MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
I would like to clarify terms or, perhaps better stated, to give
solidity to concepts. Those of us in these revolutionary spaces tend to
preach to those who are already converted who don’t need convincing. We
become a sort of revolutionary ghetto developing our own lingo so that
we become isolated and our movements incognito. An essential part of any
resistance is the ability to reach people, the common people, where they
are, and to do that they have to know what we’re talking about. So, what
does it even mean to protest? To resist? What is the best way to deal
with oppression? The proletariat (common people) need to know.
Protesting usually takes the form of taking to the streets en masse
to express grievance about an issue. An archaic definition of the word
is “to make known”, which protesting excels at, getting the word out.
The problem with this tactic is that it is the only tactic people, the
masses, are familiar with. Protesting is temporal in nature, it cannot
last forever, and every oppressor knows this. People come out, make a
lot of noise, but ultimately go home and go back to regular life.
Moreover, in the United States there are rules on how citizens are
allowed to protest, because protests have to be “peaceful” and “lawful”.
Note: anytime an authority is telling you how to “resist” them it is
because they know it will not work. Can a movement be effective while
following the rules of the oppressor? Any movement that tries to be
peaceful, unoffensive or otherwise not disruptive is still-born in its
inception. By nature, resistance is not peaceful. It will offend, and it
must disrupt the actions of those who seek to oppress you. Protesting is
a viable tactic, but we must recognize its limits.
Resistance is something different than a mere protest. Resistance
makes an all-out effort against whatever power is creating the negative
condition under which the people suffer. It does not marry itself to a
singular strategy or tactic. Rather, resistance is “by any means
necessary”. It can pick one tactic, use it, then switch to another
tactic. Resistance has the flexibility to change according to
circumstance. Resistance also has no time limit. It can last for months,
years and even generations before victory is won. Case in point: NATO,
which contains some of the world’s most powerful militaries, occupied
Afghanistan for 21 years. When they pulled out in 2021, the Taliban,
which had been resisting occupation for decades against military
superpowers, took the country within the month. From this example we can
learn some essentials of resistance. (1) It has no time limit. (2) There
must be the belief that victory is possible. (3) It must come from
ideology, not a mere trend. And (4), perhaps the most important,
resistance comes from self-sacrifice. When you make the decision to
align yourself against oppressive systems, take stock of the cost. Know
that your movement may well out-live you. You must believe what you’re
fighting for is not only righteous but also possible. The movement may
cost you time, money, status, relationships, even your life or your
freedom. You may not live to see the good you’re fighting for be
actualized. Will you put in the work anyway? For the sake of future
generations? If you are not able to pay the costs, this is not the right
place for you. Self-sacrifice is not for everyone. “Revolutionary
suicide” was the phrase the founder of the Black Panther Party
coined.
Power does not lose its grasp willingly. Power wants to proliferate
itself, to maintain its experience of control. It will not let go
without a fight. If you’re willing to keep resisting, not just merely
making noise in protest, then there is room at the table for you. And if
you’re serious about tomorrow’s work you will start wherever you are,
with whatever you have, today.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We agree with the righteous call
of Fred Hampton, “I am the proletariat, I’m not the pig”, as we too
fight in the interests of the international proletariat. However, today
we’d say the vast majority of people in this country are not of the
proletariat, and this is important for understanding the class interests
around us and how to organize those around us to be in line with the
proletariat, who are mostly located in Third World countries. Other than
that we whole-heartedly agree with this comrade’s words.
18 February 2025 – There is a report from Zambia of the
collapse of a tailings dam that held acidic waste from a copper mine.(1)
The collapse released millions of liters of waste containing
concentrated acid, dissolved solids and heavy metals into a stream
connected to the Kafue River in Zambia. China is the dominant player in
copper mining in Zambia. China uses the copper in smartphones and other
technology. The devastating consequences of this environmental
catastrophe include the widespread killing of aquatic life in the river,
contamination of water used for industrial and agricultural operations
as well as polluting the drinking water of some five million people in
Zambia. Chinese-owned copper mines have been accused of ignoring safety,
labor and other regulations in their imperialist pursuit of earth
minerals such as copper in Zambia. China is using classic imperialist
tactics such as the exporting of capital to secure minerals and other
resources by promoting development programs that put countries such as
Zambia in debt to them. Zambia is reportedly more than $4 billion in
debt to China. Zambians have already defaulted on payments in 2020 to
other nations as well. Clearly we have another case of Chinese state-run
corporations operating without regards to humyn life or the environment.
In conclusion, as a voice in the anti-imperialist movement I
encourage comrades to realize it is not just Amerikans or Europeans who
build their wealth and higher standards of civilization through the
manipulation of underdeveloped nations. We stand against all nations
that are imperialist! Nations we should be also speaking about in
ULK. Nations such as China, Russia and Iran. I mention Iran
because the spread of Islam is also a form of imperialism. Religion has
been the reason for uncounted billions of people who suffer mentally,
physically and even face death. Something that should be more deeply
explored in ULK articles.
Charlie of AIPS responds: Orko is right when ey says
that China is an imperialist country. We have no disagreements there.
Nor do we disagree with eir statement that we should “stand against all
nations that are imperialist”. So why do we focus on the imperialism of
the U.$. in our work? Because anti-imperialism is a question of
political line, while our political work is mediated by the strategies
and tactics we undertake. If you are not familiar with this terminology
from the MIM(Prisons)-ran study groups, let me rephrase.
Anti-imperialism is a fundamental stance that we require others to hold
if we are to collaborate with them. We will not waver on this point. But
as we move beyond the fundamentals, we must consider the particulars of
our unique political situation. We operate within the strongest
imperialist country that has ever existed in humyn hystory: the United
$tates. Our work can have no other aim, then, than to grow and
strengthen the existing Communist movement that resides within the
$tates. We must also acknowledge that one of the hallmarks of
“patriotic” attitudes in the U.$. is criticizing the imperialism of
other countries while defending the imperialism of the $tates. You can
observe this yourself in seeing how united Democrats and Republicans are
in denouncing countries such as China, Russia and Iran. As supporters of
the international Communist movement, we must distinguish ourselves and
our politics from the bourgeoisie and their lackeys. How is this
distinction to be made if we simply echo their points on foreign affairs
(though, admittedly, with more theoretical backing)?
