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.
“The lumpen has no choice but to manifest its rebellion in the
university of the streets. It’s very important to recognize that the
streets belong to the lumpen, and that it is in the streets that lumpen
will make their rebellion.” - On the Ideology of the Black Panther
Party, Eldridge Cleaver 1970
The recent killing of two New York City (NYC) cops must be viewed as a
conscious act of war taking place within the context of national
oppression, just as the killing of Eric Garner and countless others from
the oppressed internal nations of New Afrika, Aztlán and the various
First Nations at the hands of filthy pigs were and will continue to be
acts of war that the police wage against the oppressed for the dominant
white nation known as Amerika. Yet if we listen to the politicians we
hear them desperately trying to switch the narrative of these killings
as having nothing to do with the wave of recent protests currently being
directed against police brutality and police repression since the murder
of Michael Brown in Missouri on 9 August 2014. Instead they tell us that
these killings are the result of a depraved criminal element who the
police have all along been trying to protect us from.
In a recent public address NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio declared the deaths
of these pigs to be “an attack on all of us” and asked that protesters
put their demonstrations on hold as it was now time to “move forward and
heal divisions.” Others, including the pigs themselves, have called on
protestors to “tone down their language.” One reactionary on a CNN
roundtable even went so far as to categorize the killing of those cops
as “an attack on the very heart of democracy and the people that uphold
that democracy”! And that is a very funny statement to make as i
could’ve sworn that the heart of democracy lies with the people and not
with the special bodies of armed men. Instead of democracy we have power
arising from society which places itself above the people and becomes
more and more alienated from them. These arms of the state have been
tasked with managing the irreconcilability of both national and class
antagonisms.
But why are the politicians so anxious to stop the masses from making
the connection between the state-sanctioned murders of Eric Garner (and
others) and NYC pigs? Because they know that context is everything
regardless of what the pigs, the politicians or any other member of the
liberal and conservative white media have to say. The killing of those
pigs was carried out by a subjective revolutionary force outside of an
objective revolutionary scenario. Therefore, the lesson for us to take
away from this is that the killing of those two cops was undoubtedly
political, just as sure as all prisoners are political.
Does this however mean that we support such a strategy of attacking the
existing power structure absent a revolutionary situation? No, because
that is not an effective way of advancing the needs of the oppressed,
nor does it advance our own revolutionary agenda. What is for sure,
however, is that the death of two of NYC’s “finest” is sure to be used
as another pretext to round up and spy on political activists as well as
to further clamp down on “crime” in the big rotten apple, which directly
translates into more repression for the lumpen.
In The Correct Handling of a Revolution by Dr. Huey P. Newton,
Minister of Defense for the Black Panther Party, Newton hit on the
correct methods of both leadership and struggle within the New Afrikan
community of his time. This analysis still holds good today and
revolutionaries from the oppressed nations should take note:
The vanguard party must provide leadership for the people. It must
teach the correct strategic methods of prolonged resistance through
literature and activities. If the activities of the party are respected
by the people, the people will follow the example. This is the primary
job of the party. …
There are basically three ways one can learn: through study, through
observation, and through actual experience. The Black community is
basically composed of activists. The community learned through activity,
either through observation of or participation in the activity. To study
and learn is good but the actual experience is the best means of
learning. The party must engage in activities that will teach the
people. The Black community is basically not a reading community.
Therefore it is very significant that the vanguard group first be
activists. Without this knowledge of the Black community one could not
gain the fundamental knowledge of the Black revolution in racist
America.
While leaving out some focoist rhetoric characteristic of the BPP which
we fundamentally disagree with, this excerpt is part of the most correct
aspect of the mass line and how we relate to the masses on a day-to-day
and strategic level. V.I. Lenin, leader of the first socialist state,
the Soviet Union, from 1917-1924, dealt with one aspect of the
lumpen-proletariat in his time quite relevant at the present moment –
their tendency to engage in spontaneous and disorganized armed struggle
against the state and in “expropriation” of private property. Lenin
vehemently condemned those Bolsheviks who disassociated themselves from
this by proudly and smugly declaring that they themselves were not
anarchists, thieves or robbers. He attacked “the usual appraisal” (2)
which saw this struggle as merely “anarchism, Blanquism, the old
terrorism, the act of individuals isolated from the masses, which
demoralize the workers, repel wide strata of the population, disorganize
the movement and injure the revolution.”(3) Lenin drew the following
keen lessons from the disorganized period of this struggle:
“It is not these actions which disorganize the movement, but the
weakness of a party which is incapable of taking such actions under its
control. The Bolsheviks (communists) must organize these spontaneous
acts and must train and prepare their organizations to be really able to
act as a belligerent side which does not miss a single opportunity of
inflicting damage on the enemy’s forces.”(4)
In short, it’s not necessarily that we disagree with the actions of
Ismaaiyl Brinsley, rather his timing was off. It is exactly these types
of actions by the oppressed nation lumpen which make them both the hope
of the liberation movements of the internal semi-colonies, as well as
the potential spearhead of the oppressed nations against a rising
fascist threat here in the United $tates. In the end it doesn’t matter
whether these pigs wear cameras or not. What matters is how we respond,
as that is the difference between liberation and more repression.
Che Guevara, A Revolutionary Life by Jon Lee Anderson Grove Press
Books 1997
From de-classed aristocrat, to social vagabond, to communist
revolutionary and legend, Che Guevara, A Revolutionary Life
takes us from Che’s early beginning as a sickly kid with a tremendous
appetite for reading to his miserable last days in the Bolivian
mountains trying to spark a revolution. As far as biographies of
political figures go this one is truly exceptional as Jon Lee Anderson
does an outstanding job of focusing this book not on Che the individual
but on Che the devoted servant of the people. There are just so many
aspects and stages of Che’s life which this book covers that I already
know I won’t have enough space to cover it all. Therefore I will stick
to covering not so much what we already know about Che but what hasn’t
yet been fully understood about him.
