Under Lock & Key

Drugs in prison is a sensitive topic in the convict world. Being that I live in it and that I am STG’d out here in Arizona, I will refrain from speaking/writing about the illegal kind as here in solitary they are not as prevalent as they are out there on the yards. I will not lie though, and say that they are non-existent here, as all convicts know “where there is a will, there is a way.” But what I mean is that there is no one all strung out or in debt and so forth.

The number one drug here is the pills that the contract medical provider, Corizon Health, Inc., is giving to everyone, i.e. the legal kind. These prescription drugs that come in the guise of treatment are what reigns supreme here in SMU. You don’t even have to wait for visit on the weekends like on the yard. No way not here, here they are passed out on the daily, twice a day, even three times a day to some. These drugs are prescribed by so called “clinicians who use an evidence based approach to treat conditions such as yours which includes maximizing formulary medication use while providing safe and effective treatment,” to quote Corizon staff verbatim. This is actually impossible as you cannot eyeball someone and use that as your evidence. That is just a guess, and not an educated one.

Now that they have taken actual pain medication, which is only gabapentin, a pill to treat nerve damage, Corizon staff have been directed to prescribe psych drugs in replacement. So instead of further treatment that include MRIs, EMG treatment, physical therapy, or a range of other options, they are taking away a drug that works, to prescribe you an anti-depressant for pain management as if the depression from you being here was causing you pain and not the stenosis in your neck, AC joint separation, nerve damage, etc. This psych med is like the commercials that you see on TV where the side effect is diarrhea, headache, etc.

The system gives you these legal drugs instead of approving further treatment because MRIs cost money, and outside care visits cost money. So they want you on psych meds to have you walking around like a zombie or not so depressed from being STG’d and housed in solitary. Even the law firms and organizations representing us in Parsons v. Ryan are aware, yet choose to do nothing. Corizon staff and Arizona Department of Corrections (ADC) staff actually tell you to seek outside legal representation, like a dare! But while all we want is to be treated for our injuries and not drugs, ADC will not step in nor will our so-called legal team. Instead, our drugs at this unit are more habit-forming and more highly accessible than the illegal kind, and will continue to be supplied by our very own med provider Corizon, and all legally.

ADC will just allow this to continue to take place and protect their mule, Corizon, just like the drug cartels in the motherland. This is ADC’s “plaza” and Corizon will continue to funnel drugs all over the state of Arizona, not through tunnels, planes, boats, or on foot but right through the front gate with a badge and a greeting, service with a smile!

MIM(Prisons) responds: This writer brings up an important point about drugs in prison. The problem isn’t just illegal drugs numbing minds and harming bodies, it’s also legal drugs being prescribed by the prison medical teams to keep the population pacified. This pacification happens through the action of anti-depressants and anti-psychotics, which can dull all emotions, and also through addictive drugs like pain meds. Instead of treating the real problems, both physical and emotional, that are caused by years of living in the harmful conditions of Amerikan prisons, prison medical staff just treat the symptoms, if they offer any treatment at all.

From the capitalist perspective, in the short term providing inadequate health care and getting people addicted to pacifying drugs is an effective way to control costs and control the prison population. But in the long term this makes no sense, even for the capitalists. Health problems left untreated will only get worse as people age, and become more expensive to deal with. Further, releasing prisoners addicted to pain killers or other drugs does not lead to productive life on the streets.

This only makes sense in the context of a criminal injustice system that wants to maintain a revolving door of an expanding prison population. One that doesn’t care if prisoners live or die, as long as they stay passive. While it may be true that cost is part of the reason good treatment isn’t provided, Amerikans are happy to spend lots of money on prisons in general. Spending all that money is justified because the prisons provide an effective tool of social control, targeting oppressed nations and all who resist the capitalist system. The drugs given to prisoners behind bars are just one part of that control.

