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 85 February, 1994
MIM Notes speaks to and from the viewpoint of the
world's oppressed majority, and against the
imperialist-patriarchy. Pick it up and wield it in
the service of the people. support it, struggle
with it and write for it.
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. MEXICAN PEASANTS DECLARE; "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!"
2. LETTERS
3. PUERTO RICO: IMPERIALISM HIDES BEHIND PLEBISCITE
4. DECLARATION OF SUPPORT
5. KURDISH STRUGGLE ADVANCES; IMPERIALISTS RESPOND WITH
REPRESSION
6. ZAPATISTAS ATTACK THE MEXICAN STATE
7. CULTURE
8. USA ON TRIAL
9. THE PELICAN BRIEF
10. SCHINDLER'S LIST
11. MOVIE MONOPOLY
12. DOCUMENTS FROM THE CCP RECTIFICATION
13. AMERIKA'S HYPOCRISY EXPOSED
14. LONG LIVE THE PEOPLE'S WAR IN ECUADOR
15. D.C. COPS DEAL DRUGS
16. POLICE STATE ALERT
17. RUSSIAN FASCISM
18. MIM DISCUSSES PANTHERS
19. THE ISSUE OF BEING A WOMAN
20. STATE BLAMES PRISONERS FOR PRISON CONDITIONS
The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a
revolutionary communist party that upholds
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, comprising the collection
of existing or emerging Maoist internationalist
parties in the English-speaking imperialist
countries and their English-speaking internal
semi-colonies, as well as the existing or emerging
Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties
of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of
the U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of
MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-
speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM.
MIM is an internationalist organization that works
from the vantage point of the Third World
proletariat; thus, its members are not Amerikans,
but world citizens.
MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups
over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM
knows this is only possible by building public
opinion to seize power through armed struggle.
Revolution is a reality for North America as the
military becomes over-extended in the government's
attempts to maintain world hegemony.
MIM differs from other communist parties on three
main questions: (1) MIM holds that after the
proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution,
the potential exists for capitalist restoration
under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within
the communist party itself. In the case of the
USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death
of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's
death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in
1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural
Revolution as the farthest advance of communism in
human history. (3) MIM believes the North American
white-working-class is primarily a non-
revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it
is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in
this country.
MIM accepts people as members who agree on these
basic principles and accept democratic centralism,
the system of majority rule, on other questions of
party line.
"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is
universally applicable. We should regard it not as
dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is
not merely a matter of learning terms and phrases,
but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of
revolution."
-- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208
* * *
MEXICAN PEASANTS DECLARE; "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!"
The Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), a mostly-
indigenous peasant group, ushered in the new year by giving Mexico
and the world a wake-up call, seizing towns and villages in a bold
insurrection, and declaring:
"TODAY WE SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
"We are a product of 500 years of struggle ... We have been denied
the most elemental preparation so they can use us as cannon fodder
and pillage the wealth of our country. They don't care that we
have nothing, absolutely nothing, not even a roof over our heads,
no land, no work, no health care, no food nor education. Nor are
we able to freely and democratically elect our political
representatives, nor is there independence from foreigners, nor is
there peace nor justice for ourselves and our children.
"But today, we say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. We are the inheritors of the
true builders of our nation. The dispossessed, we are millions and
we thereby call upon our brothers and sisters to join this
struggle as the only path, so that we will not die of hunger due
to the insatiable ambition of a 70 year dictatorship led by a
clique of traitors that represent the most conservative and sell-
out groups. ...
"To the People of Mexico: We, the men and women, full and free,
are conscious that the war that we have declared is our last
resort, but also a just one. The dictators are applying an
undeclared genocidal war against our people for many years.
Therefore we ask for your participation, your decision to support
this plan that struggles for work, land, housing, food, health
care, education, independence, freedom, democracy, justice and
peace. ..."
MIM calls on all anti-imperialists to support the rebellions of
the oppressed, from Mexico to Peru and the Philippines, and to
contribute to the worldwide movement by working to develop
revolution in Amerika.
* * *
LETTERS
Free Puerto Rican POWs!
On Sunday, November 14, the government of Puerto Rico held a
"plebiscite" to determine the Puerto Rican people's preference of
the island's political status. While the vote favored current
commonwealth status, what was not included or resolved in the
process was the status of the 18 Puerto Rican political prisoners
in the United States prisons. As votes were tallied from Sunday's
"plebiscite," these men and women are serving virtual life
sentences for "seditious conspiracy" arising from their opposition
to U.S. control of Puerto Rico.
In San Juan, on November 16, Ofensiva '92, the international
campaign for the release of the prisoners, announced the
submission of a formal application to President Clinton for
amnesty for these 18 independence activists in prison in the U.S.
According to the application, While there is no right to statehood
or commonwealth, as they exist only at the will of U.S. Congress,
there is a right to self-determination and independence, and the
vote will occur while adherents to independence are in prison. It
would be consistent with notions of justice and democracy to
ensure that those in prison be released in order to permit their
participation in this process.
The campaign simultaneously announced that along with the Center
for Constitutional Rights and the American Association of Jurists,
they filed a petition for the review of the prisoners' case with
the Organization of American States (OAS). In Chicago, New York,
San Francisco and Hartford, those working with Ofensiva '92,
including the National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Political
Prisoners and Prisoners of War, held parallel conferences.
The Clinton application and the OAS petition reveal a startling
disparity between the sentences given to the Puerto Rican
political prisoners and those given to social prisoners. While the
Puerto Rican political prisoners' average sentence was over 70
years, the average sentence for homicide for the 20 years between
1966 and 1985 was 22.7 years. The sentences of 55 to 90 years
given to ten of the Puerto Rican prisoners in 1981 were 19 times
higher than the average sentence for all crimes that year. Another
disparity exposed in the applications: most of the Puerto Rican
prisoners have already served almost 14 years in prison, twice as
long as the average time served by those convicted of homicide.
The petitions argue that these discriminatory and punitive
disparities are the result of illicit punishment of the prisoners
for their role as clandestine anti-colonial combatants and their
activities in support of the self-determination and independence
of their nation.
The petition to the president recites a history of U.S. concern
for the welfare and freedom of political prisoners in other
countries, to the extent of using diplomatic and trade pressures
to evoke the desired result. "The government of South Africa freed
its anti-apartheid political prisoners, and the government of
Israel is in the process of freeing its Palestinian political
prisoners, with the encouragement and the blessing of the U.S.
government. We expect the U.S. will want to do the same with the
Puerto Rican political prisoners, who are in prison for the same
struggle for the self-determination and independence of their
people. We are asking President Clinton to grant amnesty to these
prisoners, just as President Carter did in 1979 for five other
Puerto Rican political prisoners," observed Dr. Luis Nieves
Falc—n, coordinator of Ofensiva '92.
The OAS petition seeks not only an evidentiary hearing before the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, but also a declaration
directing the U.S. to immediately release the prisoners. "The
continued imprisonment and politically punitive treatment of the
Puerto Rican prisoners violate the OAS charter as well as other
fundamental international human rights instruments," said Michael
Deutsch, legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights
and one of the attorneys who brought the OAS petition.
Accompanying both petitions were letters from numerous prominent
individuals and organizations, including the Puerto Rican Bar
Association; the National Conference of Black Lawyers; the
National Lawyers Guild; the International Association of
Democratic Lawyers, Australian parliamentarians; the International
Association Against Torture; the Argentina chapter of the Anti-
Imperialist Tribunal of Our America; the mayor of the city of New
York and the New York City Council; several churches, including
the United Church of Christ and the United Methodist Church, and
individuals from Africa, Latin America and Europe.
Over 15,000 letters were signed by people throughout the U.S.,
Puerto Rico and the world have been sent to President Clinton and
Attorney General Reno seeking immediate and unconditional amnesty.
Now that the formal application has been submitted, the campaign
will continue to collect letters and resolutions of support and
build momentum to win the prisoners' immediate and unconditional
release.
--Ofensiva 92
For more information contact: National Committee to Free Puerto
Rican Political Prisoners and Prisoners of War, 1112 N California,
Chicago IL 60647, (312) 287 0885.
