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.
Maoist Internationalist Movement

Under Lock and Key is missing from this issue.--mim5@mim.org


                                                                                                                        
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         THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

  MIM Notes 72                      JANUARY, 1993 

MIM Notes speaks to and from the viewpoint of the 
world's oppressed majority, and against the 
imperialist-patriarchy. Pick it up and wield it in 
the service of the people. support it, struggle 
with it and write for it.


IN THIS ISSUE:
1.  MAKING AFRICA SAFE FOR HYPOCRISY: YANKEE SANTAS FORCE FEED SOMALIA
2.  LETTERS
3.  EX-PANTHER MUMIA ABU JAMAL FACES DEATH PENALTY
4.  CRACKDOWN IN PERU CAN'T STEM THE TIDE OF REVOLUTION
5.  THE PEOPLE'S WAR WILL WIN: YOU WILL SEE IT!
6.  US GULF WAR BENEFITS TRICKLE-DOWN IN BLOOD
7.  WHITE COPS SHOOT BLACK COP
8.  ARMY WANTS TO EXTERMINATE HOMELESS
9.  GAY ACTIVISTS CLOSE RANKS WITH CLINTON
10. RUSSIAN FARMERS FIRE CAPITALIST DIRECTOR
11. CARDBOARD BLACKMAN PUTS PIGS IN A PANIC
12. IS PARIS BURNING?
13. US PREPARES TO CONTROL BLACK FERTILITY
14. WRAP YOUR WILLIE
15. CNN CALLS FOR ANTI-COMMUNIST WITCH HUNT
16. MOHAWKS STALEMATE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT
17. BOUGAINVILLE FIGHTS BACK
18. SPIKE LEE ASSASSINATES THE REAL MALCOLM X
19. CANADA CORRECTION


The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a 
revolutionary communist party that upholds 
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, comprising 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 
Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties 
of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of 
the U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of 
MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-
speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM.

MIM is an internationalist organization that works 
from the vantage point of the Third World 
proletariat; thus, its members are not Amerikans, 
but world citizens.

MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups 
over other groups: classes, genders, nations.  MIM 
knows this is only possible 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 
human history. (3) MIM believes the North American 
white-working-class is primarily a non-
revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it 
is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in 
this country.

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


* * *

MAKING AFRICA SAFE FOR HYPOCRISY: YANKEE SANTAS FORCE FEED SOMALIA

by MC86

Fresh from celebrating 500 years of colonial conquest, the United 
States has embarked upon the initial military phase of a master 
plan to directly control Somalia and the Horn of Africa. Don't be 
fooled. Imperialism does not "aid"--it invests. The goals are: 
military domination, superexploitation of labor, and access and 
control of valuable resources.

The Christian Science Monitor reports, "...The CIA has advised 
President Bush that restoring order in Somalia could require an 
extended international presence, possibly including a UN 
protectorate." The U.S. government is lying when it swears that 
the ITALIC invasion END of Somalia is a "humanitarian" mission and 
that its 28,000 death-troops will leave Somalia in January.



SOMALIA: DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE

by MC86

As revolutionaries and internationalists, MIM has no illusions 
about the United States invasion of Somalia: the U.S. military is 
engaged in a search and destroy campaign designed to disarm the 
Somali people and partition the country into four "zones" that can 
be policed from the air.

Somaliland, in the north, which declared its national independence 
in May, 1991, will be cut in half. The northern port cities of 
Berbera and Boosaaso will become base-areas for imperialist 
domination. In the south, the port cities of Mogadishu and Kismayo 
are likewise intended to provide imperialist troops and their 
client non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with air-supportable 
bases (1) for the destruction of Somali civilization.

As a propaganda cover for this phase of the imperialist master 
plan to squelch the self-determination of African nations, the 
media tells us that Somalia is "hell on earth."

In contradistinction to this claim, Dun & Bradstreet recently 
wrote: "Somalia has lovely beaches, excellent skin-diving, and 
numerous species of East African wildlife."(2) In fact, Somalia, 
slightly smaller than the state of Texas, provides water and 
range-land for over 4 million cattle and 5.5 million camels tended 
by 70% of its pre-invasion population of 6.7 million.(3)

The export of livestock to Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt and Kenya 
has historically provided Somalis with a commercial living for 100 
years.(4) During this century, Somalis resisted the colonial 
depredations of Britain and Italy by developing a complex, highly 
flexible system of livestock production and marketing that 
flourished in both the formal and informal (underground) 
sectors--even as the neocolonial multi-nationals twisted Somalia 
into a cash-crop growing, sugar-importing dependency.

The ridiculously small per capita Somali Gross National Product 
(GNP) of $210 (5) obscures the resilience of the Somali people in 
surviving environmental disasters created by the policies of 
imperialist institutions such as the International Monetary Fund 
(IMF) and the World Bank.

The "aid"

Western and Soviet capital supported the fallen comprador regime 
of militarist Siad Barre with weapons and cash for 20 years in 
order to dominate the price of Somali livestock sold in Middle 
Eastern markets and to maintain Somalia as a dumping-ground for 
surplus Western agricultural commodities disguised as "food-aid."

This "aid" effectively undercut all attempts by Somalia to develop 
self-sufficiency in essential grains and in the production of 
industrial products.

Deforestation, overgrazing, soil erosion and desertification 
occurred (5) as a direct result of Western capital's manipulation 
of Somalia's agricultural infrastructure away from the production 
of necessities such as livestock, feed, and subsistence grains, 
and into the production of bananas and sugar for profitable 
export.(7) In the 1970s, Kelloggs, Inc., schemed unsuccessfully to 
create a fishing industry in a land of pastoral nomads.(8)

World War III in Africa reached a new stage in the 1980s as 
Western corporations temporarily withdrew from the continent.

"As the world economy has become increasingly regionalized within 
North American, West European and East Asian blocs, the 
technological and materials revolution associated with this 
process has rendered many of Africa's staple exports 
redundant."(9)

As the multinationals abandoned African copper mines, for example, 
in favor of the manufacture of fiber-optics in the cheap 
industrial labor markets of the vast Pacific Rim--the IMF/World 
Bank juggernaut massively increased its activities in 30 African 
countries. "Trade liberalization," "privatization" and 
"monetarization" became catch-words for destructive currency 
devaluations, eliminations of price controls and protective 
tariffs, the dismantling of state-run enterprises, and the forced 
reduction of government spending in the areas of health and 
education.(10)

In Somalia, this attack translated into an infant mortality rate 
of 116 deaths per 1,000 live births (11), a female literacy rate 
of 14%, and the expropriation of the Somali national wealth 
through a calculated process that drove the international exchange 
value of the Somalia shilling from 15.6 per U.S. dollar in 1983 
down to 38,000 shillings per U.S. dollar in 1991.(12) Somalia 
currently imports seven times what it exports (5) and its debt to 
GNP ratio (200%) is such that Somalia's economy "is little more 
than collateral for outstanding debt." By comparison, the debt to 
GNP ratio of famine-racked Sudan is a mere 100%!(13)

Since 1989 net capital inflow to Third World countries has become 
a net outflow, as net transfers from imperialist countries turned 
around, from $21 billion in 1984 to negative $53 billion this 
year.(13) This unprecedented sucking of Third World wealth occurs 
in a climate where the monopolists are restructuring the social 
division of labor and wage levels of the one billion-strong First 
World masses who benefit from imperialist parasitism--at the 
expense of the exploited and oppressed 80%.

As Amerikan industrial productivity stagnates (14), the balance 
sheet of U.S. corporate net assets showed a decline from $111.1 
billion in 1980 to $70.8 billion in 1991 (down 36.3%).(15) The 
tendency of the rate of profit to fall necessitates a wide range 
of imperialist counteractive responses ranging from genocide 
through food "aid" to burying a helpless Third World army alive in 
the sand.

Imperialism moves in

The word "underdevelopment" no longer suffices to describe the 
imperialist attack upon Africa's 795 million people--of whom 50% 
are severely malnourished and perhaps 100 million carry the HIV 
virus. The NGOs followed on the heels of IMF/World Bank edicts to 
enforce the python-like swallowing of Africa and prepare the 
ground for military occupation of strategic African ports.

