MIM Notes ***

MIM Notes 273 · January 1, 2003 · Page 1

MIM Notes

January 1, 2003, Nº 273

The Official Newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM)

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Signatories

reject charges

of `terrorism'

7 December, 2002

IM and RAIL comrades

collected over 50 signatures

on a petition in support of Jose

Maria Sison's democratic rights during

the hour-long lunch break outside of an

anti-war conference in west Los Angeles

today. Prof. Sison helped found the

Maoist Communist Party of the

Philippines and New People's Army in

the late 1960s and has lived in exile in

the Netherlands since the late 1980s. He

was a consultant to the National

Democratic Front in recent peace

negotiations with the Government of the

Republic of the Philippines which led to

an important agreement on human rights

and international humanitarian law.

The United $tates listed Prof. Sison as

a "terrorist" in August without due

process and without giving any

justification. The government of the

Netherlands followed suit and deprived

Prof. Sison of the social support he is

entitled to under Dutch law as a

recognized political refugee. In late

October the European Union also added

the New People's Army and Prof. Sison

to its list of "terrorists." (See the press

release from Committee DEFEND on

page 7.)

Prof. Sison commented on these

charges in a telephone interview

conducted by MIM.

"These decisions of the United States

have been transported by the Dutch

government and applied on me here, so I

suffer great consequences. I am

criminalized as a terrorist without due

process. I am defamed and I am the object

With petition, support builds for persecuted

Communist Party of the Philippines founder

Some protestors carried photos of the two dead girls in mourning. Others
burned effigies of U.$. President Bush.

Koreans step

up protests

against U.$.

troops

4 December, 2002

outh Koreans continue to protest the acquittal

of the Amerikan soldiers who crushed two

Korean schoolgirls to death with their military

vehicle in June,(1) even after President Bush belatedly

apologized for the incident. Protesters range from the

militant youth who threw Molotov cocktails at an

Amerikan military installation last week to the church

groups who marched yesterday in Seoul.(2)

Although not everybody protesting this latest tragic

incident believes the 35,000 Amerikan troops on

Korean soil should leave--one restaurant owner

decided against posting a "Yankee Go Home" sign in

his window because it was "too strong" and instead

put up one saying "Americans are not welcome here"

(3)--more and more are making that connection. An

Anglican priest interviewed at yesterday's protest said,

"Rather than being killed by a U.S. army vehicle, I

would choose to be killed by our people in north Korea

if there is any war."(2)

As we pointed out in the last issue of MIM Notes,

public opinion in southern Korea is turning against

the United $tates, with even Korean cutey-pop groups

making anti-American videos. Only one third of

recently-polled south Koreans viewed the United

$tates favorably, compared to almost two thirds in

1994. More than 50% think Bush is making trouble

with north Korea in order to sell fighter planes to the

MIM email address forged

thousands of times

by MC206

Over the last six months Zionists have

spammed and spoofed pro-Palestinian

activists in an

attempt to drive

them off the

internet. An

article in The

N a t i o n

described some

of these attacks:

"Within days

of the April

incursion of the

Israel Defense Forces into Jenin, pro-

Palestine activist Thomas Olson received

first a trickle, then thousands, of e-mails

with menacing subject lines such as:

`Mecca is for Muslims, Jerusalem is for

Jews,' `Die Hitler Scum' and `I take it in

the ass from Arafat.' What then became

daily e-mail bombardments of pro-Israel

diatribes, racist cartoons and

pornography soon progressed into a much

more sinister form of cyber-harassment:

Olson became a victim of a type of

identity-theft dubbed a `joe job' by

experts, wherein someone using Olson's

name and e-mail address sends out

thousands of messages that grossly

misrepresent his position with respect to

the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. One such

`job' had Olson declaring `I love Hitler'

to hundreds of his fellow activists.

Welcome to the concerted (and ongoing)

cyber-campaign to frustrate and

intimidate US-based pro-Palestine

activists who attempt to organize on the

Internet.

"While spammings continue to crash

servers and shut down inboxes, these joe

Zionist cops launch cyber-attacks on pro-Palestinian activists

Security advice:

Take the `From' line

in an email with a

grain of salt

Continued on page 7...

Continued on page 6...

MIM Notes 273 · January 1, 2003 · 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

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

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

Nattering nabob
misses big picture

Dear MIM,

I am writing in regards to your

newsletter MIM notes Number 271. I am

a French Canadian, and I take offence to

your naming Quebec as a separate

country from Canada. (page 2-What is

MIM) We have had a democratic

referendum and the majority of

Quebecers see themselves as a Canadian.

This angers me because when newsletters

talk about revolution they must represent

facts. If not people will not turn away

and regard all newsletters as propaganda,

leaving the reader to lump all news letters

into the category of "politicized

propaganda." If you do not feel you have

the ability to edit your letter for simple

grammar and punctuation, or are not able

to represent facts, stop writing your letter.

On a personal note, communist

governments would only perpetuate the

master slave relationship, which is

created by government. Revolution can

not exists with the presence of a

government. Outside of Anarchy, there

is no such thing as revolution, any

government is a betrayal of the

revolution. If you have got this far in my

rant I will be supprised, (sic.) if not it

showes (sic.) just how right I am,

communist only listen to other

communists.

--An anarchist, December 2002

International Minister replies for

MIM: This is an example of the kind of

nit-picking letters we get from people

afraid of real change and unable to think

outside the box handed by the status quo.

Rather than actually make a statement,

the writer picks at whether Quebec

should be referred to as a nation or not

and spelling. It's a sure sign the persyn

has nothing substantial to say. (To add

hypocrisy to stupidity, the critic included

punctuation mistakes in the letter

including double periods, punctuation

outside quotations and a misspelling of

"supprised" and "showes," which we left

intact.)

As the writer undoubtedly knows, the

majority of French-speaking Quebecois

voted for separation. It was only the

English-speakers who saved the

referendum for the anti-separation side.

The anarchist in question thinks of h/

hself as "Canadian" and gives credit to a

"democratic" referendum conducted

under bourgeois auspices, but that does

not prevent a majority of French-

speaking people living in a contiguous

territory and sharing a common language

from thinking that they are a nation. The

writer had nothing to say about that, just

his/her own individual opinion--the

Anglo-Saxon individualist error that

underlies most pseudo-anarchism.

If our critic had read our French

language material on our web page, s/he

would know that we do not care if

Quebec separates, because it would

constitute an imperialist country in its

own right. However, once again,

substance was never the point of this

letter.

Countless opportunists advise MIM

that the public cannot accept anything

outside the "democracy" it is already fed,

so they blame us for "propaganda." This

is accepting a state of non-change. The

people of North America will have to go

through thorough and often painful

transformation for an end to imperialism

to come about. It's a joke to talk about a

state-less society otherwise.

MIM steals the
subscription money?

Dear MIM:

This isn't a political question or

challenge. It's about a subscription to

mim notes. I lived in X for a year and

first started reading mim notes there. I

really enjoy. I just moved to Y, and I

wanted to get a subscription, so about a

month and a half ago I sent a 20 dollar

bill in the mail to MIM, along with a letter

saying that the money was for a

subscription.

I haven't gotten any mim notes yet. I'm

not sure if the letter got lost, or if someone

stole the envelope, or if it got lost in the

mim office. I would never want to believe

that someone at mim would take the

money secretly, but its been so long i can

only imagine. So what can i do? Is there

another person I should contact? Do you

need my address? I'd like to start gettting

mim notes asap. Thanks.

--A reader

PIRAO chief replies: We do consider

the above a political challenge for a

number of reasons.

First as we already replied, it is possible

that the letter is lost in the shuffle

amongst MIM bureaus or stuck in some

in-box pile. MIM is small and the people

"get what they pay for," which means

there is no professional staff.

There ain't no 9-5 staff to give you

Burger King "have it your way service,"

by which we refer to the fact that MIM

Notes does not even advertise for

subscribers and does not have any. It's

been that way in 2002; yet we still get

letters like this above. The fact that MIM

is not Burger King is a political point.

The fact that MIM Notes is not Burger

King and is still expanding circulation

very rapidly is the point as far as we are

concerned.

Precisely because MIM Notes has no

professional staff and in fact the staff

pays for the whole thing to go free to the

public, we want to attack those who

would say the money they sent is stolen.

(The converse is the staff working for

MIM who occasionally say they are

"screwed," an oinkist ideology we also

Continued on page 9...

MIM Notes 273 · January 1, 2003 · Page 3

For two months now, the Leather

Federation of Turkey has started to lay

off workers, especially in the region

Tuzla where there have been protests

before. For that reason the Leather Union

decided to make a press statement on the

29th November 2002.

The chairman of the Education Trade

Union Sali Kili, the general chairman of

the Leather trade union Musa Servi and

the chairman of Tuzla leather union

Hasan Sonkaya, organizational secretary

Grsel Mentese and council member

Yusuf Gke together with other workers

were arrested for trying to make a press

statement in Tuzla. When they arrived,

the police denied permission to hold the

press conference. The workers and the

other representatives protested against

this kind of oppression. Then the police

attacked violently and made arrests. On

the same evening the second municipal

office in Istanbul made a statement and

spoke out against these unfair attacks by

sides of the government and demanded

the immediate release of the people taken

under arrest. On the same evening the

workers and representatives were

released.

We as the (International League of

Peoples' Struggle) ILPS Turkish section

protest against this kind of oppression

which took place yesterday. It is not

illegal to make a press statement, but in

Turkey it means to be beaten und arrested.

For two months the leather federation is

laying off workers. Because of that the

workers are striking: they demand their

work back.

-LONG LIVE CLASS

SOLIDARITY!

-LONG LIVE INTERNATIONAL

SOLIDARITY!

--ILPS TURKISH SECTION

MIM adds: The United $tates supports

Turkey militarily, financially and

politically. In return Turkey allows the

United $tates to place spy radars in

Turkey and base attack aircraft there, as

in the last Gulf War. The United $tates

often opportunistically hold Turkey up as

a beacon of democracy--despite the

abuses described by these Turkish

comrades or the governments genocidal

war against the Kurds.

Police attack Leather Workers in Turkey

PIRAO's first report
on the central task

By PIRAO chief,

November 19, 2002

Following up on the monthly Web Min-

istry statistical reports of the past, PIRAO

is now going to start pulling together a

more comprehensive report on the cen-

tral task to "create public opinion and

the independent institutions of the op-

pressed to seize power." PIRAO is the

People's Internationalist Rear-Area Or-

ganization, MIM's "army," which does

not carry weapons but instead performs

the mundane logistical work necessary

to put out the newspaper, promote MIM's

web presence, etc. This first report will

try to catch us up to the present so that

future reports may focus on monthly data.

