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 143 AUGUST 1, 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. IMPERIALIST MILITARISM INCREASES UNDER GUISE OF AMERIKAN WAR ON DRUGS 2. CIRCUS OR LAW? UPDATE ON THE STRUGGLE TO SAVE THE LIFE OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL 3. LETTERS 4. PIRAO GREETED WARMLY 5. IMPERIALIST COURTS CONDONE IMPERIALIST MILITARY BARBARITY 6. AIDS SURVIVAL ABOUT ECONOMICS 7. AMERIKANS WASTE "THEIR" FOOD WHILE PEOPLE STARVE 8. WAR ON GANGS IS A WAR AGAINST THE PEOPLE INTERVIEW WITH MAPLEWOOD YOUTH 9. MILITARY DOES DIRTY WORK FOR INS; MURDERS LATINO YOUTH 10. NEW TACK ON IMMIGRANT CRACKDOWN? 11. INS TARGETS LATINOS IN NORTHEAST 12. NEW HAVEN MASSES PROTEST PIG MURDER OF UNARMED BLACK MAN 13. WHAT'S IT TAKE FOR THE OPPRESSOR TO LISTEN TO THE MASSES? REVOLUTION. 14. UNION-NEWS & PIGS PUSH FOR WAR ON STREET GANGS 15. CLINTON DISGUISES NATIONAL OPPRESSION AS ISSUE OF ATTITUDE 16. SENATOR CALLS SOLITARY CONFINEMENT "BARBARIC" 17. PARISITISM INCREASES: ERRONEOUS LABOR ARISTOCRAT ANALYSIS HIDES TRUTH 18. FIGHT OVER THE SUPER-PROFITS IN ENGLAND 19. STOP WASTING TIME: FIGHT IMPERIALISM AND FIRST WORLD CHAUVINISM WITH MIM 20. STRUGGLE CONTINUES FOR POLITICAL ASYLUM FOR THE SISON FAMILY 21. WAR CRIMINAL MCNAMARA GETS ON NEO-COLONIALISM BANDWAGON 22. RAMOS COVERS UP EXPLOITATION OF FILIPINO OVERSEAS WORKERS 23. UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS * * * 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 * * * IMPERIALIST MILITARISM INCREASES UNDER GUISE OF AMERIKAN WAR ON DRUGS by MC17 The United Snakes is expanding its use of the "war on drugs" both within illegitimate US borders and outside as an excuse, replacing the so-called communist threat, for expanding militarism. This has meant increasing militarization within US borders in inner cities and other areas disproportionately poor and occupied by oppressed nations. At the same time, rhetoric around the drug war is serving the imperialists' interests in other countries. THE WAR AGAINST THIRD WORLD COUNTRIES The drug war ally certification process was one example of the way the United Snakes is manipulating its neo-colonies. The annual certification ritual began in 1986, when Congress passed a law requiring the president to certify that key countries are cooperating in the U.S. war on drugs, and to "decertify" and sanction those which are not.(1) Those denied certification are denied most direct aid from the United Snakes and all U.S. Export-Import Bank financing.(2) Those denied certification this year include Afghanistan, Burma, Iran, Nigeria, Syria and Colombia.(2) The US decertified Colombia as a "drug war ally" this year with some rhetoric from the drug czar that "Colombia is killing our children with heroin production." This is the second year the U.S. has denied certification to Colombia, citing "rampant corruption" in the government as the reason. Part of this criticism is based on information that "President (Ernesto) Samper is complicit in the international crime cartels in that he accepted millions of dollars to win that election." Washington has accused Samper of accepting $6 million from drug traffickers to finance his 1994 presidential campaign.(3) But certification is not meaningful since most U.S. aid to Colombia is for drug eradication and seizure, and that money -- $70 million -- is exempt from the ban on aid.(2) Earlier this year, the government of the United Snakes donated to Columbia 12 helicopters (Bell UK-1H), to be used to combat illegal drugs. These are worth 20 million dollars. This year the u.s. gave 120 million dollars in arms aid to Colombia, which appears to be aimed at convincing other countries in Latin America to increase their war on drugs to gain more aid from the United Snakes.(4) Mexico did win certification this year and McCaffrey , the U.$. drug czar, said "It's our view right now that their national leadership is committed to confronting the (drug) threat."(3) There is overwhelming evidence that Mexico is a primary transit route for cocaine and a major producer of heroin, methamphetamines and marijuana, and that its anti- drug agencies are steeped in corruption, even by bourgeois standards. Just before Clinton's announcement, Mexican drug czar Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo was arrested for cooperating with one of the country's most powerful drug lords, Amado Carrillo Fuentes.(1) There are no clear criteria for certification that will reward countries for reducing drug trafficking and punish those that don't take adequate action because this is not the real purpose of certification. Instead certification is used as yet another political power tool by the United Snakes. It is likely that certification of Mexico was seen as important to help push forward NAFTA while control over Colombia was deemed more easy to achieve through de- certification. And regardless, the real pressure and control comes from the aid (both military and financial) these countries will receive and the power of the multinationals operating within the countries. Within US borders the war on drugs is a continuing excuse for expanded militarization which includes putting more cops on the streets and building more prisons. The result of this war is increased repression focused on internal colonies including the Black, Latino and Indigenous nations, as well as increased repression of youth. As the Nation pointed out: "[T]he majority of the L.A.P.D.'s computer-enhanced surveillance concentrates on the same neighborhoods in which local schools lack basic P.C.s -- not to mention adequate textbooks. But the social causes of crime, such as poor education and lack of jobs, do not concern the National Institute of Justice(NIJ) or most police forces. Thus the N.I.J.'s director of science and technology, David Boyd (who sometimes writes for the Moonie- owned magazine The World & I), is often quoted saying, 'This [police use of military high-tech] is the real peace dividend.'"(5) The u.s. understands the use of drugs as a means of social control. It is useful to have poor people escaping their misery through drug use rather than organizing to change the system that causes misery. In addition, as MIM Notes has reported, the trafficking of drugs has been providing the imperialists with money for years. At the same time, drug use serves as a convenient excuse for arrest and imprisonment, furthering the agenda of social control over youth and oppressed nations. A WAR TO LOSE The United Snakes does not want to win the war on drugs by eradicating the use of illegal drugs. Instead, the u.s. wins battles in this war regularly, using it to increase control over the population within u.s. borders and to increase control over the governments of other countries, helping them to further control and repress their populations in the service of their imperialist master. The Congressional General Accounting Office found that net coca and opium poppy cultivation has increased, despite the efforts of the United Snakes and its drug war allies. Between 1988 and 1995, more than 138,000 acres of coca were destroyed but production increased 15 percent. Global production of opium, meanwhile, has doubled in the past decade.(1) This should prove that the u.s. tactics in this drug war are a failure, but instead we see increasing funding for this war. Taking drugs is not progressive or liberating but MIM opposes the criminalization of drugs by the imperialists. Instead we fight to overthrow imperialism and give all people a meaningful life from which they have no need for escapism. In socialist China under Mao the people built such a society and we learn from history that we can achieve this and much more once imperialism has been overthrown. NOTES: 1. The Nation. The Drug War's Phony Fix "Why certification doesn't work." The Nation Digital Edition http://www.thenation.com 2. CNN US News, 1 March, 1996. 3. Reuters, July 3, 1997. 4. http://www.eurosur.org/rebelion/internacional/colombregalos. htm 26 May, 1997, Estados Unidos regala armas a Colombia. Bogot. Agencia Informativa Plsar/Adolfo Mena. Rebelin. 5. The Nation, February 3, 1997. * * * CIRCUS OR LAW? UPDATE ON THE STRUGGLE TO SAVE THE LIFE OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL The final remand hearing in former Black Panther Mumia Abu- Jamal's bid for a new trial were held June 26th to July 1st in Philadelphia. The Supreme Court will use the evidence and arguments presented to decide if Mumia gets a new trial. Governor Ridge has pledged to immediately sign a new death warrant if Mumia is denied a new trial.(1,2) The hearing was presided over by the same blatantly biased Judge Sabo, and further exposed the lies and witness manipulation of the original trial. Mumia was framed for the righteous 1981 killing of a Philly cop engaged in an act of police brutality. Someone else killed the cop, but the Amerikan system of injustice--backed up by the fascist anti-crime fever among a great majority of whites--demands that someone die for the killing of a pig. These fascists prefer to kill Mumia than the real killer, because Mumia is an outspoken leader who generates public opinion against the system. His political views, including his agreement with Mao Zedong that "power grows out of the barrel of a gun" were used as evidence against him in his trial and in the imposition of the death penalty. Since the original trial, evidence of Mumia's innocence that was suppressed by the police from the defense has continued to be discovered by the defense and presented to Judge Sabo in appeals. Sabo laughs off the little evidence that he allows to be presented, but it is all being read into the record. Between the evidence itself and Sabo's bias, it is hoped that enough has been done in court to win Mumia a new trial. The June hearing was no different than previous. It was a circus from start to finish. Sabo denied the majority of the defense's motions and objections and halted all potentially important witness subpoenas. The most important piece of evidence was the testimony of Pamela Jenkins, a 15 year old prostitute at the time of the shooting. Jenkins had been sleeping with key prosecution witness and PA pig, Tom Ryan. Jenkins testified that Ryan tried to force her to testify against Mumia even though she was not anywhere near the shooting. In 1982, Jenkins was friends with the only person to testifying seeing Mumia with a gun at the scene of the pigs death--Cynthia White. Jenkins corroborated the testimony of Veronica Jones a few months ago, who also testified that White was an informant and pressured to testify in exchange for freedom from prosecution.(2) The law requires the defense to be notified if prosecution witnesses are also informants. This by itself, should get Mumia a new trial. White's location is unknown to the defense and it is trying to find her. Jenkins also testified that she saw Cynthia White getting into a car driven by police officer on March 5. The prosecution claims White is dead and offered a 1995 NJ death certificate for a "Cynthia Williams AKA Mildred Saunders."(2) The death certificate was incomplete and there were numerous inconsistencies. Sabo wouldn't let a witness testify to Jenkin's felony prosecution for testifying for Mumia, or to a witness on the scene of the killing who saw two armed white men running towards the scene and one Black man running away. He denied two private investigators and one former District Attorney from testifying about their knowledge of White's whereabouts. Sabo denied these witnesses saying: "that there was no point in hearing all this if Cynthia White was dead, so the only witnesses he wanted to hear were New Jersey state police officials who could testify to her death. In other words, he would only allow witness who would say that Cynthia is dead, and would not allow any witnesses who would say she was alive!"(3) The next day a NJ trooper testified to the fingerprints matching, but Sabo wouldn't allow the defense to examine the fingerprints. Sabo said "As far as I'm concerned, she's dead. I'm making a ruling. We're finished."(2) The war in the courts against Mumia is dangerous both because it is a continuation of the legacy of repression of Black nationalist leaders and also because it continues the flagrant use of a supposedly impartial judicial system to represent only the interests of apartheid Amerika. As Mumia said, "There are hundreds of thousands of Mumia Abu-Jamal's on death row and doing life bits in this country. These people are not well known."