This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
I N T E R N E T ' S M A O I S T BI-M O N T H L Y = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = XX XX XXX XX XX X X XXX XXX XXX XXX X X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X V X X X V X X X X X X X XX XXX X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X XXX X X X V XXX X XXX XXX = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT MIM Notes 148 OCTOBER 15, 1997 MIM Notes speaks to and from the viewpoint of the world's oppressed majority, and against the imperialist-patriarchy. Pick it up and wield it in the service of the people. support it, struggle with it and write for it. IN THIS ISSUE: 1. 15TH PART CONGRESS CONTINUTES CAPITALIST ROAD: CHINESE LEADERS RUN FROM SOCIALISM 2. UMICH CAMPUS POLICE KILL BLACK MAN STABBING HIS GIRLFRIEND: GENDER AND NATIONAL OPPRESSION LEAD TO DEATH 3. LETTERS 4. MIM GAINS EXPOSURE TO ISLAM 5. U$ IMPERIALISTS SUBVERT DEMOCRACY IN HAITI 6. BOSTON POT RALLY: PROGRESSIVE SEEDS THROUGH THE INDIVIDUALIST HAZE 7. PAPER TIGERS 8. HELP UNLEASH INDEPENDENT BUSINESSES OF THE OPPRESSED 9. MIM VISITS CHICKAHOMINY POW-WOW 10. EXTENSION OF AMERIKAN TROOPS IN BOSNIA EXPOSES HYPOCRISY 11. IMPERIALISTS AND MILITARY SPONSOR CASSINI DESPITE MILLIONS OF POTENTIAL DEATHS 12. END VIOLENCE AGAINST THE OPPRESSED: WORK WITH MIM 13. RENO GETS PEACE AWARD FOR SUPPRESSING YOUTH 14. LAPD ESCALATES THE WAR ON OPPRESSED 15. UNDER LOCK & KEY * * * 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 * * * 15TH PART CONGRESS CONTINUTES CAPITALIST ROAD: CHINESE LEADERS RUN FROM SOCIALISM by MC17 China's 15th Party Congress, which concluded in late September, provided more evidence that China is no longer a socialist country and instead has traveled far down the capitalist road since the death of Mao Zedong. Mao might as well have been criticizing the members of the current Chinese Communist Party when he wrote: "The Marxist philosophy of dialectical materialism has two outstanding characteristics. One is its class nature: it openly avows that dialectical materialism is in the service of the proletariat. The other is its practicality: it emphasizes the dependence of theory on practice, emphasizes that theory is based on practice and in turn serves practice." (1) This quote illustrates two very important aspects of socialist government, two aspects which are not seen in the Chinese so-called Communist Party today. The first is the service of the proletariat: in a country with growing unemployment and disparities between the rich and the poor, many advances of the revolution are being rolled back in the "advances" of capitalism. The second is the dependence of theory on practice: as the verbal gymnastics from the Party Congress demonstrate, the Chinese government is doing all it can to pretend to follow the theory of socialism while putting into practice capitalism. The theory of socialism is fundamentally working in the interests of the majority of the people, this is not the practice seen in China today. MIM calls China state capitalist to distinguish it from the free market capitalism of many imperialist countries. Under state capitalism the economy of a country is centrally controlled. But in both forms of capitalism a few individuals are getting rich at the expense of the majority of the people by exploiting the people. With state control this exploitation is often hidden under the guise of ownership by the people, but taking a close look at the economy of China reveals that it has been on the capitalist road since the death of Mao. Those who defend China as if it were not capitalist look more and more foolish as even the so- called communists in China admit that they are in fact implementing capitalism.(2) MAKING A MOCKERY OF "SERVE THE PEOPLE" Mao Zedong wrote, "Our point of departure is to serve the people wholeheartedly and never for a moment divorce ourselves from the masses, to proceed in all cases from the interests of the people and not from one's self-interest or from the interests of a small group, and to identify our responsibility to the people with our responsibility to the leading organs of the Party."(3) For a government to truly serve the people it must act in the interests of the people. Deng is famous for the statement "To get rich is glorious", a proclamation that he put into practice when he took power in China. The reforms after Mao's death signaled the end of socialist economic planning in favor of capitalist competition where a few succeed and get wealthy at the expense of the majority. Although China has the world's fastest growing economy, it also has huge problems: unemployment, corruption, crime, drugs and large disparities of wealth between regions. Most of the newly affluent are among 200 million urban dwellers; there still are a billion rural poor. While China under Mao certainly was not without economic and social problems, the country had succeeded in productively employing the entire population, practically eliminated crime and drug problems, and was successfully waging a battle against abuse of power that involved educating and mobilizing the entire population to participate in the political activity of the country. The battle under socialism was to eliminate economic and social problems. Under capitalism China has developed more and more of these problems. In China in 1997, official figures report over 100 million people for whom there are no jobs. If China stopped printing money to support unprofitable industries in the bloated state sector, it would throw another 150 million people out of work. While the per capita income has risen since Deng Xiaoping took power, it is important to look at more than just average income and also examine the growing disparities between rich and poor. Meanwhile, the People's Liberation Army (PLA, a branch of the government that was devoted to educating and organizing the people during the cultural revolution) has become a bloated military apparatus soaking up subsidies for more than 7,000 military- run businesses ranging from hotels to pharmaceuticals.(4) China is now moving to eliminate state ownership, moving further towards free market capitalism. In this move they are opening up the opportunity for factory managers to transfer large amounts of state assets into their personal control. This should clearly reveal who was benefiting from the state capitalist system. Related to this "problem" for the Chinese government is the question of how to compensate new owners and senior managers of corporations as they are privatized. The people of China learned well from the revolution that the workers deserve to earn as much as the managers and now the capitalists in power are having a hard time coming up with a way to overtly pay off the owners and managers without angering the Chinese people. (5) SELLING CHINA TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER China announced on September 22 that it will cut taxes on equipment imported by foreign companies, a move designed to attract overseas investment by saving multinational companies billions of dollars. China hopes to attract investment in high- technology industries that require billion- dollar investments, such as semiconductor plants and telecommunications equipment. Motorola Inc. said last month it plans to invest $200 million to expand a chip plant in China. General Motors is building a $1.6 billion auto plant in Shanghai, the biggest investment in China by a U.S. company. "Any tax break makes a big difference,'' said Tom Dahl, finance manager at GE China, which builds power plants. "For capital goods, you're talking about 20 percent.'' (6) This announcement came only days before U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin was to meet with Chinese President Jiang Zemin in Beijing. Rubin was going to press Jiang for a decision on an order of up to $2 billion worth of Boeing Co. jetliners from China. Boeing is planning to buy a stake in an aircraft maintenance business in China and its McDonnell Douglas unit builds aircraft parts in the country. (6) Opening up China to more and more foreign investment is good business for those running the Chinese government and those in positions of power within the domestic and foreign corporations, but it does not mean a better life for the workers of China. So many companies are eager to open up shop in China because the labor is so cheap. Factories are moving out of imperialist countries where the bloated working class demands labor aristocracy wages and into China where only three years ago the workers earned $0.50 per hour.(7) The liberalization of China's policies towards foreign investors comes with the privatization of state-run industries. A central theme of the 15th Party Congress was endorsing the shift from state ownership to a system of share-holding. More than 10,000 of China's 13,000 large and medium- sized state enterprises are likely to be sold, though many issues-- like who the buyers will be -- remain unclear.(8) A total of about 700 Chinese companies have already been listed on China's two stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen, and a handful have sold shares in Hong Kong and New York.(5) Because privatization is a still a bad word no government official will discuss the possibility that big-time capitalists will emerge as owners of large enterprises, though many economists are speculating that this seems inevitable at some stage. RESULTS OF THE PARTY CONGRESS: FAKE LEFT, RUN RIGHT The formalities of the congress included reelecting the General Secretary Jiang Zemin and choosing a new larger Politburo with 22 members along with the all-powerful seven-person standing committee. There were some shifts in power between Jiang supporters and Jiang opponents but in the end not much changed from the perspective of the international proletariat. Just as there is no real difference between Bush and Clinton, there is no real difference between one form of state capitalism and another. Moving faster or slower towards free market capitalism will not bring about equality and justice for the workers and peasants in China. Giving up any anti-imperialist rhetoric, Jiang said he wants to "join hands'' with President Clinton in building "long-term, stable and healthy cooperation into the 21st century.''(4) Prior to the congress a series of editorials and interviews ran in the state- controlled press urging China to give up the debate about the merits of socialism versus capitalism and instead get on with making money. (10) During the congress Jiang argued that market reforms are just a Chinese variation on socialism. On the last day of the congress delegates enshrined Deng Xiaoping's famous phrase "socialism with Chinese characteristics" into the constitution.(9) To justify the move away from state ownership, the Party that still calls itself communist was forced to avoid the word "privatization" and instead insist that when ordinary people buy shares of stock it is a form of "public ownership."(8) Newspaper editorials in the state-run papers denied that Jiang was endorsing privatization throughout the month of September in an attempt to placate the Chinese people who are bound to be alarmed. "The share-holding system has nothing to do with privatization," said Wang Jiaqiu, vice president of the Party School, the news agency reported. "The system only provides a method to achieve public ownership and will bring no change to the present economic structure where public ownership is in the leading position."(8) The capitalist hacks in China can call apples oranges if they want, that won't change the fact that apples are apples and not oranges. The reality of the state-capitalist system in China will cut through their lies, and the Chinese workers and peasants will once again rise up in resistance to those who would exploit and oppress them. NOTES: 1. Mao Zedong, On practice, Selected Works, Vol. I, p.297 2. This article does not attempt to document the details of the capitalist restoration in China after Mao died. Interested readers should check out "China Since Mao" by Charles Bettleheim, ""The Capitalist Roaders are still on the Capitalist Road," or "The Political Economy of the Counterrevolution in China." Available from the addresses on page 2 for $6, $10, and $10, respectively. Make checks out to MIM Distributors. 3. Mao Zedong, On Coalition Government, Selected Works, Vol. III, p.315 4. Rocky Mountain News, Sep. 2, 1997. 5. New York Times, Sep. 17, 1997. 6. Miami Herald, Sep. 23, 1997. 7. Deng's economic legacy: made in China By Martin Crutsinger AP Economics Writer 8. NYT, Sep. 12, 1997 9. Sun Times, Sep. 23, 1997. 10. September 2, 1997 Rocky Mountain News. * * * UM CAMPUS POLICE SHOOT BLACK MAN STABBING HIS GIRLFRIEND GENDER AND NATIONAL OPPRESSION LEAD TO DEATH Early in morning of September 23, a University of Michigan Department of Public Safety (UM-DPS) officer shot a young Black man twice on the U-M campus; the man had been stabbing his girlfriend. This was the first time a UM-DPS officer had fired a weapon while on duty. Both young people died within a few hours while in surgery.