MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
We, the members of GBW & Associates, and the residents of the Will
County Adult Detention Facility who shall this day, and henceforth,
willingly pledge their allegiance to this Declaration of Unity, and
consequently to the United Front for Peace in Prisons, state that:
The imperialist oppressors, having dominated over the poor, the
impoverished, the weak, and the innocent, all to their great harm and
injury, are deserving of no loyalty or fealty, and must be fought
against utilizing every tool available;
The principles of the United Front for Peace in Prisons, to wit, Peace,
Unity, Growth, Internationalism, and Independence, provide a core of
unity among the oppressed masses in prisons in the United States;
and
These principles shall be adhered to by every person who reports to
fight against imperialism and the tyrannical system of exploitation
known as capitalism and the subsequent evils propagated by such system.
For the foregoing reasons, we hereby enter into covenant, and pledge to
uphold the five principles, to defend the Declaration of Unity, and to
promote the peace and welfare of all mankind.
We further pledge to defend and protect the poor, the weak, the
innocent, and the oppressed utilizing any tools available; to utilize
all possessed skills and talents to fight against imperialist
oppressors; and to show our loyalty and devotion to any person reporting
to do the same.
Be it enacted this tenth day of October: In the year of the common era
two thousand and fourteen, by the unanimous consent of the undersigned
GBW & Associates, residents of the Will County Adult Detention
Facility.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This statement comes from a group of jailhouse
lawyers specializing in prisoners’ rights advocacy and litigation.
Recognizing that they have skills specifically important to the legal
arena of our anti-imperialist battle, these comrades have built an
independent institution of the oppressed. This sets a good example for
everyone: you should get in wherever you fit in. If you are an artist,
get involved by creating revolutionary art. If you are a writer, submit
articles for Under Lock & Key. If you are bilingual, help
out with Spanish translation. And for everyone, constantly study and
learn. Join the MIM(Prisons)-led study groups, and form your own local
study groups. We can provide literature and study guides, but it’s up to
you to get involved, contribute work, and build independence.
Fort Collins Colorado - un joven Chicano de 25 años fue asesinado por un
policía hoy, en lo que fue catalogado como un robo que salio mal. Los
detalles todavía no están claros y la censuración en las prisiones esta
interfiriendo con la recolección de información, pero la noticia ha
creado un impacto masivo en la población chicanas dentro de las
prisiones. Una pregunta que me viene a la mente, si no es suficiente
estar en prisión debajo de un sistema nuevo de autoridad brutal en
Colorado, y ahora los policías nos están matando, donde vamos a
encontrar alivio?
Y el hecho de que los chicanos están usando violencia en contra de si
mismos con las diferentes facciones de agrupaciones internas, ¿cómo
nosotros vamos a usar este asesinato para crear revolución a las lineas
fronterizas en Colorado? Con la mente y conciencia llena de tristeza,
¿cómo nosotros podemos usar esta lamentable situación para crear unidad?
Violencia entre los Chicanos en las agrupaciones internas solo justifica
la violencia en nuestra contra por parte de la policía. Mi último
articulo centrado alrededor de Mike Brown ahora empuja en genocidio,
tanto externo como interno, hacia el frente y deberá de ser usado para
recordarnos que nuestras condiciones son nuestra responsabilidad.
Aztlán y la responsabilidad social por su liberación empieza con la paz
entre todos los chicanos dentro de todos los grupos de las agrupaciones
internas. Sin embargo, por mas sorprendente que éste caso es en éste
momento, me gustaría tomar éste tiempo para expresar mis mas profundas
condolencias, tristeza y solidaridad a los amigos, familia y seres
queridos de este joven compañero en la lucha.
Chicanos cautivos: no re-accionen con focoismo, actos prematuros de
violencia encontra de algún guardia solo justificara el uso de fuerza y
violencia en nuestra contra por parte de la maquina estatal.
Revolución es nuestra única opción. Para cambiar nuestro dolor a una
fuerza educacional revolucionaria, que salvara a nuestros hijos y
compañeros en lucha.
