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.
Pig brutality is once again on display for the world to see after
outraged protests erupted following the murder of 25-year-old Manuel
Diaz in the city of Anaheim, CA by police this weekend.
Pigs claim that the murder of Diaz was justified and only prompted by
Diaz after he supposedly ran away from them and reached for his
waistband. The neighbors and family members of Diaz who witnessed the
execution tell a different story however. They say that while Diaz did
indeed run away from police, at no time whatsoever did he reach for his
waistband as police claim. No gun was even recovered from the scene,
according to the pigs themselves.
This is the sixth officer-involved shooting for the Anaheim Police
Department this year. That’s including that second life to be claimed by
Anaheim police not more than 24 hrs after the death of Diaz in which
pigs stated that they indeed retrieved a gun near the body of the second
victim of police violence, as if to say, “See? We only shoot when we
have to.”
The neighborhood was justifiably outraged as they demanded answers and
vented their anger on killer cops, but the pigs were having none of it.
Feeling “threatened” as they always do, the pigs responded the only way
they know how – with violence!
When the protesters refused to disperse, non-lethal weapons were fired
on wimmin and children, and an attack dog was set loose on an occupied
baby stroller . The pigs then had the audacity to claim that their dog
“got loose” from the patrol car. The entire scene was caught on a camera
phone if anyone cares to see.
Immediately thereafter, coconut lackey and self-proclaimed community
activist Dr. Jose Moreno publicly regretted to the local media that the
community resorted to violence while simultaneously calling for
transparency from the police.
The entire attack was caught on tape. How much more transparency do you
need? We know that no amount of transparency in the world will ever keep
sadistic pigs or their attack dogs on the leash, because that’s exactly
what they’re there for, to be set loose on the oppressed like the rabid
dogs that they are!
How quick were the pigs to shoot rubber bullets at wimmin and children
of brown skin color in Anaheim this weekend? Yet how many rubber bullets
were shot at all the
Occupy
movements combined this year? What was the proportion of violence
and how much restraint was practiced with respect to the former and the
latter? I’m sure that if the numbers are calculated we will see a gross
discrepancy of violence.
The 2012 London Olympics are almost upon us and the world waits, holds
their breath even, in anticipation of this most glorious of events which
will surely decide what country can lay claim to the best athletes bar
none.
But take a closer look and you’ll see that the Olympics are in all
actuality nothing more than bourgeois propaganda; a multifaceted
cultural and ideological weapon of the international bourgeoisie in
which they pretend that the world isn’t divided into oppressor and
oppressed nations. Through the institution of the Olympics the
international bourgeoisie seeks to make us believe that the entire humyn
species is all living in harmony as equal members of one big happy
family, and that the nations of the world co-exist peacefully as if all
are members of one big “global village” with the exception of some
“rogue states.” Nothing however could be further form the truth! Part of
that truth being that the Olympics are really just another synonym for
this “global village” construct, a construct used to white-wash reality.
The term and concept of what the petty-bourgeoisie ideologues have
deemed “global village” and what the big bourgeoisie have in turn
labeled more correctly as “globalization” can be more appropriately
elaborated and defined as “…a supra class, supranational and
universalist process of irresistible all around homogenization of the
world under the auspices of monopoly capitalism, through the
multilateral agencies (United Nations (UN), International Monetary Fund
(IMF), World Bank (WB/IBRD) and World Trade Organization (WTO)) and the
multinational or transnational firms and banks.”(1)
But this ain’t no nit-wit critique of the process of globalization per
the mythical “99%,” who aren’t 99% of anything but more like part of the
top 13% of the richest people in the world!(2) No, this is a critique of
the “global village” construct which has its origin rooted in
petty-bourgeois ideology just like the “99%,” and which is but a
rephrasing of that same process of “globalization” from the
international bourgeoisie, as if both the exploiters and exploited are
all in the global struggle for humynity together! But we communists know
this construct and its material reality by its original name:
imperialism!
As previously stated, the Olympics don’t just serve to gloss over
national and class contradictions on a global scale. They also serve as
an extension and propagation of bourgeois ideology a la “human nature,”
i.e. that always inherent drive to compete.
Indeed, the Olympics serve to keep both the masses of the world and the
more progressive wing of the enemy population distracted from the harsh
reality of imperialist society (as do professional sports in general).
The reality is that the imperialists are on a global rampage in which
they’re voraciously and ruthlessly raping and plundering the oppressed
people of the world and their national territories, i.e. Latin America,
Africa and Asia (the Third World). The lie that is the concept of the
“global village” exaggerates “…the coherence of the world capitalist
system to the point of glossing over the distinction of national modes
of production”(1) and its main proponents are in the oppressor states:
the industrialized and ethnologically developed countries, the First
World, principally the United $tates.
Furthermore, “globalization”/imperialism pretends that the dismantling
of national barriers to the operation of capital markets and finance
capital brings progress to the Third World or “developing economies”
whilst the idealistic and naive petty-bourgeoisie of both the
imperialist countries and the Third World believe it. But the truth of
the matter is that the “…counterproductive character of neocolonialism
is the result of imperialist financing for the overproduction of raw
materials and some manufactures for the consumption of the capitalist
countries and the upper classes in the underdeveloped countries since
the 70s.”(1)
On top of this, the popularization of the global village concept isn’t
just done by the bourgeoisie. This fake global concept is even
propagated by so-called “communists” principally in the First World thru
the guise of revisionist trickery!
On the one hand we have the barefaced bourgeoisie who uses these
concepts to deny Lenin’s formulation of imperialism and proletarian
revolution, saying that it belongs to the past and that the current
neocolonial system is a “post-imperialist phenomenon,” as if imperialism
and all its tools of oppression and exploitation have all but withered
away!
On the other hand we have the so-called and sometimes self-proclaimed
“Maoists” in the First World who are really nothing but
crypto-Trotskyists that spread the false notion, correctly criticized by
MIM, that “…the world proletarian revolution can only be the result of a
simplified struggle between a globally united monopoly bourgeoisie and
the world proletariat and that the total collapse of the unified
imperialism is impending despite the current state of the subjective
forces of the revolution in the world.”(1)
We must take the time to study and analyze the world around us and its
history thru the historical materialist perspective and from the point
of view of the oppressed and exploited Third World masses. We need to
look at the two great socialist projects of the 20th century. The first
was born from the First World War and strong proletarian leadership, and
the second was born of the Second World War and strong peasant backing
which gave further credence and elaboration to the importance of
national liberation and the correct theory that socialism can only be
accomplished one country at a time, of which the establishment of the
USSR should have proved to the muddle-headed. This study makes clear
that the global village/globalization concept that the bourgeoisie uses
to deceive the masses and the world is the same theory the revisionists
use to accomplish the aims of their bourgeois brethren.
