Under Lock & Key

I am writing in response to “Debating Trans Rights” in ULK 31. I am a bi-two spirit prisoner who’s been active in the struggle since the 70s. I do not agree with everything that revolutionary comrades espouse, but these are not grounds for division, they are expressions of human diversity. The Pennsylvania comrade seems to have misunderstood MIM(Prisons)’s position and taken it somewhat persynally.

Having said as much, I see this comrade’s struggle (and indeed the trans struggle generally) as an agitational process and as resistance to imposed norms of identity inseparable from the broader battle against sex-based discrimination and exploitation globally.

Whether a trans persyn can afford sex reassignment surgery (SRS) or hormone therapy speaks only to their economic condition and not to their location. This economic hurdle actually applies to most trans people in the u.s., many of whom seek SRS and treatments via the underground from sources in Mexico and Latin America due to the artificially inflated cost created by the medical establishment in the u.s. and exploitative pharmaceutical monopolies. It was done with Cipro during the anthrax scare and is still being done with HIV/AIDS treatment, which has had an enormously adverse impact in Africa where AIDS and AIDS-related deaths are epidemic.

It should also not go unnoticed that trans people in the u.s. are being raped and murdered as well (especially in prison) due to their identity, as are gays and bis. A 2012 Black & Pink newsletter published 43 photos of trans wimmin murdered by hate criminals. This number represented only a tiny fraction of the total number of murders of trans people as the result of hate in the u.s.

From an international perspective, the u.s. cannot be excluded from the global battlefield. The transitioning comrade in Pennsylvania should note that MIM(Prisons) never said they were against SRS/hormone therapy, nor did they derogate that particular struggle. They simply said it isn’t part of their global perspective on anti-imperialist struggle. This is hardly a disparaging or anti-trans position.

MIM(Prisons) adds: We appreciate this comrade expanding on what we wrote in ULK 31. We stand by our point: “In the article this prisoner criticizes, we wrote that we do not fight for sex reassignment surgery in the same way we don’t fight for gay marriage, because both amount to further privileges for people already benefiting from imperialism. We could equate these struggles with the fight to get more women in executive positions in companies, or the fight to get a Black man in the white house. They represent steps forward in equality for Blacks, wimmin, gays and trans people in reaping imperialist spoils of war and gender oppression on Third World peoples. These struggles do not help advance the fight against imperialism, to liberate the Third World peoples.” And as we explained in ULK 12, the U.$. health care system is not in the best interests of Amerikans, but on the whole they still have access to far superior care than most people in the world. So to struggle to improve U.$. health care strengthens imperialism, while ending AIDS drug monopolies challenges imperialism.

We agree with this writer that we should not ignore those facing particularly brutal gender oppression in the First World. The murder of trans people, and violence against anyone for sexual orientation or gender identity, is objectively reactionary and is a product of patriarchal imperialism. This violence is just one of many reasons why those facing this gender oppression should be on the side of the anti-imperialist struggle, fighting for a world free of gender oppression.

MIM(Prisiones) está trabajando en un libro sobre el lumpen en las seudo colonias internas de los Estados Unidos. El primer capítulo, el cual se encuentra circulando en borrador para la revisión académica, se enfoca en la identificación del lumpen y en el cálculo del tamaño de este grupo dentro de las fronteras Estadounidenses. Parte de este proceso de identificación requiere que comprendamos la definición de lumpen y nos sea posible distinguirlo de las otras clases.

El proletariado es la clase explotada por la burguesía, reciben menos del valor de su trabajo y no tienen nada que perder excepto sus cadenas. Los Marxistas incluyen en el proletariado a muchas personas desempleadas que constituyen un ejército laboral de reserva, disponible para reemplazar otros trabajadores en caso de un lento desempeño, cuando estos se enferman, cuando organizan paros laborales o cuando de alguna otra manera desagradan a la burguesía. Estos desempleados contribuyen al mantenimiento de bajos sueldos y aún cuando están temporalmente desempleados, son todavía parte de la clase trabajadora permanente. El proletariado-lumpen es la clase de personas que se encuentran permanentemente desempleados.

