MIM Notes ***

MIM Notes 294 · January 1, 2004 · Page 1

MIM Notes

Jan. 1, 2004, Nº 294

The Official Newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM)

Free

INSIDE: Clay Aiken, Joe Strummer, Matrix, Tropico reviwews * Una Página en Español...

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

by MC5

December 15, 2003

n December 13, the bourgeois

news agencies reported that

U.$. troops captured Saddam

Hussein, former president of Iraq. The

rulers of England, France and Germany

all heralded this as "very good news for

the people of Iraq," as Prime Minister

Tony Blair of England said.(1)

82% of the Amerikkkan public thought

the capture of Saddam Hussein was a

"great achievement" according to a

CNN/USA Today poll of 664 people.(2)

Meanwhile, Brian Knowlton for the New

York Times and International Herald

Tribune quoted a political science

professor who now thinks George W.

Bush is "unbeatable" in 2004 elections

without major economic and war

disaster.(3) So it goes to prove that the

formula of killing Third World people is

ever-popular in the imperialist country

populations.

Although numerous Republican

conservatives complained that Democrats

hated Bush more than Saddam

Hussein(4), in fact, the Democratic Party

celebrated Saddam Hussein's capture.

This leaves only hard-line internationalists

like us here at MIM asking who is better

for Iraqi people, Saddam Hussein or

George Bush.

In politics, George Washington warned

America not to aggrandize itself at the

expense of other nations and he fought

against the colonial power England.

Those who believe colonialism is not

progressive share George Washington's

opinion and thus believe that Saddam

Hussein is better for Iraq than George

Bush. However, let us leave behind the

political generalities and look at the facts

underlying those beliefs. The question

should be whether George W. Bush is

better for Iraq than Saddam Hussein or

whether the imperialist countries have

propagandized themselves into old-style

colonialism.

The first thing we always hear Bush

say about his justifications for what he

does is that Iraq is not a "free country."

Now supposedly Iraq is free of a

"tyrant." Yet Bush heads a government

with more prisoners percentage-wise than

Saddam Hussein did. (Amerikka leads the

world in prisoners per capita.) What is

more, Saddam Hussein released all his

George W. Bush or Saddam Hussein

Which one is worse for Iraq?

Inter-imperialist

rivalry goes up a

notch

by MC5

December 10, 2003

The Pentagon announced that it is

cutting Russia, France and Germany out

of business in Iraq for failing to support

the invasion, the New York Times

reported December 10th.(1)

In colonial times, the standard practice

was to prevent competitors from doing

business in one's colonies. Since the

United $tates has limited the business in

Iraq to a group of its allies such as Poland

and Portugal, the resulting group is called

a "trade bloc."

The Pentagon says that only U.$. allies

will be allowed to do business there on

U.$. contracts--which since the United

$tates is running Iraq--means no new

business for France, Germany and

Russia. Thus far, Iraq under U.$.

dictatorship is honoring old business

contracts from before the invasion,

including one for Russian taxis.(2)

Republicans in Congress and

Democrats running for president

lambasted the Bush administration.

Senator Kerry from Massachusetts said,

"`I can't think of anything dumber.'"(3)

He and others pointed out the obvious that

other selfish bourgeois nations would not

join in unity without some scraps of the

spoils thrown their way.

The Bush administration move has

further infuriated the bourgeois

internationalist faction usually more firmly

in control of the government and reveals

fissures at the highest level of imperialist

strategy. The bourgeois internationalists

overwhelmingly in control until Bush Jr.

came to power want joint imperialist

exploitation of Iraq. They do not like the

logic of trade blocs and fantasize about

free trade. The current policy is more like

that of an Amerikkka-first faction

supported by fringe elements like

Buchanan or Perot and goes to show that

imperialism is two-faced and inherently

contradictory. Bush Jr. comes from a

bourgeois internationalist family.

It was Lenin in his argument with

Kautsky who said that imperialism could

never become "super-imperialism," a

united and peaceful imperialism. Quite the

contrary, as Lenin said in his book

"Imperialism: The Highest Stage of

Capitalism," the imperialists would

periodically redivide the world. What is

happening in Iraq is a textbook example.

The fact that Bush would think of going

this ancient route is also a disproof of

those saying there is no longer a nation-

state or there is only just one world

empire. Authors Michael Hardt and

Antonio Negri wrote a book called

Empire saying that there is only one world

imperialism.

The slap at Europe also occurs at a

time when the Euro is trouncing the dollar

on the markets. The British pound hit an

unheard of $1.73. MIM reported the

reasons for this in July 1 2003 MIM

Iraq a true colony

Latinos

boycott

California

December 12, 2003

California Latino activists held a state-

wide boycott to protest Governor

Schwarzenegger's December 3 repeal of

a bill that would have given so-called

illegal immigrants the right to drive.

Intended to demonstrate the economic

power of Latinos in California, the boycott

was a one-day economic strike where

Latinos across the state stayed home from

work and school and did not buy anything.

One-third of the population in California

is Latino and the state's industries rely on

Latino labor, which makes up 45% of the

workforce, particularly for the low wage

jobs that other people don't want. Of the

Latino nations in California, Mexicans are

the overwhelming majority, making up

about 80% as of the 2000 census.(1)

Consistent with demographics, this strike

saw heavy Mexican participation and

leadership. It brought out a public

demonstration of Mexican nationalism

with Mexican flags flying across the state

at protests and in the streets.

Schools in heavily Latino districts

reported dramatically lower attendance,

some businesses shut down in solidarity

with the action, and many streets lined

with stores were empty of shoppers. The

Fresno Bee reported that absences in

Fresno County alone cost school districts

Continued on page 6...

Continued on page 8...

Continued on page 4...

MIM Notes 294 · January 1, 2004 · 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

their subsciptions. There are no individual subscriptions for people outside prison.

People who want to receive newspapers should become sponsors and distributors.

Sponsors pay for papers, distributors get them onto the streets, and officers do both
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Mail), $3,840; 900 (8-10 days), $2,200. To become a sponor or distributor, send
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Most back issues of MIM Notes are available free on our web site. The web site con-

tains thousands of documents, with ordering information for many more.

MIM grants explicit permission to copy all or part of this newspaper for any reason, as

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For general correspondence, contact:

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

Prisoner congratulates
MIM on bucking
imperialist media
monopoly

Greetings MIM,

I am in receipt of MIM Notes 288-290,

thank you. The newspapers were

unexpected, as I have not received MIM

Notes in over two years.

After 9-11 the Michigan Department

of Corruptions (MDOC) increased its

efforts to censor all incoming sources of

information, this included categorically

banning all MIM-related materials. Prior

to that the MDOC wrote mail policies

that disallowed books and magazines that

were not from the "approved vendor" list.

This permitted the MDOC to deny

censoring what information we have

access to by stating that we are allowed

to order books, magazines, newspapers,

etc. But I can assure you that the

approved vendors do not carry MIM

Notes or any other materials critical of

the American capitalist-imperialist

government and the institutions it has

spawned.

MIM has been central in providing

information about the world we live in.

MIM is the definition of a free press. Even

those who do not agree with MIM politics

surely must concede to that. The big

American Media outlets simply parakeet

information disseminated by the

government/corporate America. The

White House, State Department,

Pentagon and City Hall become our

sources of information. News analysts

and commentators are often ex-

government employees or corporate

insiders.

Take for example those the media uses

to keep us abreast of what is going on in

Iraq: Paul Bremer? It's a joke. I used to

think that the News Hour with Jim Lehrer

was legitimate, but I have noticed that he

never has as a guest or analyst an

individual directly affected by the issue

of the day. If he does, it is one who was

hand-picked. Not once have I seen

anyone on the news who was asked to

explain what life was like in Iraq during

the 13 years of American military

aggression against that country. No Iraqis

have been invited on television to talk

about how the embargo affected their

lives: the constant bombing of roads,

plants, water works and communication

centers, or the burning of crops. The

media give these things, among other

atrocities, no attention, as if they have not

contributed to the destruction of Iraqi

society.

I do not want to beat this in the head,

but the other day a group of us was

discussing how the World Bank subsidized

the $87 billion Bush said was needed to

support the troops and finance

"rebuilding" in Iraq for the next six to eight

months. Even though the news conveyed

that information, it failed to explain how

the World Bank functions and what this

World Bank subsidy means for the Iraqi

people. A viewer may possess some

information but not enough to process and

synthesize what has actually taken place.

I would appreciate it if you would keep

me on your mailing list. Your paper is an

invaluable source of information and

insight. MIM has allowed me to view

issues from a vantage I otherwise never

would have. This in turn has influenced

how I have viewed and responded to

other issues.

America espouses and acts upon a

specific economic-political ideology:

capitalism. I actually question if capitalism

or imperialism is a proper definition. All

major industries are monopolized, and

everyone who does business does

business at the behest of the monopolies.

There is no "Free Market" competition,

not competition in the true sense of the

word. Robert McChesney, in a paper

entitled "Corporate Media and the Threat

to Democracy" explained that each of

the eight largest U.$. media firms has, on

average, joint ventures with four of the

other seven giants. They also have more

ventures with smaller media firms.

Beyond joint ventures, there is also

overlapping direct ownership of these

firms. Seagram, owner of MCA, for

example owns 15 percent of Time Warner

and has other media equity holdings in

numerous other firms. The Capital Group

Companies mutual fund, valued at $250

billion, is among the very largest

shareholder in TCI, News Corporation,

Seagram, Time Warner, Viacom, Disney,

Westinghouse, and several other smaller

media firms.

One last thing. Howard Dean was

courting the votes of those who wave the

confederate flag. He was criticized for

that rather boisterously by Al Sharpton in

particular. But the stars and stripes flag

represents no better. Everywhere that

flag has been raised, including on this

continent, it has meant American

hegemony, exploitation and oppression. If

that flag is raised in Cambodia it cannot

help but resonate with memories of terror

when the Nixon Administration secretly

bombed that country. In Chile it brings up

memories of the U.$.'s role in

overthrowing Salvador Allende's

government. In Puerto Rico it recalls over

a hundred years of colonial relations with

America. The same emotions and

memories the confederate flag stirs up

for New Afrikans (Blacks) the American

flag does for people all around the world.

We missed the opportunity to exploit that.

Al Sharpton is a continuation of the

conciliatory politics that have tried to

legislate reforms in a system that places

profit before people and always will. His

energy and time are a detriment.

Vita Bila Ya Mashanti

(War Without Terms),

--a Michigan prisoner,

25 November, 2003

MIM responds: You are right about

corporate/government domination of the

Amerikan media and how that hinders

popular understanding of the problems we

face today. You are also correct that

Where on the news do we hear about the

effects of U$ sanctions on the Iraqis?

Continued on page 4...

MIM Notes 294 · January 1, 2004 · Page 3

Los Angeles, 13 December 2003 --

MIM attended a candlelight vigil in the

middle of Hollywood to end the

occupation of Iraq. The vigil started just

after dark on a well-picked street corner

and the crowd's signs and speeches drew

attention from people driving into LA

from the San Fernando Valley along with

tourists and families strolling on the Walk

of Fame in the early evening. A few

hundred people participated, and

passersby stopped throughout the evening

to gawk, find out what the crowd was

for, or show their support. We handed out

100+ copies of MIM Notes to the crowd,

and took a short poll to gauge the crowd's

opinion on current U.$. foreign policy.

Forty-seven people participated in our

quick poll over about an hour and a

quarter. We based our questions on those

suggested in MIM Notes 271,(1) with

slight modifications to account for the fact

that those questions were written before

the invasion of Iraq. Answering

percentages are rounded to the nearest

whole percent and may not add up to 100.

