MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
In a show of bourgeois solidarity, on a Sunday in January, 4 million
people flooded the streets of France in the name of “support for freedom
of speech and expression.” Representatives from some 30 different
countries marched arm in arm to show their displeasure and cooperation
in France’s pursuit for justice against the
French
satiric weekly Charlie Hebdo.
We only need to look at the list of who was on the front lines of this
march to see the contradictions in this expression. David Camron, the
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom has participated in the
imprisonment of Middle Eastern journalists. The king of Jordan for years
has imprisoned journalists and those who participate in marches.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the biggest war criminal of our time, months ago,
blew up Al Aqu Alquxa news services in Palestine, and also killed two
journalists. The fact that there was an “absence” of U.$. officials at
the march really shouldn’t be surprising. U.$.-sponsored bombing of Al
Jazeera in Iraq at the Sheraton hotel, and the imprisonment of African
journalists in Guantanamo Bay Naval Base are only a few small examples
of Amerikan hypocrisy on the question of freedom of speech.
I think it’s truly contradictory that when 17 people die for insulting a
prophet many take dear, the world takes the opportunity to cry crocodile
tears. Amerika and its western pigs can only speak honestly of human
rights when they pull out of the Middle East and Asian countries,
i.e. the Third World. At last count, 20 countries in Afrika and Asia
were under U.$. and Western occupation. This count doesn’t include
countries facing drone strikes and military intervention from military
contractors such as Haliburton, and other corporate conglomerates such
as Shell, Texaco, etc. We say that when people are attacked in whatever
circumstance, they have a right to fight back.
The philosophy that Amerikan troops are defenders of anything humane is
a lie; troops from the United $tates are enforcers of economic
imperialism. So in closing here’s an idea: U.$. government if you want
to defend free speech, defend it when it comes to all people, and don’t
pretend to be innocent when the wars you’ve launched for liberation are
for your own interests. Save your tears about the murder of children and
wimmin for yourself. And if you really want to stand up for free speech,
close Guantanamo Bay, free your prisoners and stop the murder of foreign
Al Jazeera writers.
The United States and Cuba recently agreed to restore diplomatic ties
after a half-century of hostility, taking steps toward ending one of the
world’s last Cold War standoffs. President Obama’s announcement, made in
coordination with President Raúl Castro, stated that these
long-estranged countries would restart cooperation on a range of travel
and economic issues and reestablish the American embassy in Havana that
closed in 1961 after the Cuban Revolution.
While the Cuban Revolution was a blow against U.$. imperialism, which
had a choke-hold on the Cuban economy, after the 1959 revolution Cuba
became dependent on the state capitalist Soviet Union. By 1959 a new
bourgeoisie had arisen in the Soviet Union and it had turned away from
its socialist orientation toward state capitalism. Instead of building
socialism in Cuba, Castro and his government ended up building a
satellite colony of the USSR.(1) Amerikan refusal to associate with Cuba
was a reaction to the Cuban people successfully shutting down Amerikan
dominance and a concession to the many wealthy Cuban immigrants who fled
to the United $tates after the revolution, rather than a serious
political stance. The Amerikan imperialists have not hesitated to
associate with governments and countries that are strongly anti-Amerikan
when the economic benefits of the relationship are compelling.
The recent policy changes forge significant economic ties between the
two countries by allowing U.$. financial institutions to open accounts
with Cuban counterparts, easing restrictions on the export of U.$.
agricultural and telecommunication gear to Cuba, and permitting U.$.
citizens to use credit and debit cards there. The biggest boost in the
short-term from the changes will come from remittances, which will now
allow relatives of Cubans to send back $2,000 a month to their homeland,
up from $500 at the moment. Remittances are the island’s leading source
of income. In cash and in kind (appliances and clothes), they account
for $5.1 billion a year in income, nearly double tourism at $2.6
billion.(2)
The immediate benefits for the country are obvious. The Cuban government
reported that economic growth for 2014 was around 1.4%, and an estimated
40,000-50,000 Cubans emigrated in the past year. For economic reasons,
Cuba is starved for cash, and its biggest trading partner, Venezuela, is
facing an economic crisis due to the recent plunge in oil prices.
Analysts say the possibility of losing Venezuelan aid likely played a
role in reaching an agreement with the United $tates.
Business Opportunities Abound
Restoring trade ties will benefit the U.$. economy, allowing companies
to join other countries which have operated for decades in Cuba and made
their own capitalist inroads, such as Canada and European Union
member-states. U.$. farmers, already helped by a partial lifting of the
embargo for agricultural goods, will have new export opportunities.
Despite heavy regulation and strict limitations, U.$. exports of
agricultural goods to Cuba grew to $547 million in 2010 from $4 million
in 2001.
Groups ranging from the American Farm Bureau Federation to the U.$.
