I N T E R N E T ' S  M A O I S T  BI-M O N T H L Y

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

     XX XX  XXX  XX XX   X   X  XXX  XXX  XXX  XXX
     X X X   X   X X X   XX  X  X X   X   X    X
     X V X   X   X V X   X X X  X X   X   XX   XXX
     X   X   X   X   X   X  XX  X X   X   X      X
     X   X  XXX  X   X   X   V  XXX   X   XXX  XXX

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = 

         THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

     MIM Notes 118                  JULY 15, 1996


MIM Notes speaks to and from the viewpoint of the 
world's oppressed majority, and against the 
imperialist-patriarchy. Pick it up and wield it in 
the service of the people. support it, struggle 
with it and write for it.

IN THIS ISSUE:

1.  ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION AND GENOCIDE SPUR
    RESISTANCE IN THE PHILIPPINES
2.  LETTERS: SALUTATIONS AND CONGRATULATIONS TO MIM
    ON PERU SOLIDARITY WORK
3.  ELECTIONS: WHAT GOOD ARE THEY?
4.  MOVE WINS TRIAL AGAINST AMERIKA
5.  THE PEOPLE FIGHT STATE-SANCTIONED EXECUTIONS IN
    MISSOURI
6.  INDIGENOUS HAWAIIANS PROTEST PHONY REPARATIONS
7.  CULTURE PAGE: TIMOTHY LEARY AND *I SHOT ANDY
    WARHOL*
8.  FLORIDA ANTI-PRISONS ACTIVISTS FACE FELONY
    CHARGES
9.  COPS PROTECT FASCISTS, REVISIONISTS PROTECT
    IMPERIALISM
10. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND
    PRISONS
11. FBI STEPS UP SURVEILLANCE AND REPRESSION
12. MORE PIG BRUTALITY IN NEW YORK
13. AFFIRMATIVE ACTION SETBACK IN TEXAS
14. PEOPLE'S MEDIA NEEDED FOR PROTEST COVERAGE


* * *

WHAT IS MIM?

The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a 
revolutionary communist party that upholds Marxism-
Leninism-Maoism, comprising the collection of 
existing or emerging Maoist internationalist 
parties in the English-speaking imperialist 
countries and their English-speaking internal semi-
colonies, as well as the existing or emerging 
Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties of 
Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the 
U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of MIM. 
Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-
speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM.

MIM is an internationalist organization that works 
from the vantage point of the Third World 
proletariat; thus, its members are not Amerikans, 
but world citizens.
MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups 
over other groups: classes, genders, nations.  MIM 
knows this is only possible by building public 
opinion to seize power through armed struggle.

Revolution is a reality for North America as the 
military becomes over-extended in the government's 
attempts to maintain world hegemony.

MIM differs from other communist parties on three 
main questions: (1) MIM holds that after the 
proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution, 
the potential exists for capitalist restoration 
under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within 
the communist party itself. In the case of the 
USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death 
of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's 
death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in 
1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural 
Revolution as the farthest advance of communism in 
human history. (3) MIM believes the North American 
white-working-class is primarily a non-
revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it 
is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in 
this country.

MIM accepts people as members who agree on these 
basic principles and accept democratic centralism, 
the system of majority rule, on other questions of 
party line.
"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is 
universally applicable. We should regard it not as 
dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is not 
merely a matter of learning terms and phrases, but 
of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of 
revolution."
-- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208

* * *


ENVIRONMENTAL DESTRUCTION AND GENOCIDE SPUR 
RESISTANCE IN THE PHILIPPINES


On March 28 toxic mine wastes poured from a broken 
drainage tunnel of the Marinduque Copper Mining 
Corporation (Marcopper) in the Philippines. The 
six- foot-deep flowing sludge contaminated several 
townships' water supply and stranded at least 130 
families.(1)

This disaster was a predictable result of the U.S.-
Ramos regime's "Philippines 2000" economic plan and 
its Mining Act of 1995. Philippine President Ramos 
claims that "Philippines 2000" will make the 
Philippines a "newly industrialized country" by the 
turn of the century, but in reality the plan will 
preserve the backwardness and poverty of the 
economy and ensure that big monopoly capital 
controls the resources and peoples of the 
Philippines.


MINING ACT BRINGS IMPERIALIST EXPLOITATION...


As MIM previously reported (MN114), the Mining Act 
of 1995 tears down all remaining safeguards on the 
Philippines' mineral resources. It allows foreign 
companies to repatriate 100% of all profits, and 
gives each control over a minimum of 247,000 acres 
of land for a minimum of 25 years. The companies 
also receive the timber and water rights to the 
lands they control.

Imperialist corporations quickly jumped at the 
chance to penetrate further into the Philippines. 
Two Australian mining conglomerates already have 
contracts with the Philippine government under the 
terms of the Mining Act. ARIMCO corporation has its 
claws on the rich lands of Nueva Viscaya, in Luzon, 
and the Western Mining Corporation is exploring 
lands in Southern Mindanao. There are 67 more 
contracts pending, giving the imperialists 
potential control of 6.7 million hectares of land, 
or 22% of the Philippines' total area.(2)


...ENVIRONMENTAL DAMAGE...


Aside from stealing the resources and exploiting 
the labor of the Filipino people, the large scale 
operation of big mining firms causes immediate and 
long- lasting environmental damage. Bulk mining 
methods cause irreversible damage to the land and 
water supply and greatly affect the livelihood of 
peasants and fisher folk.

The disaster in Marinduque forced the evacuation of 
1,295 residents. At least 189 cases of respiratory 
ailments and diarrhea were reported after the toxic 
mine wastes swept through the town of Boac and 
killed the town's river. The disaster was hardly 
extra-ordinary. Marcopper has dumped about 20 
million cubic meters of waste into the Marinduque 
Bay and has repeatedly violated environmental 
safeguards. The Philippine government, always 
looking to please big investors, consistently looks 
the other way.

Marcopper officials admitted that the latest tunnel 
leak began last year. But the government and the 
company ignored appeal from local residents to do 
something to stop it.(1)


...AND GENOCIDE


The indigenous peoples of the mountainous 
Cordillera region of Luzon are particularly hard 
hit by "Philippines 2000" and the Mining Act. In 
the name of "development" the Ramos government is 
destroying their ancestral land or forcing them 
from it, which amounts to genocide.

More than 50% of the Cordillera region may soon be 
under the control of various foreign companies, 
including the Amerikan Newmont Mining Corporation 
and the Canadian TVI Group Co. Mining companies 
regularly use armed force to evict people. In 
several cases indigenous peoples have barricaded 
their community and fought back when the companies 
came to seize their land.

The U.S.-Ramos regime also plans to build at least 
two "megadams" in the Cordilleras: the San Roque 
dam in Benguet province and the Casecnan Dam in 
Nueva Viscaya province. Both projects require 
indigenous peoples be "relocated." In many cases, 
those slated for "relocation" have already been 
displaced by earlier dam projects. The dams will 
also harm the people who are not immediately 
evicted. In the case of the Casecnan dam, about 
300,000 acres of land near the dam will be declared 
as a watershed, making hunting and kaigin farming--
the main livelihood of the people living there--
illegal.

Imperialist monopoly capital has a hand in these 
dam projects as well. An Amerikan firm, California 
Energy, owns 70% of the consortium building the 
Casecnan dam.(3)


RESISTANCE


The National Democratic movement in the Philippines 
continues to mobilize the people of the Philippines 
against imperialism. Mass organizations like the 
May First Movement and the Cordillera Peoples' 
Alliance have launched broad campaigns to educate 
people about the Mining Act and have organized 
strikes and protests against leading mining 
companies like Marcopper. The New People's Army 
(NPA), which is led by the Communist Party of the 
Philippines, continues to wage Protracted People's 
War to overthrow the toadying U.S.- Ramos regime 
and replace it with an anti-imperialist and 
socialist government.

According to mainstream media sources, the NPA 
attacked a helicopter in Nueva Viscaya province on 
June 5, killing a Canadian geologist working for 
ARIMCO. The geologist, Colin Spence, was conducting 
an aerial survey for the mining company. In so 
doing, Spence was directly aiding the mining 
company's plans to increase the exploitation and 
oppression of the people of the Philippines. This 
makes him a legitimate target for the people's 
army.

The Venerando Villacillo Operational Command of the 
NPA operates throughout Nueva Viscaya. The attack 
on the helicopter supposedly took place near one of 
the NPA's bases.(4) Regardless of the actuality of 
this incident, the NPA is following the correct 
course for saving the people and the environment 
that sustains them: fighting anti-imperialist war 
for self- determination.

NOTES: 
1. Balitang BAYAN (People's News), Mar-Apr 1996. 
2. BAYAN resolution, March 22, 1996. 
3. Hapit, Official Publication of the Cordillera 
Peoples' Alliance, Jan-Apr 1996. 
4. Philippines Diary, June 6, 1996.


* * *


LETTERS


SALUTATIONS AND CONGRATULATIONS TO MIM ON PERU 
SOLIDARITY WORK

Dear MIM,

We are happy to receive the news that the Peruvian 
comrades abroad encourage us to continue our work 
to build support for the Peruvian revolution. It's 
significant that the masses around the world know 
that the PCP advances the people's revolution with 
unity.

Discrediting the lies and rumors spread by cops and 
opportunists is an important contribution to the 
people's war in Peru and to proletarian 
internationalism. 