So when you’re watching the Olympics this summer remember two things: 1)
The world isn’t one big happy family. It is divided into oppressor and
oppressed nations. This is the principal contradiction on a world scale,
while the fundamental contradiction on a world scale is the bourgeoisie
vs. the proletariat. The Olympics are nothing but the vain attempts of
the international bourgeoisie, and imperialist states to whom they are
bound, to cover up national and class contradictions and to white-wash
reality so that we will confuse the true prize of national liberation,
self-determination and complete emancipation from the imperialists for
gold medals. 2) Just as the global village construct of the
petty-bourgeoisie that dominates that class is a myth and a lie, so is
the global village thesis of the crypto-Trotskyists (simultaneous world
revolution) which they’ve specifically tailored to their purposes. It is
an ideological weapon of the revisionists used to fool the oppressed
nations within U.$. borders into believing that we need not seek
national liberation and self-determination for ourselves because
according to them all nationalism is bourgeois in essence and “the whole
world comes first!”
Lenin, Stalin and Mao all took clear positions on the national question
which was liberty at its core; so why can’t the First World
“communists”? Ask yourself this, go into deep thought, study the
question and you will be enlightened ten-fold.
It’s not for nothing that MIM dubbed the Amerikkkan prison system “the
primary tool of oppressor nation repression in the united $tate$,” and a
review of
MIM
Theory 11: Amerikkkan Prisons On Trial makes this point ever so
clear. Though this particular MIM Theory journal is dated
(1996), like all MTs its message is not. It still serves as a
good introduction to the Amerikan injustice system just as Lenin’s
Imperialism: the Highest Stage of Capitalism continues to serve
as an introductory foundation in political economy for those wanting to
study the thinly veiled intricacies of modern-day imperialism. One read
and you’ll see why Amerika, that “shining city on a hill,” is in all
actuality the prisonhouse of nations.
MT 11 is a must-read, not just for the political- and
class-conscious prisoner, but for all prisoners as a stepping stone on
the road to liberation and sure footing to understanding the exact
context of our imprisonment.
Beginning with the essay “Amerikan Fascism & Prisons,” MIM lays out
the only real fascist aspect in Amerikan society - the Amerikan prison
system. This work is indeed of exceptional relevance as MIM points to
the economic motivation behind fascism as well as to the white
petit-bourgeois element that breathes life into this most barbaric
expression of capitalist production and its anti-revolutionary mission
statement.
The article “Capital & State Join Hands In Private Prisons” further
elaborates on the thesis that fascism is not just alive and well within
the Amerikkkan prison system, but that it has been expanding since the
1980s in the private prison phenomenon, which is but the melding of
capital and the state in the growing war against the oppressed nations,
with the prerequisite and additional benefit of continuing to win over
the middle classes to their side by ensuring them an always available
form of employment.
“Prison Labor: Profits, Slavery & the State” then explains how the
possibility of open slavery can come back full force thru the
institution of the prisons as it was once manifested pre-Civil War. This
article also speaks of the important political functions the prison
system serves repressing in the national liberation movements and the
further indoctrination of the labor aristocracy with fascist ideology.
Nothing however drives home the colonial relation between Amerika and
the oppressed nations like the articles “Political Prisoners Revisited,”
“Political Prisoners & the Anti-Imperialist Struggle” and “Who Are
the Political Prisoners?”
“Political Prisoners Revisited” is a good example of the Maoist tenet of
unity-criticism-unity in which MIM explains the basics of their line
concerning prisoners in Amerika in a dialogue with the New Afrikan
Independence Movement. MIM argues that the term “political prisoners”
shouldn’t just be reserved for individuals such as Mumia Abu-Jamal or
Leonard Peltier, but is more appropriately and powerfully applied to all
prisoners. All prisoners currently incarcerated under the dictatorship
of the bourgeoisie are rightly so political prisoners because the “laws”
that we supposedly broke were laws specifically designed for the backing
of the backward illegitimate political agenda of the superstructure and
the settler state which it serves. To ignore or refute this point with
respect to the entire imprisoned population and instead deflect the
political aspect of this oppression to just a few individuals is not
just a victory for the bourgeoisie but is itself bourgeois in essence!
“Political Prisoners & the Anti-Imperialist Struggle” centers on the
antagonistic contradiction of Amerika vs. the oppressed nations that is
reflected thru the prison system. It focuses on the material basis
objectively present in the form of the gulag, and the material forces
already present therein. MIM discusses the dire need for leadership to
further help develop these potentially revolutionary forces to their
logical conclusion, or in MIM’s words: “to unite all who can be united
to smash imperialism and all its tools of oppression…”
MIM understood the process of rapid radicalization of “common criminals”
as a profoundly political one and in their agitation they emphasized
that process as reflecting the material basis for revolution as does
MIM(Prisons) and USW. Unity on this point is therefore essential to
re-launching the new prison movement in connection with the national
liberation struggles which have been repressed and stagnated by the
oppressors with mass incarceration.
Finally, “Who Are the Political Prisoners?” is a New York prisoner’s
contribution and advancement to the MIM line on political prisoners in
which s/he expounds MIM’s line in detail and in such a way as to leave
no doubt that the growth of the prison system within U.$. borders is not
just a boil, but a cancer on the oppressed nation internal semi-colonies
that needs to be mercilessly removed!
MT 11 also contains, among other things, an essay on Malcolm
X’s progressive development, a critique of Gandhi’s so-called
“non-violence” and pacifist strategy and tactics, as well as some good
theoretical works and revolutionary poetry.
For all these reasons combined, MIM Theory 11: Amerikkkan Prisons on
Trial gets four out of four red stars.
And so with that i end this review the same way the New York prisoner
ended his article:
Death and Destruction to the U.$. Empire! Birth and Construction to
the Prison Revolutionary Movement!
