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

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XX XX XXX XX XX X X XXX XXX XXX XXX
X X X X X X X XX X X X X X X
X V X X X V X X X X X X X XX XXX
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THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

MIM NOTES 115	JUNE 1, 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.


* * *

MOVE EXPOSES AMERIKA IN COMMEMORATION OF BOMBING 


PHILADELPHIA-- MOVE held a commemorative meeting on May 11, 
marking the May 13 anniversary of the 1985 bombing of MOVE by the 
city of Philadelphia. The well-attended meeting also coincided 
with the trial of the civil suit Africa v. Philadelphia, in which 
MOVE survivors are suing for damages that resulted from the 
bombing, which left 11 people dead, 61 houses destroyed and 
hundreds of people homeless. Nine MOVE members are still in jail 
on bogus charges while the murderous pigs remain unpunished. 

On this same day, Bill Clinton was scheduled to address the 
national celebration of the Fraternal Order of Pigs in Washington. 
And two days later the State of Pennsylvania was due to respond to 
Mumia Abu-Jamal's latest appeal for a new trial, according to 
defense attorney Leonard Weinglass. 

A recurring theme among speakers--from MOVE minister Ramona Africa 
and rap artist Mike Africa to Weinglass--was that oppression and 
genocide can be part of the "legal" system. As Mike repeated in 
his performance: "Just because it's legal, don't make it right."


NEW LAW HURTS MUMIA


Weinglass described the implications of the new misnamed "anti-
terrorist" legislation now in effect, which severely restricts 
death penalty appeals to Federal courts so-called "habeas corpus" 
appeals.

The new law affects Mumia and other existing cases, even though 
Mumia's case is more than a decade old. Besides placing brutal 
time limits on appeals of state decisions to Federal courts, the 
law also "moves the goal posts," Weinglass said, requiring Federal 
judges to apply a "presumption of correctness" standard when 
reviewing state decisions. The Supreme Court has decided to hear 
an immediate challenge to the new law which restricts habeas 
corpus appeals, presumably so they can swiftly approve it and 
speed up hundreds of executions, Weinglass said. Mumia's appeal, 
according to Weinglass, will probably be argued before the 
Pennsylvania Supreme Court in the fall. 


FASCISM IN THE USA?


Weinglass compared the recent Amerikan anti-crime craze to the 
progression of fascism in Nazi Germany, because, as in Germany, 
"It's being done legally, it's being done quietly, it's being done 
step-by-step." In addition to the anti-terrorism bill, new 
legislation also limits prisoners' abilities to file suits 
regarding prison conditions.

MIM disagrees with Weinglass because most Amerikans, especially in 
the white working class support the rising tide of national 
oppression implemented, in part, by the genocidal injustice 
system. Rather than doing it "quietly," Congress and the states 
are rolling back "rights" to the sound of constant clamoring from 
the white middle- class majority. In Germany, a majority of the 
working class also eventually supported fascism, and many opposed 
the communist movement from the beginning. In Germany, however, 
the significant presence of communists among the workers meant 
that the fascists and their backers from the
bourgeoisie, middle-and working-classes were willing to give up 
some of their own democratic rights to save German imperialism. 
Among Amerikans at present, there is almost no true radicalism, so 
whites turn their fascist intentions mostly toward the oppressed 
Black, Latino and First Nations. Many people make the fascism 
comparison to try and scare white people into progressive causes, 
but that just leads whites to politics for the wrong reasons to 
protect their own privileges instead of ending true oppression.

For example, a progressive speaker from Belgium, Eefke Saris, who 
is starting a Friends of Move organization there, said, "If Mumia 
is free, then it's a small step toward everyone being free from 
the system." While it is true that imperialism curdles many 
aspects of a meaningful life for everyone, the self-interest route 
to politics for members of oppressor nations covers up mile-high 
privilege with a facade of emotional angst. It's fine for 
privileged people to say they will be happier without imperialism 
as a reason for getting into revolutionary politics but only if 
they are clear that material advantage is a separate question.

Among the Black nation, however, it should be apparent that the 
increasingly fascist crackdowns put the whole Black nation at 
risk. As one Black woman said to MIM of Mumia's frame-up case and 
prosecution, "That's the scary part theyre taking away our rights. 
That could be any of us." 


EUROPEAN SUPPORT


The new organization in Belgium is only one of many new efforts in 
Europe spurred by the Mumia and MOVE activism coming from Blacks 
in North America. Such inspired organizing is also being done in 
England, Germany, Italy and other countries. For example, Saris 
said that the new MOVE activism helped people in Belgium organize 
to protest when a Yugoslavian immigrant was murdered by police 
recently. "It's going very slowly, but it's going," she said of 
the movement in Belgium.

Mumia's case has gained new international support. Activists at 
the meeting reported that in addition to 200,000 signatures from 
Italy and 60,000 signatures from Paris calling for a new trial, 22 
members of the Japanese parliament and a majority in the European 
parliament have asked the United Snakes to consider a new trial. 
Mumia has also been formally recognized with honorary citizenship 
in Venice (Italy), an honorary law degree from a California school 
and he was named an official in the National Lawyers Guild.

Weinglass said the European support for Mumia and MOVE, which 
outstrips support in North America, is part of a broader trend. In 
the USA, he said, "there is a groundswell of a national movement" 
that includes recent defeats for the death penalty in several 
states.

In U.N. trials for crimes against humanity (in the cases of Rwanda 
and Cambodia), the death penalty was not pursued "even for people 
guilty of 10,000 murders," Weinglass added. "The taking of any 
life, no matter what, is not acceptable for state politics." 
Again, MIM disagrees (and we won't get into the politics of U.N. 
"human rights" here, for the moment). Revolutionary states run by 
the people instead of by the imperialists may practice executions 
in good conscience when crimes against the people are heinous and 
rehabilitation is impossible. Pacifist activism against the death 
penalty in imperialist society is progressive, but there is no 
point in pretending that no heads will roll in the transition to a 
free society whether in open war or in executions of evil and 
unrepentant oppressors of the people. Once communism is achieved, 
there will be no state executions because there will be no state 
and no contradictions that would inspire actions necessitating the 
death penalty as a response. However, under the historically long 
period of socialism, the death penalty will be unavoidable early 
on because some enemies of the people will unscrupulously fight 
for the restoration of exploitation and the destruction of 
revolutionary progress.

For information on MOVE, write PO Box 19709, Philadelphia, PA, 
19143, or on the Internet at MOVELLJA@aol.com. Subscriptions to 
First Day, published by MOVE, are $8 for the next six issues. 


* * *


INDIANA CONTROL UNIT PRISON PROTEST


by a RAIL Comrade

Two hundred people came to a day of protest demonstrations at the 
Control Unit Prison in Carlisle, Indiana, the Federal Penitentiary 
and Vigo County Courthouse in Terre Haute, Indiana; the Missouri 
RAIL was able to attend the latter 2 events. The demands of these 
demonstrations were to abolish control unit prisons, end the death 
penalty, and freedom for all political prisoners. The event 
involved 10 sponsoring organizations and was coordinated by the 
National Campaign to Stop Control Unit Prisons as part of Spring 
activities across the country.

People chanted slogans such as "The human rights problem in the 
world today is right here in the USA," "Political Prisoners are 
here today. Walls and bars can't keep us away," and "Que salga 
ya," (It is imperative, or Let it come out now), and they carried 
portraits of Puerto Rican political prisoners, and signs such as 
"Control Units are Torture." Many people waved the Puerto Rican 
flag. 

Many comrades of oppressed nation struggles gave speeches. A 
member of the National Committee to Free Puerto Rican Political 
Prisoners spoke on the steps of the Vigo County Courthouse, where 
the Puerto Rican flag was waved high in the sky all through the 
demonstration, an inspiring site for MORAIL and for anyone who is 
working for self- determination for oppressed nations. A former 
Puerto Rican POW spoke in Spanish then English, as well as a 
relative of Edwin Cortes, who is currently imprisoned at the 
Federal Penitentiary at Terre Haute.

Edwin Cortes is currently imprisoned the Terre Haute Pen for 
membership in the FALN, as well as accusations of an extensive 
bombing campaign, along with eleven other independistas. One of 
the founders of the Union for Puerto Rican Students, he 
participated in struggles in support of the Iranian and 
Palestinian people, as well as promoting the history and culture 
of Puerto Rico and organizing support for Puerto Rican 
independence. It is important to recognize and support Edwin's 
conscious political struggle, while we recognize that all 
prisoners in Amerikka's penal system are politically oppressed.

A member of the Spear and Shield Collective was the first to speak 
at the Federal Penitentiary. The comrades speech confirmed the 
importance of mass activity and that, in order to be effective, a 
vanguard party must be in touch with and working with the masses. 
MORAIL is in agreement with the comrade on this. The speaker also 
said that "all work around prisons represents but one front of the 
struggle," and advocated working with the masses on other fronts 
as well, to take over schools, to take over hospitals, and to 
"(re)generate struggle on all other fronts in our communities".

Through discussion with the comrade after the demonstration, 
MORAIL was able to clarify, while we have much unity with the 
Spear and Shield Collective, where our differences lie. The 
comrade holds that all prisoners are not political prisoners, 
while MORAIL maintains that all prisoners are political prisoners, 
but that many are not politically active or politically conscious. 
The significance of the comrades position is that, in practice, 
s/he disagrees with us on the focus RAIL and MIM give to prison 
work. If this writer understands MIM correctly, while all these 
other fronts the comrade mentions are important, we put the focus 
on prison work and police attacks because these are imperialisms 
most direct attacks on oppressed nations. It is here that 
imperialism is most clearly exposed (in the United States). While 
we must combat imperialism on all fronts, these are the 
frontlines.

During the demonstration, a MORAIL comrade took a picture of the 
Federal Penitentiary. As S/he walked a few feet onto the grass in 
front of the prison, a pig with a videocamera yelled "Get off the 
property!" Another pig ordered the comrade to turn over the film, 
and was ignored. These pigs are rather laughable and insecure when 
the cameras are turned on them and they see the people protesting 
the pigs and their koncentration kamps.

MORAIL is proud of this opportunity to stand in solidarity with 
other activists protesting imperialist oppression.


