I N T E R N E T ' S M A O I S T BI-M O N T H L Y = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = XX XX XXX XX XX X X XXX XXX XXX XXX X X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X V X X X V X X X X X X X XX XXX X X X X X X XX X X X X X X X XXX X X X V XXX X XXX XXX = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT MIM Notes 79 August, 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. LETTERS 2. SENECA NATION DECLARES NATIONAL HOLIDAY 3. COP GETS OFF FOR KILLING WAMPANOAG MAN 4. KURDS ESCALATE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 5. NAFTA OPPONENTS PROTECT AMERIKAN PRIVILEGE 6. EPA INCINERATES OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES 7. PERUVIAN GOVERNMENT UNMASKED 8. TUPAC AMARU ÒREVOLUTIONARIESÓ GIVE UP 9. MAY STRIKE A SUCCESS 10. CHIVALRY SWEEPS SENATE: PIGS CLAIM TO PROTECT WOMEN 11. FIRST WORLD SLAMS THE DOOR ON IMMIGRATION 12. FRANCE IMPLEMENTS IMMIGRATION POLICY 13. LET FREEDOM RING 14. WHITE SUPREMACISTS THREATEN SENECAS 15. OKA MURDERS REMAIN UNSOLVED 16. BAD DEALINGS WITH PHONEY COMMUNISTS 17. REVIEW: THE FIRM 18. REVIEW: GUILTY AS SIN 19. REVIEW: INDECENT PROPOSAL 20. CORRECTION 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 * * * LETTERS Dear Comrades, Thanks for the last MIM Notes, the bit on Eritrea was quite interesting, being different from what IÕm used to reading. I consider myself a Maoist in answer to your question, that was my reason for being in London, we donÕt have a Maoist group in Scotland (I donÕt think), we do have a high number of Stalinists however. These are mainly centered in Glasgow, our largest city. This part of Scotland has a long tradition of Marxist struggle. Lenin himself once argued that the Scottish proletariat during the 20s was sufficiently class conscious to lead Britain to revolution. If the government hadnÕt engineered the death of John Maclean we might have got a crack at it. The Scottish Nationalist moves the country is going through at the moment arenÕt easy to explain. IÕll dig up some literature for you and if you have any questions just ask. As far as political movements go, since the death of Maclean, Scottish socialism has been led by the nose from England. When KruschevÕs treachery led to the Communist Party of Great Britain turning revisionist (not that it was initially a party of high quality), it deeply affected many Scottish communists who had always referred to Stalin as ÒUncle JoeÓ and although they went along with the party deep down they seem more comfortable with the Òold days.Ó I know this because many of them are still around. ThatÕs mostly the older generation, the youth are more commonly supporters of the many Trotskyite groups, most notably the S.W.P. [Separate from the Socialist Workers Party in the United States.] In Britain the Irish struggle is treated much the same way as the Peruvian struggle with no information of any worth being given out, and the characteristic hysteria. It seems to be illegal in Britain to mention the IRA without the inclusion of words like Òterrorist, atrocities, fiends, etc.Ó We had an interesting article headline in a Scottish tabloid recently. It said: ÒScots Foil IRA Plot.Ó An interesting article as it involved nothing more than two men with Irish accents asking a group of roadworkers if they knew of any jobs going. The workers got suspicious and called the pigs. End of story. ItÕs a bit of a bastard as the IRA have a policy of only waging their war in England. Anyway I have an article I wrote for the college magazine and didnÕt finish. IÕll finish it off and send it out to you as soon as possible; you may find it interesting. I might also be able to find some Irish bookshops that will take MIM Notes as I will be going over there soon anyway. Are you looking for permanent correspondents over there? You see I have some republican contacts who have often been after me for information on Maoism. However, IÕll sell some of your papers if you want. You can send about five with the next MIM Notes. Revolutionary Greetings, --A friend in Scotland June 1993 MIM responds: There are also many vocal Trotskyist groups in the United States. Trotskyism in First World countries draws its strength from the privileged working class in those countries-- Trotskyism finds a ready social base among people here. Maoists turn people away from First World chauvinism by studying imperialism and the political strength of revolutionary movements in the Third World. This is part of why we are so interested in Ireland and Scotland. People who think oppression is based on ÒraceÓ canÕt explain the national oppression of ÒwhiteÓ people like the Irish and Scottish. This lingering racial ideology dates back to the colonialists who first developed the theory of race as a prop for national oppression. The existence of ÒwhiteÓ oppressed nations serves as a chink in the armor of ÒracismÓ theoreticians. We look forward to printing your article, and whatever news you can send us. Free Norma Jean Croy! Comrades: I received de Spring 1993 edition of ÒBreakthrough,Ó a leftist political magazine [affiliated with the Prairie Fire Organizing Committee]. In it was an article Ôbout ÒFree Norma Jean Croy!Ó It gave this address for persons interested in keeping informed on future developments: Norma Jean Croy Defense Committee 473 Jackson Street 3rd Floor San Francisco, CA 94111 De article was thus capsulated: ÒNorma Jean Croy, a Shasta Indian lesbian, has been serving time since 1979 for Ôconspiracy to murder,Ó even though she wasnÕt carrying a gun, never fired a shot, ITAL and it has been shown that no murder ever took place! ENDÕ This was the first i ever heard of de Norma Jean Croy case and i think itÕs outlandish enough to deserve a mention and all of any kind of support and assistance We can manage despite our circumstances! --Indiana prison comrade May 1993 New York Times = imperialist oppressor media Uhuru-- In response. Your June 1993 issue of MIM Notes carried a response to a review by Alice Walker and a counter-critique of WalkerÕs review by Elaine Brown. David Hilliard published both pieces in de New York Times on May 5. (If itÕs at all possible, would you comradely send me a copy of that article?) ... Because i agree with de proposition that We should develop our awareness through de process of criticism and self-criticism and that none of us is above criticism, i do not support de implied position that de sista doesnÕt have de right to criticize de BPP, Huey or anyone or anything else she has a real or imagined complaint about. But i am suspiciously critical of any (!) Nationally oppressed sista or brotha who takes their criticisms to de imperialist oppressor media for voicing their ill feelings or criticisms of other Nationally oppressed folks or their grassroots political organizations when there do exist within de Nationally oppressed community media institutions such as [NAPOÕs] By Any Means Necessary, or de [APSPÕs] Burning Spear, or de Indianapolis Recorder, just to name a few who are extensions of de community, who serve Our national/international interests. So before us is not de question of whether or not one should or should not criticize, but whether We should or should not recognize any criticism printed through an imperialist institution as sincere. For if We are on de same side but ÒchooseÓ to engage in criticism and self-criticism through enemy controlled institutions, then de question of sincerity arises. So if Alice Walker wants to talk to Us, We invite her to do so through our institutions. --the same comrade June 1993 MC49 responds: MIM agrees with the Indiana prisoner that none of us is above criticism or self-criticism, and that criticism/self- criticism is a valuable tool for learning from and correcting mistakes. To clarify, it was David Hilliard, not Alice Walker, who submitted WalkerÕs slander of the BPP to the New York Times. Walker undoubtedly agreed to have her review printed in the Times, but she does not deserve the brunt of the blame for that decision. Which brings us back to the real reason Walker deserves criticism: the counterrevolutionary, pseudo-feminist political line expressed in her review. MIM does not argue that Walker and others should not raise criticisms of revolutionaries. MIM believes that such criticism should be raised. If such criticism is incorrect from a communist, proletarian feminist standpoint, as WalkerÕs certainly is, it needs to be criticized ruthlessly by those who have a more correct political line. MIM has done exactly this with regard to WalkerÕs piece by exposing in the June 1993 MIM Notes how, in BrownÕs words, ÒWalkerÕs article attempts to wash away the trans-Atlantic slave trade, U.S. slavery, police brutality, disproportionate military service and structural injustice by delving into a psyche or two.