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MIM Notes 304 · July 2004 · Page 1

MIM Notes

July 2004, Nº 304

The Official Newsletter of the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM)

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BUSH GETS A BREAK

UN Security

Council

legitimizes

war on Iraq

President George Bush won a

diplomatic victory by making up with his

French and Russian competitors on the

question of Iraq. On June 8th, the UN

Security Council unanimously passed a

resolution 15-0 legitimizing the occupation

of Iraq by U$ forces with an Iraqi puppet

prime minister installed by the CIA. Most

regrettable were the Third World lackey

votes for the resolution, including

Algeria's.

All the kowtowing to U$ imperialism in

the current United Nations is one reason

MIM fights for a proletarian United

Nations, an organization of nations to put

There are still 1,600 photos and videos

including rape and murder not released

by the U$ Government. That's not to

mention the situation in Guantanamo,

another Iraq prison and an Afghan prison.

We call for the release of photos to the

public. Right now Uncle $am is trying to

spin out of the exposure by saying that

the problem was taking the pictures, not

what was being done in the pictures

themselves. We can't let Uncle $am spin

it that way. This is not something to spin,

like which frat boy they are going to elect

as next president.

It is also turning out that 20,000 civilian

contractors in Iraq are not covered by

any tested laws, including some involved

in the Abu Ghraib prison atrocities. A law

on the books since 2000 is untried and

may have too many loopholes--and the

lawmakers in Washington DC left it that

way on purpose.(1) We don't care if those

20,000 call themselves "workers": they

are enemies of the international proletariat

just like oppressor nation workers in the

Western imperialist countries generally.

Release the photos!

Death penalties needed at war crimes tribunal

U$ imperialism into receivership. A

proletarian UN would have sent troops

or other activists necessary to prevent

an imperialist attack on Iraq. To have such

power it is necessary that a proletarian-

led UN conquer the United $tates first.

To take away U$ imperialism's

MIM welcomes the opportunity to

print this interview with Pablo Pueblo,

a leader of the Noble Young Lords

Party (NYLP). We have worked with

the founders of this organization for

many years and know the strength of

revolutionary theory and practice

behind their work. The formation of

the NYLP is a step forward for the

revolutionary movement within U$

borders and a culmination of years of

hard work and struggle on the part of

Pablo Pueblo and other leaders.

We consider the NYLP a fraternal

organization that correctly recognizes

that the majority of Euro-Amerikan

workers are petit bourgeois and not

objectively allied with proletarian

revolution, upholds the Cultural

Revolution in China, and opposes

post-Stalin Soviet revisionism.

Currently MIM is a multinational party.

However, MIM recognizes that there

are times when vanguard forces from

the oppressed nationalities believe they

must have separate, single nationality

vanguard parties. MIM recognizes

their right to form separate parties as

a part of oppressed nations' struggle

for the self-determination. We believe

The rebirth of an old revolutionary legacy

Noble Young Lords Party speaks

the validity of

s i n g l e -

n a t i o n a l i t y

o r g a n i z i n g

has been

proved in

c o m m u n i s t

history.

Amerika's leading radical critic has

endorsed John Kerry for president in the

name of the "real world." As a member

of the Democratic Socialists of America

(DSA) way back, it does not surprise us,

though many think of Chomsky as more

of an anarchist. DSA advises working

within the Democratic Party.

Noam Chomsky has moved in

considerably more pragmatic directions

in recent years, and frankly, MIM does

not trust him as much as we once did.

We cannot help thinking that he has had

some "influence" in the government and

now he seeks to educate the imperialists.

We're not surprised, because he never

spent much time attending to the question

of the vehicle of change.

Chomsky is among many who came

into politics in the Vietnam War. John

Kerry holds much appeal in a generational

way as an important figure in the

movement against the Vietnam War.

There is a whole generation of people

who believes it "figured out" some things

during Vietnam. MIM has been

Continued on page 6...

Continued on page 4...

Continued

on page 8...

reproached by everyone from cops to

gardeners to university presidents who

say they "used to be Maoist" based on

the whole 1960s phenomenon.

The question of intelligence inevitably

arises when thinking about a Chomsky

endorsement. If the "leftist" intellectuals

want to say Kerry is "smarter" than

Bush, then we are prepared to concede

the point. This is probably where we part

ways with the intellectuals, because many

instinctively believe these matters are a

question of smarts. They think it's frankly

scary to have less than the brightest

persyn in charge of the U$ government.

Would a "dumb" imperialist even realize

he was setting off Armageddon? It's

worth pondering, but Marxists believe that

the economic system pushes forward

these candidates and makes a Bush-type

inevitable, if not in 2004, then 2008, 2012

etc.

Then there is the argument that the

common persyn wants to see a marginal

improvement in his/her life. On this point,

Chomsky endorses Kerry

`Pragmatism' endorses oppressive status quo

MIM Notes 304 · July 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.

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

I must ask the people, "Has the

imminent threat of world terror been really

negated with the capture of Saddam

Hussein?" Absolutely not! The real

imminent threat of world terror remains

in office, that racist tyrant George Bush

Jr. The truth of the matter is, Saddam was

never an imminent threat to Amerikkka.

In fact, Saddam was more of a "potential

threat" than anything else. There is a big

difference between an "imminent threat"

and a "potential threat," as an imminent

threat is bound to happen with a sense of

immediacy. A potential threat possess the

capability of developing into a possible

threat. By labeling something as an

"imminent threat," it automatically

preconditions the minds of the masses to

accept certain circumstances and

conditions so that he who is responsible

for initiating these falsehoods can pursue

any task with the support of the people.

This is a historical tactic that's typically

employed by the (Un) United States of

Amerikkka in order to justify the colonial

occupation of other countries.

Saddam only became an "imminent

threat" due to Iraq's possession of the

world's largest oil reservoir, not because

of the alleged chemical weapons of mass

destruction. The (Un) United States has

been occupying the land of the Iraqi people

for the past year now and have not turned

over one rock that would be indicative of

chemical weapons of mass destruction.

One would think that, given the absolute

certainty of the intelligence, they would

have been able to go straight to the source

of these chemical weapons of mass

destruction.

I must clarify that I am not an active

supporter of Saddam but we do share a

common plight in standing in opposition

against the racist empire known as the

(Un) United States of Amerikkka. What

separates us as individuals is that I am a

conscious new Afrikan revolutionary

freedom fighter who embraces a socialist

egalitarian humanist philosophy and the

ideology of new Afrikan revolutionary

nationalism. I understand that anything

which diametrically opposes Euro-

Amerikkkan interests, particularly

anything which opposes kapitalism, is

deemed to be an "imminent threat" to this

fascist empire. The tyrannical

COINTELPRO of the FBI that was lead

by J. Edgar Hoover in the late 60s and

early 70s has taught us this much.

Saddam's capture is form of window

dressing the long arm of the fascist racist

practices of law and order which

basically validates for the moment the

Amerikkkan colonial occupation of Iraq's

land, oil and resources. Above all, this act

of war itself was never sanctioned by the

Central Commission of the United

Nations. In essence, Saddam's capture

can only be viewed as a group of racist

criminals manipulating and taking

advantage of the innocence of the

masses. A real sigh of relief will be felt

once this tyrant George Bush Jr. and his

coconspirators are tried for the war

crimes they've been committing for the

Amerikkka: The real imminent threat

past 500 years against the masses of

society at large and abroad.

-- A California Prisoner,

May 2004

you know ,,your organization blasts the

usa...and its funny that the same country

you criticize, gives the right to print the

smut you are putting out...heres an idea

... before you criticize this country, go to

China, or how bout North Korea...and

point put the critical issues such as

freedom of religion, or human rights, or

COMMUNISM, in the same passion that

you do here, and see how long you live to

take another breath. GOD BLESS THE

UNITED STATES OF

AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MIM replies: We reprint this letter--

uncut, with avant-garde punctuation and

spelling intact--to remind our readers that

for every sympathetic letter like the one

from the California prisoner above, we

receive a piece of moronic, bigoted hate

mail. Never mind that the United $tates

leads the world in per capita

imprisonment; never mind that while we

are "free" to have our newspaper

regularly censored by prison wardens,

campus administrators and mall security

guards, former corrections officers and

young kids who should but don't know

better are raping "liberated" Iraqi

civilians--never mind all that, these bozos

don't want to hear it. Just crank up the

Toby Keith and pass the beer, man.

A serious anti-war movement--to say

nothing of a serious revolutionary

movement--has to recognize that yahoos

like this (a) are common and (b) are not

going to suddenly see the error of their

ways. We have to take our lumps and

fight the good fight--even if it means

going against the majority of Amerikan

citizens.

Yahoo! U$A's number one!

MIM Notes 304 · July 2004 · Page 3

June 5 - Thousands of people took to

the streets in San Francisco to protest the

continuing war in Iraq. Protesters

marched down Market Street, the main

street in the city, to a rally at the

Embarcadero Center. There they were

met by a group of Zionist counter

demonstrators protesting the rally's

demand of liberation for the Palestinian

people.

Organized by ANSWER, a group led

by the Trotskyist Workers World Party,

this rally featured a disappointing array

of speakers focused on electoralism and

rallying the Amerikan petty bourgeoisie.

As in previous rallies sponsored by

ANSWER, many speakers attempted to

encourage the crowd by saying most

Americans are against the war and that

the Bush administration does not represent

the majority of Americans.

MIM does not try to give people false

hope by claiming that this war is all due

to a rogue President who will be voted

out of office once people come to their

senses. Instead, we explain that the war

on Iraq is in the material interests of this

country and its citizens. Think about it, if

their was mass anti-war sentiment

MIM, RAIL at large anti-war protest in San Fran.

wouldn't their be some concrete

manifestation, such as protests like those

that happened during the Vietnam War?

The fact that anti-war demonstrations are

limited to progressive cities like San

Francisco, and even there they only

happen every few months, is evidence

that the public opposition to this war is

not high, despite the claims of overly-

optimistic and unscientific activists.

Electoral campaigning was popular at

the rally, with many people carrying anti-

Bush signs and calling on people to get

Bush out of the White House. MIM

activists engaged some of these people

in struggle, pointing out that there is no

difference of substance between Bush

and Kerry, and removing Bush will just

mean putting Kerry into power. In fact,

Kerry could be worse than Bush because

people might be fooled into complacency

by putting a prettier face on Amerikan

imperialism. Some people agreed with us

but asked what else they could do. This

is a common problem among Amerikan

activists of thinking small. While the

imperialists are plundering the world,

activists are "acting locally." We can't

afford to work on imperialist electoral

campaigns while the world's people are

literally dying at the hands of imperialism.

We have to take up the battle outside of

their electoral terms and fight against

imperialism in all the work we do.

During the rally a speaker announced

that Ronald Reagan had just died. The

speaker proclaimed that Reagan was a

terrorist and murderer. But he went on to

point out that for all the war crimes

committed by Reagan, former President

Clinton was an even bigger war criminal.

He noted that Clinton invaded more

countries in his reign as imperialist

president than Reagan. This speech

correctly criticized people at the rally who

were campaigning for the Democrats or

against the Republicans, as if this would

make a difference.

RAIL comrades gathered signatures on

its petition to shut down California's

abusive Security Housing Unit prisons for

five hours; 105 signatures were collected.

