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THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT

MIM Notes 82

November 1993

Electronic Edition

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Get MIM Notes 82 from the Maoist Internationalist Movement 
(MIM), and get the latest in Maoist news and analysis - put 
a revolutionary weapon in your hands.

This issue features anti-imperialist stories on U.S. 
aggression in Somalia and Haiti, and the people's resistance 
there. It features an exposure of the real motives behind 
Peruvian dictator Fujimori's latest dirty tricks, and the 
continued success of the people's revolution in Peru. Plus 
there's cultural reviews, poetry, Paper Tigers - and MIM's 
monthly report from prisons and prisoners: Under Lock & Key.

MIM Notes speaks to and from the viewpoint of the world's 
oppressed majority, and against the imperialist-patriarchy. 
Pick it up and wield it in the service of the people. 
Struggle with it and write for it.

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(write: nyt@blythe.org). Or get a subscription from MIM in 
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This issue features:

1. U.S. increases stakes with Somali aggression
2. Oppose Amerika; not just its wars
3. Fujimori's dirty tricks:
4. Haitian people locked out of "democracy"
5. Capitalist factions fight it out in Moscow
6. Beavis and Butthead, meet the Addams Family
7. Real Blues Ain't Like These
8. Demo man
9. Why they're called revisionists
10. Pseudo-feminists police campus bedrooms
11. Powell, Koon sent to "Club Fed"
12. Letters; Letters Online
13. MIM distributor harassed; accused of same
14. Communique from MIPS ZINE
15. How many Maoists does it take to screw in a lightbulb?
16. Winnable Battles



* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


U.S. INCREASES STAKES WITH SOMALI AGGRESSION

by MC12

The United States has increased the stakes of its occupation 
of Somalia. Thousands more troops, as well as the heaviest 
tanks and planes, will likely mean more blood flowing in the 
streets of Mogadishu. Amerikan revolutionaries and anti-
imperialists face the uphill battle of exposing and opposing 
the U.S. war in Somalia.

Most Amerikans oppose the war, but for pro-Amerikan reasons 
which themselves have to be defeated. MIM opposes this and 
all Amerikan military interventions; but not because Amerika 
has no interest in Somalia, and not because we want Amerika 
to spend its stolen money further improving the lives of 
privileged Amerikans. Rather, MIM calls for a revolution 
that will result in the eventual destruction of the Amerikan 
state and massive reparations to the world-wide victims of 
501 years of oppression.

The U.N. charade

When the U.S./U.N.'s murderous occupying army came under 
fire from Somalis, they called it a crime. President Clinton 
declared: "What we have done our best to do is to actually 
enforce the law against people who committed murder."(1)

Whose law? When Amerikan stormtroopers killed at least 300 
Somalis in a single battle, while taking only a few dozen 
casualties, the Pentagon said "the force used ... was 
consistent with the right of self-defense under 
international law."

What are the rules? Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki 
recently noted that, despite countless pleas for assistance, 
"Not once in 41 years did Eritrea, scene of the longest war 
in Africa and victim of some of the grossest violations of 
human rights, figure in the agenda of the United Nations."

That experience, he said, showed that "assistance and 
amounts of assistance appear to be decided not on the basis 
of needs or capacity to put the assistance to good use, but 
- even after the proclamation of the end of the cold war - 
on the basis of the interests and agendas of donors."(2)

All around the world, millions of people are threatened by 
war and famine, poverty and disease. Wars rage in Angola, 
Azania and ex-Soviet Georgia; the government was overthrown 
in Russia; nations are occupied by Amerikan allies such as 
Indonesia, Turkey and Israel. None of these require bombing 
by foreign interventionists, none are "emergency" threats to 
U.S. interests. After all of this, we are supposed to 
believe that Amerika went to Somalia to help Africans.

Lessons written in blood

As usual, lessons for the people are written in blood. From 
the war against Somalia, we learn that imperialist military 
power is vulnerable: the guerillas of the Somali National 
Alliance (SNA) and the people of Mogadishu have kept the 
better-equipped forces of the United States and United 
Nations on the defensive for months, after Clinton declared 
them "crippled" in April.(3)

The SNA militia has shot down Amerikan aircraft, ambushed 
military convoys, and lobbed shells into the U.N. compound. 
In mid-October, the Amerikan death toll was 25, with 81 U.N. 
troops killed altogether.(4) Revolutionaries are not afraid 
to say that these deaths are accomplishments that the people 
of Somalia should be proud of. Violence against the 
U.S./U.N. forces is real self-defense and deserves the 
support of anti-imperialists.

The Amerikan establishment is dismayed by the tactical 
defeats in Somalia. Right-wing columnist George Will 
suggested that Amerikans watch *The Battle of Algiers* if 
they think SNA General Mohammed Farah Aidid can be easily 
captured. And he complains that "Today's colonialism-of-
compassion lacks even the redeeming clarity of 
rapaciousness."(5)

U.S. intelligence has been confounded at every step by its 
inability to develop human sources and the failure of its 
technical means of gathering information. Satellites see the 
dessert better than they do the city. High-tech listening 
devices have not been able to pick up the simple walkie-
talkies - not to mention whispers - used by the 
resistance.(6)

Will's compatriot William Saffire complained: "Thirty 
billion dollars a year goes into an intelligence 
establishment that cannot hire one spy in the south end of 
Mogadishu to pinpoint the location of a famous warlord who 
gives press interviews and broadcasts radio statements of 
defiance."(7)

When the people are united, imperialism cannot defeat them 
with all of its weapons. Nevertheless, Amerika and its 
allies do have the capacity to inflict thousands more 
casualties and to level Mogadishu from the air. It is up to 
revolutionaries to ensure that imperialism gains more 
enemies than it kills. In this task, imperialism itself is 
very helpful, as the growing strength of the anti-Amerikan 
movement in Somalia shows.

Empire divided

The war also reveals divisions among imperialists, and 
within imperialist nations. Europeans, especially Italy, 
have disagreed over strategy in Somalia, hurting the 
U.S./U.N. forces' ability to operate. At the same time, 
internal opposition has mounted within Amerika.

Polls show that a majority of Amerikans oppose the military 
action, by a two-thirds margin in early October. That was 
down from more than half supporting the operation in June. 
Even so, one in five polled Amerikans called for increased 
military action,(8) which has cost more than $1 billion.(4)

As such influential voices as the New York Times called for 
a military withdrawal(9), the military felt the need to bar 
the press from attending memorial services for dead 
soldiers.(10)

At issue is the question of Amerikan national interest, and 
the interests of international imperialism. When Clinton 
ordered $27 million sent to the U.N. to pay for a police and 
prison system in Somalia, he declared an "unforeseen 
emergency" and said "it is important to the security 
interests of the United States" to spend the money.(11)

Clinton is hampered by his need to tell different stories to 
different people. If he could simply say the war was to 
protect the free flow of oil, Amerikans would fall into line 
by the millions. But the Amerikan interest in Somalia is 
more complicated than that, and more long term.

Somalia is in a key strategic location with ocean access and 
proximity to the Persian Gulf, as well as a foothold on the 
African continent, both of which represent post-"Cold War" 
power vacuums and opportunities for Amerikan expansion. The 
operation is also supposed to be an example of what Clinton 
calls "international burden-sharing," to "meet crises in 
ways the include other nations' forces and funds."(12) In 
other words, to train puppet governments to take the load 
off the extended Amerikan military.

But that's a little hard to put in a speech. So Clinton 
says: "It remains the United States' objective to prevent 
Somalia from reverting to the chaos and the starvation that 
prompted our involvement in the very first place."(13)

And in that he has a problem: the white nation hates the 
people of Africa, and the oppressed generally. They don't 
want their hard-stolen cash to go to "helping" the oppressed 
unless they see an immediate return. That makes them listen 
to the likes of Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), who said 
Americans "by the dozens are paying with their lives and 
limbs for a misplaced policy on the altar of some fuzzy 
multilateralism. I believe we should disengage our forces 
and declare the U.S. contribution to this U.N. extravaganza 
over."(13)

Where next?

While Somalia has pointed up some weaknesses and 
vulnerabilities in the Amerikan imperial machine, it also 
illustrates the political underdevelopment of revolutionary 
forces. The Somali resistance is resilient; the efforts of 
the people are heroic. But in the long run real national 
liberation requires a broadly unified movement led by a 
proletarian and feminist (i.e. communist) political line and 
strategy.

Military victory is essential, but the departure of imperial 
armies by itself does not signal liberation - as too many 
Africans have already discovered the hard way. There is much 
to be done. Revolutionaries are inspired by the courage and 
sacrifice of the Somali resistance. That struggle demands of 
revolutionaries everywhere a commitment to furthering its 
gains, as well as learning from its mistakes.

Notes:
1. White House Office of the Press Secretary 10/4/93.
2. Statement to the U.N. General Assembly 9/30/93.
3. New York Times 10/8/93, p. A15.
4. UPI 10/13/93.
5. Washington Post column 10/11/93. MIM also recommends this 
movie, as it dramatizes the strategic advantage of a 
people's army in urban guerilla war.
6. Boston Globe 10/7/93, p. 15.
7. NYT 10/7/93, p. A29.
8. Boston Globe 10/7/93, p. 12.
9. NYT 10/8/93, p. A34.
10. NYT 10/7/93, p. A10.
11. UPI 10/1/93.
12. NYT 10/14/93, p. A12.
13. UPI 10/4/93.

MIM Notes is not copyrighted.  Please credit MIM when 
redistributing or referring to this material. 

Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. 
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: 
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* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


SOMALIA: OPPOSE AMERIKA, NOT JUST ITS WARS

by MC12

Most Amerikans who want a peaceful "settlement" to Somalia's 
problems are not anti-war or anti-imperialism. They side 
with the financiers who are lining up for talks in Ethiopia 
to implement "development and recovery plans" drawn up by 
the World Bank.(1) With enough "stability," they mean to get 
on with the business of super-exploitation: getting Somalis 
back to work. Likewise, the small "leftist" movement against 
the war is not clearly on the side of the oppressed, but 
their activity may make a positive contribution.