A mild skew comes from the fact that

for several respondents English was not

a first language and they answered "I

don't know" to some questions out of

concern that they were not

understanding the question adequately.

1. Using your own definition of

terrorism, would you call the U.$.

government a terrorist organization? Yes:

79% (37 people); No: 17% (8 people); I

don't know: 2% (1 persyn). The response

to this question in LA was similar to that

in Boston back in December.(2) Even

though we had narrowed this question

since our last poll, several people

hesitated in their responses before

answering yes, saying the question was

too broad. These people said that they

might call George Bush or the

Department of Defense terrorist but not

the government as a whole, or that they

think the U.$. is engaged in terrorist

activities right now but is not inherently

terrorist. We asked these people to give

their opinion of the government as a whole,

considering its current actions and those

of the past few months.

We might break this question down in

the future to reflect this range of opinion,

if we had more time or more pollsters.

But as we said in December, even with

imperfect or "vague" questions it is a

useful exercise to obtain a general idea

about the anti-war movement. MIM would

also say it is a useful exercise for those in

the anti-war movement to think about

Amerika or the U.$. government as a

whole. When asked to do this, anti-war

Amerikans apparently see their country

the way the rest of the world does.

2. On a scale of 1 (extreme

disapproval) to 7 (extreme approval),

how would you rate your opinion of the

U.$. handling of the Iraq situation? The

average answer was 1.1, with 1 (extreme

disapproval) getting 85% (40 people); 2

getting 4% (2 people); 3.5 getting 2% (1

persyn); and 5 also getting 2% (1 persyn).

Some people answered "negative 1,"

"negative 1000," or "it sucks." The

concentration of answers on this question

was pretty predictable, given that the

crowd had gathered to protest U.$.

actions in Iraq. We would probably not

repeat this question for such a crowd.

People at an anti-occupation rally have

pretty much answered this question just

by showing up.

A couple of those who answered more

favorably about the U.$. actions expected

that MIM would not want to include them

MIM anti-war polling continues in Los Angeles

reviewed by mim3@mim.org

It's been long enough since the movie

came out that this review will contain many

spoilers. I will start with my pre-movie

predictions.

Obviously I was wrong that Morpheus

would die. However, we did avoid a

totally happy ending and in this respect, I

am happy not to have to trash the movie

completely.

As our first review of this movie

pointed out, even though 99% of humyns

live in bondage (hooked up to the matrix),

the revolution does not seem to involve

them. They are an afterthought brought

in at the very end of the movie to tie

together some loose ends.

This movie is to such an extent a movie

about heroes that the climax is a borrowed

Greek myth about the gods. Neo, but only

Neo evolves in order to save the humyns.

His is a lonely and strong sacrifice when

he goes alone without his love. I at least

wondered whether he really had it in him.

The death imagery of the climax

includes Buddhist energy pattern beliefs

and Buddhist/Muslim beliefs about

boundaries beyond which wimmin cannot

pass. All this is to say that this is not a

fully modern work of art by any stretch

of the imagination. It seems to delight in

borrowing and challenging the audience

to uncover the theft covered up in sci-fi

forms.

There is not that much fiction out there

in the world that shows a whole class of

people liberating itself. Marx criticized the

art of heroes as "idealist." Hence, with

its emphasis on heroic individuals, we

Neo learned from his

enemy sufficiently to

bring about revolution.

This point is something

often not stressed

enough in our own class

struggles. Learning from

the enemy is not spying.

San Francisco, December 12

The Committee for Human Rights in the

Philippines (CHRP) hosted an event to show
a new movie entitled "Ang Kaaway" (The

Enemy). The movie did not provide any

new information to MIM, but it is an
excellent historical account with an

internationalist perspective.

The movie begins with the redeployment

of U.$. troops in the Philippines with the

announcement of the `War on Terrorism.'

A spokesperson from CHRP pointed out
the ramifications of the troops' presence

in both direct military involvement and the

effects on the daily lives of communities.
He cited a 600% increase in prostitution of

wimmin and children since the troops

returned. Meanwhile, the Filipino people
face an average of two murders a day by

the U.$.-puppet state.

A mass movement of Filipinos forced the

United $tates to close its military bases in

the Philippines at the beginning of the

1990s. The Filipino people prevented the
return of U.$. troops throughout the

decade, despite the wishes of the U.$.-

puppet state. But current President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo approved the Visiting

Forces Agreement (1), which gives U.$.

troops and ships access to the country. This
agreement violates the Filipino constitution

and is clearly opposed by the Filipino people.

She also invited U.$. troops to participate
in military operations (another

constitutional violation, but consistent with

the toadying nature of the Manila
government).

Both the movie and the CHRP speaker

did an excellent job of putting the Filipino
struggle in the context of the history of

revolutionary struggles and the current state

of national liberation movements occurring
throughout the world. The film faltered

some when discussing conditions in the

imperialist countries, however.

The film claimed that "free trade"

capitalism isn't even in the interest of people

in the imperialist countries. While implying

that Amerikans have it a little better this

statement ignored the economic realities

within imperialist countries, namely, that
the majority there benefits from the

exploitation of the Third World.

Furthermore, in the context of imperialist
countries, this statement plays the

internationalist "free trade" wing of the

bourgeoisie against the protectionist wing.
As we note in the article on the colonization

of Iraq (page one of this issue), these two

contradictory tendencies are inherent in
imperialism. The alternative to "free trade"

in the imperialist-country context is a

chauvinist movement like that of
Buchanan. (In the oppressed-nation

context, trade protections can be

progressive, because the national
bourgeoisie still plays a progressive role.)

Following the movie MIM was invited

to give a solidarity statement along with
comrades from the Korean, Asian Pacific

Islander and Costa Rican struggles. In our

statement a comrade pointed out that while
the system isn't in anyone's interest in the

long run, we have the choice in Amerika

to sit back and enjoy the superprofits stolen
from Filipino slaves and others like them

all around the world. Or we have the choice

to take our reactions to atrocities like those
in the movie and use them to fuel our

struggles to overthrow imperialism. We

also expressed solidarity with all national
liberation struggles, giving special

recognition to the Communist Party of the

Philippines, which has provided the
ideological leadership for a struggle that

has been at the forefront in the fight against

imperialism. The Filipino people have
proven that it is possible to stop U.$.

militarism and it is only a matter of time

and struggle until they are able to rid their
country of it forever.

Notes: MIM coverage of VFA:

www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/cal/vfa.html;
www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mn/ mn252/

vfaphilippines.html; www.etext.org/

Politics/MIM/fil/phil169.html.

Video Exposes Imperialism

in the Philippines

Matrix Revolutions Round II

cannot say that the "Matrix" is fully

materialist--though we have spent much

energy defending the "Matrix" against

its even more idealist fans and critics.

The process that Neo went through

though is roughly dialectical, for one

persyn. With the exception of my

Morpheus prediction I'd say my others

were correct.

"The new agent character, Agent

Smith who appears independent in part

II will play an important role, because he

is a software-machine construction with

a difference. He will play some kind of

mediating role, vanguard role in machine-

to-people relations.

"I predict that he will end up facilitating

some kind of new peace between

humyns and machines. However, this

peace will be path-breaking, troubled and

troubling, but make a good satisfying end

to the movie."

Agent Smith turned out to be the kink

in the order that restored order and

caused its evolution. Without him, there

could be no peace between humyns and

machines.

I also said, "I will predict that Neo in

particular has some learning to do to deal

with the machines, a dialectical

progression and there may be some

negotiation with the machines, but the

people will get substantially what they

want."

In fact, what Neo does is become a

new species with a central role in the

Matrix/machine-world. He has learned

Continued on page 8...

MIM Notes 294 · January 1, 2004 · Page 4

Notes: "The dollar is especially subject

to a total collapse."

Although the New York Times and

Democrats are talking about how

radically different Bush Jr. is, we would

not be surprised to see Bush Jr. cave in

on this point rather quickly. It may be a

diplomatic gambit at best. Nonetheless,

in a bourgeois world it is hopeless to think

that organizations such as the United

Nations can ever really bring peace.

These divisions that we see in Iraq have

a life of their own in the me-first kernel

of capitalism.

Notes:

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/

1 0 / i n t e r n a t i o n a l / m i d d l e e a s t /

10DIPL.html?hp

2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/

3290873.stm

3. http://www.washingtonpost.com/

wp-dyn/articles/A51059-2003Dec9.html

Iraq

Continued from page 1...

Amerika does not operate as a "free"

market -- and it doesn't bring a free

market to the countries it colonizes and

neocolonizes. However, that doesn't

mean Amerika is not capitalist, or that

there is no freedom here at all. Capitalism

has small swings back and forth between

more and less economic freedom, even

as it moves in the general direction of

more domination and less overall freedom

-- especially in the form of

monopolization, as you suggest.

Capitalism has never lived up to its own

mythology of freedom, from the very first

time the bourgeois ideologues declared

that individual workers "freely" chose

their employers and agreed to work for

the wages offered. For Marxists,

capitalism is defined not simply by the

existence of markets for trade, but also

by the domination of privately-owned

capital in the production process and the

exploitation of labor for profit. For that

system to be dynamic, a certain amount

of market freedom is necessary. When

markets are completely dominated by

monopolies, capitalism looses it dynamism

and eventually risks implosion -- that's

the good news.

`I hate to be associated
with cops and judges'

Dear MIM,

I would like to give my thanks and

praise to J Sakai for the work "Settlers:

The Mythology of the White Proletariat."

I am white and of Irish descent. I have

always felt strong ties and compassion

for my ancestral homeland of Ireland. I

acknowledge the fact that my ancestors

in Amerika were probably slavemasters,

and were definitely oppressors of African

and Indian peoples. I can't deny my past,

but I can learn from it and make an

attempt to educate my fellow Irish-

Amerikans about our true history: not the

fake history U.S. schools teach, but the

true history that J Sakai and other have

made me aware of.

So my fellow Irishmen I say this: reject

any loyalty to the U.S. This isn't our land.

Our land in back in Ireland. The British

scum have also captured our homeland.

I would love to know why so many

Irish people in Amerika are cops, D.A.s

and judges. I hate to be associated with

that aspect of my nationality. Associate

me with the "Patricio Corps" if you

associate me with anybody! During the

invasion of 1848, the "Patricio Corps"

defected to the Mexican forces and took

up arms against the U.S. empire. That

was only one of the gems of knowledge

that J Sakai made me aware of.

I encourage all Irish prisoners to learn

more about MIM and what they stand

for. If you know an inmate in your prison

that is of Irish descent, please pass my

letter along to him and let him read it.

Recognize and realize that all whites

aren't pro-U.S., and that there is a small

number of us that actually have

revolutionary potentials and beliefs. The

majority of the Euro- Amerikan "left" are

at best reactionaries, whose only goal is

reform within the U.S. empire. [...]

Keep the revolution alive, maintain your

composure and hold your heads up

comrades!

--A Pennsylvania prisoner, October

2003

MIM responds: J. Sakai and MIM

put forward similar answers to the

question of why many immigrant groups

who were oppressed in Europe became

part of the oppressor Amerikan nation,

becoming "cops, DAs and judges"--to

say nothing of Governors and Presidents!

MIM summed up its position in its review

of Noel Ignatiev's How the Irish Became

White.

"This historical reality of the

predominantly lower-middle class Irish

who made it to North America reinforces

the thesis of the difficulty of maintaining

a proletariat where there is a larger mass

of workers influencing them towards

assimilation. It is difficult for a pocket of

exploited workers to maintain its identity

and uniqueness as a class. When the Irish

arrived they were indeed proletarian, but

as they looked around they saw adequate

examples of why they should conform to

the white ethnicity" (1).

