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.
Aprendiendo la diferencia entre nuestros amigos y enemigos significa que
nosotros sabemos que otros prisioneros comparten más en común con
nosotros que lo contrario. Esto también significa que dentro de la
nación de uno, las formaciones dentro tienen aun más en común que lo
contrario.
Para el Aztlán encarcelado, las divisiones fueron últimamente inspiradas
en el imperio. El ala avanzada del Aztlán encarcelado entiende que es
tiempo de re-unificar a Aztlán.
En Califaztlan, norteño, sureño, EME, NF han sido paredes que separaban.
A veces cada formación era necesaria por seguridad, y algunas
formaciones pueden ser más progresivas que otras. Pero estas formaciones
todavía separan al Aztlán encarcelado. La separación de una nación no es
buena bajo ninguna circunstancia. Yo creo que la meta de todas estas
organizaciones Lumpen (LO) es la unificación en algún punto, pero ¿cómo
puede esto ser posible?
Un Vistazo futuro a un Aztlán Unificado
Es una realidad que se ha desarrollado mucha animosidad y/o orgullo por
una LO o la otra. Al mismo tiempo nosotros vemos que el acuerdo para
Terminar Hostilidades nos ha permitido a todos el conocernos y apoyarnos
los unos a los otros. Ahora está bien el asistir y estar ahí el uno por
el otro, lo cual es grandioso. Nosotros hemos regresado a antes de que
empezara la enemistad entre el Norte y el Sur, sin embargo lo que se
necesita ahora es el salto hacia adelante.
La verdad es que mientras los LO (ej. NF, EME) todavía tengan
formaciones norteñas y sureñas, no habrá reunificación entre el Aztlán
encarcelado. Esto va a tomar pasos. La implementación de programas
autorizados en los niveles más altos. Un programa inicial seria el
formalmente desmantelar las formaciones del Sur/Norte. Al hacer esto la
raza será simplemente Raza de nuevo.
Tatuajes de Norte/Sur serian prohibidos en el futuro. Esto ayudaría a
aliviar conflictos y tensiones.
Un periodo de transición relajaría a la raza y luego la siguiente fase
de la unificación de EME/NF sería necesaria aún si ellos mantienen
comités separados con una nueva organización política. Pero, una nueva
organización con un nuevo nombre es necesaria para proveer un vistazo al
nuevo futuro de un Aztlán unificado. En algún punto, el Aztlán
encarcelado debe de moverse y crear un nombre en el que todos estén de
acuerdo, de otra manera ni un lado ganara nunca al otro lado.
I am a transsexual female who has been in these trenches 37 years, have
walked close to 30 yards and several SHUs, EOP, DMH. I want to add to
Legion’s
presentation regarding SNYs (ULK 58, p. 19) and how they came
to proliferate in Cali, and with regard to the people who walk SNY.
When I first came to CDC in the early 1980s, there were four formations
that governed all the maximum security yards: Black Guerrilla Family,
Nuestra Familia, Mexican Mafia, Aryan Brotherhood. Notwithstanding the
wars among them, there was order and discipline within each, and the
tone of the yards was one of respect and honor, an old or original
tradition. There was a lot of fighting and killing at San Quentin, where
I did four years in the Adjustment Center (AC) SHU. Extreme warfare
proliferated as the formations fought each other, especially in AC,
where Comrade George executed pigs and reactionary enemies and was
martyred in 1971. It was the same AC I stepped into in summer 1982 –
nothing had changed: extreme warfare through the bars (there were no
solid doors, though there are now) and tiger cages instead of AC yards.
In 1985, a white sergeant was speared in the heart through bars and died
on the tier, which was attributed to BGF. That’s when CDC went bonkers
and conceived the Pelican Bay SHU monster to deal with everything
(opened in 1989). It was also because of the killing of this sergeant
that all SHU pigs had to wear protective vests, beginning in 1986.
(Years later, alias Crips did a mass stabbing attack on yard pigs at
Calipatria, and now ALL pigs have to wear vests.)
CDC’s idea of an extreme control environment was a strategic mistake.
First, because it could not and did not break the spirit of those who
count, but reinforced their endurance. Second, it created a massive
vacuum on the yards as all the OG formations were swept up and stuck in
Pelican Bay SHU; soon, independent factions popped up on the untended
yards, and compared to previous, the yards went haywire, like kids at a
carnival. There was no discipline, no respect, no honor; SNY yards
opened and grew as many stepped back from that mess. Now, wherever there
is a General Population (G.P.), there is an SNY or two. Third, all of
this cost CDC millions of more dollars than average, with nothing
gained. Fourth, under the extreme oppression of Pelican Bay SHU, the
consciousness of the formations heightened and they united against CDC.
And fifth, the courts eventually let the formations out again.
A lot of the people who went from G.P. to SNY in the heydays of chaos
were not bad apples but were just more serious about doing time, that
the G.P. was so ruined it would’ve been futile to try to get it back on
track.
As much as the G.P. has progressed, however, it still has some backward
baggage to sort out. Trans prisoners cannot be on the G.P. because of
threats of death, BECAUSE they are trans; only that. There are some
progressive prisoners on G.P., the Kata, who do not persecute us. In
fact they politically educated me in Pelican Bay SHU in the early 1990s.
(A kata is a martial arts stance that Comrade G. practiced in his cell
and disliked the pigs to see him in. Here, it connotes a revolutionary
position and cadre.) But the general practice on the G.P. towards trans
prisoners is transmisogyny and gender oppression; reactionary. To
promote a prisoner’s human rights platform, that platform must include
the vested interests of all oppressed prisoners and have representation
of all interests, including trans, and must extend into SNY and women’s
prisons. The G.P. has yet to address its position towards trans
prisoners publicly.
I am with the Red Roses Transsexual Political Party (alias 36 Movement),
which I founded. We are a political resistance movement, with critically
vetted members. We do political work to challenge CDC’s genocidal
treatment of us as trans women with administrative complaints, lawsuits,
and educate trans prisoners for unity and resistance. We consider
ourselves a part of the Prisoners Human Rights Movement (PHRM) founded
by the united G.P. at Pelican Bay SHU. Our voice needs to be heard, our
situation on the G.P. hashed out. PHRM needs to extend into the women’s
prisons, where contradictions have peaked, with a series of suicides at
the California Institution for Women.
There is no question that we are in a new era of doing time, across the
whole landscape. The biggest difference is the new collective
consciousness of who is the real enemy in terms of our fundamental
vested interests, produced by the overbearing of the state on the
oppressed. The current unity of the OG formations – and especially the
Kata, as BGF and other New Afrikan unity – illustrates this.
Unfortunately, SNY is beset with wars among factions, and there have
been some killings. I would advocate the PHRM shoutout to SNY factions
to call a cease fire and work out a Peace Accord, to acknowledge a
higher need for unity against their conditions, such as, they can’t get
into any self-help rehabilitation groups unless they debrief. PHRM’s
voice will resonate with those who count on SNY.
