Federal Prisons

El movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos ha llegado a estar a la cabeza en la lista del FBI como grupo domestico-terrorista en los Estados Unidos por rehusarse a cooperar con el gobierno. Las personas de este movimiento adoptan una independencia artificial como una nación y se rehusan a presentar impuestos, llevar cualquier tipo de licencia, o tener una tarjeta del seguro social. La pregunta es, ¿Donde coloca el movimiento anti-imperialista a estos individuos y como se compara su planteamiento de liberación a el del Marxismo-Leninismo-Maoismo?

Esta reportado que más de 300,000 personas se declaran ciudadanos soberanos en los Estados Unidos, y está pronosticado a ser uno de los movimientos con más rápido crecimiento en la historia de E.E.U.U. (1) Así que esta es una cuestión razonable el preguntar si estas personas se dirigen a algo o no.

Parece que el movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos es actualmente una mezcla de grupos oprimidos de la nación, burgueses nacionalistas, y mezquinas organizaciones burguesas a través de los Estados Unidos. Por ejemplo, las organizaciones que afirman ser ciudadanos soberanos están los grupos New Afrika, como la nación Moro, la nación Mawshakh de Nuurs, y la nación Washitaw, ambas Islámicas y Hebraicas. Luego están allí los Blancos nacionalistas, responsables por publicaciones y transmisiones de programas para el movimiento: desde la Embajada del Heaven, el Grupo Aware, La Republica de Texas, Rightway Law, Freedom Bound International, Y Amen-Ra BTO Inc.; y personalidades como David W. Miller, Charles Weisman, Alfred Adask, George Gordon, y Brent Johnson.

La Clase Torpe en Búsqueda de Respuestas

El rumor de ciudadanos soberanos en prisión fue escuchado primero por el autor en el 2009, promovida por una variedad de torpes prisioneros pretendiendo ser poseedores de carnet y miembros de abogados encarcelados y del Gremio Nacional de Abogados. Ellos afirman poseer el misterioso conocimiento, el cuál utilizado en cortes de E.E.U.U. resultaría en riquezas de acuerdos financieros, también como el potencial de una salida prematura para prisioneros quienes hayan aprendido el oficio para descifrar el código descrito como redención.

Los torpes en los Estados Unidos, por lo general siempre están buscando un surgimiento, pero raramente consideran a que costo resurgirán. Éllos, en general creen que si pueden aumentar su economía clandestina pueden liberarse a si mismos. Este punto de vista es producto de la relación del capitalismo de los torpes perteneciendo a semicolonias internas. Los torpes están excluidos de la próspera economía imperialista global, dando todavía pruebas de esa riqueza por estas economías clandestinas que además proporcionan una ilusión actuando afuera del sistema. Parece que la popularidad del movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos en las prisiones pueden ser explicadas de esta manera; con la diferencia de que esta, actualmente pretende estar basada en la ley.

Con estas promesas de riquezas, estatus, independencia y dominio de sí mismo, torpes prisioneros no son culpados por ponerse en fila para recibir lo que ellos han sido mentalizados a saber, así siendo liberados. Sin embargo, ellos son advertidos que no todo lo que brilla es oro. Lo que vemos en juego, es la principal contradicción que define la clase torpe en nuestra sociedad: las tendencias individualistas surgen a costas de otros que son requeridos de una clase excluida dentro de una economía capitalista, y la necesidad de una acción colectiva para vencer estas condiciones y alcanzar una libertad verdadera. Aún vemos organizaciones como New Afrika promoviendo las ideas de ciudadanía soberana apropiandose de las ideas de movimientos de liberación nacional también. Pero en vez de que peleen por liberación nacional de New Afrika, ellos definen su nación en maneras oportunistas como si una nación es algo que cualquier grupo de gente puede crear solo de aire ligero. Reconocemos naciones como fenómeno científico, que existe en el mundo real y son definidos como un grupo de personas con una cultura, territorio, lenguaje y economía común.

Es importante que torpes prisioneros empiecen a escoger las cosas correctas, las cuáles ellos personalmente hayan analizado examinado, investigado, y reverenciado en realidad en el método de materialismo dialéctico. Torpes prisioneros tienen una problema en las áreas de estas ultimas cuatro palabras claves: analizado, examinado, investigado y reverenciado. Este fracaso es la causa principal de las circunstancias materiales que lleva a las divisiones entre torpes prisioneros individualistas contra comunidades de prisioneros auto suficientes luchando por liberación dentro del movimiento a la independencia nacional. Además, con frecuencia los torpes prisioneros consiguen algo, o se enteran de algo por otro prisionero y ellos solo corren esto propagando algo que ellos desconocen y mal informan a otros. El movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos se ha beneficiado de esta tendencia.

¿De qué se trata ciudadanos soberanos?

Torpes prisioneros en la nación opresora de origen blanco, probablemente pueden describir una historia más clara de este movimiento, comenzando en algún lugar en los años 60s para desafiar la legitimidad de las leyes de impuestos y del mismo gobierno de E.E.U.U. Esto es incierto si la mayoría de prisioneros oprimidos en la nación pueden describir los grupos fundados de Oregon y California, como el Posee Comitatus, el cuál esta basado en una rigurosa y absurda supremacía blanca.

