Under Lock & Key

by Informacioni Sekretarijat of Revolutionary People’s Party-Front
Reprinted from http://en.rnp-f.org

Although the Marxist-Leninist theory advocates the validity of all methods of struggle for the sake of the revolution, one particular method is often ignored or frowned upon: hunger strikes. Western worker’s movement is proud of the acts of self-sacrifice by its militants as it’s the basis of the most important historical victories, yet hunger strike is often seen as a waste of human lives with little or no value for the class struggle.

Such is the general opinion of the hunger strike led and organised by Party-Front of Turkey (DHKP-C) in the period of 2000-2007, also called “Death Fast”. Seven years long, Death Fast has claimed lives of 122 revolutionaries and it was considered to [be] a victory. Something that fellow communist parties very often criticise and questioning the effectiveness of such methods of struggle.

However, to entirely understand and properly evaluate the Death Fast, it would be incorrect to limit ourselves to the superficial manifestations of the whole process. Given a perspective of over a decade since its beginning, we are in a good position to see its effects and give more clarity to the historical circumstances in which it took place. Let us consider it from the historical perspective, the perspective of the class contradictions and the state the revolutionary movement in Turkey was in during that period.

Historical Background

The years between 1999 and 2001 were politically very interesting years. There were a couple of reasons for this:

• Turkish state was in a state of permanent crisis. Since almost 10 years there were nothing but impotent coalition governments that failed to win the consent of the people. They were forced to resort to violence but this quickly made them unpopular, which, in the long run, undermined their legitimacy.
• In February 1999, Kurdish leader Ocalan was captured and delivered to Turkey by CIA. During his trials in 1999 he made a surprisingly submissive defence and offered collaboration to the state. This made a serious negative impact on the Kurdish movement and the other left-wing movements that are tailing the PKK. What had been experienced and felt after the collapse of Soviet Union inside the European communist parties, was now being experienced in Turkey after 10 years. Since 1990, apart from a couple of movements, majority of the radical left were reduced to legal, weak social democratic parties. And the imprisonment of Ocalan meant to deliver the finishing blow:
• “Everything was in vain, state was too powerful to beat, armed struggle brought nothing but pain, the only solution was to be a member of EU, so that the country might be democratized.” This was the general mood among the wide reformist circles.
• In August 1999, a huge earthquake hit the Marmara Region which was the most industrialized, most populated part of Turkey. It killed approximately 50,000 people. Three months later another earthquake with the same severity hit the same region for the second time. The state was incapable of bringing any aid. They just swept the rubble of the buildings off towards the sea with the dead bodies of the people inside. It was soon revealed that the corrupt businessmen who were then backed by the state built the collapsed buildings. People were angry, but the revolutionary alternative was weak, stuck in prisons and some revolutionary neighbourhoods with some armed cells here and there.
• In September 1999, the state forces launched a violent attack against Ulucanlar Prison. This turned into a massacre as the military forces killed 10 revolutionary prisoners from 4-5 different organizations and wounded hundreds of prisoners with real bullets. This was done to send a message to the revolutionary movements: “It is your turn.”

By the end of 1999, the balance of the class forces was like this:

1. There were the weak, scattered and ideologically low self-esteemed reformists, begging for EU involvement.
   
2. There was the demoralized Kurdish movement, with its leader in prison, openly talking about disarming and disbanding the organization.
   
3. There were the ruling classes with their strong military and police forces, but with a withering hegemony over the desperate population who has been looking for an alternative. And after the earthquakes not only the political crisis but also the economic crisis was at their doorstep.

And there were the radical/armed/revolutionary movements:

1. Some of them, like Maoists, were still obsessed with the old strategy of storming the cities from the countryside, whereas the 70-80 percent of the population had now started to live in metropolitan cities rather than villages. They were also in a state of crisis and getting divided into smaller organizations because of disputes on strategy. Some other organizations were opportunists with a not-so-clear ideology about how to make a revolution: Now you see them heavily criticising the Kurdish movement, and now you see them tailing the PKK. Gradually sinking into legalism, reconciliation, hesitation.
   
2. Finally there was the Party-Front (P-C). Although not as physically strong as the Kurdish movement, P-C had a kind of ideological hegemony over the other radical/revolutionary organizations and was constantly pushing them to take a solid attitude against the establishment. This was the case in 1996 Hunger Strikes and in the other prison resistances after it. When the other political parties stepped back or showed some signs of hesitation, militants of P-C encouraged them, criticised them in the prisons. And exposed them in its publications when they stepped back, which would harm their prestige among their own people.

In the year 2000 the crisis was deepening, the ruling classes knew that they had to take the necessary precautions. They were done with the reformists, they thought that they were done with the Kurdish movement and now, if these revolutionary/radical movements could not be bowed down, they would become an alternative for the desperate Kurdish and Turkish masses in case of a crisis. And if you wanted to destroy them, you had to start from their ideological hegemons, the P-C, that still continued to preach revolution, armed struggle and anti-imperialism.

