Maoist Internationalist Movement * PO Box 29670 * Los Angeles CA 90029-0670

Dear friend,

This letter is a brief explanation of MIM's name policy with regard to security 
and prisoners.

MIM is an underground party that does not publish the names of its comrades in 
order to avoid the state surveillance and repression that have historically been 
directed at communist parties and anti-imperialist movements. We apply the same 
principle to those with whom we correspond. We don't publish their names or 
provide their names to anyone else.

Some prisoners want us to publish their names for a variety of reasons. Some 
people want to publicize their case to build public support. Some people want 
their names used so others will be able to get in touch with them. Some people 
properly want to take credit for their writing, and be held accountable for it 
if it is incorrect. All of these are reasonable goals, but they do not override 
our reasons for not publishing names of prisoners or providing them to anyone 
else.

First, prisoners may be singled out for retribution by guards and authorities if 
their names are used in MIM Notes. This retribution is unpredictable, but the 
threat of it usually overrides the benefits of exposure for individual cases. 
Second, we don't have any way of verifying identities or other personal 
information that prisoners provide us. It is possible that some people would 
cause trouble by getting other people's names in MIM Notes or getting their 
names identified with MIM is some other way. That is also why we don't generally 
send prisoners' names to other people or organizations on the outside. For 
accountability purposes, we sometimes use pseudonyms for writers so readers can 
keep track of their writing.

As all prisoners should know, state repression for political resistance is real 
and pervasive. MIM's policy on names and security is intended to minimize that 
threat without compromising our political work.