"On July 3, 1987, the Somali Peoples Assembly gave its final 
approval to a foreign investment law which was ... another step in 
the government's efforts to encourage private sector development.... 
Profit ... may be freely transferred abroad."(16)

In the wake of Soviet bankruptcy, Siad Barre cast his people into 
Amerikan jaws. The 1987 legislation opened up Somalia to invasion 
by a consortium of NGOs directly funded by the governments of 
Amerika, Britain and France.

Food Aid Management, U.S. Institute of Peace, Africa Watch, Oxfam, 
Physicians for Human Rights, Medecine San Frontieres, Bread for 
the World, International Medical Corps, UNICEF, CARE, World 
Vision, Action Internationale Contre le Faim, Concern, Save the 
Children, and the International Red Cross bombarded Somalia with 
hundreds of thousands of tons of "free" commodities, thereby 
disintegrating the Somali economy and ending the ability of its 
ruling classes to govern.

The NGOs side-stepped Siad Barre and seized control of the Somali 
government by financing 70% of its annual operating budget.(17) 
NGOs systematically starved the Somali people by regulating the 
Somali food supply and effectively barring all non-NGO controlled 
commodities from Somalia. The NGOs extinguished the "natural" flow 
of internal commodity-exchanges as they actively promoted the 
hoarding of food in the urban areas and left the countryside to 
wither.(18)

In its own class interests, the national bourgeoisie took 
advantage of Barre's weakened grip and overthrew him in January 
1991. They also blew up the U.S. Embassy. Now factions of this 
bourgeoisie, which built its wealth on control of the defunct 
livestock export industry, may be forced to unite against the 
imperialist military invasion.

By breaking Somalia up into imperialist-patrolled zones, the 
occupiers intend to maintain splits in the Somali nationalist 
forces. The NGOs will oversee the transformation of Somalia's 
economy from its former relative independence into outright 
enslavement to corporativized mines and factories.

"Stephen Hayes, director of USAID's office of external affairs, 
says the plan for U.S. aid is simple. Emergency food will be given 
free now to those who need it most. Later, much of it will be sold 
to merchants in the hope that 'monetarization' will help rebuild a 
shattered economy."(18)

By flooding the urban markets with "free" food, the NGOs force 
depletion of hoarded stocks as their Somali keepers desperately 
try to unload them before they become valueless. By monopolizing 
the sale of foodstuffs and medicines, the NGOs will achieve 
complete control of Somalia's distribution system.

U.S. troops are in Somalia to enforce this NGO-led market 
transformation; to kill any dissenters; and to control the exodus 
of Somalis. To date, 980,000 people (15% of the population) have 
fled Somalia. More than half a million (12%) are projected to die 
of starvation.(1) The United States wants enough Somalis alive to 
carry out its planned economic subsumption.

The bottom line

"After a decade of declining involvement in Africa, Americans are 
showing a new interest in the continent, drawn by widespread moves 
towards democracy and reforms ... competition is not nearly so 
intense as in more developed areas of the world."(19)

"Daniel Montana, a California investment banker with extensive 
experience in the former Communist bloc, said, 'Africa offers 
immediate prospects for profitable investments. Everything is in 
place--a legal system, basic transportation and communication ... the 
infrastructure will not be ready in most of Eastern Europe and the 
[ex-] Soviet Union for 5-10 years."(19)

What Montana really means is that the costs of World War III in 
Bosnia, for example, are complicating orderly imperialist 
domination at this time.

In a show of optimism, Alison Rosenberg, U.S. Deputy Assistant 
Secretary of State for Africa chortled, "Even though it is very 
far away and relatively unknown, the news is spreading, that you 
can do business in Africa."(19) The Somali masses have absolutely 
nothing to lose by fighting these monsters to the last breath.

Notes:
1. Africa Confidential 8/28/92, p. 2.
2. Exporter's Encyclopedia, Dun & Bradstreet, 1992, p. 1255.
3. CIA World Factbook 1991; "Traders, Brokers and Market 'Crisis' 
in Southern Somalia," Peter D. Little, ITALIC Africa END 
International African Institute, Vol. One, 1992, p. 97.
4. Little, op cit, p. 99.
5. CIA World Factbook 1991.
6. Little, op cit, p. 112.
7. Agribusiness in Africa, Dinham/Hines, Africa World Press, 1984, 
p. 76.
8. Ibid., p. 45.
9. Middle East Reports Sept/Oct 1991, p. 27.
10. Africa News 5/1/89, p. 2.
11. CIA World Factbook 1991; by comparison the U.S. infant 
mortality rate is 10/1000.
12. Little, op cit, p. 100; CIA World Factbook 1991.
13. Africa Today 1990 4th Quarter, p. 16.
14. The Pulse of Capitalism 92-3, p. 1.
15. The Economist 9/19/92.
16. Exporter's Encyclopedia, p. 1253.
17. Little, op cit, p. 100.
18. CSM 9/2/92, p. 4.
19. Africa News 12/9/91, p. 2.

* * *

LETTERS

MORE TO MAO THAN PUBLIC SCHOOL TOLD?

Dear MIM,

I just saw an issue of MIM Notes, and I was surprised, to say the 
least. I had always been taught that Mao Zedong was a totalitarian 
dictator who burned books and murdered intellectuals. Hence, 
although I have considered myself a socialist for quite some time, 
I had always shunned Maoism. When I read your newsletter, though, 
I realized that there must be more to Mao than American public 
schools taught me. (Surprise, surprise!) You people seem to be 
truly committed to free exchange of ideas and human rights for 
everyone.

So now, I want to know your side of it, warts and all. I want to 
know what about Chairman Mao inspires you, and frankly, what 
doesn't. The man was human; he must have made an error in 
judgement now and then. I only respect a movement if it's willing 
to tell as much "truth" as it knows. The whole reason I got fed up 
with supporting the Capitalist Patriarchal Racist Homophobic 
Multinational Multi-Death State is because its Big Lie was too 
smooth, too seamless. I desperately hope that, if you tell me the 
truth, I'll be so inspired by the good ideas Mao had that I'll 
want to join you. So please don't bullshit me.

When the Rev. Al Sharpton encouraged Tawana Brawley to lie about 
being attacked, he hurt the cause of all African-Americans. 
(Technically, I don't know for sure that she lied, but that would 
have been one hell of an expensive cover-up, and the Powers That 
Be have plenty of more important information to suppress.)

Peace, Love and Understanding
--an open-minded radical
November 1992

P.S. I trust you with my name; I don't trust the government forces 
that carried this letter to you, though.


A LETTER TO MY DOCTOR

MIM responds,

We appreciate this friend taking the time to write to MIM. MIM is 
not interested in lying or even softening the truth, as seasoned 
MIM Notes readers well know. Speaking the truth can only help us. 
The more knowledge and truth the masses have, the more they will 
become communist revolutionaries.

MIM hopes that our readers will be inspired or interested enough 
in something that the paper says that they will seek us out to ask 
more detailed questions. This comrade received a response too long 
and detailed to print here (which is available to any who are 
interested--just write and ask for a copy, or see future issues of 
MIM Theory).

MIM upholds Mao Zedong Thought as a revolutionary political 
methodology that is correct: practice is principal and through 
practice we will develop effective theory. Mao as an individual 
was not perfect, he himself admitted mistakes and made public 
self- criticism. But because of his correct methodology and 
understanding of revolutionary science Mao led the most advanced 
revolutionary movement in history.

MIM distributes a number of books and essays that discuss the 
mistakes made in China both before and during the Cultural 
Revolution. Had there been no mistakes, China would still be 
socialist today. ITAL Maoism regards practice as principal and 
learns from history: both from successes and failures. END As we 
continue to put revolutionary theory into practice we will 
continue to learn from our mistakes and those of our predecessors 
as we continually improve on our practice and theory. Only when we 
reach communism will we know that we have learned all the lessons 
that the successes and failures of history have to teach us.

MIM doesn't know whether Tawana Brawley lied. In the long run, the 
exact facts of the case are not as important as the massive amount 
of money and resources the bourgeoisie, through its media organs, 
spent trying to prove she was lying. This witch hunt was in gross 
disproportion to the total lack of investigation done when Blacks 
are accused of assaulting whites.  


