Federal Prisons

A criticism often made of the Black Panther Party (BPP) lies in errors it made around addressing the patriarchy. Most of these criticisms are attempts at subreformism, which is the approach of resolving conflict on an individual or interpersynal level in an attempt to resolve social problems. But the patriarchy is a system of oppression. It manifests in interpersynal interactions, but can't be stopped without addressing the system of oppression itself. Just by the very fact that the BPP was organizing for national liberation under a Maoist banner, it was making more advances toward a world without gender oppression than all of their pseudo-feminist critics combined.

George Jackson did have some bad gender line in Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson, which covers the years 1964-1970. To wimmin searching for their place in an anti-imperialist prison struggle, the most alienating examples are where Jackson says wimmin should just "sit, listen to us, and attempt to understand. It is for them to obey and aid us, not to attempt to think."(p. 101) Later in the book after Jackson encounters some revolutionary Black wimmin, ey can't help but to sexualize their politics. Much like in our everyday society, Soledad Brother tells wimmin their role in this struggle is to shut up or be sexualized. These were not consciously worked out analyses of gender but instead Jackson's subjective responses to frustration and excitement.

A challenge to all revolutionaries is to take an objective approach to our scientific analysis. This is very difficult. To wimmin struggling within the national liberation movements, looking at the social and historical context of these remarks is imperative to overcoming this alienation from sexist brothers in struggle. Jackson was reared in the United $tates in the 1940s and 50s, with time spent in youth detention facilities. Ey entered the hyper-masculine prison environment at the age of 20. Jackson's social context was our fucked up patriarchal society, and is similar to many of our contributors whose scope of perspective is limited by the conditions of their confinement. Where our sisters need to not split over subreformism, our brothers also need to work to overcome their empiricism and subjectivism in how they approach uniting with wimmin against imperialism and patriarchy.

It was after the publishing of Soledad Brother that Jackson advanced to be a general and field marshal of the People's Revolutionary Army of the Black Panther Party. While Soledad Brother gives more of a look into the prison experience, in eir later work, Blood In My Eye (which was published by the BPP posthumously), Jackson lays out eir most advanced political analysis shortly before ey was murdered by the state on 21 August 1971. More than an author, Jackson was a great organizer. Panther and life-long revolutionary Kiilu Nyasha is a testimony to Jackson's abilities, indicating that subjectivity around gender did not prevent him from organizing seriously with wimmin.(1) Of course, Jackson’s biggest legacy was organizing men in prison. Eir ability to organize strikes with 100% participation in eir unit serves as an counterexample to those in California today who say we cannot unite across "racial" lines. It's impressive all that Jackson accomplished in developing eir politics and internationalism, and organizing prisoners, considering all the barriers Amerikkka put in the way.

Jackson was a good representative of the BPP's mass base, and the BPP was correct in organizing with Jackson and others with backward gender lines. If the Party hadn't been dissolved by COINTELPRO we can only guess at what advances it could have made toward resolving gender oppression by now. One thing is certain, it would have done a lot more to combat the patriarchy for the majority of the world's inhabitants than First World pseudo-feminism ever has or ever will.

As a California prisoner, constantly under attack by this oppressive regime, I'm glad to have found a forum to voice our collective pain and discuss attempts at real liberation. Over the years, discussing aspects of this struggle with various people, I come to notice a consistent pattern. Since I myself was victim to this philosophical perspective, I find it necessary to enlighten the new, young, freedom-fighter in order to equip them with the proper tools to effect real change.

As a young revolutionist, there was a time that when faced with oppression, my initial reaction was to grab the closet weapon, rush my oppressor, swing away and let the chips fall where they may. In retrospect, however, I came to realize that this reaction was, unusually, emotionally, charged and lacked any strategic depth. (Make no mistake, the Young convict in me still, occasionally, smiles at those actions, having delivered the oppressor a "fierce" blow). Usually, it wasn't until I was in Ad-Seg, afforded the benefit of hindsight, would I realize that, while I did enjoy the temporary high from my actions, (a) I hadn't effected any real change; and (b) if anything, my actions had caused the oppressors to double down on their tactics.

