## ## ### ## ## # # ### ### ### ### # # # # # # # ## # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ## ### # # # # # # ## # # # # # # # ### # # # # ### # ### ### THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT MIM Notes 81 October 1993 Electronic Edition * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Get MIM Notes 81 from the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM), and get the latest in Maoist news and analysis - put the revolutionary tool in your hands. This issue features news on First Nation struggles for sovereignty and their dilemma over gambling in Michigan and elsewhere. It features analysis on the PLO surrender THEY call a "breakthrough," and puts it in historical context. And then there's first-hand reporting and personal testimonies from inside Amerikkka's gulags - MIM's monthly prison report, Under Lock & Key. And more. MIM Notes speaks to and from the viewpoint of the world's oppressed majority, and against the imperialist-patriarchy. Pick it up and wield it in the service of the people. Struggle with it and write for it. MIM Notes is available to subscribers of New York Transfer (write: nyt@blythe.org). Or get a subscription from MIM in e-mail or snail-mail form - $12/year for 12 issues. Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. (Send only cash or check made out to "ABS".) Send questions, responses or submissions to: mim@blythe.org. This issue features: > PALESTINE DREAM DEAL MEANS DARK DAYS FOR THE PEOPLE > PLO: RISE AND FALL > SOMALIA KEEPS U.N. ON THE ROPES > AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL POSITION ON PERU REFUTED > CHINESE PEASANTS RISE AGAIN > LETTERS FROM ONLINE > CHINESE CHILDREN SEE BENEFITS OF CAPITALISM > A.N.C. CALLS FOR CAPITAL > ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT? > GAMBLING FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION > STATE INFILTRATES GERMANY'S RED ARMY FRACTION > REVIEW: TAKE A TOUR OF AMERIKKKA WITH THE GOATS > LETTERS TO MIM UNDER LOCK & KEY > U.S. MEDICAL CENTER FOR FEDERAL PRISONERS CENSORS MIM NOTES > LUCASVILLE UPDATE - GUARDS BEAR PRISONER, THREATEN HIS LIFE > "POLITICS ARE ALWAYS IN COMMAND, NOT THE GUN" > WE MUST UNDO WHAT THEY'VE DONE > BACKGROUND INFO ON POLITICAL REPRESSION IN U.S. PRISONS > "WE REFUSE TO BE SLAVES" > PRISONER REPORTS RELIGIOUS AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT * * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * * - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - PALESTINE DREAM DEAL MEANS DARK DAYS FOR THE PEOPLE by MC12 With a sudden snap - the crack of an Israeli assault rifle - the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) collapsed inward under the weight of its own capitulation in the face of concerted imperialist pressure - a little before noon on September 13. What it leaves behind is a Palestinian nation forged in half a century of struggle facing another defeat. September 13 is the day a PLO representative signed away the concept of national liberation struggle - already abandoned by the PLO in practice - and signed up the PLO in a partnership of oppression with Israel and imperialism. The agreement signed by the PLO and the Israeli government is a worse deal than that offered Palestinians in 1948. It represents the final defeat of the PLO and the beginning of a new stage in the struggle for Palestinian national liberation. In its surrender, the PLO follows other such late-Soviet-era movements as the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) in El Salvador and the African National Congress (ANC) into the dustbin of history, leaving behind a painful trail of tears and betrayal as well as a legacy of heroic struggle. The PLO was at an all-time low-point, even as Palestinian national consciousness is flourishing.(1) Why? The PLO's errors are lessons in the danger of not having a proletarian and feminist line leading the national liberation struggle. The petty-bourgeois line that dominated the PLO led the organization to become dependent on foreign aid from Arab governments, which became more important than support from the masses themselves. The PLO drew more on the symbolic elements of the intifada - stone-throwing and protests - then on the intifada's militant strikes and collective organizing for self-sufficiency, in the organization's hope of gaining international recognition and a better negotiating position. Then, the Soviet Union collapsed. The United States forced the Arab powers - with no USSR to help them - to align themselves against Iraq and cut off the PLO, thus forcing the PLO, which had lost its grounding among the masses, into negotiating a surrender. A wide array of forces seek new positions in the next phase of resistance and oppression. From around the Arab world, revolutionary Palestinians, Pan-Arabists and Islamic activists issued calls for rejection of the PLO's treachery(2), some dying under the guns of the Lebanese army as they demonstrated in Beirut.(3) In Gaza, the Islamic- nationalist group Hamas called a series of general strikes in protest - widely honored - before yielding to a national celebration and public display of Palestinian flags - also well attended.(4) Other Hamas supporters launched military attacks on Israeli positions.(5) From Washington and Paris(2) to Bonn and Indonesia(6), imperialist and capitalist regimes prepared to invest ("aid") in the "development" of the Israeli-occupied lands under their newly-legitimized neo-colonial regime. Among Israelis, support for the agreement ran 3-2 in favor(7) Israeli liberals and pseudo-leftists support what looks to them like "peace," while fascistic nationalists put up a show of opposition. Amerikan pseudo-leftists now add the PLO to the list of previously revolutionary groups that endorse the collaborative strategy of "working things out" in a "spirit of cooperation" that has so far brought nothing but more misery from Central America to Azania and Palestine. Israel's "peace" movement turned out 100,000 strong to celebrate the accord, roaring their approval when leader Amos Oz declared: "From now on we are no longer a protest movement." Then they locked hands to sing the Israeli national anthem.(8) Who wins, who loses? In short, Amerika and Israel win. A class of Palestinian comprador bureaucrat capitalists also wins, hoping to one day join the ranks of social-militarist Arab rulers in Egypt, Syria and the like. Imperialism wins (for now) in securing the false peace between ruler and ruled. World War III in Palestine takes a new form now, with Palestinian overseers cracking the whip over semi-slaves, especially those who spread anti-imperialist rebellion. The Palestinian people lose. Their "autonomy" in Gaza and the town of Jericho is as frail as any agreement between colony and colonizer; their hopes for future "agreements" as solid as hot desert air. The agreement, which is supposed to give Palestinians "autonomy" in Gaza and the West Bank town of Jericho, includes a local PLO police force to supplement the Israeli military, which is supposed to cover "defense" of the territories, as well as defending Israeli settlers exactly where they are (on the best land). As the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) noted, "this conspiratory plan has entrusted the mission of suppressing the popular uprising in the occupied territories to the Palestine Liberation Organization."(6) This view was confirmed by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, when he said: "Arafat is announcing that he opposes terrorism and will fight the terrorists."(9) Taking over from such expert-oppressors as the Israelis is no small task. Fortunately for the PLO, they are already in training, as the Economist reported that "Since January, Israeli military experts have been meeting a team of PLO strategists ... to discuss security in the autonomous zone."(10) Now the future of the arrangement depends on the ability of the PLO to maintain new-world-style order. A PFLP official argued, "Israel may be laying a trap by withdrawing the army from Gaza and Jericho ... By letting the people fight each other,(Israel) can say to the world that the Palestinians are not able to rule themselves."(11) A Palestinian journalist jailed for a 1968 bombing complained of the deal: "I didn't spend 17 years in jail so that Arafat could call me a terrorist. I want peace, but real peace between equals. This is artificial, and it won't last long."(12) No peace The myth of peace between unequals will not take long to expose in practice. In the first stage of "autonomy," Palestinians will not control the local economy above the petty level. Economic development, trade, "aid," and so on will be left up to the "Israeli-Palestinian Economic Cooperation Committee," which has not yet been composed. Israel currently maintains a per-capita Gross Domestic Product about 12 times as great as the occupied territories and Jordan. That disparity is the product of many factors, none of which are really addressed in the agreement. Israel controls Palestinian exports to both Israel and the rest of the world, and manipulates these to benefit Israeli agriculture, which is subsidized by the state already. That structure is not changing.(13) Land and water rights are not changed either, leaving Israel with a stranglehold on good land and water, both on the stolen land of Israel proper and in the occupied territories, where Israeli settlers can stay on the land they seized. Finally, what industry exists in the territories is already dominated by Israeli companies or their local subcontractors, under economic and military protection.(13) That too will not change. To make a peace between equals requires returning stolen land (from 1948, 1967, and since) into the hands of the people who owned it and their descendents, many of whom still hold deeds. Some of that property is or was in the hands of Israeli kibbutzes which since converted it into profitable capitalist agricultural enterprises capable of supporting the egalitarian life-styles of rich and infamous settlers. A real settlement would start with reparations for exploited and stolen labor and land. As in Amerika, the bill is long overdue and adding up. In social welfare taxes alone, Palestinian workers in the last 25 years have paid $250 million in deducted fees that were stolen outright and converted into settler benefits.(13) All of this is not important to Israel, the United States or the PLO. No, the bourgeois conception of "cooperation" is delight at the prospect that "Israel's high-tech could be married to the Arabs' low labour costs" more than it already is.(14) The Day of the Deal was a dark one for the Palestinian national liberation struggle. But in dark times revolutionaries take consolation from the better visibility of their enemies, whose betrayal glows in the dark, and emerging friends. The Palestinian people and their internationalist allies have to take stock of their new (and not so new) conditions, reassess their strategies and tactics, and once again rise to the challenge of national liberation. Notes: 1. Middle East International, London, 8/28/93. 2. UPI 9/6/93. 3. New York Times 9/16/93, p. A19. 4. BBC World Service 9/14/93. 5. NYT 9/16/93, p. A1. 6. UPI 9/1/93. 7. NYT 9/14/93, p. A17.(Remember, 91% of Israelis supported the expulsion of Hamas supporters last year, Washington Post 12/1/92, p A13) 8. UPI 9/4/93. 9. NYT 9/10/93, p. A12. 10. Economist 9/11/93, p. 40. 11. UPI 9/7/93. 12. NYT 9/14/93, p. A15. 