Red Roses urges all trans prisoners to acquire political consciousness
and join the 36 Movement to resist CDC oppression as a united force. We
are political, not criminal, politically educate ourselves and do for
self and support each other for our collective good. Stop squabbling. We
are being killed on the yards, as Carmen Guerro, who was killed on this
very yard, and others (rest in peace). The 36 Movement is one for all
and all for one. Let that be your motto.
Is China an Imperialist Country? considerations and evidence by N.B.
Turner, et al. Kersplebedeb, 2015
Available for $17 +
shipping/handling
from: kersplebedeb CP
63560, CCCP Van Horne Montreal, Quebec Canada H3W 3H8
This article began as a book review of Is China an Imperialist
Country?. However, I was spurred to complete this review after
witnessing a surge in pro-China posts and sentiment on the /r/communism
subreddit, an online forum that MIM(Prisons) participates in. It is
strange to us that this question is gaining traction in a communist
forum. How could anyone be confused between such opposite economic
systems? Yet, this is not the first time that this question has been
asked about a capitalist country; the Soviet Union being the first.
Mao Zedong warned that China would likely become a social fascist state
if the revisionists seized power in their country as they had in the
Soviet Union after Stalin’s death. While the question of whether the
revisionists have seized power in China was settled for Maoists decades
ago, other self-proclaimed “communists” still refer to China as
socialist, or a “deformed workers’ state,” even as the imperialists have
largely recognized that China has taken up capitalism.
In this book, N.B. Turner does address the revisionists who believe
China is still a socialist country in a footnote.(1) Ey notes that most
of them base their position on the strength of State-Owned Enterprises
(SOEs) in China. This is a common argument we’ve seen as well. And the
obvious refutation is: socialism is not defined as a state-run economy,
at least not by Marxists. SOEs in China operate based on a profit
motive. China now boasts 319 billionaires, second only to the United
$tates, while beggars walk the streets clinging to passerbys. How could
it be that a country that had kicked the imperialists out, removed the
capitalists and landlords from power, and enacted full employment came
to this? And how could these conditions still be on the socialist road
to communism?
Recent conditions did not come out of nowhere. By the 1980s, Beijing
Review was boasting about the existence of millionaires in China,
promoting the concept of wage differentials.(2) There are two bourgeois
rights that allow for exploitation: the right to private property and
the right to pay according to work. While the defenders of Deng Xiaoping
argue that private property does not exist in China today, thus
“proving” its socialist nature, they give a nod to Deng’s policies on
wage differentials; something struggled against strongly during the Mao
era.
Turner quotes Lenin from Imperialism: The Highest Stage of
Capitalism: “If it were necessary to give the briefest possible
definition of imperialism we should have to say that imperialism is the
monopoly stage of capitalism.”(3) And what are most SOEs but monopolies?
Is China a Socialist Country?
The question of Chinese socialism is a question our movement came to
terms with in its very beginning. MIM took up the anti-revisionist line,
as stated in the first cardinal
principal:
“MIM holds that after the proletariat seizes power in socialist
revolution, the potential exists for capitalist restoration under the
leadership of a new bourgeoisie within the communist party itself. In
the case of the USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death of
Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao’s death and the overthrow of
the ‘Gang of Four’ in 1976.”
We’ll get more into why we believe this below. For now we must stress
that this is the point where we split from those claiming to be
communists who say China is a socialist country. It is also a point
where we have great unity with Turner’s book.
Who Thinks China is Socialist?
Those who believe China is socialist allude to a conspiracy to paint
China as a capitalist country by the Western media and by white people.
This is an odd claim, as we have spent most of our time struggling over
Chinese history explaining that China is no longer communist, and that
what happened during the socialist period of 1949 - 1976 is what we
uphold. We see some racist undertones in the condemnations of what
happened in that period in China. It seems those holding the above
position are taking a valid critique for one period in China and just
mechanically applying it to Western commentators who point out the
obvious. We think it is instructive that “by 1978, when Deng Xiaoping
changed course, the whole Western establishment lined up in support. The
experts quickly concluded, over Chinese protests, that the new course
represented reform ‘capitalist style.’”(4) The imperialists do not
support socialism and pretend that it is capitalism, rather they saw
Deng’s “reforms” for what they were.
TeleSur is one party that takes a position today upholding China as an
ally of the oppressed nations. TeleSur is a TV station based in
Venezuela, and funded by Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Cuba, Uruguay and
Nicaragua. Venezuela is another state capitalist country that presents
itself as “socialist”, so it has a self-interest in stroking China’s
image in this regard. One recent opinion piece described China as
“committed to socialism and Marxism.” It acknowledges problems of
inequality in Chinese society are a product of the “economic reforms.”
Yet the author relies on citations on economic success and profitability
as indications that China is still on the socialist road.(5)
As students of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, we recognize
that socialism is defined by class struggle. In fairness, the TeleSur
opinion piece acknowledges this and claims that class struggle continues
in China today. But the reality that the state sometimes imprisons its
billionaires does not change the fact that this once socialist society,
which guaranteed basic needs to all, now has billionaires. Billionaires
can only exist by exploiting people; a lot! Fifty years ago China had
eliminated the influence of open capitalists on the economy, while
allowing those who allied with the national interest to continue to earn
income from their investments. In other words they were being phased
out. Some major changes had to take place to get to where China is today
with 319 billionaires.
Fidel Castro is cited as upholding today’s President of China, Xi
Jinping, as one of the “most capable revolutionary leaders.” Castro also
alluded to China as a counterbalance to U.$. imperialism for the Third
World. China being a counter-balance to the United $tates does not make
it socialist or even non-imperialist. China has been upholding its
non-interventionist line for decades to gain the trust of the world. But
it is outgrowing its ability to do that, as it admits in its own
military white papers described by Turner.(6) This is one indication
that it is in fact an imperialist country, with a need to export finance
capital and dump overproduced commodities in foreign markets.
“The Myth of Chinese Capitalism”
Another oft-cited article by proponents of a socialist China in 2017 is
“The Myth of Chinese Capitalism” by Jeff Brown.(7) Curiously, Brown
volunteers the information that China’s Gini coefficient, a measure of a
country’s internal inequality between rich and poor, went from 0.16 in
1978 to 0.37 in 2015 (similar to the United $tates’ 0.41). Brown offers
no explanation as to how this stark increase in inequality could occur
in what ey calls a socialist country. In fact, Brown offers little
analysis of the political economy of China, preferring to quote Deng
Xiaoping and the Chinese Constitution as proof of China’s socialist
character, followed by stats on the success of Chinese corporations in
making profits in the capitalist economic system.
Brown claims that Deng’s policies were just re-branded policies of the
Mao era. A mere months after the counter-revolutionary coup in China in
1976, the China Study Group wrote,
“The line put forward by the Chinese Communist Party and the Peking
Review before the purge and that put forward by the CCP and the
Peking Review after the purge are completely different and
opposite lines. Superficially they may appear similar because the new
leaders use many of the same words and slogans that were used before in
order to facilitate the changeover. But they have torn the heart out of
the slogans, made them into hollow words and are exposing more clearly
with every new issue the true nature of their line.”(8)
Yet, 40 years later, fans of China would have us believe that empty
rhetoric about “Marxism applied to Chinese conditions” are a reason to
take interest in the economic policies of Xi Jinping.
