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 99
April 1995
Electronic Edition
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Get MIM Notes 99 from the Maoist Internationalist
Movement (MIM), and get the latest in Maoist news
and analysis - put a revolutionary weapon in your
hands.
This issue features news of anti-CIA work at UCLA
campus, Black Panther Party events on the East
Coast, the Peace Corps, anti-NAFTA political
fallout, Black and white economic disparities;
plus, reviews, letters - and Under Lock & Key, the
Internet's only monthly source for news and
letters from revolutionaries inside Amerika's
gulags.
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. Suppor it, struggle
with it and write for it.
* * * * * * * Send $150 for your full * * * * * *
* * * * * * set of MIM Notes 1 to 100 * * * * *
MIM Notes 99 includes:
CONTENTS
1. L.A.: MASSES GIVE CIA THE BOOT
2. APOLOGISTS FOR GENOCIDE CELEBRATE WOMEN'S DAY
3. PHILIPPINE GOV. TOLERATES SINGAPORE EXECUTION
4. LETTERS TO MIM
5. FREDERICK DOUGLASS NOW
6. IN BLACK AND WHITE: ECONOMY UPDATE
7. MAOISM AND THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY ON CAMPUS
8. TROTS FORGET HISTORY OF EXECUTIONS
9. MIM ATTACKS PEACE CORPS, LIBERALS DEFEND IT
10. CLINTON REASSURES LABOR ARISTOCRACY
11. ANTI-NAFTA POLITICS BEARS ITS UGLY FRUIT
12. GOANS BATTLE DUPONT
13. HYPOCRISY OF "PROPERTY RIGHTS" ZEALOTS
14. MURDER FOR PROFITS
15. RAMOS GETS PRAISE FROM BOURGEOISIE
16. REVIEW: KASAMAS
17. REVIEW: INSIDE THE PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION
18. "EYEWITNESS" EVIDENCE UNRELIABLE
19. UNDER LOCK & KEY
* * *
LOS ANGELES: MASSES GIVE CIA THE BOOT
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is still
intact, but its attempt to recruit potential
agents of imperialism on the campus of the
University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)
suffered a setback last month after a
demonstration organized by MIM and the Network for
Public Education and Social Justice (NPESJ), a
student group not affiliated with MIM.
At a demonstration March 1, MIM pointed out to
UCLA students that the CIA's main purpose is to
wage war on the world's oppressed nations by means
of economic warfare, rigged elections,
assassinations and genocide. MIM's critics
countered that MIM and the demonstrators were
infringing on the CIA's "rights." MIM says: There
are no rights, only power struggles!
MIM does not advocate disrupting the "speech" of
just any reactionaries. But it's not the "speech"
of the CIA that commits mass murder and
oppression. If all the CIA did was talk, MIM would
just argue against them. It's the action - the
recruiting of students to commit crimes against
the people - that we oppose. If progressives can
stop the CIA from spreading some of its poison -
make the CIA's job a little harder - that's a
power struggle, not an infringement of "rights."
The oppressed and victims of the CIA have no
"right" to "free" speech when they are dead,
imprisoned, exploited and raped. Theirs is a
struggle to end that oppression and win freedom
for the world's vast majority.
There is a long history of students resisting the
militarization of U.S. campuses, including CIA
recruiting, military training and the development
of genocidal weaponry. This effort is an important
part of building popular student consciousness
against imperialism.
MASSES KICK CIA OFF UCLA CAMPUS
Many progressive people were dismayed to hear that
the CIA was coming to hold a recruiting session at
UCLA. Independently of each other, the Maoist
Internationalist Movement (MIM) and the Network
for Public Education and Social Justice (NPESJ)
mobilized a progressive response which ultimately
succeeded in canceling the CIA's planned two-day
visit.
MIM circulated fliers and posters promoting an
anti-CIA rally, in addition to contacting
progressive individuals and organizations. Like
MIM, NPESJ contacted its allies, encouraging them
to protest the CIA.
Prior to the CIA's arrival, MIM issued the
following call:
CIA OFF CAMPUS
Despite its name, the main purpose of the U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is to wage war
on the world's oppressed nations by means of
covert operations involving economic warfare,
rigged elections, assassinations and genocide. Its
goal is to gain and maintain U.S. control over
Third World peoples and economies. In short, the
CIA is an agent of U.S. imperialism and an enemy
of the people.
The CIA was behind the fascist coup in Chile which
brought Pinochet into power. The CIA's "Operation
Phoenix" killed 40,000 Vietnamese. The CIA
recruited its own mercenary army to combat the
Laotian electoral left, and covered up the massive
U.S. bombings of Laos and Cambodia which killed
over 600,000 and created a devastating famine. And
the CIA continued its covert wars, funding the
Contra-guerrillas in Nicaragua and propping up
dictators like Manuel Noriega.
From 5:00-7:00 p.m. today (Wed., March 1, 1995)
and all day tomorrow, the CIA will be holding an
"Information Meeting and Reception" in UCLA's
Plaza Building, at which they will conduct
interviews for internship positions.
Take a stand on the side of the world's oppressed
peoples! Rally against the CIA outside UCLA's
Plaza Building 5:00 p.m. TODAY, Wed. March 1
Notes: The CIA's Greatest Hits, by Mark Zepezauer,
Odonian Press, 1994. Available from MIM for $6.
According to the UCLA Daily Bruin: "Organizers
tried to find peaceful solutions, but ... the
assistant director of the Expo Center, decided to
cancel the meeting. Yesterday's recruitment
meetings ... were also canceled, irritating
students who had appointments."(1)
The same Daily Bruin article contained some
inaccuracies and some unrebutted reactionary
statements from a CIA spokesperson, so MIM
responded with a letter excerpted below:
March 4, 1995
Dear Editor,
Thank you for printing the article "CIA visit
canceled due to protests". Although this article
contains unrebutted reactionary statements from
the CIA, it will show many readers that
progressives can get significant things done when
we get ourselves organized. Those who came out to
protest the CIA's presence can take pride in
canceling their visit.
There were, however, some inaccuracies in this
article. We take this opportunity to set the
record straight. First, it is untrue that "[m]ost
of the protesters were members of the Maoist
Internationalist Movement (MIM)" or that the CIA
meeting "was disrupted by about 20 MIM members."
MIM visibly helped to organize the rally. But
credit needs to be given where credit is due.
Independently of MIM, the Network for Public
Education and Social Justice (NPESJ) organized to
protest the CIA visit. MIM is unsure how many of
the protesters came in response to MIM's call and
how many came in response to NPESJ's call. But we
can safely say that the majority were not MIM
members. Those present undoubtedly had varying
degrees of unity with MIM. We were all united on
one point - opposition to the genocidal CIA.
The CIA spokesperson quoted in your article
claimed, "We're looking for people who want to
serve the country and do some research, analyze
and collect information." This is The Big Lie
about the CIA....
The CIA spokesperson also claimed that "the
students who were present at the meeting ... had
their rights infringed." MIM doesn't know whether
to laugh or cry at this ridiculous statement. The
CIA is concerned about people's rights?!...
Since the CIA is responsible for depriving
hundreds of thousands of people of their right to
life, any CIA spokesperson who talks about
"rights" - particularly the "right" to work for a
genocidal organization - needs to shut up. MIM
salutes the activists who kicked these creeps off
campus. The CIA spokesperson says, "we don't know
if we will be coming back to UCLA." Progressive
people need to organize to make sure the
Conductors of Imperialist Aggression do not
return.
Notes:
1. Daily Bruin 3/3/95, p. 8
MIM DISREGARDS CIA'S "RIGHTS"
On March 8, the UCLA Daily Bruin printed a short
version of MIM's March 4 letter (see accompanying
article). Alongside it was a letter from UCLA
student Rebecca Toth. Following are Toth's letter
and responses from MIM and a student.
Rebecca Toth wrote:
This letter is to the members of the Maoist
Internationalist Movement who participated in
protesting CIA recruitment on campus and caused
the cancellation of an informational meeting and
interviews:
I am not writing to object to the validity, or
lack thereof, of the information you were
presenting; that is a debate for another time and
I support your right to present it. However, I do
object to the manner in which you chose to present
it. Your actions effectively denied others the
very rights of freedom of speech and assembly that
you yourselves were exercising.
What gives you the right to impose your opinions
on others and to take away the ability of each
individual to make their own life choices? So you
don't want to work for the CIA. Fine. But that
doesn't give you the right to withhold that
opportunity from others.
Perhaps democracy and the right to self-
determination, issues on which you are quick to
criticize the CIA, should only be permitted on
those topics with which you agree. Or maybe you
should just choose for me which information I
listen to and which jobs I take. Actually, I'm in
the market for a good five-year plan. Next time, I
suggest you take a good look at yourselves and
your actions before you accuse others of
authoritarian tendencies.
In conclusion, allow me to offer you a little
advice. The next time you want to get a point
across, I suggest you try a different tactic. Your
gross hypocrisy and complete disregard for the
rights and opinions of other students completely
discredited yourselves and your organization,
irrespective of the validity of your position. In
spite of this, I support your rights to freedom
and peaceful assembly; it's just too bad you don't
support mine.
MIM RESPONDED:
March 8, 1995
Dear Editor,
Rebecca Toth's March 8 letter accuses the Maoist
Internationalist Movement (MIM) of "gross
hypocrisy and complete disregard for the rights
and opinions of ... students." MIM values others'
opinions. But this won't stop us from working to
deny people the "right" to join the genocidal CIA.
Toth objects "to the manner in which" MIM opposes
the CIA. But our confrontational manner reflects
the serious nature of the matter at hand:
imperialist genocide.
Toth's charge of hypocrisy is misinformed. MIM
disagrees with Toth's rhetoric of "rights." There
are no rights, only power struggles. The CIA
deprives hundreds of thousands of people of their
right to life. Toth defends the "right" to work
for a genocidal organization. Progressives must do
more to deprive imperialists of the "right" to
build genocidal organizations.
MIM's criticism of the CIA is not that it is
authoritarian, but that its authority is
reactionary, repressing the world's majority.
MIM's ultimate goal is a world without authority
or oppression - a communist world. But in this
era, we support any means necessary - including
authoritarianism and armed struggle - to smash
imperialism, capitalism and patriarchy. MIM will
gladly choose a job for Toth before allowing her
to join the genocidal CIA, if we have any say.
In struggle,
Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM)
As of March 10, the UCLA Daily Bruin did not print
MIM's response, but did print a response from a
student. MIM has much unity with the response,
which follows:
This is in response to Rebecca Toth's March 8
viewpoint regarding the canceled CIA interviews on
campus. Toth asks the protesters at the CIA
recruitment meeting, "What gives you the right to
impose your opinions on others and to take away
the ability of the individual to make their own
life choices?
Let me respond by reminding that when someone
makes a "life choice" to work for the CIA, this
choice has repercussions far beyond whether you
are able to afford the new BMW. All of us, as
social beings, must take responsibility for the
inherently social nature of our actions.
It is important to turn that question around. What
gave the United States, through the CIA, the right
to "take away the ability of each individual to
make their own life choices" by: 1) overthrowing
the democratically elected government of Guatemala
in 1954 and funding death squads in subsequent
years to protect the right-wing government; 2)
working closely with the Chilean military and U.S.
multinational corporations to oust democratically
elected leader Salvador Allende in 1973, and set
up a brutal military dictatorship; 3) or by
playing a prominent role in the Indonesian
military coup in 1965 which led to more than
100,000 Indonesians being murdered?
