I N T E R N E T ' S M A O I S T BI-M O N T H L Y = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = XX XX XXX XX XX X X XXX XXX XXX XXX X X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X V X X X V X X X X X X X XX XXX X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X XXX X X X V XXX X XXX XXX = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT MIM Notes 118 JULY 15, 1996 MIM Notes speaks to and from the viewpoint of the world's oppressed majority, and against the imperialist-patriarchy. Pick it up and wield it in the service of the people. support it, struggle with it and write for it. IN THIS ISSUE: 1. ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION AND GENOCIDE SPUR RESISTANCE IN THE PHILIPPINES 2. LETTERS: SALUTATIONS AND CONGRATULATIONS TO MIM ON PERU SOLIDARITY WORK 3. ELECTIONS: WHAT GOOD ARE THEY? 4. MOVE WINS TRIAL AGAINST AMERIKA 5. THE PEOPLE FIGHT STATE-SANCTIONED EXECUTIONS IN MISSOURI 6. INDIGENOUS HAWAIIANS PROTEST PHONY REPARATIONS 7. CULTURE PAGE: TIMOTHY LEARY AND *I SHOT ANDY WARHOL* 8. FLORIDA ANTI-PRISONS ACTIVISTS FACE FELONY CHARGES 9. COPS PROTECT FASCISTS, REVISIONISTS PROTECT IMPERIALISM 10. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS 11. FBI STEPS UP SURVEILLANCE AND REPRESSION 12. MORE PIG BRUTALITY IN NEW YORK 13. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION SETBACK IN TEXAS 14. PEOPLE'S MEDIA NEEDED FOR PROTEST COVERAGE * * * WHAT IS MIM? The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a revolutionary communist party that upholds Marxism- Leninism-Maoism, comprising the collection of existing or emerging Maoist internationalist parties in the English-speaking imperialist countries and their English-speaking internal semi- colonies, as well as the existing or emerging Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish- speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM. MIM is an internationalist organization that works from the vantage point of the Third World proletariat; thus, its members are not Amerikans, but world citizens. MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM knows this is only possible by building public opinion to seize power through armed struggle. Revolution is a reality for North America as the military becomes over-extended in the government's attempts to maintain world hegemony. MIM differs from other communist parties on three main questions: (1) MIM holds that after the proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution, the potential exists for capitalist restoration under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within the communist party itself. In the case of the USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in 1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural Revolution as the farthest advance of communism in human history. (3) MIM believes the North American white-working-class is primarily a non- revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in this country. MIM accepts people as members who agree on these basic principles and accept democratic centralism, the system of majority rule, on other questions of party line. "The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is universally applicable. We should regard it not as dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is not merely a matter of learning terms and phrases, but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of revolution." -- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208 * * * ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION AND GENOCIDE SPUR RESISTANCE IN THE PHILIPPINES On March 28 toxic mine wastes poured from a broken drainage tunnel of the Marinduque Copper Mining Corporation (Marcopper) in the Philippines. The six- foot-deep flowing sludge contaminated several townships' water supply and stranded at least 130 families.(1) This disaster was a predictable result of the U.S.- Ramos regime's "Philippines 2000" economic plan and its Mining Act of 1995. Philippine President Ramos claims that "Philippines 2000" will make the Philippines a "newly industrialized country" by the turn of the century, but in reality the plan will preserve the backwardness and poverty of the economy and ensure that big monopoly capital controls the resources and peoples of the Philippines. MINING ACT BRINGS IMPERIALIST EXPLOITATION... As MIM previously reported (MN114), the Mining Act of 1995 tears down all remaining safeguards on the Philippines' mineral resources. It allows foreign companies to repatriate 100% of all profits, and gives each control over a minimum of 247,000 acres of land for a minimum of 25 years. The companies also receive the timber and water rights to the lands they control. Imperialist corporations quickly jumped at the chance to penetrate further into the Philippines. Two Australian mining conglomerates already have contracts with the Philippine government under the terms of the Mining Act. ARIMCO corporation has its claws on the rich lands of Nueva Viscaya, in Luzon, and the Western Mining Corporation is exploring lands in Southern Mindanao. There are 67 more contracts pending, giving the imperialists potential control of 6.7 million hectares of land, or 22% of the Philippines' total area.(2) ...ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE... Aside from stealing the resources and exploiting the labor of the Filipino people, the large scale operation of big mining firms causes immediate and long- lasting environmental damage. Bulk mining methods cause irreversible damage to the land and water supply and greatly affect the livelihood of peasants and fisher folk. The disaster in Marinduque forced the evacuation of 1,295 residents. At least 189 cases of respiratory ailments and diarrhea were reported after the toxic mine wastes swept through the town of Boac and killed the town's river. The disaster was hardly extra-ordinary. Marcopper has dumped about 20 million cubic meters of waste into the Marinduque Bay and has repeatedly violated environmental safeguards. The Philippine government, always looking to please big investors, consistently looks the other way. Marcopper officials admitted that the latest tunnel leak began last year. But the government and the company ignored appeal from local residents to do something to stop it.(1) ...AND GENOCIDE The indigenous peoples of the mountainous Cordillera region of Luzon are particularly hard hit by "Philippines 2000" and the Mining Act. In the name of "development" the Ramos government is destroying their ancestral land or forcing them from it, which amounts to genocide. More than 50% of the Cordillera region may soon be under the control of various foreign companies, including the Amerikan Newmont Mining Corporation and the Canadian TVI Group Co. Mining companies regularly use armed force to evict people. In several cases indigenous peoples have barricaded their community and fought back when the companies came to seize their land. The U.S.-Ramos regime also plans to build at least two "megadams" in the Cordilleras: the San Roque dam in Benguet province and the Casecnan Dam in Nueva Viscaya province. Both projects require indigenous peoples be "relocated." In many cases, those slated for "relocation" have already been displaced by earlier dam projects. The dams will also harm the people who are not immediately evicted. In the case of the Casecnan dam, about 300,000 acres of land near the dam will be declared as a watershed, making hunting and kaigin farming-- the main livelihood of the people living there-- illegal. Imperialist monopoly capital has a hand in these dam projects as well. An Amerikan firm, California Energy, owns 70% of the consortium building the Casecnan dam.(3) RESISTANCE The National Democratic movement in the Philippines continues to mobilize the people of the Philippines against imperialism. Mass organizations like the May First Movement and the Cordillera Peoples' Alliance have launched broad campaigns to educate people about the Mining Act and have organized strikes and protests against leading mining companies like Marcopper. The New People's Army (NPA), which is led by the Communist Party of the Philippines, continues to wage Protracted People's War to overthrow the toadying U.S.- Ramos regime and replace it with an anti-imperialist and socialist government. According to mainstream media sources, the NPA attacked a helicopter in Nueva Viscaya province on June 5, killing a Canadian geologist working for ARIMCO. The geologist, Colin Spence, was conducting an aerial survey for the mining company. In so doing, Spence was directly aiding the mining company's plans to increase the exploitation and oppression of the people of the Philippines. This makes him a legitimate target for the people's army. The Venerando Villacillo Operational Command of the NPA operates throughout Nueva Viscaya. The attack on the helicopter supposedly took place near one of the NPA's bases.(4) Regardless of the actuality of this incident, the NPA is following the correct course for saving the people and the environment that sustains them: fighting anti-imperialist war for self- determination. NOTES: 1. Balitang BAYAN (People's News), Mar-Apr 1996. 2. BAYAN resolution, March 22, 1996. 3. Hapit, Official Publication of the Cordillera Peoples' Alliance, Jan-Apr 1996. 