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.
Comrade Grim was spot on with what was said about the ideas and
ideals driving Christian Zionism generally and as it manifests itself in
the prison tablet space.
Regarding the group Grim mentioned by name, Real Vida TV, i
was able to work closely with Real Vida while organizing on behalf of
Texas T.E.A.M. O.N.E. At the time their line on solitary confinement was
that they saw it as torture and that it should be shut down in its
totality. This matched Our own line on solitary confinement and Real
Vida was willing and did assist us in spreading Our message, connecting
us with interested groups and opening their platform up to us and our
supporters. At the time it was only an audio radio show, not a podcast,
and there were no tablets. They also acted as communication assistants
helping us make important contacts with each other from plantation to
plantation as we organized a state wide hunger strike against solitary
confinement. All this is to say that at the time we had a working
relationship, regardless of their Christian Zionist beliefs.
However, this changed after Operation Al—Aqsa flood. Personally
speaking i couldn’t even listen to the garbage they were spewing let
alone look past it. Ties were severed. To me the question of the Third
World proletariat and the Palestinian nationalist struggle far
out-weighs the u.s. prisoner class-based struggles.
They’re the most reactionary manifestation of the christian prison
ministries and also one of the most popular. A lot of their videos are
widely discussed afterwards and i’ve had more than a few disputes and
even fisticuffs surrounding the B.S. they spew. The cold truth is that
as MIM(Prisons) says, not all prisoners are swayed by this garbage. But
the Palestinian struggle has unearthed the reactionary, patriotic
amerikkkan spirit among the lumpen here. What i observe is that only the
most politically and socially conscious inmates side with the
Palestinian struggle, and this is the minority.
The tablets play a role in that they have very limited selection of
voices and ideas, particularly on this sort of issue. Pando App
dominates the landscape and prior to March 2024, when podcasts were
uploaded onto all tablets, Pando was basically the only source of
entertainment. i have filed complaints concerning discrimination in
content that is available on the KA Lite app, which is an education app
that has a wide variety of scientific and hard historical factual
knowledge, but the prison admin has to allow permission to download
content. My complaint came after observing that there was no content
concerning Africa, the Black Liberation struggle, and anti-colonial
revolutions. Although these videos have been made by the app creator,
the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has not allowed us
access to the content. i also filed a complaint on the podcast platform
for similar reasons but pertaining solely to Palestine.
The final comment is that outside comrades have to begin to get their
content on the music and/or podcast platforms. i sent a previous note to
MIM(Prisons) on how to do that with the Securus people.
Firewater of USW also responded: Grim, read your
article in ULK 86. I totally agree with you about the Christian
religion and these “evangelists” supporting mass murder and exploitation
around the world. The people at Real Vida are real nice folks, but they
are brainwashed and misguided like all Christians. We need to be able to
copy what they do only for our revolutionary work.
We need to be doing what Real Vida is doing but like you said the
Christian Zionists have a monopoly on these tablets and it needs to be
broken up! I was in medium and high security and all we could watch was
“Pando App”, which is nothing but Christian Evangelists and we have an
FYI App that is run by TDCJ and is all Jesus all the time!
TDCJ is run by these Christian Chapels and they oppress other
religions such as Muslim, Native American, Eastern religions, etc. The
Church of the Larger Fellowship (CLF) Unitarian Universalists’ Prison
Ministry said that the “PANDO” App would not allow the CLF to
participate. Probably because the PANDO folks are right-wing evangelical
kooks and the CLF and UUA are extremely liberal organizations.
Grim is right on when ey talks about the genocide of Turtle Island
and the raping and pillaging of Mother Earth’s treasures. They love to
tout capitalism as the greatest engine of wealth ever created. But it’s
like Orwell’s Animal Farm, where the farm animals are ruled by
their newly formed governance of PIGS!
by Grim of United Struggle from Within July 2024 permalink
Same Struggle - a piece connecting the liberation struggles of New
Afrika and Palestine from the years of their colonization
At the end of Orisanmi
Burton’s Tip of the Spear: Black Radicalism, Prison Repression, and
the Long Attica Revolt – a book USW cadre have been studying
since its release in late October 2023 – Burton correctly labels the
prison tablets supplied to the imprisoned lumpen by predatory prison
communications companies like Securus and Global Tel Link(GTL)/ViaPath
Technologies as “the cutting edge of carceral war.”(1)
Much has already been written by
MIM and USW comrades about these tablets including the several areas
Burton shortly discusses: the use of predatory pricing strategies that
extract even more money from oppressed nation communities, expanding the
surveillance state, and behavior modification/digital babysitters.(2)
What has not been discussed in much detail is the use of the tablets as
imperialist propaganda machines.
Of course, all of the content on the tablets is highly censored, with
an extensive vetting process for orgs who want to place their content on
them. On the GTL/ViaPath tablets we have at Main Jail in San Jose (Model
VT-TABLET-5081S) the only app we have besides the GTL phone app is the
free edu-tainment platform “Edovo”, which is – to no ones’ surprise –
full of garbage content.
Shortly after the Palestinian resistance launched Operation Al-Aqsa
Flood, smashing the Iron Wall and entering the rest of their homeland as
a force to be reckoned with, there was an almost weekly upload of
Christian Zionist and other Zionist propaganda pushed onto the platform.
The first of these that I noticed was the feature film “Exodus: Gods
& Kings” which details the Old Testament story of Moses leading the
Israelites to Palestine, or as it is called in the movie, Canaan. This
story, along with several other books of the Old Testament, are the
basis for what Zionists today use as their claim to Palestine as their
“ancient homeland”. And yet, as Palestinian hystorian Nur Masalha
writes, “The Old Testament is not actual history but imaginative
fiction, theology, sacred literature, ethics and wisdom.”(3) In short,
the stories that Zionists base their land claims to Palestine on are
myth narratives, not proven hystory.
Roughly around the same time, episodes of a Christian Zionist podcast
started to be uploaded to Edovo. This podcast, called “Real Vida TV”, is
put together by evangelists from Tyler, Texas who use their show to
spread vaccine/COVID conspiracy theories popular among the Amerikan
right, as well as anti-immigrant, queer & transphobic rhetoric
alongside Bible verses.
Since October 7th they’ve been spreading the usual Zionist
lies of mass rape, beheading babies, etc… that the imperialist media
continues to propagate. They also have been tying everything occurring
in Palestine and the Middle East into the strange and insane “end times”
prophecies that are the main reason for the strong support of Christian
Zionism, led mostly by Amerikan evangelists.
To understand this a bit better, let’s take a step back from the
Zionist podcast and take a closer look at Christian Zionism, which, to
my knowledge, hasn’t had anything substantial written on it in
ULK.
Evangelical Christians, the bulk of Christian Zionists in the United
$tates, take the writings in the bible literally. To get a numerical
picture, there are roughly around 15 million Jews around the world today
(which I’d like to note, a large percentage are anti-Zionist and
completely reject the genocidal state of “i$rael”); in comparison there
are over 70 million evangelicals who share the same “ironclad” support
of “i$rael” as Genocide Goe in the United $tates. Christian Zionism also
finds its roots in the Bible, but it is not because of some altruistic
wish to “return” the Jews to the safety of their so-called “ancient
homeland”. The return and consolidation of the Jews in the land of
Palestine is supported so strongly by the Christian Zionists because
they believe once this has been finally accomplished their “messiah”
Jesus Christ will return, render judgement(punishment) upon the
nonbelievers (which includes Jews as they do not believe Christ is the
“messiah”), and then get into motion the so-called end-times prophecies
of the Book of Revelation (which depicts Armageddon), where the
non-believers will burn and the true believers will float up with Jesus
to LaLa Land.
No, I am not making this up sadly.
Even more sadly, these views are being used by those who produce the
podcast to justify the ongoing genocide and dispossession of Palestinian
people, the actual indigenous inhabitants of the land of Palestine.
What’s worse, at least for Our comrades in Texas, is that these
Christian Zionists go to and have access to all of the TDCJ gulags where
they can spread this poisonous rhetoric, possibly making it even harder
to shift public opinion in the units in favor of the Palestinian
liberation struggle (I’d be interested to know the point of view of Our
comrades in Texas on this). As the Zionists and their imperialist
backers continue to spread their lies to try to sway the opinions of the
masses toward support of their genocidal logic, We must counter them in
every way We can, especially in the writing and dissemination of
articles on Palestine in the pages of ULK, and by
supporting/working on the USW Palestine campaign.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be
free!
MIM(Prisons) adds: A USW leader in Florida wrote an
article on the Biblical “history” of the Jewish people. We are not
printing that article. But here is their explanation for the approach
they took in that piece:
“I’m hearing pro-I$raeli comments in the quad and on the yard every
day. Prisoners are completely swallowing and promoting the CIPWS zionist
pro I$raeli narrative, ie., that the Palestinians brought the genocide
upon themselves when they attacked I$raeli citizens, rather than
settlers/invaders, on October 7, 2023, rather than in response to
70-plus years of CIPWS zionist occupation and oppression.
“I am surrounded by prisoners who hear the word”Israel” and
automatically think “Jesus”. Prisoners see the entire
Israeli-Palestinian conflict and situation from a biblical point of view
rather than a historical and U.$. imperialist political one.
“The average prisoner had never heard of Hamas, Zionists, Hizbullah,
Houthi, etc. until recently. Prisoners identify with Israel mostly due
to religion and all they are told is that Israel was attacked by
Palestinians, and that Palestinians want Israel extinct, even as they
see the total opposite happening with their own oppressed eyes. Even
Muslims here, due to subliminal incognizance, do not support or identify
with he Palestinians’ plight. They see the Palestinians, not as victims,
but as terrorists, not as brothers.”
As members of United Struggle from Within (USW) have come out in
strong support of the Palestinian resistance, we see this is not
representative of the consciousness of the imprisoned lumpen as a whole.
Thus the need for our leaders inside to continue this campaign to
support Palestine in the realm of education and ideological struggle
among the oppressed in this country. People who are suffering a lower
level genocide through the prison system itself are somehow identifying
with their own oppressor. If the national liberation struggles were
stronger in this country, we would be seeing a lot more support for
national liberation of Palestine here as well.
Notes: (1) Burton, Orisami, “Tip of the Spear: Black
Radicalism, Prison Repression, and the Long Attica Revolt”,(University
of California Press, 2023),p.227 (2) Ibid. p.228 (3) Masalh,
Nur, “Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History”,(I.B. Taurus, 2018)
p.30
The aim of this article is to provide a brief summation of what Hamas
is as a movement. It will expand on the history
of Palestine written by a comrade in ULK 84. Both imperialist media
and revisionist propaganda create false narratives around Hamas,
oftentimes mistaking basic facts to suit their interests. It is
important to understand that Hamas is a movement and that over the
course of history has changed, likely changing as We speak. The primary
aim of this article is not to formulate an opinion on how communists
should approach Hamas or to speak over Palestinian and Arab analyses of
Hamas. Rather it is to point out the fundamental, but often obscured,
facts and history of the origins of Hamas and what it represents.
