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.
“America cannot exist without separating ourselves from our identities.”
The fight began in 2011, with a lucrative proposal from a Canadian
company to access tribal lands to transport crude oil to the Gulf of
Texas. The construction they say will help create permanent jobs, the
money given to the tribal councils will help meet the needs of the
people. In reality, this pipeline will create an environmental disaster.
America can’t even fund its own infrastructure, how can anyone expect
maintenance of a pipeline on sovereign tribal lands?
The problem isn’t just the pipeline and all the filth that comes with
it. The problem is the outright
violations
of our treaties, and the lack of treatment of the self-determination
and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
This pipeline steps on human rights and proves the second class
citizenship bestowed to all tribal nations, and people.
Take into consideration how all of the government spokespeople go
ballistic at any violations of any treaties bestowed upon foreign
governments by the U.S. government, why are they quick to dismiss the
rights that tribal nations have been granted?
We went to war for those treaties. Yes it’s 2016 and the rhetoric is
that all “indians” should function like regular Americans. But by
initiating a treaty it provides us recognition, and stipulates bilateral
agreements that all parties must honor. Unless, in fact, our treaties
are just “pieces of paper,” and if that is the case, Russia should
overlook the United Nations resolutions with the United States and just
bomb Israel. Is this not the same? Article 6 of the U.S. constitution
and the rider clause of 1888 say different. Both recognize the permanent
power of all Indian treaties and all Indian nations. Just because the
times have changed doesn’t mean the words have.
The U.S. government has been pushing all tribal nations to genocide for
the last 298 years. Poverty, bad water, polluted air, nuclear waste,
uranium mines opened, alcoholism, no job infrastructure for starters.
Suicide among young men has grown to an epidemic. We are just pandered
to in words when government officials want to feel good, then they rip
our children from us, take them state-side and throw them to “white
people” to be civilized – violating yet another federal law, the Indian
Child Welfare Act.
This land is more to us than just land for all tribal people, just as in
1848 when the United States annexed all of Aztlán from Mexico and
erected the largest paramilitary border in the world, much is being done
to separate tribal nations from our lands. In 1973 we fought and died
for our land. If need be, mark my words, we will rise up and fight
again. This land is our identity. It holds the blood of our ancestors,
and the pipeline will kill our people.
It’s been 50 years since the most advanced segment of national class
consciousness of a people came together in unity nationwide in the inner
cites to challenge imperialism.
The Black
Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) was capable of leading the
lumpen in the struggle for the overthrow of oppressive/exploitative
relationships and the building of national independence,
self-determination, and socialism. They were equipped with the right
ideology of dialectical materialism, which is a concrete analysis of
concrete conditions, and knew how to apply it to where the principle of
“from the people back to the people” was being done successfully with
the breakfast for children program. However, they couldn’t combat the
oppressor’s COINTELPRO strategy, which destroyed a beautiful movement.
We celebrate the sacrifices these beautiful men and women made when they
stood up to fascism, and some lost their life to the struggle by death,
or state-sanctioned death known as incarceration, and they will not be
forgotten.
As I’ve read books by Mumia Abu Jamal, Robert Hillary King, Huey P.
Newton, David Hilliard, and Eldridge Cleaver (just to name a few), I’m
reminded of what it means to be New Afrikan in the United $tates, as
well as why being a revolutionary is the most important ideology to have
and apply when facing this oppression, and it’s due to the same
challenges we face today. COINTELPRO is not over, but has only advanced
so that the oppressor does not see another people’s revolution again.
The spirit of the Panther lives inside of me, as well as countless
others who languish behind enemy lines, and we will continue their
legacy through our practice of serving the people.
MIM(Prisons) adds: As we enter the month marking the 50th
anniversary of the most advanced Maoist party in the history of this
country, we put out a
commemorative issue
focused on the BPP this summer for our 50th issue of Under Lock
& Key. [In October, hundreds of copies were also distributed at
BPP commemorative events. That month we also finalzed a new edition of
our study pack:
Defend
the Legacy of the Black Panther Party.] We’d also add to this that
the Party’s own internal contradictions played out allowing COINTELPRO
to deliver the death blows that it did. There is no all-powerful
oppressor that can stop the oppressed, although we are in the minority
in this country. So as COINTELPRO continues, we learn from history and
push the struggle forward!