"About forty thousand workers have

been buying Pravda; far more read it.

Even if war, prison, Siberia, and hard

labour should destroy five or even ten

times as many--this section of the

workers cannot be annihilated. It is alive.

It is imbued with the revolutionary spirit,

is anti-chauvinist. It alone stands in the

midst of the masses, with deep roots in

the latter, as the champion of the

internationalism of the toilers, the

exploited, and the oppressed."

--V.I. Lenin, 1915

Lenin reported that in the 1905

upheaval the mushy "left" sneered at him

and even as late as World War I itself,

Russian people still thought of Lenin as

"insane," all the more so because he

opposed the war. Did Lenin have no

political common sense? Nor did Lenin

just oppose the war: he broke ties with

all previously fraternal organizations that

did not. He sent out Zinoviev to represent

him at major anti-war conferences to say

it would be better to be 20% the size of a

larger party that so much as vacillated

on the question of the war. Yes, it was an

elitist, authoritarian, top-down thing to

do, to say "to hell with public opinion."

The science of solving political problems

is not just a matter of public opinion or

voting.

Lenin says he had 40,000 subscribers

in 1915 and he was especially proud of

the fact that thousands of exploited

workers paid their own money for

Where we stand now: public opinion building

Correction

We apologize for our October 15th

article referring to "British Columbia

(BC) First Nations." There is no such

thing as "BC First Nations." There are

First Nations in conflict with British

Columbia.

Bolshevik newspapers. He found that the

workers were unwilling to pay as much

or as often for the Liquidators'

newspapers.

I raise this because we need to

understand that MIM's public opinion

work is already in the league where

Lenin's was in 1915. That's right: MIM

has already proven that our line does not

put us out of reach of the masses despite

the endless chatter of the opportunists.

It only raises why the opportunists keep

saying MIM line puts us out of range of

the masses. Yes, the other organizations

are bigger than us, sometimes much

bigger. That only proves that MIM is

getting done more per comrade. That's

not to mention that the Black Panthers

already proved that there is no need to

water anything down. It is possible to

hoist the banner MIM has and place it in

front of people to consider. We cannot

expect more at this moment, as Lenin

understood and we will get into more in

detail.

In starting this new series of statistical

reports on MIM work, we have decided

that it is not worth the security risk to

release information on our total printed

paper circulation. We will say that after

September 11th, 2001, the state

succeeded in intimidating some of our

circles but others stepped up and MIM

Notes printing roughly increased by one-

third. Since that time, that crude measure

of circulation is up another 17%

annually. Nonetheless, it is not a secret

that MIM's web site attracts 25,000

visitors a month as I write this report in

addition to those who pick up the MIM

Notes in paper form.

As we explained before in the 2001

party congress resolution on defining

"masses," Lenin's readers were more

motivated than ours on average, not

necessarily more motivated than our

prison readers who show every sign of

doing what Russian workers did in

Lenin's day--read the paper thoroughly

and then struggle hard to pass it on to

someone else.

Yet as Lenin himself pointed out even

in his day, Amerikans have advantages

in their political work too. Namely,

technology and advances in

communications make it possible for

large numbers of Amerikans to hear

something quickly. In fact it is true that

the Internet is more widespread in the

imperialist countries and the capabilities

of that Internet are greater also.

Just looking at the web traffic alone,

MIM's non-graphics web traffic has been

growing at an 80% annual rate for more

than a year. At that rate, it will surpass

Lenin's 1915 circulation in a year or

maybe four if we consider that MIM is

responsible for a larger population than

Lenin was in 1915 and we want to

consider a per-capita circulation rate. On

this point I speak of the web page by itself,

never mind our printed word.

All across the Internet, people

recognize that MIM is most out on the

"limb." We are the ones promoting Stalin,

Mao and our thesis on the labor

aristocracy--not in an half-hearted or

defensive way. For that, of course we have

come up for countless opportunist

criticisms that we should "wage the battle

for the middle," without first answering

the question of "middle of what?"(1) (The

same question goes for those speaking of

a "left": left-wing of what, the National

Bolsheviks? The left-wing of those

seeking a popular way to go to war in

Iraq?) Countless people calling

themselves "leftist" or even "Maoists" tell

MIM to fight for the "middle" of the

"masses," without defining either and

thereby surrendering to exploiters. They

fail to understand that opportunists

spontaneously generate at a dime a dozen

rate. There is no need to water things

down for people, and MIM's current

circulation numbers prove it. Whatever

MIM says will be watered down by 10

times as many people than MIM currently

organizes anyway.

If we are in the midst of

internationalists, then going to win over

the middle is appropriate. Seeking to win

over the middle of a chauvinist "left" or

chauvinist anything misses the point of

what our goals are right now. In some

circumstances, Lenin advised us to take

our lumps and be unpopular. The party

sets up a banner or beacon. It shows

another way, even while the vast majority

opposes that way. Yet if no one sets up

that beacon, it takes that much longer and

that much more suffering to get to where

society has to go, whether it likes it or

not right now.

"Going for the middle" in Lenin's day

would have meant supporting the war in

exchange for worker pensions. In Lenin's

day, only his paper stood against the war,

and even in Russia where there was

hardly any labor aristocracy, Lenin was

in the tiny minority right up to World War

I. So what should we expect in an

undefeated imperialist country where the

labor aristocracy is proportionately much

larger? To be more popular than Lenin?

What's crazy is the people claiming to

be Leninist and saying that.

Even more crazy, if revolution is on the

agenda in the united $tates, even within

two years, MIM is no further away from

being prepared than Lenin was in 1915.

He had many advantages to be sure, but

we have our own, and if there is to be a

revolution in the united $tates in two

years, that is what will be relevant, not

Lenin's advantages in his circumstances.

I am not saying we are going to have a

revolution in two years, only that to argue

MIM should surrender the cardinal

principles on account of being in touch

with the "masses" is wrong, because we

have the example of Lenin in 1915 to see

what can happen in two years. To be quite

frank about our times, today, we have

every possibility of far greater horrors

and de-stabilization than what Lenin saw

in World War I in the imperialist

countries and the Third World already

experiences the devastating conditions

Lenin did in 1915.

People stuck in "lesser evils" electoral

politics thinking are unable to see the

dialectical potential in a moment. That's

why they advise us to "wage the battle

for the middle." They don't have MIM's

experience of knowing what political

views go with what buzzwords in the

imperialist countries when it comes to

some Third World "Maoists" criticizing

Continued on next page...

MIM Notes 273 · January 1, 2003 · Page 4

Right now, MIM is doing a little pub-

lic opinion work on a new web forum

where there are many youth and others

considering the subjects of Marx and

Stalin. It sounds good. Our mechanical

opportunists would probably advise us

to pursue the "middle" in such a con-

text--if not that context, what context?

Isn't MIM "sectarian" not to pursue the

"middle" even in that context? Shouldn't

a forum where people are interested in

Marx and Stalin be a good place to win

over the political middle? After all, why

would people be there talking about Marx

and Stalin in the first place? However, it

turns out that issuing airy and vague state-

ments like "waging the battle for the

middle" is only possible coming from

those who do not carry out internation-

alist practice in the imperialist countries.

Indeed, politically within the imperi-

alist countries, the "win the middle" ap-

proach may seem correct at first blush.

However, if we get into the struggle we

find that even amongst 15-year-olds in

imperialist countries in this forum we are

working in right now, one poster hates

Jews more than any other religion. An-

other major poster moderating one of the

groups says "tut-tut" to the anti-

Semitism, but then says that Nepal and

Philippines people on the WHOLE have

no chance of making an advanced revo-

lution. He refers to the CPP as "bandits."

Another one there actually defending

Stalin speaks in favor of eugenics. He and

another Stalin defender refer to a web site

where the authors have spoken for gas-

sing Jews, expelling all Mexicans--and

when confronted with this fact they cover

for it. It becomes clear that amongst these

imperialist country people (and this is in

fact common, not just a factor in that

particular forum), it is possible--

barely--to talk about Russia and Tur-

key--who "coincidentally" appear clos-

est to being white amongst those being

discussed. The entire Third World is ir-

relevant to them.

Yet, if MIM were to pursue the middle

in that forum, these all would be in "our

camp," including some closet national

Bolsheviks who would go for the ride--

because the rest of the population on the

forum is worse. Well of course, some of

these people are buying the MIM Theory

magazines, and using the MIM web site

to help defend Stalin, but even here, can

we say these are part of our camp? Of

course ordinary readers in the forum will

perceive MIM as being in the same camp,

regardless of what we say or do, since

we are pro-Stalin. There is reality to that.

However, there is no sense in which we

should cater to that middle. Quite the

contrary, that "middle" has an enemy

aspect that has to be transformed. We can

even say that enemy aspect is principal

and the need for self-transformation

higher than the need for unity. Any other

approach is to make a mockery of nam-

ing the principal contradiction the op-

pressed nations versus imperialism, but

that is exactly what the world's supposed

Maoists are advising MIM. Naming the

principal contradiction as Maoists have

means that we split the difference on

other issues, not questions of chauvin-

ism. That's what it means to answer the

"middle of what?" question.

This is something Lenin understood.

It's easy to issue vague proclamations

about what is politically wise, and tacti-

cally smart. It's also lazy, a way of put-

ting off the horror of just how far the

struggle has to go to get the humyn spe-

cies through this violent period of decay-

ing imperialism. Lenin had no problem

appearing "insane" for more than a de-

cade from the time of 1902's "What Is

To Be Done?" and the midst of World

War I when Russians finally saw the

light:

"Let us, however, consider in general

and in the light of present-day events the

meaning of the `unity' slogan. The

proletariat's unity is its greatest weapon

in the struggle for the socialist revolu-

tion. From this indisputable truth it fol-

lows just as indisputably that, when a

proletarian party is joined by a consider-

able number of petty-bourgeois elements

capable of hampering the struggle for the

socialist revolution, unity with such ele-

ments is harmful and perilous to the cause

of the proletariat. Present-day events

have shown that, on the one hand, the

objective conditions are ripe for an im-

perialist war (i.e., a war reflecting the last

and highest stage of capitalism), and, on

the other hand, that decades of a so-called

peaceful epoch have allowed an accumu-

lation of petty-bourgeois and opportun-

ist junk within the socialist parties of all

the European countries. Some fifteen

years ago, during the celebrated

`Bernsteiniad' in Germany -- and ever

earlier in many other countries -- the

question of the opportunist and alien el-

ements within the proletarian parties had

become a burning issue. There is hardly

a single Marxist of note who has not

recognised many times and on various

occasions that the opportunists are in fact

a non-proletarian element hostile to the

socialist revolution. The particularly

rapid growth of this social element of late

years is beyond doubt: it includes offi-

cials of the legal labour unions, parlia-

mentarians and the other intellectuals,

who have got themselves easy and com-

fortable posts in the legal mass move-

ment, some sections of the better paid

workers, office employees, etc., etc."(2)

This quote from Lenin is relevant to

my mention of the Internet forum discuss-

ing Marx and Stalin. It's clear Lenin was

looking at these "socialist parties" of his

day the same way MIM looks at this sup-

posed "left" forum on Marx and Stalin.

