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.
I would like to update you on my lawsuit I was preparing against
Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) due to one egotistical officer
in recreation: Lieutenant Ross.
I think MIM(Prisons)
printed
my story, but due to Denver Women’s Correctional Facility (DWCF) not
allowing us ULK anymore I can’t be sure, but I did get feedback
from several readers.(1) And now DWCF allows us to go outside and walk
during any weather like the men do.
So thank you for printing my fight and thank your readers for writing
and supporting me. I have not had to put forward the lawsuit, but I am
thankful for the MIM(Prisons) grievance petition. I sent it to the
Executive Director. So thank you for the form, it really helps putting
the fight against CDOC in better written terms than I would have been
able to do on my own.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade provides an excellent example
to others. From eir work fighting injustice and consistency in providing
updates about the progress in this battle, to staying in touch in spite
of the censorship of ULK going on at DWCF. While a victory to get
all-season and all-gender access to rec is just a small battle in the
overall fight against imperialism, it will allow activists in DWCF more
opportunity to talk and study with others and to stay healthy. We hope
everyone there will take advantage of this opportunity to build for the
next battle, which may need to be a fight against censorship so we can
get revolutionary materials in to our comrades at this institution.
You encourage all groups in prison to set aside their differences and
come together (collective action). As always in my letters to you, I
believe the socialist effort will not be successful unless it makes
contact with most or all of the radical/reform groups and encourages
collective actions between them.
Think about it. If you could start a dialogue with other groups then you
would gain the chance to educate them about how mass imprisonment is a
standard feature of any capitalist government. Imprisonment is the
favored control method for the masses. As long as people are
propagandized to believe capitalism is good, you will have thousands of
laws to control the lumpen and minorities -– hence, prisons.
Per the September 2016 newsletter of the Coalition for Prisoners’ Rights
(P.O. Box 1911, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-1911), it was reported that
the Formerly Incarcerated and Convicted Peoples Movement (FICPM) had a
conference on September 9 in which over 500 people attended, of which
people from over 30 states were in attendance. The FICPM wants to
organize the 65 million people who have been screwed over by the U.$.
system as a political voting block. This group has the possibility of
actual success.
MIM(Prisons) responds: There are two separate points we want to
address in this letter. First the question of what will be necessary for
the socialist effort to be successful. This comrade believes that we can
succeed by bringing together the radical/reform groups (presumably
within the United $tates). Where this author says we would be able to
educate these groups on a deeper understanding of the relationship
between capitalism and prisons, we agree that doing this on an
individual basis is possible and has been proven with success on the
ground. Some people enter the reform groups because that’s all that
they’re aware of at the time. When they seek a more thorough way to
address the world’s problems, they may decide to switch to revolutionary
organizing instead. We aim to be available for these people, ready to
work with them when they’re ready to switch.
But as far as winning over whole groups, this hasn’t worked out
successfully when tried in the past. And we understand this phenomenon
in the context of our class analysis, because the vast majority of
people within imperialist countries are bought off and actually support
their imperialist government. They may protest a few policies, but they
are very much opposed to revolutionary change in the interests of the
world’s majority because that would have a negative impact on their
persynal financial situation in the short term.
Because of this, we see socialist revolution coming from the oppressed
nations, both internationally and within U.$. borders. For the most part
we anticipate it will need to be imposed on imperialist countries (like
the United $tates) from the outside, but there is an important role for
revolutionaries living within the belly of the beast. We must do all we
can to weaken the government and also support the revolutionary
struggles of oppressed nations globally. We can break off as many allies
for the struggle as possible. But we shouldn’t be unrealistic in our
expectations of what we can achieve behind enemy lines.
With that said, we do agree that building unity with progressive
organizations on the streets is a good goal. We set a baseline goal for
this unity around either a political action or a political line. For
instance, we work to build unity around battles against the criminal
injustice system with all who will support these battles, regardless of
their political positions on other issues. For the anti-imperialist
struggle we build unity with all who truly oppose imperialism.
