MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
Just a few months ago we reported on the ongoing
illegal funding of I$rael by the United $tates, with a recently
announced $8.7 billion funding package. As Biden prepares to leave
office later this month, it has been reported that another $8 billion is
being sent to fund the imperialist outpost in the Middle East. Axios
reports:
“The State Department has notified Congress ‘informally’ of an $8
billion proposed arms deal with Israel that will include munitions for
fighter jets and attack helicopters as well as artillery shells.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) responded in
part:
“Only racists who do not view people of color as equally human, and
sociopaths who delight in funding mass slaughter, could send Netanyahu
even more bombs while his government openly kidnaps doctors, destroys
hospitals, and exterminates the last survivors in northern Gaza.”(1)
The Palestinian resistance has drawn the line in the sand, and are
continuing to expose the racism of Amerikans and others in the
imperialist countries who support this ongoing genocide. But it is
especially the people in the United $tates who benefit from the funds
feeding the military industrial complex, as most aid to I$rael is spent
here.
In further support of militarism on his way out of office, Biden has
once again begun direct bombing of Yemen by U.$. war ships despite a
pledge to end the war on Yemen when campaigning for the presidency. As
part of Operation Prosperity Guardian U.$. aircraft carriers have been
in the Red Sea for over a year to safeguard international trade in
general, and shipments to I$rael in particular. Recently, the Amerikans
bombed the only airport in Yemen, killing 6 and injurying 40, as well as
the main port that is the lifeline for supplies to Yemen. This port was
already largely damaged in the ongoing war with the U.$.-backed Saudi
regime. The airport attack was timed by I$rael to happen while the World
Health Organization General Secretary was there, though ey was not
injured.(2)
Despite over 22 years of continuous U.$.-sponsored attacks, the
people of Yemen stand strong, and Ansar Allah are clear they will not
stop rerouting ships in the Red Sea and attacking I$rael until genocide
in Gaza stops.
There is no hope of the U.$. imperialists cutting off I$rael on their
own volition, and everything in our power must be done here in the heart
of empire to stop the funding of genocide and the expansionist settler
colonialism spreading across the region. Palestine, Yemen and others in
the region are at the front lines fighting imperialism and
oppression.
As we go to press, the prospects of an inter-imperialist war loom
heavy once again. The upcoming U.$. presidential election contributes to
the uncertainty as various forces posture and attempt to exert
influence. What is clear is that U.$. imperialism is set on backing its
Zionist outpost in the Levant (Middle East) while the majority of the
world stand in opposition, and even most Amerikans want their government
to stop sending arms to I$rael.(1)
Despite public opinion, the imperialists are offering no presidential
candidate that will slow aid to I$rael. Military aid also continues
despite the United $tate’s own laws.
“ProPublica has revealed USAID and the State Department’s refugees
bureau both concluded this spring that Israel had deliberately blocked
deliveries of food and medicine into Gaza, but U.S. Secretary of State
Antony Blinken and other top Biden officials rejected the findings of
the agencies even though they’re considered the two foremost U.S.
authorities on humanitarian assistance. Blinken’s decision allowed the
U.S. to keep sending arms to Israel. Under U.S. law, the government is
required to cut off weapons shipments to countries preventing the
delivery of U.S.-backed aid. Days after receiving the reports, Blinken
told Congress, quote, “We do not currently assess that the Israeli
government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or
delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.”
“On [24 September 2024], the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
CAIR, called for Blinken’s resignation, accusing him of lying to
Congress.”(2)
I$rael received at least $12.5 billion in U.$. aid as of May 2024.(3)
And as the 2024 fiscal year comes to a close, they just announced
another $8.7 billion in military aid to I$rael in an aid package that
also includes $17 billion to “reimburse U.S. operations in response to
recent attacks.”(4) This came in the midst of increased attacks on
Lebanon and the killing
of the leadership of Hezbollah.
“Most of the aid—approximately $3.3 billion a year—is provided as
grants under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, funds that
Israel must use to purchase U.S. military equipment and services. …U.S.
aid reportedly accounts for some 15 percent of Israel’s defense budget.
Israel, like many other countries, also buys U.S. military products
outside of the FMF program.”(3)
Israel gets 78% of its arms imports from the United $tates.(3) This
circulation of capital into the U.$. economy is one reason why the
imperialists won’t offer an anti-war candidate. Meanwhile, family
members in Gaza send photos of bombs and military equipment used against
them stamped with “Made in USA”.
An April 2024 Pew Research poll showed much lower opposition to
sending military aid to I$rael among Amerikans than other polls, but its
breakdown by age reflected who is out in the streets, and who is putting
their bodies on the line to stop the genocide here in the United $tates.
While 45% of 18-29 year olds opposed U.$. aid to I$rael according to
Pew, this number decreases with age, getting down to only 22% of
Amerikans 65+.(3) This conflict between the young and the old has been
reflected in the anti-imperialist movement for decades, and we see this
as the principal contradiction within the Amerikan nation where class
contradictions and the contradictions between male-bodied and
female-bodied people are generally not antagonistic.