The Joint Room for Palestinian Resistance Factions brings the
resistance together to coordinate a counter-attack against I$raeli
colonization on 7 October 2023. Ayman Nofal, senior commander in
Al-Qassam Brigades, the militant arm of Hamas. was a main leader in
unifying resistance for this counter-attack who died in 2023 soon after
the counter-attack.(1) The current war is not just between Hamas and
I$rael, but one between the entirety of Palestinian resistance against
I$rael for the national liberation of Palestine. Hamas is the largest
faction of the Palestinian resistance so an understanding of the
movement and its history is crucial for understanding the ongoing
struggle.
The origins,
emergence and development of Hamas
Hamas is an Arabic abbreviation for Islamic Resistance
Movement(Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya). The movement was founded in
December 1987 at the beginning of the First Palestinian Intifada. Before
Hamas there was the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, which had a branch in
Gaza since 25 November 1946(founded this year to coincide with year 1366
of the Islamic calendar). The Muslim Brotherhood was non-confrontational
with I$rael, which led to criticism and division internally during the
1970s-1980s. Hamas was formed as a way to join the First Palestinian
Intifada(Uprising) without endangering the position of the Muslim
Brotherhood. Under the defense minister Yitzhak Rabin, the I$raeli
military adopted the so-called “iron fist” policy of violent repression:
it used live ammunition against unarmed protestors, jailed
demonstrators, and imposed punitive curfews and closures. This only
added fuel to the fire, escalating into a full scale intifada.(2) The
participation of Hamas in the First Palestinian Intifada was a major
success, leading it to become more than just an associated organization
of the Muslim Brotherhood.(3)
The origins of Hamas lie within the Muslim Brotherhood and the
Islamic Centre(Al-Mujamma’ al-Islami). The Islamic Centre was
established on 7 September 1973, by the founder of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed
Ismail Hassan Yassin(Ahmed Yassin). It emerged out of the Muslim
Brotherhood, with it’s stated goals of being the independence of Muslim
lands from foreign occupation and establishment of an Islamic
sociopolitical system.(4) The rise of the Islamic movements in
Palestine, specifically in Gaza, only really took off after the First
Intifada. This started on 9 December 1987, in the Jabalia refugee camp
after an I$raeli truck driver collided with a civilian car, killing four
Palestinian workers. Palestinian resistance emerged in response, being
met with 80,000 I$raeli soldiers being deployed to crush it. Hamas
emerged specifically for the Muslim Brotherhood to engage in the First
Palestinian Intifada, beforehand militant struggle against I$rael by
Islamic movements in Palestine were scarce.
Palestinian fedayeen(freedom fighters) network was primarily united
under the Palestinian Liberation Organization(PLO) after the Six-Day
War, a war between I$rael and a coalition of Arab nations in 1967 which
led to I$rael attaining West Bank, Jerusalem, Sinai Peninsula and Gaza
Strip. The resistance was primarily led by the Palestinian Liberation
Front(PLF), Palestinian National Liberation Movement(Fatah), and Popular
Front for Liberation of Palestine(PFLP). In the end, it was harshly
repressed by I$rael with the death of Muhammad al-Aswad, known as
“Gaza’s Guevara,” on 9 March 1973, marking the end of the military
struggle. The failure of the Palestinian national movement marked a
major turning point in Palestine.(5)
The Muslim Brotherhood was spared this harsh repression and Ahmed
Yassin during this time led a variety of political activities and
creation of various social institutions. These were under the name of
the Islamic Centre, being recognized more formally on 7 September 1973,
when the I$raeli governor attended the Jawrat al-Shams mosque
inauguration. Later on, the Islamic University of Gaza, one of the first
universities in Gaza, was founded by the Islamic Centre. The
institutions and activities of the Islamic Centre played a major role in
its establishment, with the university becoming a major site of
recruitment for the Muslim Brotherhood. The Islamic Centre was
officially recognized as a charity in September 1979 by the I$raeli
occupation. The reason for I$rael’s benevolent tolerance toward the
Islamic Centre was to weaken the Palestinian national movement in
exchange for a more conciliatory Islamic alternative.
The Palestinian national movement was even further divided with the
PLO adopting the 10 Point Program which was the basis for the two-state
solution and drafting of peace with I$rael. The Front of the Palestinian
Forces Rejecting Solutions of Surrender was established in 1974 by a
coalition of communist and progressive nationalist organizations who
wanted to continue armed struggle. The PLO became more conciliatory
towards I$rael, and today it rules over the now I$raeli puppet
government called the Palestinian Authority. The 10 point program in its
content may have had some progressive demands, such as right for
displaced Palestinians to return and take back their homes. However, its
calls for peace with I$rael and usage in justifying and end to
resistance led to collaboration as we see today in the West Bank.(6)
In regard to social institutions, the main competition to the Islamic
Centre was the Palestine Red Crescent Society under Haidar Abdel-Shafi,
who was close with the PFLP. Specifically, Haidar was part of the Arab
Nationalist Movement which was started by one of the founders of the
PFLP, George Habash. The PFLP emerged directly out of the Arab
Nationalist Movement after the Six Day War in July 1967. The executive
committee of the Arab Nationalist Movement decided that the Palestine
Section should move toward armed struggle. Three commando groups merged,
the Revenge Youth, Heroes of Return, and the Palestine Liberation
Front(PLF) to announce the founding of the PFLP on December 11th, 1967.
Haidar Abdel-Shafi was both the founder and director of the Palestine
Red Crescent Society, which served as a bastion of Palestinian
nationalism in 1972.(7)
The PLO, Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Centre were dominated by
different sections of petty-bourgeois, national bourgeois and even
comprador elements. As a result, the PFLP was a major threat to the
projects of both groups given the revolutionary nationalist outlook that
the front upheld, rooted in the proletariat. The PFLP took heavily from
the Chinese and Vietnamese revolutionaries both in political and
strategic developments.(8) Also, the the front correctly identified the
enemies of Palestinian revolution as “Israel, the world Zionist
Movement, global imperialism and Arab reactionaries.” In contrast to the
other factions within Palestine, the front adopted a firmly dialectical
materialist outlook, one based in scientific analysis of material
reality with all its developments and changes.(9) This is what led to an
allied struggle against communism by the other factions, as the PFLP
presented a major threat to the PLO and Islamic movements. To note, the
PLO refers to the mainstream conciliatory section, as the PFLP was still
part of the PLO.
The co-founder of Palestinian National Liberation Movement(Fatah),
Assad Saftawi, was a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood who was
crucial in negotiations between the Islamic movement and Fatah in
Palestine. He was the pioneer of an anti-communist strategy and alliance
between the factions, running against Haidar Abdel-Shafi for leadership
of the Red Crescent Society with the support of the Islamic Centre.
After an overwhelming defeat, hundreds of protestors supportive of the
Islamic movements ransacked Red Crescent offices on 7 January 1980. The
protestors continued to attack cafés, cinemas, and drinking
establishments in the town center. The I$raeli authorities did not
intervene in response to the violent attacks against the Palestine Red
Crescent Society intentionally.(10)
Coming back to the Islamic University of Gaza, in 1981 there were
protests over the Islamic movement’s monopoly over the policies in the
university. The Islamic Centre decided to turn against its former
allies, the Palestinian National Liberation Movement. The I$raeli
authorities and the Islamic movement formed a strange coalition to end
the secular nationalist opposition in the university. The Islamic Bloc,
an offshoot of the Islamic Centre, won 51% of the votes in student
elections and were able to impose Islamic policies; from separate
entrances for women and men to the way in which certain ideas and
courses were taught.(11) It was reported in 1983 that the Islamic Centre
hired armed gangs to attack striking students and teachers. Later on,
certain Islamic dress standards among students were encouraged, with
women who refused to wear Hijabs being attacked for it. A further
bolstering of the Islamic movements against the national movements in
Palestine had ensued with the Islamic University of Gaza becoming a
bastion for the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Centre.(12)
On June 1984, sixty pistols and sub-machine guns hidden in Ahmed
Yasin’s mosque led to his arrest and sentencing to thirteen years in
prison. Even if the arms were primarily intended to intimidate other
Palestinian factions.(13) Yasin’s incarceration allowed his supporters
to wash him of all suspicions of collaboration with I$rael. The leader
was freed in May 1985 within the framework of a prisoner exchange
between Israel and the PFLP–General Command, a faction that emerged in
opposition to the PLO after it created it’s 10 Point Program, based in
Damascus. The Muslim Brotherhood remained non-confrontational despite
the repression against it and built up the Islamic Centre, with the
number of mosques doubling from 77 in 1967 to 150 in 1986. This
non-confrontational and passive stance was opposed by Fathi Shikaki, who
split off to form the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, inspired by the Iranian
Revolution. In response to the Islamic Jihad multiplying attacks against
I$rael, the Islamic center formed the Majd. It performed the function of
protecting the Islamic network from attacks and in suppression of what
was seen as social ills.(14) The priority remained in combating
oppositional factions within Palestine rather than I$rael.
On 9 December 1987, the First Palestinian Intifada began in the Gaza
Strip and quickly spread to the West Bank. The growing popularity of the
Palestinian Islamic Jihad led to an agreement within the Muslim
Brotherhood between the conservative old guard, supportive of a
non-confrontational approach to I$rael, made up mainly of urban
merchants petty-bourgeoisie and general upper petty-bourgeoisie, and the
younger generation of new activist cadres, pro-resistance, made up
mostly of lower petty-bourgeoisie and refugee camp petty-bourgeois
students. Hamas was created in December 1987 as a separate but
affiliated organization which joined the First Palestinian Intifada. It
was largely successful and began to attract a lot of sympathizers. The
post-1973 oil boom allowed for many neighboring Arab nations to back
Islamic movements across the region, including Hamas and the Islamic
Centre.(15)
The
Second Palestinian Intifada and liberation of Gaza
The PLO suffered major setbacks abroad, with the Black September in
Jordan, a period of major repression of the PLO there. It led them to be
deported and transferred to Lebanon. Later in 1982, the PLO was expelled
from Beirut to Tunisia. All of this led to the PLO, led by Fatah, to
seek out a diplomatic solution rather than pursuing armed struggle. The
Oslo Accords were signed later on in 1991 between I$rael and the PLO,
leading to the Palestinian Authority ruling over parts of the West Bank
and Gaza. Military collaboration between the Palestinian Authority and
I$rael had increased against the Islamic movement. The Palestinian
Authority allowed continued colonization and occupation.