4. Philippines Diary, June 6, 1996. * * * LETTERS SALUTATIONS AND CONGRATULATIONS TO MIM ON PERU SOLIDARITY WORK Dear MIM, We are happy to receive the news that the Peruvian comrades abroad encourage us to continue our work to build support for the Peruvian revolution. It's significant that the masses around the world know that the PCP advances the people's revolution with unity. Discrediting the lies and rumors spread by cops and opportunists is an important contribution to the people's war in Peru and to proletarian internationalism. We enthusiastically look forward to spreading news and building support for our comrades in struggle in Peru. In struggle and solidarity, MORAIL * * * ELECTIONS: WHAT GOOD ARE THEY? 23 June--RAIL hosted a debate this evening on elections as a strategy and tactic for liberation with a representative from the Universal African American Peoples Organization. In attendance were reps from the All African Peoples Revolutionary Party (A-APRP), the Greens, and a number of unaffiliated persons. A Missouri RAIL (MORAIL) comrade began the evening with greetings and stressed the importance of unity-struggle-unity as we proceed in debate. MORAIL began the debate saying that "elections in a white-settler state are anything but democratic for the poor and oppressed." The capitalist ruling class sets the agenda: time, candidates, and issues. That's why the oppressed can't get any power through the electoral arena. The ruling class never has and never will give up power via the ballot box. The UAAOPO comrade expressed agreement with RAIL on a number of points. S/he recognized the value of the Black Panther Party's legacy and Lenin. Also, money and wealth control the electoral process. "It's hard to find anti-imperialist candidates." But s/he argued that circumstances call for using the electoral tactic. With the recent increased attack on the Black nation, the comrade asserted it's time to "bite, scratch and kick," to fight, quoting Malcolm, "by any means necessary." The comrade called on revolutionaries to "triple your efforts." Having said that, the comrade also understands that true liberation cannot be achieved through bourgeois elections. Nonetheless, s/he is supporting a candidate for circuit attorney in order to combat police brutality. The A-APRP member agreed with the goal of self- determination and national liberation from white supremacy. But, s/he pointed out, the electoral tactic of working with the Democratic or Republican parties stifles the development of consciousness. It confuses the people, sending the message that the person in office is the problem, rather than the capitalist structure itself. The vanguard must change the message to people's principle's, and the electoral system obscures this message. This is crucial because the masses must take up the banner of revolution; for only the masses can take action and bring about change. A MORAIL comrade observed that while Blacks have increased their positions in elected offices in Amerika to 10,000, the attack on the internal colonies in Amerika has increased at the same time. RAIL maintains that elections are not an effective avenue for struggle at this time, under these conditions. A Green Party representative spoke of the poisonous environmental damage that imperialism perpetrates, and advocated ballot initiatives as a tactic to combat it. RAIL sees advancing the struggles of oppressed nations as the best way to save the environment. And in the course of discussion, we learned that this Green Party comrade has supported oppressed nation struggles many times. We all agreed on the importance of building independent media of and for the oppressed, and that in order to win people's democracy, not phony bourgeois democracy, the imperialist white supremacist system must be smashed. Everyone used this opportunity to speak out. And RAIL will continue to provide forums for debate and discussion on issues vital to the oppressed, building public opinion in favor of the oppressed. MIM adds: It is important to also talk about the correct political line behind the correct strategy. The A-APRP does not support Marxism-Leninism-Maoism as the most advanced revolutionary line. Instead they uphold a pseudo-socialist ideology they call Pan-Africanist Nkrumahism-Tureism which includes support for many revisionist and non-revolutionary regimes. While we agree with the A-APRP on the question of elections as a strategy for overthrowing imperialism, we do not agree on what is the most effective strategy for overthrowing imperialism or on what is genuine socialism. CORRECTIONS: In MIM Notes 116, (June 15, 1996) we referred to the Communist Party of Peru (PCP) as the Peruvian Communist Party. This was an error, as the "Peruvian Communist Party" is the English translation of different party with Soviet revisionist politics. * * * MOVE WINS TRIAL AGAINST AMERIKA On June 24th a federal jury ordered the city of Philadelphia to pay $1.5 million to Ramona Africa, only adult survivor of the 1985 police bombing of the MOVE organization, and others, relatives of two dead MOVE members. Police bombing of the house of the radical political MOVE organization killed 11 people and destroyed 61 homes in the neighborhood. This court case provides small reparations for the death and destruction caused by the city of Philadelphia. As MIM Notes has reported in the past, the motivations for this bombing were clearly political. MOVE has consistently organized on the side of the oppressed, fighting police brutality, prison repression and other imperialist repression. Members were unarmed during the entire conflict with the police and when some tried to leave the house and surrender prior to the bombing they were shot at by police. Ramona Africa was the sole adult survivor of the bombing, and was subsequently tried and jailed for terrorism and conspiracy--the very crimes of the police. In addition to the money awarded for pain and suffering to Ramona Africa and the surviving relatives of some of those who were killed in the bombing, the jury also ordered former Fire Commissioner William Richmond and former Police Commissioner Gregore Sambor to pay Ramona Africa token damages of $1 a week for 11 years. There is no way to put a price on the lives of the MOVE members murdered by the pigs in the bombing in 1985. But court victories like this one are an important step in exposing the brutality and injustice of Amerikan imperialism, and the few that are won can provide important financial resources to revolutionaries. MIM hopes that Ramona Africa will continue to put her time and money into causes of the oppressed. The lives of so many in the oppressed nations in this country and around the world have also been lost to less spectacular police brutality, imperialist imprisonment, and other imperialist violence. These injustices will never be paid for in court. Reparations for all of this injustice can only began to be won once imperialism has been overthrown and replaced by socialism. Work with, fund, and join MIM to fight against the daily murders by the imperialists. * * * THE PEOPLE FIGHT STATE-SANCTIONED EXECUTIONS IN MISSOURI by a RAIL comrade June 14-16: A group of activists made a 50-mile walk for justice from St. Louis to the Potosi Correctional Center in Mineral Point, MO, where Missouri death row inmates are imprisoned, to protest and stop the execution of Thomas Battle. Battle is scheduled for execution on August 7. Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon ordered five executions last year, a record for the state of Missouri. Groups such as the New Life Evangelistic Center and the Missouri Coalition Against the Death Penalty have become more active to end the death penalty as a result of this state-sanctioned slaughter. Jefferson County police harassed the walkers along the way, arresting one on bogus charges of missing a 1994 court date for a traffic violation. For this, the pigs handcuffed her and took her to jail. The arresting officer put on a bullet-proof vest while holding her in custody, and said "When you see a Black man and a white man walking down the road, you know they're up to no good." Battle was convicted of the rape, robbery, and murder of an 30 year-old woman. On September 18, 1981, Thomas Battle was sentenced to death by legal injection. Evidence proving Battle's innocence was suppressed or disallowed in the trial and appellate courts. Battle's illegally obtained videotaped confession was allowed as evidence during the trial. Battle's original state-appointed lawyer was incompetent and did not pursue leads that could prove his innocence. The state of Missouri refused to allow jurors who opposed the death penalty, contrary to a US Supreme Court case, Wainwright vs. Witt, that says that the state cannot do that. Of course, jurors are routinely kept off of juries by prosecutors because of their political views about the death penalty. Battle's case is typical in a number of ways. Being Black and lacking money for a competent lawyer, he wound up on a death row. While 12% of Amerika's population is Black, over half of Amerika's prison population is Black, almost half of Amerika's prisoners on death row are Black, and almost half of those executed since 1976 have been Black. RAIL agrees with the broad range of activists that the death penalty should be abolished. But in addition, we say that the u.s. injustice system, prison system and police are imperialist terrorists and have no right and no moral authority to arrest, prosecute or imprison people. Their purpose is oppression, and they do nothing to deal with problems of drugs and violence in Black communities and poor communities. One woman with whom a RAIL comrade spoke recently correctly said that the police are really kidnapping Black youth. RAIL says that the only real solution for the Black nation and other oppressed nations is self-determination. MIM adds to this that we are against the racist U.S. death penalty and we are also communists who want a world with no death penalty. But revolution and socialism will include executions and we don't agree with the pacifist anti-death penalty activists who oppose the death penalty for all time under all circumstances. The process of getting to communism requires violence under socialism and that is why we are honest in calling it a dictatorship of the proletariat. This protest walk and accompanying press coverage has proven effective already. After four months of repeated requests from Battle's lawyer, sister, and supporters, Circuit Attorney Dee Joyce Hayes has released evidence that, through DNA testing, could prove Battle's innocence. Battle's case and others like it are of the highest urgency. Readers are urged to write the following addresses to demand that the DNA testing be done with the utmost expediency and Battle's court case be re-opened, that Battle not be