The International Action Center, which called for 
"International Days of Protest" on Oct. 29-30, praises the 
heroic resistance of the Somali people. But they also 
"protest the loss of the U.S. soldiers in the attack" and 
call for the "billions being spent on this war [to] be spent 
here at home, on jobs and housing and education, AIDS 
treatment and other healthcare."(2)

Such an argument falsely makes imperialism out to be against 
the interests of most Amerikans - as if the stolen billions 
were being taken from Amerikans themselves. In contrast, MIM 
argues that imperialist conquests such as this one serve the 
interests of the white nation, including the white working 
class, which has demonstrated its opposition to revolution 
and support for imperialism.

So when Workers World, for example, writes that "workers and 
progressive people around the world applaud the latest 
victory in the Somali liberation struggle,"(3) they are 
ignoring the reality of mass support for imperialism among 
the white nation - including its workers. But they are also 
trying to lead the oppressed - members of Amerika's internal 
colonies as well as the Third World abroad - into false 
alliances with those who are not their friends.

MIM does not try to spread such deception. The masses of 
Amerikans - members of the white nation: its workers, women, 
pigs, soldiers - do not oppose imperialism, because 
imperialism serves them well. The masses of the oppressed 
nations - in the internal colonies and in the Third World - 
should not harbor illusions that these are their friends in 
revolutionary struggle.

Anti-war and anti-imperialist movements have to take sides 
in this struggle. In the past, broad anti-war movements have 
refused to oppose Amerika itself. This has become a more 
dominant trend in the years since the Vietnam War. It 
culminated in the mainstream movement that opposed the war 
against Iraq, calling instead for Iraq's economic 
strangulation through sanctions.

Revolution is the movement of the oppressed. Various small 
groups of privileged people - some young people, students 
and intellectuals for example - will side with revolution 
for moral reasons. But the historical record is clear: while 
revolutionaries must do all they can to mobilize broad 
support for the people, the oppressed are ultimately on 
their own. We do not benefit from sacrificing scientific 
analysis to imagine real friends among our sometime tactical 
allies.

Notes:

1. Somalia News Update 10/2/93. Internet: 
Bernhard.Helander@antro.uu.se
2. IAC press release 10/5/93. 39 W. 14th St., NY, NY 10011; 
212-633-6646.
3. Workers World 10/13/93. 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011.


MIM Notes is not copyrighted.  Please credit MIM when 
redistributing or referring to this material. 

Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. 
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: 
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E-mail: mim@blythe.org


* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


FUJIMORI'S DIRTY TRICKS:
DESPERATE DICTATORS DO DESPERATE THINGS

by MC121, MC17 & MC12

In September, the Communist Party of Peru (PCP) launched 106 
armed actions against capitalist institutions throughout 
Peru. A carefully planned strategic military offensive 
continues to escalate.(1) The Maoist-led People's War in 
Peru is pressing fascist dictator Alberto Fujimori like a 
rotten grape in the winepress of the masses. 

During the first two weeks of October, Fujimori waved 
supposed letters from imprisoned PCP leader Abimael Guzman 
(Chairperson Gonzalo) in front of the imperialist running 
dogs at the United Nations and on Peruvian television. 
Fujimori showed videotapes supposedly of Guzman asking for 
"peace talks" in two statements that contain as much Marxism 
as an Exxon annual report.(1)

Even as Lima's banks explode into dust and his palace walls 
shake around him, Fujimori is mounting a massive last-ditch 
publicity campaign around a phony election scheduled for 
October 31. Fujimori and his Amerikan, European, and 
Japanese corporate backers have plastered Lima with 
billboards and airwave advertisements begging for popular 
approval of a new constitution engineered to extend and 
legalize Fujimori's terrorist reign. The referendum proposes 
to strengthen the dictatorial powers Fujimori seized last 
year when he "overthrew" himself and effectively abolished 
the Peruvian legislative and judicial bodies.(1)

Fujimori used the constitution and the Guzman smear campaign 
to attract attention to himself on the public relations trip 
to Amerika. While in the States, he met with groups of 
business and investment leaders, including Henry Kissinger, 
Clinton and Bush, and media heads from the New York Times, 
Wall Street Journal, Time, Newsweek, CNN, NBC, and so on.(2)

"Peru is becoming a big centre of interest in Latin 
America," Fujimori said. "There is a lot of interest in its 
political process. Following an unviable situation in 1990, 
Peru is becoming a country with huge potential, including 
investment potential. We are also attracting interest 
because of the pacification process."(2)

In the context of this campaign, the usefulness of both the 
constitution and Guzman charade is clear.

The Peruvian special prosecutor for terrorism also said the 
government was using the Guzman letters to coerce PCP 
members into turning themselves in to the mercy of the 
state.(3)

Since 1980, the Peruvian bourgeoisie's death-squads have 
killed at least 24,000 people.(4) Fujimori's new 
constitution legalizes the death penalty for use against the 
revolutionary people and allows this fearful corporativist 
pig to indiscriminately round up and imprison *any* 
dissenters: armed or armchair.(1)

Maoists around the planet know that Abimael Guzman, the 
revolutionary communist party that elected him to its 
Central Committee, and the masses who live and die for 
liberation, will never stop waging the fiercest and most 
successful revolutionary war in the world against 
imperialism - until murderers like Fujimori and his masked 
sponsors are six feet under.

A Lima PCP statement obtained by Reuters said, "The 
Communist Party of Peru rejects the terms of this letter," 
and added that Guzman "would have to have been tortured or 
drugged to talk that way."(5)

*Nobody in their right mind* gives any credibility to 
government propagation of supposed statements from 
incarcerated, tortured and coerced political prisoners!

The Peruvian revolution survives despite the incarceration 
and torture of its leader. The revolution is strong because 
of the strength of the masses and the strength of its 
correct and just line. In the last month the war against the 
imperialists by the PCP has intensified. This is not a sign 
that the people are giving up. There may be setbacks. There 
will be some defeats. But as long as the majority of the 
people have an interest in overthrowing the minority who 
oppress and exploit them, the revolution will continue to 
advance.

The firm message that MIM and all revolutionaries send to 
Comrade Gonzalo and to the Peruvian people is this:

We see through Fujimori's tricks! We are with you. Your 
victories inspire us to create positive public opinion for 
revolution - even inside the imperialist sewers. The example 
of the armed and revolutionary Peruvian people leads the way 
today as communists work to mobilize the embattled peasants 
and exploited workers of the world in a million forms of 
attack against world imperialism and patriarchy.

Notes:

1. UPI 10/5/93-10/12/93.
2. BBC Summary of World Broadcasts 10/5/93.
3. BBC Summary of World Broadcasts 10/12/93.
4. El Pais 9/20/92.
5. Reuter 10/6/93.


MIM Notes is not copyrighted.  Please credit MIM when 
redistributing or referring to this material. 

Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. 
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: 
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* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


HAITIAN PEOPLE LOCKED OUT OF "DEMOCRACY"

The Amerikan-imposed deal for "democracy" in Haiti collapsed 
in October, as the United States and the Haitian military 
keep up their rousing two-year game of good-cop/bad-cop. 
There is a Haitian resistance, including the Mouvman Peyizan 
Papay (Peasant Movement of Papaye), to both U.S. domination 
and Haitian fascism, but they have come under direct and 
brutal repression during the latest coup.

With the process derailed in early October, Amerika and its 
allies in the Haitian military enter another period of 
negotiation at the expense of the people. Amerika called on 
the U.N. to impose new economic sanctions to bring the 
military back to heel.(1)

The elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, overthrown in 
a coup in 1991, was coerced into signing a deal with fascist 
military rulers in the summer. Termed the Governors Island 
deal, it pretended that "democracy" could come to Haiti with 
Aristide in civilian power, but leaving the fascists in 
control of the military.

One key to the deal was that Amerikan soldiers (in U.N. 
hats), would train the Haitian military and police in the 
art of "democratic" repression. The police would supposedly 
come under civilian rule through a new separation of powers. 
This was supposed to mean the end of military rule, but it 
didn't fool anyone - including the military itself.

Buying time

The deal bought the military some time, during which they 
launched a massive campaign of repression against the 
people's opposition. Soldiers carried out executions and 
raids, especially in poorer neighborhoods, with summary 
executions and random terror being the norm. The Haiti 
Resistance and Democracy Information Bulletin, produced 
clandestinely in Port-au-Prince, reports "accounts of 97 
arbitrary executions in the Port-au-Prince area, as well as 
many mass arrests and disappearances, raids and attacks on 
neighborhoods."(2) And when it came to carrying out its 
later steps - including the landing of Amerikan troops, the 
resignation of Gen. Raoul Cedras, and the return of Aristide 
to the island - the military called it off.

Amerikan complicity

Cedras supporters in September celebrated the anniversary of 
his rise to power with demonstrators carrying a Haitian and 
an American flag, shouting: "Vive Duvalier, Aristide is 
finished," in Creole.

Clinton, taking care not to offend anyone, sent a nice 
letter to the Aristide-backed, powerless prime minister 
Robert Malval, saying "We request that those guilty of 
recent violence in Haiti be identified and arrested." He 
added "The United States holds the Haitian military and the 
police responsible for the protection of all Haitians 
against outrages such as those committed recently."

Again, no one was fooled. Clinton says he wants the military 
and police - who coordinate terrorism and repression - to 
stop it, and a prime minister with no control over them to 
see that it happens. 

Amerika ruled Haiti directly from 1915 to 1934, then backed 
a series of dictators including the father and son 
Duvaliers, until 1990, when Aristide won a presidential 
election. The current Amerikan intervention, including the 
"training" mission, remains true to that tradition.

This time the U.S. will put up a better facade: occupying 
Haiti against the will of the Haitian people, but in their 
name.(3) The object, as always, is to get Haitians back to 
work producing cheap commodities for export, consuming 
dependency as expensive imported surplus goods - and keep 
them from coming to U.S. shores in an unregulated fashion.