But coming back to our first point, we do not think that groups that,
for instance, promote recycling, are actually opposing imperialism. They
are just helping to put a pretty pseudo-ecological face on capitalism
(also termed “green washing”). So when someone tells us to unite with
all “radical/reform groups” to achieve our goals of building socialism
and opposing imperialism, we have to call this out as a request that we
sacrifice revolutionary politics in the name of false unity. We don’t
actually have unity in the fight against imperialism with those reform
groups that are trying to make imperialism a bit kinder, but whose
strategy keeps the overall system in place. It’s important that we
define our political principles and understand who are truly fighting on
the side of the oppressed people of the world.
Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising Second Edition
Staughton Lynd 2011, PM Press
Condemned Keith LaMar (Bomani Hondo Shakur) 2014,
www.keithlamar.org
In April 1993 there was an 11-day occupation of Southern Ohio
Correctional Facility, starting on Easter Sunday when the maximum
security prisoners overpowered correctional officers (COs) while
returning from recreation. During the occupation, eight COs were held as
hostages; one was killed and the rest were released. Nine prisoners were
also killed through the course of this uprising, all by other prisoners.
The 407 prisoners surrendered when the administration committed to a
21-point agreement. After the uprising, five prisoners were sentenced to
death for the murders, and they are the only people held on Ohio’s death
row.
Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising and
Condemned are good books to read together, and give two thorough
accounts of the events of the SOCF uprising, and even more thorough
detail of what happened afterward. Lucasville is written by
Staughton Lynd, a lawyer who plays a significant role in
Condemned, which was written by Keith LaMar (Bomani), one of the
people condemned to death for the events during the uprising. The
content in these books overlaps a lot, but not too much as to be
redundant. What content is repeated through the two books just
underlines lessons learned, and clarifies the authors’ political
orientations, some of which MIM(Prisons) does not agree with. Rather
than write a point-by-point criticism of these books which most of our
readers will never have the opportunity to read anyway, below we
summarize some of the lessons on prison organizing we gleaned from
studying them.
Condemned recounts Bomani’s first-hand experience before, during,
and after the uprising, especially focusing on the struggle of the five
prisoners who were scapegoated for the uprising (known as the Lucasville
5). Condemned is a good case study on many common aspects of
prison organizing. Lynd’s book describes all the work it took, and all
the obstacles the state put in place, to support the Lucasville 5’s
struggle from the outside.
The first theme addressed in Condemned is the author’s
ideological transformation. MIM(Prisons)‘s primary task at this point in
the struggle is building public opinion and institutions of the
oppressed for socialist revolution, so affecting others’ political
consciousness is something we work on a lot. On the first day of the
uprising, Bomani was hoping the state would come in to end the chaos.
But “standing there as dead bodies were dumped onto the yard (while
those in authority stood back and did nothing), and then experience the
shock of witnessing Dennis’ death [another prisoner who was murdered in
the same cell as the author], awakened something in me.” Bomani’s
persynal experiences, plus politicization on the pod and thru books, are
what led em to pick up the struggle against injustice.
At an event where Bomani was publicizing eir case and experience, a
MIM(Prisons) comrade was able to ask em what go-to books ey recommend
for new comrades who are just getting turned on to the struggle. Bomani
suggested Black Boy by Richard Wright, and also refers to Wright
in Condemned. MIM(Prisons) would second this recommendation.
Black Boy is an excellent study of New Afrikan life under Jim
Crow in the South, with many aspects of that struggle still continuing
in this country today.
In eir own book, Bomani also recounts acts of prisoner unity against
the administration shortly following the uprising, and how
politicization of fellow prisoners played out in real life. The
prisoners made a pact to trash the range each day, and not clean it up.
The guards cleaned the range themselves for a few days, but then brought
in a prisoner to clean it up. Simultaneously, the “old heads” on the pod
were leading speeches nightly about the need for unity and the
relationship between the prisoners and the administration, politicizing
everyone within earshot.