A LETTER TO MY DOCTOR

by Africa, Jr., the 391st

Dear Doctor,

As an officer of the Geneva Towers Tenant's Association and the 
Resident Council Grievance Committee, it is often my duty to 
assist management and tenants in resolving their differences.

One would think that this would be an open and shut case. But this 
only leads to what I can only regard--in the most charitable 
sense--as management's insensitivity to tenant problems and tenant 
participation in solving problems.

The reason for this "insensitivity" is that the owner and manager 
of Geneva Towers (HUD & John Stewart Company, respectively) create 
most of the problems by directing the off-duty police officers 
(moonlighting as Geneva Towers security forces) to terrorize and 
brutalize the residents on a daily basis. In addition to this 
armed terror, we have a situation where over 250 of the 466 
families that resided here on June 6, 1991 have been unjustly 
evicted and are no longer within our community. Over 70% of these 
families became homeless.

I could write 200 more pages listing the genocide activities 
directed by HUD  and the John Stewart Company against the Black 
Nation residing (and no longer residing) in the Towers; but the 
above is enough to condemn the perpetrators.

I am concerned, Doctor, about the painful stresses being inflicted 
upon this innocent community--including upon yours truly.

I become uncomfortable--and probably stand upon unstable 
ground--when my co-Chairs and myself urge these very stunned, 
worried victims to seek professional help through their doctors. 
Since we are not medical experts, we pray that we have not crossed 
any medical or ethical lines. But often the medical profession 
does not realize the full scope of the daily horror that is our 
life under the current management at Geneva Towers. Too often the 
medical profession blames the victims and does not care to 
challenge the actual causes of our anxieties. You see the problem 
here?

We base our actions upon what we most strongly believe to be our 
duty as elected representatives of the people of Geneva Towers. We 
are God-fearing, compassionate human beings and we have an 
obligation to protect our constituents. And yet, the world outside 
our oppressed communities often remains willfully blind to the 
source of our pain.

I enclose a letter and a memorandum that our community recently 
sent to HUD Secretary Jack Kemp. I know how busy you are but I 
also know that you are a professional who will not view our 
concerns as an infringement upon your time.

The world should know that the crimes committed against are 
carried out by Black and white off-duty police officers and Black 
administrators at the order of white and Black bureaucrats. We try 
to maintain our human dignity as we wait twenty-four hours a day 
inside our toxic apartments for our Evictors to knock harshly upon 
the door.

As a medical expert you surely have insights into how stressful it 
is to be in a constant state of worry that vicious off-duty police 
will kill and maim our children on their way to and from school 
and while at play. Even our friends and relatives dare not visit 
us for fear of being jacked up, searched, sexually molested and 
beaten by "security."

My co-Chair and I interviewed a very worried and angry mother the 
other day. We listened to her sob and tell us how her twelve year-
old son was handcuffed and maced in the face by these so-called 
"guards." Her other son was also maced on that same night and the 
"guards" planted just enough crack-cocaine on him to send him up 
for a heavy sentence. It is a fact, Doctor, that these same guards 
are the main drug-dealers in these Towers.

We talked to another mother and her nine year-old daughter who 
related the most horrifying encounter with "security" yet. This 
nine year-old girl was told by an off-duty policeman that he was, 
"Going up to her apartment to fuck her mother." When the child 
objected to this vile and degenerate statement, the officer pulled 
out his 357. pistol and pointed it at the nine year-old's head as 
he threatened to "blow her fucking brains out."

John Stewart Company's Black "Chief" of Security, and other 
corrupted Blacks sitting behind the desks at HUD, safely shield 
the beneficiaries of this system from charges of "racism." When 
Black is instructed to beat, sexually molest and terrorize Black: 
management calls such vile and criminal actions "reprimands."

Thurgood Marshall put it best in a recent television interview 
when he said, "It doesn't matter if its a white viper or a Black 
viper that bites you. Most often its fatal and, certainly, 
irreversible harm will result."

What, in your opinion Doctor, is the ultimate medical price of 
this kind of conscious harm to victimized individuals? What is the 
bottom-line moral price to society? Where is the bottom-line to be 
actually drawn beyond which a just people dare not allow 
themselves to fall without taking action in their own self-
defense? Surely such actions of self-defense cannot but be 
applauded by a just society? The alternative to self-defense is 
compliant participation in our own destruction. That, Doctor, 
would be suicidal insanity.

  
DEATH TO MIM

Dear MIM,

WHY DON'T YOU MOTHERFUCKERS GIVE AN ADDRESS
THAT WAY WE CAN PUT 1000 KILOS OF DINAMITE AND BLOW YOUR FUCKED UP 
BRAINS.
I WISH ALL YOU BASTARDS DIE THE WAY MORE THAN 27000 DIED AT PERU.
FUCK YOU ALL!
I WISH I COULD FIND AN ADDRESS OF YOURS AND GO AND KILL YOUR 
CHILDREN TOO.
BE CAREFULL WITH YOUR CHILDREN
THEY WILL DIE SAME WAY YOU KILL SO MANY CHILDREN IN PERU

an enemy in the east
--November,1992


MIM responds,

First, to set the record straight, the Peruvian Communist Party 
(PCP) has not killed 27,000 people. True, about 27,000 people have 
died in the 12-year uprising of the people of Peru against the 
Peruvian government. However, the writer errs in the attribution 
of these deaths, the vast majority of whom were at the bloody 
hands of the government and the army, using Amerikan money and 
arms. An additional uncountable number of people have died of 
starvation as a result of the exploitation and oppression by the 
Peruvian government. The masses' uprising, led by the PCP, is 
justified and the few people they have killed have been members or 
stooges of the government in specific and very targeted attacks.

MIM prints this letter not primarily to respond to the author(s) 
as they clearly are not interested in real political dialogue. 
Rather we use this to clarify the historical record, and hope that 
this will serve in some small way to explain to our readers who 
still doubt the validity of our security policies and underground 
organizing practice. MIM knows that reactionary class, nation and 
gender interests present revolutionaries with a real threat.

MIM understands that the threats contained in this letter reflect 
the actual practice of the government and its allies in their 
struggles against revolutionary movements in this country. The 
harassment, murder and imprisonment of many of the members of the 
Black Panther Party was not merely an antiquated tactic of the 
past. Imperialist governments continue with these tactics today as 
is evidenced in their harassment and armed siege of the Mohawks in 
Canada, the revolutionary nationalist Black and Latino groups in 
this country, and the harassment of MIM and other revolutionary 
and even just leftist groups in this country.

Those who would publicly compromise our security, even if it is 
just to ask our names, professions, or phone numbers, should be 
conscious of whose hands we hope to keep this information from. 
There are far more important issues to discuss than the names of 
MIM's comrades and associates. Our readers should be aware that 
those who are really interested in our phone numbers, etc., are 
often only interested in carrying out the threats contained in 
this letter. Send $1 to MIM for a copy of the essay, "What is a 
Pig Question?"

* * *

EX-PANTHER MUMIA ABU JAMAL FACES DEATH PENALTY

by MC251

On December 9, several hundred people marched to Philadelphia's 
City Hall to demand freedom for death row prisoner Mumia Abu 
Jamal, organized by Concerned Friends and Family of Mumia Abu 
Jamal, and a Mumia support committee from New York. December 9 
marked the 11-year anniversary of Mumia's arrest.

Mumia Abu Jamal has been on death row since 1982 in Pennsylvania 
for allegedly killing a police officer. He was driving his cab on 
December 9, 1981 when he witnessed police beating up his brother, 
William. He stopped and attempted to intervene, and in the 
confusion, Mumia was shot in the stomach, and a police officer was 
killed. Mumia maintains that he did not kill the cop. Many 
eyewitnesses confirm Mumia's story--they say that the man who shot 
the cop ran away from the scene.