`Waging the struggle for the middle'

A case study in muddled opportunism

MIM. When MIM listens to people speak

politically, we know what the

implications of what those people are

saying are. Two people listening to the

same persyn speaking may hear false

consciousness or conscious chauvinism.

Being able to distinguish that means

having both Marxist-Leninist-Maoist

discernment and experience. Proving

who is right is a matter of comparative

study of class consciousness, something

Sakai did in his/her book titled "Settlers."

There are a lot of ways of knowing

whether something is rooted in the

material reality of parasitism or just false

consciousness, not least of all the actions

of the population in question in relation

to obtaining a share of superprofits.

A summation of circulation
development so far

One tactic that has worked from the

beginning in the 1980s is taking MIM

Notes to busy streets, crowded parking

lots or demonstrations. Distributing MIM

Notes at a large rally is going to be more

efficient than what you can do on our web

page. The whole web site distributes 100

documents in a good hour, so if you go

to one good rally, at least for that moment

you are beating the whole web site's

work, not a small feat considering all the

work that goes into the web site both by

us and search engines--with 2 gigabytes

of material on the web site that took so

much work to do.

In passing, I would like to address a

difference of opinion about distribution.

Most organizations attempting

independent media say it's important to

"talk" to people while "selling" them a

newspaper--"mass line" blah, blah.

Instead of "sales" we prefer to build

speaking events, petitions and rallies by

accosting people with a few words as

they go by.

MIM's tactic is especially suited to

what MIM is trying to do--which is to

set up a beacon, not fantasize that

advanced people with false

consciousness just need to speak a few

minutes on the corner with a salespersyn.

In some towns it is possible to carry out

"mass line" while selling papers. MIM

does not mostly use that tactic but our

circulation and the interaction we have

with the masses is beyond our capability

to handle.

Of course there is also the question of

professional distributors, both periodical

distributors and bookstores. This tactic

has had some limited success through the

years, but it is one of the most costly ones.

Something I would like to address in

the same context is the importance of

people actually distributing the papers

they receive or pick up. In the past, thanks

to a lack of alternatives, we have had a

fatuous attitude toward people

distributing the paper. In 2001, even

before 911 but completed shortly after

911, we had a shake-out where we cut

the deadwood or incapable or gutless

distributors. It cut two-thirds out of a

particular kind of petty-bourgeoisie we

had hanging about. It's partly a question

of distinguishing hand-holding from

leadership. Part of leadership is

indicating to people what they are already

capable of and not accepting "no" as an

answer when it comes to someone's

capabilities. In the small-minded, hand-

holding, ultra-democratic petty-

bourgeois mindset, comrades reinforce

each others' lack of aggressiveness. In

connection to this a whole friendly but

bureaucratic style of work arose that

emphasized the individual instead of

procedure. It was onerous but actually

failed even in distributing basic

information about distribution.

In a communist party, especially in the

departments connected to our central

task, it is not possible for us to tolerate

an approach where procedures do not

match visions. We are not here to unleash

individuals, which is impossible to do

scientifically anyway. We are here to

figure out how to maximize a class's

participation and struggle. That means

forward-looking procedure, simple

accessible procedure.

MIM Notes writers, producers and

distributors have considerable experience

now. We are ready to ramp up distribution

as support comes in. It would not take

much to make MIM Notes the largest

circulation newspaper in all communist

or "socialist" history in the united $tates.

Further news on the central task

In the future, we would like to report

on independent institutions of the

oppressed aside from the public opinion

question. At the moment MIM has

several books that need to be printed. One

includes a primer from the new Noble

Young Lords Party. We need money for

printing these books.

I already explained that newspaper

printing increased one-third after 911 and

then another 17% in the last year. There

are a number of reasons MIM is not

emphasizing the number of the print run

that much. One is that newspaper

publishers take surveys to measure how

many times each printed paper actually

gets read. MIM has no access to such a

survey just yet. In prison the printed word

gets passed on many times and for that

Where we stand now: public opinion building

Continued from previous page...

Continued on next page...

MIM Notes 273 · January 1, 2003 · Page 5

by itself, MIM can be considered in touch

with the masses. Overall, though our idea

of printed circulation is no where close

to being as accurate as our Internet

statistics.

Another reason that we do not talk

about the print run that much is that we

have learned from concrete coordination

work that the print circulation influences

the Internet reading. In fact, the Internet

numbers tell us something about what is

going on with our print circulation. There

is still no better set of statistics for the

MIM central task than the Web Minister

reports which we are going to be

expanding now as "Central Task" reports.

A longer version of this report is

available at www.etext.org/Politics/

MIM/pirao/centraltask1.html.

Notes:
1. For just such a vacuous expression missing
the answer to "middle of what?" see Bob
Avakian: "I was thinking not only about our
strategy of United Front under the Leadership of
the Proletariat (UFuLP) and its application in
general but more particularly how the `fight for
the middle' (as we have sometimes described it)
will go on throughout the whole period of
political preparation for revolution. And then,
when a revolutionary situation finally emerges,
this `fight for the middle' will be intensified."
(Revolutionary Worker, "Great Objectives and
Grand Strategy: The Basic Masses in Their
Revolutionary Expression, and Winning Over
the Middle Strata: Communism vs.
`Calvinism,'" December 23, 2001.)

major glitch in circulation in November,

but the first 4 days of December are back

on track for 80% annual growth.

The agitation page had only 224 hits.

However, at least the California

bandgcal.pdf received 278 readings. The

RAIL rail.html had 227 hits and the Phila-

delphia RAIL page had 70 vistors while

California had 117.

Other details:

* The Joma Sison interview in .mp3

format had a combined 286 hits and the

Sharon puppet poster garnered 493.

* 978 Notas Rojas articles taken, 210

for first-place "Yanqui" article on

Panama (211 hits in 2001!).

* 540 visits to our Chinese page, with

232 hits on Tiananmen story.

* 192 visits to French (with over 200

hits on the leading article).

* 154 visits to our German page.

* 122 visits to our Russian page.

* 117 visits to Turkish page.

Standard disclaimers:

1. The numbers in these reports are

conservative estimates for a number of

TABLE 1

Summary statistics comparing November 2001 and November 2002

Statistic

Nov 01

Nov 02

Change

Number of different

computers MIM served

15,731

23,553

+49.7%

Avg. MIM pages served per day

2,384

2,346

-1.6%

MIM data transferred (Gb)

3.072

6.797

+121%

MIM Notes printed copies

compared with pre-911

+88%

MIM prison circulation averaged over

two months compared with year earlier

-25%

Number of different MIM web page

files actively chosen from

2,279

4,046

+77.5%

Amazon visitors sent from web page

158

250

+58.2%

November, 2002 Central Task Report

by PIRAO Chief

December 5, 2002

The above Table 1, as promised, at-

tempts to integrate some more data be-

yond what the Web Minister reports used

to provide. We are now including some

comparisons of our print runs of MIM

Notes and our prison circulation. Also,

we now try to list the statistics in rough

order of importance.

This month I take blame for two nega-

tive aspects of the report. One is that

prison circulation is down from a year

ago. Two, is that our growth rate in com-

puter users of our web page also declined.

Assuredly though, both are thanks to tem-

porary problems. In particular, we had a

reasons.

a. The number of computer users re-

fers to number of computers. The num-

ber of users could be higher or lower,

because some computers serve pages to

more than one individual, because indi-

viduals 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 sta-

tistics do not count re-readings or re-serv-

ings 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 call-

ing up various graphics. Without specifi-

cally programming this, a casual analyst

will overcount web traffic thanks to

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.$. read-

ership is lower than reported, given that

we do not count .com, .net and .edu read-

ership.

TABLE 2

Top five theory articles by

number of times requested

Theory article

Requests

DC Murder

530

Myths of Mao

439

Congress 2002

fascism definition

349

Prison Labor MT11

345

What Is MIM?

323

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

Continued from previous page...

Public opinion

building

Militarism is war-mongering or the

advocacy of war or actual carrying out

of war or its preparations.

While true pacifists condemn all

violence as equally repugnant, we

Maoists do not consider self-defense

or the violence of oppressed nations

against imperialism to be militarism.

Militarism is mostly caused by

imperialism at this time. Imperialism

is the highest stage of capitalism--

seen in countries like the United

$tates, England and France.

Under capitalism, capitalists often

profit from war or its preparations.

Yet, it is the proletariat that does the

dying in the wars. The proletariat

wants a system in which people do not

have self-interest on the side of war-

profiteering or war for imperialism.

Militarism is one of the most

important reasons to overthrow

capitalism. It even infects oppressed

nations and causes them to fight each

other.

It is important not to let capitalists

risk our lives in their ideas about war

and peace or the environment. They

have already had two world wars

admitted by themselves in the last 100

years and they are conducting a third

right now against the Third World.

Even a one percent annual chance of

nuclear war destruction caused by

capitalist aggressiveness or "greed" as

the people call it should not be tolerated

by the proletariat. After playing

Russian Roulette (in which the bullet

chamber is different each time and not

related at all to the one that came up in

previous spins) with 100 chambers and

one bullet, the chance of survival is

only 60.5% after 50 turns. In other

words, a seemingly small one percent

annual chance of world war means

eventual doom. After 100 years or turns

of Russian Roulette, the chances of

survival are only 36.6%. After 200

years, survival has only a 13.4%

chance.

What is
militarism?