Chamber of Commerce strongly support a lifting of the embargo because
they see Cuba as a significant export market. Opportunities abound
elsewhere, such as in telecommunication, retail, tourism, and natural
resources. “Cuba needs everything we make in the United States,” said
the global government affairs director for Caterpillar, Inc. The company
hopes to soon install a dealership in Cuba. “We’ve been calling for a
new policy toward Cuba for 15 years.” U.$. hospitality companies also
are eager to do business in Cuba when they can. “The minute it’s
available, we’ll be down there,” the CEO of Choice Hotels International,
Inc. was reported as saying.(3)
All this is evidence of the capitalist system in Cuba. U.$. companies
want access to this market that corporations based in other capitalist
countries have been enjoying for years.
From Yanqui to Soviet Social-Imperialism: Neglect of Socialist
Alternatives
With the 1959 revolution, Cuba sought to dismantle the economic hegemony
the United $tates had over the country. Partial nationalization of
certain sectors of the economy, followed by a complete confiscation of
foreign-owned property, were met with stiff U.$. opposition, as many
Amerikan citizens held large investments there. On 3 January 1961, U.$.
President Dwight D. Eisenhower broke off diplomatic relations with Cuba
after Castro charged that the U.$. embassy in Havana was the center of
counter-revolutionary activities in the country. In February 1962,
President John F. Kennedy proclaimed an embargo on most U.$. trade with
Cuba. The Cuban economy at the time was in serious danger. Industrial
plants, confiscated after the revolution and now in disrepair, lacked
the raw materials to keep operating. Spare parts for factory equipment
and motor vehicles made in the United $tates were no longer available.
Crop yields were poor, and food rationing began in March 1962. Against
this backdrop, Cuba signed a $700 million trade agreement with the
Soviet Union, following up on a $100 million credit and agreement to
deliver a large procurement of sugar two years earlier. By mid-July of
that year, thousands of Soviet military and economic advisors were
making their way to the island.
While an improvement over the neo-colonial status it held under the
United $tates, the new alliance Cuba had forged with the Soviet Union
was hardly symbiotic in nature. This strings-attached relationship also
affected Castro’s drive to diversify Cuba’s economy through
industrialization, which ultimately proved unsuccessful. Historically,
Cuba’s most valuable crop has been sugarcane. Under U.$. tutelage, more
than half of the cultivated land was devoted to this crop for export to
U.$. markets. Little changed after the revolution, and sugar accounted
for almost two-thirds of all export revenues. This heavy dependence on a
single crop continued to hinder Cuba’s economy. Cuba needed sugar to
carry out its trade agreements with the Soviet Union and its allies, and
as a result, agricultural diversification and the ability to feed its
own people suffered. Cuba’s economy remained stagnant, and became
heavily dependent on Soviet aid. With the eventual collapse of the
Soviet bloc, Cuba was severely wounded economically.
Furthermore, the material aid given to Cuba was inferior in quality, and
was not geared towards the needs and climatic conditions of the
Caribbean country. Castro’s early advocacy of violent revolution
throughout Latin America put it at odds with and weakened Cuba’s
relations with the Soviet Union. The Soviets in turn would curtail
economic aid whenever the Cuban government stepped too far out of line,
as was the case when Cuba opposed its and the Soviet bloc countries’
invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. After a round of economic
arm-twisting, Castro took a more neutral stance.
Unlike the socialist veneer of Soviet-revisionist economic cooperation,
communist China’s line at the time in regard to socialist financial and
material aid had its basis in mutual cooperation and advised that it
should be tailored to the needs of both countries with an aim towards
economic self-sufficiency. In no way should it be conditional and carry
high interest, which perpetuates the cycle of indebtedness in the
recipient country. Material aid should be of first-rate quality and not
technologically outdated. It should also suit their material conditions.
Soviet agricultural implements exported to Cuba, for instance, did much
damage to sugarcane fields.
Socialist Principles?
In his latest speech on the subject of normalization of relations,
President Raúl Castro stated that Cuba “will not give up its socialist
principles.” Despite his assertion, we contend that he and Fidel had
already done so by 1961. They embraced the fallacy that you cannot get
production without incentive, instituting many Soviet-styled agrarian
and industrial measures such as the implementation of work incentives
and wage differentials to better boost production quotas. Looking to Mao
Zedong’s implementation of moral incentives to reward the workforce in
China for overachievements in production could have been a viable
alternative to this. The class struggle was also sidelined with their
focus on economic output as a gauge of their country’s success in
building socialism, which constitutes a failure to do away with the
theory of productive forces – a policy which has led many a socialist
revolution to its revisionist perdition.
This is a critical reason why the Cultural Revolution in China
represents the furthest advance towards communism in history: capitalist
theories and practices will not just disappear under socialism and must
be actively combatted. Otherwise a new bourgeoisie will arise from
within former proletarian forces and attempt to take power against the
interests of the masses. This happened in the Soviet Union, and their
treatment of Cuba demonstrates clearly the state capitalists ignoring
the needs of the Cuban people.
Since Raúl Castro took over from his brother Fidel in 2008, the Cuban
government has undertaken a series of tentative economic reforms to move
the country away from the state capitalist framework to a full-fledged
capitalist system.