The below transcript is provided
because this writer wasn’t able to find a good transcript of the whole
address. The
address(1)
is itself considered a historic moment for indigenous nations of North
America.
The proposed pipeline, almost two thousand kilometers long, impacts or
potentially impacts many First Nations. It doesn’t affect just the
Standing Rock Sioux and other nations/groups of Sioux people belonging
to the larger Sioux nation, which along with other nations is still owed
land illegally taken by the U.$. government. For many First Nations
people, the anti-DAPL struggle is about land and sovereignty, to which
they have a right regardless of Amerikans’ economic, energy and
environmental concerns.
There is a long history of amerikans’ violating First Nations’
sovereignty even by breaking agreements they themselves imposed and
signed. The First Nations’ struggle against the Dakota Access Pipeline
(DAPL) is one of the biggest in living memory. As it gets more
publicity, there is a chance to change public opinion – or reinforce it
in an undesirable way – regarding such violations of law and
sovereignty. That is in addition to stopping the pipeline project, which
has already destroyed some burial and prayer sites.
Like Palestine, the Great Sioux Nation is a nation containing
aspirations of greater unity/wholeness, independent statehood, and full
sovereignty. And like Palestine, the Great Sioux Nation is experiencing
ongoing settlement and colonialism, internal governmental issues related
to partitioning, and results of other nations’ failure to honor/obey and
enforce treaties and other international law. The majority-exploiter
imperialist settler entity called “the United States” subjects nations
both inside and outside u.$. borders – and Palestinians both inside and
outside the Green Line – to colonialism and even opposes the two-state
solution in Palestine despite verbal agreements. It happened that the
Standing Rock Sioux Chairman spoke to the Human Rights Council in Geneva
just a day before the International Day of Peace and two days before
Mahmoud
Abbas(2)
spoke to the General Assembly in New York.
With a global, long-term perspective and the world’s help, the Sioux
nation will get their land back and full sovereignty one day. Some in
denial about this are attempting to subsume the anti-DAPL struggle under
some anti-capitalist or environmental struggle including the ameriKKKan
petty-bourgeoisie and/or opposing nationalism of oppressed nations. Some
others talking about colonialism and sovereignty nonetheless openly say
their real concern is climate change. Hopefully they can still
contribute something to the struggle. Apparently, it is too much to ask
more amerikkkans to just abide by their own treaties and other laws. If
First Nations people weren’t facing staggering state power, a
numerically large enemy and dog attacks, like Palestinians also have,
there would be less compulsion to tolerate certain outsider activists
who seemingly may undermine the anti-DAPL struggle or larger struggles
by making their own priorities central.
Overall, it looks like the struggle of the Standing Rock Sioux as a
nation was well-represented in this brief spoken statement in Geneva.
Transcript of Standing Rock
Sioux nation address to the UN Human Rights Council on September 20, at
the 33rd Regular Session
Human Rights Council President Choi Kyong-lim: I give the floor to the
distinguished representative of Indian Law Resource Center.
Chairman Dave Archambault II: Thank you, Mr. President.
My name is Dave Archambault. I am the Chairman of the Standing Rock
Sioux Tribe. Our tribal nation is a sovereign nation located in the
United States. Our sovereignty is recognized by the United States
through the legally binding treaties of 1851 and 1868, signed by our
traditional Lakota government, Oceti Sakowin (Oceti Šakowin, the Seven
Council Fires), then passed by the United States Senate, and proclaimed
by the President of the United States.
I am here because oil companies are causing the deliberate destruction
of our sacred places and burials. Dakota Access Pipeline [Dakota Access,
LLC, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners; a.k.a. “Dakota Access”]
wants to build an oil pipeline under the river that is the source of our
nation’s drinking water. This pipeline threatens our communities, the
river, and the earth.