With the passage of time, the acquiring of more experience and a diligent study of various successful social movements, I've realized that a cool head, and a strategic plan is the most effective prerequisite to a successful revolution. Vanguards like Martin Luther King, Jr. and the SCLC, Thurgood Marshal and the legal wing of the NAACP or Gandhi and those leaders all preceded every move with a thorough round table discussion, during which effective formulas were instituted to meet a specific end result; and while subsequent generations have criticized Dr. King for what they considered his pacifist ways, they could only wish to accomplish a fraction of what he did. From the Montgomery bus-boycott, the Voting Rights Act, to the abolishment of Jim Crow laws, each success was preceded with a cool, calm and collective strategic aim.

So, in conclusion, what I'm saying is that while an emotional reaction is natural and shouldn't be suppressed, perhaps between the offense and the reaction we should insert some time during which we harness that energy and direct it in the most effective way towards the real aim we're after. Thank you brothers, keep fighting!

MIM(Prisons) responds: For a deeper look at line, strategy and tactics, check out our Organizational Structure study pack. This comrade gets at the first step towards a strategic approach, but we must go further to assess our conditions to determine a strategic orientation for our time and place. While there is no doubt that Dr. King's success reflected his ability to do just that, there is also a question of line that precludes determining our strategy. Towards the end of his life King commented that he feared they were attempting to integrate into a burning house. In contrast, MIM(Prisons) promotes the goal of self-determination and national liberation, which leads us to strategize differently than King did.

I received a letter from you with a petition addressing complaints with these police retaliating and conspiring to violate prisoner First Amendment rights when exhausting administrative remedies. Well, as soon as I got it I filled it out and sent it in to get copies so I can send it to the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC), Director, Department of Justice, and Inspector General. But today I received a confiscation form for the petition and a write up for unauthorized organization for attempting to file a petition without ODOC function unit manager approval. I had no idea that if I file a petition addressing a complaint that I could be written up for it without warning but I ain't sweating it.

In fact, in order to prevent other comrades from being a victim to this corrupt process I have a couple suggestions. First, the back page of the petition at the bottom the last word says “petition.” I believe that not only should that word be replaced with “complaint” but that within this petition it should have a section which states that it is a complaint. Even though a complaint/petition are similar and requests the same conclusions, ODOC and maybe other DOC facilities are playing the word game. Until this is addressed in Federal court, Oregon prisoners, if not prisoners in other states, will be subjected to unnecessary obstacles in addressing their concerns through the current petition format you have. So please re-word it to be a “complaint” and disassociate it as a petition and then resend it to me.

The misconduct report this comrade received reads:

"4.46 Unauthorized Organization II: An inmate commits Unauthorized Organization II if, except as specified by Department of Corrections rule on Group Activities (inmate) (OAR 291 145) (B) 4.46.02 Engages in a petition drive without specific authorization from the Functional Unit Manager

Form was generated from https://www.prisoncensorship.info/, on 4/5/16 I was working in SHU Library, received a kyte from above AIC requesting copies of the petition, I approved one copy due to not being able to identify this form and it was addressed to the Director of the Oregon Dept. of Corrections, due to the question at hand I elected to error on AIC's behalf and allowed one copy. On 4/15/16 AIC is again requesting copies of the petition. This petition or authorization for envelopes has not been approved for circulation or approved envelopes through out SRCI and other Institutions in accordance with:

291-107-0015 Procedures

(1) Those inmates and/or community persons who have not been able to resolve problems through other available channels (i.e., the Ombudsman, Department of Corrections staff, or grievance procedure), may request approval to circulate a petition. Petitions may be circulated with the approval of the functional unit manager as directed in this rule. Circulation of a petition is a process through which inmates can show support for community endeavors. Any inmate or other person desiring to circulate a petition will present the petition to the functional unit manager adding any supporting information that would justify its approval. Permission to circulate petitions within a Department of Corrections facility will be approved if..."

MIM(Prisons) adds: The Oregon Department of Corrections has a policy denying prisoners the right to peacefully appeal denial of their rights. It is ridiculous to expect that the prison administrators would approve prisoners circulating a petition that is criticizing the DOC. What is interesting is that this comrade didn't even try to circulate the petition, ey merely tried to get copies made for eir peryonal use. Yet another example of the injustice system at work and why we can't expect any serious progress on questions of humyn rights within the criminal injustice system that serves imperialism.

