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 am doing time and slave labor on the Wynne Unit in the Texas
Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ). This is an industry unit.
Millions of dollars worth of commodities are mass produced by prisoners
who receive no type of worthwhile compensation. These items consist of
vehicle registration stickers, license plates, mattresses that range
from Sealy Posturepedic to college dorm and prisoner beds. Signs are
produced for a wide range of functions, and there’s a computer recovery
warehouse that refurbishes used and discarded units to be sent to high
schools and hospitals.
It goes without saying that if everyone decided to lay it down the
powers that be would have a serious problem. Yet sadly enough out of the
2,200 prisoners housed here, the number would more than likely be in the
double digits only. You have those who don’t want to lose their clerk
job where they might get a few perks every now and then. Some in the
craft shop would put the craft shop first. I do understand why people
want to protect their “jobs,” but how much longer are we going to stand
by and be forced to witness the constant abuse of power?
I have been locked up in segregation unjustly. I’ve seen my brothers
lose their lives which may have been prevented if the COs acted as if
they gave a damn. Although we all know they don’t. So, we rise early
every morning, we are told to work “or else”, and god forbid you try to
utilize the option to go to school because you are expected to be at
work before sunrise even if you are trying to educate your mind and work
on your attitude.
It’s no secret that the TDCJ’s main concern all the way around is money.
Ironically our “great state’s” prison system is in the negative on funds
but will not hesitate to lock someone up over a bullshit parole
violation or something nonviolent like theft. And we are being punished
daily by the COs and administration who use their position as an
opportunity to abuse other human beings and get away with it. Our
so-called grievance system is a laugh-out-loud joke, just like TDCJ’s
good time and work time fiascos.
The reality is that if just one third of our prison population would
spend some of those phone minutes on educating our outside support
rather than crying about more money for holiday packs and new shoes
every 6 months, we might see some difference. Let people know how they
can help, without making TDCJ’s commissary richer. I like candy and
sodas as much as the next guy. What I don’t like is getting treated like
dog shit just because I’m trying to resolve a problem. The indigent mail
issue, the medical copay, the good time, work time and assaults on
inmates by guards are but a few of our long list of issues that are not
just going to disappear. We will not go quietly into that good night,
and we will not back down without a fight.
I first became exposed to revolutionary theory in prison, although I had
been a reader my whole life. Prison has become my classroom for
revolutionary knowledge, not because the state ensures this, but because
I came in contact with politically conscious prisoners who helped
instill a consciousness in me. Groups like MIM helped to fuel my early
cultivation through liberatory literature and I was able to engage in
study groups throughout my prison journey, facility to facility and yard
to yard. Study groups were the key to my own development.
It is a fact that U.S. prisons are used for social control of prisoners,
who are mostly from the internal semi-colonies. Colonized people have
always been subjected to brutal prison conditions but dialectical
materialism teaches us that we can transform our environment, including
prisons. In order to revolutionize these modern day slave kamps we need
to study to revolutionize ourselves.
How Study Groups Help People
People are social beings, and as strong-minded and determined as we
think we are, the truth is we learn best through interacting with our
environment and especially other people. We learn best by discussion and
debate. Asking questions helps us get answers, and when we are having
trouble grasping a concept, studying with others allows us to learn.
Teaching others also helps the teacher to learn themselves. The study
group facilitates all of this.
In my own experience with study groups within U.$. prisons I have found
that besides developing one’s own political thought, study groups also
teach one how to interact with others and what are the best ways to
translate or explain our social reality to the people. We should
understand that in many ways those of us who study political science and
engage in study groups within prisons operate like political
organizations out in society that do outreach to the masses, only our
fellow prisoners are the masses.
Just as our counterparts outside prison walls constantly attempt to
learn from the masses in order to better help the masses, we should do
the same with our study groups. As prisoners, those of us who are
conscious must revolutionize these dungeons. We have boots on the
ground, and study groups within prisons should develop programs which
help educate all of the prison masses, not just those involved in a
study group. In this sense a study group can serve as the vanguard in
their facility.
Study groups have helped me understand my oppression and the oppression
of Aztlán, and through them I have become a better persyn. Understanding
politics and theory has given me purpose and has helped me to help other
prisoners to better their existence. In short I have not just learned
about hystory, as when I study alone, but I have learned different
methods of using the lessons of hystory to revolutionize the future.
How do study groups operate?
Depending on one’s facility, study groups take on various formations. I
have experienced many, from formal groups studying political science
while on the mainline where one can meet face to face on the yard and
discuss different aspects of society, to yelling through an air vent to
people I couldn’t see.
I was in one spot where every few days someone picked a different
country and we discussed all of the uprisings in that country. People
would search old magazines, books or newspapers to find anything on that
country.
Another study group I participated in was in a facility that was highly
restrictive with revolutionary literature. Since none of us was too
politically educated we got whatever newspapers or progressive magazines
we could, and we would discuss the articles, and attempt to apply them
to other aspects of society.
Prison Study Groups in Maoist China
If we look to Mao’s China, and specifically to the time of the Cultural
Revolution, we will see that every level of society was touched by
Maoism, even the prisons. When I read about prisons in Mao’s China I
learn why it is that Maoism is considered the highest stage that
socialism has developed so far.
Though frequently badmouthed in the imperialist media for their
re-education practice, these prisons focused on the political education
of inmates. Most people behind bars had committed serious crimes against
the people (landlords who murdered peasants, people who spied for
Amerika, government officials who abused their power), and so this
education helped prisoners understand how their actions affected others
and why they should want to work towards a society where people do not
have the power to oppress and exploit others.(1)
The study groups developed by prisoners during the Cultural Revolution
involved thought reform. This means understanding why one has particular
thoughts and finding ways of correcting incorrect ideas. This was
reforming one’s errors on levels that many of us cannot even imagine. It
was a process of dialectics where prisoners would study the essence of
their actions and behaviors. They would also engage in
criticism-self-criticism where they would look into their own errors or
the errors of others so that they all learned and evolved as a group.