13. Economist 9/11/93, p. 66. 14. Economist 9/11/93, p. 14. MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org * * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * * - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - PLO: RISE AND FALL by MC12 The Palestinian nation lost the leadership of the PLO over time, ending in September. After watching the rapid collapse of the last few years, it's hard to remember what the PLO ever was. But it's worth remembering. In 1970, the PLO published "A Framework for National Unity." It warned of such a day as today, reading in part: "The people of Palestine and their national liberation movement struggle for all-out liberation and reject all peaceful, stifling, and submissive solutions, all reactionary and colonialist conspiracies to establish a Palestinian state on parts of Palestinian territory."(1) It left no room for doubt on the illegitimacy of the Israeli state: "Israel, by virtue of its structure, represents an exclusivist, racist society tied to imperialism. As such, the limited progressive forces within it cannot effect any basic change in its Zionist, racist, and imperialist structure. This is why the aim of the Palestinian Revolution is to dismantle this entity with its political, military, social, syndical, and cultural institutions and to liberate all of Palestine."(1) At the same time, Fatah commando Abu Omar explained that the Israeli people would be a part of the future society: "Of course our attitude towards the occupier is not that we should throw the occupier away somewhere - because we are dealing here with an occupying society, not only an occupying army. And we have offered to our occupier more than any people have offered to their occupiers in the past. We are offering them, if they want to stay and live in Palestine, that they stay and live here as Palestinians, in equality."(2) MIM emphasizes not the future shape of a Palestinian state, nor the future of an Israeli nation. MIM stands for the national liberation *struggle* of the Palestinian people as an oppressed nation in the era of imperialism, during which the contradiction between imperialism and oppressed nations is principal for revolutionaries the world over. That struggle opposes Israel as an illegitimate settler state, a tool of imperialism and an expression of exclusionary oppressor nationalism. The specific outcome of that struggle will not be seen until it is won. MIM has said that the principal problem in Palestine is not the assertion of Jewish nationhood and Zionism itself, but the use of that movement by imperialism. Without imperialist support, Zionists would have been much less destructive, and could only have joined Palestine on terms acceptable to the Palestinian majority who lived there. In this, MIM has much in common with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in 1969. At that time, the PFLP wrote: "Thus the struggle for the liberation of Palestine, like any other liberation struggle in the world, becomes a struggle against world imperialism which is intent on plundering the wealth of the underdeveloped world and on keeping it a market for its goods. Naturally Israel - and the Zionist movement as well - have their own characteristics, but these characteristics must be viewed in the light of Israel's organic link with imperialism."(3) The PLO has slowly undone its revolutionary beginnings, until eventually the last revolutionary elements split off. But even with what was left at the end, Arafat couldn't take chances trying to win a majority for the deal with Israel. Getting the PLO executive committee (those members who didn't quit in recent months) and the 500-member Palestine National Council (PNC) to sign off on the deal, as required by PLO internal rules, was considered to be a dangerous nuisance. The New York Times said he cut the deal without the votes "to avoid wrangling" that "could fritter away the fragile momentum gathered by the peace process."(4) Winning the support of the masses only hurts the "fragile momentum" of movements that don't rely on the masses in the first place. In the end, it didn't matter, as Arafat and his faction essentially liquidated the PLO as it was. Without submitting the changes to a vote of the PNC, as required, he wrote in his letter to Israel: ".those articles of the Palestinian Covenant which deny Israel's right to exist and the provisions of the Covenant which are inconsistent with the commitments of this letter are now inoperative and no longer valid. Consequently, the PLO undertakes to submit to the Palestinian National Council for formal approval the necessary changes in regard to the Palestinian Covenant."(5) Too late for that. Who would today pay attention if the PNC did reject the plan? Those who oppose "the peace process" are now "hardliners" who just don't understand "the spirit of reconciliation." Revolutionaries are proud members of that camp. Notes: 1. Donald Hodges and Robert Elias Abu Shanab, eds., *National Liberation Fronts*, 1960/1970. New York: William Morrow, 1972. pp. 115-6 "A Framework for National Unity," PLO, Beirut 5/70. 2. Interview with Fatah commando Abu Omar, from Free Palestine, Washington, D.C., 8-9/70, in ibid, p. 129. 3. "A Strategy for Liberation," Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Amman 1969, in ibid, pp. 137-8. 4. New York Times 9/9/93, p. A1. 5. NYT 9/10/93, p. A12. MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org * * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * * - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - SOMALIA KEEPS U.N. ON THE ROPES The war in Somalia has escalated, as both the United States and the Somali people increased the rate and severity of their attacks. In mid-September, Somalis launched their first daylight mortar attacks on the U.N. in the capital city of Mogadishu. The U.S. State Department at the same time issued a travel warning for Amerikans moving about the country.(1) The U.S. (in U.N. guise) has become increasingly aggressive, unleashing deadly air power on Somali guerillas and non- combatants alike - though the two are increasingly inseparable. On Sept. 9, in response to a guerilla ambush, U.S. helicopters and Pakistani tanks killed at least 100 people, many of whom were participating in the attack on U.N. forces. The U.N. spokesman said the crowds were attacking U.N. troops: "We've seen this before. If they reach our soldiers they tear them limb from limb." The ambush on U.N. troops included sophisticated arms that destroyed a Pakistani tank, as well as masses of people who swarmed over the U.N. equipment.(2) Those Amerikans who think Somali women and children who form the crowds that attack U.N. troops are dupes or victims should take note. Since the U.S./U.N. invasion, children, women and men alike have played active roles in the anti- imperialist resistance. Though it may be hard for First World chauvinists to believe, women and children are at least as capable of recognizing and combating foreign aggressors as grown men! - MC12 Notes: 1. New York Times 9/16/93, p. A8. 2. NYT 9/10/93, p. A1. MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org * * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * * - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL POSITION ON PERU REFUTED EDITOR'S NOTE: According to the leader of the West Queens Chapter of Amnesty International, the following document was written by an individual member, not by the chapter. The document, though on A.I. stationary, in no way represents the views of Amnesty International. It was written to protest Amnesty International's official position on Peru. Amnesty International refuses to recognize the revolutionaries in Peru as political prisoners and refuses to take a stand on the human rights violations by the Peruvian government - instead sitting on the fence and claiming that both sides are bad. MIM applauds the educational efforts of those who are distributing this document. It goes some distance toward fighting the reactionary pro-imperialist position that Amnesty International continues to put out. - - - - - - - Dear friends, Please print in your paper as a "dissent position on Peru" of Queens A.I. [Amnesty International] Group. It's time to clear out the bullshit and manipulation of A.I. leadership. - NYC AI Queens Dissent Position on Peru Sweden has a history of being one of the most generous countries to asylum seekers and political dissidents of different parts of the world. However, after the installation of the new government of Carl Bildt, the Rights to obtain asylum in that country and the Rights of the exiles to express freely their political views on their countries are being seriously threatened. The government of Sweden through its Minister of Immigration Ms. Friggebo is currently engaged in a campaign of persecution against hundreds of Peruvian exiles. One example is the case of Miss Monica Castillo Paez (20) who is being threatened to be deported to Peru and face torture and possible death. On October 1990, a brother of Miss Castillo, Ernesto Rafael Castillo Paez, was murdered in his home by the Peruvian Army. In April 1993, Amnesty International has released a report detailing some of the crimes of the Peruvian dictator Fujimori. Currently, there are more than 2,000 political prisoners in Peru who are being kept in inhuman conditions in several prisons of the country. Fujimori has dissolved Congress, instead he and the military have managed to create their own "legislative Branch." This kangaroo type Parliament has passed a death penalty bill applicable to political dissidents and members of the armed opposition. It is obvious that by implementing this law, Fujimori is trying to "legalize" hundreds of extra-judicial executions committed against civilians and supporters of the opposition. Peru rates first in number of disappearing and political assassinations in the world. Fujimori has imposed a special law known as "apology of terrorism" in which any critical support by means of free speech or other legal support to the opposition is categorized as "terrorist." Therefore, the millions of Peruvians who oppose Fujimori's tyranny may be falsely labeled as "terrorists" and be subject to repression. The legalization of the death penalty in Peru will have serious repercussions in other Latin American countries where the death penalty is now illegal. Those countries will be able to "legally" kill their opposition as well. The main opposition political party is the Communist Party of Peru. This political party has it's own Army, the People's Liberation Army that is engaged for 13 years in a bloody low intensity war with the state Armed Forces. In addition, there are other small political parties (Democratic Left, APRA, PPC, PUM) that present a loyal opposition to the government. Following the example of previous Third-World dictators such as Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines or Pinochet in Chile, Fujimori is trying to extend his repressive activities abroad. The dictator is requesting European Governments to extradite many Peruvian political exiles who are living for many years legally in those countries. In addition, two Peruvian magazines (July 25) Caretas and Oiga had reported that one of Fujimori's active death squads headed by "chacal" Vladimiro Montesinos, has publicly announced that they will be moving one section of their operations to Europe. Fujimori's potential targets abroad are those politically outspoken Peruvians who write and speak their views and denounce to the world his crimes. Among those Peruvians are the journalist Luis Arce Borja. Mr. Arce lives in Belgium and is the editor of a Magazine knows as El Diario International. On December 1992, Arce was given an absentee sentence to life by a hooded military judge. The alleged "crime" is the publishing in Belgium of a newsletter critical to the regime!! Adolfo Olaechea, a law abiding resident living in England for about 15 years, who has no past political activity in Peru, is being also slandered as "terrorist" by Fujimori and wish he be extradited. The only real charge against Mr. Olaechea was a press conference he called in London to protest the latest Fujimori's massacre of 100 political prisoners in the jail of Cantogrande in Lima. It is of greatest concern to genuine Human Rights organizations and individuals around the world, the inhuman treatment of Dr. ... Guzman ..., imprisoned leader of the armed opposition. After he was captured he was showed to the press inside of a cage, and now is being locked in an underground bunker, a windowless concrete cell. He endures absolute solitary confinement, without medical care, no books, no paper, no visits from his friends and relatives for about one year. His lawyer, Dr. Alfredo Crespo, has himself been imprisoned for life simply for daring to defend him. In two recent interviews (Brazil and Venezuela) Fujimori openly admitted he wants to murder Dr. Guzman: ".we have the detonator in the person of Abimael Guzman. In countries like Peru, there is the question whether a person such as Guzm n has the Right to exist."