One independent Haitian activist told MIM that the principal 
problem for Haiti is an oppressive military. He would 
support "any invasion whose purpose is to dismantle the army 
and the police." But Amerika or any imperialist power will 
not intervene on those terms. History has shown that foreign 
powers only intervene in other countries to increase their 
influence, not to help the people.

Peasant movement gains support

The Mouvman Peyizan Papay (Peasant Movement of Papaye), 
Haiti's oldest and largest peasant movement, kicked off the 
formation of an Education and Development Fund in Boston on 
October 3 with a cultural and political fund-raiser. This 
MPP-EDF formed to provide direct financial support to the 
movement in Haiti and educate Haitians, and to expand 
support for the struggle in Haiti.

"The MPP's principal objective is to organize poor peasants 
(men, women, youth and children) all over Haiti in a unified 
national movement. The goal is to establish a society where 
all people can have a decent life including: food produced 
in their own country, good working conditions, good 
education based on the culture and reality of the country, 
good health care, good housing, good leisure, and freedom of 
speech and assembly."(4)

The MPP, founded in 1973, has continued to grow and build 
its movement. Since the 1991 coup, the MPP has suffered many 
attacks by the repressive regime. Soldiers have looted their 
headquarters and destroyed equipment, stores, libraries, and 
homes.

Chavannes Jean-Baptiste, the founder of the MPP, spoke at 
the event in Boston, noting that peasants make up about 80% 
of the Haitian population. Beyond the overall struggle for 
liberation, he cited the MPP's support for women's struggle 
for liberation from both the men and the oppressive society.

Although the MPP has suffered harsh repression, he pointed 
out: "They have tried to destroy everything of the peasants, 
but there is one thing they didn't smash: the consciousness 
of the peasants."

The MPP clearly recognizes the root of the problem for the 
peasants in Haiti, as they write that "the problems 
burdening the peasants were not mainly technical, but rather 
were rooted in injustice and exploitation."(1)

From their literature and speeches it appears that the MPP 
is not conducting armed struggle. Their slogan is 
"organization or death." MIM agrees with this slogan but 
unfortunately organization has only successfully liberated 
people from oppression when it was backed up by armed 
struggle. MIM supports the MPP and the Haitian people in 
their struggle for self-determination. And MIM works to 
expose and denounce the crimes of Amerikan imperialism, 
which makes dictatorship in Haiti possible. But we recognize 
that the society they hope to create can only be achieved 
through the fight for socialism. This is a lesson all 
revolutionary movements must learn from history.

Notes;

1. NYT 10/14/93, p. A1
2. Haiti: Resistance and Democracy Information Bulletin, 
September 21- October 1, 1993.
3. Deye Mon, September 1993.
4. MPP pamphlet


MIM Notes is not copyrighted.  Please credit MIM when 
redistributing or referring to this material. 

Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. 
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: 
MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576.
E-mail: mim@blythe.org


* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


CAPITALIST FACTIONS FIGHT IT OUT IN MOSCOW

by MC432

Liberals may complain of Russian dictator Boris Yeltsin's 
anti-democratic methods in the recent crushing of the "hard-
liner" takeover of the Russian parliament in Moscow. But MIM 
does not cry foul over bourgeois-on-bourgeois violence.

Boris Yeltsin & Co. represent the free-market faction of the 
Russian bourgeoisie. Their opponents, referred to as "hard-
liners" (a catch-all term for anyone who opposes Amerika's 
agenda), represent the state-capitalist faction of the 
Russian bourgeoisie. Nowhere in the current debate are the 
Russian masses directly represented; the Russian proletariat 
is sitting this intra-bourgeois struggle out.

Depicted as a confrontation between capitalist reform and 
reactionary "Bolshevism,"(1) the Moscow battle of September 
21-October 4 was nothing of the kind. Yeltsin's faction is 
willing to impose conditions of widespread immiseration on 
the Russian masses, with the monthly inflation rates for 
consumer prices around 25% recently,(2) all for the goal of 
"the creation of a society of owners."(3)

Of course only a small portion of the society will be owners 
under this scheme, because workers with hungry families sell 
their near-worthless "vouchers" to greedy entrepreneurs in 
order to buy loaves of bread at 150 rubles apiece. Not only 
are many Russians trying to get by on incomes of around 
14,000 rubles a month, but reformers are in the process of 
destroying the state grain monopoly, a move which would cut 
agricultural subsidies and could double the price of 
bread.(4) 

The opposition, on the other hand, is composed of a motley 
crew of reactionary nationalists, monarchists, and state 
capitalists (sometimes referred to in the press as 
"communists"). The latter category tends to represent not 
only those who want a return to the system of centralized 
planning, but also those who merely want to stem the tide of 
privatizations so viscously pursued by Yeltsin and his free-
market capitalist cabal.

Alexandr Rutskoi, named president after the parliament 
impeached Yeltsin for annulling the parliament, was co-
chairperson of the Civic Union, a "lobby group for 
industrial managers"(5) for whom liberalization has led to 
serious decreases in industrial output - down 12% from last 
year.

Another group of those opposed to economic liberalization is 
the directors of collective farms, whose subsidies are being 
hacked away by the Yeltsin faction - agricultural production 
has also dropped significantly from last year.(6) So it is 
clear that a major source of opposition to Yeltsin comes 
from a state capitalist bourgeoisie who sees its interests 
tied to the preservation of state subsidies and controlled 
export quotas. These people are not communists simply 
because they support a centralized system of planning for 
state-owned farms and industries. In fact, they represent 
the bourgeois stratum who stand for the preservation of a 
state capitalist system, pioneered in the Krushchev era, of 
economic organization in which the masses have no democratic 
control over production or distribution of the surplus-value 
they produce.

There is little or no "Bolshevism" in the ranks of the 
organized opposition to Yeltsin; genuine Marxist-Leninists 
would not have staged a siege without the support of the 
masses, and would not have attempted to lead the masses with 
such a reactionary political program.

As for "democracy," capitalist democracy means wage slavery 
for those workers not fortunate enough to live in an 
imperialist, First World country. Given that parliamentary 
elections had already been planned for December 12 *before 
Yeltsin annulled the parliament*, it is evident that he was 
pursuing an agenda other than advancing democracy by 
carrying out his September 21 coup.

Western leaders from Bonn to Washington steadfastly backed 
their man in Moscow from the beginning to the end of the 
confrontation, never questioning Yeltsin's tactics. While 
many liberals whined about how a Russian reformer could 
resort to such means, their elected leaders had no such 
doubts.

A state capitalist coup in Russia could mean an end to the 
shopping spree that U.S., European, and Japanese 
multinationals have been on in the former Soviet Union since 
its fall in 1991. So Western leaders' position on 
"democracy" is unambiguous: Yeltsin has been given a green 
light to use whatever means are necessary to guarantee the 
free-marketization of Russia. What was once an abomination - 
moving tanks against political opposition - now becomes a 
wholly acceptable measure when carried out by an unabashed 
capitalist ally of the West. 

Yeltsin carried out his coup in order to force the 
opposition into a position where it was left no option but 
extra-parliamentary action. Having the military and security 
forces on his side, Yeltsin could be sure that he would have 
the capacity to "evict" the opposition from the parliament, 
creating an opportunity to consolidate autocratic power over 
privatization and to dissolve the regional soviets, a large 
percentage of whom were opposed to Yeltsin's coup.

Yeltsin also suspended the Communist Party, by far the 
largest Russian political party(8), which posed the biggest 
threat to the potential of reformers being elected in 
December. The Yeltsin coup has set the stage for a further 
consolidation of free-market capitalist power in Russia.

MIM recognizes that these capitalist factions will only lead 
the Russian masses further into economic misery. The circus 
of competing forms of capitalism has nothing to offer the 
oppressed people of Russian.

Notes:
1. Economist, 10/9/93, p. 53.
2. Ibid., p. 55.
3. Economist, 10/2/93, p. 22.
4. Economist, 10/9/93, p. 55.
5. Ibid., p. 56.
6. Ibid., p. 55.
7. Ibid., p. 54.
8. New York Times, 10/9/93, p. 3.


MIM Notes is not copyrighted.  Please credit MIM when 
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Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. 
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* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD, MEET THE ADDAMS FAMILY:
MONOPOLY CAPITALISM AT ITS BEST

It's bigger than General Motors, more profitable than IBM, 
and more far-reaching than Time Warner. The planned $30 
billion merger of Bell Atlantic Corp. and Tele-
Communications Inc. will create a media colossus that will 
enable the combined firms to more efficiently force 
bourgeois culture down the throats of the Third World while 
shoring up the dominant ideology here at home and raking in 
the profits. And that's just the beginning.

The October 13 announcement by Bell Atlantic, one of the 
Amerika's largest telephone companies, and TCI, the world's 
biggest cable television operator, is one in a string of 
recent merger deals by giant media corporations, driven in 
part by technological advances in the forces of production 
and in part by their need for larger capital reserves to 
draw on for expansion. 

In a world where the production and distribution of books, 
movies, television and newspapers is already dominated by a 
handful of media conglomerates well-skilled in cultural 
imperialism, that may not sound like such a big deal. But 
the continuing concentration of capital into larger and 
larger monopolies works to wipe out innovation, ideas and 
competition.

Before capitalism topples though, Amerika's capitalists are 
planning to build an "information superhighway" with exits 
at each and every home - first in the United States, and 
then the rest of the world. If they have their way, 
Amerikans will in five years or so be able to choose from 
500 channels of television. Not only will they be able to 
passively watch what's on, but they'll be able to order up 
movies or shows they want to see - for a fee. And it's not 
just entertainment and information. Retailers are getting in 
on the deal too: Amerikans will no longer have to go to the 
actual mall - they'll be able to shop by TV. 

One of the key technologies behind the drive for this 
expansion is fiber optic cables, capable of carrying far 
greater amounts of data than the traditional copper wire 
used by phone companies or the coaxial cables used by cable 
firms. Another is the ability to convert video, audio and 
text into digital signals (zeros and ones), which can be 
squeezed together on one end, sent through a cable and 
unsqueezed, with the help of some computer power, on the 
other. 

