MIM(Prisons) is a cell of revolutionaries serving the oppressed masses inside U.$. prisons, guided by the communist ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Under Lock & Key is a news service written by and for prisoners with a focus on what is going on behind bars throughout the United States. Under Lock & Key is available to U.S. prisoners for free through MIM(Prisons)'s Free Political Literature to Prisoners Program, by writing:
MIM(Prisons) PO Box 40799 San Francisco, CA 94140.
We are given shoes - and the cement to walk on jacket and pants - and
the gum to chew on unwrap the plastic - open the box Let’s see
just how much money we can blow on socks symbols stitched outward -
seams pink and frilly made in amerikkan sweatshops - made in Vichy
Chile Teresa Marie is nine and has worked here years fifty cents a
day for her blood sweat and tears she lives in a mud hut with her
family’s chickens and old rusty barrel - a couple flat rocks home
sweet home - here’s Teresa’s kitchen her father shot by a U.$.-backed
dictator her mother raped by a drunken U.$. soldier the baby’s
half white and starving to death fifty pennies a day - eight mouths -
no milk left you walk into the store - air conditioned -
complaining she walks in the mud shoeless - sharp rocks -
daily you are proud as apple pie to be an amerikkkan she has
nightmares: “U.$. soldiers are coming to get me” bigger fatter
stitched corporate brand name socks skinnier jumpier malnourished
children walking on rocks you’re depressed - on medication but at
least you don’t stink powdered. deoderized - pampered.
christianized you want Jesus to save you - LOL - ya right behind
her hut in an old tree knot a penny a week out of the several she’s
got a smile lights her face as she turns to cook dinner her
brother needs ammo - revolutionary clandestine U.$. pig killer
Let’s talk about religion. Specifically, let’s address the question of
whether religion is or is not useful in the struggle against prisons and
against imperialism.
Many of today’s prison groups and lumpen organizations (LOs) are well
rooted in religious ideas, theories and practices. For example, the
Nation of Gods and Earths and the Rastafarians are both very influential
among New Afrikan LOs. The LOs in prison have had experience in the
areas of adopting certain religious values for the sake of defending
themselves against total annihilation. Whether using religion,
spirituality or faith as a conventional method to serve this goal for
prisoners will bring about liberation faster than any other method will
be determined by prisoners and prisoner-led efforts. [History has
already proven dialectical materialism as an ideology to be far more
effective at bringing about liberation than religion and faith, but we
agree with testing it as a tactic in certain conditions as discussed
below. - ULK Editor]
Prisons are a political effect of the bourgeois imperialist oppressive
structure, which is determined to take more of the world’s wealth and
riches than it gives. Therefore prisons are political and produce
political prisoners, as MIM(Prisons) holds: “…all prisoners are
political prisoners because under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie,
all imprisonment is substantively political.”
Prisoners begin to develop a consciousness of their environment by
evaluating the material conditions they are in. Through a process of
unity-criticism-unity they often transform themselves into the change
they wish to see. This transformation often begins to manifest in
individual decision-making skills. One begins to evaluate the pros and
cons of indirect and direct action, to spread solutions to fellow
prisoners’ conflicts, and eventually one becomes sought out by the
masses as a leader.
While the reality is that all prisoners are political, as we begin to
develop our political consciousness we find that we are prohibited from
being directly involved in the politics that we are subject to. When
U.$. prisoners take that conscious state of mind to the level of
organizing, campaigning and agitating, they become victims of laws
criminalizing politicking in prisons. Many prisoners and LOs are well
aware of this weapon of the snakes. Prisoners have little to no legal
standing in the U.$. bourgeois injustice system to defend against the
assaults on their humyn right to politically advocate and demonstrate
their class interest as lumpen in the United $tates.
By law, according to the U.$. Constitutional standard, prisoners have a
right to grieve conditions relative to the prison environment. They have
the right to correspond with members of society, including the press.
But when those of the prison population begin organizing the locals into
group actions, they are labeled as security threat group leaders.
Prisoners are incapable of putting forth a defense to these charges
because by state standards their groups are un-sanctioned. Without a
license we are prohibited from driving forward the people to a state of
consciousness from where they may liberate themselves.
LOs don’t register their groups with the state, they don’t report their
activities to the state, and the majority of LOs don’t pay taxes on any
income of the organization; all behaviors criminalized by the state.
Essentially, prisoners being involved in a public manner in/with prison
politics are whooped from the jump start.
It is therefore no coincidence that religious/spirituality groups that
focus on the lumpen have become quite popular within U.$. prisons. They
provide a more free outlet for expression and camaraderie. Of course,
this has been a role played by religious organizations since the days of
the Roman empire, when the church recruited the labor of those who had
no legal warrant to sell their labor. This can lead to these religious
bodies being a voice in service of the oppressed or to the religious
body suppressing the desires of the oppressed to the benefit of the
oppressor.
At different times religion has played different roles ideologically and
politically. Many New Afrikan lumpen read in Dr. Suzar’s Blacked Out
Through Whitewash that:
“‘Jesus, was the Panther? An original name for Jesus was… son of the
Panther!’ (Blavatsky: The Secret Doctrine).
“Even the Bible refers to him as ‘the Lion of the tribe Juda.’ (Rv. 5:5)
‘Jesus in fact, was a Black nationalist freedom fighter… whose goals
were to free the Black people of that day from the oppressive… White
Roman power structure… and to build a Black nation.’ (I Barashango)
“Schoenfield reports in The Passover Plot p 194: ‘Galilee, were[sic]
Jesus had lived… which was home of the Jewish resistance movement,
suffered particularly. The Romans never ceased night and day to
devastate… pillage [and kill].’
“In the Black Messiah p91, Rev. A.B. Cleage Jr. writes that Jesus was a
revolutionary ‘who was leading a [Black] nation into conflict against a
[white] oppressor… It was necessary that he be crucified because he
taught revolution.’ Jesus stated, ‘I have not come to send peace, but a
sword.’ (The Holy Bible - Mathew 101.34 - King James Version)”(1)
Depending on the leadership of the religious institutions and the
cleverness of the lumpen, religion and politics can go hand-in-hand with
one another. Devout members of the left will disagree and dogmatic
rightists will call for a lynch mob. But at the end of the discussion
the outcome is to be decided by those directly related to and at the
source of the phenomenon.
