I N T E R N E T ' S  M A O I S T  M O N T H L Y

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         THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

     MIM Notes 107                  December 1995


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

For a free issue mailed to your Internet address (a 
large text file), send a message explaining your 
interest to: mim@mim.org.

IN THIS ISSUE:

 1. FIGHTING THE AMERIKAN INJUSTICE SYSTEM:
     REPRESSION BREEDS RESISTANCE
 2. LETTERS TO MIM
 3. UDC INMATES LOSE STUDENT GOVERNMENT VOTE
 4. COPS, GANGS AND YOUTH
 5. D.C. YOUTH CRACKDOWN INTENSIFIES
 6. MIM PRESENTS GENDER ANALYSIS:
    GENDER ARISTOCRACY FLEES
 7. REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE IN BURMA:
    STATEMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION FRONT
 8. OBITUARY: YITZHAK RABIN LIVE BY THE SWORD,
    DIE BY THE SWORD
 9. LIBERAL OPPOSITION TO THE DEATH PENALTY
10. WHERE DOES THE NOI STAND?
11. BLACK NATIONAL LIBERATION
    NEEDS COMMUNIST LEADERSHIP
12. BOOK REVIEW: HOW THE IRISH BECAME WHITE
13. PRISON AWARENESS WEEK IN MASSACHUSETTS
14. STRUGGLE IN THE PHILLIPINES:
    INSIDE THE WALLS OF BILIBID
15. QUEBEC NATIONALISM AGAINST FIRST NATIONS
16. RALLY AGAINST REPRESSION IN MASSACHUSETTS 
    PRISONS
17. SUSAN ESTRICH ADDS A VOICE TO FIRST WORLD
    FEMINI-CHAUVINISM
18. FREE MARKET CAUSES RUSSIAN GRAIN HARVEST TO 
    SHRINK: CAPITALIST IDEOLOGUES CAN'T FACE THE TRUTH
19. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: LETTERS FROM PRISON
20. SLAVE LABOR NOTICED
21. MASSACHUSETTS PRISONERS DRAGGED OFF TO TEXAS
22. SMASH U.C.'S TIES TO THE U.S. WAR MACHINE!
23. FRENCH AND U.S. IMPERIALISM--PARTNERS IN CRIME


* * *


FIGHTING THE AMERIKAN INJUSTICE SYSTEM:
REPRESSION BREEDS RESISTANCE

As the state ratchets up the level of repression in 
and around prisons, organized opposition 
increasingly rises to confront it. In 
Massachusetts, after prison officials transferred 
299 prisoners to Texas without warning, hundreds of 
people attended meetings and rallies to oppose the 
state's policies. The Revolutionary Anti-
Imperialist League (RAIL) and MIM held a rally on 
November 18th to protest the increasing repression 
in Massachusetts prisons. The noise we generate 
over prisoner repression is an embarrassment to the 
state, which wants to use prisons as a tool for 
gaining voter support as well as for neutralizing 
populations it deems dangerous.

In Amherst, Mass., MIM, RAIL and 14 area 
organizations held a week of events in defense of 
prisoners and against the prison system. From 
November 5-11, lectures, films and musical events 
helped generate public opinion and increase 
consciousness on the outside. This Prison Awareness 
Week helped educate hundreds of people to the 
oppressive nature of Amerika's injustice system, 
even as that system strikes out more harshly at its 
victims.

The uproar in Massachusetts follows a wave of 
rebellions in Federal prisons, which pointed to the 
relatively high level of political consciousness 
and communication within prisons--and the massive 
Federal efforts to contain their potential 
political energy. The fear these rebellions invoked 
in the Injustice Department led to an indefinite 
lockdown in all Federal prisons.

In Washington D.C., more than 300 prisoners in 
Lorton jail who take classes through the University 
of the District of Columbia have had their votes in 
student government taken away, even as the 
administration considers cutting the prisoner 
program under pressure from Congress. The 
university's accrediting agency demanded the 
political exclusion of the prisoner-students, for 
fear that one of them could be elected to student 
government office--thereby violating the Amerikan 
injustice principle that prisoners should be feared 
but not heard.

And among those who are not yet locked up--
proponents of the D.C. government's new youth 
curfew are drumming up support for repressing 
youth, as the American Civil Liberties Union 
challenges the curfew in court. It's never to early 
too start cracking down on the future prison 
population.

These and other stories, including the monthly 
Under Lock & Key section, make prison oppression 
and resistance the theme of this issue of MIM 
Notes.

The incarceration system is in an upward spiral 
building mostly white voter support for the 
militaristic state, and furthering the national 
oppression of Amerika's internal colonies: the 
Black, Aztlan, First Nation and other oppressed 
nationalities who are the disproportionate targets 
of the pigs. But the injustice system is an issue 
around which revolutionaries can unite all who can 
be united against Amerikan imperialism. And that is 
just what we intend to do.


* * *


LETTERS TO MIM

CORE OF HATE IN ISRAELI SETTLER STATE

Rabin's assassination proved once and for all that 
Israel is just like any other settler country in 
the world--Algeria, USA, East Timor [Indonesian 
occupiers thereof?--ed.]--we have a core of racism 
and hate that can and will and has been turned 
against the so-called moderates, for whom peace is 
war by other means.

Since this country's violent liberation from 
British imperialism and the arab national movement, 
it has tolerated a level of hate and violence as 
long as it was directed against 'official enemies.' 
In our nearly fifty years of existence, the state 
and agents of zionism have killed, bombed, 
terrorized and expelled hundreds of thousands of 
Palestinians and other arabs. The most extreme of 
these zionist forces have now begun a war of self 
defense against the moderate zionists.

While the change of heart of the state apparatus 
that Rabin propelled was mostly strategic, it was 
progress nonetheless. Rabin's death will advance 
the cause of zionist moderation, the Oslo peace 
process, and even the democratic, non-zionist 
forces in Israel. The contradiction between 
Israel's self image and its violent past and 
present will only assist the left as it fights to 
transform the identity of Jews and their country in 
the middle east.

The Chickens have indeed come home to roost in 
Israel, and while Rabin is mourned, we should 
remember his violent past in colonizing Palestine 
and fighting the people's of the middle east.

--a non-Maoist comrade in Tel Aviv

MIM RESPONDS: Your comments to put the death of 
Rabin into a context of violence are astute, but we 
disagree on whether Rabin was an actor in some 
presumed progress. 

The only transformation of the Israeli state that 
MIM will support is progress towards its 
subordination to a dictatorship of the Palestinian 
proletariat. For MIM's line on why the so-called 
peace process is not progress, please read our 
obituary on Yitzhak Rabin in this issue. 

Fundamentally, the problem is not one of racism or 
of hate, nor a problem of identity for Israelis. 
The problem is the continuing national oppression 
for the Palestinian people.

POLISH STUDENT WANTS TO WORK WITH MIM

Dear Comrades,

First of all I would like to introduce myself. I am 
a student of law at the University of Lodz, 
[twenty-something] years old and my world outlook 
is comfortable to the communist ideology.

I have many contacts among various communists in 
Poland, Germany, less in Lithuania and Russia. I 
would like to co-work with you (have you your 
sections nearer Poland than in the USA? I think 
about direct personal contacts in the future.) To 
this purpose I would like to obtain your press and 
literature to discussions and information about the 
history and goals of your group. Is the Marxist-
Leninist Party of Germany of Stefan Engel the 
different Maoist tendency?

Onward to Socialism!

Waiting for your answer,

--a Polish comrade, July 12, 1995

MIM RESPONDS: Thank you for writing! We always 
appreciate letters from people who want to work 
with us, and it is a special pleasure when such 
letters demonstrate a lack of geographical 
opportunism, the all-too- common tendency of 
activists to "act locally" by working only with 
organizations which are active in their immediate 
geographic area. There are many ways we can work 
together. Two come to mind immediately. One way you 
can help MIM is by translating MIM literature from 
English into Polish (and into German, Russian, and 
Lithuanian, if you speak these). Another is to 
distribute our publications.

MIM believes that the success of the New Democratic 
Revolution in the neocolonies is the key that will 
make successful revolution in the imperialist 
countries possible. Nonetheless, MIM mainly seeks 
influence in the imperialist countries at this 
time, because MIM's thesis that the imperialist-
country working-classes are principally a non-
exploited, non- proletarian, bought-off labor 
aristocracy is of particular importance to comrades 
who are organizing in the imperialist countries. 
Thus, of the countries you mention, it is Germany 
where we are most interested in helping to create a 
party which shares our basic principles. We are, 
however, interested in establishing contacts and 
helping to form and support Maoist revolutionary 
parties everywhere. Do you have mailing addresses 
for any parties upholding Mao Zedong in the 
countries you mention, other than Germany's MLPD? 
Do you have an address for the ex- USSR's All-Union 
Communist Party of Bolsheviks? What is the 
situation for Maoism in Poland?

As for Germany's Marxist-Leninist Party Deutshland 
(MLPD), our position is that it is currently the 
vanguard in Germany. However, the MLPD shares with 
many imperialist-country leftists the mistaken idea 
that the imperialist-country working-classes are a 
majority proletarian, when in fact they are a 
majority labor aristocracy, paid off by the 
imperialists with a share of the superprofits 
extracted from the Third World neocolonies. Unlike 
the pseudo-Maoist, crypto-Trotskyist Revolutionary 
Communist Party, USA (RCP), the MLPD has not had a 
party like MIM organizing in its territory. After 
twelve years of experience with MIM, the RCP has 
failed to reform itself. In comparison, the MLPD 
has hardly been tested. Therefore, we are 
friendlier toward the MLPD than toward the RCP. 
Nonetheless, it is our opinion that a new party 
needs to be built in Germany. This is because we 
believe that a failure of an imperialist-country 
party to recognize that the imperialist-country 
working-classes are objectively--and not just 
subjectively--opposed to socialist revolution 
constitutes a failure to apply the science of 
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to the concrete conditions 
of the imperialist countries.

We look forward to discussing this and other 
matters with you in more depth.

MAOISM VS. ANARCHISM DEBATE CONTINUED

Dear MIM,

Sorry to have been so long in writing. I have so 
many projects and letters going out all the time 
that I neglect some things until they are thrown in 
my face. Please continue my subscription to MIM 
Notes. In reading the letters section of MIM Notes 
104 [September 1995], I was disturbed at the 
continued debate over which is the solution for 
capitalism--Maoism or anarchism. Although I 
personally embrace anarchist philosophy, I do not 
assume that every answer to society's problems can 
be resolved through strict adherence to one 
viewpoint. I read MIM Notes, along with 
publications from many other political groups, to 
expand my knowledge, and hopefully see alternative 
solutions which I may have not thought of before. I 
don't think Mao was correct in everything he 
pursued, just as I believe that anarchism falls 
short of being the ideal solution to our problems. 
I know that MIM encourages idea exchanges, and 
welcomes the opportunity to present your views--and 
I admire that. I only wish to reemphasize to 
everyone out there that nobody has all of the 
answers, and we must all work together to achieve 
the freedom we seek....

Thank you, as always, for your support.

--an Illinois prisoner, 10/12/95

MIM RESPONDS: It is all well and good that you do 
not agree with  everything Mao ever did--neither do 
we! It is true that MIM does stick to  one 
viewpoint, but it is not an attempt at mind-reading 
Mao. MIM's  viewpoint is materialism. That is, we 
determine the correctness of lines,  strategies, 
and tactics, based on the results of their 
application in the real  world. It is materialism 
that makes it clear to us that Maoism, in sum, has  
achieved more for the world's oppressed than has 
anarchism. 

MIM supports Maoism not because no anarchist 
movements deserve  reference--if you read MIM 
Theory 8, which focuses on anarchism, you  will 
find some points on which MIM has found anarchists' 
analyses quite  useful--but rather because we 
believe that it is important to make historical  
analysis of what really does work. 

