Federal Prisons

I just wanted to take advantage of this lull in the recent pain I've been struggling with, as much psychologically as physically. It should get better, relatively speaking, and pass. It usually does. The only thing that's truly effective is the pain medication I'm on, but I'm not in any position to request an increase. I've got a good doctor right now and he does what he can, of course within the restrictions imposed upon him that limit his abilities. It's really just so damn frustrating, not being able to identify the root of the pain. I can't help but genuinely wonder if I'd be subjected to this if I were not incarcerated and had good insurance and doctors?

You see, my doctor can only do so much here behind these walls for a number of reasons. Resources are practically non-existent and anything he wants to do, it's first scrutinized and questioned. And if it's okayed then he has to outsource it to an outside specialist and hospital. And quite often the specialists will either "shoot it down" or use it as an opportunity to run up a bill and bill it to the state. That is, they'll admit me for several days, or a week, run a load of expensive but pointless tests that they've run before. So I'm shackled to a bed and they always either discontinue, or significantly reduce my pain management to ineffective dosage.

So my doctor here is very limited in what he can do without ultimately risking his own employment. You push too hard to provide adequate health care to us animals and it won't be long before you're seeking employment elsewhere.

Philosophically, it's really an interesting dilemma. Especially for a Marxist, or one well acquainted with "the unification of opposites." As we know, the prison system as an appendage of the "state apparatus", is in its very essence, that is, by its "nature," an oppressive institution.

All doctors take a Hippocratic oath and although the oath is subjectively interpreted, the practice of medicine is objective, and the practice of medicine in its "essence" (nature) is irreconcilably opposed to the essence of the prison system and its very existence.

So any doctor employed by the state (prison) is in direct opposition to the very essence of its employers. This is an objective phenomenon that exists whether one is conscious of this inter-connection of opposing tendencies, or not.

Ultimately the doctor will either submit and capitulate to the interests, i.e. trajectory, of the state through a slow process of indoctrination that occurs both subtlety and conspicuously, consciously and subconsciously, as well as from their own experience that they will have with those prisoners around them. And this is the greatest influence on them. I have to admit that I have a tremendous amount of respect for those doctors that do last as long as some of them do when I see how some (most) of these "inmates" act. (notice my distinction of inmate vs. convict).

Anyway, my doctor is in a no-win position. He does what he can without jeopardizing his job security. And although you and I would without a second thought, push and fight until we were unemployed, in these circumstances we are in the minority.

MIM(Prisons) adds: This is just another example of how the oppressed struggle for day-to-day survival under capitalism, despite some principles like the Hippocratic oath. In every issue of ULK we print a statement discussing a better form of justice that will be implemented under the dictatorship of the proletariat. We often talk about Chinese prisons during the socialist period of 1949- 1976. The most in-depth reports we have of those conditions come from the former emperor and collaborator with the Japanese occupiers who slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Chinese people, and two Amerikan students imprisoned for spying for their country.(1) Both stress the fair treatment they received, and being fed adequate food in times when food was not always in adequate supply for the whole population. Meanwhile, in the heart of excess, in the United $tates, we have prisoners suffering from lack of basic needs.

It is obvious that this system has no interest in serving the oppressed. But what might not be so obvious is how prisons can and have been used in states that are of and by the oppressed. While a socialist state will use force to repress those who attempt to restore exploitation and oppression, the goal is to build communism. Therefore everyone is to be included in the benefits of society, and even the former class enemies will be won over by fair and humane treatment while being struggled with politically. That is what it looks like to engage in a project to abolish class differences. The key difference is the class in charge. It is only when the proletariat seizes the state from bourgeois rule that we will see systems that truly serve all people. Until then such claims are just political sloganeering.

On 18 October 2015, an early twenty-something Eritrean migrant by the name of Habton Zerhum, was unjustly shot by an Israeli security guard and then beaten by a mob of racist Israeli vigilantes in the town of Beersheba. He later died from his wounds. Zerhom's murder was the result of an earlier event where an Arab-Israeli citizen with a gun and knife allegedly killed an Israeli soldier, stole his weapon and opened fire on a crowd, injuring nine. In the mayhem that followed, a video shows Zerhom crawling for cover when a security guard walks up and shoot him at close proximity. As Zerhom lay in a pool of his own blood, he is cursed, kicked and hit with a rack of chairs by a racist mob of Israeli Jews. It was later reported that the security guard mistook Zerhom for an attacker.