When it comes to organizing people in society from within a prison, we find ourselves confronted with many obstacles. Seeing as no major struggle is won without wide mass support, it becomes imperative that we (prisoners) overcome the obstacles placed in our path to cripple our efforts to reach the masses about the prison struggle. In order to gain the masses’ support from behind bars we must first reach them and grab their attention. The first obstacle we face as prisoners is censorship.

Unfortunately, censorship is a reality for prisoners more than it is for anybody in society. Authorities can frustrate our efforts in so many ways that you have to admire their ingenuity. Mail can be “lost”, thrown away, never delivered or delivered to the wrong person, held under investigation for weeks and so much more. With so many ploys at their disposal it seems a daunting task for us to confront. Luckily for us appearances aren’t everything. True, once the letter leaves your hands there is almost nothing you can do to ensure it makes it to its destination. What you can do, though, is maintain detailed records. It’s simple, and takes minimal effort, and is an effective way of holding the authorities accountable. Once you have a record established of who, what, where, why and when you mailed something, you can make a case for mail tampering.

What should your mail log have at minimum? First, who you wrote. Second, what you sent them. Third, where you sent your mail (office, school, home address, etc.). Fourth, your general (no need to go into details here) reason for contacting them. Finally, when you placed it in your facility’s mail here, you want full date and time if at all possible. On my mail logs I have an additional space or two for which shift and which officer I turned my mail in to. Of course, you may decide to add more details, the above is only a basic formula. Censorship may still happen but you’ll be better positioned to confront it. Don’t forget, make duplicates of your records, at least two.

Following censorship, the next greatest obstacle is communication. Not just communicating our struggle, but effectively communicating it. Anybody can write a letter full of expletives, angry words and denunciations of cruelties and deprivations. Angry letters will normally push someone away from your cause, where a sensible, well-composed and measure-toned letter will at the very least garner a polite decline. Angry letters rarely garner any response. Sometime before you start reaching out to organizing the streets, you’ll need to organize behind bars. My advice is to form a committee or council.

Here in Colorado, we have a small committee (just 3 members) in which we discuss, formulate, criticize and launch our ideas and efforts. Most progress in the prison struggle began with organizing behind bars, reaching out to the streets, effective communication, creating solidarity and achieving a goal together. A formula for success: A.E.H. (Agreement to End Hostilities), movements to end long-term solitary confinement, more humane treatment and so much more.

For us organizing the streets, mobilizing the masses isn’t a very difficult task. Censorship and effectively communicating our plight, vision and end goal is the most difficult. Censorship is the authorities’ go-to obstruction tactic and besides maintaining records, lodging complaints or lawsuits, there is not much in your control to discourage them. On the other hand, effective communication is wholly in your control. What’s the point in overcoming censors if you can’t present your case when the opportunity arrives? You already know the answer, but I’ll still confirm it – there’s no point. Organize yourself first. Mail logs, duplicates of all letters, documents, essays and such. Communicate in an intelligible manner with personality, and don’t get disheartened at rejection. Often times it’s only a question of pitching the right pitch to the right person.

Note: Prisoners may request Constitutional Rights of Prisoners from their facility’s law library as loan material. Related information as well as litigation guidance related to disciplinary matters may be purchased from Prison Legal News, PO Box 1151, Lake Worth, FL 83460: “The Disciplinary Self-Help Litigation Manual,” by Dan Manville, 2nd Edition, for $49.95 + $6 s&h.

My main issue right now is that I cannot get grievance forms to complain and grieve my issues. The 30 days are over on some, and on others I’ll still have a chance to grieve my issues “if” I get some grievances! The counselor for my cell house, Ms. Hill, says to ask the gallery officer, but when I do ask the gallery officer I’m told there is none and/or it’s due to the no budget in the state! Grievances are like gold and inmates hoard them and sell them 1 grievance for $1! What can I do, do you have some guidance for me on this issue? I’m attaching the response from the warden and I still haven’t heard back from the Acting Director for IDOC.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade created a grievance petition for Illinois, which prisoners can use to demand grievances be addressed in that state. So when ey asks “what can I do,” ey is already leading by example, building a campaign to address this problem. We would suggest that the Illinois petition should be updated to include this problem of the prison not providing grievance forms. This is a most basic issue that of course needs to be addressed before grievances can even be answered.