Thus, the state prepared a plan to destroy the revolutionary discipline in the prisons: It decided to transform the existing prison system into a high-security prison system where the political prisoners would be isolated from each other in small cells. In this way, the ruling classes were hoping to destroy the organizational ties among the prisons, turning the political prisoners into isolated individuals.

Then came December 19, 2000. 20 prisons were simultaneously raided for three days with nearly 9000 soldiers. They used more than 20,000 gas bombs, thousands of real bullets against the unarmed prisoners. As a result 28 prisoners were killed, nearly 600 prisoners became permanently disabled in 3 days. The rest of the prisoners were forcedly sent to high-security prison cells.

It was not an issue of physical destruction alone. Compared to 60 million population at that time, there were only approximately 10 thousands of political prisoners in total. But still the prisons were like the headquarters of ideological production. Prisoners were writing [a] majority of the articles and books, composing songs, heavily training the future militants. Imprisoning stopped being a punishment and the militants knew that if they were sent to the prison, near to their comrades, they would undergo an extensive Marxist-Leninist training and continue their revolutionary activity.

On the other hand, the ruling classes at that time were trying to spread the ideology of desperation as opposed to revolution. “Nothing is worth to sacrifice yourselves” they were saying, “especially for socialism and revolution which has already collapsed”. It was the end of history. The entire world was giving up. IRA in Ireland, ANC in South Africa, FMLN in El Salvador, Palestinian Liberation Organization, PKK in Turkey. The dream was over.

And one year after the Hunger Strikes began, 9/11 happened in US. Bush has declared the New World Order and clearly put that [b”“you are either with us, or against us”.

What would it mean if the prisoners had submissively accepted this menace? Since 1980s it was one of the main tenets of the revolutionaries that if you are left in a position where you don’t have any weapons to fight, you should better die than to surrender.

P-C knew that from past experience: Those who surrendered to the impositions of the 1980 Military Junta were destroyed. They either became reformist, legal organizations or their militants were transformed into liberal, even right-wing intellectuals. Yes, they physically continued to live, but they had had a brain death. They had become the extensions of ruling class ideology.

They were the best propaganda materials for the ruling classes: “Look at these so called leaders of proletariat! They are telling you to fight until the end, but they do not want to make even a smaller sacrifice for their own cause. Is this what you are going to die for? Don’t be stupid young people.”

However, when people resisted and died (either in hunger strike or an armed action) it made a huge impact, firstly among its comrades and among the people. It was the same in Kizildere in 1972 when Mahir Çayan and his comrades were massacred. The entire organization had been destroyed with them. But in just 2 years, hundreds of young militants swore to take their revenge. It was the same in 1984 and 1996 hunger strikes.

That was the basic thinking behind the hunger strikes: If you make the necessary sacrifice, you may die but at least it can make an impact that deeply influences the others to carry on.

Death Fast Logic

Two main causes can be emphasised over the others to explain the logic behind the death fasts:

1. Death or permanent injuries were the risks of the hunger strike. But the same risk is carried by any other revolutionary activity, especially the armed one. On the contrast, the submission to the government and accepting high security prisons would result in what the government really aimed at: to destroy the organisation from within and incite the ideological crisis. The revolutionaries in prison that preached heroic self-sacrifice and struggle would be discredited in the eyes of the people outside of the prison and in the eyes of the guerillas and militants who risk their lives on daily basis.
   
2. By design, these prisons were intended to interrupt the communication between the revolutionaries and isolate them from their comrades, from the external world, so that their thinking and behavioural habits would change and they will give up the idea of revolution later on. They are meant to destroy the revolutionary fervour and discipline, something which the organisation could not submit to. In such a case, giving up would mean willingly destroying the tradition of resistance inside the prisons, for the inexperienced, incompetent young militants would sink into depression and despair. What should they do, even when their “leaders”, “wise comrades” surrender? The high security prisons would be seen as “hell [on] earth”, as the horrible factories that produce tamed, subdued ordinary people out of the fervent, audacious revolutionaries once you go in. You can force the people to do everything, once you instil this “fear of imprisonment” in their minds.

The hunger strikes started [on] 20th of October 1999, after the state openly declared its new prison policy, and went on until 2007, when the state agreed to show some flexibility in its isolation policy.

From this perspective, we can say that hunger strike was a political victory. Because:

1. Revolutionary movement and its militants managed to protect the tradition of resistance inside the prisons. Now in every single high security prison there is a very strong network of revolutionary prisoners who wake up, do exercise, study, write, and paint – according to one single schedule, although they may not see each other for years. They developed innovative and complex networks of communication inside the prison. In the former prison system, it is said that 60% of the revolutionary prisoners resumed the struggle when they were released, whereas this rate is now 80% according to some sources. The massacre and the new prison system created the opposite results for the ruling classes thanks to this resistance.
   
