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 140 JUNE 15, 1997
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. MAOIST CONFERENCE CELEBRATES TKP/ML'S 25TH
2. AZANIAN YOUTH FACES DEATH PENALTY IN
MISSISSIPPI
3. LETTERS
4. SUPPORT FOR BOOKS FOR PRISONERS CONTINUES
5. KABILA LEADS CONGO FORWARD: EXPOSE U.$.
IMPERIALISM
6. NEW YORK RESUMES TAX COLLECTION IN FIRST
NATIONS
7. MINING COMPANY STEALS APACHE WATER
8. GERONIMO WINS NEW TRIAL: 25 YEARS LATE
9. L.A. RALLY COMMEMORATES 1980 U.$. KWANGJU
MASSACRE
10. RAIL COMRADE INTERVIEWS A FORMER KOREAN STUDENT
ACTIVIST
11. PAN AFRICANIST CONGRESS LEADER KARRIM ESSACK
DIES
12. SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS PLAYS BALL WITH THE CIA
13. SAHARA SONTAG: IDEALISM GIVEN A NEW NAME
14. INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENTS BRING PSYCHIATRIC
PROFITS
15. UNDER LOCK & 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
* * *
MAOIST CONFERENCE CELEBRATES TKP/ML'S 25TH
Frankfurt, GERMANY -- May 10 - 11, Maoists from
around the world met at an international conference
convened by the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist
Leninist (TKP/ML) in celebration of its 25th
anniversary.
The TKP/ML is the representative of the
international proletariat and the vanguard of the
oppressed masses and the working class in Turkey
and Turkish Kurdistan. The first point of the
conference agenda included the fundamental
discussions on the TKP/ML's experience and
practice, its importance within the context of the
revolutionary struggle in Turkey and Turkish
Kurdistan and also, world revolution and the
national and international background within which
the TKP/ML was founded.
The second item on the conference agenda was the
importance of the GPCR, which greatly influenced
the founding of the TKP/ML and its process of
defining the political, ideological and
organizational line. The GPCR represents the
highest point of the achievements of the
international proletariat.
As the TKP/ML stated, "Our party cannot celebrate
the 25th anniversary of its founding without giving
the precedence to the GPCR, which forms the
cornerstone of the thoughts of all communists and
revolutionaries of the world and those who aspire
towards a classless society without exploitation of
man by man. The study of the GPCR is fundamental
for all communists who believe that Mao contributed
to the development of [Marxism-Leninism] and that
he advanced [it] to a new qualitative level. Our
party believes that GPCR is [of] enormous value for
all communists of the world and [for] the class
struggle of the international proletariat. We
consider this to be an important step forward to
advance our views especially on GPCR and to arm
ourselves with deep knowledge on such concrete
issues."
Over 100 people attended the conference. Most were
Turkish and Kurdish people living in exile in
Europe. International delegates included
representatives of MIM; the Communist Party of
India (Marxist-Leninist) / Janashakti (People's
Strength); the ex-USSR's All-Union Bolshevik Party
of Communists; el Partido Comunista Revolucionaria
del Argentina (Revolutionary Communist Party of
Argentina); the Communist Party of Greece /
Marxist-Leninist; the Proletarian Party of Purba
Bangla (East Bengal or Greater Bangladesh); the
Congre's des Progressistes pour la Libe'ration
(Congress of Progressives for Liberation)--Zaire;
the Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB); el Partido
Comunista de Espan~a (reconstituido) (PCE(r),
Communist Party of Spain (reconstituted));
Rossoperaio (Red Workers' Organization)--Italy;
Moroccan comrades; a Vietnamese comrade; and a
comrade from a country in the Middle East.
International supporters present in a less official
capacity hailed from Germany's Gesellschraft
organization and from Indonesia.(for a complete
list of those invited see the upcoming Maoist
Sojourner.)
There were no noteworthy disputes on the conference
floor. The conference was marked by a high degree
of unity, and by a desire to seriously examine the
positive and negative lessons of the most advanced
movements led by communists to date, principally
the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Comrades
benefited both from the lectures and from more
informal exchanges of ideas and information between
conference sessions.
MIM was given the opportunity to read a statement
of solidarity with the TKP/ML and a statement
introducing MIM. We emphasized the responsibility
people from the U.S. empire bear to stand in
solidarity with Turkish, Kurdish, and other
oppressed peoples, and with these peoples'
revolutionary leadership bodies.
The U.S. government claims to conduct all of its
actions in the name of "the American people." U.S.
imperialism is the principal military and political
enemy of the Turkish and Kurdish peoples. It was
the U.S government's Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) which collaborated with the fascist Turkish
government to torture the TKP/ML's principal
founder and leader, Ibrahim Kaypakkaya, to death on
18 May 1973.
As within Turkish borders, the national question is
of much significance within U.S. borders. As such,
we have learned to pay close attention to it.
Likewise, MIM was pleased that the TKP/ML host
correctly referred to MIM as being "from North
America" instead of incorrectly referring to the
"USA" as if it were a legitimate political-
geographic entity.
A TKP/ML statement explained that Turkey is half
capitalist and half feudal. The TKP-ML leads a
worker-peasant alliance in a New Democratic
protracted people's war against compradors,
landlords, loan sharks, imperialists, and the
fascist Turkish regime. TKP/ML martyr Kaypakkaya
correctly pointed out that the Kurdish people
constitute a nation found inside the borders of
Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and the ex-USSR.
Kaypakkaya stood for Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution against Modern Revisionism and Soviet-
style social-imperialism. He recognized that Mao's
contributions constituted a deepening of Marxism-
Leninism. His 1973 martyrdom created a leadership
vacuum in the TKP/ML for a short time, but in 1974,
the Party regrouped. In 1978, it centralized and
engaged in ideological and political struggle to
demarcate itself from revisionist sectarian groups.
The TKP/ML speaker did the same, correctly
demarcating against Hoxhaism and Gorbachevism, and
standing for the use of revolutionary violence,
proletarian dictatorship, and revolution under
proletarian dictatorship.
Speaking just a week before Laurent Kabila's rebels
overthrew Mobutu Sese Seko a comrade from the CPL-
Zaire praised Kabila's movement as progressive,
democratic, and anti-anti-communist, while noting
that it is not anti-imperialist. The comrade noted
that Kabila's movement involves the masses and
strengthens them politically. Imperialism has left
Congo with four currencies of money: the U.S.
dollar, the Belgian franc, the old Zairean franc,
and the new Zairean franc. The CPL comrade called
for national democratic revolution, for breaking
dependence on imperialism, for land reform, and for
the liberation of the productive forces from
imperialism. He said that the united front of the
workers, peasants, and petty-bourgeoisie must be
developed so it can control the state and the
resources of Congo. Congo's mines and location are
strategically key for imperialism. Thus, on a
tactical level, the CPL seeks to advance without
antagonizing imperialism and provoking its direct
intervention.
The national democratic movement of the Philippines
was represented by Luis Jalandoni, the chief
negotiator representing the Communist Party of the
Philippines (CPP)-led National Democratic Front of
the Philippines (NDFP) in its peace negotiations
with the fascist Government of the Republic of the
Philippines, and by Professor Jose Maria Sison,
founding chairperson of the CPP and current advisor
to the NDFP panel in the peace negotiations.
Sison spoke on the CPP. Sison emphasized that the
Party and its Army both started very small, but
have grown significantly. As Chairperson Mao Zedong
said, "The correctness or otherwise of the
ideological and political line decides everything.
When the Party's line is correct, then everything
will come its way. If it has no followers, then it
can have followers; if it has guns, then it can
have guns; if it has no political power, then it
can have political power." Lest anyone think the
road was easy, Sison stressed that "There were many
twists and turns along the way." He explained that
he was in particular talking about "left" and right
opportunist deviations which held sway in the CPP
Central Committee, notably from 1988 to 1992.
In 1992, a campaign of rectification began,
reaffirming the Party's basic principles of
Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought or Marxism-
Leninism-Maoism and rooting out opportunist and
subjectivist petty-bourgeois deviations which
relegated Maoism to the back burner. Among other
things, reaffirming Maoist principles meant
rejecting urban insurrectionism in favor of the
Maoist political-military line for the semi-
colonies of protracted people's war, surrounding
the cities from the countryside. Sison reminded the
audience that the essence of Marxism-Leninism is
the overthrow of the class enemy and the
establishment of red political power.
The speaker from the PCR-Argentina explained that
his Party was born in 1967 and 1968 in struggle
against Modern Revisionism. The PCR-A supports
Argentina-born Che' Guevara against the Modern
Revisionists of the USSR and Cuba who PCR-A says
betrayed him. In 1972, the PCR-A arrived at Maoism.
It advances the line of New Democratic revolution.
Its principal work is underground, but it leads
legal work as well. In the PCR-A's assessment, the
left in Argentina and in Latin America is in an
upswing.
The Proletarian Party of Purba Bangla (East Bengal)
is one of three parties upholding Maoism and the
GPCR in greater Bangladesh, which includes existing
Bangladesh and parts of India and Burma. The PP and
Shamabadi Dal are members of the Avakianist
(crypto-Trotskyist) Revolutionary Internationalist
Movement (RIM), while the East Bengal Communist
Party is not. All are underground and trying to
launch armed struggle, while taking different
approaches to mass front formation. Two other
Bengali parties are Mao-sympathisers, but not
Maoists.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)-
Janashakti discussed the history of its party. The
Maoist movement in India has been divided for over
two decades now. The CPIML-J called for the
reunification of Indian Maoists into one party and
for a rectification campaign.
The Workers Party of Belgium, like MIM, emerged
from student struggles. MIM has disagreements with
the PTB over the labor aristocracy question and
other questions, but these did not come to the fore
in the conference. The PTB used its floor time to
talk about recent events in Belgium. In 1996, the
disappearance and murder of Belgian children
provoked a massive democratic movement. This
movement, said the PTB, has improved the Belgian
masses' consciousness regarding the bourgeois
state. For one thing, the masses learned that
elements of the Belgian ruling class were involved
in child pornography and the like. For another, the
state exposed itself as a tool of the ruling class:
the police serve the rich and powerful, but sat on
their hands when poor and immigrant workers'
children were stolen. The state also banned the
distribution of a PTB pamphlet to a mass rally
around this issue. (The PTB distributed 100,000
pamphlets anyway). The Belgian Central Bureau of
Investigation investigated every single Turk in
Belgium, but did not really investigate the
kidnappings. Instead, they used the kidnappings as
an excuse to create a new "anti-crime" (anti-
progressive, anti-people) law.
Italy's Rossoperaio, a supporter of the Avakianist
(crypto-Trotskyist) RIM, noted its opposition to
Italy's intervention in Albania, where the masses
are engaging in just and righteous rebellion.
It was a pleasure to hear a Vietnamese comrade
stand up for Maoism, including the GPCR and the
continuation of class struggle under the
dictatorship of the proletariat. The Vietnamese
people demonstrated the validity of Mao's military
strategy of protracted people's war, but failed to
demarcate against Soviet social-imperialism and
thus failed to build socialism.