(4) We must carry on the support for activists like Mumia and support for all of the incarcerated victims of Amerika's war against the internal colonies as part of our overall revolutionary struggle. NOTE: 1. International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu- Jamal, Emergency Response Press Release for June 26 demonstration. mumia@aol.com 2. Afrikan Frontline Network: Media Watch http://www.globaldrum.com/nattyreb/fnx700.html 3. Same as #2. This is a paraphrase in the document, not a direct quote. For more information, also see http://www.mumia.org/ 4. New York Times 13 August 1995, p. A14. * * * LETTERS ALLIANCE QUESTION In a recent study, the United States Government has attacked (P.F.T.L.P.), "Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine" a particular group which the government claims to advocate terrorism. Now this same group has somewhat the same line as MIM has except they Advocate World Communism. My reason for writing about this group is because I was drawn to there dialectic in comparison to your group. I was just using them as a point, If the government were to attack every known above ground groups would these groups come together? I believe that most groups above ground can be targeted but also have shown great leadership ability. Since their papers in the right to the people who read them. -- An Indiana Prisoner, 4 March 1997 MIM RESPONDS: MIM defends a wide range of left and even revisionist groups against attack by the United Snakes government. A good example of this is our coverage of the government attacks on the Brooklyn activists(MIM Notes #128, 15 December 1996.) These activists uphold ideology that MIM disagrees with but we recognize the importance of fighting government "counter-subversion" attacks because of the ramifications this repression has for all activists in the United Snakes. You are correct that above ground groups can be targeted by state repression, in fact even semi-above ground groups like MIM which take great precautions about security are targeted by the state. We can't speak for other organizations and their response to state repression: many organizations do not even recognize that this is a serious problem and have learned nothing from the destruction of the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords and other victims of FBI COINTELPRO operations. But the lessons that MIM has learned from this history lead us to take government repression of all activists very seriously. WHAT'S MIM'S LINE ON LIBERIA? I'm interested in hearing your voice, MIM, on the struggle pertaining to Liberia's civil war in Afrika, in a Pan- Afrika. It's important to us, as a colonized people, in the US who struggle against the injustice of "third world warlordism" and hegemony. As in the case of Liberia, President Clinton, this year must make Liberia a top priority on the US foreign relations agenda in Afrika. The approach to the UN's peace keeping process has been dependent on the nations economic community of West Afrikan State, (E.C.O.W.A.J.). For six years, Liberia's fourteen peace agreements have been largely brokered by the results of this peace agreement and the failure to produce a united front from mediation, negotiation, and implementation which has projected the atrocities we've witnessed in Liberia today. In this socio-political struggle, elections are to be held May 31, 1997, with a turnover, to an elected government on June 15, 1997. Now this new scheme of the war calls for sanctions against members of the warring factions. These imperialist sanctions include restrictions on travel, a freeze on economic activities, exclusion of the people from the electoral process and war criminals. The struggle in Liberia is very important to cadres, who study Maoism, and the international world community of oppressed people. MC's and MIM Notes is the vehicle to carry on this process. As a result of this civil war in Liberia, an estimated 800,000 Afrikans are internally displaced, another 800,000 are refugees in neighboring countries that are the poorest in the world. 50% of the population in Monrovia, 350,00 were forced to flee their homes. Liberia has been torn in this civil war and warlordism, since 1989. We as colonized people of oppressed nations mustn't allow this to continue to happen to our brothers and sisters in Afrikan Liberia. That's why we need continuous support and feedback from MC's and the international community through MIM Notes. There must be peace, security, educational and political justice in Liberia and all Third World nations. As we hope toward a new and transformed society in Amerika. Any cadres who would like more information and education in support of the Liberian people's struggle can contact: The Liberian Social Justice Foundation, c/o Bro. Edwin G. K. Zoedua, Executive Director, PO Box 31438, Cincinnati, OH 45231 or (513) 931-1872. -- A California Prisoner, 19 February 1997 MIM RESPONDS: Liberia was scheduled to hold elections on July 19, under a West African peace plan. But MIM does not hold out hope that this process, which has been brokered by the imperialists and their lackeys, will lead to a just and lasting peace for the people. This process of negotiating a peace agreement in Liberia is nothing more than an attempt for interested imperialist powers to gain more leverage and a more stable position of power over the country. Instead MIM understands the need for the people to gain control over their nations and kick out the imperialists and their lackeys. To do this a revolutionary struggle for Maoist revolution is necessary. This comrade is correct that we need to be discussing this and other colonized countries as we struggle against Amerikan imperialism and MIM Notes invites our comrades with information on Liberia and other colonized nations to write to this newspaper and help make it an even better tool of information and organizing. CORRECTION As MIM continues to fight against national chauvinism and neo-colonialism we occasionally find the ideology of the oppressor slipping into our newspaper due to lack of vigilance in the writing and editing process. This happened with two articles on First Nations in MIM Notes 142 (July 15, 1997). The first article "Amerikan war against Oglala continues" incorrectly referred to the "Ct. Pequot" as if there were such a thing. In reality there is a Pequot nation which exists on land surrounded by Connecticut. The nation has its own identity which has nothing to do with the imperialist occupiers in nearby territory except through conflict with the imperialists over national sovereignty. A second article "Nationalist Pequot art targeted for censorship" repeats a quotation from a source that pits First Nations against one another when the real battle is between the imperialists and the First Nations. We must be careful when reporting on battles amongst the oppressed that we not just repeat the bourgeois line and "facts". MIM recognizes the importance of the national sovereignty of First Nations within US borders and it is particularly important to fight against neo-colonial thinking that leads to errors such as these. We will step up our vigilance in this struggle and hope that our readers and writers will learn from this mistake. * * * PIRAO GREETED WARMLY by PIRAO chief The response to the formation of the MIM-led People's Internationalist Rear Area Organization (PIRAO) has been overwhelming. Many more people have offered to work in PIRAO than we have had time or circumstances to organize. The army chief apologizes to all supporters and reminds them to retain their patience. In very recent weeks, there have been some notable advances. One reader made a four digit donation and mentioned PIRAO's formation as the inspiration. A homeless sympathizer has also stepped forward to offer aid to PIRAO. Meanwhile, the first and most difficult step of funding Maoist Sojourner(MS) has been accomplished with the work of a PIRAO irregular. There are two more steps to go toward implementing the agreement in principle that exists to fund MS regularly. This work will be completed by PIRAO in upcoming months. We would like to list some accomplishments of the PIRAO or its predecessors of the last few months; although these accomplishments are much smaller than what is possible: #Provided personal computers to the revolutionary proletariat of the Third World #Raised a four digit sum for proletarian literature in the Third World #Obtained some Mao books and sent them off to places of scarcity In fact, we call on all PIRAO irregulars, infantry and officers to scour their areas for cheap Mao books. Those with any ideas of how to obtain large or small quantities of Mao books are urged to communicate this concrete possibility to MIM, which will pass on the info to the PIRAO. PIRAO also thanks the party for its efforts to get the ball rolling. We note with pleasure the efforts of those not necessarily in PIRAO who help the party set up a non-profit organization, to thereby help with tax issues and collection of donations. We certainly consider it honorary PIRAO activity. PIRAO is also thankful even to those with ideas for work to do, because it was not long ago that even ideas for doing our share of the concrete (non-public opinion building) work of the international proletariat were in short supply. Now we in PIRAO and party readership circles have much broader imaginations on what is possible for PIRAO to contribute to global revolution. While the PIRAO struggles through this bottleneck period of organizing itself, we ask all the PIRAO members and supporters to use their own brains to come up with sustainable skills and methods for supporting the struggle. * * * IMPERIALIST COURTS CONDONE IMPERIALIST MILITARY BARBARITY by RC68 A Belgian court recently acquitted two Belgian paratroopers of all charges related to when they roasted a Somali boy over a bonfire. The charges were filed after the Belgian media published a picture of the two soldiers holding their victim by his arms and legs stretched over the fire. Their defense was that they were just playing. This defense and its success are indicative of imperialist and militarist ideologies -- which encourage brutality and callousness towards oppressed nationals.(1) The Belgian troops' conduct was the status quo for the imperialist troops that participated in the Amerikan-led invasion of Somalia. On 4 March 1993, Kanadian paratroopers shot two unarmed Somali men in the back as they fled. Twelve days later, soldiers from the same regiment tortured a 16 year old Somali boy until he died.(2) Italian paratroopers also killed and abused Somali civilians. The Italian investigations have yet to produce any charges, but two Italian Generals resigned, quite likely to avoid charges and a public trial.(3) And who can forget the world famous photograph of the French Foreign Legion paratrooper kicking a Somali child? Amerikan soldiers were much more active in the killing of Somali civilians than anyone else. The Amerikan army killed at least 300 Somalis just on one single day.(4) But no one in the U$ military has had to face charges. Not that these show trials matter much. The imperialists' armies serve the interests of the imperialists. Their armies secure their access to cheap (or stolen) raw materials, enforce the super-exploitation of the proletariat in the oppressed nations, and generally keep the oppressed nations from rebelling against imperialist domination. So the imperialists cannot "humanize" their armed forces, because these forces exist to carry out the "inhumane" task of using violence to defend oppression. Precisely because these armies serve reactionary ends, they must attack and terrorize the broad masses of those nations they invade. The whole Somalia mission was an example of this. The U$ made no secret of Somalia's strategic importance due to its location on the Horn of Africa. What the U$-led imperialists really wanted was control of Somalia's resources which include uranium, phosphate, and an impoverished workforce. If the UN was truly a place where all nations were represented equally it would never sanction such an invasion. The UN only serves as a way for the U$ and imperialist partners and allies to justify and disguise imperialist takeovers and invasions as "humanitarian peacekeeping missions". Anyone that still thinks the UN's "Humanitarian Peacekeeping" forces actually work in the interests of the people whose countries they invade should really take a long and serious look at Somalia. These outrageous acts of barbarism were not just one or two isolated incidents. Neither did they involve just a handful of soldiers from only one or two of the invasion forces. The string of investigations in Belgium, Italy, and Kanada as well as evidence implicating French troops and the mass murders committed by Amerikan forces shows clearly this mission had nothing to do with treating Somalis humanely or maintaining peace. The torture, assault, and killing of Somali civilians as well as theft and wanton destruction by UN/U$ forces in Somalia is well documented.(5) Anyone that was shocked as they saw the pictures of Somalis cheering as the body of a dead Amerikan stormtrooper was dragged through the streets needs to rethink the situation. Armed resistance to imperialist aggression is both justified and necessary. Successful wars for national liberation will weaken imperialism and in turn make anti-imperialist revolution in the imperialist countries possible. Amerikan civilians -- and military personnel -- who recognize that Amerika achieved and maintains its privileged position through brutal wars of conquest have a special duty to make revolution here as part of the world-wide struggle against imperialism. NOTES: 1. BBC Radio 30 June 97. 2. Reuters 2 July 97. 3. Reuters 26 June 97. 4. MIM Notes 82. 5. MIM Notes 80. * * * AIDS SURVIVAL ABOUT ECONOMICS The U.$. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says the rate of U.$. citizens dying from AIDS is going down, mostly because of some effective new treatments known as protease inhibitors. However, since these treatments cost about $15,000 per year, it is not surprising that the decrease in AIDS deaths is not equal across nations, even within US borders.(1) The number of AIDS deaths dropped in the first nine months of 1996, by 28% for whites, by 16% for Hispanics, and by 10% among Blacks, the CDC says. Last year Blacks passed whites as the largest proportion of people with AIDS, 41%.(1) There were also large differences in benefits from AIDS treatment and prevention between men and wimmin. Men did much better than wimmin, with the deaths of men falling over 3 times as fast as for wimmin.(2) Part of the overall differences in survival has to do with access to medical care over a lifetime. Healthier people will survive any disease longer because their bodies are better equipped. Those with the privilege that gives them access to regular preventive and curative medical care are going to survive longer with an HIV infection. With AIDS treatment so expensive, the future is even more bleak for people with AIDS in Third World, especially African countries, where $15,000 might be the annual income of 100 average people combined.