2. Outside, the memories and sacrifices of resistance continued to live and both ideologically and emotionally strengthened the cadres, militants and sympathisers of the revolutionary movement. It was clearly shown that socialism is a cause that is still worth to die for and the revolutionaries in Turkey were ready to do this, while the Islamists and patriots who always talked about “making sacrifices for Allah or for the homeland” became part of the establishment.
   
3. Regarding the other radical/revolutionary movements: 15 years later after the prison massacre and 8 years after the end of the hunger strike, now there is a huge ideological gap between the other left and the revolutionary movement, the P-C. Some of these organizations that refused to take part in the resistance splintered into pieces. Some of them went through an ideological crisis and legalised themselves, liquidated their illegal organizations. Many of them started to tail the Kurdish movement and became part of HDP as the Greek reformists did with Syriza in Greece. Revolution stopped being the main purpose, whereas imperialism stopped being their main enemy; they started to look for some excuses when the Kurdish movement initiated an open collaboration with US in Syria. For years they have not carried out a single legal democratic, mass campaign apart from their campaigns for the corrupt elections. Marxism-Leninism was thrashed. Their mass base waned.

When the hunger strike was ended 2007, none of the initial demands of the revolutionaries were accepted. A revised version of the demands, which involved the freedom to see other people for 10 hours a week, was agreed on. Compared to the main aim of the ruling classes to isolate the revolutionaries, to bow them into complete submission, it this was an important achievement too.

Conclusion

As to the question: “did it worth to sacrifice more than a hundred people just for this?” while ignoring the political and ideological victories of the Great Resistance. The purpose was to put an end to the revolutionary ideology in Turkey and they failed in doing this. Turkey did not become the next Guatemala, Palestine or South Africa as they wanted it to be.

Hope survived and although the revolutionary movement came out weakened, it did survive and grew stronger over the years. Now there are pro-Party-Front groups emerging in different fields of the struggle. There is a music band called Grup Yorum that organizes public concerts all around Turkey where they sing their revolutionary songs with hundreds of thousands people. An institution called Engineers and Architects of the People started to organize inside the revolutionary neighbourhoods, trying to put forward an alternative way of living with popular assemblies, public gardens, wind turbines to allow the community to produce their own electricity. There are attempts to organize the shopkeepers within a cooperative so that they can resist against the monopoly of the shopping malls and big supermarkets. In the last couple of years, a series of successful worker resistances were supported by the Revolutionary Worker Movement, which declares itself to be pro-Party-Front.
On the other hand, Party-Front itself continued its armed activities, some of which are widely publicized in the international media. It has militia bands in the main revolutionary quarters of Istanbul which fight against gangs, drug dealers and the state forces. These activities must have attracted the attention of the imperialists, so that some analysts started to speak of Party-Front as an “emerging threat” in Turkey. The US State Department issued a warrant of arrest for whom they think to be the top leaders of Party-Front. Imperialism declared that “up to 3 million dollars” will be rewarded to those who assist in capturing these people, whom the US considers to be the “most wanted people in Europe”.

We will see what will come up in the following years.

With Solidarity.

Bahtiyar Safak

MIM(Prisons) adds: We are reprinting this analysis from http://en.rnp-f.org because of the relevance to conditions and struggles within Amerikan prisons. Our comrades behind bars sometimes find themselves in a position where a hunger strike is one of only a few potential avenues of protest against conditions that are brutal and often deadly. This article demonstrates the potential successes that can be gained from long-term hunger strikes.

However, it MUST be noted that these strikes in Turkey were in a very different political context than the one faced by prisoners in the United $tates. In Turkey in 1999 there were relatively large networks of revolutionary organizing in the prisons and a solid (and armed) network of support outside. Without those conditions the sacrfices made would not have had the same impact. In our current conditions in prisons in the United $tates we are not anywhere close to this level of organization. Hunger strikes in U.$. prisons are not focused on protecting such advanced political activity and organization behind bars, rather they are used to gain reprieve from conditions of torture and create opportunities for some organizing. Because of these differences we can not simply apply this analysis directly to our situation.

Our knowledge of the RNP-F is limited. We applaud what little we have seen of their work and look forward to learning more about their political line and practice.

The paramount purpose for this correspondence is to bring awareness to the barbaric, dehumanizing, unacceptable living conditions for us (the offenders) who currently reside in the Restrictive Housing Unit/Administrative Segregation (RHU/Ad-Seg) units of #1 and #2 house here at Southeastern Correctional Center (SECC). These inhumane conditions are inconsistent with the evolving standards of a decent society. We are being abused and oppressed at the hands of the administration. Therefore, I’m hoping that hearing our cry for help may spark a fuse in your spirit and compel you all to help us fight against injustice. These particular injustices are inflicted upon us intentionally and being used as a form of psychological torture for the purpose of tormenting and dehumanizing the prisoners here at SECC.