And this is also a very good example of the completely unjust nature of the criminal injustice system. Setting up rules that can’t be followed (like submitting grievance forms that are impossible to obtain), so that the prisons never have to abide by their own regulations. This is an example of why we don’t expect to put an end to the injustice system by working within the system. They will continue to make it impossible for us to win using their process. But we can use the grievance petition to expose these problems and build a united movement demanding our rights. This movement will build the basis of the unity necessary to ultimately overthrow this unjust system.

If you want to work on this campaign in Illinois, send us a stamped envelope for a copy of the Illinois grievance petition.

I just want to thank you for teaching me so much in so short an amount of time. My main studies are case law, criminal law, penal codes, and important stuff like that. But about 6 months ago I ran across your ad in the Inmate Shopper and contacted you. At first I had a hard time seeing the big picture because it was difficult reading your literature being that I’m white (Irish/German/Dutch/Italian) and when you refer to the enemy or the oppressor it’s always the white privileged class or the white supremacy who rules over the lower class and enslaves them mentally and physically and financially.

At first I was offended because you’re saying that there needs to be a revolution to overthrow this imperialist nation, and I’m thinking “wait a minute, these are my people they’re talking about, this is some racist ass bullshit here.” But the more I read your newsletters the more I can see your point, and relate to your view. I’ve always been of the lower class, poor, and disadvantaged. Once I started going to jail and prison it really became evident that I was some kind of slave to the system, and there was a supreme group of people who ultimately called all the shots, ran the government, waged the wars, ran all the major corporations, and the list goes on. I was looked down on by these people; they might be white but they ain’t my people, the cops, the sheriff, the judge, the DA, the Illuminati, etc.

Reading your newsletters helps me understand who they are and what they have been doing, where I stand in all of this, where this country came from, who runs it, where it’s going, and what’s gonna happen to us if we don’t band together and do something about it.

Anyways, I’m new in all this and still just soaking it up. Thank you, and keep the newsletters coming, I really appreciate it and I will pass them on to others who are politically motivated, some Black, Chican@, white, and Asian.

MIM(Prisons) responds: We’re always happy to hear from folks like this reader who can get past their own white identity to see the oppressive system of imperialism for what it is. When we talk about the predominantly-white nation of Amerikkka as an oppressor nation, that doesn’t mean all whites are excluded from the revolutionary movement. Or that we think whites face no oppression. Rather we are discussing a system-wide condition with one nation in power, and that power benefiting all from that nation, including the poorest people. And so even if the benefits don’t include being a millionaire, white people as a whole have a material interest in maintaining imperialism. Still, many white folks can take a stand against oppression of all kinds. These folks essentially go against their national interests to join up with the revolutionary movement. And we welcome them!

In response to “CALIFORNIA: Challenges and Reports” (in ULK 56), the comrade/s at MDF, Contra Costa County Jail being hit with gang enhancements and other unjust treatment. Faulty gang allegations was a major error in my trial as a southern Chican@, hence my return on appeal, which also made case law (Court of Appeal, Fourth District, Division 3, California. The PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. Jerry RAMIREZ and Catherine Rodriguez Villarreal, Defendants and Appellants. G052144 Decided: February 05, 2016). I hope this can be of assistance. Should be in the lexus by now but is also attainable via internet. They have been trying to turn our culture into a crime for the last 500+ years. It’s going to take a lot more than a STEP act to get rid of us. In commemoration of “Black August” and the “Plan de San Diego”, I send mine to all comrades North, South, East and West.

I just finished re-reading in ULK 53 page 12 “Texas Reform Updates.” It sufficiently raised my ire enough to put pen to paper and submit my 14-page memorandum which I had the balls to place into the “Head Warden’s” hand personally. I enclosed a copy of the same with this letter.

