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.
This is the third movie in a new trilogy based off the original 5-film
series. Like Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2010), War for
the Planet of the Apes (2017) makes many references to the original
series. It does a lot to set up for the scenario in the original second
film, Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970). However, the ending
seems to crush that possibility. There is a fourth film being planned
for the new series, and it is not clear what the scenario will be.
This new series lacks some of the scifi complexities of the original
that dealt with space and time travel and mutations and evolution. So
far the
new
series has covered a modest 15 years, in one world, and is a pretty
straight forward story of struggle and war between humyns and apes whose
brains evolved due to a brain-enhancing virus developed to cure
Alzheimer’s disease in humyns.
In Beneath (1970), the humyn civilization is built around a
worship of nuclear weapons and the film is a righteous critique of
nukes. In War (2017), the humyns are led by a messianic colonel
who blames the man-made viruses for their plight. This leads to an
anti-science position that puts these humyns at war with another faction
who want to find a medical cure to the plague striking humyns. In the
case of nuclear weapons we can say that humyns are taking technological
advances into a dangerous direction that threatens all life on Earth.
But this new Planet of the Apes series leaves us with the message that
we should fear medical advancements. Under capitalism, such fear has a
material basis because profits over people can lead to technological
disasters in all fields. But in this post-apocalyptic world, there does
not seem to be a functioning capitalist economy. So the message amounts
to a religious movement calling for a cleansing, and opposing attempts
at solutions in medical science. This feeds into the fear-mongering of
fascist-leaning religious cults, unlike the original series that
critiqued genocidal militarism.
In this movie, Koba haunts Caesar, both in dream-like visions and in the
ongoing war that he started with the humyns. The mantra of “Ape shall
not kill ape” is brought back by Koba in one vision, after Caesar kills
a traitor who gave up Caesar’s location in an attempt to save himself,
leading to the murder of Caesar’s wife and older son. Revenge for this
event serves as Caesar’s motivation through most of this film. When they
encounter the traitor at an enemy camp he attempts to notify the humyns
of their presence, endangering Caesar’s life a second time. While Caesar
is very merciful, he cannot abide to absolutes like “Ape shall not kill
ape” and still serve the masses of apes at the same time. We later learn
that the seemingly ruthless humyn Colonel has also made sacrifices for
the greater good of humyns. The Colonel even offers Caesar lessons in
not letting his emotions and drive for revenge guide him. This is one
positive message of the film, which ends with Caesar returning to the
struggle for all apes that he was so dedicated to in the last two films.
One of the new characters introduced in this third film is a goofy
source of slap-stick humor. While this may be seen as a desperate
attempt to liven up the series, perhaps it is a throwback to the third
film in the original series, Escape from the Planet of the Apes
(1971), which has a whimsical feel to it that is inconsistent with the
two films before and after it. The comic relief character does play an
important role in letting us know that more supersmart apes exist in the
world. While he got audience laughs, the only funny part about this
character in this reviewer’s opinion was how the producers introduced
the name of the young humyn who joins the ape leadership on their
revenge mission. This young humyn is an interesting look at what we
could call national or species suicide. She gives the “Apes United Are
Strong” salute before playing a crucial role in breaking them free. At
one point she asks the orangutan Maurice, “Me? Ape?”. Maurice answers by
saying her name. A sort of non-answer that seems to say no, but you are
one of us. The examples of apes working for the humyns, and this humyn
being part of the apes is a blow against identity politics. An
individual’s politics and the role they play in the world is not defined
by what group they were born into, even though we can analyze about
groups and their roles and positions in society.
On the other side, there are many traitors working for the humyns who
were called “donkeys” and treated as servants, while being forced to
commit much of the brutality against captive apes to prove their
loyalty. This type of mentality is so well-established today that no
force is needed to get Black and Brown pigs to be more brutal than their
white counterparts. One of the traitors who beats and abuses Caesar when
he enters the work camp comes to his aid at the very end. This comes
after we see Caesar act in a firm and principled way in front of the
traitor throughout the film. This is not just a nice, fictional story.
In his autobiography, set mostly in the first wave of the U.$. prison
movement,
Black
Panther Eddie Conway demonstrates that being politically consistent
and being a leader does impact people in ways you may not realize for
some time. And that people will come through for the movement when you
don’t expect it if you set a good example as a leader.
There is something unbelievable in the way the modern Planet of the Apes
films combines the lumbering ape-suited actors, with the scenes of
tracking humyns and searching in close combat situations. The idealized
images of military and SWAT operations we’re so used to in movies today
just don’t accommodate the clumsy movements of the apes. The more
primitive scenes of war in the original series are actually more
congruent and believable.
Overall, there was some good character development in War (2017)
that demonstrated some useful lessons for political struggle. Like the
other films in this new series there is more of a focus on fast-paced
battle scenes than in the original series. And like the others in this
new series, it loses some of the more radically progressive aspects of
the earlier version. Despite that, the
focus
on prison struggles, like in Rise (2010), will probably
preclude this movie from being screened in U.$. prisons. We are still
holding out to see whether the makers of the new series will delve into
the subject of the dictatorship of the proletariat, as did the last two
films of the original series.
Recently, comrades held in Administrative Segregation Units (ASU) at
Folsom State Prison stepped up the battle against long-term isolation.
On 25 May they began a hunger strike to protest the extreme social
isolation faced there. ASU is just one more form of control unit, or
long-term isolation in California prisons. At Folsom prisoners protested
the lack of TVs, pull up bars, education, and social and rehabilitative
programs. Outside supporters held a rally in Sacramento.