Keeping Solidarity with Cuba in Perspective
Having endured centuries of repeated imperialist encroachment, Cuba has
managed to attain a degree of independence and sovereignty over its
affairs. We support Cuba’s right to self-determination, and applaud the
Cuban government’s notable success in providing educational and medical
services to all segments of Cuban society. Cuba’s anti-imperialist
stance on a range of issues remains strong, and in a confrontation with
imperialism, Cuba deserves our backing. Yet Cuba is not socialist, and
the Cuban people know that their government at this point in its history
is not a revolutionary government, but a pragmatic one. It is our hope
that the people of Cuba will experience a blossoming of revolutionary
consciousness and organize for their rights in the coming years as
capitalist encroachment places their country in the cross-hairs of
further economic exploitation.
A few months back a damning
article
was posted on anti-imperialism.com about Western media propaganda.
The article written by Alyx Mayer is a materialist dissection of
journalistic attacks on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
(DPRK). The analysis given in the article debunks the many rumors and
other propaganda we’re all acquainted with, such as the mass
choreographed wailing at Kim Jong Il’s funeral out of fear of reprisals,
a universal male haircut like that of Kim Jong Un’s, or a famous singer
being executed by a firing squad, are just a few of many that we have
heard broadcast on major media networks.(1)
More recently, the DPRK propaganda campaign has become a top story in
the U.$. media as a group called Guardians Of Peace (GOP), who the FBI
accused of being from the DPRK, made public a massive amount of data
from Sony computers including emails, movie scripts, videos and persynal
information. Sony was scheduled to release a comedy by Seth Rogen called
The Interview this month that was a blatant anti-DPRK
propaganda piece. Some of the emails leaked reveal that the U.$. State
Department and the RAND Corporation think tank advised Sony on the
content of the film, and appear to endorse the assassination of Kim Jong
Un as the best way to enforce the regime change they desire in the
northern Korean peninsula.(2) DPRK officials had already declared the
movie “an act of war” this summer because it depicts the CIA hiring
assassins to kill their head of state, Kim Jong Un. The United $tates
has been behind the assassination of heads-of-state in Iraq and Libya,
and the overthrow of a handful of other governments in just the last few
years. We can’t imagine any other interpretation of this movie coming
out of the U.$. corporate media. Still, Amerikan patriot Seth Rogen,
producer of the movie, said it shows “how crazy North Korea is.”
Crazy-jacketing has been an unfortunately effective tactic for
imperialist propaganda, often utilizing cultural differences to tap into
the racist ideologies of the oppressor nations.
A recent GOP statement read,
“We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places ‘The
Interview’ be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who
seek fun in terror should be doomed to. Soon all the world will see what
an awful movie Sony Pictures Entertainment has made. The world will be
full of fear. Remember the 11th of September 2001. We recommend you to
keep yourself distant from the places at that time. (If your house is
nearby, you’d better leave.)
“Whatever comes in the coming days is called by the greed of Sony
Pictures Entertainment. All the world will denounce the SONY.”(2)
Theaters responded by saying they will not screen the film, leading to
Sony temporarily cancelling the release of The Interview. But
the backlash has been large, with the majority view in U.$. media,
social and corporate, being that Sony punked out. The message is
construed as a demand for integrity of artistic expression. But
materialists acknowledge that all art has political content, while the
bourgeoisie works to obscure this fact. They then use the idea of
artistic integrity when it works in their favor, as in this case. The
focus on artistic integrity over political content meshes well with the
individualism of bourgeois ideology. Overall, this has demonstrated the
success of the anti-DPRK propaganda machine among Amerikans’
consciousness, despite the utter lack of integrity in claims made
against the DPRK as exposed by Alyx’s article.
It comes as nothing new that western journalism completely distorts the
truth. It deceives its own population by slandering other nations’
governments it does not have under its influence. The United $tates does
this to serve its own interests, that is to create a favorable image
both domestically and internationally.
Hypocrisy is one of the many faces of U.$. imperialism. U.$. laws
prohibit the media or journalists from reporting anything that’s
slanderous (not true), but it seems this is only pertaining to slander
against itself. Alyx Mayer explained it clearly:
“As long as you’re writing about the DPRK you have a license to
print anything. What already frighteningly little journalistic integrity
the bourgeois media can be said to possess is nowhere to be found on
matters concerning this country. DPRK bashing is assured to drag in the
page views and advertising revenue. … Let this be a case study on the
lengths that imperialist media will go to slander its enemies.”
The latest drama around The Interview is certainly bringing
in the page views and advertising revenue.
While The Interview is given a pass by many because it’s
supposed to be an outlandish comedy, the anti-DPRK propaganda is
connected at all levels of the media. Within the first week of
September, PBS network ran an hour-long documentary focusing on images
smuggled out of northern Korea porporting to expose what life is
“really” like in this isolated region. They show images of homeless
children rummaging through garbage looking for food, and stores filled
with products (sodas, bras and other clothing) for display only and not
for sale. It gives an image of DPRK propaganda controlling their
citizens’ all around lives without any room for freedom of thought or
choice. One can only guess where exactly DPRK citizens do get their
livelihood materials if the warehouses they showed weren’t selling
products. Images of blackmarkets were shown where people can buy foreign
DVDs, flashdrives filled with banned movies and TV shows at local flea
markets, but is this the only place where the masses shop? An elite
circle is said to be living in the nation’s capital for which a nicely
dressed female in traditional Asian clothing gets into an imported
expensive car and even her chauffeur is well dressed but nothing else is
said about this elite clique. This documentary is mostly put together by
defectors and viewers can see the clear distinction they are trying to
portray within DPRK society. A tier system of homeless children starving
while an elite wealthy clique drives around in wealthy imported cars
while warehouses of abundant drinks and clothing aren’t accessible to
the population. Now if that is the message they are trying to convey,
then why not do a documentary in the United $tates or any other First
World country that doesn’t have international embargos? Or do one
comparing the people who make computers in Asia and those who use them
in the United $tates and Europe?