(1) MIM joins both these young people's families and communities in grieving for them, and we write about this incident as an example of why we organize for national self-determination for the Black nation, and for a real end to gender oppression. As a result of gender oppression, romantic partners are responsible for more wimmin's murders than any other group; and national oppression subjects the Black nation to gun- wielding white police forces. For MIM, national domination of the Black nation by white Amerika is principal in this incident. The supposed solutions to domestic violence--mandatory arrest and sometimes imprisonment, and coaching wimmin to get involved with more sensitive men--do not work. FBI statistics prove that arrests and imprisonment for rape and domestic violence disproportionately target Black men. Even the domestic violence activists will not openly argue that Black men are more prone to violence than whites. Yet they join everyone else who does not oppose the u.s. criminal justice system in supporting the unequal application of domestic violence laws. In effect, the domestic violence advocates do more to control Black men through the criminal justice system, than they do to protect wimmin. Because sex is tied up with power in our society, getting involved with nice individual men is no guarantee for wimmin either. The solution is to build a society in which power differentials between romantic partners are not considered sexy, not to smooth over these power differences with sweet talk. KILLINGS ON THE U-M CAMPUS The young womyn who died was Tamara Williams, a 20- year-old college senior who lived with her 2-1/2- year-old daughter Kiera and her boyfriend, Kevin Nelson. Kiera's father had also been killed previously by his girlfriend, so Kiera has been placed with her maternal grandmother. The DPS officer who shot and killed Nelson is on administrative leave with pay while the case is investigated--this is DPS policy when there has been a shooting. Since the stabbing and shooting, mourners have held two candlelight vigils for Williams, one in the parking lot near her house where she was killed and one in the middle of the U-M campus. The University has set up an education fund for Kiera Williams, and domestic violence and sexual assault activists have been offering their counseling and support services both to people who are touched by this incident and to those who are dealing with violence in their own relationships.(1) There has been no public mourning of Nelson, showing that the majority of public opinion on the U-M campus is at best ambivalent about whether Nelson was a victim in this or not. In a way, this was a dream case for the campus cops: how many times do the police murder a Black man only to have an organized and supposedly left movement rise up to say they did the right thing and should do more of it in the future? Nelson's sister and Williams' mother have both said since the stabbing and shooting that two young people have lost their lives here.(1) The fact that Nelson first murdered his girlfriend should not mean that the field is suddenly open for summary executions by the police.(see article on this page) MIM says that any U.$. police force already has enough blood on its hands by its work upholding order in a country which carries out overt and covert wars internationally and with impunity, which pipes drugs into oppressed communities within its won borders and which, as the Black Panthers said, "occupies the Black community like a foreign troop occupies territory." Drumming up support for racist injustice system The Michigan Daily printed the statistic that while almost half of murdered wimmin are killed by spouses or lovers, less than 10 percent of men are killed by romantic partners. According to the U.$. Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), in 1994, "husbands or boyfriends killed 28% of female murder victims; wives or girlfriends, 3% of male victims." This distorted statistic is often used by domestic violence centers and police as an excuse to crack down harder on men who are violent with their lovers.(2) As MIM has pointed out in its theory journal Gender and Revolutionary Feminism, the Daily and the domestic violence experts leave out the fact that very similar absolute numbers of men and wimmin are killed by their romance partners. But more men are murdered than wimmin, so the number killed by spouses make up a smaller percentage of the total number of men killed each year.(3) The BJS report also points out: "Except for rape/sexual assault, every violent crime victimization rate for males was higher than for females."(2) So men do not necessarily kill their romantic partners more than wimmin do, men are simply killed in larger numbers overall. MIM does not see this statistic as sufficient evidence that more men need to be locked up. Falsifying these statistics by telling only half the story is good for the domestic violence shelters and the cops, because it lends credibility to their efforts to criminalize men, Black men in particular, for romantic violence. In response to these two killings, the police and domestic violence experts have agreed that calling the cops is the best thing people can do in response to a domestic violence problem.(1) But all of these calls for more policing rest on two very big, and incorrect, assumptions. The first assumption is that the laws are applied evenly, meaning that given a total number of domestic violence situations reported, on average more guilty people will be punished and more innocent people will not. The second assumption is that punishing more perpetrators will work. Both of these assumptions are wrong. According to the FBI in 1983, 63.3 percent of all rape cases faced by Blacks were brought by whites. Since the anti-rape activists already agree with us that roughly three-quarters of all rapes are by a person the victim knows, we should be able to assume that profiles of men charged with rape match up approximately with profiles of men wimmin date. We have no numbers on interracial dating, but we know that among Black married men in 1989, four percent were married to white wimmin.(3) According to the 1990 Census, 93.7 percent of married Blacks were married to other Blacks.(4) If we take the percentage of Blacks who are married to whites as a reflection of the percentage who date whites, and we remember that three-quarters of all rapes are by someone the victim knows, we would think that the percentage of rape accusations Black men face from white wimmin would at least be less than ten percent if we already assume bias against Black men in white wimmin's reporting of rape. But instead of four or even 10 percent, 63.3 percent of rape accusations against Black men came from white wimmin.(3) Given the gross bias in white wimmin's rape accusations, maybe we should be relieved that the conviction picture is not quite so hideous. In 1986, among rape convictions in cases where the victim was white, Black men were 22 percent of those convicted.(3) All people who support equality should be up in arms about this. Even if all 12 percent of men in the United Snakes who are Black were dating white wimmin (and we know this is far from true), this number would be disproportionately high. Given the bias we know exists in dating, this bias in rape convictions is striking. So we know that both white wimmin's reporting and the court system's response to rape charges against Black men puts Black men in prison far more often than white men committing the same crimes. For MIM, this would be enough to say that those people wanting a real end to domestic violence and rape should not be calling on the police and the courts for help, unless in their efforts to end violence against wimmin they are willing to perpetrate violence against the Black nation. We also know, direct from the Ann Arbor, Michigan police, that mandatory arrest laws for batterers do not make a difference in the rate of continued battering. From statistics kept by the Ann Arbor Police Department in 1987, out of 104 arrests of batterers, 15 went on to batter their victims again, while among 130 batterers who were not arrested, 18 battered the same victim again.(3) In other words, arresting batterers made no difference in whether the violence continued or not. So we are not even talking about an approach which discriminates grossly against Blacks and works half the time. We already know that the criminal justice system is biased against Blacks and now, by the Ann Arbor police's own accounting, arresting perpetrators of domestic violence makes no difference to the outcome of continuing or ending domestic violence. STUDENTS WERE CORRECT TO OPPOSE CAMPUS COPS In 1990, a student movement on the U-M campus responded to the state legislature's passage of a law which allowed deputization and gun-carrying for Michigan campus police forces. The students raised the possibility that deputized campus cops would cause unnecessary killings and that is exactly what happened. Did that cop save Tamara Williams' life? No, he only managed to deprive another Black man of living out his own life. MIM did have some disagreements with the student movement against deputization, but overall we remember it as a very correct period in mass campus organizing, when students were more mobilized against increased police activity than they were about anything else. While the students incorrectly raised some side issues like the possibility of "trigger happy deputies," they were overall correct in opposing the presence of more cops.(1) MIM does not bring up the possibility of "trigger happy deputies" because we don't believe one cop with a gun is necessarily worse than any other cop with a gun. MIM opposes any increase in any police force which is not controlled by the people. In Amerika this means we oppose all police at this time because all police work within the criminal injustice system which exercises tremendous repression against Blacks, Latinos and First Nations. Tamara Williams' own mother said after the two killings that "two young lives have been stamped out for nothing," she did not restrict her grieving to her own daughter.(1) It is awful enough that one young womyn died at the hands of her boyfriend, there was no reason for the police to add her boyfriend's death to that night. NOTES: 1. The Michigan Daily 24, 25, 26, 29 September 1997; The Ann Arbor News 23 September 1997. 2. National Crime Victimization Survey, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/pub/bjs/ascii/cvius94.txt 3. MIM Theory 2&3: Gender and Revolutionary Feminism; order a copy from the address on page 2 for $6. 4. Reynolds Farlye, ed., ITAL State of the Union, Vol 2 END, Russell Sage, New York 1995. p. 166. * * * LETTERS ANTI-IMPERIALIST STUDENT BREAKS WITH ISO, SUPPORTS MIM AND RAIL Dear MIM, School started and it's going fine. . . the ISO is big on campus, but I've helped get a handful of people to drop their membership - - I'm working with a campus group, the Student Solidarity Network - - they're big on Imperialism and I'm helping to run their program "Liberation Classes" where we study injustice, methods of action and hidden history etc. . . When I told the ISO I wouldn't join because of political differences, they asked me why so we had a conversation. . . this woman said that "even bourgeois economists agree that American workers are the most exploited in the world." She went on to say how bad it is for American workers when a company moves operations to the third world. By her logic, of course, the company would then pay the third world workers MORE than the Americans - - not one tenth. Not that you don't know this, just that it's another good example of the ISO's ineffective path of action. . . I hate to say it but I'm way behind on the distribution. I need a new list of places to distribute, my list got lost in the move. I don't want these papers to go to waste. I'll really push to get the papers out. Keep in touch --a comrade in the east MIM RESPONDS: We're happy to see that this comrade understands the importance of anti-imperialism as a dividing line question when deciding who to organize with. The ISO is not anti-imperialist: organizing white people in Amerika for a bigger piece of the pie while telling these workers they are more exploited and more productive than any other workers amounts to organizing for national chauvinism. (For more in- depth reading on this see MIM Theory 1 and 10 available for $3 and $6 respectively). The most effective anti-imperialist organizing and revolutionary action has been led by communist parties and because of this we'd argue that regardless of where you are organizing, the best possible work that you can do is working with RAIL. Even if there is no RAIL branch in your city, we can help people set up and build revolutionary anti-imperialist groups that are part of a continental organization. This comrade is doing important work getting out MIM Notes in his/her city and this is one part of working with RAIL and MIM. If you are reading this paper and agree that it is an important educational and organizing tool, you too should become a MIM Notes distributor. Write to us at the address on page 2 for information on how to get started. POETIC JUSTICE Poetic Justice would be a career cop going to prison among the masses of innocent people who have been brutalized by him and his fellow pigs. Poetic justice would