We enthusiastically look forward to spreading news 
and building support for our comrades in struggle 
in Peru.


In struggle and solidarity,

MORAIL 


* * *


ELECTIONS: WHAT GOOD ARE THEY?

23 June--RAIL hosted a debate this evening on 
elections as a strategy and tactic for liberation 
with a representative from the Universal African 
American Peoples Organization. In attendance were 
reps from the All African Peoples Revolutionary 
Party (A-APRP), the Greens, and a number of 
unaffiliated persons.

A Missouri RAIL (MORAIL) comrade began the evening 
with greetings and stressed the importance of 
unity-struggle-unity as we proceed in debate. 
MORAIL began the debate saying that "elections in a 
white-settler state are anything but democratic for 
the poor and oppressed." The capitalist ruling 
class sets the agenda: time, candidates, and 
issues. That's why the oppressed can't get any 
power through the electoral arena. The ruling class 
never has and never will give up power via the 
ballot box.

The UAAOPO comrade expressed agreement with RAIL on 
a number of points. S/he recognized the value of 
the Black Panther Party's legacy and Lenin. Also, 
money and wealth control the electoral process. 
"It's hard to find anti-imperialist candidates." 
But s/he argued that circumstances call for using 
the electoral tactic.

With the recent increased attack on the Black 
nation, the comrade asserted it's time to "bite, 
scratch and kick," to fight, quoting Malcolm, "by 
any means necessary." The comrade called on 
revolutionaries to "triple your efforts." Having 
said that, the comrade also understands that true 
liberation cannot be achieved through bourgeois 
elections. Nonetheless, s/he is supporting a 
candidate for circuit attorney in order to combat 
police brutality.

The A-APRP member agreed with the goal of self-
determination and national liberation from white 
supremacy. But, s/he pointed out, the electoral 
tactic of working with the Democratic or Republican 
parties stifles the development of consciousness. 
It confuses the people, sending the message that 
the person in office is the problem, rather than 
the capitalist structure itself. The vanguard must 
change the message to people's principle's, and the 
electoral system obscures this message. This is 
crucial because the masses must take up the banner 
of revolution; for only the masses can take action 
and bring about change. 

A MORAIL comrade observed that while Blacks have 
increased their positions in elected offices in 
Amerika to 10,000, the attack on the internal 
colonies in Amerika has increased at the same time. 
RAIL maintains that elections are not an effective 
avenue for struggle at this time, under these 
conditions.

A Green Party representative spoke of the poisonous 
environmental damage that imperialism perpetrates, 
and advocated ballot initiatives as a tactic to 
combat it. RAIL sees advancing the struggles of 
oppressed nations as the best way to save the 
environment. And in the course of discussion, we 
learned that this Green Party comrade has supported 
oppressed nation struggles many times. 	We all 
agreed on the importance of building independent 
media of and for the oppressed, and that in order 
to win people's democracy, not phony bourgeois 
democracy, the imperialist white supremacist system 
must be smashed. Everyone used this opportunity to 
speak out. And RAIL will continue to provide forums 
for debate and discussion on issues vital to the 
oppressed, building public opinion in favor of the 
oppressed.

MIM adds: It is important to also talk about the 
correct political line behind the correct strategy. 
The A-APRP does not support Marxism-Leninism-Maoism 
as the most advanced revolutionary line. Instead 
they uphold a pseudo-socialist ideology they call 
Pan-Africanist Nkrumahism-Tureism which includes 
support for many revisionist and non-revolutionary 
regimes. While we agree with the A-APRP on the 
question of elections as a strategy for 
overthrowing imperialism, we do not agree on what 
is the most effective strategy for overthrowing 
imperialism or on what is genuine socialism.


CORRECTIONS:

In MIM Notes 116, (June 15, 1996) we referred to 
the Communist Party of Peru (PCP) as the Peruvian 
Communist Party. This was an error, as the
"Peruvian Communist Party" is the English 
translation of different party
with Soviet revisionist politics.


* * *


MOVE WINS TRIAL AGAINST AMERIKA

On June 24th a federal jury ordered the city of 
Philadelphia to pay $1.5 million to Ramona Africa, 
only adult survivor of the 1985 police bombing of 
the MOVE organization, and others, relatives of two 
dead MOVE members. Police bombing of the house of 
the radical political MOVE organization killed 11 
people and destroyed 61 homes in the neighborhood. 
This court case provides small reparations for the 
death and destruction caused by the city of 
Philadelphia.

As MIM Notes has reported in the past, the 
motivations for this bombing were clearly 
political. MOVE has consistently organized on the 
side of the oppressed, fighting police brutality, 
prison repression and other imperialist repression. 
Members were unarmed during the entire conflict 
with the police and when some tried to leave the 
house and surrender prior to the bombing they were 
shot at by police. Ramona Africa was the sole adult 
survivor of the bombing, and was subsequently tried 
and jailed for terrorism and conspiracy--the very 
crimes of the police.

In addition to the money awarded for pain and 
suffering to Ramona Africa and the surviving 
relatives of some of those who were killed in the 
bombing, the jury also ordered former Fire 
Commissioner William Richmond and former Police 
Commissioner Gregore Sambor to pay Ramona Africa 
token damages of $1 a week for 11 years.

There is no way to put a price on the lives of the 
MOVE members murdered by the pigs in the bombing in 
1985. But court victories like this one are an 
important step in exposing the brutality and 
injustice of Amerikan imperialism, and the few that 
are won can provide important financial resources 
to revolutionaries. MIM hopes that Ramona Africa 
will continue to put her time and money into causes 
of the oppressed. 

The lives of so many in the oppressed nations in 
this country and around the world have also been 
lost to less spectacular police brutality, 
imperialist imprisonment, and other imperialist 
violence. These injustices will never be paid for 
in court. Reparations for all of this injustice can 
only began to be won once imperialism has been 
overthrown and replaced by socialism. Work with, 
fund, and join MIM to fight against the daily 
murders by the imperialists.


* * *


THE PEOPLE FIGHT STATE-SANCTIONED EXECUTIONS IN 
MISSOURI 

by a RAIL comrade

June 14-16: A group of activists made a 50-mile 
walk for justice from St. Louis to the Potosi 
Correctional Center in Mineral Point, MO, where 
Missouri death row inmates are imprisoned, to 
protest and stop the execution of Thomas Battle. 
Battle is scheduled for execution on August 7. 
Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon ordered five 
executions last year, a record for the state of 
Missouri. Groups such as the New Life Evangelistic 
Center and the Missouri Coalition Against the Death 
Penalty have become more active to end the death 
penalty as a result of this state-sanctioned 
slaughter.

Jefferson County police harassed the walkers along 
the way, arresting one on bogus charges of missing 
a 1994 court date for a traffic violation. For 
this, the pigs handcuffed her and took her to jail. 
The arresting officer put on a bullet-proof vest 
while holding her in custody, and said "When you 
see a Black man and a white man walking down the 
road, you know they're up to no good."
Battle was convicted of the rape, robbery, and 
murder of an 30 year-old woman. On September 18, 
1981, Thomas Battle was sentenced to death by legal 
injection. Evidence proving Battle's innocence was 
suppressed or disallowed in the trial and appellate 
courts.

Battle's illegally obtained videotaped confession 
was allowed as evidence during the trial. Battle's 
original state-appointed lawyer was incompetent and 
did not pursue leads that could prove his 
innocence. The state of Missouri refused to allow 
jurors who opposed the death penalty, contrary to a 
US Supreme Court case, Wainwright vs. Witt, that 
says that the state cannot do that. Of course, 
jurors are routinely kept off of juries by 
prosecutors because of their political views about 
the death penalty.

Battle's case is typical in a number of ways. Being 
Black and lacking money for a competent lawyer, he 
wound up on a death row. While 12% of Amerika's 
population is Black, over half of Amerika's prison 
population is Black, almost half of Amerika's 
prisoners on death row are Black, and almost half 
of those executed since 1976 have been Black.

RAIL agrees with the broad range of activists that 
the death penalty should be abolished. But in 
addition, we say that the u.s. injustice system, 
prison system and police are imperialist terrorists 
and have no right and no moral authority to arrest, 
prosecute or imprison people. Their purpose is 
oppression, and they do nothing to deal with 
problems of drugs and violence in Black communities 
and poor communities. One woman with whom a RAIL 
comrade spoke recently correctly said that the 
police are really kidnapping Black youth. RAIL says 
that the only real solution for the Black nation 
and other oppressed nations is self-determination.

MIM adds to this that we are against the racist 
U.S. death penalty and we are also communists who 
want a world with no death penalty. But revolution 
and socialism will include executions and we don't 
agree with the pacifist anti-death penalty 
activists who oppose the death penalty for all time 
under all circumstances. The process of getting to 
communism requires violence under socialism and 
that is why we are honest in calling it a 
dictatorship of the proletariat. 

This protest walk and accompanying press coverage 
has proven effective already. After four months of 
repeated requests from Battle's lawyer, sister, and 
supporters, Circuit Attorney Dee Joyce Hayes has 
released evidence that, through DNA testing, could 
prove Battle's innocence. Battle's case and others 
like it are of the highest urgency. Readers are 
urged to write the following addresses to demand 
that the DNA testing be done with the utmost 
expediency and Battle's court case be re-opened, 
that Battle not be executed, and that the state-
sanctioned execution of Missouri prisoners be 
stopped altogether.