This letter-writer also raises the

possibility that empathy with the home

country can turn immigrants' sympathies

against U.$. imperialism. This is certainly

the case for immigrants from oppressed

nations--including the counties in

northern Ireland still under British

occupation, with U.$. complicity. At its

best, this oppressed-nation nationalism is

also internationalist. For example, early

Irish nationalist Daniel O'Connell said he

"didn't want any support for Irish

nationalism that was not against slavery"

(1).

Notes:
1. http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/
bookstore/books/whitenation/ignatiev.html. You
can also purchase How the Irish Became White
through this website.

How can MIM
support the death
penalty?

I am not trying to criticize MIM's views,

I am only trying to understand MIM's

supported view of the death penalty,

according to the Selected Works of Mao

Tsetung. I am against any form of

execution to any race or gender. I do not

believe humans can submit judgment of

any guilty/nonguilty prisoner's life,

whether or not he/she harmed, violated,

or destroyed another human life/lives. To

judge the final verdict, based on man-

made laws, of any human's existence

here upon Mother Earth and destroying

the Almighty's perfect creation, is placing

oneself on an equal platform as the

Almighty. One is a murderer as much as

the prisoner in every sense by the ways

of judging his/her life under or by this

unrighteous death penalty law.

What is righteous and equally

punishable in a judicial branch of the social

government is enforcing the life sentence

as the maximum punishment of law.

Sentencing a guilty prisoner of such acts

as intentional murder, multiple rapes, child

molestation, to a lifetime of confinement

without parole is reasonable punishment

because the sentence strips that

prisoner's rights to live among society

forever.

--A Texas Prisoner, November 2003

MIM responds: We oppose the death

penalty as practiced by the bourgeoisie

and U.$. imperialist state--just as we

oppose their injustice system and their

wars generally. We share this opposition

with you and many others, including other

religious people, with whom we also have

fundamental disagreements. There are

many ways we can work together to

challenge this system in spite of our

disagreements.

You raise the question of execution as

a philosophical one, outside of the specific

context of an existing state power. Can

one humyn judge another? In the society

humynity is capable of creating, we think

that is not only possible, but necessary.

Can humyns put themselves on the same

level as god? Certainly, since god does

not exist outside of the ideas people

created.

The idea that there are some things

ordained by god that humyns cannot

understand is fundamentally conservative,

and we oppose it. The bourgeoisie

opposed it back in the 18th and early 19th

centuries, when it was still a progressive

force, fighting for power against feudalism

and monarchy. Now that it has state

power and is threatened by the oppressed

masses questioning its rule, the

bourgeoisie not only tolerates but actively

promotes all kinds of obscuratinist

garbage.

MIM is not philosophically opposed to

violence. Arguments about violence must

come with evidence of their comparative

effectiveness in the real world or be guilty

of siding with the violence of the status

quo. Typically middle-class critics of

Maoism with humyn-rights illusions

cannot name any place concretely

speaking where humyn-rights exist and

where those guilty of needing extensive

self-defense can go. Show the peasants

of Peru a genuine humyn-rights zone and

they will gladly walk in and abandon

Maoism. Alternatively, MIM says the

oppressed must meet the violence of the

oppressors with violence as a matter of

self-defense. We can point to the

successes of the Chinese and Russian

revolutions in extending life expectancy,

expanding literacy etc. as proof that our

approach works.

We consider prisons generally and the

death penalty in particular to be political

tools, in the same sense that war is a

continuation of politics by other means.

The bourgeoisie knows this too, despite

its rhetoric about "universal human

rights." That's why Amerika's

prisoners--especially those on death

row--are disproportionately from

oppressed nations; that's why politically

active prisoners are more likely to end up

in solitary confinement. We will fight tooth

and nail against those who insist they have

a "right" to profit by denying the

oppressed basic survival rights. If this

means we sentence some of these people

to death, so be it.

On a related note, we recognize state

power--including the responsibility to

judge and punish criminals--must be

handled with the utmost accountability.

As Mao said, people's heads are not like

leeks; they cannot grow back again once

they are chopped off. That's why we think

Party members who make deadly

mistakes should themselves face the

death penalty.(1) The Party is no place

for corruption, careerism or laziness

where the livelihood of the masses is

concerned.

Notes:

1. See our "Theses on the vanguard

party in the transition to communism,"

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

cong/thesesonvanguard2002.html.

Letters

Continued from page 2...

The oppressed must meet the violence of

the oppressors with violence as a matter of

self-defense.

MIM Notes 294 · January 1, 2004 · Page 5

"Tropico" still way better

than average shoot-'em-up

Tropico: Mucho Macho Edition
(2002)
Pop Tart Software

Tropico is a make-believe island in the

Caribbean and the game starts in 1949.

Although it is just a tad simplified

compared with other computer strategy

games coming out at this time, it still has

enough variety and complexity to play for

months straight without reduplicating

games. Even though the game claims to

have communist options and focuses

heavily on Cuba, the main character is a

classical authoritarian dictator with a

groveling advisor side-kick.

The advantage of the "authoritarian"

persynality is that since the object of the

game is to take care of one's subjects

and not be ousted from power it forces

the player into thinking about the island

overall and that is important to anyone's

scientific development. Although the

game is titled "Mucho Macho," it also has

a "teen" rating from the ESRB. It does

not appear to have any pornography. From

parents' perspective, this game has a

number of other advantages. One stems

from the trend in strategy games to think

of many different game goals instead of

the usual take-over-the-place-by-force-

and-kill-all-the-enemies, possibly all

accomplished with a single joy-stick. At

root "Tropico" is really a real-estate

developers' game and among other

modes it is possible to play it in "sandbox"

mode just to see how all the buildings and

plants look.

The player has a choice of characters

to serve as "El Presidente" of the island-

nation and Che Guevara is the first one

offered. Ordinary characters in the game

acting as subjects of Presidente's rule

have Latin American or Russian names

such as Andropov, Putin and Gorbachev.

There are also "humorous" names such

as "Badenov" (Bad-enough) and "Bigot"

attached to a Black character.

The reviewer played the game in "open-

ended" mode as Che. The other players

possible included a league of bourgeois

dictators from history. MIM regards Che

as a revolutionary anti-imperialist martyr,

not a Leninist.. While Che adopted Mao's

military thinking and he tried to bring

socialist economic strategies to Cuba he

did not break free from Soviet revisionism

while Castro sided with Khruschev

against Mao. He left the island without

developing the economic struggle against

revisionism sufficiently and embarked on

military adventures unconnected to a

sense of economic reality as he himself

admitted in the Congo.(1) (On the plus

side, he knew he was killing imperialist

occupier troops in that adventure.)

The game scenario chosen by the

reviewer started with a 47% difficulty

rating, but in addition to the game's rules,

the reviewer used self-imposed rules to

make the game more difficult. The self-

imposed rules were 1) total atheism, no

churches, popes or cathedral building 2)

no prisons or dungeons 3) open

immigration and no "love it or leave it"

policy. One dungeon option claims to

serve as a thought-reform institute if the

prisoner survives three years. Again, with

a serious topic at hand, the game reduces

everything to a joke about

authoritarianism.

While people are starving and

unemployed throughout the Caribbean,

there are people politically demanding

churches on a regular basis. The religious

were the most coup- and rebellion-inclined

people in the reviewer's game.

With Che as the island's leader, politics

does play a role. Che receives a 50%

bonus in radio propaganda effectiveness.

This makes the island population less

likely to vote out or overthrow Che. There

are also protests in the game.

Most of the rest of the game is accurate

in terms of Brezhnev era pseudo-

communism, which is really state-

capitalism with a social-democratic

facade. For example, there is no question

of how the workplace is organized. The

"Presidente" has the choice to build sky-

lights in factories to appease workers, but

there is not much more in terms of

relations between workers and rulers or

bosses inside factories.

Another Brezhnev era truism is worked

into the simulation. It may be possible to

start the game out in such a way that

foreign aid is not crucial, but the reviewer

suspects that most players will end up

depending on U.S. or Russian aid to keep

the budget in the black in the initial few

years.

MIM does not doubt that this sardonic

simulation game has summed up

approximately the experiences of millions

of people with phony communism. For

many, communism as socialist-leadership

principle means social security, free

education and free health care and not

much more.

Ironically, in "Tropico" when college

education is free and students receive

two-thirds the normal salary and everyone

receives double food rations, there is still

a shortage of students and the vast

majority of people choose to remain

uneducated to the point of not completing

high school. With electricity plants and

TV stations to run, this is very frustrating

for the economy and "Presidente." The

only way to encourage people to go to

college is to widen the pay gap between

those jobs requiring college education and

those that do not. As the saying goes,

otherwise, people "do not know what they

are missing."

This touches on a crucial question for

the economics of socialism. At first, it may

seem that "Tropico" is just absurdly

wrong, but in fact, there is a contradiction

between "red and expert" as the Chinese

Maoists said. When the understanding of

"red" is "yeah, I'm for free college, food

subsidies, social security and free health

care," then the reason we communists

want the people to avail themselves of

educational opportunities is missing. The

solution to parasitism of the rich is not

the smaller but more widespread

parasitism of the poor. Advance involves

synthesis, and some of the traits that

capitalists say they have are indeed

necessary for advance. By themselves

demands for free health care and

education are merely social-democratic,

not communist.

In fact, in the World War II era, Stalin

in the USSR had to do exactly what the

reviewer had to do: widen the pay gap

between educated technicians and

ordinary workers to get the economy

going fast enough to defeat Hitler. We

Maoists only question whether Stalin did

enough political mass mobilization to

reduce the extent to which wage gaps

had to be widened. Subsequently, Stalin

had to fight off coup attempts and various

kinds of discontent, just as one would in

"Tropico."

In "Tropico" when the people

overthrow "Presidente" we do not see

what the next course they adopt turns out

to be. We know what the demands of

the people are throughout the game, but

we never see how anyone proposes

concretely to address them. In this sense

there is something missing from

"Tropico." "Tropico" claims that political

mobilization helps to maintain the rulers

in power and nothing else. That's what

museums, radio stations and TV are for

in the game. For this reason, free-market

cynics say that we Maoists do not actually

accomplish anything with our political

campaigns: only money can accomplish

anything economic. In contrast, we

believe that most economic lessons are

learned in practice. If it takes a political

campaign to break old economic patterns

and allow something to be learned in

practice, then that political campaign has

its success through its effect on the

economy.

The view that politics is only about

individual power-holding is the sterile

Liberal-anarchist view. This game is

perfect toward that end except that the

player has to be the "Presidente" to play.

In contrast, we Maoists hold that it does

matter who and what class hold power.

All class societies have power struggles.

That's not new. How those power

struggles affect society at large is the only

interesting question.

On the subject of economics, "Tropico"

is really about making the right real estate

choices if one aims at economic

development to begin with. As a

communist, one has the power to set

wages and fire individual workers but not

to force individual workers into individual

plants or even show them that they exist.

The best one can do is run profitable

luxury goods businesses to subsidize the

many items necessary for propaganda or

the people's economic benefit such as

hospitals, schools and some forms of

subsidized entertainment. The better job

one does in placing and operating luxury

good enterprises for exports, the more

money is available for the people's

benefits in this game--a point that may

well be true of transitional stages called

"socialism" and as pointed out more

indirectly in Trevor Chan's game titled

"Capitalism."