* * *


LETTERS TO MIM AND RAIL


IF ALL SEX IS RAPE, WHAT ABOUT ALL WORK? 

Dear MIM,

In the May 1 issue of MIM Notes you carried an article titled, 
"Rape, Sex and Patriarchy: MIM Presentation." In it you described 
how sex in today's society is rape. You based this analysis on the 
recognition that "while some sex is more coercive than others, it 
is essential to recognize the fundamental differences that exist 
between men and women. These conditions of inequality make all the 
relationships coercive."

While this analysis is applaudable, and I feel rather accurate, it 
underscores a failure on MIM's part regarding its stand on the 
American working class. It is incontestable that the third world 
proletariat is subject to greater exploitation than the average 
worker here; that does not mean that the American worker' 
exploitation is to be ignored. As you pointed out in your analysis 
of gender relations, an inequality of power is the basis for 
oppression. The coercion may not be as great here as in the Third 
World, but it still exists and has to be recognized and opposed.

MIM makes a point of opposing the effects of patriarchy against 
all women, why doesn't it do the same for opposing the 
exploitation of all labor? Granted the American worker can be 
considered to be active in and responsible for the exploitation of 
Third World labor to a degree, but that can be said of women, 
either supporting the effects of the patriarchy, or in exploiting 
other women. False consciousness is the enemy here, not first 
world labor.

I recognize that the U.S. working class may not hold as much 
revolutionary potential at the present as the more oppressed Third 
World; but as you pointed out in your article, oppression is there 
no matter how concealed it may be, and as a result it has to be 
actively opposed.

I enjoyed you article, and wish to thank you for making me more 
aware of gender inequality, My above criticism is more of a 
question on MIM's position. I look forward to your response.

'Red'ily yours,

--a reader in the Midwest



MIM REPLIES: You have touched on a very important point that 
dialectical materialists struggle with constantly. We must always 
understand the material interests of various groups of people, but 
that is not enough. We must also understand what is being 
sacrificed to serve those material interests. That is a point on 
which we can win over some oppressor- nation youth.

Your criticism is half correct. It is true that just as sex under 
patriarchy is gross no matter how rich you are, work under 
imperialism is gross no matter how rich you are. In the current 
structure, many Amerikans waste their lives away shuffling papers, 
producing nothing, feeling alienated and without purpose. However, 
the incorrect half of your criticism is that this realization 
leads to revolutionary consciousness. You use the words 
"exploitation" and "oppression" interchangeably, which confuses 
the issue. MIM's contention is not that First World workers are 
exploited less, but that they are not exploited at all. But they 
do suffer from some oppression under capitalism. 

If Amerikans were both exploited and alienated, as a majority of 
the world's workers are, they would be a good constituency for 
revolutionary organizing. However, they are only the latter. We 
use that alienation as an in, especially with youth who are not 
yet so caught up in the two-VCRs-and-a- real-nice-car lifestyle. 
We should emphasize it. But as we stress the cultural bankruptcy 
of imperialism, even for Amerikans, we must always be conscious to 
avoid pandering to the material interests of an oppressor class.



FREE GERONIMO!

I am writing this letter in support of Geronimo ji Jaga (Pratt) 
who is a former Minister of Defense for the Black Panther Party, 
and has been a prisoner of war in the California State Prison 
system for the past 26 years. He was falsely accused of murder as 
part of an FBI COINTELPRO covert operation.

In the hearing of March 21, 1996, in Los Angeles, Judge Michael 
Cowell acknowledged that the defense raised substantive issues in 
its court filing of Habeas Corpus to overturn the murder 
conviction. Judge Cowell said the Habeas "has been initiated, and 
if I do not have jurisdiction, this matter will proceed in a 
timely manner." Prosecutors are alleging the State of California 
Supreme Court had jurisdiction in this case. Ultimately 
prosecutors delayed the case with this tactic denying for the time 
being the possibility of presenting vital evidence that has 
surfaced since Ob ji Jaga's conviction.

Denied bail, Oba ji Jaga in Los Angeles County jail the duration 
of his hearing. Since his arrival in chains, Oba was placed in 
lock-down, and didn't receive mail, or visitors till April 11. 
Wednesday April 17, the hearing determined his case should go to 
the higher court, and on the 18th Oba was transported back to Mule 
Creek State Prison in Ione. He was placed in "orientation" or 
lockdown till April 25th.

I hope whoever sees this will spread the word of Oba's struggle 
for freedom and/or organize action in his behalf. It's time to 
Free Geronimo! 



NEW RAIL BRANCH FORMS

Comrades,

The first RAIL meeting was good. Our focus, of course, was on 
prisons and police brutality. We started off with a 20 minute 
video about Mumia Abu- Jamal. Then a RAIL comrade gave a 
presentation about the growth of prisons and the targeting of 
Blacks, Latinos and people of the First Nations. A global 
perspective was kept by drawing the analogy of U.S. imperialist 
domination of the Third World and US oppression of the internal 
colonies. "Prisoners of Liberation" was cited because of the 
authors' observations of genuine rehabilitation based on unity-
criticism-unity.

Then, a relative of a Black youth who was murdered by a pig a 
couple of months ago spoke. He expressed the need to stop pig 
abuse and terror and urged people to join a picket line every week 
demanding that the murderer be brought to justice. He also brought 
up the idea of a civilian review board and invited people to a 
meeting to take up that topic....

The discussion that followed was intense. It included: slave labor 
in prisons; the viability of civilian review boards; community 
values vs. "family values"; political prisoners in South Africa 
(Mandela-free others-Not!); all US prisoners as political 
prisoners. Then a RAIL comrade read a letter from Sundiata Acoli, 
printed in CROSSROAD, which stressed the need for Black 
independence via a plebiscite. We adjourned, agreeing to meet in 
one month. Everyone received a copy of the March MIM Notes and 
special note was made of the RAIL insert. A copy of RAIL's prison 
pamphlet was also given to all.

Form letters to Janet Reno, demanding a new trial for Mumia were 
signed by participants and forwarded to Int'l concerned Family and 
Friends of Mumia Abu- Jamal. (A demo has been planned for May 19 
and letters to be handed to her on May 20--known as the'million 
letters for Mumia campaign'.)

Until next time,

A RAIL comrade


MIM REPLIES: We print this letter as an example and inspiration 
for other readers out there thinking about getting a RAIL branch 
started. Get something going now! Write us a letter and let us 
know how it is going!



DEFEND TAIWAN?

These criticisms were part of a much longer more theoretical 
letter, not printed here. The response is also excerpted. --ed.

Dear comrades,

First, even if we assume that China is indeed state-capitalist 
rather than socialist (and I do not believe that, but assuming for 
the sake of argument), an attack by China against Taiwan would at 
least be a triumph of third world nationalism over imperialism. If 
we agree that Iraq was correct to try to reclaim Kuwait, would 
consistency not demand that we would support any effort by China 
to retake Taiwan?

Comradely Yours,

A friend in the south


A RAIL COMRADE RESPONDS: We don't defend Iraq's attack on Kuwait 
or any Third World country aggression upon any other Third World 
country, China and Taiwan included. Instead, we support anti-
imperialist wars against the First World, particularly U.S. 
imperialism. Iraq should have fought to escape neocolonialism by 
building socialism instead of invading Kuwait. So too, China 
should build socialism and not invade Taiwan. If you think China 
is still socialist, we suggest Charles Bettelheim's China Since 
Mao and the study guide The Capitalist Roaders Are Still on the 
Capitalist Road, available from MIM.

Thanks for writing. We hope the delay this time isn't so bad and 
look forward to corresponding again.


* * *


RAIL CELEBRATES MAY DAY WITH RALLY AGAINST IMPERIALIST MILITARISM


LOS ANGELES, May 1--The Revolutionary Anti- Imperialist League 
(RAIL) celebrated International Workers Day today by leading an 
informational rally outside UCLA's administration building, Murphy 
Hall. RAIL is led by the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM), a 
revolutionary communist party. The rally highlighted the 
connections between UCLA, the U.S. military-industrial complex, 
and the oppression of the world's workers and peasants. Activists 
gave passers-by literature exposing the University of California's 
ties to the U.S. war machine. This literature included CALRAIL, a 
publication of the California Chapter of RAIL, and a flier 
promoting the rally and explaining its purpose. The flier read in 
part:

"In celebration of May Day, International Workers Day, join with 
the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) to rally to stop 
the current World War III!

"The imperialists are currently waging a hot war--a World War III-
-against the world's oppressed nations, including the U.S. 
empire's internal colonies. From South Central L.A. and other 
ghettos, barrios, and reservations of Aztlán to Bosnia, Liberia, 
Lebanon and the Philippines, Amerikkka's war on the world's 
workers and peasants is not our fight! We must smash the U.S. war 
machine. To do so, we must expose and organize against the links 
between U.S. militarism and civilian institutions. This rally 
targets UCLA's administration building because of UCLA's extensive 
ties to the U.S. war machine. UCLA conducts $18.7 million in 
Pentagon research every year and hosts an ROTC program which 
trains young students from UCLA and other schools to become 
imperialism's hired killers.


"SMASH UCLA'S TIES TO THE U.S. WAR MACHINE!" 


RAIL's rally succeeded in its goal of building public opinion 
against militarism and imperialism. However, the rally was 
overshadowed by a larger march and rally held by the pseudo-
proletarian UCLA Union Coalition (UCLAUC). This coalition's member 
organizations are the University Professional and Technical 
Employees, the petit-bourgeois Student Association of Graduate 
Employees (affiliated with the labor aristocracy's United Auto 
Workers), the University of California Association of Interns and 
Residents, the Coalition of University Employees, the California 
Nurses Association, and the petit- bourgeois librarians' local of 
the American Federation of Teachers. UCLAUC billed their event as 
a "UCLA Labor Solidarity Day March and Rally...for union, civil & 
human rights." 

The UCLAUC march ended with a rally at Murphy Hall where the RAIL 
rally was taking place. MIM is not surprised that the coalition 
which put forward the class demands of UCLA's labor aristocracy 
and petit-bourgeoisie drew a larger crowd than the League which 
put forward the class demands of the international proletariat. 
MIM and RAIL are not about to tailor our lines to the labor 
aristocracy or the petty-bourgeoisie, because these classes have a 
material interest in propping up the imperialist system which 
gives them privilege while it gives the world's proletariat and 
peasantry hell.

