors' groups claimed that the economic blockade of Iraq had doubled the infant mortality rate.(6) Now doctors estimate that the infant mortality rate has quintupled.(2) U.S. bombers directly targeted water and sewage treatment plants during the war, which caused outbreaks of cholera and typhus.(7) The bombings and the blockade have also caused a severe food shortage, and as many as 3.5 million people in Iraq suffer from malnutrition.(8) TO THE VICTORS GO THE SPOILS After the Gulf War, U.S. imperialists deepened their ties with allied states in the region and got juicy new economic deals. Aside from renewed Amerikan investment in the oil industry in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, U.S. companies got 70% of the contracts for the rebuilding of Kuwait.(9) The U.S. military was guaranteed a massive presence in the Middle East and used the war to justify its role as "world cop," which allows it to threaten "Rogue Nations" (read: Third World countries which refuse to take Washington's orders) with invasion. In fact, the U.S. military recently expanded its presence in the Persian Gulf, saying that the Iraqi "threat" could only be minimized "as long as the United States is there."(10) Currently, about 13,000 Amerikkkan military personnel and 40 U.S. warships are stationed in the Persian Gulf. Every day, Amerikkkan aircraft fly more than 100 sorties over southern Iraq.(11) THE REAL CULPRIT: IMPERIALISM The Gulf War was part of Amerika's struggle to defend the political and economic system which sucks raw materials and labor out of the Third World and leaves it impoverished. For example: U.S. companies encourage the production of cash export crops like coffee and bananas instead of staples like rice or beans, to the point where entire countries cannot feed themselves. As a result, 14 million children die of malnutrition every year in the capitalist Asian countries alone.(12) And in order to preserve "stable" conditions for Amerikan investment, the U.S. government sends money and military advisors to repressive regimes waging "low intensity war" against their own people. The U.S. is currently involved in such wars in the Philippines, Palestine, and Kurdistan, to name a few. The oppressed peoples of the world can work economic and political miracles when they are allowed to manage their own affairs and develop economies to suit their own needs, not the whims of international finance. U.S. military intervention serves to bolster the exploitation of these nations and cannot bring democracy or peace--not in Iraq, not in Somalia, not in Haiti, not in Bosnia. Build public opinion against the Gulf War and all imperialist wars! Take a stand on the side of the majority of humanity and oppose Amerikan imperialism and its lackeys! NOTES: 1. Los Angeles Reader, Jan. 26, 1996, p. 33. 2. New York Times, Dec. 1, 1995. 3. Z Magazine, Feb. 91, p. 55. 4. Detroit News, Sept. 31, 1991. 5. PBS Documentary, Jan. 14, 1996. 6. Washington Post, Dec. 15, 1990. 7. BBC World Service, Mar. 22, 1991. 8. UNICEF Report, Sept. 1995. 9. NYT, Feb. 28, 1991. 10. Daily Bruin, Jan. 15, 1996. 11. Daily Bruin, Jan. 16, 1996. 12. World Military and Social Expenditures, 1987- 88, p. 25. * * * STATE-CAPITALIST RULE BETRAYS CHINESE WOMEN'S LIBERATION Since China changed course after 1976, heading away from socialism and toward capitalism, things have gotten worse for women in many ways; patriarchy there is growing continuously more acute. Last August, as the revisionist Chinese regime hosted the United Nationsí conference on women, it released a "Program for the Development of Chinese Women," no more radical than most bourgeois democratic governmentsí goals for equality of women, and full of lies. Although it pledges that "Chinese women will be more involved in decision- making and management of state and government affairs," Chinese womenís minimal representation in China's governing political bodies shows that the opposite is happening. The Program also talks about increasing women's employment and equal pay for equal work, the numbers contradict that lie as well. With regard to family relations, rather than fundamentally changing patriarchal family relations and collectivizing the work done by women, as was widely attempted in the socialist era, the Program merely calls for husbands and wives to share housework.(5) Politically, women are losing representation in leading governing bodies. The percentages of women in the National People's Congress, formally the highest governing body in the country (established after 1949), and the NPC's Standing Committee, peaked during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR). But womenís position in the NPC has declined since Maoís death.