MIM Notes ***

MIM Notes 281 · May 1, 2003 · Page 1

MIM Notes

May 1, 2003, Nº 281

The Official Newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM)

Free

INSIDE: Police attack in Oakland * Nixon v. Mao * Una Página en Español...

On the web: www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext

THE WAR IS NOT OVER

The graphic shows countries invaded by U$ imperialism. For a poster version that lists

the coutries, go to: http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/art/invasionmap.html.

(Art by a RAIL comrade)

It has

simply

changed

form

espite panegyrics from the

Pentagon press corps at CNN,

FOX, NBC, etc. and President

Bush's pending proclamation, Amerika's

war on Iraq has not ended. It has simply

changed form--just as it did when it

morphed from the low-intensity

occupation pursued for over a decade by

both Republican and Democratic

administrations to full-scale conventional

warfare.

Afghanistan provides a relevant

precedent. The newly-installed

"democratic" government there depends

entirely on U.$. "security" forces, and still

its authority does not extend beyond

Kabul. Attacks on government officials

are weekly occurrences in the Afghan

capital. Amerikan troops have been

DC rally

condemns U.$.

occupation

of Iraq

Washington,

April 12

bout 10,000 people marched this

afternoon in sunny 80 degree

weather to protest the colonial

occupation of Iraq. Weather predictions

turned out wrong again, as temperatures

and cloud cover were both more upbeat

than predicted by the Weather Channel

and TV news.

MIM handed out 1800 copies of the

April 15th MIM Notes.

At the head were marchers from a

Filipino contingent, some with BAYAN

International banners. One Filipino

comrade said the April 15th MIM Notes

had "a good article" that exposed the U.$.

Government on terrorism in the

Philippines--including the evidence that

it has faked some terrorist incidents.

The main organizers of the rally were

International ANSWER, according to

whom there were 30,000 at the rally.

However, there was also at least one

speaker from "Not In Our Name" at the

event.

The veteran Workers World activist

Larry Holmes spoke forcefully on many

areas where there could be little

disagreement. Speaking of Bush, Holmes

said, "He lied about weapons of mass

destruction! He lied about the connection

to 911!" Other speakers and protesters

pointed out that Saddam Hussein was just

a smaller version of U.$. terrorism.

"We are all Palestinians" and "we are

all Iraqis" were some of the signs at the

event.

We do not want to give people the

impression that all is good at anti-war

rallies in the united $tates. Of course, we

appreciate each and every non-cop

persyn at the rally, but there were a

number of indications of complacency at

the rally. As usual, there were people at

the rally completely empty-handed, by

which we mean that they did not accept

any literature from anyone. Among the

most common excuses were "I don't have

any hands." The best excuse for the day

why the demonstrator did not want a copy

of MIM Notes was: "too big, too much to

read. If it was smaller, I'd take it."

Government

moves to make

Patriot Act

permanent

San Francisco

IM and RAIL spent the earth-

day weekend proclaiming that

the war is not over and will not

be until the U.$. gets our of every country

in the world. Inspired by the bullshit we

are hearing in the media and on the streets

that the war in Iraq is over now that

Saddam is gone, we targeted earth-day

crowds who are largely already anti-war

but generally not anti-imperialist. Our

protests took place at two earth day

festivals, one Saturday and one Sunday,

where we displayed large banners and

graphic signs, distributed revolutionary

literature and talked to the crowds as they

passed by.

The advertisement for our protest read:

"The U.$. has a long history of invading

countries, supporting brutal dictatorships,

overthrowing democratically elected

governments, financing militias, and

sending its armies to stop peoples

revolutionary movements around the

world. The latest attack on Iraq is just

one more example. With Saddam out of

power in Iraq we are being told the war

is over. Don't believe it! Until the U.$.

takes its' armies, money, corporations and

power out of Iraq and everywhere else,

the Amerikan-led war of terror against

the people of the world continues. "The

united $tates is an imperialist country, a

country with an economic system that

exploits the whole world and cannot stand

still within itself. The humyn will to be

free of oppression and exploitation is

permanent. Economic systems on the

other hand have changed many times. It's

time to change again. Only

internationalism can bring global peace.

"Join us in demanding an end to the U.$.

war on the world. U.$. out of Iraq,

Palestine, the Philippines, Columbia,

Puerto Rico, Turkey, and the rest of the

world! A country with hands bloody from

wars of global domination is not qualified

to define terrorism.

"Here at home we demand and end to

the domestic war of terror against internal

oppressed nations. A country built on the

hen the Patriot Act passed in

October 2001, it included

several so-called "sunset

clauses:" particular provisions which

would expire at the end of 2005 without

Congressional re-authorization. The Bush

administration is now working to make

these provisions permanent.

The Patriot Act expanded the

government's power to conduct secret

wiretaps, secretly search homes, access

computer records, use evidence collected

by illegal search and seizure, and lock up

and deport non-citizens without presenting

evidence.

Senator Orrin Hatch has drafted a

proposal which would repeal the sunset

provisions. According to the New York

Times "Many Democrats have grown

increasingly frustrated by what they see

Earth Day pacifists get the

message: U.$. out of the World

Continued on page 7...

Continued on page 8...

Continued on page 4...

MIM Notes 281 · May 1, 2003 · Page 2

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

Letters

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

Notes is the official Party voice; more complete statements are published in our journal,
MIM Theory. Material in MIM Notes is the Party's position unless noted. MIM Notes
accepts submissions and critiques from anyone. The editors reserve the right to edit
submissions unless permission is specifically denied by the author; submissions are
published anonymously unless authors insist on identification (prisoners are never
identified by name). 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. The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) is an anti-
imperialist mass organization led by MIM (RCs are RAIL Comrades). MIM's ten-point
program is available to anyone who sends in a SASE.

The paper is free to all prisoners, as long as they write to us every 90 days to confirm

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eMail: <mim@mim.org>

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

Aznar is another
puppet

Dear MIM:

Hello, I am Spanish. I agree with most

of the ideas you exposed in your web

page. My president, Aznar, is another

puppet, just someone who just wants to

be a name remembered in History, and

he doesn't mind to cross over thousands

of people dead in a war like the others,

unjust.

I don't like the Maoists' precepts, but I

agree with you on all the major points you

explain. I think you are brave making a

web like this in your country. I could say

more things but my English is not as good

as I wanted it to be, so, see you and go

on.

Against war and ignorance, free of

expression and information. I hope

someday we could stop this imperialism

and other repressive regimes.

--Spanish Internet reader

April 13, 2003

International Minister responds : It's

great to hear from Spain.

Spain has the 10th largest economy in

the world, but still the sentiment that Aznar

is a puppet of Bush is widespread. Even

Blair in England seems to be a "poodle"

of Bush's as the expression goes in

England. In this sense, we are a

witnessing something truly historic in this

war, the sense that the whole rest of the

world does not matter if Bush wants

something his way.

As the writer alludes to, Spain is an

excellent example of how bourgeois

"democracy" works. Over 90% of Spain

opposes the war in Iraq, but the bourgeois

leader still backed Bush. When the war

started, only one country other than the

United $tates showed majority support for

the war--I$rael.(1) Only after it started

did England and Australia swing into

line.(2) Yet, more than 30 countries like

Spain belonged to "the coalition of the

willing." The list reads like a "who's who"

of lackeydom. In the past it was difficult

to say among lackies who was the worst,

but the "coalition of the willing" invading

Iraq provides a concrete measurement.

MIM says that the movement needs to

get over its illusions about "democracy"

and focus on consequences for these

minority rulers. "Majority rule" in the

united $tates is determining what is going

on in the whole world. It overrules the

majority rule of each country. It always

has, because imperialism is fundamentally

a system of minority rule. When it really

counts--as in war--it is clear for the

whole world to see.

Notes:
1. http://www.msnbc.com/news/
885222.asp?0cv=KB10
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/
2880519.stm;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/
2883171.stm

United for
independent
institutions of the
oppressed

Your materials on Pan-Africanism (1),

the definition of the term "masses" (2)

and your program adopted and ratified

by MIM in 1995 (3) ... were all stimulating

and will be the topic of my personal

meditations for some time. I find that

although I cannot commit to your cardinal

principles at this time, we still have many

common principles, goals and objectives.

Many of MIM's aims regarding the people

are shared not only by me but by many

who would not call themselves

communists. In reading your "Minimum

Demands" (4) I wholly support an

international minimum wage and

international child labor laws. I also seek

such policies as free day case, as well as

free primary, secondary and college

education for all, free world health care

and other such changes in existing

government that would make for a more

equitable and just society.

And I too understand that this will not

be done without armed struggle, for those

who benefit from inequality and injustice

are not going to simply allow that which

they benefit by to be undone without a

fight.

I confess my ignorance regarding what

political system would best prove itself

sufficient for the needs of the people. I

truly see valid points in socialism,

communism, anarchism and other

revolutionary systems that would replace

that of capitalism, which, and of this I am

sure, must be destroyed. Therefore, I can

boldly fight with certainty knowing that

that which I fight against, capitalism and

the racism, bigotry and oppression which

it breeds, must die if hope is to have a

chance at life.

Concerning Pan-Africanism, as

founder of World Africa and its service

wing, THE BLACK BRIGADE, I can

of course concur with and support the

concept of universal Pan-Africanism. I

do so because we, as a people, must

create for ourselves a system of

government, along with the necessary

institutions, that would insure our well-

being. I do not believe in replacing white

supremacy with Black supremacy nor of

using culture to separate one group from

the other in an isolationist fashion.

However, given our history and the

present conditions in which we live, it is

only reasonable that those of the same

culture and background, as well as their

supporters and allies, should seek to

establish an alternative.

Also, as long as the oppressed are

dependent on their oppressors for their

education, training, development, financial

and physical well-being and future

direction, then they shall always be

oppressed by the very same oppressors

whom they have cone to so totally depend

on. Therefore the Black Brigade is

established to replace the dependency on

the oppressors... with a self-sufficient

internal mechanism created by and for

the people themselves. In time, and

hopefully with the help of our MIM

comrades, we shall beautify our

communities, make our neighborhoods

safe without the need for patrols and

intervention by the occupying forces

known as the Police...

In time, we hope to join our brothers

and sisters of all races and backgrounds

who fight against global oppression [and]

Continued on page 9...

MIM Notes 281 · May 1, 2003 · Page 3

April 7--Oakland police assaulted anti-

war protesters for an hour and a half

today, one-upping their repressive

counterparts across the Bay in San

Francisco.