RAIL's rally exposed the fact that UCLA and the University of 
California (UC) system generally are integral to Amerikkka's 
imperialist war machine. In the face of this exposure, UCLAUC 
rallied to demand more of UC's blood-stained money. Smashing UC's 
ties to the U.S. war machine was not one of UCLAUC's demands which 
call UCLA a "good" university that they want to make "an even 
better public university." UCLAUC's plan to make UCLA a better 
university involves taking a bigger piece of the profit pie baked 
by the exploited people of the world for the parasites working at 
UCLA while leaving intact the imperialist militarist system that 
makes these big profits possible. If any of UCLAUC's members are 
genuine proletarians or have a genuine interest in fighting on the 
side of the proletariat, we recommend that they stay organized by 
joining RAIL. Proletarians must steer clear of "allies" who side 
with Amerikkka's business as usual of waging World War III against 
other proletarians.

The UCLAUC speakers attempted to co-opt
International Workers Day for their demands, demands which amount 
to asking for a larger piece of a stolen pie. But May Day is the 
holiday of the international proletariat, those who have nothing 
to lose but their chains. We have nothing against organizing 
members of the petit-bourgeoisie, the labor aristocracy, or even 
the bourgeoisie. For this reason, we distributed RAIL literature 
to UCLAUC's crowd. We are, however, completely opposed to 
organizing these individuals on the basis of their classes' 
reactionary demands. The intrusion of the organizations of these 
reactionary classes into May Day and into RAIL's rally site is not 
all bad. For one thing, it illustrates the differences between the 
class stand of the international proletariat and that of the 
bribed workers of the imperialist countries. For another, it 
serves as a reminder to the proletarian forces that we cannot let 
down our guard. The proletarian forces constitute the world's 
majority, but they are a minority within U.S. borders. There is 
much work to be done to make proletarian- led revolution a reality 
in North America.


* * *


VASQUEZ RAILROADED; FRIENDS AND FAMILY CONTINUE TO FIGHT FOR 
JUSTICE

In MIM Notes 113 (May 1, 1996), we reported on the case of Salomon 
Vasquez, an Ypsilanti, MI man who was arrested and is now in 
prison for murder. MIM publicizes the facts of Salomon's case 
because we believe that the best way to help people who are 
victimized by Amerika is to publicly connect their cases to 
systemic injustice. Vasquez is an example of the way members of 
oppressed nations are railroaded into prison: his public defender 
was inadequate, one key witness was clearly lying but his 
testimony was allowed to be used, and Vasquez did not even fire 
the gun in the accidental shooting death for which he was 
convicted. We hope that our work around Salomon's case will 
inspire people to support him and to work against all forms of 
Amerikan criminal injustice. The best way to fight the systematic 
national oppression of the injustice system is to work with or in 
a revolutionary party, and contribute to the fight against 
imperialism. Here we print Salomon's response to our coverage of 
his case.

MIM,

Hello, I am Salomon Vasquez and I'm writing you to thank you for 
your support you have given. It really makes me feel good to know 
that there are good and caring people in this country that care 
about prisoners. You know, before I came to Amerika I had a 
different feeling and opinion about this country because I thought 
it was a good and free country but as I grew older I started 
learning that money is everything here. It is said what Amerika is 
but they always talk about how great and free this country is. Me, 
if I could get out of here, I'll return to my country without 
having to think about it and never come back. For example, there's 
hardly any space for more prisoners but they don't want to release 
people and the governor is talking about building more prisons 
spending all that money in prisons when there's homeless and 
hungry people everywhere in the world. Sad ain't it? I really like 
your movement and I'll like to receive your paper every two weeks, 
I also would like to get information on your books for prisoners 
program. Thank you once again for your support.

MIM and RAIL will be hosting a speaker on the topic of Salomon 
Vasquez's case in the Michigan League, Room D on the University of 
Michigan, Ann Arbor campus. The talk will be on Friday May 31 at 8 
pm. If you want to learn more about or help out with Salomon's 
case, or if you want to learn more about MIM's and RAIL's work in 
opposition to the Amerikan criminal injustice system, contact MIM 
or RAIL, P.O. Box 3576, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3576 or 
mim@nyxfer.blythe.org.


* * *


CHINA'S RULING CLIQUE CELEBRATES MAY DAY 

On International Workers' Day, several people were arrested and 
detained in Beijing following a demonstration by clothing vendors. 
Police had seized the vendors' goods in a shut down of vending 
stalls. Reuters reported that the clothing vendors were poor 
merchants who were demonstrating because they had invested large 
savings in forming "the Baiyun Clothing Wholesale Market, 
expecting to be able to keep stalls there for 12 years, but had 
been told to leave after only one."

The Reuters report only says that the Beijing police raided the 
clothing vendors and that the vendors blamed the Baiyun market's 
management for this action, but does not explain the connection 
between the two. While MIM does not know many details of this 
incident, we do know that the revisionist Chinese regime functions 
as a state- capitalist government: using state power to advance 
the position of capitalism in China while upholding the banner of 
socialism. Such heavy handed repression of protesters even in 
peacetime is not surprising coming from an illegitimate government 
whose claim to power is the coup which took over the Chinese 
government after Mao died in 1976. 


NOTE: Reuter May 1, 1996.


* * *


MLM ONLINE:

ROLE OF IMPERIALIST FINANCE CAPITAL DEBATED ON THE NET


by a RAIL comrade

RAIL participated in a recent discussion on the Internet which 
focused on the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund 
(IMF) and the function of these institutions in maintaining the 
capitalist-imperialist status quo. The discussion brought home the 
importance of exposing these institutions through sustained 
analysis. 

The World Bank and the IMF are instruments of imperialist 
exploitation. These global financial institutions were created in 
the 1940s, just after World War II, by the industrialized western 
countries, especially the USA and Britain, with the purpose of 
exercising economic control and domination over the third world. 
Although colonialism in its original and overt form is more rare 
these days, neocolonialism is alive and well in today's world. 
Neocolonialism is a more covert form of colonialism, in which the 
colonizing countries continue to transfer wealth from the 
colonized countries without explicitly taking over political 
control of the subjugated nations. 

Since neocolonialism is more covert and subtle than colonialism, 
its dangers are not as obvious as those of naked colonialism used 
to be. Further, instruments of colonialism, such as the global 
financial institutions, keep up the pretense that they are 
actually "instruments of development" which benefit the third 
world. For obvious reasons the corporate media too plays its part 
in maintaining this lie.

The Internet discussion started when one correspondent from New 
York wrote: "The World Bank and IMF can certainly be said to have 
supported questionable policies, though they have recently re-
evaluated these policies under intense criticism. Describing them 
as neocolonialism or exploitation, however, is hardly accurate or 
fair." 

RAIL provided the following evidence to support its position:

(1) In 1989 alone, the "third world" handed over $52 billion more 
in debt repayment than it received in new credit.

(2) Between 1982 and 1989, the net flow of debt service from 
developing countries to the World Bank and IMF, in excess of new 
loans, was $240 billion. 

(3) Nilufar Ahmad, a Bangladeshi statistician and economist, has 
stated: "Each World Bank consultant that comes to Bangladesh gets 
paid $800 per day-- while the average per capita income in 
Bangladesh is $160 per year. We calculated that for each dollar 
that comes into Bangladesh, we have to pay $1.50 back."

A correspondent from the Midwest disagreed with RAIL. S/he said:

"This alone proves nothing about neocolonialism. This would also 
be the pattern one would expect if World Bank policies have been 
successful. This is because, if funding is provided in the form of 
loans and the country becomes self-sufficient as a consequence, it 
does not require further loans but has to pay back the original 
one(s). Consequently, net flow has to become negative, unless you 
think that financial institutions should only be in the business 
of providing grants. (I am pretty sure that the third world's 
reliance on World Bank funding has diminished in the aggregate as 
a proportion of, say, aggregate national income. ..) 

"Such calculations do not prove or disprove anything about 
neocolonialism. One really has to look at how the projects did to 
talk about whether the funding was useful or not. That's a much 
tougher calculation to do and attribute blame for than using 
fairly meaningless numbers. On this count, my point is that many 
projects have not performed anywhere near their touted potential. 
However, here the responsibilities are often shared by incompetent 
bank work and corrupt/stupid third world elites.

"If however, funds have been misused and/or misspent (as they 
often are), future projects become unattractive and new funding is 
not forthcoming. Consequently, debt service becomes negative. 
Developing nations need to clean their own house a lot more before 
their cries on this account will be treated credibly by the 
Western World. Don't get me wrong on this one--I am not being an 
apologist for would-be colonizers and exploiters. All I am trying 
to say is that building a case against them needs to go beyond 
quoting easily available data without understanding what lies 
behind them."

RAIL responded: Note that many cases where the money was not put 
to proper use by the developing country elite, the particular 
elite happened to be dictators, not democratically elected 
governments. Take the case of one country that was particularly 
devastated by external debt, much of it owed to IMF/World Bank: 
the Philippines. Now it turns out, a lot of the money was loaned 
out to the Marcos regime, and conceivably was spent not in 
building infrastructure but on lining Marcos' own pocket (or maybe 
for adding to Imelda Marcos's collection of shoes). So the 
question arises: what was the World Bank doing loaning out the 
money to a dictator who did not have any democratic mandate, and 
when it was clear that the money was being misspent? Don't they do 
any monitoring? Now the people of the Philippines are paying the 
price for this monstrous debt while Marcos laughed all the way to 
his grave. 

[MIM adds: Marcos' corruption notwithstanding, the IMF makes sure 
that loan money is spent on export- production and servicing other 
debt. Its intent is never to build infrastructure for a self-
reliant economy, but to maintain the business of transferring 
superprofits from the Third World proletariat to the 
multinationals and the First World.]

So it is quite clear that World Bank/IMF loans serve a definite 
political purpose: they are often a covert way for the West to 
shore up dictators who serve their short-term interest. They do 
not serve the long-term interests of the people of the "developing 
nations." Also, in the long run the result (as in the case of the 
Philippines) is a net transfer of wealth from the Philippine 
common people to the West, in the form of debt servicing [and of 
course, corporate profits and cheap commodities -MIM].