The focus on profits in luxury industries

sounds very state-capitalist. True, within

"Tropico" enterprises are not competing

with each other and there are no

bureaucratic factions of Presidente's

government competing to implement

things different ways. At the same time,

the wage rate is really set by the rest of

the capitalist Caribbean, because workers

who believe wages are too low simply

leave the country. So there is an element

of competition and points out the limited

extent to which a small country can

escape the larger world's economic orbit,

which in 1949 was assuredly capitalist.

We communists often point out that the

world has enough food to feed everyone,

but it is not properly distributed. In taking

over a small place like Tropico, that

generalization is not really relevant. When

U.$. imperialism falls, we may be able to

carry out that distribution, but when

communists seize power in Cuba for

instance, the solution to world hunger is

not necessarily on the political agenda of

Cuba by itself.

A limited number of people may choose

to live as farmers in crude conditions, but

"Tropico" does not really allow one to play

strictly for internal economic

development. Goods production will end

up transported for export whether the

"Presidente" wants it or not. If there is a

shortage of ports by the player's design,

goods for export will pile up at the port,

unused by the local population. On the

other hand, in the real world we would

be silly to advise a small nation to depend

on internal economic development alone

if export is possible without giving

imperialists control of the economy.

There is no Maoist option in this game,

but it still can teach players some things.

It's not our favorite game, and has a

mixed political message, but compared

with other games out there, it's definitely

way above average. Instead of that army

simulation or fighter-plane simulation

game, buy someone "Tropico" instead.

Notes

1. See our review of Che's African

Diaries, http://www.etext.org/Politics/

M I M / b o o k s t o r e / b o o k s / a f r i c a /

checongo.html

Economic sim game cuts both ways

MIM Notes 294 · January 1, 2004 · Page 6

A December 12 demonstration at the

California Department of Corrections

(CDC) in Sacramento (called for by the

Barrio Defense Committee, a community

organization in San Jose) drew attention

to the Security Housing Units in (SHUs)

California prisons. SHUs are torture cells

where many Latino prisoners are locked

up in solitary confinement for indefinite

sentences. These SHU sentences are

imposed on supposed gang members, but

the criteria for gang member validation

makes all Latinos likely suspects. Talking

to someone in the prison yard, having a

tattoo, and even signing a get-well card

are all marks against a prisoner.

Prisoncrats target politically active

prisoners for this supposed validation to

get them out of the yard so that they can't

educate and influence other prisoners.

A leader of the Barrio Defense

Committee explained, "From the [Senate

SHU] hearings of September 15, 2003, it

looks like it costs $60,000 to $70,000 to

maintain one person in the SHU, which

is millions of dollars wasted. Steve

Castillo has been in the SHU for 8 years

because he is a jailhouse lawyer. Hugo

Pinell has been in the SHU for countless

years because of his political beliefs! John

Martinez was sent to the SHU for

questioning the brutality in Corcoran!

Francisco Cesar Villa is in the SHU for

asking for the right size of shoes! And

Jose Luis Avina and Eddie Bustamante

are in the SHU for participating in the

1999 New Folsom Prison hunger strike.

So ultimately, it comes down to organizing

in the streets to make the fundamental

changes to shut down the SHUs for a

victory."

The protest in front of the CDC

marched to the state house to join the

Latino boycott demonstration (see page

one article). The boycotters in front of

the state house eagerly signed a petition

circulated by MIM to shut down the SHU

and several spoke of relatives (or their

own experience) locked up in these units.

A small group of activists proceeded

inside to present a letter demanding the

SHU be shut down to Senator Gloria

Romero, chair of the Senate Select

Committee on the California Correctional

System. Romero held hearings a few

months ago to investigate the Security

Housing Units (see MN 289) but activists

had heard no follow up from her since

then.

Romero was not in the office but her

consultant on the committee, Rocky

Rushing, agreed to speak with the

SHU protesters join Sacramento demonstration

activists. He explained that the CDC had

met with the committee just last week to

report on "progress" towards solving the

problems raised at the hearings. Bottom

line: the CDC was not going to change

anything. The CDC agreed to make a

few cosmetic adjustments to their gang

validation process which will allow

prisoners to respond to the evidence.

Most of the evidence is secret, and the

CDC did not agree to do anything with

prisoner's responses, so this is

meaningless. The CDC also agreed to

add some programs in the SHU. But these

too are meaningless, focusing on

education about gangs and anger

management, so that the CDC can

pretend the SHU is really doing something

about "gangs" in California prisons, rather

than providing much needed libraries,

education, and recreation.

The activists questioned Senator

Romero's assistant about follow up (that

the Senator had promised) on all the

concerns raised by friends and family at

the recent public hearing. He said they

told the CDC to address all concerns

raised and supplied the CDC with a

transcript of the hearing to do so. And he

went on to say that the CDC claimed they

had already addressed all these concerns!

Needless to say, SHU organizers have

not heard of the CDC following up with

a single attendee at that hearing, where

close to a hundred people testified about

the horrors of the SHU.

Perhaps most revealing was the

assistant's statement that they hoped to

organize another meeting with the CDC

and people concerned about the SHU so

that when the CDC refuses to change

those people at the table can feel like they

were included. MIM takes this to mean

that at least Senator Romero's assistant

does not believe the Government has any

power over the California Department of

Corrections. They can call meetings, but

they cannot force change. This is no

surprise as the CDC huge budget is still

unaffected even after big budget cuts and

extensive negotiating between the

branches of the California government to

arrive at a balanced budget.

MIM knows that real change to the

criminal injustice system won't come from

a Senate Committee. But we continue to

appeal to all possible avenues as we fight

for reforms to improve the lives of our

brothers and sisters behind bars while we

educate and build for the complete

overthrow of the imperialist system.

about $500,000. It is hard to quantify the

economic impact to stores, but across the

state, judging from absences in public

schools, participation in the boycott

appeared extensive. Several businesses

interviewed by mainstream media

reported shutting down their stores

because they recognize the importance

of (cheap) immigrant labor to their profits.

The economic loss from a one-day

closure, even during holiday shopping, is

nothing compared to the loss they would

face if they lost their workers. This

decision was no doubt also fueled by

pragmatism for some companies who

knew most of their workers planned to

honor the boycott and skip work.

Demonstrations were held across the

state by groups of Latinos. A few non-

Latinos joined in solidarity. In heavily

Latino towns like Fresno and Santa Rosa

hundreds of protesters took to the streets.

In front of the state house in Sacramento

several hundred protestors braved the

rain to join the fight. The boisterous crowd

got much support from passing cars

honking at the signs calling for driver

licenses and equal rights for Latino

immigrants.

Called for by the Mexican American

Political Association, based in Los

Angeles, the boycott gained no union

support. On such short notice, it is possible

organizers did not seek union

endorsements. But it is no surprise to

MIM that unions were not even

represented at the demonstrations which

were dominated by Mexican immigrants.

The Amerikan unions have a long history

of opposing immigrant labor and

organizing for the rights of white workers

to the exclusion of oppressed nations. The

Amerikan unions are strongly behind

closed borders and fear jobs being lost to

immigrants or being lost to other countries.

This is because those unions are

safeguarding the high standard of living

enjoyed by citizens in this country at the

expense of the people in Third World

countries. Third World workers are

exploited by Amerikan corporations

which then bring the profits home and

share them with Amerikan workers in the

form of higher wages and benefits. Illegal

immigrants within Amerikan borders face

the same exploitation.

Notes:

1. U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2000

Brief, "The Hispanic Population".

Latinos boycott California

Continued from page 1...

MIM and the Barrio Defense Committee are calling for a state-wide planning

meeting of all organizations and individuals interested in joining the fight to shut

down the Security Housing Units in California's prisons. We propose to hold

this meeting Saturday, Feb 7, 2004 at 12:00 Noon at the Centro Aztlan in San

Jose. If you are interested in attending this meeting please contact us at

mim124@mim.org for more information.

Missed Mao

Zedong's Birthday?

(December 26th)?

Don't worry, you can buy your

favorite revolutionary some deep

theory or rebellious culture any time

of the year!

Order some of Mao's writings through MIM's website:
http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/wim/maoworks.html

Other books, as well as music and movies are reviewed

and available at our website!

Books (various regions and countries, the environment,

gender, capitalism & communism, the USSR, China etc.):
http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/bookstore/books/

Music (punk, heavy metal, pop, hip hop etc.):
http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/bookstore/index.html#M

Movies (100s of reviews, from Battleship Potemkin to The
Matrix Trilogy): http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/movies/

Video games (mostly strategy games):
http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/bookstore/vgames/

MIM Notes 294 · January 1, 2004 · Page 7

in the poll because of their opinions. The

truth is that we do these polls to find out

what people think. We don't shy away

from the truth--in fact, MIM stands out

from self-proclaimed "Communist"

parties because we acknowledge the

majority of Amerikans oppose

Communism (and not just because they've

been "brainwashed" by anti-Communist

propaganda). We stand by the oppressed

internationally, even though that puts us

in the minority inside the United $tates.

3. If France, Israel, England and

Canada were the countries partnering

with the u.$. in the occupation, would you

support the occupation in Iraq? Yes: 4%

(2 people); No: 89% (42 people); I don't

know: 4% (2 people). A plurality of

people answered this question "No,"

adding "I want the UN," or "the UN

would have to be involved for me to

support [the occupation]."

A respondent from France explained

that his position would not change if his

country were involved in the occupation,

because Jacques Chirac's government

does not have a programmatic objection

to imperialist war, it just has interests in

Iraq that were disrupted by the Amerikan

invasion and occupation.

For its own part, MIM does not go in

for the UN = internationalism line. We

have already seen the UN lend its name

to a military action when really the U.$.

is in charge, as happened in Korea and

the first Iraq war, for example.

We would not recommend repeating

this question at an anti-occupation event

without specifying it a bit. For others

polling on the same question, we would

recommend making this question multiple

choice rather than a simple yes/no, to

incorporate the line that says UN support

or some diversity of nations makes for a

truly internationalist action.

It's obvious from these survey results

that the respondents are self-selected for

MIM anti-war polling continues in Los Angeles

opposition to the occupation of Iraq and

do not reflect the opinion of Amerikans

generally--especially those Amerikans

who live outside of the cosmopolitan cities

on the two coasts. What's less clear is if

these protestors have broken with the left

wing of the Democratic Party, which

would be happy with an Amerikan

occupation of Iraq, as long as it is under

U.N. auspices.

There are limits to the depth of a poll

taken at a rally, so these questions might

not be what we would ask if we had a

big operation calling people at dinnertime

and surveying 2,000 respondents. But as

we said in MIM Notes 271, we believe

there is value in learning even in a limited

way what the anti-war movement thinks,

especially as we collect answers from

more parts of the country than just Los

Angeles and Boston. Major population

centers still not surveyed are the South

and Midwest. For those wanting to take

their own polls, we would suggest asking

the following questions:

1. Using your own definition of

terrorism, would you call the U.$.

government a terrorist organization?

2. I'm going to list two sets of countries

that were asked to participate in the Iraq

action; I want to know if any of them

participating in the Iraq occupation would

win your support for the occupation? a.

France, Germany and Canada? Yes/No/

Don't know b. the UN? Yes/No/Don't

know

Notes:
1. "MIM conducts a poll of its own at Boston
demo," MIM Notes 271, p. 5.
2. Answers to the question "Using your own
definition of terrorism, do you believe the
United $tates is terrorist?" are in the MN271
article. Read the article on MIM's website:
http://www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/mn/

Continued from page 3...

Measure of Man (2003)
BMG

reviewed by MC5, November 2003

For those readers lucky enough not

to be bombarded by the Amerikan FOX

channel's press releases, Clay Aiken

was runner up in a popular televised

singing competition. His album is also

a big hit. We review him here because

of this popularity.