At 6:00 a.m. this morning, hundreds of

protesters blocked both entrances to the

shipping company American President

Lines (APL). APL is a primary mover

of military supplies for the U.$.

Department of "Defense." Protestors

prevented traffic from entering the yard

until 7:30 AM. Oakland police gave the

first order to disperse at 7:15 a.m. Cops

grabbed a demonstrator on roller skates

as he skated by, making him the first

arrest of the day.

Many protestors struggled to hold the

picket line by allowing the cops to let the

first few cars to pass and then blocking

the trucks further down the street. This

resulted in a few more arrests as cops

picked people off the front lines. One

trucker expressed his opposition to the

war but moved along once ordered by

police.

After traffic was moving riot pigs

moved in and began firing shotgun shells

filled with octopus-shaped beanbags.

The demo regrouped at the next

entrance. A handful of International

Longshore and Warehouse Union

(ILWU) members were standing outside

waiting to get into work. While one said

he supported the demo, most refused to

answer questions. Organizers say that

the union agreed not to break the picket

line as long as there were 300 or more

people involved, but they did not

participate.

Protesters chanted "Pro-worker, Anti-

war" in an attempt to show unity with

the dockworkers. If the ILWU was

willing to come out and stop the shipment

of military supplies it would be a great

victory for the international proletariat.

But the ILWU has yet to do this, and we

must not wait for them or expect them

to do so. Amerikans benefit from this

system of imperialism that we oppose,

and as a group they will not come out

and bite the hand that feeds them.

Throughout the day, "War is for profit,

Workers can stop it" was a favorite

Pigs open fire on protesters outside Oakland docks

chant. While this is a true statement it is

misleading to tell people that workers in

this country are going to stand up against

war.

At 8:02 a.m. cops on motorcycles

charged into the crowd and shot wooden

dowels and concussion grenades at

protestors.

One person who drove up behind the

line of police was pulled out of his car,

thrown to the ground and arrested. This

followed another warning to disperse and

more shots including canisters releasing

an explosion of tear gas and rubber pellets.

Injuries were numerous, mostly huge

bloody welts from being shot. One person

had a finger broken and a couple people

were shot in the face. Pigs aimed at

protesters carrying a friend out of the line

of fire. In a humorous incident at 8:31 a.m.,

the police captain called "organizers"

forward, at which point a whole crowd of

Police shot rubber pellets at protesters,

resulting in painful welts.

Continued on page 9...

Dear Margo Kingston:

You were wrong to back down from

your assertion that the united $tates used

nuclear weapons in the Vietnam War. In

1954, the united $tates offered nuclear

weapons to the French to fight off their

final loss at Dienbienphu. After the

French withdrew from Vietnam, Nixon

threatened again to use nuclear

weapons.(1)

Critics of your article "Bring Our

Troops Home" for the Sydney Morning

Herald have an unacceptably high

threshold for the word "use." Nixon did

not "detonate" any nuclear weapons, but

he did "use" them and to think that such

use does not matter shows how insensitive

to violence and instability a large part of

the public in the imperialist countries has

become, especially concerning the Third

World.

People have adjusted to all this--

including threats of nuclear devastation--

because there is no other choice under

capitalism. The motivations for the

nuclear roll of the dice, inviting counter-

threats and pre-emptive strikes to prevent

the detonation of nuclear weapons, are

present, and many people are too afraid

to squarely look the problem in the face.

No discussion of politics should avoid

looking for answers. An example of how

unrealistic capitalism makes people is the

continuous vacillation between war-

mongering and peace. Even Nixon himself

ended up making the following ridiculous

predictions: "Looking to the future. . . I

also do not believe the world's major

powers will initiate a conventional war.

In Korea in the 1950s and in Afghanistan

in the 1980s, we have seen that an overt

New York legislators regularly receive

gifts up to $75 a time from prison industry

corporations. Other legal loopholes allow

even greater transactions in an effort to

lobby the New York legislature for more

prison building and other contracts. In 14

years of existence, the committee in

charge of ethics in New York has never

brought charges against any member of

the legislature.(1) The recent corruption

comes to light in connection to federal

investigations.

"A vehicle provided to Assemblyman

Roger L. Green for his personal use was

a gray Plymouth Voyager minivan with

tinted windows, but the perks from a

private prison company called

Correctional Services Corporation did not

end there, according to interviews and

records from a federal investigation into

the company's operations."

"Mr. Green, an influential state

legislator in New York, received a driver,

a young man named Jorge Avila-Parks,

who on many mornings showed up at Mr.

Green's home in Brooklyn. There was

also the public relations aide for Mr.

Green's office, workers for his political

campaigns, free meals and a

cellphone."(2)

Under capitalism, it is inevitable that

money corrupts the "justice system." That

is another reason MIM is in favor of all

individual liberties and privacy rights. It

is not a matter of "having something to

hide." The public is mistaken to believe

that prisons, guards, cops and judges are

somehow "neutral" spectators. The more

laws passed with more cops paid to

harass people for meaningless charges,

the more "criminals" convicted and the

more profits there are for prison

construction and supply corporations.

That's not to mention the sheriffs who

profit from prison labor or the district

attorneys elected mayors, governors or

presidents for successfully convicting

people.

Notes:

1. JAMES C. McKINLEY, Jr.

"Unlimited Largess for Albany

Lawmakers, $75 at a Time," 2Mar2003

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/02/

nyregion/02ETHI.html

2. New York Times 17Feb2003; http://

q u e r y . n y t i m e s . c o m / g s t /

abstract.html?res=F10B16FB355E0C748DDDAB0894DB404482

3. See also, MIM Theory #11,

"Amerikkkan prisons on trial," http://

www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mt/

mt11.html

invasion unites the world against the

aggressor and ultimately dooms the policy

to failure."(2)

Although not everyone reads dusty

history books, the use of nuclear weapons

in Vietnam was also recently in the news.

First of all, another declassified document

just came out about Nixon's nuclear

threats.(3) Other journalists in-the-know

have also discussed the parallels to

Vietnam in the current Iraq conflict

regarding nuclear weapons.(4)

Sincerely,

International Minister

Maoist Internationalist Movement

Notes:
1. http://www.ieer.org/ensec/no-6/threats.html
2. Richard Nixon, In the Arena, (NY: Simon &
Schuster, 1990), p. 344.
3. http://groups.google.com/
groups?q=Nixon+%22nuclear+alert%22
&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=sv9k0v
gp9g6i4dd5liq725fo1t1mn5nmkc%404ax.com
&rnum=2
4. "Documents show that in the fall of 1969,
President Nixon put U.S. forces on worldwide
nuclear alert in what he aptly called a `madman'
strategy aimed at scaring the Soviets into using
their influence to force Vietnamese communist
concessions at the negotiations in Paris.
"Last month, the Bush administration took a
leaf out of Nixon's book when it threatened to
use nuclear weapons against Iraq if the Iraqis
use chemical or biological weapons against U.S.
troops. All U.S. intelligence agencies agree that
Saddam Hussein probably will, in fact, use
chemical and/or biological weapons if we invade
Iraq." http://www.examiner.com/opinion/
default.jsp?story=op.mcgovern.0106w

MIM to Australian anti-war

movement: Don't back down

people approached him with riot pigs

rushing to line up behind. At this point he

declared that if we walked down 7th

Street and went back to the BART station

we would be left alone.

The crowd headed in that direction but

stopped again at the corner of Maritime

and 7th, an important route for bringing

goods to and from the docks.

Demonstrators had blocked traffic in

two directions by 9 a.m. At this point we

received news that the picket line at the

Times admits prison companies

rent New York legislature

MIM Notes 281 · May 1, 2003 · Page 4

March 29, 2003

Only 20% of U.$. whites oppose the

war with Iraq. The same poll by Gallup

admits that 68% of Blacks oppose the

war with 29% supporting it.(1) These polls

will frustrate many whites living in certain

geographic localities, where anti-war

sentiment is concentrated, because it will

appears there that anti-war feelings are

much more widespread. However, the

polls showing only 20% of whites

opposing the war are correct. (For

countries easier to attack than Iraq, the

figure would be even lower than 20%.)

It's just a matter of where we look. The

majorities of all people in major parts of

the East Coast and all of California oppose

the war. 41% oppose the war on the East

Coast as a whole. When we factor in the

New Hampshires and other rural East

Coast counties of Amerikkkans that

support Bush, it means that in the major

East Coast cities, opposition is in the vast

majority.

Countless conservatives across the

country are invoking 911 as a reason for

the war, instead of a reason against the

war. Instead of coming to us and

apologizing for supporting the president

who armed, financed and trained Bin

Laden, these conservatives and "support

our troops" warmongers come to us in

outrage asking why we don't support yet

more CIA and military maneuvers just

like the past ones that created Bin Laden

and Saddam Hussein. We remind them it

was their president, not our government

in charge of creating Bin Laden and

giving Saddam Hussein chemical and

biological weapons in the first place. Even

with over 70% of Amerikkkans in favor

of the war, New Yorkers still disagree.

"A poll released this week showed that

just after the conflict began, New Yorkers

became more supportive of the war and

President Bush's handling of the conflict.

Still, even as about 70 percent of all

Americans back the war, just 47 percent

of New Yorkers support it, while 49

percent oppose it," reported the Chicago

Tribune.(2) So much for the conservative

idiots who think that Californians oppose

the war, because they haven't been to

the World Trade Center.(3)

In California, the Los Angeles Times

reported on March 6th, "With the United

States on the precipice of war,

Californians disapprove of President

Bush's handling of Iraq, and half do not

trust him to make the right decision on

whether to take military action, a new Los

Angeles Times Poll has found. "Three in

five Californians believe the U.S. should

not invade Iraq without the United

Nations' backing, the poll found. . . . only

one in four Californians said the president

should take military action now rather than

allowing the U.N. arms inspectors to

continue their work in Iraq."(4)

Even within California, a bare majority

of whites in the four-county area of

Sacramento supported the invasion even

before it started, while only 44% of "non-

whites" did. Yolo County opposed the

war and the other three supported it for a

total of 51% supporting the war.(2) Again,

what this means is that in the suburbs and

rural areas, the war has support, but in

Los Angeles and San Francisco, the

opposition is overwhelming, whether the

people in those cities even know it or not.

