MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
Recent demonstrations in U.$. cities have claimed to represent “the 99%”
opposed to the greed of the richest 1%. MIM(Prisons) supports a more
equitable distribution of the world’s resources. What most Amerikans
don’t realize is that a true redistribution of wealth would mean less
for them as they are all part of the richest 13%.
In 1970 an action similar in form to Occupy Wall Street! (OWS!) occurred
in response to the assassination of students at Kent State University.
In response, a local union rampaged through the street beating the
students and attacking state offices. Reflecting on this event, a radio
host implied OWS! was evidence of progress, measured by the union
support it has received.
The material conditions of the U.$. invasion of Vietnam forced Amerikan
youth at that time to take a more progressive position than today,
leading them to come at odds with white nationalist unions. The OWS!
actions are even more within the realm of white nationalism than the
so-called “Battle in Seattle” in 1999 where anarchists and
environmentalists linked arms with unions to oppose the World Trade
Organization. Only the likes of MIM and
J.
Sakai recognized the reactionary white nationalism that anti-WTO
sentiments were being focused into within the Amerikan context. Yet, at
least the anarchists had a healthy dose of internationalism motivating
them back then.
With OWS! the principal cry is “defend the Amerikan middle class.” While
anarchists are attracted to the form (spokes councils and consensus open
to “the people”) the content is hopelessly white nationalist. It is the
exact type of rhetoric that the social democrats of post-depression
Europe spit that led to the rise of fascism in many countries.(1) When
the privileged nations of the world feel their privilege is threatened
they become uncharacteristically politicized in their demands for more.
They attack the ultra-rich in order to create the illusion that they are
poor in comparison. But facts are stubborn things, and the interests of
Amerikans lead them to cry for the ultra-rich to defend Amerikan jobs
and back the massive lines of credit they have taken out. Both demands
are incompatible with the struggle for migrant rights, which has been in
vogue among the white nationalist left in recent years.
MIM always said if real economic hard times hit the imperialist
countries, we would see a rise of
fascism
more than an interest in Maoism. We say this not to instill fear and
arouse emotions but to promote a realistic assessment of conditions.
Amerikan youth are the ones who put their bodies on the line in Seattle
and now in New York and elsewhere. Because of the decades of life they
have ahead of them, young people have more interest than their parents
in transforming this world to a more equitable one. But to do so they
must see things for what they are and get behind the real forces for
progressive change.
In an attempt to quell resistance, the above list of petty actions
have been approved according to a memo from the CDCR.
As thousands of prisoners wrap up day five of round two of the
California Food Strike, the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation (CDCR) has stepped up its repression and propaganda in
response to prisoners’ demands for basic humyn rights. They have even
declared it a punishable offense to peacefully campaign the state for
these rights by refusing state-issued food.
The bourgeois press has been repeating the CDCR’s ridiculous claim that
if prisoners went on strike again it might delay reforms in the SHU
system. Their audacity is laughable. We all know the strike is nothing
but a scapegoat, and not the cause of their “delay.”
Meanwhile, they have indicated that they will make conditions worse on
three main points of the original
Five
Core Demands. All three points address the systematic repressiveness
of the whole California prison system.
MORE GROUP PUNISHMENT - Not only has the CDCR threatened that reforms
will be slowed down by another round of hunger striking, but they have
implied that non-striking prisoners will also lose their programming as
a result.(1) This is in direct contradiction to the first demand.
MORE SECURITY THREAT GROUPS - While the prisoners have demanded an end
to the arbitrary and secretive system of giving people endless sentences
in the Security Housing Units (SHU, long-term isolation) for “gang
affiliation,” the CDCR has publicly discussed broadening the “Security
Threat Group” category to include street organizations. This will mean
more people in SHU for indeterminate sentences.
MORE LONG-TERM ISOLATION - The third demand calls for an end to the
torturous practice of long-term isolation. While the state has continued
to assert that these practices are constitutional based on court
rulings, they have promised to send more prisoners to Administrative
Segregation and SHU just for participating in the hunger strike!
