MIM Notes ***

MIM Notes 269 · November 1, 2002· Page 1

MIM Notes

November 1, 2002, Nº 269

The Official Newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM)

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INSIDE: More protest coverage * Under Lock & Key * Una Página en Español...

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n response to the House of

Representatives vote to grant

President Bush's War Powers to

invade Iraq activists in San Francisco

held a demonstration to oppose the war.

The protest, which marched through

downtown, ended at the Federal Building

where organizers declared an outbreak of

democracy. Of the hundreds who

marched, dozens stayed the night camped

out in front of the federal building in

protest of the war resolution. In response

to protestors declared intention to take

over the federal building at 7am police

came out in force to protect the capitalist

Oppose war on Iraq

Stand with the global majority against aggressive militarism

Throngs of protestors in San Francisco showed their opposition to the war after the Congress's vote for Bush.

by MC45

oth houses of the U.$. Congress

voted their overwhelming

approval for war on Iraq early

Friday, 11 October. The House of

Representatives also passed a $355

billion war spending bill for good

measure. Bush is supposed to report to

Congress within 48 of going to war and

every 60 days thereafter. He is supposed

to tell the legislators that diplomacy has

failed to resolve the conflict with Iraq,

and that attacking Iraq serves the so-

called War on Terrorism.(1)

The debates and President Bush's

speeches leading up to the votes were

classic war-mongering in action as

Amerika's representatives trotted out a

succession of old, false and irrelevant

charges against Saddam Hussein to

justify the coming war.

The accusations go:

* "Iraq used biological and chemical

weapons against the Kurds only to test

the weapons' effects; now Iraq is getting

ready to use these weapons on Amerika."

The Amerikans gave Iraq its chemical

and germ weaponry in the first place, but

Congress greenlights war on Iraq

It was classic

war-mongering

in action.

the "debates"

i g n o r e d

that.(3) On the

possibility of

Iraq deploying

such weapons

today, a retired

A m e r i k a n

navy admiral

who assesses

the Iraqi military threat for a living said

"it doesn't make any sense to me if [Bush]

meant United States territory."(4) The

CIA reports that Iraq has stocks of "at

least 100 metric tons and possibly as

much as 500 metric tons of [chemicals]."

A u.$. government chemical and

biological weapons consultant says that's

nowhere near enough for an attack and

that "in the 1980s planners `routinely

talked about throwing 10,000 ton

quantities' of nerve agents against a

single massed division."(5)

* "Iraq could develop usable nuclear

weapons within a year; Iraq has been

importing the tools to manufacture a

nuclear arsenal." A Department of

Energy specialist said "there is not much

Defend Jose

Maria Sison's

democratic

rights!

Following the U.$. government's lead,

the government of the Netherlands issued

its "Sanctions ruling on terrorism 2002

III" on 13 August, criminalizing

Philippine political refugee Prof. Jose

Maria Sison without benefit of due

process. This ruling freezes Prof. Sison's

bank account and removes all state

subsidies for food, housing, health

insurance and other basic necessities

which he received as a recognized

political refugee.(1)

Prof. Sison has lived in exile since the

Aquino regime cancelled his passport in

1988 on the basis of false charges. Before

that the U.$.-backed Marcos dictatorship

imprisoned and tortured him for nine

years, starting in 1977. Dutch courts

previously upheld his refugee status and

granted his wife and son political asylum.

`Anti-Semitism' charge

is baseless slander

NGELES

, October 14, 2002

by a MIM Comrade

The Jewish Student Union at UCLA

has joined a coordinated campaign--

whose leaders include Harvard President

Lawrence Summers, former chief

economist for the World Bank--to

discredit the growing movement to get

universities to divest their holdings in

companies that support Israel's

oppressive policies against the people of

Palestine.

This tactic is a common one when

Israel falls under criticism for its blatant

disregard of every standard of civilized

conduct in its occupation of the

Palestinian nation. Calling the critics of

Israel "Anti-Semitic"--as if their

criticism were against Jews in general

instead of against an oppressive state

regime--is a transparent attempt to divert

attention from the real issues, which

include:

* More than half of Palestinian families

are living on less food than usual; Israeli

border closures prevent them from

working and military curfews make it

impossible to shop for food without fear

of being shot.

* 53 percent of households in the

Occupied Territories have had to borrow

money to buy food, and 17 percent have

had to sell their possessions or assets.

Jewish Student Union Maligns

Israel Divestment Campaign

Continued on page 5...

Continued on page 6...

Continued on page 4...

MIM Notes 269 · November 1, 2002· Page 2

MIM Notes

The Official Newsletter of The Maoist Internationalist Movement

ISSN 1540-8817

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)

$150

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$280

100

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900 (8-10 days)

$2,200

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!

Letters

GA prisoner reminds
why Amerikkkan flag
symbolizes murder

I was born and raised in this country

and I was taught at an early age that the

Amerikkkan flag represented the "land

of the free" and that this flag represents

freedom, justice and equality. Until I met

brother Jahti Jackson [George Jackson's

cousin --RAIL] and the Malcolm X

family when I was 12 and they told me

and showed me what the Amerikkkan

flag represented for Black folks, Native

American, Mexicans, Sudanese,

Koreans, and Vietnamese. It was the flag

of the U$ that killed entire villages of

Native Amerikkan men, women and

children, who ran down and murder, beat,

and rape like an animal. Do you

remember Sand Creek and Wounded

Knee? This is a flag of barbarism. It is a

flag of imperialism. It is a flag of

oppression, the same flag that flew over

the Philippines and Hawaii, murdering

and maiming countless natives and

usurping their sovereignty. Isn't that the

flag of oppression? What about the U$

flag that hangs over the beastly fire

bombing of cities like Dresden. Is this a

flag of destruction or the flag of liberty?

Wasn't this the same Amerikkkan flag

that flew over the bombing of an aspirin

factory in Sudan? Is this the flag of

deception or justice? Wasn't this the same

flag that flew over the gathering up and

subsequent murder of civilians in Korea

and Vietnam? Wasn't it the Amerikkkan

flag that hung over this? Was this

righteousness or wickedness? Wasn't the

Amerikkkan flag over the military base

in the 1940s a place called camp van

dorn, which was in Mississippi, where

1,200 Black soldiers were literally

slaughtered by an all-white military

police force, then they had a nerve to tell

them folks' family they died in the line

of duty. And now the so-called politically

correct are crying about the confederate

flag. I think we need to review our history

and investigate this raping, murdering,

heartache, destruction, and aggression

that has been caused under the flag

people love to wave in this country.

--A Georgia prisoner, July 2002

Empires rot

Empires and war leaders are exalted

everywhere: on TV, movies, textbooks,

holidays and celebrations with speeches

and what not; names of battles and

generals fascinate us, appear in places in

cities and wild areas to no end. We are

not allowed to ignore them or to forget

them. They are obviously

overwhelmingly venerated, glorified,

aggrandized. We end up taking it all in,

convinced they are truly great.

We are unaware of it, but exactly the

same happens with the American Empire,

which is now comparably as big as the

biggest in the past. In fact there is hardly

any country in the world today, which,

by mostly violence and coercion, has not

been taken over by the United States.

In fact, by trampling over noble

principles of truth and justice and

ramming through those who dare rise

against its unspeakable acts, the U.S.

shines as the master dictator of mankind

at this point in history, but shines even

brighter as the best of the best countries

in history, by means of deceit

everywhere, control of information and

of the mind at home, and brutal and at

times massive inexorable aggressions

against the weakest and most defenseless

in the globe.

The question with this and the other

empires is: where is doing the right thing

in all this? And if the "right thing" is

nowhere to be found, why the big hoopla?

Even the Greeks, who laid the

foundations of our supposedly great

Western Culture, but especially so many

other "great" empires: are they justified

as they wiped out entire cultures, cities,

villages, neighborhoods, friendships,

romances, families, babies, grannys and

grampas, homes, trees, gardens, youth

accomplishments, pieces of art, whole

systems of belief and philosophy, along

with related dear objects and buildings,

humble or spectacular, of great

significance to them, and which would

have revealed their spiritual depth,

enriched man's anthropological capital

and the world wealth of knowledge?

All this was destroyed. All was

destroyed by these supposedly great

empires: hundreds, thousands of times

over. My God! This is never mentioned,

or at least emphasized in the textbooks,

celebrations, etc. These moral and

cultural considerations never come

across these honorable depositories of

knowledge and guardians of learning.

And war is the most obscene and

cowardly gesture of these empires, too

often celebrated!

It must stop! It's just got to stop!

Those of us who still have some sense

of pride and honor in our human race

must stand against this accepted norm of

barbarism mostly against the defenseless

3/4 of mankind, and propose a degree of

well being, a necessary base for peace.

that's real civilization.

--a reader in California, September

2002

MIM responds: We wholeheartedly

agree: we need to stand up for real

civilization and oppose the barbarism that

is imperialism. This is the name of our

enemy which is the empire of the United

$nakes. We need to know our enemy, but

we also know what we are fighting for.

We are fighting for a system where all

people are equal and no groups of people

have power over other groups of people.

Many who oppose imperialism are not

Continued on page 9...

MIM Notes 269 · November 1, 2002· Page 3

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

Thousands protest

Israeli, U.$. militarism

RANCISCO

ITY

ALL

28 September 2002

Several thousand protestors marched through the streets of San Francisco today

to commemorate the second anniversary of the Al Aqsa intifadah, the latest

Palestinian uprising. They also denounced Amerika's war plans on Iraq.

MIM and RAIL comrades collected 231 signatures on a petition asking the

University of California to divest in Israel. The UC invests more than $1 billion in

companies doing business in Israel, the largest of which are military contractors.(1)

A comrade also collected 140 signatures on a petition asking the Turkish

government to free journalist Memik Horoz.(2) S/he faxed the signatures to the

Turkish Consulate in Los Angeles and the Turkish Embassy in Washington D.C.,

along with the following note.

"We believe [Memik Horoz] was falsely convicted. Furthermore, we believe the

`crime' with which he was originally charged--conducting interviews with a Maoist

guerrilla leader--is no crime, but an application of the duties and rights of a free

press. We ask that the Turkish government take any and all necessary measures to

acquit Mr. Horoz and censure those responsible for this injustice."

The comrade pointed out that this petition was one way Amerikan residents could

support the local resistance to U.$. war machinations. Turks who speak out against

their government's role in Unkle Sam's war plans face brutal repression; Memik

Horoz' case is just one example of that.

Most people in the crowd gladly signed either petition, and there were far more

people there than the small MIM and RAIL contingent could reach before the rally

dispersed. If you like the work MIM and RAIL are doing, don't stand on the sidelines!

Grab a clipboard, design a poster, write us a check! Contact us (addresses on page

two) or check out http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/faq/witbd.html.