I support the CIA's right to speak in public about
what they do (although it is something I doubt
they would ever do).
What I don't support is their supposed "right" to
actively recruit people in their continuing effort
to maintain U.S. political and economic hegemony
at any cost. Complete individual freedom is a nice
idea in the abstract.
In reality, sometimes rights conflict and I have
no hesitation about violating your right to
contribute to mass murder and military
dictatorships in my larger effort to protect the
rights of the people from other parts of the world
who struggle to better their own lives, free from
the often brutal, undemocratic intervention of the
United States.
* * *
APOLOGISTS FOR IMPERIALISM,
CO-CONSPIRATORS IN GENOCIDE
CELEBRATE INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY IN AMHERST
Q: How is International Women's Day celebrated by
First World feminists?
A: By attacking the revolutionary feminism of the
oppressed masses.
On March 8 reactionary scholar Patricia Edmisten
gave a breakfast lecture in Amherst. Sponsored by
the Women of Color Program of the UMass
Everywoman's Center, Edmisten attacked the
Communist Party of Peru PCP (whom she called
Shining Path), and the revolutionary feminism of
the oppressed masses.
Standing behind a podium draped with a poster
bearing the words "Mar’a Elena vive entre
nosotros" (Mar’a Elena [Moyano] lives in us)
Edmisten presented a carefully blended mix of
distortions, lies and omissions in her
condemnation of the PCP and her praise of Moyano.
Moyano was a government leader executed by the PCP
in 1992 after she ignored numerous warnings to
cease her counter-revolutionary activities. Not a
mere critic of the PCP as some allege, Moyano was
organizing her shantytown to fight the PCP with
military weapons as well as personally denouncing
people as "Senderistas" so that they could be
rounded up by Fujimori's death squads.
Edmisten used the usual lie that PCP has killed
30,000 people in their revolutionary war and said
that the PCP has taken the most brutal of Chinese
communism. First of all, 30,000 people have died
since the armed struggle began, but by the
government's own admission, the majority of the
deaths have been PCP cadre at the hands of the
government.(1) Second, Edmisten is trying to pose
left by defending, or at least not condemning, the
Chinese revolution while denying the reality that
selective executions of traitors was also a tactic
of the Chinese Communist Party in their war
against Japanese occupation and then the U.S.
backed Chiang Kai-shek regime. Apologists for
imperialism can't have their cake and eat it too,
at least not while Maoists are in the
neighborhood.
Edmisten tried to portray Moyano as a pacifist,
even though she openly admitted Moyano's key role
in organzing peasants to fight the PCP for the
military. Edmisten was unable to explain what kind
of "pacificism" fights only one kind of violence -
that numerically smaller violence of the
revolution.
The major theme of her speech was an emphasis on
the "commonality" of all women across class and
national lines and to portray the Communist Party
of Peru as anti-feminist and against the people.
Edmisten said that while many women join the PCP,
they are denied leadership roles. During the
question and answer period, MIM was quick to point
out that women are the majority of the Party and
that they also dominate the leadership. We gave as
proof the example that when Chairperson Gonzalo
was arrested, arrested along with him were many
members of the Central Committee, a majority
women. We cited the New York Times and a lecture
by Dr. Carol Andreas at UMass the previous year.
Edmisten's response was that Andreas has also been
to Peru and that she had different experiences.
One audience member supported this reactionary
idea, and said that MIM had a different viewpoint
and that was Ok. Yes, of course, people have
different experiences and different viewpoints.
But we shouldn't be paralyzed by them, we should
do our best to make decisions with the information
at hand. It's not that Moyano and the PCP had
different experiences or different ideas about the
solution to the People's poverty and that they
should have just learned to get along. The
Peruvian government, with which we include Moyano,
and the Communists are engaged in a life and death
struggle. Moyano responsible for the death and
torture and many Communists and supporters. The
PCP was responsible for the killing of Moyano.
There is no neutrality, and that is shown quite
clearly by who the Everywoman's Center choose to
lecture on feminism.
An understanding of imperialism is essential to
feminism in the world today. It's not a matter of
First World feminism "including" Third World
women; rather First World women must realize that
their group interests run directly counter to that
of Third World women. If First World women want to
join their Third World sisters, they must commit
to working against their own interests.
Study the effects of imperialism. Instead of
coming up with lame excuses to explain Third World
male migration to the cities ("to escape
conscription by the Shining Path") find the real
answer. The PCP is made of willing, dedicated
volunteers, as the Peruvian military and the CIA
complain, since they find it so difficult to make
captured guerrillas talk under torture. Learn how
the export-led development, supported by the
imperialists, the Peruvian right, and Moyano's
brand of "left" is responsible for the migration
of men to the cities and the increased poverty of
the Peruvian masses as a whole.
As our comrades in Peru will tell you, all issues
are women's issues. To separate biological gender
from material reality around it is a most
horrendous kind of chauvinism that will result in
continued misery for the majority of the world.
NOTES: 1. El Pais, 9/20/92.
* * *
PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT TURNS BLIND EYE
TO EXPLOITATION OF FILIPINOS ABROAD
On March 17 Singapore executed a Filipina worker
accused of killing a young boy and another
Filipina, in spite of new evidence arguing her
innocence. In the months leading up to the
execution, people in the Philippines rallied
against the execution and the reluctance of the
Government of the Republic of the Philippines
(GRP) to act on the worker's behalf.
Flora Contemplacion, a 42-year old mother of four,
was convicted of the killings in April 1994. She
claimed that she was coerced into confessing. New
evidence showed that the man who had hired the
slain Filipina killed her when he found out that
his son had died in an accident. Contemplacion was
best friends with the slain worker and was
implicated in the killings when she went to gather
her friend's belongings.
The GRP was silent about the conviction until this
month. The GRP profits greatly from Filipino
overseas contract workers and views tales of their
suffering as nuisances which disrupt a booming
labor trade worth billions of dollars.
There are 4 million Filipinos working abroad.
Together they bring $6.5 billion of foreign
exchange into the Philippines - more than double
the amount of foreign investment in the
Philippines.
NOTES: NPR, "Morning Edition," 17 Mar 95. BAYAN
International - PIGLAS, "The truth about the U.S.-
Ramos regime," 1994.
* * *
LETTERS TO MIM
GOV'T HANDOUT OR WHOLESALE REPO?
An Internet reader wrote: Where do you people get
this bullshit? And how in the hell do you ever get
into a college to talk to students, you are
fucking communist anarchists. You people can all
eat shit. I suspect that you are a bunch of black
malcontents looking for another fucking government
handout. GO GET A FUCKING JOB.
MC12 RESPONDS: MIM gets hate mail all the time. We
are choosing to respond to this letter, however,
because it appears to reflect the resentment that
is apparently escalating in the white nation
toward Black people in college, "affirmative
action" and so-called "handouts". The implication
here is that "black malcontents" should never
"get" into college. If these people are upset,
this reader assumes, they are looking for a
"government handout."
MIM supports the revolutionary overthrow of
imperialism, patriarchy, and the domination of the
white nation over the oppressed nations in North
America. The peoples of the Third World and the
oppressed nations in North America are not looking
for a "handout," but a wholesale repossession!
At the same time, whites have little to fear from
so-called affirmative action or quota programs.
The disparities between white and Black access to
education and employment is looking pretty secure
under the present system. That's why MIM says
scrap the present system.
# College enrollment. Of high school graduates
aged 18-21, only 30.1% of Blacks were in college
in 1992, compared to 45.3% of whites. That number
was only 24.6% for Black men, while Black women's
rate was 35.2%. The numbers for "Hispanics" were
about 2% less than for Blacks.(1) Black people,
who are almost 13% of the population, are 11% of
the four-year college students, and 6% of the
graduate school students. White advantage is safe
and sound, here.(2)
# Degrees. In 1991, Blacks got 6% of the
bachelor's degrees, 4.9% of the master's degrees,
and 3.1% of the doctorate degrees in the United
States. What's worse, while the absolute number of
Black students getting bachelor's degrees rose
7.7% from 1981 to 1991, the absolute number
getting master's degrees fell 5.8%, and doctorates
fell 4.2%. The number of whites getting bachelor's
degrees rose 12% in that time, while their
master's degrees rose 5.8%. The number of white
PhDs fell 2.2%.(3) While whites complain about the
number of non-U.S. citizens getting degrees, and
this number has increased, this represents more of
a brain-drain from their native countries than a
disadvantage for Amerikans.
# Official unemployment. Of people aged 16-24 who
weren't in college in 1992, Black high school
graduates had a higher unemployment rate (26.8%)
than white high school drop-outs (20.7%), and a
rate more than two-and-a-half times white high
school graduates (10.5%). Black high school drop-
outs had 46.7% unemployment.(1)
And about "getting a job." First of all, you can't
"get" jobs where there are none. Second, MIM says
there is nothing great about working at a
demeaning job for crummy wages, although people
who do this out of necessity can be proud of it.
While the organized workers of the labor
aristocracy may strike when they want higher
wages, the poor people who don't have high paying
jobs in the first place "strike" by refusing to
work in shit jobs at all. MIM says more power to
them.
NOTES: 1. Statistical Abstract of the United
States 1994. U.S. Dept. of Commerce. p. 173; 2.
Ibid., p. 179; 3. Ibid., p. 191.
PROPOSITION 187: DEBATE STAYS LIVELY
A West Virginian reader wrote: I may stand alone,
but I feel that there comes a time when you have
to take care of "family" first! The U.S. is not
responsible for nobody else but the U.S.! I grew
up very poor in W.Va., We were always told that
the government wished it could do more, but had no
money. Then I found out that non-citizens in C.A.
are receiving more funding than I did as a USA
citizen!!!! Mexico should help these people, for
they are Mexican citizens, and are paying very few
tax dollars to the U.S. Charity begins at home. We
have somehow gotten the notion in this country
that the government has the huge pile of money
that can never run out: well, we are wrong! Fix
the problems here before we even think about
starting to fix problems around the world.
A reader from California addressed him: Obviously
you know nothing about California or its economy.
Don't you know that the undocumented workers get
plenty of taxes taken out of their pay. But these
people never get to see a dime of their social
security. My grandfather worked in the brazero
program That was a U.S. program where immigrant
workers from Mexico would come during the harvest
season and work for less than minimum wage.
Although he worked all his life and even though
they took plenty of taxes from his wages the U.S.
government did not want to pay back any of his
social security.
In LA if you go into any fancy restaurant or any
fancy home you will see one of these undocumented
workers. If you travel north to the California
farm country here too you will see many workers
many of which are undocumented. Now what are you
Good U.S. citizens saying? That these hard working
people are good enough to pick your produce in
sub-standard conditions. That they are good enough
to watch your children. that they are good enough
to clean your house, or prepare your meals. But
they are not good enough to attend your schools or
receive medical attention. Do you know what Mr.
W.Va. if you don't want immigrants in this country
why don't you and all your good U.S. citizen
friends come down to Califas and pick our
delicious table grapes while breathing poisonous
pesticides for less than the minimum wage, that is
if you receive pay at all.
