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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THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT
MIM Notes 81
October 1993
Electronic Edition
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Get MIM Notes 81 from the Maoist Internationalist Movement
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This issue features news on First Nation struggles for
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call a "breakthrough," and puts it in historical context.
And then there's first-hand reporting and personal
testimonies from inside Amerikkka's gulags - MIM's monthly
prison report, Under Lock & Key. And more.
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This issue features:
> PALESTINE DREAM DEAL MEANS DARK DAYS FOR THE PEOPLE
> PLO: RISE AND FALL
> SOMALIA KEEPS U.N. ON THE ROPES
> AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL POSITION ON PERU REFUTED
> CHINESE PEASANTS RISE AGAIN
> LETTERS FROM ONLINE
> CHINESE CHILDREN SEE BENEFITS OF CAPITALISM
> A.N.C. CALLS FOR CAPITAL
> ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT?
> GAMBLING FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION
> STATE INFILTRATES GERMANY'S RED ARMY FRACTION
> REVIEW: TAKE A TOUR OF AMERIKKKA WITH THE GOATS
> LETTERS TO MIM
UNDER LOCK & KEY
> U.S. MEDICAL CENTER FOR FEDERAL PRISONERS CENSORS MIM
NOTES
> LUCASVILLE UPDATE - GUARDS BEAR PRISONER, THREATEN HIS LIFE
> "POLITICS ARE ALWAYS IN COMMAND, NOT THE GUN"
> WE MUST UNDO WHAT THEY'VE DONE
> BACKGROUND INFO ON POLITICAL REPRESSION IN U.S. PRISONS
> "WE REFUSE TO BE SLAVES"
> PRISONER REPORTS RELIGIOUS AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT
* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
PALESTINE DREAM DEAL MEANS DARK DAYS FOR THE PEOPLE
by MC12
With a sudden snap - the crack of an Israeli assault rifle -
the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) collapsed inward
under the weight of its own capitulation in the face of
concerted imperialist pressure - a little before noon on
September 13. What it leaves behind is a Palestinian nation
forged in half a century of struggle facing another defeat.
September 13 is the day a PLO representative signed away the
concept of national liberation struggle - already abandoned
by the PLO in practice - and signed up the PLO in a
partnership of oppression with Israel and imperialism.
The agreement signed by the PLO and the Israeli government
is a worse deal than that offered Palestinians in 1948. It
represents the final defeat of the PLO and the beginning of
a new stage in the struggle for Palestinian national
liberation. In its surrender, the PLO follows other such
late-Soviet-era movements as the Farabundo Marti National
Liberation Front (FMLN) in El Salvador and the African
National Congress (ANC) into the dustbin of history, leaving
behind a painful trail of tears and betrayal as well as a
legacy of heroic struggle.
The PLO was at an all-time low-point, even as Palestinian
national consciousness is flourishing.(1) Why? The PLO's
errors are lessons in the danger of not having a proletarian
and feminist line leading the national liberation struggle.
The petty-bourgeois line that dominated the PLO led the
organization to become dependent on foreign aid from Arab
governments, which became more important than support from
the masses themselves.
The PLO drew more on the symbolic elements of the intifada -
stone-throwing and protests - then on the intifada's militant
strikes and collective organizing for self-sufficiency, in
the organization's hope of gaining international recognition
and a better negotiating position. Then, the Soviet Union
collapsed. The United States forced the Arab powers - with no
USSR to help them - to align themselves against Iraq and cut
off the PLO, thus forcing the PLO, which had lost its
grounding among the masses, into negotiating a surrender.
A wide array of forces seek new positions in the next phase
of resistance and oppression. From around the Arab world,
revolutionary Palestinians, Pan-Arabists and Islamic
activists issued calls for rejection of the PLO's
treachery(2), some dying under the guns of the Lebanese army
as they demonstrated in Beirut.(3) In Gaza, the Islamic-
nationalist group Hamas called a series of general strikes
in protest - widely honored - before yielding to a national
celebration and public display of Palestinian flags - also
well attended.(4) Other Hamas supporters launched military
attacks on Israeli positions.(5) From Washington and
Paris(2) to Bonn and Indonesia(6), imperialist and
capitalist regimes prepared to invest ("aid") in the
"development" of the Israeli-occupied lands under their
newly-legitimized neo-colonial regime.
Among Israelis, support for the agreement ran 3-2 in
favor(7) Israeli liberals and pseudo-leftists support what
looks to them like "peace," while fascistic nationalists put
up a show of opposition. Amerikan pseudo-leftists now add
the PLO to the list of previously revolutionary groups that
endorse the collaborative strategy of "working things out"
in a "spirit of cooperation" that has so far brought nothing
but more misery from Central America to Azania and
Palestine.
Israel's "peace" movement turned out 100,000 strong to
celebrate the accord, roaring their approval when leader
Amos Oz declared: "From now on we are no longer a protest
movement." Then they locked hands to sing the Israeli
national anthem.(8)
Who wins, who loses?
In short, Amerika and Israel win. A class of Palestinian
comprador bureaucrat capitalists also wins, hoping to one
day join the ranks of social-militarist Arab rulers in
Egypt, Syria and the like. Imperialism wins (for now) in
securing the false peace between ruler and ruled. World War
III in Palestine takes a new form now, with Palestinian
overseers cracking the whip over semi-slaves, especially
those who spread anti-imperialist rebellion.
The Palestinian people lose. Their "autonomy" in Gaza and
the town of Jericho is as frail as any agreement between
colony and colonizer; their hopes for future "agreements" as
solid as hot desert air.
The agreement, which is supposed to give Palestinians
"autonomy" in Gaza and the West Bank town of Jericho,
includes a local PLO police force to supplement the Israeli
military, which is supposed to cover "defense" of the
territories, as well as defending Israeli settlers exactly
where they are (on the best land).
As the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(DFLP) noted, "this conspiratory plan has entrusted the
mission of suppressing the popular uprising in the occupied
territories to the Palestine Liberation Organization."(6)
This view was confirmed by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon
Peres, when he said: "Arafat is announcing that he opposes
terrorism and will fight the terrorists."(9) Taking over
from such expert-oppressors as the Israelis is no small
task. Fortunately for the PLO, they are already in training,
as the Economist reported that "Since January, Israeli
military experts have been meeting a team of PLO strategists
... to discuss security in the autonomous zone."(10)
Now the future of the arrangement depends on the ability of
the PLO to maintain new-world-style order. A PFLP official
argued, "Israel may be laying a trap by withdrawing the army
from Gaza and Jericho ... By letting the people fight each
other,(Israel) can say to the world that the Palestinians
are not able to rule themselves."(11)
A Palestinian journalist jailed for a 1968 bombing
complained of the deal: "I didn't spend 17 years in jail so
that Arafat could call me a terrorist. I want peace, but
real peace between equals. This is artificial, and it won't
last long."(12)
No peace
The myth of peace between unequals will not take long to
expose in practice. In the first stage of "autonomy,"
Palestinians will not control the local economy above the
petty level. Economic development, trade, "aid," and so on
will be left up to the "Israeli-Palestinian Economic
Cooperation Committee," which has not yet been composed.
Israel currently maintains a per-capita Gross Domestic
Product about 12 times as great as the occupied territories
and Jordan. That disparity is the product of many factors,
none of which are really addressed in the agreement. Israel
controls Palestinian exports to both Israel and the rest of
the world, and manipulates these to benefit Israeli
agriculture, which is subsidized by the state already. That
structure is not changing.(13)
Land and water rights are not changed either, leaving Israel
with a stranglehold on good land and water, both on the
stolen land of Israel proper and in the occupied
territories, where Israeli settlers can stay on the land
they seized. Finally, what industry exists in the
territories is already dominated by Israeli companies or
their local subcontractors, under economic and military
protection.(13) That too will not change.
To make a peace between equals requires returning stolen
land (from 1948, 1967, and since) into the hands of the
people who owned it and their descendents, many of whom
still hold deeds. Some of that property is or was in the
hands of Israeli kibbutzes which since converted it into
profitable capitalist agricultural enterprises capable of
supporting the egalitarian life-styles of rich and infamous
settlers.
A real settlement would start with reparations for exploited
and stolen labor and land. As in Amerika, the bill is long
overdue and adding up. In social welfare taxes alone,
Palestinian workers in the last 25 years have paid $250
million in deducted fees that were stolen outright and
converted into settler benefits.(13)
All of this is not important to Israel, the United States or
the PLO. No, the bourgeois conception of "cooperation" is
delight at the prospect that "Israel's high-tech could be
married to the Arabs' low labour costs" more than it already
is.(14)
The Day of the Deal was a dark one for the Palestinian
national liberation struggle. But in dark times
revolutionaries take consolation from the better visibility
of their enemies, whose betrayal glows in the dark, and
emerging friends. The Palestinian people and their
internationalist allies have to take stock of their new (and
not so new) conditions, reassess their strategies and
tactics, and once again rise to the challenge of national
liberation.
Notes:
1. Middle East International, London, 8/28/93.
2. UPI 9/6/93.
3. New York Times 9/16/93, p. A19.
4. BBC World Service 9/14/93.
5. NYT 9/16/93, p. A1.
6. UPI 9/1/93.
7. NYT 9/14/93, p. A17.(Remember, 91% of Israelis supported
the expulsion of Hamas supporters last year, Washington Post
12/1/92, p A13)
8. UPI 9/4/93.
9. NYT 9/10/93, p. A12.
10. Economist 9/11/93, p. 40.
11. UPI 9/7/93.
12. NYT 9/14/93, p. A15.
13. Economist 9/11/93, p. 66.
14. Economist 9/11/93, p. 14.
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing or referring to this material.
Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail.
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E-mail: mim@blythe.org
* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
PLO: RISE AND FALL
by MC12
The Palestinian nation lost the leadership of the PLO over
time, ending in September. After watching the rapid collapse
of the last few years, it's hard to remember what the PLO
ever was. But it's worth remembering.
In 1970, the PLO published "A Framework for National Unity."
It warned of such a day as today, reading in part: "The
people of Palestine and their national liberation movement
struggle for all-out liberation and reject all peaceful,
stifling, and submissive solutions, all reactionary and
colonialist conspiracies to establish a Palestinian state on
parts of Palestinian territory."(1)
It left no room for doubt on the illegitimacy of the Israeli
state: "Israel, by virtue of its structure, represents an
exclusivist, racist society tied to imperialism. As such,
the limited progressive forces within it cannot effect any
basic change in its Zionist, racist, and imperialist
structure. This is why the aim of the Palestinian Revolution
is to dismantle this entity with its political, military,
social, syndical, and cultural institutions and to liberate
all of Palestine."(1)
At the same time, Fatah commando Abu Omar explained that the
Israeli people would be a part of the future society: "Of
course our attitude towards the occupier is not that we
should throw the occupier away somewhere - because we are
dealing here with an occupying society, not only an
occupying army. And we have offered to our occupier more
than any people have offered to their occupiers in the past.
We are offering them, if they want to stay and live in
Palestine, that they stay and live here as Palestinians, in
equality."(2)
MIM emphasizes not the future shape of a Palestinian state,
nor the future of an Israeli nation. MIM stands for the
national liberation *struggle* of the Palestinian people as
an oppressed nation in the era of imperialism, during which
the contradiction between imperialism and oppressed nations
is principal for revolutionaries the world over. That
struggle opposes Israel as an illegitimate settler state, a
tool of imperialism and an expression of exclusionary
oppressor nationalism. The specific outcome of that struggle
will not be seen until it is won.
MIM has said that the principal problem in Palestine is not
the assertion of Jewish nationhood and Zionism itself, but
the use of that movement by imperialism. Without imperialist
support, Zionists would have been much less destructive, and
could only have joined Palestine on terms acceptable to the
Palestinian majority who lived there.
In this, MIM has much in common with the Popular Front for
the Liberation of Palestine in 1969. At that time, the PFLP
wrote: "Thus the struggle for the liberation of Palestine,
like any other liberation struggle in the world, becomes a
struggle against world imperialism which is intent on
plundering the wealth of the underdeveloped world and on
keeping it a market for its goods. Naturally Israel - and the
Zionist movement as well - have their own characteristics,
but these characteristics must be viewed in the light of
Israel's organic link with imperialism."(3)
The PLO has slowly undone its revolutionary beginnings,
until eventually the last revolutionary elements split off.
But even with what was left at the end, Arafat couldn't take
chances trying to win a majority for the deal with Israel.
Getting the PLO executive committee (those members who
didn't quit in recent months) and the 500-member Palestine
National Council (PNC) to sign off on the deal, as required
by PLO internal rules, was considered to be a dangerous
nuisance. The New York Times said he cut the deal without
the votes "to avoid wrangling" that "could fritter away the
fragile momentum gathered by the peace process."(4)
Winning the support of the masses only hurts the "fragile
momentum" of movements that don't rely on the masses in the
first place.
In the end, it didn't matter, as Arafat and his faction
essentially liquidated the PLO as it was. Without submitting
the changes to a vote of the PNC, as required, he wrote in
his letter to Israel: ".those articles of the Palestinian
Covenant which deny Israel's right to exist and the
provisions of the Covenant which are inconsistent with the
commitments of this letter are now inoperative and no longer
valid. Consequently, the PLO undertakes to submit to the
Palestinian National Council for formal approval the
necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian Covenant."(5)
Too late for that. Who would today pay attention if the PNC
did reject the plan? Those who oppose "the peace process"
are now "hardliners" who just don't understand "the spirit
of reconciliation." Revolutionaries are proud members of
that camp.
Notes:
1. Donald Hodges and Robert Elias Abu Shanab, eds.,
*National Liberation Fronts*, 1960/1970. New York: William
Morrow, 1972. pp. 115-6 "A Framework for National Unity,"
PLO, Beirut 5/70.
2. Interview with Fatah commando Abu Omar, from Free
Palestine, Washington, D.C., 8-9/70, in ibid, p. 129.
3. "A Strategy for Liberation," Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine, Amman 1969, in ibid, pp. 137-8.
4. New York Times 9/9/93, p. A1.
5. NYT 9/10/93, p. A12.
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing or referring to this material.
Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail.
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E-mail: mim@blythe.org
* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
SOMALIA KEEPS U.N. ON THE ROPES
The war in Somalia has escalated, as both the United States
and the Somali people increased the rate and severity of
their attacks. In mid-September, Somalis launched their
first daylight mortar attacks on the U.N. in the capital
city of Mogadishu. The U.S. State Department at the same
time issued a travel warning for Amerikans moving about the
country.(1)
The U.S. (in U.N. guise) has become increasingly aggressive,
unleashing deadly air power on Somali guerillas and non-
combatants alike - though the two are increasingly
inseparable. On Sept. 9, in response to a guerilla ambush,
U.S. helicopters and Pakistani tanks killed at least 100
people, many of whom were participating in the attack on
U.N. forces.
The U.N. spokesman said the crowds were attacking U.N.
troops: "We've seen this before. If they reach our soldiers
they tear them limb from limb." The ambush on U.N. troops
included sophisticated arms that destroyed a Pakistani tank,
as well as masses of people who swarmed over the U.N.
equipment.(2)
Those Amerikans who think Somali women and children who form
the crowds that attack U.N. troops are dupes or victims
should take note. Since the U.S./U.N. invasion, children,
women and men alike have played active roles in the anti-
imperialist resistance. Though it may be hard for First
World chauvinists to believe, women and children are at
least as capable of recognizing and combating foreign
aggressors as grown men!
- MC12
Notes:
1. New York Times 9/16/93, p. A8.
2. NYT 9/10/93, p. A1.
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing or referring to this material.
Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail.
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write:
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E-mail: mim@blythe.org
* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL POSITION ON PERU REFUTED
EDITOR'S NOTE: According to the leader of the West Queens
Chapter of Amnesty International, the following document was
written by an individual member, not by the chapter. The
document, though on A.I. stationary, in no way represents
the views of Amnesty International.
It was written to protest Amnesty International's official
position on Peru. Amnesty International refuses to recognize
the revolutionaries in Peru as political prisoners and
refuses to take a stand on the human rights violations by
the Peruvian government - instead sitting on the fence and
claiming that both sides are bad. MIM applauds the
educational efforts of those who are distributing this
document. It goes some distance toward fighting the
reactionary pro-imperialist position that Amnesty
International continues to put out.
- - - - - - -
Dear friends,
Please print in your paper as a "dissent position on Peru"
of Queens A.I. [Amnesty International] Group. It's time to
clear out the bullshit and manipulation of A.I. leadership.
- NYC AI Queens
Dissent Position on Peru
Sweden has a history of being one of the most generous
countries to asylum seekers and political dissidents of
different parts of the world. However, after the
installation of the new government of Carl Bildt, the Rights
to obtain asylum in that country and the Rights of the
exiles to express freely their political views on their
countries are being seriously threatened. The government of
Sweden through its Minister of Immigration Ms. Friggebo is
currently engaged in a campaign of persecution against
hundreds of Peruvian exiles. One example is the case of Miss
Monica Castillo Paez (20) who is being threatened to be
deported to Peru and face torture and possible death. On
October 1990, a brother of Miss Castillo, Ernesto Rafael
Castillo Paez, was murdered in his home by the Peruvian
Army.
In April 1993, Amnesty International has released a report
detailing some of the crimes of the Peruvian dictator
Fujimori. Currently, there are more than 2,000 political
prisoners in Peru who are being kept in inhuman conditions
in several prisons of the country. Fujimori has dissolved
Congress, instead he and the military have managed to create
their own "legislative Branch." This kangaroo type
Parliament has passed a death penalty bill applicable to
political dissidents and members of the armed opposition. It
is obvious that by implementing this law, Fujimori is trying
to "legalize" hundreds of extra-judicial executions
committed against civilians and supporters of the
opposition. Peru rates first in number of disappearing and
political assassinations in the world. Fujimori has imposed
a special law known as "apology of terrorism" in which any
critical support by means of free speech or other legal
support to the opposition is categorized as "terrorist."
Therefore, the millions of Peruvians who oppose Fujimori's
tyranny may be falsely labeled as "terrorists" and be
subject to repression. The legalization of the death penalty
in Peru will have serious repercussions in other Latin
American countries where the death penalty is now illegal.
Those countries will be able to "legally" kill their
opposition as well.
The main opposition political party is the Communist Party
of Peru. This political party has it's own Army, the
People's Liberation Army that is engaged for 13 years in a
bloody low intensity war with the state Armed Forces. In
addition, there are other small political parties
(Democratic Left, APRA, PPC, PUM) that present a loyal
opposition to the government.
Following the example of previous Third-World dictators such
as Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines or Pinochet in Chile,
Fujimori is trying to extend his repressive activities
abroad. The dictator is requesting European Governments to
extradite many Peruvian political exiles who are living for
many years legally in those countries. In addition, two
Peruvian magazines (July 25) Caretas and Oiga had reported
that one of Fujimori's active death squads headed by
"chacal" Vladimiro Montesinos, has publicly announced that
they will be moving one section of their operations to
Europe.