The military-industrial complex (MIC) ensures politicians represent
economic interests by massive investments in lobbying:
“Lobbying expenditures by all the denizens of the MIC are even
higher—more than $247 million in the last two election cycles. Such
funds are used to employ 820 lobbyists, or more than one for every
member of Congress. And mind you, more than two-thirds of those
lobbyists had swirled through Washington’s infamous revolving door from
jobs at the Pentagon or in Congress to lobby for the arms
industry.”(5)
Weapons manufacturers have bigger budgets than those in charge of the
wars, and more influence than any other industry. In 2020, Lockheed
Martin received more money from the U.$. government than the budgets of
the State Department and the Agency of International development
combined. Meanwhile, more than 75 percent of the top foreign-policy
think tanks in the United $tates are at least partially funded by
military contractors. These weapons manufacturers are also deeply
involved in Hollywood movie production. This is why we think it is
misleading to use terms like “prison industrial complex” or “non-profit
industrial complex”. The size, influence and importance
to the U.$. economy of military production is not comparable to such
theories.(6)
According to statistics gathered by the National Defense Industrial
Association, there are currently one million direct jobs in arms
manufacturing compared to 3.2 million in the 1980s.(4) But we all
benefit indirectly in this country, and the east coast dock workers
agree:
“Dating back to World War 1, the ILA was always proud to note that
‘ILA Also Means Love America’ when it came to its “No Strike Pledge” in
handling U.S. military cargo at all its ports,” said ILA President
Harold Daggett, who served in the U.S. Navy and saw combat duty during
the Vietnam War. “We continue our pledge to never let our brave American
troops down for their valour and service and we will proudly continue to
work all military shipments beyond October 1st, even if we are engaged
in a strike.”(7)
While it is not clear exactly what the U.$. strategy is for I$rael
right now, two things remain true: 1. I$rael is an outpost for U.$.
interests in the Levant (which is rich in fossil fuels), and 2. weapons
production is a key prop to the U.$. economy by continuously increasing
the circulation of capital.
France announced it has ceased any military aid to I$rael to be
consistent with their calls for a cease fire. The United Nations called
on I$rael to withdraw its military from Palestine and Lebanon and
evacuate settlers from lands occupied since 1967 (124 countries voted in
favor, 14 against, 43 abstained). Weeks later, I$raeli troops fired at 3
UNIFIL positions in southern Lebanon, injuring a number of UN
peacekeepers. Countries continue to join the International Court of
Justice case against I$rael, including Chile, the Maldives and Bolivia
most recently. Meanwhile, Nicaragua, an early signatory, has just cut
off diplomatic ties with I$rael.
I$rael has killed an estimated 8% of the population of Gaza after one
year of war and displacement.(8)
i want to begin this writing by expressing sincere solidarity to the
surge of student activism in support of the Palestinian people and
against amerikan and israeli militarism and imperialism. If i could tell
the students who’re facing or will face charges in the empire’s courts,
i would tell them to keep in constant memory that no matter what they,
the empire, says or does you are not a criminal. i would tell them that
be careful to remember the righteousness of our cause and to remember
that they are not alone.
In every mass movement and organization there are varying levels of
socio-political consciousness and radicalism. Those who are neophytes to
the struggle should pay careful attention to the machinations of the
institutions of the empire. One’s experiences with the empire’s
institutions usually increase one’s level of radicalism and
consciousness. While we enter struggle usually because of various
sympathies we hold, We continue and elevate our activism usually because
we realize that our theories and sympathies only barely touched the
surface of the ugliness of the empire.
Allow the experience you will have going through the motions of the
empire’s institutional shuffles to harden you, to motivate you.
Understand that your sacrifices are worth it, and that while we face
certain levels of sacrifices, the people who’ve inspired us so much, the
people whose stiff resistance is the reason i am even writing this
missive, those people are making sacrifices and facing down levels of
repression that most humans will never know. Be proud of the trials the
oppressors put you through, and also be vigilant in order to learn
lessons to apply to your future work in the struggle.
Advice for those inside facing charges for fighting for Palestine, my
best advice would be to not let the repression to stop you from
organizing in furthering the cause. Continue your work on the inside. My
experience on the inside in recent months is that there are a lot of
patriotic, amerikanized prisoners. More than we often realize. And they
are louder than those of us who support the self-determination of
Palestine, and the divestment of amerikan institutions from israel. Your
voice, your commitment is needed just as much inside as it is outside.
Captivity is not the time for self-defeat. The struggle must
continue.
Palestine’s struggle has and is being analyzed in various ways. But
for the record the Palestinian struggle is a nationalist, anti-colonial
struggle. There are many connections to other nationalist,
anti-neocoloinal struggles within the united $tates. In north amerika
the empire has succeeded in stamping out the struggle, the culture, and
much of the existence of the Indigenous people, New Afrikan people,
Chican@ People, and Puerto Rican people. They have already done to us
what israel is attempting to do to Palestine now. amerika looks
different and is softer with its policies of social control only because
they’re further along in their experiment of empire building and
settler-colonialism. As a captive New Afrikan revolutionary nationalist
i am extremely proud of, and inspired by, the Palestinian struggle for
national independence. Their struggle provides a measuring stick to
other nationalist movements. i hope we take note and begin to organize
more in earnest.
Because there are many students who’ve been drawn into this movement
by the extremes of the Palestinian situation, some may not be aware that
there are revolutionary nationalist movements here in their backyards
itching to mobilize enough people to raise the level of contradiction to
the point that the Palestinian struggle is already at. Because there are
connections between these nationalist movements we hope that you will be
able to identify them and connect yourselves to these revolutionary
nationalist struggles. In Our effort to smash the tentacles of amerikan
militarism and imperialism in Palestine and elsewhere, We have to raise
our level of struggle here. We have to raise our capacity here within
the nationalist movements, and i believe the student movement is a key
part of doing that. As such the best we in the prison movement and those
of you in the student movement can do is to build connections with each
other, help each other, and help the world’s oppressed and exploited
people.
i hope this letter is received well, and that you, the reader
continue to struggle ceaselessly until victory is won.
In yet another act of terrorism, Shareen Abu Akleh, a
Palestinian-amerikan journalist, was targeted and killed by the
illegitimate state of I$rael and its military. The I$raeli state, its
occupation of Palestine, and its armed forces are and have been backed
by the united state’s ruling class since 1932. On 11 May 2022, while on
the job, covering an I$raeli military raid on the Jenin refugee camp in
the West Bank, she was maliciously assassinated.