Ó Finally, MIM agrees that people who want to end oppression should not needlessly support oppressor institutions like the New York Times. That is precisely why MIM works to build the independent power of the oppressed in the form of institutions like MIM Notes and MIM Theory. * * * SENECA NATION DECLARES NATIONAL HOLIDAY by MC5 SENECA NATION--Seneca Nation President Barry Snyder declared Friday, July 16 a national holiday, celebrating the anniversary of the Seneca takeover of a New York State highway. Offices closed to honor the protest of New York StateÕs effort to tax the Senecas. (See MIM Notes 67 on the highway takeover and 77 on the tax fight.) The Senecas and other First Nations within New York State borders had other reasons to celebrate as well. Voting 6-0, a New York State court decided in June that New York could not tax the First Nations because that is the prerogative of the U.S. Congress, not the states. The decision overturned a lower court decision and forced Gov. Mario Cuomo to establish a task force to study the issue and seek the opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court. Chances are good that the U.S. Supreme Court will decide to hear the case, but the process will probably take at least 18 months. In the meantime, the Senecas and other peoples in the area have gained some respite, so that they may continue to trade in cigarettes, gasoline and so on without paying New York taxes. The July 16 holiday is now a source of great pride to the Seneca people. The weekend that followed was the SenecasÕ annual pow-wow. People from all over North America go to the pow-wow to be in solidarity with their Seneca friends. According to some cigarette shop workers, the takeover Òbrought back their pride. ... It showed people who they are. ... A lot of people arenÕt proud of what they are. They wish they were somebody else.Ó Another worker added about the takeover that Òeverybody had the same feelings; we went out there drug-freeÓ in harmony. Organizing to relieve imperialist oppression does more to benefit the Seneca people than the work of a million psychiatrists or social workers. Whether it be alcohol or illegal drug use, it is the oppression of the First Nations by Amerika that drives the indigenous to despair, a feeling of powerlessness and addiction. Psychiatrists and social workers can only teach hypocritical imperialist and chauvinist attitudes to the First Nations in an effort to make them assimilate. The real problem is not the attitudes or personal lifestyles of the First Nation peoples. The real problem is imperialism, the oppression of nations by other nations driven by advanced capitalistsÕ need to run other economies to their advantage. Meanwhile, the struggle continues. Fourteen people arrested a year ago in connection with the highway protest have yet to be cleared of charges. In speaking with people in the area, MIM found several people who witnessed the events that challenged the police side of the story. The police have charged the Senecas with reckless endangerment, among other things. Yet, the Senecas point out that it was the police who were recklessly endangering people. ÒWe didnÕt have any guns, no weapons. We went out there with nothing,Ó said one young woman. Meanwhile, the cops swung their clubs at car windows and the people inside while trying to hit people with their squad cars, according to numerous people that MIM spoke to. At best, the police action to open the highway was a one-sided assertion of imperialist treaty rights. At worst it was a simple matter of chauvinism. Since the highway passes through Seneca lands, New York should have realized that there was a treaty dispute and it should have found federal authorities to negotiate with the Senecas. Instead, when New York courts violated treaties in Seneca eyes and the Senecas responded by the highway takeover, New York resorted to violence on the highways. Now New York recently finds itself being sued in court for back payment for the use of Seneca lands where New York highways pass through. The Seneca NationÕs civil suit may take 10 years to settle. Like other oppressed nations, the Seneca Nation is faced with the task of creating public opinion to support and organize its own independent power. The only real solution to the problem of Amerikan internal colonialism is internationalism. That means that all the oppressed nations internally and in the Third World recognize each other as equals and coordinate themselves to take over U.S. imperialism so that it never oppresses another country again. * * * COP GETS OFF FOR KILLING WAMPANOAG MAN Mashpee, MA--During the first weekend of July, the Mashpee Wampanoag held a successful pow-wow in Cape Cod with a hard political edge. One committee sold t-shirts to raise funds to bring justice for a Mashpee Wampanoag murdered by police officer David H. Mace years ago. ÒOn May 1, 1988, David H. Mace, a white police sergeant in the Cape Cod town of Mashpee, Massachusetts shot and killed David C. Hendricks, a 27 year old Mashpee Wampanoag, following his pursuit of HendricksÕ car for a traffic violation. Sergeant Mace fired eleven shots from his semi-automatic 9-millimeter pistol. Seven struck David Hendricks. ... The last five shots were fired at point-blank range through the driverÕs side window after the car had stopped. ... The Wampanoag and many of their supporters have suffered from police harassment and surveillance during memorial walks and demonstrations for justice concerning the Hendricks case.Ó(1) ÒIn June, 1992, it was confirmed in a civil suit that Sgt. Mace fired two volleys at DavidÕs car. Two of the six rounds fired in the first volley wounded David Hendricks in the left arm and left hand. While the car was stationary and David sat unmoving, Sgt. Mace walked over to the car and shot five more rounds through the driverÕs side window. ... The last four shots were fired through the empty window at David Hendricks as he lay helpless and bleeding on the front seat.Ó(2) On July 1 of this year, Sgt. Mace received the beginning of payments to leave the police force. Mace had been paid for five years without serving on the police force and now he gets $75,000 and a job recommendation to leave the Mashpee police force. This agreement between Mace and Mashpee town government came on May 11, 1993 after betrayal by elected selectmen who had pledged to remove Mace through an arbitration procedure that never came about. MIM spoke to Ramona Peters of the David Hendricks Committee for Human Rights for an update on the story. Peters explained that her community feels responsible for the well-being of other communities that may be faced with David Mace in the future when he gets a new job. Hence, the committee feels it is necessary to expose this case in full view of the public to whatever extent possible: ÒNative people are still at risk. ... We canÕt afford to pretend that injustice doesnÕt happen,Ó said Peters. The Mashpee Wampanoag won a victory in 1992 in civil court when eyewitnesses came forward and rendered evidence that should have been in a murder trial. For himself, Mace said he could not recall what happened and the judge in the case told him to get psychological help. The son of David Hendricks won $375,000 from Mace and the police union, but despite crushing testimony from at least seven eyewitnesses who saw the shooting, District Attorney Philip A. Rollins and the Attorney General of Massachusetts refused to open a criminal case against Mace. That means a jury never got the chance to decide if Mace murdered Hendricks. This case shows the futility of seeking justice in U.S. courts. The relationship between prosecutors and police is too cozy everywhere in the United States. Prosecutors need the help of police in most cases to gain a winning record in court and to gain re-election. Hence, prosecutors tend to let police get away with murder without ever charging them in court. It is also the prosecutor who must notice when police are faking evidence against