(1) Stopping AIDS will first and foremost require massive investment in public health infrastructure in the poor countries of the world -- basic health care and clean water for starters. These changes are not happening under imperialism while Third World countries serve only as a source of cheap labor and resources. Even after improvements in basic health infrastructure, the treatment of people with AIDS may still be very expensive, as the limited success among the richest AIDS-infected people shows. But AIDS is preventable and effective education and prevention programs can address related health problems such as the necessity for prostitution as the only means many wimmin can earn income. Such programs can be successful in the fight against many preventable diseases, but this will require structural changes that include eliminating the patriarchy to effectively address the causes of poor health practices. MIM works to overthrow imperialism and change the system of medicine for profit to one of medicine for the people. NOTES: 1. USA Today at http://www.usatoday.com, 14 July 1997. 2. Union-News, 15 July 1997, p. A3. * * * AMERIKANS WASTE "THEIR" FOOD WHILE PEOPLE STARVE byMC234 According to a new study from the United Snakes Department of Agriculture, Amerikans waste 96 billion pounds of food annually. The majority (97%) is wasted in restaurants and homes from spoilage or uneaten portions. The remainder is lost through improper inventory control in supermarkets. Assuming the average person eats three pounds of food a day, almost 88 million people could be fed with that waste per year. This doesn't even begin to touch other kinds of inefficiency discussed in MIM Notes previously, such as wasting jet and truck fuel to ship out of season produce to the Amerikan shopping aisles. It also doesn't include the incredibly inefficient over-reliance on meat in the Amerikan diet, which consumes vast amounts of grain to produce food with one-tenth the nutritional content of the original grain. This is because Amerika is an imperialist society which sees profit as the prime motive in society instead of a sustainable future. The whole system benefits from wasting food because it's profitable. The more food that is wasted, the more that can be sold. If people can't afford food, it is ok for them to starve. If anything, starvation keeps labor prices low. Under socialism, the labor of the people who grow the food, as well as their ability to do so long term, are of prime importance. During the socialist period in China, food was considered a basic right of the people, but wasting it was considered to be a terrible offense against the working people. Allyn Rickett, an Amerikan spy imprisoned in revolutionary China wrote in Prisoners of Liberation about his meals in jail. He was provided with as much food as he wanted to eat, but he had to finish it before he would be given another meal. NOTE: Daily Hampshire Gazette, 1 July 1997, p. 4. Calculations based on numbers presented in article. * * * WAR ON GANGS IS A WAR AGAINST THE PEOPLE INTERVIEW WITH MAPLEWOOD YOUTH by MIM and MORAIL MAPLEWOOD, MISSOURI -- Youth here report that Maplewood police have continuously harassed, beaten, taunted, detained, arrested and imprisoned youth in the community for the simple reason that the pigs have the power to commit these acts of brutality against the people. As Amerika increases the amount of money allotted to fight World War Three against the oppressed nations and youth within the illegitimate borders of the United Snakes, the white settler nation cheers the swelling ranks of pig departments and prosecuting attorneys. But resistance is growing: members of oppressed nations and youth are standing up saying they are sick of the brutality and repression. Youth from Maplewood had this to say when asked what they wanted to see happen: "I want people to start fighting back. I want a little Black Panther Party. I want the whole neighborhood together." On 26 June 1997, four male youth were walking up the street in Maplewood. The pigs them pulled over and squealed, "Hold it right there." The youth reported that the pigs did not even ask for identification and did not make clear why they had stopped the youth. After fifteen minutes of standing there without being questioned, without being told why they were stopped, the youth started to walk away to return home. The pig grabbed one of the youth, X (we will not use real names in this article because this could contribute to increased pig harassment of those who contributed to the article), and threw him down on the ground, handcuffed him and kneed the youth's back. While doing this, the cop pushed the youth around saying, "Now tell me you are no punk" repeatedly. The pig then shoved the youth over to the car and pushed him into the hot hood of the pig mobile and arrested him. Another youth merely asked "why you gotta do that?" The pigs then proceeded to handcuff, arrest and charge the second youth with interfering with police operations. The first youth was charged with assaulting a pig and bail was set at $500. The second youth's bail was set at $300. While in jail, the pigs harassed the youth more. The youth were taunted by the pigs who walked by talking about food. Then the pigs said that the youth missed dinner. (In actuality, the youth were thrown into jail before meal time.) The pigs also denied the youth their right to use the phone because they were preoccupied with the harassment of a female prisoner, talking about her as a sex object. During the night, the pigs tried to deprive the youth of sleep. "They kept messin' with us in the night" slamming nightsticks against the bars and blowing loud whistles. After leaving jail on bond, the pigs continued the harassment. Pig McCoy mocked X on the street making fun of the gash on his head that the pigs put it there when they beat him up. The cops drive by saying things like "you piece of shit." One cop said to the youth that they seemed colorful -- referring to the fact that the pigs were expecting the youth to be wearing specific gang colors. In another case recently in Maplewood, two youth were picked up for drinking. During the arrest, Z was beaten so badly that he had to go to the hospital. He has a knee fracture and his wrists and shoulders are all cut up because of the pigs. The first youth (who was pounded in the back of the head by cops during arrest) was released later and Z remains in jail enduring the torture of the pigs. The pigs then told Z that the first youth had signed an affidavit stating that Z was the one that bought the alcohol. The first youth told MIM that he definitely did not sign any such thing. After being beaten and tortured, Z is being held for assaulting a pig. When asked what they thought was the reason for the pigs stopping and harassing them, the youth said that they had all been detained around 25 times even before the above incidences. More recently, cops stopped in front of X's house, started to arrest him and X ran into the house. The pigs have been repeatedly trying to provoke the youth as if there is a quota for arrests of innocent youth to be awarded the grunter of the year award. X and his friends said that the pigs just harass them because the pigs think that they are in a gang. When asked when this started, the youth said shortly after the start of the Maplewood anti- gang and drug task force. Some of the youth's parents have been supportive, but one youth's parents disowned him. Another youth's parent reported that the people of the neighborhood watch have been trying to get her and her son to move. The youth said that when their parents are around, the cops are fine, but when it is just the youth, the cops see it as a free for all pig brutality fest. Some parents seem to buy the false legitimacy of that the pigs are given by the imperialist government. The pigs recognize that youth are a dangerous force in that they have little attachment to the system and a strong desire to fight for justice and a better future. WHO ARE THE ENEMIES? When talking about the situation with the gangs and organizations locally, one youth talked about the differences between gangs and said, "We're not worried about gangs, we're worried about cops." Pigs like McCoy kick around youth and then say 'get up you fucking punk' but it is the cops who are the real punks/criminals. The youth asked MIM Notes to write that they urge the Bloods and the Folks/GD (Growth and Development) to call a truce. The youth explained that in this location they have a truce and they talk together about how it is the police that they need to be fighting -- it is the police who are the real enemies. The cops are notorious for attempting to split and pit one gang or organization against another and they do this to encourage youth killing other youth. But the youth realize that this is an attempt to weaken the opposition to pig brutality. We talked about the history of the FBI and police occupying forces using tactics to split up groups like the Black Panther Party, the American Indian Movement and other organizations which have challenged the system. Despite the fact that the youth said the teachers in school did not teach them anything and they are not interested in school, the youth were interested in studying the history of the Black Panther Party and the Young Lords Party because they recognized that these Parties have a history which we need to learn from in order to carry on their revolutionary legacy inside the belly of the beast. This patriarchal society propagates the myth that youth have nothing to offer, but these youth (who have not finished high school) will contribute more than professors who decide that they would rather sit in their academic cafe houses and refuse to take up activism. These youth have learned that the Amerikan government is at war against the oppressed people of the world and have no illusions that what has been happening in Maplewood is isolated. They know that it will take organization and the study of history to stop the pigs and they are stepping up to the challenge to fight. Youth have the potential to organize for revolution and use their creativity and strength to bring about the end to oppression. Under imperialism and patriarchy, the potential of youth is held down and stunted, but MIM and RAIL work with youth to propel the development of revolution forward and to put an end to oppression whether it is the pigs attacking youth under the pretense of fighting gangs or the CIA attacking Colombians under the pretense of fighting a drug war. The youth also asked that MIM Notes cover more on the war against gangs and the oppression of youth. MIM Notes welcomes gang or organization members to use this paper to publicize both the strength of the people and to expose the brutality and oppression against the people by the pigs and the entire Amerikkkan system. * * * MILITARY DOES DIRTY WORK FOR INS; MURDERS LATINO YOUTH by MC234 "REDFORD, Texas -- It was an encounter between four camouflage-clad United States marines and a young man herding his family's goats on a rocky, desolate bluff of desert above the Rio Grande. It ended when one marine fired his M-16 rifle and hit the local teen-ager, Esequiel Hernandez Jr., who bled to death on a windswept hill overlooking his adobe home and the cemetery where he was buried a few days later."(1) The Marines say Hernandez fired on them twice and was readying for a third shot when they killed him. Investigators have not been able to confirm that Hernandez was shooting. According to the local prosecutor, James Japson, "the marines had followed the youth for about 20 minutes through the hills, and his fatal bullet wound indicates that he was not aiming at the soldiers when he was shot from a distance of about 230 yards." The prosecutor says the evidence at the scene and the autopsy do not support the Marine's story. Even Texas Rangers Capt. Capt. Barry Caver said, "It just doesn't sound like your typical self-defense case."(1) Hernandez's had a .22-caliber WW1-era gun he inherited from his grandfather. Many goat herders carry weapons to protect their herd from javelina and other wild animals. If he was firing near the soldier's he might have been trying to hit or scare predatory animals.(1) After the Marines shot Hernandez they waited 22 minutes to radio for medical assistance. Additionally, none of the Marines applied First Aid, other than taking the dying youth's pulse. Cover-up was apparently on the agenda as well. The Marines told the deputy sheriff when he arrived that the "youth had hurt himself by falling into a well."(1) What were Marines doing in Texas on the border with Mexico? They were on a drug-surveillance mission. The program started when the "Reagan administration secured a historic loosening of 19th-century laws forbidding the use of military forces in domestic law-enforcement operations."(1) According to Amerika's top pigs, the U.$. border with Mexico is the main entrance point for illegal drugs. (Ignoring of course, the legal drugs and the CIA importation of drugs to fund their secret wars.) In Hernandez's town of Redford, people expressed surprise and anger to learn that armed Marines from California were patrolling their backyards. "It seems crazy to me now that they were even here. When you think about it, these are young marines brought in here from out of state. They've probably been told there are drug dealers all over the place, you're in enemy territory, protect yourself. But the result is, this good young man is dead," said a local schoolteacher.(1) Redford is an impoverished community and residents report that no one from the town is getting rich off of the drug trade. No one is alleging Hernandez had anything to do with drugs. The biggest drug dealer in the county is the "former sheriff, Rick Thompson, sentenced five years ago to a life term for conspiracy to smuggle more than 2,000 pounds of cocaine."