MIM Notes ***

MIM Notes 259 · June 1, 2002· Page 1

MIM Notes

June 1, 2002, Nº 259

The Official Newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM)

Free

INSIDE: `Living Wage' Rally * Colonialist Zionism * Una Página en Español...

he U.S. Government backed

another coup against an elected

government in April--this time in

Venezuela. After the military moved

against a president elected in bourgeois

democratic elections, the U.S.

Government sang the praises of the coup-

leaders of April 12th and blamed the

elected President Hugo Chavez for his

own fall. The message is the same as

always: Uncle $am is always for

democracy unless his candidate loses the

election.

Rather than call the event a "coup," the

Bush administration referred to it as a

"change of government." In addition the

reactionary think-tank the Heritage

Foundation said no one in the United

he Golden Gate Bridge District

authorities tried to stop an anti-

war demonstration planned for

Saturday, May 25, 2002 on the Golden

Gate Bridge. The mobilization was

organized by the All Peoples Coalition

to Stop US Terror and

Occupation. Their press

release stated:

"According to the

Golden Gate Bridge

District Manager Kary

Witt, the anti-war

mobilization can not

happen on Saturday,

May 25th after 12 noon

due to traffic concerns

although the march

organizers submitted the

proposal for a permit

weeks ago proposing the

mobilization would be at

2pm. Witt also stated

that this anti-war

mobilization can not

have any signs

whatsoever. This is the

Bridge District's

position even though American flag-

wavers are allowed access to the bridge

every day. This is an attack on free speech

and our right to oppose this U.S.

government's war on the peoples of the

planet.

"The organizers of Take it to the Bridge

understand that activities protected by the

First Amendment such as marching

should not even require a permit. A

permit was sought for this mobilization

weeks ago out of our concern for the

safety and security of the march

participants in a time when the U.S.

LOS ANGELES

and SANTA BARBARA

IM and RAIL activists drew loud criticism and counter

protests from supporters of Israel on several occasions

during the first two weeks of May. The MIM and RAIL

activists were collecting signatures on a petition demanding that

the University of California (UC) divest from companies doing

business in Israel (for more on this campaign, see pages 4-6). Some

Zionist hecklers also showed up at an educational event hosted by

MIM and RAIL on the campus of the UC at Santa Barbara.

MIM files this under the slogan "to be attacked by the enemy is a

good thing." Clearly we must be doing something right if defenders

of the status quo--or promoters of an even more genocidal policy

in Palestine--organize against us. Furthermore, the attacks gave

MIM and RAIL activists a better understanding of the enemy's

tactics--some of which are so boneheaded they have to be seen to

be believed (e.g. their open praise for 19th century colonialism;

see p. 4).

Some of the typical criticisms (and MIM's responses):

* "You are anti-Semitic." (No, you seem to be the one saying

Jews are intrinsically driven to brutally occupy and exploit other

nations.)

* "You're only picking on Israel." (Hello, read our paper. We

criticize all imperialists and their lackeys. What Israel is doing now

to the Palestinians Amerika did 150 years ago to the First Nations

a.k.a. Native Americans. And in the Middle East our beef is

fundamentally with Amerikan imperialism--the power that props

up Israeli occupation.)

* "Israel has to defend itself. " (Get real. Israel has the largest

standing army and the only nuclear arsenal in the region. If Israel

wants security, it can withdraw from the occupied territories and

$tates was shedding any tears. This is

despite the fact that just the day before

the coup, Bush had said democracy was

the birthright of every persyn in the

Americas.(1)

Obviously in this context, the word

"democracy" simply means "rule by

Uncle $am that Amerikkkans are damn

proud of." In this cynical imperialist

usage "democracy" doesn't mean

majority rule, because President Chavez

won the elections in 1998 in Venezuela

and Uncle $am doesn't like it.

Hugo Chavez battles back

The happy ending to this story so far is

that Uncle $am did not get exactly what

he wanted. A day after Bush's praise, the

military-propped government of a

businessman fell in Venezuela and

President Hugo Chavez returned to

power. This greatly embarrassed the u.$.

imperialists on two scores: 1) Uncle $cam

had already gone out on a limb to oppose

democracy to get rid of Chavez. 2) Failure

proved the weakness of the u.$.

government to deliver what it was saying.

MIM has to note that the Chavez

strategy is not the most stupid one to take.

This is not a case of a social-democrat

kissing the butts of military leaders, as is

common in the social-fascism in Peru.

Chavez was a military leader who had

tried to achieve power by force before.

He gained power in 1998 by the power

of the ballot, but he also had widespread

ties in the military.

MIM disagrees with Chavez

ideologically. We believe Comrade

Gonzalo in Peru has shown the road

forward for Latin America. Nonetheless

we realize that Uncle $am considered

Chavez to be a "bad" lackey of Uncle

$am in need of punishment. The struggle

Uncle $am favors democracy -- unless he loses

Venezuela in 2002

San Francisco tries to stop

anti-imperialist protestors

government can use any resistance to its

policies to attack people under the so-

called "war on terrorism." Our attempts

to meet with the Bridge Manager to

discuss their concerns have been put off

until today, when a meeting was

scheduled for this

Friday. This is the first

time that the Bridge

Manager has raised the

inflexibility regarding

the time and the nature

of the event.

"It is clear that the

bridge authorities are

terrified at the idea that

the `Golden Gate' would

be used as a forum to

express dissent at U.S.

foreign and domestic

policy. They tell us

(essentially): Our

Golden Bridge is for

tourists, Marines with

assault rifles, and

American flag-wavers

only. We tell them: on

May 25th thousands of

outraged people will converge on your

bridge to show you otherwise. We need

to mobilize for free speech on the Golden

Gate Bridge as the peoples' right to stand

against the U.S. government's trajectory

of war and terror on the world and send

a message to the international

community!!"

A MIM comrade wrote the following

letter of protest to the Golden Gate bridge

administrator Kary Witt:

"I understand that you are responsible

for denying the Take it to the Bridge anti-

Advances for the

Campaign to

Divest the UC

from Israel!

`stand

against

the U.$.

trajectory

of war

and

terror on

the

world...'

Continued on page 7...

Continued on page 4...

Continued on page 9...

MIM Notes 259 · June 1, 2002· Page 2

MIM Notes

The Official Newsletter of The Maoist Internationalist Movement

MIM Notes is the bi-weekly newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement. MIM

grants explicit permission to copy all or part of this newspaper for any reason. Please
credit MIM Notes where appropriate. The paper is free to all prisoners. Overseas airmail
is $2 per issue. MIM Notes is the official Party voice. Material in the paper is the Party's
position unless noted to the contrary. MIM Notes accepts submissions and critiques from
anyone. The editors reserve the right to edit copy unless permission is specifically denied
by the author. Back issues of MIM Notes are available for $1 per issue. A bound volume
of the original MIM Notes 1-34 and MIM Theory 1-13 (old numbering) is available for
$15, post-paid. MIM has a complete literature list of progressive books and pamphlets.
Send $2 for a copy. MIM's ten point program is available to anyone who sends in a
SASE. MIM is an underground party that does not publish the names of its comrades in
order to avoid the state surveillance and repression that have historically been directed at
communist parties and anti-imperialist movements. MCs, MIM comrades, are members
of the Party. RCs are RAIL Comrades. The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL)
is an anti-imperialist mass organization led by MIM. MIM runs a books for prisoners
program which provides Maoist and general political material to prisoners for free. Make
checks or money orders payable to "Books for Prisoners, Inc." Federal EIN: 04-3475938.
Send to: Books for Prisoners, Inc. c/o the address below. Donations and books can be
sent to the address below. Send cash or check payable to "MIM Distributors".

MIM

P.O. Box 29670

Los Angeles, CA 90029-0670

eMail: <mim@mim.org>

WWW: <http//www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext>

What is MIM?

The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is the collection of existing or emerging

Maoist internationalist parties in the English-speaking imperialist countries and their English-
speaking internal semi-colonies, as well as the existing or emerging Maoist Internationalist
parties in Belgium, France and Quebec and the existing or emerging Spanish-speaking
Maoist Internationalist parties of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the U.$. Empire.
MIM Notes is the newspaper of MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-speaking
parties or emerging parties of MIM. MIM upholds the revolutionary communist ideology
of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and is an internationalist organization that works from the
vantage point of the Third World proletariat. MIM struggles to end the oppression of all
groups over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM knows this is only possibly by
building public opinion to seize power through armed struggle. Revolution is a reality for
North America as the military becomes over-extended in the government's attempts to
maintain world hegemony. MIM differs from other communist parties on three main
questions: (1) MIM holds that after the proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution, the
potential exists for capitalist restoration under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within
the communist party itself. In the case of the USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the
death of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's death and the overthrow of the "Gang
of Four" in 1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural Revolution as the farthest advance
of communism in humyn history. (3) As Marx, Engels and Lenin formulated and MIM has
reiterated through materialist analysis, imperialism extracts super-profits from the Third
World and in part uses this wealth to buy off whole populations of oppressor nation so-
called workers. These so-called workers bought off by imperialism form a new petty-
bourgeoisie called the labor aristocracy. These classes are not the principal vehicles to
advance Maoism within those countries because their standards of living depend on
imperialism. At this time, imperialist super-profits create this situation in the Canada,
Quebec, the United $tates, England, France, Belgium, Germany, Japan, Italy, Switzerland,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Israel, Sweden and Denmark. MIM accepts people as
members who agree on these basic principles and accept democratic centralism, the system
of majority rule, on other questions of party line.

"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is universally applicable. We should

regard it not as dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is not merely a matter of
learning terms and phrases, but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of revolution."

- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208.

Editor, MC206; Production, MC12

MIM is looking for distributors and

sponsors to step forward. Sponsors pay for
papers; distributors get them onto the
streets and officers do both distribution and
financial support:

Distribute

Cost per year

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$120

25 (Priority Mail)

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If you know you have some good places

distribute, we suggest starting at 200 and
working your way up. If you are not willing
to distribute, just send money. If you are
not willing to pay, then request papers after
somehow proving to the party that you are
serious (words won't count). You who will
cough up/raise the money to distribute 900
papers each issue and then do the
distribution -- you are what drives this party
forward.

Make anonymous money orders payable

to "MIM." Send to MIM, attn: Camb.
branch, PO Box 400559, Cambridge, MA
02140. Or write mim3@mim.org.

A call for MIM Notes sponsors and distributors!

MIM Notes has seen a big spike in

circulation since the "war on
terrorism" began. It's not surprising:
MIM Notes is a free and independent

newspaper. Yes, there are especially
now knee-jerk patriots who believe
everything Bush says and pass by a

chance to read MIM Notes. There are
other patriots and internationalists
who realize that at this time papers

like MIM Notes can undo the huge
spectacle that Uncle Sam is creating
for its own benefit.

Sure, you have seen MIM Notes

around, but MIM Notes needs people
to do two simple things: 1) Pay for it

(postage and printing), 2) Distribute
it!

MIM is looking for sponsors,

distributors and officers. Sponsors pay
for papers; distributors get them onto
the streets and officers do both

distribution and financial support.

Distribute # Cost per year

12 (Priority Mail)

$120

25 (Priority Mail)

$150

50 (Priority Mail)

$280

100

$380

200

$750

900 (Express Mail!)

$3,840

900 (8-10 days)

$2,200

If you know you have some good

places to do distribution, we suggest
starting at 200 and working your way
up higher. If you are not willing to do

distribution, just send money. If you
are not willing to pay, then request
papers after somehow proving to the

party that you are serious (words
won't count). You who will cough up/
raise the money to distribute 900

papers each issue and then do the
distribution, you are what drives this
party forward.

A call for MIM Notes

sponsors and distributors!

Make anonymous money orders payable to "MIM." Send to MIM,

attn: Camb. branch, PO Box 400559, Cambridge, MA 02140. Contact

MIM in regards to this campaign by writing mim3@mim.org

Attention subscribers

MIM now sends MIM Notes

subscriptions to individuals in monthly

mailings, third class mail. If you have a

subscription and would like a refund for

the remaining months, please write to

MIM,PO Box 29670, Los Angeles, CA

90029-0670.

We constantly update MIM's

coverage of the U.$. war on

our web site, with news and
opinion, agitation materials,
articles in English, Spanish,

French, Chinese and

Russian!