Let us know if you need a copy of this petition rewritten as a complaint.

While we are organizing for revolutionary change under imperialism it is important that we build independent institutions of the oppressed. These are institutions that do not have ties to the power structure that we are fighting to dismantle. For instance, Under Lock & Key is an independent institution serving prisoners. It gives us the freedom to write the truth about the criminal injustice system and imperialism more broadly without worrying about the interests of our owners and advertisers, which is a problem for those writing for mainstream newspapers. Another good example was the Black Panther Party's free breakfast programs for schoolchildren program, which provided much needed food and political education, nourishing both body and mind. These independent programs often fall in the category of what we call Serve the People programs. The breakfast for schoolchildren is a good example of providing something that the people need, thus serving the people.

A group called Better Angels is working on an independent project that uniquely serves the peoples' need for security and safety from the police. This project, Buoy, is a tool to help people "call a friend, not the cops," when in need of help. This free software, which Better Angels is calling a "community-driven emergency dispatch system" will allow people to connect a network of people, within a smartphone app, who will be alerted when anyone in the network is in danger. The app includes a map so that the person in danger can be quickly located.

We see some very good applications for this tool: activists who are engaging in protest and who are threatened by the police may want to quickly locate all of their comrades and ensure no one is arrested or hurt. This tool includes the ability to set a timed alert, which will only notify a persyn's network if they do not cancel the alert. For instance, if you are entering a dangerous situation in the next 10 minutes you could set this alert and then if nothing bad happens and you cancel it within 10 minutes there is no notification sent out. But if you can not access your phone before the ten minutes are up the alert will be sent to your network.

This sort of network alert system gives people a good alternative to calling the cops, who are often a source of danger themselves. But we do have some security concerns about the project. Better Angels is encouraging organizations to set up Buoy networks and this means providing intelligence agents with easy access to information about these networks. This is not a concern for those groups that are using Buoy for persynal safety such as domestic violence organizations, campus safety groups, etc. But for activists, migrants, former prisoners and others, networking with larger organizations through Buoy could significantly increase the risk to the entire group as police catch on and monitor the whereabouts of everyone in a network, using alerts to notify themselves of potential situations of interest.

We'd recommend Buoy for people to use instead of the cops within their persynal networks. For instance, Buoy is a good tool if you are regularly harassed by the cops and want to set up an alert for support and witnesses when this happens. Or if you are crossing a border and risk being targeted by agents. Or if you are in a situation of persynal danger unrelated to the cops or government. But in all of these cases we think people will need to set up networks that are not directly linked to a political organization that is the target of government interest. And everyone should keep in mind that if they are doing political work against the government, their smart phones are likely monitored. And so any alerts sent to friends are also going to the cops.

It is difficult to set up independent institutions serving the oppressed and we commend Better Angels for its work. The Buoy project raises the very real need for an alternative to police intervention when people are in danger. Unfortunately the security problems with announcing this risk to the government via smartphone technology will limit the usefulness of this tool for activists.

We hope this project inspires others to think creatively about how revolutionaries can set up independent institutions of the oppressed, serving needs and also providing political education about these needs. Building these institutions is a key part of building the revolutionary movement.

