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 155 FEBRUARY 1, 1998
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. AMERIKAN COINTELPRO CONTINUES:
PUERTO RICAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT INFILTRATED,
LEADER FRAMED
2. FREEDOM AND AMNESTY FOR PUERTO RICAN INDEPENDENCE
LEADERS: ORGANIZE JERICHO AND BEYOND
3. LETTERS
4. AMERIKA EXPANDS MILITARY ROLE IN LATIN AMERICA
5. WELFARE CUTS LEAVE IMMIGRANTS HUNGRY
6. NEW YORK POLICE FATALLY SHOOT OPPRESSED NATIONALS
MORE THAN 3-TO-1
7. MICHIGAN TRANSFERS PRISONERS TO FEDERAL KKKAMP
8. MICHIGAN TRANSFERS AID ENGLER'S PLAN FOR
OPPRESSION: BUILD MORE AND MORE PRISONS
9. DC POLICE CORRUPTION EXPOSED
ANSWER IS REVOLUTION - NOT MORE PIGS!
10. IMPERIALISTS TIGHTEN GRIP ON CRISIS-RIDDEN KOREAN
ECONOMY
11. SANTA CLAUS IN BAGHDAD?
12. MEXICAN RULING PARTY MURDERS 45 IN CHIAPAS
13. CALIFORNIA PRISONS REPRESS FIRST NATIONS, MUSLIMS,
SIKHS
14. MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM ONLINE
15. ASIAN COMMUNITY MOBILIZES AGAINST PORNOGRAPHY
16. AMERIKAN APARTHEID: ENFORCED HOUSING SEGREGATION
17. UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS
* * *
AMERIKAN COINTELPRO CONTINUES:
PUERTO RICAN INDEPENDENCE MOVEMENT INFILTRATED,
LEADER FRAMED
***MIM received the article below from the National
Committee to Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners
and Prisoners of War originally titled "Order for
the Extradition of Solís: A Desperate Action by
FBI.***
On Wednesday, December 10, 1997, Federal
Magistrate, Aida Delgado Colon, declared in Federal
District Court in San Juan, Puerto Rico, that Dr.
Jose Solis Jordan, is the person who authorities in
the State of Illinois have indicted in relation to
a bombing of a military recruitment complex in
Chicago, in December of 1992. Solis was charged at
the hearing with conspiracy, possession of a
weapon, of maliciously causing destruction to
property of the United States, and attempted
malicious destruction to property of the United
States.
Dr. Solis, a former professor at DePaul University,
and graduate of The University of Illinois at
Champaign-Urbana, is currently a faculty member of
The University of Puerto Rico Education Department
in Rio Piedras.
Several interesting points were revealed at the
hearing. First of all, the FBI is relying almost
exclusively on testimony by Rafael Marrero, who
they identify as a cooperating witness but who in
fact has worked as an agent provocateur serving the
FBI as far back as 1988. The FBI's other
cooperating witness is a man by the name of Eddie
Brooks, who Marrero himself recruited to work at
his side during the period he was working as editor
in chief of LIBERTAD, a periodical dedicated to the
release of the 15 Puerto Rican political prisoners.
Rafael Angel Marrero, arrived in Chicago in 1989,
at the age of 23. One of his first moves was to win
the affection of the sister of two of the political
prisoners, Evelyn Rodriguez, 22 years his senior. A
few months later they married placing him at the
center of the campaign to release the prisoners.
By 1992 Marrero, who had built an image of the
ultimate self-sacrificed cadre, was always willing
to do the hardest and most time consuming tasks in
the campaign to free the prisoners. On his own he
also put together a clandestine armed organization,
using young idealists and trusting individuals whom
he organized, incited and led to commit the act he
is now trying to attribute to Dr. Solis and other
undisclosed persons.
Marrero's actions in Chicago eerily mirror those of
agent Gonzalez Malave, which led to the massacre of
two pro-independence university students at Cerro
Maravilla in Puerto Rico, on July 25, 1978.
Marrero's plan in Chicago was to involve as many
people who were involved in the campaign to release
the political prisoners in his ill-named Frente
Revolucionario Boricua, in order to undermine the
campaign's efforts precisely when the campaign
began to attract support from broader sectors than
just the pro-independence movements.
Shortly after his failure to organize his
fabricated armed clandestine movement from inside
the campaign, he left Evelyn Rodriguez, their child
Alicia, and the work in the campaign to free his
sister in laws and the other 13 political
prisoners. Accusing that the campaign had become
reformist and no longer represented the
revolutionary ideals the prisoners had upheld.
Marrero wins over his wife Evelyn Rodriguez shortly
before he resurfaces in 1997 as one of two sources
that fueled a slander campaign against pro-
independence supporters published in the Chicago
Sun Times, and repeated for about a week in every
TV and Radio news program. The unfounded reports
accused pro-independence supporters of using state
funds to promote the release of the prisoners. The
other source in the Sun Times slander campaign was
his sister Militza Corps.
It is no coincidence that this slander campaign
took place two weeks after Marrero visited Dr. Jose
Solis in Puerto Rico. During this visit which he
made in the company of his wife Evelyn, sister of
two of the political prisoners, the FBI recorded
several conversations between Marrero and Dr. Solis
through a recording device concealed on the person
of Marrero. The FBI alleges that these recordings
contain the information necessary to incriminate
Dr. Solis.
Currently under the Federal Witness Protection
Program, Marrero is the principal collaborator in
the Grand Jury which investigates the 1992 bombing
which he himself organized, orchestrated and
directed, and now leads to the arrest of Dr. Jose
Solis.
In Chicago, several pro-independence activists have
received subpoenas to appear in front of this Grand
Jury investigation, including former political
prisoner Felix Rosa, Family Learning Center teacher
Everlydis Cabrera, and Roberto Clemente High School
teacher Juan Marcos Vilar. Interestingly, even
though the three have not appeared to their
assigned hearings, the authorities have not
enforced their subpoenas, making it evident that
their case is extremely weak.
Marrero has also worked as author and editor of the
anonymously published rag, El Pito, which targets
community leaders, activists and elected officials
who have supported the release of the Puerto Rican
political prisoners and attacks them with
unprecedented vulgarity and slander.
Marrero is also the star witness in an Illinois
State Legislative Investigation whose goal is to
prove an alleged conspiracy by pro-independence
forces to utilize state funds to promote the
release of the Puerto Rican political prisoners.
This investigation is in reality a witch hunt
spearheaded by state representative Edgar Lopez,
who supports statehood for Puerto Rico. It serves
Lopez in two ways: first, it attacks his
ideological nemesis---independence, second, it
serves as a smoke-screen to his corrupt activities
and indulgences such as gambling free chips in
exchange for his vote in favor of gambling
interests.
In an affidavit made public at Dr. Solis' hearing
in San Juan, rookie FBI agent Troy Buckles
confirmed that Rafael Marrero was a leader of the
ill named Frente Revolucionario Boricua, the group
that claimed responsibility for the December 1992
bombing. Buckles further confirmed that Marrero
participated in the recruitment of individuals into
the group, that he participated in constructing and
placing the explosives at the military recruitment
complex in Chicago. The affidavit alleges that Dr.
Solis participated in the attack on the complex.
However, Buckles affidavit leaves out that Rafael
Marrero has worked for the FBI for over 10 years.
It also fails to state that after spending millions
of dollars in an operation to destabilize and
destroy the independence movement and the campaign
to gain the release of the Puerto Rican political
prisoners, his agency, the FBI, is running like a
chicken without a head trying to formulate false
charges before the White House decides to release
the Puerto Rican political prisoners and prisoners
of war.
MIM ADDS: We hope that activists everywhere will
learn from this example of FBI infiltration and
extensive destructive attacks on revolutionary
movements that we can not take the government
lightly. At this point in the struggle the
government is stronger than the revolutionary
forces within u.s. borders and we must take
appropriate precautions based on this reality. No
amount of security procedures are going to protect
us against infiltrators who do such extensive work
to convince genuine revolutionaries of their
devotion to the anti-imperialist struggle.
Lenin had a cop on his central committee and many
believe that Lenin was aware of this but that he
allowed the man to retain his position because of
his extensive contributions to the communist party.
We must insist that our comrades prove themselves
through honest hard work rather than through
informal friendships or romance. And there are many
FBI tactics that can be foiled by simple security
precautions. For this reason MIM takes security
seriously while also judging our comrades by the
work they do and the consistency and correctness of
their political line.
* * *
FREEDOM AND AMNESTY FOR PUERTO RICAN INDEPENDENCE
LEADERS: ORGANIZE JERICHO AND BEYOND
The Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) began
in 1956 as a coordinated effort by the FBI to
undermine the Communist Party USA. COINTELPRO
subsequently intensified its attacks against
progressive and revolutionary leaders and
organizations. COINTELPRO has been used to
infiltrate, split and smash various Black, Puerto
Rican, Chicano, First nation, and anti-imperialist
organizations. Through COINTELPRO, the FBI has
harassed, wrongfully arrested, framed and
imprisoned leaders of the people's movements.
Leaders have been murdered outright as a result of
COINTELPRO operations. This imperialist program
intensely repressed the people's movements in the
1960s and 1970s but continues today. And as then,
the aim of the imperialists is to dismantle the
people's struggles to achieve justice and
liberation.
During the 1980s, the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación
Nacional (FALN) and other organizations devoted to
Puerto Rican independence were the target of some
of the FBI's most intense covert operations. Many
Puerto Rican activists and the general public of
Puerto Rico suffered massive raids lead by the FBI
COINTELPRO. The article written by the National
Committee to Free Puerto Rican Political Prisoners
and Prisoners of War shows the most recent example
of the FBI's operations against the Puerto Rican
independence movement.
The purpose of the Jericho march on March 27, 1998
in Washington, D.C. is to call attention to the
many prisoners languishing in Amerikan gulags after
receiving unjust trials and extremely long and
disproportionate sentences as punishment for their
political beliefs and actions. The march calls for
the Amnesty and Freedom of these prisoners and will
help to mobilize further opposition to Amerika's
unjust incarceration of the leaders of the people's
movements. (See page eight for more info on RAIL's
Criminal Injustice teach-in following the Jericho
march.)
Puerto Rican independence movement leaders and
activists accused of being members of the FALN have
received sentences of 35 to 105 years in prison.
There are still currently 15 Puerto Rican activists
in the gulags for the absolutely bogus charges of
seditious conspiracy and alleged membership in the
FALN - not one of them was charged with or
convicted of any action which resulted in
bloodshed.
OSCAR LÓPEZ RIVERA TORTURED BY AMERIKKKA
Oscar López Rivera is one of the 15 men and wimmin
accused of membership in the FALN. He was arrested
in 1981 and is serving a sentence of 70 years in
the Amerikan gulags. "At one time or another during
their lengthy imprisonment, most of them have been
subjected to brutal psychological or physical
abuse, including assault, multiple strip-searches,
body-cavity searches, and extended periods of
isolation and sensory deprivation. But because
government authorities perceive Oscar to be a
leader, they have singled him out for the harshest,
most continuous attack. They hope to break the
other political prisoners, as well as the Puerto
Rican independence movement as a whole, by breaking
his spirit."
For the last eleven years, Oscar has been
incarcerated in a small isolated cell with no
contact visitations allowed. "Oscar has also been
framed with false disciplinary charges and
subjected to sting operations which used desperate
prisoners as informants and provocateurs." In a
1986 operation, he was falsely accused of
conspiring to escape from prison which resulted in
the pigs sentencing him to an additional 15 year
sentence. Oscar has been continuously placed in
isolation despite compliance with rules and despite
similarly situated prisoners being allowed to move
to lower security levels. This is specifically
because Oscar is a leader among the Puerto Rican
people.
Oscar's brother, Jose Lopez, in a speech last fall,
spoke of the torture which Oscar and other Puerto
Rican leaders have endured because of their beliefs
and actions. He explained thoroughly the Amerikan
history of colonization and domination of the
Puerto Rican nation. The Amerika invasion of Puerto
Rico in 1898 has supplied Amerika with super-
profits from the exploited Puerto Rican masses and
has enabled Amerika to extract resources for its
profit at the expense of Puerto Rican masses.