PLEASE WRITE:
Jeremia W. Nixon Office of Attorney General Supreme 
Court Building P.O. Box 899 Jefferson City MO 65102

Governor Mel Carnahan State Capitol Jefferson City 
MO 65102
Dee Joyce Hayes Circuit Attorney Municipal Courts 
Building 1320 Market St. Room 33 St. Louis MO 63103

Sources: Cry Justice Journal, Volumes 2 and 3 
Statistical Abstract of the United States 1995, 
pp.291,220. MIM's Amerikkan Lockdown Index 
Statistics were compiled from The Real War on 
Crime, by Steven R. Donziger: "The Appeal of CP-
13".


* * *


INDIGENOUS HAWAIIANS PROTEST PHONY REPARATIONS

For the indigenous people of Hawaii, like many 
other indigenous peoples, the United Church of 
Christ is the "United Church of Colonialism." 
Demonstrators denounced it as such in a protest on 
June 13. The demonstration was a response to a plan 
to "compensate" Hawaiians for injustices suffered 
under imperialist rule, injustices which were aided 
and abetted by the church. The church's plan was 
for the money to never really change hands. This 
demonstration was part of an important summer of 
Hawaiian activism against illusory plans for 
sovereignty sponsored by the state.

The United Church of Christ acknowledged its role 
in the overthrow of the Hawaiian government and 
apologized a hundred years after the fact, in 1993. 
Now the church is pretending to "redress" some of 
that harm by passing money from one hand of the 
church to the other. Rather than paying reparations 
to the Hawaiian people as a whole or to any 
organization, the church is giving money and land 
to Hawaiians in the church, who constitute only 
1.5% of the membership of the church.

Hawaiians are protesting the proposal and 
struggling to define the terms of their own 
deserved reparations and sovereignty. Crucially, 
they are protesting the phony "Native Hawaiian 
Vote" scheduled for August. Like the recent 
plebiscite in Puerto Rico, the Hawaiian plebiscite 
asks Hawaiians to validate their colonial status 
with a vote. Activists have already succeeded in 
winning a delay of the vote. They are trying to 
cancel the vote altogether.

MIM says that the question is how best to get to 
the point where oppressed peoples can really have 
the choice of living in their own liberated 
territories. If the revolutionary forces accumulate 
the power to make that a real possibility, then it 
is appropriate to ask the question, "integration or 
liberation?" Then there should be a plebiscite or 
series of plebiscites to decide the question. 
Asking the question before the oppressed 
nationalities have the power to control territory 
only proves what the peoples will say when the 
imperialists are twisting their arms behind their 
backs. The people must have a genuine choice, not a 
choice dictated by the imperialists. Then we can 
trust an oppressed nation plebiscite--the outcome 
of the ballot box among the people. Under New 
Democracy, the oppressed peoples will learn what it 
means to live without imperialist police terror and 
they will learn to speak their mind without fear of 
the consequences from the oppressor.

NOTES: The Honolulu Advertiser, June 14, 1996, p. 
A3


* * *


CULTURE PAGE

OBITUARY: TIMOTHY LEARY'S FINAL TRIP
1921-1996

On May 31, Timothy Leary, proponent of psychedelic 
drug experiences and "free your mind" type 
approaches to opposing the power structure, died at 
the age of 75. Leary coined the phrase "tune on, 
tune in, drop out" in the 1960s as a marketing 
jingle for LSD.

Leary was, and his legacy continues to be, 
objectively, an aid to the status quo. His research 
on psychedelic drugs in the 1960s was, if not 
directly funded by the CIA, at least aided the CIA 
in developing drugs it wanted for use in 
controlling the minds of its opponents. The CIA was 
largely responsible for funding drug experiments 
throughout the 1960s and tested some of its 
products on oppressed nation prisoners.(1)

The CIA may or may not have wanted these drugs to 
reach the masses of white-nation youth. But 
eventually the drugs became easily available on the 
black market. If one interprets the drug 
availability as getting "out of control" as far as 
the CIA was concerned, this phenomenon was allowed 
to continue and was a perfect sedative for real 
political activism during a period of political 
turmoil. One would have a hard time keeping 
"politics in command" and making any kind of 
serious analysis when influenced by LSD, mushrooms 
or psilocybin. If the CIA failed in developing mind 
controlling drugs, they succeeded in encouraging 
the escapism of a generation of youth.

Leary was once a fugitive from "justice", escaping 
from a California prison in the early 1970s after 
being convicted on drug charges.

At the height of political activism in the late 
1960s, Leary disavowed politics, ignoring the 
slaughter of the Vietnamese and the struggle of 
Blacks for national liberation, in favor of 
preaching escapism and typical oppressor nation 
individual approaches to "liberation." "Free your 
mind" was Leary's approach to a better world, 
despite the fact that his freedom to research and 
experiment with psychedelic drugs came at the 
expense of the Vietnamese and all other oppressed 
nation people who support the decadent life of 
Amerikan intellectuals.

MIM can give Leary credit for denouncing 
psychotherapy as useless, after his received his 
PhD in psychology from the University of 
California, Berkeley.(2) But he did not go so far 
as to denounce psychology altogether, as MIM would. 
Furthermore, he moved on to equally reactionary 
approaches to peoples "minds" or problems by 
advocating escapism and mysticism of the Eastern 
religion variety. This may work to make some 
privileged people in the imperialist countries less 
bored, but it leaves the most violent and 
destructive economic and political institutions 
intact.

Leary's politics are typical of parasites and 
popular among white- nation youth. It's the same 
old individualism, different package.

* *

I SHOT ANDY WARHOL PORTRAYS RIGHTEOUS BUT MISGUIDED 
ANGER

*I Shot Andy Warhol* tells the story of the would-
be radical feminist who founded (and was the sole 
member of) the Society for Cutting Up Men (SCUM), 
and so you know going into the flick that the 
heroine is going to be more interesting than your 
average Hollywood female. Lili Taylor, in her role 
a Valerie Solanas, does not disappoint. Her 
politics are presented without much judgment from 
the director, so they get you thinking. She is 
essentialist and thinks that men are biologically 
inferior, which is incorrect, but her anger is 
righteous and her advocacy of asexuality and 
destruction of Amerika are right on.

The basic plot is that Solanas was a troubled youth 
who after collage took to prostitution and 
panhandling in Union Square, New York City. She was 
a gifted writer and her favorite topic was the 
oppression of women. She wrote a man-hating play 
and thought that Andy Warhol was her best chance of 
having it produced. Of course, he was awfully busy 
navel-gazing and his clique at "the Factory," a 
hangout where nothing is produced, is too cool for 
Solanas' dirty words. Eventually, Solanas comes to 
the conclusion that Warhol and her publisher are 
conspiring to steal the SCUM manifesto. She shoots 
and wounds Andy Warhol pretty seriously not because 
he is a man, but because she thinks he is cashing 
in on her work.

Valerie Solanas knows about sexual oppression first 
hand--as just about all women do. The audience 
discovers her sexual history from a very clinical 
monologue by some sort of shrink. The shrink seems 
to think that she became a prostitute, a lesbian, 
wrote radical writings, and eventually lost touch 
with reality because she was molested by her father 
as a child. Maoists know that this if p then q is 
bogus, and the movie correctly portrays things as 
much more complex.

Still, her experiences of sexual oppression and 
sexual exploitation are important because they are 
the fodder for the political analysis that Solanas 
developed in the mid sixties, before the Second 
Wave of feminism had captured the imaginations of 
the masses of women. Solanas is isolated and not 
part of a movement, and the film criticizes her for 
that. When Solanas sees some women from the Women's 
Liberation Movement marching in front of the Miss 
America pageant, she says to her companions in the 
desolate world of Andy Warhol "I should be there." 
And she should be. In an environment of people 
actually working for social change, rather than 
glorifying in their degeneracy without putting 
forth anything of value, perhaps she could have 
handled reality. Her death caused by homelessness 
exemplifies the lack of advances one makes in her 
type of organizing.

Though Solanas identifies as a lesbian, she 
advocates asexuality. Her contention is that sex is 
basically a waste of time for women, and their time 
and energy would be best spent elsewhere--for 
example taking over the country. MIM agrees. That 
does not mean that we mandate rooting sexuality out 
of the lives of our comrades or others, but it does 
mean that we reject the notion that women "need" 
sex for some Freudian or sociobiological reason. 

This is anther good point that Solanas brings up: 
just because men have always existed does not mean 
that they have to continue to do so. Disease has 
always existed too, and we are doing our best to 
get rid of it. She is wrong that men are 
biologically inferior, but she is right that 
biology is not social destiny.

The best thing abut the film is how disgustingly 
the alternative scene is represented. This is no 
safe haven from patriarchy, to be sure, but 
additionally it is just as decadent and meaningless 
as the mainstream. Warhol says that he started 
doing films because they were easier. He had no 
desire to create art, just money and a following. 
It is extraordinary that a women who wanted social 
change thought he could be worth anything.


CULTURE CALL!!!!

This is a call to all readers and comrades to 
submit culture copy for MIM Notes. The bourgeoisie 
uses art and literature to build public opinion for 
counter-revolution, and we must smash their scheme 
while we build up the art of the proletariat.

