MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
We’ve been working hard to express the need to end all hostilities
amongst all ethnicities. Us New Afrikans here in the belly of the beast
known as the Corcoran SHU have just completed a beautiful BAM (Black
August Resistance/Memorial) and we came together to struggle today
[September 9th] for the purpose of unity. We exercised in a group that
consisted of ourselves, a couple southern Hispanics, and a northern
Hispanic. Our study habits still consist of revolutionary literature,
economics, politics and some history where our cultural and social
interactions are similar without division.
We don’t have a short corridor anymore here in this concrete tomb, so
with people arriving from the mainline just to do a SHU term we can
educate them on the importance of the agreement to end all racial
hostilities, and stay on guard because the fascist oppressors will
always try to sabotage our collective struggle. A lot of these
youngsters who come in here don’t have a clue about the
Attica
uprising or Black August Memorial, and how could they when all the
teachers of New Afrikans struggles are still anguishing behind enemy
lines. The importance of us getting out of the SHU is to educate our
youth about their history.
Today we had a group study session on the importance of revolutionary
internationalism, which is the ideological expression of global
revolutionary scientific socialism in service to the oppressed
underclass of the world. We feel that revolutionary internationalism is
the ideological vanguard of global liberation and source of theoretical
development in coordinating disparate national revolutions. Also,
keeping the permanent struggle of ideological mental warfare going in
order to eradicate backwards and unprincipled thinking, or incompatible
ideas or activities, and proving the correctness of the revolutionary
party’s views.
This weapon in which we speak is part of the dialectical processes that
are ongoing and endless, until the principle contradictions of the
oppressed and the oppressor are eliminated. Once this takes place you
will see the transformation of the cultural values, practices and
relationships of the people prepare and condition themselves for a
revolution against the oppressor state. The outcome is uprooting and
destroying the old oppressive rationale and mindset of colonial society
and bringing into being new values which move the people outside of the
colonial mindset and into that of the emerging revolutionary society. We
can accomplish this through the agreement to end all hostilities. So we
strive to do so. It’s a long out-dated situation that produced no
winners, and only losers, and that has also further pushed us into
oppression. We realize that now, and since it’s not too late to correct
it, we struggle collectively to do so.
by a Pennsylvania prisoner September 2015 permalink
Why can’t we all get along? What is the problem? In my experience, all I
see around me is prisoner against prisoner. There is no real unity.
Fellow comrades, this is a major problem! I don’t know about other state
systems, but here in Pennsylvania it is a constant issue. Prisoners are
tearing each other down instead of building each other up. Bickering,
fighting, back stabbing, degradation and even genocide is a common theme
among prisoners at all the prisons I have been held captive in.
The pigs stick together, so why can’t we? These fascists get off over
our disunity. It makes their day when they have the excuse to further
degrade us by placing us in segregation and control units, where we are
stripped of more of the precious little freedom we have left. These pigs
oppress all of us; we are all in the same sinking ship. Don’t you think
it is time to put aside our petty differences and unite as one force?
How can we focus on defeating this oppression we suffer and endure on a
daily basis, when we are so focused on adding to our own and each
others’ oppression by oppressing each other?
Come on, family, the time is now. We must unite to really make a
difference. Unofficially, jailhouse statistics show that out of all
prisoners imprisoned in the United $tates, 89% of us seek only to see
each other fail, and be defeated in every way possible, and are for
themselves, and only themselves. 10% of us don’t give a shit either way.
Only 1% of us truly care about and are committed to win the battle over
oppression. This is sad! We can change those statistics! MIM(Prisons)
and United Struggle from Within are the key to this change and our
victory. My motto is and always will be: resist! resist! resist! I will
not rest until that mantra rings out in one united voice. Then our
oppressors will realize the meaning of their own motto: We can be the
real and true United We Stand!
MIM(Prisons) adds: We commend this comrade for the call of unity
in the face of struggle. But calls alone will not solve the problems we
face, it will also take real action and examples set by leaders. This
was the purpose of the
September
9 day of peace and unity. As is seen in reports back from comrades
who participated this year, it is through both education and practice
that we can build greater unity among a population that has been trained
to fight one another. We must look at what battles we can fight in our
own prisons and neighborhoods, and bring people together for these
common goals. Through these struggles we can demonstrate the nature of
the imperialist system behind all of the oppression, and focused on
keeping the oppressed powerless. Through practice we will build unity
and educate the oppressed, training new leaders and developing a
movement that can take on the imperialists as a part of the liberation
struggles of oppressed nation peoples worldwide.