As laid out in the Five Core Demands, these are parts of a system of
oppression that affects all prisoners. While comrades in SHU have the
drive to put it down hardest because of their living conditions, the
CDCR is making it clear that the implications will affect the whole
system.
Even the reforms offered in the Gang Management Policy Proposal of 25
August 2011 allow the continued practice of keeping the most progressive
and politically active prisoners in isolation indefinitely.(2) While
this would put California more in line with what is done in most other
parts of the country, it is hardly progress. This proposal highlights
the political nature of the injustice system.
Even the Eight Short-term Action Items affecting prisoners in Security
Housing Units listed in a 27 September 2011 CDCR memo(3) may not be
granted to prisoners refusing to eat state-issued meals. They hope that
by granting the more petty demands that they can break up the unity of
California prisoners, convincing some to give up while they are ahead.
The unreasonable actions of the CDCR during this whole conflict should
convince any prisoner that such a move would be a mistake. There is no
indication that California will be reducing its repression, and every
indication that it hopes to heighten Amerika’s war on oppressed nations.
State of California
Memorandum
Date September 27, 2011
To All CDCR Inmates
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Subject- INMATE PROGRAMMING EXPECTATIONS RELATIVE TO HUNGER STRIKES
Information has been received that a number. of inmates have engaged in
behavior consistent with initiating a demonstration/hunger strike event.
The Department will not condone organized inmate disturbances.
Participation in mass disturbances, such as hunger strikes or work
stoppage will result in the Department taking the following action:
Inmates participating will receive disciplinary action in accordance
with the California Code of Regulations.
Inmates identified as leading the disturbance will be subject to removal
from general population and placed in an Administrative Segregation
Unit.
In the event of a mass hunger strike, additional measures may be taken
to more effectively monitor and manage the participating inmates’
involvement and their food/nutrition intake, including the possible
removal of canteen items from participating inmates.
All inmates are encouraged to continue with positive programming and to
not participate in this or any other identified mass strike/disturbance.
These types of disturbances impact inmate programming and day-to-day
prison operations for the entire population. While every effort will be
made to continue normal programming for nonparticipating inmates, a
large scale disturbance of this type will unavoidably impact operations.
The Department will notify inmates and families when and if normal
programming is impacted.
SCOTT KERNAN Undersecretary (A), Operations
cc: Terri McDonald George J. Giurbino R. J. Subia Kelly Harrington Tony
Chaus Wardens
State of California
Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
Memorandum
Date : September 27, 2011
To : All CDCR Inmates
Subject: REVIEW OF SECURITY HOUSING UNIT AND GANG POLICIES
In May 2011 the Department began the complex process of assessing the
policies and procedures associated with the Gang Validation Process,
Indeterminate Gang Security Housing Unit (SHU) Program, as well as
privileges associated with inmates on Indeterminate SHU status. The
purpose of the review is to improve our policies by adopting national
standards in gang/disruptive group management. Before commencing this
review, the Department received input from internal and external
experts, other state and federal correctional systems, inmates, and
other stakeholders While the process of policy review and change will
take several more stakeholders to implement, much has already been done.
In fact, a draft of the new policy should be ready for stakeholder
review next month. In addition, several changes have already been made
by the Department, including:
Short-term Action Items:
Authorization of watch caps for purchase and State issue. Authorization
of wall calendars for purchase in canteen.
Authorization of exercise equipment in SHU yards (installation of
permanent dip/push-up bars is still under review).
Authorization of annual photographs for disciplinary free inmates.
Approval of proctors for college examinations.
Use of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s (CDCR)
Ombudsman for monitoring and auditing of food services.
Authorization of sweat pants for purchase/annual package.
Authorization of Hobby items (colored chalk, pen fillers, and drawing
paper).