Shareen Abu Akleh became a thorn in the side of the I$raeli state as
a result of her continuous on the spot coverage of daily state
repression, human rights violations, and Palestinian genocide. She
covered many detentions, home demolitions (which Palestinian homes were
targeted in, and demolished to force them to relocate for I$raelis)
military raids of schools and universities, and Masjids, and killings of
Palestinians. This brave frontline work placed her on I$raeli hit
lists.
Shareen Abu Akleh was a journalist for decades and a Palestinian
revolutionary-nationalist, who being a trailblazer in her field,
inspired many Palestinian and Arab wimmin to serve their people through
the work of liberation journalism.
Her funeral brought out tens of thousands of supporters, mostly
Palestinian, in Jerusalem. As pallbearers carried sister Shareen, the
I$raeli military attacked them, and further disrupted the occasion with
malicious zionist violence against Palestinian nationals.
Sadly, the colonization of Palestine, the Apartheid regime of I$rael,
and violent and fatal repression of native inhabitants is all apart of
the imperialist system. What does imperialism look like? It looks like
land theft, it looks like millions of people living without power or
plumbing, it looks like bombing and shelling of homes, schools,
hospitals and finishing the job by attacking refugee camps. It looks
like storming universities, confiscating study materials, it looks like
the process of erasing an entire human group, and that’s exactly what’s
taking place in Palestine. There will be many who call for justice for
Shareen Abu Akleh, but the sad truth is that justice for her and justice
for the Palestinian nation can only be achieved with the end of the
I$raeli occupation.
FREE THE LAND!!! FREE
PALESTINE!!!
The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement is a grassroots
initiative that began in the early 2000’s to gain international support
for the occupied Palestinian nation against I$rael’s continued military
suppression, genocide and land theft.
In recent years the BDS movement has indeed gained international
support, even in the face of reactionary pro-imperialist backlash from
the states who support genocide, land theft and military crimes.
The goal of BDS is to isolate I$rael on the international field by
upholding the “simple principle that Palestinians are entitled to the
same rights as the rest of humanity”.
Students around the world have been pressuring their schools and
universities to join the ‘Academic Boycott’, initiated in 2004 by the
Palestinian campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of I$rael
(PACBI). As student activism again comes to life here in the United
$tates, it is important that students engage in internationalist
frameworks. Amerikan student activists should support the academic
boycott of I$rael, which is part of the overall BDS movement. Students
should do this not as a mere moral cause, but the understanding that
over 50% of the U.$. states strongly support the I$raeli
military-apartheid-colonization, so much so that 35 states have Anti-BDS
laws. They support the frequent military raids of Palestinian
universities under the pretext of ‘countering terrorist activities’, the
imprisonment and murder of student activists peacefully protesting,
closure of schools and the recent I$raeli military move to arbitrarily
control what is and isn’t taught in universities. A new government
procedure allows the military to restrict visiting professors who teach
subjects supposedly ‘not relevant to Palestinians’.
In the United $tates, the free flow of ideas has begun to be brought
to an end. Book bans, Don’t Say Gay laws, the backlash against Critical
Race Theory, what’s next? Will the same reactionaries rally police/
military force to suppress your student demonstration? The book Chican@ Power and
the Struggle for Aztlán has been banned in prisons in many parts of
occupied Aztlán. Will the reactionaries prevent your free thought?
NEWSFLASH THEY ALREADY ARE! Students in North America should pressure
their institutions to join the Academic boycott and the wider BDS
movement. END ALL COLLABORATION WITH THE ILLEGITIMATE STATE, until
Palestine is free.
MIM(Prisons) adds: One of the first essays many
students of MIM study is On Contradiction by Mao Zedong. In it
Mao explains how change must come from within. The liberation of
Palestine depends on an effective national liberation struggle from
within Palestine, but it can be assisted by resistance to the funding
and arming of the I$raeli state by Amerikans whose government is the
primary prop of I$rael. A strong anti-imperialist movement in this
country would be able to limit the sale of military goods to I$rael,
Ukraine and anywhere else where the empire wants to fight wars against
its enemies without sending its own troops.
Notes: (1) ‘Palestinian-american journalist
assassinated,’ Monical Hill, FreedomSocialist,vol.43,no.3 (2)
‘Academic fortify boycott of Israel’, Raya Fidel,
FreedomSocialist,vol.43,no.3
For Afrikan people in the United $tates, captivity began in Afrika
when we were captured and confined in slave forts like the Gold Coast’s
Elmina and Goree Island’s “House of Slaves”. From those colonial forts
we left Afrika in chains and shackles through the “Door of No Return”
and we were transported to the Americas in the bowels of slave ships.
Afrikans were dropped off in various places around around the world, and
what is now referred to as North America, in chains and colonized here
to work as slaves on the plantations of the settler-colonies of European
imperialists.
As slaves we were chattel owned as private property, becoming the
first commodity that gave rise to a global colonial-capitalist system.
Slavery was absolute captivity with complete deprivation of life. The
only means by which Afrikans could seek freedom was by revolt or escape,
which is something we’ve struggled to do since our first initial capture
from our homeland.
Colonizers’ plantations were forced labor camps where Afrikans slaved
in the fields and were housed in hovels and fed slop. We were forced to
work day in and day out, suffering severe beatings and some of the
greatest acts of cruelty to force our submission. If we
escaped, we were hunted and tracked by slave catchers with guns and
bloodhounds. Once caught, we were brought back to the plantation from
which we fled. Escaping slavery was a crime that was punishable by
flogging and lashing, branding, mutilation and death. After 13 of the
settler-colonies within North America consolidated into the “United
States,” slavery was expanded to new territories as the colonizers
continued stealing more Indigenous land, or killing them, like the case
in the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico. It continued to reap the filthy
lucre of the dirty business of the flesh-peddling slave-trade and the
human trafficking of slavery until slavery was finally abolished after
the Civil War – an intra-conflict between two rival settler-colonialist
groups – the Union versus the Confederacy. With the abolition of
slavery, Afrikans ceased to be formally held as slaves, but we remained
colonial subjects all the same as colonialism continued to rule and
regulate every aspect of our lives through the brutal exploitation of
our labor through sharecropping, peonage and court-leasing.