executed, and that the state- sanctioned execution of Missouri prisoners be stopped altogether. PLEASE WRITE: Jeremia W. Nixon Office of Attorney General Supreme Court Building P.O. Box 899 Jefferson City MO 65102 Governor Mel Carnahan State Capitol Jefferson City MO 65102 Dee Joyce Hayes Circuit Attorney Municipal Courts Building 1320 Market St. Room 33 St. Louis MO 63103 Sources: Cry Justice Journal, Volumes 2 and 3 Statistical Abstract of the United States 1995, pp.291,220. MIM's Amerikkan Lockdown Index Statistics were compiled from The Real War on Crime, by Steven R. Donziger: "The Appeal of CP- 13". * * * INDIGENOUS HAWAIIANS PROTEST PHONY REPARATIONS For the indigenous people of Hawaii, like many other indigenous peoples, the United Church of Christ is the "United Church of Colonialism." Demonstrators denounced it as such in a protest on June 13. The demonstration was a response to a plan to "compensate" Hawaiians for injustices suffered under imperialist rule, injustices which were aided and abetted by the church. The church's plan was for the money to never really change hands. This demonstration was part of an important summer of Hawaiian activism against illusory plans for sovereignty sponsored by the state. The United Church of Christ acknowledged its role in the overthrow of the Hawaiian government and apologized a hundred years after the fact, in 1993. Now the church is pretending to "redress" some of that harm by passing money from one hand of the church to the other. Rather than paying reparations to the Hawaiian people as a whole or to any organization, the church is giving money and land to Hawaiians in the church, who constitute only 1.5% of the membership of the church. Hawaiians are protesting the proposal and struggling to define the terms of their own deserved reparations and sovereignty. Crucially, they are protesting the phony "Native Hawaiian Vote" scheduled for August. Like the recent plebiscite in Puerto Rico, the Hawaiian plebiscite asks Hawaiians to validate their colonial status with a vote. Activists have already succeeded in winning a delay of the vote. They are trying to cancel the vote altogether. MIM says that the question is how best to get to the point where oppressed peoples can really have the choice of living in their own liberated territories. If the revolutionary forces accumulate the power to make that a real possibility, then it is appropriate to ask the question, "integration or liberation?" Then there should be a plebiscite or series of plebiscites to decide the question. Asking the question before the oppressed nationalities have the power to control territory only proves what the peoples will say when the imperialists are twisting their arms behind their backs. The people must have a genuine choice, not a choice dictated by the imperialists. Then we can trust an oppressed nation plebiscite--the outcome of the ballot box among the people. Under New Democracy, the oppressed peoples will learn what it means to live without imperialist police terror and they will learn to speak their mind without fear of the consequences from the oppressor. NOTES: The Honolulu Advertiser, June 14, 1996, p. A3 * * * CULTURE PAGE OBITUARY: TIMOTHY LEARY'S FINAL TRIP 1921-1996 On May 31, Timothy Leary, proponent of psychedelic drug experiences and "free your mind" type approaches to opposing the power structure, died at the age of 75. Leary coined the phrase "tune on, tune in, drop out" in the 1960s as a marketing jingle for LSD. Leary was, and his legacy continues to be, objectively, an aid to the status quo. His research on psychedelic drugs in the 1960s was, if not directly funded by the CIA, at least aided the CIA in developing drugs it wanted for use in controlling the minds of its opponents. The CIA was largely responsible for funding drug experiments throughout the 1960s and tested some of its products on oppressed nation prisoners.(1) The CIA may or may not have wanted these drugs to reach the masses of white-nation youth. But eventually the drugs became easily available on the black market. If one interprets the drug availability as getting "out of control" as far as the CIA was concerned, this phenomenon was allowed to continue and was a perfect sedative for real political activism during a period of political turmoil. One would have a hard time keeping "politics in command" and making any kind of serious analysis when influenced by LSD, mushrooms or psilocybin. If the CIA failed in developing mind controlling drugs, they succeeded in encouraging the escapism of a generation of youth. Leary was once a fugitive from "justice", escaping from a California prison in the early 1970s after being convicted on drug charges. At the height of political activism in the late 1960s, Leary disavowed politics, ignoring the slaughter of the Vietnamese and the struggle of Blacks for national liberation, in favor of preaching escapism and typical oppressor nation individual approaches to "liberation." "Free your mind" was Leary's approach to a better world, despite the fact that his freedom to research and experiment with psychedelic drugs came at the expense of the Vietnamese and all other oppressed nation people who support the decadent life of Amerikan intellectuals. MIM can give Leary credit for denouncing psychotherapy as useless, after his received his PhD in psychology from the University of California, Berkeley.(2) But he did not go so far as to denounce psychology altogether, as MIM would. Furthermore, he moved on to equally reactionary approaches to peoples "minds" or problems by advocating escapism and mysticism of the Eastern religion variety. This may work to make some privileged people in the imperialist countries less bored, but it leaves the most violent and destructive economic and political institutions intact. Leary's politics are typical of parasites and popular among white- nation youth. It's the same old individualism, different package. * * I SHOT ANDY WARHOL PORTRAYS RIGHTEOUS BUT MISGUIDED ANGER *I Shot Andy Warhol* tells the story of the would- be radical feminist who founded (and was the sole member of) the Society for Cutting Up Men (SCUM), and so you know going into the flick that the heroine is going to be more interesting than your average Hollywood female. Lili Taylor, in her role a Valerie Solanas, does not disappoint. Her politics are presented without much judgment from the director, so they get you thinking. She is essentialist and thinks that men are biologically inferior, which is incorrect, but her anger is righteous and her advocacy of asexuality and destruction of Amerika are right on. The basic plot is that Solanas was a troubled youth who after collage took to prostitution and panhandling in Union Square, New York City. She was a gifted writer and her favorite topic was the oppression of women. She wrote a man-hating play and thought that Andy Warhol was her best chance of having it produced. Of course, he was awfully busy navel-gazing and his clique at "the Factory," a hangout where nothing is produced, is too cool for Solanas' dirty words. Eventually, Solanas comes to the conclusion that Warhol and her publisher are conspiring to steal the SCUM manifesto. She shoots and wounds Andy Warhol pretty seriously not because he is a man, but because she thinks he is cashing in on her work. Valerie Solanas knows about sexual oppression first hand--as just about all women do. The audience discovers her sexual history from a very clinical monologue by some sort of shrink. The shrink seems to think that she became a prostitute, a lesbian, wrote radical writings, and eventually lost touch with reality because she was molested by her father as a child. Maoists know that this if p then q is bogus, and the movie correctly portrays things as much more complex. Still, her experiences of sexual oppression and sexual exploitation are important because they are the fodder for the political analysis that Solanas developed in the mid sixties, before the Second Wave of feminism had captured the imaginations of the masses of women. Solanas is isolated and not part of a movement, and the film criticizes her for that. When Solanas sees some women from the Women's Liberation Movement marching in front of the Miss America pageant, she says to her companions in the desolate world of Andy Warhol "I should be there." And she should be. In an environment of people actually working for social change, rather than glorifying in their degeneracy without putting forth anything of value, perhaps she could have handled reality. Her death caused by homelessness exemplifies the lack of advances one makes in her type of organizing. Though Solanas identifies as a lesbian, she advocates asexuality. Her contention is that sex is basically a waste of time for women, and their time and energy would be best spent elsewhere--for example taking over the country. MIM agrees. That does not mean that we mandate rooting sexuality out of the lives of our comrades or others, but it does mean that we reject the notion that women "need" sex for some Freudian or sociobiological reason. This is anther good point that Solanas brings up: just because men have always existed does not mean that they have to continue to do so. Disease has always existed too, and we are doing our best to get rid of it. She is wrong that men are biologically inferior, but she is right that biology is not social destiny. The best thing abut the film is how disgustingly the alternative scene is represented. This is no safe haven from patriarchy, to be sure, but additionally it is just as decadent and meaningless as the mainstream. Warhol says that he started doing films because they were easier. He had no desire to create art, just money and a following. It is extraordinary that a women who wanted social change thought he could be worth anything. CULTURE CALL!!!! This is a call to all readers and comrades to submit culture copy for MIM Notes. The bourgeoisie uses art and literature to build public opinion for counter-revolution, and we must smash their scheme while we build up the art of the proletariat. If you have seen, read, produced or heard anything revolutionary in our culture, send us in an article about it. We can't be everywhere and the more knowledge all comrades have of the "good" stuff going on out there, the better we can support it. Likewise for the not-so-revolutionary stuff. The wrong political lines in our culture run rampant and we need to have a good look at and analysis of all of it, so send in your criticisms too. Our culture is shaping us all, it is about time we start shaping a revolutionary culture. Send all original work, articles and criticisms to MIM and work to create a culture that is "for the people, and by the people." * * * FLORIDA ANTI-PRISONS ACTIVISTS FACE FELONY CHARGES **In MIM Notes 110, (March 1996), we printed a statement from the Brew City Anti-Authoritarian Collective about the police round-up of Anarchist Black Cross (ABC) activists in Jacksonville, Florida. The Anarchist Black Cross supports political prisoners.