The staff here at SECC, namely: Warden Ian Wallace, Asst. Warden Paula Phillips-Reed, Asst. Warden Bill Stange, Major Terry White, and HU#2/FUM Bruce Hanebrink, have conjured up a host of sanitation and human rights violations under the umbrella of a recently created “limited property” policy implemented in the Administrative Segregation housing units #1 and #2. These violations are as follows:

1. Equal protection violation (14th Amendment of the U.S. Const.): SECC Administration limited Phase 1 & 2 prisoners in RHU/Ad-Seg to 5 stamps, 5 envelopes, 1 pad of writing paper, and 1 small security ink pen per month. To have the aforementioned supplies is a right and cannot be treated as a privilege in the punishment and reward system to be given or taken away at the staff’s discretion based off of behavior and/or placement. Prisoners in Ad-Seg units should be allowed to purchase the same amount of stamps as general population prisoners are allowed to purchase. Having writing material does not pose a potential security threat. It does however, hinder prisoners’ access to courts, the House of Congress, our lawyers, prisoner advocate groups and our families if we are deprived, thereof. We have a right to use the mail for corresponding purposes without limitation.

2. Sanitation violation (8th Amendment of the U.S. Const.): The SECC Administration subjected us to cruel and unusual punishment when they sent CERT officers into the housing units of #1 and #2 in August 2015 to confiscate from all prisoners therein all state issued personal pants, t-shirts, boxers, socks, towels and face cloths. Prisoners are no longer allowed to have towels and face towels in their assigned cells. We are given 1 pair of boxers, 1 t-shirt, and 1 pair of socks to be changed out every three days. For prisoners to be forced to wear the same dirty boxers for 3 days straight is such an unsanitary condition that I developed a “jock itch and rashes” around my groin area. When we do finally change boxers they are in exchange for more over-used boxers shared by hundreds of other prisoners. Some of these prisoners have various diseases (i.e. Aids, HIV, Hepatitis, TB, Staph, Shingles, etc.)

Furthermore, we are not allowed to have face cloths in our cells, preventing us from being able to at least wash up in our sinks to get the dirt and stink off of us until shower day. We are only given a wash cloth on shower day, once we enter the shower stall. These items must be given back before returning to our cells. To add fuel to the fire, the same exact towels and face cloths that we are being forced to use on our body, staff are using them for multi-purpose towels (i.e. staff use them to clean the shower walls and doors with; staff use them to wipe the wing food carts with, staff use them to wipe the wing desk down that they sit at while in the wing, staff use them on clean up night – forcing us to wash our walls, sink, and cell floors with, and staff use them to clean up smelly, rust water that comes from the pipes whenever a cell sprinkler busts.) What reasonable minded person uses their dish towels to shower with? This is definitely a serious problem that poses a potential health risk. To sum it all up, we have been reduced to the dark ages. Forced to live like Vikings and cavemen when uncleanliness was an acceptable way of life.

3. Human rights violations: unsanitary conditions: The administration officials decided that Ad-Seg prisoners are not allowed to purchase soap from inmate canteen. Instead, we are issued 1 small bar of state made soap (approx 3 inches in length, 1/2 inch thick) per week. With that 1 bar of soap we have to take a shower twice a week and wash our hands throughout the days. Most of the time, by the 2nd shower day, there is not enough soap left to shower with. Some prisoners, myself included, complain that they limit how many times they wash their hands after using the toilet so that they may have enough soap to shower with by the next shower day.

Furthermore, prisoners in Ad-Seg are not being permitted to purchase toilet paper to adequately wipe with after defecation. We are given only 1 roll of tissue and being forced to make it last a week. Sometimes we have to blow our noses with the tissue due to poor ventilation or various illnesses thereby lessening the tissue supply. Most of the time we run out of tissue and staff refuse to give us any. We use our socks to wipe with and wash them out afterwards. This is grossly unsanitary and also poses a potential health risk.

4. Human rights violation: Ad-Seg prisoners are not allowed to have any pants in our cells. Prisoners are forced to walk around in their cells with only boxers and t-shirts on with cellmates who often times are convicted sex offenders, homosexuals and prison booty bandits (prisoners who rape other prisoners) which opens the door for a Prison Rape Elimination Act claim. It’s as if the administration are promoting homosexuality or setting the stage for one of us to possibly get raped. Prisoners are also being forced to attend our Ad-Seg hearings as well as sick call appointments without pants. Prisoners are also being forced to walk across the yard in only our boxers and t-shirts amongst other offenders, sometimes in the cold or rainy weather, while being escorted between #1 and #2 house which is approx 150 feet apart. Not only is this inhumane, these boxers have a loose opening in the front of them and if a prisoner’s penis just happens to flop out through the opening then we are subject to sexual misconduct violations.