It is the position held by MIM(Prisons) that i admire most:
“In some ways communism is the best way for religious people to uphold
their beliefs and put an end to the evils of murder, rape, hunger and
other miseries of humyns. Some argue that Jesus Christ must have been a
communist because he gave to the poor.”(2)
Many prisoners utilize liberation theology as a means to merge their
political strengths with the legal warrant of the First Amendment right
to freedom of religious exercise as the defense against political
attacks from the police state.
The lumpen’s religion is the exception to the world’s norm of religion
as representing the status quo. There are many prisoners who fall into
the wash of all faiths, but there is a powerful source of prisoner
liberation theologists at the forefront of the anti-imperialist prison
movement too. It is possible that this very source is the face of the
prison struggle for the age we are entering. Working smarter is working
harder within the belly of the beast.
Prisoners should struggle to have their political interest respected by
the state, but they should not concentrate more on convincing the police
state that prisons are inappropriate, and the greatest crimes are being
committed by themselves. They know this good and well already. LOs must
concentrate on tactics that will forge united fronts capable of pushing
the forces of history forward faster.
We conclude with a quote from Russian leader V.I. Lenin:
“We must not only admit workers who preserve their belief in God into
the Social-Democratic Party, but must deliberately set out to recruit
them; we are absolutely opposed to giving the slightest offense to their
religious convictions, but we recruit in order to educate them in the
spirit of our programme, and not in order to permit an active struggle
against it.”(3)
Marcus Garvey and Amy Jacques
In response to the call to honor freedom fighters, it is an honor and
pleasure to journal the commemoration of New Afrikan freedom fighter Amy
Jacques Garvey.
So many today dismiss the Pan-Afrikan movement and its various bodies,
both within and outside of U.$. prisons, as that of an unnecessary call
and reference to an outdated idea. In the context of the proletarian
political causes, it is often the ultra-leftist who has taken up this
position.
However, in our attempts to fast forward the most correct methods of
resolving contradictions, we acknowledge that they come in the form of
class consciousness among nationalist leaders driven by internationalist
struggles led by the proletariat. The Pan-Afrikan movement is one likely
place where we find these elements.
Many prisoners are aware of the name
Marcus
Mosiah Garvey, but very few are familiar with Amy Jacques Garvey,
the wife of Marcus Garvey and the bone and marrow of the Universal Negro
Improvement Association (UNIA). Amy Garvey was a special person in the
history of liberation struggles. Born 31 December 1895 in Kingston,
Jamaica to a middle-upper class family, Amy Garvey was ahead of her
time. Though “all identity is individual, there is no individual
identity that is not historical or, in other words, constructed within a
field of social values, norms of behavior and collective symbols.”(1)
The mother of what author Ula Yvette Taylor coined “community feminism,”
Amy Garvey pressed the issue of lower class wimmin not only in serving
their male counterparts, but also educating themselves to become
political leaders in the nation. Today, lumpen wimmin of the internal
semi-colonies still find themselves criticized for either being
home-oriented or for sex. UNIA enjoyed support across gender and
promoted equality of the sexes. Yet, in practice, this “community
feminist” approach was a means of dealing with the expectations put on
wimmin to be supporters of men while still being political leaders.
While wimmin like Amy Garvey had to take on an unequal burden compared
to their male counterparts, their actions served to break down the
expectations of gendered roles, paving the way for others.
Amy Garvey empowered wimmin to confront racism, colonialism and
imperialism, while contesting masculine dominance as well.(2) As she
wrote, wimmin should use their “intelligence in a righteous cause” as
they are needed to “fill the breach, and fight as never before, for the
masses need intelligent dedicated leadership.”(3)
Since the 1920s, Amy Jacques Garvey’s organizing activities had sought
to further the decolonization of West Afrikan nations as people of
African descent endeavored to restructure their societies. The
antecedents of these largely nationalist movements were well-established
in Pan-Afrikan struggle that came into its own during the early 1940s,
including the fifth Pan-Afrikan Congress. Meanwhile, other power shifts
were occurring such as: the rise of the Soviet Union, liberation
struggles in southeast Asia, the independence of China and the
Asian-African
Bandung Conference.(4) Indeed, within this political milieu, “West
Afrikan nationalism and various brands of Pan-Africanism, could mix with
everything from Fabian socialism to Marxism-Leninism.”(5)
While engaging in the international arena, Amy Garvey also struggled
against fellow comrades of the UNIA. She was well known for her refusal
to hold her tongue on the contradictions that arose within, even at
times writing critical positions of Marcus Garvey himself. It resembles
so many of those within the belly of the beast babylon who struggle to
liberate themselves in order to offer liberation to their people, only
to be hushed by LO leadership.
Amy Garvey was from Jamaica and considered herself an Afrikan. She drove
home the point that people of Afrikan descent in the United $tates (New
Afrikans) and elsewhere were living as second-class citizens, largely as
a result of economic oppression. Today we see the second-class
citizenship that New Afrikans and Chican@s face as the biggest targets
of social isolation by the U.$. prison system. The second class that the
oppressed nations are being bred into today is what we call the First
World lumpen class. In the imperialist countries, that is the class that
has nothing to lose from a revolution except the very chains that bind
them to a bourgeois system that doesn’t serve them. “As the lumpen
experience oppression first hand here in Amerika, we are in a position
to spearhead the revolutionary vehicle within the U.$. borders.”(6)
The 2015 release of Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán
by a MIM(Prisons) study group introduces prisoners to the reality of
their class identity with the lumpen of oppressed internal semi-colonies
in North America.
“Kwame Nkrumah in his analysis of neo-colonialism in Africa defined it
as: ‘The essence of neo-colonialism is that the state which is subject
to it is, in theory, independent and has all the outward trappings of
international sovereignty. In reality its economic system and thus its
political policy is directed from outside.’ Nkrumah stressed the
importance of dividing the oppressed into smaller groups as part of this
process of preventing effective resistance to imperialism as had already
occurred in China, Vietnam, Korea, Cuba and elsewhere.”(7)
Amy Garvey too considered the likes of Kwame Nkrumah as her comrade,
alongside of Nnamdi Azikiwe, W.E.B. DuBois and George Padmore, just to
name a few. She was a disciplined, arduous scholar whose objective was
to fold Garveyism into existing progressive organizations, thus uniting
a divergent Pan-Afrikan world.