Upon first listening to this album one

could think that if only the words changed

a little, Clay Aiken would be another

Christian rock effort. The music tries to

be uplifting and innocent relative to

pornopop. There are no lyrics to any

religious effect: they are all silly love

songs.

When one opens the CD album jacket

suspicions are confirmed. The jacket

starts out "Thank you, God the Alpha"

and ends "and again, Jesus Christ, the

Omega, for giving me gifts far beyond

what I deserve, and allowing me to do

what I truly enjoy doing. my life is in your

hands."

This is predictable because there is

such a thing as a science of political

matters which include religion and social

attitudes. The music is 1980s. One will

hear Cher belting out a ballad without the

benefit of being an early female rock star.

"Journey" is another sound one might

think of. This sort of music has received

a level of acceptance in the soft to medium

rock category.

The point is that the music is a music

of a contentment and even when

discussing a girlfriend's depression or

disappointment, the song is upbeat and

supportive. Though Clay Aiken is 24, his

hairstyle is boyish and we imagine he has

some following among teenage girls. He

came to fame through that unusual

method of winning a TV amateur contest

on "American Idol." Looking even more

boyish than on the CD, an interview for

Fox News(1) says that the last concert

he went to was James Taylor, another

singer of contentment. As MIM has

pointed out, one need not be a capitalist

or even a petty-bourgeois to be content

with the existing patriarchy--romance

culture--especially if one is young and

considered attractive.

Upbeat, innocent and content music

points disproportionately to Amerikan

Christians. Jesus Christ himself was a

revolutionary, but today Christianity is a

culture of contentment. Evanescence

tries to walk that line between Christian

contentment and conservatism on the one

hand and edgy music on the other hand

and found it does not work. The band's

vocalist Amy Lee is now trying to move

her band over to her real audience. At

the moment, we do not know how well

that is going to work going forward.

Despite his own upbeat and straight

music, Clay Aiken was the product of a

failed marriage and a father that called

him a "mistake."(2) People like Clay

Aiken are exactly the proof that

Christianity does not provide solutions to

real problems. Amerikkkans are much

more devout in their Christianity than

Europeans, but Amerikkkans still have

the huge and growing problem of

disappearing fathers. Preaching obviously

has not worked and in this strange world

with so many children of broken families,

the Amerikkkans are not ready to go on

to communal or even more socialized

child rearing. There are still lots of doubts

about leaving children with daycare, so

Amerikkkans are stuck in their

conservative thoughts unable to move

forward but also unable to sustain the

family their Christian preachers tell them

about--having the worst of both worlds

in doubts about socialism and inability to

do things the old way. These preachers

are only prolonging the agony of transition

to what has to come through revolution.

Clay Aiken calls himself a "nerd" and

his former job was taking care of autistic

children. We don't find anything

intellectual in the album. The least silly of

the songs on the album is "Measure of a

Man." It could be taken as a criticism of

heterosexual wimmin as they exist in the

imperialist countries today or anywhere

that money is the reason for attraction:

If one day you discover him/

Broken down he's lost everything/

No cars, no fancy clothes to make

Clay Aiken's silly love songs

him who he's not/

The woman at his side is all that he

has got/

Why do you ask him move to heaven

and earth/

To prove his love has worth?

The references to cars and fancy

clothes could be taken to mean that Clay

Aiken is asking wimmin why they care

so much whether a petty-bourgeois

becomes a little higher in class standing.

MIM pushes this question further and

asks whether desire is really a

construction of capitalism, since we know

that capitalism intertwines sex and money

even more than previous class societies.

This is something about people today that

will not disappear with criticism of

lifestyles. It will require the armed

criticism of revolution.

MIM Notes 294 · January 1, 2004 · Page 8

prisoners in 2002 except for spies for

I$rael and the United $tates.(5) Within

the United $tates, Texas had the highest

imprisonment rate of all states when Bush

was governor.(6)

Those propagandized but ignorant will

then say that Saddam Hussein imprisoned

people for acts of speech while the United

$tates supposedly does not. This is a

horribly ignorant view. First of all, the

United $tates has more prisoners, and in

no capitalist country do the rulers fail to

make up an excuse for imprisoning their

political opponents. In the social-fascist

People's Republic of China, they do not

say, "you are in prison for dissident

speech." They say you are disturbing the

peace, disrupting public order or inciting

national hatreds. It's the same

everywhere in the bourgeois republics.

Those countries with more prisoners,

and especially those with longer

George W. Bush or Saddam Hussein

Which one is worse for Iraq?

sentences as in the United $tates, should

be suspected of having more political

prisoners. People with scientific integrity

will look at the figures first and then ask

the rulers to prove their point otherwise.

The burden of proof should be on them.

Despite the claims of "patriotism" by

the Bush-supporters, the only alternative

view possible given the facts is that the

Amerikkkan people deserve the world's

highest imprisonment rate, because the

rulers are so spotlessly clean and would

not be imprisoning people for political

reasons of an Amerikkkan variety. Mostly

what the Amerikkkan rulers do (and

British ones too since they lead Europe

excluding Russia in imprisonment) is

evade the question and spout propaganda.

The next problem for the Amerikkkan

nationalist fools who believe the rhetoric

about "freedom" is that Amerikkkan

occupation forces in Iraq have been

shooting and killing people at

Continued from page 1...

Notes for the table:

1. While Bush was governor of

Texas, Texas had the highest

imprisonment rate in the united $tates,

which is the country with the highest

imprisonment rate in the world. http://

www.cnn.com/2000/US/09/28/

incarceration.study.ap/

2. Source for execution of juvenile

offenders: http://web.amnesty.org/

library/Index/

George

Saddam

W. Bush

Hussein

Iraqis killed by Saddam Hussein per day vs. Bush occupation (2003)

Number of juvenile convicts executed in the 1990s

6 (U$A as a whole)

Percent of parliament that is female (2001)

13.3%

7.6%

Economic growth rate annually in Texas (1999-2000) and Iraq (1999)

2.9%

18%

How they rate:

Bush vs. Hussein

ENGACT500021998?open&of=ENG-

IRQ Texas executed 12 of 20 juveniles

executed in the united $tates in two

decades. http://

www.commondreams.org/news2002/

0826-02.htm Out of 80 on death row in

the united $tates, 51 are people of color.

3. Source on females in parliament

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mi/

mi_series_results.asp?rowId=660 In

Texas, there have only been a total of

86 female legislators between 1923 and

1999. There were 6000 men. Nancy

Baker Jones, Capitol Women. If

someone had invaded Texas to speed

up the progress of wimmin there, we

would have supported that, but maybe

Texans should have a little more

sympathy for the Iraqi situation.

4. 18% figure from: http://

www.economist.com/countries/Iraq/

profile.cfm?folder=Profile%2

DEconomic%20Data Saddam Hussein

also posted figures averaging 13%

economic growth from 1995-1999.

2.9% figure from: http://216.239.37.104/

search?q=cache:ATv7DXts5aoJ:www.bea.gov/

bea/ARTICLES/2002/06june/

0602gsp.pdf+%22GDP+growth%22

+%22by+state%22+%2BTexas+%2B1999+%

2B2000&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

demonstrations. They have also

prevented a free press from forming,

going to the point of militarily attacking

media that attempt independence in

Iraq.(7)

In fact, the whole war on Iraq is

organized killing of political opponents.

According to Prime Minister Tony Blair's

inflated estimate referring mostly to

people suppressed or sacrificed during the

long 1980s war with Iran and the uprising

supported and then backstabbed by Bush

Sr. after the 1991 war, Saddam Hussein

killed 400,000 Iraqis.(8) In 24 years, that's

16,667 people per year and 46 people per

day--again mostly people killed in the

Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, the war during

which Donald Rumsfeld flew to Saddam

Hussein to say he agreed with it.(9)

Between the uprising that Bush Sr.

backstabbed (10) and the Iran-Iraq war

that Reagan and Rumsfeld supported,

George W. Bush's party and family are

on record agreeing with the causes that

led to the vast majority of deaths under

Saddam Hussein. That's not to mention

that Saddam Hussein got his start killing

communists with advice and money from

the CIA (11) that Bush Sr. eventually

headed.

Even if Bush-supporters agreed with

most of Saddam Hussein's killing, it's still

possible they would have done slightly less,

so let's break down the killing done by

the United $tates now in Iraq. According

to figures from the Baghdad morgue, the

invasion of Iraq has nearly tripled the

mortality rate and led to more than 18

more deaths per day in Baghdad alone

compared with before.(12) However,

Baghdad is one fifth the population of Iraq,

so in fact, we can extrapolate that the

u.$. occupation is costing (since April

when the fighting Bush planned ended)

about 90 deaths per day. That is almost

Continued on next page...

MIM Notes 294 · January 1, 2004 · Page 9

exactly double the number of deaths per

day that Blair is accusing Saddam Hussein

of as ruler of Iraq. However, the data we

use would actually be much firmer than

the data which groups like Amnesty

International try to document in patches

but never tally to the 400,000 figure Blair

uses. In other words, there are other

estimates of the civilian deaths in

Iraq,(13) but there is a lot more wildness

in Blair's estimate.

Thanks to the economic sanctions of

Bush Sr., Clinton and Bush Jr., there is

also the matter that even before the 2003

invasion of Iraq, the United $tates was

killing Iraqis without Saddam Hussein's

assistance. Indeed, no one denies that

Saddam Hussein sought actively to build

business and black market ties that

undermined the U.$. economic

stranglehold on Iraq. According to the

United Nations statistical agencies, the

U.$. & British sanctions on Iraq caused

millions of Iraqi children to go

malnourished. Referring to 500,000

deaths, Secretary of State Madelaine

Albright put it this way to Lesley Stahl: "I

think that is a very hard choice, but the

price, we think, the price is worth it."(14)

We sympathize with people globally

who in essence aspire to a world

government that would not allow a

Saddam Hussein. We proletarian

internationalists believe such a world

government can come about to the benefit

of the world's people. However, people

hoping for a more peaceful world

government of the future should not allow

Bush & Blair to sucker them into

domination by a handful of powerful

nations now. Allowing some sort of

international action to replace Saddam

Hussein is a case in point. Peace through

extermination is the illusion of fascism and

it will never work.

Notes:

1. http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/

story/0,12956,1106957,00.html

2. http://www.usatoday.com/news/

polls/tables/live/2003-12-14-saddam.htm

3. "Capture to Give Bush a Big Lift

Analysts Say," http://www.nytimes.com/

2003/12/14/international/middleeast/

14CND-POLI.html?hp

4. http://www.jeff-swanson.com/

archive/2003/10/05/001734.html ;

http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/

?id=110004430 ;

5. http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/

meast/10/20/iraq.amnesty/

6. http://www.cnn.com/2000/US/09/28/

incarceration.study.ap/7. http://

www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles7/

Fisk_US-Censorship.htm ;http://

www.dissidentvoice.org/Articles8/

Fisk_Iraq-Censorship.htm. A newspaper

closely linked to British military

intelligence has reported it all. There is

no dispute of fact: "Two months after

`liberating' Iraq, the Anglo-US authorities

have decided to control the new, free

press." www.independent.co.uk

8. http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/

2003/s1010066.htm

9. President Ronald Reagan sent

Rumsfeld to meet with Saddam Hussein

in December, 1983.http://

www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/

0,2763,866942,00.html ; The CIA

simultaneously arranged to send cluster

bombs to Saddam Hussein to use against

Iran.The U.S. Government documents

concerning this fact are here:http://

www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/

NSAEBB82/press.htm

10. After initially giving the green light,

Bush Sr. decided that there would be too

much chaos if the 1991 Gulf War led to

Saddam Hussein's defeat in an Iraqi civil

war. Bush Sr. ordered that the insurgents

not have access to their weapons and in

effect, Bush Sr. sealed their deadly fate.