Furthermore, sometimes the Ad-Seg laundry doesn’t get cleaned on time in which case prisoners are forced to choose between going to rec in the outside cages in only boxers and t-shirts in 30 degree weather or simply to refuse our rec.

5. Sleep Deprivation: The administrative staff has approved staff in housing units #1 and #2 to conduct a number of activities during 1st shift (midnight) which include:
   1. Passing out our mail after the 12 a.m. count when lights are out.
   2. Passing out HSRs (Health Service Request forms)
   3. Passing out cell cleaning supplies at 3 a.m. to clean our cells with.
   4. Picking up sheets and blankets to be washed, which is also picked up and given back around 2 a.m. and 3 a.m.

There’s no movement count between 10:30 p.m. count and the 6:30 a.m. count because prisoners must be allowed to have at least 7 or 8 hours of undisturbed sleep. The reason for this critical consideration is because physiological and psychological degradation caused by the lack of sleep or insufficient amount of sleep. Disturbing our sleep throughout the night creates an even more stressful environment.

Suggested Remedies to Violations

1. Allow prisoners in Ad-Seg to purchase the same amount of stamps and envelopes as general population are allowed to purchase. These items are not a privilege but a right.

2. Allow prisoners in Ad-Seg to have our own state issued personal towels, face cloths, and boxers back in our cells so that we can at least wash up in our cells until shower day. Good hygiene habits are to be practiced everyday, not every 3 days.

3. Allow prisoners in Ad-Seg to purchase at least 4 or 6 bars of soap per month. General population prisoners are allowed to purchase 2 per week, totaling 8 per month. Also, allow prisoners in Ad-Seg to purchase at least 4 or 6 rolls of toilet tissue per month. General population prisoners are allowed to purchase 2 per week, totaling 8 per month. (Soap or tissue should not be treated as a “privilege” either).

4. Prisoners in Ad-Seg should be allowed to have at least 1 pair of their state issued personal pants or 1 pair of orange Ad-Seg pants to keep and wear in our cells, to be changed out once-per-week. We have a right to adequate clothing supported by the 14th and 8th amendment clause of the U.S. Constitutional.

5. For prisoners in Ad-Seg mail should be passed out on the 3rd shift (like it used to be) so we can read it and respond back if desired to do so. It’s unreasonable for staff to pass out our mail after lights are cut out. Cell cleaning should be done on the 2nd or 3rd shift using the proper supplies instead of the towels we are currently forced to shower with, and laundry should be picked up after breakfast and given back before the 10:30 p.m. count. HSRs should be passed out by the nurses on the 2nd or 3rd shift since they only pick them up on the day shift.

MIM(Prisons) responds: This comrade is initiating a campaign around a very reasonable set of demands. The lack of writing materials and unsanitary conditions are all too common in Amerikan prisons and these conditions expose the reality of prisons as a tool of social control and in particular the use of long-term isolation (Ad-Seg) for this purpose. Denial of the materials necessary to maintain contact with people on the outside, and creation of conditions that will cause mental (denial of sleep) and physical (unsanitary conditions) health problems are clearly counter to any possible rehabilitative goals of prisons. Instead, these conditions serve to reduce the likelihood of successful reintegration into society by prisoners released from Ad-Seg. It is because of this that we can say prison control units are clearly tools of social control. This sort of long-term torture must be struggled against. In the short term this comrade’s demands are a good basis to organize around. But we cannot lose sight of the need to shut down control units altogether. We must demand an end to long-term solitary confinement for any and all prisoners. Of course, in the longer run our fight is for an end to the criminal injustice system entirely, and we should frame these battles against the torture of solitary confinement around this broader struggle so that we are clear about the fact that the injustice system cannot be reformed into justice.

As we reminisce in disguise about our
troubles
working with bloody knuckles
knowing everybody had to struggle
to get it
we used our muscles
and a pistol on our buckles
being the oppressor by dope
selling in capitalism just to hustle
comrades,
please listen
this is a lesson in our mission
a part of the intervention
no comrade has
ever mentioned
many lives are in this picture,
check out the new addition
children
born into oppression
by the second as we’re speaking
about the oppressor
who is destined
to take lives into its sector
only to control them
by their lack of initiative
to join together
and be a weapon
as one, we stand tall
with the strength of a bullet
the words of communism
for the communists
who can pull it
united we stand
and no one lesser than the other
be a voice within this struggle
’cause we’re equal to one another
like a Muslim to his brother
we’re family by our choosing
against the oppression that we’re refusing
united we stand
my fellow comrades
on the rise
to revolution!