RAIL also pointed out that another example of blatant misuse of 
IMF for political expediency was the instance, a few weeks ago, of 
a massive loan by the IMF to shore up Yeltsin's tottering regime. 

Finally, as for developing nations needing to clean their own 
house first before complaining about the World Bank and the IMF: 
developing nations that did try to clean house and generally 
institute progressive land reforms have been toppled or 
destabilized in the past--with rather predictable regularity--by 
the West. (Remember Mossadegh in Iran in the 1950s, Jacob Arbenz 
in Guatemala in 1954, Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973, Bishop in 
Grenada in the '80s).



TRUTH MEETS PIGS IN NET PRISON DEBATE


Prison stories always generate attention on the Internet, where 
pro-state, pro-imperialist reactionaries, who are in the majority, 
jump at the chance to spew their genocidal scum online. 

In one public essay on Usenet, someone wrote about "crime:"

"When someone has cancer, it must be eradicated. Doctors either 
cut it out or kill it by other means. If left in the body, by its 
very nature, it spreads until it kills the host. Cancer prevention 
is great, but only useful if the body is cancer free. Cancer 
begets more cancer just as crime begets more crime.

"Criminals in this country must be cut out of society by putting 
them in prison and keeping them in prison for the full term of 
their sentence. Returning criminals to the streets spreads crime 
in two ways: First, they are free to strike again. The system has 
shown them that they will not be punished. Second, young ones who 
may not be inclined towards crime will see that the benefits of 
crime far outweigh the consequences of getting caught."

After taking a few lines to straighten the writer out on the facts 
with regard to cancer, MIM went on to respond:

Perhaps you are unaware that 83% of the increase in incarceration 
between 1980 and 1993 was in nonviolent "criminals," a great many 
of them personal drug consumers. You want people to serve out 
their sentences. What sentences? To trigger a five-year federal 
mandatory minimum sentence you need to get caught with either: (a) 
100 kilos ofweed, (b) 500 grams of powder cocaine, (c) 5 grams of 
crack cocaine. So is it a wonder that 74% of those sentenced for 
drug possession are Black?(1) 

If imprisoning the Black population en masse is your goal, say so 
and show us your sheets. Maybe you would like to explain the 
combination of high "crime" rates and high incarceration rates 
under Amerikkkan rule? And what is your definition of crime? 
Choose all that apply (in chronological order):

1. Genocide of First Nations and confiscation of several 
continents.

2. Slavery.

3. Lynching (legal and illegal): Of 455 legal executions for rape 
in the U.S. between 1930 and 1967, 89% of those executed were 
Black.

4. Imprisoning Japanese in the West and
confiscating their land.

5. Firebombing Tokyo and nuking two civilian cities at the cost of 
hundreds of thousands of lives. 

6. Killing 2 million Vietnamese and setting in progress an 
environmental disaster that may never be undone.

7. Killing thousands of Panamanian civilians in poor areas over a 
snit with a boot-licking CIA stooge.

8. Killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in war and destroying 
infrastructure and maintaining an embargo that led to the deaths 
of millions of infants (easily documented by comparing infant 
mortality rates from before and after the war, as MIM has done).

9. Enforcing a death penalty system in which killing a white 
person is 11 times more likely to draw the death penalty than 
killing a Black (from the Warren McClesky case).

10. Smoking crack.

11. Stealing cars from fat white people. 

Which of these is a "crime" that "begets" other crimes?

If you're sick of fascist politics like these, check out MIM's web 
site and let's get down to the business of wiping imperialism off 
the face of the earth.



NOTES:
1. The Real War on Crime, Steven Donziger, ed., Harper Perennial 
1996. Selective prosecution complements the grossly uneven 
sentencing guidelines for crack and cocaine. The Revolutionary 
Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) reported in a pamphlet on prisons 
that "In the United States, whites account for over 67% of people 
who have ever used crack (2.3 million out of 3.4 million total) 
and 53% of those who used crack in the last year (488,000 out of 
906,000). But less than 4% of the defendants prosecuted in federal 
courts for crack- related offenses in 1994 were white."(Los 
Angeles Times May 21, 1995).
2. Statistical Abstract of the United States any year.


* * *


SELF-DEFENSE AGAINST AIR POLLUTION NECESSARY 


"Fine particles of air pollution from power plants, motor vehicles 
and other sources kill some 64,000 Americans a year, causing 
deaths even at pollutant levels the federal government considers 
safe, a new study concludes," according to the Boston Globe. That 
number is about three times more than the number of murders each 
year and is higher than the number of people killed in auto 
accidents. 

"The study, which calculated death rates from air pollution for 
239 cities across the country, was prompted by a growing body of 
research showing that barely detectable airborne particles can 
lodge in the lungs and, in extreme cases, cause death." 

Los Angeles leads the list of total deaths caused this way with 
5,873 deaths attributable to air pollution annually.(1)

Meanwhile, the prevalence rate for asthma (a disease often 
triggered by air pollution) in the United Snakes rose from 34.7 
per 1,000 to 49.4 per 1,000 between 1982 and 1992, an increase of 
42%. In that same period, there was an increase of 40% in the 
death rate from asthma. The age-adjusted death rate from asthma 
for people age 5-34 shows that Blacks die from asthma at a far 
higher rate than whites. In 1991 Blacks faced a death rate from 
asthma of almost 15 per one million people while the death rate 
for whites was just over 3 per one million.(2)

Air pollution causes death and hence the people are justified to 
defend themselves against those who profit from pollution. Under 
socialism, the workers' right to a clean environment will not be 
negotiable. If necessary, the international proletariat will use 
force against anyone whining about how their right to profit is 
higher than our right to breathe clean air. Since the proletarian 
demand for a clean environment is non-negotiable, MIM is for 
dictatorship.

Capitalism has premised itself on killing people as an ordinary 
part of production for so long, that when the international 
proletariat leads a dictatorship of the oppressed nations over the 
united states, the people will inherit polluting production 
techniques. Hence, pollution will not end the day after the 
Revolution; however, there will be no further barriers to 
introducing environmentally sound and sustainable production. It's 
one thing if the workers decide to put up with a little pollution, 
because there are no better techniques available yet for the 
people to support themselves. But it is unacceptable for a small 
class of people making fabulous profits from choosing techniques 
of production (or defending those techniques as corrupt 
politicians) that kill people through pollution.


NOTES:

1. Boston Globe May 9, 1996, p. 1.
2. Managing Asthma Care, a special report prepared by the editors 
of Business and Health. Vol. 13, No. 7, Supplement D. 1995.


* * *


UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS 



IOWA PRISONERS REBEL

On February 26, 1996, two Latino prisoners at the Iowa Medical 
Classification center (IMCC) in Coralville, Iowa destroyed $12,000 
worth of state property while holding off numerous guards during a 
two-and-a-half hour mini-riot. At approximately 10:15 p.m., a 
guard making security rounds on LU-B ( A newly established lock-up 
unit that warehouses 60 prisoners) caught two Mexican prisoners 
ages 21 and 18 smoking in their cell.

The guard then called the A/B control center by hand radio 
requesting their cell to be unlocked. Once the door was opened, 
the guard entered the cell and snatched a lit cigarette from the 
hand of one of the prisoners, physically shoving him in the 
process. The officer then ordered the two occupants of the cell to 
go to the day area on the first floor of the unit. At which time a 
short scuffle broke out between the prisoners and guard. 
Eventually the guard was knocked unconscious, and the prisoners 
fled to the recreation/day area. 

A few minutes later eight guards rushed into the unit but were 
immediately chased out as one of the prisoners picked up a chair 
and headed in their direction. The prisoners then barricaded the 
emergency and entryway doors to the unit with bunks, mattresses, 
tables, chairs and a desk. The prisoners thereafter started to 
trash the unit including such property as a television, clock, 
chairs, bunk beds, security cameras, telephones, desk, tables, 
mattresses, plexiglass windows, fire extinguishers....These items 
were either damaged or completely destroyed.

One of the prisoners involved in the riot told me that prisoncrats 
exuberated in the amount of the state property really damaged. An 
hour and half into the rebellion, an emergency response team 
(CERT) guard pumped gas into the unit forcing the prisoners into a 
corner where an electric fan was used to blow the gaseous irritant 
out of the immediate area. This gas also affected those prisoners 
who were locked into cells surrounding the unit, even forcing some 
to use wet cloths in order to breathe.

Ten minutes later, 20 CERT guards called in from different 
institutions throughout the state, tried to enter the unit but 
again were chased out as the prisoners threw chairs in their 
direction. For another 30 minutes, more gas was pumped into the 
unit, this time forcing the two prisoners to retreat to the Top 
Tier. Seeing both prisoners were unarmed, the entire CERT team 
stormed the unit and told the prisoners to lay flat on the floor, 
which they did.

These guards then jumped on their backs and sprayed pepper mace 
toward the area of their faces while handcuffing both legs and 
arms. After the prisoners were secured in manacles, they were 
dragged by the cuffs to the maximum lockup unit within the 
institution.

The warden of IMCC, Rusty Rogerson, stated to the press that the 
inmates involved in the incident were dangerous gang members that 
beat a guard senselessly with a chair and caused $12,000 worth of 
damage. He also stated that the guard was seriously injured in the 
left eye and face, and was hospitalized because of these injuries.

As usual the mainstream press only told the prisoncrats' side of 
the story. From the information I had gathered from an eyewitness 
and a prisoner involved in the riot, they reported that guards had 
been continually harassing prisoners on the unit, and that because 
of the buildup of frustration something was bound to happen. Also 
the unit was over-crowded with prisoners sleeping on bunks placed 
out in the day area, thus increasing the tension within the closed 
environment. In addition, I was told that the guard involved in 
the melee had been intimidating one of the Latino prisoners for 
over a month. The prisoncrats ignored the request that criminal 
assault charges be brought forth and the guard was not 
investigated for possible abuse of his authority.

In retaliation, the prisoncrats placed both Latino prisoners in 
strip cell status for four days, denying them bedding, clothing, 
toilet paper, and other hygiene supplies. They were fed foodloaf 
[Foodloaf, sometimes called VitaPro, is a disgusting mash of 
various foods into a "loaf" form only found in Amerika's prisons, 
where it is used as a cruel form of punishment. --MIM] and the 
water to their sink and toilet was shut off. The request by the 
Latino prisoners for a shower, to wash the mace off, and medical 
care for injuries sustained during the riot and the events 
thereafter were sadistically refused.

