This is an archive of the former website of the Maoist Internationalist Movement, which was run by the now defunct Maoist Internationalist Party - Amerika. The MIM now consists of many independent cells, many of which have their own indendendent organs both online and off. MIM(Prisons) serves these documents as a service to and reference for the anti-imperialist movement worldwide.
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THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT
MIM NOTES 123 OCTOBER 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.
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. U.$. ATTACKS TO INCREASE GULF OIL CONTROL
2. CHICAGO CONVENTION REEKS OF REPRESSION AND
IMPERIALIST RHETORIC
3. LETTERS TO MIM
4. STRUGGLE CONTINUES FOR THE SISON FAMILY
5. HOW TO FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO DISTRIBUTE THE
PEOPLE'S LITERATURE
6. PROTEST AND TEACH-IN SUPPORTS KOREAN STUDENTS
7. STOCKHOLM CHILD SEX ABUSE CONFERENCE MISSES THE
POINT: IMPERIALISM
8. CHIPPEWA WIN TEMPORARY VICTORY AGAINST TOXIC
TRAINLOAD
9. MARCIA CLARK SHOWS BANKRUPTCY OF PSEUDO-
FEMINISM
10. PATRIARCHY: KEEP THE WIMMIN'S HAIR CLEAN AND
GET THE DANGEROUS MEN AWAY FROM OUR PROPERTY
11. IRAQ: A LIITLE HISTORY OF AMERIKAN IMPERIALISM
12. STUDENT PROTESTS PRISON SLAVE LABOR
13. EXPOSED CORRUPTION IN PHILLY PIGS LEADS TO
SMALL REFORMS
14. MORE KORRUPT KKKOPS EXPOSED IN NYC
15. BOURGEOIS ACADEMICS DEFINED
16. AMERIKAN KULTURE: TRAINSPOTTING AND WARPED
17. MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM ONLINE: WORLD WIDE WEB
REVIEWS, AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
18. UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND
PRISONS
* * *
WHAT IS MIM?
The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a
revolutionary communist party that upholds Marxism-
Leninism-Maoism, comprising the collection of
existing or emerging Maoist internationalist
parties in the English-speaking imperialist
countries and their English-speaking internal semi-
colonies, as well as the existing or emerging
Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties of
Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of the
U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of MIM.
Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-
speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM.
MIM is an internationalist organization that works
from the vantage point of the Third World
proletariat; thus, its members are not Amerikans,
but world citizens.
MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups
over other groups: classes, genders, nations. MIM
knows this is only possible by building public
opinion to seize power through armed struggle.
Revolution is a reality for North America as the
military becomes over-extended in the government's
attempts to maintain world hegemony.
MIM differs from other communist parties on three
main questions: (1) MIM holds that after the
proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution,
the potential exists for capitalist restoration
under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within
the communist party itself. In the case of the
USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death
of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's
death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in
1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural
Revolution as the farthest advance of communism in
human history. (3) MIM believes the North American
white-working-class is primarily a non-
revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it
is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in
this country.
MIM accepts people as members who agree on these
basic principles and accept democratic centralism,
the system of majority rule, on other questions of
party line.
"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is
universally applicable. We should regard it not as
dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is not
merely a matter of learning terms and phrases, but
of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of
revolution."
-- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208
* * *
U.$. ATTACKS TO INCREASE GULF OIL CONTROL
President Clinton ordered two sets of cruise
missile strikes at Iraq at the beginning of
September, intended to increase Amerikan military
control over southern Iraq, and control over the
Persian Gulf region in general. After the attacks,
which were supposed to weaken Iraqi air defenses,
Amerika expanded its zone of air-based occupation
by about 100 miles north into Iraq, almost all the
way to Baghdad.
The public reason for the attacks was to penalize
the Iraqi government led by Saddam Hussein for its
military strike into southern Kurdistan, which lies
within Iraq's northern borders and within Amerika's
imposed northern "no-fly" zone of air-based
occupation. "When you abuse your people, or
threaten your neighbors, you must pay a price,"
Clinton said.(1) Clinton was careful to direct the
comment at Iraq only - but that did nothing to
cover up the obvious hypocrisy of the Amerikan
position.
Bourgeois analysts were quite willing to give the
real reasons for the Amerikan attack because
Amerikans would never support military intervention
just to help an oppressed nation such as the Kurds.
So Defense Secretary William Perry made a point of
saying Iraq posed a "clear and present danger" to
nearby countries and to "the flow of oil in the
world." And the ABC News military expert talking
heads admitted the strikes on air-defense systems
were long-intended, with the Kurdistan incident
providing a justification.(2)
Protecting the flow of oil is not really Amerika's
goal, the goal is really to control that flow for
Amerikan imperialist interests. Why else would the
attacks have come just as Iraq was ready to
implement a food-for-oil exchange that would have
reintroduced Iraqi oil to the world market? That
deal is now on hold.
AMERIKA IS NOT PROTECTING KURDS
The imperialists will not protect the oppressed
nations of the world. Imperialism is the cause of
the oppression and exploitation of these nations.
The Kurdish people and all other oppressed peoples
will only achieve self-determination through
struggle against the imperialists. But even
Clinton's high principle is revealed as meaningless
rhetoric by the large Turkish invasion of that
same Kurdish region within Iraq , against the
Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which is fighting for
Kurdish liberation in Turkey.(3) This happened the
same week Klinton ordered the air strike of Iraq.
Turkey's bombing of Kurdish territory in Iraq
doesn't offend Clinton's important humanitarian
principles. The U.S. State Department said the
Turkish incursion was OK, but Iraq's was not.(4)
This is particularly revealing of the hypocrisy of
the imperialists since Turkey crossed a recognized
national border while Iraq acted within its own
borders (a distinction which does not matter to MIM
when we are talking about borders used to oppress
people and enforce the imperialist world order.) In
fact, Turkey has announced it will annex a strip of
land on the Iraqi side of the border between the
two countries as a "security zone," like Israel
has in Lebanon.(3)
This all fits the U.S. pattern of supporting
Turkey's genocide of the Kurdish people, as in
March 1995 when Turkey launched a major attack
across Iraq's border. In that attack they struck
mostly civilian targets, although they claimed to
be after the "terrorist" PKK. The U.S. military
cooperated by removing its patrolling aircraft from
the area. As we wrote at the time: "The U.S. only
cares for the Kurdish people when they are
available for use as political pawns."(5)
The U.S. government portrays itself as the would-be
agent of Kurdish liberation, valiantly trying to
get the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and the
Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) together to oppose
Iraq's government. In the latest dispute, the KDP
has gone to Iraq for help against the PUK, which
was getting help from Iran.
U.S. government sources have been telling the press
that the KDP was working with the CIA to oppose the
Iraqi government, and the KDP's invitation to Iraq
to intervene against the PUK has undermined U.S.
efforts there. One group getting money from the CIA
is the Iraqi National Congress, which includes the
KDP.(6) By some accounts the KDP's Massoud Barzani
was the CIA's main contact there.(7)
When MIM covered the Kurdish uprising in 1991 in an
interview with a representative of the KDP, we
warned of the dangers of accepting aid from the
imperialists,(8) but at the same time it's not for
us to say who they should or should not accept help
from as long as they do not compromise the armed
struggle against imperialism. If they are
successfully manipulating the opposing powers of
Iraq and Amerika for the benefit of Kurdish
liberation - which we do not have evidence of at
the present - then more power to them. At the
moment it is hard to see how Kurdish liberation has
benefited from the latest developments.
Amerika has no problem with Iraq hampering Iran's
attempts to gain influence within Iraq. Amerika
does not want to see Iraq fall apart -- Amerika
just wants to control Iraq itself. Still,
government officials told the press that they were
upset that Iraq disturbed their covert operations
based in the north. Iraq's military assault on
Erbil, in Kurdistan, undermined a CIA operation to
overthrow the Iraqi government, Clinton
administration officials told the New York Times.
That operation had grown since January, when
Clinton signed a secret order for increased CIA
efforts, which went up to about $20 million this
year from about $6 million the year before. The CIA
operatives supposedly fled the country when Iraq
attacked, leaving behind their Iraqi
accomplices.(6)
OPPOSE AMERIKAN IMPERIALISM
While Saddam Hussein is no friend of the oppressed,
MIM opposes all attacks by Amerikan imperialism.
The terror inflicted on the Kurds by Saddam Hussein
is nothing new, back when Amerikan imperialism was
funding Hussein he was attacking the Kurds and
Amerika did not mind that this was done with
Amerikan weapons. The suffering of the Kurdish
people must end, but this end will be brought about
by the people themselves, not by imperialists who
pretend support for the oppressed when it serves
political interests while at the same time
attacking oppressed nations around the world.
In typical chauvinist reporting, Amerikan radio and
press echoed the white house's joy that no Amerikan
lives had been lost. No one tried to count the
Iraqi lives lost in this "successful" air strike.
The kind face Klinton tries to put on imperialism
is just a cover for political maneuvering. The real
message from this attack is that nations should not
attempt to resist imperialist domination. But when
imperialism means suffering and death for the
majority of the world's people, another imperialist
offensive in World War III is nothing new. This war
is being fought in the Third World where the
imperialists and their lackeys carry out constant
low intensity warfare against the proletariat and
peasants. These attacks don't make it into the news
very often but they wreck constant genocide on the
oppressed nations of the world. One more overt
attack will not stop the oppressed from resisting
imperialist domination and the majority of the
world's people will eventually defeat the
dictatorship by the minority and stop them from
abusing all people.
NOTES:
1. ABC New, 9/3/96.
2. Nightline, 9/3/96.
3. The New York Times, 9/7/96, p. A6.
4. The New York Times, 9/6/96, p. A1.
5. MIM Notes 100, May 1995.
6. The New York Times, 9/7/9696, p. A1.
7. Jim Hoagland in the Washington Post, 9/6/96, p.
A23.
8. MIM Notes 51, April 1991.
* * *
CHICAGO CONVENTION REEKS OF REPRESSION AND
IMPERIALIST RHETORIC
This year's Chicago Democratic Party convention was
marked by lots of Amerikan chauvinist rhetoric and
campaign-speak inside the well guarded walls along
with lost of protests outside the walls. Many of
these protests were liberals who did not even
pretend to oppose imperialism including Rainbow
Coalition rallies and labor aristocracy marches.
But alongside these less political activities,
large crowds turned out to protest anti-immigration
repression, to oppose the criminal injustice
system, to fight against the so-called drug war
which is really a war on the oppressed, and to
protest police brutality among the most prominent
anti-imperialist causes.
These protests sometimes focus on the Democratic
convention as if the protesters expect to have a
better chance of swaying the Democrats to
progressive change. While the conventions make a
fine opportunity for a protest, it is important to
be clear that electoralism does not make anti-
imperialist change and there is no significant
difference between the parties. MIM does not see a
difference between the Republicans and the
Democrats on anti-imperialist issues and our
campaign this year across the country has told
people: Don't vote for imperialism.