Fujimori's potential targets abroad are those politically
outspoken Peruvians who write and speak their views and
denounce to the world his crimes. Among those Peruvians are
the journalist Luis Arce Borja. Mr. Arce lives in Belgium
and is the editor of a Magazine knows as El Diario
International. On December 1992, Arce was given an absentee
sentence to life by a hooded military judge. The alleged
"crime" is the publishing in Belgium of a newsletter
critical to the regime!! Adolfo Olaechea, a law abiding
resident living in England for about 15 years, who has no
past political activity in Peru, is being also slandered as
"terrorist" by Fujimori and wish he be extradited. The only
real charge against Mr. Olaechea was a press conference he
called in London to protest the latest Fujimori's massacre
of 100 political prisoners in the jail of Cantogrande in
Lima.
It is of greatest concern to genuine Human Rights
organizations and individuals around the world, the inhuman
treatment of Dr. ... Guzman ..., imprisoned
leader of the armed opposition. After he was captured he was
showed to the press inside of a cage, and now is being
locked in an underground bunker, a windowless concrete cell.
He endures absolute solitary confinement, without medical
care, no books, no paper, no visits from his friends and
relatives for about one year. His lawyer, Dr. Alfredo
Crespo, has himself been imprisoned for life simply for
daring to defend him. In two recent interviews (Brazil and
Venezuela) Fujimori openly admitted he wants to murder Dr.
Guzman: ".we have the detonator in the person of Abimael
Guzman. In countries like Peru, there is the question
whether a person such as Guzm n has the Right to
exist."(July 13, 1993)
In early August, the relatives of the political prisoners in
the prison of Cantogrande in Lima reported an "imminent"
massacre in the coming days of political prisoners of the
type which occurred in Peru in June 1986 and May 1992 could
happen again. The attacks on prisoners by Fujimori's
security guards headed by Army Colonel Cajahuanca must stop
immediately.
We must demand to the government of Fujimori to treat
prisoners according to the standards of the American
Convention of Human Rights. To tolerate its repressive
campaign will set a very dangerous precedent for political
prisoners in the Americas and elsewhere in the world.
We must oppose U.S. military and economic support of the
Fujimori regime. We must denounce the draconian methods of
"justice" against political prisoners.
We must denounce the falsity spread by the backers of the
Peruvian regime who claim: "its human rights records have
improved" in order to justify more military and economic aid
to the tyrant.
- - - - - - - -
MIM adds the following to the above statement:
One week after Peru reinstated the death penalty, Clinton
told Congress that Peru qualifies for duty-free treatment of
its products under the Andean Trade Preference Act.(1) Human
rights records are supposedly a consideration in giving a
country favorable trade agreements, but Clinton's statement
makes it clear politics and the preservation of the
imperialist system come before the human rights of the
people of Peru. Amerika has long funded and supported the
government of Peru in spite of the embarrassment of it's
human rights record.
To make matters more difficult for Peruvians who have
escaped their country because of the threat of death or
persecution from the government, Peru has recently passed a
law that forces all Peruvian emigrants to apply for a new
passport in their respective countries by the end of
December.
This requirement to change passports will facilitate the
Peruvian government in it's efforts to locate, persecute and
extradite Peruvians living abroad and working to expose the
Fujimori regime for it's crimes. It is important that people
work to defend Peruvians living in exile across the world.
In previous issues of MIM Notes we have reported about
various struggles in Sweden, Belgium and England to
extradite Peruvians who support the Communist Party of Peru
(PCP). If this issue is not kept public and in the face of
the imperialist governments, they will quickly cooperate
with Peru and allow many activists to be extradited to their
death. Those who live in the relative freedom to protest
must help to defend the gains of the Peruvian revolution and
the support given to the revolution by Peruvians in exile.
There is a real alternative to Fujimori's murderous
government. The Communist Party of Peru is fighting for the
liberation of the people of Peru. It currently controls more
than a third of the countryside and enjoys the support of
much of the Peruvian population. The PCP is not a murderous
terrorist group as the Amerikan government would like us to
believe. The claims that the the PCP randomly kills the
people of Peru, persecutes innocent people, and commits
barbarous acts of terrorism are not substantiated by any
facts. These allegations are created by the Peruvian
government and restated by the Amerikan press without
investigation. For the facts and information with sources
about what is really going on in Peru, write to MIM. MIM
will clarify or refute any of these false claims of the
bourgeois government and the reactionaries.
Notes:
1. New York Times 8/13/93 from IEC Bulletin 8/18/93.
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing or referring to this material.
Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail.
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write:
MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576.
E-mail: mim@blythe.org
* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
CHINESE PEASANTS RISE AGAIN
by MC234 and MC12
Peasants in the Sichuan Province of Central China have
blocked streets, "held police officers hostage and attacked
officials with bricks and clubs"(1) to protest and resist
oppression by their allegedly "Communist" - but truly
capitalist - government.
In March, several hundred peasants challenged authorities in
Shanxi Province. At the time, Wan Li, former president of
the National People's Congress, spoke of 100 peasant riots,
and said: "If they were to join hands, it would be a
disaster." And Tian Jiyun, vice premier for agriculture,
said the peasantry was "like a heap of dry wood, ignitible
at any time."(2)
Even China's top leader, Deng Xiaoping - who was expelled
from the Communist Party under Mao as a capitalist-roader -
warned in 1992 that if there was a "problem with the economy
in the 1990s, it would probably be agriculture."(3)
Peasants made the revolution
The Chinese Revolution was built with the support, labor and
the lives of China's poor and lower middle peasants. The
majority of China was - and is - peasant. China's communist
revolution propelled the peasants from one of the poorest
countries in the world to a country where starvation ceased
and life expectancy doubled.
Under Chinese socialism, contradictions between the rural
peasants and the urban workers still existed, but the
communists made every effort to reduce and eliminate these
contradictions. The gains of Chinese socialism were cut
short when Mao died and his followers, called the "Gang of
Four," were arrested in a coup.
In 1976, China became state capitalist. As China began to
restore capitalist productive relations the contradictions
among the people began to increase. Now that China is making
a transition from state capitalism to Western style
capitalism, these contradictions are accelerating even
faster.
By 1992, the average rural income was 42% of urban incomes.
The income of the peasants in Fujia District, where the
rebellion began, is only 16% of the average urban income.(1)
Before the unrest began, the Chinese press had been
promoting its "one million millionaires" to trumpet the
transition from state capitalism to western capitalism.
These reports have since been toned down "for fear of
aggravating the 900 million farmers - many of whom can barely
scratch a living."(4)
Imperialism gains a foothold
After 1976, the capitalist-roaders abandoned Mao's policy of
trying to build a self reliant China. Party leaders became
richer, the urban areas developed a middle class, and the
peasants and urban proletariat became even poorer.
Foreign investment in China amounted to $11 billion in 1992-
-more than had been invested in China in the previous 13
years.(4) Western companies like Nike, who produce 2 million
pairs of sneakers each month, invest in China to take
advantage of the "$2 to $4-a-day wages for literate,
healthy, eager young employees."(5) The New York Times
doesn't bother to discuss the oppression of China's
uneducated, sick, or elderly.
Most goods produced at these slave wages are designed for
export to the West, although many businesses have set their
sights on the growing middle class in China - estimated at 60
to 300 million.(5) McDonalds restaurants in China set
records for the largest opening day sales. Avon has hired
18,000 "Avon ladies" to peddle cosmetics to this new middle
class.
If foreign parasites aren't enough
While China's leaders, including President Yang Shangkun and
Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin, become more decadent and
order expensive goods like $7,000 whirlpools, China's 600-
900 million peasants become poorer at the exploitative hands
of both foreign and domestic capitalists.(4)
Nationwide, the peasants are being taxed, in addition to
their normal agricultural tax, at 23%, whereas the
regulations state that the maximum should be 5%. Local
officials are often unable to account for their expenses,
and end up paying the peasants with IOUs instead of cash for
their grain.(1)
The peasants suspect that their taxes are being used to fund
their leaders' extravagant lifestyles. A shopkeeper in the
Fuija District reported that "people see the discrepancy
between the cadres' income and their lavish spending."(1)
The revolt began in January when the Rensou County
government instituted a large tax to pay for new roads.
(Chinese officials blame Rensou County's poverty on it's
poor roads, not on the oppressive system of capitalism that
funds their personal decadence!) Riots erupted, and a
thousand peasants burned a police car. The government backed
down. Tensions have remained high, with police and other
officials afraid to wear their uniforms because they fear
the wrath of the peasants.(1)
Fighting erupted again in June when peasants in Fuija used
newspaper accounts of the rebellion in Renshou to build
support. The peasants blocked streets, beat officials, and
burned the furniture of Fuija's party secretary. They have
planned more actions in the future for the market days for
maximum impact.(1)
The number of protesting peasants swelled to 15,000 until
they were put down with military force.(2)
News of rural opposition is squelched by the government, but
some leaks out, largely through the efforts of democracy-
minded capitalists in Hong Kong and elsewhere, who report
170 "riots" in the Chinese countryside this year.(2)
It's only gonna get worse
Foreign imperialists have been trying to wrap their
tentacles around China's peasants for 150 years, and China's
government has never been more cooperative. In October,
China signed an agreement with the U.S. to reduce "trade
barriers" in the hopes that China would be allowed to join
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). GATT,
like NAFTA and other free trade measures, aid imperialism by
maximizing profits and streamlining the exploitation of the
Third World. "Free trade" may be good for the imperialists,
domestic capitalists and beaurocrats, but it means an
increase in suffering for the bulk of China's population:
the peasants.