In Morocco, the Maoist forces are undergoing a
process of reconstituting a Party. A Moroccan
comrade defended Maoism as the third stage of
Marxism. He pointed out that the Arab world is the
battleground of a fierce inter-imperialist struggle
between French imperialism and U.S. imperialism,
with most Arab regimes obeying French imperialism.
The Moroccan comrades seek the overthrow of
imperialism, principally French imperialism, as
well as the overthrow of the comprador bourgeoisie,
the big bourgeoisie, feudal remnants, and the
bourgeoisie's reactionary regime.
DAY TWO: LEGACY OF THE GPCR
The second day was dedicated to the question of the
GPCR. MIM used its time on the floor to read a
statement on the historical role of "Gang of Four"
leader Jiang Qing, who faced sexist and other
slanders and died under house arrest, all for her
efforts to continue the GPCR and keep China on the
socialist road after Mao Zedong died in 1976.
The TKP/ML pointed out that comrade Stalin made
errors which aided capitalist-restorationist
Khrushchev's rise to power. Also, the Communist
Party of the Soviet Union did not fail alone in the
1950s when it dropped the red banner of socialism.
Except for the CP of China and the Party of Labor
of Albania, the International Communist Movement
failed.
Professor Sison read "The Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution: Impact on the Philippines and
Continuing Global Significance"
[http://www.geocities.com/~cpp-ndf/intl7.htm],
adding some new comments. Of particular note were
Sison's new comments on Hua Guofeng. In MIM Theory
#5 (1994), MIM wrote, "It is an area of concern
that MIM has no statement from the CPP on Hua
Guofeng." At the conference, Sison spoke clearly,
correctly, and in some detail about Hua's
counterrevolutionary role. Not only did Hua have
the "Gang of Four" arrested, said Sison, but Hua
was one of the four people who moved against the
left in the CCP after Mao's death. This
counterrevolutionary gang expelled 30% of the CCP
in order to attain its rightist ends. Hua's "left"
face, said Sison, "was only a matter of form."
Sison also recommended the "10,000-character text"
by Ding-Li Chun, a Chinese leftist under Deng, as
one of the better texts from China available in
English.
Two resolutions were brought to the floor. MIM
signed both. The first, from the TKP/ML, regarded
the situation of the people in Turkey and Turkish
Kurdistan. The second, from the Communist Party of
Greece / Marxist-Leninist, regarded the situation
in Albania.[For the text of these, see the upcoming
Maoist Sojourner.]
Between sessions, many comrades were curious to
learn MIM's assessment of the crypto-Trotskyist
RCP-USA and the RCP-USA-led RIM. Opinions on the
RIM varied. Some vigorously agreed with MIM's
assessment of RIM as hegemonist and crypto-
Trotskyist-led. Some requested more information
from MIM. Others defended RIM and the hegemonist
RIM line that a new Comintern is needed. For the
TKP/ML's part, one of the newspapers it distributes
contains a criticism of RIM by El Diario
Internacional's Luis Arce Borja.
The conference ended as it began with the
Internationale. The conference provided an
excellent opportunity for comrades from different
parties and different local conditions to get to
know each other ideologically and politically. It
also illustrated that the world's revolutionary
tendencies are recovering from past mistakes and
setbacks and are moving forward.
[For complete text of conference report, conference
statements and resolutions, send us $1 and we'll
send you the upcoming issue of Maoist Sojourner.]
* * *
AZANIAN YOUTH FACES DEATH PENALTY IN MISSISSIPPI
by RCG1
Azikiwe (Azi) Kambule, an Azanian teen, sits in
jail in Canton, Mississippi and faces the death
penalty for "being an accomplice to capital murder"
(1, 2). As MIM has explained before, the real
murderers are the imperialists, but Azi's case
illuminates the specific repressive nature of the
imperialist injustice system. The DA has vowed to
seek the death penalty against Azi as an accomplice
despite the fact that Azi was not at the crime
scene, fully cooperated with the police and has no
past criminal history. The DA has coerced the
primary defendant into testifying against Azi in
exchange for a lesser sentence.
On January 26, 1996, Azi found himself in the
middle of the car-jacking and murder of Pamela
McGill. According to several reports of Azi's
statement, he was riding in a car driven by
Santonio Berry. At gunpoint, Berry forced McGill
into the passenger seat of her car and told Azi to
get in the back. Berry then took McGill into the
woods telling Azi to stay in the car. Berry then
came back without McGill.
When Berry attempted to sell McGill's car, both he
and Azi were arrested. Azi was cooperative with
police, even making several attempts to locate
McGill's body. After two months, of police
pressure, Berry confessed to murdering McGill in
the woods and eventually led police to her body.
The police violated Berry's rights during the
investigation. The evidence of this could have
jeopardized the DA's ability to force a death
penalty verdict. Because of this, the DA made a
deal with Berry. He will get life imprisonment with
no parole for pleading guilty to capital murder --
in exchange for testifying against Azi.(3)
The DA has made a conscious effort to secure a
death sentence because "[DA]Kitchens sees his
political future intimately linked with his ability
to get harsh sentences in well publicized
cases."(1) Promoting the death penalty and this
"tough on crime" posturing is typical of Amerikkkan
politicians, especially in Mississippi. It is
another form of social control for the dictatorship
of the bourgeoisie which monetarily benefits the
bourgeoisie and kills or locks up oppressed
nationals in the U$.
The Hinds County prosecutor, Ed Peters, purposely
moved Azi's trial to Madison County to increase the
chance of a death sentence. As reported in the
local paper, Peters stated that he was moving the
trial because the "jurors in Hinds County have a
reputation for refusing to vote for the death
penalty."(1) DA Kitchens bragged to a local paper
how he was a force behind this trial's change in
venue.(4)
Hinds County is predominantly Black whereas Madison
County has become a refuge for white police and
civil servants seeking to create an exclusively
white environment. Law enforcement in Madison
County has historically served only the interests
of the white nation.(5, 1) In 1971, the Mississippi
Supreme Court documented clear instances in which
Madison County officials had systematically
excluded Blacks from jury rolls -- decades after
the United States Supreme Court declared the
practice unconstitutional. Civil rights groups and
defense attorneys say that prosecutors in counties
like Madison still routinely remove Blacks from
juries in capital trials.(1)
The campaign to support Azi in his battle for his
life has been strong. Many South African and anti-
death penalty organizations have been publicizing
this case and encouraging people to flood the DA's
office with statements of protest.(3) Dennis
Brutus, a South African poet and political
activist, is chairperson of the Azi Kambule
Committee for Justice. He has been touring college
campuses across Amerika speaking about the case and
against the death penalty. Recently, Brutus was the
featured speaker at RAIL events to raise money for
MIM's Books for Prisoners Program and spoke of the
hypocrisy of the Amerikan injustice system.
Many organizations have used this case to publicize
the truth about the use of the death penalty
against youth. In the past ten years, only five
countries are known to have executed people for
crimes they committed when under 18-years-old. Of
these five, Amerika has executed the most. Of youth
sentenced to death in Amerika, 66% have been
oppressed nationals.(1,4,2) In this century, 75% of
youth sentenced to death have been Black. Of the
nine female youth sentenced to death in the history
of Amerikkka, eight were Black nationals and one
was a member of a First Nation. These statistics
show that the death penalty is a tool of social
control for the Amerikkkan settler nation.(1,3) We
don't advocate that youth be treated with
paternalism which says that they are not as
intelligent or can not be as productive as adults:
this has been the basis for the patriarchal system
which keeps youth subservient to adults. But we
will use the hypocrisy of this system to point out
that youth are denied power and at the same time
are punished like adults.
While the death of Pamela McGill is a tragedy, one
must keep in mind that the police are the real
criminals here. They legally murder people. They
daily harass and brutalize people and get away with
it. MIM does not recognize the Amerikkkan Injustice
system as fit to judge who are the criminals and
who can be executed. Join the campaign in support
of Azi. Help MIM and RAIL support prisoners
everywhere by providing them with books, newspapers
and tools to organize to overthrow this system
which benefits the oppressors.
For more information on Azi's struggle and how you
can help out, contact:
Azi Kambule Committee for Justice
c/o Rev. Robert Abrams, Chairperson
Prison Ministries Committee
Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist
Church
216 North Azalia Drive
Wiggins, MS 39577
NOTES:
1. http://dialup.oar.net/~Pcarelli/azi.html
2. http://www.otap.com/opeace/progressive/16-
12/deathpenalty2.html
3. Wall Street Journal, 20 February 1997. pp A1 &
A6.
4. MIM Notes #126 : November 15, 1996.
5. http://mainstreet.t5.com/newsnt.html
* * *
LETTERS
ANARCHIST DOESN'T LIKE MIM LITERATURE
Greetings from the frosty city of Boston,
Recently I found myself reading "MIM Theory" (out
of complete boredom of course, normally I never
touch such rubbish!) and was quite disturbed by all
the anarchist bashing within its pages. I'm not
sure how "revolutionary" MIM/RAIL is in Ann Arbor,
but here in Boston it's a pathetic lecture
sponsoring group that is run by shitty rich M.I.T.
students (who also make sure there are stacks of
"MIM Notes" unread in every trendy coffee house in
town). Granted some lectures are quite good, but
hardly "revolutionary". Quite honestly, anything
that remotely challenges "the system" with any sort
of opposition (aside from the 3 R.C.P. members and
1 Refuse and Resist member) comes from an anarchist
or anti-authoritarian direction, at least here in
Boston anyways. Food Not Bombs, Homes Not Jails,
Industrial Workers of the World, Anti-Racist
Action, Earth First!, Animal Liberation Front, Lucy
Parsons Center, Etc. Etc. Are all based on anti-
authoritarian principles. I guess its clear why
MIM/RAILs find the need to bash anarchists--to try
and bait the only "revolutionary" elements (outside
of rich sociology students idealizing third world
countries and "proletarian" dictators) within the
cities into joining it's little college social
club. (Sorry I'm too poor to pay the tuition to be
a proper Maoist) before you condemn others you
should consider leaving your "theory" in the
lecture halls and join the rest of us in the
streets! (We might take you a wee bit more
serious).
P.S. Anarcho-trots?? If confronted by a trot, any
self respecting anarchist should wave a fist in the
air with shouts of "remember Krondstat"!
MIM RESPONDS: We wonder what this anarchist thinks
constitutes revolutionary work. Clearly
distributing literature that exposes the evils of
imperialism and the work we are doing to fight it
is not valuable work to this person. We are glad to
hear this person has found MIM Notes in many places
around town, and we can assure him/her that the
papers are being read as we frequently replenish
the stacks. If this person ever traveled to the
poorer parts of Boston s/he would find MIM
literature available there as well because we
distribute MIM Notes everywhere that we can find a
place to leave them that people will pick them up.
We do, in fact, target students and oppressed
nations because we recognize the importance of
understanding who has a potential interest in
supporting revolutionary work, but that would
probably be too much theory for this person.
It is likely that this person has never read MIM
Notes nor MassRAIL (RAIL's Massachusetts
publication) which details the rallies, petitioning
work, and other actions we have combined with our
educational work, particularly focusing on prisons
over the past year. While our comrades are standing
on the streets, sometimes in blizzard conditions,
protesting prisons conditions, gathering petition
signatures, handling out literature, and talking to
people about what's going on and what we can do to
change the injustice system, we wonder where this
person has been. And while we are holding events
that educate people about the system and organize
them into work fighting imperialism, we again
wonder where this person has been.