MIM knows that we do not have all of the answers. 
However, we are  not shy about the fact that we 
have more of those answers than any other  parties 
or groups on our turf. This is because we are open 
to criticism and  devoted to the struggle for the 
correct line, both among comrades and with  other 
parties and individuals. We would challenge you to 
make some  judgments in order to illuminate a path 
forward for the people. Who do  you think is doing 
the best work here in the belly of the beast? We 
urge  you to do some critical analysis, and take 
responsibility for your  conclusions. Some 
revolutions have ended starvation, others have 
ended in  defeat. That difference is not a minor 
irrelevancy. How will you help us to  achieve the 
former?



OPEN LETTER TO OUR COMRADES BEHIND BARS:

MIM and Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League 
(RAIL) are building  campaigns against prisons. 
These campaigns are focusing on prisons in  each 
state and the repressive measures being carried out 
in those prisons  while pointing out that this is a 
continental problem. The point of these  campaigns 
is to mobilize people under the leadership of RAIL 
to fight  against prisons and win temporary battles 
while never losing sight of the  real goal of 
building a revolutionary struggle. 

We want these campaigns to support your struggles 
inside the bars and  so we need your help. We need 
you to get us information about repression  in your 
prison and the resistance prisoners are waging. 
Current information  is very hard to find. In 
addition to news about beatings and murders by the  
pigs, if you know how many prisoners are in control 
units in your prison or  how many are locked down 
in a month or how many are refused medical  
treatment, we want to hear about it. And when you 
read about a rally or  other action being organized 
in a state where you have friends or relatives,  we 
need you to write to your people to ask them to 
join in.

We look forward to working with you on these 
campaigns.


* * *


UDC INMATES LOSE STUDENT GOVERNMENT VOTE

More than 300 Lorton jail inmates who are also 
students at the  University of the District of 
Columbia (UDC) will no longer be able to vote  in 
UDC student government elections. The UDC Board of 
Trustees took  away the inmates' votes under a 
demand from the university's accreditation  
organization.

The Middle States Association of Colleges and 
Schools said that the  inmates' having a vote in 
the election "could result in a participant in the  
program being elected to a student government 
office. ... Steps should be  taken to correct this 
problem."

The UDC administration is worried about UDC's image 
as they face big  budget cuts from the city and 
Congress. Running a big prison education  program 
is bad enough for their image in the eyes of these 
reactionaries.  Taking away the inmates' votes 
comes at a time when the prison program is  likely 
to be abolished altogether, and this insures the 
inmates won't have a  voice in the "process" of 
deciding to ax their own education program,  which 
costs DC Corrections $377,000 a year.

MIM does its best to further the education of all 
revolutionary  prisoners, but we don't (yet) have 
the resources to match these big prison  programs. 
This latest injustice underscores the need for 
support for  prisoners from the outside, including 
direct efforts to get revolutionary  books and 
literature inside to those who need them the most.

NOTE: Washington Post Nov., 7, 1995, p. B1.


* * *


COPS, GANGS AND YOUTH

by a member of RAIL

November 6 -- MIM, RAIL and 13 other organizations 
sponsored an event called "Cops, Gangs, and Youth 
in Western Mass" as part of the week-long 
University of Massachusetts, Amherst Prison 
Awareness Week. The event was well attended and 
featured a panel of oppressed nation youth and RAIL 
members.

Panelists discussed instances of police harassment. 
Oppressed national youth have been run out of town, 
sworn at, pulled over, detained, photographed, 
physically abused, cataloged, and sent to jail by 
racist pigs. One woman told how a cop said to her 
"you look like a ho." 

A RAIL member noted that the police continue to 
enforce segregation while the media openly align 
themselves with the pigs and other forces of white 
supremacy. This goes on even after legal 
segregation was abolished in the 1950s and 60s. The 
current anti-gang campaign in Western Massachusetts 
rallies white settlers against the oppressed 
nations and segregates the inmates of Amerika's 
colonies from the white suburban labor aristocracy.

The audience gave further testimony of police 
repression. There was discussion of community 
controlled policing ordinances under which 
community members elect supervisory councils with 
the power to hire, fire and suspend police officers 
and commissioners. A RAIL member drew a distinction 
between community controlled policing and so-called 
"community policing" programs where pigs walk their 
beats and establish "rapport" with the community 
(also known as greater social control and ability 
to recognize outsiders).

Another RAIL member discussed the militarization of 
the police since the early 1970s: increased 
funding, higher imprisonment rates, bigger guns and 
more advanced equipment. The crime rate has stayed 
constant; the rationale for militarization has been 
the rise of revolutionary movements like the Black 
Power movement in the 1970s.

MIM and RAIL did our best to ban audio and visual 
recording devices from the event and encourage the 
use of fake names to counter the undercover cops 
our event attracted. These actions were based on 
our understanding that pigs repress oppressed 
nations and especially revolutionary oppressed 
nationals.

Smash imperialism, end the Amerikkkan lock down!


* * *


D.C. YOUTH CRACKDOWN INTENSIFIES

The repression of youth, especially those of 
oppressed nations, is on the  increase in the 
Washington area. Within the city, a curfew is set 
on youth  under 17. Outside the city, suburban 
residents are trying to keep out city  youth and 
their alleged negative influences.

The Washington Post reports that "throughout the 
Washington area ...  police and governments are 
stepping up enforcement and setting harsher  
penalties for graffiti writers." One racist 
suburbanite is quoted as saying,  "The gang 
graffiti is very much like a dog marking a bush. 
... This is our  turf, not a gang's turf. And 
they're not going to mark it."

Worried about their smooth-shopping image, 
Montgomery County,  Md., recently made graffiti 
punishable by up to three years in prison. Police  
there "have stepped up their intelligence efforts, 
in some cases even  obtaining search warrants for 
the homes of suspected youth graffiti  writers," 
the Post reports, quoting on cop as saying, "A lot 
of people are  surprised when we come knocking on 
their doors." In Fairfax County, Va.,  the 
government is launching a "You Spray, Your Parents 
Pay" program to  punish parents of taggers. 
Meanwhile, curfew proponents are drumming up  
support for repression as the American Civil 
Liberties Union has filed a suit  to stop the new 
DC youth curfew.

The Post conducted a telephone poll of 12 to 17-
year-olds. First they  got the permission of 
parents, and invited parents to listen in on the  
telephone survey. Then they announced that a 
majority (67%) of DC youth  support the curfew! 
What is more, after getting the permission of 
parents  and inviting parents to listen in, they 
asked teenagers how well they got  along with their 
parents -- and then reported that those who get 
along with  their parents are even more supportive 
of the curfew! The miracles of  modern polling 
techniques are astounding. They also found that a 
large  majority of suburban youth favor the DC 
curfew but oppose one in their  own neighborhoods.

MIM does not doubt that some young people, 
legitimately afraid,  believe a curfew will help 
reduce violence. But we urge people to take a  
longer, deeper look at the causes of violence and 
its greatest perpetrators  and most organized 
gangs: the pigs and the militarist police state. 
Locking up the poor and taking young men from their 
families and  communities, crashing down doors, 
interrogating and searching people at  random, 
confining youth to their homes, restricting travel 
to areas with  better jobs, running schools as 
prisons where "education" takes an  irrelevant back 
seat to social control -- these are all acts of 
violence that  dwarf the negative violence of 
oppressed youth.

The police state wants to make oppressed-nation 
youth powerless in  their own economically 
devastated communities. MIM says that liberating  
DC, like liberating oppressed-nation territory all 
over North America, is a  question of national 
self-determination, and we support the struggles of  
oppressed-nation youth against white-nation 
Amerikan repression.

NOTE: Washington Post Nov. 7, 1995, pp. B1, B3, B6.


* * *


MIM PRESENTS GENDER ANALYSIS:
GENDER ARISTOCRACY FLEES

On October 24, MIM gave a presentation entitled 
"Gender and Revolutionary Feminism" to a group of 
over 20 women and a few men at UMass Amherst. MIM 
critiqued the efforts of the local chapter of Riot 
Grrrl to get more emergency "help" phones on campus 
and discussed what gender is and why we call all 
sex rape. Halfway through the discussion, about 1/3 
of the audience walked out, accusing MIM of taking 
away their sexuality. The rest of the audience 
stuck around and had a productive discussion about 
the coercion in all relationships and the 
implications of calling all sex rape.

RIOT GRRRL PETITIONS PIGS

In response to two recent assaults on campus an 
anarchist-feminist group, Riot Grrrl, is 
petitioning the police to install more emergency 
phones. These phones have help buttons that can be 
used to automatically summon police to the scene. 
Said one Riot Grrrl in the campus paper "There need 
to be more call boxes, more lights, just to make 
the campus safer... It's just a feeling of safety. 
Maybe it's disillusionment, but ... if someone is 
being followed and there's a phone 50 feet away, at 
least there's someplace to walk to and you're not 
totally alone." MIM argued that what women need is 
state power, not easier access to the police. 

One Riot Grrrl explained to MIM that more call 
boxes would serve as a deterrent to assaults. This 
may be true, but it doesn't represent a way 
forward. How far do they want to take this 
nationally chauvinistic approach? For example, how 
about putting call boxes all over Amherst? What 
about all over the valley? Or are only white 
college women in danger? How about all over 
Holyoke? The pigs would be quite happy to have an 
excuse to arrest an oppressed national, or rape 
one.

One Riot Grrrl MIM spoke to asked us to stress that 
each chapter of Riot Grrrl is different, that the 
organization does not have a stated line on issues, 
such as call boxes or pornography. Instead, members 
can come to meetings and try to get other Riot 
Grrrls to support whatever they are doing.

On our poster, we contrasted the "pseudo-feminist" 
activities of the Riot Grrrls and their call for 
more help phones, with the revolutionary feminism 
of the Communist Party of Peru, where women are 
engaged in armed struggle against their oppressive 
government. This offended a number of women who 
continued to complain to MIM for almost 2 weeks 
after the event. One woman argued that the form of 
feminist struggle, and it's issues were merely 
different and all valid, and that it was incorrect 
of MIM to criticize UMass women for not picking up 
the gun. This was an incorrect understanding of 
MIM's position, as we were criticizing the demands 
of the UMass women, not the form of struggle. There 
are and can be positive feminist struggles in the 
First World, but these must be firmly 
internationalist in basis and not attempt to shift 
the gendered burden onto the backs of Third World 
sisters. 

MIM SAYS ALL SEX IS RAPE:
GENDER ARISTOCRACY HEADS FOR THE DOOR

Instead of telling women how to determine what is 
"good sex" and what is rape, MIM argued that all 
sex is coerced because women did not consent to 
being born into the world with unequal military, 
political and economic power. Because of this, MIM 
says that all sex is rape. This distinction cuts to 
the heart of the confusion about the definition of 
date rape and good sex. 

Even according to the pseudo-feminist definition of 
rape, the most common form of rape is date rape, 
between two people who know each other. But the 
kind of rape that gets pseudo-feminists all up in 
arms to gather signatures to send to the cops is 
stranger rape. 

MIM isn't denying that some rapes are more 
traumatic than others. But MIM does argue that 
coercion-free sex doesn't exist and that trying to 
get there isn't possible within a patriarchal 
system. A number of women who said they had been 
raped (in the bourgeois sense) strongly disagreed 
with MIM. We asked how they defined rape. One woman 
said "rape is love gone bad." This response is 
useful for discussion purposes because it exposes 
the arbitrary nature of calling some sex rape and 
other sex love. The woman could not say what makes 
"love go bad." MIM would respond that women are 
taught to find power differences in relationships 
erotic (dating older men, professors, bosses, etc. 
is encouraged in our culture). Too much power is 
labeled rape, and too little isn't erotic. This 
desired level of power difference varies from woman 
to woman based on a number of social and political 
factors. 

MIM failed to get the majority of the audience to 
agree that all sex is coercive. Many of the women 
took the liberal line that since they enjoyed it, 
they weren't being coerced. MIM countered that 
people who don't know anything different than being 
oppressed by patriarchy have nothing to compare it 
to. Catherine MacKinnon counters this type of 
objection: "and sometimes workers have a good day." 
Some thefts are greater than others, but this does 
not mean that the smaller thefts don't exist. 