On the note of religion, we must mention that religion, while
fundamentally idealist and antithetical to Marxism, has a dual
character. This is to say, religion can be used both for reactionary
ends as well as for revolutionary ends. Palestine is the perfect
encapsulation of this. The U.$.-backed Zionist entity termed “I$rael”
uses religious arguments to justify their brutal murder and oppression
of Palestinians. On the other side, revolutionary groups such as Hamas
are inextricably linked to religion through their Islamic beliefs. The
key is to consider the particularities of the situation at hand: Which
nations are involved? Which classes? Which side, if any, is
revolutionary at this time? Which groups are tied to religious
movements, and how are these movements connected to the previous
questions? To write off religion as a whole would be an error given the
reality that it can be wielded for revolutionary means.
This all being said, we heartily welcome the contributions in this
article from comrade Orko. It is well-worth noting that the logic of
capitalist-imperialist countries all over the world follow the same
general trends as outlined by V. I. Lenin in eir groundbreaking work
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism. But so long as
our practice is confined to the borders of the U.$., that is where our
focus must lie.
MIM(Prisons) adds: As Charlie mentions, we use the term
imperialism to refer to the highest stage of capitalism as described by
Lenin. The forcible spread of Islam and Christianity hundreds of years
ago predated imperialism. And to use the history of Islam to call Iran
imperialist today makes no sense. During the invasion of Afghanistan by
the United $tates, pseudo-feminists made the same claim about the
Taliban being “imperialist”, therefore justifying the murder of Afghan
civilians (including wimmin), via their islamaphobia. Currently Iran and
China are primary targets of Amerikans threats. A war with either will
likely mean a global inter-imperialist war. This is not in the interests
of the international proletariat. Nor is it in the interests of
oppressed nations on occupied Turtle Island who will also face increased
attacks when Amerikan nationalism is stoked.
Notes: (1) “A river ‘died’ overnight in Zambia after an
acidic waste spill at a Chinese-owned mine” Associated Press, 15 March
2025.
Addiction does not develop overnight, nor does recovery. Addiction
can be devastating to not only the user who is addicted but eir friends
and family. In fact, addiction is a cultural phenomenon because it is
not specific to any particular race, gender, age, or class. It is
developed in the home through parents or family members who are addicts,
through friends, TV, music, and other observable things in our
environment. It is in every community, in every country, and on every
continent. The irony is that as much support as there is for an addict’s
recovery, that recovery does not come overnight. In fact, reportedly
those who do enter recovery programs have a 60 to 80% chance of relapse
before achieving permanent recovery! This is something I have
experienced first hand, and I am here to talk to those comrades who put
addicts like myself down. To them I offer the following challenge:
instead of doing nothing but complaining about addicts, start a recovery
group. This would be something more truly revolutionary! Because
bitching about it does nothing to help an addict nor have you said
anything to persuade me to want to change.
To them I say, “Yeah I’m an addict,” my addiction began in my home.
My father smoked cigarettes and kept a supply of liquor under the
counter in our kitchen. Drinking was a casual event with family and
friends, usually on holidays. I also observed these similar behaviors
through TV shows, movies, and commercials. As I grew into a teenager, I
heard numerous music lyrics referencing drinking and using various kinds
of drugs ranging from marijuana to heroin to cocaine to prescription
drugs. Though I was told by my parents, family, and drug programs such
as D.A.R.E. to stay away from these things, TV and my experience taught
me something different. It looked like everyone on TV was feeling good
and having fun and from my experience, it was and did most of the time
make me feel good. In fact, it made me feel so much better when I was
experiencing loneliness, stress, and conflict at home and within the
family, boredom, anger, unrealized feelings of being trapped,
depression, and more.
I’ve listed below what are commonly known as “triggers”. There are 10
major triggers I will identify here that can be associated and
experienced by most humyn beings through some stage of eir life and not
just addicts. For me the following 10 major triggers have not only been
a part of my first experiences with drugs and alcohol but especially my
relapse and effects of being imprisoned for over 25 years.
The Ten Major Triggers
Loneliness (even in the physical presence of family and
friends)
Stress and conflict at home and within the family
Boredom or, in other words, lack of meaningful activities or
challenging work
Anger and the feelings of being trapped (i.e. accumulated
resentments, etc.)
Depression (worse with women than men)
Spirituality, or feeling like life is meaningless without a
higher power
Secret disappointment with the straight life
Euphoric recall of being high
Secret thoughts of drugging or experimenting with a new and
different chemical or drug
Reactive denial to using or thoughts of it
I was never taught any fundamental coping skills to combat these
triggers throughout my life growing up at home or school. Even the
coping skills I did learn in recovery groups didn’t seem to work. These
feelings and thoughts seemed to always effect me no matter what. I also
found out addiction is also something that can be hereditary and
generational. What does this mean for my persynal recovery? I do not
know, but my current struggle is real and I can not experience recovery
by myself. So if you are an addict and not just an addict who is
addicted to drugs and alcoholic but are under the definition of the
United Struggle from Within Revolutionary
12 Step Program, then I want you comrades to listen. Not only you
comrades but especially the comrades who do nothing but bitch about us
addicts who use K2, suboxone, and whatever else as defined by the
comrades who came together to create the Revolutionary 12 Step Program.
I want you all to join me in my recovery, in our recovery, together.
P.S. This kept me from using so far today.
MIM(Prisons) responds: The Revolutionary 12 Step
Program pamphlet has been one of our most frequently distributed
publications in recent years. Unfortunately the main author and comrade
who was training others to lead the program has not continued this work.