As we have seen, U.$. administrators – Republican and Democrat alike
– asserted their right to interfere directly in the domestic affairs of
countries in Central America and the Caribbean for the sake of “national
interest”. One island nation, however, remained under permanent Amerikan
control. Puerto Rico became part of the United States as a result of the
Spanish Amerikan War. In July 1898, in retaliation for the sinkage of
the U.S. vessel Maine in Cuba, Amerikan troops disembarked in Puerto
Rico, instigating the country’s first act of European-style colonial
expansion. The island thus became the pawn in a war between Cuban
patriots and Spanish garrisons. It had not expected military occupation,
quite the contrary, Spain had already agreed to grant Puerto Rico
autonomy and to devise some sort of “house rule” for the island. The
U.S. invasion changed all of this. Suddenly, Puerto Rico became a
crucial factor in U.S. global strategy – not only because of its
potential for investment and commerce, but also because of its
geopolitical role in consolidating U.S. naval power.
But there remains a basic question: Why did the U.S. take Puerto Rico
as a colony while helping Cuba achieve independence?? The difference may
well reside in the histories of the two islands. There was a large
standing armed insurrectionary movement against Spain in Cuba. Puerto
Rico, however, was on the way to a negotiated settlement and could
present less resistance to outside forces. Puerto Rico thus became
caught in a complex struggle between major powers and Cuba’s
insurgents.
During the colonial period, the island had served as a supporting
military garrison and commercial center for Spain, roles that
intensified as the slave trade reached its peak in the 1700’s. Sugar
production became the predominant agricultural enterprise. There were
also small farmers, jibaros, rugged individuals who cultivated staple
crops and helped maintain a diversified economy. Because of this, the
slave population always remained a minority. After 1898 residents of the
island had no clear status of our land. In 1917 they were granted
citizenship in the U.S. due to W.W.I. In 1947, nearly half a century
after the invasion, Puerto Rico was permitted to attempt
self-government. In 1952 the island was granted “commonwealth” status
within the United States. Puerto Rico at this moment is the oldest
colony in the world.
The 13th Amendment to the U.S. constitution, often believed to have
formally abolished slavery, simply limited slavery, making it a
punishment for crime, and that punishment was imprisonment.
Therefore, slavery became a penal servitude and prisoners became
“slaves of the colonial state”. Prisons became slave labor camps and
being sentenced to prison was to be forced to do “hard labor”. It was a
sentence of forced labor in addition to a term of imprisonment. This was
where the term “hard labor” came from. As a direct result of black codes
developed specifically for our people, Afrikans were arrested for petty
violations of those codes (other ethnic groups of minority also:
Latinos) and sent to prison where we not only toiled in slave labor
camps and worked in chain gangs, but were also contracted out to private
companies to work for railroads, mines and mills.
We became the new slaves in a new convict lease system that was
created by colonial capitalism so that it could acquire a steady supply
of cheap labor to exploit for the greatest profit without paying for
that labor because we were slaves of the state. After enduring the
captivity of forced chattel slavery, Afrikans began to endure the
captivity of imprisonment under colonialism. We went from being slaves
on plantations to convicts in prison.
Colonialist law was established and created to protect the colonial
system and primarily criminalize and punish Afrikans and other colonized
peoples – Latinos.
During the Black Revolution of the 1960’s, the police arrested and
jailed Afrikans such as Fannie Lou Hamer for “civil disobedience”. They
arrested Huey P. Newton and Geronimo Pratt on trumped-up charges. At
that time the voices of Puerto Ricans to be recognized as a nation
joined hands with the Black revolution in the struggle against the U.S.
empire. Oscar Lopez, Alejandro Torres, Antonio Camacho, and many more
were railroaded to prison. The FBI asassinated leaders like Malcom X, Dr
Martin Luther King Jr., Fred Hampton through COINTELPRO. In 2005,
Filiberto Ojeda Rios, leader of EPB “Eercito Popular Boricua” better
known as the Macheteros, was assassinated in Puerto Rico by FBI agents.
Those who were captured and thrown in prison became political prisoners
and prisoners of war.
At the height of the Black Revolution, the CIA flooded Afrikan
colonies (to the United States Puerto Rico is considered another Afrikan
Colony) with heroin from the golden triangle in southeast Asia where it
had long worked to finance its covert operations against China at the
same time the U.S. was waging a war of imperialist aggression in
Vietnam. With this process of narcotization our communities fell
completely under control and influence of drugs: the illegal drug
business and drug traffickers began a deadly epidemic of addiction. The
war on drugs was escalated by Ronald Reagan with the beginning of the
crack epidemic, started after the CIA flooded the Afrikan community with
the drugs from Central America, funding dirty wars against Nicaragua. It
led to increased militarization of the police, tougher drug laws, and
the greatest prison build-up in history. Afrikans and Latinos became the
main causalities of that war.
As prisoners, we are just bodies that fill cells in prisons, situated
in economically depressed rural areas, producing jobs for settlers.
Today, Amerika has the largest prison system in the world. More
Afrikans are now convicts in prison in 2022 than they were slaves on the
plantation in 1852, and hardly have any more rights than we had when we
were slaves.
Crime simply provides the justification for locking us up behind the
razor-wire electrified fences. Imprisonment is an integral and
indispensable part of the colonization and of Afrikans and Latinos in
the United $tates. I was born and raised in Puerto Rico, my father a
black Puerto Rican and my Mother a white Puerto Rican; as colonial
subjects we have always been captives of Colonialism.