NOTE: Massachusetts Daily Collegian 10/18/95 p. 
1,3.


* * *


REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE IN BURMA
STATEMENT OF THE PEOPLE'S LIBERATION FRONT

*** Note from MIM: For background on the PLF and on 
the Burmese struggle against the fascist SLORC 
government, see MIM Notes #95, December 1994, 
available from MIM for $2. ***

It is already 22 years since the People's 
Liberation Front (PLF) began its struggle in 1973. 
Facing all kinds of difficulties, it has managed to 
organize a guerrilla force to wage armed struggle 
against the military dictatorship.

It has forged alliances with different ethnic 
groups and democratic forces and groups like the 
Red Flag Communist Party to oppose the SLORC 
military dictatorship.

The dictatorship has been in power since 1962, and 
has used the method of divide and rule to stay in 
power, like the colonialists used against their 
colonies.

After the unification of all the ethnic and 
democratic groups in 1988, the SLORC has used 
racism and religion to split the ethnic people. The 
SLORC has also approached different ethnic groups 
individually and offered them rights and 
opportunities according to each group's strength, 
not with the sincere aim of achieving peace and 
solidarity in Burma. The SLORC has responded to the 
world's demands for the release of Nobel Peace 
Laureate Daw Augn San Suu Kyi and other political 
prisoners by further torturing the prisoners and 
only making a show of releasing a few prisoners of 
lesser importance.

The SLORC has ignored the demands of people to 
transfer power to the representatives elected in 
the election of 1990, and they have organized a 
sham National Convention to draft a constitution 
that will simply serve the interests of the 
military dictatorship. They have also set up the 
Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) 
as a civilian front, and have forced people to join 
it, and given special privileges to its members.

We, the PLF, demand that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and 
all political prisoners be released, and that a 
meeting should be called of all the political 
parties to discuss the future of the country. [MIM 
adds: Thanks to the people's struggle, Suu Kyi was 
released in July 1995]

It is clear that the struggle in Burma is between 
only two forces: on one side is the entire 
oppressed population, who are demanding democracy, 
unity and peace, and on the other side are only a 
handful of military dictators who want to cling on 
to power as long as they can. These dictators are 
using every means possible to split all the 
opposition groups. We encourage people to use any 
means to take part in the struggle against the 
SLORC's sham National Convention, the USDA and all 
the SLORC's lackeys.

We, the PLF, will stand firmly on the side of the 
oppressed people, all the revolutionary forces, and 
join with our allies to wage armed struggle and 
organize a mass uprising to totally rid the country 
of the SLORC or any other kind of military 
dictatorship. We hereby declare that we are firmly 
and unequivocally committed to our struggle.

--Central Committee, People's Liberation Front 
(Burma), Mar. 30, 1995


* * *


OBITUARY: YITZHAK RABIN LIVE BY THE SWORD,
DIE BY THE SWORD

by MC12

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, killed on 
Nov. 4, had a long personal history of spreading 
imperialism and national oppression. Rabin's most 
direct offenses were against the Arab people of 
Palestine, but Rabin served Amerikan imperialism 
everywhere. Most recently, he led Israel in the 
"peace process" that culminated in the surrender of 
the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to 
Israeli state and military authority. His legacy 
includes the dissolution of the PLO into a semi-
neocolonial non- state body under Israeli military 
rule.

A rightist Israeli has been arrested for Rabin's 
shooting, apparently the work of organized right-
wing Israeli nationalists.(8) The right in Israel 
thinks Rabin was too liberal with the Palestinians, 
but this is nonsense. The right sees Rabin's 
policies as a form of liberation for Palestine, but 
really Rabin only succeeded in putting a more 
neocolonial face on national occupation and 
oppression. It is possible that some technicalities 
of the relations between Palestine and Israel will 
change now that Rabin is dead; but the imperialist 
nature of the relationship between the two nations 
has not been altered.

RABIN'S EARLY CAREER IN MILITARY OCCUPATION AND 
EVICTION

Rabin was a brigade commander in Israel's war of 
independence, and personally ordered the eviction 
of thousands of Palestinians from their lands in 
1947. After the evictions, Rabin reflected on the 
difficulty some idealist young Zionists had 
enforcing the evictions:

"Great suffering was inflicted upon the men taking 
part in the eviction action. [They] included youth-
movement graduates who had been inculcated with 
values such as international brotherhood and 
humaneness. The eviction action went beyond the 
concepts they were used to. There were some fellows 
who refused to take part. . . . Prolonged 
propaganda activities were required to undertake 
such a harsh and cruel action."(1) Fortunately for 
Israel, leaders like Rabin helped the soldiers over 
sentimental attachments to such useless ideas as 
"international brotherhood and humaneness." In all, 
some 600,000-700,000 Palestinians were evicted from 
their lands in 1947.(2)

Expelling Palestinians from their homeland was a 
recurring theme for Rabin, including an incident in 
1956 when Israel expelled 3,000-5,000 Palestinians-
-these were Israeli citizens--into Syria from the 
Galilee, after they were driven from their villages 
to make room for water projects.(3)

BUILDING A "MODERATE" REPUTATION

Rabin served as Chief of Staff in the 1967 war and 
then as Ambassador to Washington. As a leader of 
the Labor party, he took the more moderate of the 
major parties' positions on Palestinians in the 
West Bank and Gaza. His view was to seek the 
"natural and voluntary migration" of the 
Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza into 
Jordan. The language of this position contrasted 
with the "expulsion" language of the Likud party 
but in practice there was no difference; both 
parties were for expulsion in some form.(4)

Rabin then pioneered the "iron fist" policy before 
and during the Intifada in the Occupied 
Territories. This policy ensured the mass murder of 
Palestinian activists, their families and many 
noncombatants all in the service of the systematic 
national oppression of Palestine. Under Rabin's 
diplomatic leadership in the 1970s, Israel 
developed a close economic and military 
relationship with apartheid South Africa;(5) he 
also participated in the development of Israel's 
close relationship with the Shah of Iran.(6) 
Imperialist history remembers Rabin as a peace-
maker, and Nobel Peace Prize winner. But 
imperialism always gives itself away--Rabin's 
memory also carries the scourge of having been 
"loved very much" by the biggest imperialist pig on 
the planet.(7) The Palestinian people will someday 
seize their right to genuine national self-
determination. They will write their own history 
then and defame any heroic memories of Rabin and 
his ilk--brutal oppressors of the Palestinian 
nation.

NOTES:

1. Simha Flappan, The Birth of Israel: Myths and 
Realities, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1987), p. 
101.
2. Ibid., p. 81.
3. Noam Chomsky, The Fateful Triangle: The United 
States, Israel & the Palestinians, (Boston: South 
End Press, 1983), p. 97.
4. Ibid., p. 116.
5. Ibid., p. 21.
6. Ibid., p. 457.
7. Clinton statement on TV.
8. New York Times Nov., 5, 1995.


* * *


LIBERAL OPPOSITION TO THE DEATH PENALTY

by a member of RAIL

November 7 -- Massachusetts Citizens Against the 
Death Penalty made a presentation tonight as part 
of Prison Awareness Week. The presenters pointed 
out that Blacks are eleven times more likely than 
whites to get the death penalty, that people who 
kill whites are most likely to get the death 
penalty and that the death penalty does not deter 
crime and is actually more expensive than life 
imprisonment. But their analysis of the role of the 
criminal injustice system was seriously flawed.

The presenter said repeatedly: "the death penalty 
is both racist and arbitrary." It is racist but it 
is not arbitrary. It is not, as the presenter 
stated, a product of a society in which the state 
either represents "the collective will" of the 
people nor is the product of some imaginary social 
contract. The death penalty in Amerika is a tool to 
rally whites and vent settler rage against the 
oppressed nations. It cannot be arbitrary because 
it is a tool in the imperialist arsenal of 
neocolonial repression.


* * *


WHERE DOES THE NOI STAND?

by a New York prisoner

The NOI's March on Washington has stirred up public 
attention throughout the U.S. empire. This march is 
reminiscent of acts pulled by the national 
bourgeoisie dating back to A Philip Randolph of the 
Sleeping Car Porters and Walter White of the NAACP 
during the 1940s. Farrakhan's patriarchal stance is 
made clear in this call, as if Black women are 
incapable of participating in the struggle for 
national liberation. The way the NOI restricts the 
Black woman to household chores is long outdated 
and needs to be criticized and struggled against. 
The NOI's pro-capitalist stance is also made clear, 
their backwardness and economism is bankrupt.

It is known that the U.S. empire aids a lot of the 
NOI's programs(1), the NOI should be made to answer 
to the people for this. We need to engage in 
criticism of our leadership as Mao Zedong pointed 
out "If we have shortcomings we are not afraid to 
have them pointed out and criticized, because we 
serve the people."(2).

We need to pose questions to the NOI and find out 
where are they leading the people to? What are they 
preparing the people for? Does the NOI support 
armed struggle to achieve national liberation 
against imperialism and the U.S. empire? As Frantz 
Fanon pointed out in Wretched of the Earth "The 
national political parties never lay stress upon 
the necessity of a trial of armed strength, for the 
good reason that their objective is not the radical 
overthrowing of the system.... They are violent in 
their words and reformist in their attitudes."(3) 

Can this be the NOI? The NOI's call for 
independence is hypocritical for they themselves 
are dependent upon the state for their funds and 
programs; nevertheless the NOI is a good ally in 
the struggle for national liberation but their 
policy and practices will never truly liberate the 
Black Nation. We need to create independent 
institutions, clear the ground for armed struggle 
through the hard and sometimes slow work of 
creating public opinion in support of our struggle 
while also struggling to solve the contradictions 
that exist amongst the people. "Without that 
struggle ... there's nothing but a fancy-dress 
parade and the blare of trumpets. There's nothing 
save a minimum of readaptation, a few reforms a the 
top, a flag waving: and down there at the bottom an 
undivided mass, still living in the Middle Ages, 
endlessly marking time."(4)

The national bourgeoisie will at times speak out 
against the U.S. empire, because the U.S. empire 
poses a hindrance to the development of their 
market but at the same time they will sling slogans 
such as "Buy Black". In order to secure their 
market, they will also at times criticize certain 
behaviors of the lumpen-proletariat. Take for 
example Dr. C. DeLores Tucker, a major critic of 
the violence and sexism in Hip-Hop music, rallied 
against Time Warner for their support of 
Interscope, of a distributor of Death Row Records, 
she forced Time Warner to drop Interscope and then 
she herself stepped to Interscope and offered them 
an amount of cash to come work for her. Through 
this ordeal she used a lot of anti-sexist and pro-
Black rhetoric in order to gain support from the 
Black nation and all this was done just so she 
could secure and expand her market. This is typical 
of the national bourgeoisie and it exposes their 
vacillating nature. The NOI has an interest in 
securing and expanding their market and what better 
time to do it than when the state is cutting back 
on various programs. It is only through unity and 
criticism that we can mobilize the national 
bourgeoisie to fight a real fight against 
imperialism for the national liberation of the 
oppressed nationalities.

NOTES: 

1. For example, the Fruit of Islam has lucrative 
security contracts for some public housing 
buildings in Washington D.C. 
2. Mao Zedong, Selected Readings, "Serve the 
People." p. 310.
3. Frantz Fanon, Wretched of the Earth, p. 59.
4. See Wretched, p. 147


* * *


BLACK NATIONAL LIBERATION
NEEDS COMMUNIST LEADERSHIP

A recent Washington Post survey shows some of the 
political difficulties facing Black nationalism. 
Eighty seven percent of participants in the Million 
Man March have a favorable impression of Louis 
Farrakhan. Farrakhan is the leader of the Nation of 
Islam, and regards Malcolm X as a traitor to the 
Black nation. 

Only 31% and 15% have favorable impressions of 
white people and the criminal justice system 
respectively. Ahead of those figures is 41% for 
Jewish people. Hence, even in this group of 
Farrakhan supporters who are supposedly so anti-
Semitic, more are favorable to Jews than whites 
generally.