** Once again, the criminal state is charging activists who challenge its policies on crime. Three Jacksonville Anarchist Black Cross activists are being charged with "criminal mischief" a felony, and are being made to pay $1,850 for the cost of deposition. Despite having lost their jobs as a result of the arrests, the judge denied their motion to be declared indigent. Indigency would have forced the state to pay some of the expenses. Outside the courtroom, one of the activists took a picture of the prosecutor, Eric Davis, to use in local literature about the trial. The prosecutor was enraged, and dragged them back into court to argue that ABC was a "violent hate group that might be threatening my [Davis's] life or my family." The judge did follow some bourgeois pretension at the "rights" of the activists, and ruled that there was no law against taking pictures of public officials. As one activist responded to a friend: "WE are the ones who should be worried about lives being taken or homes being raided. He has no RIGHT to fear us. We have never caused harm to anyone. We have never been associated with any violence or unjust treatment of any individual. THEY, on the other hand, have. THEY are the ones who raided our home, took our things, put guns on US! The only weapons we have ever put on them was a pen...some paper [and]...a camera!" NOTE: ABC Federation Update, June 1996, p. 4-5. See also http://www.jaxnet.com/~yamjxabc/index. html. For defense information, contact Jacksonville ABC- BG 3628 Park St 20, Jacksonville FL 32205. * * * COPS PROTECT FASCISTS, REVISIONISTS PROTECT IMPERIALISM June 23, ANN ARBOR--Hundreds of people demonstrated at the Ann Arbor Court House against a rally being held by the Ku Klux Klan today. Seventeen members of the KKK rallied, with state protection, on the roof of the Ann Arbor Court House. An eight-foot fence around the periphery of the property, constructed exclusively for the event, kept anti- Klan demonstrators 100 feet from the building where the Klan gathered. Three foot by one foot purple signs with black lettering placed on the fence read, "Do not touch the fence or you will be maced." On the Klan side of the fence, pigs situated every few feet in riot gear made sure no one got through. The road which runs along the front of the Court House was blocked off and each side was staffed by about fifteen pigs. The roof of the fire station across the street from the Court House served as a lookout for more pigs, one of whom wielded a video camera. There were 277 police officers in all, according to NPR (1). Despite the huge police presence, some activists thought it useful to instigate violence. This adventurism gave the police an excuse to mace people and to throw a dozen canisters of tear gas into the crowd, sending anti-Klan demonstrators running down the block and breaking up the rally. Eleven demonstrators were arrested. The cost of the police protection totaled about $50,000, $8,000 of which was for the fence.(2) MIM thinks the use of violence by activists was incorrect in this context. There is little to be gained by beating someone up and getting arrested. Some may argue as the Weather Underground Organization (A.K.A. the Weathermen) once said that activists should try to provoke violent actions by the state in hopes that the state's use of violence will radicalize the masses. The crypto-Trotskyist Revolutionary Communist Party, USA apparently subscribes to this approach. At the least, such a line is prevalent in RCP,USA circles, and the RCP,USA itself does nothing to combat it. MIM does not subscribe to this approach, which we consider to be alien to the Maoist approach of attending to the well-being of the masses. Sure, pigs are pigs, but why antagonize them when you know you have no chance of winning the battle? People who really know what oppression by the pigs is often don't live to tell about it. The organizations which led the rally were two separate Trotskyist-led coalitions. MIM attended the demonstration, talked with people there and distributed MIM Notes. RAIL also went and distributed a flyer. MIM never works with Trotskyists because they are revisionists and enemies of the people. Their tactics at this rally show how their incorrect line leads them to foolish adventurist acts. (For more on our basic differences with Trotskyists, see On Trotskyism, by Kostas Mavrakis, available from MIM). The Klan is not the most important political target, though it is one which stirs a lot of emotion. The KKK is blatantly offensive, but it is incorrect to organize against the Klan without organizing against its social base. The Klan is more straightforwardly pro-oppression than other white nationalist organizations like the Republican Party, the Democratic Party, the various Trotskyist parties, or the RCP,USA. But all of these, despite their strategic and tactical differences, and despite the rhetoric of some to the contrary, are organizations which objectively uphold white and Amerikkkan nationalism. Unlike the KKK, the imperialists hold state power, and are thus the principal enemy of the world's oppressed majority. The KKK's rhetoric is more repugnant than the imperialists', but the imperialists in fact do more damage. The social base for imperialism and for the KKK is one and the same: the white Amerikkkan oppressor nation, the heart of a settler-empire. To fight the Klan without fighting the oppression of the white nation over other nations is like plucking a weed without digging out its roots. The oppression of the white nation over the Black nation is the result of economic, political and military domination, not just people's racist ideas or speech. Even violent acts by the Klan, seen in this context, are offensive not only because of what they are but because they are allowed to continue. The state allows the Klan to operate and chooses not to destroy it as they did the Black Panthers in the 1960s. Demonstrators engaged in two separate incidents of violence. The first occurred when a man with a confederate flag sewn on the back of his vest walked toward the demonstration. (The confederate flag was the battle flag of the pro-slavery South in the U.S. Civil War.) A group of people charged and attacked him, hitting him with sticks. A Black woman threw herself on top of the man to protect him from the masses' wrath. Minutes after the attack started, half a dozen pigs rushed over and broke it up. They took the fascist, who suffered a bloody nose, away in a police car. The second violent incident occurred toward the end of the rally, after many people had already left. According to the Ann Arbor News, the National Women's Rights Organizing Committee (NWROC), an organization led by the Trotskyist Revolutionary Workers League (RWL), began throwing rocks at cops. The pigs responded quickly by putting on their gas masks, rushing into the crowd, macing people they came in contact with and tossing canisters of tear gas, which sent people running down the block. The adventurist initiation of violence by the Trotskyists is the result of an incorrect analysis of the material conditions in the United Snakes. The Klan are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to national oppression. Their words may be uglier than others', but they are not the principal enemy. In fact, objectively they are not that far politically from the majority of the white-working class that supports the continued economic and political domination of the Black, Latino and First Nations within the United Snakes. And certainly they are in synch with the U.S. government's treatment of oppressed nation people. The Trotskyists' approach overlooks the fact that many people who support the U.S. government, Democrat or Republican, are supporting the oppression of Blacks. The overwhelming support from the white nation for things like prison expansion, harsher prison terms, the death penalty, despite or because of the fact that all of these things objectively and unjustly oppress the Black nation, shows that most whites are only for more subtle oppression. Furthermore, MIM would point to the support that the white nation gives for imperialism (at home and abroad) as more reason why throwing rocks at the Klan does nothing to solve the problem of national oppression. The Klan is not the cause of national oppression, they are just one blatant expression of the reactionary nation which wants to maintain it. MIM is for ending all national oppression, not just erasing some of the more obviously offensive representatives of it. The pseudo-left of this and other imperialist countries seeks to make apologies for the reactionary, bribed workers of the oppressor nations. The pseudo-left points its fingers at the fascists in the hope that doing so will divert the masses' wrath away from the rest of the oppressor nation population. Thus, the pseudo- left provides a valuable service for imperialism. This is why we say that the revisionists are pro- imperialist, and in the Western context, white nationalist. This also explains why Lenin said that the struggle against imperialism was bound up with the struggle against revisionism and opportunism. When pressed on Trotskyism's failure to seize state power anywhere since its 1924 split from the International Communist Movement, many Trotskyists will avoid the question by pointing to successful street actions against the Klan and other fascist scum. What they don't mention is that these actions, good though they are, are nothing compared to the most successful anti-fascist action in history--the defeat of the Nazis by the Red Army under the leadership of Comrade J.V. Stalin. What MIM proposes to accomplish the end of all national oppression is building vanguard parties to seize state power and building independent institutions of the oppressed. We support national liberation for the oppressed nations inside and outside U.S. borders and organize to end the system of national oppression which allows the Klan to continue with their fascist propaganda and organizing. NOTES: 1. National Public Radio, June 26, 1996. 