Our nation is working to protect our waters and our sacred places for
the benefit of our children not yet born. But the oil companies and the
government of the United States have failed to respect our sovereign
rights. Today, the pipeline construction continues. Although it has
temporarily stopped near our nation, this company has knowingly
destroyed sacred sites and our ancestral graves with bulldozers. This
company has also used attack dogs to harm individuals who tried to
protect our water and our sacred sites.
I condemn all violence, including the use of guard dogs.
While we have gone to the court in the United States, our courts have
failed to protect our sovereign rights, our sacred places, and our
water. We call upon the Human Rights Council and all Member States to
condemn the destruction of our sacred places and to support our nation’s
efforts to ensure that our sovereign rights are respected. We ask that
you call upon all parties to stop the construction of the Dakota Access
Pipeline and to protect the environment, our nation’s future, our
culture, and our way of life.
Rise up, rise up, it’s time to rise up against the system One that
has many young brothers and sisters missing Stuck behind walls gated
in a warehouse Amerikkka’s criminal injustice system full of
brothers and sisters they won’t let out Rise up, rise up, it’s time
to rise up against the system Hurry you must hurry you can easily
become the next victim Another nameless soul thrown into the pen
turned into a number All in the goal of breaking you and making your
spirit crumble Rise up, rise up, it’s time to rise up against the
system Revolution we must demand to overthrow these people’s
trippin Planting evidence, misconduct, lies all for political
motivation We must band together, Revolutionaries for freedom of our
nation Rise up, rise up, it’s time to rise up against the system
Power to the freedom fighters through means of resistance Rise up,
rise up, it’s time to rise up against the system!
In this issue of Under Lock & Key MIM(Prisons) set out to
report on revolutionary organizing in wimmin’s prisons in the United
$tates.(1) Self-determination for the internal semi-colonies won’t be
won by males alone, and yet our subscriber list is overwhelmingly male.
As a prison organizing group, we wanted to look at what is our role in
resolving contradictions along gender lines, in our struggle toward
national liberation and an end to Amerikkkan imperialism. The lumpen
class has a strong training in male chauvinism, and prisons are an even
more extremely masculine environment. If we are going to contribute to
the resolution of gender contradictions, we need to consciously put
effort into it.
We solicited articles from many current and former prisoners on this
topic, but in the end we received very little response. This coincides
with our overall reach into wimmin’s prisons: while about 7% of the
population in prison is locked up in wimmin’s prisons, we do not have
close to 7% of our subscribers located in these institutions. In this
article we will explore the current state of imprisonment of females and
some potential reasons for our limited reach and lower political
involvement in institutions for wimmin.
MIM(Prisons) has long talked about gender oppression faced by prisoners
in the United $tates. Gender is distinct from class and nation, and
located within leisure time activities. Usually gender oppression is
something suffered by biological females. But in prison, where the vast
majority of the population is male, we still see significant gender
oppression. When male prisoners are sexually assaulted by guards this is
obviously gender oppression because it’s based in “leisure” time. But
there are other aspects of this gender oppression, including the
Amerikan legacy of lynching New Afrikan men for supposedly raping white
wimmin, which is an example of white females having gender power over
New Afrikan males. So it’s not so straightforward as just looking at
biology to determine who is gender oppressed. And as on the streets,
gender interacts with nation to complicate the situation in prisons.
Females make up 18.4% of all people under supervision of the adult
correctional system (prison, jail and probation).(2) They are 6.7% of
federal prisoners(3) and 7.2% of state prisoners.(2) The higher
percentage of females in jails and on probation reflects the lesser
severity and shorter sentences compared to males. Because our reach is
mainly in prisons, that is what we will focus on here.