Brown seems to think the debate is whether China is economically
successful or not according to bourgeois standards. As such ey offers
the following tidbits:
“A number of [SOEs] are selling a portion of their ownership to the
public, by listing shares on Chinese stock markets, keeping the vast
majority of ownership in government hands, usually up to a 70%
government-30% stock split. This sort of shareholder accountability has
improved the performance of China’s SOEs, which is Baba Beijing’s
goal.”
“[O]ther SOEs are being consolidated to become planet conquering
giants”
“How profitable are China’s government owned corporations? Last year,
China’s 12 biggest SOEs on the Global 500 list made a combined total
profit of US$201 billion.”
So selling stocks, massive profits and giant corporations conquering the
world are the “socialist” principles being celebrated by Brown, and
those who cite em.
The Coup of 1976
What all these apologists for Chinese capitalism ignore is the fact that
there was a coup in China in 1976 that involved a seizure of state
apparati, a seizure of the media (as alluded to above) and the
imprisonment of high officials in the Maoist camp (the so-called “Gang
of Four”).(9) People in the resistance were executed for organizing and
distributing literature.(10) There were arrests and executions across
the country, in seemingly large numbers. Throughout 1977 a mass purge of
the party may have removed as many as a third of its members.(11) The
armed struggle and repression in 1976 seems to have involved more
violence than the Cultural Revolution, but this is swept under the rug
by pro-capitalists. In addition, the violence in both cases was largely
committed by the capitalist-roaders. While a violent counterrevolution
was not necessary to restore capitalism in the Soviet Union, it did
occur in China following Mao Zedong’s death.
At the time of Mao’s death, Deng was the primary target of criticism for
not recognizing the bourgeoisie in the Party. Hua Guofeng, who jailed
the Gang of Four and seized chairmanship after Mao’s death, continued
this criticism of Deng at first, only to restore all his powers less
than sixteen months after they were removed by the Maoist
government.(12)
The Western media regularly demonizes China for its records on humyn
rights and free speech. Yet, this is not without reason. By the 1978
Constitution, the so-called CCP had removed the four measures of
democracy guaranteed to the people in the 1975 Constitution: “Speaking
out freely, airing views fully, holding great debates and writing big
character posters are new forms of carrying on socialist revolution
created by the masses of the people. The state shall ensure to the
masses the right to use these forms.”(13)
This anti-democratic trend has continued over the last forty years, from
jail sentences for big character posters in the 1980s and the Tianamen
Square massacre in 1989 to the imprisonment of bloggers in the 2010s.
While supporters of Xi Jinping have celebrated his recent call for more
Marxism in schools, The Wall Street Journal reports that this is
not in the spirit of Mao:
“Students at Sun Yat-sen University in southern China arrived this year
to find new instructions affixed to classroom walls telling them not to
criticize party leadership; their professors were advised to do the
same… An associate professor at an elite Beijing university said he was
told he was rejected for promotion because of social-media posts that
were critical of China’s political system. ‘Now I don’t speak much
online,’ he said.”(14)
Scramble for Africa
What about abroad? Is China a friend of the oppressed? Turner points out
that China’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Africa is significant,
though a tiny piece of China’s overall FDI. First we must ask, why is
China engaged in FDI in the first place? Lenin’s third of five points
defining imperialism is, “The export of capital, which has become
extremely important, as distinguished from the export of
commodities.”(15) A couple chapters before talking about Africa, Turner
shows that China has the fastest growing FDI of any imperialist or
“sub-imperialist” country starting around 2005.(16) Even the SOEs are
involved in this investment, accounting for 87% of China’s FDI in Latin
America.(17) This drive to export capital, which repatriates profits to
China, is a key characteristic of an imperialist country.
In 2010, China invited South Africa to join the BRICS group (Brazil,
Russia, India, China, and now South Africa) of imperialist/aspiring
imperialist countries. This was a strategic decision by China, as South
Africa was chosen over many larger economies. “In 2007… the Industrial
and Commercial Bank of China (now the world’s largest company) bought a
multi-billion-dollar stake in the South African Standard Bank, which has
an extensive branch network across the continent.” Shoprite is another
South African corporation that spans the continent, which China has
invested in. In Zambia, almost all the products in Shoprite are Chinese
or South African.(18)
The other side of this equation indicating the role of China in Africa
is the resistance. “Chinese nationals have become the number one
kidnapping target for terrorist and rebel groups in Africa, and Chinese
facilities are valuable targets of sabotage.” China is also working with
the likes of Amerikan mercenary Erik Prince to avoid direct military
intervention abroad. “In 2006, a Zambian minister wept when she saw the
environment in which workers toiled at the Chinese-owned Collum Coal
Mine. Four years later, eleven employees were shot at the site while
protesting working conditions.”(19) While China’s influence is seen as
positive by a majority of people in many African countries,(20) this is
largely due to historical support given to African nations struggling
for self-determination. The examples above demonstrate the
irreconcilable contradiction developing within Chinese imperialism with
its client nations.
“Market Socialism”
Chinese President Xi Jinping talks often of the importance of “Marxism”
to China, of “socialism with Chinese characteristics” and of “market
socialism.” Xi’s defenders in communist subreddits cite Lenin and the
New Economic Policy (NEP) of the Soviet Union to peg our position as
anti-Lenin. There’s a reason we call ourselves Maoists, and not
Leninists. The battle against the theory of the productive forces, and
the form it took in the mass mobilization of the Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution is core to how we define Maoism as a higher stage of
revolutionary science than Leninism. The Bolsheviks tended toward
upholding the theory of the productive forces, though you can find
plenty in Lenin’s to oppose it as well. Regardless, Lenin believed in
learning from history. We’d say Maoists are the real Leninists.
Lenin’s NEP came in the post-war years, a few years after the
proletariat seized power in Russia. The argument was that capitalist
markets and investment were needed to get the economic ball rolling
again. But China in 1978 was in no such situation. It was rising on a
quarter century of economic growth and radical reorganization of the
economy that unleashed productive forces that were the envy of the rest
of the underdeveloped nations. Imposing capitalist market economics on
China’s socialist economy in 1978 was moving backwards. And while
economic growth continued and arguably increased, social indicators like
unemployment, the condition of wimmin, mental health and crime all
worsened significantly.
The line of the theory of the productive forces is openly embraced by
some Dengists
defending “market socialism.” One of the most in-depth defenses of China
as communist appearing on /r/communism reads:
“Deng Xiaoping and his faction had to address the deeper Marxist
problem: that the transition from a rural/peasant political economy to
modern industrial socialism was difficult, if not impossible, without
the intervening stage of industrial capitalism… First, Chinese market
socialism is a method of resolving the primary contradiction facing
socialist construction in China: backwards productive forces.”(21)
So, our self-described communist detractors openly embrace the lines of
Deng Xiaoping and Liu Shaoqi, thereby rejecting the Maoist line and the
Cultural Revolution.
