This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
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THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT
MIM NOTES 112 MID-APRIL 1996
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.
MIM NOTES 112 INCLUDES:
1. ST. LOUIS POLICE MURDER BLACK YOUTH
2. PAN AFRICANIST STUDENTS AND YOUTH COMMEMORATE
SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE
3. "DEMOCRATIC" U.S.-RAMOS REGIME IS A MONUMENTAL
FARCE
4. LETTERS TO MIM
5. BIZARRE LEFT GROUP RESPONDS TO SPARTACIST
LEAGUE
6. SOCIAL CONTROL BEYOND THE PRISON WALLS
7. RAIL CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY WITH
RALLY AGAINST ROTC
8. PRISONS AWARENESS WEEK AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
MICHIGAN
9. JAILED WOMEN DENIED VISITS WITH THEIR CHILDREN
10. MIM NOTES IS THE PEOPLE'S PROPERTY
11. TWO ROADS FOR ENVIRONMENTALISM
12. ENVIRONMENTALISTS PROTEST CHEMICAL WEAPONS
TRAINING SCHOOL
13. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND
PRISONS
14. RAMONA AFRICA BLASTS AMERIKKKA; CALLS ON THE
PEOPLE TO DEFEND MUMIA
15. MASSACHUSETTS ACTIVISTS CONTINUE VIGILANCE
AGAINST PRISON REPRESSION
16. MOVIE REVIEW: DEAD MAN WALKING
17. MOVIE REVIEW: THE BIRD CAGE
18. MOVIE REVIEW: RUMBLE IN THE BRONX
19. NPR CAN'T COMPREHEND NATIONAL LIBERATION
20. SETTLERS SHIFT INTO STOCK OWNERSHIP
21. LABOR ARISTOCRACY AND PETTY-BOURGEOISIE GET
MORE GRAVY
* * *
ST. LOUIS POLICE MURDER BLACK YOUTH
by a member of RAIL
St Louis--Amerika's pigs have murdered another
Black youth. On January 8 at 4 p.m., officer Eddie
Sanchez shot Garland Carter, 17 years old and
unarmed, twice in the back and killed him.
The Black Panthers first pointed out that the
police are really an army of imperialist occupation
within the Black communities. MIM agrees with this
analysis, the case of Garland Carter is the latest
illustration of this fact.(1)
Officer Eddie Sanchez was known in Garland Carter's
neighborhood for harassing Black youth. In the
past, when Sanchez would tell youth to "move on,"
Garland Carter would correctly tell him "this is
our neighborhood."
The police claim they wanted to question Garland
Carter about a robbery. The day of the shooting,
they went to Garland's grandmother's home and told
her that if Garland did not show up for questioning
the next day, they would shoot him.
They didn't wait for the next day.
Later that day, a police car drove slowly and
deliberately by Garland's home. A police officer
formed his fingers as if they were a gun, pointed
the imaginary gun out the car window, "fired" it at
Garland's home, and then drove away.
Finally, at 4 p.m. that day, Amerikkkan pig Eddie
Sanchez chased Garland Carter down the 1700 block
of Cass Avenue and around a corner, where he shot
Garland twice and killed him. One young Black man
who witnessed the shooting told Sanchez "Don't try
to put a gun on him!" as Sanchez walked back to his
car, took a black bag out of the trunk, and then
returned to Garland's body. (The young man was
arrested, charged with interfering with police
business, taken to jail and beaten.)
Witnesses say Garland was unarmed. Chief of
Detectives Lt. Co. Joseph Mokwa told Garland's
father, minutes after the shooting, that Garland
was unarmed. Later that day police said they found
an automatic weapon on Garland. The next day they
said it was a .22-caliber pistol. A week later,
investigators recovered a .22-caliber pistol, a
tear gas gun, and a toy pistol from the trunk of
Sanchez' patrol car, and reported to the press that
Sanchez was expected to be suspended without pay.
Instead, Sanchez, who is a former Navy SEAL, went
on "administrative leave," with pay. The community
outcry exposed the pigs' lie and forced them to
drop it.
The day after Garland's murder, more than 100
people met in a neighborhood center to discuss
Garland's murder with a lawyer. The pigs took note
of who came and who left.
Police Chief Henderson had pleaded in the St. Louis
Post Dispatch for witnesses to come to the police
station and make statements. Those who did so were
arrested or told to go home; some were even beaten.
This whole story is a valuable experience for the
Black community, and the international proletariat.
These people of Garland Carter's neighborhood
should be applauded and feel pride for standing up
to pig oppression. It's time to discuss, analyze
and learn from experiences like this. Police
violence does not intimidate the Black nation; it
only exposes the police for the oppressors that
they are. Their power is illegitimate, a bloody
obstacle to self-determination and development of
Black people, an oppressive yoke to be thrown off.
Amerika's police don't "serve and protect;" they
harass and oppress. In recent years, this
oppression has increased. Pigs are warehousing
Black youth in Amerika's prisons, murdering and
torturing them on a regular basis. Currently, one-
third of Black youth in Amerika is either in
prison, on parole, or on probation.(2)
They've already brought back chain gangs in
Alabama. And the Missouri senate is considering
chain gangs for Missouri's prison system. State
Senator Bill Kenny, (R-Lee's Summit), who has co-
sponsored a bill modeled after the Alabama law,
said "I'm not concerned about what the prisoner
feels on a chain gang. I think it's a good idea to
make it degrading."(3)
MIM Notes and RAIL Notes report stories like
Garland Carter's on a regular basis.(4) But this
writer has to wonder how many stories are going
unreported. MIM and RAIL encourage our readers to
write articles or send up information about other
cases of police oppression. These crimes of
imperialism should be exposed for what they are.
This is part of the process of overthrowing the
system of imperialist oppression.
DOWN WITH WHITE SUPREMACY!
BUILD A MAOIST VANGUARD PARTY!
BUILD PUBLIC OPINION IN FAVOR OF NATIONAL
LIBERATION FOR THE BLACK NATION!
REVOLUTION UNTIL VICTORY!
NOTES:
1. Information for this story comes form the
following news articles: St. Louis American Jan.
10, 1995 "Family Calls Youth's Shooting a 'Murder'"
and "Columnist Gives View of Shooting." St. Louis
Post Dispatch, Jan. 9, 1996, "Officer Fatally
Shoots Robbery Suspect During Chase." St Louis Post
Dispatch, Jan 17, 1996, "Police Find Guns in Car of
Officer Who Shot Teen."
2. Information from the Sentencing Project quote in
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
3. St. Louis Post Dispatch Jan. 17, 1996
4. See RAIL Notes Fall 1995 "Masses protest murder
in Lincoln Heights: pigs execute 14-year-old," MIM
Notes August '95 "Like a foreign troop: San
Francisco cops kill Black man," and the Under lock
and Key section of any issue of MIM Notes.
* * *
PAN AFRICANIST STUDENTS AND YOUTH COMMEMORATE
SHARPEVILLE MASSACRE
On March 23 in Washington, D.C. the Pan-African
Student/Youth Movement (PASYM) sponsored a speaker
from the Azanian Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) in
commemoration of the March 1960 massacre of 67
Azanians who were protesting South Africa's
repressive pass laws. The speaker emphasized the
need for a Pan Africanist, socialist revolutionary
movement, and indicted the neo-colonial Mandela
regime for its negotiated road to an empty power.
MIM supports this speaker's analysis of the current
South African regime. MIM holds that nations
oppressed by imperialism need revolutionary
nationalist struggles to achieve liberation. Neo-
colonial regimes, because of their dependent
relations with the imperialists, cannot represent
the people's needs or aspirations.
"How do you negotiate with someone whose boot is on
your neck ... and who has an M-16? That's a tough
negotiation," the speaker said. Drawing parallels
between the Civil Rights Movement in the United
Snakes and the movement which brought Mandela into
the government, the speaker pointed out that the
oppressor-nation Afrikaners still own most of the
land, the old army and police structures are still
in place, and the new regime did not even change
the name from South Africa to Azania upon taking
"power."
Just two days earlier, Mandela gave a speech
commemorating the Sharpeville/Kwalanga massacre
(now a national holiday) in which he encouraged
"patience" during the transition from apartheid
rule. '''We are gradually getting on top of the
levers of power, but to gain power will take
time.'''(1) The Pan Africanist speaker, in contrast,
castigated people for voting without asking "an
election for what?" reminding the audience that
without land, Azanians will not have power.
The speaker emphasized the need for discipline,
democratic process and an independent media of the
revolutionary movement. As the PASYM put it in its
literature, "We cannot wait for CNN to broadcast a
major escalation throughout the world before we
take to the streets in an Anti-War protest."(2) The
speaker put forth a strong line against imperialism
and underdevelopment agencies like the IMF, and
said that under a socialist, Pan Africanist
government of Africa, borders would not be
recognizable and Western "experts" would not have
such power in the economy.
At the end of the speech, when greetings were read
from other organizations, a representative of PASYM
acknowledged MIM's presence at the event, calling
it courageous for a "white left" group to truly
support national liberation struggles of oppressed
peoples. While MIM tried to explain that it is not
a white left group, but a multi-national vanguard
party, we readily accept the friendly words of
unity from this anti- imperialist organization.
NOTES:
1. Associated Press March 21, 1996.
2. "Capitalism and the Military- Industrial
Intelligence Police Complex," pamphlet by the Pan-
African Student/Youth Movement (PASYM), P.O. Box
4404, Capitol Heights, MD 20791-4404.
* * *
"DEMOCRATIC" U.S.-RAMOS REGIME IS A MONUMENTAL
FARCE
Philippine President Fidel Ramos and his Amerikan
backers used the 10th anniversary of the fall of
the U.S.-Marcos dictatorship to portray the U.S.-
Ramos regime as sincerely committed to democracy
and economic "development." But as the article we
reprint here points out, all the reactionaries'
expensive hoopla cannot hide the essential
character of the government of the Philippines.
Like the U.S.-Marcos dictatorship, the U.S.-Aquino
regime was and U.S.-Ramos regime is pro-imperialist
and pro-landlord.
Here are just some of the facts which show this is
true:
* Although Aquino freed many political prisoners
and carried out some legal reform, her government
was violently anti-Communist. She openly supported
reactionary paramilitary organizations which were
responsible for terrorizing and assassinating
revolutionary and progressive activists.(1)
* Aquino's Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Plan
(CARP) was a sham. It fostered the illusion of land
reform by formally transferring land to a few
peasants, while at the same time big landlords and
multi-national corporations used "loopholes" in the
law to snatch up more land.(2)
* On January 22, 1987, less than one year after
Aquino took office, Philippine police and marines
opened fire on 15,000 protesters demanding that
Aquino implement the land reforms she had promised.
Thirteen protesters were killed.(3)
* The Aquino regime remained subservient to the
dictates of the Amerikan-controlled IMF and World
Bank, which exacerbated the poverty of the Filipino
people. Aquino's chief economic advisors were
agents of the IMF and the World Bank.(4)
* Aquino gave the green light to the "total war"
policy against the revolutionary movement in the
countryside. Fidel Ramos, then head of the Armed
Forces of the Philippines, worked closely with the
U.S. Army and CIA to plan and carry out the "total
war." More than 1,253,000 people were
systematically forced from their homes from 1987 to
1991 by this policy, and many massacres took
place.(5)
* The U.S.-Ramos regime carried out more village
bombings and forced evacuations in its first two
years than occurred during the entire Marcos'
dictatorship.(6)
* Ramos' "Philippines 2000" economic plan aids
imperialist exploitation of the Philippines. It
calls for the removal of nationality restrictions
on ownership, unlimited profit repatriation, and
the suppression of workers' rights in order to
maintain "industrial peace." Ramos' economic
policies have done nothing to relieve poverty in
the Philippines: More than 75% of the population
lives below the (government defined) poverty line,
and almost 80% of children below school age suffer
malnutrition.(6)
* Ramos has reinstated martial law in all but name.