(July 13, 1993) In early August, the relatives of the political prisoners in the prison of Cantogrande in Lima reported an "imminent" massacre in the coming days of political prisoners of the type which occurred in Peru in June 1986 and May 1992 could happen again. The attacks on prisoners by Fujimori's security guards headed by Army Colonel Cajahuanca must stop immediately. We must demand to the government of Fujimori to treat prisoners according to the standards of the American Convention of Human Rights. To tolerate its repressive campaign will set a very dangerous precedent for political prisoners in the Americas and elsewhere in the world. We must oppose U.S. military and economic support of the Fujimori regime. We must denounce the draconian methods of "justice" against political prisoners. We must denounce the falsity spread by the backers of the Peruvian regime who claim: "its human rights records have improved" in order to justify more military and economic aid to the tyrant. - - - - - - - - MIM adds the following to the above statement: One week after Peru reinstated the death penalty, Clinton told Congress that Peru qualifies for duty-free treatment of its products under the Andean Trade Preference Act.(1) Human rights records are supposedly a consideration in giving a country favorable trade agreements, but Clinton's statement makes it clear politics and the preservation of the imperialist system come before the human rights of the people of Peru. Amerika has long funded and supported the government of Peru in spite of the embarrassment of it's human rights record. To make matters more difficult for Peruvians who have escaped their country because of the threat of death or persecution from the government, Peru has recently passed a law that forces all Peruvian emigrants to apply for a new passport in their respective countries by the end of December. This requirement to change passports will facilitate the Peruvian government in it's efforts to locate, persecute and extradite Peruvians living abroad and working to expose the Fujimori regime for it's crimes. It is important that people work to defend Peruvians living in exile across the world. In previous issues of MIM Notes we have reported about various struggles in Sweden, Belgium and England to extradite Peruvians who support the Communist Party of Peru (PCP). If this issue is not kept public and in the face of the imperialist governments, they will quickly cooperate with Peru and allow many activists to be extradited to their death. Those who live in the relative freedom to protest must help to defend the gains of the Peruvian revolution and the support given to the revolution by Peruvians in exile. There is a real alternative to Fujimori's murderous government. The Communist Party of Peru is fighting for the liberation of the people of Peru. It currently controls more than a third of the countryside and enjoys the support of much of the Peruvian population. The PCP is not a murderous terrorist group as the Amerikan government would like us to believe. The claims that the the PCP randomly kills the people of Peru, persecutes innocent people, and commits barbarous acts of terrorism are not substantiated by any facts. These allegations are created by the Peruvian government and restated by the Amerikan press without investigation. For the facts and information with sources about what is really going on in Peru, write to MIM. MIM will clarify or refute any of these false claims of the bourgeois government and the reactionaries. Notes: 1. New York Times 8/13/93 from IEC Bulletin 8/18/93. MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org * * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * * - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - CHINESE PEASANTS RISE AGAIN by MC234 and MC12 Peasants in the Sichuan Province of Central China have blocked streets, "held police officers hostage and attacked officials with bricks and clubs"(1) to protest and resist oppression by their allegedly "Communist" - but truly capitalist - government. In March, several hundred peasants challenged authorities in Shanxi Province. At the time, Wan Li, former president of the National People's Congress, spoke of 100 peasant riots, and said: "If they were to join hands, it would be a disaster." And Tian Jiyun, vice premier for agriculture, said the peasantry was "like a heap of dry wood, ignitible at any time."(2) Even China's top leader, Deng Xiaoping - who was expelled from the Communist Party under Mao as a capitalist-roader - warned in 1992 that if there was a "problem with the economy in the 1990s, it would probably be agriculture."(3) Peasants made the revolution The Chinese Revolution was built with the support, labor and the lives of China's poor and lower middle peasants. The majority of China was - and is - peasant. China's communist revolution propelled the peasants from one of the poorest countries in the world to a country where starvation ceased and life expectancy doubled. Under Chinese socialism, contradictions between the rural peasants and the urban workers still existed, but the communists made every effort to reduce and eliminate these contradictions. The gains of Chinese socialism were cut short when Mao died and his followers, called the "Gang of Four," were arrested in a coup. In 1976, China became state capitalist. As China began to restore capitalist productive relations the contradictions among the people began to increase. Now that China is making a transition from state capitalism to Western style capitalism, these contradictions are accelerating even faster. By 1992, the average rural income was 42% of urban incomes. The income of the peasants in Fujia District, where the rebellion began, is only 16% of the average urban income.(1) Before the unrest began, the Chinese press had been promoting its "one million millionaires" to trumpet the transition from state capitalism to western capitalism. These reports have since been toned down "for fear of aggravating the 900 million farmers - many of whom can barely scratch a living."(4) Imperialism gains a foothold After 1976, the capitalist-roaders abandoned Mao's policy of trying to build a self reliant China. Party leaders became richer, the urban areas developed a middle class, and the peasants and urban proletariat became even poorer. Foreign investment in China amounted to $11 billion in 1992- -more than had been invested in China in the previous 13 years.(4) Western companies like Nike, who produce 2 million pairs of sneakers each month, invest in China to take advantage of the "$2 to $4-a-day wages for literate, healthy, eager young employees."(5) The New York Times doesn't bother to discuss the oppression of China's uneducated, sick, or elderly. Most goods produced at these slave wages are designed for export to the West, although many businesses have set their sights on the growing middle class in China - estimated at 60 to 300 million.(5) McDonalds restaurants in China set records for the largest opening day sales. Avon has hired 18,000 "Avon ladies" to peddle cosmetics to this new middle class. If foreign parasites aren't enough While China's leaders, including President Yang Shangkun and Communist Party leader Jiang Zemin, become more decadent and order expensive goods like $7,000 whirlpools, China's 600- 900 million peasants become poorer at the exploitative hands of both foreign and domestic capitalists.(4) Nationwide, the peasants are being taxed, in addition to their normal agricultural tax, at 23%, whereas the regulations state that the maximum should be 5%. Local officials are often unable to account for their expenses, and end up paying the peasants with IOUs instead of cash for their grain.(1) The peasants suspect that their taxes are being used to fund their leaders' extravagant lifestyles. A shopkeeper in the Fuija District reported that "people see the discrepancy between the cadres' income and their lavish spending."(1) The revolt began in January when the Rensou County government instituted a large tax to pay for new roads. (Chinese officials blame Rensou County's poverty on it's poor roads, not on the oppressive system of capitalism that funds their personal decadence!) Riots erupted, and a thousand peasants burned a police car. The government backed down. Tensions have remained high, with police and other officials afraid to wear their uniforms because they fear the wrath of the peasants.(1) Fighting erupted again in June when peasants in Fuija used newspaper accounts of the rebellion in Renshou to build support. The peasants blocked streets, beat officials, and burned the furniture of Fuija's party secretary. They have planned more actions in the future for the market days for maximum impact.(1) The number of protesting peasants swelled to 15,000 until they were put down with military force.(2) News of rural opposition is squelched by the government, but some leaks out, largely through the efforts of democracy- minded capitalists in Hong Kong and elsewhere, who report 170 "riots" in the Chinese countryside this year.(2) It's only gonna get worse Foreign imperialists have been trying to wrap their tentacles around China's peasants for 150 years, and China's government has never been more cooperative. In October, China signed an agreement with the U.S. to reduce "trade barriers" in the hopes that China would be allowed to join the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). GATT, like NAFTA and other free trade measures, aid imperialism by maximizing profits and streamlining the exploitation of the Third World. "Free trade" may be good for the imperialists, domestic capitalists and beaurocrats, but it means an increase in suffering for the bulk of China's population: the peasants. New democracy needed The increasing class consciousness and action of the Chinese peasants could signal that a new democratic revolution is in the making. This would end the reign of fascists like Deng Xiaoping and would set the stage for another socialist China. Notes: 1. Washington Post 6/20/93 p A1, A28. 