The prison study groups in Maoist China did not conduct
criticism-self-criticisms in order to ridicule or bully people; instead
it was done to really point out the error and get the persyn to
understand their error. One cannot change a behavior if one does not
know or truly believe that they are committing an error in the first
place. What we must understand is every prison in Mao’s
China had these daily study groups, which were fully supported by the
people’s government. In this way prisoners learned and
became better people because of the study groups. They became people who
went on to help build the revolution.
In contrast to Mao’s China, here in U.$. prisons we are simply
warehoused. We are placed in a cell where we are taught
nothing, and this is done for years and decades. If we
are lucky we are released and come out the same or worse than we went
in. We don’t learn from the state because under capitalism they don’t
have any use for us other than filling a cell. And when we try to form
study groups we are punished and our studies are falsely labeled as gang
activity or security threat activities. This is the difference between a
Maoist society and a capitalist society; one heals people, the other
destroys people.
All of this was part of the political line of China under Mao which put
into practice the theory that people can learn from their mistakes and
become productive members of society if they take study and
self-criticism seriously. In Amerika’s prisons today we find the
oppressed rather than the oppressors, but there is still an important
role for self-criticism in the anti-people actions of many lumpen. And
the study of political theory is especially criticial to the oppressed
as we hone our understanding of how to fight back against the
oppressors.
When speaking about education Mao stressed: “Our educational policy must
enable everyone who receives an education to develop morally,
intellectually and physically and become a worker with both socialist
consciousness and culture.”(2)
Mao reminds us that education is to make us better people. In the above
quote he describes education being used to help people become workers.
Although we are lumpen, education can help us become lumpen with
socialist consciousness and culture.
What are the difficulties?
Forming or participating in study groups is not easy. There are many
obstructions we have to deal with. As most know, U.$. prisons unleash
political repression in the guise of upholding their laws. They
criminalize political organizing and revolutionary activity of the
imprisoned captives by labeling it “gang activity” or “security threat
group activity.”
There were times when I would get a good group of people together and we
would have a good study group going and then the prison, out of nowhere,
would move people out of the building or section, scrambling the housing
population and dismantling the study group. The study group is
disrupted, but this only means that we need to start over.
Sometimes I would be somewhere and gather lots of notes on political
articles or uprisings and I would use these for groups, only to have my
cell searched and all of my notes trashed, with a guard noting “gang
notes.” Likewise I would acquire a good selection of revolutionary books
only to be transferred to another prison and in the process all of my
political books would be “lost.”
Once I was in a control unit where the prison put me and a New Afrikan
next to each other and everyone else in the unit was juiced up on psyche
meds kicking their door all day. The prison did this to further isolate
us from our nations. So we formed a study group together and discussed
ULK and other books. When things get repressive we need to keep
studying and educating each other, no matter how hard it is.
Study groups can also be done through the mail. MIM(prisons) facilitates
some of the best study groups I have encountered. But this invites
censorship and sometimes harassment from the prison staff. We have to
understand that learning about our own repression and about communist
theory is something the state seeks to prevent. Prisoners learning about
revolutionary theory scares the state because it means we will learn and
turn theory into practice, against them.
What’s it all for?
We should understand that repression will happen regularly. This is why
studying is so important, so that when our mail is censored we have
books and literature to fuel our study groups. And when our lit and
books are “lost” we can remember our lessons and teach others key
concepts like dialectical and historical materialism. We can help other
prisoners understand why we need a united front or how the oppressed
within U.$. borders developed as nations. We will know all of this and
what kind of program we will need to liberate the people because of what
we learned in our study groups.
What we do today and how we spend our time in these dungeons will
determine what the future of these dungeons will look like. At the same
time study groups should produce theory and theory should produce
practice. We are not studying to be armchair revolutionaries, we are
studying in order to ultimately join the oppressed of the world in
smashing imperialism.
El movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos ha llegado a estar a la cabeza en
la lista del FBI como grupo domestico-terrorista en los Estados Unidos
por rehusarse a cooperar con el gobierno. Las personas de este
movimiento adoptan una independencia artificial como una nación y se
rehusan a presentar impuestos, llevar cualquier tipo de licencia, o
tener una tarjeta del seguro social. La pregunta es, ¿Donde coloca el
movimiento anti-imperialista a estos individuos y como se compara su
planteamiento de liberación a el del Marxismo-Leninismo-Maoismo?
Esta reportado que más de 300,000 personas se declaran ciudadanos
soberanos en los Estados Unidos, y está pronosticado a ser uno de los
movimientos con más rápido crecimiento en la historia de E.E.U.U. (1)
Así que esta es una cuestión razonable el preguntar si estas personas se
dirigen a algo o no.
Parece que el movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos es actualmente una
mezcla de grupos oprimidos de la nación, burgueses nacionalistas, y
mezquinas organizaciones burguesas a través de los Estados Unidos. Por
ejemplo, las organizaciones que afirman ser ciudadanos soberanos están
los grupos New Afrika, como la nación Moro, la nación Mawshakh de Nuurs,
y la nación Washitaw, ambas Islámicas y Hebraicas. Luego están allí los
Blancos nacionalistas, responsables por publicaciones y transmisiones de
programas para el movimiento: desde la Embajada del Heaven, el Grupo
Aware, La Republica de Texas, Rightway Law, Freedom Bound International,
Y Amen-Ra BTO Inc.; y personalidades como David W. Miller, Charles
Weisman, Alfred Adask, George Gordon, y Brent Johnson.
La Clase Torpe en Búsqueda de Respuestas
El rumor de ciudadanos soberanos en prisión fue escuchado primero por el
autor en el 2009, promovida por una variedad de torpes prisioneros
pretendiendo ser poseedores de carnet y miembros de abogados
encarcelados y del Gremio Nacional de Abogados. Ellos afirman poseer el
misterioso conocimiento, el cuál utilizado en cortes de E.E.U.U.
resultaría en riquezas de acuerdos financieros, también como el
potencial de una salida prematura para prisioneros quienes hayan
aprendido el oficio para descifrar el código descrito como redención.