While you're at it why don't you burn down the
statue of liberty? You know the one that says
"give us your tired helpless and week."
PS: to your family first argument "Those Mexicans"
are my family.
MIM RESPONDS: Your comments are excellent for
revealing the hypocrisy of the poster's
statements, but you must admit he is consistent.
There is a long historical precedent of privileged
people maintaining that the people who are good
enough to do their dirtiest jobs are not good
enough to go to reap the benefits of that labor.
Your comments about the statue of liberty are also
apt. MIM does not use the term "America" in its
writing because "America" is a lie. What in fact
exists is an Amerikan nation, built on stolen land
with stolen labor, that continues the national
oppression of the Third World, its members, and
internal nations.
MIM MUSIC REVIEWS ARE DUMB
First of all, I don't listen to music for the
lyrics, but for the tune and melody. As far as I'm
concerned, the lyrics aren't worth a damn if it
isn't backed by good music.
Are you saying [in your review of the Cranberries'
"Zombie", MIM Notes 97, February 1995] that the
Beatles were responsible for the youth of America
for not turning to Maoism? Please, this is like
saying that young people who listen to heavy metal
turn into satanists.
MIM RESPONDS: Of course not. If this were true,
then there would be zero revolutionaries in
Amerika because just about all the stuff on the
radio, including so-called alternative music, is
reactionary garbage. But music does both reflect
the culture and create it, and a critique of
culture is important.
Most Amerikan youth are not revolutionary because
it is against their material interests to be
revolutionary. To oppose imperialism is to oppose
the source of Amerika's wealth. The reason that
the Beatles are important historically is because
they spoke to a group of people that were
seriously considering radical change in society
and the abdication of wealth procured by
militarism all over the globe, and told them to
think about themselves instead. The youth did not
have to listen, of course. They could very well
have stopped listening to the Beatles and worked
for the liberation of oppressed peoples. Obviously
people like to buy things that give answers they
like, and this is a reason why the Beatles' line
on revolution was so popular. And the Cranberries,
posing "alternative," tell the same lies as the
Beatles, and MIM calls them on it.
There is a small portion of Amerikan youth that is
disgusted with Amerika and looking for ways to
create social justice. The Cranberries criticize
revolutionaries as "zombies" and advocate
individualism for Amerikans. Of course, it is not
the revolutionaries who are the "zombies," but
those who buy the Cranberries' line uncritically.
As for your comments on heavy metal, this happens
to be among the styles MIM recommends to its
readers. (See "MIM's Heavy Metal Hangup" on page
10 of MN58, November 1991, order from MIM for $2).
We recommend metal precisely for the politics much
of it espouses: challenging authority, the
capitalist state, criminal justice system, etc.
Of course much metal ends in a celebration of
youthful rebellion and refuses to focus that
rebellious energy. This limitation of metal
politics is indicative of the trend metal comes
from: white youth, while alienated from
reactionary old-people's imperialist politics, do
not immediately see the importance of organizing
for revolution. The anger metal expresses is still
a valuable political sentiment, and MIM seeks to
develop that sentiment and turn it into
revolutionary activity.
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE AMERICAN FRIENDS
SERVICE COMMITTEE OF WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
Dear AFSC:
MIM was shocked to discover that your organization
is co-sponsoring the event "Sex, Lives and
Videotapes, a public lecture by William Ryerson,
executive vice-president of Population
Communication International" on April 5. We expect
as much from the pseudo-environmentalist and other
pseudo-left organizations on the list, but not
from AFSC.
MIM and the AFSC disagree on a number of issues;
we are a revolutionary Maoist party, you are a
reformist, religious based pacifist organization.
But as such we have one important piece of unity
that shows up in much of our work: opposition to
militarism and imperialism. In fact, pacifists and
revolutionaries have a lot in common in the
current stage where the great majority of the
violence going on in the world is not
revolutionary, but reactionary and aimed at the
great majority of the world's people. It is
imperialism that is the greatest source of
violence in the current world, and it needs to be
exposed and defeated in all of its realms.
Wrapped in a stated (if not always sincere)
concern for the environment, poverty, and Third
World development, the issue of population control
has come to the fore in Amerikan-left circles in
recent years. The talk two weekends ago at Smith
College (where we discovered your involvement in
Sex, Lives and Videotapes) by Adrienne Allison,
vice president of the Center for Development and
Population Activities and adjunct professor at
George Washington University School of Medicine is
one such example.
Allison's main assumption was that population size
was directly linked to poverty, development and
environmental degradation. Her conclusion was
therefore that population was directly linked to
poverty, development and environmental
degradation. She had a myriad of facts and figures
to back up her "conclusion" and which served to
further obfuscate the real source of the people's
oppression.
For example, she showed us how population is
growing in Nepal, and how 75% of the arable land
is already being tilled. Assuming that amount of
arable land is finite and that production yields
can not be increased - this is an incorrect
assumption because even capitalism can transform
the world around it, and the collective power of
the people unleashed under socialism can do so
even more - this conception is still bourgeois.
Instead of proposing to eliminate the people
(already sterilization of women in Nepal is
19.5%), why not eliminate the landlords? Or kick
out the World Bank, IMF and the multinational
companies? Allison didn't mention these things
because as far as the bourgeoisie is concerned,
the only thing on the table is the number of Third
World people allowed to remain.
This is where Sex, Lives and Videotapes factors
in. Population Communication International
produces soap opera style radio and TV programs to
encourage the use of population control
technologies. In the Third World, the masses
resist imperialist (with the collusion of their
comprador governments) population control. There
are many forms of coercion used to entice Third
World women. Some women are paid to be sterilized,
or are tricked. Population Communication
International works in the cultural sphere to ease
the transformation of the population and its
economic base more into line with imperialist
interests.
Women throughout the world want greater access to
a variety of contraceptive choices but oppressed
women need political power, resources, food,
health care, shelter, sanitation and other
necessities for survival. Imposing population
control on Third World women while not addressing
these other shortages will only increase
suffering.
Aiding and abetting imperialism is contrary to any
pacifist agenda MIM is familiar with. We realize
that you may have been swept up in the imperialist
country chauvinist wind that is blowing alongside
the population control issue. Enclosed is some of
our literature on this question.
CORRECTIONS
A letter response on page 2 of MIM Notes 97,
February 1995 said: "What is gender oppression?
The definition is not a one-liner, but the idea is
that one group controls the bodies, the
reproductive freedom and unremunerated labor of
another. This is characterized by a situation of
domination and submission. The one that dominates,
in this case a biological woman, can be said to be
gendered male for this reason." It is incorrect to
define unremunerated labor as part of gender, this
is part of capitalism. What is principal to gender
is the control of another's bodies, and not merely
biology.
The final paragraph in the article "Bombshell: The
death of public housing" on page 8 of MIM Notes
98, March 1995 was incorrect.
The following paragraph is the position of both
the author Ulcer in the Beast's Belly and MIM:
"Soon enough, people may have to prove that they
own property, or pay rent, in order to avoid
imprisonment for trespassing on white Amerika. The
people can take over public housing today - by
organizing mass movements for economic and
political independence inside the projects. The
birth and nurture of militant movements can
eventually lead to class-conscious communist
revolution. In the final analysis, nothing less
will do."
* * *
FREDERICK DOUGLASS NOW
performed and created by Roger Guenveur Smith
review by a MIM Associate
On February 25 at UMass Amherst, New World Theatre
presented Frederick Douglas Now, a one-man
multimedia theatre show. The theme revolved around
the need for struggle in order to achieve
progress. Through chronicling Douglass' life,
Smith incorporated the history of the anti-slavery
movement and the struggle for Black liberation
since then. The most relevant aspect politically
(in addition to the historical importance)
involved the relation drawn between the struggle
then and now. Smith makes it clear that the
struggle for Black liberation is not over, and
that the political advice and strength contributed
by Douglass is applicable today.
Stated in the play was, those "who will be free
themselves must strike the blow" and "slavery can
only end with blood". Influenced by John Brown -
who believed that slave holders had no right to
live - Douglass was conscious of the need to
violently oppose oppression. Yet he was not as
focoist as Brown, who led a suicidal attack on (as
Smith stated) the 1859 equivalent of the Pentagon.
The words of Smith were enhanced by images flashed
on a screen and also by African music. The video
screen, used to portray a wide variety of images,
was the main tool used to link the past with the
present. By showing civil rights marches in the
60's, Blacks being beaten by cops and riots in the
90's the message of the necessity of continued
struggle was clear.
Smith began by reading a letter written by
Douglass to Thomas Auld, his former slave master,
on the first anniversary of his escape. Through
self-education Douglass achieved an important role
in the anti-slavery movement - making many
speeches as well as enormous written
contributions. He started his own newspaper in
Rochester, N.Y. called "The North Star", named
after the North star people were told to follow by
Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad.
A rap written by Smith concluded the performance.
It started, "If there is no struggle there is no
progress/That was the rap of brother Frederick
Douglass." Smith also rapped about some
"supportive" whites: "They love black music but
they hate Black people/They love this rhythm/They
love this rhyme/But when it comes to the struggle
they don't have the time." "And some say to me 'I
love Spike Lee'/But they don't give a damn if we
are free/They don't know a thing about our
history" And on the solution: "We must fight
back/How we gonna do that?/We must learn to read
and learn to write/And organize ourselves to
fight".
Frederick Douglass Now is an effective fusion of
history, politics and art. The continuity of the
past and present is often left out in bourgeois
education systems - which like to isolate the past
to imply an irrelevance to the present (if they
cover oppressed history at all). MIM agrees with
the emphasis on the need for the oppressed to free
themselves from their oppressors and the
acceptance of armed struggle (when the time comes)
to do this. The internal colonies within the
United States cannot rely on the white nation to
grant them their equality - because that will
never happen.
NOTE: NYT 2/19/90.
* * *
IN BLACK AND WHITE: ECONOMY UPDATE
by MC12
There is a common assumption that U.S. incomes are
falling, that the gap between "rich" and "poor" is
increasing, and that this is all bringing white
Amerikans and oppressed nations closer together.
This is the dream of the Amerikan pseudo-left,
which is always trying to convince us that soon
working class whites will become revolutionary.
But a look at some economic trends over the last
few years is not kind to this view.
The official poverty line in 1993 was $14,763 for
a family of four. The Census Bureau reports that
there is a lot of movement in and out of poverty.
Only half of all poverty by this definition lasts
four months or more, while 13% lasts two years or
more. Whites make up 70% of all those in poverty,
but only 56% of those in long-term poverty. That
means lots of the "poor" whites are only that way
temporarily. Still, in an average month Blacks are
three-times more likely to be poor. Altogether 46
million people were in poverty for two or more
months in 1990.(1)
Some people make a lot out of the great raw
numbers of whites in poverty. They usually do this
to help gain public sympathy for the poor, which
is just plain racist. Since there are more whites
than other groups, it's always important to look
at the rates, or proportions, rather than the raw
numbers. Also, some people try the trick of using
a rate that includes *all* people, then saying the
Black rate is "even higher." That's just using the
Black rate to boost the white rate.