MIM Notes 273 · January 1, 2003 · Page 6

south Korean puppet regime.(4)

Amerikans should listen to what their

former good friends in southern Korea

are saying with growing force. There

should be no reason for Koreans to

suspect Bush is meddling in their affairs

for profit--never mind that they are

likely correct to suspect so. It's difficult

enough to get along. Amerikans need to

get tough with their war mongering

leaders. Until they do, they have no

reason to complain if restaurateurs bar

them from their favorite barbeque joint

in Seoul.

Indeed, they should be lucky to only

face a restaurant boycott or taunting on

the street. Earlier this year off-duty

Amerikan soldiers clashed with south

Koreans on their way to protest the

schoolgirl killings. Accounts differ--the

Koreans claim the soldiers mocked their

leaflets and attacked an old man putting

him in the hospital--but in any case the

Koreans step up protests against U.$. troops

protestors physically forced one of the

soldiers to attend their rally and read a

statement apologizing for the death of the

schoolgirls and the attack on the

protestors.

On one level, this particular GI likely

had nothing to do with the girls' deaths

and was an "innocent bystander." On

another, all GIs in Korea have been sent

sent there as an occupying army and are

hence natural targets of Korean

resentment. To U.$. troops who feel

caught in a trap, MIM says, "yes, you

are." The imperialists can let a few men

suffer the consequences of their system.

GIs who recognize that they are pawns

in a system of war should take action to

remove themselves from pawn status by

opposing some--or all--duties. They

definitely should not take out their anger

on Koreans.

MIM has nothing against the south

Korean protestors carrying out some ad

hoc re-education. In principle, they were

doing the same thing the revolutionary

Chinese government did when they

imprisoned Allyn and Adelle Rickett for

spying on the eve of the Korean War. As

the Ricketts describe in their book

"Prisoners of Liberation," their

imprisonment and forced self-criticism

made them drop chauvinist assumptions

about Amerikan lives and self-interests

being more important than those of the

Chinese or Koreans.

-- MC206

Notes:
1. MIM Notes 261, 1 Jul 2002; MIM Notes 262,
15 Jul 2002.
2. AP video report, 3 Dec 2002.
3. Los Angeles Times, 27 Nov 2002.
4. MIM Notes 272, 15 Dec 2002.

Continued from page 1...

jobs in particular have been smearing

identities and wasting countless hours

valuable to the activist community.

University of Illinois law professor and

pro-Palestine organizer Francis Boyle,

for example, returned from a summer

vacation to find 55,000 e-mails waiting

in his inbox--most of them return-to-

senders from a mass e-mail he

supposedly wrote saying, `When I see in

the newspapers that civilians in

Afghanistan or the West Bank were killed

by American or Israeli troops, I don't

really care.' Boyle--a former board

member of Amnesty International USA

and outspoken critic of the war in

Afghanistan--spent four days sorting

through the e-mails, deleting failed

deliveries and apologizing to angry

colleagues."(1)

maoist3@yahoo.com has also been a

target. S/he explains: "Recently, the

Zionists/FBI have been ITAL forging

END `From' lines in emails. The purpose

has been to create conflict between

`FROM' and `TO' people. Thus

hundreds of emails forging my identity

in the past three months have included

inane Zionist messages to Islamic groups.

The weeks of tedious work dedicated to

forging my email identity at all hours of

the day and night is actually a kind of

compliment from the enemy, the kind

Mao spoke of when he said `it is a good

thing when the enemy attacks.' The work

is so tiresome that the Zionists are now

sometimes just copying and pasting mild

mainstream articles on the Middle East

in my name instead of doing the usual

work of writing childish or incredibly

stupid posts with a Zionist spin--often

times starting out sounding pro-Arab to

get attention and ending with pro-Zionist

propaganda. It goes to show what kind

of money and time the Zionists and FBI

have on their hands.

Zionist cops launch cyber-attacks on pro-Palestinian activists

"My advice to people: totally discount

emails from people and their `FROM'

line. If you get into a dialogue with

someone via email, then you have some

chance of knowing who you are dealing

with, because it's not as easy to forge a

whole machine's existence instead of just

the `FROM' line. If you get an actual

reply to something you send to the

`FROM' address, and that reply shows

proof that it knows exactly what you said

in your letter, then you might finally be

speaking with someone who is not

forged. If you receive an email that you

suspect is not genuine, forward it back

to the address it came from. You may be

told that it was a forgery. The key is to

take the `FROM' line with a grain of salt.

For example, the liberate-palestine

Yahoo group email address [cited as a

spammer by the owner of the Yahoo!

`Stalinist list'] is likely caused by the

same Zionist hacker forging my

existence. It is not likely the liberate-

palestine owner in reality, but someone

wishing to cause bad blood between the

"Stalinist" list and the liberate-palestine

list.

"Also keep in mind that the hackers

have proved that someone exists working

24 hours a day to create forged

appearances by email. There are

countless possibilities to create

leadership splits in organizations, the way

the FBI did to the Black Panthers by

forging letters about the leaders there.

Some concrete solutions to this problem

include using software with SSH

tunnels--not crap like Yahoo! groups

software. Another possibility is to

establish your public PGP or GPG key

and sign articles with it. Yet the most

commonsense approach is to

communicate by email with people

making sure that the other persyn

demonstrates knowledge of what you

said and some kind of concrete details of

what is going on. We do not recommend

that people speak more openly with

concrete details, because that too risks

security. We only tell people that it is easy

to forge a `FROM' address but more

difficult for a forger to receive email on

behalf of the people being abused by the

forger."

Nor is the problem of forgery limited

to e-mail. MIM recently received a letter

purportedly from an organization doing

work against the U.$. blockade of Cuba

which contained vicious anti-communist

materials, of the ridiculous and depraved

"communists eat babies" variety. Clearly

the intention was to spark some bad blood

between MIM and this other

organization.

Some pro-Palestinian activists asked

the FBI to investigate and prosecute the

spammers and hackers under "anti-hate

speech," "anti-cyber harassment" and

"anti-spam" laws. "The FBI said there

was little they could do to stop the e-mail

impersonations from continuing.

"`While these e-mails are a nuisance,

offensive and intimidating, the FBI didn't

find anything illegal: There haven't been

threats that rise to the level of a hate

crime, no money has been stolen, public

safety has not been endangered and, as

far as we can tell, our computers have

not been hacked or "technically intruded

into" as one agent put it,' [said Monica

Tarazi, head of the New York chapter of

the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination

Committee.] "The offensive messages

are all protected by the First

Amendment."(3)

The FBI's claims are contradicted by

e-mails containing detailed information

about users' hard drives and one

threatening "maybe one day I will kill

your children." This illustrates the

hypocrisy of Amerikan "anti-hate" and

"free speech" laws. The state prosecutor

took Mumia Abu Jamal's quotation of

Mao's abstract dictum "political power

grows from the barrel of a gun" out of

context and used it against him at trial--

yet according to the FBI a threat against

a specific individual's children "was not

specific enough to qualify as a real

threat."

In another case the FBI claimed they

would have to make a copy of an

activist's hard drive to track down the

hackers. The activist wisely decided not

to turn over his computer.(1)

Asking the FBI to protect the speech

of internationalists devoted to real peace

and economic justice is asking the fox to

guard the henhouse. In the hands of the

bourgeois state, Liberal, "politically

neutral" "anti-hate speech" laws are

handy weapons against those who stand

up to imperialist machinations. Instead,

MIM encourages activists to learn basic

security measures such as those outlined

in this story. In Weimar Germany, the

Communists had to physically defend

their "right" to free speech from Nazi

hooligans. The arena has changed, but

the today struggle is similar. We must rely

principally on our own efforts to defend

our ability to organize and disseminate

information and analysis. We must

develop our technical expertise and

common-sense.

Notes:

1. The Nation, 28 Oct 2002, http://

e l e c t r o n i c i n t i f a d a . n e t / v 2 /

article784.shtml.

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

faq/zionisthackers.html.

3. Wired, 23 Aug 2002, http://

w w w . w i r e d . c o m / n e w s / c u l t u r e /

0,1284,54708,00.html.

No galbi sweet ribs for G.I.
Joe. Some restaurants in
Seoul closed their doors to
Amerikans.

Continued from page 1...

MIM Notes 273 · January 1, 2003 · Page 7

MIM received this press release from

Committee DEFEND (http://

defendsison.be), an organization based

in Europe working to defend Prof. Sison's

democratic rights.

On 28 October 2002, the Council of

the European Union added Jose Maria

Sison and the New People's Army (NPA)

of the Philippines to its list of `terrorist'

persons, groups and entities. This deci-

sion was taken by written procedure,

without discussion or due process, with-

out motivation whatsoever. Measures to

be taken against the organizations and

individuals on the list include "the freez-

ing of funds and other financial assets or

economic resources, as well as police and

judicial cooperation."

With this decision, the European Union

toes the line of the United States. On 9

August 2002, the US State Department

listed the Communist Party of the Phil-

ippines (CPP) and the New People's

Army as `foreign terrorist organizations',

asking other governments to do the same.

On 12 August 2002, the US Treasury

Department listed Jose Maria Sison as a

`terrorist' whose assets must be frozen.

Whenever the criminalization and the

repression of national liberation move-

ments and other revolutionary organiza-

tions and individuals are concerned, the

European Union applies exactly the same

unjust and undemocratic standards and

methods as the United States. In the fi-

nal analysis, the EU goes along with US

President Bush in his global war against

states, regimes, movements and individu-

als that reject and resist the imperialist

world order.

The US is targeting Prof. Jose Maria

Sison because he has been a leading fig-

ure of the Philippine national democratic

revolution for almost forty years. He was

one of the pioneers who revived the anti-

imperialist movement in the Philippines

in the early 60s. He re-established the

Communist Party of the Philippines

(CPP). For nine years, he was dictator

Marcos' most important political pris-

oner.

Today, Prof. Jose Maria Sison is liv-

ing in the Netherlands as a political refu-

gee under the protection of the Refugee

Convention and the European Conven-

tion for the Protection of Human Rights

and Fundamental Freedoms. He is the

chief political consultant of the National

Democratic Front of the Philippines

(NDFP, the revolutionary alliance to

which the CPP and the NPA belong) in

the peace negotiations with the Govern-

ment of the Republic of the Philippines.

These negotiations have been facilitated

by the Norwegian, Dutch and Belgian

governments, and the European Parlia-

ment has endorsed them through several

resolutions.

The CPP, the NPA and the NDFP have

been leading an exemplary people's

struggle for national liberation and de-

mocracy, against foreign domination,

exploitation and oppression. As Prof.