Ex-Panther Dhruba bin Wahad, who served 19 years behind bars on 
bogus charges fabricated as part of the FBI's counterintelligence 
program (COINTELPRO) to destroy the Black Panther Party and the 
Black Liberation Army (BLA), addressed the crowd in Philadelphia. 
He emphasized that the state would prefer to kill Mumia, therefore 
it is up to the masses to rise up and make that too politically 
costly.  He stressed the need for revolutionary leadership in the 
Black community, and for challenging Black "leaders" who don't 
serve the interests of the Black masses.

A representative of the New Afrikan Peoples Organization (NAPO), 
spoke about the need for self-determination and for a National 
Liberation struggle for Blacks in Amerika.  He said that as long 
as Blacks are under the jurisdiction of Amerika, there will be no 
justice for Black people, and cases such as those of Mumia and 
Dhruba will continue to occur.

Black men being shot by police and then being accused of being the 
killers is nothing unusual in Amerika. But Mumia's case is unusual 
in that his Black Panther past was used against him in court to 
get him the death penalty. Mumia went from being a prominent Black 
Panther in the late 1960s (at age 16 he was Minister of 
Information of the Philadelphia Black Panthers) to go on to become 
a prominent journalist in Philadelphia's Black community during 
the 1970s. He was known as "the voice of the voiceless." What most 
earned him the wrath of the cops in Philadelphia was his coverage 
and support of the MOVE organization, a Black revolutionary group 
which follows the teachings of John Africa.

MOVE describes their purpose as, "to stop industry from poisoning 
the air, the water, the soil, and to put an end to the enslavement 
of life--people, animals, any form of life.

"The purpose of John Africa's revolution is to show people how 
corrupt, rotten, criminally enslaving this system is...Our work is 
to confront this system upfront to show people not only that they 
ITAL can END fight this system and win, but to show them the 
urgent ITAL need END to fight."(1)  

MOVE has been the target of some of the most vicious pig 
repression in recent Amerikan history. In 1978, Philadelphia's 
Mayor Rizzo blockaded the MOVE house, and when this failed to 
starve them out, he called in a 600 person SWAT team. In the 
assault on MOVE, one cop was killed, by what appears to have been 
police crossfire. Eleven MOVE members were sentenced for this one 
murder. In the late 1970s and into the 1980s, the cops routinely 
harassed and beat MOVE members. One beating of a pregnant woman 
resulted in a miscarriage, and another beating caused the death of 
a child. Then, of course, there was the police bombing of the MOVE 
house in 1985, which killed 11 MOVE members and burned down an 
entire city block.

At his trial, this dialogue was used to justify giving Mumia the 
death penalty. 

Q: (To Mumia:) "Do you recall saying, 'All power to the people?'" 

A: "Yes." 

Q: "Do you believe your actions as well as your philosophy are 
consistent with the quote: 'Political power grows out of the 
barrel of a gun?'" 

A: "I believe that America has proven that quote to be true." 
Mumia had written these words in articles for the Black Panther 
newspaper.

While most Black men on death row languish without any notice or 
support from outside, Mumia has gained the support of many 
different organizations (with many different intentions) to get 
him off death row. The MOVE organization and a new community group 
called Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal are both 
working on Mumia's case, as well as a few other community and 
student groups.

But there are also some Trotskyist groups who are 
opportunistically leeching off of Mumia, attempting to use this 
revolutionary Black nationalist prisoner to advance their own 
white-nation unity agenda. Most prominent in this regard is the 
Spartacist League and their front group, Partisan Defense 
Committee (send $1 for MIM's full critique of the Sparts). While 
in their literature they disdain Black nationalism as reactionary, 
they provide "support" to many of the more prominent Black 
nationalist prisoners, including Mumia and Geronimo ji Jaga 
(Pratt), essentially using the prisoners' reputations and name 
recognition to build their own non-revolutionary agenda.

The criminal justice system in Amerika is just that--criminal. All 
Black people in Amerika's prisons are "political prisoners." The 
Black Panthers, in their ten point program, didn't just call for 
the release of "political" prisoners, but instead called for the 
release of all Black people from Amerikan prisons, as the Amerikan 
justice system has no legitimacy or jurisdiction over the 
colonized Black nation.

While MIM supports honest work to get any Black prisoners off 
death row and out of prison, we question the effectiveness of 
trying to win Black prisoners' freedom one at a time, without 
exposing the illegitimacy of the entire Amerikan justice system. 
It is not because of individual quirks that Mumia ended up on 
death row--the Amerikan criminal justice system exists precisely to 
get rid of people like Mumia. Winning Mumia's freedom or even 
getting him off death row would be a good thing, but what about 
all the other Black prisoners who didn't happen to be in the Black 
Panthers? Where's the support for them? MIM focuses our work on 
all prisoners fighting against oppression, not just on individual 
celebrity cases. While MIM would love to see Mumia freed, we 
choose to focus our energy on building revolutionary Maoist 
consciousness and organizing among all prisoners. We're interested 
in building political unity among oppressed people to effectively 
end imperialism & patriarchy.

Mumia says of Black youth today, "They are the children of the 
L.A. Rebellion, the children of the MOVE bombing, the children of 
the Black Panthers, and the grandchildren of Malcolm; far from 
"lost" they are probably the most aware generation since Nat 
Turner's; they are not so much "lost," as they are "misled," 
discarded by this increasingly racist system that undermines their 
inherent worth. They are ITAL all END potential revolutionaries, 
with the historic power to transform our dull realities. If they 
are "lost"--then ITAL find END them."(2)

MIM intends not only to "find" them, but to build a political 
organization with the most effective program and strategy for 
liberating oppressed nations--Maoism.

 Notes:
1. Statement by MOVE, excerpted from Love & Rage July/August 1992, 
p. 4.  (Love & Rage is a revolutionary anarchist newsmonthly 
available for $1 from Box 3 Prince St Station, New York, NY 
10012.)
2. Breakthrough magazine Fall 1992, p. 46.  From Mumia's article 
"The Lost Generation?" written June 1, 1992. (Breakthrough is the 
magazine of Prairie Fire Organizing Committee, PO Box 14422, San 
Francisco, CA 94114)

* * *

CRACKDOWN IN PERU CAN'T STEM THE TIDE OF REVOLUTION

by MC17 & MC12

While U.S. imperialism heaps praise on the regime of Peruvian 
dictator Alberto Fujimori, the government of Peru is continuing 
its war on the people in a futile attempt to stem the tide. There 
are, as Communist Party of Peru (PCP) Chairperson Comrade Gonzalo 
says, a lot of "bends in the road" to revolution.

While the dictator threw a personal party on Nov. 22 (which he 
called an election), boycotted by all of his serious opponents, 
grim tales of personal torture emerged from the gulags in the 
south of the country.

A recent delegation to Peru reported that Martha Huatay, founder 
of the Association of Democratic Lawyers, was tortured to the 
point of being unable to speak at her "trial." Her lawyer, Jorge 
Cartegena, said she had been beaten to the point of complete 
disorientation. The International Red Cross has also examined her 
and found that she had a fractured skull and brain lesions, among 
other serious injuries. She was sentenced to life imprisonment, as 
was Gonzalo.(4)

The elections created an 80-member congress, after Fujimori 
earlier this year dissolved the government and seized complete 
control in order to more effectively exercise dictatorial power 
and fight the PCP. These elections were to repaint the facade of 
democracy in Peru.(2)

The Amerikan press reported the elections as being fair, and yet 
admitted in the same breath that there was very low voter 
participation (even though voting is required by law) and a large 
number of spoiled or blank ballots (60% in some districts). Of the 
ballots counted, Fujimori was able to declare a slim victory.(4)

"Big business is pleased that it can continue supporting Mr. 
Fujimori with a better conscience since the election and--above 
all--that money from multilateral organisations and foreign 
governments will be returning to Peru."(5)

Jaime Yoshiyama, Fujimori's candidate, announced a day after the 
November 22 elections that: "In the Congress, the first thing we 
are going to propose is establishing the death penalty (for 
guerrillas) in the new Constitution."(4)

In an attempt to humiliate the PCP and its leader Comrade Gonzalo, 
the government placed Gonzalo on show in September through a cage 
in front of the press. Unfortunately for them, he turned this 
occasion to his advantage and, instead of playing games with the 
bourgeois media, he addressed the Peruvian masses (See Sidebar).