people they donÕt like. However, as four recent convictions for evidence tampering by New York State troopers proved, it is easy for cops to fake evidence in dozens of cases for years at a time without anyone noticing. In the Hendricks case as in others, the prosecutors simply made a political decision not to prosecute cops. The pressure of elections on prosecutors does not help in this country where the majority of the population is the white labor aristocracy. It is only AmerikaÕs anti-crime posture that says that oppressed minorities need to be kept under control by brutal, lying cops. If the white nation working class were not bought off, we would not see its persistent backing for fascist Òanti-crimeÓ measures against minorities, measures that justify beatings (Rodney King) and shootings (David Hendricks) for traffic violations. The same class interests of the middle class in imperialist countries are also a reason that the WampanoagÕs appeal to Amnesty International will not work. Across the United States, people working to end internal colonialism have brought case after case to Amnesty International for action. However, these mostly brainwashed lawyers and other middle class people believe that there is universal freedom and democracy in the United States; and they donÕt concern themselves with the majority of human-rights like the food, shelter, clothing and medicine. The Hendricks committee is appealing to the Massachusetts state legislature for justice as well. No doubt this will not bring much immediate relief either. However, we do agree with the Hendricks committee that this case must be exposed widely. One last point made by this case is the need for self- determination of nations. ÒWhen Mace shot David it [the police force] was all white and they didnÕt even live here [Mashpee],Ó said Ramona Peters. The police force had been almost all Native until the Natives lost control of the land. After the federal government denied the Mashpee Wampanoag recognition as a tribe and after a court ruled that some Native land could be sold, white real estate owners took over the Mashpee municipal government. If not for the power lost by the Wampanoag nation in the last 20 years, it is possible that Hendricks would still be alive. Notes: 1. League of Indigenous Sovereign Nations ((301) 932-0808) in News from Indian Country, Vol. VII, number 10, Late May, 1993, p. 17. 2. Kristy Lindgren, ÒWhere Is Justice?Ó The Eagle, Vol. 11, #3, Early Summer, 1993, p. 14. (203) 729-0035. * * * KURDS ESCALATE STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE by MC17 On top of the existing state of emergency in the Kurdish areas of Turkey, the Turkish government is now threatening to enforce martial law in Kurdish regions of Turkey unless the Kurdistan WorkersÕ Party (PKK) is destroyed by the spring of 1994.(1) As the Turkish state intensifies its military attack on the Kurds, their resistance remains strong. Turkey regularly attacks Kurds accused of ÒhelpingÓ the PKK by burning their homes and forcing them to abandon their land. ÒEven when my house is burning down before my eyes, when IÕm a Kurdish man I will always support the PKK,Ó said one man. He added that when the guerrillas came looking for food in local villages, everyone in the village embraced them as heroes. Others interviewed with the guarantee of silence said ÒEveryone supports the PKK.Ó And ÒThis is the Kurdish peoplesÕ movement, and no one would turn against it.Ó(2) Kurds currently live in parts of Iran, Iraq and Turkey and have been fighting for years for self-determination. The PKK is the revolutionary nationalist party most active in the struggle for Kurdish independence. Tourists held by PKK In the first week of July, PKK forces took into custody a British and an Australian tourist who entered the PKK region of Kurdistan in eastern Turkey, an area tourists had been advised not to enter. The PKK said they would release the tourists if international human rights groups such as the Red Cross Òprovide guarantees for their safe passageÓ out of the Kurdish south-east of Turkey. Without such guarantees ÒitÕs quite possible they would get shot [by Turkish forces] and [Kurds] would get the blame.Ó(3,4) Kurdish protests in Europe At the end of June, Kurds attacked Turkish targets in 29 European cities in Germany, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Britain and Denmark. In Berlin Kurdish people attacked Turkish embassies demanding an end to Turkish military campaigns against them. When Kurds stormed the Turkish Embassy in Switzerland, Turkish officials fired on them, killing 20-year-old Semsettin Kurt. More than 30 people were taken captive in Turkish diplomatic missions in France and Germany. Kurds hit Turkish-owned banks and travel offices in at least 13 cities, including London, Berlin, Stockholm, and Copenhagen.(5) In the beginning of July, at least 5,000 Kurds peacefully demonstrated in Berne in memory Semsettin Kurt.(6) Kurdish struggle advances From March 20 to June 8, the PKK declared a unilateral cease fire. MIM spoke to a representative of the Kurdistan Information Centre in London, who said: ÒThe aim of the unilateral cease fire was to force the Turkish state to make some kind of political response but Turkey made no response whatsoever. Apart from not making any response they continued to violate the cease fire by killing some 84 guerrillas during the cease fire and about 18 civilians together. They destroyed 22 villages, they completely destroyed them. The Turkish atrocities and brutality have continued right through the cease fire and aside from that they were also conducting a very large scale military operation in the Kurdish area. ...Ó ÒSince then the cease fire has come to an end and the struggles have been widespread in all the areas. The armed struggle will intensify which will target mainly ... the economic and military installations of the Turkish state.Ó The Kurdish people are responding to the Turkish government Òtargeting Kurdish civilians, Kurdish villages, they have destroyed tens of villages since the 8th of June and they have been destroying, burning forested area. What happened in Europe was a response to the gross violation of human rights in Kurdistan. When you have your relatives back in Kurdistan who are being killed, who are being gunned down in the middle of the street, whose homes are being destroyed and so on and they were just telling the world, especially the United States, Britain, France and Germany, those states are the main ones who have continuously supported the Turkish state militarily and financially as well. So they were saying you can not ignore the killings, the suffering of the Kurdish people and they called a demonstration in Europe to protest what was going on. It was just a reaction of the Kurdish people in Europe to the massacres that continue in Kurdistan.Ó According the representative, none of the people involved in the recent actions in Europe was armed. ÒEven with the question of the occupation of hostage taking in the Munich consulate there was not a single arm on the occupiers, it was only when they found a whole arsenal of machine guns and pistols in the consulate they took it from them so it wasnÕt armed before they went, it was something they got inside. You could see clearly that the Turkish state has taken its atrocities and state terrorism beyond the boundaries of the Turkish state, they have taken it to Europe as well. And the clearest example of that was when a number of the embassies fired on the peaceful Kurdish demonstrators. ÒThe Kurdish people, they will continue to protest about the Turkish atrocities in Turkey. I think people have had enough of it because how long [are] the murders, the massacres of the Kurdish people going to continue? The world has to realize what they are doing.Ó Despite daily casualties of Kurdish armies and Kurdish people, the Kurdish struggle, led by the PeopleÕs Liberation Army of Kurdistan (ARGK, the armed wing of the PKK) continues to advance. ÒIt is quite obvious that the progress is in every ground. ... There are a few military bases wiped out or knocked down every day by the guerrillas. From time to time when you look at some of the Turkish press they could not in a way hide it sometimes, they were quite clearly warned by the government not to report anything which would be seen as a propaganda service for the PKK but it is definitely intensifying and it will intensify even further. And the aim is to kick out the enemy.