Read and distribute the

newspaper -- and get the

latest:

www.etext.org/ Politics/MIM

MIM Theory

calls for

articles,

testimonials

MIM's theory magazine is preparing

for future issues. We are looking for
well-researched articles on Nazi
Germany and eastern Germany,
especially in the 1945 to 1953 period.
Please follow some footnote format.

Another area we are working on is

research on psychics. If you stopped
paying psychics, please send us a letter
telling us how you did so and give us
your permission to use your statement
as a testimonial. We also would
appreciate any statistical research or
articles on the subject of the
effectiveness of psychics.

MIM Notes 259 · June 1, 2002· Page 3

A group of Revolutionary Anti-

Imperialist League (RAIL) activists

attended this year's "Santa Barbara

People's March" and passed out the flyer

reprinted below. The flyer explained that

RAIL did not endorse the march because

it lacked an internationalist perspective.

MIM later spoke with an organizer for

the United Farm Workers who attended

the rally. He thought that RAIL said

something that needed to be said and

raised some interesting points. The RAIL

activists also said that the flyer was a hit

and provoked honest debate.

A speaker from Asian Sisters and

Brothers for Ideas in Action Now

(ASIAN!) spoke from the podium about

u.$. militarism around the world, which

was good. The other speakers addressed

strictly local concerns. Certainly when

talking about a "living wage" they did

not talk about "living wages" for the

majority of the world's workers, who

often make less than 10% of u.$.

minimum wage.

The RAIL activists produced this flyer

on their own initiative from materials

available on MIM's website.

Last year on May 12 over 1,500 people

marched in Santa Barbara to demand a

"living wage" and "economic justice."

This year thousands more will join this

rapidly growing campaign. Similar to the

widely publicized rally and sit-in for a

"living wage" for Harvard University

employees, organizers for the People's

March consciously refused to the idea

of a "living wage" in an international

perspective, thereby confusing the class

demands of the imperialist-country

proletariat and the international

proletariat, the detriment of the latter.

At the same time, the march's

organizers consciously decided not to

include a discussion of Third World

workers' economic struggles, instead

raising vague slogans like "stand up for a

fair economy where you live." The

People's March's website

(www.peoplesmarch.org) demonstrates

just how easily such slogans are stolen

by privileged classes. One of the reasons

given to march was that median family

income in Santa Barbara has dropped

from $54,000 in 1990 to "only" $49,000.

Evidently, income in Santa Barbara has

not kept up with the rest of California,

which has increased from $48,000 in

1990 to $51,000.

Unfortunately, the organizing materials

for the People's March do not

acknowledge that u.$. residents benefit

from the exploitation of workers in

oppressed nations. Indeed, they did not

even discuss the possibility that $16-an-

hour wages (about $34,000 per year) were

only possible because the imperialists pay

workers in the Third World on average

48¢. According to recent Bureau of Labor

statistics (published in January 1998),

average hourly wages for apparel

workers in the Third World are nothing

short of appalling: 4 cents in Burma, 23

cents in China, 30 cents in Haiti, 10 cents

in Indonesia, 24 cents in Romania, etc.

RAIL supports a campaign for an

international minimum, living wage. We

simply cannot allow imperialist-country

middle classes' backwards ideas about

"economic justice" -- which amount to

redistributing stolen booty more "fairly"

-- to take precedence over the struggle

against imperialist exploitation

worldwide.

There are many reasons people take up

slogans about "struggling where you

live" to the detriment of internationalism.

Some are class-conscious. They've

chosen the imperialist country middle-

classes over the international proletariat.

RAIL mixes it up at Santa Barbara `living wage' rally

Seattle Buddhist: Recently I received

two back issues of MIM Notes. I read

them both over and was struck by their

hypocrisy. There were complaints about

U.S. imperialism. The Maoists invaded

Tibet and continue to occupy it.

Monasteries have been destroyed.

Unarmed monks and nuns have been

raped and murdered. An attempt is being

made at genocide and the destruction of

an entire culture and civilization. I think

that certainly qualifies as imperialism.

Then there are complaints about

censorship and repression. In Maoist

China, dissent was regarded as counter

revolutionary and punished by torture,

imprisonment and death. Capitalism is

only as good as the people who practice

it. Greed and corruption can infect

Maoism just as it can infect capitalism.

As for prisoners being denied your

publication, consider that people need to

be integrated back into society. They can

not be a productive member of a society

they are taught to despise. The result is

likely to be more crime and violence.

bosmim@mim.org for MIM replies:

What a load of propaganda you have

bought.

Is that your jU.$.tification for standing

on the imperialist side? Monasteries have

been destroyed--by whom? Any idea?

Try Tibetan slaves, some of which were

owned by the Dalai Lama.

Genocide? Boy, that's loose, real loose

thinking. The genocide was by the system

that would have kept the Tibetans

starving as they were as is recorded in

any number of history books written

before the communist revolution.(1)

[Also, we Maoists are the ones saying

greed can infect communist parties.

That's why there was a Cultural

Revolution. It is the capitalist

propagandists who think that by making

the profit-motive legal humyn nature will

somehow be improved instead of just

bringing out its worst side.]

Seattle Buddhist: I appreciate your

reply.

I am a lay member of Sakya monastery.

Our lama is related to the Dalai Lama.

Due to his prominence in the Sakya

lineage, the monastery is visited by many

eminent lamas, including the Dalai

Lama.

What I have been told by eye witnesses

conflicts with what you say about Tibet.

I am not siding with the U.S.

government. The U.S. government

regards Tibet as part of China, a view

which I do not share.

I also think the U.S. government is on

the wrong side in the Israeli-Palestinian

issue. In my view, it is the IDF and

Sharon that are the terrorists. Hamas is

the resistance. The settlers are war

criminals and are not civilians but armed

military reservists.

As to terrorism, I regard the bombings

of Hiroshima and Nagasaki as acts of

terrorism as well as war crimes and

crimes against humanity. The U.S.

government was also on the wrong side

in Viet Nam. We were fighting the

government that most of the Vietnamese

wanted. There was no Viet Cong. That

was a name made up by the CIA and the

State Department to refer to the Viet

Minh who saved the life of many a

downed U.S. airman in WWII, while the

Diem family was part of the faction that

sided with the Vichy government.

More recently, the last election showed

that the U.S. does not have a democracy.

The election was decided by the

Supreme Court halting the democratic

process. I find Bush, Ashcroft and

Cheney scarier than bin Laden. They are

the leaders of the American version of

the Taliban. We probably agree about

more than you might think and I

sincerely appreciate your bothering to

reply to me.

MIM replies: The pity of it is that you

seem to have seen through much

propaganda. Do you think the Dalai

Lama's movement represents the best

forward movement in the world?

Hopefully you do not criticize real world

movements from the vantage point of an

implicit afterlife the way Christians tend

to.

As for supporting the Dalai Lama, for

us, the Chinese regime is state-capitalist

since the death of Mao and the arrest of

his followers. It's not that we have any

love of the regime, but the Dalai Lama

owned slaves and we do not find any

clear-cut admission of this fact in his

statements. Yes, there are those who say

they want to go beyond the Old Society

in Tibet, but we find most people

attaching themselves to your movement/

religion in denial about what the past was,

so how can we imagine they will

recognize injustice when they come to

power? Buddhism becomes so much

mumbo-jumbo supporting slavery--

tolerating slavery for instance because the

slave believes he is serving some divine

purpose.

We are on record as saying we are all

for a socialist revolution and national

independence of Tibet, but right now,

that's not on the agenda. The Dalai Lama

is in fact more reactionary than the regime

in Beijing, and in any case, not worth

dying for (not that he has asked for it,

since he himself has an ambiguous stance

on independence and the people he calls

"hotheads" in his own ranks.)

Seattle Buddhist: What is your

evidence to support your allegation that

the Dalai Lama owned slaves? In your

most recent email and the previous one

your write about conditions in Tibet prior

to his going into exile but you do not state

your sources.

My understanding is that there were

few visitors to Tibet prior to the exile and

that one had to have written permission

from Lhasa or one was sent back to the

border. Some people who did visit, whose

books I have read are Alexandra David-

Neal, Lowell Tomas and Heinrich Harrar.

None of these persons mention any of the

conditions you mention.

As far as movements are concerned,

they are not something that I have much

personal interest in. What makes

Buddhism different from most religions

or movements is there are no dogmas or

doctrines to which one is required to give

his consent. The essence of what the

Buddha taught is that suffering exists,

that it has a cause and that it can be

eliminated. The Buddha took a position

whereupon the question of the existence

or non existence of God is irrelevant. One

is not asked to believe but is invited to

try things and see if they work The Dalai

Lama has talked about the need for

reforms. Were the Chinese to leave and

the exile to end some things would be

like they were but others would be

different. I think that the Dalai Lama

would be better for Tibet than the

Chinese--as they are now or as they were

under Mao.

Western capitalism has its problems

however I think that the combination of

capitalism and democracy (or a republic)

allow for more individual liberty than

does Maoism. Remember, your

publication expresses quite a bit of

dissent with our current system. Would

that level of dissent be tolerated under

Maoism?

MIM replies: The United $tates has the

highest imprisonment rate in the world.

To say it allows more liberty is class

prejudice. It may give more liberty to

middle-class and intellectual people [to

discuss inconsequential questions], the

world's minority, but it is U.$. weapons,

intelligence and military training behind

most of the repression in the world

today.(2)

[We just added a page on Tibet to our

MIM debates Seattle Buddhist on `freedom,' Tibet

Continued on page 8...

Continued on page 7...

MIM Notes 259 · June 1, 2002· Page 4

Did you know?

There are more

than 200 back

issues of MIM

Notes available

on the MIM

website? Not only

can you browse

more than 15

years of the

newspaper, you

can also keep up

with the very

latest on MIM

agitation

campaigns,

prisoner news, all

the latest on the

U$ war, and much

more. MIM's

website is an

indispensable tool

for the

revolutionary

movement. Get

involved!

www.etext.org/

Politics/MIM

A quick review of editorials published

by Zionist propagandists reveals that the

Zionist side of the conflict relies on

colonial reasoning. For this reason, while

in Boston in April, Nobel Peace Prize

winner Bishop Desmond Tutu in Azania

condemned the apartheid system set up

by the Zionists.(1)

In the apartheid system, whites

occupied African land but did not give

Africans the right to vote in the political

system the whites used. Today the

Zionists occupy the Gaza Strip, East

Jerusalem and the West Bank but they

do not allow self-rule. Their constant

justification for this state of affairs going

on since 1967 is "terrorism"--which is

blaming the victim for his/her war of

national liberation.

On May 2nd, the Jerusalem Post

printed an editorial defending the

existence of "Israel" in colonial terms.

While reading the Arab bourgeoisie is

also useful, there is no need to to

understand the root of the problem--

colonialism.

Caroline Glick's column of May 3rd

in the Jerusalem Post is openly neo-

colonial: after calling for the elimination

of Arafat and his Palestinian Authority,

Glick says, "Just as in Afghanistan today

and hopefully in Iraq in the near future,

the US has and will set up friendly, quasi-

democratic governments, so Israel, or the

US, would set up a new Palestinian

government, committed to coexistence

with Israel and the provision of political

and economic freedom to the Palestinian

people. Although sovereignty would not

be promised, the chances of sovereignty

being achieved, naturally and peacefully,

would be greatly enhanced if the

Palestinian people is allowed to develop

democratic institutions and economic

prosperity."(1) Glick then has the gall to

say that there is nothing "imperialistic"

about saying this. It's not surprising that

Zionists are dying at the hands of

Palestinian revolutionary nationalists

when Zionists do not recognize

Palestinian sovereignty.

The Glick quote above explains much

of how Uncle $am and I$rael believe they

have the right to prevent Palestine from

achieving statehood. Then when the

oppressed people fight their

revolutionary nationalist war, the

Amerikkkans call it "terrorism." Behind

Sharon's recent statement to Bush that

it's "premature" to declare statehood for

Palestine or set a timetable for it is the

view that Palestine must have a lackey

government loyal to U.$. and Zionist

interests.

Another article that the Jerusalem Post

ran is even more openly colonial. The

article starts by accepting British

colonization of Palestine. Instead of

arguing that the British colonization

process created artificial political

dynamics in Palestine, Daniel Doron

makes British colonialism's legitimacy

a centerpiece of I$rael's legitimacy: "The

lands that are disputed were therefore

never `Palestinian lands,' either as

national patrimony or private property.