Entiendan que la policía estatal y la clase imperialista un general
sostiene en dominio imaginario sobre nosotros, con el uso de cosas como
el patriotismo, y llamando a responsabilidad social a nuestro gobierno.
Esto no es nuestra obligación, nuestra obligación es terminar con las
divisiones internas y crear unión. Si nosotros no lo hacemos, entonces
ninguno de nosotros estará a salvo. Es tiempo de vivir por algo más.
Peleemos para atrás!
I have late breaking news to report regarding the Texas offender
grievance manual. There was a memo sent out to all Texas Department of
Criminal Justice (TDCJ) prisons from the Access-to-Courts Supervisor,
Frank Hoke. Here is the note as written:
Effective immediately the offender grievance manual will no longer
be available in the law library. As such, please remove all copies of
the offender grievance manual from your shelves. Make a note on your
holdings list it has been removed and in its place write ‘summary of
significant changes to the offender grievance program.’ The next revised
holdings list will not include the offender grievance manual. In
addition, cut out the below notice and post it in your law library for
offender review. Should you have any questions, please contact the
office at 936-437-4816.
Added: Emergency grievances that are
repetitive in nature or have been previously identified and or addressed
in another grievance will not be considered an emergency grievance and
will be processed as a regular grievance. If at any time grievance staff
cannot determine the grievance is repetitive in nature, the grievance
will be processed as an emergency grievance according to the guidelines
established in the offender grievance operations manual.
Added: 3rd party allegations of sexual abuse. Note: allegations of 3rd
party sexual harassment will not be addressed and removed. The term
‘specialty grievances’ has been removed. Non-emergency grievances shall
be processed as regular grievances subject to all screening criteria
Revised: time limits: disciplinary appeals and step 2 grievances shall
be processed within 40 days of receipt from offender
Added: grievances that do not describe a reported use of force that was
excessive or unnecessary do not warrant any further action and shall be
considered non-grievable enforcing: 1 issue per grievance
9/30/14 9:24am authority: Frank Hoke.
I am letting all comrades know about this because it affects us all, and
now we have no access to what the grievance codes are, the rules of the
grievance manual, etc. This is a step in the wrong direction.
I did receive some letters back in response to my grievance petition.
One came from Congressman Lloyd Doggett who wrote “Thank you for sharing
your concerns with me. I am honored that you have the confidence in me
to assist you with this matter. However since Congress has no
jurisdiction over state issues I have forwarded your communication to
the honorable Susan King Texas State House of Representatives, PO Box
2376, Abilene, TX 79604. Again thank you for taking the time to write
me.” Administrative Review & Risk Management sent a note when they
received the grievance petition. They marked “please utilize the
offender grievance procedure to address your concerns.” The Office of
the Inspector General (OIG) mailed an interoffice communication to me
that an OIG investigation will not be conducted in response to the
grievance petition.
MIM(Prisons) responds: After four years of campaigning to demand
grievances be addressed in Texas, we now have the prison administrators
taking action. This action is not to address prisoners’ grievances, as
their laws and procedures require, but rather to stop prisoners from
finding out what the rules say. Fortunately, we already have an
extensive guide to fighting grievances in Texas, which we distribute to
prisoners, and it contains all the information needed from the TDCJ’s
grievance manual. We won’t let this administrative move slow down the
Texas campaign. In response we call on all Texas prisoners to make use
of our grievance pack to fight the system on every violation of rules
and regulations. File grievances and demand they be addressed. Flood the
prison and the appeals system with legitimate grievances and show them
that removal of their rules will not stop this fight. Write to
MIM(Prisons) for a copy of the
Texas
grievance materials.
Most prisoners don’t know that the only reason some injustices happen to
them is because the person before them it was done to did nothing about
it. So it continues into custom, then into practice, then into policy.
Once in policy, Court Order Injunction is the only means to prove
unconstitutionality of such acts and force them to be changed. Therefore
we need to fight injustice while it is still just a custom!
