## ## ### ## ## # # ### ### ### ### # # # # # # # ## # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # ## ### # # # # # # ## # # # # # # # ### # # # # ### # ### ### THE MAOIST INTERNATIONALIST MOVEMENT MIM Notes 101 June 1995 Electronic Edition * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Get MIM Notes 101 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 the changing face of imperialism, from debates over how to reshape Amerikan foreign policy to the Contract with Amerika. Plus analysis of the post-Oklahoma- City-crackdown, the expansion of the FBI, immigrant abuse, culture reviews and much more. International news from China, Kampuchea, East Timor, Azania, Palestine and more. Also MIM's monthly news 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. Support it, struggle with it and write for it. IN THIS ISSUE: 1. CLINTON'S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR ATTACKED 2. STUDENTS RALLY AGAINST 187, WILSON, & WELD 3. COLLEGIAN'S "JOURNALISM" IGNORES PROTEST 4. THE CHANGING FACE OF U.S. IMPERIALISM 5. BLACK HOLE OF "AID" TO THE THIRD WORLD 6. AMERIKANS PROTEST THE CONTRACT WITH AMERICA 7. LETTERS TO MIM 8. NEW FILM REMEMBERS YOUNG LORDS PARTY 9. IMMIGRANT ALERT: MORE CRACKDOWN, AGAIN 10. CRACK-DOWN'S VICTIMS GET LONGER SENTENCES 11. OKLAHOMA BOMBING BRINGS INCREASED REPRESSION 12. L.A. REBELLION GOT MORE NEWS COVERAGE 13. FBI CONTINUES EXPANSION 14. MILITIAS WORK IN THEIR OWN INTERESTS 15. POLICE ATTACKS AGAINST BLACKS, LATINOS 16. UNPEACEKEEPERS IN KAMPUCHEA 17. INDONESIAN FASCISM 18. GOLD IS DEADLY 19. LAND MINES CONTINUE TO KILL IN KURDISTAN, ETC. 20. SNAIL FEVER RAGES IN CHINA 21. 268 MILLION JOBLESS IN CHINA 22. UCLA GRADUATE STUDENTS WANT MORE PIE 23. ISRAEL'S AMERIKAN BOON 24. ONE (BLOOD-STAINED) HAND WASHES THE OTHER 25. REVIEW: ONCE WERE WARRIORS 26. REVIEW: MORE FEROCIOUS THAN A PAPER PANTHER 27. UNDER LOCK & KEY CLINTON'S NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR ATTACKED by MIM and RAIL Amherst, MA, May 9 - RAIL, MIM and two University of Massachusetts student groups, the Alliance for Student Power (ASP) and the Haitian Students Association held a teach-in entitled "Anthony Lake, U.S. Imperialism and the University." W. Anthony Lake is a local professor on leave as National Security Advisor to President Clinton, and has been selected as the UMass Commencement (graduation) speaker for late May. RAIL organized the teach-in to expose Lake's role as a top leader in the U.S. military machine, and to use concrete examples from U.S. foreign policy to mobilize students against imperialism and Amerika itself. RECENT CIA HISTORY, LAKE'S RESPONSIBILITY The organizing groups gave seven short presentations. MIM started the teach-in with a short presentation on Lake's duties in the Clinton Administration, and Lake's specific contributions to U.S. foreign policy. As National Security Advisor, Lake is responsible for the CIA and the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and is one of President Clinton's top advisors. MIM pointed out that Lake has bragged about the U.S. bringing democracy to Haiti and Guatemala, and other speakers took Lake to task on this point. MIM argued that the Clinton Administration likes to portray itself as humanitarian, but it admits that its "humanity" comes at the expense of Third World peoples. Lake declares that foreign policy will determine "whether Americans' real incomes double every 26 years, as they did in 1960s, or every 36 years, as they did during the late '70s and '80s."(1) A member of the Haitian Students Association spoke on the history of Haiti up to 1990, and a RAIL member, using back-issues of MIM Notes as a source, detailed the U.S. role in Haiti since 1990. Another RAIL member explained how "humanitarian" aid is a form of imperialism through the hegemonic control of agriculture to serve First World interests. A third RAIL member gave a presentation about the Vietnam War and Lake's role first as a vice consul to South Vietnam and then as special assistant to the president for national security affairs. A member of the Alliance for Student Power gave two talks. The first was about the U.S. role destabilizing the Guatemalan government in 1954 and the links to the more recent CIA role in Guatemala. His second talk exposed the ideological and material connections between the government, big business and the University and the significance of Lake's selection as commencement speaker. He reported that at an earlier RAIL meeting, we decided not to demand that the University rescind the invitation to Lake. We decided that Lake was an appropriate choice for a pro-imperialist University in Amerikkka. Rather than opposing just Lake or his selection, we need to oppose the government and the University itself. Lake's selection, he continued, was a brilliant symbol of the revolving door between the military-industrial complex and its educational wing. RIGHT-WING LIBERALS PROTEST HISTORY The two right-wing students led a Liberal attack on both the organizers and the event itself after this last lecture - having already interrupted the Vietnam presentation. They first posed "left" by pretending to support the organizers' opposition to U.S. imperialism and the CIA, while criticizing us for not focusing on Lake enough. Later they switched, and said that we couldn't criticize Lake at all, since we didn't know what Lake's personal position was on each issue, and whether or not he truly ordered X CIA execution, or knew about Y slimy dealings. One Liberal was a German student who had been a student of Lake's. The other Liberal was a Haitian student who was also the scheduled Commencement speaker. The German student argued that we couldn't hold Lake responsible for the institutions he's in charge of, and that we couldn't know his motivations. He attacked the event's organizers for discussing U.S. actions prior to Clinton's rise to power; arguing that this history was irrelevant. Perhaps, he argued, Lake was going to try and reform the CIA. FAKING LEFT FOR COMPRADOR STATUS The Haitian Commencement speaker was opportunist. First he attacked MIM for ignoring the fact that Haitians have continued to die under U.S. military occupation; and then criticized the organizers for pimping off of dead Haitians to build our organizations. His first claim was a lie. The student has been made aware of the articles in the November and December 1994 MIM Notes exposing the U.S. role in working with the right-wing death squads against the people, and the RAIL presentation was clear on this point. The second charge is answered most clearly by looking at the Haitian student's own practice of faking "left." He recognizes the U.S. oppression of his country, while using his Haitian origin and a shared stage with a chief orchestrator of Haiti's subjugation as a launching pad for his personal agenda. This student represents the right wing of the national bourgeoisie: some anti-imperialist sentiments, but eagerly looking for the conditions to cut a deal with imperialism and head for comprador status. The Haitian student hypocritically argued that "credit must be given where credit is due" and we must acknowledge the progress, however limited, of the Clinton administration over that of former-President Bush. He also argued that organizers should use "caution" in criticizing Lake as part of the government and instead should look more at the individual. Both the German and Haitian students represented Liberal ideology well. When it comes to judging bourgeois society, they are willing to make countless excuses. They can invent fantasies, as the German student did, about Lake reforming the CIA, and then criticize MIM for "not having done enough research." When criticizing revolutionaries, they present a double standard, opposing Mao because of the actions of anti-Maoists before and after Mao's death. Maoists want to hold people accountable for both the good and the bad of their actions, not just one aspect. The Liberals might claim otherwise, but in practice they only want more imperialism. Notes: 1. W. Anthony Lake, Remarks at Johns Hopkins University 9/21/93, p. 3. * * * STUDENTS RALLY AGAINST 187, WILSON, & WELD Boston - On May 14 about 100 people formed a picket line outside the Four Seasons Hotel to protest a fundraiser organized by Massachusetts Governor William Weld for California Governor Pete Wilson. Chauffeured Mercedes brought leading pigs at $1000 a plate to the "gala" event. Outside, protesters chanted: "Hey hey ho ho Governor Wilson has got to go" and "Racist, sexist, anti-gay; Right-wing bigots go away!" and "We didn't land on Plymouth Rock; Plymouth Rock landed on us." Several speakers addressed the crowd. Some talked about the importance of voting out racists from office and the need for "inter-racial" unity to combat Proposition 187. One of the organizers of the event, a Latina from Mt. Holyoke College, told Gov. Wilson to watch out for 2007 - the year when people of color will outnumber whites in California. Several Latinos told stories of family members working in factories and fields for $2 an hour. "We maintain the system, we deserve schooling, medicine, everything." The demonstration was initiated by Students from Smith, Mt. Holyoke and UMass Amherst who are making a documentary about Proposition 187. One of the organizers was upset at the ISO, who turned out in full color at the rally, for taking credit for organizing the event. By trying to register demonstrators as members of the ISO, they succeeded in watering down the anti-racist message of the rally and turned it into a membership drive. The organizer felt that the ISO was able to overwhelm what was intended as a non-sectarian grassroots student demonstration because so many students didn't come to the event because they were still busy with finals or else had already gone home. A high point of the demonstration occurred when two hotel managers wheeled a cart of lemonade out to the protesters and explained that the Four Seasons was "pleased to have them." The crowd responded with a spontaneous cheer: "We have brains, We can think, We don't want your stinking drink!" - member of the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League MIM adds: MIM does not have a problem with members of organizations showing up at events and attempting to interest people in their politics, but those organizations should not attempt to take over the events. It is good to broaden the issues addressed by a rally so that people can see connections with other issues, if they are interested. However, the ISO has a history of bad practice at some events and MIM can't speak to their practice at this specific event. MIM would also object to any organizers who think they are doing their event good by keeping out people who politely distribute political literature and talk to whoever is interested. * * * COLLEGIAN'S "JOURNALISM" IGNORES PROTEST by the Maoist Internationalist Movement (MIM) and the Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League (RAIL) RAIL's petition condemning the selection of Anthony Lake as Commencement speaker (see page 3) was submitted to and rejected by the University of Massachusetts student paper, the Massachusetts Daily Collegian. According to the editors, our organizing was "news" so they were going to write a story about us, and not print the petition. Not our first choice, but Ok. During an interview, News Editor Jessica Taverna asked a lot of unnecessary questions such as our student status, the number of people in RAIL and MIM, etc. MIM is an underground organization and we don't answer questions that are only useful to the cops. It's irrelevant whether Taverna herself is an active agent of the state, since they no doubt exist among her readers. We explained that the purpose of the petition was two- fold: first, it was a concrete way to engage the masses in struggle over the Lake question, and it would serve (we hoped) to guarantee that the statement would be printed by the campus media. We explained that for security reasons, we didn't encourage people to sign neatly, list phone numbers or addresses, or indicate student status. We had 91 signatures and guessed that most of the signatures were from students. A little while later Taverna told us the story was canceled. She had called the administration to check our names and student status and since only one of the sources was "reputable" the planned protest at Commencement was only a "rumor". MIM and RAIL couldn't be quoted, because anything we said wouldn't be credible and people would "think it was coming out of my [Taverna's] ass." The Collegian's "principles" having nothing to do with credibility at all, but rather they follow the censorship-bound, boot-licking principles of administration-cowed student journalism. The Collegian brags that it is independent of the University, but they let the administration set their principles - and a universal rule of University administrations is to discredit political