The imprisonment in the U.S. will only end when we throw off the
chains of colonial-capitalism and free ourselves from the rule of the
colonizer.
We, all minorities, Blacks, Latinos, etc need to come together under
the same line of thinking – I encourage every one to educate yourself,
know your history, know your past, know your culture. It doesn’t matter
how dark the color of your skin is, what state or country you’re from,
in prison there’s only two uniforms – the prisoners and the guards –
remember always which one you wear. The only way to beat this monster is
by uniting, and come together as one body.
The latest issue of ULK (#75) was very informative. The article
on Afghanistan was a good review of many of the issues.
One you did not mention and that is one of the reasons that China is
sending money is that of the mineral resources of the country.
About 8 years ago I had a teacher who applied to work as an analyst
for the CIA. As part of his application he did a report on Afghanistan.
He found out why the U.$. invaded the country. There are large deposits
of copper and lithium ore. The U.$. soldiers were to protect the Chinese
workers who were building the railway that would transport the ore into
China for processing.
Just like Spain, France, etc. in the 16th and 17th centuries, the
U.$. government was in another country to steal its natural
resources.
MIM(Prisons) responds: Certainly, natural resources
continue to be a major impetus for imperialist foreign policy and war.
The gas lines through the Caspian Sea were also a key concern in the
region at the time.
Your description of the roles of the Amerikans and Chinese in
Afghanistan is emblematic of the relationship between the two countries
ever since the capitalist roaders took over in China in 1976. Today
contradictions have heightened as Chinese capital has become more
developed and therefore needs to exert its interests independent of the
United $tates. Meanwhile the Amerikans have begun looking at bringing
production and supply chains of basic goods a little closer to home
after becoming dependent on the labor of Chinese proletarians. These
contradictions playing out demonstrate why inter-imperialist conflict is
the rule.
Our readership has always talked about fascism more than the
mainstream because they face some of the most fascistic aspects of
imperialism within U.$. borders. As the dialogue around fascism in
relation to the White House enterslj6 the mainstream, it becomes more
important for us to distinguish our line, and the potential strategies
that follow from that line.(1)
The first draft of an article on the self-determination
of the Lakota people referred repeatedly to the fascism that they
faced. The parallel is certainly justified. As we know Hitler was very
inspired by the Amerikan genocide and colonization of First Nations.
Yet, fascism arose hundreds of years after settlers first came to Turtle
Island. There are many similarities, but also differences, between Nazi
Germany and the early United $tates, and the United $tates today.(2)
Understanding what fascism is is important for fighting it.
Fascism as
Inter-Imperialist Conflict
“Marxist-Leninists eventually argued that fascism is qualitatively
more evil than ordinary imperialism. First, fascism occupied imperialist
countries and exterminated national self-determination in direct ways
that the other imperialists did not. Second, and less important, fascism
is the open dictatorship of the bourgeoisie instead of just the more
masked dictatorship of bourgeois democracy.” MC5, May 1993, “Historical
applications of Line, Strategy and Tactics: The United Front”, MIM
Theory 6: The Stalin Issue, p.76. ($5)
MC5 goes on to say that the principal contradiction during the period
of the rise of fascism was actually that between the socialist and the
imperialist camps. That the Nazis focused so much on the destruction of
the Soviet Union, undermining their own success, demonstrates the role
of fascism as a response to socialism.
Stalin’s strategy in this period was to divide the imperialist camp.
It’s hard to see how the socialist camp today could employ such a
strategy since we are not operating from the base of power that Stalin
was (the USSR actually had the military might to stop the Nazis). But in
his time, Stalin’s strategy proved correct.
A Global Threat or
Bourgeois Politics
Antifa and the unorganized rebellions against the police in cities
across the country have forced anti-fascism into the mainstream. Yet the
mainstream rhetoric has quickly transformed the “battle against fascism”
in the United $tates into a thinly veiled campaign for the Democratic
Party presidential election in November. The likes of Bob Avakian,
Angela Davis and Noam Chomsky have all called on people to vote for Joe
Biden, citing this battle.
Stopping fascism is a lower level goal than ending imperialism or
building socialism. There are times, like World War II, when stopping
fascism is the appropriate focus for communists. At that time fascism
was waging a military assault across Europe and threatening the first
dictatorship of the proletariat.
Presidential candidate Biden has already promised a significant
increase in military spending, and President Trump has increased
military spending during his term, despite his criticisms of the
self-interest of the military industrial complex. Both candidates are
clearly behind continued U.$. militarism to wage war against the
oppressed peoples of the world. Neither candidate has indicated a
rapacious military campaign to conquer and occupy other nations. Between
the two options offered by the U.$. imperialists, we do not yet see the
principal characteristic that led the communists of the COMINTERN to see
fascism as a greater evil than imperialism.
Those who are crying “fascism” in the U.$. today are arguing that
state repression internal to the United $tates is ramping up. So let’s
look at what MC5 called the “less important” distinguishing
characteristic of fascism.
The
Democratic Struggle Against Fascism in the Third World
“The imperialists export fascism to many Third World countries via
puppet governments. And imperialist countries can turn to fascism
themselves. But it is important to note that there is no third choice
for independent fascism in the world: they are either imperialist or
imperialist-puppets. Germany, Spain, Italy and Japan had all reached the
banking stage of capitalism and had a real basis for thinking they could
take over colonies from the British and French. … The vast majority of
the world’s fascist-ruled countries have been U.$. puppets.” – MIM
Congress, “Osama Bin Laden and the Concept of ‘Theocratic Fascism’”,
2004
Strategy varies from place to place. An example of this from the past
is when the Filipinos waged a campaign against the GATT trade agreement.
