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 am writing as a representative of the Five Percent Nation of Gods and
Earths(5PNGE). Although I cannot speak in authority on behalf of all
Five Percenters, I aim to show how our nation’s fundamental principles
are in line with those of the
United Front
for Peace in Prison.
The
first
principle of PEACE is in line with the third principle of “What we
will Achieve.” Peace being the absence of confusion and chaos within
ourselves, our communities, our nation, and the world. The attainment of
PEACE in any fashion stems first from education and the subsequent
enlightenment of the individual. Once the oppressed are emancipated from
the mental slavery that results from the thorough indoctrination of
self-destructive concepts presented by the imperialist elite, then we
can truly stand together and defend ourselves from the now known enemy.
The imperialist machine has done a great job of placing false labels
upon us to keep us separated rendering us unable to attain any true
Umoja amongst ourselves.
The first principle of “What we will achieve” (National Consciousness)
is in line with the principles of Unity, Growth, and Internationalism in
that national consciousness is the awareness that “we are all one
people, regardless of geographical origins and that we must work and
struggle as one if we are to liberate ourselves from the domination of
outside forces” and destroy white supremacy, white privilege and
imperialism once and for all. The labels Latino, African Amerikan,
Asian, and Native American only help to separate us and keep us from
realizing that we are only truly one people who share a common history.
Somos originales. As the descendants of the fathers and mothers of
civilization we have an obligation to humanity to restore the true
culture of communal living and peace.
Now although the 5PNGE seeks to unite people of color and firmly resist
white supremacy/privilege in all its forms, we do not exclude whites
from our ranks. This transition is difficult for many whites because
they are forced to realize that the overwhelming cultural history of
Europeans consists of colonialism, murder, enslavement, and general
exploitation of the world’s inhabitants. After coming under study and
rejecting this devilish, destructive legacy they have the opportunity to
join the struggle of the Original People and overthrow the Devils
Un-civilization (the imperialist machine).
The 5PNGE finds independence through the second principle of “what we
will achieve”: community control. This consists of regaining control of
the educational, economic, political, media, and health institutions
within our communities for ourselves. We must have control on the
collective level so that we can maintain and advance the civilization.
The current political/socio-economic system does not serve us as a
people because it was not established for us. The United $nakes of
Amerikkka (as well as all other imperialist countries that make up
un-civilization) was born on the backs of the exploited class. It is
futile to rely on the slave masters for substance when we have in us the
tools to sustain ourselves in a more productive manner than any program
the current system may provide.
Now although ULK serves as a forum for political and
revolutionary discourse, it is the responsibility of all within the
5PNGE as well as all other LOs as part of the United Front for Peace in
Prison to educate those individuals still blinded by the propaganda of
the mainstream. Revolutionary education will build revolutionary minds
equipped with the tools to make revolutionary actions. Remember
P.E.A.C.E. Positive Education Always Corrects Errors.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Overall we have a lot of unity with this
comrade, which demonstrates the ability of organizations with different
ideologies to unite on common principles. We agree it is the goal of the
United Front for Peace in Prisons to unite lumpen organizations in the
struggle while pushing them to a higher level of political action and
understanding. We hope that others with 5PNGE will take up this
comrade’s call for unity of the oppressed and all who oppose
imperialism. 5PNGE takes a religious focused approach to the struggle,
while Maoists use the scientific method based in dialectical
materialism, but when we both arrive at the same anti-imperialist
conclusions then we we have fundamental unity at this stage in the
struggle.
I recently returned from a trip to federal court in Harrisburg
Pennsylvania. As I re-entered these battered walls of this prison I
cringed and rejoiced because the conditions of the temp prison I was at
are far worse than Huntingdon. SCI Camp Hill “AKA White Hill” is known
for beating, starving, humiliating, and much more. I was housed in the
SMU portion of the jail. It’s a long-term disciplinary unit. I was
banged off every door from booking to the unit, which was no surprise.
There we got three cold meals a day, no yard, no shower. That place is
crazy. I passed your address along and let the brothers know that there
are people who care about these conditions of the PA prison system.
These pigs, all ex-military, are overweight, out of shape, and
relentless.