Sison puts it, "the word liberation is what

the US hates most, because it means free-

dom from its imperialist system of ex-

ploitation".

We reject the notion that the struggle

for national liberation, including armed

struggle, is equated to terrorism. We are

concerned that legitimate political orga-

nizations and individuals, including le-

gitimate asylum seekers and recognized

political refugees, may become the tar-

get of unjustified repressive measures in

the guise of fighting terrorism.

We demand from the European Union

and its member states:

* the repeal of the Council Common

Position 2002/847/CFSP "on the appli-

cation of specific measures to combat

terrorism", and of the Council Decision

2002/848/EC "on specific restrictive

measures directed against certain persons

and entities with a view of combating

terrorism";

* the removal of Jose Maria Sison from

the list mentioned in the Council Deci-

sion 2002/848/EC;

* the full respect for the protection of

Jose Maria Sison as a refugee under the

relevant international conventions;

* the refusal of any possible demand

for his extradition.

We demand from the European Union

and its member states to refrain from any

legislation or action that may hinder the

legitimate political activities of organi-

zations and individuals.

We support the procedure to be intro-

duced by Prof. Sison, with the help of an

international team of human rights law-

yers, before the Court of the European

Community in Luxemburg, against his

inclusion in the EU's list of `terrorists'.

We vow to extend Prof. Sison finan-

cial support for his basic necessities and

for his legal defense, even if this runs

counter to the decision of the Council of

the European Union. For us, the values

of justice and solidarity are more impor-

tant.

International appeal

Remove Prof. Jose Maria Sison (Philippines) from the E.U.'s List of `Terrorists'!

of official incitement to public hatred.

My life is threatened and I suffer material

and moral damages. I am supposed to be

prevented from moving around from one

country to another. And I am told that I

can not participate in the peace

negotiations if there would be any

between the Manila Govt. and the

National Democratic Front of the

Philippines.

"It's so clear that my basic human right

to life is violated by the withdrawal of

these benefits. So the result is that there

has been a public outrage here against

this insanity committed by the Dutch

government, and these benefits have been

returned. But still, cruelly and stupidly,

I'm supposed to get them back within the

framework of the sanction regulation

against terrorism. So they're really clever

and cruel. They would like to give back

those things unjustly taken away and

more unjustly I am made to take them

back within the sanction regulation

against terrorism. But I am not getting

them back unless there is a de-listing, a

removal of my name from the so-called

terrorist list."

Many of the dozens who signed the

petition had heard of Prof. Sison's case,

either by word of mouth or through radio

interviews such as MIM's, which aired

on KCSB 91.9 in Santa Barbara. This is

With petition, support builds for persecuted

Communist Party of the Philippines founder

a welcome sign that the work MIM and

others have been doing is paying off.

Others signed as a matter of principle

after only a cursory introduction to the

case. They opposed U.$. government

policy such as the "USA Patriot Act"

which makes it possible to sanction

individuals like Prof. Sison without due

process or transparency and try them in

secret military tribunals. One university

lecturer said that he hoped somebody

would be petitioning for him when he

gets arrested for some of the unpatriotic

things he said in class. Indeed, this is one

of the reasons MIM has taken up Prof.

Sison's campaign. If we can embarrass

the U.$. government and turn public

opinion against these measures now, we

can prevent further arrests.

A few people said that they could not

sign until they reviewed the charges

against Sison. Comrades gave them

copies of MIM Notes with more

information but also pointed out there

were no specific charges against Prof.

Sison. He apparently has been listed

because of his association with the New

People's Army (NPA) and the

Communist Party of the Philippines

(CPP).

When Colin Powell added the

Communist Party of the Philippines

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

the United $tates' list of "foreign terrorist

organizations" on August 9 he 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; hence Col.

Rowe was a combatant, not a civilian.

Colin Powell also mentioned that the

NPA "has also killed, injured, or

kidnapped numerous Philippine citizens,

including government officials." What

Powell did not mention is that people's

war such as the NPA wages targets police

and military forces, not the general

civilian population. 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.

Continued from page 1...

MIM Notes 273 · January 1, 2003 · Page 8

"Superpower"
http://www.dreamcatchergames.
com/superpower/
2002

"Superpower" is a computer pro-

gram--a video game that simulates the

worlde economy, politics, demography,

diplomacy and military in 1997 based on

CIA and U.$. military databases. It de-

serves a prize as the most realistic world

politics game yet available on the store

shelf and a good candidate for best strat-

egy game overall.

Ideology

We are not a great fan of the gradation

of government systems seen in "Super-

power," with "democracy" the pinnacle

and something called "totalitarian de-

mocracy" encompassing Iran, China and

many others. However, we are glad that

the Dreamcatcher at least attempted to

model this question. Players can choose

their form of government and attempt to

install similar governments to it in the

rest of the world, but ideology does not

play a very big role in the sense of com-

ing up with long-term visions that can

serve as a guide to a solution to the

world's problems. "Rebels" in each coun-

try are upset by the same things and their

ideology is almost non- existing, dictated

by geopolitics. Countries where the

economy manages to employ everyone

will have the least potential for rebellion.

In "democracy" there is supposedly

some built-in opposition to war while

other systems have much better design

for war according to Dreamcatcher and

other programming companies. On the

"human development" graph, "democ-

racy" does the best according to

Dreamcatcher. The depiction of "democ-

racy" as peaceful and prosperous is a

common propaganda feature in strategy

games on the market including "Civili-

zation" and its successors. To its credit,

Dreamcatcher lists numerous poor coun-

tries as "democracies," because of their

electoral systems. Many chauvinists use

the word "democracy" to refer only to

rich countries, thereby mixing together

the results of exploitation with an elec-

toral system.

Geopolitics

We are sure that nations ranging from

Armenia and Georgia to Tajikistan will

notice that they are not included amongst

140 "important" nations in the game,

while some much smaller ones are in the

game. Several countries were lumped

into "Russia."

Nonetheless, the accomplishment of

"Superpower" in incorporating data

about 140 countries is unparalleled. The

game simulates the diplomatic and mili-

tary attitudes of each of the 140 coun-

tries. This introduces a much-needed

"diversity" into the global picture.

Whether the programmers got the diplo-

matic data exactly right or not for each

country is not important compared with

confronting such a reality, that each coun-

try has its own attitude towards the other

139.

That diversity does not mean that we

can come to the anti-scientific conclusion

that the world cannot be broken into two

instead of 140. On any question, the

world can be broken into two, with coun-

tries either being 50% or more pro- or

anti-. In "Superpower" each country can

be described as being in one of two camps

based on its attitude toward the player's

country.

Today MIM speaks of the "Third

World" which is a large collection of

Latin American, African and Asian coun-

tries with similar interests opposing their

own exploitation and super-exploitation

at the hands of the imperialists. The com-

mon economic interests of the Third

World override anything their temporary

government leaders might say.

The game starts with the United $tates

in dominance with allies in Western Eu-

rope. Anyone playing the "conquer the

world" strategy starts at a disadvantage

unless choosing to play as the United

$tates. Russia starts only with Ukraine

as an apparent ally and China has no al-

lies according to the Dreamcatcher.

The ironic impact of seeing all the geo-

political conflicts that arise in this simu-

lation of the 140 countries interacting is

to remind communists of the bitter past

in which N. Khruschev succeeded Stalin

as leader of the Soviet Union and then

proceeded to split the international com-

munist movement by condemning Stalin

in 1956. Various communist parties split

away from the Soviet Union, because

Khruschev and his supporters did not

realize the value of what they had.

In this game, we see that it is very dif-

ficult to make an ally while other pow-

ers contend and cause disruptions of vari-

ous kinds. Even a very deliberate strat-

egy aimed at alliance will be difficult for

Russia and China now--purely on a geo-

political level. Khruschev and the people

supporting him did not appreciate how

far how fast Stalin had taken the Soviet

Union and made the foolish mistake of

"changing horses mid-stream."

Secret services

The best part of this reactionary game

and a feature that redeems its many flaws

is the depiction of what the CIA or its

equivalents do each turn. The usual op-

tions of sabotage and spying are there.

What is most excellent is how the secret

services are linked to domestic politics

and geopolitics.

The player has the option each turn of

trying to rig elections in other countries,

stage coup d'etats, assassinate other

countries' leaders and carry out acts of

terrorism--each with the possibility of

framing another country. Each action can

influence public opinion globally. A suc-

cessful election-rigging is potentially

more effective than conquering a coun-

try for outright colonial purposes, be-

cause the country's resources are at the

disposal of the conqueror without the

lack of enthusiasm and provoking of re-

bellion seen in countries where elections

are not rigged.

People who have illusions about elec-

toral politics need to understand that not

only do secret services and militaries pro-

vide money, assassinate candidates,

threaten others and rig elections and in-

timidate entire nations to vote in certain

ways, but also they create terrorist inci-

dents to manipulate public opinion. In the

1960s, the U.$. military made plans to

carry out terrorism on U.$. cities to frame

Cuba with.(1) If the reader is one of those

naive people asking "why would they do

that?" even playing this game will dem-

onstrate some reasons.

The U.$. military is still denying that

the U.S. Government arranged its own

navy ship the "Maine" to be sunk as a

pretext for the war with Spain in 1898.

In any case, no one denies that the sink-

ing of the "Maine" and other spectacular

incidents can mobilize public opinion for

war. As long as there are secret ser-

vices--which means as long as there are

states--there will be motivations and

pretexts for creating incidents that mo-

bilize public opinion for war. The cru-

cial catch is that they are "secret." There

can be no way of knowing all of what

governments do and this creates a suffi-

cient impulse for species self-destruction

by itself.

One reason for such manipulation of

the public by government leaders not in-

cluded in the game is corporate bribery

of politicians--what Amerikkkans refer

to euphemistically as "special interests,"

so as not to rock the capitalist boat. It

should never be forgotten that people

ranging from the oil business to arms

contractors to secret services gizmo

manufacturers benefit from war. The lat-

est is that robot manufacturers are mak-

ing money selling remote-controlled

weapons like the "Predator" that killed

six people in Yemen in November, the

Lockheed Martin "Micro Air Vehicle"

that has a six-inch wingspan for spying,

the former lunar device the RATLER

designed for shuttling bombs etc.(2)

Elections today only prove what people

say when their arms are twisted behind

their backs (the Third World) or what

they say bribed with the super-profits of

exploiting the Third World (imperialist

countries). Democracy is not a solution

to political problems or a method of solv-

ing them. Electoral politics do not serve

the majority, so we must learn how to

discern scientifically what the majority's

self-interests are and not accept diver-

sions, regardless of how the majority

votes or government leaders manipulate

public opinion.

