Under Lock and Key and the Ireland story is not available for this issue.--mim5@mim.org

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   THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

  MIM Notes 078                JULY, 1993 

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. support it, struggle 
with it and write for it.


IN THIS ISSUE:
1.  AMERIKA LEADS U.N. MASSACRES IN SOMALIA
2.  LETTERS
3.  [Ireland story]
4.  "NON-PROFITS" PROFIT OFF THE PEOPLE
5.  CHIEF RE-ELECTED ON REFERENDUM PLATFORM
6.  PERU PRETENDS AT INCREASED DEMOCRACY
7.  INDIGENOUS NATIONS: CASINOS CALL UP QUESTIONS OF ALLEGIANCE
8.  REVIEW: SLIVER
9.  REVIEW: DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY
10. REVIEW: MENACE II SOCIETY
11. REVIEW: STRICTLY BALLROOM
12. HYDRO QUEBEC
13. ERITREANS WANT INDEPENDENCE
14. THE REAL TERRORISTS ARE IN BONN
15. MCCARTHYITE THROWBACKS ON THE BORDER
16. FILIPINO COMMUNIST THREATENED WITH DEPORTATION
17. RADIO STATION AIRS NAZI IDEAS
18. MOBIL: WHITE POWER ORGANIZER

The Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) is a 
revolutionary communist party that upholds 
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, comprising the collection 
of existing or emerging Maoist internationalist 
parties in the English-speaking imperialist 
countries and their English-speaking internal 
semi-colonies, as well as the existing or emerging 
Spanish-speaking Maoist internationalist parties 
of Aztlan, Puerto Rico and other territories of 
the U.S. Empire. MIM Notes is the newspaper of 
MIM. Notas Rojas is the newspaper of the Spanish-
speaking parties or emerging parties of MIM.

MIM is an internationalist organization that works 
from the vantage point of the Third World 
proletariat; thus, its members are not Amerikans, 
but world citizens.

MIM struggles to end the oppression of all groups 
over other groups: classes, genders, nations.  MIM 
knows this is only possible by building public 
opinion to seize power through armed struggle.

Revolution is a reality for North America as the 
military becomes over-extended in the government's 
attempts to maintain world hegemony.

MIM differs from other communist parties on three 
main questions: (1) MIM holds that after the 
proletariat seizes power in socialist revolution, 
the potential exists for capitalist restoration 
under the leadership of a new bourgeoisie within 
the communist party itself. In the case of the 
USSR, the bourgeoisie seized power after the death 
of Stalin in 1953; in China, it was after Mao's 
death and the overthrow of the "Gang of Four" in 
1976. (2) MIM upholds the Chinese Cultural 
Revolution as the farthest advance of communism in 
human history. (3) MIM believes the North American 
white-working-class is primarily a non-
revolutionary worker-elite at this time; thus, it 
is not the principal vehicle to advance Maoism in 
this country.

MIM accepts people as members who agree on these 
basic principles and accept democratic centralism, 
the system of majority rule, on other questions of 
party line.

"The theory of Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin is 
universally applicable. We should regard it not as 
dogma, but as a guide to action. Studying it is 
not merely a matter of learning terms and phrases, 
but of learning Marxism-Leninism as the science of 
revolution."
-- Mao Zedong, Selected Works, Vol. II, p. 208


* * *

AMERIKA LEADS U.N. MASSACRES IN SOMALIA

The June bombings and massacre in Mogadishu, the capital of 
Somalia, made Amerika and its allies proud. But they were a 
clarion call to revolution for the oppressed.

President Clinton said the killing would "preserve the integrity 
of peacekeeping." He added: "our nation must and will continue to 
assert global leadership, as we have done this week in Somalia."

ABC's Nightline host Ted Koppel, putting on his critical face, 
demanded, "Why wasn't this done sooner?"

And an Amerikan storm trooper preparing for battle smiled for the 
cameras: "It's sort of, I guess the analogy would be, like going 
into a football game."

Blood ran in the streets as the United States and its United 
Nations front tried to beat Somalia back into the new world order. 
As the dust settled, leaving the dead and wounded scattered in the 
streets, among the rubble of their former homes, the world saw 
clearly the brutal ambitions and malicious intent of U.N. 
"peacemaking."

And as imperialism tried to "stabilize" Somalia, to "rehabilitate" 
its society-to get it back into production for foreign profit-the 
Somali people continued to show a resilience that sets an example 
for the oppressed everywhere.

To really come to their aid doesn't mean dumping surplus grain on 
their markets. It means dumping imperialism, liberating Somalia 
and all oppressed nations from the burden of foreign domination, 
and building socialist societies that support each other 
unconditionally.

IMPERIALISTS PAINT SOMALIA BLOOD RED:
U.S. LEADS ATTACKS ON PEOPLE AND THEIR LEADERS

by MC12

JUNE 18-The United States bombed the capital of Somalia, U.N. 
troops killed more than 100 unarmed Somalis, and soldiers 
conducting house-to-house searches arrested hundreds of suspected 
anti-imperialists in June.

The new wave of attacks on the Somali people and their leaders 
began with a raid on a Mogadishu radio station on June 5. Somali 
masses responded with attacks on United Nations troops, ambushing 
and killing 23 Pakistani soldiers; their attacks then served as 
justification for new imperialist aggression.

These attacks are part of the U.S./U.N. scheme to subdue the 
Somali people militarily, destroy their economy with "relief" 
supplies of food, and finally install a properly pro-imperialist 
government to administer the neo-colony.

Like a true Amerikan slave master, U.S./U.N. warlord Adm. Jonathan 
Howe dubbed the latest attacks "Operation Restore Normality," and 
said a top priority was solving the problem of "how we can put 
people back to work."(10) Somalis have nothing against work, they 
just don't want to work for Uncle Clinton.

Though victims of decades of imperialist-driven violence-from both 
the U.S. and Soviet empires-the people of Somalia are setting an 
example of resistance for the oppressed everywhere to see.

Outlaw nation

The main target of the attack was supposedly General Mohamed Farah 
Aideed and the Somali National Alliance (SNA) that he leads, who 
were blamed for the retaliatory attack on U.N. troops.

When the people of Mogadishu heard the U.N. was planning to take 
over Radio Mogadishu, through which the SNA had been criticizing 
the imperialist presence in Somalia for weeks, they engaged U.N. 
troops in running battles and ambushes, successfully driving them 
back into their bunkers. Before the U.S. attack, U.N. forces had 
been refusing to go out on patrol, fearing the fury of the Somali 
masses.(1)

The U.N. denied it planned to raid the radio station, but then 
destroyed it in the first night of bombing.

The Somali people stand accused of sticking up for themselves, of 
fighting to control their territory, resources and economy, and of 
resisting foreign intervention on their soil. These are serious 
crimes in the eyes of imperialism, as any Black or Latino 
"criminal" behind bars knows. In preparation for urban rebellion, 
U.N. troops rounded up 200 people on the first night of the 
bombing.(2)

Howe said the attack on U.N. troops "provides the opportunity to 
really get moving on disarmament."(3) But whose disarmament? As he 
spoke, the United States was beefing up its own faction with more 
fighter helicopters and armed thugs.(4)

The war is intended to determine the course of political 
"reconciliation" by which the United States will pick puppets to 
administer the territory. A U.S. State Department official said 
Aideed had "put himself beyond the pale. We don't see him 
participating in future Somali politics."(4) The U.S./U.N. scheme 
requires clearing the field of unfriendly players before 
"negotiating" a new political order.

Aideed was causing problems by "inciting" the Somali people with 
Radio Mogadishu. A BBC reporter who visited the station before it 
was bombed said it was the most modern and technologically 
sophisticated radio station and studio in the country. It was 
built in 1988, and was never damaged or looted in the civil war. 
But according to the U.N. statement on the bombing, the station 
was apparently feeding the "climate of insecurity" that led to 
"unprovoked" attacks on U.N. troops, blocking the "restoration of 
normal conditions" and slowing the ability of Somalis to 
"rehabilitate their society."(1)

The U.S./U.N. are much happier with people like the Somali 
Salvation Democratic Front, whose spokeswoman in London said the 
bombing was "necessary" and "expected." She added: "Our country 
has been destroyed long ago, by ourselves. The United Nations is 
the only authority the Somali people respect."(2) ITAL That's END 
what Uncle Clinton wanted to hear.

