This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
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| xx xx x xx xx xx x x x x x x Issue #19 |
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| x x x x x x x x x x x x 1/86 |
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| Newspaper of the Maoist Internationalist Movement |
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[published sometime between 1/13 and 1/29/86]
UNDERWRITING, SELLING DEATH
Military aid from the U.S. to 113 countries has amounted
to $120 billion since 1953. Half has been in grants. Of
course, even grants are really handouts from the U.S.
Government to American armsmakers. (Japan Times, 12/30/85, p.
7)
MARCOS AND AQUINO, NOT MUCH CHOICE
Philippines presidential candidate Corazon Aquino favors
the retention of U.S. military bases at least until 1991 and
possibly after that. (Mainichi Daily News, 12/31/85, p. 2)
Aquino is opposing dictator Ferdinand Marcos in elections
promised for February 7th.
Aquino's candidacy is much promoted in the American press.
Corazon's husband Benigno was the United States' hope of
providing a U.S. lackey with a fresh face. He was training at
the Harvard Kennedy School of Government before he returned
to the Philippines only to be assassinated by those not ready
to be replaced.
While it is clear that Marcos is a dictator of the most
petty sort, Aquino represents bourgeois democratic opposition
at best and good ole' American interests at worst. In an
opportunist move, Marcos' court system ordered the seizure of
Aquino's 15,000 hectare sugar plantation on 12/2/85. The move
was an effort to demonstrate that Aquino is a landlord, not a
candidate of the people. Hypocritically, the court ordered
the land be divided "for distribution to qualified
Filipinos." (Japan Times, 12/31/85, p. 4)
MAINLAND CHINESE STUDENTS MARCH AGAINST NEW COLONIALISM
In Chengdu, protests targeting the current regime's
servility to Western imperialism are being labelled as
criminal in nature. (Mainichi News, 12/31/85, p. 7) In Peking
(Beijing) students attacked China's relationship to
imperialism through protests against Japan, which China
liberated itself from in WWII. Deng has named China's foreign
trade policy "the open door policy" in reference to an
American policy of the 1800s which insisted on American
rights to exploit China along with the European colonists of
the day who controlled China's ports.
PERU SLIPPING FROM U.S. CAMP
December 27th, 1985, Peru seized New York-based Belco
Petroleum. Also, since the inauguration of Alan Garcia in
July, Peru has stopped loan payments to the U.S. and stepped
up tax demands from American companies operating in Peru.
At the same time, Peru fell to the charge d'affaires
diplomacy level with its handling of the Cuban exodus that
started at the Peruvian embassy in Havanna in 1980.
Washington is also threatening Peru's preferential tariff,
aid and international loans, and commercial air traffic has
been suspended since May 1984. New aid projects were
suspended in September.
Garcia appears to be getting a better deal from the
Soviets lately. The Soviets allow payment for military goods
and debts in goods. Not surprisingly, Garcia conveniently
found it possible to denounce U.S. nuclear policy from Moscow
during a visit there.
Although Peru has the largest Soviet arsenal in Latin
America, it is also the largest recipient of U.S. aid in
South America and 36% of its exports go to the U.S.. (Japan
Times, 12/31/85, p. 8) The contention between the superpowers
in Peru is far from over.
MIM NOTES SCREWS UP; BELIEVES WALL STREET JOURNAL
The last issue of MIM NOTES implied that 1,750 is the
lower figure for estimates of dead at the Union Carbide
disaster at Bhopal. This figure comes from the Wall Street
Journal, which does not include deaths caused by various
complications of the disaster.
Other bourgeois sources cite death figures that start at
2,000 or 2,250 and up. Of course, the final answer can only
come through an investigation by the people of India.
Meanwhile, Union Carbide's latest efforts to weasel out of
responsibility include the claim that its subsidiary in India
is responsible, not the American headquarters. Such a move is
designed to prevent the legal battle from being fought in the
United States where all of Union Carbide's $10 billion in
assets could be awarded, as opposed to the subsidiary's
assets of $100 million.
Carbide's claims are desperate maneuvers. First, U.S.
Carbide owns 50.9% of India Carbide.
Secondly, Edward Munoz, former president of Carbide's
agricultural chemicals division testified that it was U.S.
Carbide that ordered India Carbide to use large tanks to
store the gas that leaked Dec.2-3, 1984. India Carbide wanted
to use smaller tanks to limit the possibility of leaks.
Finally, Carbide's own documents show that after an
accident prior to the 1984 leak, U.S. Carbide took command.
"No design changes have been made without the concurrence of
general engineering or Institute plant engineering [W. VA]."
(Anchorage Daily News, 1/3/86, p. c-6)
Union Carbide tried to take advantage of American racism
by claiming that the Indian government and subsidiary workers
had lower standards than the American Carbide plant
regulations. A Carbide engineer easily contradicted that
claim through an affidavit that said that he followed every
instruction of U.S. Carbide in design regulations. (Ibid.)
It is time to recognize a small part of the American
corporate blood debt to Third World peoples. The assets of
Union Carbide belong to the thousands killed and hundreds of
thousands injured at Bhopal and other corporate playgrounds.
DENG XIAOPING "MAN OF THE YEAR" AND "SUCCESS OF THE YEAR"
Time magazine named China's state capitalist ruler "Man of
the Year" for the second time. Time rightfully considered
Deng's role in the capitalist social revolution more
important than any of the roles played by people in the
leading stories of 1985--Gorbachev and Reagan at the phony
arms control summit in Geneva for instance.
Deng "makes a Horatio Alger hero look like a piker," says
Harrison Salisbury for Success magazine. "ÔAlthough we are a
magazine that celebrates capitalism,' states Success Editor-
in-Chief Scott DeGarmo, 'we've chosen the world's leading
Communist because his perseverance, courage and promotion of
free enterprise make him a universal role model.'" (Ann Arbor
News, 1/13/86)