On 28 September 2000, Ariel Sharon, a Likud party candidate for
I$rael, visited the Temple Mount, also known as Al-Haram Al-Sharif, an
area sacred to both Jews and Muslims, accompanied by over a thousand
security guards. He stated on that day, “the Temple Mount is in our
hands and will remain in our hands. It is the holiest site in Judaism
and it is the right of every Jew to visit the Temple Mount.” This led to
the start of the Second Palestinian Intifada, with Palestinian
resistance being carried out by the PLO, Hamas, and other factions. It
led to I$raeli settlement and occupation forces withdrawing from the
region after being ousted by the resistance in 2005.(15)
In January 2006, Hamas had won the elections in the Gaza Strip,
winning 72 out of 132 seats with 42.9% of the vote. I$rael and I$rael’s
imperialist backers enforced sanctions on the Hamas-led government soon
after. Just a year later, tensions rose between Fatah and Hamas, with
Hamas reigning victorious and expelling Fatah from Gaza in 2007 after
the Battle of Gaza. The government faced major issues, with the poverty
rate sharply rising to 65% by the end of 2006.(16)
The I$raeli blockade banned importation of raw industrial materials
and put a siege on Palestinian banks to create an artificial financial
crisis. Despite this and the rapidly deteriorating conditions, the
oppressor classes enjoyed great luxuries and had high levels of
consumption. This was especially the case of private tunnel dealers who
controlled a monopoly on prices. A large portion of workers in Palestine
found themselves in extreme poverty. There are two aspects to this,
internal and external, and the external blockade by I$rael was only the
external cause behind this.(17)
The origins of the tunnels were historically havens for both
smugglers and outlaws but also for freedom fighters. Before the Second
Palestinian Intifada the tunnels were primarily used for drug and gold
trafficking for high profits. Near the end of the year 2000 they became
primarily used for smuggling arms for the resistance factions.(18) After
the Hamas takeover of Gaza in 2007, the regeneration and construction of
tunnels ensued in response to the siege. During this period, the main
lifeline for those in Gaza became these tunnels with an economy
centering around it. This led to a regression and neglect of the
development of a productive economy or sustainable development. It is
possible that during this time the primary class within Gaza was the
lumpen-proletariat and perhaps still is.
The number of tunnels increased from 20 in mid-2007 to up to 500 by
November 2008.(19) Some estimates by a variety of sources, from the
Hamas-led government, Egypt, and others, estimate higher. Regardless,
most of the tunnels belonged either to Hamas or its sympathizers. The
risks that workers face in the tunnels are immense and there is a
popular saying about the tunnels:
hundreds of tunnels deployed on the border, hundreds of young men
waiting to get involved in the game … write your will, you are facing
the unknown, but this is the land that you loved, roll up your shirt
sleeves, and be a man, you are now at a depth of 20 meters in the land
of Gaza, trust in God and finish your shift … 12 hours in hell, but
remember that hungry mouths awaiting you. Here, death is merciful and
quick … No pain… No white phosphorus … nor Israeli soldiers who might
use you as a human shield, it’s neither a prison here nor jail; here is
God and the darkness of the tunnel and breathing slowly till you
die(20)
Hamas is heavily dependent on the tunnel economy, estimated to make
more than $700 million annually. This economy is ultimately unproductive
and heavily dependent on exploitation, creating a class of private
tunnel owners and merchants who make up the leadership of Hamas today.
Ismail Haniyeh, the current leader of Hamas, is a millionaire from the
money made from his ownership and respective taxation on trade through
tunnels. The specific class relations will not be commented on here, but
this inquiry into the tunnel economy is done specifically to point out
its importance to Hamas. The large national bourgeoisie who own these
tunnels and the petty-bourgeoisie merchants who conduct trade within
them make up the class basis of Hamas today. This leads to an interest
in opposing imperialism and I$raeli occupation while maintaining the
exploitation of the proletariat and lumpen-proletariat.
The Hamas charter frames the struggle as a Jihad(holy struggle)
against Zionism. In its first charter in 1988, it was openly
anti-Semitic, claiming that both liberal and communist revolutions were
carried out because of the Jews.(21) The first charter also employs
idealism to obscure the internal class struggle and only emphasizes the
external one in an idealist manner. This was possibly put in due to the
opposition to Hamas by elements of the PLO and PFLP. Later on, this was
removed completely possibly in part due to the downfall of both of these
factions. As we can see, the ideology of Hamas changes as a result of
its class character and relationships with different factions. For that
reason, we see that Hamas broke with the Muslim Brotherhood officially
in the second charter in 2014 for being too passive. It also shifted
toward a more materialist conception of struggle against Zionism,
settler-colonialism/colonialism, and imperialism here rather than
against Jews and Judaism. In a recent document by Hamas, the
organization states this more clearly:
Hamas affirms that its conflict is with the Zionist project not with
the Jews because of their religion. Hamas does not wage a struggle
against the Jews because they are Jewish but wages a struggle against
the Zionists who occupy Palestine. Yet, it is the Zionists who
constantly identify Judaism and the Jews with their own colonial project
and illegal entity.(22)
This shift in position is important to note. The specific reason why
this occurred is hard to track down but the downfall of elements of the
PLO and PFLP is likely an important factor. So is the Second Intifada
and liberation of Gaza from I$raeli occupation and imperialism. As we
see, resistance to occupation forced Hamas to adopt more correct and
materialist political positions in regard to I$rael. It still obscures
internal class relations for its own benefit, but given the primary
ongoing struggle is against occupation, Hamas is able to maintain
majority support. A wartime poll of Palestinians in both Gaza and the
West Bank showed a vast majority supported: the Al Qassam Brigades(Hamas
brigades) at 89%, Palestinian Islamic Jihad at 85%, Al Aqsa
Brigades(Fatah brigades) at 80%, and Hamas at 76%.(23) Smaller
organizations like the PFLP were not included in the survey. So despite
the exploitation internally which Hamas is responsible for, its recent
practice of being one of the largest groups in the counter-attack
against I$rael leads it to win the sympathy of the masses.
Conclusion,
Reflections and Future Analysis
Palestinian resistance factions following a press conference in Beiruit,
Lebanon. Pictured are Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine (PFLP), Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), the Democratic Front
for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine — General Command (PFLP-GC).
As we can see, the Islamic movements in Palestine are not a monolith
and have changed overtime. The formation of Hamas and its class basis is
important to have clarity on, but this article is by no means an
extensive analysis of such. It hopefully has helped in clearing up
common myths and confusions around Hamas, with imperialist media
constantly making frivolous claims. They range from Hamas having spawned
out of the I$raeli far-right funding to Hamas being a terrorist group
which kills Palestinians and I$raelis. This article hopefully provided
both facts and summarized analyses of why both of these common
narratives are false. However, there are major issues left unaddressed
and a few will be listed here. The political economy of the Levant and
the Palestinian clans/tribes are a crucial factor that has not even been
mentioned. The displacement by I$raeli settler-colonialism and
imperialism has not been analyzed enough in detail. The Muslim
Brotherhood and its relationship to Hamas was glossed over as well. As
an analysis and presentation of facts from a foreign perspective, many
crucial elements are likely missed that are not known about.
Some of these shortcomings may be addressed in future articles.
Specifically, an article about Fanon’s writings on the
lumpen-proletariat leading a revolution in Algeria will be pursued. The
underground national bourgeoisie of oppressed nations in the United
$tates are quite similar to Hamas in current times. The displacement of
Palestinians by I$raeli settler-colonialism and imperialism mirrors the
conditions of oppressed nations and oppressed national minorities at the
hands of Amerika. A greater understanding of how revolutionary struggle
can be conducted in conditions of settler-colonial displacement by the
participation of the lumpen-proletariat and First World lumpen will be
important.
Before ending this article, i would like to make a general
acknowledgement. This article was written with the direct help of a
variety of MIM(Prisons) and AIPS members along with a variety of
comrades not affiliated with MIM(Prisons). The work of Arabic and
Palestinian documentation and analysis played a major role in being able
to answer this question here in more detail. These sources are worth
checking out and have been cited below for readers to read into
themselves if they wish. This is not meant to advocate for communists in
the Third World to pursue a certain policy toward Hamas, but to provide
the facts about and a brief analysis of Hamas to give a deeper
perspective of what the movement is and represents.
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
The illegal, inhumane, and barbaric war of genocide taking place
against the people of Palestine must be addressed from a historical
perspective without fear of retaliation or being “white balled” by the
white supremacist and neo-fascist power structure.
FEAR = False Evidence Appearing Real, and there is nothing more false
than the Khazarian Settler-KKKolony in Northeast Afrika (Canaans)
posturing as the descendants of the ancient Israelites and committing
mass genocide against its melanated population.
Revolutionaries, community activists, and all good-hearted people
cannot afford to tiptoe around this issue. To continue to call these
people “Israel” is to continue to perpetuate a blatant lie and become
co-conspirators to one of the greatest frauds and identity thefts in
modern day history. They are not Israelites and have no historical
connection to the land. They are invaders who have seized control of the
major means of production – backed by U.$. and British imperialism – and
turned Palestine into a neo-KKKolony where its people must fight for
their national liberation and self-determination. Just as AmeriKKKa is
an imperialist empire consisting of neo-KKKolonies fighting for their
self-determination from their invaders, conquerors, and oppressors,
Palestinians are doing the same.
These invaders, like every other rapist, abuser, and tyrant, have the
audacity to blame the victim for their victimization when they decide to
stand up straight so that their oppressor falls off their back. They
claim everything was going well until several members of Hamas decided
to invade their territory and kidnap and murder dozens of innocent
“Israeli” children, wimmin and men. I’m pretty sure all rapists think
that their savage actions are going well until their victim gets hold of
something to defend themselves, and fight back!
History is often defined by its conquerors, and especially when that
conqueror is in control of the propaganda networks, they are able to
shape the narrative for the future generations to come. These Khazarians
are no exception! We must collectively, through international
solidarity, diametrically oppose the systemic lie that they have
introduced to the world through religion, geo-politikkks, the
mis-education system, and the media.
The falsification of consciousness is so prevalent that they have
conceived the world that people can actually be anti-semetic against
them, when in fact:
There isn’t even a son named “Sem” in all of the Torah. Noah had
three sons: Shem, Khem, and Japheth.
“Ashkenaz”, a name which at least 90% of these modern day
Khazarians identify themselves as, are descendants of Japeth
(Gen. 20:2-3), Since they, by their own admission, are not Shemitic
(descendant from Shem’s bloodline, not “religion”), no one can possibly
be “anti-shemetic”, “anti-semetic” or whatever else you want to call
it.
Words matter. Historical materialism matters. “Anti-semetic” is a
politikkkal term they’ve developed in order to prevent those who become
conscious of their international zionist agenda from speaking out or
engaging in the growing struggle against kkkapitalist exploitation and
white supremacy of which they are dead at the center of.
Khazarians in 740 began to practice much of the spiritual discipline,
culture, and way of life of the Hebrew Israelites. History reveals that
prior to this decision these Khazarians were already at war with Arabs
and Muslims from 642-652 and again from 722-739 in what is called the
“Arab-Khazarian Wars”.
When the Khazarian Kingdom began to decline, the national identity of
the Khazarian people got absorbed by other European nations that they
amalgamated into, but holding on to the only thing that would always be
able to identify them no matter where they ended up so that one day they
could come back together and resurrect their Khazarian empire:
“Ashkenazi Judaism”.
During the Moorish rulership of Southern Spain, the great Hebrew
Israelite chief minister of the Caliph of Cordova, a diplomat, scholar,
physicians, and financial advisor, Hasdai Ibn Shaprut, shared multiple
correspondences with King Joseph of Khazaria where Joseph admits that
his bloodline and that of the Khazarian people go back to Japheth not
Shem!