The Soldiers of Bondage have a determination,
To gather the masses to hear our proclamation.
It is time to end the discrimination,
That terrorizes the people of the oppressed nations.
Why is it the factions continue the hatin',
That's propagated by the oppressor that all of us are facin'?
Too busy gang-bangin' and listenin' to radio stations;
And believin' the tyrants when they say we're mistaken.
Caught up in the deception we don't see what they're fakin',
So we continue to struggle like something forsaken.
And as the years go by we forget what was taken,
So we abandon the war that we had been wagin'.
Lost throughout history the terror of Caucasians,
As they enslaved the Negro and persecuted the Asians.
Don't forget the Indians on a war-path ragin',
At the injustice of the Wyte man's invasion.
The capture of men and the practice of encagin',
Those men and womyn that they weren't enslavin'.
In horror our ancenstors watched as the fiends were rapin',
Every man, womyn, and child that they had taken.
Imperialist pigs want us dragging our feet;
To succumb to their tyranny and acknowledge defeat.
But a Revolution has started, led by S.O.B.;
Whose goal is to crush the oppressor and set the people free.
United we stand before the masses and speak;
In defiance we roar and reject defeat.
Attacking the oppressors until all of them bleed;
Not satisfied until they're six-feet deep.
The Revolution is strong while tyrants are weak,
In supplication they bow begging for peace.
No longer do we wish to hear the barbaric swine shriek,
Nor the sound of our loved ones as they wail in grief.
We gave them a chance to pack their bags and leave,
But in arrogance they stayed thinking we wouldn't succeed.
For how could they know the power of a seed,
That was planted long ago and is now a tree?
Nourished by the blood of our comrades who died;
Sacrificing their lives so that we might survive.
We've had enough of the Capitalist lies,
They've fed us for years throughout our lives.
Now is the time for the people to rise,
And let them know it is them we despise.
In anger our voices soar and in passion we cry,
At the outrage of all the people we had to see die.
How dare they have the audacity to hope,
That they'll be given a chance to escape their rope.
It wasn't in weakness we started this revolt;
We've gotten this far and we won't start to choke.
As the funeral pyres burn the sky fills with smoke,
We annihilate our oppressors with a merciless stroke.
They had heard of our struggle but thought it was a joke;
Confronted with reality none of them spoke.
The time of slavery has come to an end,
And the era of freedom is about to begin.
Gone will be the inequality of men;
While society embraces its enemies as kin.
On a brand new axis the world will spin,
When the Revolution we're waging finally wins.

Today I'm writing in hopes of somebody in you all's organization to be of some kind of assistance concerning a few issues. As we both know I'm in a rather oppressed state and very racial as well, so therefore please understand that the majority of prisoners locked up are "locked up" mental wise. Now my issues are concerning, 1st the grievance procedure: Once I file a very important grievance with one or two witness statements by other inmates that live around me, it either gets lost or comes back late every time stating "insufficient evidence" ten times out of ten. There has to be a next step to take.

Here is the last major grievance I filed. I'm in Highmax/Tier 3 program on 23 hour lockdown and two COs were serving dinner trays. These COs are two cells away from me when an inmate throws feces out on both officers. They yell at him and call him a nigger, yes the COs both are white and even give him a DR for his actions. The worst part was they continued to serve trays. Me and the man next door to me didn't know what was going on until we got our trays, and then ol' boy said hey don't eat the trays I shit those bitches down! So I get on the door make noise to get the officers attention because I get served last, I was in the last cell and haven't ate none of my tray. My next door neighbor say what! So anyways we did not eat that night and we both filed a grievance and statement for each other. Nothing happened!

40 something days later a counselor came to my door and said "insufficient evidence"! There's cams everywhere in this prison so ol' boy got a DR plus common sense he lived in the cell before me, I get fed last. Now I have not filed many grievances since I've been incarcerated and the ones I have filed always get overlooked, lost, or I don't have enough evidence for it to be investigated. There has to be some next step to force these people to stop hiding what prisoners do complain about. We are in a double whammy here at this prison, one minute it's you're in the program, the next its you're on Highmax, right now there is prisoners who don't get yard call "fresh air" 1 hour a day.

Our voices are often suppressed by retaliation. Write a grievance addressing the crimes correctional officers are committing behind these concrete walls and you will find yourself on the wrong end of a bogus disciplinary ticket or a cell search that ends with your personal property (family photos, legal mail, etc.) being destroyed and your commissary both stolen and dumped out all over your cell. Have you ever seen what it's like when you dump multiple bags of instant coffee over your bed, clothes, TV and then pour soda over it? I have. The message was clear - what happens in Menard Correctional Center stays in Menard CC. And for ten years thereafter, I have kept my mouth shut. But you can only rape a man of his dignity for so long; for, eventually, fear be erased by disgrace.

So now I write these words for the world to read because what happened these last two days the world needs to see.