In ULK 33“Solidarity:
Dead in the Feds”, a Federal prisoner reported on a spontaneous
action that took place to protest poor meals in the Security Housing
Unit at the United $tates Penitentiary in Pollock, Louisiana. 53
prisoners participated in a collective action but most quickly
retreated. Clothing was taken away and everyone was placed on meager
“disciplinary meals.”
Besides the spontaneous direct action approach which quickly fizzled
out, another tactic those comrades could take is to get those 53
prisoners to pick up a pen and a grievance and file the case law
outlined on Donegan v. Fair, 859 F2d 1059.1063 (1st Cir 1988)
(Statute: Prisoners have liberty interest in receiving nutritionally
adequate food and meals).
I would also recommend to read the unit’s use of force policy to see
what they can and cannot do to you, being that this correspondent in
Pollock was gassed five times. Getting gassed when done without reason
is unconstitutional. See Stringer v. Rowe, 616 F2d 993 at 998 (7th
Cir 1980).
The taking of clothes is arbitrary and capricious and done to punish
without penological purpose. The case Reeves v. Pettcox, 19 F3d 1060
(5th Cir 1994) combats this type of act.
MIM(Prisons) adds: We appreciate this Prisoners’ Legal Clinic
contributor for sending in legal tips for others to use in their
struggles against the criminal injustice system. Spontaneous collective
action provides a good assessment of our overall level of solidarity.
That 53 people participated in this spontaneous action in the first
place is quite impressive. But building a protracted struggle to bring
down the root causes of our vast criminal injustice system – capitalism,
imperialism, and national oppression – is another thing altogether.
Unless there is a very broad and deep level of unity among the
imprisoned population, direct actions will face defeat because the
guards can easily intimidate people out of participating. This is
essentially what happened in the original article from ULK 33.
We hope the correspondent in Pollock will continue to organize others
against injustices in their unit, rather than accept defeat because of
one failed action. There are many tactics we can employ to build unity
and strengthen our movement.
When choosing what campaigns to organize around, we can see there is a
difference between just fighting for reforms while leaving the overall
oppressive system intact, and fighting for reforms that make space for
more political organizing. Our comrades behind bars should organize with
others in their unit against prison abuses, to build networks and
elevate the collective consciousness of their fellow captives. This
would include fighting against excessive use of force, or for nutritious
meals. And we can fight for reforms that directly impact our ability or
organize, such as anti-censorship campaigns, or the struggle to abolish
solitary confinement. We can organize over these campaigns, and even
have some wins under imperialism. The biggest win will be developing our
collective consciousness and unity.
To the comrade who wrote the article titled
“South
Carolina Stops Grievance Challenge Process” in ULK 33, I
would like to commend you and provide ammo. You say the pigs move you
around to different segregated dorms when they find out you are
assisting other prisoners with their legal work. The clearly established
right to assist others with legal work has been in place for over three
decades in Corpus v. Estelle 551 F2d 68 (5th Cir 1977). Even
though South Carolina is in the 4th Circuit, case law from the 5th
Circuit can still be cited as a persuasive authority.
As for the problem of unprocessing your grievances, take a look at your
prison’s policies and see if they make reference to an offender
grievance manual. They might have criteria for making a grievance
unprocessed. Check and see if there is information on access to courts
and if the manual has criteria with words such as what that
administration “must,” “will,” or “shall” do before unprocessing the
grievance. This is how you determine a “liberty interest,” if the policy
mandates any constitutional process due under the 4th or 14th
Amendments.
Also look at these cases: Tool Sparashad v. Bureau of Prisons, 268
F3d 576, 585 (DC 2002) and Herron v. Harrison, 203 F3d 410-416
(6th Cir 2006) on matters concerning grievance and retaliation.
Teach as much as you know to others wanting and willing to learn, and
keep on pushing comrade! Keep promoting use of the pen in legal warfare!
Remember, winners never quit and quitters never win.