be watching the governor have a 17 car accident with a gasoline truck that has just been struck by a match wagon. These are dreams of poetic justice. The type that are worthy of good morality plays But here is some poetic justice that really happened. This kind of poetic justice bears laughing at and shows the potential of the masses to fight against oppression and ultimately to make revolution: M. Pookie, who is one of my relatives, and by choice a lesbian, had been harassed by a certain pig on several occasions. After the seventh or eighth time, she finally told him; "If I catch you without your badge, I'll get with you!" (Meaning they would fight). When she saw him at a local store while off-duty, she told him it was on. Pookie put her bags down and released her hostility. I've never seen something happen so fast. It was almost as fast as getting in the car and leaving. She proceeded to kick his ass, throw him over a car and a half, drop kick him and also ask him, "what have you done for me lately?" He was so ashamed that he left. No police friends to help. The pig was sorry he was by himself without a badge. But I doubt if he was sorry about harassing people because of their skin color or sexual preference. Mind you, these people (pigs), are the same people you see at the store while out of uniform. They may ask you a polite question about a lost dog or stray cat. They'll amuse with, "I'm no different, I bleed just like you do". But when they have that badge on, you are an under-class person. These pigs who sport on the side of their cars, (that we pay for), TO PROTECT AND SERVE', which only means to protect and serve capitalist interests--including the capitalists and their lackeys--victimize and brutalize the poor, the Blacks, Latinos, First Nation people because they are expendable. But on the lighter side, you could imagine the poetic justice which I witnessed that day! Normally he would have had his friends and their badges to protect them. The trees may kiss the winds so high The flowers may kiss the butterfly The wine may kiss the sparkling glass But all policemen can kiss my ass! MIM notes: Individual acts of justice such as the one described above will continue as long as the police occupy oppressed nation communities like a foreign troop occupies territory. But such individual acts of resistance will not stop police brutality. It is a cold hard truth that at the current stage of the struggle there is little stopping this pig from harassing our friend tomorrow when he has his badge on again. As long as the oppressed nations have no armed bodies (police) which they themselves control, the existing police and other military forces can have their way. MIM organizes the righteous indignation of the masses in order to build anti-imperialist and socialist revolution. This revolution will smash all the present state structures and their institutions: military, police, courts, etc. and replace them with proletarian institutions which will truly serve and protect the masses while repressing the present capitalist rulers and their lackeys. Karl Marx said it best: "The point, however, is to change it!" To help us build anti- imperialist and socialist revolution work with and join MIM or RAIL. * * * GOT CULTURE? NOW AVAILABLE! Get the latest issue of MIM Theory -- all 192 pages of it -- and take culture seriously. From Marx to Lenin to Mao to the Black Panther Party -- and to MIM -- MT13 spells out the study, criticism, and creation of art we need to help drive the revolution. Send $7.50 to the address on this page. Make checks and money orders out to MIM Distributors. * * * MIM GAINS EXPOSURE TO ISLAM RICHMOND, VIRGINIA--The Muslim Cultural Committee (804-644- 5360) and Muslim Student Association of Virginia Commonwealth University put on a talk September 25th titled, "New Afrika: A Renewed Vision in the Tradition of America's Multiethnic Foundation." The speaker was an emissary from Imam W. Deen Mohammed, who is the son of the same Elijah Muhammad, who recruited Malcolm X. The crowd of 50 people gave a friendly reception to an informative talk that outlined the differences of the mainline Muslim organization of Amerika with others working against national oppression. The public knows Louis Farrakhan, but Imam W. Deen Mohammed's organization is separate from Farrakhan's and does not consider Farrakhan's group Muslim at all. Richmond's Islamic community had Farrakhan speak in August and now Imam W. D. Mohammed is coming October 26th. The self-described "Muslim Americans" believe that Imam W. Deen Mohammed has been in charge of the largest conversion of people to Islam in history, in the years 1975 to 1980. In the last two years, he has been gaining stature in the Islamic global community and has been meeting with heads of state and the Pope to build up momentum for his movement. MIM is mostly in unity with the speech of the Imam emissary, because it dwelt mainly on practical issues facing the Black nation--the need for New Afrikan police, New Afrikan community control, opposition to drugs including alcohol and development through struggle against adversity. At the end, MIM challenged the speaker to explain how his philosophy was any different than atheism. The speaker had said Allah and the prophet wanted us to fight for justice with "the means at hand," just as a materialist-atheist would and just as Lenin and Mao urged against the ultraleft. He also said, "God doesn't give us any ideas that aren't based in our reality, that can't be achieved in our reality." He said that even dreams come from something in reality, which is something we could have read right out of Lenin's philosophical essays. Whether any Muslim knows it or not, these are not religious ideas. These are materialist ideas that have developed over the centuries to their present- day scientific level. MIM's only difference with the Muslim speaker in this area is that we do not believe in a "destiny for the soul," but he did not dwell on that subject except to say that what some people call "human capital" is what he calls "characteristics of the soul." The speaker upheld the goal of progress and explained a dialectical metaphor on the growth of seeds while being oppressed or packed down under soil. He went so far as to say that the Muslim leaders of West Africa turned a blind eye or assisted the slave trade with the thinking that they could not resist the military power of the Europeans, so perhaps they would develop through adversity by going along with the Europeans. The Imam cited passages from the Koran to back this line of reasoning. Backing a materialist interpretation again, the Muslim speaker replied to a member of the audience that the Prophet believed the people who feed a religious man are superior to the religious man who does nothing but pray. A most admirable aspect of Imam W. D. Mohammed's brand of Islam aside from its appeal to progress is that it is firmly internationalist. The speaker and supporters spoke of Muslim internationalism, in which unity is the main aspect amongst Muslims. The emissary spoke admiringly of the Jews for having risen from oppression and convinced the world of their worthiness. He also made a point of speaking well of Koreans and other immigrants who set up shop in the Black community: "I salute them." Then he asked the audience to realize that Africa should not be going to Europe for economic aid, because it should be getting that aid from its "children" in America. We too at MIM believe in reparations to Africa. This demand of the "mainstream" Black Muslims is proof that the Black bourgeoisie and petty-bourgeoisie still has a progressive role to play--much more progressive than that of the labor bureaucrats and Trotskyists who resist the correct analysis of parasitism and reparations and even do so in the name of Marxism. On the same note, the speaker distanced himself from the ideas of certain professors putting forward biological theories of Black superiority and historical mythologies of African achievements. As always, the speaker did not name any names and used cautious language--in one instance referring to the colonial genocide of the First Nations peoples as "distasteful." Saying something that MIM has also had to repeat in the face of subjectivism including narrow nationalism, the Imam said, "all human-beings can recognize the truth. . . The simple truths are accessible to anyone. It doesn't matter who you are." Such is another fundamental cornerstone of science and also internationalism. He castigated the crowd if it would follow those seeking "Black superiority" explanations: "Why do you need mythology?" According to the spokespersyn, the whole point is that people should feel some self- worth and believe in their own capacity for development and the speaker says that for thousands of years that has been the belief of Muslims about all peoples as the creation of God. MIM would say we didn't need God or a 2000 year-old book to know that all the various peoples have potential. We materialist-scientists see it in real life. Our most concrete difference with the Imam W. Deen Mohammed's school of thought appears to be that it believes "unwarranted attention" goes to prisoners. We were urged to "concentrate on the living" and keep Black children out of prison by building "New Afrika." In general, the one way in which religious idealism showed up in the speech was that the speaker went so far as to call for an end to the struggle against red- lining in Richmond, "because we are as free as the persyn red-lining the district." So overall we would say there was some unwillingness to face the realities of systematic power. Ultimately it is that incorrect analysis of power that leads this organization to call itself "Muslim American" while seeking a "New Afrika" explicitly patterned after "New England" and "New York" etc. A good antidote would be a visit to the Seneca and Mohawk territories, where there are budding police forces already. The Imam would find that the white man resists the role of these police forces and seeks jurisdiction for himself, contrary to the image presented by the Imam of an easily- accepted Black nationalism in white Amerika complete with "New Afrika" squad cars. Mao would have called this brand of Islam "capitulationist" in that it considers it "wisdom" for the Black man not to "confront" the white man the way the Indians did. This shows in the explicit defense of not just W.E.B. DuBois but also his nemesis Booker T. Washington. While we agree that radicalism easily veers into "empty talk," we would not be emphasizing Booker T. Washington and George Washington Carver, the accomplished scientist, as much as the Muslim American spokespersyn does. Booker T. Washington did not just promote scientific learning and self-cultivation: he explicitly opposed Blacks' learning various skills needed for power. On the whole, we see in Black Islam all the contradictions of the Black bourgeoisie--one minute showcasing the desire to be on an equal footing with the bourgeoisie of other countries, as demonstrated by repeated video showings of Black Muslims being put up in four star hotels and being greeted in posh receptions by heads of state and Islam--and in another moment posing smiling in front of a large poster of Malcolm X or making positive references to DuBois. This is the fine line walked by today's "Muslim Americans." We believe our futures are linked together in this stage of struggle between oppressed nations and imperialism. * * * U$ IMPERIALISTS SUBVERT DEMOCRACY IN HAITI On September 30, radical anarchist academic Noam Chomsky and Haitian Open Gate Senator Renaud Bernadin participated in a panel discussion about Haiti's current crisis. They both emphasized that the so-called U$ "restoration of democracy" was instead military coercion to place Haiti under U$ neo-colonial rule. The Open Gate Party was founded during the recent CIA-backed military regime. This regime had ousted popularly elected President Bertrand Aristide, leader of the Lavalas movement. While Aristide was in exile, Lavalas was banned. In its absence, organizers secretly gathered and created the Pati Louvri Barye, (Open Gate Party). Aristide's successor, Rene Preval, supports U$/IMF policies rather than those of the original Lavalas. The Open Gate Party continues to operate under the broad umbrella of Lavalas while criticizing Preval's policies. Bernadin pointed out that no country has ever reached self-sufficiency through the policies that the IMF/U$ is pushing on Haiti. All currently prosperous countries have either relied on colonies to provide the initial wealth for industrialization, or on heavy state intervention, or both. Neo-liberalism is bringing Haiti few benefits, and all of those come at a heavy human cost. Bernadin cautioned against making the current structural crisis in Haiti a battle of personalities. The argument should instead be around concrete policies. Aristide is neither a saint nor a demon, but must be criticized when he supports the IMF policies. Similarly, Preval need not step down, he need only change his policies from IMF-tailing to his original pro-Haitian program. Most importantly, the U$ military must leave. Both Chomsky and Bernadin told of the history of the last few years in Haiti much the way