MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
A comrade in Stevenson Unit wrote to say that there are only 12
restrictive housing cells there and they are only used very short-term.
But ey is sharing the motion and other campaign materials with contacts
inside and outside to support those in RHU fighting for their humyn
rights.
Shutting down long-term solitary confinement is one of the key
campaign demands of the Juneteenth
Freedom Initiative, calling for a boycott of Juneteenth until real
freedom is attained in this country. The lawsuit points to the
irreparable harm on mental health caused by long-term solitary.
Anyone who is in a Restricted Housing Unit in Texas can use the
linked example motion to join this
lawsuit. The motion should be sent to all three addresses listed at
the end of the attached PDF. Please download and distribute to those you
know in Texas torture chambers!
28 May 2022 UPDATE from Tx TEAM ONE member - Telford
Unit: I have submitted my interest in becoming a co-plaintiff
to all inhumane conditions in all Ad-Seg/RHU buildings, especially on
this unit, and the inhumane/treatment and living conditions endured by
all alleged STG prisoners. Because for almost forty (40) years, those of
Us that are considered STG’s have been in these living conditions.
I have already written to the Eastern and Northern Districts, United
States District Courts. And I have also written to the United States
Department of Justice.
Following up on some recent warnings
and reports
from comrades on Subxone(buprenorphine), we conducted an updated survey
on drugs in U.$. prisons this past winter.(1) We received survey
responses from NC, PA, VA, WV, MI, CA and TX.(2) While we heard from
Michigan in ULK 75 all of the other states were represented in
our original survey, which was distributed more widely and received more
responses.
So has anything changed in the last 5 years? In 2017, Suboxone use
was reported to be common in many states in the northeast and midwest
United $tates. Specifically comrades in NY, KS, WV, TN, CT, WI, and
especially PA reported Suboxone use being popular. We do not have info
on whether the Suboxone was obtained from the prison or not in that data
set. In 2022, we can add California, Virginia, North Carolina and
Michigan to the list of states where Suboxone is abused in prisons. Of
those four, only Michigan was not represented in our 2017 survey,
meaning Suboxone seems to have become popular in the other 3 in the last
five years. Texas is the only state we got responses from this year that
reported Suboxone still not being available at all.[UPDATE October 2022:
We later received report that Georgia did not have Suboxone either.]
Our comrade in Michigan reported this new drug appeared on the scene
in 2012, and had become the most common drug abused in the MDOC, with
perhaps 5 in 10 prisoners using it. (until
recently when K2 took over)
We have updated info from Pennsylvania affirming that it is
prescribed there and that people can stay on it for as long as they are
held in prison. About 1 in 7 people are using Suboxone at
SCI-Dallas.
In North Carolina, Suboxone is very popular, though less popular than
K2, which has been increasing in use. Suboxone may be more popular with
white prisoners there.
Our Virginia respondent is in a “big mental health/drug rehab” unit,
where ey says “we can’t order self-help programs nor books.” Imagine
that! Yet you can get a Suboxone subscription with no indication that
there are any classes to go along with it. Some are continuing their
Suboxone subs from the streets.
Michigan and West Virginia do not prescribe Suboxone according to our
survey respondents. Yet it still gets into the prisons there and is
quite popular.
California the big mover
The biggest shift we learned from our second round of surveys was the
new introduction of Suboxone, which Ehecatl already reported in ULK
76 started in 2020. A recent study reported a sharp increase in
buprenorphine consumption in prisons from 2020-2021. The number of
incarcerated people consuming it rose an estimated 250,000 from January
2015 to May 2021. With only 115,000 prisoners total, CDCR may have been
a good chunk of that growth, but clearly was only part of it.
That said, one comrade in California reported that they now “give
anyone and everyone Suboxone. I know a bunch of people who never have
used drugs and went to see the doctor and got put on Suboxone.” The
price of Suboxone on the black market has decrease from $100 to only
$2-4 as a result. This comrade continued,
“I’ve been in solitary confinement for over 4 years so I signed up to
get put on Suboxone and I got put on it a week after seeing the doctor.
I’ve been a drug addict my whole life, but was still surprised how easy
it is and was to get put on Subxone.”
We’ve always held that solitary confinement is used as a tool of
social control in the U.$. injustice system. We also see Suboxone being
used in the same way. Here they are being used in conjunction as a way
to help people adjust to the torture of solitary confinement. When used
outside solitary, most prisoners reported its use leading to people
retreating from socializing and not engaging in any kind of group
organizing.
Another CA comrade had put in a request in December 2019 after the
CDCR publicized a new drug to help with addiction. By March or April
2020 ey was approved for Suboxone. Doses there range from 8mg to 20mg.
As for counseling, this comrade did report that, “while I was receiving
it we were seeing a C.O. Healy and ex-drug user facilitator bringing us
5 days of work on Monday and coming back on Monday to pick up the
homework.” It is not clear why ey stopped receiving Suboxone.
“Buprenorphine use in jails and prisons increased by 224-fold, from a
daily mean of 44 individuals in June 2016 to 9841 individuals in May
2021 (Figure). Most of this increase occurred from 2020 to 2021.
Nationwide, across all retail and nonretail settings, buprenorphine use
increased by 53.9% from a daily mean of 466,781 individuals in January
2015 to 718,591 individuals in May 2021. By May 2021, correctional
settings accounted for approximately 1.5% of all buprenorphine use
nationwide. An estimated 3.6% of the 270,000 incarcerated individuals
with [Opioid Use Disorder] in the US received buprenorphine.”(3)
These numbers are likely underestimated as they are based on retail
sales numbers from one source. But the sharp increase in prescribed
Suboxone starting in late 2019 is certainly something of note.