Signatories included several former

prisoners who stopped to tell their stories

and encourage others to sign. Overall,

demonstrators were very receptive to our

campaign to shut down the SHU in

California, as well as all control units

across the country. Many told us that they

had previous knowledge of the SHU or

had recently heard about it through

various news outlets. Even more drew

parallels between the prison abuses

abroad, in places such as Iraq and

Guantanamo, and were not surprised to

learn that many soldiers received their

training in humyn rights abuse from

Amerikan prisons.

At the rally we also had a MIM

literature table set up before and after

the march. We sold copies of MIM

Theory, with the Stalin Issue and the

issues on the Amerikan labor aristocracy

gaining the most attention. At the table

we focused on distributing the June 1

MIM Notes which, in addition to some

good anti-imperialist wars articles, had

two articles in Spanish about the Security

Housing Units and some good material in

the "Under Lock and Key" section on

prison control units across the country

(including the California SHU). We asked

everyone who stopped at the table to sign

the petition to shut down the SHU and

collected 62 signatures. Overall people

were very receptive to the anti-SHU

work and to MIM Notes.

On May 26th, 2004 the FOX News

website made a lead story of the New

York Times's admissions of error

regarding WMD reporting prior to Bush's

ground invasion of Iraq, 2003. In contrast,

MIM Notes reported the New York Times

errors in January, 2003, before the New

York Times admitted them.

In reviewing its Iraq coverage, the New

York Times said, "we have found a

number of instances of coverage that was

not as rigorous as it should have been. In

some cases, information that was

controversial then, and seems

questionable now, was insufficiently

qualified or allowed to stand

unchallenged. Looking back, we wish we

had been more aggressive in re-

examining the claims as new evidence

emerged--or failed to emerge."

As soon as our article on Bush's "State

of the Union" speech came out in 2003

lambasting Bush and the New York

Times, it became one of our most popular

articles ever, garnering many thousands

of hits over the months. It tapped into

obviously widespread suspicions among

the people.

On the question of the metal tubes

supposedly used in atomic weapons

manufacture, MIM Notes said in January

2003: "The New York Times also talks

about some aluminum tubes and attempted

uranium purchases by Iraq, but [former

U$ Marine and UN weapons inspector

Scott] Ritter points out that a real nuclear

weapons program is not a matter of some

aluminum and uranium. It takes tens of

billions of dollars and Ritter says the

process emits substances detectable by

Big Brother--U.$. spy technologies.

Talking about how `high intelligence' in

England supposedly caught someone

trying to buy uranium makes great theater,

but it is dishonest when that same `high

intelligence' knows that more goes into

making a nuclear bomb. What the New

York Times leaves out is discussion of

whether or not Ritter is correct that the

Uncle $am would have to know if Iraq

were producing nuclear weapons."

The New York Times is now getting

around to admitting something about this:

"On Sept. 8, 2002, the lead article of the

paper was headlined `U.S. Says Hussein

Read MIM Notes first:

The New York Times admits errors on Iraq

Staff Sergeant Jimmy Massey left the

Marines after 12 years on account of his

disagreement with his own and his

comrades' war crimes against civilians

in Iraq. He told the Sacramento Bee that

he left the Marines at the end of 2003

after evaluating his involvement in the

shooting of several innocent civilians. In

passing, Massey said something revealing

to his sergeant major about the causes of

loyalty: "`I don't want your money. I don't

want your benefits. What you did was

wrong.'"(1) Massey's statement shows

something that military personnel have to

consider before giving up their loyalty to

imperialism.

Massey gave some examples of the

kind of thing the Marines were doing in

Iraq, "There was an incident with one of

the cars. We shot an individual with his

hands up. He got out of the car. He was

badly shot. We lit him up. I don't know

who started shooting first."(1) Massey

added that contrary to intelligence, the

Marines never found any weapons

contraband. They simply killed innocent

Iraqis driving in cars.

When Massey mentioned his

"benefits," he referred among other

things to the social security system of the

military. The public is used to thinking

about the country's top corporations

offering benefits and pensions to retain

loyal employees. Employees who stay

long enough earn retirement pensions

separate from the government's social

security program. The same is true in the

military.

A fiscally conservative anti-tax

organization has explained the military

pension system very well. First is pensions

before 1986: "All servicemen who joined

the armed forces before August 1, 1986,

are entitled to a pension replacing 50

percent of basic pay after twenty years,

the minimum term of service required to

qualify for military retirement. True, this

basic pay does not include cash and in-

kind allowances. But it is liberally

calculated: on the basis of the final month

of pay for servicemen who joined the

military before September 8, 1980, and of

the highest three years of pay (the "HI-

3" method) for those who joined later. If

servicemen postpone retirement, their

pensions increase by 2.5 percent of pay

per year, until, after thirty years in the

military, a maximum replacement rate of

75 percent is reached. Each year,

pensions receive a COLA [Cost of Living

Adjustment] equal to 100 percent of the

CPI. [Consumer Price Index, a reference

to measuring inflation]

"So generous are these terms that two

out of three officers and nine out of ten

enlisted men who stay on for at least

twenty years retire before completing

twenty-five years. The average

retirement age for officers is now 45. For

enlisted men, it is 41. The result is that

the typical member of the armed forces

Military benefits: A special incentive for war crimes

Continued on page 9...

Continued on next page...

MIM Notes 304 · July 2004 · Page 4

The people Uncle $am does court-

martial and discredit tend to be the ones

who took the photos instead of the ones

who carried out the actual torture. So far

only one persyn has received any official

punishment--a court-martial and

sentence for one year. The people of Iraq

said Specialist Jeremy Sivits should have

been tried in Iraq by Iraqis instead.(2)

"The charges against Sivits included

taking a photograph of nude detainees,

maltreating a detainee by escorting him

to be `positioned in a pile on the floor to

be assaulted by other soldiers' and

negligence for failing to protect detainees

Release the photos!

Death penalties needed at war crimes tribunal

from `abuse, cruelty and

maltreatment.'"(3)

It is true that the photographs are

humiliating in Iraq and likely to cause

suicide of the detainees by cultural norms

there. However, we say the abused

detainees should hold their chins up high

and keep on struggling for Iraq's freedom;

they served as glorious combatants in the

enemy's dungeons. Only idiots do not

recognize that Comrade Gonzalo was a

hero when Yankee lackeys put him in silly

prison pajamas and a strange cage.

Likewise, the Iraqi people detained in

humiliating conditions are heroes and

there is no photo by any Amerikkkan

porno-afflicted louse that changes that.

They can take all the humiliating photos

they want: it only shows how desperate

they are that they can't win their cause.

In the United $tates, we have no choice

but to say that taking the photographs

should not be the issue, because the public

has no other way of finding out exactly

what is going on in Amerikkkan prisons.

In fact, wherever there is an Amerikkkan

prison guard, there should be a video

camera running 24 hours a day, and if it

goes off, that prison guard should be

punished.

We also agree with the Iraqi people and

even some Amerikan columnists that

some Amerikans should be receiving the

death sentence for war crimes--and not

just the lower ranking people, but right up

through the generals in charge, Rumsfeld

and Bush. Lenience should be for those

who turn in the others.

Published at www.etext.org/Politics/

MIM on 29 may 2004.

Notes:

1. http://www.signonsandiego.com/

news/world/iraq/20040529-9999-

1n29law.html

2. http://www.middle-east-online.com/

english/?id=10025

3. http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/

journalgazette/news/nation/8739699.htm

retiring this year will spend many more

years collecting benefits (36 for a man

and 41 for a woman) than earning them

(21 years)."(2)

The author of this quote is the "Concord

Coalition" founded by the late Senator

Paul Tsongas and ex-Senator Warren

Rudman. A current co-chair is former

Senator Bob Kerrey. The Concord

Coalition became involved in the issue to

protect a reduction in military pension

benefits that became effective after 1986.

Military pensioners form the backbone

of many organizations that may seem to

be simply patriotic and militarist.

Currently, the American Legion is

attacking the government for not allowing

pensioners to receive both disability pay

and a military pension.(3)

Although not all veterans are

reactionary, on average they are more

reactionary than the rest of the Amerikan

public. In a poll done during a high point

in the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal,

49% of voters supported Kerry for

president with 41% for Bush. The same

poll for veterans showed 54% support for

Bush against Kerry, even though Kerry

is a veteran and Bush and Cheney

managed to avoid service. They

especially supported the "war on terror"

as their reason for supporting Bush.(4)

While the public as a whole had just

concluded by a margin of 50% to 46%

that the war in Iraq was a mistake, the

veterans by a margin of 51% to 46% did

not think so.(4) It's even surprising that it

is that close among veterans.

The veteran portion of society is very

significant in the united $tates. "An

estimated 26.4 million people, or better

than one in seven voting-age Americans,

have served in the U.S. military, according

to 2000 Census figures."(5) Despite this

fact, it is important not to water down

our opposition to militarism in public just

because we may offend one in seven

people who are veterans.

The vast majority of veterans did not

Military benefits: A special incentive for war crimes

serve 20 years to gain a pension.

Nonetheless, those that do make the 20

year mark are an important organizational

elite. Because the military pension

administration is separate from the

disability administration or general social

security administration and has a better

benefit, military pensioners have a special

interest. The same is true of pensioners

everywhere in the world, a rock hard

interest group. The difference with

military pensioners is that they form an

interest group that would like to enhance

the importance and prestige of the military.

If they had had only a disability pension,

they would fight along with disabled

people to protect and improve their

benefits.

The fact that veterans' pensions are

specific to the military has several

consequences. 1) During service there is

an incentive to "look the other way" in

cases like Massey's. 2) After service,

military pensioners have an incentive to

boost the importance of the usefulness

of the military to keep the reasons for

pension benefits fresh in the public's mind.

While in the service, it not just the fringe

benefits that create a certain atmosphere

of "loyalty no matter what." The average

Vietnam War general received a half star

promotion because of the war.(6) The

Marines ran Sgt. Massey out of service

with an "honorable discharge" for verbally

disagreeing with war crimes in Iraq.

Every recruit has to ponder the effect of

losing income or benefits for disagreeing

with war crimes. Meanwhile, there is no

pension reward for stopping war crimes

or speaking against them.

Many social-democratic minded people

believe that they should "support our

troops" by appeasing them on all benefits

questions. This creates a dynamic where

better benefits attract more recruits and

they become more pillars of society with

a special interest in promoting the military

as if it were unblemished no matter what.

Under the joint dictatorship of the

proletariat of the oppressed nations,

everyone has protection in case of

disability and retirement. There is no need

to create special interest groups with

specific political agendas backing war or

the prestige of war.

Notes:

1. http://www.sacbee.com/content/

opinion/story/931683 0p-10241546c.html

We encourage our readers to go see that

interview with Massey in its entirety.

2. http://www.concordcoalition.org/

facing_facts/alert _v5_n4.html The Army

now has a choice between the shaved

benefit or another means of calculating

Continued from page 1...