Notes:

1. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/cal/DivestIsrael.htm

2. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/agitation/horoz.html

ESTWOOD

EDERAL

UILDING

Los Angeles, 6 October 2002

Three thousand people gathered here

and marched to the nearby ROTC

recruiting center to say "NO!" to the

pending Amerikan war on Iraq. The

atmosphere was boisterous, despite the

scores of riot police who restricted

protestors to a small piece of lawn. The

rally was on of dozens held on the day to

commemorate the one-year anniversary

of the Amerikan bombing of Afghanistan.

On September 23 the California

Department of Transportation issued a

policy statement that all banners and flags

will be banned from highway overpasses.

This reversed a decision they made a

week earlier to allow all banners to hang

from highway overpasses.(1) On January

29th a federal judge ruled that the

CalTrans policy of allowing only

Amerikan flags to hang from highway

overpasses is unconstitutional. The Judge

stated that CalTrans' policy on this was

impermissibly biased to one

viewpoint.(2) Their change in policy

brings CalTrans into compliance with the

federal court's ruling and is a statement

about the fear the imperialist state has

about free speech. The Amerikan system,

which only guarantees free speech for the

imperialists and their supporters, is

willing to limit even that if necessary in

order to cut off the speech of anti-

imperialist activists.

On September 11, 2001 local residents

hung an American flag on a Santa Cruz

overpass. In November two residents

hung a banner reading "At What Cost?"

which was removed by police, while an

American flag as well as a banner reading

"SC [heart] NY" were left up. The women

who hung the banner sued CalTrans for

violating their First Amendment rights.(2)

CalTrans is appealing to the Ninth Circuit

Court of Appeals insisting that Amerikan

flags should be the only permissible form

of speech on overpasses.(3)

Of course it is not only the state that

threatens the free speech of anti-

imperialists: even if CalTrans enacted an

official policy that would keep police

from taking down banners (at least

officially), activists know well that other

Amerikan citizens relish random acts of

censorship of views they do not like.

Posters advertising bands will stay up on

poles for months while posters protesting

Amerikan imperialism will be torn down

in a day. This is no surprise as the

majority of Amerikans have a material

interest in imperialism and will protect

that interest.

MIM activists witnessing people taking

down anti-imperialist posters have tried

to struggle with those people. Frequently

the responses by these Amerikans are

patriotic jingoistic statements about

protecting their country. When

confronted with questions about their

belief in free speech these people will

disagree that anti-imperialists deserve

free speech.

In September of this year The Freedom

Forum conducted its annual State of the

Organizers said 20,000 people attended

the rally in new York City.

Protestors denounced President Bush's

reasons for war on Iraq as "fabricated,"

even as Bush prepared to give a speech

declaring war "inevitable." Already the

demands Bush made of Iraq in his speech

before the United Nations in September

were so unrealistic and vague--not to

mention hypocritical--that Iraq was

bound to fail to meet them.(1)

Tens of thousands:

`No war on Iraq'

Continued on next page...

State fears political speech: CalTrans

bans all banners on highway overpasses

Continued on page 9...

MIM Notes 269 · November 1, 2002· Page 4

MIM and RAIL set up a table at the

Los Angeles rally with posters, anti-

militarist flyers, newspapers and books

for sale. Many people stopped by. Some

simply signed the petition demanding the

University of California divest from

Israel (we collected another 150

signatures).(2) Some asked for the latest

MIM Notes (with a cover story

debunking Bush's sorry-ass arguments

for war) or bought books. Others asked

us honest questions about Maoism. We

answered these questions as best we

could in the short time available, then

directed them to MIM's website. They

all agreed to check it out; several

mentioned they were glad such a resource

exists.

The only bad incident on the day that

MIM and RAIL saw involved the

Sparticist League. A Spart butted in to a

conversation a RAIL comrade (RC) was

having about the UC Divest petition and

attacked the RC on MIM's white working

class line. Neither the RC or the persyn

s/he was talking to paid the Spart any

mind, but this is indicative of the Spart's

split-and-wreck tactics.

When we do agitation work we at MIM

are clear that we are building partial unity

around a pressing proletarian demand.

Certainly many of the signatories on the

UC Divest petition do not agree with

MIM that the Amerikan "working-class"

is a bought off labor aristocracy. But they

agree with the basic anti-militarist and

anti-imperialist position that the U.$.-

supported Israeli occupation of the West

Bank and Gaza strip should end.

By making such an issue out of the

white working class line, the Spart was

trying to scare away potential signatories.

MIM's published criticisms of the

Sparticist League's line over a decade

ago; the Sparts have yet to reply to these

criticisms in print. Instead they butt in

on RAIL comrade's conversations on the

street, where they cannot be held

accountable for what they say.

RANCISCO

October 6, 2002

Thousands of people gathered in San

Francisco to listen to stand in opposition

to Amerikan militarism, listen to

speeches and music, and collect

information and literature about struggles

around the world. This crowd was very

receptive to MIM's revolutionary

literature and our campaigns to free

Memik Horuz and for the University of

California to divest from Israel.

Memik Horuz, a Turkish journalist

who was recently sentenced to 15 years

in prison on false charges because of his

political activism. Meanwhile the United

$tates continues to send millions of

dollars of military aid to the brutal

Turkish regime which persecuted

journalists, activists and the Kurdish

people. Over the past few months that

MIM has been collecting signatures for

this campaign in San Francisco we have

noticed an increase in the number of

people who have heard of Memik's case.

According to a few people who stopped

at our table, Pacifica radio ran a story

about it. Even those who had not heard

about Memik Horuz were eager to

support him as a part of our

internationalist duty to fight Amerikan

militarism around the world. At our table

we collected 138 signatures.

Opposition to the Amerikan-Israeli

terrorist war on Palestine was an obvious

connection to the rally attendees and we

collected 120 signatures on the

divestment petition.

Notes:
1. MIM Notes 267, 1 Oct 2002.
2. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/cal/
DivestIsrael.htm

* 22.5 percent of Palestinian children

under 5 are acutely or chronically

malnourished; Palestinian children are

starving at rates equal to those in Chad

and Nigeria and at higher rates than in

Bangladesh and Somalia.(1)

These recent atrocities represent only

the latest culmination of the increasing

dispossession of the Palestinians, which

has accelerated since the "Peace Process"

was ratified at Oslo in 1993. Since that

time, when Israel agreed to halt

settlements in the Occupied Territories,

settlement activity has increased

dramatically.

This continues the Israel policy of

aggression and expansion, which

includes multiple wars, invasion and

incursions since the 1970s.(2) But the

Palestinian people cannot absorb an

infinite amount of Israeli violence. The

world's people cannot contain their rage

at Israeli disregard for Palestinian

humanity forever.

All Amerikans should understand that

they share responsibility for the

oppression of Palestinians and at the

same time are in a unique position to help

stop it. The United $tates is the number

one political, military and economic

supporter of Israel. Indeed, many of

Israel's military adventures (such as its

invasion of Lebanon in the 80s) likely

principally served U.$. interests.

Nor are Amerikans without immediate

stake in the conflict: Amerikan and/or

Israeli recklessness could spark nuclear

or world war. Self-interest in species

survival makes Middle East peace a

priority for everyone. Furthermore, if

Amerikans don't speak out for peace in

the Middle East, they are only helping

Israel decimate its own chance for living

safely in the international community.

The call for the University of

California to divest from Israel is just one

direct Action Amerikans can take. People

of all religions and ethnicities should be

appalled by the fact that children are

going hungry as a direct result of U.$.-

supported Israeli policy.

The Anti-Defamation League of B'nai

B'rith and other lobbying groups that

claim to represent Jews are running a

propaganda campaign to oppose the

Divest from Israel movement, with the

support of mouthpieces like Summers.

They are directly threatening our rights

to organize on campus. ADL chief Abe

Foxman says, "student governments need

to closely scrutinize what they choose to

fund from activities fees levied on

students" so as not to let student funds

support "anti-Israel speakers and

vehement anti-Zionist rhetoric."(4)

Foxman is leading the charge of bigots

like the University of Michigan student

group that went to court trying to stop a

conference on the Palestinian Solidarity

Movement.

Of course, anti-Semitism is a problem,

and some anti-Semites advocate

divestment from Israel. Most of this is

garden-variety bigotry and should be

exposed as such. However, some anti-

Semitic statements may have been falsely

attributed to peace activists, Palestinian

rights advocates and anti- imperialists--

to discredit legitimate criticism of Israel

and U.$. policies.(5)

In September, students and faculty at

the University of Michigan received anti-

Semitic email messages packaged as

invitations to the Palestinian Solidarity

Movement conference. The emails were

not sent from the University campus, or

from the group organizing the

conference. Faking hate mail is an old

and ugly trick for sowing enmity among

progressive organizations and

individuals. Whether it's done by police,

or by those who do police work for kicks,

the intended result is to split and wreck

the targets' political work.

Don't be fooled by reactionary

propaganda! Activists can defeat these

schemes by finding out the facts for

themselves. We can defeat the

reactionaries by doing our own work in

a principled way.

Notes:
1. Study funded by the US Agency for
International Development and CARE
International, reported in the Washington Post 6
August 2002.
2. See Noam Chomsky's book, The Fateful
Triangle: The United States, Israel, and the
Palestinians (South End Press, 1999) for a
review of this history.
3. http://www.yesh-gvul.org/english.html#leaflet
4. "Jews target of hate [on] college campuses,"
National Law Journal 30 September, 2002.
5. While MIM has always opposed the U.$-
backed Israeli occupation, we also have taken
principled stands against anti-Semitism many
times.

Jewish Student Union Maligns

Israel Divestment Campaign

Yesh Gvul, the organization of

Israeli soldiers who refuse service

in the occupied territories explain

the commonplace injustices of

Israeli apartheid:

When you take part in

extrajudicial killings ("liquidation"

in the army's terms);

When you take part in

demolishing residential homes;

When you open fire at unarmed

civilian population or residential

homes;

When you uproot orchards;

When you interdict food supplies

or medical treatment

-- You are taking part in actions

defined in international

conventions (such as the fourth

Geneva convention) and in Israeli

law, as war crimes.(3)

Tens of thousands:

`No war on Iraq'

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.

Continued from previous page...

Continued from page 1...

MIM Notes 269 · November 1, 2002· Page 5

support for that theory around here."(4)

Bush claimed on the 8th that Iraq had

attempted to import high-strength

aluminum tubes "for gas centrifuges,

which are used to enrich uranium for

nuclear weapons." British intelligence

denies there is any evidence for this.(10)

Certainly Iraq or any other country with

a certain amount of technical

infrastructure could build a bomb-- if it

could get weapons-grade uranium, and

if a great many other things. Provoking a

war is no solution to this problem. The

only hope is working to remove the

causes underlying wars: working towards

communism.