Oinker baits MIM
In MIM's attempt to indoctrinate our young students [see MIM gives
Peru talk, MIM Notes 84, January 1993], did they perhaps mention
the Sendero Luminoso, and how they have butchered thousands, nay,
millions in cold blood in an attempt to install a revolutionary,
communist regime? Did they mention the crazed zeal of Abimael
Guzm‡n?
Of course, the local ZAMPOLIT here on campus rationalized, it
[was] wrong for the U.S. to use force in the Gulf. Killing
innocent Iraqis (the oppressed) is wrong.
Two months later, the Marxist-on-campus argued that Stalin was
perfectly justified in killing millions, and a revolution
sometimes requires the killing of "...200,000 people."
Socialism will always fail because it always runs out of other
people's money.
--JP, "A capitalist pig"
MIM responds: JP, you will be happy to know that MIM did a much
better job revealing the facts about the PCP-Sendero Luminoso than
you did. For example, MIM made it clear that PCP- led forces could
not possibly have killed "millions," because at most 30,000 people
have died as a result of the People's War in Peru--and Peruvian
armed forces are responsible for the majority (five-sixths) of
these deaths.(1) MIM also mentioned Comrade Gonzalo's (Dr.
Guzm‡n's nom de guerre) "crazed zeal," i.e. his belief that
Peruvian workers and peasants can smash the poverty and
exploitation imposed upon them by imperialism.(2)
As for MIM's supposed intellectual inconsistency: You would equate
the Red Army's defense of the USSR during the civil war and its
destruction of the Nazi military machine in WWII with Amerika's
cynical muscle-flexing? As communists we are for the abolition of
war (which requires the abolition of capitalism), but we recognize
that the people who have military power and benefit from it aren't
going to give it up without a fight, hence: to get rid of the gun
it is necessary to take up the gun.
For a discussion of the immense contradictions the USSR faced
under Stalin's leadership and the merits and demerits of his
policies, write for MIM's Stalin Study Pack ($5; make checks
payable to "ABS").
Finally, if the only motor behind socialist economies is "other
people's money," how would you explain the phenomenal growth of
the Soviet Union's economy at a time when western economies were
shrinking (the 30s) or the stability of China's currency at a time
when inflation seemed unstoppable in the west (the early 70s)?
Actually, you've got it backwards: it's imperialism that will fail
because it's bound to run out of new markets to exploit.
Notes:
1. New York Times 4/4/93 and 1/7/94.
2. For PCP documents, MIM essays, and histories of revolutionary
movements in Peru, write for the Peru Study Pack ($15; make checks
payable to "ABS").
MIM divides in hard times
Are the black, hispanic and Asian flight attendants (male and
female) I recall meeting on American Airlines flights an optical
illusion?
For the rest: I fail to see that the fact that well paid workers
managed to extract something resembling a fair deal from
management diminishes in any way the struggles of badly paid
workers of any race or nationality.
Perhaps I'm guilty of some form of deviation, but I was under the
impression that those who sell their labour power are members of
the working class. I was also under the related impression that
their employers were engaged in extracting surplus value from
their labour, just as surplus value is extracted from workers
earning a lot less.
I think that the attitude expressed by the article to which I'm
replying is divisive, and this is particularly worrisome at a time
when those of us who are on the side of the workers ought to be
uniting.
--Internet reader
MIM replies: Of course there are flight attendants who are members
of Amerika's oppressed internal nations. The flight attendants
union is still largely white, however. And their pay scale puts
them in the labor aristocracy, along with the majority of white
(and some non-white) workers in Amerika.
When the labor aristocracy extracts higher wages, benefits, stock
options, etc., from imperialism, they "earn" a piece of the
exploitation and super-exploitation of the international
proletariat. In the process, they intensify their own parasitic
relationship with the majority of the world's people.
People who sell their labor power are members of a working class.
Not all such people are proletarians, however. That is because not
all people who work for a wage are exploited. Employers do not
extract surplus value from workers who are paid more than the
value of what they produce.
MIM agrees that this is a "particularly worrisome" time for the
world's exploited majority. And a big reason for that is the
increased viciousness of imperialism's millions of labor
aristocrats, who, in fear for their privileged positions, appear
ready to participate in higher levels of extraction and domination
from the Third World. At this time it is more important than ever
that we not repeat the crime--so long practiced by imperialist-
country "leftists"--of selling out the oppressed with false
promises of alliances with the labor aristocracy.
Write to MIM for a copy of MIM Theory 1, "A White Proletariat"
($4) or J. Sakai's Settlers: The Mythology of the White
Proletariat ($10). Please send cash or checks payable to "ABS".
Prisoner letters on the net
Hello. I just read the "MIM" notes--really enjoyed it, but don't
know what it is! Where does it come from? Who distributes it to
Usenet? Do these prisoners know they're winding up on Usenet? Can
we write back to them via Usenet?
--Internet reader
MIM replies: Thank you for writing to inquire about MIM Notes. In
brief answer to your question: Yes, the prisoners know their
writing is distributed on the Internet (the larger computer system
that includes Usenet). This is part of MIM's work to build public
opinion for prisoners among those on the outside. What you read on
the Internet was MIM Notes, the monthly newspaper that is also
distributed in many prisons.
MIM does all it can, wherever it can, to build public opinion for
the oppressed in Amerika and abroad. This is the first task of
revolutionaries in imperialist countries.
The Internet is one important vehicle for politically reaching
many people. While most prisoners, and most oppressed people in
general, do not have access to such advanced electronic
communication systems, these systems still offer several valuable
opportunities. Besides struggling with those oppressed people who
are on the system, revolutionaries use them to struggle with those
privileged people who are determined to overthrow the very
decadent, parasitic system that gave them their wealth in the
first place. This includes people all over the world who are
connected to the Internet.
If you want to respond to letters from prisoners, send them to MIM
and we will pass them along. At the same time, you should gather
information and write articles about events and conditions in your
area and submit them to MIM Notes for publication. The oppressed
need the full effort all of their revolutionary allies.
MIM Notes is distributed electronically by the New York Transfer
News Collective (nyt@blythe.org), a group dedicated to
distributing a wide variety of radical literature over electronic
media. MIM can be reached at mim@blythe.org.
Henwood keeps laughing
This is a parody, right? [in reference to MIM Notes 84, January,
1994] From the model-number pseudonym to the contempt for the U.S.
working class, to the amusing spelling of Amerika (only one k
instead of three?--c'mon guys, you're missing a chance to make a
subtle point about Amerikkkan racism!)--it's just an inept joke,
right? Forget all that stuff that Marx said about capitalism
laying the material groundwork for socialism--let's junk its
qualified progress and embrace the cause of murderous adventurists
in Peru! Workers of the world unite! You have nothing to lose but
your privileges!
--Doug Henwood, Left Business Observer
MIM replies: Doug Henwood, editor of the Left Business Observer,
periodically pipes up to criticize MIM for our position that the
labor aristocracy in imperialist countries is not exploited, but
in fact benefits from imperialism. In his one semi-serious attempt
to challenge MIM's political economy on this question, MIM
responded with a thorough refutation of his misleading and
incorrect argument. To read this debate ("The 'left' tells MIM
off," and "MIM trashes the myth of white exploitation"), order a
copy of MIM Theory 1.
* * *
* * *
PUERTO RICO: IMPERIALISM HIDES BEHIND PLEBISCITE
On Nov. 14, a slim majority of Puerto Rican voters approved the
plebiscite maintaining the islands' commonwealth status.(1)
Amerika's military, political and economic domination make such a
vote a ridiculous proposal that could never represent the true
will of the people.
Only a small number of people voted for independence (4%) because
they know that the occupation will continue regardless of the
outcome of the vote. A supporter of Ofensiva '92 told MIM that
only 15-20% of the Puerto Rican people support independence,
because independence is not yet a viable option. There currently
does not exist a revolutionary organization capable of leading
Puerto Rico to independence, says the Puerto Rican National
Liberation Movement (MLN).
The United Nations is currently under economic pressure from the
United States to remove Puerto Rico from its list of colonies.(2)
The U.N. is expected to see the vote for commonwealth status as
evidence that the people support inclusion in the United States
and not national liberation.
An oppressed country's listing as an official colony earns the
colonizer international condemnation. Being listed as a colony is
a political aid for the Puerto Rican revolution; but it is a
serious thorn in Amerika's side.