2. Ann Arbor News 6/23/96, p. A9. * * * UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS CALIFORNIA PRISON CENSORS MIM NOTES AND OTHER NEWSPAPERS To whom it may concern, My father, X, recently sent my name and address to you so that I could be put on your mailing list for your newspaper. Since then, you've mailed me the paper, but the mailroom censor determined that material in your paper was considered to be "forceful, violent and threatening." I was told that such material would not be allowed. Your paper is not the only one that I subscribe to that is not allowed and steps are being taken to correct this problem. This is a new prison and the rules and regulations are still changing....[Please write] letters of concern to our warden Gail Lewis. Ask for the exact reasons why this prison is so different from the other 33 California prisons, that inmates should not be allowed to read news articles similar to those in the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle. Being an "alternative" paper, such as MIM Notes, it seems to me that Pleasant Valley State Prison is being discriminatory to disapprove your paper! Thank you for your time in this matter. I felt you should know that for some strange reason your paper is not allowed in this prison, yet. I wish to remain on your mailing list and I anxiously await a response from you. Have a great day and please continue the good work! Respectfully yours, --a California prisoner, April 15, 1996 Letters of protest can be sent to: Warden Gail Lewis, Pleasant Valley State Prison, PO Box 8503, Coalinga, CA 93210. KENTUCKY PRISON CENSORS MIM NOTES AND MAOIST SOJOURNER The item establishes probable cause to believe that information contained within constitutes a threat to institutional discipline or security (i.e. contains racist or gangster material). --Frances Cooter, Mailroom Staff, May 2, 1996. Letters of protest can be sent to: Luther Luckett Correctional Complex, PO Box 6, LaGrange, KY 40031. ARIZONA SENDS BACK CENSORED MIM NOTES AFTER ONE YEAR On June 6, 1995 the following [MIM Notes No. 100, May 1995] was received in the mail at the Arizona State Prison and is considered to be contraband. Mail/Publication contains material which, in the Warden's opinion, pose[s] a threat to the safe, secure and orderly operation of the prison. Inmate has the right to seek review of the decision to restrict his mail by contacting his unit's grievance coordinator. -- Duran 694, Mailroom Officer, [postmarked May 19, 1996! --MIM] Letters of protest can be sent to: D.W. Bourgeous, Deputy Warden, Arizona State Prison Complex, PO Box 4000, Florence, AZ 85232. WOMEN PRISONERS ARE DYING AT CHOWCHILLA SUPPORT THE CAMPAIGN FOR COMPASSIONATE RELEASE! Four women prisoners with full-blown AIDS are dying of AIDS-related complications in the infirmary at the Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) (across the street from Valley State Prison For Women.) These women should be granted compassionate release. Yet, in each case, either the prison doctors, the Department of Corrections or the Board of Prison Terms are holding up the process. CCWF does not have an infectious disease specialist on staff or any support services for women locked away in the infirmary. WHO ARE THESE WOMEN? + Patty Contreras, W26443, has no CD4 cells, suffers severe weight loss, has a hard time walking and can't keep food down. The medical staff will not put her on a special diet. + Linda Cortez, W40993, has a low CD4 count, night fevers, sores all over her body and can't walk. + Miriam Jones, W54091, has a low CD4 count, recurring pneumonia and pneumocystis carinii. She has suffered weight loss and weakness. + Raven Laroux, W60387, also has a low CD4 count and has suffered severe weight loss. All of these women have families anxious to take care of them or hospices willing to house them in the community. WHAT CAN YOU DO? Write, call or fax Dr. Gwendolyn Dennard, Chief Medical Officer, CCWF, P.O. Box 1501, Chowchilla, CA 93610-1501; phone (209) 665-5531; fax (209) 665- 7158. Demand that Raven Laroux and Linda Cortez be immediately medically evaluated for compassionate release. Send copies to Warden Teena Farmon (at the same address). Write, call or fax Director James Gomez, California Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 942883, Sacramento, CA 94283-0001; phone (916) 445-7688; fax (916) 327-1988. Demand that Miriam Jones be approved for compassionate release immediately. Director Gomez recently refused her compassionate release request. Write, call or fax Executive Officer Ted Rich, Board of Prison Terms, 428 J Street, 6th Floor, Sacramento, CA 95814; phone (916) 445-1539; fax (916) 445-5242. Demand that Patty Contreras be approved by the parole board for compassionate release. The Board has turned her down three times! Send copies of your letters to the HIV/AIDS in Prison Project of Catholic Charities, 433 Jefferson Street, Oakland, CA 94607 and they will be forwarded to the women prisoners. Also send copies to any state legislators or media that may be helpful. SUPPORT ASSEMBLY BILL 3093--THE COMPASSIONATE RELEASE BILL For more information, contact Catholic Charities' HIV/AIDS in Prison Project at (510) 834-5656, ext. 3150. --Catholic Charities' HIV/AIDS in Prison Project, June 10, 1996 SOUTH CAROLINA PRISONER SUPPORTS WOMEN PRISONERS' STRUGGLE This letter is to inform MIM that I am continuously receiving MIM Notes uninterrupted, so please continue to send it to me. I am writing this in response to the letter written in the 111 issue of MIM Notes. This letter in the 111 issue, ["Silent Deaths, Beatings and Rapes at Dwight..."] was submitted by a woman in an Illinois prison and dated December 25, 1995. This woman really got to me because of the way she explained the death and mistreatment of the women in that prison. I never really thought of the treatment of women in prison to be anything like what was stipulated by this woman. I ask myself how can this treatment go on without anyone aiding in keeping up with the women's medical rights, health and training. I am really angry because this Beautiful Woman took her time out to explain in informative details the atrocities that go on in her present, and the strength it took to write. We are caring human beings who should not allow this treatment to continue . We must constantly let these savage pigs know that when you deliberately mistreat a woman, and it doesn't matter what she has done, when she is punished by the law then you do not have the right to continually punish them. You who subject women to cruel inhuman treatment have lost all link with reality. Hell, you probably think you are performing some royal duties, with your insignificant lives. The type that do these sort of things to get recognition from your weaselly peers, you are nothingness and a misrepresentation of a man. I wish that there was something I could do to make a difference, "Illinois Prisoner." However, stay strong. You will make it out of there. Stay strong for as long as you fight, you can count on another alongside you!!! --A South Carolina prisoner, May 9, 1996 THE WELL DESERVED DEATH OF VITAPRO The following article is reprinted from Prison News Service 54, Spring 1996. James A. "Andy" Collins was the executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), which is the largest prison system in the world. According to his peers he was the most respected figure in national "corrections". He was power personified, and to more than 40,000 employees in over a hundred prisons he was god. He had been with the TDCJ for nearly 24 years and his $120,000 a year salary plus benefits seemed to be enough to get him by, but it is said in toilets all over Texas, wherever prisoncrats meet, that ol' Andy was one never to let an easy buck escape his greedy grasp. VitaPro was one of those little bird nests on the ground that Andy was so good at pouncing upon. The contract he made for VitaPro was one of those no- bid, under-the-table, let's-make-some-money deals that Andy loved, and if it hadn't been for a Collins henchman by the name of Patrick H. Graham, who got busted with both hands stuck in the cookie jar, Texas prisoners would still be eating the garbage. But first, let me tell you non-Texas prisoners about VitaPro. It all started one day in November '94 when I went into the chow hall hungry as hell. I had been working since 6 a.m. and it was now 12 noon. As I entered the dining room there was an evil smell not unlike about 5,000 dirty socks, each with its own personal stench. I thought how I wished I had eaten breakfast, but breakfast for Texas prisoners takes place at 3 am and I don't do nothin' at 3 a.m. but sleep. The closer I got to the serving line the more I realized it wasn't dirty socks at all, but a new, so-called "food" Andy Collins had wanted us to eat, called VitaPro. Manufactured in Canada from a soy base, it was nasty, it stunk and it was inedible. Many of us wouldn't eat it at all, but for over a year you either ate VitaPro or tried to exist on spoonfuls of beans, carrots and greens. When we wouldn't eat it, they gradually cut down all food, trying to starve us into eating