Los torpes en los Estados Unidos, por lo general siempre están buscando
un surgimiento, pero raramente consideran a que costo resurgirán. Éllos,
en general creen que si pueden aumentar su economía clandestina pueden
liberarse a si mismos. Este punto de vista es producto de la relación
del capitalismo de los torpes perteneciendo a semicolonias internas. Los
torpes están excluidos de la próspera economía imperialista global,
dando todavía pruebas de esa riqueza por estas economías clandestinas
que además proporcionan una ilusión actuando afuera del sistema. Parece
que la popularidad del movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos en las
prisiones pueden ser explicadas de esta manera; con la diferencia de que
esta, actualmente pretende estar basada en la ley.
Con estas promesas de riquezas, estatus, independencia y dominio de sí
mismo, torpes prisioneros no son culpados por ponerse en fila para
recibir lo que ellos han sido mentalizados a saber, así siendo
liberados. Sin embargo, ellos son advertidos que no todo lo que brilla
es oro. Lo que vemos en juego, es la principal contradicción que define
la clase torpe en nuestra sociedad: las tendencias individualistas
surgen a costas de otros que son requeridos de una clase excluida dentro
de una economía capitalista, y la necesidad de una acción colectiva para
vencer estas condiciones y alcanzar una libertad verdadera. Aún vemos
organizaciones como New Afrika promoviendo las ideas de ciudadanía
soberana apropiandose de las ideas de movimientos de liberación nacional
también. Pero en vez de que peleen por liberación nacional de New
Afrika, ellos definen su nación en maneras oportunistas como si una
nación es algo que cualquier grupo de gente puede crear solo de aire
ligero. Reconocemos naciones como fenómeno científico, que existe en el
mundo real y son definidos como un grupo de personas con una cultura,
territorio, lenguaje y economía común.
Es importante que torpes prisioneros empiecen a escoger las cosas
correctas, las cuáles ellos personalmente hayan analizado examinado,
investigado, y reverenciado en realidad en el método de materialismo
dialéctico. Torpes prisioneros tienen una problema en las áreas de estas
ultimas cuatro palabras claves: analizado, examinado, investigado y
reverenciado. Este fracaso es la causa principal de las circunstancias
materiales que lleva a las divisiones entre torpes prisioneros
individualistas contra comunidades de prisioneros auto suficientes
luchando por liberación dentro del movimiento a la independencia
nacional. Además, con frecuencia los torpes prisioneros consiguen algo,
o se enteran de algo por otro prisionero y ellos solo corren esto
propagando algo que ellos desconocen y mal informan a otros. El
movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos se ha beneficiado de esta tendencia.
¿De qué se trata ciudadanos soberanos?
Torpes prisioneros en la nación opresora de origen blanco, probablemente
pueden describir una historia más clara de este movimiento, comenzando
en algún lugar en los años 60s para desafiar la legitimidad de las leyes
de impuestos y del mismo gobierno de E.E.U.U. Esto es incierto si la
mayoría de prisioneros oprimidos en la nación pueden describir los
grupos fundados de Oregon y California, como el Posee Comitatus, el cuál
esta basado en una rigurosa y absurda supremacía blanca.
La filosofía del movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos está basada en la
teoría de que el gobierno de E.E.U.U. está operando una fraudulenta
entidad comercial que esta insolentada y endeudada con naciones
extranjeras. Muchos grupos del movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos están
de acuerdo con esta idea en que el gobierno original de E.E.U.U. de la
America Colonial estaba basado en la ley común Británica como un
gobierno de ley. Después de la Guerra Civil supuestamente se desarrollo
un gobierno de facto secundario a estos gobiernos anteriores de
colonizadores, comunes en el estado.
Cuando ellos dicen de ley, ellos quieren decir legales y por lo tanto
legítimos. En contraste, de facto significa que existe, pero este no es
oficial. Esto es común, referirse a un gobierno de facto después de una
guerra civil para implicar que las cosas no han sido solucionadas, ni el
orden ha sido restaurado. Lo que esa orden es por supuesto, es una
cuestión política en símisma. La dictadura sobre los capitalistas en el
sur, por los capitalistas de los estados norteños después de la guerra
civil fue una era progresiva que marcó el fin de la esclavitud y forzó
la integración de colonizadores blancos, aunque mucho del progreso en
integración fue más tarde regresada al pasado por la fuerzas
reaccionarias y demostró un total fracaso. Por lo tanto, la cuestión de
legitimidad del gobierno de la post-guerra civil en los Estados Unidos
tenía una clara conexión a este movimiento reaccionario en desarrollo
por la supremacía blanca en Norteamérica. Mientras estas fuerzas ven los
derechos de independencia y estado como un medio para mantener su
privilegio nacional, las semi-colonías internas son atraídas a luchas de
liberación nacional (y por lo tanto otras políticas de control local)
como medio para terminar la opresión nacional que es el otro lado de la
moneda dialéctica. Para tener una nación opresora, tu tienes que tener
al menos una nación oprimida.
Muchos soberanos proponentes, como los Whitten Printers, violan la
Decimocuarta Enmienda hasta el más mínimo común denominador. Ellos
argumentan que ésta fue creada por el gobierno de facto en orden para
nacionalizar esclavos negros con derechos comparables a los derechos
constitucionales inalienables de colonizadores blancos y ciudadanos del
estado, llevándonos a la pregunta de que si ellos están leyendo los
mismos libros de historia como el resto de nosotros, luchando por
autodeterminación. Estos ciudadanos soberanos afirman que ellos no
están sujetos al proceso de nacionalización para llegar a ser ciudadanos
federales bajo le Decimocuarta Enmienda del gobierno de facto, porque
ellos no fueron esclavos, ellos no son negros y ellos nunca firmaron
algún acuerdo o contrato con el gobierno de facto. Básicamente, ellos
son reales ciudadanos sujetándose a los tiempos pasados de las colonias
Británicas. Eso no es inteligente!