Comrade, either you’re misinformed or an ex-member of these renegade
groups you speak of. First, you said ULK should make the
newsletter more informative to political theory of education and
building community. Comrade ULK created their newsletter as a
platform for its readers to supply and share information. The newsletter
is very informative and it lets all kkkaptured brothers know what’s
popping prison to prison, and that you’re not alone in the struggle. If
you feel something’s missing from the newsletter that’s your opportunity
to supply it. Share the knowledge and lessons from your political
education classes with ULK so they can share it with everyone
in the trenches.
The reason ULK should continue to teach organization, is because there’s
brothers in the dark who think that what they’re doing is right because
it’s all they know. In California African gangs have no organization.
You mention the BGF putting a worldwide ban on gang banging. In
California BGF is considered a prison gang by the pigs. Gangbanging
doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. I’ve been in prison 11 years and
things are very racial here in California. So what might solve a
separate problem in New York might not work in California or Florida.
There’ll never be one fix for all. There has been too much blood shed
between different organizations. There can be no peace without war. The
fear of war motivates people to keep the peace.
You’re aware things may never be resolved, but are you aware that the
tone of your words says “why try to resolve?” and “don’t even try to
resolve because it’s a losing battle.” Which is your feelings about
fighting censorship of ULK.
Your beef really seems to be with gangs and not how ULK does
their thing. If you’re not the leader of 3 Blood Kingdom you don’t know
if he opposes peace. Your actions are of choice. They don’t define your
belief. When supporting something you’re still living in the now and
have to deal with your current situation.
This brother is part of an organization that makes him a target. He’ll
need to protect himself the best way he knows how. Even if he denounces
his membership he’ll be a target for having been affiliated. Those who
are never affiliated are targeted by those who are. You’re a target
either way and will have to protect yourself or get run over.
In the movie “Selma” they did peaceful protest and were still attacked.
The lesson here? Do what you must to survive. Nobody’s born a gang
member. You choose to be one due to your circumstances. Comrade, talking
down on gang members is a form of oppression. Let’s build these brothas.
Each one teach one.
Comrade you speak about rule 33_501.401 fac(3)(g) being used to censor
your ULK. ULK doesn’t support rioting, insurrection, and
disruption of an institution. They support things like the September 9
Peace Day. What ULK does is print the going ons in prisons
state to state. The news shows violence daily. Does that mean they
support it?
You choose to not grieve the censorship under assumption you won’t
prevail. The pigs are betting on your pessimism and they’re winning.
Freedom of speech is a right. ULK exercises that. If you aren’t
going to fight for what you believe in why expect ULK to?
You say the pigs are the puppeteer, well off the head and the body will
follow. It’s time to stop venting and start inventing.
Vent: to relieve oneself by vigorous expression Invent: To
create or produce for the first time
Where there’s a will there’s a way. If you’re willing to look you’ll
find a way. If there’s no road to success create your own.
I didn’t say all of this to attack you, but with hopes of inspiring you
to go get what you want. Peace and Solidarity.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We agree with this comrade’s assessment of
the importance of understanding the roots of violence and the inability
of pacifism to stop violence. We also call on all lumpen groups and
their leaders to join the United Front for Peace and work to advance not
only their own organizations but others as well. At the same time, this
writer is correct that we must work from where we are and not from
idealism. As every issue of ULK demonstrates, we are about
promoting organizing for expanding the peace, including the September 9
Day of Peace and Unity.
I’m writing to y’all from the Special Management Unit (SMU) in Jackson,
Georgia which is about ten minutes outside Atlanta. This is my second
correspondence to MIM(Prisons) and the type of prison I’m at seems to be
a focus of yours. It is classified as a “Tier 3” SMU, housing the
“worst” 190 captives in the Department of Corrections, which boasts an
insane 70,000 prisoners throughout the whole state.
These people are so very corrupt. Just a few hours ago, the pigs, mostly
Black, took the Muslim boy out of the cell next to mine for a “meeting.”
Those meetings go on in a side room somewhere and usually they end in
brutality. When they were bringing him back they were beating him as
they dragged him toward his cell. It’s on camera if the cameras in the
cell house actually record.
When they got him into his cell I could hear him choking and trying to
scream. Also, I could hear what sounded like fists or feet hitting skin.