“Every night there was a variation of this same speech, and I listened
to it over and over again until something took root in me. I became
openly critical of the mistreatment we had all undergone and, for a few
months at least, was serious in my determination to persuade others not
to join the administration in the efforts to further divide and conquer
us.”(Condemned, p. 33)
A tactic that was mentioned in passing in Condemned was how the
prisoner who was cleaning the range for the pigs was dealt with. Ey was
struggled with for a period of time, and asked to not clean the range,
but ey came back day after day. Eventually this prisoner was stabbed by
the protesters for continuously undermining the action. Bomani doesn’t
mention how this act impacted the unity demo, whether it helped or not.
We aim to minimize physical violence as much as possible, although
sometimes it may be necessary. It is up to those who are on the ground
to make the call in their particular conditions, and this tactic should
not at all be taken lightly. If much physical force is necessary to
maintain a peace demo, then we should ask ourselves if the masses we’re
organizing are ready for that type of demo. Political education is
always our focus at this stage in the struggle.
Both books address how a protest with solid participants can fail or
succeed depending on the protest’s outside support. Several hunger
strikes were launched, and ended, without progress made on the demands.
It wasn’t until connections were made with outside advocates and media
that prison officials took any steps toward fixing them. Especially in
an instance where a lawyer met with the regional director of the Ohio
Department of Rehabilitation, which led to some property restrictions
being lifted.
Recalling a victory from a 12-day hunger strike which had a lot of
outside support,
“When the administration refused to follow their own rules, we
complained (verbally and informally) and then asked a district judge to
intervene on our behalf, all to no avail. It never occurred to us that
we were wasting our time by appealing to the very people who had placed
us in this predicament we were in.
“Indeed, the whole process of redressing our grievances was nothing more
than an exercise in futility designed to drain off our vital energy and
make us feel as though we had done all that we could do.
“It was only when we began to write and reach out to ‘the people’ that
things began to change. First, there was Staughton’s book and
accompanying play; then we began holding ‘talks’ around the state on
various college campuses, as well as writing articles in various
periodicals. In this way, we were able to generate some much-needed
support.”(Condemned, p. 179)
To combat the psychological warfare of the prison staff, Bomani strongly
recommends daily meditation and yoga as a method to protect oneself. “By
learning how to watch my thoughts [meditate using simple breathing
exercises], I was able to rise above the vicious cycle of cause and
effect, and thereby avoid the tricks and traps of my
environment.”(Condemned, p. 133)
MIM(Prisons) receives regular requests for information on
sovereign
citizenship. While we’ve written against this tactic at length
elsewhere, Lucasville underlines it with an anecdote about three
prisoners who cut off their fingers and mailed them to the United
Nations to show how serious they were in in their claim of sovereign
citizenship. The request was still denied.
A final lesson from these books, especially recounted in
Lucasville, is that in any attempt at solidarity and justice for
the oppressed, prison officials and other oppressors will do
everything they can to undermine it. Everything. We should
never expect that our enemies will act in good faith toward respecting
us and our needs. We should always expect pushback and always expect
that they will attempt to derail us at every step of the way. Studying
past struggles for clues on how we can protect our movement will only
make our job easier. The state is taking notes on our shortcomings and
we need to do the same of both our shortcomings and our strengths.
Today we Raza and Natives/others kicked off the new year by exercising
unity here in C Yard by not going to work or education at work center
(head quarters) of this yard. Other factions decided not to participate
because they care too much about the 5-10¢ paying job they currently
have (Lumpen Aristocracy?).
This campaign we currently put into motion is to stop the form of
harassment these pigs use thru daily body searches, i.e. x-ray body
scan, strip search, etc. before we go to school/work and before we
leave. We know that we can stop at least the x-ray scan from taking
place for we will continue to refuse the x-ray scan and therefore
work/education. This is the recent flow here.
Persynally I believe that we should shut down all movement but still go
to Yard, programs and accept our food. Just make the pigs do all the
work. That is the only way to make these pigs fly. Even then, these
forms of campaigns are at a beginner step and might not be fully
successful. We should still engage and get a feel of the opposition. The
only way we know how to deal with an opposition is thru the motion of
our resistance. It is then that we’ll know what we’re up against and to
what extent they’ll go. Not only this but we learn on how to combat the
beast. New views and forms of tactics come from this. It is what we call
the dialectical-materialist theory of the unity of knowing and doing.