The Essential Stalin: Major Theoretical Writings, 1905-52 Edited with
an introduction by Bruce Franklin
“…Stalin is clearly one of the three most important historical figures
of our century, his thought and deeds still affecting our daily lives,
considered by hundreds of millions today as one of the leading political
theorists of any time, his very name a strongly emotional household name
throughout the world.” - Bruce Franklin
These above mentioned words are as true today as they were when they
were first written 40 years ago. The importance and relevance of
Stalin’s great theoretical works were at the core of the international
communist movement for damn near 90 years and should serve as a
rock-hard foundation for any persyn serious about wanting to re-ignite
the socialist fire that was ablaze for the greater part of the last
century.
As successful as the imperialists have been in vilifying not just the
world revolutionary movement but it’s once main proponent, they can
never completely succeed in wiping the memory or more importantly the
teachings and practice of J.V. Stalin from the minds of countless people
around the globe. Yet the imperialists and their quisling lackeys such
as Bob Avakian of
RCP=U$A
fame continue to desiccate Josef Stalin be it by “new”, “conclusive”,
“secret archive” evidence or by the “new synthesis” method of attack.
Therefore it is the duty of all the real revolutionaries to defend and
uphold the practice of Stalin not just because it is integral to the
successful practice of revolution as the people of Korea, Vietnam and
Peru can attest to but because to attack Stalin is to attack the theory
of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Mao as well; and the only way of doing this
is to (a) study Stalin’s works and (b) put it into practice! and we will
find that (c) without revolutionary theory there can be no revolutionary
movement as practice gropes in the dark unless it’s path is illuminated
by the most advanced revolutionary theory.
In my mission to learn the science of revolution I requested “The
Essential Stalin” from MIM Distributors and must say with great
certainty that my grasp of Marxism-Leniism-Maoism has been increased
ten-fold thanks to my acquiring and diligent study of this most valuable
Marxist-Leninist weapon of liberation. From the most intriguing
introduction which is packed with such hysterical data that reads like
the most vivid novel to “Marxism and the National Question”, J.V.
Stalin’s first major theoretical contribution to the oppressed people of
the world and to which any self-proclaimed revolutionary nationalist
would be remiss not to study, to the “Foundations of Leninism” in which
Stalin always the teacher clearly lays out not just the hysterical roots
of the first truly successful revolutionary ideology based on Marx &
Engels formulations which led to the worlds first socialist society, but
in which he clearly relayed to the Soviet Union that they would stay the
course set by Lenin; to “Dialectical and Historical Materialism” in
which he explained the rudiments of Marxist philosophy and which was
once considered required reading for all members of the Chinese
Communist Party or “Marxism and Linguistics” where Stalin in replying to
young communists properly put forward the place of language in the
revolutionary movement while simultaneously critiquing the dominant
Soviet “authorities,” i.e. revisionists, or “Economic Problems of
Socialism in the USSR”, Stalin’s criticism of “two extreme tendencies in
Soviet political economy, mechanical determinism and voluntarism” which
were propagated by the new bourgeois in the party who wished to cause
the disappearing of man in socialist production.
Surely after leading this communist jewel you will find as did I why it
was Mao himself who described Stalin as “the greatest genius of our
time” and labeled himself as disciple of Stalin.
Studying Stalin however isn’t always the easiest task and requires deep
thought. Rest assured however that by completely immersing yourself in
Stalin’s work and undertaking a painstaking study of it you will be
illuminated by the shining path put forward by comrade Stalin, and while
he wasn’t always the perfect communist for the Soviet Union, he was the
best they had and as a result the International Communist Movement
flourished.
“I was born in jail.” This was Stokely Carmichael’s response to a
Swedish reporter in 1967 when asked if he was afraid of being sent to
jail for helping to organize the Black nation for national liberation
and self-determination.(1) In making this very poignant statement,
Stokely Carmichael was putting forward the correct political analysis,
referring to the prison-like conditions of the Black nation and other
internal semi-colonies of Amerika at the time. It’s been 45 years since
then and a string of reformist struggles have proceeded. The completion
of the civil rights movement, the appointment of the first Black U.$.
Supreme Court “Justice,” and the election of the first Black pre$ident.
But have the material conditions of the Black nation truly changed when
compared to other First Worlders? According to the Census Bureau
statistics for the year 2006, which show more Blacks and Latinos are
living in prison cells than college dorms, they have not.(2)
A new documentary titled “The Violence Interruptors: One Year In a City
Grappling with Violence” makes this point ever-so-clear. This
documentary centers on an imperialist-funded lumpen organization from
the streets of Chicago whose membership is primarily made up of ex-gang
members. For the most part they have all done some serious time for some
serious crimes, but upon their release made a commitment to themselves
and their communities that they would help stop the pointless violence
that takes so many lives.
These ex-gang members call themselves “Violence Interruptors,” which is
a reference to their pacifist tactics. They are funded by the Illinois
Department of Corrections, Cook County Board of Commissioners and the
U.$. Department of Justice, among others. They run the Violence
Interruptors under the guise of the non-profit organization called Cease
Fire. The initial idea of the Violence Interruptors program was proposed
and partly funded by Dr. Gary Slutkin, who upon returning to Chicago
from a medical tour of Africa saw the dire straits of the oppressed here
and drew parallels to the African experience. But the organization’s
true roots date back to Jeff Fort, whose life centered around his
leadership in a Chicago lumpen organization that had one foot in Black
nationalism and one in drugs and gang banging.
In federal prison from 1972 to 1976 due to his use of War on Poverty
money from the government, Fort took up aspects of Islam and rebranded
and restructured the Almighty Black P. Stone Nation when he got out.
Along with other leading members, and at times working with the police,
he worked to build peace between lumpen organizations and to keep crack
out of Chicago. But of course the Amerikan government never likes to see
the oppressed come together for the betterment of our people, even if at
first they pretend to agree with what we’re doing. So they had Fort
arrested and sent back to prison on trumped up terrorism charges, where
he remains today. Having successfully neutralized Fort and other early
leaders, the Stones today remain a largely divided umbrella for many
sets of gang bangers across Chicago, the status quo preferred by the
state.(3)
Carrying on Fort’s legacy, Ameena Mathews, a former gangster and Jeff
Fort’s daughter, is a Violence Interruptor. Mathews, like other Violence
Interruptors, is no stranger to the streets and sees it as her own
persynal responsibility to stop the violence, even if it means putting
her own life at risk. An example of this is caught on film when during
an interview for the documentary that’s being given inside of her home,
a fight breaks out on the street. Recognizing that even a one-on-one
situation has the potential to turn deadly, she immediately rushed out
to try and bring peace to the quickly-growing crowd. While attempting to
calm everyone down, a young man saw a rock hurling at his cousin and
sacrificially put himself in the line of fire to protect her. He was hit
in the mouth. Afterwards threats are made with the promise of gunplay to
come, but Mathews quickly ushers the victim away and tells him that he’s
the real gangsta because he defended his family and defending their
families is what true gangsters do.