Bush Jr. supported those in Bush Sr.

cabinet who believed they should have

attacked Saddam Hussein at the time.

11. Milan Rai & Noam Chomsky, War

Plan Iraq: Ten Reasons against War on

Iraq (London: Verso, 2002), p. 97.

12. http://www.iraqbodycount.net/

ibc23sep03.htmThese figures could be

interprted as deaths caused by Bush

beyond the deaths caused by Saddam

Hussein, because earlier mortality figures

could be seen as Saddam Hussein's

responsibility, while later ones are Bush's.

In this article, what we do instead is give

Bush the benefit of the doubt and a

conservative method by only counting the

deaths as deaths beyond what is natural

for Iraqis just as we are using the 46 figure

as deaths beyond what is natural for

Iraqis in Saddam Husseins' case.

13. http://www.commondreams.org/

views03/1114-02.htm ; One thing to be

careful about in the 14Nov2003 Boston

Globe article by Derrick Z. Jackson is

that those estimates refer to deaths of

Iraqis in less than a full year. To compare

deaths with Saddam Hussein, we have

to use the same unit of time, as in per day

or per year. See also, http://

w w w . a n t i w a r . c o m / e w e n s /

casualties.html#iraqi The UN also

expected high casualties, not necessarily

from the immediate fighting but from the

U.$.occupation:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/

hi/middle_east/2636835.stmPBS reported

thousands dead in fighting: http://

www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/

baghdad_04-06-03.html

14. These infamous explanations of the

U.S. Secretary of State on why half a

million children dead is less important than

keeping up U.$. sanctions have been

discussed many places, but the most

thorough discussion I have seen is

here:http://www.fff.org/comment/

com0311c.asp

See also, http://www.etext.org/

Politics/MIM/rail/impkills.html#iraq

Donald Rumsfeld (the U.S. Secretary of Defense in 2003) shaking hands with

President Saddam Hussein, December 20, 1983.

Continued from previous page...

from his enemy sufficiently to bring about

revolution.

This point is something often not

stressed enough in our own class

struggles. Learning from the enemy is not

spying. For a dialectical progression to

occur today, the proletariat must learn

enough from the capitalist class generally

to be able to surpass it. Condemnation or

difference of opinion is not enough. At

MIM we often find ourselves cutting

down those alleged to be in our movement

urging complacency where Marx urged

an all-conquering attitude toward all the

sciences--every facet of our world. On

the plus side, at least a few individuals in

the "Matrix" have this attitude. We do

not agree that the future of revolution is

through the Buddhist transcendence of

one individual who then helps the rest of

the humyn species in his afterlife, but we

respect the utterly scientific approach that

Neo and his comrades who trained him

used to get to that point.

One last point we would make is that

the introduction of programs that love their

children and Agent Smith who can break

boundaries among men, machines and

software touches on the science-fiction

method of representing internationalism.

In "Solaris" we saw the same question--

if a life form is not exactly humyn, does it

make any difference? In both Solaris and

the "Matrix" we saw non-humyn life-

forms that can speak humyn languages

and leave us often thinking they are

superior or at least superior in some ways.

At the same time, while this movie took

up ancient forms of idealism, it does not

take up post-modern relativism, contrary

to what many critics and fans are saying.

We have no sense from the movie that

Agent Smith is the moral equivalent of

other life forms. For some reason, in this

movie, we audience-goers rather do not

like Agent Smith--probably out of bias

toward our own species. We would also

say that whether the directors intended it

or not, this is the crucial aspect in which

the "Matrix" contradicted Buddhism and

landed somewhere closer to Marxist

materialism. A truly Buddhist movie in

our opinion--though many Buddhists

might deny it--would involve no sense

of antipathy toward Agent Smith, and no

attachment to the humyn beings as a group

or as individuals. While Buddhists may

like many aspects of the climax of

"Revolutions," we take this opportunity

to draw a contrast with the Buddhists.

We Marxists say that people have impact

on their afterlives through their species.

For this reason it is not wrong to have an

attachment to the species-group. It is only

wrong to be guilty of the egoism that

blocks one's ongoing presence in the

species-group. No one has proved any

of the Buddhists' assertions about energy

patterns or enlightened individuals

assisting us from their afterlives/future

lives. We do know that the species thus

far has continued after the death of its

individuals. There is no need for a Greek-

style departure of the individual to the

gods. Impact on the species after death

is for real.

MATRIX: Continued from page 3...

Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros
"Streetcore" (2003)
Hellcat Records

Don't buy this album expecting to hear

long-lost Clash tracks. It's the last album

Joe Strummer was working on when he

died of a heart attack at 50. "Streetcore"

received many favorable reviews, but this

reviewer disagrees. When bands have a

hard time, they should take a rest. We

should not sing "Streetcore"'s glory simply

because the lead singer was once a great

punk star.

It's called "world music" and includes

Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" as a

cover. "Get Down Moses" also has a

reggae drift. However, most of

"Streetcore" is folk music, with songs

done on acoustic guitar such as "Long

Shadow."

The vocals are classic Joe Strummer,

perhaps even better than during the Clash

when in this reviewer's opinion the vocals

were too cutesy. The vocals are definitive,

dominating and mature.

Lyrically, there is politics in this album

but toned down from the Clash days. It

seems that both musically and lyrically,

the Clash was not able to sustain itself

and only went further downhill after the

breakup. In fact, the lyrics point to

Strummer's being tied up with Christianity

and even talk about soul-saving in "Silver

and Gold."

"All in a Day" rocks the most like the

Clash did. "Arms Aloft" also rocks, but

the mention of "banners of Stalingrad" in

"Ramshackle Day Parade" is in the midst

of unreal imagery and moments of truth

that make it difficult to put any one

message across. Stick with the original

Clash albums and forget the nostalgia.

Note: http://cyberpros.net/music/reviews/s/
strummerjoe-streetcore.shtml

MIM Notes 294 · January 1, 2004 · 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

Join the fight against
the injustice system

While we fight to end the criminal

injustice system MIM engages in

reformist battles to improve the lives

of prisoners. Below are some of the

campaigns we are currently waging,

and ways people behind the bars and

on the outside can get involved. More

info can be found on our prison web

site: http://www.etext.org/Politics/

MIM/agitation/prisons

Stop Censorship in Prison: Prisons

frequently censor books, newspapers

and magazines coming from MIM's

books for prisoners program. We need

help from lawyers, paralegals and

jailhouse lawyers to fight this

censorship.

Books for Prisoners: This program

focuses on political education of

prisoners. Send donations of books and

money for our Books for Prisoners

program.

End the Three Strikes laws: This

campaign is actively fighting the

repressive California laws, but similar

laws exist in other states. Write to us

to request a petition to collect

signatures. Send articles and

information on three strike laws.

Shut Down the Control Units: Across

the country there are a growing number

of prison control units. These are

permanently designated prisons or cells

in prisons that lock prisoners up in

solitary or small group confinement for

22 or more hours a day with no

congregate dining, exercise or other

services, and virtually no programs for

prisoners. Prisoners are placed in

control units for extended periods of

time. These units cause both mental

and physical problems for prisoners.

Write to us to request a petition to

collect signatures. Get your

organization to sign the statement

demanding control units be shut down.

Send us information about where there

are control units in your state. Include

the names of the prisons as well as the

number of control unit beds/cells in

each prison if that is known. Send us

anti-control unit artwork.

MIM's Re-Lease on Life Program:

This program provides support for our

comrades who have been recently

released from the prison system, to help

them meet their basic needs and also

continue with their revolutionary

organizing on the outside. We need

funds, housing, and job resources. We

also need prisoner's input on the

following survey questions:

1. What are the biggest challenges

you face being released from prison?

2. How can these problems be

addressed?

3. What are the important elements

of a successful release program?

Slave labor:
Amerika's still got it

This prison industrial complex, which is

traded on the stock market, offers maximum
profits at the expense of the exploited prison
proletariat. This proletariat forms "an

incoherent mass" of workers that is for the
most part unaware of the ramifications of the
prison labor system. Prisoner workers do not

realize that without their labor the prison
system would be coerced to pay higher wages
to laborers from the streets, which would

reduce the profits of prison industry. The
prison proletarian must utilize this critical
conceptual truth to his/her advantage. Those

involved in the Attica rebellion realized this,
when they demanded to receive the standard
minimum wage for their labor. The prison

insurrection was annihilated for being so
impudent.

As Karl Marx stated in The Communist

Manifesto: "The real fruit of their battles lies,
not in the immediate result, but in the ever-
expanding union of the workers."

-- an Illinois prisoner, January, 2003

MIM responds: Extraction of labor from

prisoners is part of Amerika's gross

hypocrisy, which sanctions prison slavery
within u.$. borders, yet for years blocked
China's World Trade Organization

membership on the excuse that that country
employed forced prisoner labor. Prisoner labor
is more about social control than it is about

making money for the prison system.
Amerikan prisons are not yet a profitable
industry, though private companies are

allowed to expand their profits when they
hook up with the state in a proto- fascist
arrangement to exploit prisoners. Trade in

corrections corporation shares on the stock
market can be profitable, but that is betting
on the future of the industry and those profits

are not dependent on the prison system
making money.

Comrade proposes
"Freedom Brothers"
program

There's got to be a better way to help

inmates once they are finally set free from
prison, but the plan has to start in the prison

before that inmate is set free. That inmate
should attend a program called Prerelease in
New York State. Prerelease is a program that

is supposed to educate a prisoner about where
to go to take care of mostly all of his needs as
an ex-prisoner and prerelease at times does

have good information to teach but as soon
as the gate opens mostly everything that was
taught in prerelease normally goes up in

smoke or is quickly forgotten. Sadly that's
the inmates first big mistake.

For this letter I am going to forget about

attending prerelease for a moment and just
think of an inmate just being set free. It
sounds like madness to me, but it's happening

across the country daily. Puff, you've just
been set free with $40.00 that NYS gives each
person leaving its prison system. How long

will that money last and how are you going to

get more? Money is a big problem for mostly

all who leave prison. Money seems to be
everybody's problem, but it is even more of a
problem for anyone who leaves prison. For

some, they have family members who will help
out with some funds but for that ex-con with
no family member to lend a hand, in his or her

mind it's been sad that he or she will do
whatever they have to do in order to survive,
or in other words "make money," and most

likely it is those inmates who will return first.
... Most inmates do not solve the problem
mainly because they don't have anyone to

turn to ask for help and for that reason I am
recommending my proposal of a new program,
I would call it "Freedom Brothers."

Freedom Brothers are NOT parole officers

or someone who will lock you up if you fail.
Freedom Brothers is like a "Big Brother"

whose job will start the same day you are
released and he will spend 8 hours a day (or
more) with you until you are up and on your

feet. A Freedom Brother's job is to push you
to help to get on your feet and to help you
with any kind of social problem. I strongly

feel that everyone leaving prison should be
given a Freedom Brother. Everyone on
Welfare should be given a Freedom Brother.

People who are in shelters, even the homeless
need Freedom Brothers.

My idea will help create jobs, both for the

person on the street and for the person
leaving prison. Again, being a Freedom
Brother is a job and can even be implemented

as a volunteer service. I strongly feel that if
this program is implemented it would help to
prevent people from going to jail. I've since

spoken to several inmates about my idea and
they've all said that they like my idea and
they would be willing to try my idea if ever

implemented.