Perhaps fighting imperialism in the way that has
been proven most effective through history is not
something this anarchist would consider
"revolutionary." After all, the anarchists have
never ended starvation in a country, overthrown
imperialism, or built a society based on the
principles of equality, collective work, and social
justice. Those who genuinely wish to achieve an
anarchist society should be working with the
communists to overthrow imperialism and build a
society where no groups of people have power over
other people.
SHINE REVIEW SMASHING
Dear Comrades,
I have a comment on an article "Looking for Lessons
in Shine: Art & Suffering" [MIM Notes 132, p. 10].
I found the article to be smashing, as well as very
truthful because art by emotionally tortured people
can be very compelling. And I think I'm living
proof of that, because I am a music writer and
poetry writer. And I found my work to be way before
my time, sometimes. I must say under the
circumstances that I compose some of the most
extraordinary arts that an ear can ever receive.
But nothing hurts more than a shattered dream by
the hands of the oppressors. Thus, the article was
a smash.
I have one more comment before breaking this
correspondence. I think those who publish "News of
the Weird" are mentally disturbed, especially with
the tabloid on the prisoners who caused their
deaths. It shows the world what people do for
money, and how the long arm of the law somehow gets
their man, even at our own fault.
So until next time,
--A New York Prisoner
MIM RESPONDS: We encourage you to send your art to
MIM and RAIL for publication. While we can't
publish everything, we do have a duty to support
proletarian art while we criticize that of the
bourgeoisie.
We wouldn't go so far as to call the publishers of
News of the Weird to be mentally disturbed, as this
distracts from your (and MIM's) main point: that
capitalism breeds a disgusting disregard for the
humanity of the oppressed.
* * *
SUPPORT FOR BOOKS FOR PRISONERS CONTINUES
In the wake of RAIL's and MIM's book drive to
benefit MIM's Free Books for Prisoners program,
activists have continued to contact RAIL with books
they want us to send to prisoners. We've
additionally received another 100 or so books in
one week. One activists told RAIL s/he's sold on
our program, and that "the Public Library gets
enough donations from liberals."
Public libraries are good things in general, but
good things under imperialism are only good if they
facilitate revolutionary organizing to overthrow
imperialism. RAIL and MIM collect and send books to
prisoners because in many cases revolutionary
reading material is not available in prisons and
this stands in the way of our ability to organize
with prisoners. So we are happy to take some of the
books that would have been added to the library
collections outside the walls and divert them to
prisoners who will use these books to advance their
own revolutionary practices.
After the benefit hosted in Boston with Dennis
Brutus many people who saw the flyers but did not
attend have contacted us about donating books. One
large academic bookstore wants to donate their
remainders and damaged books. Many people who
contact us are aware of MIM's long history of work
in prisons and understand the importance of making
such donations a part of apolitical struggle rather
than just an act of charity.
RAIL and MIM continue to accept donations in books,
cash or stamps. Send donations to whichever address
on this page gets you cheaper postage.
* * *
KABILA LEADS CONGO FORWARD: EXPOSE U.$. IMPERIALISM
by a comrade
Last month, MIM Notes reported that Congolese
rebellion leader Laurent Kabila was getting close
to taking over the former Zaire, and that he was
about to enter talks with then-Zairian president
Mobutu Sese-Seko. Since then Kabila and Mobutu have
signed a peace agreement; Kabila has taken over
government of the former Zaire, renaming it the
Democratic Republic of Congo; the people of the
Democratic Republic of Congo are celebrating; the
United $nakes has stepped up its efforts to lure
Kabila into bed with Western imperialism; and
revolutionary nationalists the world over are
looking to this new government and wondering how
far it can go to advance the cause of world
revolution and world peace.
On the side of African self-determination, or at
least the side of stability in central Africa,
Museveni, president of neighboring Uganda, has
advised Kabila to form a broad coalition government
based on the unity of democratic forces which
toppled Mobutu. Museveni's emphasis has been that
Kabila needs to retain power for the democratic
forces and make it impossible for Mobutu's allies
to come back into power. Museveni has been accused
by Western governments of being a key supplier for
Kabila's movement.(1)
On the side of imperialism, United Nations
Secretary General Kofi Annan of Ghana (a long-time
ally of reaction and imperialist intervention in
Africa) is saying that Kabila should form a
coalition government that would include forces from
the old regime.(2) The foremost United Snakes print
media mouthpiece, the New York Times, has suggested
that involvement of bordering countries in the
Democratic Republic of Congo is dangerous at this
time because this could lead to instability.(3) The
real concern of the New York Times and its puppet
masters, of course, is that too much African
solidarity will mean a less welcome climate for
international investment. The imperialists do not
want to leave the Democratic Republic of Congo
alone to run its own affairs, they only want a
monopoly on foreign intervention.
This issue of MIM Notes also prints a report on the
international conference in Frankfurt, Germany,
where a CPL-Zaire comrade called Kabila's movement
"progressive, democratic, and anti-anti-communist"
and also said that this movement "involves the
masses and strengthens them politically." MIM Notes
is happy to have this assessment from a Congolese
comrade, as our earlier article had been published
based solely on reports from imperialist-country
news agencies. The CPL-Zaire comrade also called
for a program of land reform and advancement of the
masses' control of their country without
antagonizing imperialism.
MIM supports the just struggles of all oppressed
nations against imperialism and for this reason we
support Laurent Kabila's government to the extent
that it is progressive and democratic, and to the
extent that it puts more political power in the
hands of the people. MIM devotes most of its
energies to working within the belly of the
exploitative beast to expose and build public
opinion against its crimes. The struggle against
imperialist investment and intervention is a matter
of life and death for the people of the oppressed
nations worldwide, as the imperialist countries
with their militaries and their multinational
corporations sap resources which should be the
livelihood of the local people.
The type of foreign investment which the dictator
Mobutu welcomed, and with which Kabila's democratic
forces have made deals, has caused severe resource
depletion in other African countries. The
Franceville Uranimum Company (COMUF), in
Southeastern Gabon (the comprador-controlled
country Mobutu went to visit after leaving talks
with Kabila) has just announced it will close
uranium mining operations in 1999, after it has
depleted all reserves in the mines it owns. In 36
years of operation so far COMUF, which was set up
by French occupation forces in 1958, has extracted
seven million tons of ore from which it produced
27,000 tons of uranium.(1)
Given policies like these, it is no wonder Mobutu
saw government office staff celebrating when he was
finally ousted from office. The staff at the
formerly Zairian embassy in Zimbabwe, which had not
had electric or telephone service for the past
year, quickly took down the Zairian flag and put up
a sign reading "Welcome to Democratic Republic of
Congo" in front of the embassy. Embassy staff
reported that they had not been paid in five years
and had raised chickens and sold them to
survive.(2)
MIM extends revolutionary greetings and hopes for
the success of a more progressive and democratic
government to the people of the new Democratic
Republic of Congo. And we call on the people of the
Congo to take this revolutionary movement further
to a socialist revolution because we know that only
by building socialism in their country will the
people of the Congo be able to liberate themselves
from imperialism and build a society both
interested in and equipped to meet the needs and
desires of the people. We call on all progressive
and anti-imperialist people in Amerika to uncover
and expose U.$. imperialism abroad and to build a
movement to oppose imperialist intervention.
Notes:
1. Panafrican News Agency(PANA) 22 May, 1997.
2. PANA 20 May, 1997.
3. New York Times 21 May, 1991
* * *
NEW YORK RESUMES TAX COLLECTION IN FIRST NATIONS
by a RAIL comrade
On May 22 Governor George Pataki asked New York
Legislature to support the First Nations' 'right'
to tax-free retail of gasoline and tobacco. The New
York petroleum industry quickly filed against
Pataki's proposal which would permanently exempt
First Nations from sales tax. The court issued a
temporary restraining order forcing continued
collection of taxes on First Nation sales to U.$.
residents.(1)
Pataki's announcement came after the blockade of
the Seneca Nation that intercepted all gasoline and
tobacco shipments. The nation's refusal to pay
taxes and protests of the two month blockade led to
the heavy deployment of state troopers on and
around the Cattaraugus territory. Armed troopers
attacked, beat and handcuffed the unarmed
protesters. During the police attack on May 18,
eighteen protesters were arrested for trespassing,
unlawful assembly, and resisting arrest.(2)
STRUGGLE PROVES RIGHTS EXIST ONLY FOR OPPRESSORS
This 'right' Pataki pretends to support is not a
new concept. It is a settler nation lie that has
been promised to the First Nations repeatedly for
three centuries. Yet New York State has
continuously denied the sovereign rights of the
First Nations, proving that such rights don't exist
and that First Nation demands will only be met
through struggle. The Seneca Nation refused to face
their oppressors silently, which is how they
pressured Pataki's wavering on this issue.
The protests and bad press pressured Pataki to back
down on his illegal demands. In reaction to
Pataki's proposal, many members of the Seneca
nation recognized he was merely backing down due to
a negative media image and in hopes of passing the
responsibility to the legislature.
A legal battle fought one week prior to Pataki's
proposal illustrates the contradiction between
justice and the economic interests of the white
nation. On May 15, the Senecas won a legal battle
against New York in a state court. The judge ruled
that the state had no right to seize shipments
heading for the Cattaraugus territory.(3) She also
ordered state troopers be removed from the
territory. But the state appealed, resulting in a
stay of the court order the following day. This
permitted the settler blockade to continue.(4)
HISTORY PROVES STRUGGLE IS THE WAY FOR SURVIVAL
This recent court hearing was not the first time
this issue was brought to court. A quick look at
history proves that this struggle is continuous,
and as long as the imperialist empire exists it
will deny the sovereignty of oppressed nations and
profit off of the rest of the world.
Most relevant to the current events between the
Seneca Nation and New York State is the battle that
occurred in 1993. After protests by local
merchants, the settler government decided to tax
First Nation sales to U.$. citizens and a state
court ruled the taxes were legal. Only that time
the state Court of Appeals(the highest court of the
state) overturned this ruling in a final
decision.(5) Even though the decision was made only
four years ago, the state remains determined to
enact the same oppressive measures. A protester
from the Mohawk Nation said, "They've stolen
everything from us, and now they're trying to tax
us."(6)
New York State residents should look at this
situation and realize that this is how an
imperialist empire works everyday, worldwide. It
must be recognized that these atrocities won't stop
until the people unite led by a vanguard party
together taking the empire's power to exploit away
for good.
The United $tates has promised sovereignty to First
Nations in numerous treaties, including the Buffalo
Creek Compromise and The Canandaigua Treaty of
1794. Article 1 of this treaty states that "peace
and friendship" between the U.S. and the Six
Nations "shall be perpetual."(7) Article 2 promises
that the U.$. will not disturb the Six Nations "nor
their Indian friends."(7)
The deployment of state troopers on First Nation
land is not peaceful to say the least. Threatening
the livelihood of the Seneca Nation through
taxation and trade blockades only shows that the
settler nation continues its war against oppressed
nations despite the deceptive rhetoric of the
treaties. Causing the unemployment of over 400 of
its citizens is a tactic of genocide, not in the
development of perpetual friendship.