En un articulo reciente, Nicolai Brown exploró el cálculo de como definimos el proletariado en los Estados Unidos. Brown calculó el total del valor de la labor al dividir el número de horas de trabajo por el total del valor producido:

“En el 2011, el Producto Domestico Bruto PDB global fue de $69,110,000,000,000. A mitad de año la población global fue estimada en unos 7,021,836,029. Asumamos que la mitad de las personas trabajan regularmente. En ese caso, cada trabajador produce unos $20,000 anuales. Más aún, si asumimos que cada trabajador trabaja 40 horas semanales por 50 semanas al año, el valor de la labor es de $10 dólares la hora.”(1)

En la respuesta a este artículo por parte de ServethePeople (Sirvan a la Gente), encontramos una importante adición a estas calculaciones:

“Mantengan en mente que no toda la producción puede ser distribuida como ingreso personal: mucho de esto va a los mecanismos de producción, infraestructura, obras publicas, desperdicios y otros fines. Si incluso la mitad de la producción, una sobreestimación considerable, esta disponible para distribución como ingreso personal, entonces el valor de la labor, de acuerdo al cálculo anterior, es solamente de $5 dólares por hora. Incluso el salario mínimo en los países imperialistas es mucho mas que lo calculado. Es así que cada ‘trabajador’ del Primer Mundo es un parasito.”

MIM(Prisiones) está de acuerdo con este cálculo, el cual informa nuestra determinación de quien califica como lumpen del Primer Mundo. Por medio de este cálculo podemos ver virtualmente que no hay proletariado en los Estados Unidos. Nuestra meta es la de separar el minúsculo proletariado y la pequeña burguesía de la clase del lumpen.

Esta película pretende hacer la crónica de la larga cacería contra Osama bin Laden después del ataque de septiembre 11 del 2001, hasta su muerte en mayo del 2011. Esta es una película hollywoodense y no podemos esperar que sea un documental preciso. Pero esto no importa en realidad puesto que la película representa lo que los americanos piensan cuando se imaginan el trabajo del CIA en el Medio Oriente. Lo que obtienen es una película de propaganda que glorifica la tortura a prisioneros por parte de los americanos y presenta a los pakistaníes como gente violenta y bien estúpida. Desde el principio hasta el final de la cinta no hay nada de valor, solamente hay propaganda dañina y mal intencionada. El mensaje principal que deben tomar los revolucionarios es acerca de la manera en que el gobierno recolecta información. Desde el monitoreo de teléfonos hasta redes de personas vigilando y siguiendo a individuos, el gobierno tiene técnicas sofisticadas y extensas a su disposición. Incluso los más cautos tendrán grandes dificultades evitando un mínimo de vigilancia estatal.

La historia se enfoca casi exclusivamente en la agente Maya de la CIA, quien dedicó su carrera a encontrar pistas acerca de la ubicación de Osama bin Laden. El comienzo de la película tiene abundantes imágenes gráficas de prisioneros que han sido torturados con el fin de obtener información. Se muestran las técnicas del submarino (waterboarding), golpizas, entallamiento y privación de comida y sueño. Aunque al principio la tortura le molesta a Maya, ella pronto se adapta y se une a las interrogaciones. La cinta es en favor de la tortura, aseverando que de cada prisionero torturado se obtiene información critica, per ignora el hecho de que muchos prisioneros detenidos en instituciones americanas después del 9/11 nunca recibieron cargos, no cometieron crímenes y no poseían información.

A lo largo de la película se socava constantemente la prohibición emitida por Barack Obama en el 2009 contra el uso de la tortura como método para extraer información. Irónicamente, en la película se observa como la CIA encontró a Osama bin Laden sin usar la tortura, luego de la prohibición. Pero nos deja entendiendo que hubiese sido mucho más simple si la CIA tuviese el camino libre con los prisioneros.

Aunque Zero Dark Thirty muestra a Obama como una persona pusilánime contra el terror y como un obstáculo al trabajo de la CIA, no debemos ser engañados y creer que el gobierno americano ha acabado el uso de la tortura.