Political economy strategy game
production

The production of games like "Super-

power" is corrupted by the capitalist sys-

tem. Simple arcade games are much

easier to program and support than "Su-

Kanadian simulation game

takes honors for most realistic

Continued on next page...

MIM Notes 273 · January 1, 2003 · Page 9

perpower." Not surprisingly, the store

shelves show that strategy games recede

further and further in market share de-

spite continual advances in programming

and computers.

The question of people's tastes in com-

puter games is the same as in magazines.

The trashiest pornography magazines sell

the best and in video games the most

militarist and simple-minded also sell the

best, a very rare "Mysts" game notwith-

standing.

Addressing consumer demand issues,

the "Superpower" programmers gener-

ously allow that the player have the op-

tion of playing "only" to stay in power

and not be overthrown or to "balance" a

Third World country's budget and re-

sources or to destroy rebels or to "take

over the world." The advance here--ku-

dos to post-modernism and

Dreamcatcher--is that people are al-

lowed to play the simulation as the poor-

est country in the world just trying to

make it. This is a far cry from taking the

joystick, piloting an F-16 and shooting

up tanks, which is the stuff of most com-

puter games.

By the way, seeing the poorest coun-

tries' budgets, quirky diplomacy and un-

willingness to trade with anyone in some

cases--this will cause the imperial-

minded to consider taking over "basket-

case" countries for "their own good." In

contrast, MIM supports the smallest of

nations in their struggle against imperi-

alism while still retaining hope for the

possibilities of international economic

cooperation. There are errors possible in

adopting a "small nation" mentality,

which overlook the possibilities of glo-

bal cooperation: it's just that imperial-

ism can never make these advantages

self-evident.

Although the game's screen interface

is quite attractive, the bottom line is that

"Superpower" is a game of numerical

tables. The player's understanding of

graphs and tables determines the outcome

of the game--in addition to qualitative

aspects of politics and the military. For

this reason the gap between educated and

uneducated people continues from the

world of books and reports that the CIA

data lives in to the world of video games

that at least has more potential of includ-

ing the game-playing public--perhaps

Continued from previous page...

have no time for.) There is no meaning

of such an accusation in a circumstance

where the money spent on the budget far

exceeds receipts from the public. There

is also generally no meaning to saying

you are "screwed" in a money context in

the world's greatest parasite. In fact,

MIM has repeatedly offered to return

money and will do so in this case when

the alleged letter turns up. It's thanks to

letters like this, that MIM Notes feels

even more justified in not taking

subscriptions to begin with.

This letter is not the only expression

or the worst along these lines. In general,

individualist distrust of the Maoist

movement stems from an anarchism so

individualist not even the capitalists

would support it. "Distrust all; overthrow

all" is the slogan of the ultraleft

anarchists. They missed the point and

have no compass for getting from here

to society where people do not have

power over other people. We need to

learn to be able to judge when leaders

such as MIM leaders are moving forward

and not raise indiscriminate criticism. As

the late Stokely Carmichael said in his

day when criticizing some of his Black

comrades, they criticized him for

appearing at white talks sponsored with

white money, but they did not provide

any alternative forum opportunity

themselves. Likewise, MIM Notes has

not had anyone step forward to pay for a

9-5 staff, so the idea that we have time

for individual subscriptions we did not

ask for is a kind of anarchism showing a

lack of priorities.

[For a further discussion of MIM's

distribution policies and the ideas behind

them, see "Where we stand now: Public

Letters

Opinion building" on pages 3 & 4.]

Are Whites
Reformed?

MIM Staff,

I've been listening to right wing radio

talk shows. These right wingers--such

as Michael Savage, Michael Reagan,

Jimbo Hanon, the very "nice" sounding

Charlie Jones, etc. They've been trying

very hard to convince (deceive) the

American people on why we got to make

a war with Iraq.

But I've noticed that half if not more

of the callers on these shows were against

the war. These right wingers would get

very frustrated and made at times. They

would call these callers names, like

wimps and unpatriotic. They weren't

wimps! All they sounded like was very

informed people. They were letting these

right wingers know that President Bush

was trying to deceive them with

"pretext," and they weren't going for it.

They did not believe for one minute that

Iraq was a threat to us. In a sense, these

callers were just "honest" Americans

telling it like it was. But the right wingers

wanted all Americans tgo be dishonest

so they could make war.

Obviously most of the callers sounded

white. So I found myself feeling proud

of them. I thought to myself that not all

white folks seem racist and dishonest like

I thought they were. They seemed very

honest. So tell me, don't you think that

this label of "labor aristocrat" may be

unjust and out of date? It may not apply

to them no more. When did this label

come into effect, the 1950s? If it did, the

1950s were very different times. Back

then white folks were very racist. But it

ain't the 1950s no more. And numerous

white folks have had to change from that

racist mentality. That's why I say that this

"labor aristocrat" label may not fit them

no more.

These white callers were putting up

such a fight with these right wingers that

they made me very proud indeed. And

numerous did sound "conservative." But

just because they are conservative--

believe in traditional morality--don't

make them bad guys. They can be honest

people. They proved that to me.

Some of these right wing radio hosts

sounded so deflated at times. They could

tell that it was not going to be easy to

deceive this American populace. I think

that much of the American people are

now very informed, and that's what these

right wingers found out. So I say to MIM

and related left wing publishers, keep on

educating the public. It is taking effect.

In solidarity,

--A Texas prisoner

MIM responds: There is opposition

to the war against Iraq, including by many

white Amerikans, as demonstrated by the

big protests around the country (and

world) on October 26. And there are

more people, who are not activists and

do not go to protests, who oppose the war

too, for various reasons. It is important

for anti-imperialists to take advantage of

these sentiments and try to use them to

weaken the U$ war machine and sap its

militarist momentum. That is true even

if we have major disagreements with

some of these people--such as those

"traditional moralists" with whom we

might not have much in common

otherwise. Opposition to imperialist war

is a cornerstone of our program in

Amerika, and we have to work these

alliances if we can.

Further, we do have to keep an eye on

our analysis of the class composition of

the imperialist countries. If this were

changing with regard to the parasitic

nature of the petit bourgeois majority--

the labor aristocracy--we would need to

take that into account. However, that is

not happening, despite repeated

predictions over the last 100 years that

Amerikan workers are about to change

their orientation and get with the anti-

imperialist program as a class.

The description of the petit bourgeois

majority as a "labor aristocracy" is based

on their economic position, their role as

a class in the imperialist system. Their

economic interests remain with

imperialism. However, there are those

who see that hitching themselves to the

wagon of imperialism not only

dehumanizes them by turning them into

oppressors, but also threatens all of us

with the continued destruction of war,

including species-ending nuclear war.

These are the natural allies of our anti-

militarism efforts, whom we need to

reach if we are to disrupt current and

future war efforts.

As far as racism: although outright

racism is still widely prevalent, with

devastating effects, there are also many

whites that do not engage in these

practices. However, if you look back at

U$ history, you will see contingents of

anti-racist or anti- imperialist whites in

various movements, doing their part

against the master race (for example,

members of the Industrial Workers of the

World before World War I, or the Civil

Rights Movement freedom riders in the

1960s). These people who turn against

the white nation earn the right to join the

ranks of humanity--and it is appropriate

to be proud of them and encourage them.

But the actions of these individuals and

small groups do not signal a change in

the underlying nature of the imperialist

class structure. Part of the power of

imperialist economics is that the system

has been able to maintain its basic

structure even as ideological props such

as virulent racism have shifted or in some

cases weakened.

There is another side to these changes

as well, which is that more members of

the oppressed internal semi-colonies are

rising into genuine positions of economic

and political power--the Colin Powells

and Condoleezza Rices--and the Black

nation has seen more of its members

coming to join the ranks of the parasitic

petit bourgeoisie as white collar paper

pushers. MIM has published an important

essay on this subject in MIM Theory 14

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

contemp/internalclass3.htm).

even those pleasure-seekers MIM refers

to as the men and "gender aristocracy"

that dominate the Internet.

Numerous strategy games crash (cause

the computer to terminate the program

without the user's asking) before any rea-

sonable completion and the company

ceases to "patch" it, which means that

the company does not attempt to fix the

software based on consumer input. We

played with the "1.3" patch; however,

"Superpower" still crashes repeatedly--

particularly as war and secret service

operations become more developed in the

game. What that means is the consumer

can put in long days playing the game

only to get the simulation to a certain

stage and see it crash. As in many

softwares it is best to "save" the file ev-

ery turn.

It's easy to see how the public has an

interest in supporting the extension of

more educational video games. What

may not be profitable might best be

termed "education." As it stands now,

games like "Superpower" are part of the

superstructure reinforcing ideologies of

imperialist militarism.

Notes:
1. http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/
DailyNews/jointchiefs_010501.html has a story
about the declassified U.S. Government
documents on faking Cuban terrorism as a
justification for war
2. See the "exciting" pictures cast in the midst
of soft-core pornography in Gear magazine's
"The Model Issue," July/August 2002, p. 22.

Superpower

MIM Notes 273 · January 1, 2003 · 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

Conn. prisoner fights
illegal mail policy

In regards to the book issue, yes, the new

policy of publisher only will affect MIM and
RAIL's Free Books for Prisoners Program.
The reason being the return address of MIM
says on the stamp "MIM Distributors" instead
of "MIM Publishers/ing." However, as of yet
I don't believe this will affect the reception
of MIM Notes or MIM Theory journals [only
used books -RAIL].

Good news, I met with the ACLU attorney

yesterday and a class action lawsuit will be
filed next month in regards to the censorship
issue and the publisher- only policy. [All
books must come directly from the book's
publisher.] It seems to be an open and shut
case because the DOC's policy is unconstitu-
tional on the face. Let's see what happens. If
you MIM would like to be a plaintiff also, let
me know what I have to do to get the lawyer
and MIM in contact

-- a Connecticut prisoner, October 2002
RAIL responds: Express your outrage at

the policies of the CT DOC, by writing:
Ashbel T. Wall, II Director, Department of
Corrections, 40 Howard Ave., Cranston, RI
02090; Assistant Director, Institutions and
Operations, PO Box 8200 Cranston, RI
02920. Send copies of your letters to MIM.