New democracy needed
The increasing class consciousness and action of the Chinese
peasants could signal that a new democratic revolution is in
the making. This would end the reign of fascists like Deng
Xiaoping and would set the stage for another socialist
China.
Notes:
1. Washington Post 6/20/93 p A1, A28.
2. October Review 8/31/93; G.P.O.Box 10144, Hong Kong; via
pnews.
3. BBC 7/31/93
4. Interpress Service 7/23/93
5. The New York Times 2/15/93 p. 1,6.
Ital Send $6 to MIM for a copy of William Hinton's
*Fanshen*, the classic account of the Chinese revolution in
one village. Send $1 for MIM's literature list which
contains many books on the revolution of 1949 and the
Cultural Revolution.
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing or referring to this material.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
LETTERS FROM ONLINE
by MC12
MIM received many responses from Internet readers this
month, in a political mix dominated by Liberals,
libertarians, academics and other mainstream, mostly elite
readers. Here we offer a partial report on the mass
responses we observed.
Somalia debate
In response to MIM's assertion that, "The Somali people have
succeeded in putting and keeping the U.S./U.N. occupation
army in their country on the defensive," one critic wrote:
"Interesting: a dishevelled, unruly band of half starved
gangsters has put expertly trained, over-armed soldiers with
air support 'on the defensive'."
That is "interesting." And true, if you substitute
"guerillas" for "gangsters." Don't ask MIM, though, ask The
Economist, if you prefer, which reported: "UN troops [in
southern Mogadishu], about 15,000 of them, cower behind
barricaded 'strong points' and seldom venture into the
streets."(1)
This critic went on: "The Somalians clearly aren't able to
run their own lives; we don't have to risk ours to solve
their self inflicted problems. Somalians have bitten the
hand that feeds; and all that is asked for is more sacrifice
of American lives. There is no demonstrable strategic
interest in Somalia, therefore the soldiers are risking
their lives for the sake of a worthless, altruistic cause."
MIM addressed the issue of imperialist interest in Somalia
at the time of the latest invasion (MIM Notes 72). That
argument can be repeated, as Congress and many others are
still debating the question.
Somalia by itself does not of course represent the best
profit opportunity in Africa, but it is not a drain on
"altruistic" foreign powers. Somalia in the past has
produced livestock for Middle East markets, and served as a
vast dumping ground for surplus grain labelled "aid." It has
also been the site of profitable banana and sugar export
production. In recent years it has been an import-dominated
economy, which served to absorb imperialist surplus while
destroying the local economy. The international non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) that brought surplus food
to the country controlled all food distribution, and
squelched independent production. At the same time, the
former Siad Barre regime was opening the dependent economy
to foreign investment. In this context, the "stealing" of
food aid by Somali "bandits" and "warlords" was the rational
attempt to gain control of the disintegrating national
economy. And that went against the U.S. interests.(2)
MIM reminds readers: look at a map, and remember the war
against Iraq. Somalia is strategically located to serve
Amerikan power-grabbing in Africa and the Middle East. The
world is increasingly dominated by regional imperialist
blocs. So, with Europe and Asia mostly spoken for, who gets
Africa and the Middle East? Amerika has the answer.
This critic also wrote that: "At least *some* demonstration
of gratitude might justify some limited continuation of
humanitarian aid."
At that point, another reader intervened: "... I don't recall
anyone from Somalia asking for the U.S. or the U.N. to
intervene in their wars. In fact some of the REAL
humanitarian groups there were opposed to the invasion. They
have learned that military intervention has never solved
anything and will never solve anything. If you recall it was
a U.N. INVASION that placed U.S. troops in Somalia. Now
those troops are killing people left and right and treating
Somalians like animals. I think Somalians have a right to
retaliate. Would you not do the same if someone was bombing
your home and killing your people?"
MIM agrees that Somalis should be expected to defend
themselves against invasion - they have demonstrated the
potency of their "right" to self-defense. We disagree though
on the distinction between "REAL humanitarians" and U.N.
troops. The NGOs that opposed invasion did so on strategic
grounds: they argued that "aid"-dumping and dependency would
work better at developing "stability" (subservience) in
Somalia.
This second reader added: "The U.S. government has never
done anything because of altruism.... Food aid, for example,
is often given with political conditions. There is U.S.
interest in Somalia. Mainly, I believe that it is being used
as a precedent for using the U.N. to invade other countries
in the future. Especially countries that have left-wing
tendencies. Also I believe that the strategic importance of
Somalia is being downplayed significantly by the media, just
like the government wants. I will bet you that there will be
a U.S. presence in Somalia for a long time to come."
MIM agrees much more with the second reader. The Somali
precedent is also an experiment and an assertion of
imperialist turf. Still, the first reader's reactionary
nationalism in this case leads him or her to oppose U.S.
military operations in Somalia, a position that does more
service to Somalia than the government's, no matter how
fascistic its motives.
A third critic interjected: "As a libertarian I am against
the U.S. involvement [in Somalia], but I find it incredible
that people are actually defending the armed gangs there.
These gangs literally took food from starving children. The
fact that someone would support them says a great deal about
their politics. I don't support them, I just don't support
U.S. government involvement in foreign countries."
As MIM has already reported, foreign "aid" destroyed the
Somali national economy and rendered it dependent. The local
powers that sought to undermine U.N. food monopolization
represent national bourgeois forces. Their usefulness to the
Somali people, as they oppose imperialism, is limited. But
for the short term they stand on the side of Somalis against
foreign domination. Their success helps make the development
of internal class contradictions possible. Therefore, MIM
supports the Somali military efforts to drive out the United
States, the U.N., and the blood-sucking NGOs.
A fourth reader was more supportive of MIM's position: "U.S.
foreign policy has been especially aggressive in the past,
particularly in Central America. And it is not the fault of
a few individuals in the military establishment. It is a
policy that has been actively pursued by our political
leaders from both parties."
On the idea that Amerika should help Somalis if they are
peaceful, the fourth reader responded, "I've always been
suspicious of this kind of paternalistic attitude,
especially when it amounts to killing innocent people in
order to 'save' them."
MIM urges this reader and others to get beyond suspicion of
imperialist actions and attitudes, and direct their actions
toward opposing them with revolutionary organization.
Why pop culture?
In response to a movie review, one reader wrote: "What's
really pathetic is a supposedly 'revolutionary' newspaper
has movie reviews in it.what's next? The Bridge column?!?"
To this MIM replies: There may be some use to a bridge
column when our party has greater resources. For now,
though, it is not a priority. But movie reviews are a useful
way of talking about cultural events that our writers and
readers have both experienced. It also points toward our
understanding of the importance of culture, which influences
and reflects popular ideas and attitudes on a mass scale.
Nothing that attracts the attention of many millions of
people is irrelevant to revolutionaries.
Notes:
1. The Economist 9/11/93, p. 40.
2. MIM Notes 72 is available from MIM for $1.
MIM Notes is distributed on the Internet by the New York
Transfer News Collective. New York Transfer offers a
complete alternative news service from progressive
organizations, anarchists and other anti-imperialist
movements. Subcriptions are $125/year, $70/half-year, $40/3-
months. For more information write to nyt@blythe.org or to
235 East 87th St. NY 10128.
* * *
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A topic we forgot to cover? Write the article and MIM will
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stories about things happening in their area, or about
things that we just missed.
Take action, educate people, write for MIM Notes. For more
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Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3576, or contact your local distributor.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
CHINESE CHILDREN SEE BENEFITS OF CAPITALISM
Capitalism in China is blossoming in all its brutal glory,
and foreign companies are helping to lead the way.
Two joint-venture companies - companies that operate under
joint foreign/Chinese ownership - have been charged with
child-labor abuses, and fined a whopping $2,600-$3,500.
The two companies, Jia Bao Electronics Factory and the Ju
Feng Handbag Co., are both in the southern Guangdong
Province, where capitalism is developing at breakneck speed.
Both were charged with hiring under-age girls from other
provinces, and the Jia Bao company with forcing 16-year-olds
to work 11-hour days. Ju Feng was said to be withholding pay
from workers, and both were charged with forcing temporary
workers to do unpaid labor, backed up by what the government
news service called "some incidents of beating workers and
infringements on their legal rights."
The tiny fines were calculated based on the losses of the
uncompensated workers - which says something about just how
little the international proletariat gets paid to produce
for the benefit and profit of First World masses.
In reporting the story, UPI casually added that "millions of
impoverished people" have been driven from inland provinces
to the coastal export production areas. During that time,
"Child labor and other violations have grown rapidly."
- MC12
Notes: UPI 9/7/93.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
A.N.C. CALLS FOR CAPITAL
The African National Congress has stepped up calls for
increased imperialist investment in South Africa, as more
political surface adjustments paint rosy pictures of a
"democratic" country-to-be.
ANC President Nelson Mandela promised to "actively campaign
across the world for the lifting of all remaining sanctions
and for inflows of capital into South Africa."
The pretense for the final lifting of sanctions was the
announcement of the formation of the Transitional Executive
Council, an integrated committee to serve until elections.
The Council is the latest in a long series of reforms that
go back to 1990. During all that "progress", 10,000 people
have died in political violence. Most of those deaths have
been a waste, though in recent months there have been some
concerted military efforts by the Pan Africanist Congress.
The United States, which lifted all but some minimal
sanctions in July 1991, praised the movement toward phoney
integration, increased death and destruction, and increased
imperialist profiteering at the expense of the Azanian
people (though not quite in those words).
- MC12
Notes: UPI 9/8/93.
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing or referring to this material.
Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT?