For now we hope to continue the conversation, development and promotion
of revolutionary recovery here in the pages of ULK. As comrade
Menlo
suggests, we want to create a community here through our readers’ own
stories of recovery. And we thank comrade Orko and comrade Menlo for
kicking this off.
Another publication we want to recommend to those working around
recovery (whether you yourself are addicted or those around you) is Under Lock &
Key No. 59. You can just ask us for the “drug issue” of
ULK. It gives some deeper historical and sociological
background on the fighting of addiction in the revolutionary
movement.
For more, read our “drug issue”
As Orko explains above, addiction is a product of our environment.
That is why when communists seized power in China they were able to
eliminate almost all addiction in short time. And it is why people who
had been life long addicts suddenly quit to join revolutionary
organizations in the United $tates during the Black Power movement. The
hope, meaning and empowerment that comes with revolutionary organizing
is key to the success of our own revolutionary recovery programs.
In anticipation of some responses we might get to this article, we’d
like to ask Orko and other readers for ideas on how to reach those stuck
on drugs. We hear from a lot of readers who say they are surrounded by
zombies, and feel like there is no way to reach such people because they
are always high. What can be done to shift this reality and reach those
in need?
In February and March the New York Department of Corrections and
Community Supervision (DOCCS) underwent a multi-week lock down, imposing
terrible conditions on prisoners, including a pause to all visitations,
deprivation of food and medical care, and riots in two prisons. During
the strike at least 7 prisoners died, one of which was beat to death by
staff just as Robert Brooks was. Other deaths seem to be the result of
medical neglect from the information released so far. As of writing
visitation has apparently resumed, but otherwise bourgeois media has not
clearly reported to what extent the lockdown has ended yet, nor have our
readers in New York. This situation was caused in part by a wildcat pig
strike lasting from February 17 to March 11th which began due to alleged
concerns about under-staffing and “working” conditions for correctional
officers, namely increased violence towards staff.(1)
Regarding the second death by beating, a comrade reports:
“Just got the 411 on the killing of the prisoner at Mid-State C.F.
The first state police who conducted the investigation lied in their
report that the prisoner died of an overdose of K2. But the body was too
badly beaten to death for that to stick. …The first investigator was
moved from his post and transferred but not fired. Crazy!”
As we go to press, 10 more guards have been indicted for the murder
of Messiah Nantwi in Mid-State C.F., which is across the street from
Marcy C.F. As a
writer to ULK pointed out in March, the strike came right after the
indictment of ten NY pigs over the earlier murder
of prisoner Robert Brooks on 9 December 2024.(2) The New York
Focus reported a trend of C.O.s refusing to work, in protest
against being held accountable for abuse:
“In 2013, New York City corrections officers (C.O.s) responsible for
transporting people from Rikers Island stopped working the day an
incarcerated person was supposed to testify about a caught-on-video
beating he endured at the hands of guards, who were later acquitted. Two
years later, DOCCS corrections officers staged a work slowdown after the
prison agency tried to fire guards who beat an incarcerated man,
breaking both his legs. Those officers pleaded guilty to misdemeanors,
avoiding jail time.”(1)
Currently, six of the former correctional officers involved in
killing Brooks are being charged with murder, three with manslaughter,
and one with evidence tampering. All ten seem to be negotiating with the
NY District Attorney towards settlements, their fortunes at trial not
helped by body camera video evidence depicting the murder they
committed.(3) Additionally, one NY prisoner wrote to us to report that
the initial report of Brooks’s death featured the false cause of
overdose before an investigation was begun into the true cause, and that
the officer who falsified the cause of death was transferred from their
post but not fired for this falsification.
Five days before the pig strike, prisoners rose up at Collins
Correctional Facility. As noted by The Real Movement Report,
the extent of the uprising varies greatly depending on asking the DOC,
former employees, or the press.(4) In response, the New York State
prison system was placed on lockdown and Correctional Emergency Response
struggled for 12 hours to regain control of the facility. There was
another disruption at Riverview Correctional Facility on February 20th
which also saw prisoners taking control of some areas and Emergency
Response crews eventually reasserting control.(5)
In response to the strikes and riots, over 3500 National Guard
members were mobilized by NY Governor Kathy Hochul to bring repression
back to the staff-abandoned prisons. Then the state filed an injunction
forcing C.O.s to return to work, resulting in an agreement with the C.O.
union and termination and ban from future employment of 2000 employees
who refused to return by March 4th. The deal reduced 24 hour mandatory
overtime for pigs and modified the HALT Act.(6) This 2021 law set a
maximum of 15 days solitary confinement for prisoners, established
reporting guidelines, and prohibited solitary prior to a disciplinary
hearing and access to legal counsel.(7) The state agreed with the union
early in March to create a commission examining the HALT Act, and to
suspend the portions of the act which require out-of-cell programming
for prisoners, for 90 days.(8)
The wildcat strike was not sanctioned by the C.O. union and was
illegal based upon a law preventing the striking of certain NY public
employees. On March 27th many of the 2000 C.O.s who had been fired and
barred from future employment rallied at the state capitol. Despite the
pause of aspects of the bill, demonstrators called for further
“improvements” to the HALT Act. Although the source in question does not
name or count speakers behind each different position from the rally,
some called for changes to “make our prisons safer” and others suggested
the state follow the Mandela Rules, a series of UN-sanctioned standards
for prisoner treatment including a list of “human rights” which are
routinely denied to U.$. prisoners including recreation, medical care
and healthy food. The Mandela Rules limit solitary to 15 days.(9)
The prisoner (support) movement should organize against the repeal of
the HALT Act. Solitary confinement is torture, it harms people, it
prevents rehabilitation and prevents prisoners from coming together in a
productive way.