PIG REPRESSION STILL THERE IN 1996
Chicago was angling for the kinder gentler
convention image in 1996 to erase the bad press and
memories of the 1968 brutal repression of anti-war
convention protesters. Chicago went all out to
sanitize and beautify the parts of the city that
would be seen by convention attendees. The streets
used for travel between hotels and the convention
center were renovated, trees were planted, and
empty lots cleared. But for those in Chicago who
live in the poorer sections who were not on the
convention travel route, no new trees were seen and
the abandoned buildings and empty lots remained.
Chicago is willing to invest millions in image but
little in substance.
The security lockdown on the convention site was
also complete and the pigs patrolling the streets
kept tight control. At this year's democratic party
convention the police repression was still there,
it was just quieter and of less interest to the
public. In part this was due to the lower level of
activism relative to 1968 and in part this was
because the pigs and the state have learned a few
lessons from 1968. Setting up areas for official
protests was just one of their many strategic moves
to marginalize the protesters. In two designated
protest areas, organizers had to apply for permits
and were allowed carefully scheduled 30 minute
segments of stage time. These protest areas came
complete with a full regiment of police to guard
against any problems and free ice water for the
protesters to reinforce the benevolent image of the
city. All of this planning combined with the lower
level of activism to create a relative calm that
was only interrupted by a few arrests.
Several famous names from the 1968 Chicago
convention were back in Chicago this year with many
other people protesting prison conditions and the
criminal injustice system. But when this protest
ended in a civil disobedience sit-in at the federal
building, the arrest of a few famous names was what
made the stories in the media, not the causes they
were fighting for.
PIGS RAID COUNTER-CONVENTION CONFERENCE
The largest incident of police repression against
protesters of this year's Chicago convention (that
MIM has heard about) took place at the same time
Klinton was addressing the convention. The pigs
raided the counter-convention conference Active
Resistance, organized by the organization
Autonomous Zone, a Chicago anarchist group. Police
forced their way into the building on West Carroll
street that served as the central meeting site for
the conference. People were pepper-sprayed, and
several were hospitalized. Searches of people's
personal belongings were conducted and radio
equipment and papers were confiscated. When
conference participants asked to see a search
warrant the pigs told them a search warrant was not
necessary. The pigs also refused to give out their
badge numbers. Although they were told they were
not under arrest, when one woman and her 3-year old
son tried to leave the pigs told them they could
not. Police vans then went on to another Active
Resistance meeting site but by the time they
arrived the organizers had evacuated the
building.(1)
There were also reports of attacks on independent
media makers when several of the videographers
covering the Festival of the Oppressed procession
were arrested and their cameras were confiscated
and film destroyed by arresting officers. One vocal
camera person had his camera smashed by the
pigs.(1)
1996 IS NOT 1968
Although some successful anti-imperialist protests
took place, the 1996 convention protests were not
nearly as big or as radical as the activism at the
1968 convention. It's important for activists to
understand what is different in 1996 compared with
1968. The media coverage of the convention protests
focused on the "general apathy" and "general lack
of interest" as the cause of the much smaller
protests and change in atmosphere around the
convention. But it's important to understand the
role of the Vietnam war in radicalizing the youth
in 1968 and the class interests of the Amerikan
population.
WHITE AMERIKA FIGHTS FOR SELF-INTERESTS
People in Amerika are not stupid: the majority of
the citizens of this country recognize that they
have an interest in maintaining the relatively high
standard of living they enjoy at the expense of the
Third World. This bribery from the government has
worked to subdue the anti-imperialist sentiments of
the people over the past century.
Wars that involve large numbers of Amerikans in
active combat and therefore actively engage the
material interests of Amerikans, do a lot to
radicalize the people. The Vietnam war gave many
people an important reason to oppose Amerikan
imperialism and led many, particularly youth, to
take a closer look at the barbarity of Amerikan
imperialism around the world.
But today World War III is being carried out mostly
in the Third World with most of the casualties
being from the oppressed nations of the world. And
when the war is sufficiently removed from the
interests of the Amerikan public, the compelling
politicizing force is no longer there. Amerikans
can slip back into the comfortable life of
excessive consumerism funded by the exploitation
and oppression of the majority of the world's
people. The bribery that created the huge labor
aristocracy that makes up the vast majority of the
workers of this country has also infected the youth
who strive to take their place among their
successful Amerikan parents. These youth still have
vacillating interests because of the contradictions
of age in our society, and they are the most
revolutionary group among the white nation. But
even this group is best mobilized when the
possibility of death (the draft) strikes them in
the face.
SECTION OF OPPRESSED NATIONS ALSO OFFERED A
WAY OUT
Oppressed nations face huge inequities in financial
situations, opportunities, education, health care,
and imprisonment compared to whites who have it
better across all these measures. And oppressed
nations have a history of slavery and exploitation
that has created a group interest in ending
imperialism. Revolutionary leaders from
organizations like the Black Panthers and the Young
Lords were among those on the forefront of the late
1960s protests.
But in Amerika the rulers have caught on to the
benefits of bribing even the oppressed nations.
Offering strategic positions to enough tokens and
bribing a large enough group of an oppressed nation
by giving them the opportunity to take advantage of
the wealth this country steals from the Third World
has also bought the alliance of a segment of the
oppressed nations. This segment includes many petty
bourgeois individuals who may be allies of the
revolution in the future but who are willing to
work within the system when given the right
incentives.
Reverend Willie Barrow, chairwoman of Operation
PUSH and an Illinois delegate, attended a
commemorative rally of Martin Luther King's famous
"I have a dream" speech that drew several hundred
people. She said so few Blacks were protesting in
the streets this year because they are now
negotiating on the inside of the Democratic Party.
"Marches like King's put thousands of people in the
street," Barrow said. "That time, we couldn't get
in the suites. Now, I am staying in the Drake
Hotel. That's why we didn't have crowds in the
streets, because we got them in the suites. Now, we
have got to demand justice in the suites."(2)
While there is some truth to Barrow's statement
about the upward mobility of Blacks in Amerika over
the past 30 years, this has primarily benefited an
upper segment of Blacks while leaving the majority
behind. With conditions in the projects, inner
cities, and prisons still appalling and still
mostly affecting oppressed nations, Blacks,
Latinos, indigenous peoples and other oppressed
nations are still the people within Amerikan
borders with the interest in ending imperialism.
The capitulation of a growing number of Black
leaders who believe that electoralism is the answer
must be fought by the young leaders both inside and
outside of prison who have seen the harsh reality
of conditions for oppressed nations in the United
Snakes. MIM's work in the prisons and in the
oppressed nations outside of the prisons has
confirmed the revolutionary sentiments created by
the still oppressive material conditions faced by
the majority of the people from oppressed nations.
The fact is that oppressed nations are already
protesting Amerikan electoralism and have been for
years. A disproportionate number of non-whites do
not vote. And not voting is correlated with income
so those in the bottom 20% of society are least
likely to vote: this is mostly oppressed nation
people.(3) While Klinton and Dole represent the
interests of the majority of Amerikans, they do not
represent the interests of this bottom 20% who
understand this and don't waste their time at the
ballot box. It is this correct sentiment that MIM
is harnessing with the Don't Vote for Imperialism
campaign this year and we are turning frustration
with the system into organizing against the system.
Write to us for more information on our 1996
campaign and what you can do to get involved.
NOTES:
1. COUNTERMEDIA PRESS RELEASE, August 29, 1996.
2. Chicago Tribune, September 1, 1996, P.3.
* * *
LETTERS
Dear MIM editor,
While I was reading my copy of MIM Notes #120,
(August 15, 1996), I came across a New York
prisoner's letter on page 5, "Tour Between Circles
of Hell". I was upset and disappointed to see this
letter printed -- especially without a response
from MIM.
It is understandable that MIM wanted a letter
relevant to their article on prison transfers. The
letter does show how a prisoner suffered during a
transfer, yet this prisoner also caused suffering
to other prisoners. Would a Maoist have done the
same? Since no response was along with the letter
critics of MIM might ask the following questions.
Does MIM condone violence against the masses for
irritating religious belief or a malodorous smell?
Does MIM agree that beating up a person for reading
the Bible out loud is OK? Is this letter truly
representative of the suffering prisoners face?
Does this letter demonstrate the tremendous
revolutionary force of the prison population?
MIM Notes does not advocate for Christianity or
religion in general. Religion dupes the masses into
praying instead of acting, waiting for heaven
instead of working for change. This does not mean
that MIM condones violence on the masses. No matter
how irritating, religious behavior from a prisoner
should not merit violence. Instead possibly this
could be used a teachable moment for Maoism to
argue and discuss the idea of religion.
As for the malodorous prisoner, often times
prisoners are denied showers, toilet paper,
toothpaste, etc. For all we know this prisoner
could have be chained naked and spread eagle for
day(s), forced to urinate on himself and denied a
shower. This man is a victim of the tools of
oppression, not a subject of ridicule or criticism.
Yes it is unfortunate that this prisoner suffered
and the pigs took his stuff. Unfortunately it is
commonplace for prisoners to have their books,
legal materials, and personal writings taken by the
prisoncrats. Often during transfers especially,
prisoners may lose all their personal belongings.
MIM, this is an important issue. How did this
happen?
--a RAIL Comrade, August 17, 1996
MIM RESPONDS: Thank you for your criticism.
Careful MIM Notes readers keep us on our toes. The
decision to run the letter without a response was
incorrect. Though the letter partially pointed to
the inadequate conditions of prison transfers and
the harassment of prisoners by the pigs, the letter
did not correctly represent MIM line. After reading
your letter it is more clear that the error of
running the letter lies primarily in the fact that
the piece does not point out the principal
struggles against guards, against the pigs and
against the repressive system. In addition, MIM did
not take this opportunity to struggle with the
prisoner to realize as well that he must struggle
against the oppressor, not his fellow prisoners.
The intended purpose of running the letter was to
show how the conditions of transfers are
oppressive, to show the way that the guards harass
and intimidate prisoners between prisons and bring
the parallel article pertaining to transfers of
youth into a more detailed light. Transfers and
shackles are oppressive and reminiscent of
Amerikkkan slavery. Being told that you are anti-
social cause you can't handle it is further
harassment. Pigs encouraging fighting through
making the conditions inadequate and infuriating is
a tactic of oppression.
The letter did not expose the principal enemy and
you are right, it does not demonstrate the
tremendous revolutionary force of the prison
population. Additionally, running the letter
without a response struggling with the prisoner to
take up revolutionary struggle served the purpose
of wasting space in the people's newspaper.
What would have been correct is to struggle with
the prisoner to find the reasons for these
conditions. Like the religious prisoner -- the
source for that is not the one individual, but a
specific ideology the prison authorities sanction.
Above all, Maoists must always focus on shackles
being completely inhumane and focus on the pigs'
reaction to the writer. We can use that struggle
for a group analysis then as strong agitational
material to address other prisoners with similar
misconceptions.