Keeping the peace, Amerikkkan style

The United States struck with attack planes and helicopters, while 
U.S. and other U.N. troops seized territory on the ground. Targets 
included storage garages in residential areas, construction 
equipment and anything else that could be used to help a war 
effort against the U.N.(3)

Each day after the bombings, people turned out for demonstrations 
near U.N. troop compounds. The first day, Pakistani troops fired 
on the crowds, killing several. The next day, before a bigger 
demonstration, troops opened fire indiscriminately with machine 
guns, killing more than 20 and wounding more than 50, including 
those fleeing of all ages. A 2-year-old half a mile away and a 10-
year-old were among the dead.(6)

The U.N. said its troops fired in self-defense, after snipers 
hidden in the crowd started shooting at the U.N. bunker. The U.N. 
commander said the soldiers were "very restrained" and that 
"hostile demonstrations ... must be avoided ... crowds should not 
form and move in threatening directions."(7) All eye-witness 
accounts contradicted this story.(3)

As time went on, the U.N. story grew more bizarre. Within a week, 
Howe was saying the incident happened when "women and children 
were pushed into" the U.N. troops. After blaming the massacre on 
the demonstrators, he added that such behavior is "unscrupulous, 
it's reprehensible, and it really can't be allowed to 
continue."(10) 

A Reuters reporter who was there told the BBC that the crowd was 
250 meters (one-eighth of a mile) from the elevated, sandbagged 
Pakistani bunkers when they opened fire.(7) CBS reported that the 
Pakistanis fired no warning shots, and were not fired on. The 
first shots were sustained machine gun blasts from the U.N. 
bunkers.(8)

The BBC reported that "all the eye-witness accounts converge" on 
the fact that there was "no real threat" to the U.N. troops from 
the crowd.(7) U.N. soldiers fired on the wounded once they were 
down, and refused cries for help from wounded people lying in the 
street.(6)

Resistance

"One thing was undisputed after the U.N. military initiative: 
Somali anger was deepening against the U.N., the United States and 
foreigners."(5) Foreign reporters and poverty-pimping "relief 
workers" have also come under attack from the masses in Mogadishu.

MIM does not have an independent assessment of Aideed's politics 
or his record as a leader. But MIM supports the actions of the 
Somali masses, whether following him or not, to retaliate against 
foreign invaders and resist imperialist domination.

An Aideed spokesman, perhaps passing the buck, said the attacks on 
U.N. troops were mass demonstrations, not attacks coordinated led 
by Aideed.(1) But the BBC reported that Aideed has "some popular 
support" and that there is a "growing antipathy toward foreigners" 
in the city.(2) The anti-Amerikan, anti-U.N. demonstrations were 
"drawing wide popular support."(7)

The June attacks helped show Somalis and the rest of the world the 
malicious intentions of the United Nations as it carries out the 
will of U.S. imperialism and its allies. There is no excuse now to 
pretend there is a difference between "peacekeeping," 
"peacemaking" and just plain war. The language is different, but 
the blood of the people still runs red in the streets, and their 
fury still rises up in resistance.

Notes:

1. BBC World Service 6/12/93.
2. BBC World Service 6/13/93.
3. Washington Post 6/15/93, p. A1.
4. Washington Post 6/15/93, p. A17.
5. Reuters in Washington Times 6/14/93, p. A1.
6. Washington Post 6/14/93, p. A1.
7. BBC World Service 6/14/93.
8. CBS Radio 6/13/93.
9. BBC World Service 6/15/93.
10. ABC Nightline 6/17/93.

* * *

LETTERS

WHY THE "K" IN AMERIKA?

Dear MIM,

Last month I received one of your papers and I was very pleased 
with the political issues and especially the truth about Amerikan 
trickery through hegemonic exhorts.

You asked a few questions in the February notes:

1. Always wondered why we put a "k" in Amerika? Yes I would very 
much like to know. And I would also like to know why is the 
lesbian symbol on the masthead.

In the same paper, there was another list of questions titled: 
Memorized all your Marx? Learned all your Lenin? Mastered your 
Mao? Able to reel off the Black Panther Party's points of 
attention in a single bound? My answer to all these questions is 
no. Would you please enlighten me!?

Dear sir, I am very much aware of the obvious conspiring genocide 
and the unjust patriarchal role that Amerika displays around the 
world. Therefore I would very much like to stay in tuned with the 
Maoist Movement (if possible, become a part of it). I am presently 
incarcerated and indigent but would very much like a copy of the 
pamphlet on the fundamental principles of MIM.

Please don't hesitate to send me MIM Notes for March!
Thank You.
Respectfully Yours,
-A new friend in the South
March 1993


MC17 responds: We put the "k" in Amerika because we do not 
recognize Amerika as a legitimate nation, but rather many nations 
colonized by an imperialist, white supremacist nation and 
government. We use the "k" to draw attention to the fascist and 
white supremacist nature of this country in the most blatant way 
possible.

We put the lesbian symbol on the masthead to clarify up front to 
people that we stand for the liberation of women and we oppose 
oppression based on sexual orientation. People who see that symbol 
and lose interest in our paper are not people we want as a reading 
audience.


IS MIM ANTI-WHITE?

Dear MIM,

Okay, I do appreciate your newsletter and I hope you continue 
sending it my way. I hope you are all doing well? I'm doing fine 
at the moment ...

The reason for my writing you is to thank you for your paper and 
to express a few things to you.

To begin with, I would like to say that I know very little about 
communism and so there is very little I can say. I hoped to learn 
something more through your publication, but so far I have only 
gleaned the violence and need for revolution. I too feel that the 
only solution to the problems of government, class separation, 
racism, etc., is a revolution of giant magnitude. But I have 
thoughts about the organization that will replace the present: Not 
ITAL just END a thought of revolution.

I noticed in this latest issue that you welcomed The Mirror to 
write to you with criticisms, or friendship, in order to come to 
an agreement or to at least dispute a few facts? So perhaps you 
won't be offended at ITAL my END tone and questioning?

1. I am a white person and so I would like to know point blank 
what your views on the white race are? The tone of ITAL your END 
.letters scream genocide. ...

I assure you that the knowledge you present me with will not be 
wasted. So please send me anything you can about the politics of 
communism.

In the struggle,
-Prisoner interested in communism
September 1992


MC17 responds: We left out some interesting theoretical questions 
this comrade raises that we will respond to further in upcoming 
issues of MIM Theory.

MIM does not advocate genocide of any "race." In fact, we are a 
multi-nation (within the United States) party that allies with 
anyone who does genuinely anti-imperialist work.

We do, however, recognize the historically fascist and pro- 
imperialist role the white nation has played in this country. We 
know that materially the white nation has no interest in 
revolution, it is benefiting from imperialism, receiving the 
profits of the exploitation of the Third World.

As a group the white nation will not, at this time, join the 
revolutionary forces of the world. Some individuals of the white 
nation will join the revolution, committing what we call class and 
nation "suicide," effectively working against the material 
interests of their class and their nation. MIM gladly works with 
all interested comrades. (See MIM Theory 1 for more on the non-
exploitation of the white working class in Amerika-ordered from 
MIM for $4)

MIM enjoys discussing all political questions with people 
interested in revolutionary politics. We are never offended by 
people with questions or disagreements, and we openly embrace 
dialogue and struggle with all anti-imperialists. We are glad that 
this comrade took the time to write to us and hope others will 
follow this example.


FREE FRED HAMPTON JR.

Dear MIM,

As a member of the National People's Democratic Uhuru Movement, an 
organization that struggles to expose the continuing 
counterinsurgency going down by the U.S. against domestically 
colonized Africans, I appreciate the correct article raised around 
the sell-out ANC that appeared in MIM Notes. The great Uncle Tom 
message of Nelson Mandela must be exposed, and MIM Notes plays an 
important role in this.