Puerto Rico was put on the list in 1972, during a brief period
when Third World countries, especially China and Cuba, held
considerable power in the U.N. At that time, the U.N.
decolonization committee voted 12-0 that Puerto Rico had the right
to self-determination and independence.(3)
Military occupation
Thirteen Amerikan military bases in Puerto Rico occupy 20% of the
land. Seventy-six percent of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques is
occupied by the marines. Mislaunched missiles demolish the homes
in remaining residential areas and ruin the island's number one
source of income--fishing.
In 1975, Nixon withdrew the naval forces from Culebra because of
the united front against the Amerika's presence.(4) The successful
resistance to the occupation serves as an example that liberation
can only be achieved by forcing the Amerikan military out, not by
asking politely through an imperialist-backed vote.
Economic oppression
The economic oppression of the island is another way to coerce the
people of Puerto Rico into a colonial relationship. The 1990
Census report admits that 63.3% of the 3.16 million Puerto Ricans
on the island are below the poverty line(5) while in the United
States, 14.2% are below the poverty level.(6)
Puerto Rico's per capita income is $6,200 per year.(1) Inflation
increased by 55% between 1980 and 1990, but Puerto Rican per
capita income increased by only 17%--two and-a-half times less than
in the US during the same period.(7)
Puerto Rico is not allowed to import food from any other country
but Amerika. "Almost all our food products are imported despite
the fact that we have nearly one million acres of arable land
sitting idly," the MLN stated, "one goal is to break the
dependence on the United States which currently treats us like a
captive market."(8)
Without paying taxes to Puerto Rico, 400 Amerikan corporations
operate on the island and bring the profits back to the United
States.(2) In the 1980s, U.S. drug manufacturers received $8.5
billion in tax credits alone, which is more than double the amount
that those corporations spent on Puerto Rican payrolls.(9)
Much of the drinking water is polluted as a result of the large
amounts of toxic waste dumped in rivers and brooks by waste-
producing corporations.(5) Multi-national pharmaceutical companies
contribute 72% of all toxic discharge in Puerto Rico.(2)
Imperialist patriarchy
In Puerto Rico, 48.3% of the women are employed by manufacturing
as opposed to 25% in the United States. Although the proportion of
women in each country by industry is the same, the number of
manufacturing sites in Puerto Rico is higher.(10) The
restructuring of the world economy has changed the role of Puerto
Rico into a major manufacturing site. The industries attracted by
Amerikan export-oriented incentives, i.e. clothing, electronics
and textiles, require cheap, unskilled labor--women workers. The
unemployment rate for women is 12.7% and for men is 18.8%.(11)
Since the 1960s, the Puerto Rican government has been interested
in controlling the relative surplus population--unemployed Puerto
Ricans whose discontent serves as a social base for rebellion.
They accomplished this in part by aiding the migration of many
Puerto Ricans to Amerika, and in part by implementing programs
aimed at sterilizing poor Puerto Rican women. In 1965, 34% of
women between the ages of 20 and 49 were sterilized.(12) The
sterilization rate for lesser educated women was much higher.(13)
Repression of political activists
In 1979, Angel Rodriguez Cristobal was arrested with 20 others
demonstrating against the naval occupation of Vieques. Following
his misdemeanor conviction, he was taken to a Florida prison where
they forcibly injected him with Thorazine. He died unexpectedly
several hours after he told his lawyer of his plans to continue
the independence struggle.(14)
In 1985, hundreds of FBI agents made an island round-up through
more than 50 homes and establishments to arrest 12
independentistas for alleged participation in a clandestine
independence movement--Los Macheteros.(5) In defense of his
capture, Col—n Osorio persisted that colonialism is a crime
against humanity and violation of international law. The Amerikan
judge stated that "international law does not apply here." Osorio
was not allowed to submit evidence to the jury that proved Los
Macheteros complied with international law.
There are 18 Puerto Rican nationalists serving sentences of up to
98 years in Amerika's gulags for membership and activities related
to the Armed Forces of National Liberation (FALN) and Los
Macheteros.
Two years ago, the Puerto Rican Supreme Court ruled that the
150,000 files that the Puerto Rican police held on independence
supporters were illegal means intended to incite fear. Nearly
every family had one member who received a file detailing their
activities in the independence struggle.
The incarceration of Puerto Rican nationalists, along with the
military and economic domination of the island, are political
tactics to disarm the people and deny their right to self-
determination. A viable plebiscite on independence will only be a
possibility when the Puerto Rican people have the political and
military power to make independence a reality.
Notes:
1. New York Times 11/11/93, p. A13.
2. La Patria Radical June 1993, pp. 3, 5-6.
3. Palante 9/1/72, p. 3.
4. Edwin MelŽndez ed., Colonial Dilemma, Boston: South End Press,
1993, p. 61.
5. La Patria Radical 2/93, pp. 3-4.
6. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
7. El Nueva D’a 2/23/93.
8. La Patria Radical 1/93, pp. 2-3.
9. Chemical Marketing Reporter 8/3/92, pp. 7-8.
10. Edwin MelŽndez, op. cit. pp. 97-98.
11. Puerto Rican Department of Labor and Human Resources, Bureaus
of Labor Statistics.
12. Harriet B. Presser, Sterilization and Fertility Decline in
Puerto Rico, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1976, p. 61.
13. Ibid., p. 129.
14. Human Rights Held Hostage Sept./Oct 1993, pp. 22-23.
* * *
DECLARATION OF SUPPORT
A Project of Prison Legal News
We, the undersigned, are political prisoners, prisoners of war and
progressive social prisoners held captive throughout the
imperialist countries. We extend our solidarity through the walls
that hold our bodies in captivity to the Peruvian people, the PCP
(the Communist Party of Peru, AKA the Shining Path) and the
prisoners of war of the Peruvian revolution.
Over 500 years have passed since Columbus arrived in the Western
Hemisphere. Since then the indigenous and working class people of
the Americas have known only hunger, misery, exploitation,
oppression and death at the hands of foreign and local ruling
classes. This has been the only legacy of 500 years of capitalist
"development."
Since 1980 the PCP with the Peruvian people has been in the
vanguard of a far reaching social revolution in Peru. Thirteen
years later we have seen the revolution reach a state of strategic
equilibrium with the U.S. supported government. The indigenous
people of Peru are an integral part of this revolutionary
struggle.
The fascist dictatorship of Peru holds hundreds of PCP prisoners
of war, including Abimael Guzm‡n, the Chairman of the PCP, and
many other militants and cadre of the party.
We denounce the torture and murder of these political prisoners by
the fascist government. The silence from the Peruvian government's
imperialist backers exposes the hypocrisy of their so-called
"human rights policy." As we well know from personal experience,
those same international and human rights laws are a dead letter
even inside the imperialist countries when it comes to dealing
with revolutionary prisoners.
The heroic example of struggle and sacrifice by PCP prisoners is
an inspiration to revolutionary prisoners everywhere. It continues
the long tradition of struggle and resistance of progressive
prisoners throughout history. Revolutionary struggle continues on
all fronts and under all conditions, even within the deepest and
darkest dungeons of capitalism. Imperialism has long sought to
criminalize all resistance to its policies of misery and death by
denying the political status of revolutionary prisoners. This
takes place in Peru today as well as the imperialist countries.
Revolution is not a crime! It is the highest calling of every
citizen.
The fascist regime in Peru, with its bloody record of torture,
murder and "disappearances," is brazenly seeking "legal" reasons
to execute Chairman Guzm‡n and other PCP prisoners based on the
fact they are communists and revolutionaries. We must oppose this
and we do. We call on our sisters and brothers, inside and out, to
make our voice heard in opposing this vile move.
The imperialists are closing ranks on an international scale in
order to isolate and crush the revolution in Peru. The revolution
challenges their New World Order and exposes its clay feet and
gives us a living example of the people in arms. We support the
Peruvian revolution as a just war of liberation. The Peruvian
peoples' struggle is our struggle.
It is vitally important that we come together, across political
lines, to support this struggle. As prisoners we daily confront
the reality of rule by capital without the trappings of bourgeois
democracy. We long ago learned that unity is essential to
effectively struggle under these conditions. In Peru the facts on
the ground are that the Peruvian people, led by the PCP, have
risen in revolt against a 500 year legacy of colonialism, misery,
hunger, exploitation, racism, and imperialism. As revolutionaries
our duty is to support this struggle as best we can under our
material circumstances.