The reason this is so important to point out is because it destroys
the lie that they are some “chosen people” based on spiritual text, with
some divine rights of dictatorship over Afrikan people and other people
of color. What is going on in Northeast Afrika is not a war between the
“white” descendants of Isaaq and the “black” descendants of Ishmael – it
is a war for national liberation against foreign domination… period!
They have perverted the text and twisted it for their own opportunistic
benefit.
To continue to allow this to go unchecked and label people who are
actually descendants of Abraham “anti-semetic” – rather Hebrew Israelite
and Hebrew Khemite – will allow those who are actually being
“anti-shemetic” to continue to drop hundreds of bombs on innocent people
who just want to be free. Since 7 October 2023, a little over 2 months
ago, the Khazarians have murdered over 20,000 Palestinians! And I
understand the reluctance of some people to speak this truth. The world
has witnessed what these imperialists have done to the Nick Cannon’s, Kanye’s,
and Kyrie’s, not to mention the Afrikans and others who dare to
speak truth to power. But all oppressed people everywhere have a humyn
right to resist KKKolonialism – white supremacy. We have an obligation
to our ancestors and a responsibility to our children to say that
oppression anywhere affects us everywhere!
Whenever Europeans are oppressing people of color, just already
expect them to come up with a clever word in order to cover up their
savagery, while at the same time discouraging you to extinguish the fire
of your revolution. That is what they’ve done, and that is what they
will always do! They will call your response “reverse racism”, “woke
theory”, “anti-semetic”, etc. But as a conscious Hebrew
Israelite and a dedicated New Afrikan revolutionary nationalist, I
say it’s time to call it what it is: Revolutionary Justice!
Wiawimawo of MIM(Prisons) responds: We have much unity
with this comrade’s conclusions regarding the role of I$rael in the
world, and the relationship of oppressed peoples to I$rael as an arm of
the U.$. empire. This article validates some of the things we wrote in
ULK 79 about the overall alliances of the New Afrikan masses
who are followers of Black Hebrew Israelites(1) and in ULK 80
on Kyrie Irving and Ye(fka Kanye West).(2)
We are not scholars of ancient civilizations, and will not try to set
the records straight here on the history of Khazarians. What we do know,
is that similar ideas to those above have been used by conspiracy
theorists who believe that Khazarians have controlled the world for 100s
of years, even calling people like the Bolshevik revolutionaries V.I.
Lenin and Joseph Stalin Khazarian Satanists. Clearly such ideas have
strayed far from historical materialism into the realm of fantasy.
Therefore we caution the author above, and our readers regarding these
ideas.
Certainly there is much to be learned by studying ancient
civilizations. But what we won’t learn is who is controlling things in
our world today and why. And while the bible has historical value, it is
not a document of factual history. I$rael today exists by the grace of
U.$. imperialism and its military industrial complex. We must attack
Zionist oppression, without succumbing to idealistic thinking.
Conspiracy theories that attempt to explain all of history are such
idealistic thinking, that serve to disempower the masses at the hands of
an all-powerful oppressor.
While playing with the words of the fascist conspiracy theorists, the
author above does not fall into these traps in what ey wrote. Ey
correctly points out that European settlers are using anti-semitism as a
shield to their genocidal project in the interests of imperialism. And
we join em on the side of the oppressed nations against imperialism.
1. MIM(Prisons), October 2022,Some Discussions on Bad Ideas
Pt. 1, Under Lock & Key 79. 2. A New York prisoner, January
2023, Sorting Out a Defense of Kyrie Irving, Under Lock & Key
80.
Religion was part of the impetus that went into the creation of modern prisons in the United $tates of Amerika. With the opening of the Eastern State Penitentiary in 1829 in Philadelphia, the experiment of molding human behavior with confinement and a bible, the idea was isolation and self-reflection would lead to penitence and a corollary eradication of sin, or criminality. However, the seeding of religion within such a volatile atmosphere never took root as designed, but has nevertheless served a persisting role behind the walls, bars and fences of condemnation and incapacitation, with positive and negative consequences. This short article visits the phenomenon of Black religion as it occurs from a materialist perspective within the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC), and its implications relative to Black life inside and outside the walls.
Social organization within the MDOC is controlled by Black men from the enclaves of cities hosting large segments of Black denizens. Power dynamics on the prison yards were determined by crews and cliques from these enclaves, with the inhabitants of Detroit overwhelmingly determining the direction and atmosphere of the prison yard; but the power of crews and cliques would start to diminish as a result of the Black power movements of the 1960s and 70s which had serious implications on how social (power) dynamics would be reformed. This reshaped the inner prison structure within the MDOC.
The prison system witnessed an exodus of Blacks from Christianity into the bosom of Black Muslimhood (Islam) for many Black cons – often infused with a radicalism endemic of the times. As prisoners from the cross-section of Michigan cities with the largest Black neighborhoods adopted membership into religious organizations like the Moorish Science Temple of America (MSTA), Orthodox Islam, the Nation of Islam (NOI), and lastly the Melanic Palace (and Islamic Palace) of the Rising Sun (MPRS/MIPRS), the diversity of the crews/cliques coagulated into unions of these religious folds. The yard was now structured, for the most part, by these four religious blocs who set the rules of compliance and how prisoners related to the powers that be: prison guards and administrators.
These Black religions served multiple functions from individual protection and a greater collective security in the face of growing quantitative and qualitative changes characterized by violence; a sense of belonging; quasi-familyhood and a material support system, however loose; an avenue to educate oneself and engage in character edification for self-betterment; an alternative power base to offset, counter and resist the state agency of the MDOC and its forms of repression, oppression, and aggression typical of a white political body utilized to isolate, control and dominate potential Black rebels, societal dropouts, and the politicized elements capable of organizing and fomenting direct opposition to white racism and anti-Black hate and containment.
During the onset of the 1980s, the Melanic Islamic Palace of the Rising Sun caught fire with its inductee membership [soaring] to rival other Black religious groups. But what set the Melanic Islamic Palace apart was their willingness to inflict violence on prison guards and staff. This, too, would prove to have both positive and negative consequences. Positive in that energy was invested in degrees of political education and the building of a requisite consciousness steeped in Black nationalist rhetoric, which spilled over and was consumed primarily by the NOI, and to lesser degrees the MSTA and Orthodox Muslims. Negative in that the State, like any serious sociopolitical entity, started focusing attention on these groups which would later bloom into a tsunami of backlash and repression that would blast the political and radical elements out of MDOC religious groups, pushing them to take up a near exclusive God-centric and moralistic brand of religious practice.
The Melanics would eventually be repressed, banned from group service, and branded a security threat group which is tantamount to free society’s terrorist designation. The ripple effects of this move would fuel the aftershocks for decades to come to this very day. Political content and its verbiage are now nearly obsolete among the Black religious groups for fear of repression and possible banishment of group worship. Radical activism has not only largely died out, but can also be frowned upon by Black religious adherents. The yard structure and its rules based compliance has all but evaporated with exception of a few prisons. And with those older prisoners from the 1970s and 80s having returned to society, become frail seniors in prison or having died off, a leadership vacuum was opened to be filled by the incoming street gangs of the younger generation who would steer asunder the remaining residue of rule by structure. A by-product of this alteration in yard power has been that the Black religious groups have become old in age relative to its membership, have become socially and politically ineffective, and have reverted to existing as mere prison social groups who sometimes operate as prison yard gangs.
In the midst of the expiring decades in prison from the 1970s to the 2020s, the move towards Black Muslim-ism in prison has had some serious uninttended consequences, mainly, a lost and/or move away from Afrikanism (consciously and unconsciously). Plagued by anti-Afrikan bias as a result of post-slavery cultural, spiritual and mental colonialism (mentacide), with the exception of few, the Black Muslim groups argued instead for an Asiatic and/or Arab identity that didn’t require them to identify with the savage, barbarian, backward, uncivilized Africans who had no history and remained primitive, as their white masters had intentionally misinformed them during the breaking process of Afrikans to Niggas. And when/where a colonial based Blackness was expressed, unbeknownst to its propounders, it was delivered from a religious package that actually vitiated Blackness as it grew out of a Eurocentric conceptuality birthed during the Hellenistic epoch.
This contradictory pro-Black western (Eurocentric) religious conceptuality carries itself from behind the walls into open society as one of the nails in the coffin to serious liberation struggle advanced by Black people inside the imperialist center of North Amerika. Unfortunately, Black has proven to be ineffective as a sole basis for unity in this country as its nuanced nature cultures fragmentation, and Black western conceptualized religion only fuels the fractures of Blackness into an extreme polylithic substance that rejects a collective Black consciousness that’s bound for, or even focused on liberation.
But does there exist any light to dispel this dark period of irrelevant prison-religion utility? With the 2022 revision to the MDOC religious policy permitting the group service of the indigenous Afrikan Ifa spirituality, and the often radical Hebrew Israelite religion, one might argue the cusp of change is potentially present, and a new day may be dawning. However, I am not convinced. The perpetual distortion of indigenous Afrikan spirituality with western conceptuality spells doom to prospects of Black religion being utilized for liberation purposes. And like education, if a subject is not used for liberation, despite whatever radical nature it may acquire, and pro-Black or anti-white rhetoric it protest, its final product will prove to be a pro-Amerikan assimilationist one.
So the problem with Black religion in prison, speaking in the context of Blackness, no different than Black religious experience in the free world, is it’s devoid of power politics, is Eurocentric (laden with western [Hellenistic] concepts), and is reformist-integrationist-assimilationist (pro-Amerika). These three elements fight against the ability of the Black body to develop a monolithic character (collective consciousness), at least as it concerns Black unity as necessary for our capacity to adequately struggle for liberation or an activist model and mentality that is capable of loosening the screws and weakening the bricks of the prison complex structure.
Prison religion, or Black religion in general has made Karl Marx into a prophet where they serve to actualize his quote: “religion is the opium of the people.” And while I am certain over time many brothers within the MDOC will be exposed to Ifa and even grow to appreciate and practice it, no different than those brothers who have acquired knowledge about Kemeta, it will yet remain tethered to western monotheistic conceptuality through which brothers will be taught to practice it. In this way, it’ll be of little consequence as the receiving receptacles will fail to decolonize their minds of western conceptuality. Instead, the example of the Haitian revolutionaries must be followed by marrying our spirituality to struggle for power. Otherwise, Ifa will function as a mere symbol of Afrikanism, and brothers will be lying to themselves about being Afrikan-centered while actually promoting an inconsequential cultural nationalism that does absolutely nothing to foment a consciousness that could serve as models to alter prison conditions to their benefit. Ifa will be a mere badge of knowledge; a gold chain or Rolex shown off as a fetish, and will soon be denigrated to the margins of irrelevancy on par with the rest of black prison religions within the MDOC.