CDCR responded to the strike by transferring a number of perceived
leaders of this campaign a few days in. On 19 June 2017 the strike was
suspended.(1) But comrades remain steadfast and call on anyone in an ASU
in California to file 602 grievances if they are facing similar
conditions of extreme isolation to continue to push this campaign
forward.
The various categorizations of long-term isolation units in California
are a legal loophole that limited the scope of recent
reforms
related to Security Housing Units at Pelican Bay, which were already
weak to begin with.(2) Meanwhile, at Pelican Bay on 24 May 2017 a fight
between prisoners and guards was reported that ended with guards
shooting five prisoners.(3) We do not have updated information on their
conditions.
translated by Soso of MIM(Prisons) June 2017 permalink en español
Amerikan prison guard-turned-soldier handling the dead body of a
persyn deemed a political enemy
On June 13, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) released an
Amerikan student, Otto Warmbier, who was imprisoned there for 15 months.
The student came home in a coma and died a few days later. According to
Korean officials, Warmbier had been in a coma since shortly after his
arrest due to complications from botulism, a condition that can be
contracted from contaminated food, soil or water. It’s likely that the
imprisonment of Warmbier was just a political move by the DPRK
government. He was convicted of stealing a propaganda poster.
What is unusual about Warmbier is that he was a young, well-off white
guy, enjoying the privilege of his Amerikan citizenship and wealth by
going on a fun adventure to visit north Korea. Amerika mostly targets
lumpen from oppressed nations and non-citizens for imprisonment, as well
as people who take up the fight against imperialism. So in this country
Warmbier would be very unlikely to end up in prison.
In a parallel to this case in Korea,
Amerikan
prisons hold many non-citizens(9), especially from Mexico and
Central America, locked up for small or bogus charges. If not for
conditions caused by imperialism, these people want to go home to their
country and families. Some don’t speak English and so can’t even fight
for their rights. Some were railroaded into pleading guilty without
really understanding the trial. And some of these prisoners will end up
seriously ill or even
die
due to conditions in Amerikan prisons.(10)
We don’t hold out hope that the white nationalists will offer a
criticism of the “brutality of the Amerikan regime” for all these crimes
against prisoners held behind bars in this country. It should be an
embarrassment to Amerikans that the United $tates locks up people at a
rate higher than any other country in the world. But this system of
social control is swept under the rug, while appologists for imperialism
hypocritically criticize the DPRK (and other countries) for their
treatment of one Amerikan prisoner.
MIM(Prisons) struggles for an end to a system where prisons are places
where people suffer and die premature deaths.
In late May, prisoners in several Wisconsin prisons renewed the hunger
strike against torture in that state’s prisons. In addition to
arbitrarily long terms in solitary confinement, the prisons are not
following their own rules about things like required time out of
cell.(1) We are awaiting more news of the action from our comrades in
Wisconsin.
In 2016 Wisconsin prisoners staged a hunger strike protesting long-term
solitary confinement practices in that state. This strike started June
10 and went for several months and involved force feeding of some
participants. You can read the history
here
and
here.
The administration punished the protesters but did nothing to modify
their solitary confinement policies which included arbitrarily and
poorly defined offenses leading to long sentences in isolation.
The 2016 petition from striking prisoners at Waupun is printed
below:
Dying to Live
Human rights fight at Waupun Correctional Institution starting June 10,
2016. Prisoners in Waupun’s solitary confinement will start No Food
& Water humanitarian demand from Wisconsin Department of Corrections
officials.
The why: In the state of Wisconsin hundreds of prisoners are in the long
term solitary confinement units a.k.a. Administrative Confinement (AC).
Some been in this status from 18 to 20 years.
The Problem: The United Nations, several states, and even President
Obama have come out against this kind of confinement citing the
torturous effect it has on prisoners.
The Objective: Stop the torturous use long-term solitary confinement
(AC) by:
Placing a legislative cap on the use of long term solitary confinement
(AC)
DOC and Wisconsin legislators adoption/compliance of the UN Mandela
rules on the use of solitary confinement(5)
Oversight board/committee independent of DOC to stop abuse and
overclassification of prisoners to “short” and “long” term solitary
confinement.
Immediate transition and release to a less restrictive housing of
prisoners who been on the long term solitary confinement units for more
than a year in the Wisconsin DOC
Proper mental health facilities and treatment of “short” and “long” term
solitary confinement prisoners
An immediate FBI investigation to the secret Asklepieion* program the
DOC is currently operating at Columbia Correctional Institution (CCI) to
break any prisoner who the DOC considers a threat to their regimen
How you can help
Call Governor Scott Walker’s office and tell him to reform the long-term
solitary confinement units in the Wisconsin DOC and to stop the secret
Asklepieion program at once. The number to call is 608-266-1212.
Call the DOC central office and demand that all 6 humanitarian demands
for this hunger strike be met and demand an explanation as to why they
are operating a torture program. The number to call is 608-240-5000.
Call the media and demand that they do an independent investigation on
the secret Asklepieion program operating at Columbia Correctional
Institution, and cover this hunger strike.
Call the FBI building in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and demand that they
investigate the secret Asklepieion torture program being run at CCI. The
phone number to call is 414-276-4684.
Call Columbia Correctional Institution and tell them you are aware of
their secret torture program. Harass them! 608-742-9100.
Join in on the hunger strike and post it on the net. Convince others to
join as well.
25 May 2017 - Actions in cities around the world were taken today to
mark 40 days since 1500 Palestinian political prisoners have been living
on salt and water alone to protest the conditions of their confinement.