Ó Build Amerikan support ÒWhat Kurdish people really need is the support and the sympathy of the international community to expose the double standard of about the Kurdish issues. Trying to bomb Iraqis and using excuses of the Iraqis killing the Kurds when Turkey is bombing daily and killing every day.Ó The Kurdish people are a nation comprised of land occupied by three countries. In late 1992 the Kurdish people elected their own national assembly. ITAL Keep up with the Kurdish struggle, subscribe to the Kurdistan Report, For a Free and Independent Kurdistan. Send £9 payable to the Kurdistan Information Centre for 6 issues. 11 Portland Gardens, London N4 1HU. END Notes: 1. Agence France Presse 7/9/93. 2. The Ottawa Citizen 7/9/93. 3. The Daily Telegraph 7/13/93. 4. The Daily Telegraph 7/14/93. 5. Boston Globe 6/26/93, p. 4, 6/25/93, p.2. 6. Reuters 7/4/93. 7. Interview with Kurdistan Information Centre representative, 7/7/93. * * * NAFTA OPPONENTS PROTECT AMERIKAN PRIVILEGE by a comrade Despite initial optimism from the Clinton administration, it now looks as though the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) will be delayed by legal action, if not defeated by Congress. Regardless of whether NAFTA passes or not, MexicoÕs preparation for NAFTA has virtually guaranteed a growth in imperialist plunder. The scenario presented by the Amerikan labor movement, which shows NAFTA destroying both Amerikan and Mexican workers, is half correct. The Mexican proletariat will be subjected to harsher treatment and shrinking slave wages, but AmerikaÕs workers will grow richer. NAFTA would virtually set in stone the comprador policies of Mexican President Carlos Salinas de Gortari. The United States realizes that its chances of finding another Mexican president who would be so willing to serve Amerikan interests are slim, so they are eager to enact a treaty that would restrict possible trade reform by future Mexican governments. Mexico sells out its peasants The Mexican government has been preparing for NAFTA by enticing foreign capital with reduced tariffs and privatized state owned businesses,(1) and attempting to proletarianize the peasantry. Until 1991, the Mexican constitution Òpromised land to any citizen who would work it ... [on the condition that] it could not be rented, mortgaged or sold.Ó(2) But in 1991 Salinas proposed a constitutional amendment to end the distribution of free land and to allow the privatization of community-held land. NAFTAÕs effects MIM doesnÕt need a crystal ball to see what a post-NAFTA Mexico looks like. We can look to the maquiladoras in the Òfree tradeÓ zones of northern Mexico. Most of the Òmaquiladoras are assembly plants relying on intensive, unskilled labor, with little to no high-technology equipment.Ó(3) The social, political, and economic effects of unrestrained imperialism in northern Mexico foreshadow the changes that NAFTA will bring to all of Mexico. Contrary to claims by Amerikan capitalists and Mexican neo- colonial administrators, free trade does not benefit the workers of the Third World. Maquiladora wages have fallen in Mexico in recent years, not increased. Mexican hourly wages in the maquiladoras dropped from $1.38 (U.S.) in 1982 to 45 cents in 1989.(4) With rumblings that NAFTA could fail, the bourgeoisie has begun damage control. The Washington Post reported, ÒNAFTAÕs passage could be a little more than a formality, giving an international framework to the changes already in effect in Mexico and likely to continue.Ó(1) Amerikan workers benefit AmerikaÕs labor aristocracy, especially the portions of it in manufacturing, are in no danger of starvation. The allegiance of white workers is just as important to the bourgeoisie today, before NAFTA; as it will be after the factories close. American production workers are paid so much more than Third World workers that even bourgeois economist Noel D. Vasquez, S.J. projects that Òa total of twenty new workers will be employed in the exporting [Third World] economy for every worker displaced in the US and EEC.Ó(5) Some individuals in the labor aristocracy may be hurt by NAFTA, but the class as a whole will be fine as older workers get big retirement packages, their children grow up to be paper pushers or computer programers and younger workers get retrained. Historically, the transfer of production jobs to Third World peoples has been a good thing for the labor aristocracy as a whole because it increases the net income of Amerika and allows the children of the labor aristocracy to move up in to higher paid, more skilled jobs.(6) Amerikan ÒleftÓ opposition The Central America Solidarity Association (CASA) published a special issue of the Central America Reporter opposing NAFTA. In their article, ÒNAFTA and women,Ó CASA argued that Ò75% of the maquila workers are women. Maquila workers routinely face sexual harassment and rape.Ó(7) The implications of this CASA line are that 1) if the jobs stayed in the United States, more men would get the jobs, and 2) if the jobs stayed in the United States there would be less sexual harassment and rape of women. Neither argument is any good for women as a group. Depriving women of jobs is not the way to advance the condition of women and pointing to the sexual harassment in Mexico is pure racism while there is such harassment at home. Protection for the Mexican environment is also touted as a reason for opposition to NAFTA. Exploitation of workers and the environment is an inherent part of capitalism. It is hypocritical to support capitalism and then complain when it pollutes your vacation spots. Garbage, waste and poison have been deposited in the homes of the poor as long as there has been heavy industry. The First World has used the Third World as a depository for its most dangerous waste, regardless of the presence of human beings. The worldÕs rich can prevent toxic waste from being dumped in their backyards, but the worldÕs poor have no choice if the imperialists want to poison their shantytowns. As long as capitalism survives, it will continue to pollute the Third World, green shopping bags or no. Crush imperialism NAFTA will serve to accelerate the conquest of Mexico, and the parasitic nature of the white working class is likely to rise as corporate profits increase. MIM opposes the effort to ÒsaveÓ Amerikan jobs. Those labor aristocracy jobs are what separates Amerikan workers from the cause of the proletariat everywhere. Rather than taking the piecemeal approach to fighting capitalism by opposing various trade agreements such as NAFTA, MIM calls on all anti-imperialists to build public opinion for revolution instead. The developing Third World proletariat needs to destroy imperialism in their homes, and we need to destroy imperialism in its home: Amerika. NOTES: 1. Washington Post 7/3/93, p. 11, 14. 2. New York Times 11/27/91, p. A1, 10. 3. Dan La Botz, ITAL Mask of Democracy: Labor Suppression in Mexico Today END (South End Press, Boston: 1992) p. 163. 4. Rebeca Lizarraga, ÒCrecera 17% la industria maquiladora en 91 en relaci—n con el a–o pasado, estima la Secofi,Ó El Financiero 1/7/91 in La Botz, Dan, op. cit. p. 165. 5. Noel D. Vasquez, S.J., ITAL Mobilizing Surplus Labor Though International Exchange, END Philippine EPZs, Overseas Employment and Labor Subcontracting; Brotherhood of Asian Trade Unionists, 1987. p.8 6. See J. Sakai, ITAL Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat. END p. 136. 7. The Central America Reporter, March/April 1993, p. 7. * * * EPA INCINERATES OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES by MA53 & a comrade In May, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Carol Browner announced that the U.S. Congress is considering an EPA proposal to increase regulation on incinerators. The proposal focuses on limiting the production of new incineration facilities and reviewing permits for existing sites. The EPA would also re-evaluate emissions standards for dioxin, lead, cadmium, mercury, and other heavy metals, and require a risk assessment prior to issuing a permit for hazardous waste combustion. This last measure is intended to increase public awareness and participation in the permitting process.