One important struggle that NPDUM is engaged in is the Free Fred 
Hampton Jr. campaign. After the rebellion of Los Angeles, the U.S. 
has upped its level of brutality against the revolutionary African 
working population. This brutality has taken many forms, but the 
one I would like to call to attention is the lock-up of Fred 
Hampton Jr. The state had him framed up on bogus arson charges, 
and has now put him behind bars for 18 years, robbing Africans and 
all people of his leadership.

Fred is significant to the state for his work with NPDUM, but also 
for being the son of Fred Hampton, the historic Black Panther 
leader who electrified the sleeping African giant in Chicago in 
the 60s. As we all should know Fred Sr. was the victim of one of 
the most blatant and vicious pig attacks in 30 years. On December 
4, 1969, while his unborn son (Fred Jr.) and his wife Akua lay in 
bed next to him, his bed was filled with 96 bullet holes by 
Chicago and federal pigs.

NPDUM is calling on all progressive individuals and organizations 
to join us in this critical struggle. One thing that everyone can 
do is call or write Mayor Daley, the mayor of Chicago, and Judge 
Toomin, the judge who presided over the case:

¥ Mayor Richard Daley
City of Chicago City Hall
Room 507
10121 North La Salle
Chicago, IL 60602
Tel: (312) 744-3300
Fax: (312) 744-2324

¥ Judge Toomin
2600 S. California
Chicago, IL 60607
Tel: (312) 890-3042
Fax: (312) 890-3093

Demand the immediate release of Fred Hampton Jr., a return of all 
the ransom money ($40,000) stolen, an immediate investigation of 
the officers involved in his kidnapping, and reparations made to 
Hampton and his family for the trauma of this whole fiasco. All 
freedom loving people should be incensed that the state would 
attack the Hampton family twice! MIM should publish a story around 
the Fred Hampton case to open it up to your readers.

Uhuru (an African word meaning Freedom),
-An NPDUM member
June 1993


MIM NOTES GIVES LEFTIST NEW HOPE

Comrades,

I recently picked up a copy of your newspaper at a local 
bookstore, and I was extremely impressed. Your coverage of events 
in Azania and Peru was excellent, and I was especially encouraged 
to read your letters from prisoners. I am interested in taking 
part in your organization in any way I can ...

I am a 25-year-old white man who has been active on the left since 
the late 1980s. I have been inactive recently due to my disgust 
with the organizations I have come in contact with-Communist 
Party, Socialist Workers Party, Workers World Party-they are all 
reformists and revisionists more interested in sucking up the so-
called "progressive" movement than building a revolutionary 
vanguard in the working class.

Seeing your newsletter has given me renewed confidence in the 
prospects for revolution.

Thanks.
-A new friend in the Midwest
June 1993


ANARCHIST PLAYWRIGHT APPRECIATES MIM REVIEW

MIM Notes 76 contained a review of "Duel in Peru," a play about a 
debate between an anarchist (Jamil) and a Communist Party of Peru 
(PCP) member (Vera). MIM criticized Jamil for not being committed 
to progressive politics; at one point in the play he agrees to a 
saber-duel with a cop to defend his honor. We also made the 
criticism that the sexual dynamic between Jamil and Vera (they 
meet when Jamil tries to pick Vera up in a cafe) detracts from and 
glosses over the political content of the play. The following is 
excerpted from the playwright's response, and an edited version of 
our response.

Dear MIM,

... Such seems Jamil's ongoing little problem [inconsistent 
political commitment], a problem, as I've over the years noticed, 
of not-a-few persons, those who enthusiastically embrace social 
revolution, to the point of actual membership in a left 
organization, only to later ... join the Establishment-now a yuppie, 
liberal Democrat or whatever the sellout-the subconscious 
conservatism, which so many of us are raised on as of early-
childhood, suddenly springing to the fore!

So you might, I believe, show a bit more ITAL tolerance END  
toward the complex character Jamil-who, by the way, seeks ITAL not 
only END to-as you seem to assume-get Vera in bed-that too!-but 
likewise to bring her back to the Middle East in-recall?-marriage 
or mating, whichever she prefers. Back to his complexity, he 
travels around the world more in search of ITAL himself, END like 
seeking to resolve that split of his ... between his progressive 
aspiration on the one hand-Marx, Gandhi, Thoreau, Rousseau, 
Wilhelm Reich (even Mao "70%")-and the aristocratic/feudal 
regression on the other, albeit such regression of his ITAL mighty 
RARE END-to his, as I'd point out, credit. ...

"Duel in Peru" is not a Marxist play, not an Anarchist play. It's 
a Marxist-Anarchist play (Vera as basically the former, Jamil as 
basically the latter). And again much thanks for your reviewing 
it.

-S. Colman May 1993


MIM responds: MIM agrees with you on the fundamental contradiction 
in your play: the tension between individualist ideology and 
revolutionary analysis. The crux of our disagreement here is that 
we would have focused on a different contradiction-that between 
anarchism and Maoism. This is not say that the contradiction First 
World or Third World bourgeois and petty-bourgeois revolutionaries 
face in entering political activism is not an important issue to 
contend with. But when we set up the importance of that decision 
against the importance of choosing between two ideologies, two 
strategies for liberation, there is no contest.

The choice to engage in political struggle can only be made in 
practice. Many class-, nation- and gender-privileged radicals 
spend far too much time puzzling over what is right for them 
personally. The almost inevitable outcome of this internal 
struggle is realizing one's own class, nation and gender 
interests-upholding imperialist patriarchy.

MIM encourages people to struggle over a specific ideology rather 
than ruminate on their own interests. We recognize that people who 
are privileged by their material conditions have a great deal at 
stake in entering revolutionary politics, and that "rationally" 
they should choose reactionary commitments, to defend their 
position in society. So we confront people with the truths of 
Maoism, and the global analysis of imperialism which says that 
eventually the people will win or the imperialists will blow up 
the world. But the only correct side to be on is the side of the 
majority.

The error in defining the choice as between individualism and 
organization, rather than that between Anarchism and Marxism, is 
that you open the window for the conclusion that the individual 
per se is more important historically than the effect of her/his 
actions. We disagree. We say that historically the masses of 
people make history and that it is the benefit to the 
majority-gained by socialism and eventually communism-that 
determine the course of history and should determine the course of 
progressives' political activity.

By the same token, it doesn't matter if Jamil is willing to have 
sex with Vera on her own terms. The point is that he places his 
sex life ahead of his own politics and is trying to convince 
someone with a good political practice to do the same. No matter 
how "correct" the sex is, it is wrong to place sexual practice 
ahead of political practice.

When we refer to someone's political commitment, we are talking 
about their practice. Their ideology may sound pretty in words, 
but without practice it is immaterial to easing pain and suffering 
in the world. So to say that Jamil's slips into feudal thinking 
are few is the opposite of our assessment. We would say that 
Jamil's commitment to progressive politics is quite weak, since he 
never does anything-although as you point out, his progressive 
aspirations are there.

Like some anarchists, MIM believes in an end to oppression of 
groups of people by other groups-nations, genders, classes. Our 
ideology leads us to historical materialist analysis of these 
oppressions. And our understanding of history tells us that with 
planned production, self-sufficiency programs, community based 
health care and education, communists have done more to end group 
oppression than any other social movement.

* * *

"NON-PROFITS" PROFIT OFF THE PEOPLE

by a comrade

On June 6, a Texas-based conglomerate called Republic Realty 
Services, Inc., mailed the tenants of embattled San Francisco 
housing development Geneva Towers a letter stating that the 
Department of Housing and Urban Development "will follow a 
vigorous eviction program" and bring in troops from "the 
Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Agency, if 
necessary" to empty the two 20-story Towers by December 1993.

HUD intended to destroy the Geneva Towers community as a model for 
similar Black Nation population removals under legal cover of the 
Housing and Opportunities for People Everywhere (HOPE) 
legislation, which gives housing projects to corporate, profit-
seeking "non-profit" agencies.