The New York State prison system is now attempting to release some
prisoners early because of the staffing shortage resulting from C.O.
layoffs. Releases may be available to those whose sentences end in
15-110 days and don’t have violent or “serious” felonies, but the scale
is unclear.(10) Additional reforms proposed by the Hochul government
include expanding programs for prisoners to reduce their sentences, also
vague, and lowering the minimum age of C.O.s from 21 to 18 in order to
attract more pigs to the workforce.(11) Democrats wish to slightly
reduce the prison population and hire new C.O.s whereas Republicans wish
to simply reinstate all the dismissed pigs.
This story saw two different NY prison riots develop in which
prisoners took control of portions of their prisons for small periods of
time. Beyond selfishness, the weakness of these C.O.s was put in full
display, needing to depend on emergency responders and the national
guard to quell prisoner uprisings. And before all that, a comrade
explains:
“Gang members have placed a statewide hit on me all because I gotten
myself in an argument with a prison guard at Green Haven C.F. …The gang
members are helping the prison administration run the prisons, which you
know has a pig shortage. …The head of security is a motherfucker and
have you killed quick.”
C.O.s are powerful enough to murder a lone prisoner in an
18-versus-one fight but helpless against the unified actions of even a
handful of inmates who are upset with the status quo, as they even rely on
other prisoners to do their dirty work.
These events are related to a trend of increasing retaliation against
C.O. abuse in NY prisons, 2024 assaults against staff having doubled
those of the previous year in certain months.(12) One important question
is the underlying reason for the recent increase in retaliation, between
poorer conditions, increased repression, heightened class consciousness
among the (imprisoned) lumpen, or a combination. A more speculative
question is if these instances of prison takeovers represent growth
towards prison occupations akin to Attica, complete with advanced
leadership and political demands.
Whatever is changing in the relationship between the C.O.s and the
state, it is evidently driven by factors within the prison population,
in this case greater retaliation against oppression. Can the bourgeoisie
resolve the under-staffing crisis without improving conditions in
prisons or releasing prisoners? The imperialists need prisons for
population control, and simultaneously want high wages, low taxes and
high spending on guards to “keep the community safe?” This balance of
contradictions parallels ongoing policy debates among the imperialists
regarding “border
control” and deportation of migrants.
Certainly, the labor aristocrats is favoring more national oppression
as a solution to perceived scarcity, rather than the formation of
internationalist consciousness. The C.O.s did not rally en masse to
convict their murderous co-“workers” but to support them, demanding an
increase of repression against prisoners, as well as for reduced
mandatory overtime: the timeless labor aristocracy dream of receiving
more money for less work relative to the global proletariat. Where is
the demonstration for the C.O.s’ victims?
Prisoners and supporters should be organizing against solitary, and
asserting more alliances and sovereignty in their prisons in the face of
C.O.s who are more concerned with repression than providing food,
healthcare or other prisoner needs. Spread ULK to friends,
request our September 9th study pack on the history of the Attica
rebellion, and please submit any reports regarding conditions in New
York or other prisons experiencing neglectful or abusive C.O.s and
fighting back.
Addiction is a disease/syndrome that is not dependent upon any given
drug. As an addict and alcoholic, what this means to me is that I am a
meth addict even though I have never tried meth. I am addicted to K2
even though I have never tried K2. My drug of choice is alcohol, but my
struggle is with addiction. My method of combating my addiction in
prison is:
Not using any substances
Refusing to be ashamed of myself
Sharing my experience, strength and hope with the addict who is
still suffering.
While addiction cuts across class, nationality, ideology, and gender,
it concentrates in prison as many of us committed crimes in order to
fuel our addiction. Addiction thrives in an atmosphere of shame, of
hiding, and of loneliness. All of that and more is the atmosphere of
prison. It is incredibly difficult to stay sober by myself. I need
community in order to maintain my sobriety.
One incredibly important aspect of recovery that is missing from the
revolutionary
12 step program is the personal stories of recovery that form the
back of each 12 step book. These stories are essential as they serve as
that community of recovery and way for us to relate and be inspired. I
would be more than happy to contribute to the revolutionary 12 step
program.
Oakland, CA – Organizations came together on March 29
for a caravan from East Oakland to City Hall promoting the AEH street
program, aka Artivists Ending Hostilities. Initiators included a number
of former prisoners who participated it in the 2011 and 2013 hunger
strikes in California, as well as the organization of currently
incarcerated people P.E.P. Talk - Pre-Entry Platform. Former prisoners
of CDCr spoke at the rally on the need to bring the message of peace
from the original AEH (Agreement to End Hostilities) to the streets.
Organizers distributed and read the text of original AEH and a recent
message from Cellblock 2 Cityblock.
Kat Brooks of the Anti Police Terror Project was one of the speakers
who really got to the heart of things:
“The state creates the conditions in our communities that they know
creates violence.”
Ey went on to condemn Amerikan koncentration kamps as a form of
violence, saying the carceral state is the most violent institution in
the world. Another comrade read from/paraphrased the intro of the Communist
Party of Aztlán’s essay on homelessness, making the connection that
homelessness is also a form of violence that we must come together to
end.
Of course, it is up to the oppressed to change our conditions. Youth
from Lulu’s House participated in the event, speaking on their own
recent transformations from petty criminals to active community members.
One said:
“We gotta push the movement too, it starts with us.”
While another pointed out:
“If you’re scared of the youth you’ll never understand them.”
One of the adults present who wasn’t scared to help these youth
change was a BART cop (Bay Area Rapid Transit). This “officer friendly”
approach is a well-known counter-insurgency strategy of the occupying
forces. They hire cops to do community work, who aren’t involved in the
violent repression work, but do intelligence gathering for the state
while helping to divide the occupied community.
Independence is one of the principles of the United
Front for Peace in Prisons for this very reason. There is no progress
towards liberation in the united front if it is working with the very
imperialist state that is oppressing us.
Minister King X echoed this principle of independence when speaking
about learning from the elders released from prison while the U.$.
government is smashing the Department of Education. We must learn from
the struggles of oppressed people.
