Federal Prisons

MIM(Prisons)'s 2015 congress was marked by some major successes and growth in our work over the past year. We reached our goal from 2013 of doubling Under Lock & Key subscribers; helped write and edit Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán; and we took up the Strugglen Artists Association project and collected and distributed some great art both behind bars and on the streets. We have continued to support and build prisoner education, running both beginner and advanced correspondence study groups, sending in many political magazines and books, and supporting more than 30 prisoner-led study groups. Our focus in the coming year will be in building on these successes: printing and distributing the Chican@ Power book, expanding prisoner-led study groups, and building more United Struggle from Within (USW)-led campaigns.

All of this project-based work remains focused on our primary goal: serving the oppressed in prisons within the United $tates, while working from the vantage point of the Third World proletariat. We recognize that imperialism is the number one enemy of the majority of the world's people, and we are fighting from within the belly of the beast in the advanced stage of imperialism, where the majority of the people living within U.$. borders have been bought off with the spoils of capitalist profits. This petty-bourgeois population does not support our revolutionary organizing, and we cannot rely on them for the finances or labor needed to keep this struggle moving forward. So we focus our public opinion building on prisoners, who have a lot to gain from an end to Amerikkkan imperialism.

Growth and Finances

Over the past year we have seen a 70% growth in our Under Lock & Key (ULK) subscribers. But with this success comes the new challenge of paying for the increased printing and mailing costs. The overall cost to send out ULK is up 60% in July 2015 compared with July 2014. Subscriber funding of ULK increased by 64% over the same period, a very good trend, but all of that money went towards the cost of the 4 extra pages we printed in issues 39, 42, and the forthcoming ULK 46.

While we were able to print three issues of ULK with 4 extra pages of content, thanks to the funding from comrades behind bars, we will no longer be able to use donations for that purpose. Instead we need to focus all donations on the costs of printing and mailing to our greatly expanded distribution list. We want to see ULK expanded to 20 pages every issue, and we know readers are hungry for these additional pages, but first we will need to greatly expand funding for the publication. To answer the immediate need for more reading material, we offer activists behind bars lots of extra revolutionary lit to study in exchange for any sort of work they can contribute to the struggle. Ultimately this shift is necessary to continue to expand the reach of ULK as our subscriber list continues to grow. It was a difficult decision to stop printing the extra content, but we are doing it to prevent cutting down ULK content even more in the long term.

We need your help to keep up with new subscriptions! At the current rate of donations, prisoner funding for ULK covers only 4% of costs (printing a 16 page publication). In addition to spreading the word, sharing your ULK with others, and encouraging everyone to get their own subscription, we need donations of stamps and checks. We are setting a goal of funding 10% of each issue from subscriber donations. This is an aggressive goal based on our history, but we are confident that it is possible. To put it in perspective, we would meet the 10% funding goal if 1 in 5 subscribers sent in just one stamp a year! (Tell us if you want to send a check so we can send you instructions.)

Opportunisitic Internationalism

In 2013 we initiated the Strategic Confidence section in Under Lock & Key. When this section was launched our editor wrote:

"One important piece of our strategic orientation is the strategic confidence we have from our global class analysis. Basically, our analysis says that the vast majority of the world's people, a solid 80%, will benefit materially from an end to imperialism. This is why we believe anti-imperialism is destined for success. Subjectively, this can be important to keep in mind in an environment surrounded by class enemies or by those with bourgeois consciousness. ... One way i plan to expand the international connections we make is to have a section in each issue to print news snippets on events from the Third World that demonstrate determined resistance and a broad class consciousness that is opposed to imperialism. We hope that our readers find inspiration in this information that you probably aren't getting from other news sources."

In the course of writing these articles we realized that including information highlighting struggles in other parts of the world without going into details and analysis of the situation leads us towards opportunism. It is easy to put out information about people taking actions against their government, but if we fail to investigate the underlying situation in those countries we can end up supporting imperialism rather than national liberation. A good example of this is our article on Burkina Faso printed in ULK 41.(1) While we uphold the people's protests against exploitation and oppression, we can't superficially uphold their President's push into exile only to be replaced by a military leader. The situation is too complex to be summed up in a couple sentences, as it was in our Strategic Confidence feature as we prepared to go to print. Fortunately we caught this error and expanded the article before publication.

To correct this error we are re-orienting the international content in ULK to include at least one internationally-focused article in each issue, which includes more depth of analysis about the situation/region. In these international articles we will favor topics that lend themselves to strategic confidence by highlighting resistance struggles against imperialism. It should also be noted that the international content in ULK was of higher quantity and quality over the previous year largely thanks to a number of United Struggle from Within writers. So we call on their continued efforts to help us meet this goal.

United Struggle from Within

This year we saw tremendous growth in our Texas subscribers, many of whom learned about MIM(Prisons) through the Texas Activist Pack that was created by comrades behind bars. The Texas Activist Pack was put together to help prisoners in that state fight a variety of abuses including the medical co-pay, the indigent mail restrictions and the baseless denials of grievances. This shows us that concretely addressing prisoners' day-to-day struggles is an important way to expand our audience while getting vital organizing tools into the hands of folks who need them. People who get in touch for these resources are staying active with MIM(Prisons) at almost the same rate as those who write directly to get ULK or otherwise get involved in our work.

We want to take this lesson from Texas and apply it to other states by working with USW comrades to build activism packs specific to the needs of prisoners in each state. This will require knowledge about the local struggles and challenges, and work to create resources to help address these problems. In some states like Florida this might be focused on censorship as one of the biggest problems we are fighting there, while in Georgia we know the tier system is a problem that overshadows the lives of everyone locked up in that state. However, we want to be careful not to assume that the biggest problem in a state is the one that we can target with activism packs. These should be potentially winnable battles, around which, through education and distribution of resources, we can have a real impact on the lives of our comrades. Get in touch with us if you have ideas about or can help create a campaign for your state.