Furthermore, the prison disciplinary committee Kangaroo court 
sentenced each prisoner to a humongous sanction of one year 
disciplinary detention followed by another year in
administrative segregation, a loss of all earned good time credit 
and restitution in the amount of $6,000. And without regard to the 
double jeopardy amendment, prisoncrats filed a battery of criminal 
charges against the prisoners seeking a total of 25 years 
consecutive to their current sentence. 

At this period of time, neither defendant has been appointed 
requested counsel. These excessive inhumane penalties were also 
used by prisoncrats as an illustration to instill fear into those 
prisoners who have thought of rebelling against the system, thus 
keeping oppressive control of the prison class.

Though this event was not planned, and the prisoners were serving 
short sentences with a possibility of receiving parole this year, 
these defensive actions by the two oppressed Latino prisoners were 
truly righteous and this and future rebellions should be fully 
supported by both prisoners and society alike. The prisoners now 
reside at the long term isolation unit at the Iowa State 
Penitentiary in Fort Madison, IA where they are served a plate-
full of injustice daily in ongoing efforts by prisoncrats to 
enforce complete control over these individuals.

--An Iowa prisoner, Apr. 9, 1996.



A PLEA FOR CLEMENCY


I am enclosing a story about my husband and would like info on 
receiving MIM Notes. Thanks. 


HELP NEEDED TO STOP DEATH OF INMATE

Last year, an inmate in a Florida prison was denied needed and 
prescribed medical care resulting in permanent and extensive lung 
damage. The parole commission recommended clemency stating that 
the inmate was permanently incapacitated and posed no risk to 
community or self. The Department of Corrections doctors believe 
if the inmate remains in prison, he will die. He has served five 
years of his sentence and with gain time has less than sixteen 
months to go. The Florida Cabinet took the case under advisement 
on 12-13-95 and time is running out for signatures to the proposed 
agreement 2E.

If you can help, please call or fax your support as soon as 
possible. The inmate's name is Morris Hines, Jr. The following is 
a list of Cabinet members and phone and fax numbers:

Sec. of State: Sandra Mortham: fax 904-487-2214 phone 904-488-3684

Attorney Gen.: Bob Butterworth fax 904-487-2564 phone 904-488-0600

Comptroller: Robert Milligan fax 904-488-9818 phone 904-487-0780

Treasurer: Bill Nelson fax 904-488-6581 phone 904- 922-3106

Comm. of Education: Frank Brogan fax 904-413-0378 phone 904-487-
1785

Without your help, this man could die!

--wife of a Florida prisoner, Mar. 1, 1996 



A CALL FOR UNITY AGAINST ELECTRICITY FEE IN MICHIGAN


The Michigan Department of Corruption (MDOC) has decided to come 
up with a plan to have prisoners pay for the use of electricity. 
There is a bill being presented to the legislature that is calling 
for all prisoners in Michigan who own a television, radio, 
typewriter, or any other electrical appliance, to pay $3.00 a 
month to use their appliances.

We of the Political Prisoners of War Vanguard Coalition (PPWVC) 
find this to be another attempt to fuck over the prisoner-class 
and its families and friends. To charge a prisoner for electricity 
is to charge the prisoner for being violated, abused, kicked in 
the ass, and butt-fucked by the state. By a system of sadistic and 
perverted liars and truth twisters. How in the hell can anyone 
imagine paying their captors money for being captured, shackled, 
and treated like less than an animal?

Many of the unconscious prisoners find nothing wrong with the 
state RAPING them of their $3.00 each month. But again, these are 
the same types of prisoners who (when the drama comes) will find 
themselves begging to be spared. Or testifying in court against a 
fellow comrade who has done his/her revolutionary duties.

We of PPWVC find this very disturbing. We feel that, if this bill 
is allowed to pass, it will further divide an already divided 
prisoner-class and give the crooks (pigs) more ammunition to use 
against us. PPWVC are out to change these unconscious-minded 
brothas' and sistas' thoughts and to show them that the only way 
to prevail is by standing together in solidarity and fighting for 
our dignity.

For those not incarcerated, they may say that a prisoner being 
forced to pay $3.00 a month is not big deal. However, it is a big 
deal when one considers that Michigan has over 40 prisons and an 
estimated 38,000 prisoners. This (if properly multiplied) 
translates into millions of dollars and none of those millions 
will be going to the masses. None of those millions will be going 
to the urban areas, the rural areas. Will those millions be spent 
for the poor, the elderly, the unemployed, the disenfranchised, 
the dispossessed, the grassroots? PPWVC doesn't think so and 
neither should anyone else.

PPWVC will continue to monitor the situation and report what 
happens. Meantime, we are preparing for what is surely to become 
an all-out war. 

In the trenches,

--A Michigan prisoner, Mar. 9, 1996



PRISON SEX SCANDAL


The television news media and state-wide newspapers have reported 
a sex scandal that is under investigation here in Dwight Women's 
prison. Several guards have resigned, three women were placed in 
administrative segregation, and another woman is in administrative 
protective custody. 

Guards are continuing daily to resign and quit during the follow-
up of the investigation. In response, the administration has 
heightened its security level of aggression against the women. 
They intimidate women to exist under psychological and emotional 
apprehensions as harassment is elevated by the unleashing of 
hostile attitudes of male aggression.

This is retaliation by the administration for the leak of an 
incident which has been isolated from public view and is long 
overdue for exposure. This treatment is unfair, since this problem 
has had a long-term existence here. The punishment of the women is 
not the solution to the problems of sexual exploitation under 
which they are forced to exist. 

--An Illinois prisoner, Mar. 28, 1996.



TEXAS PRISONERS UNITE AGAINST SLAVERY IN THE TEXAS PENAL COLONY


The Texas Prisoners' Labor Union is established to provide inmate 
laborers with a social and political forum from which to promote 
principles of social justice in a manner consistent with human 
rights. 

The Texas Penal Colony is one of the most expansive industries in 
the United States. However, while the populations have swelled to 
over capacity, the Texas Correctional Industries programs have not 
kept in step. As a result, basic concepts of imprisonment in Texas 
remain unchanged from the prior plantation dictates that induced 
slavery. Inmate laborers in Texas are wholly uncompensated for 
their work. Conditions remain barbaric in spite of twenty years of 
formal litigation, offering inmate laborers little hope for the 
future. 

There are no effective programs which would allow for an 
environment wherein rehabilitation and productivity are 
synonymous. Therefore those of us who remain confined within the 
penal colony are doomed to remain chained to the revolving door 
that has long become the accepted policy of
incarceration in Texas. Legislators are happy to accept this 
concept of incarceration as it provides Texans with an ever 
growing industry, which in turn provides the citizenry of Texas 
with jobs in various areas of corrections.

This insane policy must be stopped and it is up to us to stop it. 
We must bind together so as to form a political base from which we 
may collectively assert our human rights and negotiate collective 
bargaining for improved working and living conditions, wages and 
rehabilitative programs that will allow us to develop skills and 
habits which will lend to our once again entering society as 
responsible and productive citizens. Daily the current Texas 
government is stripping more and more away from us and will 
continue to do so until there is nothing left. Only WE can stop 
this onslaught against human rights and social justice. Only WE 
can help ourselves.

--Texas prisoners from the Texas Prisoners' Labor Union, Apr. 17, 
1996.



EXPLOSIVE THOUGHTS


I feel as though I'm a dented cardboard box stuffed full of 
dynamite stored in a large damp warehouse surrounded by land mines 
waiting to explode, on a moment's notice. Just append a minutest 
of spark and watch our red hot rage become that devastating, 
sensational show nobody could possibly ignore in our plea for 
release.

--An Iowa prisoner, Apr. 9, 1996.



CENSORSHIP OF MIM NOTES


KENTUCKY CONTINUES TO REJECT MIM NOTES

Most recently MIM received a notice from the Kentucky State 
Penitentiary dated Mar. 19, 1996. This notice stated, "Literature 
rejected that poses a potential threat to the nature of the 
security of this institution. Another copy of same material 
previously rejected per warden."

Letters of protest can be sent to: Kentucky State Penitentiary, PO 
Box 128, Eddyville, KY 42038-0128, telephone: (502)-388-221.



TENNESSEE ALSO CENSORS MIM PUBLICATIONS


MIM received the following letters from the Tennessee Department 
of Correction in regards toMIM Theory journals and MIM Notes.

Department of Correction Division of Adult Institutions Northeast 
Correctional Center PO Box 5000 Mountain City, TN 37683-5000 
Howard Carlton, Warden March 11, 1996

To: [Tennessee Prisoner]

You received two magazines from MIM in California. I have reviewed 
these magazines and am denying your access to them.

In the cover, the goals of MIM are clearly stated. In one 
paragraph, it states, "MIM struggles to end oppression of all 
groups over groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM knows this is 
only possible by building public opinion to seize power through 
armed struggle."

It is clear that these types of goals are not appropriate in a 
prison setting. You have the right to appeal my decision to Mr. 
Jim Rose, Assistant Commissioner of Operations, Tennessee 
Department of Correction, 4th Floor, Rachel Jackson Building, 320 
Sixth Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37243-0465. 

Howard Carlton, Warden, Department of Correction Division of Adult 
Institutions Northeast Correctional Center PO Box 5000 Mountain 
City, TN 37683-5000 Howard Carlton, Warden April 1, 1996 



To: MIM Distributors

RE: Cancel Distribution

Gentlemen:

Distribution of MIM material is coming to [prisoner K] at the 
Northeast Correctional Center in Mountain City, Tennessee. Under 
Tennessee Department of Correction policy, this material is not 
allowed into this penal facility. Please cancel mailings to: 
[prisoner K].

Thank you for your immediate assistance and we regret any 
inconvenience to your company. 

Sincerely,

Howard Carlton, Warden


Letters of protest can be written directly to Warden Carlton at 
the above address.



THE REPRESSION OF POLITICALLY ACTIVE PRISONERS HAS BECOME INDIANA 
DOC POLICY AT ALL COST.