Eddie Bocanegra, aka “Bandit,” is another Violence Interruptor who did
14 years for murder, but who, during his imprisonment, went thru a
period of reflection. He recognized that he not only fucked up his life
but that of his family and the family of the person he killed. Now on
the streets Bandit admits to having identified pride with his gang but
now sees that it was all pointless. Besides being a Violence
Interruptor, Bandit also visits schools across Chicago in an attempt to
counsel oppressed nation youth who might find themselves in similar
situations to the ones he once did.
In the film, a delegation from South Africa requested to meet the
Violence Interruptors during a recent visit to the United $tate$ in
order to find out their secret to keeping the peace. Yet, the delegation
became critical of one of the Interruptors’ policies, which is to never
involve the pigs in the community’s affairs. The delegation argued that
the Interruptors were not “neutral enough.” The Interruptors responded
that this was the reason that they were so effective within the
community, because the community knows they can confide in and trust the
Interruptors with their problems without the fear of being sold out.
Certainly the masses are correct to think this way. Problems that arise
within the community should be dealt with by the community. To bring in
the pigs is only to justify the oppression and occupation of the
internal semi-colonies and oppressed communities. The potential problem
we see with the Interruptors is that the state is happy to fund them as
independent mediators for small meaningless violence, but how do the
Interruptors deal with community organizations that are not
state-funded, and may come into conflict with the state? The
Interruptors present themselves as an independent force, but their
funding tells us otherwise.
One indication of the Interruptors’ reputation with the community occurs
when the family of a young murder victim receives word that his funeral
is gonna be shot up by gang members looking for their original target.
So seemingly effective and revered are the Interruptors that the murder
victim’s family calls them to provide security instead of the police. At
the end of the ceremony, Ameena Mathews gives a fiery speech in which
she righteously calls out all the gang members in attendance and
struggles with them to “get real” with their lives because that dead
body they were all there paying their respects to was certainly real,
and “it don’t get more real than that!”
While the documentary was being filmed, sections of the Woodlawn
neighborhood, an epicenter of violent drama, came into conflict over a
plan to militarize Chicago using the National Guard. The plan was
developed by politicians with some members of the community. By building
a real, independent peace in oppressed communities, we can eliminate the
divisions within oppressed communities triggered by the wild behavior of
lumpen youth and form a united front to keep the state’s occupation out.
The section of the community that spoke out against the call for
militarization knows that the National Guard will not provide more
safety, only more oppression. This shows that just because the state has
gotten smarter about how to control its internal semi-colonies does not
mean that they no longer see the need for armed force.
Jeff Fort and the Almighty Black P. Stone Nation’s peace activism legacy
lives on in the new federally-funded Violence Interruptors. Similarly,
the once largely popular efforts of the Gangster Disciples to hold peace
summits in Chicago has evolved into a project that works closely with
the political machine of the state. Amerika has proven unable to solve
the problems that have plagued the ghetto for generations. While Amerika
was worried about what the Stones or the GDs might become, they were
scared of what the Panthers already were. They drugged and shot Fred
Hampton at age 21, while they eventually sent Fort and Larry Hoover to
supermax prison cells with very limited contact with the outside world.
While Barack Obama has thousands of people murdered across Africa and
the Middle East, we see the level of criminality one must have to become
a successful Black leader out of Chicago in this country. The
imperialist-funded non-profits use pacifism for the oppressed, while
painting mass murder for the oppressor nation as “spreading democracy.”
Many think that the Violence Interruptors have people power, but in fact
they do not, for they wouldn’t even exist if they didn’t have the
blessing of the oppressors. While the short-term goal of the
Interruptors is to “stop the violence,” the long-term goal of the
oppressors in creating the Interruptors is to stop the violence from
spilling over onto themselves. They do this by not just co-opting
grassroots attempts by the people to overcome their oppression and bring
peace to the hood, but by creating organizations such as the Violence
Interruptors which in the final analysis are nothing more than sham
organizations; it is the bourgeoisie laughing at us.
In the Third World the bourgeoisie forms shadow organization and calls
them “communist” in order to split the people and stop them from
launching a People’s War. In the imperialist countries, like here in the
U.$., they either co-opt or infiltrate and wreck those organizations
already in existence. While the Panthers were given nothing but the
stick, the Stones themselves were easily distracted from the path of the
Panthers with the carrot of a little money from the War on Poverty.
After destroying any independent mass movements, the imperialists allow
and even encourage groups that promote integration or confuse the
masses.
While it is true that there is only so much that we can do for the
betterment of our class given our current position as oppressed nations
within the belly of the beast, we must also recognize the importance of
social consciousness on social being and stop letting the circumstances
of our imprisonment both in here and on the street dictate to us the
confines of our reality. We must come together and build our reality. We
must come together and build our own institutions that are there to
serve us; institutions of the oppressed. The Black Panthers had this
power and we can too. We must learn to reject the bourgeois notion of
power, which is only crude power and serves to oppress and exploit. This
type of power is currently exhibited by many LOs, both in here and on
the streets.
While commending those individuals within the Violence Interruptors who
really are trying to do their part to stop the violence, we must also
draw a clear line between fighting for self-determination of the
oppressed and serving as the friendly face of the imperialist state. We
need more allies on the streets doing this work in support of the
efforts of MIM(Prisons) and USW in building peace on the inside. Only by
building our own institutions of the oppressed will we truly be able to
stop the violence that takes so many lives and keeps a substantial
portion of oppressed nation youth behind bars.
Brown and Black Unite! All Power to the Oppressed!
¿Sí se puede o no se puede? ¿Cuál es señor presidente?