High court heard oral
arguments on Cal.'s
three strikes

On Tuesday, November 5, 2002, the Su-

preme Court conducted oral arguments on
whether or not California's use of the three
strikes sentencing law renders life sentences
for minor theft crimes cruel and unusual pun-
ishment. The court will decide this issue
sometime in the first half of next year.

In November of 2001, Leandro Andrade,

a California prisoner convicted of two counts
of petty theft for stealing $153 worth of vid-
eotapes, had his sentence of 50 years to life
overturned by the Ninth Circuit Court of
Appeals. The Ninth Circuit held such a sen-
tence for petty theft offenses was a "grossly
disproportionate" sentence and violated the
8th Amendment's ban against cruel and un-
usual punishment. (Andrade v Attorney Gen-
eral (9th Circuit 2001) 270 F.3d 743, cert.
granted)

Gary Ewing, also a California prisoner and

HIV positive, received a sentence of 25 years
to life for a single count of grand theft for
stealing three gold clubs valued at $399 a
piece. After the California Supreme Court
upheld Ewing's sentence, he filed a petition
for writ of certiorari directly to the nation's
highest court.

On April 1, 2002, the Supreme Court

agreed to hear in tandem Lockyer v. Andrade
(01-1128) and Ewing v. California (01-
6978).

Since Andrade had absolutely no violence

in his background and one of Ewing's prior
convictions includes brandishing a knife,
there has been much speculation as to why
the high court picked these two petitioners.
Because of the differences in the instant of-
fenses - i.e. petty theft and grand theft, as well
as the difference in their criminal records -
the court can make a number of determina-

tions and distinctions on how and on whom
California can apply the three strikes.

California's three strikes came into being

when Richard Allen Davis, a violent recidi-
vist, abducted and murdered twelve year old
Polly Klaas in late 1993. The public was out-
raged and in a whirlwind three strikes became
law in March of 1994.

While the proposition of permanent re-

moval from society for three violent acts was
well-received and embraced by a large ma-
jority of California's voters in 1994, the law
has proven to cast a much wider net than how
it was promoted to the public at the height of
their outrage. From its inception, three strikes
recipients have bombarded the judiciary with
a wide range of petitions and appeals because
the third strike can be "any felony."

There are well over 7,000 prison inmates

within the California Department of Correc-
tions who have received a sentence of at least
twenty-five years to life due to the three
strikes sentencing law. Over eight years into
this heavy-handed practice and the numbers
tell a tale of wholesale incapacitation of both
violent and nonviolent offender alike. The
range of offenses to come under the umbrella
of "any felony" is very wide, with 4,000 men
and women, well over half of the total, given
life sentences for nonviolent crimes.

In the present matter, the Supreme Court

has to conduct a three-pronged proportional-
ity analysis to determine whether or not the
petitioners, Andrade and Ewing, have re-
ceived a grossly disproportionate sentence.
This test is articulated by the Supreme Court
in Solem v. Helms (1983) 463 U.S. 277.

Under Solem, a court is first to compare

the gravity of the offense and the harshness
of the punishment. The second prong con-
sists of a comparison of punishments in the
same jurisdiction; and the third prong in-
volves a comparison of punishments for simi-
lar offenses in other jurisdictions.

At the state level, forty states have recidi-

vist statutes. Twenty-six states and federal
government have implemented a form of three
strikes. Yet, despite the trend towards harsher
punishments, California is the only state to
use three strikes frequently. Nationally, Cali-
fornia is responsible for 92 percent to 94 per-
cent of all three strikes sentences - and the
only state to use this type of sentencing
scheme to send minor offenders to prison for
life.

-- a prisoner in California, November 2002
MIM adds: Join us in fighting the Three

Strikes law in California. Print up a copy of
our petition below and gather signatures. Cre-
ate flyers with this article. Or contact us to
organize educational events in your town.

Petition to End the Three Strikes

law in California

The Three Strikes law in California has resulted in over 7,000 prisons receiving a sentence

of at least twenty-five years to life. The range of offenses to come under the umbrella of "any
felony" is very wide, with 4,000 men and women, well over half of the total, given life
sentences for nonviolent crimes. California is responsible for 92 percent to 94 percent of all
three strikes sentences, and the only state to use this type of sentencing scheme to send minor
offenders to prison for life.

Further, as a means to make the 3-strike law physically possible, increasing incarceration

rates and lengthening sentences, CDC is using the illegal and all too often lethal practice of
forcefully double celling prisoners into one man designed cells. Currently all single person
designed cells throughout California are at an alarming 198% capacity, creating a barbaric
gladiator type of environment through out the state.

Laws such as the 3-strikes law directly impact the rate of imprisonment but have no effect

on the crime rate. The skyrocketing numbers of people in prison in the U.$. as a whole over
the past 20 years have shown no relationship with the crime rate. Locking more people up, in
increasingly dangerous and repressive conditions, is only serving the ends of social control
and repression of the oppressed nations.

NAME

ADDRESS

Oregon over classifies

prisoners to justify ex-
penses

I was at Oregon State Prison IMU when I

wrote the first time. A lot has happened since
then. Here in Oregon the newest prison is
called Two Rivers Correctional Institution
(TRCI), a.k.a. Two Rivers Corruptional In-
stitution. They moved me here to a program
they call the step down program.

The government tells the citizens of Oregon

that they need money, that they'll have to
close prisons and let violent offenders out to
use as a scare tactic, but reality is these money
hungry people can afford to construct a new
program which is an extension to IMU. This
program opened July 2002.

Well the feds saw that TRCI was only 1/4

full so they were going to take it and use TRCI
as a federal institution, so ODOC started put-
ting minimum custody inmates in this maxi-
mum facility just to fill it up. Then they still

MIM Notes 273 · January 1, 2003 · 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?

have a couple of units empty so they invent
an IMU extension program which is where
they place rivals together just so they can say
"see we do need this prison."

They have the money to run an extension

unit but they don't have the money to give us
education or vocational training? They have
a map in the visitors section of the institu-
tion. On the map where there is two ware-
houses they say its vocational training, but
there's absolutely no vocational training in
this institution. These people lie and steal
from the citizens so they can have more
money. The stepdown program we're locked
down all day except 3 hours a day. We have
to shower, rec, make our phone calls, do our
legal work in the three hours, then we're on
lock down again. I had an altercation with
another inmate. Something that normally
would only give me 84 days in the hole. They
gave me 180 and three years in IMU, then
two years at that step down program. This
program hasn't even got a purpose except to
cause unnecessary drama between inmates.

--a prisoner in Oregon, November 2002

Regarding the WA
prisoner's essay on
education vs.
incarceration

I disagree with a few points of the prisoner's

letter (regarding education vs. incarceration
printed in the November 15, 2002 MIM
Notes) but I am in agreement with MIM's
point. My disagreement is with the prisoner's
solution suggestions: of crime victim com-
pensation requiring incarceration of prison-
ers until a debt is paid. The DOC is already
trying to slowly implement that practice with
its' 35% policy. We must remember that it
was this practice that brought the European
penal colony indebted servitude, and after the
abolishment of slavery came peonage con-
vict labor camps for profit.

So MIM is correct when it mentions that

the prisoner's solution fails to mention the
entire system behind the problems address-
ing this racist, capitalist criminal injustice
system, i.e. police agencies, judicial sector
and prison industry corporations all generat-
ing billion dollars revenues through the ex-
ploitation of minorities and the social
underclass.

-- a prisoner in WA, November 2002

Spending on prison
wasted: rehabilitation
proposal

As I sit isolated in an IMU control unit cell,

separated from the inside prison population
and the outside world, I am trying to analyze
the social and political madness of Washing-
ton state judicial and correctional agencies.
The disenfranchising of whole communities
and races of people.

In Washington King county African Ameri-

cans make up only 5.4% of the general popu-
lation but are 35% of the country's prison
population, they account for 37% of the 173
felons sentenced under the 3 strikes law. For
every 100,000 people in the state of Wash-
ington, 161 European Americans are incar-
cerated, compared to 1,392 African Ameri-
cans.(1) This policy is depriving the urban
minority community of one of its most pre-
cious assets, Black and Latin men, women
and youth, becoming one of Washington's
prize commodities. And now Washington
leads the nation with the highest unemploy-
ment rate, and suffering from massive bud-
get cuts.

Over the last 10 years Washington state has

tripled spending on prison industries. All the
time neglecting needed education and trans-
portation expansion, i.e. road repairs and new
freeways. Teachers are striking because of
low pay, big corporations are relocating be-
cause of taxes and traffic commuting prob-
lems that have been an issue for years, plus
down sizing and hiring for lower wages. But
the DOC budget spending has increased three
fold. Since the passing of senate bill 2010,
the DOC has made massive upgrades in high
tech construction to all its prison facilities,
increased hiring of staff, acquisition of new
equipment, and construction materials, all in
the name of security.

Inmates are deducted 35% of any money

earned or received, 20% is for cost of cor-
rections, 10% goes into mandatory savings
fund controlled by the DOC and 5% to a
crime victims compensation fund that is ac-
tually used to fund DOC victims notification
and awareness programs. And another 20%
in LFO legal financial obligation such as to
pay off any victims restitution, child support,
trial costs, any fines acquired during incar-
ceration or any court ordered financial obli-
gations.

What is not being spoken of is the interest

the DOC receives on that money in its trea-
sury account. The vast amount of that money
is being used by the DOC to upgrade its fa-
cilities and pay employees. Since 1998 all
DOC facilities have seen budget increases to
upgrade with high tech computers, cameras,
security reinforcement, construction, weap-
ons and new vehicles.

New institutions have been built such as

Stafford Creek Corr. For every year which

an inmate spends in prison it costs tax payers
$22,000. This rises as the prisoner ages. The
cost of a life term averages $1.5 million.(2)
So at the cost of $22,000 a year, what is an
inmate to do. Since 1996 the DOC has cut
most of its education and vocational pro-
grams, with reductions of other positive ef-
fective training programs. Lifers, long and
short term prisoners are learning no mean-
ingful job skills in the technology or labor
field to be marketed. Yes there is a DOC in-
dustries program employing just 300 prison-
ers at minimum wage by class industries.

The state is spending millions on its prison

industries bureaucracy, squandering tax payer
money, money that could be used for educa-
tional programs, literacy, and vocational train-
ing. It only serves the purpose of cheap labor
for big corporations and private enterprises.