(1) In these times when great political gain can be realized by appearing to "save" money, some elements in the Congress are proposing to expand the use of the U.$. military to aid the INS and in the drug war. One proposal would allow the secretary of defense to allocate up to 10,000 troops.(3) Other proposals are to allow the military to make arrests(1), or to have the National Guard do INS office work to free up INS agents for busting heads. The President, on the other hand, wants to take tried-and- true Clinton strategy of pledging to hire more cops. LatinoLink reported that Clinton is expected to announce in the fall a plan to triple the number of Border Agents from 6,200 to 20,000 and phase out the use of the military.(1) To the proletariat, whether the military is the appropriate tool for border control is the wrong question. The correct question is who controls the border and why? One of MIM's first actions upon taking state power would be to open the borders. We view the political borders as artificially constructed, and militarily enforced to preserve the status quo of inequality. NOTE: 1. LatinoLink 29 June 1997 http://www.latinolink.com/ 2. LatinoLink 13 July 1997 http://www.latinolink.com/ 3. http://www.usbc.org/ This is the site for the reactionary "United States Border Control" organization. * * * NEW TACK ON IMMIGRANT CRACKDOWN? Last year's "Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act" is coming under increasing fire and might be changed slightly to disguise its highly touted "harshness" which is becoming more trouble than it's worth for the bourgeoisie. For example, the law permits stays of only 120 days for so- called humanitarian reasons. Because of its inflexibility one nine-year old boy in the Pittsburgh area undergoing a liver-transplant faces deportation. Allowing liver transplants is good public relations for Amerika around the world. Flexibility within the laws is necessary for the state's institutions of power to repress its opponents while allowing its allies (and public relations pawns) free reign. Lumping sick children in with exiled revolutionaries takes away too much from the INS for no real benefit, so the clamoring for change even within the bourgeoisie increases. Soon, permanent non-citizen residents of the U.$ will lose their federal welfare benefits unless they naturalize. Some of these people are too elderly or disabled to take the Oath of Allegiance even if they wanted to, so they are being forced off of benefits. Some of these provisions have already been changed as part of the balanced budget agreements in May. Bashing immigrants might play well with the settlers, but it offends other countries. In May, President Clinton told leaders of Central American countries he visited of his plans to "work with Congress to rollback some of the provisions of last year's immigration bill." A report paid for by the Congressionally-sponsored US Commission on Immigration Reform said in May that, all things considered, immigration was a net positive gain for the US economy. According to this report, the benefits from better educated immigrants and the future contributions of immigrant children outweigh the cost of services consumed by less educated, poorer, immigrants. This is an interesting conclusion, especially given the severe bourgeois assumptions that hamper such studies, such as not recognizing the huge profits made from immigrant (especially undocumented) labor and counting those who end up in prison as receiving a $30,000/year "service." Leaders of some cities and states with a large number of immigrants are leading the charge against the new law. These leaders, such as New York Major Giuliani are using the news of the Commission report, but are playing to much more pragmatic concerns. First, many of the people being forced off of federal welfare rolls are being forced onto the rolls of the State and City of New York. Secondly, as half of New York is either foreign born or first generation, defending immigrants is politically popular if it is done in the appropriate way. Florida is in a similar situation. BIG BUSINESS WANT IMMIGRANTS Last year the computer, chemical and financial industries kept Congress from cutting back on the number of immigrants. These large companies tend to be the most internationalist sections and find borders in general to be bad for business. So the idea of limited legal immigration is anathema to them. Jennie Eisen of Intel phrased the issue in just those terms: "It's crazy in an ever growing business world to pass such isolationist legislation." When it became clear that the Congress was not going to restrict legal immigration last year, the business endorsed the bill. But according to Eisen, business still has problems with the law's lack of "due process". "Under the new law, people who overstay a visa now can be barred from re-entry to the United States for three to ten years without a hearing. She noted that if such a person had skills that were in short supply in the US it made no sense to apply such draconian provisions." Previously the INS would be very lenient in cases like this, but the law has changed this. While this law isn't popular with Amerikan companies or Third World professionals, it's popular in India. The Indian National Association of Software and Service Professionals supports the more stringent laws because it helps stem the "brain drain" tide that sucks the most educated and skilled professionals out of the neo-colonies into the imperialist countries. The sections of the bill not expected to be changed deal with so-called "illegal" immigration and beefing up the border. NOTE: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 3 June, 1997, p. A10 Asia Times, 2 June 1997, p. 1. * * * INS TARGETS LATINOS IN NORTHEAST Recent actions of the US Immigration and Naturalization Services(INS) in Boston show just how UNequal different nations within the illegitimate U$ borders are. The INS has disproportionately deported Latinos under the guise of the "illegal immigration" crusade in a city where the majority of undocumented are not Latino. The INS has raided several factories and workplaces -- including three recent raids in Boston resulting in 63 people arrested -- all Latino. According to INS spokesperson Steve Fauquierson, "There may be the appearance that, ... we're picking on, ... a particular nationality, but that is just simply, I think, a natural outgrowth of the type of ethnic groups that decide to live in your area." However, according to INS statistics only one-third of the so-called "illegal aliens" in the four states the Boston office patrols are Latino. They lie when they say last year's statistic of 2/3s of the arrests being Latinos is "natural." Faced with criticism, Fauquierson said: "What gets lost in the discussion about worksite enforcement is this focus on - - that you have apprehended these people who all's their trying to do is make a living to send money back home. And I understand that rationale, but what I have to say is: it's still against the law to do that." The state does not harass, brutalize, imprison or deport white nation immigrants as it does those from Third World nations fleeing the affects of imperialism. The crackdown against these immigrants serves to protect the interests of the illegitimate Amerikan government and the white settler nation. We organize to stop imperialist plunder of oppressed nations' land and exploitation of oppressed nation labor. This in itself is a partial solution to closing in on the hegemony of Amerika. But we also see that the end of Amerikan imperialism will necessitate the opening of the US's illegitimate borders to return the land to the peoples from which settler colonial rule originally stole it. In the mean time we support expansions in legal protection of Latino and other oppressed nations while struggling for national liberation. NOTES: All Things Considered, National Public Radio, June 16, 1997. * * * NEW HAVEN MASSES PROTEST PIG MURDER OF UNARMED BLACK MAN New Haven, Conn., 14 July -- Six hundred people marched on the East Haven town hall to demand the prosecution of the white pig who fatally shot unarmed Black motorist Malik Jones on April 14. After a high speed chase from East Haven into New Haven, the pig shot Malik at least four times, "alleging Jones tried to run him over." The march started at the scene of the murder, just three blocks from Malik's home. With a raised fist Malik's mother, Emma Jones led the march wearing a t-shirt with a picture of her son and walked behind a banner that said "Justice for Malik." "Never again will we allow someone to walk into our community and shoot and kill our children and walk away," she said. "No way will we allow the situation to be swept under the rug." According to the Associated Press, people in New Haven "lined the streets to cheer the protesters." But in 96% white East Haven, where the high-speed chase began, the reaction was different. One 83-year-old woman "said she felt sorry for the police officer who shot Jones. 'That poor guy will have to get out of town.'" In the 1960s, the Black Panther Party accurately compared the police to the actions of a foreign troop occupying territory. We don't know any additional details of this incident, but since a high speed chase obviously involves pigs in police cruisers, logic dictates that there would be many ways of apprehending a suspect without creating situation where the excuse "He was trying to run me down so I had to pump 4 bullets into him" can be used. But because the lives of the oppressed do not matter to the colonizer, the police have the power use whatever brutal methods they want. We have no illusions that bringing cops to the white nation's courts to be tried will end the brutality against oppressed nations. The people must make revolution for national liberation and a just society. Only then, when the people control their own institutions including the police, will incidents such as these cease. NOTES: Union-News 15 July 1997, p. A10. * * * WHAT'S IT TAKE FOR THE OPPRESSOR TO LISTEN TO THE MASSES? REVOLUTION. by MC53 "Everybody was high-fiving and shaking hands and congratulating each other and patting each other on the back and bragging about how much butt you kicked."(1) This statement referring to pig rituals at a celebration dinner, is one which pig Ray McWhorter, a riot squad lieutenant at Hays State Prison in Georgia, said in a disposition admitting beatings and brutality against prisoners. Our brothers in the Georgia gulag system have long been reporting brutality by the guards and now that the pigs themselves are admitting torturous treatment, some investigators and the mainstream press are taking these admissions more seriously. But this response from the press is no surprise considering that reports from prisoners of beatings and brutality are regularly dismissed. Prisoners have reported to MIM and Under Lock and Key that they are repressed and brutalized when they make reports against the pigs for acts that range from denying basic needs, to physical abuse and mental torture, to murder. Pigs and the press ignore prisoners by claiming the prisoners are lying or that they are mentally unstable when they report abuse. Worse yet, pigs justify the violence against prisoners, like McWhorter did in saying, "We have to put up with a lot. In the years that I have been working here, I have been spit at. I have had urine thrown on me, I have been kicked. I have been punched. When you are dealing with that over and over and over and you are trying to restrain yourself... and all of the sudden they are saying 'Get them boys,' well, hell, you go in there and you get them."(1) This response by the guards to the call of 'Get them boys' is no surprise. Guards in Amerikan prisons are drawn from the ranks of settlers, empowered as the armed backbone of the illegitimate settler nation which represses, brutalizes and exploits to retain its position in power. In the quest for vengeance against prisoners, one prison guard reports witnessing another guard shove an inmate's face against a concrete wall. "He screamed. Blood went up the wall. Blood went all over the ground, all over the inmate. I heard it. It had a sickening, cracking sound." The New York Times reported that the guard said she did not report the incident because her superiors were there -- during the torture session.(1) Pig McWhorter reported that a top aide to the prison commissioner "touched off a bloody attack on prisoners on 10 July 1996 when he grabbed an unresisting inmate by the hair and dragged him across the floor."(1) On the same day, the pig Commissioner Wayne Garner watched another incident where the guards tortured inmates, some handcuffed. The guards punched, stomped on and kicked the inmates until "blood streaked the walls."(1) This is the very incident that Garner praised the guards for at the celebration dinner. Garner reportedly is notorious for making life severely harsh for the prisoners, "by taking away privileges and conducting sweeps through cell blocks by black-clad riot squads."(1) Pig McWhorter said that when the prison aide started in, "We were all under the impression that it was o.k to do it. If Mr. Thomas can slam one, then we can slam one, too. ... It was a dad-gum shark frenzy in G building. It was a free-for-all. You know how sharks do. They see a spot of blood, and then here come the sharks everywhere from a mile around."