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| x   x x x   x   x  x  xx  xxx xxx  xxx                   |
| xx xx x xx xx   xx x x  x  x  x   x       Issue #17      |
| x x x x x x x   x xx x  x  x  xx   xxx                   |
| x   x x x   x   x  x x  x  x  x       x   11/05/85       |
| x   x x x   x   x  x  xx   x  xxx  xxx                   |
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|    Newspaper of the Maoist Internationalist Movement     |
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   S. AFRICA "REFORMS" PRESS
   
   S. AFRICA UPDATE
   Saturday, November 2nd, the apartheid regime officially 
blacked out news coverage of the Black revolt. Journalists of 
all kinds could face a sentence of 10 years or a fine of 
$8,000 or both for reporting resistance in the areas of South 
Africa that are under martial law. (Detroit Free Press, 
11/3/85, p. a1)
   The apartheid regime had arrested several journalists 
prior to establishing a complete ban on coverage.
   The ban on journalists underscores the potency of 
international protest against apartheid. That the racists no 
longer felt they could afford to publicize their own 
repression of the Black resistance proves that the U.S.-
backed white settler regime is not in full control.
   The day the journalist ban came down, 100,000 demonstrated 
in London for Western sanctions against apartheid.
   The death toll in S. Africa's repression over the last 14 
months has now topped 850. (Ibid., a13)
   
   MARCOS TO CALL ELECTIONS IN '86
   Under pressure from his U.S. sponsors, puppet dictator 
Ferdinand Marcos has apparently changed his mind and will 
consider elections in 1986. The Philippines President is 
viewed by conservatives in the U.S. to be out of touch and 
liable to lose the country to communism. Marcos' announcement 
followed Sen. Paul Laxalt's visit to the Philippines. Laxalt 
is a leading Reagan confidant.
   Meanwhile, the U.S. has also threatened to cut off $450 
million in military aid over the next five years if Marcos 
reinstates Gen. Fabian Ver who is implicated in the Aug. 1983 
assassination of bourgeois opposition figure Benigno Aquino. 
"'President Marcos said he was honor-bound to take him back 
if he [Gen. Ver] was acquitted,' Laxalt said. 'I said, 'For 
how much time?' He inititally said, 'One year.' I told him 
that would be a problem back here. He said he'd take a second 
look at it.'" (Detroit Free Press, 11/3/85, p. a3)
   The U.S. Senate is worried that Marcos will lose the 
Philippines to neo-Maoist guerrillas, who number 30,000 by 
Senate figures. The executive branch is worried that the New 
People's Army would kick the U.S. out of Clark Air Force Base 
and Subic Bay Naval Base, "the two largest U.S. military 
bases abroad." (Ibid.) The Philippines is also considered a 
long time political and economic ally thanks to a history of 
U.S. intervention to install pro-U.S. regimes.
   
   SEVEN LAYER CAKE
   The Pentagon's Star Wars plan envisions seven layers to 
the shield that protects the U.S. from Soviet missiles. Each 
layer will only allow 20% of Soviet missiles through.
   Five companies are working on Star Wars already and 
anticipate making further bids for more work. (Detroit Free 
Press, 11/3/85, p. a1)
   Even if the shield is not perfect, the idea of Star Wars 
is to make nuclear war more plausible to public opinion. That 
is why it has become critical for scientists in academia to 
reject Star Wars for its implausibility and for its 
militarist motivations. MIT has rejected all research on Star 
Wars as have thousands of scientists in universities across 
the country.
   At the same time, the conjunction of Star Wars weapons and 
others makes a first strike by the U.S. an ever more likely 
possibility.
   
   PHILLY POLICE REFUSE TO TESTIFY ON MOVE BOMBING
   "Lieut. Frank Powell, who dropped the bomb on the group's 
[MOVE'S] house May 13 after a daylong siege, was the first 
person to refuse to testify. He invoked his constitutional 
right against self-incrimination." (New York Times, Thurs. 
10/24/85)
   Mayor Wilson Goode went along with the bombing and turned 
down the idea of using a crane because at $6,500 the crane 
would have cost too much. Why resolve the conflict with such 
a low level of repression when we can murder 11 men, women 
and children?