According to other news reports Zerhom worked in a plant nursery and was in Beersheba to renew his work visa. Zerhom, who migrated to Israel to seek a better way of life, "was a modest man, quiet, and he tried to do his job as best as he could" said his employer, Sagi Malachi.

Immediately following the incident, Yaakov Amidror, former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, "It is a disgrace to Israeli society, and those that carried out this lynching need to be found and brought to justice." What is interesting is that Amidror used the word lynching to describe the brutal murder of Zerhom but not the murders of thousands of Palestinian people since 1947.

The settler "state" of Israel has been rocked by knife-wielding Arab-Israeli protestors reacting to rumors that the Israeli government was planning to ban Palestinians from accessing Jerusalem's Temple Mount which is home to Islam's third most holiest site - the Al-aqsa Mosque. Israel has occupied this site since 1967. But the current Arab-Israeli conflict is rooted far beyond Israeli occupation of the Temple Mount. It is rooted in historical land-theft, genocide and colonization of the Palestinian people by the imperialist Israeli settler state. Israel's rise to power and dominance in Palestine began in the late 1800's when European Jews formed a movement called zionism which sought to establish a Jewish state in Palestine. Jews began arriving en masse in Palestine in the early 1900s, angering the Arab population who had been the majority in the region since AD 600. In 1947, to quell a potential uprising by Arab Palestinians, the United Nations proposed dividing the region into an Arab state and a Jewish state, which the Palestinians rejected of course. Not to be deterred from inhabiting a land which it felt it was entitled based upon Biblical prophecy, the settler state of Israel forcibly came into being on 14 May 14 1948.

The Palestinian intifadas (uprisings) are a natural reaction to almost seven decades of brutal Israeli occupation of their homeland. Palestinian revolutionary nationalism developed as a response to Zionism and its frequent land-thefts and unauthorized settlement expansions into Palestinian territories. But Israel's bullying, colonization and subjugation of the Palestinian people wouldn't be possible without the nearly $3 billion Israel receives annually in U.S. military aid. This aid guarantees the United States a strategic military ally in the Middle East. Clearly the U.S. government is an accomplice to the crime of genocide committed by Israel against defenseless Palestinian men, women and children.

Don't think it's genocide? According to the "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948, genocide means "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, such as: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group." Taking the United Nations's definition of the crime of genocide into consideration, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the settler state of Israel is committing mass genocide against the Palestinian people via outright murder, bombing campaigns, embargoes, land thefts, forced migrations, unlawful arrests and detentions, etc. A Jewish people who once suffered genocide at the hands of Hitler and his Nazi regime have themselves assumed the role of neo-Nazis by committing genocide upon the Palestinians because of their ethnic-Arab background and Muslim and Christian beliefs.

The Israeli colonialism/imperialism that the Palestinian people are confronted with on a daily basis is equal in its intensity and brutality to the English, French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese and american variety which nearly wiped out entire populations of Indigenous natives in Central and South America beginning in 1492; the abduction of Africans from their homeland in the 15th century; the lynchings and mass slavery and incarceration of Blacks beginning in 1619; and the colonial oppression which the Haitian people successful resisted during the Haitian revolution from 1790-1802, leading to their independence and the establishment of the first Black Republic in the world in 1804.

Those of us who embrace and practice revolutionary internationalism must stand in solidarity with the Palestinians and oppressed people all over the world who are engaged in national liberation struggles for their right to self-determination. All power to the Palestinian people!

Last week I received a visit from Deputy Superintendent Ondrejka, who is the head of the security department of this institution. He told me that he received word that I'm having some "undesirable contacts" sent to me in education materials. He stated that the mailroom supervisor is a Christian and that she feels offended when she sees communist materials in the mail when she searches it. Ondrejka said that he is aware that a lot of my communist mail is burned by the mail lady, even though it is illegal to do so.