K2 Still King in TX
We received the most responses to our second survey from Texas, and
things seem to have not changed much there. Everyone agreed that
Suboxone was not available in Texas. K2 appeared there around 2013 or
2014 according to our respondents, and has been on the increase ever
since. Many people report tiers filled with the smoke being a common
occurrence in the TDCJ. K2 use rates reported in TX this time around
estimated 10%, 20%, 30% and in the RHU up to 75% of people.
Our correspondent from Allred’s RHU reports that back in 2013-2016
“drugs were virtually non-existent… 1/2 that time there were no cameras,
yet there still was no drugs, no cell phones, no contraband at all
really. Since i’ve been back here there has been at least a 70% increase
in contraband” (2017 to present). This comrade points to a huge cultural
shift among staff leading to the change.
Ey goes on to explain the social effects of this influx of drugs and
how it serves as a tool of social control:
“We had a good thing going here after working to bring all New
Afrikan lumpen groups and people together, but clashes over drug debts
have undermined the unity… We were able to organize 1/3 of the RHU
population against their confinement. With the drugs one year later,
barely 50 people!”
As far as effective efforts to combat drugs, we once again got a
resounding “no” answer to that question form all states. One TX comrade
reported, “the Christians and Muslims are the only social groups openly
condemning drug use, simultaneously, some of their”coordinators” are
getting officially charged with possessing it!”
Another comrade who struggled with prescription psych meds as well as
illicit drugs explained, “One of the worst parts of my own ‘addiction’
was the shame and guilt that came from using these ‘illegal drugs.’”
This is just one reason why the approach to drug addiction in this
country is ineffective. We encourage comrades to try our new
Revolutionary 12 Step Program, which will walk you through
addressing these feelings of shame.
A couple of respondents reiterated a preference for “natural” drugs
rather than ones that are synthesized by multi-national corporations.
But we’d point out the reason we can’t trust modern technology is
because of capitalism. It is not the fact that humyns made it that makes
it unsafe, but rather the profit motives that cause humyns to hide and
overlook any safety issues that come up. There are lots of things that
grow naturally that can kill you. In a system that operates in the
interests of the people, we wouldn’t be making things to add to that
list like the capitalists do.
As imperialist crisis deepens, national liberation grows. The right
for national self-determination is gaining mainstream discussion with
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The imperialists are boycotting Russia to
support Ukraine, when they punished those boycotting I$rael for denying
the self-determination of Palestine. Meanwhile, here in occupied Aztlán
comrades are engaging the Chican@ movement on this topic, which has
forced the largest reformist parties to discuss national liberation in
the current political climate.
Before the next issue of Under Lock & Key comes out we
have two events that we are asking you to support. One is our second
annual Fourth of You-Lie fund drive. Thanks to all who donated already
this year, we are off to a good start rivaling last year’s steady
increase in donations. If you haven’t donated yet this year, we’re
asking every reader to send us 7 stamps or more by July 4th. We just
received notice that, like most things, printing costs will be
increasing this summer.
And more importantly, June 19th marks the boycott
Juneteenth Freedom Initiative. The campaign is centered in Texas,
where comrades are organizing a general strike in prisons across the
state. Different custody levels will be organizing different forms of
action leading up to and continuing after June 19th. We will be sending
updates to USW comrades in Texas over the next month. Campaign demands
include:
End Solitary Confinement!
End Restrictive Housing Units!
End Mass Incarceration!
Transform the prisons to cadre schools!
Transform ourselves into New People!
Speaking of transforming ourselves, we released the Revolutionary
12 Step program this winter as promised. USW leaders should have
that in their hands already. The Power to New Afrika pamphlet
is almost done, and should be out shortly after this ULK. The
new The Fundamental Political Line of the Maoist Internationalist
Ministry of Prisons however, is not on schedule and we do not know
when we will be able to complete that. For now our introductory study
program will continue using the old version. We are also very behind on
responding to comrades in the intro study program. As always, we need
more outside supporters to help with basic tasks like transcribing,
editing, lay out, and promoting prisoner-led campaigns. We just don’t
have enough comrades out here to keep up with everything comrades need
in there. Thank you to our newest supporters who helped with this issue,
we hope to have a long and revolutionary relationship!
For many years, MIM Distributors has been providing legal resources
to prisoners in Texas, including the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice(TDCJ)’s own Grievance Operations Manual. In 2010, USW launched
the grievance campaign in Texas, developing petitions to notify
regulatory bodies when the TDCJ was violating its own grievance process.
Four years later a comrade reported that on 30 September 2014 the TDCJ
removed the Grievance Operations Manual, which lays out the TDCJ’s
relevant code and policies, from all prison libraries(1) where it
used to be available for prisoners to reference. Soon after, MIM
Distributors began offering this document to comrades who were trying to
fight grievances they had against the TDCJ.
Turns out, they have continued to step things up a notch to keep this
public information out of the hands of prisoners. On 12 January 2022,
MIM Distributors was notified by the staff that the TDCJ Grievance
Operation Manual was censored at McConnell Unit on 10 December 2021 for
the following reason:
“in contradiction with BP-03.91, Uniform Offender Correspondence
Rules”
That was all the detail given. And we have not determined any portion
of BP-03.91 that could possibly be applied to TDCJ’s own public
policies. These types of cases should be easy wins for us.