The same poll of Sacramento found 65%

support for the invasion in the Sierra area

of Nevada, El Dorado County.(4)

[A poll taken several weeks into the

war when CNN/Pentagon briefings were

particularly upbeat found that 76% of

Californians supported the war, including

63% of the Bay Area.(9)]

Those of us forgetting the gun-toting,

SUV-driving, pickup-truck owning white

trash and lower-middle class whites in the

rural and interior parts of the country

simply will not have an accurate picture

of what is happening. The highest support

for the war comes from the Bush voters

in the South, Midwest and non-coastal

West in the $30,000 to $50,000 income

category. There seems to be a dispute

where Latinos stand. A poll prior to the

war showed that 60% of New York and

California "Hispanic" registered voters

opposed the war. Another poll showed

that 43% opposed the war and 48%

supported in February. A more recent

survey shows 67% "Hispanic" support

for the war on Iraq.(5)

* 56% of gays/lesbians/bisexuals/

transsexuals oppose the idea of going to

war without UN approval and without UN

inspectors finding weapons of mass

destruction.

* Only 31% of gays/lesbians/bisexuals/

transsexuals trust George W. Bush to

make the correct decisions on the Iraq

question.(6)

* 59% of Jews support the war, less

than the average of 7 in 10, according to

the American Jewish Committee. MIM

has tried to tell people for a long time that

there is a difference between Jews inside

the U$A and those settling on land in

Palestine. 73% of I$raeli$ supported

invading Iraq.(7)

A whopping 44% of liberals supports

the war.(1) Along with the fact that

Democrats are based in the "moderates"

where 70% support the war, it is very

clear that the end of this war has to

originate from the "fringe"--and that's

without mentioning where Democratic

Party imperialist leaders stand, just the

voters.

The petty-bourgeois tendency to

vacillate wildly in serious wars

characterizes U.$. views of war. "If there

are hundreds of American casualties,

support for the war drops to 62%, while

35% oppose it."(8) It's not that

Amerikkkans oppose the war in principle.

They just want their cheap gas and world

dominance without killing too many

Marines. At some number in the

thousands of Marines dead and the war

still going on, Amerikkkans will want out

of the war.

Despite the huge Black-white gap for

instance, there are countless of the brain-

dead calling themselves "Marxist" (who

know who they are without our naming

them) who ask us why we separate the

Black Nation from Amerikkka, why we

don't just lump Black "workers" with

white "workers." With the latest Daily

Telegraph poll showing 83% English

support for the war in Iraq, it's clear that

there is more justification in calling

England and Amerikkka one nation than

Blacks part of the same United $tates.

White exploiters differ not only in degree

from oppressed Blacks. Thanks to

peculiarities of history that Blacks have

not forgotten, even more than current

economic relations, there is a qualitative

difference that should be sharpened, not

confused, lest we throw away the basis

of the anti-war movement and fail to

confront the anti-war movement's real

tasks surrounding national chauvinism,

racism and attacks on the Third World in

general, something we Maoists call

dealing with the principal contradiction

between oppressed nations and

imperialism.

Notes:
1. http://www.gallup.com/poll/releases/
pr030328.asp ; se also, http://www.upi.com/
view.cfm?StoryID=20030314-022023-3781r
2. "New York's 911 victims don't support war,"

Crunch time proves MIM right

Polls correctly show who the anti-war movement is

http://www.billingsgazette.com/
index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2003/03/28/
build/war/74-911-support.inc
3. "David Houston, a self-described
conservative from Tampa Bay, Fla., who was on
a monthlong vacation in California, said many
people in the state struck him as out of touch
with the rest of America. `It is obvious a lot of
people here are against the war,' he said. `Of
course, if a lot of them went to visit the World
Trade Center, they might think differently.'"
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/20/
international/worldspecial/20WEST.html
4. "Many fault handling of Iraq," by Michael
Finnegan, Los Angeles Times 06Mar2003. http:/
/www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/
6284848p-7238619c.html ; http://
www.nytimes.com/2003/03/20/international/
worldspecial/20WEST.html?pagewanted=2&
ei=5062&en=57bc27c09eaa4511&ex=1048827600&
partner=GOOGLE
5. http://www.trpi.org/press_rel.html; http://
www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/
metropolitan/1830709
6. http://www.advocate.com/
new_news.asp?ID=8034&sd=03/15/03-03/17/
03
7. http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/075/
nation/
In_the_Diaspora_and_in_Israel_opinions_vary+.shtml
8. http://www.zogby.com/news/
ReadNews.dbm?ID=691
9. Associated Press reporting on a Field
Institute poll, 8 Apr 2003.

There are two reasons that people might

not engage in struggle and read other

people's literature at rallies. One is that

s/he thinks s/he knows everything and

need not go further. Another is that s/he

is only at the rally to salve a conscience

momentarily before returning to apolitical

life. We have heard many say that the

war was evil, so "I had to do something."

Iraqis defending themselves waited for

months for the Amerikkkans to come.

When the Amerikkkans arrived in Iraq,

many Iraqis waited yet another week or

two for the Amerikkkans to come to their

locale for a chance to fight.

Unfortunately, the way that Amerikkkans

"fight," thousands of Iraqis died from

bombing without ever seeing any

Amerikkkans. Our point in this is that

Amerikans still have comfort to retreat

to: that's why we insist that the peace

movement not just relieve its conscience

but fight to win. To fight to win involves

training the mind and body and delivering

a long-term and time-consuming

commitment.

In the midst of the rally, MIM launched

into some mini-struggles. Some Muslims

stopped by to ask what we were handing

out. One said he was told that we stood

for Marx's aphorism: "religion is the opiate

of the people." We concurred that he had

correctly identified us.

Then the demonstrator interested in

Islam said, "what good is that? What are

you going to achieve?" He then went on

about the "opiate" question: "No, it's not.

People need religion. It's the only thing

that is going to save" the world. (By the

way, notice that he did not really address

Marx, because people would also report

"needing" their heroin, cocaine etc.)

The Muslim comrade then asked our

reply to that and we asked him if he agreed

that the people attacking were a different

religion. He did. "So it seems to me that

religion divides the people."

Another comrade who said he was a

former member of the "Communist Party-

USA" till 1991 stopped by and said he

reads our articles but does not agree with

our third cardinal principle on the labor

aristocracy. We seemed to agree on the

facts in our disputes, but we were unable

to pin down our differences. "Your

strategy may work. . . only because the

American working class is changing." He

went on to explain that the ethnic basis

of the U.$. population is changing. The

comrade agreed Nazis and KKK had to

be labeled and treated as "enemy," but

he continued to have a soft spot for the

DC rally condemns U.$.

occupation of Iraq

Continued from page 1...

Continued on page 6...

MIM Notes 281 · May 1, 2003 · Page 5

by International Minister

March 24, 2003

There is an urgent problem and question

facing the global anti-war movement.

Although the world is more than 80%

opposed to the U.$. war on Iraq, that is

not the case in a handful of countries.

The question arises, which countries are

they and why. From the beginning, the

United $tates had the support of the

majority of only one country--I$rael.(1)

Unfortunately, there are others as well

who are phony in their opposition. England

was never very strong in its opposition,

never reaching the levels of opposition in

say Hungary, where more than 80%

oppose the war even if the UN would

have endorsed it. As we go into war, Tony

Blair's government did not fall despite the

Labor Party's hold on power, and not the

Conservative Party's. In fact, the English

labor aristocracy swung into action for

war, and the English public favored war

by a 54 to 30% margin once the war

started.(2) The rapid shift in opinion is a

clue to all scientific Marxists that we are

talking about a petty-bourgeois population

in its entirety. Such a quick shift is not

possible any other way.

Even more shocking was Australia

where polls showed over 80% did not

want the war without UN approval. Once

the war started, Australians changed their

minds: opposition fell from 70% to 47%

in one week according to one poll of

Australians.(3)

In contrast, as usual, the situation for

Blacks within U.$. borders is different,

just as MIM has said all along: "A

Washington Post/ABC News poll taken

Sunday showed that African Americans

are far more likely to oppose the war than

white Americans, and are generally more

disapproving of President Bush's handling

of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

"Sixty-one percent of African

Americans who responded to questions

on the poll said they opposed `the United

States having gone to war with Iraq,'

compared with 20 percent of white

Americans who answered the poll."(4)

Granted, some Blacks interviewed

expressed some pretty foggy reasoning,

but the outcome of the poll is only all the

more surprising.

What the whole world needs to

understand about these countries--the

United $tates, England, Australia and

I$rael --is that they are the core of world

imperialism. The populations of these

countries are different than the populations

of most of the world's countries, because

these populations are parasites on Third

World labor. They obtain a very

measurable surplus-value from the Third

World which works at 50 cents an hour.

What this means is that MIM was able

to predict who would line up for Bush's

"coalition of the willing" to attack Iraq

--in terms of the public opinion (not who

the CIA was able to bribe into being

especially good individual government

lackeys). In every issue of MIM Notes,

we list which countries we can expect to

be the trouble for world peace on page

two. Where the labor aristocracy is a

majority we can expect public support for

predatory wars like this one. Out of 200

countries in the world, we can narrow

down the likely candidates for war-

mongering publics to a few countries, just

by doing the class analysis.

Together, the core imperialist countries

share in the same economic system.

Likewise, the attitude of the typical

European including the French and

Germans is to want the war over soon,

so Europeans can help with rebuilding

and stake a financial claim on whatever

goodies spill out of Iraq. The French and

German imperialists have a different

strategy than the Amerikkkan imperialists

and the labor aristocracies dominating

France and Germany picked up on that,

right down to worrying whether the

United $tates would ice out French and

Germany companies from Iraqi business

after the war.

The ordinary proletarian sympathy in

the world is for the Iraqi people, fighting

valiantly on their own soil against

invaders. The proletariat abhors this war

and feels at a visceral level for the Iraqi

people being bombed, such as the

Republican Guards who have no air force

to match the Amerikkkan hyperpower.

In contrast, the petty-bourgeoisie

numerically dominating in the United

$tates, I$rael, Au$tralia and England can

imagine the proletarian sentiment, but the

petty-bourgeoisie has a different point of

view. If we listen carefully to the petty-

bourgeoisie, we will hear that it's

opposition to the war was always a sham.

To the proletariat, the petty-bourgeoisie

appears to have no moral fiber to oppose

the war. To be sure, the petty-bourgeoisie

may even march with us and that is good,

but its reasons for marching are very

temporary. If we confuse ourselves with

this petty-bourgeoisie, we too will fail to

mobilize the people and find our

movements temporary and without the

possibility of carrying out long-term

transformation.

The petty-bourgeoisie is the class

wavering between the proletariat and the

imperialists. If it fears that the proletariat

can cause too many consequences in a

particular war, the petty-bourgeoisie may

oppose the war. Thus U.S. Senator Ted

Kennedy wanted a larger coalition of

attackers to go into Iraq. Others want a

speedy war. The petty-bourgeoisie does

not have moral fiber opposing this

predatory war in principle. The petty-

bourgeoisie in the imperialist countries has

no real inkling of internationalism, except

bourgeois internationalism. For the petty-

bourgeoisie it's only a question of how

much it will cost to prop the system of

exploitation up.