Minister King
X was one of the MC’s and organizers of the event, representing the
Artivist Kadre trying to engage the youth and the oppressed in the
movement through artistic expression. Ras Kass was also there
representing the Artivist Kadre from Los Angeles. They were sporting
patches promoting the New Afrikan Revolutionary Nationalist (N.A.R.N.)
ideology and the AEH. The Artivist Kadre are working with P.E.P. Talk,
BOSS (another release support program) and others to address racism,
fascism, sex trafficking and more in California.
Hyping up the threat of dangerous gangs of “super-predators.” Using
confidential informants, tattoos, and appearance to label people “gang
members.” Using that gang
affiliation to imprison and torture people. These draconian methods
are familiar to readers of ULK, and to those who’ve spent time
in U.$. prisons in general. The Trump regime has made this headline news
for the whole country.
In recent weeks, hundreds of Venezuelans have been deported from the
United $tates to a supermax prison in El Salvador. The Trump regime
justified this with the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which allows for the
deportation of non-citizens during wartime, and was last used during
WWII to deport Germans and Italians and roundup Japanese in internment
camps, seizing their assets for Euro-Amerikans. Trump claimed these
people were part of a gang conducting “irregular warfare” in the United
$tates, but there seems to be no evidence that Tren de Aragua is even a
widely functioning organization here. In February, the U.$. State
Department designated Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), and a
list of Mexican drug cartels as “foreign terrorist organizations.”
A federal court has ordered a halt to the deportations, but the
Department of Justice is defying the order. A legal battle continues,
while the executive branch continues to defy the courts.
Venezuela
has been a consistent target of U.$. imperialism since the rise of
Hugo Chavez to power in 1999.(1) As a result almost 600,000 Venezuelans
have been accepted into the United $tates with Temporary Protected
Status (TPS). Trump attempted to cancel TPS for Venezuelans, but a
federal court has deemed the move illegal. Without TPS, many from
Venezuela, Haiti, Ukraine, Sudan, Afghanistan and elsewhere could no
longer legally work in the United $tates and could be legally
deported.
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is getting special attention as the
Trump administration admitted eir deportation was a mistake, and that
they can’t get em back from Salvadorean custody. This is despite a court
order that prevented em from being sent back to El Salvador, where ey
had fled gang violence as a youth. Abrego Garcia has no criminal
charges, for what that’s worth, but was labelled a member of MS-13 by a
pig citing a “confidential informant” during a round up of day laborers
some years ago. As a result, Abrego Garcia has been disappeared from eir
family and sent to a torture unit in the very country ey fled for safety
reasons.(2)
The ACLU obtained a copy of the “Alien Enemy Validation Guide” being
used to deport people.(3) Once establishing someone is over 14 years
old, of Venezuelan origin and without U.$. citizenship, a point system
is used to “validate” gang members. A “TdA” tattoo gets you 4 points
while 8 points are required to qualify as validated. The Homeland
Security guide lists photos of tattoos like crowns and stars that are
“TdA”. In addition, wearing Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan athletic
wear are listed. When was the last time you saw someone with Air Jordans
on and a star tattoo?
Student Activists Targeted
Educational institutions from Columbia University in New York to the
University of California system are enforcing the fascist repression on
their campuses, from expelling students during Biden’s Presidency, to
disappearing them off the streets and from their homes under the Trump
regime. Tufts University student Rümeysa Öztürk is being detained for
writing an article criticizing the U.$.-I$rael genocide in Palestine.
Mahmoud Khalil, who was a respected negotiator between Columbia
University and the pro-Palestine student encampment last year, told eir
story in a recent statement from 18 March 2025:
“My name is Mahmoud Khalil and I am a political prisoner. I am
writing to you from a detention facility in Louisiana… On March 8, I was
taken by DHS agents who refused to provide a warrant, and accosted my
wife and me as we returned from dinner. …
“My arrest was a direct consequence of exercising my right to free
speech as I advocated for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in
Gaza, which resumed in full force Monday night. With January’s ceasefire
now broken, parents in Gaza are once again cradling too-small shrouds,
and families are forced to weigh starvation and displacement against
bombs. It is our moral imperative to persist in the struggle for their
complete freedom.”
“… Columbia [University] targeted me for my activism, creating a new
authoritarian disciplinary office to bypass due process and silence
students criticizing Israel. Columbia surrendered to federal pressure by
disclosing student records to Congress and yielding to the Trump
administration’s latest threats. My arrest, the expulsion or suspension
of at least 22 Columbia students – some stripped of their B.A. degrees
just weeks before graduation – and the expulsion of SWC President Grant
Miner on the eve of contract negotiations, are clear examples.
“If anything, my detention is a testament to the strength of the
student movement in shifting public opinion toward Palestinian
liberation. …”(4)
Other targeted students have gone into hiding. At the same time,
students across the country are coming together to stand with and defend
those who may be targeted next. We commend the solidarity being shown.
Schools and prisons are somewhat unique in our society due to the
collective identities of their populations and their abilities to
organize. With the recent announcements from the Trump regime that they
will be deporting U.$. citizens with criminal records to the Terrorism
Confinement Center in El Salvador, prisoners need to be prepared to
stand together as students are learning to do. While there are many
recent examples to the contrary, there is a long history of U.$.
prisoners standing up for one another due to the group consciousness
that comes with facing a common oppressor every day.