As Crispin Beltran, chair of the KMU (May First
Movement) points out, "He doesn't need to declare
martial law, because it is already here...
Repressive laws go hand in hand with oppressive
economic policies. They are two sides of the same
coin... It is clear as day that the U.S.-Ramos
regime needs to rule with an iron fist in order to
ram the bitter poisons of the IMF-WB and WTO-
dictated policies down the Filipino peoples'
throats."(7)
TREACHERY AGAINST THE PEOPLE FROM MARCOS TO RAMOS
TO AQUINO
The Government of the Republic of the Philippines
has barely undergone even superficial changes in
the ten years since the U.S.-Marcos dictatorship.
"The Marcos boys are back in power. Even Imelda
(Marcos) is back in power. The only thing lacking
is Marcos himself."(7)
The Amerikan imperialists and their puppet Ramos
are trying to save face by claiming that they were
responsible for the overthrow of the Marcos
dictatorship, but that honor belongs to the
revolutionary mass movement led by the Maoist
Communist party of the Philippines (CPP). The CPP
struggled for more than a decade against Marcos and
the semi-feudal, semi-colonial system which
supported him. The party built a mass movement
around the National Democratic (ND) line which
supports real national independence and democracy,
and led an increasingly successful armed struggle
in the countryside, where it began to organize the
beginnings of the socialist state which will
replace the corrupt puppet Government of the
Republic of the Philippines.
The legal and underground ND forces continue to be
in the forefront of the struggle against
imperialism, feudalism, and fascism. Legal ND
organizations like BAYAN and the KMU led massive
nationwide protests in January and February against
Ramos' reactionary economic policies and increased
repression. More than 40,000 marched in some cites,
shutting down 95% of public transport.(8) And,
thanks to the ongoing rectification movement led by
the CPP, the underground forces continued to retake
gains lost due to internal errors and CIA-
organized-and-funded psychological warfare
campaigns.
***To find out more about the situation in the
Philippines and the CPP-led National Democratic
Front (NDF), order a copy of RAIL's pamphlet
"Support the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines." MIM and RAIL are organizing events to
help expose imperialist crimes in the Philippines
and build support for the National Democratic
movement. If you can help, write to: MIM P.O. Box
3576, Ann Arbor MI, 48106-3576 or e-mail
mim@nyxfer.blythe.org.***
NOTES:
1. "A Rustling of Leaves," video.
2. "Support the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines," Jan 1996, p.8.
3. "Solidaridad USA," newsletter of the Philippine
Peasant Support Network (PESANTE), Jan-Feb 1996, p.
7.
4. Jose M. Sison, The Philippine Revolution (Crane
Russak: New York, 1989), p. 131.
5. "Liberation International," newsletter of the
international office of the NDF, Nov-Dec 1995, pp.
23-24.
6. "Support the NDF," p. 3.
7. "Correspondence," newsletter of the KMU
international department, Jan-Feb 1996, p. 4.
8. Ibid., p. 3.
* * *
LETTERS TO MIM
ATTACKING THE KKK IN THE DOC
Dear MIM,
I received the paper you send to me (December
1995). I really like how you show the people that
only a communist world can bring people together as
one. The biggest problem we have up here in
Michigan is that there are a lot of racist prison
guards. For one, I know of at least three white
cops that are members of the Ku Klux Klan. When
they see a white prisoner helping a black one, they
try to cause trouble. Do you have any helpful ideas
that I might use in stopping the (DOC) from hiring
Klan members? Please let me know.
--a Michigan prisoner
MIM responds:
In the Ionia maximum facility that this comrade is
talking about, there is one prison pig for every
1.64 prisoners. The percentage of white guards is
86% as opposed to 12% being Black guards. The
percentage of Black prisoners in the facility is
65% and the percentage of white prisoners is 33%.
In addition, the monitoring exercises at the Ionia
Maximum Facility is twice the amount as other
prisons of the same security level; the average
number of shakedowns in facilities of level 5-6 is
4693 and in Ionia, there were 7279 for the same
period. The average number of non-routine strip
searches was 34 whereas Ionia conducted 189 in the
same period.
Though there is ostensibly no difference between
Black prison pigs and white prison pigs, the fact
that the Ionia prison facility was placed in a
predominantly white area does highlight a specific
benefit of prisons to the white nation--jobs. In
Michigan, the kkkorrections department has become
the state government's leading growth industry
since the early 1980s. For example, in 1979, prison
employees accounted for one of every 14 state
workers. As of 1995, prison employees account for
one in every four state workers. The Michigan
prison budget has more than quadrupled to over $1
billion a year since the early 1980s with 30 new
prisons. By 1998, there will be an estimated 2,200
new prisoners in Michigan's gulag system. The
Michigan gulag system, like that in the rest of
Amerika, serves as a tool to oppress national
minorities as well as to provide parasitic jobs for
the white nation.
At this time, MIM is not currently waging a
campaign to stop the hiring of KKK members as
prison guards. Our goal is more general because we
believe that the prisons in general are oppressive,
not just the guards. It is the whole system that
depends on superprofits from the Third World and
the repression of fights for self-determination of
internal colonies, the entire system from the cops
on the streets, to the pigs in Black robes making
judgments to the pigs in white robes torturing
prisoners. Within the larger goal, we are working
on the outside to develop support for prisoner
struggles and from the inside working to provide
prisoners with revolutionary material to learn the
best way to organize. As the fight against the
gulags specifically in Michigan grows, we can pick
specific targets. MIM would argue that hiring KKK
members versus other members of the white nation
that have a material interest in national
oppression is not something that we can target as a
winnable battle that will progress the fight
against oppression in prisons.
As far as advice to combat the guards, we encourage
you to continue to work with MIM to build a
campaign to stop oppressive conditions in the
prison system. If you believe that there is a way
that we can effectively stop the employment of
oppressive guards, continue to struggle with us.
For now, our approach on this specific issue will
be to use the above letter as the introduction to a
petition for people to sign on the outside. Though
we don't believe that the bourgeois will change its
policies because of the petition, it can help to
get people on the outside to understand the
conditions at Ionia and other Michigan facilities.
For instance we can talk to people about the fact
that guards are pigs, but then we engage them to
work on campaigns to stop the proliferation of
prisons and work toward revolution.
We encourage you to start a study group with
comrades Under Lock & Key. One of the things that
we are doing is organizing a week of events in
Michigan to educate people about the conditions of
prisons, police brutality against Black
nationalists and the Black nation in general and
the Maoist alternative to prisons. One result of
this week will be the organization of a more
systematic drive for books from Michigan students.
If there are specific issues that you would like to
study and work to build an study group around, let
us know. Also, if you would like to write text to
be read at the events that could educate people
about the conditions in Ionia, please do so. It
would have to arrive before the 25th of March.
SUPPORT BOOKS FOR PRISONERS!
MIM thanks the mass that gave several copies of The
Communist Manifesto, State and Revolution, Wage-
Labour and Capital, The Economic & Philosophical
Manuscripts of 1844, and A Critique of Soviet
Economics for the Books for Prisoners program. If
you are imprisoned in Amerika's gulags and want to
start a study group, write MIM for copies of these
books. If you are on the outside write MIM for
information on how to contribute to the Books for
Prisoners program.
* * *
BIZARRE LEFT GROUP RESPONDS TO SPARTACIST LEAGUE
***The Trotskyist Spartacist League's youth arm
recently wrote about MIM in an article about a pro-
affirmative action demonstration and sit-in at
UCLA.(1) A fuller version of this article will
appear in an upcoming issue of MIM Theory, send $5
for a copy.***
Young Spartacus wrote:
"...For minority youth under attack at UCLA and in
the ghettos, the way to fight racist oppression
lies in siding with the multiracial working class,
which alone has the power to get rid of capitalism.
It will take a revolutionary workers party that
serves as a tribune of the oppressed to lead this
fight.
"One bizarre left group at the UCLA sit-in, the
Maoist International [sic] Movement (MIM), misses
this reality entirely. While they defend
affirmative action as "progressive, but severely
limited," they raise no demands to open up the
universities to the majority of blacks and
minorities. Echoing odd pseudo-nationalist dogma,
MIM says that blacks are a 'colonial nation' and
writes off the working class, dismissing the U.S.
proletariat as a reactionary part of an 'oppressor
nation.' But black people constitute an oppressed
minority whose main impetus for struggle since the
time of slavery has been to fight toward full
integration--not some 'colonial liberation.' Black
people helped build the wealth of American society
first as slaves and today as a strategic layer of
the working class...."(1)
MIM responds:
The "multiracial working class" within U.S. borders
is composed of groups which are objectively
revolutionary and groups which are objectively
counterrevolutionary. Hence it is incorrect to
speak of these different groups as though they all
have the same material interests by virtue of all
being a part of the same "multiracial working
class." The majority of the white working-class has
more to lose than its chains, and hence can only be
considered to constitute a labor aristocracy.
The Trotskyists pretend to oppose all nationalism,
but they are in fact Amerikan nationalists--the
most reactionary kind of nationalist there is. It
is only within an Amerikan-nationalist framework
(or its Eurocentric equivalent) that the word
"minority" can be understood to refer to Black,
Latino, First Nation, and Asian- descended people.
The people of the oppressed nations--in Africa,
Asia, Latin America and North America--constitute
80% of the world's people.
When the Sparts say, "For minority youth under
attack at UCLA and in the ghettos, the way to fight
racist oppression lies in siding with the
multiracial working class...," they are spreading a
popular but deadly illusion.(1) The white working-
class is leading the charge for criminalizing,
jailing, executing, sterilizing, starving,
evicting, undereducating and deporting ghetto,
barrio and reservation youth. And that's just on a
good day. On a bad day, a white worker like William
Masters will shoot a proletarian youth down in cold
blood for writing grafitti on property, while other
property-owning workers will make a hero out of the
killer. Warning to ghetto youth: the white working-
class is part of the problem, not the solution. For
individual whites to be of use in the struggle
against racist/national oppression, they must join
with the oppressed in struggle against the white
oppressor nation, including the majority of white
workers.
It is simply untrue that MIM "raise[s] no demands
to open up the universities to the majority of
blacks and minorities." MIM calls for open access
to education for all rather than just those who can
buy their way in. And MIM goes further than just
the chauvinist outlook that only talks about the
population within U.S. borders: we call for open
borders so that the imperialist wealth (including
the educational institutions) can be shared with
the world's proletariat.
The Sparts are wrong to assert that "black people
constitute an oppressed minority whose main impetus
for struggle since the time of slavery has been to
fight toward full integration--not some 'colonial
liberation.'"(1) If this were true, the Sparts
would not feel the need to opportunistically
associate themselves with living Black nationalists
like Mumia Abu-Jamal and Geronimo Pratt, or with
images of Malcolm X and the Black Panther Party.
The Spartacist League likes to criticize Martin
Luther King, Jr. from the standpoint of Malcolm X.