MIM has seen it. Both agree that after the U$ military intervention, the so-called "restoration of democracy," there has not been an increase in democracy. While the whole-scale slaughter by the formerly CIA-backed military has subsided, the mass hunger has only increased. Chomsky drew attention to the fact of U$ support for the coup all along, pointing out that it let the military stay in power for years before "returning" the elected president Aristide. According to Human Rights Watch, there is evidence of U$ support for the anti-Aristide coup in more than 160,000 pages of documents confiscated by the amerikan military, but the U$ is hiding this evidence. Chomsky also pointed out that -- even though there was supposedly an embargo on the coup regime -- the U$ gave Texaco special permission to keep the oil flowing to the dictators. Chomsky described the election of Aristide the "first and only genuine election ever in Haiti," but described Aristide's so-called restoration a restoration of the pro-U$ elite. The crash-course in "democracy" that the U$ subjected Aristide to before returning him reveals of the U$ definition of democracy. He was told that the rich elite should be fundamental to his government, and that there should be no subsidies on foods for the Haitian masses, because "price controls" are supposedly "undemocratic." Chomsky pointed out that the U$ heavily subsidizes its own agricultural products, while not allowing Haiti to do the same. Thus Haiti, once the fertile land that helped France become rich in the first place, imports subsidized U$ rice instead of feeding itself. The price for the U$ "restoration" of Aristide was the undoing of Aristide's pro-people program. In Chomsky's words: "Democracy has been restored by doing away with democracy and replacing it" with a U$-friendly regime. * * * SUBMIT REVOLUTIONARY AGITATION! So MIM Notes didn't cover a case of imperialist plundering, settler nation domination or struggle of the masses to build self-reliant power? Well, what are you waiting for? Send your article submissions to us so that we can better serve the needs of the oppressed in getting out news that is not censored by the main stream media. Send article submissions to the address on page two or to our new address: mneditor@mim.org * * * BOSTON POT RALLY: PROGRESSIVE SEEDS THROUGH THE INDIVIDUALIST HAZE Boston, 20 September--The 8th Annual Freedom Rally, a big rally for the legalization of marijuana was held on the Boston Common attracting tens of thousands of people. MIM and RAIL went to this event to for two reasons. First, within the white nation, youth are the most alienated group and the most likely to want to break away from the imperialist system. Secondly, while the struggle to legalize marijuana is a struggle mired in decadent individualism, it is often openly anti-cop and anti- justice system. The criminal injustice system is the main weapon of repression against the internal colonies here in North America, and so allies, however shaky, are valuable in this anti- imperialist struggle to reduce and eventually eliminate the power of the criminal injustice system. At the rally MIM and RAIL met many interesting people and made some allies, including the relatives of a prisoner deported to Texas. Others were not sympathetic to the plight of prisoners. Some people defended the Amerikan prison system by parroting the usual reactionary lies, such as "prisoners deserve what they get." Some people at the rally were clearly not interested in any sort of politics. One early speaker at the rally referred to the recent case reported in MIM Notes where U.S. Marines doing drug interdiction work shot and killed a young goatherder. The speaker said that in this case the drug war has two more innocent victims: the goatherder and the Marine. The Marine is most defiantly not an innocent victim. As MIM Notes wrote, the Marine was not charged with murder, despite evidence that the goatherder was no threat to the Marines, that the Marines did not give first aid and waited to call for help, and that the Marines lied about what happened. The MIM distributor pointed out to nearby masses what really happened, and the masses responded with outrage. Much of the pot legalization movement uses opportunist tactics and history to try and unite everyone behind legalizing pot. This often leads to patriotic, pro-state and pro-repression arguments. Arguing that the U.$. Marines serve a good purpose except when they help the Drug Enforcement Agency is just another form of pro-Amerika organizing. Some harder drugs are clearly harmful, but softer drugs like pot are debatably safer than legal drugs like cigarettes and alcohol. MIM supports the decriminalization of marijuana because the Amerikan war on drugs is actually a war on the oppressed nations. Decriminalizing pot would remove a weapon in Amerika's war on the oppressed nations, although they would come up with other mechanisms to bust heads. MIM disagrees with the argument that pot is a tool for raising consciousness, which is common among those who are actively promoting the legalization of marijuana. Under the current system, MIM discourages pot smoking because it is illegal and can give the pigs a useful way to crack down on revolutionaries. MIM doesn't get involved in picking one legal leisure time activity over another. All other things being equal, there is nothing better or worse about smoking pot than drinking beer or watching TV. MIM does encourage people to spend as little time on leisure as possible and instead put that time into revolutionizing the world to make it better for everyone. Under the later stages of socialism and then in communism, there will be little need or desire for escapist chemicals because societal alienation will be removed. When the distinction between "work" and "play" no longer exists, the people will be firmly united behind improving the common good. * * * PAPER TIGERS ***All reactionaries are paper tigers. In appearance, the reactionaries are terrifying, but in reality they are not so powerful. From a long- term point of view, it is not the reactionaries but the people who are powerful. - Mao Zedong*** * * RICHMOND LACKEYS OF THE PROPERTIED CLASSES BACK DOWN RICHMOND, VIRGINIA--Vicious anti-social individualism of the particularly Amerikan sort raised its ugly head in Richmond on July 28, but the oppressed nation masses fought back and won in September. We are referring to a City Council ordinance passed with regard to homelessness. This law belongs in the museums that will be constructed on the history of capitalism. "The ordinance restricts to 30 the number of homeless people the churches can feed and requires churches to pay $1,000 to apply for a special use permit to feed more than 30 homeless people." The City Council members had a bad case of the bug called settlerism, a twisted sense of values. They thought they were serving their capitalist masters well by prettifying Richmond and sweeping homelessness under the rug. The same kind of settler attitudes hold that property values go down by having poor people around. Hence, the City Council law was a struggle of the bourgeoisie and petty-bourgeoisie against the lumpenproletariat, the people on the absolute bottom of U.$. society. The same kind of reasoning holds that protests and flyers are "eyesores" that should also be restricted by local police. It took a while for this to sink in with the area Christians. Some local government leaders and journalists started to criticize the churches for taking the July 28 ordinance lying down. Finally the churches erupted and a mostly Black audience of 600 watched as their clergy took the City Council to task and received an apology from the mayor, Larry E. Chavis. Black churches are very strong in the South and the City Council was taking them on directly. In many areas of the country, it would be white Christians taking the lead in putting forward blame-the- individual- for- homelessness ideology. However, the case of the Richmond Christians and homelessness shows that religion does not shape material reality, but rather the other way around. Oppressed nation Christians are not the same as other Christians. SOURCE: Richmond Free Press 11-13Sept97, p. 1, a9. * * "ASIAN-AMERICANS" ORGANIZE AGAINST WHITES-ONLY RULING-CLASS The United $tates finally has a chance at campaign reform, and even limiting the spending of the rich in elections. The reason is that given the choice between racism and purer capitalism, the dominant nation often chooses racism. Thanks to Asians who donated money to Democrats, now the whole country is glued to the issue of how much money gets spent in campaigns. We communists have always said that European democracy is majority rule of the rich and white over the rest of the world. It is phony majority rule. Now that some Asian millionaires are trying to buy or rent the U.$. politicians too, some people are taking notice. Indonesians and Chinese behind donations to the Democratic National Committee are in the news. In response some U.$. citizens with Asian ethnic background are complaining that the politicians are targeting them and not just the non-citizens. Led by former Los Angeles City Councilpersyn Michael Woo, who is a toy manufacturer, the Asian- descended citizens have pointed to the remarks of various Senators as going well beyond concern about foreign lobbying. Senator Pete Domenici, R-N.M. said, "'I don't believe there's any Asia bashing. . . . We ought to get on with immunizing these little nuns and monks, so we aren't worried about discriminating against them.'" Senator Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, said, "'no raise money, no make bonus.'" Senator Robert Bennett, R-Utah, said, "'In my opinion, Mr. Trie's activities are classic activities on the part of an Asian who comes from out of that culture and who embarks on an activity relating to intelligence gathering.'" Source: Los Angeles Times/Washington Post News Service in Richmond Times-Dispatch 13Sept97, a2. * * AMERIKKKAN COURT RULES CONFEDERATE FLAGS ARE A MUST On September 11, North Carolina Judge Donald Stephens ruled that the Department of Motor Vehicles must provide Confederate Flag license- plates to those who request them. At least 300 members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans requested the license-plates. A similar case in Maryland resulted in a federal court's ruling that the license-plates are a must there too, in the name of free-speech. On the bright side, we communists should use the same legal principle to get our literature into public libraries. The government including public librarians and public university administrators is not allowed to choose what taxpayers read in their libraries and universities, so they cannot stop our making donations. SOURCE: Daily Press 13Sept97, p. a5. * * SETTLERS SYMPATHIZE WITH NAZISM Who says the masses are apathetic? While the crackers in the South are organizing for their right to keep fighting the North over the U.$. Civil War, the crackers in the West are actively organizing to refer to indigenous people as "savages." The use of offensive sports mascots is universal across the continent, but the people of Wallowa Valley in Oregon stand out: a school board retired the name "Savages" for their high school mascot and then faced angry residents with 500 names on a petition to restore the name. The school board recognized the complaints of the Nez Perce Tribe and then reversed itself under pressure from the crackers. Until recent years, Wallowa Valley had none of the original Indians who lived there while selling itself as a tourist attraction for Nez Perce history. When some Nez Perce returned to their land, the crackers organized the "Savages" drive of August. For us at MIM, it gets to be easy to see that a certain portion of the white nation would have been with Hitler if they had had the chance. We can also see why Stalin decided to shoot some people before they could support his invasion of the Soviet Union. SOURCE: News from Indian Country, Mid-Sept97, p. 15a. Rt. 2 Box 2900-A, Hayward, WI 54843 * * WHITE MAN RESISTS SELF-DETERMINATION IN NEW YORK As MIM has reported before, certain tribes are making progress toward formation of their own police forces and tribal leaders should not be attacked by anarchists and other ultraleftists merely for having their own police forces. The Oneida Nation surrounded by New York State are a case in point. Although the Oneida police mostly have training on New York police forces, the local government leaders of Sherrill and Vernon are opposing the "Oneida National Police Bill," which Governor Pataki has the opportunity to sign. Mayor Dwight Evans of Sherrill wants New York taxes imposed on the Oneida and says the Oneida police do not and will not enforce the New York sales tax. MIM says good for those Oneida police. SOURCE: News from Indian Country Mid-Sept97, p. 3a. Rt. 2 Box 2900- A, Hayward, WI 54843 * * FEDERAL PIGS RECRUIT FIRST NATIONS TRAITORS AT POWWOWS by a First Nation ally Recently the FBI, CIA and Secret Service issued a cordial invitation for members of First Nations to become active participants in the genocide of their peoples via a recruiting campaign in First Nation news media and powwows. Visitors at the