Resilience to Crisis
During the revolution, China was no stranger to economic crisis. From
the time the war against Japan began in 1937 to victory in 1949, goods
that cost 1 yuan had risen to the price of 8,500,000,000,000 yuan!(22)
Controlling inflation was an immediate task of the Chinese Communist
Party after seizing state power. “On June 10, 1949 the Stock Exchange –
that centre of crime located in downtown Shanghai – was ordered to close
down and 238 leading speculators were arrested and indicted.”(23)
Shanghai Stock Exchange was re-established again in 1990. It is
currently the 5th largest exchange, but was 2nd for a brief frenzy prior
to the 2008 global crash.(24)
The eclectic U.$.-based Troskyite organization Workers
World Party (WW) used the 2008 crisis to argue that China was more
socialist than capitalist.(25) The export-dependent economy of China
took a strong blow in 2008. WW points to the subsequent investment in
construction as being a major offset to unemployment. They conclude
that, “The socialist component of the economic foundation is dominant at
the present.” Yet they see the leadership of Xi Jinping as further
opening up China to imperialist manipulation, unlike other groups
discussed above.
Turner addresses the “ghost cities” built in recent years in China as
examples of the anarchy of production under capitalism. Sure they were
state planned, but they were not planned to meet humyn need, hence they
remain largely empty years after construction. To call this socialism,
one must call The New Deal in the United $tates socialism.
Marx explained why crisis was inevitable under capitalism, and why it
would only get worse with time as accumulation grew, distribution became
more uneven, and overproduction occurred more quickly. Socialism
eliminates these contradictions, with time. It does so by eliminating
the anarchy of production as well as speculation. After closing the
Stock Exchange the communists eliminated all other currencies, replacing
them with one state-controlled currency, the Renminbi, or the people’s
currency. Prices for goods as well as foreign currencies were set by the
state. They focused on developing and regulating production to keep the
balance of goods and money, rather than producing more currency, as the
capitalist countries do.(26)
When the value of your stock market triples and then gets cut back to
its original price in the span of a few years, you do not have a
socialist-run economy.(27) To go further, when you have a stock market,
you do not have a socialist economy.
Turner addresses the recent crisis and China’s resiliency, pointing out
that it recently started from a point of zero debt, internally and
externally, thanks to financial policy during the socialist era.(28)
China paid off all external debt by 1964.(29) This has allowed China to
expand its credit/debt load in recent decades to degrees that the other
imperialist countries no longer have the capacity to do. This includes
investing in building whole cities that sit empty.(30)
What is Socialism?
So, if socialism isn’t increasing profits and growing GDP with
state-owned enterprises, what the heck is it? The Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution (GPCR) was the pinnacle of socialist achievement;
that is another one of MIM’s three main points. No one has argued that
the Cultural Revolution has continued or was revived post-1976. In fact,
the Dengists consistently deny that there are any capitalists in the
party to criticize, as they claim “market socialism” denies the
capitalists any power over the economy. This is the exact line that got
Deng kicked out of the CCP before Mao died. Without class struggle, we
do not have socialism, until all classes have been abolished in humyn
society. Class struggle is about the transformation of society into new
forms of organization that can someday lead us to a communist future.
“A fundamental axiom of Maoist thought is that public ownership is only
a technical condition for solving the problems of Chinese society. In a
deeper sense, the goal of Chinese socialism involves vast changes in
human nature, in the way people relate to each other, to their work, and
to society. The struggle to change material conditions, even in the most
immediate sense, requires the struggle to change people, just as the
struggle to change people depends on the ability to change the
conditions under which men live and work. Mao differs from the Russians,
and Liu Shao-chi’s group, in believing that these changes are
simultaneous, not sequential. Concrete goals and human goals are
separable only on paper – in practice they are the same. Once the basic
essentials of food, clothing, and shelter for all have been achieved, it
is not necessary to wait for higher productivity levels to be reached
before attempting socialist ways of life.” (31)
Yet the Dengists defend the “economic reforms” (read:
counter-revolution) after Mao’s death as necessary for expanding
production, as a prerequisite to building socialism.
“The fact that China is a socialist society makes it necessary to
isolate and discuss carefully the processes at work in the three
different forms of ownership: state, communal, and cooperative.”(32)
The Dengists talk much of state ownership, but what of communes and
cooperatives? Well, they were dismantled in the privatization of the
1980s. Dengists cry that there is no private land ownership in China,
and that is a sign that the people own the land. It was. In the 1950s
land was redistributed to peasants, which they later pooled into
cooperatives, unleashing the productive forces of the peasantry. Over
time this collective ownership was accepted as public ownership, and
with Deng’s “reforms” each peasant got a renewable right to use small
plots for a limited number of years. The commune was broken up and the
immediate effects on agriculture and the environment were negative.(33)
Strategic Implications
Overall Turner does a good job upholding the line on what is socialism
and what is not. This book serves as a very accessible report on why
China is an imperialist country based in Leninist theory. The one place
we take issue with Turner is in a discussion of some of the strategic
implications of this in the introduction. Ey makes an argument against
those who would support forces fighting U.$. imperialism, even when they
are backed by other imperialist powers. One immediately thinks of
Russia’s support for Syria, which foiled the Amerikan plans for regime
change against the Assad government. Turner writes, “Lenin and the
Bolshevik Party… argued for ‘revolutionary defeatism’ toward all
imperialist and reactionary powers as the only stance for
revolutionaries.”(34) But what is this “and reactionary powers” that
Turner throws in? In the article, “The Defeat of One’s Own Government in
the Imperialist War,” by “imperialist war” Lenin meant inter-imperialist
war, not an imperialist invasion of a country in the periphery.
In that article Lenin praised the line that “During a reactionary war a
revolutionary class cannot but desire the defeat of its government.” He
writes, “that in all imperialist countries the proletariat must
now desire the defeat of its own government.” While Lenin emphasizes
all here, in response to Turner, we’d emphasize
imperialist. Elsewhere Lenin specifies “belligerent countries”
as the target of this line. So while it is clear that Lenin was not
referring to Syria being invaded by the United $tates as a time that the
proletariat must call for defeat of the government of their country, it
seems that Turner is saying this.
We agree with other strategic conclusions of this book. China seems to
be moving towards consolidating its sphere of influence, which could
lead to consolidation of the world into two blocks once again. While
this is a dangerous situation, with the threat of nuclear war, it is
also a situation that has proven to create opportunities for the
proletariat. Overall, the development and change of the current system
works in the favor of the proletariat of the oppressed nations; time is
on our side. As China tries to maintain its image as a “socialist”
benefactor, the United $tates will feel more pressure to make
concessions to the oppressed and hold back its own imperialist
arrogance.
In 1986, Henry
Park hoped that the CCP would repudiate Marxism soon, writing, “It
is far better for the CCP to denounce Marx (and Mao) as a dead dog than
for the CCP to discredit socialism with the double-talk required to
defend its capitalist social revolution.”(35) Still hasn’t happened, and
it’s not just the ignorant Amerikan who is fooled. Those buying into the
40-year Chinese charade contribute to the continued discrediting of
socialism, especially as this “socialist” country becomes more
aggressive in international affairs.
[We recommend Is China an Imperialist Country? as the best
resource we know on this topic. As for the question of Chinese socialism
being overthrown, please refer to the references below. We highly
recommend The Chinese Road to Socialism for an explanation of
what socialism looks like and why the GPCR was the furthest advancement
of socialism so far.]