Septiembre 15 del 2012 — En días recientes, docenas de miles de personas en docenas de ciudades de África, Asia del Sur, el Medio Oriente y partes de Europa y Australia han protestado en respuesta a la película que fue hecha en los Estados Unidos, atacando al Profeta Muhammad. Los manifestantes atacaron las embajadas de EE.UU. y otros símbolos imperialistas tales como las escuelas americanas, un restaurante KFC y un campo de la ONU.(1) La ultima localidad fue una de muchas en las cuales las autoridades dispararon a mansalva contra los manifestantes. Muchos han perdido la vida. Quemar banderas americanas y el canto de ¡Muerte a América!” se ha convertido en símbolos unificadores comunes de estas acciones.

En Libia se dio la primera protesta que acaparó la atención del mundo. Allí, fuerzas respaldas por los EE.UU. derrocaron recientemente al gobierno que mantuvo el poder por varias décadas. Precisamente ocurrió en el aniversario de septiembre 11, 2001 cuando rebeldes de Al-Quaeda atacaron los Estados Unidos. Los manifestantes acapararon los titulares de las noticias cuando atacaron las embajadas estadounidenses, matando una docena de personas, incluyendo el embajador de los Estados Unidos. Desde entonces, los manifestantes han atacado embajadas imperialistas en Túnez, Yemen y Sudan, pero en estos casos sin el uso de armas de fuego.

Mientras el Presidente de los EE.UU., Barack Obama, menciona durante los discursos de su campaña presidencial su papel en el asesinato del líder de Al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden, cientos de manifestantes cantaban “Obama, todos somos Osama,” en las afueras de la embajada de EE.UU. en Kuwait. La visión de Osama de una resistencia islámica global contra las invasiones e interferencias económicas americanas en el mundo islámico, ha alcanzado nuevas dimensiones esta semana.

Los medios americanos han presentado los hechos como si se tratara de protestas insignificantes, mientras que los americanos se sorprende de que se les culpe por una película contra el Islam que nunca han visto y que consideran un ignorantes, violentos e inservibles a los manifestantes. Tal como la cinta importante que la historia estadouidense en relación a las personas involucradas. Las reacciones más violentas han ocurrido en regiones que han sido bombardeadas recientemente por los militares americanos, dos de ellos por muchos años y el otro que ha sufrido el derrocamiento de su gobierno.

Los americanos arrogantes no reconocen que el embajador fue escogido como blanco por ser el representante de más alto nivel del titiritero americano en Libia.

Desde hace algún tiempo MIM ha mantenido que las organizaciones musulmanas han hecho más para pelear contra el imperialismo en años recientes que lo que han hecho los comunistas.(2) Y mientras hay muchas maneras en que los comunistas podrían hacer un mejor trabajo, no lo están haciendo. Como materialistas que somos tenemos que aceptar y trabajar con personas bajo las condiciones que nos han dado. Nosotros no debemos dudar en reconocer que el Islam nos ha traído la más grande demostración de internacionalismo y contra imperialismo que hemos visto en mucho tiempo.

On April 2, 2013 I was finally released from the hole. Since that time there’s been one assault on a Black prisoner by pigs while a supervisor (i.e. Sergeant) looked on and attempted to justify the conduct. During a minor altercation on the day following, one prisoner was shot in the head and 2 in the face, costing one prisoner his eye. During the feeding at dinner, a prisoner in need of bathroom facilities was directed to defecate on the floor in the dining room (during feeding!) by a Sergeant (with the full consent of approximately 7 pigs standing around laughing). Foreign items in our food, reduced food portions and the obvious lacing of food continues.

We are preparing to initiate an action consisting of written complaints, grievances and pressure from outside sources. This type of behavior needs to be exposed and addressed for the reprehensible and cowardly expression that it is. We are also attempting to enlist the support of people outside and give advanced notice in anticipation of retaliation (again).

This year has brought a number of assaults by pigs on Black prisoners, especially those engaged in struggle. In response we are also going to begin exposing the names of all involved officers for all abusive, assaultive or other conduct that is a display of anti-prisoner/counter-human sentiment.

