Under Lock & Key

I recently read MIM Theory 12 "Environment, Society and Revolution" and I got to say it was very educational. Being in prison "the environment" is not something prisoners discuss too often, much less study, debate or develop into a correct line so to be able to read the polemics, MIM's line on environment as well as the cops line, and how the comrades over in the Philippines put their theory into practice in struggling for the environment in a revolutionary way was a great help in getting me to understand not only how to fight environmental destruction but how to do so in a Maoist way.

What I have learned in the years of working with MIM and developing my line is all oppression whether it be patriarchy, environmental destruction which poisons the people, racism, fascism in Amerika, class oppression, etc. can all be tied together into one root cause. In order to find a solution or eradicate a problem you need to make a scientific analysis and find the root cause. What is causing these symptoms all comes back to imperialism. Imperialism is the root cause of all oppression whether that oppression is here in the U.S. or internationally. So rather than taking on individual issues in mass organizations and work for reform to alter these circumstances it is more logical to pull the whole weed out by the roots and truly solve the problem.

So as I read this MT12 thought of what environmental destruction does to prisoners here in Amerika. A historical materialist view will show that prisoners especially in Amerika get the uncut version of imperial fascism, we are given the worse processed foods, often times that which U.S. consumers would refuse to purchase, the worst water (any prisoner whose been through California's Tracy prison remembers the brown water coming out of the faucets) that anywhere else is U.S. society would be tagged for health hazards. The pollution and waste involved in building the many prisons that house the 2+ million prisoners in Amerika is all environmental destruction that is caused like any injustice in U.S. society by capitalism. The root cause is capitalism that puts profits in command and the people's interest comes last if at all.

The main thing that I learned from this MT12 was of the overwhelming toxic dump sites in and around oppressed nations areas. I wonder how much media attention and public outcry would occur had the city announced a new toxic dumpsite to be opened in Belair or the Malibu hills? Yet we hardly hear a murmur from the media when toxic dumps spring up in areas where the oppressed nations swell. Third World countries have become the imperialist dump site. I watched a news program around a month ago about how petty bourgeois here in the U.S. were setting up these scam "recycle" centers for computers and "e-trash." These "recycle" centers would turn around and ship off this toxic junk to Third World nations and turn a profit, even though there's supposed laws prohibiting this toxic dumping (for Petty Bourgeois and small time entrepreneurs) it is still continued with a nod and a wink. The bourgeois, big business, transnational corporations etc. are a whole different story. They continue to dump toxins on the Third World nations with only encouragement from imperialist economists.

The document written by the Communist Party of the Philippines "on the issue of the environment in the world and in the Philippines" was an excellent example of how to deal with environmental destruction caused by capitalism, I learned a lot from this article. One of the things I learned was how a lot of the so-called "environmentalist groups" here in the U.S. or in other imperialist countries work to pass laws to "protect the environment" and stop things like logging or toxic dumping, but these so-called "green activists" are only acting in a chauvinistic way. I always looked at them as they were protecting the environment but their protection of the environment stopped at their backyard. These laws would stop these big businesses and transnational corporations from destruction in imperialist countries so these companies would simply go to Third World countries to conduct their dirty business.

What got me even angrier is I thought how here in the U.S. the majority of people get their living needs from the corner supermarket or have one of the many water companies deliver clean water jugs to their doorsteps or simply turn on their faucet whereas the people in the Third World countries often live off their local forests, grow their own vegetables in the soil and drink and catch the fish they eat in their rivers and lakes so the environmental destruction unleashed on the Third World people really is genocide on the people of Third World countries!

The most important environmental policy adopted by the CPP was their 25 year ban on logging for export. The comrades of the regional committees would enforce their many policies in the areas they controlled. Their actions had more impact then any kind of "green activists" collection of signatures or the voting in of "environmentally friendly" politicians in the U.$. When a people get down to the root problem of anything, only then can a true remedy be found, otherwise only the surface is scratched, imperialism is proven to infect all levels of society from the homeless, to trees, to prisoners; any form of oppression can be linked to imperialism.