If you have seen, read, produced or heard anything 
revolutionary in our culture, send us in an article 
about it. We can't be everywhere and the more 
knowledge all comrades have of the "good" stuff 
going on out there, the better we can support it. 
Likewise for the not-so-revolutionary stuff. The 
wrong political lines in our culture run rampant 
and we need to have a good look at and analysis of 
all of it, so send in your criticisms too. Our 
culture is shaping us all, it is about time we 
start shaping a revolutionary culture. Send all 
original work, articles and criticisms to MIM and 
work to create a culture that is "for the people, 
and by the people."


* * *


FLORIDA ANTI-PRISONS ACTIVISTS FACE FELONY CHARGES


**In MIM Notes 110, (March 1996), we printed a 
statement from the Brew City Anti-Authoritarian 
Collective about the police round-up of Anarchist 
Black Cross (ABC) activists in Jacksonville, 
Florida. The Anarchist Black Cross supports 
political prisoners.**

Once again, the criminal state is charging 
activists who challenge its policies on crime. 
Three Jacksonville Anarchist Black Cross activists 
are being charged with "criminal mischief" a 
felony, and are being made to pay $1,850 for the 
cost of deposition. Despite having lost their jobs 
as a result of the arrests, the judge denied their 
motion to be declared indigent. Indigency would 
have forced the state to pay some of the expenses.

Outside the courtroom, one of the activists took a 
picture of the prosecutor, Eric Davis, to use in 
local literature about the trial. The prosecutor 
was enraged, and dragged them back into court to 
argue that ABC was a "violent hate group that might 
be threatening my [Davis's] life or my family." The 
judge did follow some bourgeois pretension at the 
"rights" of the activists, and ruled that there was 
no law against taking pictures of public officials.

As one activist responded to a friend: "WE are the 
ones who should be worried about lives being taken 
or homes being raided. He has no RIGHT to fear us. 
We have never caused harm to anyone. We have never 
been associated with any violence or unjust 
treatment of any individual. THEY, on the other 
hand, have. THEY are the ones who raided our home, 
took our things, put guns on US! The only weapons 
we have ever put on them was a pen...some paper 
[and]...a camera!"

NOTE: ABC Federation Update, June 1996, p. 4-5. See 
also http://www.jaxnet.com/~yamjxabc/index. html. 
For defense information, contact Jacksonville ABC-
BG 3628 Park St 20, Jacksonville FL 32205.


* * *


COPS PROTECT FASCISTS, REVISIONISTS PROTECT 
IMPERIALISM

June 23, ANN ARBOR--Hundreds of people demonstrated 
at the Ann Arbor Court House against a rally being 
held by the Ku Klux Klan today. Seventeen members 
of the KKK rallied, with state protection, on the 
roof of the Ann Arbor Court House. An eight-foot 
fence around the periphery of the property, 
constructed exclusively for the event, kept anti-
Klan demonstrators 100 feet from the building where 
the Klan gathered. Three foot by one foot purple 
signs with black lettering placed on the fence 
read, "Do not touch the fence or you will be 
maced."

On the Klan side of the fence, pigs situated every 
few feet in riot gear made sure no one got through. 
The road which runs along the front of the Court 
House was blocked off and each side was staffed by 
about fifteen pigs. The roof of the fire station 
across the street from the Court House served as a 
lookout for more pigs, one of whom wielded a video 
camera. There were 277 police officers in all, 
according to NPR (1). Despite the huge police 
presence, some activists thought it useful to 
instigate violence. This adventurism gave the 
police an excuse to mace people and to throw a 
dozen canisters of tear gas into the crowd, sending 
anti-Klan demonstrators running down the block and 
breaking up the rally. Eleven demonstrators were 
arrested. The cost of the police protection totaled 
about $50,000, $8,000 of which was for the 
fence.(2)

MIM thinks the use of violence by activists was 
incorrect in this context. There is little to be 
gained by beating someone up and getting arrested. 
Some may argue as the Weather Underground 
Organization (A.K.A. the Weathermen) once said that 
activists should try to provoke violent actions by 
the state in hopes that the state's use of violence 
will radicalize the masses. The crypto-Trotskyist 
Revolutionary Communist Party, USA apparently 
subscribes to this approach. At the least, such a 
line is prevalent in RCP,USA circles, and the 
RCP,USA itself does nothing to combat it. MIM does 
not subscribe to this approach, which we consider 
to be alien to the Maoist approach of attending to 
the well-being of the masses. Sure, pigs are pigs, 
but why antagonize them when you know you have no 
chance of winning the battle? People who really 
know what oppression by the pigs is often don't 
live to tell about it.

The organizations which led the rally were two 
separate Trotskyist-led coalitions. MIM attended 
the demonstration, talked with people there and 
distributed MIM Notes. RAIL also went and 
distributed a flyer. MIM never works with 
Trotskyists because they are revisionists and 
enemies of the people. Their tactics at this rally 
show how their incorrect line leads them to foolish 
adventurist acts. (For more on our basic 
differences with Trotskyists, see On Trotskyism, by 
Kostas Mavrakis, available from MIM).

The Klan is not the most important political 
target, though it is one which stirs a lot of 
emotion. The KKK is blatantly offensive, but it is 
incorrect to organize against the Klan without 
organizing against its social base. The Klan is 
more straightforwardly pro-oppression than other 
white nationalist organizations like the Republican 
Party, the Democratic Party, the various Trotskyist 
parties, or the RCP,USA. But all of these, despite 
their strategic and tactical differences, and 
despite the rhetoric of some to the contrary, are 
organizations which objectively uphold white and 
Amerikkkan nationalism. Unlike the KKK, the 
imperialists hold state power, and are thus the 
principal enemy of the world's oppressed majority. 
The KKK's rhetoric is more repugnant than the 
imperialists', but the imperialists in fact do more 
damage.

The social base for imperialism and for the KKK is 
one and the same: the white Amerikkkan oppressor 
nation, the heart of a settler-empire. To fight the 
Klan without fighting the oppression of the white 
nation over other nations is like plucking a weed 
without digging out its roots. The oppression of 
the white nation over the Black nation is the 
result of economic, political and military 
domination, not just people's racist ideas or 
speech. Even violent acts by the Klan, seen in this 
context, are offensive not only because of what 
they are but because they are allowed to continue. 
The state allows the Klan to operate and chooses 
not to destroy it as they did the Black Panthers in 
the 1960s.

Demonstrators engaged in two separate incidents of 
violence. The first occurred when a man with a 
confederate flag sewn on the back of his vest 
walked toward the demonstration. (The confederate 
flag was the battle flag of the pro-slavery South 
in the U.S. Civil War.) A group of people charged 
and attacked him, hitting him with sticks. A Black 
woman threw herself on top of the man to protect 
him from the masses' wrath. Minutes after the 
attack started, half a dozen pigs rushed over and 
broke it up. They took the fascist, who suffered a 
bloody nose, away in a police car.

The second violent incident occurred toward the end 
of the rally, after many people had already left. 
According to the Ann Arbor News, the National 
Women's Rights Organizing Committee (NWROC), an 
organization led by the Trotskyist Revolutionary 
Workers League (RWL), began throwing rocks at cops. 
The pigs responded quickly by putting on their gas 
masks, rushing into the crowd, macing people they 
came in contact with and tossing canisters of tear 
gas, which sent people running down the block.

The adventurist initiation of violence by the 
Trotskyists is the result of an incorrect analysis 
of the material conditions in the United Snakes. 
The Klan are only the tip of the iceberg when it 
comes to national oppression. Their words may be 
uglier than others', but they are not the principal 
enemy. In fact, objectively they are not that far 
politically from the majority of the white-working 
class that supports the continued economic and 
political domination of the Black, Latino and First 
Nations within the United Snakes. And certainly 
they are in synch with the U.S. government's 
treatment of oppressed nation people.

The Trotskyists' approach overlooks the fact that 
many people who support the U.S. government, 
Democrat or Republican, are supporting the 
oppression of Blacks. The overwhelming support from 
the white nation for things like prison expansion, 
harsher prison terms, the death penalty, despite or 
because of the fact that all of these things 
objectively and unjustly oppress the Black nation, 
shows that most whites are only for more subtle 
oppression. Furthermore, MIM would point to the 
support that the white nation gives for imperialism 
(at home and abroad) as more reason why throwing 
rocks at the Klan does nothing to solve the problem 
of national oppression.

The Klan is not the cause of national oppression, 
they are just one blatant expression of the 
reactionary nation which wants to maintain it. MIM 
is for ending all national oppression, not just 
erasing some of the more obviously offensive 
representatives of it. The pseudo-left of this and 
other imperialist countries seeks to make apologies 
for the reactionary, bribed workers of the 
oppressor nations. The pseudo-left points its 
fingers at the fascists in the hope that doing so 
will divert the masses' wrath away from the rest of 
the oppressor nation population. Thus, the pseudo-
left provides a valuable service for imperialism. 
This is why we say that the revisionists are pro-
imperialist, and in the Western context, white 
nationalist. This also explains why Lenin said that 
the struggle against imperialism was bound up with 
the struggle against revisionism and opportunism.

When pressed on Trotskyism's failure to seize state 
power anywhere since its 1924 split from the 
International Communist Movement, many Trotskyists 
will avoid the question by pointing to successful 
street actions against the Klan and other fascist 
scum. What they don't mention is that these 
actions, good though they are, are nothing compared 
to the most successful anti-fascist action in 
history--the defeat of the Nazis by the Red Army 
under the leadership of Comrade J.V. Stalin.