I went back to ULK issue 42 to sort out some disputes with the other prisoners and gangs housed in this institution. The problem is that we can't seem to get it together. Mainly those claiming to be a part of an organized entity. Some members say they are for the cause to unite and fight against oppression (within the prison). What drew me back to this issue was the topic of the issue Building Peace with the United Front which speaks about the base of bringing the misled and disorganized together. Yet, in my situation, it's a constant contradiction. Nobody wants to play their part or abide by the agenda and constitutions set out for them. So I am asking you: as a current member of the contradictory organization, do I stay, proclaiming my loyalty, or do I move on? Please help me with this issue. The only thing that I can see me staying for is the true comrades, but I didn't become what I am for the few individuals. I chose my way of life because of the movement. Now I am stuck deciding what is best for me. Well it's been nice sharing my issues with you. I just ask that you give me your best opinion from what you have read.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This is an important question that many folks who are part of lumpen organizations raise as their political consciousness grows. There is often the possibility of educating and building from within an organization, helping to bring the level of political knowledge and organizing work up for the whole group. But sometimes this is not possible, and you find yourself inside an organization that refuses to advance whether this is because of mis-leadership or the conflicting goals of the members. When this happens it may be time to leave the organization and start something new. We should not hold on to blind loyalty when this binds us to reactionary organizations.

This is the difference between scientific leadership and cult leadership. A cult demands blind loyalty and creates a situation that allows for abuse and oppression within the group. In contrast, MIM(Prisons) would tell people they should leave our organization if they believe it has taken a reactionary path. Of course, one should only do so after struggling within the organization to correct its errors. In other words, push the contradictions within the organization to conclusion before just giving up. And while doing so you might study Mao's "On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People."

This comrade asks "what is best for me?" But we would instead ask "what is best for the oppressed people of the world?" If you are in an organization that is not fighting on the side of the oppressed, and is not willing to listen to you when you push them in this direction, then you are wasting your time with this group. If you take action and break with the organization in order to take up the revolutionary struggle, any other progressive individuals inside of this group might be inspired to join you. It's important that you be clear that is it not lack of loyalty that causes you to break with the group, but rather the importance of your goals to serve the people.

MIM(Prisons) disagrees with the organizational model of a single ideological leader (or privileged clique) providing all the instructions and theory for its membership, with the masses submitting to this guidance. This is part of why we are an anonymous organization — to help people overcome the cultural tendency of hero worship. We want everyone to take the ideological development of our movement into their own hands. As we've seen countless times throughout history, raising everyone's political consciousness, as the Chinese Communist Party did under Mao, is essential to ensuring that our revolutionary movement is not usurped by our enemies or our mistakes.

To this end, we run correspondence study courses, and we encourage prisoners to run their own study groups where they're at. Malcolm X, George Jackson, Stanley Tookie Williams, and countless other leaders developed their revolutionary analysis using their time behind bars in U.$. prisons. We follow their example and aim to push forward the political development of all U.$. prisoners; supporting prisoner-led study groups (SGs) is one way we do this.

We help support over 30 SGs in 16 states and the Federal system. Since the SGs are prisoner-run and led, we primarily provide support by sending study materials, including books, magazines, newspapers and study packs. Some of the study packs are collections of essays or source material on a particular topic, and others are questions that go with a magazine or book. With this issue of ULK and our letters to SG leaders, we also aim to provide tactical guidance and suggestions.

In February we sent out a questionnaire to get a better sense of how these SGs are run, their scope, their successes, challenges and needs. About one-third of the SGs we support responded, and here we summarize what we learned.

The number of participants ranges between 1 and 25 people, and most groups have less than 10 regular participants. Some groups are single-nation, but most are mixed-nation, with a mixture of lumpen organization (LO) and ex-LO membership. We see SGs as a good place for building the United Front for Peace in Prisons through practice. One respondent told us:

“The three core members have all had gang affiliations in the past. The two brothers were in the Gangster Disciples or Vice Lords, and the Chicano was in the Latin Kings. But behind bars we have found out who the real enemy is: the U.$. racist imperialist oppressor pigs who run this joint. So we have put our racial differences and gang affiliations aside to fight our common enemy.”

The average time an SG has been together is 2 years, with a range of 2.5 months to 6 years. Most go through study material at similar rates: either one ULK per week, a few chapters of a book every two weeks, or a magazine/book per month. The SGs that have been going the longest reported that individual members teach what they are familiar with, or have assigned areas to become expert. Other groups report that one persyn or a core group will lead the entire study.

SGs have a wide range of structure. The structure of your group should be based on the conditions where you're at, but it should be a universal goal to get a variety of participants engaging in leading the group. Raising the leadership skills of the participants is one way to raise their political level. And since people are moved around all the time, a follower in one SG might need to become the leader in a different facility. If they already have some practice generating study questions, acquiring reading material, and recruiting participants, then the new SG is more likely to be successful. In this way we can use a disruption, such as transfers, to our advantage.

The frequency and reliability of meeting to go over study materials also varies widely. For groups who are in different facilities, or who are in isolation, they “meet” by passing lit and sharing essays they write analyzing the reading material. Most groups reported they meet once a week, some 3 or 5 days a week, and one group said they meet daily. Some reported they meet creatively under the guise of religious services or a tutoring program.

Challenges

Of course one huge barrier to SGs and revolutionary development generally is literacy — your ability to read and write. We know that a significant portion of prisoners are illiterate. Most of our SGs reported they do not spend much energy teaching literacy, and most participants have GEDs or higher. One group even reported that a GED is a minimum requirement to participate. With the abhorrent lack of programming in U.$. prisons, the responsibility of teaching literacy rests primarily on prisoners themselves — each one teach one.