But the Geneva Towers Tenant's Association (GTTA), which had 
gained a reputation in the Bay Area for tenacity, dealt HUD and 
deposed Geneva Towers manager John Stewart one political defeat 
after another and Geneva Towers became a model of resistance under 
colonial conditions.

The Geneva Towers are occupied 24 hours-a-day by armed off-duty 
pigs. GTTA's main form of resistance is a sustained effort to 
publicly expose HUD's criminal activities.

GTTA's political demands are that HUD abandon its military 
chokehold on Geneva Towers, pay reparations for damages inflicted 
on the citizens of Geneva Towers, and sign over legal ownership to 
the people who inhabit the property.

CLP against the people

Among the "non-profit" vultures circling Geneva Towers are 
organizations affiliated with the Communist Labor Party (CLP). 
These groups began speaking publicly in the name of GTTA without 
GTTA's permission.

One CLP supporter scheduled a "strategy and action planning 
meeting" for May 28 at the Towers sponsored by a consortium of 
ITAL leftist END "non-profits," in order to plan a takeover of 
Geneva Towers.

CLP supporters (and front groups such as Homes Not Jails) have 
recently been taking over other housing projects and abandoned 
buildings in the San Francisco area. Typically, the police bust a 
few heads and give the buildings back to the landlords.

Sometimes, however, the squatters hold out until CLP-created 
organizations can, with the aid of City officials, receive 
ownership of the buildings in the name of affordable housing.(1)

For example, the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency underwrote 
renovation of the Senator Hotel in San Francisco's Tenderloin area 
by the Coalition on Homelessness. A few lucky General Assistance 
recipients are allowed to live in the Hotel-as long as they turn 
their monthly welfare checks over to the CLP landlords.

The CLP's profitable activities are not limited to San Francisco. 
In Detroit, Mich., CLP runs Up and Out of Poverty Now! In 
Albuquerque, N.M., Albuquerque Homestead Committee mirrors the 
national activities of the CLP, which are coordinated through a 
front-group umbrella organization in Chicago called National 
Organizing Committee.(2)

What is CLP?

CLP supporters told MIM Notes that the strategy of their party is 
to create a national network of "non-profit" organizations that 
will assume power from "corrupt capitalists" by mobilizing tens of 
millions of the "exploited" white working class. According to CLP, 
the revolution will apparently be won through letter writing 
campaigns, housing take-overs, capital accumulation and elections!

The CLP split from the CPUSA in the 1920s and claims in its 
theoretical journal to uphold Stalin's political line. In 
contradiction to this, the CLP continued to tout the Soviet Union 
as a "socialist" state long after the USSR became state-capitalist 
in the mid-1950s.

MIM supports the necessary movements of oppressed freedom-fighters 
to alleviate the pain of living under Amerikan capitalism and to 
build power structures existing as ITAL independently as possible 
END from Amerikan capitalism. True socialist independence will be 
achieved through people's wars and cultural revolutions-not by 
begging HUD for loans. MIM will continue to expose the activities 
of Trotskyists and other bourgeois "non-profit" organizations-such 
as the CLP-as they try to split and wreck small, but genuine, mass 
organizations like GTTA.

GTTA stands its ground

When the intentions of the May "take-over" consortium became clear 
to GTTA, the tenants issued a statement clarifying the basis for 
unity with GTTA.

The statement read in part:

"GTTA recognizes that the fight for freedom which we wage against 
a common enemy often brings together groups with different 
ideologies and different understandings about the best and most 
effective ways forward....

"GTTA does not engage in any illegal activities. At this time we 
are waging our battles in the courts and in the realm of public 
opinion. We have won several significant victories. The John 
Stewart Company has been forced to withdraw from the Towers. We 
have successfully exposed to public view the criminal activities 
of John Stewart, HUD and their allies even as they threw us from 
our homes. As our numbers diminished, our strength has grown and 
our determination to take legal title to Geneva Towers is the 
result of the realization that we already own Geneva Towers.

"We are fighting against a corrupt system. We consider it to be a 
major victory each time the system is forced to even obey its own 
laws. Our strategy is to continue to expose the corruption of the 
system as it has expressed itself at Geneva Towers. Our tactics 
are to unmask the devious ways of those who claim to "manage," or 
even to ITAL own us. END Our tactics are to continue to organize 
our own people to act self-reliantly and in our own interests."

Lacking force, the consortium abandoned Geneva Towers. MIM 
understands that it has joined with other consortiums to takeover 
a radioactive military base currently housing the Mikhail 
Gorbachev Foundation (the Presidio) sitting on what may very well 
be the most un-affordable piece of real-estate on Planet Earth.

Notes:

1. "Despite the Stewart McKinney Act which mandates that surplus 
federal property be utilized for affordable housing ... property 
sits vacant all over the city. ... ITAL If non-profit housing groups 
try to buy it, they're told it's not available. END ... We will 
seize the property and demand it be used for affordable housing." 
(Homes Not Jails coalition flier for June 14, 1993 "March and 
Housing Takeover" in San Francisco; emphasis added.)
2. You can contact the National Organizing Committee at P.O. Box 
477113, Chicago, Illinois 60647.  Or send $1 to Boxholder, P.O. 
Box 3576, Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3576 for MIM's essay on "Single-
Issue Organizing."

* * *

CHIEF RE-ELECTED ON REFERENDUM PLATFORM

by a comrade

AKWESASNE, MOHAWK NATION-On June 5, the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne 
held elections that largely centered around the relationship of 
gambling to Mohawk self-determination.

The winning slate of Chief Norman Tarbell, Rudy Hart and Philip 
Tarbell promised to put up all the issues for a referendum, 
including: how many casinos to have, tribal ownership versus 
private ownership, who will run the casinos, and when account 
information will be made public.

Pigs threaten Mohawk sovereignty

Despite large public signs at Akwesasne saying that no state 
police, FBI, IRS or other authorities from the U.S. empire are 
allowed on the nation's territory, New York state police officers 
are a constant encroaching presence. Moreover, the gaming 
facilities that are open have an ample presence of foreign tax 
authorities.

In 1990, the Akwesasne chiefs invited New York state police into 
the nation to help restore order. On May 1, 1990, two Mohawks died 
at the hands of other Mohawks. The shooting was connected to 
gambling, but the murders remain unsolved.

Now the Mohawks want to police the gambling within their borders 
themselves.

Chief Norman Tarbell and some of his friends spoke to MIM Notes 
the night before his election. Asked about the New York state 
police presence at Akwesasne, Tarbell said, "No one wants them 
now."

But in 1990 "everybody did. There was gunfire all the time, people 
being beat up. Canadian Indian police running people down on the 
American side." Of the people willing to say anything about the 
events of 1990, three in Akwesasne told MIM that the events were 
"complicated."

New York and the Mohawks

Dave Jacobs, one of the chiefs in 1990, was the object of some 
distaste from Tarbell and his friends. "He was the one to sell 
this reservation down the toilet," said one.

But some of the candidates running against Tarbell in the June 
elections held him more accountable, saying that Tarbell should 
have exerted more leadership to oppose the two chiefs who signed 
away Mohawk sovereignty in a gambling pact with New York.

One candidate, J. D. Herne, implied that Tarbell is involved in 
some kind of corruption.(1) Another candidate, Edward Smoke, said 
that if it were up to him there would be no gambling on the 
nation's territory, but if there were to be gambling, the 
regulations should be tighter to guarantee sovereignty.

Tarbell himself said he would not sign the now highly unpopular 
compact with New York. Indeed, according to some family members, 
some of the gaming house owners themselves oppose the compact that 
originally allowed them to open up business.