When I asked Ondrejka if he is going to stop it from happening again, he said "Why should I? Stop getting things like that sent in and you won't have to worry about your mail being burnt." I stated to Ondrejka that I find it funny that the mail lady, who claims to be a Christian, gets offended at political study material, but lets all types of pornography in to inmates via the same channels. Ondrejka said that he could care less about the smut, he is concerned about the communist literature that gets sent into his prison. He told me that the administration is about to start cracking down on anarchist and communist materials, and start labeling those who possess them as Security Threat Group (STG). He said that any further MIM literature will be stopped and deemed contraband.

This being said, I can see for myself just how critical political study really is. If the slavemasters are threatened by it, then it must have incredible worth. I am a firm believer that knowledge is the ultimate power, the greatest weapon there is. The pigs try to stop real education in the gulags, because they know that when we have a true education and know the truth about the way things really are, they are defeated.

I call all my fellow prisoners to arm yourselves: not with knives or guns, but with educational resources - knowledge. With these weapons we can defeat the powers of imperialism and capitalism! I salute all of my fellow comrades who are fighting the pigs on a consistent basis. I am right here on the battlefield with you. The pigs censored my first study assignment from MIM(Prisons), but I will not give up! My motto is and always will be resist, resist, resist! I want to thank MIM(Prisons) for giving me ground to stand on in this political battle we are fighting. I look forward to receiving more from MIM(Prisons).

MIM(Prisons) responds: We agree with this comrade that knowledge is a very powerful weapon in our advance toward communism, and it is essential to a successful movement against all oppression. However knowledge alone is not going to enable us to defeat the powers of imperialism and capitalism. When we are strong enough and the conditions are right, we will be forced to pick up knives and guns in order to assert power over the oppressors — they won't have it any other way.

We distribute a Censorship Pack, which has basic information on how to fight censorship of political materials. The mailroom staff in this anecdote is acting in complete violation of established caselaw on the issue of censorship in prisons. Below is an excerpt from the Censorship Pack, citing relevant caselaw.

"The decision to censor or withhold delivery of a particular letter must be accompanied by minimum procedural safeguards against arbitrariness or error." Procunier v. Martinez, 416 U.S.396. 94 S.Ct 1800
"Wardens may not reject a publication 'solely because its content is religious, philosophical, political, social[,] sexual, or . . . unpopular or repugnant,' or establish an excluded list of publications, but must review each issue of a subscription separately." Thornburgh v. Abbott, 490 U.S. 401
"When a prison regulation restricts a prisoner’s First Amendment right to free speech, it is valid only if it is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests." Lindell v. Frank, 377 F.3d 655, 657 (7th Cir. 2004), citing Turner v. Safely, 482 U.S. 78, 89 (1987).

We are looking forward to continuing to study and struggle with this comrade, in whatever way is possible. It might mean fighting off this illegal censorship first, and our Censorship Pack is a good place to start that battle.

(traducido de Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán, p8-9)

por Cipactli

Los Chican@s dentro de las prisiones de Estados Unido$ están iniciando a sanar de los efectos de los cientos de años de colonialismo. Un indicador de esto es el histórico Acuerdo para Finalizar Hostilidades en las Prisiones en cual fue emitido desde el Security Housing Unit (Unidad de aislamiento de largo tiempo) en la prisión estatal de Pelican Bay, California en el 2012.(1) El hecho de que una guerra que duró más de 40 años entre los Chican@s en las prisiones haya parado es enorme. Ya no permitiremos que el estado nos manipule a emplear crimen entre moreno y moreno, y Chican@s conscientes dedicaremos nuestras vidas en la prisión a mantener este armisticio. Este paso es un movimiento enorme en la dirección a la paz y a la consolidación de la nación. Los Chican@s revolucionarios apoyamos este acuerdo de paz con nuestras vidas.

El proyecto de este libro es otro indicador de un salto en conciencia en la población Chican@ presa, el cual es el resultado del acercamiento y la unidad de Chican@s de los dos extremos de California a pesar de los esfuerzos de Amerikkka para dividimos. Esto es otro índice, el que tengamos pensamiento Chican@ de las regiones norteñas y sureñas de California unidos en este trabajo precioso. ¡Así es como se ve la reconstrucción de la nación!