A principio del 2008 empezamos a oír del entonces candidato presidencial
Barack Obama que si fuera elegido tomaría acción rápida de la reforma
migratoria. Durante este tiempo también empezó a extraviarse a la
izquierda de la opinión corriente de la burgués por insinuar su disgusto
con los allanamientos de los lugares de trabajo a los indocumentados.
Tampoco, nunca se molestó a mencionar nada sobre la muchísima gente
indocumentada que supuestamente cometió algún “crimen” en cruzar la
borde mexicano/estadounidense cuando dio su discurso al Concilio
Nacional de La Raza.(1)
De verdad, declaraciones como estas sobre el tema de la reforma
migratoria ayudó popularizar el senador de Illinois entre los Latinos lo
cual le ayudó quitarle el voto latino a la entonces Senadora de Nueva
York Hilary Clinton.(2) Aun aquí estamos tres años lejos de la elección
del primer presidente negro de los Estados Unidos y el tiempo nos ha
enseñado otra vez de nuevo que Barack Obombadero como cualquier otro
político estadounidense no tiene nada más que ofrecer a las naciones
oprimidas más que promesas quebradas y más opresión.
Un millón de gente han sido deportados de los Estados Unidos desde la
toma de oficina de Obombadero en el 2009; es decir 400,000 deportaciones
al año con las varias naciones latinas porteando lo peor.(3) También es
importante notar que los números de deportación han aumentado desde a
administración previa de Bush y son históricamente más alta en
comparación de las 500,000 gente quien fueron literalmente
“ferrocarrilados” a México entre los años 1929-39 en lo que los
imperialistas llamaron “arreares de repatriación.” Esto además que no
toda la gente eran ciudadanos Mexicanos.(4)
Más recientemente, los EE UU iniciaron las deportaciones masas bajo el
capo de un programa federal costeado por la administración Obombadero
llamado “comunidades seguras” en que oficiales de ICE (Inmigración y
Coacción Adueñar) en conjunción con policías locales por toda la nación
buscan a los indocumentados y llevan a cabo allanamientos contra
ellos.(3) Los allanamientos son llevados a cabo del encabezamiento de
“operaciones fugitivas.”(3)
Al principio los policías locales tenían la opción de unirse a
comunidades seguras pero muchos de ellos vacilaron previniendo los
problemas potenciales que esto podría causar a sus funciones diarios de
ocupares de las semicolónias internas también a su vigilar de vecindades
con alta densidad de población migrante recién llegados.(3) ICE
eventualmente los pudo vender comunidades seguras a los puercos después
de decirles que solamente buscarían a “los peores de los peores.”(3)
Según la portavoz del gobierno, una mitad de la gente quien han sido
deportados desde el 2009 eran delincuentes violentos, pero
investigaciones sobre el programa han revelado que mucha de la gente
siendo deportada actualmente fueron deportados debido a infracciones
menores, tal como Señora Ramírez quien fue arrestada por policías
locales por una infracción menor de auto; fue mandada a un centro de
detención federal y seguido deportada a México desde Maple Park,
Illinois todo en el espacio de unos pocos días a despecho de que no
tenía fondo de criminal y estaba criando hijos nacidos
estadounidenses.(3)
¿Pero sería que Señora Ramírez era una de las afortunadas si se
considere las circunstancias? La respuesta es sí.
Ciudades de acampamiento, viviendas apretadas, ningún derecho a
abogados, el racismo, el abuso verbal, el abuso mental, golpizas y el
asalto sexual. Esta es la realidad dura que espera a los indocumentados
en cuanto son aprisionados y deportados a las manos de
estadounidenses.(3)
Un caso en punto es el Centro de Detención e Inmigración Federal en
Willacy, Téjas donde una investigación reciente por el ACLU determinó
que había “abuso sexual muy extensiva de las detenidas y un sistema de
injusticia sistemáticamente posesionada sin ninguna responsabilidad
firmemente intacto.”(3) Esta información fue corroborada más por
guardias y un psiquiatra, que eran empleados anteriormente por Willacy,
quien dieron cuentas del abuso al contrario de comprobación de cuentas
que hizo el ICE en donde se le dio un grado de “BIEN.”(3)
Durante este tiempo el departamento de ICE también condujo una encuesta
de los presos supuestamente para ayudarles registrarse las quejas.
Desafortunadamente la encuesta no era nada más que un truco compuesto y
conducido por ICE sí mismo para poner en la mirada a los quien
intentaban registrar quejas y disuadirlos de que siguen por manera de
amenazar verbales.(3)
¿Que Vendrá?
Entonces, ¿qué es lo que la población migrante de los EE UU podrá
esperar? Bueno, si la realidad corriente y el número de gente
corrientemente encarcelados en prisiones Amerikanas puede servir como
una indicación de lo que vendrá, entonces podemos esperar que el país
con el porcentaje más alta de su población detrás de las rejas ahora se
convierta en el país con el porcentaje más alta de nacionales
extranjeros detrás de sus rejas. Más evidencia de como los Estados
Unidos oprime la mayoría del mundo. En verdad, prisioneros políticos.
Los críticos liberales de comunidades seguras como el ACLU han apuntado
que el programa de comunidades seguras es nada más que la política de la
administración Bush inflada con las esteroides de Obama.(5) Aunque
tendríamos que concordar también tendríamos que ir más lejos.
¡Comunidades seguras es el utilizado del sistema de injusticia Amerikana
como una resolución substituta para su población migrante quien ellos
desalojaron en el primer lugar! Los descendientes de los habitantes
originales en esta tierra migran a los EE UU para trabajar a los
trabajos que los estadunidenses no harán, ganando menos salarios que los
estadounidenses. Pero, sólo son tantos trabajos no queridos que necesita
obreros, y frontera abiertas resultarían en una igualación en salarios
estadounidenses con el resto del mundo – el miedo más grande de la
aristocracia obrera. Esta realidad económica, junto con amenazas
políticas que una población oprimida creciente dentro de las fronteras
estadounidense propone, explica por qué los E.E.U.U. se fijan en
controlar estrictamente a los emigrantes (en particular los que cruzan
el Rio Grande)
En un discurso en El Paso, Téjas al comienzo de este año el Presidente
Obombadero otra vez andaba mintiendo y hablando por los dos lados de su
boca cuando dijo que no habría ninguna reforma comprensiva de
inmigración por la culpa de los tercos republicanos.(3) La línea final,
no habrá reforma comprensiva de inmigración y va a seguir “cumplimiento
forzoso en esteroides.” No reforma quiere decir que el requisito, bajo
comunidades seguras de la demandada cuota de deportación de 400,000
anual según un memorándum interno de ICE va a continuar para seguir
recibiendo fondos del Congreso.(3)
Cuando se le preguntó a Cecilia Muñoz, una oficial de alta nivel con el
departamento de Asuntos Interiores de la administración de Obama, sobre
el golpazo que estos tipos de números tendrán en las familias migrantes
en los Estados Unidos, ella respondió con retórica típica de la nación
opresora, dijo que, “familias quebradas son el resultado de leyes
quebradas.” Luego dijo que todo era parte del problema de
inmigración.(3)
A este pincho vendido le respondemos todo al contrario, no hay ningún
problema migratorio pero sí hay un problema del imperialismo y en
realidad es el problema número uno en el mundo ahora; principalmente el
imperialismo estadounidense.