He overcame so many obstacles with so few resources, and he gives me motivation and inspiration to overcome and succeed, although my difficulties are minor compared to his. He was a great man and an unsung hero of freedom fighting. He must have thought to himself that it was better to risk death and fight for his freedom, than to conform to the wishes of tyrannical beings.

He fought and won. So much was against him and yet his spirit refused to be broken. He knew how powerful words can be. He learned them and mastered them. And once he’d won, he didn’t let the realm of success lull him into complacency – a realm where many men venture and are swallowed, ending their reign of greatness. No, Frederick Douglass was a mossless stone; he never stagnated. Douglass continued pressing forward, not only bettering himself, but also bettering those he came in contact with and helping other oppressed individuals.

His written word will echo through the generations, inspiring thousands and perhaps millions. The American education system gives him only a cursory glance, then moves on to lies about founding fathers. Imagine if they lingered longer or more often on Frederick Douglass, and the valuable influence on those impressionable minds he would render. Frequently, I wonder about a stronger, less passive and more spirited generation. Like Frederick Douglass.

MIM(Prisons) adds: Frederick Douglass was born into slavery around 1818 in Maryland. Ey escaped slavery and went on to become a prolific writer, speaker, and newspaper publisher. Eir primary battles were against slavery and for wimmin’s right to vote. Douglass had a similar path to radicalization as many readers of ULK, even though ey lived almost two centuries ago.

Douglass was taught the alphabet at around 12 years old from eir slavemaster’s wife. Even though ey was discouraged from reading, sometimes with violence, Douglass continued to study and taught many others how to read as well. With the ability to read, Douglass became politicized through reading newspapers, which helped em develop into an internationally-acclaimed writer and speaker against slavery and oppression.

Even in the face of censorship and lack of programming, many U.$. prisoners build themselves and others up in the same way Douglass did. Present-day prisoners are not allowed to come together in a group to study, for “security threat concerns,” which parallels Douglass’s experience of having eir weekly literacy classes disbanded by the clubs and stones of slave owners. Nowdays, those who try to teach in spite of restrictions are locked in isolation toture cells.

Without good literacy skills, one can’t file a lawsuit, or write grievances, or understand the prison handbook, or read Under Lock & Key; get the picture? Various sources state that 60-70% of U.$. prisoners are functionally illiterate.(1) Illiteracy affects the majority of prisoners, and thus hinders the organization of the majority of our subscribers’ peers. Passing on an issue of ULK does little good if the recipient can’t understand it.

Statistics from the prisoncrats themselves state that prisoners have a 70% chance of recidivism if they get no help with their literacy, whereas prisoners who do receive literacy help have a 16% chance of recidivism.(2) We wonder, why aren’t there more programs for teaching reading comprehension and writing skills in prisons? It’s clearly a continuation of the same exact national oppression faced by Frederick Douglass’s generation.

That we are still having a conversation about building literacy among New Afrikans should give us a clue of the ineffectiveness of reformism and the necessity of complete communist revolution. After gaining state power, one of the first steps of this revolution will be to establish a joint dictatorship of the proletariat of the oppressed nations (JDPON), so that the most oppressed people in the world can dictate to those who have been oppressing others for centuries how society will be run. As was done in communist China under Mao, one of the primary functions of this dictatorship of the proletariat will be to build literacy at every single level of society, and especially among those who are furthest removed from the benefits of the economic system. One can’t fully participate in society’s development without literacy, and we need as many people as possible to participate.

We want to do as much as we can now to speed up the transition from capitalism to communism, and reading and writing are essential to this task. Building literacy also fits well into our immature Re-Lease on Life program, so those who are released can have a better chance of success and hopefully also a better chance of staying engaged in political work when on the outside. Even though MIM(Prisons) and United Struggle from Within are on a much smaller scale than a JDPON, or even a single nation-state, we can still contribute to this goal while we build for a society where advanced literacy is taught to everyone systematically.

Douglass is just one individual example of a larger social phenomenon: when higher education meets a lack of opportunity, it produces radicalization and objection to the status quo. We know there is much more we can do to increase the reading and writing skills of oppressed nation lumpen in U.$. prisons, and to foster this politicization. But since MIM(Prisons) can only reach people with written material, we need our comrades behind bars to do the work on the ground. Anyone who is already teaching others basic literacy skills should get in touch with MIM(Prisons) to help us develop this Serve the People program. If you already have a study group, try to think how you can expand it to teach literacy as well. Tell us what materials we can send you to help you teach reading and writing to others. It is one of the ways we can improve the material conditions of our fellow oppressed peoples, and one way we can uphold the legacy of Frederick Douglass.

I have an active case in the Federal Courts suing the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) for violation of BP-03.91 Uniform Offender Correspondence Rules, and the corrupt grievance system denying prisoners access to courts. I have filed a lawsuit under 42 USC Section 1983 against TDCJ.