Mid-term Action Items:
As noted above, the Department is conducting a comprehensive review of
SHU policies that includes behavior-based components, increased
privileges based upon disciplinary free behavior, a step down process
for SHU inmates, and a system that better defines and weighs necessary
points in the validation process. The initial policies will be completed
shortly and upon Secretary approval will be sent for stakeholder review
and comment. Upon receipt of this input, the Department will initiate
any regulation changes in the administrative law process necessary and
implement the first major changes to the validation process in the last
two decades. Of course this work may be delayed by large-scale inmate
disturbances or other emergency circumstances.
SCOTT KERNAN Undersecretary (A), Operations
cc: Terri McDonald George J. Giurbino R. J. Subia Kelly Harrington Tony
Chaus Wardens
The downloadable grievance petition for California has been updated to
correct some errors in the citations. Please download it
here.
Click the link below for more information on this campaign.
The downloadable grievance petition for Texas has been updated to
include some more relevant citations that were submitted by a comrade.
Please download it
here.
Click the link below for more information on this campaign.
El 26 de septiembre, los presos en Pelican Bay State Prison volverá a su
huelga de hambre indefinida después de 2 meses de receso, durante el
cual negoció con el Estado. La huelga se inició el 1 de julio, barriendo
a través de California, y se dejó en suspenso por los organizadores el
21 de julio. Negociadores de presos múltiples de Pelican Bay han
confirmado que Scott Kernan del Departamento de Correcciones y
Rehabilitación de California (CDCR) prometió que las 5 demandas serían
satisfechas, pero que necestiban 2-3 semanas par cumplir. Esta ventana
de tiempo ha pasado hace tiempo, y los compañeros se están preparando
para lo que promete ser un tramo más largo sin comida.
En el 23 de agosto, el legislador Tom Ammiano encabezó una audiencia
sobre las condiciones de los SHU de California y el proceso de la
validación que se coloca la gente allá. Se hizo un eco de audiencias
previas que no paró la tortura en el SHU, pero prometió que empujara el
tema más que había ido en el pasado.
La huelga no terminó sobre algunos gorritos y calendarios. Las cartas
que vinieron de los líderes después de la mensaje que la huelga terminó
eran muy claras que sólo daban el estado tiempo para cumplir con sus
demandas antes de que recomenzarían la huelga de hambre.
Necesitamos aprender construir las batallas prolongadas y sostenibles.
No hay ningunos soluciones rápidos, y los presos no pueden fiar en la
prensa y las organizaciones ajenos para salvarles. Recientemente,
Pelican Bay censuró el paquete de estudiar de MIM(Prisons) sobre la
estructura organizacional. Reconocen la importancia de tal información
para los preso realmente organizarse y ejercer sus derechos. Por tanto
que quieren clasificarnos como un grupo de amenaza a la seguridad por
hacerlo, MIM(Prisons) continua luchar por nuestro derecho a apoyar a la
organización basada en la prisión. Porque son los presos que tienen la
motivación y la determinación hacer los cambios que deben hacerse para
terminar este sistema opresivo.
On September 26, prisoners in Pelican Bay State Prison will resume their
indefinite hunger strike after 2 months of hiatus, during which they
negotiated with the state. The strike began on July 1, sweeping across
California, and was put on hold by organizers on July 21, after 3 full
weeks of fasting. Multiple prisoner negotiators from Pelican Bay have
confirmed that Scott Kernan of the California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation (CDCR) promised the 5 demands would be met, but that
they needed 2 to 3 weeks to comply. That window of time has long since
passed, and comrades are gearing up for what promises to be a longer
stretch with no food.
In a statement from one strike leader announcing the September 26
restart, he stated:
I appreciate the time and love you all have given to us and you can
believe that we will not yield until justice is achieved. We went into
this trying to save lives, if possible, but we see now that there will
have to be casualties on our side and we all know that power concedes to
no one without demands.(1)
On August 23, state legislator Tom Ammiano headed a hearing on
conditions in California’s SHUs and on the validation process that gets
people placed there. It echoed previous hearings that did not stop
torture in the SHU. He promised he would push the issue further than it
has gone in the past, but like the
reforms
given by the CDCR, this is too little too late as comrades who have
faced decades in these torture cells take this struggle to the next
level.