Unfortunately, we do not have the support we used to have to deal with
prison administrators and hold them accountable. Outside supporters, get
in touch to help us rebuild our capacity to fight these blatant
injustices. Comrades inside that are falling victim to this repression,
keep filing paperwork and provide us with all the info you can on what
is going on.
notes: 1. A Texas Prisoner, November 2014, Texas Hides
Grievance Manual from Prisoners, Under Lock & Key 42. 2. A Texas
Prisoner, May 2019, Texas Confiscating Offender’s Grievance Operations
Manual.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, MIM(Prisons)
has not published any analysis of the war, nor have we participated in
any organizing around the war. Our position is that our movement should
be looking to counter and prevent Amerikan war-mongering against Russia,
or any other country.
Unfortunately, most opposition to the Russian invasion in the United
$tates is being led by the State Department and is fanning Amerikan
support for war with Russia and promoting the overthrow of Russian
President Vladimir Putin. As we go to press, things have continued to
heat up and the threat of inter-imperialist war seems greater than it’s
been in decades.
Imperialists are stealing from other imperialists. The U.$. Treasury
Department has already seized $1 billion worth of boats and planes and
hundreds of millions of dollars in bank accounts. The House of
Representatives passed a bill to liquidate these assets and use them to
rebuild Ukraine. In addition, the U.$. imperialist bloc has frozen $600
billion of Russia’s central bank foreign reserve fund, which they are
also considering using to rebuild Ukraine.(1) They are taking the stolen
wealth of other imperialists and using it to rebuild Ukraine to serve
U.$. imperialism instead of Russia. This greatly adds to the original
military threat Russia had felt from NATO encircling them, making the
escalation to all-out inter-imperialist war more likely.
The U.$/IMF/World Bank will of course sink their teeth deeper into
Ukraine through loans, which have already begun during the war period.
As they do to oppressed nations around the world, these loans become
means by which they control their policies and structure their economies
as neo-colonies. Perhaps they will even use assets stolen from Russia to
loan to Ukraine.
As this issue of Under Lock & Key reaches ours
subscribers, we will be approaching the anniversary of the victory over
Nazi Germany (May 8-9). In the Russian-allied Donetsk and Luhansk
Peoples’ Republics they are restoring statues of V.I. Lenin and hanging
red flags as they prepare to celebrate, while the Azov neo-Nazis
threatened to attack victory parades.(2) The memories of World War II
run deep. While there is no socialist camp engaged in the current war,
we can see how the crisis is pushing people to look for answers. In
addition to being morally abhorrent, the fascists cannot address the
contradictions of capitalism that are playing out today. It is only a
new economy that is driven by universal humyn need and not profit that
can solve the problems of war, environmental destruction and economic
booms and busts that capitalism brings.
What
sort of sanctions is Russia under? What will the effect be?
Russia was banned from SWIFT, a component of the global payments
processing system. Many other sanctions have been placed on the Russian
economy, including obstacles to outside investment and bans on the sale
of anything that could conceivably have a military use (which is a lot
of stuff). Oil and gas, as of this writing, are still being bought from
Russia by most European countries, but this might change soon even
though Europe has no other reliable supply of natural gas to rely on
currently. Germany, for example, ships weapons to Ukraine that are used
against Russian troops and pays Russia for its natural gas at the same
time.
The effects of the sanctions aren’t clear yet. If Russia loses access
to the European market for its oil and gas its export earnings will
collapse. China cannot replace the lost demand, and sanctions will play
havoc on Russian industry’s supply chains.
What
will the effects of the war be on the Ukrainian economy?
One of the major battles, around the town of Mariupol in the
southeast, is unfolding in Azovstal, an enormous Soviet-era steel mill.
The complex has mostly been destroyed. This serves as a symbol of what
the rest of Ukraine will look like once all this is over. Following the
war there are likely to be fewer and worse jobs, a large refugee
population abroad, environmental devastation and a radical polarization
of Ukrainian society. There is talk of forgiving some of Ukraine’s
foreign debt, and maybe there will be aid for reconstruction, but the
rest of the world’s charity is not likely to make up for what’s being
lost now, and its also likely to come with strings attached.
Are there Nazis in Ukraine?
Yes. The Azov battalion, which is based in southeast Ukraine and has
been fighting Russian separatists in the Donbass region since 2014, is a
far-right military formation with white supremacist leadership and
ideals. They’re responsible for numerous attacks on Roma encampments,
LGBT people and leftists in Ukraine since their founding, as well as
attacks on civilians and war crimes during the battles against
separatists in the east. Many of their leaders, including founder Andriy
Biletsky, used to openly promote race war against
“untermenschen”[define?] and Jewish people, but have dialed back such
talk in public in recent years.
Their logo features the Wolfsangel and the Sonnenrad, both
indisputable Nazi SS symbols, and the constant appearance of these logos
in sympathetic coverage of the Ukrainian military has been a PR headache
for the government. The Azov battalion is just one part of a larger
fascist Azov movement coming from the Western part of Ukraine. U.$. news
media has helpfully downplayed the significance of an openly fascist,
highly armed and well-organized formation at the heart of Ukrainian
politics by claiming that the symbols and years of fascist rhetoric and
actions either don’t mean anything or are in the organization’s past.
The limited presence of explicit far-right figures in the Ukrainian
parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, belies their ability to organize outside
parliament and the impunity with which they do so.