In an average month in 1990, the Census Bureau now
reports, 8% of whites received some sort of means-
tested poverty relief, compared to more than 32%
of Blacks, and 25% of "Hispanics." So there are
more whites, but Blacks are four-times as likely
to be on welfare.(2)
Another common yet false assumption is that
recessions bring whites and nonwhites closer
together economically. In the 1990-91 recession,
41% of whites saw their incomes drop, and 36% saw
them go up. That compared to 43% of Blacks who
made less, and 35% who made more.(3) Just looking
at earnings is also deceiving, since they don't
include all measures of wealth. For example, 21%
of whites had no health insurance for at least one
month in 1990-92, compared to 36% of Blacks and
48% of "Hispanics," according to the Census
Bureau.(4)
The patterns of job displacement during recessions
are complicated and subject to a lot of debate.
But if all the mechanisms are hard to figure out,
there are some bottom-line results we can point
to. For example, the General Accounting Office
found that - in a study that controlled for age,
gender and occupation - Blacks and "Hispanics" had
a 15% greater chance of losing their jobs during
the last recession than whites.(6) If you don't
control for, or hold constant, those factors, you
would find the differences were even greater.
Then, the results of losing a job were worse for
Blacks than for whites. For example, of whites who
lost their jobs during the recession, 56% had
health insurance before they were fired, but 60%
had health insurance at their next jobs! For
Blacks, though, 50% had health insurance before
they lost their jobs, but only 38% had health
insurance after they found another job. So this
tells us something about what kinds of jobs they
are moving into. Those whites are not getting jobs
at McDonald's.(6)
The Wall Street Journal did their own study of the
recession, looking at the hiring and firing
disclosures of 35,242 companies that filed with
the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. They
found that, among those companies, Blacks had a
net loss of 59,479 jobs, while "Hispanics" gained
60,040, Asians (including all subgroups,
presumably) gained 55,104, and whites gained
71,144.(6)
Finally, a look at long-term trends. It's common
knowledge that the gap between rich and poor is
growing in the United States. But a closer look at
the breakdowns shows that the trend is different
for Blacks and whites.
From 1970 to 1992 (controlling for inflation), the
percentage of white families in every income group
declined except those making more than $50,000.
The greatest change was a 7.6% increase in white
families making more than $75,000.
By contrast, the biggest change for Black families
was a 5.5% increase in those making less than
$10,000 per year. Also, 9.7% of Black families
moved out of the $15-35,000 per year range, a much
bigger decline of the "middle class" than whites
saw. Blacks also had an increase, though smaller
than whites', of those making more than $50,000.
So the overall trend in the last two decades among
Blacks is a greater division between rich and
poor, with the poor increasing faster than the
rich. Among whites, however, there is an overall
growth of the rich, and a slight decline of the
poor.
NOTES:
1. United States Census Bureau 2/3/95.
2. USCB 2/7/95.
3. USCB 1/12/95.
4. USCB 10/31/94.
5. USCB 10/6/95.
6. Wall Street Journal 9/19/94, p. A2.
* * *
MAOISM AND THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
SCARE COLLEGE ADMINISTRATORS
February 22 - MIM co-sponsored an event entitled
"The continued relevance of the Black Panther
Party" with the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist
League and the Black Panther Party, Boston to be
held at the Roxbury Community College (RCC). On
the morning of the event, after already confirming
the date, time and place, MIM received a phone
call from the administrator in charge telling us
that we could not hold our event at the school
because we had not jumped through enough
administrative hoops. The real reason: Maoism
scared some imperialist lackey.
Months in advance of the event we got permission
from the student government at RCC who agreed to
set it up. A few weeks before the event was to be
held the administration of the college got
concerned and told the organizers that we would
have to submit a written agenda for the event.
After this was done, the administrator we were
dealing with, Jean Ewing, who claimed to be the
one in charge, gave us a date, time, and place for
the event.
So we went to work publicizing the event. On the
morning of the event (which was scheduled for 3pm)
we got a call saying "... Since I have found out
that this is not an SGA sanctioned activity as I
was told by [name], there is no need to come to
the media arts center today because it cannot
happen. I did not have a walk-through. I did not
receive any literature about your group or what
you're all about and I can not and will not go
through with this."
We showed up at the school after hearing this
message and demanded to know what was going on.
After much pushing the administrator admitted that
some school Chancellors were in town for the day.
Though she did not say it, it was clear that
either she or someone higher up was really
concerned that it might not look good for the
Chancellors to see that an event on the Black
Panthers was taking place on school grounds.
Only after some really fast work on the part of
the head of the student government, who was very
helpful through the whole administration game, we
were able to secure a room and a TV/VCR at the
last minute (the event started about 20 minutes
late due to the administrative hassle).
Roxbury Community College is public property. It
is funded by tax money and is supposed to be for
the community. A lot of progressive events are
held there regularly and we have never heard of
anyone having to submit an agenda of exactly what
will be done at their events or of a group having
their event canceled at the last minute after
getting administration approval, having a time and
place set, and having done publicity.
This demonstrates the power of Maoist politics and
the fear that even a 25 year old memory of the
Black Panthers can evoke. Revolutionary Marxism-
Leninism-Maoism is a true threat to the
imperialists and their lackeys supporting the
existing political/social order and the
administration at RCC knows it.
BLACK PANTHER PARTY REMEMBERED
Boston - in late February MIM co-sponsored two
events about the Black Panther Party with the
Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League and the
Black Panther Party, Boston. These events included
a talk by a RAIL member about the history of
nationalism and national liberation struggles and
particularly how the Panthers as a Maoist party
fit in. We also showed the film *The FBI's War on
Black America* and this was followed by a talk by
MIM, RAIL and a former member of the Black
Panthers who was working on reforming the Black
Panther Party.
The discussion after one of these events focused
on the reactionary line of the representative from
the Spartacist League who came to put forth his
support for integrationism. The people at the
event saw this for what it was: utopian idealism.
Several members of what MIM identifies as the
national bourgeoisie and national petit-
bourgeoisie were on top of the debate, pointing
out the need for national liberation of the Black
(and other) nations and the importance of self-
determination for nations. People also discussed
the history of the reactionary white nation.
MIM was asked several questions about our views on
the Nation of Islam to which MIM replied that we
see the NOI as a bourgeois nationalist movement.
Bourgeois nationalism calls for independent Black
nation capitalism and understands that this goal
of equality as a capitalist nation is impossible
without fighting the imperialists. This is a group
that, in the current stage of anti-imperialist
struggle, is an ally of the oppressed in national
liberation struggles. To truly work in the
interests of the oppressed, these united fronts
against imperialism must be led by the proletariat
of the oppressed nations.
These two events demonstrated the real interest
among Muslims in revolutionary anti-imperialist
struggle and education as the audience at both
events debated the merits of Black bourgeois
nationalism versus revolutionary proletarian
nationalism. Many of the bourgeois nationalists
were in agreement that they would ally with
proletarian communists fighting national
liberation struggles and saw their common goal.
These comrades all made clear their desire for
equality for all peoples, their solidarity with
the oppressed of other nations, and their
willingness to do what it takes to liberate their
people.
* * *
TROTS FORGET:
HISTORY OF MURDEROUS REPRESSION AND EXECUTIONS
February 16 - At a Spartacist League forum to
defend Mumia Abu-Jamal, the speaker from the
Partisan Defense Committee (the Spartacist League
"class-struggle, non-sectarian legal and social
defense organization") said that if Mumia Abu-
Jamal is executed it will be "the first political
execution since the Rosenbergs."
The Sparts missed the truth on this one by a long
shot. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed in
1953 during the McCarthyite anti-communist witch
hunts. Among the most prominent of the political
executions since the Rosenbergs in this country
was the murder of George Jackson, like Mumia Abu-
Jamal, a member of the Black Panthers, who was
assassinated by prison guards in 1971 because of
his political organizing. The mass murder at
Attica after the rebellious uprising there is
another good example of political executions. And
there have been many more obvious murders of
prisoners who are undertaking political organizing
and defiance behind bars since 1953.
Between December, 1967 and December, 1969, 28
Panthers were murdered by the state. This includes
the well known case of Fred Hampton who was gunned
down in his sleep in an invasion of the Panther
headquarters by the pigs(1), and young Bobby
Hutton who was murdered on April 6, 1968 by the
cops (a member of the Oakland Police Department
later admitted to the leaders of the Panthers that
this was a planned execution.)(2)
But even this is too narrow a definition of
political executions. What about the thousands of
young people, mostly Black men, whose entire life
is taken away from them when they are put behind
bars for life? Or the many who are denied
necessary medical treatment and are forced to die?
These are political executions that are taking
place every day.
Many of these prisoners are behind bars for
political actions, many are in for crimes they did
not commit. There are also many prisoners who are
in for "crimes" they did commit, but these are
crimes committed in the context of an imperialist
society that leads the most downtrodden to a
situation that makes bourgeois-defined crime a
necessity of survival, and an expected and trained
response to an oppressive society. These prisoners
are predominantly members of the Black, Latino,
and First Nations who are denied a trial by their
peers, forced to stand trial in the white nation's
court. Prisoners are, by their very existence in
capitalist society, political prisoners.
Political executions happen daily in the inner
cities where the violence of the pigs is exceeded
only by their violence in the prisons, and the
First Nations are regularly attacked by invading
imperialist armies.
This case of Mumia Abu-Jamal is not something out
of the ordinary except in that he has not yet been
murdered by the pig prison guards. It is a worthy
cause to fight to save his life and MIM has done
work to this end, but it is incorrect to single
his case out as the first political execution
since the Rosenbergs. This definition of political
executions accepts the bourgeois definition of
crime and executions and plays right into the
imperialist lies and propaganda.
NOTES:
1. The Black Panthers Speak. Ed Philip S. Foner
2. Revolutionary Suicide by Huey Newton. p. 196.
* * *
MIM ATTACKS PEACE CORPS,
LIBERALS RUSH TO ITS DEFENSE
At the International Women's Day breakfast (see
article on page 8) MIM sat at a table with three
women who had been Peace Corps volunteers. These
women had seen MIM's leaflets about the Peace
Corps' role in imperialism. Their disagreements
made for a heated discussion. (See leaflet text
below.)
These three women were classic Liberals in that
they refused to look at the material surroundings
and saw only subjective intentions. One woman
denied the possibility that Peace Corps volunteers
could be aiding imperialism if they were not
personally aware of imperialism.
Another woman criticized MIM for saying that the
Peace Corps is dangerous because it masquerades as
"left" and sucks in well intentioned people. She
called this paternalist, as she had investigated
the other options before joining and she said
others do so too. MIM's response that people need
to look harder was not acceptable to the Liberals
who hypocritically attacked MIM for having a firm
position against the Peace Corps while their firm
pro-Peace Corps position was Ok.
Another woman argued that her personal growth and
development was more important than the outcome of
her actions. It doesn't matter what the program
itself does, it only matters what people's
individual experiences are. Liberalism elevates
personal experience and subjective intentions to a
higher level of importance than a much larger
phenomena like the abusive history of the Peace
Corps, a history which none of the women disputed.
One woman defensively argued: "What are you doing
to help Third World people?" and repeatedly wanted
to know if the MIM distributors had been to each
of the countries they were talking about. It
didn't matter how much research MIM did, as long
as each individual hasn't been somewhere, they
shouldn't take a position. The problem with this
is that the Liberals do have a position, a
position in support of the system, but they won't
admit it. MIM says to let the bourgeoisie go
unrebutted is to let them dominate.