The Truth About the Negotiations
The strike didn’t end over some beanies and calendars. Letters that came
from the leaders after the message was sent that the strike ended were
very clear that they were only giving the state time to meet their
demands before they would restart the food strike. Those in D-Corridor
and other SHU prisoners aren’t done yet.
The initial story that came out of limited communications between the
inside and outside negotiation teams was that the strike had ended,
period, in return for beanies, calendars, proctored exams and a promise
to investigate the major complaints of the strikers. The extreme limits
put on the outside negotiation team, who were only granted access to the
strikers on a couple brief occasions, allowed the state to control how
the negotiations were portrayed. As a result, many across the state were
let down by the misleading reports that first came out, because the
strikers had pledged to strike until all 5 demands were met.
It has since come to light that Scott Kernan circulated a fake version
of the five demands,(2) and that prisoners received notices that they
had broken the rules by organizing against the abuse that they face and
that they will face “progressive discipline” in the future for similar
actions. The latter contradicts CDCR Spokeswoman Terry Thorton who
stated on record, “There are no punitive measures for inmates refusing
to eat.”(3) In typical repressive fashion, the state responds to
complaints of torture committed by state employees with outlawing any
form of protest by the victims. It just goes to show that their efforts
to maintain “security” have nothing to do with safety and everything to
do with social control.
It’s also important to note that the best public offer coming from the
state right now is that they might move away from gang affiliation
charges and focus on actual rule violations as justification for
throwing someone into a torture chamber. Within U.$. prisons the First
Amendment is generally ignored and any form of expression or organizing
not sanctioned by the state is considered against the rules. But even
this reform has been on the table for a long time with no action.
According to the 2004 Castillo court decision, which took 8
years to litigate, the CDCR committed to providing logical justification
that evidence used to put someone into SHU was criminal in nature. Yet
nothing has changed, as the lead attorney on the case, Charles Carbone,
asserted at the August 23 hearing.
As Carbone pointed out, with exasperation, we already went through the
whole song and dance of having hearings around the SHU with Senator
Gloria Romero and the United Front to Abolish the SHU years ago. Another
testifier at this year’s hearing made testimony in the 70s and 80s about
the detrimental effects of isolation, but they still went on to build
Pelican Bay State Prison. It is clear that the state sees the SHU as an
important tool of social control and cares nothing for the destruction
they cause to oppressed people.
Scott Kernan was very clear at the hearing that the CDCR would continue
with the debriefing process, using confidential informants, and that
they will not allow prisoners to appeal secret evidence used against
them. He also said gang validations will likely continue to bring
indeterminate SHU sentences. Kernan did not stick around for the public
comments, and remaining CDCR staff were not given an opportunity to
respond when a public commenter asked when the 5 demands would be put
down in writing, after Kernan promised it would only take 2 to 3 weeks.
Lessons in Organizing
Through this process we are all learning how to organize in our
conditions and what limits we face.
One of the successes of the California hunger strike was the
demonstration of United Front to the masses, which inspired many to the
possibilities of prison-based organizing. We do not know the details of
how groups coordinated on the inside around the strike, but we do know
that many groups would not be willing to sacrifice their independence to
others, and yet they worked together. This example should be followed by
those on the outside. We need to recognize the strength that comes in
uniting all who can be united at any given time on the most pressing
issues that we face. Coalition organizing strategies have held back
support by not allowing a diversity of voices to come out in unity in
support of the hunger strike.
Having outside pressure during a food strike is crucial to ensuring that
the state just does not let prisoners die, as they are more than willing
to do if there isn’t too much noise about it. Outside organizations also
played an important role in spreading word about the hunger strike that
was initiated by some of the most isolated people in the whole state.
But, ultimately, the state controls our communication with prisoners.
Despite all the work put in by the coalition to develop an outside
negotiation team, the only role the state allowed them to play was to
announce when the strike had ended and ensure that everyone knew to
stop. The state realized that a memo from the CDCR was not going to be
convincing. Other than this, the negotiation team was not allowed any
access to the prisoner negotiators.