2. October Review 8/31/93; G.P.O.Box 10144, Hong Kong; via pnews. 3. BBC 7/31/93 4. Interpress Service 7/23/93 5. The New York Times 2/15/93 p. 1,6. Ital Send $6 to MIM for a copy of William Hinton's *Fanshen*, the classic account of the Chinese revolution in one village. Send $1 for MIM's literature list which contains many books on the revolution of 1949 and the Cultural Revolution. MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org * * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * * - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - LETTERS FROM ONLINE by MC12 MIM received many responses from Internet readers this month, in a political mix dominated by Liberals, libertarians, academics and other mainstream, mostly elite readers. Here we offer a partial report on the mass responses we observed. Somalia debate In response to MIM's assertion that, "The Somali people have succeeded in putting and keeping the U.S./U.N. occupation army in their country on the defensive," one critic wrote: "Interesting: a dishevelled, unruly band of half starved gangsters has put expertly trained, over-armed soldiers with air support 'on the defensive'." That is "interesting." And true, if you substitute "guerillas" for "gangsters." Don't ask MIM, though, ask The Economist, if you prefer, which reported: "UN troops [in southern Mogadishu], about 15,000 of them, cower behind barricaded 'strong points' and seldom venture into the streets."(1) This critic went on: "The Somalians clearly aren't able to run their own lives; we don't have to risk ours to solve their self inflicted problems. Somalians have bitten the hand that feeds; and all that is asked for is more sacrifice of American lives. There is no demonstrable strategic interest in Somalia, therefore the soldiers are risking their lives for the sake of a worthless, altruistic cause." MIM addressed the issue of imperialist interest in Somalia at the time of the latest invasion (MIM Notes 72). That argument can be repeated, as Congress and many others are still debating the question. Somalia by itself does not of course represent the best profit opportunity in Africa, but it is not a drain on "altruistic" foreign powers. Somalia in the past has produced livestock for Middle East markets, and served as a vast dumping ground for surplus grain labelled "aid." It has also been the site of profitable banana and sugar export production. In recent years it has been an import-dominated economy, which served to absorb imperialist surplus while destroying the local economy. The international non- governmental organizations (NGOs) that brought surplus food to the country controlled all food distribution, and squelched independent production. At the same time, the former Siad Barre regime was opening the dependent economy to foreign investment. In this context, the "stealing" of food aid by Somali "bandits" and "warlords" was the rational attempt to gain control of the disintegrating national economy. And that went against the U.S. interests.(2) MIM reminds readers: look at a map, and remember the war against Iraq. Somalia is strategically located to serve Amerikan power-grabbing in Africa and the Middle East. The world is increasingly dominated by regional imperialist blocs. So, with Europe and Asia mostly spoken for, who gets Africa and the Middle East? Amerika has the answer. This critic also wrote that: "At least *some* demonstration of gratitude might justify some limited continuation of humanitarian aid." At that point, another reader intervened: "... I don't recall anyone from Somalia asking for the U.S. or the U.N. to intervene in their wars. In fact some of the REAL humanitarian groups there were opposed to the invasion. They have learned that military intervention has never solved anything and will never solve anything. If you recall it was a U.N. INVASION that placed U.S. troops in Somalia. Now those troops are killing people left and right and treating Somalians like animals. I think Somalians have a right to retaliate. Would you not do the same if someone was bombing your home and killing your people?" MIM agrees that Somalis should be expected to defend themselves against invasion - they have demonstrated the potency of their "right" to self-defense. We disagree though on the distinction between "REAL humanitarians" and U.N. troops. The NGOs that opposed invasion did so on strategic grounds: they argued that "aid"-dumping and dependency would work better at developing "stability" (subservience) in Somalia. This second reader added: "The U.S. government has never done anything because of altruism.... Food aid, for example, is often given with political conditions. There is U.S. interest in Somalia. Mainly, I believe that it is being used as a precedent for using the U.N. to invade other countries in the future. Especially countries that have left-wing tendencies. Also I believe that the strategic importance of Somalia is being downplayed significantly by the media, just like the government wants. I will bet you that there will be a U.S. presence in Somalia for a long time to come." MIM agrees much more with the second reader. The Somali precedent is also an experiment and an assertion of imperialist turf. Still, the first reader's reactionary nationalism in this case leads him or her to oppose U.S. military operations in Somalia, a position that does more service to Somalia than the government's, no matter how fascistic its motives. A third critic interjected: "As a libertarian I am against the U.S. involvement [in Somalia], but I find it incredible that people are actually defending the armed gangs there. These gangs literally took food from starving children. The fact that someone would support them says a great deal about their politics. I don't support them, I just don't support U.S. government involvement in foreign countries." As MIM has already reported, foreign "aid" destroyed the Somali national economy and rendered it dependent. The local powers that sought to undermine U.N. food monopolization represent national bourgeois forces. Their usefulness to the Somali people, as they oppose imperialism, is limited. But for the short term they stand on the side of Somalis against foreign domination. Their success helps make the development of internal class contradictions possible. Therefore, MIM supports the Somali military efforts to drive out the United States, the U.N., and the blood-sucking NGOs. A fourth reader was more supportive of MIM's position: "U.S. foreign policy has been especially aggressive in the past, particularly in Central America. And it is not the fault of a few individuals in the military establishment. It is a policy that has been actively pursued by our political leaders from both parties." On the idea that Amerika should help Somalis if they are peaceful, the fourth reader responded, "I've always been suspicious of this kind of paternalistic attitude, especially when it amounts to killing innocent people in order to 'save' them." MIM urges this reader and others to get beyond suspicion of imperialist actions and attitudes, and direct their actions toward opposing them with revolutionary organization. Why pop culture? In response to a movie review, one reader wrote: "What's really pathetic is a supposedly 'revolutionary' newspaper has movie reviews in it.what's next? The Bridge column?!?" To this MIM replies: There may be some use to a bridge column when our party has greater resources. For now, though, it is not a priority. But movie reviews are a useful way of talking about cultural events that our writers and readers have both experienced. It also points toward our understanding of the importance of culture, which influences and reflects popular ideas and attitudes on a mass scale. Nothing that attracts the attention of many millions of people is irrelevant to revolutionaries. Notes: 1. The Economist 9/11/93, p. 40. 2. MIM Notes 72 is available from MIM for $1. MIM Notes is distributed on the Internet by the New York Transfer News Collective. New York Transfer offers a complete alternative news service from progressive organizations, anarchists and other anti-imperialist movements. Subcriptions are $125/year, $70/half-year, $40/3- months. For more information write to nyt@blythe.org or to 235 East 87th St. NY 10128. * * * See something MIM missed? An article we should have written? A topic we forgot to cover? Write the article and MIM will print it. We don't have the time or resources to cover all topics, so that's why we rely on our readers to send us stories about things happening in their area, or about things that we just missed. Take action, educate people, write for MIM Notes. For more information, write mim@blythe.org; or MIM, P.O. Box 3576, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3576, or contact your local distributor. MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org * * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * * - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - CHINESE CHILDREN SEE BENEFITS OF CAPITALISM Capitalism in China is blossoming in all its brutal glory, and foreign companies are helping to lead the way. Two joint-venture companies - companies that operate under joint foreign/Chinese ownership - have been charged with child-labor abuses, and fined a whopping $2,600-$3,500. The two companies, Jia Bao Electronics Factory and the Ju Feng Handbag Co., are both in the southern Guangdong Province, where capitalism is developing at breakneck speed. Both were charged with hiring under-age girls from other provinces, and the Jia Bao company with forcing 16-year-olds to work 11-hour days. Ju Feng was said to be withholding pay from workers, and both were charged with forcing temporary workers to do unpaid labor, backed up by what the government news service called "some incidents of beating workers and infringements on their legal rights." The tiny fines were calculated based on the losses of the uncompensated workers - which says something about just how little the international proletariat gets paid to produce for the benefit and profit of First World masses. In reporting the story, UPI casually added that "millions of impoverished people" have been driven from inland provinces to the coastal export production areas. During that time, "Child labor and other violations have grown rapidly." - MC12 Notes: UPI 9/7/93. MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org * * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * * - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - A.N.C. CALLS FOR CAPITAL The African National Congress has stepped up calls for increased imperialist investment in South Africa, as more political surface adjustments paint rosy pictures of a "democratic" country-to-be. ANC President Nelson Mandela promised to "actively campaign across the world for the lifting of all remaining sanctions and for inflows of capital into South Africa." The pretense for the final lifting of sanctions was the announcement of the formation of the Transitional Executive Council, an integrated committee to serve until elections. The Council is the latest in a long series of reforms that go back to 1990. During all that "progress", 10,000 people have died in political violence. Most of those deaths have been a waste, though in recent months there have been some concerted military efforts by the Pan Africanist Congress. The United States, which lifted all but some minimal sanctions in July 1991, praised the movement toward phoney integration, increased death and destruction, and increased imperialist profiteering at the expense of the Azanian people (though not quite in those words). - MC12 Notes: UPI 9/8/93. MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org * * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * * - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - ALL THE NEWS THAT'S FIT TO PRINT? The New York Times' motto, "All the news that's fit to print," begs the question: what is and is not "fit to print" by the imperialist media's standards? Recent coverage of Chile by the New York Times and the L.A. Times provides a revealing answer. The New York Times story describes leftist and rightist demonstrations, some violent, marking the twentieth anniversary of "when the military, led by General Pinochet, swarmed into this city and bombed the presidential palace." The story notes that "Chile entered 17 years of military rule and the so-called dirty war to systematically eliminate the leftist opposition. In the end, more than 2,000 people were killed or made to 'disappear', and thousands were imprisoned and tortured."