It has gotten to the point where those of us who have made a 
conscious decision to live righteously and live our lives fighting 
for justice and human rights for all human beings have become the 
major targets for repression in the D.O.C.. Nothing is more 
important beyond security than repressing imprisoned activists. 
Not gang activity, not drug smuggling; nothing has become more 
important than the nefarious mission to break the wills and 
spirits of those of us who dare to stand and live as respectable 
human beings as opposed to becoming institutionalized and broken 
and trapped in the vicious cycle of recidivism so that we may 
forever be a part of this new stage of neo-colonial repression and 
exploitation (slavery) that the prison system has become.

I refuse to lie back and watch those who are inverted with so-
called authority in the capacity of an employment position do all 
kinds of wickedness towards myself and those who are living 
righteously. Especially when it can be proven through documented 
facts that they are going against their own policies and 
everything else to do whatever however they can to undermine any 
progressive outlooks, politics, programs, that one might find 
outside the repressive atmosphere in order to contribute something 
to making a difference in this world and improving the human 
qualities of one's own life--spiritually, politically, 
educationally, etc.. The D.O.C. is flat out against this unless 
one has surrendered one's complete being to the enslavement of 
institutionalization, dehumanization,
demoralization, and the vicious cycle of self- destruction and 
defeatism.

The D.O.C. is playing a vicious game of genocide with the lives of 
human beings. And to even qualify for most political offices these 
days the best theme for a campaign is prison repression and harder 
anti-crime bills. But when will the people realize who is 
committing the real crimes? No one running for office these days 
is committed to the best interest of the people. These politicians 
are committed only to obtaining a position and a name for 
themselves. Few are concerned but what can they do in a system 
which is so anti-humanity--concerned more with locking people up 
than changing the inhumane conditions which created the criminals 
in the first place. America is founded on a history of vicious 
crimes against humanity but so many want to forget that and not 
understand how it has created all that exists in terms of 
contradiction today. 

The state of Indiana has for too long been out of the serious 
"correct" line of political fire. For too long they have been 
hidden in these old Klan backwoods demonstrating a white state 
capital political monopoly and hanging African people. The new age 
hanging is incarceration with throw-away- the- key policies. The 
parole board has been releasing people who have murdered and 
everything else while incarcerating and at the same time denying 
people who have committed no further crimes for nature of 
circumstances. It's time that the people come together and help us 
expose this wicked Klan run state and its officials to the world. 
The state of Indiana is getting away with murder. 

I am calling for support to first expose what is happening with 
the D.O.C. in regards to how they are targeting progressive 
politically-active human beings in attempt to destroy us and any 
amount of humanity that we possess.

I am asking that anyone concerned write letters in support of an 
investigation of the D.O.C., the administrations of the Indiana 
State Reformatory, and the State Prison at Michigan City, about 
the brutal repression and targeting of politically progressive 
prisoners, especially New African. 

I am hopeful that from this campaign we might be able to raise an 
organizational consistency in dealing with the corrupt officials 
of this state from the top down, and create a pressure that will 
give the people an upper hand to deal with what is taking place. 
As this is established we may be able to clog the court system 
with personal case, community, prisoner/family litigation about 
how this state, its agencies and the D.O.C. is being run. During 
this election time is a good time to start.

Please write your letters in support of an investigation of the 
brutal repression of politically active prisoners in the Indiana 
Dept. of Corrections; and call for a meeting with the D.O.C. with 
outside people who are concerned and demand that we submit the 
names of the prisoners to be interviewed so that no hand-picked 
D.O.C. prisoner agents will be allowed to help them lie out of 
this. We have all the documented evidence we need to show the 
truth of racist repression and corruption. This campaign needs to 
be as large as possible to make a difference. Please copy this 
info. and spread it as far and wide as you possibly can!

Write your letters of support to:

Indiana State Representative, Dr. Vernon G. Smith, P.O. Box M622, 
Gary, IN. 46401

Indiana Civil Liberties Union, 445 N. Penn Suite 604, 
Indianapolis, IN 46204

Info News, 1953 Broadway, Gary, IN. 46407 

Frost Illustrated, 3121 S. Calhoun, Fort Wayne, IN 46806

WLTH Radio, 3669 Broadway, Gary, IN. 46409 

NAACP, 4805 Mt. Hope Drive, Baltimore, IN. 21215 

Indianapolis Recorder, Attn: News Editor, 2901 N. Tacoma Ave., 
Indianapolis, IN. 46218

--an Indiana Prisoner, Mar. 18 1996


* * *


CAPITALISM HOLDS BACK MEDICAL ADVANCE


Ever day, private property and profit motivations interfere with 
the progress of science. The latest example is at the British 
company Boots and the Knoll Pharmaceutical Co., which forbade the 
publication of a paper on its drug called Synthroid.

"Synthroid is taken daily by about eight million Americans to 
control hypothyroidism, a metabolic disorder. It dominates the 
$600 million U.S. market, so much so that when Boots put its drug 
division up for sale, Germany's BASF AG agreed to pay a lofty 
price of $1.4 billion for it." The blocking of the paper about 
Synthroid has involved capitalists from England, Germany and the 
united states.

Health-care costs in the united states would be $356 million less 
if cheaper drugs could be used instead of Synthroid. To rebut 
claims that the cheaper drugs were as good as Synthroid Boots 
hired Betty Dong at the University of California San Francisco to 
do research.

The research proved that the drugs were all the same in their 
effects. The prestigious Journal of the American Medical 
Association (JAMA) was about to publish the paper when Boots 
informed Dong that it would sue her if she did not uphold a clause 
in her research contract which gave Boots control of the research 
results.

In this situation, even though the University of California 
supposedly is a public school and it is definitely subsidized by 
taxpayer moneys, the university caved in to the pharmaceutical 
capitalists and made a mockery of its public policy of not doing 
research that is not available to the public. The university 
administration decided it could not defend Dong in court, and Dong 
and her colleagues decided they didn't have the money for lawyers 
in court. Hence, Dong pulled the paper from JAMA at the last 
minute. Thus medical researchers and a university were made into 
prostitutes of pharmaceutical capital.

Maoists come under a lot of criticism for the practice of science 
in China's Cultural Revolution. It is often said that Maoists 
allowed politics to interfere in science. This is a myth. We do 
believe the proletarian government under socialism must decide 
where to put money in research. That means the priorities are 
decided politically. However, we would not suppress a paper the 
way Boots did. The funding priorities are political, but Maoists 
do not believe the subject matter of science should be politically 
decided. Mao criticized Stalin in this regard on the Lysenko 
debate, where political leaders decided which side of an argument 
was correct in a crops and genetic- breeding question. 

Another argument we hear against socialism is that the capitalist 
countries are the most advanced so the capitalist system must be 
best for science. This is not true though, because capitalist 
countries like the United Snakes were richer and more technically 
advanced than Russia, China etc. before those countries tried 
socialism as well. In fact, under socialism, Russia and China 
caught up quite a bit in science before turning back to 
capitalism.

Under capitalism we see it is that the profit- makers themselves 
are the ones funding research. We have the scientific ability and 
personnel to conduct important research, but the capitalists are 
the ones who own the property to pay for it. The result is 
suppression of science the capitalists don't like and publication 
of pseudo-science. This is especially dangerous because most 
sciences are statistically- based, and when capitalists suppress 
some studies the interpretation of all related statistically 
applied studies is clouded. 

The Boots case is another example that there is no getting around 
dictatorship at the moment. Right now science lives under 
bourgeois dictatorship. At least under proletarian dictatorship, 
science would be for forward-looking goals with the priority of 
serving the food, shelter, clothing and medical needs of the most 
oppressed first. Since the science would be publicly-funded there 
would be no question of someone's suppressing it for his/her own 
profit.


* * *


FILM SHOWING: BREAKING WITH OLD IDEAS


LOS ANGELES--A lively discussion followed a recent MIM-sponsored 
showing of the film Breaking With Old Ideas, a film made in China 
in 1975, during the Cultural Revolution. The discussion focused on 
political and economic conditions under the current state-
capitalist regime in China and the Maoist policies of the Great 
Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, which were aimed at 
preventing a Deng Xiaoping-style restoration of capitalism. 

Breaking With Old Ideas dramatizes the struggle for proletarian 
control of education at an agricultural college during the Great 
Leap Forward (1958-1959). Part of this struggle is the struggle 
between bourgeois ideas about education--which emphasize that 
education is a path to fame and wealth for a select few and 
separate theory from reality--and proletarian ideas--which 
emphasize that education must serve the broad toiling masses and 
that theory cannot be separated from practice. Breaking makes it 
clear that leading party members can still promote a bourgeois 
educational line and only the resolute struggle of the masses for 
the correct proletarian line can rectify these leaders (or remove 
them from power if necessary) and ensure that education truly 
helps to build socialism. 

Breaking is an excellent introduction to the politics of the Great 
Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution. It is full of concrete 
examples of how class struggle continues under socialism and how 
communists can wage that struggle successfully: by mobilizing the 
masses to criticize those in positions of authority taking the 
capitalist road. 

After the film, an audience member who was raised in post-Mao 
China stated sympathies for Maoist China based on the terrible 
consequences Deng Xiaoping's economic "reforms" have had for the 
majority of Chinese people. According to this person, in China 
today some people are "very very rich" while most people are "very 
very poor." The current regime has taken away social benefits 
which the people won during the Mao years, like retirement 
benefits and cheap health care. 

Government corruption is rampant in China. Communist Party members 
in the government often get rich like their capitalist brothers in 
Amerika: They use their clout to rig the Chinese bond market and 
then make fortunes in speculation.

This audience member also pointed out that the youth are immersed 
in capitalist ideology (like Deng's slogan "To Get Rich Is 
Glorious"). Students enter college to further their individual 
careers, not to serve the people. As a result, English and 
business classes are among the most popular in Chinese 
universities.

For MIM, all of these examples are symptoms of the fact that the 
current economic system in China is capitalist, not socialist.

Although this audience member blamed most of the current 
conditions in China on the Deng regime, s/he also criticized 
Maoist policies because they were too concentrated on political 
questions, and did not pay enough attention to production. They 
even went so far as to suggest that mass campaigns were too 
disruptive, and planners should concentrate on keeping the people 
content. S/he cited several examples of ultraleftism during the 
Great Leap Forward to back up these claims. 