Críticos de la teoría de ciudadanos soberanos afirman que esto fracasa
suficientemente para examinar el contexto de la jurisprudencia de la
cual ellos citan e ignoran la desfavorable evidencia, tal como la
Federalista #15, donde Alexander Hamilton expresó la opinión de que la
constitución puso a cada uno personalmente bajo la autoridad federal. Y
como la Decimocuarta Enmienda misma dice, en parte:
“Todas las personas nacidas o naturalizadas en los Estados Unidos, y
sujetas a su jurisdicción, serán ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos, y
sujetas a su jurisdicción, serán ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos y del
estado en que residan. Ningún estado aprobará o hará cumplir la ley que
restrinja los privilegios o inmunidades de los ciudadanos de los Estados
Unidos; ni ningún estado privará a persona alguna de su vida, de sus
libertades o de su propiedad sin el debido procedimiento de ley; ni
negará a alguna persona dentro de su jurisdicción, la igual protección
de las leyes.(2)”
Adicionalmente,
La validez de la deuda publica de los Estados Unidos, autorizada por
la ley, incluyendo deudas contraídas por el pago de pensiones y
recompensas por servicios prestados para sofocar insurrecciones o
rebeliones, no serán cuestionadas.(3)
Todos los prisioneros oprimidos en la nación tienen que estar enterados
de estos hechos antes de que ellos mismos permitan ser reunidos en apoyo
para un movimiento como el de ciudadanos soberanos. El movimiento de
ciudadanos soberanos es un movimiento de la nación blanca opresora cuyo
interés esta directamente en conflicto con ellos mismos. Ellos quieren
preservar el imperialismo a costa de tu independencia y tu autonomía.
Liberación nacional de los estados imperialistas esta en el interés de
todos los torpes prisioneros, y la mejor manera de llevar a cabo este
objetivo es el que todas la semi-colonias de los Estados Unidos apoyen
las luchas de liberación nacional de los oprimidos.
Tenemos además que recordar camaradas, que el movimiento fascista en
Italia y el movimiento Nazi en Alemania estaban atrayendo principalmente
la mezquina burguesía como también a grupos y parte proletaria con
retórica contra el estado, los banqueros y grandes negocios y a la vez
con algunas absurdas ideas religiosas que son mezcladas y confundidas
con mucho patriotería. En el evento de más crisis imperialista, si los
imperialistas son presionadas a tomar un enfoque fascista para dirigir a
la gente y a la economía, los ciudadanos soberanos y movimientos
similares estarán listos para hacer masivos movimientos que suministra
soldados de pie para tal proyecto. Las personas oprimidas del mundo
tienen que combatir esto con internacionalismo proletario y materialismo
dialéctico y salir libre de la ignorancia que nos permite ser absorbidos
por las falsas pretensiones de tales grupos.
MIM(Prisons) agrega: Queremos dar a Loco1, apoyo por trabajar en
esta critica del movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos (El o Ella) fue uno
de un número de compañeros quienes nos han escrito acerca de esto. Y
como un líder muy activo en USW le pedimos al principio por falta de
información y conocimiento por donde empezar.
Aunque limitando el acceso a información ayuda a prevenir unidad
ideológica a través de grupos encarcelados, este articulo va a mostrar
gran importancia en el sistema. Loco1 fue capaz de encabezar esta
critica recursos limitados al alcance de sus dedos, pero usando un
enfoque analítico.
Algunos de los recursos de los ciudadanos soberanos y movimientos
similares de anti-gobiernos derechistas están basados en un recurso de
autoridad, donde ellos citan un montón de casos de ley en un esfuerzo
para convencerte de que ellos saben de lo que están hablando. Pero esta
dependencia en jurisprudencia misma es idealismo. Esto es similar a
quienes buscan respuestas en antiguas religiones, como si hay un secreto
allí que justo necesita ser encontrado y que resolverá todos nuestros
problemas. Esto es tentador, es un tema que vende muchas películas y
libros, pero esto no es realidad, las contradicciones que hacen esto y
como las cosas están en movimiento, es así como podemos entender la
realidad. Ninguno ha sido liberado por el papeleo de los ciudadanos
soberanos, porque esto son solo palabras sobre el papel, y palabras en
papel no pueden liberarte mágicamente de un sistema real que esta hecho
de millones de personas.
The study group that I started and lead is a very small one – only three
of us. The most challenging aspect I have encountered thus far is
attracting members. In Florida conditions are somewhat different from
what I have read about in other states. First, our prisons are highly
integrated, but as prisoners we are not, with like nations hanging out
with each other. However, there is virtually no gang activity and any
activity there is is highly localized and disorganized. Secondly, I am
at a “re-entry” camp where 80% of the population has less than five
years left to serve and the bourgeois brainwashing is in overdrive. And
lastly, I am euro-Amerikan (which necessitates class suicide).
I found that by openly acknowledging that I am a Marxist/Communist,
dialogue is opened with others. I have been branded “that godless
Marxist bastard,” an epithet I wear as a badge of honor. As a White
revolutionary I must be especially fearless in this regard. The majority
of prisoners that open dialog about Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM) with
me are so conditioned with misinformation and myth that they eventually
give up rather than consider that what they have been told all their
life is a distortion or outright wrong. Once they are able to consider
what I say and/or the MIM literature I show them, then comes their
metaphysical ideology.
In my experience gaining a study group member comes down to a three-step
process. I make myself known as a MLMist. Then I must be able to
overcome the hystorical myths and mysteries of communism – particularly
as they concern Stalin and Chairman Mao. To this end the article “Myths
About Maoism” published in Fundamental Political Line of
MIM(Prisons) (pp. 20-28) is a good start. If they are willing to
consider this different view of hystory then the third step is to move
into an understanding of materialist dialectics (Marxism) to counter any
metaphysical ideology.
MIM Distributors supplied me with the books Fanshen and
Settlers. For my study group a new member reads
Fanshen first. This is to give a sense of the meaning and power
of political consciousness as opposed to simple “unity,” and to further
dispel hystorical myths about the role of the Communist Party in China
under Mao. Next they read Settlers. This puts Amerikkkan
hystory in a materialist dialectical perspective and demonstrates what
is meant by a settler nation. It is an extremely powerful text for
euro-Amerikans who have come this far in the study group.