In contrast, Tony Laughing, who just spent 27 months in U.S. 
federal prison for operating an "illegal" gaming operation, said 
that Tarbell should have signed the compact instead of using it 
for political gain.(2)

Gambling and self-determination

Gambling is probably the premier controversial issue within the 
First Nations of North America. "At present, of the 278 
reservations within the continental U.S., more than 150 are 
offering games of chance ranging from bingo games, to table card 
games, to slot machines. In the U.S., total annual native games 
revenues are estimated at more than $1 billion dollars U.S."(3)

Even a pro-business publication recognizes that gambling can 
compromise sovereignty: "We manage one Casino in San Diego, the 
tribe has 32 enrolled members, the Casino has 820 employees and 
there are five bander members employed by the Casino. ... That is 
not Indian gaming. It is gaming that happens to take place on a 
very small reservation."(4)

On the other hand, casinos can be a small agent of self-
determination. In the June election at Akwesasne, people spoke of 
indigenous unemployment and the need to care for the elderly and 
youth. One young Mohawk woman expressed her hopes for the gambling 
business this way: "We want to hire our own police; expand our 
clinic ... fund drug rehabilitation. There's a whole lot of things 
we need."

In the Seneca nation, the leadership may support gambling, but 
most residents are concerned that gambling will mean losing self-
determination.

"Your different areas have different problems and different 
needs," said one Seneca trader. "Over here, the casino is not 
going to produce the money ... I do not see it. There's too many 
Senecas to get per capita distribution [of income from casinos] ... 
I'd rather see small business people doing their own thing ... 
They're learning trade ... teaching others. Not every one of us can 
be a Blackjack dealer, manager of a casino. ...You do have to have a 
degree in management. ... These highly skilled jobs, we're not gonna 
run it. ... The Indians are going to be sweeping the floors. Casinos 
do have high-paying jobs [but the Senecas need to ask themselves] 
'What is your experience for high-paying jobs?'"

Experts and economic development

MIM takes the lessons of China's political struggles for economic 
development as a guide. As the Seneca trader pointed out, large, 
glitzy projects are not always best for development of a people, 
particularly when foreigners from imperialist countries will have 
to run the operations requiring "experts."

Deng Xiaoping, phony communist leader of China, is famous for 
saying "It is by the adoption of the most advanced technologies 
that the industrially backward countries catch up with the 
industrially advanced countries in the world."(5)

Deng also said that China needed to import advanced technology and 
build up its core of scientific experts as the "backbone" of 
modernization. In these two steps he sold his country to the 
imperialists and a scientific bourgeoisie willing to seize control 
of production from the workers.

But Mao Zedong taught us that the developing societies must rely 
on their own efforts and not turn control of development over to 
foreigners or an upper class. Without self-reliance, Mao pointed 
out that the masses and even the leaders would not be able to 
gauge for themselves what was really true of the things they 
learned from the advanced countries.

Such is the case in casino development. If the indigenous peoples 
do not run the casinos themselves, they have no way of knowing 
what is really advanced management accounting and slot-machine 
technology. They will have sold their lands to foreigners and a 
small upper class of indigenous.

Notes:
1. The People's Voice, 6/2/93, p. 2. Box 109 Akwesasne, NY 13655.
2. Ibid., p. 1.
3. First Nations Business: The Voice of Self-Reliance, Issue 1, 
May, 1993, 150-1111 Melville St., Vancouver, B.C. V6E 3V6.
4. Ibid.
5. Deng Xiaoping, "On Accelerating the Development of Industry," 
in Mark Selden, ed., ITAL The People's Republic of China: A 
Documentary History of Revolutionary Change END, p. 668.

* * *

PERU PRETENDS AT INCREASED DEMOCRACY

by MC17

Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori at the end of May released a 
draft of the country's new constitution for publication in the 
government's official newspaper, in order to foster "public 
debate."(1) Fujimori has in the past said he hopes to change the 
constitution to allow the death penalty for crimes against the 
state, i.e. revolutionary organizing.

If legislated by a constitution, imperialists can call this 
increased repression "democratic."

The same week the constitution was published, the Peruvian 
government announced that it was extending the state of emergency 
in Lima and Callao for 60 days so that they could better fight 
"subversives" in those regions.(1)

Real face of Peru not far behind

The government also sentenced three Peruvian activists who are 
living abroad to life imprisonment and fines of $500 million. 
These include Luis Arce Borja, the editor of El Diario 
Internacional, Adolfo Olaechea, an activist in London(2), and 
Maximiliano Durand Araujo, a resident of Paris.

The three were sentenced in their absence along with five others 
(three of whom are women) who the government claims belong to the 
central committee of the Communist Party of Peru (PCP). They were 
sentenced through the same illegitimate process as PCP leader 
Chairperson Gonzalo, who was arrested in Lima last year.

"All of them have been sentenced to life imprisonment and must pay 
$500 million in damages to compensate the state for the serious 
losses arising from terrorist activities by the organization that 
they lead," said the prosecutor. They are accused of activities 
supporting the PCP while abroad.

"Now that sentence has been passed, the Peruvian foreign ministry 
will resume proceedings to extradite the three ambassadors of 
terror who organize Shining Path's propaganda in Europe," he 
added.(3)

If held to the same standards, Fujimori and his entire government 
and armed forces would right now be serving a life sentence for 
murder and terrorism committed against the people.

Since Fujimori seized emergency powers last year to strengthen his 
control in the fight against the revolution, about 150 Peruvians 
have been condemned to life in prison under anti-terrorist 
legislation.(4)

The May strike in Lima succeeds

On May 17-19, the PCP called for a strike in Lima to mark the 13th 
anniversary of the beginning of the armed struggle. It appears 
that transportation in the city was completely shut down for the 
first day and-a-half of the strike, making it nearly impossible 
for people to get to work.

The government put a lot of time, money and weapons into forcing 
the people to ignore the strike. Lima was virtually an armed 
fortress during the three day strike as military troops used 
helicopters and tanks to patrol the city.(5)

In the southeast region of Ayacucho, where the armed struggle 
began on May 17, 1980, the city was completely paralyzed on the 
first day of the strike, although there was no official call by 
the PCP for a strike there.(6)

Despite continued claims by imperialists and their media 
supporters everywhere, it appears that the PCP is still quite 
strong. Chairperson Gonzalo, the leader of the PCP, may be in 
prison, but the revolution continues forward.

1. The British Broadcasting Corporation 5/24/93.
2. See MIM Notes 76 for a story about his extradition hearings in 
London.
3. Inter Press Service 5/17/93.
4. Reuters 5/19/93.
5. Reuters 5/23/93.
6. Reuters 5/18/93.

* * *

INDIGENOUS NATIONS: CASINOS CALL UP QUESTIONS OF ALLEGIANCE

by a comrade

ONONDAGA NATION, JUNE 16-Since April, some businesses at the Onondaga 
nation in central New York have been barricaded to prevent them 
from opening to the public. People at Onondaga characterize the 
dispute as an "internal matter" between businesses and the tribal 
leadership.

Chief Oren Lyons wants more taxes from the businesses, which pay 
no state taxes. The business owners want more accountability from 
the leadership on how money is spent.

The dispute raises questions about the relationship of indigenous 
nations to the imperialist U.S. state, and about the role of 
business among the indigenous people themselves. These questions 
reverberate up and down the East coast.

A Seneca cigarette dealer pointed out that the businesses and 
tribe should have worked something out before the conflict began, 
since they rely on each other: "The chiefs probably have a good 
bitch ... and the state is happy because their own government, the 
chiefs, shut down the retailers ... The chiefs should be in the 
frontlines fighting [for the indigenous businesses]. It doesn't 
look good, when Indians are fighting Indians. The system knows how 
to get us fighting. You can be conquered."

Successful indigenous businesses

While the businesses in Onondaga stand empty, the casino of the 
Mashantucket Pequot in southeastern Connecticut, now likely the 
leading single indigenous business in North Amerika, is booming.

According to the Mashantucket Pequot museum, in 1983, Congress 
passed a law returning a small bit of land stolen from the 
indigenous peoples. Eight hundred acres in Connecticut became a 
reservation. A spokesperson for the tribal government said 165 of 
the tribe's 250 survivors have now settled there. The land grant 
and resettlement are themselves worthy accomplishments of the 
struggle.