He was in handcuffs and shackles. I’m Aryan Nation and my loyalty is to
my people, but I’ve got the sense to know that if they’ll do that to my
neighbor they’ll do it to me. My modus operandi (M.O.) is
brutal violence toward police and other convicts. So when I spoke up and
said that if they didn’t stop torturing that man where I could hear it I
would stab or cut every pig that came to my door at every meal, they
stopped beating him. This type of stuff is the norm at Jackson SMU.
I want to emphasize the importance of unity behind these walls. We
divide ourselves by race and gangs and the pigs throw gasoline on the
fire. Just today a Black officer called me a “fake white supremacist”
for sending a Blood (Black guy) some books and magazines.
I’ve picked up on some undertones in MIM literature that targets whites
as the enemy or people responsible for the oppression behind the
injustice system. It’s not just whites anymore; it’s Black, white,
Hispanic, Asian, etc. The prison injustice system is a mindset that
can’t be defined by race. We’ve got to point the finger at the mindset,
not the groups of people that we want to blame.
Every prison I go to I preach unity and people respond, because if the
Aryan Nation is willing to unite then nobody else has any excuse. Race
is the biggest problem in the South; it’s what divides us the most. I’ve
done time in the Midwest and those prisons have overcome racial
division. We may eat at separate tables there, and play sports on
separate courts, but when it’s time to come together for our rights
there are no racial, religious, or gang lines.
I don’t know much about Maoism but I know about the struggle that your
ministry is fighting against; I’ve been living it for almost eight
years. I’ve written to y’all to try to inspire unity amongst everybody,
not just the non-whites. I passed on the only ULK I’ve received
so I don’t remember your mission statement, but I do understand a little
and I support y’all and respect what I do understand. Please continue to
send me ULK. I’ll write after every issue just to put my views
in on the struggle. Also, I’ll be sending in 10-20 stamps as a donation
very soon.
MIM(Prisons) adds: Just as oppressed nation people have
integrated into Amerika economically, they have integrated into the
police and prison staff, as well as other parts of the criminal
injustice system. The United $tates even had a Black president; it’s
obvious that oppressed vs. oppressor is not split on “color” lines.
Still, there is a history and present reality that shows Amerikkka is
vastly a white oppressor nation.
For those who have integrated into the oppressor nation, we no longer
refer to them as New Afrikan; instead they are “African-Amerikkkans.”
Our opposition to oppressors is not limited to just those of European
descent. But we see that national oppression happens with an oppressor
nation on top (the predominantly and historically white Amerikkkan
nation) and others on the bottom (oppressed nations) and so we do make
scientific generalizations about these nations.
We’re with this comrade that our unity also can’t be limited by identity
politics. We don’t exclude potential comrades just because they’re
Amerikan, and we don’t trust potential comrades just because they’re
not. Those who do come from an oppressor nation will need to commit
nation suicide and work against the interests of their nation. Those who
come from oppressed nations need to show that they are not trying to
simply integrate with the oppressors, like the Corrections Officers this
comrade refers to. Those integrators are our enemies just like the
Amerikkkan oppressors are our enemies.
I’m always striving for perfection and giving the next man good advice
when they’re going through shit because it’s getting worse by the day.
My heart is so pure now because I don’t think for just myself; I’m doing
it for the dudes around me. I’m gonna stay at it as long as I got life
in my body because I truly understand that unity is power and once we
all conquer that then we mastered a good thing. It’s a must we stay true
to each other and move against the system as one. By us doing that it
would be brought to the world’s attention the things we go through on
this side of the gates.
The reason I have rooted myself in this idea is dudes that have a long
sentence to serve. We must stick together to make things easy for those
types of guys and I want to make a difference so the young generation
that have been coming to the prison system can pass the unity remedy
down. The organization that I’m building is called “Stand Firm With
Unity” and the five principles of the United Front for Peace in Prisons
are planted in my heart.
Peace: the first step to make things perfect, and that’s something
we all must have within to show the next brother that we need that in
our heart to accomplish our goal. 2. Unity: the foundation to become
one. It’s very important to move as one because it’s the only way that
we will see results on making changes in the prison system that we are
trapped in. 3. Growth: in order to speak wise words and show wise
action to another person we must first make changes in our own life
because the best teaching of all is to show it in your actions. 4.
Internationalism: it will be an amazing thing once we do the things that
are right for us in each state and to stand firm to each other on
changing the prison system. 5. Independence: we must understand that
the system is not for us. It’s not here to make our life easy. It’s made
to make us submit to them.