* "Iraq is a rogue state that supports

terrorism." Try as it may, the FBI has

been unable to manufacture the proof

President Bush wants that the Iraqi state

was connected to the 9/11 attacks. The

war-mongering Rumsfeld bragged in

September that Amerika had

"bulletproof" evidence of the Al Qaeda-

Iraq connection, then changed his story

to say that "they're not photographs.

They're not beyond a reasonable doubt."

The British MI5 and MI6 spy agencies

have explicitly refuted the idea of an Al

Qaeda-Iraq link, arguing that Saddam

Hussein's government has made every

effort to distance itself from Al Qaeda.

(7)

During the Congressional debate on

authorizing the war in Iraq, CIA chief

George Tenet exposed President Bush as

a big fat liar. The administration had been

working double-time to portray Iraq an

Congress greenlights war on Iraq

institution but let the protesters stay

undisturbed through the night. In the

morning, hundreds of protestors blocked

the entrance to the Federal Building until

police arrested several dozen and cleared

the crowds away.

The thirst for a revolutionary analysis

of the war on Iraq was strong the eve of

the House's vote. In addition to much

interest among those opposed to the war

and participating in the demonstration,

many people on the street were eager to

get a copy of MIM Notes. Times of overt

aggressive war provide anti-imperialists

with an opening to win more people over

to the side of the majority of the world's

people.

Unlike the first war on Iraq waged by

Bush Senior, this latest proposed invasion

does not enjoy as much public support.

Polls still suggest that more than 50% of

the population supports an invasion of

Iraq. But that leaves a lot of people not

convinced of the war. Whether they

realize that Amerika is killing tens of

thousands of people in Iraq for oil and

geopolitical positioning, or if they just

think Bush isn't coming clean with the

real reasons for the war, these people are

correct. It is up to anti-imperialists to take

advantage of this interest in the war, and

doubt of the government, to infuse anti-

imperialist politics into the discussion.

At the same time, we should not

mislead the people. At the San Francisco

rally a Workers World Party activist

(posing under the International

ANSWER front group) declared that the

overwhelming majority of Amerikans are

opposed to this war. His evidence was

from the numbers calling in to their

congresspeople opposing the war

resolution. But this is only evidence of

the views of activists. In fact most people

who support invading Iraq should not see

any need to call their congresspersyn,

knowing that their country stands firmly

in favor of imperialism.

While it can certainly be said that polls

understate the number of people opposed

to the war, missing people without

phones and those not home during typical

Oppose war on Iraq

Stand with the global majority against aggressive militarism

polling hours, these polls do tend to

represent white Amerika pretty well. And

we know that the white nation supports

Amerikan imperialism because it is in

their economic interests to do so. We

need to make clear to them that global

destruction is in no-one's interest, but we

don't need to lie to them to do this.

Among the signs at the San Francisco

demonstration were a few that read "Our

lives are not worth more than their lives"

and "American children are not more

valuable than Iraqi children." This is the

correct message to take to the people in

Amerika. We need to make clear that

people in this country do not deserve

more than people around the world, just

because they were lucky enough to be

born in the richest, most militaristic

country in the world. At the same time,

we appeal to Amerikans to fight against

their own demise, which will surely come

from global nuclear destruction of the

growing global militarism, lead by the

imperialists, is not stopped.

anti-u.$. bomb that is tick-tick-ticking.

But a CIA report testified that the chances

of Iraq initiating a nuclear, chemical or

biological attack are "very low." If the

u.$. attacks Iraq, however, those chances

could grow "very high."(9)

According to the CIA's former counter-

intelligence head, "basically, cooked

information is working its way into high-

level pronouncements."(4) An

anonymous "intelligence official"

claimed "the guys at the Pentagon shriek

on issues such as the link between Iraq

and Al Qaeda. There has been a lot of

pressure to write on this constantly and

to not let it drop." And a Carnegie

Endowment for International Peace

nonproliferation expert said "the politics

are driving our intelligence assessments

at this point."(10)

Bush also lied about the supposed

futility of inspections. He claimed that

the United Snakes only found out about

the Iraqi biological weapons program

when Iraq's military industries chief

defected in 1995. But former UN

inspections chief Rolf Ekeus says his

group had already reported on the

program to the Security Council.(5)

This entire situation is an inescapable

part of living in the most militarist

country on earth in a time of ongoing war.

The u.$. leaders lie to the people, and

more than two-thirds of the people

support the war even though they think

it will cause terrorist attacks against the

u.$.(11) When both weapons of mass

destruction and profit-seeking exist, there

will be espionage and leaks and enmity

between states and a non-ignorable

chance of Armageddon. This is what

MIM means when it says Amerika is

playing Russian roulette with the

international nuclear arsenal. The

imperialists have no one but themselves

to blame if they are now threatened by

the weapons of their own creation.

Meanwhile, the united snakes and

Britain trade shots with Iraqi forces

nearly every day in Iraq's no-fly zones

as they have since the Gulf War

supposedly ended in 1991. On 10

October, planes from both countries

attacked the international airport at Basra

for the third time in two weeks.(8)

At the end of September, 69% of

Amerikans supported sending troops if

Congress approved, and another 10%

supported the war if the United Nations

is also behind it. The longer the

discussion went on, the more people

supported war. Those are hideous

numbers, given that a substantial

majority believe an Amerikan war

against Iraq will spur "terrorist" attacks

on the United Snakes. More than half of

Amerikans think the war would be a long

one, and 68% think it would a hard war

to fight. Less than half of Amerikans

think either that Iraq and its leader are

the primary threat to the united snakes

or that Iraq and Al Qaeda are equally

threatening.(2)

The glimmer of hope in all of this is

that 21% of Amerikans continue to

oppose the war even with Congressional

and United Nations approval. Among

these, there is a significant contingent

that questions or opposes U.$. wars of

aggression in general and can be won

over to anti-imperialism. To reach these

people, MIM and its allies must redouble

our efforts to expose the reactionaries'

bellicose propaganda. We must explain

again and again the need to disarm the

Amerikan militarists before it is too late.

Notes:
1. "Bush gains free hand in dealing with Iraq,"
Baltimore Sun, 12 Oct 2002.
2. "Majority support war against Saddam," USA
Today, 24 Sep 2002.
3. For that matter, the Pentagon admits to
testing chemical and biological weapons on
Amerikan, Kanadian and British soil during the
cold war.("U.S. Troops Were Subjected to a
Wider Toxic Testing" New York Times, 9
October 2002.)
4. "US intelligence questions Bush claims on
Iraq," The Guardian (London), 9 Oct 2002.
5. "CIA Reports Dispute Bush Pattern of
exaggeration on Iraq," New York Newsday 10
Oct 2002.
6. MIM Notes 123, 1 Oct 1996.
7. "UK Spies reject al-Qaida link" The Guardian
(London), 10 Oct 2002.
8. "Red face for Bush over CIA chief's Iraq
letter," The Herald (Glasgow), 11 Oct 2002.
9. "CIA report on Iraq opens Congress talks,"
The Baltimore Sun 9 Oct 2002.
10. "CIA Feels Heat on Iraq Debate," Los
Angeles Times, 11 Oct 2002.
11. "Iraq War Supported, Poll Says," 15 Sep
2002.

MIM Notes 269 · November 1, 2002· Page 6

Members of the Armed Forces of the

Philippines have conspired to kill him

while he has been in the Netherlands.(2)

Prof. Sison is currently the chief

political consultant of the revolutionary

National Democratic Front of the

Philippines (NDFP) in peace negotiations

with the Government of the Republic of

the Philippines (GRP). He founded the

Maoist Communist Party of the

Philippines (CPP) in 1968. Philippine

and Amerikan spy services and their

media mouthpieces claim without

evidence that Sison still heads the CPP.

However, as the CPP puts it in a

statement reprinted on page six, "the

Party's collective leadership effectively

operates in the consolidated

revolutionary guerilla bases in the

Philippines, safely out of the immediate

reach and mischief by the US and local

reactionary armed forces."

The U.$. State Department recently

listed the CPP and the New People's

Army (NPA) as "foreign terrorist

organizations" and encouraged other

governments "to take action to isolate

these terrorist organizations, to choke off

their sources of financial support, and to

prevent their movement across

international borders."(1) On 12 August

2002 the U.$. Treasury Department listed

Prof. Sison as a "terrorist" whose assets

must be frozen. The Dutch government

passed the "Sanctions ruling on terrorism

2002 III" the next day.

There is no substance to U.$. charges

that the CPP and Prof. Sison are

"terrorists." They are a crass attempt to

meddle in internal Philippine affairs and

silence Prof. Sison, who is a vocal critic

of Amerikan imperialism.

The Philippine Justice Secretary has

certified that no criminal charge

whatsoever exists against Prof. Sison in

the Philippines. The NPA has pledged to

abide by the Geneva convention. The

CPP-led NDFP prioritized ratification of

the Comprehensive Agreement on

Human Rights and International

Humanitarian Law in its talks with the

GRP. Since both parties signed the

agreement, the Philippine army has

repeatedly tortured and killed captured

NPA members, while the NPA has

released several high-ranking Philippine

officers who afterwards spoke highly of

their treatment.(4)

Twenty-two members of the European

Parliament signed a letter asking the

Netherlands to withdraw its classification

of Prof. Sison and the CPP/NPA as

"terrorists." "We make this request in

accordance with European Parliament

Defend Jose Maria Sison's democratic rights!

Resolutions in 1997 and 1999, which

have strongly supported and endorsed the

peace negotiations between the

Government of the Republic of the

Philippines and the National Democratic

Front of the Philippines."(1) Even some

GRP senators condemned the U.$. ruling

as meddling in an "internal matter."(3)

Prof. Sison is not the only persyn

affected by these charges--they also

restrict the speech rights of residents of

the United $tates or its European allies.

Even those who defend publication of

Prof. Sison writings or those of the CPP

on the grounds that this is necessary for

fully informed public debate may face

harassment or deportation under the

"USA Patriot Act." Standing up for Prof.

Sison is also standing up for our own

ability to speak and organize freely.

To defend Prof. Sison's democratic

rights we call on readers to demand the

following demands of the Dutch

government: the full respect for the

protection of Jose Maria Sison as a

recognized refugee under the relevant

international conventions; the grant of his

residence permit in the Netherlands; the

immediate de-listing of his name and the

unconditional and complete withdrawal

of the "Sanctieregeling terrorisme 2002

III;" the immediate, unconditional and

complete restoration of all the social

benefits to which he is entitled as a

political refugee (monthly allowance,

insurance and housing benefits); the

refusal of any possible demand for his

extradition.