The popularity of Stepan Bandera is another aspect of fascism in
Ukraine. Bandera was the head of the Organization of Ukranian
Nationalists, and worked with the Nazis during their occupation of
Ukraine, including participating in the Holocaust and in ethnic
cleansing in southeastern Poland. He is admired by the far right and
those influenced by them, but not by the rest of the country – the Rada
refused to award him the title of Hero of Ukraine when this was proposed
in 2019. So it’s wrong to say that Ukraine is a Neo-Nazi dictatorship,
just as it’s wrong to say that fascists have no influence and are not a
serious issue in Ukranian society. Of course, Putin has his own fascists
and couldn’t care less about Nazi rhetoric among his own forces, so he
can’t use that as a pretext for an invasion.
Are war crimes being
committed in Ukraine?
The biggest war crime is starting one, so Russia is undoubtedly
guilty on that score. In addition, indiscriminate shelling of civilian
areas in Ukraine by Russia has led to probably thousands of casualties
so far, though confirmed counts are much lower. During early April, when
Russian forces retreated from the area surrounding Kiev, Ukranian forces
reoccupying the town of Bucha found hundreds of bodies of civilians on
the streets. The brutality of the invading forces is clear.
The Ukranian side has also engaged in war crimes, like the
kneecapping of prisoners of war. That happened on video, so who knows
what’s going on when phones aren’t pulled out. War is hell.
Are there
diplomatic efforts to stop the war underway?
Ukraine and Russia started talking almost immediately, and the
demands have shifted with the battle. When it looked like Russia was
about to capture Kiev immediately in the early days of the war, Russia’s
demands were significant. But now that Russia has withdrawn from the
area around Kiev and suffered significant casualties, things are
different. The discoveries in Bucha as well as the radicalizing effect
of war in general, might make negotiations break down completely in the
future.
The key issues in the talks are Ukraine’s diplomatic relationship
with the EU and NATO, and territory in Ukraine. Russia wants Ukraine to
stay out of NATO, and wants its territorial acquisitions, including
Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and the Crimean peninsula in the south,
to be confirmed.
Does
Putin support the Soviet Union and its recreation?
The Soviet Union was formed on a voluntary basis by independent
nations. Most of those who joined the Soviet Union had been part of the
Russian Empire in the past. As an imperialist, Putin may be aspiring to
something closer to the Russian Empire. However, stated motivations for
the invasion of Ukraine are immediate concerns about defending Russia
from NATO.
In a recent speech Putin denounced Lenin and the Bolsheviks for the
creation of Ukraine, because Lenin recognized the right of all nations
to secede. In ULK 36 we wrote about the emblematic image of the
toppling
of the statue of Lenin in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev in 2013.
This was done by supporters of the right-wing populist party of
Svodoba.
Both sides of the current war in Ukraine are openly and virulently
opposed to Bolshevism and the ideas of Lenin and Stalin.
Should
we support sanctions as a way to peacefully pressure Russia to stop the
war?
The sanctions being implemented by the U.$.-led imperialist bloc are
not peaceful as they come along with large military support being sent
into Ukraine to prolong the war and the fighting.
Sanctions are economic warfare. They can be a softer way to pressure
other powers than military conflict, but given time they can also have
more damaging effects.
In a few days the U.$. imperialists achieved more than the movement
to boycott, sanction and divest from I$rael has achieved in years. The
illegal occupation of Palestine and daily oppression of the Palestinian
people does not get the support of many of the multinational
corporations and organizations that jumped to ban Russia or pull their
operations from Russia.
As the sanctioning of Russia happened more quickly and successfully,
it is that much more dangerous. The increase in economic boundaries
between imperialist camps marks the shift from a stage of relative peace
between imperialist powers to one of more violent competition. Tariffs,
sanctions, market control, dividing up of the world’s colonies,
resources and markets, were what led up to the first and second
inter-imperialist wars.
Supporting sanctions on Russia right now is further isolating an
imperialist power and increasing the chances of military escalation
between the imperialists, which increases the chance of nuclear war.
None of this is in the interests of humynity as a whole.
Is
siding with the Amerikans and against the Russians the profitable option
for the capitalists?
For the last century the United $tates has led the most prosperous
path for international finance capital. As a result many of the big
names are loyal to the Amerikans. But there are also many exceptions,
companies who are not volunteering to stop business in Russia. And
others who are looking to capitalize on others leaving. One financial
company made a bold statement saying that if they were to ban a country
from their services for invading a sovereign people, they’d start with
banning the Amerikans.(3)
Different capitalists are going to have different interests, and
their interests are going to conflict with those of their competitors.
While the big finance capitalists benefit from and support stability,
other capitalist interests will fund and fuel escalating conflict
between the imperialist camps. Meanwhile, weapons manufacturers always
benefit from militarism and are very powerful and influential in
imperialist circles of power. The mutual interests that created the
military-industrial complex has posed a great threat to the world since
WWII.
What is a
multipolar world, and is it a good thing?
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the United $tates of Amerika
has been the sole dominant superpower in the world. Before then,
countries who opposed U.$. interests could find support from the other
imperialist pole of the Soviet Union.
Since WWII, Europe has been subsumed by Amerikan imperialism. If you
look at a map of those imposing sanctions on Russia today it is occupied
Turtle Island (the United $tates and Klanada), Western Europe, Australia
and Japan. This has been the alliance of imperialist powers that has
dominated the world, operating under U.$. military and economic
leadership, for 70 years.
China left the socialist path in 1976, and has continued to rise as
an economic superpower since then. When the Soviet Union took the
capitalist path it led to collapse 35 years later as the bourgeoisie was
divided, carving out their own fiefdoms from which to extract wealth.