What they don't acknowledge is that King's
capitulationist strategy of nonviolence which they
reject went hand-in-hand with the capitulationist
strategy of integrationism which they uphold.
Lastly, the Sparts write, "Black people helped
build the wealth of American society first as
slaves and today as a strategic layer of the
working class...."(1) Aside from the integrationist
notion of "the" (U.S.) working class which we
criticized above, this is correct. What the Sparts
don't mention here is that Blacks on the whole, let
alone the workers and peasants of the neocolonies
who contribute enormously to Amerikkka's wealth, do
not share in this wealth, while whites on the whole
do. This is why we said that Affirmative Action is
progressive, but severely limited. The white
Amerikan nation owes massive reparations to the
people of North America's internal colonies and
external neocolonies. Affirmative Action is a token
step in this correct direction. Which brings us to
one last question. Why do the Sparts "defend
affirmative action," when they believe that
"preferential hiring 'Affirmative Action' programs
set workers against each other"?(2)
NOTES:
1. "Defend Affirmative Action--Fight for Open
Admissions! UCLA Students Sit In," Workers
Vanguard, Mar. 1, 1996, p. 12. The full article is
available from MIM or from the Spartacist League,
which can be reached at P.O. Box 1377 GPO, New
York, NY 10116.
2. Marxist Bulletin 5 Revised, p. 12.
* * *
SOCIAL CONTROL BEYOND THE PRISON WALLS
Amherst, MA--RAIL, MIM, the UMass Radical Student
Union and one other organization organized a series
of events from February 12 to 14 designed to expose
how the government controls the people under the
guise of helping them. These organizations had
worked on Prison Awareness Week at the University
in November (see the December 1996 MIM Notes), and
struggled with the masses to extend the analysis of
and struggle against social control beyond the
prison walls.
As MIM wrote on the flyer advertising the events:
"The welfare system and social service agencies are
run by the same imperialist government that runs
the prison system and the police. Within prisons
there are variety of security levels, each more
expensive and dehumanizing than the last. ...
"Like the different security levels within prisons,
welfare and the social service agencies are
different levels of the same government effort to
surveil and control the people. "
On the first day, RAIL and MIM made a presentation
titled "Does Social Control really exist?" and led
a discussion that laid out the theoretical
foundations for the week. RAIL and MIM explained
how the government-funded (and many of the
privately-funded) social service agencies: Welfare,
Department of Social Services, Department of Youth
Services, Mental Heath and others, oppress the
communities they claim to serve. We also discussed
alternative service models that serve immediate
needs while advancing towards the seizure of power
by revolutionary forces such as those of the Black
Panther Party and the Young Lords Party.
WOMEN AND SOCIAL CONTROL
On Tuesday, a panel talked about "Women and Social
Control" and individuals' experiences in the AIDS
services, Welfare and Prison Industries. All had
experienced these systems both as clients and as
providers.
An AIDS activist on the panel described the AIDS
service system as "unfortunately, an industry," in
which the service agencies "function primarily to
perpetuate their own existence." She named the
bureaucratic style a "Tyranny of Kindness:" the
agencies build a pretense of taking care of
clients, in order justify their continued funding.
The terms client and provider are standard in the
industry's vocabulary and reveal its deceptive
intent. By locating problems with the clients, and
the power to improve their lives with the provider,
this rhetoric justifies the provider's continued
funding and strips the client of her or his
identity as a person and as a member of an
oppressed group. The rhetoric defends capitalism by
hiding structural causes of suffering and protects
service industry's profit under capitalism.
It is standard in direct-service agencies (usually
operated as non-profit companies selling contracted
service to federal, state or local government) for
Administration to skim 60 to 70% from direct costs
of the services provided. Consumer Advisory Boards
are paid by the agencies to endorse the providers'
programs and practices. Criticism and complaint are
subjected to stifling control by the bureaucracy.
The Big Brother atmosphere will be familiar to
readers who, like the panel, have some experience
with the 'Human Services' system. Careerism on the
part of the provider personnel leads to a much
higher priority on covering of asses (another
familiar phrase in the Industry) and on self-
promotion than on genuine service to the people.
MENTAL HEALTH
On Wednesday, MIM and RAIL showed the video
"Titicut follies" about the state mental hospital
in Bridgewater, Massachusetts in the early 1960s.
The video was banned until recently because of a
lawsuit against the makers of the video by the
mental hospital. Recently, the lawsuit was settled,
forcing the makers of the video to add the
disclaimer at the end that "changes have been made
at Bridgewater since the production of this film."
Of course these changes aren't specified and MIM
guesses they aren't significant.
The video follows several prisoners at the
institution for several months. The unnarrated film
includes interviews with guards, wardens and other
workers. We see one prisoner discussing politics in
the yard, and it's clear that calling oneself a
communist in 1963 was sufficient cause for being
put away.
The video shows one prisoner going before a medical
staff hearing to determine the future of his
treatment. He admits that he is deteriorating in
the mental hospital, but argues that spending a
year there is the cause of his deterioration. He
wants to be released back to prison, but the
doctors' response once he leaves the room is: "His
medication should be increased" so he won't be so
agitated.
MIM has no idea how the makers of this excellent
video managed to convince the management of the
hospital to let them make this movie. But the
doctors are obviously aware of the risks that this
movie poses to them, so they take the camera
through the steps of their decision. One doctor
dismisses the prisoner's argument: "If you take his
argument at face value, it's rational, but his
assumptions are wrong." His assumption, that being
medicated and kept awake by other people all night
can affect his mental health, makes plenty of sense
to MIM.
The guards in the institution are much less
politically savvy them the doctors. The video shows
guards making fun of the prisoners, especially the
ones who best fit the psychology industry's
definition of crazy. This part of the video is most
striking. We see prisoners who are obviously not
well kept in cold cells with no clothes, and we see
the guards continually harassing them. Nothing
physically brutal, at least on the camera, but lots
of goading. The worst that MIM saw was one of the
guards mocking a prisoner while shaving the
prisoner with a straight razor. It's unfathomable
that such barbarity can even pass for "treatment"
and not a cause of mental illness.
PRISONS AND SOCIAL SERVICES FOCUS ON LATINOS
On Thursday, a representative of the National
Committee to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and
Political Prisoners and Latinos against the Abuse
of Prisoners showed "Have you seen the new Puerto
Rican revolutionary woman?" The video is about 4 of
the Puerto Rican revolutionary women now imprisoned
by Amerika for engaging in armed struggle against
the U.S. government. The video also briefly
discusses the work these women undertook building
self-reliant institutions of the oppressed in
Chicago prior to picking up the gun.
As the largest group of Latinos legally living
within U.S. borders, they serve as convenient
justifications for funding to target Latinos. There
was also a short presentation about how Latinos are
treated in the Massachusetts prison system, notably
in the control units where they make up over 80% of
the prisoners. This is far disproportionate to the
number in the general Massachusetts population or
the general prison population.
JOIN THE FIGHT AGAINST SOCIAL CONTROL
This week of events clearly demonstrated that
social service agencies are just another means of
social control, targeted particularly at oppressed
nations inside U.S. borders. As with prisons, the
nature of these agencies must be exposed and
fought. Reforming social service agencies is not
possible because they exist to serve the
imperialists. Setting up alternative social service
agencies that truly serve the people is an
important task for revolutionaries as we build
independent institutions of the oppressed. Join MIM
and RAIL to build these independent institutions as
we fight to overthrow this imperialist system.
* * *
RAIL CELEBRATES INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY WITH
RALLY AGAINST ROTC
Los Angeles, March 8--The Revolutionary Anti-
Imperialist League (RAIL) celebrated International
Women's Day by leading an informational rally
outside the headquarters for UCLA's Reserve Officer
Training Corps (ROTC). RAIL was there in part to
demonstrate that, as one of its signs read, "All
issues are women's issues." As at least two armed,
plainclothes pigs looked on, activists gave
passers-by copies of CALRAIL and a flier promoting
the rally and explaining its purpose. The flier
read in part:
"In honor of International Women's Day, rally with
the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) to
get the ROTC OFF CAMPUS!
"UCLA's Men's Gym is the headquarters for UCLA's
Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC). An arm of
the U.S. war machine, the ROTC trains young
students to become potential corpses and/or hired
killers of women, men and children. The ROTC also
continues to discriminate against gays, lesbians
and bisexuals. RAIL does not seek to integrate the
ROTC, however--we seek to smash it. RAIL calls on
gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and their supporters to
stand in solidarity with the world's majority
(male, female, straight and queer) who are at the
receiving end of Amerikkka's guns. Smash the
imperialist patriarchy! ROTC off campus!"
The rally sought to draw attention to the
patriarchal nature of U.S. militarism and
imperialism. One RAIL sign read, "U.S. military
promotes global prostitution." The rally was also
part of a RAIL-led campaign to expose and
ultimately defeat U.S. imperialism, U.S.
militarism, and the University of California's
support for the U.S. war machine. In forthcoming
weeks, this campaign will include the continuation
of the Los Angeles Revolutionary and Progressive
Film Series, as well as a rally against U.S.
militarism and imperialism on International Workers
Day (May Day), Wednesday, May 1. To join the
campaign, ask questions, or express your comments
or criticisms, write to: RAIL, P.O. Box 29670, Los
Angeles, CA 90029-0670.
* * *
PRISONS AWARENESS WEEK AT THE UNIVERSITY OF
MICHIGAN
Ann Arbor--MIM, RAIL, and the American Friends
Service Committee sponsored Prisons Awareness Week
(PAW) at the University of Michigan, March 25-30.
The week of events exposed prisons as tools of
national oppression and social control, and were an
opportunity to mobilize the masses against prisons.
Here we cover some PAW events; the next issue of
MIM Notes, to be published May 1, will include more
coverage of this week.
MIM and RAIL organize and educate around prisons
and the criminal injustice system because both are
forms of state-sanctioned national oppression. From
police brutality to the brutality of control unit
prisons and the inhumane treatment of prisoners in
general, the so-called criminal justice system is
attacking national minorities. The Under Lock and
Key section of MIM Notes (pages 6 and 7 of this
issue) exposes violence inside the prison walls.
Prisoners do not have free access to print or
broadcast media; that is why it is so important for
people on the outside to organize and agitate on
behalf of prisoners, keeping in mind the larger
goal of ending the criminal injustice system as we
know it.
A SOCIALIST SOCIETY'S RESPONSE TO CRIMINAL BEHAVIOR
Dr. Allyn Rickett, co-author of **Prisoners of
Liberation**, opened PAW with a talk on his
experience in a communist prison in China from
1951-1955. Rickett was arrested in China for spying
on China during the Amerikan war in Korea. Through
the process of criticism, self-criticism and study,
Dr. Rickett came to realize why his spying activity
was wrong. MIM looks to China's prison system under
Mao as an example of how a society can effectively
deal with its enemies.
Amerika could not implement criticism and self-
criticism as a solution to criminal activity.
Criticism and self-criticism are important
processes for revolutionaries organizing within
Amerika, but they require that a person be able to
reform thoughts and behaviors. Rickett stressed
that a person's conditions were a decisive factor
in whether or not they could maintain their new way
of thinking and acting. Without eliminating
national oppression in Amerika, so-called crime and
recidivism will never decrease, no matter how many
people the state locks up. A socialist revolution
will eventually make proletarian justice in Amerika
a reality.
ALL PRISONERS ARE POLITICAL PRISONERS
On Tuesday night, MIM and RAIL showed a 20/20 clip
called **Johnny-D** about a Black man in Alabama
who was framed for murder and sentenced to death.