(1) He went on to explain that some pigs stepped on prisoners' heads after the prisoners were already restrained. Don't be fooled into thinking that it is only one of Amerika's concentration camps which has viciously engaged in the torture of prisoners. The letters and articles printed in Under Lock and Key (and in addition the ones we receive which are not printed) recount systematic torture, cruel conditions, denial of medical and basic needs and psychological warfare against prisoners. We're glad to see that the main stream press is covering these cases of attacks against prisoners, but this reporting is limited to only the most sensational and highly exposed incidences. Bourgeois press does not endorse investigative reporting that includes investigating the evils and abuses of imperialism, they prefer to accept the press statements from the government as fact. The sheep mentality described by the guards in this account is merely an attempt to throw off responsibility. Human beings have the potential for rational thought and actions based on the interests of the people. Under Chinese socialism, prison guards criticized and heavily discouraged violence against prisoners, both by other prisoners and by the guards. The guards instead encouraged rational actions to convince criminals to reject their incorrect ideas and previous actions which hurt the people -- whether that was support for capitalism or murder. Amerikan prison guards do have to deal with a lot of violence. They are engaged in a war, so they should expect it. Though MIM does not advocate that prisoners enact random threats or acts against prison guards, we definitely see that anger and hatred against the system and the guards are justified. Not only were most prisoners denied basic needs and adequate defense before ending up in prison, brutal guards, torture, forced labor and cruel prison conditions are the material reality of prisoners in Amerika. Treating humans in such a manner will make them mad and will create many revolutionaries ready to overthrow imperialism. NOTE: The New York Times, 1 July 1997, p. A10. * * * UNION-NEWS & PIGS PUSH FOR WAR ON STREET GANGS SPRINGFIELD, MA, June -- News reports over the last four months say that street gangs in the area are breaking with drugs and violence against the oppressed and taking up community service; both as volunteers and organizing on their own to kick drug dealers out of apartment blocks. Chairperson of the Million Man March Committee, Minister Yusuf Muhammad has announced that a cease fire between the four local gangs is possible. Minister Muhammad correctly said "We do not see these young men as criminals, as terrorists (or) as thugs. We see them as leaders, whose energy has been manipulated, and it is our responsibility to refocus them." This is a correct analysis. These organizations formed because of imperialist oppression. The first street gangs were Irish immigrants who had to protect themselves from Amerika. Later, the Irish became part of the white nation, and in fact became much of the police force critical in the war against oppressed nations. But Blacks and Latinos are not being assimilated by apartheid Amerika, and their organizations are targeted for extermination. A good part of this war against the oppressed is the instigation of violence between the gangs, and the recruitment of gangs to sell drugs as a way to make money. This directly weakens the oppressed nations and allows the pigs a legal excuse to start an open war on the oppressed, taking out the leaders and shipping them off to jail. It's also especially disgusting to see the pigs talk about gangs and drugs, when it's the their deadliest, sneakiest gang, the CIA, that's bringing the shit into the country in the first place. The Union-News editorialized against street gangs volunteering and organizing on 24 June. The Union-News called Muhammad's statement "doublespeak" and ended "gang members cannot shirk responsibility for their reign of crime by having someone glibly call them victims of the system." These organizations are not shirking responsibility, but are actively working to make oppressed nation communities stronger. The Union-News says "many of these gang members are criminals, ruthless in their rampages." Their evidence that the gangs have not changed? Two alleged gang members were just recently convicted in the white nation's court for something that happened two years ago. What the Union-News would like to see the gangs do to "take responsibility for their actions" is, surrender to the police. But how come we don't see the Union-News writing equally harsh editorials about the police murder of Ben Schoolfield, or the police assault on youth at the Nubian Athletic Club, or the police kicking of Roy Parker? Because the Union-News likes that kind of violence and because the white nation wrote laws that made it "legal". In March, one Latin King leader told the Sunday-Republican, in reference to community service: "We're trying to resurrect the spirit the Latin King nation was founded on in Chicago in the 1940s." According to the Sunday-Republican, the Latin Kings have been openly attending political rallies, and have submitted to group photographs by the Massachusetts Gang Task Force. Cops have also been videotaping the Kings, to aid in future identifications. Organizations that serve the oppressed should fear repression from the state and should not make this repression any easier by giving the pigs identifying information. This is true regardless of whether your tactics are "legal" or not. Organizations which serve the people are the greatest threat to the system and are the primary targets of the state. We encourage the street organizations of Springfield to write of their struggles for the Mass RAIL and MIM Notes, as they have in the past. Independent media is important, as we can not trust the bourgeois media like the Union-News to represent our struggles accurately. NOTES: Sunday Republican 2 March 1997, p. A1, A17; Union- News 24 June 1997, p. A8. Readers can get more information about the murder of Ben Schoolfield in MIM Notes 91, August 1994. The kicking of Roy Parker was covered in MIM Notes 137, 1 May 1997 and MIM Notes 141, 1(b) July 1997. * * * CLINTON DISGUISES NATIONAL OPPRESSION AS ISSUE OF ATTITUDE by RC93 SAN DIEGO, CA, 14 June -- President Clinton spoke about "race" at the UC San Diego's 1997 class commencement. He said that the graduates must change prejudice into unity -- stressing individual responsibility rather than the underlying system of Amerikan settler domination. It is true that students have the power to fight injustice in the United $tates and internationally, but mere attitude adjustments will not stop the domination of nations which is the material basis for white nation chauvinism carried out in personal interactions. While focusing on the individual's attitude as the point of 'revolution,' to eliminate racial prejudice, Clinton offered a second solution to the problem. He announced the formation of an advisory panel to educate and to "promote dialogue in every community." This panel includes mostly politicians, as well as the CEO of Nissan U.S.A. Clinton stressed the importance of "open dialogue" and tried to convince the audience that this panel will be a great resource in combating so-called prejudice. Clinton painted a innocent picture of the U.$. and its role as an imperialist power: "we in America simply have to sell to the other 95 percent of the world's consumers just to maintain our standard of living. Because we are drawn from every culture on earth, we are uniquely positioned to do it." It is not Amerika's diversity that maintains its parasitic standard of living; it is the super-exploitation of the Third World labor and military occupation which supports it. The U.$. exploits and occupies internal colonies in a similar way. As a result of imperialism, the people of Third World nations live in horrible conditions, resulting in the influx of refugees to the United Snakes, where they hope to eke out a living in Amerika. But they soon face the reality that even within U.$. borders they remain second class citizens exploited for the benefit of the white nation. Yet Clinton claimed that no matter what they faced, "even bigotry and violence, most of them never gave up on America." But this has not proven true in recent history. When Cuban and Haitian refugees came to Florida tension quickly arose between the people and settler nation forces. One man stated from his experiences, "I wanted to believe in the American system. No More! Not Again!"(2) Clinton had the audacity to state: "Even African Americans, the first of whom we brought here in chains, never gave up on America." It is doubtful that the more than 700,000 Blacks locked up by the Amerikkkan injustice system fall into this category. Nor the majority of so-called free Blacks who live in oppressive living conditions and whose communities are occupied by the pigs. Clinton also talked about the Amerikan armed forces, proclaiming diversity goes hand in hand with "excellence." He said, "Our armed forces are diverse from top to bottom...[a]nd, more importantly, no one questions that they are the best in the world." By "best" Clinton is referring to the ability of imperialism's armed forces to murder, rape, and steal from the people of oppressed nations to maintain U.$. world hegemony. Clinton then acted like it is a great service that so many of the Black nation are allowed to participate in this. The reason there is a high percentage of Blacks in the military is because this is one of the only opportunities offered under Amerikan rule. And Clinton is fine with this, because it is a form of integrating the oppressed to serve the system, rather than allowing their opposition to swell. Clinton also seems to claim that diversity equals an environment free of discrimination. This is hardly the case, as in anything that is structured so closely to the U.$. system. Addressing the U.$. law enforcement system Clinton stated that "respect for the law must run both ways." Clinton could not deny the occurrences of national oppression within the injustice system, but treated them as flukes that can be overcome. He ignored the role they play in maintaining the current status quo. He claimed that the "fight against crime and drugs is a fight for the freedom of all our people." Rather it is a war against oppressed nationals to maintain the freedom of the elite to exploit the world for its labor and resources. Clinton argued that, "Being satisfied if we have what we want and heedless of others who don't even have what they need and deserve is not the American way." This was one of the biggest lies Clinton made that afternoon. Without exploitation of the oppressed, imperialism would crumble. This is the foundation of imperialism and it is the prevalent attitude among the Amerikan middle class who choose not to become involved in revolutionary politics and would rather enjoy the stolen riches. While Clinton stressed the changing of attitudes in an individualist approach to making this world a better place, this will change nothing. No matter how many people work to change the attitudes of Amerikans, they will prove no avail as long as those in power remain. Not until the oppressors are removed from power can national oppression end. Therefore it is necessary for the people to unite in this struggle, and not rely on individuals running around doing good deeds. The people must work with MIM in the struggle against the imperialist power structure. NOTES: 1. U.S. Newswire 16 June 1997. 2. Eyes on the Prize II: Back to the Movement PBS Home Video. 3. Times Union 18 June 1997, p.A-2. * * * SENATOR CALLS SOLITARY CONFINEMENT "BARBARIC" by MC12 New Jersey Senator Robert Torricelli says Susan McDougal is in "barbaric" conditions in prison, where she is being held for refusing to testify in the Clinton's Whitewater case. Torricelli said on the Senate floor: "Any individual held in solitary confinement with no privacy, with no ability to consult with family or friends, denied access to a chaplain, shackled hand and foot, subjected to body searches, awakened during the night every 20 minutes in some circumstances by a flashlight in her eyes, could not possibly at this point be giving voluntary testimony that would be usable in a court of law," he said. Torricelli's concern with the famous Susan McDougal is touching. MIM would like to know why her case -- with its short duration --merits such an emotional protest, while the hundreds and thousands of others held in similar conditions does not. As for the admissibility of her testimony, the whole point of the bail system is to imprison the poor before their trials -- something which has never stopped the injustice system from pretending it treats people fairly. Certainly, McDougal's imprisonment is coercive, which is the point. But attempts to build sympathy for her in the absence of a criticism of the whole prison system only show the greater injustices at work. NOTES: Associated Press 17 July 1997. * * * PARISITISM INCREASES: ERRONEOUS LABOR ARISTOCRAT ANALYSIS HIDES TRUTH In October, 1994, the Workers World Party printed some erroneous articles about the decline of median family income. The Filipino comrades of the NDF followed suit and reprinted the article. At that time MIM explained that family size was decreasing, and that as a matter of fact, median income was increasing. Two years later, we re-published the critique in MT#10 in 1996. It turns out that the same year, statistics came out to prove MIM's point. If we look at median household (not family) income, it appears to have declined between 1972 and 1994, from $32,367 to $32,264 in 1994 constant dollars to account for inflation. However, a closer look shows MIM was right. It is only that families and households are getting smaller, not that incomes are not going up. Appliance ownership and college enrollments went up, not down. Percent change in median income by size of household between 1967 to 1994 in 1994 constant dollars: One-person +69% Two-person +33% Three-person +21% Four-person +27% Five-person +18% Six-person +16% Seven or more +8% (1) The social-democrats and revisionists in the imperialist countries continue to argue with MIM, but they are either liars or severely misinformed. Their whining serves to cover up the huge transfer of value from the Third World to the imperialist countries, which is the central fact of our time, imperialist exploitation and super-exploitation of the neo-colonies. This transfer of value to the imperialist countries is so large that the capitalist class alone cannot consume it or even invest it. That is why the median incomes continue to grow in the imperialist countries. Instead of whining about the conditions of oppressor nation workers in order to get more gravy for them, the communists have the duty to point out what is really happening internationally. If we take the countries of the world and put them into big regions of 1) Western Europe 2) Offshoots of Western Europe like the United $tates 3) Southern Europe 4) Eastern Europe 5) Latin America 6) Asia & Oceania 7) Africa, then we can talk about the growth of inequality between large groups of people. Inequality of income per person between regions was only 3:1 in 1820, but it kept growing: 5:1 in 1870, 9:1 in 1913, 11:1 in 1950, 12:1 in 1973 and 16:1 in 1992. Since 1950, Western Europe and Japan gained ground on the U.