To ensure the flow of super-profits and resources,
Amerika has continuously smashed revolutionary
independence movements both on the island and
inside Amerika's illegitimate borders. Amerika has
carried out this repression and genocide through
military action, economic warfare, political
control, forced sterilization and mass migration
policies and social and cultural domination. As he
said, we are "instructed in a culture that denies
the very idea that Amerika is an empire." He
explained that racism was created to justify
colonialism. He vehemently stated that we are not
living in an era of post colonialism, but that
Amerika continues to repress and dominate her
internal colonies.
NEO-COLONIALISM CONTINUES AND MUST BE STOPPED
While Amerika hides this lie through massive
miseducate, lies and settler nationalist
propaganda, the people continue to struggle to
teach the truth. And it is for this reason that
Puerto Rican leaders have been incarcerated and
tortured. Amerika seems to think that if leaders
are imprisoned, the masses will be too afraid to
stand up and fight for the self-determination of
Puerto Rico and the liberation of the world's
masses. But the strength and continuous struggle of
Puerto Rican activists facing repression within
Amerika's gulags point to the fact that the
oppressed will not stop fighting until liberation
is won.
Alejandrina Torres fought to teach the truth of the
Amerikan domination of the Puerto Rican nation.
"She was a founding member and later a teacher at
the Puerto Rican High School in Chicago. She later
helped found the Betances Health Clinic and was
active in boycotts of public schools which
continued to mis-educate children and were hostile
and racist to their parents." She was sentenced to
35 years for alleged membership in the FALN.
Ricardo Jiménez "was a leader in the struggles
which ultimately led to the creation of Roberto
Clemente High School." Among many activities to
stop oppression of the Puerto Rican nation, he
exposed the Chicago 21 plan to gentrify the area
and he struggled to institute the first Puerto
Rican history class at Loyola University. "He was
arrested in 1980, accused of seditious conspiracy
and related charges, and sentenced to 98 years.
Luis Rosa was active in the Puerto Rican community
in Chicago as well and worked specifically against
police brutality. He faces 105 years in prison.
Ida Luz Rodríguez, facing an 83 year sentence
wrote: "We were not and are not criminals. The
Puerto Rican movement for liberation was not and is
not a crime. We were and continue to be motivated
by a deep sense of responsibility to liberation." Š
"Colonialism is a crime and it must end. Liberation
is just as necessary today as it was then. Some
place the burden of responsibility for the use of
violence solely on the shoulders of Puerto Rican
revolutionaries while leaving the impression that
the United States is law-abiding and not a colonial
power."
Besides the above leaders, there are ten other
Puerto Rican prisoners for whom activists are
demanding amnesty and freedom. Carmen Valentín was
sentenced to 98 years; Alicia Rodríguez to 85
years; Carlos A. Torres to 78 years; Dylcia Pagán
to 63 years; Alberto Rodríguez to 35 years; Elizam
Escobar to 68 years; Adolfo Matos to 78 years;
Edwin Cortés to 35 years; Antonio Camacho to 15
years and Juan Segarra to 65 years.
MIM supports and struggles for genuine national
liberation of the Puerto Rican nation. Continued
military, economic, political, social and cultural
domination of the people will only be halted when
the imperialists are kicked out of Puerto Rico and
the people are free to develop socialism. We must
struggle to end the unjust incarceration of Puerto
Rican leaders and we must continue to expose and
build opposition to the use of Amerikan gulags in
general as a tool for national oppression. The
struggle against unjust incarceration and increased
imprisonment of oppressed nationals is a necessary
battle in the path to liberation.
***(For more specific information on the above
prisoners, contact PRPOWPP and more specific
information on MIM's work to struggle for national
liberation, get MT7 on Proletarian Feminist
Revolutionary Nationalism on the Communist
Road.)***
NOTES: For detailed information on COINTELPRO,
order Agents of Repression, by Ward Churchill and
Jim Vander Wall. South End Press, Boston, MA. $20
from MIM.
Jose Lopez quotes taken from speech at the Ohio
Prison Activist Conference in November 1997.
All other quotes taken from the National Committee
to Free Puerto Rican Prisoners of War and Political
Prisoners. 2607 W. Division, Chicago, Illinois
60622, prpowpp@aol.com or check out:
* * *
LETTERS
DEATH PENALTY UNDER SOCIALISM
DEAR MIM: First of all, I would like to say I was
greatly impressed by the info you sent me. I have a
question though...
What is MIM's view on the death penalty if it is
sentenced in the general interest of the people,
unlike in Amerikkka? I noticed in one article in
MIM Notes you stated "... people in this country
are trained to look for retribution for violence
rather than looking to address the causes of
violence." (End violence against the oppressed:
work with MIM, MIM Notes Oct 15, 1997). I've read
things by Mao, where he was in clear support of the
death sentence for serious offenders. Is this a
contradiction? Thanks for you time.
In struggle, A friend in the Midwest
"All Power to the People!"
P.S. MIM book distro is phat! The best prices I've
seen yet.
MIM RESPONDS: We see the death penalty under
imperialism as part of the violence in society that
we work to eliminate as we struggle to overthrow
imperialism and ultimately build a communist
society. But as materialists we recognize the
necessity of violence in the anti-imperialist
battle. As a result, we oppose violence by the
imperialists but consider it necessary as a weapon
in the hands of the oppressed, both under
capitalism and under socialism. This means that we
oppose the death penalty under imperialism but we
do not oppose the use of the death penalty when it
is in the hands of the masses.
The criminal justice system under socialism serves
the people by creating an opportunity for those who
have committed crimes against the people to learn
from their mistakes and become contributing members
of society. But as we can see from the experience
in China, there were times when the people demanded
justice for those guilty of murdering, raping and
exploiting the people of their village for many
years. These people -- the worst landlords and pro-
Japanese traitors -- were sentenced to death by the
people of their village for the tremendous crimes
they had committed. But this violence is temporary
and something that a socialist society is working
towards eliminating as we build a society free of
the oppression of groups over other groups of
people. In China they made amazing progress towards
this goal in their criminal justice system. They
greatly cut down the need for prisons and a court
system by transforming society to eliminate the
material basis of crime. After liberation, emphasis
was placed on struggling with those who committed
crimes against the people so that they would see
that what they had done was wrong and so that they
would want to change their ways. MIM recommends the
book Prisoners of Liberation for an excellent
account of the prison system in revolutionary
China. This book can be ordered from MIM for $10.
MIM shares Mao's position on the death penalty. In
discussing the executions that took place after the
seizure of power, Mao said "What harm is there in
not executing people? Those amenable to labor
reform should go do labor reform, so that rubbish
can be transformed into something useful. Besides,
people's heads are not like leeks. When you cut
them off, they will not grow again. If you cut off
a head wrongly, there is no way of rectifying the
mistakes even if you want to."(Chairman Mao Talks
to the People, Pantheon Books, 1974, p. 77-78.)
It's important to note that Mao said in this speech
that now that power was consolidated in the hands
of the people, fewer executions would be carried
out.
MOI AND KENYA
DEAR COMRADES: I would not dispute your contention
that President Moi is a comprador element who has
done the dirty work of imperialism for many years
and has been well paid for doing it. That does not
necessarily mean he is not playing a progressive
role now. Manuel Noriega was an American lackey for
many years, but he repented of this and stood up
for Panama's national interests. Saddam Hussein
waged a brutal war against Iran that killed
hundreds of thousands of Iranian and Iraqi workers
and peasants with the support of Washington, but
after this war he turned against imperialism and
supported pan-Arabism, beginning with the seizure
of the puppet state of Kuwait. We are seeing such a
transformation in President Moi. Imperialism has
endorsed the multiparty system that threatens his
power, and the only way Moi can hold on to power is
to combat imperialist control of Kenya. Regardless
of his past actions, if Moi resists the dictates of
imperialism, he is de facto struggling against
imperialism and thus becomes "our son-of-a-bitch".
This is the nature of the third world bourgeoisie.
Compradors who are betrayed by their imperialist
patrons can become our allies. Naturally a people's
government of Kenya is preferable to continued rule
by President Moi, but as you have said, that is not
what the current demonstrators advocate. They
advocate "reform" to a multiparty regime, which is
exactly what the imperialists have indicated they
want. There is no evidence that a multiparty regime
is in the least progressive, and it has never led
to socialist revolution. A multiparty regime has
the potential for disastrous division of the
workers and peasants. My Kenyan friend wrote to me
that when the multiparty regime was introduced in
1993 it nearly lead to civil war because the
parties formed along tribal lines. It should be
obvious to us how divisive tribalism can be for
proletarian unity.
Yes, multiparty "democracy" is more favorable for
imperialism, and that is why the imperialists
prefer it to the one-party government Moi used to
have. If Moi willingly went along with this, I
could see writing him off as a hopeless comprador.
That Moi is resisting this does not make him a
revolutionary, but it makes him our ally against
imperialism. If Moi wins this battle, Kenya will
either be cut off from imperialist "aid" and thus
able to chart a more independent course or the
imperialists will have to cut a more favorable deal
with Kenya. Either way a victory for Moi is a
victory for Kenya.
If you consult leftist sources or sources within a
nation, it would be helpful if you quote them,
rather than leave your sources to our imagination.
When we can only see sources from domestic
bourgeois sources, it is difficult to conclude that
you have done a thorough investigation.
Comradely Yours,
--a friend in the south
MIM RESPONDS: This letter continues a debate with
this reader which began with the MIM Notes article
on Kenya published in MIM Notes on October 1. We
take this opportunity to update our readers on the
situation in Kenya and continue this debate which
is very relevant to organizers everywhere who must
always ask the question of who are our friends and
who are our enemies.
Elections were held in Kenya in late December and
President Moi won another term in office. As we
described in the October 1st article, this is no
surprise since he carried out the same campaign of
violence against the people in areas known to
support his opponents that was carried out by his
party in the 1992 elections. Our critic has
suggested that our sources from the original
article should be questioned because they all came
from mainstream press but MIM has seen no evidence
anywhere that suggests that Moi did not carry out
this violence against the people of Kenya and we
have a lot of evidence that he has. We were unable
to find any leftist sources, either inside or
outside Kenya, that said anything other than what
we reported. Mainstream media does not always lie
and we can sometimes glean useful facts from it.
As we also pointed out in the October 1 article,
Kenya receives a tremendous amount of foreign aid
from the imperialists. As the article stated, over
the past decade this has totaled more than $8
billion. This reader is correct to point out that
Moi is now faced with the need to oppose the multi-
party system that imperialism is demanding in order
to put a pretty face on the Kenyan dictatorship.
But little has changed over the past five years. In
1992 Moi was also opposing this same multi-party
system and he had no problem getting millions of
dollars in imperialist aid each year after
massacring so many of his people to win the 1992
elections. A lot of the harsh words between the IMF
and Moi are posturing attempts to look good in the
eyes of the international community of imperialists
and it is likely Moi will be back on the
imperialist payroll.
Saddam Hussein is a good example to look at. He has
never been a friend of the people. He has murdered
the Kurds along with many of his own people and has
certainly not run his government in the interests
of the people. But once he was faced with
imperialist military aggression he resisted with
military force and thus became an ally of the anti-
imperialist movement. This does not mean that we
support Hussein but it does mean that we support
Iraq's battle against the imperialists. When
Hussein and the imperialists were just exchanging
mean words Hussein was not an ally. It was only
through the change in material circumstances that
he became an ally.
The same would be true for Kenya. Moi is not a
friend of the people and is not an ally just
because he opposes some aspects of the imperialists
plans. Moi being cut off from imperialist aid so he
can "chart a more independent course" will not make
him an ally. In all likelihood this course will be
a continued military dictatorship over the Kenyan
people. But in a military conflict between the
imperialists and Kenya, we would certainly side
with Kenya and oppose all imperialist military
aggression and support military opposition to the
imperialists.