The documentary includes lengthy interviews with defectors from DPRK
living in Seoul (the capital of the portion of Korea that has been
occupied by U.$. imperialism for over half a century). One defector, a
middle aged man, claims to have been held prisoner under suspicion of
being a spy. He claims that he was beaten and tortured while captive. He
said a wooden stick or plank was placed behind his knees and was forced
to sit down, every time they did this to him he would hear his knee caps
crack. Now wouldn’t this be physically damaging? I would assume that
those noises would be indications of broken knee caps and yet this man
was without crutches or a cane. He was completely independently mobile.
He even said soon after his release from prison (after no evidence of
him spying were found) he fled DPRK soon afterwards. Another defector, a
female in her early 20s, claimed her father got her whole family out of
northern Korea because he wanted a better life for them to grow up
without being controlled. She eventually joined a TV show in southern
Korea, the content of which is a combination of a talent show and
speaking out against DPRK. “All within this show are DPRK defector
youth” slandering their former homeland for the benefits of being on TV
and joining the ranks of the bourgeoisie, a TV program probably
sponsored by the Republic of Korea government in the south. Bourgeois
perspectives can only fool other bourgeoisie and those that are
ignorant.
We revolutionaries have a weapon to guard against such superficial
propaganda, and that is our world outlook. How we read and interpret the
world is based on dialectical and historical materialism. Let us take a
good analytical look at what is being reported in today’s media. Even
books that are being put out with a little political content must be
compared to facts. The bourgeoisie has the habit of reporting certain
international stories without facts on nations they oppose, whether it’s
DPRK, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela or any Middle Eastern country not in
cahoots with U.$. imperialism. But like Marx said in 1867,
“Every opinion based on scientific criticism I welcome. As to prejudices
of so-called public opinion, now as aforetime the maxim of great
Florentine is mine: Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti. (Follow
your own course, and let people talk).”(3)
Propaganda and criticism have always been bourgeois tools aiming to
demonize the proletarian ideology. But as Lenin said,
“The Marxian doctrine is omnipotent because it is true. It is complete
and harmonious, and provides men with an integral world conception which
is irreconcilable with any form of superstition, reaction or defense of
bourgeois oppression.”(4)
It is the bourgeois media’s purpose to vilify anything that threatens
their domination; facts are unimportant with its propaganda. It is a
fact that police in the United $tates can murder Black people with
impunity, while Black people who defend themselves will be punished
severely. Similarly, Amerikans defend their right to threaten the lives
of heads of state while simultaneously justifying war because other
countries feel threatened by Amerikan posturing. There are objective
inequalities in these examples that the bourgeoisie attempts to hide,
but that are not lost on the masses. As materialists we must take these
reports on DPRK, or anything in general, with a scientific microscope,
let us draw distinctions on the bourgeois perspective and our own.
“Draw two lines of distinction. First, between revolution and counter
revolution… Secondly, within the revolutionary ranks, it is necessary to
make a clear distinction between right and wrong, between achievements
and shortcomings… To draw these distinctions well, careful study and
analysis are of course necessary. Our attitude towards every person and
every matter should be one of analysis and study.”(5)
Independent proletarian news outlets are necessary to raise class
consciousness in our society but also expose everything corrupt and
illegal, of U.$. imperialism, with scientific criticism.
In August 2014, in response to I$rael’s renewed attacks on Palestinians
in the Gaza Strip, United Struggle from Within (USW) drafted and began
circulating a petition denouncing the imperialist genocide of the people
of Palestine. The petition draws connections to the oppressed nations
suffering in the United $tates, and in particular recognized the support
Palestinian prisoners gave to the
California
hunger strikers. While this round of bombing by I$rael was over
before most could even return their signed petitions, the damage is
still being felt and the imperialist occupation of Palestine continues.
“According to the United Nations, 100,000 homes have been destroyed or
damaged, leaving 600,000 Palestinians – nearly one in three of Gaza’s
population – homeless or in urgent need of humanitarian help. Roads,
schools and the electricity plant to power water and sewerage systems
are in ruins.”(1)
In addition, the Cairo agreement to “rebuild” Gaza after I$rael
bombed it to pieces, will be managed by none other than I$rael, who will
ensure that all the money goes into the pockets of I$raeli construction
companies.(1) The democratically elected government of Palestine, led by
Hamas, will be deprived of any oversight of this process, as they are
further isolated with Egypt closing off the border with Gaza to the
south.