What MIM proposes to accomplish the end of all 
national oppression is building vanguard parties to 
seize state power and building independent 
institutions of the oppressed. We support national 
liberation for the oppressed nations inside and 
outside U.S. borders and organize to end the system 
of national oppression which allows the Klan to 
continue with their fascist propaganda and 
organizing.


NOTES: 
1. National Public Radio, June 26, 1996. 
2. Ann Arbor News 6/23/96, p. A9.


* * *


UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS

CALIFORNIA PRISON CENSORS MIM NOTES AND OTHER 
NEWSPAPERS


To whom it may concern,

My father, X, recently sent my name and address to 
you so that I could be put on your mailing list for 
your newspaper. Since then, you've mailed me the 
paper, but the mailroom censor determined that 
material in your paper was considered to be 
"forceful, violent and threatening." I was told 
that such material would not be allowed. Your paper 
is not the only one that I subscribe to that is not 
allowed and steps are being taken to correct this 
problem.

This is a new prison and the rules and regulations 
are still changing....[Please write] letters of 
concern to our warden Gail Lewis. Ask for the exact 
reasons why this prison is so different from the 
other 33 California prisons, that inmates should 
not be allowed to read news articles similar to 
those in the Los Angeles Times and the San 
Francisco Chronicle. Being an "alternative" paper, 
such as MIM Notes, it seems to me that Pleasant 
Valley State Prison is being discriminatory to 
disapprove your paper!

Thank you for your time in this matter. I felt you 
should know that for some strange reason your paper 
is not allowed in this prison, yet. I wish to 
remain on your mailing list and I anxiously await a 
response from you. Have a great day and please 
continue the good work!
Respectfully yours,

--a California prisoner, April 15, 1996

Letters of protest can be sent to: 
Warden Gail Lewis, Pleasant Valley State Prison, PO 
Box 8503, Coalinga, CA 93210.


KENTUCKY PRISON CENSORS MIM NOTES AND MAOIST 
SOJOURNER

The item establishes probable cause to believe that 
information contained within constitutes a threat 
to institutional discipline or security (i.e. 
contains racist or gangster material).


--Frances Cooter, Mailroom Staff, May 2, 1996.


Letters of protest can be sent to:

Luther Luckett Correctional Complex, PO Box 6, 
LaGrange, KY 40031.


ARIZONA SENDS BACK CENSORED MIM NOTES AFTER ONE 
YEAR

On June 6, 1995 the following [MIM Notes No. 100, 
May 1995] was received in the mail at the Arizona 
State Prison and is considered to be contraband.

Mail/Publication contains material which, in the 
Warden's opinion, pose[s] a threat to the safe, 
secure and orderly operation of the prison. Inmate 
has the right to seek review of the decision to 
restrict his mail by contacting his unit's 
grievance coordinator.


-- Duran 694, Mailroom Officer, [postmarked May 19, 
1996! --MIM]


Letters of protest can be sent to: D.W. Bourgeous, 
Deputy Warden, Arizona State Prison Complex, PO Box 
4000, Florence, AZ 85232.


WOMEN PRISONERS ARE DYING AT CHOWCHILLA SUPPORT THE 
CAMPAIGN FOR COMPASSIONATE RELEASE!

Four women prisoners with full-blown AIDS are dying 
of AIDS-related complications in the infirmary at 
the Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) 
(across the street from Valley State Prison For 
Women.) These women should be granted compassionate 
release. Yet, in each case, either the prison 
doctors, the Department of Corrections or the Board 
of Prison Terms are holding up the process. CCWF 
does not have an infectious disease specialist on 
staff or any support services for women locked away 
in the infirmary.


WHO ARE THESE WOMEN?

+ Patty Contreras, W26443, has no CD4 cells, 
suffers severe weight loss, has a hard time walking 
and can't keep food down. The medical staff will 
not put her on a special diet.

+ Linda Cortez, W40993, has a low CD4 count, night 
fevers, sores all over her body and can't walk.

+ Miriam Jones, W54091, has a low CD4 count, 
recurring pneumonia and pneumocystis carinii. She 
has suffered weight loss and weakness.

+ Raven Laroux, W60387, also has a low CD4 count 
and has suffered severe weight loss.

All of these women have families anxious to take 
care of them or hospices willing to house them in 
the community.


WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Write, call or fax Dr. Gwendolyn Dennard, Chief 
Medical Officer, CCWF, P.O. Box 1501, Chowchilla, 
CA 93610-1501; phone (209) 665-5531; fax (209) 665-
7158. Demand that Raven Laroux and Linda Cortez be 
immediately medically evaluated for compassionate 
release. Send copies to Warden Teena Farmon (at the 
same address).

Write, call or fax Director James Gomez, California 
Department of Corrections, P.O. Box 942883, 
Sacramento, CA 94283-0001; phone (916) 445-7688; 
fax (916) 327-1988. Demand that Miriam Jones be 
approved for compassionate release immediately. 
Director Gomez recently refused her compassionate 
release request.

Write, call or fax Executive Officer Ted Rich, 
Board of Prison Terms, 428 J Street, 6th Floor, 
Sacramento, CA 95814; phone (916) 445-1539; fax 
(916) 445-5242. Demand that Patty Contreras be 
approved by the parole board for compassionate 
release. The Board has turned her down three times!
Send copies of your letters to the HIV/AIDS in 
Prison Project of Catholic Charities, 433 Jefferson 
Street, Oakland, CA 94607 and they will be 
forwarded to the women prisoners. Also send copies 
to any state legislators or media that may be 
helpful.

SUPPORT ASSEMBLY BILL 3093--THE COMPASSIONATE 
RELEASE BILL
For more information, contact Catholic Charities' 
HIV/AIDS in Prison Project at (510) 834-5656, ext. 
3150.


--Catholic Charities' HIV/AIDS in Prison Project, 
June 10, 1996


SOUTH CAROLINA PRISONER SUPPORTS WOMEN PRISONERS' 
STRUGGLE

This letter is to inform MIM that I am continuously 
receiving MIM Notes uninterrupted, so please 
continue to send it to me. I am writing this in 
response to the letter written in the 111 issue of 
MIM Notes. This letter in the 111 issue, ["Silent 
Deaths, Beatings and Rapes at Dwight..."] was 
submitted by a woman in an Illinois prison and 
dated December 25, 1995. This woman really got to 
me because of the way she explained the death and 
mistreatment of the women in that prison. I never 
really thought of the treatment of women in prison 
to be anything like what was stipulated by this 
woman.

I ask myself how can this treatment go on without 
anyone aiding in keeping up with the women's 
medical rights, health and training. I am really 
angry because this Beautiful Woman took her time 
out to explain in informative details the 
atrocities that go on in her present, and the 
strength it took to write.

We are caring human beings who should not allow 
this treatment to continue . We must constantly let 
these savage pigs know that when you deliberately 
mistreat a woman, and it doesn't matter what she 
has done, when she is punished by the law then you 
do not have the right to continually punish them.

You who subject women to cruel inhuman treatment 
have lost all link with reality. Hell, you probably 
think you are performing some royal duties, with 
your insignificant lives. The type that do these 
sort of things to get recognition from your 
weaselly peers, you are nothingness and a 
misrepresentation of a man.

I wish that there was something I could do to make 
a difference, "Illinois Prisoner." However, stay 
strong. You will make it out of there. Stay strong 
for as long as you fight, you can count on another 
alongside you!!!

--A South Carolina prisoner, May 9, 1996


THE WELL DESERVED DEATH OF VITAPRO

The following article is reprinted from Prison News 
Service 54, Spring 1996.

James A. "Andy" Collins was the executive director 
of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), 
which is the largest prison system in the world. 
According to his peers he was the most respected 
figure in national "corrections". He was power 
personified, and to more than 40,000 employees in 
over a hundred prisons he was god. He had been with 
the TDCJ for nearly 24 years and his $120,000 a 
year salary plus benefits seemed to be enough to 
get him by, but it is said in toilets all over 
Texas, wherever prisoncrats meet, that ol' Andy was 
one never to let an easy buck escape his greedy 
grasp.

VitaPro was one of those little bird nests on the 
ground that Andy was so good at pouncing upon. The 
contract he made for VitaPro was one of those no-
bid, under-the-table, let's-make-some-money deals 
that Andy loved, and if it hadn't been for a 
Collins henchman by the name of Patrick H. Graham, 
who got busted with both hands stuck in the cookie 
jar, Texas prisoners would still be eating the 
garbage.

But first, let me tell you non-Texas prisoners 
about VitaPro. It all started one day in November 
'94 when I went into the chow hall hungry as hell. 
I had been working since 6 a.m. and it was now 12 
noon. As I entered the dining room there was an 
evil smell not unlike about 5,000 dirty socks, each 
with its own personal stench. I thought how I 
wished I had eaten breakfast, but breakfast for 
Texas prisoners takes place at 3 am and I don't do 
nothin' at 3 a.m. but sleep. The closer I got to 
the serving line the more I realized it wasn't 
dirty socks at all, but a new, so-called "food" 
Andy Collins had wanted us to eat, called VitaPro. 
Manufactured in Canada from a soy base, it was 
nasty, it stunk and it was inedible. Many of us 
wouldn't eat it at all, but for over a year you 
either ate VitaPro or tried to exist on spoonfuls 
of beans, carrots and greens. When we wouldn't eat 
it, they gradually cut down all food, trying to 
starve us into eating it.