debate by non-students. (And cowed the Collegian is. The Administration's newspaper, the Campus Chronicle, didn't print the petition either, but they did write a short story about it.) According to this "logic", we are only credible if we can prove our identities. Regardless of whether something is true or not, as long as you know the identity of the person who said it, then it is true. Even real bourgeois journalists have ways of dealing with anonymous or half-identified sources. The New York Times frequently says, "Said, so and so, who only identified herself as 'Jane.'" They also ran the letter by the UNABOMBER, without a clue to whom s/he is. The bourgeois media regularly quotes "unnamed officials" in the government, helping them leak information (sometimes accurate, sometimes not) without being held individually accountable. The Collegian's notion of "credibility" is limiting in countless ways, not the least of which was keeping this important story from Collegian readers. If we had told Taverna our student status, or that RAIL and MIM had half a million members, we might have been believed. But we declined to answer some questions, so therefore we don't exist. Progressives on the Collegian staff and on the staffs of student newspapers around the country should drop reactionary journalism and work for MIM Notes, Maoist Sojourner, and the Mass Rail (the newsletter of the Massachusetts Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League). * * * THE CHANGING FACE OF U.S. IMPERIALISM In mid May the House International Relations Committee voted to support a bill that would consolidate the Agency for International Development (USAID), into the State Department along with several other agencies as a part of a Republican move to cut or abolish USAID. USAID is one of the agencies that the United States uses to create dependency in foreign countries and gain their allegiance to Amerikan foreign policy. As J. Brian Atwood, USAID administrator said in a January 17 plea to keep USAID autonomous, "We have led the world in providing technical assistance to create free economic systems, private sectors and new markets."(1) In other words, USAID gives money to other countries so that they will follow the political system that the US supports and will open their doors to Amerikan corporations seeking new ways to make greater profits. In the 1994 fiscal year USAID spent $2.1 billion on "development assistance" to foreign countries.(2) The current debate among the different shades of reactionaries is between the fiscal conservatives who want to save the money spent by USAID and instead let the free market reign in international relations, and the internationalists who want to take the straight forward route to imperialist domination by buying the allegiance of foreign governments and markets directly. In this case, it is the internationalist-minded who are more dangerous to the international proletariat. The less money spent by the imperialists on international intervention of any kind, the easier the task of revolution becomes as reactionary governments weaken. But in the case of this debate, the alternative to a separate and independent USAID will probably not be much different from the status quo. The $20 billion given to international programs by the government makes a good target in the GOP drive to cut "wasteful spending" because cutting domestic programs gets them in trouble with their constituency and many Amerikans believe that we give away too much money as it is. In a New York Times poll (which generally reaches the voting population), 75% of the people said the U.S. spends too much on foreign aid.(3) The reality of international politics will leave the Republicans pushing imperialist domination on the Third World countries in one way or another. Even if a bill passes Congress that cuts international aid, no one is suggesting that aid be cut from Israel or Egypt (strategically important countries that the U.S. controls). And less money for some projects does not mean cuts in the military or the CIA which can be used to impose or depose a government favorable to imperialism. Notes: 1. International Development Conference speech, 1/17/95. 2. Executive Memorandum, The Heritage Foundation, 1/27/95. 3. New York Times 4/30/95. * * * BLACK HOLE OF "AID" TO THE THIRD WORLD MIM reported last month that the United States does not give anywhere near as much foreign aid as the settler masses assume, but we still have the question of where the money does go. Reports from the World Social Summit in Copenhagen stated that "developing countries" got $1.4 trillion in aid over the past 35 years - and have very little to show for it. By looking at where the money went, we can understand the falsity of imperialist "generosity." The reason that the aid money does more harm than good is that most of it does not land in the hands of Third World people. A study in Bangladesh, for example, revealed that 75% of the aid it has received in its 25 years of independence have gone to experts, consultants, and equipment from the donor countries. Other countries' statistics are even higher. According to Western Samoa's UN ambassador, "Well over 90% of this money was spent on foreign consultants who go to the developing countries in the name of national capacity building." World Bank officials and others are always eager to impose strict controls on how much money Third World countries use for services for their people, implying that health and so on are what should be sacrificed in the interests of "development." First World nations have pledged to increase their aid to the Third World to 0.7% of their Gross National Product. If that increase actually happens it will mean greater oppression for the people and greater decadence for the parasites who feed upon them. Note: Pacific Islands Monthly 5/95, p. 21. * * * AMERIKANS PROTEST THE CONTRACT WITH AMERICA by MC17 College students across Amerika have responded to the "Republican Contract with America" and the conservative proposals in Congress this year with a lot of protests. Cuts in welfare, tax cuts that favor the wealthiest, anti-immigrant legislation, cuts in education programs, and cuts in programs that provide children with health care and nutrition have all angered protesters. While MIM believes that all people should have equal access to health care, food, shelter, education and all other necessities, much of the anti-Contract agenda is not progressive. The biggest problem with this movement is its pandering to electoral politics. The call for a national day of campus action against the contract concluded by saying: "It will be necessary to use this debate to inform the public about the anti-democratic nature of the Right's agenda - and about the alliance between big business and fundamentalist religious groups working to seize political power." This statement is misleading, suggesting that the only enemy of oppressed people is the Right and the solution is a Democratic majority back in Congress. The reality is that both Democrats and Republicans are imperialists. The difference between the Republicans and the Democrats is often the difference between the color of their coats. While the Republicans target immigrants and social services, the Democrats have gone to great lengths to increase the number of police and prisons. Both groups are working to expand the power and wealth of imperialist Amerika at the expense of the oppressed world-wide. Even many of those who recognize the reactionary nature of the Democrats play into the hands of the imperialists by pretending that if everyone in this country could be as well off as the middle class we would have true equality. This is an insult to the exploited masses of the Third World from whom Amerika extracts its wealth and distributes it to its citizens. The National People's Campaign (NPC), initiated by the Workers World Party (WWP), held protests in many cities across Amerika on May 6, incorrectly encouraging electoral politics at its rallies, ignoring the realities of imperialism and colonialism. While there is nothing wrong with revolutionary parties initiating mass movements, they should do so openly. But Workers World Party's own members often are not up-front within the NPC that they are members of WWP. WWP believes that coalition politics are the best way to get the masses involved in revolutionary politics. "We hope you will find Workers World Party members in every progressive organization and movement across the U.S.," said the managing editor of the WWP newspaper in a recent exchange on the Internet. MIM also believes that vanguard parties should work with progressive organizations, but the party should not liquidate into a coalition with such organizations as WWP advocates; nor should it urge its members to join organizations which champion electoralism and reactionary nationalism. The National People's Campaign statement reads ". only by getting into the streets to show our anger and determination can we really have any political leverage to make the fundamental changes that are necessary." Fundamental changes occur, according to WWP, when the masses are finally "heard" by their elected officials. MIM believes that the real answer to the reactionary politics of the Republicans and Democrats who promote imperialist colonialism in the Third World and inside Amerika's borders is revolution. We can not take the issue of health care for people in Amerika out of the context of the money that is taken from the workers and peasants of the Third World to pay for the construction of the most bloated health care system in the world. We can not take the issue of funding for college education out of the context of the exploitation of the land and resources of Amerika's colonies that pays for these scholarships and buys future imperialists. Opposition to the reactionary nationalism of anti-immigrant legislation should not lead to the reactionary nationalism of white Amerika demanding its share of the superprofits of the world. We need to respond with revolutionary internationalism against the imperialists. * * * LETTERS TO MIM AMERIKKKA: LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT ***The following letter from Chemistry student J.D. Tovar appeared in the 3/13/95 UCLA Daily Bruin. The event discussed was covered in MIM Notes 99, which is available from MIM for $1.*** I would like to address the Maoist Internationalist Movement protesters and their hippie friends who stormed the CIA informational meeting I attended on March 3. First and foremost, by thrusting their ideological beliefs upon those present, they quite possibly took away the many rewarding careers in science and technology available in the CIA from our fellow Bruins. They entered in an extremely immature fashion - by blowing whistles in the speaker's face - and they told us of the atrocities being committed by the CIA in small countries such as El Salvador and Guatemala. My objective here is not to refute those claims since they are most likely true; however, that does not change my interest in the CIA. In fact, I take pride in what they do; namely, in helping to preserve the American way of life. By dealing with foreign militants toting anti- American beliefs, they are protecting the very ideals upon which this country was founded. This may sound harsh or cruel ... that is because it is. Sure, it would be great if we all could live in the happy-go-lucky world the protesters dream of, but that just is not possible. Revolutionaries may be able to change the laws of society, but they cannot change the laws of nature. Maybe our liberal friends have not heard of such terms as survival of the fittest and natural selection, but for millions of years, the strongest individuals are the ones favored to live and reproduce. The weak are preyed upon, killed by their own or left to die. This is a cold, hard fact of nature from which man will never be able to run away. We as Americans should be proud that we are one of the stronger societies on this planet. As an intelligence agency, it is the CIA's job to find out who says or knows what about whom. One such thing they may discover is who is circulating anti- American thoughts (e.g. Libya and Iraq). In other words, our "terrorism" prevents theirs. Accept it or don't, but America is our home and we should be supportive of any efforts to preserve her greatness. If one feels so emotionally for a poor and oppressed third world country, why not relocate there and join a guerrilla movement to help bring down the CIA and America? We sure as hell do not need you here. MIM RESPONDS: J.D. Tovar's letter explicitly accepts the fact that "atrocities [are] being committed by the CIA in small countries such as El Salvador and Guatemala." Despite his/her code words, Tovar upholds genocide: "By dealing with foreign militants toting anti-American beliefs, [the CIA is] protecting the very ideals upon which this country was founded." As