MIM then led a discussion on why all prisoners are
political prisoners. One audience member who has
been active with Puerto Rican independence fighters
in Amerika's prisons objected to this. S/he argued
that calling all prisoners political prisoners
denies legitimacy to prisoners who were captured
specifically for their revolutionary activities.
MIM does to work with prisoners captured for
political activity. But we struggle to take the
struggle beyond a few prisoners by defining
Amerikan occupation of ghettos, barrios and First
Nation land as a war on the internal colonies. MIM
asks: if only prisoners captured for political
activity on the outside are political prisoners,
what about jailhouse lawyers who are put in control
units for their activity? What about people
imprisoned for killing cops in their neighborhoods
in retaliation for pig murders in their
communities? We fight for justice for prisoners
because they are being held captive by a
illegitimate government--recognizing this fact,
marking distinctions between prisoners we work with
and for serves no purpose.
In the heated discussion about imperialism and
national oppression that followed, one audience
member argued that the criminal injustice system
was essentially good and that injustices within it
are unfortunate aberrations. Another attendee
correctly explained how the criminal justice system
never works for the oppressed. Another audience
member explained why people in the Third World
deserve the right to control their own economic and
political conditions without Amerikan (or any other
imperialist) domination. MIM then explained how
imperialism hinders development.
Everyone at the events agreed on the need for
changes within the criminal injustice system. Some
agreed with MIM that the system as we know it needs
to be abolished. No one argued that increasing the
number of people in the Amerikan gulags would solve
anything. Yet many people were content to leave
without agreeing to learn more about and organize
against the Amerikan prison system of oppression.
MIM encourages all people who want to abolish
oppression, including the oppression of prisoners,
to work with MIM and RAIL toward this goal.
Recognition of problems does nothing without
organizing action to solve them!
* * *
JAILED WOMEN DENIED VISITS WITH THEIR CHILDREN
Ann Arbor, MI, March 28--A small crowd gathered
outside the Washtenaw county jail for a protest
against the termination of the volunteer-operated
and -funded Children's Visitation Program (CVP).
The seven-year old program, which offered women in
the jail monthly contact visits with their
children, was stopped in January, 1996. The CVP
visits between mothers and their children lasted
three hours, one Saturday per month, with
volunteers providing transportation for the
children.
MIM is sorry to learn of the program's termination,
but not surprised. The pigs claimed they could no
longer house the program because there was no space
available after the room that had been used for the
CVP was converted into a courtroom. One activist
involved with the protest speculated that the jail
can use the CVP as an excuse for expansion when
they want to, and reinstate the program at will.
Michigan is part of the continental prison-building
craze. The korrections department is Michigan's
leading growth industry with 30 new prisons built
since the early 1980s. Prison employees now account
for one in every four state workers in Michigan,
compared with one in every 14 in 1979.
The activists who organized this protest in favor
of the CVP are asking concerned individuals to
write letters to the Sheriff and to the Washtenaw
County Board of Commissioners. They are also
attempting to negotiate a new location, though they
doubt space is the real obstacle. MIM does not
think appealing to the state is an effective
strategy to bring about change. But this may be a
winnable battle: the demands are minimal and the
state will sometimes make concessions, so activists
may succeed in reinstating the CVP. But
reinstitution of the CVP does not begin to address
the prison system's destruction of families and
communities in the oppressed nations within U.S.
borders.
MIM supports struggles for improvements in the
lives of people jailed and imprisoned in Amerika.
But it is important to work for reforms in a
revolutionary context. True justice is not
available under imperialist patriarchy. So while
some reforms that make imperialism less immediately
oppressive are possible, only a revolution for
national self-determination and socialism can
implement real justice.
LETTERS DEMANDING THE PROGRAM BE REINSTATED CAN BE
SENT TO:
Sheriff Ron Schebil
Washtenaw County Sheriff's Dept.
2201 Hogback Rd.
Ann Arbor, MI 48105
Fax (313) 971-7296
Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners
Administration Building
220 N. Main St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48107
Fax (313) 994-2592
* * *
MIM NOTES IS THE PEOPLE'S PROPERTY
Ann Arbor, MI--A MIM Notes distributor was recently
yelled at by the store clerk at Stairway to Heaven,
an Ann Arbor headshop. The clerk wasted some MIM
literature, attempted to spread gossip about MIM,
and eventually threatened to ban MIM literature in
Ann Arbor stores. MIM takes this opportunity to
expose this pig who won't even recognize bourgeois
free speech for fear of Communism, and to challenge
others who feel similarly threatened to struggle
with us over our line rather than attempting to
silence it.
The gross thing about this incident is that the
Stairway to Heaven pig ranted on about MIM's
supposed class and national composition, claiming
that the party is all white, all petty-bourgeois
and only involved in politics for feel-goodism. MIM
says this so-called reasoning is bogus: parties'
political lines should be evaluated based on
materialist reasoning, not based on who is
speaking. By contrast, we recognize that First
World men as a group (like this store clerk) have
an interest in maintaining patriarchy and national
oppression, which makes it very much in their
interest to spread gossip on MIM. MIM works to end
the domination of oppressor group interests over
the oppressed, and we will work with any individual
who is willing to engage in materialist reasoning
and work with us for the end of oppression.
Our incident at Stairway to Heaven began when the
clerk working there yelled at a MIM Notes
distributor and attempted to blame MIM for so-
called socialist parties' political ineptitude when
the distributor asked if s/he could leave some free
copies of MIM Notes in the store for shoppers to
read.
Normally, MIM appreciates it when people air their
disagreements with our line and practice, as this
is a useful practice for advancing our line and our
relations with the masses. This situation is an
excellent example of what could have been a
clarifying political discussion. The clerk stated
that MIM was not socialist and that all those
socialists at the Detroit Newspaper strike had
yelled at the clerk's friend. MIM does not support
the Detroit newspaper strike and therefore would
not have been arguing with a dissenter in their
ranks if we had been there, but the Stairway to
Heaven clerk wouldn't let the MIM Notes distributor
explain that. After a few more minutes of
discussion in which the clerk accused MIM of
propagandizing and explained that he has a
socialist friend who does not like MIM, the MIM
Notes distributor took her/his copies of MIM Notes
and left the store.
Shortly after, the MIM Notes distributor saw the
Stairway to Heaven clerk take copies of MIM Notes
from the nearby Espresso Royale Caffe. The MIM
Notes distributor also noticed that papers from
another nearby store were gone quicker than usual,
although the distributor did not see the Stairway
to Heaven clerk take these other papers. When the
MIM Notes distributor went back to Stairway to
Heaven to ask the store clerk if he had taken MIM's
papers, the distributor saw a stack of papers in
the trash behind where the clerk was standing.
The MIM Notes distributor then informed the store's
customers that the clerk was lying and what he was
lying about, and then informed people on the street
outside who witnessed the store clerk yelling at
the MIM Notes distributor of what the clerk was
yelling about. The clerk then threatened to make
sure that every store in the area refused to accept
MIM Notes in the future. This hasn't happened yet.
MIM will make sure that this pig does not stop
distribution of anti-imperialist news to people in
Ann Arbor, and we hope avoid this pig's violent
reaction to MIM in the future. We don't care about
distributing through Stairway to Heaven
specifically, but we will not stand by and allow
this clerk to stop the flow of Maoist news and
analysis in Ann Arbor.
* * *
TWO ROADS FOR ENVIRONMENTALISM
Western Massachusetts--On March 10, activists from
the Cove/Mallard Coalition in Idaho gave a
multimedia performance at Smith College about their
campaign to save the largest roadless forest in the
contiguous 48 states. On March 12 at UMass Amherst,
MIM and RAIL showed the video "Green Guerrillas"
about the New People's Army in the Philippines and
their work to save the culture of the indigenous
Mandayan people and the rainforest they live in by
enacting a ban on logging.
In the week prior, activists at a MIM-led study
group studied the communist understanding of
environmentalism, in which the assault on
imperialism is the focus and the struggles of
oppressed peoples are recognized as the way
forward. In preparation for the upcoming events,
the activists read the Communist Party of the
Philippines statement on the environment, as well
as a bourgeois news article about the Environmental
Rangers taking up arms in Idaho and Montana to save
the forests.
PACIFISM IN IDAHO
Cove/Mallard is 76,000 acres and is "part of the
... largest tract of unlogged primary forest in the
continental U.S." In 1990, the U.S. Forest Service
agreed to allow 200 clearcuts by logging companies.
This would entail building 145 miles of roads to
get the loggers there and the trees out. Twenty one
million board feet are being logged, which will
fill 26,000 logging trucks. Via road subsidies and
deficit timber sales, the U.S. Forest Service is
subsidizing the logging industry in Cove/Mallard
for $6 million over the 6 years of logging.
The Cove/Mallard Coalition engages in non-violent
direct action as well as lobbying to try to stop
the logging. According to their pamphlet, they do
not damage logging machinery like Earth First, nor
do they carry weapons like the Environmental
Rangers. These distinctions were not discussed at
their event.
The Cove/Mallard activists were on tour encouraging
people to become active to stop the logging. They
wanted people to come out to Idaho in the summer
and participate in direct action. Recognizing the
continuum of activism, they expressed additional
options for people: tell your friends, and write to
Clinton and Congress. While it is good to see
leftists recognize that there is a variety of types
of support that you can get, it was unfortunate to
see that the activists didn't directly challenge
people to follow what they saw as the best way
forward.
The multimedia performance expressed many anti-
capitalist and anti-big business sentiments, with
songs with lines about how the environment is dying
for "your [corporate] bottom line." Resistance
outside of the so-called law was praised in "Ain't
playin' by your rules anymore."
MIM would disagree with the neo-Luddite approach
taken in one song: "Quitting time on the high-tech
plantation." While it is correct to say that there
is no connection between higher technical levels
and more meaningful life, the answer is not to
oppose technology. So much technology is oppressive
and destructive in Amerika because Amerika is an
oppressive and destructive society based on
capitalism. The social system is the problem, not
just the tools it uses. Elsewhere in the
performance the activists correctly pointed out
that the solution is to ban logging and transform
the society that sees destroying the environment as
profitable.
The first video was MIM's favorite, at least until
the last few seconds. It was a poem entitled "The
faceless ones" about animals being brutally killed
by the corporate rush to profits. There was footage
of animals dying in oil slicks and in other gory
ways. The last line was the most disappointing,
however. After sounding a strong call for action,
the poets advice: "We have the power to vote."
At the moment, MIM believe that the majority of
Amerikans would support logging in Idaho "for
jobs." So voting won't really work. However, MIM
does believe that reformist means to save forests
in North America can be successful because Amerika
is an imperialist society whose wealth production
is external to it's home territory. There are a
variety of reasons to save the forests in Idaho.
But activists have to keep in mind that the logging
companies, if kicked out of Amerika because they
are 'spoiling the view' can readily go somewhere
else. Kicking the logging companies out of Idaho,
unless it is done on an internationalist basis, is
not a blow to logging. Rather, by preserving the
"view" and by preserving North American bio-
diversity, this shores up First World support for
international logging.
ARMED STRUGGLE IN THE PHILIPPINES
The differences between the strategies of the
Cove/Mallard activists and the New People's Army
were discussed at the MIM & RAIL "Green Guerrillas"
event, in addition to the underlying differences in
the political situation.