With that said, let us travel back in time to Argentina circa World War
II, a country caught between Amerikan imperialism and a rising fascist
influence. Ernesto “Che” Guevara was first turned on to politics as a
young child through his friendships with several other children whose
parents were Spanish migrants fleeing the Spanish Civil War. Che’s
family was also apparently very active in Argentina’s petty bourgeois
political circles. As a result of all these factors Che soon became
semi-political himself, proudly joining the youth wing of Accion
Argentina (Argentine Action), a pro-Allied solidarity group.(p. 23)
However, he wouldn’t really begin developing a critical view of the
world until his teenage years when he was shaped further by the
political turmoil in his own country as well as by his Spanish émigré
friends who had a measurable influence in his life. Years later they
would all belong to local anti-fascist youth cells formed by Argentine
students organizing against the militant youth wing of the pro-Nazi
Alianza Libertadora Nacionalista (National Liberation Alliance).(p. 33)
Besides this political organizing the rest of Che’s high school years
were spent devouring every book he could get his hands on, including
Karl Marx’s Das Kapital. Che later revealed to his second wife
years later that at the time of reading Das Kapital he couldn’t
understand a thing. Of course this would all change.
After graduating from high school he began to study philosophy, both
inside and outside of college. He took engineering classes and enrolled
in medical school. He also became fascinated with psychology. It was
during this time that he began studying Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin.
Yet during this time and the year that followed he continued to avoid
any serious political participation. Paradoxically, however friends and
family remember that Che began to debate politics with different
organizations as well as with his family who were all very political, as
if he was beginning to put his reading to the test.(p. 50)
During one of these discussions Che made his first anti-imperialist
condemnation of the United $tates, accusing them of having imperial
designs in Korea.(p. 50) It was not until his trips up and down South
and Central America that Che Guevara would start to become radicalized.
And it wasn’t books that did it, but “the injustice of the lives of the
socially marginalized people he had befriended along his
journeys.”(p. 63) It was also during this time that Che’s criticism and
hatred for the United $tates began to grow, as now more than at any
prior time in his life he was convinced that it was Amerikan imperialism
that was the root cause of all of Latin@ America’s problems.(p. 63)
Through subsequent trips up and down the Americas Che met various
Marxist intellectuals he had a high opinion of because they were
“revolutionary.”(p. 118) In addition, he began to openly identify with a
political cause, aligning himself and working within the leftist
government of Arbenz in Guatemala. Also, very interesting to note that
during this time Che began an ambitious project to write what would have
been his first book titled The Role of the Doctor in Latin
America(p. 135), a project he would unfortunately never finish due
to his preoccupation with other revolutionary activities. A shame too as
the ideas outlined for his book apparently dealt with the role of
doctors during times of revolution, and one can’t help but draw
parallels with Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth written
after, but around the same period of revolutionary upsurge in the Third
World. Wretched not only deals with the anti-colonial struggle
in Africa, but the role of the revolutionary psychiatrist.
As part of his preparation for this book, Che found it necessary “to
take his knowledge of Marxism further, as he deepened his struggle of
Marx, Engels, Lenin and the Peruvian Jose Carlos Marategui”(p. 136)
founder of the Peruvian Communist Party which decades later would
develop the Maoist Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path). He also discovered
Mao Zedong and read about the Chinese communist revolution, ascertaining
that their road to socialism had been different than the Soviet
Union’s.(p. 136) Guevara’s resolve as a revolutionary would only become
steeled in the ensuing chaos that followed the CIA-backed coup against
the Arbenz government. This is also when the CIA first took notice of
Che starting “one of the thickest (files) in the CIA’s global
records.”(p. 159)
After Guatemala, Che fled to Mexico where his political destiny would
become sealed after meeting the leaders of the July 26th Movement after
their failed focoist attack on a Cuban military base. The leaders were
Fidel and Raul Castro. Soon thereafter, the trio, along with a band of
other Cuban exiles, left Mexico and began their historic guerrilla war
against the Batista dictatorship. Their point of unification was that
“Batista was little more than a pimp, selling off their country to
degenerate foreigners…”(p. 170) But physical training and marksmanship
wasn’t enough for Che in preparation to liberate Cuba. Confident that
the revolution would succeed, Che intensified “his study of economics,
he embarked on a cram course of books by Adam Smith, Keynes and other
economists, boned up on Mao and Soviet texts…”(p. 189) Once in the
Sierra Maestra Che kept up his studies as he wanted to have a firm grasp
of political and economic theory.(p. 189)
After exhibiting exemplary fighting and leadership skills Fidel made Che
his “chief of staff.” After the guerrilla victory, and among many other
accomplishments and activities, Che concentrated on consolidating the
initial revolutionary power base – the new Cuban military. Like Mao, Che
sought to “raise the cultural level of the army.” In addition to basic
literacy and education, the new military academy under Che was designed
to impart political awareness to the troops.(p. 384) He even helped
start Verde Olivio (Olive Green), a newspaper for the
revolutionary armed forces.(p. 385)
Che was also made President of Cuba’s National Bank. Indeed, Che Guevara
was fully immersed in trying to build up Cuba’s independent socialist
economy. He recognized that in order to completely liberate itself from
imperialist dependency, the Cuban economy would have to break free from
the sugar industry which subsumed Cuba, turning it into a one-crop
fiefdom. Cuba would also have to industrialize. Che was also for
agrarian reform believing that the peasants who worked the land should
have more control and reap more from it. Fidel had similar ideas on
agrarian reform but not as far reaching as Che’s. As a matter of fact, a
thorn of contention between Che and Fidel was Che’s strong belief that
in order to succeed as a free and independent socialist state, Cuba
would have to develop its own productive forces and should bow to no
one, while Fidel preferred to play various imperialist powers off of one
another in order to receive assistance in modernization and military
equipment. And while Che would ultimately, though not always, come to
echo Fidel’s line on modernization, this seemed to be more because of
Che’s position as a head of state and diplomat.