China’s new bourgeoisie however has remained united in a plan to exploit
its own proletariat, and is now seen as the biggest threat to U.$.
dominance almost 50 years after taking the capitalist road. Of course,
the people of China and the former Soviet Union were the losers in both
cases.
China and Russia remain politically separate from the U.$.-dominated
imperialist pole, despite China’s deep integration with the U.$.
economy. Their socialist past is one reason for this separation.
Together Russia and China control most of the Eurasian land mass, and as
neighbors have shared interests in promoting trade in the region. The
media has been buzzing about the new Russia/China pole as the
geopolitics of the invasion of Ukraine play out. Some dissident media
outlets cheer this prospect as a counterbalance to U.$./European
imperialism, or what is often referred to as “Western” imperialism.
We look at the invasion of Ukraine with the outlook of “it’s
terrible, but it’s fine.” An invasion by an imperialist country is
always terrible, with Ukrainians and Russian soldiers dying and 100,000s
of Ukrainians being displaced. Communists should never aid an
imperialist invasion.
Ultimately, it is imperialist conflict that creates space for the
proletariat to organize, and to play the imperialists against each other
in order to win victories for the people. In that sense, the increase in
disorder in the world “is fine.” It is the inevitable result of the
contradictions within the capitalist system. These conflicts will come
sooner or later, we cannot prevent them in the short term, but we can
seize the opportunities they create to put an end to this system to
prevent chaos in the long-term.
Prior to WWI, Britain was the leading imperialist power, and
maintained its dominance in part by keeping continental Europe divided.
Today the Amerikans play the leading role, but are working with the
British to prevent closer relations between Germany and Russia. This has
been their strategy since the 1930s when the imperialists feared Germany
would join the socialist camp.
In recent years, the United $tates has been threatening sanctions to
stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that would pipe natural gas directly
from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea. Germany is already
Russia’s biggest gas customer, and Nord Stream 2 would strengthen that
relationship. The Amerikans oppose this as they see this tying German
and Russian interests closer. In recent negotiations around sanctions
against Russia, Germany proved reluctant but ultimately joined the NATO
consensus to impose them. Germany even gave in on shipping arms to
Ukraine after refusing at first.
Among the imperialists there are disagreements about this. Henry
Kissinger famously opposed NATO inclusion of Ukraine, promoting a policy
of integrating Russia into the U.$.-led sphere. Kissinger warned of the
consequences of trying to break the back of Russia.
Nord Stream 2 provides an alternate route to transport gas to Germany
than the other primary route through Ukraine.
Petro Dollars and Reserve
Currencies
Following WWII, the U.$. was the least damaged imperialist power and
was booming from the wartime economy. Profits were high, exploitation of
the Third World was transferring wealth to the rising U.$. empire that
financed the rebuilding of Europe. This allowed Europe to be built in
the way the Amerikans saw fit. One thing this allowed for was they
positioned the dollar to become the global reserve currency, or the
currency that other countries held and conducted international trade in.
Oil was set to trade exclusively in exchange for the “petro dollar.”
This arrangement has allowed the U.$. to have a growing trade deficit
for decades without the value of their currency dropping. When Third
World countries have trouble paying their debts, their currencies can
become worthless overnight. A replacement of the U.$. dollar as the
global reserve currency makes the United $tates more economically
vulnerable.
“According to the IMF, the share of reserves held in U.S. dollars by
central banks has dropped by 12 percentage points since the turn of the
century, from 71 percent in 1999 to 59 percent in 2021. But this fall
has been matched by a rise in the share of what the IMF calls
‘non-traditional reserve currencies’, defined as currencies other than
the ‘big four’ of the US dollar, euro, Japanese yen and British pound
sterling, namely such as the Australian dollar, Canadian dollar, Chinese
renminbi, Korean won, Singapore dollar, and Swedish krona.”(4)
Currently Russia is saying ‘unfriendly countries’ must begin to pay
them for gas in Russian rubles. Hungary, which is part of the European
Union, but also friendly with Russia has already agreed to pay with
rubles. But the European Union(E.U.) has said the deal was to pay in
euros and dollars and they would not change. This is an effort by Russia
to stabilize their currency using their vast gas trade with Europe to
force others to buy rubles. While the value of the ruble initially
dropped about 50% after invading Ukraine, it has since recovered close
to pre-war levels.
Poland, Germany and Bulgaria have refused to pay Russia for natural
gas in rubles instead of euros as they are demanding. On 27 April 2022,
Russia halted natural gas flows to Poland and Bulgaria after their
deadline for paying in rubles was not met. About 40% of Europe’s gas
consumption is supplied by Russia. The region is talking about
tightening up its consumption. While good for the planet, this will lead
to a further constriction of the economy, applying more pressure to the
imperialists who must always expand their markets to circulate more
capital. However, it is reported that some undisclosed purchasers are
going ahead and buying with rubles, despite it being a violation of EU
sanctions.(5)
Would
joining the European Union benefit Ukranians economically?
As we discussed in ULK 36, GDP in Ukraine after the
dissolution of the Soviet Union was 1/3 what it was just before. Though
the Soviet Union had already been operating a capitalist economy for 35
years at that time, the complete opening up of the region to the West,
the complete Liberalization of policies, and the resultant chaos and
uncertainty led to a precipitous drop in material wealth in the
country.
Leading up to and following the 2014 coup in Ukraine, the GDP fell
and had not recovered pre-coup highs before the current war.(6) The coup
installed a U.$.-backed, EU/NATO friendly government that introduced
International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans to the country, which are used
around the world to extract wealth from the exploited countries to the
finance capitalists. As we predicted in ULK 37 these IMF
loans contributed to decreasing wealth in Ukraine.