The New York Times' motto, "All the news that's fit to
print," begs the question: what is and is not "fit to print"
by the imperialist media's standards? Recent coverage of
Chile by the New York Times and the L.A. Times provides a
revealing answer.
The New York Times story describes leftist and rightist
demonstrations, some violent, marking the twentieth
anniversary of "when the military, led by General Pinochet,
swarmed into this city and bombed the presidential palace."
The story notes that "Chile entered 17 years of military
rule and the so-called dirty war to systematically eliminate
the leftist opposition. In the end, more than 2,000 people
were killed or made to 'disappear', and thousands were
imprisoned and tortured."(1)
Similarly, the L.A. Times reported that "[b]y overthrowing
[President Salvador] Allende's elected government Sept. 11,
1973, Pinochet cut short a turbulent Marxist experiment in
peaceful revolution - and launched one of the most notorious
right-wing dictatorships in Latin American history."(2)
But there's something important missing from these articles:
the U.S. role. "After Allende's election [in 1970], efforts
to destabilize Chile intensified, and over the next three
years the CIA provided nearly eight million dollars to the
Chilean opposition."(3) "Following the coup which installed
Gen. Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship, Richard
Helms, CIA Director during the Chilean operation, denied in
sworn testimony that the CIA had tried to overthrow Allende.
Helms was later indicted for perjury and pled no
contest."(4)
To the imperialist media, the U.S. government's role in
propping up a genocidal dictatorship is just not
newsworthy.
- MC49
Notes:
1. New York Times 9/12/93, p. 1. The United Nations reported
a much higher death toll: The coup "resulted in an estimated
30,000 murders by the Chilean military." (*Rollback: Right-
wing Power in U.S. Foreign Policy*, by Thomas Bodenheimer
and Robert Gould, South End Press, Boston, 1989, p. 224,
citing the Report of the Economic and Social Council,
Commission on Human Rights, United Nations, February 4,
1976.)
2. Los Angeles Times, 9/12/93, p. 1.
3. *Spying for America: The Hidden History of U.S.
Intelligence*, by Nathan Miller, Dell Publishing, New York,
1989, p. 449.
4. *Rollback*
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
GAMBLING FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION
by MA53
On Aug. 20, the seven indigenous nations in Michigan signed
a compact with Gov. John Engler, allowing First Nation
casinos to run slot machines and video games. The compact
was the result of a lawsuit the seven nations brought
against Michigan for the right to run the machines, known as
Class III games.
Engler, required by law to negotiate a compact, said that he
"contested the rights of the Indian tribes to run slot
machines and video games in casinos on reservations" and in
general opposed the expansion of Indian gambling in
Michigan.(1)
MIM supports the goal of sovereignty in economy, territory
and government for the First Nations. So while gambling is
among the most decadent and destructive of capitalist
creations - particularly if the gamblers are themselves
oppressed nationals - MIM supports the First Nations demand
to use the industry to gain sovereignty, if that is what
they choose.
Tribal casinos across the United States are a $6 billion per
year industry. The states have little direct control over
the indigenous nations' casinos and they receive no direct
tax benefits. The percentage of profits that go to the state
and to the local government are determined on an individual
case basis. In Michigan, all off-site reservation casinos
must be approved by all seven of the nations recognized by
the state.
Gambling and Detroit
Two Detroit developers recently proposed building casinos in
the city to bring in gamblers and customers for their other
businesses. But Detroit residents have on three separate
occasions voted down the idea of a casino in the city.
The developers want to donate .7 acres of land to the Sault
St. Marie nation as an off-site reservation. Detroit Mayor
Coleman Young supports the proposed gambling site. Under the
current land donation plan, Detroit residents would have no
say in the matter.(1)
This lawsuit and the negotiations over an off-site
reservation are just one stage in a process familiar to
indigenous people across the United States. Land is a
decisive issue for Amerika's internal colonies. Who is bound
to respect historic claims to land, and who controls the
land and the commerce that takes place on it today?
The City and the Res
Sault Nation members at the Bay Mills Reservation in
Northern Michigan told MIM Notes that they had already
pulled out of a similar deal in Port Huron, Mich. because
city residents were "unfriendly" to the idea.
Others said that Tribal Chairperson Bouscher, who is
handling negotiations with Michigan, has everything under
control and that he will take care of things. Some people
who have been more outspoken publicly have different
opinions.
"The membership was never consulted. Why aren't they telling
the membership everything? We want to see a sense of
accountability, we don't want them to violate our trust,"
said a Sault Nation member, at a Detroit City Council
meeting called to discuss the casinos. He called on Bouscher
to reveal the exact details to the membership.
At the meeting, Sault members stated their distrust of the
federal government; explaining that they are wary of the
government's intent, given Amerika's agenda of destroying
the sovereignty of the First Nations.
A spokesperson for Buddy Raphael, Chairperson of the Grand
Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, said that
Raphael opposes the proposed casino in Detroit. He points
out that the Mt. Pleasant band has historical rights to the
.7 acres in question and is currently seeking federal
recognition and the rights to that land could help them to
develop. The Mt. Pleasant band would not comment on their
position or the role that they had in the initial
negotiations.
Who gets the jobs?
The proposed Detroit casinos would employ an estimated 1,000
members of the Sault nation; the compact contains a
provision that 50% of the casino's employees be
"minorities." But all of the casino's employees must be
Detroit residents.(1) This is an assurance of jobs for the
city economy. But it is also a backhanded way of breaking up
the reservation in the name of helping it out economically.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs praised the proposal because
the people employed will be from the Detroit area. Nancy
Ragsdale, the Director of the South-Eastern Michigan Indians
Organization, said that the tribes have the duty to help the
nation members that are off the reservation as well as on
the reservation. She said that the proposal in Detroit will
help the nation members that have moved to the surrounding
Wayne County area.
Government restrictions
The 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act granted First Nations
the right to offer any games that are legal in the state
that houses their casinos. The proposal must now go to the
Michigan legislature and to Secretary of the Interior Bruce
Babbitt. Babbitt is under pressure from developer Donald
Trump to review the constitutionality of off-reservation
gambling sites and the 1988 Act. Trump claims that the Act
violates the 10th Amendment by giving preferential treatment
to Indians.(2)
Indigineous sovereignty hurts Amerika
Once an off-site reservation is created, it is technically
First Nation territory and no longer subject to Amerikan
jurisdiction. Said Milwaukee Deputy City Attorney Patrick
McDonnell, "you have, in effect, a jurisdictional island
that is beyond normal City regulation in the midst of your
city and what that ultimately means - who knows?"(3)
One possibility First Nation nationalists hope for is that
gaming will be a way for the First Nations to gain back some
reparations from the white nation and become self-
reliant.(4) Building this possibility gets complicated down
the road though.
One Ojibwa woman, chairperson of a school that gets its
funds from the Potowatomi bingo operation, points out that
it is the bingo aspect of the casinos that create the most
jobs, while machines are where the most money is earned.(3)
Since First Nations are mostly poor with high unemployment,
it is hard to pick between jobs and profits.
The direct profit to the nation members seems to be more
substantial if the money to the band goes directly through
jobs and not from what is left over after expenses from the
slot machines. As the situation stands, the city of Detroit
and the developers will get their share of the profits and
the jobs will go to Detroit residents. The profits that will
be invested into the Sault community will be decided by the
chairman. Seeing that Bouscher has entered into an alliance
with the developers, the investments must also be analyzed
as to who they are benefitting: the community or the First
Nation politicians with a questionable agenda.
Notes:
1. Detroit News and Free Press November 29, 1992.
2. Wall Street Journal May 4, 1993.
3. Detroit News July 25, 1993
4. See MIM Notes 77, June 1993, p. 8.
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* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
STATE INFILTRATES GERMANY'S RED ARMY FRACTION
At the end of June, German government agents brutally
retaliated against the militant focoist Red Army Fraction
(RAF), for its March 27 bombing of a newly built, state-of-
the-art prison near Darmstadt. With the help of a government
agent posing as a militant in the "legal left," the police
executed RAF member Wolfgang Grams at a train station in Bad
Kleinen.
The prison bombing caused $60 million in damages and set the
opening of the prison back four years.(1)
The Darmstadt bombing was itself in response to the RAF's
unmet demands in 1992 for the release of certain RAF
prisoners, and the consolidation of the remainder. The RAF
promised to cease armed struggle if the demands were met.
The state will sacrifice its own
State informant Klaus Steinmetz - recruited after an arrest
for petty crimes - warned the police of the planned prison
action, but they decided to allow the attack rather than
bring suspicion on him.(3)
RAF supporters trusted Steinmetz. The German anarchist scene
had considered him a "radical for all seasons"(4) and he had
participated in several attacks on government property.
Steinmetz told the police that he would be meeting two RAF
members, Birgit Hogefeld and Wolfgang Grams, on June 27 at
the train station in Bad Kleinen. When the ambushing agents
wrestled Hogefeld to the ground, Grams fled, and the fire-
fight began.
The agents disabled and disarmed Grams, held him immobile
for 20 seconds, and then shot him through the temple from a
distance of two inches.(3) Although the agents arrested
Steinmetz in order to conceal the fact that he was working
with them, Hogefeld and other RAF sympathizers have
denounced him publicly.(5) The agents were supposed to allow
Steinmetz to make a believable get-away, but they mistook
Grams for Steinmetz.(6)
The RAF mistakenly used violence as a bargaining chip with
the state, not realizing that the state is willing to
sacrifice a prison or employee or two in order to discredit
the RAF militarily and politically.