Our group meets three times a week to discuss any questions on a topic
that a member might have. We like to take current world events and
discuss them from a MLM/Third World viewpoint. For us, the ULK Writers
Group supplemental reading is very helpful. For example, the rise and
gains of Maoism and the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) in
India has been a current focus.
If I had to name the major hurdle I face in educating a study group then
it would be what MIM has called lumpen metaphysics – that conditioned
ideology that continually rears its ugly head in debates, discussions,
etc. In leading a study group one must be wary as that is a subtle path
that leads to many wrong and irrational conclusions. As a project we are
currently working on an essay for the ULK Writers Group on how to
identify a lumpen metaphysical argument when it is posed so that its
irrationality can be exposed via materialist dialectics. I only hope
that all comrades will take an active role and critique it, helping to
push its development further.
“Theory without practice ain’t shit” and that practice starts with an
action. My most fearless action, the action that started my practice of
forming a study group, was to proclaim myself a communist and believer
in Maoism as a better way of democracy. From that point forward I had
joined the Struggle.
MIM(Prisons) adds: Everyone should keep in mind that the tactics
used by a comrade in one facility might not be what’s appropriate for
the conditions where you’re at. While it seems useful for this author to
be very public about their political views, for many other subscribers
to ULK, that same act can easily get them validated as a member
of a “security threat group” or otherwise harassed by prison
administration.
We appreciate how this author laid out how they structure their initial
recruiting, and how they are making use of materials we’ve sent to them.
The “supplemental reading” they refer to is a packet of articles from
the web on various news and theory topics, which is sent regularly to
participants in our advanced correspondence study group, the ULK Writing
Group. In order to join the ULK Writing Group, you must complete both
levels of our introductory study group, have a high level of political
unity with MIM(Prisons), and be a regular contributor to ULK.
We encourage everyone who can’t set up a study group wherever they’re at
to join our introductory study group – or do both!
El 9 de Septiembre, el día del preso, ya no puede seguir silenciado.
Este día haciendo su gran apariencia el 9 de Septiembre, esta haciendo
su camino lento pero fijo entre las organizaciones presidarias y otros
movimientos macizos de costa a costa.
Cualquier preso suscrito a Under Lock & Key (Bajo Llave y
Candado) o las otras revistas gratis a los presos pueden atestiguar a
todas las cosas que recuerdan del día que los presos se pararon unidos
para después ser tumbados para poder pararse año tras año. Para muchos
que saben de las insurrección de Attica, solo al escuchar el nombre de
Attica se resusitan los cuentos dichos de las protestas del oriente
donde pocos hermanos de una mezcla de organizaciones se pusieron en una
posición de pelear por algo y no caer fácilmente. Una protesta en la
cual muchos presos políticos toman inspiracion hoy en su sed para tomar
de las aguas de la libertad. Lo de Attica se convertió legendario.
Muchos presos han sido forzados sepultados en las tumbas de la bestia,
mejor conocidas como las unidades de control por estar cometidos a
mantener viva la memoria del día que los presos lucharon por una causa
común, haciendo la historia. Estos presos, forzados a las tumbas de la
bestia que hablaron desde el sepulcro al sistema de injusticia hicieron
la fuerza silenciosa que vibró en las prisiones americanas.
En lo que pasó el tiempo, también pasaron los movimientos macizos, sus
jefes y las organizaciones en cargo de servir los intereses de los
presos. Las lineas de los partidos involucrados con conmemorar el
aniversario de Attica se cruzaron y se exponieron. El sueño de reformas
y rehabilitación atrazaraon a muchos a una posición sumisa a los
intereses del enemigo del preso, el estado.
Detalles de las insurrección del 9 de Septiembre y ciertos individuos
involucrados empezaron a significar menos y menos. Los hechos
históricos, jefatura y goles se convirtieron en chisme de “por culpa de
tu carnal, mataron a mi padre. El estado entiende la importancia de
detener la corriente con la táctica de división y desde allí se marco la
linea entre el preso político y el preso que solo quiere terminar su
sentencia para regresar a lo que ellos ven que es la libertad. Este
segundo grupo no querían tener nada que ver con el primer grupo, porque
estos viejos presos políticos se vieron como demasiado extremos en sus
ideas y objetivos. En el otro lado de la moneda, el preso político no
quería tener ningún trato con este preso sumiso que empezó a parecerse
al sobrestante del sistema que da privilegios y premios por el buen
comportamiento al que no moleste el sistema. Hasta hoy en d¡a estas
li¡neas son la contradicción principal entre las masas prisioneras y los
pocos líderes políticos.
Attica sirvió como ejemplo a los dos lados de la cerca. El poder está en
la unión. Con el respaldo de la gente de Attica en el 1971, el tiempo
suficiente para los presos ocupar la yarda y unos cuantos dormitorios.
En el enfrentamiento con la policía estatal los presos exigieron ser
tratados con decencia humana.
El resultado fin fue el asesinato de muchos que sabían que lo único que
perderían eran sus cadenas. El efecto de Attica le corresponde a todo
preso. El efecto de Attica vive con el preso hasta hoy. Que el preso
refresque su memoria con todas la insurrecciones posibles con la paz
como el objetivo.
Este no es el tiempo para que los presos peleen entre ellos mismos.
Tampoco, en los estados unidos, deberíamos estar preparandonos para una
guerra armada. Tenemos que aprender que los presos no deben de cazar a
otros presos con practicas explotativas que resultan en conflictos que
traspasan las viviendas de prisión y afectan más que las facciones
locales. El preso tiene que considerar las condiciones de toda la clase
presidiaria de la que todos somos parte, y allí decidir en que dirección
nos vamos a mover unidos.
Attica dió nacimiento a muchas grandes demostraciones e insurrecciones
en los estados unidos. Recientemente en Texas, California, Carolina del
Norte y Georgia.
El Día de la Solidaridad está plantada en la realidad que el preso en
ciertos tiempos tiene que poner aparte sus diferencias con otros presos
para poder mancomunar sus energías y recursos para las causas que
contribuyen a derribar el sistema como es conocido. Y después de eso si
quieren regresar a sus vidas parasíticas pues que se las arreglen con
sus gentes.