Después de la deportación de Susana Ramírez hubo un esfuerzo para que
voten y pasen una declaración del senado para negar fundos para el
programa de comunidades seguras de ICE. La declaración se llamaba “La
Ley de Susana”, y fue negada.(3)
Si se puede o no se puede? (Yes, we can or no, we can’t?) Which one is
it Mr. President?
Beginning in 2008 we started hearing from then presidential candidate
Barack Obama that if elected he’d take quick action on immigration
reform. During this time he also began straying to the left of the
bourgeois mainstream opinion by hinting at a distaste for workplace
raids of undocumented migrants. Also, he never bothered to mention
anything about the many undocumented people who’d committed a “crime” in
crossing the Mexico/U.$. border when he gave his speech at the National
Council of La Raza.(1)
Indeed, statements and positions such as these on the issue of
immigration reform helped popularize the Illinois Senator amongst
Latinos which in turn helped him to wrestle the Latino vote away from
then NY senator Hillary Clinton.(2) Yet here we are now three years out
from the election of the first Black President of the United $tates of
Amerika and time has once again shown us that Barack Obomber, like all
other Amerikan politicians, has nothing more to offer the oppressed
nations but broken promises and more oppression.
One million people have been deported from the U.$. since the taking of
office by Obomber in 2009. That’s 400,000 deportations a year with the
various Latino nations bearing the brunt of it.(3) It’s also important
to note that this number of deportations is actually up from the
previous Bu$h administration and ridiculously higher than the 500,000
people who were literally “railroaded” to Mexico between 1929-39 in what
the imperialists called “repatriation drivers.” This despite the fact
that not everyone who was deported were Mexican nationals.(4)
More recently the U.$. initiated the mass deportations under the guise
of the Obomber administration’s federally funded program called
“Secure
Communities” in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
officials, in conjunction with local law enforcement, searched out the
undocumented and carried out raids against them all across the
country.(3) The raids are conducted under the heading of “fugitive
operations.”(3)
At first local law enforcement was given the option of joining Secure
Communities but many were hesitant foreseeing the potential problems
this might pose to their daily functions as occupiers of the internal
semi-colonies as well as to the policing of neighborhoods with a high
density populace of newly arrived migrants.(3) ICE however was
eventually able to sell Secure Communities to the pigs after telling
them they’d only be going after the “worst of the worst.”(3)
According to government mouthpieces, half the people who’ve been
deported since 2009 were violent offenders, but investigations into the
program have revealed that many of the people deported have actually
been deported due to minor infractions such as Susana Ramirez who was
arrested by local law enforcement for a minor traffic stop, sent to a
federal detention center and was subsequently deported to Mexico from
Maple Park, Illinois. All this happened in the span of a few days
despite the fact that she had no criminal background and was raising
U.$. citizen children.(3)
But was Susana Ramirez actually one of the lucky ones considering the
circumstances? The answer is yes.
Tent cities, cramped quarters, no right to attorneys, racism, verbal
abuse, mental abuse, beatings and sexual assault, this is the stark
reality that awaits the undocumented as they are imprisoned and deported
at the hands of Amerikans.(3)
Case in point is the Willacy, Texas Federal Immigration Detention Center
where a recent investigation by the ACLU determined that there was
“widespread sexual abuse of female detainees and a systematically
positioned injustice system with no accountability firmly intact.”(3)
This information was further corroborated by former Willacy guards and a
former Willacy psychiatrist who gave eyewitness accounts of the abuse,
contrary to a 2009 ICE audit of the prison camp in which the detention
center was given a rating of “good.”(3)
During the same period ICE also conducted a survey of the prisoners
supposedly to encourage grievance filing. Unfortunately, the survey was
nothing but a ruse orchestrated and conducted by ICE officials
themselves in an effort to pinpoint those attempting to file complaints
and dissuade them from following through.(3)
What’s to Come?
So what is in store for the migrant population of the U.$.? Well, if
current reality and the number of people currently locked up in
Amerika’s prisons can serve as indicators of what’s to come then we
should expect the country with the highest percentage of its population
behind bars to now become the country with the highest percentage of
foreign nationals behind bars as well. This is more proof of how the
U.$. oppresses the world’s majority. They are political prisoners
indeed.
Liberal critics of the Secure Communities program such as the ACLU have
pointed out that it is nothing more than the Bush administration’s
immigration policies juiced up on Obomber steroids.(5) And while we’d
have to agree we’d also have to go further. Secure Communities is the
utilization of the Amerikan injustice system as a proxy resolution for
its superfluous migrant population which the U.$. directly displaced to
begin with! Descendents of the original inhabitants of this land migrate
to the United $tates to work at jobs that Amerikans won’t do, making
less than Amerikans make in wages. But there are only so many of these
undesirable jobs that need to be filled, and open borders would result
in an equalization of Amerikan wages with the rest of the world – the
biggest fear of the labor aristocracy. This economic reality, combined
with political threats that an expanding oppressed population inside
U.$. borders poses, explains why Amerika targets migrants (particularly
those coming across the Rio Grande) for strict control.