They belonged to the Turkish Sultan and

then to the British Mandate, in trust for

the Jewish National Home, not a

Palestinian home."(2)

Even elementary school pupils from

Amerikkka who know the first thing

about U.$. history should know what is

wrong with what Doron is saying. There

is no need to read the "Palestinian side."

Reading the Zionist side makes it evident

that colonialism is the root of the

problem. Since Doron has to uphold

British colonialism in an argument meant

to organize public opinion in Amerikkka,

it's obvious that Doron's position must

be desperate.

It turns out that Doron is desperate and

sees Amerikkkan public opinion as the

final court of appeal for I$rael's

existence: "It is sad that Jews still must

defend their basic right to have an

independent state in their ancestral

homeland, but it is a comfort that the

question is to be decided in the court of

American public opinion."(3)

That makes it pretty clear that I$rael

would not exist except for the support of

the United $tates.

Notes:
1. "Apartheid in the Holy Land," by Desmond
Tutu, http://www.counterpunch.org/
tutu0430.html
2. http://www.jpost.com/NASApp/cs/
ContentServer?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/
Full&cid=1020337084248
3. http://www.jpost.com/NASApp/cs/
ContentServer?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/
Full&cid=1020146455710

Zionists justify themselves with colonialism

SAN FRANCISCO, April 10

Media attention focused on Berkeley,

California, but 500 people also attended

a demonstration for Palestine at San

Francisco State the same day that police

arrested 79 in Berkeley. Chanting "Israel

out of Palestine," "Israel out of Jenin"

and "Israel out of Jerusalem" among

others with that theme, the demonstrators

also listened to speeches that targeted the

united $tates's ignorance, militarism and

chauvinism in its "war on terrorism."

"Stop U.$. aid to Israel" was another

slogan. Various speakers pointed out that

the United $tates and Israel were carrying

out terrorism and the crowd showed that

it is not taken in by the U.S.

Government's rhetoric on terrorism.

The same day and in the same place at

San Francisco State a few Jewish

students handed out flyers on the

Holocaust. A flyer from San Francisco

Hillel said in a run-on sentence, "The

Holocaust occurred between 1933 and

1945, during this period 12,000,000

people were systematically murdered by

the Nazi regime."

According to Hillel, "target groups

included gays, Romanis, Blacks, Jews

and mentally and physically challenged

and political opponents of the regime."

This sort of statement which mentions

Blacks but not the various Slavic peoples

will no doubt anger many people,

because Hitler slated many more for

complete annihilation than those listed

by the Hillel, which appears to have made

its listing more palatable for U.$.

consumption.

In any case at least two speakers said

it was the Zionists today carrying out

genocide. In 2002 on "Holocaust

Remembrance Day," Zionists were

killing Palestinians throughout the West

Bank. Speakers rightly chanted that

Bush, Sharon and Hitler were all of the

same cloth.

Some very young Jews started a

controversy by saying that the

demonstration for Palestine was

intentionally organized to block

"Holocaust Remembrance Day."

Actually, "Holocaust Remembrance

Day" probably received more front-page

media coverage than usual thanks to the

"two sides" appeal of conflict in the

Middle East that paid dailies like to boost

circulation. In any case, the specific

outrages occurring with Zionist troops in

the West Bank were more important than

remembering historical oppression either

in the Holocaust or the Deir Yassin

massacre of Palestinians by Zionists.

Berkeley and San Francisco State showed

all of California and the united $tates the

proper way to remember "Holocaust

Remembrance Day" and how to regard

the situation in the Mideast.

On the other hand, we hope that no one

in the Bay Area or other pockets of

resistance mistake themselves for the

mainstream in Amerikkka. The

Amerikkkan majority supports the "War

on Terror" and increases its support for

I$rael the more Palestinians that I$rael

kills in the West Bank. More importantly,

it is not Amerikkka supporting the wrong

side: Amerikkka is the wrong side.

San Francisco State

leads the way on Mideast

allow the Palestinians real self-

determination. Furthermore, upon close

inspection, the recent incursions which

Israel justified as attacks on "terrorist

infrastructure" were really aimed at basic

societal infrastructure--from roads to

aqueducts to houses to records and data.

Palestinians are to be kept dependent on

Israeli goods and jobs.)

And so on.

The good news is not just that MIM

and RAIL were attacked by the enemy,

but many people stepped up to support

our work as well. MIM and RAIL

collected scores of signatures on the

divestment petition. As one student told

the local newspaper after attending the

event in Santa Barbara: "My fees are

supporting the Zionist State of Israel. By

pressuring the UC to divest from

companies doing business with Israel,

students would make a statement. Israel

needs to look at its policies and not treat

people as secondary citizens, as dogs."

A local radio show--"Voices for

Global Justice," 6 p.m. Mondays on 91.9

in Santa Barbara--sought us out and has

already had us on the radio several times

to talk about the campaign. Groups like

Student Action Forum on the Middle East

at UC Santa Barbara want to get involved

in the campaign.

Already Student Action Forum on the

Middle East, MIM, RAIL and concerned

individuals were able to mobilize

students and faculty to condemn and

defeat a student government bill which

called for the UC to ban courses critical

of Israel (see story page 6).

Divest UC

Continued from page 1...

MIM Notes 259 · June 1, 2002· Page 5

Much of the UC's $40 billion of

investments in Israel goes directly to

arming the Israeli military. The UC has

40 billon dollar endowment, at least 3.4%

or $1.4 billion of which is invested in

technological and military companies

contributing to Israeli apartheid. (1)

Other sources put U.C. investment in

Israel at $6.2 billion. (2) The UC feeds

money into companies like General

Dynamics Corp., General Electric

Capital Corp., Honeywell Corp.,

Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and United

Tech Corp., each of which provide Israel

with helicopters, jet engines, F-16

fighters, M1-A2 tanks, avionics control

systems, rocket launchers, aircraft

missiles, launch systems, other missiles

and more. (3)

Specifically, teamed up with General

Electric (4) who provides the turbines,

United Tech. puts the infamous UH-60L

Black Hawk helicopters into the hands

of Israeli aggressors. (5) Raytheon

(owner of Chrysler Technologies' tank

business, Texas Instrument's Military

Electronics Unit and Hughes Helicopter

-formerly of General Motors) supplies

Israeli terrorists with Firefinder counter

battery radars, AN/TSQ-73 Hawk anti-

aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, missile

launchers, Phalanx close-in weapons

systems, TOW-2A/B antitank missiles

and Patriot Missiles. (6) Lockheed

Martin contributes to Israeli terrorism

with Multiple Launch Rocket System

(MLRS) tactical rocket pods and related

support, Hellfire II anti-tank missiles and

Martin Marietta Walleye missile tubes.

(7)

Israel also guarantees that other

companies like Intel Corp., Citigroup

Inc., Hewlett-Packard and Sun

Microsystems enjoy storm trooper-

enforced Apartheid hiring practices that

discriminate against Palestinians and

other non-Israelis. This includes things

like different work permits for Israelis,

Arabs and foreigners that limit the

employment options of non-Israelis to

day-labor and other exploitative jobs.

Due to the Israeli occupation

"Palestinian laborers still have nowhere

else to turn to but to Israel's low-paying

jobs...many of those eager workers are

well educated. But it's the pressing need

for survival alone that forces a Palestinian

engineer, a chemist or a psychologist to

clean Tel Aviv's streets, or scrub dirty

dishes in an Alafolah restaurant." (8)

This is a brain drain of sorts, where

Palestinians who could be contributing

to the scientific and cultural development

of their nation are prevented from doing

so. As in any occupied nation, the

creativity of the Palestinian national

bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie is

stifled. These would-be professionals and

intellectuals must attend the pressing

need for survival instead, and rely on

Israeli and other foreign sources for their

basic needs (like flour) and national

infrastructure (like roads). Noam

Chomsky notes that in the occupied

territories "Israeli policy...has clearly

been designed to remove [Palestinian

elites] either by direct expulsion

("moderates" have been a particular

target) or by eliminating the possibility

of meaningful employment." (9)

"For the greater bulk of Palestinian

workers, Israel is the only alternative

available for their families to be

fed...'The humiliating journey' is how

many Palestinians perceive their daily

quest for work in Israel. Many of those

who succeed in obtaining permits to cross

"the safe passage" to Israel, gather before

dawn near Israeli military check-points,

and wait for an Israeli ..."boss" to come,

looking for a few cheap Palestinian

laborers, for a day or two of work. Day-

to-day jobs are how many Palestinian

workers spend their lives. And with this

kind of work, as one may expect, there

is no security, no health insurance, and

clearly no dignity." (8)

Petition the UC to stop its support of

the Israeli apartheid state!

We call on the University of California

to investigate the companies it invests in

and does business with for ties to the

Israeli apartheid state. It should divest

from those companies with large

investments in Israel - especially those

involved with the Israeli military. This

divestment should continue at least as

long as Israel refuses to withdraw from

the territory it occupied in 1967 (Gaza

Strip, West Bank). For petitions make

sure to attend one of our upcoming events

or go to:

http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/

cal/DivestIsrael.htm

MIM & RAIL hold regular meetings

around UC campuses. To organize an

event, co-sponsor or to find out more you

can reach us at slala12@mim.org.

UC Divest from Israel!

No UC Support

For Israeli Apartheid!

UC Stake in Companies Providing

Services and Doing Business with

Israeli Apartheid:

GE Capital Corp $48,982,500

General Electric $555,021,387

General Dynamics $1,097,839

Lockheed Martin $41,784,100

Raytheon $19,970,640

Citygroup Inc. $243,136,611

United Tech. Corp. $8,564,040

Honeywell Intl. $45,093,795

SunMicrosystems Inc. $55,464,390

Hewlett-Packard $189,272,875

Intel Corp. $173,245,470

Total Endowment to Israel:

$1,381,633,647

Notes:
1. Source: UC Office of the Treasurer, http://
www.ucop.edu/treasurer/
2. Students for Justice in Palestine Pamphlet.
July 2001
3. http://www.motherjones.com/arms
4. http://www.motherjones.com/arms/ge.html
5. http://www.motherjones.com/arms/utc.html
6. http://www.motherjones.com/arms/
raytheon.html
7. http://www.motherjones.com/arms/
lockheed.html
8. http://www.palestinechronicle.com/old/
linked%20pages/Editorial%20Archives
/laborers.html
9. Chomsky, Noam. The Fateful Triangle: The
United States, Israel and the
Palestinians. Updated Edition. South End Press.
Cambridge, 1999. p. 135.

What does UC money do in Israel?

What is Divestment?

Divestment is a political strategy

devised by anti-apartheid student

activists in the late 70's and throughout

the 80's. Students found out that their

universities were investing in companies

that supported the racist South African

government. They organized to pressure

their universities into removing financial

support of companies that financed the

oppressive South African regime and that

drew profits from exploitation.

Divestment was a way for students to

fight a truly winnable battle in the

struggle against the exploitation and

oppression of the people of Azania

(occupied South Africa). MIM and RAIL

demand that the UC withdraw financial

support from another barbaric apartheid

regime in Israel.

How is the UC linked to Israel?

The UC currently has 40 billon dollars

invested in bonds, equity funds, money

market and common stock portfolios. At

least 3.4% or $1.4 billion is invested in

technological and military companies

contributing to Israeli apartheid. (1)

What does UC money
do in Israel?

The UC funnels money into companies

like General Dynamics Corp., General

Electric Capital Corp., Honeywell Corp.,

Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and United

Tech Corp., each of which provide Israel

with helicopters, jet engines, F-16

fighters, M1-A2 tanks, avionics control

systems, rocket launchers, aircraft

missiles, launch systems, other missiles

and more. (2)

Why Should the UC Divest?

*UC Stake in the Bloodshed.

Israeli settlers and storm troopers alike

are armed to the teeth with the latest

killing technology provided by the U.S.

government and companies doing

business in Israel -companies that the UC

supports financially.

By withdrawing its financial stake in

the Israeli killing machine the UC will

take a stand against the uneven

distribution of power and resources in the

Middle East and contribute to the genuine

struggle for peace.

*UC Support for an international

outlaw.

The UC should not financially support

a regime that is internationally

recognized as one of the most brutal,

annexationist regimes in history. From

its genocidal inception to the present day,

70 U.N. resolutions have condemned the

state of Israel for unparalleled human

rights abuses, legalized torture and land

theft. (3)

*The UC pays lip service to diversity.