La filosofía del movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos está basada en la teoría de que el gobierno de E.E.U.U. está operando una fraudulenta entidad comercial que esta insolentada y endeudada con naciones extranjeras. Muchos grupos del movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos están de acuerdo con esta idea en que el gobierno original de E.E.U.U. de la America Colonial estaba basado en la ley común Británica como un gobierno de ley. Después de la Guerra Civil supuestamente se desarrollo un gobierno de facto secundario a estos gobiernos anteriores de colonizadores, comunes en el estado.

Cuando ellos dicen de ley, ellos quieren decir legales y por lo tanto legítimos. En contraste, de facto significa que existe, pero este no es oficial. Esto es común, referirse a un gobierno de facto después de una guerra civil para implicar que las cosas no han sido solucionadas, ni el orden ha sido restaurado. Lo que esa orden es por supuesto, es una cuestión política en símisma. La dictadura sobre los capitalistas en el sur, por los capitalistas de los estados norteños después de la guerra civil fue una era progresiva que marcó el fin de la esclavitud y forzó la integración de colonizadores blancos, aunque mucho del progreso en integración fue más tarde regresada al pasado por la fuerzas reaccionarias y demostró un total fracaso. Por lo tanto, la cuestión de legitimidad del gobierno de la post-guerra civil en los Estados Unidos tenía una clara conexión a este movimiento reaccionario en desarrollo por la supremacía blanca en Norteamérica. Mientras estas fuerzas ven los derechos de independencia y estado como un medio para mantener su privilegio nacional, las semi-colonías internas son atraídas a luchas de liberación nacional (y por lo tanto otras políticas de control local) como medio para terminar la opresión nacional que es el otro lado de la moneda dialéctica. Para tener una nación opresora, tu tienes que tener al menos una nación oprimida.

Muchos soberanos proponentes, como los Whitten Printers, violan la Decimocuarta Enmienda hasta el más mínimo común denominador. Ellos argumentan que ésta fue creada por el gobierno de facto en orden para nacionalizar esclavos negros con derechos comparables a los derechos constitucionales inalienables de colonizadores blancos y ciudadanos del estado, llevándonos a la pregunta de que si ellos están leyendo los mismos libros de historia como el resto de nosotros, luchando por autodeterminación.
Estos ciudadanos soberanos afirman que ellos no están sujetos al proceso de nacionalización para llegar a ser ciudadanos federales bajo le Decimocuarta Enmienda del gobierno de facto, porque ellos no fueron esclavos, ellos no son negros y ellos nunca firmaron algún acuerdo o contrato con el gobierno de facto. Básicamente, ellos son reales ciudadanos sujetándose a los tiempos pasados de las colonias Británicas. Eso no es inteligente!

Críticos de la teoría de ciudadanos soberanos afirman que esto fracasa suficientemente para examinar el contexto de la jurisprudencia de la cual ellos citan e ignoran la desfavorable evidencia, tal como la Federalista #15, donde Alexander Hamilton expresó la opinión de que la constitución puso a cada uno personalmente bajo la autoridad federal. Y como la Decimocuarta Enmienda misma dice, en parte:

“Todas las personas nacidas o naturalizadas en los Estados Unidos, y sujetas a su jurisdicción, serán ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos, y sujetas a su jurisdicción, serán ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos y del estado en que residan. Ningún estado aprobará o hará cumplir la ley que restrinja los privilegios o inmunidades de los ciudadanos de los Estados Unidos; ni ningún estado privará a persona alguna de su vida, de sus libertades o de su propiedad sin el debido procedimiento de ley; ni negará a alguna persona dentro de su jurisdicción, la igual protección de las leyes.(2)”

La validez de la deuda publica de los Estados Unidos, autorizada por la ley, incluyendo deudas contraídas por el pago de pensiones y recompensas por servicios prestados para sofocar insurrecciones o rebeliones, no serán cuestionadas.(3)

Todos los prisioneros oprimidos en la nación tienen que estar enterados de estos hechos antes de que ellos mismos permitan ser reunidos en apoyo para un movimiento como el de ciudadanos soberanos. El movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos es un movimiento de la nación blanca opresora cuyo interés esta directamente en conflicto con ellos mismos. Ellos quieren preservar el imperialismo a costa de tu independencia y tu autonomía. Liberación nacional de los estados imperialistas esta en el interés de todos los torpes prisioneros, y la mejor manera de llevar a cabo este objetivo es el que todas la semi-colonias de los Estados Unidos apoyen las luchas de liberación nacional de los oprimidos.

Tenemos además que recordar camaradas, que el movimiento fascista en Italia y el movimiento Nazi en Alemania estaban atrayendo principalmente la mezquina burguesía como también a grupos y parte proletaria con retórica contra el estado, los banqueros y grandes negocios y a la vez con algunas absurdas ideas religiosas que son mezcladas y confundidas con mucho patriotería. En el evento de más crisis imperialista, si los imperialistas son presionadas a tomar un enfoque fascista para dirigir a la gente y a la economía, los ciudadanos soberanos y movimientos similares estarán listos para hacer masivos movimientos que suministra soldados de pie para tal proyecto. Las personas oprimidas del mundo tienen que combatir esto con internacionalismo proletario y materialismo dialéctico y salir libre de la ignorancia que nos permite ser absorbidos por las falsas pretensiones de tales grupos.

MIM(Prisons) agrega: Queremos dar a Loco1, apoyo por trabajar en esta critica del movimiento de ciudadanos soberanos (El o Ella) fue uno de un número de compañeros quienes nos han escrito acerca de esto. Y como un líder muy activo en USW le pedimos al principio por falta de información y conocimiento por donde empezar.