Challenges reported include:

1. Imprisonment problems: infiltration, SHU time, validation
   
2. Study material confiscated/censored
   
3. Insufficient study material
   
4. Lumpen problems: bourgeois politics, punctuality/discipline
   

“Lumpen problems” are those which are prominent among the lumpen class as a whole, which we need to address on a mass scale. We can start working on these problems within our SGs. The institutionalization of the daily routine in prisons leads many to rely on others (their captors) to determine what they do at any given moment. This prevents us from developing the necessary skills of time management and self-discipline. When moved to a less structured environment (e.g, from SHU to general population, or from prison to the outside) it is difficult to stay committed to projects and it can be as if one is just following the wind. Encouraging self-discipline with work reports and planning in advance is one way to tackle this problem.

Study material being censored and confiscated can possibly be dealt with using the appeal and grievance process, but we also need to assume repression will always come from our oppressor whenever we try to educate ourselves. Since you can't rely on having articles or notes to refer back to, try to read the material multiple times before passing it on. Writing a summary or analysis on the material, even if it's just a few sentences reflecting on an article in ULK, will help you remember it better and think about it more critically. And discussing your reflections with another comrade if possible will help you develop your overall political analysis. So even if the material is stomped on and torn up and "lost" forever, you will have done your best to hold on to it and can hopefully teach those principles to others even without the written words to refer to.

If the main problem in your SG is having material to study, you're in luck, because that's probably the easiest problem to solve! Barring complete censorship of our materials, MIM Distributors can send you literature on a wide range of topics. Send us reports on what questions are coming up in your SG, what conclusions you are drawing from the material you are studying, and how those conclusions can be applied to the struggles in your prison, and we'll hook you up. Encourage your SG participants to sign up for ULK and send us work-trades for lit, such as articles, art, or poetry for the newsletter. You can even pool together your financial resources to purchase books outright.

One of our goals coming from our annual congress is to be supporting 50 SGs across the United $nakes by this time next year. Since the initiative of our subscribers (YOU!) is what determines how many SGs we can support, we are trying to up the support on our end by addressing some of the main challenges identified in responses to our questionnaire. Please share experiences with us that others might be able to apply to their own SGs.

We hope with this issue of ULK to spark some inspiration among our readers to take their usual “I read and love this newsletter, and pass it on!” to step up and sit down with their fellow captives to study. It is not only important for our own immediate tasks of building unity and increasing our knowledge, but it is important so that our actions will have the greatest impact on liberating the majority of the world's people.

I am doing time and slave labor on the Wynne Unit in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). This is an industry unit. Millions of dollars worth of commodities are mass produced by prisoners who receive no type of worthwhile compensation. These items consist of vehicle registration stickers, license plates, mattresses that range from Sealy Posturepedic to college dorm and prisoner beds. Signs are produced for a wide range of functions, and there's a computer recovery warehouse that refurbishes used and discarded units to be sent to high schools and hospitals.

It goes without saying that if everyone decided to lay it down the powers that be would have a serious problem. Yet sadly enough out of the 2,200 prisoners housed here, the number would more than likely be in the double digits only. You have those who don't want to lose their clerk job where they might get a few perks every now and then. Some in the craft shop would put the craft shop first. I do understand why people want to protect their "jobs," but how much longer are we going to stand by and be forced to witness the constant abuse of power?

I have been locked up in segregation unjustly. I've seen my brothers lose their lives which may have been prevented if the COs acted as if they gave a damn. Although we all know they don't. So, we rise early every morning, we are told to work "or else", and god forbid you try to utilize the option to go to school because you are expected to be at work before sunrise even if you are trying to educate your mind and work on your attitude.

It's no secret that the TDCJ's main concern all the way around is money. Ironically our "great state's" prison system is in the negative on funds but will not hesitate to lock someone up over a bullshit parole violation or something nonviolent like theft. And we are being punished daily by the COs and administration who use their position as an opportunity to abuse other human beings and get away with it. Our so-called grievance system is a laugh-out-loud joke, just like TDCJ's good time and work time fiascos.

The reality is that if just one third of our prison population would spend some of those phone minutes on educating our outside support rather than crying about more money for holiday packs and new shoes every 6 months, we might see some difference. Let people know how they can help, without making TDCJ's commissary richer. I like candy and sodas as much as the next guy. What I don't like is getting treated like dog shit just because I'm trying to resolve a problem. The indigent mail issue, the medical copay, the good time, work time and assaults on inmates by guards are but a few of our long list of issues that are not just going to disappear. We will not go quietly into that good night, and we will not back down without a fight.

TDCJ started allowing pagans to have a "service" once a week. We get 1 hour for non-outside-leader peer-to-peer, and 2 hours for groups led by an outside teacher. But the problem is that they don't even follow the policy that they themselves put into place, and 90% of chaplains and corrections officers (COs) are anti-pagan. These so-called Christians are the ones who oppress everybody who is not a Jesus follower. They cannot understand why we, those liberated from a "slave religion," refuse to follow their way. So they oppress us all as "satanists," which is funny when most of us don't even believe in the guy.

The chaplains will "lay us all in" (give a pass) to attend "pagan services" at a pre-determined time and place. It's almost always at count time when no movement is to be allowed, or at shift change when the COs are trying to get gone. So it's impossible to get out the door most of the time. When we do, they expect all of us, Wiccans, Ásatrú/Odinist, Druids, etc., to group up together and do our thing in a common circle. This does not work! We are so different from each other that it would be like making Muslims, Catholics and Christians all group up and have church together. I've had kingsmen (fellow followers) get locked up for asking to speak to the major or warden to get permission to be in separate groups. The unit chaplain didn't like the idea that we may get our way over what he had in mind. We tried to do some simple rites, based on what TDCJ policy lays out that we can do but this was shut down. Administration claimed that we require an outside leader. They don't understand that we don't require a priest or the equal to lead our groups. Most of the time who lead a rite is rotated or chosen by knowledge of the purpose and/or reason for said rite. Most of the simple rites don't require anything more than a cup and bowl, which we can get from unit commissary. But they want to try to oppress us by saying that we can only get together and study our lore during our hour long session.