MIM(Prisons) adds: We welcome Stand Firm With Unity to the United
Front for Peace in Prisons (UFPP). We also welcome them (and all UFPP
signatories) to send us reports on how organizing around these five
points is going on the ground. What has worked to get people on board
with the united front? Showing peace and unity in one’s actions is good
for setting an example of the UFPP; send in your reports on how you’ve
actually done this in your facility and the results you’ve seen.
We also want to ensure the concept of internationalism is well
understood, as it’s one of the main characteristics that sets the UFPP
(and MIM(Prisons)) apart from other similar attempts (and
organizations). We not only want to do what is best for prisoners caught
up in the Amerikan criminal injustice system, but we also want peace and
justice for oppressed people throughout the entire world. In the United
$tates, everyone (even prisoners) benefits from the imperialists’ theft
of resources and labor from all across the globe. If we lose perspective
of this, we’ll work to fix our oppression while making conditions worse
for the majority of the world’s people. This is how reformism and a lack
of internationalism has played out in the past. Learning from history,
we know we need to keep the conditions of the majority of the world’s
people in the front of our minds in order to not sell them out for our
own benefits.
As a loyal comrade who is committed to the struggle I have utmost
respect for Under Lock & Key and I appreciate all that
they/you contribute to the revolutionary struggle that is taking place
today for those inside these concentration camps in the United Snakes.
As the leading member of the Abolitionist From Within (AFW) I do support
MIM and embrace as a group the
five
core principles of the United Front for Peace in Prisons.
While AFW may not agree with every political issue MIM advocates, it is
the issues that we both support that bring us together in this
revolutionary struggle. AFW recently had our first demonstration at High
Desert State Prison (HDSP), bringing together a cohesive front in
reflecting, fasting and uniting to honor those nameless and faceless men
of Black August and Attica(1971) by coming together in solidarity. We
brought up the issues of the day affecting us and we all offered
solutions from each individual’s perspective. It was a beautiful and
righteous energy as we synergized listening to each other and offering
suggestions and the best of ourselves during this time. We will meet
again on September 9th and try to agree on the best solutions in
attacking and combating the issues that are inflicting us today from the
first meeting.
On 12 August 2015, Hugo “Yogi Bear” Pinell was murdered on the yard at
California State Prison – Sacramento in Represa, also known as New
Folsom Prison. Yogi was in solitary confinement a week prior to his
murder, having spent 46 years in solitary confinement. Yet somehow
someone on the yard had enough beef with him to murder the 71-year-old
man in cold blood? Not possible. Yogi’s blood is on the hands of the
state officials in charge of CSP-Sacramento.
Memorializing Yogi, his comrade David Johnson called him an “educator”
and the “spirit of the prison movement.”(1) Former Black Panther and
long-term friend Kiilu Nyasha said the word that came to her mind was
“love.”(2) Most of the information in this article comes from Kiilu as
well as Yogi’s fellow San Quentin 6 comrades David Johnson and Sundiata
Tate.(3) All recounted stories of his immense love, his prominent
leadership, his indomitable spirit, his dedication to creating and
becoming the “new man” and his role in educating others.
The state of California attacked Hugo Pinell for 50 years, from the time
of his imprisonment on a phony charge of raping and kidnapping a white
womyn, through to his death this week. He was one of a number of
comrades involved in an incident on 21 August 1971, in which George
Jackson was killed along with three prison guards and two prisoner
trustees. Hugo Pinell was charged and convicted with slashing the
throats of two prison guards during this incident, though neither was
killed. One of these guards was known to have murdered a New Afrikan
prisoner in Soledad and had gone unpunished. Those prisoners charged
with crimes for the events of 21 August 1971 became known as the San
Quentin 6. It was this incident, and the murder of George Jackson in
particular, that triggered the takeover of the Attica Correctional
Facility in New York by prisoners of all nationalities in response to
the oppressive conditions they had faced there for years. Beginning on 9
September 1971, the prisoners controlled the prison for four days,
setting up kitchens, medical support, and communications via collective
organizing. Prison guards were treated with respect and given proper
food and medical care like everyone else. It all ended on 13 September
1971 when the National Guard invaded the yard, killed 29 prisoners and 9
staff, and tortured hundreds after they regained control. It is the
collective organizing for positive change that occurred during those
four days that we celebrate on the September 9 Day of Peace and
Solidarity in prisons across the United $tates.