At the Cove/Mallard multimedia presentation we saw
video footage of activists chaining themselves to
roads or tying themselves high up in trees
scheduled to be logged. This can stop or at least
slow logging within U.S. borders, but in the
Philippines would quickly result in dead
environmentalists.
One RAIL member relayed to the event participants
how the Communist Party of the Philippines
statement made the connection between imperialism
and the continued destruction of the environment in
the Philippines. First the Spanish and then later
the Amerikan imperialists cut down trees in large
numbers to make way for the planting of export
crops.
The CPP statement reports that "agricultural
chemicals already banned for being harmful to users
in the developed countries are sold to and used in
the Philippines." This clearly exposes why
reformism can work in one area, but it is not an
international strategy. The corporations that
directly peddle death will leave places where there
is too much resistance, such as within U.S.
borders. Some reformists would respond that
Amerikans should lobby Congress to ban the export
of chemicals banned for use in the U.S. But this
does nothing to effect the reality that these
**multinational** corporations could just shift
their corporate headquarters or possibly
manufacturing plants, to a different part of the
world and continue selling deadly products. The
problem here is the capitalist system, not it's
products.
It is only this clear systemic analysis held by the
Communist Party in their statement and in the
practice portrayed in "Green Guerrillas" that can
adequately and permanently end environmental
degradation.
At the MIM event there was also some discussion
about the motivations of the Green Guerrillas as
compared to the Cove/Mallard and similar activists.
The principal reason why the New People's Army
instituted a log ban was because it was the best
way to preserve the Mandayan people, and in a
larger sense, the Philippines itself. The log ban
serves to prevent the international logging
companies from taking away the natural resources
that rightfully belong to the Filipino people. The
preservation of a whole community of people who
live in harmony with their environment is a
superior practice to working to preserve a national
forest which exists **at the expense of** forests
and people around the world.
ARMED STRUGGLE IN IDAHO?
There was also some discussion about the
Environmental Rangers in Idaho who say "They're
[logging and mining companies] not getting these
places without a war. And I mean a real war....
We're the ones who will put our lives on the line
if that's what it takes." MIM can't predict whether
the Mallard/Cove logging will be stopped, but we
can predict that it likely won't take picking up
arms to do it.
The difference in strategy between the anti-
imperialist Filipinos and Idaho's Environmental
Rangers shows why the Idaho armed movement is not
significant. The New People's Army is working to
defend people and their homes, whereas the Rangers
are offering to die to protect the land for non-
human reasons. The NPA is working to build up
enough independent power to drive, first the
logging companies and then the imperialists, out of
the Philippines. There is no similar situation in
Idaho, and the Environmental Rangers can offer only
symbolic reformist resistance.
NOTES:
1. Los Angeles Times, Jan 9, 1996.
2. International Department, Central Committee,
Communist Party of the Philippines, March 31, 1996.
"On the issue of the environment in the world and
in the Philippines"
3. The Cove/Mallard Coalition, "Why all the fuss?"
P.O. Box 8968, Moscow ID 93843, (208) 882-9755,
cove@moscow.com
For information about the revolution in the
Philippines or showing "Green Guerrillas" in your
area, contact MIM or RAIL.
* * *
ENVIRONMENTALISTS PROTEST CHEMICAL WEAPONS TRAINING
SCHOOL
by a RAIL comrade
On February 5, a protest rally was held on the
steps of the capitol building in Jefferson City,
Mo. The Student Environmental Action Coalition and
other concerned people were protesting an army
proposal to relocate their chemical weapons
training school from Fort McClellan, Alabama to
Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.Fort Leonard Wood is located
in the heart of the Ozark Forest.
"We believe the Army's Mission of 'national
security' jeopardizes the health and well-being of
Amerikan citizens, and that this is unjust," says
SEAC member Jillian Borchard. A chemical weapons
training facility at Ft. Wood puts human and non-
human communities at risk through its obscurant
training program, chemical decontamination program
and use and production of radioactive nuclides,
nerve gas, mustard gas, and dioxin. Member Eric
Hempel says that "the chemical weapons school is a
school of death and we don't want it in our state."
MIM takes it further--we don't want the chemical
weapons training school anywhere.
The purpose of the rally was to raise the awareness
and express discontent to the government about the
army's proposal to relocate the school. The SEAC
demanded:
1) That the military not jeopardize the people and
environment through defense training.
2) That the United States Army be required to
comply with the Endangered Species Act.
3) That the United States uphold the Biological
Weapons Convention of 1972 which reads that signing
countries agree to "never in any circumstances
develop, produce, stockpile or otherwise acquire or
retain any biological weapons."
MIM agrees with protests against U.S. militarism
but it takes the approach: "think globally--act
globally." United Snakes imperialism is a global
problem--not a local problem.
Environmental groups such as the SEAC righteously
defy U.S. militarism's disregard for the
environment and people. The chemical weapons
training facility trains U.S. soldiers to use these
weapons on people of the Third World--millions of
hungry, oppressed people who organize to throw off
the domination of their land, labor and resources
by the United Snakes of Amerika--now this is
unjust.
But it won't be stopped by telling the imperialist
beast that they must obey laws such as the
Endangered Species Act and weapons treaties. U.S.
imperialism will end when a revolution led by the
proletariat overthrows the U.S. and replaces it
with socialism. That requires the building of a
revolutionary Maoist Party to create public opinion
and ripen revolutionary conditions. We invite you
to join us. No U.S troops--anywhere--anytime!
Note: Information for this article was provided by
a press release issued by the Student Environmental
Action Coalition.
* * *
UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS
THE MASSES MAKE HISTORY--THIS MEANS YOU!
Hey MIM,
...I've been teaching X about MLM [Marxism-
Leninism-Maoism] but my voice in here is minimal.
The tide is heavily against me. A lot of bourgeois
influence is expressed and a lot of prisoners my
age is lax when it comes to studying about the
science of revolution. They tend to think that the
revolution will come from some mystical savior.
They say that *when* the revolution comes they will
be there and get down but they fail to realize that
we are the makers of revolution. Sometimes I really
begin to think that all is doomed and our only true
hope lies in the Third World. But I can't neglect
those in Amerika who are truly interested in
revolution. I'm most sure our day will come....
--a New York Prisoner, Jan. 25, 1996
VIRGINIA DENIES PRISONERS ACCESS TO MIM
MIM, Yesterday I received a letter from you folks
advising me that the latest issue of MIM Notes was
refused by the prison here and returned to you.
Certainly this is something which both concerns and
vexes me.
The prison administration here has adopted a policy
which seems clearly calculated to deprive prisoners
here of access to news and opinions outside the
mainstream...and even most of the mainstream media,
for that matter.
The current mission of the prison is to separately
warehouse death row, parole violators and long term
segregation...and no prison jobs whatsoever are
available to any of us here...so unless we have
source of revenue from the outside, we are
penurious [(poverty-stricken)].
...The administration has expressly prohibited both
donated or free publications and will not allow for
family or friends to order subscriptions for us
either...which means that we simply are not
permitted to subscribe to anything to anything to
read from the outside....Occasionally the mailroom
with slip up and something will get through, but
this happens less and less often and so far none of
your MIM Notes have escaped their scrutiny.
I have contemplated litigation regarding this broad
censorship and would welcome any suggestions you
folks might offer. It might also be helpful if I
could bring you in as a plaintiff, since your
rights to free speech are being infringed upon by
this policy. I would welcome hearing from you on
the subject.
...As far as why the administration thinks it is
"OK" to restrict prisoners' access to political
views (other than their own) an a multiplicity of
news sources here in a supposedly "free" america,
it is my opinion that they simply do not consider
prisoners to be people and that, as a class, we are
deemed undeserving of the rights ostensibly
bestowed by the Constitution and our sentence.
This opinion is bolstered by the draconian new
property policy that the administration here in
Virginia is implementing statewide...a policy the
likes of which I have never heard of being
implemented in any state of these United
States....My regards,
--a Virginia prisoner, Jan. 14, 1996
RCG1 responds:
We at MIM support all prisoners in their struggle
against the tools of oppression. If you wish to
pursue a legal battle, more power to you. MIM Notes
is tool which can be used to expose the atrocious
conditions in prisons and publicize the struggles
of the oppressed worldwide. In addition, MIM has
started compiling a legal resource list for
prisoners. Unfortunately, however, MIM cannot be
involved directly in litigation because we feel it
would pose a security threat to our organization.
We believe that prisons censor viewpoints other
than their own as means of social control and to
uphold mainstream society. Keep up the good work
exposing the pigs and the oppressive ways.
BANNED FROM PRISON LIBRARY, MUSLIMS CREATE THEIR
OWN
...The general population library here has been
restricted to inmates attending classes in the
Windham School System. However, we (Muslims) have
implemented a Community Awareness Program (CAP)
where knowledge of self, family, community and the
nation is taught in a political, social, economical
and moral format. Our service (CAP) is open to the
general population and visitors from the outside.
Also, we have a library of our own. We would be
very appreciative of any revolutionary literature.
All MIM Notes and other donated literature will be
donated to our library after being read by our
lecturing team who will teach the masses of the
general population who attend our services. There
are over 150 Muslims on this unit.
Since MIM Notes covers political and social
injustices on an international basis, including
institutional, we feel that it is potentially a
powerful tool for enlightening and unifying the
consciousness of the oppressed all over the world.
At present, we are informing people about the "New
World Order" that's being forced upon us by the
government and various devices used to keep us
divided as a nation for purposes of control and
manipulation. [We are also discussing] the remedies
and possible solutions for alleviating the causes
and effects of social, economic, political and
religious oppression. Thank you for your time and
may Allah guide and protect you!
--a Texas prisoner, Dec. 18, 1995
TEXAS LOCKDOWN
To my brothers and sisters at MIM Notes,
I am deeply sorry for not returning a letter to you
in so long. Please try and understand that I am
under the cruel circumstances of the
administration. Here on Terrell Unit, it is so
unpredictable. There's no telling what's to come at
times. Just to let you know the absence of my
monthly letter to you was not intentional.
Me and a cellmate of mine ran out on a five man
team of officers, while on lockdown. We have been
on [lockdown] for no reason and for seven months
now. During which they refused to feed us about
three times and refused to let us shower about two.
I couldn't take it no more, bad as it is. They
tamper with our mail from time to time, so I don't
know if you'll receive this one.
...They have the whole unit on lockdown and yet
they haven't told us the reason for it. So when, if
by chance, I do find out, I'll be sure to tell
you...
--a Texas prisoner, Jan. 23, 1996
SOUTH DAKOTA: PASSING SNACKS EQUALS TWO YEARS AD-
SEG TIME
Being a convicted felon, I have seen a lot of rude
and downright despicable acts inflicted upon my
fellow comrades and brothers in arms.
Here in South Dakota, the pigs are just as rude and
spiteful as any other prison in the injustice
system. I have a dear friend in administrative
segregation doing two years for loaning a bag of
barbecue chips to another inmate. Of course I must
note that my friend is a rather large man who
intimidates the small runts of oppression and my
friend will file a lawsuit trying to improve all
fellow inmate situations.
Something as petty as a bag of chips has just
caused him two years worth of isolation.
"It's not the chips, it's the dips that run this
place," he said to me. "The ironic thing they will
never see, until it's too late, is that I will only
grow more resistant and have plenty of time to plan
new ways of resistance."
I could not have said it better. Oppression breeds
resistance. Resistance incubates revolution....
--A South Dakota, Jan. 12, 1996
IN PENNSYLVANIA IT'S LEGAL TO LISTEN IN
The following is a letter from the Pennsylvania
Department of Corrections.