* * *
STRUGGLE CONTINUES FOR THE ASYLUM OF THE SISON
FAMILY
For the time being, the order of the Dutch
Government to expel Prof. Sison, his wife Julie and
14-year-old son Jasm from the Netherlands on 14
August has been pushed back by their appeal to the
Aliens' Court and by the mass protest actions in 18
cities of the world.
But the danger of expulsion of the Sison family
from the Netherlands remains. It is a distinct
possibility that, while the court case is still
pending, Prof. Sison is detained in order to compel
him to look for another country to transfer to.
We should not underestimate the power of the Dutch,
US and Manila governments to deny asylum to the
Sison family in the Netherlands. They have already
prevented them from getting asylum status for
eight years and are now determined to expel them.
We should not underestimate their capacity to use
propaganda and their influence to misrepresent
advocates and fighters for national liberation as
"terrorists" in order to deny them asylum.
It is therefore of crucial importance and necessity
to arouse, organize and mobilize the support of the
broad masses of the people. It is not enough that
the juridical merits of the asylum application of
the Sison family is strong. Powerful forces are out
to lay aside the just grounds for the asylum of the
Sison family.
The International Campaign for the Asylum of the
Sison Family urges the people to remain vigilant
and militant in supporting the Sison family.
1. Demonstrations and pickets far bigger and in
more cities than already held in August are
proposed for the second week of October 1996.
2. The campaign to collect signatures on the appeal
on behalf of the Sison family aims at collecting at
least 50,000 signatures in as many countries as
possible.
3. Statements from organizations and personalities
are also being solicited in support of the Sison
family.
4. The International Campaign for the Asylum of the
Sison Family is producing printed, electronic, and
audio-visual materials on the Sison Asylum case.
5. Meetings are held to present the facts and
significance of the Sison Asylum case and the
Philippine situation, especially the deplorable
human rights situation.
6. Committees in support of the Sison family in
their appeal for asylum are being formed in many
cities of the world in order to promote the
foregoing activities and raise funds for the work
of the undersigned International Campaign for the
Asylum of the Sison Family
7. An international team of lawyers and
representatives of major international lawyer's
organizations is being formed in order to support
the Sison family, observe and intervene in court
proceedings, hold an international conference on
the Sison case and conduct a fact-finding mission
to investigate the human rights situation in the
Philippines.
The International Campaign for the Asylum of the
Sison Family will continue until the Sison family
get their asylum in the Netherlands and the
procedure for granting asylum to all political
refugees is facilitated and freed from neocolonial
political and economic pressures and maneuvers,
including malicious attempts to vilify and
criminalize fighters for national liberation and
democracy.
The International Campaign for the Asylum of the
Sison Family is encouraging the committees in
support of the Sison family to consider becoming
simultaneously or eventually committees in
solidarity with the Filipino people's struggle for
national liberation and democracy. Thus, the
committees can take a long-term interest in what
the Sisons stand for--the just cause of the
people's struggle for liberation and social
emancipation.
--The International Campaign for the Asylum of the
Sison Family 22 August 1996
* * *
HOW TO FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO DISTRIBUTE THE
PEOPLE'S LITERATURE
When Ross Perot needs publicity, he buys television
time and doesn't worry about distribution.
Movements of the oppressed have to fight for their
right to distribute literature when almost all
property where lit can be distributed is considered
private property and the rest is a fiefdom of some
bureaucrat.
Those who attempt distribution know that reality is
much different than the legal fiction of rights
that exist on such pieces of paper as the
"Constitution" or Supreme Court rulings.
Nonetheless, Mao said we in the imperialist
countries must fight "long, legal battles" until
the day the imperialists have been so weakened that
they are "really helpless."
TARGETS OF WINNABLE BATTLES:
1. Public libraries cannot refuse to allow you to
leave your literature for free distribution.
Example: New York City Public Library must create a
place for you to leave literature, whether such
places exist or not already.
2. Any host of a public official's or public
figure's speech or appearance whether public or
private must allow you to distribute literature on
the grounds where and if the public has been
invited.
Example: Leonard Jeffries speaks at Private U.
which publicized the event and invited the public.
You cannot be stopped from handing out literature.
3. Shopping malls must allow you to distribute
literature free.
4. Police must not stop you from any of the above.
TACTICS FOR VICTORY IN THE THREE ABOVE GOALS:
1. Attempt distribution once.
2. Retreat from distribution when asked to stop but
ONLY after the following: a) Taking note on the
TIME and PLACE you were stopped. b) Getting the
name of the person who stopped you and the name and
address of the librarian, forum host or mall
management if you don't already know it. c) Give
the relevant people copies of documents proving
your rights if you have the documents with you. d)
Take notes on any evidence that other people or
organizations were allowed to distribute
literature. Take copies of said lit if possible.
3. Go home and write a letter noting the above
facts addressed to the head librarian, forum host,
mall management, police chief or other bureaucrat
in charge. a) Request a written response in which
you are guaranteed the right to distribute
literature and not just for a specific instance but
as a matter of policy. (If you get a favorable
written response, bring a copy next time you
distribute.) b) Inform the bureaucrat that should
this matter have to go to court, you will not only
obtain your right to distribute, but also you will
ask for legal expenses and a sum of money to make
an example of the bureaucrat's organization for
violating your supposed civil liberties. c) Enclose
relevant news clippings or legal documents relating
to your supposed rights, so that they cannot claim
their subsequent action was unintentional and
uninformed. Note what you enclosed in the body of
the letter. d) Note that any future use of force
against distributors of the organization you sign
the letter with will be regarded as criminal and
the subject of a civil suit. e) Keep a copy of the
letter and documents you sent.
4. Send the letter and documents and get the post
office to register the mail in order to obtain a
return receipt from the relevant bureaucrat.
5. If less than your full "rights" would be
sufficient for you practically-speaking, inform the
bureaucrat verbally.
Example: You would settle for unimpeded parking lot
access, but you will be in the mall itself handing
out flyers if management doesn't capitulate
immediately. Tell the bureaucrat this verbally, but
do not commit yourself to giving up rights on
paper.
6. Publicize the case; do fund-raising for the
battle.
7. If response is unsatisfactory obtain real legal
help. Use your letter to the bureaucrat and any
written responses as information to give your
lawyer. If the lawyer shows any hesitancy or lack
of aggressiveness, get another one. The ACLU and
National Lawyers Guild are two places to go. 90% of
lawyers are involved in more financially involved
matters and have no clue what you are talking
about.
* * *
PROTEST AND TEACH-IN SUPPORTS KOREAN STUDENTS
LOS ANGELES, September 2 -- More than twenty people
gathered outside a dinner for south Korean
president Kim Young Sam in order to protest his
governments recent brutal repression of protesting
university students. The protesters carried signs
with slogans like "Down with civilian dictatorship"
and "All Koreans want one Korea." They also chanted
in support of reunification.
Flyers from the "Korean-American Coalition Against
Political Repression in south Korea," which
organized the protests, carried the headline "Kim
Young Sam: New Civilian President, Same Military
Repression" and described the students' demands as
well as the violent response of the south Korean
government. The students demanded abolishment of
the National Security Law, removal of U.S. troops
from Korea, and peaceful reunification of Korea.
Kim's government responded by sending in 10,000
riot police who brutalized and arrested the
students [See MIM Notes 122].
The rally in Los Angeles included a spontaneous
teach in. Several eyewitnesses explained that the
Y.S. Kim government used nerve agent (poison gas)
on the students and that government troops sexually
harassed wimmin students they had detained.
Some of the coalitions flyers and posters claimed
that the students were "not anti-State" (and
therefore the violent crackdown was unnecessary).
From MIM's perspective, the existing south Korean
government is defined precisely by the facts that
it houses the Amerikan troops and implements
fascism in order to prevent re-unification, so the
student protesters were objectively anti-(puppet)-
State. They have the honor and obligation to oppose
any organized force which prevents the self-
determination of the Korean people.
The protest in Los Angeles also attracted some
agents of repression. Protest organizers were
harassed by the Secret Service. Additionally,
Amerikan and south Korean government agents took
many photos of the protesters. Although these pigs
did not violently attack the masses this time, MIM
reminds anti-imperialist activists that the pigs'
role is to harass and eventually violently repress
activists -- especially those connected to
advancing struggles in the oppressed nations.
Activists should take this tactical threat
seriously and take appropriate precautions.
* * *
CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE DISCUSSED AT STOCKHOLM
CONFERENCE: ANALYSIS BANKRUPT
by MCB52
At the end of August, thousands of delegates mostly
from non-governmental organizations (NGOs)
participated in the first World Congress Against
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in
Stockholm. Though they did succeed in raising some
awareness of the oppressive and often brutal
treatment of oppressed-nation children, their
analysis and solutions were fundamentally bankrupt
as they could only urge poor countries to save
their children from oppression -- implicitly
ignoring the conditions of the imperialist-
dominated nations as a whole.
The conference organizers correctly realized that
most of the commercial oppression of children is
done in the Third World, a correct view relative to
some on the anti-kiddie porn crusade who pretend
that all children are equally likely prey.
But their answer, "stiffer legislation" cannot
solve the problem. Part of their solution was to
encourage Third World governments to prosecute
those who sexually abuse children. How the Ramos
regime of the Philippines, for example, could
possibly track down every marine who buys sex with
a 12-year-old pimped from Malaysia, is left unsaid.
But they also don't recognize that the Ramos regime
does not protect its citizens in general, children
or otherwise. The Ramos puppet government is going
to go right on appeasing the marines until the
youth and other oppressed force them to stop.
A more interesting piece of policy the NGOs were
pushing was to increase prosecution of First World
men in their own countries for crimes sex committed
abroad. At least then they are telling governments
that have power over First World men to control
them. But this actually only serves to legitimize
the police state, and does not stop the crimes. The
proposals also included the creation of paedophile
registers, international criminal courts, and
special police forces to deal with the issue. These
all individualize the problem, ignoring the fact
that in imperialist patriarchy, power is
eroticized. Condemning individual men for acting
just as advertising and porn tell them to is
hypocritical.
Even if the laws were enforced, one man is put
behind bars for a few months or, on a fluke, years.
But locking up the predators one by one is like
obstructing a deluge with buckets. So few
individual men could possibly be caught that such
laws are just hypocritical. Several Scandinavian
countries already have them, but don't enforce
them. They won't start enforcing them until the
power shifts.
The conference followed the great Western tradition
of hyping sexual oppression to the exclusion of all
else. Gotta save the kids from rape, they plead,
which is somehow more important than saving them
from starving. Sweden's own Queen Silvia closed the
conference calling for "forceful action" at "all
levels of society" to stamp out the "atrocious and
horrifying business with innocent children around
the world. As long as there is any child being
sexually exploited, there is work to do." For
revolutionary feminist communists, as long as there
is any power of groups over groups, which is the
precondition of all exploitation, there is work to
do.