Many of the ideas that are circulated amongst the lumpen organizations
within the belly of the beast babylon are grafted from the ideas of the
peoples parties like the UNIA, whether they admit it or not. The proof
is in the pudding. Amy Garvey showed that one could stand on two legs
and not buckle under the pressure of integrationist culture.
Amy Garvey held Marcus Garvey up while he served his prison bid in
Atlanta, and took the driver’s seat of one of the world’s most
influential Negro organizations in its time when wimmin weren’t expected
to be political. It is so similar to the anti-imperialist prisoner
movement; prisoners aren’t expected to be political souljahs.
Death to babylon-imperialism!
MIM(Prisons) adds: MIM said that Pan-Afrikanism should be a
strategic question, and is not worth splitting over.(8) They also said
that Pan-Afrikanism has historically been the most progressive of the
“pan” ideologies. Clearly that the Pan-Afrikan mission has yet to
succeed in the dire need for effective revolutionary leadership is
evident in the recent revelations that
“In 2014, the U.S. carried out 674 military activities across Africa,
nearly two missions per day, an almost 300% jump in the number of annual
operations, exercises, and military-to-military training activities
since U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) was established in 2008.”(9)
The imperialists continue to foment the tribal divisions across the
African continent to wage proxy wars that amount to inter-proletarian
killing on the ground. The overwhelming proletarian character of the
populations in Africa gives Pan-Afrikanism its strong progressive
character.
In honor of our comrades and others sacrificed and murdered at Attica on
9 September 1971, the purpose of this article is to promote unity,
peace, and solidarity amongst all prisoners regardless of affiliation or
association. For, “every individual who stands against oppression on any
level is a freedom fighter.”(1) And, “We want everyone to take the
ideological development of our movement into their own hands.”(2) We
must face the truth that we can be our own worst enemy allowing our
oppressors to manipulate us against our best interests through the
tactic of divide and conquer. “And they use the gangs as their puppet to
do hits for smokes and food. That’s the real story in this place that
the prisoners are brushing under the rug. It ain’t just the pigs who are
oppressing our people, it’s their puppets.”(3) These words ring true and
those of us who have been held in these gulags for any appreciable
amount of time can attest to its truthfulness.
As an alternative and challenge to do better for self, our organization,
and movement, and, especially as an act of unity in remembrance of the
atrocities inflicted on September 9th at Attica, a California prisoner
offers this sage advice: “If you see someone in the struggle in need of
some support, be that support. The number one reason for mistreatment in
prison is lack of solidarity amongst prisoners. We need to start
supporting each other in order to have a livable life. Not only will we
get along but we’ll support each other when needed.”(4) So let us adopt
this comrade’s viewpoint, at all costs, for together on 9/9 we stand and
divided we fall. Let us be determined that failure shall not be
attributable to our lack of due diligence and strong revolutionary
action.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This comrade penned the above message as part
of eir commemoration of the September 9th Day of Peace and Solidarity in
2015 and suggested that it be used as a flier for other USW comrades. It
is a good reminder of the need to address the contradictions within the
prison population for true peace and solidarity to be achieved. And as
the California comrade quoted points out, this is also closely linked to
a general spirit of looking out for each other that must be developed
year-round.
Alienation and individualism are important parts of our capitalist
culture that make oppression and abuse possible. With solidarity and by
looking out for each other the oppressor cannot get away with their
abuses. That is why solidarity is central to the question of survival
and well-being inside prisons. The campaign for mental and physical
health in prisons cannot be separated from the campaign to build the
United Front for Peace in Prisons.
September is just a few months away again, start organizing for the Day
of Peace and Solidarity. Write to us for a copy of the September 9 study
pack to start educating and building now.
As prisoners in this socially oppressive injustice system we tend to be
attracted to philosophy to try to get a better understanding of why and
how did we end up in a cage like some type of animal. Some choose
religion hoping that some omni-present being can answer their questions
and fill in the blanks. Others choose a more materialist ideology for a
better scientific understanding to the present situation here in the
United $tates. The rest just choose to ride it out and hope that the
situation changes.
There is no denying that dialectically and hystorically the empire is
socially unstable, so much so that the oppressive Amerikan Gestapo are
killing us, free of judicial repercussion, in order to protect the
bourgeois interests at the expense of the oppressed nations. The state
sponsored bourgeois media are quick to suggest that the Amerikan gestapo
killings are justified with no scientific facts to support their
so-called reporting. The people must look past the bullshit smoke being
blown in our faces and understand that shit isn’t all lemonade and apple
pies.
Religion doesn’t tell us scientific facts, but actually dogmatic
scriptures about this false paradise where those “chosen” can live free
after death. So how can this spiritual being give those materially
existing on this earth freedom? It cannot. Religion blinds us to what’s
really happening here. It is a poison infecting the masses with its
dogmatic ideology.
Scientific theory with Maoist philosophy is the only way to freedom.
Scientifically it teaches the masses to dissect hystory and to digest
what is beneficial to the struggle. It gives us, the lumpen of the
oppressed nations, a place in a socialist society where we can take part
in the world’s struggle for freedom. The former CPUSA called this line
petty-bourgeois radicalism, but Maoism teaches that all prisoners are
political prisoners. The United $tates has the highest prisoner
population in world hystory with most prisoners coming from the barrios
and ghettos. Growing up in poverty, the oppressed nations are forced to
adapt to their reality. What separates the barrios and ghettos from the
Third World? Nothing, we are the Third World. Today we Chican@s and New
Afrikans make up most of the prison population. Centuries of oppression
on our people has brainwashed us to accept this as our reality.
Fellow prisoners ask me, why do you read about China, or Palestine, etc?
Or when I clearly state that I don’t believe in God they look at me like
I’m crazy. First I state that God is a facade, meant to pacify the
masses and mind fuck them into accepting their oppressive reality. World
hystory is our hystory, and by examining other nations’ struggles we can
philosophically advance as a people. The struggle in Palestine is our
struggle and our struggle is the Palestinian struggle. Together we are
one; the Third World.