Many have commented on the dramatically increasing female prison
population in the United $tates, especially as the recent growth rate
was so much higher than the rate for males. Between 1995 and 2005 the
number of male prisoners grew 34% while the number of female prisoners
grew 57%.(4) Overall, females went from 11% of all arrests in 1970 to
26% in 2014.(5) However, the U.$. prison population peaked in 2009 and
has been dropping slowly since then. The total change between 2004 and
2014 was a 1% drop in prison population. Over that same period the male
prison population dropped 1.2% while the female prison population
increased 1.4%. Since 2004 the number of females in prison has bounced
up and down every few years with a peak in 2008, a drop from 2008-2012
and then an increase in 2013 and 2014. The dramatic increases in
incarcerated females prior to 2004 seem to have leveled off, and there
are no clear trends since 2004.(2)
What we can conclude from the numbers above is that the imprisonment
rate for females is growing faster than the rate for males, but the
growth is relatively slow in recent years and the overall number of
females in prison is so much smaller than the number of males that it
would take many many years of significant growth to get close to equal
incarceration rates between males and females. It is still true that
when we talk about prisons in the United $tates we are overwhelmingly
talking about prisons for men.
New Afrikans and Chicanas are disproportionately locked up compared to
white females (twice the rate for New Afrikans and 1.2 times for
Chicanas). But these statistics mean that a much larger proportion of
people in female prisons are white than in the male prisons which locks
up New Afrikans at almost 6 times the rate of white males and Chicanos
at more than twice the rate of whites.(6) And in female prisons the
disparity has been decreasing in recent years with incarceration of
white females increasing at a faster pace than other nationalities.
Below we examine two possible explanations for MIM(Prisons)’s limited
reach into facilities for wimmin. 1. We are not doing a good job
addressing issues that are important to this population and so they’re
just not interested in working with us. 2. Females in prison are less
political than males in prison. If the former is true, we hope that this
ULK will inspire readers to write to us and tell us what we’re
missing. We do, however, see some solid evidence that the explanation is
the lack of political interest among female prisoners.
We need to consider what might cause female prisoners to be less
interested in our work than their male counterparts. Those who do write
to us often comment on the complete lack of interest among their fellow
prisoners. And while we hear this plenty from men’s institutions, we
also hear many more stories from the men’s prisons about activism and
interest. In addition, some of the wimmin who write to us are
transgender and held in male institutions, with this experience
contributing greatly to their political awareness.
Based on our experience and what evidence we can find from studies of
prisoners, we believe that wimmin are less likely to be locked up long
term, less likely to be put in solitary confinement, more likely to have
family waiting for them on the outside, and less likely to have been
active members of a lumpen organization prior to or during their term.
These are mostly conditions of wimmin in general in the United $tates,
and so reasonable assumptions to make. We are by no means suggesting
that imprisonment of females in this country is free of abuse or
anything other than a product of a system built for social control. But
females who are swept up in the net of widespread incarceration are
often not the primary targets of the system. The stats on nationality
make this clear.
One might argue that gender oppression in wimmin’s facilities is scaring
people locked up there into unwillingness to reach out to MIM(Prisons).
However, we see that increased repression in men’s prisons generally
results in increased political interest. We get many letters describing
threats resulting from political activism or even just education leading
people to greater interest in men’s facilities. And historically, on a
global scale, greater oppression has led to greater resistance, by
nation, class and gender.
Overall we think the lower percentage of people in wimmin’s facilities
reaching out and getting involved with MIM(Prisons) validates our theory
about what leads prisoners to becoming politicized. Significant factors
include: solitary confinement, lumpen organization involvement,
significant repression, censorship and conditions of abuse. Essentially,
repression breeds resistance (as long as the repression isn’t so extreme
that prisoners face total censorship, or health conditions so bad that
they are unable to function). We regularly hear that widespread access
to TV and other privileges really does buy prisoners out of political
interest and activism. This is not a surprise in a country of wealth and
privilege where the vast majority of the population enjoys petty
bourgeois lifestyles.
Further supporting this theory is our anecdotal experience that trans
wimmin are interested and active behind bars. We know they face
significant repression distinct from the general prison population. So
it is not surprising that trans prisoners are driven to political
awareness and activism.