As a result of that act, 90 minutes later I had a member of the Law Library staff in my cell going through my legal paperwork, devoid of the prerequisite authorization (I-186) of a Warden to do so. Whereas, other copies of my own writings – which I sent out, had duplicated, and returned via the U.S. Postal Service – were filched and used to administer a disciplinary case claiming additional fictitious contraband.

This memorandum outlines in detail how the law library (L/L) is run “out of compliance” with BP-03.81, ATC 020, 030, 050 and the Offender Orientation Handbook (I-202).

Among other things, participants of the L/L, i.e. prisoners, are disallowed the right to vocally interact in assisting each other in legal matters.

Since that fateful day, harassment and retaliation in the L/L has steadily intensified. Not being one to take this illicit conduct, I have sent a copy (oh, about eight of ’em) to various entities akin to “60 Minutes,” Texas Attorney General, Texas Governor, Access to Courts (ATC) Administrator, Houston Chronicle and other prisoner-assisting organizations.

A multitude of the L/L patrons had no idea the actual truth of how a TDCJ L/L is intended to be operated and run. The staff are actually obligated to facilitate us (prisoners) in assisting one another in legal matters. Not harassing us for spreading the litigious knowledge – as per the ATC Rules.

I have several Step 2s [grievances] under review and am just awaiting their return so I can initiate State Tort action, because the Federal Courts do not have jurisdiction to make the State of Texas follow their own laws and rules. Only the State can make the State conform to its own rules.

If you think that I’m pissed, you’re right! After all, I am convicted wrongfully, and wrongfully convicted in this pissant of a state. Being former military, I do not give in. I will prevail(!!) in getting things straightened out and being exonerated. In the course of accomplishing that, I will altruistically get the L/L in this POS unit to come into compliance with the legislatures’ intent and the Board Policies intents too.

Other prisoners in Texas I am certain will have use for my memorandum. Go ahead and offer it up. If we prisoners in TDCJ don’t start pulling together we are destined to end up fucked off. Expose these people for what they are!

MIM(Prisons) responds: TDCJ’s long-term goal seems to be to hide all relevant policies from the people who are interested in them most, and then just operate its facilities however it pleases. That’s why we created the Texas Campaign Pack, and why this comrade sent us eir memorandum to the Warden. If the state won’t provide this information, we have to do it ourselves. Send in $2.50 to get the Texas Pack.

Exposure and lawsuits are worthwhile approaches, but can’t be our be-all-end-all. We fight to not only get the law library back in compliance, but to change society to the point where these problems are no longer possible. We want oppression to become obsolete, and we want oppressed people to have the power to make this a reality!

El 13 de Junio, La República Popular Democrática de Corea (RPDC) liberaron a un estudiante Amerikano, Otto Warmbier, quien estuvo encarcelado allí por 15 meses. El estudiante llegó a casa en coma y murió pocos días después. Según los oficiales Coreanos, Warmbier había estado en coma poco después de ser arrestado, debido a complicaciones causado por botulismo, una condición que se puede contraer por medio de comida, agua o tierra contaminada. Es posible que el encarcelamiento de Warmbier solamente haya sido un acto político para el gobierno del RPDC. Estuvo condenado por robar un cartel de propaganda.

Lo inusual de Warmbier es que era un güero adinerado y joven, disfrutando el privilegio de su riqueza y su ciudadanía Amerikana yendo a una aventura divertida al visitar Corea del Norte. En su mayor parte, Amerika busca encarcelar a los lumpen de naciones oprimidas y a los no documentados, y también a la gente que lucha contra el imperialismo. Entonces, en este país no hay mucha posibilidad que Warmbier terminara en prisión.