La nación Chican@, como cualquier otro fenómeno, no es una masa estática y tiene muchas contradicciones. Las contradicciones que brotaron en este proyecto ayudaron a formar y expandir este libro, y se mantiene su fluidez en nuestra búsqueda de la verdad y el camino al futuro. Existen muchas formas de pensamiento Chican@ (Chicanismo) dentro de la nación y por todas las tantas regiones de Aztlán. Es la interacción de la gente con la realidad y el mundo material dondequiera que residan lo que le da nacimiento a su reacción en respuesta. La experiencia en nuestra vida fortalece y afecta nuestro crecimiento y no desafía así como seguramente enciende nuestras luchas. Los Chican@s existen en varios ambientes distintos, algunos más cercanos a México, comunidades blancas, ghettos negros, o a reservaciones. Algunos están conscientes otros no. El entender esta realidad social dentro de la nación es tal vez tan importante como el dedicar la vida de uno a sanar a la nación y el reconstruir a Aztlán. Sin el entendimiento de nuestras condiciones actuales, no podemos movernos hacia adelante.

El tema de este libro entonces puede sumarse mejor como cómo podemos analizar hoy a la nación Chican@ y los desarrollos históricos que están saliendo de las prisiones contemporáneas. Nuestra habilidad de vender nuestras "divisiones" históricas provocadas-por-el-estado como presos Chican@s tal vez puedan ser una contribución para los Chican@s fuera de las pintas quienes puedan estar divididos por contradicciones políticas y regionalismo.

Este proyecto no hubiera tenido éxito en este tiempo sin MIM(Prisiónes). Su duro trabajo debe ser aplaudido porque ayudaron a proveer varias formas de asistencia para este proyecto cuando muchos grupos han descartado a los presos Chican@s como indignos o incorregibles. MIM(prisons) fue extremadamente instrumental facilitando esta colaboración entre Chican@s de los dos extremos de California y el fortalecimiento de nuestros acuerdos de paz. Chican@ Power and the Struggle fro Aztlán (Poder Chican@ y la Lucha por Aztlán) solo pudo ser posible con su tiempo, trabajo y guía ideológica.

Tal vez no viviremos para ver nuestro trabajo ser victorioso, pero no lo hacemos por esto. Alguien dijo una vez "Tu no ganas, tú cambias el mundo" y supongo con este proyecto no contamos con ganar hoy pero si esperamos en crear un cambio para la nación Chican@, y, como un resultado, para el mundo.

Como Chican@s comunistas entendemos que pequeño regionalismo y etiquetas derivadas imperialistas son veneno para la nación. Este proyecto no es más que un preludio de lo que viene de parte del re-encendimiento del movimiento Chican@.

¡Aztlán libre!

[Hook]
My way might not be your way
But it’s okay
It’s alright, your way might not be my way
But it’s okay
It’s alright


[Stic.man]
Yea, I used to go to church
But the church didn’t quench my thirst
Mama taught me to put god first
But she never tried to block my search
I was curious, young but serious
Why's religion so mysterious
Why is black life so hard?
They say you’re not supposed to question God
Well is it okay to question the pastor?
Was it passed down from the slave-master?
It was only the truth I was after
But I never could get a straight answer
So I couldn’t relate to the sermon
Put down the bible, then I start learning
About life, didn’t know where the path would lead
But I had to get off my knees


[Hook]


[Stic.man]
I build with the Five Percenters
On the God within us, it’s no limits
Study the Metu Neter from Kemet
All saw, I remembered
Smoke herb with the Rastafarians
Grew my locks became a vegetarian
Following the Tao, building with the Baba Laos
Jewels being handed to a innocent child
My mind is a Buddhist temple, the truth is simple
I try to be principled
Walking with a warrior spirit
Ain’t nothing like learning from first hand life experience
I’m a realist, that’s all I deal with
Respect the truth, that’s all I build with
A child of the universe
My religion is life and it’s just as valid
I strive for balance


[Hook]


[M-1]
I gotta admit, I don’t know
In the end which way it’s gonna go
Why we sit by the project window,
Instead of living off the land with my kin folk?
Is there even a master plan?
An unseen hand? Is God a man?
Some say that’s sacrilegious
Same folks selling us lies about Christmas
Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny
Just so the capitalists can make money
They say God will take care of it
But you a terrorist if you say the same thing in Arabic
It’s so hypocritical
It’s a miracle, listen to the message in the spirituals
Wade in the water, I’m following Ms. Tubman and Nat Turner
I'm praying for my freedom
and heading for the border


[Hook: x3]

On November 16 I received a disciplinary report (DR) for possession of gang related paraphernalia from notes from the Black Panther Party 10 point program, "What We Want and What We Believe", and a quote from comrade Stokeley Charmichael: "The only way we are gonna stop them white men from whuppin' us is to take over, what we are gonna start saying now is Black Power."