Amerikkka was founded on genocide, Tovar's statement rings true. Rather than deny the CIA's bloody legacy, Tovar trots out the tired lie that "the laws of nature," not the laws of patriarchal capitalist imperialism, cause oppression. Like competition, cooperation is a part of human nature. Tovar should put aside his/her Darwin and read Peter Kropotkin's work on the natural phenomenon of "mutual aid." Furthermore, Tovar's "might makes right" argument cuts in more than one direction. Will Tovar still uphold it when the world's oppressed majority exercises its dictatorship over Amerikkka? Tovar asks, "If one feels so emotionally for a poor and oppressed third world country, why not relocate there and join a guerrilla movement to help bring down the CIA and America?" No place is safe from U.S. imperialism. We need not relocate to work for socialist, anti- imperialist revolution. BLESS AJAMU, CURSE THE STATE Dear Friend, I read the story of Ajamu Resnover and I was very disappointed at the U.S. judicial system. I believe they have different laws for different folks. As for the Afro-American the law of the States is an unfriendly law. I will be so pleased if I could get more information about the whole story of Ajamu and other unfortunate people like him. In as much as my soul and heart weep for Ajamu, my soul and heart curse the state that has done this wicked thing to him. God bless Ajamu and may his soul rest in perfect peace. I want you to know he's not the only person in this - we all - the black brothers and sisters are all facing the same problem all together. Long live the spirit of the black man. Yours in everything, - Black reader in Europe April 1995 WHY SUPPORT THE EZLN? I read your article "Mexico: All Out War Declared On Zapatistas" in the March edition of "MIM Notes." I know that the Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) in no way supports Maoist thought and none of their revolutionary ideology comes from Marx, Lenin, or Stalin. Emiliano Zapata seems to be their teacher if anyone. You being very strict Maoists, who only support other socialist groups if they hold to a similar strict Maoist line, such as Sendero Luminoso, why do you show support for the EZLN in your newsletter? - Internet Reader April 1995 MC12 RESPONDS: MIM supports all outbreaks against imperialism. That means that you will also find support for radical Islamic movements in our pages as well. We believe that Maoist revolutions - national liberation struggles led by a vanguard proletarian party - stand the best chance of defeating imperialism and creating a socialist society in its place. However, we also celebrate the righteous anger against imperialism generated everywhere in its wake, and support movements that stand to weaken imperialism and open up opportunities for revolutionary advance whenever they occur. On the other hand, most reformist struggles within the imperialist system are another story. These, such as the struggles of labor aristocracy unions for better pay, strengthen imperialism rather than weaken it. "RADICALS TOLERATE CLINTON" ***The following was posted on the Internet newsgroup alt.politics.radical-left.*** I browsed through the newsgroup to see how the radical Left views Clinton. I counted less than 5 posts criticizing Clinton from the Left and tons of posts vilifying the Republicans. If Clinton is a centrist as he says he is, why does he seem so tolerated by the radical Left. Some possible answers come to my mind. I as a true right-winger, spent a lot of time criticizing George Bush for raising taxes, the Clean Air Act, the ADA, and increasing the federal deficit. There were, as I recall, plenty of posts heavily attacking Bush in the conservative newsgroups. So what's keeping you guys from at least constructively criticizing this "moderate" Democrat? MIM RESPONDS: MIM does not tolerate Clinton. The *radical* left recognizes that "constructive criticism" of the head-honchos of imperialism is worthless. Bill Clinton is not different in any meaningful way from George Bush, and neither has any interest in the needs of the oppressed. The word radical comes from the word for root, and radicals attack problems at their root. Voting for tweedle-dee or tweedle-dum does not change the rotten root of militarism on a global scale and the oppression of internal nations. Asking tweedle-dee to play nice accomplishes little. The most "constructive" criticism that radicals can make is by building independent power. This comes through a criticism of imperialism, not this or that head of it or this or that policy of it. MIM does expose the reactionary nature of Clinton's government, but not as something peculiar to Clinton, but peculiar to a militarist nation bent on maintaining world hegemony. LAKE CONDEMNED We, the undersigned, strongly condemn the selection of W. Anthony Lake, National Security Advisor to President Clinton as Commencement speaker [at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. See page 4 for more.] Anthony Lake is one of the top leaders of the strongest imperialist country in the world and is responsible for the CIA and Joint Chiefs of Staff. His claim that Amerika has "helped defend democracy in Haiti and Guatemala"(1) requires a response. The only things that Lake has defended in Haiti and Guatemala is the U.S. interest and continued repression for the people. Some facts about the U.S. and Haiti: # Cedras, the leader of the coup against Aristide was on the CIA payroll.(2) # The CIA helped created FRAPH, a right-wing death squad, and put it's leader, Emmanuel Constant, on their payroll.(3) # *Candidate* Clinton called the repatriation of Haitian refugees to face death squads "unconscionable". *President* Clinton flip-flopped and announced that fleeing Haitians would continue to be repatriated; they were "economic refugees" and wouldn't be harmed if returned. By April 1994, at least 5000 of these repatriated "economic refugees" had been killed by FRAPH.(4) # After the coup, the U.S. continued training at least 10 Haitian military leaders at U.S. bases, despite continued official statements to the contrary.(5) # Right after the Amerikan invasion of Haiti, the CIA estimated it would spend $1 million influencing the political process within Haiti.(6) # The purpose of prolonged U.S. occupation was not to protect Aristide but ". to prevent the Haitian population from taking politics into it's own hands and [to] forestall danger of radical mass mobilization", one U.S. intelligence official admitted.(7) U.S. role in Guatemala: The CIA has recently been exposed for killing Guatemalan leftists and then covering it up. The most well known case is that of Efrain Bamaca Velazquez, a guerrilla leader and the husband of U.S. lawyer Jennifer Harbury. Even Representative Torricelli (D-N.J.), has accused the CIA of knowing about this, and covering it up for years.(8) So when Lake speaks for the Clinton Administration and says "... we do not seek to expand the reach of our institutions by force, subversion or repression"(9), he's lying because reality shows otherwise. Some of these atrocities Lake no doubt chose not to know about. But even he admits "we expect to be held accountable for our policy decisions."(10) We respond: You are being held accountable. - Revolutionary Anti-Imperialist League ***Signed by 91 people.*** Notes: 1. Remarks at Johns Hopkins University 9/21/93, p. 1. 2. NYT 11/14/93, p. A1. 3. Nation 10/24/94. 4. Haiti Communications Project 4/25/94. 5. Boston Globe 12/6/93, p. A1. 6. NYT 10/2/94, sec 4, p. 16. 7. Nation 10/3/94, p. 344. 8. Los Angeles Times 3/23/95, p. A7. 9. Remarks., p. 5. 10. Remarks., p. 15. MIM BIASED ON KURDISTAN ***The following is a response to a MIM Notes 100, May 1995 article on Turkey's invasion of south Kurdistan (northern Iraq) which was also printed in a college newspaper.*** To the editor: I am writing in response to the article entitled "Turkey attacks South Kurdistan" printed on April 25th. The article itself, being the account of an invasion into a nonexistent country, making use of fictitious statistics attributed to blatantly biased sources is beneath reproach. What is a matter of concern is how this mindless drivel found its way onto the pages of the [paper]. Most students on this campus can litle afford the time to read hefty periodicals such as the New York Times on a regular basis. So, between the demands of school and the demands of work they turn to the [paper] to bring them a summary of the global news worth of mention. No doubt they expect the articles they read to be factual. To have printed the above mentioned article was an error in judgment. To have presented it as anything but unsubstantiated opinion exhibits a serious lack of journalistic integrity. Turkey's advances into Iraq are a result of the apparently irreconcilable differences that exist. The goal of said actions is to put an end to the terrorist activities that have claimed countless lives over the past years. As in any military engagement, the loss of some innocent lives, however unfortunate, is unavoidable. Yet the implication that innocent civilians are being intentionally killed is a fallacy and the claim that genocide is the primary objective of Turkey's advance is pure nonsense. In the wake of the occurrence in Oklahoma we have all been exposed to the heinousness of terrorism. Turkey seeks nothing more than to bring an end to the terrorist acts that she has endured over the course of the past decade, and to ensure a peaceful existence for all members of her society, regardless of ethnicity. MIM RESPONDS: We doubt that readers of the New York Times would find much that openly contradicts MIM's article. MIM's article on Turkey's "Operation Rome" [MIM Notes 95, December 1994] used primarily bourgeois sources like Reuters or the AP. These sources described the Turkish military's long-term strategy of combating the PKK by relocating people and burning villages and forests, etc. Members of Turkey's government who denounced the army's large-scale human rights abuses were among those quoted in that article. The sources used in the last article were indeed pro- Kurdish. Good! The New York Times is openly pro-U.S. The U.S wants to polish its image as defender of human rights but at the same time it has to defend its military and economic interests in the area, so it slaps Turkey on the wrist for "excesses." This is all the news the NYT can print. MIM's article described the excesses and explained why the reactionaries were driven to such desperate measures. MIM thanks the college newspaper which printed our article for the service it rendered its readers and the people of Kurdistan. Moreover, we hope people don't just take our word for it - they should study the facts and the history of the problem, and struggle with MIM if they still do not think MIM took the correct progressive stand in the article. That's why MIM includes footnotes with our articles. On the other hand, the NYT and other bourgeois newspapers want readers to accept their authoritative word without question. * * * NEW FILM REMEMBERS YOUNG LORDS PARTY Amherst, MA - On May 13 at the University of Massachusetts, the Puerto Rican students organization, Boricuas Unidos, organized a showing of the first portion of a documentary in progress on the Young Lords Party, called *­Palante, Siempre Palante!* About 40 people turned out to see the video and lecture by filmmaker and former Deputy Minister of Education Iris Morales. Morales is on tour to raise money to finish the documentary. The Young Lords Party (YLP) was a mainland U.S. Puerto Rican Maoist Party in the late 1960s and early 1970s.(1) The documentary is a mixture of recent interviews with ex-Lords, old footage and still photographs. As Morales explained, the history of the YLP has not yet been told, and it's difficult to research because so much has been thrown away or forgotten. The first half of the documentary is almost finished and covers the formation and early struggle of the Young Lords. The second half of the documentary is going to be about the government repression of the Young Lords Party (later the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Organization (PRRWO)). The weakest point in the documentary is its treatment of ideological issues. The video makes some references to the inspiration of Puerto Rican nationalists such as Don Pedro Albizu Campos and the Nationalist Party, but does not mention Maoism or the political context, beyond Puerto Rican nationalism. In response to a question from MIM, Morales said that many people have criticized the video for not discussing the importance of Maoism and the Little Red Book (*Quotations from Chairman Mao*). Morales said that she would add this to the film. Even with this addition, the video will have a way to go in order to adequately capture the revolutionary political line of the YLP. However, MIM celebrates this video and looks forward to its release. Despite its imperfections, the video fills an important void and can only serve to popularize the Young Lords, and hopefully encourage others to pick up where the Young Lords left off. Despite downplaying ideology, *­Palante, Siempre Palante!