El Salvador has one of the world’s highest homicide rates, and marginalization runs deep causing orphaned children from disintegrated households, and extreme poverty. The Salvadorian government has brought gang members to the table to negotiate and find temporary solutions for ending the violence, and eventually a “definitive pacification.” A peace treaty between Mara Salvatrucha-13 and Barrio 18 has dropped the homicide rate, in a country with a population of 6 million, to 5 down from 14 daily. “Our conclusion is that the crime is only an expression of a much deeper social problem,” says Raul Mijango, who is an ex-guerrilla who fought against the government in El Salvador’s Civil War, and is also a former legislative deputy of the government established after the Civil War, he’s helping broker the deal.(1) Among the gangs’ primary demands was a transfer of ranking leaders from max to low security prisons, where family visits are permitted and limited rehabilitation programs offered. He says gang members are subject to worse-than-usual treatment in El Salvador prisons. Jeannette Aguilar, director of the University Institute of Public Opinion in San Salvador says, “…it’s a golden opportunity for the country to advance.” Some say they need to treat the roots of the problem: marginalization, education, and a lack of economic opportunity.

While El Salvador is working with the gangs on a “peace process,” the United Snakes slithers in the mix and designates the Mara a transnational criminal organization and imposes financial sanctions on the gang. El Salvador’s president called this label “exaggerated.” In reference to the “gangs” in question, Mijango says “…you don’t come across a gangster with five bulletproof trucks and armed men – you just don’t see it. You see a bunch of kids trying to figure out how to make it. It’s a different reality…” Some analysts argue by doing such, the United $nakes could sabotage the peace process. Economic opportunity is crucial to a sustainable peace process, yet it is almost impossible for gang members there to get jobs.

Comrades, why would they put financial sanctions on them at the exact time that El Salvador is pushing for peace in their country? Could it be the United $nakes is purposely trying to compromise this “peace treaty” in order to keep the country in chaos? If these gang members get educated, get jobs, and contribute to their country’s development, maybe, just maybe, they would start taking over the jobs, and undermining investments that U.$. imperialism has its tentacles wrapped around. In my personal opinion, the United $nakes is looking after its interest and long-term investments in the region for capital accumulation and political hegemony, by purposely trying to compromise the peace treaty between Salvadorian “gangs!”

MIM(Prisons) adds:We agree with the conclusion this comrade makes. As we pointed out in our article marking the one-year anniversary of the peace treaty in El Salvador, the United $tates has its bloody finger prints all over the state of affairs in Central America. The “civil war” that led to mass migration to Los Angeles and the formation of the lumpen organizations engaged in the peace treaty was financed by U.$. imperialism to eliminate people who were not a part of the imperialist system.

Just this week, Efraín Ríos Montt, former dictator of Guatemala, became the first head of state in the Americas to face trial for genocide. This U.$.-trained-and-financed puppet was part of a parallel war against communist guerrillas and the masses of indigenous people in Guatemala in the same time period, the 1980s. While there was armed resistance to the imperialists, 93% of those killed by the state’s repression were civilians. The trial this week came to a halt when information about current president Otto Pérez Molina’s role in ordering mass executions came to light, signaling that the the power structure in that country has not left U.$. hands.(2) In both El Salvador and Guatemala in the 1980s, tens of thousands of mostly indigenous people, mostly Mayans, were slaughtered by the U.$. imperialists to prevent them from achieving their goals of land reform and economic socialization.

Amerikans try to demonize MS-13 and Barrio 18 and other lumpen organizations (LOs) as killers. In reality, the Amerikans literally trained the genocidal killers of Central American in their “School of the Americas” in Fort Benning, Georgia. They then spent millions of dollars to provide them with military equipment to murder tens of thousands of people. After creating war in the region for decades, it is no surprise that the Amerikans are now intervening to interrupt this peace effort.

Another prisoner in Tejaztlán writes:
To me the most relevant question this article raises for the U.$. Lumpen prison population is the “peace treaty.” These two LOs have had a bloody feud that has racked the violent death toll to the thousands. If peace is possible for them, there is no excuse wut so ever why the petty-penitentary-plex and tribal warfare going on here amongst ourselves cannot be stopped.