Fascism Coming Home
The United
$tates has been using long-term solitary confinement for decades on a
scale not seen elsewhere in humyn history. Physicians for Human
Rights released a report in 2024 exposing the use of solitary
confinement in ICE detention centers contrary to government directives
to limit its use to absolute necessity. They documented at least 14,000
cases of people being put in solitary confinement by ICE from 2018 to
2023. Durations in solitary averaged 27 days, with 42 cases lasting over
a year. At the time, in 2024, ICE held over 35,000 people, making it the
world’s largest immigration detention system.(5)
Conditions are likely worse for those sent to El Salvador, where
President Bukele has stated that the only way gang members will leave
the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) ey built in 2023 is in a
coffin. With a capacity of over 40,000, there are 65 to 70 prisoners
held per cell. “CECOT prisoners do not receive visits and are never
allowed outdoors. The prison does not offer workshops or educational
programs to prepare them to return to society after their sentences.”(6)
Bukele has been promoting images of shaved gang members, dressed all in
white, being warehoused and man-handled by masked prison guards online
since the prison opened. This propaganda campaign has appealed to the
pro-fascist elements of Amerika. And with that support, Trump is
incorporating this prison into the Amerikan international prison system
and sending hundreds of people there from the United $tates. This is a
shift closer to home from the network of dark sites, and infamous
prisons like Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, that were used to torture
and hold without trial oppressed people across the Muslim world.
Most press sources are reporting the Amerikans paid $6 million for
238 prisoners to be held in CECOT, which some point out is much less
than what it would cost to imprison them in the United $tates. But it is
an amount that will greatly help El Salvador to fund their monstrosity
of a prison. It doesn’t make sense that the imperialists are paying to
have these prisoners held, but then claim they cannot return people like
Abrego Garcia back to their families.
In the 1980s, U.$.-sponsored death squads, trained at the School of
the Americas in Georgia, killed
and displaced countless people across Central America that were
fighting for socialism and to remove imperialism from their
countries.(7) Many children of this war in El Salvador were displaced to
Los Angeles where they joined Barrio 18 or formed the new Mara
Salvatrucha (MS-13), were persecuted by the state, and then exported
back to El Salvador. We’ve reported on efforts at peace
between these groups in 2013, which coincided with investment by
USAID and the building of new U.$.-inspired prisons in El Salvador.(8)
But conditions for the people of El Salvador did not improve, and they
voted for President
Nayib Bukele who both utilized the lumpen organizations in eir
political organizing and later turned on them as a scapegoat for the
ills of the country in a fascist repression campaign.(9)
The struggle against fascism in this country relies on the coming
together of people to defend migrant populations and students currently
under attack. As fascism rises, we see the campaigns of groups like the
ACLU coming closer to those of MIM(Prisons). As important legal battles
are taking place, we also see the spreading recognition that we can’t
rely on the courts to save us. We must have a plan B. We must build our
plan B.
i want to thank all of those here in NC who responded to my call
to action and submitted grievances about the lack of due process
when We’ve been validated as a “gang member” and the draconian policies
and restrictions we find ourselves subjected to here in North Carolina.
This act of unity was so impactful, to the point i was pulled out to
meet with Chief of Security Daryll Vann, and 4 other ranking facility
intelligence officers.
After having them pull a komrade of mine to be present during this
“meeting”, i agreed to listen to what they had to say. The
aforementioned individuals asked if i would be interested in drafting up
a proposal for the validation process of SRG members and a denouncement
process. i immediately declined their offer and was adamant about my
decision until the komrade i had accompany me told me “don’t allow this
act of unity to be in vain” and he was right.
228 of ya’ll took the time to support me, therefore i agreed to draft
up a proposal for new SRG policies here in North Carolina. Never before
has this been done and it was made possible because of you all. Thank
you again.
In closing if any of you would like to read more about komrade George
Jackson i encourage you to write to:
BlackBird Publishing
PO Box 11142
Durham, NC 27703
And request my In the Spirit of George Jackson zine or
The Voice of the Lumpen zine that both Komrade Triumphant and i
wrote. The New Afrikan POW journals are available as well. Lastly for
prisoners here in NC that are serious about their political education,
if you don’t already have a copy of Jalil Muntaqim’s We Are Our Own
Liberators write to:
Asheville Prison Book Program
Attn: Komrade Jermey
67 N. Lexington Ave
Asheville, NC 28801
There are limited copies, so write to them immediately.
Again thank you all for yall’s support and it’s a must i thank
komrades at MIM for publishing my call to action and providing us with a
platform to express ourselves that enables us to organize a unified
struggle.
Free The Land
MIM(Prisons) adds: The comrade mentions requiring
another comrade to be present during the meeting with staff. This is a
wise move to prevent rumors from being spread about what went down in
said meeting, and the pigs being able to manipulate the narrative. The
more witnesses the better.
Second, we agree with the hesitancy to write up a new policy. We see
how the same struggle ended in California, though their agreement was
made by lawyers in the midst of a lawsuit. The challenge is how to keep
the struggle alive, for without struggle, you end up right where you
started. A new policy signed off on by a lead organizer can easily
pacify people. Until we recognize that this kind of repression will
never end without liberation from imperialism, it will continue.
And as the lawsuit in North Carolina advances, we also must remember
what it took in California. And after all that sacrifice, the settlement
was still a compromise that did not end torture in California prisons,
while expanding the list of Security Threat Groups in that state.
This gang validation repression is only expanding as we’ve seen the
Trump regime apply it to those outside of prisons who are not involved
in any illegal activities. So we should be thinking big picture. And we
will continue to stand with and support the comrades in North Carolina
coming together to fight arbitrary SRG repression. If comrades inside
can send copies of grievances or other documents related to this
campaign we will collect and forward them along.
Comrade Eseibio, revolutionary greetings, it is my pleasure to have
the opportunity to conduct this interview facilitated by the comrades at
MIM(Prisons). Let me jump right into these questions:
1. By listening to your work, one can clearly see you have a
firm grasp of social development. Can you share how you initially were
introduced to revolutionary theory and historical organizations and
individuals who practiced a revolutionary line?
My uncle was a Black Panther Party member in the early days of the
Party. So I been around it all my life. My first introduction was me as
a teenager getting caught shoplifting and sent to juvenile hall, and my
uncle came to get me out. That’s something the Panthers did, get young
brothers out of jail and juvenile hall. I was too young to understand
why he did it. Then when I got a little older I had another mentor named
Melvin Dickson
who was a Black Panther Party member. He took me under his wing and
showed me and taught me everything about being a real revolutionary and
pushing a hard revolutionary line.