I want to ask all Texas Pagans to come together and fight to get equal rights as the other religions. It would even be good for any oppressed Pagans of other states to join the movement for our "services." Don't let the powers that be use scare tactics to stop the equal rights. All it takes is a unified front to stand together and it will work in our favor.

I first became exposed to revolutionary theory in prison, although I had been a reader my whole life. Prison has become my classroom for revolutionary knowledge, not because the state ensures this, but because I came in contact with politically conscious prisoners who helped instill a consciousness in me. Groups like MIM helped to fuel my early cultivation through liberatory literature and I was able to engage in study groups throughout my prison journey, facility to facility and yard to yard. Study groups were the key to my own development.

It is a fact that U.S. prisons are used for social control of prisoners, who are mostly from the internal semi-colonies. Colonized people have always been subjected to brutal prison conditions but dialectical materialism teaches us that we can transform our environment, including prisons. In order to revolutionize these modern day slave kamps we need to study to revolutionize ourselves.

How Study Groups Help People

People are social beings, and as strong-minded and determined as we think we are, the truth is we learn best through interacting with our environment and especially other people. We learn best by discussion and debate. Asking questions helps us get answers, and when we are having trouble grasping a concept, studying with others allows us to learn. Teaching others also helps the teacher to learn themselves. The study group facilitates all of this.

In my own experience with study groups within U.$. prisons I have found that besides developing one's own political thought, study groups also teach one how to interact with others and what are the best ways to translate or explain our social reality to the people. We should understand that in many ways those of us who study political science and engage in study groups within prisons operate like political organizations out in society that do outreach to the masses, only our fellow prisoners are the masses.

Just as our counterparts outside prison walls constantly attempt to learn from the masses in order to better help the masses, we should do the same with our study groups. As prisoners, those of us who are conscious must revolutionize these dungeons. We have boots on the ground, and study groups within prisons should develop programs which help educate all of the prison masses, not just those involved in a study group. In this sense a study group can serve as the vanguard in their facility.

Study groups have helped me understand my oppression and the oppression of Aztlán, and through them I have become a better persyn. Understanding politics and theory has given me purpose and has helped me to help other prisoners to better their existence. In short I have not just learned about hystory, as when I study alone, but I have learned different methods of using the lessons of hystory to revolutionize the future.

How do study groups operate?

Depending on one's facility, study groups take on various formations. I have experienced many, from formal groups studying political science while on the mainline where one can meet face to face on the yard and discuss different aspects of society, to yelling through an air vent to people I couldn't see.

I was in one spot where every few days someone picked a different country and we discussed all of the uprisings in that country. People would search old magazines, books or newspapers to find anything on that country.

Another study group I participated in was in a facility that was highly restrictive with revolutionary literature. Since none of us was too politically educated we got whatever newspapers or progressive magazines we could, and we would discuss the articles, and attempt to apply them to other aspects of society.

Prison Study Groups in Maoist China

If we look to Mao's China, and specifically to the time of the Cultural Revolution, we will see that every level of society was touched by Maoism, even the prisons. When I read about prisons in Mao's China I learn why it is that Maoism is considered the highest stage that socialism has developed so far.

Though frequently badmouthed in the imperialist media for their re-education practice, these prisons focused on the political education of inmates. Most people behind bars had committed serious crimes against the people (landlords who murdered peasants, people who spied for Amerika, government officials who abused their power), and so this education helped prisoners understand how their actions affected others and why they should want to work towards a society where people do not have the power to oppress and exploit others.(1)

The study groups developed by prisoners during the Cultural Revolution involved thought reform. This means understanding why one has particular thoughts and finding ways of correcting incorrect ideas. This was reforming one's errors on levels that many of us cannot even imagine. It was a process of dialectics where prisoners would study the essence of their actions and behaviors. They would also engage in criticism-self-criticism where they would look into their own errors or the errors of others so that they all learned and evolved as a group.

The prison study groups in Maoist China did not conduct criticism-self-criticisms in order to ridicule or bully people; instead it was done to really point out the error and get the persyn to understand their error. One cannot change a behavior if one does not know or truly believe that they are committing an error in the first place. What we must understand is every prison in Mao's China had these daily study groups, which were fully supported by the people's government. In this way prisoners learned and became better people because of the study groups. They became people who went on to help build the revolution.

In contrast to Mao's China, here in U.$. prisons we are simply warehoused. We are placed in a cell where we are taught nothing, and this is done for years and decades. If we are lucky we are released and come out the same or worse than we went in. We don't learn from the state because under capitalism they don't have any use for us other than filling a cell. And when we try to form study groups we are punished and our studies are falsely labeled as gang activity or security threat activities. This is the difference between a Maoist society and a capitalist society; one heals people, the other destroys people.

All of this was part of the political line of China under Mao which put into practice the theory that people can learn from their mistakes and become productive members of society if they take study and self-criticism seriously. In Amerika's prisons today we find the oppressed rather than the oppressors, but there is still an important role for self-criticism in the anti-people actions of many lumpen. And the study of political theory is especially criticial to the oppressed as we hone our understanding of how to fight back against the oppressors.

When speaking about education Mao stressed: "Our educational policy must enable everyone who receives an education to develop morally, intellectually and physically and become a worker with both socialist consciousness and culture."(2)

Mao reminds us that education is to make us better people. In the above quote he describes education being used to help people become workers. Although we are lumpen, education can help us become lumpen with socialist consciousness and culture.

What are the difficulties?

Forming or participating in study groups is not easy. There are many obstructions we have to deal with. As most know, U.$. prisons unleash political repression in the guise of upholding their laws. They criminalize political organizing and revolutionary activity of the imprisoned captives by labeling it "gang activity" or "security threat group activity."

There were times when I would get a good group of people together and we would have a good study group going and then the prison, out of nowhere, would move people out of the building or section, scrambling the housing population and dismantling the study group. The study group is disrupted, but this only means that we need to start over.

Sometimes I would be somewhere and gather lots of notes on political articles or uprisings and I would use these for groups, only to have my cell searched and all of my notes trashed, with a guard noting "gang notes." Likewise I would acquire a good selection of revolutionary books only to be transferred to another prison and in the process all of my political books would be "lost."