So now I gotta fight this DR, written not only in retaliation, but in an attack against my first amendment protected political belief. Not only that, the Sergeant claims they confiscated the notebook during a search of my cell. Camera evidence will show that this pig did not show up until called, when I refused to re-enter the cell without due process (my confiscation receipt). In fact it wasn't really a cell search, they knew what they were coming for.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade has been active in the fight against censorship and to ensure access to political material in Florida, so it is no surprise that ey is the target of this repression campaign. We hope eir undying dedication to the fight, even when it brings down more repression, is an inspiration to others to learn their legal rights, and never give up demanding those rights be properly recognized by the injustice system.

As I watch how imperialism, capitalism, and religion are destroying people's lives all over the world, it makes me think twice about supporting a cause which has no merit. I was once a supporter of the petty bourgeoisie, and a firm believer in religion and capitalism. Then I was thrown into the belly of oppression and I noticed how religion divided all those under the spell of supporting a system which brings death and destruction.

Religion is even now being used as a decoy to what's really going on. You have an imperialist holy war going on now, Islam vs. Christianity. But it's not really a holy war, it's a war for land and raw materials. I believe the Saudi's and United States care less about Islam and Christianity, it's more about oppression and exploitation of oppressed nations all over. The imperialists use the media as a tool to spread propaganda, calling anti-imperialists terrorist.

MIM(Prisons) adds: This comrade is right that religion is used as a decoy to distract people from their oppression and from the truth about imperialism. Religion has been an effective tool of capitalism, and before capitalism it served the feudal oppressors and the slave owners. Oppressed people are told to accept their suffering and pray for redemption in an afterlife rather than fighting back against their oppressors. Over time the form of the god or gods to worship has changed, but the substance has never been there. We can not afford to wait for a mystical being to punish the oppressors and liberate the oppressed. And we certainly should not be taken in by religious propaganda that fosters hate of one religion (i.e. Islam) because it is more popular among the oppressed, as a justification for imperialist military excursions.

Sitting back and just observing everyone who I have encountered while in prison, I would say one man comes to mind because he truly inspired me. Deauce is a true socialist and freedom fighter. Within the Arkansas Department of Corrections at the East Arkansas Regional Unit, we are housed in open barracks with about 75 prisoners to a barrack. Deuce looks out for everyone and helps anyone that he can assist. Regardless of your race he'll help you out. Whether it's help with writing a grievance, or you just need a radio to listen to the news or a movie, he'll make sure you even have food or coffee if you don't have money to buy commissary. Others call him hustle-man because he's always hustling up stuff for new prisoners or others in general. In my eyes he has demonstrated the true meaning of a freedom fighter. Watching him in action has encouraged me and allowed me to see how others react to a socialist in action.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This essay came in response to our call for people to write about the freedom fighters who have inspired them. And this is a good reminder that our actions every day have a big impact on others. Revolutionaries should strive to serve the people and demonstrate the principles of our ideology in practice. We can take people like Deuce as a good example of our starting point, but we need to go further and tie our work serving the people to our work educating the people about why we do this work, and why they should get involved too. Otherwise we can get bogged down by the charity aspect, leaving the revolutionary purpose behind.

A good example of this is the Black Panther Party's Serve the People Breakfast for Schoolchildren program. The BPP fed many children who otherwise were going to school hungry, a problem that interfered with their ability to learn. And while they were providing this food, the BPP also provided revolutionary education, turning these kids on to a way of thinking they weren't exposed to in public schools. Freedom fighters are found all around us, and we commend this comrade for calling out the value of the everyday work done by Deauce in serving the people.

This is just an attachment to give you a slightly more detailed update of some of the conditions we experience here on Telford Unit in Ad-Seg.

1. Lack of access to the law library. We are able to request material 3 days a week but during any lockdown and the duration thereof, all access is suspended and non-existent.