For further information, addresses and

fax numbers and organizing materials

see pages six and seven.

Notes:
1. http://www.defendsison.be
2. https://anon.ssl.anonymizer.com/http://
www.inps-sison.freewebspace.com/
Estrada%20is%20Mastermind.htm
3. MIM Notes 266, 15 Sep 2002.
4. See e.g. MIM Notes 189, 15 Mar 1999; MIM
Notes 194, 15 Sep 1999; MIM Notes 249, 1 Jan
2002.

Philippine Prof. Jose Maria Sison is

living in the Netherlands as a recognized

political refugee under the protection of

the Refugee Convention and the

European Convention for the Protection

of Human Rights and Fundamental

Freedoms.

Prof. Sison is the chief political

consultant of the National Democratic

Front of the Philippines (NDFP) in peace

negotiations with the Government of the

Republic of the Philippines (GRP). These

negotiations have been facilitated by the

Norwegian, Dutch and Belgian

governments.

On 9 August 2002, the US State

Department listed the Communist Party

of the Philippines (CPP) and the New

People's Army (NPA) as "foreign

terrorist organizations," encouraging

other governments "to take action to

isolate these terrorist organizations, to

choke off their sources of financial

support, and to prevent their movement

across international borders." Since 12

August 2002, the US Treasury

Department has listed Jose Maria Sison

as a "terrorist" whose assets must be

frozen.

Subsequently, the Dutch government

has followed the bidding of the US by

issuing the "Sanctions ruling on terrorism

2002 III" on 13 August 2002,

criminalizing Jose Maria Sison as a

"terrorist" without benefit of due process

and subjecting him to punishment such

as:

* The freezing of his Postbank current

account through which he receives social

welfare payment to pay his bills.

* The removal of all state subsidies for

food, housing, health insurance and other

basic necessities under a directive dated

10 September 2002 from the social

welfare agency of Utrecht's municipal

government.

We, the undersigned, vow to help

defend the rights of Prof. Jose Maria

Sison.

We demand from the Dutch authorities:

* the full respect for the protection of

Jose Maria Sison as a recognized refugee

under the relevant international

conventions;

* the grant of his residence permit in

the Netherlands;

* the immediate de-listing of his name

and the unconditional and complete

withdrawal of the "Sanctieregeling

terrorisme 2002 III;"

* the immediate, unconditional and

complete restoration of all the social

benefits to which he is entitled as a

political refugee (monthly allowance,

insurance and housing benefits);

* the refusal of any possible demand

for his extradition.

Regular readers of MIM Notes know

MIM often criticizes Amerikan

democracy in the sense of majority rule.

The Amerikkkan majority has made it

clear that it would support racial profiling

and much more extensive repressive

measures. A substantial section also

supports dropping nuclear weapons and

rounding up all Arab or "Arab-

Amerikan" people for concentration

camps. It is not a case of a majority

holding out against a ruling elite.

Such a situation leaves the worker-

activist with a choice, to support

"democracy" as it exists or stand for the

absolute and non-negotiable "rights" of

the international proletariat that are not

subject to majority rule. Amerikkkan

unions since September 11th have

supported the U.$. terrorist war and the

rank-and-file movement has not desired

to overturn its leaders. This leaves the

so-called workers' movement a choice in

Amerikkka: either the activists can

"represent" the "workers" and carry out

their wishes and bow to the "democracy"

of majority rule of Amerikkkans and

support Bush's "war on terror" or the

activists can point to the world's majority

and say it trumps the Amerikkkan

majority attempting to rule the world.

MIM says fine, the war-mongering trade

union leaders can represent the

Amerikkkan "workers." They really do

represent those "workers." We will stand

for the international proletariat.

There is nothing in the U.$.

Constitution that guarantees that majority

rule in the rest of the world is not trumped

by majority rule in the United $tates.

Hence, when the "democratic socialists"

in Amerikkka say there is a framework

for "democracy" that needs to be used,

we say we are getting off their racist-

white nationalist boat. It is not consistent

with socialist principles to allow a

majority of exploiters to rule the

exploited. Nor is it tactically smart to find

concessions that win over a majority of

exploiters. By definition those

concessions will have to be contrary to

socialist principles and against the

interests of the world's majority of

people.

In Hitler Germany, the task was not to

find another Nazi with majority support

to replace Hitler: the task was to defeat

the German majority in war and force

them to give up their views. That defeat

was the best thing that could be done to

advance the German people themselves.

Nothing else was "tactically" smarter.

At the same time, MIM would like to

stress the necessity to draw a sharp line

of distinction between bourgeois

democracy in the imperialist countries in

the sense of majority rule, on the one

hand, and bourgeois-democratic rights

and liberties, on the other. The latter must

be defended by Communists to the last

iota. Today, as never before, the words

of Joseph Stalin acquire a paramount

significance: "Formerly, the bourgeoisie

could afford to play the liberal, to uphold

the bourgeois-democratic liberties, and

thus gain popularity with the people.

Now not a trace remains of this

liberalism. The so-called "liberty of the

individual" no longer exists--the rights

of the individual are now extended only

to those who possess capital, while all

other citizens are regarded as human raw

material, fit only to be exploited. The

principle of equal rights for men and

nations has been trampled in the mud [...]

The banner of bourgeois-democratic

liberties has been thrown overboard. I

think that it is you, the representatives of

the communist and democratic parties,

who will have to raise this banner and

carry it forward, if you want to gather

around you the majority of the people.

There is nobody else to raise it."

DEFEND THE RIGHTS OF

PROF. JOSE MARIA SISON

Dumbocracy vs. democracy

MIM Notes 269 · November 1, 2002· Page 7

The Communist Party of the

Philippines condemns US machinations

to criminalize and persecute as

"terrorists" the CPP-NPA, Comrade

Sison and other legitimate

revolutionaries and progressives!

Central Committee

Communist Party of the Philippines

September 21, 2002

As the world's rogue superpower and

biggest terrorist, the US has arrogated to

itself the power to unilaterally unleash

war and rain death and devastation on

other countries and peoples. It

shamelessly bullies the international

community, destabilizes other states and

whole regions, and threatens world

peace. US imperialism is the biggest

terrorist force that has ever afflicted the

Filipino people. It has yet to answer for

the brutal war of aggression against the

Filipino people from 1899 to 1914. Its

war crimes include killing, torture, forced

mass evacuations and other repressive

measures which claimed the lives of more

than a million Filipinos, mostly unarmed

civilians. Its bloody conquest of the

Philippines has since paved the way for

its daily violence of exploitation and

oppression of the Filipino nation, in

league with local lackeys.

[...] [T]he US is promoting wholesale

state terrorism and fascism in the world

to suppress rising social turmoil and

revolutionary resurgence. Stricken with

paranoia, it is increasing repression in the

US itself and is pushing other countries,

including its neocolonies, to adopt even

more repressive measures against the

people, especially migrants. US

insistence that the Macapagal-Arroyo

regime take on more and more repressive

and bellicose measures in the name of

"anti-terrorism" is again bringing the

Philippines as close as ever to martial

law.

The US has grown more and more wary

of the revolutionary movement in the

Philippines that is today at the forefront

of the world anti-imperialist struggle and

is gaining ground and threatening the

existence of its client state. It is now

increasingly intervening directly in the

counter-revolutionary war in the country.

To justify this, it has ridiculously

designated as "foreign terrorist

organizations" the Communist Party of

the Philippines and the New People's

Army.

The US is the world's biggest terrorist

and yet it has the gall to label as

"terrorist" and sully the fine record of a

legitimate and principled revolutionary

force that is arousing, organizing and

mobilizing the Filipino people in a

Statement from the Community Party of the Philippines

The Netherlands has closed his bank

account and taken away his housing. What's
next: extradition?

With a single stroke, Jose Maria (Joma)

Sison, a Philippine political refugee in the
Netherlands, is penniless and homeless. When
he wanted to pay his bill in the Albert Hein
supermarket or for his dentist, he noted that
his bank account was blocked. On the 12th
of September, he got a letter from the
municipal government of Utrecht. It was a
shock: the letter announced that his social
benefits, including housing, had been stopped.
These are all consequences of the latest "anti-
terrorist" measures of the Dutch government,
issued on the request of the United States.
Rumors have it that the US may soon demand
for the extradition of Sison. This combines
with an international smear campaign in the
mass media against him and against the entire
Philippine revolutionary movement.

Phase 1: Demonizing the target

On August 20, the Dutch TV's news

program 2Vandaag (`TV2 Today') brought
an interview with Jose Maria Sison, as the
US had just placed the Communist Party of
the Philippines (CPP)--of which Sison is the

founding chairman--and the New People's
Army (NPA) on its list of "terrorist
organizations," and the Netherlands had just
blocked Sison's bank account. The opening
remark of journalist Jan Peters Lohper: "Your
hands are stained with blood!" While the
voice off told the audience about the NPA,
images were shown of men in military
uniform spraying bullets on a poor farmer's
hut, and of dangerous looking, heavily armed
and hooded men. A stark manipulation, as
anybody who knows the Philippines could
immediately tell that these were images of the
government's Armed Forces of the
Philippines and the paramilitary CAFGU's!

Next you see the cover of Amnesty

International's Report 2002. 2Vandaag goes
on to show a `quote,' complete with quotation
marks, as if the NPA would have a hit list of
345 people to be executed. A check on AI's
website and with the Asia Department of AI's
London headquarters learned that this `quote'
was a pure fabrication!

Last month, a picture made the tour of the

world's newspapers. It showed a girl in
Manila, holding a poster saying "Two faces
of terror: Osama Bin Laden and Jose Maria
Sison." The Belgian conservative paper La

Libre Belgique, for one, published the picture
prominently (1). The message is clear: Sison
equals Bin Laden, so it's open season against
him, no holds barred. On September 16, the
Manila weekly Newsbreak carried a long
article against the CPP, the NPA and Sison
(2). The magazine uses the words of certain
`dissidents' who have turned their back on
the revolutionary movement to suggest that
the United States could ask for Sison's
extradition. Because "the CPP-NPA has
repeatedly threatened Americans with harm"
and "the NPA has kidnapped foreigners." The
article concludes: "Nothing precludes [the
Netherlands] from extraditing him to the US
- should the Americans ask for him."

Phase 2: Tightening the noose

On August 13, the Dutch government

issued the "Sanctions ruling terrorism 2002
III" (3), directed at the New People's Army/
Communist Party of the Philippines and at
Jose Maria Sison. The objective: to make
Sison's life financially and materially
unbearable.