Once I was in a control unit where the prison put me and a New Afrikan next to each other and everyone else in the unit was juiced up on psyche meds kicking their door all day. The prison did this to further isolate us from our nations. So we formed a study group together and discussed ULK and other books. When things get repressive we need to keep studying and educating each other, no matter how hard it is.

Study groups can also be done through the mail. MIM(prisons) facilitates some of the best study groups I have encountered. But this invites censorship and sometimes harassment from the prison staff. We have to understand that learning about our own repression and about communist theory is something the state seeks to prevent. Prisoners learning about revolutionary theory scares the state because it means we will learn and turn theory into practice, against them.

What's it all for?

We should understand that repression will happen regularly. This is why studying is so important, so that when our mail is censored we have books and literature to fuel our study groups. And when our lit and books are "lost" we can remember our lessons and teach others key concepts like dialectical and historical materialism. We can help other prisoners understand why we need a united front or how the oppressed within U.$. borders developed as nations. We will know all of this and what kind of program we will need to liberate the people because of what we learned in our study groups.

What we do today and how we spend our time in these dungeons will determine what the future of these dungeons will look like. At the same time study groups should produce theory and theory should produce practice. We are not studying to be armchair revolutionaries, we are studying in order to ultimately join the oppressed of the world in smashing imperialism.

El movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos ha llegado a estar a la cabeza en la lista del FBI como grupo domestico-terrorista en los Estados Unidos por rehusarse a cooperar con el gobierno. Las personas de este movimiento adoptan una independencia artificial como una nación y se rehusan a presentar impuestos, llevar cualquier tipo de licencia, o tener una tarjeta del seguro social. La pregunta es, ¿Donde coloca el movimiento anti-imperialista a estos individuos y como se compara su planteamiento de liberación a el del Marxismo-Leninismo-Maoismo?

Esta reportado que más de 300,000 personas se declaran ciudadanos soberanos en los Estados Unidos, y está pronosticado a ser uno de los movimientos con más rápido crecimiento en la historia de E.E.U.U. (1) Así que esta es una cuestión razonable el preguntar si estas personas se dirigen a algo o no.

Parece que el movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos es actualmente una mezcla de grupos oprimidos de la nación, burgueses nacionalistas, y mezquinas organizaciones burguesas a través de los Estados Unidos. Por ejemplo, las organizaciones que afirman ser ciudadanos soberanos están los grupos New Afrika, como la nación Moro, la nación Mawshakh de Nuurs, y la nación Washitaw, ambas Islámicas y Hebraicas. Luego están allí los Blancos nacionalistas, responsables por publicaciones y transmisiones de programas para el movimiento: desde la Embajada del Heaven, el Grupo Aware, La Republica de Texas, Rightway Law, Freedom Bound International, Y Amen-Ra BTO Inc.; y personalidades como David W. Miller, Charles Weisman, Alfred Adask, George Gordon, y Brent Johnson.

La Clase Torpe en Búsqueda de Respuestas

El rumor de ciudadanos soberanos en prisión fue escuchado primero por el autor en el 2009, promovida por una variedad de torpes prisioneros pretendiendo ser poseedores de carnet y miembros de abogados encarcelados y del Gremio Nacional de Abogados. Ellos afirman poseer el misterioso conocimiento, el cuál utilizado en cortes de E.E.U.U. resultaría en riquezas de acuerdos financieros, también como el potencial de una salida prematura para prisioneros quienes hayan aprendido el oficio para descifrar el código descrito como redención.

Los torpes en los Estados Unidos, por lo general siempre están buscando un surgimiento, pero raramente consideran a que costo resurgirán. Éllos, en general creen que si pueden aumentar su economía clandestina pueden liberarse a si mismos. Este punto de vista es producto de la relación del capitalismo de los torpes perteneciendo a semicolonias internas. Los torpes están excluidos de la próspera economía imperialista global, dando todavía pruebas de esa riqueza por estas economías clandestinas que además proporcionan una ilusión actuando afuera del sistema. Parece que la popularidad del movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos en las prisiones pueden ser explicadas de esta manera; con la diferencia de que esta, actualmente pretende estar basada en la ley.

Con estas promesas de riquezas, estatus, independencia y dominio de sí mismo, torpes prisioneros no son culpados por ponerse en fila para recibir lo que ellos han sido mentalizados a saber, así siendo liberados. Sin embargo, ellos son advertidos que no todo lo que brilla es oro. Lo que vemos en juego, es la principal contradicción que define la clase torpe en nuestra sociedad: las tendencias individualistas surgen a costas de otros que son requeridos de una clase excluida dentro de una economía capitalista, y la necesidad de una acción colectiva para vencer estas condiciones y alcanzar una libertad verdadera. Aún vemos organizaciones como New Afrika promoviendo las ideas de ciudadanía soberana apropiandose de las ideas de movimientos de liberación nacional también. Pero en vez de que peleen por liberación nacional de New Afrika, ellos definen su nación en maneras oportunistas como si una nación es algo que cualquier grupo de gente puede crear solo de aire ligero. Reconocemos naciones como fenómeno científico, que existe en el mundo real y son definidos como un grupo de personas con una cultura, territorio, lenguaje y economía común.

Es importante que torpes prisioneros empiecen a escoger las cosas correctas, las cuáles ellos personalmente hayan analizado examinado, investigado, y reverenciado en realidad en el método de materialismo dialéctico. Torpes prisioneros tienen una problema en las áreas de estas ultimas cuatro palabras claves: analizado, examinado, investigado y reverenciado. Este fracaso es la causa principal de las circunstancias materiales que lleva a las divisiones entre torpes prisioneros individualistas contra comunidades de prisioneros auto suficientes luchando por liberación dentro del movimiento a la independencia nacional. Además, con frecuencia los torpes prisioneros consiguen algo, o se enteran de algo por otro prisionero y ellos solo corren esto propagando algo que ellos desconocen y mal informan a otros. El movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos se ha beneficiado de esta tendencia.