Subject: Act 20 of 1995 (Formerly HB127):
Intercepting, recording, monitoring or divulging
telephone calls
To: All Inmates
From: Martin F. Horn, Commissioner
Act 20 of 1995 amended Section 5704 of Title 18 by
adding a paragraph to permit employees of the
Department of Corrections to intercept, record,
monitor, or divulge any telephone call from or to
an inmate in a facility.
This act was signed by the Governor on September
26, 1995. It became effective in 60 days or on
November 25, 1995.
This memo is intended to provide notice to you that
any telephone call which you make or received in
any state correctional facility may be intercepted,
recorded, monitored, or divulged. The only
exception is properly placed telephone calls to or
from your attorney. The monitoring of telephone
calls is being done to preserve the security and
orderly management of the institutions and to
protect the public.
The Department of Corrections provides several
methods to maintain confidential contact with your
attorney. For example, inmate-attorney
correspondence is covered under privileged mail
provisions and private inmate-attorney visits are
provided.
In addition, the inmate may request to place an
occasional unmonitored call to his or her attorney.
In order to do so you need to contact your
counselor who will arrange this call on either a
collect, or time and charge basis. The counselor
must place such calls and ensure that any
unmonitored call they place on behalf of an inmate
is to an attorney's office.
Frequent unmonitored inmate-attorney calls will
only be allowed when an inmate demonstrates that
communications with his or her attorney by other
means would not be adequate or the inmate's
attorney can demonstrate an imminent court
deadline.
--Martin F. Horn, Commissioner, DOC, Pennsylvania,
Nov. 30, 1995
HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU HAVE TO BREAK A MAN'S BODY
BEFORE YOU BREAK HIS SOUL?
Shaka Shakur is back in a lockdown situation. He
was recently put into the Hospital Restraint Unit
(HRU) of the Indiana Reformatory until he learns to
walk without crutches again.
After much pressure was put on to get him taken to
an outside doctor, Shaka was finally sent to a
hospital and diagnosed with a herniated disc in his
back. He has been on medication for the pain for a
year and has been on crutches since June. Recently
his crutches were taken away from him arbitrarily.
He was scheduled for surgery under the
recommendation of Dr. Kevin Kaufman at Wishard
Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. Shaka has not
been allowed this surgery and has been further
isolated by being put into the HRU. Indiana
Reformatory "doctor" Dr. Chavez has further
escalated the situation by harassing Shaka, calling
him a "fucking shithead" and accusing him of faking
his injury.
The HRU is in total isolation from the rest of the
prison. According to Shaka it is much like the
Maximum Control Complex prison in Westville,
Indiana with boxcar doors, forced air and no
contact with anyone. The one other prisoner in the
HRU is being "treated" (read: experimented upon)
with psychotropic drugs.
Please write letters and send faxes to:
Ed Cohn, Indiana Department of Corrections, Indiana
Government Center South, 302 W. Washington Street,
Indianapolis, IN 46204, FAX: 317-232-6798
Demand that Shaka Shakur 28443: 1. be removed from
the HRU and taken back to the AS unit where he was
2. that he be sent to Wishard Hospital for the
Surgery recommended by Dr. Kaufman, and 3. that he
be given back his crutches.
Write letters of support to:
BCAC, P.O. Box 93312, Milwaukee, WI 53203
-- BCAC, Oct. 7, 1995
TWO POLITICALLY ACTIVE NEW AFRIKAN STUDENTS ARE
DESPERATELY SEEKING EDUCATIONAL SPONSORSHIP
We are two Afrikan prisoners who are also
independent students. We have been actively engaged
in self-education and the political and academic
education of other young Afrikan prisoners in the
Indiana prison system for a number of years. Also,
we have been politically active outside prison
walls for the premises of both interpersonal
relations and organizationally.
Because of the intense repression that politically
active Afrikan prisoners are subjected to by prison
officials, it is very hard for us to take advantage
of any prison based educational programs or any
other programs offered by the state. Despite this
we have been able to reach higher educational
levels on our own.
Both of us have, to our credits, published writings
which are of political and educational value to the
mis-educated oppressed.
Like many others, because of our political
commitments and activities, we have been targeted
by prison officials and repressed, abused and
denied any opportunities to advance ourselves
through any prison-based educational programs.
Due to a bill which was initiated and fought into
existence by Indiana State Representative Dr.
Vernon G. Smith, D-Gary (who has interviewed both
of us and has expressed pride in our development)
where a prisoner receives time off of their
sentences for educational achievements, namely high
school diplomas and college degrees, repressive
measures have been intensified by the state to keep
politically active prisoners from having any access
to any type of developmental prison program
activities. It is to no avail to continue to battle
with the prison officials for any type of justice
because they have made it perfectly clear, conform
and surrender everything that we are as men to the
genocidal demands of the state or suffer. We refuse
to debrief.
This clearly means that we must develop different
methods to get around the state altogether. One way
is through the means of non-traditional education.
Many universities and colleges offer correspondence
programs for non-traditional studentship. Some
offer end-of-course exams which allow for a non-
traditional student to take final exams for credit.
Also some schools have particular standards for
what is referred to as Life Experience Learning
which allows for a non-traditional student to
submit what is called a "Life Experience
Portfolio." This document is good for higher
learning credits based off the educational
knowledge that one has acquired through experience,
on the job, or by any means that has provided one
with the skills learned through experience.
We are seeking educational sponsorship so that we
may approach these non-traditional methods to
education. There is also a system called a contract
by learning between a student and school and/or
educator which is worth credits, perhaps worth
certain types of degrees -- equivalency exam
programs, etc.
What we need are sponsors to help us set up a
standard that politically active (repressed)
prisons nationwide can employ as a means to obtain
educational degrees, in spite of prison officials'
attempts to hinder our educational advancement. It
is our desire to develop an association through
sponsorship that will lend to this cause
nationwide.
Whereas exam packages for the purpose of us
furthering our education through non-traditional
means can be established especially for politically
active repressed prisoners at the lowest possible
cost to the association. There would have to be to
this development some type of national fund that
would give financial aid to those who qualify.
Please, anyone who is interested in this idea
should contact us immediately [by writing to MIM].
Any type of assistance that anyone can offer in any
way is needed. We need ideas and talent as bad as
we need other backing to realize this objective.
Something as simple as sending stamps and
reproducing this flier to help us get the word out
would be a great contribution to this cause. We
thank you to the utmost for any assistance
rendered.
--two Indiana prisoners, 11/9/95
MASSACHUSETTS PRISONER CALLS FOR INVESTIGATION OF
LOCKDOWN
Dear MIM and RAIL:
Thank you so much for being concerned about the on-
going unlawfulness that continues to go on behind
these prison walls....
Let me begin by stating that here at Walpole prison
things are very much violative in many aspects. As
MIM is very aware, we are seriously segregated in
this prison.
1.) At the present, nine blocks in the general
population are only out for no longer than one 1/2
hour per day and we're only allowed to go outside
for some fresh air every other 4 days. All of which
takes place in a small fenced-in barbed wire cage
(that hold approximately a very small amount of
people if one needs to exercise let's say 20
individuals....)
2.) There are only three Blocks which are allowed
out of cell recreation for almost all of the day in
the prison. They are called Bristol Block 2, Essex
Block 2, and Suffolks Block 2. It is also known as
the minimum end, and you are allowed to work, to go
down to the gymnasium, to the prison's chow hall,
you can go to the prisons' big outside main yard.
None of which the other nine population blocks are
allowed to do so, but yet they are still telling us
that we are all in the general population.
How can this be, when others are receiving way more
privileges than the other members of this so called
Equal General Population... [Walpole recently
"ended" it's lockdown. For most of the prisoners,
this is only semantic. --MIM] I'll tell you: it's
because these administration officials are running
this prison on a very much unequal treatment
mode....The truth is this so-called general
population is really segregation and very much a
violation of equal fair treatment.
3.) Our meals are served to us in styrofoam
containers or trays and are most of the time very
cold or very mildly warm. We complain but it goes
ignored like so many other issues which we do bring
up to the superintendent Ronald T. Duval and his
designees. The officers handle the servings of the
food to the inmates. Most often they never put on
gloves and they put their fingers on the ring of
the Dixie Cups which the Kool-aid is served in, and
at times their fingers penetrate into the drink.
4.) Since my arrival to this prison in 1992 all the
way up to this period so many privileges and rights
have been taken from us like: education, programs
of all kinds, religious services in the chapels to
most of the prison population, appliances, hot-
pots, personal good radios, TVs, sweatsuits,...They
took away all inmates' Christmas packages our
families send us. We do not receive any Christmas
funds of around $10 to $20 anymore for those
inmates who don't have no one sending them nothing.
5.) We are only allowed to receive one roll of
toilet paper per week and one bar of state soap
every other week and there is no exception. As far
as toothpaste, deodorant and any other hygiene
product is concerned, they don't provide us any. We
must buy it ourselves from the Canteen Store or go
without.
MIM and RAIL, I am here to vouch for what has been
taking place here in this Walpole prison. There are
a good amount of issues that I truly feel should be
brought forward along with the fact that numerous
racist officers work in the 9 and 10 Block
Segregation Unit along with the DDU which beat down
inmates when they are taken to these sections while
they are handcuffed and shackled.
No one is looking in on these prison officials and
they feel like they are gods at times because they
keep on getting away with these unlawful and very
much volatile acts.
Dear MIM and RAIL, if we had an independent agency
looking in on these correctional officials and
their running of these institutions and others like
these we wouldn't have these sorts of unlawful
occurrences happening....
Dear MIM and RAIL, I am certainly glad that you
send me this letter of yours in regards to both
your organizations being very much caring and
concerning to this serious matter which pains all
good citizens of this true world of ours.
I greatly thank you for being there for us in our
struggles my dear comrades!
Sincerely, --A Massachusetts prisoner, Nov. 8, 1995
PRISONERS START UNITED NATIONS MOTION TO ADDRESS
HUMAN RIGHTS IN U.S. CONTROL UNITS
We are in process of filing a motion to the United
Nations, to address Human Rights with any and all
control units. We may need some help in organizing
such a writ.
From what I've read, we as confined prisoners are
constantly subject to poisoned drinking water.
There is no means to survive without water. Those
who put us here knew prisoners would file
complaints about the conditions as well the
confinement.
We may need other groups who have filed such a writ
to supply any and all information they have to
help. This is our first [attempt], when complete,
we will [send] a copy. Staying strong.
--a Indiana prisoner, Jan. 26, 1996
MC49 responds:
The United Nations has proven itself to be an enemy
of human rights by among other things serving as a
cover for Amerika's war on the Iraqi people.
Strategically, we prefer building independent
proletarian institutions to appealing to enemy
institutions. But while it is important not to hold
any illusions in bourgeois institutions like the
U.N., your approach may succeed in winning some
tactical gains for the people. We wish you success
in your endeavors.
* * *
RAMONA AFRICA BLASTS AMERIKKKA; CALLS ON THE PEOPLE
TO DEFEND MUMIA
by a member of RAIL
Washington D.C.--Ramona Africa, Minister of
Information for MOVE, spoke at Howard University on
March 22. The pro-Mumia Abu-Jamal event was
sponsored by the D.C. Coalition for Mumia Abu-Jamal
and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. Africa's
speech was preceded by speakers from the two
sponsoring organizations, a showing of **Date with
Death**, a movie about Jamal's frame-up, and a rap
video by MC Shank about Mumia. The video is
available from the New Jersey Anarchist Black
Cross.