The prisoners in Attica acted in the ideals of men like George Jackson
and Hugo Pinell who were well-respected leaders of the first wave of the
prison movement. Jackson, Pinell and their comrades, many who are still
alive and mourning and commemorating Yogi’s death(1, 3), always promoted
unity and the interests of all prisoners as a group. The Attica brothers
took this same philosophy to a more spectacular level, where they
flipped the power structure so that the oppressed were in control. Not
long afterward, prisoners at Walpole in Massachusetts won control of
that facility as a result of the events at Attica. In both cases
prisoners worked together collectively to meet the needs of all, peace
prevailed, and spirits rose. Like a dictatorship of the proletariat on a
smaller scale, these prisoners proved that when the oppressed are in
power conditions for all improve. And it is historicaly examples like
these that lead us to believe that is the way to end oppression.
Following the incidents of August and September 1971, the Black Panther
Party printed a feature article on Hugo Pinell, who they upheld as “a
member in good standing of the Black Panther Party.” It read in part:
“[Prisoners across the United States] began to realize as Comrade George
Jackson would say, that they were all a part of the prisoner class. They
began to realize that there was no way to survive that special brand of
fascism particular to California prison camps, except by beginning to
work and struggle together. Divisions, such as this one, like family
feuds, often take time to resolve. The common goal of liberation and the
desire for freedom helps to make the division itself disappear, and the
reason for its existence become clearer and clearer. The prisoner class,
especially in California, began to understand the age-old fascist
principle: if you can divide, you can conquer.
“There are two men who were chiefly responsible for bringing this idea
to the forefront. They helped other comrade inmates to transform the
ideas of self-hatred and division into unity and love common to all
people fighting to survive and retain dignity. These two Brothers not
only set this example in words, but in practice. Comrade George Jackson
and Comrade Hugo Pinell, one Black and one Latino, were the living
examples of the unity that can and must exist among the prisoner class.
These two men were well-known to other inmates as strong defenders of
their people. Everyone knew of their love for the people; a love that
astounded especially the prison officials of the State. It astounded
them so thoroughly that these pigs had to try and portray them as
animals, perverts, madmen and criminals, in order to justify their plans
to eventually get rid of such men. For when Comrades George and Hugo
walked and talked together, the prisoners began to get the message too
well.”(4)
Today the prison movement is in another phase of coming together,
realizing their common class interests. It is amazing that it is in this
new era of coming together that the pigs finally murder Yogi, on the
three year anniversary of the announcement of the plans to end all
hostilities across the California prisons system to unite for common
interests. This timing should be lost on no one.
As a Nicaraguan, Yogi became hated by certain influential Mexicans in
the prison system for ignoring their orders not to hang with New
Afrikans. While the prison movement over the last half-century has
chipped away at such racism, we also know that racism is an idea that is
the product of imperialism. Until we eliminate the oppression of nations
by other nations, we will not eliminate racism completely. But we work
hard to fight it within the oppressed and in particular among prisoners,
as Yogi, George and others did 50 years ago.
In the 1950s and 1960s the racism was brutal, with nazis openly working
with correctional staff. The state used poor, uneducated whites as the
foot soldiers of their brutal system of oppression that is the U.$.
injustice system. Tate and Johnson tell stories of being terrorized with
the chants of “nigger, nigger, nigger” all night long when they first
entered the California prison system as youth.(1, 3) While we don’t
agree with George Jackson’s use of the term “fascist” to describe the
United $tates in his day, we do see a kernel of truth in that
description in the prison system, and the white prisoners were often
lining up on the side of the state. But the efforts of courageous
leaders broke down that alliance, and leaders of white lumpen
organizations joined with the oppressed nation prisoners for their
common interests as prisoners at the height of the prison movement in
California.
We recognize the national contradiction, between the historically and
predominantly white Amerikan nation and the oppressed internal
semi-colonies, to be the principal contradiction in the United $tates
today. Yet, this is often dampened and more nuanced in the prison
system. Our white readership is proportional to the white population in
prisons, and we have many strong white supporters. So while we give
particular attention to the struggles of prisoners as it relates to
national liberation movements, we support the prison movement as a whole
to the extent that it aligns itself with the oppressed people of the
world against imperialism.
The biggest complaint among would-be prison organizers is usually the
“lack of unity.” Any potential unity is deliberately broken down through
means of threats, torture and even murder by the state. Control Units
exist to keep people like Yogi locked down for four and a half decades.