We at MIM are not Islamic preachers. We oppose all 
religions, partly because ideas about the afterlife 
and other world come in as many possibilities as 
there are people. They can only bring division as 
we see now between Jews and Muslims. Such division 
is not propagated only by Farrakhan.

While the white nation is oppressing the Black 
nation and other nations, mobilization of anti-
white sentiment is necessary. China had to mobilize 
against the Japanese and the Soviet Union had to 
mobilize against German invaders. The Black nation 
is no different when it comes to liberation. The 
Chinese had individual Japanese allies and there 
were individuals in Germany who resisted the Nazis 
too. Still the liberation of China was not a joint 
Chinese-Japanese affair. Nor was the defeat of the 
Nazis a joint Soviet-German effort. We must 
cultivate revolutionary individuals from the 
oppressor nations, but they must not think they 
will be credited with an equal part in the work of 
liberation.

In his own way, Farrakhan is saying the traditional 
ideas of alliances were not successful. If it is Ok 
to ally with Jews, why not ally with the KKK whites 
who want a separate white nation and a separate 
Black nation says Farrakhan. MIM's objections to 
Farrakhan are not to his attempts to try new 
alliances for liberation of the Black nation. Our 
objection comes from the fact that only an ideology 
mobilizing the world's proletariat can succeed in 
bringing down the imperialists. The Black 
capitalists cannot do it themselves. Hence, only a 
communist approach is genuine nationalism for 
oppressed nations--or applied internationalism as 
Mao said.

NOTE: Boston Globe Oct. 18, 1995, p. 12.


* * *


BOOK REVIEW

How the Irish Became White
Noel Ignatiev
New York: Routledge, 1995
233 pp. $26.00

review by MC5

If this were a work of fiction, the character of 
John Binns would, along with other radicals, jump 
on the Jackson bandwagon when it made its first 
appearance in 1822, and be rewarded by a government 
post through which he dispensed public works jobs 
to working-class Irish while upholding the slave 
system and helping to subjugate the free black 
people of the North.

-- How the Irish Became White, p. 70

Ignatiev's book is a positive contribution to white 
labor history which serves MIM in a timely way as 
we expand our work in Europe. Our readers will 
recall that J. Sakai has already explained in The 
Mythology of the White Proletariat why Andrew 
Jackson's name is synonymous with anti- First 
Nation pogroms and racial hatred. Ignatiev is not 
as clear theoretically as Sakai or H.W. Edwards, 
author of Labor Aristocracy: Mass Base for Social 
Democracy. How the Irish Became White reveals some 
confusion surrounding race, nationality, bourgeois 
democracy and the state; but these concepts are not 
really central to Ignatiev's book. MIM recognizes 
this work as an important contribution because 
Ignatiev did much of the research we would have 
wanted to do on the question of Irish integration 
into the white nation.

Ignatiev fills in the picture on how the Irish in 
Amerika maneuvered their way up out of the 
proletariat and in to the labor aristocracy. Some 
early Irish-Amerikan organizing was progressive. 
Later organizing was characterized by anti-Black 
chauvinism and opportunism. 

EARLY OPPRESSED-NATION CONSCIOUSNESS
YIELDS SPLIT WITH WHITE CHAUVINISM

Daniel O'Connell founded the Catholic Association, 
which Ignatiev says was the first mass political 
party. O'Connell toured making speeches against 
slavery, saying he didn't want any support for 
Irish nationalism that was not against slavery. 
Despite wavering on this commitment at one time, 
O'Connell remained fairly true to that idea until 
he died. Furthermore, 60,000 Irish in Ireland 
signed a statement opposing slavery in 1841.(p. 6) 
Thus while fighting for their own parliamentary 
government independent of England's, many Irish saw 
themselves as allied with other oppressed peoples.

O'Connell's dividing line, that Irish nationalism 
must be anti-slavery,(p. 24) was a high standard. 
As a result of this, organizations stopped their 
contributions to the Irish nationalist cause. One 
explained that "'as we must choose between Ireland 
and South Carolina, we say South Carolina 
forever!'"(p. 26) Lacking confidence in the 
possibilities of change outside the existing 
national institutions, many argued that Irish-
Amerikans had to be more careful and couldn't 
afford to be seen as opposing U.S. government 
institutions with the wishes of foreign countries. 
Those making such reformist, assimilationist 
statements of strategy were outdone in the streets 
where Irish-American mobs attacked Blacks, as in 
Philadelphia in 1842.(p. 23) The mob "heroes" later 
became important politicians.

SLAVERY QUESTION REVEALS
ASSIMILATIONIST TREACHERY

After O'Connell died, a new generation of pro-U.S. 
leaders reflected what was going on in the United 
Snakes, instead of what was going on in Ireland. 
One such leader, John Mitchell, led a revolt in 
Ireland in 1848, only to fail and go to the United 
Snakes where he supported slavery and had a son die 
on the Confederate side of the Civil War. Irish 
nationalist organizations in the South and 
Midwestern United Snakes thought it wise to side 
with the slave owners and obtain their support for 
the Irish cause against England. Later, after the 
Civil War in a crucial moment of history, a 
congressperson put in power by Irish supporters 
ended the progressive phase of Reconstruction.(p. 
173-4)

Irish-Amerikans made a deal with the Democratic 
Party to oppose Black people's rights in exchange 
for jobs and a pro-immigration policy.(p. 76) The 
labor unions were important institutions for the 
Irish: "From 1850 to 1859 the total was 2,700,000. 
Of these, the Irish formed the largest group, 41.4 
percent of the total immigration. If the unions of 
the 1830s headed largely by native-born and British 
Protestants, functioned at that time as schools for 
teaching the Irish the meaning of whiteness, the 
unions later were to become to a considerable 
extent Irish institutions."(p. 116) Sadly, the 
major Euro-Amerikan labor unions famous for their 
assistance to the CIA in the Third World also 
created much of the chauvinist image of all 
oppressed nation people as strikebreakers.(p. 119)

It is true that the Irish arrived in North America 
by the millions at a time when the Irish themselves 
were starving in famine. A good portion died on the 
trip over to North America and another portion 
shortly after arriving. It has been pointed out 
that the Irish felt the whip to conform immediately 
in order to feed themselves. When the Irish first 
arrived many white Amerikans believed the Irish to 
be lower than Blacks, because they were more poorly 
dressed and were starving. 

This historical reality of the predominantly lower-
middle class Irish who made it to North America 
reinforces the thesis of the difficulty of 
maintaining a proletariat where there is a larger 
mass of workers influencing them towards 
assimilation. It is difficult for a pocket of 
exploited workers to maintain its identity and 
uniqueness as a class. When the Irish arrived they 
were indeed proletarian, but as they looked around 
they saw adequate examples of why they should 
conform to the white ethnicity. Ignatiev's book 
demonstrates that they also found adequate 
opportunity to assimilate.


* * *


PRISON AWARENESS WEEK IN MASSACHUSETTS

MIM, RAIL and 14 Amherst-area organizations held a 
week of events in defense of prisoners and against 
the prison system. Twelve events, including 
lectures, films and music, took place from Nov. 5 
to Nov. 11. Two of the week's events are covered in 
other articles in this paper.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE WEEK

Dr. Allyn Rickett spoke about his experience in a 
Chinese prison undergoing a process of thought 
reform through criticism and self- criticism. Dr. 
Rickett and his wife were Amerikan students in 
revolutionary China. He was justly arrested as an 
Amerikan spy. Many members of the audience remarked 
on the differences between Dr. Rickett's treatment-
-as a serious objective enemy of the people--and 
the treatment of Amerika's prisoners.

RAIL and MIM held a panel discussion on why all 
prisoners are political prisoners. One anarchist 
thought calling all prisoners political prisoners 
was detracting from the importance of the those 
incarcerated for their openly political acts. While 
MIM agreed with the importance of defending 
revolutionary leaders, we do not think recognizing 
the political nature of all incarceration takes 
away from the sacrifices made by individuals in the 
revolutionary struggle. While many in attendance 
thought MIM was right about the political nature of 
incarceration, others were outright reactionary and 
thought the solution to "racial" disparities in 
arrest and conviction was incarcerating more white 
people--and they weren't talking about Bill 
Clinton.

A very interesting discussion followed a showing of 
the documentary film Attica, about the famous 1971 
prison rebellion and subsequent massacre by the NY 
State Police. One woman remarked that solidarity 
shown by the prisoners in the liberated D-yard was 
very different from what she knew about prisoners 
today. She said that there aren't many 
revolutionary ideas in the prisons, but there are 
many deviant ones. It is true that revolutionary 
ideas are not held by a majority of prisoners, but 
their numbers are significant and growing. An 
excellent discussion about the nature of "deviance" 
in an imperialist society ensued, and a surprising 
amount of unity was built between this woman and 
MIM's view of prisons. She expressed much interest 
in the rally planned for the next weekend against 
the Department of Corrections and NYNEX.

In addition, RAIL took advantage of the presence of 
a comrade from the Love and Rage Revolutionary 
Anarchist Federation to organize an event entitled 
"Anarchism and Maoism: Points of Unity, Points of 
Contention." This event was separate from Prison 
Awareness Week and although the posters were up for 
less than a day, 15 people came for a lively 
discussion. 

Overall Prison Awareness Week was a success with 
large crowds attending the many excellent talks, 
films and musical performances. This week 
represents a significant increase in the education 
of people in the Amherst area and MIM hopes that 
they will take their new knowledge and turn it into 
action opposing the Amerikan criminal injustice 
system.


* * *


STRUGGLE IN THE PHILLIPINES:
INSIDE THE WALLS OF BILIBID

by Leslie Hope

On the outskirts of Manila, at the end of a stretch 
of road, surrounded by an immense green lawn, a 
white castle gleams. 

Black letters etched in peeling paint above the 
massive wooden doors:  KAWANIHAN ng nga BILANGGUAN 
[Department of Corrections]

NEW BILIBID PRISON

We pass through an iron cage directly into a throng 
of prisoners selling balsa jewelry boxes, carved 
animals, and religious icons. Inside the huge, sun-
hot dirt Yard are several large cell-blocks and a 
decrepit "hospital." 

A young man escorts us hundreds of steps past food 
and drink stalls-- manned by "The Syndicate"--to a 
cell-block in the back, where we are expected by 
thirty politically united men imprisoned for 
"common crimes." The young man, obviously a 
stoolie, asks us for money. As we enter the darker 
domain of the political prisoners, he holds back 
and says he will "wait for us."

Inside the cell-block there are no iron bars, just 
a big room partitioned by cardboard and plywood 
into tiny sleeping cubicles opening into the common 
areas. We pass by a ping-pong table and through an 
opening into the backyard of the building. It is 
lunch-time, and we are invited to share our host's 
meager portions of rice, fish, and a green 
vegetable.

The open ground between the building and a barbed-
wire-topped perimeter wall belongs to our hosts. A 
crude kitchen has been constructed, under a tin 
roof, to cook the prison harvest. Nobody survives 
on the thimble of rice and fish-water ladled out by 
the State. The thin men rely on food donations from 
friends and family outside the walls--and upon 
their own agricultural ingenuity. 

In this small, dusty space, they have constructed 
several six-foot deep fish-ponds. Carp fingerlings 
are raised in shallow pans--so the bigger fish 
cannot not eat them--and, when they are strong, 
released into the murky pools of algae.

Unlike the furtive glances and the frantic pace of 
the Main Yard, the social atmosphere here is 
measured. An invisible line has been crossed. This 
oasis beats with the seriousness of the trapped, 
yearning to walk free, yet, committed to a set of 
ideals and revolutionary practices in which freedom 
is defined as freedom for the Filipino people as a 
whole.

Our plates are taken and we are escorted into the 
library of Marxism- Leninism-Maoism. Only, there 
are no books in this well-used classroom-- they 
were confiscated, along with the precious red flag 
of the students. The single bright spot in the room 
is a red hammer and sickle painted on a plywood 
wall. Someone suggests that it should be painted on 
the main gate--let the guards confiscate that!