Last year the tribal government set up a casino with slot machines 
and dice games, which has turned into such a huge success that the 
tribe has guaranteed Connecticut $113 million for the second year 
of operation, based on taxing a percentage of earnings.

With the revenues from gaming and related enterprises, the 
Mashantucket Pequot have started plans for a new tribal library 
and a new museum for indigenous history.

Tribal businesses also partially take care of the people's housing 
needs. According to its public relations official, the tribal 
government has completed a $1 million new housing effort and has 
bought 15 existing houses in the area. More housing appears to be 
on the way as more tribe members re-settle in the area.

Political economy of casinos

The gambling casinos represent some kind of redivision of U.S. 
imperialism's booty. Certainly gambling itself provides no service 
of lasting value. But the money it makes can be thought of as a 
long-overdue reparation to the indigenous peoples.

But to what extent is that reparation distributed among the 
people, and can the indigenous hold onto their land while they 
foray into other enterprises?

Despite the benefits of money from gambling, some indigenous 
people believe the Mashantucket Pequot have made a mistake. Some 
Mohawks we spoke to raised the obvious objection that gambling 
rots the spirit of the people.

MIM agrees that gambling represents a propagation of degenerate 
values. But at the same time, white greed brings thousands of 
customers to the tribe every day.

Who taxes who?

Two Onondaga Nation citizens running the blockades in front of 
Onondaga businesses have raised more important objections 
concerning the casino.

One said, "The state should pay the taxes to the Pequots. The 
Pequots are really foolish ... I don't know, but at least they 
should not do anything to trade for land."

The young Onondaga critic believes that Pequot negotiations with 
Connecticut amount to agreeing to a state tax: "Sons seven 
generations down the line are going to have to pay for that."

The other, a fervent nationalist at the blockade, was even more 
adamant. He had a message for New York Gov. Mario Cuomo: "We grant 
permission for the white people to have casinos in Albany ... We 
give permission to Donald Trump. Trump can pay taxes to the 
[Iroquois] Nation." 

On the other hand, the tribal government of the Mashantucket 
Pequot also opposes state taxes, but it has a different strategy. 
Referring to the New York state tax struggle, the tribal 
spokesperson offered solidarity: "The tribes should not have to 
pay taxes. Tribes are in the same status as states. The tribes can 
negotiate with the states, but they should not have to pay 
something in lieu of taxes. No other municipalities have to pay 
taxes, so why should the state tax the tribes?"

The Pequot spokesperson sees the gaming as something allowing the 
Indians to diversify and become self-reliant, a goal that Maoists 
support.

The tribe now has a sand and gravel business, a pharmaceutical 
network and a small public law contract. Such diversification 
should allow them to give up gaming as their main enterprise, say 
pro-casino advocates.

But hand-made signs posted in many Seneca yards on the Cattaraugus 
reservation southwest of Buffalo say, "No New York state taxes, No 
New York state troopers, No Casinos." Others in the Seneca nation 
territories read simply, "Casinos=Genocide."

Proletarian internationalism

MIM stands with the class of people typified by a young Seneca 
woman worker who had this to say: "Us younger Indians are stronger 
than our ancestors ... We're not willing to sell our land."

She opposed casinos for the Senecas because "It couldn't be 
controlled ... They [tribal government] can't even take control of 
the enterprises now ... bingos, gas ... We should be one of the 
richest tribes ... where's it going?"

This cigarette shop attendant answered her own question: "To me, 
our government is as corrupt as the white man's."

She added that the tribal government promised the Seneca people a 
distribution of income from tribal businesses, but it never 
happened: "But everybody's different ... as long as I have a roof 
over my head, that doesn't matter to me."

Seeing a MIM Notes cover story on Azania, the Seneca woman said, 
"That's another thing. As far as I'm concerned that over there is 
the same thing they did to us here. It really makes me mad to hear 
the white people say things about Blacks. This one guy, I said, 
'then why did you bring them [Black people] over here?' You listen 
to them, they love Michael Jordan [laughs], but then they [say 
chauvinist things]."

She went on to agree with MIM that the situation in Palestine was 
similar-white people taking land and oppressing the indigenous 
population.

In this Seneca woman, we see a clear example of proletarian 
internationalism. She represents a class of people who don't 
benefit much from the efforts of an indigenous bourgeoisie. MIM 
seeks to work in her interests.

Reacting to the idea that the Indian government is as bad as the 
white man's, one gas- and craft-store owner near Buffalo agreed, 
and then added that not all government is good and for that matter 
not all Indian business is good: "Some governments are corrupt and 
some businesses are corrupt."

MIM cannot condemn all tribal governments or businesses. Some do 
good things. Indian business-owners are often activists in the 
struggle against U.S. imperialism and help provide vital 
livelihood for their people. And there is always the risk that the 
imperialist state will take advantage of internal divisions. The 
ultimate test of the business leaders of the Onondaga and the 
Mashantucket Pequot is their attitude towards the revolutionary 
struggles of the oppressed. 

But MIM does oppose any faction of an oppressed nation that calls 
on the imperialists-their courts, their cops or welfare 
agencies-to resolve indigenous conflicts.

Notes: See MIM Notes 66 & 67 for more news and analysis on 
indigenous gaming businesses.

* * *

CULTURE: REVIEWS

REVIEW: SLIVER
1993

Widely hyped by its makers and even more widely ridiculed by most 
mainstream movie critics, ITAL Sliver END was supposed to be a hot 
summer thriller starring Sharon Stone. Stone was propelled to fame 
for her role as a wealthy bisexual novelist in last summer's 
psycho-killer film ITAL Basic Instinct END.

ITAL Sliver's END parasitical yuppies become addicted to voyeurism 
as they might to narcotics. Watching people bathe, screw, fight, 
rape or kill eases the bland emptiness of their bourgeois yuppie 
existence.

The audience is invited to identify, if only momentarily, with a 
young millionaire who installed a $6 million surveillance system 
in the apartment building he owns so he can view and tape every 
room in every apartment. "We'll only do good things," he implores 
Stone, his girlfriend, as they watch the child molester (who they 
viewed in the act and then threatened) apologize to his daughter 
and promise never to do it again.

In the end the movie is supposed to preach against the postmodern 
worship of surface existence, symbolized by the video voyeurism. 
But who cares about its intentions? The movie sells sex-voyeurism 
and that's what audiences buy.

The Big Brother element just adds to the erotic rape images, 
offering the added fun of imagining being the object of 
pornography even alone at home, masturbating in the tub.

-MC44 & MC12

* * *

REVIEW: DRAGON: THE BRUCE LEE STORY
1993

This film was made in consultation with Bruce Lee's wife, based on 
a biography she wrote of her husband. As a young man emigrating to 
the United States from Hong Kong in his early 20s, Lee was 
convinced he would make something of himself. He set out to 
disprove the clichŽ of "a Chinaman's chance" at success.

Lee did successfully build up his own Kung Fu school, where he 
developed his own new style of fighting. But within five or six 
years, after he had been burned by Amerikan television and luke-
warmly received in the U.S. film industry, he figured out that 
non-white people get consistently screwed by the entertainment 
industry. By that time he had developed a healthy disdain for the 
Amerikan Dream.

According to this film, the principal battle Lee fought during his 
life was against a demon who had killed his older brother before 
Lee was born. The demon haunted Lee's father his whole life with 
the threat that he would take Lee away too. His father failed to 
fight the demon, passing it on to Bruce.

To its credit, the film doesn't go into detailed explanations of 
the fact that there is a demon within that all individuals have to 
combat, nor does it mock Chinese mysticism.

This treatment is refreshing because it assumes that an 
explanation in Western terms is not necessary, and that if 
audiences want to understand the story they can struggle with 
foreign cultural elements. If MIM were making a film from 
biographical material, we would criticize mysticism because it is 
so often used against people to keep them away from politics. But 
given that all cultures have their own gods and demons, we commend 
a portrayal that does not try to elevate one set of deities over 
another.

Maoists are interested in martial arts, in part because they are 
an integrated aspect of cultural life in a majority of the world's 
societies. Training for such a high level of physical and 
spiritual discipline is also something we can learn from.