Here's a logical idea, one that will have a

lot of logistics but is possible. Cuban presi-
dent Fidel Castro has offered anyone with a
high school diploma up to 500 students per
year free medical training who can not afford
it, with the agreement that they will return to
the u.s. to practice in underserved urban cen-
ters, rural communities, and or Native Ameri-
can reservations, also third world nations. By
1983 between 7 and 13 percent of all Cuban
doctors had completed internationalist mis-
sions. In April 2000 Cuban health minister
Carlos Dotres said that more than 42,000
Cuban health professionals have worked in
93 countries since the Cuban revolution tri-
umphed.(3)

Why can't this country, the superpower of

the globe, take its confined men and women
locked away in its corrections for profit sys-
tem, inmates serving between 10 years to life
sentences, train them in medical, engineer-
ing, construction and agriculture fields. This
plan could be in effect in five years to help to
rebuild impoverished nations. Yes service is
needed in our own urban communities. But
what better way to rehabilitate men and
women by letting them help people who are
dying in other countries plus receiving use-
ful training and skills, also working with vic-
tims of governmental, corporate and environ-
mental crimes in third world countries.

Healthy capable well bodied men and

women are wasting away in Americas pris-
ons sitting idle and unproductive. Yes there
are inmate work programs in this country.
Slave labor. But these people could be of ser-
vice doing more meaningful work around the
world to pay back their debts to society and
its victims. Why let the tax payers pay
$22,000 a year or a life term averages around
$1.5 million per inmate when that money

could be used in the needed communities.

True, some victims can never be given their

life back or be compensated, but people in
this program can help to save and build other
lives that need help now who are dying of
hunger, thirst and poverty in other countries.
The opinion of third world countries about
America's foreign policies would really
change to be more positive with the imple-
mentation of such a program. This would be
a good plan for law makers to work on.

Notes:
1. Justice Passage, uncovering racism in the

Criminal justice system 2002

2. Center for juvenile and criminal justice
3. OFF summer 2002, ed.
--a prisoner in WA, September 2002

MIM responds: This prisoner has proposed a

plan for rehabilitating prisoners that would both
serve the prisoners with education and training
and provide services to people in need. But un-
fortunately the Amerikan government would never
consider implementing this program precisely be-
cause it would do these things. Prisons in Amerika
are a tool for social control. Not a tool for reha-
bilitation. And, as the prisoner points out, people
are dying in other countries at the hands of
Amerikan imperialism. Amerika has no desire to
change the conditions in Third World countries:
they serve a pools of cheap labor and free re-
sources, dumping grounds for environmental
waste, and launching pads for military invasions.
Amerika's foreign policy is designed to maintain
a system of global hegemony.

This is why MIM is a communist party. We fight

for a world without oppression of groups of people
over other groups of people. As an example we
look to China under Mao (1949-1976) where they
implemented a system of criminal justice which
truly worked to rehabilitate, educate and train pris-
oners to be productive members of society. MIM
recommends the book Prisoners of Liberation, by
two Amerikans who were imprisoned in China,
for a detailed description of the changes possible
under communist justice.

MIM Notes 273 · January 1, 2003 · Page 12

Notas Rojas

enero 1, 2003, Nº 273 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

Una breve descripción de los

participantes

En términos teóricos no hay ningún

problema para demostrar que los

procesos electorales son simples

instrumentos de manipulación de los

grupos de poder que controlan el Estado.

Así hemos afirmado, que las elecciones

se organizan periódicamente con el

objetivo de encubrir el carácter

antipopular y la esencia antidemocrática

del Estado y del sistema político

impuesto. Hemos dicho también que las

elecciones, en sus diferentes formas,

elecciones presidenciales,

parlamentarias, municipales, o

referéndum, están concebidas como eje

de los planes y campañas del Estado

estructuradas para alienar y estafar a las

masas pobres. Los procesos electorales,

dependiendo de las condiciones

específicas de cada país, vienen a ser

como válvula de escape de las grandes

tensiones sociales del sistema (Diario

Internacional 62).

En el caso concreto de las elecciones

municipales del 17 de noviembre y la

convocatoria a votar por su propio

alcalde, es una idea ingeniosa para ejercer

el control de la población y sobre todo

para encubrir la aguda crisis que

atraviesa actualmente el gobierno de

Alejandro Toledo. Sin ninguna duda las

elecciones de este domingo (17/11/02),

sirven para distraer a las masas frente a

inmensos problemas sociales

acumulados y que en perspectivas (a más

acumulación) resultarán una bomba de

tiempo que explotará en la cara de lo que

ahora dirigen el Estado. Estas elecciones,

cuyos competidores son ex fujimoristas,

conocidos traficantes de la política, y

tránsfugas de todo tipo, están rodeadas

de las mismas características de aquellas

realizadas por el mafioso gobierno ante-

rior. Así por ejemplo, estas elecciones

están marcadas por la militarización del

país, cuyo centro de poder siguen siendo

las Fuerzas Armadas. A decir del propio

ministro del Interior, la policía ha

movilizado a 94 mil 750 miembros para

"cuidar los comicios". La vigilancia, dijo

el ministro Gino Costa, "será intensa por

aire y tierra, y se utilizarán helicópteros

MI-17, aviones Yankee-12 y cámaras de

vídeo. (Gino Costa Santolalla,

declaraciones 16/11/02). Otro de los

ejemplos se refiere al aberrante hecho de

que serán las corruptas y criminales

Fuerzas Armadas una de las instituciones

"garantes" de la "pureza" de estas

elecciones. Para este fin y por decisión

del Jurado Nacional de Elecciones, los

militares recibirán una copia de cada acta

de las elecciones. Y para mayor

coincidencia con las elecciones

tramposas de la época de Fujimori y

Montesinos, una delegación de 60

"observadores" de la OEA se ha

trasladado al Perú para "certificar" la

"limpieza" electoral.

Los candidatos
Si alguien tiene alguna dudas sobre el

criterio expuesto sobre el carácter de las

elecciones, y no entiende el objetivo

tramposo y manipulatorio de las mismas,

basta que revise el historial de los

principales candidatos en estas

elecciones. Para empezar hay que

mencionar a Michel Azcueta, que se

presenta como candidato principal de

"Perú Posible", agrupación política de

propiedad de Alejandro Toledo. Azcueta

tiene un abultado curriculum político y

en 20 años ha trajinado por casi todas

las tiendas políticas del Perú. Así, ha sido

parte de lo que se conoció como

"Izquierda Unida". Como "izquierdista"

llamó a votar por la candidatura

presidencial de Alan García Pérez

(1985). También como "izquierdista"

apoyó la campaña electoral de Alberto

Fujimori (1990) y fue un funcionario del

Estado cuando la mafia fujimorista se

apoderó del poder. Después apareció

como militante de "Unión por el Perú"

(UPP) que lideró Javier Pérez de Cuellar,

y cuando este funcionario internacional

fracaso como candidato presidencial no

tuvo ningún problema para declararse

militante de "Somos Perú" una

agrupación electoral que encabeza el

derechista Alberto Andrade actual

alcalde de Lima. En plena crisis de la

mafia fujimorista cambio de tienda y

apareció dando vivas al candidato

Alejandro Toledo (2000). Y tralalin

tralalá este cuento no ha terminado, y

Azcueta tiene aun tiempo para afiliarse

al partido de camotillo el tinterillo que

ahora va como candidato al municipio de

Lima.

Otro de los candidatos, es Rolando

Breña Pantoja dirigente de lo que en Perú

se conoce con el nombre de "Patria

Roja". Este personaje se presenta como

candidato del denominado Movimiento

Nueva Izquierda (MNI) que en la práctica

es un retazo de lo que sobra de "izquierda

unida". Como se sabe, y así lo hemos

explicado en un artículo anterior (El

Diario Internacional 62), "Patria Roja,

hace parte de la izquierda oficial y legal

del país, y bajo el mismo estilo de Michel

Azcueta fue compañero de viaje de Alan

García Pérez y de Alberto Fujimori. Los

dirigentes de "Patria Roja" no se

ruborizan cuando proclaman que ellos

han estado al frente de la organización

de bandas paramilitares (rondas

campesinas y rondas urbanas) que el

ejército utilizó en la lucha

contrainsurgente. Para "Patria Roja", la

manipulación electoral de las masas, es

algo inherente a su miserable

sobrevivencia política en el medio oficial.

Su proclama respecto al que "el poder

nace del fusil", es algo parecido a una

estrofa musical que la utiliza como

postre de sus campañas electoreras. Para

estas elecciones "Patria Roja", ha hecho

una alianza que corresponde a su

naturaleza mafiosa y sin principios. Se

ha unido a lo que se denomina "partido

comunista del Perú" (Unidad). Esta

organización ha vivido del engaño y la

estafa. El pcp -unidad, se subió al carro

del general Juan Velasco (1968), y dijo

que este militar conducía al pueblo

peruano "hacia el socialismo". Han

traficado con todas las luchas populares,

y diferentes gobiernos tuvieron en este

partido su mejor aliado para quebrar la

lucha de los trabajadores. Este partido,

estuvo al lado de García Pérez y de

Alberto Fujimori. Apoyo la campaña

electoral de Alejandro Toledo. Desde los

años 60 vivieron a expensas del dinero

proveniente de la ex Unión Soviética y

al quiebre de la URSS se declararon

oficialmente en bancarrota.

De los otros candidatos, sólo hay que

decir que provienen del fujimorismo y

de las canteras más sucias y derechistas

del país. Hay que ver ahí a "Renacimiento

Andino", liderado por el cómico Tulio

Loza conocido con el apelativo artístico

de "Camotillo el Tinterillo". Este

personaje ha sido el bufón de todos los

regímenes de turno, y entre chistes y

bufonería de todo calibre se puso al lado

de los gobernantes de turno. Otro de los

candidatos a estas elecciones proviene de

"Unidad Nacional", agrupación de

derecha que llevan como candidato al

sillón del municipio de Lima nada menos

que a Luis Castañeda Lossio ex alto

funcionario del gobierno de Fujimori y

acusado de haber saqueado el seguro so-

cial del Perú. En estas elecciones aparece

una vez más la candidatura de Alberto

Andrade, actual alcalde de Lima y líder

del grupo "Somos Perú". Andrade que

se declara admirador de Toledo pretende

una segunda reelección y mira de costado

las acusaciones que lo vinculan a hechos

de corrupción en la caja municipal de

Lima. También aparece en la

competición el partido "Unión por el

Perú" creado por Javier Pérez de Cuellar.

El Diario Internacional

Bruselas, 16 de noviembre 2002.

EL CIRCO ELECTORAL DE TOLEDO