El Día de Paz y Solidaridad 9 de Septiembre es el día de conmemoración
del preso; el festejo del convicto. Es el día que todos los presos
podrán cruzar las líneas de división que han crecido durante los años.
El preso en este tiempo podrá festejar en su anticipación del
entretenimiento, educación, aplicación y apoyo de una masa prisionera
con voz que hablará contra la injusticia del sistema de prisiones
americanas.
USW invita a todos que están comprometidos a los cinco principios de la
United Front
for Peace in Prisons (Frente Unida para la Paz en las Prisiones -
UFPP) que participen en las celebraciones del 9 de Septiembre.
Sometan arte de alta calidad a nuestra asociación de artistas en la
lucha, para ser imprimidas y circuladas en tu prisión regando el mensaje
de paz el 9 de Septiembre. Nuestros compadres MIM(Prisiones) ofrecen
libros políticos gratis con cuales tu grupo puede estudiar o dibujar sus
interpretaciones de la lectura. O pueden escribir una declaración
ilustrando su forma de celebrar el 9 de Septiembre.
Estamos en la época de hablar y elevar la voz por los presos. Si el
preso puede fortalezerse con sus experiencias compartidas como la de las
insurrecciones del pasado, sus voces podrán hablar a los intereses
alineados con los oprimidos del mundo entero y se puede comenzar a
derrumbar el sistema estado por estado.
Es allí cuando el poder será reinstalado a los más capaces de
representar los intereses del conjunto entero sin miedo de realización o
represión por sus partes como líderes. El día de paz y solidaridad del 9
de Septiembre preparará a todo los presos para el día que todos tendrán
que decidirse si se van a parar por algo o caerse por cualquier cosa.
With the growing calls and efforts to establish tangible peace and
understanding amongst the litany of disparate “Lumpenos” that inhabit
and coexist inside the many ghettos and over-bloated prison camps of the
United $tates, and who suffer the same systematic cycles of inherent and
inherited poverty, inequality, and oppression, the following is a
poignant example of how no one wins but our common enemy when we allow
what divides us to take precedent over what should unite us. As history
has taught us, Uncle $am and his reactionary cronies will never miss an
opportunity to capitalize, exploit and instigate misunderstandings and
hostilities amidst the oppressed classes.
“The FBI capitalized on these recurrent tensions [between the Black
Panther Party (BPP) in Chicago and the Blackstone Rangers] by sending
Jeff Fort [the leader of the Blackstone Rangers] another anonymous
letter. This time the bureau made the letter look as if it had come from
a concerned citizen with official ties to neither group. [FBI Director]
J. Edgar Hoover approved the following letter on January 30, 1969:
‘Brother Jeff, ’I’ve spent some time with some Panther friends on the
west side lately and I know what’s been going on. The brothers that run
the Panthers blame you for blocking their thing and there’s supposed to
be a hit out for you. I’m not a Panther or a Ranger, just black. From
what I see them Panthers are out for themselves not black people. I
think you ought to know what they’re up to. I know what I would do if I
was you. You might hear from me again. ’(sgd.) a black brother you
don’t know.’
The Chicago office explained that the purpose of the letter was ‘to
intensify the degree of animosity between the two groups’ in the hopes
that Fort retaliated against the BPP leadership.”(1)
The degree of the system’s stratagems against the oppressed class can be
gauged and better understood by the following FBI memo written by the
Sergeant in Charge of San Diego, bragging to FBI Director Hoover about
the detrimental effects accomplished with the COINTELPRO scheme:
“Excerpt from an August 20, 1969 report summarizing the
‘accomplishments’ and plans for the BPP/US COINTELPRO in San
Diego: ‘Shootings, beatings, and high degree of unrest continues to
prevail in the ghetto area of southeast San Diego. Although no specific
counterintelligent action can be credited with contributing to this
over-all situation, it is felt that a substantial amount of the unrest
is directly attributable to this program.’”(2)
I hope that all of the above will help to enlighten the “Lumpenos” to
the devious and dangerous nature of this beast, and to provoke conscious
and productive thought and dialogue across racial, geographical, and
ideological lines. What unites us is greater than what divides us, and
the only winners of our ignorant misdirected hostilities is the beast.
It devours us all.
MIM(Prisons) adds: These historical documents are a very good
reminder of the importance of the
United
Front for Peace in Prisons principle of unity. We need the oppressed
to come together to fight our common enemy. The imperialists have far
more resources, and an extensive spy and disruption network in place. At
this stage in our work, when we are significantly weaker than the
imperialists, we must counter their disruption with good security, and
by refusing to help them foment fighting amongst the lumpen. Don’t judge
people based on labels, rumors or second-hand information; judge based
on actions. All who are on the side of the people will show this by
putting in good work in the anti-imperialist struggle.
Revolutionary greetings to all kaptives inside the gulags of the united
snakes of a-murder (U$A). Because of the constant oppression we face by
the fact that imperialism won’t let up as long as capitalism exists, we
must continue to create effective ways of fighting capitalism,
ultimately bringing an end to all forms of oppression and the system
(capitalism/imperialism) in its entirety.
Prisons and prison guards (pigs) are mere extensions of the system and
operate as a form of social control against the upward mobility of
oppressed nations. However, kaptives here, in the past, have done quite
a bit in the way of agitation and resistance to some of the injustices
carried out by these pigs. I have personally been surprised at what even
the slightest bit of unity amongst kaptives can/has gained in the form
of concessions from the pigs. But i have also been dismayed at how
quickly unity can dissolve back into parasitism and apathy, when not
nurtured, and followed up by those kommitted and dedicated to educate
and uplift.
Again, September 9 is soon upon us. Three years ago a lumpen
organization (LO) that was a part of United Front for Peace in Prisons
(UFPP) initiated the September 9 Day of Peace and Solidarity. This is to
coincide with 9 September 1971, when pigs and their overseers stormed
Attica and slaughtered 32 kaptives (and 10 of their own pigs). Kaptives
had besieged the prison after demands to improve living conditions had
not been met, and the murder of comrade George Jackson at San Quentin on
21 August 1971. Comrade George was a formidable force in pushing the
anti-imperialist movement amongst kaptives, all the way up until the
moment he was slaughtered.