Unique Challenges in Wimmin’s Prisons
While material conditions, as analyzed above, play a role in the appeal
of proletarian-led communist revolution to any population, we also need
to look at our own attempts, or lack of, to organize with this
population. MIM(Prisons) has not made a concerted effort to connect the
struggle for national self-determination with struggles in wimmin’s
prisons. With this ULK we hope to spark that conversation.
With that said, we need to look at what unique challenges are faced by
people locked up in facilities for wimmin. This will help determine if
we are not addressing the issues that are important to these prisoners.
The battle to maintain or regain custody of children is one issue more
prevalent in facilities for female prisoners. In 2006 (and other studies
suggest this number is pretty constant in recent years), more than 65%
of females in state prisons and 55% of males in state prisons had
children under 18 years of age. 64% of these mothers lived with their
children before prison, compared to 44% of fathers.(7) While this is a
pretty big difference, the overall magnitude of the impact of
imprisonment isn’t close: there are so many more fathers in prison than
mothers in prison. One possibility is that mothers who fear losing
custody will do anything they can to keep clean and get out quickly, and
this focuses them more on doing their time quietly than fighting abuse.
Sexual assault is another potential issue that may affect female
prisoners more than males. In a PREA survey of former prisoners from
2008, 10.5% of females reported prisoner-on-prisoner sexual assaults
compared to 2.7% of males. Staff-on-prisoner sexual assault was also
more commonly reported by females (2.5%) compared to males (1.1%).(8) We
are skeptical of these numbers, especially since the taboo against
reporting sexual assault is even greater for males and so it’s hard to
say if these statistics represent a meaningful difference between the
experiences in wimmin’s and men’s prisons. Even if it does, we wouldn’t
expect this abuse to lead females away from political activism. But it
is perhaps an issue we need to expose more often to address the large
portion of wimmin who are facing this abuse.
The Path Forward
It is important to connect our political line with our strategy and
tactics, and engage in the scientific process of developing that line as
we learn from our practice. While in this article we have focused on
facilities for wimmin and organizing of females behind bars, this is a
bigger question of how we mobilize females on the streets to join our
revolutionary struggle. We are fighting against class, nation and gender
oppression on a global scale, and this battle requires uniting all who
can be united. Around the world we have examples of wimmin joining
struggles for national liberation, taking up leadership in communist
organizations, and historically in leadership positions in Communist
China. While we see the national liberation struggle as principal at
this point in history, we can not neglect the gender contradiction, both
in the general fight against imperialism and in our own political
practice.
This is Saif-Ullah, from USW, checking in from California Correctional
Institution. In the last 15 months I’ve witnessed comrades being beat,
slapped, set up, and pepper sprayed, without any justification, until
about forty of the inmates of all races joined together with a campaign
to have our families and friends call and complain about these abuses,
until finally last month a new warden was hired and the old one sent
away from here.
Since her arrival she has walked off three correctional overseers, and a
teacher, who had some real racist acts under her belt as well. The
overseer Stewart, and his side kick Miller are the ones here known to
plant razors and assault and beat inmates and really act out, but they
charge the inmates with attacking staff.
I myself and about thirty other comrades have came to the point that if
we are attacked we will meet them with the same amount of force. As Huey
stated, the party was born in a particular time and place. It came into
being with a call for self-defense against the police who patrolled our
communities and brutalized us. They are just an oppressive army
occupying our community.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Amerikkka has been oppressing the internal
semi-colonies of North America since the earliest settlers came to these
shores. This comrade demonstrates how to put forth the correct analysis
of conditions, while mobilizing the masses for short-term reforms like
the firing of the worst abusers. There is a reason why we find so many
“abusive people” in the departments of “corrections” of the imperialist
United $tates. There is a reason why despite massive outcry, unarmed New
Afrikan people continue to be murdered by the police. It is a system
that aims to control other nations that demands this kind of brutality.
That system of national oppression, imperialism, must be destroyed.