(1) Of the five largest commercial hazardous waste landfills, three of them are located in mostly Black and Latino communities; they account for more than 40% of the total national capacity. Three out of every five Blacks and Latinos in Amerika--more than 5 million Blacks and 8 million Latinos--live in areas with uncontrolled toxic waste sites.(4) The latest EPA proposal would mean the first regulation overhaul in 12 years, in a country whose plants burn about 5 million tons of hazardous waste per year. The EPA will not grant any new permits for burning. This means that companies just starting to think about incineration would have to find other means of disposal, while companies with permits would remain relatively untouched. The likely result will be that smaller companies without burn permits will become bigger companies with burn permits. Waste management corporations will still be able to thrive. Amerikan liberal opposition There is a liberal Amerikan voice in favor of EPA regulations and against specific incinerators. But these organizations start at the end--attacking the waste disposal ITAL method END rather than the amount of waste or the type of waste produced--they attempt to address the problem in isolation. They fall for the EPA trick of fighting over legalisms; and they ignore the structural necessity of waste and inefficient disposal. East Liverpool, Ohio is a site of popular opposition to incineration. City residents are fighting against the already- existing Waste Technologies Industry (WTI) incinerator, which was granted a permit in February. The 13-year struggle against the incinerator, the largest in the nation, has brought national attention to the incineration issue. The WTI site is permitted to emit 4.4 million pounds of heavy metals, dioxin and PCBs every year. WTI entered East Liverpool promising employment (the company created about 100 local service-related jobs) and underestimating pollution damage. This situation is echoed nationally, where people are persuaded by the promise of economic growth to live with contamination. A leaked memo from Richard Guimond of the Solid Waste and Emergency Response Office revealed a secret study of the safety of the WTI incinerator. It showed that Òthe risks from beef and milk consumption are 1,000 times higher than the risks from inhalation near the facility [which meets EPA regulations].Ó Contamination is worse as the dioxin bioaccumulates (progresses up the food chain).(2) Holland and England have both banned the sale of meat raised near incinerators.(6) A new study of people exposed to dioxin contamination has revealed cancer rates twice as high as those of a control group, higher incidence of birth defects, reduced liver function, blood circulation problems, reduced endocrine functioning and impaired immune system functioning.(3) Oppressed communities house the highest concentration of incinerators. The incinerators spew lead to the ground around them; the ash contaminates water supplies. Ninety percent of all ghetto youth in Amerika have blood-lead levels high enough to put them in the Òat riskÓ category for lead poisoning.(4) Pat Costner, the Toxics Researcher for Greenpeace, is pushing the EPA to do a breast milk study on women in contaminated areas to determine a more exact effect of dioxin. Dioxin is stored in fat cells and leaves the body through breast feeding. A 1987 study of dioxin effects on fish found measurable health effects at any level of exposure.(5) Clinton does it again Candidate Clinton campaigned in East Liverpool as the peopleÕs candidate, vowing to oppose the WTI incinerator. His promise went up in flames when he received a campaign contribution from VonRoll Inc., the corporation that owns the facility. Hugh Kaufman, assistant to the director of the EPAÕs Hazardous Site Division said of the anti-burn proposal: ÒItÕs a ruse and a smoke screen ... It does not change the present policy of non- substantive enforcement for major burners of hazardous waste.Ó He was referring to the fact that the proposal would not touch hazardous waste burning in facilities other than incinerators. Corporate contamination; community activism ÒIndustries target poor urban communities [for polluting industries and waste disposal facilities]. They know that there is little organized political opposition,Ó said Kevin Green of Citizens for a Better environment. But the masses in Òpoor urban communitiesÓ are not stupid, and generally the reason they are not organizing first around incinerators is that they know that struggle will not solve their environmental problems generally. Green does not even mention the politics already existing in those communities. GreenpeaceÕs response to the level of community concern with incineration was to run a cross-country bus campaign ending in a protest in Washington D.C. to pressure the EPA into a decision on the moratorium. The bus tour stopped at 25 incineration hot spots where researchers presented teach-ins on incineration pollution in terms of health and economics. Activists from East Liverpool spoke on how a community must organize to prevent construction of waste facilities. As the environmentalists in Amerika push for alternatives to incineration, the small moratoria that are accomplished tend to satisfy the liberal thirst for change. But reforms under an oppressive system will not eliminate oppression. Rational environmental planning will have to be part of socialist economic construction. Notes: 1. Wall Street Journal 5/19/93. 2. Environmental Research Foundation; Hazardous Waste News No. 31, p.1. 3. Washington Post 5/18/93. 4. The First National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit Program Guide, p. 13. 5. Journal of Pesticide Review; "Another Stunning Dioxin Study;" Vol. 17, No. 4, p. 34 6. North Carolina News and Observer 5/5/93, p. 14A. * * * PERU NEWS by MCbeta & MC17 PERUVIAN GOVERNMENT UNMASKED On July 8, the Peruvian military began an enforced curfew in Lima and all other major urban areas, keeping all Peruvians indoors from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The Fujimori government claims the curfew is to facilitate the first national census in 12 years. Ironically, the government says this survey is intended to find out who needs what services in Peru! This is likely another attempt to weed out the members of the Communist Party of Peru (PCP) by harassing the peasants and workers.(1) The curfew announcement came the same day as a number of graves in eastern Lima of individuals believed to be the victims of the 1991 La Cantuta University kidnapping were found.(2) The kidnapping of 10 Peruvians at the University was seen as revenge against the PCP, which is active at the University. The government has never admitted responsibility for the events. Recent events leading up to this discovery have left the Peruvian government exposed for its murderous policies. Since 1991 members of the Peruvian military, with the support of the state, have been running a special detachment that kidnaps, tortures and murders those suspected of opposing the government. On May 5 General Robles, third in command of the Peruvian armed forces, sent a public letter to the Peruvian press denouncing fellow general Nicolas Hermosa Rios and other army members, and describing the details of paramilitary operations that led to the deaths of many revolutionaries and innocent Peruvians. RoblesÕ letter included detailed information on the kidnapping of nine students and a professor at La Cantuta University in late 1991, as well as the Barrios Altos massacre of the same period. Robles assigned responsibility for these and other murderous actions to a special detachment of the army controlled by the National Intelligence Service, led by dictator Alberto FujimoriÕs advisor Vlademiro Montesinos.(3) On June 23 the Peruvian congress concluded an investigation into the kidnapping at La Cantuta. With testimony from Robles and others, three commission members signed a majority report concluding that the army was responsible for the disappearances at La Cantuta. They accused many powerful army leaders of collusion in this activity and called for a court hearing against all implicated. Two commission members from the pro-government alliance released a separate report concluding that the military had no responsibility for the events and instead they accused the Cantuta victims of having staged their own disappearances, suggesting that the victims could have been members of the PCP who chose to go into hiding. On June 26 congress voted to make the pro-government conclusion the official version of the story, and the end of the investigation. Notes: 1. Associated Press 7/8/93 V0886. 