The PCP continues to carry out regular armed attacks on Lima and 
other government bases, as well as strikes. Despite rumors that 
the PCP is helpless without the personal guidance of its leader, 
the people have made it quite clear that they continue to be a 
very organized and effective revolutionary force.

Notes:
1. NOTIMEX 11/29, from El Diario La Prensa 11/29/92
2. Reuters 11/10/92
3. El Diario Internacional, 10/23/92, number 16
4. Emergency bulletin #16, Nov 30, 1992, International Emergency 
Committee to Defend the Life of Abimael Guzm‡n.
5. Economist 11/28/92, p. 43.

* * *

Chairman Gonzalo delivered the following speech on September 24 at 
the Headquarters of the Peruvian Anti-Terrorist Police:

THE PEOPLE'S WAR WILL WIN: YOU WILL SEE IT!

Comrades of the Communist Party of Peru, fighters of the People's 
Guerrilla Army, Peruvian people: we are living through historic 
events, each one of us knows this to be the case. Let us not 
deceive ourselves. At his moment we must ready all our forces in 
order to continue accomplishing our tasks. And let us win new 
victories, including the final one, too!

We are fighting in these trenches: because we are communists! 
Because we defend the people's interests, the principles of the 
Party, and the People's War! That is what we have been doing, what 
we are doing, what we will continue to do! We are here in these 
circumstances. Some think this is a great defeat. They are 
dreaming. Today we say to them this is merely a bend in the road. 
Nothing more! A bend along the road. The road is long, and we will 
traverse it completely. We will reach our goal. And we will win! 
You will see it!

We must continue with the tasks laid down in the Third Plenary 
Session of the Central Committee. What a glorious plenary! This 
Third Plenary Session is already on the move, and this will 
continue. We will continue to carry out the plans of the People's 
War for the seizure of power.... We will continue to unfold the 
Sixth Military Plan. That is our task! We will carry it out! With 
the proletariat and the people!

Today, the democratic road has begun to unfold as the road to 
liberation, as the road to People's liberation! These are the 
circumstances in which we are developing our actions. How far have 
we come with this? To a strategic equilibrium!

It is useless for people to keep closing their eyes to this. Let 
us look at the history of Peru. They should examine the 18th 
Century, they should examine the 19th Century, they should examine 
the 20th Century--and understand their lessons! If they do not 
understand this they will remain blind. There was domination. It 
was carried out by the Spanish. And this Spanish domination, where 
did it lead us? To an extremely deep crisis! As a result of this, 
Peru became divided. From this stemmed the origins of today's 
politics.

OK, in the last century: British domination. Where did that lead 
us? To another great crisis. The result: war with Chile. Let us 
not forget this. What happened? We lost territory. The 20th 
Century. How are we doing? There is an imperialism dominating us, 
U.S. imperialism. This is real. Everybody knows it. Where has this 
led us? Here and now, to the worst crisis in our entire history, a 
crisis the likes of which has never been endured by our people.

These twelve years of struggle have served to demonstrate and to 
clearly show the people that the Peruvian state and the Peruvian 
army are clearly rotten to the core. That they are paper tigers!

What should we do? We must push the people's liberation movement 
forward, and develop the people's war. It is time to form a 
National Liberation front. It is time to form and develop a 
People's Liberation Front, starting from the People's Guerrilla 
Army. We will do this. It is what we are doing now, it is what we 
are going to follow through on! Maoism is marching relentlessly 
forward in its task of forging the new wave of the world 
proletarian revolution. Listen well and understand. Those who have 
ears--use them. Those who have understanding--we all have it--use it 
well....

Next year will be the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of 
Chairman Mao. We must celebrate it. We want an unforgettable 
celebration. We will start celebrating this year and we will 
conclude the celebration next year. I want to take advantage of 
this opportunity to salute the international proletariat, the 
great oppressed majorities. To all the communists of Peru: the 
People's War will inevitably win!

Have faith in the future birth of the People's Republic of Peru.

Glory to Marxism-Leninism-Maoism! Honor and Glory to the Peruvian 
People!

ITAL Reprinted from El Diario Internacional October 1992 END

* * *

US GULF WAR BENEFITS TRICKLE-DOWN IN BLOOD

All that charity work has got to pay off, right? After going to 
all that trouble to save innocent Kuwaitis and beat back the evil 
Iraqis, the U.S. empire had to get a little something out of it.

Part of that little something is an even more complete military 
domination of the region. After the war on Iraq ended, Kuwait, 
Bahrain, Qatar and Oman have all signed new military protection 
agreements with the United States, giving the empire total 
military access and control. And, having been gently reminded that 
"It's easier to help people who help themselves," the tiny Gulf 
oil states have also bought $40 billion worth of weapons (some of 
them from France and Britain).

If the imperialist military before the war was "discreet," "The 
difference now is palpable. Mirage fighters thunder over Qatar in 
daily drill. American sailors crowd the hotels in Abu Dhabi, 
Kuwait and Muscat. Joint military exercises at sea and in the air 
are so frequent that, to all intents and purposes, the western 
military presence is constant."

And that's just the beginning. The new profit-making opportunities 
for imperialism are already running into the big billions.

--MC12

Notes: Economist 12/5/92, p. 39.

* * * 

WHITE COPS SHOOT BLACK COP

Two white Transit cops shot 21 times at a black undercover cop who 
they encountered making an arrest. The Black cop was holding a gun 
on a woman that he and his partner were going to arrest for 
evading the $1.25 subway fare when they were spotted by three 
white cops. Two of the officers opened fire, and one of them even 
stopped to reload. In the aftermath of the incident, the police 
force that patrols the city's subway system was making plans for 
new sensitivity training to keep minority officers from becoming 
victims of "friendly fire."

MIM knows that oppressed peoples need revolution--not a sensitive 
police force. The genocide committed against the Black nation is 
anything but "friendly."

--MA234

Notes: Boston Globe 11/20/92, p. 10.

* * *

ARMY WANTS TO EXTERMINATE HOMELESS

The U.S. Army has announced that it has distributed 1.5 million 
DDT contaminated blankets to disaster victims and homeless 
people.(1) The Army appears to be following in the footsteps of 
British General Jeffrey Amherst who in 1763 ordered that "the 
commander of Fort Pitts [give] the attacking Indian chiefs, with 
whom he was negotiating, blankets from the smallpox hospital. It 
was a pioneering effort at what is now called biological warfare. 
An epidemic soon spread among the Indians."(2) Pete Williams, 
Defense Department spokesman, said "the safest thing to do, I 
guess, is not to use them. Don't wear your old wool uniform and if 
you've got an old wool Army blanket that is not stamped "U.S." on 
it, don't use it." (The wool Army blankets stamped "U.S." are 
safe.)

According to Williams, DDT was used to protect the cloth from 
insects prior to its ban by the EPA in 1972. Uniforms and blankets 
continued to be made from the poisoned wool as late as 1987. The 
Department of Defense, in charge of killing Third World people 
around the globe, is sending a clear message to the homeless of 
Amerika: "If you survive being homeless, and survive the DDT in 
the blankets we gave you, FREEZE."

--MA234

Notes:
1. Boston Globe 11/19/92.
2. Howard Zinn, ITAL A People's History of the United States, END 
Harper Collins, New York, 1980, p. 86. 

* * *

GAY ACTIVISTS CLOSE RANKS WITH CLINTON

The headline in Bay Windows said it all. "Gay activists are 
preparing to work from an unusual place: within the White House." 
National gay and lesbian organizations have created the Gay and 
Lesbian Community's Presidential Transition Project. "Basically 
the goal of this project is to forward and support the appointment 
of qualified gay men and lesbians to the Clinton administration," 
said Transition Project spokeswoman Rebecca Tillet. It is 
incorrect to think that getting more gays in office will stop AIDS 
or gay bashing. It will, however, allow the bourgeois leaders of 
these groups to move even farther up the social ladder away from 
the Third World proletariat.

Notes: Bay Windows 11/12/92, p.1, 13-14.

* * *

RUSSIAN FARMERS FIRE CAPITALIST DIRECTOR

The giant Zaria collective farm recently fired its capitalist 
"reform" director Victor Golov. Attempting to emulate Western 
farming techniques, Golov lengthened the work day, paid formerly 
salaried workers hourly wages, raised rents, reduced pension 
benefits, built himself a mansion, and lost money speculating in 
agricultural commodities.