It is not too late to rally in support of the Palestinian struggle! As
of the beginning of November, USW comrades have gathered over 60
signatures to this petition in at least seven different prisons.
Signatures are still coming in and a number of comrades have reported to
still be working on collecting signatures in their latest
communications.
While the numbers may not be overly impressive, to date only 17 of those
comrades originally sent the petition have even reported receiving it.
One Texas comrade who gathered 9 signatures reported doing so despite
the prison being on lockdown (no one being able to leave their cells)
and the recent cut off of fishing (sending notes between cells by
string). At least one comrade could not get any other signatures due to
the risk of political repression as a validated “gang member” in the
control unit where he is held. It is no coincidence that many of our
most active and politically conscious comrades find themselves in such
conditions.(2)
This campaign to support the people of Palestine is significant in that
it is the first USW-initiated campaign around an issue not related to
the immediate conditions of prisoners themselves since MIM(Prisons) has
been around. The campaign was launched without a lot of preparation, and
despite the inherent limitations imposed on those in prison, we got good
participation. As one California comrade recently reported, the petition
was a tool for outreach that
led
to many political dialogues and lessons learned that will contribute
to the building of the anti-imperialist movement in U.$. prisons. Their
efforts to collect signatures reached beyond just those who signed the
petition.
The need for these types of agitational campaigns is one of the lessons
that we can take away from this experience. The barriers among much of
the prison population to supporting the Palestinians’ right to survival
are built on a combination of Amerikan patriotism, misinformation and
apathy. However, to sum up the reports we have received, we’d say that
fear of repression is the number one barrier being faced, which is a
problem USW faces with all its campaigns. One comrade reported setbacks
due to fears around hysteria surrounding the Islamic State.
A number of comrades reported not being able to get any signatures yet,
and one wrote from California:
“My focus thus far has been on the socially conscious Muslim prisoners,
whom I guessed would be the most willing out of everyone to sign the
petition. But I’m starting to see more and more that the overwhelming
majority in Amerikkka just ain’t willing to take a stand against these
racist imperialist idiots in no way shape or form. Not one of the
Muslims, out of the around 25 prisoners I approached, would sign the
thing. The excuses ranged from, ‘We need to worry about fixing ’home’
first…’ to just flat out ‘The Jews have too much control in this country
for me to sign some paper and get on their shit list.’ … so far
everybody but me has been too scared to sign it.”
A few weeks later this comrade submitted h petition with 25 signatures.
This fear of signing is a common problem in prisons where all mail is
read and punishment for activism can be severe. A comrade in Colorado
wrote:
“I read the last issue of ULK and I want to say that the U.S. policy
against Palestine has long been underrepresented and ignored. Amerikkka
is telling the people of Gaza and Lebanon that it will allow Israel to
murder and justify it in the name of ‘peace.’ I feel that the greatest
threat to world peace is the U.S. foreign policy. As prisoners we all
should stand with the people of Gaza and their right to self-defense and
self-determination. Progress is being made here as far as the petition
goes. Many are in solidarity against amerikkkan imperialism as it stands
with Israel yet many are afraid to sign.”
One letter from Virginia described the difficulty promoting
internationalism:
“I have been having trouble convincing prisoners here to sign the
Palestine USW petition. The fear of institutional retaliation keeps a
majority of them from involving themselves in any type of radical
struggles or demonstrations. Compounding the problem is the fact they
cannot grasp the concept of ‘internationalism.’ The dominant question
was, ‘what do the Palestinians have to do with me?’ I tried as hard as I
could to convince them that all struggles against imperialism abroad are
a reflection of the non-ruling class struggles here in the Empire. So
please do not construe the lack of signatures as an indicator of my lack
of organizing skills.”
This question of “what the Palestinian struggle has to do with me” is a
manifestation of the relative wealth and privilege of Amerikans as a
whole. In reality the Palestinian struggle is counter to the material
interests of the petty bourgeois majority in the United $tates which
enjoys a supply of cheap gas ensured by Amerikan military presence in
the Middle East. Like the struggle of oppressed people around the world,
the Palestinian people’s fight for national liberation threatens
Amerikan imperialism and its ability to control and exploit the labor of
Third World peoples. Any successful revolt against Amerikan imperialism
and its allies/puppets (such as I$rael) will destabilize that power and
may inspire others.
But when building public opinion with the lumpen in prison we can at
least draw some connections to national oppression within U.$. borders
and the national oppression of Palestinians. One researcher has claimed
that Palestinians are the most imprisoned people in the world, based on
the percentage who have been in prison (the United $tates is still #1 in
the number of prisoners it holds at one time). New Afrikans and the
original inhabitants on North America are potential rivals for this
title. In both places, the dominant nation, with the weapons and wealth,
is denying the oppressed nations independence and self-determination.
And the cause of the Palestinian people is allied with the cause of
oppressed nations everywhere in the world; the common enemy is
imperialism.
Another persyn wrote about some more reactionary responses to h attempts
to collect signatures.