As I entered back to the RHU part of Huntingdon I was greeted with
“there he is!” “That’s the Rat!” I was puzzled, I’ve never told on
anyone in my life. I did a little research and learned that while I was
away a couple pigs were telling other prisoners I was ratting on them
for passing stuff. We came to the conclusion that my letter to the
Department of Justice made these pigs mad. I wrote a letter to the
Department of Justice in Washington naming several COs chewing snuff and
spitting it in our food, the mice that run this place, the lack of heat,
and the neglect of a young Spanish boy who hung himself. The boy
survived only because we were kicking our doors and yelling for help. He
was in a camera cell with 24 hours live feed to a screen in the RHU
bubble, but the pigs were watching TV and playing on the computer while
this young man was trying to end his life. So I’m a rat for helping my
fellow man. We straightened that all out, and now the pigs are our
target once again.
I try to stress to these young brothers, we can’t oppress each other. We
are already being oppressed by the PA DOC. I tell them if you feel like
oppressing another prisoner, take it out on the pigs. I’m spreading
copies of all you send me, I’d like to know about how to start a study
group here. I want to push your theory it seems to be positive growth
material.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We commend this comrade for taking on the
“Rat” label head on and clearing his name with his fellow prisoners so
that he could continue his organizing work. As
point
2 of the United Front principles states, “To maintain unity we have
to keep an open line of networking and communication, and ensure we
address any situation with true facts.” To help prisoners like this one,
we run a study group through the mail that provides basic political
education, and we also have a guide to forming study groups in prison,
so that people can take what they learn and share it with others and
have discussions in the yard or wherever else it is possible to gather
and talk. Write to us for more information.
“I was born in jail.” This was Stokely Carmichael’s response to a
Swedish reporter in 1967 when asked if he was afraid of being sent to
jail for helping to organize the Black nation for national liberation
and self-determination.(1) In making this very poignant statement,
Stokely Carmichael was putting forward the correct political analysis,
referring to the prison-like conditions of the Black nation and other
internal semi-colonies of Amerika at the time. It’s been 45 years since
then and a string of reformist struggles have proceeded. The completion
of the civil rights movement, the appointment of the first Black U.$.
Supreme Court “Justice,” and the election of the first Black pre$ident.
But have the material conditions of the Black nation truly changed when
compared to other First Worlders? According to the Census Bureau
statistics for the year 2006, which show more Blacks and Latinos are
living in prison cells than college dorms, they have not.(2)
A new documentary titled “The Violence Interruptors: One Year In a City
Grappling with Violence” makes this point ever-so-clear. This
documentary centers on an imperialist-funded lumpen organization from
the streets of Chicago whose membership is primarily made up of ex-gang
members. For the most part they have all done some serious time for some
serious crimes, but upon their release made a commitment to themselves
and their communities that they would help stop the pointless violence
that takes so many lives.
These ex-gang members call themselves “Violence Interruptors,” which is
a reference to their pacifist tactics. They are funded by the Illinois
Department of Corrections, Cook County Board of Commissioners and the
U.$. Department of Justice, among others. They run the Violence
Interruptors under the guise of the non-profit organization called Cease
Fire. The initial idea of the Violence Interruptors program was proposed
and partly funded by Dr. Gary Slutkin, who upon returning to Chicago
from a medical tour of Africa saw the dire straits of the oppressed here
and drew parallels to the African experience. But the organization’s
true roots date back to Jeff Fort, whose life centered around his
leadership in a Chicago lumpen organization that had one foot in Black
nationalism and one in drugs and gang banging.
In federal prison from 1972 to 1976 due to his use of War on Poverty
money from the government, Fort took up aspects of Islam and rebranded
and restructured the Almighty Black P. Stone Nation when he got out.
Along with other leading members, and at times working with the police,
he worked to build peace between lumpen organizations and to keep crack
out of Chicago. But of course the Amerikan government never likes to see
the oppressed come together for the betterment of our people, even if at
first they pretend to agree with what we’re doing. So they had Fort
arrested and sent back to prison on trumped up terrorism charges, where
he remains today. Having successfully neutralized Fort and other early
leaders, the Stones today remain a largely divided umbrella for many
sets of gang bangers across Chicago, the status quo preferred by the
state.(3)
Carrying on Fort’s legacy, Ameena Mathews, a former gangster and Jeff
Fort’s daughter, is a Violence Interruptor. Mathews, like other Violence
Interruptors, is no stranger to the streets and sees it as her own
persynal responsibility to stop the violence, even if it means putting
her own life at risk. An example of this is caught on film when during
an interview for the documentary that’s being given inside of her home,
a fight breaks out on the street. Recognizing that even a one-on-one
situation has the potential to turn deadly, she immediately rushed out
to try and bring peace to the quickly-growing crowd. While attempting to
calm everyone down, a young man saw a rock hurling at his cousin and
sacrificially put himself in the line of fire to protect her. He was hit
in the mouth. Afterwards threats are made with the promise of gunplay to
come, but Mathews quickly ushers the victim away and tells him that he’s
the real gangsta because he defended his family and defending their
families is what true gangsters do.