The liberal state unmasked
Twenty-two people witnessed Grams' execution. Official
police reports have omitted descriptions of Grams' death,
however. A video record of the event made by an agent begins
*after* the shooting; neither a transcript of police radio
communications during the attack or a sketch of the scene
was made. Although the GSG-9 agents have told official
investigators nothing,(7) one agent wrote anonymously to the
German press "out of moral pressure" and gave a detailed
description of the events: "The death of Mr. Grams was like
an execution."(8)
Rather than admit that the GSG-9 is trained to kill and
cover up, the state is pointing the finger at bad apples in
its security apparatus. The Interior Minister and chief
prosecutor have lost their jobs, and special prosecutors are
considering charging two GSG-9 agents with "deliberate
killing." Flyers and banners have appeared in many German
cities decrying the "fascist murder" and the "Bad-Kleinen
Death Hunt."
The RAF has not explicitly taken back its pledge to de-
escalate, but their latest statement read, in part: "We call
on all those touched by this terror: Don't return to
business as usual! Don't accept this!"(7)
Focoism versus Maoism
Despite some recent self-criticism, the RAF still has a
focoist ideology.(9) They justify their attacks as armed
propaganda or as acts of moral retribution: "If they don't
let us, that is, everyone struggling for a humane society,
live, then they must know we won't let their elite live
either."(10)
Focoism is contrary to Maoism, which places armed struggle
within the context of a long-term plan to build
revolutionary power and emphasizes fighting winnable
battles. In oppressor countries at this point,
revolutionaries taking up the gun to say something you could
have said with the pen or to avenge a few of imperialism's
global sins will get the people little besides martyrs.
Notes:
1. Der Spiegel, 4/5/93, p. 24.
2. Grenzschutzgruppe means Border Protection Group. The GSG-
9 is Germany's top counter- insurgency commando.
3. New York Times, 8/13/93.
4. Der Spiegel, 7/26/93, p. 31.
5. Der Spiegel, 7/19/93, p. 28; Der Spiegel, 7/26/93, p.32.
6. Der Spiegel, 8/2/93, p.37.
7. Der Spiegel, 7/12/93, p. 18.
8. Der Spiegel, 7/5/93, p.24.
9. See MIM's "The Focoist Revolution" in the "What is MIM?"
pamphlet.
10. RAF communique, 4/10/92.
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
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Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail.
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write:
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E-mail: mim@blythe.org
* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
- CULTURE PAGE -
REVIEW: GOATS
TAKE A TOUR OF AMERIKKKA WITH THE GOATS
The Goats, multi-national rappers from North Philadelphia,
performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 9 to a
packed crowd in a small club. They performed songs off their
first album, Tricks of the Shade, a 1992 release from
Columbia Records.
The album interspersed with skits, which follow the story of
kid heroes Chickenlittle and his brother Hangerhead as they
search for the good life promised by their "Uncle Scam," and
discover instead the grim reality of his "Federally Funded
Well-Fair and Freak Show."
During their allegorical journey through the Amerikan
carnival, our heros meet Christopher Columbus, who offers
them a ride on his boats, "the Nina, the Pinta, the Santa
Enslave-Ya, and the Rape-Ya." Columbus then "discovers" all
their money.
In a later skit, Manuel Noriega offers Chickenlittle and
Hangerhead a quick way out of poverty by selling cocaine at
his Coke stand. Noriega tells them, "Me and Uncle Scam are
'boys; he pays well for my services!" Hangerhead urges his
brother to "go for self, poverty sucks!" but Chickenlittle
turns him down, still believing their Uncle Scam will help
them out.
They find Native American activist Leonard Peltier
imprisoned in the freak show, but get chased away by the
"Carnival Cops" (named Gates and Koon) who offer to "shine
their boots" on our heroes. Next they discover their long
lost mother "the tattooed Lady" (beaten by a brutal
husband/father who "tattoos" them as well), only to shoot
her by mistake at the "Drive-by bumper-cars" ride.
They finally find Uncle Scam running the carnival shooting
gallery, where Amerikans of all nationalities pay to shoot
one another. Chickenlittle has learned the lessons of his
journey well, however, and turns his gun on Uncle Scam.
The Goats are clear in identifying the cops, the Amerikan
government, and its military as the enemies trying to keep
the people down, and serve up tasty raps slamming these
agents of oppression: "Be all you can be is just another
trick that's up their sleeve . They reeled ya in like your
skin had fins, now you're pounding sand for another man's
sins . But you'll come home in box, green drawers, green
pants, green socks."
Or: "Arrested four times, but never found guilty, these
aren't the cops that you see on TV . Ya get just enough from
the great welfare cup, to keep from busting heads and making
Scam buckle up. Just enough greenbacks to quiet revolutions.
The government patches leaks and ignores the solutions."
And, from "Burn the Flag": "I can still hear the whips
across my brother's back, now my brother's bein' whooped by
crack. War on drugs! The only war you're wagin' is against
minorities, the poor and the agin'."
The Goats also have a good line on the big picture of
imperialism: "Oh my god, I've heard it from the smallest
dweebs, 'Leave if ya hate it!', but check out those foreign
policies: South America, we fucked it like a hooker; avoid
the Middle East cause Bush is a snooker. Arms for oil and
some military protection; here comes corporate Amerika and
Georgie's got an erection."
Unfortunately, the Goats don't offer a viable plan for
offing Uncle Scam in the real world, only the admonition
"Don't vote for fascists such as Clinton, Bush, Reagan, or
any Republican." After all, the Goats know that politicians
are only "careerists . doing hip gyrations for the
corporations" and that voting for one or another politician
makes no difference. MIM knows the systems of capitalism and
imperialism are the real enemy, and that the way to fight
and move forward is to build a revolutionary vanguard party
to build public opinion and create independent power for the
oppressed.
MIM talked to two friendly Goats after the concert and
confirmed that we have some political disagreements. One
member of the band suggested tax protests as a means of
changing the system. MIM pointed out that people getting
themselves locked up by withholding an insignificant amount
of money is not the most effective way of make change.
Another band member even suggested the title of their second
album might be "I Give Up!," seeming to contradict the
assertion that "We won't fold or succumb . be overcome." The
discussion supported MIM's impression that while the Goats
have a good grasp of history and the problems of current
society, they don't yet have a clear idea of how to change
things or what is the most effective way forward.
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing or referring to this material.
Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail.
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write:
MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576.
E-mail: mim@blythe.org
* * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * *
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
LETTERS TO MIM
Dear Comrades,
I originally got your paper at the 500 year anniversary of
Columbus' invasion demonstration [...] last Columbus Day
(1992). I noticed your stand because it had Sakai's "Myth of
the White Proletariat." I had read the book from cover to
cover some years ago. But I could not find anyone who agreed
with it except me. Anyway I loved your newspaper. But I lost
it and could not of course find it anywhere in [this city]
again. I would like to get a subscription and help
distribute [here] for you.
Yours,
Excited Friend in the East
August 1993
Dear Editors,
I bought this Newspaper of yours and the [person] who sold
it asked if I wanted to write something. I wrote this a long
time ago and added to it for this publication. If you would
like to print it feel free. Your enemies are mine. My life,
my family was destroyed by the American system of democracy.
I am disabled. [...] I am alone as an American woman
dissident who went to war alone and had FBI and Secret
Service and Police record. Many people do not understand my
politics, but I think you might. [...]
Imagine a world without poverty
What has economic and technological progress done for
society? [...]
In the struggle for survival, what has been lost is
morality, ethics, and freedom. Respect and meaning have lost
their values to position and income. Principles are
compromised for acceptance out of loneliness and
insignificance.
Endless wars are repeated throughout history. Winning or
losing has less to do with right than might. Because we are
challenging a structure that will not change, because
America will not obey its own laws, we have lost the respect
of foreign powers and our fellow countrymen. Our
relationships are based on need rather than mutual respect
and caring. [...]
Unlike what most people would like to think, homelessness is
not an "individual" problem. It is a social and political
problem, the result of classism, racism, sexism - economic
and social inequalities in our society. We are still a
country of slavery and victims of injustices. It is much
easier for the individual to deal with international
conflicts than what America really is - a society of
violence, competition, discrimination, and oppression. [...]
More education needs to be done and more laws passed for
individual protection. That's why an amendment to the
constitution needs to be passed, for the preamble of it says
"For the welfare of the people." When that means "all
people," maybe then we will represent a country to be
respected instead of a bunch of hypocrites. [...]
How many people died of hypothermia this year, and who were
they? A good question to address to the American government.
I challenge this government and its people to defend why
they let people freeze and starve to death in the richest
country in the world and run to the aid of everybody else.
If it weren't for a number of strangers who came to my aid,
I wouldn't be alive to write this article. [...]
Estimates are that there are approximately 350,000 to 3
million homeless individuals in the United States, enough to
create a large city. Perhaps we should take over Cape
Canaveral and go to the moon and create a "new world" where
life is sacred. [...] Imagine it. A world without poverty.
[...] Imagine it.
- Looking for a world without poverty
August 1993
MIM responds: Thank you for your letter and your article. We
are agreed on many things, but we also have some serious
disagreements - especially our assessments of who are our
friends and what is the best strategy for change.
First, one of the main tenets of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is
that there are no rights, only power struggles. The right to
housing is nothing without the power to procure and defend
it. Maoists believe that ideas (e.g. rights) are class
tools, so the ruling ideas of a time are the ideas of the
ruling class. Maoists also believe that the state is a tool
controlled by the ruling class. Laws, even those based on
humanitarian or egalitarian ideas, are a part of the state
apparatus. Laws passed by a bourgeois state serve bourgeois
interests.