It's been called a trillion dollar industry. And where are 
those trillion dollars coming from? Well, for all this to 
happen, each home is going to have to have a little computer 
on top of its TV. A huge interlocking network of fiber optic 
cables will connect those computers to huge supercomputers 
which will store various forms of programming and 
information, and supply it on demand. The new information 
infrastructure may be constructed in the United States, but 
its component parts will be built in the Third World. And to 
make it cheap enough for Amerikans to buy them and the 
monopolists to still turn a hefty profit, those workers are 
going to paid sub-subsistence wages.

Perhaps more awesome than the prospect of this bold new way 
to profit off the backs of Third World workers, however, is 
the new potential for cultural brainwashing it offers. While 
the imperialists always like to have mass murder and 
military domination to fall back on, cultural and 
ideological subjugation are often the weapons of choice. New 
cellular and wireless technology which will also be 
incorporated into this so-called highway may make it nearly 
impossible to escape a digitized capitalist culture.

But even as capitalist monopolies position themselves to 
take advantage of the new technological age, revolutionaries 
can do the same. Information can be far more easily 
distributed, and private corporations and the state simply 
cannot control all of it. As Amerikans play interactive 
Jeopardy, we will be sending bit streams of compressed 
revolutionary data across continents. And distributing 
revolutionary information is part of the struggle to raise 
the masses' consciousness to the point where armed struggle 
can begin.

Other recent media mergers and alliances include:

> Viacom Inc. and Paramount Communications. Viacom, the 
Amerika's ninth-largest cable television operator, also owns 
MTV and Nickelodeon. It wants to buy Paramount, best known 
for its movie and television studios, (recent Paramount film 
productions include *The Firm* and *Addams Family Values*) 
to guarantee access to programming to pipe over its cable 
lines. Offering price: $8.2 billion. But QVC Inc., a home 
shopping network, has made a counteroffer of $9.5 billion. 

> AT&T and McCaw Cellular

> Time Warner and U.S. West

To be sure, the media industry is not the only one in 
consolidation mode. In September, France's Renaut and 
Sweden's Volvo announced plans to merge, creating the 
world's sixth-largest car manufacturer. And earlier this 
year, the world's largest drug manufacturer, Merck, bought 
the world's largest drug distributor, Medco for $6 billion. 
California's two biggest banks, Bank of America and Security 
Pacific merged last year.

The concentration of capital is not exactly a new wrinkle in 
the history of the capitalist era. But as Forbes - the 
magazine which proudly calls itself a "capitalist tool'' - 
notes in its 1993 list of Amerika's 400 richest people, 
"[T]he U.S. is now a postindustrial society.... In a 
postindustrial society most people no longer labor in the 
fields or sweat in factories and they have more leisure." 

Most white people don't labor in the fields or sweat in 
factories, anyway. In a decadent white nation full of lazy, 
de-proletarianized white workers with lots of money, time 
and technology on their hands, entertainment is a growing 
way to realize wealth.


MIM Notes is not copyrighted.  Please credit MIM when 
redistributing or referring to this material. 

Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. 
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: 
MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576.
E-mail: mim@blythe.org


* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


REVIEW: REAL BLUES AIN'T LIKE THESE

Bebe Moore Campbell 
Your Blues Ain't Like Mine 
G.P. Putnam's Sons: New York, 1992

by MC12

Here is a novel that gains its power from the assumed 
authenticity of its portrayal, its attention to details of 
daily life, and its supposed basis in historical events. 
Despite writing that is at times powerful and provocative, 
the book is ultimately a fraud, as much for its phony 
depiction of Black helplessness and white helpfulness - as 
for its mistelling of history.

The novel is based on the killing of Emmett Till by white 
supremacists in Mississippi in 1955. The killing is at the 
beginning of the novel, and the rest of the story makes up 
the lives of those involved from 1955 to the present.

The real lynching

The Supreme Court had just released the *Brown v. Board of 
Education* decision that supposedly ended school 
segregation, and the white yahoos of Mississippi were 
pissed. They lynched Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Black man 
from Chicago who was visiting relatives in Mississippi. On a 
dare from friends, he had called a white women in rural 
Mississippi "babe" after bragging about a white girlfriend 
up North. A few days later, he was abducted from his 
family's home, driven around and threatened for hours, 
beaten and finally shot. His body was found several days 
later in a nearby river, a cotton gin fan tied around his 
neck with barbed wire, his testicles cut off, his head 
crushed, and one eye gouged out.(1)

A white man's jury - who in real life (though not in the 
novel) drank beer in the jury box - returned a verdict of 
not guilty against the known perpetrators after an hour's 
deliberation.

Campbell moderates the lynching markedly. Her Till 
("Armstrong Todd") is beaten and then shot right in the yard 
of his relatives. His body is not sexually mutilated or 
dumped in the river; he is not taunted and terrorized for 
hours.

Campbell is intent on humanizing all the players in the 
story, on making them real and likeable. She even paints the 
murderer himself as an emasculated poor white man who really 
only gets dragged into the crime by his goading older 
brother - a brother who has always held his father's 
attention more, who always seemed to do everything right.

While Campbell's murderer is dirt poor and only gets poorer 
after the crime, the real criminal was paid $4,000 by a 
white journalist to tell the true story after the trial, an 
event that doesn't fit into Campbell's scheme of things.

The killer's helpless wife, a crucial martyr in the story, 
is also a kindly and likeable woman, who really wants to be 
friends with Black people. Everything she says and does 
toward them is friendly except that she says "nigger" a lot. 
She is abused by her husband (not unlikely) and eventually 
moves in with her daughter, who by the 1980s is an 
integrationist labor activist.

In this depiction, the only benefit gained by white women 
from lynching and white supremacy is a fleeting sense of 
importance that is quickly dwarfed by guilt and humiliation. 
In words right out of a women's studies textbook, the white 
women in this story wake up and realize that white men don't 
lynch for them, but for themselves. This is to make clear 
that white women are really in the same boat as Blacks, and 
just need to get over some cultural barriers before getting 
down to some serious integration.

In real life, however, white women gain a whole system of 
privilege by virtue of their position on the elevated end of 
white-supremacist chivalry - even as they remain subordinate 
to the white men who wield the whips.

Perhaps worse, however, is Campbell's transformation of 
Blacks into emotion-dominated victims incapable of rational 
collective action. Local Blacks and national organizations, 
and even family members, militantly fought the Till lynching 
and others like it. Till's cousin's grandmother put her body 
between the lynch mob and the young man, before she was 
knocked out by a shotgun butt - an incident that also 
doesn't make it into the book. Because rather than take 
advantage of that militant history to turn the novel into an 
inspiring tribute to their heroic efforts, Campbell writes 
it out of the story to create needy and self-absorbed 
Blacks.

Till's mother, Mamie Till, fought to have an open-casket 
funeral for her son, so his mutilated body would be a signal 
to the world. In the novel, she sneaks his body out of town 
under cover of night.

Mamie Till spent several years touring and speaking on her 
son's death. In the book she becomes a recluse who devotes 
herself more than anything else to replacing her son. The 
most public thing she does is show up at memorials for her 
son and cry.

Black effort betrayed

In 1955, Medgar Evers of the NAACP and other anti-lynching 
activists dressed as sharecroppers to talk to local Blacks 
and collect evidence to be used at a trial, at great 
personal risk. They also worked to drum up support from the 
Black press to get the case publicized.

But in the novel a single white journalist, who happens to 
be the son of a rich plantation owner, takes it on himself 
to call the New York press and convince them to send 
reporters, which sparks nationwide press attention. 

The kind-hearted liberal goes on to spend thousands of 
dollars helping local Blacks over the rest of his life, and 
even runs a small school out of his office. The white 
journalist who in real life paid the murderers $4,000 for 
their story somehow doesn't make it into the novel.

In the end, Campbell's Blacks emerge as weak and 
disorganized, incapable of escaping personal angst and their 
own rage in the face of overwhelming oppression.

Campbell is too concerned about bringing the Blacks and 
whites in the story back together to pay attention to the 
historical imperatives of the period and the events she 
treats. Historical fiction can be a great tool for changing 
reality. But in this case readers who want to learn from 
history would be better advised to read factual accounts and 
devote their imaginations - and their efforts - to making a 
better future more reality than fiction.

Notes:

1. This account of the killing is from Henry Hampton and 
Steve Fayer, eds., *Voices of Freedom: An Oral History of 
the Civil Rights Movement from the 1950s through the 1980s*. 
New York: Bantam 1990. pp. 1-15. And from Aldon Morris, *The 
Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities 
Organizing for Change*. New York: Free Press 1984. p. 
29.From the electronic frontier:



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Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. 
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: 
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E-mail: mim@blythe.org


* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


REVIEW: DEMOLITION MAN All restaurants are Taco Hell

by MC11

Let's get the obvious out of the way first: Demolition Man 
is a racist, sexist, first-world chauvinist film with no 
decent fight scenes or car chases to redeem it.

It glorifies individualism (white cop hero Sylvester 
Stallone disobeys orders to destroy arch-Black criminal 
Wesley Snipes, and the underground revolutionary of the 21st 
century "just wants to drink some beer" in a world where 
alcohol has been banned). It ignores fundamental economic 
realities and it mocks serious social problems. 

It is, however, pretty amusing, in part because the future 
dystopia it portrays is clearly a monopoly capitalist- 
dominated one: life sucks, but at least the new-agey 
imperialists are blamed for it, as opposed to a socialist 
state. 

Our favorite line: On being told they are being taken out to 
a fancy dinner at Taco Bell, Stallone looks incredulously at 
his female partner. "They won the franchise wars of the late 
20th century," she shrugs. "Now all restaurants are Taco 
Bell." 

The film begins in present-day Los Angeles, where Wesley 
Snipes and friends have closed off South-Central to everyone 
except a few fascist agents of the state. Recognition of the 
Black nation's declaration of self-determination not being 
high on Stallone's list, he comes to blow Snipes away but 
ends up destroying a bunch of innocent civilians. The two of 
them are put in cryo-prison, frozen until they reemerge 
several decades later to a city that has apparently solved 
all its social problems.