The pensioners were particularly upset about losing free medical 
care. "For [the pensioners] free-market reforms have little 
allure. And in a country where calling someone 'an individual' is 
an insult, almost everyone is wary of new systems that might let a 
minority grow rich."(1)

An older woman said that Golov "lived like an individual with his 
family. He is a greedy man living only for the sake of his own 
pleasure. All I know is that the collective farm was good. There 
was discipline here."

A man old enough to remember the rule of Stalin's revolutionary 
Party commented, "Breaking up the collective and selling off its 
parts weakened it. [We] lost strength. The strength is not in one 
finger, but in the fist."

Led by the angry retired workers, the collective ran Golov out of 
town and elected Mr. Dubrovin as administrator. Dubrovin told the 
Wall Street Journal, "There is no future for individuals here now. 
Everything is very expensive. Someday, when the country is working 
properly, it might be possible."

The remnants of socialist economic forms, such as the vast 
collective farming system, functioned to sustain the Russian 
people during the last 38 years of social-imperialist decay. But 
the system had thoroughly rotted from within, as profit-taking 
increasingly commanded social production. Now Russia owes $4 
billion for food it has imported from the United States since 
Gorbachev became a financial consultant for Western banks.

The melt-down of Soviet monopoly state capitalism ripped open the 
rotting economic husk to expose: nothing. The larders of the 
people's wealth had been wiped clean by the Soviet bourgeoisie; 
and into the vacuum stepped Western capital. Imperialist banks 
first traded food for the last of the Soviet gold reserve. Now 
they trade food for debt and natural resources. Such an unfair 
exchange is not in the interests of a hungry people.

Although socialism was overthrown in the ex-Soviet Union after the 
death of Stalin in 1954, the Russian people materially benefitted 
from the nearly four decades of super-profits that Soviet 
imperialism sucked from the Third World. The balance of history 
has now thrown the Russians to the mercy of the most vicious 
collection of beasts in the known universe--the International 
Monetary Fund.

The majority of the earth's population already knows from 
experience that capitalism does not work. It is heartening to see 
an indication that the Russian proletariat is awakening from their 
long sleep. Clearly an essential tenet of Marxism has remained 
embedded in the people's consciousness--the masses, not 
individuals, make history.

--MC86

Notes: The Wall Street Journal 11/27/92, pp. 1,5.

* * *

CARDBOARD BLACKMAN PUTS PIGS IN A PANIC

On Dec. 1 in Lilly, Penn. "Police officers rushed into a video 
store and drew weapons on a cardboard cutout of actor Denzel 
Washington after a passerby reported seeing a gunman inside."

After getting the call that there was a gunman inside the 
Stop'N'Go video store, seven police cruisers from Lilly and nearby 
communities rushed to the store, while four officers stormed 
inside and the others blocked the area outside.

It turns out that the "gunman" the passerby had seen in the store 
was a cutout of Denzel Washington dressed as a police officer and 
holding a gun to promote the movie "Ricochet," in which he stars.

Police praised the woman for calling the police, and told her, 
"Don't ever feel embarrassed for something like this." Of course. 
We wouldn't want white people to feel embarrassed for immediately 
thinking that all Black men, even cardboard cutouts of Black men, 
are criminals, now would we?

--MC251

Notes: Washington Post 12/3/92.

* * *

IS PARIS BURNING?

Oakland-based rapper Paris just released his new album ITALIC 
Sleeping With The Enemy. END "The album's inner-sleeve photo shows 
an armed Paris waiting to ambush Bush in front of the Capitol. 
Some sample lyrics [from the song ITALIC Bush Killa' END]:

ITALIC I'm looking for a way to make a play and keep it neat
And check it out and make a route and pick a rooftop
Get a spot where the view's hot
Set up shop 'cause all I wanna see is (expletive) brains hanging' 
...
So don't be telling me to get the non-violent spirit
'Cause when I'm violent is the only time the devils hear it
Rat-a-tat go the gat to his devil face
I hope he thinks of how he done us when he lay to waste ... END

The song ends with a Bush speech halted by gunfire. Paris, 
incidentally, voted for Bill Clinton on November 3, and says, "I 
just hope he never gives me a reason to write 'Clinton Killa'"

--MC86

Notes: Washington Post 12/2/92.

* * *

US PREPARES TO CONTROL BLACK FERTILITY

"By the middle of next century half of all Americans will be 
nonwhite, according to a radically revised [U. S. Census Bureau] 
projection released yesterday ... [A Census] demographer said, 
"Black fertility has gone up 25% since 1985, and I don't think 
anyone has a clear understanding of why it happened."(1)

"Baltimore public officials are planning to offer Norplant, the 
surgically implanted contraceptive, at clinics in schools ... While 
Norplant offers good pregnancy protection, it does nothing to 
protect against AIDS ... Wyeth-Ayerst, a division of American Home 
products, has donated $2.8 million to a foundation that offers the 
implant free to such women nationwide."(2)

In 1980, Blacks were 54.8% of the total population of Metropolitan 
Baltimore.(3) The inner city is more than 80% Black.

--MC86

Notes:
1. San Francisco Chronicle 12/4/92, p. A1.
2. New York Times 12/4/92,  p. A1.
3. 1990 Statistical Abstract of U.S., p. 34.

* * *

WRAP YOUR WILLIE

"Bill Clinton's probable successor as governor [of Arkansas] has 
proposed that a woman who gives birth while on welfare receive no 
increase in benefits to support her new baby."

--MC86

Notes  New York Times 12/4/92, p. A11.

* * *

CNN CALLS FOR ANTI-COMMUNIST WITCH HUNT

by MC49

The reactionary media increased the level of its recent wave of 
attacks on the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA (RCP), and by 
implication, all groups which uphold Maoism. MIM has already 
reported on the San Francisco Sentinel's false accusation that the 
RCP and MIM advocated burning and looting in gay areas in San 
Francisco during the Los Angeles insurrection last May. Now the 
bourgeoisie has brought its attacks to national television.

A segment broadcast by CNN on November 14 and 15 started with a 
lead-in about "Sendero violence" and proceeded to talk about the 
death and destruction that rebellion supposedly introduced to LA. 
Abruptly, the CNN reporter then asked, "So why is this man 
encouraged?" The picture on the screen was of Carl Dix, the RCP's 
national spokesperson. CNN provided no evidence that anyone 
anywhere was "encouraging" the RCP. It seems that what CNN meant 
was that the police are encouraging Dix by allowing him to speak 
publicly. CNN would rather have communists and those who call 
themselves communists placed in steel cages on military bases on 
islands--the treatment Comrade Gonzalo is getting.

The focus of the CNN story was on the RCP's recent recruitment 
efforts in Los Angeles, but an ominous undercurrent was the 
description of the RCP as the U.S. branch of "Sendero Luminoso." 
The fascist Peruvian regime has been calling, with some success, 
for roundups and deportations of international supporters of the 
Communist Party of Peru (PCP, "Sendero" in the press). As the PCP 
continues to strike blows against imperialism abroad, their 
supporters here should be prepared to face increasing attacks from 
the press and the state.

The influence of Maoism is growing throughout the hemisphere. As 
CNN said in an effort to scare its viewers, "the business of 
turning riots into revolution is booming."

Notes: MIM Notes 67, August 1992, p.2, "SF Sentinel confuses work 
of MIM with RCP, attacks both," available from MIM for $1.

* * *

MOHAWKS STALEMATE CANADIAN GOVERNMENT

by MA343

Last July, all Mohawk defendants were acquitted of charges 
stemming from the summer 1990 armed confrontation between the 
Mohawks of Kahnesatake territory in Oka, Quebec, and the Canadian 
government.