The message at these rallies made clear connections between the struggle
against long-term solitary confinement, detention without trial, lack of
health care and restrictions on contact with families and the broader
anti-colonial struggle. At a local demonstration, this connection was
also made to struggles here on occupied Turtle Island.
Signs reading “Palestine Will Be Free” and “Withhold Aid to Israel”
lined the sidewalk in front of the Israeli consulate as Aarab Barghouti,
the son of political prisoner
Marwan
Barghouti, spoke to the crowd in San Francisco. Aarab spoke of not
being able to enter Jerusalem, the city where ey was born. Aarab told of
eir sister visiting their father to plead that ey not risk eir health in
a hunger strike. But Marwan Barghouti responded that, “I’m doing this
because I haven’t been able to touch any of you for 15 years. I’m doing
this because we have more than 5000 Palestinian prisoners who haven’t
been charged or had their day in court.”
The participants this correspondent spoke with were all quick to speak
of colonialism and the seizure of land when asked why so many
Palestinians languished in Israeli jails. They spoke of the one-sided
violence and the resistance that Palestinians made to it that led to
their imprisonment. Everyone knew that the United $tates is the biggest
prison state in the world today. But when asked why, only half (of a
small sample size) made the same connections to land grab and national
oppression in this country. Others spoke of the “Prison Industrial
Complex”, free labor, profits, outdated laws and a system that works
against the poor. This correspondent pointed out that MIM(Prisons) has
research on their website debunking some of the common ideas held about
the “PIC,” and for-profit prisons in the United $tates.
The relative silence around the colonial question here on occupied
Turtle Island is somewhat understandable. We do not have an apartheid
state like Israel has in the occupied territories of Palestine. The
internal semi-colonies here have democratic rights for the most part,
and integration has progressed in many ways. Meanwhile, the struggle for
land is only popular among indigenous people on the reservations that
are isolated enclaves on this vast land.
Nonetheless, MIM(Prisons) was not the only group trying to make the
connection. One speaker opened with, “Here on Ohlone Nation, we stand on
stolen land and we stand in solidarity with another indigenous nation.”
The representative of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center mentioned
ICE detainees currently on hunger strike and prisoners in California who
recently went on hunger strike for similar conditions. A speaker from
the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) talked about the
leading example the Palestinian prisoners were making in solidarity with
all those fighting colonialism. Ey went on to say, “We hope the movement
on this territory can take direction and inspiration from those
imprisoned here for political and social crimes.”
One protestor told this correspondent that they’d been fighting in
solidarity with the liberation of Palestinians since 1967. This persyn
was one who saw prisons in the United $tates being used for the same
purposes as they are used in I$rael. Ey told a story of meeting some
young Israelis:
“I was in Brazil four years ago, on a bus, and there was a group of
young Israelis who recently completed their military service. I had on
this bracelet, which says ‘Free Gaza.’ So we started talking, and they
were freaked out, meeting a U.S. citizen [saying these things]. They
were arguing, well, we didn’t do anything to the Palestinians that the
Amerikans didn’t do to Native Americans and Blacks. As if that was a
justification.”
Young Israelis see the connection and so should we. Another persyn we
spoke to pointed out how Israelis train the NYPD. So it goes both ways.
But the United $tates is the imperialist power and I$rael would not
exist without its decades of patronage. The liberation of Palestine
remains at the forefront of the struggle for national liberation of all
oppressed nations today because of the blatant lack of democratic rights
and self-determination. Just as the recent hunger strike finds its
strength and base in a strong national liberation movement, the prison
movement in the United $tates last peaked when Black, Chican@, Puerto
Rican and Indigenous liberation movements reached a peak some 50 years
ago. Without making these connections again, today’s growing prison
movement will fizzle out in reformism and false promises.
Many attending the protest were interested to check out Under Lock
& Key, and were inspired to hear about the
USW
petition campaign to oppose the Israeli bombing campaign in August
2014. In turn, our movement should find inspiration in the heroic
strike going on in Israeli prisons today, and the continued struggle of
the Palestinian people for freedom from settler occupation.
UPDATE: As this article was being reviewed by our editor news
broke that the strike had ended and a settlement reached after more than
800 prisoners didn’t eat for 40 days. The terms of the agreement with
the Israeli state are many, and full details have not been released.
They include many improvements to family contact and visitations, access
to educational materials, medical conditions for the sick, access to
better foods and cooking, better sports equipment and addressing high
temperatures and overcrowding. In addition, a prisoners’ committee has
been established, providing a mechanism for addressing future issues.
Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network released the following
statement:
“On this occasion of the prisoners’ victory, we know that there is a
long struggle to come, for liberation for the prisoners and liberation
for Palestine. We urge all of the Palestinian communities, supporters of
Palestine and social justice organizers who took to the streets, drank
salt water, engaged in hunger strikes, expressed their solidarity and
organized across borders and walls to celebrate the victory of the
prisoners with events and actions on 4-6 June, in Celebrations of
Dignity and Victory.