This is the lesson we must learn in the

global anti-war movement and it applies

to all movements for social justice. U.$.

imperialism has created a miracle in

uniting every former republic of

Yugoslavia in opposition to the war.

Croats, Serbs, Bosnians and Albanians--

they all oppose the U.$. war in hefty

majorities. That's right: people just a few

years ago killing each other in genocidal

fury actually share a unity on this

question. For once we can see, through

whatever vagueness or fog there might

be, the true proletarian unity of the people

of former Yugoslavia. The proletariat put

aside the practical questions of who their

local enemies are supporting and felt

solidarity with their class brothers and

sisters in Iraq.

In contrast, we learn where people

must focus their fire globally. The

Amerikkkans, the I$raelis, English and

Australians will not "get it" until they pay

a price first. That's how it was in

Vietnam, just to name one war, but it was

also true in Grenada. Because there was

no price to pay, there was no petty-

bourgeois opposition to the invasion of

Grenada. That's how it is with the petty-

bourgeois population. If the imperialist

populations pay no price they have no

feelings for Third World people. If as in

the Vietnamese case, the petty-

bourgeoisie pays a price of massive death

in war--then and only then can we speak

of petty-bourgeois vacillation toward the

proletarian side. In some cases, the petty-

bourgeois vacillation consists in literal re-

proletarianization caused by losses

suffered in war.

The immorality of this war was there

for all to see, with everyone from the

proletariat to the Pope condemning it. The

rallies marched in their millions and

Amerikkkans knew about it, as did the

rest of the world, but Amerikkkans did

not feel the same way. The Amerikkkan

population, the English, Au$tralian and

I$raeli populations failed the test. These

populations do not feel the basic

proletarian sympathies that decent people

do globally. The imperialist country

populations can only learn internationalism

the hard way, just as the Germans had to

de-Nazify the hard way.

Any military strategy, any geopolitical

strategy, any diplomatic strategy and any

agitation and propaganda strategy

premised on rallying Amerikkkans,

English, Au$tralians and I$raelis as if they

had populations composed of 90%

proletarians like the Trotskyists say is

doomed to failure. With the war in

progress and poll after poll showing

Amerikkkans supporting the war in over

70% of cases, we see yet again how

precisely accurate MIM has been in the

past in speaking of ignoring the majority

and mobilizing the bottom 20% when it

comes to countries like England and the

United $tates. We see yet again what

petty-bourgeois logic our critics accept

when they deny the MIM analysis of the

labor aristocracy. Whether it would be a

military mistake of counting on warriors

who are not there or the more mundane

question of doing agitation work that fails

to tell the population the truth about itself,

the underlying problem is the same: we

should not mistake the labor aristocracy

for the proletariat. No one does the

imperialist country population any favor

by calling it "proletarian" when in fact it

must go through a difficult road of

criticism-self-criticism-transformation to

overcome its former enemy status.

The vast majority of those calling

themselves "Marxist" cannot be taken

seriously if they continue to deny the

correctness of MIM's analysis. They

demonstrate their lack of scientific

capacity. Those "waging a fight for the

middle" of the U.$. population

numerically would have had to have

opposed the war only if 100,000 (some

such number which pollsters have

explored) of U.$. troops would die in it.

A high casualty rate is the only

circumstance under which we could have

rallied a majority of Amerikkkans against

the war. In contrast, MIM sees itself as

having an internationalist duty to oppose

the war whether the Amerikkkans lose

10 soldiers or 100,000. Polls will show

that a majority of Amerikkkans support

war if they lose only 10 dead, but will

oppose it if they lose 100,000 dead. There

is no way to "wage a fight for the middle"

in such a circumstance without

surrendering internationalist principle. We

MUST expect to lose the majority and

Labor aristocracy rallies for killing

in the Third World, as usual

The silver lining: a formidable enemy like the

United $tates can produce concrete unity of the

international proletariat, itself an even more

formidable but slumbering giant. Thus the

international proletariat may gain the tools

necessary to bring peace to the whole world.

Continued on page 6...

MIM Notes 281 · May 1, 2003 · Page 6

Amerikkkan majority which has launched

and supported more wars against the Third

World than any previous imperialist in

history.

When we asked the comrade on what

he thought about Nazis in Germany in

World War II, in typical social-democratic

training, he changed the subject to how it

was communist errors on the "united

front" that allowed the Nazis to power.

When we pointed out that it was the

German social-democrats who wanted to

attack the Soviet Union only (not France

still oppose the war, even if the situation

is a Grenada-type situation where the

United $tates attacks a country of 100,000

people. Fighting for the numerical middle

or even worse, the 90%, would mean

sacrificing opposition to war on every

single country in the world except the

"major powers" themselves. There is NO

WAY to fight for the 51% or the 90% in

U.$. public opinion and still be able to

oppose every U.$. war of aggression on

even the smallest of countries. Any so-

called Marxist who says differently must

be cast out of our movement as a liar.

Our peace movement needs to obtain this

much grip on reality. It is only the

proletariat that will instinctively know

where its sympathies lie in the David

versus Goliath scenario of opposing U.$.

imperialism.

The fact that the imperialist countries

are parasitic in their populations as a

whole puts a wrinkle in the work of the

international peace movement. On the

other hand, the existence of the U.$.

superpower running amok has a real

potential to create proletarian unity at a

concrete level globally. The only way such

an imperialist power can be stopped is

through international cooperation,

especially within the Third World and with

the ex-Soviet bloc countries. That means

that the proletariat will have to put aside

its false consciousness, its conflicts within

itself that can lead nowhere. It will require

the formation of the equivalent of a

proletarian United Nations, a United

Nations that expels the United $tates,

I$rael, England and Au$tralia. The

current United Nations contributed to

disarmament of Iraq and spying on Iraq's

military defenses, only to give the U.$.

imperialists a less costly way of attacking

Iraq, not to bring peace. The United

Nations is indeed discredited: it appeased

Bush the occupier of Iraq.

The countries not exploiting the whole

world will have to unite under proletarian

leadership if they ever expect to guarantee

the interests of the majority of their

populations. Even those fighting in ex-

Yugoslavia for instance can see that the

majority of the population in the imperialist

countries has seen to its narrow self-

interest. In contrast, in most of the world's

countries, only a tiny minority of lackeys

can ally with U.$. imperialism. A real

advance for the world's majority will

require international solidarity to shut

down and take over U.$. business and a

united front to confront U.$. wars around

the globe. The attack in Iraq should result

in Amerikkkans going out of business

everywhere from Indonesia to Namibia.

The silver lining in having a formidable

enemy like the United $tates is that it is

capable of producing the concrete unity

of the international proletariat, itself an

even more formidable but slumbering

giant. By overcoming such an enemy as

U.$. imperialism, the international

proletariat may gain the tools necessary

to bring peace to the whole world.

Notes:
1. http://www.msnbc.com/news/
885222.asp?0cv=KB10
2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/
2883171.stm
3. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/
2880519.stm
4. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/
articles/A21346-2003Mar24.html

Labor aristocracy

Continued from previous page...

like Hitler did) and were in public about

it, he proceeded to blame the communists

for not winning away the rank-and-file

social-democrats--to which MIM would

say the comrade was incorrect, because

the communists did in fact whittle away

social-democratic support with the

"social-fascist" thesis. In any case: the

question stands, were the more than 90%

of Germans calling themselves Nazis and

supporting Hitler and the war "enemies"

of the world's people or not? At MIM

we say "yes" and it does no one any good

to sidestep the question.

DC rally condemns U.$.

Continued from page 4...

"Looking to the future, I do not believe

there will be another world war. ... I also

do not believe the world's major powers

will initiate a conventional war. In Korea

in the 1950s and in Afghanistan in the

1980s, we have seen that an overt

invasion unites the world against the

aggressor and ultimately dooms the policy

to failure. ....

"As I stated in announcing the Nixon

doctrine in Guam in 1969, we should

furnish the arms and economic assistance

our friends need to defend themselves

against such indirect aggression, but they

must assume the responsibility for

providing the men to fight the battles. If a

properly trained and equipped local army

still lacks the will and capability to fight

and win, an intervention by American

forces would at best provide only a

temporary success. Once we withdraw,

the enemy would quickly take over."

--Richard Nixon, In the Arena: A

Memoir of Victory, Defeat and Renewal

(NY: Simon & Schuster, 1990, hb, p. 344)

The above quote is wrong and it's great

proof that war and peace issues--

potentially the most important issues to

our species--are not just a matter of

"being rational" or "reasonability." Nixon

thought that initiating conventional war

had become irrational, but here we are in

capitalism in 2003 and that's what we

have. Already, a mere 13 years after

Nixon's quote, everyone agrees the

United $tates has invaded Iraq and

initiated "a conventional war." The Nixon

doctrine has also been thrown out the

window.

Most analysts and pundits including the

present writer considered Nixon to be a

shrewd and Machiavellian president.

Whether Nixon was spreading illusions

about capitalism or whether he himself

had the illusion, the above talks about

capitalist countries as if they could restrain

themselves to merely aiding allies with

arms and money. As we see in 2003, that

is false. Capitalism was not able to get

enough war that way and now U.$. troops

are in Iraq.

In contrast, Mao said the imperialists

would "make trouble, fail; make trouble,

fail again." It's not possible for capitalist

politicians to learn lessons beyond a

certain range; even though "overt invasion

unites the world against the aggressor and

ultimately dooms the policy to failure" like

Nixon said. The underlying causes of war

motivation keep functioning even after the

brain (in this case Nixon's) has concluded

that it should be at least limited somehow.

The question is: how long is the

international proletariat going to tolerate

this? How long will it take before the

international proletariat decides that

capitalism's repeated failures are too

dangerous to tolerate? If even Nixon

thought the imperialists had learned

something, and yet, they have not, what

should we conclude?

--mim3@mim.org

Iraq, the `Nixon doctrine' and

capitalists' inability to learn

Wrong.

Right.

The benefits include 911: caused by not leaving Saudi Arabia after the

1991 Gulf War!

We of the peace movement have a right to walk past skyscrapers without

wondering if we're going to die thanks to people like you!

If you want "regime change" in Iraq, you and the rest of the nutty majority

can move there, and take all your SUVs and other over-sized vehicles with

you!

If you want cheap gas, you can move to Iraq!