Continued from previous page...

it. To see how it works, go to the army

website: http://basic.armystudyguide.com/

financial_readiness_and_planning.htm

3. http://www.military.com/AboutUs/

0,14363,au_pr_1112 02,00.html

4. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/

2004/06/04/opinion/ polls/

main621136.shtml

5. http://www.suntimes.com/output/

elect/cst-nws- kerry05.html

6. Douglas Kinnard, The War

Managers: American Generals Reflect on

Vietnam NY, NY: A De Capo Paperback,

1991, p. 11.

Militarism is war-mongering or the

advocacy of war or actual carrying out

of war or its preparations.

While true pacifists condemn all

violence as equally repugnant, we

Maoists do not consider self-defense

or the violence of oppressed nations

against imperialism to be militarism.

Militarism is mostly caused by

imperialism at this time. Imperialism

is the highest stage of capitalism--

seen in countries like the United

$tates, England and France.

Under capitalism, capitalists often

profit from war or its preparations.

Yet, it is the proletariat that does the

dying in the wars. The proletariat

wants a system in which people do not

have self-interest on the side of war-

profiteering or war for imperialism.

Militarism is one of the most

important reasons to overthrow

capitalism. It even infects oppressed

nations and causes them to fight each

other.

It is important not to let capitalists

risk our lives in their ideas about war

and peace or the environment. They

have already had two world wars

admitted by themselves in the last 100

years and they are conducting a third

right now against the Third World.

Even a one percent annual chance of

nuclear war destruction caused by

capitalist aggressiveness or "greed" as

the people call it should not be tolerated

by the proletariat. After playing

Russian Roulette (in which the bullet

chamber is different each time and not

related at all to the one that came up in

previous spins) with 100 chambers and

one bullet, the chance of survival is

only 60.5% after 50 turns. In other

words, a seemingly small one percent

annual chance of world war means

eventual doom. After 100 years or turns

of Russian Roulette, the chances of

survival are only 36.6%. After 200

years, survival has only a 13.4%

chance.

What is militarism?

MIM Notes 304 · July 2004 · Page 5

The United Front to Abolish Security

Housing Units took to the streets again in

June. This is the fourth month in a row

that we have been out in different cities

across California to protest the torture

isolation chambers in our brutal domestic

prison system. These isolation chambers

are known in California as Security

Housing Units, and almost 3,000 people

are held in them in California alone.

Organizations participating in the United

Front hold protests the first Saturday of

every month, in cities across the state

including San Francisco, San Jose, Santa

Cruz, Oakland, Los Angeles, Watsonville

and the San Fernando Valley.

Isolation prisons like the Security

Housing Units principally target

oppressed nations. In 1998 the California

Department of Corrections (CDC)

reported that 34% of the population in all

CDC institutions was Latino, and 31%

was Black. 52% of those in SHUs were

Latino; 82% were nonwhite. Compare

this to a California population that was

32% Latino and 7% Black in 1998.

Like other control unit prisons across

the country, the SHUs are prisons within

a prison. They are solitary confinement

cells where prisoners are locked up 23

hours a day for years at a time. The one

hour per day these prisoners sometimes

get outside of their cell is spent alone in

an exercise pen not much larger than their

cell, with no direct sunlight. This long-term

isolation causes serious mental and

physical health problems for many

prisoners. And these torture cells target

politically active prisoners using a system

of classification that makes it impossible

for prisoners to appeal their assignment.

The United Front to Shut Down the

SHU includes wide range of political

organizations and individuals, such as the

Barrio Defense Committee (BDC), the

African People's Socialist Party (APSP),

African People's Solidarity Committee

(APSC), the Maoist Internationalist

Movement (MIM), Justice for

Palestinians, California Prison Focus, the

Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League

(RAIL), Proyecto Common Touch and

RASCALS. We are working to expand

participation from likeminded

organizations across the state.

The United Front pushed forward the

campaign with outreach at the June 5 anti-

war protests in San Francisco and Los

Angeles. In San Francisco we had four

locations where people could get

information about the SHU and sign

petitions. We collected hundreds of

petition signatures. Overall, demonstrators

were very receptive to our campaign to

shut down the SHU in California, as well

as all control units across the country.

Many told us that they had previous

knowledge of the SHU or had recently

heard about it through various news

outlets. Even more drew parallels between

the prison abuses abroad, in places such

as Iraq and Guantanamo, and were not

surprised to learn that many soldiers

received their training in humyn rights

abuse from Amerikan prisons.

On June 12 the United Front held a

state-wide organizing meeting. We noted

a number of successes over the past

month, both in increased outreach to new

organizations and individuals sympathetic

to this battle, and in gaining the attention

of more people in the state of California.

Even what appear to be unrelated

protests, like the anti-Biotech

demonstrations in San Francisco, have

begun to include the issue of shutting down

the SHU in their protests. We see this as

a victory for our work to raise general

consciousness about the need to shut

down these torture chambers.

Organizers agree to plan events for July

and August drawing connections between

the torture of prisoners in Iraq and torture

of prisoners in California's Security

Housing Units. There will be a series of

events in cities across the state. Look for

details in the near future. We would

welcome the opportunity to bring these

events to new cities or venues and are

looking for people to help make this

happen.

The United Front is also taking on a

bigger project: organizing a tribunal to

accuse the California Department of

Corrections of committing crimes of

brutality, torture and human rights

violations. This tribunal is scheduled for

October of this year. It will include

testimony from prisoners, former

prisoners, and others affected by the

criminal injustice system, as well as expert

testimony. We are looking for input from

people who could serve as witnesses, and

for help in organizing this important event.

We need more activists to help us

expand the monthly protests and

educational events to other cities across

the state of California. At the

demonstrations we set up a literature

table and use posters and banners to get

Fight to shut down California

prison SHU moves forward

people's attention. And in some cities we

are setting up mock SHU structures to

illustrate to people the small cell size and

sensor deprivation that is part of life in

the SHU. It only takes one or two people

to get a protest going in a new city, and

we can provide people with all the needed

materials.

in this important campaign against these

torture units as a part of the larger battle

against the Criminal Injustice System as

a whole. (For more details on control units

in general and the Security Housing Units

in California's prisons visit http://

www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/prisons).

Protests will be held

Saturday July 3rd at

the following

locations:

Los Angeles: Harambee Certified

Farmers' Market, 5730 Crenshaw Blvd,

Crenshaw and Slauson

Noon - 2pm

Los Angeles: Twin Tower County Jail,

Buchete and Caesar Chavez

Noon - 2pm

San Francisco: Powell & Market

Noon - 2pm

Contact mim124@mim.org for more

information or to get involved.

Berkeley, CA

At the end of every college semester,

comrades from the Revolutionary Anti-

Imperialist League (RAIL) spend finals

week at University of California,

Berkeley, collecting books on politics,

history and law to send free-of-charge to

prisoners. This year, RAIL comrades

spent over a week doing outreach and

collection at the intersection of Bancroft

Way and Telegraph Avenue for 2 - 3

hours per day. During outreach, RAIL

comrades also collected signatures for the

petition to shutdown the prison control

units.(1)

RAIL comrades passed out flyers that

emphasized the importance of the work

MIM and RAIL do with prisoners. Our

work helps prisoners use their time under

lock and key to build towards a more just

and productive society. Many students

were very receptive and said they would

rather donate their books to a prisoner

than throw them away or resell them.

In general, reception from UC students

was very positive. Many stopped to take

a flyer and returned later with books.

Several UC students stopped to ask

questions and dialogue about the

conditions in Amerikan prisons, as well

as the recent torture of Iraqi prisoners.

RAIL comrades educated these students

about the connection between the torture

in Iraqi prisons such as Abu Ghraib and

the conditions in Amerika's Departments

of Corruptions. Some students also

expressed interest in RAIL's increasing

presence on the campus.

In all, RAIL comrades raised over

$85.00 in donations and between 150 and

200 books. We collected many books in

high demand, including Black liberation

works by Malcolm X, W.E.B. Du Bois,

George Jackson, Mumia Abu-Jamal,

Eldridge Cleaver, Angela Davis and

Frantz Fanon. People also responded to

our requests for Marx and Lenin,

dictionaries and law texts. Several

Spanish/English and English dictionaries

were donated, as well as over 30 law

books from a UC Raza law group.

Aside from material support, RAIL was

able to get good exposure to thousands

of students through this campaign. In

addition, the book drive is a good way to

involve people who really want to do

something concrete, but don't know

where to start. Next semester, Bay Area

RAIL comrades have a goal of recruiting

more book collectors and expanding to

other campuses in the area. We challenge

other RAIL chapters across the country

to equal or surpass this year's

achievements. --A RAIL comrade, May

21, 2003

Notes: Information about California's

control units and petitions is available at

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

agitation/prisons/controlunits/index.html.

End-of-semester book drive a success

Did you know?

There are more

than 200 back

issues of MIM

Notes available

on the MIM

website? Not only

can you browse

more than 15

years of the

newspaper, you

can also keep up

with the very

latest on MIM

agitation

campaigns,

prisoner news, all

the latest on the

U$ war, and much

more. MIM's

website is an

indispensable tool

MIM Notes 304 · July 2004 · Page 6

"freedom" to attack other countries, a

joint dictatorship of the proletariat of the

oppressed nations is necessary.

Bourgeois diplomats will always cut deals

that reflect the current imbalance of

power instead of struggling for justice and

the difficult organizational changes

necessary for peace. The bourgeois

diplomats have to be replaced by socialist

statespeople from the oppressed nations.

What the UN Security Council

resolution means is that the imperialists

have played all their cards to quiet the

Iraqi people opposing U$ imperialism. If

the Bush administration succeeds along

these lines in Iraq and elsewhere, the

government will reason that there is no

need for a draft.

The UN resolution also clears the way

for Bush to bribe other countries into

sending troops to Iraq if need be. This is

unlikely for the moment only because of

the fierce resistance of the Iraqi people.

Many countries are reluctant to send

troops into obvious danger.

One might ask if the resolution does

not provide UN troops, then why did Bush

propose it. Unlike many diplomatic

maneuvers aimed only at U$ public

opinion, this one aims squarely at both U$

and Iraqi public opinion. If the Iraqi people

keep fighting, the Democrats will not be

able to say that it is on account of Bush's

strategy not to seek a UN mandate.

BUSH GETS A BREAK

UN Security Council legitimizes war on Iraq

That's why the UN Security Council vote

is a victory for Bush but also a last card

to play.

The UN-recognized U$ puppet regime

in Iraq now has UN authority to ask

troops to leave Iraq completely. The UN

resolution also specifies January 2006 as

the last days of an international force

occupying Iraq. By itself, this resolution

is likely to set back the anti-war

movement in the United $tates as more

watery petty-bourgeois elements decide

that Bush has started to pay attention to

diplomacy. In contrast, the proletarian

parties will oppose the UN-backed puppet

regime regardless of the wavering of the

petty-bourgeoisie.

The UN resolution will also serve as

effective propaganda against the anti-

draft movement, because it encourages

the public to think that the need for troops

will be gone by February 2006. Thus far,

none of MIM's predictions about the draft

and Iraq are wrong. We said that Bush

supporters would be surprised when

troops do not come out of Iraq July 1. To

mollify those people, who are especially

afraid Bush will lose to Kerry, Bush went

to the UN to get this resolution, a sort of

bone in place of troop withdrawal.