Your article does recognize that "winning [wars] has less to
do with right than might" and that Amerika does not obey its
own laws, but at the same time it suggests that poverty,
national oppression, and gender oppression can be decreed
away. You recognize that homelessness, poverty, etc. are not
individual problems, but then you demand laws for individual
protection.
Which brings us to our second disagreement. Your article
suggests that if only Amerikans would wake up and see that
this system, which makes homelessness and poverty and war
necessary, hurts everybody, then they would change it. Now
it may be true that a culture based on commodity exchange
screws everybody over - exploiters included - because it
alienates them from their social nature.(1) But in the short
and medium runs the exploiters have a lot to lose.
How many kings gave up their thrones simply because somebody
told them their King-ness made them inhuman? Zero (resigning
and letting somebody else do the dirty work doesn't count).
There are people who profit from homelessness and war. They
will fight to protect their profit and their their
privilege. Should a community win a space where alternative
relationships can be developed - be it an entire nation or a
collective kitchen in a ghetto - it will be attacked from
within and without by those seeking to restore the old
relationships (i.e. by those seeking to restore their
power).
Although we need to debunk those who claim oppression is
nature's (or God's) way, imagination is not enough. We need
to see the real forces which can bring about an end to
oppression and help those forces grow.
You should be more careful when you say that the Amerikan
government lets its own freeze while it runs to the "aid" of
other nations. The "aid" Amerika gives aids only Amerika.
Economic aid makes recipient nations dependant and primes
them for the extraction of profits, and military aid =
genocide.
MIM agrees that it is ironic there is poverty within the
borders of the richest nation in the world, but it is more
ironic that the First World is so rich while the Third World
is so poor. The Third World is where the producers are, but
they are the poorest people. Many of those saying that
Amerika should "take care of its own first" fail to make the
connection between Amerikan imperialism and foreign
troubles. Viewing the economies and politics of separate
nations as separate can (maybe unwittingly) lead to Amerikan
chauvinism.
Notes:
1. For Marx's comments on this see the the sections on
"Estranged Labor" and "Money" in the Philosophical Yearbooks
and the first chapter of Capital.
* * *
See something MIM missed? An article we should have written?
A topic we forgot to cover? Write the article and MIM will
print it. We don't have the time or resources to cover all
topics, so that's why we rely on our readers to send us
stories about things happening in their area, or about
things that we just missed.
Take action, educate people, write for MIM Notes. For more
information, write mim@blythe.org; or MIM, P.O. Box 3576,
Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3576, or contact your local distributor.
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing or referring to this material.
Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail.
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write:
MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576.
E-mail: mim@blythe.org
The Maoist Internationalist Movement
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
UNDER LOCK & KEY
U.S. MEDICAL CENTER FOR FEDERAL PRISONERS CENSORS MIM NOTES
UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT MEMORANDUM
U.S. MEDICAL CENTER FOR FOR FEDERAL PRISONERS
P.O. BOX 4000
SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI 65801-4000
DATE: August 27, 1993
FROM: [illegible] for R. H. Rison, Warden, MCFP, Springfield,
Missouri
SUBJECT: REJECTED PUBLICATIONS
TO: [a prisoner]
The purpose of this letter is to inform you that your publication,
"MIM Notes, August 1993, No. 79," is being rejected, pursuant to
the Bureau of Prisons Program Statement 5265.5, Incoming
Publications. More specifically, your publication, "MIM Notes,
August 1993, No. 79," is being rejected for the following reasons:
1. The "Under Lock & Key" section contains letters that encourage
the disruption of correctional facilities and violence within
prisons; advocate the destruction of the current form of
government through the use of violence; preach racial disharmony.
The August 1993 issue of MIM Notes contains material that
encourages inmates to act in a manner that is potentially
dangerous to staff and other inmates. The newspaper, "MIM Notes,
August 1993, No. 79," would pose a threat to the good order and
discipline of the institution and is, hereby, rejected on these
grounds.
Pursuant to Bureau of Prisons Program Statement Incoming
Publications, you have 15 days to appeal the rejection of this
publication by filing a Request for Administrative Remedy. The
publication "MIM Notes, August 1993, No. 79," will not be
available for you to review for the purpose of filing this appeal.
The publication is deemed to pose a threat to the security and
good discipline of the institution. The publication, "MIM Notes,
August 1993, No. 79," will be retained in the Inmate Systems
Department for 15 days. If you have not filed an appeal within 15
days, the publication will be returned to the sender.
By copy of this letter, I am informing the sender that the
publication, "MIM Notes, August 1993, No. 79," has been found
unacceptable and is being rejected. The sender may obtain an
independent review of my rejection decision by writing Calvin R.
Edwards, Director, North Central Regional Office, Bureau of
Prisons, Gateway Complex, Inc., Tower II, 8th Floor, 4th and State
Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas, 66101-2492. The sender's independent
review must be filed with the Regional Director within 15 days of
receipt of the letter.
*
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing
or referring to this material.
Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send
only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM
Distributors,
PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org
The Maoist Internationalist Movement
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
UNDER LOCK & KEY
LUCASVILLE UPDATE: GUARDS BEAT PRISONER, THREATEN HIS LIFE
You say you would like to know what happened behind these prison
walls. Well, I think you already know: madness. I'm not going to
tell you too much, because the white man might use it against me.
What I mean about that is, the Highway Patrol still has me under
investigation. I'm not worried, though; they can't faze me.
The second day when the riot was over (1), a pig named Blankenship
came to my cell, and asked me was if I was a leader of the
renegades and/or a member. I told the white trash: you'd better
know yourself, before you be by myself; now get missing. Like the
dog he is, he put his tail between his legs and left.
On May 31, 1993, I got beaten by Lucasville guards. It was about
2:00 PM when a convict started a flood on the top range (I live on
the bottom.) A pig came walking upstairs while the flood was going
on. About 20 to 30 minutes later, water came downstairs, and hit
only three cells. My cell happened to be one of them. To make a
long story short, six pigs came to my cell all dressed in black
gear, batons, mace, shields and helmets. They came with the whole
nine yards for me.
They asked me to put my hands through the foodslot so they could
put the cuffs on me. At the time, I only had a towel wrapped
around me, so I asked them if I could put my white jumpsuit on.
They said no! So there we have it; I'm walking down the hall butt-
naked on my way to J-2 (the Hole). I was thrown into walls,
crashgates, doors - you name it, I felt it.
While I was going to J-2, I was threatened twice. They said,
"Don't cause no trouble back here. Don't cause no trouble while we
are taking you to J-2. If you do, you're a goner, you're history."
Out of fear, I said, "No sweat, you got it." They put me on the
slammer's side (strip cell).
While we were in the strip cell, they smashed my head against the
wall and kneed me in the stomach also. When they got through with
their so-called death-blow, they told me to put my hands through
the foodslot so they could uncuff me. That's right - I was cuffed
when those pigs did that shit. As I put my hands through the slot,
one of the pigs started pulling the cuff while my hands were still
in there. This caused a large gash on my right wrist and two
bruises on both of my wrists. Right now I've got the pen and paper
on their ass, but it's moving very slowly (no surprise).
I know this is an odd way of ending a letter, but I have to go.
Plus, you said to write every three months. Therefore, why should
I tell you everything at one time?
Peace, love and all the best,
- a Lucasville, Ohio prisoner, 8/18/93
(1) April 23 or 24, 1993. The Lucasville uprising was April 11 to
April 22, 1993. See MIM Notes #77, June 1993, pp. 10-11 or Prison
Legal News, June 1993 for a chronology of the rebellion. - MC49
*
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing
or referring to this material.
Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send
only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM
Distributors,
PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org
The Maoist Internationalist Movement
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
UNDER LOCK & KEY
"POLITICS ARE ALWAYS IN COMMAND, NOT THE GUN"
Amandla!
First and foremost, let me extend my warmest revolutionary
greetings to all the 'rades of MIM. Thanks for the MIM Notes and
the literature. (1) You have a very good publication. Your basic
principles and politics correspond to my own. There is no
contradiction between our fundamental ideological line. Indeed,
Chairman Mao's contribution to the advancement of our
international revolutionary class struggle is monumental.
Further along, I am well acquainted with Panther politics. Both my
mother and father are former Party members. I've read and passed
on all the materials you sent me to other brothers. We have a
study group in place already. There are hearts and minds enough
here to assist others along the path of constructive development.
Presently, we are focusing on advancing/broadening the brothers'
consciousness with political, economic and social values, because
we want them to avoid the pitfall of being militarist or foco.
Military science is all too often embraced and overemphasized by
developing servants of the people.
We stress to the brothers that we are oriented along political
lines. That our politics evolve from and through society, the
masses and the nation. That politics are always in command and not
the gun. That military science contributes to only a small part of
our healing. That while it is important to gain knowledge and
experience in defensive and offensive postures, it becomes
secondary to the will and lifestyles of the masses.
We stress to the brothers that their principal responsibility and
duty is to go to the people and learn from them; learn their
needs, desires and aspirations. To clarify their experiences into
better-articulated principles and methods. To do propaganda work
among them and call on them to put their clarified principles and
methods into practice. We stress above all that only the masses of
people make revolution succeed and without their solid support,
defeat is inevitable. We also hold cultural history classes as our
study group comprises all the different nationalities represented
here.
I'm immobile. I have very limited movement here in solitary
confinement. Thus, I will be unable to initiate a campaign to get
MIM Notes purchased by the prison library. But perhaps I can make
some arrangements with my folks on the outside that are active, to
get copies made of the MIM Notes you send me and in this way I can
distribute them among the brothers here.