We sit on a bench and the comrades silently form a 
circle in which we are a part. We are introduced by 
name as anti-imperialists from the United States 
and as supporters of the national democratic 
liberation struggle of the Filipino people. One man 
quickly leaves the room. 

There are a few women and babies in the circle--
visiting their husbands and fathers. The right for 
conjugal visits was not easily won. Without 
constant political attention from the outside, 
these men would have been disappeared by their 
captors. The prisoners know the value of outreach. 
Each person introduces himself and describes the 
circumstances of his arrest and the common crime 
with which he was charged. Most choose to speak in 
one of the national languages, which are translated 
for us into English. 

Many of the men were picked up in sweeps of the 
rural areas during genocidal bombings and raids of 
barrios deemed to be under the influence of the 
National Democratic Front of the Philippines 
(NDFP), the Communist Party of the Philippines 
(CPP), and the New People's Army (NPA). If these 
peasants and workers were apolitical before their 
arrests, they are apolitical no longer. Fires 
smolder in their eyes.

Some of the comrades were taken prisoner in fire-
fights between the NPA and the reactionary armies 
of Ramos, Aquino, Marcos. Instead of being accorded 
the rights of political prisoners of war, they were 
charged with common crimes of murder, arson, 
possession of fire-arms. Bail is unavailable. 
Habeas corpus ignored. Trial dates protracted. 
Evidence scarce.

The Ramos regime claims there are no political 
prisoners in the Philippines. In fact, there are 
over 340 political prisoners and ten percent of 
them are here in this circle.

Bilibid is the Ramos Hilton of prisons. In the 
countryside, political prisoners struggle in even 
worse conditions and are forced into slave labor. 
Two million people are homeless refugees on the 
plains and hills of the archipelago--driven from 
the land by Ramos' land-grabbing Total War Policy 
in accord with the low-intensity warfare blueprint 
of the United States.

The entire population of the Philippines is the 
"collateral damage" of a semi-feudal, neo-colonial 
society deliberately perpetuated in agricultural 
and industrial backwardness by multi-national 
corporate polluters such as Dole, Del Monte, 
Nestle, Pepsi Cola Bottling Company, Coca Cola 
Bottling Company, Eveready Battery, Kawasaki Steel, 
Ralston Purina, Nippon Steel, Seimens Corporation, 
San Miguel Beer.

Despite the efforts of the World Bank, the 
International Monetary Fund, GATT/WTO, and other 
instruments of foreign monopoly capital, to 
maintain a de-industrialized Philippines as a pool 
of "cheap and docile labor," the Filipino people 
have been waging a People's War, steadily 
surrounding the cities from the countryside, for 
twenty-six years.

Our hosts say that they are encouraged by the shape 
of the on-again, off-again peace talks between the 
NDFP and the Government of the Republic of the 
Philippines (GRP). One of the goals of the NDFP in 
waging the peace talks is the release of all 
political prisoners. The prisoners remark, however, 
that the talks are secondary to winning a complete 
victory through armed struggle, and that the 
government is incapable of meeting the conditions 
of genuine peace. 

As the comrades tell their similar stories, we 
learn that two of them are international 
celebrities. Both are under thirty and severely 
scarred from bone-breaking tortures. They were 
suspected of sanctioning U.S. Army spy Colonel Rowe 
in 1988. 

Lacking evidence to substantiate this charge, the 
State has held them for eight years on lesser 
charges. U.S. President Clinton appealed last year 
to Ramos to stop their due parole, so they remain 
here. They say they desire no special attention 
from international activists. Their slogan is the 
slogan of the group: Free ALL Political Prisoners!

A concert is announced and a guitar strums the 
chords for A Rustling Of Leaves, the beloved Bayan 
Song of the trapped. An original composition 
follows and the singing is low and strong. There is 
a collective sadness in the strains of the songs, 
so comfortingly familiar to the singers. It is a 
sadness that has been accepted, born of duty and 
determination. If freedom is the recognition of 
necessity, this circle has been liberated.

The man who left the room before, now returns. With 
solemn ceremony he presents each friend from the 
belly of the beast with a gift. Mine is a plain 
three by five inch balsa wood envelope. From within 
it, I slide a folded balsa card which has been 
painted with an emblem. In the foreground is a 
thatched-roof house on stilts. Beneath it laps a 
yellow sea. The sky is red, filled with a yellow 
sun, across which moves a wisp of orangish cloud.

Handwritten inside the card is my name and, "We 
wish you and other Comrades in the USA success in 
your work. Long live the unity and solidarity 
between the Filipino people and the American people 
against U.S. imperialism. MABUHAY KA! -- Political 
Prisoners, NBP Philippines."

I have never received a gift which I treasured 
more. The card-giver pauses. All eyes are now upon 
us. He says, "We have shared our lives with you and 
given you these presents in appreciation of the 
long way you have come to keep us company. Now. 
Comrades from the United States. What will you do 
for us?"

I spoke my heart then, and I speak it now, months 
later. "You have given us much more than these 
simple gifts. You, soldiers, and, you, the 
Communist Party of the Philippines, and, you, the 
people of the Philippines, are showing millions 
around the world that the destructive backwardness 
which afflicts our earth can be consciously changed 
into its opposite. 

"Monopoly capitalism is the root cause of all evil 
today. The seeds of the new society are growing in 
this prison cell. The news of the rectification of 
the Communist Party of the Philippines is an 
inspiration to internationalists everywhere. Your 
dedication to living your basic principles--and 
your striving to truly integrate with the masses--
has brought the Philippine Revolution from the 
brink of disaster to the dawn of national 
liberation and socialism. Soon, the oppressed will 
have a socialist state to look towards once again.

"I promise that when you call for solidarity 
demonstrations at your jailer's consulate in my 
city, I will organize anti-imperialists and be 
there. I will work to create public opinion for 
your cause to the best of my ability. I will learn 
from the example of your Party, which is showing 
the world--in practice--the very meaning of 
criticism-unity-criticism."

The guitar starts with the notes of that song sung, 
hummed, and thought in all languages since the 
Paris Commune. Tagalog, Cebuano, Bicol, Ilicano, 
Visayan, and English mix in organized chaos as our 
left hands form raised fists and the firm tempo 
solidifies our friendship. "Sang Baksa!" We laugh, 
shake hands, joke about the possibility of meeting 
again. They promise to visit us when we are in 
prison.

As we emerge from the political compound, the 
stoolie tags along behind me demanding pesos. As we 
approach the gate, the crowd of hawkers thickens 
around us. Desperation fills the air as the "common 
criminals" watch ordinary Americans who "make" more 
money in one day than the average Filipino earns in 
three months begin to vanish through the prison 
bars. They claw at us and beg.

I can do nothing, but leave. I want to tell them 
that they are political prisoners, too.

MIM adds: MIM builds public support for the just struggles of 
the people of the Philippines against U.S. 
Imperialism and local reaction in general and for 
the NDFP and the CPP specifically through its 
media, through protests and other events. 
Ultimately MIM believes that the bast way to help 
the people in the Philippines in these struggles is 
to build a revolutionary party and movement to help 
overthrow imperialism here in North America. In 
this MIM is following in the footsteps of the CPP 
and other Maoist parties which have a glorious 
history of revolutionary successes. For more 
information about upcoming MIM-hosted events on the 
Philippines, write to your local distributor.


* * *


QUEBEC NATIONALISM AGAINST FIRST NATIONS

by a comrade

In past issues of MIM Notes we have reported that 
Quebec nationalism is reactionary in it's 
opposition to First Nation sovereignty, but the 
referendum in Quebec on whether it should separate 
from Canada forced us to take a stand on the 
separation question.

The starting point of our position is the political 
economy of Quebec. We believe it is imperialist in 
its own right. Anyone seeking to change our 
position would have to persuade us otherwise with 
concrete evidence. Second, as in the case of small 
imperialist countries in Europe, there are times 
when Lenin said it was necessary to support their 
nationalism against occupiers. We do not believe a 
World War II situation exists there. 

Third, breaking apart Canada may seem to have 
potential for causing unrest in capital markets and 
so on, but imperialism has weathered such crises 
before. In addition, we do not support the hope 
that Quebec would be more social-democratic if it 
were separate. The demands of the labor aristocracy 
for more economic security are secondary. On the 
other hand, we do support organizing Quebec's 
unemployed to link up with oppressed nations, youth 
and prisoners.

Finally, we believe the Mohawks and Cree will be 
important constituents in the eventual dictatorship 
of the proletariat of the oppressed nations over 
the Euro-descended people of North America. They 
believe their struggle for self-determination would 
be set back by the separation of Quebec and we 
believe their analysis is correct; hence, we oppose 
the separation. If, on the other hand, the First 
Nations found that they could use a Quebec 
separation to their advantage, we would follow 
their lead. In conclusion, MIM sees limited rights 
of self-determination for imperialist countries. 
When the overall context would be progressive, we 
support imperialist self-determination of 
imperialist nations against other imperialist 
nations. What is principal here though is the self-
determination of the First Nations and other 
oppressed nations of North America. Hence, we 
oppose Quebec's nationalism.

The following interview on the question of Quebec's 
political economy shows our process of thought. 

MIM: The Fortune World 500 magazine shows BCE and 
Royal Bank of Canada based in Montreal in the 
world's top 500 multinational corporations. They 
rank ahead of George Weston, whatever that is, 
which is also listed in the world's top 500 
imperialist companies.

Canadian: Montreal used to be the financial and 
corporate capital of Canada, as well as the largest 
city until quite recently. I was living there when 
it finally and inevitably lost the demographic edge 
to Greater Toronto... It's more quickly fallen on 
hard times -- which is part of the reason for 
francophone unrest.

All the Big Old companies used to be based there, 
but with the demographic swing to the West, one by 
one they pulled up stakes and moved to Toronto or 
points further west. There was actually a big 
stampede out of Quebec the last time the 
nationalists tried to separate -- a lot of hate, 
stupidity and racism -- the usual -- but they were 
merely making excuses for what they'd already been 
planning for a while. Weston is one of those 
Toronto area capitalists -- there are a few, like 
Galen Weston (Weston Breads, etc.) that got rich 
there and not in Montreal (which grew rich on the 
fur trade, and then the railroad, if you remember 
your ancient history...)

One real asshole you have to watch out for is 
Conrad Black and his anglophile gangsters -- he's 
easily the most dangerous man in Canada (at least 
the most openly dangerous one). He's one of those 
queen-loving jerks that tries his ugliest to make 
sure the sun never sets on his 'British' empire (I 
guess that means Canada). He owns Hollinger, and is 
a second-rate Murdoch -- but still a dangerous man.

Also, the Bronfmans -- the Jewish gangsters out of 
Montreal -- they're the power behind the Liberal 
throne, along with the francophone elite at Power 
Corp. and those few Big Corporations which think 
they own Quebec.

MIM: If Quebec becomes its own country, would it 
have finance- capital and large multinational 
corporations? Just from reading Fortune and Forbes, 
I'd have to say Quebec would be a full-fledged 
imperialist country by Lenin's definition.

Canadian: Quebec has everything it needs to be a 
successful country -- except leadership. I expect 
nothing but grief, as I've stated in my earlier 
posts, if they do split from the Canadian 
bourgeoisie.

MIM: What I'm afraid of is that I may not 
understand the real basis of these giants. Do you 
think Quebec as a country would retain some 
finance- capital and multinational giants exporting 
capital?

Canada: Definitely -- but Quebec is so intertwined 
with the rest of Canada that any separation would 
be like separating Siamese Twins -- nearly always 
fatal, or debilitating at best. They expect a 
Switzerland or Sweden. Why do I see only a Mexico 
or Brazil in my mind's eye? I guess I'm a 
pessimist...

MIM postscript: If MIM thought separation could 
cause true disaster, we might support it, but we 
don't think the Siamese-twins scenario is 
realistic. Also, creating another Brazil for U.S. 
imperialism to exploit would not advance anything, 
so even a disaster may not have much revolutionary 
potential. We believe the pieces of Canada would be 
accepted into the U.S. government's jurisdiction 
long before such a disaster was allowed to occur.