information tent during this year's Quinnehtukqut Rendezvous and Native American Festival held in territory known as Haddam, Connecticut were confronted with a flashy FBI information table manned by a First Nation FBI agent handing out expensive brochures with politically correct pictures of the major oppressed nationality groups. The captions underneath each picture were careful to stress that a career with the FBI will yield the height of personal satisfaction through valuable community service. I walked away from the table feeling deeply enlightened about COINTELPRO(1) and the murder and/or imprisonment of hundreds of peace activists, Black Panthers, AIMsters, and Brown Berets. Community service! Yes folks, if you like to kill, steal, lie, cheat, rape, maim, you no longer have to worry about a prison sentence. Just join the FBI or CIA and call your nasty habits "community service." They'll even pay you. NOTE: 1. COINTELPRO, or COunter INTELigence PROgram was the FBI's undeclared war against the Black Panthers, Brown Berets, AIM and other activists. For more information see Agents of Repression, available for $16 from MIM. * * * HELP UNLEASH INDEPENDENT BUSINESSES OF THE OPPRESSED Writing, editing, distributing media, protesting, debating and holding talks--no one doubts that a revolutionary movement must do these. Yet Mao taught us that leadership and participation are possible in an infinite number of areas, including finance, where there is a science to carrying out people's finance for inevitable victory. The people can build their own business institutions and do so with greater foresight and social cooperation than the imperialists can. In fact, some of the masses and comrades will specialize in making just such business contributions to the revolution, which is in line with the fact that there are an infinite number of possibilities for doing successful revolutionary work, one winning battle at a time. Even for those not on the front-lines of armed struggle there is never an excuse for not carrying out the most exceptional work. Contact MIM to learn how to help build independent business institutions of the oppressed with no financial loss to yourself. Those of us not dodging bullets can still make a contribution to the cause of the international proletariat without sweating bullets. Even greater contributions are possible from those willing to take small risks compared with the comrades in Peru, Turkey, India and the Philippines putting their lives on the line for revolution every day. * * * MIM VISITS CHICKAHOMINY POW-WOW On September 27-28, the Chickahominy Indian Tribe held its 46th annual pow-wow on territory a few miles east of Richmond, Virginia. MIM attended to learn the concerns of the First Nations peoples of the region. The burden of history weighs heavily on area natives. The biggest tourist attraction in the area is the Civil War museums and Pocahontas comes in second. POCAHONTAS Although some neighbors of the Chickahominy, the Mattaponi, came to the pow-wow, we were happy to see that there was no evidence of any of the Pocahontas industry. There were no Pocahontas dolls for sale that we saw. Pocahontas was the daughter of the leader of a remarkable alliance of area natives named Powhaten. The English killed most of the peoples of the Powhaten confederacy, and the issue of accommodation to Euro- Amerikan power is still with the Indians of the 1997 pow-wow. VIETNAM WAR Dressed with fatigues and carrying weapons, the Vietnam Veterans performed a ceremony in the dance circle of the pow-wow. The announcer said quite bluntly that the veterans served in Vietnam and previous wars, "so we can preserve our culture." Thus, the Chickahominy, who have no territory in their possession at the moment, see serving in the U.$. military as a means of proving patriotism and gaining the approval of the white nation oppressors. In reference to the general idea of accommodation, one young member of the Mattaponi told MIM that there were two things accounting for this spirit of accommodation. "You are in the South." By that he meant that the people of the South are more patriotic and thus to accommodate to the white man, the Indians also had to be patriotic. The people of the South themselves bear the burden of the Civil War history and in some sense overshoot with their patriotism as if to make up for previous blows against the Union known as the United States. The young Mattaponi trader also said that older natives in the area tended to believe that if they lie low enough, "they will leave us alone," because otherwise, the white nation "will want something" [from them]. We spoke with a Vietnam Veteran who had obviously assimilated the white man's politico-military views. Since the 1980s, the right-wing has generated the belief that the U.$. government did not want to win the Vietnam war, instead of admitting that the U.$. military was killing millions of people and that "winning" would have meant the total extermination of the Vietnamese population. Ronald Reagan was the chief proponent of this lie. The native Vietnam Veteran we interviewed concurred with Reagan's beliefs and said, "governments will be governments." He said, "at the time we were fighting for the freedom" of another people. MIM believes that oppressed nations people should obtain military training, possibly in the white man's army. However, it is a different matter when it comes to killing peoples of other oppressed nations. It makes no sense to strive to be U.$. imperialism's lackeys. SOVEREIGNTY Not surprisingly, the patriotic accommodation to U.$. imperialism by the assimilated Chickahominy leaves little room for First Nation nationalism. There were no signs of any political initiative of any kind at the pow-wow. Even traders from the Cherokee Nation selling Cherokee Nation paraphernalia linked that trade to the split within the Cherokee people into two regions, not to sovereignty via the white man. However, we spoke to one Haliwa-Saponi trader who said he was "sorry to say" there is no sovereignty movement in the area known as Virginia and North Carolina. He pointed out that the natives in the region do pay property taxes, sales taxes and even hunting and fishing license fees despite treaties to the contrary. He was also considerably miffed that Virginia does not even have a category for Indians in some of its government paperwork. When Virginia police arrest Indians, they label them white for their paperwork. "It's another way of annihilating a race." Speaking of the Iroqois and the movements further north for sovereignty, the Haliwa-Saponi man said that "we're close friends with them . . . even unofficially they know we are a kindred people. When we hear about them fighting (amongst themselves), it bothers us, because we love them." He added that the Iroqois should balance economic development with tradition and not squelch one or the other, because "you can have both." A Mattaponi trader added that another difference is that many of the area tribes do not have any or sufficient land to defend as a compact unit against the white man and this results in a decrease in sovereignty aspirations. KING WILLIAM COUNTY RESERVOIR The clearest demand MIM heard voiced concerned a project to build a reservoir in King William County. The city of Newport News led by mayor Joe Frank wants to build a reservoir three miles from a very small Mattaponi territory in need of expansion. The reservoir would flood land with over 300 archeological excavation sites of the indigenous people. At the same time, the diversion of water would result in the flooding of saltwater into freshwater areas causing a brackish water to replace a freshwater environment. Since Newport News is a city on the ocean, it can pay for a desalinization plant for its water supply and has no need of the reservoir. On January 10, 1997, Frank met with the Mattaponi and on February 27, he met with representatives of the Pamunkey people. He is apparently still under the impression that his project is going ahead smoothly. Newport News has bought the necessities for a pump station and it points out that the public comment period ended July 16, so that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can give the project a go-ahead. The latest news is that there will be another environmental impact study. * * * TOO BUSY TO STUDY MAO? BUSIER THAN THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF PHILIPPINES IN 1976? "The reestablishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines on the theoretical foundation of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought constitutes a victory of profound and far-reaching significance in the Philippines revolution... "We have disseminated the works and propagated the scientific revolutionary teachings of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao and we have successfully criticized and repudiated Soviet modern revisionism and social-imperialism. Chairman Mao's works have been widely circulated because they not only deal correctly and elaborately with the problem's of a people's democratic revolution in a semifeudal and semicolonial country but also because they contain the latest and most comprehensive summing-up of the world proletariat and people. "To propagate the Marxist-Leninist stand, viewpoint and method, we have undertaken study courses, put out analyses of current national and international events, promoted further researches of national and regional scopes and required social investigations and criticism and self-criticism as methods for raising our ideological level and improving out practical work. "In our ideological rebuilding, we have had to lay stress on studying basic Marxist-Leninist principles and combating the modern revisionism of the Soviet and local renegades. We have had to rely considerably on books dealing with successful revolutions led by fraternal parties abroad..." -- "Our Urgent Tasks," Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines, July 1, 1976 "Our Urgent Tasks" is included in the newest edition of Philippine Society and Revolution, by Amado Guerrero, founding chairperson of the new CPP. This book is available from MIM. Send $20 to the address on page two. Make checks out to "MIM Distributors." * * * EXTENSION OF AMERIKAN TROOPS IN BOSNIA EXPOSES HYPOCRISY by a comrade and a RAIL comrade Since the signing of the Dayton "Peace Accord" in 1995, signaling the end of the war in Bosnia- Herzogovina, NATO troops have spread out from the city of Sarajevo to other cities and towns, ostensibly to maintain peace in the region. The Western European nations and the united snakes have an interest in a stable Balkan region, in part because stability in Bosnia means less immigration of war refugees into Germany and France and other European countries. The united snakes wants to maintain its dominance over European imperialist powers, and will profess humanitarian reasons to stay in Bosnia when the truth is that the amerikan government could care less about human rights violations or genocide committed by the Serbs or the Muslims in Bosnia. The united snakes is also eager to continue to use Adriatic shipping facilities in order to avoid high tariffs in dumping its exports into the Balkans.(1) In addition, "ex- Yugoslavia also serves Amerika as a source of strategic weapons- grade materials and as an espionage listening post."(1) President Clinton has recently announced that the u.s. troops will not leave Bosnia by the end of June 1998 as planned, but will remain indefinitely. On September 25, 1997 Congress passed a $247.5 billion spending bill that cuts off funding for the u.s. troops after June 1998 but gives Clinton an opening to ask Congress for additional funds while explaining why keeping the soldiers in Bosnia would be in Amerika's national interest.(2) Richard Holbrooke, the primary author of the Dayton accord, claims that the u.s. (and by extension NATO, because European troops will not stay if Amerika leaves) presence should be continued, lest the region collapse again into chaos and widespread violent fighting.(3) The united snakes government supports the president of Republika Srpska, Bujana Plavsic. U.$. soldiers along with Western European troops stand between her and her former ally, Radovan Karadzic. Without NATO support, Karadzic's supporters would likely kill Plavsic. The Serbs who support Radovan Karadzic condemn the NATO forces as Nazi occupiers, while the Serbs who support Bujana Plavsic welcome the NATO forces as literal lifesavers. The split between Plavsic and Karadzic is more political than ideological--both are nationalists, and both used xenophobic and hateful propaganda to demonize the Muslims during the war. When the war was over and Karadzic was sentenced to persona non grata by virtue of the Dayton accord, Plavsic became President of Republika Srpska and the favored player of the imperialists. Within Republika Srpska Plavsic attempts to gain popular support by painting Karadzic as a corrupt mafioso, while she presents herself as a leader of the people. NATO supports Plavsic because she gives them a foothold in Bosnia whereas Karadzic would attempt eliminate all foreign influence. NATO's strategy of isolating Karadzic is not working the way the u.s. and Western Europe expected--which is why there is talk of NATO extending its stay in Bosnia. For many months the NATO troops have done little except maintain a divide between the Serbian factions. Following the arrest in August 1997 of a Bosnian Serb indicted for war crimes, NATO stepped up its presence and began a campaign of seizing control from Karadzic of local police stations and turning power over to Plavsic.