(1) Similarly, the L.A. Times reported that "[b]y overthrowing [President Salvador] Allende's elected government Sept. 11, 1973, Pinochet cut short a turbulent Marxist experiment in peaceful revolution - and launched one of the most notorious right-wing dictatorships in Latin American history."(2) But there's something important missing from these articles: the U.S. role. "After Allende's election [in 1970], efforts to destabilize Chile intensified, and over the next three years the CIA provided nearly eight million dollars to the Chilean opposition."(3) "Following the coup which installed Gen. Augusto Pinochet's military dictatorship, Richard Helms, CIA Director during the Chilean operation, denied in sworn testimony that the CIA had tried to overthrow Allende. Helms was later indicted for perjury and pled no contest."(4) To the imperialist media, the U.S. government's role in propping up a genocidal dictatorship is just not newsworthy. - MC49 Notes: 1. New York Times 9/12/93, p. 1. The United Nations reported a much higher death toll: The coup "resulted in an estimated 30,000 murders by the Chilean military." (*Rollback: Right- wing Power in U.S. Foreign Policy*, by Thomas Bodenheimer and Robert Gould, South End Press, Boston, 1989, p. 224, citing the Report of the Economic and Social Council, Commission on Human Rights, United Nations, February 4, 1976.) 2. Los Angeles Times, 9/12/93, p. 1. 3. *Spying for America: The Hidden History of U.S. Intelligence*, by Nathan Miller, Dell Publishing, New York, 1989, p. 449. 4. *Rollback* MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org * * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * * - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - GAMBLING FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION by MA53 On Aug. 20, the seven indigenous nations in Michigan signed a compact with Gov. John Engler, allowing First Nation casinos to run slot machines and video games. The compact was the result of a lawsuit the seven nations brought against Michigan for the right to run the machines, known as Class III games. Engler, required by law to negotiate a compact, said that he "contested the rights of the Indian tribes to run slot machines and video games in casinos on reservations" and in general opposed the expansion of Indian gambling in Michigan.(1) MIM supports the goal of sovereignty in economy, territory and government for the First Nations. So while gambling is among the most decadent and destructive of capitalist creations - particularly if the gamblers are themselves oppressed nationals - MIM supports the First Nations demand to use the industry to gain sovereignty, if that is what they choose. Tribal casinos across the United States are a $6 billion per year industry. The states have little direct control over the indigenous nations' casinos and they receive no direct tax benefits. The percentage of profits that go to the state and to the local government are determined on an individual case basis. In Michigan, all off-site reservation casinos must be approved by all seven of the nations recognized by the state. Gambling and Detroit Two Detroit developers recently proposed building casinos in the city to bring in gamblers and customers for their other businesses. But Detroit residents have on three separate occasions voted down the idea of a casino in the city. The developers want to donate .7 acres of land to the Sault St. Marie nation as an off-site reservation. Detroit Mayor Coleman Young supports the proposed gambling site. Under the current land donation plan, Detroit residents would have no say in the matter.(1) This lawsuit and the negotiations over an off-site reservation are just one stage in a process familiar to indigenous people across the United States. Land is a decisive issue for Amerika's internal colonies. Who is bound to respect historic claims to land, and who controls the land and the commerce that takes place on it today? The City and the Res Sault Nation members at the Bay Mills Reservation in Northern Michigan told MIM Notes that they had already pulled out of a similar deal in Port Huron, Mich. because city residents were "unfriendly" to the idea. Others said that Tribal Chairperson Bouscher, who is handling negotiations with Michigan, has everything under control and that he will take care of things. Some people who have been more outspoken publicly have different opinions. "The membership was never consulted. Why aren't they telling the membership everything? We want to see a sense of accountability, we don't want them to violate our trust," said a Sault Nation member, at a Detroit City Council meeting called to discuss the casinos. He called on Bouscher to reveal the exact details to the membership. At the meeting, Sault members stated their distrust of the federal government; explaining that they are wary of the government's intent, given Amerika's agenda of destroying the sovereignty of the First Nations. A spokesperson for Buddy Raphael, Chairperson of the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, said that Raphael opposes the proposed casino in Detroit. He points out that the Mt. Pleasant band has historical rights to the .7 acres in question and is currently seeking federal recognition and the rights to that land could help them to develop. The Mt. Pleasant band would not comment on their position or the role that they had in the initial negotiations. Who gets the jobs? The proposed Detroit casinos would employ an estimated 1,000 members of the Sault nation; the compact contains a provision that 50% of the casino's employees be "minorities." But all of the casino's employees must be Detroit residents.(1) This is an assurance of jobs for the city economy. But it is also a backhanded way of breaking up the reservation in the name of helping it out economically. The Bureau of Indian Affairs praised the proposal because the people employed will be from the Detroit area. Nancy Ragsdale, the Director of the South-Eastern Michigan Indians Organization, said that the tribes have the duty to help the nation members that are off the reservation as well as on the reservation. She said that the proposal in Detroit will help the nation members that have moved to the surrounding Wayne County area. Government restrictions The 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act granted First Nations the right to offer any games that are legal in the state that houses their casinos. The proposal must now go to the Michigan legislature and to Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt. Babbitt is under pressure from developer Donald Trump to review the constitutionality of off-reservation gambling sites and the 1988 Act. Trump claims that the Act violates the 10th Amendment by giving preferential treatment to Indians.(2) Indigineous sovereignty hurts Amerika Once an off-site reservation is created, it is technically First Nation territory and no longer subject to Amerikan jurisdiction. Said Milwaukee Deputy City Attorney Patrick McDonnell, "you have, in effect, a jurisdictional island that is beyond normal City regulation in the midst of your city and what that ultimately means - who knows?"(3) One possibility First Nation nationalists hope for is that gaming will be a way for the First Nations to gain back some reparations from the white nation and become self- reliant.(4) Building this possibility gets complicated down the road though. One Ojibwa woman, chairperson of a school that gets its funds from the Potowatomi bingo operation, points out that it is the bingo aspect of the casinos that create the most jobs, while machines are where the most money is earned.(3) Since First Nations are mostly poor with high unemployment, it is hard to pick between jobs and profits. The direct profit to the nation members seems to be more substantial if the money to the band goes directly through jobs and not from what is left over after expenses from the slot machines. As the situation stands, the city of Detroit and the developers will get their share of the profits and the jobs will go to Detroit residents. The profits that will be invested into the Sault community will be decided by the chairman. Seeing that Bouscher has entered into an alliance with the developers, the investments must also be analyzed as to who they are benefitting: the community or the First Nation politicians with a questionable agenda. Notes: 1. Detroit News and Free Press November 29, 1992. 2. Wall Street Journal May 4, 1993. 3. Detroit News July 25, 1993 4. See MIM Notes 77, June 1993, p. 8. MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org * * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * * - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - STATE INFILTRATES GERMANY'S RED ARMY FRACTION At the end of June, German government agents brutally retaliated against the militant focoist Red Army Fraction (RAF), for its March 27 bombing of a newly built, state-of- the-art prison near Darmstadt. With the help of a government agent posing as a militant in the "legal left," the police executed RAF member Wolfgang Grams at a train station in Bad Kleinen. The prison bombing caused $60 million in damages and set the opening of the prison back four years.(1) The Darmstadt bombing was itself in response to the RAF's unmet demands in 1992 for the release of certain RAF prisoners, and the consolidation of the remainder. The RAF promised to cease armed struggle if the demands were met. The state will sacrifice its own State informant Klaus Steinmetz - recruited after an arrest for petty crimes - warned the police of the planned prison action, but they decided to allow the attack rather than bring suspicion on him.(3) RAF supporters trusted Steinmetz. The German anarchist scene had considered him a "radical for all seasons"(4) and he had participated in several attacks on government property. Steinmetz told the police that he would be meeting two RAF members, Birgit Hogefeld and Wolfgang Grams, on June 27 at the train station in Bad Kleinen. When the ambushing agents wrestled Hogefeld to the ground, Grams fled, and the fire- fight began. The agents disabled and disarmed Grams, held him immobile for 20 seconds, and then shot him through the temple from a distance of two inches.