* * *
AMERIKA EXPANDS MILITARY ROLE IN LATIN AMERICA
by MC12
News in recent weeks extends the trend of
increasing Amerikan military presence in Latin
America, supposedly involved in stopping the drug
trade but in fact directly targeted at the region's
revolutionary movements. In Mexico, Colombia, and
Panama, recent news offers some details of
deepening U.$. involvement, making clear that
supposed end of the Cold War has done nothing to
satiate the imperialist desire to control the
resources and labor of the oppressed nations of
Latin America.
The CIA, the State Department and the Pentagon are
all involved in using Amerikan resources to beef up
covert operations in Mexico and Colombia, and to
extend the U.$. presence in Panama beyond 1999, all
supposedly in the name of fighting the drug trade.
COVERT OPS IN MEXICO
The U.$. is giving the Mexican military covert
intelligence and support, and training "hundreds"
of officers "to help shape a network of anti-drug
troops around the country" according to
"officials," who spoke to the New York Times. Under
"advice" from the CIA, the Mexican military has
created an "elite army intelligence unit that has
quietly moved to the forefront of Mexico's anti-
drug effort."(1)
Mexico and the U.$. are being quiet about this
operation because of a bad history in which CIA-run
anti-drug operations led to the acknowledged death
of innocents in the 1980s, and the long-standing
role of the Mexican military in the drug trade
itself. Like the supposedly defunct death-squads of
the Cold War era, these are U.$-trained and
equipped military units that Amerika thinks it can
count on when push comes to shove. The details of
their initial assignments -- the pretext for the
involvement -- are less important than their long-
term allegiance to the U.$. and its agenda for the
region. Or, in the words of "a Pentagon official,
'You were looking for general ways to engage,
military to military.'"
The U.$. says it will train 3,000 Mexican troops by
fall, with a few hundred as crack officers to
coordinate the group nation-wide. They also gave
Mexico 73 "aging" helicopters for operations in
remote areas. However, the Times reports, "Mexican
and United States military officials said there was
nothing to stop the transfer of American-trained
army officers to similar special forces units that
might be deployed against leftist insurgents in
southern states like Guerrero and Chiapas." On top
of this group, there are also 90 "carefully chosen
young officers" selected for "a special force of
the army intelligence section" supposedly against
narcotics, trained by the CIA.
"Several American officials compared the program to
the CIA's work in Colombia," the Times reported,
and MIM couldn't agree more.
COLOMBIAN AID OVER "HUMAN RIGHTS"
The U.$. now admits it worked out an agreement last
summer to give millions of dollars to the Colombian
military in fiscal year 1998, for
"counterinsurgency activities as part of a larger
program to fight drug trafficking," according to
the Washington Post. This is supposedly only to be
used in the southern half of the country, where the
Post says "the alliance between the guerrillas and
the drug traffickers is clearest." The money is
supposed to be used for communications equipment,
transportation supplies and the like.(2)
For the last few years the U.$. has made noise
about the human rights abuses of the Colombian
government and its paramilitary allies in the
countryside. What the U.$. really opposes, however,
is apparently the chaotic nature of the Colombian
government's efforts and the weakness and
incompetence that is causing them to lose ground in
the countryside. A "senior administration official"
told the Post: "The grip of the government on the
territory in the countryside is loosening
considerably. About 50% of the territory is not
under government control, and there is a growing
nexus between the narcos and many fronts of the
guerrillas. The government is in trouble." The
opponents in question are the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia and the National Liberation
Army, both of which are on the State Department
list of terrorists for this year.
Human rights can't get in the way of that. Despite
the fact that the military has committed civilian
massacres, disappearances, and torture, and that
the president is himself on the payroll of major
drug traffickers. In the 1970s the Colombian
military created rural paramilitary groups to fight
leftists. In the 1980s, however, these groups
became openly aligned with the drug industry, with
the government's tacit support, The U.$. apparently
wants to formalize this role and bring it under
control of the military.
The U.$. needs "stability" in Colombia and
elsewhere in the region, which means leftists have
to be suppressed, and large areas of informal
economic activity such as the drug trade must be
under the control of the U.$. or trustworthy local
governments.
PANAMA TROOPS TO STAY
Finally, in the category of What Did You Expect?,
the U.$. has announced a deal to keep troops in the
Panama canal area beyond the supposed return of the
canal to Panama in 1999. The U.$. and Panama signed
an agreement to keep troops there as part of "drug
interdiction" efforts; they will build a new
military center at the old Howard Air Base, where
U.$. troops are based.(3)
Whether the U.$. uses drug trade or any other
pretext for its military involvement, imperialists
interests in the region are structural and not
subject to negotiation: they must fight to
maintain control -- direct or indirect -- over the
labor and resources of Latin America. That means
protecting trustworthy governments, undermining
governments they can't count on, and resisting all
movements for self-determination by any means
necessary.
MIM does not represent any of the leftist movements
in Latin America, and we won't speak for them on
the issue of the drug trade or anything else.
However, it is our internationalist duty to
unconditionally oppose U.$. military involvement
anywhere in the oppressed nations of the world, to
expose the corruption and crimes against humanity
that they commit, and organize in the belly of the
beast to oppose U.$. imperialism in all of its
forms.
NOTES
1. New York Times 29 December 1997, p. A1.
2. Washington Post 27 December 1997, p. A1.
3. Washington Post 25 December 1997, p. A38.
* * *
WELFARE CUTS LEAVE IMMIGRANTS HUNGRY
by MC17
Under 1996 federal welfare reforms, legal
immigrants who are not U.$. citizens, or do not
meet other qualifying criteria, were cut off from
food-stamp benefits. These changes in federal law
have pushed nearly 800,000 off the nation's food-
stamp rolls based on immigration status.(1) Welfare
cuts that hit immigrants were popular in congress
because of the strong chauvinist sentiment among
the white nation in the United Snakes. This
reactionary nationalism leads Amerikans to consider
immigrants (both legal and illegal) to be stealing
from the hard earned resources in this kkkountry.
These chauvinists conveniently ignore the fact that
the wealth of this nation was built on the backs of
slaves and is sustained by the theft of resources
and exploitation of labor in Amerika's colonies. It
is from the horrible conditions imposed by
imperialism in these colonies that many of the
immigrants flee when they come to the u.s.Congress
rewrote federal welfare rules last year as a part
of the public policy move to reduce federal
assistance to individuals (corporations still
receive plenty of welfare) to save tax dollars.
For most non-citizens, the food stamps simply
ended. This, combined with other welfare changes,
was promoted as saving taxpayers an estimated $3.7
billion over five years. Under welfare reform,
legal immigrants can still receive food stamps if
they have served in the U.S. military or can show
that they have worked 10 years in the United
$tates. Otherwise, the lack of U.S. citizenship is
enough to disqualify an immigrant, no matter how
needy. (2)Food assistance requests have been on the
rise for years. And it is not only immigrants who
are contributing to this rise. But there is a
disproportionate number of oppressed nationals,
including immigrants, relying on welfare and other
public assistance and as a result cuts have had a
disproportionate impact on these groups. Detroit
had the second highest increase among 29 major
cities in requests for emergency food assistance in
1996. The 34 percent rise in food requests in
Detroit was three times the average of all the
cities surveyed. Detroit ranked behind Boston,
which had a 50 percent increase. Only two cities,
Norfolk, Va., and Minneapolis, reported drops in
such requests. Nationally, requests for food aid
increased by 11 percent.(3)
One out of four requests for food aid in Detroit
was turned down because of a lack of resources
according to a report from a task force of the U.S.
Conference of Mayors. The Hunger Action Coalition
in Detroit reported turning away 6,200 requests
during the first six months of the year.(3)
A Tufts University study commissioned by Second
Harvest estimates the food stamp cuts for citizens
and noncitizens are equivalent to taking nearly 24
billion pounds of food from the poor over five
years -- enough food to provide three square meals
a day to every Texan for an entire year. Second
Harvest, which provided 1 billion pounds of food
last year, would have to increase its output by 425
percent to meet the shortages, the study
estimated.(4)
As 1997 draws to a close, unemployment rates have
sunk to a 25-year low and the nation's economy is
considered quite strong. Nationally, 86 percent of
cities surveyed recently by the U.S. Conference of
Mayors reported an increase in demand for emergency
food assistance. On average, requests for food at
soup kitchens and food pantries have risen by 16
percent. And 38 percent of those seeking emergency
food aid are employed, according to the Conference
of Mayors, up from 23 percent in 1994.(5)
Welfare is a pacifying hand-out from the
imperialist government. Its purpose is to keep the
people from fighting for more. This is not a case
of the benevolence of capitalism but rather the
material interest the system has in keeping the
people in its own country relatively quiet and
pacified. The assistance the government hands out
is stolen from the people the capitalists exploit:
external and internal colonies of the united
snakes. When the government cuts welfare it is a
calculated risk that the majority of the people in
this country are happy enough with imperialism from
the super-profits they share through parasitic jobs
and consumer benefits.When charity organizations
step in and fill the holes left by government
pulling out of welfare programs, they do a
disservice to the people. The money spent by
charity groups only helps to keep the people
passive when it is not coupled with political
education and organizing work. MIM does not wish to
see anyone go hungry or without shelter but we know
that offering a few meals to a few people is not
going to change the system that creates this hunger
and homelessness. This is a systematic problem of
imperialism and we encourage all who are outraged
by these problems to join the fight to overthrow
the system that causes them.
STATES STEP IN
The cuts hit particularly hard in four states --
California, Florida, New York and Texas -- which
account for three quarters of all non-citizens on
food stamps. Of these, Texas alone has taken no
steps to provide relief to its 168,000 immigrants
on federal food stamp rolls earlier this year.(4)
While the federal law cut nearly all benefits for
legal immigrants, almost every state has decided,
sometimes using its own money, to keep immigrant
benefits intact.(6)States have stepped in to fill
some of the gaps in federal assistance but this
again is not the benevolence of capitalism but
rather the states understanding the need to keep
the people under control. Republican Texas governor
Bush is a good example of this pragmatism. He
lobbied strongly for a reinstatement of federal
Medicaid benefits to immigrants who had been cut
because he saw the large numbers in his state who
would be affected.
Faced with the new responsibility of deciding who
qualifies for aid, all but a few states are
continuing benefits for immigrants who were here
when the law took effect. And almost every state
also will provide cash help and Medicaid for
immigrants arriving after that, once they have been
in the country five years. Many states are going
further. It's illegal under the new law for a state
to use federal money for future immigrants during
their first five years here. More than a third of
states are using state dollars to make sure
immigrants are covered from the day they arrive.
That includes California and New York, where half
the country's legal immigrants live. Florida and
Texas, the third and fourth largest immigrant
states, are helping replace cuts in food stamps,
using state money to pay aid once paid solely from
the federal treasury.(6)These measures to cushion
the effects of the federal Welfare cuts clearly
have not eliminated the problem as can be seen from
the numbers in this article which show a large rise
in need for food assistance. Those truly interested
in ending hunger should be working with MIM to
develop serve the people programs that provide for
the needs of the oppressed in the context of
building a revolutionary movement to overthrow
imperialism.
NOTES:
1. The Miami Herald 29 December 1997
2. Austin American-Statesman 14 December 1997.
3. The Detroit News 17 December 1997.
4. AP 25 August 1997.
5. LA times, Dec 28, 19976. The Detroit News 20
October 1997.
* * *
NEW YORK POLICE FATALLY SHOOT OPPRESSED NATIONALS
MORE THAN 3-TO-1
by MC12
Figures released by the New York City police
department show that their officers shot and killed
14 Black and 9 Hispanic "suspects" in 1996. They
admit to shooting a total of 39 Black and 25
Hispanic "suspects." By comparison, 7 whites were
fatally shot, out of 10 shot overall. That means
New York police kill oppressed nationals over
whites at a rate of 3.3-to-1, and shoot oppressed
nationals at a rate of 6.4-to-1. They report no
Asians shot in 1996. These are deaths and woundings
from shootings only; other sources of wounding and
death by cops were not included. Those numbers also
don't include 11 "bystanders" who were shot, for
whom a breakdown was not reported in the paper.