In addition to its wavering stance on

moderate reforms like Affirmative

Action, the UC comes out directly

against diversity and equality by

financially supporting, checkpoints,

concentration camps and occupation.

This includes bogus housing permits for

Palestinians, racist ID cards and work

permits, curfews and storm trooper

enforced "Israeli Only" access to land,

water, roads, schools and hospitals.

*Pure and simple chauvinism.

On the one hand the UC invests to

finance the education of people living in

the U.S. and supports business in Israel.

On the other hand the UC directly

supports the destruction of the

Palestinian infrastructure necessary to

maintain national businesses, industry,

agriculture, waterways, roads, hospitals

and schools. By supporting the Israeli

occupation the UC sends the message

that the people living in the U.S. and

Israel are entitled to education, housing,

and water while the people of Palestine

are not.

Doesn't Israel need to defend
itself from terrorists?

Arguments like this are usually about

"Israeli defense" and rest on imperialist

racist propaganda about "aggressive

Arab neighbors". Get real. With the

largest standing army and the only

nuclear arsenal in the region, the

apartheid state of Israel is a leading

aggressor, instigator of national conflict

and the scourge of the Middle East. (4)

Israel should not enjoy UC investment

to continue its terror. Already U.S.

foreign aid to the apartheid state of Israel

is $18 million per day, or $750,000 per

hour. In 1997 alone U.S. aid to Israel was

6 times as much as the U.S. spent on

"famine relief" for the entire world. (5)

`University of California (UC) divest from Israel!' Q & A

Continued on next page...

MIM Notes 259 · June 1, 2002· Page 6

What makes you think the UC
will divest?

In 1986 one of the biggest victories in

the South Africa divestment movement

came when the UC divested itself of all

$3.1 billion of its stock in companies

active in South Africa. (6) There is no

reason why well-organized students and

faculty at the UC cannot lead a successful

divestment campaign against a similar

regime today.

Will divestment mean
higher fees?

While any increase in fees for domestic

education costs is a small price to pay

for helping to end the cycle of violence

in the Middle East, several studies on

divestment from South Africa discovered

that "over a five to ten year span, South

Africa-free funds... consistently

outperformed the Standard & Poors

Index of 500 large companies." (7)

What exactly are your demands?

Our demands are simple:

* We demand that the UC publicly state

its policy regarding investment in the

apartheid state of Israel and in companies

doing business with apartheid.

* We demand that the UC publicly

make a statement condemning the

brutality of the Israeli occupation.

* We demand that the UC withdraw all

of its investments in the apartheid state

of Israel and in companies doing business

with apartheid and that divestment should

continue at least as long as Israel refuses

to withdraw from the territory it occupied

in 1967 (West Bank, Gaza Strip).

What does the UC think

`University of California (UC) divest from Israel!' Q & A

about all this?

So far UC Berkeley has followed the

U.S. government's lead in support of

Israeli apartheid and terror and has

moved to stop peaceful sit-ins and teach-

ins sponsored by Students for Justice in

Palestine (SJP), an influential divestment

group at UC Berkeley led by the social

democratic International Socialist

Organization (ISO).

On April 9th UCPD arrested 79

peaceful demonstrators at Berkeley. All

of them face bogus criminal charges and

students will face student conduct

charges. Some students may face a 1-year

suspension.

UC Berkeley briefly suspended SJP

from organizing on campus while it

"investigated." The group could hold

events, table, distribute literature or

organize on the campus. The suspension

was lifted, but individual students still

face punishment.

These exceptional and unjustified

attacks against pro-Palestinian students

and activists can be used to further

sanctions against student groups. While

we are not associated with SJP we are

for the democratic right of students to

peacefully organize and protest UC and

government policy. We continue to stand

by our demands.

How can I get involved?

The best way to help out is to circulate

our petition and organize events around

campus or the campus community to

expose the fact of the Israeli occupation

and UC investment in it.

We have a petition campaign

demanding UC divestment from Israel

and have a post-card campaign to send

our demands directly to the regents.

Militarism is war-mongering or the

advocacy of war or actual carrying out

of war or its preparations.

While true pacifists condemn all

violence as equally repugnant, we

Maoists do not consider self-defense

or the violence of oppressed nations

against imperialism to be militarism.

Militarism is mostly caused by

imperialism at this time. Imperialism

is the highest stage of capitalism--

seen in countries like the United

$tates, England and France.

Under capitalism, capitalists often

profit from war or its preparations.

Yet, it is the proletariat that does the

dying in the wars. The proletariat

wants a system in which people do not

have self-interest on the side of war-

profiteering or war for imperialism.

Militarism is one of the most

important reasons to overthrow

capitalism. It even infects oppressed

nations and causes them to fight each

other.

It is important not to let capitalists

risk our lives in their ideas about war

and peace or the environment. They

have already had two world wars

admitted by themselves in the last 100

years and they are conducting a third

right now against the Third World.

Even a one percent annual chance of

nuclear war destruction caused by

capitalist aggressiveness or "greed" as

the people call it should not be tolerated

by the proletariat. After playing

Russian Roulette (in which the bullet

chamber is different each time and not

related at all to the one that came up in

previous spins) with 100 chambers and

one bullet, the chance of survival is

only 60.5% after 50 turns. In other

words, a seemingly small one percent

annual chance of world war means

eventual doom. After 100 years or turns

of Russian Roulette, the chances of

survival are only 36.6%. After 200

years, survival has only a 13.4%

chance.

What is militarism?

Make sure to sign a petition and fill out

and mail a postcard. Send requests for

blank petitions or post-cards to the

address below.

MIM & RAIL hold regular meetings

around the UCLA, UCSB and UCB

campuses. To organize an event, co-

sponsor or to find out more you can reach

us at slala12@mim.org or through the

web at http://www.etext.org/Politics/

MIM.

Notes:

Continued from previous page...

Two notoriously conservative

members of the student government at

the University of Santa Barbara recently

proposed a resolution "to support the

state of Israel and oppose anti-Semitism

in the University of California."

Concretely, the resolution called for the

elimination of the UC Berkeley course

"The Politics and Poetics of Palestinian

Resistance" and demanded "similar

course[s]" at the UC Santa Barbara be

banned. Apparently the UC Berkeley

course "teaches that Israel has terrorized

Palestinians for years."

The resolution also parroted the ardent

Zionists in the u.$. State Department,

claiming "Arab terrorists have committed

grisly and cowardly homicide bombings,

killing innocent men women and

children" and "Yasser Arafat has done

nothing to curtail the violence in Israel."

MIM called on UC Santa Barbara

students to speak out against the

resolution at the student government's

regular open forum. Our appeal read in

part:

"Despite its denials, this resolution

would (further) restrict free speech at the

University of California -- and a

particular kind of speech, namely,

speaking the truth. It is not `anti-Jewish'

or `hate speech' to say that `Israel has

terrorized Palestinians for years': it is the

truth.

"But don't take our word for it. A

recently declassified Israeli intelligence

report considered the following three

factors the most important contributing

to the emigration of 700,000 Palestinians

during and after the 1948 war:

"1. `Direct hostile Jewish operations

against Arab settlements.'

"2. `The effects of our hostile

operations on nearby Arab settlements ...'

"3. `Operation of [Jewish right-wing]

dissidents.'

"The report listed `Jewish whispering

operations [psychological warfare]' as

the fifth most important factors.(1)

"All of these actions should be

considered terrorism, as should e.g. the

attacks on the Sabra and Shatilah refugee

camps in Lebanon coordinated by now

Prime Minister Sharon, which Israeli

journalist Ze'ev Schiff describes as `a

premeditated attack which was designed

to cause a mass flight of Palestinians from

Beruit and the whole of Lebanon.'(2)

"The list goes on and on . . . and is

getting longer, thanks to operation

`Defensive Wall' and the systematic

destruction of Palestinian lives, homes

and infrastructure as at Jenin.

"There is a lot more crap in the

resolution--e.g. placing the blame for the

recent intifadeh on Yasser Arafat (who

couldn't stop it anyway) instead of the

brutal military occupation and colonial

economic policies that ensured

Palestinians in the occupied territories

have `nothing to lose but their chains'--

but we hope the above suffices to get you

to come out and speak out against this

resolution.

"Academic freedom ain't shit if

professors and students can't speak truth

to power."

Other organizations like Student

Action Forum on the Middle East and

Students win against anti-Palestinian resolution

campus radio programs also encouraged

students to attend the open forum and

oppose the resolution.

And all that work on short notice paid

off. MIM received this report from a

RAIL comrade who attended the

meeting:

"Last night's [student government]

meeting went well actually. Tons of

people showed up to support the

Palestinian struggle and oppose the

resolution, even some TAs who were

angry that they were trying to censor what

goes into our course catalog. At about 9

p.m., the author of the resolution finally

withdrew it and it never even got voted

on. He claims that he only wrote it to get

a discussion about the situation going ...

I don't think he expected so much

opposition."

Notes:
1. Farsoun SK and Zacharia CE, "Palestine and
the Palestinians," Boulder:Westview Press,
1997, p. 132.
2. Chomsky, N, "The Fateful Triangle,"
Cambridge:South End Press, 1999, p. 370.

1. http://www.ucop.edu/treasurer
2. http://www.motherjones.com/arms/
3. Zionism: the Forgotten Apartheid, 2nd ed. p.
2.
4. Students for Justice in Palestine pamphlet
5. Zionism: the Forgotten Apartheid, 2nd ed. p.
13.
6. Qtd. In Jonathan Feldman, Universities in the
Business of Repression. TheAcademic-Military-
Industrial Complex in Central America. South
End Press, Boston p. 99.
7. Ibid. p. 104.

MIM Notes 259 · June 1, 2002· Page 7

is on to see if Chavez will change his line

to be more exactly what Uncle $am

wants. Without the ideology of Marxism-

Leninism-Maoism and the influence of

"Gonzalo Thought," Chavez will

eventually end up as just another lackey

[or kicked out on his ass].

Justifications for overturning
election results

One reason Uncle $am thinks that

Chavez is not a good lackey is that he

has close ties to Fidel Castro in Cuba.

Chavez also said the U.$. war since

September 11th has been "fighting

terrorism with terrorism."(2) [He also

took a more nationalist stance regarding

Venezuela's oil industry. Venezuela is the

third-biggest supplier of oil to the United

States.]

Typical of the anti-communist neo-

colonial thinking going on is one critic

of Boston Indymedia who argued on

April 13th that the Venezuelan people do

not support Chavez and that his ideology

is "Marxist."(3) It did not occur to the

idiot that Marxists (and Chavez is not

one) do not claim to be for majority rule

and elections. Amerikkkans do. Yet it is

the Amerikkkans who time and again fail

to respect election results in the Third

World, as in the case of Hugo Chavez in

Venezuela.

We Marxists believe the strength of our

message lies elsewhere. We do not claim

to be for majority rule or relying on

elections for political participation

processes. Venezuela is purely a case of

hypocrisy by those claiming to uphold

"democracy" and "elections."

Long history of U.$.
subversion of elections

After every coup supported by the

united $tates against an elected

Uncle $am favors democracy -- unless he loses

government, Uncle $am denies the truth

for 40 or 50 years and then releases it

through declassification of CIA

documents. The April case of Venezuela

is no different.

[Initially much of the Venezuelan

media--at least the media cited in the

united $tates--claimed that there was

popular support for the coup. Apparently,

however, some of the media were in on

the coup, and consciously did not report

on large anti-coup protests.(5)] Already

it has come to light that the coup leaders

did meet with the U.$. ambassador before

the coup--which in any country is the

easiest way to get in touch with the CIA,

as a portion of any embassy's employees

will actually be intelligence officers.

[Even before the coup essayist John

Pilger called Venezuela "the next Chile,"

noting that the State Department,

Pentagon and National Security

Agency held a two-day meeting in

November 2001 to discuss "the problem

of Venezuela."(6)]

The history of CIA involvement in

overthrowing elected governments is

available on videotape by the CIA

officers who did it themselves. We

recommend "On Company Business:

Inside the CIA: Part III, Subversion." In

that videotape, we learn that the U.$.

Government denied to the press

involvement in prior coups exactly when

it was directing all the events.