Cops don't use guns. People are fined for saying "fuck." 
Everyone lives in racial harmony and smiles a lot, and the 
message is: life is really sterile and boring. It is a 
satire of the "politically correct" ethos so in vogue among 
the U.S. left, where the idea is that education and law 
enforcement can get rid of class, nation and gender 
conflicts without addressing their material roots. So we 
like that.

But there are problems with the premise. For one thing, it 
doesn't give any indication of how such total elimination of 
conflict was achieved. The only "resistance" is a bunch of 
underground frat boys who want to eat junk food and drink 
beer if whenever they feel like it. You don't see it, but 
all the Leninists in the audience could tell they were 
brutally exploiting Third World workers off screen in order 
to pay for the acquiescence of South-Central. 

The other problem is the moral of the story. Ultimately the 
film sees repression of true human instincts as the root of 
its world's problems: use of force is banned, so is sex, 
which the audience is supposed to find horrifying. Stallone 
and Snipes shake up the 21st century to the point where its 
PC rules are abolished, and the message is, returning to the 
wars of the 20th is preferable, because that's really what 
human nature is all about. 

But while MIM agrees that the contradictions between 
nations, classes and genders won't be resolved through fines 
and education, we don't believe people naturally tend toward 
conflict. Under capitalism, yes, but not as some sort of 
biological thing. 

Also, the end, in which the white cop finally gets his 
revenge against Snipes, sucked. MIM says, don't go see 
Demolition Man. Free South-Central instead.


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* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


WHY THEY'RE CALLED REVISIONISTS

"The existence of Jiang Qing, who was [Mao Zedong's] last 
wife and one of the leaders of the Cultural Revolution, is 
not recorded at all in the Mao museum [in Shaoshan, China] 
... The only mention of the Cultural Revolution is a small 
excerpt from the party's 1980 evaluation of Mao, stating 
that 'he made a bad mistake in the Cultural Revolution.'"

- MC49

Notes: Boston Globe 5/11/93, p. 10.


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* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


PSEUDO-FEMINISTS POLICE CAMPUS BEDROOMS

Antioch College recently enacted an "ask-first" sexual-
assault policy which requires that students who initiate sex 
must first get the verbal consent of their partners. 
Students charged with assault under the new policy could be 
expelled.(1)

The Antioch policy was initiated by students and developed 
with their input - but that didn't spare it from the 
paternalism and liberalism so prevalent in these policies.

Campus pseudo-feminism, which helped to create the Antioch 
policy, is part of a reactionary element of the student 
movement which struggles to strengthen the socially coercive 
role of college and university administrations. While MIM 
wholeheartedly supports explicit communication between 
sexual partners, we do not support campus administrators, 
police, or other representatives of capitalist patriarchy 
facilitating that communication.

When a group called Womyn of Antioch initially protested a 
lack of policies regarding date rape, Antioch students 
submitted a proposal which made no distinction between 
sexual assault and unwanted touching. That policy mandated 
expulsion as the only penalty. The accused would not be 
allowed representation before the hearing board and the 
accuser would be referred to as the "survivor."(1)

Such a policy is indicative of the ideology which teaches 
women to expand their fear of men to the point where a tap 
becomes a mortal wound. It teaches women that they are 
powerless and need to be protected. MIM would rather have 
women realistically assess men's power and confidently build 
their own.

Only one complaint was filed under the original policy; and 
the charges were dropped as the circumstances were not 
deemed worthy of expulsion. This led students and 
administrators to create the new policy, which allows for a 
range of penalties and involves the accused in the hearing 
process.(1)

When MIM asked about punishment under this new policy, a 
student from the community council said that it was "up to 
the individual" complainant to decide which punishment to 
pursue under the policy (or under civic law).

According to Callie Cary, executive assistant to the to the 
president of Antioch, "the main goal of this [new] policy is 
to open up communication between people and to avoid 
potentially dangerous situations."(2) The policy states that 
since people have different ideas about what having sex 
entails, "verbal consent should be obtained with every new 
level of physical and/or sexual contact/conduct."(2) The 
policy also states that consent given under duress or under 
the influence of alcohol or drugs "may not be 
meaningful."(2)

But that is the extent of the policy's recognition that 
"consent" is related to the context in which it is given. 
MIM realizes that as long as men and women are unequal 
economically, militarily, and politically, real consent is 
impossible.

Furthermore, under capitalist patriarchy sexual desire - and 
therefore consent - is based on the eroticization of 
domination and submission. Not only does the Antioch policy 
rely on campus administrators for enforcement, it regulates 
the process of individual sexual relations without 
challenging the substance of sex under patriarchy.

Notes: 
1. New York Times, 9/22/93, p A1. 
2. The Michigan Daily, 9/23/93, p.1.


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* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


POWEL, KOON, SENT TO "CLUB FED"

It took a massive rebellion and a second trial to convict 
two pigs for "violating Rodney King's civil rights." But 
what did you expect these guys to get from a pig system? 
Punishment? Re-education?

Later for those lies. Before they can cash in on their new-
found fame, Laurence M. Powell and Stacey C. Koon are 
getting a 30-month vacation at "Club Fed" - the Federal 
Prison Camp at Dublin, California, "a prison without walls, 
fences, bars, gun towers or guns."(1)

Without walls or fences! At Dublin, "escapees are called 
walkaways"! This, in the same state which is building "Death 
Fences." Death Fences are designed to electrocute - to kill 
- escapees from the more typical facilities - those which 
warehouse and torture prisoners who don't have the kind of 
legal help or pig status which lands you in Dublin.(2)

Koon and Powell are in good company. They follow in the 
footsteps of white-collar criminal Michael Milken, who spent 
a two-year vacation at Dublin before getting a job teaching 
business at UCLA.(3)

Unlike some federal prison camps, Dublin has no tennis 
courts. 

But Koon and Powell probably will be too busy to play 
tennis, because they will be renting videos, gardening, 
dining at the salad bar, and using the wooden desks, sand 
volleyball court, weightlifting area and asphalt running 
track.(1)

MIM hopes they choke on their salad.

- MC49

Notes:
1. Los Angeles Times 10/13/93, p. B1, B4.
2. LAT 10/27/93, p. A1, A15.
3. LAT 10/13/93, p. A1; LAT 10/8/93, p. A1, A17


MIM Notes is not copyrighted.  Please credit MIM when 
redistributing or referring to this material. 

Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. 
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: 
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E-mail: mim@blythe.org


* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


LETTERS TO MIM

Reader digs MIM, disses Klinton

Dear MIM,

I would really appreciate your sending me some descriptive 
literature issued by the Maoist Internationalist Movement. 
I'm hoping to attend the film showing ... next Wednesday. I 
saw a handbill tacked up on a bulletin board ... and jotted 
down date, time, and place. I have however, to try to cancel 
previous plans for that evening but I'm hoping it will work 
out. Isn't it amazing how many otherwise intelligent people 
dig the new President? The world is falling apart and he 
lazes about the sunny cape with a gang of super wealthy 
princes and princesses. Send what you can and I'll be back 
in touch just in case I can't make it a week from today.

- A new friend in the east 

September 1993


MIM, MLP disagree on white working class

Dear Sir/Madam,

Received your letter ...

We are proudly a part of the LA Supporters Marxist-Leninist 
Party USA (MLP-USA). Of course, in spite of our many 
differences, especially concerning the potential of the 
united and integrated U.S. working class and a serious 
political-organizational orientation to its struggles 
against capital, we think knowledge of other political 
trends around and in the peoples' struggles is important. 
Therefore we would kindly request an exchange by mail on a 
regular basis of our respective newspapers.

We enclose some of our recent theoretical journals which may 
help to delineate our differences, especially on the nature 
of the U.S. working class and reasons for the collapse of 
the old "communist" movements.

Please let us know if an exchange by mail is agreeable to 
you.

Sincerely,

- A supporter of the MLP-USA

September 1993

MIM responds: MIM has received your letter and enclosures 
dated 9/20/93. MIM agrees with your statement that there are 
many differences between MIM and the MLP-USA, including the 
question of the non- revolutionary nature of the North 
Amerikan white working-class. MIM does not believe in 
organizing the white working-class as a class, because MIM 
believes that the white working-class' relationship to 
capital is mainly alliance, not struggle.

MIM agrees that it is important to study other political 
trends on the left. In that spirit, we distribute "What's 
Your Line?" ($1) "What's Your Line?" is MIM's analysis of 
all other communist trends - Hoxhaites, Trotskyists, 
Stalinists, Maoists, armchair lefties and more - in the 
United States from an Amerikan Maoist perspective.

MIM accepts your offer to exchange newspapers. You have been 
placed on our permanent-subscriber mailing list, and will 
soon be sent the October 1993 issue of MIM Notes.

Thank you for writing.


Who knows what evil lurks in the tone of MIM?

The Shadow knows!

Issue #28 (Dec 92/May 93) of The Shadow, a left-leaning 
anarchist newspaper, ran the following review of MIM Notes. 
The footnotes refer to MIM's responses, which follow.

MIM Notes - "The official Newsletter of the Maoist 
Internationalist Movement."

Well, it looks like the good old Revolutionary Communist 
Party has got some competition as America's foremost 
fanatical(1) Maoist sect.(2) Not nearly as slick(3) but even 
more fanatical(1) than the RCP, the MIM is so obsessed(4) 
with ultra-militant pretensions(3) that their contributors 
write under pseudonyms like "MC12" and "MC86,"(5) conveying 
the impression of a hardened cadre(6) (shades of Pol Pot's 
"Brother Number One")(7) White boy revolutionary 
wannabees(8) with a neurotic(4) need to be guilt- tripped 
(9) by shrill rhetoric with all the subtlety of a 
sledgehammer(3) should really get off on this one. Strictly 
for masochists.(9) Subs $12/year, from POB 3576, Ann Arbor, 
MI 48106-3576(10)

MC49 replies: 

1. "Fanatical" is in the eye of the beholder. The lack of 
substance in the critic's review of MIM Notes makes it tough 
to tell what the critic means by this remark. Presumably 
s/he sees MIM as fanatical because MIM forthrightly states 
that the only way to end all oppression is by building 
public opinion to seize power through armed struggle. MIM's 
critic at The Shadow should ask him/herself why s/he is 
choosing to disparage MIM and the RCP as "fanatical" when 
there are so many other worthy targets, such as the millions 
of Amerikans who supported the war against Iraq. His/her use 
of the term reflects psychology of the sort that the 
bourgeoisie uses to forcibly institutionalize 
revolutionaries.