Due to another prisoner’s actions who I correspond with regularly, I am
being accused of ordering a hit on a prisoner “In an effort to further
my position and recruiting purposes in security threat group (STG)
activity.” In fighting my supermax placement, I was able to get them to
admit that the letter they are using as evidence was written in code. So
they have no way of understanding what is really talked about in this
letter. I went to the extreme of giving them some STG codes to show them
that no hit was made on anyone’s life and that they are making this out
to be something that it isn’t. This led to me being given another
conduct report for possession of STG related material.
Following the advice from an older prisoner, I started using the
grievance process to help fight my case instead of going the way of my
past and becoming aggressive. This led to more harassment including cell
searches in which conduct reports and grievances that I filled came up
missing, making it seem as if I am making all this shit up!
I have been threatened with supermax placement since the day I got off
this bus. Last year I was given 3 months in segregation over an incident
where I was defending myself against another prisoner who attempted to
stab me, and he was given less than a month. I was told that this was
due to the fact that I had to have done something to provoke this
individual! It’s crazy. I used to read about other prisoners complaining
of this kind of treatment and I’m ashamed to say that I used to doubt
them and think that there had to be more to the story until I found
myself facing the same set of circumstances.
Though I am a member of the United Blood Nation (UBN), I am not a gang
member. To many that is hard to understand, but to explain it quickly, I
feel that gang members rep colors and are more focused on ignorance. I
am not concerned with the colors a person wears, the organization to
which they belong or any of that. I am a freedom fighter. I stand for a
cause. I read, study and follow the ideology of the Black liberation
movements of the past. I encourage not only my young komrades but people
who I associate and deal with to find knowledge of self and to study,
build and to better themselves. I am no angel and don’t claim to be. I
still have a lot of work to do but I’m moving at a righteous pace and
setting the tone and paving the way for the masses to follow in a
meaningful and constructive manner.
MIM(Prisons) responds: It is interesting that the very method the
prison uses for social control, targeting specific prisoners for
segregation and other punishments, results in raising the political
consciousness of those targeted. Experiencing this repression firsthand
leads some who were entrenched in the lumpen mentality of fighting other
prisoners to recognize the criminal injustice system is the common
enemy.
This is an example of the dialectical relationship between repression
and liberation, and is true in all historical eras and oppressive
conditions – oppression breeds resistance. Repression of prisoners in
the United $tates is one cog in the imperialist machine that condemns
people all over the world for the benefit of the oppressor nations. Even
though our struggle can seem overwhelming at times, we can have
strategic confidence in our inevitable international victory over
capitalism and all its devastating consequences. So long as oppressed
people are being politicized and educated on the common enemy, from
prisons in the United $tates to the mountains in Nepal, we will overcome
our common enemy and finally be allowed to eat and sleep in peace. The
more the imperialists oppress people, the more people can be drawn in to
revolutionary activism.
We hope others will take an example from this comrade and work as
freedom fighters to educate and organize others. How quickly and easily
we achieve victory depends on how much political work we do today.
Mail the petition to your loved ones and comrades inside who are
experiencing issues with their grievance procedure. Send them extra
copies to share! For more info on this campaign, click
here.
Prisoners should send a copy of the signed petition to each of the
addresses listed on the petition, and below. Supporters should send
letters on behalf of prisoners.
Secretary of Corrections Landon State Office Building 900 Jackson,
4th Floor Topeka, KS 66612
United States Department of Justice - Civil Rights Division Special
Litigation Section 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, PHB Washington,
D.C. 20530
Office of Inspector General HOTLINE P.O. Box 9778 Arlington,
Virginia 22219
And send MIM(Prisons) copies of any responses you receive!
MIM(Prisons), USW PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140
Mail the petition to your loved ones and comrades inside who are
experiencing issues with their grievance procedure. Send them extra
copies to share! For more info on this campaign, click
here.
Prisoners should send a copy of the signed petition to each of the
addresses listed on the petition, and below. Supporters should send
letters on behalf of prisoners.
Officer of General Counsel PO Box 21787 Columbia SC 29221-1787
United States Department of Justice - Civil Rights Division Special
Litigation Section 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, PHB Washington,
D.C. 20530
Office of Inspector General HOTLINE P.O. Box 9778 Arlington,
Virginia 22219
And send MIM(Prisons) copies of any responses you receive!