In my final analysis, drawing from more than two decades inside the cage, I conclude Black religion in the MDOC has been regressive. And contrary to some external beliefs outside the walls, Black prison-religion is not progressing towards Afrikan-based religious affiliation. Black Islamism is still the preferred go-to as it has successfully positioned itself as the popular vehicle for black intellectualism, freedom and expression of Black pride. In the end, however, Black religion in the MDOC is failing Black convicts and has betrayed and continues to betray authentic Black activism and struggle.
A core aspect of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is the bond between theory
and practice. For instance, there is a theoretical analysis of the labor
aristocracy in the imperialist countries and the practical application
of that theory is not organizing around labor aristocrat interests.
There is a theoretical analysis of building independent institutions
among the masses; and the practical application of that theory is
building United Struggle Within grievance campaigns, building Maoist
prison study groups, building peace between lumpen organizations through
the United Front for Peace in Prisons, etc. There is a theoretical
analysis of revolution; and the practical application of that theory is
boycotting elections, refusing to use armed struggle as a bargain chip
and instead see it as a necessity, etc. These are just some broad and
simplified examples of the relationship between theory and practice to
paint the picture. Incorrect practice and incorrect theories go hand in
hand: one strengthens the existence of another.
The main purpose of this article is to start a series of articles
akin to the “Ongoing
Discussion on Organizing Strategy” series which started among USW
comrades.(1) The series has been productive on maintaining a two-line
struggle within the USW and the overall prison movement, and delves deep
into the many questions raised in organizing behind bars. We hope to
bring that energy of discussing strategy and tactics of Maoist
organizing behind bars to that of political line both inside and outside
U.$. prisons. These bad ideas aren’t dividing line questions (such as
the labor aristocracy question or the class nature of the Chinese
Communist Party in 2022) that MIM(Prisons) struggle with other communist
organizations through polemics. Rather, these are day-to-day bad ideas
and attitudes that many people take up within the communist movement
(even good comrades). They enforce liberalism during line struggle, and
stunt scientific thinking. Let’s begin.
1.
Defending Revisionism Through One’s Laurels and Clout
One example of this was when Joma
Sison repeatedly refused to acknowledge the national contradiction as
principal in the United $tates, and communists refused and still
refuse to criticize due to his historically integral role in the
People’s War in the Philippines.(2) Communists don’t look at persynal
laurels or prestige when it comes to criticism; everything and everyone
that partakes in bad practice and bad beliefs is targetable for
criticism. If the Sison defenders said “historically and currently, the
United $tates’ principal contradiction has always been class and is
currently class” then perhaps there will be more legitimacy for line
struggle and discussion albeit it still being a chauvinist and
revisionist take. However, what does Joma Sison being a historically
great revolutionary leader that rectified the errors of the Communist
Party of Philippines in the 60s-70s have to do with the fact that the
current United $tates’ society has developed around the oppressed
nations in a historical materialist manner?
Now if a former neo-nazi prisoner who joined the United Struggle
Within brings up how the white workers are the masses, then bringing up
his past identity as a neo-nazi would be more relevant in criticizing
this individual comrade to the correct line from an incorrect one since
his past practice as an Amerikan First World lumpen could influence his
current politcs. Ultimately, bringing up his past errors (or victories
even) is only a small part of criticizing the comrade, and ultimately
it’s the combating of that idea and political practice that will be the
final nail in the coffin of getting rid of that bad line from that
comrade’s thinking and most importantly the overall movement. A part of
this problem contains in identity politics, which leads to the next
point.
2. Incorrect Handling
of Identity Politics
Identity politics has been a hot topic among communists with some
seeing it as non-antagonistic with Marxism and with many joining the
conservative reactionary bandwagon of fascists ranting about “woke”
culture and post-modernism. The classic Amerikan value of pragmatist
empiricism (the idea of the only way to truly know anything is through
directly experiencing it) is antithetical to Maoism, and it is our
stance that post-modernism and identity politics can be looked at it the
same or adjacent manner in terms of philosophy. The Maoist doctrine of
cadres learning from practice and the masses learning revolution through
waging revolution can become Amerikan pragmatism if we aren’t
careful.
Today in 2022, this pragmatist empiricist idea is popular among the
oppressed nations represented in popular day-to-day slogans such as
“don’t speak over (insert a particular oppressed group)” and “stay in
your lane” when a person not belonging to a certain social group
(gender, religion, sexuality, nation, etc.) is talking about issues
pertaining to said certain group since they don’t directly experience
that group’s existence. Some revisionists see no problem with identity
politics and post-modernism, and think that identity politics and
post-modernism must be a good thing because the fascists are complaining
about it and complaining about it must mean one is a fascist. Other
revisionists have straight up adopted national chauvinism. When the
masses criticize the communists with “a lot of communists are racist and
don’t really care about black/brown/indigenous people” these chauvinists
resort to taking up fascist talking points and attitudes against
identity politics and post-modernism.
It is an important Maoist doctrine that post-modernism and
pragmatist-empiricism are both unscientific capitalist garbage that
poisons the masses. It is another Maoist doctrine that the masses under
oppression will go to the current superstructure of the enemy
(capitalist philosophies, capitalist institutions, the capitalist state,
etc.) during times of oppression. When communists have failed the masses
of the United $tates for 400 years by supporting the white workers and
putting the national contradiction beneath white worker interests at
best and attacking oppressed nation masses alongside the white workers
at worst, then perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised when the oppressed
nations go to classical Amerikan pragmatism and post-modernism of
relying on lived experiences and changing discourse instead of
dialectical materialist thinking and revolution. This is especially true
for the case where the oppressed nations are majority labor aristocrat
as well – the class where this ideology grows the most ferociously
amongst.
The communists have failed in Afghanistan with Soviet revisionism, so
the Afghan masses went to the existing superstructures within the
semi-colonial, semi-feudal nation such as Jihad instead of people’s war.
Instead of lambasting the Afghan (or in this case the Chicano, First
Nations, and New Afrikan) masses, perhaps communists should get their
heads out of their asses, and try to appreciate
why Jihad/pragmatist-empiricism as an idea (despite its reactionary
content) is so popular among the masses in the first place.(3)
One interesting thing we see as a Maoist prison cell is that identity
politics tend to be less popular among prisoners which perhaps shows
that the oppressed nation labor aristocracy might go for identity
politics for its liberation far more than the oppressed nation lumpen
who might go for conspiracy theories or capitalist boot-strap mentality
which we see more popular among prisoners and less with the student
activist types that concern themselves more with identity politics. This
leads to the third point.
3.
Hating the Masses for their Reactionary Ideas under Oppression
Identity politics isn’t the only bourgeois idea that the masses hold
from the current capitalist superstructure. There are other ideas such
as patriarchy, homophobia, pulling one-self up by the bootstraps, voting
for the lesser evil, superstition, conspiracy theories, and religion
just for starters. When the masses show these tendencies, many
communists throw them into the enemy camp and treat them as if they were
enemies. For example, a communist student activist type might walk up to
a Black Hebrew Israelite and the topic of anti-semitism could pop up.
The communist university student will call the Black Israelite a fascist
for his views and say the Black Israelite should stay in his lane about
Jewish issues. When Mao said that we want politics in command and
political line is principal, he didn’t mean that our friends and enemies
are determined by their personal beliefs (whether that be politics,
religion, moral principles, cultural traditions, etc.). Mao didn’t say
“any Chinese peasant who participates in foot binding should be
ostracized from the movement.” And we can argue that foot binding is
much more backwards and patriarchal than the common
patriarchal/reactionary cultural values held by oppressed nations masses
in 2022. In fact, Mao’s method of finding out who our friends and
enemies were in China was by looking at a group of people’s relation to
the means of production, relation to consumption, and relations to other
classes; and through this method he concluded that the Chinese peasantry
were friends not enemies despite binding women’s feet so they don’t run
away from their husbands being a popular cultural trend among said
class.
Let’s look at the New Afrikan labor aristocracy as an example. We can
see that the class basically has access to the means of production
through its citizen status much like the Amerikan workers in 2022 (dead
labor of third world proletarians; higher wages gained through
super-exploitation of Africa, Asia, and Latin America; ability to buy
and invest in stocks; etc.) We can also look at how it consumes far more
than the international proletariat of Africa, Asia, and Latin America;
but consistently consume less than its Amerikan counterparts such as how
New Afrikan labor aristocrats are disproportionately more likely to live
under the country’s poverty line compared to Amerikan labor aristocrats.
We can also find out how its relations to the Amerikan labor aristocrat
are far more hostile than friendly as the poorer an Amerikan is the more
likely they are to hold extreme chauvinsit views (i.e. rednecks).
However, as embourgeoisfication of the New Afrikan workers solidified
during the later half of the 20th century, their relation to the migrant
proletarians (and migrants in general) of the Third World became more
hostile as well: previous contradictions which were relatively
non-antagonistic such as that in relation to the
Mexican/Nigerian/Caribbean migrants are more antagonistic in our current
day. So with these factors in mind, we can argue that this class of
people (yes that includes the Black Hebrew Israelite with anti-Semitic
tendencies) have interests for revolution against Amerika but might be
more reserved when it comes to internationalism and involving the class
in it self with other nations’ liberations. This is compared to the
Hindi proletariat who will be far less wishy washy as a class in
involving themselves with the struggle of the Dravidian proletariat when
reaching class consciousness. So in conclusion, with proper political
organizing the New Afrikan labor aristocracy would be a friend of the
revolution.
Instead of this method of finding out who our friends and enemies
are, most communists consider friends as people who have the correct
takes on an xyz issue most people don’t even care about and enemies as
people who hold reactionary views. One source of this ideology is how
Amerikan culture promotes individual thinking and behavior as the mover
of history rather than class struggle. With this mindset, racism is a
problem started by individual Amerikans thinking and behaving racist and
will end when individual Amerikans cease thinking and behaving racist.
The Maoist method on the other hand sees that racism is a problem that
was brought to inception by remnants of feudal European aristocrats (a
class of people) stealing this land at gunpoint and trickery from what
would become the modern First Nations, and enslaving what would become
modern New Afrikans and militaristically invading the Mexican nation’s
land, solidifying what would become modern Chicanos all for the various
Amerikan classes’ interests (whether that be the big capitalist class,
the small business owning capitalist class, or even the common Amerikan
worker).
The Maoist solution is for these national contradictions to be
resolved through the oppressed nations overthrowing Amerika through
revolution. These historical events of Amerikan land conquest, slavery,
and genocide were also crucial in acting as primitive accumulation for
global capitalism-imperialism in general not only for Amerika. There is
no modern day $outh Korea, Japan, Au$trailia, I$rael, $audi Arabia,
Kanada, and so on without Amerikan slavery, Amerikan land conquest, and
Amerikan genocide. Therefore proletarian dictatorship must be
established to resolve this contradiction as well as overthrow of
Amerika. But because of individualist Amerikan culture, national
chauvinism is something treated with tone and etiquette led by student
youth tired of their parents’ old backwards ways. This leads to the
fourth problem.
4. The Sub-Culture Problem
Many newer generation communists have begun their politics through
the internet. The original MIM was one of the first communist parties to
have a website and put credence in the importance of the internet. It
certainly is a politically important tool if it’s a major way youth are
becoming interested in Lenin, and how all the imperialist governments
partake in it in different ways from the FBI surveilling political
internet forums to the Chinese Communist Party banning entire social
media outlets. However, what the old MIM didn’t predict is that
communist groups on social media aren’t the ones that primarily
influence kids to read Mao Zedong and study the Black Panthers.