Realistically, the ball is in the Iraqi

people's court. The question is whether

this UN resolution placates the Iraqi

people. If they continue to fight hard

against the occupiers, the Amerikan

petty-bourgeoisie will also see the merits

of withdrawing U$ troops. If the Iraqi

people do not fight hard and even disarm,

readers can look forward to Uncle $am

rigging elections in Iraq and the possibility

that U$ troops will remain in Iraq in 2007

and beyond, just as in Germany and

southern Korea.

In other draft-related news, as MIM

reported before, Uncle $am offered to

pull all troops out of Korea. Now it is

definite that one-third or 12,000 will leave,

up from even the 3,000 discussed just

recently.(2) It is noteworthy that this may

open the way for the U$ militarists to

bomb northern Korea, as they now think

there are fewer U$ troops northern Korea

can target for retaliation.

Also noteworthy on the draft issue,

Bush ordered "stop loss" measures for

troops in Iraq which Democratic

candidate for president John Kerry called

a "backdoor draft."(3) This is more or

less an admission that refusing to let

troops end their enlistments and also

refusing to let them transfer units amounts

to a draft in effect already, for people with

military experience. Without the

measures, the Pentagon complained that

25% of units would be missing, thus

making them short-handed.

Not to be outdone, Kerry proposed

doubling the "special forces"(3)--forces

used against national liberation

movements since president J.F. Kennedy.

Special forces have psywar training,

language competence and a lighter profile

than larger, more regular army units.

The rhetoric of Kerry and the later

actions by Bush suggest that the

government is taking seriously the idea

of deploying against "terrorism" and not

nations. Somehow they have succeeded

in labeling Iraq a "terrorist nation" in their

minds and the minds of their yahoo

supporters.

Nonetheless, this rubric of flexibility

allows a shift of resources from places

like Korea and Okinawa to Iraq. As we

said before, neither candidate will touch

the draft before the 2004 election. They

both want to appear to be doing

everything possible to make a draft

unnecessary. Yet we warn our readers

that the economic system that caused the

wars against Iraq is still in place. The for-

profit motivations to trade in weapons of

mass destruction are still there. Capitalism

cannot bring real long-term stability no

matter how many Security Council

resolutions end up passing.

Note:

1. http://www.reuters.co.uk/

newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=worldN

ews&storyID=525780§ion=news

2. http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/

content/2004/s1127086.htm 3. http://

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5129079/

Continued from page 1...

we are not prepared to concede the "real

world" to Chomsky/Kerry, even as we

concede that intellectuals are not

comfortable with Bush. Without further

ado, let's turn to predictions about Kerry

that are specifically about "real world

calculations." We believe the "real world"

depends on power struggles and so we

should look at how a President Kerry

shapes that power struggle.

John Kerry appears to have the

Democratic Party nomination for

president. His advantages include his

biography, because he is a war "hero."

But against this advantage Bush has about

50 million more dollars than Kerry to

spend on campaigning, even after Bush

has spent 60% of his money. Something

else we should look at is the Congress.

In all likelihood it will remain Republican

if nothing truly catastrophic happens

between now and November, 2004. That

will give mushy voters a reason to vote

for Kerry, because voters probably do not

intend to give Republicans control of the

House, Senate and presidency.

Now let's suppose Kerry wins and think

of a Kerry presidency. Kerry voted for

the war in Iraq and wrote part of the

Patriot Act. As I write this at the end of

May Kerry just started campaigning for

Chomsky endorses Kerry: `Pragmatism' endorses oppressive status quo

bigger military budgets as one of his four

major planks on security.(2)

What can we expect from

President Kerry?

* At most we would see Kerry cut

some spending on Iraq, and there is no

saying he would not cut on the parts

reconstructing buildings and other things

blown up by U$ bombs. If Kerry pulls

out of Iraq completely, it will only be

because of the total failure of Amerikan

"security" arrangements, which would

also be the total success of the civil war

that the united $tates stoked up in Iraq.

* Congress will have partisan incentive

to confront Kerry with "Patriot Act"

legislation to sign.

Even more certain than the above

predictions are the following dynamics:

* Democrats already told anti-war

people to "compromise" and "be realistic"

by supporting Kerry against Bush instead

of any of the candidates claiming to be

against the war in Iraq. With the election

of President Kerry, nothing changes. The

new excuse will be to compromise to help

Kerry win in 2008 and also to help

Democrats in Congress in 2006. The

Democrats WILL compromise, because

the Republicans will still have the House

and Senate. A president cannot make law.

It has to come from Congress.

* Kerry will muddy the waters as

president, unlike Bush who prefers to talk

like a simpleton, either because Bush is a

simpleton or because he understands his

supporters very well. People for and

against the war and for and against the

Patriot Act will think they support Kerry.

That is the easiest way to increase support

for an imperialist government when times

are not that sharp politically. Conversely,

if Bush is president, the dynamic is very

clear and all credit or blame falls on

Republicans. In fact, Bush would do more

to make the dynamic clear to people on

an international scale.

* Democrats will shut up about the

Patriot Act and the wars out of fear of

hurting their beloved President Kerry.

While Republicans control the House,

Senate and presidency, Democrats know

that the "Patriot Act" could aim at some

of their followers. This gives the

Democrats the maximum motivation to

fight. With Kerry in charge of

implementing the law, the Democrats will

prefer to "compromise" and look toward

"electability" by having a "Patriot Act"

and similar legislation.

* This is not to mention what others

have noted--that countless single-issue

groups fight harder when a Republican is

in power and sit on their hands when a

Democrat is in power--environmental

groups for instance. The bottom line "real

world" consideration may be this:

Democrats out of power are more useful

than in power. The longer they stay out

of power, the more third parties will try

to break the two-party system and the

better their prospects if one party appears

mortally wounded with no power in any

branch of government. Even if Bush

really is able to do "worse" things than

Kerry, then he only speeds up the

revolution, and with the problems this

world faces, we need that revolution

sooner rather than later.

We welcome Noam Chomsky's

response.

Notes:

1. http://www.guardian.co.uk/

u s e l e c t i o n s 2 0 0 4 / s t o r y /

0,13918,1174017,00.html

2. http://www.johnkerry.com/

pressroom/releases/pr_2004_0527.html

Continued from page 1...

MIM Notes 304 · July 2004 · Page 7

by mim3@mim.org and

mousnonya

On May 24th, Bush went on TV to

prepare the public for the weeks and

months ahead in Iraq. "`Our commanders

had estimated that a troop level below

115,000 would be sufficient at this point

in the conflict,' Bush said. `Given the

recent increase in violence, we will

maintain our troop level at the current

138,000 as long as necessary.'

"If commanders need more troops,

Bush said, `I will send them.'"(1) On the

same day, Democrat Senator Joe

Lieberman generally backed the president

by saying on CNN that the war in Iraq

was the "test of a generation." Instead

of saying this war has created more

hatred for U$ imperialism, Lieberman said

there would be more attacks on U$ soil if

the troops do not stay in Iraq.

Meanwhile, Senators Hillary Clinton

(D-NY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC)

called for a "larger military." Hillary

Clinton expressed doubts about how to

fund it but said there was no choice.(2)

Graham probably sees war as a job option

for his state's rural white youth, since

South Carolina has lost so many jobs but

refuses to change anything.

The multiple prison torture scandals in

Iraq and Afghanistan mean that other

imperialists at the United Nations have a

better bargaining position than before.

Right now the U$ rulers are trying to

appear flexible in public. We believe this

appearance is mostly aimed at U$ public

opinion, not really other heads of state.

Bill Clinton's top diplomat Madeleine

Albright said she appreciated that as of

May 24th Bush recognized the value of

the United Nations. This shows that there

is bipartisan unity if Bush is willing to fan

the illusions of the Democratic voters.

MIM has predicted that there will be a

draft after the election unless there is a

huge military victory by the Iraqis or other

Middle East fighters before that or a

desperately radical anti-draft struggle in

the upcoming months. Right now it may

seem like chances are better than ever

to get the United $tates out of Iraq: 1)

Bush is taking a beating internationally

and even somewhat in the United $tates;

2) Bush and Blair went to the UN with a

proposal to give UN blessings to the

occupation. We stress to our readers that

it is true that the United $tates is taking a

beating militarily and in global public

opinion, and it is true that Bush faces an

elections soon, but going to the UN may

be aimed at consolidating U$ public

opinion on the need for the draft. The

imperialists would like to say they "tried"

at the UN and failed, so now they need a

draft. (From MIM's point of view, it does

not matter whether Uncle $am chooses

ruin through deficit-spending for a bloated

military or the draft. Either way, U$

imperialism is headed for the ash-heap.

The more the Iraqis and Afghans fight,

the less effective recruiting mercenaries

will be.)

The imperialists are going to play the

UN card. Another card could be the Arab

League, the association of Arab

government lackeys. On May 23rd, the

Arab lackeys floated the idea of landing

troops in Iraq as part of an international,

UN-backed force.(3) Miracle diplomacy

would put Arab troops on the ground in

Iraq and Bush could crow in time for

November's election.

We at MIM believe it is more likely that

all of this is just to show the U$ public

that Bush "tried" and to give Senators

Clinton and Lieberman all the excuse they

need to support more aggressive designs.

One place the U$ imperialists probably

will not find many troops is England. 66%

of the voters there oppose sending even

3000 more troops to Iraq.(4) U$

imperialists are so short of manpower that

they are unable to pursue further offensive

operations against Iran, Syria or northern

Korea. Four facts about enemy troop

movements and "force structure" show

why the imperialists are already stretched

to their limits without a draft in the current

political operating environment.

First, three divisions (about 50,000

soldiers) that recently left Iraq are

currently classified as "unfit to fight."(5)

Until equipment is replaced or repaired--

which will take several months--these

troops will be unavailable for overseas

deployment. Reservists and national

guardsmen replaced these divisions in

Iraq. With less training and inferior

equipment these soldiers will perform less

effectively.

Second, the enemy has recently

decided to rotate soldiers out of southern

Korea and into Iraq.(6) This is not so that

the soldiers on the Korean front can get

"real world" battle experience. It is just

that the enemy is desperate enough to

risk one front (Korea) for another front

(Iraq).

Third, the United $tates has begun

looking for members of the Individual

Ready Reserve. The IRR are those

soldiers who have served on active or

reserve duty in the last 8 years. They are

subject to mobilization on notice even if

they are not drilling with active guard or

reserve units.(7) While active duty

discharges have been regularly refused

for some time under the "stop loss"

program, activating the IRR is the last

step the government can take to increase

its troop supply short of instituting a draft.

Fourth, the United $tates is also planning

to send its opposition force training units

("OpFor") to Iraq.(8) OpFor are the very

best soldiers in the Army. Their job

ordinarily is to train new units to the

highest standards possible. These units'

going to Iraq mean that newly trained

draftees will not have a clue about how

to fight. So the short term gain (some of

the best soldiers in the Army in Iraq)

results in long term loss (untrained

draftees getting whacked like flies next

year and their buddies then fragging the

officers--just like Vietnam). [Fragging

refers to the killing of officers by men

who do not want to fight or are otherwise

peeved.]

These four facts all indicate that the

United $tates does not have adequate

manpower for its schemes and will

institute the draft after the election--

regardless of which imperialist faction

seizes state power. The draft is just one

more way that youth, even in imperialist

countries, are oppressed by capitalism.