Después de la muerte de Warmbier hubo un clamor de crítica contra el gobierno del RPDC, con Trump atacando la “brutalidad del régimen de Corea del Norte.” Esta crítica viene de la misma gente que se queda callada con respecto a las condiciones que causan muerte regularmente en prisiones Amerikanas. Los prisioneros se enferman regularmente por condiciones que incluye insuficiente comida o también comida contaminada(1), moho(2), toxinas y otros riesgos ambiental en prisiones viejas y sucias (3) agua contaminada (4) niveles de calor inseguro(5) y asistencia médica inadecuado, incompetente y deliberadamente negligente. (6) Más, esto sólo es la lista del abuso por “negligencia.” Mientras tanto, más de 100,000 prisioneros son torturados a diario en prisiones de los Estados Unidos (7) y algunos prisioneros importantes y activos políticamente han terminado muertos.(8)

Paralelo al caso en Corea, las prisiones Amerikanas tienen muchos indocumentados (9), especialmente de México y Centroamérica, encarcelados por cargos pequeños o falsos. Esta gente quiere regresar a sus países, casas y familias. Algunos no hablan Inglés y entonces no pueden luchar por sus derechos. Algunos fueron engañados para declararse culpables sin entender de verdad el juicio. Y algunos de estos prisioneros terminarán severamente enfermos o también muertos debido a las condiciones dentro de prisiones Amerikanas.(10)

Nosotros no esperamos que los nacionalistas blancos ofrezcan una crítica sobre la “brutalidad del régimen amerikano” por todos estos crímenes hechos a prisioneros mantenidos detrás de las barras en este país. Debería ser una vergüenza para los Amerikanos que los Estados Unidos encierran personas a una velocidad mayor que cualquier otro país en el mundo. Pero se oculta este sistema de control social, mientras los perdonadores del imperialismo hipócritamente critican el RPDC (y otros países) por su tratamiento a un prisionero Amerikano.

MIM(Prisiones) lucha para poner un fin al sistema en que las prisiones son lugares donde la gente va para sufrir y morir prematuramente.

Soy un ciudadañ@ Mexican@ criado en las formas viejas de hacer negocios. Nuestra palabra siempre era buena hasta nuestro último respiro. En la política de la prisión y la política mexicana la palabra no tiene significado. (Díganle eso al buen tío Colocio, quien pago con su vida por creer en la palabra de alguien más.)

Bueno, después de 20 años en la línea principal, mejor conocida como pabellones activos, yo hice la transición a un pabellón SNY. Aquí, encontré muchos herman@s (p.e. camarad@s que hicieron la transición hace años y hasta décadas.)

Afortunadamente, escapé a la lavada de cerebro a la que mis companer@s chican@s están expuestos en las escuelas y los barrios. Así que yo renuncié y me vine al mundo bizarro. Encontré que muchos de mis nuevos camaradas, no tienen ninguna clase de conciencia política. Una y otra vez ellos declinaron mis intentos de leer algo de mis libros. No me escapó de mi mente que alguna vez yo también fui así. Me tomó años despertar a la cruel realidad de mi encarcelamiento.

De cualquier manera mi primer compañero de celda fue un hombre blanco. Y descubrí lo que siempre supe en teoría. Que todos somos ignorantes, pobres, y condenados. (Sin importar el color de la piel, credo, o afiliación de pandilla). Por razones que no son pertinentes a este ensayo, mi nuevo compañero solo duró conmigo menos de 24 horas en la celda. Aun así, en mi dejó una profunda impresión. El me dijo que en la línea, su líder de la pandilla le mandó pegar (p.ej. apuntalar) por una deuda de $50 dólares de vino hecho en prisión. Así que él tuvo que asumir la posición y permitir que su querid@ compañer@ lo apuñalara. (Su compañero le quedaban unos cuantos meses para irse a su casa.) Así es cuán fuera de control están las pandillas.

Para que el lector sepa: el Mexican@ común y corriente no pertenece a carteles o gangas de la prisión y de las calles. La mayoría de los prisioneros Mexicanos no saben de la avalancha de política de prisión que se les viene encima. Sin vergüenza, puedo decir que si mi consejer@ me hubiera dicho del papel que me esperaba jugar en una yarda activa, yo me hubiera salido de allí inmediatamente. No estaba escrito así, y fui atrapado en un sistema fallido de rehabilitación.