In the Philippines this was a righteous campaign against imperialist
control over their economy. However, in the United $tates the campaign
against GATT was one focused on protecting Amerikan jobs, which implies
fortifying imperialist borders against labor from other countries. So
you can see how the same campaign can have very different impacts in
different contexts. It is our responsibility to understand our own
context and organize accordingly.
In a previous
article on this same topic, we mentioned the anti-imperialist
rhetoric of the newly elected President Duterte in the Philippines.
After Duterte’s anti-United $tates rhetoric fizzled, the National
Democratic Front in the Philippines have begun campaigning against the
“fascist US-Duterte regime.” This framing is important. The fascism is
coming from the United $tates and being implemented by the puppet
Duterte. This allows for their propaganda to be consumed within the
United $tates without fueling U.$. militarism for an invasion of the
Philippines to rescue them from fascism.
This is in sharp contrast to the rhetoric around “islamo-fascism” in
Afghanistan following the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon. This framing was of course propagated by the Pentagon, but
also by many calling themselves “communists.” It fueled anti-Muslim
sentiments in support of U.$. militarism in Central Asia.
The framing of fascism in the form of puppet regimes is useful for
the national democratic movements in the Third World to unite all who
can be united. But these puppet regimes do not signify a shift in the
global balance of power that warrant a strategic re-orientation like the
rise of fascism within an imperialist country would.
Don’t Vote, Build Bases of
Power
Another important point to note is that there is an active People’s
War in the Philippines. The National Democratic Front is led by the
communist party. The united front to get Trump out of office is led by
the Democratic Party, in other words, the imperialists. The imperialists
are not facing the threat of a communist revolution in the United $tates
like they are in the Philippines that would warrant a shift to outright
bourgeois dictatorship.
The imperialists responded to the 9/11 attacks with a series of
changes in law, such as the Patriot Act, which legalized some of the
things Trump has been doing domestically. Initially, MIM was part of the
movement to oppose the Patriot Act. However, they decided to leave that
movement when it was clear it was dominated by libertarians. Other
“communists” tailed this movement with calls to “Drive out the Bush
regime” often referring to Bush as a fascist. These same “communists”
who were effectively campaigning for Obama’s election by offering no
other alternative to Bush, because they have no power, are now openly
endorsing Biden.
When the Soviet Union allied with the United $tates, and the Filipino
communists ally with the bourgeois forces, they do not put down their
guns, or give up their goals of building socialism. To be real players
in the anti-fascist struggle, we must first build power like the Soviet
Union did and the Filipinos are doing. Stalin did bite his tongue about
U.$. imperialism to defeat German fascism. To bite our tongue today
about Joe Biden’s militarism and targeting of oppressed nations with
mass incarceration is to abandon the oppressed nations of the world.
It is good to see those in the imperialist state defending bourgeois
democracy. That is their role. Our role is to build public opinion
against imperialism and build independent institutions of the oppressed.
As Trump attempts to frame Biden/Harris as the radical left, it is
important to demonstrate real revolutionary politics in this country.
And the target of the revolution is imperialism. Imperialism must be
overthrown before we can really begin the task of building a society
without oppression. To put this goal to the side to focus on getting
Trump out of office, especially at a time when more and more people are
looking for systemic change, is to stop representing the international
proletariat. In this era in the United $tates, anti-imperialism is the
radical position, while anti-fascism and anti-racism are the reformist
positions.
Notes: 1. order MIM Theory 5: Diet for a Small Red
Planet ($5) for an in-depth look at the relationship between line,
strategy and tactics 2. order our Fascism and Contemporary Economics
($3) for a deeper look at the history and economic of
fascism
In July 2020, there was a Chicano Moratorium event in Oakland,
CalifAztlán at San Antonio Park. On 5 September 2020, there was another
Chicano Moratorium event in Arroyo Viejo Park, organized by the
Chicano-Mexicano Resistance and local Brown Berets. These were beautiful
events that celebrated the resistance of the Chicano Nation and
remembered the initial event of 1970.
These events were held in the spirit of the demonstration held by the
Chicano Moratorium Committee Against the Vietnam War on 29 August 1970
in East Los Angeles. That action was 30,000 strong, and at the time it
was protesting the Vietnam War and the overwhelming deaths of Chicano
soldiers in the U.S. war on Vietnam (20% of the deaths, while only 10%
of the population). At least 4 people were murdered by the pigs that
day.
The 2020 actions were joyous. The sun was out, familias were out,
kids, babies, mamas and Raza. Chicano revolutionary organizations were
there like the Republic of Aztlán, the Oakland Brown Berets and the
Chicano Mexicano Resistance. Music performers were lively playing
revolutionary rap by a local Chicano rap artist named Aztlán Native who
performed. There was Chicano spoken word, Chicano poets, speakers and
even an African group performed showing that Brown and Black unity.
One of the speakers at the July event was “Big John,” formerly of the
Chicano Revolutionary Party (CRP). The CRP was active in Oakland in the
1970s-80s. This speaker spoke of him being at the original Moratorium in
1970. I thought that was cool to hear about what took place in 1970 from
someone who was there. Other speakers spoke of the need for
anti-imperialism and liberation of the Chicano Nation. The crowds were
very into the message of a Free Aztlán with shouts of “Chicano Power!”,
“Viva la Raza!” and “Chinga la Migra!” heard. Many attendees were
interested in the book Chican@ Power and
the Struggle for Aztlán that comrades had at the events, and
some told us they already had a copy.
The mood was that Raza were happy to be amongst each other
celebrating our continued Chicano resistance as a nation. People were
dancing and having a good time.