Yet another wave of the prison movement is here. It is embodied in the
30,000 prisoners who acted together on 8 July 2013, and in the 3 years
of no hostilities between lumpen organizations in the California prison
system. Right now there is nothing more important in California than
pushing the continuation of this unity. In the face of threats by
individuals to create cracks in that unity, in the face of the murder of
an elder of the movement, in order to follow through on the campaign to
end the torture of long-term isolation, in order to protect the lives of
prisoners throughout the state and end unnecessary killings, there is
nothing more important to be doing in California prisons right now than
expanding the Agreement to End Hostilities to realize the visions of our
elders like Hugo “Yogi Bear” Pinell.
I went back to ULK issue 42 to sort out some disputes with the
other prisoners and gangs housed in this institution. The problem is
that we can’t seem to get it together. Mainly those claiming to be a
part of an organized entity. Some members say they are for the cause to
unite and fight against oppression (within the prison). What drew me
back to this issue was the topic of the issue
Building
Peace with the United Front which speaks about the base of bringing
the misled and disorganized together. Yet, in my situation, it’s a
constant contradiction. Nobody wants to play their part or abide by the
agenda and constitutions set out for them. So I am asking you: as a
current member of the contradictory organization, do I stay, proclaiming
my loyalty, or do I move on? Please help me with this issue. The only
thing that I can see me staying for is the true comrades, but I didn’t
become what I am for the few individuals. I chose my way of life because
of the movement. Now I am stuck deciding what is best for me. Well it’s
been nice sharing my issues with you. I just ask that you give me your
best opinion from what you have read.
MIM(Prisons) responds: This is an important question that many
folks who are part of lumpen organizations raise as their political
consciousness grows. There is often the possibility of educating and
building from within an organization, helping to bring the level of
political knowledge and organizing work up for the whole group. But
sometimes this is not possible, and you find yourself inside an
organization that refuses to advance whether this is because of
mis-leadership or the conflicting goals of the members. When this
happens it may be time to leave the organization and start something
new. We should not hold on to blind loyalty when this binds us to
reactionary organizations.
This is the difference between scientific leadership and cult
leadership. A cult demands blind loyalty and creates a situation that
allows for abuse and oppression within the group. In contrast,
MIM(Prisons) would tell people they should leave our organization if
they believe it has taken a reactionary path. Of course, one should only
do so after struggling within the organization to correct its errors. In
other words, push the contradictions within the organization to
conclusion before just giving up. And while doing so you might study
Mao’s “On the Correct Handling of Contradictions Among the People.”
This comrade asks “what is best for me?” But we would instead ask “what
is best for the oppressed people of the world?” If you are in an
organization that is not fighting on the side of the oppressed, and is
not willing to listen to you when you push them in this direction, then
you are wasting your time with this group. If you take action and break
with the organization in order to take up the revolutionary struggle,
any other progressive individuals inside of this group might be inspired
to join you. It’s important that you be clear that is it not lack of
loyalty that causes you to break with the group, but rather the
importance of your goals to serve the people.
With the growing calls and efforts to establish tangible peace and
understanding amongst the litany of disparate “Lumpenos” that inhabit
and coexist inside the many ghettos and over-bloated prison camps of the
United $tates, and who suffer the same systematic cycles of inherent and
inherited poverty, inequality, and oppression, the following is a
poignant example of how no one wins but our common enemy when we allow
what divides us to take precedent over what should unite us. As history
has taught us, Uncle $am and his reactionary cronies will never miss an
opportunity to capitalize, exploit and instigate misunderstandings and
hostilities amidst the oppressed classes.
“The FBI capitalized on these recurrent tensions [between the Black
Panther Party (BPP) in Chicago and the Blackstone Rangers] by sending
Jeff Fort [the leader of the Blackstone Rangers] another anonymous
letter. This time the bureau made the letter look as if it had come from
a concerned citizen with official ties to neither group. [FBI Director]
J. Edgar Hoover approved the following letter on January 30, 1969:
‘Brother Jeff, ’I’ve spent some time with some Panther friends on the
west side lately and I know what’s been going on. The brothers that run
the Panthers blame you for blocking their thing and there’s supposed to
be a hit out for you. I’m not a Panther or a Ranger, just black. From
what I see them Panthers are out for themselves not black people. I
think you ought to know what they’re up to. I know what I would do if I
was you. You might hear from me again. ’(sgd.) a black brother you
don’t know.’