In my life, my well-being has never been more threatened or in greater jeopardy than when being beaten and battered by hundreds of men, wearing orange and donned in full riot gear. Yes, I am talking about the Illinois Orange Crush during prison shakedowns.

The Orange Crush (OC) are guards in riot gear, tinted face-masks, no name tags - concealed identities armed with powerful wooden riot batons, mace, handcuffs, leather gloves, Kevlar vests, and military boots. As if their identities weren't already secret enough, we are also told, "Don't look at me, don't look up, put your head down, keep your head down." Even when our heads are down, straining our necks to bend as far as they can possibly go, these words are still yelled directly into our ears.

And this time they brought dogs! These large German Shepherds were loud, snapping their teeth with blood lust in their bark. They lined these dogs up and made us "walk the line." As if the intimidation of a few hundred militarized men busting us with their batons wasn't enough, as if being cuffed behind our backs and having our heads shoved down into our chests wasn't enough, as if their constant screaming into our ears wasn't enough, they also made us feel the fear of ferocious dogs as we were pushed past their blood-curdling cries to do us harm.

Yes, I was violently pushed, prodded, and poked with their wooden batons - riot batons that look like wooden ax handles. Yes, I was yelled at, directly into my ear canal at a level loud enough to cause physical pain. Yes, I was cuffed behind my back and forced to stand "nut-to-butt" in a highly stressed position with my head down for hours on end. Yes, I went two days without running water. Yes, the cell I live in was demolished and my property was both stolen and destroyed. But I can handle that. That is a part of doing time in Menard. We prisoners down here go through OC shakedowns once a year, sometimes more. However, what I cannot handle and what I refuse to keep my mouth shut about is the sexual abuse and molestation that took place this last go around.

On Friday, 15 April 2016, the OC came running onto my gallery, hooting and hollering like a bunch of hooligans and banging their riot batons on our cell bars as they went by. They were there to shakedown our cells. Every OC shakedown starts with a full blown strip search: lift the penis, lift the scrotum, turn around and spread the cheeks, then squat and cough. It's routine. But this time it was different. It started out normal: strip naked, lift the penis, lift the scrotum, but instead of "turn around, spread the cheeks, squat and cough," this OC officer told me, "split 'em." I asked if he meant for me to turn around and spread my cheeks. "No," he said, "split your balls." I looked at him to see if he was joking - eleven years of OC shakedowns and I'd never head of this before. He didn't flinch. So I grabbed my balls - one in each hand - and pulled them apart.

"No! Split them," he yelled. I looked at him confused. It was embarrassing. I was standing there naked, at his mercy, and being belittled. I mean, I already let him view my body underneath my penis and scrotum. Now he's telling me to split my nuts. I did not understand what he was saying, but I did know that my well being depended on my ability to comply. The more I tried to "split my nuts" (whatever that means, I still don't know), the less he was able to contain his laughter. That's when it hit me. He was playing games, entertaining himself with my nudity and getting a kick outta my shame. Then he told me to lift one nut up and pull the other one down. It made me sick. Under the threat of violence I was still being forced to molest myself. And still I had to turn around and spread my cheeks for this guy; still, I had to squat and cough for this guy.

After his heinous abuse of power, making me molest myself, I almost refused spreading my butt cheeks for him. Again, it made me sick to think what was going through his mind. But I did not refuse, because anyone in an Illinois maximum security prison, whose been through an OC shakedown before, knows that refusing to follow the orders of the OC leads to excruciating beat downs by multiple men. And in my case (I was naked and if refusing to let him look between my cheeks) it would have been a naked beat down that ended with the OC holding me down, spreading me open, and physically exploring my orifice for contraband. They would have said I was refusing to comply because I was hiding something in there and didn't want them to find it. These guys are brutal and in the name of "security" they get away with murder. Think of all the videos you've seen of cops beating, even killing, civilians out there, in the public's view. Now imagine how much worse it is in here, for us, when they are never held accountable. Perpetual abuse hidden from the public behind the very walls that keep us in.