The shortcomings of Liberalism were shown by one
woman's rhetorical question: "How can you condemn
a program just because it is funded by the
government?" At each turn MIM was accused of
oversimplifying the issues, but the real guilty
party for that offense was the Peace Corps
volunteers.
Even though the women saw the abuses of
imperialism and it's version of "development" they
refused to see its implications. Inability to
connect intention, action and consequence in a
reinforcing loop of political growth and
responsibility is the hallmark of Liberal
impotence.
Materialists understand the importance of history
which occurs outside of the self on the scale of
global reality lived in by billions of people. MIM
is committed to understanding how exploitation is
occurring not for the sake of "personal growth"
but in order to eradicate it!
PEACE CORPS IS A TOOL OF U.S. IMPERIALISM
The following was distributed at Peace Corps
recruiting sessions on the East Coast:
The Peace Corps recruits well intentioned people
to "help people help themselves", but it's
actually a program that helps to bolster Third
World dependence on and subservience to the United
States. "The toughest job you'll ever love" has
also included direct and indirect spying for the
CIA and other intelligence services.
There is a direct correlation between Peace Corps
volunteers (PCV) deployments and U.S. military
interests. "National Security Action Memorandum
No.132 - signed by Kennedy on February 12, 1962
and sent to CIA, USAID and Peace Corps Directors -
instructed those agencies to 'give utmost
attention and emphasis to programs designed to
counter Communist indirect aggression [through]
... support of local police forces for internal
security and counter-insurgency purposes.'"
"In 1985, for example, the Philippines, home to
the largest U.S. military bases outside U.S.
borders, also ranked first in the number of PCVs
with 399. Following close behind that same year
with 379 was Honduras, a country-turned-military
base in the U.S. war against Nicaragua."
Peace Corps propaganda doesn't tell you why they
left Bolivia in 1971 or Peru in 1974. The truth is
that "the Bolivian government expelled the Peace
Corps for its alleged activities in sterilizing
peasant women without their knowledge. The
Peruvian government expelled the Peace Corps for
similar reasons in 1974."
LAYING THE GROUND FOR DOMINATION
The Peace Corps exists to help make Third World
countries more conducive to super-exploitation by
U.S. interests. Former Peace Corps director Loret
Ruppe refers to the Peace Corps, the World Bank
and USAID all in the same sentence. The World Bank
and USAID provide "aid" in the form of loans to
Third World governments on the condition that the
country is opened up to further imperialist
penetration. The Peace Corps provides valuable,
on-the-ground public relations as well as helps to
guide this political economic transformation.
PEACE CORPS IS U.S. FOREIGN POLICY
A major point behind the Peace Corps' existence is
as a public relations ploy for the U.S. Former
director Ruppe called the work of the PCVs "a
valuable source of real aid to U.S. foreign
policy." The political flexibility of PCVs is
limited: volunteers have been fired for opposing
the U.S. war in Vietnam, visiting an off-limits
Salvadoran refugee camp in Honduras, and a
volunteer in Honduras was reprimanded for writing
her Congressperson that "Honduras needs jobs,
education, [and] health care ... not military
aid."
PCVs have been "required to collect and pass on
information which, in the context of death squad
politics, could result in the killing of the
people whom they were supposed to assist." The CIA
has been known to use Peace Corps cover to
infiltrate areas. One PCV couple in Honduras "came
under heavy pressure to turn over names of 'the
communists' after their language classes became a
vehicle for genuine community organizing." "It was
clear," the couple said, "that the teachers [we
trained] were interested not only in teaching
skills but also addressing the real reasons their
students could not learn: hunger, and the fact
that young people have to work." This principled
couple quit rather than talk. Other volunteers no
doubt provide more subtle information to their
superiors without realizing that they are serving
as spies.
People who really want to help the world's
oppressed lead better lives should work with MIM,
not with the pig oppressors.
NOTE: This flyer based on Covert Action
Information Bulletin #39 (Winter 91-92) This
article contains 31 footnotes and is based on
"congressional documents, presidential Executive
Orders and from interviews with returned Peace
Corps volunteers who served in Honduras, Ecuador,
and the Philippines under Reagan and Bush." The
article is available from MIM for $1.
* * *
CLINTON MOVES TO REASSURE LABOR ARISTOCRACY
It's early in the 1996 campaign for president and
Clinton is making all the right elite-level moves.
His unpopularity with the settlers now won't
matter much a year and a half from now when it
comes to spending tens of millions in spin media
and collecting his IOUs from the leaders of
significant class fractions. He wooed the
internationalist bourgeoisie with NAFTA and GATT
and now with the Mexican peso bailout, all of
which prove that he is reliable in protecting
multinational corporate interests. Now he has put
organized labor in his pocket as well with an
executive order that prevents the government from
giving contracts to employers that hire
replacement workers for strikers. Hence, while the
prospects look good for Dole or Gramm to represent
the imperialist-labor aristocracy alliance, MIM
does not write off Clinton yet.
The executive order is a huge victory for
organized labor that puts it on even more equal
footing with the imperialists and tightens the
alliance between the imperialists and the labor
aristocracy. When the New York Times wrote about
the executive order, it explicitly mentioned the
hits that organized labor has seemed to take with
GATT and NAFTA - phony hits only seen as real
thanks to labor aristocracy image control. Hence,
at least some sectors of the bourgeoisie are
looking at this as the usual deal between the
imperialists and the labor aristocracy - a trade
of help in exploiting the Third World better
through "free trade" in exchange for an even
better labor aristocracy position at home: "The
Democratic effort to please the AFL-CIO leaders
seems intended in part to soften the anger against
the administration for pushing through the North
American Free Trade Agreement and then the General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade over the strong
opposition of the nation's unions, which views
these treaties as an invitation to American
companies to relocate operations to low-wage
countries."(1)
As usual, the discussion above of GATT and NAFTA
ignores the low-wage workers within U.S. borders,
which is a major hint that the whole issue is
about the imperialist-labor aristocracy alliance.
People within U.S. borders already receiving low
wages were never threatened by GATT and NAFTA and
like MIM these proletarians didn't care about how
the imperialists arranged their trade. There was
no way for the imperialists to turn the screw on
the garment sweatshop or California farmworkers
any further.
In previous articles about NAFTA, MIM has
mentioned that labor leaders for the labor
aristocracy would use the NAFTA as a bargaining
chip - pointing to expanding profits abroad as a
justification for a juicier deal for them. As MIM
explained in 1993, "this is a common union
bargaining tactic - to point to increased profits
by employers, and then demand a share by claiming
they haven't gotten any of the increased
profits."(2) MIM had no idea just how far this
would go - to the point of eliminating the power
of using scabs in strikes in exchange for a
tighter alliance to superexploit the Third World.
- MC5
NOTES:
1. New York Times 2/21/95, p. 1.
2. MIM Theory 7, p. 127.
* * *
ANTI-NAFTA POLITICS BEARS ITS UGLY FRUIT
In previous articles on the subject, MIM has
explained that the Communist Party and social-
democrats throughout North America are serving as
"theoreticians of Euro-Amerikan nationalism" when
they oppose NAFTA. Now the Mississippi KKK has
proved MIM right. Spurred by months of agitation
against NAFTA, the KKK is taking action.
The KKK is scheduling a March 25 rally "in an
attempt to gain support for an agenda that
includes repealing the North American Free Trade
Agreement, putting America first in all foreign
matters and abolishing affirmative action programs
that 'discriminate against white people.'"
It does absolutely no good to raise the economic
demands of the white working class. The white
nation supremacists simply use vague discontent
about economic conditions to suggest anti-
immigrant answers to economic problems. All the
talk by the "left" about jobs going to Mexico,
Singapore etc. only encourages the white
nationalists, who turn around and support
"solutions" like Proposition 187.
Whereas nationalism is progressive for nations
oppressed by imperialism, in the imperialist
nations, nationalism is reactionary. Economic
harmony and peace are only possible when the
various nations enjoy equality. Agitating for
white working class economic demands sets back the
possibility of economic harmony. World War I was a
trade war that turned into a real war; we are in
that same situation now.
The "left" theoreticians of Euro-Amerikan
nationalism need to follow MIM's lead and focus on
anti-imperialism and anti-militarism before going
on to other issues.
According to the United Nations Report on Human
Development 1994, taken by themselves, the white
workers within U.S. borders have the number one
living standard in the world. The stupid white
chauvinist "Left" doesn't understand that asking
white workers to organize to improve those
material conditions further is an invitation to
reinforce its aggressive international dominance
in partnership with the imperialists.
The Nazis, KKK, John Birchers and others of their
ilk would be planning Hitler's birthday
anniversaries and playing with uniforms in their
basements if it were not for the economic
credibility they receive from the white "Left" and
elsewhere. Instead of pandering to Amerikan
nationalism like the Trotskyists, neo-Trotskyists,
crypto-Trotskyists and social-democrats, we should
be neutralizing it.
NOTE: Associated Press in Bay Windows, 2/23/95, p.
18.
* * *
GOANS BATTLE DUPONT
The people of the Indian village of Karim, in Goa,
join their compatriots of Bhopal in protesting the
brutality of multinationals. In October, they
demolished a DuPont factory that was under
construction - and this was the third time
villagers had destroyed equipment and buildings at
the site. They are well aware that the factory
would bring environmental degradation to their
lush environment - and likely genocide. Their
struggles will not be able to topple companies
like DuPont and Union Carbide (of mass-murder of
16,000 in Bhopal fame), but they are on the right
side of the struggle. Their actions provide
evidence that the Indian people are rising up
against the imperialist system that has for too
long considered their lives and livelihoods
disposable.
NOTE: Third World Network Features Agency (of
Malaysia), quoted in World Press Review 3/95, p.
24.
* * *
BIO-PIRACY:
HYPOCRISY OF AMERIKAN "PROPERTY RIGHTS" ZEALOTS
Another example of how Third World countries lose
millions of dollars to First World thieves: "bio-
piracy." Under this arrangement, technologically
advanced nations transfer valuable plant and
animal species from the Third World for
development in their laboratories or industrial
processing. The medicines and other products
derived from the loot are then sold to the Third
World at extortionist prices. Analysts put the
lost royalty payments amount to $5 billion as
about 7,000 compounds used in Western medicine are
derived from Third World plants. The value of the
stolen germ plasm to the Western pharmaceutical
industry is estimated at $32 million per year.
Small totals, relatively speaking, but repulsive
hypocrisy from the arm-twisters that parade all
over the globe whining about Amerikan
"intellectual property rights" being infringed.
NOTE: East African (of Nairobi) 12/11/94, quoted
in World Press Review 3/95, p. 42.
* * *
SHELL OIL AND NIGERIAN COMPRADORS
MURDER FOR PROFITS
Nigerian soldiers have been imposing a brutal
crackdown on the Ogoni people, killing and
torturing so that Shell oil can resume its
operations in the oil-rich area. Shell denies any
role in the brutality as Nigerian army plans are
revealed: a "ruthless military operation,"
recommends the army major responsible for security
in the area. Plans also included sabotaging Shell
equipment and blaming it on Ogoni activists.