In any case, the denials are not very

credible, because the Bush

administration came out in the open to

justify the coup the day after it

happened--instead of defending officials

elected through "democracy." The list of

elected governments overthrown or

attacked with overt or covert military

operations gets longer all the time:

*1954 elected leader overthrown in

Guatemala

*1954 elected leader replaced with a

king in Iran

*1964 elected Brazilian leader resigns

complaining of U.S. pressure

*1965 elected leader replaced in

Dominican Republic with Marine

invasion

*1973 elected socialist in Chile killed

in coup with U.$. backing; Green Berets

later brag of killing Allende

*1980s contra thugs armed by Uncle

$am against overwhelmingly elected

government in Nicaragua

The difference between social-

democrats and democratic-socialists on

the one hand and scientific socialists on

the other hand is that we scientific

socialists learn the lessons of history. We

do not take U.$. claims of "democracy"

seriously and we have a theory of the u.$.

state that accounts for these Yankee

actions against elected leaders. People

who refer to the united $tates as

"democratic" are ignoring and thus

whitewashing the above history. While

it is fine to believe in democratic

principles ideologically it becomes

foolish to replace the truth with mere

ardor for principles: the truth is that

democracy cannot be implemented. It

does not work within capitalism except

in a limited way amongst the minority of

imperialist countries where there is

democracy of the exploiters, "bourgeois

democracy."

Comparisons among lackeys

Those who claim that elections are

sacrosanct should have supported Chavez

regardless of any difference in opinion

with him. Those Latin American leaders

who opposed majority rule because of a

difference of opinion with Chavez prove

that elections are only sacrosanct when

they verify Uncle $am's choice.

While Mexico refused to recognize the

new government until new elections and

Cuba had the courage not to recognize

the "coup," one of the worst U.$. lackeys

was in Peru. Alejandro Toledo spoke at

Harvard the day after the coup: "In blunt

remarks diverging from the cautious

comments of many Latin American

leaders since Venezuelan generals

pressured Chavez to resign, Toledo called

Chavez a dictator dressed in democratic

clothing. `He was never my cup of tea;

he discredited democracy,' said Toledo,

who spoke at a conference on

international aid at Harvard's Kennedy

School of Government before Chavez's

successor, Pedro Carmona, quit amid

heavy protests."(4)

Toledo was one of those who made a

big stink for elections in Peru and

claimed that Fujimori's vote totals before

him were a fraud. Yet as soon as a Latin

American leader gets slightly out of line

with Yankee imperialism, Toledo dumps

all his rhetoric about elections.

Notes:
1. Washington Post 13April2002, http://
www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-
dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A41210-
200 2Apr12&notFound=true
2. William Blum, http://www.counterpunch.org/
blum0414.html
3. http://boston.indymedia.org/
front.php3?article_id=5734&group=webcast
4. http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/104/
nation/
Peruvian_criticizes_Chavez_record+.shtml
5. Associated Press, 14 Apr 2002.
6. www.johnpilger.com

Continued from page 1...

Others are hampered by populism or

vulgar democracy. Perhaps they feel that

by definition a majority in every

community is exploited and oppressed.

Perhaps they think they have to appeal

to a local majority out of principle or

pragmatism.

For internationalists working in

imperialist countries, such ideas are a

drawback. We could win a lot of votes

right by promising cheaper gas for

Amerika's SUVs, but we know that this

is not the right thing to do. Aside from

encouraging continued environmental

destruction, it would preserve the

RAIL at `living wage' rally

imbalance in global resource control.

Part of being an anti-imperialist

"behind enemy lines" in the "belly of the

beast" is having the courage and stamina

to go against the tide. Globally, we have

a majority. Locally, we do not. But there

is much we can do here so long as we do

not forget who our friends and enemies

are. But there is much that we can do here

so long as we do not forget who our

friends and enemies are. RAIL can only

hope that the People's March organizers

will return to the issues of the

international proletariat and organize

from the bottom up.

What questions do YOU have?

Wasn't Mao a butcher? Why do you spell it "Amerika"? Shouldn't you try non-
violence first? What is internationalism? Isn't hating white people reverse racism?
Why don't you leftists work together? Why don't you tone it down? What is a cardinal
principle? What is your program? What is necessary to join MIM? What concrete
actions can I take? How do I write articles for MIM? What is your copyright policy?

Go to http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/faq

and get real answers to these and other questions.

Continued from page 3...

UNITED

FRONT

Get the new issue of MIM Theory, #14, and read the latest
theory on building the movement to overthrow
imperialism once and for all, in 174 pages. Articles include
MIM congress resolutions, history from the Spanish Civil
War to Puerto Rico, Kenya, and Stalin -- plus international
documents, reviews, and much more. Send $7.50 to the
address on page 2.

MIM Notes 259 · June 1, 2002· Page 8

MIM Theory 2 and 3

Gender &

Revolutionary

Feminism

MIM's in-depth explanation of gender

oppresion, especially in the First World. A

classic collection of articles that no

revolutionary feminist should be without. 200

pages.

Send $5 cash, check, or stamps, or money

order to: MIM Distributors, PO Box
29670, Los Angeles CA 90029-0670

frequently asked questions website.(3)]

As for the Dalai Lama's slaves, he

himself has admitted to having "servants"

under religious conditions. He simply

uses euphemisms whenever speaking of

serfdom or slavery. There is also plenty

of testimony from former slaves.

Seattle Buddhist replies: Most of the

people imprisoned in the U.S. are there

for crimes related to drug and/or alcohol

abuse. I favor the decriminalization of

drug use. More people die every year

from prescription drug abuse than from

controlled substance abuse.

Drug treatment needs to be available

for those who wish it. Addicts should be

under the care of a physician. If addicted

to cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, etc.,

they should be able to get them, by

prescription, form that physician. Such

an approach would put the drug dealers

out of business.

Maoists do not share this view. Even

religion is seen as the opiate of the

people.

You evade my question about dissent.

MIM replies: Maoists are widely

credited with eliminating China's drug

problem.

You also said, "MIM Notes openly

advocates the replacement of the U.S.

form of government with another and by

revolution. What would have happened

to people in Maoist China who openly

advocated Communism being by

capitalist democracy by a revolution?"

It's a fine line. Some people were left

alone and some were treated as active

counter-revolutionaries--depending on

if it was stupid expression or active work.

I have no problem saying people who do

not recognize survival rights above profit

need to be repressed. Abe Lincoln got

that right too. Some things ARE just

beyond the pale. Tolerating serfdom,

slavery etc. is also a kind of "liberty"--

liberty of exploiters. The difference is

that I tell you openly that slave-owners

have historically had to be repressed. The

"capitalist democracies" claim to be one

thing while doing another.

Seattle Buddhist continues: As for the

business about slavery, what you are

writing is pure spin. In slavery there is

ownership of one human being by

MIM debates Seattle Buddhist on `freedom,' Tibet

another , there is a bill of sale, there are

slave markets. Work done by the slave

for the owner is not voluntary. Slavery

and serfdom are not comparable. A serf

is a tenant farmer and is not owned by

another person.

bosmim@mim.org replies: I agree

slavery and serfdom are different and that

many confuse them especially in regard

to Tibet. I'm sure it's a language and

culture problem partly. [Serfdom is

somewhat milder but it can be almost as

bad as slavery. To say a serf is a tenant

farmer is whitewashing serfdom.

Serfdom means that people do not have

the choice to leave a landlord, and that

was the case in Tibet.]

Seattle Buddhist continues: A serf

voluntarily works for the landowner in

exchange for protection, shelter and a

portion of the harvest. Slave and servant

are also completely different. A servant

is not owned by someone else. He works

voluntarily for another in return for

housing and wages.

MIM replies: Correct--wages. Also,

slaves are not allowed to change

exploiters. Regular wage-slaves can

choose Kinkos or McDonalds.[Tibetan

serfs were not allowed to leave unless

they managed to escape pretty much like

a slave. The word "voluntarily" used

above is whitewashing serfdom. No one

volunteers to be born into a system where

a handful of families own all the land and

can determine where you live and the

conditions you work for. Given the

choice people would ask the stork to drop

them in an egalitarian world of

communist dreams, so it is not

"voluntary" to live as a serf. And even if

some people are mentally retarded and

unable to oppose their own serfdom, we

still oppose serfdom as part of supporting

universal humyn rights--something

Amnesty International has yet to do for

instance.]

Seattle Buddhist continues: We are not

talking about euphemism, either. We are

not about words and what they mean. The

only proof that the Dalai Lama owned

slaves would be a bill of sale.

MIM replies: That would be ignoring

slaves born in captivity and handed down

as property.

Seattle Buddhist continues: The head

of any monastery has monks for whom a

portion of their duties is looking after the

needs of the abbot or high lama. Nothing

unusual there. You will find parallel

situations in monasteries around the

world, Christian as well as Buddhist.

MIM replies: Again I don't see you

dealing with any references from the

Tibetan slaves themselves. You are

debating some important points, but these

people exist.

Buddhist continues: At Sakya

Monastery in Seattle, Saturdays are a

voluntary work days. People who wish

to do so volunteer their time in service

of the monastery and our lama in return

for lunch and the privilege of personal

contact with our lama. They are not his

slaves. Buddhists also believe that such

voluntary work gives them the

opportunity to acquire merit or `good

karma.'

MIM replies: This is far from what we

are talking about. [In Tibet, the monks

bought land for coppers, made millions

in silver in loaning out money, loaned out

food grain for interest and charged for

rituals. House servants were slaves while

farmers were generally serfs. The top

lamas were very wealthy.]

Back on the prison question, if the

united $tates legalized drugs, it would

still be the #2 prison-state in the world. I

don't think you have an idea how far off

you are quantitatively speaking. Once in

prison--for drugs or not--they are

denied our publications-- in the tens of

thousands (and it would be more if more

prisoners were allowed to see them as

states are content to deny them across-

the- board.) What started as a racial and

economic problem quickly becomes

political and it was from the beginning

given that laws and enforcement are

politically formed.

Seattle Buddhist: More spin. I am not

saying that most people in prison are

there for drug use but that most are there

for crimes related to drugs and/or alcohol.

This includes people who steal

(embezzlers, forgers, burglars, robbers)

money and use some or all of it to buy

drugs are in prison for those crimes.

If you add this total to the total that are

in prison for drug use and or sales and

add that to the total who committed

crimes while under the influence of

drugs, you will get numbers quite

different from what you suggest.

As to people in prison being denied

your publication, there was a time when

they were denied for more publications

than yours but people worked from

within the system to get those laws

changed. When people are released from

prison, it is desirable for them not to

commit more crimes and returned. It is

difficult to see how a publication which

would increase the hostility already felt

toward the system and society they need

to be reintegrated into upon release serves

that purpose.

MIM replies: This is called having it

both ways. You said the capitalist

democracies have "individual liberty."

Your Dalai Lama also calls the United

$tates a "free country." Above you are

writing justifications for the highest

imprisonment rate in the world. It does

not occur to you that whether the problem

is drugs, a poor jury and eyewitness

system or outright racist frame-ups, no

matter what the underlying truth is, the

system stands condemned and you should

not refer to it as indicative of a "free

country" until after you legalize drugs

and eliminate the problem--if that is

your theory about what is wrong. Instead

you brag you are advocating legalization

before you have achieved it.

Your theory is wrong about why there

are so many prisoners, but what is more

important is that confronted with the facts

you go on saying the same things, just

with ad hoc excuses. As for the

censorship problem, plenty of prisoners

have testified that they have been

rehabilitated by MIM Notes, but again,

that is almost a detail compared with your

having it both ways. If you want to be

concerned that MIM Notes is not

rehabilitative, then be so concerned. As

you know, the words of George Bush who

you rightly consider scarier than bin

Laden are not denied to prisoners. MIM's

words are censored. That is basically the

majority of Amerikkkans telling the

communist but tax-paying and law-

abiding minority that it does not have the

right to speak with prisoners while the

George Bush/Al Gore-loving majority

does get to speak with prisoners, end of

story. However, what is more important

even than that is the fact that you change

to the rehabilitation subject after raising

the "liberty" subject. The honest answer

you should give is: "OK, I favor

censoring MIM Notes and I recognize

that the system has censored MIM Notes

and hence it's not really a `free' country."

You should say "I oppose freedom,

because only some publications prevent

crime." You should not say it's a free

country and then go on to give

justifications for censorship.

To be continued...