The Buffalo Creek Compromise of 1842 returned First
Nation territory in western New York four years
after the Buffalo Creek Treaty of 1838 which
attempted to transport those people from their land
to a reservation just west of Missouri.(8) "Article
9 of the 1842 treaty says "the parties... mutually
agree... to protect such of the lands of the Seneca
Indians, within the State of New York, as may from
time to time remain in their possession from all
taxes and assessments for roads, highways or any
other purpose" until the Indians relinquish
ownership of the land."(9)
Members of the Seneca Nation have noted this
agreement, stating that if New York breaks their
end of the deal then the treaty is null. If this is
true, the Seneca nation should be entitled to (some
of) their territory -- which is now the city of
Buffalo. But under imperialism only the imperialist
nation has the power to go back on their treaties
when they want to. The imperialist nation takes
from the rest of the world, promising things in
return which it might concede only if it will not
cost the empire.
The struggle for sovereignty and protection from
U.$. imperialism has been a continuous fight for
First Nations in North America. The struggle will
not end until imperialism is crushed. This must be
done by uniting all progressive forces against
imperialist expansion and settler colonial
domination.
NOTES:
1. Times Union. 24 May 1997, p. B-2.
2. Times Union. 19 May 1997, p. B-2.
3. Times Union. 16 May 1997, p. B-2.
4. Times Union. 17 May 1997, p. B-2.
5.
http://bioc09.uthscsa.edu/natnet/archive/nl/9306/01
77.htm
6. Times Union. 11 May 1997, p. B-2.
7. http://www.localnet.com/~sni/treaty1794.htm
8.
http://www.tuscaroras.com/jtwigle/pages/1838treaty.
html#1
9. Times Union. 21 May 1997, p. B-2.
* * *
MINING COMPANY STEALS APACHE WATER
by a friend of RAIL and an MC
San Carlos Apache Nation Territory -- In 1944,
Phelps Dodge Corporation, a major copper mining
company based in Arizona, convinced the Secretary
of the Interior to steal the Black River Pump
Station from the Apache nation on its behalf. Until
July of 1996, Phelps Dodge continued to extract the
water and pay a trivial use fee of $20 per month to
the Apache nation, the only charges mandated by the
Department of the Interior. Only after the tribal
government threatened legal action did Phelps Dodge
agree to pay the Apache a more generous fee of
$20,000 per month. Even so, Phelps Dodge has filed
suit in superior court to prevent the Apache from
evicting them from the reservation.
In 1944, Phelps Dodge claimed that the water was
necessary for copper mining and that copper
production was essential for the war effort. We at
MIM support having prioritized the war against the
Nazis, but the war ended the following year while
the theft of Apache water did not.
In the semi-arid climate of the San Carlos
Reservation water is a scarce and precious
resource. The agricultural and industrial use of
the water from the Black River by the Apache
certainly was worth more than that $20 per month
they received in compensation during the 52 years
of this forced presence of the Phelps Dodge.
This flagrant plunder of Apache resources shows
that the Department of the Interior, the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, and other government agencies that
claim to benefit First Nations are in fact the
willing servants of corporations seeking to exploit
First Nations peoples. The under development and
consequent poverty and unemployment on reservations
are not accidental, but a deliberate strategy of
oppression against First Nations peoples. For over
400 years, the white nation has used force to
impoverish the First Nations and keep them
dependent.
The struggle of First Nations peoples is the
struggle of land and the struggle to achieve real
national liberation. Phony leftists and Uncle Toms
claim that the betterment of the First Nations
peoples lies only in spirituality and superstition,
but this only diverts the struggle into avenues
that are harmless to the capitalists and the
dominant white nation.
The struggle must be to develop Apache resources
for the benefit of the Apache people. Industry,
mining, and mechanized agriculture must be
welcomed, but not on the terms of the imperialists.
Through mass struggle, and where winnable,
bourgeois legality, the First Nations and their
supporters must ensure that the benefits of
industry, mining, and agriculture on the Apache
territory go to the Apache people on Apache
territory.
Wherever possible, the masses should compel tribal
governments to practice self-reliance in economic
development. To accomplish this a vanguard party
must form to deal with the white nation's class
system and especially its lackeys within the First
Nations. No First Nation people is uncontaminated
by the settler nation's imperialism. For this
reason, the lackeys and others seeking
assimilationist genocide should be excluded from
the vanguard party while the rest lead the fight to
return to communist ways found in most First Nation
peoples. The scientific idea of a vanguard party
was started by white men seeking to modify the
communist ideas of the First Nations for use in the
white man's society that had strong class
stratification and little cultural or historical
reference for cooperative living in recent
centuries. Everywhere vanguard parties are
necessary, to preserve and strengthen communist
values until that time when we can return to the
humyn race's original values adapted for modern day
realities.
NOTE: The Arizona Republic, 16 May 1997.
* * *
GERONIMO PRATT WINS NEW TRIAL
Former Black Panther Party (BPP) leader Geronimo Ji
Jaga Pratt won a new trial from a California
superior court judge on May 29, 25 years after he
was framed and convicted of murder. Pratt was one
of many victims of the FBI COINTELPRO operation
which murdered or framed and imprisoned many of the
key leaders of the BPP (for more information on
COINTELPRO get a copy of the book Agents of
Repression by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall
from MIM for $22). Pratt was convicted of a murder
in San Francisco in spite of the fact that he was
in Los Angeles the entire day of the killing and
had witnesses to prove this. He has been turned
down for parole 16 times.
Pratt won the new trial because of evidence that
crucial information was suppressed by prosecutors
during the original trial. Chief witness for the
prosecution, Julies Butler, claimed Pratt confessed
to the murder, but FBI documents and retired police
officers testified that Butler was an informant,
not an impartial witness as he was portrayed in the
original trial. One juror from the original trial
said that testimony from Butler was crucial to her
decision to convict Pratt and she stated clearly
that it was not a fair trial and that she now
believes Pratt is innocent: "We made a mistake
based on bad information. Not only bad information
but incomplete information."
Johnny Cochran, Pratt's lawyer since the original
trial, said that this new trial proves that "there
is integrity in the system". MIM instead
understands that this new trial is only the result
of sustained public outcry and exhaustive legal
work on the part of Pratt's advocates. It is
sometimes possible for progressives to win
individual battles like this within the belly of
the beast, even at this stage in the struggle when
the imperialists are stronger than the
revolutionaries. The very fact that Pratt spent 25
years in prison for the crime of being a leader of
the Maoist Black Panther Party makes it clear that
there is no integrity in the criminal injustice
system. The prison system serves as a tool for
social control for the imperialist state.
MIM applauds this victory in Pratt's case and
reminds everyone that there are over 1.5 million
other people languishing behind bars including many
political leaders imprisoned for their political
work and beliefs. We have to be careful to always
place these important cases of repression against
political leaders in the context of a system that
criminalizes poverty and defends imperialism. While
fighting for the freedom of political leaders like
Pratt we must also fight against the repression of
the entire criminal injustice system. We can not
give the imperialists the victory of calling
Pratt's case unusual as if such repression were not
a common part of the criminal injustice system.
NOTES: NPR 30 May 1997.
* * *
L.A. RALLY COMMEMORATES 1980 U.$. KWANGJU MASSACRE
According to the Los Angeles Times, approximately
300 college students gathered on May 16 to mourn
and remember the thousands of civilians killed in
the infamous "Kwangju massacre" of 1980. The recent
student protests centered on Chosun University,
well known for its consistent student movements and
protests. The current south Korean regime, which
has tried to distance itself from the regime
responsible for the original Kwangju massacre, sent
riot police to break up the commemoration. The
students fought back using crow bars and Molotov
cocktails.
AMERIKAN ROLE IN MARTIAL LAW & KWANGJU MASSACRE
During October 1979, former south Korean president
Park Chung Hee, who had ruled as a military
dictator for eighteen years, was assassinated by
his closest advisor, the director of the Korean
Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA). By December
1979, a military coup d'etat devised by General
Chun Doo Hwan and his fellow army cronies forcibly
seized political and military power.
The troops involved in the coup were under the
command of the amerikan General John Wickham, who
was Commander of the US-ROK Combined Forces.
Wickham ordered other units not to oppose Chun's
forces. Wickham later said that the role of the
south Korean military includes "being watch-dogs on
political activity that could be destabilizing, and
in a way making judgments about the eligibility and
reliability of political candidates that may have
some adverse influence stability."
In the spring of 1980, Chun Doo Hwan imposed
martial law and cracked down on groups who opposed
his military dictatorship. All those who opposed
Chun's fascist agenda -- ranging from students,
workers, religious leaders to journalists -- were
arrested, detained, and tortured. In the forefront
of these resistance movements were the students of
Kwangju. Chosun University harbored mass student
demonstrations that laid the foundation for the
people's resistance in Kwangju.
On May 18, 1980, the people of Kwangju rose up in
mass protest against the brutalities of Chun Doo
Hwan's corrupted government. As many as 200,000
people took to the streets, and by May 22 the
people of Kwangju controlled the city. On the same
day, the amerikan Pentagon announced that it was
releasing 10,000 south Korean troops from the
border region in order to retake Kwangju. One hour
before troops invaded Kwangju, the u.$. State
Department said "we recognize that a situation of
total disorder and disruption in a major city
cannot be allowed to go on." Residents say the
south Korean military killed more than 2,000 people
while putting down the rebellion.
Despite the past denials made on behalf of
Washington concerning any type of involvement in
the Kwangju massacre, the people of Korea have
always recognized that Chun Doo Hwan's regime was
continuously supported by the u.s. After all, Chun
was the first leading head of state to be invited
to the White House by President Ronald Reagan. As a
result of the fact that u.s. backed puppet rulers
in Korea direct the nation's business to cater to
the interests of amerika, anti-Amerikan sentiment
in Korea has increased.
On February 27, 1996, an Amerikan publication
titled The Journal of Commerce revealed the true
pig role which the u.s. played in supporting the
Kwangju massacre. The journal uncovered that
leading officials in the Carter administration were
fully aware that Chun Doo Hwan and his followers
were planning mass murder. Despite this fact,
William Gloysteen, who had been acting as the
American ambassador to Korea at the time, gave
assurances to Chun's regime as to the guaranteed
support of the u.s. in Chun's actions. This shows
the hypocrisy of the fabled American Creed of
justice, equality and democracy for all. The very
people who were massacred in Kwangju were in effect
pro-democracy demonstrators who were calling for
eradication of political corruption and bribery
which characterize Korean power politics.
The Journal of Commerce quoted recently de-
classified information concerning the u.s.
involvement in the Kwangju massacre. According to
the journal, at a White House meeting, "plans were
discussed for direct U.S. intervention if the
situation go out of hand." The Kwangju massacre
clearly demonstrates the puppet nature of the south
Korean government.
* * *
RAIL COMRADE INTERVIEWS A FORMER KOREAN STUDENT
ACTIVIST
RAIL: What is your knowledge concerning the Kwangju
massacre?