The New World Order, drunk with its military hegemony, has already
begun to intervene in Peru. As the struggle intensifies that
intervention will increase. We must denounce and expose this
intervention for what it is: a continuation of the imperialist
domination that has plagued Latin America for 500 years. A
socialist victory in Peru will be a victory for the working class
everywhere.
The anti-imperialism we sow in our communities today will be the
harvest we reap tomorrow when the revolutionary day of reckoning
comes to the heartland of imperialism.
Signed by 69 prisoners from across the United States, Italy,
Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Germany, and France
This article was a project of Prison Legal News, PO Box 1684, Lake
Worth, FL 33460.
* * *
KURDISH STRUGGLE ADVANCES; IMPERIALISTS RESPOND WITH REPRESSION
by MC206
Recent advances toward the liberation of the Kurdish people in
Turkey-controlled Kurdistan have provoked domestic counter-
offensives and foreign repression. The Turkish government has
placed more troops in Kurdistan and is preparing a "war of
annihilation" against the Worker's Party of Kurdistan (PKK).(1)
On Nov. 26 the German government banned 35 organizations
affiliated with the PKK (the PKK itself does not exist in
Germany). Twenty-nine of the 35 organizations banned were Kurdish
cultural centers. German police immediately raided Kurdish clubs,
businesses, and apartments, confiscating the organizations'
assets. According to Chancellor Kohl the organizations were banned
"because they use violent means to reach their goal."(2)
Germany and Amerika support fascism
Germany doesn't complain about the violence of the Turkish state
against the Kurds. In the last three years the Turkish armed
forces have destroyed more than 850 Kurdish villages, attacked
Kurdish civilians inside northern Iraqi borders, and ignored a
cease fire which the PKK honored.(1,3)
The Kurdistan National Liberation front (ERNK) has called Germany
"enemy number two"--the Turkish state being "enemy number
one"--because of the economic and military support it gives
Turkey.(2) Germany is Turkey's largest trading partner, accounting
for 15% of Turkey's exports and 18% of its imports. German
tourists alone account for almost 1% of Turkey's GDP.(4)
In 1988 Germany gave Turkey $45 million in military aid.(5) The
Amerikan government spent about $500 million in military aid to
Turkey each year from 1988 to 1991. That's on top of Turkey's own
military budget of $2-3.5 billion per year.
Turkey has one of the highest military spending rates of the
countries in NATO, despite being one of the poorest.(4,5) NATO
likes to think of the Turkish armed forces as "buffers" (read:
cannon fodder). Germany has even entertained plans to pay the
Turkish state for giving the German military its own Turkish
brigade.(5)
Turkey occupies an important strategic position close to both the
Middle East and the ex-Soviet Union. During the "Cold War," the
United States stationed nuclear weapons in Turkey and based much
of its intelligence services there. There are listening posts near
the center of Turkey-occupied Kurdistan, for example.(5) Now these
military facilities are used to enforce the "new world order" in
the Middle East.
Both Germany and the United States used eastern Turkey as an
airbase during the Gulf War. Neither said or did anything when
Turkey stepped up its war against the Kurds following the Gulf
war--even though the United States was cynically protecting Kurds
in Iraq-controlled Kurdistan against Iraqi repression with
"Operation Provide Comfort."
Turkish fascism and militarism have been alternately encouraged
and overlooked by these imperialist powers seeking to protect
their interests.
Counter-revolutionary espionage
The Turkish government enthusiastically greeted the recent ban of
Kurdish organizations in Germany. Turkish president Tansu Ciller
said she was pleased that Turkey had finally convinced the
international community that the PKK was an organization with
"terrorist characteristics."(2)
One of the more immediate reasons given for the ban was a spree of
firebombings across Germany attributed to PKK sympathizers. A
representative of the PKK expressed suspicions that these bombings
were performed by agent provocateurs.
Turkish consulates are also known to contain large stockpiles of
weapons.(3) The German government has not seen it fit to ban this
counter-revolutionary espionage, however.
PKK confidence
The latest offensive of the People's Liberation Army of Kurdistan
(ARGK), launched in June after a unilateral cease fire, has been
very successful. There are many areas where the power of the
Turkish state has been restricted to isolated and fortified
barracks--and these barracks are the targets of continued ARGK
attacks.
Turkish President Ciller has increased the Turkish military
strength in Kurdistan by 50,000 to 200,000 troops.(1) This number
does not include the 30,000 member state-financed Kurdish
militia.(6) The PKK has approximately 10,000 guerrillas in the
area.(1)
The PKK and ARGK have begun to move from their traditional
strongholds in the countryside into the cities. In Diyarbakir, the
largest city in Turkish-controlled Kurdistan, "Turkish sovereignty
vanishes with the sun."
Under pressure from the PKK, leading Turkish parties have closed
their offices in Kurdistan. State-owned businesses, such as the
Turkish airlines, can only operate under the protection of the
police.(1) The PKK has banned the Turkish bourgeois press in the
area, as it had been echoing the Turkish state's propaganda.
The PKK has also had a hand in deciding which construction
projects can be completed in Kurdistan. In late 1992, the ARGK
halted the construction of an asphalt road which would have
increased the mobility of government troops. Guerrillas told the
Kurdish workers to stay in their trailer while trucks and other
items were being firebombed. When asked whether the guerrillas
conducted propaganda among the workers during this attack, one
worker said, "No, it isn't necessary." The workers already knew
why the PKK would target the road.(6)
These victories, along with the election of a Kurdish national
assembly and steps towards the formation of a national front
unifying the PKK and other national forces, led PKK representative
Kani Yilmaz to say, "From now on, the national liberation movement
in Kurdistan will go from victory to victory." "If they [Kohl's
Government] insist on cracking down on the Kurdish people and its
organizations, they will lose a lot and our people will resist all
the more and become more determined."(3)
Notes:
1. Der Spiegel #49, 1993, pp. 170-174.
2. Sueddeutsche Zeitung 11/27/93.
3. Kurdistan Report #15, 1993.
4. World Economic Data, Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 1991, pp. 206-
207.
5. Turkey Newsletter 3/89.
6. Aliza Marcus, Turkey's Kurds after the Gulf War: A Report from
the Southeast, in: Gerard Chaliand, ed., A People Without a
Country: The Kurds & Kurdistan, London: Zed Books Ltd., 1993, pp.
238-246.
* * *
ZAPATISTAS ATTACK THE MEXICAN STATE
The Mexican government found itself on the ropes at the turn of
the year, as an insurrection led by indigenous peasants under the
banner of the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) declared
war against the Mexican government, seizing six towns and
surrounding villages in the southern state of Chiapas.
The rebels issued a statement declaring, "we have nothing,
absolutely nothing, not even a roof over our heads, no land, no
work, no health care, no food nor education. Nor are we able to
freely and democratically elect our political representatives, nor
is there independence from foreigners, nor is there peace nor
justice for ourselves and our children."(1)
Under a clause in the Mexican constitution that says, "The people
have, at all times, the inalienable right to alter or modify their
form of government," the rebels called for autonomy and demanded
the resignation of the government.(1) Group members also charged
the Mexican government with genocide against the indigenous
nations and called on the poor to join their struggle.(2,3)
In the second week of January, a number of bombs were planted in
Mexico city and elsewhere, and graffiti appeared all over the
country supporting the insurrection.(4) The government, unable to
defeat the EZLN once they beat a tactical retreat into the
countryside, and smarting from international outcry at the
(televised) indiscriminate massacre by government troops and
aircraft, declared a unilateral cease-fire and sent in a
government negotiator. But the government wouldn't grant a key
EZLN precondition for negotiation: the withdrawal of government
troops.(5)
Zapatistas identify the enemy
The Zapatistas took over the municipal buildings in Ocosingo, Las
Margaritas, Altamirano and San Cristobal, which are located within
50 miles of each other in central Chiapas. The guerrillas held a
meeting in San Cristobal on Jan. 1 and were supported by 300
applauding people. They also seized a police station.(6) The group
stormed a military base at Rancho Nuevo and continued efforts to
demolish it even as airborne assaults began.