Notes:
1. MIM Theory 8. See also: Anna Louise
Strong, When Serfs Stood up in Tibet (Red Sun
Publishers, 1976).
2. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/faq/
freecoun.html
3. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/faq/
tibet.html
4. Martin K. Whyte & William L. Parish, Urban
Life in Contemporary China (University of
Chicago Press, 1984), p. 247. See also p. 3.

Continued from page 3...

MIM Notes 259 · June 1, 2002· Page 9

war demonstration permission to hold a

peaceful demonstration after noon on the

Golden Gate Bridge on May 25. Further

you have stated that the demonstrators

can not hold any signs. You lost the

chance to hide behind the guise of `traffic

concerns' with this latter restriction.

What possible reason could there be for

denying demonstrators the right to hold

signs except a restriction on people's

right to free speech because you (the

responsible city administrators) do not

like what this demonstration is saying.

There are people walking across the

bridge daily carrying Amerikan flags and

there is no restriction on them, or on

San Francisco tries to stop anti-imperialist protestors

others who walk across with signs.

"In this country we enjoy relative

freedom, compared to many countries

around the world. But this freedom, like

our wealth, comes at the expense of the

majority of the world's people. And this

freedom is denied, even illegally in

contradiction to the First Amendment,

when people within u.$. borders attempt

to exercise it to demand equality. It is

denied inside the prisons, which are used

as tools of social control. And it is denied

when any people with in u.$. borders try

to speak out against u.$. imperialism. But

we, as activists, know that we can

sometimes win battles within the

imperialist legal system, even though that

legal system is not set up to serve us. And

we know that the power of public outcry

and protest can help us win these battles

which are all about politics and power.

"The administration of the Golden

Gate bridge can try to deny people their

right to free speech, but this will only

strengthen their resolve to speak out more

loudly. People around the world are dying

at the hands of the united states military

or other militaries armed and funded by

the U.$. We in this country have a

responsibility (and supposedly a right) to

speak out against this terror.

"I, along with others from my

organization, will be at the demonstration

May 25, demanding that the United $tates

end its imperialist terror against the

people of the world. We will be holding

signs that will educate others by

proclaiming our support for the just

struggles for self-determination of

peoples of the Third World, the real

victims of terrorism.

"We hope you will reconsider your

position denying the people access to the

Golden Gate Bridge just because you

oppose their political message.

"Sincerely,

"[a comrade] for the Maoist

Internationalist Movement (MIM)"

In May MIM sent several petitions

filled with signatures to the California

DOC as a part of our campaign against

the new repressive visitation regulations

that the DOC is trying to implement. After

vocal protests against these new rules,

both at the public hearing on March 8

and though a fax, phone and mail

campaign, the CA DOC postponed

implementation of the policies

indefinitely. We need to keep the pressure

on and let them know that we won't sit

by and allow this regulation to pass

unnoticed. MIM sent the following letter

with the petitions.

The recently proposed changes in the

Department of Corrections visiting rules

in California will make it very difficult

for people to visit their relatives and

friends in prison, cutting off visitation

entirely for inmates with more severe

sentences. Already there have been

demonstrations and fax and phone calling

campaigns expressing strong

disagreement with these new rules. We

are enclosing petition signatures to add

more names to the voices of those who

see clearly that the new California DOC

visitation rules will do nothing more than

expand the oppression of prisoners while

actually increasing recidivism.

Among the changes being proposed

which we are opposing include

requirements that:

(1) All inmate visitors, including

minors, must provide a completed CDC

Form 106 and obtain institution/facility

approval before they may be permitted

to visit with an inmate.

(2) All minors over the age of 7 must

present picture proof of identity before

being permitted to visit (only legal Id's,

as with adult visitors)

(3) Family visits will not be permitted

for higher custody and life sentence

inmates, those in segregation or secure

housing units, or who have been found

guilty of violating certain regulations.

These restrictions are counter to any

notion of rehabilitation as studies have

shown that regular visits reduce

recidivism among prisoners. These rules

will only help expand what is already a

huge growth industry across the country:

the criminal injustice system. In fact the

changes to the regulation make clear the

new position towards visitation. While

the old regulation opens with the

sentence: "The value of visiting as a

means to establish and maintain

meaningful family and community

relationship is recognized and

encouraged." The new regulation starts

with: "Visiting is a privilege." This is a

dangerous shift to a focus on using

visitation rights for punishment. The

rules for prisoners in restrictive custody

will specifically punish the politically

active behind bars because they are the

ones who get locked up in SHU and

segregation as punishment for

demanding their legal rights.

Prisons in this country are used as a

tool of social control. MIM and RAIL

fight for reforms to the conditions in

prisons while working to dismantle the

criminal injustice system and replace it

with a system of real justice run by and

for the people. To join the fight to oppose

these new prison regulations, write, fax,

or e-mail the California Department of

Corrections:

Department of Corrections

Regulation and Policy Management

Branch

P.O. Box 942883

Sacramento, CA 94283-0001

fax: (916)322-3842

e-mail:

pmchenry@executive.corr.ca.gov

California prison visitation battle continues

Richard Sklar, a University of

California at Los Angeles professor,

refused to distribute a list of factual errors

in the "Black Book of Communism"(1)

to his undergraduate class "Ideology and

Development in World Politics." Mr.

Sklar placed the "Black Book" on the

syllabus as supplementary reading and

cited from it without comment in his

lecture.

The "Black Book" is filled with factual

and boneheaded mathematical errors. For

example, "The Black Book" states that

"in 1960 the death rate soared to 68

percent from its normal level at around

15 percent" (p. 492, 1999 Hardback

edition). No doubt China would be a very

small country by now if this sort of thing

were true-a 68% death rate in one year!-

instead of the correct rate of 68.58 per

thousand. The editor of "The Black

Book" has admitted that an editorial error

inflated death rates by a factor of ten (2),

but publisher Harvard University Press

has not published a correction.

Furthermore, the academic integrity of

"The Black Book" is tarnished, as it does

not even acknowledge well-established

positions among mainstream scholars.

"The Black Book" claims, "[a]s far as

we know, there was not a single death

associated with [land reform in south

Korea, Japan and Taiwan], and people

were compensated more or less

satisfactorily for their losses" (p.480). We

have found a half-dozen scholarly works-

and a publication by the World Bank-

which strongly contradict these

assertions (3). "The Black Book" does

not mention them.

Mr. Sklar repeated some of the

exaggerated claims of the "Black Book"

in his lecture and refused to pass out

corrections of its purely factual errors.

He also forbade MIM from distributing

corrections in class, after we politely

asked to via e-mail and in persyn. Never

fear--MIM simply stepped outside and

passed out corrections as students walked

in.

This shows that out Mr. Sklar is willing

to accept mathematical illiteracy and

slovenly standards for scholarly debate

while sweeping the truth under the rug.

University students and the public at

large--the "Black Book's" many

mainstream reviews did not question its

obvious errors--deserve better.

Of course, aside from these purely

factual errors, we at the Maoist

Internationalist Movement have

methodological differences with the

books authors. Here is an excerpt from

our review (4):

"Our fascist critics trumpeted this book

against us all over the Internet as if

something new were said. They cited the

[inflated] 100 million death toll [which

is even criticized by some of the "Black

Book's" authors] in the introduction as

the main message. Yet it remains that it

is an 856 page book and there are no

statistical comparisons of premature

deaths between capitalist and socialist

countries anywhere in the book, just as

MIM charged all along. The reason is

simple: the Communists doubled the life

expectancies of the people of the Soviet

Union and China. That is the overall

picture. It does not mean there were not

civil wars or executions, including some

unjust ones, but overall, the violence of

communism is less than that of

capitalism, by far."

Notes:

1. Stephane Courtois, Mark Kramer

(Translator), Jonathan Murphy

(Translator), Karel Bartosek, Andrzej

Paczkowski, Jean-Louis Panne, Jean-

Louis Margolin, "The Black Book of

Communism: Crimes, Terror,

Repression," Cambridge:Harvard

University Press, 1999.

2. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/

m n / t e x t . p h p ? m i m f i l e = m n 2 2 9 /

BlackBook.txt

3. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/

m n / t e x t . p h p ? m i m f i l e = m n 2 3 0 /

BlackBook.txt.

4. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/

m n / t e x t . p h p ? m i m f i l e = m n 2 2 9 /

BlackBookReview.txt

UCLA professor defends `Black Book of Communism' lies

MIM Notes 259 · June 1, 2002· Page 10

MIM on

Prisons & Prisoners

MIM seeks to build public opinion

against Amerika's criminal injustice sys-

tem, and to eventually replace the bour-

geois injustice system with proletarian jus-

tice. The bourgeois injustice system im-

prisons and executes a disproportionately

large and growing number of oppressed

people while letting the biggest mass mur-

derers -- the imperialists and their lack-

eys -- roam free. Imperialism is not op-

posed to murder or theft, it only insists that

these crimes be committed in the interests

of the bourgeoisie.

"All U.S. citizens are criminals--

accomplices and accessories to the crimes
of U.$. oppression globally until the day
U.$. imperialism is overcome. All U.S.
citizens should start from the point of view
that they are reforming criminals."

MIM does not advocate that all

prisoners go free today; we have a
more effective program for fighting
crime as was demonstrated in China
prior to the restoration of capitalism
there in 1976. We say that all prisoners
are political prisoners because under
the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, all
imprisonment is substantively
political. It is our responsibility to
exert revolutionary leadership and
conduct political agitation and
organization among prisoners --
whose material conditions make them
an overwhelmingly revolutionary
group. Some prisoners should and will
work on self-criticism under a future
dictatorship of the proletariat in those
cases in which prisoners really did do
something wrong by proletarian
standards.

Under Lock & Key

News from Prisons & Prisoners

Punished for speaking
out on bad conditions

If I thought the pigs were bad in CDC [the

California Department of Corrections], here
in CYA [the California Youth Authority] one
can feel the blunt force of oppression i.e.
people doing months of administrative
segregation at a time with pitiful portions of
food that barely sustains life and to top it off
no canteen. It is not uncommon to see the
wards looking like harshly treated Afghan
prisoners, weighing 140-150 pounds,
sometimes less.

As soon as I arrived, administration for no

reason whatsoever slammed me down in lock
up and refused to give me my mainline status.
I figured I would start pushing paperwork
against [the] administration, but I was
informed of another comrade who had also
come from prison and attempted to
accomplish our goals by that manner but his
attempts were futile because the paperwork
had fallen on deaf ears, so to paraphrase
Machiavelli, "when no legal means exist to
provide relief to the people's problems, then
the only alternative is to resort to illegal ones."

So after a little enlightenment of what we

deserve and have a right to we compiled a
list of demands to be met for us to continue
to comply with institutional policies. When
they refused to hear our demands on April
15th, we all shut the institution down. Since
it affected us all the Crips, Bloods, some
whites and even an Asian assisted. We refused
to come off the rec yard, all rooms were
boarded up, so they had to extract every one
cell by cell. Out of the 50 cells in my building
43 joined the rebellion.

Even though I was not the spokesman they

labeled me as the "ringleader" and extracted
me first, placed me in a mental problems
building and attempted to negotiate with me.
I stated we would not compromise on certain
issues like the right to have food on canteen,
and to remove all sensory deprivation window
shutters, the right to have/wear shoes in our
cells and on the yard, the right to subscribe
to publications, newspapers, magazines etc.

Instead of meeting all our demands or even

the basic few they chose to continue cell
extractions. The first day and night we cost
[the administration] about $20,000 in
overtime, new blankets, sheets, extraction
equipment, etc. Still, administration is
keeping me segregated from the other
northern Mexicans, so we know they are
trying to suppress the spread of knowledge.
But any literature you can send to me here
like Black Panther literature I know will be
embraced by many future comrades and
revolutionaries.

--A California prisoner, 2 May 2002

Censorship in
Washington

MIM received the letter below from the

Washington Department of Corrections in
response to our appeal of their censorship of
an issue of MIM Notes we sent to a prisoner
at the McNeil Island Corrections Center.

The letter states that the publication is being

allowed in, but the cover letter is being
rejected because of its call for a USW leader
in every prison, and its closing with the

statement "Arms up, fists high!"

MIM contends that our work organizing

prisoners for their legal rights does not
constitute a valid or legal reason to censor
our letters. And certainly a statement about
raising arms in the air is not a threat to the
prison. However, we do recognize that the
true "penological objectives" encompass
social control of the oppressed nations within
u.s. borders. To do this the prisons need to
suppress and censor speech that attempts to
organize and educate prisoners, even if this
work is legally permissible.