2. In one of your songs Bust a Cap, you spit: “I’m a
revolutionary Black Nationalist,” Is this still your political
identification? Why or why not?
Yes. I’m a revolutionary, a Black Nationalist, but also much more
than that. Something that the Panthers taught me is that there is no
more nations. Just communities. We use the word intercomunualism.
Because an attack against one is an attack against all.
3. What do you believe is the current state of the
revolutionary Black nationalist movement? What can we do to
improve?
I believe the current state of the movement is heading in the right
direction. Because comrades are getting more politically educated and
are beginning to have more real solidarity with each other. And that’s
what will help us organize more effectively.
4. I’ve been told your new project is centered upon Mao’s Red
Book. What led you to make that book the inspiration of your
project?
Yes all of my album and lyrics reflect the red book. The Black
Panthers sold red books at UC Berkley. That’s a book that I read so many
times it’s a part of who I am and I don’t go a day with out reading it.
The Panthers got a saying: “Malcolm X in my heart, red book in my
pocket.”
5. What is your favorite chapter or quote from the Red Book
or from Mao generally and why?
That’s easy. The very first quote in chapter one. Because it was
written on Sept 15th, and that’s my birth day. It says the force leading
the cause forward is the revolutionary party. And our thinking is
Marxism-Leninism.
6. With the recent elections and the clear rightward shift
among most sectors, What are your thoughts on the best ways to move
forward and organize in this political and social climate?
My thoughts are to organize around providing for the children. That’s
how the Panthers did it. They started with a stop sign at an elementary
school and a free breakfast program that was for the children. By
teaching the truth to the youth you’re educating the next generation of
revolutionaries to continue the struggle. The elder party members taught
me and now it’s my turn to pass on the known. Each one teach one.
7. What are your thoughts about the clear rightward shift of
an increasing amount of New Afrikan/Black men? Does this affect our
ability to reach the masses, if so how?
Yes it does because they got the money and owns all the radio and TV
stations. If we want to reach the masses we gotta be more creative and
out organize them and use technology to our advantage.
8. What musical accomplishment are you most proud of? What
keeps you motivated?
I’m proud of all my work and my biggest accomplishment is my album
that I have not recorded yet. Or even started. It’s and accomplishment
for me to keep going and making good music. Just recently I was in a
documentary movie called “Stop Selling Grandma’s House.”
9. What artists do you listen to yourself?
I listen to a lot of myself. One artist that I think is dope right
now is Dave East. I make beats so I listen to a lot of old school. And I
listen to tons of audio books. From people like Malcolm X, Huey P.
Newton, etc.
10. In your music you reference Political Prisoners often.
Amerika, Inc. denies the existence of Political Prisoners and Prisoners
of War within its institutions. Trump calls the cats from the January 6
incident Political Prisoners. So, there is confusion for some on this
issue. From your perspective who or what is a political
Prisoner/Prisoner of War in the context of occupied Turtle
Island?
Because of the politics of America We all are political prisoners and
we just don’t know it. There’s only 2 Black Panther Party members in
prison left. Mumia abu Jamal and H. Rap Brown [now Jamil al-Amin].
People have that term confused and think that if you throw a rock
through a window and getting arrested makes them a political prisoner.
But it’s much more than that.
11. Anybody on the inside you want to shout out?
Yes I want to shout out MIM(Prisons) and say “All power to the
people!” to all the comrades behind the walls, and free my little cousin
Quincy Lane locked up 20+ years in the California prison system. Free
Mumia and H. Rap Brown. Let’s organize and watch crime drop and turn all
the gang members back into revolutionaries. Listen to my new album “West
Coast Revolutionaries.” Oh yea, can’t forget about all of the sisters in
prison and all the babies born in jail. Recidivism is a serious thing.
Let’s stay out of prison and get back out on the streets organizing our
communities.
P.S. Thanks for your time, Comrade-Brotha Eseibio. The ’rades on the
inside are bumping your music and we salute you for the content you
pushing. Clenched Fist salute. - Triumphant, New Afrikan Political
Prisoner
MIM(Prisons) responds: Thanks to Triumphant and Comrade
Eseibio for this interview; there are a couple things we’d like to
address. First, it is true that Mumia Abu-Jamal and Jamil Abdullah
al-Amin are still in prison, however, as far as we know, Kenny “Zulu”
Whitmore and Kamau Sadiki are still in prison as well, making at least
four former Panthers who are currently incarcerated.
Secondly, we’d like to take this opportunity to discuss the concept
of intercommunalism and what it means for our struggle. Huey P. Newton
argued that by the 1970s the concept of nation had become obsolete due
to the increasing globalization of the world under capitalism. Ey argued
that the whole world has become tied together as a unified, economically
interconnected system, the idea of any nation gaining independence has
become outmoded, and the project of national liberation is not
ultimately possible. Newton said we live in an interconnected world
system called “intercommunalism,” but the kind of intercommunalism we
live in today is reactionary, since it is still based on the overall
dominance of the United $tates. Therefore, the project in front of us is
to transform reactionary intercommunalism into revolutionary
intercommunalism by reorganizing the social relations in society into
socialist ones. Armed struggle and revolutionary nationalism were
opposed by Newton as outmoded forms of struggle in the years following
the peak of the Black Panther Party, after it had split with members who
went on to organize Black Liberation Army cells separately. Newton’s
faction advocated for building revolutionary intercommunalism
community-by-community and building the world into a socialist one on
the basis of the strong economic ties created by capitalism.
In practice, the theory of intercommunalism results in
“micro-politics.” Instead of fighting for the large goal of national
independence and self-determination, we should fight for small,
community-level changes that will eventually build up into a global
change. Second, intercommunalism prevents us from supporting struggles
for national liberation abroad, even though Huey Newton still upheld
this to an extent, supporting the Vietnamese struggle against the United
$tates; but if we carry the theory to its logical conclusions we cannot
come to the conclusion that national liberation is a practicable goal.