They have a chain gang without chains in Texas and 
they call it the line. Guys working the line are 
picking cotton or hoeing the hard ground in the 
blistering Texas sun all day, and in order to 
survive they had to eat VitaPro. Many of the ones 
who were eating it began to sicken. They were 
stricken with rashes, boils, diarrhea and chronic 
fatigue when, lo and behold, on January 4, 1996 a 
good ol' boy in the Texas prison business (who was 
Andy Collins' business associate) got busted in the 
parking lot of an On The Border restaurant in 
Houston, just as he was stuffing 15 bundles of cash 
- each bundle containing 10 thousand dollar bills - 
into his hungry briefcase. The money was to be a 
down payment on the half million dollars Mr. 
Collins' road-dog wanted to engineer the escape of 
a former millionaire, still a rat, wife-murderer 
doing 75 years in a Texas prison.

Patrick H. Graham, the man who was selling escapes 
on the installment plan, was a builder of prisons 
with a shaky past. He told the wife-murderer's 
girlfriend he was a top prison official named 
Harold Robert, and demonstrated on several 
occasions that he had inside connections with Andy 
Collins. The plan called for her boyfriend to be 
transferred to a hospital, and then be re-
classified for minimum security so he could work as 
a trusty on an outside detail. Graham would pick 
him up in a car, whisk him to the airport, and fly 
him to Costa Rica in his private plane. But the 
part that delivered us from VitaPro was the fact 
that Graham had a business card on him saying that 
he was a representative of VitaPro. hee hee hee.

Because Graham and Collins were associates, and 
because the escape plot wouldn't have worked 
without Collins making the re-classification and 
transfer, and due to the fact that Graham and 
Collins had appeared together inside a prison to 
visit one of the players in the escape plot, 
questions were flying in the media and 
investigations were being launched and the links 
between Graham, Collins and VitaPro were exposed to 
the light of day. Even Governor George Bush, Jr. 
expressed his shock and outrage that one of the 
members of his gang would make 6 million crooked 
VitaPro dollars without him being in on it.

The initial VitaPro contract was for $6.7 million 
which would buy 17 metric tons of beef and chicken-
flavored VitaPro each month for five years. No 
competitive bidding. It got so good for them that 
they later jacked it up to $33.7 million. The plot 
was for Texas Corrections Industries (TCI) to 
become exclusive distributors in North America 
excepting Georgia, Louisiana and 7 federal prisons 
that were already using VitaPro. Texas would be 
paid 15% commission on any sales made. 
Mathematicians among us will note that the first 
contract made someone just over $1 million, and the 
larger one made those same someones more than $5 
million. There were, however, several slight 
problems: (1) Us convicts wouldn't eat it. (Just 
say no! to VitaPro! was the watchword of the day.) 
(2) They couldn't sell it (at a product 
demonstration in California, the VitaPro meal came 
out so pasty it stuck to the spoon. And when 
Missouri officials opened a bag shipped to them for 
a test meal, they spotted a dead mouse inside). And 
then (3) the great escape plot got busted, causing 
investigations into just about everything, 
especially VitaPro. And somewhere in a rusty cage 
an old deer could be heard chortling far into the 
night.

The VitaPro deal was brought to Collins by Charles 
Terrell, a Dallas insurance executive who went into 
the private prison business after he stepped down 
as Chairman of the Board of Corrections in 1990.

In February '94, Collins called all his top aides 
to a meeting where VitaPro was pitched by Terrell 
and Azie Morton, a former U.S. Treasury Secretary 
who was peddling VitaPro. They stressed that it was 
cheaper than meat, it required no refrigeration so 
it was cheaper to store and ship, and it is fat-
free so as to give the prisoners a healthier diet 
(they're worried sick about our health, that's the 
reason they took our cigarettes), and all you have 
to do is add water and cook and it is tender, 
succulent and delicious. Yummy!

So the executive director leaned favorably in 
VitaPro's direction and, of course, all his 
underlings leaned with him. Within weeks, the 
prison system opened competitive bidding for a 
test. Two companies made bids:

VitaPro at $62,000, and an Indiana company whose 
price was roughly a fifth of that amount. They 
rejected the low bid because it did not meet their 
specifications(?!). In a memo that surfaced they 
also acknowledged that VitaPro's bid did not offer 
a cost saving when compared to real meat and 
chicken.

Instead of a second round of bidding they awarded 
the contract to VitaPro, invoking a little-known 
provision in state law that allows Texas prisons to 
buy materials without competitive bids for the 
Prison Industries program. In order to get this 
together, Collins had to cut the head of Texas 
Corrections Industries, Larry Kyle, in on the deal 
by giving him a $13,200 annual pay raise and 
promoting him to deputy director, bringing his pay 
up to $75,744. (Kyle has since been suspended 
pending the outcome of the investigations.)

They planned to resell it to their own food 
services departments plus other prison systems. 
This repackaging business caused the prison 
grapevine to go wild with rumors that VitaPro was 
animal food from Canada, and that it was being 
repackaged because the original packages said "Not 
for Human Consumption". These were great rumors and 
I loved them, but unfortunately they are quite 
untrue. But that they were, we could all be rich by 
suing for damages caused by that armadillo food.

Yank Barry, the CEO of VitaPro, has complained that 
the prisons fed it once a day instead of three 
times a week. He also said that the water to mash 
ratio was too high. Janie Thomas, assistant 
director of food services for TDCJ said that Andy 
Collins ordered her to "rewrite" the menus to place 
VitaPro on every prisoner's plate once a day. So 
Yank is right about that. But on the ratio 
complaint , Ms. Thomas said she developed a chart 
showing how much water should be mixed with VitaPro 
and sent it to Yank Barry for approval before she 
sent it to prison cooks. She said Barry approved 
the water to mash formula. So go figure.

To settle the taste-test business I must refer you 
to John Kelso who writes for the Austin American-
Statesman. What he did was take a mess of VitaPro 
to three great eateries in Austin. He said in part:
"I've decided not to rob any banks in Texas because 
if I ever eat VitaPro again it will be too darn 
soon. I took some of the soy-based meat substitute 
to some Austin restaurants and asked some cooks to 
prepare it--P.U. But don't blame the cooks. This 
would be like asking someone to knit a nice sweater 
out of navel lint."

The first VitaPro test was at the swank Shoreline 
Grill where executive chef Dan Haverty whipped up a 
fancy dish he called "Huntsville Chicken". Using 
the tricks of the master chef, he tossed in dried 
habanero pepper and guajillo powder. Forming 
VitaPro into a cutlet, rolling it in bread crumbs 
and deep-frying it, he laid it on top of a bed of 
ancho sweet potatoes. He decorated the plate with 
yellow tomato basil sauce and other colorful items, 
and set a high dollar bottle of La Grande Dame 
champagne on the table with it. Kelso says, "He 
should have sucked down the booze and tossed the 
VitaPro cutlet in the lake." He said the aftertaste 
was sidling up on raunchy. Chef Haverty said it was 
due to all those nine-syllable ingredients 
mentioned on the bag.

Then he went down to Dirty's hamburger joint just 
north of the drag, where owner Mark Nemir made 
burgers out of the beef-flavored burger mix. It 
wasn't pretty. "It reminds me of a mash my dad used 
to feed the chickens."

Kelso went on to the Texas Chili Parlor where John 
Cook prepared beef-flavored VitaPro for tacos. The 
fake beef while simmering had an odor Cook referred 
to as "roadkill helper". I still maintain it smells 
like dirty socks. But the experts generally agreed 
that VitaPro is best used as a crime prevention 
tool.

The only good thing about VitaPro is that Yank 
Barry is one of our own: an ex-convict...ta da! 
Yank did his time in Canada under his real name, 
Gerald Falovitch. I, of course, support ex-cons, 
but in Yank's case I think the support would be 
one-sided. So I'll just have to go along with my 
stomach and say, Yank, old bean, you've sure got a 
shitty product, and I hope you made Andy eat some 
of it with a straight face when he was trying to 
peddle it.

Yank runs in some high-powered company these days. 
Would you believe his pal Andy even ordered him an 
identification badge that claims Yank is an 
Official? The most Yank would be entitled to 
without an ex-con background would be a vendor i.d. 
badge, which is very limited. With the ex-con thing 
he wouldn't be able to get any i.d. at all unless 
it was the kind I wear. Mr. Falovitch says that 
Collins and Corrections Board Chairman Allan 
Polunsky both knew he had been in prison. Polunsky, 
however, hotly denied he knew. Now there is an 
investigation into badges and who got how many of 
what kind. Andy offered his resignation in 
September '95. It became effective January 1, '96 
and no sooner did he hit the ground than he had a 
one-thousand-dollar-a-day consultant job with guess 
who??? VitaPro. When that hit the papers he quit 
that job. Now there's a bunch of stuff about no-bid 
fence contracts, and lying under oath to a senate 
committee which should keep the man who would be 
king of VitaPro busy in his retirement years. But 
the investigation has been taken out of the hands 
of Andy's prison gang at Internal Affairs of the 
TDCJ and placed into the capable hands of the 
dreaded Texas Rangers.