* * *


RALLY AGAINST REPRESSION IN MASSACHUSETTS PRISONS

Boston, November 18th--The Revolutionary Anti-
Imperialist League held a rally outside the offices 
of the Department of Corrections and NYNEX co-
sponsored by MIM, Latinos Against Abuse of 
Prisoners, the Committee to Free Puerto Rican 
Political Prisoners and POWs, the UMass- Amherst 
Radical Student Union, and Freedom Now. Over 40 
people joined the rally to oppose the increasing 
repression in prisons in this state and in 
particular to target the new NYNEX contract with 
the DOC to cut prisoners' access to phones and tape 
and control every phone call. 

People holding signs and banners opposing the 
Amerikan injustice system, and decrying the real 
criminals in the Amerikan government marched 
through downtown Boston. We marched past Channel 7 
news pointing out how the media is a tool of the 
imperialists, past City Hall voicing our opposition 
to the role they play in empowering the police 
officers to harass the people, and ended at the 
Boston Common where many people stopped to join the 
rally and sign petitions. 

Among the participants in the rally were parents of 
prisoners who expressed outrage at the treatment of 
their sons, and people who had been in prison and 
experienced the repression first hand. One man had 
just been released from jail that day and happened 
on the rally and was very excited to join in and 
help build the movement. Many sheets of petitions 
opposing control units were filled with signatures 
of people attending the rally and passing by.

People spoke about the increasing use of control 
units to torture prisoners, the lack of access to 
education and health care, and the systematic 
repression of political activists, and oppressed 
nations. One prisoner from Walpole wrote a letter 
to RAIL about the rally updating us on the 
continuing repression in this Supermax prison and 
pledging his solidarity with us. He wrote: "Thank 
you so much for being concerned about the on-going 
UnLawfulness that continues to go on behind these 
prison(s) walls... I greatly thank you for being 
there for us in Our Struggles my Dear Comrades!"

RAIL will continue its vigilance in fighting this 
battle against repression in Massachusetts prisons. 
We are planning other rallies for the spring and 
are ready to respond quickly if Weld is successful 
in getting money to build new prisons and more 
control units. We have educational and organizing 
meetings every Wednesday at 7:30pm in the Old 
Cambridge Baptist Church, 1151 Massachusetts Ave, 
Cambridge. Anyone interested in joining the fight 
is welcome.


* * *


SUSAN ESTRICH ADDS A VOICE TO FIRST WORLD
FEMINI-CHAUVINISM

The O.J. verdict fallout has clarified the fault 
lines in Amerikan society much to MIM's benefit. 
All the people MIM has been saying are national 
chauvinists all along have come out and proven 
themselves. Pseudo- feminist author and columnist 
Susan Estrich did it with her recent article in USA 
Today.

Estrich's article is subtitled "O.J.'s acquittal 
won't put an end to police racism, but reducing 
crimes by young blacks will help." It maintains 
that people are justified in their view of young 
Blacks as criminals. "But getting rid of the 
minority of cops who really are racists--and they 
are a minority-- is only the first step, and the 
easiest one. Breaking the connection between race 
and crime is far more important.

"Jesse Jackson admits that he is afraid of young 
black men today. He crosses the street to avoid 
them. . . .

"Law-abiding black citizens have every right to be 
treated with the same respect that whites are by 
their police department. But it will never happen 
so long as young minorities commit so many 
crimes."(1)

GETTING RID OF RACIST PIGS IS EASY?

As a spokesperson for white womanhood, Estrich has 
said that it is "easy" to eliminate the minority of 
racist cops. She has no explanation for why the 
O.J. verdict will not be able to accomplish this 
easy task. Estrich then says law-abiding Blacks 
will be fair prey of the pigs until the Black youth 
act to white standards, which means being six feet 
underground. These KKK views are now mainstream in 
Amerika. Not even taped evidence of police officer 
Mark Fuhrman admitting he framed Black people is 
enough to raise "reasonable doubt" for white 
Amerika. Instead whites become indignant when 
Fuhrman's racism is raised as if it were an 
outrageous thing to raise in court. Likewise the 
videotaped beating of Rodney King was not enough 
evidence for a predominantly white jury to find the 
cops guilty. Such denial is typical of the 
emotional mists of fascism.

RAPE CHARGES AND REPRESSION OF YOUNG BLACK MEN

Susan Estrich is the author of Real Rape and 
considered an authority on the subject. She is also 
famous because one day before graduating from 
Wellesley College a Black man raped her. She admits 
that the first thing cops asked was if it was a 
Black man and that then the cops said, "then you 
were really raped."(2)

The ruling class gives generous media time to 
individuals like Estrich who foam at the mouth 
calling for more fascist measures to divert 
attention from the social causes of the crime rate 
in the United Snakes. MIM read dozens of columnists 
upset with the O.J. verdict and found only one 
article that calmly put forward some of the facts:

"Only 2% of the men charged with killing their 
wives are acquitted at trial, according to a study 
of spousal murder cases in 75 of the nation's 
largest urban counties."(3)

The study of 318 men and 222 women found that 
"women were less likely than men to be convicted of 
killing their spouses, with 70 percent of the women 
being found guilty, compared with 87 percent of the 
men....In 16 percent of the cases, the women were 
not prosecuted because there was evidence of prior 
abuse.

"Of the male defendants in the study, 46 percent 
pleaded guilty, 41 percent were convicted at trial, 
2 percent were acquitted at trial and 11 percent 
were not prosecuted. Of the 91 men who were tried 
by a jury, all were convicted."(3)

A two percent acquittal rate is too high for the 
"get-tough" ignoramuses like Estrich. They would 
prefer a zero percent acquittal rate and the 
conviction of more Black youth for being Black 
youth. These pseudo-feminists appeal to the 
patriarchy that they aren't being protected enough, 
so please institute more fascism. And the Estriches 
of the United Snakes succeed. The figures for Black 
imprisonment here are higher than the rates seen in 
apartheid South Africa, while white women 
themselves are rarely put in prison.

NOTES:
1. USA Today Oct. 5, 1994, p. 11A.
2. Time June 3, 1991, p. 48.
3. Houston Chronicle Oct. 14, 1995, p. A23.


* * *


FREE MARKET CAUSES RUSSIAN GRAIN HARVEST TO SHRINK: 
CAPITALIST IDEOLOGUES CAN'T FACE THE TRUTH

The grain harvest in Russia has fallen each year 
since 1992. Falling from over 120 million tons a 
year in 1978, the harvest is now 66 million tons. 
The New York Times attempts to blame this on 
drought on over half the country's land.

The Times also says that "more than a third of all 
meat and nearly half the vegetables in the country 
are now produced privately in back yards or in 
communal garden plots." This is nothing new to 
Russia. Concessions to private agriculture existed 
under state-capitalist Soviet rule as well and 
cannot be blamed for the steady fall in grain 
production.

The New York Times, as an advocate of free market 
capitalism, is embarrassed by what is happening in 
the former Soviet Union. It does not show the 
figures from before 1960, but it does admit the 
harvest is down from the earliest figures in 1960. 
This means that the Soviet Union was more 
productive as a socialist state than it is now 
under capitalism. The capitalists have no way to 
explain away this evident superiority of socialism.

NOTES: New York Times Oct. 10, 1995, p. A10.


* * *


UNDER LOCK AND KEY:
NEWS FROM PRISONS AND PRISONERS

CLASS ACTION COMPLAINTS AT WABASH VALLEY

The prisoners at the Wabash Valley Corrections 
Institution (WVCI) have brought numerous class 
action complaints against the officials here for a 
number of reasons.

The prisoners at WVCI are being denied proper and 
adequate medical care and treatment. After signing 
up for a sick call, it often takes 14 days to a 
month before the prisoner gets medical attention. 
There is no medical unit or hospital on the grounds 
of this institution. The prison is not equipped for 
an emergency situation. Often prisoners are not 
allowed to see a doctor when they are injured but 
are told to sign up for a sick call.

The dental treatment is also inadequate. Prisoners 
are put on a waiting list and may wait up to a year 
before they are seen and receive treatment. The 
officials at WVCI are denying prisoners proper 
medical and religious diets. The prison often runs 
out of food before feeding all the prisoners at 
WVCI. Food portions have been cut and we are not 
getting enough to eat here. In addition, the dining 
hall is located just outside the prisoners' cells 
and the stench of bodily waste and unclean cells 
reaches the tables. The officials here have done 
everything in their power to make this institution 
unlivable.

There are very few jobs at WVCI so prisoners are 
just being warehoused. There is inadequate access 
to the law library and legal materials. The law 
library is only open four hours a day. In addition 
the library is too small; it can accommodate only 
15 people at a time. At most 30 prisoners a day can 
gain access to the law library and this without a 
doubt interferes with prisoners access to the 
courts.

Many prisoners who have filed class action 
complaints against the officials have been 
retaliated against, by way of shakedowns, delayed 
mail delivery, and 3-4 week delays in having money 
added to prisoner trust accounts.

We need help to bring an investigation against the 
officials at the Wabash Valley Corrections 
Institution to find out where all the food and 
money for prisoners is going. We need help to 
expose the injustices of this institution.

--an Indiana prisoner, 4/25/95

THE BIG COVER UP!

June 12, 1995, the FBI is supposed to be coming 
back up to Maryland Supermax to investigate the 
inhumane conditions that are present in this fucked 
up joint! These Uncle Tom pigs in this prison 
plantation are just constantly violating our rights 
by beating men in three-pieces [shackles] half to 
death. Now the pigs have their Uncle Tom helpers 
over in the Supermax to try to clean some of the 
blood and confusion off their hands. The pigs can't 
break men, they can only make us stronger; from 
their control units and so called pink room. It's 
really the stink room, from the feces and piss that 
is thrown all over the room. It doesn't have 
anything in it but one hole in the middle of the 
floor and a window for the pigs to see you.

Just last month the TAC pigs suited up on a brother 
on lock up for bucking not to lock in. They told 
him to lock in because he passed a brother on the 
Pod A waiting Pod. The TAC pigs used their 
institutional toys: their black sticks and chemical 
mace on the brother. One officer pulled a shank out 
of his vest and stabbed the prisoner in his arm. 
They beat his head with their black sticks and 
continued to kick the prisoner after they had hog-
tied him and were dragging him in his own blood!

It is hard to revolt behind the door and in a 
three-piece. Plus I received your brief letter and 
MIM Notes. I myself and a selective group of 
comrades at this location express our thanks to MIM 
for producing such a conscious, uplifting paper.

The theory of MIM is helping us comrades to advance 
toward conducting an organized revolution toward 
this corruption, oppressive and exploitative 
conditions that we as political prisoners and 
oppressed peoples are conditioned to in this New 
World Order. We are learning to put in effect the 
MIM Theory, but there is much more that must be 
learned. We comrades stress to MIM to keep the 
literature of conscious awareness coming. We 
appreciate what you do for prisoners.

The struggle must continue, that is why it is a 
must for the youth to be schooled to help advance 
our ability to fight the war of oppression and 
inhuman ways. Comrade, you say we are young in this 
fill of agitation and education. But the productive 
solution is to demand a complete change toward this 
fucked up condition we oppressed people are faced 
against. On lock-up there are a few of us who are 
trying to successfully start a MIM study group. 
We'll appreciate all literature and books.

Information is Power!

Toward the struggle --a Maryland prisoner, 6/15/95

BLACKS REBEL AGAINST DOUBLE-STANDARD IN CALIFORNIA

In recent months there have been some vicious armed 
attacks perpetuated by Black inmates upon staff. 
These incidents didn't just involve ordinary low-
level lackeys; Sergeants and Lieutenants were 
victimized in each occurrence.

Three incidents occurred in a matter of just seven 
weeks, (this included time spent on lock-down). The 
first of these events happened on May 5, 1995, when 
five inmates stormed the administrative building of 
their facility with shanks. Several Correctional 
officers were wounded, including a Sgt. and a Lt.

The second incident occurred on the week of June 
12, 1995. Two officers had an altercation with a 
Black inmate. A Sgt. came to assist the officers 
and the inmate kicked the Sgt. in the neck. The 
third incident occurred on June 18, 1995, when 
three Black inmates stabbed one Lt. and one 
correctional officer and punched another in the 
face.