(4) Karadzic's supporters have in turn increased their threat against NATO troops and Serbian supporters of Plavsic. The recent municipal elections, on September 13, 1997, which were required under the Dayton accord, firmly entrenched the divisions between Karadzic and Plavsic. NATO troops prepared to enforce the election process in order that Plavsic could gain legitimacy through "democracy." Supporters of Karadzic threatened to boycott the elections, but then relented. Karadzic and his supporters continue to deny the legitimacy of Plavsic and the NATO presence, while the united snakes is committing its troops to an extended involvement in the conflict in Bosnia. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the group who coordinated the elections, ruled several days after the elections that all votes from Pale, Karadzic's base of support, were "decertified."(5) NATO policed the elections and transported Serbs to polling places in armored trucks, and officials have said that communities that do not accept the election results will have sanctions imposed.(6) MIM knows that the u.s. engineering of the Dayton Accord was not for any humanitarian reason, but to maintain its interest in a stable European market. The Amerikan government did not care whether Muslims or Serbs were slaughtered, and it does not now care whether war refugees can return to their homes as required under the Accord. The NATO presence in Bosnia, now likely to be extended even longer than originally planned, will never bring real peace to Bosnia. NATO troops stopped the war between the Serbs and the Muslims, but instead imposed imperialist occupation of the region, which MIM knows is the worst kind of war. NOTES: 1. See MIM Theory 4, p. 39. 2. NYT 26 Sept. 1997, p. A8. 3. Washington Post 28 Sept. 1997, p. C7. 4. NYT 11 Sept. 1997, p. A6. 5. NYT 17 Sept. 1997, p. A14. 6. NYT 14 Sept. 1997, p.1. * * * IMPERIALISTS AND MILITARY SPONSOR CASSINI DESPITE MILLIONS OF POTENTIAL DEATHS In mid-October, NASA plans to launch the Cassini space probe to explore Saturn. The probe will carry more than 72 pounds of Plutonium-238, a highly radio-active substance. NASA itself admits than an accident could expose as many as 5 billion people to that Plutonium. Researchers estimate that 30 to 40 million people could die as a result of such exposure.(1) NASA claims that the mission to Saturn is essential and that Plutonium is the only feasible power source for the probe. From MIM's perspective, as long as 14 million children are dying every year from malnutrition and preventable disease, a billion-dollar mission to determine the chemical composition of Saturn's rings should not be a top priority. In any case, non-toxic alternative energy sources do exist. A closer look reveals other motivations for the use of Plutonium in the Cassini probe: Imperialist profits and military research. RISK FOR DISASTER NASA downplays the probability of an accident which would result in the release of Plutonium into the atmosphere. According to NASA, the odds against such an accident are 1,500 to 1. This is actually a very high probability for such a disastrous event. By comparison, the odds against winning the lotto are about 4,000,000,000 to 1. NASA publicly claims that the Radioisotrope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) which contain the Plutonium are "indestructible." But according to Alan Kohn, NASA's former emergency preparedness operations officer, "They're indestructible just like the Titanic was unsinkable."(1) Kohn says that the stress tests which NASA ran on the RTGs were inappropriate and the RTGs failed several of them anyway.(2) NASA's own contingency plans contradict their public claims. In one scenario, the rocket carrying Cassini explodes over Africa, and the RTGs "impact rock surfaces," which releases the Plutonium throughout the continent.(1) BODY COUNT NASA also says that around 2,300 fatalities over a 50-year period could be attributed to any Plutonium exposure due to a Cassini accident, and adds that these deaths would be "likely to be statistically indistinguishable from normally occurring cancer fatalities among the world's population."(1) In other words, nobody will notice. But Ernest Sternglas, professor of radiological physics at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, says that NASA "underestimates the cancer alone by about 2,000 to 4,000 times. Which means that not counting all the other causes of death - infant mortality, heart disease, immune-deficiency diseases, and all that - we're talking on the order of ten to twenty million extra deaths."(1) Again, NASA's own contingency plans contradict their rosy assessment of the health consequences of a Cassini accident. For example, if the Plutonium falls on an urban area, NASA plans to "impose land-use restrictions... demolish some or all structures... [and] relocate affected population permanently."(1) "WE BRING GOOD THINGS TO LIFE" MIM isn't alone in considering the Cassini mission non-essential - the u.$. Congress cut funding for the probe in 1995. Lobbyists for the Department of Energy and Lockheed, which manufactures the RTGs, immediately convinced Congress to restore the funding. General Electric used to manufacture and lobby for the RTGs. GE is one of the five largest corporations in the world and is very involved in the atomic and high-tech weapons industry. In any case, the mission to Saturn does not need the RTGs. Recent solar-cell technology developed in Europe could provide the power the probe needs.(1)But thanks to a pocketful of money from the people who brought us better atomic bombs, Cassini will take off carrying the potential for millions of deaths. As long as the bourgeoisie holds political power in amerika, the interests of the profitable and parasitic weapons industry will come before the interests of the majority of humanity. Finally, the u.$. military has an interest in nuclear-powered space missions. Last year, a former commander of the u.$. Space Command said that the Air Force plans to "expand into space. We will engage terrestrial targets someday - ships, airplanes, land targets - from space... We're going to fight in space, and we're going to fight into space."(1) The type of weaponry the u.$. military envisions (lasers) will require large power sources, and the u.$. military believes nuclear power is an ideal solution. Michio Kaku, professor of nuclear physics at the City University of New York, says, "Nuclear energy in outer space is the linchpin [of the u.$ space program.] Ultimately, what they would really like to do is have nuclear powered battle stations in outer space. That's what all this is leading up to."(1) Although Cassini may not be directly related to a military project, it will provide NASA's military researchers with experience using nuclear power in space. NOTES: 1. Karl Grossman, "NASA's Nuclear Gamble," The Progressive, Sep 1997, pp. 20-23. 2. Interview with Alan Kohn on radio station KPFK, 19 Sep 97. * * * END VIOLENCE AGAINST THE OPPRESSED: WORK WITH MIM As if often true in cases of violence among the people, an in police violence against the people, MIM finds much to agree with in what the oppressed are saying about the recent stabbing and shooting deaths on the University of Michigan (U-M) campus. We have great sympathy with everyone who has called out that both of these young people's lives should be mourned, because Kevin Nelson did not need to be summarily executed by a campus pig anymore than Tamara Williams should have been murdered by Nelson. But we also find plenty of pigs among those people who have had their words printed in public. Here, MIM responds to some of the community responses to this tragedy. "All I know is that two young lives have been stamped out for nothing." --Yvonne Williams, Tamara's mother MIM supports Yvonne Williams in grouping Kevin Nelson together with her daughter as a victim in this incident. We work to build public opinion against wimmin's oppression in all its forms, including battering and murder, and we struggle to build understanding of why these things happen; and at the same time we struggle against the idea that police crackdowns are any solution to these problems. In this instance alone the police presence insured that two young people would die instead of one. This is not part of the solution. "He's a victim too. He lost his life too. Nobody said nothing about the family he had left. Did they have to shoot him? Why take two lives?" --Terriea Nelson, Kevin's sister "Terriea Nelson has said there was a second victim in the recent tragedy ... I say she's off by one, there are two other victims and neither is her abusive and deceased brother. First, there's the ... Department of Public Safety Officer ... [who will] forever wonder, 'What if I shot a minute sooner?'" --Stephen Hipkiss, University employee "[Kevin Nelson] deserved to be shot. That kind of abuse doesn't deserve to be tolerated." --Brian Clune, U-M graduate student If Mr. Hipkiss is so concerned about the DPS officer's future emotional health, allow MIM to suggest that the officer pick a less violent career, and that Mr. Hipkiss support removing guns from the hands of DPS officers. Tamara Williams did not have to die and everyone understands this and is angry that she was killed. But killing Kevin Nelson has not changed this, it has only offered up the question his sister did: "why take two lives?" Graduate student Brian Clune's Klan-style comment reminds us of exactly why that officer took a second life. Because our criminal INjustice system is designed for punishment and not for rehabilitation or genuine public safety, people in this country are trained to look for retribution for violence rather than looking to address the causes of violence. This stance makes a joke out of the so-called constitution of this country which states that people accused of crimes supposedly have a right to trial by a jury of their peers. Clearly, Kevin Nelson's peers do not think he deserved to die, even though they know he killed his girlfriend. But according to the law and order crowd calling for more guns and more cops, Nelson deserved nothing more than on-the-spot execution. MIM takes the time to debunk the fallacies about more cops and harsher laws making a difference in domestic violence because we believe it is desperately important that people understand the dangers of state-administered violence and repression. In the accompanying article, we discuss briefly the studies which show that increased police action does not stop or even slow domestic violence. If you are interested in reading about these studies in more detail, order a copy of MIM Theory 2&3: Gender and Revolutionary Feminism from us for $6. People who are genuinely interested in liberation of any kind cannot in good conscience satisfy themselves with asking for more police action as a means of stopping violence among the people. Cops have proven themselves, by their own accounting, to be irrelevant in the continuing occurrence of violent assaults between romantic partners. The solution is deeper than the Amerikan criminal INjustice system is willing to go because it deals with the fundamental problem of power between different groups of people. More cops will only aggravate the problems between men and wimmin because more cops increase the stakes of any level of violence. If you want to put an end to domestic violence, do not be sucked in by the short, easy and ineffectual route of pushing for more cops. Work with MIM to research, understand and expose the way power is exercised in this society. Don't believe the hype that putting more Black men away is worth it if it saves a few wimmin. Not only is this Klan propaganda, but it doesn't save anyone. Honor Tamara Williams and Kevin Nelson's lives and join us in the proven most effective way to end violence against wimmin: revolution. NOTES: The Michigan Daily 24, 25, 26, 29 September 1997. * * * RENO GETS PEACE AWARD FOR SUPPRESSING YOUTH by MC44 The National Peace Foundation has honored Attorney General Janet Reno with a ceremony and crystal sculpture called a "Bird of Peace." Foundation advisory board member Frances Humphrey Howard said Reno deserved the peace award for her work as a "remarkable, visible, advocate for children" and for her career's likeness to the "words and deeds of the great Mahatma Gandhi."(1) Part of that wonderful work for children was apparently Reno's work increasing federal money and programs for vicious repression of youth under the guise of "anti-gang" activity. Amerikkka's war on gangs funnels federal grant money to state and local law enforcement agencies if they adopt the federal agenda. If money is available to fight gangs, then local jurisdictions sure as hell better have (or concoct) a gang problem to qualify for the funds -- which bring them extra police, more sophisticated weaponry, etc. to fight their ongoing war against oppressed nations and the poor. And what do you know, according to an FBI report released in the spring, "violent street gangs are now operating in 94% of all medium and large-sized cities."