I’m once again checking in from California Correctional Institution
(CCI). In 1966, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale planted the seeds of the
Black Liberation movement in Oakland. The seeds they planted rapidly
spread to the rest of the United States and now years later we’re
fighting for the same things as the Panthers.
We still follow the same theme of Black nationalism, armed militancy,
intercommunalism, and answering the call to join the revolutionary
struggle. Even today, I can still see and hear the voices of comrades
such as Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis, Gwen Fontaine,
Fredrika Newton and Lil Bobby Hutton; their teachings, thoughts,
practices. And they still resonate with significance and power through
the pages of books.
The spirit of the Panthers have been spread so deep into the roots of
Black life and into the fabric of every African Community in America,
that it’s just natural for us to want to stand up and fight when we hear
the call. In our homes, schools, hoods, jails, and prisons. That’s the
revolutionary legacy, and the spirit these comrades planted in us.
This yard we’re on is considered an Ad-Seg kick out yard. But in our
efforts to educate the people we’ve begun to create something better.
This yard is becoming a place where cadres are born. We have created
programmes that serve the people: we have political study groups, we
have a GED study group, in which we are helping comrades get their GEDs,
and we are helping individuals with their college classes as well.
I am very proud of the comrades on this facility of all nationalities.
Because we’re not just talking we’re doing, pushing hard for a truly
united front and serving the people. We have just submitted the
paperwork for a banquet. That will be used as a Unity Celebration, where
we will all meet and share our thoughts on the issues of today, and
share a little political knowledge with each other.
The only issue I see is that the room only holds fifty people, so not
all of the groups can fit in this room, so we’re planning to have
another on the yard the next day. We don’t want anyone left out. We are
here to serve the people, educate the people, and to help liberate the
people, all the people. My rules are if we focus on what we have in
common and less on our differences we’ll be able to learn better, who we
are, and what we’re about.
We all want the same things. We all have the same goals, and we all want
to create positive change in our world, and in our communities. A
community by way of definitions is a comprehensive collection of
institutions that serve the people who live there. CCI C-Facility is
where we are living right now. So this is the community we’re serving.
It is the duty of all revolutionaries to make the revolution. This is
obviously rule one. But this is a way of denouncing, in the context, all
the so-called revolutionaries who not only did not seek to make the
revolution, who managed secure income, talk the revolutionary shit, but
who torpedoed the efforts of the people to liberate themselves and that
must not be. As Huey said, revolutionary theory without practice ain’t
shit.
I randomly bumped into a homie who I had previously met a few years
back. We got to conversating and eventually got to swapping materials
(books, magazines) and we each offered to exchange a “political
newsletter.” It turned out that we were both referring to ULK;
each of us not knowing at the time that we were both corresponding with
MIM(Prisons) and we were talking about the exact same newsletter (ULK
52).
An interesting fact to note is that we were both able to overcome past
“beef” that we had against one another. Beef that had manifested in an
administrative segregation barracks during 2015 as a result of our
poor/squalid isolated living conditions. Our beef was evidence of the
negative side-effects that ramify into violence and verbal
insolence/disrespect/threats between captives, all being things
consequential of our long-term solitary confinement that is deliberately
facilitated by the pigs.
We both (me and this said comrade) peeped game and realized that the
police want us to have discord sown between us (captives in general, but
also specifically between me and this comrade) and I immediately took
personal measures to end the pettiness and hostilities –- for unity’s
sake. By squashing the trivial/frivolous “childsplay,” and setting aside
our pride (which has always been a real challenge for me), we wound up
developing a very strong unified bond and comradeship that is likely
going to carry on into the free world. We passed knowledge back and
forth, to fortify one another. I was stoked to be able to aid and assist
this comrade as much as possible.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Often Under Lock & Key is
censored by prison administrators for encouraging violence. We hope the
administrators are paying attention to this letter as it clearly
demonstrates what we’ve been saying all along: ULK actually
encourages peace!