It is ironic that VitaPro came to an end in Texas 
prisons not because it is garbage not fit to eat, 
but rather because the keepers of the kept have 
once again proved to be bigger crooks than the 
little crooks they keep.

In the Spirit of Crazy Horse,

--a Texas Prisoner, Jun. 10, 1996


U.S. RIGHT TO LIFE VIOLATIONS

Following are some findings by U.N. Human rights 
investigator Bacre Waly Ndiaye on American death 
row cases. The report did not provide information 
on where these cases took place or include 
hometowns for the people listed.

 People allegedly sentenced to death despite their 
serious mental retardation: Mario Marquez, 
Roosevelt Pollard, Maurice Andrews, Willie Clisby, 
Varnall Weeks, Girview Davis, Larry Lonchar, Luis 
Mata, Robert Brecheen, Barry Fairchild, Frederic 
Jermyn and Anthony Joe Larette
Those said to have been sentenced to death after 
trial in which their full rights to adequate 
defense had not been ensured: Alan Jeffery 
Bannister, Kermit Smith, Calvin Burdine and Robert 
T. Sidebottom

Those allegedly sentenced to death despite strong 
indications casting doubts about their guilt: 
Gregory Resnover, Jesse Jacobs, Nicholas Ingram, 
Larry Griffin, Joseph Spaziano and Dennis Waldon 
Stockton.

Those sentenced to death after a trial allegedly 
marked by racial bias: Hernando Williams, Mumia 
Abu-Jamal and Thomas Joe Miller-El.

Sentenced to death without any resort to any 
appeals: Thomas Grasso.

Sentenced to death by a judge overruling a 
unanimous jury recommendation of life imprisonment: 
Raleigh Porter.

--an Indiana prisoner, June 1996


***WHAT NON-PRISONERS CAN DO TO SUPPORT 
PRISONERS***

*1. Struggle with, work with, finance and join MIM. 
The best way to support prisoners is to overthrow 
the system under which capitalists profit from the 
exploitation of prisoners. History shows that the 
best way to do this is to build a Marxist-Leninist-
Maoist party. The oppressors will not give up their 
power without a fight.
*2. Finance MIM's prison work. Our biggest bill 
each month is postage. Most of the prison comrades 
who read MIM Notes have no way of paying for it. So 
if you have money, send what you can afford. Every 
cent helps, and stamps are as good as cash to us.
*3. Distribute MIM Notes and Notas Rojas. Bring the 
voices of prisoners and their supporters to as 
large and wide an audience of people as possible. 
Contact MIM for bulk rates and distribution tips.
*4. Start or join a prison support group. MIM can 
provide advice and resources to help you build 
public opinion for prisoners and their struggles.
*5. Fight censorship, beatings, torture and other 
fascist outrages. Under Lock and Key often features 
the addresses of prisoners' friends and enemies. 
Work with the friends and let the enemies know 
you're watching. (Don't expect to win the fascists 
to the side of humanity, however. See #1 in this 
list).
*6. Stay in touch. Keep us informed of pro-prisoner 
work you do. Our readers might find it educational 
or inspirational.


***WHAT PRISONERS CAN DO TO BUILD MIM***
*1. Start a study group. This is the best way to 
share materials and ideas. In groups, prisoners can 
better benefit from the limited resources MIM has.
*2. Get MIM Notes and MIM Theory into your library. 
This allows one copy of the paper to be seen by 
many comrades.
*3. Contact people on the outside. MIM needs 
comrades and allies everywhere. Maybe you know 
people on the outside who want to subscribe to MIM 
Notes or distribute it.
*4. Share materials. If MIM sends books or 
periodicals, please make sure that as many people 
as possible get a chance to read them.
*5. Write MIM at least every three months. 
Otherwise, you will be dropped from our mailing 
list. There are many cases where your keepers throw 
out MIM Notes, so we need to know that you actually 
get it.  Also, comrades are moved around a lot, 
especially those who are known to be political. 
Please let us know of any address changes as soon 
as you know them.
*6. Make MIM Distributors an official distributor. 
Many prisons require registration before MIM can 
send books or other materials. Usually we can 
comply with these bogus rules. It helps immensely 
to have someone there do the reasearch and send us 
the proper forms.
*7. Send money or stamps. Our biggest bill each 
month is postage. Most of the prison comrades who 
read MIM Notes have no way of paying for it. So if 
you have money, send what you can afford. Every 
cent helps, and stamps are as good as cash to us. 
Please make all checks payable to "MIM 
Distributors."
*8. Write for MIM Notes or Notas Rojas. Prisoners 
write almost all of Under Lock & Key.  We don't 
care if you know how to spell or write good English 
or Spanish. Write on any topic you like, it does 
not have to be a prison story.
*9. Translate. If you can read and write English 
and another language fluently, let us know.  Any 
translation work you do will help us make Maoist 
ideas accessible to more people.
*10. Fight censorship. When you know of censorship 
of books or newspapers, investigate.  Write to MIM 
to confirm what has happened, then see what you can 
do about it.
*11. Keep in touch after your release. Many 
comrades stop doing political work after their 
release.  Write to MIM as soon as you know where 
you'll be so we can hook you up with comrades on 
the outside.


* * *


FBI STEPS UP SURVEILLANCE AND REPRESSION

by MC12

The FBI is rapidly increasing its powers within 
U.S. borders, and devoting more and more resources 
to secret surveillance and investigations in the 
name of "national security." This year Congress 
beefed up the 1978 Foreign Intelligence 
Surveillance Act (FISA), a 1978 law, which "permits 
secret buggings and wiretaps of individuals 
suspected of being agents of a hostile foreign 
government or international terrorist organization, 
even when the target is not suspected of committing 
any crime."(1)

The number of intelligence gathering or national-
security wiretaps approved in 1994 was 576, which 
was more than the 554 approved for federal criminal 
cases. By 1995 the number of such FISA 
authorizations had jumped to 697. And the first 
three months of this year are running more than 20% 
ahead of last year's rate, which means the total 
this year would be around 830, for a total 44% 
increase over two years.

The rate of increase may further accelerate because 
this year Congress widened FISA to permit property 
searches instead of just electronic surveillance. 
Now, "anytime an FBI agent wants to enter a private 
home to conduct a national security investigation, 
he or she has to secure the permission of a court 
... that ordinary citizens cannot visit, whose 
files cannot be publicly reviewed, and which 
presides in secret in a restricted area" of the 
Justice Department.(2) The secret court of judges 
in the Justice Department has received thousands of 
requests, and never ever rejected one of them.

In 1995 there were 2,000 FBI special agents 
assigned to foreign counterintelligence, spending 
more than $500 million. A lot of this is for 
alleged economic and industrial espionage, but the 
powers they have can be used for political purposes 
as well. Attorney General Janet Reno, whose 
appointment pleased pseudo-feminists everywhere, is 
the main leader of the buildup. A "major supporter 
of wiretapping and electronic surveillance," she 
signs every request for surveillance.(3)

Unlike searches in criminal cases, which are 
supposedly covered by the Fourth Amendment 
protection against illegal search and seizure, 
investigations under FISA do not require the 
justification of "probable cause," and the subjects 
of the investigations never have a chance to attack 
the searches in court, if they ever find out about 
them. The Justice Department reviews requests for 
searches and passes them on to the secret judges. 

The woman who used to be in charge of passing on 
requests, a non-famous lawyer named Mary Lawton, 
received the CIA Seal Medallion when she died, and 
was eulogized by Reno and FBI Director Louis Freeh. 
It was her job to push them through with legal 
justifications. Freeh said at her funeral, "Her 
favorite expression was: 'You owe me bigtime' -- 
and believe me, we do owe her bigtime."(4)

A big use of the FISA surveillance was the famous 
Committee to Support the People of El Salvador 
(CISPES) case, in which 1,330 groups were put under 
surveillance in the early 1980s; no one was ever 
charged with a crime. CISPES coordinated support 
for the FMLN's war against the Amerikan-backed 
Salvadoran government. That investigation produced 
a lot of files on people that could have been used 
for anything, and still might be.

One of the first cases in which the FBI used the 
new property-search power, according to a recent 
Washington Post article, was after the subway gas 
attack in Japan. Within two days they had 
permission to break into the apartment of members 
of the Japanese religious group suspected of 
committing the attack, searching and bugging the 
apartment and tapping the phones. There was no 
evidence anyone there did anything wrong (and it 
had not been proved that the group in Japan was 
responsible), no probable cause, and the search 
turned up nothing but they left the bugs behind.

Just because the FISA searches aren't covered by 
the Fourth Amendment doesn't mean the information 
they supposedly turn up can't be used in criminal 
cases. There have been more than 50 cases in which 
FISA evidence was used for criminal prosecutions, 
including the case of the man suspected of being a 
member of Abu Nidal who was allegedly tape-recorded 
as he killed his daughter. The tape was used in 
court in Missouri and he was sentenced to death in 
the case. The courts have said this use is fine as 
long as the "primary purpose" of the surveillance 
is a legitimate national security interest rather 
than a criminal case.