$. leader, so we hope not to hear whining from social-democrats in those countries either. The richest country went from being over three times richer per person in income in 1820 to 72 times richer in 1992.(2) For us communists, this is not a mystery. Africa and Latin America actually suffered declines in income in the 1980s, because of imperialist exploitation. Countries that would grow richer do not, because of the transfer of wealth to the imperialist countries. The Workers World Party has been arguing with MIM a long time. It never ceases to be wrong and it never rebutted our rebuttal. The Filipino comrades of the NDF who only knew us for a year at that time were wrong to print the Workers World article, not because they were wrong to intervene in "our" business, which is taking down the imperialists, but because they were scientifically incorrect. Only the MIM line is correct for the imperialist countries' conditions. NOTES: 1. Thomas G. Exter, The Official Guide to American Incomes, 2nd ed. (Ithaca, NY: New Strategist Publications), p. xxi. 2. Angus Maddison, Monitoring the World Economy: 1820-1992 (Paris: OECD, 1995), p. 22. * * * FIGHT OVER THE SUPER-PROFITS IN ENGLAND Trotskyists and anarchists in England are arguing over how to unite the working-class in connection to the welfare system, the main thrust of which will not change under the new Labor Party government. The anarchists claim -- and we believe that it is true universally in capitalist states -- that the office workers Lenin called semi-proletarian harass the unemployed trying to sign up for the dole. The Trotskyists argue that office workers administering the dole are workers too and should not be antagonized. Meanwhile the anarchists claim the unemployed should take precedence. The anarchists have devised a policy for handling harassing bureaucrats [italics and graphics removed]: "Aimed at managers, client 'advisers' and other officers who REPEATEDLY and VERIFIABLY go out of their way to harass and persecute individuals for signing on. First Offence -- A written warning is given to the offender and their manager -- Strike One! Second Offence -- Final written warning given to the offender and their manager -- Strike Two! Third Offence -- The offender is exposed as a dole bully. Their name and photo are distributed widely and they can expect an angry demo at their office. Strike Three and Out!" The Trotskyists of Socialist Outlook came out in opposition to three strikes policy for dole-workers. Trotskyist and old Khruschev revisionist-led unions also apparently opposed the Three Strikes policy in the name of uniting the office- workers against the national policy. MIM has no doubt that the position of the Trotskyists is petty-bourgeois. If these office-workers are actual allies in the struggle, then a little confrontation should win them over. If the office-workers are not material for progressive alliance, then having someone demonstrate against them will cause them to take up consolidated petty-bourgeois attitudes, and if we were to worry about such consequences all the time, the proletariat would never do anything in the imperialist countries because of the prevalence of office- workers. Nonetheless, MIM also doubts the anarchists. In passing, the anarchists say they oppose work requirements for the unemployed to receive welfare benefits that the Labor Party has suggested. This position seems to MIM to glorify a parasitism very similar to that of the dole administration workers. MIM does not oppose workfare in principle; although no matter what policy the capitalist government claims to carry out, it will do so in some particularly anti-proletarian way like in the United Snakes where workfare allows the government and corporations to obtain cheaper laborers than if these workers had been hired in the first place. Neither government workers nor unemployed workers produce surplus-value and neither is likely to in their lifetimes in England. We have found that in practice the unemployed are closer to the line of the international proletariat than office workers are. The unemployed may have parasitic aspirations themselves, but they seem more open-minded than the office- workers who hold themselves high and mighty above the unemployed and the international proletariat as well. The anarchists are correct that we must fight the petty- bourgeois manifestations of the government workers or the proletariat itself will lose its orientation. We urge the anarchists of the Anarchist Communist Federation to look into this more deeply -- raise revolutionary consciousness as they say -- and avoid taking up one parasitic stance against another. Without a clear understanding of the oppressed nations and the existence, size and distribution of super-profits, much time will be wasted fighting over super-profits. We communists are not the ultimate champions of the lumpenproletariat. The better anarchists tend to take that stance, because the lumpenproletariat provides temporary illusions of having dropped out of the capitalist system as a lifestyle. Anarchists are usually suckers for individualism of this sort and easily lose track of the class structure. As a result they fail in mobilizing the people and targeting the enemy. NOTE: Organize! For Class Struggle Anarchism, Issue No. 45 Spring 1997, pp. 14-5. ACF, c/o 84b Whitechapel High St., London E1 7QX * * * STOP WASTING TIME: FIGHT IMPERIALISM AND FIRST WORLD CHAUVINISM WITH MIM MIM is a collection of parties of the English-speaking imperialist countries and their internal semi-colonies. We cover the United $tates, where we originated, Kanada, Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland, Israel, the Black nation, Aztlan, burgeoning Asian enclaves and the First Nations surrounded by imperialism. This announcement by MIM is not made lightly. There are concerns that MIM is becoming a new COMINTERN, a world party. Another problem is the fact that MIM is dominated by its basis in North America and the United $tates in particular. However, "freedom is the recognition of necessity." MIM's announcement has the benefit of making clear that the international communist movement is in low ebb, particularly in the imperialist countries. Too many continue to hold illusions about revisionism or social-democracy or have failed to regroup at all. MIM's announcement that it is the vanguard in several countries simply means that MIM is the most scientific pole concretely active in those countries. It is MIM opposing Soviet revisionism and Chinese revisionism. While some countries have no pole other than MIM opposing Soviet and Chinese revisionism, there is no organization other than MIM in the imperialist countries taking up Lenin's correct line on the labor aristocracy and parasitism generally. Organizations exist that speak of "the working class" and "the proletariat" day and night without ever defining what they are talking about or applying it concretely. For this reason, MIM exists -- not to hold back the development of the understanding of concrete conditions in each imperialist country and its internal semi-colonies - - but to expedite this process and to rally the elements in need of re-grouping. Concretely-speaking, having regular publications is a major advantage in the struggle. In What Is To Be Done? Lenin insisted on weekly publications. MIM has weekly publications and has assisted localities in establishing more than weekly publications. We see no difficulty in continuing this expansion in all the English-speaking imperialist countries. At this time, there is also an ebb in the imperialist countries in general, not just the English-speaking ones. MIM is not yet in a position to assist concretely in all of them, though it is happy to exert influence in those countries. We call on all individuals in the English-speaking imperialist countries to rally around MIM and stop wasting time in dejection or coaxing hopeless revisionists, social- democrats or outright liquidationists. The would-be party leaders in the imperialist countries who cannot see the truth about Soviet and Chinese revisionism by now will not be won until much later in the revolutionary process. * * * STRUGGLE CONTINUES FOR POLITICAL ASYLUM FOR THE SISON FAMILY by RC35 The fight for asylum for Jose Maria Sison, founding Chairperson of the Communist Party of the Philippines, and his family, still looms in the Netherlands courts. Sison, Julieta de Lima-Sison, and their son Jasm are seeking asylum based on the political persecution they faced in the Philippines, persecution which they expect will only be worse if they are forced to return. Incredibly similar to cases in the U$, the Dutch court used false testimony to label Mr. Sison a terrorist. The Dutch Law Unity Chamber held a hearing on the asylum case on 19 June. No decision was is expected to be reached for somewhat longer than 6 weeks. The threatened deportation is an attempt to destroy revolutionary leadership and to disrupt the peace negotiations between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front, to which Sison is the Chief Political Consultant. In February 1995, the Dutch Council of State recognized the Sisons as political refugees according to the Geneva Convention of Refugees. According to Article 3 of the European Convention of Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms, the Sisons can not sent back to the Philippines. The Justice Ministry, under pressure from Amerika and the Philippines, wants to deport Sison and his family. The prosecuting lawyer for the Netherlands has ceased arguing that Sison can be deported to the Philippines and the Justice Ministry now recognizes the Council of State ruling that Sison is a refugee. The Justice Ministry's new tactic is to claim the right to deny Sison a permit to stay in the Philippines. This is a microscopic change in position for the Netherlands, from pushing for Sison to be deported to the Philippines to pushing for Sison to leave the Netherlands. The larger imperialist goal is for the Sisons to be eventually forced back to the Philippines for further repression remains unchanged, although Sison's lawyers will try to use this change to their advantage. Mr. Hoogvliet, lawyer for the Netherlands, alluded to pressures from imperialist Amerika to not grant the Sisons asylum. Though the Dutch Ministry of Foreign affairs denies foreign pressure, Hoogvliet said the Dutch government as a state would have to consider unhappy foreign reactions to a grant of asylum. This correctly reveals the imperialist tie supposed "liberal" Netherlands has to the rest of the oppressor world. This struggle exposes the specific role countries like the U$ and the Netherlands play in relation to the oppressive Ramos regime. The imperialists get free reign of the Philippines land, labor and resources with the puppet dictator Ramos and don't want to jeopardize that parasitic relationship. The lawyers have tried to play Sison off as a terrorist and have tried to compare him to war criminals. The Dutch government has no evidence of any illegal activity committed by Sison, nor are there any criminal charges in the Philippines against Sison, so the Dutch government is resorting to made up allegations. MIM supports the struggle to grant asylum for the Sison family as part of our work to support the Communist Party of the Philippines-led struggle of the toiling masses of the Philippines for national liberation. NOTES: "Report on the Court Hearing on 19 June 1997 on Asylum Case of Sison Family, 22 June 1997" International Campaign for the Asylum of the Sison Family in Maoist Sojourner 19, July 1997 or http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf * * * WAR CRIMINAL MCNAMARA GETS ON NEO-COLONIALISM BANDWAGON by MC234 In June, former Secretary of Defense during the height of the Amerikan war against Viet Nam, Robert McNamara, and other top pigs had a conference with Vietnamese leaders about the war. While he isn't being direct about it, McNamara apparently now believes that neo-colonialism is a more effective strategy to control Third World nations than direct military intervention. The United States spent billions and lost 58,000 Amerikan soldiers in the failed effort to retain the former French colony. Over 3.6 million Vietnamese people were killed by Amerikans, as well as thousands in Cambodia and Laos when the war spread. From direct costs to the imperialists to the (quite just) hatred against Amerika that such a bloody strategy breeds, imperialists such as McNamara argue that direct intervention isn't an effective way to run an empire. McNamara first sang this tune in his 1995 memoir. McNamara is blaming the length and depth of the Vietnam War on "misunderstandings" and resulting missed opportunities to end the war. According to McNamara, it would have been possible to