…I plan to reach out to this girl I’m dating here in re politics. I will
start to feel her out on that topic tomorrow for the first time. She is
24 years old. I’m 31 years old, so I believe I can mold her. She is
naive and trusting. I will attempt to teach her once I feel her out.
Please write back and let me know what you think about this particular
matter.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Generally, we discourage recruiting
someone you’re dating. Particularly when this persyn has exhibited no
independent interest in anti-imperialism. We do agree with your
seemingly cautious approach of “feeling her out” first. It is a prudent
security tactic to not expose what political work you do to someone
you’re not sure about.
Next you say ey is younger, naive and trusting, and you imply that you
will take advantage of that. That is how you create resentment. And when
people resent people associated with the movement, the movement is put
at risk. This is very likely when romance is involved. That is the
number one reason not to mix dating with recruiting. People get confused
about motivations. Recruiting friends is a little less risky, but also
has this problem. It is true that the young are more open to
revolutionary politics, which might lead us to take up tactics like
leafleting at schools. Our approach should not be to take advantage of
the young, or wimmin in general, by using characteristics caused by the
gender oppression that they face. It should rather be to tap into the
righteous resentment they might have of that gender oppression so that
they throw off the negative characteristics that it has encouraged in
them, and become revolutionaries.
In more advanced situations it can go another way where comrades start
to question whether someone is hanging around because they’re dating a
comrade or because they’re down for the struggle themselves. So for the
individual and the collective it is better to be clear and scientific
about what one’s position is.
Recruiting should always be done based on a scientific explanation of
political line. Of course, subjectivity comes into play, and there’s
nothing wrong with packaging things so they will be more attractive to
the masses (i.e. form/language). However, there is something wrong with
manipulating people based on their subjectivity to take up politics for
reasons other than their support of those politics. This leads to
confusion, both politically and interpersynally. This is really a
strategic question when we say don’t use sex, flirtation or friendship
to recruit people. Our goal is to teach people to think scientifically
and create strong, scientific organizations.
This is not to say that most people in the mass movements will be
scientific thinkers won over by purely objective motivations. So there
are tactical questions of what language and images we use in order to
present our message to the masses in ways that they can relate to.
Wearing uniforms, having good music associated with our movement, or
having famous people recommend our work are all tactics that appeal to
peoples’ subjectivism in a way that is not manipulative of the
individual and therefore threatening the movement.
At least half of our readers are in prison. And even in university or
any smaller community, you will often find people you are already
friends with becoming interested in politics. Then it becomes a skill of
separating business from pleasure. Political disagreements should not
decide friendships and vice versa. A useful tactic to use in this
situation, if you feel there might be a conflict of interest or
confusion, is to pass a friend off to another comrade to be their
primary contact and recruiter. This gives the friend more independence
to explore politics on their own terms with less pressure from
implications that political agreement with you is a requirement for that
friendship.
One new comrade who was won over to our cause reported how another
prisoner dropped a ULK in eir lap on the way to a hearing and
said, “here, you’ll like this.” Many of our subscribers report finding
ULK in the dayroom. Both of these are examples of “free
dropping,” a technique to spread our ideas as far as possible to ensure
that all who are interested have the opportunity to be exposed to them.
Finding the right balance between casting a wide net, like free
dropping, and developing new cadre one-on-one is a tough tactical
question. MIM has always erred on the side of casting a wide net. This
is based in a strategic decision that building public opinion against
imperialism is more important in our conditions than building cadre
organizations. But we need people to do more than read ULK and
our website. Whether it’s supporting MIM(Prisons) projects or not, we
need people to step up for anti-imperialism to amplify that
anti-imperialist voice and to build independent institutions of the
oppressed. The oppressed are reaching out to us every day for help. We
need more comrades to step up and build the power necessary to provide
real solutions to their problems.
This week MIM(Prisons) received sizeable contributions from both inside
and outside prisons. Whether you’re looking forward to celebrating
Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Mao Zedong’s birthday this month,
please consider supporting our work financially.