In ULK 21, we
made it sound like the strike was over for beanies, calendars and
proctors and some empty promises of change. This was the information
coming from the outside negotiating team and the best information anyone
seemed to have. Frustration with the outcome immediately started coming
in and we fear that disillusionment may have followed. But this is what
the SHU is designed for. This is why SHU inmates can’t call people on
the outside. This is why the press is not allowed in California prisons.
Misinformation would be much harder to spread otherwise. So overcoming
these barriers is part of what we need to learn here.
We need to learn to build protracted and sustainable battles. There are
no quick fixes, and prisoners can’t rely on the mainstream press or
outside organizations to come in and rescue them. Recently, Pelican Bay
censored MIM(Prisons)’s study pack on organizational structure. They
recognize the importance of such information for prisoners to really get
organized and exert their rights. As much as they want to label us a
“security threat group” for doing it, MIM(Prisons) continues to struggle
for our right to support prison-based organizing. For it is the
prisoners who have the drive and determination to make the changes that
need to be made to end this oppressive system.
Marshall Law: The Life & Times of a Baltimore Black Panther by
Marshall “Eddie” Conway and Dominique
Stevenson AK Press,
2011 674-A 23rd Street Oakland, CA 94612
This short autobiography by political prisoner Marshall (Eddie) Conway
is not so much a story about the Baltimore Black Panthers as it is a
brief history of prison-based organizing in the state of Maryland.
Having spent almost all of his adult life in prison after being framed
for killing a cop in 1970, this makes sense.
Panthers, Popularity and the Pigs
Knowing first-hand the extent of repression that was put on the Black
Panther Party from a very early stage, the biggest lesson we get from
the early years of Conway’s political life are about how to recruit and
organize in a country that is crawling with pigs. He points out that of
the 295 actions that COINTELPRO took against Black Power groups from
1967 to 1971; 233 targeted the Panthers.(p.51) He later points out that
while Muhammed Speaks was regularly allowed in prisons, The
Black Panther had to be smuggled in.(p.98)
As the state clearly recognized the
Maoism
of the Black Panthers as much more effective in the fight for Black
liberation than other movements at the time, they had agents planted in
the organization from day one in Baltimore. One of the founding members
in Baltimore, and the highest ranking Panther in the state, was exposed
as an agent of the National Security Agency, while others worked for the
FBI or local police.(p.48) Conway identifies the Panthers’ rapid growth
as a prime cause for its rapid demise, both due to infiltration and
other contradictions between members that just had not been trained
ideologically.(p.54) MIM(Prisons) takes it a step further in promoting
an organizational structure where our effectiveness is not determined by
the allegiances of our allies, but only by our work and the political
line that guides it.
Persynal Life
Despite the seriousness with which he addresses his decades of dedicated
organizing work, Conway expresses regret for putting his desire to free
his people above his family. There is no doubt that oppression creates
contradictions between someone’s ability to support their family
directly and the system that prevents them from doing so. MIM(Prisons)
is sympathetic with the young Conway, who put fighting the system first.
Perhaps the most applicable lesson to take from this is for young
comrades to seriously consider family planning and how that fits into
one’s overall plans as a revolutionary. It is just a reality that having
an active/demanding family life is not conducive to changing the system.
Prison Organizing
This account of organizing in Maryland prisons is one example that
famous events like the
Attica
uprising were part of a widespread upsurge in prison-based
organizing across the country at the time. In a turning point for the
prison movement, in 1971 Maryland prisoners began organizing the
uniquely aboveground and legal United Prisoners Labor Union. The union
quickly gained much broader support among the population than even the
organizers expected.