NOTES: New York Times 2 January 1998, p. A16.
* * *
MICHIGAN TRANSFERS PRISONERS TO FEDERAL KKKAMP
by the Political Prisoners of War Coalition
While MIM has unity with the PPWC's focus on the
state increasing repression while drumming up
support for prisons, MIM does not agree with the
specific economic analysis of this article.
It has been brought to our attention from that
prisoners from Jackson, Michigan were shipped out
to the Federal Correctional Facility in Morgantown,
West Virginia.(1) The news reported that within the
next two weeks over 500 prisoners will be shipped
out of state to help relieve the overcrowding
Michigan is experiencing. We find this horrific and
a blatant act of disregard for the prisoner and for
her/his family and or friends.
Last month (November 1997) it was reported in the
Lansing State Journal that governor John Engler and
the legislators were discussing this move but that
they hadn't made any permanent decisions to do so
at that time. Also, they had mentioned that if the
plan were implemented it would not begin until
sometime in 1998. It appears that the politicians
couldn't wait. It appears that the temptation for
money was too great not to move...NOW... these
prisoners. This is nothing more than a money making
venture. Making money for the state coffers and
money made off the backs of prisoner labor. Slave
labor backed by the 13th Amendment for products
made by prisoners for profit. With this profit
never being given to the prisoner or their
families.
This 13th Amendment [has] allowed prison officials
and the corporate world to come up with a way to
abuse this clause in the amendment and make a
dollar. Michigan's refusal to release prisoners on
parole has been long debated and argued by
prisoners, their families and even several ex-MD0C
employees, most notably, one Robert Brown (a Black
man that was once the Director of the MDOC). He use
to argue how the parole board is refusing to
release men and wimmin, thus creating the
overcrowded conditions and creating hardships on
him via ... lawsuits he was named in for being the
Director of the MDOC. Needless to say Robert Brown
retired and the Corrections Commission (who once
over-saw the parole board and made policy or
recommendations to them) have been terminated under
governor Engler's leadership so now there is no
check or balance in regards to how the parole board
operates. This in itself, have created to the
overcrowding which has resulted in prisoners now
being transferred to out of state facilities. It is
interesting that these first transferred prisoners
are going to a federal facility.
It is in the federal facility that have the
majority of privatized factory jobs. And it is in
the federal facilities that many government
contracts are fulfilled via prisoner labor.
If the people of Michigan do not NOW protest... if
the people of every state do not protest this
action (moving prisoners out of state) then this is
going to be the new thing for all states. Soon,
more and more people will find themselves
incarcerated (on bogus charges and given long
sentences) so that they can work in these factories
and make money for the kkkampitalist.
Source:
1. WDIV TV channel 4 news on December 17, 1997.
* * *
MICHIGAN TRANSFERS AID ENGLER'S PLAN FOR
OPPRESSION: BUILD MORE AND MORE PRISONS
On December 17, 1997, 38 prisoners were transferred
from the state prison in Jackson to a federal
prison in Morgantown, West Virginia. This comes on
the tail of Governor Engler's November request to
build five new prisons. Engler claims that Michigan
needs three-$30 million minimum-security prisons
and two-$70 million multi-security-level prisons.
If approved, these would increase Michigan's
capacity to imprison the oppressed with 5,400 new
spaces. To bolster support for the proliferation of
prisons, Michigan plans to transfer about 500
prisoners total over the next few months.
The new prison construction will take a hefty chunk
of dough which Engler must convince settler nation
whites to allow the state to spend. The
proliferation of prisons means that the white
settler nation benefits from construction jobs and
jobs in the growing force of pigs. Settlers more
generally benefit from massive incarceration of the
oppressed. This is because the oppressed will not
be out organizing to end settler nation domination
and because incarceration is a tool of genocide
against oppressed nations. However, settlers need
coaxing to allow more money for state plantations.
These are long term and systematic material
benefits to the white nation which mistakenly
believes it needs compensation for paying taxes to
support prisoners who are supposedly living in the
lap of luxury.
Engler's propaganda claims that Michigan needs to
create spaces for 6,400 more prisoners by 2001. The
claim that Michigan (or any other Amerikan state)
needs to build more prisons is one of those nasty
myths created by the oppressor to maintain
domination over the masses. DOC spokespig Matt
Davis said, "The transfer scheduled for early today
marked the first time that overcrowding has forced
Michigan to send its prisoners out of state." While
Michigan prisoners are contained in overcrowded and
inadequate facilities, the transfers are in fact
only a publicity ploy to gain support for
increasing money spent on Michigan's slave
plantations.
In 1996, Engler asked for four and got permission
to build two new concentration camps. One is a new
maximum-security adult prison in St. Louis in
Gratiot County. And the other is a prison for youth
in Lake County. Michigan is also currently
expanding existing facilities to add 700 more beds.
Instead of giving your support to locking up
thousands of human beings, MIM calls on progressive
people to work with us to destroy this filthy
system and build a revolutionary society in which
people are encouraged to become productive members
of society and the real criminals are reformed or
punished.
The problem is not that Michigan is lacking spaces
for prisoners, rather the problem is that the
settler nation government is rounding up the
oppressed and throwing them in prison at record
rates. The massive round up serves to control
oppressed populations and ensure that they are not
on the outside organizing against this oppressive
disgusting system. Already in Michigan, 59% of the
prisoner population is Black whereas only 14% of
the general population is Black.
It is not sufficient for Engler to state that there
needs to be more prisons when Michigan does not
provide adequate or equal education and denies real
opportunities to oppressed nationals. The solution
is not more prisons, but until we are able to tear
down the system, we will show that increased
incarceration of the oppressed is the way in which
the imperialists deal with the masses instead of
meeting basic human needs.
The approximate 500 prisoners will be transferred
to Beckley, W.Va., Manchester, Ky., Duluth, Minn.,
and Leavenworth, Kansas in addition to Morgantown.
The prisoners who are being transferred are serving
sentences for non-violent offenses and allegedly
volunteered for the transfers. That information is
of course suspect because we don't trust the state
when it says prisoners are volunteering for any
form of incarceration.
Contact the address on page two if you have any
information on the conditions of the prisoners
transferred and further information on the
plantations which these prisoners are being
transferred to. Also contact us if you are willing
to help MIM and RAIL expose the slave trade between
states which is on the rise in the United Snakes of
Amerikkka.
Notes: http://www.freep.com/news/mich/qstate17.htm
and http://aa.mlive.com/ap/1217prison.htm
* * *
DC POLICE CORRUPTION EXPOSED
ANSWER IS REVOLUTION - NOT MORE PIGS!
DC's white police chief Larry Soulsby recently
resigned in the wake of a scandal dubbed "fairy
shaking." This means extorting money from men who
visit gay bars.
Jeffrey Stowe, Soulsby's fellow pig, resigned first
after being charged with extortion. Stowe is
accused of following men who appeared to be married
(as evidenced by a car with a baby seat) and
photographing them at gay bars. Stowe used access
to police information to track the name and address
(from the car's license plate.) Stowe then
threatened to expose the men to families or bosses
if they didn't pay. Stowe was caught because one
man refused to pay and called the FBI to report
that a high level DC police officer was engaged in
extortion.(1)
The DC police force has historically been rife with
corruption, including brutality, mismanagement,
embezzling in the form of bogus overtime, and other
problems. We don't want a more efficient police
force as more pigs will only mean increased
incarceration of the oppressed. However, it is
important to note that the resignations tail
scandals involving the rich minority and were not a
result of the more common ways in which these pigs
used policing power to brutalize, arrest and
imprison the oppressed.It is especially insulting
to the residents of DC that the same police force
that does not investigate and solve street crime
harasses gay men for money. (See MN 154 for a story
on how DC's morgue does not rule obvious murders as
homicides, in part keeping the murder rate
artificially depressed.) The revelation that high
level officials in the police department were more
concerned with extorting money from rich white men
who visited the bars than they were with solving
the mysterious murders of five poor Black wimmin in
the Petworth neighborhood only adds insult to
injury.
When the Control Board took control of the D.C.
police department in 1997 it hired a consulting
firm to evaluate the police department and make
recommendations for improvements. The firm, Booz-
Allen, found that out of a force of 3,600 officers,
only 27 officers had made more than 100 arrests per
year, and in 1996 1,200 officers had not made a
single arrest.(2) Again, MIM does not advocate for
more arrests, but the Booz-Allen report exposes the
hypocrisy of maintaining a large police force that,
in the end, does not even meet the basic
requirements for solving the crimes that do concern
the residents of the city.
Soulsby appeared to take seriously the
recommendations of the Booz-Allen report, and it is
no surprise what he did: "After the consultant's
report was released, as a temporary measure I put
400 more police officers on patrol and aimed them
at high-crime targets. Š First, we are
significantly increasing the number of officers on
patrol on the city's streets."(3)A predictable
response from the pigs is to put more of them on
the street so that so-called crime can be reduced.
MIM knows that so-called street crime accounts for
far fewer murders and rapes than the mass crimes of
the imperialist state. MIM urges the people of DC
to expose police corruption, and work with MIM to
build public opinion and independent institutions
of the oppressed. MIM does not want to see more
"community policing", and MIM does not want to see
the police making more arrests and brutalizing more
young oppressed-nation men. MIM wants the people to
protect and police themselves by being more self-
reliant rather than trusting the police.
NOTES:
1. The Washington Post 2 December 1997, p. C4.
2. The New Republic, 19 January 1998, p. 20.
3. The Washington Post 25 June 1997, p. A19.
* * *
IMPERIALISTS TIGHTEN GRIP ON CRISIS-RIDDEN KOREAN
ECONOMY
Throughout December, Amerikan bourgeois media
reported on the economic crisis in south Korea and
the International Monetary Fund (IMF)'s record-
breaking $57 billion bailout loan to south Korea.
Amerikan capitalists are interested in this story
either because they could lose money if south Korea
defaults on its loans, or because they are looking
to buy up bankrupt south Korean enterprises at
bargain prices.
MIM reports on this story for two reasons: (a) The
crisis will further impoverish the Korean working
class, and (b) The crisis and the terms of the IMF
loan provide more proof of the bankruptcy of the
capitalist, debt-driven, and imperialist-dependent
"Korean model" for autonomous development.
The south Korean economy was slow throughout 1997.
Domestic machinery orders fell 34.6 percent in the
year to November, machinery imports fell 21.8
percent, and domestic construction orders slid 23.3
percent.(1) This is a sign of capitalist crisis.
Industrial capitalists have produced too many
commodities relative to demand, so they are cutting
back production. South Korean stocks are at 10-year
lows, thanks in part to a big sell-off by foreign
speculators.(2)
But the cause for all the recent hubbub and the IMF
loan was the south Korean foreign debt, which is
estimated to be $200 billion. $28 billion - more
than south Korea can currently afford - is due by
the end of February.(3) The debt crisis is
exacerbated by the fact that the won (the south
Korean currency) lost half of its value relative to
the u.$. dollar in 1997.(3)
Lay offs, plant closures, and "allowing
uncompetitive firms to fail" are central conditions
of the of the IMF's loan. President-elect Kim Dae
Jung, whom the bourgeois media alleges is "labor-
friendly," said, "[W]e must hurry reforms requested
by [the IMF], and layoffs are inevitable."(4)
Unemployment is expected to triple to 6% in 1998.
Unemployment insurance is basically non-existent.
"It gives jobless workers at most only three
payments, each amounting to half of their last
monthly pay."(5) The petty-bourgeoisie is also
suffering as a result of the current crisis. Some
university instructors have not been paid in over
three months.
Many south Korean trade unions are planning to
strike rather than take the lay-offs lying down.