Before 2014, the Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine in the East and
South were much more productive and prosperous. People in those regions
have lost significant income. Meanwhile, the rest of the country that
was somewhat ignored by Russian imperialism, has not seen material
improvements by cozying up to the West.(7)
To join the E.U. is a logical option for many in Ukraine who see the
wealth in those countries and the incomes they can earn migrating to
even the eastern E.U.. Yet the spoils of imperialism are limited, and
experience in the last 8 years in Ukraine show the limitations of this
option.
Ukraine and Russia remain largely proletarian countries, with
material interests opposed to imperialism. While there does not appear
to be a strong anti-imperialist current in Ukraine at this time, this
can change quickly as this crisis has brought much disruption and
displacement in the country.
19 February 2022 – K.A.G.E. Universal and Hella Positive hosted an
event featuring the voices of New Afrikan elders as part of the campaign
to Liberate Our Elders from the cages of the California Department of
Corrections and rehabilitation(CDCr). As the comrades say, little “r”,
because there is no rehabilitation, and rehabilitation must come from
within.
At this event MIM(Prisons) shared copies of our new pamphlet, A
Revolutionary 12 Step Program, in the spirit of supporting
self-transformation via independent institutions of the oppressed. We
also joined K.A.G.E. Universal in promoting the United Front for Peace
in Prisons, as they work to expand the message of independent peace
building behind bars and in local schools in Oakland.
The event brought together many outside activists and organizations
and the voices of New Afrikan principal thinkers from the Pelican Bay
SHU who are now on the streets as well as some still imprisoned.
Speakers included imprisoned elder Sitawa, one of the main reps during
the historic California hunger strikes, and Paul Redd who is now
released. Louis Powell’s voice was also heard through the reading of his
new book, Chronicles of a Prison Dirty War: California Prison
Politics.
In the closing of the event, Minister King X pointed out that these
elders are “walking dictionaries,” and the state is “trying to eradicate
our history.”
Shortly after receiving this issue of Under Lock & Key,
a number of USW leaders and other supporters of our work will be
receiving the first edition of our Revolutionary 12 Step
Program. This has been in the works for over a year now and we are
excited to get it into the hands of comrades who are ready to implement
the program and provide feedback.
The Revolutionary 12 Step Program is a significant advance
for our Serve the People “Re-Lease on Life” Program, which has been in
existence in some form from the early years of MIM(Prisons)’s
existence.
Who is it for?
When most of us think of the 12 steps, we think of Alcoholics
Anonymous or a more general Narcotics Anonymous program. However, our
program takes an approach similar to a program called Criminals &
Gangmembers Anonymous to address the anti-people behavior of the lumpen
class in a more general way.
Drugs and alcohol are a big part of the problems the people face. It
is estimated that at least 65% of people incarcerated have a “Substance
Use Disorder”, while the number goes up to 85% if you include all who
were under the influence during the crime they were convicted of.(1)
That’s a lot! As recent understandings of the brain tell us, the lack of
impulse control that can lead to destructive behaviors is caused by
unhealthy social conditions during childhood.(2) Drug abuse will often
overlap with violence towards others and other behavior that is deemed
criminal by the bourgeoisie and by the people as well. In the long-term,
communism can eliminate the causes of these tendencies, but in the
meantime we need to address all forms of anti-people behavior to
transform ourselves from a lumpen state of being to a revolutionary
proletarian one.
Some people in prison are innocent. Some broke a law in a conscious
decision – sometimes even for righteous political reasons. But the vast
majority of you reading this broke laws through actions you would have
preferred to not have taken. The vast majority of people in prison could
use this program to avoid regrettable actions in the future.
All of us have rehabilitation that we must go through because we were
raised in a sick society. Ultimately, everyone born in this oppressive
system could benefit from our Revolutionary 12 Step Program,
but many of you need it if you ever want to stay out of
prison.
Why do we need it?
The state, by definition, is run by the oppressors. In our
imperialist conditions today the oppressors are the bourgeoisie, the
imperialists, the oppressor nations – Euro-Amerika. The institutions of
the state will always serve those interests. In the current system you
have law enforcement, religious organizations, private prison companies
like Geo Group, and more small-time profiteers running reentry programs
for the state. None of these serve the interests of the oppressed.
Today, we don’t have the influence to abolish these imperialist
institutions, but we do have the influence to build independent
proletarian institutions. Not only that, this is part of our central
task today as a movement, “create public opinion and the independent
institutions of the oppressed to seize power.”(3) We discussed previous
independent institutions of the oppressed in ULK 59 on
drugs.(4) Since then we’ve been working on developing our own.
One of the lessons we can take from the practice of our Re-Lease on
Life Program to date is the need to address the drive to do drugs,
engage in dangerous sexual activities, and the temptation of the thrill
of the life of crime. We must put in its place the thrill of revolution;
of fighting the real enemy; of building something new.
Before MIM(Prisons) had a Re-Lease on Life Program, we had one
comrade who was one of our top theoreticians and USW leaders while in
the SHU. Ey was released from prison and quickly slipped into alcoholism
again. Ey stayed in touch for the first year, and then we stopped
hearing from em, and ey never did any political work on the outside. At
that time MIM(Prisons) had little to offer this comrade to help em adapt
to life on the outside, and we certainly had nothing like a 12 step
program to help em with eir alcoholism.