Commenting on the jury's decision, the defendants stated: "In our 
trial, we did not hide behind a criminal defense but admitted that 
we were there and did bear arms in defense of our land and our 
people. The verdict is seen by the Mohawks and their allies as an 
admission by the jury that the issues involving land and 
jurisdiction must be addressed not in the Criminal Courts but by 
negotiations on a Nation by Nation basis between the Canadian 
government and the Six Nations Confederacy. The jury understood 
that we were sincere in our efforts to reach a peaceful end to the 
conflict, despite the duplicitous and colonial attitudes of all 
levels of governments and attempts by police agencies to 
criminalize the situation."(1)

MIM agrees with those who refused to appear in a foreign court, on 
the grounds that the imperialist courts do not have jurisdiction 
over oppressed nations, such as the Mohawks. But those who did 
stand trial chose a correct tactic in honestly admitting and 
defending their actions. We applaud this temporary victory as the 
Mohawks continue to move their struggle for self-determination 
forward, but we urge people not to be fooled by this one success 
in court. The courts are set up to serve the imperialists and the 
final battle for self-determination will not be won in this forum.

On July 10, 1990, Mohawk warriors repelled an invasion of their 
territory by 500 Canadian police. The police, armed with automatic 
weapons and bulldozers were acting in the interests of a 
neighboring settler community that had proposed extending a gold 
course on ancestral Mohawk burial grounds in the Kahnesatake 
Territory.(2) Now, more than two years later, armed Mohawks 
continue to hold barricaded checkpoints on all roads into 
Kahnesatake, denying entry to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police 
and the Surete de Quebec.

A spokesperson for the Mohawk Warriors Society told MIM that there 
is a "political stalemate in the federal and provincial Canadian 
governments on how to resolve the issue" of true Mohawk self-rule. 
The Government's tactics of dividing, attacking, and criminalizing 
those who would defend the Mohawk peoples' right to self- 
determination have so far failed to bring the territories under 
Canada's control.

The Canadian government has sought to divide the Mohawk leadership 
by funding puppet "Band Councils," which Mohawks view as 
undemocratic, as they constitute the rule of the few over the 
many.

With the creation of these government-funded Band Councils under 
the Indian Act, "the government is trying to circumvent our 
traditional forms of government and the political actions of 
traditional people," said a Mohawk spokesperson. "These 
traditional forms of government are embodied in the Great Law of 
Peace, a system of democratic rule that has been in place in the 
Mohawk Nation and the Five Nations Iroquois Confederacy for over 
1000 years." In order for the Band Council to truly represent the 
Mohawk people, "the Band Councils must denounce the Indian Act 
[after which the Homelands Act in apartheid South Africa was 
patterned], and Canada's right to legislate within sovereign 
Mohawk territory." In essence, this means the Band Councils must 
invalidate their mandate from the Canadian government in order to 
begin to truly represent their people.

Another tactic that Canada has used to try to weaken the Mohawks' 
position is to portray the Mohawk Warriors as criminals. The 
Government's propaganda and legal campaign against the warriors 
has sought to diminish their stature as patriotic defenders of 
their land and their people.

In January of this year, three warriors on trial for charges such 
as "rioting" and "obstruction of justice" remained mute, refusing 
to recognize the legitimacy of the Canadian legal system to try 
them as criminals.(3) The media has also portrayed the cause of 
the conflict as an ongoing battle between pro- and anti-gambling 
Mohawks. The Canadian government opposes gambling on reservations 
because it cannot tax or otherwise control the revenue. Despite 
police raids, white settlers from surrounding communities continue 
to enter Mohawk territory to play Super Bingo.

Asked, naively, if if it had been a long and difficult two years 
since they took up arms to defend their land, the Mohawk 
spokesperson pointed out that the struggle has been going on in 
many different forms for 500 years. More recently, in the conflict 
over the land for the Oka golf course, the Mohawks made numerous 
attempts to discuss their position, and sought mediation. 
"However," he said, "Native issues were never really addressed. 
Does Canada view Native People as third class citizens?"

The answer apparently is "yes," and the Mohawk Warriors have 
undertaken to defend their land and people with the necessary 
force because, as this Mohawk stated in closing, "the Warriors 
bear a heavy responsibility to their people. This is a noble task, 
and one that makes them very proud." MIM salutes the Mohawk 
Warriors, and the hard-won advances they have made in their 
struggle for national liberation.

Notes:
1. New Liberation News Service, Packet 3.5 11/21/92.
2. MIM Notes 43.
3. MIM Notes 62.

* * *

WHERE IS BOUGAINVILLE 

Bougainville is part of the Solomon Islands archipelago, located 
off the north east coast of Australia. The indigenous people have 
experienced a series of colonizations in the following order: 
Germany, Australia, Japan, the United States and Australia again. 
The people formally petitioned for independence in 1962, 1968 and 
1975. In 1975 Australia made Papua New Guinea "independent" adding 
Bougainville to PNG territory.

In 1988 the Panguna copper mine, Bougainville's largest 
imperialist run industry was shut down by the Bougainville 
Revolutionary Army. The BRA launched a six month sabotage campaign 
in opposition to low wages, the devastation of the village economy 
and environmental damage from the mine.

In 1989 the BRA closed the mine, causing severe losses for the 
slumlord imperialists: $175 million in 1990. In March 1990 PNG 
withdrew its troops and the Bougainville was declared an 
independent republic. In May PNG blockaded all services from the 
island. This summer PNG launched a large scale attack on the 
island.

--MC99

BOUGAINVILLE FIGHTS BACK

by MC99

In late October the Australian puppet government of Papua New 
Guinea launched 200 attacks on the Bougainville Revolutionary Army 
(BRA). The Panguna copper mine, on the island of Bougainville, is 
the focal point of the struggle-in 1989 the BRA dynamited the 
power pylons at Panguna and the mine has been closed ever since.

In March 1990 the BRA gained complete control over the island. In 
May the PNG government blocked medicine, food and clothing from 
the island and withdrew all government personnel, including 
doctors. They also severed the island's communications system.

The PNG army is well endowed with donations of military hardware 
from Australia, including automatic weapons, Iroquois helicopters 
and four patrol boats. But the BRA holds its own, devising an 
arsenal from what is at hand. The revolutionaries convert 
Caterpillar tractors into tanks by welding steel plates to the 
surface. They make homemade weapons in the mine's workshops and 
get their ammunition from hillsides embedded with the waste of 
World War II Marines.

In search of supplies Bougainvilleans have been braving the five 
mile stretch to the Solomon islands in motor-powered canoes. These 
strategic voyages are being countered by the PNG government with 
the aid of the patrol boats supplied by the Australian government. 
In April two missionaries transporting medicine from the Solomon's 
were killed in one of these attacks.

On August 13, PNG troops invaded the Solomon islands and attacked 
a gas station. The owner was thought to have been supplying the 
BRA with fuel. They shot and killed the station owner's sister and 
brother and badly wounded his baby.

Fortified "care" camps hold 30,000 of Bougainville's 180,000 
people. Defence Minister Paul Tohian claims that the camps were 
set up at the request of local villages, but the BRA refutes this 
claim, adding that the local populace may have asked PNG to supply 
medicine to combat a Malaria epidemic.

The United Nations arrived in early November, and the PNG regime 
refused to let them visit Bougainville.

In contradiction to the increasing attacks, the rebellion is 
gaining support, Australian human rights lawyer Rosemarie 
Gillespie reports that 40 local chiefs have passed resolutions 
saying that the Panguna mine will not reopen until the island is 
granted independence. Paias Wingti, the PNG prime minister claims 
that Arawa, the capital of Bougainville has fallen, but Gillespie 
said that the town is still under BRA control.

The closure of the mine resulted in serious losses for the Conzinc 
Rio Tinto, an Australian subsidiary of British based Rio Tinto 
Zinc. In 1990, 175 million was lost, which is equal to 45% of 
PNG's foreign exchange earnings.

The profits from the mine are key for the Australian government, 
which needs the revenue to cover the complete cost of granting PNG 
its "independence." In other words, the surplus value extracted 
from the Bougainville mine workers would completely subsidize the 
counterfeit PNG government.

The decision to stop production demonstrates the people's 
awareness of their exploitation. Such strategic actions weaken 
imperialism by halting the ability of the multinational 
corporations to extract cheap labor and natural resources.

The extraction of surplus value from the workers, and the effects 
of forced industrialization on the local community creates an 
imbalance that destroys the existing village economy and works to 
impoverish the populace.