To Che’s credit however he was the principal architect in designing
Cuba’s economy and re-arranging the military prior to the Soviet Union’s
involvement on the island. Many just don’t realize how much influence
and power Che had in Cuba and that the creation of the many progressive
institutions in Cuba can be directly attributed to Che’s influence on
Fidel and Raul. And while Fidel would name Raul as his political
successor, it was Che that many noted as Fidel’s true right-hand man
despite his not even being a native Cuban.
One also gets the sense from reading this book that after the initial
seizure of power, and as the political situation worsened for Cuba on an
international level, Fidel trusted no one else in certain situations and
so he ceded many matters of domestic and foreign policy to Che who had a
better grasp of political economy, diplomacy and military affairs. This
was the period in which the USSR, which had already taken the capitalist
road, began to take notice of Che, not only because of his influence,
but because of his strong peasant leanings and independent initiative,
for which they would begin labeling him pejoratively as a “radical
Maoist.” Che denied being a Maoist, but actions speak louder than words.
According to this book Che made two major criticisms of the Chinese
Communist Party. The first was in accusing China of playing hardball
with their rice for sugar assistance, accusing China of trying to starve
Cuba. The second criticism was in berating China for not doing more to
aid the Vietnamese in their struggle against Amerikan imperialism.
Besides these criticisms it was very well known that Che had a high
degree of unity with China which he very much revered for having a
“higher socialist morality” than the Soviets, who he would increasingly
and with frequency severely criticize over the remainder of his life.
Among other things Che criticized the Communist Party of the Soviet
Union for their bourgeois lifestyles which he witnessed first hand. More
importantly, he later publicly condemned the Soviet Union for what he
deemed collusion against Cuba with the United $tates. Later Che would
hold up China’s socialist revolution “as an example that has revealed a
new road for the Americas.”(p. 490) Furthermore, after returning from
one of his trips to China, Che was “invigorated” with a new sense and
deepened understanding of socialism, replicating some of China’s
volunteer work brigades. He called these programs “emulacion comunista”
(communist emulation).(p. 503)
Nearing his departure from Cuba for the last time Che began two more
books which like Role of the Doctor he never finished:
Philosophical Notes and Economic Notes. The latter
being an extended critique of the Soviet Manual of Political
Economy. On the eve of his final trek into the Bolivian mountains
he sent an outline of the text to the budgetary finance system (BFS) for
review indicating that he was ready to put his anti-Soviet line on
political economy into practice (Guevara was the head of the BFS).
According to the author, what Che had in mind was “a new manual on
political economy better applied to modern times, for use by developing
nations and revolutionary societies in the Third World.”(p. 696)
Furthermore, according to Anderson who interviewed former members of the
BFS who read Che’s critique, Che wrote in the manual that the USSR and
the Eastern Bloc were doomed to return to capitalism if they didn’t
reform their economies.”(p. 697) Apparently these documents were left to
a comrade who never found the time to push for publication in the
increasingly social imperialist dominated Cuba. Today they remain in
Cuba locked away along with other of Che’s documents, which Fidel deemed
too sensitive to publish.(p. 697)
In the end and throughout his career it is very well known that Che was
a focoist and was killed because of his ultra-left and idealized version
of what a popular war looked like. Yet I was surprised to find out that
Che’s war strategy for Latin@ America was somewhat similar to Mao Zedong
and Lin Bao’s conception of global “Peoples War” for the Third World. As
Che pointed out in Guerrilla Warfare: A Method, the liberation
of the Americas from Amerikan hegemony could only come about through a
virtual united front of guerrilla and other peasant forces that would
use the Andean mountains which stretch from the top of South America to
the bottom as a series of revolutionary base areas which they would use
to attack the cities and urban zones of Latin@ American countries,
slowly but surely wresting control of one country after another until
all of Latin@ America was free. This is akin to the
village-encircle-city strategy of Lin and Mao.
The story of Che Guevara and his iconic image has not yet been forgotten
by revolutionaries today, as it continues to inspire us in our own
struggles. It is truly a pity that Che succumbed to his focoist beliefs.
His story should not only serve as an example as to the type of
revolutionaries we should aspire to become, but should also serve as an
example of what can happen if we pick up the gun too soon. Focoism has
taken away too many good comrades, and in Che Guevara it took away a
great comrade! Let it not take one more. So on this day the
forty-seventh anniversary of the death of Che Guevara, (9 October 2014)
and the day commemorating and honoring Che, “The Day of the Heroic
Guerrilla” (8 October 2014) let us raise the red banner of revolution
just as Che continuously raised it and died holding it. Let us raise the
red banner for the proletariat, for our lumpen and for our nations! Let
us be like Che! Seremos Como el Che!