2. Latin America Institute, University of New Mexico, NotiSur-- Latin American Political Affairs, 7/16/93. 3. El Diario International May 1993, N 19. * * * TUPAC AMARU ÒREVOLUTIONARIESÓ GIVE UP As the PCP maintains its strength and advances the PeopleÕs War against the Peruvian state, the pro-Cuban Tupac Amaru movement conceded defeat after nine years of guerrilla war on July 12. The Tupac Amaru leader Anders Mendoza says they have only a few bands of fighters left and will be disbanded entirely within months. ÒItÕs useless to remain in hiding,Ó Mendoza said after turning himself in to the army Friday in the northern jungle city of Tarapoto. ÒSociety needs us to obtain the peace it has been seeking for several years.Ó Mendoza is one of four top commanders of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement who surrendered in the past two weeks. The Tupac Amaru, unlike the Communist Party of Peru (PCP--known as Sendero Luminoso), focused its guerrilla war on the urban areas of Peru. Following a pro-Cuban form of Marxism, the Tupac Amaru has always been unclear ideologically and has failed to learn from the successes and failures of historical revolutionary movements. Cuba took the road of dependence on the Soviet Union while the Soviet Union turned to capitalism, making it impossible for the Cuban revolution to produce socialism. Maoists, on the other hand, understand the importance of self-reliance and mutual aid, refusing dependency and colonial status. The other lesson the Tupac Amaru failed to learn was one of military strategy. The PCP learned from the successes of Maoism the essential strategy of building a base of support among the peasants as well as the workers, surrounding the cities from the countryside. For those Trotskyists who claimed that there was a revolutionary alternative in Peru other than the PCP Maoists, MIM asks how many lessons do you need before you learn that Maoism is the only ideology with a real life history of success. Failure to maintain a clear and correct ideology leads to failure of revolutionary movements. Notes: Associated Press 7/12/93 V0252. * * * MAY STRIKE A SUCCESS MIM now has further information about the strike in May called by the PCP to commemorate the Thirteenth Anniversary of the PeopleÕs War. In spite of tremendous government efforts and propaganda to thwart the strike, including 80,000 soldiers and policemen mobilized in Lima alone, the strike was an overwhelming success. The weekend before the strike the armed forces and police arrested at least 2,000 people in an attempt to deactivate the strike before it could happen. In spite of this repression, more than 250 military actions took place in Lima and the provinces during these three days of armed strike. This is more armed actions than those carried out in past months when the PCP has been most active. Among the successful PCP attacks was a bazooka and mortar assault on the barracks of the Tank Division of the Rimac district of Lima. This is the first time the PCP has called a three-day strike at the national level including Lima. Its success demonstrated the increasing strength and resolve of the people of Peru led by the PCP. Notes: El Diario International May 1993, N 19. * * * CHIVALRY SWEEPS SENATE: PIGS CLAIM TO PROTECT WOMEN by MC31 The Senate Judiciary Committee has unanimously approved the latest version of the federal Violence Against Women Act of 1993 (VAWA), which provides for civil remedies in cases of violent crimes committed against women. While previous versions of the bill did not garner majority support in Congress, this latest version is expected to sail through the full Senate.(1) Pseudo-feminism is a hot item these days, so Amerikan politicians are grabbing at their chance to get the ÒwomenÕs vote.Ó The VAWA, providing for women what the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 provided for Blacks, is the first federal law that seeks to protect the rights of women. The Violence Against Women Act is similar to other state and federal sentence-enhancing statutes that are gaining popularity among lawmakers. Title 3, called ÒCivil Rights for Women,Ó is the bulk of the bill, so that rape and other violent crimes which are now violations of state law become violations of federal civil rights. The U.S. Supreme Court recently held that these increased penalty statutes are constitutional; there is no violation of the First Amendment by punishing the thoughts associated with actions. In other words, the VAWA says that a violent crime against a woman is worse if the assailant meant harm against the woman ITAL as a woman END. While MIM knows that the First Amendment and the whole Amerikan constitution is a farce, it is still better than capitalist thought-police trying to read and patrol our minds. The VAWA will only serve to advance the interests of the oppressor while keeping the oppressed in their place. Any law that calls for more arrests and tougher penalties will not change the target populations for the arrests. In this case, men of oppressed nationalities are bound to be the hardest hit. But, while MIM challenges any law that furthers the oppression of the internal nations, we certainly recognize that violence against women, especially domestic or intimate violence, is a serious problem. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, in 1990, the most recent data available, more than 5,000 women were killed by their spouses, 2 million women were beaten and 2 million were raped by their spouses or partners.(2) In addition to federal civil remedies for violations of civil rights, the VAWA provides for additional funding for shelters, police training programs, as well as lighting and camera surveillance at bus stops and parks. But the VAWA also recognizes domestic violence, and thus encourages mandatory arrest programs.(2) Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.), one of the billÕs primary co- sponsors, defended the bill on the grounds that violence against women is a social problem, not just an individual one.(1) Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), another While the law does not explicitly state what conditions will create a crime that will be considered a violation of federal rights, Hatch presented two scenarios in order to illustrate what he thinks a rape motivated by gender bias actually is: 1) Man thinks woman is attractive, and is "encouraged" by her, and so motivated by this "encouragement" that he rips her clothes off and has sex with her against her will. 2) Man grabs woman and "in the process of raping her says words like, 'You're wearing a skirt! You're a woman! I hate women! ÒencouragedÓ by her, and so motivated by this ÒencouragementÓ that he rips her clothes off and has sex with her against her will. 2) Man grabs woman and Òin the process of raping her says words like, ÔYouÕre wearing a skirt! YouÕre a woman! I hate women! IÕm going to show you, you woman!Õ Now,Õ Hatch explains, Òthe first oneÕs terrible. But the otherÕs much worse. If a man rapes a woman while telling her he loves her, thatÕs a far cry from saying he hates her.Ó Then, Hatch informs us, Òa lust factor does not spring from animus.Ó(1) What did you expect? MIM has long criticized pseudo-feminists for their claim that rape is not sex, but violence. MIM argues that rape is that form of sex that exists under capitalist patriarchy, where real consent is impossible. Pseudo-feminists have made the distinction between sex and violence in order to preserve something called Ògood sex,Ó or sex which is by definition not violent. So it should not come as a surprise that when this muddled line gets picked up as national policy, it ends up in a piece of legislation which says in effect that there is Ògood rapeÓ and Òbad rape.Ó ITAL Send $6 for a copy of MIM Theory 2/3 for more on pseudo- feminist approaches to stopping rape. END Notes: 1. The New Republic 7/12/93, p. 12-15. 2. The Plain Dealer 6/29/93, p. 2C. * * * FIRST WORLD SLAMS THE DOOR ON IMMIGRATION by MC234 Some 100 million migrants worldwide are fleeing war or exploitation, according to a report released by the United Nations Population Fund in July.