Organizers call on kaptives to take this day to promote the UFPP by
building unity with fellow kaptives, and to demonstrate resistance to
the criminal injustice system by fasting, refraining from work, engaging
only in solidarity actions, and ending kaptive-on-kaptive
violence/hostilities.
MIM(Prisons) said the number of reports were down in 2014 compared to
the previous years, where they’d seen a growing interest and more
involvement by kaptives on this day of protest. It is due both to the
significance of the work put in by our comrades at Attica (and
elsewhere), and the fact that imperialism is still krushing the upward
mobility of the lumpen and oppressed nations, that we can not slack off
on our duties organizing, agitating, campaigning, educating and building
our own independent institutions to remedy our problems.
We are 44 years and many kaptive uprisings later, but the oppressive
conditions remain the same. And, as back then, Maoist study groups are
being formed; calls to unite kaptives are being heard; and of course
oppressors are still oppressing. So let us both memorialize this day and
use it as a catalyst to push leaders forward – as we “seize the time”
because we have had E-NUF.
MIM(Prisons) adds: Write to request a September 9 study pack to
help understand the history of this day of struggle and build for Peace
and Solidarity in your prison.
We, under the union of the United KAGE Brothers, joined with the
Prisoners Political Action Committee (PAC), welcome you to our
communion. We aim to unite and unionize internationally the peace
movement – under the Agreement to End Hostilities – as an ad campaign
from prison to the street.
As people of all colors, races, creeds, genders and sexualities, we
stand in solidarity with the following pledge:
Contribution to Peace
I contribute to peace when I strive to express the best of myself in my
contacts with others.
I contribute to peace when I use my intelligence and my abilities to
serve the good.
I contribute to peace when I feel compassion toward all those who
suffer.
I contribute to peace when I look upon all as my brothers and sisters
regardless of race, culture or religion.
I contribute to peace when I rejoice over the happiness of others and
pray for their well-being.
I contribute to peace when I listen with tolerance to opinions that
differ from mine or even oppose them.
I contribute to peace when I resort to dialogue rather than force to
settle any conflict.
I contribute to peace when I respect nature and preserve it for
generations to come.
I contribute to peace when I do not seek to impose my conception of God
upon others.
I contribute to peace when I make peace the foundation of my ideas and
philosophy.
The Cesar Chavez Peace Plan
The National Coalition of Barrios Unidos Summit in San Antonio, Texas,
produced the Cesar Chavez Plan in April 1996. It has become the central
organizing vehicle for the Barrios Unidos Movement.
Development of community peace agreements and truces.
Implementation of a viable violence-prevention model.
Creation of “barrio enterprise zones” for youth-centered economic
development.
Public policies to create alternatives to incarceration and the root
causes of youth violence and police brutality.
Organization mobilization of youth-centered network to access resources
for violence prevention.
MIM(Prisons) adds: We are glad to see two groups coming together
to develop plans for building peace in prisons. They sent us the above
in response to the United Front for Peace in Prisons and the 3-year old
Agreement to End Hostilities in California prisons. The agreement was
formed by and for the major lumpen organizations (LOs) in the California
prison system. It has been historic in bridging the divide between the
LOs and the various political organizations, who are all echoing the
call and working to build the prison movement in the interests of the
oppressed.
At the end of 2012, Tecumseh State Correctional Institution (Tecumseh
SCI) made a drastic change. The administration decided to use a very
poor excuse of violence to lock the entire yard down. I believe five
fights happened in 24 hours, nobody got stabbed, cut or really messed
up. They used this as a reason to lock the entire yard down. Everyone
was only allowed to come out of their cells to eat meals, shower, and
make one phone call per day. After months of this and many grievances,
day room time became available, but any outside facilities like gym,
ball courts, or ball field were slowly added on a rotating schedule. One
hour you could go to the gym with your unit, then come right back; a
couple days later maybe an hour at the ball fields then back. We no
longer were confined only to our cells but could pretty much be in the
day rooms all day except of course during count. Eventually it shifted
to let us use the recreational facilities once per day, like ball field
Monday morning, gym Tuesday afternoon, ball courts Wednesday morning,
ball field Thursday afternoon and so on.
Recently they started a “wellness league” in which people who stay out
of the hole for one year, and refrain from misconduct reports for 6
months to a year could be allowed to “walk the yard” for a few hours
each day. This sounds good but there are administration loopholes. Like
if their snitches got in a fight and went to the hole, as soon as the
snitch got out of the hole they would be back out walking while the
other person would be in the hole another half year and then have to
wait another year just to be qualified to be on “wellness league.” Of
course any petty write-up would keep you off wellness league, and it was
a cold day in hell if any homies could make it onto wellness league. And
everyone else not on wellness league was stuck on dayroom and could
access a “mini yard” attached to their building which was basically a
fenced in half basketball court. That was life for a while.
Well Mother’s Day this year the shit hit the fan. A last minute
non-violent protest was set in motion. I say last minute because if a
protest has any planning here the yard gets locked down cause snitches
tell administration. So the protest started, simple walking around the
yard refusing to lock down until our petitions and major complains were
heard. However near the start of this a few prisoners got into it with a
couple pigs. Of course we all complied when they said “get down.” We
cooperated when asked to show our IDs and when we were told we could get
up we got up and continued marching to our protest.
Some protesters got locked in the gym so a plan to break them out to
join the protest was set in motion. A short while later staff fired a
live round with no warning into our group, going through one captive and
hitting my good friend, and they both fell onto me. Our group was
totally shocked. No chemical agents were used first, no “less than
lethal,” no pepperballs, and the guy who had the shot go through him was
bleeding bad. We put a tourniquet on his wound to slow the bleeding,
then as one huge group we carried him to medical, left him in front of
medical and moved halfway across the yard so they would come out and get
him.