IMPERIALISTS INCREASE PENETRATION OF ECONOMY
Conditions on the IMF loan also made it easier for
foreign monopoly capital to enter and dominate the
south Korean economy.
At the end of December the south Korean legislature
increased to proportion of local companies that
could be owned by foreign investors to 55%. There
will be no limit to this proportion beginning April
1, 1998.(3) Foreign banks and security firms are
now allowed to open wholly owned subsidiaries.(6)
This is not the first time that foreign monopoly
capitalists have used loan conditions to increase
their control over the south Korean economy. For
example, in 1980, when the country was facing a
similar crisis, Japan stepped in with a $4 billion
package. "The price Chun Doo Hwan [head of the
south Korean regime at the time] paid [for this
"aid"] was to begin to open Korean markets to
American and Japanese service industries like banks
and insurance companies, and to American
agricultural exports of rice, wheat, tobacco, and
fruit."(7)
South Korea not a model for Third World
development. Apologists for capitalism have argued
that the relatively successful industrial
development of south Korea shows the superiority of
capitalism to socialism. Even some middle-class
Koreans argue that what Korea needs now is another
Park Chung Hee (the fascist who oversaw the so-
called Korean miracle in the sixties and
seventies). But as MIM pointed out in 1993,
"People should realize that the 'four tigers' or
'little dragons' -- Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and
Singapore -- are the exceptions of history of
development in the dependent capitalist orbit. Even
if capitalism 'worked' for these four, it would not
prove anything about the possibilities for
development under imperialism. The reason is that
you would have to count all the failures that went
with the successes...
"At least 22 capitalist-dominated countries have
suffered an actual decline in per capita income in
recent years according to the U.S. Statistical
Abstract. The imperialists can still exploit most
countries mercilessly, so a few exceptions are
allowed by the system to develop while other
countries decline in the international capitalist
sweepstakes. The winners and losers change from
time to time, but the system stays the same."(1)
Indeed, the strategy of Park Chung Hee and his
successors -- secure massive foreign loans by
militarily regulating the labor market and
centrally co-ordinate investment -- has been used
by many other countries (the Philippines, Mexico,
Peru, to name a few) with little success.
What accounts for south Korea's so-called success?
First, the Korean landlord class was overthrown in
the 1950s, thanks to the Korean communists, who
liberated most of Korea at the beginning of the
Korean war. The landlord class has been a hindrance
to the development of capitalism in countries like
the Philippines.
Second, south Korea had a vital geo-political role
for u.$. imperialism throughout the 50s, 60s, and
70s. It was a beachhead for aggression against
north Korea, China, and the Soviet Union. Because
of this, the u.$. was willing to pour incredible
amounts of money into south Korea to forestall
revolution. "[A]id funds alone amounted to 100
percent of the [south Korean government's] budget
in the 1950s." Another scholar estimates that u.$.
"aid" accounted for 30% of the south Korean
national income from 1945 to 1965.(8)
Significantly, much of the capital which Park used
to kick-start the economy in the 1970s came from
war profiteering. U.$. payments for the government
of south Korea's assistance to the Amerikan war of
aggression in Viet Nam "annually accounted for
between 7 and 8 percent of Korea's GDP in the
period 1966-1969 and for as much as 19 percent of
its total foreign earnings."(9) Some things have
not changed since Marx wrote, "Capital comes
dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with
blood and dirt."(10)
Finally, the influx of foreign capital and the
growth of the local capitalist class depended on a
cheap and reliable labor force. For example, "In
the early 1960s the labor cost savings for firms in
the United States willing to move to Korea was a
factor of 25, since workers were paid one-tenth of
American wages but were 2.5 times more
productive."(11) Korean workers were more cheaper
and more productive (they worked longer hours and
were "more disciplined," thanks in part to harsh
anti-union laws and violent repression of labor
activists.
So we see that the south Korean "miracle" was not
the result of any one person's policies or the
superiority of capitalism. Rather it was founded on
the robbery of oppressed peoples by the u.$.
imperialists and the extreme exploitation of the
south Korean working class.
Furthermore, two of the conditions for south
Korea's success (the willingness of the u.$.
imperialists to prop up the south Korean economy
and the relative attractiveness of the south Korean
labor force to foreign investors) are decaying. On
the one hand, u.$. and Japanese imperialists view
the south Korean monopoly capitalists (Hyundai,
Samsung, etc.) as competitors. On the other hand,
the Chinese social-fascists have allowed foreign
monopoly capitalists access to the Chinese labor
force, which is even more attractive (cheaper).
There is no going "back to the (capitalist) future"
for south Korea. Only anti-imperialist and
socialist revolution can solve the basic problems
of the Korean people and ensure truly autonomous
industrial development which serves the needs of
the broad masses.
NOTES:
1. Reuters, 29 Dec 97.
2. MIM Notes 152 and Los Angeles Times, 30 Dec 97.
3. Los Angeles Times, 30 Dec 97.
4. Reuters, 27 Dec 97.
5. Las Vegas Review-Journal and Las Vegas Sun, 1
Jan 98.
6. Reuters, 25 Dec 97.
7. Bruce Cumings, "Korea's Place in the Sun," New
York, WW Norton and Company, 1977, p. 335.
8. Cumings, p. 306.
9. Cumings, p. 321.
10. Fundamentals of Political Economy, p. 33.
11. Cumings, p. 310.
* * *
SANTA CLAUS IN BAGHDAD?
by RC 4T4
On December 26, 1997 a plane landed in Baghdad
carrying medicine and a Santa Claus. This was the
second U.N. approved aid flight to arrive in two
days. The group responsible for chartering this
plane is the Icelandic Charity Peace 2000
Institute. Iraq is a predominantly Muslim country,
so the use of a Santa Claus is just another example
of European ethnocentrism. The U.N. approved aide
for Baghdad could not be more ironic. As the United
Snakes, who virtually control the United Nations,
builds more and more public opinion against Iraq,
they also use propaganda such as this plane
carrying aide to convince the people that the u.s
is really trying to help the people of Iraq.
Meanwhile the United Nations which approved this
token aide, is the same United Nations which
created a trade embargo against Iraq that has
resulted in extensive malnutrition of the people of
Iraq. The Iraqi government also points out that it
was the sweeping U.N. sanctions imposed after the
1990 invasion of Kuwait which caused the death of
hundreds of thousands of children. Therefore there
is much irony in a U.N. approved plane carrying a
Santa Claus who says "Violence leads to more
violence. Stop using children in politics."(1)
MIM does not know much about the Icelandic Charity
Peace 200 Institute, but we can tell by these
latest actions that they are not a revolutionary
group. This group calls for world leaders to stop
using children as political weapons, while it
cooperates with the U.N. who are responsible for
the embargo which is killing many Iraqui children
through malnutrition and the 1990 attack of Kuwait
which also killed hundreds of thousands. MIM agrees
that world leaders should stop using children in
their power games, but we disagree with the mixed
message being sent by the Icelandic charity Peace
2000 Institute. In order to truly help the children
of Iraq this group and other humanitarian groups
like it must be clear in their criticisms. They
must analyze the political situation and choose a
side and the side they choose must be the side of
the people. The number one enemy of the children in
Iraq is imperialism The only way to truly help the
people of Iraq is to overthrow the imperialism.
Under Socialism children will no longer be used as
political weapons and malnutrition will be a thing
of the past.
NOTES: The Times Herald Record 27 December, 1997.
* * *
CORRECTION:
In MIM Notes 153 we ran a story about the
Massachusetts Death Penalty in which we discussed
the pro-death penalty forces who used the killing
of a young boy, Jeffrey Curley, as a rallying
point. In this article we incorrectly focused on
this as a case of stranger molestation which builds
the property relationship between parents and
children by distracting from within family abuse.
In this case the real problem is not one evil of
imperialist patriarchal society being pitted
against another. In fact, MIM hopes that people
will be outraged and frenzied over murder. These
people should be friends of the anti-imperialist
movement as this murder is a direct result of the
imperialist system. It is our job to point out
these connections as we explain that the death
penalty will not reduce violence.
* * *
MEXICAN RULING PARTY MURDERS 45 IN CHIAPAS
On December 23, 1997, over one hundred members of a
government-backed paramilitary organization
murdered 45 people of the Tzotzil nation in the
village of Acteal, Chiapas. The victims included 21
wimmin, 15 children and 9 men.(1) Eyewitnesses
claim that many of the children were killed as they
clung to their mothers' backs.(6)
The victims were supporters of the Zapatista
National Liberation Army (EZLN), which began its
struggle under the banner of self-determination for
indigenous people in January 1994. The attackers
were identified as local residents, backed by the
ruling party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party
(PRI).This latest attack had the largest death toll
since the insurrection in 1994. It reportedly came
after weeks of increased harassment and oppression
by government officials and police for money from
the peasantry to support their struggle against the
EZLN.
The Mexican police and PRI officials have been
threatening peasants with death if they refuse to
pay them to support the repression of the Zapatista
rebels. In some areas these taxes have been as high
as 10,000 pesos, which is an unattainable sum for
most peasants. PRI gunmen have also cut off dirt
roads that provide food for the local villages in
many areas. Because of this forced starvation and
threat of violence thousands of refugees have left
the villages for Zapatista controlled areas. The
people of Acteal fled to Polho after the massacre,
along with hundreds of others. Polho is one of the
EZLN's greatest strongholds, which have
institutionalized independent government.(2)
Local peasants reported that the massacre was in
retaliation to pro-Zapatista activity in the
village, including efforts to establish independent
governing institutions. Many of the villagers in
Acteal are members of las Abejas, a pacifist group
who supports the goals and efforts of the EZLN.
Others said that they are Zapatistas. The
government has tried to disassociate itself from
the incident, by blaming local religious and tribal
differences. However, even the bourgeoisie press
has recognized these efforts to cover up the
continuing role of the current regime's repression
of the indigenous people.
The major evidence against the PRI was the arrest
of Jacinto Aria Cruz, municipal president of
Chenalho (the district surrounding Acteal), after
he confessed to providing the arms for this attack.
He has been charged along with 39 others in for the
murders of the 45 innocent Tzotzil people.(3)
President Ernesto Zedillo and the federal
government continue to treat this as an isolated
case that they will remedy. Yet it has been the
strategy of the PRI to hire local people to carry
out counter-insurgency tactics throughout the
country. In this case they successfully turned
Tzotzil people against each other, but they failed
to wash their hands and have been caught in the
act. The PRI can continue to pretend to treat this
incident seriously, but religious groups,
opposition parties, and human rights officials have
all recognized this incident as a result of the
numerous paramilitary groups set up by the
government to carry out a war against the
Zapatistas.(4)
Subcommandante Marcos, a leader of the EZLN, gave a
four-page communique in response to the incident in
which he stated, "The direct responsibility for
these bloody acts rests on President Ernesto
Zedillo... and the secretary of the interior, who
for years gave the green light to a
counterinsurgency program presented by the federal
army."(2) The U$ media has not made such strong
statements but their indictment of the PRI is
clear. However, they choose to ignore, and MIM
would like to acknowledge, the role of U$ and CIA
backing in making such actions possible.
MIM has reported in the past on the use of the
guise of the "War on Drugs" to provide military aid
and training to the ruling Mexican government. The
CIA is responsible for setting up an elite
intelligence force in Mexico by providing training,
equipment and military advice. Meanwhile, the U$
has also backed a new civilian police force in the
country. Such acts have been carried out as
'temporary help until the 'corrupt' federal police
clean up their act.' This implies that the new, U$-
backed forces lack corruption. However arrests and
scandals within the ranks of these 'anti-drug'
forces continue.(5) It seems unlikely that the goal
of these forces is to slow drug-trafficking when
high ranking officials of these forces continue to
be exposed as complying with drug-traffickers for
money.