“In these celebrations, we will recognize the power of the Palestinian
people to defeat the occupier and the colonizer, honor the prisoners and
their steadfastness, and emphasize the ongoing struggle. These
celebrations are an occasion to escalate our demands for Palestinian
freedom – for the liberation of Palestinian prisoners, the Palestinian
people, and the entire land of Palestine.”(1)
The decentralization of the prison population in California has helped
make the voices of the oppressed harder to get out, as county jails step
up repression in face of growing prisoner populations. At the Martinez
Detention Facility in the Bay Area gang enhancements are being trumped
up as a form of national oppression against Latin@s:
“We here, at MDF, Contra Costa County Jail, that are of Latin descent
and not southsiders, are being held in Ad-Seg status now since 2010. And
now even more unjust treatment is being added to us, gang enhancements
just for being housed on this module, even if we don’t ask to be housed
on this module at time of arrest/booking. Classification, Administration
and the District Attorney’s office is using this module as an apparatus
to get harsher sentences from the courts.” - April 2017
Meanwhile, resistance has grown down south at Robert Presley Detention
Center in Riverside. A hunger strike began on 13 April 2017. As we go to
press updates are a couple weeks old, but we know that about 30 people
participated in the strike and that some passed out and were sent to
outside medical facilities. The prisoners list 13 demands, including the
end of long-term solitary confinement, restrictions on phones/visits and
dayroom access.
Within the CDCR we’re still seeing the unfolding of contradictions being
created by the release of many from the SHU, who were once influential
but are now older and less known, into a population that is younger and
often in disarray. The Agreement to End Hostilities came out of the SHU
almost five years ago, and it remains in a state of uncertainty. Many
are still working hard on it, but it has not been universally upheld in
these last five years. As a comrade reported in March:
“There were two recent riots here. One on the 3A yard here at Corcoran,
the other at SATF Corcoran, on 3C yard. No one severely hurt, but it’s
hard to organize with situations like that.”
There were contradictions between many of the forces behind the original
agreement and sectors of the prison population that still need to be
addressed. USW comrades in California are still working on these
contradictions to push for a more united peace. This should be a theme
as we prepare educational campaigns for Black August and the
Commemoration of the Plan de San Diego, which should both feed into this
September 9th Day of Peace and Solidarity. Send in your reports on these
campaigns and the conditions for peace where you are.
Finally, we’re getting a lot of requests for info about Prop 57 from
readers in California. One comrade recommends contacting: Initiate
Justice PO Box 4962 Oakland, CA 94605 The latest from CDCR
is that if you are eligible you will be hearing from your counselor this
summer.
In Mao’s essay “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the
People,” (27 February 1957) ey wrote of melding practice with criticism
and discussion in order for our movement and the masses to grow to
greater understanding, unity, and strength. The essay explains, when
struggling over disagreements amongst political allies (friends), to
start from a place of unity, struggle through discussion, and come away
with greater unity. For short, we call this unity-criticism-unity. In
this issue of Under Lock & Key we explore how this method
applies to the prison environment. How can unity-criticism-unity help
counter the typically hyper-violent method of handling disagreement in
prisons?
“The only way to settle questions of an ideological nature or
controversial issues among the people is by the democratic method, the
method of discussion, criticism, persuasion and education, and not by
the method of coercion or repression.” - Mao Tse-Tung, ibid.
There are often situations behind bars that require first identifying
who are our friends and then we can apply unity-criticism-unity among
those people.
A comrade in California reported in ULK 55 about eir
long
struggle to build unity across different organizations in the yard
at California Correctional Institution (CCI), leading up to a banquet
with various lumpen orgs participating.(1) This was done through
discussion and peaceful struggle, maintained even through some violent
episodes. This is a good example of identifying friends even among those
who may initially be unfriendly, and patiently working to build unity.
An organizer in South Carolina reported in ULK 53 on eir
work
fighting lumpen-on-lumpen violence by holding classes to educate the
youth on what it means to have unity.(2) Educational classes are a good
form of criticism of political line that doesn’t involve attacking
individuals’ views directly, sometimes making it easier for people to
accept the criticism and come to see why they are wrong. This holds true
for both leaders and class participants. No one person has all correct
knowledge in educational classes. Leaders should also be open to
learning new things from participants.
It’s not always easy to see someone as a political friend when you’ve
had past beef with them. In “Building Unity Through ULK” (in this issue) there is a report from
Arkansas about how two prisoners overcame past differences through
political unity. And the article
“From
Cop to Anti-Imperialist” shows us the sometimes fluid nature of
identifying our friends. Someone who was an enemy of the people while
working for the police force has been won over to the side of revolution
through circumstances in eir life that put them in the camp of the
oppressed.
Finally, the public debate we are having with Zero, continued in this
issue of ULK, is an example of building unity while engaging in
political struggle. One which we hope to build on as we further our
alliance with Zero and others.
Contradictions with enemies vs. contradictions among the people
“Since they are different in nature, the contradictions between
ourselves and the enemy and the contradictions among the people must be
resolved by different methods. To put it briefly, the former entail
drawing a clear distinction between ourselves and the enemy, and the
latter entail drawing a clear distinction between right and wrong.” -
Mao Tse-Tung, ibid.
First we must distinguish between contradictions with the enemy and
contradictions among the people. In contradictions with the enemy, such
as with the prison COs, or with the Amerikan imperialist government, we
are not seeking unity and we should be clear and straightforward in our
statements about them. Criticism of enemies is important because it
keeps the revolutionary movement on point. We do this when we identify
all the candidates in the imperialist elections as part of the
imperialist system. We also do this when we call out white supremacists
behind bars collaborating with the COs to attack New Afrikans.
In contradictions among the people, on the other hand, Mao wrote: “the
essential thing is to start from the desire for unity. For without this
desire for unity, the struggle, once begun, is certain to throw things
into confusion and get out of hand.” This is the opposite of how we deal
with contradictions with our enemies. When we run into problems with
people who should be our allies, we need to start from this desire for
unity.
Contradictions with our comrades, including disagreements within our
organizations, should be approached from a position of
unity-criticism-unity. In practice this means starting from the
understanding of where we have unity, and that our criticism of one
another’s line and practice is always with the goal of building even
greater unity.