MIM(Prisons), USW PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140
I’ve been doing follow up on your letter of 10 September 2014 to the
Publications Review Committee [regarding the inclusion of MIM
publications on the Master Disapproved list]. So far I’ve discovered
three different Disapproved Publications Lists. To clear up the
confusion I wrote to the law library requesting the most recent list.
Instead of receiving the list, I was instructed to obtain the list from
the pod librarian. I attempted to do so, but the pod librarian has only
the Disapproved Books List and not the Disapproved Periodicals List. Of
course, MIM Theory and ULK are on the latter, not the
former. I’ve submitted yet another request for the Disapproved
Periodicals List. If I am not given the list this time, I will initiate
the grievance.
In your response to Lou Cei you indicate that he states MIM
Theory and ULK have been disapproved for reasons other
than the reasons on the Disapproved List I sent to you. Lou Cei also
states that 5 of the MIM Theories are on the list as approved for inmate
purchase.
I have located a Disapproved List that is dated March 2014. This is not
the most recent updated list. It does have 4 MIM Theories listed as
approved and 3 MIM Theories listed as disapproved. But here is the
problem: the rows and columns of the chart are not in agreement. For
example, the publication titled “Mermaids” shows an author “Elijah
Muhammad” but on the row directly below is the book “Message to the
Black Man in America” showing as author “C. Gatewood.” Obviously the
column listing the author’s names is out of sync with the column listing
titles. So it then becomes impossible to know if the column that lists
the approval status is correct. For instance, Mermaids is disapproved
but Message to the Black Man is approved.
Since I’m unable to have the list photocopied I copied pertinent
portions by hand:
MIM Dist. Level 1 Study Group Disapproved MIM Theory 2&3
Approved MIM Theory 4 Approved MIM Theory 11 Disapproved MIM
Theory 13 Disapproved MIM Theory 9 Previously Disapproved MIM
Theory 5 Diet for a Small Red Planet Approved MIM Theory M. Baalbaki
Approved Under Lock & Key #37 Disapproved Under Lock & Key
Feb. 2011 Disapproved Under Lock & Key #15 Disapproved Under
Lock & Key #27 Disapproved Under Lock & Key July/Aug 2013
Disapproved Under Lock & Key #25 Disapproved Under Lock &
Key #37 Disapproved Under Lock & Key #37 Disapproved Under
Lock & Key #20 Disapproved Under Lock & Key #26
Disapproved Under Lock & Key #23 Disapproved Under Lock &
Key #36 Disapproved Under Lock & Key #28 Disapproved
To further muddy the waters, this list shows certain publications that
are approved whereas the other lists show only those publications that
have been disapproved.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This is a good example of the difficulties we
encounter trying to appeal censorship in Amerikan prisons. We are often
given incomplete or incorrect information, when we can get the prisons
to respond to our protest letters at all. And prisoners trying to do the
work to gather policies and lists in order to file the appropriate
grievances are given the run around and denied necessary information. In
spite of this, we do win censorship battles through perseverance. This
comrade is doing the hard work of fighting on h end, and so we will
continue to support this battle with letters of protest of our own. We
encourage all prisoners whose mail is denied to follow up and file
grievances. And let us know what’s going on and what steps you are
taking so we can support your fight from our end.
Censorship is nothing more than an attempt by the prisons to keep us
from raising the level of education and political consciousness of
prisoners. Material that educates and organizes is disapproved, often as
a “threat to the security of the institution,” while material that
pacifies (the bible, pop culture magazines and fiction novels) is
allowed in. Politically we are opposed to the U.$. prison system; the
revolution we are fighting for to overthrow imperialism will put an end
to the criminal injustice system in the United $tates. But this is a
political question, which our bourgeois democracy deems illegal for
government agencies to repress discussion of. The practical question of
whether literature sent to prisoners by MIM Distributors is a threat to
the institutional safety and security is clearly answered in the
negative, as we know that prisoners who get involved with political
organizing are less likely to engage in violent conflicts with other
prisoners and with the prison staff.