--A New York Prisoner, December 2003

MIM responds: This comrades proposal for

Freedom Brothers recognizes the need for a
partnership with someone who is not there to
punish you but to help you. This is the type

of program MIM is trying to build. And to
follow such a model we believe we must do
this outside of the state, as we cannot trust a

government that locks away hundreds of
thousands of oppressed people on petty
charges to work in the interests of oppressed

people.

Without the resources of the state, this

program will need other financial sources and

so it may not play the role of providing jobs
as this comrade suggests. But the important
thing is that we will be able to design a

program that will serve the people. We must
be creative in finding resources and funding
to keep such a program going.

As is pointed out in this letter, money is

the biggest problem facing a lot of newly
released people. To solve this problem we are

working on developing employment
opportunities for comrades as soon as they
are released. Another idea we are throwing

out to our supporters who have a stable
income in society is to Adopt a Releasee. As
part of our Release on Life Program we are

seeking out people who would be willing to
share their abundant incomes with a releasee
who in return will dedicate his/her time to

revolutionary organizing. Our readers who

can easily support multiple people on their
incomes, but don't have time to engage in

day-to-day organizing work themselves
should contact us about this opportunity.

As we build our resources for prisoners to

get support financially we will be able to
provide better personal and political help that
would be gained from a Freedom Brothers

program. The program will perpetuate itself
as releasee's become Freedom Brothers for
the next batch of prisoners to be released.

MIM Program makes the rounds in Arizona
Soldiers of the struggle,
First & foremost I'd like to thank you for

responding as quickly as you did.
Unfortunately, the hands of oppression
removed me, an outspoken revolutionary, from

general population to bunk with two others
in a room really designed for two. It takes
more than what they have to break me down

though, so I continue to press on. One pro
was that I was able to circulate and make
copies of MIM's program, "What we Want;

What we Believe," so you should receive mail
from others interested in revolution.

I am most definitely interested in receiving

MIM Notes and being a part of the Books for

MIM Notes 294 · January 1, 2004 · 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.

Prisoners program. Any contributions that I
can make to your organization, let me know. I

am more than willing to participate in writing
for all MIM publications, as well as anything
else I can do to be of service. Currently my

funds have been depleted since I no longer
slave, but I should be able to contribute
monetarily in the coming months. Any

literature that you can send in regards to the
struggle for freedom, and literature on Stalin,
Marx, or Lenin would be greatly appreciated.

I would also like more info on Mao. Until then,
I salute you and continue to support your
efforts to get people free. Uhuru Sasa!

Freedom Now!

Loyalty and respect,
-- an Arizona prisoner, November 2003

KS prisoner weighs in
on SHUs

The practice of using solitary confinement

was condemned by the United States

Supreme Court in 1890 on psychiatric
grounds. The Court called solitary
confinement cruel and unusual punishment

and noted that prisoners so confined were
prone to becoming "violently insane." In 1913
the use of confined housing units was

officially abolished. Today, the law gives
prison officials discretion as to whether to
place prisoners in SHU, SuperMax or

administrative segregation facilities, in
conditions similar to those the Supreme Court
declared inhumane more than 100 years ago.

Prisoners in these conditions are held in a

cell alone a minimum of 23 hours a day, and
are allowed to shower only three times per

week. Doctors and humyn rights activists
point out that solitary conditions in prison
can cause problems as mild as memory loss

and as severe as hallucinations, delusions
and mental illness.(1) Because of this danger,
prison officials are supposed to meet certain

standards when placing a prisoner in solitary.
They must:

* establish in writing the reason for placing

a prisoner in the SHU or administrative
segregation and provide the prisoner with a
segregation report; * initiate an administrative

investigation into the alleged rule violation
used as justification for placing the prisoner
in confinement; and * allow the prisoner a

chance to defend his/herself against the
accusations against him/her.

If this process reveals that the prisoner has

done nothing wrong, s/he must be released
back into the prison population or transferred
to general population in another facility.

In the state of Kansas, many prisoners are

subject to a policy of institutional lynching.
KAR 44-14-306 prohibits the use of

administrative segregation as punishment.
Prisoners are placed on administrative
segregation without the due process of the

disciplinary procedure. KAR 44-13- 201(4)(c)

specifically dictates that any violations of
prison rules are to be handled within the

inmate disciplinary procedure. When prison
officials bypass the administrative
procedures, accuse prisoners of wrongdoing

and place them in an SHU on administrative
segregation, they make the SHU into a house
of punishment. In doing so, the prison

administrators are violating state and federal
law.

Because of the prison administration's

failure to comply with administrative
regulations, prisoners are daily being placed
in SHU/supermax conditions on

administrative segregation for months or years
at a time. The majority of prisoners being held
on administrative segregation here in Kansas

have not been afforded the due process of
disciplinary procedure. These prisoners are
living in the harshest conditions without

having had the chance to respond to the
charges that form the rationale for putting
them in this brutal level of confinement. This

is having a profound psychological effect on
prisoners in Kansas.

Dr. Stuart Grassian is a Harvard professor

and a national expert on the
psychopathological effects of the SHU and
solitary confinement. In 1979, Dr. Grassian did

a study on prisoners confined to special
supermax units and coined the term "SHU
Syndrome." Its symptoms are depression,

increased paranoia, agitation, manic activity,
delusions, florid psychotic illness and suicide.
Because the prison administrators across the

country are so loosely using the SHUs to
place inmates on administrative segregation,
they have created psychopathological

problems in many prisoners. For those who
already had mental illness before being placed
in the SHU, the sickness deepens and makes

the prisoners profoundly dangerous during
long months or years in the isolation of the
SHU on administrative segregation.

These prisoners will be released back into

our communities. Dr. Grassian put it best
when he stated: "these people are time bombs

waiting to explode in a community." The
Kansas Department of Corrections has sworn
to do the job of helping to make the

communities of Kansas safer places to live.

The actions of the Kansas prison

administrators are deliberately malicious, and

it is up to us and the rest of society to hold
the KDOC and the rest of the prison systems
responsible for their injustices. We have to

force them to fulfill their duty to care for
prisoners by at least following their own laws
and regulations and ceasing the institutional

lynching.

Notes: http://www.cnn.com/US/9801/09/

solitary.confinement/

MIM responds: The conditions of the SHU

are abhorrent because they torture humyn
beings to the point of psychological

breakdown. If a society can be judged by how

it treats its prisoners, then Amerikan society
can look proudly in the mirror and

acknowledge its barbarity. Any hardships that
prisoners visit on the outside world after and
as a result of their time in the SHU are merely

chickens coming home to roost. The tragedy
of former SHU prisoners being released back
into society is that prisoners so treated have

little chance of coping successfully with the
world outside prison. The imperialist
politicians do not much care about prisoners

being released from the brutality of SHU
conditions onto the streets, because as is so
often true, the brunt of the SHU's damage

will fall on the oppressed communities,
already suffering from semi-colonialism.

To get involved in MIM's campaign to shut

down control unit prisons contact us or check
out our web site: http://www.etext.org/
Politics/MIM/agitation/prisons

Virgina prisoners call
for investigation

I want to address my fellow prisoners to

remind them that when we were sentenced

by the courts, beatings, abuse and
degradation were not included in the
sentences. And even though we are prisoners

we are not animals but humans that deserve
to be treated as such.

Wallens Ridge State Prison has only been

open for four years or so, and in that time it
has killed 3 prisoners. It's a shame to see how
much corruption and abuse my fellow

prisoners are willing to put up with.

I want to encourage my fellow prisoners in

WRSP to have some sense of unity. Almost

everyone talks the talk, but is not willing to
walk the walk. Stop trying to cut each other's
throats over a pack of cigarettes and lend a

hand to the struggle we as a whole are facing.

Albert Moskowitz from the U.S. Department

of Criminal Justice / Criminal Section has

requested that the FBI conduct a preliminary
investigation into one of our fellow prisoners
being beaten, but this came only after four

prisoners wrote to him to report the incident.
If four letters can bring the FBI here, what will
400 do? Let's get together and get this corrupt

administration out of here. You don't even
have to use a stamp to write this guy.

Write: Albert N. Moskowitz Section Chief /

Criminal Section Civil Rights Division 950
Pennslvania Ave, NW Washington DC 20530

El Pueblo Unido Jamas Sera Vencido! (The

People United Will Never Be Defeated!)

--A Virginia Prisoner, December 2003

Michigan brands
Latinos as STGs

The problems here in the Michigan

Department of Corrections (MDOC) are
endemic to a failing system. The fight for the

human rights of the Latino/Indigenous

prisoners here in the MDOC is far from over.
The system refuses to recognize any

Indigenous tribe from any Spanish speaking
country as being Indigenous peoples, or the
descendants of Indigenous peoples of this

hemisphere. They have gone so far as to
criminalize our native spirituality and culture.

Latinos who have reclaimed our Indigenous

birthright are being labeled gang members and
placed on Security Threat Group (STG) status.
These blatantly racist measures include:

labeling such cultural terms as "Viva la Raza,"
"Aztlan," and "La Lucha" as gang
terminology, placing prisoners in high and

maximum security prisons, denying parole,
restricting family visits, and many other non-
rehabilitative measures.

Even such obviously Indigenous tribes as

the Azteca, Maya, Taino, and Inca are
categorized as STGs and stigmatized as

gangs. Therefore, any MDOC prisoner of so-
called Latino heritage is a gang member
according to the MDOC. What's more, any

such prisoner caught showing an interest in
his/her heritage, or caught with books,
magazines or internet material pertaining to

his/her Indigenous heritage is place on STG
status. Such is the case with two of my
comrades.

Both of these Chicano prisoners were

placed on STG status for studying the ways
of their Mexican ancestors, and teaching

those same ways to younger Chicano
prisoners. It is because of the work of brothers
like these, who have a true heart for the people,

that the gangbanging and infighting between
Latinos here in prison has come fully to a
halt. We now stand united as "a people."

Because of the work of brothers like these we
also stand united with out "Northern
Brothers" (the tribes from what is now the

so- called "USA"), and we take a step closer
to Tecumseh's vision.

A clear message needs to be sent to the

MDOC prison administration. This racist
categorizing of Indigenous Tribes as gangs,
the oppression of Indigenous Prisoners for

practicing their native spiritual ways will not
be tolerated! Not now, not ever!

I must ask for your help. I am asking that

you join the struggle to force the MDOC to:
1) remove our Chicano comrades from STG
status; 2) recognize all Indigenous Tribes of

Central and South America as being the
Indigenous peoples of these lands, with
Native American spiritual beliefs; 3) issue a

public apology for classifying Taino, Mexica/
Aztec, Maya, and Inca prisoners as STG
members for practicing their traditional

spiritual ways; 4) remove the names Boricua,
Taino, Mexica/Aztec, Maya and Inca from the
list of STG labels, and various phrases in

Spanish such as "Aztlan," "Viva la Raza," "La
Causa," and "La Lucha" as STG terminology.

Please send your letters of outrage to the

MDOC Director: Director Patricia Caruso 206
E. Michigan Ave Grandview Plaza P.O. Box
30003 Lansing, MI 48909

You can also send email from

www.michigan.gov/corrections/ or call
Director Overton at 517-373-0720.

Divide and conquer is one of their most

ugly stratagems, and we cannot allow it to
continue. So I make the call once again to

bring the system to its knees with a fist full of
stamps!

--a Michigan prisoner, June 2003

MIM adds: Send us a copy of your letter or

email to Director Caruso and we will print it
here in Under Lock & Key.