MIM(Prisons) has very few comrades who continue work with us once
released from prison. Recently one of these comrades offered to ask the
wimmin ey organizes with on the outside to write up something for this
issue of Under Lock & Key. We sent prompts but didn’t hear
anything back. When we checked in on the article submissions, our
comrade gave us an update:
“The reason nothing has come out of the shelter is because of a sudden
turnover in residents, many of the active wimmin are now gone or just
can’t be reached. I have not submitted due to constraints on my time. My
fiancée was kicked out of the shelter and due to taking care of her as
much as possible and my own parole and other issues, i simply have not
had time to put anything to paper. I am sleeping about 3 hrs. a day and
on the move the other 21. We are working on an awareness project to get
some of the people mobilized. Currently there are only 3 of us working
on all of this, a member of Blackstone from Chicago, my fiancée and
myself. It is very slow and tiring work. I apologize for my silence, i
have just been swamped with stuff every day.”
We empathize with this comrade’s difficulties in finding time to put pen
to paper. It’s extremely difficult to juggle the bureaucratic challenges
of parole with the lack of resources available for basic survival. We
need to build independent institutions so we can meet our basic survival
needs, so we can focus on the political struggle for self-determination.
There’s a catch 22 where reformist struggles take time and energy to
build, and our ultimate goal is liberation from the conditions that make
these band-aid programs necessary.
I read some individuals voice their opinions regarding the SNY in unity
for the Chicano liberation movement. I have stated before, I am not gang
nor am I with gang. My decision to step away from GP was due to my
differences in views and beliefs about gang against true revolutionary
goals, of which were deemed “undisciplined,” (uniting with all Raza
North-South, seeing New Afrikans as revolutionary allies, etc.) and
succumb to ostracism within a group claiming to be for the Raza.
As a true revolutionary I will not discriminate, isolate, or alienate
anybody who is seeking education and displays interest to understand the
tyranny of imperialism. Be GP or SNY, that is only prison mentality of
which I believe should never resurface in a post-revolution liberated
Aztlán, this is the greater cause for the national liberation of Aztlán.
That is where the true revolutionaries distinguish from gang. My true
enemy is imperialism and its many systematic vehicles of oppression
against the Chicano lumpen. Always keeping aware of infiltrators and
spies working to suppress any resistance, including so-called allies who
in truth operate on a subjective ideology of fascism.
In the SNY there are many comrades who have developed a higher political
interest and awareness. A personal higher calling for servitude seems
present in many for a better future for our next generations. Those who
are still with gang are very present as well, but it is those who seek a
higher learning and understand of this phantom enemy, imperialism, who I
would like to reach out to! This is the struggle to unite.
It is public consciousness what we aim for, not numbers. The calling for
revolution is within each one. Many lumpen have perceived revolution
solely as an armed struggle and cause for war to kill the oppressor. In
part, yes that is a goal, but i would disagree to integrate individuals
who are solely for war. That would be as uniting or recruiting
mercenaries, as Reagan did against the Sandinistas and to extreme case,
the Salvadorian government force enlisting children against the FMLN.
Those with true revolutionary interest take on study and
self-development with eagerness. Those whose interests are not aligned,
they simply walk away. Revisionist and other suppressive Raza are always
present and that creates obstacles as well as a struggle to unite.
Interacting, talking, and sharing our political lines are gateways to
congregate and build study cells without risking our demise in a front
by those wishing to suppress our efforts to unite.
No matter what another comrade’s political maturity is, well-developed
or first time knowing, the practice and persistence to learn is what I
see. For I myself am still amateur to communism. The abolition of
imperialism and the liberation for Aztlán is my goal, to live in
equality for all.
Sharing ULK and other material is a minor step I take for now in
order to broaden and spread that consciousness within the lumpen here in
my environment. Sometimes referring to myself as being for the Chicano
national liberation movement upon meeting fellows brings questions from
some and ignites interest in others. With time I share my copy of
Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán.
To comrades in SNY reading this, let’s continue our struggle to unite.
To comrades in the GP, struggle in solidarity and power to you all true
revolutionaries.