it. They have a chain gang without chains in Texas and they call it the line. Guys working the line are picking cotton or hoeing the hard ground in the blistering Texas sun all day, and in order to survive they had to eat VitaPro. Many of the ones who were eating it began to sicken. They were stricken with rashes, boils, diarrhea and chronic fatigue when, lo and behold, on January 4, 1996 a good ol' boy in the Texas prison business (who was Andy Collins' business associate) got busted in the parking lot of an On The Border restaurant in Houston, just as he was stuffing 15 bundles of cash - each bundle containing 10 thousand dollar bills - into his hungry briefcase. The money was to be a down payment on the half million dollars Mr. Collins' road-dog wanted to engineer the escape of a former millionaire, still a rat, wife-murderer doing 75 years in a Texas prison. Patrick H. Graham, the man who was selling escapes on the installment plan, was a builder of prisons with a shaky past. He told the wife-murderer's girlfriend he was a top prison official named Harold Robert, and demonstrated on several occasions that he had inside connections with Andy Collins. The plan called for her boyfriend to be transferred to a hospital, and then be re- classified for minimum security so he could work as a trusty on an outside detail. Graham would pick him up in a car, whisk him to the airport, and fly him to Costa Rica in his private plane. But the part that delivered us from VitaPro was the fact that Graham had a business card on him saying that he was a representative of VitaPro. hee hee hee. Because Graham and Collins were associates, and because the escape plot wouldn't have worked without Collins making the re-classification and transfer, and due to the fact that Graham and Collins had appeared together inside a prison to visit one of the players in the escape plot, questions were flying in the media and investigations were being launched and the links between Graham, Collins and VitaPro were exposed to the light of day. Even Governor George Bush, Jr. expressed his shock and outrage that one of the members of his gang would make 6 million crooked VitaPro dollars without him being in on it. The initial VitaPro contract was for $6.7 million which would buy 17 metric tons of beef and chicken- flavored VitaPro each month for five years. No competitive bidding. It got so good for them that they later jacked it up to $33.7 million. The plot was for Texas Corrections Industries (TCI) to become exclusive distributors in North America excepting Georgia, Louisiana and 7 federal prisons that were already using VitaPro. Texas would be paid 15% commission on any sales made. Mathematicians among us will note that the first contract made someone just over $1 million, and the larger one made those same someones more than $5 million. There were, however, several slight problems: (1) Us convicts wouldn't eat it. (Just say no! to VitaPro! was the watchword of the day.) (2) They couldn't sell it (at a product demonstration in California, the VitaPro meal came out so pasty it stuck to the spoon. And when Missouri officials opened a bag shipped to them for a test meal, they spotted a dead mouse inside). And then (3) the great escape plot got busted, causing investigations into just about everything, especially VitaPro. And somewhere in a rusty cage an old deer could be heard chortling far into the night. The VitaPro deal was brought to Collins by Charles Terrell, a Dallas insurance executive who went into the private prison business after he stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Corrections in 1990. In February '94, Collins called all his top aides to a meeting where VitaPro was pitched by Terrell and Azie Morton, a former U.S. Treasury Secretary who was peddling VitaPro. They stressed that it was cheaper than meat, it required no refrigeration so it was cheaper to store and ship, and it is fat- free so as to give the prisoners a healthier diet (they're worried sick about our health, that's the reason they took our cigarettes), and all you have to do is add water and cook and it is tender, succulent and delicious. Yummy! So the executive director leaned favorably in VitaPro's direction and, of course, all his underlings leaned with him. Within weeks, the prison system opened competitive bidding for a test. Two companies made bids: VitaPro at $62,000, and an Indiana company whose price was roughly a fifth of that amount. They rejected the low bid because it did not meet their specifications(?!). In a memo that surfaced they also acknowledged that VitaPro's bid did not offer a cost saving when compared to real meat and chicken. Instead of a second round of bidding they awarded the contract to VitaPro, invoking a little-known provision in state law that allows Texas prisons to buy materials without competitive bids for the Prison Industries program. In order to get this together, Collins had to cut the head of Texas Corrections Industries, Larry Kyle, in on the deal by giving him a $13,200 annual pay raise and promoting him to deputy director, bringing his pay up to $75,744. (Kyle has since been suspended pending the outcome of the investigations.) They planned to resell it to their own food services departments plus other prison systems. This repackaging business caused the prison grapevine to go wild with rumors that VitaPro was animal food from Canada, and that it was being repackaged because the original packages said "Not for Human Consumption". These were great rumors and I loved them, but unfortunately they are quite untrue. But that they were, we could all be rich by suing for damages caused by that armadillo food. Yank Barry, the CEO of VitaPro, has complained that the prisons fed it once a day instead of three times a week. He also said that the water to mash ratio was too high. Janie Thomas, assistant director of food services for TDCJ said that Andy Collins ordered her to "rewrite" the menus to place VitaPro on every prisoner's plate once a day. So Yank is right about that. But on the ratio complaint , Ms. Thomas said she developed a chart showing how much water should be mixed with VitaPro and sent it to Yank Barry for approval before she sent it to prison cooks. She said Barry approved the water to mash formula. So go figure. To settle the taste-test business I must refer you to John Kelso who writes for the Austin American- Statesman. What he did was take a mess of VitaPro to three great eateries in Austin. He said in part: "I've decided not to rob any banks in Texas because if I ever eat VitaPro again it will be too darn soon. I took some of the soy-based meat substitute to some Austin restaurants and asked some cooks to prepare it--P.U. But don't blame the cooks. This would be like asking someone to knit a nice sweater out of navel lint." The first VitaPro test was at the swank Shoreline Grill where executive chef Dan Haverty whipped up a fancy dish he called "Huntsville Chicken". Using the tricks of the master chef, he tossed in dried habanero pepper and guajillo powder. Forming VitaPro into a cutlet, rolling it in bread crumbs and deep-frying it, he laid it on top of a bed of ancho sweet potatoes. He decorated the plate with yellow tomato basil sauce and other colorful items, and set a high dollar bottle of La Grande Dame champagne on the table with it. Kelso says, "He should have sucked down the booze and tossed the VitaPro cutlet in the lake." He said the aftertaste was sidling up on raunchy. Chef Haverty said it was due to all those nine-syllable ingredients mentioned on the bag. Then he went down to Dirty's hamburger joint just north of the drag, where owner Mark Nemir made burgers out of the beef-flavored burger mix. It wasn't pretty. "It reminds me of a mash my dad used to feed the chickens." Kelso went on to the Texas Chili Parlor where John Cook prepared beef-flavored VitaPro for tacos. The fake beef while simmering had an odor Cook referred to as "roadkill helper". I still maintain it smells like dirty socks. But the experts generally agreed that VitaPro is best used as a crime prevention tool. The only good thing about VitaPro is that Yank Barry is one of our own: an ex-convict...ta da! Yank did his time in Canada under his real name, Gerald Falovitch. I, of course, support ex-cons, but in Yank's case I think the support would be one-sided. So I'll just have to go along with my stomach and say, Yank, old bean, you've sure got a shitty product, and I hope you made Andy eat some of it with a straight face when he was trying to peddle it. Yank runs in some high-powered company these days. Would you believe his pal Andy even ordered him an identification badge that claims Yank is an Official? The most Yank would be entitled to without an ex-con background would be a vendor i.d. badge, which is very limited. With the ex-con thing he wouldn't be able to get any i.d. at all unless it was the kind I wear. Mr. Falovitch says that Collins and Corrections Board Chairman Allan Polunsky both knew he had been in prison. Polunsky, however, hotly denied he knew. Now there is an investigation into badges and who got how many of what kind. Andy offered his resignation in September '95. It became effective January 1, '96 and no sooner did he hit the ground than he had a one-thousand-dollar-a-day consultant job with guess who??? VitaPro. When that hit the papers he quit that job. Now there's a bunch of stuff about no-bid fence contracts, and lying under oath to a senate committee which should keep the man who would be king of VitaPro busy in his retirement years. But the investigation has been taken out of the hands of Andy's prison gang at Internal Affairs of the TDCJ and placed into the capable hands of the dreaded Texas Rangers. It is ironic that VitaPro came to an end in Texas prisons not because it is garbage not fit to eat, but rather because the keepers of the kept have once again proved to be bigger crooks than the little crooks they keep. In the Spirit of Crazy Horse, --a Texas Prisoner, Jun. 10, 1996 U.S. RIGHT TO LIFE VIOLATIONS Following are some findings by U.N. Human