New York street exchange...

MIM Notes 281 · May 1, 2003 · Page 7

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?

Los Angeles, March 30--A crowd

more than ten thousand strong from all

over southern California rallied downtown

to oppose the war on Iraq today. Of the

more than 500 who signed MIM's petition

to stop the Patriot Act II,(1) people were

coming from as far as Ventura, Desert

Hot Springs and San Diego--well over

an hour to the north, east and south.

MIM, SLALA and RAIL distributed 1200

copies of MIM Notes and collected more

than 70 signatures to defend the rights of

political refugee Jose Maria Sison.(2)

Comrades from Kabataan Makabayan

(KmB) had their own table collecting

signatures for Prof. Sison as well.

Two weeks after MIM started

circulating its petition, anti-war

demonstrators are more familiar with the

Patriot Act II and some are organizing

independently to oppose it. Several people

asked for copies of the petition to circulate

on their own. One womyn approached

MIM for materials to use in preparation

for a talk s/he will be giving to students

about the civil liberties disaster of the

USA Patriot Act. That first Patriot Act

passed by a six to one margin in the

House, and with 99 votes for and none

against in the Senate, all within hours of

being introduced. The Patriot Act II

would close many "loopholes" (like the

possibility of court oversight of police

work) in the first Patriot Act, and eliminate

the public's right to know what the

government is doing (e.g., by authorizing

secret arrests and barring FOIA petitions

for information on arrestees). We've

collected more than 1500 signatures

opposing this horrific legislation so far;

check out our website or contact MIM

to help us advance this campaign.

[Over five thousand marched in

Hollywood two weeks later, despite the

Pentagon's claims that the war was over

and predictions of rain. Marchers criticized

Amerikan plans for occupation of Iraq,

as at the protest in Washington D.C. (see

page one). MIM and RAIL had another

successful afternoon passing out MIM

Notes and collecting signatures against

Patriot Act II. We also ran into petitioners

from the Civil Liberties Defense Coalition,

which plans to ask the Los Angeles City

Council to pass a resolution of non-

compliance with the Patriot Act.]

Notes:

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

agitation/civlib/index.html

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

agitation/philippines/index.html

Los Angeles anti-war protests continue

continually engaged in combat in

Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban

government, whether defending the new

government, searching for Al Queda

fighters, or rounding up suspected Taliban

supporters. An Amerikan bomb killed

eleven civilians on April 11,(1) and two

Amerikan soldiers died in an ambush on

29 March.(2)

Good thing the New York Times et al.

have relegated this stuff to the back

pages, otherwise people might get the idea

that Amerika's war on Afghanistan has

not brought "democracy" to the people

of Afghanistan nor decreased the risk of

terrorist attacks on the United $tates.

We can already see a similar story

unfolding in Iraq. Contrary to their stated

war aims, Amerikan troops have

neglected the interests of the Iraqi people

and created a situation which encourages

the spread of "weapons of mass

destruction." The Amerikans applied their

doctrine of overwhelming force even in

urban areas, swamping Baghdad's

hospitals with civilian casualties and killing

journalists in a supposedly safe hotel.

Amerikan troops failed to protect Iraqi

cultural treasures from looting and left a

nuclear site with 2,500 barrels of uranium

unguarded for several days.(3)

Even as Iraqis fill the streets of

Baghdad, An Nasariyah and Al Kut

demanding U.$. troops leave immediately,

the United $tates is angling for permanent

access to military bases in Iraq (4)--once

again ignoring the fact that Amerikan

military presence in Saudi Arabia sparked

the September 11 attacks.

Mr. Bush, Herr Rumsfeld and their

"we're the cops of the world" approach

to security--along with the Democrats

who share their basic outlook or at the

least tolerate swapping office with such

warmongers--have not brought global

peace and security in the past and cannot

bring them in the future. A country with

millions of armed enemies around the

world cannot hope to surgically (or

otherwise) remove those enemies and be

done with all threats--something even

George Washington understood. Nor is

there a way to stop weapons proliferation

in a global capitalist system.

Instead, what's needed is an approach

which addresses the root economic cases

of conflict among nations and makes it

impossible to profit off of arms sales. We

need internationalism and socialism.

Amerikans need to crack down hard on

their rulers who take chances with future

September 11s and nuclear war. --

MC206, 21 Apr 2003

Notes:

1. Washington Post, 10 Apr 2003.

2. Los Angeles Times, 30 Mar 2003.

3. Los Angeles Times, 11 Apr 2003.

4. The Independent (UK), 21 Apr 2003.

The war is not over

Continued from page 1...

MIM Notes 281 · May 1, 2003 · Page 8

as a lack of information from the Justice

Department on how its agents are using

their newfound powers, and they say they

need more time to determine whether

agents are abusing those powers."(1)

MIM says we already know enough about

how the Justice Department is using these

powers. No more time for assessment is

needed; the powers should be revoked.

The Washington Post reported: "The

FBI, for example, has issued scores of

`national security letters' that require

businesses to turn over electronic records

about finances, telephone calls, e-mail and

other personal information, according to

officials and documents. The letters, a

type of administrative subpoena, may be

issued independently by FBI field offices

and are not subject to judicial review

unless a case comes to court, officials

said. Attorney General John D. Ashcroft

has also personally signed more than 170

`emergency foreign intelligence

warrants,' three times the number

authorized in the preceding 23 years,

according to recent congressional

testimony. Federal law allows the attorney

general to issue unilaterally these

classified warrants for wiretaps and

physical searches of suspected terrorists

and other national security threats under

certain circumstances. They can be

enforced for 72 hours before they are

subject to review and approval by the

ultra-secret Foreign Intelligence

Surveillance Court."(2)

Another recent bill in the Senate would

remove the requirement that federal

agents show a suspect is affiliated with a

foreign power or agent to get a secret

surveillance warrant. In essence agents

could justify secret spying on anyone just

Government moves to make

Patriot Act permanent

Oppose "Patriot Act II"!

Get signatures on a petition urging Federal representatives not to support

John Ashcroft's Domestic Security Enhancement Act!

http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/agitation/civlib/index.html

If enacted, the Patriot Act II would

*authorize secret arrests including those of material witnesses who are not charged with a crime;

*bar defense attorneys from challenging use of secret evidence;

*deny the right to sue for information on detainees under the Freedom of Information Act;

*permit arrests and extraditions of citizens and non-citizens alike to countries with which the U.S. has no

extradition treaties and without regard for those countries' humyn rights records;

*strip American citizenship from anyone who supports even the lawful activities of organizations the

administration calls "terrorist;"

*create a new category of "domestic security surveillance" for terrorism investigations with looser standards

than criminal investigations,

*provide for extended jail terms for common immigration offenses; and

*allow summary deportation to any country in the world.

Like its predecessor, it would principally impact non-citizens.

massacre of indigenous people, with the

labor of slaves, which imprisons Blacks

at a higher rate than was found even in

South Africa under Apartheid is in no

position to make itself global arbiter of

justice and democracy.

"Join us in raising the consciousness of

the peace movement: We will be taking

our U.$. out of the World protest to the

people at the events below. We need help

handing out literature, speaking about

Amerikan imperialism, holding signs and

banners, making noise and getting

attention. Now is the time to speak up

for global peace and justice, before it is

too late."

At the first protest, outside an earth day

festival in Berkeley, many passers-by

appreciated our "U.$. out of the World"

banner. This earth day festival was

sponsored by the city of Berkeley and

included vendors mostly focused on

environmentally-friendly products as well

as music acts. There were not many

political groups and the MIM protest was

the only anti-imperialist activity at the

event. A large graphic display showing

many of the countries the U.$. has

invaded being stabbed by Unkle Sam

drew much attention (this poster can now

be downloaded here: http://

www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/art/

invasionmap.html). People stopped to read

the list of countries invaded and marvel

at the bloody history of Amerika. Most

people were sympathetic to the anti-war

message and the poster forced them to

consider what the U.$. will do after Iraq.

The second protest, outside the We the

Planet "music and activism festival" in

San Francisco's Golden Gate park

reached many thousands of people

attending to enjoy acts including Alanis

Morrissett, CAKE, and the Coup. This

event focused on renewable resources

and environmental issues.

wetheplanet.org summed it up: "Why is

everything good for us considered the

alternative? We all know that we live in a

world full of problems, We The Planet

aims to show that we also live in a world

full of solutions. With all that is going on

in our world today, more than ever, people

are realizing that consciousness is cool".

MIM and RAIL pushed for more than

just consciousness about recycling,

expanding the discussion to imperialism

and global environmental destruction.

The musical group CAKE spoke about

Chevrolet approaching them to buy the

rights to a song for a commercial. The

lead singer explained that they turned

down the offer (in spite of the financial

temptation) but told Chevrolet they would

allow them to use CAKE music to

advertise for a car using sustainable

Earth Day pacifists

get the message: U.$.

out of the World

energy sources. MIM applauds musical

groups that use their fame to take stands

on political issues. But we don't agree

that getting big corporations to

manufacture a few environmentally

friendly products is going to make strides

against the destruction of the world's

environment. It is imperialism that is

causing this destruction and it is only by

taking on imperialism that we can end the

destruction.

Other speakers did take on bigger issues

including the unjust war in Iraq, Amerikan

terrorism, and imprisonment. The

revolutionary hip hop group the Coup

closed the event with the excellent point

that we cannot save the environment if

we do not change the economic system.

But the principal focus was on saving the

environment by recycling, supporting and

using sustainable energy sources, eating

vegan, and supporting environmentally

friendly stores. MIM Notes was very

popular with this crowd both entering and

leaving the event. Our banners drew

comments of support and as with the

Berkeley festival the graphic of the U.$.

invasions around the world received much

interest and praise. Over the course of

the both events we distributed close to

2000 copies of MIM Notes, gathered

many signatures on our petition to protest

the Patriot Act II (http://www.etext.org/

Politics/MIM/agitation/civlib), and spoke

to hundreds of people about the

implications of the war in Iraq, U.$.

imperialist invasions around the world, and

what we can do to fight it.

Continued from page 1...

by claiming they are a "terrorist."

Republicans are talking about attaching

Hatch's proposal as to make the Patriot

Act provisions permanent as an

amendment to this proposal. Some

Republicans claim this is just a threat to

keep Democrats from trying to tone down

the bill. But it is clear that there will be a

push to remove the sunset provisions from

the Patriot Act some time before 2005.

If the Amerikan government truly

seeks to make this country safer it should

stop bombing innocent people around the

world in its push for greater wealth and

world hegemony. This aggression only

incurs greater wrath from the world's

people. And no amount of spying, or

fascist domestic control will create peace

and safety.