Ramona blasted the Amerikkkan criminal injustice
system for its racist white supremacy. She
explained that Blacks know they will go to jail if
they're caught doing drugs, while affluent whites
like David Kennedy hardly ever do time. According
to Ramona, over 60% of people on Pennsylvania's
death row are oppressed nationals. She says "The
issue is who is victimized by the system, and who
is protected by the system and not victimized at
all."
Ramona compared genocidal acts perpetrated daily by
the United Snakes with common crimes. "Compared to
what the officials of this country do daily, nobody
outside [the] officials is guilty." Ramona traced
official violence to the founding of Amerika: the
genocide of the First Nations. "This country don't
have a problem with killing. That's what this
country was founded on. And they have the audacity
to put an Indian [Leonard Peltier] in jail." Like
Peltier, the famous First Nation political prisoner
framed for murdering a FBI pig on the Pine Ridge
reservation, Mumia is accused of killing a kkkop.
But as Ramona says "the concept of innocence or
guilt at this point is totally ridiculous."
Amerikkka is guilty, it's time for the People to
commence sentencing.
Ramona urged the audience to "be clear on who our
enemy is; and it's not each other, it's not us."
She castigated the Left for being unnecessarily
sectarian. "You don't have to have the same
ideology...Does the system care?" Instead, she
offered up unity as the answer. "Unity is the
foundation of revolution. That's why there has
never been a true revolution." MIM agrees that
unity against the enemy is important. But many so-
called revolutionaries in North America do not know
who they're fighting against. Ramona is obviously
correct when she says that whites are protected by
the government that victimizes Blacks. That fact
underlines the need for revolutionaries to fight
against white Amerikan privilege, and that is why
the "Left" is not all on our side. Plenty of the
"Left" wants to keep their First World privilege
and stolen First Nations land.
"I don't care what my situation is," says Ramona.
"I'm gonna call a cop? I'm gonna call Mark
Fuhrman... to protect me?" The answer, she
continues, is for oppressed people to stop fighting
each other and learn to solve their own problems.
She talks about oppressed nation youth, saying
"Rather than build an army, they're snatching
sisters out of their cars...That's not tough...We
do need an army." Ramona chastised Black youth in
college for not doing more activism. She said that
"it is a disgrace" that no Black college or
university has invited her to come and speak.
Ramona has been invited by community groups to
speak, but never by a student body of a Black
college. Ramona declared that "Self-defense is
God's law, natural law" and that the People need to
stop complaining and start organizing for their
defense. At the same time however, MIM notes that
Ramona is organizing a letter drive to big pig-
attorney general Janet Reno on Mumia's behalf. She
also has not suggested any organization--MOVE,
Friends of MOVE, or anyone else--to lay the basis
for an army. MIM agrees that the People need an
army and is building a revolutionary party that
will lead an army when the People are mobilized.
Finally, Ramona said that "Everyone has to pull
their own weight...Fighting for your freedom cannot
possibly be a crime." On the contrary, for the
oppressed, it's a duty. On the Move!
LETTERS ON BEHALF OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL SHOULD BE
ADDRESSED TO:
Honorable Janet Reno, Attorney General
U.S. Dept. of Justice
Washington D.C. 20530
and sent to: Equal Justice USA
P.O. Box 5206
Hyattsville MD 20782
The letters--they're hoping for a million --will
all be delivered personally during a massive rally
in D.C.(Date to be announced).
Ramona is suing the city of Philadelphia for
blowing up the MOVE house on May 13, 1985 and
murdering her family. The first day of trial is
April 1, 1996. A demonstration is planned outside
Federal Court.
MOVE has announced an action on May 11, 1996 in
Philadelphia, 10am-3pm, on the anniversary of the
May 13 bombing. Call MOVE at (215) 387-9955 or
write Equal Justice USA for information about this
and numerous other pro-Mumia and pro-MOVE events.
* * *
MASSACHUSETTS ACTIVISTS CONTINUE VIGILANCE AGAINST
PRISON REPRESSION
Boston, March 23--One year after implementation of
the lockdown at Walpole prison, a large crowd of
activists gathered on the steps of the
Massachusetts State House to protest repression in
Massachusetts prisons. The rally, organized by the
American Friends Service Committee, included a
Revolutionary Anti-imperialist League (RAIL)/Maoist
Internationalist Movement (MIM) contingent.
Signs and speakers at the rally reminded the crowd
that we are still protesting Governor Weld's
transfer to Texas of 299 prisoners in the middle of
the night on November 1, 1995. These prisoners were
used as hostages in Weld's budget negotiation; this
scam resulted in passage of a bill to fund close to
$500 million in prison expansions.
The RAIL/MIM contingent focused on the lockdown as
a means of preventing prisoners from studying
politics and organizing politically. Lockdown
includes isolation, sensory deprivation and brutal
repression. Prisoners at Walpole are enduring
conditions which are internationally recognized as
torture. The prisoncrats at Walpole have made the
lockdown permanent by upgrading the prison's
security rating. This rating requires non-contact
family visits so that prisoners cannot even touch
their visiting children.
Speakers focused on the failure of the criminal
injustice system to rehabilitate, pointing out that
torture is not rehabilitation. Several speakers
told how they or people they knew had been
convicted of crimes they did not commit as
punishment for their political activism. Other
speakers took this point even further to say that
crime is political in a society that gives crack
users (mostly Blacks and Latinos) higher sentences
than powder cocaine users (mostly wealthier
whites). RAIL pointed out that under a government
that condones rape, murder and torture in the name
of "democracy" around the world while placing one
in every three Black men under the criminal
injustice system, all prisoners are political
prisoners.
RAIL and MIM will continue fighting for better
prison conditions while we organize more broadly
for a dictatorship of the proletariat. The
oppressed will rise to the historic task of
smashing the bourgeois dictatorship which defines
crime opportunistically so that it can punish the
oppressed.
* * *
MOVIE REVIEW: DEAD MAN WALKING
"Dead Man Walking" is based on the book of the same
name that tells the true story of a Louisiana nun
who befriended a man sentenced to die for murder on
Death Row at Angola State Prison. Sister Helen
Prejean saw her correspondence with "Matthew
Poncelet" (a composite of real-life Patrick Sonnier
and Robert Lee Willie) as a religious duty. Her job
was to show Poncelet the light of Jesus and make
him accept responsibility for the murder for which
he was sentenced to die, so that he could go to
heaven.
In a recent interview Prejean said that it was her
mission to help death row inmates die with dignity,
"'[n]ot now own up so I can save your soul.'"(1)
Maoists also believe in taking responsibility, but
not for individualist moral reasons. We want people
to take responsibility for their actions and their
role in perpetuating an oppressive society and act
to overthrow the system which unjustly executes its
enemies. Amerika does not have the moral authority
to execute anyone, as the murder and violence
perpetrated by the state are far greater than what
any individual Amerikan could do on the street.
"Dead Man Walking" does not come out against the
death penalty, and the book is a stronger testament
than the movie to Sister Prejean's anti-death
penalty activism. After Prejean's experience with
her first death row friend, she went on to work
with several others. She is vigilant about
incorporating public awareness campaigns into her
work and continues to speak out at rallies, and
lobby against the death penalty.
The movie portrays the death penalty as arbitrary
and unfair. Poor people who cannot afford good
lawyers get the death penalty, while richer people
get lesser sentences. This is exemplified in the
fact that Poncelet's co-defendant got a life
sentence for the same crime for which Poncelet was
murdered. MIM knows that there is nothing arbitrary
about the death penalty or anything else in the
criminal injustice system: poor people and
oppressed nationals are targeted by the criminal
system from start to finish.
Poncelet is an unlikable guy whose racist bigotry
makes Prejean shudder. She argues with him about
his views on "niggers, spics and chinks." Until the
very end, Prejean cannot convince Poncelet to admit
he is guilty of the rape and double murder for
which he was convicted. At the last minute before
he is dragged to his death, Poncelet confesses,
saying he raped the girl and killed the boy. Sister
Prejean is completely relieved, having done her
duty to guide him to Jesus; for only by confessing
his sins could he "die with dignity."
One Denver radio talk-show host criticized Dead Man
Walking, saying he was not persuaded by the
political argument in the film that "Poor people
tend to get executed, not rich ones. This is no
doubt true, but not very persuasive as a
disqualifier for the death penalty. Rich people
tend not to commit capital crimes Yes, in rare
cases, an O.J. Simpson with millions to spend on
his defense might beat a rap, and that's a shame,
but rich people can also afford better medical
care, houses, cars, clothing, food and education;
and that's not fair either. Unless we're ready to
adopt Communism and divide everything up evenly,
it's not a good enough reason to spare someone like
Ted Bundy from his rendezvous with justice."(2)
MIM obviously does want communism and our position
is much more consistent than that of the Denver
talk show host. The man on the radio claims that
the crimes of Ted Bundy are bigger than the
millions of murders Amerika has committed and the
violence it sanctions daily. MIM has its priorities
straight: we are committed to bringing Amerikkka to
justice.
Prejean incorporates a victims advocacy
perspective, maintaining contact with any of the
victims' families who will speak with her. The
movie addressed this tension, and showed the
different responses of the two families--the father
of the boy who struggled with Prejean, and the
parents of the girl who wanted nothing to do with
her. Under socialism, victims of crimes might play
a genuine role in the rehabilitation of their
assailants, but under imperialism, victims'
**rights** to have front row seats at state
sponsored executions are part of a pornographic,
talk-show culture that glorifies the power of the
state.
In addition to merging characters and making the
movie much shorter than the book, the movie Dead
Man Walking takes political liberties with the
facts. At the time of Sister Prejean's story,
electric chair was the only means of execution in
Louisiana. In 1990 lethal injection became an
option for death now prisoners, and this method
clearly made a more palatable death scene for a
movie-going audience.
The movie also leaves out Prejean's critical
understanding of social injustice. Prejean recalled
her childhood: her parents were never mean to Black
people, but they also did not question "the system
of racial discrimination that permeated every
aspect of life It would take me a long time to
understand how systems inflict pain and hardship in
people's lives and to learn that being kind in an
unjust system is not enough."(p. 7) This is not a
communist analysis, but it is more analytical than
what the movie portrays.
Prejean's book goes a long way toward humanizing
the debate about the death penalty, taking into
account the grief and anguish of the victims'
families while steadfastly maintaining that the
death penalty is wrong. "If I were to be murdered I
would not want my murderer executed. I would not
want my murder avenged. **Especially by government
**--which can't be trusted to control its own
bureaucrats or collect taxes equitably or fill a
pothole, much less decide which of its citizens to
kill." (p. 21, emphasis in original)
Of course Prejean does not go far enough for MIM,
but she is a friend in the struggle against the
death penalty. Only through communism will all
oppression of groups over groups end, and only
through communism will the kinds of killings that
are now called crimes, and the executions to punish
them, end.
NOTES:
The page cites from the book are from the 1994
edition, **Dead Man Walking**, by Sister Helen
Prejean, Vintage Books.
1. The Guardian Mar. 4, 1996, p. T6.
2. The Denver Post Feb. 23, 1996, p. B9.
* * *
THE BIRD CAGE
This take-off on La Cage aux Folles has received
surprisingly wide mainstream distribution for a
movie about drag queens. As a contemporary
criticism of the religious right and the rest of
the republican party, The Bird Cage is a fun parody
of hypocrisy among the Amerikan family values
fascists. The Bird Cage is not a revolutionary
movie, preaching greater tolerance for different
lifestyles and begging the religious right to
accept queens into their families so that everyone
can live happily ever after.