Chiefly, i’m referring to the plex going on in the Texas prison colonies. To everybody “puttin on for they city,” i’m barking at the families, yall know who yall are. Sum gotta give, we ain’t getting nowhere with this petty-plex. We’ve allowed hate and violence towards each other to be the basis of our unity in relation to one another. So long as we allow this petty-plex for who has the most dominance and influence on these ranchos, and so long as we allow that hate and violence against each other to dictate our relations to one another, our identity, and our collective consciousness, we’ll never truly understand the base of our plex and our common condition. Wut material forces have given birth to and will facilitate the intensification of this plex i’m speaking against? Can anybody explain to me wut it is, the base of it? For all those engaged and involved, yall know who yall are and who this slug is addressed to, and yall know exactly wut plex i’m referring to.

I recently withdrew my allegience to one of these LOs comprising the biggest in Texas, because talk of peace is considered weak, and nobody seems to understand wut’s at stake, or the genocide we’re committing against each other. I now stand alone in an environment where lack of affiliation renders you amongst the weakest, with no say so for even the most trivial of things such as wut channel the pacifier goes on and sometimes with no place to sit even to be pacified. I feel like Che in his farewell note to the Cubanos, criticizing myself for not being a better soldado, leader, and spokesman. But as i lay down the banner of tribalism, i will lift the flame of revolutionary nationalism, striving to better my understanding of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, and applying the dialectic science to the material world around me, challenging the old to build new perceptions, which shape our relations, and define our reality. For those of us lumped together in these ranchos, it starts with you and me individually as biological men assuming responsibility. Let’s get it right. For those engaged in the peace initiatives between Centro Americano LOs, from the comandante to the soldado, our efforts at nation building do not go unnoticed. Don’t allow the prospects of reintegration and cohesion to be sabotaged due to foreign interests. Too much is at stake. To Sanchez of Homies Unidos en Los Angeles who recently had federal RICO charges dismissed… stay stiff homie!

Lucha y Libre
Patria o Muerte

Here at California State Prison-Solano, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has started a campaign to rush prisoners out to other states to be housed. As of last month, Inmate Classification has been rubber stamping the illegal move to out of state. The prisoner has no say in the matter whatsoever.

A few years ago Arnold Schwarzenegger, governor of California, called for a state of emergency. Prisoners were shipped off to be housed in other states because California prisons were bursting at the seams due to over crowding, and no more prisons are being built here in California. However, last year the state of emergency was lifted and the prisoners who had been out of state were ordered to be sent back.

Governor Jerry Brown is under tremendous pressure by the three judge panel to relieve and reduce the prison population. He hasn’t done anything yet. Governor Jerry Brown and his cronies will lie, cheat and even kidnap prisoners and ship them to other prisons out of state illegally. He doesn’t want to release the terminally ill and sick lifer inmates, who cost the state millions of dollars. In this capitalistic country prisons are very big business, so this oppressive government doesn’t want to let anyone out of prison. The situation is ripe for the oppressed nations to protest the harsh injustices that exist in these prisons.

Governor Jerry Brown and his cronies refuse to follow their own laws. This only tells me who the real criminals are. This is why it’s important for the oppressed prisoners to unite under one common cause. We must apply the principles of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism in order to defeat the criminal injustice system. We can do better if all races unite, because united we stand, divided we fall.

Comrade George L. Jackson remarked: “settle your quarrels, come together, understand the reality of our situation, understand that fascism is already here.”

Hence, MIM(Prisons) can truly assist us in this noble effort. Giving us the pertinent tools of knowledge (books) to combat the Amerikan imperialist.

I’m writing to let you know that I used the petition that you sent me. I sent it to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Board, on a Grievance Step I, and attached 50 signatures to it. About 80 to 100 prisoners wanted to sign, but due to the fear of retaliation and abusive and frivolous disciplinary cases they did not all sign. But these 50 prisoners signed voluntarily and have all had problems with the grievance department for lack of responses by the grievance investigator. If I am put in lockup for retaliation I am going to be happy because I tried.