Notes:

1. New York Times, April 9, 2003.

2. Washington Post, March 24, 2003.

Continued from page 1...

MIM Notes 281 · May 1, 2003 · Page 9

economic exploitation worldwide...

In struggle,

--A prisoner

MIM responds: This letter is an honest

and welcome expression of partial unity

with MIM. The majority of people MIM

works with fall into this category: they

agree with us on certain immediate

struggles, while disagreeing (often more

than this letter writer) with us on bigger

questions. Readers who share our

immediate goals like strengthening radical

anti-imperialist press (a particular

example of "building independent

institutions of the oppressed") might want

to help us distribute the paper (see page

2 for more information). Other examples

of current issues and how to help out can

be found on our website.(5)

Notes:

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

wim/cong/panafrican2002.html

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

wim/cong/onmasses01.html

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

wim/cong/program95.html

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

wim/cong/platform01.html

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

faq/witbd.html;

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

agitation/

Letters

Continued from page 2...

other entrance to APL had been pushed

back to the BART station. Local TV

station KRON4 parked their van in the

middle of the street to cover the action.

Protesters deflated their tires. The

bourgeois media has continued to be a

target of protesters in the Bay Area who

recognize that their coverage only serves

the interests of the state. As I write this

article dozens of reports and photos have

already been posted to the web from the

viewpoint of participants. Meanwhile live

onsite reports are given via cell phone and

radio. We must continue to build our

infrastructures of independent media that

serves to bring info to people that will help

us organize for a better world.

The final attack took place at the

blocked intersection. Cops aimed their

shots parallel to the ground (rather than

bouncing them off the street as they had

earlier in the morning). Canisters hit semi

trucks as protesters dashed into traffic

for cover.

After regrouping at the West Oakland

BART station, people soon agreed to

march to the Federal Building in

downtown Oakland. The march took to

the street blocking part of 7th Street as

we walked. Before taking off the cops

informed everyone that it is illegal to cover

your face in Oakland.

Many people along the march yelled

and honked their support, including people

from a store who came out with free

cupcakes "for your efforts." Others yelled

at the protesters because they could not

get to work, and the cry of "get a job"

was common.

Minor scuffles with police continued as

the rally entered the downtown area. One

cop rode his motorcycle onto the sidewalk

Pigs open fire on protesters outside Oakland docks

illegally blocking demonstrators. And

others pushed people in an unsuccessful

attempt to clear the street for traffic. At

the endpoint the rally remained a couple

hundred strong and occupied the street

in front of the federal building. Some lay

down to construct a humyn peace sign in

the road for those in the towers to see.

The demo was successful in stopping

the morning shift of workers, and word

on the street was that there was no one

to unload the docks as of 8 a.m. Once

the traffic did open up outside of APL

the line of trucks was shorter than

expected. Apparently many workers

didn't come to work today, while others

were sent home. Surely they were happy

to get a day off with pay.

San Francisco

On February 28, a grand jury indicted

Police Chief Earl Sanders, the assistant

Police Chief, and five other top officials

on charges of conspiring to obstruct the

investigation into an off-duty assault. The

grand jury also indicted the assistant

chief's son and two other cops on felony

assault charges. The assault charges

stemmed from a fight on November 20

where the three off duty cops beat up

two people outside a bar over a bag of

steak fajitas. Prior to the Grand Jury

indictment the SFPD had obstructed the

investigation and went so far as to

transfer the Lieutenant who was leading

the investigation, inspiring his reaction

"You can read between the lines."

San Francisco mayor Willie Brown

immediately spoke up after the indictment

stating, "I'm the commander in chief of

this goddamn place, and there is no way

the command staff of my Police

Department is going to step down at this

time. It's a matter of public safety." This

is a clear demonstration of why police

brutality and corruption will never be

Grand jury indicts SFPD Chief, nine others

stopped through the legal system. It is not

a matter of just a few rogue cops or a

few corrupt command staff, the problem

runs through the system right to the top.

When rare indictments or convictions are

achieved, at best a low level fall persyn

is found taking the rap while the system

continues with business (of targeting

oppressed nations) as usual.

MIM does see this indictment is a

victory for those fighting police brutality

and corruption. It will inevitably lead to

far greater publicity of this case as well

as others. It will force people who

ordinarily would not hear about systematic

police brutality to think about the system

and how it works. And MIM will use this

opportunity to point out that the police in

this country are an occupying army

targeting the oppressed nations within u.s.

borders. In San Francisco this target is

primarily Black and Latino youth. (For

several articles detailing recent cases of

brutality see http://www.etext.org/Politics/

MIM/agitation/policebrutality.)

If Sanders is forced to step down, two

of the three other deputy chief's who

could replace him represent groups

traditionally marginalized from the force.

Heather Fong, a Chinese womyn and

Mindy Pengel, a lesbian, are being

championed as examples of the diversity

of the SFPD. But Earl Sanders, a Black

man, currently heads up a police force

that has a history of brutalizing and killing

unarmed Blacks in the city. Recent cases

under his command include the MLK day

brutalizing of four Black youth, two girls

and two boys all under the age of 14, who

were doing nothing more than sitting in a

car listening to music.

MIM does not support getting more

members of oppressed communities into

leading positions on the police force as a

means of ending police brutality. This will

just put a prettier face on the

fundamentally oppressive system. Instead

we work to publicize the oppressive

nature of the police force while we fight

to dismantle the system that is built on

the oppression of many nations by a few.

Notes: San Francisco Chronicle, March

1, 2003.

Today's demo was one more event in

a series of symbolic acts to oppose this

war. But the event did not succeed in

stopping the war machine. Direct actions

like these have proven limited successes:

they raise the cost of the war and keep

the anti-war movement lively and

relevant. Ultimately we must build a

movement with a long-term perspective

to overthrow the whole system and

replace it with one that serves the

interests of the world's people.

Protesters filed

complaints with

police (left) after

being hit with an

array of the latest

in "less-than-

lethal" weaponry

(right).

MIM Notes 281 · May 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

Tennessee max
repression grows

I'm reaching out from one of big brother's

(the government) many maximum security
slave quarters here in Henning Tenn. At West
TN High Security facility I'm enslaved now
on max on charges of being in a security threat
group (STG). I was originally charged along
with six other comrades who have since been
returned to general population over two years
ago. This camp is notorious for its extensive
confinement of comrades, convicts and
inmates on max for 4-10 years at a time,
disregarding not having any discipline
reports in 3 plus years. On top of all that
anything that we seem to enjoy or show
interest in has been removed from us and
replaced by bullshit that we are forced to use
as follows:

Bar soap replaced by watered down body

gel that is over priced for 8 oz (3 in 1 soap,
shampoo and shave gel). Deodorant replaced
by a clear watered substance that lasts maybe
an hour not to mention it leaves rashes under
the arms. Toothpaste (closeup & crest)
replaced with small 2.7 oz tube of clear shit.
Hairgrease, lotion, fans, radios, nail clippers,
shower shoes and other items as such have
been removed and not replaced.

This camp is run on "house rules" fit to

serve in the pigs favor by all means. These
pigs have allowed prisoners into other
prisoners cells to perform beatdowns on
individuals they (the pigs) have a beef with.
The muscles (non-conscious, blinded, do-
boys) who degrade themselves to perform
these tasks for the pigs, do so for small tokens
of cakes and cookies. These same pigs have
beaten, harassed, and set-up other prisoners
to be stabbed and attempted assassination.
Here recently a pig employed here has been
on the run from higher officials of big brother
(the government) for molesting a child, and
the warden quit last year after being in the
news for sexual harassment and other charges.

-- a prisoner in Tennessee, March 2003

Property theft &
Patriot Act II in OK

Dear MIM,
They snatched me up to another of their

prisons without warning. This one's
supposed to be a medium security prison,
but they stole almost every bit of my maximum
security property, including my bifocals and
addresses, which were in a photo album filled
with scientific information cut out of science
magazines. Some of the stuff was pictures
cut out of Newsweek. They tore pictures out
of all three of my albums, calling them "gang
pictures." One was of a cop beating a WTO
protestor. She had blood running down her
face. My caption read "This is your brain on
cop. Any questions?" Another was of Bush's
"election." He was shouting at someone on
the platform backstage and pointing his finger
viciously. People in the background were
looking worried and scared. My caption read
"(Bush:) Don't make me get my right-wing
death-squad, chump!" and "He'll do it, by
god!" Behind some of these pictures were 45
stamps. They stole them all.

The thing about Okie prisons is they

punish you for exercising your right to petition

the government for redress of grievances. By
chopping off this very first constitutional
right, they program the prisoners into letting
them get away with ripping us off for every
other right they choose. I took your anti-
Patriot Act II petition all over the yard of 160
people in our cage-stack and got only three
people brave enough to sign it. And I only
got them to sign by swearing the petition
would not be seen by the administration here.
I'm going to try again in the mess hall where
there's a different 160 people, but less time.

At one Okie prison, the guards give

prisoners extra junk food for snitching on
people for dope, weapons, even petitions --
any rule infraction.

I've had less time to write since they stole

my three good pens and left me with this
junker and its eight brothers than are
completely ineffective. They stole my erasers,
whiteout, typing paper and carbon paper. It's
going to take me two weeks to re-buy the
pen, paper, erasers and pencils. The whiteout
and carbon paper are impossible to replace.

-- an Oklahoma prisoner, March, 2003
MIM adds: Patriot Act II would ramp up

the Amerikan police state by eliminating the
role of courts in wiretap and search warrants,
authorizing secret arrests and denying the
right to sue for information on those arrested,
providing extended jail terms for minor
immigration offenses and making summary
deportation a reality, and much more. If three
signatures, or six, are all you can get against
this monstrous law, they are still worth the
effort! If you are in prison, you know the
conditions and regulations you have to
organize under. If you are not in prison, take
our petition against Patriot Act II (http://
www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/agitation/civlib/
) to an anti-war rally or vigil. Even if only a
handful of people show, make sure they
understand how dangerous this proposed
legislation is.

Cold showers in OK

If it's so great to have nothing to hide, why

do government employees operate in such
secret? --Sam Kinnison

Prison guards routinely cut their "work"

load by 80% simply by shutting off the warm
water on lazy days like yesterday, today,
Christmas and other holidays. The "work"
they dodge this way is that of shuffling
prisoners, one at a time, a few feet down the
hall to the shower cage then back to their
usual cages. While one guard does this,
another watches -- pushing buttons that
open and slam appropriate gates. It's lonely,
boring work: two guards, separated by
soundproof, bulletproof glass, showering 370
prisoners on four floors per week. Much better
to ignore the helpless captives and instead
swap fishing stories, drink coffee and ogle
porn magazines stolen from the prisoners'
mail.