While Conway notes that the young organizers on the streets often found
partying more important than political work, he discusses deeper
contradictions within the imprisoned lumpen class. At this time, illegal
drugs were becoming a plague that prison activists could not find easy
solutions to. While organizing the union, a new youth gang arose whose
interest in free enterprise led them to work openly with the
administration in “anti-communist” agitation among the population. As
many gangs have become more entrenched in the drug economy (and other
capitalist ambitions) competition has heightened the drive to conquer
markets. The contradiction between the interests of criminal LOs and
progressive lumpen organization is heightened today, with the criminal
element being the dominant aspect of that contradiction.
Rather than outright repression, the easiest way for the guards to work
against the union was to get less disciplined recruits to act out in
violence. This point stresses the need for resolving contradictions
among the masses before going up against the oppressor in such an open
way. Education work among the masses to stress the strategy of organized
action over individual fights with guards became an important task for
union leaders.
Of course, the state could not allow such peacemaking to continue and
the union was soon made illegal; leaders faced isolation and transfers.
This eventually led us to where we are today where any form of prisoner
organizing is effectively outlawed in most places and labeled Security
Threat Group activity, in complete violation of the First Amendment
right to association. There’s a reason Amerikans allow the labor
aristocracy to unionize and not the imprisoned lumpen. A year after the
union was crushed, an escape attempt led to a riot in which the full
destructive potential of the prison population was unleashed because
there was no political leadership to guide the masses. That’s exactly
what the state wanted.
As a comrade in prison, intrigue is constantly being used against you by
the state and you must takes steps to protect yourself. Conway tells a
story about how one little act of kindness and his affiliation with the
righteous Black Panthers probably saved his life. One major weakness of
most LOs today is that they are rarely free of elements engaged in
anti-people activity. As long as this is the case it will be easy for
the state to set up fights and hits at will. Only through disciplined
codes of conduct, that serve the people at all times, can such problems
be avoided.
Many of the things Conway and his comrades did in the 1970s would seem
impossible in U.$. prisons today. The government began aggressively
using prisons as a tool of social control during that period of broad
unrest in the United $nakes. Soon the state learned it had to ramp up
the level of control it had within its prisons. This informed the
history of the U.$. prison system over the last few decades. And with
the vast resources of the U.$. empire, high tech repression came with a
willing and well-paid army of repressers to run the quickly expanding
system.
It is almost amazing to read Conway’s story of Black guards, one-by-one,
coming over to the side of the prisoners in a standoff with prison
guards.(p.81) We don’t know of anything like that happening today. As
oppressed nationals of the labor aristocracy class have become
commonplace in the U.$. injustice bureaucracy, we see national
consciousness overcome by integrationism.
Also unlike today, where prisoners usually have to give any money they
can scrape together to pay for their own imprisonment (ie. pay guards’
salaries), profits from commissary in Maryland actually used to go to a
fund to benefit prisoners and the communities they come from. But Conway
tells of how the drug mob worked with the administration to eat up those
funds, using some of it to sponsor a party for the warden himself!
The prison activists responded to this by setting up their own fund to
support programs in Baltimore. That is true independent action,
highlighting the importance of the fifth principle of the United Front
for Peace. While all drug dealers are in essence working for the U.$.
imperialists, this is even more true for those in prison who rely
directly on state officials for the smooth operation of their business.
Money is not decisive in the struggle for liberation; it is humyn
resources: a politically conscious population that decides whether we
succeed or we fail.
This review skims some of the main lessons from this book, but we
recommend you read it for yourself for a more thorough study. It is both
an inspiring and sobering history of U.$. prison organizing in the
recent past. It is up to today’s prisoners to learn from that past and
write the next chapters in this story of struggle that will continue
until imperialism is destroyed.
Millionaire popstar/rapper Soulja Boy stepped out of line in his
latest video, and was reprimanded by Amerikan hip hop fans this week for
his lack of patriotism. Under pressure he quickly apologized and took up
the Demoncratic Party line claiming that he was only criticizing the two
long wars, implying that the U.$. economy would somehow be better if the
U.$. wasn’t exerting control over the economies of the Middle East thru
military occupation. This is what he originally said in the song
Let’s Be Real:
Fuck the FBI and the Army troops fighting for what? Bitch, be your
own man.