Eddie Bocanegra, aka “Bandit,” is another Violence Interruptor who did
14 years for murder, but who, during his imprisonment, went thru a
period of reflection. He recognized that he not only fucked up his life
but that of his family and the family of the person he killed. Now on
the streets Bandit admits to having identified pride with his gang but
now sees that it was all pointless. Besides being a Violence
Interruptor, Bandit also visits schools across Chicago in an attempt to
counsel oppressed nation youth who might find themselves in similar
situations to the ones he once did.
In the film, a delegation from South Africa requested to meet the
Violence Interruptors during a recent visit to the United $tate$ in
order to find out their secret to keeping the peace. Yet, the delegation
became critical of one of the Interruptors’ policies, which is to never
involve the pigs in the community’s affairs. The delegation argued that
the Interruptors were not “neutral enough.” The Interruptors responded
that this was the reason that they were so effective within the
community, because the community knows they can confide in and trust the
Interruptors with their problems without the fear of being sold out.
Certainly the masses are correct to think this way. Problems that arise
within the community should be dealt with by the community. To bring in
the pigs is only to justify the oppression and occupation of the
internal semi-colonies and oppressed communities. The potential problem
we see with the Interruptors is that the state is happy to fund them as
independent mediators for small meaningless violence, but how do the
Interruptors deal with community organizations that are not
state-funded, and may come into conflict with the state? The
Interruptors present themselves as an independent force, but their
funding tells us otherwise.
One indication of the Interruptors’ reputation with the community occurs
when the family of a young murder victim receives word that his funeral
is gonna be shot up by gang members looking for their original target.
So seemingly effective and revered are the Interruptors that the murder
victim’s family calls them to provide security instead of the police. At
the end of the ceremony, Ameena Mathews gives a fiery speech in which
she righteously calls out all the gang members in attendance and
struggles with them to “get real” with their lives because that dead
body they were all there paying their respects to was certainly real,
and “it don’t get more real than that!”
While the documentary was being filmed, sections of the Woodlawn
neighborhood, an epicenter of violent drama, came into conflict over a
plan to militarize Chicago using the National Guard. The plan was
developed by politicians with some members of the community. By building
a real, independent peace in oppressed communities, we can eliminate the
divisions within oppressed communities triggered by the wild behavior of
lumpen youth and form a united front to keep the state’s occupation out.
The section of the community that spoke out against the call for
militarization knows that the National Guard will not provide more
safety, only more oppression. This shows that just because the state has
gotten smarter about how to control its internal semi-colonies does not
mean that they no longer see the need for armed force.
Jeff Fort and the Almighty Black P. Stone Nation’s peace activism legacy
lives on in the new federally-funded Violence Interruptors. Similarly,
the once largely popular efforts of the Gangster Disciples to hold peace
summits in Chicago has evolved into a project that works closely with
the political machine of the state. Amerika has proven unable to solve
the problems that have plagued the ghetto for generations. While Amerika
was worried about what the Stones or the GDs might become, they were
scared of what the Panthers already were. They drugged and shot Fred
Hampton at age 21, while they eventually sent Fort and Larry Hoover to
supermax prison cells with very limited contact with the outside world.
While Barack Obama has thousands of people murdered across Africa and
the Middle East, we see the level of criminality one must have to become
a successful Black leader out of Chicago in this country. The
imperialist-funded non-profits use pacifism for the oppressed, while
painting mass murder for the oppressor nation as “spreading democracy.”
Many think that the Violence Interruptors have people power, but in fact
they do not, for they wouldn’t even exist if they didn’t have the
blessing of the oppressors. While the short-term goal of the
Interruptors is to “stop the violence,” the long-term goal of the
oppressors in creating the Interruptors is to stop the violence from
spilling over onto themselves. They do this by not just co-opting
grassroots attempts by the people to overcome their oppression and bring
peace to the hood, but by creating organizations such as the Violence
Interruptors which in the final analysis are nothing more than sham
organizations; it is the bourgeoisie laughing at us.