(1) NPC NPC-SC 1954 12.0 5.0 1959 12.2 6.3 1964 17.8 17.4 1975 22.6 25.1 1978 21.2 19.4 1994 21.0 12.3 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR: 1966-1976) was the greatest attempt ever at eliminating patriarchy and liberating women. Many advances made during this time have been rolled back by the capitalist-roaders who came to power in 1976. By the time of the Women's Congress held in 1978, the shift was clear. "Strikingly absent [at the Congress] was discussion of the need for women to struggle against wide historical, social, and economic forces that perpetuated female inequality in Chinese Society."(2) By 1980, Phyllis Andors concluded: "The present attempts to identify women with home and family and certain kinds of jobs . . . must be considered a retreat from the goals of female emancipation . . ."(3) In the new attempts to develop a "socialist market economy,î women are suffering disproportionately, although of course most men are as well. "Women are taking it on the chin in China's new, profit- oriented workplace," reports the Toronto Globe and Mail. "With the cracking of the renowned 'iron rice bowl' of guaranteed employment, they're the first fired and the last hired by firms worried that potential maternity benefits and time off for breast feeding will affect their bottom line. Women now account for 70% of layoffs in China." Further, "There are no women on either the powerful Politburo or the Standing Committee of the State Council. Only 12 of the Communist Party's 189- member Central Committee are women."(4) President Jiang Zemin has supported the continued burden of reproduction on women. Xinhua reported of Jiang: "He also stressed the work of women who, he said, have the dual responsibilities of social production and reproduction of the mankind." For "women's liberation," he recommended family planning rather than fundamentally altering women's roles.(6) Family planning is a good thing, but womenís liberation requires comprehensive structural and social change. In contrast to the phony Maoist program of the reactionary Chinese regime, MIMís revolutionary feminist line demands that we work to lift the burden of reproduction from women, as it is a cornerstone of gender oppression. This is possible to a great extent even as long as women remain child-bearers, but it requires a revolutionary feminist struggle against patriarchal social relations--a task long since dropped from the agenda of the reactionary Chinese regime. NOTES: 1. NPC from Wei Chang-ling, Status of Women, China. Bangkok: Unesco Principal Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, 1989. NPC-SC from Elizabeth Croll, Chinese Women Since Mao, (London: Zed), 1983. 1994 figures from "The Situation of Chinese Women," Information Office of the Chinese State Council, June 1994, as distributed over Internet by Zhiwei Xu (zxu@monalisa.ucs.edu). 2. Phyllis Andors, The Unfinished Liberation of Chinese Women 1949-1980, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press), 1983. p. 153. 3. Ibid., 169. 4. Toronto Globe and Mail Aug. 30, 1995. 5. Xinhua News Agency Aug. 7, 1995. 6. Xinhua News Agency Mar. 19, 1995. * * * ECONOMIST MAGAZINE: THE PCP IS STILL IN BUSINESS One is more likely to find some truth in The Economist than in the average pro-imperialist news source. The reason is that The Economist aims to provide useful information to its core audience, bourgeois internationalist investors--information they can use to make educated business decisions. Notably, the Economist is based in London, the world center of bourgeois internationalism (that is, more international trade is conducted in London than in New York, Tokyo, or elsewhere).(1) So while most of the imperialist media unquestioningly spreads the Fujimori regime's lie that the Maoist Communist Party of Peru (PCP or Sendero Luminoso) has been defeated, The Economist qualifies the usual lies with the following: "We're still in business. That is the message from Peru's Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) guerrillas....[T]he [Peruvian] government appears rattled. It has used its influence to play down reports of Shining Path attacks....[The PCP] and the fierce counter- insurgency measures they inspire are clearly not finished yet."(2) --MC49 NOTES: 1. The Economist September 23, 1995, p. 64. 2. The Economist July 29, 1995, pp. 30-31. * * * BOSNIA LIE EXPOSED "Gen. Charles Boyd, recently retired from the U.S. Air Force and deputy commander in chief of U.S. European Command between 1992 and July of this year, has a striking piece...in the September/October issue of Foreign Affairs. The arms embargo on Bosnia, Boyd observes, has long been a fiction, with the United States insuring a steady flow."