A story that has become too common is USW members who are released
and never write us for years. When we finally do hear back from them
it’s because they ended up back in prison. One such comrade
recently explained:
“something I felt lack of was community. When I left the gates I went
straight to a sober living…. During the time there I worked and attended
A.A. meetings. I pretty much gave all my attention to my sobriety and
recovery. Simultaneously my career was getting started. At this time I
am getting myself situated and also enjoying my freedom, it was a really
good feeling getting to move around, good food, and women…”
“I got emotionally attached to a girl that did not fulfill my needs
or expectations and I became emotionally unbalanced. All it took was one
instance of drugs to get high and begin my relapse. All this was in the
lapse of a year. The last three months was just a chase for
thrills.”
“I felt loneliness because for sobriety I left everything behind,
friends, places, everything I’ve ever done, made and been. Also I felt a
need for thrills, action; that was my itch for crime. I lost track of it
all and I couldn’t find like-minded people.”
From the above testimony we see how sex and romance plays into this
as well. We all know how common “crimes of passion” are in our society.
Many of us have done time for them. This comrade wanted community and
felt lonely, and seemingly tried to find that in a womyn who maybe was
not in a good state herself, or maybe just couldn’t fill the large gap
in this comrade’s life. The original AA puts god in that gap, a higher
power. Our program puts the proletariat, the people. We will all have
important individuals in our lives who help us out and other individuals
who set us back. But we cannot rely on any one individual to save us,
nor to meet all our needs. One of our needs is a spiritual need to be a
part of something that gives us meaning. The bourgeois institutions
offer you job training and maybe the prospect of a marriage. But as we
see with this comrade’s story, you can attain those things and still be
lonely, still not be on the path to rehabilitation. That is why we need
an independent institution of the oppressed.
Another lesson we can take from this comrade, and from others, is
that success will usually mean leaving behind a lot, especially at
first. The easiest way to go back to prison is to go back to the same
people and places you were around before you got locked up. Ultimately,
our aim is not to cut you off from where you came from like a bourgeois
program might do. We must stay connected to the people, and your past
may offer some such connections. But those connections can only be good
ones if you approach them from a new way of thinking and being. There
must be a new community that you can rely on that supports your
transformation into a new socialist humyn.
Even in the best case scenarios, the bourgeoisie cannot provide the
support comrades need to rehabilitate. However, more often you do not
end up in the best case scenario in this system as one comrade
describes:
“I spent 6 years in the Drug Court program in York, PA, where a
predatory judiciary, local bar, probation department (teamsters union)
and suck ass ex-junkies prey on the weak and pile them 3 and 4 men to a
room in some old crack house and charge them $500 per month rent plus a
$500 deposit, which they would lose when they relapsed (95%) and went
back to jail.
“Life’s Beacon House means well and has the nicest of these houses
but we can do better. The”group homes” or “recovery houses” have 3-4
month waiting lists and so do the rehabs, which county dollars are 95%
of their $1000/day business. These houses are 501(c)(3) non-profits and
if you start a business to employ the guys that live in these houses, it
can operate non-profit too.”
Next Steps
As we said, the Revolutionary 12 Step Program should address
something that our Re-Lease on Life Program has been lacking for so
long. But to do so, the program must be actualized. Here are some 3-year
goals we have related to actualizing this program:
build a broader network of local contacts across the country so
comrades can get more hands-on training and support from other
communists
establish a revolutionary 12-step program, run by released
comrades, where others can stay and immerse themselves in the
program
establish satellite programs in prisons across the country that
report to the program on the street, learning from each others’
experience and feeding releasees into the street program
Clearly this will require the participation of many of you to
succeed. We need comrades on the outside to volunteer to be support
people or sponsors for our comrades who are released. Even if you can’t
administer the 12 steps, giving them someone to talk to and organize
with on a daily basis will be important.
We need comrades on the inside to begin implementing this program
locally. Ideal candidates will have successfully gone through the 12
step program themselves and MIM(Prisons) political study courses. And
finally, we need similar people on the outside to run our program for
post-release. If you think you can play any of these roles, get in touch
so we can start building.
This is your newsletter, as evidenced from the vast majority of
articles, reports, poetry and artwork coming from prisoners in every
issue. In the last year comrades inside really came together to support
our fund drive and our distribution drive as well, and we are making
steady progress on both. 2021 was a good year for us overall and we hope
to build greater things in 2022, some
of which are outlined in this issue of ULK.
Our MIM(Prisons) annual review meeting in December was focused on
re-prioritizing tasks in order to expand our outside support base,
increase subscribers inside and support the growth of a broader Maoist
movement. To increase subscribers inside we’ve been slowly increasing
our list of ULK distributors who receive extra copies of
ULK to distribute to others in their prison. We’ve reached the
point where almost 10% of the newspapers we’re sending into prisons are
going to distributors, but we want to see that number much higher in
2022. If you’d like to receive extra copies of ULK to
distribute let us know how many you can use and send us reports on your
distribution efforts each issue.
Because of the decrease in frequency of ULK and the decrease
in subscribers, we are sending less than a fifth of the number of
newspapers into prisons we were sending in some years ago. The main way
we think we can improve our numbers is by increasing ULK back
to every other month. However, we will need to recruit much more outside
support to make this happen as we are barely pulling this together every
3 months. Issue ULK 76 was almost delayed, and much work was
rushed together at the last minute because we don’t have enough steady
supporters.