"All means belonging to [Sison] will be

frozen. It is prohibited to undertake financial
services for or in favor of [him]," according

to Article 2. A couple of days later, Sison's
personal bank account is already frozen. Jose
Maria Sison has been an asylum seeker in the
Netherlands for quite some time. As a result
of the Ruling on the Reception of Asylum
Seekers, he gets a monthly allowance for
personal expenses, a social benefit for
housing and a health insurance. But in a letter
dated September 10, the municipal
government of Utrecht ended all this abruptly,
in application of the "Sanctions ruling
terrorism 2002 III."

"That means that you shall no longer

receive an allowance for personal expenses
and you are no longer insured against illness
and the financial consequences of legal
liability," the letter explains dryly, and "you
may therefore no longer make use of the
apartment on [XXX]." That's where Joma
Sison is living with his wife Julie and his son
Jasm. "We still have no solution for the
accommodation of the members of your
family," the letter continues. In the meantime,
"we allow them to stay in the house that we
had made available to you." So Joma is being
expelled from his home, while his wife and
son can continue to live there, but only as an

The U.S. wants to close the dragnet around Sison

THE HEIGHT

OF HYPOCRISY

In his announcement declaring the

Communist Party of the Philippines

(CPP) and New People's Army (NPA) to

be "foreign terrorist organizations" U.$.

Secretary of State Powell claimed that

the NPA "has killed U.S. citizens [in the

Philippines]." This was apparently a

reference to the alleged NPA

assassination of Col. James Rowe of the

Joint U.S. Military Advisory Group

(JUSMAG) more than a decade ago. The

JUSMAG trains Filipino officers in

counter-insurgency tactics.

Powell should take a cue from the Bible

and take the log from his own eye before

removing the supposed speck from his

neighbor's. The United $tates has a long

history of killing Filipinos, from the

millions killed during the Filipino-

Amerikan war at the turn of the last

century to the tens of thousands killed

and tortured under the U.$.-backed

Marcos dictatorship and its so-called

democratic successors. The Philippine

military's abuses of combatants and non-

combatants in its recent campaigns

against the Abu Sayaaf and the Moro

Islamic Liberation Front caused even the

New York Times to question whether the

United $tates was supporting the real

terrorists by committing to "train"

Philippine soldiers.

Thus, according to the most proper

definition of "terrorism"--the killing of

civilians to spread fear with the purpose

of achieving a political goal, in this case

the preservation of a corrupt government

favorable to U.$. business interests--the

United $tates is the biggest supporter of

terrorism in the Philippines.

The CPP and NPA are working to

overthrow the corrupt semi-feudal and

semi-colonial system in the Philippines

using the strategy of protracted people's

war. People's war is targeted at police and

military forces, not the general civilian

population; hence, people's war should

not be counted as "terrorism."

In a Maoist people's war, whether it is

in Peru, Nepal, the Philippines or

anywhere else, the use of force does not

have the design to produce fear and hence

a change of policy. Rather the strategy

of people's war is to wear down an

imperialist invader or overthrow a regime

that is opposed to the toiling workers and

peasants. Quite the contrary to producing

fear, a People's War only succeeds if it

garners popular support, not fear, because

the governments People's Wars oppose

historically--in China, Peru, the

Philippines etc.--all have

technologically superior weapons and

financial backing from U.$. imperialism.

Without popular support, the People's

War would have a severe disadvantage

against any invader or lackey regime of

imperialism.

We laugh in the faces of Attorney

General Ashcroft, President George W.

Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell

when they accuse Maoists of having a

"philosophy of violence." Ashcroft, Bush

and Powell also have "philosophies of

violence" as proved by their actual use

of violence.

All the hype about "terrorism" merely

serves to cover the United $tates true

interests in sending troops to the

Philippines: preserving an important

military base and neo-colony.

Note: MIM Notes 266, 15 Sep 2002.

Amerika slanders the CPP/NPA as `terrorist organizations'

Continued on next page...

MIM Notes 269 · November 1, 2002· Page 8

resolute struggle for national liberation

and democracy against US imperialism,

domestic feudalism and bureaucrat

capitalism.

In cahoots with the Macapagal-Arroyo

puppet regime, the US is making

preparations for and legitimizing its

outright aggression in the country with

such schemes as the Mutual Logistics and

Support Agreement and endless new

versions of Balikatan-this time directed

at CPP-NPA territories.

To make way for its aggression in the

Philippines, the US is prejudicing the

peace process and generating a climate

of fear against the members, consultants

and staffers and supporters of the

National Democratic Front of the

Philippines (NDFP) peace panel. The US

has centered its attack on Comrade Jose

Ma. Sison, the senior political consultant

of the panel. In a US Treasury

Department attachment to Executive

Order no. 13224 issued on August 12,

2002, US President Bush has specifically

included Comrade Sison in the list of

"foreign terrorists".

Single-minded in its vehement hatred

of revolutionaries, US imperialism is hell

bent on suppressing them. US

imperialism and its local lackeys know

best who are their most resolute and most

effective adversaries, unleashing the

vilest of propaganda, the dirtiest tricks

and the most brutal attacks against them.

Among the prime targets today of US

imperialism and its puppets are the

parties and revolutionaries who are

guided by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,

particularly those carrying out and

promoting people's war.

Because of his leading influence and

significance to the political and social

revolutionary movement in the

Philippines as well as internationally, the

US is concentrating its most vicious

attack on Comrade Sison with the vain

hope of decapitating the revolutionary

Statement from the Community Party of the Philippines

movement in the Philippines and

impeding the resurgence of the anti-

imperialist and proletarian revolutionary

movement to a new and higher level.

Being singled out for exemplary attack

by the world superpower serves as an

unintended tribute to Comrade Sison's

sharpness and resoluteness in exposing

US imperialism and its successive puppet

regimes, in serving as a beacon to the

national democratic and proletarian

revolutionary movement in the

Philippines, in reinvigorating the

international proletarian revolutionary

movement, as well as in supporting the

peace process.

The Communist Party of the

Philippines greatly values the

contributions that Comrade Sison has

given and continues to render the

Philippine revolutionary movement. The

Party recognizes his outstanding

revolutionary role and devotion to the

proletariat and people, and refutes the

US' baseless charge of "terrorist" against

him as well as against the Party itself,

and the people's army and revolutionary

movement led by the Party.

Riding on the US "anti-terrorist"

mantra and on antidemocratic and anti-

immigrant trends in the Netherlands and

Europe, the Dutch government is doing

the dirty work in behalf of the US

government against Comrade Sison. It

has done so in utter disregard of due

process and with disgusting cruelty. Last

month it made a cheap device at

oppression by freezing his and his wife

Juliet's personal accounts which has

come from no source other than the

Dutch state welfare agency Sociale

Zaken. The highest Dutch administrative

court, the Raad van State, since 1992 has

considered him a political refugee. Guilty

thus of double talk, this September 16

the Dutch government downgraded his

political refugee status. Immediately, this

has deprived him of housing, subsistence

and medical support. Moreover, this has

threatened his protection by the Refugee

Treaty of Geneva and the European

Convention from extradition to any

country on the pretext of a criminal

charge.

Some prominent Philippine

government officials themselves have

spilled the beans that the US is set to

trump up a criminal complaint against

Comrade Sison and on this basis seek his

extradition to the US. The Philippine

Justice Secretary has certified as far back

as 1998 that no criminal charge

whatsoever exists against Comrade Sison

in the Philippines. The Macapagal-

Arroyo regime is still in the process of

forging a law specifically against

"terrorism" that would target

revolutionaries and their supporters much

more than bandits and real terrorists. To

make up for this lack, it is working to

file a charge of rebellion against Comrade

Sison in order to prop up the prospective

criminal complaint and request of the US

for his extradition.

The US and the puppet Macapagal-

Arroyo regime are bent on working out

more sinister designs and plots--

including the resort to outright violence

and other fascist methods--in an effort

to suppress the revolutionary movement,

Comrade Sison and other revolutionaries

and progressives. The European Union

has also adopted its own "anti-terrorist"

measure. On July 15, 2002, Committee

of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the

European Union promulgated "anti-

terrorist" guidelines which severely

curtail civil liberties in much the same

way as the US Patriot Act. The Party is

much concerned about the dangers to

Comrade Sison resulting from the

devious machinations and work of the US

and its allies.

The Party vehemently condemns the

US and the puppet Macapagal-Arroyo

regime for the blatant designs and

machinations at interventionist and

fascist schemes directed at the Party, the

New People's Army and Comrade Sison,

as well as against the sovereign rights and

fundamental interests of the Filipino

nation and people.

The Party calls on all Filipino patriots

and on all freeedom-loving people

around the world to protest and fight

these designs and schemes, which are

specifically aimed to clear the way for

increased outright US aggression against

the revolutionary movement and people

of the Philippines. The Dutch

government should listen to reason and

reverse its unjust and cruel acts against

Comrade Sison.

The Communist Party of the

Philippines and the revolutionary

movement it leads shall never be

intimidated by US military intervention,

threat of aggression and dirty tricks. The

revolutionary movement in the

Philippines has been tempered in life-

and-death struggle over so many years

and against great adversities. It is resolute

as ever in its self-reliant armed

revolutionary struggle to attain national

liberation and democracy and gain

ground for the world proletarian

revolution.

The Party's collective leadership

effectively operates in the consolidated

revolutionary guerilla bases in the

Philippines, safely out of the immediate

reach and mischief by the US and local

reactionary armed forces. Filipino

revolutionaries know full well that the

rotten semifeudal and semicolonial

system in the country is in terminal crisis

and that the US itself has become mired

in ever deeper crisis. The Party and the

revolutionary movement are rapidly

advancing and are taking advantage of

increasingly favourable national and

international conditions for the further

advance of the revolutionary struggle.

exceptional and temporary `goodwill'
measure!

With the same generosity, the municipal

government of Utrecht suggests that Sison can
challenge this decision before the minister of
Finance on humanitarian grounds, as
provided for in the "Sanctions ruling terrorism
2002 III." Joma says on this matter: "Of
course, there is the hypocritical provision that
I can get these on `humanitarian grounds' if I
beg for mercy. If I were to `beg' for the basic
necessities of life on `humanitarian grounds'
under the terms of the `Sanctions ruling
terrorism 2002 III,' will I not be moving into
the trap of accepting the unjust premises and
terms of the said `sanctions ruling'? Are not
the Dutch authorities violating my rights as a
recognized political refugee by trying to
deprive me of the basic necessities of life,
humiliating and degrading me by compelling
me to beg for these?"

Phase 3: Mounting a case

Dragnet around Sison

The (very limited) protection that Sison

enjoys in the Netherlands as a political
refugee may be blown away completely if and
when the United States would demand his
extradition. Currently, there is no criminal
case against him in the US, on the basis of
which extradition would become a possibility.
But things may change. Coincidentally, the
murder of US colonel James `Nick' Rowe has
been rekindled lately.