If you would like to help me stop this corruption aimed at Texas prisoners, send any grievances, unsworn declarations, and other process documents you may have that can be used as evidence in the two above mentioned U.$. Constitutional violations to MIM(Prisons). Be sure to write “Dunham v. Wainwright, et al. Case No. 1:15-cv-1018-RP” on the top of each document. Your evidence will help prove deliberate indifference because it shows officials knew of the problems and failed to act. MIM(Prisons) will then forward your documents to the Court Clerk at Clerk Court, United States District Court, c/o Case no. 6:15 cv 869, 300 Willow Street, Suite 104, Beaumont, TX 77701-2217.

The Texas Attorney General handling this case for the defendants is Gloria Chandler, PO Box 12548, Capital Station, Austin, TX 78711. Please feel free to send her ALL of your complaints so that she may realize the wide range and depth of behavior and activities. I doubt she is receiving enough complaints at the present time. MIM(Prisons) will also be forwarding your complaints to the Attorney General, and be sure to again write “Dunham v. Livingston et al. Case No. 1:15-cv-1018-RP” on the top of your complaint.

Since filing this case, state employees’ actions under color of law has put me in fear for my life. I need your support so they know I am not in this alone.

I had three computer programming textbooks denied over the course of 5 months and appealed each one in turn. The superintendent here at SCI-Huntingdon responded to me by saying that I wouldn’t be getting my books. He told me that IPRC’s decision is final, and that he can’t approve them. Around that time I wrote to you and got your censorship packet. I appealed the superintendent’s decision to central office by writing a letter to the department policy director Dianna Woodside. In the letter I told her that, although the IT department was consulted, they were incorrect in determining that the books were a threat. I demonstrated my preexisting knowledge of the subject, and listed several cases where the prisoners were awarded monetary damages for being denied books, including one that was specifically about programming textbooks. I told the official that I was sincere about trying to pursue a possible career in programming computers, and reiterated my willingness to go to court. I am unsure of why exactly she decided in my favor, but in the end I got all three of my books sitting right here with me. I am sending copies of the decisions along with this letter.

MIM(Prisons) adds: The books this prison initially denied were Java in a Nutshell, Build Your Own Website the Right Way Using HTML & CSS, and Object Oriented Programming. This shows both the random and unfounded basis on which prison administrators decide what literature to censor, and the potential for successful appeal with persistence. It’s obvious that prisons in Amerika can not possibly have a rehabilitative goal if the very books required for education into a productive career post-prison are denied for no reason.

We certainly don’t win the right to our incoming mail often, but it is well worth the time to appeal every instance of censorship possible. If nothing else, it provides documentation of the denials and lack of reasons, and may pave the way for a future court case. For those facing censorship, write to us for a copy of our censorship packet that will guide you through the appeals process. And be sure to send us any documentation you have on censorship of our materials, your appeals, and administrators’ responses to your appeals. We put these documents on our website at www.prisoncensorship.info.

I often wonder, that in the land where freedom rings,
Why does pain and suffering it also bring?
Because the only ringing I hear is a baton against my bars
As I stare out the window, beyond the day to its stars.
Eyes closed wishing & praying as often as I might,
I still must fall asleep, within a cell every night.
Hoping when I wake, that it was nothing but a dream,
Yet nothing in my life is now as it may seem.
Loved ones passing, as I stay locked inside of a cage,
Working a job that pays less the 1% of minimum wage,
Walking on the yard, as shots ring out from over head,
Saying a silent prayer, hoping that no one else is dead.
“The joint” is locked down over an argument on the yard.
Not a fist was thrown, yet the whole “joint” is scarred.
Commissary denial, and visitation is restricted.
“On the new,” they holler, another man has been convicted.
Everyone around me is doing maximum time.
Once free & now trapped, like a box & it’s mine
Silently and desperately, trying to find some way out.
While dry tears escape my eyes as I scream silent shouts.
So anyone whom claims that Amerika is the land of the free,
They don’t know a single thing, about the life that surrounds me!

Comrade Malcolm X was a man who grew up troubled by family issues. His father was murdered and his mother was slowly starting to deteriorate mentally. The comrade started to steal, and was running numbers, etc. This landed the comrade in prison where he continued to get into trouble, until he met a brother from the Nation of Islam who helped comrade Malcolm X to get himself together.

In time, comrade Malcolm X educated himself on the inside and eradicated all his bad habits. After his release he continued his work as a revolutionary, helping to build the Nation of Islam and fighting for the people. Later on in his life he was working on his own organization, the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

Comrade Malcolm X had a major impact on my life. When I came to prison in 2005 I was sent to the supermax in Ohio, and I had the wrong understanding of revolutionary change, and I had a 7th grade education. I met a prisoner who let me read The Autobiography of Malcolm X and when I had finished, my whole life was changed. I started working harder to educate myself and to become more politically conscious and vowed to spend the rest of my life fighting against the oppressor.