avoid the war, or to end it much earlier without these errors on both sides. McNamara stressed that both sides made these mistakes, but when pressed by a National Public Radio interviewer, couldn't provide any real details for Vietnamese mistakes. The Vietnamese negotiators were blunt, saying that the opportunities were missed by Amerika only. "War was imposed on us," said Tran Quang Co, a senior member of the Vietnamese delegation. "This was not our decision. It did not take place in U.S. territory. Given that fact, who suffered more? It was our people." McNamara replied: "I submit to you that the Vietnamese mindset was just as firm (as ours), and I think firmly wrong." The Vietnamese "mindset" was for the return of their country from foreign occupation. This so-called "mindset" was clear and just. Reuter news service mocked the political rigidity of the Vietnamese at this meeting, saying that the 1975 victory over Amerika has "remained a central theme of state propaganda and is considered a mainstay of the Communist government's claim to legitimacy," thereby preventing the political and academic leaders at the meeting from "viewing the conflict in any other way." MIM does not believe that the current regime in Viet Nam is Communist, although during it's armed struggle against the French and later Amerika, the National Liberation Movement led by Ho Chi Minh was close. Ho Chi Minh and the Communist Party of Viet Nam disagreed with the Maoist idea that a new bourgeoisie can arise from within the party to restore capitalism. And this is precisely what happened when the Amerikans were defeated, with Viet Nam quickly becoming a neo-colony of the Soviet Union. MIM however, celebrates the armed struggle and victory of the Vietnamese people against French and Amerikan imperialism. In the 1960s and 1970s, China supported the armed struggle of the Vietnamese people with political and material support. At the June talks, McNamara expressed gladness that Amerika did not invade North Vietnam, learning from the Vietnamese negotiators that: "Viet Nam's late President Ho Chi Minh and its former Prime Minister Pham Van Dong had visited Beijing twice during the early 1960s and received assurances from Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai that Chinese combat forces would help counter any U.S. invasion." NOTE: Reuter 23 June 1997, National Public Radio 21 June 1997 * * * RAMOS COVERS UP EXPLOITATION OF FILIPINO OVERSEAS WORKERS by RC68 Philippine President Fidel Ramos' recent meeting with hand- picked representatives of the Hong Kong Filipino community was an attempt to cover up the increasing exploitation and oppression of Filipino overseas contract workers (OCWs). With the blessing of agencies like the IMF and the World Bank (and therefore with the blessing of U.$. imperialism), the Philippine government has used the trade in OCWs to raise some quick foreign cash. As a result, the most lucrative export of the Philippines today is Filipinos, who generally work under harsh and unfair conditions. The questions submitted at Ramos' meeting were screened and then forwarded to the president. No additional questions were allowed. If Ramos and his dogs had not screened the questions and hand picked the audience, it is quite likely that his "meeting" would have been disrupted by justifiably angry Filipinos asking questions that would publicly expose Ramos for the fascist and imperialist running dog that he is. Ramos knows that Filipino migrant workers all over the world are angry with him. Memorandum of Instruction No.8 requires Filipino migrant workers to pay US$25 on top of the fees that every applicant must already pay when s/he first applies to work abroad. This money is supposed to be used to improve on-site Overseas Workers Welfare Administration services. Instead it lines the pockets of corrupt government officials. Filipinos are currently working in 168 countries, yet not even 15 of these countries even have OWWA offices. Memorandum Circular No.41 stops direct hiring. Instead, all Filipinos applying to work as migrant workers must go through government-certified recruitment agencies. This way the Philippine government can avoid the responsibility of protecting and upholding the rights and welfare of these people by passing this duty off to the recruitment agencies. The Ramos regime can only defend Filipino OCWs with vague and ineffectual words, as it does not want to alienate foreign employers. Filipino migrant workers also must pay a mandatory Medicare fee. Payment of this fee is supposed to entitle the migrant worker and family members to medical services in any hospital in the Philippines. Many family members who have tried to use this faced hospital administrators who would not honor it. People do not normally seek to travel hundreds or thousand of miles from home to work unskilled, low paying, labor intensive jobs simply out of boredom. The fact is that decades of comprador dictatorship and almost a century of U$ imperialism in the Philippines have created an impoverished nation of oppressed and exploited people forced to migrate because of a lack of jobs at home. The main reason Ramos' recent trip to Hong Kong was to speak at a meeting of powerful investors. This was really just an attempt to sell off even more Filipino land and sell out more Filipino people. The National Democratic Front and the Communist Party of the Philippines are currently leading the masses in armed struggle against the pro-imperialist illegitimate Ramos government. Only a real revolutionary movement based on the majority of the Filipino people -- peasants and workers -- can eliminate the power of the imperialist toadies in authority and establish a government to serve the people. And only socialist economic development can eliminate the socio-economic base for this super-exploitation of the Filipino people. NOTE: News Page, Website for the National Democratic Front of the Philippine, May 22 1997 (www.geocities.com/~cpp- ndf/index.html). * * * UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS This issue's Under Lock and Key focuses on the state of Texas. Some may believe that Texas is one of the most brutal states in Amerikkka, below is the data and first hand accounts of what it means to be behind bars in Texas. STATS FROM THE TEXAS GULAGS At the end of 1996, Texas was holding 132,383 people in behind bars, the second highest number of prisoners in the U$. Texas along with California held one-third of all prisoners. Among the 50 states, Texas had the highest incarceration rate, 686 prisoners serving sentences of more than one year per 100,000 population. This is higher than the national incarceration rate of 427 sentenced prisoners per 100,000 residents. From 1991 to 1996 the prisoner population has increased by 43.2%. During this period Texas led the country in 156.2% increase in prison population. In addition Texas has the second highest female incarceration rate, incarcerating 102 wimmin per 100,000 female state residents. (Second only to Oklahoma with 115). Texas led the Nation with a 25.2% increase in wimmin incarcerated (from 7,935 female prisoners in 1995 to 9,933 in 1996). Statistical information was obtained from U.$. Department Of Injustice Bureau of Justice Statistics, Bulletin - Prisoners in 1996, June 1997, NCJ-164619, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/ IN REMEMBRANCE OF GARY LEE CRENSHAW ***MIM mourns the death of Gary Crenshaw. He was a prisoner in Abilene, Texas who was murdered by his jailers. The next few letters all relate to his death. MIM works to publicly expose such atrocities to build support for revolution.*** FELLOW COMRADE MURDERED BY GUARDS Also I'd like to raise comrades awareness on the latest happening over here on this plantation. Almost 4 months ago an inmate and fellow comrade of mine was brutally murdered by the guards. His last name was Crenshaw. The unit was placed on lockdown due to the uprising of the brave soldiers on Maximum Custody who mounted an attack in retaliation on the staff/guards here. Crenshaw was known for fighting with his pen against injustices that go on daily on the French Robertson Plantation in Abilene, Texas. Fortunately the investigation uncovered and ruled it as a homicide. Crenshaw was murdered while handcuffed in his cell by the administration of a strangle choke-hold that the guards still use despite the injuries to the throat area it causes. The riot ended with no casualties to the brave soldiers of 8 building who now have just been released from lockdown status. Which means they ate one hot meal a day, usually breakfast, and a sandwich or two one made of Peanut butter and the other either a single slice of cheese or bologna. Crenshaw, may he rest in peace. I will continue to fight within the foulest belly of this system. -- A Texas Prisoner, 29 April 1997 Abilene THE KILLING OF GARY CRENSHAW On January 25, 1997, at about 4:00 pm I witnessed Officer Mike Helm Co III, 2 G.P. order inmate Gary Lee Crenshaw, to step out of his cell while they conducted an illegal cell search. This was the second time I witnessed inmate Crenshaw's cell shaken down in week by Co III Helm. Co III Helm aggressively ordered inmate Crenshaw to walk over to the wall, he was being pushed in the back by Co III Helm. After he complied with these orders Officer Helm told him to place his hands behind his back. Crenshaw complied. The next thing I knew he was being assaulted by Co III Helm, who struck Crenshaw with his fist on the side of the head. After assaulting Crenshaw, Co III Johnson rushed over and joined Co III Helm, and the two slammed Crenshaw to the floor and started immediately restraining him with handcuffs. Then both officers began to beat this inmate as if he was a dead horse or something. The majority of blows were to his head. During this assault, Crenshaw stated, "You all don't have to do me like this." Yet his request went unheeded as these two mad murderers began to persistently beat Crenshaw even after he was visually and clearly restrained. This man was wrongly being beaten because he pursed the grievance system time and time again, [against] Co III Helm and others Co III's and ranks for them harassing, retaliating, discriminating against him, denying him food and etc. And each grievance was filed in good faith. Officer Templeton, Officer Benauides, and Prisoner W, stood by the food card in the day room watching the entire massacre, as Co III's Helm and Johnson continued to beat Crenshaw while [he was] handcuffed. Then Sergeant Baker, Supervisor of all CoIII's, and CoIII Davis came into the dayroom. Officer Davis was carrying the video camera as he and Sgt. Baker walked over to the area of abuse. Sgt. Baker never insisted that the camera be turned on. Then inmates started yelling from their cell doors, "Turn the camera on!!! Why are you all just standing there with the camera off." Then Sgt. Baker and Officer Davis left and returned a short time after this. [When they returned] Sgt. Baker ordered Co III David to turn on the video camera. I could hear inmate Crenshaw say, "Please, let me breathe. I can't breathe. I can't breathe." Sounding very short of breath. Then Sgt. Baker stated, "What is your TDC number?" But inmate Crenshaw didn't answer because he was unconscious. Sgt. Baker asked Crenshaw again for his number, but he was still unconscious, probably dead. Then Sgt. Baker went over to Crenshaw's cell and ordered his cellmate to give him Crenshaw's ID card. He then went back to the assault area and ordered Officers Helm, Johnson, Templeton and Benauides to pick up Crenshaw's dead body and carry him away. Now why would Sgt. Baker order Crenshaw's body to be immediately carried away if he was not dead? This was inappropriate handling of Crenshaw's body. Medical personnel were supposed to have been informed before they moved Crenshaw. How come Sgt. Baker didn't request that someone call infirmary for nurses or doctors, so Crenshaw could be treated properly before he died? In the past Crenshaw had been treated for respiratory and cardiovascular problems, but Warden Drewry does not know whether those problems were connected to Crenshaw's death. Prisoner A noted that Crenshaw had big knots and lumps upside his head as they carried him off. Judging from prisoner A's testimony, you can see that he, not only witnessed an inmate get assaulted, what he actually observed was another inmate get deliberately and brutally murdered by their own keepers. Crenshaw is the first inmate killed in the last six months. Statistics show that in 1996, five prisoners died of natural causes, one from a shooting and three by suicide. In 1995, three prisoners died from natural causes and two committed suicide. I don't believe all these inmates died as stated. I honestly believe a majority of these inmates were indeed arbitrarily murdered. This is the bogus [false] statement that they gave the neighborhood news staff. They say: Crenshaw swung at officers and missed. He swung again and connected. He was then restrained and taken down by officers, where they believe he hit his head on the ground. He was then taken to the Hendrick's Hospital where he later died. They say a major force was necessary. They say he became belligerent. This is something they day every inmate does. Crenshaw was clearly killed because he sought the grievance system for help and they probably had him murdered along with this administration. The Legal 7 Handbook states, "Inmates shall not be subject to retaliation, reprisal, harassment, or discipline for the good faith use or participation in the grievance procedure" and surely not murdered as Crenshaw was. These Co III's Helm, Johnson, Templeton, and Benauides have a known history of assaulting inmates on this unit. Gary Lee Crenshaw has a lawsuit in the federal courts against many correction officers. Could this have been a premeditated killing? A slight possibility, huh? I