¿De qué se trata ciudadanos soberanos?

Torpes prisioneros en la nación opresora de origen blanco, probablemente pueden describir una historia más clara de este movimiento, comenzando en algún lugar en los años 60s para desafiar la legitimidad de las leyes de impuestos y del mismo gobierno de E.E.U.U. Esto es incierto si la mayoría de prisioneros oprimidos en la nación pueden describir los grupos fundados de Oregon y California, como el Posee Comitatus, el cuál esta basado en una rigurosa y absurda supremacía blanca.

La filosofía del movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos está basada en la teoría de que el gobierno de E.E.U.U. está operando una fraudulenta entidad comercial que esta insolentada y endeudada con naciones extranjeras. Muchos grupos del movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos están de acuerdo con esta idea en que el gobierno original de E.E.U.U. de la America Colonial estaba basado en la ley común Británica como un gobierno de ley. Después de la Guerra Civil supuestamente se desarrollo un gobierno de facto secundario a estos gobiernos anteriores de colonizadores, comunes en el estado.

Cuando ellos dicen de ley, ellos quieren decir legales y por lo tanto legítimos. En contraste, de facto significa que existe, pero este no es oficial. Esto es común, referirse a un gobierno de facto después de una guerra civil para implicar que las cosas no han sido solucionadas, ni el orden ha sido restaurado. Lo que esa orden es por supuesto, es una cuestión política en símisma. La dictadura sobre los capitalistas en el sur, por los capitalistas de los estados norteños después de la guerra civil fue una era progresiva que marcó el fin de la esclavitud y forzó la integración de colonizadores blancos, aunque mucho del progreso en integración fue más tarde regresada al pasado por la fuerzas reaccionarias y demostró un total fracaso. Por lo tanto, la cuestión de legitimidad del gobierno de la post-guerra civil en los Estados Unidos tenía una clara conexión a este movimiento reaccionario en desarrollo por la supremacía blanca en Norteamérica. Mientras estas fuerzas ven los derechos de independencia y estado como un medio para mantener su privilegio nacional, las semi-colonías internas son atraídas a luchas de liberación nacional (y por lo tanto otras políticas de control local) como medio para terminar la opresión nacional que es el otro lado de la moneda dialéctica. Para tener una nación opresora, tu tienes que tener al menos una nación oprimida.

Muchos soberanos proponentes, como los Whitten Printers, violan la Decimocuarta Enmienda hasta el más mínimo común denominador. Ellos argumentan que ésta fue creada por el gobierno de facto en orden para nacionalizar esclavos negros con derechos comparables a los derechos constitucionales inalienables de colonizadores blancos y ciudadanos del estado, llevándonos a la pregunta de que si ellos están leyendo los mismos libros de historia como el resto de nosotros, luchando por autodeterminación.
Estos ciudadanos soberanos afirman que ellos no están sujetos al proceso de nacionalización para llegar a ser ciudadanos federales bajo le Decimocuarta Enmienda del gobierno de facto, porque ellos no fueron esclavos, ellos no son negros y ellos nunca firmaron algún acuerdo o contrato con el gobierno de facto. Básicamente, ellos son reales ciudadanos sujetándose a los tiempos pasados de las colonias Británicas. Eso no es inteligente!

Críticos de la teoría de ciudadanos soberanos afirman que esto fracasa suficientemente para examinar el contexto de la jurisprudencia de la cual ellos citan e ignoran la desfavorable evidencia, tal como la Federalista #15, donde Alexander Hamilton expresó la opinión de que la constitución puso a cada uno personalmente bajo la autoridad federal. Y como la Decimocuarta Enmienda misma dice, en parte:

"Todas las personas nacidas o naturalizadas en los Estados Unidos, y sujetas a su jurisdicción, serán ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos, y sujetas a su jurisdicción, serán ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos y del estado en que residan. Ningún estado aprobará o hará cumplir la ley que restrinja los privilegios o inmunidades de los ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos; ni ningún estado privará a persona alguna de su vida, de sus libertades o de su propiedad sin el debido procedimiento de ley; ni negará a alguna persona dentro de su jurisdicción, la igual protección de las leyes.(2)"

La validez de la deuda publica de los Estados Unidos, autorizada por la ley, incluyendo deudas contraídas por el pago de pensiones y recompensas por servicios prestados para sofocar insurrecciones o rebeliones, no serán cuestionadas.(3)

Todos los prisioneros oprimidos en la nación tienen que estar enterados de estos hechos antes de que ellos mismos permitan ser reunidos en apoyo para un movimiento como el de ciudadanos soberanos. El movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos es un movimiento de la nación blanca opresora cuyo interés esta directamente en conflicto con ellos mismos. Ellos quieren preservar el imperialismo a costa de tu independencia y tu autonomía. Liberación nacional de los estados imperialistas esta en el interés de todos los torpes prisioneros, y la mejor manera de llevar a cabo este objetivo es el que todas la semi-colonias de los Estados Unidos apoyen las luchas de liberación nacional de los oprimidos.

Tenemos además que recordar camaradas, que el movimiento fascista en Italia y el movimiento Nazi en Alemania estaban atrayendo principalmente la mezquina burguesía como también a grupos y parte proletaria con retórica contra el estado, los banqueros y grandes negocios y a la vez con algunas absurdas ideas religiosas que son mezcladas y confundidas con mucho patriotería. En el evento de más crisis imperialista, si los imperialistas son presionadas a tomar un enfoque fascista para dirigir a la gente y a la economía, los ciudadanos soberanos y movimientos similares estarán listos para hacer masivos movimientos que suministra soldados de pie para tal proyecto. Las personas oprimidas del mundo tienen que combatir esto con internacionalismo proletario y materialismo dialéctico y salir libre de la ignorancia que nos permite ser absorbidos por las falsas pretensiones de tales grupos.