We will continue to fight this censorship in

the state of Washington. To support this battle,
send letters of protest to the address below
and send a copy to MIM.

Letter from Washington State DOC:
Dear MIM:
Your publication was sent to DOC

Headquarters for review. After review, it was
decided the publication would be sent to the
addressed offender.

Your cover letter is cause for concern in

that you mention establishing a USW leader
to coordinate your work in every prison in
the state, and it closes with the statement,
"Arms up, fists high!" Therefore, your cover
letter was deemed a threat to legitimate
penological objectives and rejected.

The mailroom has been directed to continue

to review each MIM publication, as is the
practice with all other publications received
by this facility, per Washington State
Department of Corrections policy.

Sincerely,
Scott Frakes
Associated Superintendent
April 27, 3003

Letters of protest can be addressed to:
Scott Frakes
State of Washintgon DOC
PO Box 900
Steilacoom, WA 98388

More censorship in Washington

I just received what you sent me, I think is

called "What is MIM" and it was rejected in
the mail here at this institution. I am not going
to send it out yet. I am going to appeal it
because I know it ain't no threat to why it
was rejected for. Also I noticed that these
stupid, dumb dogs that work here are rejecting
unnecessary stuff I get in the mail and I appeal
every single one of my rejections until I can't
appeal no more. But, being on this side of the
wall, it's kind of hard because mail always
gets denied and those idiots all work together
and lie so I won't get my newsletter. MIM
Notes was rejected too. You can see that these
idiots that work here are out to get people
and are rejecting whatever they can.

-- a prisoner in Washington, April 2002
MIM Responds: We need all of our

comrades behind bars to fight censorship with
the vigilance of this prisoner. It is possible to

beat censorship, in some cases, but only with
appeals and sometimes lawsuits. If you are
having a problem with censorship in prison,
write to us for a copy of our censorship packet
which helps explain how to fight back. And
if you are on the outside and want to help
fight censorship, we need people to write
letters of protest. Current lists of censorship
campaigns and addresses can be found on our
web page at: http://www.etext.org/Politics/
MIM.

Maximum security
units abused by prison

Here in Washington retaliation is common

against any and all prisoners for attempting
to exercise `given' constitutional or civil
rights -- mostly through the grievance
program. This is most especially true of the
supermax `IMU' (Intensive Management
Units), both here at the SCCC and at the
Washington State Penitentiary (WSP), and in
actuality, in all IMUs (statewide).

Prisoners grieving here at the SCCC for

almost any reason (in and out of the IMU)
are not even sent a response of any kind from
anywhere to ten days (earliest) to 30 or 40
days! Responses are supposed to be within
24-48 hours maximum. And then, even when
finally responded to, responses are evasive,
non-responsive to the actual policy, practice,
or `incident' grieved, necessitating a re-
submission of self-same complaint, though
presented in different words (otherwise it
would be disregarded altogether with a "this
issue has already been addressed" even when
it really has not been). Grievance coordinators
are deliberately evasive in giving timely,
accurate and to the point responses. The
obvious goal being to vexate, frustrate,
antagonize, and annoy prisoners, with the
further goal being (of course) to get prisoners
to simply give up and abandon pursuing their
grievances altogether.

An even greater arbitrary practice here at

SCCC is the posting of prisoner's full names,
DOC numbers and IMU level status in bold
letters on sheets tacked onto their cells doors,
this results in ever further retaliatory actions
against prisoners. Certain C/Os (Corrections
officers) most definitely have an out and out
hatred for any/all prisoners. The result is
prisoners repeatedly losing their levels due
most often times to the prisoners being tricked
into `feeding in' to some (unexpected)
antagonism or retaliatory action(s), e.g. being
provoked by self-same `hate freak' C/Os into
violent and unacceptable behaviors. What
makes this even worse than retaliatory, overtly
antagonistic grievance coordinator's garbage
is the fact that, in the case of prisoners being
provoked into unacceptable and violent
behaviors by C/Os, they're being retaliated
against for even `being', period.

The levels system is what each and every

prisoner must progress upwards through to

earn their way out of the IMU units (through
good and acceptable behaviors). At a level 3
prisoners are allowed a radio in their cell, after
60 days of this, they are allowed (on
promotion to level 4) a television, and, after
30 days at level 4 can be considered for
release from the hyper-petty and restrictive
IMU unit. Paradoxically, it's the IMU levels
"rewards" (radio at level 3, television at level)
that seems to spur hate freak C/Os on to
provoking, harassing, etc., prisoners into
violent, unacceptable behaviors that result in
prisoners being demoted to lower IMU levels.
They're all really hot to keep all of their IMU
units to capacity (100 beds). They'll take
ridiculously minor incidents that shouldn't
ever result in much more than 30-60 days in
the hole (segregation unit) and blow them out
of all proportion with the end result being
anywhere from a six month long program to
a 2-3 year long program in their IMUs.

-- a prisoner in WA, May 2002

MIM Notes 259 · June 1, 2002· Page 11

Facts on U$ imprisonment

The facts about imprisonment in the United $tates are that the United $tates has been the world's leading prison-state per capita for the last

25 years, with a brief exception during Boris Yeltsin's declaration of a state of emergency.(1)

That means that while Reagan was talking about a Soviet "evil empire" he was the head of a state that imprisoned more people per capita.

In supposedly "hard-line" Bulgaria of the Soviet bloc of the 1980s, the imprisonment rate was less than half that of the United $tates.(2,3)

To find a comparison with U.$. imprisonment of Black people, there is no statistic in any country that compares including apartheid South

Africa of the era before Mandela was president. The last situation remotely comparable to the situation today was under Stalin during war
time. The majority of prisoners are non-violent offenders(4) and the U.S. Government now holds about a half million more prisoners than
China; even though China is four times our population.(5)

The rednecks tell MIM that we live in a "free country." They live in an Orwellian 1984 situation where freedom is imprisonment.

Notes: 1. Marc Mauer, "Americans Behind Bars: The International Use of Incarceration 1993," The Prison Sentencing Project, 918 F. St. NW, Suite

501, Washington, DC 20004 (202) 628-0871 Reference: SRI: R8965-2, 1994
2. Ibid., 1992 report.

3. United Nations Development Programme, "Human Development Report 1994,:" Oxford University Press, p. 186.

4. Figure of 51.2 percent for state prisoners there for non-violent offenses. Abstract of the United States 1993, p. 211.
5. Atlantic Monthly December, 1998.

Repression in
Tennessee

I'm at a maximum security prison in

Tennessee. There are a few things that I would
like to shine light on that go down in these
parts of town. Just about whenever these
dawg's demons can think of one, there is a
new in house policy made up. For instance,
we are not allowed hair grease, lotion that
was taken off the commissary list. They also
quit selling real bars of soap and real
toothpaste and the good deodorant. The real
soap was replaced with some watered down
body wash which is too expensive and no
good. The toothpaste and deodorant I
wouldn't give to my worse enemy to use. All
the items replaced are too expensive and serve
no purpose at all.

We are not allowed winter hats, caps or

gloves, jogging suits or shorts. When it gets
cold in this hold you got to wrap up the best
way you can. In the winter they turn the air
on full blast and in the summer they cut the
air off. We can't have typewriters for legal
work or anything else. The so-called
counselors and other officials that are
supposed to help us get off maximum security
don't do anything but lie to us. The game plan
is to hold you on max because they get paid
more money for max inmates. A lot of the
fellows have been on seven and eight years
or more. If you're not snitching you're not
going to get off, unless you can get your
family or some outside help involved.

The problem is getting someone from the

outside to help you. Talk is cheap, talking
alone has never got anything done, we have
to expose these demon dawgs. I know the
media can play a good role in taking care of
the business, but we have to stay on them and
make sure they keep the facts straight because
if you don't keep an eye on them, they will
flip the whole story and tell how they want it
told and then you have a problem. Lawsuits
and violence are the only things these people
seem to understand. One is not going to give
them what they want: No one in their right
mind wants to stay here an extra second more
than he has to and they will give you new
charges for violence. I'm fixing to go home
next year, I can do more for the brothers in
here from the streets. I can get them the type
of help they need.

Another thing is that a lot of these guys,

including myself, don't have jobs. It's 96
inmates in a unit and 24 in a pod, 3 people
out of each pod has a job. The rest are jobless.
However a lot of us have no money coming
in from the streets. We used to receive six
dollars a month which was called state draw.

The warden and his helpers took that money
from us and put it in their pockets. So now
we receive no money and one has to make
ends meet the best way he can.

We had a GED program on max, it was a

good thing because we could make good use
of our time and do something positive. The
Warden cut that program short. Everything
that would help a brother out they took and
started cutting back so it would be more
money in their pockets.

The Warden Jay Dukes is in the news (April

19, 2002), for sexual harassment and a whole
bunch of other things.

-- a prisoner in TN, April 2002

More repression in Tennessee

The politics around here are real nasty at

WTSP. I know 75% of the staff are corrupt,
just recently 4-17-02 the head warden was
arrested for sexual harassment and misuse of
funds. Just because s/he wears a badge that
don't mean that s/he honors it.

The staff here is real hard on the inmate

incentive. In my opinion if 75% of this
population at WTSP were politically
educated there would be lots of riots and
massive violence at WTSP alone. Most of the
inmates at WTSP are scared to file a
grievance -- their favorite saying is don't pick
with them folks. But when something happens
to them directly then they wanna be down for
it.

There's nothing to do here as far as

educational and other rehabilitative programs.
So how is a man suppose to re-enter into
society reformed? If you're Black it's hard
for you, because you already have three
strikes against you: (1) you're Black (2) you
have a prison record (3) you don't have an
education, and to top that off the parole board
requires you to have a job before they release
you. They don't even allow furloughs so you
can go look for one, and them three strikes
alone will make it difficult for the average
man.

Lots of inmates over the last 6 years that

have been convicted of crimes in TN were
juveniles with no work experience or
education, and have spent the last 6 to 8 years
in prison, they don't have a fighting chance.
Now here's my opinion, the bible and
education that you get in Amerika is to train
you to fit into a society so you won't give
them any trouble. To me the so-called
powerful and political ones in Amerika are
great (actors). I'm not political or educated,
but I would like for you to guide me and teach
me. The papers you wrote, and I've only read
a few of them here lately, and what I've read
makes me wanna know more and bring

everybody else around me on the same level.
thank you for your time, but what I need is
your education and guidance. I wanna be a
part of this.

--A second prisoner in TN, April 2002

Medical care denied in
New Jersey

I am confined in a New Jersey state prison

at Northern State Prison. In Newark, New
Jersey I am going through a lot of torture and
pain. They accuse me of spitting on a nurse,
which I didn't do. I am innocent. The only
thing I am guilty of is breaking a radio in the
nurses station because this prison guard broke
the prongs off my power cord on my TV set.
Now they have me chained to the fence, like
an animal., with my hands cuffed behind my
back and the leg chains on.

In order to get my insulin injection I need

to go to the nurses station, like the diabetic
prisoners. They are denying me medical care,
refusing to put me on the sick call list. And
then the same nurse, the racist one they
accuse me of spitting on, sometimes gives me
my insulin injection. I requested another nurse
because she tampered with my insulin
injection and my blood sugar got very low
and my blood pressure got very high. But they
marked me down as a refusal, and I do need
my insulin injection.

-- a prisoner in New Jersey, April 2002

A call to action in N.J.

I come to you from the konfines of Trenton

state hostage kamp in the "police state" of
No Justice (New Jersey). This kamp being
the "last stop" in the state, housing the capital
punishment unit (Death Row). A majority of
the prisoners here have excessive sentences.
I wish to elaborate on 3 issues going on at
this prison.

Though the majority here is serving from

20-100 years, the administration has
successfully implemented an "its o.k. to tell"
policy and not much regulation or resistance
is put up by he masses here. It is sad the lack
of unity that exists here. Those entering this
and other kamps in the state are younger and
younger, for the most part people of color with
extraordinary sentences. Their concerns lie
with who's the best rapper, sex books, drugs
and what they did and had, not their
conditions, education or their case (not all,
but the majority). They're laying down too
quick and too easy which brings me to my
second issue.