would like to know how many more killings have to occur on this unit before outside officials make some major indictment [of the officers] on this unit? Who knows what officer is contemplating on killing the next inmate? As long as these officers keep killing inmates and get away with it, and are not indicted, they are going to keep murdering. If they started indicting these cruel and murderous officers, and finding them guilty, then the next murderer would thing twice about killing. -- A Texas Prisoner, 15 February, 1997 Abilene BEATINGS AND BRUTALITY On May 2, 1997, I was attacked by two guards as I was in my cell on the third shift. This shift is not, at any time, supposed to open any doors, unless it is an emergency. I suffered back pain, a swollen jawbone, and a bruised knee with scratches. I was not given any medical attention, nor was a rank called on, or a camera brought in to this excessive and unnecessary major force. I am doing better now. We are still on lock down for the murder of Gary Lee Crenshaw on January 15, 1997. We have not been allowed to make comments on anything. -- A Texas Prisoner, 15 May 97 (Abilene) SHOWER ASSAULT I'm in lock-down in one of Texas's worst units. And when I say worst, I'm not referring to the Prisoners, I am speaking of Officers. They are violating Prisoners and nothing is done about it. Such as this: I was assaulted by two TDC [Texas Dept. of Corrections] Officers who pushed my heard into a shower door and then slammed me and dragged me back to my cell without any medical attention. And no use of force was reported which is policy. So you see how Texas Prisoners are being violated and "Nothing" happens to the officers to stop this behavior. -- A Texas Prisoner, 19 February 97 Livingston BRUTAL AND SAVAGE ATTACKS I am writing in regards to the brutal and savage attacks which are being imposed on the prisoners by the diabolical hands of the TDCJ [Texas Department of Criminal Justice] Security Officials in Administrative Segregation. Prisoners who are in Administrative Segregation on the Charles T. Terrell Unit are subject to severe brutal and savage attacks on a daily basis. Such as: Prisoners are denied their food for no given reason. Prisoners are denied their shower and recreation. When a prisoner complains about the foul/inhumane treatment he is receiving or asks to speak to a supervisor, the prisoner is written bogus disciplinary infractions and in most cases he is immediately physically attacked by 2, 3 or more security officials. Prisoners that are physically attacked usually sustain swollen eyes, nose and/or their entire face is swollen beyond recognition. But in a few cases the prisoner suffers broken bones, an arm, nose, ribs or fingers. Numerous grievance complaints have been filed with all 3 wardens, starting with the senior Warden Mr. Robert Treon, than with his 2 assistant Wardens, Mr. Zeller and Mr. Curtis McKnight, but to no avail. Prisoners who do not know how to read or write and who do not have any family on the outside are left to defend themselves the best way they know how. Which is usually by trying to stab a security official or throwing human waste on them, which is something security officials do not like, so this form of strategy usually keeps them away. Can you honestly imagine throwing human waste on another just in attempt to keep the other party from brutally and savagely attacking them? Most of the prisoners who are subjected to this treatment usually end up going insane. Even though it is evident that a prisoner has gone insane, the security officials in Administrative Segregation do everything in their power to cover it up. There are seven prisoners with me right now who have lost their sanity to this capitalist and imperialist system, a system that's built on the foundation of White Supremacy. No, it doesn't make a difference concerning race, as long as you wear a white prison uniform you're subject to these attacks, period. The security officials who are responsible for these brutal and savage attacks in Administrative Segregation on the Charles T. Terrell Unit are as follows. Co III's: Brunett, R.; Burnum, E.; Byerly, L.; Childers, R.; Lee, T.; Lilley, C.; Johnston, J.A.; O'Neal, D.; Pacousky, W.; Pady, K.; Paske, S.; Pode, S.; Renfro, R.; Ripper, G.; Rittinger, T.; Scott, B.; Smith, D.; Snider, J.; Sorrells, M. Ross, W.; Wyers, C. and Sergeants: Ludwig, J.; Jefferies, P.; King; Fly; and Wilson. Me and my Brother's along with hundreds of more prisoners are desperately seeking help. Please show the world how corrupt the Texas Prison System really is. -- A Texas Prisoner, 20 January, 1997 Livingston RESISTING BRUTALITY Dear MIM, I am being held hostage in a Texas prison. And this unit, I'm on (John B. Connally) is outta control. Just the other day 3 officers opened the door and let 3 Mexicans kill another one. I'm in Ad-Seg. cause I won't kiss the pig's ass. Just the other day an officer told me that I was a Black spot in the streets, and if I come out for rec.[recreation] they would put me on my face. Well as everybody knows, they just wanted me to refuse my rec. so they wouldn't have nothing to do. And when I came out, 2 officers (white) tried to slam me. Well I fell on one of the officers and they beat me did not take me to medical and did not feed me the next chow. [So] I wrote my locs and they raised some hell in pop life [general population]. After they heard about who I was, they came back and did me up again, but this time the Major was with them. One officer (Johnson), the only Black with them, kicked me in my nutts. They tossed me back into the cell and gave me a food loaf. Now I have a problem with my nutts, but they just tell me to lay off the tea they give us without meals. I filled out an inmate grievance form and the Ward and I.A.D. called me down there. And they told me that inmates need to be whipped every now and then. And they told me, ain't no bodily harm, so there's no proof - so ain't nothing they could do. So what can I do besides nothing? Will somebody help me please? --A Texas Prisoner, 21 March 1997 Kenedy MIM RESPONDS: One of the best things you can do, is what you have been doing, which is exposing the oppression. Getting information about pig brutality out to the public can organize support from the masses. The masses can put pressure on the imperialist institutions to change. And though we help to fight reforms within the system that are possible and beneficial to the oppressed, our primary task is to organize against this system and build support for revolution. So keeping using your pen to write about the problem you and all prisoners face behind the walls this aids the struggle in waking people up and organizing to stop both oppression against the people now and systematic oppression. Remember also that you are not alone in this struggle. There are many people who face similar oppression. You may be able to talk to others around you and see what they have done to combat brutality. There may be a jailhouse lawyer closer than you think who can give you some effective legal advice for your particular situation. Don't give up hope or the struggle. Remember that MIM and the masses are on your side, and oppressed people outnumber the rest of the world's population. A SLICE OF LIFE IN TEXAS WIMMIN'S PRISON Now I do have a problem. I haven't seen very much from the ladies, but there's a lot unspoken in this system. I'm a TDC [Texas Department of Corrections] Inmate stuck on a state jail transfer unit for a year now. I'm doing a 20-year sentence and since I've been here, I've been denied the right to go to school, because of my time at first, then they say this is a confinee unit. Confinees are doing state jail time and I'm considered an inmate, only being housed here! I want to go to school. I want my G.E.D. There is nothing positive here for me. Then there is this problem with the doors always being broken. They are operated by a switch in the picket that doesn't work so they have to use a key. I feel it is very unsafe cause when it rains, water leaks in and into the light fixtures. I feel this is a hazard. And they know about it and haven even attempted to try to fix it. This system is a joke. I've been keeping up with the piece on the boy who was running backwards (trying to escape) Yea Right. Just goes to show - I bet the squad boss was white! [Refers to the 19 July 1996 Murder of Daniel Avellaneda. More information about this murder can be found in ULK article "Texas Prisoner exposes the Murder and Brutality in Prison" in MIM Notes 135 -- MIM] I'm white and feel we all bleed Red. What's wrong with this nation. It makes me sick. Why can't we all just get along. We're all humans. Remember the 60's. Make Love, Not War! -- A Texas Prisoner, 26 April 1997 MIM RESPONDS: This letter does a good job at pointing out how prisons are just a form of social control. Imperialists don't want prisoners to get educated or improve themselves, but only to take them out of general society in the name of injustice. In addition, the author describes how prisons conditions are often hazardous. Where MIM disagrees with this prisoner is in the last paragraph. We all can't just get along because there are oppressed people in this country and world. In this country the white nation as a group has oppressed, the First nations, the Black nation and Latino nations for its own benefit. Oppressed people refuse to make love with their oppressors. It will not bring them freedom. We must struggle to build revolution to end the oppression of the majority of the world's people. This does not mean that white individuals can not be revolutionary. The author of this letter has demonstrated revolutionary actions by exposing the imperialist atrocities behind the walls. In contrast the white prison guard who shot Daniel Avellaneda is an obvious example of a white individual who demonstrates the oppressive nature of the white nation. MIM would encourage people to remember the revolutionary aspect of the 60's with the progressive work of the Black Panther Party and the Young Lords Party. Work with MIM toward revolution by exposing the truth about our oppressors. MODERN DAY SLAVERY I am a incarcerated Black African American Man who is a part of the revolution and down for fighting for my black people locked up in the white man's made hell, which is also his paradise. Not only me but all minority races get oppressed, beaten and sometimes killed in here. You know some brothas who are incarcerated like me have fallen weak to the white klansman's ways. They go as far as fighting another brother for one funky ass cigarette, extra food, etc. Or will give a brotha up to the white klansman just for some class and good time, that they will take from them with the snap of the fingers. Right now, we are on lockdown cause the Black and Hispanic inmates came together and rebelled against the correctional officers because two Klansman officers killed one innocent black man and one innocent Hispanic for not apparent reason. As blacks and Hispanics come together as one, the White Klansman sits back in his throne and think of evil ways to try and destroy their unity. And most times his evil ways work. They (white klansmen) put us on lockdown and feed us sack lunches with 2 sandwiches in it that wouldn't get a kindergartner full, and take our property as a way of making us suffer. But we have to stand tall like Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Nat Turner, Sojourner Truth, etc and show the klansmen that they cannot break down the strong. We got to stand and fight as an organization, as a family. We must fight with strength, pride, Blackness and strong Black African Brother Power. We have to not only believe [in the revolution] but be a part of the revolution, my brothas. We cannot worry about the weak for one day they will feel the vibe, come along, and jump on the bus where their true love and people are at. Last but not least, they put us in prison and take us to work outside in a plantation field with a shovel or grubbing hoe. They also make us pick cotton, peas, potatoes, okra, etc. If you look at it there are more Blacks and Hispanics working in the fields than whites. They put their white inmates out there to make it look good because they know it is modern day slavery. And if no whites were out there, working in the prison fields, the Black and Hispanic inmates would file on it. But a lot of us are blind to the white man's evil way of operating. I believe in revolution for a change for my Black African People. -- A Texas Prisoner, 12 April 1997 Abilene PROFITS FROM PRISON-MADE PRODUCTS My last thought concerns the vast expansion of TDCJ (Texas Department of Criminal Justice) in less than tree years from 60,000 prisoners in 60 prisons to 130,000+ prisoners in 109 prisons. These men and women are forced to work for free in the production of prison-made goods shipped to the other 49 states. 42USC 1994 makes peonage, the forced labor of a person in payment of debt such as food and shelter a felony, yet Texas convicts mush work for free. 18USC 1781 prevents prison-made goods from shipment our of the state they were produced in to stop unfair competition with private businesses who have higher labor costs and must charge more for their products. By Amendment, Texas is the only state permitted to legally break this law. New York to California taxpayers must support the growing Texas prison system with their federal tax money and by permitting Texas' unfair business competition. I believe the purpose of the law was violated by Texas. Repeal this amendment! Help keep Texas prison-made goods inside Texas. Write to your newspaper and US Congressmen citing this law and ask why mush your state support 109 Texas Prisons? -- A Texas Prisoner, 4 February 1997 Amarillo * * * 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.

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