(5) And studies show that current methods of fighting "the gang problem" don't work to reduce crime as the state defines it. As MIM Notes reported in August, Los Angeles recently passed a very restrictive injunction against the 18th Street gang -- prohibiting known or suspected members from congregating together in public or engaging in "violent criminal behavior" such as whistling.(2) The Los Angeles injunction, like similar ones in Boston and elsewhere, also permits parole officers to make "apartment searches that would be illegal for police to conduct."(3) But "a three-year ACLU study of an injunction on the 18th Street gang in the nearby San Fernando Valley showed that reports of violent crime actually increased. The California court declared injunctions permissible, saying their abridgement of First Amendment rights is acceptable to protect public safety. This report, the ACLU says, demonstrates the weakness of that argument."(3) In a typical display of pig hypocrisy and double- speak, Los Angeles assistant city attorney discounted the ACLU report, saying that a higher crime rate in this case was good, because it represented a restored faith in law enforcement that people were once again willing to call 911 without fear of gang reprisal.(3) Just as with the adult "criminal" population, the pigs will claim all failures in the injustice system as victories and increase all repressive measures despite their proven empirical bankruptcies. The New York Times reported at the end of September that despite the steadily falling official crime rate in the past five years, Amerika's prison population has been increasing at a rate of about 7% a year since 1990 -- climbing to a staggering 1.7 million last year.(4) The New York Times, voice of corporate Amerika and government apologist, argued that "of course, the huge increase in the number of inmates has helped lower the crime rate by incapacitating more criminals behind bars." Then in the next sentence, reporter Fox Butterfield admits that this is difficult to measure and that "crime rose sharply in the mid- and late 1980s ... even as the rate of imprisonment grew much faster."(4) The article turned outright genocidal when it paraphrased expert criminologists who suggest that the growth in the prison population "has created its own growth dynamic" -- meaning that the more people Amerika incarcerates the more it will eventually let out to continue to act on their inherent "criminal propensities." The implications are chilling -- keep on locking people up and never let anyone out. Indeed, "release rates of those prisoners eligible for parole have declined to 31.2% in 1995 from 37% in 1990."(4) The article concludes by comparing the amount spent on education relative to incarceration in California -- a state which at the current rate will run out of prison space by the year 2000. In the last 20 years, the proportion of California's state budget going to prisons has increased by the same amount that the proportion spent on college education has dropped. And the state university system has lost 10,000 employees while the prison system has gained 10,000. A California State University chancellor was quoted: "you pay now for college, or you pay dramatically more later for prisons."(4) MIM has previously used current prison growth trends to project that, if current trends were allowed to continue, by 2020 there would be 4.3 million Blacks in prison, or 9.5% of what the Black population is projected to be by then.(6) MIM and RAIL say, work with us to organize against further prison construction, to raise money for badly needed and desired reading and study material for prisoners, and to expose the criminal injustice system for the corrupt system of national and youth oppression that it is. NOTES: 1. Washington Post, September 22, 1997. 2. MIM Notes 145, 3. The Christian Science Monitor, August 18, 1997. 4. The New York Times, September 28, 1997 5. CNN, April 22, 1997. 6. MIM Notes 137, May 1, 1997. * * * LAPD ESCALATES THE WAR ON OPPRESSED by a RAIL comrade The vicious Los Angeles Pig Department is gearing itself for the bloody repression and outright genocide of the oppressed nations. In mid- September, the LAPD obtained the 600 surplus M-16 automatic rifles donated by the Army. Sergeant pigs will keep the "urban police rifles" in their squad cars. There is no official protocol for use of the M-16s, leaving the pigs free to use the assault weapon whenever and however they choose. Now, the police pigs don't have to wait for the SWAT death squads to arrive before they start razing. According to the bourgeois media, the assault weapons will "help even the odds against heavily armed bandits."(1) But the only powerfully armed bandits roving the streets are paid for by the bourgeois state: the police force. Kalifornia public university pig squads are also joining the rush to arm themselves against the masses.(2) Kalifornia State University Los Angeles will receive six MP-5 submachine guns in November to provide back-up support for the LAPD in the predominantly Latino community, and the University of Kalifornia at Los Angeles is hoping to acquire submachine guns as well. Historically, students have played a strong agitational role in progressive movements. The bourgeoisie is acting to put a wedge between the students -- who migrate to the school for only a few years -- and the surrounding communities of oppressed nations by criminalizing the oppressed and paternalizing the students. Resurging levels of activism also has the imperialist state ready to crackdown should students correctly choose to ally with the oppressed. The Kent State massacre in 1970 demonstrated that the Amerikan state isn't afraid to kill white youth when they oppose imperialist wars of aggression. The hostile situation in the oppressed nation communities makes it painfully clear that the police are an occupying force. The contradiction between the oppressed nations and the colonizing Amerikan nation is growing ever more antagonistic. The Amerikan state is scurrying to meet the rising tide of resistance with violent force by using the specter of violence and terrorism to escalate the level of repression with white settler support. NOTES: 1. USA Today, Sep. 17, 1997 p. 4A. 2. Daily Bruin 11 Aug - 17 Aug, 1997, pp. 1, 9, 11. See articles in MN 145 and MN147. * * * REVOLUTIONARY ELECTRONIC MAILING LIST NOW AVAILABLE FROM THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT! Subscribe to mim-news and get news and feature articles from MIM Notes, the bi-monthly newspaper of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM). mim- news contains anti-imperialist global and local news coverage, letters from revolutionary prisoners in Amerikan gulags, reviews of Internet politics and sites, and cultural analyses -- all from a Marxist-Leninist-Maoist perspective. (mim-news is not a discussion list.) * * * UNDER LOCK AND KEY MEDICAL NEGLECT = DEATH ...So far I have been here 6 1/2 months and have seen one inmate die. This inmate was sick for weeks, writing requests, complaining everyday to all medical and prison official. They did nothing for him. He used to be throwing up blood everyday. They chained him up. Then had a nurse come look at him for one minute. All she said was, "You look all right to me. I'll order you some Tylenol and you'll be all right." I could look at this inmate and see he was sick. He told her he was throwing up blood and he needed to go to an outside hospital and be checked out. This nurse just left his cell. Two days later that found this inmate in his cell on the floor dead. They tried to put a mask on him and rush him out to the hospital to make the other inmates think that they were doing something, but this inmate was already dead. The warden then put the whole facility on lockdown. This jail already is a lockdown facility. We can't come out of our cells unless we are chained up. And the warden still put us on lockdown, where no inmates would be allowed to use any phones to call the outside and let them know what's going on. No mail was allowed to go out of the facility. The state police came to investigate. We stayed on complete lockdown for 3 weeks straight. No shower, phones, mail or nothing -- until they covered up this inmate's death by saying he had a heart attack to the news media and this inmate's family. Which is a lie. Another inmate was jumped on by two other inmates who slipped their handcuffs and beat this other inmate so bad because he was in chains and could not defend himself. Now he is brain dead in ICU on life support. The guard set that shit up and just watched. They waited about 15 minutes before they called a code. This is just a little of what is going on behind the walls here in Northern Supermax Correctional Institution. ... -- A Connecticut Prisoner, 8 June 97 NEGLECT CAUSES DEATH ...These events occurred while we were on A-wing in P.H.D. [Punitive Housing Detention] and/or solitary. Gerald Wayne Champion was a suicidal patient and he finally committed suicide by hanging himself in a solitary cell on July 9, 1997. Right after a conversation with the psychiatrist. I have had constructive knowledge of Champion's suicidal tendencies since June 1997. ...There are several events that are documented which [demonstrate this]. Around the 3rd day of June 1997, Champion swallowed 40 pills and was transferred to John Sealy Hospital. On or about July 5, 1997, Champion cut his arms with a razor bland and he was taken to the infirmary. Then later brought back to A-wing, given the opportunity to take a shower and then he was put back into his cell. On or about July 6, 1997, Champion put razor blades or pieces of razor blades in his eyes. A second shift supervisor, Sgt. Johnson, escorted Champion to the infirmary to have the blades removed from his eyes. Sgt. Johnson told the medical staff that Champion needed to be placed into a padded cell. Nurse Butler said that they do not put inmates in the back of the infirmary anymore so take him back to A-wing. Champion was brought back to his cell ... and told prisoner Z and myself about the above event. On July 7, 1997 prisoner z wrote two I-60's for Champion. One addressed to Warden Brock and the other to the psychiatrist. The I-60 stated: "This is the second time that I have asked you for help which you refused me the first time. ... If they put me out in the fields the way my mind is right not I will be a danger to myself, to the bosses and inmates working around me. I feel as thought it would be best for all the people in general if I were to have a job in the building such as necessities or the kitchen." On July 8, 1997, Champion talked to Warden Arnold and Sgt. James was present. Champion told Arnold his problem which was being assigned to work in the field and he also told [Arnold] that he was going to injure himself or kill himself. Warden Arnold told Champion that it wouldn't do him any good to injure himself because if they send him to Skyview they would only send him back. On July 9, 1997, at approximately 10:00am Champion told Officer Walker that he wanted to talk to Sgt. James. Walker told Champion that he had missed Sgt. James because Champion was asleep when Sgt. James came through. ... Walker told Champion that he would tell Sgt. James to come back. Champion said that's Okay, I know how to get him back here. At approximately 11:30 to 12:30 Champion asked a officer (female) to close his door. At approximately 12:45 pm to 1:00 pm the psychiatrist came to Champion's cell and he told the psychiatrist about what he would do if he went out to the fields to work (make the officers' shoot him). Champion asked the psychiatrist to tell them to give him a job in the kitchen or building and he would go out into population and take care his business. The psychiatrist told Champion that he could not tell people where to put Champion to work, and that if Champion hadn't been putting razor blades in his eyes and acting childish and doing the things he had been doing, he [the psychiatrist] might be able to help Champion. The psychiatrist also said to Champion that if I was you I would lick my wounds and go out there and do the best I can with what I got. After Champion's encounter with the psychiatrist, Champion was found hanging in his cell at approximately 1:20 pm by a female officer who shouted, "He's Hanging." As a result of neglect Champion is now dead. -- A Texas Prisoner, 11 July 1997 PRISONER REFUSES TO SUBMIT TO DNA TESTING I am an indigent prisoner, serving a life sentence for second degree murder. I have been in solitary confinement for 3 months for refusing [to submit to] DNA testing under state law. I refused because the law is unconstitutional and does not apply to me. I am not going to willingly submit to this test. I fear the prison officials will eventually forcibly retrain me and take my blood. ... -- A Missouri Prisoner, 10 August, 1997 MANDATORY DNA SAMPLES IN INDIANA Greetings Rades: I need your assistance, the State of Indiana is planning to collect DNA Samples from all prisoners at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility in Carlisle, IN. They claim it is being done for identification testing. This is a conspiracy to frame brotha's who are true freedom fighters. The DNA is going to be used to clear-up unsolved crimes. Enclosed is a letter that I mailed to the IDOC [Indiana Department of Incorrections] Commissioner. ...