As an imperialist nation the U$ uses force to feed
its own interests in oppressed nations. It is quite
evident that aid provided to the PRI and other
forces in Mexico is an effort to combat the
uprising of the oppressed indigenous people. In
1995, the U$ gave 73 UH-1H helicopters to transport
drug forces to locations in Mexico. Both the
Mexican and U$ governments stated that there was no
reason that the choppers could not be used to
transport troops trained in the U$ into Guerrero
and Chiapas in order to repress leftist
insurgencies.(5)
MIM mourns the recent massacre in Chiapas, and
tallies it up on the long list of victims of
imperialist violence. MIM considers the struggle of
the indigenous peoples and peasants of Chiapas to
be just. However, the EZLN has tied its hands and
put on a blindfold by scorning class analysis and
hoping for the advent of true democracy in Mexico
without overturning the ruling economic system. We
urge all those who want to stop oppression to make
a serious study of the theories of Marx, Engels,
Lenin, Stalin and Mao, and apply their theses to
the situation in Mexico, to secure victory of the
oppressed masses in Mexico.
NOTES:
1. Washington Post 25 December 1997, p. A1.
2. Los Angeles Times 25 December 1997, p. A1.
3. International Herald Tribune 29 December 1997,
News, p.2
4. New York Times 29 December 1997, p. A10.
5. New York Times 29 December 1997, p. A1.
6. La Opinion, 24 Dec 97.
* * *
CALIFORNIA PRISONS REPRESS FIRST NATIONS, MUSLIMS,
SIKHS
by MC234
Governor Pete Wilson's California Department of
Corrections has launched another attack on
prisoners in the name of "personal appearances." In
an effort to break the will of the prisoners, the
prison is banning beards and long hair and will be
replacing the current uniforms of blue jeans and
denim shirts with all white uniforms stenciled with
"CDC Prisoner" in black.
California has 156,000 prisoners in 33 prisons.
Already California has cutback education programs
and banned media interviews with prisoners. Weights
and barbells are also being removed as part of a
stated effort to keep prisoners from "bulking up",
but the real reason to remove an enjoyable (and
healthy!) recreational activity for the prisoners.
Controlling prisoners dress and recreation is a way
to break the will of individual prisoners as well
as preclude progressive organizing.
In addition to the "grooming" restrictions
mentioned above, the new Penal Code 3062 "forbids
earrings, long sideburns, mutton chop whiskers, and
the shaving of letters, numbers and designs onto
the head." This means that the new Penal Code is an
assault upon the democratic freedoms of First
Nation, Sikh and Muslim prisoners. First Nation and
Sikh prisoner's religions require long hair, and
Muslims require beards.
NOTES: Boston Globe 4 January 1998, p. A20.
* * *
MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM ONLINE
JERICHO '98 ORGANIZERS LAUNCH NEW WEB PAGE
http://jericho98.togdog.com
peace- first, i would like to thank you for your
efforts in creating this [MIM's -ed.] website -- it
is both informative and necessary. second, i would
like to know if you would please link to the new
jericho '98 website which is still under
construction but is the main informational source
for the march 27, 1998 protest in washington d.c.
that will demand amnesty and freedom for all u.s.
political prisoners. additionally, if there are any
suggestion, updates or additional information that
you may have, please contact me at
jericho98@togdog.com lastly, please feel free to
forward this message and url to your mailing lists,
organizational contacts and other interested
parties -- clearly we need to get the word out!
MIM RESPONDS: Thanks for the note. We did make the
link to our website. We hope that you will also
link yours to ours. And if you have not added an
announcement to your web site, please include a
note that RAIL is organizing a teach-in on the
criminal injustice system for Saturday the 28th for
Jericho '98 attendees. If you or any other Jericho
'98 organizers are interested in presenting at a
session at the teach- in, we would welcome your
participation. Please let us know and we can
discuss the topics and the specifics of the agenda.
RAIL TEACH-IN ON THE CRIMINAL INJUSTICE SYSTEM
Saturday, March 28
Washington DC
The Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL)
will host a teach-in on the criminal injustice
system the day following the Jericho '98 march.
This is part of the general work that is necessary
to build support for incarcerated comrades and
prisoners' struggles against oppress. We must free
the People's leaders from Amerikan gulags! We must
expand support for all prisoners' struggles against
oppression!
We are hosting this teach-in to broadly educate and
mobilize activists to expose the Amerikan Injustice
system as the tool of national oppression and
genocide that it is.
The tactics of COINTELPRO and the imprisonment of
political leaders and revolutionaries have been
tools to perpetuate oppression. These tactics, both
previous and current, must be exposed. We mobilize
support for the estimated 150-200 prisoners
incarcerated specifically for political beliefs and
actions because these are valued leaders whose only
crimes were actions or beliefs aimed at the
liberation of the People.
Beyond support for specific individuals, we build
support for all struggles against oppression. We
see that the disproportionate imprisonment rate of
oppressed nationals alone necessitates a broad
struggle against the current Amerikan prison system
in its totality. All imprisonment is political
because of current inequality in Amerikan society,
poor representation in the court system,
disproportionate convictions and sentence lengths
handed down to the oppressed and because of
conditions in prisons which extend sentences as
opposed to helping people to become productive
members of society.
The teach-in will include sessions on the nature of
the criminal injustice system as well as various
organizers providing information on local and
continental campaigns to build support for national
liberation struggles and prisoners' struggles. A
preliminary agenda will be available shortly.
Contact us if you or your organization is
interested in presenting at the teach-in. For more
information, e-mail us at rail@mim.org
CYBER-CRIME WATCH:
PIGS USE INTERNET TO COMMIT CRIMES AGAINST THE
PEOPLE
For months, MIM has reported on ways that law
enforcement, capitalists like Amerikkka Online, and
the bourgeois media have worked together to portray
the Internet as a mode of communication needing
special surveillance and policing. The bourgeois
press routinely plays up criminal activity that
involves the Internet (such as finding a recipe for
a bomb online) or other behavior deemed anti-social
(such as ignoring your children or marriage because
of time spent surfing the Web.) MIM has pointed out
that these activities are not unique to the
Internet, and the motivation behind their
vilification is to promote more law enforcement,
more privatization, and less of what we currently
enjoy as "free speech."
While making a big deal out of online crime among
the people, the pigs are also using the Internet to
commit crimes against the people. MIM provides a
few examples below:
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTION:
http://www.dc.state.fl.us
This site provides information on inmates who have
been released from the Florida gulags. Calling it
"in the interest of public safety," in addition to
release date the site is replete with photographs,
birth dates, aliases, and a list of "current
offenses" (for which prison time has already been
served!). It is searchable by "race" so that with
no information you can do a search, for example,
for all Asians released this year. This is just
part of a larger trend that under the guise of the
"public's right to know" aims to keep people in
prison for life, even after they are released.
U.$. MARSHAL'S SERVICE: "WORLD'S MOST WANTED"
http://www.MostWanted.org
Provides names and photographs, like the ones in
the U.$. Post Office, of fugitives. Provides links
to many state Drug Enforcement Administration
agencies that also list names and photographs of
fugitives. Only quantitatively worse than the low-
tech Post Office mug shots, which at least were not
broadcast across global networks and turned into
video games for the settler masses.
MASSACHUSETTS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
http://www.magnet.state.ma.us/doc/
Here the Massachusetts DOC boasts of and markets
quality products made with exploited prison labor
through "MassCor" Industries, and posts press
releases bragging about the state of the art
vehicles used to transport prisoners from
Massachusetts to Texas.
TENNESSEE DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
http://www.state.tn.us/corrections
This site topped them all. In addition to such
things as a "Myths and Facts" section which debunks
the popular misconceptions about prison life being
easy or comfortable by bragging about how
oppressive it really is, this site includes a "Kids
Fun Zone." There, kids can take a trivia test with
questions like "Tennessee prisoners are fed... a)
only rice and beans, b) only bread and water, c)
the same food you eat" implying that the food in
Tennessee's prisons is adequate. It also quizzes
kids humorously on crimes, possible punishments,
and all around makes jokes at the expense of the
people it locks up.
Work with MIM and RAIL to expose the injustices of
Amerikkkan prisons and to organize to protect the
limited freedoms we have to use the Internet and
all communications technologies to build public
opinion on behalf of the international proletariat,
for socialism.
* * *
ASIAN COMMUNITY MOBILIZES AGAINST PORNOGRAPHY
by a RAIL Comrade
On December 3, over 150 students and faculty
members at UMass, Boston protested the pornography
in Mass Media, the conduct of the student senate,
and the inadequate response from the UMass
administration.
On November 20, the UMass, Boston student
newspaper, Mass Media, ran an article exposing the
UMASS student senate's use of school computers to
view pornography on the Internet. The Mass Media
article entitled "Senate Undresses Asian Concerns"
was accompanied by three partially blacked out, but
obviously pornographic pictures of Asian wimmin.
The blackening did not leave much to the
imagination.
Student senate president, Joe Fernandez, admitted
that he knew student senators were viewing
pornography on the senate computers. He claims that
he asked them repeatedly to stop, but other student
senate members gave conflicting reports. Senator
Michael Gervais said some senators have been
viewing pornography on the state funded computers
since the fall of 1996. He claims he threatened the
other senators and they stopped viewing the
pornography at school.
An anonymous source delivered evidence to The Mass
Media, who then published the pornography. The
publication of this pornography, which was
primarily pictures of naked Asian women, was a
sensationalist stunt to get people to pay attention
to The Mass Media's article. The use of pornography
by the student senate and then by the student
newspaper outraged many on campus.
The Asian Student Center at UMass, Boston organized
the rally that was held on December 3, 1997. The
rally was attended by many oppressed nationals and
progressive whites standing before a banner
proclaiming "Rally Against Sexism and Racism." To
the side of the rally stood three representatives
of The Mass Media holding signs proclaiming their
right to free speech. A few other white nation
youth wandered around behind the rally heckling the
speakers. The rally speakers demanded the immediate
resignation of all student senate members,
denounced the manner in which The Mass Media
exposed the situation in the senate, and asked for
"an open publication of the results of Chancellor
Penny's Fact-Finding Committee."(1)
A list of demands was drawn up by the Asian Student
Center and has been given to the student senate,
The Mass Media, and the administration. One of the
demands asks that there be a student advisory
committee as well as an academic advisor appointed
to supervise the editorial policies and practices
of the student newspaper.
While MIM agrees with the protesting students, we
do not consider the formation of oversight
committees or administration actions an effective
way to fight this gender and nation oppression.
Giving any further power to the administration is
just asking for an institution that is already
steeped in patriarchal and imperialist ideology to
take over the greater enforcement of thought
control. Asking for a student advisory committee is
better than suggesting that the administration
should step in. But under imperialism any moves to
control media are going to end up serving the
powers that control them. Because the Mass Media is
a university funded and controlled newspaper, the
progressive students on campus would be better off
forming their own alternative newspaper and
demanding that the university also give them money
for this project. Only by having complete control
over the content can activists ensure that they are
fighting patriarchy and national oppression.
The local bourgeois media parroted The Mass Media's
approach, displaying the pornography from the cover
of the Mass Media on local television news
programs. They condemned the school newspaper's use
of pornography in words and then parroted The Mass
Media's sensationalism by showing the same pictures
they condemned.
MIM and RAIL oppose pornography. It is one of the
most obvious examples of the unequal power relation
between people based on gender. The incidents
involving pornography at UMass, Boston clearly
demonstrate the role of patriarchy and imperialism
in this growing industry of oppression. The
patriarchal culture of Amerikkka creates and
perpetuates an environment of exploitation for
wimmin, particularly oppressed nation wimmin.
The UMass Student Senate members and The Mass Media
staff readily participate in this imperialist
patriarchal system. The writers at the Mass Media
used a typical imperialist approach in their
article, instead of giving a clear political
analysis. They sensationalized the incident as an
isolated one, while at the same time claiming
"pornography is here to stay"(2) The Mass Media was
right to expose the senate for viewing pornography
on state funded school computers, but the manner in
which they exposed the senate was completely wrong.
The use of pornography to get the people's
attention is nothing more than the extension of
gender oppression.