On April 21, 1989 - yes, more than 13 years

ago! - an urban guerrilla squad of the NPA
shot Rowe in Manila. The man, a decorated
Vietnam veteran, was the chief of the Joint
U.S. Military Advisory Group (JUSMAG) in
Manila. This group trained the Philippine
armed forces in counterinsurgency and
worked with the CIA on a strategy to infiltrate
the CPP and the NPA. Rowe appears to have
been the control officer of those
infiltrators.(4)

Rowe is the highest US military officer to

have been killed in the Philippines, a feat that
the United States can hardly stomach. With
each negotiation on the release of political
prisoners in the Philippines, the US embassy
intervenes to demand that the suspected
perpetrators of the Rowe killing, Donato
Continente en Juanito Itaas, would certainly
not be set free. The Rowe case may become
the pretext for the US to demand the
extradition of Sison - although it remains a
mystery how a jobless professor and asylum
seeker in the Netherlands could ever be held
accountable for that act. But of course, the
ultimate objective of the US is to finish a man
who continues to play an important role as
chief political consultant to the National
Democratic Front of the Philippines - the
alliance of the Philippine revolutionary
organizations - and as the `great old man' of
the revolutionary movement. Indeed, the US
has a deep disgust for any struggle for
liberation, for this means, according to Joma
Sison, "the liberation of their imperialist
exploitation."

The Netherlands as a US puppet

On August 9, the US State Department

designated the Communist Party of the
Philippines and the New People's Army as
"foreign terrorist organizations" and implored
other governments to do the same. On August
12, the US Treasury Department listed the
CPP, the NPA and Jose Maria Sison as
"terrorists" whose assets must be frozen. On
August 13 already, the Dutch authorities
issued the "Sanctions ruling terrorism 2002
III".(5) The Dutch government claims "the
necessity to take prompt measures" as a
reason not to wait for "conclusions that will
follow at the European level." But by acting
so fast, the governmental ruling contained
several factual errors. On August 23, the
government already had to publish
corrections regarding the place and date of
birth of Sison! (6)

In the "Sanctions ruling terrorism 2002 III"

not a single word of motivation can be found.
Why to list the NPA, the CPP and Sison as
"terrorists"? Why freeze their assets? No
single reason is being given. Or is it just

Continued on next page...

MIM Notes 269 · November 1, 2002· Page 9

because the US has asked so? In an
explanation to the ruling the Dutch Foreign
Minister de Hoop Scheffer admits as much:
Europe has to work "in close collaboration
with the United States," and the names
referred to for the freezing of assets "are also
on an `executive order' issued by US
president Bush on August 12, 2002."
Apparently, this suffices as a reason...

Philippine Senator Loren Legarda
praises Jose Maria Sison

"For more than three decades now, Jose

Maria Sison and a very special breed of
Filipinos have pursued an extraordinary
course that has shaped post-war Philippine
politics and society in a fundamental way. One
may not necessarily agree with their
alternative vision of Philippine society, but
no one can doubt the integrity of their
patriotism or the depth of their commitment
to help bring about a more just and a more
humane society." (7)

--Bert De Belder, Solidaire,
Workers' Party of Belgium

MIM has important disagreements with the

Workers' Party of Belgium or PTB, which we
consider a petit-bourgeois organization
masquerading as a proletarian party.
Interested readers can check learn more at
http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/wim/wyl.
We reprint this article because it details the
harassment Jose Maria Sison faces at behest
of the U.$. government.

Notes:
1. August 17, p.9
2. http://www.inq7.net/nwsbrk/2002/sep/05/
nbk_5-1.htm
3. Staatscourant nr.153, August 13
4. James Neilson, in U.S. Veteran News and
Report
5. Staatscourant nr.153, August 13
6. Staatscourant nr.161, August 23
7. August 25, 2002 Gathering of `Friends of
Prof. Jose Maria Sison et al', Executive House,
UP Diliman, Metro Manila, Philippines

by Web Minister

September 11, 2002

I'm running this report on the first 10

days of September, because I'm not sure

what to think about traffic for September

11th onwards. One year ago, MIM's

website gained in international exposure

from the September 11th events--as did

most political websites, because the

public turned toward "serious matters"

and away from the usual NakedNews

programming. It's questionable if MIM

can expect to beat the traffic from

September 11th to September 30th last

year, so here we present a snapshot of

what MIM has done prior to September

11th.

Mostly we are unhappy with these

figures, because we want to break 100%

annual growth in number of computers

served. I hope our comrades abroad can

now answer their questions about what

MIM is doing since September 11th. We

have seen that in some months since

September 11th, MIM has surpassed the

100% growth mark in number of readers

of our website. I take the blame for not

reaching 100% in the first 10 days of

September 2002.

Summary statistics comparing first

10 days of September 2001 and

September 2002*

Sept 01 Sept 02 % change
Avg. MIM pages served per day
1,025 1,749 +70.6%
Different computers MIM served
3,354 6,167 +83.9%
Different MIM files chosen
1,974 2,948 +49.3%
Data transferred average per day
42.7 Mb 89.1 Mb +108.7%

*As in past reports of this format, these

statistics exclude most graphics.

On the bright side, secondary

indicators are higher than expected. With

the theory that the "hard-core" political

readers already know about MIM's

website, and have for some years, we are

surprised to see that even one year after

September 11th, we still see more than

100% growth in a time period's

megabytes transferred from MIM to

readers. Also, quite frankly, I would

assume that we would not see 70%

growth in non-graphics pages served as

we do in this report. It seems much more

intuitive that as MIM's exposure to the

public expands, the number of new

readers would expand faster than the

pages and megabytes served, as we

reached more and more into the relatively

apolitical public.

Standard disclaimers:

1. The numbers in these reports are

conservative estimates for a number of

reasons.

a. The number of computer users refers

to number of computers. The number of

users could be higher or lower, because

some computers serve pages to more than

one individual, because individuals share

computers and because conversely

individuals use computers in more than

one place.

b. The number of pages served should

be thought of as a minimum, because

statistics do not count re-readings or re-

servings from local computer memory.

Nor do they count sharing of pages once

downloaded.

c. Most but not all graphics served are

excluded from the figures to cut back on

increasing "page" averages just by

calling up various graphics.

2. Tracking where computers are from

is bound to have some error as many wise

users intentionally surf the web and leave

a false trail. On the other hand, we doubt

that such error means that non-U.$.

readership is lower than reported, given

that we do not count .com, .net and .edu

readership.

First 10 days September 2002 monthly website report

clear on what is an alternative. This is

why MIM stresses the need to study of

history. We have examples of the defeat

of imperialism to learn from.

After the revolution the people of the

Soviet Union not only provided for their

own basic needs but were able to gear up

for a war to defeat fascism with virtually

no support from the imperialist world.

After the revolution in China huge

advances were made in life expectancy,

infant mortality, literacy, access to

education, sanitation and housing, just to

name a few concrete measures. All of this

happened because the oppressed people

in China stood up and took over running

their country. The people everywhere

were involved in constantly improving

all aspects of society and criticizing their

leaders. (You can find some excellent

books on China here: http://

www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/wim/

mythsofmao.html)

To whom it may
concern

Unfortunately, the truth will never be

told. Because organizations such as these

do not help but, exploit the people that

they are supposed to be helping. I don't

believe that targeting Forever21 is the

answer to the problem. It's actually

making it worst for them. The truth is

that "sweatshops" are and have been in

existence for a while. And, targeting

retailers in this manner will only cause

them to look elsewhere to produce their

products. Therefore taking much needed

jobs. I say help target the key issues and

stop targeting store associates. They are

not the problem, they are just trying to

make their quotas as is everyone else.

Lobby for immigration laws to be a bit

more flexible so to allow immigrant

workers permits to legally work and

report their earnings to the IRS and

therefore limiting under-paid workers.

It's not right to target store employees

because they are not the problem, but

society that dictates and allows this

"sweatshops" to exist.

When will it end!!!!

MIM responds: Thanks for your e-

mail. You are talking about the campaign

against Forever 21 stores which refused

to pay immigrant workers back wages

and overtime pay, or to comply with their

demand for decent working conditions.

You are right that targeting Forever21

is not the answer to the problem. The

problem is the system of imperialism

where one nation gets rich by exploiting

other nations. This is why the border is

kept sealed tight and immigration

restrictions are strict on people from

Third World countries while it is much

easier to get into the U.$ from first world

countries. It is important not to let in too

many of the workers who can be

exploited in their home country because

in the U.$. legally they could get jobs that

paid much higher wages in much better

conditions and the profit of exploiting

them would be lost.

Neither MIM nor RAIL nor any other

activist groups we know of targets store

associates at Forever 21; we're not sure

what that criticism is addressing. We are

targeting the stores as one manifestation

of capitalist exploitation. And we

consider this a winnable battle: if these

stores give in and pay their immigrant

workers and/or improve conditions for

the workers that will be a victory. Of

course, as you pointed out, it will not end

the problem. And that is why we wage

this battle in the context of fighting to

overthrow imperialism.

We agree with you that we need to

target the problem in society more

generally. This is why we have a

campaign to abolish illigitimate borders,

focusing on the U.$.-Mexico border. This

would go a long way to eliminating the

problem of sweatshops within U.$.

borders as the Latino immigrants would

be free to seek out better jobs.

You can find more information on our

Forever21 work here: http://

www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mn/

mn251/forever21.html

And information on our Abolish

Borders campaign here: http://

www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/agitation/

gatekeeper.html

Continued from previous page...

First Amendment survey. Findings

suggest that the September 11, 2001

attacks on the U.$. have led increasing

numbers of Amerikans to support

restrictions on freedom of speech. This

year 49% of those surveyed said that the

First Amendment gives Amerikans too

much freedom, up from 39% last year and

22% in 2000. Additionally of interest is

the 42% of respondents who said the

press in Amerika has too much freedom

to do what it wants (unchanged from last

year).(4)

Those anti-imperialists who still

believe they can win over the majority

of the Amerikan public need to take a

hard serious look at the material interests

of the people in this country. While we

can't expect to win over the majority, we

can fight to educate those who will listen

and give up their class privileges to stand

on the side of the international proletariat.

To do this we must take advantage of

every opportunity for anti- imperialist

speech. We need to publish our own press

and distribute it widely, and we must take

up legal battles like the Santa Cruz

wimmin who took CalTrans to court.

Notes:
1. KTVU News, September 23, 2002
2. Free Expression Network: http://
www.freeexpression.org/newswire/
0129_2002.htm
3. http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2002/09/
149935.php
4. A copy of the report can be found here: http://
www.freedomforum.org/publications/first/sofa/
2002/SOFA-2002_report.pdf

LETTERS: Continued from page 2...