MIM(Prisons) adds: Inspired by the California petition for the proper handling of grievances, comrades in Texas made a petition specific to their state. Our ability to fairly have our grievances handled is directly related to preventing arbitrary repression for people who stand up for their rights or attempt to do something positive. To get a copy of the Texas petition, or one for your state, write to MIM(Prisons). If we do not yet have a petition for your state, we will send you a generic one and you can do the legal research to customize it.

I have some encouraging news to report concerning the grievance process here on the Jordan Unit in Texas. I am a medium custody G-4 prisoner and per the Texas Dept of Criminal Justice “Offender Orientation Handbook” (I-202) pg 32 which outlines the out-of-cell time requirements, we G-4 prisoners were being shorted our 4 hours daily requirement. We tried many different ways to rectify the problem. First we wrote the Major and then the Warden about this with no response. A group of us tried to “jack the dayroom,” meaning not racking up in our cell when told, while others protested by kicking cell doors, forcefully making our requests and issues known to the pigs. This didn’t work either, it just earned us a 24-hour lockdown.

Several of us wrote grievances periodically over the course of two months with each response being “no policy violation noted.” Finally we decided to send in “a mass grievance.” We submitted approximately fifty five to sixty grievances concerning “out of cell time” at one time. The response by the Warden was the same “no policy violations noted.” The very next day after we all received our grievances back the pigs gave us our 4 hours out of cell time.

It took us over 6 months in trying different tactics, but we finally won. Crazy to think all we won was what we were supposed to have per the rules set forth by these pigs. I would suggest to every prisoner across the state of Texas following our winning process and submit “mass grievances,” the more the better at one time. Persistence paid off in this case.

MIM(Prisons) adds: This is an encouraging report among many defeats in the grievance battle. And it is important that this comrade wrote up the tactics used so that others can learn from this. We also will stress what the comrade wrote: that all that was won is what was already set out in the rules created by the prison in the first place. We use the grievance system to try to win some improvements in conditions within the criminal injustice system. But we need to understand the limitations of this strategy and continue to educate people about the importance of dismantling the entire criminal injustice system. We can only win that battle as a part of the larger anti-imperialist fight.

(read more on the grievance victory at Jordan Unit)

I send my greetings to the reader of this letter. Thank y’all for sending me ULK 30. As always, it was easy, mind-broadening reading. Although I understand and accept the realities presented by your info, it is discouraging to see that we of this line of thought are the minority. As obvious as all of the societal contradictions, imbalances, and institutional hypocricies are, the majority of people still hold on to the lie that Amerikkka is a fair, just, and free society. It’s absurd and obscene.

I had filed a state court petition challenging the staff’s abuse of the inmate appeal process here at California State Prison - Los Angeles County. The judge has issued an order for the prison officials to informally respond, and they in turn were granted an extension of time on responding. The good thing is that the petition was not summarily dismissed as is routine in the California state courts. Nevertheless, the facts, law, and evidence are strong in my claim. If given a fair shake in litigating I absolutely expect victory in the case.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade filed a state court petition in the same vein as the campaign for the proper addressing of grievances which is now three years strong. Many participants in this campaign are still circulating petitions in their facilities and mailing them to their respective wardens, prisoner support groups, etc. But others, like this comrade, have applied their knowledge of the legal system to push the campaign even further.

We hope the state court petition this comrade filed does have its fair shot at success in the courts, as these victories can contribute to the larger struggle of the oppressed in this country. Sadly, we know this is unlikely, and it is for the same reasons why Amerikans choose to ignore the “societal contradictions, imbalances, and institutional hypocricies” we report on in Under Lock & Key. Even though all Amerikans have at least some general idea of the terrible things this country does across the world and within its own borders, they receive so many great things from being Amerikan that they are willing to accept and even back those actions. We are in the minority in this country. Rather than stay discouraged, we should do as this comrade does and take that as a cue that we need to work that much harder and with more creativity in order to pave the way for revolution. And always keep in mind that we are in the majority globally.