Metaphorically, it is good to see small size overcome greater size 
and numbers. Literally, this is also good to see, because we know 
that correct planning and honest assessment of an enemy (and one's 
own resources) can turn what looks like a strategic disadvantage 
into many tactical victories-and long-term triumph.

-MC45

* * *

REVIEW: MENACE II SOCIETY
1993

Like John Singleton's ITAL Boyz in the Hood END (1991), ITAL 
Menace II Society END is a film about young Black men in South-
Central L.A.-created and directed by men who know the characters 
they made. According to the directors, the characters are friends 
of friends, not people they knew well growing up.

Audiences know this about the directors' personal history because 
it is how the film is marketed. For example, National Public Radio 
host Terry Gross interviewed the directors on her daily program 
Fresh Air. What comes across in the interviews and feature 
articles surrounding this film, like those of its type before it, 
is that if the makers are "real" Black people, then the film must 
also contain "real" life images of urban Black existence.

ITAL Menace II Society END does not show how Black people can make 
it out of the  ghetto, nor does it turn the ghetto into a less 
oppressive place. There is a lot of violence in the film, but the 
point is not to show exaggerated or exotic brutality. The point is 
to show that it happens. And Black people live with it.

Gross asked the directors how they felt about the violence in ITAL 
Menace II Society END. She said that when she saw the film, the 
all-Black audience laughed at portions she found "horrifying."

The directors answered unapologetically that when violence is so 
familiar and ordinary, laughter can be an appropriate response.

They explained that the point is not what you call it, but that 
white people are constantly trying to gloss over the violence and 
injustice that is Black people's everyday lives by talking in 
extremes. And doing that to ease your conscience won't do anything 
to increase understanding of what it means to be a colonized 
people in Amerika.

In one excellent scene, after some cops had picked up the main  
character and his Muslim friend, handcuffed them, beat them and 
then drove them to a Chicano neighborhood, these Chicanos helped 
the two men to the hospital.

The one Muslim character in the film was portrayed as preachy,  
banging his head against a wall by trying to preach to his drug- 
dealing friends and being constantly ridiculed. It is the 
portrayal of someone who's new to an ideology-preaching to 
everyone he can find rather than looking for people who are 
interested enough to listen.

But it's a disappointing portrayal too. There's no evident 
organizational connection (we don't even see how this guy was 
converted from a gangster to a Muslim). In one noteworthy scene, 
the Muslim's father says that even though he is not a Muslim he 
supports anything that can give Black men something beyond drugs 
and police brutality.

ITAL Menace II Society END is a whole lot better than the mindless 
action- adventure junk that fills the rest of the screens in the 
theaters.  Despite a few flaws and being generally non-committal, 
it's worth  seeing as an unapologetic picture of Black national 
life.

-a comrade

Notes: National Public Radio, Fresh Air 6/3/93.

* * *

REVIEW: STRICTLY BALLROOM
1993

This spoof on mainstream conformist culture was made in Australia. 
It focuses on a small Australian town where everyone dances. The 
main character has worked all his life to become Pan-Pacific 
Ballroom champion. But then the unthinkable happens: he gets bored 
with ballroom dancing and starts doing his own thing at the 
competitions.

His mother is devastated, his partner leaves him, and his 
instructor criticizes him for bucking the system. ITAL Strictly 
Ballroom END makes a good statement about the evils of conforming 
to mainstream cultural norms, but stripped to its bones, this 
movie is an individualist dream.

In the end everyone unites behind the individualist dancer and his 
equally non-conformist and heroic partner to overthrow the corrupt 
chairman of the dance committee and live happily ever 
after-dancing as they want to dance.

In the beginning, all the characters are thinly drawn except the 
two individual heroes. The others only begin to seem real when 
they take the side of the heroes. Though devoid of revolutionary 
content, Strictly Ballroom makes a good statement about how silly 
mainstream culture and values can be.

-MC17

* * *

HYDRO QUEBEC

KAHNAWAKE-Officials of the Hydro Quebec electric utility have threatened to pull the plug on a Mohawk bingo hall. As MIM Notes goes to press, Hydro and the Mohawks remain in a stand-off since the Mohawks have made it clear that they will protect their building and not simply allow Hydro to disconnect the bingo hall.

The Mohawks and Hydro had made an agreement in negotiations regarding bills owed by the Mohawks. According to a spokesperson in the Nation Office in Kahnawake, the Mohawks have fulfilled their side of the agreement and have made payments on schedule. Now Hydro is demanding payment of three-quarters of the bill instead of just regular progress toward paying the bill, as had been agreed on. The Mohawks have countered with an offer of $50,000 beyond agreed upon payments.

Apparently, the Hydro negotiators say they don't want to cause trouble either, but the Quebec government is putting pressure on Hydro to cut off the Mohawk business. The Quebecois provincial government is still smarting from the tactical loss and international infamy that the Mohawks handed it in armed struggle in Oka.(1)

Since the issue of operating gaming businesses like bingos and casinos is divisive within indigenous communities across North America, the Quebec government is perhaps attempting to manipulate internal divisions to put an end to Mohawk business.

MIM believes that gaming businesses should be operated by the indigenous peoples when the indigenous are able to control every aspect of the gaming, including the policing. The ability to do that varies from nation to nation and depends on other business conditions as well. In any case, all oppressed nations like the Mohawks should settle such disputes internally and should rally against the white nation's police, government and quasi-government utilities.

Another tactic by the Quebec police, who suffered one fatality in the Oka conflict, to seek revenge is to scare the general public by saying that the Quebecois visit Kahnawake "at their own risk and peril." Such statements damage the trade in gas, cigarettes, crafts and other products between the Mohawks and Canadians.

"It's all politically motivated to suppress the people here," said the Nation spokesperson.

Loggers in Quebec and the Algonquins of Barriere Lake have reached an agreement regarding forest management on indigenous lands. Affecting the outcome of the bargaining was the credibility of indigenous land claims since the Mohawks took up arms to defend their land in 1990.

The Algonquins set up barriers to bloc loggers from entering their land and the loggers threatened violence to break the blockades. At that point, the Quebec Minister of Indian Affairs returned to the bargaining table.(2)
-a comrade

Notes:
1. See MIM Notes Nos. 45, 62, 72, 74.
2. The Eastern Door, Box 326, Kahnawake, Quebec, J0L 1B0, CANADA, p. 2.

* * *

ERITREANS WANT INDEPENDENCE

Ninety-eight percent of the Eritrean electorate confirmed the nation's independence from Ethiopia in a successful referendum at the end of May.

The New York Times denigrated the people's national consciousness by devoting half a page to a story on ballot design in Third World countries. The Eritrean independence ballot, where illiteracy is 80%, was red on one half, and blue on the other. The voter had to tear off the red side for "ITAL I do not want END a sovereign and independent Eritrea" or the blue "ITAL I do want END a sovereign and independent Eritrea."

Rather than recognize the desire of all oppressed peoples for self- determination, the Times says "The blue-and-red ballot may have made it easier to vote in favor ... The arresting character of the red may have subtly disposed people to choose blue. And it was easier for people who are right-handed-as most people are-to tear off the blue side."

Nowhere does the Times try to explain away the tremendous voter turnout, which dwarfs that of both Amerikkka and countries in which people are ITAL forced END to vote. And tucked away at the end is the New York Times's own undoing: "But before the vote the Eritrean authorities mounted an extensive voter-education program with posters making clear what the colors represented."

The Eritrean people made a great sacrifice by engaging in armed struggle for 30 years before the recent confirmation of their victory. The bourgeois media can sling all the insults at the peoples' intelligence that they want-for the people know the truth and they know a paper tiger when they see one.
-MC234

Notes: New York Times 5/30/93, p. E5.