While this was just a couple lines out of tons of bullshit he’s spit,
they’re pretty strong words. Not known for being politically outspoken,
there’s no doubt his inspiration comes from the countless
radical/nationalist MCs who came before him and influenced his thoughts
and rhymes. He even outdid his adversary Ice-T who said “fuck the FBI,”
but never fuck the troops. The troops ain’t nothing but the police for
oppressed people in other countries; the CIA abroad is the FBI at home.
Fuck oppression! Fuck ’em all!
While it was good to hear someone like Soulja Boy put out such strong
anti-imperialist words, especially with all the 9/11 talk these days, it
was discouraging to see the response and who’s responding. There have
been multiple diss songs and videos made in response to Soulja Boy, by
hip hop artists in the military, at least some of which are from
oppressed nations. The response wasn’t just strong and swift, it came
from his own fans and more generally from fans of hip hop music. In
Under Lock & Key
issue 10 we questioned whether hip hop was still a culture that
represented the oppressed, and when you see these videos you really have
to doubt it.
One Black male MC sports a shirt reading “America the Beautiful.” His
politics echo those of the white militias made up of ex-military people
that are very critical of the government, but have much love for the
country and respect for the troops and the privileges they fight for us
to have. All of the artists seem to find that requisite “hardness,” that
is so integral to the gangsta rap persona, in their identity as U.$.
soldiers. One threatens to waterboard Soulja Boy and pull out his finger
nails.
The fact is, the pro-U.$. troops lyrics aren’t that far from a typical
gangsta rap song. The United $tates is the biggest gangster in the
world, so that makes sense. The boys in blue are the biggest gang on
U.$. streets. So we see gangsta rap too often reflecting and reinforcing
the ideology of the oppressor, rather than challenging it.
In other Soulja Boy news, he is supposedly working on a remake of the
film Juice, where he will play the role of Bishop, originally
played by Tupac Shakur. On September 13, we commemorate not just the
fallen soldiers of the
Attica
uprising 40 years ago, but it is also the 15th anniversary of the
death of self-proclaimed thug and rapper 2pac. Pac was unique in keeping
his music both gangsta and for the people; a fine line most can’t seem
to walk, and perhaps impossible today when gangsta rap is mostly a
caricature. Unlike Soulja Boy, Tupac never apologized for shit, and he
said some things that got people riled up. There is little doubt that
his real connection to oppressed people in Amerikkka lead to his
untimely death.(1)
While Soulja Boy’s three lines don’t compare to Tupac’s legacy, in those
lines we may have seen him connecting to the oppressive conditions he
grew up in – a glimmer of truth. While the U.$. military is
disproportionately Black (18% of military vs. 11% of general
population), it is also disproportionately middle income.(2) The poorest
20% of the U.$. population was the most under-represented income group
in the U.$. military in 1999 and 2003.(3)
Since the Vietnam war, Blacks have increased their over-representation
in the U.$. military from a factor of 1.14 to 1.40.(2) This shows the
effects of integration without providing Black youth with quite the same
opportunities as their white counterparts. The increase in Black
military recruits seems to correspond with an overall bourgeoisification
of the Black nation. Not only were there fewer Blacks (per capita) in
Vietnam than Iraq and Afghanistan, but Black power and linking it to the
struggle of the Vietnamese against U.$. imperialism was widespread, and
fragging of white officers and even all out fighting between Blacks and
whites on bases was not uncommon.
As the Black nation becomes more bourgeois, the pressure to Amerikanize
increases for Blacks of all socio-economic standings. To the poor and
oppressed who see no hope in U.$. imperialism, we echo Soulja Boy’s
words, “Bitch, be your own man!”
[The following is a compilation of reporting and analysis from MIM,
MIM(Prisons) and USW comrades to commemorate the Attica
uprising.]
Prisoners stand together at Attica after seizing control of the prison.