Revolutionary Greetings!!

Before I begin my explosive announcement. I want to thank MIM for their Theory Journals and papers, also the other valuable materials I've requested to build and organize POWs that are confined behind the wall. Right now we are on lockdown at East Jersey State Prison due to retaliation on a female officer yesterday who was beaten and two prisoners fighting on saturday visit, all in one day. This caused outside help like State Police, Gang Task Force and CID officers suited up with sticks and dogs to come in. A bunch of gang members were removed from the prison Saturday due to the serious incidents that occurred.

All this does is strengthen me in knowing that a struggle must start within, it's time for change. Hopefully, the lockdown should be over this week before the family day event.

However, my topic is from the latest journal sent on environment and revolution which deals with pollution problems all over. Where I reside at now in New Jersey there is a mass consumption of pollution and multi-million dollar corporations (kapitalists) who make toxic products and distribute large quantities to different parts of the world. But we have a former Governor of New Jersey Christie Todd Whitman who now is the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Pres. George Bush's administration.

Mrs. Whitman messed up a lot of things for prisoners upon leaving office as governor of New Jersey. Everything the old revolutionaries fought and died for in Trenton State Prison to make it better for the next generation was taken away slowly without a fight excluding the street clothes but most importantly, including certain programs, food packages, boxing tournaments, etc.

Mrs. Whitman does not know too much about the environment where she was elected governor, just look at the poor neighborhoods where Blacks and Latinos live at infested with waste plants and steel & toxic plants that are a source of money for big CEO's who keep polluting minority communities. So she really has not cleaned up her act. Here in New Jersey this is having dramatic effects on the earth's atmosphere and climatology.

On channel 7 news she was interviewed by news casters about what did she do about the 9/11 situation when the downtown of Manhatten was saturated with debris, heavy smoke and fire and her not knowing that bodies were still decaying underground near the train and subway stations. Mrs. Whitman turned absolutely cold.

Her husband, Mr. Whitman, has a company that is tied to the Department of Corrections that distributes commissary store items for all the prisons in the state of Jersey. He has a big contract with the prisons. But they're all corrupt taking profits for economic gain for the Whitman klan.

...Thank you, and donations will be coming soon for your outstanding support. Thank You!!

MIM responds: This comrade brings up some good examples of how capitalism, national oppression and environmental degradation are all connected. These examples fit nicely into the thesis of MIM Theory 12 (Environment, Society & Revolution) that the root cause of environmental problems is capitalism. The so-called "EPA" of the leading imperialist country can be headed by someone who made her political career on capitalist profiteering at the expense of oppressed people within her state. Those expenses were felt in the forms of a toxic environment and an increasingly repressive prison system where an increasing portion of the oppressed are ending up.

The dumping of the toxic waste of amerikkkan consumerism on the oppressed is far bigger than the industrial wasteland of the Jersey Turnpike. Right now China is responsible for providing vast amounts of products to amerikkkan consumers at prices only a vast exploited population can provide. Not only do amerikkkans swim in the wealth of Chinese workers in the form of commodities, but they get to leave the toxins required to produce these commodities behind on the opposite side of the world. That's even better than dumping them in the air and water surrounding Newark ghettoes or in open pit mines and landfills on First Nation lands.

Of course, environmental degradation can only be contained to an extent. With global systems being knocked out of whack by the uncontrollable nature of capitalist development, no one is really safe from the effects. Yet amerikkkans as a whole still favor protectionism and even more extreme retribution towards China for the perceived lack of safety in Chinese commodities that their own system has allowed to develop. Those serious environmentalists in the First World need to take a look at what anti-imperialism and socialism have to offer. To get started, pick up a copy of "Environment Society Revolution" at amazon.com.