Together we stand firm. The victims of the empire deserve justice and
only we can bring that about. Oppose the imperialists wars on the Third
World, whether they’re in Kabul, Juarez, or South Central.
MIM(Prisons) responds: We echo this comrade’s internationalism as
well as eir dedication to the philosophy of dialectical materialism.
However, if we are to make a material analsysis of the conditions in the
First World ghettos, barrios, reservations and even prisons, we must
disagree with em asserting that “We are the Third World.”
Like the Third World, the internal oppressed nations of the United
$tates are oppressed by imperialism and have histories connected to
other oppressed nations that are in the Third World. However, the
distinction between First World and Third World is important because of
the material benefits that those living within imperialist borders
receive just because of the luck of where they were born. That is why we
speak of the First World lumpen as a different class than the lumpen
proletariat; First World lumpen are surrounded by the labor aristocracy,
and not the proletariat. All U.$. residents benefit from the flow of
wealth away from the exploited in the Third World. True solidarity with
the exploited must recognize this reality if we hope to liberate
ourselves from imperialism, or else we risk falling into positions that
put the interests of oppressed in the United $tates over the interests
of the oppressed elsewhere.
The Syrian civil war, the biggest conflict in the Middle East if not the
world, has many wondering what the outcome will be. The United $tates
has backed a group in the Kurdish area that has called for the expulsion
of Arabs (1) and has armed fundamentalist religious forces that threaten
the Syrian government, headed by Bashar al-Assad. Meanwhile, the
government-controlled capital of Syria, Damascus, has been a place where
Muslims, Christians, and Jews are allowed to co-exist, united by the
same desire to save their nation from the forces that be. The Syrian
Constitution is based in the mission of Pan-Arabism and specifically
prevents the formation of political parties “on the basis of religious,
sectarian, tribal, regional, class-based, professional, or on
discrimination based on gender, origin, race or color.”(2)
The Assad government opposes becoming a puppet to U.$. imperialism and
was never for the creation of I$rael and its occupation of Palestine. As
history has shown, with a policy like that comes economic, if not
military, aggression. The East and the West are in a tug-of-war over
influence in the Middle East and it’s only going to get worse. The
so-called U.$.-type of “democracy” has proven again and again that it
does not work; imperialist pseudo-democracy will not work in Syria just
like it hasn’t worked in Afghanistan or Iraq.
The pro-West bourgeois media claims Assad rules with an iron fist, but
the West has backed the destruction of secularism and political
pluralism in the region. Syria is more democratic than Saudi Arabia, a
U.$. ally and the biggest dictatorship in the region. If the United
$tates is really so concerned about iron fists, maybe the capitalists
should look past the petroleum barrels and look at Saudi Arabia, the
anti-democratic Sunni dictatorship that is nominally leading a
repressive war in Yemen and was involved in the brutal repression of
recent revolts in Bahrain.
For centuries Sunni influence has dominated the sectarian Muslim world,
but now the table has turned and the Shia militias have taken up more
territory than they’ve had in centuries, which has the Saudis in an
ideological war with Iran. Assad is blamed for all the casualties in the
war but even the foreign aggressors can’t deny that it’s their coalition
planes dropping the barrel bombs on innocent civilians, threatening the
Syrian government with war if they intervene.
The United $tates has spent $5 million on a Pentagon-sponsored training
program to arm the Syrian opposition forces, but four years later there
is still no success in their campaign. The Pentagon has admitted that
the program was a failure. From the beginning of the war the U.$. State
Department’s policy towards Syria was “Assad must go now.” But since
it’s looking like this is not going to happen any time soon Obama said
Assad doesn’t have to leave right away, there can be a transition of
power. What bureaucratic bullshit.
All this has to do with Russia and Iran’s strong presence in Syria and
their strong stance on supporting Assad. The Iran-backed Shia militias
are doing most of the fighting on Iraq’s border with Syria, and they
have made it clear that as soon as they’ve dealt with the Islamic State
they’re prepared to fight the real enemy: U.$. imperialism. Russia has
recently opened up an airbase in western Syria, the biggest Russian base
ever built outside the old Soviet territory. Just recently they’ve
started conducting their own airstrikes against the Syrian opposition
forces in eastern Syria, far from Islamic State-held territory.(5) Now
the United $tates sees how determined Russia and Iran are in making sure
the Syrian government doesn’t collapse. Both sides are willing to sit
down for talks on how to avoid each other on the battlefield but can’t
decide how the war should end. One thing is for sure: if Assad leaves,
the war still won’t end.
The real victims of this ideological, semi-colonial war are the innocent
people of Syria. Since the beginning of the war, 250,000 people have
died and more than 9 million people have left their homes. According to
the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 3,000
to 6,000 people leave Syria every day. So now because of the war the
biggest refugee crisis since WWII is happening with no end in sight.
Other major casualties are happening among the Kurdish people, who have
been fighting for freedom since before the war and have suffered much
death and destruction because of the war. I’m not talking about the
comprador landlord class that sold out to imperialism. I’m talking about
the exploited who were suffering way before the war, and do not have
interests aligned with imperialism, despite their misleaders.
As anti-imperialists we oppose U.$. aggression in Syria as well as
anywhere in the world. Chairman Mao said “political power comes out of
the barrel of a gun.” So as long as there is exploitation there will
always be war. As materialists we must use scientific theory to educate
one another on the importance of solidarity with the Third World and
opposition to the bourgeois warmongers.
MIM(Prisons) adds: This comrade is correct that our principal
contribution here should be in making it hard for the United $tates to
stay involved in Syria and elsewhere. And while we cannot determine the
forces on the ground elsewhere, we can see who is in the
anti-imperialist united front and who is with the imperialists. In that
light, we have a couple comments related to some popular narratives on
this conflict.
First, there is a myth promoted in the Western media that violence in
the Middle East is due to centuries-old religious conflict. This myth
paints the current war(s) in an ahistorical way; they have always
existed, and may continue to exist unless the imperialists can somehow
tame and modernize these backwards peoples.