Today the need for a Chicano Moratorium is just as relevant and
probably even more necessary. Despite being 20% of the deaths during the
Vietnam War, Raza have historically been underrepresented in the U.$.
military. While Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán
discussed military enrollment of Raza increasing from around 10% to
11.3% of active military from 2004 to 2012, 2017 data indicate that has
jumped to 16%.(1) The U.S. military is browning. Just as the future of
the U.S. population is becoming razafied (increasing to 18% in 2019), so
too is the U.S. military. The U.S. military is what allows U.S.
imperialism to continue exploiting the periphery. Whether dying in
Vietnam or dying at Fort Hood like Vanessa Guillen, the military is not
in the interest of Raza. And the key to stopping U.S. imperialism lies
in a Chicano Moratorium.
Peeling Back the U.S.
Military’s Onion
When we think about an effective Chicano Moratorium, we soon realize
in today’s day and age We need to do more than simply march – even in
the tens of thousands. We obviously need to add some manteca to the
frying pan. Although marches and protest actions are needed and provide
for good agitation, we also need to focus on other elements of the U.S.
military’s support structure. Shut off the valve from which its
nutrients flow.
ROTC: We know that the Chicano nation is the U.S.
military’s prime focus because the numbers tell us that the fastest
growing population of recruits today is Raza. There is also evidence
that of Raza, it is wimmin Raza who are at the helm. Wimmin overall have
gone from 5% of enlisted officers in 1975, to 16% in 2017.(1) But how
are they recruiting Chican@s in such high numbers? One way is via ROTC
in the schools. The U.S. military typically has ROTC in Barrio schools
or impoverished areas where the Chican@ population is high. This is a
direct assault on Chican@ youth where Amerikkka is turning its schools
(brainwash camps) into military recruitment centers. So if we are to
truly build a Chican@ Moratorium with teeth, a campaign to remove ROTCs
from the schools should be included.
Chican@ Mass Education: Because We have all been
born and raised under this occupation, many of us do not know that
Amerikkka is a colonizer. We do not know that the U.S. military is the
muscle used to oppress and exploit the Third World. Sadly, most Chican@s
do not even know what the Chicano Moratorium is. The enemy will never
arm a people it colonized with truth of its misdeeds. So there is a
strong need for mass education of the oppressed nations and allies in
general, and the Chican@ masses in particular.
Mass education is needed on a national level, from families teaching
their households, Barrios teaching each other, Chican@ educators
teaching students, parks having educational events, protest actions
ensuring at least 1 speaker mentions it, graffiti artists writing it,
musicians singing and rapping about it. The Chicano Moratorium needs to
be mentioned in every movement paper, every activist blog and
revolutionary website. All left parties, groups and orgs should ensure
their members understand the Chicano Moratorium.
We must continue to highlight the stories of lives lost to U.S.
militarism like Vanessa Guillen, so that the youth know the true nature
of this system. Wimmin are being sexually assaulted regularly, oppressed
people are being hung and murdered, and you don’t even have to go to a
war zone. It’s right in Fort Hood, Texas, in occupied Aztlán.
Vanessa Guillen’s sister said, “They don’t care about us!” as she
protested Ft. Hood military base
There should be Chican@ actions monthly in every county to educate
the local Chican@ community on the Chicano Moratorium. At some point,
after momentum is built, statewide actions can be held. Eventually
nationwide actions can take place where Chican@s from all seven states
can converge on one state for an annual Chican@ action.
Boycotts: Another element used by the U.S. military
is media. Using commercials to show Chican@ youth proudly enrolling in
the military. Some of these commercials are in Spanish. These are
propaganda commercials meant to entice our youth with depictions of Raza
youth being educated, prosperous and happy if they join the colonizer’s
military. We need to locate every TV station that plays these propaganda
commercials and boycott the hell out of them.
A campaign to expose and boycott these propaganda stations should be
spread and supported far and wide. This is another part of the oppressor
nation’s recruitment and brainwash program that needs to be shut
down.
Conclusion
By utilizing this 3 prong approach of focusing on 1) ROTC, 2) Chican@
Mass Education, and 3) Boycotts, we will see a genuine Chicano
Moratorium. One where we finally deal a blow to U.S. imperialism. The
vanguard pushing today’s Chicano Moratorium is unapologetically
communist. We understand the social reality of Aztlán and thus can
create campaigns whose main thrust is in driving Aztlán on the road to
national liberation.
On 1 April 2020, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the
United $tates had doubled military forces engaged in combating drug
trafficking in the Pacific Ocean between the United $tates and South
America. The primary purpose was stated as being to protect Amerikan
lives from dangerous drugs. The secondary purpose was to destabilize the
Maduro administration in Venezueala that Trump claims is propped up by
drug money. The Maduro administration responded by commending the United
$tates for trying to fight drug trafficking for the first time in
decades.(1)
While these actions are part of a long history of political warfare
in the region, this announcement is also significant in that it is the
first show of militarism to stave off the looming economic depression
facing the imperialists and the global economy. Finance capital is in
crisis.
As Lenin explained, the portion of capital that is finance capital
only increases with time. This leads to a very top-heavy economy. One of
the primary laws of capitalism is that all capital must circulate.
Unlike industrial capital, finance capital is not involved in the actual
production of material goods and value. As such it is not limited by
humyn consumption, as long as there are profits to be made. The problem
is that capitalism, unlike an economic system based on humyn need,
cannot adapt to economic slowdowns such as the current one imposed by
the health needs of humyns facing the COVID-19 pandemic.
If the economy is shrinking, while finance capital is always growing,
then there are not enough places for that finance capital to circulate
into to return a profit. This is reflected in the recent reduction of
interest rates by the Federal Reserve to 0%. When profit rates are high,
people will borrow at higher rates to invest and return a profit. When
banks are struggling to loan money for free, that means there are no
profits to be made by finance capital. Stock markets losing close to a
third of their value in recent weeks also demonstrate the lack of
outlets for finance capital.