U$ imperialists have realized that they will

get no material support from German or

French imperialists or even from the UN.

Even partners in crime have some self-

respect. So the United $tates will institute

a draft: budgetary problems also show this

to be the case.

Capitalism encourages a "live for the

moment" attitude. This fact poisons the

capitalists' thinking about war. It is one

more reason why MIM has strategic

confidence in the global proletariat. The

imperialists are making mistake after

mistake in this war(9), because they have

overestimated their own strength and

cannot admit the truth--that their pigdom

is built on the sweat and blood of stolen

Third World labor.

Without even considering the insane

mistreatment of prisoners and abuse of

civilians documented in earlier MIM

Notes articles it is clear that our enemy

is overstretched and making mistakes.

Compound their miscalculations of forces

with their atrocities against the Iraqi

people and the result is clear: the

imperialists will lose their war in Iraq. The

quicker they are defeated the happier we

will all be.

These facts confirm MIM's long-

standing prediction that the imperialist

countries, desperate for Third World

resources, will find themselves

increasingly overstretched and bogged

down in protracted hot wars for

resources in the Third World. The enemy

is making serious mistakes and

compounding them daily. But our victory

will not be quick: Sadly, the imperialists

will kill many proletarians before the error

of their ways hits home. We must

minimize our losses to the greatest extent

possible by organizing resistance to the

war. Oppose imperialism now: the life you

save might be your own.

Published at www.etext.org/Politics/

MIM on 25 May 2004.

Notes:

1. http://www.cnn.com/2004/

ALLPOLITICS/05/24/bush.iraq/

index.html

2. http://www.cnn.com/2004/

ALLPOLITICS/05/23/senate.military/

index.html

3. http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/

world/story/0,4386,252691,00.html

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

story/0,12956,1224003,00.html 45% also

say troops should stay as long as

necessary, so most of the opposition is

just about keeping a deal a deal with the

U$ imperialists.

5. May 15, 2004 THE CONFLICT IN

IRAQ, Far From Ready for More War

With battered gear and nerves, a third of

the Army is `unfit to fight' but preparing

to return. By Esther Schrader, Times Staff

Writer http://www.latimes.com/news/

nationworld/iraq/compl ete/la-na-

ready15may15,0,7845126.story?coll=la-

iraq-complete

6. Ex-troops could be forced to go to

Iraq Army, stretched thin, is reviewing

files now May 19, 2004 BY JOSEPH L.

GALLOWAY Detroit Free Press http://

w w w . f r e e p . c o m / n e w s / n w /

troops19_20040519.htm

7. Army might be calling back recently

demobilized GIs By Dawn House The Salt

Lake Tribune http://www.sltrib.com/

2004/May/05132004/utah/166102.asp

8. The Incredible Shrinking Army, From

the May 24, 2004 issue: It's even worse

than you think. by Frederick W. Kagan

05/24/2004, Volume 009, Issue 35 The

Weekly Standard, http://

www.weeklystandard.com/Content/

Public/Artic les/000/000/004/

100ctzvm.asp

9. Strategic miscalculations By Jim

Lobe Asia Times 21 May 2004 http://

atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/

FE21Ak02.html

Bush says it again: Troops in Iraq may increase

The imperialists are making

mistake after mistake in this war,

because they have overestimated

their own strength and cannot

admit the truth -- that their

pigdom is built on the sweat and

blood of stolen Third World labor.

MIM Notes 304 · July 2004 · Page 8

Watching Bear: Many of us were

surprised. You pulled a lot of influence as

a leader of a National Lumpen

Organization, one of the biggest Latino

organizations (orgs) in the u.$. After 20

years of involvement you up and leave to

found the NYLP/LNNA (NYLP for

short)?

Pablo Pueblo: See now how'd you get

those details?

WB: Research.

PP: Hmmm (smiles suspiciously), it

ain't no secret. As for influence, that's

all relative to who's opposing you or

supporting you at the time, and that's not

a game I wish to pursue. It took me a

while to grow up politically, but when I

did, I felt that a Latino Nations vanguard

was necessary in the u.$., one that kept

"Politics in Command," which is the

ONLY way to represent the Third World

struggle.

WB: "Politics in Command"?

PP: Yeah, what I mean is an org that

claims to represent the people has to

establish a CLEAR line of identity. Do

you ACT and REACT like a gang,

criminal syndicate, social club, progressive

social org, or a vanguard party? I've led

the gang life and the progressive social

org life and I'm not satisfied with either

of these. The former is unchannelled

rebellion, granted, but still poison to my

people. The latter doesn't do enough to

work for national self- determination. The

NYLP plans to step up the game so that

other orgs who claim to represent the

oppressed and 3rd World will either step

up their revolutionary practice or be

repudiated for misrepresentation. We

have a political line: Marxism. We chose

to emulate the original Young Lords Party

(YLP) out of Harlem, Brooklyn, Bronx,

NY and the ones from Bridgeport, CT.

Tho' props must be given to the Young

Lords Organization out of Chicago, IL,

who originated the Young Lords' political

activity. We felt that the original YLP's

demise was premature, and we felt it was

right to resurrect a more advanced party

along these same lines. For us keeping

politics in command is keeping the socialist

principles in command.

WB: So the NYLP is socialist?

PP: Without a doubt.

WB : And you find this a realistic

endeavor?

PP: There can be no doubt that Latino

Nations by the millions are looking for

revolutionary change. We intend to further

that change along as best we can.

WB: With regards to its development,

how far has the NYLP evolved from its

conception.

PP: Well, let's put it like this, the "Young

Lords" name has a long history. In the

beginning there was a gang. The 60s

brought political growth to the Young

Lords and they began to understand and

act against the oppressor on behalf of the

The rebirth of an old revolutionary legacy

Noble Young Lords Party founder speaks

oppressed. Cha-Cha Jimenez led Chicago

in that respect. In New York the Young

Lords Party understood that socialism

was the key to social and economic

freedom from super-exploitation by

government and corporate entities. And

though they were on the right path they

allowed unnecessary dividing lines to hurt

the progress of their political awareness.

Of course counter-intelligence programs

by the FBI pigs played a huge role in their

disruption, but they also lacked a complete

analysis as it pertained to dialectical

studies. This was why the Nationalist and

Feminist questions became increasingly

difficult to reconcile. One of their major

errors was to call the u.$. working force

a working class proletariat. The NYLP

has advanced from the YLP's theories

by acknowledging that there is little to no

proletariat in the u.$. and also that fighting

patriarchy is best done by keeping

imperialism as the #1 enemy.

Nevertheless we couldn't have gotten this

far without them. As to structure, we're

doing well, though we are in need of key

elements such as more qualified leaders

and functional materials/funds. We have

a good leadership cadre but we're still

looking for more. We have National

Minister of Wimmin's Affairs and

National Minister of Information seats

open in the National Central Committee

(NCC).

WB: When I read the NYLP's Political

Compendium Manual (PCM)--and I'll

go more in depth on that later--I noticed

a strong emphasis on the importance of

the W-O-M-Y-N's (singular) or W-I-M-

M-I-N's (plural) struggle. That's how you

spell it, right?

PP: Yeah, it's just a declaration of the

right for wimmin to stand as equal and

independent humyn beings (spelling

intended) and not subject to economic,

social, and military oppression (a.k.a.

patriarchy). We began by "de-

genderizing" language, wherever

possible.

WB: I did some research and found

some Manifestos, Charters, and Policy

books in the `Net. I found some similarity

in some of the literature in comparison

with the PCM. However, even at their

best (namely the Latin King's Nation

manifesto and a similar east coast charter),

there is a sense of objectification that

positions wimmin as a secondary entity

in their respective orgs. Some will deify

them while others "protect" them. This

is a popular school of thought from

Lumpen orgs like yours. Yet the NYLP

has a more advanced vision with respect

to wimmin - though certainly not new.

Why haven't we seen this before in the

Lumpen arena, and how was the NYLP

able to overcome that backwards school

of thought?

PP: Sh*@, Bear, you caught me

sleepin' on that one, can you repeat that

again?

WB: You can't sleep on me, Pueblo,

I'm quick like the crow. (smile)

PP: No SH*@, I thought you were

gonna' be easy (laughs).

WB: Let me put it short. The NYLP

represents `revolutionary feminism,'

something lumpen orgs don't represent

effectively. You guys come from the same

mold, why are you guys "on point" in this

respect while the majority of lumpen orgs

aren't?

PP: A'ight, I'ma put it down now.

WB: Lay it on us, playa' (smiles).

PP: Dig, we're all a product of our

environment. I truly believe that. Thing

is, though that's the case, we also have

the ability to transcend our environment.

The lumpen crews reflect their society,

so their social laws, rules, opinions on the

wimmin's struggle aren't taken as

important as their own perception of

"survival" - real shit a muhf*@!a' has to

endure comin' from the inner cities or

`doing time.' What most lumpen fail to

realize is that it's their lack of socio-

political and economic analysis that keeps

them in the same circle of oppression.

Most of the time we're so busy

REACTING to our own individual

situations that we fail to focus on the

CAUSES of our situation.

WB: Which is why the NYLP keeps

`politics in command.' You all feel that

the political arena is responsible for the

major points of oppression including how

wimmin are perceived.

PP: Exactly! In the instance of the

wimmin's struggle, the problem is

patriarchy. This is a major political

problem and having identified the problem,

we're able to work on ways to solve the

problem. Who is most responsible for the

gender oppression at this time? The

imperialist! So the NYLP targets the

imperialists and makes them the principal

contradiction that we fight against. We've

got a LOT to learn on this front, but we

know that we're beginning on the right

path, because our analysis is on point. We

thank MIM for aiding us in our studies

with respect to this and other topics.

WB : How important is MIM's

affiliation with the NYLP?

PP: We'd say that they've been

INTEGRAL to our development. Many

of us became enlightened about dialectic

materialism and democratic centralism

because of MIM. I've known them since

my college days, and I've always

respected their flow. Let me change the

subject up on you to make a point about

something you said earlier.

WB: Go ahead.

PP: You equated the NYLP/LNNA to

other LO's (Lumpen Orgs). We should

make it clear that while the NYLP/LNNA

has a primarily lumpen proletariat element,

we're certainly beyond any current

collective rockin' the streets right now.

We make a distinction between an LO

and a vanguard party (VP). MIM is a

VP and so are we. The difference is

100% political commitment. The

difference is not ego - it's practice.

WB: Speaking of "LO's", do you think

that your previous involvement in another

controversial org will affect your creds

as a legitimate socialist leader?

PP: There was a point before the

NYLP when I felt that to create another

org would be a betrayal to my former

affiliations. But as I matured in this, I

recognized this as a psychological

subterfuge. If my proclaimed loyalty is

first and foremost to the oppressed 3rd

World people then it is my duty and my

right to serve them in the most advanced

form possible. This means that if I am

currently in one org which is irrevocably

fulfilling half-measures or has become

sectarian, and I refuse to join my practice

with a cadre or org that is clearly more

advanced in their service to the

Oppressed Nation Comrades and the 3rd

World's oppressed, then clearly THAT IS

GENUINE BETRAYAL to our people.