In March 2016, I sent a letter to Representative Borris Miles about not
having a law library at the Wheeler Unit. I also filed a grievance on
the indigent mail getting 5 letters a month sent out instead of 5 per
week. It was sent back saying that it was too old to file on.
I filed some legal work with Rep. Borris Miles because the other unit
where I was before didn’t have a law library. The Wheeler Unit is only a
few yards from here and they don’t have access to the law library or
access to the courts which is a Federal violation. Below is part of my
letter to Rep. Miles.
“I am writing this complaint to state from the evidence that I have,
which is some I-60s, inmate request slips, which I wrote requesting to
go to the law library to do some legal work, and was denied twice
because Ms. J. Lara stated that we didn’t have law library sessions at
this unit [Wheeler], because the law library which don’t have NO BOOKS
just a few stuff not enough that you could actually use to complete
legal work with. To the other request, her response was that I was
afforded with what they had, but every time a request is put in by
somebody it is denied. We have a full size library about 300 yards from
this Unit at Formby Unit. I have requested to be transferred over there
where I can have legal access to the law library so that I can have
access to the courts also.”
You can print this, just leave my name out, because I would have trouble
here and be retaliated against because of it. If you get this letter
please write back and let me know that you got it because mail don’t
always make it to where it’s supposed to go to. So please answer ASAP
when you get this so I’ll know that you received this.
If you have a grievance manual I would like to have one if possible. I
am in the processing stage of writing Rep. Miles about the grievance
process. They need to have grievances looked at by somebody outside
TDCJ, besides the grievance investigator here, because we don’t think
the Warden even sees Step 1, because the same answer comes back on every
Step 1, saying not warranted for further action. So this inital decision
is all on it and it’s been typed on every Step 1 and then Huntsville
looks at Step 1, copies this answer on Step 2, and sends it back to us,
agreeing with the answer on Step 1. And we use Texas Penal Codes on it
and it states clearly that state law is being violated by employees and
it’s covered up within the Unit. So legal action can’t be taken. Send me
a few of the petitions and grievance manual and I’m filing with others
about this also.
I also saw in ULK 51 that you said the Jailhouse Lawyers
Handbook is banned in Texas. I checked with the mailroom staff here
[Formby Unit] and they said it is approved on this unit as far as they
know. Please make this correction in ULK.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We’ve gotten confirmation from multiple
sources that the Jailhouse Lawyers Handbook is not
banned in Texas at this time. Thanks to this contributor, and others,
who help us to stay informed.
We wrote about the need to connect the battles this comrade is fighting
with the larger picture of revolutionary overthrow of the capitalist
economic system in our article
“Texas
Comrades Need to Step Up” in ULK 52. Reiterating that call,
we also encourage this comrade to see how futile it is to call for an
outside review board to oversee the grievance process. Even if a review
board was put in place, it would be run by the criminal injustice system
or their allies, because that is who has the power in this country. And
the whole process will start all over again with lawsuit after lawsuit
filed and dismissed, and won and reneged. Revolutionaries can’t afford
to bang our head against this wall while people are dying the world
over, and their liberation is being stalled by Amerikkka’s runaround.
We should struggle for some reforms, as that’s all we can do
right now at this stage in our struggle where we are too weak to
struggle any other way. But we need to focus on reforms that will have
the greatest impact on our organizing work, which centers around
building independent institutions of the oppressed and building public
opinion for socialism. Is an “outside” review board an independent
institution of the oppressed? No, it would just be a facade of the
state, and a false victory. If we want to have our grievances answered,
we need to build unity, and come together to demand our grievances are
answered. Of course there are many ways and many steps to unity, but
this would be an independent institution of the oppressed to defend
ourselves and build for the future where we’re not begging prison
administration to please treat us like humyn beings.
Few things are more dangerous and detrimental to a revolutionary
movement than over- and underestimation, in particular underestimation.