In Altamirano the EZLN literally dismantled City Hall by
hand--using sledge hammers--a pointed action clarifying their
opposition to the state.(7) A young participant was quoted: "Our
thinking is we have to build socialism. ... There is no work, no
land, no education. There is no way to change that in elections.
This is not going to be a war of two or three years. This could be
a war of 25 or 30 years."(8)
Maoism recognizes that armed struggle is the direct process of
taking political power away from the imperialists. The actions of
the EZLN demonstrate that the level of exploitation in Chiapas is
so extreme that gestures of reform, such as petty farm subsidies
and land reform legislation that never materializes or becomes
reversed, are nothing but false aid that may buy off a few
peasants, but more importantly protect the status quo.
Before leaving San Cristobal the Zapatistas broke into the
penitentiary and released 179 prisoners.(9) Such bold action
indicates that the peasants of the EZLN realize that their
support, and their future, will be brought into being by those
most experienced with the brutality of capitalist society.
The EZLN, according to local reporters, number at least 2,000,
mostly young Indian men and women. The Liberation army is also
organized across language barriers, containing speakers of all the
major Mayan linguistic groups.(7,10) The EZLN is said to have been
training in the nearby mountains for years. "Our army was formed
in 1983 and in the past 10 years we structured it to have a
military organization not of the bourgeoisie, but of the
people"(11)
Free trade means genocide
The EZLN declaration criticizes the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA) and the ongoing imperialist privatization of
Mexican industry and resources.(6)
The peasants from poor regions of the country are the hardest hit
by escalating foreign investment. Their traditional economy in
part depends on farming, particularly corn. Corn is Chiapas' major
crop. Such livelihoods are no longer viable because of the
dominant role that Amerikan agribusiness is playing in the Mexican
economy. NAFTA in particular will destroy the corn farmer because
corn will be imported from Amerika and be sold at a lower price
than the peasants are able to sell it.
By identifying themselves as part of a 500-year struggle of
indigenous peoples against colonialism, capitalism and
imperialism, the EZLN struck a chord that extends beyond the
national border of Mexico. An EZLN leader told the press: "The
indigenous people have always lived in a state of war because war
has been waged against them and today the war will be in their
favor. Whatever the case, we will have the opportunity to die in
battle fighting instead of dying of dysentery, as the indigenous
people of Chiapas usually die."(12)
Chiapas, home to 1 million Indians, is Mexico's poorest state:
literacy is only 35%. The EZLN says 15,000 people per year die
there from curable diseases.(12) Land-owning profiteers in Chiapas
are decreasing their agricultural production and turning toward
cattle exporting, a more lucrative industry. This trend is leaving
many local peasants out of work, with nothing to lose and
everything to gain.
The state's cowardly massacre
The day after the uprising began Mexican army troops poured into
San Cristobal, driving trucks with mounted guns.(7) On Jan. 3 the
Mexican government intensified its attack, sending one-fifth of
the army to Chiapas, employing tanks, planes and helicopters. Much
of the retaliation took place in a small peasant town with a
population of no more than 300, just south of San Cristobal.
From this strategy it appears the military wanted to save the
tourist town of San Cristobal, and kill as many peasants as
possible while chipping away at the EZLN. In Ocosingo five
Zapatista soldiers were found lined up inside a market with their
hands by their sides and bullet holes in their heads. Journalists
looked closely at the bodies and discovered that their hands had
been tied.(13)
The army also gunned down three people in a car that simply did
not stop at a check point, among the passengers was a child. The
car was riddled by hundreds of bullets. A local resident called
the Mexican army cowards, saying, "They are using planes because
they don't have the courage to fight these people."(10) Sound
familiar? Maybe all imperialists fight alike.
The EZLN, according to one of its military leaders, does not have
"an ideology perfectly defined, in the sense of being communist or
Marxist-Leninist." But they do have "a common point of connection
with the great national problems, which coincide always, for one
or the other sector, in a lack of liberty and democracy."(12)
The EZLN knows its enemies are not all in Mexico, as the quoted
leader points out: "The people in the U.S. have a great deal to do
with the reality which you can observe here, with the conditions
of misery of the Indians and the great hunger for justice."(12)
Notes:
1. IGC News Desk 1/11/94.
2. UPI 1/1/93.
3. San Francisco Chronicle 1/3/94, p. A9.
4. BBS World Service, 1/X/94
5. UPI 1/13/94.
6. Los Angeles Times 1/3/94, p.1.
7. San Francisco Examiner 1/4/94, p. A16.
8. San Francisco Chronicle 1/4/94, p. A8.
9. UPI 1/2/93.
10. San Francisco Chronicle 1/6/94, p. A13.
11. UPI 1/5/93.
12. Unofficial translation of Mexican press reports, distributed
by Weekly News Update on Nicaragua and the Americas, via New York
Transfer.
13. San Francisco Chronicle 1/5/94, p. A10.
* * *
CULTURE:
USA ON TRIAL
(Parts I and II)
A 60-minute video about the International Tribunal of Indigenous
Peoples and Oppressed Nations in the USA had its premier showing
in Boston, Mass. in December, sponsored by the Freedom Now
Coalition, the National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners
of War and Political Prisoners, New African Freedom Fighters,
Puerto Rican Women's Committee in Support of Political Prisoners
and the Roxbury Community College's Caribbean Focus.
The documentary, produced for Deep Dish Television Network by
Carla Leshne and Alejandro L. Molina, covered a tribunal held in
October 1992 in San Francisco during which the USA was put on
trial for crimes such as genocide, colonialism and the holding of
political prisoners. It was part of the 500 Years of Resistance
Movement.
Part I consists mostly of footage from the hearing, featuring
testimony by national liberation organizations from Mexico, Puerto
Rico, Blacks in the United States, Hawai'i, and various Indigenous
Nations in the United States. Statements from the prosecuting
witnesses highlighted many important facts about the continued
U.S. war on the oppressed nations, detailing its 500 year campaign
to destroy health and culture, take the land, and imprison all
opponents of this genocide. The speeches encouraged resistance and
unity between the oppressed nations. As the Lead Prosecutor said
"The beginning of the end of the American empire starts today and
it is in your hands."
Part II of the video includes interviews with a number of the
witnesses for the prosecution, clips of pigs working with the
government to steal the land of indigenous people, and scenes of
demonstrations against Amerikan imperialism.
Among the important topics touched on were the multinational
corporations' attack on native land, the incarceration of Puerto
Ricans in Amerikan prisons for seditious conspiracy, the
COINTELPRO work by the FBI to destroy the Black Panther Party and
the American Indian Movement, the forced dependency of Mexico and
the persecution of Mexicans on the border. Most importantly,
stressed throughout, was the need for and right of all oppressed
nations to self-determination.
On Oct. 4, 1992 the United States government was found guilty of
genocide, colonialism and many other crimes against the oppressed
nations of the world. While this trial was not covered in the
national or international press, this profound truth is already
known by oppressed peoples as a part of daily reality. The video
is a good overview of the historical and ongoing crimes of the
Amerikan government. MIM encourages comrades and friends to obtain
copies for public showings.
For more information or for a copy of the film write to Mission
Creek Video, P.O. Box 411271, San Francisco, CA, 94141-1271.
Copies can be ordered for $20. Ask for a catalogue of video works
by Paper Tiger Television, too.
* * *
THE PELICAN BRIEF
1993
This movie almost had some good messages for the public. It sort
of portrays the government as corrupt, with a puppet fool
president. In addition, big corporations were shown as corrupt,
conspiring with the government to make a profit--not far from
reality. Unfortunately, the FBI and CIA turn out to be on the side
of the people, along with the mainstream press.
The messages taken from the movie include the correct point that
environmentalists can't win against the multinationals in court.
But people are also asked to walk away thinking the government is
stupid and can be defeated by smart individuals. If MIM made this
movie it would have ended with the people winning through the
strength of the masses, not through the ingenuity of one
individual with the help of a few friends. But what did we expect
from Hollywood....