2. MIM observes that the critic's review of MIM Notes is a 
public attack on MIM by someone who didn't bother to argue 
with MIM first. What could be more sectarian than that?

3. Ah, but is MIM's political line correct? MIM's critic has 
much to say about MIM Notes' form, but little to say about 
its content.

4. Bourgeois psychology, again.

5. MIM notes that The Shadow's staff box contains many 
pseudonyms, too. MIM believes that numbers are the best way 
to make MIM Comrades (MCs) and MIM associates (MAs) 
accountable to the masses without aiding the state 
surveillance and repression that has historically been 
directed at communist parties and anti-imperialist movements 
working for revolution.

6. MIM cadres' political line is "harder" than the mushy 
politics of our various critics. Right in the "What is MIM?" 
on page two of every issue, MIM Notes says where MIM cadres 
stand on the most important issues of today. Where does 
MIM's mushy critic stand on these questions? 

7. MIM's critic reveals his/her class standpoint with this 
statement. Clearly s/he assumes that all readers will be 
horrified by the mere mention of Pol Pot's name. See MIM 
Notes #41 for MIM's refutation of the myths about Pol Pot 
that MIM's critic assumes are universally believed facts. 
(Available from MIM for $2 cash or check made out to "ABS.")

8. Shadow readers? (Seriously, anarchism, like Trotskyism, 
has a disproportionate influence in First World nations 
where bourgeois ideology has the most influence.)

9. Perhaps MIM Notes' consistent exposure of the 
relationship between U.S. imperialism and the privilege 
enjoyed by the North Amerikan white nation has left MIM's 
critic feeling guilty? If so, s/he should work with MIM 
against imperialism, instead of either wallowing in his/her 
own guilt or walking away from it.

10. Where's the beef?

The Shadow is available for $1/copy bulk rate or $2/copy 
first class from Shadow Press, P.O. Box 20298, New York, NY 
10009. They prefer cash, but also accept checks made out to 
"Shadow Press."


Orwellian support?

To all at MIM:

Although I have often found MIM Notes rather too doctrinaire 
for my tastes, I appreciated very much your reply in the 
most recent Letters to the person who thought that movie 
reviews had no place in a revolutionary zine [see MIM Notes 
81 -ed].

I was reminded of George Orwell's response to someone who 
criticized him during his literary editorship of Tribune for 
including book reviews, sometimes of books by Tories. He 
replied that, a) socialists actually need leisure activities 
too; and, b) we can learn from many different places things 
that will help our struggle.

Cheers.

- electronic reader

MC12 responds: We were glad to have the chance to stick up 
for revolutionary treatment of popular and mass culture. It 
is indeed a deep reservoir that contains a complex blend of 
noxious poisons and atomized nutrients.

We always welcome comments and are glad to respond to them. 
It's too bad that you find the newspaper too doctrinaire:

"doc-tri-naire, n.: 1.) a person who tries to apply some 
doctrine or theory without sufficient regard for practical 
considerations; an impractical theorist. adj: 2) dogmatic 
about one's ideas; fanatical: a doctrinaire preacher; 3) 
merely theoretical; impractical."

We hope we are none of these things, though it is 
understandable that at times we give that appearance. 
Probably most frequently we are guilty of (2), or appear so, 
as we do not always have time or resources to explain 
everything behind what we assert. And, because we understand 
that waffling and indecision means more people die while 
ideas remain just ideas, we always put forward the best 
position we can come up with on an important issue, and do 
it aggressively, testing it and learning from the effects 
and responses it provokes. This makes us appear arrogant, 
and we accept that charge: the tasks before us are so urgent 
that we prefer arrogance to timidity.

We hope we are never guilty of (1), as we always do our best 
to take into account the practical considerations of what we 
do and what we advocate. For example, that is why we argue 
strenuously against focoist armed actions that are dramatic 
but achieve nothing except increased repression.

If you find us guilty of this or other errors, please write 
to us and struggle with us.

More importantly, keep things straight. If you like what we 
mean, and don't like the way we say it, that means you 
should be helping to get out what we mean while struggling 
with us over the way we say it. What is more important?

Why not submit culture reviews of your own? Movie, music and 
book reviews are always good bets. That way you can advance 
revolutionary politics while struggling over style directly, 
and leading by example.


Send Internet mail to MIM at: mim@blythe.org

MIM Notes is distributed on the Internet by the New York 
Transfer News Collective. New York Transfer offers a 
complete alternative news service from progressive 
organizations, anarchists and other anti-imperialist 
movements. Subscriptions are $125/year, $70/half-year, 
$40/3-months. For more information write to nyt@blythe.org

 - - - - -

Corrections

MIM Notes 80 misstated the number of abstentions in the 
Peruvian Congress's vote to widen the application of the 
death penalty. The correct vote was 55 to 21, with 1 
abstention.


MIM Notes is not copyrighted.  Please credit MIM when 
redistributing or referring to this material. 

Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. 
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: 
MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576.
E-mail: mim@blythe.org


* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


MIM DISTRIBUTOR HARASSED; ACCUSED OF SAME

LOS ANGELES CITY COLLEGE, Sept. 15, 1993 - A MIM Notes 
distributor was forced to relocate today, exposing Amerikan 
"free speech" for the lie that it is. The distributor had 
been handing out copies of MIM Notes, asking for donations 
and discussing revolutionary politics with people who 
expressed an interest, but was forced to stop when s/he saw 
a cop approaching.

The MIM Notes distributor had learned through experience 
what to do when cops or campus security officers approach: 
leave. The distributor tucked the handful of MIM Notes under 
an arm and started walking briskly away. Sometimes, this 
response to impending repression succeeds in defusing the 
situation. Today, the distributor was not so lucky. The cop, 
an L.A. City College officer, eyed the distributor and gave 
chase.

"What are you doing?!" shouted the cop.

"Taking a walk," the MIM Notes distributor replied.

The cop got more specific, asking the distributor what kind 
of newspaper s/he was handing out, what his/her name is 
(first and last) and where s/he lives. Here, the distributor 
was caught between the rock of giving this personal 
information to the LAPD's notorious Red Squad and the hard 
place of giving false information to the cops.

The cop told the MIM Notes distributor that he was there in 
response to a phone call accusing the distributor of 
"harassment." The distributor denied the charge and asked 
exactly what kind of harassment s/he had been accused of. 
The cop did not have an answer. The distributor further 
stated that far from harassing people, s/he had been very 
polite, saying "thank you" to everyone, whether they 
accepted the paper or not. 

The MIM Notes Distributor does not know who phoned in the 
false charge. After all, nobody accused the distributor of 
harassment to his/her face. This episode serves to show just 
who gets to control "free speech."


MIM Notes is not copyrighted.  Please credit MIM when 
redistributing or referring to this material. 

Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. 
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: 
MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576.
E-mail: mim@blythe.org


* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


COMMUNIQUE FROM MIPS ZINE

Announcing the birth of MIPS ZINE (Maoist Internationalist 
Poetry Society Magazine) in celebration of the 100th 
anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong (a great poet).


Send in your poetry, raps, rants and raves
MIPS ZINE is storming the "Home of the Knave."
Television culture and textbook pretty
No longer need to rule in our cities.
Amerikan kulture is a dead old thing;
Let the revolution inspire us to sing!
From the project to the classroom to the prison cell
Lets bury bourgeois art in a rhythm hell.
Let the voice of fury ring.
Let the sound of rebel music swell.
Let the light of love shine in - 
And people's anthems proclaim freedom loud - 
Until all Art Pig power is felled
By the raging MIPS ZINE crowd.
Did the local art pigs break your heart?
Fight back! Use MIPS as a tactic.
MIPS ZINE accepts photos, graphics,
and all forms of people's art.
Art is a weapon in the war 
Against imperialist decay.
Post this flier. Get out the word.

Send in your ammo today: 
MIPS ZINE
P.O. Box 3576
Ann Arbor, MI 48106-3576


MIM Notes is not copyrighted.  Please credit MIM when 
redistributing or referring to this material. 

Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. 
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: 
MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576.
E-mail: mim@blythe.org


* * * *  The Maoist Internationalist Movement  * * * *

          -   MIM Notes 82, November 1993   - 


WINNABLE BATTLES

Things too normal in the White Nation
It's a fucking abomination
Things ain't going ka-blow, ka-blam,
Bam-bam-bambam-ba-bam-bam-bam
Things is quiet - too quiet
Makes me wanna start
A fucking riot
But I know we'd be fools to try it
'Til we know we can finish what we start
"Dare to struggle, dare to win!"
To forget about winning is a terrible sin
I'd have some fun in "Days of Rage,"
But I'd rather push for victory in a future age
So for now I'll bone up on some rational knowledge
Things are too quiet in college.

- MC49


MIM Notes is not copyrighted.  Please credit MIM when 
redistributing or referring to this material. 

Subscriptions are $12/year (12 issues), U.S. mail or e-mail. 
Send only cash, stamps or check made out to "ABS." Write: 
MIM Distributors, PO Box 3576, Ann Arbor MI 48106-3576.
E-mail: mim@blythe.org


         The Maoist Internationalist Movement

           - MIM Notes 82, November 1993 -

                  UNDER LOCK & KEY

PRISONER PREPARES TO USE MIM THEORY AS AN ORGANIZING TOOL

Dear MIM,

I have received my books that you sent me and I must say I'm 
very impressed. Not taking anything away from the MIM Notes 
I receive, but it must be said that MIM Theory offers a more 
clear-cut vision on the issues. I haven't had a chance to 
study true Maoism, but now I've got the tools so that I can 
be a teacher and a student at the same time. And hopefully, 
we can explain this movement throughout the Illinois prison 
system. There are a few MCs down here with me. But until 
now, I didn't have the proper tools to teach or open study 
groups. Now I have the tools. So look for progress in 
membership and in mass from now on. I leave as I come in 
struggle.