“I attempt to discuss issues raised by MIM, but I’m completely lacking
in knowledge. For example, prisoners here state that the Palestinians
deserve the bombing because Hamas fired rockets into Israel. They say
the land of Israel is not occupied by foreigners – that it belongs to
Jews. They (prisoners here – a large number) say that there has never
been a nation called ‘Palestine’ and that the people who today label
themselves ‘Palestinians’ are simply Arabs mostly from the Trans Jordan
area. So what is the correct response?”
These positions raise the important question of how we define a nation.
Stalin gave us guidance on this point, describing a nation as a group of
people with a common language, culture, territory and economy (which is
different than a nation-state). The Palestinian people certainly meet
these requirements. Nations can arise and fall over time, as humynity
evolves and conditions change. While I$rael has evolved into a nation
today, Stalin was correct to argue that there was no Jewish nation in
his day. It was only after WWII and a mass migration of Europeans to
Palestine, and the genocide that cleared the previous inhabitants of
that land, that I$rael began its formation.
As for the question of Hamas firing rockets into I$rael, this certainly
has happened. And we uphold the right of people to defend themselves.
This is simply a question of incorrect facts. The Palestinian people are
righteously defending themselves against a much more powerful oppressor
who is constantly threatening their lives and taking over more of their
land. A cursory study of history shows who is the agressor in this
conflict. Even numbers from the end of July on this recent battle
demonstrate this: while I$rael reported 56 deaths (53 soldiers), in the
Gaza Strip 1,170 had been killed, many of them civilians in their
homes.(3) For those who are serious about studying the history of
Palestine and I$rael we can offer reading material, but for those who
just want to support the imperialists and accept their lies and
propaganda, it’s probably best to just move on and look elsewhere for
supporters. Let them eat their Thanksgiving turkeys and celebrate the
superiority of Europeans over the indigenous people of the lands they
occupy and destroy.
I write this in support and in reply to the couple articles regarding
Support
for the People of Palestine I recently read within ULK’s
September/October 2014 issue #40.
A little over a month ago, I awoke to a PBS early morning segment
concerning the struggle of the Palestinian people to liberate themselves
and their land from Israeli occupation and oppression. In this
documentary I witnessed personnel of the Israeli military serve eviction
notices to Palestinian people in Palestinian housing on Palestinian
land, claiming to be taking control of the housing under the authority
of the state of Israel. I also witnessed the recently built Israeli
settlements being moved into by Israeli civilians as flustered
Palestinian fathers, seemingly not 100 yards away on the opposite side
of some sort of security fencing, had to attempt to explain to their
children how it was no longer their (Palestinian) land, one even
pointing to where his store used to be. Imagine trying to explain
imperialism to a child who is barely old enough to tie his own shoes.
The United States and Israel, the Middle East’s neighborhood bullies,
seem to think it acceptable to propose ‘peace’ and ‘tolerance’ while
they exploit a people and their land. They seem to think the victims
should ‘get over’ the loss of their lands and the heartless slaughter
and oppression of their people. When the victims wage armed struggle the
oppressors scream “foul/self-defense” as if to say “why do you hate us
so?” And in keeping with the bully analogy, of course, when a bully has
historically, and is continuously oppressing a people, the bully always
has to worry about retaliation. Israel has no moral ground in this
scenario, at all. You stole their land and oppress their people,
therefore the Palestinian people reserve the moral right to liberate
themselves when and how they see fit. Trip off of this: while the U.S.
feeds Israel arms as Israel takes Palestinian land, the U.S. condemns
Russia for absorbing Crimea. On behalf of New Afrikans, I declare
solidarity with the righteous Palestinian people!
And, of course, some Zionist Jews shall read this and cry
“anti-Semitic,” because to them such a claim trumps truth. Well, let me
remind them ahead of them proclaiming such a factoid, the Palestinians
are semites too! The definition of semite is “a member of any group of
peoples (as the Hebrews or Arabs) of Southwestern Asia.”
Warmongering propaganda is at high levels in the United $tates, as it
seems no positive lessons were taken from September 11, 2001. It took
about a decade for Amerikans to lose interest in the U.$. occupations in
Afghanistan and Iraq. This contributed to almost two-thirds of Amerikans
opposing Obama’s push to invade Syria less than a year ago. Yet already,
about two-thirds of the population now agrees with Obama that they would
rather control the government in Syria than keep Amerikan journalists’
heads attached to their bodies.
Militarism is driven by an economic system that is built around arms
production and requires war to keep up demand. Arms shipments have
increased recently to I$rael, Ukraine, Syria and Iraq where the U.$. has
resumed bombing campaigns that are destroying hundreds of millions of
dollars worth of American military equipment now in the hands of the
Islamic State. Every strike made by either side in that war is a boon to
Amerikan business.
Meanwhile, Russia has been clear that they will not let Ukraine join
NATO. The United $tates and Russia are the two biggest nuclear powers in
the world. Yet Obama is pushing to have Ukraine join NATO, and Amerikan
anti-Russian sentiment is on the rise in support of him. Open conflict
with Russia would greatly increase the already unacceptable
risk
of nuclear catostrophe due to militarism.