--MAt2 and a comrade
* * *
SCHINDLER'S LIST
Steven Spielberg, 1993
In the years leading up to World War II, the majority of Europeans
actively created or passively consented to fascism. Bourgeois
historians have written this era as an aberration, something
fundamentally different than capitalism and imperialism. But to
proletarian internationalists, Hitler's notorious call for more
"living space" for the German nation does not sound so different
from its kindred historical incarnations, including Manifest
Destiny and the conquest of the New World, the scramble for
Africa, etc. Not to mention Amerika's own expansionism during
World War II itself, into Korea, Vietnam, and so on.
Amidst various levels of enthusiasm for the Nazi Party and its
genocide against Jews and communists, Roma ("Gypsies"),
homosexuals, mentally and physically disabled people, and other
religious minorities, there was one Nazi businessman who saved
1,100 Jewish merchants and intellectuals-turned-factory-workers
from the Auschwitz ovens. Oskar Schindler's was a heroic act. It
stands out not for its absolute heroism, however, but for the
pathetic context of acquiescence before which it appears so good.
Given how little most Germans helped any of the victims of the
Nazi war machine, Schindler's actions seem incredible. But he did
what any moral human being would have done.
Schindler's List does a good job of showing the gradual
implementation of Hitler's "Final Solution." The seizure of
property, the ghettoization, the forced labor camps, and eventual
systematic extermination. At each stage, the film's Jewish
characters think the worst is now surely behind them. Even on
their way to Auschwitz, they simply do not believe what we now
know the worst in fact was.
Spielberg creates an atmosphere that emotionally depicts the
horror experienced in Jewish ghettos and Nazi concentration camps.
For the masses of Amerikans who do not know what the Holocaust
was, Schindler's List may be a powerful education. On the other
hand, those same masses have and continue to participate in a
system of violent, global subjugation, including genocide.
Amerikans supported the mass slaughter of Vietnamese citizens,
Iraqis, and many others, while hypocritically gasping at Nazi
atrocities.
The fundamental error in Schindler's List is the presentation of
Oskar Schindler as a man who "saved" 1,100 Jews (who now have
6,000 living descendants). All those Jews would have died anyway
if millions of people (principally from the Soviet Red Army and
allied armies) had not died stopping Hitler's Eastern conquest and
defeating the German Army.
In Amerika, it is fitting to eulogize one benevolent capitalist
who saved people by putting them to work in his factory. This film
shows exactly the wisdom and folly of relying on friendly
capitalists. In all of the imperialist mayhem of World War II,
with capitalists reaping obscene profits from slave labor and
their armies scrapping for territory at the expense of millions of
lives, one capitalist saved 1,100 lives while a socialist country
(the USSR) saved the world from fascist conquest, and another
(China) used the war to liberate hundreds of millions of people
from feudalism and imperialism.
--MC12 & MC44
* * *
MOVIE MONOPOLY
Producing films is expensive. So is distributing them. But that's
not all. Both production and distribution are oligopolies:
industries that are controlled by so few companies which
collaborate financially (and ideologically, in this case) making
them virtually monopolies. So, even as more movies are produced
and directed toward more targeted audiences, there is less and
less possibility of counter-hegemonic movies reaching mass
audiences.
Four companies--Sony, Time Warner, Disney and Universal
Pictures--together controlled 72% of the Amerikan industry in 1993,
measured in gross income. Most of the rest was controlled by a few
others.
Sony (Columbia, TriStar, Sony Classics, Triumph), Warner and
Disney (Disney, Buena Vista, Miramax) between them released 109
movies last year, with an average gross of about $22-35 million
each. Universal Pictures is owned by Matsushita.
When MIM Notes reviews movies, we know we're not reviewing
expressions of organic popular culture. Instead, we are watching
the efforts of some of the world's biggest multinational
corporations, as they try to shape popular ideas and culture--while
keeping people satisfied by reacting to, and sometimes co-opting,
popular trends. In the process, the movie companies make a killing
in cash and attempt to make the world safer for imperialism.
--MC12
Notes: Economist 1/8/94, p. 74.
* * *
DOCUMENTS FROM THE CCP RECTIFICATION
Excerpts from speeches delivered at the forum on the "25 Years of
the Communist Party of the Philippines: Evaluation, Rectification
and Further Advance" held on December 19, 1993 Utrecht, The
Netherlands.
Excerpted from: Message on the 25th anniversary of the Communist
Party of the Philippines
by Manuel Romero
National Democratic Front, Chairman
... It is well that ... the Party is conducting a rectification
campaign to cast away the deviations from the Party's basic
principles which had caused major setbacks in the last more than
ten years.
It is also noteworthy that this rectification campaign is taking
root throughout the Party and movement even as December 31,
1993--the deadline set by the U.S.-Ramos fascist regime to win
"strategic victory" over us--is almost upon us. But this should be
one of our least worries for as long as all honest and loyal
cadres and members persevere in the rectification campaign and
ideological consolidation. ...
Excerpted from: Rectification Movement Strikes Deep Roots, Grows
With Clear Direction
by Luis Jalandoni
NDF Vice Chairperson for International Affairs
... The deep-rooted character of the rectification movement is
demonstrated by the firm support of the revolutionary masses and
the summings-up, study and criticism and self-criticism being
undertaken by the different regional Party organizations. ...
The revolutionary masses and the revolutionary leadership indeed
breathe new life and vigor into the Philippine revolutionary
movement. The rectification movement is winning the participation
and commitment of many new forces. Among the most inspiring is the
enthusiasm of the youth.
The rectification movement lays the firm foundation for the bright
future of the Philippine revolutionary movement. It is striking
deep roots. It shows the clear direction of the Philippine
revolution towards the victory of national-democratic revolution
and further towards socialism.
Excerpted from: The Critical and Creative Tasks of the
Rectification Movement in the Communist Party of the Philippines
by Jose Maria Sison
Founding Chairman, CPP
1. Uphold the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong
Thought!
The rectification movement is first of all a movement of
theoretical education in Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought. It
stresses the integration of the revolutionary theory of the
proletariat with concrete revolutionary practice. It promotes the
study and application of the basic Marxist-Leninist principles and
raises to the level of Marxist-Leninist theory the rich
revolutionary experience of the Communist Party of the Philippines
and the revolutionary mass movement.
It seeks to develop the Marxist-Leninist stand, viewpoint and
method of the revolutionary proletariat. Party cadres and members
must learn to grasp the law of contradiction and handle it well in
class analysis and revolutionary struggle.
The rectification movement criticizes and combats the subjectivism
that has given rise to the "Left" and Right opportunist errors
that have in turn caused great damage to the party and the
revolutionary movement. It repudiates the eclecticism, empiricism
and dogmatism that have afflicted the Party for a considerably
long period of time. It combats the depreciation of Marxism-
Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought and of the Philippine revolution, the
deviations from the anti-revisionist line through the adoption of
Brezhnevite and Gorbachovite revisionism, the depreciation of the
two-stage Philippine revolution through the uncritical adulation
of movements without proletarian leadership and the dishonest
practice of quoting the great Lenin out of context to attack the
line of the Party. ...
2. Pursue the anti-revisionist line consistently!
... Although modern revisionism has been discredited through the
collapse of the Soviet Union and the Soviet revisionist party and
the accomplished disintegration of revisionist ruling parties and
regimes in some countries and the continuing degeneration of those
in other countries, the exponents of modern revisionism, neo-
revisionism and social democracy are still trying to extend their
influence by combining with the ideological and political
offensive of the imperialists and their retinue of anticommunist
petty bourgeois camp followers in misrepresenting modern
revisionism of the last more than three decades as "flawed
socialism" or "Stalinism."
The rectification movement criticizes and repudiates all the
deviations from the antirevisionist line. The first major
deviation started in the early 1980s and involved the subjectivist
expectation that the Soviet Union and its allies would provide
military and financial assistance in order to accelerate the
victory of the Philippine revolution. This opportunism took the
appearance of being "Left" but the content was Rightist because it
led to the Party's shift to regard the CPSU and similar parties as
no longer revisionists, the Soviet Union as no longer social
imperialist and the satellites as no longer neocolonies of Soviet
social imperialism. The second major deviation infected some key
cadres in the late 1980s. They adopted and spread Gorbachovite
revisionism in certain parts of the Party. Ultimately, the worst
of these opportunists would become like Gorbachov, blatant
anticommunist, using anti-Stalin slogans to attack the Party. ...