No revolutionary should ever allow an

identity to be more important than `La

Lucha.' We know what we're doing is

right. As for controversy, I owe

reparations to my people for tragic crimes

based on ignorance and neo-colonial

mentality, so part of my dedication comes

from redemption. The streets can get you

twisted up. But the lionshare of why I'm

doing this, why we're doing this, is a love

for the Brown Force and our hope to one

day see it free from its imperialist chains.

The f*@!@! up thing about this is there

are people more educated and with more

resources than we have and we're still

waitin' on them to lead the struggle. What

the f@!* we gonna' do, wait till we're

50? Hell no! In this respect we remain

hardcore. We'll make ourselves prepared

to do the job `most of the actually

prepared' refused to do. That's what we

did. We made it happen. Our minds and

hearts are 100% dedicated to serving and

learning by the masses for the long term.

WB : That was deep; you've got

charisma.

PP: I've been here before Bear, so let

me set it straight. This ain't about "me."

I've no desire to engineer a "cult of

personality." I'm speaking for myself,

Beto Puñala (our National Minister of

Defense), and the rest of the National

Central Committee, as well as the

membership. Being the front man for this

party is just a function, a cog in the

immense communal wheel that's being

constructed on an international scale. The

NYLP is a small piece of the larger puzzle

of resistance. If I can utilize my

"charisma" to further the party's goals

then so be it, but a leader must get it

straight that s/he is just a function. S/he

is not the revolution, just part of it. Give

me a 3rd World farmer or a `Maquiladora'

(factory) laborer and I'll show you men

and wimmin we should praise. Next to

Continued from page 1...

MIM Notes 304 · July 2004 · Page 9

Intensified Quest for A-Bomb Parts.'

That report concerned the aluminum

tubes that the administration advertised

insistently as components for the

manufacture of nuclear weapons fuel.

The claim came not from defectors but

from the best American intelligence

sources available at the time. Still, it

should have been presented more

cautiously."

It's good that the New York Times

admitted its errors. Something was

definitely going on with those alarmist

pop-up editorials on the New York Times

web page unusual even by New York

Times imperialist standards. "Articles

based on dire claims about Iraq tended to

get prominent display, while follow-up

The New York Times admits errors on Iraq

articles that called the original ones into

question were sometimes buried. In some

cases, there was no follow-up at all." The

persyn who did those pop-ups should be

fired under suspicion of being a

government agent for Bush/Sharon and

the editor(s) who bury news opposing the

neo-conservative "Revolution" should

switch to writing restaurant reviews.

We also have to say that the New York

Times still harbours the illusion that WMD

may be found. While recognizing that

many specific past claims regarding

WMD are wrong, the New York Times

sees nothing wrong in saying that more

than a year later it is possible to say

credibly what happened if WMD do show

up in Iraq.

The ground is shifting in this war on

Iraq. The New York Times has had to

pay increasing attention to its audience

since the Internet became popular.

Intellectuals typical of the New York

Times audience were not fooled by the

drumbeat for war. We only wish the New

York Times had acted prior to the war or

at least prior to the latest campaign

against Chalabi. Anyone not intelligent

enough to understand the motivations of

defectors spreading false information to

call forth a war had no business running

the government or reporting news in the

first place.

We cannot afford not to read the New

York Times, the imperialist newspaper of

record. Nonetheless, we at MIM Notes

have a better record on all the major

questions: 1) the WMD; 2) the

Democrats' role; 3) the likelihood of Iraqi

resistance and 4) even the fact that our

peace movement was too petty-bourgeois

to stop the ground invasion. We've said it

before and we will say it again: The public

is better off reading MIM Notes, because

Bush may spend 11 digits a year on

"intelligence" and the New York Times

can call more people than we at MIM

can, but neither the government nor its

mouthpieces have any possibility of

piecing together what they know

concerning war & peace or other

substantial issues of politics in a useful

manner. Capitalism corrupts truth

production processes.

Note: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/

05/26/international/middleeast/

26FTE_NOTE.html?8dpc

Continued from page 3...

them, who the f*@@ am I?

WB: See what I mean?

PP: F!@* you, man! (laughs)

WB: No, f!@* you, you da' man!

(laughs)

PP: Aww, so now you tryin' to keep

me up by callin' me "the man"? (smiles)

WB: Listen, as you know, I'm Native

American. You might have people reading

this who are feeling this movement but

they aren't Mexica, Boricua, or Latino in

any way. Where does the NYLP stand

in relation to other trampled nations such

as what you call the First Nations (Native

American)?

PP: Well, we don't care about your

problems (uncomfortable silence, then

smiles). On the serious tip, the Party is in

unity with Mao Tse Tung when he said

that nationalism is applied

internationalism. We want to concentrate

on the Latino Nations so that the full effect

of our efforts and resources can actually

succeed on making a concentrated

wedge on enemy lines. If we spread our

efforts and resources through various

single issues from a larger array of

national interests, this early in the game,

our effectiveness would be more bland.

Once we gain a steady networking

apparatus, we can act as a solid

foundation for future international

interests within other oppressed nations.

We've seriously discussed strengthening

our base ASAP in order to catalyze sibling

bases, i.e. NYLP/First Nations North

America and the like. We mention that in

the PCM.

WB : The Political Compendium

Manual (PCM) - you see that as your

primer or manifesto, right?

PP: It's the engine without the gas. It's

getting' picked up for publishing.

WB: Would you call it a Volvo or a

Ferrari?

PP: Ain't no socialist gonna' compare

revolutionary literature to imperialist

products. If I had to use an analogy, I'd

say it was an all terrain military vehicle.

We're not putting a priority on looks or

speed; we're more concerned with

steadiness, durability, and effectiveness.

WB: My point is as the author...

PP: I'm not the author, I was the editor

and project director. I was entrusted by

the NCC and membership to write most

of the laws, legislation, and protocols but

I was also aided by Allah's Panther, G.

Good, Kulcan, Beto Puñala, MIM and

Don Pacho. MIM, ALKQN and NAIM

served as models as well as the YLP and

BPP.

WB: I don't think a corporate primer

could have done better.

PP: You keep comparing us to capitalist

products or orgs. No cool, Bro.

WB: My bad, as you know I'm not a

socialist, just anti-pig, so my studies aren't

tight in this field.

PP: I can dig it, no issue. I'll be writing

Willas' (letters) from up here to remind

you every so often that every persyn's

cora (heart) pumps "red"... and yours

should too, carnal. But I see where you're

going with that. You're not alone in that

opinion. I think most people don't expect

inmigrantes and caribenos to get too

logical with their reasoning. So when they

see a manual like this dug up from the

muddy streets and the living cemetery we

call lockdown, they're impressed. But to

us this is all normal shit we talk about all

the time. We just weren't aware that

people like Mao and Lenin were making

scientific theories from our experiences.

Once we became aware, we knew we

had to lay it down in black and white and

hope that the seed spreads. The Political

Compendium Manual is no major

theoretical work but to us and hopefully

to those who buy it it will serve to be the

backbone supporting the body as it

functions, entiendes? We're not pushing

a defective item.

WB: Well, Pueblo I appreciate your

time. With revolutionaries like yourself in

the mix, I'm sure the movement will be

all the better for it.

PP: Thanks, Bear. Listen, before I go,

I wanna' send my appreciation to a few

people whose support has been a breath

of fresh air. It'll be in Spanish, you mind?

WB: Go ahead.

PP: Quiero enviarle saludos y gracias

por su apoyo a Dona Carmen, a nuestro

hermano C. Maroma el amante de las

turistas de Machu Piccu, Keila la heroina

de los hermanos condenados, Ailene la

Sabrosa, y Denise A.; sangre de mi

sangre. Saludos especial van para Gloria,

madre de un general. We invite all you

college rebels, all you comrades in

lockdown who need "one mike," and all

you potential revolutionaries (like

Comrade Nafi) to help us spread the

Party and become Noble Young Lords.

By the way we perceive the word "Lord"

as gender neutral so all you Lord-Sista's

help us in this fight as well.

To reach NYLP/LNNA's spokespersyn

Maldito Green Eyes write to: NYLP/

MIM, PO Box 40799, San Francisco,

CA 94140. E-mail NYLP@mim.org

attn: M.G.E.

MIM Notes 304 · July 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?

FACTS ignores many

Third Strike prisoners

Upon review of the "Three Strikes and Child

Protection Act of 2004" initiative that has been
submitted to the California Secretary of State
by Families to Amend California Three Strikes
(FACTS) and Citizens Against Violent Crime
(CAVC), it is evident that they have no only
abused the National Plantation Psychosis
Awareness Committee's (NPPAC) services
but are misrepresenting and misappropriating
the 700,000 signatures and monies solidified
from California prisoners' families, friends and
supporters, in that when FACTS/CAVC
solicited these signatures and monies, it was
done under the pretense and expectation of
the people that the Three Strike Initiative
would be written so that all non-violent
offenders would be exempt from the Three
Strike clause.

However, now that FACTS/CAVC has

secured the needed 700,000 signatures and
monies from the people, it has now flipped
the script to exclude a very large segment of
non-violent offenders from the initiative.

This large segment of non-violent offenders

are those of us who were convicted of
"second degree" robbery, which pursuant to
Penal Code 213, is a non-violent offense. That
is to say, no weapon or force was used.

These "second degree" non-violent

robberies are incorporated into Penal Code
667.5(c)(9) as "any robbery." Moreover, due
to the "any robbery" language of Penal Code
667.5(c)(9), the vast majority of the "second
degree robbery" class of prisoners and their
supporters are not even aware that "second
degree" robbery is a non-violent offense,
pursuant to Penal Code 213.

Thus, by the initiative submitted by

FACTS/CAVC not amending penal Code
667.5(c)(9) language from "any robbery" to
the language of "first degree armed and/or
strong armed robbery" is a carbon copy of
what Pete Wilson had originally done to us.
Only this time around, the initiative is
subliminally dressed down to covertly exclude
only "certain classes" of non-violent
offenders from the Three Strike lynch clause,
as opposed to all non-violent offenders as
was proposed to the people in exchange for
their work, signatures and monies.

This is an extremely critical issue and by

far no small matter, in that the "second
degree" robbery class of non-violent
offenders is significantly larger than even the
petty theft class of non-violent offenders.
However, it is this former and larger class of
non-violent offenders who are not being
represented in the initiative.

Needless to say that time is of the essence,

in that this defective initiative is scheduled
and submitted to be placed on the November
2, 2004 ballot. Therefore, it is incumbent of all
concerned parties out there on the street and

behind these walls to immediately write, call,
fax and/or email the FACTS/CAVC
headquarters to demand for this initiative to
amend the language of Penal Code 667.5(c)(9)
from "any robbery" to the language of "first
degree armed and/or strong armed robbery"
from this draconian Three Strike lynch clause.

Do not delay! Our very lives and the lives

of our loved ones depend on you to set the
captives free!

The address and phone number to the

FACT/CAVC headquarters are as follows:

FACTS Headquarters
3982 So. Fiqueroa St. #207A
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Phone: (213) 746-4844

CAVC Headquarters
12922 Harbor Blvd.
Garden Grove, CA 92840
Phone: (714) 547-9842

-- A California Prisoner, May 2004
MIM replies: The Three Strikes law in

California is one of many aggressive laws
dedicated to filling up the prisons. It includes
the provision that if a person is convicted of
any felony and has two previous violent or
serious felony convictions, he or she is
sentenced to a life sentence with the
possibility of parole. This means giving
people even longer sentences than prescribed
for their crime.