It goes without saying that these views on what is to be done are in
direct contrast to ours. We see our struggle as expressly for the
national liberation of the oppressed nations of the whole world, and it
is for that reason that we say that we are for the nationalism of the
oppressed.
But let us touch on the theory of intercommunalism briefly. It is
undoubtedly true that capitalism has a tendency towards the economic
integration of all nations into a whole, in a word, towards
globalization. However, Newton regards this process as already complete.
But if this process is complete, where does the spontaneous tendency
towards nationalism arise? The struggle in Palestine, for example, is a
spontaneous reaction to national oppression. Why this national division
if nations no longer exist? Instead of explaining why national
liberation struggles continue, Newton regards them as mistakes. Newton,
therefore, fails to explain the events of the world, and merely
denounces them. It is evident to anyone who asks the question as to the
origin of continuing national liberation struggles that we cannot merely
write them off as being the product of people having a false
understanding of the world: they are rather based in the real, material
interests of the nations involved. To the supporters of the
theory of intercommunalism, we ask for an explanation of why national
wars continue to exist. In the absence of such an explanation, we regard
intercommunalism as an exaggeration of capitalism’s inherent tendency
towards globalization, an exaggeration which takes a mere tendency to be
already complete.
In order to prescribe the Marxist ideology to our Maoist thought much
needs to be understood. I believe there is a contradiction that exist
that’s unspoken here: race. There seems to be a strong emphasis
embraced on race as a “white” verses all other “non-white” races. The
contradictions that exist here are that the “white” race is the only
oppressor race. There is a huge historical analysis missing here if
MIM(Prisons) is going to promote such race politics in what is
fundamentally a human attribute that exists in all races of homo
sapiens. To include such a factor in any discussion that involves a
dialectical materialistic view of economy and government is destructive
to the revolution.
The revolution is to promote equality. Ideally I believe to my
understanding, an equality based on, “…each one according to their
needs.” With that understanding my question becomes, what is the
standard of equality on an international scale and how do we get
there?
“Race” has nothing to do with our dialectical materialistic analysis
because capitalism is based on only one color right now, green. The
color of the Amerikan dollar which is the world’s reserve currency! So
if MIM(Prisons) comrades are going to discuss economy, based on
capitalism, socialism, and communism through Maoist thought then speak
from the perspective of an economist. Or if it is government, then I
guess the contradictions need to be explored to define the nation
MIM(Prisons) looks to build because as a comrade I feel alienated based
on “race.”
Wiawimawo of MIM(Prisons) responds: You’ll be
hard-pressed to find MIM(Prisons) talking about race, since, as this
comrade points out, race is not real. The problem is, we talk about the
New Afrikan nation, or the Chican@ nation, and our readers think we’re
just using fancy words to talk about race.
Perhaps this is an example of us getting a bit ahead of the masses
here leading to miscommunication. Another comrade recently submitted a
long paper explaining what the New Afrikan nation was because they felt
new readers of ULK were confused by it. It’s interesting, since
we
adopted the term New Afrikan from the prison movement. But
goes to show how things have changed. We will be utilizing this feedback
to consider how we can improve ULK. But New Afrika is already
well-defined in our pamphlet Power to New Afrika, which our New
York comrade above has read.
Another source of confusion is that the imperialists will always try
to deny the nationality of the oppressed. It’d be hard to find someone
who doesn’t recognize Haiti
as a nation, because they fought and won their liberation in 1804.
Like New Afrika, they are a nation of people from all over the African
continent, with a sprinkling of Europeans, that were merged by force to
form a new nation. New Afrika has not yet won it’s liberation, so it
gets less recognition than Haiti does.
We agree with our comrade above that capitalism is motivated by
profits. Racism, and the idea of race itself, arose with the system of
capitalism. Though there were certainly other systems of caste and class
before. The United $tates of Amerika project was central to the
development of race theory. In fact, the internal semi-colony of New
Afrika would not exist without racial ideology that separated the first
slaves based on what continent they came from. So we may be one of the
last places to rid ourselves of this backwards way of thinking, it was
so important to what this project is about.
The comrade also asks about our vision for the future. Well we’d
suggest reading Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism
and other works by V.I. Lenin on the national question for background.
Because imperialism is a system of oppression/exploitation of most
nations by a few, we see the most important source of change, towards a
world of equality, to be found in national liberation struggles that
challenge that system; from Palestine to Aztlán. Decades
ago MIM put forth the theory of the Joint Dictatorship of the
Proletariat of the Oppressed Nations (JDPON) as a vision for how
socialism can be imposed on Amerika itself. This is because we don’t
believe a majority of Amerikans will support socialism at this stage.
This idea is also found in Lenin and in Chinese Maoist thought. At the
time MIM was discussing the carving up of what is now the United $tates
territory into a New Afrikan Black Belt, Aztlán for the Chican@ nation,
various First Nation territories. MIM also suggested that Amerika and
Kanada were one oppressor nation. Some of these ideas seem much closer
to reality today with Amerikan imperialism looking to incorporate
Canada, and California looking for separate trade deals with China with
popular support.
We have readers who say we’re anti-Black
for citing Marx, and readers who say we’re anti-white for applying
the ideas of Lenin. The reality is, all of these critics are too
brainwashed by the “white man” to see things beyond this racial lens.
Yes, the New York prisoner above we’re talking to you as well, you are
the one too stuck thinking in racial ideas, not us.
Now to be fair, this is the dominant thinking of our society. So we
must learn to speak Marxist truths that people stuck in imperialist,
racist thinking will understand. We also recognize that the oppressed
nations are more likely to be led to the truth. So we cannot avoid
alienating people who identify as “white” and generally should not try
to. These forces are either enemies of the revolution, enemies of
equality, enemies of communism, or will have to be won over in a later
stage of struggle. This is true because of their racial identities,
which are the subjective reflections of their material reality as
exploiters. Race is divisive – that’s why the imperialists have used it
for hundreds of years.