(3) Although the agents arrested Steinmetz in order to conceal the fact that he was working with them, Hogefeld and other RAF sympathizers have denounced him publicly.(5) The agents were supposed to allow Steinmetz to make a believable get-away, but they mistook Grams for Steinmetz.(6) The RAF mistakenly used violence as a bargaining chip with the state, not realizing that the state is willing to sacrifice a prison or employee or two in order to discredit the RAF militarily and politically. The liberal state unmasked Twenty-two people witnessed Grams' execution. Official police reports have omitted descriptions of Grams' death, however. A video record of the event made by an agent begins *after* the shooting; neither a transcript of police radio communications during the attack or a sketch of the scene was made. Although the GSG-9 agents have told official investigators nothing,(7) one agent wrote anonymously to the German press "out of moral pressure" and gave a detailed description of the events: "The death of Mr. Grams was like an execution."(8) Rather than admit that the GSG-9 is trained to kill and cover up, the state is pointing the finger at bad apples in its security apparatus. The Interior Minister and chief prosecutor have lost their jobs, and special prosecutors are considering charging two GSG-9 agents with "deliberate killing." Flyers and banners have appeared in many German cities decrying the "fascist murder" and the "Bad-Kleinen Death Hunt." The RAF has not explicitly taken back its pledge to de- escalate, but their latest statement read, in part: "We call on all those touched by this terror: Don't return to business as usual! Don't accept this!"(7) Focoism versus Maoism Despite some recent self-criticism, the RAF still has a focoist ideology.(9) They justify their attacks as armed propaganda or as acts of moral retribution: "If they don't let us, that is, everyone struggling for a humane society, live, then they must know we won't let their elite live either."(10) Focoism is contrary to Maoism, which places armed struggle within the context of a long-term plan to build revolutionary power and emphasizes fighting winnable battles. In oppressor countries at this point, revolutionaries taking up the gun to say something you could have said with the pen or to avenge a few of imperialism's global sins will get the people little besides martyrs. Notes: 1. Der Spiegel, 4/5/93, p. 24. 2. Grenzschutzgruppe means Border Protection Group. The GSG- 9 is Germany's top counter- insurgency commando. 3. New York Times, 8/13/93. 4. Der Spiegel, 7/26/93, p. 31. 5. Der Spiegel, 7/19/93, p. 28; Der Spiegel, 7/26/93, p.32. 6. Der Spiegel, 8/2/93, p.37. 7. Der Spiegel, 7/12/93, p. 18. 8. Der Spiegel, 7/5/93, p.24. 9. See MIM's "The Focoist Revolution" in the "What is MIM?" pamphlet. 10. RAF communique, 4/10/92. MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org * * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * * - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - - CULTURE PAGE - REVIEW: GOATS TAKE A TOUR OF AMERIKKKA WITH THE GOATS The Goats, multi-national rappers from North Philadelphia, performed in Cambridge, Massachusetts on September 9 to a packed crowd in a small club. They performed songs off their first album, Tricks of the Shade, a 1992 release from Columbia Records. The album interspersed with skits, which follow the story of kid heroes Chickenlittle and his brother Hangerhead as they search for the good life promised by their "Uncle Scam," and discover instead the grim reality of his "Federally Funded Well-Fair and Freak Show." During their allegorical journey through the Amerikan carnival, our heros meet Christopher Columbus, who offers them a ride on his boats, "the Nina, the Pinta, the Santa Enslave-Ya, and the Rape-Ya." Columbus then "discovers" all their money. In a later skit, Manuel Noriega offers Chickenlittle and Hangerhead a quick way out of poverty by selling cocaine at his Coke stand. Noriega tells them, "Me and Uncle Scam are 'boys; he pays well for my services!" Hangerhead urges his brother to "go for self, poverty sucks!" but Chickenlittle turns him down, still believing their Uncle Scam will help them out. They find Native American activist Leonard Peltier imprisoned in the freak show, but get chased away by the "Carnival Cops" (named Gates and Koon) who offer to "shine their boots" on our heroes. Next they discover their long lost mother "the tattooed Lady" (beaten by a brutal husband/father who "tattoos" them as well), only to shoot her by mistake at the "Drive-by bumper-cars" ride. They finally find Uncle Scam running the carnival shooting gallery, where Amerikans of all nationalities pay to shoot one another. Chickenlittle has learned the lessons of his journey well, however, and turns his gun on Uncle Scam. The Goats are clear in identifying the cops, the Amerikan government, and its military as the enemies trying to keep the people down, and serve up tasty raps slamming these agents of oppression: "Be all you can be is just another trick that's up their sleeve . They reeled ya in like your skin had fins, now you're pounding sand for another man's sins . But you'll come home in box, green drawers, green pants, green socks." Or: "Arrested four times, but never found guilty, these aren't the cops that you see on TV . Ya get just enough from the great welfare cup, to keep from busting heads and making Scam buckle up. Just enough greenbacks to quiet revolutions. The government patches leaks and ignores the solutions." And, from "Burn the Flag": "I can still hear the whips across my brother's back, now my brother's bein' whooped by crack. War on drugs! The only war you're wagin' is against minorities, the poor and the agin'." The Goats also have a good line on the big picture of imperialism: "Oh my god, I've heard it from the smallest dweebs, 'Leave if ya hate it!', but check out those foreign policies: South America, we fucked it like a hooker; avoid the Middle East cause Bush is a snooker. Arms for oil and some military protection; here comes corporate Amerika and Georgie's got an erection." Unfortunately, the Goats don't offer a viable plan for offing Uncle Scam in the real world, only the admonition "Don't vote for fascists such as Clinton, Bush, Reagan, or any Republican." After all, the Goats know that politicians are only "careerists . doing hip gyrations for the corporations" and that voting for one or another politician makes no difference. MIM knows the systems of capitalism and imperialism are the real enemy, and that the way to fight and move forward is to build a revolutionary vanguard party to build public opinion and create independent power for the oppressed. MIM talked to two friendly Goats after the concert and confirmed that we have some political disagreements. One member of the band suggested tax protests as a means of changing the system. MIM pointed out that people getting themselves locked up by withholding an insignificant amount of money is not the most effective way of make change. Another band member even suggested the title of their second album might be "I Give Up!," seeming to contradict the assertion that "We won't fold or succumb . be overcome." The discussion supported MIM's impression that while the Goats have a good grasp of history and the problems of current society, they don't yet have a clear idea of how to change things or what is the most effective way forward. MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org * * * * The Maoist Internationalist Movement * * * * - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - LETTERS TO MIM Dear Comrades, I originally got your paper at the 500 year anniversary of Columbus' invasion demonstration [...] last Columbus Day (1992). I noticed your stand because it had Sakai's "Myth of the White Proletariat." I had read the book from cover to cover some years ago. But I could not find anyone who agreed with it except me. Anyway I loved your newspaper. But I lost it and could not of course find it anywhere in [this city] again. I would like to get a subscription and help distribute [here] for you. Yours, Excited Friend in the East August 1993 Dear Editors, I bought this Newspaper of yours and the [person] who sold it asked if I wanted to write something. I wrote this a long time ago and added to it for this publication. If you would like to print it feel free. Your enemies are mine. My life, my family was destroyed by the American system of democracy. I am disabled. [...] I am alone as an American woman dissident who went to war alone and had FBI and Secret Service and Police record. Many people do not understand my politics, but I think you might. [...] Imagine a world without poverty What has economic and technological progress done for society? [...] In the struggle for survival, what has been lost is morality, ethics, and freedom. Respect and meaning have lost their values to position and income. Principles are compromised for acceptance out of loneliness and insignificance. Endless wars are repeated throughout history. Winning or losing has less to do with right than might. Because we are challenging a structure that will not change, because America will not obey its own laws, we have lost the respect of foreign powers and our fellow countrymen. Our relationships are based on need rather than mutual respect and caring. [...] Unlike what most people would like to think, homelessness is not an "individual" problem. It is a social and political problem, the result of classism, racism, sexism - economic and social inequalities in our society. We are still a country of slavery and victims of injustices. It is much easier for the individual to deal with international conflicts than what America really is - a society of violence, competition, discrimination, and oppression. [...] More education needs to be done and more laws passed for individual protection. That's why an amendment to the constitution needs to be passed, for the preamble of it says "For the welfare of the people." When that means "all people," maybe then we will represent a country to be respected instead of a bunch of hypocrites. [...] How many people died of hypothermia this year, and who were they? A good question to address to the American government. I challenge this government and its people to defend why they let people freeze and starve to death in the richest country in the world and run to the aid of everybody else. If it weren't for a number of strangers who came to my aid, I wouldn't be alive to write this article. [...] Estimates are that there are approximately 350,000 to 3 million homeless individuals in the United States, enough to create a large city. Perhaps we should take over Cape Canaveral and go to the moon and create a "new world" where life is sacred. [...] Imagine it. A world without poverty. [...] Imagine it. - Looking for a world without poverty August 1993 MIM responds: Thank you for your letter and your article. We are agreed on many things, but we also have some serious disagreements - especially our assessments of who are our friends and what is the best strategy for change. First, one of the main tenets of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is that there are no rights, only power struggles. The right to housing is nothing without the power to procure and defend it. Maoists believe that ideas (e.g. rights) are class tools, so the ruling ideas of a time are the ideas of the ruling class. Maoists also believe that the state is a tool controlled by the ruling class. Laws, even those based on humanitarian or egalitarian ideas, are a part of the state apparatus. Laws passed by a bourgeois state serve bourgeois interests. Your article does recognize that "winning [wars] has less to do with right than might" and that Amerika does not obey its own laws, but at the same time it suggests that poverty, national oppression, and gender oppression can be decreed away. You recognize that homelessness, poverty, etc. are not individual problems, but then you demand laws for individual protection. Which brings us to our second disagreement. Your article suggests that if only Amerikans would wake up and see that this system, which makes homelessness and poverty and war necessary, hurts everybody, then they would change it. Now it may be true that a culture based on commodity exchange screws everybody over - exploiters included - because it alienates them from their social nature.