This article is a correct criticism of FACTS

proposed amendment on the Three Strikes
law in California. But it's not surprising, in
fact it is predictable that anyone trying to
amend a fundamentally unjust law is going to
leave at least some injustice in there. The
FACTS petition to get this initiative on the
ballot states:

"The `Three-Strikes' Law is sending minor

offenders away for 25 years to life and
bankrupting the State of California in the
process. An overwhelming number of second
and third strike cases prosecuted in the state
are non-serious, non-violent felonies. This is
serving the prison industrial complex, not the
people. The prison budget exceeds the budget
for higher education! We, the undersigned,
support legislation that will limit the
application of the `Three Strikes Law' to
serious and violent felonies."

They left in the "serious felonies" definition

even in the petition, leaving the way open to
keeping non-violent felons under the Three
Strikes law.

On their web site FACTS offers some good

arguments against the Three Strikes law,
including that it is not proven as a deterrent,
that it is unjust punishment, that it is
disproportionately targeting oppressed
nationals, and that it violates double jeopardy.
But they fail to explain why it is OK to keep
the Three Strikes law for people who commit

"serious and violent felonies" when these
reasons all apply regardless of the conviction.
The FACTS web site is an excellent case for
abolishing this law entirely.

This underscores the problem with fighting

for reforms within the criminal injustice
system, or any other aspect of imperialism.
We may be able to win small battles, like
restricting who the reactionary Three Strikes
laws apply to, but we will ultimately be leaving
the injustice system in place and leaving
behind many more people still suffering from
the system. Principled anti-imperialists need
to push the struggle for reforms as far as we
can within the system, calling for the end to
the reactionary Three Strikes laws, the
elimination of prison Control Units, and end
to the imperialist death penalty, etc. And in
this context we need to educate people about
why these reforms still won't solve the
problems of the criminal injustice system.
MIM has been pushing for an end to the
Three Strikes law for years, and we stand with
NPPAC and other organizations and
individuals in demanding that this unjust law

MIM Notes 304 · July 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.

must be eliminated.

Notes: FACTS web site: www.facts1.com

Abolishing the Three

Strikes law is not

enough

There are numerous organizations who are

waging a fierce struggle to overturn the
oppressive law of Three Strikes. I commend
these organizations and the individuals who
these organizations consist of and their
collective efforts.

Three strikes is an oppressive law that

targets mainly the poor and minorities within
U.$. borders. And to be successful in
overturning this law would be, without a
doubt, one of many steps in the correct
direction that must be taken to abolish all
forms of oppression. But if it is the ultimate
and final goal of these organizations to
overturn Three Strikes as a final objective,
we must not deceive ourselves. It will surely
be a short lived victory and, as history has
shown us, rest assured that other oppressive
laws and measures will be implemented to
replace the Three Strikes law. Reforms as final
solutions do not work. And, in fact, when
used as such, they can be very damaging
and set back the gains that have been
achieved through struggle. Reforms should
only be used as tactics and methods for the
purpose of achieving and furthering a long
term objective.

If we want to rid ourselves of a poisonous

weed, to cut the weed in half at its base would
only result in the appearance of a solution.
This is what reforms amount to. They appear
as solutions while leaving the conditions for
the weed to grow back intact, namely the root.
In order to permanently rid ourselves of the
weed, we must not only pull the weed at its
base but we must, more importantly, abolish
the root. In the case of Three Strikes, to
abolish the poisonous root entirely, we must
attack it at it's roots: capitalism-imperialism.

Capitalism is a social system erected on

private property and whose production is
based on what is profitable, instead of
correctly erecting production on public
ownership and basing it according to
people's needs, as the socialist model offers.
When an extremely small, rich sector of the
world's population owns all or most property,
land, tools of production and technology, this
small sector of the world's population (the
bourgeoisie with support from the petit-
bourgeoisie and labor aristocracy), they
exploit the world's masses and profit from their
cheap labor, a labor power which the masses
are forced to sell as a commodity far below its

value in order to reproduce themselves and
continue living.

This results in a world of inequalities.

Poverty versus wealth, nations oppressing
nations, societies considering of social
classes, the "haves" and the "have nots" and
every other conflict that stems from this
contradiction. These conflicts include wars,
hunger, exploitation, inadequate living
conditions and education, the absence of
medical facilities and medicines, resulting in
the deaths of thousands on a daily basis from
preventable diseases, etc. The mass majority
of the world's population, which suffers from
the oppressions of capitalism and its
imperialist drive for profits, not only have the
right to defend themselves, but have an
obligation to humanity to overthrow it.

Three Strikes is just one of the many

methods of social control used by the
bourgeoisie and its lackeys to preserve their
property rights and the status quo. Being that
capitalist profit production not only prevents
impoverished nations from developing and
is the cause of today's inequalities, it is also
responsible for creating the conditions
(ghettos, barrios, poverty, etc.) where a so-
called "criminal consciousness" develops.

The true criminals are the capitalists and

their labor aristocratic supporters who impose
these living conditions upon us for their
financial gain. Abolishing Three Strikes as an
ultimate and final goal is not a permanent
solution so long as the conditions for crime
to develop exist. The solution is to abolish all
forms of oppression and poverty and the
selfish individualist ideology that flourishes
under capitalism. This is achievable by
abolishing capitalism itself and by eliminating
the foundation it stands on, that being private
property.

-- A California Prisoner, May 2004

Conditions getting

worse in Georgia

Dear MIM,

The oppressive conditions in this High

Maximum Security prison are getting worse.
Prison officials have totally disregarded the

department's policy that governs.
[Regulation] 950.1 states that High Maximum
Security prisoners shall enjoy the same

privileges as the general population, but we
are being denied showers on Sundays, all
educational programs, all religious programs;

we have limited phone calls every month and
limited access to the law library. We're denied
hot water although the prison continues to

sell coffee, hot cocoa, soups, etc. Indigent
prisoners are limited to hygiene items,
cleaning supplies are denied on a daily basis,

food portions are smaller, food served cold;
continuous denial of outside recreation

because of the violation of the anal cavity
searches being forced upon prisoners by
officers who are not authorized to do so.

Prisoners have been handcuffed and beaten
for failing to comply with these unjustified
searches. . . .I strive to stay strong in this

struggle. I strive for a better way, to see a
better day!

--A Georgia prisoner, April 2004

VA prisons serve

oppression

The guards are racist in the extreme, sadistic

in their dealings with prisoners and the

psychological effect of this treatment is mind-
blowing. Wallens Ridge and Red Onion State
Prison were built in an economically

depressed and alienated region in southwest
Virginia. They were built under the guise of a
severe gang problem in Virginia, but the actual

numbers of violent incidents in Virginia's
prisons suggests that the creation of jobs by
the state was the real reason.

They didn't have enough violent Virginia

prisoners so they had to lease out bed spaces
and still do, to other states -- New Mexico,

Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Michigan,
Vermont, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Over
200 million spent in building two super

maximum security prisons of the types you
find in California and Nevada.

We have all been labeled gang members of

some kind or other.For them the means justify
the ends. But the building of these two
prisons was in keeping with bourgeois

opportunism. For this past six years they have
been stressing over the overwhelming need
to control those "violent prisoners" so they

constantly impose their brutality upon us with
attack dogs, shotguns, 20 gallon tanks of gas,
and the killing of a Connecticut prisoner in

Virginia.

Custody has reduced the use of stun-guns,

but physical beatings are common

practice.Certain prisoners are often targeted
for a special brand of oppression -- these
prisoners tend to be the ones who seek relief

through the administrative process.But this
process is made impossible, because the very
people prisoners are seeking relief from are

the same ones who control this so-called
administrative process.If it is not the blatant
brutality then it is the subtle tactics which

the oppressors use, such as holding mail,
destroying personal property, creating
tension among prisoners, and using insulting

language. My concern is not confrontations
with other prisoners, but a violent clash with
the oppressors when they (the officers) have

created division and little solidarity among
prisoners so as to make it easier to suppress
and control those few who fight against the

brutal oppression.

I think it would be absolutely correct if these

two prisons were shut down. There is clearly

no need for them in the sense of security and
a concern for some flawed idea about "violent
Virginia prisoners" needing to be controlled.

A prison built in an economically depressed

region that created jobs for out of work coal
miners should be exposed for what it actually

is -- political maneuvering for the sake of
careerism and opportunism.

--A Virginia Prisoner, April 2004

SHUs = Modern-Day

Concentration Camps

I am an inmate housed at Corcoran SHU

and have been here for the last year and a

half. The SHU is a very degrading situation
for any humyn being to have to endure. I am
a brother that considers himself a

revolutionary. I've been trying to fight the
system from within.I have been placed in Ad
Seg before based on my political views. I have

helped to organize inmates to strike in the
past based on our mistreatment.

Here at Corcoran SHU, there's a lot of

mistreatment of us inmates. I have been
assaulted and racially discriminated against
by two officials. The pigs refused to send my

report on staff abuse to the DAs office and
that's a felony! That's a foul play that's going
on here at Corcoran SHU. Inmates are being

assaulted and the pigs are covering it up.
They are charging the inmate with staff assault
and the pigs refuse to send the case to Kings

County DAs so they find us guilty in a
kangaroo court here at Corcoran SHU. There's
no appeal system here because the same pigs

that commit these crimes are the same pigs
that pick up our mail. Our cases do not leave
the building.

These SHUs are made to break a man down,

both mentally and physically. But for the real
soldier, it only makes us stronger and more

angry. Continue the fight to shut down these
modern-day concentration camps. They
should be illegal.

-- A California Prisoner, May 2004

Petition to shut down

prison control units

I was reading MIM Notes dated Feb 1, 2004

and I ran across "Shut down all Control
Units" article, which is all good! Now, it was
said that a petition is circulating through the

prison systems. I would most definitely sign
it. So could you please forward it to me? I will
make it my duty to get all the signatures I can

at this prison. I have raised awareness among
many souljas already, and they're more than
willing to sign it. The only problem is when I

send them out, I don't want these pigs playing
games (tampering with the mail) so get at me
please, and explain to me how I should go

about this, and please make sure I sign that
petition. I was once, twice in the (slave pit)
Corcoran SHU. I know their hate and felt it

from experience.

- a California prisoner, May 2004

MIM adds: We have copies of the petition

to shut down prison control units, and one
specifically targeting the California SHU

system, available to anyone behind the bars
or on the streets who wants to get involved
in this campaign. We also have a lot of

literature available on this topic at our web
site: www.prisoncensorship.info/archive/etext/agitation/
prisons

MIM Notes 304 · July 2004 · Page 12

Notas Rojas

julio 2004, Nº 304 Fragmento del Periodico Oficial del Movimiento Internacionalista Maoista

Gratis

12 de Diciembre

Activistas latinos sostuvieron un boicot

en todo el estado de California para protestar
la decisión tomada por el gobernador Arnold

Schwarzenegger el 3 de diciembre de revocar
la ley de licencias de conducir que hubiera
otorgado el derecho de conducir a los

llamados inmigrantes ilegales. Iniciado con la
intención de demostrar el poder económico
de los latinos en California, el boicot que sólo

duró un día, se convirtió en una huelga
económica en la que los latinos del estado se
quedaron en casa en vez de ir al trabajo o al

colegio, y se negaron a ir de compras.