One time donations are always welcome. But we’d like to recognize the
comrades who donated this week as regular contributors. We think it is
important to have an anti-imperialist newsletter for prisoners that
comes out regularly. To do so we need to have the funds coming in
regularly and reliably. It is our regular comrades and supporters that
allow that to happen.
So where’s our Paypal link? Well, you might have to make a slightly
greater effort to donate without utilizing the infrastructure of
corporate Amerika. But if you’ve got Bitcoin, we added our
Bitcoin donate
button this year. And if you don’t think Bitcoin is anonymous enough
email us for a
Monero address to donate to. If none of that made sense to you, cash is
still king, and cash by mail is always useable. If you want to send U.S.
postage stamps, we are currently flush in 47¢ Forever stamps, but we
always need more 21¢ additional ounce stamps.
I was sitting on tier speaking with a brotha on an intellectual note on
topics in your ULK
52 issue. The thing is neither of us ever seen your publication (any
of them). After we were done another brotha handed me issue No. 52 on
his way to see the Sergeant over some writeups he got when they hit his
room. He told me “you’ll like this!”
Now before we explore my reaction to your publication you have to know
the ground on which I stand and the position I’m coming from. I’m a sex
offender. Believe it or not, not by choice, but in the state of Nevada I
knew that signing a deal would be the only way to see light again. Trial
would be death.
I read your issue from front to back. The whole time I was reading it I
wanted to write to you and tell you how I was waiting for something like
this to approach me. Then, I got to the last page and read the upcoming
themes. In No. 55 I read “Would unity with pariahs such as snitches or
child molesters ever be appropriate?” Reading that prompted me to switch
my motive to speak on this first hand. But before I can do that you need
to know a little about me.
I was raised very well with a loving family. My academics always were
“en punto.” National Honor Society – all that stuff. I spent 9 years in
the military. Leaving my family several times so spoiled brats could
remain safely at home with theirs. I have an Associates Degree, I’m
semi-fluent in Spanish, I’m halfway through obtaining a paralegal
certificate from Blackstone, I’m a writer, and I’m Black.
I will not defend child molesters or snitches but I want to shed some
light on sex offenders in general – since I am one. I have five kids so
I know the need to protect my babies. Then I found myself fighting for
my life on the very subject that I said I would kill someone over for
messing with my babies.
I had and have a different outlook now by my circumstances and by
removing my bias. After it was evident I was coming to prison I decided
to help other sex offenders (SOs) fight their cases. I obtained a
client, a pisa, who couldn’t speak English well. I fine-tooth-combed his
discovery. There was no evidence but much hearsay. Despite my help and a
paid lawyer he received a kidnapping and sexual assault charge with a
teen.
Sounds like a typical innocence story right? Well, I have more detail
that I can’t tell you but I believe he’s innocent. There are more people
in here with similar innocence claims all over the world but I wanted to
get to a point in response to your issue No. 55 question.
Prison has a caste system and SOs find their way to the bottom. We are
the lowest class in society and outside of society. I don’t like calling
myself a sex offender. In fact, I’m not, but I’m labeled as one because
my charge says that I am. My circumstances of my charge won’t allow me
to admit to being one. But it doesn’t matter what I think or say. I’ve
noticed, in my time around other SOs that they (most of them) made a
mistake or a bad choice. I’m not talking about rapists, but still, I’ve
met some very good people.
I’ve lived a very good life. I always been hard working, trustworthy,
reliable, smart and loving. I’ve learned a lot in the military
especially from visiting foreign countries. Cambodia and Iraq taught me
a lot. Before now I never been in trouble with the law. When I didn’t
have I still gave. And I still do. I run store in my unit but it’s not
for me. The profit takes care of who I choose, who I believe is the less
fortunate. If somehow I can make one person see that sex offenders are
human, I made a difference. I would like to be a force to help unite
all. The sex offender label shouldn’t disqualify people in a movement
bigger than us because if it does – would that really be socialism?