(1) But in the short and medium runs the exploiters have a lot to lose. How many kings gave up their thrones simply because somebody told them their King-ness made them inhuman? Zero (resigning and letting somebody else do the dirty work doesn't count). There are people who profit from homelessness and war. They will fight to protect their profit and their their privilege. Should a community win a space where alternative relationships can be developed - be it an entire nation or a collective kitchen in a ghetto - it will be attacked from within and without by those seeking to restore the old relationships (i.e. by those seeking to restore their power). Although we need to debunk those who claim oppression is nature's (or God's) way, imagination is not enough. We need to see the real forces which can bring about an end to oppression and help those forces grow. You should be more careful when you say that the Amerikan government lets its own freeze while it runs to the "aid" of other nations. The "aid" Amerika gives aids only Amerika. Economic aid makes recipient nations dependant and primes them for the extraction of profits, and military aid = genocide. MIM agrees that it is ironic there is poverty within the borders of the richest nation in the world, but it is more ironic that the First World is so rich while the Third World is so poor. The Third World is where the producers are, but they are the poorest people. Many of those saying that Amerika should "take care of its own first" fail to make the connection between Amerikan imperialism and foreign troubles. Viewing the economies and politics of separate nations as separate can (maybe unwittingly) lead to Amerikan chauvinism. Notes: 1. For Marx's comments on this see the the sections on "Estranged Labor" and "Money" in the Philosophical Yearbooks and the first chapter of Capital. * * * See something MIM missed? An article we should have written? A topic we forgot to cover? Write the article and MIM will print it. We don't have the time or resources to cover all topics, so that's why we rely on our readers to send us stories about things happening in their area, or about things that we just missed. Take action, educate people, write for MIM Notes. For more information, write mim@blythe.org; or MIM, P.O. Box 3576, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3576, or contact your local distributor. MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org The Maoist Internationalist Movement - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - UNDER LOCK & KEY U.S. MEDICAL CENTER FOR FEDERAL PRISONERS CENSORS MIM NOTES UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT MEMORANDUM U.S. MEDICAL CENTER FOR FOR FEDERAL PRISONERS P.O. BOX 4000 SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI 65801-4000 DATE: August 27, 1993 FROM: [illegible] for R. H. Rison, Warden, MCFP, Springfield, Missouri SUBJECT: REJECTED PUBLICATIONS TO: [a prisoner] The purpose of this letter is to inform you that your publication, "MIM Notes, August 1993, No. 79," is being rejected, pursuant to the Bureau of Prisons Program Statement 5265.5, Incoming Publications. More specifically, your publication, "MIM Notes, August 1993, No. 79," is being rejected for the following reasons: 1. The "Under Lock & Key" section contains letters that encourage the disruption of correctional facilities and violence within prisons; advocate the destruction of the current form of government through the use of violence; preach racial disharmony. The August 1993 issue of MIM Notes contains material that encourages inmates to act in a manner that is potentially dangerous to staff and other inmates. The newspaper, "MIM Notes, August 1993, No. 79," would pose a threat to the good order and discipline of the institution and is, hereby, rejected on these grounds. Pursuant to Bureau of Prisons Program Statement Incoming Publications, you have 15 days to appeal the rejection of this publication by filing a Request for Administrative Remedy. The publication "MIM Notes, August 1993, No. 79," will not be available for you to review for the purpose of filing this appeal. The publication is deemed to pose a threat to the security and good discipline of the institution. The publication, "MIM Notes, August 1993, No. 79," will be retained in the Inmate Systems Department for 15 days. If you have not filed an appeal within 15 days, the publication will be returned to the sender. By copy of this letter, I am informing the sender that the publication, "MIM Notes, August 1993, No. 79," has been found unacceptable and is being rejected. The sender may obtain an independent review of my rejection decision by writing Calvin R. Edwards, Director, North Central Regional Office, Bureau of Prisons, Gateway Complex, Inc., Tower II, 8th Floor, 4th and State Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas, 66101-2492. The sender's independent review must be filed with the Regional Director within 15 days of receipt of the letter. * MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org The Maoist Internationalist Movement - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - UNDER LOCK & KEY LUCASVILLE UPDATE: GUARDS BEAT PRISONER, THREATEN HIS LIFE You say you would like to know what happened behind these prison walls. Well, I think you already know: madness. I'm not going to tell you too much, because the white man might use it against me. What I mean about that is, the Highway Patrol still has me under investigation. I'm not worried, though; they can't faze me. The second day when the riot was over (1), a pig named Blankenship came to my cell, and asked me was if I was a leader of the renegades and/or a member. I told the white trash: you'd better know yourself, before you be by myself; now get missing. Like the dog he is, he put his tail between his legs and left. On May 31, 1993, I got beaten by Lucasville guards. It was about 2:00 PM when a convict started a flood on the top range (I live on the bottom.) A pig came walking upstairs while the flood was going on. About 20 to 30 minutes later, water came downstairs, and hit only three cells. My cell happened to be one of them. To make a long story short, six pigs came to my cell all dressed in black gear, batons, mace, shields and helmets. They came with the whole nine yards for me. They asked me to put my hands through the foodslot so they could put the cuffs on me. At the time, I only had a towel wrapped around me, so I asked them if I could put my white jumpsuit on. They said no! So there we have it; I'm walking down the hall butt- naked on my way to J-2 (the Hole). I was thrown into walls, crashgates, doors - you name it, I felt it. While I was going to J-2, I was threatened twice. They said, "Don't cause no trouble back here. Don't cause no trouble while we are taking you to J-2. If you do, you're a goner, you're history." Out of fear, I said, "No sweat, you got it." They put me on the slammer's side (strip cell). While we were in the strip cell, they smashed my head against the wall and kneed me in the stomach also. When they got through with their so-called death-blow, they told me to put my hands through the foodslot so they could uncuff me. That's right - I was cuffed when those pigs did that shit. As I put my hands through the slot, one of the pigs started pulling the cuff while my hands were still in there. This caused a large gash on my right wrist and two bruises on both of my wrists. Right now I've got the pen and paper on their ass, but it's moving very slowly (no surprise). I know this is an odd way of ending a letter, but I have to go. Plus, you said to write every three months. Therefore, why should I tell you everything at one time? Peace, love and all the best, - a Lucasville, Ohio prisoner, 8/18/93 (1) April 23 or 24, 1993. The Lucasville uprising was April 11 to April 22, 1993. See MIM Notes #77, June 1993, pp. 10-11 or Prison Legal News, June 1993 for a chronology of the rebellion. - MC49 * MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org The Maoist Internationalist Movement - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - UNDER LOCK & KEY "POLITICS ARE ALWAYS IN COMMAND, NOT THE GUN" Amandla! First and foremost, let me extend my warmest revolutionary greetings to all the 'rades of MIM. Thanks for the MIM Notes and the literature. (1) You have a very good publication. Your basic principles and politics correspond to my own. There is no contradiction between our fundamental ideological line. Indeed, Chairman Mao's contribution to the advancement of our international revolutionary class struggle is monumental. Further along, I am well acquainted with Panther politics. Both my mother and father are former Party members. I've read and passed on all the materials you sent me to other brothers. We have a study group in place already. There are hearts and minds enough here to assist others along the path of constructive development. Presently, we are focusing on advancing/broadening the brothers' consciousness with political, economic and social values, because we want them to avoid the pitfall of being militarist or foco. Military science is all too often embraced and overemphasized by developing servants of the people. We stress to the brothers that we are oriented along political lines. That our politics evolve from and through society, the masses and the nation. That politics are always in command and not the gun. That military science contributes to only a small part of our healing. That while it is important to gain knowledge and experience in defensive and offensive postures, it becomes secondary to the will and lifestyles of the masses. We stress to the brothers that their principal responsibility and duty is to go to the people and learn from them; learn their needs, desires and aspirations. To clarify their experiences into better-articulated principles and methods. To do propaganda work among them and call on them to put their clarified principles and methods into practice. We stress above all that only the masses of people make revolution succeed and without their solid support, defeat is inevitable. We also hold cultural history classes as our study group comprises all the different nationalities represented here. I'm immobile. I have very limited movement here in solitary confinement. Thus, I will be unable to initiate