MIM(Prisons) agrega: Queremos dar a Loco1, apoyo por trabajar en esta critica del movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos (El o Ella) fue uno de un número de compañeros quienes nos han escrito acerca de esto. Y como un líder muy activo en USW le pedimos al principio por falta de información y conocimiento por donde empezar.

Aunque limitando el acceso a información ayuda a prevenir unidad ideológica a través de grupos encarcelados, este articulo va a mostrar gran importancia en el sistema. Loco1 fue capaz de encabezar esta critica recursos limitados al alcance de sus dedos, pero usando un enfoque analítico.

Algunos de los recursos de los ciudadanos soberanos y movimientos similares de anti-gobiernos derechistas están basados en un recurso de autoridad, donde ellos citan un montón de casos de ley en un esfuerzo para convencerte de que ellos saben de lo que están hablando. Pero esta dependencia en jurisprudencia misma es idealismo. Esto es similar a quienes buscan respuestas en antiguas religiones, como si hay un secreto allí que justo necesita ser encontrado y que resolverá todos nuestros problemas. Esto es tentador, es un tema que vende muchas películas y libros, pero esto no es realidad, las contradicciones que hacen esto y como las cosas están en movimiento, es así como podemos entender la realidad. Ninguno ha sido liberado por el papeleo de los ciudadanos soberanos, porque esto son solo palabras sobre el papel, y palabras en papel no pueden liberarte mágicamente de un sistema real que esta hecho de millones de personas.

The bastards concocted a local rule called San Quentin Death Row Operational Procedure #608, section 650. It voids clergy confidentiality, allowing the attorney general to compel testimony against only male, death row, at San Quentin. Females and anyone not at this prison are exempt. Non-condemned are exempt.

The rules in play are 15 CCR 3212, which creates the confidentiality of clergy in prisons in California. Then they want to have clergy compelled or allowed to rat on us, saying we are not good reborn bible thumpers, as we pretend... so kill us all.

I won it. Clark v. Chappell, CV 14 02637 ygr.

The new acting warden was told by the attorney general to feign surrender, and issue a memo voiding that rule. The problem is, the minute the federal court judge looks away they can re-instate the rule. It is an at whim rule, he can redo it. I am going forth to get not just a surrender but declaration that it is and always was discriminatory, undue process, unequal justice, and such. So we won the present day, and I will puruse the retroactivity to 1977, date it was put in place, to protect all the old guys.

The study group that I started and lead is a very small one — only three of us. The most challenging aspect I have encountered thus far is attracting members. In Florida conditions are somewhat different from what I have read about in other states. First, our prisons are highly integrated, but as prisoners we are not, with like nations hanging out with each other. However, there is virtually no gang activity and any activity there is is highly localized and disorganized. Secondly, I am at a "re-entry" camp where 80% of the population has less than five years left to serve and the bourgeois brainwashing is in overdrive. And lastly, I am euro-Amerikan (which necessitates class suicide).

I found that by openly acknowledging that I am a Marxist/Communist, dialogue is opened with others. I have been branded "that godless Marxist bastard," an epithet I wear as a badge of honor. As a White revolutionary I must be especially fearless in this regard. The majority of prisoners that open dialog about Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM) with me are so conditioned with misinformation and myth that they eventually give up rather than consider that what they have been told all their life is a distortion or outright wrong. Once they are able to consider what I say and/or the MIM literature I show them, then comes their metaphysical ideology.

In my experience gaining a study group member comes down to a three-step process. I make myself known as a MLMist. Then I must be able to overcome the hystorical myths and mysteries of communism — particularly as they concern Stalin and Chairman Mao. To this end the article "Myths About Maoism" published in Fundamental Political Line of MIM(Prisons) (pp. 20-28) is a good start. If they are willing to consider this different view of hystory then the third step is to move into an understanding of materialist dialectics (Marxism) to counter any metaphysical ideology.

MIM Distributors supplied me with the books Fanshen and Settlers. For my study group a new member reads Fanshen first. This is to give a sense of the meaning and power of political consciousness as opposed to simple "unity," and to further dispel hystorical myths about the role of the Communist Party in China under Mao. Next they read Settlers. This puts Amerikkkan hystory in a materialist dialectical perspective and demonstrates what is meant by a settler nation. It is an extremely powerful text for euro-Amerikans who have come this far in the study group.

Our group meets three times a week to discuss any questions on a topic that a member might have. We like to take current world events and discuss them from a MLM/Third World viewpoint. For us, the ULK Writers Group supplemental reading is very helpful. For example, the rise and gains of Maoism and the People's Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) in India has been a current focus.

If I had to name the major hurdle I face in educating a study group then it would be what MIM has called lumpen metaphysics — that conditioned ideology that continually rears its ugly head in debates, discussions, etc. In leading a study group one must be wary as that is a subtle path that leads to many wrong and irrational conclusions. As a project we are currently working on an essay for the ULK Writers Group on how to identify a lumpen metaphysical argument when it is posed so that its irrationality can be exposed via materialist dialectics. I only hope that all comrades will take an active role and critique it, helping to push its development further.

"Theory without practice ain't shit" and that practice starts with an action. My most fearless action, the action that started my practice of forming a study group, was to proclaim myself a communist and believer in Maoism as a better way of democracy. From that point forward I had joined the Struggle.

MIM(Prisons) adds: Everyone should keep in mind that the tactics used by a comrade in one facility might not be what's appropriate for the conditions where you're at. While it seems useful for this author to be very public about their political views, for many other subscribers to ULK, that same act can easily get them validated as a member of a "security threat group" or otherwise harassed by prison administration.

We appreciate how this author laid out how they structure their initial recruiting, and how they are making use of materials we've sent to them. The "supplemental reading" they refer to is a packet of articles from the web on various news and theory topics, which is sent regularly to participants in our advanced correspondence study group, the ULK Writing Group. In order to join the ULK Writing Group, you must complete both levels of our introductory study group, have a high level of political unity with MIM(Prisons), and be a regular contributor to ULK. We encourage everyone who can't set up a study group wherever they're at to join our introductory study group — or do both!