The reality is that these are some of the most religiously diverse
countries because they are close to the birthplaces of so many of the
world’s most popular religions. Countries like Iraq and Syria not only
were quite diverse and harmonious, but were relatively well-developed;
not the bombed-out desert caves we see in the media.
The narrative that focuses on religion does so to hide the real politics
and economics behind the conflict. In particular, hiding imperialist
meddling. It also attempts to convince the West, from atheist to
Christian, of the barbarity of these “foreign” cultures. It is important
to remember that the principal contradiction on the international scale
is imperialism vs. the oppressed nations, and not between religions or
genders.
Many have used the role of wimmin in the Islamic State in contrast to
the Kurdish regions to justify support for the Kurds. As Frantz Fanon
noted in his study of the Algerian revolution, the conditions of armed
struggle forced the involvement of wimmin in military operations,
regardless of cultural beliefs to the contrary. In other words, the
national struggle, if genuinely aimed at liberation from imperialism,
will force the gender contradiction forward with it. The converse is not
true, which is how we know which contradiction should be prioritized. It
is true that more wimmin holding guns can be a good sign of the
progressiveness of the organization, but even in the Third World this is
not always the case.
This leads us to another myth that we want to clarify for our readers,
which is that the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) is a Marxist, or even a
Maoist organization. While having Marxist-Leninist roots, the PKK fully
capitulated to the Turkish state after the capture of their leader
Abdullah Ocalan in a joint U.$.-Turkish operation in 1999. He officially
changed the leading ideology of the PKK to a libertarian “Democratic
Confederalism” in 2005. But as early as 1998 Ocalan was denouncing
communism, and promoting the route of U.$. development for the oppressed
nations.(6)
The PKK has its roots in Turkey, which has a long history of Maoist
activity that continues to this day. Yet none of the Kurdish-controlled
areas are currently run by anti-imperialist organizations. The
U.$.-backed Erdogan regime in Turkey does have a complex relationship to
the PKK and other Kurdish forces. While they have provided support to
Kurds fighting the Islamic State, in recent months, they resumed violent
attacks on the PKK within Turkey. For this reason and many others, the
current alliance of Kurdish forces with the U.$. empire is not an
optimistic choice for the Kurdish people.
One hundred years since the hystoric Plan de San Diego took place does
yet another monumental and hystoric event develop; the publication of
Chican@ Power
and the Struggle for Aztlán. Chican@ Power and the Struggle
for Aztlán is a revolutionary nationalist book that focuses on the
revolutionary struggle of the Chican@ nation against Amerikan
imperialism. This book is in the service of all oppressed Raza within
Aztlán and should be studied by those who are interested in liberating
the Chican@ nation from U.$. imperialism, especially Raza who are
interested in establishing a Chican@ People’s Republic in what is
currently occupied and oppressed Aztlán, i.e., California, Texas,
Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and Colorado.
Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán sheds light on the
darkness that is national oppression, a darkness that has shrouded and
enveloped Aztlán, by directing its luminous rays onto the shining path
that has been paved for us by all the great people’s struggles the world
over. People’s struggles in which the heroic Third World masses continue
to prove not only their bravery in the face of disastrous imperialism,
but the validity and effectiveness of People’s War and the revolutionary
ideology from which it sprung: Marxism-Leninsm-Maoism, principally
Maoism.
Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán enjoins us to
vehemently attack national oppression and criticize the proponents of
national oppression whoever they may be. This means that as
revolutionary nationalists and the advanced detachment of the Chican@
nation it is our duty to be the first to openly criticize our own
sell-out political and reformist leaders. It does no good to go about
praising oppressors just because they have a Spanish surname, speak
Spanish, or are Raza by birth, as doing so only confuses the issue for
the rest of the Chican@ masses who look to us for theoretical and
ideological guidance. As revolutionaries we must constantly blaze the
trail in matters of political outlook and awareness and must never give
in to complacency which inevitably brings about political degeneration.
We must put an end to Chican@ nationalists masquerading as Maoists who
in the name of Aztlán would raise the red flag only to oppose it.
Communists from the Chican@ nation should therefore take a hard and
uncompromising stand against these national chauvinists who with their
sophistry would only set back the Chican@ movement for liberation and
independence.
That said, real Maoists believe in uniting all who can be united in the
struggle to free the nation. This is in accordance with United Front
theory and practice as developed by Joseph Stalin, leader of the USSR
during the Soviet people’s struggle against German fascism, and Mao
Zedong in the Chinese people’s war of liberation against Japanese
militarism and imperialism. As such and in making this statement it is
recognized that there is a contradiction between uniting all who can be
united and struggling not only against erroneous tendencies within the
Chican@ movement and nation, but outright deviations and revisionism
within the Chican@ communist movement as well. Maoists from the Chican@
nation should seek to resolve these differences and contradictions now,
starting with the more advanced elements of the Chican@ masses, through
the method of unity-struggle-unity. We should not wait for the national
liberation stage to be completed before taking up this ideological
struggle. This should not preclude our breaking with other Chican@
organizations on the basis of principled stands of scientific dispute as
“the struggle bursts forth continuously.” We should recognize that in
such instances what we must do is not unite two into one, but struggle
to divide in order to liberate Aztlán and make revolution.
We should also recognize that before the movement can really take shape
through the power and strength of the Chican@ masses there must first be
a consensus among all the revolutionary elements of Aztlán so as to
consolidate the Chican@ national liberation movement; whether that be
within a loose united front of various Chican@ and Mexican@
organizations, or under one united flag with a single program, cannot
possibly be determined at this time. What should be acknowledged however
is that the revolutionary forces within Aztlán must begin the process of
consolidation so as to continue to move the struggle forward. The
principal way of doing this at this current stage of the struggle
undoubtedly revolves around Under Lock & Key, the voice of
the anti-imperialist movement behind prison walls. It is thus the
revolutionary duty of Maoists and other anti-imperialists from the
Chican@ nation to unite in order to begin the long and arduous process
of liberation and decolonization de toda la gente.
The Chican@ revolutionary nationalist movement should be in firm unity
with all genuine Maoist forces the world over as well as all
revolutionary forces fighting imperialist backed regimes and lackeys.