We should not just throw out criticisms for the sake of making someone
look bad or tearing them down. Criticism must always be with the goal of
building greater unity. Sometimes we will not come to agreement over the
criticism, but we can at least come to better understanding of our
disagreements. Perhaps we can agree on a way to test which position is
correct, or further research we need to do, or maybe we will agree that
the criticism is not significant enough to lead to a split as our areas
of agreement are far more significant.
Who are “the people”?
The people are those who we should be approaching as friends, not
enemies. Mao wrote: “The concept of ‘the people’ varies in content in
different countries and in different periods of history in a given
country.” In revolutionary China, Mao was talking about contradictions
among those who supported and were served by the revolution in China.
The identification of the people in revolutionary China was relatively
straightforward as it encompassed the vast majority of the population.
Identifying who are “the people” in imperialist countries, where we’re
surrounded by enemies of the international proletariat, is a more
difficult question. Broadly, the people include those whose class,
nation or gender interests are counter to imperialism, as well as all
people who take up anti-imperialist organizing. More specifically,
within the United $tates, the people whose class, nation and/or gender
interests makes them potential allies includes:
Oppressed nation lumpen
The very small proletarian class (mostly migrant workers)
Petty-bourgeoisie from the oppressed nations
Youth of all nations, particularly students
Others who are marginalized by imperialism and the patriarchy
(i.e. queer and trans folk)
Many of these people could be happily integrated into imperialism, but
we should still approach them with a goal of building unity and not as
enemies. For the most part however, when we talk about contradictions
among the people, we’re talking about contradictions with those who are
already on the side of the oppressed – either due to circumstances or
because they have consciously taken up the cause of the oppressed – not
those who are actively supporting imperialism.
Distinguishing enemy lines from enemies
When looking at contradictions among the people it is important to
distinguish enemy lines from enemies. We’re all going to take up
incorrect ideas and practices some of the time. That doesn’t make us
into enemies, even if the line we take up turns out to be
pro-imperialist. Learning from our mistakes is part of being a
revolutionary. Our job is to help our comrades identify their mistakes,
and to be open to hearing from others when they point out our mistakes.
In the essay under discussion, Mao asked “how should our people judge
whether a person’s words and deeds are right or wrong?” In response ey
laid out six criteria that applied to a country that was already
socialist. We have modified these slightly below to apply to our current
conditions.
Words and deeds should help to unite, and not divide, oppressed
people of all nationalities
They should be beneficial, and not harmful, to anti-imperialist
struggle
They should help to consolidate, and not undermine or weaken, the
people’s revolutionary organizations
They should help consolidate, and not undermine or weaken,
democratic centralism
They should help to strengthen, and not shake off or weaken,
communist leadership
They should be beneficial, and not harmful, to international
socialist unity and the unity of the peace-loving people of the
world.
The first three points apply to all anti-imperialists, and we would
propose them as good criteria to use for all people who are building
united fronts. The last three are specific to communists who are
actively fighting for socialist revolution. Communists should apply all
six points to our practice.
These six points and the strategy of unity-criticism-unity should be at
the forefront as we refocus energies on building alliances and a united
Maoist movement here on occupied Turtle Island. The USW Council is also
in the process of putting unity-criticism-unity into practice to reach
out across the prison movement to consolidate forces friendly to
anti-imperialism and national liberation. We will continue to report
back on these efforts in future issues of Under Lock & Key.
by Soso of MIM(Prisons) May 2017 permalink
MIM(Prisons) recently received notification from the publisher Seven
Stories Press that we are in violation of copyright laws by making a PDF
of The Huey P. Newton Reader available for free on our website.
Copyright laws are a capitalist invention to enable the holders to make
more profits. In the case of books, it’s publishers (and sometimes the
authors) that are making money on these copyrights.
For most of what gets printed these days, trashy novels, bourgeois
interpretations of history and the like, we don’t care that distribution
is limited by copyright. But when it comes to revolutionary literature,
especially that which is relevant to the people least able to afford it,
we see clearly how copyright laws stifle education. Books about Huey
Newton, founder and leader of the Black Panther Party, need to be more
widely available.
MIM(Prisons) explicitly publishes everything under a
creative
commons license which invites everyone to build on, copy and share
all that we write. We’re not making money on our work, we’re putting all
of our money into spreading revolutionary education. And we want to
encourage others to do the same.
Education should be free for everyone. This includes educational
material like books. Intellectual property rights laws stifle creativity
and education and also directly harm the welfare of the people. Patents
keep drugs restrictively expensive by prohibiting anyone but the
inventor from manufacturing the drugs. This system of legal restrictions
and secrecy inhibits creativity and the advancement of society by
preventing people from building on inventions made by other people.
Meanwhile, people suffer.
It’s only in a capitalist society, where profit is king, that we need
these sorts of intellectual property restrictions. In a socialist
society, where the goal is the welfare of the people, we will prioritize
the most efficient and effective formula and distribution of life-saving
drugs, educational material, and everything else that is good for
humynity.
We are sympathetic that small publishers of political books like Seven
Stories Press are in a difficult space to earn money. With new book
releases it will often take a lot of book sales just to make back the
cost of the printing. However, this doesn’t make us sympathetic to
copyright claims on a book that was first printed in 2002. Perhaps
access to an electronic PDF is curtailing some sales of the physical
book, but if free access is getting more people to read this important
book, we think that’s a victory.