In spring 2021 we announced we would be doing an annual Fourth of
You-Lie fundraiser drive among the readers of ULK. We told you
that 7 stamps would cover the cost of your 4 issues for the year. Below
we’ve graphed the contributions we received from our readers in prison
for the whole year. In Q1 and Q2 we removed the contributions of one
particularly generous comrade who contributed over $200 in Q1 because ey
was skewing our results so much. By excluding em, we see a steady growth
in contributions coming in, and more importantly a steady growth of
individuals sending contributions. While we welcome our comrades to send
in $200 that can, it is by increasing the number of donations that we
know our mass base is growing. Looking at our numbers for the last
quarter of 2021, we see about 8.5% of the people receiving ULK
75 sent a donation during that quarter. While we didn’t do the math
to track this over time, we believe this is probably one of the higher
contribution rates we’ve ever had!
Q1 and Q2 excludes large donations from one persyn
The line on the graph above represents the number of people
contributing funds over the four quarters of 2021. The bars represent
the money coming in as donations or payments. (All numbers include
prisoners only.) ‘Payments’ means people sending money for a specific
book or document. In some cases the difference is not important.
However, if we get 100 people ordering copies of the TX Pack next
quarter, that would shoot up our contributions but none of that money
would be going to ULK or other projects, it would just pay to
print and mail TX Packs. So it’s better to see the donations portion
increasing. If we look at just the donations on the graph, prisoners are
covering 18% of the cost of printing ULK! This level of support
will make it much easier for us to increase the frequency of
ULK, but we still need outside comrades to help do the
work.
We hope you will be a part of ULK’s success in the coming
year by doing any of the following: donating 7 stamps or more,
sharing/distributing ULK, sending in conditions reports,
writing articles, creating anti-imperialist artwork and promoting
MIM(Prisons) work with your contacts outside prison. Of course,
ULK exists to serve the anti-imperialist prison movement, and
anything you do to build that movement is why we are here.
TX Pack and book orders
For those of you who are sending payments (no checks/money orders)
for books or resources, please expect about 2 months between the time
you mail out your request and you receive your item. For TX Pack
requests, you must pay 7 stamps or $3.50. We do not have anyone working
on the TX Pack, so the 2020 edition is all we have.
On 28 December 2021, Hisham Abu Hawash of the Islamic Jihad Movement
in Palestine has gained a victory against I$rael’s counter-revolutionary
“administrative detention” policy. Hawash’s lawyer, Jawad Boulos, has
stated that I$rael pledged for Hawsah’s release on 26 February 2022 and
therefore the hunger strike will end.(1)
Hawsah is a 40-year-old father of 5 and a member of the Islamic Jihad
Movement in Palestine. He is among several Palestinian revolutionaries
waging a hunger strike in protest of I$rael’s unjust policy, which locks
up Palestinians without any due trial. He has faced 8 years of time
imprisoned with 4 of those years under administrative detention.(2)
The Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine (PIJ) rightfully threatened
counter-attacks if Hawsah ever died in custody.(3)
Palestinians across the occupied land have gone in protests
supporting the strikers. One protest in the West Bank city of Ramallah,
on 6 January 2022, included signs which read: “Those starving behind
bars feed the universe with dignity” – a slogan we extend to hunger
strikers not only in Palestine but across the world.(4)
The
Reactionary Policy of Administrative Detention
Administrative detention is a form of arrest or imprisonment done
without trial – usually for issues of “terrorism” or rebellion. Many
imperialist countries use the tactic of administrative detention to
control unruly populations/groups.(5) In the United $tates for example,
around 182,869 migrants from the Third World were held in detention
centers through this method in 2020.(6) Despite the more advanced and
developed contradictions between I$rael and Palestine, compared to
oppressed nations in the United $tates and Euro-Amerika the year after,
I$rael held a mere 1,595 Palestinians in administrative detentions.
Amerika has truly earned the title “Big Satan” in contrast to I$rael’s
“Little Satan” status on this front.(7) The administrative detention
policy of the I$raelis work through the arrest and detention of
Palestinian revolutionaries and activists. The idealists arguing for
I$rael will say that administrative detention has been applied to
I$raelis as well – notably, against ultra-chauvinist zionist terrorists
and unruly settlers. Throughout the years, only 9 I$raelis were held in
administrative detention; Palestinians and Arabs number in the
thousands.(8) Any sober minded person and materialist will be able to
recognize that the exception proves the rule in this case like so many
often times.
DOWN WITH ADMINISTRATIVE DETENTION!
THOSE STARVING BEHIND BARS FEED THE WORLD’S DIGNITY
Notes: 1. Joseph Krauss, “Palestinian prisoner ends hunger
strike in deal with Israel” Associated Press, January 4th
2022
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. “Israel’s Policy of Administrative Detention,” European
Parliament
6. “United States Immigration Detention Profile,” Global
Detention Project
7. “Prisoners society: Israel issued 1,595 administrative
detention orders against Palestinians in 2021,” Press TV
8. “Stop Administrative Detention,” Prisoner Support Human
Rights Association
Congratulations to De’Shawn Drumgo, who just let us know ey won eir
lawsuit against Sergeant William Kuschel. In 2014, Sgt. Kuschel groped
and squeezed Drumgo’s genitals while being held captive in a Delaware
prison.
If anyone has information on how to open a bank account from within
prison, without family support, please let us know. We have a couple
comrades who have won lawsuits recently who do not want to hand this
money over to the prison administration. We are trying to investigate
other options.
While lawsuits like this serve as a line of defense for individuals,
we also know they change nothing. We get letters from people every week
about horrible abuse and brutality they face across Amerikkka’s gulags.
To win a case like this is truly rare, and to even be able to file a
successful lawsuit is not possible for most. Ending police brutality
behind bars requires ending the imperialist injustice system altogether.
The people must be in charge of justice.