It is progressive for mainstream Amerika to see
queens portrayed as real people--The Bird Cage
suggests that queens are better at 'family values'
than straight nuclear families--but the struggle to
gain acceptance in imperialist society is a
reactionary one. Queens in Amerika are oppressed as
outsiders to the dominant hetero-patriarchal
culture. But they can also live in penthouses, own
successful clubs and even raise children; while the
majority of queers on the planet are too worried
about survival to devote much energy to sexual
liberation. Progressive queers in Amerika must ally
themselves with the struggles of the international
proletariat fighting to overthrow the patriarchy,
not attempt to win acceptance from these
oppressors.
* * *
RUMBLE IN THE BRONX
Review by MC17
Hong Kong actor and director Jackie Chan edited
"Rumble in the Bronx" for an Amerikan audience, and
it shows. "Rumble" caters to Hollywood's vapid and
reactionary standards.
Chan is an action superstar in Asia and well-known
throughout the world. "Rumble" is his third attempt
to crack the Amerikan market and the first major
Amerikan release he directed. Earlier Amerikan
releases included the pitiful "Cannonball Run"
series, where Hollywood chauvinists cast Chan as a
Japanese.
Some of Chan's earlier films--most notably "Drunken
Master II"--were marked by political themes of
revolutionary anti-imperialist nationalism with
Chan playing the hero who rises above his lumpen-
proletarian background when events educate him
politically about the need to fight the big
imperialist enemy. Occasionally accurate renditions
of historical struggles, these older films are also
significant for the strong roles played by women
and the lack of romance in them.
Rumble in the Bronx is pure Amerikan tripe:
gratuitous sex, gratuitous violence, gratuitous
racial stereotyping and a politically meaningless
plot. With women all wearing scanty clothing and
doing little beyond clinging to their men, this
movie should appeal to the lucrative Amerikan
audience that pays for the popularity of the many
mindless and meaningless Hollywood films.
Chan's role in making his older movies also points
to the differences between the Amerikan and Hong
Kong movie industries. In an appearance on
Amerika's National Broadcasting Network's the Late
Show with David Letterman, Chan explained why he
always does his own stunts. In Hong Kong, the
actors are cheaper, and it is not such a big deal
if one of them falls in a scene and breaks his
ankle. In Amerika, the contracts for actors like
Steven Seagal (a pulp action martial artist movie
hero) carry such expensive insurance that the
producers wouldn't consider risking these actors on
their own stunts.
Amerikan audiences are titillated by the fact that
Jackie Chan does his own stunts because it makes
him seem that much more the studly action hero. But
really this aspect of Chan's career is only
evidence of the tremendous gulf in the value
imperialism puts on Chinese lives versus Amerikan
lives.
Jackie Chan is an excellent martial artist and a
great entertainer. While he did not start making
movies until after the beginning of capitalist
restoration in China, his talents were used to
educate and influence his audience towards anti-
imperialist politics by a Third World movie
industry. It is unfortunate that Chan has now sold
his skills to the disgusting bourgeois Hollywood
movie industry. MIM looks forward to a day when
movie actors will be engaged making educational
films rather than junk fiction nonsense which
glorifies patriarchal sex and violence.
* * *
NPR CAN'T COMPREHEND NATIONAL LIBERATION
On February 27, nearly 100 Cuban doctors arrived in
South Africa to take up rural medical posts. South
Africa suffers from the "brain drain" that afflicts
other Third World countries, as the educated and
technically trained leave their country for better
paid positions in the First World. South Africa's
problem is particularly severe in the countryside,
where conditions are much harsher than in the
cities. South Africa has 2,000 vacant posts in the
state health service.
South Africa has invited Cuba, which has a surplus
of medical workers, to send doctors to staff its
rural clinics. This will likely improve the health
situation in rural South Africa on a short term
basis, but this stop-gap measure exposes the short-
sightedness of South Africa's neo-colonial regime.
The nationalist and pro-peasant program utilized in
revolutionary China under the leadership of Mao
Zedong was a powerful rejection of neo-colonialism.
Maoist China focused on national self-reliance and
an orientation towards the countryside--where the
great majority of the population lived. Strategies
included political incentives for doctors to work
in the countryside and training more than 1 million
peasant masses as "barefoot doctors" to teach
preventative medicine and carry out simple first
aid.
National Public Radio's story about the Cuban
doctors being sent to South Africa played upon two
fallacies. First, that the Azanian masses would
actually rally to sing the praises of Fidel Castro-
-Amerika's bogeyman. It was apparently
inconceivable that a country that Amerika doesn't
like could actually be appreciated elsewhere in the
world.
Secondly, the reporter stressed that only a few
years prior, Cuban soldiers were fighting South
African soldiers on the battlefields of Angola.
What the reporter missed, however, was that South
Africa is no longer the same country that supported
reaction in Angola a few years ago. Until 1993, the
Azanian masses under the leadership ship of the
African National Congress and other organizations,
were fighting the white South African regime. In
1993, Nelson Mandela was elected president, ending
white rule and ushering in neo-colonialism. The
African National Congress was on the same side of
the Angola struggle as the Cubans.
While the political realities for the Azanian
masses has changed little since the end of open
white rule, this was not the reporter's point.
Rather, she was trying to liquidate the historical
struggle of the Azanian people against the South
African government. --MC234
NOTES: NPR February 27, 1996; Boston Globe February
28, 1996, p. 4.
* * *
SETTLERS SHIFT INTO STOCK OWNERSHIP
Statistics collected by the Federal Reserve bank of
the U.S. Government for 1995 show that stock
ownership surpassed home ownership in total value
for the first time since the early 1970s in the
United Snakes. The class of people MIM calls
settlers owns the majority of home equity and now
it is putting money into its Individual Retirement
Accounts (IRAs) and 401(k) programs.
"In 1980, for example, Americans purchased only
$2.1 billion in mutual fund-shares, the prime
vehicle for middle-class stock ownership. Last
year, mutual fund purchases were close to $200
billion."(1) The big spur to the increases is a new
pro-settler tax code that gives a special tax
status to IRAs and such strategies for building
wealth for retirement.
The middle-classes--people not in the top one
percent of wealth holders and unable to live just
from owning property--these classes that MIM calls
the settlers or labor aristocracy and the petty-
bourgeoisie have long owned the majority of home
equity. In 1995 home equity wealth totaled $4.3
trillion. The bottom 90 percent of society owns 65
percent of the home ownership wealth, in addition
to 65 percent of the life insurance and 76 percent
of the automobiles.(2)
The comparison of home equity and stock ownership
is notable in itself. Home equity is a major source
of power in many imperialist societies. It is also
a major economic fact in separating white working
classes from the working classes of the oppressed
nations.
In the poorest 20 percent of society, home equity
accounts for 59 percent of all wealth as of 1988.
The wealthier people rely less on home equity. When
one looks at the white people of the United Snakes
only 8.73 percent of households qualify for Marx's
statement that "they have nothing to lose but their
chains," because they have zero or negative net
worth. A good chunk of Blacks and people of
"Hispanic origin" have been bought off too, but
29.12 percent of Blacks and 23.82 percent of
"Hispanic origin" people have zero or negative net
worth. Indeed, while the median net worth for
whites was $43,279 in 1988 dollars, it was $4,169
for Blacks and $5,524 for "Hispanic origin"
people.(3) This contributes to the different
national interests that give people of oppressed
nations in Amerika a different outlook from white
people and gives them, as a group, a material
interest in revolution.
The 8.73 percent of white households with no net
wealth are too insignificant to form a class. They
are the most extremely marginalized whites with
health problems or young age, and they all know
many middle-class people who "have made it."
Meanwhile, it would not take much to knock the
oppressed nation middle-classes back into
absolutely zero asset ownership. A catastrophe or
creeping taxes worth four or five thousand dollars
would eliminate the savings of these classes.
Hence, for this reason MIM concentrates itself in
the bottom 20 percent of society where the
oppressed nations are concentrated. Such wealth in
houses is not accrued in the oppressed nations of
the Third World. In the 1970s and 1980s it was
possible for most Amerikans to make five and six
digit dollar sums just from owning a house, doing
no work and watching the price go up. That wealth
contributed to the corruption of the political
outlook of workers here and among other things made
widespread homelessness possible at the very bottom
of society. Real estate speculation of this sort is
a key way in which the capitalist system in the
imperialist countries rewards the bought-off
workers with the labor of other people.
In the accompanying article on overall wealth, MIM
showed that the top one percent lost ground in
percentage of wealth owned to the next highest nine
percent of wealth owners in recent years. The
growth of employee ownership of large companies,
the IRAs and 401(k) programs point toward further
bourgeoisification of the Amerikan people.
Much attention is drawn to the fact that worker
incomes excluding benefits have fallen in recent
years. Others point to the decline of Social
Security that the bourgeoisie is predicting.
However, these trends are offset by increases in
worker benefits and stock ownership. While many so-
called Marxists would like to join President
Clinton in seeing the attacks on Medicaid and
Medicare as a symbol of class destabilization, in
actual fact, the middle classes are becoming
slightly more stable, not less stable at this time.
It is important to have an accurate gauge of the
position of the middle-classes, because too often
communist parties have based themselves on the idea
that the middle-class was collapsing when it was
not. The only result was the importation of middle-
class ideas into communist parties and not
communist ideas into middle-classes.
NOTES:
1. New York Times Mar. 22, 1996, p. d17.
2. Leonard Beeghley, **The Structure of Social
Stratification in the United States** (Boston:
Allyn and Bacon, 1996), p. 179.
3. U.S. Census data in Charles E. Hurst, **Social
Inequality: Forms, Causes and Consequences, 2nd
ed.**, (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1995), pp. 28-9.
* * *
LABOR ARISTOCRACY AND PETTY-BOURGEOISIE GET MORE
GRAVY
From listening to the campaign rhetoric of the
imperialist parties seeking to woo the labor
aristocracy voters in the United Snakes, one would
have the impression that the middle class has
disappeared. In actuality, while the proletariat
continues to be exploited and driven into further
degradation, the majority of white workers continue
to expand their wealth or at least hold their own.
The latest in a thorough survey conducted every
three years shows that the upper ranks of the labor
aristocracy and petty-bourgeoisie got richer
between 1989 and 1992. The survey conducted by the
Federal Reserve and Internal Revenue Survey
surprised the New York Times editors, who called
its accuracy into question.
"The aggregate wealth of the bottom 90 percent of
Americans grew by 20 percent from 1989 to 1992. The
total net household worth of the richest 1 percent
declined by 4.6 percent during that period, while
the biggest winners, the next 9 percent, saw their
wealth increase 37 percent." The top one percent of
the population--defined as the capitalist class
because it owns enough wealth to live off of
without working--saw its share of wealth decline
from 37.1 percent to 30.4 percent between 1989 and
1992. This reflected the need for the bourgeoisie
to sweeten the pot for its top technical and
organizational managers who receive top salaries.
It has become economically efficient to reward the
top one percent of people with greater settler
loyalty rather than more wealth for the time being.
The capitalist class is willing to give up a little
on its annual income in the name of buying off the
Amerikan labor aristocracy as a staunch ally in
domination of the oppressed.
NOTE: New York Times March 13, 1996, p. d1.
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