The Chicago office explained that the purpose of the letter was ‘to
intensify the degree of animosity between the two groups’ in the hopes
that Fort retaliated against the BPP leadership.”(1)
The degree of the system’s stratagems against the oppressed class can be
gauged and better understood by the following FBI memo written by the
Sergeant in Charge of San Diego, bragging to FBI Director Hoover about
the detrimental effects accomplished with the COINTELPRO scheme:
“Excerpt from an August 20, 1969 report summarizing the
‘accomplishments’ and plans for the BPP/US COINTELPRO in San
Diego: ‘Shootings, beatings, and high degree of unrest continues to
prevail in the ghetto area of southeast San Diego. Although no specific
counterintelligent action can be credited with contributing to this
over-all situation, it is felt that a substantial amount of the unrest
is directly attributable to this program.’”(2)
I hope that all of the above will help to enlighten the “Lumpenos” to
the devious and dangerous nature of this beast, and to provoke conscious
and productive thought and dialogue across racial, geographical, and
ideological lines. What unites us is greater than what divides us, and
the only winners of our ignorant misdirected hostilities is the beast.
It devours us all.
MIM(Prisons) adds: These historical documents are a very good
reminder of the importance of the
United
Front for Peace in Prisons principle of unity. We need the oppressed
to come together to fight our common enemy. The imperialists have far
more resources, and an extensive spy and disruption network in place. At
this stage in our work, when we are significantly weaker than the
imperialists, we must counter their disruption with good security, and
by refusing to help them foment fighting amongst the lumpen. Don’t judge
people based on labels, rumors or second-hand information; judge based
on actions. All who are on the side of the people will show this by
putting in good work in the anti-imperialist struggle.
Revolutionary greetings to all kaptives inside the gulags of the united
snakes of a-murder (U$A). Because of the constant oppression we face by
the fact that imperialism won’t let up as long as capitalism exists, we
must continue to create effective ways of fighting capitalism,
ultimately bringing an end to all forms of oppression and the system
(capitalism/imperialism) in its entirety.
Prisons and prison guards (pigs) are mere extensions of the system and
operate as a form of social control against the upward mobility of
oppressed nations. However, kaptives here, in the past, have done quite
a bit in the way of agitation and resistance to some of the injustices
carried out by these pigs. I have personally been surprised at what even
the slightest bit of unity amongst kaptives can/has gained in the form
of concessions from the pigs. But i have also been dismayed at how
quickly unity can dissolve back into parasitism and apathy, when not
nurtured, and followed up by those kommitted and dedicated to educate
and uplift.
Again, September 9 is soon upon us. Three years ago a lumpen
organization (LO) that was a part of United Front for Peace in Prisons
(UFPP) initiated the September 9 Day of Peace and Solidarity. This is to
coincide with 9 September 1971, when pigs and their overseers stormed
Attica and slaughtered 32 kaptives (and 10 of their own pigs). Kaptives
had besieged the prison after demands to improve living conditions had
not been met, and the murder of comrade George Jackson at San Quentin on
21 August 1971. Comrade George was a formidable force in pushing the
anti-imperialist movement amongst kaptives, all the way up until the
moment he was slaughtered.
Organizers call on kaptives to take this day to promote the UFPP by
building unity with fellow kaptives, and to demonstrate resistance to
the criminal injustice system by fasting, refraining from work, engaging
only in solidarity actions, and ending kaptive-on-kaptive
violence/hostilities.
MIM(Prisons) said the number of reports were down in 2014 compared to
the previous years, where they’d seen a growing interest and more
involvement by kaptives on this day of protest. It is due both to the
significance of the work put in by our comrades at Attica (and
elsewhere), and the fact that imperialism is still krushing the upward
mobility of the lumpen and oppressed nations, that we can not slack off
on our duties organizing, agitating, campaigning, educating and building
our own independent institutions to remedy our problems.
We are 44 years and many kaptive uprisings later, but the oppressive
conditions remain the same. And, as back then, Maoist study groups are
being formed; calls to unite kaptives are being heard; and of course
oppressors are still oppressing. So let us both memorialize this day and
use it as a catalyst to push leaders forward – as we “seize the time”
because we have had E-NUF.
MIM(Prisons) adds: Write to request a September 9 study pack to
help understand the history of this day of struggle and build for Peace
and Solidarity in your prison.