Fui inmediatamente clasificado como un “parsa” o “herman@ de la frontera.” Este “STG” (grupo de amenaza y seguridad) está bajo las ordenes de los sureños (una ganga de prisión) para hacer apuntaladas, y seguir órdenes.

Lo que no sabe el Mexicano, es que todos estos incidentes violentos pueden ser usados por el panel de audiencias de libertad (BPH). Dios no permita, que uno tenga un apuntalamiento a hace diez años. Ellos literalmente actúan la parte de estar sorprendidos que esta clase de cosas pasen en prisión. Hasta un reporte de una manzana robada será usado para decir que somos un peligro para la comunidad libre. Estos académicos de verdad creen que estos “gulags” son “centros” de alta rehabilitación. ¡Y que un@ insiste en comportarse mal!

Mi nuevo compañero es un viejo Mexicano. El es respetuoso y sabe cómo hacer tiempo. El también renunció, cuando descubrió los cambios del viento en el aire. Y antes de que las cosas se pusieran peor, le hizo la mejor decisión de su vida. Se convirtió en un SNY más. El medio ambiente, aquí está más suelto. El viejo de la ganga se terminó. Yo no he visto actos predatorios en contra de aquellos que son muy débiles, para defenderse. Luego están aquellos que actúan como verdaderos – “PC” en custodia protectora. Ellos creen que el C/O es su papá, o su hermano mayor. Son escandalosos. Y visten sus pantalones a media nalga. Aun así, el estar hablando con el personal de prisión se puede ver también en la yarda ‘C’ (p. ej., una yarda activa). Ellos vienen a la oficina del programa y pasan tiempo con ellos. (p. ej. poniéndose cómodos con el enemigo, el opresor).

Yo descubrí, que si me mantengo solo, y cuido solo mis propios negocios, yo puedo volar sin ser detectado. Esto no era posible en una yarda activa, porque se espera que uno haga trabajo para la ganga de la prisión. Las nuevas gangas de la prisión de este lado, estas son reservadas. Y hacen sus peleas sin pedir ayuda. Aquellos, que no queremos envolvernos en las guerras de gangas – se les deja fuera del drama. Yo he hablado con ex-sureños y norteños (viejos y jóvenes), y muchos se describen a sí mismos como Mexicanos nacidos de este lado. Muchos se han dado cuenta que el Mexicano nacional no es su marioneta para ser usada y tirada. Todos ellos están de acuerdo que el haberse convertido en SNY es la mejor decisión que pudieron haber tomado. Sus nuevos líderes son sus familias, patria y raza.

Aquí, ex-jefes y líderes de gangas son nada. No son más que un esclavo entre los miles. Lejos están los días de dinero con sangre, gloria, celulares, y actos egoístas enormes con respecto a la vida y la muerte.

En cuanto a mi transición de un esclavo activo a un “SNY”, esta fue fácil. Empaqué mis cosas sin levantar mucha sospecha. Y en la escuela le dije al oficial “que quería salir del pabellón.” Ellos me presionaron para decirles lo que sabía acerca de los grandes sapos gordos, y de aquellos que les besan el culo. No tenía nada que decirles. Y aunque hubiera sabido algo, no se las hubiera dicho nada. Ya estoy muy viejo para convertirme en un informante del estado. Así que, no todos los SNYs son informantes. Ya me han dicho que a veces los oficiales amenazan al prisionero con devolverlos al pabellón principal. Pero este no fue mi caso. (Para su información, las oficiales nunca harán eso).

Para aquellos que deje atrás, paren y piensen acerca de esto, por un largo tiempo. ¿De verdad vale la pena el dar la vida haciendo mandados de tonto? Lo que te están mandando a hacer al hijo de alguien más, te lo harán a ti. Los maestros de la causa perdida de la manipulación, no vale la pena matar y morir por esta. A la fregada sus órdenes, ellos no son nuestros padres, tíos o hermanos mayores. Juegan a ser dios con nuestras vidas y libertad.