Since the NGOs do not address the need of the
youths for money from some other source if not sex,
they leave all the players in the trade just as
they are -- optionless Third World children and
eager, moneyed First World men. The only way to
change the situation is either give options to
Third World children -- not just feel-good
"rehabilitation" to a society which only oppressed
them in the first place or take away the money and
sexual privilege from First World men. This is, of
course, exactly what the actual progressive forces
are doing. Where non-governmental organizations are
putting brittle band-aids on the wounds of the
oppressed, revolutionaries like the Communist Party
of the Philippines are building their independent
power.
NOTES: Agence France Presse, August 31, 1996.
Read a Maoist analysis of child abuse in MIM Theory
9-"Psychology and Imperialism", available for
$4.95.
* * *
CHIPPEWA WIN TEMPORARY VICTORY AGAINST TOXIC
TRAINLOAD
MIM reported last issue that the Ogitchida
Ashinishabe (Protectors of the People) of the Bad
River Chippewa were blocking the tracks to stop a
trainload of highly corrosive sulfuric acid from
going across their land. That occupation has ended
on August 12 when trains were allowed to pass that
contained no hazardous materials and an agreement
was reached with the US government's Environmental
Protection Agency to do an assessment of the
proposal to both move the toxins along unsafe
tracks through pristine wetlands and its subsequent
use to flush out mines just five miles from Lake
Superior.
The Bad River and other Chippewa tribes in the
region rely heavily on wild rice that grows in the
wetlands and fishing for their sustenance, and so
their radicalism on the issue is no surprise. But
they are also winning over segments of the mostly
reactionary populations of their neighbors in
Wisconsin and Michigan, who are having their
consciousness raised to think about the long-term
effects of development projects like this one.
Subsequent to the demands of the Bad River council
and others, Wisconsin and Michigan have joined the
call for a more thorough analysis of the project
underway.
NOTES: Indian Country Today, August 19-26, 1996,
pp. 1-2.
* * *
MARCIA CLARK SHOWS BANKRUPTCY OF PSEUDO-
FEMINISM
by MC12
Marcia Clark, the lead prosecutor of the O.J.
Simpson murder trial, was presented with clear
evidence that Black wimmin were the most likely
group of jurors to vote to acquit Simpson, and yet
she insisted on trying to get Black wimmin on the
jury because she believed they would feel a common
bond with Simpson's ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson,
whom he was charged with killing.
A recent article in the New Yorker shows that a
high-price jury-consulting outfit working for the
prosecution (for free) conducted telephone surveys
in the Los Angeles area, assembled mock juries, and
interviewed people - some of them right in front of
Clark - all demonstrating that Black wimmin were
most likely to vote for acquittal. The firm,
DecisionQuest, did a telephone poll that showed
that while Black men and wimmin were more like to
believe Simpson than whites, Black wimmin were the
most likely to believe him.
"Moreover," wrote Jeffrey Toobin in the New Yorker,
"black women responding by phone felt
overwhelmingly that, even if Simpson had engaged in
a pattern of violence against Nicole, doing so
didn't make him more likely to have killed her."
"On the eve of jury selection," he concludes,
"Clark had all this to consider - the focus groups,
the telephone survey, the demographic analyses, the
whole jury-consulting package. She also knew black
women - and she knew they were disproportionately
victims of domestic violence themselves. As far as
this case went, Nicole Brown Simpson was really one
of them." And so Clark helped select a jury that
had eight Black wimmin out of twelve people on it,
much more than was representative of the jury pool.
Why do we bring all this up? Because it's a lesson
on pseudo-feminism.
Marcia Clark apparently believed that Black wimmin
would see Nicole as another womyn, just like
themselves. Because Nicole had no national or class
oppression to contend with, just a gender
disadvantage, gender was her principal concern, in
Clark's eyes. And because Black wimmin share
Nicole's anatomy, Clark believed they would see
things the same way, that they would see gender as
principal in the situation. That is pseudo-feminism
- imposing the gender views of privileged wimmin on
all other wimmin. As an ideology it doesn't lead to
liberation for the oppressed, and here Marcia Clark
demonstrated that up against hard evidence, this
ideology fails empirically as well.
MIM does not know if O.J. Simpson committed the
murder of Nicole Brown Simpson or not. And we don't
know the thinking of the jury that acquitted him.
What interests us about the case are all the
lessons it holds for understanding national
contradictions and gender in the united states.
More than anything, the case showed the bankruptcy
of pseudo-feminism and its uselessness for
Amerika's oppressed nations.
NOTES: The New Yorker 9/9/96.
* * *
PATRIARCHY: KEEP THE WIMMIN'S HAIR CLEAN AND
GET THE DANGEROUS MEN AWAY FROM OUR PROPERTY
The view that gender oppression is simply additive
to national oppression received another blow in
Alabama. The Governor Fob James fired his Prison
Commissioner Ron Jones, not for bringing back the
chain gang, rock-breaking and 12 hour shifts in
shared bunks in prison cells.
No, Governor Fob James drew the line when Ron Jones
announced that he was going to start putting female
prisoners in the chain gangs too.
If it were a simple matter that wimmin prisoners
had to break rocks four hours instead of three
hours for men, we could say gender oppression is
just added in oppression. However, as MIM has
pointed out, gender has a life of its own which
makes it simply different than other oppressions,
and prison repression is not principally aimed at
females. This can cause an important gap in
understanding of state power between females and
males.
Gender roles in patriarchal society include
protecting wimmin and thus keeping them accessible
and humble. The Governor huffed in his best
Hollywood role, "There will be no woman on any
chain gang in the state of Alabama today, tomorrow
or anytime under my watch."
NOTE: The Chicago Westside Journal 29Aug96-
5Sept.96, p. 3.
* * *
IRAQ: A LITTLE HISTORY OF AMERIKAN IMPERIALISM
To understand current Amerikan machinations, we
have to remember what the U.S. military is doing
there in the first place, and that means returning
to the 1991 war against Iraq.
That was more than five years ago, and we can't
count on Amerikan media or schools to teach this
history in an honest way. To hear them tell it,
Amerika has reluctantly accepted the difficult
responsibility of being parent to the Persian Gulf
region. Columnist Stephen Rosenfeld, for example,
wrote: "this episode may soon fade into a
background littered with past efforts by the United
States and others to manage the oil-crucial and
unruly Persian Gulf."(1)
In January 1991 we reported that the U.S. had begun
an economic push into the Gulf region before the
Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in August 1990, which
supposedly triggered the war. Iraq was part of a
network of client states the U.S. was developing in
its expansionist push for hegemony over the region
in the wake of the Soviet power's collapse. Saudi
Arabia had plans to double its oil exports, and
increase capital-intensive purchases from U.S.
companies, and Kuwait was on the same course. But
Iraq attempted to become a regional power, and
threatened the U.S. plans. By invading Kuwait,
however (which Amerikan diplomats subtly
encouraged) Iraq also provided the U.S. with the
opportunity to convert military power into economic
and political power, as the war eventually did.(2)
We wrote: "From early on, the United States saw the
crisis as an opportunity to gain more control over
Middle East oil supplies, to tie client states into
a system of dependency on Amerikan imperialism
through material incentives and coercion, and in
general to use its military might to gain advantage
over economically growing imperial powers such as
Germany and Japan."(2)
President Bush piously declared: "No nation will be
permitted to brutally assault its neighbor." This
is even more laughable than Clinton's remarks,
given the U.S. record of brutally assaulting not
just its neighbors, but people around the world,
from Vietnam to Nicaragua. We said: "The United
States has gone to war to maintain and extend its
economic power over Iraq, the oil reserves in the
Persian Gulf and the entire region. Victory in this
war will increase Amerika's strength as the world's
most powerful nation."(3)
The war against Iraq marked the beginning of a
period of open Amerikan violence in the Gulf-oil
region. In April 1991, we quoted a congressman who
said, after the war, "The power has shifted . . .
the world is a different place today." And George
Bush said at the same time: "Now, we can see a new
world coming into view. A world in which there is a
very real prospect of a new world order. The gulf
war put this new world to its first test. And my
fellow Americans: We passed that test."(4) Theyalso
killed several hundred thousand people, depending
on accounts.
Amerikan power was increased by the war against
Iraq and the collapse of the Soviet Union. The
imperialist competition for hegemony over the
Middle East is relatively light at the moment. The
"coalition" of countries that supposedly fought
Iraq was a sham from the beginning, with no country
providing even one-tenth the number of troops that
the U.S. sent to Iraq.(5) It was an Amerikan war,
and to Amerika went the spoils. There are some sour
grapes, especially in France, which has lost
economically from the Amerikan seizure of control
over Iraq's oil. That's why France was cool about
endorsing these latest attacks, and why they are
refusing to participate in the new, bigger air-
occupation zone.(6)
Imperialism expands to survive, and in its
expansion it also sows the seeds of its own
destruction. To convert imperialist wars into
revolutionary victories for the people, we have to
vigilantly learn the lessons of the past in order
to direct our energies in the best possible way. At
present, our principal weapon is information. We
urge readers to work with MIM to get out the true
story of Amerikan aggression and imperialism, and
build public opinion for the revolutionary
struggle.
NOTES:
1. Washington Post, 9/6/96, p. A23.
2. MIM Notes 48, January 1991.
3. MIM Notes 49, January 18, 1991.
4. MIM Notes 51, April 1991.
5. MIM Notes 50, March 1991
6. New York Times 9/6/96, p. A17.
* * *
STUDENT PROTESTS PRISON SLAVE LABOR
On August 28, a University of Massachusetts
graduate student won an appeal against a ticket the
pigs issued for his protest of slave labor in the
Massachusetts prison system. In March, the student
turned his licensee plate upside down and painted
on his back car window "Slave Labor Made This
Plate".
The student described, as many prisoners and
readers of MIM Notes will know, prison labor as
"brutal, repetitive, meaningless work." In May, he
was pulled over by the police who issued a ticket
for displaying an upside-down plate. The student
restored the plate to its normal position, pending
appeal of the ticket.
On August 28, the Northampton District Court ruled
that there was no law against having your plate
upside down and that such speech was protected by
the First Amendment.
MIM supports the efforts of people to publicize
prison conditions and the treatment of prisoners.
We do recognize the tactical value of First
Amendment arguments, while we recognize that
dissident speech that is not backed up by an armed
populace exists only at the discretion of the
government.
Finally, MIM would caution against actions that
bring extra attention from the police onto
activists. While it is without doubt that the
"upside down" plate has raised consciousness and
sparked some useful discussions, it might not be so
productive to be spending a lot of time on the side
of the road, trying to explain prison labor to the
cop who pulled you over.
NOTE: Weekend Hampshire Gazette August 31-September
1, 1996, p. 9.
* * *
EXPOSED CORRUPTION IN PHILLY PIGS LEADS TO
SMALL REFORMS; EVEN THE MAYOR SAYS IT ISN'T
ENOUGH
The Philadelphia Police Department is the target of
a federal corruption investigation. This has
included $8 million dollars in settlements for
civil rights violations in August alone, and the
overturning of over a hundred wrongful criminal
convictions based on concocted arrests by the pigs.