At an El Paso speech earlier this year President Obomber was once again
telling lies and talking out of both sides of his mouth when he stated
that there would be no comprehensive immigration reform because of
Republican stubbornness.(3) Bottom line, there will be no comprehensive
reform and there will continue to be “enforcement on steroids.” And no
reform means the requirement under Secure Communities to deport 400,000
people a year, according to an ICE internal memo, will continue to be
enforced to maintain funding from Congress.(3)
When asked about the toll these numbers would take on migrant families
in the U.$., Cecilian Muñoz, an Obomber administration top official with
Interior Affairs, answered in typical oppressor nation rhetoric, that
“broken families are the result of broken laws.” She then went on to
state how it was all just part of the immigration problem.(3)
To that coconut we say quite the contrary. There is no immigration
problem, but there is an imperialism problem. As a matter of fact it’s
the number one problem in the world today: principally U.$. imperialism.
In the wake of Susana Ramirez’s deportation there was a push to have a
Senate Bill voted on and passed to deny ICE any more funding for Secure
Communities. The bill was called “Susana’s Law,” and it was defeated.(3)
Thanks to MIM(Prisons), prisoners from all across Amerika now have
the opportunity to discover and learn from various revolutionaries and
societies of days gone by.
We can learn of how for the first time in hystory Marx & Engels,
thru diligent study of the past and scientific analysis of their
hystorical conditions, were able to synthesize socialism into a science,
thereby pointing the road forward to emancipation for the proletariat.
We can read of how V.I. Lenin not only defined the decadent and final
stage of monopoly capitalism (imperialism), but We can study how he
illuminated and laid bare the strategy and tactics of the proletariat,
ushering into existence the first socialist state.
We can sort thru all the lies and distortions of the bourgeoisie that
have been successfully hurled at the persyn who was the one-time leader
of the international communist movement for 30 crucial years; main
anti-fascist military strategist of WWII; and leader of that socialist
powerhouse, the USSR 1922-53. I am talking about J. Stalin.
We can even learn about the third and final stage of Marxism thus far:
Mao
Zedong Thought. We can read and draw lessons from how he led one
fourth of the world’s population to victory over foreign imperialism and
domestic feudalism and capitalism by way of national liberation
vis-a-vis protracted peoples’ war. We can read of the most radical and
progressive revolution the world has ever seen, without which socialism
will not survive and communism cannot be attained: the Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution.
Long Live the Maoist Internationalist Ministry of Prisons!
MIM(Prisons) adds: With a little more time and money from our
supporters, MIM(Prisons) can expand this important work of spreading
revolutionary literature to the prisoner movement. We have revolutionary
books, magazines and newspapers that will be sent into prisoners’ hands
much faster if we have more donations to cover the costs of shipping.
The easiest way our supporters can contribute time to our educational
work right now is to be a volunteer typist. All you need is access to a
computer with an internet connection and you can work with the prisoner
study groups and research projects that we support.
This article was translated and updated by USW C-4 based on an
article originally printed in Notas Rojas
Lately there have been news reports about the amount of L.O. related
violence. The “solution” proposed is the presence of more police on the
streets and barrios of the oppressed nations. In every state where
lumpen organizations exist propositions are being heard to raise police
funding by millions of dollars. Asking from a reformist perspective, why
isn’t that money used to create youth training centers for office/trade
or education, and the only logical response is that the police,
government and white-nation simply want to make life more impossible for
oppressed nation people. Above all for Latinos and Blacks.
Lumpen Organizations are a logical extension of capitalist society
When speaking about gangs and violence let’s not forget that the most
powerful gang and most violent of ’em all is the U.$. government, and
it’s agencies of protection are the same entities that determine what is
and isn’t a gang. It can be said that the gang of “Amerikkka” serves as
a model for street gangs which are less violent and less powerful. The
similarities are obvious: they both defend territories they’ve taken
possession of, many times with violence, they both take part in illegal
trade of narcotics and guns for financial gain (and in the case of
street-gangs for protection). In the U.$. there was the initiation of
chemical warfare on the Black nation in the form of the crack cocaine
epidemic which began in the 70s and 80s, also worth noting is the more
recent uncovering of CIA agents selling high power firearms to the drug
cartels of Mexico. The difference with respect to lumpen organizations
and their members is that many times they don’t have another option. The
government on the other hand does it as a way to enforce it’s politics
to assure it’s hegemonic control over the Third World as well as a form
of making money. No one prohibits the government from continuing.
The irony of the matter is that government functionaries are fighting
against something that represents the logical extension of the
colonizer’s society of the U.$. along with it’s values and all. The
power, the violence and the voracious ambition are all part of the
patrimony of the United $tates. Instead of attacking the root of the
problem, the pigs favor armed suppression of the youth. To truly solve
the problem you have to solve the problem of the nature of society as a
whole and destroy the model on which street gangs are based, the
military and the government of the United $tates.
Whatever diminishment in gang activity there is due to mass
incarceration and/or the augmented presence of pigs will only serve to
quiet the issue for a short period of time and might even cause the
transfer of the gang to a territory with less police. A real solution to
the violence of street crime needs to include the abolition of the
system that requires that some live in misery while others live in
disgusting and exaggerated wealth, while the rich accuse the poor of not
being “smart” like them as an explanation for the wealth.
The inequality of power is a necessary condition of
capitalist/imperialist society. The solution requires doing away with
this oppressive system. For those who are searching for a more immediate
solution for society’s problems like gang violence which affect their
communities, the community ends up losing when they make it a priority
to increase police presence. How many times must it be proven that the
police are our enemies. They kill us without a care in the world. See
our recent article on
David
Deacon Turner, former NFL player killed by the pigs.
Many people who witness the more visible violence, that of the LOs and
not of the police, are siding with the pigs against the LOs. This is
expected for many reasons, including the friendly relationship between
the police and the press. The press doesn’t occupy itself with exposing
the abuses and assassinations by the police.
For this debate the voice that’s most needed is that of the LOs and
their members. After all, can we trust in the press or in a press
conference by the police? Or that the press will lie about the LOs? The
LOs and their supporters have reason to stay away from the yellow press;
instead they should utilize other methods and mediums in building public
opinion to speak for them. This is another of the millions of reasons
why the oppressed need their own independent media. LO members are
encouraged to write MIM(Prisons) to have their voices heard in
ULK and to help develop an analysis of the lumpen by the lumpen
for the betterment of the lumpen.