* added to MIM's understanding of the YLP's development from a street gang to a revolutionary party. The full story of the first YLP action - the Garbage Offensive - provided a basis for this understanding. Soon after the YLP was formed in New York, they realized that they should not just talk about what the people needed, they should go and ask the people. While going door to door in *El Barrio*, the YLP expected to hear that large political questions, such as the role of the police or the Vietnam War were at the fore. But when asked, the masses first demanded that their garbage be gathered from the neighborhood and picked up. So the Young Lords cleaned the streets on successive Sundays and left the garbage in bags for the city to pick up. But for the same racist reasons that the city didn't sweep the streets, they also didn't pick up the bagged trash. So the YLP made picking up the garbage into a political battle with the state. Other "offensives" such as "People's church," an eleven-day occupation of a church that refused to provide space for Serve-the-People programs, (even though it was empty six days a week) made a strong impact on Puerto Ricans in New York and on the video's audience. One member of the audience asked if the Young Lords had a prison program and what it was. Morales answered that they did, and MIM was pleasantly surprised at her explanation that the Young Lords considered all prisoners to be political prisoners, and considered those who were imprisoned for overtly political reasons to be prisoners of war. Morales explicitly did not call for a rebuilding of the Young Lords Party and instead encouraged a more general pro-Puerto Rican reformist approach. This means that instead of making a Maoist revolution, as the YLP was working to do in the 60s and 70s, people should do whatever they want (be doctors, teachers, politicians) in a pro-Puerto Rican way without worrying about revolution. She made a strong call to oppose Puerto Rican "sell-outs" but she didn't discuss the inevitability of more sell-outs if Puerto Ricans remain within a reformist and individualist framework. It was clear from the video and talk that the Party made a number of theoretical and strategic mistakes, which according to Morales, isolated the Party from the people. But Morales tended to blame ideology, and the conceptual approach of Marxism-Leninism in general, for the decline of the YLP. While MIM does not agree with this assessment, we have not studied the issue of 1970s Maoism in the U.S. as closely as we would like.(2) Another disagreement between Morales and MIM is that MIM would not be so quick to judge the YLP's mistakes, particularly the move to close some U.S. offices in order to open offices in Puerto Rico, as the result of police infiltration. Rather, we would criticize the YLP for not having been scientific enough in their application of Maoism to North America. Police repression (and we can assume infiltration) was very real for the YLP, but from what we can see, this did not negatively affect major portions of their line. Some of the YLP's most obvious errors flowed from their incorrect position on the counter-revolutionary nature of the white working class. While it was correct for the YLP to change their position from lumpen-as-vanguard to proletariat-as-vanguard, it was not correct to abandon the ghetto to organize privileged white workers, as Morales says they did. Morales expects the video to be done in about a year. Notes: 1. See "Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Organization: Maoist vanguard paved the way," in MIM Theory 7, available from MIM for $4.95. 2. MIM is researching the theories and history of other U.S. Maoist vanguards. We are particularly looking for documents and former members from I Wor Kuen, Red Guards, Brown Berets, Black Workers Congress and the Puerto Rican Revolutionary Workers Organization. We especially seek documents from the Young Lords Party Congress. * * * IMMIGRANT ALERT: MORE CRACKDOWN, AGAIN In his May 6 radio address, President Clinton promised to increase deportation of immigrants from Mexico. "Right now we're deporting 110 illegal aliens every day. That's almost 40,000 a year. And we're going to do even better," he said. Specifically, Clinton promised to deport any illegal immigrants arrested for anything, whether they are guilty or not. He said: "Every day illegal aliens show up in court who are charged. Some are guilty and, surely, some are innocent. Some go to jail, and some don't. But they are all illegal aliens, and whether they're innocent or guilty of the crime they're charged with in court, they're still here illegally and they should be sent out of the country." That is a green light (as if they needed one) for pigs of all stripes to arrest anyone they think might be an illegal immigrant and drag them down to court on any charge. No matter the merits of the charge, they can still be deported and the pigs win either way. In the process, naturally, lots of immigrants, both legal and illegal, will be harassed and persecuted even more than they are now. Since this land was stolen from native peoples, and the wealth of this country built on the exploitation and oppression of Mexicans and others, MIM thinks the borders should be opened and the imperialists should be deported. - MC12 Note: White House Press Release 5/6/95. * * * CRACK-DOWN'S VICTIMS GET LONGER SENTENCES The U.S. Sentencing Commission reports that the average federal sentence for crack possession was 30.6 months in 1993. The average federal sentence for powder cocaine was 3.2 months. Further, 73.8% of powder possession cases got no prison time, compared to just 32% of crack possession cases. Current federal law requires the same mandatory minimum sentencing for 5 grams of crack as for 500 grams of powder cocaine (five years), and the same mandatory minimum for 50 grams of crack as for 5,000 of powder cocaine (10 years). Punishing crack users more than powder cocaine users satisfies the reactionary anti- crime crowd to the detriment of people busted for crack use, who are more likely to be poor than powder cocaine users. - MC12 Note: The Third Branch 3/95 (Dept. of Justice publication). * * * OKLAHOMA BOMBING BRINGS INCREASED REPRESSION FOR REVOLUTIONARIES by MC17 In the wake of the April bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma we heard cries of "kill those nasty Arabs" because many Amerikans assumed that an act that left so many people dead must be the fault of those "Arab terrorists" we hear so much about in the media. Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, DC said that many Muslims received death threats after the Oklahoma bombing.(1) The Oklahoma City home of Iraqi refugee Saher Al-Saidi, who was seven months pregnant at the time, was attacked by vigilantes the morning after the bombing. As her windows were shattered with stones "she began experiencing abdominal pain and internal bleeding; her baby was stillborn."(2) Arabs and people opposed to white Amerikan chauvinism were relieved to hear that the chase for suspects turned entirely to white men. But with this shift in focus to the militant fascist groups, revolutionaries should not let down their guard. The Democrats and Republicans are now working together to beef up the FBI so that Amerikans can feel safer in this supposedly free country. The Senate has been conducting hearings on increasing the FBI's powers, but the FBI representatives said that they don't think they need expanded powers. They said that all they need are more agents since they currently have the power to infiltrate groups, gather information, and carry out surveillance with only the belief that there might be something worth investigating. The reality is that the FBI can do whatever it wants: tap phones, infiltrate organizations, follow individuals, search buildings, censor mail, and kill. And not only *can* they do all these things, they do: for more information see *Agents of repression: The FBI's secret war against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement* by Ward Churchill and Jim Vanderwall and *Break-ins, death threats and the FBI: The covert war against the Central America movement,* by Ross Gelbspan. In a recent editorial Ross Gelbspan pointed out that the current FBI guidelines "allow the Bureau to infiltrate virtually any group it suspects of potential lawlessness." In addition "it can tap telephones, faxes and computer communications. It may even burglarize homes and offices under specific circumstances which, to this day, remain classified." Information that is now available shows that in the 1980s the FBI conducted investigations of 1,300 groups, mostly those opposed to Reagan's Central America policies, during which the FBI infiltrated groups, wiretapped phones, monitored mail and followed the movements of thousands of activists. As a part of this FBI campaign "the offices of over 200 political groups and churches were burglarized, their membership files and donor lists stolen or copied. Much of that material was subsequently discovered in FBI files."(3) While the FBI is currently making a show of focusing its attention on the fascists, and it is possible that a few of these militant armed groups will be hurt by this attention, the FBI has historically infiltrated fascist groups like the KKK, only to take part in the murder of Blacks, Latinos and other oppressed peoples.(4) Beyond the arrest of a few individuals, it is unlikely that the white supremacists will be bothered because they are usually only a threat to the part of the public that the government does not care to protect: the oppressed nations both inside and outside of this country. An expanded FBI force means expanded power to repress progressive people and groups, specifically targeting revolutionaries, just as it has in the past. As a comrade at New York Transfer News Service said "A new form of McCarthyite thought is being nurtured, and we believe it is extremely dangerous to our basic freedoms in this "democracy" - much more dangerous than a few thousand gun nuts running around in cammies on their weekends." Notes: 1. Detroit Free Press 4/20/95, p. 12A. 2. Valley Advocate, 5/2/95. 3. Boston Globe 5/12/95, p. 21. 4. Agents of Repression, p. 181-182. * * * L.A. REBELLION GOT MORE NEWS COVERAGE Tyndall Weekly, a newsletter that tracks network news coverage, reports that the Oklahoma City bombing was the biggest network news story since the L.A. rebellion in the spring of 1992. The bombing got an average of 17.2 minutes per network per night on the big three network evening news programs for the first three days. That is less than the L.A. rebellion got: 18.6 minutes per network per night. The average top news story gets just 2.4 minutes. So for all the hype, the bombing appears not to have grabbed attention quite as much as the potential uprising of Amerika's captive nations. Maybe it would have gotten more coverage if had been Islamic rebels after all.. Note: Don Fitzpatrick Associates' Shoptalk, 4/26/95. * * * FBI CONTINUES EXPANSION The Amerikan government justifies its expanding military influence by defining national security issues as anything that might disrupt Amerikan economic hegemony. It is nothing new for the Amerikan government to fabricate the need for its military presence in order to protect economic interests, but the further expansion of the FBI in East Central Europe serves to illustrate the method that the U.S. uses to retain control. The Clinton Administration is opening an FBI international police training academy in Budapest. They claim Amerikan "law enforcement is being exported in response to the surge of international terrorism, narcotics trafficking, arms smuggling and the potential theft and sale of nuclear material."(1) In order to do this, the Clinton administration has said that it is redirecting manpower and resources to combat international crimes. Rather than merely "redirecting" resources, they are being increased despite the death of the "Cold War" excuse. The proliferation of Amerikan military installations overseas has given the government the power that it needs to fill the vacuum that the Soviet Union left behind. The FBI school in Budapest is officially set up to train officials in dealing with crimes. The administration has made it out to seem as if these officials do not understand how to be pigs and therefore the US needs to train them. The more striking reason that the US needs to set up training installations is to increase the stability of the countries not yet fully integrated into the Western capitalist economy. Clearly the FBI is in the former Eastern Bloc to make sure that strong comprador relations are built in what Clinton hopes will be America's newest colonies. Note: NYT 4/17/95, p. A1 and A8. * * * MILITIAS WORK IN THEIR OWN INTERESTS The bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma happened last week. I re-read the Jan. MIM Notes article on GATT, and it helped me clarify the political meaning of this event. "The grain of truth in the right-wing conspiracy theories is that the U.S. multi-national corporations that push for 'free trade' make their decisions in closed boardrooms, and the settlers are often left in the dark."