This week, September 9 - 13 2011, marks the 40th anniversary of the
Attica uprising where over 1200 prisoners acted as one, organized as a
collective and occupied Attica Correctional Facility in New York State.
The uprising ended in what a state commission described as “the
bloodiest one-day encounter between Americans since the Civil War”,
“[w]ith the exception of the Indian massacres in the late nineteenth
century[.]”
In 1991, MIM Notes ran a
special
supplement to commemorate the 20th anniversary, which documented
that historic event and its legacy. That same year, prisoners in New
York, New Jersey and Maryland boycotted all programming on September 13
to “give honor to the martyrs and warriors who suffered, and are still
suffering, under the suppression of the American prison system.”
The demands of the Attica prisoners in 1971 included things such as
allowing New York prisoners to be politically active without
intimidation or reprisals, an end to all censorship of mail and media,
more educational and work opportunities that pay minimum wage, and
release without parole conditions. In addition to these righteous
demands, the prisoners connected their struggle to that of the people of
the Third World. From History Condemns Prison Reform by MC11:
The Attica prisoners in 1971 were not asking for the sort of reforms
liberals then and now are so anxious to implement in order to make
themselves feel better. The Attica prisoners recognized the criminal
justice system as a powerful weapon in the arsenal of the capitalist
class, and they wanted to turn that weapon on their oppressors.
“We have discovered… the frustration of negotiating with a political
system bent on genocide,” the prisoners wrote in a statement smuggled
out during the week following the massacre.
“Killings are being committed not only in VietNam, but in Bengla Desh,
Africa and South America. Is it not so that our Declaration of
Independence provides that when a government oppresses the people, they
have a right to abolish it and create a new government? And we at
‘Attica’ and all revolutionaries across the nation are exercising that
right! The time is now that all third world people acknowledge the true
oppressor and expose him to the world!!”(1)
In the lead article of the MIM Notes supplement, a prisoner
mentions that Attica marked the rise of a strong prison movement during
the early 1970s. In the last year we’ve seen strikes in Georgia and
California where thousands of prisoners participated across many
prisons. Yet, it seems the prison movement has a steeper mountain to
climb to get to the point that the struggle reached in those days.
After 4 days New York State troopers seize control of the prison,
shooting 2000 rounds, killing 42 people, injuring hundreds and denying
medical care.
Looking back on Attica and those past rebellions, one sees the start and
finish of a period where the contradiction between prisoners and the
state was at the forefront. The struggle during that period led to some
progress on the side of prisoners in the form of temporary rights,
concessions and free world support for captives. But more importantly,
we saw collective organization on a mass scale throughout the U.$.
prison system that united prisoners around their common suffering and
abuse. This unity and struggle pushed the state back some. At the same
time, it also led the state to develop a plan for permanent long-term
isolation prisons, as well as policies that push psychotropic drugs on
prisoners while programming is once again taken away, reinforcing the
futility of prison reform. Even when the state faces significant
resistance these days, it comes in the form of lawsuits in
their courts, and hunger strikes where they control
communications and negotiations very tightly. We’re still in the stage
of playing their game by their rules.
It was just two years ago, on 17 September 2009 that United Struggle
from Within comrade Amare (Ra’d) Selton
died
in Attica. Selton was a regular contributor to Under Lock &
Key and MIM-led study groups, and often ended up in confrontations
with prison guards. We do not know the exact circumstances surrounding
his death, but MIM(Prisons) holds the State of New York responsible. He
is one of many comrades who have disappeared after being sent to Attica
in recent years, indicating the legacy of repression that has not
lessened.
In MIM Notes, MC67 interviewed Akil Aljundi, one of the Attica
Brothers that filed suit (and eventually won) against the State of New
York following the murder of 32 of his comrades and 10 hostages, and the
brutalization and denial of medical care to hundreds of others. MC67
concludes by asking what lessons should be drawn from the Attica
uprising, to which Aljundi responds:
“Never trust the state. Always be prepared to look for the worst to
happen. Be firm in your demands. Be clear in your objectives. But also
realize that the state can be vicious.”