“Mao’s conviction that Chinese culture was a great perhaps a unique
historical achievement strengthened his sentiment of national pride. On
the other hand, his explicit aim was to enrich Marxism with ideas and
values drawn from the nation’s past, and thereby render it more potent
as an agent of revolutionary transformation, and ultimately
wersternization, not to replace it with some kind of neo-traditionalism
in Marxist dress.” - Stuart Schram
The sinifaction of Marxism is the adaptation and application of Marxism
to Chinese conditions. That was the beginning of Mao Zedong thought, and
that was the basis upon which Mao Zedong sought to not only liberate
China from feudalist, comprador and imperialist control, but upon which
he advanced Marxism-Leninism to the third and most advanced stage of
revolutionary science. When traditional Marxists who saw no
revolutionary potential past Europe and Amerika regarded Mao as “a mere
peasant chief with little knowledge of Marxism”, what they were really
expressing was their doubt in the Chinese peoples’ ability to wage class
struggle because they were supposedly “backward” and hence uncivilized,
even though Chinese society goes back thousands of years. When Japanese
imperialism landed in China, renamed it Manchuria and claimed it as
their own, Mao challenged and successfully annihilated that claim.
National liberation for self-determination, that is what Mao correctly
perceived as his hystoric task to push China forward in the Chinese
peoples’ struggle for national dignity. That was Mao’s hystoric duty as
a revolutionary. What will ours be? For revolutionary-nationalists from
the Chican@ nation it is the adaptation and application of Maoism to
Chican@ conditions.
“In essence, sinifaction involved for Mao three dimensions or aspects:
communication, conditions and culture. The first of these is the
clearest and least controversial. In calling for a new and vital Chinese
style and manner, pleasing to the eye and to the ear of the Chinese
common people, Mao was making the valid but previously neglected point,
that if Marxism is to be understood and accepted by any non-European
country it must be presented in language which is intelligible to them
and in terms relevant to their own problems. But how, in Mao’s view, was
the reception of Marxism in China determined by mentality (or culture),
and experience (or concrete circumstances)? Above all, how were both the
culture of the Chinese people, and the conditions in which they lived,
to be shaped by the new revolutionary power set up in 1949? … Mao sought
to define and follow a Chinese road to socialism. In pursuing this aim,
he unquestionably took Marxism as his guide…as well as seeking
inspiration, as he had advocated in 1938, from the lessons and the
values of Chinese history.”
The adaptation and application of Maoism to Chican@ conditions therefore
does not at all negate our hystory or reality, rather it affirms it and
demands that we are reckoned with. Mao said that Marxism is a general
truth with universal application and the science of practice which has
now been summed up in hystory proved him right. So now that we know the
power of revolutionary science that is Marxism-Leniinism-Maoism works,
the question moved from what form of struggle does Chican@ national
liberation take, to how do we begin to implement it? How do we adapt and
apply Maoism to prison conditions, and then how do we apply this new
understanding to the barrio. What does a Chican@ communist vanguard
organization look like behind prison walls? What does it look like on
the street?
These are all questions that can only be asked and answered by Chican@s
in the process of the struggle.
The Chican@ nation is currently at a critical juncture in its extensive
hystory. We are beginning to reach a point in which we will either cast
our lot with the rest of Latin America, wage our struggle for national
liberation and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the Third World, or we
will perish along with imperialism. As before, so today the choice is
ours. Will we continue to send our sons and daughters to die in the
periphery for a flag and land that isn’t theirs, or will we prime them
to fight imperialism and liberate Aztlán? We have the revolutionary
imperative. Patria o muerte!
“[A]s societal advancements have made being gay less stigmatized and gay
people more visible – and as the Internet now allows kids to reach
beyond their circumscribed social groups for acceptance and support –
the average coming out age has dropped from post-college age in the
1990s to around 16 today, which means that more and more kids are coming
out while they’re still economically reliant on their families. The
resulting flood of kids who end up on the street, kicked out by parents
whose religious beliefs often make them feel compelled to cast out their
own offspring, has been called a ‘hidden epidemic.’”
According to the Equity Project, leaving home because of family
rejection is the single greatest predictor of involvement with the
juvenile-justice system for LGBT youth.
Research done by San Francisco State University’s Family Acceptance
Project, which studies and works to prevent health and mental health
risks facing LGBT youth, empirically confirming what common sense would
imply to be true: highly religious parents are significantly more likely
than their less-religious counterparts to reject their children for
being gay.
LGBT people make up roughly five percent of the youth population in the
U.$., overall, but an estimated 40 percent of the homeless youth
population – an estimation that may be far too low considering that many
homeless youth may not openly identify themselves as LGBT when seeking
services.
The Center for American Progress has reported that there are between
320,000 and 400,000 homeless LGBT youths in the United $tates. The
National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Thrownaway
Children put the number of homeless youth at 1.7 million. (Across the
country there are only 4,000 youth-shelter beds, overall). Approximately
one in five LGBT youth are unable to secure short-term shelter, and 16
percent could not get assistance with longer-term housing – figures that
are almost double those of their non-LGBT peers.
For LGBT kids who remain homeless, the stakes are clearly life and
death: they are seven times more likely than their straight counterparts
to be the victims of a crime; studies have shown they are more than
three times more likely to engage in survival sex – for which shelter is
the payment more often than cost. And every four hours a homeless LGBT
youth dies in the streets, whether it be from freezing to death, a drug
overdose, or assault.
The summer that marriage equality passed in New York, the number of
homeless kids looking for shelter went up 40 percent, reported the Ali
Forney Center – the nation’s largest organization dedicated to homeless
LGBT youth. Tragically, every step forward for the gay rights movement
creates a false hope of acceptance for certain youth, and therefore a
swelling of the homeless youth population. Up to 40 percent of LGBT
homeless youth leave home due to family rejection.