MIM disagrees with the Mass Media when they say
"what is clear is that pornography, whether in
print or on the Internet, is here to stay."(2)
Pornography may be here to stay under patriarchy,
but under communism patriarchy and all of its vices
will be ended. MIM and RAIL conclude that
patriarchy is alive and kicking in Amerikkkan
society. We support the Asian community at UMass,
Boston for organizing against the recent events at
UMass but we must remember that patriarchy is built
into this oppressive imperialist system. Therefore
the only way to fully rid wimmin and all oppressed
nationals of oppression is to overthrow this
imperialist patriarchal system. Under a Socialist
revolution all wimmin will free themselves from
oppression.
NOTES:
1. List of demands by UMass, Boston Asian Student
Center.
2. The Mass Media volume 32, number 13.
* * *
AMERIKAN APARTHEID: ENFORCED HOUSING SEGREGATION
by MCB52
When MIM explains that the white nation in this
country is set apart and above other nations, young
white folks often try to deny they have benefited.
They often counter that their families came long
after slavery and built themselves up, implying
that Blacks and other oppressed nations could have
done the same. But the fact of the matter is that
whites have continued to get special help in
pursuing the Amerikan dream. The fiftieth
anniversary of the construction of Long Island's
Levittown, where white returning GI's got access to
affordable housing while Black returning GI's were
excluded, gives us the opportunity to illustrate
just how the Amerikan version of apartheid has come
to be.The New York Times does not get this at all,
and says that it is a "paradox" that "although
Levittown was built for World War II veterans, who
had fought tyranny and racism, its doors were
opened to at least one former German U-boat
soldier, while black American soldiers were turned
away." MIM knows that there is nothing paradoxical
about it. Amerika joined World War II not to fight
"racism," but to fight for control of resources for
itself and its allies. That included colonial
wealth. As internal colonies of the U$, it is no
more surprising that Black and other oppressed
nations did not share the fruits of Amerikan
prosperity than that the neo-colonies of the Third
World did not share them.The late 1940s and early
1950s were when the white nation became, in large
part, suburbanized. While Blacks had moved north
with the increasing industrial output, the
migration of whites out of the northern cities
created a new segregation. This new segregation
required two things: first, whites had to be able
to afford to buy the suburban houses, and second,
Blacks had to be kept out.The houses of Levittown
and many other suburbs were mass-produced and very
cheap. Levitt, the developer, was renowned as a
"visionary," the "Henry Ford of housing" as he
built 36 two-bedroom houses a day on 60-foot by
100-foot plots. The price was low, just $7000, or
monthly payments of $60. Crucially, no down payment
was required. That meant that even white people
with no capital could become home owners. This was
a huge boost to what was becoming the increasingly
entrenched labor aristocracy of white workers who
shared the interests of the imperialists.
There was not only an implicit desire among
builders and agents to sell to white folks, but
also very explicit prerequisites for those who
could move in. The standard lease at Levittown,
which included the option to buy, included this
clause: "The tenant agrees not to permit the
premises to be used or occupied by any person other
than members of the Caucasian race. But the
employment and maintenance of other than Caucasian
domestic servants shall be permitted."
In the words of Barbara Kelly, a Hofstra University
professor of Long Island Studies: "Because
Levittown promised affordable housing, with no
downpayment, it offered hope to the African
American working class when no other community did,
but that hope was quashed. After the war, blacks
thought things had changed, but they hadn't, and
Levittown became a microcosm of that frustration."
Where white workers were given a leg up after World
War II, Black workers were left behind. Most white
people live in homes they own, giving them access
to much more wealth than other nations within U$
borders. Differences in income between nations in
this country are fairly well known, but the depth
of the difference can only be understood with
reference to other factors.
The disparity in income does not reveal the
disparity in wealth. The latter is much greater in
a society where people's most valuable asset is
their home because Blacks are far less likely to
own homes because of segregation and discrimination
in banking.(2) While the per capita income of
Blacks was nearly 60% that of Whites in 1988, their
net wealth showed a much higher discrepancy.(3) The
per capita net worth of Blacks, in 1988, was only
21% of that of Whites.(4)To this day, whites make
up the overwhelming majority of the 53,000
Levittown residents, and Blacks less than 1% (only
0.26%). This is a situation mirrored all over
suburbia, creating an extreme level of segregation
across class. Within the study of segregation of
urban populations, the most comprehensive measures
of segregation take into account many different
figures. For example, one multidimensional index
charts five factors, to show presence of
"hypersegregation." Ten cities meet these criteria
for hypersegregation of Blacks. These ten cities
house 23% of the Black population. In contrast,
Blacks living in cities with low segregation on at
least four of the indices comprised only 1.5% of
all Blacks in the U$.
The days of the no-downpayment house are over, now
that most white folks have homes, and the only way
for oppressed nations to change that situation is
to organize for independent power. When imperialism
is crushed, the oppressed nations will control the
land and the wealth they create.
NOTES:
1. New York Times 28 December 1997, p. 23
2. Massey, Douglas S., and Nancy Denton. American
Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the
Underclass. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
1993.
3. Tidwell, Billy, Ph.D., ed. 1993. The State of
Black America 1993. New York: National Urban
League, Inc. p. 149.
4. Ibid, p. 138.
* * *
UNDER LOCK & KEY: NEWS FROM PRISONERS AND PRISONS
AMERIKKKAN PRISON EXPLOSION IS OUT OF HAND
The Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) have
consistently denied prisoners any form of civil or
human rights, and have only followed the courts
many orders to do so grudgingly.
The right to have access to the law library, which
was successfully won in the case Bounds v Smith,
430 US 817, 97 S. Ct. 1491 (1977) allowed state and
federal prisoners the right to be able to challenge
their convictions, as well as the conditions of
their confinement. This case, however, have been
sadly reduced and sliced (by the Supreme Courts
recent ruling in Lewis v Casey, 1165 S. Ct. 2174,
1996) whereby prisoners are told they no longer
have a right of access to the courts. And now the
prisoners housed in Arizona's Department of
Corrections (ADOC) are feeling the brunt of this
ruling (for it was in Arizona that this case
arose). It is only a matter of time before this
ruling spreads to other states and throughout the
United $tates.
Ironically, the U.$. Justice Department has ruled
(in an investigation into the conditions of Arizona
and Michigan prisons) that female prisoners at the
Arizona Center for Women and at state facilities in
Alhambra, Perryville, and Tucson, have been
subjected to sexual misconduct and unlawful
invasions of privacy, including prurient viewing
during showering, toileting, and dressing.
At Michigan's Scott and Crane (women's)
correctional facilities, female prisoners have been
subjected to the same sexual criminal behavior as
the women in Arizona facilities. And the
authorities in Michigan have refused to allow
Justice investigators access to its prisons and
refused to negotiate to resolve the problem, as
well as Arizona's department of corrections.
What we find is that the prisoncrats are not
willing to confess and own-up to known violations
and criminal behavior within its departments and
among their employees. Yet, prisoners are
continuing to lose more and more rights fought and
died for through the years. This is what the revolt
at Attica was all about. Prison reform,
constitutional, civil and human rights. This is
what so many have suffered trying to obtain.
No one has ever revolted claiming, "We want out of
prison." All the revolts and prison unrest revolved
around the inhumane treatment we must suffer while
paying some debt to society, not to mention that
many are in prison and were in prison for acts they
did not commit, but suffered anyway until they were
able to go back to court to prove themselves with
the help of prison law libraries and the ability to
utilize these law libraries.
The prison explosion across Amerikkka has gotten
totally out of hand as law enforcement reaches out
to incarcerate children 12, 13, and 14 as adults.
Refusing to recognize that children this young have
some behavioral problems that created their
pathology in the first place. And instead of trying
to deal with the problem they band-aid it with this
'lock up' mentality, thus never healing the
behavior. And the creation for this behavior is
stemmed from the way society operates and feeds
upon itself. That is, what is seen on TV, the
movies, what is read in print or drawn in pictures
plays a role. Also, mind you, the economic, social
and political climate of the country, which filters
down to the very community one lives in, and also
play a vital role on behaviors, actions and
reactions.
Michigan has more people locked up than ever before
and are working overtime to restrict even more
basic rights from those who are locked up. Already
Michigan prisoners are not allowed to see their
children unless they are accompanied by an adult
and in some cases, can't come into the prison until
they are 18 years old. [This creates f]urther
erosion of an already fragmented family structure
thus adding to the delinquency of young children
and their involvement with law enforcement.
The Child Welfare League of America Examined the
arrest records of 75,000 children ages 9 to 12 in
1996. It found the arrest rate for abused children
was 60 per 1,000 compared to 0.89 per 1,000 for
non-abused children. So what does this tell us
about the status of the prison system? What does
this say about the hundreds of thousands of
prisoners in Michigan and the millions across the
country? There is a social ill at hand and the
politicians are only interested in building prisons
because prisons have become the "new kid on the
block" on Wall Street's stock market.
In the trenches, -- A Michigan Prisoner, 10
November 1997
HOLIDAY FOOD BASKETS BANNED
...Well, the pigs took our food boxes that we used
to have sent in during the Christmas season. Now
we're able to spend a C-note a week. Yeah right,
huh?! Fools in prison ain't got that kind of money.
I figure it's just a bunch of bullshit to bring the
DOIC [Department of Incorrections] more money.
'Cause we were allowed three 25-pound boxes of
food. And stuff's cheaper on the street than in
here, you know, despite what lies the public is
told.
The pigs are going to make a lot of money selling
some jive ass shit. Before this year, convicts
hardly bought from the pigs' store during
Christmas, and the pigs hardly made shit. So that's
why I think they took the food boxes.
From the looks of it, no one's going to do shit
about it, or really seems to care that it's fucked
up. Cause that is what the pigs want so they can
keep on taking shit from us....
-- An Arizona Prisoner, 22 November 1997
UPDATE ON 200 PRISONERS SHOT BY PIGS
DEAR MIM, In response to one of your articles under
lock and key titled, "Pigs Shoot Over 200
Prisoners". I am one of the inmates who these
jinn's and uncle tom's shot up. I still have bird
shot in me, due to lack of medical attention.
Also we given 720 days lock-up time in August 1996.
Which half of us got our time reduced to 540 days
by the time our lock-up time was up in January
1997. We were placed in Maximum Custody for six
months, which detained us on Administrative
Segregation until July 1997. When July came we were
denied release out of Maximum Custody and were
placed in Security Detention also known to us as
Security Threat.
We do not meet the requirements for any of the
above. Every time it's time for us to be released
back into general population they come up with
bourgeois excuses not to free the people of
repression. The whole grievance system here is
corrupted by these jinn's. South Carolina
Department of Corrections is in the stage of
genocidal torture by no other than Texas Klansman
Michael Moore.
-- A South Carolina Prisoner, 21 November 1997
FEDS SQUEEZE INDIGENT ACCOUNTS
The federal courts have begun placing holds on
indigent inmate prison accounts for law petition
filing fees.
The Florida D.O.C. [Department of Corruption's] is
also now placing holds on indigent accounts for
legal copies made for court.
These recent financial holds serve as a deterrent
to poor prisoners who seek access to the courts.
What this all boils down to is: "How much justice
can you afford?"
If the U$ Government squeezes us to death with
these capitalist sanctions, then the so-called
little man has to strike back by any means
necessary!
-- A Florida Prisoner, 22 October 1997
HARASSMENT AT NEW MISSOURI GULAG
... Now as you may or may not know, the
corruptional center I'm at is not even a year old
yet. I've only been here for about 50 days, but I
see already that shit is top of the line fucked up.
They got me in a cell that is more like an ICEBOX
but they just turned on the heat yesterday. Yah,
Right! It's so cold around here that I have a cold.
I got my cold within 24 hours. We do have blankets,
but shit they should just call it a damn sheet too.
The name of this corruptional center is Crossroads.
The head beast is crazy, but that ain't strange.