Now, before I conclude this letter, I think it's fitting to
explain the reason for my tardiness in getting back to MIM. I was
on trial from May 12th 'til August 25th and was not in this prison
during that period. I stand accused of stabbing a couple of my
keepers when they had me at Southport Supermaxi-Security Control
Complex. The jury returned a verdict of guilty, so I won't be
getting paroled this year as planned. I'm supposed to get
sentenced on the 13th of this month. I'll let you know how much
more time they stuck me with when you write back.
Well, stay strong. Walk quietly and confidently. We never travel
alone. WE WILL WIN!
In struggle,
- a New York prisoner, 9/8/93
(1) MC49 notes: The letter-writer has been receiving each issue of
MIM Notes and a copy of "The Black Panthers Speak" as part of
MIM's Free-books-for-prisoners program. To support this program,
please send cash, checks made out to "ABS," books and stamps to
MIM Distributors, 4521 Campus Dr., #535, Irvine, CA 92715.
*
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing
or referring to this material.
Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send
only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM
Distributors,
PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org
The Maoist Internationalist Movement
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
UNDER LOCK & KEY
WE MUST UNDO WHAT THEY'VE DONE
We didn't just get this way, like, suddenly!
Great Black Warriors, Kings and Queens, Artists and Craftsmen,
zap!
We're Negroes! We must undo.
No! We were undone, and remade into what We see today.
We were systematically deprived of our Culture, our language, our
ability to give Security, provide sustenance, and transfer our
Spirituality to our Children!
We Must Undo What They've Done!
They used the Islands, the West Indies and the Virgins as a stop
off, to get to the Americas; Spreading their slave Colonies,
breeding camps, and auction blocks. Tearing children from the
Breasts of Mothers, selling wives and husbands up and down the
river, County to County. Continent to Continent. We must undo.
Great Black Warriors fighting guns with knives, fighting cannons
with spears, fighting ruthless, heartless White Devils throughout
those destined years. Our Women raped and dishonored, our children
frightened. Frightened into early adulthood, raped into early
motherhood; Brainwashed by terrorists whose hearts are no good. We
must undo!
Now! We have become a generation of Crack Smoking, Dope Shooting,
Wine drinking, Funny Clothes Wearing, Pill Poppin, Singing and
dancing to meaningless words and empty motions, Murderers and
Haters of Self. Thinking it's all about having fun, when we need
to Be Undoing What they've done.
Saying we got freed by a Proclamation, and had an option to leave
this Nation, But we stayed and prayed, and accepted the yoke of
Bondage in a different way. Became wage earners to the land
robbers, and still suffer this wage sickness today. We must undo.
And Each generation of Warriors that rise up are recognized,
labeled and thrown into the Bottomless Pits of degredation,
Wherein they subject each other to all forms of humiliation.
Forgetting to Be angry at those who destroyed Our Nation, Ha!
Thinking it's slick to take tech on ya Brother, Being Murderers of
Self, and slaves to others. Gang Banging, and Gang Raping, like
Bad Motherfuckers; Let me tell you somethin, you ain't Nothing But
Suckers. Yeah! We must undo What they've done.
Black South African Activist decides to suspend hunger strike
after losing 57 pounds. Wake up Black Man, do you know what's
going down? Mujahadeen struggle to take the Afghan City of Kabul
from the Russian supported traitors. While we Buy hundred dollar
sneakers, and Alligators. Um! Um! Um!
First they enslaved our Bodies, put chains on our hands and feet.
Took three hundred years to make their work complete. Now we are
slaves willingly. Yes, Brothers and Sisters, You and Me.
Buying Y'ves Saint Laurent, Gucci and Klein, keeping up with
fashions, yes, that's enslaving ya mind. But you young generations
today will never suspect, the diabolical plan, that's in effect.
Though hopefully one day soon, you all will see, that great men
have been slain, trying to set us free. And you'll Rise Up and
accept your obligation, to educate our children, and Uplift your
own Nation.
No! I don't mean America, let me make this point Clear!
I'm talking bout Africa!
I'm outa here!
- an Illinois prisoner
*
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing
or referring to this material.
Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send
only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM
Distributors,
PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org
The Maoist Internationalist Movement
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
UNDER LOCK & KEY
BACKGROUND INFO ON POLITICAL REPRESSION IN U.S. PRISONS
An agent provocateur's primary objective is to join a community
and encourage its members to commit acts for which they will
suffer kkkolonial violence by the agent's employer. We witness the
function of an agent provocateur working in conjunction with the
kkkolonialist government during the infiltration of the Civil
Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement (particularly the
Black Panthers) among other examples. Agent provocateurs played a
major role in the imprisonment and State execution of key Black
leadership. These agents were all under the directive of the U.S.
government.
Indeed, the kkkolonialist government implemented COINTELPRO in the
1960s to crush the national liberation movements within the Black
and [indigenous] communities primarily through the encouragement
of "self-inflicted" genocide via the spreading of divisive
disinformation, etc. and through coordinated actions by the
f.b.i., the National Guard, and local police, etc. Various forms
of State violence (political, psychological, physical) were
combined to destroy efforts to build unity within the targetted
kolonies.
We must remember that while revolutionary movements were a threat
to the power structure on the streets and on the reservations, so
they were as well within the prisons. Inspired by the examples set
by Malcolm X, George Jackson, and other vanguard prisoners who
transformed the kolonized kriminal mentality into an anti-kolonial
revolutionary mentality, many on the inside began to build up
unity against the common oppressor. The execution of comrade
George in the early 70s was one of the trip wires that set off the
heroic Attica Rebellion which concluded in one of the most
grotesque exercises of State terror within U.S. borders.
Counterinsurgency strategy in Vietnam was being increasingly
implemented at home to "pacify" unrest.
In December of 1973, the House Committee on Internal Security
(sic) released a report entitled "Revolutionary Target: the
American Penal System." In June of 1974, the f.b.i. initiated a
conference called the National Symposium on penal institutions as
a "revolutionary target." Out of this conference, the f.b.i.
launched the "extremist, revolutionary, terrorist, and subversive
activities in penal institutions program" in July of 1974. This is
important background for political repression within U.S. prisons
today.
- four Indiana prisoners
*
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The Maoist Internationalist Movement
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
UNDER LOCK & KEY
"WE REFUSE TO BE SLAVES"
Dear MIM:
First I would like to let you know that I have been receiving your
newspapers and I would like for you to continue sending me the
paper. It is very educating, this paper, so if you will, continue
to send to me a copy each month. I also would like a list of books
that you have.
There is no way that we can get your paper into the prison
library, these neo-fascist capitalists will never allow it, and
due to my being in administrative segregation it is hard to reach
the brothers and comrades out in general population. I am a Muslim
being held captive for political, religious, and other unknown
reasons. I have gathered a few comrades and Muslim brothers, and
we have formed a study and defense group . We are on the verge of
creating mass confusion by demonstrating physically if we do not
se some changes around here.
For one these people are nothing but modern day slave drivers and
we refuse to be slaves for these people. They have started a war
with the Muslims here by refusing to issue them the holy Qur'an.
And to make things worse, the food is never cooked right nor is it
enough, the food is never hot, they don't know no other food but
pork and chicken, once a week we might have fish which is nothing
but shark meat. Us Muslims grieve that whenever they serve pork
all that they can come up with for substitute is beans. Sometimes
they try to be slick and pass the pork off as beef but as a person
who was raised up on nothing but beef, chicken, goat, sheep, there
is no way that they can trick me, and if it's a war they want they
can get one.
This goes out to all my Muslim brothers and comrades across the
planet Earth. We are universal and we shall prevail by "any means
necessary."
As Salaamu Alaikum
Your brother in Islam and Struggle
- Texas prisoner, 5/16/93
*
MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when
redistributing
or referring to this material.
Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send
only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM
Distributors,
PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org
The Maoist Internationalist Movement
- MIM Notes 81, October 1993 -
UNDER LOCK & KEY
PRISONER REPORTS RELIGIOUS AND SEXUAL HARRASSMENT
Friends in Arms,
I apologize for being lax in my writing to you, but the proverbial
shit is hitting the fan here. I have been under a lot of fire
lately for sticking up for my beliefs and have been going through
a major hassle with one of the DeathKulture staff here.
Not long ago we finally managed to get Native American Services
going here, which has been a great uplift for many of us. But the
institution is not so happy about it and they fuck with our circle
and the individual members as much as they can. And it looks like
we may soon be entering the court system to stop these blatant
violations of our 1st Amendment rights.
Besides being fucked with because of my religion, I was recently
assaulted by an officer, undergone sexual harrassment by the same
(homosexual) officer, and been told he didn't give a fuck about me
or my religion. The pig made previous sexual innuendo to me, which
I just blew off, and I guess this pissed him off or something cuz
he just became more and more of a dick towards me as time went on.
Finally on July first while being pat searched prior to leaving my
job in the kitchen, the officer cupped and squeezed my balls and
when I jumped back and asked what the hell he thought he was
doing, he replied, "get your ass out of my face." I replied that
it was an involuntary action due to him grabbing my nuts. He said
next time it will be an involuntary action when he slams me to the
floor.
I brought these blatant violations of my rights to the bigwigs
here, but I feel that they are trying to sweep it under the rug.
So I have contacted the ACLU and the internal investigation unit
for the Maryland State police. Plus, I am in the process of trying
to get an attorney so I can sue this place. I have also found out
from a stand-up officer that this is not the first time that this
officer has done this kind of crap, so who knows, maybe I will
receive justice for once. The administration here gets away with a
lot of crap, cuz as I've heard said a lot recently, "I'm in a camp
full of wannabe's."
Peace - will write again soon!
- Maryland Prisoner, 7/14/93
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