Clenched fist salute! A clenched fist salute is also extended to all
Raza and camaradas currently locked in Amerikkka’s prisons who have
taken the qualitative leap towards gaining freedom and liberation for
our people by engaging and struggling with Maoism; the third and highest
stage of revolutionary science.
Comrades should also seriously study the ten point program of
MIM(Prisons) as well as the six cardinal points of the Maoist
Internationalist Ministry of Prisons before attempting to create their
own Maoist organizations as they can help to demarcate between real
Maoism and phoney communist organizations. These programs should serve
as a general guide to the type of organizing and organization we should
aspire to. Revolutionary cells claiming both the mantle of Mao and
Aztlán should be open to all Chican@s and should not be contingent on
past street or prison organization, but on the deep seated belief that
Aztlán is a territory of the Chican@ nation which must be liberated!
On that same note Chican@ Maoist organizations should have very strict
admission policies as revolution is not a game or a lifestyle, but a
matter of life and death and so only the most committed revolutionaries
should be recruited. Comrades should also seriously study the Leninist
concept of “better, fewer, but better” for this stage of the struggle.
Lastly, comrades should enjoin the oppressed prison masses, in
particular imprisoned Raza, to take up struggle and begin working with
other lumpen organizations amiable towards revolution in the spirit and
practice of the United Front for Peace in Prisons, as this is not only
the most effective way of establishing peace in prison but of sustaining
it. Peace amongst the lumpen is not only a precursor, but a prerequisite
to victory on a strategic level.
The Chican@ and other prison masses must realize that Amerikan
imperialism grows increasingly weaker every day, both on a domestic and
international level because of its extended, hegemonic over-reach.
Instead of gaining the imperialists a greater grasp on the far off and
distant periphery this presence is instead met with fierce resistance
and hate on the part of the resolute Third World masses. The masses must
know that Amerikan imperialism is a paper tiger and on a strategic and
long-term level its’ show of strength amounts to nothing more than
shadow boxing strictly for the benefit of those it would wish to
subjugate and oppress; it is a concrete monster with feet of clay and
wherever it chooses to plant its feet it gets attacked.
“No rewriting of history can change the fact that it has been the
national liberation struggle which has handed imperialism so many
military defeats” (“The National Question and Separate Vanguard Parties”
in MIM Theory 7: Proletarian Feminist Nationalism)
September 2015 marked a year since the mass kidnapping of college
students in the state of Guerrero, Mexico. Yet very little is said about
it on the national news here in the United $tates. In fact, since last
year I have caught nothing of what the families of the disappeared
students are up to. How are they coping? Is justice of some sort still
being sought? Well fortunately we still get reports on Mexico from the
Spanish news and the small community of that region has not laid down
hope, nor are they sitting down with arms crossed. The state of Guerrero
has made it clear that they don’t trust the Mexican government’s
competence in finding their loved ones’ remains but also in bringing
down those who are responsible for the mass slaying of 43 college
students out of Ayotzinapa.
On 26 September 2014 many students went into the town of Iguala in
shuttle busses to protest against the local government. Something they
had a reputation for doing. Usually these protests would be broken up by
police and the crowds would disperse, but this night was different as
the mayor must have had a different method to eliminate the frequent
protests from those students in Ayotzinapa college. It was mentioned in
the media that the protests were becoming a nuisance not only for the
mayor Jose Luis Abarca but for the rest of the population as well. The
protesters were stopping traffic, disturbing businesses and constantly
shouting revolutionary slogans, waving their red flags with hammer and
sickles. Instead of the usual police methods of dealing with the
protesters, on September 26 the police just opened fire, killing six
people. And then they rounded up the students and turned them over to
the local cartel to deal with.
The mayor was in cahoots with the local cartels. After an
international outcry both the mayor and his wife were arrested and are
still behind bars. Many police officers were interrogated by federal
agents and that’s when the story along with the names of those involved
began to come out.
After being turned over to the “G.U.” by police officials, the 43
students were taken to a nearby garbage dump and strangled. Subsequently
their bodies were burned and thrown in bags to be dumped at the lake.
This story does not add up because it’s difficult to get rid of 43
bodies just like that. The population in Iguala remain skeptical of the
reports released by the government. How can they not be when it was
their own mayor and police officials who were responsible for their
loved ones’ disappearance! Can it be possible that there are still
higher government officials responsible for the students’ death out
there running the investigation as if it were a unique incident? It is
plausible given the prevalent nature of corruption in Mexico.
[h]Who were the 43 students? [/h]
Collectively they were preparing to become teachers. It was going to
be their way to reach the masses. Ayotzinapa rural university was
founded in 1926 as part of a new revolutionary government’s ambition to
educate all Mexicans, especially in the rural areas. Since opening,
Ayotzinapa has served as an advanced educational privilege for the
exploited and oppressed masses in the rural areas of Guerrero state. The
university offers underprivileged youth opportunities other than just
being rural peasants. This campus is a place where ideas are discussed
around social, political and cultural issues and of course methods of
how to change circumstances in favor of the masses.
It comes as no surprise that Ayotzinapa produces some of that
region’s most active agitators. Revolutionary discussions are a normal
thing: “Los Normales Rurales” (the normal rurals) are a product of this
university that has been a boiling pot for youth who are introduced to
Marxist-Leninist revolution. We see images of Marx and Engels, students
walking around campus with a Karl Marx t-shirt emblazoned with a hammer
& sickle, and Che Guevara and Maoist murals on campus walls. Even
universities for relatively privileged youth are often a breeding ground
for radicalism, so it is no surprise that higher education for the poor
would feed the revolutionary movement as people become educated in the
systems of oppression and the successful and failed options for fighting
back.
Los Normales Rurales were protesting their local government
i.e. mayor and cronies. They were revolutionary propagandists attempting
to reach the masses through actions. Like Mao Zedong’s China produced
the barefoot doctors to provide adequate health care to the rural areas,
Ayotzinapa University is producing teachers who will eventually find
locations in other rural or urban areas. They will take teaching
positions, and, armed with revolutionary theory and knowledge of their
national context, they are vital to organizing the proletariat, the
peasantry, the students and other sympathetic classes.