3. Confront the semifeudal and semicolonial character of
Philippine society!
The persistence of the semicolonial and semifeudal character of
Philippine society is obvious. This is a society ruled by the
comprador big bourgeoisie and the landlord class in the service of
foreign monopoly capitalism. It has an economy that is agrarian
and without basic industries....
The rectification movement repudiates and rectifies the line
pushed by the "Left" and Right opportunists since the late 1970s,
crediting the U.S-Marcos regime, the IMF-World Bank and the
foreign multinational firms with having industrialized and
urbanized the Philippines to the extent, as the opportunists
claimed, that the theory and strategic line of protracted people's
war had become outdated and needed refinements, adjustments and
innovations. The misrepresentation of Philippine society laid the
basis for the "Left" opportunist line of the "strategic
counteroffensive" and "regularization" combining both urban
insurrectionism and military adventurism; as well as the Right
opportunist line of urban-based reformism.
4. Carry out the general line of new democratic revolution!
The general line of new-democratic revolution aims to complete the
Filipino people's struggle for national liberation and democracy.
It is new because it is under the leadership of the proletariat
and no longer the bourgeoisie. It is the first stage in the
Philippine revolution, leading to the next stage of socialist
revolution. The revolutionary forces required to achieve the first
stage are the same forces that can begin the socialist revolution
under the leadership of the working class. ...
5. Build the Party as the vanguard force of the proletariat and
the people!
In this era of modern imperialism and proletarian revolution, the
working class is indubitably the most productive and most
progressive force in the Philippines and in the world. ... The
advance detachment of the proletariat is the Communist Party of
the Philippines. ...
The rectification movement completely rejects the notion that the
revolutionary struggle for national liberation and democracy
against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism can be
won without the class leadership of the proletariat. ...
6. Wage the protracted people's war and carry out extensive and
intensive guerrilla warfare based on an ever widening and
deepening mass base!
The theory and strategic line of protracted people's war means
that the people's army must encircle the cities from the
countryside and accumulate strength in the countryside until it
can seize political power in the cities. The protracted people's
war is the revolutionary process of seizing power along the new-
democratic line. It is a revolutionary mass undertaking. In the
course of people's war, the Party builds the worker-peasant
alliance. It carries out land reform and builds the mass base in
the form of mass organizations and the organs of political power.
The people's army cannot preserve and accumulate strength without
the strong foundation in the people's participation and support,
realized through painstaking mass work and solid mass organization
under the absolute leadership of the Party. ...
7. Pursue the revolutionary class line in the united front!
... The rectification movement vigorously condemns and opposes the
attempt of the former "Left" and Right opportunists within the
Party who are now openly counterrevolutionary Rightists to
liquidate the class leadership of the proletariat and destroy the
basic worker-peasant alliance which is the foundation of the
revolutionary united front. The rectification movement criticizes
and repudiates the series of Right opportunist attempts to
liquidate the leading role of the working class in the united
front, starting with the 1980 concept of the "vanguard front" to
replace the vanguard party, proceeding to the 1985 and 1987
decisions to convert the NDF [National Democratic Front] into a
"federation" or "confederation" in which the Party is made to
relinquish its role as center of the revolution and further
proceeding to the 1990 attempt to convert the NDF into a confused
federation of member-organizations and of individuals, in which
the Party gives up its leading role in the revolution and its
independence and initiative and is subordinated through a voting
system to a ready-made majority of petty-bourgeois groups and
individuals that imposes on it a program of bourgeois nationalism,
pluralism and mixed economy. ...
8. Follow the principle of democratic centralism!
Democratic centralism is the basic organizational principle of the
Party. It is centralism based on democracy and democracy based on
centralized leadership. ... [D]emocratic centralism is not just
about the democratic and collective process of decision making.
Were it simply so, there would be no difference between the Party
and a business or even a religious corporation. The essence of
centralism in the Party is the commitment to the basic Marxist-
Leninist principles and policies ... . Democracy is the method by
which the essence of centralism is integrated with the concrete
practice of the revolution, and by which the dialectical
relationship or interaction is realized between the central
leadership and the general membership of the Party through the
elected representative organs of leadership. ... Within the Party
there is a dialectical relationship between discipline and
freedom.
9. Look forward to the socialist revolution!
... [T]he national-democratic revolution cannot be won if the
factors that make for socialist revolution do not prevail in the
course of the national-democratic revolution. ... In brief, there is
power in the hands of the working class and its revolutionary
party to start the socialist transformation. ...
The theoretical education promoted by the rectification movement
necessarily extends to the understanding that national-democratic
and socialist revolutions will surely resurge and that Mao's
theory and practice of continuing revolution under proletarian
dictatorship is a great resource for consolidating socialism,
combating revisionism and preventing the restoration of capitalism
the next time that socialist societies arise once more on a wider
scale on the face of the earth.
10. Carry out the Philippine revolution in the spirit of
proletarian internationalism!
The new-democratic revolution in the Philippines ... is one of the
few revolutionary movements now that are led by a Marxist-Leninist
party, have some significant strength and, most important of all,
are engaged in the revolutionary armed process of overthrowing the
imperialists and the local reactionaries. ...
At the same time, the Party is actively cooperating with other
Marxist-Leninist parties and pre-party formations in the world to
propagate the theory and practice of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong
Thought and with all the other entities that are opposed to
imperialism and all reaction to bring about the resurgence of the
anti-imperialist and socialist movement on a global scale. ...
* * *
AMERIKA'S HYPOCRISY EXPOSED
On December 20, it was reported on both the CBS Television Evening
News and National Public Radio news that the United States
government once again clearly demonstrated its racist refugee
policy when it comes to Cuban and Haitian refugees.
Seventeen Cubans and Haitians who got to the Bahamas separately
joined their resources to buy a boat to bring them all to the
United States. When they arrived recently in the United States the
Haitians were immediately taken to a detention camp. The Cubans
were welcomed and automatically given temporary resident status.
The Haitians are considered economic refugees until they can prove
that they qualify for political asylum. The Cubans do not have to
prove anything and are immediately released to the Cuban
community.
The CBS report also pointed out that Haitians at sea are stopped
by the U.S. Coast Guard and sent back to Haiti when they are
caught, while Cubans are rescued by a well organized rescue
operation. While Cubans who die at sea receive martyr status,
Haitians die in silence; a hijacker from Cuba was greeted as a
hero while a Haitian hijacker was met by the SWAT team.
One Haitian refugee was quoted as saying the Haitians do not want
to see a change in the policy toward Cubans, they just want to
receive the same reception as the Cubans.
--Toby Mailman, for NY Transfer News Collective
Notes:
CBS Television Evening News 12/20/93.
National Public Radio News 12/20/93.
* * *
LONG LIVE THE PEOPLE'S WAR IN ECUADOR
Sol Perœ reported in December that the Communist Party of Ecuador
(a Maoist party) has made the historic move to develop and fight a
people's war against bureaucratic capitalism, semi-feudalism and
imperialism.
Notes: Sol Perœ, December 1993
* * *
D.C. COPS DEAL DRUGS
On Tuesday, Dec. 14, 12 Washington, D.C. cops were arrested for
conspiracy to traffic drugs, and using their badges and state-
issued guns to protect drug dealers who were transporting 100
kilograms of cocaine from Miami to D.C every month.
The drug dealers were in fact FBI agents who had the police under
investigation for eighteen months.(1) The FBI had recorded the
illegal activities on videotape and wiretaps.(2) The twelve
officers each received from $2,000 to $25,000 to guarantee their
assistance in making sure the cocaine shipments arrived safely in
Washington.
The "conspiracy to distribute cocaine" charge could mean a maximum
of life in prison without parole for those convicted.(2) While the
D.C. police department acknowledges individual corruption, it
continues to deny that this kind of police activity is widespread
or systemic.
The police officials and others blame the previous Marion Barry
city administration for the hasty hiring procedures that these
cops underwent. Most of the 12 officers are young, in their 20s,
and have been on the force for less than four years.(2)
The Washington Times, posited that the hiring process was hasty in
order to quickly fulfill affirmative-action policies, and
background checks that would have detected problems were not
used.(3)
The hasty hiring theory is flawed in seeking to pin the corruption
on the officers and ignoring the fact that any police, whether
white, Latino, or Asian, are working for and protected by the
state, which operates to oppress and exploit the internal nations.