On September 4, Mayor Ed Rendell (D) announced, in
agreement with civil rights groups, a series of
reforms in the police. Most cases of police
brutality are completely ignored and don't lead to
any reforms. But this time the exposure of
corruption, wrongful arrest and brutality was so
severe it forced Rendell to enact reforms so that
he could say his reforms would end the problem.
Rendell said that there will be police corruption
as long as drug trafficking is profitable, but he
denies that corruption is systemic in the 6,000
member force. Rather than indicting capitalism for
breeding corruption, Rendell (no surprise) is
excusing it. If it was not for the exposure of
wide-spread corruption, Rendell wouldn't even have
made this bold of a statement.
Falsified evidence led to the convictions of a 54-
year-old West Philadelphia grandmother as a drug
dealer who served 3 years in prison, and "a
furniture store salesman" was sent "to death row
for 14 months for a double murder he didn't
commit."
"The 12 reforms include the creation of a task
force to review police misconduct, computerization
of citizen complaints and records, and the creation
of a new Integrity and Accountability Office to
watch Internal Affairs." The ACLU represented two
civil rights groups (Police-Barrio Relations
Project and another group) and threatened to sue
the City for "unfairly targeting Blacks and
Latinos."
The ACLU argued that the police promise to monitor
race bias "sends a strong message that you can't
have law for the Caucasian community and law for
everybody else." The ACLU argued on constitutional
grounds that the United Snakes is a "nation of one
law and equal protection for all." Actually, the
United Snakes is an apartheid society, with many
nations under the oppressive thumb of white
Amerika. The Constitution doesn't say that
directly, of course, and sometimes small battles
can be won on those grounds.
Pressure put on the City of Philadelphia by the
ACLU exploiting this contradiction has led to the
12 reforms. The Police-Barrio Relations Project,
one of the civil rights groups represented by the
ACLU, said that the computerization of records of
police complaints will make it more difficult for
the police to deny knowledge of complaints.
However, MIM could see this backfiring and allowing
more accurate record keeping on residents who file
complaints.
The limited nature of these reforms is exposed by
the fact that the "new task force on corruption
will not have the power to subpoena officers." This
is key. For the people to control the police, the
community members themselves must have the actual
ability--not just on paper--to subpoena officers as
well as fire them. This is an example of why
working to reform the police under capitalism will
never work: they have the power and are not about
to grant it to a community that does not have an
interest in letting them use this power.
That small reforms aren't enough becomes clear when
you listen to the head of the Fraternal Order of
Police, Richard Costello: "We have more people
watching police than we do police watching members
of the public right now in Philadelphia, and we're
approaching the theater of the bizarre."
If Philly pigs were really outnumbered by people
watching them, that would be progress, although it
would take more than cameras and lawyers to compete
with the heavy armament of the Philadelphia Police.
In addition to 6,000 sidearms attached to 6,000
pigs, as of 1985 at the attack on the MOVE house
alone, the Philadelphia police had "deluge houses,
tear gas, stun grenades, M-16 rifles, 12 gauge shot
guns, 30.06 sniper rights with silencers, Thompson
machine guns, 9mm Uzis, explosives, 50 caliber
machine guns, 20mm armor piercing anti-tank guns,
M-60 machine guns and a bomb made of a military
explosive called C-4." Plus the police used a
helicopter to drop the bomb.(1) Who knows what
kinds of military hardware the City of Philadelphia
has purchased in the 11 years since the bombing of
Move. When the Black and Latino masses of
Philadelphia have that kind of armament, then
perhaps Costello might have some sort of case that
he's being controlled and we look forward to that
day.
MIM supports the self-determination of oppressed
nations and the exercising of dictatorship over the
colonizing Amerikan nation. To Costello that would
be bizarre. Or in the more immediate sense Costello
might also be finding it "bizarre" that criticism
of police "misconduct" would move beyond
publications like MIM Notes or the writings of
Mumia Abu-Jamal and make it into the city
government itself. MIM would find that bizarre too,
if we actually thought the announced reforms would
make a big difference in the colonial occupation of
Philly's ghettos.
Costello has threatened to sue if the reforms
infringe on the police contract. Costello also
objects to the police being "stereotyped." On NPR
he got some support from Sociologist Nancy Rhodes,
of the National Coalition on Police Accountability:
"We can go through city after city after city, and
there are very, very serious problems in the United
States with both brutality and corruption. It would
be a very, very big mistake to focus only on police
and say they're the only ones doing it. That's
certainly not the case. The system very much
supports them doing it."
It is correct that the police are not the only
problem. They are merely the occupying force in
Amerika' internal colonies. Revolutionaries must
oppose not only the hired goons of imperialism but
also work to expose and defeat the whole system,
from the pigs, to the mayor's office, to the White
House to the corporate board rooms.
What we would object to is Rhodes, and NPR, saying
the problem is bigger than the police as a group
but failing to take on larger institutions. This is
nihilism that lets everyone--including the pigs--
off the hook.
NOTES:
1. First Day, the Move Organization Issue 7, PO Box
19709, Philadelphia, PA 19143
All other facts and quotes from "All Things
Considered" on National Public Radio, September 4,
1996.
* * *
MORE KORRUPT KKKOPS EXPOSED IN NYC
On September 5, New York City was preparing to
arrest 4 officers on felony theft charges. The
officers are from the 34th Precinct in
predominantly oppressed national territory. This is
another public relations ploy about "bad apples"
and purifying another otherwise Ok police force.
One police official was quoted in the New York
Times "We're not talking about another 30th
Precinct." In 1994, more than 30 officers were
arrested "on charges of drug trafficking, brutality
and perjury." Two years ago it was so many bad
apples that it was pretty clearly systemic and a
conspiracy. Now it's a much smaller cleansing.
Police officials did not give much information to
the New York Times other than that this wraps up an
internal investigation into the 34th precinct.
Apparently the NYPD feel that enough cleansing has
happened to restore legitimacy to the force. MIM
recognizes that the police are an occupying force
in the internal colonies and we would target the
systemic nation of police oppression, not just the
"bad apples".
NOTE: New York Times 9/10/96, p. B5.
* * *
BOURGEOIS ACADEMICS DEFINED
Someone at a big Amerikan research corporation
recently finished putting a powerful computer
through a lot of cycles to find a new prime number.
The significance of this discovery is twofold:
academia in some cases is defined only as finding
things no one else has the energy or equipment to
find; and bourgeois academia often has substantial
military or intelligence applications.
As National Public Radio reported this discovery,
it serves no useful purpose and only one useless
purpose: temporary notoriety for the individual
and the company with enough money and CPU cycles to
waste to find this new and big number. But in real
life, algorithms used to find new numbers can be
used to improve cryptographic technology. When the
research for this is funded in an imperialist
country -- either by a large corporation or by the
government -- it is being funded for the purpose of
improving imperialist security.
Under socialism, research will not be masked as
supposedly "pure" intellectual curiosity taking its
natural course. Military research will of course be
hidden from the enemies of the proletariat, but it
also will not be used to promote individual fame
and fortune of researchers. Research will benefit
the masses' quality of life and the masses will
lead in identifying research projects of genuine
social value. All research, whether clandestine or
open, will be guided by these principles.
NOTE: National Public Radio's "All Things
Considered" Sept. 4, 1996.
* * *
AMERIKAN KULTURE
TRAINSPOTTING:
FALSE ALTERNATIVES
The Scottish film Trainspotting is getting lots of
press and talk because of its realistic
representation of the intense high of a hit of
heroin. But anyone who comes away from
Trainspotting thinking it advocates or is focusing
just on heroin use is not listening. The movie says
there are two alternatives: boring labor
aristocrat life or miserable junkie life. It is
critical of both, but the thing it's missing is
that there are other options, too. Social change is
mentioned in passing, only to be dismissed. That is
the real solution to the emptiness posed by these
young men's alternatives.
The opening section of the film is going to capture
the attention of young radicals of whatever
persuasion, including Maoists. The main character
recites a little bourgeois plug to the extent of:
Choose life, choose a job, choose health insurance,
choose a big fucking television. Then he asks "Why
would I want to do that?" This is exactly the
question of a whole lot of youth. The decadent,
individualist, imperialist tailing petty bourgeois
lifestyle is so meaningless, might as well reject
it. The film portrays this vacillation, between
rejecting labor aristocracy and seizing it,
provocatively. With a simple change of clothes and
venue, the temporarily off heroin hero becomes a
real estate agent for London yuppies. There is no
pretense that the hero is a product of miserable
circumstances -- his parents are very loving, he
has a "good" bourgeois education and can succeed at
a petty bourgeois life if he wants to. Peddling
stolen goods for smack is presented as no more
morally reprehensible then peddling apartments for
rent money. The former just means you'll probably
die sooner. Both the labor aristocracy and the drug
scene are portrayed as a waste of time and energy
of the youth -- and they are. Neither creates a
sustainable society for the lives of the future.
The hero almost gets what an alternative to all
this might be. As he and his friends are off in the
countryside of Scotland, pretty as a postcard,
someone disses the English. Mark responds that
hating the English Imperialists is not good enough.
"The British are wankers, but we are colonized by
wankers." He says he hates the Scottish for
accepting their alienation more than the English.
The realization is that the main enemy is not just
the settlers who took land and liberty, in this
case the English, but also those buying into the
colonization for their own material interests. This
is like all the labor aristocrats who gripe about
their lack of control but don't do anything about
it for fear of rocking a pretty good boat.
Unfortunately, rather than creating change around
that analysis, Trainspotting takes the apathetic
route and says fuck it, do whatever you want,
accept being a pathetic labor aristocrat or accept
being a worthless punk. Lacking in scientific
analysis and organization, the complacent attitude
that Trainspotting advocates just turns around to
support the imperialists and labor aristocracy that
it complains about. MIM would respond instead by
saying accept neither, overthrow the entire
oppressive system and organize to create
revolutionary alternatives.
* * *
WARPED TOUR -- AMERIKKKAN ANARCHISM
On June 30, Northampton, MA. was host to Warped, a
tour of punk bands and skateboarding and roller
blading athletic events. Seeing this event as no
more righteous then every other Amerikan leisure
time activity, MIM and RAIL still saw it as an
opportunity to engage in politically revolutionary
discussions with First World youth. The decadent
culture that Amerikan imperialism produces attracts
and lays ground work for complacency toward
oppression, which just creates a support group for
reactionary imperialist politics. However, while
still being born into the oppressor society, youth
have more to lose from imperialism and form a
potentially large revolutionary group.
The reactionary grip the imperialist have already
taken on First World youth manifested itself with
responses such as "I can't read". Most likely a lie
for the majority, that acted as an easy, and
seemingly funny, escape from talking politics. If
any of these people were illiterate, or for that
matter not falling friend to imperialism, they
might want to take a look at all the Chinese
peasants who had no choice in taking the "easy" way
out and taught themselves to read with Mao's "On
Contradiction", a thirty page essay on the meaning
behind dialectics. It discusses the scientific
reasoning behind contradictions and their unity in
society, and was applied across the board from
improving rice cultivation to ending the gendered
roles people were being forced to play in society.