U.$. imperialist leaders and their labor aristocracy supporters like to
criticize other countries for their tight control of the media and other
avenues of speech. For instance, many have heard the myths about
communist China forcing everyone to think and speak alike. In reality,
these stories are a form of censorship of the truth in the United
$tates. In China under Mao the government encouraged people to put up
posters debating every aspect of political life, to criticize their
leaders, and to engage in debate at work and at home. This was an
important part of the Cultural Revoluion in China. There are a number of
books available in this country that give a truthful account, but far
more money is put into anti-communist propaganda books. Here in Amerika
free speech is reserved for those with money and power.
In prisons in particular we see so much censorship, especially
targetting those who are politically conscious and fighting for their
rights. Fighting for our First Amendment right to free speech is a
battle that MIM(Prisons) and many prisoners waste a lot of time and
money on. For us this is perhaps the most fundamental of requirements
for our organizing work. There are prisoners, and some entire prisons
(and sometimes entire states) that are denied all mail from
MIM(Prisons). This means we can’t send in educational material, or study
courses, or even supply a guide to fighting censorship. Many prisons
regularly censor ULK claiming that the news and information
printed within is a “threat to security.” For them, printing the truth
about what goes on behind bars is dangerous. But if we had the resources
to take these cases to court we believe we could win in many cases.
Denying prisoners mail is condemning some people to no contact with the
outside world. To highlight this, and the ridiculous and illegal reasons
that prisons use to justify this censorship, we will periodically print
a summary of some recent censorship incidents in ULK.
We hope that lawyers, paralegals, and those with some legal knowledge
will be inspired to get involved and help us with these censorship
battles, both behind bars and on the streets. For the full list of
censorship incidents, along with copies of appeals and letters from the
prison, check out our
censorship reporting
webpage.
North Carolina fears ULK promotes insurrection
Doug Pardue, Chair of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety’s
(NCDPS) Publication Review Committee (PRC) censored ULK 55, for
the article
“Regarding
Daily Body Searches”, stating that it “promotes insurrection.” After
appealing this censorship, Director of Rehabilitative Programs and
Services upheld the decision citing these lines:
“Persynally I believe that we should shut down all movement but still go
to Yard, programs and accept our food. Just make the pigs do all the
work… the only way we know how to deal with an opposition is thru the
motion of our resistance.”
Ms. Sullivan writes, “These statements could possibly lead to
insurrection which is a violation of our policy on publications.”
Apparently insurrection is a passive activity, and peaceful protest is a
threat to institutional safety. Kind of ironic from a state that has a
memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. inscribed with the following words:
…“AFRICAN-AMERICANS AND FAIR MINDED PEOPLE OF ALL RACES, ENGAGED IN
MASSIVE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE SERVED NOTICE ON THE NATION AND THE WORLD
THAT THEY WOULD NO LONGER TOLERATE THE ABUSES OF AMERICAN RACISM. THE
CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT HERALDED A NEW ERA IN OUR COLLECTIVE RESOLVE TO
ADHERE TO THE PRINCIPLES OF ‘LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL’…
Still can’t stay true to MLK’s message in 2017.
Last year, NCPDS censored ULK 53 for the control unit survey.
This was even more surprising. Upon our appeal, Nicole E. Sullivan,
Director of Rehabilitative Programs and Services upheld the decision,
writing:
“[T]he issue lies in the first sentence of the article which describes
Control Units in inflammatory language equating them with political
repression and torture. Control Units are not used in that manner in our
facilities. Such language can encourage insurrection and disorder.
Therefore the original decision is to withhold delivery is affirmed.”
Ms. Sullivan ruled no free speech for MIM(Prisons) because any critique
of eir agency’s practices might cause an insurrection.
Just recently, one comrade who had ULK 55 censored and received
our appeal letter responded:
“The NCPDS is quick to make any kind of negative judgment against
prisoners. A man can say ‘boo’ and they feel threatened. I would like to
know how they can even mention this material being against the
prisoners’ rehabilitation, where there is no such thing as
rehabilitation in the department of NCPDS anymore. If a prisoner gets
any rehabilitation, he gets it on his own.
“All the classes that might have been helpful with getting prisoners any
rehabilitation have been closed down. More than that, most of the time
after completing the class, proof of graduation completion certificates
aren’t worth the paper they are written on.
“I totally agree with the analysis of the appeal letter.”
Missouri bans ULK
A subscriber at Jefferson City Correctional Center forwarded a copy of
eir censorship notification for ULK 56. This comrade believes the
state has banned all ULK although no formal notification has been
given to either recipients or MIM(Prisons). The case manager for the
prison refused to give this prisoner a grievance to file so ey could not
even fight the ruling.
“The Censorship Committee has reviewed materials sent to you. Pursuant
to our review of this material, we conclude that the security of this
institution will be at risk if the material is delivered to you within
this institution because the material: 1. constitutes a threat to
the security, good order or discipline of the institution; 2. may
facilitate or encourage criminal activity; or 3. may interfere with
the rehabilitation of an offender
”Additional comments: contains
articles that could constitute a safety and security risk.”
Virginia DOC denies ULK 55 for lots of reasons but nothing specific
The Virginia DOC at least followed their rules in informing MIM(Prisons)
that our publication was denied. Although the letter was sent months
after this issue of ULK was mailed to subscribers. And still they
claim we get only 15 days to appeal!
“You are hereby advised that the following issue(s) of publication(s)
sent to an offender of the Virginia Department of Corrections have been
disapproved for delivery to offenders of the Department:
Under Lock & Key March/April 2017 No. 55 page 5, front cover
for the following reasons: D. Material, documents, or photographs
that emphasize depictions or promotions of violence, disorder,
insurrection, terrorist, or criminal activity in violation of state or
federal laws or the violation of the Offender Disciplinary
Procedure. F. Material that depicts, describes, or promotes gang
bylaws, initiations, organizational structure, codes, or other
gang-related activity or association.”
Hamilton CI in Florida censors guide to fighting censorship
In clear proof that Florida isn’t reading the mail they censor, on July
20 we got a censorship notification from the Florida DOC along with the
letter back that they had denied. This letter is our guide to fighting
censorship in prisons. It contains information about regulations and
laws, and how to appeal censorship. It’s quite a stretch to consider any
of the below reasons applicable to this document. More likely the
mailroom is now just censoring all of our mail for these reasons.
“Your correspondence is being returned for the following reason(s):
”Otherwise presents a threat to the security, order, or
rehabilitative objectives of the Correctional System, or to the safety
of any person. “Depicts, describes or encourages activities which
may lead to the use of physical violence or group disruption.
”Encourages or instructs in the commission of criminal activity.”
ULK 57 banned from Pennsylvania prisons for “advocating solidarity”
Apparently Pennsylvania considers any unity among prisoners to be
dangerous. And so they banned all Pennsylvania prisoners from receiving
ULK 57 because it “advocates solidarity.” The Merriam-Webster
dictionary defines solidarity as “unity (as of a group or class) that
produces or is based on community of interests, objectives, and
standards.” Perhaps Pennsylvania hopes to keep prisoners distracted
fighting one another rather than united against the abuse of the
injustice system.