Amerikkka’s homeless LGBT youth is its hidden epidemic. Of the $5
billion the U.$. government spends on homeless assistance programs every
year, less than five percent of that is allocated for homeless children,
specifically. Amerikkka’s homeless youth, in general, is its next true
plague.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade provides some useful data on
homelessness and queer youth and exposes a tragic consequence of gender
oppression for these youth. We do not, however, agree with the author’s
conclusion that homeless LGBT youth are a hidden epidemic in the United
$tates. Especially not with the implication that the U.$. government
should spend more money on homeless assistance, as if the imperialist
government can help end a problem that they created.
We don’t like to look at problems like homeless LGBT youth in isolation
as a “hidden epidemic” because this encourages an analysis of such
issues in isolation, and suggests that we should tackle them directly
and Amerika will be able to find a solution if only the epidemic is
exposed. While the United $tates certainly has enough money to eliminate
homelessness, the reality of homelessness in the United $tates is a
tragic byproduct of imperialist decadence and individualism. The
imperialist system exists to enrich the oppressors, at the expense of
the oppressed. And if a few citizens suffer or die in the process,
that’s not really a problem for the Amerikans in charge. While the vast
majority of Amerikan citizens are benefiting as either oppressor nation
(white) or beneficiary class (petty bourgeoisie), or both, there are
those who society does not bother to help. Most homeless are cast off
because they are part of oppressed groups: gender (including health
status) and nation play a big role here, and this is what’s behind much
of the homelessness of LGBT people.
We should expose the vast problem of homelessness in the United $tates,
as it is an embarrassing and clear example of a wealthy country that
doesn’t even care about the lives of its own citizens. Other less
wealthy countries do a better job addressing homelessness (i.e western
Europe, some Asian countries), so it could be solved within the
structure of imperialism, but only for the citizens affected. The many
people in the Third World who are permanently without home and living in
poverty because of the exploitation and plunder of imperialist Amerika
are the truly hidden homeless.
We should point out, as this author does, that gender oppression is
playing a significant role in LGBT youth ability to survive, and this is
something we must fight. Both of these elements of the homeless LGBT
youth issue are symptomatic of imperialism. And so rather than rally
people for more government attention to homelessness in Amerika, we
should focus on the root cause of global homelessness and organized to
overthrow imperialism.
Comrades, consider all the murders of people of oppressed nations in
Amerika: the Trayvon Martins, Andy Lopezes, Renisha McBrides, and
Michael Browns. Now consider the media attention and the fact that even
though some attention was given to the racist security guards and police
officers who were involved in these heinous acts, was justice rendered?
In Texas, finally we have woken up to the fact that attempting to ask
the closed loop fraternity of oppressors to fix this corrupt grievance
program is not the proper strategy to fix the problem.
In the mean time, numerous prisoners have been beat and murdered by
Texas Department of Criminal inJustice (TDCJ) pigs hiding under the
blanket of qualified immunity. The Office of Inspector General has been
a willing conspirator in the cover-up of abuses of prisoners and Senator
John Whitmire, the Chairman of the Texas State Legislatures Criminal
Justice Committee, is the Chief of culpability when it comes to murders
being un-investigated and obstruction of justice tactics made the status
quo! Senator John Whitmire is a closet racist and cast in the same mold
as the Dixiecrats of the South circa 1960 and 1970.
It is true, Texas State Representative Dr. Alma Allen from Houston
fought hard to have House Bill 877 (HB877) passed during the 83rd
legislative session in 2013. This is the TDCJ Independent Oversight
Committee bill which Whitmire wouldn’t support stating that “We already
have policies and committees in place that do that.” Bull shit Whitmire!
Comrades, we must make a concerted effort to expose TDCJ prison
employees and hucksters like Whitmire in the media. Let the public see
exactly what is going on up in here and let the public decide whether
the system is just or corrupt. What we do is start drafting brief,
informative, and concise e-mails and blog postings and ask a family
member, friend, or fellow comrade to post or send emails to particular
sites and addresses.
For instance, Huntsville, Texas is the home of numerous TDCJ prisons and
modern day slave camps and gulags. Huntsville has a newspaper called The
Huntsville Item which occasionally reports on issues that take place
within TDCJ. I’ve started to send short news clips and blog blasts to
the Huntsville Item detailing abuse that I’ve witnessed or been victim
to: huntsvilleitem@gmail.com, attn: news room. Put their ass on blast
right in their own back yard!
But there’s more!
The Houston Chronicle is the largest most circulated newspaper in the
state of Texas. Chronicle staff writers Mike Ward, Anita Hasson, and Dan
Schiller all focus on criminal justice issues and have exposed many
instances of abuse inside TDCJ but they are or seem to be protectors of
the pigs! Nevertheless, they are opportunistic journalists and love a
juicy tale of murder, intrigue, and corruption, all salient subjects
present inside the Texas Department of Criminal Injustice. I encourage
you strongly to have brief but informative packed emails sent to them
also! Houston Chronicle staff writer email addresses:
mike.ward@chron.com, anita.hassan@chron.com, and
dane.schiller@chron.com.
The Texas Observer is a left leaning “Journal of Free Voices” which
publishes a monthly magazine. I’ve also been developing a rapport with
them.
The prison show on KPFT 90.1 FM actually has a Facebook page which I
highly recommend you have your friends, family and comrades visit and
post short messages that detail abuse and the inadequacy of this
important and useless grievance program!