Some others proclaimed themselves as anarchists
100% against communism. When asked what they were
doing now to end the oppression in the world, one
responded with, "I listen to Rage (Against the
Machine), that's enough." This just exemplifies,
yet again, the decadent attitude that plays so well
along side Amerika's imperialist power. It's also
seriously offensive to the true motives behind Rage
Against the Machines songs. They don't talk about
sitting around and listening to their music, but
rather are trying to use their music as a
motivating force for revolutionary politics. This
person has it all wrong, or should it be said, all
right in favor for imperialist oppression.
Others agreed with MIM and RAIL's line on armed
struggle. However the reactions were more in favor
of just randomly killing people rather than
realizing the tactical necessity behind picking up
the gun. The imperialists are not going to give up
the power without a long and all encompassing
battle, which they have begun with years of
starvation, land stealing and colonization. Armed
struggle is not a blood fest like the pseudo-
anarchists were advocating, but a necessity for
finishing the battle in the favor of the masses
that Imperialism began ever since the beginnings of
colonization.
A few discussions on communism versus anarchism
took place, and a bunch of zine addresses were
exchanged. On person was starting a zine on
anarchism, tribal living, anti-racism and anti-
sexism who, on the address printed, "remember this
is a zine for intelligent well informed punks. not
fuckups with nothing to rebel against except the
ever climbing prices of stussy wear." (Stussy wear
is clothing manufactured "copying" the
alternative/punk culture and now available, for a
high price, on every trendy store shelf. Yet
another example of capitalism's commodity
fetishism.) At least someone out there is taking
the end of oppression seriously and can see the
true decadence and aristocratic position that a
majority of Amerikkkans are adopting at a young
age.
Amerika's youth does form a group of possible
revolutionaries able to unite with the world's
proletariat to overthrow imperialism. By adopting
an ultra-left stance like anarchism, youth only
work themselves into the hands of US imperialists
by ignoring the principle contradiction, failing to
organize around and against imperialism, and
relying on metaphysical escapist ideas like
individuality to change the world. The oppressors
rely on youth to take such paths, because in the
end they just produce another mystified supporter
of US imperialism. If you favor a society without
oppressive conditions as they exist today, the only
route to change is uniting with the international
proletariat and overthrowing imperialism by working
with MIM and RAIL and revolutionary politics.
NOTE: For the zine mentioned above, write to Zach
Lihatsh 131 Lyme rd. Hanover, NH, 03755
* * *
THE VOICE OF OPPRESSION IS NOT A LIE
by a New York Prisoner
Black Churches are burning on urban streets
Oppressed nations are being lied to with promises,
progress, pure deceit.
The fascists have formulated a plan, to oppress
the masses within every land.
the Third of the World is being tricked by
the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
The Central Intelligence Agency is the supplier of
the guns.
Division is the order of the day, the Imperialist
intend to stay.
Exploitation, fortification, capitalism is a crime,
the fascist have you to think, everything is
fine!
Extracting minerals, polluting every inch of the
land,
The oppressed nations must take a final stand.
To win we must first all unite, the masses as one
putting up a diligent fight!
* * *
M-L-M ONLINE
AMERIKAN CRITICS DENOUNCE AFFIRMATIVE ACTION,
UPHOLD SLAVERY
When MIM posted an article to Usenet about
affirmative action in Texas ("Affirmative Action
Setback in Texas," MIM Notes 118), we elicited some
hostile comments from Amerikan readers who
understand clearly that their privileges rest
entirely on group oppression, and are willing to
defend anything if it means protecting that
privilege -- even slavery:
The MIM Notes article had quoted a University of
Texas student saying, "Given that slavery lasted
more than 200 years, shouldn't we give affirmative
action an equal time span to prove itself
effective?"(1)
"Slavery," wrote one Usenet reader, "as evil as it
was, at least *produced* something in this country.
There is nothing productive in affirmative action
other than a socialistic method of punishing one
group of people in favor of another group of
people. There is NO guarantee that A.A. will lead
to productivity or betterment of our society."
To which MIM responds, "which society?" These kinds
of reforms will bring some material benefit, in the
form of access to education, to oppressed nation
peoples. The reader is only concerned about the
betterment of the white nation. Objecting to our
contrast of white educational privilege, including
private tutors, with the disadvantages of Black and
Latino students who went to worse-funded high
schools and probably worked part-time, the reader
indignantly replied "Most white kids do not have,
nor do they need private tutors."
To MIM's point that any policy benefiting Blacks
and Latinos to the detriment of whites, in this
case in the educational system, is a good thing,
the same reader told the oldest settler lie in the
book -- that whites as a nation have been the most
productive. This lie is told by the white bourgeois
as well as the white working class and its
Trotskyist defenders:
"Typical socialist thinking, take everything away
from the people who worked hard to produce it and
give it to those who did nothing."
This is a typical settler bind -- defending slavery
as productive on one hand but then turning around
and calling oppressed nations non-productive.
Finally, the reader uttered his spin on the magic
Amerikan words "love it or leave it:"
"Oppressed nations? I thought we were talking about
Americans here. There are NO members of nations
that are citizens of this country. If they are,
then they are expatriates and I have no sympathy
for their ability to even survive here."
Fortunately, the oppressed do not rely on sympathy
from the oppressor -- but work toward self-
determination by organizing to seize power from the
imperialists.
Notes:
1. The University Review, The Independent Student
Journal at The University of Texas at Austin, May
15, 1996., in MIM Notes 118, July 15, 1996.
* * *
WORLD WIDE WEB REVIEW:
ISLAMIC ASSOCIATION FOR PALESTINE
http://iap.org/
We always need good sources of anti-imperialist
information about the Middle East. The Amerikan
media is as restrictive of information regarding
Palestine as anything, if not more so in MIM's
experience. For people with good speed connections
and browsers, we highly recommend the homepage of
the Islamic Association for Palestine. No doubt MIM
has many disagreements with the politics of this
group, but they have assembled an incredible
collection of information sources regarding
Palestine and the Middle East, including many
Arabic language cites, local publications, and
organizations of many stripes.
For example, we found this picture of a wounded
child taken after the Israeli army's deliberate
shelling of a refugee camp in southern Lebanon
earlier this year.
* * *
THE ANTI-CAPITAL WEB
http://www.webcom.com/maxang/
This mostly anarchist site makes some good
critiques of decadent capitalist culture and the
so-called information age -- including the majority
of the Web itself, which it aptly compares to
television -- but like typical anarchists, stops
short of providing an alternative theory or
practice to supporting the status quo. Its goal is
clear enough: "Abolish wage labor, commodity
production, the state and capital." But its
proposed action, at its clearest, is "subversion"
and the site says "They gave us enough rope.
It's time to hang them with it."
*Against Sleep And Nightmare,*(ASAN) "a marxist and
Situationist influenced" zine housed on this site,
identifies the oppression of neo-colonialism in
Palestine and El Salvador, the bourgeois media-
supported campaign lies of Republicans and
Democrats, and the general evils of imperialist
culture. But in its critique of culture, ASAN makes
little distinction between the material and the
cultural realms of society. While it states that
"War is a continuation of social peace by more
extreme means," it lapses into a culture-driven
explanation for that. "Social peace is based on
most people's acceptance of the 'mundane' daily
routine of the modern world. Dull work, television
and the police create a world that is already
militarized."(1)
MIM also says "World War III is on," referring to
the ongoing imperialist aggression against the
Third World. And we agree that television supports
militarist ideology and the imperialist agenda. But
blaming television implies that if we just create
revolutionary culture in the present political
economy, we can combat militarism. We need to
create revolutionary culture so we can build the
revolutionary forces and overthrow imperialism.
Speaking of culture, the Anti-Capital Web says,
"every new tool is a two-edged sword. Capitalist
society needs the free-flow of information even if
Senate crazies try to reign it in. This gives
revolutionaries a chance to gnaw at the guts of the
rotten corpse of America. But we will only succeed
if we attack the very fabric of system. Starting
with the web itself."(2)
Again, revolutionaries should absolutely use this
still cheap technology to spread anti-imperialist
material as widely as possible -- but we cannot
fall into the same information fetish that the
imperialists promote. We produce revolutionary
literature so we can build the revolutionary
forces.
The Anti-Capital Web is also anti-nations and anti-
nationalism. While this is not particularly new for
anarchists, they also claim that "every racial
nationalist is willing to stand with every other
racial nationalist. And every nation is based on
the ideology of race." Maoists, by contrast,
recognize that with the principal contradiction
between imperialism and oppressed nations, the
proletarian led national liberation struggle is the
most effective strategy for overthrowing
imperialism. For MIM, the concept of nation is not
based on a "racial" ideology -- it replaces the
bourgeois, pseudo-scientific category "race" with
an analysis of a material formation, nation.
So without an analysis of nations, the Anti-Capital
Web cannot correctly analyze class oppression, and
rails against "consumer culture" and "suburbia" as
the death knell of class consciousness among white
workers, rather than recognizing their alliance
with imperialism based on their share of Third
World superprofits.
NOTES:
1.http://www.webcom.com/maxang/ASAN/welcome.html
2. http://www.webcom.com/maxang/ANTI-
WEB/welcome.html
* * *
UNDER LOCK AND KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND
PRISONS
CONTINUED REPRESSION AND RETALIATION IN
MASSACHUSETTS
...We dealing at this kkkamp to back off the
repressive tactics of these fools and its touch and
go. Winning some rulings from the kourts, but these
clowns just disregard rulings and continue with
their fucked up retaliation and abuse of
discretion. Many dudes are giving up and going
along with their behavior modification so they can
get somewhere soft, its joke. Many comrades are
still holding the line and are giving as well as we
are taking. The joint is still locked down 22 and a
half to 23 hours a day in the max end. They are
getting ready to build a 1,000 man joint in the
hills near Shirley and Gardner, these people want
the jobs and money off our suffering!...
-- a Massachusetts Prisoner, July 28, 1996.
OHIO GETS TOUGH ON "CRIME"
...Things here in the Ohio penal system are very
bad. The population at this place is steadily
increasing with younger black males mostly. The
population at L.O.C.I. is about 2,800, but
construction is underway and they plan on housing
5,000 by 1999.
So the theme here is get tough on crime: Lock them
up for as long as possible.
-- an Ohio Prisoner, June 17, 1996
POLICE INCITE VIOLENCE IN MARYLAND
...On July 13, 1995, we (housing unit #3) were
locked down after the police incited a small riot.
The lockdown lasted until July 19, 1996, during
which time we received no showers, visits, or hot
meals (bag lunches only). A few of the officers
were hurt, unfortunately, all of the prisoners (at
least 5) didn't get away as others did. However,
their sacrifice is appreciated, praised and won't
go in vain.
This is why they have me on administrative
segregation pending investigation at this time.
Because I refuse to allow what happened to be swept
under the rug so easily. They are afraid that I'm a
threat to the security of this institution. They,
however, haven't decided as to whether they are
going to keep me on ad. seg. for a while or send me
out of the prison....