“Please be advised that the following publication has been denied to all
inmates housed in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections: ”Under
Lock & Key, #57, July/August 2017. “The publication was denied
for the following reasons: ”Information on page 11 advocates
solidarity.”
Pennsylvania denies ULK for article about PA prisons
“The following publication addressed to you has been reviewed and found
unacceptable for the reason(s), indicated below, based on the criteria
set forth in the DC-ADM 803 ‘Inmate Mail and Incoming Publications’
policy Section 3.E.3. Name of publication: Under Lock & Key –
July/August 2017 Volume/number: 57. <BR.”Section II b.
security issues “(4) Racially inflammatory material or material
that could cause a threat to the inmate, staff, or facility security;
page number(s) 21, 24. Brief description: States that ‘the strip
searches in the PA DOC are only for harassment purposes and we the
people need to learn to fight and take a stand against the “pigs” in the
prisons’ referring to the correctional officers.”
Illinois claims ULK is on Disapproved Publication List
Denying ULK 56 , the Illinois DOC offered only this justification
to the prisoner’s appeal: “Based upon this review, the following action
is recommended: Denial – The publication is listed on the Disapproved
Publication List.”
Georgia censors ULK for being “reading material”
ULK 56 was sent back to us with a rejection form. The reason for
rejection: “Other: reading Material (denied by legal in Atlanta)”.
Washington rejects ULK 57 for article by prisoners
Washington DOC sent us individual rejection slips for at least ten
prisoners, all claiming that ULK 57 violates law, policy, code or
rules. Rather than give specifics, they offered several rather vague
reasons as justification including info on STGs, overthrowing the
government, and articles by other prisoners in other facilities. It’s
pretty hard to fight such general claims. And in fact most of ULK
is written by prisoners, but that’s not a legal justification for
censorship.
“Reason 8. Contains plans for activity that violates state/federal
law, the Washington Administrative Code, Department policy, and/or local
facility rules.
“Comments/other reasons: 8. contains security threat group information
and threat to penological object on overthrowing the government page 3,
11, and 13. A lot of articles that other offenders from other
facilities.”
Illinois returns study group lesson unopened
A letter sent to an Illinois prisoner was returned to us, unopened with
the reason “unapproved correspondence.” The envelope contained a 4 page
intro to MIM(Prisons) and an invitation to our mail-based study group
with the first reading and questions attached. How could Illinois know
this was not approved if they didn’t bother to open the letter to look
at the contents?
9 September 2017 marked the sixth annual Day of Peace and Solidarity in
prisons across the United $tates. On this day we commemorated the
anniversary of the Attica uprising, drawing attention to abuse of
prisoners across the country through peaceful protests, unity events,
and educational work. This demonstration was initiated in 2012 by an
organization participating in United Struggle for Peace in Prisons and
has been taken up as an annual UFPP event, with people participating in
prisons across the country. Here we print the initial reports received
in time for this issue of ULK, and we look forward to expanding
on this report in the next ULK. So if you haven’t yet sent in
your report, there’s still time!
In these initial reports we see an array of actions taken, based on what
was appropriate for local conditions. Some focused on spreading
revolutionary education. Others worked hard to build unity between
beefing sets. And some took this opportunity to initiate individual
actions to demand basic rights they are due according to laws and
regulations. We applaud all who participate din the September 9
solidarity demonstration. Now let’s build on these actions every day:
peace between prisoners, unity against the injustice system!
East Arkansas Regional Unit
I am fasting today and sharing with my new neighbor a couple issues of
Under Lock & Key and explaining to him why I’m fasting today.
The imperialists have their “Memorial Day,” “Indpenedence Day,” and
“Veterans Day.” We have our Day of Peace and Solidarity and I hope to
learn to honor all the fallen comrades who died with a vision of freedom
for all political prisoners by doing what I can to bring this vision to
fruition.
Texas Darrington Unit
September 9 United Front for Peace in Prisons (UFPP) is being
participated by hispanics, Blacks and caucasian individuals. We will
fast from 12:00am Saturday until Sunday 12:00am. The goal is to uphold
the five Principles of UFPP and since my people in population, they will
talk to other individuals about the movement. As of me, my participation
in Ad-Seg I squash all beef with hispanics, Blacks and caucasians I’m
beefing with, which is probably everybody here. I called peace and unity
but sorry to say still there isn’t any unity so I just have to roll with
the peace.
California High Desert State Prison
James Baldwin: “To act is to be committed and to be committed is to
be in danger.”
To all comrades and allies in the struggle, Abolitionists From Within
(AFW) is back for the third year at HDSP this 9 September 2017 day and
weusi agosti. AFW have taken many setbacks but continue to build peace
and solidarity behind enemy lines to commemorate the anniversary of the
Attica uprising and to draw attention to the abuse of prisoners. We
organize in opposition to the oppressive and exploitative dominant
culture of Amerikan kapitalist society. AFW will continue to press no
matter the circumstances.
To my comrades back on C-yard, the struggle continues. Brothas continue
to speak peace and engage in solidarity and put petty differences to the
side and past beefs ya dig! Here on D-yard in solidarity I fast all day,
help one of the Raza comrades with his legal work, share work with my
celly, and continue to build out on the yard even though I’m no longer
with my brotha. You know it “can’t stop, won’t stop.”
I do my best to lead by example to end prisoner-on-prisoner hostilities
regardless of set, race, religion or other division, and needless
conflict within the U.S. prison environment. A 24 hour action, a little
sacrifice by the comrades to reflect on the anniversary of the Attica
uprising and all the faceless (Hugo) brotha and sista that have
sacrificed before us, behind enemy lines.
Revolutionary salute to my new family USW leadership working to educate
the lumpen class. It’s not easy, all of us are in a war against
something in ourselves that’s pulling us to do the right or wrong thing.
Trying to conquer the weaker part of ourselves behind enemy line. I
encourage you comrades to continue the struggle and hope we all learned
something from this September 9. Comrades I have been influenced and
inspired by you all and by the work and revolutionary practice of
comrades in our struggle for peace in solidarity. The real Black
communist guerrillas steer clear of reactionaries, agent provocateurs
and parasitical leaders whose only aim is to sell out the young
comrades. These saboteurs are very detrimental to our struggle for
freedom, justice and equality and to peace behind enemy lines.
Emancipate yourselves from the shackles of capitalism, comrades.
Nevada High Desert State Prison
Today, September 9, we had a number of comrades that were going to not
eat today, and we have collected about 40 issues of ULK between
us all, and we were just going to pass them out to everyone. And then on
tier and yard we had planned on making a show of a study group. But a
pig was stabbed here 2 weeks ago. He died yesterday, and today we are
locked down. So, we are going to proceed with our plan once we are off
lockdown. We also have a couple comrades that are focusing solely on the
New Afrikans in an attempt to get the MIM(Prisons) address in their
hands!
Arizona Central Unit
I am commencing a hunger strike on 9/9/2017, to continue until the below
issues are resolved. These issues are regarding equal treatment,
retaliation, legal rights, First Amendment rights, staff misconduct and
conditions of confinement. List of Hunger Strike Resolutions:
Allow me to resume taking my paralegal correspondence course
Rescind the ban on all my incoming magazines and books.