MIM knows that police officers in every city help drug dealers
traffic drugs into inner city neighborhoods where oppressed youth
pay money they don't have to get some temporary relief from their
exploitative conditions.
In addition to this most recent group of arrests, dozens more D.C.
officers from the 1989 and 1990 recruitment classes have been
arrested for everything from robbery to murder.(3)
On a related note, a ring of Lorton correctional officials were
busted in November for trafficking drugs into the D.C. prison. The
prison guards have pleaded guilty to charges of bribery and
introducing drugs into the Lorton prison complex.(4)
MIM offers examples like these to show that the state has an
interest in funneling drugs into the inner cities, and that the
so-called "war on drugs" is a manufactured means for the state to
justify more arrests, more surveillance, and more overall
repression of these neighborhoods.
--MC31
Notes:
1. Reuter Library Report 12/16/93.
2. The Washington Post 12/15/93, p. A1.
3. The Washington Times 12/15/93, p. C4.
4. The Washington Times 12/22/93, p. C6.
* * *
POLICE STATE ALERT
The beginning of 1994 brought a host of repressive new laws, some
of them reflecting the work of beefing up the Amerikan state
apparatus and further persecuting the oppressed. These new laws
represent the popular Amerikan desire for fascism in the face of
perceived declining world power and encroaching deviants,
especially poor immigrants and inner-city Blacks.
California will now prosecute any drive-by shooting that results
in death as first-degree murder, punishable by death, effectively
creating a new class of murder defined by crimes by members of
oppressed nations. California also allowed schools to ban gang-
affiliated clothing, and banned carrying passengers in the back of
pickup trucks.
Georgia requires waged work by people on welfare. Unmarried women
under 18 in Georgia who are pregnant or mothers must live with a
parent or guardian to collect welfare. Mothers on welfare who have
another child will have their benefits frozen for two years.
The middle class and labor aristocracy tax revolt won victories in
Mississippi, where pensions will no longer be subject to income
tax, and Michigan, where property taxes will no longer support
public schools.
New laws came into effect to extend the exclusion of "criminals"
from mainstream society and jobs. In New Hampshire, background
checks for school workers are allowed. In Oregon, teacher and
childcare applicants can now be fingerprinted for FBI background
checks. Tennessee passed a similar law.
--MC12
Notes: Washington Post 12/30/93, p. A6.
* * *
RUSSIAN FASCISM
A Russian public opinion research center has released preliminary
data on the election that brought fascist Vladimir Zhirinovsky
22.8% of the vote late last year. Their results prompt comparison
to fascist growth in Amerika and Europe.
According to the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion and Market
Research, the two main groups that supported Zhirinovsky's party
were older working class men in state-run industries. They were
"not jobless poor ... but they work in a vulnerable sector of the
economy that is already shrinking and is widely expected to shrink
further." The second group was young urban men, alienated from
politics and attracted to the raw nationalism, "action and force,"
who had previously not participated in politics.
These two groups appear to politically mirror the aging industrial
labor aristocracy and new-right youth in Amerika, both important
sources of Amerikan fascism--anti-crime, anti-welfare, and pro-
state repression.
--MC12
Note: NYT 12/30/93.
* * *
MIM DISCUSSES PANTHERS
Boston, MA--In the middle of December, MIM showed a film on the
Black Panther Party extracted from the Eyes on the Prize series.
This film outlines the history of the BPP and their destruction by
the FBI, and discusses the idea that Black people are a colonized
nation within the United States. The audience discussion after the
film sprung from that point to an interesting discussion of the
nature of nationality in the United States.
MIM began the discussion by pointing out that on the front page of
Dec. 20, 1993 USA Today there was an article saying that
segregation in schools in 1993 is back up to rates equal to or
higher than they were before the desegregation movement. MIM sees
this as just one more piece of evidence for the definition of
Blacks, Latinos, Indigenous peoples, and other oppressed
minorities within the United States as separate nations.
One person put forth the view that all people in the U.S. are
bought off, including Blacks, and so no one in this country has an
interest in revolution and revolution will only happen from people
in the Third World. This person said that this has been true for
Blacks since the civil rights movements of the 60s and 70s brought
some crumbs of success and advancement. MIM agreed that while the
overall standard of living is higher for all in this country, the
distinction between nations in this country is important because
national oppression is a material basis for interest in
revolution.
Some argued that the white working class, and in fact most of the
white nation is exploited but when pressed on the definition of
exploitation they agreed that most of what they considered
exploitation was not economic but rather social conditions of
oppression. MIM agrees that capitalism leaves some people with
less than others and presents some people with less than perfect
conditions relative to what is possible, but this does not negate
the fact that the white nation has an economic and national
interest in perpetuating Amerikan imperialism. Whatever small
discomforts they endure, these are not a basis for interest in
revolution, and historically this has been demonstrated to be
true.
Another person questioned why MIM would say that only the white
nation is bought off, why not all people in the U.S.? MIM has left
the question of the exploitation of oppressed nationalities in the
United States. open, but stands clear on the distinction of the
white nation because they are both not exploited, and benefiting
from their status as a part of the dominant ruling nation.
Others in the audience agreed with MIM on this distinction and
raised such evidence as the selling of drugs to Blacks, the
advertising geared at selling Blacks unhealthy products, and the
racism throughout our culture. One person pointed out that the
recent movie Demolition Man carried the slogan "this place isn't
big enough for both of us" under the plot of a white man fighting
to eliminate a Black man. This was just one example of the
sometimes subtle and even subliminal effects of white Amerikan
culture that several people raised. When discussing what to do
about this, one individual suggested that we had to create an
alternative culture.
MIM agrees with this, and to that end reviews movies and music,
creates poetry publications and art, tries to work in radio and
TV, and does whatever else we can to advance this struggle. But
MIM pointed out that this struggle can not be won while the
dominant structure exists that creates this reactionary culture.
Revolutionary culture should be created, but it should also
recognize the need to eliminate the structure that perpetuates the
reactionary culture. Several people agreed with this and talked
about the importance of education as a tool for change.
Discussions such as these are crucial for people to have as we
attempt to sort out the best way forward. Many people are
frustrated with the Amerikan system but do not see anything they
can do. MIM has many avenues to channel this energy and encourages
all who are interested or even just curious to talk to us, write
to us, and get involved.
For a list of films MIM recommends showing in your area write to
P.O. Box 3576, Ann Arbor, MI, 48106
* * *
THE ISSUE OF BEING A WOMAN
[Translation from Tagalog in International Liberation, a
publication of the International Office of the National Democratic
Front of the Philippines May-August 1993]
This topic is a continuation
of jest and irritation,
of rebuke and indifference,
of a glance, shaking of heads and nods,
of arms akimbo and legs crossed.
The debate here is like crying for the moon,
a whisper in the wind
a wade on water
a leveling of mountains.
The consequence of the conflict
is a kiss or a kick.
No argument would be won
even if Sisa goes mad,
callous the knees of old women be
even if the breasts of all this society's Salomes sag
and their vaginas ripped.
For the issue of being a woman
is presented
with arms and fists
persevered with
love and consciousness
fought steadfastly
with guns and bullets.
--Zelda Soriano
[Zelda Soriano is working full-time in a guerrilla zone. She was
arrested in May 1992 but was able to escape with the help of
comrades. The poem above, freely translated into English by LI's
Fina Jose, is included in Soriano's first book, Kung Saan Ako
Pupunta (To Where I Am Going), a collection of revolutionary short
stories and poems.]
* * *
STATE BLAMES PRISONERS FOR PRISON CONDITIONS
Six hundred prisoners have died--and six thousand have been
injured--inside the walls of Venezuelan prisons in the last 12
months. The death of 123 prisoners during a riot on Jan. 3 brought
Venezuela "to the record level" for Latin America.
"Many were burned in fires in two prison cellblocks, others
drowned in water tanks where they sought to avoid the flames."
Venezuelan prison "expert" Mario Maduro Martinez blamed "drug
trafficking, corruption, overcrowding, idleness among prisoners
and administrative delays in handling cases" for the violence.
--MC234
Notes: UPI 1/6/93
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