[h]Responses to the massacre[/h]
The Mexican government run by Enrique Peña Nieto only made a cursory
attempt to serve justice. This was the way the Mexican government
handled the massacre of its’ citizens at the hands of its’ own
officials. That area was infested with corrupt government officials and
continuously disappeared citizens by the cartels. The search for the
missing 43 students only produced the location of more than a dozen mass
graves or “fosas.”
Many citizens in Iguala are too afraid to speak out and voice their
grievances but not their comrades, other “normalistas” still at
Ayotzinapa. They are clamoring for the masses to join their fight
against a corrupt and murdering government!
The protests were captured and televised and Mexican@s all throughout
the country got involved, protesting against government officials
especially those of the reactionary party (Partido Revolucionario
Institucional, PRI) who Mexicans hold just as responsible as the cartels
who carried out the disappearances. PRI is an incorrigibly corrupt party
run by the nation’s big bourgeoisie. The bourgeoisie has its allies who
can carry out their dirty work and would rather eliminate any opposition
to their existence. The context in that country is ripe for a
revolution! The contradictions between the masses and government is at
the point of antagonism.
Recently during elections in Guerrero many students along with the
masses wearing ski masks destroyed government offices. A concise
response to who they wish to elect! The masses in Guerrero have become
politicized like the masses in Michoacan state. Forming their own
self-defense militias. The masses in Guerrero are on a likeminded path
and still searching for the 43 normalistas, and finding more and more
“fosas” with bodies. A leader of one of these self defense groups was
just found murdered recently! The loved ones of the 43 normalistas are
still agitating as strong as they were a year ago.
The Mexican government wants to sweep the incident from almost a year
ago under the rug. Not the masses. It may seem like enough for Enrique
Peña Nieto, but the Ayotzinapa campus has now become more intense in
their revolutionary struggle. For the 43 fallen comrades and the
population as a whole the protests persist and the masses have become
more receptive to revolution in Guerrero than ever! None of this is
reported by English news outlets and while the Spanish news downplays
its reporting, revolutionaries in the United $tates must keep up with
current events in the international context.
Many comrades in [i]ULK[/i] have expressed solidarity with Palestine,
Syria, and Iraqi muslim fighters because of imperialist aggression
towards them, yet we have a growing crises happening in Mexico that gets
scant attention because it’s the norm down there. And there’s little
mystery on why there are so many undocumented Mexican@s in the U.$. to
acquire better employment opportunities and escape that country’s social
crises. As internationalist revolutionaries we should advocate and
support Ayotzinapa’s current struggle to liberate its community from
oppressive forces like the Mexican government and drug trafficking
groups. USW conveys its revolutionary solidarity to Ayotzinapa!
Revolution in Texas! Revolution in Utah! Revolution in Arizona! And
Revolution in California!
It is with these hystoric words once shouted by Chican@ revolutionaries
a hundred years ago that we proudly echo this sentiment today as we
announce the completion of Chican@ Power and the Struggle for
Aztlán, on this anniversary of the Plan de San Diego. A hundred
years ago, so-called “bandits” and “heathens” in the conquered territory
of the United $tates, known as Aztlán, declared their war of liberation
from Amerikan imperialism. And just as the Plan de San Diego grew out of
heightened national oppression both on a domestic and international
level, so does Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán come
out of the depths of Amerika’s dungeons at a time in which the Chican@
nation, and indeed the world, risks being swallowed whole by various
imperialist factions; principally Amerikan imperialism.
Those once thought to be our old guard have come closer and closer to
unity with our oppressors than to our own people, yet the Chican@ lumpen
pushes through, rises to the challenge and presents us with the most
correct political analysis to the most pressing questions facing Aztlán
today. Vendidos (sell outs) might say that revolutionary nationalism is
an ancient and dead phenomenon no longer relevant in a “globalized
world.” But it is exactly because of this “globalization”
(i.e. imperialism) that this work is more needed than at any other time
since the last round of national liberation struggles inside of U.$.
borders.
Chican@ Power and the Struggle for Aztlán has been in
development for well over three years and is a collaborative effort
between Chican@ revolutionaries from northern and southern
Califas-Aztlán and MIM(Prisons). Our comrades on the outside
facilitated, guided and made possible this manifesto. This work is an
example of the political unity between both major regions of
Califas-Aztlán that must come to bear by the imprisoned Chican@ lumpen
on an Aztlán-wide basis before we are ready to put this ideological
unity into practice.
Throughout the creative process of this book there were indeed many
times in which we found it difficult to continue this collaboration.
This was due not only to the same old tired divisions amongst Chican@s
in California that have been keeping the imprisoned Raza from uniting as
one, but due to ideological and political immaturity as well. However,
through all of this, Chican@ revolutionaries from both major sections of
Califas-Aztlán managed to resolve our differences through the tools and
weapons refined for us by the great protagonists of oppressed peoples’
movements everywhere: Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao. But above
all, the reality that bound us throughout this work was not only our
common oppression but the want and need to one day see our people free.
And so, largely through the method of unity-struggle-unity and the
dialectical materialist frame of thought did we finalize this important
task. And as great as this work is, and as much of a watershed moment we
are celebrating, we remain very much aware that this is just the opening
shot to the quickly flourishing revolutionary nationalist movements
within Amerika’s prisons.
This book is in service to the imprisoned Chican@ lumpen in order that
they may finally have a general framework from which to build
ideological unity and from which to politically grow and wrest state
power from Amerikan imperialism and the white settler nation.
Just as author Benjamin Heber Johnson makes the statement, “In fifty
years the projected ninety-six million Latino residents of the United
States would, if considered a nation, follow only Brazil and Mexico as
the most populous country in Latino America” so will it probably take as
long to see the fruits of our labor.(1)
The Chican@ nation is comprised of oppressed Raza and it forms a part of
Latin@ America. Chican@s Unite!
[At our 2012 Congress MIM(Prisons) decided to begin the process of
building statewide councils to develop USW and its leadership. That
winter the work began to set up the first council in California. This
coincided with a renewed round of strikes in the state involving more
than 30,000 prisoners. As activism spread, so did invitations to join
the council. In short time, lack of participation cut the membership
back down. For about a year and a half now, leading USW cells in
California have been participating in the council on a regular basis,
struggling over theoretical and practical questions of organizing the
prison movement. This article is by one participant in the USW
California Council discussing some of the issues the council has
tackled.]