So I did what I had to do to survive. I let that pervert look inside of me. After this long nauseating moment of naked and forced self-molestation, I was cuffed behind my back, and again, under the threat of physical punishment, I was forced to strain my neck down, and herded to the chow hall. In the chow hall I, along with other prisoners, stood for hours, subject to the constant violence of being shoved into the backs of other prisoners. We were literally and physically forced to stand with our penises pushed into the butts and the behind-the-back cuffed hands of the men in front of us. Every time we pulled our penis off of the man in front of us, we were shoved back into him and yelled at, "If your cock's not in his ass, you're not close enough."

I cannot, will not, keep my mouth shut about this, lest I become a shell of the man I am today. These words are for the thousands that were abused in the same way. The OC should stand for "Outta Control" for this Orange Crush needs to be prosecuted and punished.

I've been arbitrarily placed on the Tier II program without any justification other than it being a retaliatory action by GA dept of kkkorections. It seems now that my former cellmate was/is working for this prison administration and framed me by placing a pillow filled with contraband on my bed while the kkkorections emergency response team was escorting me to the showers for shakedown. His loose lips were overheard telling a prisoner that it was a good thing that I was out the way.

Anyway I appealed the write up and the warden/superintendent response stated "Ownership of the pillow and contraband was irrelevant." Even after my former cellmate admitted that said pillow and cell phones belonged to him and wrote three "sworn statements" to prove his point. I don't know where in Amerikkka such an action could take place other than Georgia, so now I'm on the tier program for a slime-retaliatory action by these prisoncrats and their slaves.

All I've done since I been at this kkkamp is to educate and give these slaves some positive for their minds and souls. Every ULK I got I passed it along, every Bayview I get I pass it along and wherever I can be of help in building a movement I'm there. Anyway I've filed 2 grievances. One for retaliation and one for false imprisonment which I've received no response from as to date (one was filed 3/28/2016 and the other 4/8/2016). My attorney is working on this situation but these actions stem from the prison strike of 2010, as they were doing the Tier II placement hearing. Lt Bivens stated or cited my participation in a disturbance Dec 31st 2010 which I never received a write up for and which free world charges were sought by the DOC and dismissed 2013. So it's clear what this is all about. Anyway I've enclosed 10 stamps as a small donation to MIM and will contribute more when I can.

I'm on a plantation that's so rat infested. I went to dinner today and almost didn't eat because the kitchen/dining hall smells like rat piss and shit. Sitting in the chow hall, you literally hear rats and raccoons running around in the ceilings, and there are rats running around in the dining hall area.

In the meantime, we have a food director who refuses to adhere to the master menu. He follow the rules only when convenient. He walks the plantation like he's the warden, trying to write disciplinary reports (DRs) on anybody in reach, but can't do something about the rats and raccoons running around in the ceiling. I am sure this food director is misappropriating funds via item order. I grieved him for deviating from the master menu and misappropriation. I was denied with the explanation that he does not handle money literally. Meanwhile he keeps deviating from the menu feeding this one, all purpose mystery meat that's not on the menu. He is either misappropriating or saving Florida Department of Corrections millions of dollars.

I know for a fact that he hates prisoners. He even tried to lock me up one day with a lie that I got in his face. He pressed the panic button, and lied to the sergeant. Another sergeant who saw the whole incident spoke up for me and shamed him. I grieved him and got approved, but that's as far as it went. Be that as it may, the struggle continues.

This is a question which all communists must ask themselves at one point or another of their revolutionary careers. Furthermore, it is a question which has essentially dominated the International Communist Movement (ICM) ever since that movement became a real contender on the world stage. Suffice to say that there has never in essence been a more important question to ask and correctly answer within the ICM itself other than patriotism or internationalism? That said, the concepts of patriotism and internationalism are not mutually exclusive phenomena forever separated by the same great impassable divide of ideological difference, rather, patriotism and internationalism as properly understood by communists are dialectically interconnected concepts that we must struggle to unite.

Sometimes general, sometimes particular, but always of universal importance, the concepts of patriotism and internationalism represent different aspects of the subjective forces whose task it is to carry out revolution both at home and abroad. Focus too much on one and you run the danger of making an ultra-left mistake. Focus too much on the other and you will not only be committing a tactical mistake, but will be guilty of committing a right opportunist error. What comrades must understand however is that pushing the revolutionary vehicle towards a bright communist future isn't necessarily about making the decision of patriotism or internationalism. It's about both. This is the topic which the following essay will attempt to explain. Thus in wars of national liberation patriotism is applied internationalism — but are there other ways for us to apply internationalism within nation-specific projects?