In August 2014, in response to I$rael’s renewed attacks on Palestinians
in the Gaza Strip, United Struggle from Within (USW) drafted and began
circulating a petition denouncing the imperialist genocide of the people
of Palestine. The petition draws connections to the oppressed nations
suffering in the United $tates, and in particular recognized the support
Palestinian prisoners gave to the
California
hunger strikers. While this round of bombing by I$rael was over
before most could even return their signed petitions, the damage is
still being felt and the imperialist occupation of Palestine continues.
“According to the United Nations, 100,000 homes have been destroyed or
damaged, leaving 600,000 Palestinians – nearly one in three of Gaza’s
population – homeless or in urgent need of humanitarian help. Roads,
schools and the electricity plant to power water and sewerage systems
are in ruins.”(1)
In addition, the Cairo agreement to “rebuild” Gaza after I$rael
bombed it to pieces, will be managed by none other than I$rael, who will
ensure that all the money goes into the pockets of I$raeli construction
companies.(1) The democratically elected government of Palestine, led by
Hamas, will be deprived of any oversight of this process, as they are
further isolated with Egypt closing off the border with Gaza to the
south.
It is not too late to rally in support of the Palestinian struggle! As
of the beginning of November, USW comrades have gathered over 60
signatures to this petition in at least seven different prisons.
Signatures are still coming in and a number of comrades have reported to
still be working on collecting signatures in their latest
communications.
While the numbers may not be overly impressive, to date only 17 of those
comrades originally sent the petition have even reported receiving it.
One Texas comrade who gathered 9 signatures reported doing so despite
the prison being on lockdown (no one being able to leave their cells)
and the recent cut off of fishing (sending notes between cells by
string). At least one comrade could not get any other signatures due to
the risk of political repression as a validated “gang member” in the
control unit where he is held. It is no coincidence that many of our
most active and politically conscious comrades find themselves in such
conditions.(2)
This campaign to support the people of Palestine is significant in that
it is the first USW-initiated campaign around an issue not related to
the immediate conditions of prisoners themselves since MIM(Prisons) has
been around. The campaign was launched without a lot of preparation, and
despite the inherent limitations imposed on those in prison, we got good
participation. As one California comrade recently reported, the petition
was a tool for outreach that
led
to many political dialogues and lessons learned that will contribute
to the building of the anti-imperialist movement in U.$. prisons. Their
efforts to collect signatures reached beyond just those who signed the
petition.
The need for these types of agitational campaigns is one of the lessons
that we can take away from this experience. The barriers among much of
the prison population to supporting the Palestinians’ right to survival
are built on a combination of Amerikan patriotism, misinformation and
apathy. However, to sum up the reports we have received, we’d say that
fear of repression is the number one barrier being faced, which is a
problem USW faces with all its campaigns. One comrade reported setbacks
due to fears around hysteria surrounding the Islamic State.
A number of comrades reported not being able to get any signatures yet,
and one wrote from California:
“My focus thus far has been on the socially conscious Muslim prisoners,
whom I guessed would be the most willing out of everyone to sign the
petition. But I’m starting to see more and more that the overwhelming
majority in Amerikkka just ain’t willing to take a stand against these
racist imperialist idiots in no way shape or form. Not one of the
Muslims, out of the around 25 prisoners I approached, would sign the
thing. The excuses ranged from, ‘We need to worry about fixing ’home’
first…’ to just flat out ‘The Jews have too much control in this country
for me to sign some paper and get on their shit list.’ … so far
everybody but me has been too scared to sign it.”
A few weeks later this comrade submitted h petition with 25 signatures.
This fear of signing is a common problem in prisons where all mail is
read and punishment for activism can be severe. A comrade in Colorado
wrote:
“I read the last issue of ULK and I want to say that the U.S. policy
against Palestine has long been underrepresented and ignored. Amerikkka
is telling the people of Gaza and Lebanon that it will allow Israel to
murder and justify it in the name of ‘peace.’ I feel that the greatest
threat to world peace is the U.S. foreign policy. As prisoners we all
should stand with the people of Gaza and their right to self-defense and
self-determination. Progress is being made here as far as the petition
goes. Many are in solidarity against amerikkkan imperialism as it stands
with Israel yet many are afraid to sign.”