-- a Maryland Prisoner, July 29, 1996
OPPRESSION IS ROUTINE IN ILLINOIS
...Most of the info that I would offer is already
being covered by other prisoners' mail...negligent
medical care resulting in prisoners' deaths, bad
food, appeals routinely denied by the courts,
grievances routinely denied by the prisoncrats, sex
between guards and inmates, guards bringing in
drugs while they lord it over inmates who are in
prison for drugs, psychotropic drugs being
prescribed by the psychiatrist as if they were
Tylenol... nothing new here....
-- An Illinois Prisoner, Aug. 5, 1996
BASKETBALLS INSTEAD OF BOOKS IN NORTH
CAROLINA
Comrade,
...Regarding this new prison, presently there is
not much going on as far as programs are concerned
cause they are really behind in everything
educational, something that could really benefit an
incarcerated person. But we do have, or they made
sure that we had plenty of basketballs, weights and
weights in the gym.
Unfortunately the area of, or the classroom of
higher learning are empty. This is why I always try
to teach myself the important things I need to
know. Also my teaching of the Nation of Islam
require all striving brothers to seek knowledge
from the cradle to the grave, so that's my quest to
the end....
-- a North Carolina Prisoner, July 21, 1996.
GEORGIA PRISONER WORKS TOWARD REVOLUTION
Dear Comrades,
...Myself and three others have been in segregation
for almost two months for some BS about being a
threat to security because of our study group. The
oppressor has put his foot down on the Little man
once more. Our study group is going very well. But
at this time I've had to start all over because the
other two have been transferred to other prisons.
All in the world we've done is continued our group
after being told to stop.
The prison pigs don't like your newsletter and have
a difficult time with the truth....It's really
funny the pigs don't like the revolutionary
politics, and yes, they keep a very close eye on
me.
As far as my lawsuit, things are well. The United
States judges have handed down an order to the
Department of Corrections that all inmates will
have access to the law library materials in
lockdown areas. As well as for indigent inmates who
need paper, envelopes, pens and carbon paper can
complete a request form and get his supplies, after
being verified to be indigent. It's not much, but
it's a start. Really they just tried to take the
access to see if they could get away with it.
Comrades please remember me, down here the
oppressors have it in for me Big Time. But the
struggle will never end for me, the battles will be
many. I'm Iron-Clad and will sacrifice to bring
down the oppressors.
MIM you're my heart. You stand for everything I
believe in....Respectfully in Struggle.
--a Georgia Prisoner, July 31, 1996
PSYCHOLOGY AND SEX USED TO CONTROL PRISONERS
IN CONNECTICUT
Warm revolutionary greetings,
I am writing so that you will know that I am still
alive, and I wish for my papers to continue. I
apologize that I have not been in touch, or sent
any of my essays or writing lately, but I have been
trying to survive a situation which developed here.
I'm enclosing a copy of a report that I wrote
[printed below]. I am hoping you could write up an
article on this report, because I am sure that this
tactic is much more widespread that we are aware.
The purpose of it is to kill the desire of
leadership, through psychotropic drugs...
If they are unable to break your spirit one, they
try another. So when they realized that the
isolation (almost complete), the repression of all
my emotional ties and community support, and all of
the other means they have attempted to get maximum
control over me, failed, they sent this mental
health woman at me, bringing me to the brink of
destruction.
I would like to see if others have been approached
by these means, to get them on some type of
psychotropic drugs. I have been successful in
locating at least 10 to 15 people that are now on
some type of psychotropic, mind controlling drug,
and I'm confined to a cell 24 hours a day.
All of the persons I've located, had some type of
contact with this person [the mental health woman].
She used the same basic approach, the higher your
profile, the more sexual games she played with you.
Even to the point of having sex with a few
[prisoners].
This issue is being swept under the rug by the DOC
[Department of Corrections] and mainstream papers.
It needs to be brought out of the darkness....
-- a Connecticut Prisoner, July 1996.
[SEXUAL MANIPULATION] REPORT JUNE 19, 1996
I have just emerged from a very traumatic
experience. I was involved with a personal
relationship with my therapist. She is a female by
the name of Joan Mason who has since resigned from
the DOC as of June 6, 1996. I truly believe that
she was sent to snare me, [sent] by whom, I'm not
sure. But I believe that the purpose was to get me
introduced to some type of psychotropic drug in
order to suppress my revolutionary ideology and
philosophy. There are many reasons that I believe
the above statement, too numerous to go into,
completely at this writing.
The plot and scheme was a typical Samson and
Delilah machination. To have me fall in love with
her, [and have her] manipulate me into taking some
type of psychotropic drug and thereby killing my
tendency to fight. [Killing] my revolutionary drive
and spirit.
The scheme was so shrewd and sophisticated I was
unable to recognize it as such, until it was too
late. But I accidentally stumbled upon it due to my
stubbornness and beliefs that a man is not supposed
to be led like a sheep, by a woman. The details of
this whole experience are so intricate and complex,
I'm not sure I'll be able to put it on paper. I
believe that there is a protracted effort by
elements in the Mental Health Department and DOC to
medicate and zombitize "High Profile Individuals",
and the record will support by theory.
The process works by getting female staff to
befriend you, and gain your confidence by whatever
means necessary, even enticing you sexually. I was
not any easy mark, thereby making it necessary to
go beyond her normal call of duty, leaving me with
a lot of material evidence, which I initially was
destroying until my ESP caused me to start saving
certain evidence.
I did eventually fall in love with her. She had me
in a constant state of flux, an emotional roller
coaster. She was on the verge of succeeding at her
task. She constantly had me angry, hurt,
frustrated, upset and in a disturbed state of mind.
She would come to my door, tell me lies and bring
me bad news; tell me she would call me out, then
not do it; tell me she would answer my letters, and
then have all kinds of excuses. She would tell me,
"Oh I'm just causing you too many problems. Maybe I
better step back.", knowing full well that would
evoke my fear of loss....
Then she would suggest that I take an anti-
depressant. I resisted taking any drugs, and she
would be very persistent. By no means am I weak,
but when it comes to matters of the heart, it is my
Achilles heel. Coupled with being in this
environment which is devoid of human compassion and
feelings. [Since I was] never allowed any real
social intercourse, it was not hard for her to trap
me with her sexual games and innuendos.
But my resistance to taking psychotropic drugs was
still strong. My principle of love is one of trust,
and I caught her in lie after lie. And this
actually saved me in a way, because while I was in
love with her, the animosity created by her lies
was just strong enough to keep me from being "all
in".
She came to my door with something some guard said,
but would not tell me who. Something I didn't need
to know. Anyway it ended with me giving her an
ultimatum, if she left my cell without telling me
... either who the pig was, or at least why she
would not tell me, [I would break off the
relationship with her].
She was so confident in the thought that she had a
ring through my nose, she left. I did what I had to
do. She came to my cell the next day and told me
that she loved me. I told her it was too much, too
little, too late. She could resign or stay and be
disgrace and fired. She resigned.
In the aftermath of her resigning, I got feedback
from through-out the prison. Learning that my
suspicion of other relationships were true. Another
prisoner whom she had done the same to, unlike me
had cut his throat (he did survive). There are some
6 or more men she had [treated] like this.
I am at present trying to get an attorney so that I
can sue her and the state because it is now known
she has a history of inappropriate behavior. She
was my therapist and she violated every rule and
code of ethics that exist. And the state knew of
her past or should have known. She was disciplined
on April 18, 1996 for unauthorized contact with
another prisoner. She has left me mentally scared
for life.
-- the same Connecticut Prisoner, June 19, 1996
LAWYERS AND PRISONCRATS HAVE THE SAME
INTERESTS
...Check this out, I went to my pre-trial hearing
and I wasn't allowed to take a B.M. I was forced to
wear leg irons and chains were run through my
handcuffs. My attorney never said one word to the
prison official about our privacy. They were
looking down our mouths. I told one of the prison
officials to get out of my mouth. I was in chains
from 5:00 am until 2:00 pm.
My family came to the courthouse in Brazoria county
to see me but were not allowed to visit me nor talk
to me. Them SOB's pulled guns on me and talk shit
to my family, my attorney didn't say a word. She
[the lawyer] was busy trying to undermine me to cop
out for 20 years.
Mrs. Barbara Landes, Staff Attorney for Inmate
Legal Services. This woman is my lawyer. See I told
her that the Asst. Warden, Norman E. McClure, put
me or tried to set me up to kill a friend of mine,
an inmate named "T." He is a writ-writer and has a
civil rights lawsuit against Warden McClure. I
refused to take [my friend's] life for this snake
[McClure].
Mrs. Landes is trying to cover up for Warden
McClure. She has not told the District Attorney or
the judge that I was pressured into cutting "T" up
with a homemade knife (a razor blade on an ice
cream stick), but "T" cut me first.
Mrs. Landes works for the prison system, as staff
attorney. She is real transparent and you can see
through her lies. I had to tell you that because it
is absolutely disgusting. She has not done one
thing to defend me, but to have me in for a plea
bargain.
-- a Texas Prisoner, June 26, 1996
FLORIDA PIGS HARASS PRISONER BY TEARING UP
MIM NOTES
Dear MIM,
I've come to realize that the prison staff not
allowing MIM Notes in, or the confiscation of after
it's let in, is not always censorship. In my case
it was pure harassment.
You recently sent me MIM Notes 117 and 118. I'd
already read and passed on 118, but was still
reading 117. I am in the Special Housing Unit (SHU)
for "security concerns" whatever that is. No one
will tell me and I'm using the grievance procedure
to try to get out.
Anyway, last week our prisoner (want-a-be-federal-
agents) guards came in to shake down my cell. On my
table was MIM Notes 117, which on the cover has a
picture of a KKK person. Well, they took it saying
I couldn't spread my "racial hate" in here. I tried
to explain that the paper and article was not pro-
Klan. I also pointed out that despite me being
white I believe in the causes of MIM, which is a
supporter of all minority causes. But they would
hear none of it and accused me of being a racist.
They promptly tore up the copy and threw it in the
trash.
While I'm sure the guard was only trying to harass
me, as is the norm in the SHU, I still wanted to
share with you how MIM Notes was accused of being
Klan literature. Until now, I've never had a
problem getting MIM Notes. So don't think their
censoring you, [they were] just harassing me.
I look forward to getting my next copy of MIM
Notes, as it's the one of only a few papers to
print the truth and support those that are in need
of support....
In Struggle!
-- a Florida Prisoner, July 31, 1996.
TENNESSEE PLAYS CENSORSHIP GAMES
MIM has received another notice from Mr. Howard
Carlton, Warden at the Northeast Correctional
Center in Mountain City, Tennessee. The letter
claims that "Under Tennessee Department of
Corrections policy, this material [MIM Notes] is
not allowed into this penal facility."