The Ogoni could be as rich as the Kuwaitis, but
instead they live in poverty as dirty pumps on
their land draw fortunes for Western investors.
Since the imperialists are not about to let them
in their club, only self-determination will get
the Ogoni the means for survival.
NOTES: The Guardian of London, quoted in the World
Press Review 3/95, p. 28.
* * *
RAMOS GETS PRAISE FROM BOURGEOISIE
by a New York prisoner
In the December 5, 1994 Forbes, a fallacious
article was written by Andrew Tanzier named
"Goodbye to feudalism". The article, about the
Philippines and Fidel Ramos was filled with
typical bourgeois distortions and misinformation
about the current situation in the Philippines.
The beginning of the article states:
"The 67 million people who inhabit these islands
in the Pacific Ocean have finally been freed from
the shackles of statism and its attendant
pervasive corruption."(1) This is quite the
contrary, the people of the Philippines have
experienced more village bombings and forced
evacuations in Ramos' first two years in office
than the entire Marcos dictatorship.(2) Tanzier
correctly puts Fidel Ramos in his proper category
with other brutal dictators, but notice the
language: "Inspired and instructed by other
political leaders like Suharto of Indonesia,
Carlos Menem of Argentina, Carlos Salinas of
Mexico, Augusto Pinochet of Chile, Fidel Ramos,
elected Philippines president in 1992, is steadily
dismantling the outmoded protectionism that bound
his country, allowing individual enterprise to
work its magic." This magic is manifested by the
displacement of over two million peasants by the
Armed Forces of the Philippines.(2)
The bourgeoisie sure has a way with words but then
again I guess the U.S.-Ramos regime does perform
some kind of "magic" when it "disappears" people
obviously by "magicians" (read: death squads).
As the article is typical of painting Fidel Ramos
as some type of new improved nice guy. Tanzier
overdoes the praises when he says "Fidel Ramos is
cut from a different cloth. A product of his
country's small middle class, he has no love for
the oligarch or reason to protect their
interest."(1) If this is so then why did Ramos
receive an endorsement and funding from the U.S.
empire for the 1992 elections? I'm sure the U.S.
empire will not endorse or fund a person or regime
that will not make an atmosphere conducive to
"protect" their financial "interest" and on top of
that Fidel Ramos is an offspring of the oligarchy.
"Ramos was one of the 'Rolex-12' - one of the 12
with whom Ferdinand Marcos planned the imposition
of Martial Law in 1972.... [Ramos] commanded
Marcos' abusive and corrupt national police force,
the Philippine Constabulary (PC).... He created
the Barrio Self Defense Unit (BSDU) a para-
military vigilante group which attacked democratic
and national organizers."(2)
Although Ramos likes to portray himself as a
peacemaker, he has "made it clear that martial law
would suit him just fine." On the one hand he
talks about amnesty for the Moro fighting for
self-determination - but on the other, he sends in
the Philippine Army's 30th Infantry into Mindanao
which has resulted in the disappearance of six
residents and the removal of 35 families.(1)
What more could we expect from a bourgeois
magazine but to undermine the people's struggle
and make a fascist like Fidel Ramos look like some
type of good guy. Of course throughout the article
Tanzier gives statistics and quotes to which he
gives no reference to where he got his information
so one will be completely lost if one knows
nothing about the Philippines but then that's
exactly what the bourgeoisie intends to do, lose
you in a bunch of equivocalities. This is why we
as an oppressed people must strive to build our
own institutions such as media, in order to expose
the bourgeoisie and their disinformation tactics.
So help build MIM to battle the bourgeoisie on all
fronts.
NOTES:
1. Forbes 12/5/94.
2. MIM Notes 94, November 94.
* * *
REVIEW: KASAMAS SHOWS DAILY LIFE IN BASE AREAS
Kasamas is a documentary detailing daily life in
the liberated base areas of the Philippines. The
film was made in 1988, before the rectification;
it is instructive in terms of showing daily
interactions of the NPA (New People's Army) with
the masses. However, one major weakness of the
documentary is that it does not show the process
of struggle through which agreement is reached as
well as a lack of overall context for the scenes
shown.
Families are interviewed about their relationship
with the NPA. The peasants contrast the treatment
that they receive by the fascist military with the
treatment of the peasants by the NPA. The peasants
interviewed said that they had been taught that
the NPA were terrorists that rape women and cut
innocent people's heads off. Other villagers that
were interviewed said that the NPA has mass
support because of what they do for the
communities. This was contrasted to the army which
was characterized as soldiers who will do anything
for money.
One illustration of how the NPA works in the
villages was to help the villagers solve crimes
and hold people accountable. The villager said
that one specific theft, that of a water buffalo,
would not have been solved without the NPA. The
thief promised the NPA that he would not steal
from his community again but the documentary did
not show how the NPA reached agreement with this
peasant specifically.
The long term way to reduce crimes within a
community is to change the material conditions. We
see the NPA do this as they organize the peasants
to build collective work projects as well as
confront their landlords for a better share of
what is produced.
In one section of the film, NPA cadre were seen
talking to the women of the community telling them
that "if men are oppressed, we are doubly
oppressed". The meetings of the women served to
discuss ways in which women would work together to
fight for their interests as a part of the
struggle.
The peasants in one area organized to confront
their landlord. They organized a meeting to ask
all of the farmers what issues they wanted to
bring up with the landlord when they approached
him. One farmer said that he was afraid that the
army would come in or that the landlord would just
throw them off the land. As a group, the farmers
decided that they would ask the landlord to lower
their rent to 1/3 of the harvest after production
costs were taken out. Currently, the landlord gets
2/3 of the harvest before production costs are
calculated.
After the peasants worked on an agreement, they
approached the NPA to brief them and explain what
they expected from the NPA - defense in the case
of army intervention. The NPA also gave the
farmers a few suggestions for what they should do
when they approached the landlord. The first time
that the farmers confronted the landlord, he said
that he was the owner and could do what he wanted
and he threatened to throw them off the land. The
farmers said that all they wanted was a just
relationship with the landlord. The documentary
did not show the process of struggle extensively,
but ultimately, the landlord agreed "out of pity"
to a 50/50 arrangement.
Kasamas documented the NPA's development of
collective projects and farming that benefited the
people that worked on them as well as the
community in general. This is one of the more
exciting parts of the film - showing people
working together, pooling resources, and profiting
from their work. It was not totally clear from the
film, but this was apparently abandoned land that
had no landlord to suck the profits away.
The documentary also showed the importance of
correct relations between the masses and the NPA.
One comrade hit a peasant while trying to stop him
from beating his wife. For this he was suspended
from the Party for six months and was restricted
from carrying a gun for that period. Here the
weakness of the film is that the process of self-
criticism was not shown. We only see criticism of
this soldier's actions, not an explanation of what
a better action would have been. The process
through which Maoists resolve problems is a much
more effective way which deals with the root of
the problem, and this film would have been better
if the process of struggling to find the most
appropriate solution was documented.
The end of the film showed an NPA tactical
offensive. The NPA was victorious in gaining more
arms for the People's War.
In this part, there was also a comrade that was
wounded. Another documentary - *Medics of the
People* - shows how the NPA organized cadres and
peasants with little education to take care of the
sick and wounded victims of the war against the
military. To organize talks or film showings about
the Filipino revolution, contact MIM.
* * *
A RUSTLING OF LEAVES:
INSIDE THE PHILIPPINE REVOLUTION
1988
By Nettie Wild
REVIEW BY MC234
*A rustling of leaves: Inside the Philippine
revolution* is a good overview of the revolution
in the Philippines. This almost 2 hour video shows
the revolutionaries in the countryside and the
cities as well as the legal left and explains the
connection between U.S. imperialism, the Filipino
government and right-wing vigilantes. Filmed about
a year after Aquino's rise to power, the video
demonstrates that Aquino's promises, as that of
the government before her, were worthless.
Aquino may have "won" at the ballot box, but she
got to be President because of the military. When
Marcos refused to step down, the military switched
sides, sensing that Marcos was becoming more of a
liability than an asset. Showing who is in
control, the video explains how there were four
military coups against Aquino in the first year of
her presidency, and after each she had to dismiss
a leading "leftist" from her cabinet to regain the
military's support.
The film starts with a description of the wages of
sugar workers ($1/day) and moves to Davao City,
the capital of Mindanao for an interview with
radio DJ Jun Pala. Pala is a leader of the
vigilante group, Alsa Masa. He openly compares
himself and his radio practice to that of
Goebbels, Hitler's minister of propaganda as he
proudly calls out the names of communist
sympathizers to his vigilantes.
Classing the People's War as a low-intensity
conflict, the imperialist strategy of using
civilians as cannon fodder was explained. In
addition to the Alsa Masa, we are also shown the
Tad Tads (Chop Chops). They are called this
because they carry machetes and are known for
decapitating their communist victims.
Most vividly, the video shows a funeral for a
union organizer killed by Tad Tads, and
interviews the Tad Tad commander, Armed Forces of
the Philippines Lt. de la Rosa. He says that his
Tad Tads did not commit the killing. When asked
what he was going to do to prevent future
killings, he said he would keep his Tad Tads from
roaming around. When pushed on this contradiction,
he reported that he had received reports (from his
own Tad Tads!) that his own men were responsible
for the killings.
Government support for the Alsa Masa and Tad Tads
is not only military but political. Cory Aquino
said of the Alsa Masa at a rally "We look up to
you in our fight against communism." U.S.
Secretary of State Shultz argued that the Alsa
Masa are not vigilantes, but are organized by the
military and that he supports the idea. So much
for Jun Pala's idea that the Alsa Masa and the Tad
Tads are the real people's movement.
The video also travels to the countryside on the
island of Mindanao where we meet Father Frank
Navarro and other NPA soldiers. We see Comrade
Dadung who helps set up revolutionary governments
in the liberated areas. We see how people's
justice is carried out, as the NPA takes the case
of a recaptured turncoat NPA soldier to the
masses. A court of the masses must make the
decision as to whether former soldier should be
expelled or executed.
The video also gives a lot of attention to the
legal left, particularly the campaign for
Philippine Senate of former political prisoner and
NPA founder Dante Buscayno. It was interesting to
see how the legal left interacts politically with
the revolutionary underground. Buscayno defends
communism in the abstract, but late in the
campaign, attacks the urban armed movement for
encouraging vigilante attacks. For this Buscayno
is criticized by the revolution as being an
"armchair revolutionary". Buscayno exposes his no
longer revolutionary politics even clearer at the
end of the film were he says that armed struggle
must be secondary to the legal struggle. Maoists
disagree on both of these points. First, reality
is that the reactionaries will strike back at the
revolutionaries, but People's War allows the
revolutionary strength to grow with each blow and
with a corresponding decrease in reactionary
strength. Secondly, the legal struggle can help
build public opinion for the revolution, but the
legal struggle can not make the crucial
transformations needed in society.
The greatest weakness of *Leaves* is that it fails
to explain the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist theory and
practice of the Communist Party of the Philippines
(CPP). The focus is on the NPA, and while the
narrator tells us that the NPA is led by
Communists, it is only fascist Jun Pala who tells
us that the CPP is Marxist-Leninist. Nowhere do we
see a treatment of ideological questions such as
People's War or the mass line. Some of the blame
for this must go to the CPP, however, which in the
mid-1980s began to deviate from Maoism.