Aunque limitando el acceso a información ayuda a prevenir unidad ideológica a través de grupos encarcelados, este articulo va a mostrar gran importancia en el sistema. Loco1 fue capaz de encabezar esta critica recursos limitados al alcance de sus dedos, pero usando un enfoque analítico.

Algunos de los recursos de los ciudadanos soberanos y movimientos similares de anti-gobiernos derechistas están basados en un recurso de autoridad, donde ellos citan un montón de casos de ley en un esfuerzo para convencerte de que ellos saben de lo que están hablando. Pero esta dependencia en jurisprudencia misma es idealismo. Esto es similar a quienes buscan respuestas en antiguas religiones, como si hay un secreto allí que justo necesita ser encontrado y que resolverá todos nuestros problemas. Esto es tentador, es un tema que vende muchas películas y libros, pero esto no es realidad, las contradicciones que hacen esto y como las cosas están en movimiento, es así como podemos entender la realidad. Ninguno ha sido liberado por el papeleo de los ciudadanos soberanos, porque esto son solo palabras sobre el papel, y palabras en papel no pueden liberarte mágicamente de un sistema real que esta hecho de millones de personas.

The bastards concocted a local rule called San Quentin Death Row Operational Procedure #608, section 650. It voids clergy confidentiality, allowing the attorney general to compel testimony against only male, death row, at San Quentin. Females and anyone not at this prison are exempt. Non-condemned are exempt.

The rules in play are 15 CCR 3212, which creates the confidentiality of clergy in prisons in California. Then they want to have clergy compelled or allowed to rat on us, saying we are not good reborn bible thumpers, as we pretend… so kill us all.

I won it. Clark v. Chappell, CV 14 02637 ygr.

The new acting warden was told by the attorney general to feign surrender, and issue a memo voiding that rule. The problem is, the minute the federal court judge looks away they can re-instate the rule. It is an at whim rule, he can redo it. I am going forth to get not just a surrender but declaration that it is and always was discriminatory, undue process, unequal justice, and such. So we won the present day, and I will puruse the retroactivity to 1977, date it was put in place, to protect all the old guys.

The study group that I started and lead is a very small one – only three of us. The most challenging aspect I have encountered thus far is attracting members. In Florida conditions are somewhat different from what I have read about in other states. First, our prisons are highly integrated, but as prisoners we are not, with like nations hanging out with each other. However, there is virtually no gang activity and any activity there is is highly localized and disorganized. Secondly, I am at a “re-entry” camp where 80% of the population has less than five years left to serve and the bourgeois brainwashing is in overdrive. And lastly, I am euro-Amerikan (which necessitates class suicide).

I found that by openly acknowledging that I am a Marxist/Communist, dialogue is opened with others. I have been branded “that godless Marxist bastard,” an epithet I wear as a badge of honor. As a White revolutionary I must be especially fearless in this regard. The majority of prisoners that open dialog about Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (MLM) with me are so conditioned with misinformation and myth that they eventually give up rather than consider that what they have been told all their life is a distortion or outright wrong. Once they are able to consider what I say and/or the MIM literature I show them, then comes their metaphysical ideology.

In my experience gaining a study group member comes down to a three-step process. I make myself known as a MLMist. Then I must be able to overcome the hystorical myths and mysteries of communism – particularly as they concern Stalin and Chairman Mao. To this end the article “Myths About Maoism” published in Fundamental Political Line of MIM(Prisons) (pp. 20-28) is a good start. If they are willing to consider this different view of hystory then the third step is to move into an understanding of materialist dialectics (Marxism) to counter any metaphysical ideology.

MIM Distributors supplied me with the books Fanshen and Settlers. For my study group a new member reads Fanshen first. This is to give a sense of the meaning and power of political consciousness as opposed to simple “unity,” and to further dispel hystorical myths about the role of the Communist Party in China under Mao. Next they read Settlers. This puts Amerikkkan hystory in a materialist dialectical perspective and demonstrates what is meant by a settler nation. It is an extremely powerful text for euro-Amerikans who have come this far in the study group.

Our group meets three times a week to discuss any questions on a topic that a member might have. We like to take current world events and discuss them from a MLM/Third World viewpoint. For us, the ULK Writers Group supplemental reading is very helpful. For example, the rise and gains of Maoism and the People’s Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA) in India has been a current focus.

If I had to name the major hurdle I face in educating a study group then it would be what MIM has called lumpen metaphysics – that conditioned ideology that continually rears its ugly head in debates, discussions, etc. In leading a study group one must be wary as that is a subtle path that leads to many wrong and irrational conclusions. As a project we are currently working on an essay for the ULK Writers Group on how to identify a lumpen metaphysical argument when it is posed so that its irrationality can be exposed via materialist dialectics. I only hope that all comrades will take an active role and critique it, helping to push its development further.

“Theory without practice ain’t shit” and that practice starts with an action. My most fearless action, the action that started my practice of forming a study group, was to proclaim myself a communist and believer in Maoism as a better way of democracy. From that point forward I had joined the Struggle.

MIM(Prisons) adds: Everyone should keep in mind that the tactics used by a comrade in one facility might not be what’s appropriate for the conditions where you’re at. While it seems useful for this author to be very public about their political views, for many other subscribers to ULK, that same act can easily get them validated as a member of a “security threat group” or otherwise harassed by prison administration.