a campaign to get MIM Notes purchased by the prison library. But perhaps I can make some arrangements with my folks on the outside that are active, to get copies made of the MIM Notes you send me and in this way I can distribute them among the brothers here. Now, before I conclude this letter, I think it's fitting to explain the reason for my tardiness in getting back to MIM. I was on trial from May 12th 'til August 25th and was not in this prison during that period. I stand accused of stabbing a couple of my keepers when they had me at Southport Supermaxi-Security Control Complex. The jury returned a verdict of guilty, so I won't be getting paroled this year as planned. I'm supposed to get sentenced on the 13th of this month. I'll let you know how much more time they stuck me with when you write back. Well, stay strong. Walk quietly and confidently. We never travel alone. WE WILL WIN! In struggle, - a New York prisoner, 9/8/93 (1) MC49 notes: The letter-writer has been receiving each issue of MIM Notes and a copy of "The Black Panthers Speak" as part of MIM's Free-books-for-prisoners program. To support this program, please send cash, checks made out to "ABS," books and stamps to MIM Distributors, 4521 Campus Dr., #535, Irvine, CA 92715. * MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org The Maoist Internationalist Movement - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - UNDER LOCK & KEY WE MUST UNDO WHAT THEY'VE DONE We didn't just get this way, like, suddenly! Great Black Warriors, Kings and Queens, Artists and Craftsmen, zap! We're Negroes! We must undo. No! We were undone, and remade into what We see today. We were systematically deprived of our Culture, our language, our ability to give Security, provide sustenance, and transfer our Spirituality to our Children! We Must Undo What They've Done! They used the Islands, the West Indies and the Virgins as a stop off, to get to the Americas; Spreading their slave Colonies, breeding camps, and auction blocks. Tearing children from the Breasts of Mothers, selling wives and husbands up and down the river, County to County. Continent to Continent. We must undo. Great Black Warriors fighting guns with knives, fighting cannons with spears, fighting ruthless, heartless White Devils throughout those destined years. Our Women raped and dishonored, our children frightened. Frightened into early adulthood, raped into early motherhood; Brainwashed by terrorists whose hearts are no good. We must undo! Now! We have become a generation of Crack Smoking, Dope Shooting, Wine drinking, Funny Clothes Wearing, Pill Poppin, Singing and dancing to meaningless words and empty motions, Murderers and Haters of Self. Thinking it's all about having fun, when we need to Be Undoing What they've done. Saying we got freed by a Proclamation, and had an option to leave this Nation, But we stayed and prayed, and accepted the yoke of Bondage in a different way. Became wage earners to the land robbers, and still suffer this wage sickness today. We must undo. And Each generation of Warriors that rise up are recognized, labeled and thrown into the Bottomless Pits of degredation, Wherein they subject each other to all forms of humiliation. Forgetting to Be angry at those who destroyed Our Nation, Ha! Thinking it's slick to take tech on ya Brother, Being Murderers of Self, and slaves to others. Gang Banging, and Gang Raping, like Bad Motherfuckers; Let me tell you somethin, you ain't Nothing But Suckers. Yeah! We must undo What they've done. Black South African Activist decides to suspend hunger strike after losing 57 pounds. Wake up Black Man, do you know what's going down? Mujahadeen struggle to take the Afghan City of Kabul from the Russian supported traitors. While we Buy hundred dollar sneakers, and Alligators. Um! Um! Um! First they enslaved our Bodies, put chains on our hands and feet. Took three hundred years to make their work complete. Now we are slaves willingly. Yes, Brothers and Sisters, You and Me. Buying Y'ves Saint Laurent, Gucci and Klein, keeping up with fashions, yes, that's enslaving ya mind. But you young generations today will never suspect, the diabolical plan, that's in effect. Though hopefully one day soon, you all will see, that great men have been slain, trying to set us free. And you'll Rise Up and accept your obligation, to educate our children, and Uplift your own Nation. No! I don't mean America, let me make this point Clear! I'm talking bout Africa! I'm outa here! - an Illinois prisoner * MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org The Maoist Internationalist Movement - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - UNDER LOCK & KEY BACKGROUND INFO ON POLITICAL REPRESSION IN U.S. PRISONS An agent provocateur's primary objective is to join a community and encourage its members to commit acts for which they will suffer kkkolonial violence by the agent's employer. We witness the function of an agent provocateur working in conjunction with the kkkolonialist government during the infiltration of the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power Movement (particularly the Black Panthers) among other examples. Agent provocateurs played a major role in the imprisonment and State execution of key Black leadership. These agents were all under the directive of the U.S. government. Indeed, the kkkolonialist government implemented COINTELPRO in the 1960s to crush the national liberation movements within the Black and [indigenous] communities primarily through the encouragement of "self-inflicted" genocide via the spreading of divisive disinformation, etc. and through coordinated actions by the f.b.i., the National Guard, and local police, etc. Various forms of State violence (political, psychological, physical) were combined to destroy efforts to build unity within the targetted kolonies. We must remember that while revolutionary movements were a threat to the power structure on the streets and on the reservations, so they were as well within the prisons. Inspired by the examples set by Malcolm X, George Jackson, and other vanguard prisoners who transformed the kolonized kriminal mentality into an anti-kolonial revolutionary mentality, many on the inside began to build up unity against the common oppressor. The execution of comrade George in the early 70s was one of the trip wires that set off the heroic Attica Rebellion which concluded in one of the most grotesque exercises of State terror within U.S. borders. Counterinsurgency strategy in Vietnam was being increasingly implemented at home to "pacify" unrest. In December of 1973, the House Committee on Internal Security (sic) released a report entitled "Revolutionary Target: the American Penal System." In June of 1974, the f.b.i. initiated a conference called the National Symposium on penal institutions as a "revolutionary target." Out of this conference, the f.b.i. launched the "extremist, revolutionary, terrorist, and subversive activities in penal institutions program" in July of 1974. This is important background for political repression within U.S. prisons today. - four Indiana prisoners * MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org The Maoist Internationalist Movement - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - UNDER LOCK & KEY "WE REFUSE TO BE SLAVES" Dear MIM: First I would like to let you know that I have been receiving your newspapers and I would like for you to continue sending me the paper. It is very educating, this paper, so if you will, continue to send to me a copy each month. I also would like a list of books that you have. There is no way that we can get your paper into the prison library, these neo-fascist capitalists will never allow it, and due to my being in administrative segregation it is hard to reach the brothers and comrades out in general population. I am a Muslim being held captive for political, religious, and other unknown reasons. I have gathered a few comrades and Muslim brothers, and we have formed a study and defense group . We are on the verge of creating mass confusion by demonstrating physically if we do not se some changes around here. For one these people are nothing but modern day slave drivers and we refuse to be slaves for these people. They have started a war with the Muslims here by refusing to issue them the holy Qur'an. And to make things worse, the food is never cooked right nor is it enough, the food is never hot, they don't know no other food but pork and chicken, once a week we might have fish which is nothing but shark meat. Us Muslims grieve that whenever they serve pork all that they can come up with for substitute is beans. Sometimes they try to be slick and pass the pork off as beef but as a person who was raised up on nothing but beef, chicken, goat, sheep, there is no way that they can trick me, and if it's a war they want they can get one. This goes out to all my Muslim brothers and comrades across the planet Earth. We are universal and we shall prevail by "any means necessary." As Salaamu Alaikum Your brother in Islam and Struggle - Texas prisoner, 5/16/93 * MIM Notes is not copyrighted. Please credit MIM when redistributing or referring to this material. Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576. E-mail: mim@blythe.org The Maoist Internationalist Movement - MIM Notes 81, October 1993 - UNDER LOCK & KEY PRISONER REPORTS RELIGIOUS AND SEXUAL HARRASSMENT Friends in Arms, I apologize for being lax in my writing to you, but the proverbial shit is hitting the fan here. I have been under a lot of fire lately for sticking up for my beliefs and have been going through a major hassle with one of the DeathKulture staff here. Not long ago we finally managed to get Native American Services going here, which has been a great uplift for many of us. But the institution is not so happy about it and they fuck with our circle and the individual members as much as they can. And it looks like we may soon be entering the court system to stop these blatant violations of our 1st Amendment rights. Besides being fucked with because of my religion, I was recently assaulted by an officer, undergone sexual harrassment by the same (homosexual) officer, and been told he didn't give a fuck about me or my religion. The pig made previous sexual innuendo to me, which I just blew off, and I guess this pissed him off or something cuz he just became more and more of a dick towards me as time went on. Finally on July first while being pat searched prior to leaving my job in the kitchen, the officer cupped and squeezed my balls and when I jumped back and asked what the hell he thought he was doing, he replied, "get your ass out of my face." I replied that it was an involuntary action due to him grabbing my nuts. He said next time it will be an involuntary action when he slams me to the floor. I brought these blatant violations of my rights to the bigwigs here, but I feel that they are trying to sweep it under the rug. So I have contacted the ACLU and the internal investigation unit for the Maryland State police. Plus, I am in the process of trying to get an attorney so I can sue this place. I have also found out from a stand-up officer that this is not the first time that this officer has done this kind of crap, so who knows, maybe I will receive justice for once. The administration here gets away with a lot of crap, cuz as I've heard said a lot recently, "I'm in a camp full of wannabe's." Peace - will write again soon! - Maryland Prisoner, 7/14/93