rights investigator Bacre Waly Ndiaye on American death row cases. The report did not provide information on where these cases took place or include hometowns for the people listed. People allegedly sentenced to death despite their serious mental retardation: Mario Marquez, Roosevelt Pollard, Maurice Andrews, Willie Clisby, Varnall Weeks, Girview Davis, Larry Lonchar, Luis Mata, Robert Brecheen, Barry Fairchild, Frederic Jermyn and Anthony Joe Larette Those said to have been sentenced to death after trial in which their full rights to adequate defense had not been ensured: Alan Jeffery Bannister, Kermit Smith, Calvin Burdine and Robert T. Sidebottom Those allegedly sentenced to death despite strong indications casting doubts about their guilt: Gregory Resnover, Jesse Jacobs, Nicholas Ingram, Larry Griffin, Joseph Spaziano and Dennis Waldon Stockton. Those sentenced to death after a trial allegedly marked by racial bias: Hernando Williams, Mumia Abu-Jamal and Thomas Joe Miller-El. Sentenced to death without any resort to any appeals: Thomas Grasso. Sentenced to death by a judge overruling a unanimous jury recommendation of life imprisonment: Raleigh Porter. --an Indiana prisoner, June 1996 ***WHAT NON-PRISONERS CAN DO TO SUPPORT PRISONERS*** *1. Struggle with, work with, finance and join MIM. The best way to support prisoners is to overthrow the system under which capitalists profit from the exploitation of prisoners. History shows that the best way to do this is to build a Marxist-Leninist- Maoist party. The oppressors will not give up their power without a fight. *2. Finance MIM's prison work. Our biggest bill each month is postage. Most of the prison comrades who read MIM Notes have no way of paying for it. So if you have money, send what you can afford. Every cent helps, and stamps are as good as cash to us. *3. Distribute MIM Notes and Notas Rojas. Bring the voices of prisoners and their supporters to as large and wide an audience of people as possible. Contact MIM for bulk rates and distribution tips. *4. Start or join a prison support group. MIM can provide advice and resources to help you build public opinion for prisoners and their struggles. *5. Fight censorship, beatings, torture and other fascist outrages. Under Lock and Key often features the addresses of prisoners' friends and enemies. Work with the friends and let the enemies know you're watching. (Don't expect to win the fascists to the side of humanity, however. See #1 in this list). *6. Stay in touch. Keep us informed of pro-prisoner work you do. Our readers might find it educational or inspirational. ***WHAT PRISONERS CAN DO TO BUILD MIM*** *1. Start a study group. This is the best way to share materials and ideas. In groups, prisoners can better benefit from the limited resources MIM has. *2. Get MIM Notes and MIM Theory into your library. This allows one copy of the paper to be seen by many comrades. *3. Contact people on the outside. MIM needs comrades and allies everywhere. Maybe you know people on the outside who want to subscribe to MIM Notes or distribute it. *4. Share materials. If MIM sends books or periodicals, please make sure that as many people as possible get a chance to read them. *5. Write MIM at least every three months. Otherwise, you will be dropped from our mailing list. There are many cases where your keepers throw out MIM Notes, so we need to know that you actually get it. Also, comrades are moved around a lot, especially those who are known to be political. Please let us know of any address changes as soon as you know them. *6. Make MIM Distributors an official distributor. Many prisons require registration before MIM can send books or other materials. Usually we can comply with these bogus rules. It helps immensely to have someone there do the reasearch and send us the proper forms. *7. Send money or stamps. Our biggest bill each month is postage. Most of the prison comrades who read MIM Notes have no way of paying for it. So if you have money, send what you can afford. Every cent helps, and stamps are as good as cash to us. Please make all checks payable to "MIM Distributors." *8. Write for MIM Notes or Notas Rojas. Prisoners write almost all of Under Lock & Key. We don't care if you know how to spell or write good English or Spanish. Write on any topic you like, it does not have to be a prison story. *9. Translate. If you can read and write English and another language fluently, let us know. Any translation work you do will help us make Maoist ideas accessible to more people. *10. Fight censorship. When you know of censorship of books or newspapers, investigate. Write to MIM to confirm what has happened, then see what you can do about it. *11. Keep in touch after your release. Many comrades stop doing political work after their release. Write to MIM as soon as you know where you'll be so we can hook you up with comrades on the outside. * * * FBI STEPS UP SURVEILLANCE AND REPRESSION by MC12 The FBI is rapidly increasing its powers within U.S. borders, and devoting more and more resources to secret surveillance and investigations in the name of "national security." This year Congress beefed up the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a 1978 law, which "permits secret buggings and wiretaps of individuals suspected of being agents of a hostile foreign government or international terrorist organization, even when the target is not suspected of committing any crime."(1) The number of intelligence gathering or national- security wiretaps approved in 1994 was 576, which was more than the 554 approved for federal criminal cases. By 1995 the number of such FISA authorizations had jumped to 697. And the first three months of this year are running more than 20% ahead of last year's rate, which means the total this year would be around 830, for a total 44% increase over two years. The rate of increase may further accelerate because this year Congress widened FISA to permit property searches instead of just electronic surveillance. Now, "anytime an FBI agent wants to enter a private home to conduct a national security investigation, he or she has to secure the permission of a court ... that ordinary citizens cannot visit, whose files cannot be publicly reviewed, and which presides in secret in a restricted area" of the Justice Department.(2) The secret court of judges in the Justice Department has received thousands of requests, and never ever rejected one of them. In 1995 there were 2,000 FBI special agents assigned to foreign counterintelligence, spending more than $500 million. A lot of this is for alleged economic and industrial espionage, but the powers they have can be used for political purposes as well. Attorney General Janet Reno, whose appointment pleased pseudo-feminists everywhere, is the main leader of the buildup. A "major supporter of wiretapping and electronic surveillance," she signs every request for surveillance.(3) Unlike searches in criminal cases, which are supposedly covered by the Fourth Amendment protection against illegal search and seizure, investigations under FISA do not require the justification of "probable cause," and the subjects of the investigations never have a chance to attack the searches in court, if they ever find out about them. The Justice Department reviews requests for searches and passes them on to the secret judges. The woman who used to be in charge of passing on requests, a non-famous lawyer named Mary Lawton, received the CIA Seal Medallion when she died, and was eulogized by Reno and FBI Director Louis Freeh. It was her job to push them through with legal justifications. Freeh said at her funeral, "Her favorite expression was: 'You owe me bigtime' -- and believe me, we do owe her bigtime."(4) A big use of the FISA surveillance was the famous Committee to Support the People of El Salvador (CISPES) case, in which 1,330 groups were put under surveillance in the early 1980s; no one was ever charged with a crime. CISPES coordinated support for the FMLN's war against the Amerikan-backed Salvadoran government. That investigation produced a lot of files on people that could have been used for anything, and still might be. One of the first cases in which the FBI used the new property-search power, according to a recent Washington Post article, was after the subway gas attack in Japan. Within two days they had permission to break into the apartment of members of the Japanese religious group suspected of committing the attack, searching and bugging the apartment and tapping the phones. There was no evidence anyone there did anything wrong (and it had not been proved that the group in Japan was responsible), no probable cause, and the search turned up nothing but they left the bugs behind. Just because the FISA searches aren't covered by the Fourth Amendment doesn't mean the information they supposedly turn up can't be used in criminal cases. There have been more than 50 cases in which FISA evidence was used for criminal prosecutions, including the case of the man suspected of being a member of Abu Nidal who was allegedly tape-recorded as he killed his daughter. The tape was used in court in Missouri and he was sentenced to death in the case. The courts have said this use is fine as long as the "primary purpose" of the surveillance is a legitimate national security interest rather than a criminal case. We highlight this story because it reveals a big part of the imperialist state's repressive apparatus. Anyone or any group can be categorized as "terrorist," a category that obviously includes all heroic resistance to imperialism, such as the people's wars in Peru or the Philippines. Even though these thousands of cases of "legal" surveillance are kept secret, MIM always assumes anything formally recognized understates the actual amount of surveillance and repression. Part of a course toward fascism is the increasing legitimacy of such anti-democratic forces. The legal process has no problem allowing this, and the mainstream political process welcomes increases in repression. For every act of repression the pigs admit to, revolutionaries know from experience that more is happening off the books. NOTES: 1. Washington Post Magazine article "Someone to Watch Over Us," June 23, 1996, adopted from the forthcoming book Main Justice, by Jim McGee and Brian Duffy, Simon and Schuster, 1996. p. 10. 