We appreciate how this author laid out how they structure their initial recruiting, and how they are making use of materials we’ve sent to them. The “supplemental reading” they refer to is a packet of articles from the web on various news and theory topics, which is sent regularly to participants in our advanced correspondence study group, the ULK Writing Group. In order to join the ULK Writing Group, you must complete both levels of our introductory study group, have a high level of political unity with MIM(Prisons), and be a regular contributor to ULK. We encourage everyone who can’t set up a study group wherever they’re at to join our introductory study group – or do both!

El 9 de Septiembre, el día del preso, ya no puede seguir silenciado. Este día haciendo su gran apariencia el 9 de Septiembre, esta haciendo su camino lento pero fijo entre las organizaciones presidarias y otros movimientos macizos de costa a costa.

Cualquier preso suscrito a Under Lock & Key (Bajo Llave y Candado) o las otras revistas gratis a los presos pueden atestiguar a todas las cosas que recuerdan del día que los presos se pararon unidos para después ser tumbados para poder pararse año tras año. Para muchos que saben de las insurrección de Attica, solo al escuchar el nombre de Attica se resusitan los cuentos dichos de las protestas del oriente donde pocos hermanos de una mezcla de organizaciones se pusieron en una posición de pelear por algo y no caer fácilmente. Una protesta en la cual muchos presos políticos toman inspiracion hoy en su sed para tomar de las aguas de la libertad. Lo de Attica se convertió legendario.

Muchos presos han sido forzados sepultados en las tumbas de la bestia, mejor conocidas como las unidades de control por estar cometidos a mantener viva la memoria del día que los presos lucharon por una causa común, haciendo la historia. Estos presos, forzados a las tumbas de la bestia que hablaron desde el sepulcro al sistema de injusticia hicieron la fuerza silenciosa que vibró en las prisiones americanas.

En lo que pasó el tiempo, también pasaron los movimientos macizos, sus jefes y las organizaciones en cargo de servir los intereses de los presos. Las lineas de los partidos involucrados con conmemorar el aniversario de Attica se cruzaron y se exponieron. El sueño de reformas y rehabilitación atrazaraon a muchos a una posición sumisa a los intereses del enemigo del preso, el estado.

Detalles de las insurrección del 9 de Septiembre y ciertos individuos involucrados empezaron a significar menos y menos. Los hechos históricos, jefatura y goles se convirtieron en chisme de “por culpa de tu carnal, mataron a mi padre. El estado entiende la importancia de detener la corriente con la táctica de división y desde allí se marco la linea entre el preso político y el preso que solo quiere terminar su sentencia para regresar a lo que ellos ven que es la libertad. Este segundo grupo no querían tener nada que ver con el primer grupo, porque estos viejos presos políticos se vieron como demasiado extremos en sus ideas y objetivos. En el otro lado de la moneda, el preso político no quería tener ningún trato con este preso sumiso que empezó a parecerse al sobrestante del sistema que da privilegios y premios por el buen comportamiento al que no moleste el sistema. Hasta hoy en d¡a estas li¡neas son la contradicción principal entre las masas prisioneras y los pocos líderes políticos.

Attica sirvió como ejemplo a los dos lados de la cerca. El poder está en la unión. Con el respaldo de la gente de Attica en el 1971, el tiempo suficiente para los presos ocupar la yarda y unos cuantos dormitorios. En el enfrentamiento con la policía estatal los presos exigieron ser tratados con decencia humana.

El resultado fin fue el asesinato de muchos que sabían que lo único que perderían eran sus cadenas. El efecto de Attica le corresponde a todo preso. El efecto de Attica vive con el preso hasta hoy. Que el preso refresque su memoria con todas la insurrecciones posibles con la paz como el objetivo.

Este no es el tiempo para que los presos peleen entre ellos mismos. Tampoco, en los estados unidos, deberíamos estar preparandonos para una guerra armada. Tenemos que aprender que los presos no deben de cazar a otros presos con practicas explotativas que resultan en conflictos que traspasan las viviendas de prisión y afectan más que las facciones locales. El preso tiene que considerar las condiciones de toda la clase presidiaria de la que todos somos parte, y allí decidir en que dirección nos vamos a mover unidos.

Attica dió nacimiento a muchas grandes demostraciones e insurrecciones en los estados unidos. Recientemente en Texas, California, Carolina del Norte y Georgia.

El Día de la Solidaridad está plantada en la realidad que el preso en ciertos tiempos tiene que poner aparte sus diferencias con otros presos para poder mancomunar sus energías y recursos para las causas que contribuyen a derribar el sistema como es conocido. Y después de eso si quieren regresar a sus vidas parasíticas pues que se las arreglen con sus gentes.

El Día de Paz y Solidaridad 9 de Septiembre es el día de conmemoración del preso; el festejo del convicto. Es el día que todos los presos podrán cruzar las líneas de división que han crecido durante los años. El preso en este tiempo podrá festejar en su anticipación del entretenimiento, educación, aplicación y apoyo de una masa prisionera con voz que hablará contra la injusticia del sistema de prisiones americanas.

USW invita a todos que están comprometidos a los cinco principios de la United Front for Peace in Prisons (Frente Unida para la Paz en las Prisiones - UFPP) que participen en las celebraciones del 9 de Septiembre. Sometan arte de alta calidad a nuestra asociación de artistas en la lucha, para ser imprimidas y circuladas en tu prisión regando el mensaje de paz el 9 de Septiembre. Nuestros compadres MIM(Prisiones) ofrecen libros políticos gratis con cuales tu grupo puede estudiar o dibujar sus interpretaciones de la lectura. O pueden escribir una declaración ilustrando su forma de celebrar el 9 de Septiembre.