The last 15 years have proven that U.$. militarism cannot be stopped by
the Amerikan anti-war movement. Rather, revolutionaries in the United
$tates must focus on pushing the national liberation struggles of the
internal semi-colonies in solidarity with the Third World. Campaigns
like the one in support of Palestine by California prisoners are good
for building anti-militarism in the United $tates.
Currently the media and Western politicians are promoting the line that
the Islamic State is the biggest threat to peace globally. They are way
off the mark. That role has long remained in the hands of the United
$tates and its military industrial complex.
On 5 August, President Obama announced plans to send $12 billion in aid
to support an electrification program for six sub-Saharan countries in
Africa. This is in addition to U.S. firms investing $14 billion in
banking, construction and information technology in Africa.
Are these efforts really about helping the African nations, or is it
just to protect the stake certain parties have in the region? I can’t
help but remind myself of the economic consequences that will befall an
already impoverished nation. When it comes to the class divisions, I
think this new effort will only push the proletariat into deeper
starvation and exploitation. As I’ve read in MIM Theory 12,
investment from an imperialist country like the United $tates usually
comes with dire consequences. Funny, not once did I hear the U.$.
imperialist president speak of self-determination of all African people.
This is either lip service paid to the petty bourgeoisie or when it’s
all said and done the “pound of flesh” which the United $tates will
eventually get will come at a greater cost to those held in oppression.
The puppet governments of southern Africa gained a large victory today,
but as we all know, no amount of policy or investment will really
benefit the most oppressed people. This is true until all peoples’ needs
are met, not just profit gained for a few. It looks like more economic
imperialism to hold the already poor people in bondage with the illusion
of expanding the Amerikan dream. Raise! Fight! Stop U.S. imperialism!
The solution should be what can be done to empower and enable the lower
class and proletariat into rising up and controlling their own
destinies. Only when this is pursued will conditions improve. People
from the proletariat need to understand that they have the power to
educate and engage in armed struggle to gain their rights.
It’s now over a decade that U.S. military intervention has plagued the
Middle East. U.S. imperialism invaded Iraq for supposedly having nuclear
weapons, intervened in Lybia’s civil strife blaming its government for
mass murder, it sent troops into Afghanistan claiming it was a terrorist
training camp for Al Qaeda, and it internationally denounced Syria for
its use of chemical weapons against its own citizens and Russia for
intervening in Ukraine’s politics. U.S. imperialism has sharpened the
antagonism in this region, intervening in one way or another in the
pursuit of economic interests, disregarding this region’s culture and
these nationalities’ own path of existence.
That’s why it should come as no surprise that the United $tates has
offered aid and assistance to Israel, while they are in the midst of
committing genocide against the Palestinian people. Some people argue
that it is one-sided to just criticize the U.S. and Israeli governments
for the ongoing brutal aggression in Gaza, but this is the reality of
the situation in which Palestinian people live under occupied rule,
denied their right to self-determination. We must also hold accountable
the Amerikan masses who give favorable opinion to these governments out
of “patriotic duty.” Wasn’t this the reason some celebrities had to
recant or water down their sympathetic statements on Palestine (Rihanna
and Selena Gomez among others). This is what is called First World
chauvinism: believing that everything concerning the United States is
righteous, and in this case also Israel by proxy. The rights of humanity
should come before government patriotism.
As a USW comrade I encourage all conscious revolutionaries to expose the
hypocrisy in U.S. international policies, their cronies, and the
oppression of the Palestinian people. Denounce the Israeli genocide of
the Palestinian people.
Free Palestine! Long live the people of Palestine!!
MIM(Prisons) adds: This is just one of a number of statements we
have received from conscious prisoners outraged by the Israeli attacks
on Palestine. Some prisoners have initiated a
petition
campaign to demonstrate their solidarity with the Palestinian
people. This demonstration of internationalism from behind the bars of
Amerikan prisons serves as an inspirational example for all who oppose
imperialism.
July 1, Murrieta, California - Residents of this southern California
town blocked three buses carrying about 140 detained migrants from
Central America from entering their town. The buses were diverted to
other border patrol facilities for processing and supervised release
pending appearance in immigration court. These flag waving Amerikans
spouted racist slogans about the destruction of Amerika brought by these
“illegal” additions to their precious white community as they attacked
the buses. The migrants crossed the border in Texas and were flown to
California to relieve the overcrowded processing facilities in Texas by
the Department of Homeland Security.
The protests were instigated by Murrieta Mayor Alan Long who called on
residents to oppose the federal government’s decision to move the
migrants to the facility in his city. He wants the federal government to
deport these migrants immediately. The Obama administration responded to
the outcry by promising to cut back on the “illegal” border crossings,
attempting to get $2 billion from Congress and authority to return
people home faster.(1)
Already this year Border Patrol agents have detained more than 52,000
unaccompanied minors crossing the U.$. border.(2) But in spite of the
media reports, this isn’t just about children migrants, and we do not
believe that activists should attempt to stir up public sympathy by
focusing on the children. The U.$. border is an artificial restriction,
put in place to protect imperialist wealth from those people who create
the wealth. Migrants cross the U.$. border to escape U.$.-backed militia
violence, capitalist-corporate economic devastation, brutal regimes and
devastating poverty. These are all conditions that secure cheap labor
for exploitation by imperialist corporations which bring the wealth home
to Amerika and protect it with militarized borders. The border crossers
of all ages deserve access to this wealth more than the well-off
residents of Murrieta. Anti-imperialists call for open borders, and
support the rights of indigenous people everywhere to enforce
immigration restrictions on the imperialists who invade and steal their
land and resources.