Murders but no accountability
Comrades, too many prisoners are being killed by TDCJ employees and the
murders are being justified as necessary use of excessive force by
sadistic, brutal, and criminal TDCJ employees. As I said earlier, the
Office of Inspector General is condoning and sanctioning these murders
of the lumpen, so on top of our media strategy we must start contacting
the Texas Rangers and the Public Integrity Unit in Austin, Texas.
The Texas Rangers are one of the oldest most advanced law enforcement
agencies in Texas. Outside of the FBI the Rangers are the top pig
organization in Texas. When we coordinate our efforts in such a manner
as contacting the media and these Rangers, playing it out in the public
domain, I promise you we will get some action right out of the chief
imperialist pig oppressor Brad Livingston, TDCJ Executive director.
The public integrity unit in Austin investigates corruption of those who
hold public office. So all those board of pardon and parole officials
who’ve been taking bribery money from so-called parole lawyers in Texas
watch out! All those Texas correction industries employees who have been
engaged in deceptive business practices stealing tax payer dollars and
promoting the slave plantation system in Texas – watch out!
Comrades, please understand that this info I am giving you has the
potential to create a major disturbance in the corrupt practices of
TDCJ. The oppressors don’t want you to utilize this information but if
we can get a significant number of comrades to embrace this strategy it
will strengthen our position.
MIM(Prisons) is correct when it says the TDCJ independent oversight
committee would bring progress for our fight against abuse and
injustice. But remember this is a long protracted struggle that will go
on for years. The key is to unify behind this strategy. We need actors
not rappers.
Address: The Texas Rangers, PO Box 4087, Austin, Texas 78773-0600 The
Public Integrity Unit, PO Box 1748, Austin, Texas 78767
MIM(Prisons) responds: We print this letter because it gives us a
chance to address the question of how to build public opinion. We agree
with this comrade that it can be useful to send information to various
media outlets to expose injustice. Sometimes they will cover our
struggles, if not for the reason of actually supporting these struggles.
But we do need to be very aware that media is not unbiased. Mainstream
media is beholden to advertisers and so very much biased in favor of
capitalism and the criminal injustice system. This means that when this
media does cover our struggles, it will usually be with a slant or
perspective that is counter to ours. Is it useful to have the media
cover a prisoner hunger strike over bad conditions by interviewing the
warden and letting him have a forum to tell the public how the prisoners
are wrong and conditions are good? Of course, getting our side of the
story in the hands of this media may get the struggle covered with at
least a bit of our perspective. That is a good thing, but we cannot rely
on mainstream media. This is why MIM(Prisons) publishes Under Lock
& Key. The oppressed need our own media reporting from our
perspective. USW88 left out ULK as a place where people should
send their stories, but we must always keep this in the front of our
minds: any story or news worth sending to the mainstream media should be
sent to ULK first. ULK is the most likely place it will get printed!
Ultimately we need to distinguish between our short-term goal of
achieving reforms to improve the living conditions of our comrades
behind bars, and our long-term goal of eliminating the criminal
injustice system. The first goal may sometimes be aided by broad
publicity brought to the atrocities going on behind bars. The second
goal will only be accomplished with an organized communist movement with
solid anti-imperialist principles. We will never get anti-imperialist
education printed in mainstream media. And so we can use these avenues
tactically for short term battles, but we should not rely on them for
anything more. And all of our work needs to be in the context of our
long-term goals: even reforms should serve as educational tools for our
comrades and potential comrades to explain why we will never be able to
reform away imperialism.
As for the strategy of contacting the Texas Rangers, this is a
historically very reactionary arm of the law enforcement with roots in
the repression and murder of Chican@s. We definitely don’t expect them
to take action on behalf of the oppressed . Exposing the criminal
injustice system actions to this criminal “law enforcement” agency is a
bit like reporting a corrupt pig to the pigs. Action is almost never
taken. And further, those reporting the information to the Texas Rangers
have now given over their name and contact info for future repression.
Rather than encourage people to put their energy into this tactic, we
suggest more work writing articles about what’s going on behind bars and
in the streets, from the perspective of the anti-imperialist movement.
On 10 August 2014 at approximately 1:35 p.m., Dakota Davidson, a white
male prison guard who works at the Wynne Unit located in Huntsville,
Texas, brutally attacked a white male lumpen prisoner. During an in and
out egress Davidson initiated a verbal conflict with the prisoner. The
prisoner asked Davidson “what are you going to do, hit me?” At which
point the pig began to punch the prisoner in the face and head until he
was knocked to the ground. The prisoner was really stunned and caught
off guard by this violent attack. The guard actually sat on the
prisoner’s chest and beat him unmercifully. When ranking supervisors
showed up, Davidson could be heard saying “stop resisting! Put your
hands behind your back.” This was all game to give the appearance that
the prisoner was the aggressor.
The prisoner was handcuffed and taken to the disciplinary wing (B-Wing).
Davidson actually wrote a disciplinary report claiming the prisoner
assaulted him. All this played well for the corrupt ranking officers and
investigative staff who didn’t bother to look into it thoroughly.
Unknown to them, an eye witness decided to come forward. In spite of the
witness affidavit, the prisoner may do 6 months on medium custody for
being a victim. We need to expose this incident to the public.
Beatings such as this are all too common in Texas prisons. But it is the
culture of coverups and corruption which keeps sadistic officers like
Davidson employed with this agency. Cronyism, nepotism, and obstruction
of justice is the Texan way.
All power to the people!