Give me my TV from property office
Give me my prescription eyeglasses from property
Allow me to receive sunglasses in accordance with my Special Needs Order
Remove me from Protective Custody (PC) status
Provide me unfettered access to grievance forms
Provide me with regularly scheduled legal calls to my attorneys
Conduct legal box exchanges in accordance with policy.
Allow me to do book exchanges with my personal books in property.
Georgia Valdosta Unit
This last report is from 2016 but got to us late due to mail delays
and issues on both ends.
My apologies for the delay. I had to fight for my right to live. As I
went back to court to fight for my freedom from these imperialistic
$nakes, my lit of September 9 was left behind. But I enforced what I had
to memory into action. From Sept 8, 2016 at 11:58 I began my solidarity
& commemoration for the fallen leaders before me. Needless to say I
was on lock down and wasn’t able to move among my fellow comrades to
spread the little knowledge I acquired thus far. So I fasted and talked
in the vent to my neighbor and enlightened him on the occasion and the
movement to educate each other no matter of race, color or gang
membership.
As the breakfast came the officers was dumbfounded that I gently pushed
my tray back out the flap and stated “In memory of my fallen brothers at
Attica.” I then proceeded to get up and walk to the back of my cell and
did pushups and jumping jax for endurance. Lunch & Dinner also to
show the pigs that where ever we, “us” soldiers of the struggle go, our
principles of peace, unity, growth, internationalism and independence is
in us.
When I came back to my concentration KKKamp one of the comrades filled
me in on the movement of the day of 9th when I was gone. They’re the
young generation so the physical aggression was there. And I’m honored
to say none of my comrades was harmed in their display of that day.
I was going over some points about integrationalism from a magnificent
work by RADS called
Chican@ Power
and the Struggle for Aztlán. What I read talked about the rise in
the percentage of Chicanos joining the military. (Between 2000 and 2004,
Latinos went from 10.4% of new military recruits to 13.0%, pg. 132.) It
goes on to talk about the key of the struggle of the oppressed nation
is: “National liberation!” Not an integrationist approach into an entity
with the whites who make up the majority of military troops. (My
emphasis)
I believe that the “civil rights” theory of sharing what whites are
privileged at or enjoy, tho’ may equal some form of equality, will not
equal liberation from oppression of the people.
The overall goal is to overthrow imperialism and their exploitation of
the proletariat and their oppression of mankind, not to have a “civil
right” to also be able to exploit and oppress and have a piece of the
imperialist pie. In the end game we must obtain communism through
socialism.
I think many get lost in the sauce of “civil rights” stimuli and become
confused about how we should end oppression and genocide of our
folks.
Not only is it our duty to refrain from getting caught up in the “civil
rights hype” and use the materialist method, but also what comes with
the territory of staying true to our politics is that we must also
correct those of the stock who do fall for the civil rights approach
when trying to escape or put an end to imperialist madness. This same
stock I speak of are some of the same folks who could also make up some
of the potential to join the ranks of the people’s army.
[9 September 2017 marked the sixth annual Day of Peace and Solidarity
in prisons across the United $tates. On this day we commemorated the
anniversary of the Attica uprising, drawing attention to abuse of
prisoners across the country through peaceful protests, unity events,
and educational work. This demonstration was initiated in 2012 by an
organization participating in United Struggle for Peace in Prisons and
has been taken up as an annual UFPP event, with people participating in
prisons across the country.]
This history lesson was posted on the dorm wall for two weeks
preceding September 9 in Macon State Prison in Georgia:
Fu@* Sept 11th, we got Sept 9th!
Sept 9th marks an important date in the history of mistreated prisoners
across the U.S. It is the date of what is referred to as ‘The Attica
Rebellion.’ Here’s a synopsis of the event and I pray to the revolution
gods that my recollection serves me correct. Unity in Peace.
Sept 9, 1971 prisoners at Attica Correctional Institution in the state
of New York got tired of prison guards harassing them and abusing them
mentally and physically, so they decided to take a stand. The prisoners
negotiated with the prison commissioner and when he refused to meet
requests, the prisoners, for the betterment, health care and food, then
turned to a full scale riot and eventual takeover of the prison and
staff. The men spoke over a land line to then-governor Nelson
Rockefeller about the conditions of confinement and he too refused to
meet demands. On Sept 13th after a four-day standoff governor Nelson
Rockefeller ordered local law enforcement and the National Guard to take
back the prison with deadly force. About 50 deaths in all from around 30
prisoners and 10 guards with hundreds more injured and disabled and
disfigured to this date.
This is a tremendous day in our fight for justice and courage and a loss
of many lives. Always remember Sept 9th as a sad but heroic sacrifice
made for the betterment of you and me.
MIM(Prisons) adds: A beautiful aspect of the Attica Uprising
was how the prisoners interacted with each other. They ran the facility
themselves, and there was peace on the yard. They were able to feed
themselves, deliver meds, and even did count, all without the overseers
breathing down their necks. For more of the history on the Attica
Uprising, send in $2 of work-trade for the September 9 study pack.
I’m a voice for the people of struggle and oppression and victim to
society’s pollution: the Arkansas Department of Corrections. A place
they proclaim is for rehabilitation, but where does rehabilitation
create racial discrimination, falsified disciplinary reports and staff
misconduct, because of your skin tone or affiliation?
Two months ago a riot broke out in the barracks where I resided. I was
not an active participant of the unstructured event of ignorance, but I,
along with several other minorities of the Hispanic and African descent,
were targeted and effected by the criminal injustice of the institution
and its staff. We received the administering of non-lethal weapons and
chemical agents with some excessive force, placed on an emergency
transfer to a maximum security facility, only to be wrongfully convicted
by the introduction of fabricated lies and reports by the pigs’
so-called integrity.
The DOC has policies that are supposed to protect our rights against
injustice, but how is it equal or efficient, when grievances and
disciplinary appeals come up missing, unanswered or rejected for a
variety of reasons and excuses, making it hard to embrace freedom
because you’re victimized by the bricks of corruption? There has to be a
better way to serve the people in creating unity against all aspects of
discrimination and false accusations, enslaving us to the institution
due to a lack of knowledge, legal and politically. I’m seeking advice
from ULK and also any available study materials and books you can
offer to advance my knowledge into political organizing and structured
movements against the oppressor.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer asks for help but also offers
a very good answer to this request. Building unity should be the main
focus, and studying political organizing and history to learn from the
past is an excellent way to get started. Prisoners initiating
unorganized and perhaps poorly-planned demos shows that there is much
discontent. That anger needs to be channeled against the criminal
injustice system, and by building unity behind bars we can start this
process. We invite this comrade, and anyone else interested, to join our
correspondence study group. Just write to us and let us know you’re
interested.
Drugs in prison is a sensitive topic in the convict world. Being that I
live in it and that I am STG’d out here in Arizona, I will refrain from
speaking/writing about the illegal kind as here in solitary they are not
as prevalent as they are out there on the yards. I will not lie though,
and say that they are non-existent here, as all convicts know “where
there is a will, there is a way.” But what I mean is that there is no
one all strung out or in debt and so forth.