We hope that Seven Stories Press will re-evaluate their goals. On their
website Seven Stories claims: “Our credo is that publishers have a
special responsibility to defend free speech and human rights, and to
celebrate the gifts of the human imagination wherever we can.” They have
published some important and controversial books including the Dark
Alliance series about the CIA and crack cocaine, All Things
Censored by Mumia Abu Jamal, and the annual Project Censored’s
Censored report. Yet by shutting down the distribution of an
important book about the ideology of the Black Panther Party in order to
preserve their profits, Seven Stories is working counter to their credo.
Most Amerikan self-described “communists” will not even listen to this
album as soon as they see the title. Those same white nationalist
socialists refuse to read MIM’s writings because of all the KKKs and
dollar $igns. They claim it’s too distracting. We say transforming the
oppressors language is a necessary part of building a revolutionary
culture to replace the old one.
A week ago, the top results brought by a search for “Amerikkka” on
youtube.com(1) brought up songs from Ice Cube’s Amerikkka’s Most
Wanted album, some other hip hop singles, and videos from a former
associate of MIM with explicit anti-Amerikkkan messages. This week, Joey
Bada$$’s new album is rising to the top for that query. All
Amerikkkan Bada$$ isn’t as edgy as Ice Cube (it does lack Cube’s
misogyny) and certainly not as edgy as Shubel Morgan (who did music
videos for MIM and LLCO), but it’s got a pretty strong message of New
Afrikan unity and struggle.
In one interview Joey Bada$$ said:
“It’s like hella vegetables. It’s hella good for you, and it’s almost my
hesitance with it: the fact that it’s so good for you, because these
kids these days want candy.”(2)
It’s an interesting quote, because Shubel Morgan often talked about the
need for “sugar-coated bullets” in their artwork to help the message go
down.
The album title, All Amerikkkan Bada$$ is no doubt a reference to
Badass’s late partner in rhymes, Capital STEEZ’s mixtape Amerikkkan
Korruption. Lyrics on this new album hit references to that mixtape as
well, such as the track “Dead Prez” that was produced by Joey Bada$$.
Both Capital STEEZ and Joey Bada$$ are respected as lyricists, with fast
New York styles of rapping.
The album cover (and associated art) features an Amerikkkan flag made
out of red, white and blue bandannas. The song “Legendary” makes a
reference to Crip culture with the line “the legends they never die, the
niggers they only multiply.” More explicit are the lines in “Rockabye
Baby”:
“Peace to my Slimes, and peace to my Crips Neighborhood police and
they always on the shift Protect my Bloods, look out for my cuz
When it’s all said and done, we be the realest there was Who else if
just not us? If you ’bout this revolution, please stand up”
ScHoolboy Q of the Hoover Crips in Los Angeles comes into eir verse
with, “I’m part of the reason they still Crippin’ out in Brooklyn” and
goes on to echo the struggles of New Afrikans against police brutality
and unemployment.
While the first single, “Devastated” has been out for months, the
second, “Land of the Free”, came out just before the album dropped this
week. The first song is about success, and the video has a party vibe to
it. “Land of the Free” is about the struggle, and the video features
some strong imagery, including all-white pigs executing Black and Brown
people in all black. Joey Bada$$ intervenes to free some of them, but is
later shot and hung by cops in Ku Klux Klan robes. And while the video
shows Joey Bada$$’s U.$. flag made of bandanas throughout, what is not
so prominent is the upside down U.$. flag on the back of eir jacket.
“Land of the Free” features lyrics like, “sorry Amerikkka, but i will
not be your soldier, Obama just was not enough, i want more closure.”
The apt-titled opening track, “Good Morning Amerikkka” references Black
Panther Geronimo Pratt’s framing for murder by the state.
While the album features the usual “fuck the police” and “fuck the
government” refrains, the last track, “Amerikkkan idol”, also says,
“Fuck white supremacy,” a slogan that seems to be coming into vogue
following the election of Donald Trump.(3) This track closes with some
pretty sober and explicit lyrics:
“What the government is doing amongst our people is downright evil,
disturbing. But not surprising, that’s for certain… I believe they are
simply trying to slander, start a civil war within the U$A amongst Black
and white. They want us to rebel so that it makes it easy for them to
kill us and put us in jails… Alton Sterlings are happening every day in
this country, around the world…And it’s time for us to rebel, better yet
raise hell. I just want everyone to be cautious about how they go about
it… not only battling them on a physical plain, but to outsmart them… As
Black men, i think our gangs need to do a better job at protecting us,
the people, our communities and not assisting in destroying them
brutally. It’s time they even the score… We need solutions. You better
start plotting now.”
Issue 55 of Under Lock & Key is taking a deeper look at
building the United Front for Peace in Prisons at the margins. We’ve
already spent a lot of space debating the role people on Special Needs
Yards (SNY), especially in California. While that is an issue we will
need to continue to address, here we focus first on white nationalist
lumpen organizations, that are more likely to be on the mainline, and
how anti-imperialists might relate to them. We also have a few pieces
looking at the question of sex offenders who are generally seen as
pariahs. That topic is a subset of the SNY discussion. In this article
we will focus on the white nationalist question, and the question of
oppressed nations allying with whites in general. In many cases handling
this question properly will have a big impact on our success, because
there are a lot of white people in prisons and many of them team up with
white nationalist orgs.
One commonality across these examples is the need to consider how people
end up where they are. We print an example of
someone
taking sex offender charges out of expediency, and ey points out
that many such charges are flimsy. In some cases
sex
charges are politically motivated bad-jacketing. We will also see
many examples of people taking up white nationalism, to protect oneself
and also just out of a youthful ignorance, something many in prison can
identify with.