Estamos en la época de hablar y elevar la voz por los presos. Si el preso puede fortalezerse con sus experiencias compartidas como la de las insurrecciones del pasado, sus voces podrán hablar a los intereses alineados con los oprimidos del mundo entero y se puede comenzar a derrumbar el sistema estado por estado.

Es allí cuando el poder será reinstalado a los más capaces de representar los intereses del conjunto entero sin miedo de realización o represión por sus partes como líderes. El día de paz y solidaridad del 9 de Septiembre preparará a todo los presos para el día que todos tendrán que decidirse si se van a parar por algo o caerse por cualquier cosa.

With the growing calls and efforts to establish tangible peace and understanding amongst the litany of disparate “Lumpenos” that inhabit and coexist inside the many ghettos and over-bloated prison camps of the United $tates, and who suffer the same systematic cycles of inherent and inherited poverty, inequality, and oppression, the following is a poignant example of how no one wins but our common enemy when we allow what divides us to take precedent over what should unite us. As history has taught us, Uncle $am and his reactionary cronies will never miss an opportunity to capitalize, exploit and instigate misunderstandings and hostilities amidst the oppressed classes.

“The FBI capitalized on these recurrent tensions [between the Black Panther Party (BPP) in Chicago and the Blackstone Rangers] by sending Jeff Fort [the leader of the Blackstone Rangers] another anonymous letter. This time the bureau made the letter look as if it had come from a concerned citizen with official ties to neither group. [FBI Director] J. Edgar Hoover approved the following letter on January 30, 1969:

‘Brother Jeff,
’I’ve spent some time with some Panther friends on the west side lately and I know what’s been going on. The brothers that run the Panthers blame you for blocking their thing and there’s supposed to be a hit out for you. I’m not a Panther or a Ranger, just black. From what I see them Panthers are out for themselves not black people. I think you ought to know what they’re up to. I know what I would do if I was you. You might hear from me again.
’(sgd.) a black brother you don’t know.’

The Chicago office explained that the purpose of the letter was ‘to intensify the degree of animosity between the two groups’ in the hopes that Fort retaliated against the BPP leadership.”(1)

The degree of the system’s stratagems against the oppressed class can be gauged and better understood by the following FBI memo written by the Sergeant in Charge of San Diego, bragging to FBI Director Hoover about the detrimental effects accomplished with the COINTELPRO scheme:

“Excerpt from an August 20, 1969 report summarizing the ‘accomplishments’ and plans for the BPP/US COINTELPRO in San Diego:
‘Shootings, beatings, and high degree of unrest continues to prevail in the ghetto area of southeast San Diego. Although no specific counterintelligent action can be credited with contributing to this over-all situation, it is felt that a substantial amount of the unrest is directly attributable to this program.’”(2)

I hope that all of the above will help to enlighten the “Lumpenos” to the devious and dangerous nature of this beast, and to provoke conscious and productive thought and dialogue across racial, geographical, and ideological lines. What unites us is greater than what divides us, and the only winners of our ignorant misdirected hostilities is the beast. It devours us all.

MIM(Prisons) adds: These historical documents are a very good reminder of the importance of the United Front for Peace in Prisons principle of unity. We need the oppressed to come together to fight our common enemy. The imperialists have far more resources, and an extensive spy and disruption network in place. At this stage in our work, when we are significantly weaker than the imperialists, we must counter their disruption with good security, and by refusing to help them foment fighting amongst the lumpen. Don’t judge people based on labels, rumors or second-hand information; judge based on actions. All who are on the side of the people will show this by putting in good work in the anti-imperialist struggle.

Revolutionary greetings to all kaptives inside the gulags of the united snakes of a-murder (U$A). Because of the constant oppression we face by the fact that imperialism won’t let up as long as capitalism exists, we must continue to create effective ways of fighting capitalism, ultimately bringing an end to all forms of oppression and the system (capitalism/imperialism) in its entirety.

Prisons and prison guards (pigs) are mere extensions of the system and operate as a form of social control against the upward mobility of oppressed nations. However, kaptives here, in the past, have done quite a bit in the way of agitation and resistance to some of the injustices carried out by these pigs. I have personally been surprised at what even the slightest bit of unity amongst kaptives can/has gained in the form of concessions from the pigs. But i have also been dismayed at how quickly unity can dissolve back into parasitism and apathy, when not nurtured, and followed up by those kommitted and dedicated to educate and uplift.

Again, September 9 is soon upon us. Three years ago a lumpen organization (LO) that was a part of United Front for Peace in Prisons (UFPP) initiated the September 9 Day of Peace and Solidarity. This is to coincide with 9 September 1971, when pigs and their overseers stormed Attica and slaughtered 32 kaptives (and 10 of their own pigs). Kaptives had besieged the prison after demands to improve living conditions had not been met, and the murder of comrade George Jackson at San Quentin on 21 August 1971. Comrade George was a formidable force in pushing the anti-imperialist movement amongst kaptives, all the way up until the moment he was slaughtered.

Organizers call on kaptives to take this day to promote the UFPP by building unity with fellow kaptives, and to demonstrate resistance to the criminal injustice system by fasting, refraining from work, engaging only in solidarity actions, and ending kaptive-on-kaptive violence/hostilities.

MIM(Prisons) said the number of reports were down in 2014 compared to the previous years, where they’d seen a growing interest and more involvement by kaptives on this day of protest. It is due both to the significance of the work put in by our comrades at Attica (and elsewhere), and the fact that imperialism is still krushing the upward mobility of the lumpen and oppressed nations, that we can not slack off on our duties organizing, agitating, campaigning, educating and building our own independent institutions to remedy our problems.