Every time my body gets so nasty and

greasy that I can't wipe the grit out of my
eyes without making it worse, and I have to
wash my hands in ice-cold water, I enjoy
taxpayer suffering. The powerful guards'
unions gobble up their own huge budgets,
then sneak back to the legislature twice more
to hog major portions of the education budget.
By simply putting a showerhead in each cage,
you can cut guard costs by at least 50%.
Which is more costly: a one-time plumber's
fee, or paying a guard to waddle up and down
a hall for $30,000/year? Is it really worth billions
to keep filthiness as a torture device for caged
animals?

-- an Oklahoma prisoner, March, 2003

Fight the real enemy

Greetings Brothers of the Struggle,
I am currently in Trenton State Prisons'

Administrative Segregation. I am tha
Chairman/Governor of the Folks Nation. I am
deeply concerned with the growing "gang"
problem that now resides in New Jersey.
Predominantly in tha Newark area and inside
of tha prisons.

These young brothers r leadin for total

"kaos" and they're draggin the black
communities with them. And it's sad because
I've been up in New Jersey since '97 and as I
recall there was no "gang activity"
whatsoever.

But these "gangs" appear out of tha blue,

with eternal hate for each other. And if you
ask a gang member why do he hate the
opposite gang member? He couldn't give you
a legitimate reason. Just cause!!! In reality we
are just helpin' tha government oppress us.
We are not makin any progress collectively
or individually. Tha majority of these young
brothers have children, and should handle
their fatherhood before thinking about a flag
or who claimin' what.

I think it's time the Malcolms, Martins,

Hueys and Garveys to step forth, because
these young brothers could definitely use
some guidance. I speak with some of the
brothers, but it's hard, when they view me as
an enemy from conflict that our nation had,
but resolved in other states. I've had my share
of "run ins" with a few of them durin' my
prison bid. But I have gotten more assault on
officers and conduct which disrupts [more]
than anything. I am 23 years old. I've become
a communist and agree more with the
ideologies and dogma of Karl Marx. I will not
assimilate my self with oppressive amerikkka
or its capitalist society. Just imagine if the
Bloods, Crips, Neta, 5 Percent Nation, Latin
Kings and the Folks nation unite to overthrow
this oppressive government. I'm positive we
could win. So dig brothers! Stop being petty
and let's make some progress.

-- a prisoner in New Jersey, March 2003

Fight repression ...

Dear MIM,
I'm in New Folsom State Prison and have

been incarcerated since 5 years old. I'm now
20 years old. You don't be come a threat to
CDC (California Department of (so-called)
Correction) until you try to get free or file a
lawsuit for their misconduct. There are so
many ways they mistreat inmates, it's crazy.

Just recently I was assaulted in handcuffs

that were put on me from behind. The
correctional officer (c/o) who was there
watched as I was being assaulted by another
inmate. The c/o claimed to seeing a weapon
and while I yelled to the c/o to open the door
so I could seek refuge, my request was denied
and I was left in that dangerous situation. I
could have died but the c/o didn't care. The
c/o also sprayed me, which made me
temporarily blind and by that action I
sustained more injuries.

I wrote a 602 (report) on this incident and

now I'm considered a major threat or problem.
I have been going through harassment by

MIM Notes 281 · May 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.

almost all officers who work around me. They
play games here, and these are games inmates
don't have a chance of winning.

To fight for your freedom in the U.$. is a no

win situation because even when out of
prison you are not free. Prison is a slavery
camp of the 21st century. What the CDC fails
to realize is that I'm much more open minded
than I was 5 years ago. Reality hit me hard
about this country called North America.
Most people of this country are descendants
of planned migrations who willingly came to
America seeking a better life, not Blacks.
Africans had no choice, we were enslaved. a
race which were forced into a new existence.
America was built on African's backs and
Blacks are treated as animals still. I'm 20 years
old and this reality was forced on me since a
child.

Amerika never completely banned slavery,

read the 13th amendment to the constitution
of America. If you are found guilty of a crime
you are a slave. The constitution condones
slavery! What is going on in these prisons
are unspeakable and many things are covered
up by the prisons c/os and officers.

Just last December a group of Blacks

assaulted or allegedly assaulted some prison
staff. Now for a few years staff has been
attacked by inmates of all races. This last
incident happened because the c/os beat and
harassed an inmate who was no more than
135lbs and around the age of 18. This incident
took place in the yard in front of all the inmates.

Now since all these assults are on the c/os

instead of inmate on inmate, the prison
officials are mad. So they are starting their
plan to stop these assaults by having the
inmates focus and fight with each others so
our attention won't be on them.

-- a prisoner in CA, March 2003

... and censorship in
California prisons

I have taken this matter (a mail problem) to

the director's level in Sacramento, California
in a 602 inmate appeal process. Informal,
formal, first, second and third levels. The
outcome ended in denial. This mail issue is
filed and pending in court under civil rights
act 42 U.S.C 1983. My complaint so far is mail
tampering (especially legal mail), refusal to
give access to legal and regular mailing
supplies, and censoring certain mail.

If there are any more complaints in the mail

area, please file and help this struggle on this
part. This is a very important thing so people
on the outside and inside lets work to win our
mail rights inside prison.

--a prisoner in California, April 2003

MIM responds: We need our comrades

behind bars in California to take up this
censorship battle. As our organizing has
expanded in California prisons so has the
censorship. Books and magazines we send in
to prisoners in Tehachapi are being censored
almost completely and letters as well as other
literature is being censored at CSATF in
Corcoran. We have also experienced sporadic
censorship at other prisons in the state. MIM
does not have the resources to fight this
censorship alone. We need prisoners to appeal
the censorship, and pursue it to the courts if
necessary. We will always notify you if we
learn our mail to you has been censored, and
we can send you our resource guide to
fighting censorship, but we need your help
to win this battle.

I Be That Prisoner
(A Maoist)

I be that prisoner in a world of prisoners
Due to politics and their accolades
While our queens sing some sad uncertain

serenades

And most countries of color are ravaged by

AIDS.

And every few minutes a woman is beaten
And a child cries cause the babe hasn't eaten
I be that prisoner who stood before the judge
To be judged by racist black-robed thugs
Wearing plastic faces
Screaming

"He ain't no kin of mine, Hang `im high."
I be that prisoner, in Palestine,
Who's afraid to go outside
`Cause it's raining U.$. bombs from the sky
And happy meals with strange fries
And grandma would have cried
Had she known what hit her.

This smart bomb, which sought Saddam
But stupidly missed and hit my mom
Some 666 feet from Saddam
And oh! How I know so well
For, I be that prisoner who could tell you about

hell.

You are living it.

Why want more later?
When men are capable of every wicked disaster.
Yes! Unmerciful disasters
Which follow fast and follows faster.
Devious spirits I do not need
For man alone plants every malignant seed.

And by the way I got a letter via mail
From one of my sad and lonely girlz

The cream of the crop and fruit of the world.
From this letter, I could hear the wails
She had been dying
A prisoner at home, though not alone,
Beaten by her man, like property owned.

And I be that prisoner, in whom she confides
Not to the judge, or the Kops, or them private

eyes.

But to me, a prisoner who understands
A Maoist, a warrior, a lonely man.

I be that prisoner, One Sun of light
Dialectical Materialist of Historical plight
It's not a thing of black or white,
Learn, unlearn, relearn
You'll get it right
It's all about money
"NO MONEY -- NO HONEY"

And no food or meds without the bread
You know Doe!
So act like you know
Reverse the roles and any race would do the

same.

Because a capitalist system
Is the game that is played.

Bombing Iraq and creating AIDS
Depopulating the world (they say) to make it

safe

While that parentless child
Wipes the tears from his face.

Yeah! I be that prisoner
Who knows the situation goes much -- much

deeper.

It's called the parasitic, economic
Capitalist system
Existing in its final stage
Global imperialism
Encouraged by racism
And strengthened by militarism

I be that prisoner
Who looks through a child's eyes
Asking many questions
Like "who" and "why"
Why kill our trees and kill our seas,
And kill and kill and kill for greed?

I be that prisoner
Who through native ears is forced to hear
How "Columbus was good"
And how "the cowboys fought for what justice

stood."

And the Indians? "They were bad"
And the Vietnamese?
"Well they were too:

`Cause they killed my dad while defending their

land

All a pack of lies
To justify
Their terrible actions and hideous crimes
Yet "JUSTICE!" they exclaim piously
At over two million prisoners who have no

liberty

Placed behind bars.

Accumulating cuts and scars
Nah! I must have heard them wrong.
"JUST US!" was their Hitleristic marching song
As they lock-step to the sounds of the drum
But I be that prisoner
I be the one.

Who was hit with fifteen years
And after a decade buried alive
I refuse to cower and refuse to tear
For I be that prisoner

Who was once lost and now is found
`Cause I've finally learned how devils get down
And I was once blind but now I see
These crimes weren't only committed against

What affects one of us directly
Affects us all indirectly
All of humanity.
And I be that prisoner
Out of Indonesia
Who watched you annihilate Afghanistan
As you chased one man
But escape he did

So you purposely killed thousands of their kids
And you act like you have world support
As you play your savage bloody sport
Even your media can't hide the hate
Of protesters, millions, shouting at your gate.

While you crush Iraq, and aim for Korea
It's getting louder, I know you can hear.
So which one of us billions
Will be your prisoner of the year?
You may be stronger
But the masses don't fear

While down, way down in the dungeons deep
It took me hour upon hour, to from my window

peep

Yes! I scaled that slimy dungeon wall
And twice or thrice, did I break my fall
So that our mother earth, I may only see

And what I saw, it seemed to be,
That she was looking back, sadly at me
I swear I could even hear her wind utter
"We are all prisoners in one way or another"
For look at what they do to I, your mother
And behold! My tears that fall from the sky

Acid-rain tears that tell no lies
And they're killing your father, the humble

wisdom

And you my son, you be that prisoner
Who can change the world and crush the system
"A Maoist"
With tears flooding my eyes I whispered
Back into the wind

"Yes I be that prisoner, with a world to win: a

Maoist"

-- a federal prisoner in Kansas

MIM Notes 281 · May 1, 2003 · Page 12

Notas Rojas

mayo 1, 2003, Nº 281 Fragmento del Periodico Oficial del Movimiento Internacionalista Maoista

Gratis

El penal de Challapalca es una prisión de

castigo y exterminio ubicada a más de 5,000
metros de altura sobre el nivel del mar. Aquí
las temperaturas descienden en las noches a
menos 25 ° grados y el frío que tienen que
enfrentar los prisioneros es infernal. En
comparación hay que señalar que la región
más alta del mundo es el Himalaya la misma
que tiene picos que van desde 5,000 hasta
8,848 metros de altura. En esas altitudes, como
la que rodea la prisión de Challapalca, la
presión atmosférica es menor y menor también
la cantidad de oxigeno. Este fenómeno cambia
radicalmente el metabolismo del ser humano,
que en el caso de los prisioneros, debilitados
por las torturas y la mala nutrición, resulta
una muerte lenta pero segura.