Communist groups are far outshadowed online by memes, twitch streamers,
tik tok spheres, instagram pages, internet forums, and the likes when it
comes to converting kids to communism than communist organization
internet presence. This has given rise to the problem of communism
becoming more akin to a sub-culture talked about on social media sites
like twitter and reddit than a political movement. Different political
stances from Maoism, Trotskyism, all the way to Stirnerite Anarchism
cease to become guides to action, but a thing to put on your bio.
Various people’s wars and nations at war become more akin to fandoms for
TV shows to obsess and argue over rather than a movement to popularize
and create awareness for. Political line ceases to become a belief and
action that one takes, but a take one has so they can get on the
algorithm. Line struggle turn into flame wars with no purpose of uniting
with others, but exist only to express one’s individual self for the
cathartic feeling of having the correct line.
In day-to-day real life, communism might be becoming less and less
pariah’d in the eyes of the average Amerikan; but communism itself is
becoming more and more revisionist, more and more toothless, more and
more a pop culture joke, and more and more a harmless icon of a once
revolutionary movement that became hijacked by the bourgeoisie after its
death, as Lenin spoke of. We took 20 steps forward and a million steps
back when it comes to fighting against anti-communist culture leftover
from the red scare era. Turns out Amerikan individualism was far more of
an obstacle in making Maoism popular than the legacy of McCarthyism.
We shouldn’t throw away the internet with the bathwater as it indeed
took a certain part in making the oppressor nation Amerikan youth become
interested in revolutionary politics, but we should also be acutely
aware of the sub-culture problem. A single New Afrikan, Chican@, or
Indigenous member of the masses understanding the Maoist concept of
reform and revolution and practicing to boycott the elections while not
calling themselves communist nor wearing red armbands is 100 times more
valuable to us in spreading popular support against imperialism than 300
college students with a Stalin portrait in their dorm rooms who thinks
the white worker is a friend.
Conclusion
Many of these problems can only really be solved through the
development of our movement as a whole. Even writing and publishing this
article in Under Lock & Key can only do so much. Our
dedicated prisoner comrades who read this will certainly be influenced,
and perhaps they will get more insight as to the problems of the
“activist” scene that they will be adjacent with once they get out; but
when it comes to student youth abandoning Liberalism or the masses on
the street taking up scientific thinking, it is up for the MIM (and not
just the prison ministry) to develop and go to the masses as Mao said.
For our readers and supporters outside, we challenge them to set up
geographical MIM cells or work with MIM(Prisons) to develop the modern
MIM. For our readers and supporters inside, we list these problems of
the movement to stay sharp and aware once they get released.
Notes: 1. starting in ULK 73, prisoners write in for a
copy of the full series 2. MIM, Applied internationalism: The
difference between Mao Zedong and Joma Sison. 3. Wiawimawo, January
2016, Islam a Liberation Theology, Under Lock & Key
No. 48.
by Melo x August 2022 permalink
This drawing is a response to one of the questions from our intro study
program on the materialist method of knowledge
[Responding to “What did you disagree with?” when studying “Where Do
Correct Ideas Come From?”]
I disagreed with the basis of idealism not being action. To think is
action. Thought can be provoked by stimuli collected by the body’s
sensors, which is more reactionary. Or you can create a thought or an
idea, but this is action. Mental action nonetheless but action
all-in-all. And it must be understood physical action comes from mental
action. As I write this I understand the materialist method is physical
action. Well I guess I don’t have a disagreement but rather a question,
is ideas placed on paper in book format considered materialism?
Wiawimawo of MIM(Prisons) responds: As comrade Melo X
explains, we can have thoughts that are reactions to physical stimuli,
or we can create thoughts. But this “creation” of thoughts is also a
response to the physical world. What we might call reason, abstracts
concepts based on our experience with real phenomena, or physical things
we can interact with.
“the faculty of understanding is not a ‘thing in and of itself,’
because it becomes real only in contact with some object.”(1)
Dietzgen explained how the idealists see the mind as separate from
the sense perceptions of the material world. So Melo X is correct to see
the unity between them. The comrade also distinguishes creating thoughts
from more passive perception. This realization demonstrates the role of
reason in developing scientific understanding from our perception of the
physical world around us.
We also agree that our thoughts impact our actions. Hence we stress
class consciousness as an educational process that is a product of our
interactions with the class system.
So, are ideas in a book part of the materialist method? Well, it
depends on what ideas. A book can promote contemplative reasoning.
Bourgeois books will promote bourgeois thinking that harbors much
idealistic reasoning in order to deny the contradictions inherent to the
capitalist system. All that said, 99% of our materialist understanding
of the world is based in history, and therefore must come from books (or
other historical record). If we discarded books in our scientific
pursuits we could not continue to build on the knowledge of the past,
but would be stuck relearning the same things with each generation.
It is a crass form of materialism that says everything must come from
persynal experience and direct interaction with the physical world.
Rather we must learn from the actions of the people who came before us,
and as we develop new theories they must be tested by us in practice
through action and not just tested in our contemplative, subjective
minds. Another way to look at this is that books are recorded practice
and direct experiences of other people. Frederick Douglas’ writings are
from eir practice with chattel slavery, and Lenin’s writings are from
eir practice with the first proletarian revolution. When we say that all
knowledge is 99% history, we’re not saying we should spend all our time
learning using books but to see it as a starting point so we can make
new practice in the future.
Notes: 1. Joseph Dietzgen, The Nature of Human Brain
Work: An Introduction to Dialectics, PM Press, 2010,
p.58.
The Movimiento Ibérico de Liberación (MIL) was an anti-capitalist
group consisting of both anarchists and communists that was active
between 1971-1973 in the fascist state of Spain under Franco. The group
was unique in that, unlike most revolutionary organizations, it was not
centralized. MIL did not believe that a centralized group could be
revolutionary. They insisted that a centralized group was synonymous
with a party and that a party could not achieve social revolution
because a party, by necessity, seeks to gain state power and then
strengthen its position. The strengthening of state power – any state
power – weakens the revolution.
MIL Line and History
MIL was internationalist in scope and honored the memory and history
of various class struggles around the globe. Including, but not limited
to: the Iberian class struggle, the Revolution of 333 Days in Hungary,
the November Revolution in Germany, and the Bavarian Council Republic.
They also had ties to anti-capitalist organizations outside of Spain,
especially in France. In addition to it’s internationalist practices,
they also collaborated extensively with other revolutionary
organizations in Spain (most notably the GAC and OLLA).
The main element of MIL’s revolutionary action was the expropriation
of funds from the capitalists through armed agitation. They would spread
the expropriated money around the anti-capitalist movement to help
further other clandestine operations as well as support worker’s
struggles, families of prisoners, and victims of the police. A good
chunk of these expropriated funds were invested in the library that MIL
helped create called the Ediciones Mayo del 37. The purpose of this
library was to publish and distribute revolutionary texts that could
help raise the political consciousness of the working class.
Another important aspect of MIL was its support of women’s struggles
against patriarchy. They claimed that any group that did not support
such struggles were not revolutionary, for it was impossible to fight
against capitalism and remain blind to the oppression and exploitation
of women in capitalist society. Therefore, any organization that did not
support women’s struggles were purposely ignoring their plight, and
thus, could not be called revolutionary. Furthermore, MIL advocated
revolution across all aspects of society: social, cultural, sexual,
familial, and political. Revolution is not partial to any part of
society; revolution effects society in its entirety. MIL did not
consider itself a vanguard of the revolution – in fact, they opposed the
very idea of a vanguard. Which is why they engaged in armed agitation
rather than armed struggle.
“‘Armed agitation’ is wholly different from the strategy of ‘armed
struggle’, in which a specialized group acts as the vanguard of the
movement by constituting the nucleus of a future army…serving as the
military wing of a clandestine political party…or by carrying out the
most spectacular actions and using its position to attempt to influence
and direct a mass movement…on the contrary, the groups that carry out
armed agitation understand themselves to be simply a part of a bigger
movement, increasing that movement’s capacity for communication,
self-defense, and self-financing by organizing and funding clandestine
printing, attacking the forces of repression, and expropriating money
from capitalists…They also seek to generalize their practice rather than
centralize it, distributing weapons among the lower classes and
encouraging the horizontal proliferation of armed groups.” (1)
The core reason why MIL was opposed to armed struggle and the
philosophy of the need for a vanguard was because they believed that
nobody but the proletariat could liberate the proletariat. The idea that
the proletariat needed an external group to lead or liberate them went
against everything that MIL fought for and believed in. The members of
MIL did not think of themselves as heroes of the people. They believed
that their role in the anti-capitalist struggle was to act in ways that
would help the working-class become politicized and then liberate
themselves. As mentioned previously, the way that MIL thought best to
achieve their purpose was through the expropriation of funds. By the
time that MIL dissolved in September 1973, they had expropriated 24
million Pesetas from capitalists.
Ultimately, MIL dissolved itself after it had reached a point where
the members could no longer consider their actions as revolutionary.
Although MIL opposed specialization they found that they had become an
organization that practiced specialization. They had done so
inadvertently by continuously engaging in armed agitation without
developing a political line that could explain and support their action
to the masses. Just as theory – political line – needs to be supported
by practice, so too does practice need to be supported by theory. The
lack of one diminishes the other.
Initially, a Congress was held by the members of MIL to seek a
solution that could save the group. In the end, they decided to
dissolve; in part because their actions had failed to inspire the
proletariat to engage in open class warfare. They decided that, at that
time, the working class was not sufficiently politically conscious and
that their main objective should be to politicize the masses through
propaganda until the time came when armed agitation was necessary.
Salvador Puig Antich
The most famous member of MIL was, by far, Salvador Puig Antich.
Salvador was born on 30 May 1948 in Barcelona. He began rebelling
against authority figures in his youth and was once expelled from school
for punching a teacher in defense of another student. Although he was
involved in the worker’s struggles in his youth, he did not engage in
revolutionary actions until he joined MIL during the summer of 1972. He
participated in his first bank robbery on October 21st of the same year
(acting as the getaway driver), and the action resulted in the
expropriation of 990,200 Pesetas from the Laietana Saving Bank. Shortly
after that Salvador began to carry a gun and go into banks himself.
He was a committed anti-capitalist who identified as an anarchist.
Although he didn’t join MIL until it had been active for a year, he
quickly became a prominent figure within the organization. He authored
several texts that were circulated among the members of MIL. The purpose
of these texts was to formulate discussion about various topics relevant
to the organization and the revolution.
On 25 September 1973 Salvador was in a shootout with the police.
During the altercation he was shot twice and one officer was killed.
After the incident occurred he was taken to the hospital to be treated
for his injuries; when he was determined to be in stable condition he
was transferred to Modelo prison to await trail. On 9 January 1974 he
was given the death penalty.