MIM(Prisons) adds: This comrade’s choice of a freedom fighter underscores the critical importance that education and political literature play in raising the consciousness of our comrades behind bars. While people may have an intuitive grasp of the nature of Amerikan imperialism, the lumpen mainly see the option of violence and theft against the people as a way to respond to the conditions of their lives. This is not revolutionary, and in fact sets the struggle back. But even with limited access to educational material we see people like Malcolm X and this comrade taking up the revolutionary struggle.

For this reason we place a big emphasis on getting our newsletter Under Lock & Key and political books in to prisoners. Most of the money we spend is on these tasks. And we rely on our comrades behind bars to share the lit they receive, and turn others on to the revolutionary mindset to help build new freedom fighters amongst the lumpen.

Everybody screaming west side, east side
It doesn’t matter, both sides Black men die
Tell me why do we die right before our time
It was said that every Black man committed crime
That’s a lie
We can change if we put our minds
on revolution. Let’s unite and together we can rise.
In due time thunder storms can produce a flower
Through revolution and patience, then the world’s ours
But too much patience without action then we all cowards.
Black power is what I scream right before I die
Nightmares of being murdered by the Amerikkkan kind
It’s a known fact that Amerika has been designed
to kill us all. Read your books it’s been proven many times.
It’s hard to cope with the madness that’s going on
but I’m a soldier and as a soldier I gotta remain strong.
Pick up revolutionary books and study them right
And when the time comes, we must not be afraid to fight.
We gotta fight if we plan to reach the top
And Blacks killing Blacks all that gotta stop.
It won’t be long before Amerika takes a fall.
Fuck the government, may death be upon you all.
It ain’t nothing but capitalists in the white house
And Obama sold us out
I’m fed up with lies and bullshit
Black leaders talking good, but being hypocrites,
Claiming they on our side
Capitalizing off the Third World by teaching lies.
I despise all capitalist because they’re evil
I’d rather die than let the government kill my people.
They say we equal, how is that when we still trapped
inside the projects, can’t find jobs so we slang crack.
Picture that, little kids without their moms and dads
They on their own, becoming strong now they toting gas
They go to prison, hit the streets screaming “pro Black!”
Then you put them under the jail because they teaching facts.

An approximate definition of a freedom fighter is someone who lays down their life in the struggle for freedom and self-determination. The hystory of the Third World is full of misery, disease, war, starvation and exploitation all because of imperialist exploitation of the global south. By growing up in these conditions, many become class conscious at a young age and are ready to stand up against oppression, and some become recognized for their dedication to the international struggle for freedom.

I could dedicate this article to the brave, selfless revolutionaries like Che, who in his adventures from Argentina to Mexico saw firsthand how U.$. imperialism was to blame for Latin America’s backwardness. Or to Nelson Mandela who socially revolutionized South Africa and even gave his freedom for a better life for his people. Many have fought to end exploitation.

Really though I want to dedicate this paper to the youth, the future of the revolution. To those who at a young age saw misery and experienced hunger and at a young age dialectically understood that it was because the oil, or minerals in the dirt, were more important than the lives of the people living on that land.

During the Cultural Revolution it was the youth who attacked the power-hungry revisionists in the party. Chairman Mao said that the youth are the future cadres of the revolution and we must protect them and educate them to keep the struggle alive.

These bourgeois politicians talk a good game but do they really want change? According to a recent interview Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recognized that society has betrayed the youth. He told CBS This Morning that statistically the United $tates has the highest rate of childhood poverty in the so-called developed world.(1) Today’s culture in Amerika is all about flashy cars and jewelry and social media with the popular #YOLO. The parasitic culture could care less what goes on outside their borders as long as they get theirs.

The biggest refugee crisis since WWII is taking place in the Middle East all because there’s a power struggle between the west and the east. It’s sad that 25,000 children traveled alone from Syria to Europe, not knowing if there will be a tomorrow.(2) The bourgeois media is quick to water down First World intervention and call the Assad regime the enemy of world peace, but who is bombing whole cities killing dozens of innocent people at a time?

Never in the hystory of the Third World have they experienced long periods of peace. Dialectically dissecting the hystory of the Middle East we see that post-WWII the paper tiger (U.$. dollar) has had its hand in the Middle East supplying guns and aid to fight wars for imperialist interests. How hypocritical is it to call yourselves the true examples of democracy when you’re ready to go to war for a couple barrels of petroleum at the expense of innocent lives.

Only through the example of the Cultural Revolution, with the structure and discipline of Mao Zedong thought, can our youth have a chance. It was the policy of Mao’s China that the interests of the youth be protected and that they be organized in order to fully participate properly in the social progress of the nation. Education is the key for progress, and the youth are the future of that progress. Oppose imperialism. To protect the future we must first make sure there’s a future.