In the Third World the bourgeoisie forms shadow organization and calls
them “communist” in order to split the people and stop them from
launching a People’s War. In the imperialist countries, like here in the
U.$., they either co-opt or infiltrate and wreck those organizations
already in existence. While the Panthers were given nothing but the
stick, the Stones themselves were easily distracted from the path of the
Panthers with the carrot of a little money from the War on Poverty.
After destroying any independent mass movements, the imperialists allow
and even encourage groups that promote integration or confuse the
masses.
While it is true that there is only so much that we can do for the
betterment of our class given our current position as oppressed nations
within the belly of the beast, we must also recognize the importance of
social consciousness on social being and stop letting the circumstances
of our imprisonment both in here and on the street dictate to us the
confines of our reality. We must come together and build our reality. We
must come together and build our own institutions that are there to
serve us; institutions of the oppressed. The Black Panthers had this
power and we can too. We must learn to reject the bourgeois notion of
power, which is only crude power and serves to oppress and exploit. This
type of power is currently exhibited by many LOs, both in here and on
the streets.
While commending those individuals within the Violence Interruptors who
really are trying to do their part to stop the violence, we must also
draw a clear line between fighting for self-determination of the
oppressed and serving as the friendly face of the imperialist state. We
need more allies on the streets doing this work in support of the
efforts of MIM(Prisons) and USW in building peace on the inside. Only by
building our own institutions of the oppressed will we truly be able to
stop the violence that takes so many lives and keeps a substantial
portion of oppressed nation youth behind bars.
Brown and Black Unite! All Power to the Oppressed!
In the vision of our great leader, growth starts on an individual level;
to reach the great discovery you got to have self-growth. Once you reach
that then as a nation, as a movement, we can develop. That’s where the
three Ds come in - Dedication, Determination & Discipline. The three
Ds in self are three keys to reaching development. Our great leader
tells us to let these concepts reside in our hearts & be guiding
light for us. Everyone wants to change the world but our honorable
chairman tells us revolution starts with self: educate yourself, be
dedicated, determined & disciplined, grow as individuals then we can
develop as a nation. That’s the “Blueprint” and the 21st Century
concepts for GD are all based on this.
I wouldn’t say we are a revolutionary organization but fo’sho’ we are
political and struggle and strive for success in everything we do. To
the
Revolutionary
Gangstas, I preach that to you brothers, regardless of all else,
always strive & struggle for success. Educate yourself on the new
concepts of GD. As for Ras Uhuru, the Growth & Development movement
is obviously something you don’t have a full understanding of either
because the four stages of GD start at Gangster Disciple and end in a
Great Discovery. Maybe these brothers in South Carolina have not reached
past the first stage of GD. But to be aware is to be alive and so I
strongly advocate that all of these brothers from Mr. Uhuru on down to
the Revolutionary Gangstas educate themselves about a movement before
speaking up on it.
The Growth & Development is FOC - For Our Children, For Our
Community, For Our Cause. The new struggle is for education, politics,
economics, unity, organization & social development. Get on point
brothers and keep ya shields up and your swords sharp, and always seek
and share in the vision of our great leader - Free King Larry Hoover!
MIM(Prisons) responds: First, we hope everyone can agree that
Under Lock & Key is not the place to have internal debates
within other organizations. If there are disagreements within a group
about what the group should stand for, those debates should happen
within those organizations’ own independent means of communication. At
the same time, we print statements from other organizations to establish
where MIM(Prisons) has unity with them, and to struggle where we
disagree. This is a key principle to ideological development for all of
us.
We printed the article by Ras Uhuru in particular because we thought it
brought up an important concern, which is that we should promote unity
whenever it exists. Ras Uhuru’s criticism of the Revolutionary Gangstas
statement was that it could be read as an implied criticism of Growth
& Development, but without any substance. We agreed with Ras Uhuru
on this and printed h article in response. Ras Uhuru also felt that the
Revolutionary Gangstas should be working for better understanding and
unity within their organization as opposed to forming a new
organization. This may or may not have been good advice, as this would
depend on the conditions these comrades faced on the ground.
As for the position of the responder above, we agree that one must
educate oneself first, and that struggling within allows for greater
unity with others. This is also true for organizations, which must
develop greater internal understanding and unity before they can ever
unite with others (see
Ras
Uhuru’s article on United Front). While pushing many positive
principles that align with the United Front, the author above states
clearly that s/he does not see hself as part of a revolutionary
organization. This is a good example of what a United Front looks like.