 - an Illinois prisoner, 8/19/93

FLOOD + SADISTIC WARDEN = FECAL SOUP

The conditions at Menard Correctional Center in Illinois are 
becoming unlivable. Because of the Mississippi river 
flooding and the sadistic warden here, we have been on a 
lockdown since July 18th. We have no electricity in the 
cells and only emergency lighting in the gallery. There is 
no running water in the cells and only recently were we 
given water to flush the toilets. We are given potable water 
for drinking and personal use in 1/2 pint milk containers 
and only with meals. We have not had showers in several 
weeks, not had any clean clothing or bedding in a month...

There is raw sewage on the floor of the South cell house. 
The sewage is ankle deep and is littered with hundreds of 
food trays that have been impossible to eat off of because 
of the stench of rotting food, unwashed humanity and feces. 
The food preparation area is on the second floor, directly 
above and in the same flyway as this ankle-deep fecal soup. 
Flies are swarming in the cell house and contaminating the 
food we are given to eat because they were drawn here by the 
fecal soup and the promise of life. By the time you receive 
this letter, many people will have become violently ill and 
ignored by the Menard health care joke. It smells so bad in 
here that the Certified Medical Technicians (CMTs) won't 
come in.

Other prisons affected by the flood have transferred all the 
inmates to other facilities. The warden was given ample 
opportunity to transport all of us to higher ground. He had 
several weeks notice to do this and chose instead to build a 
Jzzlevee around our water pump...

 - an Illinois prisoner, 8/10/93, writing for the September 
1993 issue of the Coalition for Prisoners' Rights 
Newsletter. The Coalition for Prisoners Rights can be 
reached at P.O. Box 1911, Santa Fe, NM 87504-1911.

EXCERPTS FROM A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT FILED ON BEHALF OF 
PELICAN BAY STATE (CA) PRISONERS

...XXXXX is a prisoner currently assigned to the Security 
Housing Unit ("SHU") of Pelican Bay State Prison. He has 
been beaten and hog-tied on several occasions by guards in 
the unit. He has been informed by Pelican Bay officials 
that, based in part on the allegations of unidentified 
individuals, he is believed to be affiliated with a prison 
gang and will only leave the SHU if he agrees to "snitch," 
(i.e., inform against other prisoners.) If XXXXX does not 
inform, Pelican Bay officials have told him he will only 
leave SHU if he paroles or dies....

Plaintiff YYYYY is presently housed in the SHU at Pelican 
Bay State Prison. YYYYY is deaf and Pelican Bay officials 
refuse to provide him with batteries for his hearing aid. 
Pelican Bay guards have brutally attacked YYYYY on at least 
two occasions for his failure to respond to orders that he 
could not hear.... 

While at Pelican Bay, ZZZZZ complained to several M[edical] 
T[echnical] A[ssistant]s on different occasions of abdominal 
pain. On the first occasion, after taking his temperature 
and blood pressure, the MTA declined to recommend ZZZZZ for 
a doctor's visit or to provide further treatment. Several 
days later, ZZZZZ reacted in great pain. The MTA informed 
ZZZZZ that he had a spastic colon. The MTA put ZZZZZ on a 
list to see the doctor, and provided no treatment....

When ZZZZZ had not seen a doctor after several days, he 
submitted a new request to see a physician, marked "urgent," 
which described his pain as extreme. ZZZZZ's cellmate also 
informed the MTAs that ZZZZZ was suffering from fever and 
delirium, could not eat or sleep, and was in deep pain. 
ZZZZZ, however, was not permitted to see a doctor until he 
induced vomiting and "faked" a seizure. The MTA who 
responded to this incident took ZZZZZ's temperature and 
called a doctor. After examining ZZZZZ, the doctor then 
directed that ZZZZZ be taken to Sutter Coast Hospital....

Physicians at Sutter Coast performed emergency surgery and 
discovered that Mr. Hughes' appendix had burst several days 
before and that he was suffering from gangrene resulting 
from the burst appendix. The Sutter Coast physicians 
informed ZZZZZ that he was "lucky to be alive."...

Guards routinely assault prisoners using excessive 
force....This excessive use of force includes the use of 
taser guns, rubber bullets, wooden blocks or bullets, gas 
guns and baton sticks. In addition, prisoners are frequently 
hog-tied for extended periods of time. When an individual 
prisoner is hog-tied, he cannot feed himself or use the 
toilet....

When a prisoner is alleged to have declined a direct order 
from a guard, Pelican Bay guards frequently summon a "cell 
extraction" team to respond to the prisoner's alleged 
refusal to obey the direct order.

Typically, a team of six to eight guards and officers, 
dressed in riot gear, "rush" the prisoner, entering his cell 
armed with electric tasers, guns which fire gas pellets, 
rubber or wooden bullets and batons. The guards often carry 
riot shields and wear face visors. Because of the riot gear, 
guard faces and name tags are not visible to prisoners. The 
guards attact the prisoner using these weapons, and kick and 
punch him as well.

When the prisoner is subdued, guards frequently "hog- tie" 
the prisoner. The guards usually continue to assault, beat 
and/or kick the prisoner after he is subdued and hog- tied. 
They then leave him, often on the cell floor, for hours at a 
time. Alternatively, guards, after a prisoner is "hog-tied," 
heave the prisoner onto a gurney which they ram into a wall. 
Sometimes, after guards have subdued a prisoner, they 
removed him from his cell to an area of the prison where 
other prisoners cannot hear the assault, and continue to 
attack him there.

For the guards, the "cell extractions" have a sadistic 
quality. One guard, for example, wears a visor with the 
slogan "make my day" printed on the front. Sergeant Boyll, 
similarly, taunts prisoners in her charge, indicating that 
she would welcome the opportunity to cell extract a 
prisoner....

In January 1991, a guard on a late night shift harassed 
Hispanic prisoners, swearing at them and making grossly 
racist comments about them. In the morning, the prisoners 
refused to return trays until they could speak to a 
lieutenant to protest this behavior. The prison responded by 
"cell extracting," cell by cell, approximately 20 prisoners. 
Even prisoners who were willing to return trays were cell 
extracted. The guards left prisoners hog-tied on the walkway 
outside their cells for approximately eight hours, during 
which time MTAs routinely refused prisoners' requests for 
meaningful medical attention. The prisoners were then moved 
to different cells which had no soap, toilet paper or other 
basic amenities. The prisoners were dressed solely in their 
underwear. The guards removed the prisoners who objected to 
the lack of basic necessities to the V[iolence] C[ontrol] 
U[nit (a 40-50 cell subsection of SHU)]....

ELMIRA CORRECTIONAL FACILITY CENSORS HALF OF MIM NOTES

Dear Sir/Madam,

Enclosed please find a Xerox copy of a notice from the 
"Media Review Committee" here at Elmira Correctional 
Facility. 

Presently, I am waiting to receive the leftover portion of 
the August issue from the Chairperson (Larry Woodward), 
whatever is left of it for me to read, since they decided 
that some of the articles advocated lawlessness and 
rebellion against government authority. As you can see, when 
it comes to New York State Prisons, write-ups hurt them real 
hard. I'm sending you this copy for your files. Past issues 
such as May, June and July I have received with no problem 
at all. Please continue to send me MIM Notes. I will keep 
you informed of any new developments.

Thank you.

 - a New York prisoner

DISPOSITION NOTICE

ELMIRA CORRECTIONAL FACILITY

MEDIA REVIEW COMMITTEE

INMATE NAME: XXX

NUMBER: XXX

CELL LOCATION: XXX

The publication: MIMS NOTES (sic) AUGUST 1993 NO. 79 has 
been reviewed by the Facility Media Review Committee and the 
following portions: PAGES 3, 9 AND 11 have been found 
unacceptable for the following reasons: SEVERAL ARTICLES 
ADVOCATE LAWLESSNESS AND REBELLION AGAINST GOVERNMENT 
AUTHORITY....

INDIANA PRISONER NEEDS THE PEOPLE'S SUPPORT AGAINST COLONIAL 
INJUSTICE!!

XXXX is incarcerated at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan 
City. XXXX is a young man, 30 years old, from a working-
class Black family. XXXX is serving a 142-year sentence as a 
result of his participation in the February 1, 1985 prison 
rebellion at the Indiana State Reformatory. In the 
rebellion, seven correctional guards were stabbed and four 
other guards taken hostage for a period of 16 hours. The 
rebellion was in direct response to the racist and 
unprovoked beating of a Black prisoner while handcuffed and 
shackled by white guards, during a shakedown of the Maximum 
Restraint Unit. These beatings had become an established 
pattern among the guards. 

Out of the more than 300 prisoners who participated in some 
form in the rebellion, only six including XXXX (all Black) 
were hand-picked and charged on various counts. The counts 
included battery, attempted murder, confinement and rioting. 
Before the rebellion occured, XXXX had only a few more 
months to serve.

In April 1987, XXXX was tried and convicted by an all- white 
jury on two counts of attempted murder, four counts of 
confinement and one count of rioting. XXXX was given the 
maximum sentence for each of these, culminating in 142 
years. The trial took place within the same jurisdiction as 
the Reformatory. The case was tried in a vacuum in which the 
jury was deliberately prevented from viewing all of the 
evidence by court intervention.

XXXX raised self-defense and defense of a third person 
(Lincoln Love, the prisoner who was severely beaten that 
morning). There was extensive evidence to verify this claim, 
crucially from one of the guards who was stabbed and from 
other State witnesses. In his deposition, Richardson (a 
white guard) describes in great detail the events that led 
to the rebellion. 

Richardson spoke of a pseudo-Ku Klux Klan organization 
entitled the "Sons of Light" among correctional officials 
that systematically beat Black prisoners, and the climate of 
the terror within the Reformatory. Such racism and brutality 
were sanctioned at the highest level: Richardson states, 
"Then you have somebody like Captain Sands. Our children 
used to be babysitted by him and played with his Klan robe. 
He carries a card. He's involved in it. That's the Captain 
which is over all the Captains of the Institution."