The Panguna mine generates a large chuck of PNG's loan payments 
and thus plays a vital role in the greasy passage of cash. So 
while evil cartels such as the Conzinc Rio Tinto and the World 
Bank have one of their fingers stuck in the great hole of the 
Panguna copper mine, the revolutionary masses are in the perfect 
position to chop it off, and they know it.

All information in these articles onBougainville came from the San 
Francisco Chronicle Nov 16, 1992.

* * *

SPIKE LEE ASSASSINATES THE REAL MALCOLM X

by a comrade

Twenty-seven years after our brother Malcolm X was executed by 
capitalism, Malcolm's message has been murdered by Warner Bros. 
Corporation and its paid political assassin Spike Lee.

Like Oprah Winfrey, Arsenio Hall and Bill Cosby, Black film 
director Lee makes a rich living as a shameless propagandist in 
the service of white supremacist Amerika. Lee's version of the 
life of Malcolm X is a bomb without a fuse-a fire without heat.

To ideologically disarm today's youth, Lee's cronies and their 
corporate masters spent more than $34 million recreating a 
distinctly "American" Malcolm X as a pupil of non-violent 
political means. They even truck out ex-revolutionary Nelson 
Mandela at the end of the film to bury Malcolm with praise.

The narrow historical framework of Lee's ITAL X END should be very 
reassuring to white Amerika. In Lee's world "racism" is a question 
of bad attitude and not of the armed suppression of a nation of 
Black millions by a nation of white millions.

In real life Malcolm said, if the white man doesn't stop 
oppressing us he will become a dead white man. Malcolm knew that 
the capitalist patriarches will never stop oppressing the people 
until the people force them to stop. Malcolm X was anti-
imperialist. He was a revolutionary nationalist and a world-
citizen; he was ITALIC not END an Amerikan.

In 1963 Black rebellions flared in Birmingham, Savannah, 
Cambridge, Md., Chicago and Philadelphia.(1) On April 3, 1964, 
Malcolm X called for the development of a situation where "our 
African brothers can throw their weight on our side, where our 
Asian brothers can throw their weight on our side, where our 
Latin-American brothers can throw their weight on our side, and 
where 800 million Chinamen are sitting there waiting to throw 
their weight on our side."(2)

Many people find inspiration today listening to tapes of Malcolm 
X. Malcolm spoke the truth when he called out "racism" as colonial 
oppression. Malcolm told no lies when he preached that now is the 
time of the final battle; the period of Armageddon, the 
revolution, the destruction of Babylon, the rebirth of human 
society.

By focussing so much of the film on Malcolm's sexuality and 
personal life, Lee guts Malcolm's revolutionary politics. Lee 
tries to put it over that Malcolm's appeal was principally as a 
father-figure.(3) Lee tones down Malcolm's anger and promotes the 
bourgeois lie that Malcolm was "evolving" towards Martin Luther 
King's collaborationist politics. Where Elijah Muhammaad could not 
silence Malcolm in life, Lee silences his caricature of Malcolm in 
death.

In real life Malcolm was a hard person; a world-class philosopher; 
a revolutionary who wasted no time simply describing reality-he 
changed reality. In Lee's rewrite of history, Denzel Washington's 
genteel portrayal of Malcolm better suits a corporate boardroom 
than the prisons and factories in which Malcolm studied life.

Lee based ITAL X END on selected portions of the book ITALIC The 
Autobiography of Malcolm X. END While Lee chooses to ignore most 
of the revolutionary thunder and lightening, he has no qualms 
about disrespecting a dead man's wishes.

In ITALIC The Autobiography, END for example, Malcolm takes 
control of a small band of burglars by playing Russian Roulette 
with a loaded pistol. Chambering one bullet, Malcolm puts the 
muzzle to his head and pulls the trigger-twice. He says, "I'm 
doing this, showing you I'm not afraid to die. Never cross a man 
not afraid to die. Now, lets get to work."(4)

In ITAL X END, Washington quickly admits to a friend that the gun 
had been empty. Lee's thematic emphasis is clear: Malcolm X was a 
fake.

Malcolm later told Alex Haley, who assisted him in writing ITALIC 
The Autobiography, END that he had in fact palmed the bullet. When 
Haley asked him if he should correct the story, Malcolm replied, 
"No leave it that way. Too many people would be so quick to say 
that's what I'm doing today, bluffing."(5)

Malcolm's white girlfriend Sophia is mentioned briefly on 
approximately six pages of ITALIC The Autobiography. END Lee 
devotes half the film to this and other tedious affairs. Lee says 
that Black people are more interested in sex than in national 
liberation.

Lee's female characters are flawlessly submissive and he ignores 
the revolutionary seizure of gender-power that has always 
propelled Black women to the frontline of the Revolution. ITAL X 
END owes more in acting style, cinematic technique and political 
intent to ITALIC Gone With The Wind END than to Black history.

Contrary to what opportunist Trotskyists and bourgeois scholars 
claim today, Malcolm was not leaning towards collaboration with 
the capital-venerating white working class. At the time of his 
death he was laying the foundation for a highly organized, mass-
based assault upon the oppressors of the Black Nation. One of the 
first items on Malcolm's agenda was the the wiping out of national 
traitors.

The Black bourgeoisie choked in relief when Malcolm was shot down 
on February 21, 1965. Today's white-sanctioned Black "leaders" 
have the gall to generate gobs of publicity claiming that Malcolm 
was evolving towards "peaceful" solutions.

Lee's mission in ITAL X END is to transform Malcolm's active 
revolutionary solution to white Amerika's murderous exploitation 
of the Black Nation into passive acceptance of regurgitated 
"economic integration" lies and reliance upon colonial "free-
enterprise zones." Lee's ITALIC tricknology END promises white 
Amerika that in return for financial power, peace-loving Black 
"leaders" will make damn sure that the Black masses never organize 
a revolution.

Speak now, Malcolm X, in your own words:

"Being here in America doesn't make you an American. Being born 
here in America doesn't make you an American. No, I'm not an 
American.... So, I'm not standing here speaking to you as an 
American, or a patriot ... There's new thinking coming in. There's 
new strategy coming in. It'll be Molotov cocktails this month, 
hand grenades the next month ... It'll be liberty, or it will be 
death. The only difference about this kind of death-it'll be 
reciprocal.... I don't usually deal with those big words because I 
don't usually deal with big people. I deal with small people. I 
find you can get a whole lot of small people and whip hell out of 
a whole lot of big people.

"They haven't got anything to lose, and they've got everything to 
gain. And they'll let you know in a minute: 'It takes two to 
tango; when I go, you go.'"(2)

NOTES:
1. The 1968 Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil 
Disorders (Kerner Commission Report), First Pantheon Edition, 
1988, p. 35.
2. The Ballot or the Bullet 3/12/64.
3. While pseudo-feminists may weep and gnash their teeth at 
Malcolm's male chauvinism, MIM says that the Muslim variety of 
patriarchy is no better and no worse than the politically correct, 
liberal versions masquerading as "women's liberation." In a 
society where-no matter how you slice it-all sexual acts and all 
acts of rape are indistinguishable in essence, Malcolm X 
demonstrated in his life the importance of a monogamous sexual 
practice.
4. ITAL The Autobiography of Malcolm X, END Grove Press, 1966, p. 
143.
5. Ibid, p. 416.

* * *

CORRECTION ON CANADA

Last month MIM Notes incorrectly reported that the Canadian 
fraternal organization to the Workers League favored the 
referendum. The Trotskyist organization that supported the 
referendum was the Canadian fraternal organization to the 
International Socialist Organization. Mobilisation should not have 
been described as a Marxist-Leninist organization; although they 
lean in this direction, they are in their formative stage and are 
a self- described independent communist collective.

From the results of the referendum, it appears that the Spoil Your 
Ballot campaign reached a significant number of people. In Quebec, 
where the campaign focused much of their work, 2.64% of the 
ballots cast were spoiled. This is over 90,000 ballots, and in 
Ontario 28,000 ballots were spoiled. Of all ballots counted, 2.24% 
were spoiled.

Notes: The Montreal Gazette 11/27/92

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