The United $tates and other imperialist countries have passed
stimulus plans to try to keep their consumer classes afloat. The
consumption of luxury goods plays an important role in the circulation
of capital, by increasing demands on production. As the skies of urban
centers become clear of pollution, and animals take the opportunity to
stretch their legs in areas normally dominated by humyns and pollution,
finance capital becomes desperately confined when the consumer classes
reduce their consumption to necessities. This is true even as Amerikans
and Europeans continue to enjoy higher levels of consumption and comfort
than the majority of the world.
A third factor limiting the circulation of capital, that is still
accelerating, is the closure of borders and, with it, a shift in
international trade. Imperialism is by definition an international
system, and without massive global trade it cannot extract massive
super-profits from the exploited nations of the world and distribute
them amongst the imperialist country populations. The drug trade has
long been an important part of international trade and finance capital.
So this move announced by Trump can likely be seen as an exertion of
force by the imperialists on the black market to meet some financial
interests.
However, the more troubling driver to all this is imperialist
militarism. It was global economic crises and trade wars that led to the
first two inter-imperialist wars (with guns). This is because war
destroys capital, while stimulating production and consumption in the
process. War requires production for war, and production to rebuild
after it. It is the final solution for the otherwise unresolvable
contradictions of imperialism, specifically that of over-production.
This move towards Venezuela is just the first in what we predict to be a
coming escalation of militarism. And the most likely targets will be
countries that have resisted the U.$. imperialists’ programs as Maduro,
and Hugo Chavez before em, have done.
Today, the Maduro administration remains in power over a year after
the
United $tates attempted a military coup against it, without actually
sending in an invading force. The United $tates continues to push Maduro
to give up power to a “transitional government” under threat of
continued sanctions and International Criminal Court charges co-signed
by imperialist lackeys in the region. While rumors of further military
action in this war on Venezuela have long been circulating, we predict
that the economic downswing will be the push to make that happen. It is
the duty of all who love freedom and justice to build an all-out
resistance to a rising tide of militarism from the imperialist
countries.
Anti-imperialists got a little taste of good news from Trump last month
when ey announced plans to pull troops out of Syria. Ey later
backpedaled saying ey did not set a timeline for such a pull out. But
Trump has long made comments indicating that the new focus of U.$.
strategy will be to combat China and Russia. In other words, the war on
oppressed nations, particularly in the middle east and north Africa, and
euphemistically dubbed the “War on Terror,” will no longer be the
primary focus.
It has always been MIM line that we are in a period of World War III,
that is a low intensity war by the imperialists against the oppressed
nations. The hegemony of the United $tates allowed for this to be the
focus in the decades following World War II. That hegemony is fading,
and the emergence of a fourth world war, or a third inter-imperialist
war is bubbling to the surface.
Of course, inter-imperialist war does not mean the oppressed nations get
a reprieve from the needless brutality of capitalism, as
inter-imperialist war is always about carving up the oppressed nations
for their resources and markets. Enter “Prosper Africa”, the plan
announced by U.$. National Security Advisor John Bolton in December.
Bolton stated, “America’s vision for the region is one of independence,
self-reliance and growth, not dependency, domination and debt.”(1) This
is a hypocritical jab at China, from the country who has done more to
make Africa dependent and in debt in the last half-century than any
other. At the same time the Trump administration is calling for more
“honest” dealings with Africa, that recognize U.$. economic and
political interests more openly.
The “Prosper Africa” plan coincides with Pentagon plans to reduce U.$.
troops in Africa by 10%. Nothing close to our
demands
to shut down Africom, rather a subtle adjustment of current U.$.
strategy. The immediate focus seems to be drawing hard lines in the sand
of the African continent between those compliant with U.$. imperialism
and those who are not.
In recent years, China has joined forces with other emerging imperialist
or sub-imperialist nations with independent banking capital including
Brazil, India, Russia and South Africa (BRICS). As a group, the BRICS
countries have greatly increased trade with African countries over the
last decade. Increases in trade on the whole is a benefit to the
well-being of all peoples involved. While this trade provides outlets
and opportunities for capital from countries with growing finance
capital, the established imperialist powers (the United $tates and
France) face a reduction in their access to markets and in their ability
to strong arm the oppressed nations of the world into serving their
interests. This threatens to contribute to economic crisis in the
advanced imperialist economies, and trigger more militaristic and
desperate actions politically.
The Trump administration has hinted at pulling support from United
Nations (U.N.) “peacekeeping” missions in Africa. While opposing the
U.N. garners support from white nationalists subscribing to
isolationalism and Amerikkkan exceptionalism, the real motivation here
is likely to reduce Chinese influence in the region. More than 2,500
Chinese troops are stationed in war zones created by U.$. and French
imperialism in South Sudan, Liberia and Mali. China accounted for 1/5 of
the U.N. troops pledged to operations in Africa in 2015.(2)
China established its first military base outside of China in 2017 at
the strategic location of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. This is in
line with a shift in Chinese foreign policy over the last decade from
non-interference to “protecting our country’s over-seas interests.”(3)
The United $tates, France and Japan are among the countries with
existing bases in Djibouti, where the government depends on military
leases as an important source of income.
The U.$.-backed coup and murder of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 helped break
the continent’s resistance to Africom. Up until then Africom had to
operate out of Europe. With the pan-Africanist government in Libya out
of the way, Africom was able to operate from within Africa for the first
time. Now the United $tates has at least 46 military bases in Africa and
close military relations with 53 out of the 54 African countries. Many
countries have agreements to cede operational command of their
militaries to Africom.(4)
While the coup in Libya was a victory for U.$. imperialism, it continues
to be a disaster for Libyans, with repercussions for the whole region.
The United $tates will have a much harder time stemming the
still-expanding Chinese pole that challenges U.$. hegemony in Africa. As
this contradiction threatens the world with inter-imperialist war, it
offers opportunities for the oppressed to move independently as cracks
widen in the imperialist system.