After suffering serious losses, the CPP began an
internal struggle in 1988 and a full-scale
rectification campaign in 1992, to return to its
Maoist roots. With rectification 3 years old, and
this video now 7, MIM hopes that this film maker
will return to the Philippines to produce another
excellent video.
* * *
RESEARCH SHOWS "EYEWITNESS" EVIDENCE UNRELIABLE:
LIBERALS CAN'T SEE CONCLUSION TO THEIR DATA
The U.S. justice system claims to seek and punish
the guilty for crime while leaving innocent
individuals free. MIM does not share this
objective, because the facts show that crime stems
from how a society is organized, not how the
system assesses individuals. Now there is also
evidence from several studies that shows that the
system cannot even punish the right people, never
mind reduce crime. A recent case involving a man
falsely convicted of rape and who died of a heart
attack in the process of clearing his name caused
the New York Times to publish a summary of the
academic evidence.
"A 1993 review of 1,000 convictions of people who
were later found to be not guilty revealed that
eyewitness errors were the single largest factor,
accounting for about half the cases." At least
80,000 trials a year rely on eyewitnesses for
evidence.
Experiments show that the ruling class has
successfully brainwashed the public into blaming
someone for crime - anyone - once a crime has
happened. For example, in an experiment with a
staged theft with 100 eyewitnesses, the
eyewitnesses faced a police lineup that did not
include the perpetrator. 21 eyewitnesses still
picked someone from the lineup. In a similar
study, even when the eyewitnesses knew that the
criminal might not be in the lineup, 33% still
picked the wrong person.
The U.S. justice system is supposedly based on
convicting people based on proof "beyond a
reasonable doubt." Since 21% of the time an
eyewitness will pick someone from a lineup when
the actual criminal was not even in the lineup,
there is always "reasonable doubt" in the system.
Cases based on eyewitnesses would seem to be
subject to perpetual "reasonable doubt."
From the Liberals' point of view, "it is a
nightmare for the innocent person, while the
actual culprit remains at large." They are
frustrated by not being able to gauge individuals
accurately. In contrast, MIM does not base its
strategy against crime on the individualist
premise of judging each person one at a time. We
are going to organize society to cut the crime
rate to 10% of what it is now just as China under
Mao succeeded in doing.
The figures for picking the right person from the
lineup are no better when the actual perpetrator
is in the lineup. Researchers divided eyewitnesses
into two groups - people who were sure and pointed
quickly and those who had to think about it.
Among the eyewitnesses sure they found the
culprit, only 70% picked the right person from the
lineup; 30% were wrong. Among the eyewitnesses who
reasoned their way to a conclusion, the accuracy
rate was only 30%; 70% of the time, these
eyewitnesses picked the wrong person.
To make matters worse, there is "monkey-see-
monkey-do" effect. Witnesses who knew there were
other witnesses became more confident. This
confidence turns out to have no relationship to
accuracy.
Despite these studies, police do not always put
people with similar features in the line-ups to
force eyewitnesses to make hard choices. They go
on using the same methods despite these studies
that have come out from 1981 to 1993.
The hypocritical Liberals who lead these studies
see the abysmal figures, but they cling
desperately to an asinine system. "'Police are
skeptical when I present these findings,' said Dr.
Wells. 'They're afraid of making witnesses overly
cautious. They want convictions, not cautious
witnesses. But we find the right procedures
minimize false identifications while leaving the
accurate ones unchanged. If the culprit is there,
they'll spot him.'" Seeking respectability with
the police - within the system - these
individualists refuse to face the facts they
gathered.
The truth is that the system only claims to punish
the appropriate individuals to bolster its own
legitimacy. In actuality, the police and even the
researchers don't care about the obvious facts
that have made the fascism-crazed settlers of this
society willing to convict anyone without any
evidence. The ruling class is not threatened by
these matters, because the danger falls on the
common people, mostly the poor and oppressed
nationalities. The rich simply buy their way out
of prison if the cops ever make the mistake of
arresting them in the first place. The rich also
don't have to worry, because theft of bread and
murder of individuals is a crime, but white collar
criminals who embezzle funds serve in cushy
prisons if they serve at all, and criminals who
put poisons into the environment that kill more
than 20 times as many people as killed by so-
called murder go free. The ruling class doesn't
care if it convicts the right person, because the
imperialist government only imprisons people to
repress the poor and national minorities.
NOTE: New York Times 1/17/95, p. C1, C6.
* * *
UNDER LOCK & KEY
OREGON CENSORS MIM NOTES
Mail ... is in violation of Department of
Corrections Rule governing Mail (Inmate). The
material has been rejected because it Contains
material that threatens or is detrimental to the
security, good order, or discipline of the
facility, or facilitates criminal activity.
Specific article(s) and page number(s) or
material(s) considered objectionable: Maoist
International [sic] Movement (MIM) Jan. 1995 #96,
page two, "What is MIM?" Promote of armed
revolution.
- Oregon State Corr. Institution, 2/3/95
PRISONERS ABUSED IN CALIFORNIA PRISONS
Greetings. I'm writing from Pelican Bay State
Prison's Security Housing Unit (SHU), where I'm
serving 30 years plus 25-to-life. I just read MIM
Notes 93 (10/94), which contained some accounts of
torture and inhumanity being perpetrated in
Amerika's prisons. I was glad to find a
publication where these truths and realities are
being printed, and figured I had a duty to
immediately write you a letter to make known my
own experiences in the California Department of
Corrections (CDC) at Folsom Prison.
I arrived at Folsom in March 1991 and soon found
myself in administrative segregation (ad-seg),
"the Hole." Why? For exercising my Constitutional
rights of free speech in a letter to an ACLU
attorney, in which I was complaining about
conditions at the prison. We were on a "state of
emergency" lockdown at the time (no showers, no
law library, no exercise, and sack lunch food). I
was put in ad-seg where guards threatened my life.
For two months I was locked down.
Then I was transferred to another yard. The bogus
"write-up" was dismissed. A few months later, as I
began involving myself in more legal and political
activism. I was harassed constantly for a month
(cell moves, searches, interference with
privileges, etc.) until I stood up to the pigs and
demanded some common respect and human dignity.
How dare I have the audacity to act like a man
with self-respect and pride! I was rushed and
severely beaten by guards with billy clubs. Thrown
in the hole and falsely charged with assault. That
was 8/22/92.
Since that time, I have been shot at and had my
life threatened by CDC officials, been beaten,
tortured, framed for crimes, given additional
prison time (I only had seven years for robbery)
and facemasked, isolated, ostracized, etc. I have
so far been given ten years to serve in SHU and
will probably never get out as I've also been
falsely labeled a "gang member." So I came to
prison with "seven years," and should have paroled
last year, but now I have a life term to solitary
confinement and torture. It's only a countdown to
death by deterioration or execution.
On 1/7/94 in a so-called "cell extraction," I was
beaten and nearly crippled (head and knees beat
with clubs). Upon arrival at Pelican Bay, when the
convicts get off the bus, there's about 30 or so
guards with clubs (two for each prisoner), and
they have you put your nose on the wall while they
scream out profanity, humiliation and rude jokes,
just hoping you say something or turn your head so
they can beat your head in. (Even though you're
shackled and handcuffed). It's really sick
witnessing these cowards getting their jollies
doing this. Then you are placed in a cell, butt-
naked, until some clothes are issued to you.
I could describe more details and additional
atrocities, but what good will it do?! I guess
only to demonstrate the necessity of resistance,
and the consequences of it as well.
Please send me MIM Theory, party literature from
Peru and the Philippines, etc., plus any
additional info you feel I could use. I look
forward to your reply.
From the dungeon,
- a California prisoner, 1/27/95
MC49 ADDS: You got the idea: exposing the
imperialists' crimes helps to build public opinion
for their eventual overthrow. Also, your
experience of being punished for exercising your
"Constitutional rights of free speech" shows why
MIM says that there are no rights, only power
struggles.
PRISONER REJECTS GUINEA PIG TACTICS
I trust this missive finds you all in positive
health, a revolutionary train of thought and in
the pursuit of liberation, justice and equality.
I can attest to the fact that our oppressors are
at the acme of corruption, exploitation and
genocidal tactics to undermine the Black masses
through systematic chemical and biological
warfare.
A prime example of what I'm speaking about is as
follows: On 12/21/94, I went to the facility
hospital and a nurse demanded that I submit to
taking a routine T.B. test. But a routine T.B.
test is annual, and I took one this year, before I
had knowledge of what the real test consists of.
I said no, because I am a conscientious objector
to guinea pig tactics. She asked, "Well, do you
know what that means?" I said yes, whenever
someone demands that I submit to a test to see if
the potency or efficiency of an anti-disease
vaccine or antidote works - just as the guinea pig
- then my moral sense and conscientiousness
automatically objects! Especially when the needle
is already prepared with the liquid substance in
it and I didn't see where it came from....
What in hell do you think they would do to an
entire prison population who the government
defines as "outlaws" and people not fit for their
society. They already tested a prison in Ohio as
guinea pigs under a similar drug. And the infamous
Attica prison here in New York.
Now with the corrupt history of exploitation in
this country, how do they expect me to submit and
cooperate with being victimized and oppressed? I
refuse to be counted amongst the broken men! There
are many comrades who are struggling against this
repression, but the pigs have too many informants
and ignorant cowards masquerading as men. Broken
brothers with no sense of direction, chasing an
Amerikan dream with white plastic faces, in a land
dominated by pigs with white plastic faces. How is
a brother like me supposed to react?
I've been in rebellion all my life. It would be
counterproductive for me to stop combating the
dehumanizing reality of these beasts' oppression.
Even if I die in the struggle to transcend
oppression and transform the savage conditions
that we Black people face in Amerikkka, then the
struggle must continue with greater effort to
bring this oppressive force to its knees and
demise. This is the dynamic of a revolutionary
struggle formed out of perfect love for my
beautiful Black Nation and perfect hate for the
fascist pig and his dehumanized, devilish nation!
I've been held captive in these depths of hell
since the age of 14. I'm now 20 and my mother
thinks I'm too young to be filled with so much
hate, anger and animosity. I told her, "Not when
you experience a bay of pigs stabbing you in the
back with a nine-inch knife and then they take it
out three inches and call that 'progress.'" I beg
your pardon! You don't repress an entire people
100 ways and take three ways off and call it
progress. There's only one ultimatum, and that's
liberation or death. The only thing the devil
respects is fire and with the people as my
witness, let's burn the pig to hell!
I'm still receiving MIM Notes; keep them coming. I
also successfully started two study groups, using
my personal books and literature on Mao, Fanon,
George Jackson, Prosser, Turner, Castro, Marx,
Lenin, Malcolm X, Kuumba, etc. I would appreciate
any material on the Black Panthers, American
Indian Movement, BLA and other revolutionary
organizations. I also request Agents of
Repression, The Dragon Has Come, Assata, Elaine
Brown's Taste of Power, and Soul on Ice. Any of
the above will be appreciated. I know there are
many comrades who request material, and I
understand MIM's financial situation, so all is
good.
Peace comrades,
- a New York prisoner, 12/29/94
PRISONCRATS DIVIDE, BUT CANNOT CONQUER
Greetings comrades,
I just received the MIM Notes. And I would like to
thank you very much for your time. Like I told you
in other letters, I'm in the Baltimore Supermax.