(1) The growth of global imperialism in recent years has increased the contradictions between the First and Third Worlds and has forced millions of people to search for a better life. Amerika and other imperialist powers had big increases in immigration in the 1980s. The desire by the Third World to cash in on the ÒAmerikan dreamÓ or its European counterpart is stirring a huge backlash in First World public opinion. Seventy percent of Amerikans favor reducing the number of immigrants because they see non-white immigrants as a threat to their way of life.(2) A Clinton advisor warned that unless the administration takes quick action ÒyouÕll see what you did in Germany: a violent reaction against immigration.Ó(3) MIM recognizes neither the artificial borders between nations nor ClintonÕs need to Òtake action.Ó The parasitic Amerikan white working/middle class benefits from the exploitation of Third World workers all over the planet, including here. New immigrants may be a political threat, but the only jobs theyÕre taking away are middle class womenÕs domestic jobs. Immigration is not a threat In fact, immigrants, especially illegals, often take the jobs that Amerikans refuse to take. The average personal income of a legal Mexican immigrant is $5,506.(3) When 2,000 illegal immigrants were fired from their jobs in San Diego, the California State Human Resources Agency had almost no success in filling the jobs with U.S. citizens.(4) ÒÔThe net effect of immigration is still that it raises the GNP,Õ says Harvard economist Richard Freeman, co-author of the NBER [National Bureau of Economic Research] report. The point, says Freeman, is that immigration, like free trade, probably hurts the minority of Americans who directly compete with newcomers, even as it benefits the majority who enjoy, among other things, lower prices on everything from clothes to restaurant meals.Ó(3) The extra profits that capitalists make from super-exploited Third World labor get passed on to the white working class as a huge subsidy for allegiance.(5) Germany: poor people need not apply GermanyÕs new anti-immigration law took effect in July. Refugees who arrive by foot are immediately turned back, and those who arrive by air ITAL directly from their country of origin END have only 19 days to prove, from their German prison cells, that they face persecution in their home countries. The German constitution, in atonement for Nazi persecution of foreigners, previously guaranteed asylum to all. The law was changed because of fears that foreigners were draining public monies, and because of Òintensifying violence by right-wing extremists against foreigners.Ó Regardless, anti-foreigner attacks, including the fire bombing of five Turks, have increased since the law was approved in May.(6) Amerika: Mexico does the dirty work President Clinton has authorized the Coast Guard to board those ships in international waters suspected of transporting Chinese illegal immigrants. The practice began in July when the Coast Guard stopped three boats carrying 659 immigrants about 70 miles southwest of San Diego. Of all the migrants, the U.S. government allowed only one an appeal for asylum, and convinced Mexico to put the rest back on a plane to China.(7) France says immigrants smell The popularity of French interior minister Charles Pasqua jumped 25% when he proposed a new Òzero immigration policyÓ to fight the Ònoise and smellsÓ of foreigners. FranceÕs foreign population hasnÕt grown in 10 years--it is still 6%. But 25 years ago, 75% of the foreigners in France were European. Now Arabs and Africans make up almost half.(8) Revolution: to a better life The millions of migrants who come to the United States and other First World countries often do find an increase in their standard of living. But capitalism canÕt allow the masses of immigrants to Òcatch upÓ with their white counterparts. And imperialism will never allow Third World nations to Òcatch upÓ with AmerikaÕs wealth. The only answer is to work for a revolution against Amerika and its domination of the world. NOTES: 1. Washington Post 7/7/93, p. A1. 2. Time Magazine 6/21/93, p. 26. 3. U.S. News & World Report 6/21/93, p. 34,38. 4. The Public Interest, Winter 1991, p. 96. 5. See MIM Theory 1 for more on this. Send $4 to MIM. 6. Washington Post 7/2/93 p. A26. 7. New York Times 7/20/93, p. A19. 8. Economist 6/12/93. * * * FRANCE IMPLEMENTS IMMIGRATION POLICY According to the New York Times, ÒFranceÕs conservative-dominated National Assembly gave overwhelming approval ... to a law authorizing the police to carry out random identity checks with the aim of clamping down on illegal immigration.Ó(1) The law has been approved due to Ògrowing fear here that immigration from the Third World is changing the French way of life.Ó DoesnÕt it sound familiar? DidnÕt Bush talk about Our Way of Living at the time of the Persian Gulf War? Yeah. There is no longer a social-imperialist Soviet Union, so drop all pretence of concern for ÒHuman RightsÓ and head copying the German neo-nazis trend! Perhaps this will give peace of mind to those dear Òmany French citizensÕ who Òblame immigrants for rising crime levels.Ó --MA70 Notes: Daily Journal 6/14/93, p. 6. * * * LET FREEDOM RING On July 4, the birthday of this great oppressor nation, President Clinton awarded Liberty Medals to both African National Congress (ANC) leader Nelson Mandela and South African President F.W. de Klerk in Philadelphia. Mandela has said recently that de Klerk is crucial to the effort of Black South Africans to gain freedom. De Klerk said that he and Mandela Òrepresent two political forces who decided to break out of the cycle of violence ... and join hands to give birth to a new democracy.Ó MIM believes, however, that joining forces with your oppressor will never lead to freedom; MIM also wonders what this Ònew democracyÓ might look like. Will the Pan Africanist Congress and the militant youth of Azania stand silently by while true freedom and liberation get whitewashed by this pact? MIM hopes not, and continues to support a truly revolutionary liberation movement in Azania that still has a long road ahead to improve the conditions of the majority of the country. Mandela did say that he and the ANC do not recognize de Klerk as the president of South Africa. And while de Klerk called for the lifting of economic sanctions against South Africa, because it is Òthe hungry people, the poor people, the jobless people who are paying a price,Ó Mandela maintained that sanctions should not be lifted until a transition executive council is in place to facilitate the move toward democracy. --MC31 Notes: The Washington Post, 7/5/93 p. A6. * * * WHITE SUPREMACISTS THREATEN SENECAS SENECA NATION--White supremacists have issued a public threat against First Nation people with a spray-painted slogan on Seneca territory. In June, someone painted a slogan under the bridge at exit 17 on Route 17: ÒCusterÕs revenge coming to a res. [reservation] near you!!Ó The highway was the scene of a militant Seneca protest of illegal state taxation last year. During the highway takeover, other local area slogans had a similar message: ÒWeÕll do the Indians like we did Rodney King. I love New York State police.Ó Aside from the violence against the Senecas in the highway dispute, a former New York State police officer named Lee Hunt is now famous for calling for a Òshoot to killÓ policy. According to one person manning the blockade of businesses at Onondaga Nation territory in central New York State (see MIM Notes 78), Hunt is organizing ex- troopers to perform security at casinos. Seneca merchants near the bridge did not know who put up the Custer slogan, but according to white and Seneca youth in the town of Salamanca, where the Seneca nation is, skinheads spray-painted the slogan. Meanwhile, some merchants in Salamanca have said that they have recently seen skinheads start to hang around in town. SalamancaÕs population appears united to face the threat. ÒTheyÕre gonna get it,Ó said one young woman. One young man said that if the skinheads Òcome down here; theyÕre gonna get shot.Ó In the more rural Seneca areas among older people the sentiment was similar. One middle-aged merchant said of the skinheads quite simply: ÒTheyÕre bullshit.