Battles have been lost, tides and balances of struggles have ebbed and
flowed, and slide from one side to the other. And all because of this
simple mistake. Whenever we underestimate someone, group, or thing, we
commit this mistake of relegating that persyn, group, or thing to
unimportance. Or we ignore it or them as being trivial. This is
something no revolutionary can ever afford to do. Especially those in
the anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist movements.
Unfortunately, our movements, as so many others, can be plagued by
machismo, a particular form of male chauvinism. In revolutionary circles
this happens and wimmin are undervalued and most often underestimated.
Wimmin are a force without equal in any movement. In the fight against
capitalist and imperialist governments wimmin are an indispensable
resource. A clear example of their worth can be found in recent Cuban
history, the 26th of July movement.
Everyone knows of Fidel, Raúl, Frank País and Abel Santamaría. But their
fame and successes would have been unattainable save for the
revolucionarias, wimmin revolutionaries. While there were many wimmin
later in the movement, there were only two in key roles at the
beginning: Haydée Santamaría Cuadrado and Melba Hernández Rodríguez de
Rey. These two stood out as invaluable and the personifications of
wimmin to a revolutionary movement. Together they were key to printing
and distributing “History Will Absolve Me,” the famous Castro speech.
They also took up arms during the attack on the Moncada Barracks in
Santiago de Cuba. Although, triumph eluded them during the assault,
their efforts spread the movement from the eastern provinces throughout
all Cuba. Haydée and Melba were both imprisoned after the assault. But
their efforts never stopped and they even became more active in
overthrowing the U.$.-backed Batista regime. Their imprisonment,
isolation, and cruelty suffered at the hands of a proxy of U.$.
imperialism only served to strengthen their resolve and commitment. As
the movement spread, so did support which finished in the triumph of the
revolution in 1959. Without them the revolution may never have been
achieved.
Wimmin are often undervalued, underestimated and ignored. Let us not
commit such mistakes. While the capitalists and imperialists do, let us
recognize this fault and exploit it, using their fallacy for our
advantage to progress the movement. We need our wimmin to be involved
because they are the life blood of any movement and an invaluable
resource. As revolutionaries and persyns, wimmin are integral to the
success of our movement.
Let us take note of this history lesson and put it to good use. We need
wimmin, prisoners and captives, to exceed the examples of Haydée and
Melba, leading other compañeras from behind the walls as they did.
Directing others in constructive methods, organizing study groups and
educating other wimmin about the present struggle, as well as how to
champion it. Their efforts will give breath to our movement and once it
has spread, triumph will shortly follow.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer gives a good historical
example of wimmin who have overcome barriers of machismo to make
significant contributions to the liberation of their nation. There are
innumerable examples like this one that we can point to for anyone who
is hung up on their sexism so much that they think only “men” can
liberate the oppressed nations.
This author is advocating for a necessary first step: first, we must
accept that anyone is perfectly capable of being a strong theorist,
warrior, contributor, to the national struggles. We don’t see many
people writing in telling us wimmin are too weak or otherwise should be
excluded from revolutionary organizing, so while this sexist
indoctrination will ultimately affect how we approach organizing, at
least on a conscious level we might be already doing good on step 1. So
what’s next?
If we continue to see wimmin as a resource, even for revolutionary aims,
we are not going to get very far in resolving the gender contradictions
that plague our struggle for unity and liberation. Rather than asking
ourselves how can we mine this resource, we need to ask “what are the
contradictions inhibiting this growth of our movement?” and “what can we
do to help resolve these contradictions?” A study of dialectical
materialism, including Mao’s essay “On Contradiction” is imperative for
this discussion.
Similarly, we can’t fetishize organizing of any subgroup in our
movement, lest we lose direction for the sake of getting some wimmin on
board. That’s the mistake made by people who believe who is
saying it is more important than what is being said. It’s the
same trap that got Obama elected as a Black persyn, and Hilary
campaigning on the platform of being a female. Even if the tokenization
is of an oppressed group (queer/trans people of color appear to be the
token of the day), identity politics is always dangerous and an
antithesis to materialism.