(MN, Jan. 1995) I gather that membership in organizations like the Michigan Militia is solidly white, male working class. MIM is right. These goons are fighting for *their* freedom. And their freedom is based on the exploitation of oppressed nations. I've been confused about whether they benefit or not from GATT and NAFTA. Would you agree that they will benefit or not based on how successfully they struggle for "their share of the pie," that is, the new super-profits that GATT and NAFTA allow multinationals to steal from the international proletariat? I agree that MIM and all *real* revolutionaries shouldn't support this struggle. It also should be pointed out that Clinton's righteous indignation about the bombing is so much horse shit. The U.S. government conducts terrorist attacks on other nations all the time. And the majority of the white settler nation always supports these attacks. The 125 people (including children) who died got a taste of what the government they support does to people all over the world. - MAZ10 MC17 adds: This writer is correct that the militias are struggling for their piece of the pie at the expense of the oppressed of the world. Historically, as this country has gotten wealthier, the white working class as a whole has gotten wealthier. So it is likely that some of the greater profits that the Amerikan imperialists generate from GATT and NAFTA will be passed on to the labor aristocracy. An important part of the parasitism of the labor aristocracy is their struggle for a bigger piece of the pie. As this writer suggests, the more they fight for their "right" to a share in the exploitation of the Third World, the more concessions they will get from the imperialists. This is certainly a fight to oppose. Of course, even if we agreed with the political motives of the bombers, MIM does not support any such armed struggle at this time, without clear political purposes and broad support among the oppressed. There is a lot of non-lethal political work to be done in this country before employing the political tools of violence. * * * POLICE ARRESTED FOR ATTACKS AGAINST BLACKS, LATINOS IN NEW YORK "Youth, Cynics and the 48th precinct" reads one headline. "16 Police Officers Are Indicted" reads another, and yet another, "...Brutality in the Bronx." But what is really happening? Do we really know? The headlines tell part of the story. On May 3, 1995, over a dozen police from New York's 48th Precinct were indicted. Charges include corruption, assault, intimidation, menacing, larceny and insurance fraud. Big deal, some would argue, we all know cops are pigs! But the meat of the matter is the types of stuff that these cops are charged with: one person, kicked and beaten by police with their flashlights, was left unconscious, badly bleeding, and charged with stealing a police radio and resisting arrest. A second incident involved a man whose pit bull dog and semiautomatic weapon were stolen by police, and the person, in jail, was terrorized (the cop put a gun in the man's mouth) because the man was possibly going to report incidents of police brutality he had seen in the community.(1) What kind of neighborhoods make up the 48th Precinct? They are poor members of oppressed nations. The population: 107,000, 54% Latino, 42% Black. Unemployment is officially 20% with 42.5% of people receiving public assistance. Less than half the people have received a high school diploma, and the median income is a little over $12,000 a year.(2) People in this area know the deal. Said one teenager, "Sure, I once called 911 when there was some trouble, but what alternative did I have? If I could have called somebody else, *like the Panthers*, I would have."(3) Indictments against police sometimes occur when public sympathy is going strong against the police, to show that the 'system works.' Well, that's bull. The system does not work, and Blacks and Latinos face oppression of untold proportion. We need a mass struggle for freedom and liberation and we need it now! - Blooming Tree Notes: 1. NYT 5/4/95, p. A18. 2. 1990 Census figures. 3. NYT 5/6/95 p. 16, emphasis added. * * * WHAT UNPEACEKEEPERS DID IN KAMPUCHEA (CAMBODIA) The 22,000-strong UN peacekeeping force which left Cambodia in November last year has led to a ten-fold rise in the incidence of HIV infection and a massive increase in prostitution, according to a UN report. During the troops' stay, the prostitute population of Phnom Penh rose from 6,000 to 20,000 in less than a year; and child prostitution rocked as the demand for virgins - considered a low AIDS-risk - increased. The Geneva-based charity, Defense for Children International, reported that soldiers were prepared to pay up to US$700 for virgins; the cost of sex with a non-virgin child prostitute was less than US$15 a visit. UN medical officers recorded more than 3,000 cases of sexually-transmitted diseases among troops, and at least 150 men were diagnosed with HIV. AIDS education and condoms were not issued to the peacekeeping force until months into the mission. Khmer Rouge radio accused the peacekeepers of spreading AIDS throughout the country, claiming the troops had left behind a "parasite to poison the nation." The radio station also encouraged people to throw excrement in the face of UN force chief Yasushi Akashi before his departure. - reprinted from Red Star: Platform for Communist Revolutionaries (organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist/Red Flag)), November 1994. Thaikkattussery PO Thrissur 680 322 Kerala, INDIA * * * EAST TIMOR'S FIGHT FOR NATIONAL LIBERATION PROMPTS INDONESIAN FASCISM On March 10 the editor of Kabar Dari Pijar, Tri Agus Siswomihardjo, became the first in a series of arrests of members of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI). AJI and the publication PIJAR were set up in response to the clampdown on the press in June 1994. After the arrest of Tri Agus, the security forces also raided a nearby office of the Alliance of People's Democracy and confiscated the organization's documents. On March 17, AJI events were raided and five leading journalists critical of the Indonesian government were arrested. Search warrants for the journalists cited Article 154 of the Criminal Code, "insulting the government".(1) Repression increases as liberation struggle gains ground On March 4, 30 people were arrested in Liquisa, a small town on the north coast of East Timor. This followed the announcement by the National Commission for Human Rights that the six people killed by the government on January 12 of this year were civilians. The names of the villagers that were arrested were not released but "It is feared that some may be villagers who agreed to be questioned by the Commission in it search for evidence about the atrocity" on January 12.(2) The catalyst for the January 12 killings was a Timorese guerrilla victory the previous day. In one of the largest battles in years, one soldier was injured and the guerrillas seized the soldier's weapons. The death of one of the Timorese guerrillas was not enough, so troops entered the village of Gariana to find the guerrillas and killed the civilians. Of course the government claims that all those killed were legitimate targets because the civilians support the guerrillas.(3) According to unofficial reports, five army officers have been dismissed because of the killings. TAPOL, a publication of the Indonesian Human Rights Campaign, pointed out that "the armed forces may be compelled to replace officers and discipline others as it did after the Santa Cruz massacre but this would not lead to any improvements. The international community should press for the withdrawal of all military forces from occupied East Timor." GOVERNMENT DEATH SQUADS Another tactic in the Indonesian government's fight against the national liberation movement in East Timor is the use of death squads, known as "ninjas". A member of the parliament admitted that in January the ninjas had killed at least eight pro-independence activists. He also said that about 5,000 farmers had stopped tending their fields due to fear of the ninjas, thus creating more deaths through famine.(4) A Dili politician reported that at least 30 people have "disappeared."(5) On February 9, uniformed troops and ninjas raided the house of a pro-independence activist, demolished the house and those of his neighbors and arrested six young men who have not been heard from since.(6) On February 14, the Indonesian government deployed troops throughout Dili claiming that this was to protect the people from the ninja gangs. Considering the collaboration between the death squads and the government this was most likely a response to the Dili neighborhood setting up its own protection squads.(7) SUPPORT THE JUST STRUGGLE OF THE PEOPLE The struggle for national liberation in East Timor is a just struggle for self-determination against imperialist domination. The growing fascism in Indonesia through the crackdown on the press, the deployment of government troops, and the support of death squads must be exposed. The masses will not stand for further exploitation and their protests are met with intensified repression that must be defeated. The mainstream Amerikan press is silent through all this, taking their cue from the government who is hoping to preserve good relations with the Indonesian government. People who support the right of the East Timorese to self-determination need to spread this information and organize in support of their revolutionary struggle. ***For a very comprehensive description of the tactics used by the Indonesian government to dominate East Timor write: TAPOL-Canada, c/o ETAN-Canada, P.O. Box 562, Station P, Toronto M5S 2T1.*** Notes: 1. TAPOL Bulletin: The Indonesian Human Rights Campaign, No. 128, April 1995, pp. 1 and 17. 2. Ibid, p.4. 3. Ibid, p. 1 and 2. 4. AP 2/6/95. 5. Reuter 6/10/95. 6. CNRM press release 2/9/95. 7. Reuter 2/21/95. * * * GOLD IS DEADLY Injustices in Azanian (South African) gold mines "linger, despite the abolition of apartheid," according to the Chicago Tribune. Those "lingering" injustices brought more than 100 gold mine laborers crashing to their deaths in a May accident. The deaths are part of a proud mining tradition that kills many miners every year. The Tribune says 70,000 have died in accidents in the last 80 years. Since the "end" of apartheid, the composition of the mine workforce, and their conditions, have not improved. At the Vaal Reef mines, Azanian workers get paid as little as $114 a month to work 8-hour days six days per week, with no breaks. That's about $.57 per hour. They are migrants and live 18 to a room in hostels, with one family visit allowed per year. The gold they produce lines the ring fingers of women and men of the rich countries, and the profits they produce line the pockets of the First World and its local hacks. MIM uses Azanian gold miners as an example of class exploitation and national oppression because of the social relations under which the labor is performed and the inequality imposed between rich and poor nations. But we also call this gender oppression, since the biological men who work the mines suffer domination of their sexuality in the segregation from their families. It is also gender oppression of the women who stay home and take care of families with little or no money and who have to work themselves without the help of their husbands. This combined nation, class and gender oppression in turn makes possible the decadent gender relations in the rich countries - of which gold rings are an especially egregious example. - MC12 Note: Chicago Tribune 5/12/95. * * * LAND MINES CONTINUE TO KILL IN IRAQI-OCCUPIED KURDISTAN AND ACROSS THE GLOBE Amerikan "protection" of the Kurds within Northern Iraq is not only meaningless in the wake of Turkish invasion, but it does nothing against a hidden killer: land mines that remain. The section of Kurdistan within Iraqi borders arguably has more land mines per capita than any other nation on earth, with estimates running as high as ten million mines for a population of about five million. Other areas in the globe contending for the top spot are Angola and Afghanistan, which have a mine per person and Kampuchea with two mines per person. A British NGO working in the area has recorded a total of 1400 deaths due to land mines in Southern Kurdistan, but estimate that the death toll is probably twice that. They are worst during the farming months, as Kurds work in their fields amid mines laid by Iraq that the