The evidence Richardson provided regarding the beating that 
morning and the internal terror network were declared by the 
Court to be irrelevant and collateral to the charges XXXX 
was facing. Thus, the evidence was excluded.

There are many conflicting scenarios surrounding the case of 
XXXX on behalf of the Indiana judicial system. We are 
fighting back and need your support to help assure this 
brother's freedom from such grotesque injustice.

Under the National People's Democratic Uhuru Movement 
(NPDUM) [affiliated with the African People's Socialist 
Party - MC49] we have created a XXXX Defense Fund (XDF). We 
are seeking the help of people who support democracy, 
freedom and

self-determination. We cannot allow this or any injustices 
to continue among our people. Whether your contribution is 
time, participation or monetary patronage, it is welcomed 
and appreciated. For additional information on the case or 
to see how you can be involved, please contact Aziza 
Trotter, coordinator of the XDF at 317-685-8758, P.O. Box 
441761, Indianapolis, IN 46244-1761. You may also contact 
the NPDUM, P.O. Box 368255, Chicago, IL 60636, 312-924-7072.

UHURU (FREEDOM)

Send letters of support for XXXX to MIM Distributors, 4521 
Campus Dr. #535, Irvine, CA 92715. They will be forwarded to 
XXXX.

DISTRAUGHT? DISTURBED? SUICIDAL? TRY ON SOME SOOTHING LEG 
IRONS!

It appears that super-maximum security prisons are actually 
psychological experimental wards. Those housed in them are 
involuntarily used as subjects. For example, here where I 
am, there's a so-called Isolation Room known as the Pink 
Room. This is where our keepers supposedly place prisoners 
who become distraught, extremely disturbed or suicidal. This 
room is entirely pink inside and has absolutely nothing else 
in it with the exception of a hole in the center of the 
floor that serves as a toilet. An all-pink cell is supposed 
to have some sort of psychological effect on the person in 
it.

Contrast this to the room itself, which is filthy with feces 
and urine caked on the edges of the toilet, dried blood and 
food particles. Not to mention the freezing temperatures and 
the fact that you are fully restrained with leg irons, 
waist-chains and handcuffs. Men are supposed to be left like 
this for 12 to 24 hours, but I along with many others have 
been left in this state of haplessness and despair for 
upwards of four to five days.

In addition to this, all cells here are equipped with 
intercom systems with which our movements about the cells as 
well as our conversations are covertly monitored.

 - a Maryland prisoner

KNOWLEDGE IS POWER, SO PRISONS PUSH FAIRY TALES

On your question about supplying material to the prison 
library: 

Well, this new prison Maximum Control Complex (MCC) is an 
isolated one without any means of me and my fellow prisoners 
socializing face to face. We are kept confined to a cell 23 
hours every day. The only means for me and my comrades to 
hold discussions openly over the Range is through the side 
of a cell door. This prison doesn't have an apppropriate 
library for leisure reading. The guards do come around with 
a book cart, but it doesn't have anything on it that's worth 
reading except some fairy tale books. The conscious brothers 
here have tried to get together and donate some books to the 
cart worth reading; books that deal with the truth and 
reality. But the administration takes the books and throws 
them away...

 - an Indiana prisoner

BLACK AUGUST COMMEMORATED IN INDIANA

I would like to open this letter with revolutionary love, 
with a clenched-fist salute.

This past weekend (August 21-23, 1993) we all, inside as 
well as outside, came together to show our solidarity and 
love for two fallen soldiers, Comrades George and Jonathon 
Jackson.

The way this was organized was a definite step towards how 
to organize ourselves, to come together as one for a 
positive cause. We abstained from food, recreation and 
talking - some for one day, others two or three days; the 
point is that we all came together to show our love for 
comrades, as well as to strengthen our discipline, our 
growth and our development.

I personally thought this was good for all of us, to study, 
read and write without a lot of distractions, or just think 
about one's position inside this genocidal chamber and 
inside imperialist Amerikkka.

So to all my sisters, brothers and comrades, I salute you 
all...

Free the Mind

Free the Land

Uhuru Sasa

 - an Indiana prisoner

PUBLISH AND PERISH

There is a saying among prison journalists: "Publish and 
perish." Those of us who strive to write honestly about 
prison life do so at great risk. Our efforts are with more 
danger and peril than any we faced during our previous lives 
of crime. 

I say this as someone who knows. During the last two years I 
have been in and out of the hole and moved around the prison 
system more times than I care to recount. It is a price that 
I have been willing to pay to create a meaningful voice for 
prisoners. But it is not a price everyone is willing to pay. 
Fear of retribution has all but silenced the prison 
population in Massachusetts. 

First Amendment protection behind bars is not a guarantee, 
but a gamble. But it is a gamble that prisoners must be 
willing to take. If the First Amendment really embodies that 
most cherished of principles, free speech, then it will 
apply to everyone and especially to those who are most 
vulnerable to force and intimidation. We must challenge the 
courts to defend the principles of free speech and ensure 
its integrity even within the prisons. 

Odyssey's premise is that we first must discover how to 
communicate with one another. Odyssey is becoming a meeting 
place for the free exchange of ideas about criminal justice. 
By publishing innovative research and creative articles by 
prisoners, correctional officials, legislators, victims of 
crime, and others who have a substantial influence on 
criminal policy.

Odyssey promotes a dialogue that could lead to greater 
understanding of crime and punishment in our society. But we 
quickly learned that nothing is more dangerous than 
advocating a conversation based on reconciliation within 
criminal justice system sustained by adversarial 
relationships. It is ironic that when prisoners act 
responsibly and seek to build bridges of reconciliation to 
the community, our efforts are thwarted.

The Weld [death penalty] plan is not new. It is simply 
state-sanctioned violence pursued in the name of justice. 
The governor merely wants to exchange one form of domination 
based on force for another. Thus, Weld's "solution" to crime 
only perpetuates the very problem it seeks to abolish. 
Bluntly stated, for those now in power, violence and murder 
(capital punishment) are acceptable methods of conflict 
resolution. They constitute a double-standard that 
undermines our faith in the idea of "justice for all." 

If the governor is truly concerned about stopping violence 
and crime, he should begin by at least listening to those he 
regards as "the problem." He may not agree with what we have 
to say, but he may eventually see that his policies foster 
only a seige mentality.

 - a Massachusetts prisoner

PRISONER APPRECIATES MIM NOTES' LACK OF SELF-RESTRAINT

Dear Sir (sic):

I have been incarcerated eight years and for the first time 
during this period I have come across something that is 
(??nboth intellectually stimulating and worth reading that 
has not been censored, or how should we put it, ITAL watered 
down END ITAL by the editors (besides a few books, 
magazines, and newspapers by certain organizations, people, 
and penal institutions.)

I would like to receive more of your publications and 
literature so I can enlighten the brothers in the Michigan 
Penal System on not just our struggle but other peoples' 
struggle around the world as well. I feel we brothers in 
these Michigan Concentration Camps have something to say, 
but have nobody to tell except ourselves, relatives, and 
close friends that will listen.

So in closing, I would like to say we should enjoy the 
opportunity to express ourselves through your newspaper or 
any other publication that will allow us (without being 
censored.) Also to thank you for being one of the few that 
are not afraid of using your Constitutional right of ITAL 
freedom of speech END ITAL...

Power to the People.

 - a Michigan prisoner, 7/15/93

MC49 replies:

The funny thing about the "Constitutional right of freedom 
of speech" is that those who are not afraid of using it 
quickly learn what MIM knows: that there are no rights, only 
power struggles. MIM Notes is often censored by prison 
authorities, and sometimes by university authorities as 
well.


"FROM A GENOCIDAL CHAMBER:" NOW I KNOW

De hood I live 
From de first step 
I took! 
I learn to fight or flight

In this hood 
Of pimps 'n' wimps 
I learned one definitely fact! 
That is when 
Johnny Law came around 
Everybody always 
Ran for cover

I asked myself 
What's going on! 
That I should Flee 
From Johnny Law 
(But) 
Stand my ground 
Fighting to de end 
My brothas whom looks 
Just like me

I asked this sista 
Whom lives in de hood 
For Quite some time 
What's going on with that!

She told of a story 
Now 500 years old 
Of Challenging your Brothas 
(But) 
Never ever de beast 
To that I asked her 
What!

All she said was five more words 
"Capitalist system that's de beast" 
Then she walked away

It took some time 
But now I know 
I'm reeducated 
With a new mentality 
That sista sure gave me focus

I will not! 
Hide in a pickle barrel 
I will not! 
Hide at all 
Beast get off 
Our necks!

This rage I had 
Was once 
Misguided 
Striking out 
At my own 
(Now) 
Beast get off 
Our necks...

 - by an Indiana prisoner




FROM A GENOCIDAL CHAMBER - POEMS BY AN INDIANA PRISONER:

WORDS

De words we use 
Are not new 
These words were used 
Hundreds of years before 
Generations to generations 
It's sometimes hard 
I'm quite sure 
To understand so many words 
With de right directions 
Studies 'n' discipline 
You will find these words' 
Truth to be true

From de fruits of our labor 
More than four hundred years 
Sunrise to sunset 
We gave our best 
Neglecting ourselves 
To please de ruling class 
If only for a while

With de cries for freedom 
Ringing across the land 
Befalling deaf ears 
Here, here today 
Over four hundred years 
De call is still sounding 
As our sisters 'n' brothers 
Struggle to be free

Here in our supposed modern times 
Abuse is at de forefront 
Of our everyday lives 
While de physical apparatus is long gone 
Now in place 
Something more destructive

A people held hostage 
Believing it's equality 
While thinking of themselves 
Not of de whole 
Like sisters 'n' brothers 
Some years ago 
That died for us 
In hopes of a better day 
Thinking just for us

We're in this together 
You, me, de people down de block 
We can make a difference 
For generations to generations 
Isn't that what 
It's all about? 
De struggle for freedom 
For all human forms...


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