We are 44 years and many kaptive uprisings later, but the oppressive conditions remain the same. And, as back then, Maoist study groups are being formed; calls to unite kaptives are being heard; and of course oppressors are still oppressing. So let us both memorialize this day and use it as a catalyst to push leaders forward – as we “seize the time” because we have had E-NUF.

MIM(Prisons) adds: Write to request a September 9 study pack to help understand the history of this day of struggle and build for Peace and Solidarity in your prison.

We, under the union of the United KAGE Brothers, joined with the Prisoners Political Action Committee (PAC), welcome you to our communion. We aim to unite and unionize internationally the peace movement – under the Agreement to End Hostilities – as an ad campaign from prison to the street.

As people of all colors, races, creeds, genders and sexualities, we stand in solidarity with the following pledge:

Contribution to Peace

1. I contribute to peace when I strive to express the best of myself in my contacts with others.
   
2. I contribute to peace when I use my intelligence and my abilities to serve the good.
   
3. I contribute to peace when I feel compassion toward all those who suffer.
   
4. I contribute to peace when I look upon all as my brothers and sisters regardless of race, culture or religion.
   
5. I contribute to peace when I rejoice over the happiness of others and pray for their well-being.
   
6. I contribute to peace when I listen with tolerance to opinions that differ from mine or even oppose them.
   
7. I contribute to peace when I resort to dialogue rather than force to settle any conflict.
   
8. I contribute to peace when I respect nature and preserve it for generations to come.
   
9. I contribute to peace when I do not seek to impose my conception of God upon others.
   
10. I contribute to peace when I make peace the foundation of my ideas and philosophy.
    

The Cesar Chavez Peace Plan

The National Coalition of Barrios Unidos Summit in San Antonio, Texas, produced the Cesar Chavez Plan in April 1996. It has become the central organizing vehicle for the Barrios Unidos Movement.

1. Development of community peace agreements and truces.
   
2. Implementation of a viable violence-prevention model.
   
3. Creation of “barrio enterprise zones” for youth-centered economic development.
   
4. Public policies to create alternatives to incarceration and the root causes of youth violence and police brutality.
   
5. Organization mobilization of youth-centered network to access resources for violence prevention.

MIM(Prisons) adds: We are glad to see two groups coming together to develop plans for building peace in prisons. They sent us the above in response to the United Front for Peace in Prisons and the 3-year old Agreement to End Hostilities in California prisons. The agreement was formed by and for the major lumpen organizations (LOs) in the California prison system. It has been historic in bridging the divide between the LOs and the various political organizations, who are all echoing the call and working to build the prison movement in the interests of the oppressed.

At the end of 2012, Tecumseh State Correctional Institution (Tecumseh SCI) made a drastic change. The administration decided to use a very poor excuse of violence to lock the entire yard down. I believe five fights happened in 24 hours, nobody got stabbed, cut or really messed up. They used this as a reason to lock the entire yard down. Everyone was only allowed to come out of their cells to eat meals, shower, and make one phone call per day. After months of this and many grievances, day room time became available, but any outside facilities like gym, ball courts, or ball field were slowly added on a rotating schedule. One hour you could go to the gym with your unit, then come right back; a couple days later maybe an hour at the ball fields then back. We no longer were confined only to our cells but could pretty much be in the day rooms all day except of course during count. Eventually it shifted to let us use the recreational facilities once per day, like ball field Monday morning, gym Tuesday afternoon, ball courts Wednesday morning, ball field Thursday afternoon and so on.

Recently they started a “wellness league” in which people who stay out of the hole for one year, and refrain from misconduct reports for 6 months to a year could be allowed to “walk the yard” for a few hours each day. This sounds good but there are administration loopholes. Like if their snitches got in a fight and went to the hole, as soon as the snitch got out of the hole they would be back out walking while the other person would be in the hole another half year and then have to wait another year just to be qualified to be on “wellness league.” Of course any petty write-up would keep you off wellness league, and it was a cold day in hell if any homies could make it onto wellness league. And everyone else not on wellness league was stuck on dayroom and could access a “mini yard” attached to their building which was basically a fenced in half basketball court. That was life for a while.

Well Mother’s Day this year the shit hit the fan. A last minute non-violent protest was set in motion. I say last minute because if a protest has any planning here the yard gets locked down cause snitches tell administration. So the protest started, simple walking around the yard refusing to lock down until our petitions and major complains were heard. However near the start of this a few prisoners got into it with a couple pigs. Of course we all complied when they said “get down.” We cooperated when asked to show our IDs and when we were told we could get up we got up and continued marching to our protest.

Some protesters got locked in the gym so a plan to break them out to join the protest was set in motion. A short while later staff fired a live round with no warning into our group, going through one captive and hitting my good friend, and they both fell onto me. Our group was totally shocked. No chemical agents were used first, no “less than lethal,” no pepperballs, and the guy who had the shot go through him was bleeding bad. We put a tourniquet on his wound to slow the bleeding, then as one huge group we carried him to medical, left him in front of medical and moved halfway across the yard so they would come out and get him.