Iraqi military did not bother to record the locations of. Most of the mines in the area were made by Italian companies and sold to Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war, but the US and France are also contributors to the lethal devices. Globally, the deaths due to land mines are increasing. While 800,000 mines were removed in 1994, 2 million new ones were planted. As of January 1995, five hundred persons are killed every week by mines. "Free enterprise" by imperialist manufacturers will not curb their trade; only the end of imperialist militarism will end the genocide. Note: Middle East Report, 4-5/95, p. 13. * * * SNAIL FEVER RAGES IN CHINA It is reported that Snail fever, a disease transmitted by parasites, has reappeared in China. It is spreading rapidly in human beings as well as in animals. The affected areas include provinces like Hupei, Hunan, Anhui, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Sichuan. Already 6 crores [tens of millions] of people are affected. It swells the victim's stomach and harms the liver. It can lead to death. In the pre-revolutionary period, it was one of the curses of China. But through sustained efforts in the 1950s, it was completely eradicated. Not a single case was reported for long. But with the degeneration of China to the capitalist path and market system in the 1980s, it started making a comeback. As even public health departments were run with the profit motive and basic health measures were abandoned as a result of privatization, the disease started spreading fast. Now it has reached alarming proportions. - reprinted from Red Star: Platform for Communist Revolutionaries (organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist/Red Flag)), January 1995. Thaikkattussery PO Thrissur 680 322 Kerala, INDIA * * * 268 MILLION JOBLESS IN CHINA Gone are the days of the 'iron rice-bowl' in China when an employment and all basic amenities were assured to all citizens by a socialist state. The 'porcelain rice- bowl' offered by Deng, though it looks prettier outside, is proved really porous and dirty accumulating social disparity. The "socialist" market economy has started creating extreme capitalist divisions, unemployment and social tensions. The Chinese labor ministry calculated in August that by the turn of this century, 268 million will be jobless in China. Many workers have been effectively laid off. According to Chinese government sources, more than 1000 cases of major labor unrest took place in China in 1993. "The labor markets in the central Chinese city of Chengdu look little better than cattle markets. Apathetic young people lounge behind metal bars, only bothering to get up when local restaurant owners walk up and down the street outside with loudhailers calling for dish washers. "Notices on the wall advertise jobs in hotels for attractive young single women; the exact job specifications are omitted. Girls carrying their school leaving certificates gather around the recruiters...." "Village social order is out of control," said an article in last week's Legal Daily, putting the blame on the hordes of directionless, jobless youths. The People's Daily quoted government sources as warning that "low economic incomes have caused some of the peasantry to lose their psychological balance and slide into crime...." The post-Mao period of 18 years under Deng's capitalist path has virtually reduced China to a neocolony, of course comparatively better off that the other neocolonies thanks to the great achievements in socialist construction during the 27 years under Mao's leadership. - reprinted from Red Star: Platform for Communist Revolutionaries (organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist/Red Flag)), November 1994. Thykkattussery PO Thrissur 680 322 Kerala, INDIA * * * PETIT-BOURGEOIS UCLA GRADUATE STUDENTS WANT BIGGER SHARE OF SUPERPROFITS On April 26 and 27, many UCLA graduate students and other UCLA community members staged a walkout. The short strike was organized by the Student Association of Graduate Students (SAGE), which works with the United Auto Workers union (UAW). SAGE/UAW's goal is to gain recognition from UCLA and to gain a contract. In other words, SAGE wants to position itself to get a larger share of UCLA's pie. But UCLA's pie is stolen - its wages, library collection, manicured lawns and seismic renovation construction all rest on the backs of the toiling peasants and workers of the world's oppressed nations. SAGE/UAW's central slogan: "The university works because we do!" is a lie. The university works because the international proletariat does. * * * ISRAEL'S AMERIKAN BOON MIM has long maintained that the principal problem in Palestine is U.S. imperialism, not Zionist Jewish nationalism. Without the power of U.S. imperialism, Zionism would not have been able to wreak such destruction and oppression. Israel maintains a pivotal role in U.S. imperialism's control over the oil-producing Middle East. This is illustrated by a few recent developments. In May, President Clinton became the first sitting president to address the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). He was joined by leading Republicans Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole. In his speech, Clinton outlined the strategy of U.S. domination of the region, which includes aggression against Iran, Iraq and Libya as the principal targets. The speech followed Clinton's increased sanctions against Iran, supposedly for terrorism but really designed (like the war against Iraq) to prevent the rise of regional powers that could challenge U.S. hegemony. Clinton said: "Our measures to contain these rogue nations are part of a larger effort to combat all those who oppose peace [U.S. hegemony - MC12], because even as we achieve great strides in resolving the age-old conflict between Arabs and Israelis [U.S.-backed Israel crushing Palestinian liberation aspirations - MC12], there remains a struggle between those searching for peace and those determined to deny it." Then, to continuous applause, Clinton rattled off recent arms sales to Israel: F-15-I fighter jets, $350 million to develop the Arrow missile system, a new multiple- launch rocket system, and access to supercomputers and U.S. space launches. Clinton and the major Republicans are singing the same tune on this despite a minority of both parties who oppose foreign aid. (As Clinton pointed out, foreign aid is often a direct subsidy to U.S. corporations anyway.) As an important symbolic act - rubbing Palestinian noses in their defeat at the hands of U.S.-backed Israel - Republican and Democrat members of Congress are backing proposals to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which Israel claims as its capital although it is disputed by Palestinians. The move is meant to bolster the right wing of Israel's political spectrum, and reap campaign money from pro-Israel groups in the 1996 elections. "Israel is on the front line of the battle of freedom and peace, and Israel's strength is backed by America's strength and our global leadership," Clinton said, stressing the need "to prevent the isolationists [those opposing foreign aid - MC12] from risking all that was achieved in the Cold War and its aftermath." What was achieved in the Cold War was the U.S. victory over Soviet social imperialism and the subsequent unimpeded dominance of the Middle East by Amerika. "Its aftermath" is the Gulf War, in which Amerika slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Iraqis to promote this new "peace." Notes: White House Press Release, "Remarks by the President to AIPAC Policy Conference" 5/7/95; "GOP Leaders Offer Bill to Move U.S. Embassy in Israel," New York Times News Service 5/10/95. * * * ONE HAND WASHES THE OTHER (BUT BOTH ARE BLOOD-STAINED) Amerikan companies were delighted to hear: "Israel is expected to sign an agreement with the United States for the purchase of $400 million in weapons systems, HA'ARETZ reported. Funds for purchasing the weapons will come from Washington's annual military aid package to Israel." MIM comments, Isn't the free market great? Besides serving geopolitical interests, foreign military aid is a direct subsidy to some of Amerika's most powerful companies. - MC12 Note: Israel Line 5/3/95 (Israeli Foreign Ministry). * * * REVIEW: ONCE WERE WARRIORS Review by MC17 Made in New Zealand, this movie takes on the topics of domestic violence, gender and nation without falling into the typical pseudo-feminism of First World filmmakers. The story revolves around a family, the mother is Maori (native) and the father seems to be from a different oppressed nation (he refers to himself as "black"). They have five children and as we enter the husband has begun beating his wife. They are facing difficult times economically: the husband was laid off so he is receiving welfare (which he points out is only a few dollars a week less than he made when he was working). The film follows a long struggle between the main character and her husband through which she realizes that he is not going to give up beating her and that his wild and drunken lifestyle is messing up their kids. One kid is taken away to a foster home because his mother can't show up in court to defend the family since she was badly beaten the night before. A daughter (at age 13) is raped by one of the father's friends and she is devastated. After some particularly traumatic and violent family experiences, the woman decides to leave the marriage and take the kids back to her Maori family. Here the question of gender and domestic violence is handled realistically. This woman does have the option of leaving the relationship, as do the majority of women in First World countries. The movie avoids the paternalism of many films of similar topics by making it clear that this woman is strong enough to come up with her own resources and make decisions for herself. It also does not deceive people into thinking that all women who leave violent relationships are in danger for their lives. While this is true for an important minority of these relationships, the number at risk is very small. Dealing with conflicts between oppressed nations, this movie does pretty well. It makes it clear that the intersection between nation and gender oppression is complex. One son finds strength through Maori culture, but at the same time we learn that the husband was never accepted by the woman's family because he was "black" and not good enough for her. This is not dealt with in depth but scratches the surface of both class and nation conflicts within the oppressed nations. * * * REVIEW: MORE FEROCIOUS THAN A PAPER PANTHER; VAN PEEBLES' *PANTHER* PROMOTES THE BPP Melvin and Mario Van Peebles' new film *Panther* is a fine piece of film making. A solid break from mind- numbing irrelevant fluff like the latest Highlander flick (the younger Van Peebles' most recent previous acting effort - pthewy!), *Panther* encourages discussion and debate on the history of the 1960s vanguard, the Black Panther Party (BPP). The early parts of the film appear to be based largely on BPP Chairperson Bobby Seale's history of the BPP, *Seize the Time* - incorporating most of the incidents Seale describes as the Party's formative experiences. It is unfortunate that *Panther* messes with the order in which many of these formative events occurred and relies on dramatic fiction rather than real history through much of the story line. Overall the release of *Panther* is a positive event in Amerikan culture: this movie popularizes the Black Panther Party, the most advanced Maoists in the U.S. in the 1960s. MIM hopes audiences will take this film as encouragement to find out more about the history of the BPP. *Panther* gives audiences some idea of the events and discussions that drove the formation of the BPP, and develops a number of questions that anyone interested in learning from the BPP should ask. *Panther* addresses difficult issues in the BPP's history - although in several important instances it resorts to fictitious representation rather than verifiable fact. The film tackles issues of infiltration, bourgeois pressures on party members, FBI aggression against the Party, the correctness or lack thereof in the BPP's approach to community self-defense and the Party's struggle against cultural nationalism. That struggle against cultural nationalism was made most clear in the scene in which Huey Newton challenged the fake Black Panthers, forcing them to give up the name "panther" and discrediting them in the eyes of the masses by exposing their bad line. This makes the important point that while cultural nationalists are not allies, bourgeois revolutionary nationalists (the Van Peebles) are. The strength of *Panther's* portrayal of the Party's infiltration is its emphasis on how destructive suspicion can be to a party. Some Panthers in this film watch and spy on each other, and get into physical fights over accusations of infiltration. MIM has