MIM(Prisons) adds: We agree with the author on the importance of
exposing incidents like this, both to help the individual prisoners
demand justice, and to educate people about what really goes on behind
bars in the Amerikan criminal injustice system. But we are under no
illusion that eliminating the culture of coverups and corruption will
get rid of sadistic officers. It’s the criminal injustice system that
turns COs sadistic and corrupt, if they were not already. Only by
eliminating the criminal injustice system will we do away with sadistic
and corrupt officers. The first step is building public opinion and
uniting allies in this struggle. Become a field correspondent for
Under Lock & Key if you are in prison, and send us news
about repression and resistance where you’re locked up.
Guard One was implemented in the middle of June per mandate of a
court-appointed mental health expert in Sacramento. The device resembles
a pipe about the size of a closet pole cut to an 8” length. It either
flashes or beeps to indicate a welfare check has been recorded. Similar
devices are in use throughout selected prisons, especially in the
Security Housing Units (SHUs) where statistics reveal most prison
suicides occur.
While it is being promoted as a high-tech device able to create an
electronic record that prison guards are actually performing their
assigned duty of half-hourly welfare checks at each cell, it is also
supposed to be showing how much CDCr cares about reducing the number of
suicides on its four death row SHUs at San Quentin.
In San Quentin’s SHU II D.R. the sensor which the beeping pipe must make
contact with is attached to each cell’s food port. That’s a small metal
door on hinges which is padlocked closed unless the cell has no
occupant, the prisoner is attending some other program, the cleaning
bucket is being used, or there is a phone in use. When the food port is
open, for whatever reason, it must be lifted to the closed position so
contact can be made with the beeping pipe. Normally, upwards of 100 food
ports are left open every day between the hours of 9am and 1pm as
various programs are in session. During that time there is continuous
banging, clanging and beeping. That’s hardly conducive to anyone’s
mental health!
At around 9pm the beeping pipes are traded in for a non-beeping Guard
One device. So between the hours of 9pm and 5am the padlocked metal food
port doors continue clanging each time a contact is made. The banging of
food ports on empty cells as they’re lifted and dropped also echoes
throughout the night while the prison guard flashlights would probably
remind you of a prison break scene from an old movie as the spotlights
search up and down for prisoners crawling the walls. Sleep deprivation
can lead to a number of mental and physical health issues.
By 5:30am the beeping starts up like a small brood of electronic rooster
chicks fighting for dominance in a cast iron coop and a few cocks get to
crowing about the “easy money overtime” coming from the taxpayers.
Many prisoners have died in their cells due to heart attacks, cooking,
or other things which might not have been fatal if they had received
timely medical attention. So these must be some of the factors
considered by the “expert” who armed prison guards with these devices
seemingly designed to preserve prisoners and create jobs. I hope I
separated the truth from fiction for you.
We call for the elimination of the Guard One device because it is
causing more torture and anguish for prisoners.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This is a good example of the criminal
injustice system implementing new costly practices in response to
serious problems, but the new practices do nothing to help prisoners. In
this case, it is a real problem that prisoners die due to medical
neglect. But spending lots of money creating more jobs for guards and
increasing sensory torture for prisoners is not a solution to this
problem. We can never expect the injustice system to reform itself or
address its problems fundamentally. We must continue to demand an end to
torture like long-term isolation and these new devices, while we build a
broader movement that can attack the fundamental injustice of a system
that uses prisons as a tool of social control.
In August 2014, United Struggle from Within launched a petition
campaign against the I$raeli settler state and to support the people of
Palestine against the recent violent attacks. A
petition
was circulated to prisoners in many states and this is a report back
from one persyn’s efforts to collect signatures.
I was surprised to get as many signatures as I did, and most prisoners
didn’t have to hear much more than the basic thrust of the document to
know that they wanted to sign. I offered everyone the petition to read
for themselves so that they could be sure of what they were signing. For
most people I broke the document down into three points. The first was
simple opposition to the purposeful targeting of civilians by I$rael.
Indeed most of the people who signed had very strong feelings about
seeing wimmin and children being killed. The second point was our
agreement that Israel’s bombing of Gaza had to stop. The third was that
even as so-called “thugs and criminalsm,” even we know there are lines
to be drawn in combat, and civilian deaths are a big no no. Therefore
all signatories were united on one basic premise: no to the killing of
wimmin and children.
Most prisoners quickly signed after hearing what I had to say, while two
people just refused to sign. I was actually surprised since they were
both “born again Christians” and part of the social base I’d thought
would’ve been easiest to organize. One of them said he was currently in
the process of reading something on that topic and would get back at me
once he was thoroughly informed. I told him that I had already outlined
everything he needed to know, but still he was hesitant. I then went
into explaining the basics of the document but still he was unsure. He
also seemed nervous for some reason at which point I thanked him and
walked away.
The second “Christian” is a Vietnam veteran so I anticipated his
hesitance but thought his so-called spiritually would transcend the
political. Instead he quickly put on a look of disgust and kindly
declined. I tried pushing him some based on his religious beliefs but
still looking annoyed he once again declined, instead telling me that he
would pray for the wimmin and children of Gaza but would not sign the
petition. Of course I had some choice words for his bombastic air of
superiority as he is one of those Christians who walks around with bible
in hand, head to the sky as if he’s superior or has reached some type of
Nirvana to which none of us are privy; yet he cannot sign the petition.
Then there was someone else, another older gentleman who expressed
something of shock and irritability at what I was proposing. Who was I
to organize a petition for Palestine? And why should he sign it if no
Amerikan lives where involved? I recited my script and basic points of
unity to which he was still “confused.” At this point I began to sense
something of a chauvinist attitude emanating from his line of
questioning. Finally I told him that if he didn’t want to sign then that
was fine as he was beginning to take up too much of my time.