There are clear differences between MIM(Prisons) and GD (even if this
author’s vision is disputed by others). And yet we can agree on the
certain key principles that we both think will further the goals of our
respective organizations.
It just so happens that “Growth,” the third
principle
of the United Front addresses this point. The United Front principle
of “Growth” states in part, “We support members within our organization
who leave and embrace other political organizations and concepts that
are within the anti-imperialist struggle.” So we are not idealistic in
promoting unity; we know that sometimes groups will not want to unite
with us even if some of their membership does. We know individuals will
leave organizations, and sometimes whole organizations will split. But
this should be done in a principled way, with clear political
explanations and an attempt to maintain good relations as long as we are
all still moving in the same general direction as a United Front.
This is AR-15 of USW. My new LO’s name is Magnanimous Peace Manifesto
Movement. As a lumpen organization, we are devoted in uniting together
for world socialism and peace in prisons and the world beyond these
walls and gates. We agree to uphold the statement of principles set
forth by MIM(Prisons) and our fellow comrades in this
United
Front for Peace in Prisons.
As the founder of this organization, I began by addressing the needs
that needed to be addressed in the control unit known as the “Intensive
Supervision Unit” (ISU) here at the Cimarron Correctional Facility in
Cushing, Oklahoma. I spoke to the contract monitor from the Oklahoma DOC
and our unit team about what needs to be done in order for prisoners to
succeed in our struggle for betterment.
One of the main issues was education amongst rehabilitative programs. A
treaty was developed and the oppressor is going to provide the
following: 1. Education for those prisoners who have educational
needs 2. ESL for our Latino Nations; and 3. Rehabilitative
programs, e.g. thinking for a change
This treaty has been placed into action as of 20 May 2011. To this end,
revolution is on the rise!
The Magnanimous Peace Manifesto Movement was formed to promote better
growth and development amongst our comrades. Though educational work is
a part of our mission, we represent peace, unity, and growth. We believe
that there can be no achievement without sacrifice, and a man’s worldly
success will be in the measure that he sacrifices his confused-animal
thoughts and fixes his mind on the development of his plans, and the
strengthening of his resolution and self-reliance. He who would
accomplish l title must sacrifice little, he who would achieve much must
sacrifice much, and he who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.
MPMM is focused on reforms within all U.$. prisons because we’ve all
(Lumpen Organizations) come together as a collective whole in a United
Front for Peace.
We uphold the Statement of Principles established by MIM(Prisons) and
other Lumpen Organizations in the United Front for Peace.
Revolutionary - one who takes part in a sudden,
radical, or complete change especially the overthrow or renunciation of
one ruler or government and substitution of another by the governed.
Gang - a group of persons working or associated
together, esp a group of criminals or young delinquents. Also: mob,
band, clan, club, crew, pack, ring, team, crowd, horde, posse, circle,
clique, outfit, friends, syndicate.
When the word gang comes into play especially by the media (i.e. radio,
television and newspaper) why is it always associated with negative
energy? We as members of lumpen organizations have effectively allowed
ourselves to be boxed into a stereotype of negativity and successfully
strayed from our paths as revolutionaries. It seems that we as
revolutionaries fighting for an extreme, radical change to and for our
environment have allowed ourselves to become radically changed by unseen
puppet masters thus detouring us from our way of righteousness.
As members of the lumpen organizations known as Crips and Bloods, we
were formed on the heels of the Black power era to override the
oppression and destruction of our inner city neighborhoods and take up
the baton passed to us by our forefathers to continue this fight for
liberation for the people. How have we regressed from a “group of
persons working or associated together” for a noble, common cause to a
“group of criminals and young delinquents”?! We have allowed ourselves
to be labeled “menace to society” by our true enemy (the U.$.
government) but instead of refusing that moniker, we have embraced it
and fallen into line like cattle to a slow slaughter.
History, true history, clearly shows what is happening: covert
government operations, such as the counter intelligence program
(COINTELPRO), are infiltrating our ranks and using their art of “divide
and rule” to weaken us from the inside out. For all of us still living
in darkness; the light of the matter is that this oppressive government
tactic is working and has worked for decades! By pitting our respective
families against each other, they allow us to set our own limitations on
our growth and development. By keeping the lumpen organizations at each
others throats, the government can deal with each faction as an
individual. This has to change! Only by stifling our generations of
feuding can we begin to focus on bigger and better things; only then can
we focus on the rebuilding of the urban communities that we have helped
tear down.