S/he: Well, at the time in 1980, there were nation-
wide demonstrations everywhere because people were
so discontent with the Chun regime. I believe Chun
Doo Hwan specifically targeted the Kwangju
providence for a couple of reasons. One is that
Kwangju is strategically located so that the region
can be effectively isolated as a whole. When the
massacre was going on, the whole region was blocked
off by the army so that no person could enter or
exit without getting noticed. During that time, the
mass media was completely controlled by the Chun
regime, so no information about the massacre was
being disseminated out to the rest of the country.
No one knew that people were being killed until
much later.
The second reason for specifically targeting
Kwangju was that during the Korean War, the
mountains surrounding Kwangju were supposedly
inhabited by the Communists. Chun attempted to
generate support for sending troops into the region
to quell the initial student uprisings by saying he
was doing away with Communist support.
RAIL: What was the role of students involved in the
Kwangju massacre?
S/he: The upheaval in Kwangju was initially started
by students protests growing from Chosun
University. Soon enough, the police came in to stop
the protests. When the students proved to be
stronger than the police, Chun sent down the army.
However, even the army proved to be unsuccessful,
because the fervor of the demonstrations went up as
mothers, grandmothers, and everyone else became
involved as soon as the people saw that their sons
and daughters were getting killed at the hand of
their own government.
RAIL: So, the student movement grew in Kwangju into
a people's movement?
S/he: Correct. Everybody was involved. When the
people started taking over police stations and
arming themselves with those weapons, Chun
responded by sending in the Korean Green Berets who
essentially functioned as Chun's' own personal
army. Soon enough, things erupted into complete
chaos and violence. Tanks were rolling into the
towns, and everywhere, civilians were being shot
at.
RAIL: How did the massacre end?
S/he: The students had taken over City Hall, and
had barricaded themselves in there with guns. They
were the ones actively defending the town.
Meanwhile, the elders were busy making them food
and getting them clothing. Everything ended early
one morning when the army launched a surprise
attack into City Hall. Those who weren't killed in
the raid were arrested and incarcerated with
ridiculous sentences. Overall, there were more than
200 people killed. [Official sources admit to more
than 200 deaths, but local residents estimate as
many as 2,000 were killed--MIM] Thousands of others
were wounded, raped, and tortured.
RAIL: Do you believe amerika had played any role in
the massacre?
S/he: Definitely. There is no doubt about it. There
is a lot of talk that says that the amerikans
encouraged the massacre, the repression against the
masses. Most of these dictators here who call
themselves presidents inevitably are spoon fed by
the u.s. In a way, I feel bad for them, since they
basically have no other choice but to yield to
Amerikan pressure. But on the other hand, I think
that it truly is time for the self-determination of
our people. I say, Korea for the Koreans! Get the
Yankees out. Get the u.s military out.
NOTES:
1. http://www.knj.com/KReport/KOREAR2.html
2. Los Angeles Times, 17 May 1997 "Violence Mars
Memorial of South Korean Massacre."
3 http://www.kimsoft.com/korea/kwangju3.htm
4. "Chun Doo Hwan's Military Coup, Massacre in the
city of Kwangju, and U.S. Responsibility," flyer by
the Coalition for the full disclosure of the U.S.
role in the Kwangju Massacre.
* * *
PAN AFRICANIST CONGRESS LEADER KARRIM ESSACK DIES
MIM is surprised and saddened by the sudden death
of Pan Africanist Congress leader Karrim Essack. He
was to attend the 25th anniversary celebration of
the TKP/ML Turkish comrades in Germany, but he died
of a heart attack just a few days earlier.
MIM met Karrim Essack in Gelsenkirchen in Germany
at a 100th year celebration of Mao's Zedong's birth
in 1993. At that time, Karrim Essack offered
personal remembrances to MIM of China's
internationalist aid to Tanzania. While Mao was
alive, the Chinese government offered aid to other
Third World countries, communist or non-communist.
In the case of Tanzania, the Chinese helped build a
famous railroad that would allow more trade amongst
independent African countries without using the
intermediaries of South African imperialist or
other imperialist transportation. Such aid was
proof that Third World countries need not follow
Cuba's road of sacrificing political principles by
allying with the Soviet Union -- which had
explicitly abandoned the armed struggle of the
Third World.
Karrim Essack was himself a great force in the
struggle. He pushed MIM for unity and action, and
we do not doubt that he made a large contribution
to the proletarian balance of subjective forces
needed for revolution. In Africa, he assisted MIM
in distributing MIM literature.
At the same time, MIM had its disagreements with
Karrim Essack on issues of principle. For this
reason we regret that we were not able to struggle
with Karrim Essack longer.
We find it most appropriate to put forward what
unity we did have with Karrim Essack, especially in
those areas he was pushing MIM to take action
before his death.
ESSACK ON GATT
Karrim Essack was one of those who understood
clearly that once the Soviet bloc fell apart there
was a question of new imperialist blocs and
contentions. Already in 1993 in his paper on GATT--
"The Dunkel Draft and its Implications" he was
speaking of a tripolar economic world composed of
Germany (leading Europe), Japan and the United
$tates.
Right in page one, Karrim Essack says what MIM has
also been saying about the phoniness of free trade
as it exists under capitalism. Indeed, in trying to
calculate the total superprofits extracted from the
Third World, MIM too has found that "'Export from
one country to another is almost like transfer from
one branch of a transnational corporation to its
unit/affiliate or subsidiary. . . . Prices cannot
reflect free market conditions. They would be
decided by the internal accounting considerations
of the multinational corporations.'"
This is a very important point to understand,
because the imperialist economists and their
social-democratic allies say that Third World
workers and peasants are not super-exploited,
because their goods sell at their free market
price. In fact, much trade occurs within
multinational corporations at whatever low price is
convenient for the multinational corporation to
utilize. In such a situation, the Third World
workers are coerced by their lackey governments to
take low wages and sell their product to only one
buyer -- a foreign affiliate of the same
multinational corporation. That is far from free
trade which only exists when there is a
multiplicity of suppliers, buyers and negotiations.
It is at most a trade between imperialist lackeys
on the one hand and imperialists on the other hand.
Hence, the imperialist countries import Third World
goods at a small fraction of their true value and
then resell them or re-finish them in the
imperialist countries. This leads the imperialist
country workers and businesspeople to tell tall
tales of their productivity or marketing genius --
when all they are doing is living off the labor of
starving Third World workers kept in line by U.$.-
puppet military regimes.
Karrim Essack was also quick to realize that as it
stands now, the next inter-imperialist rivalries
are taking shape around the regional free-trade
zones constructed at the expense of global free
trade -- NAFTA, EEC, APEC etc. These agreements he
called, "free trade amongst the signatories and
protectionism against others."
Also like MIM, Karrim Essack was careful to point
out the history since 1934 of the GATT including
seven rounds of agreements before the most recent
GATT agreement. Reformists seeking to tail after
the most reactionary and nationalist sections of
imperialist capital speak of GATT as if knocking
down the most recent agreement is all there is to
GATT and the capitalist system, when in fact
capitalism is a system and previous GATT treaties
were also predatory.
On the subject of "intellectual property," which is
now the big buzzword and business of the
imperialist countries, Karrim Essack correctly
defended meager laws in India that prevent patents
on agricultural goods and medicine. Now the
imperialists wish to force India to allow free
market competition in these goods, even if the
result is that Indian people will have less to eat
and less access to medicine.
He points out that the GATT is moving to set up
international organizations to enforce the
provisions of the GATT, which themselves are often
literally just sections of U.S. law extended to the
world. "True enough, this body like the UN will be
based on one country one vote, but in practice the
commands that will emanate from this body will be
the voices of the industrialized countries. What
this body proposes will have the force of law and
will be binding on all the Third World countries."
ESSACK ON THE UN
In 1994, at age 55, Karrim Essack struggled to draw
MIM's attention to Somalia and Rwanda. What he said
to the Pan Africanist Congress Youth Secretariat
was typical of his line. According to Karrim Essack
the military defeat in Somalia and the discrediting
of the UN in Rwanda showed that Africa would not
give in to the New World Order so easily. "These
two historical events completely destroyed the
strategy of the international monopolies working
through the UN for the recolonisation of Africa and
placing certain countries under direct UN
trusteeship."
"And if Rwanda were to come under UN trusteeship,
just what type of rule would there be under
personnel knowing nothing about Rwandan history,
culture, language, and above all not sympathetic to
the aspirations of the Rwandan people?"
ESSACK ON RWANDA
Karrim Essack was busy promoting a book on Rwanda,
and took time to select a section of the book to
re-publish and send to MIM. In this pamphlet, we
learn that the teaching, medical and religious
professions all assisted in the genocide of a six-
digit number of Tutsis and their friends amongst
the Hutus in Rwanda in 1994. This included silence
or participation in genocide by Anglican
Protestants and Hutu Catholics. The people with the
most success in protecting the Tutsis from genocide
in the 100 days after April 6, 1994 were poor Hutu
farmers.
Although the Hutus and Tutsis lived in relative
peace before colonialism, the imperialist media
told the lie of inter-tribal conflict to explain
why extremist Hutus carried out genocide against
men, wimmin, children and babies. This also helped
to justify the UN's inaction.
While offering the promise of global stability and
an international police force above local ethnic
conflicts, the UN troops failed to stop the
massacre: "UNAMIR did very little to help people
when the crisis began. People telephoned them in
desperation. They had armored carriers and tanks.
What did they bring these weapons for if they are
going to stand by when people are being butchered
in front of their very eyes?"
Karrim Essack explained that the issue was
difficult enough for the people of Rwanda, but the
imperialists had no chance of understanding the
realities of preventing genocide there. Relying on
the UN only slowed the Rwandans themselves from
solving their own problems. Pointing to the
reactionary Spectator in the United $tates, Karrim
Essack explained precisely why the media presents
stories of violence by Africans against Africans by
quoting Paul K. Johnson:
"Most African governments are not fit to govern
themselves. . . The helpless Somalis can have no
hope of a safe, prosperous future except as a
colony of one of the civilized powers." He
recommended UN trusteeship. MIM agrees with K.
Essack that the Western media is still motivated by
national chauvinism and racism in its coverage of
Africa. For this reason, it is false to rely on the
major media to build the necessary movements to
oppose "a new form of imperialism -- collective
imperialism through international bodies."
NOTE: African Rights, Rwanda: Death, Despair and
Defiance, 11 Marshalsea Rd., London SE1 1EP
* * *
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS PLAYS BALL WITH THE CIA
On May 13, major U.S. media's headlines were as
usual filled with distortions -- this time, aiming
to cast doubt on Gary Webb's August 1996 series
"Dark Alliance" in the San Jose Mercury News.(1)
Webb's series illuminated the role of U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency-backed Nicaraguan
counterrevolutionaries in the genocidal crack
cocaine trade and shed light on the CIA's
protection of the Contra thugs and their genocidal
operations.
"CIA Series 'Fell Short,' Editor Says," said the
Washington Post. "Expose on Crack Was Flawed, Paper
Says," read the New York Times. The next day, the
imperialist media's editorial boards issued
editorials based on the previous day's distortions:
"The Mercury News comes clean" (New York Times); "A
destructive newspaper series" (Scripps Howard News
Service); "A newspaper says 'mea culpa'" (Chicago
Tribune).