2. The indigent mail program. Not only are we now limited to 5 letters a month but our mailroom here has taken these limitations even further at various times. Example: If a prisoner only uses 4 of his indigent letters in a month, then he is denied the full 5 envelopes the following month. Prisoners are required to "justify" all requests of carbon paper, which must also be returned upon receiving new ones. All of these mail restrictions are clear attempts at silencing prisoners and limiting their socialization with the outside world.

3. We have a major rat infestation. Literally, so many rats running around that they are visible at almost any given time. They leave trails of feces and this includes inside our cells if the bottom of our cell doors are not blocked. They are also known to cause damage to personal property. Rats are carriers of various organisms and disease that cause health problems. This is clearly an indication of unsanitary and inhumane conditions.

4. Many of our cells are less than fully functioning. Water buttons not fully functional, and even sometimes not at all for long periods of time. Cell lights are not fully functional, causing eyesight problems and not being able to read and write at night time.

5. Serving us spoiled food on a regular basis with no attempt whatsoever to rectify the situation. This is undeserved and unjust deprivation.

6. We also experience the "torturous methods" used as described by the brother at Pelican Bay in California in ULK 47. All movement is supposed to stop at 10 p.m. But they do their "security checks" by entering the pod through crash gates, crossover doors, shining flashlights in on us, and asking us to move around to "show we are alive."

Upon reading ULK 46 I was once again reminded of the difficulties that us prisoners face trying to have our grievances heard. I would like to share with ULK readers a remedy for this issue that I have discovered.

Pursuant to Powe v. Ennis, 177 F.3d 393 (5th Circuit 1999); and Lewis v. Washington, 300 F.3d 829 (7th Cir. 2002), if prison officials refuse to hear your grievance, your administrative remedies are exhausted. You do not need a response to your grievance to pursue your issue in the courts. You need only prove that you filed the respective grievance.

This can easily be done. First, after you have written your grievance fill out a Proof of Service form stating that on such-and-such date you sent so-and-so a grievance regarding such-and-such issue. After you have filled out the Proof of Service form get it notarized at your facility's law library. Secondly make sure to make copies of both your grievance and the Proof of Service form to keep in your files. Finally, repeat this process at every level of your state's grievance system.

For example: In Illinois there is a three-step grievance system. I have personally used this method in the past (successfully). First, I filed my grievance with my counselor; next I filed it with my institution's grievance office; then I filed it with the Administrative Review Board. Each time I filed my grievance I also filed a Proof of Service form. By doing so I was able to show the Court that I had attempted to resolve my claims through the grievance process. This resulted in the court siding with me and denying the State's Motion for Summary Judgement. I am enclosing proof of this method's success for MIM(Prisons) to verify.

Although this is not the ideal solution it is one that will allow prisoners to pursue their legal matters without being obstructed by the Capitalist swine.

Example Proof Of Service

Hereby comes [your name] to swear under penalty of perjury that on the date signed below I sent the [prison name] Grievance Officer a grievance dated [date] concerning the misplacement of my TV and Norelco Razor by prison authorities through the institutional level mail service.

Executed this ___ day of _____ [month] ________ [year]

_________________________________ [signature]

[get this stamped and signed by a notary public.]

MIM(Prisons) adds: This is a helpful update to the country-wide grievance campaign and likely is a tactic that can be used in states other than Illinois. How "easily" this tactic can be employed depends on the conditions of one's confinement. As some prisoners are held in 24-hour lockdown, with no access to a law library, and the only receipt offered for filing a grievance is another beating from prison guards, they might not be able to easily employ this tactic. But for many prisoners, this might be a stepping stone from having one's grievances altogether ignored, to getting one's foot in the door in the courts.

Many people have requested copies of our state-specific petitions to demand grievances be addressed after running into problems with the grievance system. From all the petitions we have sent out, we've heard few updates about the progress on this campaign. It's important that we sum up our political practice and learn from it. And through this summing up we can determine how to best modify our practice to improve it. We call this ongoing summing up and improving of our practice "dialectical materialism." This is a scientific approach to our political work that enables us to learn from doing, and when we do this summing up publicly, through a newspaper like Under Lock & Key, we can apply these lessons across a broad base of organizers and be far more effective in the work that we are all doing.

So if you use, or have used, the above tactic, be sure to tell ULK if it helped you, or what you did to improve it. That way we can all learn from each others' practice to improve our own.