Once he was safe the tension broke, the call went out, and the prison literally started to burn. Every single faction was on the same team, us versus the pigs. Staff got chased to the tower, everything that could be burned was burned, bulletproof glass burned, fences came undone, people got shot with less-than-lethal and lethal ammunition alike; only one more live round was fired that I know of. The entire prison banded together, offices burned, treatment files burned, office desks burned. If the glass couldn’t be broken it was melted to allow access for other captives. We had total control of a whole housing unit, the gym, and half of another housing unit. We had the facility until the next morning when finally we surrendered.

Now, for the press, the administration is trying to say this was planned for months, because it was so exact in its execution, and that we burned down walls only to get “targeted individuals”. Yeah right, they are saying we did all this so we could get two people? How ridiculous!

Our new director is from the Washington state prison system. He is the only one with a clear head. He says (in a memo sent to the whole prison) that he couldn’t believe we didn’t do this sooner with the lockdown and all, and never in his life has he seen such unity to get something like this done. The warden and even the governor now believe that the facility should permanently stay on lockdown, forever, allowing at most minimal day room time and mini yard time if you qualify for wellness league. Everyone else is to remain locked 2 per cell (was 3 per cell for a while until housing unit 2 became livable again) for 24 hours a day getting 20 minutes, twice a week for showers and telephone calls. I mean 20 minutes total, to shower and use the phone, once every 3 days. It’s so fucked up out there.

Down here in the hole we live better than the people on the yard. We get at minimum 3 showers a week and at minimum mini yard 5 days a week. I assume I will be down here for a few years, hell a simple fist fight (my first in the prison) back in 2012 landed me 13 months in isolation. This one’s gonna be years. And I’m not the only one. Some 240 people are getting charged. I don’t even know how many of us are now stuck in the hole but we won’t be going anywhere any time soon.

MIM(Prisons) responds: Prisons in the United $tates are populated with an inherent contradiction. As tools of social control targeting oppressed nation lumpen, the people locked up are easily shown the need for resistance and organizing against the criminal injustice system. The powder keg of oppression and abuse in many lockdown units is easily set off when people get together to turn their anger and pain into resistance. This contradiction between the imperialists’ desire to control oppressed nations, and the actual conditions of confinement breeding resistance is just one example of how oppression creates conditions for social change.

Protests like this one in Nebraska are steps forward in unity and resistance. But as this comrade describes, no real change resulted, and the active folks are now in long-term isolation. As revolutionaries we need to figure out how to turn the righteous anger of the masses into organized protests that can help achieve meaningful change. Sometimes in prison we won’t get anything more than a bit of publicity and a temporary outlet for anger, but we can do some things to increase the chances for success. This starts with building unity and educating people well before actions are initiated. We can run study groups behind bars, discussing the basics of political theory and then applying what is learned to conditions in the prison. And we need to build independent media to report on actions in prison from the perspective of the prisoners, so that we don’t leave it to the pigs to interpret our actions to the public as “riots.” This preliminary work will also help with follow-up after a protest. Even if something like what this writer describes is set off spontaneously, it will be important to have discipline and unity both during and after the action if we’re going to effect any change within the system.

And for revolutionaries it is important that we help people see that we won’t ever win this battle until we dismantle the criminal injustice system entirely. We need to draw the connection between the prison system and imperialism. While our current work focuses on prisons, we can’t lose sight of the system that is behind the criminal injustice. Our education work needs to include these connections as we help raise the awareness of all potential future protesters and revolutionaries.

Every article in ULK 44 is on point! “Baltimore: Contradictions Heightening” leaves me hoping there are boots on the ground to guide the demonstrators into an organized resistance. It seems from historical examples that destruction of property and forcible removal of merchandise gets results, e.g. Rodney King, whereas candles and prayer obtain imperialistic praise, e.g. Trayvon Martin in Florida. When a kkkapitalist suffers economic harm, imperialist forces will crush a few of their own thug enforcers to restore the facade of calm. Destroy the property of the bourgeoisie and the killers of oppressed citizens get arrested.

Loco1’s article on the sovereign citizen movement does much to dispel myth and urban legend. But often the hope of fallacy is stronger than the cold fist of truth. Recently a rumor has spread that prisoners may file a 42 USC 1983 petition for just $35 if they tell the clerk to “file it in the green file without the protection of admiralty law.” Even though I’ve shown men an order from a magistrate judge, and a letter from the court clerk, both stating $400 is the filing fee ($350 if in forma pauperis is granted), prisoners still insist they only have to pay $35. I even showed them an order denying a prisoner’s request to “file his petition for $35.”

As for the sovereign citizen rubbish, it is historical fact that even when a legal remedy does provide liberation, the supreme court of the united snakes devises methods to make it inapplicable to the oppressed. Look up Dred Scott. Consider that “a prison inmate … is not an employee within the meaning of the [Federal Labor Standards Act].”(1) Does anyone honestly believe that an imperialist court of pig justices would uphold the sovereign citizen argument? Even if the argument was rooted in sound legal principles (and your articles shows it is not), the imperialist powers in the court are not going to say the government that empowered them is a fraud and void.

And Rashid is incorrect, especially on the subject of the labor aristocracy. First, MIM’s definition can be validated by simply engaging in discussion with prison staff, including teachers. Those people do not identify with the workers in other nations. Recently a teacher told me that his gas prices should be lower because “Iraq owes us their oil in exchange for our blood in liberating them.” When I replied that I don’t recall any Iraqis ever asking us to invade their country and plunge it into civil war, he said, “You only hear what you want to hear.” I was also informed it is fair for a factory worker in India to earn 46 cents an hour because “Amerikkka and England built that country for them.” Really? And second, just because members of revolutionary groups are possibly from bourgeois or aristocratic backgrounds, it does NOT mean those groups as a whole will support revolution. But neither does it automatically exclude one from the fight. There were Germans who fought against the nazis. And Americans who fought for the bastards.