Once he was safe the tension broke, the call went out, and the prison
literally started to burn. Every single faction was on the same team, us
versus the pigs. Staff got chased to the tower, everything that could be
burned was burned, bulletproof glass burned, fences came undone, people
got shot with less-than-lethal and lethal ammunition alike; only one
more live round was fired that I know of. The entire prison banded
together, offices burned, treatment files burned, office desks burned.
If the glass couldn’t be broken it was melted to allow access for other
captives. We had total control of a whole housing unit, the gym, and
half of another housing unit. We had the facility until the next morning
when finally we surrendered.
Now, for the press, the administration is trying to say this was planned
for months, because it was so exact in its execution, and that we burned
down walls only to get “targeted individuals”. Yeah right, they are
saying we did all this so we could get two people? How ridiculous!
Our new director is from the Washington state prison system. He is the
only one with a clear head. He says (in a memo sent to the whole prison)
that he couldn’t believe we didn’t do this sooner with the lockdown and
all, and never in his life has he seen such unity to get something like
this done. The warden and even the governor now believe that the
facility should permanently stay on lockdown, forever, allowing at most
minimal day room time and mini yard time if you qualify for wellness
league. Everyone else is to remain locked 2 per cell (was 3 per cell for
a while until housing unit 2 became livable again) for 24 hours a day
getting 20 minutes, twice a week for showers and telephone calls. I mean
20 minutes total, to shower and use the phone, once every 3 days. It’s
so fucked up out there.
Down here in the hole we live better than the people on the yard. We get
at minimum 3 showers a week and at minimum mini yard 5 days a week. I
assume I will be down here for a few years, hell a simple fist fight (my
first in the prison) back in 2012 landed me 13 months in isolation. This
one’s gonna be years. And I’m not the only one. Some 240 people are
getting charged. I don’t even know how many of us are now stuck in the
hole but we won’t be going anywhere any time soon.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Prisons in the United $tates are populated
with an inherent contradiction. As tools of social control targeting
oppressed nation lumpen, the people locked up are easily shown the need
for resistance and organizing against the criminal injustice system. The
powder keg of oppression and abuse in many lockdown units is easily set
off when people get together to turn their anger and pain into
resistance. This contradiction between the imperialists’ desire to
control oppressed nations, and the actual conditions of confinement
breeding resistance is just one example of how oppression creates
conditions for social change.
Protests like this one in Nebraska are steps forward in unity and
resistance. But as this comrade describes, no real change resulted, and
the active folks are now in long-term isolation. As revolutionaries we
need to figure out how to turn the righteous anger of the masses into
organized protests that can help achieve meaningful change. Sometimes in
prison we won’t get anything more than a bit of publicity and a
temporary outlet for anger, but we can do some things to increase the
chances for success. This starts with building unity and educating
people well before actions are initiated. We can run study groups behind
bars, discussing the basics of political theory and then applying what
is learned to conditions in the prison. And we need to build independent
media to report on actions in prison from the perspective of the
prisoners, so that we don’t leave it to the pigs to interpret our
actions to the public as “riots.” This preliminary work will also help
with follow-up after a protest. Even if something like what this writer
describes is set off spontaneously, it will be important to have
discipline and unity both during and after the action if we’re going to
effect any change within the system.
And for revolutionaries it is important that we help people see that we
won’t ever win this battle until we dismantle the criminal injustice
system entirely. We need to draw the connection between the prison
system and imperialism. While our current work focuses on prisons, we
can’t lose sight of the system that is behind the criminal injustice.
Our education work needs to include these connections as we help raise
the awareness of all potential future protesters and revolutionaries.
Every article in ULK
44 is on point!
“Baltimore:
Contradictions Heightening” leaves me hoping there are boots on the
ground to guide the demonstrators into an organized resistance. It seems
from historical examples that destruction of property and forcible
removal of merchandise gets results, e.g. Rodney King, whereas candles
and prayer obtain imperialistic praise, e.g. Trayvon Martin in Florida.
When a kkkapitalist suffers economic harm, imperialist forces will crush
a few of their own thug enforcers to restore the facade of calm. Destroy
the property of the bourgeoisie and the killers of oppressed citizens
get arrested.
Loco1’s article on the
sovereign
citizen movement does much to dispel myth and urban legend. But
often the hope of fallacy is stronger than the cold fist of truth.
Recently a rumor has spread that prisoners may file a 42 USC 1983
petition for just $35 if they tell the clerk to “file it in the green
file without the protection of admiralty law.” Even though I’ve shown
men an order from a magistrate judge, and a letter from the court clerk,
both stating $400 is the filing fee ($350 if in forma pauperis
is granted), prisoners still insist they only have to pay $35. I even
showed them an order denying a prisoner’s request to “file his petition
for $35.”
As for the sovereign citizen rubbish, it is historical fact that even
when a legal remedy does provide liberation, the supreme court of the
united snakes devises methods to make it inapplicable to the oppressed.
Look up Dred Scott. Consider that “a prison inmate … is not an employee
within the meaning of the [Federal Labor Standards Act].”(1) Does anyone
honestly believe that an imperialist court of pig justices would uphold
the sovereign citizen argument? Even if the argument was rooted in sound
legal principles (and your articles shows it is not), the imperialist
powers in the court are not going to say the government that empowered
them is a fraud and void.
And
Rashid
is incorrect, especially on the subject of the labor aristocracy. First,
MIM’s definition can be validated by simply engaging in discussion with
prison staff, including teachers. Those people do not identify with the
workers in other nations. Recently a teacher told me that his gas prices
should be lower because “Iraq owes us their oil in exchange for our
blood in liberating them.” When I replied that I don’t recall any Iraqis
ever asking us to invade their country and plunge it into civil war, he
said, “You only hear what you want to hear.” I was also informed it is
fair for a factory worker in India to earn 46 cents an hour because
“Amerikkka and England built that country for them.” Really? And second,
just because members of revolutionary groups are possibly from bourgeois
or aristocratic backgrounds, it does NOT mean those groups as a whole
will support revolution. But neither does it automatically exclude one
from the fight. There were Germans who fought against the nazis. And
Americans who fought for the bastards.