I'm on lock down now. I came from X Correctional
Center 50 days ago. I haven't had a write up in all
that time, and the head beast gave me 60 more days
after I did my 30, for getting too many write ups.
He also told me that he might just keep me in Ad.
Seg. [Administration Segregation] for twelve
months. What kind of shit is this? I ain't got no
more write ups, but time will tell.
I have seen people in their cells pass out in the
C.O.'s, Corrupt Officer, eyes and they just walk
away from the cell. Just think, this is going on
now at a new born baby corruptional center. What's
really going on at the old heads of Corruption?
Your Comrade in the state of Misery (Missouri)
Corruptional Center
-- A Missouri Prisoner, 17 November 1997
MISSOURI PRISONERS FED UP WITH BRUTALITY
... The department of corruption in the state of
misery is preparing to open a new maximum security
prison, and two more are planned.
On 28 August 1997, at crossroads correctional
center, the black prisoners got fed-up with the
guards beating prisoners and macing them while in
their hand-cuffs. So three prison housing units
rose up and attacked prison guards. Prisoners
taking away guards' mace cans and spraying them
with their own chemical mace, and beating five
guards to a pulp -- two of them high ranking prison
guards called white shirts. One sergeant was on the
operating table for eight hours, and the entire
prison was locked down for two weeks.
On 29 August 1997, 25 prisoners were transferred to
potosi correctional center, and 60 more remain on
Lock-down, even though general population is back
open.
This incident showed the potential for the
oppressed to come together in unity to battle the
common oppressors of us all. Members of the nation
of Islam, crips and bloods, gang members and
moores, ALL came together in unity and ran the pigs
off the yard. Three housing unites were under the
control of the prisoners. prison pigs were so
afraid they called the local police from out in
society to come and help them retake control of
crossroads.
Of course prisoners who did not participate were
also locked down, falsely accused and transferred
to potosi as well. The missouri department of
corruption was so shook-up over this up-rising that
the sent military advisers from jefferson city
correctional center to show crossroads' pigs how to
operate its slave plantation and teach them tried
methods of oppression.
Prison officials are now saying that when the new
prison, Bowling Green, opens that they are to send
their problems there.
In Solidarity, -- another Missouri Prisoner, 18
November 97
TEXAS HIGH SECURITY LIFE
I'm writing to you from Texas' newest High Security
Unit. This unit was built to hold Texas' worst
prisoners. Well let me tell you that it is a big
joke! A big joke on the taxpayers' whose money paid
for this.
I'm on this unit because I was slammed with
handcuffs on! Most of the people who are over here
are mental people who came from mental units. They
were sent here because Texas is cutting back on
Mental Care.
We are in a cell that has no windows at all. Behind
a steel door with windows. The officers deny our
food, recreation, even giving us a change of
clothes. We are being gassed inside the cells, for
putting up a sheet or banging on the door to get
something.
We filed grievance complaints to Warden Figueroa to
no avail. We are constantly being written bogus
disciplinary cases and the hearings are a joke.
Everyone is found guilty, even when it is shown
that the rules of the disciplinary itself are
violated [by the pigs]. Then when we come up to
moved to a better level status, the disciplinary
Captain denies us our level upgrade because of a
disciplinary case. And he's the one who finds us
guilty!
Since I've been over here I've been threatened by
several officers. My food has been spit in. All
behind the officer who slammed me. The food is not
worth anything. I've lost over fifteen pounds since
I've been over here.
We inmates in Texas have no help. Most of us were
once in Ad. Seg. [Administrative Segregation]. I'm
an ex-crip now since I will not do their job for
them in beating other inmates. The pigs put me in
segregation, in which I believe they will try to
kill me! Not only me, there are so many who are
being messed over and don't even know how to write
a grievance. And whenever someone else says
something for them, then they are messed over. It's
hell over here....
-- A Texas Prisoner, 13 November 1997
A PLEA FOR HELP
... I am 25 year old inmate in the MDOC Michigan
Department of Corrections and I write to you on
behalf of the (PDTRT). It's an organization for the
betterment of prisoners doing the right thing....
...It is horrible in here. I have been beaten by
staff. [I have been] refused water, clothes,
medical attention, protection, food, [use of] the
phone. I've been spit on called nigger, fag, fuck
boy, pouch monkey, slave boy and worse.
I have witnessed several of my friends beaten to
death by staff. A c/o [corrections officer] paid
another inmate to stab me. There has been a total
of four attempts on my life. I live in fear, but
keep the faith.
I have almost been raped twice. The administration
doesn't listen or care about us inmates. Staff
writes fake tickets on us and we have no say in the
matter. My mother has called to check up on me and
they hung up on her.
At times I feel like killing myself is the only way
out. Death can't be as bad as this. I've written to
so many groups and it is all the same. We need our
cries for help published. We need to find a group
of lawyers that are willing to help....
...I have been denied parole for no reason. I am
begging you for your assistance. Me and many of our
PDTRT members that are in prison have been put in
the hole for nothing. We can't use the phone at
all, we are losing hope.
A brother stopped eating. He is trying to die. He
has given up, so staff gassed him and beat him.
Another inmate was begging to see a shrink doctor,
and they pulled him out of his cell and beat him
down. His is here at SMF [Standish Maximum
Facility] where I am. He is only 21 years old,
first time down. I wrote his family, now one of his
legs is permanently out of place.
There isn't much I can do besides try to talk to
people. But the public needs know what happens in
here. We are brothers, sons, fathers, uncles,
cousins, sisters, mothers, aunties, daughters.
They stole my tv, radio, legal papers, clothes,
shoes, and tapes. But what am I to do? I cry myself
to sleep like crazy. There are times I wish I could
lay in my mothers lap and have her kiss my
forehead, rub her fingers through my hair and make
everything better. But it's just a dream.
...I've never been the violent type. I couldn't
kill a fly! But I know I don't deserve this foul
treatment. Denied razors and my personal hygiene
products: soap, toothpaste, and deodorant.
It is not just a Black thing. I am for the
betterment of the millions of all color inmates:
white, Black, Blue, Green, Yellow, Brown, Chinese,
Mexican, male, female, gray, bisexual, etc. That is
what the (PDTRT) is all about. Even reaching our
inner city youth before they become inmates. People
say they want to help us. Give us their word, but
never do anything. Actions speak louder than
words.... There are a lot of talented men and women
in prison who really deserve a chance to be
free....
-- Another Michigan Prisoner, 8 October 1997
MIM RESPONDS: Thank you, comrade, for your
revolutionary work in the struggle. You have been
organizing prisoners and exposing the truth about
the atrocities of the prison system. Keep up the
good work. Please keep us updated on the pig
brutality so we can continue to expose the truth.
Remember that the imperialists use prison to
control potential revolutionaries. The pigs will
try to divide prisoners, pitting one group against
another, to distract you from targeting the pigs as
your real enemy.
Don't give up hope. You are not alone in this
struggle against imperialist domination. There are
many people outside fighting oppression. When you
or others feel like killing yourselves, remember
that's how the pigs want you to feel. You have
nothing to lose but your chains. Don't give up,
work for revolution.
MICHIGAN PRISONER BATTLES CENSORSHIP
...As you can see by this rejection notice, that I
am sending you, I am no longer allowed to receive
MIM Notes. When I received this notice, I requested
a hearing so that I could be shown why I'm no
longer allowed your publication, but was my request
was denied.
Then today, my cell was searched. Which was not
unusual. But what was unusual about this search was
the only things were looked at was my reading
material and letters, or I should say the addresses
on my letters. None were taken but, they did a lot
of writing in their notebooks.
Since for years they've label me a troublemaker and
an unmanageable convict, it seems that once again
shit is about to hit the fan, so to speak. But as
usual, I won't take it lying down. I've filed a
grievance to the warden and one to the MDOC
[Michigan Department of Corruption's] in Lansing. I
won't win the grievances because here in Michigan,
you never do. But at least in the end someone will
have to answer my questions of why all of a sudden
I can't receive MIM Notes anymore.
Other news from here is this prison is closing in
December by Federal Court Order for repairs that
will take place about years. At present there are
less than 300 of us here behind the walls and those
numbers are dropping every day. The big question on
everyone's mind is, where are they finding all the
bed space when all we hear about is the
overcrowding. With the closing of this facility,
there are 1,420 less bed in the state.
There are plans being made to transfer Michigan
prisoners to Ohio and West Virginia, which brings
thoughts of attack dogs and sadistic guards as in
Texas to all of our minds. But so far all transfers
have been within the state. I'm told I'll be sent
across the street from here in the next week or two
but since this problem I had with my choice of
reading material, maybe I'll be one of the first to
go out of state.
Right now the MDOC has their back against the wall.
Taxpayers have said no to more money for
corrections and the county jails are filled with
people sentenced to prison. But the receiving
center here in Jackson is filled so the counties
are having to hold them until bed space comes open.
And as usual the parole board refuses to grant
parole to us in the higher levels. Last year's
[1996] figures of paroles denies was 57% and this
year [1997] hasn't been any better as far as I can
see.
It is common in this state to do at least 2 flops
of 12 to 24 months before getting a parole if
you're in a level 4 or 5 prison. Since Michigan is
well known for handing out long prison sentences to
begin with, added to the flops from the parole
board, most people in level 4 or 5 end up doing 12
to 15 flat years before being released.
It's just a matter of time before these high level
joints explode. They've taken all of our programs
away from us and we're in court right now trying to
stop them from taking our personal property. Our
futures here behind these walls are looking dim.
Even though I can't receive MIM Notes anymore, I'll
continue to be with you in spirit and will pass on
any new information about what's happening in
Michigan's prisons. Stay strong and don't forget
about us and me.
-- Another Michigan Prisoner, 19 November 1997
***Letters of Protest can be sent to the warden:
4008 Cooper St., Jackson, MI 49201-7510***
ILLINOIS PRISONER FIGHTS CENSORSHIP
These no good corruptional officers have
confiscated the literature I had of MIM Notes and a
month later I was transferred to another
corruptional center called pontiac.
Well at the time the literature was confiscated, I
was at the stateville corruptional center. A month
later in August 1997 I was transferred here at
pontiac! They sent me a notice stating that the
publication was not allowed and that it was a
threat to the environment I was in. And it was a
threat to the highest ranking pig there which was
the fat warden (George E. Detella) at the
stateville corruptional center. So I'm asking all
comrades that in the corruptional systems to stand
for the rights to have MIM Notes in all the
corruptional centers in the united snakes!
I'm also going to write a grievance to the
Grievance officer concerning this issue and would
like for comrades to understand that these no good
systems are trying to stop us from receiving MIM
Notes. We have to stand strong in these injustice
systems and stand up for the people who stand for
us, my brothers -- I'm talking about MIM Notes! So
to all my comrades in the system and out please
stand for something that's worth standing for and
for someone who is on our side not against us OK?.
Stand strong my brothers. ...
-- An Illinois Prisoner, 11 September 1997
***Letters of protest can be written to the warden:
P. O. Box 99. Pontiac, IL 61764.***
* * *
MIM ON PRISONS AND PRISONERS
MIM seeks to build public opinion against Amerika's
criminal injustice system, and to eventually
replace the bourgeois injustice system with
proletarian justice. The bourgeois injustice system
imprisons and executes a disproportionately large
and growing number of oppressed people while
letting the biggest mass murderers - the
imperialists and their lackeys - roam free.
Imperialism is not opposed to murder or theft, it
only insists that these crimes be committed in the
interests of the bourgeoisie.
MIM does not advocate that all prisoners go free
today; we have a more effective program for
fighting crime as was demonstrated in China prior
to the restoration of capitalism there in 1976. We
say that all prisoners are political prisoners
because under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie,
all imprisonment is substantively political. It is
our responsibility to exert revolutionary
leadership and conduct political agitation and
organization among prisoners -- whose material
conditions make them an overwhelmingly
revolutionary group. Some prisoners should and will
work on self-criticism under a future dictatorship
of the proletariat in those cases in which
prisoners really did do something wrong by
proletarian standards.
***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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