CALTRANS

Continued from page 3...

MIM Notes 269 · November 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

Repression in
Washington state
prisons

I have been trapped in the belly of the

beast most of my life. And I know from

first hand experience the terrible

conditions people face while in these

concentration camps. I will tell you now

that Washington is the worst of the worst.

We here in Washington are suffering

badly from lack of education in these

concentration camps, lack of medical and

legal assistance, and we're not allowed

to support ourselves. If we don't have a

high school diploma or GED we're

confined to our cages from 8:00 am til

4:00 pm because this administration says

if you don't go to school you're not

allowed to get a job nor are you allowed

to go outside to the "graveyard" which

many call the "big yard" to use the phone

and call your family. A lot of guys in here

are illiterate because they don't have an

education.

Many of the prisoners here in

Washington are "mentally dead."

They've been down so long, looking up

never crossed their minds. This

concentration camp is located in the

mountains, miles away from civilization,

most of the prisoners here live either in

Seattle or Tacoma which is about 350

miles away and there is no way their

family can drive that far. The phone calls

are $20 for 18 minutes. So their family

has a block on the phones.

It's hard here in Washington, we're

being fed the same food every week and

most times leftovers from the day or week

before. WSP is the big "pimps" of

Washington. This camp takes 35% of

every money order we get in from our

family, friends and associates. And to put

restrictions on us they make it hard for

anybody to get money. The person that

sends you money must be on your visiting

list, which must be approved by them,

and they discriminate on who gets put

on your visit list. They will disapprove

of your own mama and kids being put on

your list.

This camp is a "slave plantation." They

don't want you to have any outside

support. they want you to work for them

and get in debt to them. And if you refuse

to work they put you on 8 til 4 restriction.

Except for meals. You may go to the

kitchen to eat and see rats running around

in the eating area. You might crack your

tooth on rocks or metal while eating. I

had two cases last year and one a month

and half ago. When you grieve them they

usually answer back asking you the same

questions you already answered on the

first grievance and that's to discourage

you not to pursue the case, these pigs are

dirty.

I am currently being confined in

segregation for being a leader of a group

demonstration. For so-called leading 9

other guys to war against them and their

administration. I was threatened by a

correctional unit supervisor for waking

up the mentally dead. I refuse to accept

the sick conditions that these pimps force

upon our physical being. They have

called me a threat to security, anti-

government, a racist, anti-semite, but

they never have called me a liar. It is my

duty as a conscious and aware brother of

the struggle to fight against oppression,

suppression and depression. By all means

necessary! No matter the consequence I

will speak, protest and fight against these

unjust conditions, if I'm on the mainline

or if I'm in one of the cages used to house

the troubled ones.

I see our president so-called fighting

terrorism in other countries, while

millions of Americans are in terror in this

country because of the condition amerika

is in. That's why it's important for you,

myself, and others to speak-out against

oppression. I will continue to uplift the

oppressed in these concentration camps

here in Washington State.

--a prisoner in Washington,

September 2002

MIM censored
completely in Alabama

On July 27, 2002 MIM forwarded me

MT8 an MT11 upon my request. After

not receiving either I wrote to you

notifying you so. and asking had they

been returned. You notified me in a letter

dated September 5, 2002 that MT8 and

11 had not been returned to you, and to

inquire at the mailroom about it. Also,

you notified me that you were forwarding

another copy of MT8 to me by placing it

in the mail on September 6, 2002.

On Sept 9 I received a rejection notice

stating that "correspondence from MIM

is being rejected," "for security." No

other reason was given, nor was the

correspondence specified.

I eventually got a guard to let me see

what was in the envelope. He pulled

MT11 partially out. I'm assuming that

MT8 was also inside the envelope.

I filed my protest on September 9, I

received it back the 16th of September.

It stated that correspondence from MIM

is denied and that no mail from MIM will

be allowed! It was signed by a Sgt.

Richard Frasier on 9-13-02. I haven't

received the second copy of MT8 or a

rejection notice for it.

I'm enclosing a written copy of

pertinent parts of the prison regulation

covering publications. As you can see

prison officials are in violation of C., D.

, E., G., and H of their own regulation.

To protest this censorship please

contact:

Warden David Wise

PO Box 66

Capshaw, AL 35742-0066

--a prisoner in Alabama, August

2002

Better yourself, fight
censorship: read MIM

I read over your letter to me and I do

feel where you're coming from. When it

comes to politics I don't rate high in the

"I understand" bracket. I've been doing

this pen shit for over 12 years now and

I've spent the last 10 on some gang bang

(I'm tuffer than you) shit. Right now one

of my little comrades and myself are in

the hole here for attempted murder on an

officer and some other assaults. Since I'm

here I decided to look into some other

avenues to find a better direction:

something to better myself so I can pass

something on to my lil homies

(something with purpose and direction).

I'm really looking forward to bettering

myself and maybe those around me!

-- a California prisoner, September

2002

MIM responds: 25 states -- from

California to New York, from Florida to

Washington -- censored MIM Notes

from November, 2001 through April,

2002. Another 11 states had censored our

press in the year leading up to November,

2001. Censorship at SCI Greene in

Pennsylvania (where Mumia Abu Jamal

and other Pennsylvania death row

prisoners are held) has been so severe that

MIM has stopped sending its newspapers

there.

Prisoncrats slander MIM as promoting

violence and hatred among prisoners, yet

many prisoners seek us out just as this

comrade has and tell us that MIM helps

them to funnel their energies into

progressive work. In fact MIM

encourages prisoners to seek out political

education, and to use their time to

organize around winnable battles. We do

not expect to dismantle the U.$. prisons

system in 2002, but we do expect to be

able to get MIM Notes and other political

literature into the hands of more

prisoners. We have won battles against

censorship in Wisconsin, Washington

and Tennessee and expect to win in more

states!

Prisoners can help by informing MIM

of all censorship, and by helping us to

understand the policies on prisoner mail

in their state or federal facility. Prisoners

can file grievances to protest censorship,

while MIM lodges protest with prison

and DOC administrations.

Many outside the walls still believe that

this country stands for freedom and

democracy. Yet the prisoncrats squash the

speech of everyone who writes for, pays

for and produces MIM Notes every time

they censor a copy. We call on all who

believe in the right to free speech to join

us in fighting prison censorship.

Library/work catch 22
in Texas

I received a disciplinary case for not

turning out for my slave-labor

assignment. However, I, like many

others, had lay-ins for the law library.

These were early-morning lay-ins, which

scheduled us for sessions that conflicted

with our work hours. By TDCJ standards

we were wrong for exercising our right

to have access to the courts. It seems there

is a little-known TDCJ policy which

states that law library lay-ins do not

override work/slave responsibilities.

For the previous 10 months since our

lay-in times were shifted to mornings, no

one had ever received any disciplinary

cases, so the policy was not being

enforced. Secondly, no one was aware of

the policy and the field officers had never

brought up the subject, so we could never

attempt to correct the problem.

It also seems that, besides the field

officers, the only other person who knew

MIM Notes 269 · November 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.

From the MIM "Frequently Asked

Questions" page, http://www.etext.org/
Politics/MIM/faq.

Internationalism is the ethical belief or

scientific approach in which peoples of
different nations are held to be or assumed to
be equal. Internationalism is opposed to
racism and national chauvinism.

We Maoists believe the nationalism of

nations experiencing oppression of
imperialism is "applied internationalism." We
oppose nationalism of oppressed nations
directed at other oppressed nations, because
the economic content of such nationalism is
intra-proletarian conflict. We seek a united
front of oppressed nations led by the
international proletariat against imperialism.

"I must argue, not from the point of view

of `my' country (for that is the argument of a
wretched, stupid, petty-bourgeois nationalist
who does not realize that he is only a plaything
in the hands of the imperialist bourgeoisie),
but from the point of view of my share in the
preparation, in the propaganda, and in the
acceleration of the world proletarian
revolution. That is what internationalism
means, and that is the duty of the
internationalist, of the revolutionary worker,
of the genuine Socialist."

V. I. Lenin, "What Is Internationalism?"

The Proletarian Revolution and the
Renegade Kautsky (Peking: Foreign
Language Press, 1965), p. 80.

What is internationalism?

about the policy was the law library

supervisor herself -- and she was the

only who scheduled the conflicting times.

By doing so, she placed us in a catch-22:

either go to the law library to satisfy our

access to the courts (a right under law),

and by doing so be subject to disciplinary

action, or waive our access to the courts

by working/slaving for free. Most of us

are fighting our cases, or working on

lawsuits, or writing the officers up

according to policy, and these people

know that, so here is a concerted effort

to keep he prison masses guessing and

stressing.

Of course, I am appealing the guilty

finding and will pursue the matter until

it's taken off my record. This woman

purposely scheduled prisoners for times

which would present a conflict. I did not

make my own lay-ins.

We are required by these people to

work in the fields, even if you have

suffered an injury prior to turning out. If

you report the injury to anyone the

officers will write you a case for getting

hurt! As ridiculous as this sounds, they

are getting away with these bogus cases

because prisoners do nothing to counter

TDCJ actions.

A shout out to Texas: Has anyone heard

of the Private Sector Prison Industries

Oversight Authority? Supposedly they

can help. If anyone's got some info on

this, get it in print on these pages so we

can move on it.

By the way, I would also like to obtain

a copy of any petitions that MIM has so

that I can mobilize the effort here as well.

I ain't much, but it's a start.

Power to the People!

Sincerely in struggle,

--A Texas prisoner

MIM responds: the prisoner is

referring to MIM's petition to stop the

practice of forcing sick and injured

prisoners to work -- or docking their

good time if they can't work. Download

a copy of the petition here: http://

www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mn/

mn253/txpetition.html or write to MIM

for a copy and start collecting signatures!

Mail procedures
violated at WCC

On any given day in america the rights

of prisoners are violated by someone

working for the bourgeois state. In

Washington prison officials recently

proved they were no exception to the rule

by telling [a prisoner] they would not

store his publications as required by DOC

mail policy, under the rule, implemented

throughout the prison system in 2000,

books, magazines and newspapers sent

to prisoners in the intensive management

unit (IMU) must be held for 90 days

during which time prisoners are allowed

to have these once they reach the required

levels.

When [the prisoner] threatened legal

action over the mail policy violations.

Officials at the correction center in

Shelton claimed they would review the

procedure and store his incoming

magazines until this was done. On July

18, 2002 [the prisoner] asked for the

magazines supposedly stored. He

received one and was told the other four

were never stored. Staff claim they

haven't lost or stole anything. But no one

else has any access to these in IMU so

there's little merit to those claims.

Even more damning for the oppressors

is they've been doing this for two years

now. Until [this prisoner] showed up

storage procedures weren't being

followed and prison officials admitted to

this in discussions with him over it.