When J. Edgar Hoover initiated his counterintelligence program, to
combat the
Black
Panthers and other Black nationalists, it was a form of genocide.
They threatened to destroy anybody in the Black community who was a
leader, anybody! So, they declared war on us 40-45 years ago and that
war is still going on right now. That is why those in power are so
afraid of our unification, because you can only keep an oppressed person
or people down for so long. Then when unification comes, all of us have
the same enemy and they can’t have that because we become a united body
fighting in solidarity with focus, determination and rage against the
machine!
For us in the “department of corruption” we are already united in our
suffering and our daily repression. We face the same common enemy, we
are trapped in the same oppressive conditions. We wear the same
“plantation” clothing, we are brutalized by the same racist, prejudiced
pigs. We are one people, no matter your hood, set, creed or nationality,
we know we need unity but we need a different kind of unity than we have
at present. We want to move from unity in oppression to unity in serving
the people and striving towards national independence and liberation.
Crip, Blood, Vice Lord, Gangster Disciple, Latin King, it makes no
difference; we are all brothers of the same struggle. The sooner we all
overstand this concept the better. We are revolutionaries, but without
every individual of every feuding family taking a step for peace, there
can be no change. Without change, there can be no revolution.
“Revolution is about change, and the first place where change takes
place is within yourself.” - Assata Shakur
MIM(Prisons) adds: The
United Front
for Peace in Prisons was initiated in 2011 to bring together those
with an interest in revolutionary organizing. This comrade echoes the
principle of Unity that is inherent in the shared conditions imprisoned
lumpen class.
As this comrade explains, to achieve unity in practice, we must come
together and resist the state-sponsored work to undermine that unity. It
is not the labels that matter, but rather our actions that will make a
real difference. We must judge individuals by their actions, regardless
of their affiliation, location, or background.
[The following is in response to a United Front (UF) statement from
a group calling itself
“Revolutionary
Gangstas.” Unfortunately, due to almost extremely widespread in
South Carolina, we have not been able to get a response from them. On
our website we continue to print solidarity statements with the UF, one
of which is from the
United
Gangsta Nation, who was also sent some of these criticisms, but has
not responded. We are printing this belatedly to voice the concerns
brought up, and further all of our efforts at building a United Front.
As with most letters we receive, the author’s words below have been
edited for brevity and clarity.]
Confusion most often is the agent provocateur’s most precious tool to
plow furrows in the soil of a lumpen formation, so to plant the bacillus
seeds of annihilation.
This process is done by three means: (1) Those agent provocateurs who
willingly work with the oppressors. (2) Those unconscious agent
provocateurs whose behavior is so reckless and contrary to their
formation or movement that they kick up enough dust and problems for the
oppressor to use their actions to either plant and kill or as
justification for more oppression and suppression. (3) The third type,
while not agent provocateurs, can cause just as much damage. This third
is “uneducated members” of a movement or formation who misrepresent that
movement by stating or doing things inconsistent with the official
position.
The brothers in ULK 21 from South Carolina state they are
founding members of a formation they call
“Revolutionary
Gangstas.” However, on the 21st line they also say they are “members
of the Gangster Disciples,” which is GD’s former nomenclature.
I have a serious aversion with the misinformation, confusion and
incorrectness that’s being presented. First, if these brothers are
“learned men” in that former nomenclature, they would not step into this
LO revolutionary vita theater using defunct nomenclature that’s
inconsistent and contrary to the leader of that defunct LO’s official
position.
Secondly, they would know that LO is now officially and publicly moving
within, and a vanguard in, the same principles of the United Front for
Peace in the Vision of the Growth and Development Movement. Therefore,
no “new” interior formation is required to be part of the UF for Peace.
If these brothers wish to be part of the peace front, do so as believers
of the Vision of Growth and Development, not as Revolutionary Gangstas.
As a secondary note, almost anyone can and has come to be “gangsta;”
however being “gangster” as in Gangster Disciple (when it was in
operation) was a privilege and entitlement that one had to learn and
earn. It was not no fad or cartooning. Too many died for it to be
cheaply commercialized into the hip hop distorted concept of gangsta.
Cease and desist.
If someone was educated in the Vision of Growth and Development, they
would know that that whole gangster concept was put into the box of
self-defense and selective reactionary response because our visionary
teacher and his trusted companions recognized prudently how inferior
that gangster could be in respect to our vision for real and true
Revolutionary Growth and Development.