These attacks cannot be looked upon as just mere 
random acts of violence carried out by disgruntled, 
malcontent, or dysfunctional inmates. In order to 
understand the consequence of these events, one 
would have to know the history and climate of this 
institution. In the past three years that this 
institution has been open, there have been at least 
three major "insurrections" and numerous minor 
skirmishes involving Black inmates and staff.

Any civilized human being would be inclined to ask 
why there is such an overwhelming number of 
racially motivated incidents at this institution, 
especially in this progressive state of California, 
in this fine country of Amerikkka.

The local newspaper (Imperial Valley Press) stated 
several reasons why the last warden of this 
institution was dismissed from his post. One reason 
being that there was an overwhelming number of 
assaults being carried out at this fine CDC 
institution in just one year. It was also stated 
that several officers were recorded saying that 
this was not one of the best places to work, in 
fact the worst, and that they would rather be 
elsewhere. If the staff that is responsible for the 
safety, security, and welfare of the prisoners 
would rather be elsewhere, what type of climate do 
you think this would foster?

Warden Prunty states in his orientation booklet, 
"Knowledge of the information in this inmate 
orientation handbook and adherence to the behavior 
expectations will contribute to the living 
environment. You will be treated fairly and you 
will be held accountable for your actions." My 
question is are the inmates the only ones expected 
to adhere to the behavior expectations? Not only 
that, but this warden is being less than truthful 
when stating, "You will be treated fairly..." in 
the introduction of his orientation booklet, then 
27 pages later it states, "No sagging of jeans is 
permitted at any time."

It is a well known fact that in California that 
Blacks 'sag' when they wear their pants, as it is 
also well known that Latinos wear their pants 
'Cholo' style (about four sizes too big), pleated 
in the front and whites wear dirty jeans as a 
status symbol. Why then is there only something in 
this orientation book the disallows behavior 
peculiar only to Blacks? To add insult to injury, 
other races are allowed to do things that are 
peculiar to them and only them, while Blacks get 
harassed for minor things. These things get labeled 
as 'gang' affiliated behavior so that it may be 
seen as justifiable. These are just a few examples 
of what we get harassed for: wearing one braid 
hanging down on the forehead, turning the tongue of 
the boots, and wearing shirts with the collar 
inside-out.

This may seem like a frivolous or moot issue, but 
if you look at it for what it is you will see how 
truly significant this gripe is. Yes, I am boldly 
standing up and stating that racism exists at this 
concentration camp and it is rampant!!!

One year ago, there was tremendous racial tension 
between Black and Latino inmates. Over about a four 
month period, Blacks and Latinos were assaulting 
each other with shanks. The end result being that 
scores of Blacks and Latinos were shipped to SHU 
(Segregated Housing Unit) programs.

During the course of these events, two particular 
incidents show how insignificant a Black man's life 
is to these people. In the first of these 
incidents, three Latinos brutally assaulted a Black 
inmate, stabbing him numerous times. These three 
inmates were sitting on the ground, as is the 
policy in the state whenever an incident occurs, 
before instigating this attack. In other words, a 
separate incident had occurred in the building 
where all the inmates were made to get down on the 
ground, either sitting or prone. In which case if 
you move it is supposed to be seen as an act of 
aggression and you are supposed to be shot without 
being given a warning, since one had already been 
given. Now these three Latinos were about 20 feet 
away from this Brother (while everyone was down) 
before they initiated their attack. While this man 
was being stabbed numerous times, the incompetent 
officer in the control booth noticed this second 
incident and yelled for the inmates to stop rather 
than shooting. The three inmates ceased their 
attack a few seconds later, unharmed.

Quoting from the warden's orientation book, on the 
shooting policy it states, "There will be no 
warning shots fired within the housing units,...An 
audible warning will be given in less than life-
threatening situations." Now it could be possible 
that I am placing too much value on a Black man's 
life when asking the question, "Is not a man being 
stabbed repeatedly by three inmates a life-
threatening situation?!?"

The second illustrative incident was: two Black 
prisoners were fist- fighting in their housing 
unit, when one was shot in the head by a prison 
staff. He died before he hit the ground for a fist-
fight! These incidents pungently stink of racism 
toward Black males. Our friendly neighborhood 
warden would swiftly disagree with me, I'm sure. He 
would probably refute my claims with the same old 
tired response used by all the rest of the racist 
leaders in this fine country by stating that these 
were all just "isolated" incidents. Well, just how 
many isolated incidents have to occur for there to 
be a pattern? Is it 10, 100, 1,000, how many?

Two more incidents that come to mind which are 
unrelated to the setting of the last two. The first 
involved two Black inmates fist-fighting in the 
exercise yard. As soon as one of the officers on 
the yard shouted and brought attention to the 
incident, the officer in the gun-tower wildly swung 
his gun in the direction of the incident and fired 
without taking aim. The bullet ricocheted off of a 
wall that was about 20-30 feet away from the two 
inmates.

The second incident involved two white inmates 
fist-fighting on the exercise yard. These two 
inmates continued fighting for several seconds 
after being given at least four or five verbal 
warnings to get on the ground. The officer in the 
gun tower took aim at the suspects and had a bead 
on them for a substantial length of time. The said 
officer chose to let the two suspects continue to 
fight for several seconds. When the officer decided 
to shoot, he shot nearly 40 feet away from the 
incident into the dirt near a crowd of Blacks and 
Latinos who were sitting on the ground.

I challenge Warden K.W. Prunty to get to the bottom 
of what is really the problem at this concentration 
camp. Since being in command of the Gestapo regime 
that runs this place, he has done nothing to make 
the "living environment" better at Calipatria State 
Concentration Camp. He has done nothing more than 
smolder the flames rather than putting out the 
fire. 

At times his actions can be seen as adding fuel to 
the fire. It seems that it only takes a few 
incidents of inmate against staff for there to be a 
pattern, therefore causing everyone who is an 
inmate to suffer retaliation from the warden and 
his dupes.

--a California prisoner, 7/6/95

MC49 replies: The thrust of the California 
prisoner's letter is to expose the pattern of 
discrimination which has fueled rebellion. But the 
California prisoner's discussion of the first 
incident implicitly advocates increased use of 
force by the pigs to stop prisoner-on-prisoner 
violence, particularly if more use of force in 
certain instances would be a step away from a 
discriminatory double-standard. MIM does not 
support *any* use of force by pigs, even to stop 
masses-on-masses violence. Revolutionary and 
progressive prisoners need to struggle to be self-
reliant and pro-active in stopping prisoner-on-
prisoner violence. Likewise, progressives on the 
outside need to struggle to stop masses-on-masses 
violence without relying on the bourgeois state.

PRISONER WANTS RESOURCES

...The study group I am part of has been reduced to 
two members now, due to the transfer of one of our 
comrades. I was able to move into the cell of the 
other brother, and we now have unlimited time to 
study, talk, and express our thoughts on where to 
go.

In closing, I think MIM Notes should print 
addresses of resources for prisoners to write to. 
Not only would this serve as a service for your 
prison readers, but it could boost the involvement 
of people outside who take part in these programs.

Thank you, as always, for you support.

--an Illinois prisoner, 10/12/95

MIM responds: Anyone who has resources for 
prisoners or lists of such resources should send us 
a note so that we can make this information 
available to prisoners.

A CALL TO UNITE AGAINST BRUTALITY IN PRISONS

I am writing you so that you would know what's 
going on in the SMU here at the Florence prison. 
For the past year and a half I have been beaten 
down several times and even though I have written 
many grievances on guards like CSO Shoemaker, CSO 
Cooper, Lt. Williams, Mr. T. Williams who all work 
in 2 A-D wing. All of these grievances have been 
thrown away or denied on the say-so of the cops' 
word.

Once I was coming from the Law Library. Both CSO 
Cooper and Shoemaker came to get me. CSO Shoemaker 
went through my legal paperwork, she pulled out a 
letter that was given to me by another inmate, and 
she showed it to Cooper. Cooper then started to 
push me up against the wall, pulling my cuffs 
upwards. I yelled in resistance and Cooper told me 
to shut up before he puts my head through the wall. 
This abuse lasted a good five minutes.

Then as we going up the stairs on the way to my 
cell, I felt my paperwork slide, so I stopped to 
try to straighten it, but my paperwork fell to the 
floor. Because I was cuffed behind my back, I asked 
CSO Shoemaker to pick up my paperwork, but she told 
me to shut up and go to my cell. When I started to 
ask again, CSO Shoemaker grabbed me in a head-lock 
and flipped me face-first into the cement floor. 
CSO Cooper jumped on my back, crossed my legs and 
pulled them back. Shoemaker then put her knee on my 
neck, while my face was sideways. Cooper started to 
pull the cuffs up toward my head. As I started 
yelling, I heard backup coming. I heard the front 
gate to the pod open and another cop started 
kicking me in my side.

I did all I could do to get them off my back and 
neck. I know one cop was kicking me for a good 5-6 
minutes. After I was so hurt, they stopped. When 
the sergeant came I tried to tell him what 
happened, but all three of the guards lied. Cooper 
and Shoemaker said that I tried to kick Shoemaker. 
That was a lie, all I did was ask for help with my 
fallen paperwork. When I was put back into my cell 
Cooper said, "I will get you again."

I want to know what I can do if all my letters are 
being opened; all my incoming mail is being held. 
I've written grievances. I went all the way up to 
Sam Lewis, Director of the DOC, but he says I have 
to go through SMU. I've done that several times 
now, and if push comes to shove I will do whatever 
it takes to keep these two cops off me. Cooper and 
Shoemaker are a couple of power-hungry pricks who 
can do anything and get away with it. I will do all 
I can to see that they get what's coming to them.

The system here sucks but if you raise enough hell 
someone will listen to what you say. So I'm telling 
you out there if you're having problems with your 
cops in DOC write to the newspapers and MIM, so 
they can publish the truth, about how cops do wrong 
and nothing is done to them. If prisoners do 
anything wrong, the pigs beat the hell out of you. 
Now is that fair? I say Hell No! We have to stick 
together in order to beat these assholes. Single we 
are weak, but joined we are 10 times stronger.

Sincerely,

--an Arizona prisoner, 5/6/95

ZOLO AGONA AZANIA

(Zolo Agona Azania is a Muslim and a conscious New 
Afrikan Freedom Fighter. He was born Rufus Lee 
Averhart on December 12, 1954. He changed his name 
in 1977. He is a writer and an accomplished artist. 
His specialty is oil painting. He is the author of 
several works including, "Who Is The New Afrikan?" 
"World Gangsters" and "Our National Name". His work 
has appeared in the pages of CROSSROAD and other 
magazines, newsletters, and journals throughout the 
world. He has illustrated books by Prince Cuba, 
Gamba Mateen Rastafari, and Adib Rashad's "Aspects 
of Eurocentric Thought". )

An ex-offender and tireless activist on behalf of 
the downtrodden, Zolo Agona Azania (a.k.a. Rufus 
Averhart) was a marked man. On August 11, 1981, on 
his way to the grocery store, Azania was stopped by 
the police, handcuffed, pistol-whipped and arrested 
without warrant or explanation. The next day the 
prosecutor filed death penalty charges for the 
murder of a Gary, Indiana police officer during a 
bank robbery. Azania was not advised of his rights 
nor read an arrest warrant of any kind. There was 
no preliminary hearing, no pre-trial 
identification, no evidence presented for probable 
cause for arrest. Instead, he was held 
incommunicado at the county jail for nine days.

On the tenth day, the prosecutor (Lake County, 
Indiana) secured a Grand Jury indictment based on 
false and misleading evidence. A paraffina gunshot 
residue (GSR) test performed on Azania's hands by 
the police shortly after his arrest, showed that he 
hadn't fired a gun. This exculpatory evidence was 
never disclosed by the prosecutor to his defense 
counsel, nor was the grand jury informed of it, 
Azania was not able to even prove that the test 
existed until four years after being found guilty.