Although capitalists have attempted to portray Salvador as a
degenerate criminal, the truth cannot be denied: he was a true
revolutionary. He never denied his actions and always maintained that
everything he did, he did in the name of the anti-capitalist struggle.
His every action, his every thought, was centered toward the abolition
of the state and the state apparatus. He never capitulated. He stayed
true to the revolutionary struggle until the bitter end.
On 2 March 1974 Franco’s fascist state executed Salvador Puig Antich
via garrot vil [editor: a chair that is used to strangle people to
death]. He was 25 years old. Even though MIL did not develop a
sufficient political line and dissolved after only two years of
revolutionary action, it should by no means be forgotten. Both MIL and
Salvador Puig Antich have influenced countless people in Spain to engage
in revolutionary struggle. And, importantly, MIL advanced the theory of
the Labor Aristocracy in a time when few did. Even today few recognize
that in places like the United States of America, the proletarian class
has ceased to exist and a new class has risen in its place; a parasitic
class that benefits from the exploitation of the working class in the
Third World. This parasitic class is the Labor Aristocracy.
MIL on the Labor Aristocracy
The same day that Salvador was executed Oriol Solé wrote the
following from Modelo prison:
“In the United States, in Europe, under the rule of the superpowers,
the proletariat has disappeared. Society has engendered a new social
class that creates surplus, accumulates capital, and at the same time
grows bloated on the surplus generated by millions of wage workers in
the poor countries. A new class that builds itself a paradise paid for
with the blood of the exploited poor of Africa, Asia and Latin America.”
(2)
MIL’s line regarding the Labor Aristocracy was spot on, but several
of their positions were flawed. For example, MIL viewed a vanguard as
synonymous with a party and argued that any party would seize state
power and strengthen its position. They held that no party could be
revolutionary because the point of revolution is to abolish the state
and the state apparatus.
This is an anarchist view and cannot lead to revolution. The
anarchist believes that you should abolish the state and its apparatus
immediately. While their concern about a new power oppressive power
arising is a valid one, the communist recognizes the impracticality of
combating strong class enemies without a state power and acknowledges
that an intermediary stage between capitalism and communism is necessary
– this stage being socialism. The socialist stage gradually diminishes
until the state no longer exists. Only then can communism been
achieved.
Another flaw is MIL’s view regarding the vanguard. They did not
believe one was necessary and actively spoke against the creation of
one. However, history has shown us that not only do vanguards work, but
they are necessary to carry out a revolution. Three such examples are
the centralized vanguards led by Mao, Castro, and Lenin. All of which
carried out successful revolutions. Without their vanguards, those
revolutions would not have occurred.
Yet, even with obvious flaws in their political theory, the MIL
should not be thrown on the ash heap of history. Both MIL and Salvador
Puig Antich are famous in Spain for their revolutionary legacy. But they
are little known elsewhere. We should remember Salvador for his
revolutionary actions, beliefs, and ultimate sacrifice. He lived for the
people and he died for the people. Likewise, we should not let the MIL
fall through the cracks of history. In the two short years of its
existence, its actions shook the foundations of Spain, and surprisingly,
it did so without killing. The only death attributed to MIL was that
officer killed during the shootout with Salvador. MIL directly
contributed to the worker’s struggles and did not seek to control or
direct the proletariat for personal gain.
Every anti-capitalist revolutionary should remember Salvador Puig
Antich and MIL and celebrate their legacy every March 2nd – the
anniversary of Salvador’s death.
Salvador Puig Antich: Collected Writings on Repression and
Resistance in Franco’s Spain; by Ricard de Vargas Golarons; translated
by Peter Gelderloos; pg.16
ibid; pg.159
MIM(Prisons) adds: The story of MIL becoming
specialized when they opposed specialization echoes the lesson of Jo
Freeman’s The Tyranny of Structurelessness. This essay is
included in our study pack on organizational structure, for those who
want to dive deeper into the Maoist line on this topic.
While MIL grasped the economic realities of the imperialist countries at
an early stage of history, like many others they failed to answer the
question of how to organize for the end of oppression in these
conditions. This has been a question that many similar groups in the
First World took to similar conclusions, leading to dissolution. MIM
attempts to answer these questions by recognizing the fact that armed
struggle is not viable against a strong imperialist state, and the need
to be a mass-based movement. We cannot expect huge or flashy actions at
this stage of the struggle, and we must build the infrastructure and
educate the cadre for when conditions change. Time is on our side.
In 2017, MIM(Prisons) published Under Lock &
Key #59 (ULK) which focused on the impact drugs have on the prison
movement. ULK #59 was particularly significant to our
cause, given the fact that drugs play a central role in preventing the
lumpen from developing into a revolutionary force inside U.$. prisons.
As various comrades attested to in that issue, drugs are poisons that
eat away any potential unity of the oppressed, by fostering violence
amongst the imprisoned lumpen, and the bourgeoisification of those
involved in the trade. Also, discussed in ULK #59 was the
scourge of the synthetic cannibinoid K2 and the rise of opioid use in
prisons at the time. Since then, another opioid has gained popularity
behind prison walls, mostly because of its availability; Suboxone.
In 2020, the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation(CDCR) introduced Suboxone to its 33 prisons as part of
its Integrated Substance Use Disorder Treatment(ISUDT). Suboxone is a
medication used to treat opioid addiction, specifically in the detox and
withdrawal stages of care. According to the San Quentin News,
“ISUDT is touted as the largest in-prison medically assisted treatment
program in the nation.”(1) CDCR credits Suboxone with a sharp decline in
overdose deaths in its prisons since its introduction. But is there more
than meets the eye to this apparent miracle drug?
What is Suboxone?
Suboxone is a combination medication containing buprenorphine and
naloxone.(2) Suboxone is derived from opium, and was supposedly intended
to be a less addictive alternative to methodone, morphine, and
oxycodone.(3) Though viewed as a safe alternative to other drugs,
Suboxone can still be deadly when taken intravenously or in combination
with other drugs and alcohol. Other side effects are:
* cardiac arrhythmia
* irregular blood pressure
* respiratory issues
* liver and kidney problems
* constipation
* urinary retention
* sweating
* short term memory issues
* difficulty thinking clearly and focusing
* impaired coordination
* headache
* nausea and vomiting
* sedation (4)
Where Did Suboxone Come From?
Suboxone was developed in the 1970s by Reckitt Benckiser, a Briti$h
company at the behest of the Amerikan government. At the time, the
United $tates was searching for a “less addictive” alternative for
patients with opioid use disorder. After Suboxone was created, Reckitt
Benckiser shipped the drug to the United $tates narcotic farm in
Lexington, Kentucky to be tested on detoxified addicts. The farm was
also a prison and treatment facility as well as the site of the U.$.
government’s Addiction Research Center.
It was at the Addiction Research Center that the government
discovered just how addictive Suboxone could be, yet it was still
marketed as a useful tool to combat addiction. Originally the doctors
prescribing the drug had to hold special licenses and undergo special
training. However, the government loosened its restrictions in response
to the number of opioid associated deaths. Since then, Suboxone has
raked in billions of dollars for pharmaceutical companies and millions
more for the addiction treatment sector that sprang up in its wake.(5)
Yet, there have been 100,000 overdose deaths attributed to opioids in
the last 12 months.(6) Those same doctors trained by the government have
also been found to be some of the most unscrupulous predators around.(7)
As such, it was perplexing to many that the CDCR would provide such a
highly addictive drug with such potential for abuse at a time when most
prison addicts had already detoxed and gone through withdrawals, thanks
to the statewide prison lockdown in response to the COVID-19
pandemic.
Drugs are Chemical Weapons
The use of drugs as part of a larger strategy of unconventional
warfare dates back to the 16th century when Europeans created the drug
trade to finance the expansion of their empires and the rise of
industrial capitalism.(8) One of the most infamous examples of this was
the Briti$h East India Company’s use of opium to subdue China and bring
it into its sphere of influence by creating a nation of addicts. While
the Portuguese and Dutch were the first to popularize opium smoking in
China, it was the Briti$h who took full advantage of this. When the
Chinese realized what was happening, they attempted to ban all foreign
ships from entry and close their ports. The Briti$h claimed the Chinese
were blocking their access to Chinese markets, and used this as a
pretext to launch the first of two opium wars. By 1900, 27% of all adult
males in China were addicted to smoking opium and China was forced to
cede Hong Kong to the Briti$h.(9) This chapter in Chinese history marked
the beginning of what Mao Zedong called China’s dark night of slavery to
the west.
It was around this same time that alcohol was used by Amerikkkans to
facilitate the genocide of First Nations people and the theft of their
land. This period also marks the first recorded use of biological
weapons, when the U.$. Army used smallpox infected blankets to decimate
natives and clear the land for white settlers. Together, these acts of
savagery resulted in the extermination of 98% of people indigenous to
what is today the United $tates and the worst genocide in humyn
hystory.(10) Events similar to these played out in Africa, Asia, and the
Americas.(11)
During the 20th century, the Briti$h and Amerikkkan imperialists
developed more sophisticated means with which to subdue the oppressed
nations. Project MK-Ultra is one such example. Project MK-Ultra was
initiated by the CIA in the 1950s along with the Briti$h MI6, their
sometimes collaborators. This top secret project involved using drugs
and the media to attack and discredit Amerika’s political enemies.
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), or just simply “acid” for short,
became the drug of choice for the CIA at this time. LSD was created by
Albert Hoffman, a Nazi collaborator working for the Swiss IG Farben.
Starting in the 1950s, the CIA began producing their own acid in
“tonnage quantities” after asking pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly to
synthesize Hoffman’s formula. This was part of the CIA’s larger plan to
dose the water supply of the Soviet Union. The CIA knew for themselves
the effects of LSD as they tested the drugs on prisoners at the same
facility in Lexington, Kentucky that Suboxone was tested at twenty years
later! Here, prisoners were kept tripping for 77 days straight as part
of Project Artichoke which was one of many programs under the umbrella
of Project MK-Ultra.(12)
The connection between the development of Suboxone, the CIA and
Acid’s early days are alarming given the fact that Suboxone was
introduced to California prisons at a time of heightened political
consciousness amongst prisoners, an economic recession, a rise in white
nationalism, Black Lives Matter protests, a statewide no visiting
lockdown, and the ten-year anniversary of prison hunger strikes that
rocked CDCR and produced ripple effects across Amerikkka’s gulags. Thus,
it was certainly in the interests of the imperialists to suppress the
germs of any potential organizing amongst the oppressed lumpen.
And although the CIA’s plans with respect to the Soviet Union never
came to fruition, they did use LSD to attack the political enemies of
the Amerikan bourgeoisie. Outspoken college professors critical of the
U.$., political activists, communists, government whistle-blowers and
their families all fell victim to LSD and were publicly
discredited.(13)
As the anti-imperialist movement gained traction both outside and
inside of U.$. borders, the use of LSD and other chemical weapons was
expanded. Throughout the 1970s heroin became part and parcel to the
fight against New Afrikan, Chican@, and First Nations national
liberation movements. Asian-produced opium also became critical to U.$.
imperialism’s war against Vietnam. Drug money was used to help
facilitate the creation of Taiwan as a U.$. ally against Maoist China
prior to these events.(14) Methadone too was linked to the opioid
problem in New York City in the 1970s. Methadone as “maintenance
treatment” for heroin addicts was funded by the Rockefeller Program.(15)
The Rockefellers have also been implicated in Nazi atrocities, the red
scare media campaigns, and CIA operations.