This chorus was the imperialist media's response to
San Jose Mercury News(SJMN) Executive Editor Jerry
Ceppos's statement which contained distortions of
its own. But his statement was not as one-sided as
the imperialist media's headlines suggested. For
instance, part read: "It [Gary Webb's series] was
important work on a significant issue....Our series
solidly documented disturbing information: A drug
ring associated with the Contras sold large
quantities of cocaine in inner-city Los Angeles in
the 1980s at the time of the crack explosion there.
Some of the drug profits from those sales went to
the Contras. Given our government's involvement
with the Contras, I believe this is a major public
policy issue worthy of further investigation." But
the slant of the headlines and articles focused
attention away from the most important issues at
hand.
CEPPOS'S DISTORTIONS
Ultimately, Ceppos's statement is a dishonest
attack on Webb's work, an attack whose very
dishonesty suggests that it was written at the
behest of the CIA. As one example, Ceppos wrote,
"We made our best estimate of how much money was
involved, but we failed to label it as an estimate,
and instead it appeared as fact....[S]ome of the
evidence suggested that millions in profits were
sent to the Contras from sales of cocaine to Ross
and others. Webb is confident that the estimate was
entirely accurate. But the figure depended on our
best estimates based on interviews, trial testimony
and other documentary information." In a radio
interview, Webb explained that while his research
failed to provide a precise dollar amount before
submitting his series, "millions" was accurate, and
that that word's very vagueness makes it clear to
readers that the number is an estimate.(2)
Ceppos wrote, "Although members of the drug ring
met with Contra leaders paid by the CIA and Webb
believes the relationship was a tight one, I feel
that we did not have proof that top CIA officials
knew of the relationship." In response, Webb has
explained that Ceppos's SJMN has thus far refused
to print a follow-up series of four articles which
Webb submitted in early 1997. This shelved series
contains new information detailing CIA and NSC
knowledge of CIA-connected drug trafficking as well
as the involvement of individuals from the CIA and
NSC with the genocidal drug trade. Webb has
uncovered direct evidence that the CIA knew profits
from the drug ring (covered in Webb's first series)
were being funneled to the Nicaraguan
counterrevolutionaries.(2, 3)
Ceppos continued, "We also did not include CIA
comment about our findings, and I think we should
have." But until the public outcry sparked by
Webb's series forced the CIA to switch from a
"stonewall" cover-up strategy to a "limited hang-
out" cover-up strategy, the CIA had refused to
comment!(2)
Ceppos's arguments are mostly specious. The
remainder are nitpicks. A critical reader cannot
help but wonder who -- or what agency -- put Ceppos
up to writing such garbage. A brief examination of
the history of CIA manipulation of the media is in
order.
CIA'S HISTORY OF MEDIA MANIPULATION
"Since the CIA was formed in 1947, publishers and
executive management have eagerly volunteered their
services for the benefit of the Agency. . .
Debriefing journalists has always been one of the
CIA's most effective ways of getting intelligence.
Time-Life publisher Henry Luce, a close friend of
CIA director Allen Dulles, was debriefed by the CIA
after traveling overseas, and he privately
encouraged his correspondents to cooperate with the
Agency. Malcolm Muir, editor of Newsweek during
much of the Cold War, was also regularly debriefed
after visits abroad. . .
"[Reporter Carl] Bernstein estimated in 1977 that
at least 400 journalists lived double lives,
maintaining covert relationships with the CIA that
went beyond the normal give-and-take between
reporters and their sources. Media professionals
were paid for their CIA-related services. Some even
signed secrecy agreements while they performed non-
journalistic tasks for the Agency, such as keeping
an eye out for potential recruits and passing
messages or money to CIA contacts. Trusted
reporters were dispatched on special undercover
assignments, almost always with the consent of
their editors.
"The CIA cultivated high-level contacts within the
most prestigious media in the U.S., including the
three TV networks and the newspapers of record.
More than 20 other American news organizations
occasionally shared a bed with the CIA, including
AP, UPI, Scripps-Howard, the Hearst papers [of
which the SJMN is one], Reader's Digest, Wall
Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor and the
Mutual Broadcasting System. . .
"Washington Post owners Philip and Katharine Graham
were best friends with Frank Wisner, a pivotal
figure in the Agency's worldwide propaganda
apparatus. . . 'There have been instances,'
admitted publisher Katharine Graham, 'in which
secrets have been leaked to us which we thought
were so dangerous that we went to them [U.S.
officials] and told them that they had been leaked
to us and did not print them.' . . [T]he New York
Times. . . provided press credentials and cover for
more than a dozen CIA operatives during the Cold
War."(4)
THE SOLUTION:
INDEPENDENT MEDIA AND ANTI-IMPERIALIST REVOLUTION
While progressive people should be outraged at the
U.S. mass media's subservience to U.S. imperialism,
they should not be surprised. It is not surprising
that the SJMN has retreated from Webb's first
series. Nor is it surprising that the paper is
sitting on Webb's second series. Gary Webb said,
"I'm just baffled about this turnaround."(2) But in
fact, the bigger surprise is that the SJMN ran his
series in the first place. "In his letter, Ceppos
implied that the 'Dark Alliance' series was
published inadvertently, noting that the stories
were approved for publication while he was away on
vacation."(3)
Despite bogus claims of "objectivity," the U.S.
mass media has an ideological and political line --
a line upholding imperialism, capitalism and
patriarchy. MIM Notes makes no claims to
objectivity. MIM Notes, too, takes a stand on
class, national and gender questions. MIM Notes
takes the stand of the oppressed against the
oppressors. We stand with the Black, Latino, and
First Nations against the white Amerikkkan nation
which wages genocidal chemical warfare against them
by pumping narcotics into the ghettos, barrios and
reservations. We stand with the oppressed nations
of Asia, Africa, and Latin America against which
the imperialists, led by U.S. imperialism, wage
World War III.
The U.S. mass media is so dishonest that it doesn't
even admit to taking a class stand, a national
stand, or a gender stand. And imperialism is such a
disgusting system that the pro-imperialist media
has to lie repeatedly in order to prettify it.
Readers who want honest media need to look to anti-
imperialist media like MIM Notes and RAIL Notes.
And people who want anti-imperialist media need to
support MIM Notes by providing help with writing,
art, distribution and finance.
Working with MIM to build its anti-imperialist
media is only a start. Anti-imperialist media alone
will not end oppression. Nor will it ferret out all
the grisly facts that imperialism works overtime to
keep hidden. MIM and MIM Notes are tools for
preparing the masses to make anti-imperialist
revolution. Only through an armed overthrow of U.S.
imperialism will all the details about its
disgusting deeds be known. One of these days, the
oppressed will bust down the doors at CIA
headquarters. They will liberate the files from
secrecy, and will stop the CIA's reign of terror
once and for all.
NOTES:
1. http://www.sjmercury.com/drugs
2. Gary Webb interview, 14 May 1997, on "Up for
Air," KPFK, 90.7 FM, Los Angeles
Stonewalling is keeping your collective mouths
shut. "Limited hang-out" is the strategy of
releasing some but not all relevant information, in
the hopes that doing so will have a pacifying
effect which will protect the remainder of the
relevant information (and thus also protect the
institutions whose reputation would be damaged by
said information).
3. LA Weekly, 23 May 1997, p. 14.
4. Lee, Martin A., and Norman Solomon, Unreliable
Sources: A Guide to Detecting Bias in News Media,
Carol Publishing Group, New York, 1990, pp. 114-
116.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON CIA MEDDLING WITH THE MASS
MEDIA, SEE:
# NameBase NewsLine #17, April-June 1997,
http://www.pir.org/newsline.17
# Carl Bernstein, "The CIA and the Media," Rolling
Stone, 20 October 1977, pp. 65-67.
# "The CIA Report the President Doesn't Want You to
Read," Village Voice, 20 February 1976, p. 40.
# Sean Gervasi, "CIA Covert Propaganda Capability,"
Covert Action Information Bulletin, No. 7, December
1979 - January 1980, pp. 18-20.
# Chamorro, Edgar. Packaging the Contras: A Case of
CIA Disinformation (New York: Institute for Media
Analysis, 1987), 78 pages.
* * *
AMERIKAN CULTURE
SAHARA SONTAG -- IDEALISM GIVEN A NEW NAME
review by a RAIL comrade
***The following is a review of the play Sahara
Sontag sent to MIM by playwright S. Coleman for
review. For more reviews on Coleman's work on Peru
see past issues of MIM Notes.***
Along with the play, MIM received a letter
remarking on the "multiple" roads to revolution and
socialism. It said that "yes, the Marxist/Maoist
[road is] one" but that there is at "least one more
-- the pacifist road." Coleman is referring to what
s/he chooses to call radical pacifism that takes an
interactive role instilling pacifist ideas in
people. Coleman proposed this transformation from
inactive, complacent pacifism to radical pacifism
as the thesis of h play.
Trying to propose two, or more, roads to
liberation, Coleman upholds the actions of Gandhi,
Tolstoy, Dorothy Day and Thoreau. But what
successful revolution did any of these figures
lead? The answer is that they did not have any
major impact on people's liberation. What Coleman
is effectively doing is upholding their words
rather than the concrete actions they took toward
liberation. MIM instead compares both theory and
the practice that stems from it to decide who
leaders should be. In Maoist China, the people
actually saw and experienced true liberation, not
just figurative words and little concessions.
Illiteracy was nearly abolished, wimmin made up 22%
of the top government positions, agricultural
communes were set up virtually eliminating hunger,
and all industry was nationalized where the workers
themselves played interactive leading roles in
production and output.
The time and people that should be upheld for
bringing about the conditions for true pacifism
should be Maoist. China accomplished the furthest
advances toward a society without group oppression
which is integral for true pacifism and peace.
The play itself narrates Carol Sontag's, later
Sahara Sontag, journey into Algerian desert where
she and a fellow American meet up with a native
desert tribe called the Tuaregs. Neither Carol nor
her companion, Khalid, know of them and Khalid
treats them as savage desert pirates coming to loot
their now broken down car, typical of First World
consciousness. They all end up going back to the
Tuareg camp for food, water and festivities where
the Amencol, chieftain, brings up his dilemma of
supporting the rebel fundamentalists while also
being an Islamic pacifist. Khalid and Carol
experienced like dilemmas being Christians and
basically sitting back and watching the world's
oppression and not having the strength to fight it.
Khalid dropped Christianity, right in line with
american complacence to world oppression when the
struggle gets "too hard", and the Amencol realized
this was reality and supported the fundamentalists
cause of national liberation.
The Amencol has the line closest to MIM's. He
evaluated the world around him, realized that the
only way to liberation was by liberating one's
entire nation from the clutches of oppression, (or
supporting those working for liberation) and put
idealist ideas into a real world context choosing
to support the group whom he saw was getting closer
to reaching that goal. However the play puts his
ideas into the Christian context that humyns are
evil to begin with so you better just learn to
deal.