But now he was the one who didn’t want to let me go. He said he was only
trying to understand my motivations. He said that during Hurricane
Katrina he saw no petitions to help the people of New Orleans, that
America has its own problems and that we should focus on that first
instead of organizing for Palestine. Finally, he caught me off guard
when he cited the many wars in Africa currently taking place and why
wasn’t I organizing for that? I was left speechless for about a second
or two but then quickly recovered by telling him that he was right and
that was a good point he made about Africa. I told him that if he wanted
we could both put something together and start a petition. He quickly
refused and then retreated to his second line of defense. He didn’t
understand the point of the petition. He said it wasn’t gonna solve
anything, therefore what was the point? I told him that he was wrong and
that the purpose of the petition was to help build public awareness of
the atrocities and to help build public opinion so as to hopefully put
additional pressure on Israel. Furthermore if people on the streets who
have the freedom and liberty to organize for Palestine saw that
prisoners were circulating and signing a petition for Palestine then
perhaps they’d be moved to do more.
He disagreed and instead proposed that I initiate a fundraiser/food
drive here in which we can get a outside vendor to sponsor us and all
money collected from prisoners could go to Palestine. (Various self-help
groups here such as AA, NA, Anger Management, etc. have raised funds in
the past thru these fundraisers with proceeds going to Locks of Love,
cancer research, etc). I told him that we needed the administration’s
permission for such a drive and that they would never sanction us
sending money to Palestine since they were a tool of the state. He
vehemently disagreed.
He then went back to his point about Africa, and why did I choose
Palestine over Africa? He said the only reason I chose Palestine was
because I too was Middle-Eastern. I told him I was not, and he was more
confused. I then told him that Palestine is a flash point on an
international level compared to the civil wars in Africa and thereby
more people would be easier to organize around this platform. I once
again offered to work with him on an Africa project. He again refused.
By this time I again offered to take my petition somewhere else but
after a little more struggle he begrudgingly signed. I told him that if
he was still pessimistic about it that I didn’t need his signature as I
wanted everyone’s signature to be sincere, but he said he was good and I
accepted.
As the day went on I got more signatures and had a couple interesting
political conversations as a result. You can be sure that everyone who
signed did so out of a sense of injustice in Palestine. My small
petition drive was a good learning experience and helped me exercise my
political speaking abilities.
Like many other people in here, as I was watching the situation in Gaza
steadily worsen, so did my anger. One day I was nose-deep in a Che
Guevara book with my TV on CNN in the background when breaking news of
live footage of Israeli bombs targeting civilians came in. After a few
minutes of cursing the United Nations, I$rael and the United $tates, I
calmed down feeling somewhat demoralized at the fact that there was
nothing I could do. Defeated, I sat back down and tried to temporarily
put out of my head what I had just seen.
I dove back into the Che book when I immediately got my orders from “the
commandante” himself, or his ex-wife rather. There is a chapter in the
book about Che’s time in Guatemala during his formative years and his
work with the Arbenz government when the U.$.-backed coup took place and
the country was in chaos. Revolutionaries and other activists were in
the process of fleeing the country and hiding in various Latin American
embassies. Che and his soon-to-be wife were among the last to seek
shelter from the political repression, instead opting to continue their
work in semi-underground fashion. Che’s partner Hilda Gadea was in a
somewhat tight bind at the time where her actions and movements were
both limited and scrutinized by the new government. She was not able to
do everything she wanted to do but she was at least able to start a
petition denouncing the coup. Upon reading this I had something of a
eureka moment and knew what I had to do, or what I could do.
A recent study concluded that even a moderate deficiency of vitamin D
results in a 53% increased chance of developing dementia. The most
abundant source of vitamin D on earth comes from a chemical reaction
that occurs naturally when our skin is exposed to direct sunlight.
Sunny California’s torture units feature dog run style walk-in closets
called “walk alone” or “small management yards” (SMY). These usually
consist of four solid walls and a plexiglass or metal grating for a
roof, both of which obstruct sunlight. Depending on the time of day, a
prisoner may not get any direct sunlight at all.
The SMY torture cages designed for Grade A and B death row prisoners
warehoused in San Quentin’s East Block (SHU II D.R.) are especially
cruel and unusual. Unlike the torture cages in the SHU III D.R. (The
Adjustment Center) which are completely exposed to the elements with no
protection whatsoever, the SHU II D.R. torture cages have a corrugated
steel cover over 1/4 of its top and every one of these 40 or so cages
are under a gigantic modified metal pavilion which could be comparable
to a rusted metal circus tent. The only direct sunlight penetrating this
bizarre big top of the CDCr circus pierces through rust holes in the
massive metal canopy.
True to form, California’s mad scientists conducting the world’s most
infamous death penalty experiment in numerous SHUs across the sunshine
state prefer their own blend of pharmaceutical cocktails to solve the
problems they themselves are mass producing. CDCr’s “chemical solution”
aims to obscure and/or delay known side effects of this particular
experiment which subjects humans to sunlight deprivation torture
indefinitely. CDCr prescribes Vitamin D/Calcium supplements and “psych
meds.”
Who will dare to fathom the impact this state-sanctioned torture has on
prisoners in the United $tates, and on the prison system’s medical and
mental health costs. This is a system already overloaded and still under
federal receivership.
The bottom line is this is where getting involved in the
grievance
campaign would be a wise choice. Also keep in mind that no matter
what your current classification is, it’s always subject to change. Just
being in a California control unit is all it takes to become a test
subject in this already out of control experiment. Don’t think you are
somehow immune to this twisted chemical warfare.