As men and intelligent thinkers and doers, we know that being gangster
has its limitations that go against our vision. Therefore being gangster
became a contradiction in practice and principle and needed to be put in
its proper context, i.e. self-defense and selective reactionary
revolutionary response only.
Our uniqueness is sublimated because we have been there, done that, and
perfected that. Anyone who still holds such attachments are still
asleep. Our visionary teacher has made it clear and has supplied us with
the blueprint and tools to become that reclaiming power and force we
need to be to matriculate within the formations of the struggles of USW
and UF for Peace.
Way before the UF for Peace came into play, our vision has been
instructing us through the Universal Laws of Existence that the “Love”
of “Life” and the correct “loyalty” to it by applied “dedication”,
“determination” and “discipline” will produce in us a “knowledge”,
“wisdom,” and “understanding” that will bring an inner peace and will be
able to have unity and from there some “growth” and independence. And by
implication, internationalism comes naturally because our vision is
universal.
So if these brothers are serious, then do so by being properly educated
and live, act and be all you can be as one within the vision.
I leave, as I come. One in the Vision of Growth and Development and a
vanguard in the USW and UF for Peace. A student’s teacher.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We are printing this discussion to work on
two of the principles of the United Front for Peace. The first is
unity, which requires communication and true facts. In
addition, the principle of growth requires that we all strive
to educate ourselves and each other. While we are still in the beginning
stages of building united front, we are not the first to walk this path.
Those with experience to share should submit their analysis of that
experience to ULK so that others can learn from it.
From day one MIM(Prisons) has been aware of the many problems we would
face printing statements from individuals or small groups that claimed
affiliation to larger organizations. We are wary of the problem of
prisoners using ULK’s prestige to launch new pet projects with
no real leadership, while recognizing that we are in a stage where
small, isolated groups of anti-imperialists are stepping out to join
forces and dialogue with each other. At our last congress we made a
self-criticism for promoting anarchism around ideas of the cell
structure and united front. We corrected this deviation with the
resolution
Building
New Groups vs. Working with USW and MIM(Prisons). This resolution
should also be considered in relation to lumpen organizations (LOs) by
their members. The lumpen class has contradictions within it, and we
should not dismiss the successes that LOs independent of the state have
had in overcoming these contradictions and uniting large numbers of
people over extended periods of time.
In the statement from the Revolutionary Gangstas in ULK 21 they
make a criticism that could be extrapolated to a whole, large
organization. While “Revolutionary Gangstas” is providing an
alternative, it is not one with a practice MIM(Prisons) can vouch for.
To the extent that printing their statement suggested that they were a
better alternative to Growth and Development, MIM(Prisons) was
misleading the masses.
We
addressed
a similar issue in ULK 17 when a former Latin King wrote us to
criticize those affiliated with the group in his area. There we wrote,
“For the lumpen to be internally critical is a necessary step for the
development of a proletarian consciousness among the oppressed inside
U.$. borders. However, to print public criticisms without providing real
alternatives and leadership does more harm than good.”
As our comrade expands on in subsequent writings, we do need better
leadership and we do need to develop our analysis. But we should not
criticize existing leadership until we have a viable alternative and
existing leadership has rejected it. Our class analysis tells us that
the oppressed nation lumpen organizations are our friends, and we should
approach them from the standpoint of unity-criticism-unity.
As we recognize Growth and Development for their leadership and
experience in this arena, we would not use the word “vanguard” to refer
to them as Ras Uhuru does, as we reserve this term for those
organizations that uphold the most correct proletarian line. Part of
developing correct political leadership means taking up true
internationalism. Ras Uhuru refers to internationalism being inherent in
a vision that is universal. But organizations of various class interests
too easily claim “internationalism” via identity politics or just vague
phrases as in the example above. As stated in the
5
principles of the United Front for Peace in Prisons,
internationalism means that “We cannot liberate ourselves when
participating in the oppression of other nations.” As citizens and
residents of the most powerful country in the world we have a long way
to go to prove our own internationalism.
In the spirit of unity-criticism-unity we appreciate the feedback we
continue to get from our allies in various LOs who are working to make
the United Front a reality.
I’ve written this missive on behalf of the Black Mass Army. We represent
a multicultural group of individuals that is committed to destroying the
weapons of mass destruction: imperialism, fascism, racism, police
brutality, ignorance, and mental slavery. We support the United Front
for Peace in Prisons Statement of Principles. Our political philosophy
“to cure the sickness to save the patient” is our goal by liberating one
prisoner at a time through education, revolutionary science, human
psychology and self-defense.