Of course, that’s not to say that certain imperialist interests have not been served in these projects. A destabilized Third World nation is certainly better than a unified one, because the inherent interests of the Third World are opposed to those of the imperialist nations. Any successful organization of Third World nations to serve their own interests is a blow against imperialism. And the ongoing wars grease the gears of the military industrial complex.

Looking at the Middle East, West Africa or Central America, we cannot say that the oppressed nations are winning. But the objective conditions for successful resistance are certainly there and developing. Our strategic confidence in the victory of the proletarian nations over the imperialist nations comes from these objective conditions, principally that the proletariat nations far outnumber the imperialist ones.

Honduras: Mass Protests and Collective Farming

10 July 2015 – tens of thousands of Hondurans marched in the capital of Tegucigalpa with torches held high to call for the resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernandez.(2) These protests have been going strong for seven weeks, and they are the continuation of a six-year struggle against the forces behind a coup d’etat backed by the United $tates in 2009.

In this same period a movement to seize land by collectives of campesinos has been ongoing. These collectives are highly organized and participate politically in the national assemblies behind the mass protests. In the countryside, these collectives have provided improved housing, education and pay for their members. They are class conscious, and addressing gender contradictions as well. The documentary Resistencia (2015) shows the regular harassment and assassinations these collectives face.(3) One community had all their houses bulldozed while attending a rally in Tegucigalpa, yet they pull together and rebuild, as one campesino says, because they have nowhere else to go. While some collectives seem to have armed guards, generally they depend on non-violent resistence at this time.

The United $tates recently deployed 280 Marines to Central America, with most going to Honduras as part of their ongoing militarization of the country in face of this continued mass resistance.(2) Meanwhile, many of the top military personnel who are allied with the large landowners in Honduras have been trained in the terrorist training camp known as the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia.(3) For decades, graduates of this school have carried out the most atrocious and brutal military campaigns in Central America on behalf of U.$. interests. Today, Honduras is considered the murder capital of the world.

Imperialists Slaughter Yemenis in Desperation

The United $tates has been waging low-intensity warfare in Yemen since shortly after 11 September 2001. In that time they have carried out over 100 drone strikes in the country.(4) In mid-May of 2015, U.$. troops and ambassadors were pulled out of the country following a popular insurgency that threw out the U.$. puppet regime of Abdedrabbo Mansour Hadi in late March. Hadi has since remained outside of Yemen with no sign that he will be able to return.

Since the removal of Hadi, an intensified bombing campaign in Yemen has been described as a “Saudi-led” effort, yet U.$. Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken is behind the coordination center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and the United $tates expedited weapons deliveries to their ally who they’ve already provided with a strong, modernized military.

On 6 July 2015 over 30 civilians were killed when invaders shot a missile into a small market in the village of Al Joob. Other recent strikes in the region killed 30 in Hajjah, and 45 just north of Aden.(5) “In addition to some 3,000 Yemenis killed since March, the war has also left 14,000 wounded and displaced more than a million people, according to the [United Nations].”(6) Close to 13 million are lacking food due to the war and the blocking of shipments into Yemen by the imperialist-led coalition. Meanwhile preventable diseases like dengue, malaria and typhoid are spreading.(6)

Like the people of Honduras, these horrific conditions leave the people of Yemen with no choice but to keep fighting. In April, “19 Yemeni political parties and associations rejected the UN Resolution 2216 [an attempt to appease the resistance], stating that it encourages terrorist expansion, intervenes in Yemen’s sovereign affairs, violates the right of self-defense by the Yemeni people and emphasized the associations’ support of the Yemeni Army.”(7) In June, Najran tribes, in a Saudi border region, declared war against the Saudi regime because of the Saudis killing innocent people. This occurred after the House of Saud attempted to bribe tribal leaders to support their war efforts in Yemen.(8)

Yemen’s relationship to Saudi Arabia is similar to those of Mexico and Central America to the United $tates. Yemen was once a nominally socialist state after a Marxist-inspired national liberation army took control after British colonialism ended in the region. So like Central America, Yemen is no stranger to socialism and Marxism. Yet, while militarily conditions are more advanced throughout the Middle East, we do not see the class-conscious subjective political forces that exist in places like Honduras.

Yemen risks falling into inter-proletarian conflict as has been ongoing in Syria and Iraq. Yet, reports from the ground indicate a strong recognition that the ultimate blame for their plight falls on the United $tates (this is true in Honduras as well). Chaos does bring opportunity for the objective forces of proletarian class interest to rise to prominence. While conditions are dire in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, they lend themselves to building dual power and ultimately delinking from imperialism, which is what the oppressed nations must do to improve their conditions. While there are multiple competing powers in Syria and Iraq right now, no sustainable dual power can develop that is not built on the class unity of the exploited classes as exists in Honduras. At the same time, dual power must be defended, and the imperialists will always respond to efforts at delinking with military intervention. It is this military power that is lacking in Honduras to make their collectivization efforts sustainable.

These are just some of the hotly contested areas of the world today. The battle is between the imperialists and the exploited majority. While the imperialists are the dominant force today, the exploited majority are the rising aspect of this contradiction. As they rise in more regions of the world, they undercut capitalist profits and imperialist militaries become overextended. That is how the exploited majority will become victors and gain control over their own destiny.