Ó He said that people in the area were Ògood neighborsÓ without much problem among themselves. When it came to something like that [the white supremacist threat], he said all Senecas united. Speaking of the fights among the Senecas, he said, Òwe know we can continue those next week,Ó if some outside threat has to be taken care of first. * * * OKA MURDERS REMAIN UNSOLVED No one has yet been charged in connection to the shooting death of police officer Corporal Lemay in Oka, Quebec, where the Mohawk Nation territory is. The governmentÕs inquest into the death of a police officer at the armed confrontation at Oka between Quebec and the Mohawks on July 11, 1990 is in recess until September.(1) SQ (Quebec police) officers have already testified that they fired their guns in the conflict, hence lending credence to the Mohawk claim that cops shot their own at Oka. Meanwhile, some Mohawks have testified that there was no plan for Mohawks to engage in actual armed conflict. Mohawk spokesperson Ellen Gabriel testified that the consensus was to allow the police to tear down the barricades if it came to violence, partly in view of the SQÕs superior firepower.(2) After the Oka crisis, the Canadian federal government came up with $552,417 Canadian for a program of psychologists and social workers for the Mohawks called ÒReopening the Bridges.Ó After shooting deaths connected to gambling in ... the government came up with even more money ($1.2 million) for Òconflict resolution.Ó(2) Conquering the indigenous peopleÕs minds is the first step to imperialist assimilation and forced adjustment to oppression.(3) Oppressed people must reject the negative self- images that the powers-that-be manage to spread, while not rejecting all criticism just because it is criticism. What is ÒnormalÓ or ÒacceptedÓ is what serves the status quo. --a comrade Notes: 1. See MIM Notes 45. 2. Windspeaker 5/10/93, p. R2. 3. See MIM Theory 2/3, ÒAbolish Psychology.Ó * * * BAD DEALINGS WITH PHONEY COMMUNISTS In July, a former member of the Indian Center Movement in Canada told MIM that a ÒcommunistÓ group based in McMasterÕs University attempted to take over the Indian Center Movement. Although the group was unconnected to MIM, the activist was reluctant to show MIM Notes 78 to her friends. MIM explained that it does not attempt to take over the peopleÕs organizations and in fact has a policy of seeking to influence these groups only from outside. Unfortunately, the work of Trotskyists and should-be Trotskyists has given Marxism a bad name in some First Nation communities. According to one businesswoman of the Six Nations territory located within OntarioÕs borders, the group in question had Òa lot of KKK philosophies.Ó Without a correct analysis of the white nation working class, supposed Marxists will effectively deny the existence of national oppression as it actually exists and they will attempt to use the struggles of oppressed nations to benefit white workers. These so- called Marxists will assume that assimilation is the best option for oppressed nations, a goal associated with the KKK. --a comrade * * * THE FIRM John Grisham is the author de jour in Amerika. He writes legal thrillers for the 90s. In his work, it looks like there is rampant corruption and greed everywhere, from corporations to the highest levels of government. But in the end, thanks to the virtue of a few ordinary Amerikans, it turns out that there are really only a few bad apples in what is otherwise a squeaky-clean bushel. In his book ITAL The Pelican Brief, END it looks like everyone from regular cops to the President are in on a plot to assassinate two Supreme Court judges. In the end, it is only a demented millionaire, and the President was only interested because the millionaire had given the President campaign money, and it might have looked bad. In fact, in the end it looks very good--like the best society in the world, the kind that can withstand such attacks and emerge clean. In The Firm, based on another Grisham novel, a young lawyer played by Tom Cruise enters a corporate world that appears corrupt from head to toe. And the FBI, hardly better, practically extorts Cruise into informing on his firm. Cruise finds a way out. At the expense of his own six-figure career, he makes it so that he burns both the firm--which is not a ITAL normal END corporate firm at all, but really only a sleazy mafia front--and the corrupt FBI agents on the case. And he does it without breaking the law at all. ThatÕs how much he loves Amerika. Get it? Underneath it all is the best legal system in the world. All it needs is the determination and skill of a few good people-- representatives of The People in the fascist sense of the word--to purge the bad elements and get the system working again. The movie is hailed as the backlash against the 80s, when greed and corruption ruled, supposedly for the first time in ages--and supposedly not like the do-gooder 90s. This time, someone stands up and says No. ItÕs a fantasy for baby-boomer liberals, and they made it a big success. --MC12 * * * GUILTY AS SIN This legal thriller is mostly not interesting (though it is sometimes thrilling) except for a revealing pseudo-feminist angle. The principals are a lecherous hunk (Don Johnson) and a supposedly brilliant defense attorney (Rebecca Demornay). For a living, he romances and kills women for their money and gets away with it. She specializes in getting obviously guilty, publicly reviled rich people off on technicalities. They are made for each other. Pseudo-feminism comes in with the victimizing portrayal of the filthy-rich women Johnson seduces in minutes, who then give him millions while he publicly romances other women just like them. Then he sets them up and kills them. No one notices, least of all his future victims, because his crimes are so perfectly planned and executed. Demornay is the exception, the tough career woman who refuses to fall for it. She is his greatest challenge, and he loses. MIM has no interest in defending the intelligence or gumption of ridiculously rich women, such as those depicting in passing in this film. But MIM does take issue with descriptions of women which have them helplessly contributing to their own oppression without any consciousness. We call these paternalistic portrayals Òpseudo-feministÓ because they are supposedly made in opposition to the oppression of women, when in fact they make things worse for women who really are oppressed. Most privileged women live in subordination to the men of their nationality and class. Some suffer and die as a result. But if women who do not materially need to seek advantage from degrading relationships with men, MIM will not explain their actions by diminishing the capacity of women as a group to act in their own interest. Privileged women have some difficult choices to make, and they sometimes make the wrong decisions. There is a lot in Amerikan culture to lead them into bad relationships. And they occasionally find benefit for their whole lives from acting like idiots. But that doesnÕt make women idiots, and that doesnÕt mean opponents of patriarchy should believe women canÕt think and act for themselves. Oppressed women and their allies have no use for such fictions: they are too busy fighting for control over their lives and their futures. --MC12 * * * INDECENT PROPOSAL Woody Harrelson and Demi Moore are Adam and Eve. Robert Redford is the snake. They lose everything in Vegas. The snake offers $1 million if Eve will eat the apple (Redford). Adam and Eve talk it over. They agree to do it. Adam and Eve end up sorry. They split up. Eve moves in the with snake, Adam becomes a school teacher. Life sucks. Then they wake up one day and rediscover virtue. The snake smiles knowingly and reluctantly lets go. Adam and Eve return to the Garden of Eden, but things never quite look the same. The moral of the story is old and boring, but MIM sees in it an interesting illustration of rape and sex. When Adam and Eve are broke, they agree to let the snake rape Eve. It is rape because she doesnÕt want to do it. She wishes they were not broke so that the whole thing would never have happened. But, given her bad options, she ITAL chooses END to be raped. This is how, when involuntary conditions offer up bad choices, sex can be rape even when the victim utters the word Yes. --MC12 * * * CORRECTION: In MIM Notes 77, MIM characterized Pequot payments to Connecticut in connection to the tribeÕs casino as Òtaxation.Ó While that is the opinion of some indigenous people, it is not the opinion of the Pequots themselves. They do not believe that they have set any precedent of agreeing to state taxes.