Although legal action is being pursued

there's no sign that prison officials plan

to obey their own rules or follow the law

when it comes to the first amendment and

a prisoners rights under it to ensure this

is done and the oppressors in our prison

system don't go on thinking they're a law

units their self. Prisoners should organize

in order to force the powers that be to

respect their rights.

--a prisoner in WA, August 2002

Suicide Rate Increases
at WCC

Intensive management units (IMU)

around Washington house prisoners who

suffer serious mental health problems. As

recently as May 2002 one of these was

found dead in his cell at the Correction

Center in Shelton. As did two others, he

chose to hang himself, but was the only

one who succeeded in doing so.

Seven prisoners with psychiatric

disabilities have made suicide attempts

at the correction center in the last three

months. Two opted for overdose using

prescribed medications. One used razor

blades and the other cut his throat.

Despite what must be viewed as a

disturbing trend. Administrators have

done little to prevent this. And they

contribute to such acts by dismissing

reports that hired goons in IMU abuse

these people to get their kicks.

With no fear of reprisal from above,

this makes those suffering a mental

illness twice as likely to be gassed, beat,

thrown in strip cells or denied food,

showers and recreation. Whenever their

oppressors decide to liven up an

otherwise boring job by tormenting

someone who appears abnormal.

IMU is often used by doctors or prison

officials as a dumping ground for anyone

who exhibits severe psychological

disturbance. Psychiatric personnel at

hospitals like the special offenders center

employ this policy whenever prisoners

become hard to handle. And the tradition

carried over to a new facility situated

close to it which opened and declared

right off that close and maximum custody

prisoners weren't being received. In this

new facility beds were available and staff

were better trained and equipped to

provide psychiatric care which prisoners

were not getting in IMU.

A bit of irony can be added to this

picture of abuse and indifference: mental

health workers staged a protest over

budget cuts in Olympia. At issue was

closure of 6 wards over the next two years

at eastern and western state hospital. Not

only would jobs be lost were this to

happen, but hundreds of beds would

stand unused and empty while prisoners

who could use both professional care and

hospital beds are denied it.

In doing this the ruling class has shown

it cares little about the need for either.

And that if weighed against the need for

almighty dollars. Prisoners can go on

committing suicide for lack of available

psychiatric care in our state.

--a prisoner in WA, august 2002

Some come here tough

and filled full of anger.

Others come here meek

and fear all the danger.

The tears in their eyes,

the pain in their minds,

most people can't see;

to their thoughts they are blind.

I see all their lives,

even in my dreams.

I feel all their pain

and hear all their screams.

Teachers, doctors and lawyers,

some could have been.

Instead of being "Pillars,"

we're sent to the "Pen."

Politicians have the answer,

they say "throw away the key."

"Lock them all up

and just let them be."

Some have done wrong

while others have not.

But, still in the end,

it's jail we all got.

If the Question is: "Should we

lock them all up and keep them in

jail,

deny some their rights or give them

no bail?

Most have no education

and our futures are in doubt.

"What will you have wrought,

when you finally let us out?"

"The ?"

-- a Federal prisoner in

Illinois, 27 July, 2002

The Question (?)

MIM Notes 269 · November 1, 2002· Page 12

Notas Rojas

noviembre 1, 2002, Nº 269 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

El 13 de febrero, la Liga

Antiimperialista Revolucionara organizó

un foro en la Universidad de Berkeley al

que asistieron por lo menos 60 personas.

El evento se inició con una impactante

obra oral instigando a que la gente se

incorporara a la lucha por la humanidad.

Los discursos presentados por el

Movimiento Maoísta Internacionalista

(MIM), el Comité de los Derechos

Humanos de Filipinas (CDHF) y el

BAYAN de la bahía de San Francisco

fueron intercalados por presentaciones

musicales de la banda activista filipina

Diskarte Namin. Este foro importante

desencadenó en la universidad un

creciente movimiento de oposición al

imperialismo estadounidense en las

Filipinas. Los estudiantes expresaron su

intención de movilizar a la gente de la

Universidad de Berkeley mediante

campañas educativas y una actividad

política en solidaridad con la lucha del

pueblo filipino por su autodeterminación.

El orador del MIM inició el foro

mencionando que las 600 tropas

estadounidenses que habían sido

mandadas a las Filipinas mas 100

millones de dólares en ayuda militar

prometidos en enero, son las últimas

pruebas del dominio de EE.UU sobre las

Filipinas.

[La presencia de las tropas

estadounidenses en el territorio filipino

supuestamente se debe a la necesidad de

entrenar a las fuerzas militares filipinas

en su lucha contra la pandilla Aby Sayaaf

que, según EE.UU.¸ tiene conexiones a

Osama bin Laden. Sin embargo, según

un orador del CFHF, el mismo gobierno

filipino no piensa que los restantes 60

bandidos sean significantes. El

periodista Nocholas Kristof del periódico

yaqui New York Times que apenas podría

considerarse un antiimperialista radical,

sostiene que la presidenta filipina Gloria

Macapagal-Arroyo "aprovechó el

contexto del 11 de septiembre para hacer

pasar a Abu Sayyaf por terroristas

internacionales con fin de obtener más

ayuda militar de EE.UU." (1)] La

llamada "guerra contra el terrorismo"

sirve de pretexto para la actual invasión;

sin embargo, los mismos EE.UU. es una

organización terrorista, sin mencionar a

los gobiernos clientes de las Filipinas e

Israel. Según el Departamento de Estado

de EE.UU., la definición de terrorismo

incluye "el uso de agentes biológicos,

químicos o armas nucleares, armas de

fuego o explosivos con la intención de

poner en peligro, de una forma directa o

indirecta, la seguridad de una o más

personas o causar daño de carácter

considerable a la propiedad". (2)

Dentro de un contexto más global, el

orador del MIM además abordó varias

formas de participación de EE.UU en

asuntos interiores de otros países, lo cual

incluye tanto el colonialismo directo

como indirecto o neocolonialismo. Los

ejemplos dados variaban desde golpes de

estado contra gobiernos elegidos

democráticamente hasta apoyos

financieros y militares con fin de minar

a gobiernos populares y llevar a cabo

agresiones militares así como respaldar

a gobiernos títeres. Esta participación

militar y económica en asuntos interiores

de otros países es lo que llamamos

imperialismo- una etapa del capitalismo

que se caracteriza por un colonialismo,

un monopolio de corporaciones y una

exportación del capital al extranjero con

fines lucrativos. El ser una corporación

capitalista ejemplar significa importar

muchas ganancias mediante la fundación

de maquiladoras en países con un fácil

acceso a recursos naturales, donde las

tasas de salario son mínimas, donde no

existen leyes laborales ni tampoco

regulaciones sobre medio ambiente. El

orador del MIM señalo que el estándar

de vida en EE.UU. sobrepasa el del tercer

mundo de una forma significante a causa

de todas esas ganancias importadas. Sin

embargo, el MIM cree que ninguna

nación del mundo debería enriquecerse

a costo de otras naciones. Eso es lo que

se llama internacionalismo. El

internacionalismo se opone al racismo y

el chovinismo nacional. El

internacionalismo implica que los

ciudadanos de este país que se benefician

de la explotación y opresión de los

pueblos del mundo, tienen la

responsabilidad de respaldar las luchas

justas de los pueblos oprimidos por su

autodeterminación. El orador del MIM

rogó que el público pensara en cómo

podría manifestar su internacionalismo

mientras que escuchaba las

presentaciones sobre la situación en las

Filipinas. Los oradores del CDHF

esbozaron las causas de la intervención

yanqui en las Filipinas. Un orador habló

sobre la riqueza de recursos naturales y

la posición estratégica que convierten las

Filipinas en un blanco deseable. [Las

Filipinas están situadas en la parte sureste

del Océano Pacífico. Las islas fueron

utilizadas como un escenario estratégico

durante la guerra en Vietnam, lo cual

podría repetirse en el caso de que EE.UU.

lancen una guerra en contra de Corea,

China o el Sureste de Asia.] Además se

abordó la larga historia de gobiernos

lacayos que habían firmado tratados

cediendo a EE.UU. el derecho de ocupar

el territorio filipino con fin de

promocionar los intereses

estadounidenses, lo cual ha resultado en

una tremenda pobreza del pueblo filipino.

El orador del CDHF discutió el

movimiento nacional democrático de las

Filipinas que lucha por reformas agrarias,

una indusrialización nacional, una

liberación del dominio extranjero así

como cambios en el liderazgo del

gobierno. [El clandestino Partido

Comunista de las Filipinas que encabeza

esta lucha está llevando a cabo una guerra

popular con fin de derrocar al gobierno

reaccionario de la República de las

Filipinas y establecer una base para la

construcción del socialismo.]

Ha habido una respuesta fuerte a la

reciente invasión de las tropas

estadounidenses en las Filipinas. El 18

de enero, unos grupos democráticos

nacionales organizaron en Manila un

rally impresionante oponiéndose a la

presencia de las tropas estadounidenses

en el territorio filipino. [A finales de

enero, el Partido Comunista de las

Filipinas divulgó un comunicado

condemnando tanto "la descarada

intervención de tropas americanas en las

Filipinas como el carácter sinvergüenza

del régimen servil Macapagal-Arroyo".

"El Partido entero está determinado por

frustrar semejantes pasos y está listo para

encabezar la resistencia popular a la

intervención militar de EE.UU. en todas

las direcciones y mediante cualquier

recurso", dice el comunicado. "Está listo

para hacer que el régimen Macapagal-

Arroyo pague caro por su transparente y

absoluto papel de títere y su traición a la

patria".]

Todos los oradores señalaron que la

presente situación en las Filipinas es una

de emergencia. La gente muere por causa

del imperialismo yanqui. Esta última

invasión podría convertirse en una guerra

de agresión- una guerra contra el pueblo

filipino que está reclamando sus derechos

a la paz, comida, vivienda,

medicamentos, educación, cultura

nacional, independencia territorial y

autodeterminación. La gente debería

tener un derecho a la lucha armada para

la autodefensa, y eso es lo que han hecho

muchos. El movimiento revolucionaro

de las Filipinas que representa los

intereses de más de 90% de la población

ha tenido éxito y sigue creciendo. La

gente de EE.UU. tenemos la

responsabilidad de exigir que EE.UU.

aparte sus garras imperialistas de las

Filipinas.

Traducido por Células de Estudio para

la Liberación de Aztlán y América Latina

Bibliografía:

1. New York Times, 8 de febrero 2002.

2. www.state.gov/www/global/

terrorism/fto_info_1999.html.

El foro californiano sobre las Filipinas moviliza al

pueblo estadounidense bajo el lema "¡Fuera ahora!"