Ellas son sociópatas con sed de sangre y con la sangre de nuestros hermanos y hermanas en sus manos. Ellos son el hermano menor del opresor, ellos ayudan al opresor a mantenernos en checkeo. Dale, y diles que ellos mismos hagan los asesinatos. No te pueden exigir que cumplas tu palabra, que diste cuando eras un niño. Tú no sabias acerca de la vida cuando te tentaron a unirte a la ganga. Nunca te dijeron que para cuando cumplieras 15, ibas a estar muerto o viviendo en las gulagas.

Nunca te llevaron a un funeral y te dijeron: “Ese eres tú en unos cuantos años.” Ellos nunca te llevaron a las gulagas a visitar aquellos que están sepultados vivos. ¿Si te hubieran dicho que una muerte temprana o vida en prisión era tu futuro? Lo más seguro es que hubieras corrido de volada.

Así que a la edad de 20, 30 y hasta de 60 años, uno debe despertar a la realidad de nuestro predicamento y analizar las contradicciones de nuestra esclavitud. Para que así nos podamos quitar las viejas cadenas que nos unen a una causa perdida. Uno debe de evolucionar y pensar fuera de la caja. Este es el Siglo 21, nuestras familias nos necesitan allá afuera.

MIM(Prisiones) responde: Organizaciones lumpen (LOs) en los E$tados Unidos son generalmente organizaciones de los más marginalizados económicamente de los oprimidos en este país. Donde sea, camaradas han hablado de las diferencias entre la Organización Neo-colonial lumpen (NLO) y los LO. La experiencia del camarada anterior refleja la práctica de los NLO. Pero las LOs, en general, tienen tanto como los aspectos capitalistas como los colectivo/nacionalistas. Y aquellas que aceptan el aspecto colectivo (generalmente, en una forma revolucionaria nacionalista), pueden evolucionar y convertirse en organizaciones políticas de masas (PMOs).(1) Así que, mientras tenemos dificultad con los camaradas en los LOs para que se muevan en dirección de una PMO, la historia anterior es muy común en California, donde SNY ha venido a representar una tercera parte de los prisioneros en años recientes.(2)

Este camarada también toca la pregunta nacional e identidad nacional en Aztlán. El hecho de que aquellos con descendencia Mexicana nacidos dentro de las Estados Unidos y que más bien se identifican como Mexicanos, habla de la contradicción nacional entre el Americano colonizador y el territorio colonizado de Aztlán. Como este camarada también reconoce, nosotros nos referimos a aquellos nacidos al norte de la frontera los U.S./México, como Chican@s.

Este reconocimiento de la nación Chican@ profundamente conectada a, pero separada de México, fue el resultado de la lucha de revolucionarios nacionalistas y comunistas de los 1960s, que organizaron a la raza en el Suroeste. Para aquellos que estén interesados en este tema, deberían revisar Chican@ Power y La Lucha por Aztlán, del grupo de estudio de MIM(Prisiones). Este libro está disponible para los prisioneros por $10, o a cambio de trabajo.

Laud and honor the martyrs! Even those who weren’t warriors.
The unconscious brother enjoys a guilty comfort.
Not from inheritance, but rather he lives in a First World
Settled by invaders and tomb raiders, capitalist traders
raping the earth. Governments promise prosperity if only
you kneel. Can Third World tragedies find any appeal?
Or does bourgeois culture supply you with unlimited hope?
Like oppression, crime and dope. Faith in religion tickles
your conscience but that doesn’t make it science.
We struggle together: The People - equal. The chains of
slavery rattle like tambourines to a new upheaval.
So laud and honor the martyrs! Even those who weren’t warriors.
Flies swarm around the dung of capitalism, invoking disgust
at its chauvanisms and material greed.
Don’t be part of the problem.