Esta abominable cárcel, que sólo puede ser

comparado con las más brutales prisiones de
la época de la inquisición medieval, está
ubicada entre los límites de los departamentos
de Puno y Tacna. Como denuncian los
prisioneros de guerra, en este lugar no existe
la luz eléctrica ni el agua potable. No hay
tampoco servicio medico ni medios de
transporte público que facilite la visita de los
familiares de los presos, quienes reducen sus
visitas a una o dos veces por año. En este
lugar, las celdas son pequeñas construcciones
de cemento en la que no ingresa la luz natural
ni tienen una apropiada ventilación. Los
presos son pésimamente alimentados, no
tienen derechos a ninguna atención medica y
son permanentemente reprimidos por los
servicios de seguridad.

Prisión de castigo
para los
revolucionarios

En está prisión están recluidos los

prisioneros de guerra considerados militantes
del Partido Comunista del Perú (PCP). El
"castigo" se refiere a reprimir con el exterminio
sus ideales comunistas y su firme posición
de propugnar la continuación de la guerra
popular. El gobierno y la prensa peruana
califica a estos valerosos combatientes con
el apelativo de "Proseguir" en alusión a su
posición de seguir desarrollando la
revolución. La prisión de Challapalca, como
campo de concentración, sirve en exclusivo
para castigar a los revolucionarios que ni las
más infames condiciones de vida ni las
torturas carcelarias logra doblegarlos. Este
sistema de prisión de extermino fue implantado
por Fujimori y el régimen actual ("gobierno
de todas las sangres") se ha encargado de
hacerlo más brutal y criminal. De esta prisión
están excluidos, los presos del Movimiento
Revolucionario (MRTA) y los traidores y
capituladores (partidarios de las "cartas de
paz") que desde el año 1993 se pasaron a
trabajar con el Servicio de Inteligencia

Nacional (SIN) que dirigía Vladimiro
Montesinos.

Los prisioneros de guerra en una carta que

han hecho llegar a la redacción de El Diario
Internacional y a otros medios de
comunicación del Perú, denuncian que el 21
de setiembre de 2001 fueron trasladados del
penal de Yanamayo al de Challapalca como
medida de "castigo" y de exterminio. Señalan
que durante el traslado sufrieron todo tipo de
tortura física y psicológica. Algunos de ellos
quedaron gravemente heridos, y hasta la
actualidad no han recibido ninguna atención
médica. Denuncian también que dicho
"castigo", es decir la reclusión en el penal de
Challapalca, no podía ser mayor de un año,
pero que hasta la actualidad y habiendo
pasado más de 12 meses el gobierno no
pretende cambiar esta situación de extrema
gravedad para la sobrevivencia de los
prisioneros. Según los prisioneros, el peligro
de aniquilamiento en el penal de Challapalca,
tuvo su punto más álgido el 23 de octubre de
este año (2002) cuando los custodios del
penal irrumpieron violentamente en las celdas
bajo el propósito de realizar una "requisa"
(léase represión). Dicha "requisa" que se
inicio a las 10 de la noche, mientras los
prisioneros dormían, sirvió para golpear
brutalmente a los prisioneros del PCP y
arrebatarles (confiscar) alimentos,
herramientas de trabajo, medicinas , utensilios
de cocina, vestimentas, etc. Como denuncian
los prisioneros, durante la "requisa" las
autoridades del penal secuestraron a los
delegados a quienes aislaron en celdas de
tortura. Frente a este hecho los prisioneros
respondieron con una decidida acción de
protesta que bajo la consiga de resistir y
combatir hizo retroceder a los carceleros. Esta
medida fue suspendida el pasado 23 de
octubre cuando se hicieron presentes
representantes de la Cruz Roja Internacional
y autoridades de la institución penitenciaria
del Perú quienes mediaron para apaciguar los
términos del conflicto. Sobre esta situación y
para un mejor conocimiento de la dramática
vida en Challapalca, editamos textualmente
una denuncia firmada por los prisioneros de
guerra. Dicho documento, fue presentado al
Fiscal de la Nación el 20 de octubre de este
año. En dicho texto, junto con denunciar el
carácter fascista del sistema carcelario del
Perú, se denuncia penalmente a las más altas
autoridades penitenciarias del país.

Denuncia de los
prisioneros de guerra
de la prisión de
Challapalca

Señor Fiscal de la Nación
Los abajo firmantes, presos políticos y

prisioneros de guerra acusados de pertenecer
al Partido Comunista del Perú, recluidos en el
establecimiento Penal de Challapalca-Tacna,
al amparo del artículo 139 incisos 14 y 22 de la
Constitución Política del Estado, nos
dirigimos a Ud. Para manifestar lo siguiente:

1. Que con fecha 21 de setiembre del 2001

fuimos trasladados 34 internos del Penal de
Yanamayo al Penal de Challapalca-Tacna por
motivo de "castigo", según las autoridades
penitenciarias, sufriendo todo tipo de
vejámenes (tortura física y psicológica, robo
de nuestras pertenencias y materiales de
trabajo). Según las normas penitenciarias,
dicho "castigo" comprende un período de
regresión progresiva de 365 días (un año) el
mismo que se cumplió el pasado 20 de
setiembre del 2002. Sin embargo, a la fecha,
no se nos retorna a nuestros lugares de origen
pese a que se ha vencido el plazo del "castigo"
que se nos ha impuesto sin procederse de
acuerdo al Código de Ejecución Penal en su
artículo 34. Además, del traslado arbitrario y
abusivo de trece presos políticos desde el
Penal "Miguel Castro Castro" al Penal de
Challapalca-Tacna dizque por "hacinamiento"
(24_04_2002).

2. Que se nos mantiene en este lugar

inhóspito, a más de 5,050 metros sobre el nivel
del mar sometidos a temperaturas gélidas que
llegan hasta menos 25°c, aislados de nuestros
familiares, recluidos en celdas pequeñas con
ventanas minúsculas que impiden el ingreso
de la luz natural y la ventilación requerida,
impidiéndonos estudiar o trabajar en las
mismas ya que la luz eléctrica sólo se utiliza
de 5.30 p.m. a 9.00 p.m.. Estas condiciones de
existencia perjudican más nuestra ya
deteriorada salud día a día, más aún, cuando
aquí ni siquiera existen médicos
especializados, ni medicinas ni equipos
especializados; la alimentación es deficiente
y ni siquiera se cuenta con agua potable. Es
así que dos internos en grave estado de salud
tuvieron que ser evacuados a Juliaca (los
internos Bartolomé Melitón Cárdenas y
Wilson García Asto). Así hay otros internos
que requieren urgente evacuación, ellos son:
Antonio Bendezú Vega (Tumor urologenital),
Miguel Cuno Choquehuanca (complicaciones
post- operatoria a la próstata); José Zamora
Pérez (Taquicardia), Franquil Esquivel Santos
(infección renal y tuberculosis), Román
Rengifo Murrieta y Juan Islas Trinidad
(gastrointestinal ulceroso) y José Arcela
Chiroque (osteomelitis crónica e hiper-

tensión).

3. Que el establecimiento Penitenciario de

Challapalca-Tacna no cumple con las reglas
mínimas establecidas por la ONU para el
tratamiento de reclusos. Se viola el derecho
de los internos a la rehabilitación, reeducación
y resocialización conforme al artículo 134
Inciso 22 de la Constitución Política del
Estado y el artículo II del Titulo preliminar del
código de Ejecución Penal; de allí que sea
calificado como centro de tortura por los
organismos de derechos humanos (DD.HH)
tales como la Corte Interamericana de
Derechos Humanos y Amnistía Internacional
que exigen su cierre definitivo. En Challapalca
se implementa y se mantiene un régimen
carcelario de mayor aislamiento,
aniquilamiento y genocidio teniendo en
cuenta la Convención de la ONU para la
prevención del delito de genocidio y el artículo
129 del c1odigo Penal peruano que tipifican
claramente el delito de genocidio como delito
de lesa humanidad por el sometimiento a
condiciones de existencia que acarrean la
destrucción física o mental, en forma total o
parcial.

4. Que por lo expuesto, denunciamos la

violación de nuestros derechos conforme al
artículo 139 Inciso 22 de la Constitución
Política del Estado y el artículo 1° del código
de Ejecución Penal, denunciamos al
presidente del INPE Javier Bustamente, al Vice
presidente del INPE Moisés Hirst Carrillo y a
la Directora de la DRAP- INPE Hilma Luna
Frisancho por delito de función en su
modalidad de abuso de autoridad conforme
al artículo 376 del Código Penal, por delito
contra la vida, el cuerpo y la salud conforme
al artículo 128 del Código Penal y por delito
de genocidio conforme al artículo 129 del
Código Penal; a quienes hacemos
responsables por nuestra integridad física y
mental. Así mismo, exigimos el inmediato
traslado a nuestros lugares de origen por
unidad familiar y el cierre del campo de
concentración fascista de Challapalca por
atentar la integridad física y mental de los
internos. Challapalca, 20 de octubre del 2002.

Prisioneros firmantes:
Franklin Esquivel Santos, Roman Rengifo

Murrieta, Ortega Pardo Adrian, Miguel Dipas
Vargas, Jovino Montero Arteaga, Alejandro
Anyosa Ochoa, Carlos Bravo Quijano,
Gregorio Principe Picon, Fortunato Soto
Tarazona, Juan Quispe Castro, Luis López
Medrano, Wilman Castro Rosas, Edward
Solano Ascanio, Ceryl Carhuaz Aquino, José
Arcela Chiroque, Hermes Rubio Hugo, Juan
Islas Trinidad, Leo Peña Gutiérrez, Julio García
Inuma, Cesar Pardo Yaringaño y Wilman
Castro Rosas.

Challapalca: prisión de exterminio

Toledo utiliza los mismos métodos criminales de Fujimori