MIM responded that this perspective amounts to abdicating the 
ideological and political struggle to the bourgeoisie and ignores 
the essential fact that the masses make history. Yes, ultraleft 
errors were committed during the Great Leap and the Cultural 
Revolution, and we need to avoid these errors in the future. Mao 
said as much. But these two movements were correct and necessary 
and we cannot throw them out because they weren't flawless. 
Kicking back and wishing for some technocrats to increase 
industrial output ain't gonna bring about a classless society. The 
only way to ensure that socialism develops towards communism is 
for the masses to struggle to gain real control over the means of 
production, like they did during the Great Leap and Cultural 
Revolution.

Interested in learning more about the MIM's perspective on the 
Great Leap Forward or the Cultural Revolution? Check out the 
following books: Mao Zedong, A Critique of Soviet Economics, ($9) 
Wheelwright and McFarlane, The Chinese Road to Socialism, ($7), 
or: William Hinton, Turning Point in China, ($5). Send check or 
money order to MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48109. 


* * *


PIG KILLS BLACK YOUTH IN CULVER CITY


On the night of January 16, a Black 18 year-old named Anthony 
Garrett was driving with his half- brother Alan Belton to pick up 
a cousin from his job at a retail store in Culver City (part of 
the Los Angeles metro area). As they entered the store's parking 
lot, Culver City pigs Andrew Fay and Audrey Kellum made Garrett 
and Belton pull over, supposedly because they had tinted windows, 
a violation.

Belton carried a registered 9 mm semi-automatic pistol for self-
defense. Upon being pulled over, Garrett asked Belton to unload 
the gun. "He fully intended to tell the police he had a weapon but 
that it was unloaded," said the Garrett family's attorney, Wilmer 
J. Harris. "Anthony puts the cartridge on the floor behind him and 
puts the gun on the floor in front of him. As he came back up, 
that's when the officer shot twice."

Officer Kellum shot the two bullets. One shattered Belton's right 
forearm. A metal plate now holds the bone together. The other 
bullet went through Anthony Garrett's neck, severing his carotid 
artery and killing him.

"I think it was wrong to take his life like that," said Garrett's 
mother. "He was a very good worker and very talented, and his life 
was mistreated, taken away from him."

But while it may seem that Garrett's mother was stating the 
obvious, the authorities have cleared the murderous pig Kellum of 
any wrongdoing. "Our position is that it was a good, justifiable 
shooting," oinked Sgt. Dave Tankenson, who helped "investigate" 
the case, "but due to the possible pending litigation, we're not 
going to make any other statement right now."

Attorney Harris, quoted above, is preparing a wrongful-death 
lawsuit on behalf of Garrett's family against the Culver City 
Police Department. MIM supports this effort while reminding 
readers that such efforts to reform Amerikkka's criminal injustice 
system are insufficient. Amerikkka's police are enforcers of a 
system of national, class and gender oppression. From U.S. 
imperialism's perspective, Kellum was no bad apple, but one who 
did something "good" and "justifiable" by killing another Black 
youth. This system of power of groups over groups is begging to be 
overthrown. 


NOTE: Culver City-Ladera Independent May 2, 1996, pp. A1, A3.


* * *


PIGS ROUGH UP OLDER WHITE WOMAN


On May 3 pigs tried to pull over an elderly Taunton, Massachusetts 
woman for failing to move out of the way of their high speed siren 
cars. When she ignored their motioning to pull over, they followed 
her to her home and then cuffed her and pushed her around. 
Neighbors watching the scene said that they would be upset if that 
were their wife or mother being treated that way. After all, as 
the newscaster commented, she was clearly not a "common 
criminal."(1)

MIM opposes pig brutality on anyone. This is a clear example of 
the unnecessary violence practiced every day by the police. This 
woman was no threat to the pigs and her biggest crime was failing 
to wear her glasses while driving (a requirement of her license 
and the reason she was so slow to respond to the pigs' demands). 
But it is telling that this case received such big news coverage 
immediately after it happened and that people were so outraged. A 
common criminal, in white Amerika's eyes, is someone who might 
deserve to be roughed up. A common criminal is a Black or Latino 
youth who is probably dealing drugs and running guns and causing 
problems and resisting arrest. So pigviolence might be justified 
in some cases, but not if you are white and it is on someone who 
could be your mother or wife.

The chief of police defended the actions of the pigs saying that 
their behavior was justified, outraging the white people even 
more. And of course, with white public opinion at stake, the mayor 
of Taunton was quick to respond, saying that he might have to 
remove the chief from his position and calling the incident "an 
embarrassment to the city."(2)

It is not embarrassing to the police force when Black and Latino 
youth are beaten up, harassed, and even killed by pigs who are 
never even disciplined for their actions. The message of this case 
is clear: police brutality will only be opposed when the victim 
does not fit the public's image of a "common criminal." Check out 
the prisons where a disproportionate number of the inmates are 
Black and Latino, to see what the "common criminal" looks like to 
the white nation.

MIM sees that the real criminals are in the government taking away 
the lives and liberty of one-third of the Black nation (by putting 
them under the control of the criminal injustice system) while 
murdering, raping and torturing people in the Third World so as to 
more easily steal their labor and resources. Join MIM to overthrow 
this police state that serves the interests of a minority of the 
world's people at the expense of the majority. 


NOTES:
1. Boston Channel 56 10:00pm news.
2. Boston Globe, May 7, 1996. p. 30.


* * *


THE SAME OLD WHITE POWER STRUCTURE--CAPITALISM 


by a RAIL comrade

An unarmed 17 year old Black youth is murdered by a killer 
cop...feuding politicians delay the construction of a badly needed 
grocery store on St. Louis's northside which are few and far 
between in Amerika's Black colonies...the state of Missouri 
decided to build a "youth detention center" in the heart of the 
Black community of St. Louis. These issues along with many others 
reflect the general neglect of the Black community by capitalist 
system. Concerned members of St. Louis's Black community called an 
emergency meeting on March 24 to discuss the problems of the 
community which haven't been addressed by Black elected officials. 
The meeting was alarmed by the fact that while conditions are 
deteriorating within the community, local and state elected 
officials whom are Black are feuding among themselves.

People packed the Clifford Wilson Community Center which hosted an 
exciting meeting where everyone had the chance to speak and just 
about everyone did. The meeting stayed focused on the neglect of 
matters that need attention while Black elected officials feud 
among themselves.

All proposals were voted on by everyone present. Those in 
attendance expressed the sentiment that they didn't want to know 
what the politicians were quarreling about--they want 
accountability for their actions and, more appropriately, their 
inactions. One elected alderperson did care enough to attend, and 
when she attempted to explain what the politicians were feuding 
about, the chairperson called her out of order because it would 
have given those in attendance a biased view. People in attendance 
once again expressed the view that the needs of the community were 
at issue, not the petty squabbling.

Participants resolved:

1. Hold an accountability meeting between Black elected officials 
and the Black community. 

2. No press will be admitted.

3. The politicians will be summoned by subpoena-- not by 
invitation.

4. Flyers will be distributed prominently throughout the community 
to notify as many people as possible to demand an accounting of 
these politicians.

5. A representative from each ward will be designated to 
investigate the most important needs that demand attention. At the 
accountability meeting, all these needs will be compiled as an 
agenda and presented.

Revolutionaries have no faith in elected officials -- Black, white 
or whatever. No matter how well meaning they may be, they are all 
a part of the capitalist-imperialist system that oppresses people 
of the Black, Latino, Asian-Pacific, and First Nations. More often 
than not, the system co-opts community activists by brainwashing 
them into thinking that the only way to make changes that are 
really effective, is by becoming a part of the same power 
structure that oppresses the people MIM says that the only way to 
make effective changes is by revolution-REAL CHANGE! Not from the 
top down, but from the bottom up. No bogus election ever changed 
conditions for the better. How many Black elected officials can 
you truthfully say have made things better for the people?

The most effective thing we can do for all the oppressed is to 
build a vanguard party and put an end to the rule of the 
capitalists and their lackeys and replacing it with the rule of 
the proletariat and socialism.


* * *


COUNTER-TERRORISM LEGISLATION TARGETS
OPPRESSED NATIONALS


On April 25, Klinton signed broad "counter- terrorism" legislation 
during a ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House. Families 
of those killed in the Oklahoma City bombing, the 1993 World Trade 
Center bombing and the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 sat in 
the audience along with two dozen Democrat and Republican congress 
members.(1) The living victims of these attacks, along with 
Amerikans who have seen them sob on national TV, are being 
pacified with legislation which targets oppressed nationals--both 
outside and within U.S. borders.

The Oklahoma City bombing a year ago spurred the most recent fury 
over passing the counter-terrorism bill. Yet the legislation, if 
in place a year ago, would most likely have done nothing to 
prevent the bombing of the Federal building. MIM does not call for 
legislation to fight so-called terrorist groups within the United 
Snakes, but takes this opportunity to point out the contradiction 
Amerika faces in cracking down on "terrorist" groups within the 
United Snakes--due to its rugged individualist history and the 
ultimate national unity among settlers.

The measures of the bill include: the possible deportation of 
aliens without revealing the evidence used against them, denial of 
people associated with U.S.-deemed terrorist groups entry into the 
United Snakes (even if the individuals have done nothing illegal), 
forbidding the transfer of funds to groups labeled "terrorist" 
(even if the money is for food or other necessities), and the 
strict limitation of habeas corpus appeals by both death row 
inmates and other prisoners.(2) 


LAWMAKERS SLIP IN INCREASED REPRESSION OF PRISONERS 


The Senate, according to the New York Times, has resisted passing 
legislation which exclusively restricts habeas corpus appeals.(3) 
A petition for habeas corpus is a vehicle for a prisoner to get a 
federal court to review his state court conviction, by arguing 
that the conviction itself, or the length of the sentence in some 
cases, was a violation of his/her federal constitutional rights. 
The anti-terrorism bill makes it much harder to get habeas review 
because the state court findings are now given a "presumption of 
correctness," whereas prior to this bill the state court findings 
were reviewed under a less stringent standard. The anti- terrorism 
hysteria provides the perfect opportunity to further screw 
prisoners under a broader heading. 