El 9 de Septiembre, el día del preso, ya no puede seguir silenciado. Este día haciendo su gran apariencia el 9 de Septiembre, esta haciendo su camino lento pero fijo entre las organizaciones presidarias y otros movimientos macizos de costa a costa.

Cualquier preso suscrito a Under Lock & Key (Bajo Llave y Candado) o las otras revistas gratis a los presos pueden atestiguar a todas las cosas que recuerdan del día que los presos se pararon unidos para después ser tumbados para poder pararse año tras año. Para muchos que saben de las insurrección de Attica, solo al escuchar el nombre de Attica se resusitan los cuentos dichos de las protestas del oriente donde pocos hermanos de una mezcla de organizaciones se pusieron en una posición de pelear por algo y no caer fácilmente. Una protesta en la cual muchos presos políticos toman inspiracion hoy en su sed para tomar de las aguas de la libertad. Lo de Attica se convertió legendario.

Muchos presos han sido forzados sepultados en las tumbas de la bestia, mejor conocidas como las unidades de control por estar cometidos a mantener viva la memoria del día que los presos lucharon por una causa común, haciendo la historia. Estos presos, forzados a las tumbas de la bestia que hablaron desde el sepulcro al sistema de injusticia hicieron la fuerza silenciosa que vibró en las prisiones americanas.

En lo que pasó el tiempo, también pasaron los movimientos macizos, sus jefes y las organizaciones en cargo de servir los intereses de los presos. Las lineas de los partidos involucrados con conmemorar el aniversario de Attica se cruzaron y se exponieron. El sueño de reformas y rehabilitación atrazaraon a muchos a una posición sumisa a los intereses del enemigo del preso, el estado.

Detalles de las insurrección del 9 de Septiembre y ciertos individuos involucrados empezaron a significar menos y menos. Los hechos históricos, jefatura y goles se convirtieron en chisme de "por culpa de tu carnal, mataron a mi padre. El estado entiende la importancia de detener la corriente con la táctica de división y desde allí se marco la linea entre el preso político y el preso que solo quiere terminar su sentencia para regresar a lo que ellos ven que es la libertad. Este segundo grupo no querían tener nada que ver con el primer grupo, porque estos viejos presos políticos se vieron como demasiado extremos en sus ideas y objetivos. En el otro lado de la moneda, el preso político no quería tener ningún trato con este preso sumiso que empezó a parecerse al sobrestante del sistema que da privilegios y premios por el buen comportamiento al que no moleste el sistema. Hasta hoy en d¡a estas li¡neas son la contradicción principal entre las masas prisioneras y los pocos líderes políticos.

Attica sirvió como ejemplo a los dos lados de la cerca. El poder está en la unión. Con el respaldo de la gente de Attica en el 1971, el tiempo suficiente para los presos ocupar la yarda y unos cuantos dormitorios. En el enfrentamiento con la policía estatal los presos exigieron ser tratados con decencia humana.

El resultado fin fue el asesinato de muchos que sabían que lo único que perderían eran sus cadenas. El efecto de Attica le corresponde a todo preso. El efecto de Attica vive con el preso hasta hoy. Que el preso refresque su memoria con todas la insurrecciones posibles con la paz como el objetivo.

Este no es el tiempo para que los presos peleen entre ellos mismos. Tampoco, en los estados unidos, deberíamos estar preparandonos para una guerra armada. Tenemos que aprender que los presos no deben de cazar a otros presos con practicas explotativas que resultan en conflictos que traspasan las viviendas de prisión y afectan más que las facciones locales. El preso tiene que considerar las condiciones de toda la clase presidiaria de la que todos somos parte, y allí decidir en que dirección nos vamos a mover unidos.

Attica dió nacimiento a muchas grandes demostraciones e insurrecciones en los estados unidos. Recientemente en Texas, California, Carolina del Norte y Georgia.

El Día de la Solidaridad está plantada en la realidad que el preso en ciertos tiempos tiene que poner aparte sus diferencias con otros presos para poder mancomunar sus energías y recursos para las causas que contribuyen a derribar el sistema como es conocido. Y después de eso si quieren regresar a sus vidas parasíticas pues que se las arreglen con sus gentes.

El Día de Paz y Solidaridad 9 de Septiembre es el día de conmemoración del preso; el festejo del convicto. Es el día que todos los presos podrán cruzar las líneas de división que han crecido durante los años. El preso en este tiempo podrá festejar en su anticipación del entretenimiento, educación, aplicación y apoyo de una masa prisionera con voz que hablará contra la injusticia del sistema de prisiones americanas.

USW invita a todos que están comprometidos a los cinco principios de la United Front for Peace in Prisons (Frente Unida para la Paz en las Prisiones - UFPP) que participen en las celebraciones del 9 de Septiembre. Sometan arte de alta calidad a nuestra asociación de artistas en la lucha, para ser imprimidas y circuladas en tu prisión regando el mensaje de paz el 9 de Septiembre. Nuestros compadres MIM(Prisiones) ofrecen libros políticos gratis con cuales tu grupo puede estudiar o dibujar sus interpretaciones de la lectura. O pueden escribir una declaración ilustrando su forma de celebrar el 9 de Septiembre.

Estamos en la época de hablar y elevar la voz por los presos. Si el preso puede fortalezerse con sus experiencias compartidas como la de las insurrecciones del pasado, sus voces podrán hablar a los intereses alineados con los oprimidos del mundo entero y se puede comenzar a derrumbar el sistema estado por estado.

Es allí cuando el poder será reinstalado a los más capaces de representar los intereses del conjunto entero sin miedo de realización o represión por sus partes como líderes. El día de paz y solidaridad del 9 de Septiembre preparará a todo los presos para el día que todos tendrán que decidirse si se van a parar por algo o caerse por cualquier cosa.