We highlight this story because it reveals a big 
part of the imperialist state's repressive 
apparatus. Anyone or any group can be categorized 
as "terrorist," a category that obviously includes 
all heroic resistance to imperialism, such as the 
people's wars in Peru or the Philippines. Even 
though these thousands of cases of "legal" 
surveillance are kept secret, MIM always assumes 
anything formally recognized understates the actual 
amount of surveillance and repression. Part of a 
course toward fascism is the increasing legitimacy 
of such anti-democratic forces. The legal process 
has no problem allowing this, and the mainstream 
political process welcomes increases in repression. 
For every act of repression the pigs admit to, 
revolutionaries know from experience that more is 
happening off the books.

NOTES: 
1. Washington Post Magazine article "Someone to 
Watch Over Us," June 23, 1996, adopted from the 
forthcoming book Main Justice, by Jim McGee and 
Brian Duffy, Simon and Schuster, 1996. p. 10.
2. Ibid., p. 25.
3. Ibid., p. 12.
4. Ibid., p. 21. 


* * *


MORE PIG BRUTALITY IN NEW YORK

by MC313

On Sunday May 26, 21 year-old Shane Daniels was 
beaten into a coma by off-duty NYC detective 
Constantine Chronis outside the Club Marakesh in 
Westhampton, L.I.. Witness stories contain 
conflicting details, but all agree the attack was 
unprovoked and racially motivated. Daniels is Black 
and the police officer is white. Witnesses say that 
the pig yelled racial epithets at Daniels and his 
friends before launching the physical attack in 
which one of the pigs companions held back the 
crowd with a gun while the pig beat Daniels with a 
steel steering-wheel-locking device called "The 
Club." (1)  Daniels was in a coma for about a week 
and suffered serious brain swelling from repeated 
blows to his head. Daniel's doctor said that he 
will probably have some permanent loss of vision. 
The pig is being held on $1 million bond or 
$500,000 bail and was suspended without pay. 
Detective Chronis' companions have not yet been 
identified.

Blacks are beat and killed all the time by police 
officers, usually ones who are on duty. However, 
this case is different because the pig got caught. 
There is no room to claim that the Black man was a 
threat to the officers life, as they often try to 
do in less obvious cases of police brutality. 
Detective Chronis was responsible for initiating 
the violence and continuing the beating of the 
defenseless Danials with a steel club. The officers 
fled the scene when they heard sirens.

One of the victims friends believes that the 
incident was over the fact that a white woman 
accompanied the group of Black men. The witness 
said that "they didn't like the fact that we were 
with a white girl." (2)

The pigs have the job of protecting white-nation 
interests and helping to enforce national 
oppression through constant harassment and violence 
against oppressed nation people. This officer likes 
his job so much that he couldn't contain himself 
when off duty from almost killing a Black man just 
for existing (and maybe for being in the presence 
of a white woman). 

MIM reports on incidents of police brutality to 
expose the reality of this criminal injustice 
system. Join MIM in fighting against all 
imperialist brutality. Only through revolutionary 
struggle to seize power will the oppressed end 
imperialist sponsored violence. Maoism is the most 
effective revolutionary strategy as has been proven 
in practice in China and continues to be proven 
today in revolutions around the world. 

NOTES:
1. NYT May 31, 1996, p.2A. 
2. NYT May 30, 1996, p.A1. 


* * *


AFFIRMATIVE ACTION SETBACK IN TEXAS

The verdict in a recent Texas case, **Hopwood et 
al. vs. The State of Texas,** continues the trend 
towards more reactionary cutbacks in affirmative 
action across the United Snakes. The circuit court 
pointed out the facts of affirmative action as if 
they were crimes: "With the best of intentions, in 
order to increase the enrollment of certain favored 
classes of minority students, the University of 
Texas School of Law discriminates in favor of those 
applicants by giving substantial racial preferences 
in its admissions program. The beneficiaries of 
this system are blacks and Mexican Americans, to 
the detriment of whites and non-preferred 
minorities."(1) MIM thinks that affirmative action 
that benefits Blacks and Latinos to the detriment 
of whites is a good thing. Whites have all the 
advantages in Amerika, so policies that force some 
small balancing of the scales are progressive.

The plaintiffs, white applicants to the UT Law 
School, claimed their rights were violated when 
they were not admitted. The court said there is no 
justification that allows UT "to continue to 
elevate some races over others, even for the 
wholesome purpose of correcting perceived racial 
imbalance in the student body."(1) Of course they 
neglected to comment on the issue of why it is OK 
for UT to elevate the white race over others by 
considering only biased tests like the SAT and LSAT 
for admissions or by looking at grade point 
averages without accounting for the circumstances 
of the Black and Latino kids who lived in the 
projects and worked part- time all through high 
school compared to the white kids who had private 
tutors.

In addition to a number of stupid comments from the 
court addressing a non-issue by arguing that race 
is not determinist in a student's achievement or 
abilities, this case sets a clear precedent for an 
incorrect evaluation of affirmative action. 
Affirmative action is a minor reform in a country 
that has, for 500 years, discriminated against 
certain groups and favored other groups. There is 
no fairness to inner city kids being harassed by 
pigs for walking the streets, or having to work 
while going to school, or going to schools that are 
poorly funded because their property taxes are 
lower because they can't afford to live in the 
wealthy neighborhood. There is also no fairness in 
the SAT which is a better measure of one's 
whiteness and maleness than one's "intelligence". 
As one UT student put it "Given that slavery lasted 
more than 200 years, shouldn't we give affirmative 
action an equal time span to prove itself 
effective?"(1)

A recent study by the University of Texas Press 
supports MIM's understanding of discrimination in 
Amerika; it points out that Latino students who 
drop out of high school do so because of failures 
in the school system not because their family does 
not value education. For instance, the schools 
overestimated the educational and financial 
resources of the Latino parents in the study. 
Schools assumed that parents would make up for 
educational deficiencies in their children even 
though most of the parents of the Latino kids had 
less than a high school education themselves. One 
school consistently placed students who were having 
trouble into the low-level programs or other 
punishment environments where teacher help was hard 
to find.(2) This is just one small piece of a whole 
system that does not make growing up in Amerika a 
fair contest between different nationalities.

MIM thinks that all education should be available 
to all people who want it and that there should be 
no arbitrary admission "standards", especially none 
based on incorrect estimations of success like 
biased standardized tests. While affirmative action 
is a progressive reform under capitalism that helps 
a few more members of oppressed nations get an 
education they can use to fight against this 
repressive system, we fight for the day when 
education will be open to everyone. MIM works 
toward an educational system that encourages growth 
and learning in everyone regardless of their 
nation, class or gender.


NOTES: 
1. The University Review, The Independent Student 
Journal at The University of Texas at Austin, May 
15, 1996. 
2. Arriba, June 14-June 27, 1996, p.5.


* * *


PEOPLE'S MEDIA NEEDED FOR PROTEST COVERAGE

by a comrade

A new study of media coverage of political protests 
documents that the bourgeois media selectively 
covers protests and ignores most of them and the 
coverage appears to be decreasing. The study looked 
for word of 1,209 Washington, D.C. demonstrations 
in 1982 and 1,856 demonstrations in 1991 in the New 
York Times, Washington Post, and the three leading 
TV network evening newscasts.

In 1982, 13% of all protests were reported in any 
of those sources, and that dropped to just 7.1% in 
1991. Coverage for protests with 101-1,000 
participants dropped from 34.7% to 11.9%. Even 
among protests with 1,001-10,000 participants, less 
than one-half were reported in 1982 (47.1%), and 
less than one-third were reported in 1991 (29.8%).

There are many tiny protests in Washington, so the 
authors of the study also compared how many of the 
total demonstration participants were at 
demonstrations that were reported. In 1982 that was 
80.1%, and it dropped to 29.8% in 1991.

The study has some problems: it only counted 
demonstrations with permits (although they did 
figure out how to include some unpermitted 
demonstrations) and they used the projected 
participant size rather than actual size of the 
demonstration (which would have to be collected 
from media sources and are generally an 
underestimate). But the results are strong enough 
to overlook these shortfalls and allow us to make 
some general conclusions.

The results give a clear picture of what MIM has 
been saying for years: protest strategies that rely 
on bourgeois media coverage either end up catering 
to bourgeois media views, or go unreported and 
therefore ignored. Instead, MIM says to build a 
people's media as an independent institution of the 
oppressed and we publish the newspapers, journals, 
pamphlets, and texts on the Internet to back this 
up.

Two specific findings confirm MIM's point. First, 
the single greatest factor influencing whether 
bourgeois media covers a protest was size. The 
lesson there is clear: cater to the mainstream to 
get the biggest numbers if you want bourgeois press 
attention. Second, "media cycles" were a very 
important factor in determining selective coverage. 
That is, protests focusing on subjects that the 
media was already covering got press time. Protests 
that diverged from the media agenda were largely 
ignored.

The authors conclude: "The likelihood that a 
protest will be reported by the mass media is 
shaped by forces mostly beyond the control of most 
protest groups, unless they are capable of 
generating mass participation in demonstrations." 
Further, the relative influence of "media cycles" 
increased between 1982 and 1991, and the role of 
protest size diminished, especially with TV news.

The media have further tightened their selective 
restrictions for who gets press. MIM says: let 'em 
have their press. The people have their own!

SOURCE: "Media Bias in the Coverage of Washington, 
D.C. Demonstrations," by John D. McCarthy, Clark 
McPhail and Jackie Smith. American Sociological 
Review, Vol. 61, No. 3, June 1996, pp. 478-499.