One letter from Virginia described the difficulty promoting
internationalism:
“I have been having trouble convincing prisoners here to sign the
Palestine USW petition. The fear of institutional retaliation keeps a
majority of them from involving themselves in any type of radical
struggles or demonstrations. Compounding the problem is the fact they
cannot grasp the concept of ‘internationalism.’ The dominant question
was, ‘what do the Palestinians have to do with me?’ I tried as hard as I
could to convince them that all struggles against imperialism abroad are
a reflection of the non-ruling class struggles here in the Empire. So
please do not construe the lack of signatures as an indicator of my lack
of organizing skills.”
This question of “what the Palestinian struggle has to do with me” is a
manifestation of the relative wealth and privilege of Amerikans as a
whole. In reality the Palestinian struggle is counter to the material
interests of the petty bourgeois majority in the United $tates which
enjoys a supply of cheap gas ensured by Amerikan military presence in
the Middle East. Like the struggle of oppressed people around the world,
the Palestinian people’s fight for national liberation threatens
Amerikan imperialism and its ability to control and exploit the labor of
Third World peoples. Any successful revolt against Amerikan imperialism
and its allies/puppets (such as I$rael) will destabilize that power and
may inspire others.
But when building public opinion with the lumpen in prison we can at
least draw some connections to national oppression within U.$. borders
and the national oppression of Palestinians. One researcher has claimed
that Palestinians are the most imprisoned people in the world, based on
the percentage who have been in prison (the United $tates is still #1 in
the number of prisoners it holds at one time). New Afrikans and the
original inhabitants on North America are potential rivals for this
title. In both places, the dominant nation, with the weapons and wealth,
is denying the oppressed nations independence and self-determination.
And the cause of the Palestinian people is allied with the cause of
oppressed nations everywhere in the world; the common enemy is
imperialism.
Another persyn wrote about some more reactionary responses to h attempts
to collect signatures.
“I attempt to discuss issues raised by MIM, but I’m completely lacking
in knowledge. For example, prisoners here state that the Palestinians
deserve the bombing because Hamas fired rockets into Israel. They say
the land of Israel is not occupied by foreigners – that it belongs to
Jews. They (prisoners here – a large number) say that there has never
been a nation called ‘Palestine’ and that the people who today label
themselves ‘Palestinians’ are simply Arabs mostly from the Trans Jordan
area. So what is the correct response?”
These positions raise the important question of how we define a nation.
Stalin gave us guidance on this point, describing a nation as a group of
people with a common language, culture, territory and economy (which is
different than a nation-state). The Palestinian people certainly meet
these requirements. Nations can arise and fall over time, as humynity
evolves and conditions change. While I$rael has evolved into a nation
today, Stalin was correct to argue that there was no Jewish nation in
his day. It was only after WWII and a mass migration of Europeans to
Palestine, and the genocide that cleared the previous inhabitants of
that land, that I$rael began its formation.
As for the question of Hamas firing rockets into I$rael, this certainly
has happened. And we uphold the right of people to defend themselves.
This is simply a question of incorrect facts. The Palestinian people are
righteously defending themselves against a much more powerful oppressor
who is constantly threatening their lives and taking over more of their
land. A cursory study of history shows who is the agressor in this
conflict. Even numbers from the end of July on this recent battle
demonstrate this: while I$rael reported 56 deaths (53 soldiers), in the
Gaza Strip 1,170 had been killed, many of them civilians in their
homes.(3) For those who are serious about studying the history of
Palestine and I$rael we can offer reading material, but for those who
just want to support the imperialists and accept their lies and
propaganda, it’s probably best to just move on and look elsewhere for
supporters. Let them eat their Thanksgiving turkeys and celebrate the
superiority of Europeans over the indigenous people of the lands they
occupy and destroy.