[Which is printed below -- MIM] -- An Indiana Prisoner, 10 August 1997 To: Edward L. Cohn, Commissioner Indiana Department of Corrections 302 W. Washington St. R#E334 Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 RE: DNA Testing at WVCF Commissioner Cohn: On 6/6/97 it was brought to my attention that the IDOC will be collecting DNA samples on July 1, 1997 from all prisoners who have been convicted for an offense under I.C. 35-42, after June 30, 1996 and before July 1, 1997. I am interested in knowing if this law or policy applies to individuals who were convicted in 1988. [In addition] what compelling state interest does the IDOC attempt to serve by the taking of DNA samples? I don't feel this said action is justified when there isn't any current criminal investigation being initiated against me. Nor does the Indiana state police have reasonable suspicion to believe I've committed any crime. I have been incarcerated in the IDOC for the past 8 1/2 years, so why would the Indiana State Police need a DNA sample from me? From my legal research I've discovered that all other states that have passed a law of this kind, have only applied it to prisoners who were convicted of "sex crimes", Indiana is the only state that is attempting to require all prisoners to submit to a DNA sample, regardless of what they have been convicted for. According to the Indiana database statue, under title 10, DNA samples taken from prisoners, will be transferred to the Indiana State police, and placed in a DNA database for identification testing. I am concerned to know what type of action will be taken if my DNA sample matches a DNA sample that is already logged in the database, which was recovered from a crime scene? I have also been informed that prisoners who refuse to provide the Indiana State Police with DNA samples will be penalized. I must bring it to your attention that Under the Indiana DNA database statue, there is nothing cited that states a prisoner can be penalized for failing to give a DNA sample. A prisoner has a right under the 14th Amendment to refuse any medical testing. If in fact the Indiana state police's reasons for wanting DNA samples from prisoners is for identifying a particular prisoner with a crime that has never been solved, then I urge your department to honor the laws of the this land and obtain search warrants, as the law requires. I also must further bring to your attention that the laws of my religion do not permit me to give a DNA sample, and there must be others ways to accommodate me. ... -- An Indiana Prisoner, 10 June 97 [Same prisoner as above] MIM Responds: We agree that mandatory DNA samples taken from prisoners would be used to target politically active prisoners. We oppose this policy for all prisoners -- regardless of what the real criminals (those running the government and the DOC) say they have done. We do not agree that this practice should be reserved for state-accused child molesters or any other targeted group. Possession of a search warrant only makes attacks on the oppressed appear more legitimate and does not justify mandatory DNA sampling. While we support this comrade's actions to use the legal system against the practice mandatory DNA samples -- we recognize that their are no rights for the oppressed in Amerikkka; only power struggles. The above letter does a good job of pointing out how the pigs break their own rules to serve their own needs. So legal battles are good for small short term battles but in the long term we need revolution to eliminate oppression. Work with MIM to expose the imperialists and free the oppressed. PRISONER BATTLES SET-UP AND TRANSFER ...In June I was classified unmanageable and sent back inside the walls here in Jackson. This all started in December 96 when I was issued a ticket for attempting to assault two officers. The problem with this is on this day I had just been released from a downtown hospital where I had undergone lower back surgery for ruptured disks and was in no condition to assault anyone, even if I hadn't been cuffed from behind and chained at the ankles. If anyone was assaulted it was me because two days later I was back in the hospital for 18 days due to the swelling in my back from being dragged up stairs and forced to bend over and touch my toes for a strip search even though I had just come from having an operation. I filed an appeal of the ticket to the DOC in Lansing but was over-ruled by them. Six months later I'm in my cell ... when officers came to my cell, gave me five minutes to pack years of acquired property and I was moved back in here. I had not seen the inside of this place since I transferred from here in 92 and I was in for a shock when I got here. The state prisons of Southern Michigan was once the world's largest walled prison, and it probably still is the largest in size, but it is now a ghost town. There are only two population blocks where there used to be 6. You can't walk twenty feet without running into a fence or gate. And all the guards here are young and ready to prove that they run the place or so they think. You can bet your last dollar that you'll be hearing about this place in the near future because the only people here are the ones they kicked out of other joints around the state and tension is high right now. When and if this place does blow, the DOC will get what they've been after for years, which is to put this joint on total lockdown. ... -- A Michigan Prisoner, 8 July 97 P.S. ...Maybe what makes me unmanageable is my choice of reading material because I did get some strange looks when they gave me my last MIM Notes. FEDERAL HARASSMENT ...Today the battle centers around U.S.P Lomac (United States Penitentiary) and those who suffer from the constant racially motivated harassment, simply because of the hue of their skin. In the aftermath of an incident in which an officer was killed, every African American has been the target of constant harassment, physical as well as psychological -- making the atmosphere as one found on a plantation some 400 years ago. The constant visual searches (strip searches) for no justifiable reason, which is standard procedure, to retrieve suspected contraband, but here it is used as a tool to dehumanize and degrade the individual. In some instances having the individual strip in front of, as many as 6 correctional officers. Or in the worst case, having racial epithets and slurs vocalized during the course of the search. The other tactic is the total disarray of an individual's living quarters: destroying personal property, taking portions of legal documentation, pictures of family members. These issues remain to be a constant malingering curse, which is totally ignored by the administration of this institution. Those who have been a witness or a victim have only been met with hostile reactions in the their efforts to make grievances to any branch of this institution's administration. Many have been threatened with possible disciplinary action and in the worse case disciplinary action was taken. Those who remain are so struck by fear of the consequences of making any type of complaint, they simply accept what is being done. I can not be so easily shaken, and in reading this I hope you will understand that and join me in the struggle that is unfortunately is suffered by many but fought by few. In Struggle, -- A Federal Prisoner in California, 8 July 97 DON'T EAT THE FOOD Dear MIM: I'm a prisoner at the Moberly Correctiona Center in Missouri. And to show you the shit that is going on in this place, I was recently sent to the hole due to the fact that I would not eat the food from a cook who didn't have the proper equipment to serve the inmates. (1) No hair net, (2) No gloves, (3) No chin guard. So I took it upon myself to get my own tray and I was put in lockup at that point. Then I was released the next day. Prior to release from lock-up, I was seen by the Ad-Seg. [Administrative Segregation] Committee. They told me that I was wrong for getting my own tray. So I told them pigs that I don't care what they say. If the cook won't put on the proper gear to serve the food, then I will get my own food from the table myself, even if it means going to the hole each time. I don't care, my health comes first and the health of my brothers as well. This goes to show you that these pigs don't care if you live or die in these KKKamps. So someone has to stand up for whats right. Respectfully Submitted, -- A Missouri Prisoner, 20 May 97 MORE PROOF THAT PIGS ARE THE REAL CRIMINALS Thought i'd inform you koncerning the latest news here in the imperialist gulag (Trenton State Prison). On August 18th, several New Afrikan prisoners were exiting the mess hall and were attacked by a group/gang of pigs. Though, the bourgeois/imperialist media put it out as it it was "an unprovoked attack'' [on the pigs by the prisoners], making it appear as though the pigs were attacked first, which is a kommonly used tactic when they want to kover their asses. First of all, the pigs that were involved in this incident attacked first. It is the "right'' of anyone to defend themselves. And as a result 6 pigs were korrected. One required multiple stitches to the ear. One received a broken jaw, while the others were treated for injuries. This attack comes as no surprise to many of us. Just hours before this attack, a pig attacked a prisoner and as a result, the pig suffered a broken leg and injuries to the face. Second of all, these latest attacks [by pigs on prisoners] kome as revenge. Ever since a racist pig met his timely death, these pigs have been systematically attacking, harassing prisoners, specifically New Afrikans. An the 'head nigga in charge' (the warden) is aware and refuses to take appropriate actions. In fact, when one does komplain, he is met with more repression. This tells us, whatever the pigs do or feel like doing, it will be kovered up and justified. Lastly, i would just like to say that it doesn't end there. More attacks will follow and the repression will intensify. But for the many of us who are organized and have established united fronts, with bases of support, ... will continue to struggle and will kontinue to unite all who can be united. In klosing, as our beloved komrad on death row once said, "The greatest form of sanity that anyone can exercise is to resist that force that is trying to repress, oppress and fight down the human spirit.'' (Mumia Abu Jamal) A Komrad 'N Struggle, -- Another New Jersey Prisoner, 20 August 1997 WANTED: PRISONERS TO WRITE REVIEWS OF BOOKS MIM has a lot of non-revolutionary but political books that have been donated to our Books for Prisoners program. These books are worth reading and reviewing for MIM Theory. We have a range of topics and if you are interested in reading and reviewing one (or a few), feel free to specify your areas of interest. Along with these books we can often provide you with related information from past issues of MIM Theory to help with the reviews. MIM RE-LEASE PROGRAM MIM doesn't have a Re-Lease program, but you are the one who is going to make that change. Help ex- prisoners get a new lease on life. Mao said we in the imperialist countries would have to fight long -- dare we say it? -- tedious legal battles in the imperialist countries. MIM channels the anger of the oppressed into revolutionary politics. We aim to set up independent business institutions of the oppressed so that prisoners can make a living in this rotten system legally -- while staying true to the revolutionary cause. Find out how you can participate with no financial loss to yourself. Contact MIM. * * * MIM ON PRISONS AND PRISONERS MIM seeks to build public opinion against Amerika's criminal injustice system, and to eventually replace the bourgeois injustice system with proletarian justice. The bourgeois injustice system imprisons and executes a disproportionately large and growing number of oppressed people while letting the biggest mass murderers - the imperialists and their lackeys - roam free. Imperialism is not opposed to murder or theft, it only insists that these crimes be committed in the interests of the bourgeoisie. MIM does not advocate that all prisoners go free today; we have a more effective program for fighting crime as was demonstrated in China prior to the restoration of capitalism there in 1976. We say that all prisoners are political prisoners because under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, all imprisonment is substantively political. It is our responsibility to exert revolutionary leadership and conduct political agitation and organization among prisoners ñ whose material conditions make them an overwhelmingly revolutionary group. Some prisoners should and will work on self-criticism under a future dictatorship of the proletariat in those cases in which prisoners really did do something wrong by proletarian standards. ***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
Return to MIM Notes page
Return to MIM Homepage