learned from the BPP's history that infiltration is very difficult to prevent, and reaffirms that protection of the correct line is decisive in a determining a party's course. The most important defense against infiltrators is political education and struggle with all recruits and party members. This way we can be assured that overall the party's line will be correct. The representation of Minister of Information Eldridge Cleaver demonstrates that initiating armed struggle before the party is strong enough and before the state is weak enough is ultraleft, and that Cleaver's anti- ideology line was incorrect. Yet MIM calls the Van Peebles to task for making it look as if Little Bobby Hutton, the first Black Panther martyred in the struggle, was killed in a Panther-initiated "fire-fight" orchestrated by Cleaver. The notion that little Bobby got what Eldridge Cleaver deserved is a dangerous fiction. This portrayal masks the reality of how very little the Panthers did to "provoke" pig attacks. The principal weaknesses of *Panther* stem from the film makers' unwillingness to take responsibility for their own analysis of the history of the BPP. They dodge the issue, saying that their film is only one possible interpretation of that history, and is based on a novel, not on research. It is true in the strictest sense that it is possible and necessary to interpret history. Yet much of the Van Peebles' representation replaces provable fact with fiction. And as all materialists know: there is only one correct interpretation of history. This correct interpretation explains the masses' place in it, and enables them to seize greater control of it. People watching *Panther* should know that the BPP's communism was not fiction. Nor was the all-out assault by COINTELPRO - the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program, a project designed specifically to disrupt progressive political activity within the U.S. The Black Panther Party was a Maoist vanguard. While *Panther* shows young comrades selling *Quotations from Chairman Mao* to earn money for guns, it does not portray the deep ideological influence Mao's writings and the practice of socialism in China at the time had on Huey Newton and the BPP.(1) Especially in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing and the conspiracy theories being spouted by Amerika's right, activists need to understand the history of the Black Panther Party's infiltration and destruction. The conspiracy theories from the right can be easily discredited because they are false - contending, for example, that the UN controls Amerika when in fact material analysis shows the opposite relation. However, the Van Peebles have historical experience to back them up in their contention that the FBI was at war with the Black Panther Party. But, MIM has not seen evidence that then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover feared the BPP because he feared Chinese and Russian invasion as the film suggested. Hoover argued that the Panthers' Serve the People Programs were dangerous in their own right - that the Breakfast Programs were "nefarious activity" which had to be stopped.(2) Elaine Brown, a former Black Panther leader, says that the legacy of the Black Panther Party is better served with the film *Panther* than without it. MIM has little other agreement with this BPP revisionist, yet this point is correct. The film is raising interest in the BPP among the generation of youth now the age the Panthers were in the 1960s - and provokes anger at government repression. It can help spur them on to working for the BPP's goal of national self determination. Maoism is not a far leap from revolutionary nationalism, since it is the most effective means to national liberation. Popularizing this fact in Amerika was one of the Panthers' great contributions to U.S. communism. Bourgeois nationalists like the Van Peebles are allies in the struggle at this point, and they prove themselves so by promoting the BPP. MIM looks forward to struggling with individuals inspired by *Panther* to join us in taking up the proletarian line. Notes: 1. Order MIM Theory 7, *Proletarian Feminist National Liberation on the Communist Road*. Send $4.95 to the address below. 2. Segment from PBS television series Eyes on the Prize. * * * UNDER LOCK & KEY CROSSROAD ACTIVIST REMARKS ON POLITICAL PRISONERS greetings, following is the text of my remarks at a recent benefit for 'black political prisoners' organized by pfoc [Prairie Fire Organizing Committee] and crsn [Crossroad Support Network]. any comments, criticisms, questions and/or suggestions will be appreciated. rebuildin', hondo t'chikwa, 3/5/95 Good Evening, i would like to welcome you all out tonight and personally thank each and every one of you for attending this benefit honoring Black political prisoners. On behalf of the CROSSROAD Support Network, the many New Afrikan Political Prisoners, Prisoners of War, and politicized prisoners who cannot be here, and the 27- years young New Afrikan Independence Movement - i give you our revolutionary greeting: FREE THE LAND! Now, i just want to talk to you briefly about this work to benefit political prisoners and prisoners of war. First of all, We want to look at the problem concretely; secondly, We want to work for their benefit in the ideological, theoretical, and political realms; thirdly, We want to do this work with some critical grasp of the past quarter-century of struggle to free political prisoners. Ruchell Magee has been in prison for over 30 years! The New York Three have been down since 1971! Sundiata's been locked up since 1973! i could go on - my point is that We should try to learn the history of this work. Concretely In their statements, the brothers made this aspect crystal clear! They want visits, cash, correspondence... and freedom. Freedom to come to programs like this; freedom to work on solving family problems in the middle of the night; freedom to hug their children and wake up next to a mate tomorrow morning. So it's our duty to do whatever We can to make these things happen. i think that We must also pound away at the question of "how long is long enough?" We've got to sharpen our critique of the politics of parole; where "seriousness of the offense" is used as an excuse to hide the fact that capitalist amerikkka places more value on first police life, then white life, than on the life of a colonized New Afrikan, Puerto Rican, Mexicano, or indigenous person. Not to mention that many of these brothers have been "rehabilitated" (if you want to go for that!). Ideo-politically Now, i wanna turn to the struggle to benefit these captured combatants ideologically and politically. We must give them voice; help to break down the state-imposed veil which comes down when folks get locked up. It has always irritated me to see a flyer or brochure urging support for a prisoner or groups of prisoners, with no indication of how to contact them directly. So, if you raise the issue, make sure you give a current address. Let them speak for themselves. Then, agitate, educate, organize and mobilize around the issue: amerikkka uses prison as a weapon against national liberation movements, and other movements for social change. Increasingly, amerikkkan imperialism is going to try to genocide these movements out of existence - giving the death penalty to freedom fighters. This is naked, terrified power; don't legitimize it by doing a lot of fence-sitting. After over 500 years of genocide, do you really think that amerikkka can sit in judgment of his victims? One more thing, educate yourselves! About our movements, about settler history, about scientific socialism and how capitalism works. i'll close this section with a quote from Le Duan, 1st Secretary of the Vietnamese Workers Party: "The goal of learning should not be limited to raising our level of knowledge. Rather it is to achieve the best results in our productive labor, our work, and our struggle." - Intensify your self-education efforts! Now, briefly, let me say a little bit more, then i'll be done. In our community, and in all communities, We've got to learn how to disagree without being disagreeable. This is of the utmost importance. i say this knowing that all of y'all don't accept this notion of Afrikans being a colonized nation and having a historical right to the southeastern portion of this rock We're on. That's not important; but this is: is my work, our work, our practice worthy of your recognition, and maybe even support in some fashion (however limited it may be?) This measure of respect is crucial; and whether folks want to accept it or not, revolutionary nationalism appeals to a lot of our people. The government, with the support of the masses of North amerikkkans, offers only crime bills, death penalties, workfare, lockdowns, control units, more prisons, and tokens. Which would you choose? ReBuild! - Crossroad activist hondo t'chikwa, 3/5/95 MARYLAND: A CALL TO ACTION! STOP The Maryland Department of Corrections! A communique for an inmate who has been confined in Maryland's Supermaximum facility (Maryland Corrections Adjustment Center) for over 2 years: "Conditions here at the State of Maryland's Supermaximum facility are completely shocking. The warden continues to institute methods of punishment through physical and mental torture, some of which even the notorious Marion Federal Prison hasn't seen. Prisoners have resorted to very sick and disturbing practices as a result of Warden Sweall Smith's 'make it as he goes' policy. Prisoners use human waste (feces) as weapons. The method of throwing it or spraying it on other prisoners and guards is referred to as 'chemical warfare'. All the frustration and conflict are a result of being locked in 99% of the time as no one is guaranteed walks or showers. Physical and psychological abuse is a daily part of this sick program. For example, one method of controlling out-of-line prisoners is to spray them down the chemical mace after which guards then beat them with sticks. Then, perhaps, you may end up in the hole where you are stripped naked and chained in what is called a 'three piece'. A three piece means you are chained at your hands, waist and ankles. No sooner than you hit the hole, an order is issued for the blowers to be turned on. The blowers are extremely powerful. For instance, if the temperature is 40 degrees in the room, the blowers will make it feel as if it is 0 degrees. In the hole areas there are no mattresses, no blankets and no sheets. You are left chained like a wild animal for 1 to 7 days." The Maryland Penal System headed by Secretary Bishop Robinson, Commission Richard Lanhan, and Parole Commissioner Paul Davis has earned a reputation as one of America's cruelest and racist as attributed to the following: * Over-crowded conditions due to Maryland's 20,000 prison population - currently 60% over-capacity and increasing an average of 100 per month - resulting in health hazards such as record high outbreaks of tuberculosis, in particular, at a Hagerstown facility where 400 of 1,900 inmates tested positive. # Upscale inmate control mechanisms such as the modeling of a supermaximum facility, Maryland Corrections Adjustment Center (MCAC), after Illinois' infamous Marion Prison, where inmates are subjected to inhumane punishment such as 23 1/2 hour-a-day solitary confinement. # Escalated repression as demonstrated by removal of 134 inmates serving life sentences from the work release program because of the actions of one individual involved in a murder-suicide. Please note that many of these individuals on work release had been at that status for years with no violations. # Decreased focus on education, drug treatment, vocational training and rehabilitation due to the 'law and order' punishment mentality of prison administrators. # Untrained and under-educated prison employees lack basic knowledge of Department of Corrections (DOC) regulations. # Biased grievance process due to an incompetent administrative board comprised of DOC staff members who oftentimes express prejudicial notions about the aggrieved, demonstrated by failure to acknowledge violation(s). # Sexist dress codes formulated by wardens at each institution (no state-established visiting room dress code is established) implemented by guards at random. For example, Jessup Pre-Release Unit allows for no spandex pants which has been expanded to include NO cotton straight leg pants considered to be revealing or provocative as defined by guards. This results in denial of visiting privileges for family and friends who oftentimes must travel long-distances. Please write Maryland Governor Parris Glendening to encourage him to make new appointments for both the Department of Public Safety and Department of Corrections. TO NOT FOCUS ON REHABILITATION AND/OR ALTERNATIVES TO INCARCERATION IS GENOCIDE FOR BLACKS IN THE U.S.! Write to: Governor Parris Glendening State House 100 State Circle Annapolis, Maryland 21401 For more