The 1980s brought us the Iran-Contra scandal responsible for the
introduction of crack-cocaine into the ghettos and barrios of the United
$tates. Again, the CIA was found to be at the heart of these dirty wars
which involved the use of Iranian money to buy Amerikan guns. Money from
the Iranians was then use to buy cocaine from Colombia for sale in the
United $tates. Amerikan drug money was then re-circulated to fund
counter-revolutionaries in Nicaragua fighting the leftist
Sandinistas.(17)
More recently, Operation Fast and Furious made international
headlines when the CIA was exposed for selling firearms to Mexican
cartels as a means of keeping the Mexican government destabilized and
the Mexican people from fighting their oppressors. The last thing the
U.$. wants is for a neo-colonial country on their doorstep to turn
independent and determine their own destinies.
The Problem as We Understand
It
If the imperialists really wanted to they could shut down the drug
trade, but that runs counter to their interests. Addiction defines
capitalist society. Addiction lies at the center of supply and demand
economics and is what drives the anarchy of production. From cell
phones, to soap operas, to opioids and methamphetamines, everyone living
in a capitalist society is addicted to something. Addiction in
capitalist society is encouraged as a means to realizing profit; but
also as a way to keep people in general, and the masses in particular,
distracted and unable to rise up against oppression. Nowhere is this
seen better than in the recent hystory of the oppressed nations.
In a critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right, Karl Marx
explained how religion had hystorically been urged to drug people much
in the same ways the bourgeois uses actual drugs today:
“Religious suffering is at one and the same time the expression of
real suffering and a protest against real suffering. Religion is the
sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the
soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people.”(18)
Marx was writing at a time of the industrial revolution when the
“miracle” of capitalism was creating advancements in humyn hystory never
before seen. However, it was also creating grinding oppression and
poverty previously unknown. Capitalism also promoted ideas of
individualism, self-centeredness, greed, and exceptionalism, some of the
worst qualities in humyn behavior, and expanding them to include entire
populations, most pointedly in the labor aristocracy. All this combined
led to lives full of misery and desperation for the masses. Lives in
which the only solace was that of an afterlife. And while religion
continues to act as a smokescreen in the oppression of the masses, the
use of drugs has proved indispensable.
Today the root causes of oppression can be better traced to nation,
class, and gender contradictions which have completely warped the way
people interact on both a macro and micro level. The root causes of
addiction are much the same.
In regards to religious suffering, Marx knew better than to simply
call for the abolition of religion. Instead, he realized that it was the
conditions that led to religious suffering themselves that needed to be
abolished. Otherwise, some other new feel good belief would come to fill
the void left by religion, and the oppressive system itself would remain
in its place:
“The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is
the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their
illusions about their conditions is to call on them to give up a
condition that requires illusion. The criticism of religion is therefore
in embryo the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the
halo.”(19)
In other words, religion sanctified capitalism and helped make it
tolerable for the oppressed. Drugs play a similar role in today’s
culture. If one is high all the time than ey does not think about the
many years ey have to spend in prison. One does not have to deal with
the fact that ey made a decision that impacted countless lives because
of eir parasitic behavior. The use of drugs allows one to cope with the
impact nation, class, and gender contradictions have had on em through
intergenerational trauma, all the while keeping them unable to
understand how the three strands of oppression manifest through that
trauma.
We encourage people to get drug free and stay that way, but this
requires more than the status quo in addiction treatment, which only
teaches how to better cope with the trauma of imperialism. We encourage
comrades to go further and destroy the conditions that require
illusions. We encourage comrades to take up revolution.
MIM(Prisons) adds: We will be doing a follow-up on this
article with the results of our second survey on drugs in prisons found
in ULK 75. We are still collecting and aggregating your
responses. It’s not too late if you have not responded yet.
We know the state is opposed to our efforts to expose and combat the
plague of drug addiction among imprisoned lumpen. Branchville
Correctional Facility in Indiana censored ULK 75 citing:
“denied based on the article about Suboxone, and the common drug
slang terms and sale information used in one of the articles. The items
in the article violate IDOC/BCF policies.”
Notes: [1] San Quentin News, September 2021, Pg. 8. [2]
5 Myths About Using Suboxone, Peter Greenspan MD, October 7, 2021
[3] Extended Suboxone Treatment Substantially Improves Outcomes for
Opioid Addicted Youth, November 4, 2008 [4] Suboxone vs Methodone:
Positives and Negatives, Avatar, May 21, 2021 [5] Addiction
Treatment with a Dark Side, New York Times, 2013 [6] Amanpour &
Co, PBS, December 7, 2021 [7] Addiction Treatment with a Dark Side,
New York Times, 2013 [8] Drugs As Weapons Against Us: The CIA’s
Murderous Targeting of SDS, Panthers, Hendrix, Lennon, Cobain, Tupac,
and Other Activists, John L. Potash, Trine Day LLC, 2015, Pg 7-9 [9]
Ibid, pg 10 [10] J. Sakai, 1989, Settlers: Mythology of the White
Proletariat, 3rd Edition, Morningstar Press, p. 7. Sakai cites
200-300,000 native people remaining by 1900, of an estimated 10 million
people before colonization. [11] Drugs as Weapons Against Us, Pg
10 [12] Ibid, Pg 29-30 [13] Ibid, Pg 31-36 [14] Ibid, Pg
45-51 [15] Under Lock & Key, Issue 59, Pg 5, 2017 [16] Drugs
as Weapons Against Us, Pg 13-14 [17] Ibid, Pg 279-285 [18] Karl
Marx, 1843, Introduction to “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s
Philosophy of Right.” [19] A Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of
Right, Karl Marx
The San Francisco BayView newspaper has outed their former
editor Keith Washington as an informant and a manipulator. Previous
editor Mary Ratcliff has reasonably posed that this could have been an
FBI operation to undermine the BayView. Yet, Washington’s brief
stint as editor after being released from prison, followed by relapse
into addiction and violence also seems consistent with someone who has
jumped from group to group driven by eir own self-interest.
Keith Washington, aka Comrade Malik, was a politically eclectic,
self-promoting prison activist. It is for those reasons that his
passions often did not overlap with the program of MIM(Prisons), despite
being in close contact for many years. During eir time in prison,
Washington was a regular reader of ULK, MIM Theory and
other literature we distribute on the Black Panthers and Maoism in
general. For years ey could not receive ULK because of TDCJ
censors, so we had to mail em select articles separately.
We are not saying we did not work with Washington, for we published
dozens of articles and reports by em while ey was in prison. Most were
reports on conditions in Texas prisons. For a quick minute, ey was even
part of the the USW Council, but was quickly removed for openly
disagreeing with MIM(Prisons)’s 6 main points. The reason they were even
considered for the position was that it was hard to pin down eir
political line.
Washington seemed to work tirelessly to expose the corruption and
abuses within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice(TDCJ) – though ey
often did so from an angle that seemed to believe in the system. This
approach conflicted with eir initial focoist tendencies when we first
encountered Washington and ey seemed to believe that we were too
hesitant to use arms. Later eir politics hinted at patriotism. For much
of the time ey worked with USW ey also was working with the New Afrikan
Black Panther Party - Prison Chapter, ideologically led by Tom Big
Warrior and Kevin “Rashid” Johnson at the time. At one point Washington
was the Deputy Chairman of NABPP, but ey never was consistent at
upholding NABPP line. Ey went back and forth on the labor aristocracy
question in an opportunist way that seemed to be attempting to please
MIM(Prisons) with one message and Rashid with another. But communication
with Rashid was much more difficult than with us, so ey seemed to lean
towards us at times; another example of opportunism over political line.
This also showed there was no effective democratic centralism within the
NABPP. This is why we say you cannot be part of a democratic centralist
formation while encapsulated by the state, except perhaps in an
organization within a prison where you can freely interact with other
members of the formation.
While Washington pledged eir allegiance to MIM and the NABPP,
overtime ey branched out into other forums and organizations, always
promoting the persona of “Comrade Malik”. Despite all the articles we
did print by em, there were many more we did not, or we had to cut down
significantly due to the self-promotion.
We must learn to recognize political opportunism. We should not be
surprised that someone with such a history would also opportunistically
lie to the pigs to earn favors.
At best, political eclecticism is a sign of immaturity; an immaturity
that cannot be trusted with leadership. This is not to say we do not
work with younger people or people who are still learning, far from it.
We just must recognize their role. But when someone has spent a decade
or more studying revolutionary literature, and they are still putting
forth eclecticism, or just straight reformism, then it is clear they are
not a revolutionary, and perhaps they can play a role better somewhere
else. If we cannot convince such people to follow our leadership, then
we must work harder to prove our effectiveness.
Eclecticism is always connected to forms of subjectivity and
idealism. They are thinking about what feels good to them or
feels right to them. Combine this with the self-promotion of
“Comrade Malik” and you have a risky individual who will probably bounce
from one group to another, one line to another to serve eir own
self-interests, leaving havoc in eir wake. This is no longer immaturity,
but a conscious self-interest.
In our introductory study course we go over the question of how to
implement an effective security program for your organization. This
example of Washington is a good demonstration of how political line was
applied by MIM(Prisons) to keep a potential wrecker from playing a more
damaging role. We would say the work Washington contributed to the pages
of ULK served the people, as it was done under our leadership.
We did not allow Washington’s self-promotion or right opportunism to
take away from the mission of ULK or United Struggle from
Within. For organizations that look for the charismatic individuals to
promote, this is a danger.
We must also recognize that addiction to chemical substances,
violence and criminal behavior plagues the lumpen. The transformation of
the lumpen into proletarian revolutionaries is an arduous and life-long
task. Even those who have seemed to overcome for years while imprisoned,
will often relapse with the dramatic changes and pressures of being
released to the free world. That is why we have developed a
Revolutionary 12 Step Program that takes the proven techniques
of the steps, as applied by the lumpen masses in California, and
reframes them to include the transformation to the proletarian
mentality. It is the constant struggle to submit our self-interest to
the interests of the Third World proletariat that can solidify our own
transformation from addiction to action that changes society.
Imperialism has addicted us all, especially in this consumerist society
in the United $tates.
Our leaders must be forged in a disciplined revolutionary
organization built on democratic centralism. They must exhibit
self-sacrifice and embody the interests of the Third World proletariat.
We cannot follow the bourgeois individualist approach to leadership that
decides elections and celebrity in this country. We must put politics in
command when developing relationships with new comrades and bringing
them into our circles. Some people may never exceed a supporter role,
and that is okay, we welcome their support. Being around longer, having
connections or resources, or being energetic is not enough to qualify
comrades to lead. A consistent practice that upholds the correct line is
how we must judge who is to be trusted with responsibilities and
leadership roles.