On the thirteenth day the prosecutor secured an 
arrest warrant based on the grand jury indictment. 
Azania was framed on trumped-up charges, tried by 
an all-white jury, and sentenced on May 1982 to 
electrocution in the Indiana chair. His conviction 
was for "unarmed robbery class C felony murder" - a 
non-existent crime. There is no such law or statute 
on the books in Indiana! Two other men convicted of 
the same murder were given prison sentences.

On May 27, 1993, the State Supreme Court of Indiana 
found that the police and the trial attorney, David 
R. Schneider, were ineffective during the penalty 
phase. The court reversed the judgment of the post-
conviction court and remanded the case with 
instructions to set aside the sentence of death and 
to grant post-conviction relief in the form of a 
new jury and judge for sentencing, or to impose a 
sentence of years.

Zolo Agona Azania should be set free. Please write 
or call Governor Bayh on Zolo Agona Azania's 
behalf, demanding that he be unharmed and granted 
immediate release from imprisonment. Refer to Case 
Number CR- 81-401. Please send copies of your 
letters to Brother Zolo Agona Azania, #4969 at 
Indiana State Prison, P.O. Box 41, Michigan City, 
IN 46361- 0041.

Mr. Evan Bayh, governor State House, Room 206 
Indianapolis, Indiana 46204 // (317) 232-4567

For more information please contact Zolo's 
attorneys: Mr. Isaiah Skip Gant, Esq. 222 Second 
Ave, Ste. 415 Nashville, TN 37201 // (614) 259-0072

Ms. Michelle A. Simmons, Esq. Attorney at Law 119 
1/2 West Maumee Street Angola, IN 46703 // (219) 
665-9779

PRISONER CONTINUES LONG FIGHT AGAINST CENSORSHIP

Dear friends at MIM Notes,

I used to be at a prison called Potosi, and I used 
to receive your newspaper. Once the prison censored 
MIM Notes issue #86, so I filed suit in court. I 
have a lawyer and a trial is set for October 30, 
1995. The prison officials said that MN #86 was 
full of racially inflammatory articles. That's the 
reason they gave for not giving me the paper, so 
I'm suing. I would like to receive MIM Notes again. 
I will keep you up on how the censorship trial 
against that prison turns out.

In solidarity,

--A Missouri prisoner, 10/17/95

ILLITERACY AND CORRUPTION IN MISSISSIPPI

This prison is probably the most corrupt prison in 
America and many other countries. With this 
population approximately 8,000 strong and 80% being 
functionally illiterate, you can better understand 
the corruption and fear most prisoners succumb to.

--a Mississippi prisoner, 10/15/95



* * *


SLAVE LABOR NOTICED

"More than 100 million Asian children--some as 
young as 4--are forced to work in appalling 
conditions to make consumer products for Western 
nations, an Australian group charged. . .

"The Anti-Slavery Society said that 104 to 146 
million children, most of them in India, are making 
car parts, jewelry, clothing, toys, food, 
fireworks, chemicals and other goods in 
sweatshops." Work hours are from 6 a.m. to 
midnight, include beatings for going to the 
bathroom more than 3 minutes and no regular meals.

Critics of MIM's theory on the labor aristocracy 
charge that Amerikan workers require outrageously 
high rates of pay because their cost of living is 
higher. When children are forced into hard labor 
there is no discussion to be had over cost of 
living--Amerikan workers lived at a jacked up 
standard, while children in the Third World pay for 
this standard with their lives.

NOTES: AP in Boston Globe September 19, 1995, p. 5.


* * *


MASSACHUSETTS PRISONERS DRAGGED OFF TO TEXAS

On November 1, Massachusetts so-called corrections 
officers rounded up 299 prisoners in the middle of 
the night and sent them without warning to board a 
plane to Texas.(1) The number would have been 300, 
but one of those scheduled to be shipped was beaten 
too badly by guards to travel. The pigs sought 
maximum efficiency in the move by using dogs and 
denying prisoners the few moments needed to pack 
personal stuff such as eyeglasses, dentures, or 
shoes.(2)

Prison officials said that such sudden out-of-state 
moves are allowed in "public safety emergencies"--
which is what they suddenly declared "prison 
overcrowding" to be.(3) In fact, the move is a 
political stunt to galvanize Massachusetts voters 
into supporting the construction of more and more 
prisons.

The move clearly broke the rules that prisons claim 
to follow, rules that one American Civil Liberties 
Union spokesperson called "collected works of 
fiction of rules and regulations."(4) Prisoners 
received no hearings before being transferred and 
transfer orders did not even correspond to prison 
infraction charges. In fact, prisoners with good 
behavior records were chosen.

The Dallas County Jail, where the prisoners are 
now, is basically a control unit using various 
sensory deprivation techniques.(5) The bourgeois 
press would have us believe that the prisoners' 
protest against the move means that their 
conditions in Massachusetts were good; the Boston 
Globe was quick to provide the view of the jailers 
that "[Massachusetts] Gov. Weld only made the move 
because of a lawsuit filed by inmates angry about 
overcrowding in Massachusetts."(6) The governor's 
supposed lack of options is blatantly false, as 
there are hundreds of beds available at minimum 
security prisons in Massachusetts. And this 
supposed sensitivity to prisoners has nothing to do 
with the way Massachusetts prisons are increasing 
their repression.

In fact, prisoners' organization around the issue 
is being repressed wholesale, according to a Boston 
University professor who teaches one of the last 
remaining higher-education courses in the state's 
prisons.(7) Her students told her that a 
legislative committee of prisoners at Norfolk that 
was looking to make a legal challenge to the 
transfer of their fellow prisoners was destroyed, 
with 12 of the 14 prisoners involved being 
transferred or put in lockdown.

This makes organization on the part of those on the 
outside even more important. And there is progress 
in that direction. Hundreds of people attended a 
meeting organized by the American Friends Service 
Committee in Cambridge a week after the transfer. 
On November 10, Latinos Against Abuse of Prisoners 
held a press conference on the issue. Some 
prisoners' parents spoke at the press conference, 
and one told of the hope her son (who was 
transferred to Texas) expressed that the prisoners 
might be transferred back because of the organizing 
and protests going on in Massachusetts.

MIM and the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League 
(RAIL) have also stepped up their organizing 
efforts inside and outside of Massachusetts prisons 
(see Prison Awareness Week and Rally stories in 
this issue). Activists on the outside must respond 
to every tightening of the noose around the 
oppressed in prisons. But, as recent events clearly 
show, we must also be prepared for the state to 
respond with ever-increasing repression.

NOTES:

1. Boston Globe, Nov. 3, 1995. p. 21.
2. American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) 
spokesperson, speaking at a meeting for friends and 
family of transferred prisoners in Cambridge, 
Mass., Nov. 8, 1995.
3. Boston Globe, Nov. 3, 1995. p. 22.
4. ACLU spokesperson, speaking at a meeting for 
friends and family of transferred prisoners in 
Cambridge, Mass., Nov. 8, 1995.
5. "Are Massachusetts Prisons Overcrowded?" AFSC 
Pamphlet. Write for a copy: 2161 Massachusetts 
Avenue, Cambridge, MA, 02140 e-mail: 
afscero@igc.apc.org.
6. Boston Globe, Nov. 3, 1995. p. 22.
7. BU professor and prisoner activist speaking at a 
meeting for friends and family of transferred 
prisoners in Cambridge, MA, Nov. 8, 1995.


* * *


*** The following flier is one of two which marked 
the beginning of the California Revolutionary Anti-
Imperialist League (RAIL)'s anti-militarism 
campaign, whose aim is to expose and ultimately 
defeat U.S. militarism, U.S. imperialism, and the 
University of California (U.C.)'s ties to the U.S. 
war machine. ***

SMASH U.C.'S TIES TO THE U.S. WAR MACHINE!

The University of California (U.C.) has extensive 
ties to the military- industrial complex. These 
ties include:

 U.C. management of New Mexico's Los Alamos 
National Laboratory (LANL) and Northern 
California's Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory 
(LLNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). 
Under U.C. supervision, LANL developed the atomic 
bomb which was dropped on the people of Hiroshima 
and Nagasaki, and which to this day is used by U.S. 
imperialism to threaten the world's people. Most 
nuclear weapons research on design, weapons 
applications, safeguards and isotope separation is 
conducted at LANL and LLNL. LANL and LLNL are the 
only labs in the United Snakes which are authorized 
to design and test nuclear warheads. That's why 
each warhead in the U.S. stockpile bears the seal 
of the University of California. The current 
contracts between U.C. and the DOE were approved by 
the U.C. Board of Regents and the DOE in November 
1992 and expire in September 1997. The contracts 
also can be terminated by either side with a year's 
notice.

U.C. acceptance of grants and contracts from the 
U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). In Fiscal Year 
1989, U.C. accepted $72,304,000 total in the form 
of contracts with and grants from the DOD. Among 
educational institutions, UC is the fourth-biggest 
recipient of military contracts and grants. UCLA 
alone received $18.7 million in Pentagon research 
funding in Fiscal Year 1993. More than half of this 
went to UCLA's engineering school.

 The Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC)'s 
continued presence on U.C. campuses. The ROTC 
trains young UC students to become potential cannon 
fodder and/or hired killers for the U.S. war 
machine. ROTC also continues to discriminate 
against gays, lesbians and bisexuals.

Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) P.O. 
Box 29670 Los Angeles, CA 90029-0670

RAIL is led by the Maoist Internationalist Movement 
(MIM), a revolutionary communist party. Struggle 
with, work with, finance and join RAIL as we 
campaign to expose and ultimately defeat U.S. 
imperialism, U.S. militarism, and U.C.'s support 
for the U.S. war machine. Send $1 cash for a sample 
copy of RAIL's newspaper, RAIL Notes.


COME TO THE FOLLOWING MOVIES TO GET INVOLVED AND 
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE ANTI-MILITARISM CAMPAIGN:

December 1: 7pm, UCLA's Ackerman 3508: Controlling 
Interest

December 5: 7pm, UCLA's Ackerman 3516: State of 
Siege

Presented by MIM and RAIL, each film will be 
followed by a discussion.


* * *


FRENCH AND U.S. IMPERIALISM--PARTNERS IN CRIME

Last month MIM Notes reported on French 
imperialism's acts of aggression in the Pacific. 
This month we wish to draw attention to U.S. 
imperialism's quiet but significant role in 
supporting these acts of aggression.

The principal contradiction in the world today is 
between imperialism and the oppressed nations. In 
other words, while the imperialist powers compete 
with each other, they are principally partners in 
crime in their maneuvers against the people. In 
this context, U.S. imperialism has aided French 
imperialism in its recent acts of aggression. 
"Despite its public opposition to atomic testing in 
the Pacific, the Clinton administration has enraged 
antinuclear activists by allowing French military 
aircraft, en route to Tahiti, to make routine stops 
at LAX [Los Angeles International Airport]. Their 
top-secret cargoes may have included the plutonium 
sub- assemblies for the 110-kiloton thermonuclear 
device exploded...at Fangatufa Atoll in French-
occupied Polynesia.... 

"California's Lawrence Livermore Laboratory... has 
provided indispensable technical assistance to a 
new $4 billion nuclear-weapons center near 
Bordeaux, and French military scientists have been 
allowed to simulate nuclear explosions with 
Livermore's superlasers. The French also have been 
offered access to state-of-the-art experiments 
being conducted at Los Alamos [National Laboratory] 
(New Mexico)."(1) The Lawrence Livermore National 
Laboratory and the Los Alamos National Laboratory 
are both managed by the University of California 
(U.C.), whose oversight role lends a veil of 
legitimacy to these laboratories' crimes against 
the world's people. The California chapter of the 
Revolutionary Anti- Imperialist League (RAIL), a 
MIM-led organization, is leading a campaign to 
expose and ultimately sever U.C.'s ties to the 
military-industrial complex.

For more information about this campaign, write to 
RAIL P.O. Box 29670 Los Angeles, CA 90029-0670.

NOTES: L.A. Weekly, Oct., 6, 1995, p. 8.