information: BlackWatch Grassroots Network c/o Jennifer Smith 3802 14th St. N.W., #511 Washington, D.C. 20011 (202) 291- 0875 - Prison Activist Resource Center, 5/3/94 URGENT APPEAL FOR SEKOU KAMBUI This man's parole hearing is set for Monday; instead of the thirty (30) days notice that We were supposed to have, his wife was notified yesterday of the hearing. Please send your letter(s) of support asap. - hondo for CR/SN (Crossroad Support Network) SUPPORT PAROLE FOR SEKOU KAMBUI! Sekou Kambui is of Afrikan/Cherokee heritage, born on September 6, 1948, in Gasden, Alabama. He was raised by his mother/grandparents, and aunt in Detroit, Michigan; Harlem, New York; Chicago, Illinois; and Birmingham, Alabama respectively. He is presently 46 years old. Throughout the 1960's, Sekou participated in the Civil Rights Movement, organizing youth for participation in demonstrations and marches across Alabama and providing security for meetings for SCLC, CORE, SNCC and other programs. Sekou is a paralegal professional and active jailhouse lawyer and prisoner rights activist for more than 20 years. Sekou became affiliated with the Black Panthers in 1967 in Chicago and New York. While in Detroit, he became a member of the Republic of New Afrika, before returning to Birmingham. In Birmingham, Sekou coordinated community organization activity with the Alabama Black Liberation Front, the Inmates for Action (IFA), and the Afro-Amerikan People's Party in the mid-1970's. Charges and trials: Sekou was falsely arrested on January 2, 1975, and charged with the murder of two white men; (1) a KKK official out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama and the other (2) a multi-millionaire oil man out of Birmingham. Sekou's first trial took place on May 22, 1975 in the Tuscaloosa County Circuit Court; the second trial took place on August 3, 1975 in , Jefferson County Circuit Court, Birmingham, Alabama. Sekou was convicted in both trials and sentenced to life in both cases, with sentences to run consecutively.... Issues at trial: In both trials, witnesses were coerced and threatened by police officials; testimony was perjured; evidence all circumstantial and/or manufactured to implicate Sekou's involvement with person assumed responsible for the crime. Defense witnesses presented an unshakable alibi defense; However, coerced witnesses stipulated that "Sekou admitted to having killed two white men." Never was Sekou placed anywhere near the scene of the two murders; no murder weapon was found nor any direct evidence offered to connect Sekou to the murders. The defense witnesses in the first trial were so terrified after continuous threats and racial intimidation by the Birmingham police for providing alibi testimony that they fled Alabama before the second trial, leaving Sekou without a defense to support the contention that he was not at the scene of the second murder... In 1985, both trial counsels admitted to having destroyed all files regarding both murder convictions. The claim made at that time was that "law requires a trial counsel to hold files only seven (7) years. This may be true, however, it is accepted legal practice that any case which has not gone through the post conviction process is held, or at least, converted to microfiche for more permanent holding. Major witnesses in both cases admitted during investigation in 1985 that they had been forced to testify against Sekou and had been repeatedly visited by certain members of the Birmingham Police Department as well as the Jefferson County Sheriff's Department. Evidence presented during both trials was manufactured to make it appear that Sekou had conspired with the perpetrator of both murders, if not actually participating in the murders. In addition to the manufactured evidence, the Court clearly erred in dividing the trials, making it appear that there was no connection between the two murders and no issue of time constraints. These murders occurred within a very short span of time in two separate counties in December when the roads were terribly slippery and difficult to traverse. The physical impossibility of Sekou's having been in the locations in which he was placed by his alibi witnesses precludes his having killed two men in two different locations in the span of time the state alleges by its own testimony these two killings took place. None of this evidence has ever been presented properly in any court of law either at state or federal level. The pre-trial publicity involving both murders was intense, including a story in a popular "crime" magazine of the time. The trial court, however, refused a motion for a change of venue; appeals court affirmed and cited that the defense counsel had failed to support his allegations of pre-trial publicity and had failed to answer questions regarding possible prejudice said publicity had upon the defense during trial ... upon the defense during trial. The nature of the case itself remains so intense that during the 1985 investigation of the crime, persons in Tuscaloosa vividly recalled details of the murder, the accused (Sekou), and the entire issue of the killing. Even the time frame of the murders was still recalled. Finding evidence of pre-trial publicity was not difficult; considering further the racial nature of the case, the publicity was enhanced, even with photographs of the accused in handcuffs. In the second case in Birmingham, the evidence at trial is even weaker than that offered in Tuscaloosa. The connections between Sekou and this crime so tenuous and convoluted that it is impossible to present the issues here... Continuing legal proceedings: The legal challenge to both convictions has been continuously thwarted by the unavailability of both transcripts, the seizure of legal materials by the Alabama Department of Corrections (ADOC) over nearly twenty (20) years, and the repeated, retaliatory transfers which presently number four in only five years (between 1988 and 1993). The repeated seizures of legal mail resulted in a Civil Action in U.S. Federal District Court - C.A. No: 85-0795-P-M, which went to trial in March, 1989. The issues in this case included: 1. Confiscation of all legal-trial preparation materials; 2. Confiscation of law books; 3. Denial of visitation with paralegal aide; 4. Threats to interfere with upcoming parole; Upon trial, the State was forced to produce said documents they had labeled "security risks" and "contraband." The courty risks" and "contraband." The Court ruled that all such documents did not violate the DOC's security interests in prison order and discipline. Despite the victory in court, however, the wealth of legal documents and books already confiscated were never returned. All prison claims to have returned these documents to the outside paralegal proved false; no papers or books have ever been returned. An interesting note in this trial occurred when the state was forced to show collections of writing they had obtained from political prisoner-type magazines from as far away as Canada with articles written by Sekou, which the ADOC claimed proved his security risk. Any and all forms of revolutionary rhetoric have caused severe paranoia on the part of ADOC officials, a few of them in particular, where Sekou is concerned.... Sekou has written numerous lawsuits against the Alabama Department of Corrections over his twenty years in the ADOC. His co-authorship of the James v. Wallace, Pugh v. Locke, and Newman v. State of Alabama, 406 F. Supp. throughout the early 70's - '76, '77, and '78, won a court order declaring the Alabama prison system unconstitutional. A large number of inmates owe their freedom to Sekou's legal efforts on their behalf. He has won numerous other civil actions regarding medical malpractice, abusive treatment, abusive segregation, abusive prison conditions, all of which have earned him nothing but retaliatory transfers and continuing, unabated enmity by officials of the ADOC. In the last ten years, the harassment pattern of the ADOC (in collusion with the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles) has been clear. Sekou has been "up" for parole in 1986, 1988, 1991, and 1993 - denied each time and set off. And prior to every parole consideration, there has been a seriously disruptive transfer and tremendous harassment, both physical, mental, and racial. Behind every transfer has been a legal action taken by Sekou on behalf of another inmate or against the institution itself for its pattern of abuse against the inmates or a particular group of inmates.... Prison records/files on Sekou Despite a clear prison record of ten years, Sekou has never received the benefit of work release or more exercise of his minimum custody level. When he did have the opportunity to participate in the prison program Free By Choice, which permitted him to travel outside the prison and speak to church and youth groups, he was then transferred to Easterling which has no such program. Each time Sekou has won a case against the ADOC for any of its discriminatory policies and practices, the ADOC has then changed its rule to thwart this victory and deny Sekou the benefit of his own legal victory. This has happened so often that nobody close to him even considers this application of ex post facto laws "strange" anymore. Despite repeated requests for the information used by the ABPP in considering Sekou for parole (and then denying same), the Board has never once provided such documentation.... Despite the issuance of Board guidelines for prisoners and their families to follow in preparing for parole, the family and friends of Sekou have been made aware that these guidelines don't apply to prisoners such as Sekou. Sekou remains an innocent man in prison, a victim of the continuing racist conspiracy to silence the voice of the righteous and quell the movement for empowerment of his people. The twenty years of harassment, oppression, and abuse testify abundantly to the depths of hostility and acrimony generated by the tyrannical ADOC in response to the drive for human and civil rights by one man - Sekou Cinque Kambui. Letters of support and petitions should be sent to the following address: Alabama Board of Pardons & Paroles ATTN: Chairman John Nettles 501 Dexter Avenue Lurleen Wallace Bldg. Montgomery, AL 36130 334-242-8700; 334-242-1809 (FAX) Sekou C.T.M. Kambui Defense Committee ATTN: Aysha De'Jenaba Kambui 2233 Second St., South Birmingham, AL 35205 205-322-1047 Sekou C.T.M. Kambui (William J. Turk, AIS #113058) P.O. Box 10 (6A100) Clio, AL 36017 - Crossroad Support Network, 5/3/95 THE ROSENBERG FUND FOR CHILDREN The Rosenberg Fund for Children was established to provide for the educational and emotional needs of children whose parents have been harassed, injured, lost jobs, or died in the course of their progressive activities and who, therefore, are no longer able to adequately care for their children. Professionals and institutions will be awarded grants to provide the children with services at no or reduced cost. For more information, write to: Rosenberg Fund for Children 1145 Main Street, Ste. 408 Springfield, MA 01103 NATIONAL PHONE-IN CAMPAIGN TO FLORENCE PRISON ***Want to do something about the torture and oppression of prisoners in Amerika? The best way is to join MIM to help end the system. In the mean time, while we are building public opinion and organizing for revolutionary change, you can also take smaller actions that may help some of the prisoners in Amerika.*** The National Committee to Free Puerto Rican POW's and Political Prisoners-Boston Chapter is issuing an urgent call to action. Call the Florence, Colorado Federal Prison at (719) 784-9496. Ask for Warden William Storey or his assistant. Once he or his executive assistant is on line, tell him you are calling about Puerto Rican POW/Political Prisoner Oscar Lopez Rivera (#87651-024), Thomas Manning (#10372-016) and Raymond Levasseur (#10376-016). Demand an end to sleep deprivation and strip searches immediately. Demand freedom for all Puerto Rican political prisoners unconditionally. Demand the closure of the ADX Florence Gulag for torture and sensory deprivation. Callers should be aware that prison personnel have denied the torture. The following answers are recommended to such statements from prison personnel: 1. They are lying and we won't believe them. 2. They shouldn't speak as if they were friends, they are their jailers. 3. They should refuse to participate in the torture as some U.S. soldiers refused to massacre Vietnamese in the Vietnam war. The dates for the calls are Mondays: June 26 and July 24. HEY, LAWYERS! Want to fight the fascist outrages covered monthly in Under Lock & Key? Well, you're in a perfect position to do it! Prisoners often ask us for legal help, so if you're a progressive lawyer, please write to us! We'd be happy to hook you up with ways to serve the people. Same goes for paralegals and law students. Write to MIM Distributors, P.O. Box 29670, Los Angeles, CA 90029- 0670.