The United Struggle from Within (USW) political line is
anti-imperialist, as those behind the walls recognize the penal system
and its institutions as an extension of imperialism. Therefore our
struggles include both domestic and international issues. As a generated
organism from the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons, or
MIM(Prisons), some within USW have taken up MIM line while others have
not yet. USW is an eclectic group of anti-imperialist prisoners working
in cells, individually or in a coordinated groups through MIM(Prisons)
guidance. Our revolutionary activities can vary according to each cell
and location. This makes USW a multi-issue mass organization.
It is important to have USW comrades focus on campaigns that are
relevant to their conditions. For instance, field reporting is
universally applicable. But those doing indeterminate SHU sentences
should focus on getting policies changed or bring up campaigns to shut
down control units, while other comrades on mainlines could organize a
cell of like-minded comrades, set up study groups, and raise other
campaigns. We can all contribute to fighting censorship and other legal
actions that can benefit all prisoners if won in court.
Each USW cell works in the framework of bringing the humyn rights of
prisoners to the forefront. It is no surprise prisons are swamped with
internal semi-colonies, with the long sentences, new detrimental laws
that disproportionately affect oppressed nations, and other practices of
the criminal injustice system that contribute to the mass incarceration
of oppressed nations. This injustice must be brought to the public.
Comrades from USW use propaganda as a tool to reach the masses who are
sympathetic or will become sympathetic. We utilize Lenin’s method of
having Iskra as his party’s way to get the written word out to
the masses by making use of Under Lock & Key to advertise
our campaigns, our polemics, our developing theories, or just to expose
the negative conditions in prisons. ULK is our voice behind the
walls.
USW are we the cadre?
Recently there has been an open polemic in regards to USW. Is it just a
mass org without a leadership role or does it have leadership influence,
and because of this should it no longer be considered a mass org? Well
to apply dialectic materialism to this topic I would say USW is a mass
organization formed in part by MIM line. “All correct leadership is
necessarily ‘from the masses, to the masses.’ This means: take the ideas
of the masses (scattered and unsystematic ideas) and concentrate them
(through study turn them into concentrated and systematic ideas) then go
to the masses and propagate and explain these ideas until the masses
embrace them as their own, hold fast to them and translate them into
action and test the correctness of these ideas in such action. Such is
the Marxist theory of knowledge.”(1)
USW is guided by MIM(Prisons), leading revolutionary work at their
location. Accumulating experience and knowledge while engaged in this
work, many USW comrades aren’t spontaneous in heading into revolutionary
activity, as this would probably prove disastrous if a comrade knows
very little of what exactly to do. For this reason MIM(Prisons) has
study cells welcoming those ready for revolutionary theory education
that is Maoist in content. There are even advanced levels for those who
wish to continue into the ULK Writers Group, the most advanced Maoist
study cell from which stem numerous USW comrades or cadres.
I use the term “cadre” for reasons of revolutionary language because it
permits no dual meaning in our propaganda, and I utilize Che Guevara’s
definition herein:
“What is a cadre? We should state that a cadre is an individual who has
achieved sufficient political development to be able to interpret the
larger directives emanating from the central authority, make them his
own, and convey them as an orientation to the masses: a person who at
the same time also perceives the signs manifested by the masses of their
own desires and their innermost motivations.”(2)
It can be said that any well politicized USW comrade is a cadre behind
the walls as we need not receive directives from MIM(Prisons) to know
how to organize and commit ourselves to a campaign. Yet revolutionary
learning is limitless and anyone wishing to engage in polemics or just
learn from other comrades can do so by either writing in to the
MIM(Prisons) USW coordinator, joining a study cell run by MIM(Prisons)
or reading up on ULK and writing in.
The Statewide Council
The momentum created by USW cells throughout California prisons has
brought us our own revolutionary council where pressing topics are
discussed, and polemics, strategizing and other matters will be
addressed. Through discussion and the democratic process we have passed
resolutions to set the standards for USW cells joining the council.
Resolutions passed so far include: time frames for when members must
respond to council discussions, requirements that each cell vote on each
proposal and provide justification for their votes, minimum study
requirements before a representative can join the council, and
requirements that each USW cell with representation in the council
should put in at least 10 to 40 hours a week of revolutionary work.
i.e. study, writing articles, making political art, etc. Cells are
required to keep track of their work and report it monthly to build
discipline.
The California Council has also built a treasury that we have been using
to fund bonus pages in ULK. Our council has brought forth
double the amount of donations than all other California comrades during
a recent 6-month period. We recently finished a California-specific
introductory letter for USW that went out to all existing members in
June. We have had a slow start but overall we have established a steady
pattern of discussion and work.
Amongst our struggles behind the walls, we will often have obstacles
such as comrades abandoning a campaign or legal battle, or who just stop
checking in with the council, USW or the ULK Writers group to pursue
personal agendas and leave behind their revolutionary work. Our
California Council and USW are a product of work and effort by
politically conscious prisoners having a strategic goal in mind, be it
anti-imperialist, shutting down control units, or prisoner humyn rights
reform. The point is that our goals, strategic and tactical, are to
struggle through the momentum whether it’s low or high! Our focus is to
work together for change and we hope our efforts, our resolve, inspires
others to join our struggle behind the walls. Our struggle for humyn
rights is a pressing issue for the comrades suppressed in solitary
confinement, so contributing to litigation campaigns are essential but
not our only venue! We need to be organized, we need to agitate and
utilize propaganda as a tool in order to apply revolutionary practice!
We seek comrades who have a fair grasp on revolutionary theory. No
comrade needs to be an expert, we are all still learning from each
other, our USW work, and how to concentrate our USW branches through
practice within our revolutionary California Council.
So I can say USW Council representatives are our cadres behind the
walls, forging revolutionary discipline, education, legal assistance,
study groups, etc. If comrades get transferred to another yard or prison
we can expect them to do the same at their new location. And we do our
work discreetly to not draw unwanted attention, thus maintaining all
within USW cell security.