Contrary to how this quote has been narrowed down by some comrades, applied internationalism isn't only about each nation fighting their own battles and hoping that anti-imperialists from other nations will be astute enough to recognize the tactical opportunities of our fight and hence get in where they fit in. Internationalism is about extending our hands and providing assistance to our comrades whenever we can and offering lesser but equally important means of support when other avenues of help have been closed off to us.

Point in fact, MIM(Prisons) can't physically and persynally reach out to every prisoner on a one-on-one level. But it has a bi-monthly newsletter that goes out to the prison masses as well as a Free Books to Prisoner Program, a website created in part to help facilitate the needs of prisoners across the United $tates and document abuse. It runs study groups and most recently help put out Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán, a book that will help to build public opinion for revolution in North America by agitating in favor of the Chican@ masses. Not to mention the other nation-specific and internationalist projects which it has been responsible for spawning.

Another excellent but largely forgotten and ignored example of applied internationalism being practiced outside of a nation's own borders is how the Cuban masses under the leadership of Fidel Castro volunteered to cross the Atlantic to fight alongside the Angolan people in their struggle of national liberation against Portuguese and Amerikan imperialism. This act took place for a variety of reasons, but perhaps none more important than the sheer anger, disgust and solidarity which Cubans felt at the sight of imperialist bombs falling on Angolan heads. It could then be said that this sacrifice on behalf of the Cuban people marked a development as well as a leap in the revolutionary consciousness of the Cuban nation, both because they were willing to give up their lives in the service of another oppressed nation and because with their sacrifice they helped land such a strong and decisive blow against colonialism, while simultaneously helping to detach Angola from the imperialist framework. It could therefore be said that this action on behalf of the Cuban masses was equally, if not more significant than the Cuban revolution itself. This is just another reason why Cuba holds such a special place in the revolutionary hearts of oppressed people everywhere.

This now brings us to a recent debate initiated within the California Council concerning USW's potential contribution to a certain nationalist project, and a certain comrade's apprehensions/objections about the role of USW vis-a-vis the national liberation struggles of the oppressed internal nations, as well as the exertion of influence on USW by revolutionary nationalists operating within that organization. In eir argument the comrade in question took the position that no one nation should be forced to take part in another nation's struggles, citing that this would be tantamount to one nation co-opting others to do its job for them. That said, no nation should be allowed to control another nation's destiny or make decisions for other nations that are integral to the liberation of the latter as this would in effect mark the beginnings of a neo-colonial relation on a certain level. Furthermore, the comrade also made the statement that "USW is not one nation united, it's multi-national." Now this may be true, but the correct definition for USW is the following:

"USW is explicitly anti-imperialist in leading campaigns on behalf of prisoners in alliance with national liberation struggles in the United $tates and around the world. USW won't champion struggles which are not in the interests of the international proletariat. USW will also not choose one nation's struggles over other oppressed nations struggles."

And from the pamphlet The Fundamental Political Line of the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons:

"Rebuilding the anti-imperialist prison movement means uniting all who can be united around the common interests of the U.$. prison population in solidarity with the oppressed people of the Third World..."

So while we should definitely be in agreement that no nation should be forced to participate in another nation's struggles and that no one nation should be allowed to come up at the expense of another, this does not in any way mean that USW, or the California Council in particular, should be disallowed from initiating proposals and passing resolutions that will support and lend assistance to nations or nation-specific organizations represented within or outside of USW. The nation in question can either accept the assistance or not. This method of action and participation will ensure that USW retains its United Front mass organization character by preserving the unity and independence of all USW comrades and affiliated organizations. Indeed, USW, like all other organizations, has a dual character. Unlike most other organizations however USW's duality is complementary and it is not an antagonistic contradiction. While it is true that USW is a mass organization created to represent and fight for the common interests of all prisoners as a distinct social group, it is also a launch pad for the national liberation struggles of the oppressed internal nations in which comrades can cut their teeth thru revolutionary organizing, and from where they can then go on to initiate and lead national liberation struggles on behalf of their own respective nations.