2. Ibid., p. 25. 3. Ibid., p. 12. 4. Ibid., p. 21. * * * MORE PIG BRUTALITY IN NEW YORK by MC313 On Sunday May 26, 21 year-old Shane Daniels was beaten into a coma by off-duty NYC detective Constantine Chronis outside the Club Marakesh in Westhampton, L.I.. Witness stories contain conflicting details, but all agree the attack was unprovoked and racially motivated. Daniels is Black and the police officer is white. Witnesses say that the pig yelled racial epithets at Daniels and his friends before launching the physical attack in which one of the pigs companions held back the crowd with a gun while the pig beat Daniels with a steel steering-wheel-locking device called "The Club." (1) Daniels was in a coma for about a week and suffered serious brain swelling from repeated blows to his head. Daniel's doctor said that he will probably have some permanent loss of vision. The pig is being held on $1 million bond or $500,000 bail and was suspended without pay. Detective Chronis' companions have not yet been identified. Blacks are beat and killed all the time by police officers, usually ones who are on duty. However, this case is different because the pig got caught. There is no room to claim that the Black man was a threat to the officers life, as they often try to do in less obvious cases of police brutality. Detective Chronis was responsible for initiating the violence and continuing the beating of the defenseless Danials with a steel club. The officers fled the scene when they heard sirens. One of the victims friends believes that the incident was over the fact that a white woman accompanied the group of Black men. The witness said that "they didn't like the fact that we were with a white girl." (2) The pigs have the job of protecting white-nation interests and helping to enforce national oppression through constant harassment and violence against oppressed nation people. This officer likes his job so much that he couldn't contain himself when off duty from almost killing a Black man just for existing (and maybe for being in the presence of a white woman). MIM reports on incidents of police brutality to expose the reality of this criminal injustice system. Join MIM in fighting against all imperialist brutality. Only through revolutionary struggle to seize power will the oppressed end imperialist sponsored violence. Maoism is the most effective revolutionary strategy as has been proven in practice in China and continues to be proven today in revolutions around the world. NOTES: 1. NYT May 31, 1996, p.2A. 2. NYT May 30, 1996, p.A1. * * * AFFIRMATIVE ACTION SETBACK IN TEXAS The verdict in a recent Texas case, **Hopwood et al. vs. The State of Texas,** continues the trend towards more reactionary cutbacks in affirmative action across the United Snakes. The circuit court pointed out the facts of affirmative action as if they were crimes: "With the best of intentions, in order to increase the enrollment of certain favored classes of minority students, the University of Texas School of Law discriminates in favor of those applicants by giving substantial racial preferences in its admissions program. The beneficiaries of this system are blacks and Mexican Americans, to the detriment of whites and non-preferred minorities."(1) MIM thinks that affirmative action that benefits Blacks and Latinos to the detriment of whites is a good thing. Whites have all the advantages in Amerika, so policies that force some small balancing of the scales are progressive. The plaintiffs, white applicants to the UT Law School, claimed their rights were violated when they were not admitted. The court said there is no justification that allows UT "to continue to elevate some races over others, even for the wholesome purpose of correcting perceived racial imbalance in the student body."(1) Of course they neglected to comment on the issue of why it is OK for UT to elevate the white race over others by considering only biased tests like the SAT and LSAT for admissions or by looking at grade point averages without accounting for the circumstances of the Black and Latino kids who lived in the projects and worked part- time all through high school compared to the white kids who had private tutors. In addition to a number of stupid comments from the court addressing a non-issue by arguing that race is not determinist in a student's achievement or abilities, this case sets a clear precedent for an incorrect evaluation of affirmative action. Affirmative action is a minor reform in a country that has, for 500 years, discriminated against certain groups and favored other groups. There is no fairness to inner city kids being harassed by pigs for walking the streets, or having to work while going to school, or going to schools that are poorly funded because their property taxes are lower because they can't afford to live in the wealthy neighborhood. There is also no fairness in the SAT which is a better measure of one's whiteness and maleness than one's "intelligence". As one UT student put it "Given that slavery lasted more than 200 years, shouldn't we give affirmative action an equal time span to prove itself effective?"(1) A recent study by the University of Texas Press supports MIM's understanding of discrimination in Amerika; it points out that Latino students who drop out of high school do so because of failures in the school system not because their family does not value education. For instance, the schools overestimated the educational and financial resources of the Latino parents in the study. Schools assumed that parents would make up for educational deficiencies in their children even though most of the parents of the Latino kids had less than a high school education themselves. One school consistently placed students who were having trouble into the low-level programs or other punishment environments where teacher help was hard to find.(2) This is just one small piece of a whole system that does not make growing up in Amerika a fair contest between different nationalities. MIM thinks that all education should be available to all people who want it and that there should be no arbitrary admission "standards", especially none based on incorrect estimations of success like biased standardized tests. While affirmative action is a progressive reform under capitalism that helps a few more members of oppressed nations get an education they can use to fight against this repressive system, we fight for the day when education will be open to everyone. MIM works toward an educational system that encourages growth and learning in everyone regardless of their nation, class or gender. NOTES: 1. The University Review, The Independent Student Journal at The University of Texas at Austin, May 15, 1996. 2. Arriba, June 14-June 27, 1996, p.5. * * * PEOPLE'S MEDIA NEEDED FOR PROTEST COVERAGE by a comrade A new study of media coverage of political protests documents that the bourgeois media selectively covers protests and ignores most of them and the coverage appears to be decreasing. The study looked for word of 1,209 Washington, D.C. demonstrations in 1982 and 1,856 demonstrations in 1991 in the New York Times, Washington Post, and the three leading TV network evening newscasts. In 1982, 13% of all protests were reported in any of those sources, and that dropped to just 7.1% in 1991. Coverage for protests with 101-1,000 participants dropped from 34.7% to 11.9%. Even among protests with 1,001-10,000 participants, less than one-half were reported in 1982 (47.1%), and less than one-third were reported in 1991 (29.8%). There are many tiny protests in Washington, so the authors of the study also compared how many of the total demonstration participants were at demonstrations that were reported. In 1982 that was 80.1%, and it dropped to 29.8% in 1991. The study has some problems: it only counted demonstrations with permits (although they did figure out how to include some unpermitted demonstrations) and they used the projected participant size rather than actual size of the demonstration (which would have to be collected from media sources and are generally an underestimate). But the results are strong enough to overlook these shortfalls and allow us to make some general conclusions. The results give a clear picture of what MIM has been saying for years: protest strategies that rely on bourgeois media coverage either end up catering to bourgeois media views, or go unreported and therefore ignored. Instead, MIM says to build a people's media as an independent institution of the oppressed and we publish the newspapers, journals, pamphlets, and texts on the Internet to back this up. Two specific findings confirm MIM's point. First, the single greatest factor influencing whether bourgeois media covers a protest was size. The lesson there is clear: cater to the mainstream to get the biggest numbers if you want bourgeois press attention. Second, "media cycles" were a very important factor in determining selective coverage. That is, protests focusing on subjects that the media was already covering got press time. Protests that diverged from the media agenda were largely ignored. The authors conclude: "The likelihood that a protest will be reported by the mass media is shaped by forces mostly beyond the control of most protest groups, unless they are capable of generating mass participation in demonstrations." Further, the relative influence of "media cycles" increased between 1982 and 1991, and the role of protest size diminished, especially with TV news. The media have further tightened their selective restrictions for who gets press. MIM says: let 'em have their press. The people have their own! SOURCE: "Media Bias in the Coverage of Washington, D.C. Demonstrations," by John D. McCarthy, Clark McPhail and Jackie Smith. American Sociological Review, Vol. 61, No. 3, June 1996, pp. 478-499.