Una tercera parte de la población

californiana es latina y las industrias del

estado cuentan con la mano de obra latina,
cuya contribución a la fuerza trabajadora
asciende a un 45%, sobre todo en trabajos

pesados y de poco pago que otra gente no
quiere. De las nacionalidades latinas en
California, los mexicanos constituyen la

mayoría abrumadora-- un 80% según los
resultados del censo del 2000. (1) Comparada
demográficamente, esta huelga fue

compuesta en su mayoría por líderes y
participantes mexicanos, poniendo en
evidencia el nacionalismo mexicano

acompañado de banderas mexicanas volando
al viento en las protestas y en las calles del
estado.

Los colegios en distritos densamente

poblados por latinos reportaron una dramática
ausencia de estudiantes; algunos negocios

cerraron sus puertas en solidaridad con la
acción, y muchas calles llenas de tiendas
carecían de consumidores. El periódico

Fresno Bee reportó que la ausencia en el
condado de Fresno costó a los distritos
escolares aproximadamente 500,000 dólares.

Es difícil acertar el impacto económico sobre
las tiendas, pero juzgando por la ausencia de
estudiantes en colegios públicos a través del

estado, la participación en el boicot aparenta
ser extensa. Varios negocios entrevistados
por principales medios de comunicación

cerraron sus tiendas debido a su
reconocimiento de la contribución por parte
de la mano de obra barata de los inmigrantes

a sus ganancias monetarias. La pérdida
económica a causa de un solo día del paro,
aunque sea durante una temporada festiva,

no es nada comparada con las posibles
pérdidas a las que se enfrentarían los negocios
si perdieran sus trabajadores. Esta decisión

sin duda alguna también fue impulsada por el
punto de vista práctico de algunas compañías
que sabían que la mayoría de sus trabajadores

planeaban apoyar el boicot faltando al
trabajo.

Las demostraciones que tuvieron lugar a

través del estado, fueron formadas por grupos
de huelguistas latinos y algunas personas de
origen no latino que se unieron en

solidaridad. En pueblos con un gran número
de habitantes latinos como Fresno y Santa
Rosa cientos de protestantes salieron a las

calles. En Sacramento, enfrente de la casa del
estado, cientos de protestantes latinos
hicieron poco caso a la lluvia para unirse a la

lucha. El llamativo grupo recibió mucho
respaldo por parte de carros que pitaban en
apoyo de los carteles escritos pidiendo

licencias de manejo y derechos iguales a los

inmigrantes latinos.

La gran mayoría de participantes en las

demostraciones públicas fueron personas

mexicanas, siendo algunas de ellas residentes
legales y otras ilegales. La frontera imperialista
entre U.$. y México refuerza el robo de latierra

mexicana por parte de EE.UU. y mantiene a la
gente en México, y en todos los países de
América Latina, en pobreza convirtiéndola en

un blanco perfecto para la explotación. La
llamada inmigración ilegal provee al estado
de California con la mano de obra barata que

se utiliza en los campos y en otros trabajos
mal pagados y destructivos para la salud
física que los americanos blancos no quieren.

Al mismo tiempo, corporaciones americanas
tienen la libertad de poner fábricas al otro
lado de la frontera y mantener sueldos bajos,

porque los trabajadores mexicanos no pueden
cruzar la frontera para competir por los
mismos trabajos con ciudadanos americanos.

El MIM respalda dicha huelga económica

siendo ésta un ejemplo de una lucha obrera
correcta en contra de la explotación que es

parte de una larga lucha de liberación nacional.
EE.UU. es el país que está ocupando
ilegalmente las tierras mexicanas; los

americanos son los inmigrantes ilegales que
masacraron a poblaciones indígenas para
robarles su territorio. La lucha por el derecho

a licencias de conducir es sólo una pequeña
batalla en una larga pelea por una abolición
de fronteras imperialistas y una liberación

nacional de los pueblos oprimidos del mundo.

Convocado por la Asociación Política

México-Americana con su base en Los

Ángeles, el boicot no obtuvo ningún respaldo
por parte de sindicatos laborales. Es posible
que, dado el corto plazo de la convocatoria,

los organizadores de la protesta no hayan
solicitado ayuda sindical. Pero no nos
sorprende el hecho de que los sindicatos no

hayan sido representados en las
demostraciones dominadas por la presencia
de inmigrantes mexicanos. Los sindicatos

americanos tienen una larga historia de
oposición a los trabajadores inmigrantes y
de organización por los derechos de

trabajadores blancos en detrimento de las
naciones oprimidas. Los sindicatos
americanos respaldan el cierre de las fronteras

por miedo a perder puestos de trabajo que
pueden pasar a manos de inmigrantes o
pueden ser transferidos a otros países. Dichos

sindicatos luchan para mantener el alto nivel
de vida del que disfrutan los ciudadanos de
este país a costa de los países del tercer

mundo. Los trabajadores del tercer mundo
son explotados por corporaciones americanas
que traen las ganancias a casa y las

comparten con los trabajadores americanos
en forma de sueldos más altos y beneficios.
Los inmigrantes ilegales dentro de las

fronteras americanas se enfrentan a semejante
explotación.

Manifestantes del

Alojamiento de la

Unidad de Seguridad

se unen a la protesta.

Una demostración en frente del

Departamento Correccional de California en
Sacramento (CDC), convocada por el Comité
de Defensa del Barrio, una organización

comunitaria en San José, atrajo la atención de
gente a las unidades de máxima seguridad
(SHU) de las prisiones de California, cuyas

celdas de tortura se usan para encerrar a
muchos prisioneros latinos en confinamiento
solitario por tiempo indefinido. Estas

sentencias se aplican a supuestos miembros
de pandillas, pero los criterios que definen a
miembros de pandilla ponen bajo sospecha a

todos los latinos. Tanto una conversación en
un área de recreo de la prisión como un tatuaje
o una dedicatoria en una tarjeta de

cumpleaños, bastan para tachar de
sospechoso a un prisionero. Los prisioneros
activos políticamente llegan a ser blancos de

estos criterios, de modo que se les retira de
patios de recreo para que no puedan
influenciar en y educar a otros prisioneros.

Un líder del Comité de Defensa del Barrio
explica que "Juzgando por los resultados del
proceso judicial (llevado a cabo por el senado

del SHU) el 15 de septiembre del 2003, el costo
estimado de mantenimiento de una persona
en el SHU vacila entre 60,000 y 70,000 dólares,

lo cual implica un gasto inútil de millones de
dólares. Steve Castillo ha estado en el SHU
por ocho años sólo por ser abogado. Hugo

Pinell lleva un sinfín de años en el SHU por
sus ideales políticos! John Martínez fue
encerrado en el SHU por cuestionar la

brutalidad en Corcoran! Francisco Cesar Villa
está en el SHU por pedir el número correcto
de zapatos! José Luis Avina y Eddie

Bustamente están en el SHU por participar en
una huelga de hambre en 1999 en la prisión
de New Folsom. Al fin y al cabo, el único

remedio que queda es organizar a gente afuera
de las cárceles para poder llevar a cabo
cambios fundamentales y cerrar las unidades

de máxima seguridad."

Los manifestantes que se reunieron

enfrente del CDC marcharon a la casa de

estado para unirse a la demostración. Los
huelguistas firmaron una petición circulada
por el MIM para cerrar las unidades de máxima

seguridad, y muchos hablaron de sus
experiencias personales o sus parientes que
están encerrados en esos lugares.

Un pequeño grupo de activistas le entregó

una carta a la Senadora Gloria Romero,
presidenta del Comité del Senado Selecto

encargado del Sistema Correccional de
California, exigiendo un cierre del SHU. Hacía
unos meses, Romero había tenido un proceso

judicial para investigar las unidades de máxima
seguridad (véase MN 289), pero desde
entonces los activistas no habían obtenido

ningún tipo de información.

Romero no se encontraba en su oficina

pero su representante Rocky Rushing, quien

accedió a hablar con los activistas, explico

que el CDC se había reunido con el Comité la

semana anterior justo para informar sobre el
"progreso" respecto a las demandas
presentadas en el proceso judicial. Deducimos

que el CDC no iba a implementar ningún
cambio. El CDC accedió a hacer unos
pequeños cambios en el proceso de

implementación de criterios que establecen
la definición de "miembro de pandilla", lo cual
haría posible que los presos argumentaran y

cuestionaran las evidencias presentadas. Sin
embargo, la mayoría de las evidencias se
mantiene en secreto, y el CDC no hizo ningún

caso de las respuestas de los presos, de modo
que estos cambios no tienen ningún sentido.
El CDC también accedió a hacer algunos

cambios en el programa del SHU. Pero estos
cambios también son insignificantes ya que
se enfocan en la educación sobre pandillas y

en terapia. De esta forma, el CDC puede
pretender que el SHU en realidad está
solucionando el problema de las pandillas en

las prisiones de California, en vez de proveer
los medios necesarios como bibliotecas,
educación y programas de recreación.

Los activistas solicitaron información al

representante de la Senadora Romero sobre
las demandas entabladas por familiares y

amigos de los presos en el reciente proceso
judicial (es decir, sobre las promesas de la
senadora). El representante respondió que

esta responsabilidad había sido relegada al
CDC que se encargaría de revisar todas las
quejas, y que para este propósito el CDC

había recibido la transcripción del proceso.
¡Además informó que el CDC sostenía que
todos los problemas habían sido

solucionados! Claro está, los organizadores
del SHU no vieron a ningún representante
del CDC en el proceso judicial, en el cual

alrededor de cien personas dieron su
testimonio sobre los horrores del SHU. Quizás
lo más relevante fue la afirmación del asistente

de la Senadora Romero que expresó la
esperanza de poder organizar otra reunión
con representantes del CDC y la gente

preocupada por el estado del SHU, para que
en caso de que el CDC se negara a implementar
cambios, los participantes de la reunión

podrían sentirse incluidos. El MIM deduce
que el asistente de la Senadora Romero no
cree que el gobierno tenga poder sobre el

Departamento Correccional de California.
Puede convocar reuniones pero no puede
exigir cambios. Esto no es ninguna sorpresa,

ya que el presupuesto del CDC no ha sufrido
ningún cambio o recorte a pesar de los
grandes recortes presupuestarios y extensas

negociaciones entre varias ramas del
gobierno de California con el fin de aprobar
un presupuesto equilibrado.

El MIM sabe que un verdadero cambio en

el sistema de justicia criminal no provendrá
de un Comité del Senado. Pero seguiremos

explorando todas las direcciones posibles a
medida que vayamos peleando por reformas
que puedan mejorar las vidas de nuestros

hermanos y hermanas tras las rejas, mientras
nosotros sigamos educando y organizando a
la gente para acabar con el sistema

imperialista.

California: Boicot dirigido por mexicanos y prisioneros del

Alojamiento de la Unidad de Seguridad (SHU) que se unen a la lucha