This kamp also houses an administrative

segregation unit (which is in a condemned

wing). The pigs that kontrol this unit are
mostly white racists who form wolf packs and
carry out beatings on prisoners of color. When
the complaints of the racist attacks could no
longer go unheard, a white prisoner was
attacked in a futile attempt to shield the blatant
racism. It has gotten so bad that it caught the
attention of those on the outside, but this is
not enough! This kamp's history is known for
the prisoners' resistance, but it seems this is
no longer the case. Pacification is widespread.
We have lost food packages, clothing
packages restricted to purchase only what the
state provides at extreme prices. Our visits
and phone have been restricted, a gang unit
has been created, phase program was
implemented, all in the past six years and it
continues. I will be the first to stay that the
battle exists out there, not here. While here,
especially those with the extensive terms,
unity, education and struggle are essential. We
can not continue laying down, for the time
will come when we can no longer get up.

In this:
1. Education -- is a must to open the eyes

of those who have been brainwashed with the
self-destructive doctrine.

2. Unity -- to first clean the ranks of the

informers and pig pacifies and those who in
a bind will break.

3. Structure --once the ranks are cleaned,

strengthened, unified and educated. Form
cells and chains of communication to honestly
and securely transfer information throughout
the kamps regarding strikes, information or
actions, by any means necessary to bring
about the goal. It is sad when a man serving
60 years tells another he can't relay a verbal
message because he's afraid to catch a
disciplinary charge. Change is possible!

My third and final issue is regarding the

settlement reached in the courts regarding
treatment and care of mentally ill prisoners,
which was long overdue. But knowing how
wicked the oppressor is, he's using it as a
weapon against those in the struggle. They
have taken several komrades who have fought
against the system, either verbally or
physically, labeled them "special needs" and
through this label have put them on forced
psychotropic medication in an attempt to
break their spirit and pacify them. When will
we realize that this is not a game and stop
coping out with the statement "they can't do
that." This is war and until we realize that we
will continue being the casualty.

Until all are free from the chains of

oppression. -- a New Jersey hostage, April
2002

MIM responds: It is true that there are

those behind bars who are passive, or worse
who snitch and help the pigs. But there are
many who are eager to join the revolutionary
struggle and just lack the leadership and/or
education to do so. We encourage our
comrades behind bars like this one to take up
this leadership by working with United
Struggle from Within (USW -- the MIM-led
prisoner anti-imperialist organization) and
help us to build education and agitation state-
wide behind the bars.

MIM Notes 259 · June 1, 2002· Page 12

Notas Rojas

junio 1, 2002, Nº 259 Fragmento del Periodico Oficial del Movimiento Internacionalista Maoista Gratis

¿Que es el MIM?

El Movimiento Internacionalista Maoísta (MIM) es un partido revolucionario

comunista que ejerce el Marxismo-Leninismo-Maoísmo. El MIM es una organización
internacionalista que trabaja desde el punto de vista del proletariado del Tercer Mundo;
es por esto que sus miembros no son amerikanos sino ciudadanos del mundo.

El MIM lucha para acabar con la opresión de todos los grupos sobre cualquier otro,

naciones por naciones, clases por clases, y géneros por géneros. La revolución es una
realidad para los Estados Unidos mientras su ejército continúa extendiendose en su
esfuerzo por asegurar la hegemonía mundial.

El MIM difiere de otros partidos en tres puntos basicos: (1) El MIM sostiene que

después que el proletariado conquiste el poder estatal, existira aún el potencial para una
restauración de tipo capitalista, bajo la dirección de una burguesía nueva dentro del
mismo partido comunista. En el caso de la Unión Soviética, la burguesía se apoderó del
gobierno después de la muerte de Stalin, en 1953; y en China después de la muerte de
Mao y del derrocamiento de la llamada "banda de los cuatro' en 1976. (2) El MIM
sostiene que la Revolución Cultural en China es la fase ms avanzada a la que llegó el
comunismo en la historia. (3) El MIM afirma que la clase trabajadora blanca de los
EE.UU. es primordialmente, una élite trabajadora no revolucionaria en el presente. Es
por esto que no es el principal vehículo para avanzar el Maoísmo en este país.

El MIM acepta como miembro a cualquier individuo que esté de acuerdo con estos

tres puntos basicos, y que acepte al centralismo democrtico, el método de gobierno por
la mayoría en lo que se refiere a cuestiones de línea del partido. El MIM es un partido
clandestino que no publica los nombres de sus miembros para evitar la represión estatal
dirigida históricamente contra los movimientos revolucionarios comunistas, y anti-
imperialistas. Si Ud. desea una suscripción para cualquiera de nuestros periódicos o
libros teóricos, en español o en inglés, por favor mandar dinero en efectivo o un cheque
al nombre de MIM a esta dirección:

MIM · P.O. Box 29670 · Los Angeles CA 90029-0670

Santa Cruz

6 de abril

Traducido por CELAAL

El evento cultural de oposición a la

intervención yanqui en las Filipinas

denominado "Cultura en contra de la

guerra" llevado a cabo en Santa Cruz bajo

liderazgo proletario obtuvo una respuesta

emocionante. Tanto los discursos como

la actividad cultural del día representaron

un fuerte contraste con la retórica en

torno a la "guerra contra el terrorismo"

por parte de Washington, DC.

Aquella tarde soleada trescientas

personas asistieron al picnic en un césped

con vista al Océano Pacífico,

presenciando bandas, bailes, teatro

político y oradores. La mayoría de la

gente se llevó una copia del periódico

MIM Notes del 1 de abril, y un comité

de Santa Cruz que trata el caso de Mumia

Abu-Jamal ayudó a disribuir algunas de

las ediciones anteriores de MIM Notes

sobre la acción militar de EE.UU. en las

Filipinas.

El MIM entrevistó a varias personas

saliendo del picnic para ver su reacción.

Los oradores habían condemnado la

intervención de EE.UU. en asuntos

internos de otros países del mundo,

poniendo de relieve el chovinismo contra

la Corea del Norte, Irac e Irán que el

presidente Bush y otros muchos han

venido fomentando recientemente. El

público se enteró de los detalles de la

renovada presencia militar y las

actividades de EE.UU. en las Filipinas.

"¿Qué significa el militarismo yanqui

.....para la gente indígena. [Significa]

tierra robada.....[Significa]

desplazamiento del pueblo indígena de

Mindanao", -dijo Terry Valen.

Los organizadores del evento habían

puesto mucho esfuerzo consiguiendo

atraer a gente ajena a la política. Unos

activistas jóvenes no sólo asistieron al

evento, sino que también pusieron mesas

para explicar sus causas. En un local, el

MIM entrevistó a unos participantes de

la campana Fiesta Nacional en el nombre

de Cesar E. Chavez- un líder laboral que

había organizado a trabajadores agrícolas

superexplotados, en su mayoría

procedentes de México.

El MIM les preguntó a los

participantes de la campaña Fiesta

Nacional en el nombre de Cesar E.

Chavez cuál era la conexión entre su

causa y los puntos abordados en los

discursos aquel día. Las tres mujeres

estuvieron de acuerdo con que "no había

ninguna conexión". La siguiente

pregunta del MIM fue "¿Y porqué

entonces están aquí?" Un activista

respondió: "Soy Sargento de Armas". El

MIM preguntó a su vez: "¿y porqué ha

decidido venir hoy?" recibiendo la misma

respuesta- "creo que no hay ninguna

conexión".

La Coalición de Asia e Islas Pacíficas

Contra la Guerra circuló un folleto que

decía "en solidaridad con el pueblo de

Palestina". El folleto atacó al "genocidio

patrocinado por el estado de Israel

respaldado por EE.UU. "

Un profesor visitanto hizo el siguiente

comentario respecto al evento: "Está

genial. Es la primera vez que asisto a un

evento de ensenanza aquí".

Una muchacha blanca dijo que no sabía

que decir pero al ser preguntada sobre la

parodia que acababa de ver respondió:

"No se si estoy de acuerdo con ellos [los

actores de la parodia sobre el 11 de

septiembre] pero la cosa me ha abierto

los ojos hacia distintos puntos de vista".

Tanto el contenido como la diversidad

de los discursos del día recibieron una

buena acogida por parte del público. Una

persona que estaba a punto de irse

mencionó "una buena onda" y "una

excelente información". Según un

estudiante: "Pienso que ha sido una

buena introducción básica al [contexto]

histórico. Es emocionante ver a toda esa

gente aquí educándose".

Una de las mujeres procedentes de Los

Ángeles que estaban de paso en Santa

Cruz, hizo el siguiente comentario

respecto a la parodia sobre las tropas

yanquis en las Filipinas: "Estuvo

genial...bien gracioso...me lo pasé muy

bien." Otra mujer que vino de Berkeley

para asistir al evento dijo: "Me pareció

bien. Fue interesante, con mucha

información".

La representación nacional que se

obtuvo en el evento fue muy diversa; de

hecho, la gente blanca estuvo en minoría.

Según una persona, "fue increíble,

verdaderamente increíble...la

participación de varias etnicidades."

Solamente una persona entrevistada por

el MIM se mostró indispuesta para dar

sus comentarios sobre el evento, de lo

cual deducimos que su reacción pudo

haber sido negativa.

La banda Diskarte Namin condemnó

"la avaricia de corporaciones blancas"

que buscan sacar provecho de la guerra

en "vez de tratar nuestros asuntos

internos como reconocimiento para los

veteranos, la educación, los ninos." Sin

embargo, ninguno de los oradores supo

apartarse del parasitismo yanqui ni

tampoco indagar sobre el porqué del

tremendo respaldo de "la guerra contra

el terrorismo" en EE.UU.

El MIM advierte a todos los

participantes que en el Área de Bahía,

Manhattan, ciertas partes de Los Angeles

y algunas de las pequenas ciudades

alrededor de campus universitarios tipo

Cambridge, es posible unirse para llevar

a cabo eventos "integrados"; en ciertas

ocasiones en California hasta es posible

que dichos eventos sean liderados por el

proletariado. Sin embargo, hay que

reconocer que a la luz del contexto

general prevalente en EE.UU.,

semejantes situaciones no son más que

insignificantes bolsillos de resistencia.

Hay que contrastar estos eventos con el

jurado blanco de Simi Valley, según el

cual los atacantes de Rodney King eran

inocentes, así como el jurado de

Cincinatti que dejó que se escaparan los

atacantes de Vincent Chin. El número

del tipo de gente que compone los jurados

es mucho mayor que el de demócratas

radicales pequenoburgueses del Área de

la Bahía.

El MIM ha entrevistado tanto a

camaradas internacionales como a los

que están dentro de EE.UU. y que

adoptan un punto de vista local dentro

de las fronteras yanquis. En Nueva York

existen estados de asistencia social

dentro de otros estados de asistencia

social y existe una coalición multiracial

que defiende un estado de asistencia

social específico, lo cual le da a los

camaradas de Nueva York una falsa

impresión basada en un sistema particular

de parasitismo. Como resultado, la social

democracia "CP-USA" (Partido

Comunista de EE.UU.) domina mucha

actividad política en la ciudad de Nueva

York.

De semejante forma, no cada ciudad

yanqui es un paraíso democrático-radical

de pequeñoburgueses como lo es el Área

de la Bahía, donde la gente sí lee una

docena de varios periódicos y logra

mantener a flote cualquier número de

librerías y cafeterías. El Área de la Bahía

es uno de los pocos lugares donde la

democracia no es una "tontocracia". Los

que piensan que el Área de la Bahía es

algo típico se pierden el contexto más

amplio.

Hay que reconocer la contribución de

varias organizaciones al evento del 6 de

abril "Cultura en contra de la guerra: las

Filipinas en el Eje del Imperio"-

"Coalición Filipina de Acción

Afirmativa" (FAA), "Comunidad de

Stanford por la Paz y Justicia" (SCPJ),

Coalición de Asia e Islas Pacíficas Contra

la Guerra (APICAW), Musulmanes

Americanos por la Paz y Justicia Mundial

(AMGPJ), Comité de los Derechos

Humanos de las Filipinas (CHRP),

Coalición de los Pueblos Contra la

Guerra (APCAW), Asociación de

Trabajadores Filipinos, Ad Hoc Comité

del Profesorado sobre Eventos Actuales,

Centro de Estudios Culturales,

Asociación de Estudiantes Filipinos,

Alianza de Estudiantes de Asia e Islas

Pacíficas, Alianza de Estudiantes

Graduados, Grupo de Investigación de las

Islas Pacíficas, y Criminales en Acción

(CIA).

Universidad de California, Santa

Cruz: el evento cultural tiene éxito