As Brazil prepares for the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, it
has been trying to create an image of safety and prosperity for the
world to show that Rio de Janeiro is an optimum destination for both
events and tourism. However, on closer inspection, what is going on
behind the official facade tells an entirely different story; less than
half a mile away from the sparkling beachfronts and hotels is one of the
biggest shanty towns in South America, filled with filth and squalor,
violence and death.(1)
The disparity between a growing number of thousands of impoverished
citizens in Rio struggling to find adequate housing, employment, health
care and other basic necessities, and the record-setting expenditure of
$11 to 13 billion on the World Cup alone triggered huge protests less
than a month before the soccer tournament begins. Homeless workers in
Sao Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, formed a group of 2,000 protesters who
left their immense squatter camp to demonstrate outside the stadium
where the opening World Cup game will be played June 12. Similar
protests occurred in Rio, Recife, and elsewhere.(2)
In Rio, violent clashes broke out between police and squatters when
authorities dislodged thousands of families from a newly formed favela
in a complex of abandoned commercial buildings. Poor workers and their
families have increasingly moved into such structures as affordable
housing is becoming a rarity and rents skyrocket, yet hundreds of
abandoned buildings stand empty.(3) One member of such an occupation
movement put it this way: “It is a way to force distribution of income.”
Rubber bullets and gas were used against the squatters. Elsewhere,
police and quasi-military “pacification” squads move into poor
neighborhoods and favelas ostensibly to wrest control from drug
traffickers. It is an attempt to drive the lumpen organizations away
from these communities and restore police authority ahead of the
upcoming games. But the program is controversial and has fallen under
heavy criticism for using excessive force, at times killing residents.
Groups such as Amnesty International say some 2,000 people die every
year in Brazil in careless and violent police actions.(4) The mercenary
company formerly known as Blackwater is helping provide security
training in Brazil, stoking fears that the “pacification” of the slums
is akin to an Iraq-style military occupation.(5)
In addition to the increasing use of militant tactics and hardware being
used to “pacify” the favelas, thousands of Federal Army troops are being
deployed to occupy such areas, including Rio’s sprawling Maré complex of
favelas. The militias will remain until July 31, after the World Cup
concludes.(5) Authorities are also now promising to “secure” the slums
using an elite military police squad called BOPE, a shadowy organization
of highly trained special forces whose logo is a dagger piercing a
skull. Meanwhile clandestine police “body dumps” have been
discovered.(1)
The Brazilian government is learning that they can only push people so
far who have little to nothing left to lose, culminating in widespread
uprisings against state sanctioned brutality and indifference. Military
equipment, personnel and tactics are increasingly being unleashed
against the residents of slums in the name of increased security for the
World Cup/Olympic games, while little to no prior offer of economic or
housing aid is offered to the impoverished residents. The solution for
the regime in power simply seems to be more repression and violence
while it spends millions on stadiums and aesthetics.
The World Cup soccer tournament, like the Olympics, is a bourgeois bread
and circus distraction, minus the bread. If the organizations behind
these games were at all concerned about social justice or economic
equality they would refrain from awarding to nations that conduct
violence and economic terrorism on the poorest of their citizens the
privilege of hosting their games and subsequent benefits. But history
has shown time and again that such organizations are merely bourgeois
capitalist lapdogs whose only concerns are self-promotion and profits
for their economic masters and investors. This was shown in the blatant
corruption of the Olympic committee some years back in Utah and
continues unabated to this day. There can be no justice in a world where
the fetishization of an officially sponsored diversionist sport occurs
at the same time the cost of a single official soccer ball could feed a
starving family for a month, who are also being shot at and gassed less
than a mile from where such games are to take place!
Further, such militant tactics are being carried out in the name of an
official battle against dangerous drug gangs, but if we are to take such
justifications seriously then one would need to ignore the fact that it
is the decadent culture and corrupt “war on drugs” itself of the
imperialist power to the north that is mostly responsible for creating
the conditions for such traffickers to exist and thrive. Especially in
light of the fact that very few economic alternatives are offered to the
youth of the favelas. While the bourgeois population of the United
$tates provides the largest customer base for narcotics in the world,
its farcical war on drugs, which it also tries to force on other nations
such as Brazil, drives the prices of drugs to ridiculous levels. It’s no
wonder many impoverished and disillusioned people turn to trafficking.
Again, the resolution is economic equality, not militant oppression.
The brutal repression of the people in Brazil for the sake of the
“security” of the World Cup needs to be exposed and opposed by all who
champion the oppressed everywhere. It will only come and go leaving the
poor in worse condition for the expenditure of billions on such games
instead of desperately needed social/economic programs. Support the
peoples struggle in Brazil!