RCP=U$A chair Bob Avakian once again sets his sails towards billowy
clouds in the May 29, 2011 issue of ‘Revolution’ newspaper, the official
mouthpiece of the rcp=u$a, in which the party leader once more makes the
case for a socialist revolution in the U.$. with the labor aristocracy
at the helm. He puts forth this idea in a talk broken down into series
of articles titled: “Birds cannot give birth to crocodiles, but humanity
can soar beyond the horizon.” He states that: “…in imperialist countries
in particular it is only with major qualitative change in the situation
- that is, the eruption of a revolutionary crisis and the emergence of a
revolutionary people in the millions and millions - that it becomes
possible to wage the all out struggle for the seizure of power…”
To begin with, it is important that we point out that socialist
revolution will not reach the bastions of imperialism until the Third
World proletariat and peasantry rises in the billions to first eject the
imperialists, subsequently defeating the compradors and then mobilizing
itself to smash the imperialists on their home turf with the help of the
oppressed nation lumpen of the internal semi-colonies. These oppressed
nation lumpen who are currently situated within the internal
semi-colonies, i.e. barrios/ghettos/reservations of amerika and it’s
prisons, are the only people in the U.$. with any kind of revolutionary
potential whatsoever!
So we don’t know where all these “millions of millions” of revolutionary
people that Avakian loves to harp about will be drawn from, unless he’s
counting on the labor aristocracy to take up arms and call itself
“comrade.”
Something else worth nothing here in the chairman’s flawed war thesis,
if you could even call it that, is that this economist/opportunist
deviation is not just owed to the RCP’s failure to acknowledge the
outcome of a proper class analysis, but also, because of their erroneous
line on the self-determination rights of the oppressed nations. The
rcp-u$a’s line is that all nationalism is bourgeoisie, hence
reactionary. More pointedly they don’t think there’s any nations within
the United $tates that need liberating, with a
possible
exception for the Black Nation.
The party leader goes on to talk about how important it is for the
struggle not to settle into “protractedness” because according to
Avakian “that would very much be a recipe for defeat.” The chairman then
makes some completely ludicrous and out of context comparisons when he
describes how the Maoist concept of a protracted Peoples War is no
longer a viable solution in the Third World and certainly is not suited
for U.$. conditions. Well, he’s certainly right that in regards to the
United $tates this is not a viable solution. However, with respect to
the former, Avakian attributes this to a lack of “finiteness” in the
struggle, instead, pushing for one big decisive battle. I assume here
that Mr. Avakian is referring to the now defunct Maoist struggles of
Nepal and Tamil of which the rcp=u$a has been very critical.
The fact that the rcp=u$a would denigrate various revolutionary Third
World struggles as “too much of things unto themselves” (which is also a
common rcp-u$a criticism of the Chinese Cultural Revolution) is a
straight up disrespect to the Third World masses dying daily at the
hands of imperialism and it’s comprador cartels, as well as
delegitimizing to the real science of revolutions: M-L-M.
No Mr. Avakian, the fact that the Nepalese and Tamil struggle has not
brought the proletariat victory has nothing to do with the failure of
the Maoist concept of a protracted peoples war, rather failure in these
struggles can be directly linked to revisionist leadership of the
rcp-u$a sort!
Continuing with this bourgeois-centric analysis, the party leader then
goes into some detail concerning the crucialness of public opinion
building and cultural work in general when it comes to preparing the
“masses” for revolution. However, and this is where you have to watch
him, he gets sneaky and besides already counting the labor aristocracy
as proletariat, he attempts to smuggle broad sections of the
petit-bourgeoisie into the revolution and eventually the dictatorship,
thereby killing the dictatorship of the proletariat before it’s ever
even born. This is what he says: “there is also, very importantly, the
problem of the development of the necessary political and ideological
conditions for the initiation of this struggle for the seizure of power
- and the organized expression of the political and ideological
influence of the vanguard - among the basic masses but also, to the
greatest degree possible at every point along the way, among other
strata of the people as well, in order to have the best possible basis
for carrying forward the struggle for power once it has been launched
and not, in fact to be contained and crushed, but to have the best
possible basis to ‘break out of encirclement.’”
It is true, historically speaking, that once socialist revolutions had
begun and proletarian victory was within reach, hoards of the enemy
class have come over to the side of the revolution. However, it has
never been the intent of the vanguard to focus their efforts so
ferociously on the enticement of parasites as Afakian and the rcp-u$a so
incessantly advocate for. It was however and remains so the principal
task of the revolutionaries, to unite all who can be united, i.e. the
truly oppressed and exploited.
If sections of the bourgeoisie so wish to either, (a) commit class
suicide and join the revolution or (b) see that victory is inevitable
for the proletariat and it’s allies and decide it better to be on the
winning side of the war, then so much the better. But neither Marx nor
Engels, Lenin, Stalin or Mao ever sought to actively recruit pigs who
were not dedicated to the revolution and neither should we.
If anything, the “middle” and “broad strata” would only be too happy to
swell the ranks of the imperialists armed forces and smash the internal
semi-colonies to pieces; they know which side their bread is buttered
on.
Indeed, seasoned readers of Kautsky’s, I mean Afakian and the RCP’s vile
distortions of M-L-M have come to understand that whenever Avakian and
company casually, indirectly or directly throw out the terms “middle”
and “broad strata” what they’re really trying to emphasize is the
reliance and inclusion of the bought off traitorous sections of the
population into and with the revolution. Notice how they consciously
exclude the true element of change from the equation the Third World
masses.
The rest of the chairman’s article basically rehashes some of the points
already made such as work in the cultural sphere prior to and during the
seizure of power, the importance of the “one, two, knockout blow” to the
bourgeoisie which serves to counteract the problem of “finiteness.” And
of course, he can’t emphasize enough the reliance of the revolution on
the “middle” and “broad strata”. And oh yea his deep lamentations that
white people have been turned against the oppressed by way of
propaganda, and all that’s needed for their return to the side of the
revolution is arduous public opinion building.
It is fitting that Bob Avakian’s piece is concluded by his making
companions between Mao’s China, pre-liberation and the United $tates
today, drawing parallels between the middle strata of the revolutionary
base areas in the Chinese countryside (the better off peasants) and the
decadent labor aristocracy which the rcp-u$a knows and loves today.
Truly, Bob Avakian is delusional.
MIM(Prisons) adds: For more on this topic check out other
articles on the
rcp=u$a and our analysis of the
labor
aristocracy in the First World.