MIM first received this notice in April 1996. Soon
after, the prisoner who was being censored said
prison officials would allow him to receive MIM
Notes if the "X" was removed from his name on the
address label. MIM then removed his "X". Then the
July 1996 issues of MIM Notes were returned to MIM,
with a note from prison officials stating,
"insufficient address". August 5, 1996, MIM
received the above notice again with the same
prisoner information as the envelope marked
"insufficient address". What will these prison
officials think of next?
Letters of protest can be addressed to: Howard
Carlton, Warden, Tennessee Dept of Corrections,
Division of Adult Institutions, Northeast
Correctional Center, PO Box 5000, Mountain City, TN
37683-5000.
-- RCG1, August 13, 1996.
WASHINGTON CENSORS MIM NOTES STATE-WIDE
MIM has received several notices from the State of
Washington Department of Corrections stating that
MIM Notes is being "rejected statewide per
headquarters". The specific reasons differ with
each institution.
For example Clallam Bay Corrections Center claims,
"mail advocates that any ethnic, racial or
religious group is inferior for any reason and
makes such a group an object of ridicule and scorn
and may reasonably be thought to precipitated a
violent confrontation between the recipient and a
member of the target group." On the other hand
Airway Heights Corrections Center took the shorter
route. It claims "the mail or publication is a
threat to legitimate penological objectives."
The following is a letter protesting the censorship
of MIM Notes by a prisoner at the Washington State
Reformatory in Monroe, WA which has also been
censoring MIM Notes. It is addressed to the
director of Washington state Division of Prisons.
-- RCG1 Aug. 13, 1996
Dear Mr. Rolfs:
I am appealing the "Offender Mail Rejection" I
received on July 19, 1996 at the Washington State
Reformatory. No file number was given on the form.
The rejection was for the MIM Notes (a political
newspaper) No. 116, June 15, 1996. The reason for
the rejection alleges it "Promotes the seizing of
power through armed struggle. Since that is the
stated purpose the Division has rejected this issue
statewide."
I contend this censorship is discriminatory and
violates my First Amendment Rights to Freedom of
the Press and Freedom of Expression. Every major
political entity in history has promoted the "as an
extension of politics" --- Clautzwitz on War. Even
the Declaration of Independence of the U.S. has
promoted the same. The purpose of MIM Notes is not
to promote violence in prisons, as it would serve
no political purpose, but to express the range of
politics under the communist philosophy.
The U.S. Supreme Court has found Washington State's
anti-communist statues unconstitutional on their
face. The mail rejection of MIM Notes by WSR, DOP
or DOC policy can not circumvent the Supreme
Court's decision.
I therefore appeal the mail rejection as violative
of my rights to freedom of expression and freedom
of the press.
-- a Washington state Prisoner, July 22, 1996
RCG1 ADDS: It is MIM line that there are no rights
under capitalism only power struggles. Continue the
struggle.
Letters of protest can be addressed to: Tom Rolfs,
Director, Division of Prisons, PO Box 41123, 401 W
5th, MS:1123, Olympia, WA 98504-1123.
NEW YORK CONTINUES REPRESSIVE CONDITIONS
To whom it may concern:
In 1991, May 28th and 29th...there was a major
rebellion at Southport Correctional
Facility...where numerous prisoners suffer severe
injuries as well as state officers who operate the
facility. Such a rebellion was caused by the
barbarous treatment and inhumane conditions
prisoners were being subjected to by members of the
Ku Klux Klans.
Today the situation in Southport Prison is
unchanged. In fact it is even worse. The prison's
response to demands for basic human rights have
been to increase repression, oppression, depression
and suppression in the name of "security" and beat
up on prisoners for no reason whatsoever, while in
mechanical restraints, waist belts and leg irons.
The number of guards has doubled since 1991. Racist
guards, staff and employees, which many believe to
be Ku Klu Klan [members] harass, beat and threaten
the lives of prisoners daily. Southport is in a
very high tension right now as the racist,
unprofessional and prejudiced officers continue to
push, press, destroy personal property, sexually
assault prisoners, tamper with food and mail, frame
prisoners up, steal prisoners' photos, harass
visitors and beat up prisoners.
The menu that was sent from Albany (statewide
supposedly)... [portions are] drastically reduced,
i.e. fruit juice, fresh fruit and the main course
are usually cut in half... Any religion other than
Christianity is heavily scrutinized by chapel staff
and the guards...The store prices here are about
20-40% higher than any other facility....
The staff here is disoriented, ...related to each
other and make sure to cover each others tracks.
None of the staff follow the NYCRR (New York Codes
Rules and Regulation). They make up shoe string
policies daily... Prisoner's property is
consistently stolen by the guards and there is
constant misuse of the inmate betterment fund.
The grievance system is a joke. No steps are ever
taken within the institution to correct any
problem. Any prisoner complaint of staff misconduct
results in the prisoner being infracted and harshly
punished. Counselors never make any attempts to
work with prisoners to help them better themselves.
All they do is push through miscellaneous paper.
Personal mail is unlawfully read by guards and
constantly stolen. Harassment of visitors is
commonplace. The guards are ... constantly
physically and verbally abusive toward visitors and
prisoners. Prisoners have limited access to the
legal library. Sanitary supplies which are given to
clean our cells contain feces and urine...While
institutional investigations are being held guards,
staff and employees ... conspire ...to cover up the
barbarous treatment prisoners face daily.
-- a New York Prisoner, May 25, 1996
PRISONER EXPOSES CA PRISON "BENDING THE
RULES"
Dear MIM Notes,
They did it again! A you can see, this fine
institution that I'm blessed to be housed in denied
delivery of your publication again. Now, instead of
stating which pages are offensive they say the
"entire publication meets disapproval criteria".
What can be done to ensure that mine, and your,
right to free speech is not taken away?
This prison seems to bend a lot of rules concerning
our rights. Just last month I went to
classification for an annual review and at that
time I requested a transfer to a prison closer to
my family. Penal Code 5068 clearly states that
inmates have every right to be housed at a facility
close to home. The Penal Codes obviously don't mean
squat to Pleasant Valley State Prison! I was denied
and given a lame excuse of: "Sacramento sent out a
memo stating that inmates will no longer be
transferred to other prisons unless the inmate's
points change their level of custody." When I asked
if I could see this so called "memo", I was flatly
denied again!
My question is: Why do certain inmates have the
luxury of being housed in prisons close to home,
and in prisons where the inmates are able to earn
enough money to buy hygiene products (that the
state won't give indigent inmates) and other items
to make their sentence more bearable, and I'm not?
I have remained write-up-free for the entire 3
years of my incarceration and for what? I'm stuck
away from my family and their potential visits. I'm
forced to survive on the meager state issue and
unable to get a paying job because of the
vocational training that I was basically forced
into.
Oh, I didn't tell you about that! I signed up for a
computer training course when I arrived here in
January of 1994. They said the waiting list was 6
months. At my annual review (my second one since
I've been here) in April, I was told that I had to
get off the computer training list because that
list was now 2 1/2 years long! It was only 6 months
when I signed up, over a year ago! So without my
consent I was put on the consumers electronics
class list. I've been a blue collar worker all my
life and can't see myself trying to get a job at
the age of 42 trying to repair TV's or radios. But,
can I get out of that class? Not unless I want to
go to the hole and subsequently have my points
jacked back up so I could never leave this
cesspool!
I feel the action of PVSP [Pleasant Valley State
Prison -MIM] need to be brought to somebody's
attention. If there's anything you can do, or
perhaps you have an idea for me to use, I'd greatly
appreciated it. Have a great day and I apologize
for dropping all this in your lap. I wish there was
a way I could get your publication! I feel PVSP is
out of line in denying me to read it. I hope to
hear from you soon.
Respectfully yours,
-- A California Prisoner, June 18, 1996.
Letters of protest can be sent to: Pleasant Valley
State Prison, PO Box 8500, 24863 W. Jayne Ave,
Coalinga, CA 93210.
***WHAT NON-PRISONERS CAN DO TO SUPPORT
PRISONERS***
*1. Struggle with, work with, finance and join MIM.
The best way to support prisoners is to overthrow
the system under which capitalists profit from the
exploitation of prisoners. History shows that the
best way to do this is to build a Marxist-Leninist-
Maoist party. The oppressors will not give up their
power without a fight.
*2. Finance MIM's prison work. Our biggest bill
each month is postage. Most of the prison comrades
who read MIM Notes have no way of paying for it. So
if you have money, send what you can afford. Every
cent helps, and stamps are as good as cash to us.
*3. Distribute MIM Notes and Notas Rojas. Bring the
voices of prisoners and their supporters to as
large and wide an audience of people as possible.
Contact MIM for bulk rates and distribution tips.
*4. Start or join a prison support group. MIM can
provide advice and resources to help you build
public opinion for prisoners and their struggles.
*5. Fight censorship, beatings, torture and other
fascist outrages. Under Lock and Key often features
the addresses of prisoners' friends and enemies.
Work with the friends and let the enemies know
you're watching. (Don't expect to win the fascists
to the side of humanity, however. See #1 in this
list).
*6. Stay in touch. Keep us informed of pro-prisoner
work you do. Our readers might find it educational
or inspirational.
***WHAT PRISONERS CAN DO TO BUILD MIM***
*1. Start a study group. This is the best way to
share materials and ideas. In groups, prisoners can
better benefit from the limited resources MIM has.
*2. Get MIM Notes and MIM Theory into your library.
This allows one copy of the paper to be seen by
many comrades.
*3. Contact people on the outside. MIM needs
comrades and allies everywhere. Maybe you know
people on the outside who want to subscribe to MIM
Notes or distribute it.
*4. Share materials. If MIM sends books or
periodicals, please make sure that as many people
as possible get a chance to read them.
*5. Write MIM at least every three months.
Otherwise, you will be dropped from our mailing
list. There are many cases where your keepers throw
out MIM Notes, so we need to know that you actually
get it. Also, comrades are moved around a lot,
especially those who are known to be political.
Please let us know of any address changes as soon
as you know them.
*6. Make MIM Distributors an official distributor.
Many prisons require registration before MIM can
send books or other materials. Usually we can
comply with these bogus rules. It helps immensely
to have someone there do the reasearch and send us
the proper forms.
*7. Send money or stamps. Our biggest bill each
month is postage. Most of the prison comrades who
read MIM Notes have no way of paying for it. So if
you have money, send what you can afford. Every
cent helps, and stamps are as good as cash to us.
Please make all checks payable to "MIM
Distributors."
*8. Write for MIM Notes or Notas Rojas. Prisoners
write almost all of Under Lock & Key. We don't
care if you know how to spell or write good English
or Spanish. Write on any topic you like, it does
not have to be a prison story.
*9. Translate. If you can read and write English
and another language fluently, let us know. Any
translation work you do will help us make Maoist
ideas accessible to more people.
*10. Fight censorship. When you know of censorship
of books or newspapers, investigate. Write to MIM
to confirm what has happened, then see what you can
do about it.
*11. Keep in touch after your release. Many
comrades stop doing political work after their
release. Write to MIM as soon as you know where
you'll be so we can hook you up with comrades on
the outside.
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