Oppression is worse than slaughter and this hellish reality of mass
incarceration is the culmination of U.$. state power and its
constitution. We believe and practice the ideology of Ho Chi Minh. We
use revolutionary science and this means we take the ideas of the masses
(scattered and unsystematic ideas) and concentrate them thru study, then
turning them into concentrated and systematic ideas. We then go to the
masses and reproduce, spread info and explain these revolutionary ideas
until the masses embrace them as their own, hold fast to them and
translate them into action and test the correctness of these
revolutionary ideas in such actions.
We will stand together with you and defend ourselves from the
repressive, tyrannical, draconian, ruthless, unjust dictatorship of
imperialism of U.$. bureaucracy. This is what we want and this is what
we believe so that the oppressed will have a revolutionary knowledge of
his/her self and this spirit must never be suppressed or repressed for
the exploitation of others because the human whole is geometrical; “the
whole is not greater than the sum of its parts.” This means that The
Black Mass Army wants freedom, liberation, security of our communities
so that we can determine the destiny of the world’s oppressed people
against the controller, thereby uniting the mind with the body.
Because of the United Front for Peace in Prisons Statement of Principles
the U.$. prison industrial complex cannot be victorious. The walls,
bars, and guards cannot conquer or hold down an idea. We sign on and you
have our support 110% x 110%. We are a movement within the Virginia
State Prisons.
While reading the last few issues of ULK I have seen a theme
which has appeared in the past concerning Special Needs Yards (SNY).
Every state has its version of SNY. Whether it is called Ad-Seg, PC or
SNY is a matter of the “weak.”(1) People end up on SNY for all kinds of
reasons. We have a whole pantry full of names for such people: PCs,
catch outs, drop outs, victims, rats, rapos, cho-mos, or whatever the
case may be.
When a person enters the penal system in the U.S. they are instantly
thrown into a chaotic world of racial, religious and gang hatreds
complicated by competing interests, decades-old animosities and a
complex and contradictory idea system that we call the “convict code.”
All of that is coupled with the prison administration’s coercive nature
of “rehabilitation.” The continued conversation over special needs yards
demonstrates that many of us cannot see past the “institutional
personalities” that the prison system forces on us.
The reality, whether one wants to face it or not, is many so-called PCs
have been the ones that have fought for and secured many of the “rights”
we have as prisoners. In the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Farmer v. Brennan 114 S.Ct.
1970, the prisoner was a so-called “weak” element. Farmer was a
long-time prisoner rights advocate. It’s ironic that the very people who
point the finger at SNY prisoners then cite those same prisoners’ cases
to protect their own rights.
As prisoner activists one of our first goals should be in protecting the
weakest and most vulnerable among us. Sometimes that means you have to
overcome your own personal prejudices, fears and attitudes which might
have developed as a result of the polluted psychological environment in
prison. It also means careful self-examination. Socrates wrote, “do not
do to others what angers you if done to you by others.”(2) That is a
concept we all could stand to reflect on.
Every person has their own cross to bear. We shouldn’t add our weight to
someone else’s burden. I welcome the input of so-called SNY or PC
prisoners. I have no interest in making their time harder. The first and
primary concern we should have is how to collectively work together to
secure rights and improve prison conditions and, second, to further
political goals as they relate to the first. What we shouldn’t do is
victimize each other or conform to an institutional personality that
hinders political reform.
To an amazing extent, my organization, Mandingo Warriors, would like to
put our strength with your strength and unite as one, under one common
cause - the United Front for Peace in Prisons. It is our honor to be
listed as an affiliate of the United Front for Peace in Prisons.
The Mandingo Warriors are a non-disruptive organization in Texas prisons
which was formed to protect each other from harm and defend our
community from oppressors. We strive to improve spiritually, morally,
mentally, politically and economically. Our concepts and principles are
no different than the United Front organization: peace, unity, growth,
internationalism and independence. We study and uphold the five
principles, our cause is not about self-destruction and mis-educating
the people. Instead our purpose is to educate the people and uplift our
people from fallen humanity. We will incorporate no different principles
into our cause than the United Front’s five divine principles. We will
help promote peace and unity between factions where we are at on the
basis of opposing oppression of all prisoners and oppressed people in
general.