MIM(Prisons) responds: “Sex offenders” in general are seen as
pariahs who can’t be touched, and certainly can’t be part of a
progressive movement. But as this comrade points out, people are labeled
as sex offenders by our enemies, and we have no reason to take their
word for it. How many people behind bars are unjustly sentenced or even
innocent? Why do prisoners know this is true for people convicted of
other crimes, but condemn all convicted sex offenders on the word of the
criminal injustice system?
Our society encourages rape. Movies, music, advertising, porn, it’s all
pushing coercion and sex. Rape is coerced sex, and in a patriarchal
society it’s impossible to set up a relationship where both people are
totally equal. There are differences in income, social status, beauty,
educational achievement, etc. etc. All these things have become part of
what people find attractive and we are indoctrinated to believe these
inequalities are sexy.
We don’t let people off the hook for knowingly committing violence
against other people. But we also know that people are a product of
their culture and we need to push for the re-education of people if we
hope to build a society where all people truly are equal. Because of
this, we must also judge people based on what they do, and not a label
put on them by the criminal injustice system. We agree with this writer
that people make mistakes, and that they can change.
First, before we erect or construct anything we must have a strong
foundation, a base – so to speak. Otherwise the whole structure will
eventually collapse. That said, we must focus most of our energy and
efforts on building a base inside prison, then work our way outwards.
Once we are well-rooted, it will be easy to branch out by sending our
ideology to the streets with serious minded brothas/sistas who will push
the movement out there. However, that is not to say that we shouldn’t be
trying to build out there right now.
Thus, we must advocate for the development of a movement rooted in the
revolutionary tradition that looks out for the interests of all
oppressed people as a whole, opposes fratricidal violence
(black-on-black, brown-on-brown) and work to develop an alliance with
other social movements outside prison.
Secondly, we must understand that even small movements, because they
include people with different ideas, reveal political debates over next
steps, practical objectives, potential allies, and movement tactics. The
idea and politics that guide a specific movement have a profound effect
on its ultimate direction as well as on the activists involved. But, the
guiding politics of social movement don’t simply appear out of thin air.
Rank-and-file BPP members themselves invented the armed self-defense
tactics just as rank-and-file civil rights leaders developed the civil
disobedience and non-violent protest strategy, and these members had to
win others to these new tactics through a process of political debate
and experience. They were leading with their ideas and testing them in
practice.
Political leadership is just this: individuals, with the experience of
struggle, can advance ideas and tactics that will strengthen the
movement and develop to help prepare it for the next stages in struggle
– whether economic, political, or ideological.
Huey P. Newton and others recognized the importance of uniting oppressed
people into a political party that could act as a unit, providing
leadership and an important counter-weight to the overbearing power of
the capitalist state.
I’m going to finish with a quote from one of the leaders of the Black
Power movement, who said “when a people arises, when it develops
awareness, when it is convinced of the righteousness of its actions,
there is nothing that can stop it. The people sweep aside all obstacles
placed in their path like a whirlwind cleaning out all the dirt in a
country.”
Now, we have a lot of work to do before we can go around making claims
like that. But this idea that we need to be building inside right now
is, I think, the only perspective that fits when you understand that
we’re looking at a war against the system that is being launched from
within, and when you understand the scale of resistance that is
necessary.
People are receptive to the “idea” of resisting, but they’re doing so in
a context in which their revolutionary spirit is very weak and needs to
be ignited. But, this is the task of our generation, and I think these
kinds of ideas we are building on now are all about the process of
trying to rebuild that Black revolutionary fighting anti-capitalist
regime.
MIM(Prisons) adds: “Unity from the inside out” is a slogan that
United Struggle from Within has used in promoting the development of
unity among and between lumpen organizations (LOs) in prison. This
slogan echoes the strategy promoted above of building a strong prison
movement to affect the rest of society. Sloganeering is one of the
tactical tasks necessary to build an effective anti-imperialist
movement. Good slogans are based in mass line. This means taking correct
ideas from the masses and reinforcing them through propaganda. Finding
effective slogans and language that connects the mass consciousness to
the revolutionary struggle should be a focus of USW. This is part of
what it means to provide leadership as the comrade describes above.