MIM Notes 294 · January 1, 2004 · Page 12

Notas Rojas

jan 1, 2004, Nº 294 Fragmento del Periodico Oficial del Movimiento Internacionalista Maoista Gratis

Por el MIM

Traducido por Células de Estudio para la

Liberación de Aztlán y América Latina

La diferencia de opinión sobre la cuestión

de la inmigración entre un yanqui común y

corriente y una "élite" o el círculo de poder,
supera el nivel del año 1998, según una
encuesta publicada el día 17 de diciembre. El

presidente Bush ha puesto en práctica los
reglamentos migratorios más salvajes sobre
sus vecinos, México y Canadá, y ha causado

molestia a los conservadores del occidente
canadiense con las tarifas sobre la madera.
Sin embargo, menos del 30% de los yanquis

apoyan a Bush sobre sólo dos asuntos: los
cambios en el clima y la inmigración. La
corriente del chovinismo nacionalista que

comenzó el 11 de septiembre alimenta la
opinión injusta con respecto a la inmigración.

La encuesta fortalece la tesis del MIM que

la aristocracia obrera está más opuesta al
internacionalismo que la misma burguesía
imperialista. Lenin explicó extensamente que

la psicología de esta clase sostiene que
apenas han logrado sus privilegios y por lo
tanto son más feroces en protegerlos.

Sólo el 14% de la élite norteamericana, de

"los líderes de la opinión," están de acuerdo
con la posición popular según la cual se debe

reducir la inmigración. El 60% del público
norteamericano sostiene que la política del
gobierno debe ser reducir la inmigración

oficial. Y todo esto es a pesar de la retórica
del "país de los inmigrantes" y de que aun la
ciudad de Nueva York se adorna con la

"Estatua de la Libertad." Está bien claro que
los yanquis no creen en el derecho de poder
viajar abiertamente y gracias a la estupidez

electoral de la aristocracia obrera, el promedio
de encarcelamiento en EE.UU. es el más alto
en todo el mundo.

"Según la encuesta, el 70% del público

norteamericano opina que reducir la
inmigración ilegal es `una meta muy

importante de la política internacional de
EE.UU.', mientras sólo el 22% de la élite
sostiene la misma posición." (1) Esta es la

razón de la victoria de Pat Buchanan sobre
Bush en las elecciones preliminares de Nuevo
Hampshire en 1992. En 1992, año de recesión,

tanto Perot como Buchanan lanzaron sus
programas con el lema "Yanquis Primero."

La propuesta aceptada casi por todos los

tal llamados yanquis "marxistas" es una
ilusión que postula la existencia de un
proletariado explotado que propaga el

internacionalismo de este lado de la frontera.
Al contrario, lo que debe quedar bien claro es
que el pueblo yanqui carece del

internacionalismo más que la clase con el
poder estatal y que de esta manera es aún
más reaccionario. No basta el chantaje de la

clase dominante: la aristocracia obrera es
consciente de su lucha para lograr una
lucrativa división de superganancias. La

aristocracia obrera no es nada indiferente
hacia el tema de superganancias, y no está a
punto de despojarse de una supuesta

conciencia engañosa para reemplazarla con
un internacionalismo revolucionario. Los
intereses de la aristocracia obrera son fáciles

de identificar y ésta los persigue
diligentemente, de lo cual resulta la enorme

diferencia entre su posición sobre la
inmigración y la posición de la clase
dominante.

El pueblo yanqui no aguanta a los

verdaderos representantes de la burguesía
internacionalista como los Rockerfeller, Jimmy

Carter y Bush el mayor. El iniciar pláticas
sobre el desempleo y el empeoramiento de
los salarios (¡menos beneficios!) con la

aristocracia obrera la llevaría a tomar el lado
de Buchanan. No entender esto iguala a no
entender la situación contemporánea ni la

teoría leninista de la aristocracia obrera. Salvo
los inmigrantes y la población de habla
hispana, no hay campo para discutir lo del

proletariado dentro de las fronteras de EE.UU.
Esto sólo tiene como resultado que se
molesten y se encierren más los chovinistas.

Entender la realidad en los países

imperialistas con una población burguesa
implica luchar para forjar una alianza con el

lumpenproletariado y con la pequeña ala
izquierdista de la burguesía internacionalista.
La prensa imperialista no ignora del todo este

asunto como cuando ridiculiza las protestas
en contra del Fondo Monetario Internacional
dirigidas por los "nenes anarquistas con

fondos de inversión" quienes poseen
recursos suficientes para viajar de una
manifestación a otra. En los años 60 y 70, la

prensa dijo lo mismo con respeto a los
miembros del grupo "Weather Undeground"
quienes eran poderosos millonarios y

abogados.

La sección de la burguesía internacionalista

que posee una visión de largo plazo

no se encuentra en el poder. Esta sección

ha salido en Seattle y en otras protestas a
nivel mundial pero aún es muy pequeña. El

ala izquierdista de la burguesía
internacionalista es comparable a lo que
Lenin, Stalin y Mao llamaban "burguesía

nacional," una clase que podía unirse a la
revolución en los países semifeudales. Por lo
tanto, el ala izquierdista de la burguesía

internacionalista es una amiga del proletariado.
Aunque aún sobreviven, tanto la burguesía
nacional como el ala izquierdista de la

burguesía internacionalista están en peligro
de extinción. Debemos entender que estos
grupos tienen intereses distintos a los del

imperialismo.

No es nuestro deber oponernos a tipos

como Bush, Blair, Carter y Clinton con

demandas nacionalistas en contra del Tratado
de Libre Comercio (TLC) o la inmigración.
Nuestro deber es demonstrar que la única

forma de lograr la paz y la prosperidad es
nuestra estrategia para conseguir un salario
minimo mundial, un cuerpo para la protección

universal del medio ambiente y, por
consecuencia, una lucha de clases mundial.

Aunque el Centro para Estudios

Migratorios ha llevado a cabo las encuestas,
aún carece de una teoría: "No está muy claro
porqué hay ideas tan distintas sobre la

inmigración entre los líderes del país y el
público." También se distingue la opinión
del yanqui común y corriente de la de los

líderes sobre la protección del empleo para
los yanquis y la competición económica con

otros países. Esta diferencia indica firmemente
que una de las principales razones por la cual
los yanquis se preocupan por la inmigración

es el temor que tienen a la competición por el
empleo.

El tremendo espacio entre los imperialistas

internacionalistas y la aristocracia obrera ha
rendido una serie de situaciones políticas
hipócritas. Mientras la aristocracia obrera se

aprovecha de los negocios de los empresarios
en el Tercer Mundo, a los empresarios
tercermundistas que buscan hacer negocios

en los países imperialistas se les echa de
aviones porque tienen pinta de "terroristas."
También se organizan movimientos

antiinmigrantes al estilo Le Pen en Francia y
Buchanan en EE.UU.

No debemos alegar que los tratados de

comercio e inmigración y los convenios
representan únicamente la conciencia
burguesa embucando la falsa consciencia

sobre el proletariado de los países
imperialistas. Debemos defender estos
tratados y promover su lógica.

El gobierno de Los Países Bajos le permitó

entrar a José Maria Sisón y firmó tratados y
convenios garantizándole ciertos derechos.

Los camaradas filipinos lo entienden muy
bien, hacen hincapié en dichos tratados y
convenios, los defienden y no permiten que

el gobierno Holandés los anule. Los
camaradas filipinos serían culpables de
promover una conciencia falsa si sólo se la

pasaran discutiendo tratados y los derechos
humanos de los europeos y al mismo tiempo
fuese verdad que existe algún proletariado

europeo a punto de lanzarse a la revolución
internacionalista. Pero las cosas no son así y
todavía no se alcanza este nivel de ventaja

política y, por consequencia, lo correcto es
apoyar tratados internacionals en contra de
la aristocracia obrera.

Muchos de los tratados, convenios y leyes

no prohiben que la aristocracia obrera europea
organice protestas en contra de los

inmigrantes. Así lo dijo un típico aristócrata
obrero en el grupo de Usenet
soc.culture.filipino: "Pobre JoMa Sisón. Se

queja al gobierno holandés para que le
restauren los beneficios estatales. Se queja
porque sólo recibe una miserable asignación

de 201.93 euros y porque el gobierno no paga
por su hogar. Discúlpenme pero mis
impuestos pagan por todo esto. Si tienes

alguna molestia lárgate a las Filipinas y
averigua cuánto te dan allá. Nos acusa de ser
un gobierno policíaco. Sí, qué lástima. ¿Si te

encuentras tan infeliz en los Países Bajos
entonces qué haces aquí?" Le informamos a
este imbécil que gracias a la presión política

de tipos como él los Países Bajos prohiben
que Sisón consiga empleo. Y al mismo tiempo
le acusan de no pagar impuestos.

JoMa Sisón y otros comunistas están de

acuerdo con la idea de firmar un tratado para
que los imperialistas saquen sus empresarios

de las Filipinas. Pero la aristocracia obrera lo
quiere de los dos modos. Por un lado, quiere
tratados que le permiten comprar ropa de

marca GAP fabricada por empresarios que
visitan y llevan a cabo negocios en el Tercer

Mundo y , por el otro lado, prohibe que las
personas del Tercer Mundo visiten los países
imperialistas para hacer negocios.

Estos aristócratas primero deberían chocar

con su propio gobierno sobre los tratados y
convenios que éste ha firmado antes de lanzar

su agresión contra los inmigrantes. Si la
aristocracia obrera logra que su gobierno y
las impresas internacionales salgan del Tercer

Mundo, la gente del Tercer Mundo no tendrá
razón para venir a los países imperialistas. Es
raro que un pueblo busque salir de su país de

origen; sólo lo hace bajo circunstancias
desastrozas causadas por los imperialistas.
No vale quejarse cuando el Tercer Mundo

busca visitar y vivir en los países imperialistas
ya quel imperialismo se ha adueñado de sus
tierras.

Los marxistas falsos que nos critican

buscan pretextos para torcer los resultados
de la encuesta y demostrar que los "obreros"

se encuentran en peores condiciones que los
imperialistas. Como no identifican la
contradicción entre la aristocracia obrera y

los imperialistas no logran utilizarla
correctamente. No distinguen entre diversos
intereses de clase.

La miopía de la aristocracia obrera tiene

como resultado guerras entre naciones sobre
ciertos temas de la economía doméstica. Esta

miopía encontró su máxima expresión en la
postura de Adolfo Hítler sobre la inmigración
y el comercio internacional. Por su parte, la

burguesía internacionalista cuenta sólo
consigo misma y por lo tanto su opinión sobre
la inmigración no es muy popular. La estrecha

base social para su tipo de internacionalismo
resulta en que los países imperialistas oscilen
entre el facismo y la democracia liberal.

Está bien claro que los imperialistas se

aprovechan del comercio internacional y de
la subversión en el Tercer Mundo mientras

que la aristocracia saca beneficios al punto
de venta pero siente que se ponen en peligro
sus empleos. Sólo el internacionalismo

proletario es capaz de conseguir que teoría
de la coperación internacional económica se
haga realidad. Cuando el MIM llegue al poder

nos aseguraremos de que el pueblo entienda
y descubra los beneficios del comercio y la
cooperación económica en general.

La posición de la aristocracia obrera según

la cual el mundo no saca beneficios del libre
comercio, el mercado obrero y la resultante

cooperación, es equivocada. Su posición es
cobarde e ignorante. Precisamente son los
imperialistas los que no pueden llevar a cabo

el "libre comercio" y la "libertad de
movimiento" porque ofrecen los derechos
más basicos a una pequeña élite. Sólo la línea

del MIM puede resolver esta contradicción.

Notas: (1) http://www.cis.org/circle.html

La inmigración: Se distinguen la aristocracia

obrera y la burguesía internacionalista