(1) The selective enforcement of the arms embargo, or the existence of it in theory only, is a policy which allows the United Snakes to formally claim neutrality. In practice however, the US has been backing the Muslims to ensure themselves economic control in the Balkan region. The arms embargo is a way to impede the supply of arms to enemies of US interest (the Serbs and at one time the Croats). In addition, Amerika can use the so-called embargo as a political safety net nationally and internationally to perpetuate its fictitious image as world protector of "democracy" and human rights. NOTES: Alexander Cockburn, The Nation Magazine Oct. 16, 1995, p. 411. * * * FLORIDA CRACKS DOWN ON ANTI-PRISONS ACTIVISTS ***As revolutionary consciousness grows among the more than one million people held captive in Amerika's gulags (evidenced by recent continent- wide prison uprisings), and support for their struggle against daily brutality and exploitation grows on the outside, the Amerikan state takes notice and retaliates. In Jacksonville, Fla. the state is targeting activists from the Jacksonville Anarchist Black Cross, a group which has been active in support of political prisoners. MIM first redistributed the following article by the Brew City Anti-Authoritarian Collective on the Internet, and reprints it here as a statement of support for all forces fighting the imperialist aggression of the prison system.*** POLITICAL PRISONER SUPPORT GROUP ARRESTED IN JACKSONVILLE, FL by Brew City Anti-Authoritarian Collective On January 12, 1996 more than 22 SWAT and Jacksonville tactical police raided the home of members of a political prisoner support organization, Jacksonville Anarchist Black Cross, and arrested Robert Cluesman. During the raid Jacksonville police searched the entire house without a warrant and without the consent of Cluesman or the other three persons inside the house. The police detained the three other occupants in one room while confiscating 2 legally owned shotguns, political literature, computer disks, spray paint and stencils. Officials claimed that all of these items were being held as evidence in an ongoing investigation. Aside from very legal support for political prisoners, Jacksonville ABC and the Youth Action Movement have been noted for their positive work in the community. They have regularly operated a free food and literature distribution in the city of Jacksonville. The local media ran several supportive interviews after the initial raid. On January 24 at around 8:15 pm, the Jacksonville police re-raided the home. Unlike the first raid, this time the officers came with warrants for the arrest of three Jacksonville ABC members, Rob Cluesman, Justin Tichy and Chris Herndon. Police arrested Cluesman at their home and arrested Tichy and Herndon at the workplaces. All three have been charged with Criminal Mischief which is a felony in Florida. They face over $3,500 in fines and 2 years in prison each. Their bail has been set at $10,000 each or 10% of that amount cash each. A request has been made for people to please forward donations to NJ ABC at the address below to help secure bail and start a fund for legal fees. At present they are without legal representation and it is needed -- if you can offer your help please contact NJ ABC at the phone number below. This is a very serious situation. This repression comes as a direct result of the political activity and efforts in the community by Jacksonville ABC and the Youth Action Movement. Most of Jacksonville ABC are currently being held by the state so all inquiries and funds for now should be directed toward NJ ABC at: New Jersey Anarchist Black Cross, Post Office Box 8532, Paterson, NJ 07508-8532. Office phone: 201-357-0994. email: pacnjabc@aol.com * * * FASCISM GAINS GROUND IN LOUISIANA Patrick Buchanan won the Louisiana Republican Party caucuses on February 6th and gained 13 out of 21 delegates. To do so, he had to beat the better- funded Senator Phil Gramm. One card that Buchanan had up his sleeve was the endorsement of fascist and former Nazi and Klan leader David Duke. Buchanan is also the only Republican candidate for president who opposes NAFTA and the latest GATT treaty. As MIM Notes pointed out in February (See "Buchanan steals phony Marxist thunder"), Buchanan believes the best strategy to preserve the status quo is to oppose "free trade" and support the middle-class workers MIM calls "labor aristocracy." As the perfect anti-feminist, Buchanan puts preserving the family institution above the usual capitalist shibboleth of "free trade" as the center of his reactionary strategy. Buchanan television commercials emphasize "Keep American jobs on American soil." As MIM has said all along, the phony Marxists can be seen doing the same thing as Buchanan and David Duke. They openly attack Mexican workers with regard to NAFTA and they encourage Amerikan workers to pit themselves against all the world's workers with regard to GATT treaties. The phony Marxists are not really fighting the far right. They are clearing the way for it. Now David Duke gains legitimacy not just from the majority of whites in Louisiana who voted for him for governor in the second-to-last governor's election, but also his message gets added vindication from phony Marxists who avoid the reality that the majority of workers here are bought-off allies of imperialism. The reason the Amerikans want to keep "their jobs" is that they know they have the white-collar work at overpaid salaries that is gained at the expense of the world's majority of workers. NOTES: New York Times Feb. 8 1996, p. B12. * * * THAT VOTING DOLLAR: AMERIKAN PRESIDENCY GOES TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER FEBRUARY 15--It appears that Steve Forbes, publisher of Forbes Magazine--a self-proclaimed "capitalist tool"--is close to winning the U.S. presidency. After decades of proclaiming that greed is good and that inheritances like Steve Forbes's should not be taxed away, the Republican candidates losing ground to Forbes, who has spent over $10 million in television ads, are complaining about the presidency being "for sale." For decades candidates Buchanan, Dole and Gramm have been telling us that capitalism is good, that the money one earns through using the system is indicative of one's worth and that the capitalists should be able to spend their money any way they please without government regulation. Now that they might be losing an election to a rich newcomer, these candidates talk like they are the most oppressed proletarians on the face of the earth. Dole said: "'what we're trying to do is defend ourselves. . . I'm playing a little defense after 10 million dollars worth of Bob Dole bashing.'" Most of the candidates already knew that the government is for sale or rent, as proven by their own assiduous fund-raising. Bob Dole has received his largest sums from gambling interests and has been Mr. Agrofuel for decades. Phil Gramm receives his largest donations from medical interests opposed to national health insurance and from the National Rifle Association. Lamar Alexander is the trickiest of them all: he appears on the surface to be funded by various Tennessee interests who just want a president from Tennessee, but his donations are the largest from individuals of unnamed sources. Now Steve Forbes spends his personal wealth on television ads and the columnists all rise up to say he is "rewriting the rules" of presidential campaigns. He seems to have had little activist Republican support, just a way with television ads. Ross Perot did the same thing in 1992, before he lost credibility by quitting the race for president. Phony Marxists would say the "working class" voters are being fooled by Perot and Forbes, but MIM says everyone knows how highly Perot and Forbes rank among the rich. The labor aristocracy knows that Perot and Forbes are blatantly pro- capitalist, and chooses them with the thought that only the super-rich cannot be bought-off by particular interests. Phil Gramm, Alan Keyes, Richard Lugar, Lamar Alexander and Patrick Buchanan all would cut or eliminate estate taxes. At the same time these candidates are now complaining that Forbes is buying the presidency. Former candidate Senator Arlen Specter from Pennsylvania says, "'somebody is trying to buy the White House, and apparently it is for sale.'" New Right theorist Kevin Phillips noticed the same thing a long time ago and has written books and essays on the subject. Jerry Brown made it an issue in his campaign in 1992, but none of these politicians admit that the socialists are correct about how so-called democracy works under capitalism. They give us no reason to believe that this is not a permanent and inherent problem of capitalism. One of the largest reasons political democracy does not work in Amerika is that money talks. In practice, the capitalist class gets what it wants, and we call it a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. From MIM's point of view, since more than half the federal government spending is on the military and foreign policy related to meddling in other governments' affairs, the oppressed masses of the Third World should get a vote too. That would be a step forward for so-called democracy. NOTES: Boston Globe Jan. 31, 1996, pp. 8, 10-11, 13.
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