This is what USW, as an anti-imperialist prisoner organization, should be about: the internationalism of prisoners breeding revolutionary nationalism, and revolutionary nationalist projects breeding internationalism amongst the prison masses. This requires more than each nation blindly going its own separate way. It requires unity of action and unity of discipline. As such, it would seem then that what we have here with the comrade in question may be a problem of perspective. What some might see as internationalism others might perceive as a contradiction. What some regard as mutual assistance others will call co-optation. For those of us having this problem of "perception" however, we would be wise to be cautious not to let our own love for our nations blind us to the plight of others, as sometimes what this fear of "co-optation" really translates to is our own fear or refusal to participate in another nation's struggles. Thus, we should be aware of how our own nation's struggles, as well as our failure to act on behalf of other nations, can affect the ICM, lest we degenerate to the level of narrow nationalism.

Since this question of whether or not USW should participate in a variety of nation-specific struggles seems to be one rooted in perception, let us take a closer look at the supposed pimping of nations that would take place if USW were to decide to work in the interests of a distinct national project. As has been the current practice thus far, nowhere at all has this resulted in one nation's struggle being taken up to the detriment of another. But let's just suppose that this is the case, then maybe ULK should just stop featuring articles that promote the struggle of one nation or another so that we may ensure that no comrades from any nation feel as if they're being pushed into the background, or that their nation-specific article is forced to share space on the pages of an internationalist forum that also represents one nation or another, lest these comrades begin to feel "co-opted."

Just because Mao Zedong said that in wars of national liberation the nationalism of the oppressed nations is applied internationalism, it does not justify our lack of adherence to other internationalist principles. This is a guiding line of real communism and should likewise be seen as a line of demarcation for all revolutionary nationalists claiming the mantles of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao. Applied internationalism is about more than just fighting your own nation's struggles and we should never forget that. To give an additional hystorical example, when Amerikan imperialism attacked Vietnam the People's Republic of China aided the Vietnamese by providing all types of supplies including food, money and intelligence. Most activists of the time believed this was not enough and that the Chinese should've provided troops as well. We wonder what the previously mentioned comrade would think about this? Perhaps ey would say it was too much and that the Chinese were already guilty of co-opting Vietnam's national liberation struggle and how dare anyone suggest that the Chinese become more involved? Of course, in a possible revolutionary future we can even envision a myriad of situations in which the internal semi-colonies will be forced to coordinate and work shoulder-to-shoulder to oust Amerikan imperialism from their territories. Or would this too be a case of one semi-colony co-opting the struggle of another?

The Palestinian campaign initiated by USW last year is yet another internationalist project that is now shadowed by question marks, at least according to that one comrade's perspective. Perhaps this was simply incorrect practice and "a waste of USW's time"? As previously stated, while we agree that no nation should be forced to contribute to another nation's struggles, we also believe that no comrade should feel as if they're being "forced" to participate in another nation's struggles. As such, maybe these type of people aren't so much for internationalism as they sometimes claim to be? Because Mao accomplished and wrote so much on the national liberation struggle of China many have erroneously come to believe that ey was a nationalist first and a Marxist-Leninist second; but this view is wrong. Mao loved eir nation but ey was a Marxist-Leninist first and foremost who recognized the liberation of China as only a small component in the global struggle for communism.

Choosing and deciding what internationalist struggles one can participate in besides those that are explicitly national liberationist exclusive to one's own is both a tactical and strategical question that is dictated by the struggles and conditions of the time. Lacking a clear and coherent reason why not to participate is indicative of a national chauvinist political line in command. The USW Palestine campaign was a fairly easy campaign to initiate due to the current stage of the struggle and most USW comrades' material conditions. Other struggles will take more time and consideration to implement, while some might be outright out of the question. Excluding the labor aristocracy, there is a reason why revolutionaries from Marx to Mao championed the slogan: "workers of all countries unite!"

We struggle for the liberation of all oppressed people or we don't struggle at all.