Through the eye of the media, one can’t help but see and understand the agendas being put forth. First look at how the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s nuclear program is being covered with emotionally-driven and fear-inspiring news coverage. In comparison to the cold war period in the United States, where that was solely ideological war due to it being two white global superpowers with different political identities the nuclear issue wasn’t syndicated by news on the level that North Korea’s nuclear program has been. The United States and all major countries of European descent have done everything in their collective power to keep these weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of nations, governments and people of color or hue. This is about dominance over every country in the world or simply put, ‘might makes right’ ideology.

Just look at what happened when Iran was building a nuke. How much these European governments were willing to do and in fact pay so that these Middle Easterners would not have the same power of destruction that they themselves wield, and the United States alone has used, on people of color.

These global white supremacists have done everything they could to destabilize nations’ governments that they could not control by creating borders on foreign continents, setting up puppet governments (often dictators the likes of Saddam Hussein and Benjamin Netanyahu who use war as a distraction of their individual greed), support contras by the sales of cocaine on the streets of their own country, in which they’ve colonized other peoples. Gangstering all less technologically-savvy nations out of raw materials, such as petroleum, gold, silver, diamonds, chocolate, opium, uranium, spices, sugar, and factory workers who they pay slave wages. They then turn around and use this wealth to build factories in their home countries and pay their own citizens the going wages.

I say equal power is equal defense, which entitles all nations the same kind of weapons including nuclear bombs if that’s what you could be faced with. These global white supremacists only respect those who can present an equal threat. History has proven these whites are the makers and users of weapons of mass destruction, from muskets, rifles, guns, machine guns, grenades, C-4, chemical gases, dirty bombs, hydrogen and nuclear bombs. They’ve created viruses, diseases, tortures. Yet the media is far more dangerous than any of the ones before mentioned, due to its ability to influence the minds of those not fully conscious of the reality of being controlled by the designers of this Global White Supremacy Agenda.

MIM(Prisons) adds: In July, August and September the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea launched a series of nuclear missile tests. The DPRK reports it has developed a more advanced hydrogen bomb that could be mounted on an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM).(1) They’ve also reported that their ICBMs can now reach the mainland of the United $tates. Meanwhile, the United $tates has launched recent tests of their B61-12, a bomb that delivers nuclear weapons by fighter jet.(2) The United $tates and Russia still have far more nuclear warheads than other countries, almost 100 times the number of what the DPRK has.(3)

People who grew up during the cold war lived in a culture of fear of a nuclear attack. So we do not agree that the threat was ignored during that period because it was “white” countries involved. If anything, we’d argue that we’ve grown too comfortable with the risk of nuclear disaster that these weapons continue to put us in since the collapse of the social-imperialist Soviet Union. And this cold war was also an imperialist reaction to potential resistance. Although the Soviet Union gave up socialism and turned to state capitalism in the 1950s, the United $tates held on to the anti-communist fear. Socialism in the Soviet Union (and China, and other countries) was a significant threat to imperialism, and so the United $tates prepared for a war to defend their wealth and dominance.

Otherwise, we agree with the author above on the hypocrisies of the imperialists. Militarism is integral to the economic success of the imperialist countries. The DPRK has never used its military to gain wealth by exploiting or stealing from other nations. Rather it sacrifices resources from its isolated economy to ensure it can militarily protect itself from imperialists who would otherwise use their weapons against the Korean people to gain access to the labor and markets that the DPRK government denies them. The leverage of nuclear weapons decreases the need to mobilize the able-bodied population into military maneuvers in response to U.$. operations on its border. There are two massive military exercises led by the United $tates on the Korean peninsula each year. One, Ulchi-Freedom Guardian, occurs in August when it is harvest season.(4) The other, Foal Eagle, occurs in the spring, often overlapping with the planting season in the northern hemisphere.(5) By increasing the technological capacity of its military, the DPRK allows for more labor time to be dedicated to agricultural production and better protects its food supply. Because of sanctions, the DPRK cannot rely on importing food from other countries when harvests are short. In other words, these new developments are a logical product of the U.$. imperialists’ stranglehold on the DPRK through economic sanctions and massive military provocations.