So there are a few principles of dialectical materialism that we should
apply in our analysis of groups which are often considered pariahs of
the revolutionary movement: 1) dialectics differs from metaphysics in
that metaphysics believes a thing has an essence; 2) dialectics in
contrast sees everything as always being in a constant state of change;
3) and we can best understand that change by looking at the
contradictions within that thing, while also considering the external
contradictions that may influence it (them). To put it another way, no
one is born a white supremacist or rapist, and just because someone’s
actions were that way in the past doesn’t mean they have to be in the
future.
What is White Nationalism?
Elsewhere in this issue we talk about
white
nationalism as an ideology that is a product of imperialism. Another
point we must stress when talking about white nationalism is it is the
majority ideology among the oppressor nation under imperialism. Most of
this issue will be dealing with extreme examples found in imprisoned
lumpen organizations. But there is a whole range of white nationalist
ideologies, and the lumpen organizations are not necessarily the most
extreme. Because the imprisoned lumpen are in the trenches, they must be
more scientific than the more privileged wings of the white nationalist
movement, and their motivations are often quite different.
In our current political climate in the United $tates, “white
nationalism” is a hot topic. It is being used to criticize President
Trump and those around em. But most of this criticism is coming from the
perspective that former President Obama was not a white nationalist. The
split between the left wing and right wing of white nationalism is about
how to best manage the oppressed, even when that is not how they think
about it. If we recognize that the current imperialist order is one that
puts whites in a position of supremacy, then we must conclude that any
position that works to preserve that system is white nationalist. Or we
may say Amerikan nationalist to avoid confusion when its proponents do
not appear white. But even though some internal semi-colony people are
sitting at the table, globally, white supremacy in the form of Amerikan
hegemony is alive and well.
Initially, the question of how and when to strategically ally with white
nationalists is a broad one, as it refers to how we might ally with the
majority of people in North America. But within that majority there are
different classes and political tendencies. And white nationalist
prisoners may be at the top of the list of likely allies from that
group.
Another argument for the importance of working with the white lumpen is
the Marxist analysis of the lumpen as a particularly dangerous, wavering
class. If this country is heading in a more fascist direction, white
nationalist lumpen youth and former military will be the first bases of
recruitment for the fascists. This concern applies to the lumpen in
general, but the national split makes it a harder sell for the internal
semi-colonies to take up fascism. As always, our strategy is to win over
all who can be won over, not to set false limitations based on identity
politics or preconceived assumptions.
More so than former military, the white lumpen have connections to the
struggles of the oppressed. And it is the massive prison system in this
country that we can largely thank for that. The modern prison system is
an inherent part of the modern ghetto, which has been lumpenized. While
segregation is stronger today in many cases in the ghettos, it is weaker
outside of the ghetto. This translates into a stronger class divide
within the oppressed nations. The extent of this divide in the white
nation is something that requires more research. But from the
information we have, white prisoners are much, much more likely to
integrate into petty-bourgeois society rather than be caught in a
ghetto-like situation upon release. But as long as they remain in
prison, whites do experience that ghetto life and the most brutal
repression that we have in this country.
Young Patriots, White Lumpen Revolutionaries
One of the best examples we have of white lumpen youth forming an
anti-imperialist organization was the Young Patriots Organization, which
started in Chicago in the late 1960s. Soon the offshoot Young Patriots
Party spread the movement to other parts of the United $tates. Their
example demonstrated both the potential and limitations of such an
organization. As long as there are pockets of whites that face similar
conditions to the oppressed nations, as they do in prison, a
revolutionary organization that can speak to and organize white lumpen
will strengthen the cause of anti-imperialism. However, the Black
Panthers, in particular Bob Lee and the leadership of Fred Hampton,
played a very hands-on role in the development of the Young Patriots. In
general history does not lead us to expect revolutionary white
organizations with correct political lines to take hold in North America
without good examples from the internal semi-colonies.
Even after becoming established, the Young Patriots were very limited by
the reactionary nature of their own nation. The Patriot base was
displaced southern whites who ended up in urban ghettos; a much smaller
group, but parallel to the New Afrikans who made the Great Migration.
When the Patriots returned to the south they were not received well. Two
of the members were killed shortly after returning to the south, because
of their organizing.(1) In other words, we are looking at exceptions to
the rule where there are pockets of whites who are both separate from
the oppressed nations but still living very similar lives and in
proximity to them. When Peggy Terry of the Young Patriot-associated
organization Jobs or Income Now (JOIN) ran for vice president, with
Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver as the presidential candidate in 1968,
they received a mere 28,000 votes in California. In contrast, the openly
racist George Wallace campaign got 500,000 (almost exclusively white)
votes.(2) And finally, for most of their existence the Patriots had more
spies watching their organization than they had members.(3) This
security issue is something others have pointed out with white
nationalist lumpen organizations in prison that can be
swimming
with federal agents.
Often the Panther rhetoric spoke of the Young Patriots as representing
“white power” in a way that was parallel to the Panthers’ “Black Power”
and Young Lords’ “Brown Power”. While we generally disagree with that
line, the Panthers later called out all other white groups as “fascists”
with the exception of the Patriots. The Patriot culture flew in the face
of the rest of the white anti-war and student movements, including their
confederate flag logo. We might draw a parallel to the Lucasville prison
uprising in Ohio in 1993, where it is reported that swastikas, lightning
bolts and words like “Supreme White Power” appeared alongside graffiti
throughout the prison saying “Black and White Together” and “Convict
unity.”(4) These white identities, historically associated with power
over New Afrikans were transformed in these unique circumstances.