The number one drug here is the pills that the contract medical
provider, Corizon Health, Inc., is giving to everyone, i.e. the legal
kind. These prescription drugs that come in the guise of treatment are
what reigns supreme here in SMU. You don’t even have to wait for visit
on the weekends like on the yard. No way not here, here they are passed
out on the daily, twice a day, even three times a day to some. These
drugs are prescribed by so called “clinicians who use an evidence based
approach to treat conditions such as yours which includes maximizing
formulary medication use while providing safe and effective treatment,”
to quote Corizon staff verbatim. This is actually impossible as you
cannot eyeball someone and use that as your evidence. That is just a
guess, and not an educated one.
Now that they have taken actual pain medication, which is only
gabapentin, a pill to treat nerve damage, Corizon staff have been
directed to prescribe psych drugs in replacement. So instead of further
treatment that include MRIs, EMG treatment, physical therapy, or a range
of other options, they are taking away a drug that works, to prescribe
you an anti-depressant for pain management as if the depression from you
being here was causing you pain and not the stenosis in your neck, AC
joint separation, nerve damage, etc. This psych med is like the
commercials that you see on TV where the side effect is diarrhea,
headache, etc.
The system gives you these legal drugs instead of approving further
treatment because MRIs cost money, and outside care visits cost money.
So they want you on psych meds to have you walking around like a zombie
or not so depressed from being STG’d and housed in solitary. Even the
law firms and organizations representing us in Parsons v. Ryan
are aware, yet choose to do nothing. Corizon staff and Arizona
Department of Corrections (ADC) staff actually tell you to seek outside
legal representation, like a dare! But while all we want is to be
treated for our injuries and not drugs, ADC will not step in nor will
our so-called legal team. Instead, our drugs at this unit are more
habit-forming and more highly accessible than the illegal kind, and will
continue to be supplied by our very own med provider Corizon, and all
legally.
ADC will just allow this to continue to take place and protect their
mule, Corizon, just like the drug cartels in the motherland. This is
ADC’s “plaza” and Corizon will continue to funnel drugs all over the
state of Arizona, not through tunnels, planes, boats, or on foot but
right through the front gate with a badge and a greeting, service with a
smile!
MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer brings up an important point
about drugs in prison. The problem isn’t just illegal drugs numbing
minds and harming bodies, it’s also legal drugs being prescribed by the
prison medical teams to keep the population pacified. This pacification
happens through the action of anti-depressants and anti-psychotics,
which can dull all emotions, and also through addictive drugs like pain
meds. Instead of treating the real problems, both physical and
emotional, that are caused by years of living in the harmful conditions
of Amerikan prisons, prison medical staff just treat the symptoms, if
they offer any treatment at all.
From the capitalist perspective, in the short term providing inadequate
health care and getting people addicted to pacifying drugs is an
effective way to control costs and control the prison population. But in
the long term this makes no sense, even for the capitalists. Health
problems left untreated will only get worse as people age, and become
more expensive to deal with. Further, releasing prisoners addicted to
pain killers or other drugs does not lead to productive life on the
streets.
This only makes sense in the context of a criminal injustice system that
wants to maintain a revolving door of an expanding prison population.
One that doesn’t care if prisoners live or die, as long as they stay
passive. While it may be true that cost is part of the reason good
treatment isn’t provided, Amerikans are happy to spend lots of money on
prisons in general. Spending all that money is justified because the
prisons provide an effective tool of social control, targeting oppressed
nations and all who resist the capitalist system. The drugs given to
prisoners behind bars are just one part of that control.
When it comes to organizing people in society from within a prison, we
find ourselves confronted with many obstacles. Seeing as no major
struggle is won without wide mass support, it becomes imperative that we
(prisoners) overcome the obstacles placed in our path to cripple our
efforts to reach the masses about the prison struggle. In order to gain
the masses’ support from behind bars we must first reach them and grab
their attention. The first obstacle we face as prisoners is censorship.
Unfortunately, censorship is a reality for prisoners more than it is for
anybody in society. Authorities can frustrate our efforts in so many
ways that you have to admire their ingenuity. Mail can be “lost”, thrown
away, never delivered or delivered to the wrong person, held under
investigation for weeks and so much more. With so many ploys at their
disposal it seems a daunting task for us to confront. Luckily for us
appearances aren’t everything. True, once the letter leaves your hands
there is almost nothing you can do to ensure it makes it to its
destination. What you can do, though, is maintain detailed records. It’s
simple, and takes minimal effort, and is an effective way of holding the
authorities accountable. Once you have a record established of who,
what, where, why and when you mailed something, you can make a case for
mail tampering.
What should your mail log have at minimum? First, who you wrote. Second,
what you sent them. Third, where you sent your mail (office, school,
home address, etc.). Fourth, your general (no need to go into details
here) reason for contacting them. Finally, when you placed it in your
facility’s mail here, you want full date and time if at all possible. On
my mail logs I have an additional space or two for which shift and which
officer I turned my mail in to. Of course, you may decide to add more
details, the above is only a basic formula. Censorship may still happen
but you’ll be better positioned to confront it. Don’t forget, make
duplicates of your records, at least two.
Following censorship, the next greatest obstacle is communication. Not
just communicating our struggle, but effectively communicating it.
Anybody can write a letter full of expletives, angry words and
denunciations of cruelties and deprivations. Angry letters will normally
push someone away from your cause, where a sensible, well-composed and
measure-toned letter will at the very least garner a polite decline.
Angry letters rarely garner any response. Sometime before you start
reaching out to organizing the streets, you’ll need to organize behind
bars. My advice is to form a committee or council.
Here in Colorado, we have a small committee (just 3 members) in which we
discuss, formulate, criticize and launch our ideas and efforts. Most
progress in the prison struggle began with organizing behind bars,
reaching out to the streets, effective communication, creating
solidarity and achieving a goal together. A formula for success: A.E.H.
(Agreement to End Hostilities), movements to end long-term solitary
confinement, more humane treatment and so much more.
For us organizing the streets, mobilizing the masses isn’t a very
difficult task. Censorship and effectively communicating our plight,
vision and end goal is the most difficult. Censorship is the
authorities’ go-to obstruction tactic and besides maintaining records,
lodging complaints or lawsuits, there is not much in your control to
discourage them. On the other hand, effective communication is wholly in
your control. What’s the point in overcoming censors if you can’t
present your case when the opportunity arrives? You already know the
answer, but I’ll still confirm it – there’s no point. Organize yourself
first. Mail logs, duplicates of all letters, documents, essays and such.
Communicate in an intelligible manner with personality, and don’t get
disheartened at rejection. Often times it’s only a question of pitching
the right pitch to the right person.
Note: Prisoners may request Constitutional Rights of Prisoners from
their facility’s law library as loan material. Related information as
well as litigation guidance related to disciplinary matters may be
purchased from Prison Legal News, PO Box 1151, Lake Worth, FL 83460:
“The Disciplinary Self-Help Litigation Manual,” by Dan Manville, 2nd
Edition, for $49.95 + $6 s&h.