While Khalid drops Christianity in order to not be
called a hypocrite (so it's better to just be an
outright, open mouthed supporter of oppression?!?),
the Amencol just accepts being called a
hypocrite?!?
The big revelation comes when Carol drops her
"hypocritical" veil by standing between and
preaching about non-violence when Khalid and the
Amencol's son are about to duel. It is true that
such battles just serve the oppressor by killing
off potential revolutionaries, but her reasoning
was one of pure anti-violence, in any form. This
ideology will not liberate the masses to the
fullest extent. The imperialists have functioned
and grown in power specifically through violence
and will not give up that power without a fight.
Only when the majority of the world's people are
truly in power can any steps be taken toward ending
all violence against the people since the people
themselves will be making the decisions. Carol-type
"liberation" only functions as a cover up of the
true power struggles that exist behind any sort of
violence or armed resistance.
The revival of the "Christian Ideal" can be
compared to a Cultural Revolution struggle,
criticism of "Water Margin". In Water Margin, Sung
Chiang is a member of the landlord class who worms
his way into the ranks of the peasant uprising. He
ultimately receives an offer of amnesty and
enlistment form the imperial court which he quickly
grabs up. This poem from the novel exposes Sung
Chiang's line:
I wish the Son of Heaven would soon issue an edict
for our enlistment, Only then will I rest content.
Sung Chiang would go against corrupt officials, but
not the emperor, God's reign on earth. He, like
Carol, was "carrying out the right way on behalf of
Heaven" but still putting themselves at the service
of oppressive ideologies. Even though Carol will
fight the corruption of violence, she won't fight
the system, mainly Christian ethic ideals of
capitalism, that perpetuate violence.
Coleman manages to uphold one of the most
oppressive ideologies in the world, that of
Christianity, which places all people into the
basket of evil and leaves all matters of change and
liberation in the hands of an unknown "god" and his
chosen on earth. Rather than revert to an ancient
ideology that is responsible for more murders and
violence than any other, and also a clear basis for
imperialist ideology, MIM looks to concrete gains
and liberation struggles from history and today. If
you really want a society without violence, work
with MIM and RAIL in a revolutionary movement
making real steps toward real-life liberation and
power of the oppressed masses.
* * *
INVOLUNTARY COMMITMENTS BRING PSYCHIATRIC PROFITS
After the Boston Globe exposed how psychiatrists
ordered two "normal" people into institutions for
the mentally ill, the Massachusetts state
legislature considered taking action against
psychiatry. In one case, police put a man face down
on the ground and handcuffed him for remarks
displeasing to one psychiatrist and in another case
a self-avowed feminist went to an institution,
because Massachusetts law grants such discretionary
power to psychiatrists.
Doing its occasional public service, the Boston
Globe drew attention to the cases and the huge
profit motive -- particularly in today's managed
care environment -- for psychiatrists to seek
reimbursement from government or insurance
companies for provision of psychiatric "services."
Even the state senate President said, "I'm always
distressed to discover that financial incentives
and profits lead to inappropriate decisions or even
policies. I hate to think that any citizen's civil
liberties are at risk because someone wants to show
a dramatic return on the bottom line." The Governor
has agreed to sign whatever law the legislature
deems necessary to correct this problem.
From MIM's point of view, the correction necessary
is to remove the profit incentive from all
professions. Already the public is aware that the
profit incentive results in the sale of lethal
weapons to warring countries and the sale of
narcotics, pornography, manufactured goods that
pollute the environment, cigarettes and the like.
What this case proves is that other aspects of the
economy are distorted by the profit incentive too.
When a mode of production is antiquated, the
economy goes into what we call its "decadent"
phase. In this phase, we witness 911 calls botched
in Boston while emergency service agencies fight
over who will get the money for answering the call.
Psychiatrists make huge profits for providing no
useful services and differ from other professionals
only in that they sit around all day dreaming up
ways to make money while having the power to
deprive a person of his or her liberties.
When there was a Soviet Union, the U.$.
propagandists used to brag how "this is a free
country" while there is psychiatric confinement for
political belief in the Soviet Union. In actuality,
the United States has always used the mental
institution to confine those with radical or
feminist politics. For the past seven years, a
simple bill to guarantee patients' rights has
failed in Massachusetts and one former legislator
admits that the original arbitrary laws were passed
in order to reduce court loads. The bill that has
failed seven years "would guarantee patients in
private mental hospitals access to a telephone, the
ability to send uncensored mail, reasonable
visitation with family and friends, privacy while
using the bathroom, and access to legal
assistance."
NOTE: Boston Globe. 21 May 1997, p. 1.
* * *
UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS
A RETALIATORY KILLING
At the current time we are locked down due to an
inmate stabbing. Mysteriously an inmate who has
recently brought a $200,000 lawsuit against this
facility gets stabbed while everyone else is at
breakfast and he's in his cell asleep and only the
prisoncrats have access to rolling the bars open!
Coincidence? I don't think so!
-- an Indiana prisoner, 21 April 1997
SLAVE'S WAGES
i would very much like to contribute to MIM but my
slave salary ain't nothing. i only make $1.20 a
day. After i get my necessities i am broke.
-- a New Jersey Prisoner, 24 April 1997
RESISTANCE TO TORTURE TACTICS
I would like to correspond with you to give you an
insight into the mechanics of the prison system. I
have several administrative documents, detailing
the various methods used to punish, control or
outright liquidate "rebellious" prisoners. I have
been subjected to every form of corporal punishment
conceivable: chemical agents (C587 "irritant
dust/gas"), overnight shackling (hands and legs),
anti-psychotic drugs, straight jackets, four-point
beds, beatings with night sticks (always by more
than one officer -- they never come alone), strip
cells, etc. That I am still alive is a testament to
the Divine Will. I fought with officers, alone, on
the offensive and defensive, for 9 months straight
before securing a transfer (this occurred at Wende
Correctional Facility, a facility next to Attica).
-- a New York Prisoner, 24 April 1997
THE PIGS JUST HAVEN'T GOTTEN CAUGHT YET
Nothing major happens, only A LOT of little things.
I find a lot of unprofessional events happen.
Officers write bunk cases, we call them "Haters". I
say their job description is not to come make us
miserable. We are already being punished.
The only difference between the men and women in
this prison is the corrections officers (the men in
gray) haven't gotten CAUGHT yet!
Prison life is a real trip. Rules change every day,
every shift. It's real confusing.
-- a Texas prisoner, 10 April 1997
CHOO-CHOO
The gravy-train never stops building prisons,
hiring cops.
Its boxcars filled both day and night with
desperate men in endless fights.
Silver bracelets, lock-up time, laser-printed
budgets climb,
El Reno builds new "mega-max" to shore-up Public
Income Tax.
So just act crazy, build up steam, you're working
for The American Dream.
-- a Florida prisoner, 24 February 1997
TEXAS DENIES ACTIVIST PRISONER MEDICATION
To: the Honorable MIM
...I am being denied my heart medication, because
of my legal activities in assisting other prisoners
in filing their grievances, civil rights complaints
and criminal appeals. Because I refuse to stop
assisting other prisoners with legal matters, the
Alfred D. Hughes Unit Medical Department is
retaliating against me. And one of their
retaliatory acts is to deny me my heart medication.
The law has been well established that it is
unconstitutional to harass and retaliate against
any prisoner for his past or present legal
activities, as in this case. But the Alfred D.
Hughes Unit Medical Doctors and personnel have
decided to put me to sleep. And their deliberate
indifference with malicious intent to cause harm
with disregard for life will work unless you print
this letter. And even then it may be too late to
help me. But if in my death I can stop other
prisoners from experiencing this cruel and inhumane
treatment, then my death will not be in vain!...
Respectfully Submitted, -- a Texas prisoner, 7
March 1997
**Letters of Protest can be sent to: The Warden,
Alfred D. Hughes Unit, Route 2, Box 4400,
Gatesville, TX 76597.**
TEXAS DEATH CAMPS
I was shipped to death camp, French Robertson Unit.
I do not call it Death Camp for no reason. In 1996
the guard shot one inmate in the field due to [the
prisoncrat's] marital problems. Then they beat
another to death. Two guards just got indicted in
court for that.
The Head Warden tried to cover their asses. As he
did, other killings have happened on this unit. The
Head Warden has not run this unit by humane
standards. He has let the CO'zzz [correctional
officers] run wild and all over [Texas Department
of Criminal Justice] Policy.
The Captains on this unit clearly stated to me when
I got here, and put in isolation then solitary,
that Federal nor State law apply on this unit. Many
of my medical restrictions have been taken. My
special brace and limb have been taken. I have been
threatened if I keep speaking out to the people in
the Free World, I would end up Dead as others have
on this unit.
My MIM Notes and my last letter sent to your office
were not sent. I am keeping a record to file in
Federal Court on the mail room as I did on the my
last unit. In which the Mail Room Supervisor has
been not only fired but blamed by TDCJ. The Head
Lady of the mailroom has also been brought up on
Federal charges.
Much of my legal mail has not left this unit. When
I get enough, I'll be in Federal Court and will
press Federal Charges on the Head of the mailroom
for mail tampering. [I'm] not saying the United
Snakes is the way to go, we need a change. We are
building in Texas for a new way.
-- a Texas prisoner, 15 April 1997
STUDY GROUP MEMBERS FACE REPRESSION
The library staff here is against MIM Notes, so
there is no way to get MIM Notes into the library
here. As for study groups, small groups have formed
and we discuss MIM Notes and other materials. Yet
staff is plotting against these groups and many
have been threatened with tickets or transfers to a
high security joint. I will try to encourage
prisoners here to write about the threats and mis-
treatment going on here, yet that task may not
succeed and I may up in the hole.
--A Michigan Prisoner, 15 April 1997
CALL TO STUDY AND UNITE FOR REVOLUTION
Since my last letters, I have been in segregation.
My oppressors have beaten me and others as a result
of my Study Group. I've had the pigs beat me for
refusing to relinquish my love for the tremendous
struggle we face.
I will sacrifice my life for what I believe and if
my oppressor, Mr. Wayne Garner, thinks that
revolutionary politics is a threat to security,
planning/conspiring to participate a disturbance or
strike then so be it.
Comrades unite with your brothers and sisters.
Stand strong nationwide. Struggle together in
revolutionary change. Frustrations and
disappointments will come, the battles will be
many, sacrifice will be high, but my dear Comrades
in the end the oppressive, repressive regime of
Capitalism will fall.
Comrades in prison continue your fight when you
leave the walls. Start study groups outside as I
have. Continue your study groups inside as well.
Never let the oppressor get control and power over
you or your study group by threats, intimidation,
harassment, manipulation or humiliation. Let MIM be
your heart. Stand Iron-clad and be willing to
sacrifice. I call on everyone in the struggle with
me to fight censorship of MIM and Unite. It will
never be said my revolution was a pastime.
Respectfully, In Struggle, -- a Georgia prisoner,
14 April 1997
FLORIDA PRISONER FIGHTS CENSORSHIP
My grievances about MIM Notes being censored
continue to fall on deaf ears. I've learned
however, despite what the institution claims, it's
not your paper, but the person who reviews it.