* * *

THE REAL TERRORISTS ARE IN BONN

On May 28-29 nazis fire-bombed an apartment building occupied primarily by Turkish families in Solingen, Germany. The blaze killed two Turkish women and three children.(1) Germany's Turkish community responded with a "rage that sits deep in our guts." Angry riots rocked Germany for the next week, causing millions of marks of damage.(2)

The morning after the attack, several thousand Turks demonstrated in Solingen. Later that evening, Turkish demonstrators blocked several Autobahns and the entrance to the Cologne/Bonn airport.(1)

Demonstrators also looted most of the stores in Solingen, sparing those run by non-Germans.(2) A Turkish and autonomist demo in Hamburg also turned violent; 30 demonstrators and 29 cops were injured.(3) Members of leftist Turkish organizations (such as the Turkish Communist Party (TKP/ML) or the Revolutionary Left (Devrimci Sol)) occasionally clashed with the fascist Turks from the Grey Wolves during the riots.(4)

German government officials called the "attack on defenseless people" a "disgrace," and begged the demonstrators to remain peaceful.(1) But for the most part, the Turks did not want to listen to anything the officials had to say.

"The German bourgeoisie took a load off of its conscience with its candle-light vigils, but the media was quick to look away from the continuing attacks," said one demonstrator.

One banner read: "Is this the payment for 30 years?"(2) Since the 1950s Turkish workers have come to Germany as "guest workers." They are often forced to work illegally at rates far below those of German workers, doing exhausting and dangerous jobs such as chemical or radioactive cleanup. Turks are not allowed citizenship, nor are their children-even if they have been born and raised in Germany.

Two days before the fire-bomb attack the German Parliament-having just won the blessings of the Social Democrats-had ratified changes in the asylum laws which would make it much more difficult to receive political asylum and would speed up the deportation process for those who had been rejected.(5)

In the short run, these changes are a response to the popular German sentiment that "The boat is full!" and a tacit admission that the government will not do anything to stop the nazi attacks. In the long run, the new laws serve to regulate the German labor force, restricting it to the privileged, pro-imperialist German workers and to small numbers of foreigners which can be isolated and controlled.

One Christian Democrat blamed the nazi attacks on (German) leftist youth, saying the attacks were "a response to the left-terrorist riots which took place when we changed the law."(4) Autonomists had blockaded the Parliament building on the morning of the final day of discussions for the new laws; members of parliament had to sneak in through the bushes or be helicoptered in.(5)
-MC206

Notes:
1. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 6/1/93, p 1.
2. FAZ 6/1/93, p 3.
3. FAZ 6/4/93, p 2.
4. Autonomist news release.
5. FAZ 5/27/93, p 1.

* * *

MCCARTHYITE THROWBACKS ON THE BORDER

MONTREAL-U.S. border police in March stopped former Maoist Richard Saint-Pierre on his way into the United States. The U.S. government was aware that in 1982 Saint-Pierre belonged to In Struggle, a now defunct organization of thousands of Maoists in Canada.

The border police raised the classic question: "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?" Then they asked Saint-Pierre if he is a "communist"-to which Richard Saint-Pierre said, "I don't know." The whole McCarthyite ordeal held up a group of Canadians with Saint-Pierre at the border for four hours.

Border officials said that Saint-Pierre hadn't changed since 1982, despite the collapse of the Soviet bloc.

Montreal police apparently knew Saint-Pierre by name. The latest accusation is that he physically attacked three cops in the office of Montreal Conservative Party member of Parliament, Nicole Roy-Arcelin. According to Saint-Pierre, he was not even in the office, but cops recognized him outside the building and picked him up: "It's a total frame-up," he said.
-a comrade

* * *

FILIPINO COMMUNIST THREATENED WITH DEPORTATION

Jose Maria Sison (know as Amado Guerrero) is being threatened with deportation from the Netherlands where he lives in exile. Sison founded the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in 1968. Since 1969 the party-led New People's Army has been waging armed struggle and it is believed to control about 20% of the countryside.

In December 1992 the Raad van State (Council of State) of the Netherlands accepted Sison's application for political asylum. On March 26 the Dutch Justice Ministry reversed itself and rejected Sison's application.

In response to letters from the Filipino government, the Dutch Justice Ministry is holding Sison responsible for incidents that occurred while he was under detention in the Philippines and since he has been abroad. They are also asserting that it is safe for Sison to return to the Philippines.

If forced to return to the Philippines, it is naive to believe Sison would be safe.

As Sison stated in a press release dated April 2, 1993, "The decision of the Dutch Justice Ministry pretends to be ignorant of the following facts:

"1. Human rights violations are rampant in the Philippines. This fact is well reported by the Amnesty International, Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and other respected entities concerned with human rights and political refugees.

"2. The repeal of the anti-subversion law has not in fact resulted in the legalization of the CPP and membership therein. There are other repressive laws as well as extrajudicial actions being used against suspected communists. These include detention without bail (PD 1866), torture, and extrajudicial killings.

"3. The price of one million pesos is still on my head and that there are grave dangers to the life and liberty of a person like me legally and extrajudicially ..."

MIM knows the limitations of legal battles targeting imperialist governments anywhere, but in the case of people faced with deportation, protesting to the state has historically had some success. MIM agrees with the suggestion by the International Emergency Committee to Defend the Life of Abimael Guzm‡n that people write to the following addresses to protest the deportation of Sison:
Dutch Ministry of Justice
Postbus 20301
2500 EH Den Haag, Netherlands
Also send a copy to:
MAGDA MAASBOMMEL
Committee Against the Expulsion of the Sison Family
Postbus 51140
3007 GC Rotterdam, Netherlands 

-a comrade

(For more information on the Philippines send $3 to MIM for the pamphlet "Maoism and the New People's Army.")

* * *

RADIO STATION AIRS NAZI IDEAS

WKBQ-FM in St. Louis, Mo. dominated local headlines when two disc jockeys told a Black woman caller that she was "acting like a nigger." Near the end of one the show, DJs Steve Shannon and D.C. Chymes complained of the increase in Black-oriented television  shows, magazines and beauty pageants.

"We need a museum about exclusive white contributions," one of the DJs said, to a background of drum rolls. "When are we going to get an hour [on television] on white history? We want to talk about the Caucasian race-exclusively."

After several white callers reinforced this racist venom by seconding those sentiments, Nicole Hammonds called to complain.  She explained that Blacks need their own institutions because of the historical neglect of minorities by mainstream cultural entities and other institutions.

This was too much dissent for the neo-nazi DJs who began interrupting her with one of the hosts finally saying: "You're a stupid idiot. You are absolutely stupid." Nicole accused the two men of being  afraid of Blacks which drew the response from one of the men.

"You're acting like a nigger. You're acting as if you're nigger.  Because you know what? Listen, there are white niggers. There are niggers of all races. And a nigger is trash."

The station's six phone lines were jammed for hours by listeners with various reactions. Local branches of the NAACP and the Urban League filed angry responses. The initial response by WKBQ station manager Michael Frischling was to write memos to Shannon and Chymes "blasting their behavior" and threatening to fine them if they did it again. But when six advertisers pulled their commercials from the station, management decided to suspend the DJs without pay and ordered them to enroll in a racial sensitivity class.

However, this failed to pacify local civil rights activists who are continuing efforts to get the men fired. Local civil rights activists have planned a protest at the station. Nicole Hammonds, the caller who was insulted, said she is grateful to the DJs for proving what she had already thought but couldn't prove until now; that racism and bigotry are alive and thriving in Amerikkka.
-a MIM associate

Notes: St. Louis Post-Dispatch 5/12/93 & 5/13/93.

* * *

MOBIL: WHITE POWER ORGANIZER

WESTERN, NY-Mobil has taken a stand in favor of taxes. Usually known for ads on the New York Times opinion page and other places that advocate free markets and less government, Mobil made an exception in New York.

Mobil was supplying gas to a Seneca nation trader when the New  York State Tax Commissioner went to court to compel the First  Nations to pay state taxes on gas and cigarettes. While the case is in  court, Mobil has decided not to supply indigenous gas stations.

Ordinarily we would expect Mobil to try to make a buck anywhere it could and also support any reduction in taxes. Hence, Mobil's cut- off of the Seneca nation is an example of high white nation  consciousness.
-a comrade