Under the new provision (which is currently being challenged by a 
case in Georgia (4)), death row inmates will have one year from 
the time of their conviction to appeal their sentences. Until 
passage of this bill there were no time limits on when a prisoner 
could file a habeas petition. Only one appeal will be allowed 
under the new bill, and any exception is limited to the issue of 
new evidence. The legislation imposes similar restrictions on 
other prisoners.

A study by the Association of the Bar of the City of New York 
found that death row prisoners show in 40% of habeas corpus 
appeals that "...significant constitutional flaws undermine the 
reliability of their convictions or sentences."(3) But Amerika is 
more concerned with a scape-goat for crime which pisses off the 
settler masses than the fact that innocent people may be executed. 
MIM opposes all executions by the state because the U.S. 
government does not have the moral authority to decide such 
matters. The criminal actions of the U.S. government are far more 
destructive than any actions on the street by U.S. citizens (or 
non- citizens).


CONTRADICTIONS ARISE IN FIGHTING DOMESTIC "TERRORISM"


The National Rifle Association (NRA) and the American Civil 
Liberties Union united to defeat several of the measures included 
in the original counter-terrorism legislation (proposed 
immediately after the Oklahoma City bombing). Increased 
wiretapping authority and lower standards to prosecute sellers of 
guns used in crimes were left out thanks to NRA lobbying 
efforts.(2)

The NRA and settler militia groups both oppose the federal 
government's interference with their right to stockpile weapons 
and "defend" themselves against those they consider the real 
terrorists-- oppressed nation groups, whether inside or outside 
the borders of the United Snakes. That is, any group which 
threatens the parasitic existence of the white nation or opposes 
U.S. hegemony. 

A real crackdown on right-wing militias would be settler 
disloyalty. These militias are often militant defenders of the 
original documents on which the United Snakes was founded. They 
also follow in the tradition of settler governmental opposition, 
which at times has grown fierce but never goes so far as to 
denounce its national loyalty altogether.

The part of the bill which will have the greatest effect on 
Amerikkkans is the one billion dollars the government will spend 
over the next five years to fight "terrorism" in the United 
Snakes. (This money does not include funds used to pay off right- 
wing militia members like Randy Weaver when they scuffle with the 
FBI).

The counter-terrorism bill is more evidence to back MIM's position 
that nation is the principal contradiction and that settlers are 
imperialist allies. Who pays the price when Amerikans want revenge 
for "terrorism"--the most bloody of which was committed by fellow 
settlers? Oppressed nationals pay the price. Who gets compensated 
when their family is killed as a result of political violence? Not 
the Black Panthers, not American Indian Movement members, not 
MOVE, and certainly not the millions of people in the Third World 
who are the victims of U.S. imperialism. MIM opposes increased 
freedom of the U.S. government to conduct counterintelligence 
surveillance and we oppose the constant attacks on oppressed 
nation people. But most importantly, we oppose the terrorism of 
the United Snakes, who will some day be forced to pay restitution 
to the majority of the world's people for its widespread and 
incessant violence. 



NOTES:
1. New York Times April 25, 1996, p. A10. 2. NYT April 16, 1996. 
p. A1, A9.
3. NYT March 15, 1996. p. A18.
4. Washington Post, May 4, 1996. p.1.


* * *


PRISON LITIGATION REFORM ACT GUTS PRISONERS' "RIGHTS"


In the midst of all the hoopla about the "anti- terrorism" bill 
the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), has been overlooked. PLRA 
was passed as part of the 1996 budget bill that Clinton signed 
April 26. (The PLRA was attached as a rider, along with many 
environmental provisions which did get a lot of bourgeois press.)

The PLRA limits prisoners' ability to bring class action suits 
challenging their conditions of confinement, and also limits their 
ability to bring individual pro se (without legal representation) 
lawsuits. The few organizations in Amerika that provide legal 
representation to prisoners for unconstitutional conditions of 
confinement are worried about the provisions in the bill which 
drastically cut the fees lawyers can get to bring the lawsuits. 
With greatly reduced ability to get court-awarded attorney and 
expert fees, even fewer lawyers and organizations will be willing 
to take prisoners' cases.

With reactionary politicians complaining that all prisoner 
lawsuits are "frivolous" and a waste of taxpayers' money, the PLRA 
had no trouble sliding through Congress to land on the president's 
desk practically unnoticed by Amerika.

MIM knows that prisons as we know them today will only be 
eradicated through communist revolution. We look to Allyn and 
Adele Rickett's book, Prisoners of Liberation, a personal account 
of the authors' lives for four years inside a Chinese prison, for 
a Maoist model of how prisons should be run under socialism to 
truly rehabilitate wrong-doers. Of course, under socialism, the 
method of political struggle through criticism/self-criticism will 
be used as much as possible before resorting to prison, where this 
process of rehabilitation will continue to. The capitalist system 
of locking up oppressed nationals and throwing away the key will 
never reduce imperialist-defined crime, and is designed to allow 
the big imperialist criminals still run around free.

That said, MIM supports the efforts of prisoners to try to improve 
their conditions. There are winnable battles that we support in 
the short term, like better access to libraries, exercise, health 
care, and other conditions that would improve the lives of 
Amerikan prisoners today. But since the only real liberation will 
come from revolution, MIM calls on all prisoners to join with us 
in fighting all oppression!

NOTES: Criminal Law Reporter, May 1, 1996. The bill is H.R. 3019.


* * *


WATCH THE CRIME WATCH: PIGS USE NEW STATS TO BOOST PRISON BOOM


by MC12

The big news in early May was the drop in "major" crimes (New York 
Times), also known as "serious" crimes (Washington Post) in 1995. 
What are these crimes? Besides murder, they include rape, robbery, 
aggravated assault, auto theft, burglary, larceny theft and arson. 
(Once again, exploiting billions of people, causing the deaths of 
millions through preventable disease and starvation around the 
world, burning down whole cities, and making the planet 
uninhabitable didn't make the list of "serious" or "major" 
crimes.)

None of these crimes is measured anything like accurately, with 
the exception of murder, if you take the imperialists' narrow 
definition: people who aren't cops or military people directly 
killing other people in a clearly identifiable way: deaths by 
pollution-induced asthma don't count, shooting someone in a hold-
up does. The drop in the murder rate for this type of murder, 
which has been going down for a few years running and last year 
fell 8%, is apparently real.

This causes a problem for the imperialists. On the one hand, they 
want to claim "success" for their genocidal policy of 
incarcerating hundreds of thousands of people, most of them young 
members of oppressed nations convicted of non-violent crimes- -as 
if this has anything to do with the murder rate. So Clinton said: 
"Because of our tough and smart decisions to put more cops on the 
street, we are now beginning to reverse the trend in violent 
crime."(1)

On the other hand, they don't want to lose support for their 
policies, which really have nothing to do with crime--any more 
than they want a "peace dividend" to come from the supposed end of 
the "Cold War." So Attorney General Janet Reno said she would 
"continue to put more cops on the beat, get guns off the street 
and put violent criminals behind bars."(2)

In fact, murder rates have no connection to incarceration rates or 
the presence of police. Since 1972, the rate of incarceration of 
sentenced prisoners in state and federal prisons alone has 
increased from less than 100 per 100,000 to more than 350 per 
100,000--the rate more than tripled.(3) This was a steep constant 
increase; only one year had no growth. During that time, the 
murder rate has gone up and down in cycles, starting at about 8 
per 100,000 population, and peaking three times around 10 in 1974, 
1980, and 1991, with dips each time back down around 8. We are 
currently back into a dip, with last year's rate around 9, 
according to the FBI.(1) Looking at averages, the average number 
of murders for the 10 years 1973-1982 was 20,635 per year. For the 
10 years 1983-1992, it was 21,177 per year. For the last three 
years 1993-1995 it was 23,056 per year.(4)

While some cities, such as New York, are claiming credit for so-
called "community policing" and get- tough measures, the "serious" 
crime rate also fell in Los Angeles, where they don't employ that 
strategy and the number of arrests was down last year. Even the 
New York Times, which put Clinton's quote claiming credit on page 
A1, had to put a quote from a law professor at the very end of the 
story (page B8) admitting: "the historical records suggest that 
fluctuations in crime rates are largely independent of changes in 
the criminal justice system."(1)

The pig-recognized violent crime figure is also completely 
misleading. Holding your finger in your pocket and demanding 
someone's wallet is a "violent" crime, by their definition, while 
cops murdering Black youths (as in reported in MIM Notes 113, for 
example), is not. Of the pig- recognized "violent" crimes, less 
than one-third result in any injury at all, only 7% require a trip 
to the emergency room, and only 1% result in
hospitalization.(5) Altogether only 3% of all arrests are for a 
violent crime resulting in any injury at all, including the most 
minor
injuries.(6)

Of course, there is a problem of destructive violence among 
members oppressed nations in North America, and revolutionaries 
recognize this as part of the pattern of neocolonial oppression. 
But first, this problem is infinitely smaller than the violence 
perpetrated by imperialists against the people; and second, the 
"crime" scare is a way for white Amerika to increase its 
repression of oppressed nations--doing nothing to stop either 
problem of violence, and in fact making it much worse, while white 
suburbanites (most whites) are quite safe from violence. "The 
chances of a white women 65 or older becoming a victim of a 
serious violent crime (e.g., murder, rape, robbery, or assault) 
are one-sixtieth the odds of an African- American male 
teenager."(7) If you figure in the odds have being murdered or 
beaten up by the pigs, the odds get even more skewed--and that's 
not even touching asthma, infant mortality, and other forms of 
murder committed by imperialism.



NOTES:

1. New York Times, May 6, 1996, p. A1, B8. 2. Washington Post May 
6, 1996, p. A9.
3. The Real War on Crime, Steven Donziger, ed., Harper Perennial 
1996, p. 32. The total
incarceration rate, including people in jails and people 
incarcerated by not convicted, was 555 per 100,000 in 1993, p. 37.
4. The Real War on Crime, p. 6 (estimating 1995 based on the FBI's 
figure of an 8% drop). 5. Richard Moran, "FBI Scare Tactics," New 
York Times, May 7, 1996, p. A23.
6. The Real War on Crime, p. 9. 7. Ibid., p. 10. 

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