The same old shit is still going on here, now with
a new warden. I have tried to build MIM in this
supermax. I have tried to start a study group and
tried to get MIM Notes into the library. But it is
like this: the library here is not for us. And the
inmates do not have anything on their mind.
Now the comrades, the ones who do come together,
the pigs move us around. When pigs see some of us
that have unity, they do not want us together, so
they move us around about every three weeks. But
us true brothers who are about the struggle, we
will not give up. We keep moving on. We do not
have any time for bullshit, so for the ones who
want to be about the struggle, and be for real
about the struggle, all is well. Time is for real,
and we've got to be real.
In this supermax it is a must that we be in our
most positive state of existence, mentally,
physically, etc. It is a must that we be in sound
mind and body at all times. We've got to keep head
and shoulder above dumbshit. We who are true about
the struggle here in the supermax, we know what
time it is. Now for the ones who do not know what
time it is, they will see the light one day. In
here, all we have time for is to read, read and
read. But most people in here just play all day
and all night and talk a lot of bullshit. Can't
they see that the pigs are making more and more
supermaxes? ...
I'm going to end this letter for now, but I will
get back at you again really soon. The struggle is
my life, and in the struggle I remain. I leave you
with the best of revolutionary regards. The
struggle continues. Forward ever, backward never.
- a Maryland prisoner, 12/20/94
PRISONER RAPS BOURGEOIS MEDIA
Letters to the Editor
The Atlanta Constitution
P.O. Box 4689
Atlanta, GA 30302
Dear Editor:
Don't you people ever get tired of bamboozling the
public? People rely on the press for *factual*
information and all they seem to receive is
driveling, one-sided propaganda.
I'm an inmate at USP Atlanta, serving a sentence
that expires in 2006, and what's being imparted as
"factual" information to the public just isn't
true. Contrary to what was printed, there were not
180 inmates in C-Block when Officer Washington was
assaulted. Every inmate here, unless medically
unassigned, is required by Bureau of Prison Policy
to have a prison work detail. Work Call occurs at
approximately 7:45 a.m., and other than a few
inmates that work second and third shift details,
the units are practically empty. What was reported
was just nonsense. If there had been 180 inmates
in C-Block when Officer Washington was assaulted,
there would have been a line standing a the
Lieutenant's office waiting to inform on the
inmate or inmates involved. The simple fact of the
matter is (and you can bet the FBI is aware of
this) that whomever assaulted Officer Washington
was able to do so stealthily, without prying eyes:
a conclusion which is supported by the fact that
Officer Washington's assault occurred so quickly
that he could not activate his body alarm - an
action which only requires a press of a button.
This indicates that he was "moved on." To be
"moved on" like that requires both preparation and
privacy.
Your paper also reported that there were 85
officer-related assaults here within the last
year. This is another piece of statistical
garbage. The type of incidents included in this
statistic is much like this: An inmate gets into a
verbal altercation with a Corrections Officer for
whatever reason. The inmate is thrown to the floor
for "security reasons," and his head placed in a
choke-hold, while an assisting officer cuffs the
inmate's hands behind his back. Instead of
immediately releasing the choke-hold, because the
inmate is now under mechanical restraint and of no
harm to himself or anyone else, the Corrections
Officer applies a little more pressure in
vindictiveness. Somehow the inmate gets his mouth
in the right place and tries to take a bite out of
his antagonist's arm. Of course, the officer lets
loose. But he doesn't stop there. He stands up and
begins to kick the inmate about his head and body
with steel-toed boots, and continues to do so
until he is either pushed off by a more
responsible officer or tires himself out. Pictures
are subsequently taken of the inmate's injuries,
the bruises and abrasions. This now places the
Corrections Officer in an awkward position. Unless
he files an incident report against the inmate for
a physical altercation the Officer initiated, he
may get transferred to another facility for using
excessive force. With the issuance of the Incident
Report, his excessive force is deemed as
justifiable and the inmate is placed in
segregation.
Another example is the jerk in uniform who
unnecessarily puts his hands on an inmate, in
violation of BOP Policy, and gets pushed away.
This officer also claims he was "assaulted" to
cover his butt.
These are the type of incidents your paper reports
to the public as being 85 officer-related
assaults. While the facts are that most of these
"assaults" could have been avoided if Corrections
Officers had followed BOP Policy and Procedure,
instead of thinking they're in a Tough Man
competition. The true fact is that there has not
been a "serious" officer-related assault here
since 1987, and it has been 12 years since an
officer was killed.
As for Officer Washington, I doubt if the public
will ever be told the true reason behind his
death. It will be more in line with the BOP's
propaganda doctrine to mislead the public into
believing that what happened was a random assault
for arbitrary and capricious reasons. They will
never tell you that Officer Washington was
investigated for having made advances to female
visitors here. That he had a smart mouth, a bad
attitude, and had a habit of behaving in a non-
professional manner with inmates. And they won't
tell you that even this wasn't the reason someone
laid in wait for him and pealed his head.
Why don't you, the media, demand an inquiry and
find out the truth? Or don't you think the public
has a right to know about how many officers are on
the take in here?
Don't you think the public has a right to know
that based on media-generated hysteria over rising
crime, they have been bamboozled into taking away
our "hope." Don't you think the public has a right
to know the true facts?
FACT: There are more inmates serving longer
sentences than any other time in the history of
this country, and it is doing *nothing* to stem
the allegedly rising crime rate.
FACT: There are more inmates serving "life"
sentences, without the possibility of parole, than
any other time in the history of the United
States, and these "life sentence" laws are not
having any deterrent effect.
FACT: Recent studies prove that although the U.S.
prison population has more than doubled from 1980
to 1990, the numbers of violent crime (murder,
rape, robbery and assault) stayed relatively
constant.
FACT: The U.S. presently has the highest
incarceration rate of all nations in the First
World, at a rate of 658 people incarcerated per
100,000.
FACT: There are over *one million* people
incarcerated in the United States, and this figure
grows larger daily.
FACT: Recent studies prove that more prisons and
long-term sentences do not act as a deterrent in
the prevention of crime.
FACT: Inmates are being warehoused in overcrowded
facilities for longer terms, facing no relief in
sight, resentment, and an atmosphere of violence
and abuse that Correction Officers perpetrate,
create, cultivate and encourage among inmates.
FACT: Over 50% of the present Federal prison
population is incarcerated for a violation of the
new drug laws.
FACT: Over 85% of this 50% are Black and Hispanic.
FACT: As much as 25% of this 50% are incarcerated
with sentences in excess of ten years for
possession of narcotics in amounts less than one
ounce.
FACT: There is just as much drug trade occurring
behind the walls of the United States
Penitentiary, Atlanta, as there is on the streets.
FACT: There is heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine,
marijuana, steroids, needles and syringes,
prophylactics, guns and ammunition, and these
things are brought into here, in quantity, by
corrupt correction officers profiting at the
expense of our misery.
These are the cold, hard facts!
To use a biblical expression, you reap what you
sow. If things continue as they are, there will be
an incident where hundreds of slavering brutes, of
society's creation, breach these concrete barriers
and invade your apathetic little lives to return
upon you the miseries and atrocities you, society,
have suffered upon us under the guise of
"justice."
You reap what you sow. Inmates serving life
sentences will eventually realize that as long as
they are serving a sentence which they can never
complete, they cannot be subjected to the
penalties of a consecutive sentence, such as a
death sentence imposed for killing a corrections
officer, and go on a rampage slaying a corrections
officer every other day.
But maybe this is what you, society, need. Maybe
then, the combination of misery (experienced by
the families of the slain officers) and death will
make the $27,500 annual salary seem less alluring
and suggest to the American public that more and
larger prisons, and longer sentences are not
viable alternatives as a replacement for less
employment resulting from the demise of Cold War
industry. When prisons cease to be "big business"
and a means of re-employing those left unemployed
by a declining military, defense industry and
production industry, productive alternatives to
long-term incarceration will be sought.
You reap what you sow. The bottom line is that
society needs to accept responsibility for their
actions (and for Officer Washington's death). The
media, being their voice, needs to provide facts,
instead of manipulating the public with
repetitious propaganda designed to induce
hysteria, so that productive decisions are made
instead of band-aid solutions.
Is violence the only way to get your attention?
A corrections officer was killed: the first here
in 12 years. The first "serious" assault since
1987. According to BOP sources, this is the most
violent prison in the United States. What does
this tell you? Don't you get the message? People,
human beings, are dying; being *murdered*! And
there will be more deaths; more murders.
The blood of Officer Washington is on your hands,
Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Your band-aid
solutions were responsible for his death. You are
all accessories to his murder, just as surely as
if you had taken the hammer and struck the killing
blow yourselves. You have created a system without
hope; one where life is cheap and death is
commonplace. And there will be more deaths, more
murders, and you will be equally responsible.
Unless you initiate constructive change. Society,
through the media, screamed that parole did not
work. Of course it did not work: it was a system
designed to promote the inmate's failure, not his
successful re-entry and re-incorporation into
society. But instead of debugging it and changing
it so it performed its primary function, you
scrapped it and decided to warehouse humans for
longer periods and require that they serve 85% of
their lengthy prison sentences.
Officer Washington's blood is on your hands. And
you need to accept the reality of the situation:
that there will be more blood and more deaths
unless you take action. What is needed is for you,
society, to wake up! Pay attention. Get concerned.
Demand change. Find "productive solutions." Demand
"productive solutions" and refuse to settle for
anything less. It is your right as constituents in
a democratic society. Because you need to remember
that this blood won't wash off with quaint
phrases, band-aid politics, or poor excuses. You
need to ask yourselves what seeds are you sowing
now? And are you prepared to harvest the plants
that grow?
How about a reality check?
- a Georgia prisoner, 12/27/94
STUDENTS AND MAOISTS BLOCK CIA RECRUITING
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is still
intact, but its attempt to recruit potential
agents of imperialism on the campus of the
University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA)
suffered a setback last month after a
demonstration organized by MIM and the Network for
Public Education and Social Justice (NPESJ), a
student group not affiliated with MIM.
At a demonstration March 1, MIM pointed out to
UCLA students that the CIA's main purpose is to
wage war on the world's oppressed nations by means
of economic warfare, rigged elections,
assassinations and genocide. MIM's critics
countered that MIM and the demonstrators were
infringing on the CIA's "rights." MIM says: There
are no rights, only power struggles!
MIM does not advocate disrupting the "speech" of
just any reactionaries. But it's not the "speech"
of the CIA that commits mass murder and
oppression. If all the CIA did was talk, MIM would
just argue against them. It's the action - the
recruiting of students to commit crimes against
the people - that we oppose. If students can stop
the CIA from spreading some of its poison - make
the CIA's job a little harder - that's a power
struggle, not an infringement of "rights." The
oppressed and victims of the CIA have no "right"
to "free" speech when they are dead, imprisoned,
exploited and raped. Theirs is a struggle to end
that oppression and win freedom for the world's
vast majority.
There is a long history of students resisting the
militarization of U.S. campuses, including CIA
recruiting, military training and the development
of genocidal weaponry. This effort is an important
part of building popular student consciousness
against imperialism.
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