Enclosed you'll find my attempts to resolve this
problem. Funny how each level of grievance was
answered by the same person. It took me three
months of them doing nothing to finally realize how
futile my lone fight with them really is.
On the brighter note, your last mailing DID make it
passed the censors!
In Struggle, -- a Florida prisoner, 20 March 1997
MICHIGAN PRISONER FIGHTS CENSORSHIP
Dear Friend: In response to your questions
regarding my receiving the paper, I have not
received any papers since my arrival at Lakeland
Correctional Facility. This matter has been
exhausted thru the Grievance procedure and was
denied access to the paper, and it has been placed
on the permanent restriction list.
Enclosed you'll find a copy of a court Order [I]
recently received. I sent a copy of all the
documents pertaining to the rejection of MIM Notes
and the telephone Rip-Off. So I have not been idle
in what I consider a blatant disregard for First
Amendment Rights under the guise of security.
-- a Michigan prisoner, 8 April 1997
***Letters of Protest can be sent to:
Warden, Lakeland Correctional Facility, 141 First
St., Coldwater, MI 49036 or Frank J. Kelly,
Attorney General, Corrections Division, PO Box
30216, Lansing, MI 48909, (517) 335-7021***
ISOLATION AND OPPRESSION IN ILLINOIS
Comrades, Revolutionary Greetings to one and all.
My Brothers, here is an update on the situation at
the Pontiac Correctional Center in Illinois.
As of yesterday indigent inmates and people, like
myself, who are short of monetary funds will no
longer be able to write or mail letters to our
families unless we have some kind of money in our
trust fund.
And as you already know, we have no phone usage
either because of a new policy prohibiting the use
of phone privileges by residents in C-grade. (Too
bad we are all in C-Grade in Pontiac)
Well here goes a new oppressive move by these
prisoncrats. As on Jan. 1st, 1997, Pontiac
Correctional Center (PCC) will be made into an All
Segregation Facility. We will be denied contact
visits, as a glass partition will be placed in the
segregation visiting room. We also have a condemned
unit visiting facility. Through the c/o
[correctional officer] grapevine it has been heard
that all our clothes (jeans, shirts, color-striped
socks, and any other accessories) will be
confiscated and we will be made to send it home.
We will be given "state gear" (3 jumpsuits, 3 T-
shirts, 3 pairs of underwear, 3 all white socks, 1
pair of boots) till we leave, this segregation
facility. When we leave here we may again purchase
our clothes at whatever facility we arrive at!
This plan is going to be executed because of all
the money they will be losing by turning PCC into a
Seg-Facility (without the inmate organizations,
phone calls and with a limited commissary, this
facility will lose millions per year)
And this plan is also being executed to anger the
already oppressed into giving them more reason to
request more money from the state to oppress us
further because of assaults.
They try to pull Brothers here into doing something
that will hurt us and put money in the hands of
these turn keys. (out of respect for the animal I
will not refer to these assholes as pigs)
As of now, their motives are plain to see. All we
are to them is expendable..
In total Resistance,
-- An Illinois Prisoner, 2 January 1997
MEGAN'S LAW UPDATE
Dear MIM, Wanted to respond to your request for
info on the fascist "registration laws," commonly
known as "Megan's Laws." [This is a reference to an
Under Lock & Key letter in the Sept. 1, 1996 issue
of MIM Notes entitled, "Prisoner Receives Longer
Sentence For Maintaining Innocence"]
As of July 1996, every state in Amerika except
Massachusetts required sex offenders to register
their addresses with the police. In Maine, Vermont,
Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
South Dakota, Kansas, Colorado, Idaho, and Arkansas
the public can go to the police and learn about
neighborhood offenders. Rhode Island, West
Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin,
Montana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, New Mexico,
Wyoming and Hawaii have no notification provisions.
In the remaining states police are required to
notify community or designated groups about
"dangerous" offenders.
Federal kourts in New York, New Jersey and
Connecticut have held that notifications in cases
of those convicted prior to passage of each state's
Megan Law is unconstitutional and have banned
implementation of those provisions. They have
allowed, however, police to compel them to register
and pigs began arresting people for failing to
register even in cases of those whose "crimes"
occurred years before passage of the new law.
The word "crime" is in quotes because "child sex
abuse" has been so broadly defined to include
everything from violent rape-murder to seeing your
child naked. Virtually every citizen could be
convicted of a sex offense, including grandmothers
(who may possess the classic infant photo of us
lying bars-assed on a bear rug) as child
pornographers. Parents of offspring who 20 or more
years later at the hands of "dys-psychotherapists"
are convinced that all their current life problems
stem from suddenly "remembered" abuse requiring
hospitalization until their insurance runs out.
Clergy (are targeted) for whom some ex-parochial
school student figures s/he can hit up the church's
deep pockets.
An even more blatant abuse of pig power are the new
civil commitment laws which will make it possible
to keep sex offenders indefinitely, even for life,
AFTER they have served out their criminal
sentences! You can serve time for murder and not be
subject to commitment or even registration. Is the
message we should take from this that it's OK to go
out and kill your pig oppressors but, but don't
dare jerk them off.
-- a Connecticut prisoner, 12 March 1997
P.S. Regarding the Pennsylvania Prisoner who wrote,
he should be maxing out about now. He does not need
to sign anything to be released. Pennsylvania
however is in the Third Circuit with New Jersey, so
he will have to register with his local pig
department upon release or be subject to re-arrest.
MIM ADDS: We agree that the word crime should be in
quotes, but for slightly different reasons. We
recognize that the Amerikkkan imperialists are the
real criminals and do not think they are fit to
judge the guilt or innocence of others. It is true
also that so-called "criminal behavior" targets
oppressed nationals with in this country.
At the same time it is our goal to expose the myth
that most rapists are black and strangers. The
facts prove that most sexual abuse is done by
family member and trusted adults, like clergy
members. We oppose Megan's law because it
perpetuates a myth that people don't know their
sexual abusers and it criminalizes oppressed
people.
MIM does not think Megan's Law is a joking matter.
Just because there isn't an equivalent law
pertaining to murder, doesn't mean there may not be
one being drafted up. The police and these laws
are used to as social control to support the
dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. MIM would not
encourage anyone to murder the pig oppressors at
this time in Amerikkka.
***Additional information about Megan's Law was
printed in September 1, 1996 issue of MIM Notes.***
POLICE PERSUADE COMMUNITY TO RAT ON LEBANESE YOUTH
by a comrade
DEARBORN, MI -- Police here are notorious for
patrolling the streets, harassing any Arab or Black
youth they can find. Now, they're excited that
people in east Dearborn are willing to help arrest
and imprison more youth in their neighborhoods.
"Arab neighbors generally have been reluctant to
involve police in crimes involving members of their
own community."(1) And there's good reason for
this.
The Dearborn cops have a long history of enforcing
the white supremacist politics of Ford Motor Co.
and the white nation chauvinists of west Dearborn.
When kids of rich whites on the west side chase
after and beat up Arab youth, pigs look the other
way. But when Arab youth merely drive through the
west side, they are pulled over and harassed.
When the west side fathers teach the techniques of
imperialist and labor aristocrat plundering of the
wealth of the oppressed to their kids, it's lauded
as the Amerikan dream. And when Arab youth are
suspected of robbery, "there must be an arrest."
The Dearborn cops are also virtually clueless about
the cultures of the Lebanese, Caldean, Yemen and
other Middle Eastern communities here and have no
respect for the way that the communities themselves
solve internal problems.
Three Lebanese youth were captured by the cops
recently -- allegedly for committing a string of
robberies. This came after an official meeting
where Dearborn city officials convinced some Arab
'leaders' to cooperate with the pigs.
This aid to the cops opens up the Arab youth to
increased harassment. The pigs said that there are
another 17 Arab youth that they are looking for in
connection to the robberies. No doubt stopping what
the pigs call 'home invasions' will be a chance to
increase the discrimination and harassment. And
with a list of 17 youth this is virtually free
license to pick up any Arab youth the pigs can
find.
Amerika's push for increased community involvement
in policing will only result in more arrests and
convictions of oppressed nationals and national
minority youth. The community policing push urges
people to aid the pigs rather than let the people
themselves deal with the problems within their
communities. The people know that problems of these
youth are linked to the discrimination they face:
receiving inferior education, being harassed by the
cops, having their culture and language attacked
and repressed.
Only by overthrowing imperialism will it be
possible to end the discrimination and harassment
of national minorities. MIM fights for the
overthrow of imperialism so that the people will be
able to achieve real justice in dealing with
problems among the people and problems with the
capitalists and their lackeys. Those who are
concerned about problems within the Arab
communities should work with MIM to overthrow the
main source of these problems, imperialism, rather
than working with the pigs to increase the
injustice and repression.
NOTE: The Detroit News. 13 May 1997, p. 3C.
ARM YOURSELF WITH KNOWLEDGE OF THE ENEMY
The Monitoring Project of the National Campaign to
Stop Control Unit Prisons has produced an interim
report, The Use of Control Unit Prisons in the
United States, which provides a great resource of
information on these torture units. The report is
organized by state with information on how many
control units each state has, the conditions of
confinement, placement criteria, exit criteria,
location of the control units and contact
information for both the DOC and monitoring
activists when available. Anyone interested in
finding out what is going on in their state, or
interested in looking at the systematic use of
control units across the U$ should get a copy of
this report.
The National Campaign to Stop Control Unit Prisons
was formed in December of 1994. As they state in
the introduction "We all understood that we were
looking at a galloping and dangerous trend, but
none of us knew its extent." The group is both an
activist and monitoring organization.
The introduction to the resource gives some
important background on control units:
"It is clear that the use of isolation has expanded
considerably. It is equally clear that the behavior
modification control unit experiment has resulted
in the building of thousands and thousands of
isolation/sensory deprivation cages in "Supermax"
prisons. This report does not identify who is
housed in these units, but our anecdotal
information is revealing. Currently this form of
isolation is clearly used for political prisoners
and prisoner activists, and for jailhouse lawyers.
We are also seeing a disproportionate number of the
mentally ill, including young people whose
emotional state has become critical as a result of
this enforced desolation. Isolation is also
frequently used for death row prisoners. Perhaps
the fastest growing population to find themselves
suddenly living in these control unit-model cells
are the very young who have received
extraordinarily long sentences. They are often
charged with alleged "gang-related" activity. We
have also had reports of one such unit in a
juvenile facility, and another in a county jail.
Clearly then, we are looking at a deliberate and
concerted movement to force an increasing number of
men and women prisoners to live in the most
unnatural and unimaginable conditions."
There are only five states in the country that do
not appear to operate control units. (This is not
certain because the classification methods used by
various states made it very difficult for the
activists to collect accurate information in many
states). These five states are Georgia, Montana,
Nebraska, North Carolina, and Vermont.
MIM agrees with the National Campaign activists on
the importance of fighting the repression of
control units and a crucial part of this fight is
having information on the enemy. To get involved in
MIM and RAIL activism against the criminal
injustice system contact your local distributor.
To get a copy of this report or to participate in
this monitoring project write to Bonnie Kerness at
the American Friends Service Committee, 972 Broad
Street, Newark, New Jersey 07102.
***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.
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