Racism as a Tool of the Oppressor
MIM(Prisons) is cautious about presenting racism as merely a tool of the
imperialists to divide “the people” as that is the line of the
revisionists who claim that the majority of people in the imperialist
countries are proletarians that must be united in their common class
interest. As the practice of the Young Patriots demonstrated, this is
not the case. However, in prisons is where we see the greatest potential
for a class unity with whites that is progressive in the United $tates.
And in prison, it is certainly true that racism is a tool that is
actively used by the administration, even if often times white
nationalists are too willing to play the role of keeping other prisoners
in line for the state.
Of course, not all white prisoners are part of overtly racist lumpen
organizations. Former-Black-Panther-turned-anarchist Lorenzo Komboa
Ervin documented the history of the federal penitentiary at Terre Haute,
Indiana, which was transformed from a completely Ku Klux Klan-dominated
facility to one where New Afrikans built power in alliance with white
prisoners. Ey argues that the anti-racist whites, often imprisoned for
anti-war activities, were able to re-educate other white prisoners where
non-white prisoners would not be able to.(5) This is an example of the
importance of white-specific organizing, though not on the basis of an
outward white nationalism.
We must reach people where they are at in a segregated society. We saw
this with the Panthers in Chicago who were viewed with great skepticism
by the white residents of Uptown, but were welcomed by the Young Patriot
leadership. We saw this in Lucasville, where the New Afrikan leaders
picked Aryan Brotherhood member George Skatze to stand with them as a
representative of white prisoners because of eir history of settling
disputes between whites and New Afrikans.
“At some point on this first day George saw a black inmate (Cecil Allen)
talking through a bull horn to a small crowd of other prisoners. George
went up to listen. To his surprise the man on the bull horn pointed to
George and said, ‘There’s nobody going to be talking to you guys but me
or this man right here,’ meaning George Skatze.”
Accepting
their request for help, Skatze later “approached the whites, who were
sitting in the bleachers. Putting his arm around a black inmate George
said, ‘If the guards come in here they’re going to shoot us all, no
matter what color we are.’ We asked George who that black man was. He
said, I don’t know; I had never met him before.”(6)
Veteran of the first wave of the California prison movement, Kumasi
describes one scene in the late 1960s where hundreds of prisoners
circled around the yard chanting, “Power to the people! Death to the
pigs!” Approaching the group of white gangsters on the sidelines ey
framed the situation as “are you going to be with us or with the pigs?”
And since the reality reflected eir statement, they sure didn’t want to
be seen as siding with the pigs. As the whites started to join the ranks
of the protestors, Kumasi grabbed one of their hands and raised it in
the air as they faced the warden. In a segregated society this sort of
representation of different nationalities can have powerful effects.
Kumasi has a number of stories about organizing across nationality.
Similar to today, the California system was very segregated back then.
Various white power and nazi gangs existed, as they do today. The united
fronts Kumasi forged with these groups were not long-term and could be
quite impulsive. It was really the strength of eir own organization that
pushed others to come along. A justification of the line that building
up one’s own national unity helps build up the united front. Because the
movement for change had reached such popularity and support among New
Afrikans, it was easier to get the Chican@s to join up (who had not yet
been divided between north and south).
A USW comrade has this to say about organizing in California today:
“There has been times when we’ve done alliances with white nationalist
groups in prison. Any time we had a common goal, say shutting down SHUs,
or removing informants off yard, assistance with legal work and what
not.
“The only way for this to function is by creating a different set of
politiks/policies than those used amongst the other LOs. As long as it
does not interfere with the LOs’ goals to end oppression. It is my
opinion that even when dealing with oppressor nation LOs we must keep a
move ready to be made once achieving certain goals due to the history
the oppressor nation LOs have and because of their values as humans. We
wouldn’t like to see the LOs of the oppressed be set back a step or two
after gaining ground. I think that even unity of some form can be
achieved with pariahs – taking into account what they’ve done and what
they are willing to do to not only redeem themselves but to benefit the
struggle even at the cost of sacrifice. There is a place, space, form
and energy for everyone in a struggle. It is our responsibility to
organize, learn, and organize again.”
What these histories demonstrate is that in cases where the white
nationalists aren’t completely in bed with the pigs, they tend to see
themselves as prisoners and the pigs as their foes, like everyone else.
And it is the unity around demands for all prisoners, ones that are
nationality-neutral, that we will see opportunities for united front. So
while national unity may need to come first, class unity will always be
important in the prison movement.
White nationalism in general, whether of the left-wing or right-wing
variety, is based in an alliance with imperialism. But there are
examples in history of portions of the white population in the United
$tates who may have overt racist overtones without the attachment to
imperialism. Or at least with a mixed relationship to imperialism. And
in many cases this racism is more motivated by fear of the other, or
just self-protection than it is any deep investment in racist ideology
itself. The AB comrade who wrote
“The
Enemy of my Enemy” seems to be an example of this white nationalism
based in youthful ignorance. And the experience of the prison system has
given em the opportunity to learn about the lives of the oppressed, and
to live that life emself. George Skatze from Lucasville was also an
example of this, someone who stood with New Afrikan prisoners and
literally put eir life on the line in the struggle for prisoner rights
and then later at the hands of the state when ey was one of the comrades
who did not make a deal with the state to avoid death row as some of the
charged prisoners did.
While others suggest we fight racism as a way to end oppression, we say
to fight oppression to overcome racism. And in some cases oppression
itself will overcome racism, by uniting those once divided by ideas of
race. Our ideas are a product of our material conditions, and in
participating in the transformation of our conditions our ideas change.